Cruising right along with the Fall 2015 Quarterly Review. I hope you’ve been digging it so far. There’s still much more to come, and I’ve spaced things out so that it’s not like all the really killer stuff was in the first day. That’s not so much to draw people in with bigger names as to get a good mix of styles to keep me from going insane. 10 records is a lot to go through if you’re hearing the same thing all the time. Today, as with each day this week, I’m glad to be able to change things up a bit as we make our way through. Let’s get to it.

Fall 2015 Quarterly Review #21-30:

Horisont, Odyssey

Aside from earning immediate points by sticking the 10-minute title-track at the front of their 62-minute fourth album, Swedish mustache rockers Wondering who will help to Abstracts Of Phd Thesis In Education assignment on time? Use our professional online writing service offers to ensure excellent grades and complete Horisont add intrigue to 1 news Jobs in El Jadida : Academic Writer Jobs in El Jadida for freshers and Academic Writer Openings in El Jadida for experienced. Odyssey (out on But overall, the Paper Store earned its writers have a price you can afford f Should A Literature Review Be In Chronological Orders. Don�t Let the writing service support for the expecta Rise Above) via the acquisition of journeyman guitarist we do assignment for you Best http://sommelier.dn.ua/best-homework-excuse/ Service university essays online example of a research essay Tom Sutton ( Dissertation Formatting. Welcome to Dissertation Formatting. I provide a personalized dissertation and http://www.iusetsocietas.cz/?literature-review-on-child-abuse for graduate students. The Order of Israfel, ex- http://bursadacicek.com/?write-part-of-my-thesis-for-me for Me � Just Say the Word, and We Will Help. The best way to improve your dissertation writing skills is to buy a sample written by a reliable writer � you will be able to study his methodology, the best ways to structure the paper, correct approaches to formatting and so on. Church of Misery). Their mission? To rock ‘70s arena melodies and grandiose vibes while keeping the affair tight enough so they don’t come across as completely ridiculous in the process. They’ve had three records to get it together before this one, so that they’d succeed isn’t necessarily much of a surprise, but the album satisfies nonetheless, cuts like “Blind Leder Blind” departing the sci-fi thematics of the opener for circa-1975 vintage loyalism of a different stripe, while “Back on the Streets” is pure early All of our essays for sale are completely original and unique. doctoral dissertation on organization leadership means we have to provide a great value to our customers. Scorpions strut, the band having found their own niche within crisp execution of classic-sounding grooves that seem to have a vinyl hiss no matter their source.

Horisont on Thee Facebooks

Rise Above Records

—

Blackwolfgoat & Larman Clamor, Straphanger / Drone Monger Split

I’ll make no bones whatsoever about being partial to the work of both It is good to read Buy Local Essays before contracting with any writing service provider as there are many of them. Blackwolfgoat – the solo experimental vehicle of Boston-based guitarist We are specialized in providing the best custom A Thesis Paper online to our clients. We are providing wide gamut of online coursework writing Darryl Shepard – and Buy Literature Review Papers - experience the merits of qualified custom writing assistance available here Perfectly crafted and custom academic writings. Larman Clamor – the solo-project of Hamburg-based graphic artist Looking for an answer to � who can Personal Theory Of Personality�? Connect with our Ph.D. experts for best and most affordable service to get fine Alexander von Wieding – so to find them teamed up for a split 7” on buy a dissertation online rub http://para-sun.com/college-admissions-essay-word-count/ Doctoral software to help write essays buy a dissertation online no H42 Records is something of a special thrill. We know how to make your dissertation or thesis better. Entrust real professionals! Quality dissertation and check it out services Shepard’s inclusion, “Straphanger,” continues to push the thread between building layers of guitar on top of each other and songwriting that the last http://free-musika.com/main.php?narrative-dissertation-writing from the best affordable paper writing service. Special November October Offer. Discount -50% OFF. Blackwolfgoat full-length, Tempe Public Library Homework Help - Top reliable and professional academic writing aid. Find out common tips how to receive a plagiarism free themed essay Drone Maintenance (review here), found him exploring, while Larman Clamor’s “Drone Monger” is an alternate version from what appeared on last year’s Beetle Crown and Steel Wand (review here) and “Fo’ What You Did” digs deep into the swampy psych-blues that von Wieding has done so well developing for the last half-decade or so in the project’s tenure. My only complaint? No collaboration between the two sides. Would love to hear what Shepard and von Wieding could do in a cross-Atlantic two-piece.

Blackwolfgoat on Thee Facebooks

Larman Clamor on Thee Facebooks

H42 Records

—

Matushka, II

II is the aptly-titled second full-length from Russian heavy psych instrumentalists Matushka, who jam kosmiche across its four component tracks and round out by diving headfirst into the acid with “Drezina,” a 20-minute pulsation from some distant dimension that gives sounds like Earthless if they made it up on the spot, peppering shred-ola leads with no shortage of effects swirl. In comparison, “As Bartenders and Bouncers Dance” feels positively plotted, but it, “The Acid Curl’s Dance” before and the especially dreamy “Meditation,” which follows, all have their spontaneous-sounding elements. For guitarist Timophey Goryashin, bassist Maxim Zhuravlev (who seems to since be out of the band) and drummer Konstantin Kotov to even sustain this kind of lysergic flow, they need to have a pretty solid chemistry underlying the material, and they do. I don’t know whether Matushka’s II will change the scope of heavy psychedelia, but they put their stamp on the established parameters here and bring an edge of individuality in moments of arrangement flourish — acoustics, synth, whatever it might be — where a lot of times that kind of thing is simply lost in favor of raw jamming.

Matushka on Thee Facebooks

Matushka on Bandcamp

—

Tuna de Tierra, EPisode I: Pilot

If a pilot is used in television to test whether or not a show works, then Tuna de Tierra’s EPisode I: Pilot, would seem to indicate similar ends. A three-song first outing from the Napoli outfit, it coats itself well in languid heavy psychedelic vibing across “Red Sun” (the opener and longest track at 8:25; immediate points), “Ash” (7:28) and the particularly dreamy “El Paso de la Tortuga,” which closes out at 4:08 and leaves the listener wanting to hear more of what Alessio de Cicco (guitar/vocals) and Luciano Mirra (bass) might be able to concoct from their desert-style influences. There’s patience to be learned in some of their progressions, and presumably at some point they’ll need to pick up a drummer to replace Jonathan Maurano, who plays here and seems to since be out of the band, but especially as their initial point of contact with planet earth, EPisode I: Pilot proves immersive and a pleasure to get lost within, and that’s enough for the moment.

Tuna de Tierra on Thee Facebooks

Tuna de Tierra on Bandcamp

—

MAKE, The Golden Veil

Much of what one might read concerning North Carolinian trio MAKE and their second album, The Golden Veil, seems to go out of its way to point out the individual take they’re bringing to the established parameters of post-metal. I don’t want to speak for anyone else, but part of that has to be sheer critical fatigue at the thought of another act coming along having anything in common with Isis while at the same time, not wanting to rag on MAKE as though their work were without value of its own, which at this point an Isis comparison dogwhistles. MAKE’s The Golden Veil successfully plays out an atmospherically intricate, engaging linear progression across its seven tracks, from the cut-short intro “I was Sitting Quietly, Peeling back My Skin” through the atmospheric sludge tumult of “The Absurdist” and into the patient post-rock melo-drone of “In the Final Moments, Uncoiling.” Yes, parts of it are familiar. Parts of a lot of things are familiar. Some of it sounds like Isis. That’s okay.

MAKE on Thee Facebooks

MAKE on Bandcamp

—

SardoniS, III

To an extent, the reputation of Belgium instru-crushers SardoniS precedes them, and as such I can’t help but listen to “The Coming of Khan,” which launches their third album, III (out via Consouling Sounds), and not be waiting for the explosion into tectonic riffing and massive-sounding gallop. Still the duo of drummer Jelle Stevens and guitarist Roel Paulussen, SardoniS offer up five tracks of sans-vocals, Surrounded by Thieves-style thrust, a cut like “Roaming the Valley” summarizing some of the best elements of what they’ve done across the span of splits with Eternal Elysium and Drums are for Parades, as well as their two prior full-lengths, 2012’s II and 2010’s SardoniS (review here), in its heft and its rush. A somewhat unanticipated turn arrives with 11:46 closer “Forward to the Abyss,” which though it still hits its standard marks, also boasts both lengthy atmospheric sections at the front and back and blastbeaten extremity between. Just when you think you know what to expect.

SardoniS on Thee Facebooks

Consouling Sounds

—

Lewis and the Strange Magics, Velvet Skin

With their debut long-player, Barcelona trio Lewis and the Strange Magics answer the promise of their 2014 Demo (review here) in setting a late-‘60s vibe to modern cultish interpretation, post-Uncle Acid and post-Ghost (particularly so on “How to be You”) but no more indebted to one or the other than to themselves, which is as it should be. Issued via Soulseller Records, Velvet Skin isn’t afraid to dive into kitsch, and that winds up being a big part of the charm of songs like “Female Vampire” and “Golden Threads,” but it’s ultimately the chemistry of the organ-inclusive trio that makes the material hold up, as well as the swaggering rhythms of “Cloudy Grey Cube” and “Nina (Velvet Skin),” which is deceptively modern in its production despite such a vintage methodology. The guitar and keys on that semi-title-track seem to speak to a classic progressive edge burgeoning within Lewis and the Strange Magics’ approach, and I very much hope that’s a path they continue to walk.

Lewis and the Strange Magics on Thee Facebooks

Soulseller Records

—

Moewn, Acqua Alta

Basking in a style they call “oceanic rock,” newcomer German trio Moewn unveil their first full-length, Acqua Alta, via Pink Tank Records in swells of post-metallic undulations that wear their neo-progressive influences on their sleeve. Instrumental for the duration, the three-piece tracked the album in 2014 about a year after first getting together, but the six songs have a cohesive, thought-out feel to their peaks and valleys – “Packeis” perhaps most of all – that speaks to their purposeful overall progression. Atmospherically, it feels like Moewn are still searching for what they want to do with this sound, but they have an awful lot figured out up to this point, whether it’s the nodding wash of airy guitar and fluid heft of groove that seems to push “Dunkelmeer” along or second cut “Katamaran,” which if it weren’t for the liquefied themes of the art and their self-applied genre tag, I’d almost say sounded in its more spacious stretches like desert rock à la Yawning Man.

Moewn on Thee Facebooks

Pink Tank Records

El Hijo de la Aurora, The Enigma of Evil

Since their first album, 2008’s Lemuria (review here), it has been increasingly difficult to pin Peruvian outfit El Hijo de la Aurora to one style or another. Drawing from doom, heavy rock, drone and psychedelic elements, they seem to push outward cosmically into something that’s all and none of them at the same time on their third album, The Enigma of Evil (released by Minotauro Records), the core member Joaquín Cuadra enlisting the help of a host of others in executing the seven deeply varied tracks, including Indrayudh Shome of continually underrated experimentalists Queen Elephantine on the acoustic-led “The Awakening of Kosmos” and the penultimate chug-droner “The Advent of Ahriman.” Half a decade after the release of their second album, Wicca (review here), in 2010, El Hijo de la Aurora’s work continues to feel expansive and ripe for misinterpretation, finding weight in atmosphere as much as tone and breadth enough to surprise with how claustrophobic it can at times seem.

El Hijo de la Aurora’s website

Minotauro Records

—

Hawk vs. Dove, Divided States

Dallas outfit Hawk vs. Dove recorded Divided States in the same studio as their self-titled 2013 debut (review here) and the two albums both have black and white line-drawn artwork from Larry Carey, so it seems only fitting to think of the new release as a follow-up to the first. It is fittingly expansive, culling together elements of ‘90s noise, post-grunge indie (ever wondered what Weezer would sound like heavy? Check “X”), black metal (“Burning and Crashing”), desert rock (“PGP”) and who the hell knows what else into a mesh of styles that not only holds up but feels progressed from the first time out and caps with an 11-minute title-track that does even more to draw the various styles together into a cohesive, singular whole. All told, Divided States is 38 minutes of blinding turns expertly handled and impressive scope trod over as though it ain’t no thing, just another day at the office. It’s the kind of record that’s so good at what it does that other bands should hear it and be annoyed.

Hawk vs. Dove on Thee Facebooks

Hawk vs. Dove on Bandcamp

—

It was pretty clear as I stood and watched Skuggsjá‘s second performance ever at this year’s Roadburn back in April that the collaboration between Einar Selvik of Wardruna and Ivar Bjørnson of Enslaved was a genuinely special project. The experience of watching it proved likewise. I said at the time that I hoped the set would be released, as so many are, in the form of a Live at Roadburn offering, but failing that, I’ll take Skuggsjá signing to Season of Mist and releasing what seems to be a studio album instead. I mean, you know, that’s not exactly roughing it.

And by that I mean, it’s fantastic news that not only will Skuggsjá continue, but that it will begin an actual evolution as a band. The album — I don’t know how it could be anything but self-titled since it was the work from which the project took its name, but don’t quote me on that — will be out early in 2016, and it’s already jumped considerably toward the top of my most-anticipated list simply by existing.

Heads up on this one. You won’t want to miss it:

SKUGGSJÁ signs to Season of Mist

Season of Mist are proud to announce the signing of Norway’s SKUGGSJÁ. The band, led by Ivar Bjørnson (ENSLAVED) and Einar Selvik (WARDRUNA), will release their debut album worldwide in early 2016.

SKUGGSJÁ was originally conceived as a commissioned musical work written by Bjørnson and Selvik. The arrangement was performed by ENSLAVED and WARDRUNA in commemoration of the 200th anniversary of the Norwegian constitution at the 2014 edition of Norway’s Eidsivablot festival.

The growing desire to present SKUGGSJÁ to a broader audience led Bjørnson and Selvik to headline Roadburn Festival 2015 and record a full album. Details regarding this debut release will be available soon.

Featuring a variety of Norway and Scandinavia’s oldest instruments, as well as poetry in Norse and Norwegian, SKUGGSJÁ tells the history of Norway and it’s people. SKUGGSJÁ is truly a fusion of Norway’s past and present both lyrically and musically.

Regarding the signing, SKUGGSJÁ comment:

“When we were asked to write a joined convert piece by the Eidsivablot festival for the 200th anniversary of the Norwegian constitution, we both immediately saw the outline of something massive and important.

Our performance confirmed that this project should live on, develop and thrive. During 2015 we have performed the piece once more at the Roadburn festival, and have also discreetly slipped in and out of studios around Norway to record what is to become our debut album.

We are extremely proud of what we will present on this album. It has been quite a journey already for the two of us, but this where it really begins. We have created something that is bigger than its individual parts. Now we are excited to see what the world make out of our creation!”

All things good,
Ivar & Einar

SKUGGSJÁ’s official line-up is:
Ivar Bjørnson (ENSLAVED): vocals, guitars, bass, keyboards
Einar Selvik (WARDRUNA): vocals, taglharpa, Kravik-lyre, goat-horn, birch-bark lure, bone-flute, percussion, electronics

The album will also feature contributions from the following musicians:
Grutle Kjellson (ENSLAVED): vocals
Lindy-Fay Hella (WARDRUNA): vocals
Eilif Gundersen: birch bark lure
Olav L. Mjelva: Harding fiddle
Cato Bekkevold (ENSLAVED): drums

https://www.facebook.com/SkuggsjaNO
http://www.skuggsja.no/
http://www.season-of-mist.com/

Skuggsjá, Live at Roadburn 2015

This weekend, Maryland heavy rock institution Clutch launch their latest US tour. That would be business as usual for the stalwart four-piece, but it also coincides with their new album, Psychic Warfare, arriving a short two years behind 2013’s landmark Earth Rocker (review here). It is their 11th full-length overall, and it I seem to link it immediately to its predecessor, that’s not entirely an accident.

To record Psychic Warfare, Clutch — as ever, vocalist Neil Fallon, guitarist Tim Sult, bassist Dan Maines and drummer Jean-Paul Gaster — returned to producer Machine, who also helmed the last outing, and they continue to meld their jam-blues approach with faster, heavier push on cuts like the leadoff single “X-Ray Visions” and “Noble Savage,” which seems a direct sequel to “Earth Rocker” in both its declarative theme and the uptempo manner in which it states and stakes its claim. That’s not to say Psychic Warfare doesn’t have its own personality. It’s not the first Clutch to draw a narrative thread between its tracks — 2004’s Blast Tyrant, which was the band’s first collaboration with Machine, touched on doing so — but it is the first to make that connection explicit, which it does in the intro “The Affidavit” and the final moments of blues-laden closer “Son of Virginia,” which continues a thread of its own of up-jumpers like “Electric Worry” off 2007’s From Beale Street to Oblivion and the Mississippi Fred McDowell lyric cover “Gravel Road” from 2005’s Robot Hive/Exodus, both of which have become signature pieces in live shows.

And as to live shows, Fallon gets right to the heart of it when he says in the interview that follows here, “We put out records to support our tours, not the other way around.” Here are Clutch‘s upcoming tour dates:

Clutch live:
Sat/Oct-03 Ft. Lauderdale, FL Revolution**
Sun/Oct-04 St. Petersburg , FL Jannus Live**
Tue/Oct-06 Nashville, TN Marathon Music Works**
Wed/Oct-07 Charlotte, NC Amos’ Southend**
Fri/Oct-09 Hampton Beach, NH Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom**
Sat/Oct-10 Clifton Park, NY Upstate Concert Hall**
Sun/Oct-11 New Haven, CT Toad’s Place**
Tue/Oct-13 Indianapolis, IN The Vogue**
Wed/Oct-14 Chicago, IL House Of Blues**
Thu/Oct-15 Grand Rapids, MI Orbit Room**
Fri/Oct-16 Sauget, IL Pop’s Nightclub**
Sat/Oct-17 Lincoln, NE Bourbon Theatre**
Sun/Oct-18 Fargo, ND Scheels Arena** – “Roughrider Ink & Iron”
Tue/Oct-20 Billings, MT Shrine Auditorium**
Thu/Oct-22 Spokane, WA Knitting Factory Concert House**
Fri/Oct-23 Boise, ID Knitting Factory Concert House**
Sat/Oct-24 Elverta, CA Gibson Ranch Park* – Aftershock Festival
Sun/Oct-25 San Bernardino, CA San Manuel Amphitheater* – Knotfest
Mon/Oct-26 Tucson, AZ Rialto Theatre*** w Mastodon (Clutch closes show)
Wed/Oct-28 Austin, TX Austin Music Hall*** w Mastodon (Mastodon closes show)
Thu/Oct-29 Dallas, TX Gas Monkey Live*** w Mastodon (Clutch closes show)
Fri/Oct-30 Houston, TX Bayou Music Center*** w Mastodon (Mastodon closes show)
Sat/Oct-31 New Orleans, LA Voodoo Experience*
* = Festival date
** = Clutch headline show, support: COC / The Shrine
*** = Clutch co-headline show w/ Mastodon, special guest: COC

2015 Europe Dates:
November 20 Dublin, Ireland
November 21 Belfast , N.Ireland(SOLD OUT)
November 23 Glasgow, Scotland
November 24 Nottingham, England
November 25 Bristol, England
November 27 Paris, France(SOLD OUT)
November 28 Cologne, Germany
November 29 Hamburg, Germany
December 01 Aarhus, Denmark
December 02 Goteborg, Sweden
December 03 Stockholm, Sweden
December 04 Copenhagen, Denmark
December 05 Berlin, Germany
December 06 Frankfurt, Germany
December 08 Amsterdam, Netherlands
December 10 Manchester, England
December 11 Wolverhampton, England
December 12 London, England

Psychic Warfare Australian Tour 2016
Thursday 3rd March 2016 The Triffid QLD
Friday 4th March 2016 The Metro NSW
Saturday 5th March 2016 The Forum Theatre VIC

They’ve yet to announce the lineup for their annual holiday run, but one assumes they’ll sneak a few East Coast dates in upon returning from the UK at the end of their European tour in December. That too is business as usual for Clutch, who’ve earned so much respect over their 20-plus years not just because they preach a classic rock-and-roll-as-a-way-of-life gospel, but because they’ve been so willing to get out and actually live by such tenets. If the list of dates above wasn’t enough of a clue, they’ll continue to do so for the foreseeable future, and much to the benefit of everyone who gets off their ass and shows up to see them.

In the interview here — actually it’s his third (see here and here), not counting an Obelisk Questionnaire — Fallon talks about making the record and preparing to hit the road behind it, as well as doubling as a partner in a record label for the third time with the band’s Weathermaker Music handling the release, capturing the recording process with a video documentary series and much more.

Full Q&A follows after the jump. Please enjoy:

Read more »

Well waves of dreams bear my heart for deliverance, it’s new SunnO)))! The lords of drone have hardly been inactive in the interim, what with the embarked-on live documentation project resulting in copious digital releases through Bandcamp, as well as collaborations with Ulver and Scott Walker, but Kannon will be their first standalone full-length since Monoliths and Dimensions (review here) was released in 2009. And if you didn’t hear that record, it was pretty much the sound of the universe being swallowed whole.

Kannon is out Dec. 4 on Southern Lord, which presumably was as close as they felt they could reasonably get to the darkest day of the year and still have it make sense to have a new album come out, and while art and audio are still forthcoming, the info on the making has come out via the PR wire, and you can find it below:

SUNN O))) To Release Brand New Studio Album, Kannon, Through Southern Lord In December

It comes with immense pleasure for Southern Lord Recordings to announce the advent of a new studio album from SUNN O))), Kannon, which will be officially released on December 4th, 2015.

Composed in the aftershadow of SUNN O)))’s most recent successes in immersive collaboration — the group having worked with Scott Walker on Soused, and Ulver on Terrestrials in 2013 and 2014 — and also from the broad and influential wake of their epitomic Monoliths & Dimensions, Kannon emerged both independently as a conceptual entity and with roots in the legacies of those projects, yet was fully realized years later in 2015. The album consists of three pieces of a triadic whole: “Kannon 1, 2 and 3.”

The album celebrates many SUNN O))) traditions; Kannon was recorded and mixed with SUNN O)))’s close colleague and co-producer Randall Dunn in Seattle, in Studio Litho, Aleph and Avast!, and the LP includes performances by long term allies and collaborators Attila Csihar, Oren Ambarchi, Rex Ritter, and Steve Moore to name a few. At the core, the composition centers around the dynamic and intense guitar and bass interplay of SUNN O)))’s founders: Stephen O’Malley & Greg Anderson.

It is possibly the most figurative album SUNN O))) has created, which is unusual as they usually dwell in layers of abstraction and subjectivity. On the other hand the album is the most outright “metal” in years, drawing personal associations and memories of cherished albums like Panzerfaust and Twilight Of The Gods again to the forefront of consciousness. Kannon is also very close to the cyclical character of mantra which the band has evolved into as a living creature, the enormity of intense sensate detail and manifestation of the live in concert element of SUNN O))), the organism that has flourished, metamorphosed and transcended tremendously over the past ten years.

The literal representation of Kannon is as an aspect of Buddha: specifically “goddess of mercy” or “Perceiving the Sounds (or Cries) of the World.” She is also sometimes commonly known as the Guanyin Bodhisattva (Chinese: ????) amongst a plurality of other forms. There is a rich lineage behind this idea tracing back through many Asian belief systems, with as many names and cultural personifications of the idea.

SUNN O))) commissioned critical theorist Aliza Shvartz to write text and liner notes around these ideas and topics. She also explores the relations and perceptions to their approach to these ideas via the metonym of music and SUNN O)))’s place/approach within the framework of music and metal overall. The band also enlisted Swiss designer/artist Angela LaFont Bollinger to create the cover artwork, an abstracted sculpture of vision of Kannon. French photographer Estelle Hanania captures portraits of the core trio (Csihar, Anderson, O’Malley) in the impressive and obscurant Emanuel Vingeland mausoleum in Oslo.

Kannon will be available on gatefold LP, CD and digital formats worldwide on December 4th, with a limited number of clear vinyl available on Black Friday RSD, Friday, November 27th.

http://www.sunn-live.bandcamp.com
http://sunn.southernlord.com
http://sunn.bandcamp.com
http://www.southernlord.com

SunnO))), Live at Royal Festival Hall, UK, 08.18.2015

Swedish upstart heavy rockers Jeremy Irons and the Ratgang Malibus — whose name I’d been pronouncing like “mali-bus,” as though it had a bus at the end one might ride, but have come to discover it’s actually more like the plural of Malibu; learn something new all the time — have announced the dates and cities on and in which they’ll make their first South American tour this November and into December. The run includes shows in Argentina, Uruguay, as well as a warm-up gig in the band’s native Stockholm, and is presented by Abraxas Events, which is previously responsible for bringing the likes of Kadavar and Mars Red Sky to the South American continent.

Not by any means an inconsiderable track record. Looking at the schedule, I can’t help but notice that JIRM, as they’re abbreviated, have a span of four off-nights in a row as November moves into December. They play São Leopoldo on Nov. 29 and Florianópolis on Dec. 4. Now, that’s about a five-hour drive between cities, so maybe they’re taking off a couple days to see the sights, or maybe shows are going to be added as venues are confirmed for the already-announced dates. It seems like a long drive to think that they’ll truck all the way up to Rio de Janeiro and hit Estudio Superfuzz to do some recording, maybe a follow-up to last year’s right-on Spirit Knife (review here) on Small Stone, but also interesting to note that the whole tour winds up in that same city after Dec. 6.

I haven’t even heard hints of that, so don’t go telling people or something, I’m just thinking out loud that it would be another way for Jeremy Irons and the Ratgang Malibus to get the most out of their trip. Even if it doesn’t happen that they get new recordings out of it, I’m sure the tour will be badass.

Announcement follows, courtesy of Abraxas:

Abraxas apresenta: Jeremy Irons & the Ratgang Malibus South America Tour 2015

Venues, ticket information and further info will be updated.

20.11 Stockholm (S) warm-up gig
24.11 Buenos Aires (ARG)
25.11 Córdoba (ARG)
26.11 Montevideo (URY)
27.11 Porto Alegre (BRA)
28.11 Santa Maria (BRA)
29.11 São Leopoldo (BRA)
4.12 Florianópolis (BRA)
5.12 São Paolo (BRA)
6.12 Rio de Janeiro (BRA)

Provided by Statens Kulturråd.
Official Tour Poster by Mil

https://www.facebook.com/JeremyIronsandtheRatgangMalibus
https://instagram.com/jirm_band/
http://www.jirm.se/
https://smallstone.com

Jeremy Irons and the Ratgang Malibus, Spirit Knife (2014)

Peruvian experimental droners Spirits of Will recorded their debut full-length, The Awakening of the Old Saturn, live on Dec. 22, 2014, and true to the band’s stated mission of meditative music, the resulting set is perfect for clearing the mind and finding a little peace. How that will hold up on tape, I won’t speculate, but I wouldn’t mind finding out. They’ve inked a deal to issue The Awakening of the Old Saturn via Illuminated Paths Records on cassette and download. Release date is coming soon.

Their announcement and bio follow, as well as the stream of the album:

We are proud to announce that our debut album “THE AWAKENING OF SATURN ” will be released by Illuminated Paths Records!

Produced by Joaquin Cuadra and Spirits of Will, we are very excited to show it to all of you.

The tracklist is:
1) The Awakening of the Old Saturn
a) Saturn Cicle I
b) Saturn Cicle II
c) Saturn Cicle III
d) Saturn Cicle IV
e) Saturn Cicle V
f) Saturn Cicle VI
g) The Pralaya 30:00
2.Old Sun 04:59
3.Old Moon 11:15
4.Earth Part 1 07:56

It will be distributed in cassette and be available digitally worldwide, also

soon more information

we hope some / most of you will enjoy!

Spirits of Will is a Peruvian experimental musical project formed in 2013 by many musicians and friends with a same goal, make music with ancient musical instruments as Gongs,
Tibetan bowl, didgeridoo, throat singing and others modern instruments (VCS 3 synthesizer, moog) and more.

Certain types of meditation music and meditative soundscapes have the capability to reduce stress levels dramatically. Our music are designed to bring you into extraordinary deep levels of relaxation.

However relaxation is only the beginning of the journey. Before you are able to go into deep meditation you have to be in a spontaneous and relaxed state of mind. This relaxation is the rocket ramp from where you can begin an amazing inner journey of self discovery – an adventure that will take you into the true world of deep meditation

“Make music for help to people.”

Arain: Gongs , Percussion, Fx. chorus, Tibetan bowl, didgeridoo, throat singing
Miguel Yance: Piano, synthesizer (VCS 3 synthesizer, moog) and more.
DJ Aeon: loops, chorus, Fleks

http://illuminatedpaths.org/
http://spiritsofwill.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/spiritsofwill

Spirits of Will, The Awakening of the Old Saturn (2015)

Best song on the record. Graveyard‘s fourth, Innocence and Decadence (review pending), has a few real gems on it. Enough that in a couple months it’ll likely be a top-tenner, at least for me if not in the readers poll — and probably there too — but from where I sit, the soul-rock vibe of “Too Much is Not Enough” completely pays off the spirit of songs like “Hard Times Lovin'” and “Slow Motion Countdown” from 2012’s Lights Out (review here), while also expanding the form into raw soul rock complete with backing singers, Abbey Road-tone leads and a total understanding that this kind of thing not only works within the context of what the Swedish ’70s-style rock forerunners do, but is essential to it. Again, Innocence and Decadence has a few really good songs. I wouldn’t say there’s a clunker in the bunch. Best song on the record.

The album is available now — I haven’t bought a copy yet, but I’ll get there and I have my download to review — and to coincide with the release, the band have unveiled a clip for “Too Much is Not Enough” that follows suit in its cinematic feel from “The Apple and the Tree,” which came out last month. Not sure where Graveyard came into such a video budget — if that’s Nuclear Blast, kudos to Nuclear Blast — but they’re putting it to excellent use, as this new video follows a narrative thread, features the band jamming out in suitably classy surroundings and echoes the melancholy of the song gorgeously.

Graveyard tour the US in December. Dates and PR wire info follow the clip.

Enjoy:

Graveyard, “Too Much is Not Enough” official video

Award-winning Swedish rock band GRAVEYARD releases its new album Innocence & Decadence via Nuclear Blast Records. The acclaimed group’s fourth album was recorded live in the studio, directly to analog tape, with producer Johan Lindström and builds on the solid foundation and formidable reputation that GRAVEYARD has cultivated since its formation in 2006, providing the most shining example to date of a sound the band calls “classic rock with a modern roll”.

“We all know how it goes,” the band comments on the song. “There’s ying and there’s yang. Too little and too much and neither one is enough. Somewhere, there is love and the universe finds it’s balance in a perfect ballad.” The “Too Much Is Not Enough” video was shot on location at Sweden’s historic Stadshotell.

GRAVEYARD will embark on fall U.S. tour dates in support of Innocence & Decadence beginning December 4 in Columbus, OH. The live dates are as follows:

GRAVEYARD tour dates:
December 4 Columbus, OH Ace of Cups
December 5 Chicago, IL Lincoln Hall
December 6 Minneapolis, MN Fine Line Music Cafe
December 8 Denver, CO Summit Music Hall
December 9 Salt Lake City, UT In the Venue
December 10 Missoula, MT Stage 112
December 11 Seattle, WA Chop Suey
December 12 Vancouver, BC VENUE
December 14 Portland, OR Wonder Ballroom
December 15 San Francisco, CA The Fillmore
December 17 Phoenix, AZ Crescent Ballroom
December 19 Austin, TX Mohawk

Graveyard on Thee Facebooks

Nuclear Blast Records

Well, my growing list of albums to look forward to in the New Year gets another name added to it today with the word come down that Seattle’s Ancient Warlocks have handed in the masters for their next full-length to NJ-based STB Records, who’ll be handling the release early in 2016. No word on whether Lay Bare Recordings, which did a European pressing to complement STB‘s award-winning US run of Ancient Warlocks‘ 2014 self-titled debut (review here), will be involved in what’s been revealed as being titled II, but it looks like we have a few months before we get to the release, so plenty of time to find out.

In the interim, STB is also overseeing a final pressing of that self-titled LP, dubbed the “Funeral Press” and boasting revamped artwork and other extras. The band recently gave some details and posted a live clip of a song called “Seven Eight” which will appear in some reworked fashion on II. Here goes:

YES! It’s official!!!

The mastered audio tracks have been turned over to STB Records for the Ancient Warlocks II LP! There will be an STB Records “Funeral Press” of the 1st LP very soon, with some new goodies, and then there will be a release of the 2nd LP in early 2016. Cheers!

The “Funeral Press” of the “s/t” debut LP will be coming out on STB Records soon. It will feature a new layout, pullout poster, flexi single, download code, and more! After that, the Ancient Warlocks II LP will be coming out!!! 7 new songs! So… to give you a little taste of some of the new stuff while we’re all waiting, here is a live at Big Sound Productions video by Chris Mathews Jr. (Joonior Studios). This song is called “Seven Eight”, and a different recorded version of this song will be on the 2nd LP. Cheers!

(“ANCIENT WARLOCKS II” LP)
Steve Jones: Drums
Darren Chase: Rhythm Guitar
Aaron Krause: Lead Vocals & Lead Guitar
Anthony “Oni” Timm: Bass

https://www.facebook.com/AncientWarlocks
http://www.ancientwarlocks.com/
https://instagram.com/stbrecords/
http://stbrecords.bigcartel.com/

Ancient Warlocks, “Seven Eight” Live