If there’s one thing that stands out about the Polish scene we’ve been exploring one band at a time (past installments here and here), it’s a universal hunger to be heard. Hell, the main reason this whole thing kicked off was because one of the dudes in Satellite Beaver was like, “Hey man, you need to check out all these other bands too,” when I reviewed Luna Negra. Likewise, Belzebong, an instrumental outfit from Poland, dropped a line in the comments and said to hit up their MySpace. I’m nothing if I’m not the trained monkey of stoner rock and doom metal. Just tell me in what direction to dance and I’m there.

For what it’s worth, Belzebong are the most definitively stoner of the acts from the Polish scene we’ve yet encountered. The two tracks on MySpace are instrumental (with samples) and rely on hyper-grooving riffs to carry the band. It’s a formula that should be familiar to fans of Bongzilla and Electric Wizard, as well as the sundry other acts whose sound basically rounds out to “riffs plus” — riffs plus vocals, riffs plus samples, riffs plus solos, and so on. The guitar is definitely the vocal point, and there are solo/lead lines running throughout “Bong Thrower” that are varyingly lyrical, but Belzebong are a riff band. Any changes they make or flourishes they add, their songs are still based around riffs and riffs and, well, riffs.

It seems like a familiar formula and it is, but like Satellite Beaver, Broken Betty and Luna Negra, if Belzebong aren’t groundbreaking so much in their sound, there are several explanations behind it. First and foremost, there wasn’t a Polish scene to speak of before these bands came along. Consider the Scandinavian lineage of heavy music. Sure, these bands would have access to outsider rock from the internet and word of mouth, buying records, etc., but that’s nowhere near the same as having your own scene. Second, Belzebong (and everyone else covered in this series) are a demo band, just getting their start. If they still have developing to do, that’s to be expected. For what it’s worth now, they’ve got a goat-devil holding a bong with their logo and they’ve got the will to do some serious ear-damage. That’s a pretty killer start if you ask me.

If you missed vol. 1 of “On the Radar: The Polish Scene,” it’s right here.

One listen to the live version of “Mighty Sasquatch,” which Warsaw four-piece Satellite Beaver have posted on their MySpace, and Kyuss becomes an immediate reference point. This holds up throughout the other two tracks, “Nitro Steam Engine” and the cleverly titled “OD’n'D,” though the vocals on the middle of the three songs more brings to mind a Queens of the Stone Age track with Nick Oliveri singing lead. Vocalist guitarist Simon the Beaver (all band members’ names end with “the Beaver“) comes across pretty roughly here, but one imagines the case to be different on studio recordings as it so often is.

Satellite Beaver and Broken Betty, as well as several of the other acts we’ll be looking at as this series on the Polish stoner scene unfolds, are still developing their sound, still deciding what sonic elements they want to bring to the table in terms of where to take their songs and just how they want to manifest their interpretations of the inviolable riff. For now, Satellite Beaver — rounded out by guitarist/backing vocalist Tom the Beaver, bassist Doman the Beaver and drummer Mad the Beaver — offer these three live songs as a demonstration of what they’re trying to accomplish, and particularly on “OD’n'D,” they succeed where many more established acts don’t in making the conventions of the stoner genre the basis from which they form their own style, rather than the style itself.

But of course, it’s early. Any ground-floor types out there, I hope you’re paying attention to this stuff, because in about five years’ time, when some of these bands will have broken up, traded members and hopefully all come out in possession of heightened musical awareness for the trials they’ve endured, Poland is going to be an epicenter of kickass rock and roll. If they can keep up the energy and not get mired in the kind of bullshit that drags down so many other quality acts, I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if Satellite Beaver grew into one of the scene’s strongest outfits.

Usually I like to keep my posts nice and neat, all separated and put into their unique classifications, then along comes the recently On the Radar-ed Roareth, screwing it all up. This is the first post in the year-plus The Obelisk has been active to be in not one, not two, but three separate categories. They’ve just put up a video for the song “Act I,” on their MySpace. Okay, so it’s an On the Radar update, it’s Whathaveyou because it’s news, and it’s Bootleg Theater because it’s a video. I don’t know about you, friends, but my mind is blown.

And that’s before I even watched the damn thing:

One of my favorite things in the world is being turned onto new bands. It doesn’t get any better than that, and I was fortunate enough to recently be pointed in the direction of a burgeoning scene in Warsaw, Poland, centered around several quality unsigned bands making a go of it. Hence the “Vol. 1″ above, because there are going to be a couple of these as we spotlight different groups from the area. Just so there’s no confusion, I’m hearing these acts for the first time myself, so we’re learning together. Which is nice.

Broken Betty (from the end of whose name I can’t shake a “ram ba lam” even though I know it doesn’t belong there) hail from Gdynia, on the Gulf of Danzig in the north of Poland. The trio plays a ’90s-informed style of heavy rock that has what in the US would probably be considered a commercial sheen thanks to the clean vocals of bassist Dziablas, but they don’t cross the line into nü-metal nonsensities at all on the songs posted at their MySpace page.

Instead, they show a capable use of melody in both the music and the vocals — Pacior handling the guitar and Seba the drums — and a recognizable cohesion as a unit. Their self-released EP came out last year, and is posted in its entirety for free on the aforementioned MySpace, but if you’re looking for a place to start, I’d recommend “Pull in Like a Black Hole,” which has some more stoner elements than some of the other songs and isn’t afraid to let them show. Occasionally the material dips into Helmet-style noise, but Broken Betty seem equally apt to keep that in check in favor of a more straightforward approach.

Whatever they’re doing, it’s not half bad. Like their recently-reviewed countrymen, Luna Negra, Broken Betty aren’t redefining the genre in which they reside, but given that they’re part of a small scene that — so far as I know — is the first generation in Poland to take on this style, their actions are commendable nonetheless, and definitely worth keeping on the radar.

The tip-off on Roareth came via our friends at StonerRock.com, and it’s notable not only because it’s a new band and, from the track posted on their MySpace, they sound pretty huge and doomed out, but also because the project involves biking/coffee enthusiast and sometimes Obelisk attendee Aaron D.C. Edge, known for his work in a plethora of bands, including Grievous, Iamthethorn, and most recently, Tad Doyle’s Brothers of the Sonic Cloth.

Aaron’s playing guitar in Roareth, having vacated his drummer position in the aforementioned Brothers of the Sonic Cloth for reasons I don’t know and so won’t speculate on — Tad recorded the Roareth demo, so I’ll venture to assume there’s little or no animosity there — but ever the journeyman, Edge is right at home in the newborn four-piece. “Act I,” the only track they’ve so far posted, is modern sludge heavy, featuring far off screamed vocals from drummer Ben McIsaac that manage to cut through the distorted molasses riffs, and it’s hard to tell from the still photos if either Pam Sternin or Rachel Lynch is playing a bass, but if not, their three-guitar attack is by no means short on low end.

I think I hear bass on there though. Maybe that’s just me.

In any case, Roareth are definitely worth keeping an eye on, for their sounds as much as their personnel, and I’m looking forward to seeing where the next act takes them. One can only hope that, like “Act I,” it’s to the land of feedback, cracked ride cymbals and sore throats. Right on.

If you’ve got a couple minutes to kill at work this afternoon and feel like listening to someone’s rehearsal tapes (hey, it happens), pop over to Grim Reefer’s MySpace. The British Columbia band — who, yes, have taken their name from a Bongzilla song — consists only of two members: guitarist/vocalist Dragos Baciu and drummer Tanner Hartmann. They’ve upload two tracks so far, “Kief” and “Third Lung.” Both were recorded live.

And they sound like it. I don’t know if I’ve ever put forth my theory on crappy practice recordings in this space, but I’m a huge fan of the idea of them. Think back to the heavy metal days of demo trading and how it changed the world. What’s different, other than the lack of postage needing to be paid? Grim Reefer, whose sound quality is better than plenty I’ve heard, are participating in a grand tradition (actually several). So, you know, good for them.

I won’t go so far as to say it’s mandatory listening, but again, if you have a minute to check it out, you might find Grim Reefer worth keeping on your radar. You don’t get so much of a sense of it from these recordings, because Baciu’s guitar comes across so thickly, but they could use a bassist. Hopefully they’ll get to work on that and drop an update with whatever they do next. Meantime: free music, goofy name, derivatively weedian ideology. Life could be worse.

With members on board from Backwoods Payback and Electric Horsemen, you probably already know Black Cowgirl is going to be some hard-hitting stuff. But the four-piece take a surprising tone, injecting a kind of psych-garage rock vibe into their songs, like early Nebula driving while later Nebula rides shotgun. Not that they sound like Nebula or anything.

All kidding aside, Black Cowgirl (what is it with these Pennsylvania bands and their awesome names?) throw a little Americana into the mix as well — a bit of Neil Young pops up during the quiet part of “Dirt,” despite the rest of the track’s boogie shuffle — but basically, this is the kind of rock that those who have been around the scene for a while will have no problem recognizing or welcoming into their ears.

The production of the tracks on their MySpace is a little rough, but how much of that is crappy MySpace compression and how much is the band’s actual sound, I couldn’t say. Nonetheless, I think the fuzzy garage stomp of “The Prowler” has no problem getting its point across. Oddly enough, my favorite of the three Black Cowgirl tracks online is the one without a name, unless it’s actually called “…” or “[Elipsis],” which has a more laid-back style and spacier groove. I received a disc compiling several songs together, but no tracklist, so specifics are hard to get to at this point.

I have no fodder to set the rumor mill in motion as regards future recordings, so I’ll just say keep an eye out for Black Cowgirl updates and if you get a second, click on their MySpace to check them out. If you’re looking for some classic-style rock that won’t make you feel like you need to write a dissertation about it, you could do a hell of a lot worse.

Steve Murphy, who’s also a member of New York hardcore mainstays Uppercut, sent me an email a couple days ago to check out his new project with members of Killing Time, a stoner/doom band called Kings Destroy. They’re brand new and haven’t really started playing out yet, but apparently the dudes in Kings Destroy have been stoner rock fans all along (hey, who isn’t?). The old adage of stoner music just being punk grown up comes true again. Here’s what Murphy had to say:

We have been listening to stoner/doom for a long time and finally decided to bite the bullet and start playing the stuff.  We saw Saint Vitus in the ‘80s and Melvins in the very early ‘90s. We played with Kyuss in the early ‘90s at CBGB (one of our old bands did that is).

Kings Destroy has made a four-song demo. We have released one of the songs from it. Our other band Killing Time is dropping a new album [this] week so we have not started playing out or anything in Kings Destroy. However, come April/May there will be a lot more happening.

Well hey man, I’m more than willing to see what a bunch of guys who’ve been playing a different style of music for a long time can bring to the stoner sound. Judging by the track “Old Yeller” on the Kings Destroy MySpace, they know a thing or two about riff worship topped with Ozzy-style vocals, and dammit if that isn’t more than half the battle when it comes to this genre. Check out the track and see if you don’t agree.

The whole point of On the Radar is to discover new and worthwhile bands, and that being the case, I think the pedigree Kings Destroy bring to the fold, and the inherent straightforwardness of the riffing style they show on “Old Yeller,” certainly qualify them for coverage. I’m not sure why they wouldn’t post the whole demo right away, but I’m looking forward to hearing it one way or another, as NYC is an area that needs more bands like this and less bands in tight pants. Rock and roll, gentlemen.

Thanks goes out to Mike “ZodiacLung” Hanson of the renowned Doomed to be Stoned in a Sludge Swamp blog for suggesting I take a couple minutes to check out German heavy psych rockers Buddha Sentenza. After downloading their free demo, Mode 0909, I’m increasingly glad I did.

Although its fancy print-and-fold artwork makes me long for the days of simple, easy-to-shelve jewel cases, more importantly, Mode 0909 finds the newborn (in 2008) five-piece getting down to synth-laden psychedelic explorations not necessarily in the ’70s tradition, but sounding more like an amalgamation of Colour Haze and Brant Bjork. They go so far as to credit a vocalist on their MySpace, but none of their eight demo tracks seem to feature any singing. Maybe “General Punishment” hadn’t joined Buddha Sentenza yet when they recorded.

It can’t be easy for a new band starting out in Germany to play the kind of music Buddha Sentenza does, since anyone who knows even slightly what they’re talking about is immediately going to drop a Colour Haze comparison on them — as I did above — as if doing so is a complete explanation of their sound (every sludge band who’s been compared to Eyehategod should know what I’m talking about). If there’s one thing that sets Buddha Sentenza apart from the band who increasingly are coming to define their generation of European heavy psychedelia, aside from influence, it’s the level of activity. While Colour Haze these days seem to ride each note to its very end in a relaxingly hypnotic fashion, Buddha Sentenza don’t shy away from getting down to the business of rocking. Shorter tracks like “Noise from the Death Factory” and “White Crystal Party” keep an excited feel about them, and even the eight-minute “Kehakeeltokool” manages a rousing pace as it wanders in the general direction of structure.

Buddha Sentenza have some growing to do, but for now, they’re a trip, and in a “can’t beat the price” free demo-type situation, Mode 0909 is a worthy start from a band who hopefully we’ll be hearing from again soon.

Click here to download Buddha Sentenza, Mode 0909

To anyone who’d argue that the “stoner” sound is belonging to any one region or locale — i.e. the Palm Desert in California or the Southern US — first, you’re just wrong, and second, take a look at an act like The Grand Astoria, who call St. Petersburg in Russia home. They bill themselves as a stoner punk band, and in their more active, upbeat material like “Evolution of the Planet Groove,” I can hear it especially in the vocals of guitarist Kamille Sharapodinov, whose singing style might seem awkward with the music until you recall how many stoner rockers are just punkers who grew up.

That said, of the tracks on their MySpace, I prefer the grander, more instrumental and jammy vibe of “The Man. The Sun. The Desert,” which, although not without its moments of hesitation, has a more graceful flow and when Sharapodinov does offer vocals, they’re more subdued. The build up on that track, bolstered by the guitar work of Igor Suvorov, the bass of Farid Azizov and Nick Kunavin’s drumming, leads to more straightforward thrash riffing and screaming solos sure to satisfy anyone looking to add a little metal into the mix.

These multiple personalities play out even further on “The Art of Communication with Aliens,” which takes the riffing to yet another level of noisy crunching heaviness. Fortunately, for anyone who’d want to experience The Grand Astoria’s self-titled, self-released album, they’ve made it available free of charge. I know I’ll be checking it out, as it’s always interesting to hear what those from another culture bring to an established sound — and since you don’t hear much about the Russian scene, it could be an eye-opening experience. Here’s looking forward.

I’ve found the Italian psychedelic scene a curiosity for a while now, as it seems the lineage from early prog/acid acts like Paul Chain has bred out in multiple directions to a vast array of styles, from the straightforward fuzz rock of Black Rainbows to the megadoom of Ufomammut. Brought to my attention by Obelisk attendee and Misfits überfan Kieps, the band Zippo seem to incorporate all the elements their countrymen have each based a band on within a single sound.

The miracle in that is they come out of it with something cohesive. Zippo formed in 2004 (practically forever ago by now), and have played with the lines of Brant Bjork, Stonebride and Witchcraft, as well as having a slot at the 2009 Stoned Hand of Doom fest in Roma alongside such luminaries as The Heads, Obiat and Serpentcult. Not too shabby by any measure.

But more important is the sound. While they began under the guise of stoner rock, the material on their Subsound Records debut, The Road to Knowledge proves much more diverse, at least going by the tracks on their MySpace. They claim to have taken inspiration from Carlos Castaneda’s The Teachings of Don Juan, and whatever birthed it, their heady, conscious rock is bound to pique the interest of any open-minded listener. And who knows, maybe a few of the other kind too.

Not to be confused with the recently-reviewed Worm Ouroboros, or any of the myriad other bands out there who spell that self-munching serpent’s name in various ways, this North Carolina four-piece was brought to my attention recently because of a Buried Treasure piece I did a while back on a band from the same area called Soulpreacher, who share with this Orobourus a guitarist named Michael Avery.

Where Soulpreacher’s album Sonic Witchcraft was bent more toward the Southern-tinged sludge for which their home region is famous, Orobourus have a more straightforward, beery rock sound with elements of Hermano, Down, and metal of the old school (vocalist Antares Nicklow indulging in several high-pitched screams on “The Grinder”) without being overly derivative. They played their debut show last May with Beaten back to Pure and (coincidence divine) Soulpreacher, and judging by the tracks on their MySpace — one of which is instrumental and two of which are improv jams; not necessarily a negative — they don’t have much recorded yet. One assumes they’ll get there.

In the meantime, the jams have that “rehearsal room” feel to them that sounds like there are actual people playing those instruments who are actually having a good time, the instrumental grooves, and the two cuts with vocals, “The Grinder” and “Psych,” hold promise of things to come. Glad to see Avery’s still in it, and hopefully Orobourus keep rocking with a new demo or EP (or something) sometime soon. Goes without saying at this point, but I will anyway, that they’re on the radar.

Allston, MA, rockers Black Thai, who came on the radar a little bit ago, have finished recording three new songs at the fabled New Alliance Audio studio. I emailed guitarist Scott Fuse (also of Cortez) and asked him to give the lowdown on the process and how it all came out. Here’s what he had to say:

Monday, November 30th

We all met at New Alliance Audio in Cambridge, MA at 10AM. After loading all of the gear into the freight elevator we moved it into the studio and began setting up. Once the drums were set up engineer extraordinaire Ethan Dussault (Caspian, Tides, We’re all Gonna Die) began mic-ing the drum kit to get sounds. Once we got the drums sounding sufficiently thunderous we spent some time working on guitar and bass sounds.

We decided to record the song “Saturation Point” first. We did three takes and listened to the playback. The first take had a much better feel and that’s the one we went with. We worked on “Sinking Ships” next which ended up being a bit of a tough one to capture due to a few drum issues, including a broken snare. We ended up getting a great take after all of the effort, so it worked out in the end. The last song to be recorded was “333″ and this went fairly smoothly, with only a few takes necessary.

Tuesday, December 1st

Jim (vocals, guitar) and I (guitar) came in on Tuesday to record some more guitars. We added some extra rhythm guitars to “Sinking Ships” and “333.” Guitar solos were also recorded. On “Sinking Ships” I used a really cool sounding Bass Synthesizer pedal which gave the solo an awesome effect.

Wednesday, December 23rd

Jim and I returned to New Alliance to lay down the vocals. We decided to have Jim add a guitar solo to “Sinking Ships” which came out awesome, especially following the angular-sounding lead that I did with the Bass Synth. His solo sounds like a swarm of angry wasps. So good. The vocal recording went smoothly, Jim banged out “Saturation Point” and “333″ saving “Sinking Ships” for last as it is a screamer and we knew he would probably have no voice left by the time it was done.

We still need to do final mixes in the near future. These three songs in conjunction with “The Ladder” and “Satan’s Toolshed” which we recorded earlier this year will probably end up on an EP release down the road.

-Scott

Another export from the fertile Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) scene, the four piece Little Big Horn got together in 2006 and have been rocking Kyuss-meets-Sabbath stoner doom ever since. Vocalist/guitarist Neff affects a decent and somewhat more Texan John Garcia, and though the production of the three songs on their MySpace is somewhat less than ideal, it’s still pretty easy to get a handle on what they’re doing. For heads who’ve been around for a while, there probably won’t be much in the way of surprises, but sometimes you want a band you can just pop on and groove out to without worrying about how much they’re changing the world. I do, anyway.

And to that end, Little Big Horn do just fine. The double guitar of Neff and lead six-stringer Kulmacz (which I’ve been pronouncing as “Cool-Mac-Z,” as though he was a one-man ’90s hip-hop act) riff like the pros do it, while bassist Stu gets down with some Geezerisms — see “Mountain of Pills” — and drummer Landon ups the groove of any given part. There badly needs to be a label picking up these bands. Brainticket can’t do it all on their own, people.

Here’s how easy life is: I said to myself this morning (afternoon) when I woke up, “Hmm, I haven’t done an On the Radar in a while, I think I’ll put one up.” Less than 15 minutes later, I found Little Big Horn via Orthodox Fuzz’s profile and was good to go. Like Kin of Ettins, they’re a genuine resource when it comes to DFW curiosities. But what an age we live in where at any given moment a hard rocking act like Little Big Horn is only a few clicks away, waiting for anyone who wants to come looking. Astounding.

They’ve apparently got an EP in the works (don’t we all?), or maybe the tracks posted are from it, I don’t really know, but either way, they’re bound to pop up again sooner or later, and in the meantime, radar: they’re on it. Score another one for Dallas.

Fans of Swedish rockers Mammoth Volume were invariably disappointed when the band broke up. I know I was. But drummer/vocalist Nicklas Andersson is back with a new trio called Electric Cavemen who have some demo tracks posted now on their MySpace.

Some of them are pretty rough — “Please My Mind” in particular — but the addition of new bassist Richard Maisa to the lineup along with Nicklas and guitarist/vocalist Bonny Koskela Andersson seems to have shifted the direction of the material from the straightforward stoner-type into something a little meatier. The track “Burning Cross” (a title which one assumes carries less racially-charged baggage for Swedes than for Americans) melds Helmet-style start-stop riffing with a Queens of the Stone Age multi-vocal chorus, and sounds completely natural doing so.

If this is the direction they’re going in with their 10 track demo, which they say is available for free on their website but I couldn’t access to confirm, then there’s plenty to look forward to from Electric Cavemen. In the meantime, “Burning Cross” and the more rockin’ “Hard Blues for You,” not to mention the pedigree, make them easily worth keeping on the radar.