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Dread Witch Sign to DHU Records; Tower of the Severed Serpent to See LP Release

Posted in Whathaveyou on October 31st, 2023 by JJ Koczan

Issued by the band in January, there was little doubt the full-length debut from Danish doom metallers Dread Witch, Tower of the Severed Serpent (review here) would end up plucked from out of the digital ether for vinyl realization. Sure enough, DHU Records has stepped in to do the dirty work of standing behind the pressing, which conveys the severity of its intention and announces its of-the-genre stance with riffs and Branca Studio cover art alike. I almost met that dude this year at SonicBlast. He does art for the Portuguese fest as well and had a merch table. I wasn’t brave enough to say hi in the end. Maybe some day.

If you missed the record, the stream is below and if I didn’t think it was worth your time I wouldn’t be here writing about it. Band and label both posit an early 2024 release for the vinyl of Tower of the Severed Serpent, after which one imagines the band will at some point adjourn to the dank, cold, largely-unlit cave where they composed the first release in order to set fire beneath the cauldron of a follow-up. Be patient. Good doom takes time. It’s like the baked potato of musical genres.

On that note, this from the PR wire:

Dread Witch DHU announce

DHU Signs Dread Witch

*** LISTEN UP ***

DHU Records is thrilled to announce the signing of Denmark Death Doomers Dread Witch !! (#127465#)(#127472#)

“Tower Of The Severed Serpent” is the stunning, otherworldly, debut album by Dread Witch that will surely leave you aghast and in awe when immersing yourself in this bitter & weighty tome! Not to mention the Sinister & Delightfully fitting artwork by Branca Studio (#128013#)(#128128#)(#128396#)

Get ready for a very Dark, Low & Heavy trip at dreadwitch.bandcamp.com (#128266#)⚰

DHU Records will release Tower Of The Severed Serpent on Limited Edition Vinyl early 2024

Test Press, DHU Exclusive & Band Editions will be available…

More details & info to follow…

(#128367#)STAY DOOMED STAY HEAVY(#128367#)

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https://dreadwitch.bandcamp.com/

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Dread Witch, Tower of the Severed Serpent

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The Obelisk Questionnaire: Alex Bossen of Oxx

Posted in Questionnaire on September 6th, 2023 by JJ Koczan

Alex Bossen of OXX (photo by Leandro Sanchez)

The Obelisk Questionnaire is a series of open questions intended to give the answerer an opportunity to explore these ideas and stories from their life as deeply as they choose. Answers can be short or long, and that reveals something in itself, but the most important factor is honesty.

Based on the Proust Questionnaire, the goal over time is to show a diverse range of perspectives as those who take part bring their own points of view to answering the same questions. To see all The Obelisk Questionnaire posts, click here.

Thank you for reading and thanks to all who participate.

The Obelisk Questionnaire: Alex Bossen of Oxx

How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?

I like to play and write music. I try to keep it at that.

An unhealthy consequence, I think, of how we tend to mythologize art and artists, is that it ends up being about everything else than the art. We’re so obsessed with the personal lives of our favorite musicians, that the music becomes intrinsically linked to their sufferings and trials. I mean, even the PR campaign for Oxx’s own, most recent record, has been heavy on the personal stuff. So I’m no better. But I think there’s a widespread misconception that suffering produces great art, and that miserable people are more creatively inclined. Or more broadly: that music is as much about how you feel as it is about the actual music. Which is wrong. Everybody suffers in very real, very valid ways. Some suffer a lot more. A lot of both groups make music. And most of it sucks. The notion that the intensity of your emotional life is somehow linked to the validity of your music is a distraction that keeps people from seriously discussing the art and practicing the craft as much as they should.

I’ve certainly been guilty of this myself. So I try to keep it simple these days. I play and write because I enjoy being around art as much as possible. And it keeps me out of trouble.

Anyway: how did I come to do it? Too dysfunctional to do anything else, I suppose.

Describe your first musical memory.

My parents playing Ibrahim Ferrer on the stereo while having guests over.

Or Scatman John on some shitty eurodance-for-kids-compilation. I don’t remember which. The first is vastly more romantic, but eurodance gets a bad rap. So let’s go with Scatman John. Rest in peace, King.

Describe your best musical memory to date.

Probably by myself, practicing. Occasionally, everything falls into place, and I fool myself into thinking that I’m completely uninhibited, without any technical or cognitive constraints, and get to just play and feel good about it. That’s pretty great.

Or perhaps walking 6 k through a literal storm in Copenhagen with shit falling from the buildings and debris flying everywhere, to get to a Mark Lanegan concert. Only to arrive and find out that 1: the gig is cancelled and 2: me and the five other morons stupid enough to brave the weather are forced to stay and wait out the storm. Turns out Lanegan was stuck as well, and though pissed, decided to play anyway. In a massive concert hall for eight people sitting on the floor. I got to see Lanegan a bunch of times, and every one was transformative in different ways, but this was perfect.

And Lou Reed had just died the day before, so they did four impromptu Velvet Underground songs as well.

And a million others. I love music.

When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?

All the time. I resist the urge to rant about politics here…

But in the less serious department: it’s a continual source of frustration and mild disillusionment to me how many bands insist on espousing the old hardcore tenets of scene-solidarity and community, without any actual interest in either beyond how it can benefit them personally. That posturing is especially exhausting, but every other kind of careerist behaviour in heavy music is off putting to me as well.

Where do you feel artistic progression leads?

Poverty? I’m not sure… sorta continuing where my massive rant a couple of questions back ended, i don’t think it’s very constructive to attach any grandiose goals to creative pursuits, or make it out to be anything more noble than any of the innumerable other ways of passing the time while we’re waiting to croak. I play and write music because it makes me happy. And in order to stay happy I need to do my best with it and keep in tune with whichever directions my musical interests might be heading. So it’s self-regulating in that it’s only fun if I put in an unreasonable amount of effort. It’s a worthwhile pursuit, and making an effort at honing a craft should be reward enough.

How do you define success?

If I can get to a point where I, with reasonable confidence, can declare that I’m not an asshole, I’d be happy. Not being miserable would be a bonus. Hippy shit.

What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?

I feel like this question could lead me down a road that might end up at me becoming unemployable. Or at several other, less serious, but no less regrettable pit stops on the spectrum of oversharing.

But pertaining specifically to the topic at hand, music, I’m immensely bummed out every time I’m confronted with how much my favorite musicians have to hustle to scrape by. It’s symptomatic of much broader structural problems in late-stage capitalism as well, but Jesus Christ. We should really get our collective acts together and take better care of the people keeping art alive and evolving.

Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.

Let me count the ways… I suffer from the same malaise that has driven The Rock to the delusion that he should act. The affliction in the grasp of which Dwight Yoakam thought it wise to direct a movie (he really can act though). The very ailment that, in its most terminal stages, had Sean Penn write a book.

That is to say, the particular kind of arrogance that creative people have, that makes them think they should stray from their chosen craft, and would probably be “like, pretty sick, brah,” at something completely unrelated, aside from the fact that it’s another act of “creative” self-realization. To wit: I have recurring fantasies (delusions?) of writing novels, making movies and.. I think I got offered to do porn once as well. Luckily, these kinds of moonlighting are a privilege reserved for the filthy rich. And since I’m occasionally filthy and always broke, I never had the chance of acting upon any of it. Which is probably in humanity’s best interest. I do however have a, slightly more modest, ambition of making a guitar record. Like a guitar-guitar record. I’m hoping for some weird mix between Danny Gatton, Charlie Parker and Allan Holdsworth. That I could make in good conscience, and I probably will at some point.

What do you believe is the most essential function of art?

Letting us get in contact with the sublime.

But for me, this implicates a much broader definition of art. Same thing goes for sports. Or food. Actually standing face to face with proof of the extent of what a human body/mind is capable of, in spite of everything, is the most life affirming thing to me, and very far removed from any mystical notions of the soul of the artist as it relates to the cosmos, or whatever.

Experiencing someone at the peak of their craft freely expressing themselves is the most genuinely touching thing, and I try to get as much of that as I can. But again, that’s not restricted to the arts. My most substantial aesthetic experience last year was Alexander Volkanovski’s performance against Max Holloway in their third match.

Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?

The inevitable fall of western civilization.

A distant second place, and much less probable: that the upcoming Blood Meridian adaptation doesn’t disappoint me immensely.

Nah, fuck it… I’ll go with something much more mundane, and much more adult. I’m looking forward to getting out of bed tomorrow, hanging out with my cat, having a good 4 hours of practice time and going to the gym.

https://www.facebook.com/oxxmusic
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https://oxxmusic.bandcamp.com

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Oxx, “The Coast” official video

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Quarterly Review: ISAAK, Iron Void, Dread Witch, Tidal Wave, Guided Meditation Doomjazz, Cancervo, Dirge, Witch Ripper, Pelegrin, Black Sky Giant

Posted in Reviews on April 10th, 2023 by JJ Koczan

the-obelisk-qr-summer-2020

Welcome to the Spring 2023 Quarterly Review. Between today and next Tuesday, a total of 70 records will be covered with a follow-up week slated for May bringing that to 120. Rest assured, it’ll be plenty. If you’re reading this, I feel safe assuming you know the deal: 10 albums per day from front to back, ranging in style, geography, type of release — album, EP, singles even, etc. — and the level of hype and profile surrounding. The Quarterly Review is always a massive undertaking, but I’ve never done one and regretted it later, and looking at what’s coming up across the next seven days, there are more than few records featured that are already on my ongoing best of 2023 list. So please, keep an eye and ear out, and hopefully you’ll also find something new that speaks to you.

We begin.

Quarterly Review #1-10:

ISAAK, Hey

isaak hey

Last heard from as regards LPs with 2015’s Serominize (review here) and marking 10 years since their 2013 debut under the name, The Longer the Beard the Harder the Sound (review here), Genoa-based heavy rockers ISAAK return with the simply-titled Hey and encapsulate the heads-up fuzz energy that’s always been at the core of their approach. Vocalist Giacomo H. Boeddu has hints of Danzig in “OBG” and the swing-shoving “Sleepwalker” later on, but whether it’s the centerpiece Wipers cover “Over the Edge,” the rolling “Dormhouse” that follows, or the melodic highlight “Rotten” that precedes, the entire band feel cohesive and mature in their purposeful songwriting. They’re labelmates and sonic kin to Texas’ Duel, but less bombastic, with a knife infomercial opening their awaited third record before the title-track and “OBG” begin to build the momentum that carries the band through their varied material, spacious on “Except,” consuming in the apex of “Fake it Till You Make It,” but engaging throughout in groove and structure.

ISAAK on Facebook

Heavy Psych Sounds on Bandcamp

 

Iron Void, IV

IRON VOID IV

With doom in their collective heart and riffs to spare, UK doom metal traditionalists Iron Void roll out a weighted 44 minutes across the nine songs of their fourth full-length, IV, seeming to rail against pandemic-era restrictions in “Grave Dance” and tech culture in “Slave One” while “Pandora’s Box” rocks out Sabbathian amid the sundry anxieties of our age. Iron Void have been around for 25 years as of 2023 — like a British Orodruin or trad-doom more generally, they’ve been undervalued for most of that time — and their songwriting earns the judgmental crankiness of its perspective, but each half of the LP gets a rousing closer in “Blind Dead” and “Last Rites,” and Iron Void doom out like there’s no tomorrow even on the airier “She” because, as we’ve seen in the varying apocalypses since the band put out 2018’s Excalibur (review here), there might not be. So much the better to dive into the hook of “Living on the Earth” or the grittier “Lords of the Wasteland,” the metal-of-yore sensibility tapping into early NWOBHM without going full-Maiden. Kind of a mixed bag, it might take a few listens to sink in, but IV shows the enduring strengths of Iron Void and is clearly meant more for those repeat visits than some kind of cloying immediacy. An album to be lived with and doomed with.

Iron Void on Facebook

Shadow Kingdom Records website

 

Dread Witch, Tower of the Severed Serpent

Dread Witch Tower of the Severed Serpent

An offering of thickened, massive lava-flow sludge, plodding doom and atmospheric severity, Dread Witch‘s self-released (not for long, one suspects) first long-player, Tower of the Severed Serpent, announces a significant arrival on the part of the onslaught-prone Danish outfit, who recorded as a trio, play live as a five-piece and likely need at least that many people to convey the density of a song like the opener/longest track (immediate points) “The Tower,” the eight minutes of which are emblematic of the force of execution with which the band delivers the rest of what follows, runtimes situated longest to shortest across the near-caustic chug of “Serpent God,” the Celtic Frost-y declarations and mega-riff ethos of “Leech,” the play between key-led minimalism and all-out stomp on “Wormtongue” and the earlier-feeling noise intensity of “Into the Crypt” before the more purely ambient but still heavy instrumental “Severed” wraps, conveying weight of emotion to complement the tonal tectonics prior. Bordering on the extreme and clearly enjoying the crush that doing so affords them, Dread Witch make more of a crater than an impression and would be outright barbaric were their sound not so methodical in immersing the audience. Pro sound, loaded with potential, heavy as shit; these are the makings of a welcome debut.

Dread Witch on Facebook

Dread Witch on Bandcamp

 

Tidal Wave, The Lord Knows

Tidal Wave the lord knows

Next-generation heavy fuzz purveyed with particular glee, Tidal Wave seem to explore the very reaches they conjure through verses and choruses on their eight-song Ripple Music label debut (second LP overall behind 2019’s Blueberry Muffin), The Lord Knows, and they make the going fun throughout the 41-minute outing, finding the shuffle in the shove of “Robbero Bobbero” while honing classic desert idolatry on “Lizard King” and “End of the Line” at the outset. What a relief it is to know that heavy rock and roll won’t die with the aging-out of so many of its Gen-X and Millennial purveyors, and as Tidal Wave step forward with the low-end semi-metal roll of “Pentagram” and the grander spaces of “By Order of the King” before “Purple Bird” returns to the sands and “Thorsakir” meets that on an open field of battle, it seems the last word has not been said on Tidal Wave in terms of aesthetic. They’ve got time to continue to push deeper into their craft — and maybe that will or won’t result in their settling on one path or another — but the range of moods on The Lord Knows suits them well, and without pretense or overblown ceremony the Sundsvall four-piece bring together elements of classic heavy rock and metal while claiming a persona that can move back and forth between them. Kind of the ideal for a younger band.

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Ripple Music on Bandcamp

 

Guided Meditation Doomjazz, Expect

Guided Meditation Doomjazz Expect

Persistently weird in the mold of Arthur Brown with unpredictability as a defining feature, Guided Meditation Doomjazz may mostly be a cathartic salve for founding bassist, vocalist, experimentalist, etc.-ist Blaise the Seeker, but that hardly makes the expression any less valid. Expect arrives as a five-song EP, ready to meander in the take-the-moniker-literally “Collapse in Dignity” and the fuzz-drenched slow-plod finisher “Sit in Surrender” — watery psychedelic guitar weaving overhead like a cloud you can reshape with your mind — that devolves into drone and noise, but not unstructured and not without intention behind even its most out-there moments. The bluesy sway of “The Mind is Divided” follows the howling scene-setting of the titular opener, while “Stream of Crystal Water” narrates its verse over crunchier riffing before the sung chorus-of-sorts, the overarching dug-in sensibility conveying some essence of what seems despite a prolific spate of releases to be an experience intended for a live setting, with all the one-on-one mind-expansion and arthouse performance that inevitably coincides with it. Still, with a rough-feeling production, Expect carries a breadth that makes communing with it that much easier. Go on, dare to get lost for a little while. See where you end up.

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The Swamp Records on Bandcamp

 

Cancervo, II

Cancervo II

II is the vocalized follow-up to Cancervo‘s 2021 debut, 1 (review here), and finds the formerly-instrumental Lombardy, Italy, three-piece delving further into the doomed aspects of the initial offering with a greater clarity on “Arera,” “Herdsman of Grem” and “The Cult of Armentarga,” letting some of the psychedelia of the first record go while maintaining enough of an atmosphere to be hypnotic as the vocals follow the marching rhythm as the latter track moves into its midsection or the rhythmic chains in the subsequent “Devil’s Coffin” (an instrumental) lock step with the snare in a floating, loosely-Eastern-scaled break before the bigger-sounding end. Between “Devil’s Coffin” and the feedback-prone also-instrumental “Zambla” ahead of 8:43 closer “Zambel’s Goat” — on which the vocals return in a first-half of subdued guitar-led doomjamming prior to the burst moment at 4:49 — II goes deeper as it plays through and is made whole by its meditative feel, some semblance of head-trip cult doom running alongside, but if it’s a cult it’s one with its own mythology. Not where one expected them to go after 1, but that’s what makes it exciting, and that they lay claim to arrangement flourish, chanting vocals and slogging tempos as they do bodes well for future exploration.

Cancervo on Facebook

Electric Valley Records website

 

Dirge, Dirge

Dirge Dirge

So heavy it crashed my laptop. Twice. The second full-length from Mumbai post-metallers Dirge is a self-titled four-songer that culls psychedelia from tonal tectonics, not contrasting the two but finding depth in the ways they can interact. Mixed by Sanford Parker, the longer-form pieces comprise a single entirety without seeming to have been written as one long track, the harsh vocals of Tabish Khidir adding urgency to the guitar work of Ashish Dharkar and Varun Patil (the latter also backing vocals) as bassist Harshad Bhagwat and drummer Aryaman Chatterji underscore and punctuate the chugging procession of opener “Condemned” that’s offset if not countermanded by its quieter stretch. If you’re looking for your “Stones From the Sky”-moment as regards riffing, it’s in the 12-minute second cut, “Malignant,” the bleak triumph of which spills over in scream-topped angularity into “Grief” (despite a stop) while the latter feels all the more massive for its comedown moments. In another context, closer “Hollow” might be funeral doom, but it’s gorgeous either way, and it fits with the other three tracks in terms of its interior claustrophobia and thoughtful aggression. They’re largely playing toward genre tenets, but Dirge‘s gravity in doing so is undeniable, and the space they create is likewise dark and inviting, if not for my own tech.

Dirge on Facebook

Dirge store

 

Witch Ripper, The Flight After the Fall

Witch Ripper The Flight after the Fall

Witch Ripper‘s sophomore LP and Magnetic Eye label-debut, The Flight After the Fall, touches on anthemic prog rock and metal with heavy-toned flourish and plenty of righteous burl in cuts like “Madness and Ritual Solitude” and the early verses of “The Obsidian Forge,” though the can-sing vocals of guitarists Chad Fox and Curtis Parker and bassist Brian Kim — drummer Joe Eck doesn’t get a mic but has plenty to do anyhow — are able to push that centerpiece and the rest of what surrounds over into the epic at a measure’s notice. Or not, which only makes Witch Ripper more dynamic en route to the 16:45 sprawling finish of “Everlasting in Retrograde Parts 1 and 2,” picking up from the lyrics of the leadoff “Enter the Loop” to put emphasis on the considered nature of the release as a whole, which is a showcase of ambition in songwriting as much as performance of said songs, conceptual reach and moments of sheer pummel. It’s been well hyped, and by the time “Icarus Equation” soars into its last chorus without its wings melting, it’s easy to hear why in the fullness of its progressive heft and melodic theatricality. It’s not a minor undertaking at 47 minutes, but it wouldn’t be a minor undertaking if it was half that, given the vastness of Witch Ripper‘s sound. Be ready to travel with it.

Witch Ripper on Facebook

Magnetic Eye Records store

 

Pelegrin, Ways of Avicenna

Pelegrin Ways of Avicenna

In stated narrative conversation with the Arabic influence on Spanish and greater Western European (read: white) culture, specifically in this case as regards the work of Persian philosopher Ibn Sina, Parisian self-releasing three-piece Pelegrin follow-up 2019’s Al-Mahruqa (review here) with the expansive six songs of Ways of Avicenna, with guitarist/vocalist François Roze de Gracia, bassist/backing vocalist Jason Recoing and drummer/percussionist Antoine Ebel working decisively to create a feeling of space not so much in terms of the actual band in the room, but of an ancient night sky on songs like “Madrassa” and the rolling heavy prog solo drama of the later “Mystical Appear,” shades of doom and psychedelia pervasive around the central riff-led constructions, the folkish middles of “Thunderstorm” and “Reach for the Sun” and the acoustic two-minute “Disgrace” a preface to the patient manner in which the trio feel their way into the final build of closer “Forsaken Land.” I’m neither a historical scholar nor a philosopher, and thankfully the album doesn’t require you to be, but Pelegrin could so easily tip over into the kind of cartoonish cultural appropriation that one finds among certain other sects of European psychedelia, and they simply don’t. Whether the music speaks to you or not, appreciate that.

Pelegrin on Facebook

Pelegrin on Bandcamp

 

Black Sky Giant, Primigenian

Black Sky Giant Primigenian

Lush but not overblown, Argentinian instrumentalists Black Sky Giant fluidly and gorgeously bring together psychedelia and post-rock on their third album, Primigenian, distinguishing their six-song/31-minute brevity with an overarching progressive style that brings an evocative feel whether it’s to the guitar solos in “At the Gates” or the subsequent kick propulsion of “Stardust” — which does seem to have singing, though one can barely make out what if anything is actually being said — as from the denser tonality of the opening title-track, they go on to unfurl the spiritual-uplift of “The Great Hall,” fading into a cosmic boogie on the relatively brief “Sonic Thoughts” as they, like so many, would seem to have encountered SLIFT‘s Ummon sometime in the last two years. Doesn’t matter; it’s just a piece of the puzzle here and the shortest track, sitting as it does on the precipice of capper “The Foundational Found Tapes,” which plays out like amalgamated parts of what might’ve been other works, intermittently drummed and universally ambient, as though to point out the inherently incomplete nature of human-written histories. They fade out that last piece after seeming to put said tapes into a player of some sort (vague samples surrounding) and ending with an especially dream-toned movement. I wouldn’t dare speculate what it all means, but I think we might be the ancient progenitors in question. Fair enough. If this is what’s found by whatever species is next dominant on this planet — I hope they do better at it than humans have — we could do far worse for representation.

Black Sky Giant on Facebook

Black Sky Giant on Bandcamp

 

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Quarterly Review: Jo Quail, Experiencia Tibetana, People of the Black Circle, Black Capricorn, SABOTØR, The Buzzards of Fuzz, Temple of Void, Anomalos Kosmos, Cauchemar, Seum

Posted in Reviews on July 8th, 2022 by JJ Koczan

THE-OBELISK-FALL-2020-QUARTERLY-REVIEW

Last day. Maybe I’m supposed to have some grand reflection as we hit 100 of 100 records for the Quarterly Review, but I’ll spare you. I’ve put a few records from the bunch on year-end lists, enjoyed a lot of music, wondered why a few people got in touch with me in the first place, and generally plotzed through to the best of my ability. Thanks as always to The Patient Mrs., through whom all things are possible, for facilitation.

And thank you for reading. I hope you’ve managed to find something killer in all this, but if not, there’s still today to go, so you’ve got time.

Next QR is probably early October, and you know what? I’ve already got records lined up for it. How insane is that?

Quarterly Review #91-100:

Jo Quail, The Cartographer

Jo Quail The Cartographer

To list the personnel involved in Jo Quail‘s Roadburn-commissioned five-movement work The Cartographer would consume the rest of this review, so I won’t, but the London electric cellist is at the center of an orchestral experiment the stated purpose of which is to find the place where classical and heavy musics meet. Percussion thuds, there’s piano and electric violin and a whole bunch of trombones, and whatever that is making the depth-charge thud underneath “Movement 2,” some voices and narration at the start by Alice Krige, who once played the Borg Queen among many other roles. Though Quail composed The Cartographer for Roadburn — originally in 2020 — the recording isn’t captured on that stage, but is a studio LP, which lets each headphone-worthy nuance and tiny flash of this or that shine through. So is it heavy? Not really in any traditional sense, but of course that’s the point. Is SunnO))) heavy? Sure. It’s less about conforming to given notions of genre characteristics than bringing new ideas to them and saying this-can-be-that in the way that innovative art does, but heavy? Why the hell not? Think of it as mind-expansion, only classy.

Jo Quail on Facebook

By Norse Music website

 

Experiencia Tibetana, Vol. II

Experiencia Tibetana Vol. II

An aptly named second full-length from Buenos Aires trio Experiencia Tibetana greatly solidifies the band’s approach, which of course itself is utterly fluid. Having brought in Gaston Saccoia on drums, vocals and other percussion alongside guitarist/vocalist Walter Fernandez and bassist Leandro Moreno Vila since their recorded-in-2014-released-in-2020 debut, Vol. I (review here), the band take the methodology of meditative exploration from that album and pare it down to four wholly expansive processions, resonant in their patience and earthy psychedelic ritualizing. Each side of the 48-minute LP is comprised of a shorter track and a longer, and they’re arranged for maximum immersion as one climbs a presumably Tibetan mountain, going up and coming back down with the longest material in the middle, the 16-minute pair “Ciudad de latahes” and “(Desde el) Limbo” running in hypnotic succession with minimalism, noise wash, chanting, percussive cacophony, dead space, bass fuzz, spoken word and nearly anything else they want at their disposal. With “El delito espiritual I” (8:18) and the maybe-eBow(?) ghost howls of “El delito espiritual II” (7:19) on either side, Vol. II charts a way forward for the trio as they move into unknown aural reaches.

Experiencia Tibetana on Facebook

Experiencia Tibetana on Bandcamp

 

People of the Black Circle, People of the Black Circle

People of the Black Circle People of the Black Circle

Not quite like anything else, Athenian conjurors People of the Black Circle plunge deep into horror/fantasy atmospheres, referencing H.P. Lovecraft and Robert Howard within the five tracks of their nonetheless concise 34-minute/five-track self-titled debut. Weighted in tone and mood, almost garage-doom in its production, the synth-backing of “Cimmeria” unfolds after the outward crunch of leadoff “Alchemy of Sorrow” — like Euro doom dramaturge transposed onto a bed of ’80s synths with Om-style bass — and from centerpiece “The Ghoul and the Seraph (Ghoul’s Song II)” through the bookending choral figures and either sampled or synthesized horns over the resolute chug of “Nyarlathotep” and more straight-ahead slow-motion push of closer “Ghosts in Agartha,” which swirls out a highlight solo after a wailing verse lets go and seems to drift away after its payoff for the album as an entirety. While in concept, People of the Black Circle‘s aesthetic isn’t necessarily anything new, there’s no denying the boundaries of dungeon synth and horror/garage doom are being transcended here, and that mixture feels like it’s being given a fresh perspective in these songs, even if the thematic is familiar. A mix of new and old, then? Maybe, but the new wins out decisively. In the parlance of our times, “following.”

People of the Black Circle on Facebook

Red Truth Productions on Bandcamp

 

Black Capricorn, Cult of Blood

black capricorn cult of blood

It always seems to be a full moon when Black Capricorn are playing, regardless of actual cloud cover or phase. The Sardinian trio of guitarist/vocalist Fabrizio Monni (also production; also in Ascia), bassist Virginia Pras and drummer Rachela Piras offer an awaited follow-up to their 2019 Solstice EP (discussed here). Though it’s their fifth full-length overall, it’s the second with this lineup of the band (first through Majestic Mountain), and it comes packed with references like the doomly “Worshipping the Bizarre Reverend” and “Snake of the Wizard” as distorted, cultish and willfully strange vibes persist across its 44-minute span. Doom. Even the out-there centerpiece kinda-interlude “Godsnake Djamballah” and the feedback-laced lurch-march of the nine-minute “Witch of Endor” have a cauldron-psych vibe coinciding with the largely riff-driven material, though, and it’s the differences between the songs that ultimately bring them together, closer “Uddadhaddar” going full-on ritualist with percussion and drone and chanting vocals as if to underscore the point. It’s been five years since they released Omega (review here), their most recent LP, and Cult of Blood wholly justifies the wait.

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Majestic Mountain Records store

 

SABOTØR, Skyggekæmper

SABOTØR Skyggekæmper

The Danish title Skyggekæmper translates to English as “shadow fighter,” and if punk-informed heavy rocking Aarhus three-piece SABOTØR mean it in a political context, then fair enough. I speak no Danish, but their past work and titles here like “2040-Planen” — seemingly a reference to Denmark’s clean energy initiative — the stomping, funky “Ro På, Danmark!” (‘calm down, Denmark’) and even the suitably over-the-top “King Diamond” seem to have speaking about Danishness (Danedom?) as an active element. Speaking of “active,” the energy throughout the nine-song/49-minute span of the record is palpable, and while they’re thoroughly in the post-Truckfighters fuzz rock dominion tonally, the slowdowns of “Edderkoppemor” and the closing title-track hit the brakes at least here and there in their longer runtimes and expand on the thrust of the earlier “Oprør!” and “Arbejde Gør Fri,” the start-stop riffing of which seems as much call to dance as a call to action — though, again, I say that as someone without any actual idea if it’s the latter — making the entire listening experience richer on the whole while remaining accessible despite linguistic or any other barriers to entry that might be perceived. To put it another way, you don’t have to be up on current issues facing Denmark to enjoy the songs, and if they make you want to be afterward, so much the better.

SABOTØR on Facebook

SABOTØR on Bandcamp

 

The Buzzards of Fuzz, The Buzzards of Fuzz

The Buzzards of Fuzz The Buzzards of Fuzz

Vocalist/rhythm guitarist Van Bassman, lead guitarist/backing vocalist Benjamin J. Davidow and bassist/backing vocalist/percussionist Charles Wiles are The Buzzards of Fuzz. I’m not sure who that leaves as drummer on the Atlanta outfit’s self-titled Sept. 2021 debut LP — could be producer/engineer Kristofer Sampson, Paul Stephens and/or Nick Ogawa, who are all credited with “additional instrumentation” — and it could be nobody if they’re programmed, but one way or the other, The Buzzards of Fuzz sure sound like a complete band, from the trippin’-on-QOTSA vibe of “Tarantulove” and “Desert Drivin’ (No Radio)” (though actually it’s Kyuss alluded to in the lyrics of the latter) to the more languid psych pastoralia of “All in Your Head” and the spacious two minutes of “Burned My Tongue on the Sun,” the purposeful-feeling twist into Nirvana of “Mostly Harmless” and the nod to prior single “Lonely in Space” that is finale “Lonely in Space (Slight Return).” Sleek grooves, tight, hooky songwriting and at times a languid spirit that comes through no matter how fast they’re playing give The Buzzards of Fuzz, the album, a consistent mood across the 11 songs and 32 minutes that allows the delivery to play that much more of a role in making short pieces feel expansive.

The Buzzards of Fuzz on Facebook

The Buzzards of Fuzz on Bandcamp

 

Temple of Void, Summoning the Slayer

Temple of Void Summoning The Slayer

Crawl into Temple of Void‘s deathly depths and you may find yourself duly consumed. Their style is less outright doom than it used to be, but the Detroit extremist five-piece nonetheless temper their bludgeoning with a resilient amount of groove, and even at their fastest in songs like “Hex, Curse & Conjuration” and some of the more plundering moments in “A Sequence of Rot” just prior, the weight behind their aural violence remains a major factor. The keys in “Deathtouch,” which follows down-you-go opener “Behind the Eye” and leads into “Engulfed” branches out the band’s sound with keyboards (or guitar-as-keyboards, anyway) and a wider breadth of atmosphere than they’ve enjoyed previously — “Engulfed” seems to touch on Type O Negative-style tonality as it chugs into its midsection — and the concluding “Dissolution” introduces a quieter, entirely-clean approach for just under three key-string-laced minutes that Temple of Void have legitimately never shown before. Seems doubtful they’ll take that as far as Opeth in putting out Damnation — though that’s just crazy enough to work — but it shows that as Temple of Void move toward the 10-year mark, their progression has not abated whatsoever. And they still kill, so no worries there.

Temple of Void on Facebook

Relapse Records website

 

Anomalos Kosmos, Mornin Loopaz

Anomalos Kosmos Mornin Loopaz

Psych jazz, instrumental save for some found voice samples which, if you were listening on headphones out in the wild, say, might have you wondering if you’re missing the announcement for your train at the station. Based in Thessaloniki, Greece, Anomalos Kosmos brim with experimentalist urgency on the half-hour of Mornin Loopaz, the seven tracks of which are titled playing off the days of the week — “Meinday,” “Chooseday,” “Whensday,” etc. — but which embark each on their own explorations of the outer reaches of far out. The longest of the bunch is “Thirstday” at just over five minutes, and at 30 minutes one could hardly accuse them of overstaying their welcome. Instead, the shimmering tone, fluid tempos and unpredictable nature of their style make for a thrilling listen, “Thirstday” remaining vital even as it spaces out and “Friedday” picking up directly from there with a ready sense of relief. They spend the weekend krautrocking in “Shatterday” and managing to squeeze a drum solo in before the rushing Mediterranean-proggy end of “Sinday,” the crowd noise that follows leaving one wondering if there aren’t more subversive messages being delivered beneath the heady exterior. In any case, this is a band from a place where the sun shines brightly, and the music stands as proof. Get weird and enjoy.

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Anomalos Kosmos on Bandcamp

 

Cauchemar, Rosa Mystica

Cauchemar Rosa Mystica

This third full-length from Quebec-based doom outfit Cauchemar brings the band past their 15th anniversary and makes a bed for itself in traditionalist metallurgy, running currents of NWOBHM running through opener “Jour de colère” and “Rouge sang” while “Danger de nuit” takes a more hard rock approach and the penultimate roller “Volcan” feels more thoroughly Sabbathian. With eight songs presumably arranged four per vinyl side, there’s a feeling of symmetry as “Le tombeau de l’aube” tempts Motörhead demons and answers back with wilful contradiction the late-’70s/early-’80s groove that comes late in “Notre-Dame-sous-Terre.” Closer “La sorcière” tolls its bells presumably for thee as the lead guitar looks toward Pentagram and vocalist Annick Giroux smoothly layers in harmony lines before the church organ carries the way out. Classic in its overarching intentions, the songs nonetheless belong to Cauchemar exclusively, and speak to the dead with a vibrancy that avoids the trappings of cultism while working to some of its strengths in atmosphere, sounding oldschool without being tired, retro or any more derivative than it wants to be. No argument here, it’s metal for rockers, doom for doomers, riffs for the converted or those willing to be. I haven’t looked to see if they have patches yet, but I’d buy one if they do.

Cauchemar on Facebook

Temple of Mystery Records website

 

Seum, Blueberry Cash

seum blueberry cash

If you ever wanted to hear Weedeater or Dopethrone hand you your ass with Sons of Otis-worthy tones, Seum‘s Blueberry Cash has your back. The no-guitar-all-bass-and-drums-and-screams Montreal three-piece are just as crusty and weedian as you like, and in “Blueberry Cash,” “John Flag” and the seven-minute “Hairy Muff,” they reinforce sludge extremity with all that extra low end as if to remind the universe where the idea of music being heavy in the first place comes from. Grooves are vital and deathly, produced with just enough clarity to come through laced with what feels like extra nastiness, and “John Flag”‘s blues verse opens into a chasm of a chorus, waiting with sharpened teeth. Rounding out, “Hairy Muff” is a take on a song by vocalist Gaspar‘s prior band, Lord Humungus, and it’s drawn out into a plodding homage to liberation, pubes and the ability of sludge to feel like it’s got its hands on either side of your face and is pressing them together as hard as it can. These guys are a treasure, I mean that, and I don’t care what genre you want to tag it as being or how brutal and skinpeeling they want to make it, something with this much fuckall will always be punk rock in my mind.

Seum on Facebook

Seum on Bandcamp

 

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Narcosatánicos Post “Vile” Video; Body Cults out Nov. 4 on Bad Afro Records

Posted in Bootleg Theater on October 7th, 2016 by JJ Koczan

narcosatanicos

Danish psychblasters Narcosatánicos will make their debut on Bad Afro Records Nov. 4 with their second album, Body Cults. To herald its arrival, the band has posted a video for the song “Vile” that shows the spaced-out vitality with which they’re working, tripping the light fantastically around molten effects and a wash of noise that seems to intermittently consume everything else around it. In the realm of cosmic rock and roll, it seems fair to think of Narcosatánicos as the thing you land on that you think is a planet but turns out to be a huge space-dwelling life-form that subsequently eats you. Phasers, in other words, will be ineffective in fighting the immersion at hand. You’re gonna have to reroute power to the deflector.

Also, if you’re sensitive to flashing lights, I can only recommend keeping one hand on your mouse, phone, whatever it is on which you’re watching/reading, because invariably you’ll want to scroll away from the actual visuals even as you listen. The clip may well have been shot in Narcosatánicos‘ rehearsal space — reportedly a basement used as a chemical factory in WWII that still registers as radioactive (as one imagines a decent portion of Europe does) — but they do well to give it an otherworldly feel through both sound and lighting, even if the manic changes in the latter can be somewhat taxing on the synapses. Still, well worth the effort to get a feel for the sax-inclusive lysergury being performed in “Vile” itself, which I wouldn’t necessarily count on to represent the whole of Body Cults, but seems like a good place to start.

More info follows the clip below, courtesy of the PR wire. You know the drill.

Enjoy:

Narcosatánicos, “Vile” official video

Narcosatánicos is a noise rock group from Aarhus, Denmark. Formed in early 2012, the cacophonous sextet draws on various influences from late 60’s proto-punk and krautrock to more recent variants of avant-garde and aggressive music.

“Vile” is the first single/video from the second Narcosatánicos album dubbed Body Cults and is due out September 29th 2016 on Bad Afro Records. It may not be reasonable to describe “Vile” as an easy listening but it is the most obliging song on Body Cults and has an oriental flavor. The video for “Vile” is made by Per Silkjær (Fossils/Double Space)
You can listen to Vile on Soundcloud, watch the video on Youtube or download it as Mp3

Body Cults is recorded and mixed at Sonic Studio by Thomas Mee and Victor Kim and the album is mastered by Flemming Rasmuseen at Sweet Silence. The album is set for release November 4th.

Line-up on Vile: Victor Kim (Vocals, Guitar), Tobias Holmbeck (Guitar, Vocals), Kasper Skotte (Guitar), Zeki Jindyl Søgaard (Saxophone, Vocals), Johannes Krøyer (Drums) and Mikkel Stenholt (Bass).

Narcosatánicos on Thee Facebooks

Narcosatánicos on Bandcamp

Bad Afro Records website

Bad Afro on Thee Facebooks

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