Netherlands-based six-piece outfit Cervus impressed earlier this year with their single/video “Cycles” (posted here) and last month spent some time in Texel in the Wadden Islands in order to get to work on what will be their second EP release, tentatively titled Axis. They don’t seem to have been recording there, just getting pieces together and making demos, and it will be interesting to see where they end up since “Cycles” was something of a departure from their first EP, Ignis, which came out in Dec. 2021.

Obviously it’s too early to talk about release dates for Axis or anything like that, since, you know, they haven’t actually made it yet, but the band have a few dates lined up for this Fall, including a stop at the esteemed Le Guess Who? in Utrecht, and their working out new material live hardly seems outside the realm of possibility, so if you’re in that part of the world and want to chase down a preview, such a thing could actually happen somewhere in this mix. And when/if I hear about recording plans, I’ll let you know.

Meanwhile:

CERVUS – New Fall Dates

Howdy! Here it is, an overview of new dates for the fall. We’re super stoked to announce this and we can’t wait to play for you in the near future! Doom on!

Oct 29 HKU Helloween De Nijverheid Utrecht, Netherlands
Nov 06 dB’s Studio Utrecht, Netherlands
Nov 12 Le Guess Who? 2022 De Branderij Utrecht, Netherlands
Nov 19 Cafe De Nijverheid Utrecht, Netherlands
Dec 02 Cafe Neushoorn Leeuwarden, Netherlands

Artwork by @deebo.altrego (you can get it on a tshirt, check our BIO link)
Graphic design by @tom_vd_linden_illustrator
• TEXEL TRIP AXIS FIN •

The trip has concluded, and we have a fresh crop of ideas/demos/concepts. It’s an eclectic bunch to say the least.

Spacious, mystery, heavy, serene, subtle, huge… all qualities we want explore on the upcoming record. Dynamics is and was the keyword in the back of our heads during the sessions. We can’t wait to jam on them and refine them further.

Cervus is:
Tom van der Linden – Vocals
Tom Mourik – Bass Guitar
Rogier Henkelman – Drums
Jan Woudenberg – Guitar
Ton van Rijswijk – Keyboard/Guitar
Dennis de Bruin – Guitar

https://www.instagram.com/cervustheband/
https://www.facebook.com/cervustheband
https://cervustheband.bandcamp.com/

Cervus, “Cycles”

Cervus, Ignis (2021)

Change has been one of very few constants in the career thus far of Spanish experimental doomers Orthodox. After releasing a 7″ this summer for the track “Crown for a Mole” that also marked their debut as a two-piece while coinciding with a handful of tour dates alongside High on Fire, the Sevilla outfit have made their new long-player available to preorder through Alone Records. It will be their first full-length release since Baal (review here) came out in 2011, the band having offered up a few demos and a B-sides collection in addition to the single in the interim.

When it comes to Orthodox, one never really knows what to expect, so I won’t speculate as to whether or not “Crown for a Mole” speaks to the entirety of Axis, which will be the title of their fifth record, but the album is available to preorder now, so we’ll all find out sooner or later anyway. Info came down the PR wire thusly:

ORTHODOX. New album ‘Axis’ – PRE-ORDER now!

Recently reformed as duo, with Marco Serrato (bass, vocals) and Borja Díaz (Drums), ORTHODOX are coming back with a new studio album.

The duo emerges now performing with different guests musicians on studio sessions, developing a new form of contemporary heavy metal meets extreme jazz meets doom, like no one. New tracks show more ‘straight forward’ concept on composing process. But this is just NOW, as ORTHODOX never compromises with certain sound or ‘song concept’ for so long.

So ‘Axis’ came from such different studio sessions, with a more straight and focus punch of avant-garde approach mixed through heavy metal as only Orthodox are re-doing in every new album.

‘Crown for a Mole’ is the first single, taken from the new album.

BIO:
Orthodox is a duo from Seville, Spain playing experimental doom metal inspired by religious folklore and even jazz. A music based on hypnotic repetitions of quasi-mystical
intensity and slow, torpid rhythms befitting people from a city of crushing summer heat. Musical influences from Black Sabbath, Pink Floyd or Melvins mixed with their peculiar perception of Southern Spain folklore.

https://www.facebook.com/orthodoxband/
http://orthodoxband.bandcamp.com/
www.thestonecirclestore.com

Orthodox, “Crown for a Mole”