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Godsleep Premiere “Pots of Hell” Video; Lies to Survive Out April 7

Posted in Bootleg Theater, Reviews on March 30th, 2023 by JJ Koczan

godsleep lies to survive

Athens-based progressive heavy rockers Godsleep will release their new full-length, Lies to Survive, on April 7 through Ouga Booga and the Mighty Oug Recordings and Threechords Records. It is their third album overall and second to be fronted by Amie Makris behind 2018’s Coming of Age (review here), which set a more varied course from the fuzz that launched them with 2015’s Thousand Suns of Sleep (review here) — it’s also their first for the 1000mods-adjacent label, if you want to do the full three-two-one — and it argues quickly that perhaps half a decade ago the band hadn’t really come of age as much as that title indicated.

With Lies to SurviveMakris, guitarist Johnny Tsoumas, bassist Fedonas Ktenas and (making his first appearance) drummer Dennis Panagiotidis, answer the expansion that Coming of Age brought in exponential style, breaking out of genre confines to bring in elements of pop, hip-hop, electronic music, space rock, noise, punk, sociopolitical themes all drawn together by a prevalence of attitude that pushes over to righteous arrogance across 11 songs and a CD-era-reminiscent 56-minute runtime somehow squashed onto a single LP (I actually don’t know that all songs are on the vinyl, but it looks like there are 11 listed in the gatefold lyrics of the mockup from their Bandcamp, as shown here; maybe some tracks are edited?).

But if Godsleep are pushing the limits of format, that’s just one on the longer list of limitations being exceeded. Fuzz riffing is still at least a definite part of their foundation, and plays a significant role in songs like the punker “Pots of Hell” (video premiering below), “Room 404,” the careening “Cracks,” or “Egonation” a short time later, as well as the penultimate “Permanent Vacation,” but in each of those songs, the job of the guitar goes further than ‘establish riff, play riff, repeat riff’ by a broad margin. To wit, “Pots of Hell” greets its rhythmic shove with rants and raps and resolves in an intensity that leaves Makris no choice but to let out a scream and drop the mic before it gets to its willfully choppy but immersive finish, while “Room 404,” which follows immediately, is an even more expansive nod, interrupting itself early with timely hits on snare and guitar that come across like they’re meant to be intrusive before opening to a vaster fuzz in the hook.

Yeah, sure, then they introduce the keyboard at about three minutes in and by the time they’re done, they’re in a psych-guitar-topped dub jam. Meanwhile, “Cracks” leans aggro in its hook in paying off the hint dropped by the punch of Ktenas‘ bass in the verse, dropping to stick clicks after its second chorus only to tear itself open and let the fuzz back out at a run before it’s three minutes into its grand total of four, “Egonation” uses up-strummed twanger fuzz at its outset but becomes a lesson in how to build tension and bring it to a point of explosion, and “Permanent Vacation” goes prog metal in its construction, vaguely Tool-ish but more restless (not a complaint) until maybe-probably-electronic percussion beats begin a midsection shift that grows larger until it opens to a triumphant play on Sabbath‘s “Hole in the Sky” before slipping back into the verse with a nigh-on-motorik thrust and more hypnosis that seems somehow also to answer the trance resulting from the dug-in ending of “Pots of Hell,” demonstrating the lethal consciousness at work behind Lies to Survive‘s sometimes manic procession.

godsleep

And if it seems like I’m bouncing around the tracklisting here (you can see it listed below in order for reference), that’s not a coincidence. The songs are in part united by the tour de force performance put on by Makris, whose anarchist declarations in the initially-keyboard-backed leadoff “Booster” — “You won’t find an apologist here” among them — work to quickly establish a defiant tone that Godsleep reinforce by shifting within that three-and-a-half-minute cut to a crunch born of noise rock executed around the first but by no means last pattern of circular guitar from Tsoumas — see also “Pavement,” “Breakfast,” and the aptly-titled capper “Last Song,” where every now and then a little flourish is thrown in to remind that no, it’s not a loop — before “Pots of Hell” takes this cue and runs with it, the drums, bass and accent guitar backing Makris for the forceful, semi-spoken verse before the next bombastic hook.

It is by no means the last surprise in store on Lies to Survive, with “Saturday” dropping ’90s alt rock references lyrical and instrumental, delving into Soundgarden-ism in layered vocal harmonies before riding a suitably long guitar solo but shifting back to its chorus before it’s done, or the toying with pop and techno in the outset of “Better Days” prior to its own introduction of the guitar, a mini-epic for side B that feels at distant remove from, say, “Breakfast,” with its good-fun Casio-style backbeat and a rare fadeout to transition into “Pavement,” which ends its first verse with the line “Now it’s time to party” and seems very much to mean it if the brash and funky groove that ensues is anything to go by, topped with another impressive rant in the spirit of “Pots of Hell.”

In addition to Makris‘ standout work and the marked increase in stylistic range throughout, Lies to Survive is also the first Godsleep album not to be recorded by George Leodis (also of 1000mods), as the band partnered with John Sotiropoulos on production (John Fuho also co-engineered) and mixing at Wreck it Sound Studios in Corinth, and that choice very much becomes a part of the character of the whole work, whether it’s the bass emphasis in the last build of “Booster” or the forward vocal layers at the start of “Better Days” or even the ambient stretch that caps the record after the end of “Last Song,” where Makris enters at 6:45 into an otherwise instrumental eight-minute stretch to deliver a resonant epilogue to the proceedings. The production is another tie bringing the songs together, but that proves ultimately to be as much about consciousness of the choices being made as the tones or overarching flow, each song feeling thought-out and considered, getting what it needs in terms of arrangement while mainlining far too much adrenaline to be anything close to staid.

Lies to Survive is not a record one would have predicted eight years ago that Godsleep would ever release, even before changes in lineup are considered. Still audible are the riffy roots and a current of Mediterranean roil, even as “Last Song” begins its long adventure through keyboard storytelling and proggy stomp, but the most powerful impression Godsleep make on third full-length is of having the ability to be genuinely untethered by genre considerations, to be free to go where the tracks — and, deeper, the parts of those tracks — take them, and to know when indeed to let the songs lead themselves. They do not sound at all like they’re finished exploring, but no question Lies to Survive is a landmark for them in unveiling the scope of their intent as it is today, pairing awareness of that with the knowledge born of experience that not all of their audience is going to be on board for the sundry turns in the material. The album is bolder for that, and its boldness might be the greatest unifier of all.

The video for “Pots of Hell” premieres below, followed by more from the PR wire.

Please enjoy:

Godsleep, “Pots of Hell” official video premiere

Formed in 2010, Godsleep have been working relentlessly since then, walking their way to entering the heavy rock pantheon. Having been described as one of the most promising bands of the heavy/psychedelic rock sound, from their very beginning, the Athenian heavy rock roller-coaster based its very existence on powerful live appearances, including the participation in high profile rock festivals all around Europe and a full European tour in support of their critically acclaimed debut album “Thousand Sons of Sleep” (Rock Freaks Records, 2015).

2018 welcomes the release of “Coming of Age”, Godsleep’s sophomore full length album, which was released by legendary Greek underground rock record label The Lab Records and garnered strong reactions from both press and fans. Having kept the core ingredients of their sound intact: heavy/fuzzy guitars, thick bass lines and powerful groovy drumming, Godsleep enriched their songwriting with uniquely addictive female vocals which vary from psychedelic howls and haunting melodies to throat-ripping edgy screams.

Now five years later, Godsleep return with their third album “Lies to Survive” to be released by “Ouga Booga and the Mighty Oug” Records in April 2023. This new effort showcases the band’s penchant for layering fuzzy, infectious riffs with engaging melodies, yet time is also shows their eagerness to branch out into other areas bringing in elements of noise-rock and even punk-rock elements like on the raucous “Pots of Hell”.

Tracklisting:
1. Booster
2. Pots of Hell
3. Room 404
4. Saturday
5. Cracks
6. Breakfast
7. Pavement
8. Better Days
9. Egonation
10. Permanent Vacation
11. Last Song

All music written, arranged and performed by Godsleep
Produced by John Sotiropoulos & Godsleep
Mixed by John Sotiropoulos
Engineered by John Sotiropoulos & John Fuho
Recorded at Wreck it Sound Studios, Corinth, GR
Mixed at Wreck it Sound Studios, Corinth, GR
Mastered by John Sotiropoulos at Wreck it Sound Studios, Corinth, GR

Godsleep on Facebook

Godsleep on Instagram

Godsleep on YouTube

Godsleep on Bandcamp

Ouga Booga and the Mighty Oug Recordings on Facebook

Ouga Booga and the Mighty Oug Recordings on Instagram

Ouga Booga and the Mighty Oug Recordings website

Threechords Records on Facebook

Threechords Records on Instagram

Threechords Records website

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Honeybadger Post “Diamonds” Video; Announce Second Album

Posted in Whathaveyou on March 15th, 2023 by JJ Koczan

Greek heavy rock four-piece Honeybadger will return in the coming months with their second full-length and the follow-up to 2020’s Pleasure Delayer (review here), the title of which has yet to be announced. The first single from the impending sophomore LP is “Diamonds,” and if you get the impression in listening that they’re picking up where they left off in terms of approach, the fact that they namedrop the name of the first record in the lyrics here would seem to speak to that intent too. Also? It’s a rocker. That’s definitely where they left it last time too.

Part of the intrigue here is to find outbjust how Honeybadger have progressed over the last three years, though I’ll admit I don’t know when the new stuff was recorded and these days it could be anytime before or after the first record came out. But the sound in “Diamonds” is confident in its delivery, which hints toward a more recent timing, and the song’s verse/chorus structure is consistent with Pleasure Delayer and comfortable in its presentation without giving up the energy at their foundation. The song makes me look forward to hearing more, so as regards first singles, I guess it’s doing its job.

Here you have it:

Honeybadger Diamonds

HONEYBADGER – “DIAMONDS” OUT NOW

Stream: https://ffm.to/diamonds_hob

“Inspired by the continuous battle to survive and thrive through the difficult moments of life as a perception. What do ashes and diamonds have in common? Both share the same elemental structure.

“First single from our upcoming sophomore album. Inspired by the continuous battle to survive and thrive through the difficult moments of life as a perception.

“Facing hard times can be devastating and inspiring at the same time. It will always be a challenge to turn trouble into birth and creation, like ashes and mud, into Diamonds.”

Video clip coming 15/03

Credits:
Produced by Alex Bolpasis and Honeybadger
Recorded and Mixed by Alex Bolpasis at Suono Studio
Drums Recorded by Jacopo Fokas at Villa Giuseppe Recordings
Mastering by Nick Townsend at Infrasonic Sound
http://infrasonicsound.com/

Video clip credits:
Created and Directed by Mike Marzz
DOP: Mike Marzz
Set Director: Mike Marzz & Mary Tsagarouli
Production Assistants: Giannis Zygouros & Xristos Koryllos
Actors: Eva Anastasiadou, Despoina Liakopoulou, Philippos Louvaris, Gerasimos Konstantoudakis
Location Manager: Dimitris Polyxronou
Props: Stelios Iordanou, Thanasis Anestos

https://www.facebook.com/Honeybadgertheband
https://www.instagram.com/honeybadger_band_official/
https://www.honeybadger.band/
https://honeybadgertheband.bandcamp.com/

Honeybadger, “Diamonds” official video

Honeybadger, “Diamonds”

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Green Yeti Announce New Album Necropolitan

Posted in Whathaveyou on February 22nd, 2023 by JJ Koczan

Now some six years removed from their second full-length, Desert Show (review here) Greek heavy trio Green Yeti announce the coming of their new album, Necropolitan. The band were in the studio this past December putting it together, and with the unveiling of the artwork and tracklisting, they would seem to be signaling that the work is done and ready to roll out.

If you heard the last outing, you already know that’s good news. If you didn’t hear it, or it’s been a while, it’s streaming below for a refresher. Either way, that record marked a notable shift from the band’s early-2016 debut, The Yeti Has Landed, which was comprised entirely of extended songs, the shortest of which was nine minutes long — none of the other three was under 16 — as the band broke “Black Planets” and “Bad Sleep” into two parts each, still leaving the last part of the latter as a 15-minute stretch, with the 10-minute “Rojo” between.

It’s been long enough that it’s basically impossible to know whether that movement toward relatively shorter tracks was a fluke of that batch of material or emblematic of how the band will continue to develop this time out — the fact that there are seven songs on Necropolitan make me think perhaps it is — but you’ll notice that while they’re ready to show off the art and the names of the component pieces, there’s neither a release date listed, nor a lead single, nor info about whether it’ll be self-released or issued through a label. Desert Show, you might recall, came out through Cursed Tongue Records.

Their post follows as hoisted from social media:

Green Yeti Necropolitan

We are very happy as we are approaching the release of our third studio album!

It is called “NECROPOLITAN” and as always it has a story to tell. The concept is inspired by the “Covid years”.

This is the front cover art by Alfian Setyo.

Necropolitan Playlist

1. Syracuse
2. Witch Dive
3. Jupiter 362
4. Golgotha
5. Dirty Lung
6. Kerosene
7. One More Bite

https://www.facebook.com/greenyetiband/
https://instagram.com/greenyetiband
https://greenyeti.bandcamp.com/

Green Yeti, Desert Show (2017)

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Bastard Sword Premiere “Ghost in the Beehive” Video; Debut Album I out March 3

Posted in Bootleg Theater, Reviews on February 10th, 2023 by JJ Koczan

Bastard Sword I

Athens-based heavy trio Bastard Sword release their debut album, I, through Sound Effect Records on March 3. The record follows only a five-song demo that includes three tracks recorded at their very first live performance together on Dec. 23, 2022 (there are also two rehearsal-room songs), so they are very much a new band, formed earlier last year at the whim of guitarist/vocalist/synthesist Achilles Charmpilas, who also engineered the recording and is known for his work in 2 by Bukowski, playing bass in Sun and the Wolf, the theatrical Dirty Granny Tales, and so on.

In classic I’m-a-producer-and-songwriter-and-I-have-demos-let’s-make-a-band-and-album fashion, the narrative has it that Charmpilas put Bastard Sword together with bassist Odysseas Tziritas and drummer/backing vocalist Akis Kapranos, who in addition to having been in Septicflesh and other more viscerally metal outfits is a film critic (he also apparently wrote for Metal Hammer, which is a nice line on the CV to be sure), and they began to put the record together from the songs he wrote, not playing live until that show that at least part of was recorded for the demo. Bastard Sword I, or just I if you’d like to keep it casual — I like to pretend every record named I is done so in homage to Goatsnake; care to join me? — comprises nine tracks and runs a humidly fuzzed 44 minutes, frontloaded with languid psychedelic doom and given in its later reaches to airier instrumentalist passages.

You can see the story below as told by the band, and that’s great — blessings and peace upon the narrative, as always; I include these things because it’s important to know what people are saying about their own work and how they’re saying it, both for now and posterity — but one of the key aspects of I is that its songs started out as instrumentals. Vocals aren’t an afterthought by any means, which is proved quickly by the if-Conan-wrote-“Black-Sabbath” vibe in aptly-titled opener “Il Gigante,” but knowing that helps one understand the construction of the album and its blend of increasing-tempo doom chicanery across “Il Gigante,” its six-minute leadoff salvo companion “Hierophant,” the increasingly rocking “Witching Brethren” and the brash shove of “Santeria de Sangre” on side A, as well as the interaction between a song like “Ghost in the Beehive” (premiering in the lyric video below), which takes the noddy progression of C.O.C.‘s “Albatross” and sets it to its own, well-established-by-then penchant for rolling, and the subsequent atmospheric drifter “Anthropocene,” which rises mostly but not completely instrumental with some duly Mediterranean scale work in its second half to be consuming and urgent while still slow in its march, and the spacious interlude “The Orbital Mechanist” that follows. Figuratively and literally in the case of the vinyl, I is a record with two sides.

Nothing wrong with that, and on a debut, it’s that much more encouraging that a band is looking to explore a range of ideas with Charmpilas‘ at root. The album is best summarized perhaps in its last two tracks, the fuzz-grooving penultimate cut “Tenbones,” which is a vocal highlight and finds Bastard Sword with a sound ready to stand alongside the likes of modern melodic heavybringers like Elephant Tree, and the keyboard-inclusive instrumental finisher “Tooth Rattler,” which takes the terrestrial vibe of “Tenbones” and launches it into the air, not quite leaving Earth’s atmosphere but still way up where the oxygen is light.

bastard sword

More even than “The Orbital Mechanist,” the closer is cinematic, and speaks maybe to some underlying ambition on the part of Charmpilas to manifest broader evocations moving forward, it also functions to create a kind of multi-avenued persona to Bastard Sword in the present, so that what starts out like it’s going to be a fairly predictable if well-executed stoner doom record in tone and spirit becomes something richer and more consuming. After the four songs on side A build to the outright blaster-Kyuss metalpunk shove of “Santeria de Sangre” — which might take its name from its solo in addition to its ritualistic lyrics — and Bastard Sword reaffirm their place in reverb-drenched cosmic lurch in “Ghost in the Beehive,” the transition into “Anthropocene” is stark but pulled off in a well-it’s-done-so-that’s-that unpretentious manner, even as it exponentially increases the scope of the entire LP, never mind the prospects for future growth on the part of the band.

And the safe bet is that whatever Bastard Sword do next — dare I predict: II? — it will be at least somewhat different since, you know, they’re a band now. Even if Charmpilas continues to write the material alone — and mind you I have no idea whether or not he will — his frame of mind will be changed since he knows both that he’s making a record to follow-up this one and even if only subconsciously considering the other players involved and what they’ll bring to it. This is to say, building an album over the course of months alone may have given Charmpilas the freedom to explore reaches he might not have had he set out with the strict intention to reside solely in a genre pocket of heavy, heady doom, but it’s inevitable that what comes after will be informed by these songs, even if that happens as a purposeful contrast. One doesn’t necessarily believe in authenticity as an ideal — you might as well chase gods — but the organic nature of is crucial to how it unfolds, since it seems most like the placement of the material toward its various ends, be it the tempo-build of side A or side B’s ambient branchout after “Ghost in the Beehive” with “Tenbones” as a swinging, weighted, grounded counterpoint in conversation with “Witching Brethren” earlier, came after the fact of the songs themselves.

So there’s consciousness in how I is presented, but the songs were there first. And whether it’s “Tenbones” with its line of organ rolling alongside the riff or the way “Tooth Rattler” incorporates fuzz into its soundscaping, or the chugga-chug of in the verses of “Witching Brethren,” the darker cultish atmosphere that’s ultimately something of a misdirect for the audience in “Il Gigante,” or the extended solo that takes over “Hierophant” and doesn’t look back, there are any number of inclusions here that could be a model for Bastard Sword to work from. You could base a whole band’s sound on “Santeria de Sangre,” or “Ghost in the Beehive,” or even “The Orbital Mechanist” if you worked hard enough at it. That Bastard Sword don’t, at least not yet, gives a formative but encouraging spirit. Wherever they might end up, they’re off to an auspicious, deceptively immersive start.

You’ll find “Ghost in the Beehive” on the player below, followed by the video credits and the aforementioned narrative, slightly edited for length — which given the thought-dump above feels like the pot calling the kettle black, but so it goes — as well as the preorder links, credits, etc. If it wasn’t made clear above, “Ghost in the Beehive” doesn’t encapsulate everything on offer throughout the album, but it does kick a good deal of ass, so it’s a representative sample just the same.

Please enjoy:

Bastard Sword, “Ghost in the Beehive” video premiere

More like this in our upcoming inaugural LP “Bastard Sword I”: https://bastardswordgr.bandcamp.com/album/bastard-sword-i

Sound Effect Records preorder: https://www.soundeffect-records.gr/bastard-sword

Bastard Sword shall appear live on March 19th, as part of Sound Effect Records’ anniversary festival. Event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/552898130027799/

This video contains footage shot by Isidora Charmpila and Dimitris MacFeegle. They both bought expensive cameras and did their best to shoot great vids, only for us to waltz in and saturate the shit out of them – just like we do with our guitars. Our thoughts are with them, but we regret nothing.

This video additionally includes footage from “The Visitor” (1979) and “The Devils” (1971), two films that you really need to watch if you haven’t already. It goes without saying that we do not own the rights to any of that, so, remember all you humans and algorithms happily munching on this video: Snitches Get Stitches.

At the start of 2022, a band was quietly born in a basement opposite the church of the Sacred Belt in Kypseli, Athens, Greece.

Achilles Charmpilas had just come out of two years stuck in the aforementioned basement, not doing gigs. The plan was to play and compose some new and adventurous music, learn new musical tricks and generally take the dry spell as an opportunity to reset, and get better at stuff he had been meaning to try out.

Well, at least in theory. What actually happened was that he simply reverted to his teen self, growing up in northern Greece in the 90s, vibing out on Sabbath, Motorhead, Hawkwind, Kyuss, Cathedral, Earth and Sleep.

In a few months, a torrent of music poured out of his fingers, travelled through a ridiculous array of distortion and fuzz pedals (a collection he has been building up since his time as a music instrument repair guy and touring bass player in Berlin), into an Orange and a Laney amp, out of a speaker, etcetera etcetera. You get the point. Before long, almost without realising, there it was. More than an album’s worth of material. Just hanging out on a hard drive. Waiting.

But, what to do with it? Achilles decided that a first step would be to get some outside perspective. In the end of the day, this might simply be a midlife crisis in the making, right? I mean, who needs another derivative doomy band in 2022? Come on dude, get over yourself.

Achilles sent a demo to Yiannis from Sound Effect Records, with whom he had previously collaborated in 2 by bukowski’s last release to date, Her Kind Fight Everything. A few sweat soaked days later (waiting for a big review is the worst), Yiannis reached out. He dug it. What a relief. There were insightful and welcome notes and comments, but one stood out: “there are too many instrumental doomy bands out there, why don’t you try some vocals?” Achilles’ personal projects have been mostly instrumental for over 20 years. Singing? What fresh hell is this?

Enter Akis Kapranos, a fellow veteran musician, film and single-malt scotch buff. He had previously played with important bands of the original Black Metal scene, like Septic Flesh and Thou Art Lord. An offer was accepted between drinks, and that, as they say, was that. Last piece of the puzzle was the bass. Bass is important, Bastard Sword would need an outstanding player. Well, as it so happens, Achilles had been producing music with an Athens scene wunderkind named Odysseas Tziritas. Odysseas inexplicably took the bait and the three met in a derelict but historic rehearsal space in Exarchia and jammed out for a few magical hours.

It worked. It really worked. A couple of months later, the newly fangled psychedelic doom power trio played their first show to an amazing audience in a kick ass punk bar called Bad Tooth. That was it, there was proof. The band works. Let’s get out there and make some noise.

Although the band members have hundreds of shows under their collective belt, as of this writing they have only done one live recording and one show together. Next stop: Side Effects Festival @ Gagarin.

The upcoming album Bastard Sword I was recorded in a tiny basement over the period of 10 months. The initial demos with all instruments recorded by Achilles were used as the basis. Akis and Odysseas joined just in time to contribute to it, making the album finally sound like a real album.

Tracklist
1. Il Gigante (06:01)
2. Hierophant (06:14)
3. Witching Brethren (04:58)
4. Santeria de Sangre (04:12)
5. Ghost in the Beehive (05:47)
6. Anthropocene (06:32)
7. The Orbital Mechanist (01:51)
8. Tenbones (03:44)
9. Tooth Rattler (04:55)

Recorded, Mixed and Produced by Achilles Charmpilas @ Sacred Belt Studios
Cover art by Valbona Canaku
Photography by Isidora Charmpila
Mastered by Kostas Ekelon

Bastard Sword are:
Achilles Charmpilas (vocals / guitars / synths / engineering)
Akis Kapranos (drums / backing vocals)
Odysseas Tziritas (bass)

Bastard Sword on Facebook

Bastard Sword on Instagram

Bastard Sword on Bandcamp

Sound Effect Records on Facebook

Sound Effect Records website

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Quarterly Review: The Temple, Dead Man’s Dirt, Witchfinder, Fumata, Sumerlands, Expiatoria, Tobias Berblinger, Grandier, Subsun, Bazooka

Posted in Reviews on January 5th, 2023 by JJ Koczan

quarterly-review-winter 2023

Here’s mud in yer eye. How are you feeling so far into this Quarterly Review? The year? How are things generally? How’s your mom doing? Everybody good? Hope so. Odd as it is to think, I find music sounds better when you’re not distracted by everything else going to shit around you, so I hope you don’t currently find yourself in that situation.

Today’s 10 records are a bit of this, bit of that, bit of here, but of there, but I’ll note that we start and end in Greece, which wasn’t on purpose or anything but a fun happenstantial byproduct of slating things randomly. What can I say? There’s a lot of Greek heavy out there and the human brain forms patterns whether we want it to or not. Plenty of geographic diversity between, so let’s get to it, hmm?

Winter 2023 Quarterly Review #31-40:

The Temple, Of Solitude Triumphant

The temple of Solitude Triumphant

Though they trace their beginnings back to the mid-aughts, Of Solitude Triumphant (on the venerable I Hate Records) is only the second full-length from Thessaloniki doom metallers The Temple. With chanting vocals, perpetuated misery and oldschool-style traditionalism metered by modern production’s tonal density, the melodic reach of the band is as striking as profundity of their rhythmic drag, the righteousness of their craft being in how they’re able to take a riff, slog it out across five, seven, 10 minutes in the case of post-intro opener “The Foundations” and manage to be neither boring nor a drag themselves. There’s a bit of relative tempo kick in “A White Flame for the Fear of Death” and the tremolo guitar (kudos to the half-time drums behind; fucking a) at the outset of closer “The Lord of Light” speaks to some influence from more extreme metals, but The Temple are steady in their purpose, and that nine-minute finale riff-marches to its own death accordingly. Party-doom it isn’t, and neither is it trying to be. In mood and the ambience born out of the vocals as much as the instruments behind, The Temple‘s doom is for the doomly doomed among the doomed. I’ll rarely add extra letters to it, but I have to give credit where it’s due: This is dooom. Maybe even doooom. Take heed.

The Temple on Facebook

I Hate Records website

 

Dead Man’s Dirt, Dead Man’s Dirt

Dead Mans Dirt Dead Man's Dirt

Gothenburg heavy rockers Dead Man’s Dirt, with members of Bozeman Simplex, Bones of Freedom, Coaster of Souls and a host of others, offer their 2023 self-titled debut through Ozium Records in full-on 2LP fashion. It’s 13 songs, 75 minutes long. Not a minor undertaking. Those who stick with it are rewarded by nuances like the guitar solo atop the languid sway of “The Brew,” as well as the raucous start-stop riffing in “Icarus (Too Close to the Sun),” the catchy “Highway Driver” and the bassy looseness of vibe in the penultimate “River,” which heads toward eight minutes while subsequent endpoint “Asteroid” tops nine. It is to the band’s credit that they have both the material and the variety to pull off a record this packed and keep the songs united in their barroom-rocking spirit, though some attention spans just aren’t going to be up to the task in a single sitting. But that’s fine. If the last couple years have taught the human species anything, it’s that you never know what’s around the next corner, and if you’re going to go for it — whatever “it” is — go all-in, because it could evaporate the next day. Whether it’s the shuffle of “Queen of the Wood” or the raw, in-room sound of “Lost at Sea,” Dead Man’s Dirt deserve credit for leaving nothing behind.

Dead Man’s Dirt on Facebook

Ozium Records store

 

Witchfinder, Forgotten Mansion

witchfinder forgotten mansion

Big rolling riffs, lurching grooves, melodies strongly enough delivered to cut through the tonal morass surrounding — there’s plenty to dig for the converted on Witchfinder‘s Forgotten Mansion. The Clermont-Ferrand, France, stoner doomers follow earlier-2022’s Endless Garden EP (review here) and 2019’s Hazy Rites (review here) full-length with their third album and first since joining forces with keyboardist Kevyn Raecke, who aligns in the malevolent-but-rocking wall of sound with guitarist Stanislas Franczak, bassist Clément Mostefai (also vocals) and drummer Thomas Dupuy. Primarily, they are very, very heavy, and that is very much the apparent foremost concern — not arguing with it — but as the five-song/36-minute long-player rolls through “Marijauna” and on through the Raecke-forward Type O Negative-ity of “Lucid Forest,” there’s more to their approach than it might at first appear. Yes, the lumber is mighty. But the space is also broad, and the slow-swinging groove is always in danger of collapsing without ever doing so. And somehow there’s heavy metal in it as well. It’s almost a deeper dive than they want you to think. I like that about it.

Witchfinder on Facebook

Mrs Red Sound store

 

Fumata, Días Aciagos

Fumata Días Aciagos

There’s some whiff of Conan‘s riffing in “Acompáñame Cuando Muero,” but on the whole, Mexico City sludge metallers Fumata are more about scathe than crush on the six tracks of their sophomore full-length, Días Aciagos (on LSDR Records). With ambient moments spread through the 35-minute beastwork and a bleak atmosphere put in place by eight-minute opener and longest track (immediate points) “Orgullo y Egoísmo,” with its loosely post-metallic march and raw, open sound, the four-piece of Javier Alejandre, Maximo Mateo, Leonardo Cardoso and Juan Tamayo are agonized and chaotic-sounding, but not haphazard in their delivery as they cross genre lines to work in some black metal extremity periodically, mine a bit of death-doom in “Anhelo,” foster the vicious culmination of the bookending seven-minute title-track, and so on. Tempo is likewise malleable, as “Seremos Olvidados” and that title-track show, as well as the blasting finish of “Orgullo y Egoísmo,” and only the penultimate “No Engendro” (also the shortest song at 4:15) really stays in one place for its duration, though as that place is in an unnamed region between atmosludge, doom and avant black metal, I’m not sure it counts. As exciting to hear as it is miserable in substance, Días Aciagos plunges where few dare to tread and bathes in its own pessimism.

Fumata on Facebook

LSDR Records on Bandcamp

 

Sumerlands, Dreamkiller

sumerlands dreamkiller

Sumerlands‘ second album and Relapse debut, Dreamkiller finds Magic Circle‘s Brendan Radigan stepping in for original vocalist Phil Swanson (now in Solemn Lament), alongside Eternal Champion‘s Arthur Rizk, John Powers (both guitar), and Brad Raub (bass), and drummer Justin DeTore (also Solemn Lament, Dream Unending, several dozen others) for a traditional metal tour de force, reimagining New Wave of British Heavy Metal riffing with warmer tonality and an obviously schooled take on that moment at the end of the ’70s when metal emerged from heavy rock and punk and became its own thing. “Force of a Storm” careens Dio-style after the mid-tempo Scorpions-style start-stoppery of “Edge of the Knife,” and though I kept hoping the fadeout of closer “Death to Mercy” would come back up, as there’s about 30 seconds of silence at the finish, no such luck. There are theatrical touches to “Night Ride” — what, you didn’t think there’d be a song about the night? come on. — and “Heavens Above,” but that’s part of the character of the style Sumerlands are playing toward, and to their credit, they make it their own with vitality and what might emerge as a stately presence. I don’t know if it’s “true” or not and I don’t really give a shit. It’s a burner and it’s made with love. Everything else is gatekeeping nonsense.

Sumerlands on Facebook

Relapse Records store

 

Expiatoria, Shadows

EXPIATORIA Shadows

Shadows is the first full-length from Genoa, Italy’s Expiatoria — also stylized with a capital-‘a’: ExpiatoriA — and its Nov. 2022 release arrives some 35 years after the band’s first demo. The band originally called it quits in 1996, and there were reunion EPs along the way in 2010 and 2018, but the six songs and 45 minutes here represent something that no doubt even the band at times thought wouldn’t ever happen. The occasion is given due ceremony in the songs, which, in addition to being laden with guest appearances by members of Death SS, Il Segno del Comando, La Janera, and so on, boasts a sweeping sound drawing from the drama of gothic metal — loooking at you, church-organ-into-piano-outro in “Ombra (Tenebra Parte II),” low-register vocals in “The Wrong Side of Love” and flute-and-guitar interlude “The Asylum of the Damned” — traditional metal riffing and, particularly in “7 Chairs and a Portrait,” a Candlemassian bell-tolling doom. These elements come together with cohesion and fluidity, the five-piece working as veterans almost in spite of a relative lack of studio experience. If Shadows was their 17th, 12th, or even fifth album, one might expect some of its transitions to be smoothed out to a greater degree, but as it is, who’s gonna argue with a group finally putting out their debut LP after three and a half decades? Jerks, that’s who.

ExpiatoriA on Facebook

Black Widow Records store

Diamonds Prod. on Bandcamp

 

Tobias Berblinger, The Luckiest Hippie Alive

Tobias Berblinger The Luckiest Hippie Alive

Setting originals alongside vibe-enhancing covers of Blaze Foley and Commander Cody, Portland’s Tobias Berblinger (also of Roselit Bone) first issued The Luckiest Hippie Alive in 2018 and it arrives on vinyl through Ten Dollar Recording Co., shimmering in its ’70s ramble-country twang, vibrant with duets and acoustic balladeering. Berblinger‘s nostalgic take reminds of a time when country music could be viable and about more than active white supremacy and/or misappropriated hip-hop, and boozers like “My Boots Have Been Drinking” and the Hank Williams via Townes Van Zandt “Medicine Water” and “Heartaches, Hard Times, Hard Drinking”, and smokers like the title-track and “Stems and Seeds (Again)” reinforce the atmosphere of country on the other side of the culture war. Its choruses are telegraphed and ready to be committed to memory, and its understated sonic presence and the wistfulness of the two-minute “Crawl Back to You” — the backing vocals of Mariya May, Marisa Laurelle and Annie Perkins aren’t to be understated throughout, including in that short piece, along with Mo Douglas‘ various instrumental contributions — add a sweetness and humility that are no less essential to Americana than the pedal steel throughout.

Tobias Berblinger website

Ten Dollar Recording Co. store

 

Grandier, The Scorn and Grace of Crows

Grandier The Scorn and Grace of Crows

Based in Norrköping, Sweden, the three-piece Grandier turn expectation on its head quickly with their debut album, The Scorn and Grace of Crows, starting opener/longest track (immediate points) “Sin World” with a sludgy, grit-coated lumber only to break after a minute in to a melodic verse. The ol’ switcheroo? Kind of, but in that moment and song, and indeed the rest of what follows on this first outing for Majestic Mountain, the band — guitarist Patrik Lidfors, bassist/many-layered-vocalist Lars Carlberg, (maybe, unless they’re programmed; then maybe programming) drummer Hampus Landin — carve their niche from out of a block of sonic largesse and melodic reach. Carlberg‘s voice is emotive over the open-feeling space of “Viper Soul” and sharing the mix with the more forward guitars of “Soma Goat,” and while in theory, there’s an edge of doomed melancholy to the 44-minute procession, the heft in “The Crows Will Following Us Down” is as much directed toward impact as mood. They really are melodic sludge metal, which is a hell of a thing to piece together on your first record as fluidly as they do here. “Smoke on the Bog” leans more into the Sabbathian roll with megafuzz tonality behind, and “Moth to the Flames” is faster, more brash, and a kind of dark heavy rock that, three albums from now, might be prog or might be ’90s lumber. Could go either way, especially with “My Church of Let it All Go” answering back with its own quizzical course. Will be very interested to hear where their next release takes them, since they’re onto something and, to their credit, it’s not immediately apparent what.

Grandier on Facebook

Majestic Mountain Records store

 

Subsun, Parasite

Subsun Parasite

Doomers will nod approvingly as Ottawa’s Subsun cap “Proliferation” by shifting into a Candlemassian creeper of a lead line, but that kind of doomly traditionalism is only one tool in their varied arsenal. Guitarist/vocalist/synthesist Jean-Michel Fortin, bassist/vocalist Simon Chartrand-Paquette and drummer Jérémy Blais go to that post-Edling well (of souls) again, but their work across their 2022 debut LP, Parasite, is more direct, more rock-based and at times more aggressive on the whole. Recorded at Apartment 2 by Topon Das (Fuck the Facts), the seven-songer grows punkish in the verse of “Mutation” and drops thrashy hints at the outset of “Fusion,” while closer “Mutualism” slams harder like noise rock and punches its bassline directly at the listener. Begun with the nodding lurch of “Parasitism” — which would seem as well to be at the thematic heart of the album in terms of lyrics and the descriptive approach thereof — the movement of one song to the next has its underlying ties in the vocals and overarching semi-metal tonality, but isn’t shy about messing with those either, as on the lands-even-harder “Evolution” or the thuds at the outset of “Adaptation,” the relative straightforwardness of the structures allowing the band to draw together different styles into a single, effective, individualized sound.

Subsun on Facebook

Subsun on Bandcamp

 

Bazooka, Kapou Allou

bazooka Kapou Allou

The acoustic guitar of opener “Kata Vathos” transitions smoothly into the arrival-of-the-electrics on “Krifto,” as Athens’ Bazooka launch the first of the post-punk struts on Kapou Allou, their fourth full-length. Mediterranean folk and pop are factors throughout — as heard in the vocal melody of the title-track or the danceable “Pano Apo Ti Gi” — while closer “Veloudino Kako” reimagines Ween via Greece, “Proedriki Froura” traps early punk in a jar to see it light up, and “Dikia Mou Alithia” brings together edgy, loosely-proggy heavy rock in a standout near the album’s center. Wherever they go — yes, even on “Jazzooka” — Bazooka seem to have a plan in mind, some vision of where they want to end up, and Kapou Allou is accordingly gleeful in its purposed weirdoism. At 41 minutes, it’s neither too long nor too short, and vocalist/guitarist/synthesist Xanthos Papanikolaou, guitarist/backing vocalist Vassilis Tzelepis, bassist Aris Rammos and drummer/backing vocalist John Vulgaris cast themselves less as tricksters than simply a band working outside the expected confines of genre. In any language — as it happens, Greek — their material is expansive stylistically but tight in performance, and that tension adds to the delight of hearing something so gleefully its own.

Bazooka on Facebook

Inner Ear Records store

 

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Quarterly Review: Antimatter, Mick’s Jaguar, Sammal, Cassius King, Seven Rivers of Fire, Amon Acid, Iron & Stone, DRÖÖG, Grales, Half Gramme of Soma

Posted in Reviews on January 3rd, 2023 by JJ Koczan

quarterly-review-winter 2023

We roll on in this new-year-smelling 2023 with day two of the Quarterly Review. Yesterday was pretty easy, but the first day almost always is. Usually by Thursday I’m feeling it. Or the second Tuesday. It varies. In any case, as you know, this QR is a double, which means it’s going to include 100 albums total, written about between yesterday and next Friday. Ton of stuff, and most of it is 2022, but generally later in the year, so at least I’m only a couple months behind your no doubt on-the-ball listening schedule.

Look. I can’t pretend to keep up with a Spotify algorithm, I’m sorry. I do my best, but that’s essentially a program to throw bands in your face (while selling your data and not paying artists). My hope is that being able to offer a bit of context when I throw 100 bands in your face is enough of a difference to help you find something you dig. Some semblance of curation. Maybe I’m flattering myself. I’m pretty sure Spotify can inflate its own ego now too.

Winter 2023 Quarterly Review #11-20:

Antimatter, A Profusion of Thought

ANTIMATTER A PROFUSION OF THOUGHT

Project founder, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Mick Moss isn’t through opener “No Contact” — one of the 10 inclusions on Antimatter‘s 54-minute eighth LP, A Profusion of Thought — before he readily demonstrates he can carry the entire album himself if need be. Irish Cuyos offers vocals on the subsequent “Paranoid Carbon” and Liam Edwards plays live drums where applicable, but with a realigned focus on programmed elements, his own voice the constant that surrounds various changes in mood and purpose, and stretches of insularity even on the full-band-sounding “Fools Gold” later on, the self-released outing comes across as more inward than the bulk of 2018’s Black Market Enlightenment, though elements like the acoustic-led approach of “Breaking the Machine,” well-produced flourishes of layering and an almost progressive-goth (proggoth?) atmosphere carry over. “Redshift” balances these sides well, as does fold before it, and “Templates” before that, and “Fools Gold” after, as Antimatter thankfully continues to exist in a place of its own between melancholic heavy, synthesized singer-songwriterism and darker, doom-born-but-not-doom metal, all of which seem to be summarized in the closing salvo of “Entheogen,” “Breaking the Machine” and “Kick the Dog.” Moss is a master of his craft long-established, and a period of isolation has perhaps led to some of the shifting balance here, but neither the album nor its songs are done a disservice by that.

Antimatter on Facebook

Antimatter on Bandcamp

 

Mick’s Jaguar, Salvation

Mick's Jaguar Salvation

There was a point, maybe 15 years ago now give or take, when at least Manhattan and Brooklyn in New York City were awash in semi-retro, jangly-but-rough-edged-to-varying-degrees rock and roll bands. Some sounded like Joan Jett, some sounded like the Ramones, or The Strokes or whoever. On Salvation, their second LP, Mick’s Jaguar bring some chunky Judas Priest riffing, no shortage of attitude, and as the five-piece — they were six on 2018’s Fame and Fortune (review here) — rip into a proto-shredder like “Speed Dealer,” worship Thin Lizzy open string riffing on “Nothing to Lose” or bask in what would be sleaze were it not for the pandemic making any “Skin Contact” at all a serotonin spike, they effectively hop onto either side of the line where rock meets heavy. Also the longest track at 4:54, “Molotov Children” is a ’70s-burly highlight, and “Handshake Deals” is an early-arriving hook that seems to make everything after it all the more welcome. “Man Down” and “Free on the Street” likewise push their choruses toward anthemic barroom sing-alongs, and while I’m not sure those bars haven’t been priced out of the market and turned into unoccupied investment luxury condos by now, rock and roll’s been declared dead in New York at least 100,000 times and it obviously isn’t, so there.

Mick’s Jaguar on Facebook

Tee Pee Records store

Totem Cat Records store

 

Sammal, Aika laulaa

Sammal Aika laulaa

Long live Finnish weird. More vintage in their mindset than overall presentation, Sammal return via the ever-reliable Svart Records with Aika Laulaa, the follow-up to 2018’s Suuliekki (review here) and their fourth album total, with eight songs and 43 minutes that swap languages lyrically between Finnish, Swedish and English as fluidly as they take progressive retroism and proto-metal to a place of their own that is neither, both, and more. From the languid lead guitar in “Returning Rivers” to the extended side-enders “On Aika Laulaa” with its pastoralized textures and “Katse Vuotaa” with its heavy blues foundation, willfully brash surge, and long fade, the band gracefully skip rocks across aesthetic waters, opening playful and Scandi-folk-derived on “På knivan” before going full fuzz in “Sehr Kryptisch,” turning the three-minute meander of “Jos ei pelaa” into a tonal highlight and resolving the instrumental “(Lamda)” (sorry, the character won’t show up) with a jammy soundscape that at least sounds like it’s filled out by organ if it isn’t. A band who can go wherever they want and just might actually dare to do so, Sammal reinforce the notion of their perpetual growth and Aika laulaa is a win on paper for that almost as much as for the piano notes cutting through the distortion on “Grym maskin.” Almost.

Sammal on Facebook

Svart Records store

 

Cassius King, Dread the Dawn

Cassius King Dread the Dawn

Former Hades guitarist Dan Lorenzo continues a personal riffy renaissance with Cassius King‘s Dread the Dawn, one of several current outlets among Vessel of Light and Patriarchs in Black. On Dread the Dawn, the New Jersey-based Lorenzo, bassist Jimmy Schulman (ex-Attacker) and drummer Ron Lipnicki (ex-Overkill) — the rhythm section also carried over from Vessel of Light — and vocalist Jason McMaster offer 11 songs and 49 minutes of resoundingly oldschool heavy, Dio Sabbath-doomed rock. Individual tracks vary in intent, but some of the faster moments on “Royal Blooded” or even the galloping opener “Abandon Paradise” remind of Candlemass tonally and even rockers like “How the West Was Won,” “Bad Man Down” and “Back From the Dead” hold an undercurrent of classic metal, never mind the creeper riff of the title-track or its eight-minute companion-piece, the suitably swinging “Doomsday.” Capping with a bonus take on Judas Priest‘s “Troubleshooter,” Dread the Dawn has long since by then gotten its point across but never failed to deliver in either songwriting or performance. They strut, and earn it.

Cassius King on Facebook

MDD Records store

 

Seven Rivers of Fire, Way of the Pilgrim

Seven Rivers of Fire Way of the Pilgrim

Issued on tape through UK imprint Dub Cthonic, the four-extended-tracker Way of the Pilgrim is the second 2022 full-length from South African solo folk experimentalist Seven Rivers of Fire — aka William Randles — behind September’s Sanctuary (review here) and March’s Star Rise, and its mostly acoustic-based explorations are as immersive and hypnotic as ever as the journey from movement to movement in “They are Calling // Exodus” (11:16) sets up processions through the drone-minded “Awaken // The Passenger” (11:58), “From the Depths // Into the Woods” (12:00) and “Ascend // The Fall” (11:56), Randles continuing to dig into his own particular wavelength and daring to include some chanting and other vocalizations in the opener and “From the Depths // Into the Woods” and the piano-laced finale. Each piece has an aural theme of its own and sets out from there, feeling its way forward with what feels like a genuinely unplanned course. Way of the Pilgrim isn’t going to be for everybody, as with all of Seven Rivers of Fire‘s output, but those who can tune to its frequencies are going to find its resonance continual.

Seven Rivers of Fire on Facebook

Dub Cthonic on Bandcamp

 

Amon Acid, Cosmogony

Amon Acid Cosmogony

Leeds-based psychedelic doomers Amon Acid channel the grimmer reaches of the cosmic — and a bit of Cathedral in “Hyperion” — on their fifth full-length in four years, second of 2022, Cosmogony. The core duo of guitarist/vocalist/synthesist Sarantis Charvas and bassist/cellist Briony Charvas — joined on this nine-tracker by the singly-named Smith on drums — harness stately space presence and meditative vibes on “Death on the Altar,” the guitar ringing out vague Easternisms while the salvo that started with “Parallel Realm” seems only to plunge further and further into the lysergic unknown. Following the consuming culmination of “Demolition Wave” and the dissipation of the residual swirl there, the band embark on a series of shorter cuts with “Nag Hammandi,” the riff-roller “Mandragoras,” the gloriously-weird-but-still-somehow-accessible “Demon Rider” and the this-is-our-religion “Ethereal Mother” before the massive buildup of “The Purifier” begins, running 11 minutes, which isn’t that much longer than the likes of “Parallel Realm” or “Death on the Altar,” but rounds out the 63-minute procession with due galaxial churn just the same. Plodding and spacious, I can’t help but feel like if Amon Acid had a purposefully-dumber name they’d be more popular, but in the far, far out where they reside, these things matter less when there are dimensions to be warped.

Amon Acid on Facebook

Helter Skelter Productions website

 

Iron & Stone, Mountains and Waters

Iron and Stone Mountains and Waters

The original plan from Germany’s Iron & Stone was that the four-song Mountains and Waters was going to be the first in a sequence of three EP releases. As it was recorded in Fall 2020 — a time, if you’ll recall, when any number of plans were shot to hell — and only released this past June, I don’t know if the band are still planning to follow it with another two short offerings or not, but for the bass in “Loose the Day” alone, never mind the well-crafted heavy fuzz rock that surrounds on all sides, I’m glad they finally got this one out. Opener “Cosmic Eye” is catchy and comfortable in its tempo, and “Loose the Day” answers with fuzz a-plenty while “Vultures” metes out swing and chug en route to an airy final wash that immediately bleeds into “Unbroken,” which is somewhat more raucous and urgent of riff, but still has room for a break before its and the EP’s final push. Iron & Stone are proven in my mind when it comes to heavy rock songwriting, and they seem to prefer short releases to full-lengths — arguments to be made on either side, as ever — but whether or not it’s the beginning of a series, Mountains and Waters reaffirms the band’s strengths, pushes their craft to the forefront, and celebrates genre even as it inhabits it. There’s nothing more one might ask.

Iron & Stone on Facebook

Iron & Stone on Bandcamp

 

DR​Ö​Ö​G, DR​Ö​Ö​G

DR​Ö​Ö​G DR​Ö​Ö​G

To be sure, there shades of are discernible influences in DR​Ö​Ö​G‘s self-titled Majestic Mountain Records first long-player, from fellow Swedes Graveyard, Greenleaf, maybe even some of earlier Abramis Brama‘s ’70s vibes, but these are only shades. Thus it is immediately refreshing how unwilling the self-recording core duo of Magnus Vestling and Daniel Engberg are to follow the rules of style, pushing the drums far back into the mix and giving the entire recording a kind of far-off feel, their classic and almost hypnotic, quintessentially Swedish (and in Swedish, lyrically-speaking) heavy blues offered with hints of psychedelic flourish and ready emergence. The way “Stormhatt” seems to rise in the space of its own making. The fuller fuzz of “Blodörn.” The subtle tension of the riff in the second half of “Nattfjärilar.” In songs mostly between six and about eight minutes long, DR​Ö​Ö​G distinguish themselves in tone — bass and hard-strummed guitar out front in “Hamnskiftaren” along with the vocals — and melody, creating an earthy atmosphere that has elements of svensk folkmusik without sounding like a caricature of that or anything else. They’ve got me rewriting my list of 2022’s best debut albums, and already looking forward to how they grow this sound going on from here.

DR​Ö​Ö​G on Facebook

Majestic Mountain Records store

 

Grales, Remember the Earth but Never Come Back

Grales Remember the Earth but Never Come Back

Rare is a record so thoroughly screamed that is also so enhanced by its lyrics. Hello, Remember the Earth but Never Come Back. Based in Montreal — home to any number of disaffected sludgy noisemakers — Grales turn apocalyptic dystopian visions into poetry on the likes of “All Things are Temporary,” and anti-capitalist screed on “From Sea to Empty Sea” and “Wretched and Low,” tying together anthropocene planet death with the drive of human greed in concise, sharp, and duly harsh fashion. Laced with noise, sludged to the gills it’s fortunate enough to have so it can breathe in the rising ocean waters, and pointed in its lurch, the five-song/43-minute outing takes the directionless fuckall of so many practitioners of its genre and sets itself apart by knowing and naming exactly what it’s mad about. It’s mad about wage theft, climate change, the hopelessness that surrounds most while a miserly few continue to rape and pillage what should belong to everybody. The question asked in “Agony” answers itself: “What is the world without our misery? We’ll never know.” With this perspective in mind and a hint of melody in the finale “Sic Transit Mundus,” Grales offer a two-sided tape through From the Urn Records that is gripping in its onslaught and stirring despite its outward misanthropy. It’s not that they don’t care; it’s that they want you to pick up a molotov cocktail and toss it at your nearest corporate headquarters. Call it relatable.

Grales on Facebook

From the Urn Records on Bandcamp

 

Half Gramme of Soma, Slip Through the Cracks

half gramme of soma slip through the cracks 1

Energetic in its delivery and semi-progressive in its intentions, Half Gramme of Soma‘s second album, Slip Through the Cracks, arrives with the backing of Sound of Liberation Records, the label wing of one of Europe’s lead booking agencies for heavy rock. Not a minor endorsement, but it’s plain to hear in the eight-song/42-minute course the individualism and solidified craft that prompted the pickup: Half Gramme of Soma know what they’re doing, period. Working with producer George Leodis (1000mods, Godsleep, Last Rizla, etc.) in their native Athens, they’ve honed a sound that reaches deeper than the deceptively short runtimes of tracks like “Voyager” and “Sirens” or “Wounds” might lead you to believe, and the blend of patience and intensity on finale-and-longest-song “22:22” (actually 7:36) highlights their potential in both its languid overarching groove and the later guitar solos that cut through it en route to that long fade, without sacrificing the present for the sake of the future. That is, whatever Half Gramme of Soma might do on their third record, Slip Through the Cracks shouldn’t. Even in fest-ready riffers “High Heels” and “Mind Game,” they bleed personality and purpose.

Half Gramme of Soma on Facebook

Sound of Liberation Records store

 

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Lotus Emperor Premiere Video for Title-Track of New Album Syneidesis

Posted in Bootleg Theater, Reviews on November 10th, 2022 by JJ Koczan

Lotus Emperor Syneidesis

Lotus Emperor release their awaited second album, Syneidesis on Nov. 25 through Sound Effect Records. The Athens-based four-piece made their self-titled debut in 2015, and they return now with vast distances measured across 47 minutes of dug in, hypnotic and meditative heavy psychedelia. The bulk of the offering takes place in three extended songs complemented by two shorter stretches that, to scale, could be called interludes, but nonetheless flesh out the atmosphere that is so much a focus throughout the entire proceedings. On the most basic level, it is a marked shift in songcraft from the first LP, which had more songs (14), ran 69 minutes, and touched the 10-minute mark only once.

As to what’s behind that shift, I couldn’t say — hey, a lot of things have changed in the last seven years — but it lends Syneidesis a thematic thread that pushes farther and farther out through its title-track with an epilogue in the three-minute closer “Synteleia” (they translate it as “continuity,” which I like; when I looked it was the somewhat less romantic “the end”; go figure). “Anemos” indeed is windblown throughout its coming together across its early minutes, and Lotus Emperor work with enticing quickness to establish key elements in their patience in how the song unfolds, their use of minimalism in the guitar to make each note seem to count double, their ambience, melody, and ability to fluidly transition into a harder-hitting rhythm as they move through the second minute before solidifying (relatively) at about 3:13 into the total 11:48 around a riff that presents itself like what might happen if Queens of the Stone Age‘s “I Think I Lost My Headache” fell into a black hole.

The groove they lock in at that moment is a telltale galactic rollout that serves as a beginning point for the whole record, opening up to a clear verse delivered by vocalist Konstantina Latzaki over cymbal washes and an eventual resurgence of a slower version of the central nod. By the song’s halfway point, Latzaki, guitarist Stasinos Papastathopoulos, bassist/synthesist Panos Dimopoulos and drummer Nikos Antzoulatos have worked their way into to the march that will define the song, but there’s still more spacing out to do in the back end, with guitar and bass underscoring a section of open, vocal-topped atmospherics that’s duly otherworldly and entrancing. The riff comes back, and Papasthathopoulos‘ guitar seems to rise in the mix to a dominant, triumphalist position.

Since the album was recorded live, between 2020 and 2021 at Room 59 by Haris Pitsinis — who also adds effects to “#59” and “Synteleia,” while drummer Greg from The Last Rizla joins in on the title-track and Nikos Antzoulatos adds backing vocals to “Petra” — it is that much easier to imagine it being relatively close to the stage experience of seeing the band live, and in that context, “Anemos” moving into the more actively riffy “Petra” makes even more sense. The nod of the opener is expanded on and the vocals echo out with held notes for the last lines of measures before dropping to whispers over bass punches just past the midpoint, but it’s a short break and the roll resumes, with synthesizer swirl added as a thanks-for-hanging-out-feeling bonus element. The ending of the song, which begins at about 8:47 into the 13-minutes-flat track, is righteous in its added push, the guitar leading the way through a noisy surge before breaking down to ambience and exploring that quiet space for a while until “#59” takes over with its own eerie psychedelic vibe, horror organ and willfully meandering guitar.

lotus emperor

Fair to call it an interlude, but it’s not insubstantial even among the longer pieces surrounding. It serves to guide the listener through the middle of the tracklisting and bridge “Petra” and “Syneidesis” in a way that allows for a breath between them while staying consistent in terms of mood, which is paramount. Dimopoulos‘ bass work early adds progressive flair to “Syneidesis” as that title-track begins to unfurl, and the emergence of the march is gradual but palpable. An atmospheric vocal highlight, with Latzaki moving between croons and whispers in creepy but not necessarily witchy fashion, the platform is ready for the declarations that top the get-loud apex beginning at 7:51, soon enough swallowed by the dual-layered guitar solo.

They’ll recede and build back up before they’re done, and over a swirling riff with just an edge of Mediterranean folk influence, “Syneidesis” ends suddenly and cold in the way of, well, death. Dimopoulos shows some influence from John Carpenter in the synth-led finale, some vague samples and VHS-cinema swirl for the end credits of the long-player, with a sense perhaps of that being an aspect of their sound that will be utilized more in releases to come. That is to say, there’s room for more if they want to go that route over the longer term, but for a band who just took seven years to follow-up their debut — for whatever reason; again, I don’t know the circumstances behind the delay and I’m not about to guess — I’m not remotely comfortable trying to predict where the “next record” might go, whenever it should arrive.

Perhaps, then, the message should be to appreciate what’s happening in the moment. Those who caught onto the first record seven years ago — that’s not me; I suck at life — will no doubt rejoice at the something-of-a-comeback Syneidesis represents, but if they’re new to you as well here, the cohesiveness with which they undertake what’s actually a pretty stark change in approach remains striking. Syneidesis is an album that builds a world and a story of the self in the universe, a cosmic identity forged in a reach of unfathomable scope. Elements of what they do will be familiar, nestled as they are somewhere between psychedelic exploration, space-doom and atmospheric post-heavy, but the affective experience of Lotus Emperor is no less individual than what you bring to hearing it. So probably the thing to do, then, is hear it.

You can get a sample of the title-track in the video below for an edit of the song. I hope you enjoy:

Lotus Emperor, “Syneidesis” official video

Lotus Emperor on Syneidesis:

We open our sails for a second time! With aid from “Anemos” (Wind,) Lotus Emperor’s vessel travels again through the mysteries of life, using our sounds as a medium to carve the “Petra” (Stone) and, through our “#59” wormhole accelerator, shape the new collective “Syneidesis” (Consciousness) in order to get things done from the beginning to the “Synteleia” (The End).

7 years after their self-titled debut, and a minor classic among the international heavy-psych scene, Lotus Emperor are back with “Syneidesis”, their second and debut for Sound Effect Records! Led by Constantina Latzaki’s voice, Lotus Emperor have broaden their horizons, moving on to a mystical journey, an atmospheric mixture of fuzzed-out doom, shoegaze and post-punk, all part of a deeply ritualistic psychedelic concept! On “Syneidesis” Lotus Emperor go cinematic and turn the “difficult” sophomore album to their most compelling work so far.

Released on limited black and neon violet vinyl and CD, on November 25th 2022.

Tracklisting:
1. Anemos (Wind) (11:48)
2. Petra (Stone) (13:00)
3. #59 (4:46)
4. Syneidesis (Consciousness) (14:40)
5. Synteleia (The End) (3:19)

Lotus Emperor:
Vocals: Konstantina Latzaki
Guitar: Stasinos Papastathopoulos
Bass: Panos Dimopoulos
Drums: Nikos Antzoulatos

Lotus Emperor on Instagram

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Lotus Emperor on Bandcamp

Sound Effect Records on Facebook

Sound Effect Records website

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The Obelisk Questionnaire: Dimos Ioannou of Khirki

Posted in Questionnaire on November 4th, 2022 by JJ Koczan

Dimos-Ioannou-of-khirki

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: Dimos Ioannou of Khirki

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

I am a musician. I play guitar and I sing in a rock ‘n’ roll band called Khirki. We are from Athens, Greece.

I realized early on I have the gift of music and I have devoted my life to honor it.

Listening to Metallica’s “Kill ‘em All” at the age of 13 made me fall in love with the electric guitar, listening to Mastodon’s “Leviathan” taught me the power of the Riff, listening to Jethro Tull’s “Aqualung” showed me the elegance of folk music.

I am also a Ph.D. student in Physics, currently working on my thesis in the field of Nanotechnology.

Describe your first musical memory.

I remember Pink Floyd’s “The Wall” vinyl spinning and my mom explaining the concept to me. It was a thrilling experience that haunted me for the rest of my life. I was 5 years old.

Describe your best musical memory to date.

Every time we play and I see people I’ve never met in my life singing my lyrics, dancing and enjoying themselves because of our music is a special moment I hold dear in my heart.

As a fan my best musical memory would have to be the very first time I listened to Mastodon’s “Crack the Skye”. Instant classic! My jaw dropped, my mind was blown and I was inspired beyond words.

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

Standing in front of an audience for the first time at the age of 14, playing my first show and deciding to be myself however awkward or weird I might be. It was totally worth it.

Where do you feel artistic progression leads?

We chase something almost impossible to catch. The essence! We all have one magic song inside of us and all we play is variations of that one song. The more we dig, the faster we run, the harder we play we come closer and closer. If we are being honest and devoted we might get a true glimpse of it one day.

How do you define success?

To earn a decent living doing what you love without sacrificing yourself.

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

Members of my family being really worried or sad.

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

I’d like to write a symphony for an orchestra one day. Something like “Tubular Bells” but with lyrics.

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

Communication. Art is expressing yourself and being felt rather than understood.

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

I am looking forward to visiting some places of the world like southern Italy, Morocco, Jordan, Scotland and Sweden. I would love to see the Aurora Borealis! I would love to ride a camel through the desert and visit ancient sites to marvel at monuments.

https://www.instagram.com/khirki_official/
https://www.facebook.com/khirkiofficial
https://khirkirocks.bandcamp.com/

Khirki, Κτηνωδία (2021)

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