Been a while, right? I can’t even remember what the last ‘The Obelisk Presents’ gig might’ve been, and to be honest I’d rather not make myself sad by looking it up. And let’s be clear: No, I’m not 100 percent certain that Heavy Mash Fest 2021 will happen on Oct. 2. I’m not 100 percent certain of the state that Texas, the entire United States, or the world at large will be in by the time October, or September, or a week from now comes around. And further, I’m not advocating you go if you’re uncomfortable entering a public setting. I’m not about to punk-rock-guilt anyone into leaving the house when they don’t want to do so. You need to decide where you stand on all that stuff, and any position you might take, for whatever reason, is valid. Unless you’ve refused a Covid vaccine. Then you’re dumb.
That said, I’ve supported Heavy Mash for years now, and Mark Kitchens (also of Stone Machine Electric and Slow Draw) has put together an awesome lineup with Rainbows are Free coming down from Oklahoma, Hippie Death Cult slated to travel all the way from Portland, Oregon, as well as Texas natives Monte Luna, Warlung, Holy Death Trio, Temptress and Summit. It’s a good show. I wish I could be there for it. I wish a lot of things. One way or the other, I’m happy to continue my association with the event by getting behind it in this admittedly small way. If you can make it — emphasis on “can” — I do not think you’ll come out the other end regretting it.
Full lineup announcement follows. Go with my best wishes, and probably a mask:
Heavy Mash – October 2nd, 2021
We are pleased to announce this year’s Heavy Mash! After a long year of no live show and not having Heavy Mash in 2020, our great friend Wade hosts this event at Division Brewing/Growl Records in Arlington, TX on October 2nd, 2021. Nothing but heavy music and great beer! Here is this year’s line-up:
Rainbows Are Free Warlung Temptress Monte Luna Hippie Death Cult Holy Death Trio Summit
Division Brewing, Growl Records, The Obelisk, Tokemage, and Fistful of Doom podcast sponsor this event. Big thanks to these folks for helping this event to flourish!
Posted in Whathaveyou on August 5th, 2021 by JJ Koczan
How do you make a new Swallow the Sun album even more melancholy? Add a bonus version of the songs redone in string arrangements, I’d think should do it. Such is the case with the long-running Finnish death-doomers’ upcoming work, Moonflowers — which is about the most Swallow the Sun-esque thing I can think of for them to call a record — which is set to release on Nov. 19. They’ve linked up with Trio NOX, also from Finland, and are going to be piecemealing out one instrumental track at a time in a series of animated videos ahead of the first single from the album proper, which is a pretty clever way to build momentum leading up to a release when, say, you can’t tour.
Oh, and apparently the moon on the album cover is painted in guitarist Juha Raivio‘s blood. Maybe that’s true, maybe not, but it’s a fun claim to make either way. I know you don’t really care, but this band is great.
The PR wire has all the preliminaries and release dates and thisses and thatses. Dig:
SWALLOW THE SUN ANNOUNCES NEW STUDIO ALBUM ‘MOONFLOWERS’
BAND ANNOUNCES BONUS INSTRUMENTAL ALBUM; WATCH “MOONFLOWERS BLOOM IN MISERY”
Finnish death doom masters, SWALLOW THE SUN, announce their new album Moonflowers. The album, which they have written, recorded and mixed is set for release on November 19th, 2021.
SWALLOW THE SUN will also be releasing a bonus album featuring instrumental versions of all the regular album tracks off Moonflowers. The instrumental album has been composed for strings and was recorded at Sipoo Church in Finland. The strings were performed by the group called “Trio NOX” from Finland. Watch the animated video for “Moonflowers Bloom in Misery”, the first instrumental version and animated video released off the forthcoming bonus album, HERE. Each instrumental song will have an animated video, which were created by Dronicon Films, released every week, leading up to the first single release of the main album.
“I know well that I should not say this, but I deeply hate this album. I hate where it takes me, how it makes me feel and what it stands for me personally. I wish it wouldn’t. But for all its honesty I got no option than also love it. That is all that matters to me with the music anyway and it doesn’t matter how it makes me feel, as long as it does. For me this album is like a mirror of a deep self-disappointment. Even I still want to believe that there is and could be more than this in me. But I don’t need or want to talk more about it. After all music means so different things to each one of us by how we have walked our own paths, and that is a beautiful thing about music. There is no right or wrong,” states SWALLOW THE SUN guitarist Juha Raivio.
“After I had finished writing all the music for this record in the fall of 2020 I started to write these small instrumental versions of the album songs for the violin, viola, cello and piano. Mostly because I was wondering how it would feel like to hear all these songs first as these intimate versions instead of a full band album. It was really beautiful to see and hear these songs come alive in this way and form, recorded live in this big church in Finland. To be able to hear the echoes of this music reflecting from the church walls and feel the very soul of these old wooden instruments played by real people in this sacred place. Something about hearing the strings breathe this fragile beauty into these songs that carry so much pain otherwise. Now looking back, maybe I wrote these versions just for myself to be able to hear and feel at least some kind of a beauty and solace in these songs, maybe…
I wanted to create the cover art of this album myself this time, so it would stand as brutally honest for me as the music is. So I painted the moon on the ‘Moonflowers‘ cover with my own blood and I decorated it with the flowers I picked up and dried on the spring of 2016. Maybe it isn’t the most outstanding looking piece of art ever made in this world, but for me it is everything. I wasn’t going to write any new music before I would have moved towards the right direction in my life, but finally all this music just forced itself out of me during the long nights of this hope crushing and neverending lockdown prison. Something grew out from that void eventually and writing these songs made me think a lot about moonflowers that bloom at the darkest hour of the night, so that name felt right to call the album also.”
Moonflowers tracklist: 1. Moonflowers Bloom In Misery 2. Enemy 3. Woven Into Sorrow 4. Keep Your Heart Safe From Me 5. All Hallows’ Grieve (Featuring Cammie Gilbert) 6. The Void 7. The Fight Of Your Life 8. This House Has No Home
Raivio further states, “In other news, unfortunately our busy brother Jaani will step aside from the band at least for this new album cycle, but we are happy to tell that you can hear Jaani’s backing vocals on the new album anyway.”
Jaani Peuhu adds, “Sadly, COVID-19 messed up everything including the release schedules of my bands. Both the Mercury Circle and Swallow The Sun albums are being released at the same time, making it impossible for me to tour with both bands. For this reason, I decided that it’d be better for me to solely focus on MC for this release cycle. That being said, the upcoming Swallow The Sun album will be amazing, and I am so happy we could still do it together. I wish the best of luck to StS on their tour with it!”
Band painting by Doppelganger-Art
SWALLOW THE SUN is Mikko Kotamaki (vocals), Matti Honkonen (bass), Juuso Raatikainen (drums), Jaani Peuhu (keys and vocals), Juho Raiha (guitars), and Juha Raivio (guitars).
Posted in audiObelisk on August 5th, 2021 by JJ Koczan
The second full-length from Finland’s Horte, titled Maa Antaa Yön Vaientaa, is set to release on Aug. 27 through Pelagic Records. The four-piece bear some at-least-tertiary relation to outfits like Dark Buddha Rising and Oranssi Pazuzu — the acclaimed ‘Waste of Space’ collective in Tampere — but explore textures vastly different from those dark and/or blown-out confines. Combining spaciousness and intimacy amid washes of psychedelia and indie-style electronics, organic drums, bass and guitar meeting with synthesizer beats all behind the flowing melodies of vocalist Riika, the almost-humble 36-minute follow-up to Horte‘s 2017 self-titled debut is sweetly-colored in its post-rocking patience, making each wavelength count as different elements intertwine on opener “Pelko Karistaa Järjen” or the soon to follow side A pair of “Kilpemme” and “Valoa on Liika,” the last of skirts the line of minimalism only because it’s so quiet, but is deceptively rich in its layered depths, the central beat looping more like a found-sound than something purposefully conjured from a keyboard or MIDI bank, and though it’s among the more rhythmically active cuts on the album, “Ilman Nurkka” (premiering below) holds to the central vibe, melancholic despite my ignorance of the Finnish language, but exploratory and beautiful.
Comprised mostly of Maa Antaa Yön Vaientaa‘s two longest tracks “Kun Joki Haihtuu” (6:27) and “Väisty Tieltä” (7:08), side B finds Horte pushing further outward in structure and both making and paying off more weighted threats of volume. “Kun Joki Haihtuu” spends most of its time rolling along its readily fuzzed bassline, but grows into a jazzy barrage of crashes before hitting its midpoint and seems to spend the next verses collecting itself, at least before its final devolution to piano keys throughout its last minute or so, deathly quiet as a setup for the immediate punch of drums, low end and rhythmic shove that is “Väisty Tieltä,” with percussion, keyboard or effects wash swirling over the churn and a build of its own underway until it drops out and Riika‘s voice enters for a first verse. There’s a reason this song was the lead single despite also being the longest piece on the record, and “Ilman Nurkka” makes a fair enough follow-up with its own pulse, but the central persona of Maa Antaa Yön Vaientaa as a whole is just as much — if not more — soothing than it is brash. I suppose “Väisty Tieltä” shows that in its final stretch, but the spirit there is more sci-fi soundtrack triumph and aftermath by the time they’re done than it is the serenity of “Kilpemme” earlier or the vastly spacious, mostly-drone “Konttaa” which follows as an outro to the proceedings.
It would be a case of dual personalities were the sound and the underlying craft not so cohesive. As it stands, Horte come across as dynamic without losing themselves in the process any more than they wish to in a moment like that surge in “Väisty Tieltä” or in the hypnotic wistfulness that’s captured as “Pelko Karistaa Järjen” deconstructs en route to “Ilman Nurkka.” These stretches are myriad across Maa Antaa Yön Vaientaa, and they make the album refreshing even at its most barely-there, because it’s an opportunity to breathe. It would be inappropriate for Horte to force the issue, to thrust a song at you, and even at its most physically moving, Maa Antaa Yön Vaientaa doesn’t do that. Instead, they sweep the listener along, fast or slow, like a river current, peaceful here, sometimes on a faster downhill slide, until finally they reach the destination that “Konttaa” seems to provide. It’s sunny there, mostly.
“Ilman Nurkka” premieres on the player that follows here. Info from the PR wire is under that in the blue text, as ever. You’ll see the preorder link. It stands out.
Please enjoy:
Horte, “Ilman Nurkka” track premiere
“Ilman nurkka”, taken from Horte’s new album “Maa antaa yön vaientaa”. Out August 27 via Pelagic Records. Stream / Download / Pre-order here:https://bit.ly/horteDGTL
“Maa antaa yön vaientaa” is as captivating as it is alienating. The second album by Finnish Post-Rock extravaganza HORTE is a dark and mesmerizing journey that is best consumed in one sitting – or else you’ll miss all the dramatic arcs. HORTE demand your undivided attention.
“Our principal goal is to keep the focus on the music without highlighting us as individuals”, says singer Riikka.
It is her otherworldly but ultimately pacifying voice which inevitably places HORTE’s dreamy, psychedelically distorted soundscapes in the far North. Besides the vocals, the bass is the most prominent and most tangible element in these soundscapes, standing tall between eerie synth clouds, broken beats and a voice that oscillates between subdued aspiration and bitter laments.
Field recordings and sound collages stand at the beginning of the group’s songwriting process, collected material from differing stratums that gets processed into a skeletal pre-composition, before the whole band arranges the pieces together. “Our way is to work with the material as long as it takes for the piece to figure itself out. Sound comes with it. There is always a compositional vision of how the pieces should sound in a broader sense”, says Riikka.
The Finish Four piece released their self-titled debut album via SVART Records in 2017. Maa antaa yon vaientaa (“Let the earth be silenced by night”) was recorded by the band at their homes and at Tonehaven Studio in Tampere, Finland. As an outside observer, Juho Vanhanen (Oranssi Pazuzu) worked with Horte on the production. The album was mixed by Saku Tamminen (Dark Buddha Rising).
1. Pelko karistaa järjen 2. Ilman nurkka 3. Kilpemme 4. Valoa on liikaa 5. Kun joki haihtuu 6. Väisty tieltä 7. Konttaa, ne konttaa II
Posted in Whathaveyou on August 4th, 2021 by JJ Koczan
As I understand it, this will be a series of benefit compilations, each one dedicated to a different cause. Fuzzwitch Ritual Vol. 1, put together at the combined significant behest of Abraxas Records, Fuzzrious and Bruxa Verde, will donate proceeds to Solidariedade Vegan. It’s got 17 bands from Brazil and beyond, and it costs all of three friggin’ dollars (minimum) through Bandcamp, so yeah, one way or the other the worst that happens is you pay a few bucks and check out some bands you might not’ve heard, even if you’re violently opposed somehow to homeless people eating healthy. Which, if you think about it, it probably a position you’ll want to reexamine at some point.
There’s a lot going on here, sound-wise, band-wise, label-wise, cause-wise, compilation-series-wise, but let the big takeaway be that this is a thing that’s happening, it might happen more, and I think it’s something worth your time and three bucks of your hard-earned. If you can’t donate and just want to listen, well, then you heard some cool tunes. Okay.
Here’s info:
The compilation Fuzzwitch Ritual is the result of a partnership between Bruxa Verde Produções and the labels Fuzzrious and Abraxas Records, three representative supporters of Brazilian’s Stoner related scene working through PR and divulgation activities, label’s releases and more.
Bringing together sixteen tracks from sixteen different bands from countries like Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Greece and the United States the compilation will be released at Bandcamp on August 6th and has as its motto the total reversal of sales values for the social cause of Solidariedade Vegan, a project managed by Brazilian punk rock legend João Gordo (Ratos de Porão) and his wife Vivi Torrico, where they develop a social work dedicated to feeding and supporting vulnerable people in homeless situation and also focused on vegan food.
This first edition of the project has prominent names from the national scene and also foreign bands such as Slow Voyage (Chile), Electric Cult (Mexico) and The Supernauts (Greece). Genres such as Stoner Rock, Doom Metal, Psychedelic Rock and Hard Rock are embraced by the compilation which aims to unite the labels and scenario linked to the social cause, with bands supported/released/published by the participating labels. Check out the tracklist of “Fuzzwitch Ritual Vol.1” below:
1. Korsunnuz – Cruise Control 2. Buzzard – Higher 3. Niles (Wisdom) 4. Electric Gravity – A Hand’s Worth of Dark 5. Space Smoke – Corpo Solar 6. The Supernauts – I Can´t Reach Myself 7. Lagarto Rei – Gardre 8. Desert Druid and the Acid Caravan – Total Madness 9. Mad Monkees – Sem Reação 10. Electric Cult – Sleep Demons 11. Peso Morto – Diante a Sentença do Tempo 12. Gods & Punks – Gravity 13. Weedevil – The Death is Coming 14. The Slow Voyage – Expansion 15. Murdock – Vingança das Bruxas 16. Grindhouse Hotel – Centaurus 17. Rolê da Tempestade – Gibagayte
Posted in audiObelisk on August 4th, 2021 by JJ Koczan
Canadian sludge-rocking/sometimes-grinding/sometimes-doomed oddballs Slowpoke will release their self-titled debut album on Aug. 22. It is a gleefully troublemaking record almost from its very start, with the 9:27 opener and longest track (immediate points) “Stony Iommi,” which launches rough with thrashy slams and a raw grind like Repulsion in sludge tones before at around two and a half minutes in it sneaks its way into a hypnotic psychedelic jam. Seriously, you almost don’t even realize it’s happened until a couple minutes after the fact, like, “Wait, weren’t these guys just ripping out my larynx? What happened to that?” and they’re jamming along peacefully going, “Nah man, not us. Those were three other dudes. Check out this massive-ass prog-stoner buildup we’re about to do, it’s pretty rad.” And so it is.
The proceedings get even more off-kilter with the three-minute shortest track, “Slumlord,” which follows and sounds like Chris Goss fronting a group of punk fuzz misfits before random growls are thrown in again; subtle preface to the sludgy slowdown to come near the finish, which is a fitting lead-in to the brash early going of “Sid the Cat,” which almost comes across like a parody of Down before the cleaner-style of vocals returns — then is layered in ahead of, you guessed it, more metallic growls. Bassist Ben Chapman-Smith would seem to be something of a tour de force in his approach, and the band, with Cameron Legge on guitar and Adam Young drumming, very much follows suit, elbowing back and forth between thrash, heavy rock, sludge, doom, grind, and noise. They make a highlight of the fuzzy centerpiece “Miami Camo,” which follows a linear forward course even as its melody offers a grounded-feeling earworm, but as they’ve shown multiple times throughout already — as they showed before “Stony Iommi” was halfway done, in fact — they’re not interested in staying in one place for two long. “Windtalker” shifts between cleaner singing and growling atop a relatively straightforward heavy rock progression, giving a sense of structure and arrangement that effectively brings the group’s multifaceted approach together toward a single purpose and still finds room to layer in a solo ahead of its final growls an instrumental finish.
Clearly these guys hare having a blast and I don’t think anyone would accuse them on this debut of taking themselves too seriously, but the ease with which they bring together more extreme forms of metal and heavy rock isn’t to be discounted. They do it in the correct way: by doing it. It’s not a ceremony. There isn’t a stop and then everybody quickly retunes and starts playing Morbid Angel riffs. It becomes part of the self-titled’s personality, part of the band’s personality, and as they move into the closing duo of “Sanctuary” and the eponymous “Slowpoke,” the former over seven minutes and the latter a bookend with “Stone Iommi” that passes nine, there’s an added feeling of breadth that speaks to where they might go in the future — not to mention the harmonies that surface in the midsection of “Slowpoke” ahead of its mega-lumbering conclusion. They must’ve had a time picking between that and “Stony Iommi” to open the record, but they ultimately went the right way. That sense of good-time levity and Slowpoke‘s being ready and willing to go wherever the hell they want at a moment’s notice (or none at all) are laid forth early and help define and give context to everything that comes after. They make it make sense, even if the sense it’s making is its own kind.
And on a first release, “its own kind of sense” is an all the more impressive making. There’s work to be done in terms of harnessing their approach and using it to build character in the songs — “Sid the Cat” does that well in terms of writing around an actual character, but I’m talking more about character for the band, so “Slumlord,” “Windtalker” and “Slowpoke” might be better examples — tightening their craft and finding their studio sound as a band only can over multiple recordings, but to call the early returns on Slowpoke anything less than encouraging would be underselling them. Slowpoke serve as a reminder of how much fun it can be when a band stands out from the crowd, and how much potential there is for them to continue to tread their own path through heavy going forward.
“Windtalker” premieres below, followed by PR wire info.
Please enjoy:
Slowpoke, “Windtalker” track premiere
Slowpoke formed in St John’s Newfoundland Canada in 2018 by Ben Chapman-Smith (Bass, Vocals) and Cameron Legge (Guitar). In early 2019 Adam Young (Drums) joined the band. The trio went on to record the bedrock of their upcoming album ‘Slowpoke” and closed the night at Still Heavy’s Midsummer Mayhem 3 festival. COVID-19 made live performances a non-option in 2020 so Slowpoke went inside and worked away at their release, and applied for a MusicNL Artist development grant which they received in January 2021.
Upon receiving the grant Slowpoke enlisted the services of Rick Hollet at Redhouse Recording (sHeavy, Hey Rosetta!) for Mixing and Chris Keffer at Magnetic North (The Black Keys, Cheap Trick) studios for Mastering. Slowpoke is currently performing Newfoundland and has an album release show planned at the Rockhouse in St Johns on August 21st 2021 with The Birchmen and local legends sHeavy.
Slowpoke is: Cameron Legge – Guitar Ben Chapman-Smith – Bass, vocals Adam Young – Drums
Posted in Whathaveyou on August 4th, 2021 by JJ Koczan
It’s not like Closet Disco Queen & The Flying Raclettes are trying to get away with anything here in being too weird for the planet. It’s not like they’re coming out of the gate with a name like Electric Orange Witchness or something pretending to be run-of-the-mill heavy fare and then blindsiding you with proggy weirdness on Omelette du Fromage, their debut album out next month.
Nopers. Instead, the four-piece born out of the already-plenty-quirky duo Closet Disco Queen let you know right up front you’re in for a ride, and if the moniker doesn’t get you then surely the cover art for Omelette du Fromage will. You like postmodern absurdity? You like surrealism? You like dada hippos? Of course you do.
Maybe they should’ve called the band Dada Hippos. Next time.
I love the fact that the record title comes from Dexter’s Laboratory, and I would totally play whatever video game is happening in the visualizers for “Flugensaft” and “Flugantaj Raketoj,” so yeah, I guess I’m on board here. You got me.
To the PR wire:
Closet Disco Queen & The Flying Raclettes – Swiss Progressive Rock Collective Announce New Album “Omelette du Fromage”
Share New Songs “Flugensaft” And “Flugantaj Raketoj”
Closet Disco Queen & The Flying Raclettes is an extended version of the instrumental duo made of Luc Hess and Jona Nido from Coilguns, The Ocean, Louis Jucker, etc…, now welcoming Kevin Galland (who also plays in Coilguns and is a well established live and studio sound engineer), and Chadi Messmer (a graduated bass player from the Luzern Jazz School playing with numerous projects such as Jacob Hannes, Tanche, Beurre, etc…) to join them as The Flying Raclettes.
Closet Disco Queen originally started in 2014 when Coilguns was on hold as a joke with the pointless ambition to become a less talented version of the iconic progressive rock group known as The Mars Volta. The two piece have since then released one studio album, two eps and a live album. They’ve also toured for over three years all around the globe including direct support to Baroness and Red Fang European tours. Closet Disco Queen played both the London and Berlin edition of Desert Fest and have already set foot in several Swiss Festivals such as Montreux Jazz Festival, Festi’Neuch, or Palp Festival. It is the latter that offered the band the possibility to create an exclusive set to be presented for the first time on Aug. 8th 2021 at Palp Festival. And thus The Flying Raclettes were born.
The end result will now be released on September 3rd in the form of a full-length album titled “Omelette du Fromage” on Jona Nido’s record label Hummus Records. The album title is a direct homage to “The Big Cheese” episode of Cartoon Network’s animated series “Dexter’s Laboratory” from 1996. In this episode, Dexter ends up becoming worldwide famous, giving public speeches and being a celebrity just by saying ‘Omelette du Fromage’. Just like Dexter, the band is hoping to gain instant celebrity across the universe with this very much pompous album title and its beautiful and elusive graphic design. Or maybe Closet Disco Queen & The Flying Raclettes are just as much of a fraud as Dexter in the big cheese episode. But don’t be fooled, the album is an organic yet powerful piece of instrumental loud rock music. The additional musicians (bass and guitar) have allowed the former two piece to enhance their songwriting and dig deeper into their sound, implementing stronger punk, progressive as well as psych and ambient elements in their music. Bands quoted as inspiration during the creative process went from The Mars Volta, Breach, The Hives or Goat.
The album was written, recorded, mixed and mastered in twenty days by the four-piece and as mentioned before was the result of a project initiated by Palp Festival. They gave Closet Disco Queen the opportunity to live in the tiny mountain village of Bruson and an access to an abandoned school where the band built a DIY mobile studio, started writing and 15 days later the album was sent to the pressing plant.
Posted in audiObelisk on August 4th, 2021 by JJ Koczan
Sweden’s Wolves in Haze release their second album, Chaos Reigns, on Sept. 3 through Majestic Mountain and Tvåtakt Records. Preorders are live as of this Friday. The new single from the outing is “Way in Haze” (premiering below) and it is both the second track unveiled and the second track on the record, behind opener and prior single “Green River Speaks.” Together, the pair of songs give about a seven-minute glimpse at what the follow-up to the band’s 2016 self-titled debut holds, foreshadowed by 2018’s All or Nothing (premiered here) single but quickly finding their own space to occupy in pulling together the sounds of countrymen past and present, as well of course as themselves.
Brash and blustering, “Way in Haze” rolls out thick riffing and unabashed shred later in its procession, the vocals of guitarist Manne Olander rough but not entirely amelodic in their shout. With fellow guitarist Olle Hansson and drummer Kalle Lilja — who also played bass and co-produced/mixed with Per Stålberg at Welfare Sounds in Gothenburg, of which they’re also co-operators — behind him, they may not yet have hit full-throttle as they will somewhere throughout the subsequent tracks, but they’re probably not far off. As the self-titled showed, they had plenty of shove when they wanted it. But the one-two of “Green River Speaks” into “Way in Haze” is telling, since the leadoff cut begins with an nigh-on-Monolordian spaciousness in its hook and more melodic echoing vocal, thereby allowing “Way in Haze” to come in after like a suckerpunch of post-Entombed aggression which will be familiar to those who heard the first LP or the single that followed.
Could well be that the trio-or-maybe-four-piece are signaling growth or a blossoming in their approach to coincide with the pummel one might see coming but be no less thrilled to undertake for that. And if so, right on. I can’t speak for the entirety of Chaos Reigns because I haven’t heard it, but they’re giving a full-sounding, righteous showcase for how the album begins in these two tracks, and as they make their way down to the title-track that closes, if this is the journey they’re on, they make it easy to get excited at the prospect of following along. In teasing that prospect as a single release is supposed to do, they win this round. I’d expect them to take the next as well.
“Way in Haze” can be heard on the player that follows. Please enjoy:
Gothenburg-based ‘Wolves in Haze’ will drop their new album ‘Chaos Reigns ‘ on digital, cd, and vinyl on Majestic Mountain Records Sept. 3. The vinyl release will be a collaboration with the kickass label Tvåtakt Records!
Wolves in Haze Drags you down a filthy path of raucously raw, death metal infused rock and bloody roll. Power riffing straight into the heaving pits of hell fire and brimstone with the super charged new album CHAOS REGINS.
Produced, recorded & mixed by Kalle Lilja & Per Stålberg at Welfare Sounds Assisting engineering by Olle Björk Mastered by Daniel Johansson at Welfare Sounds Mastering Music arrangements by Wolves in Haze Released by Majestic Mountain Records & Tvåtakt Records
Wolves in Haze are: Olle Hansson – Guitar Manne Olander – Vox & guitar Kalle Lilja – Drums & bass
Posted in Whathaveyou on August 3rd, 2021 by JJ Koczan
Admittedly, this is old news, but a Bandcamp notice came in about now-defunct London four-piece Oak getting rid of the last of their merch and, well, I’d like to put this here if only to remind myself to include their final EP, Fin — gotta call it something — in my next Quarterly Review. The band had a decent run over the last half-decade plus, and stood out in a crowded London/UK scene while developing a sound of their own. They never quite got to a full-length, but worked well across short releases, three self-titled EPs and this last one. Good band, bummer they’re calling it a day, but so it goes.
Video and EP stream are below, and as noted, I’ll be reviewing it later. Hardly urgent if they’re not a band anymore, but I’d still like to get it in, just in case they reunite or something.
Here’s their announcement and that stuff:
“Fin” is out!
And with its release comes the end of Oak.
A big thanx goes out to everyone who has been involved in the band over the last six years, it’s been one hell of a ride.
Oak came together at the right time but now it’s time to take our final bows. We hope you enjoy our final EP, we think you will.
Check out the Beyond… music vid, it captures the band over the last six years and just about sums us up to a tee.
Lastly to the heavy music world, Keep buying tix, keep going to shows, keep buying merch, keep banging the nut, keep making awesome tunes and keep living and loving. We loved every minute. We will see you about again soon!
Oak: Alex De La Cour: Drums Kevin Germain: Guitars, String Synths, Gang Vocals Richard Morgan: Bass, Mellotron, Backing Vocals, Gang Vocals Andy Valiant: Lead Vocals, Backing Vocals, Spoken Words
