https://www.high-endrolex.com/18

Mars Red Sky Announce Collaboration EP with Queen of the Meadow

Posted in Whathaveyou on February 9th, 2023 by JJ Koczan

This is the second time this week I’m posting news about Mars Red Sky. The Bordeaux trio are fresh off announcing a stretch of tour dates alongside Weedeater and Telekinetic Yeti that starts this month, and they’re following that with the unveiling of their new EP, made in collaboration with folk singer Queen of the Meadow. Born Helen Ferguson, she and Mars Red Sky‘s Julien Pras have worked together going back to his being her guitar teacher and they may or may not be married. In any case, I’ve heard the thing, and it’s a fit, which is what matters, and obviously it’s that basis in the prior relationship that makes that possible. Stumbling through Queen of the Meadow‘s Bandcamp, 2018’s A Room to Store Happiness hits a nerve nicely in “Royal Garden.” I’ve embedded it below. It’s not her latest album, that’s 2021’s Survival of the Unfittest, but you know how to get to Bandcamp from an embed.

Of course, Mars Red Sky have long had a pattern of releasing EPs as a way of leading into new full-lengths, so I’ll just say I hope that’s the case here. It’s also not the first collaboration the three-piece have done, as they worked together with Year of No Light on an EP (discussed here) in 2012. It’s a good one though. You won’t regret keeping an ear out.

For now:

mars red sky and queen of the meadow ep release

Hey there!

We are excited to officially announce the release of our new EP « Mars Red Sky & Queen of the Meadow » this April 28th 2023 on long time friends record label Vicious Circle Records and our own one Mrs Red Sound !! We teamed up with dark folk artist Queen of the Meadow who sings on each track. We hope you’ll like this one made – as always – with love & fuzz. Details about the release and more surprises to be revealed in the next few days… Stay tuned!

Take care y’all and see you soon on tour!!

TICKETS : marsredsky.rocks/tour

18.02.2023 (#127465#)(#127466#) ERFURT Bandhaus Erfurt
29.02.2023 (#127462#)(#127481#) VIENNA Echoes of Erebos
30.02.2023 (#127468#)(#127463#) BRISTOL Astral Festival
01.05.2023 (#127468#)(#127463#) CARDIFF The Globe Cardiff *
02.05.2023 (#127470#)(#127466#) DUBLIN The Grand Social*
03.05.2023 (#127468#)(#127463#) GLASGOW Cathouse Rock Club*
05.05.2023 (#127468#)(#127463#) SHEFFIELD Corporation Sheffield*
05.05.2023 (#127468#)(#127463#) MANCHESTER Factory Manchester*
06.05.2023 (#127468#)(#127463#) DURHAM Dominion Festival
07.05.2023 (#127468#)(#127463#) LONDON Desertfest London
27.05.2023 (#127466#)(#127480#) MADRID Kristonfest
26.08.2023 (#127463#)(#127466#) RILLAAR Down The Hill
* With Weedeater and Telekinetic Yeti.

MARS RED SKY are:
Julien Pras : guitar, vocals
Jimmy Kinast : bass, vocals
Mathieu “Matgaz” Gazeau: drums, vocals

Photo Jessica Calvo Photographe – artwork Fluor_99

http://www.facebook.com/marsredskyband/
https://marsredsky.bigcartel.com/
http://www.marsredsky.net
https://mrsredsound.com/

Queen of the Meadow, A Room to Store Happiness (2018)

Mars Red Sky, “Proving Grounds” official video

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Mars Red Sky to Tour UK & Ireland with Weedeater and Telekinetic Yeti

Posted in Whathaveyou on February 7th, 2023 by JJ Koczan

This is a cool mix. Weedeater and Telekinetic Yeti have been tourmates in the past in the US, so for them to take that show to the UK and Ireland for fests and more, adding Mars Red Sky to the mix gives it a totally different character, tying together tonal largesse and melody as is their wont while Telekinetic Yeti bludgeon with riffs and Weedeater bring their signature party scathe, which at this point I think I’m prepared to just call ‘the blues’ and leave it at that. There. Weedeater are a blues band. Feels good to say that. Via sludge, sure.

Mars Red Sky have new material in the works — perhaps the next announce from their label Mrs Red Sound will be that release?; one hopes — but either way, they have festivals booked throughout the Spring and Summer. They’ll be in Bristol this month for Astral Festival, and this tour takes them to Desertfest London ahead of appearances at Kristonfest in Madrid — presented in part by this site — and Down the Hill in Belgium. Gonna be a busy year for the Bordeaux trio, I think. “Sapphire vessel gaining speed,” and so on.

The aforementioned Mrs Red Sound sent the following:

Mars Red Sky Weedeater Telekinetic Yeti tour

France’s psychedelic doom stalwarts MARS RED SKY to announce new dates across the UK and Ireland with Weedeater and Telekinetic Yeti.

Doom progressive veterans MARS RED SKY are back on track with a full UK and Ireland tour announcement. They will be sharing the stage with North Carolina sludge/stoner legends Weedeater and US heavy psych heavyweights Telekitenic Yeti. Mars Red Sky will also be playing some nice festivals such as Astral, DesertFest London, Dominion or Kriston Fest. Let there be loud!

Impossible to miss French trio MARS RED SKY on the road this Spring. According to some posts and their social medias, the Bordeaux-based psych doom band are up to new audio material. This tour should be the best way to hear more about it. Stay tuned…

TICKETS : marsredsky.rocks/tour

18.02.2023 (#127465#)(#127466#) ERFURT Bandhaus Erfurt
29.02.2023 (#127462#)(#127481#) VIENNA Echoes of Erebos
30.02.2023 (#127468#)(#127463#) BRISTOL Astral Festival
01.05.2023 (#127468#)(#127463#) CARDIFF The Globe Cardiff *
02.05.2023 (#127470#)(#127466#) DUBLIN The Grand Social*
03.05.2023 (#127468#)(#127463#) GLASGOW Cathouse Rock Club*
05.05.2023 (#127468#)(#127463#) SHEFFIELD Corporation Sheffield*
05.05.2023 (#127468#)(#127463#) MANCHESTER Factory Manchester*
06.05.2023 (#127468#)(#127463#) DURHAM Dominion Festival
07.05.2023 (#127468#)(#127463#) LONDON Desertfest London
27.05.2023 (#127466#)(#127480#) MADRID Kristonfest
26.08.2023 (#127463#)(#127466#) RILLAAR Down The Hill
* With Weedeater and Telekinetic Yeti.

MARS RED SKY are:
Julien Pras : guitar, vocals
Jimmy Kinast : bass, vocals
Mathieu “Matgaz” Gazeau: drums, vocals

http://www.facebook.com/marsredskyband/
https://marsredsky.bigcartel.com/
http://www.marsredsky.net
https://mrsredsound.com/

Mars Red Sky, “Proving Grounds” official video

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The Obelisk Presents: Mars Red Sky US Tour Dates with Greenbeard

Posted in Features, Whathaveyou on June 13th, 2022 by JJ Koczan

mars red sky

You like symmetry? I do. Here’s a bit of it for you. In January 2020, Bordeaux, France, progressive heavy psychedelic rockers Mars Red Sky announced a Springtime return for their first US shows since 2016. I was proud to have this site as a presenting media sponsor, and happy for the excuse to reengage with 2019’s The Task Eternal (review here), because, well, I dig this band a lot and that’s a killer record. Relatively simple, I guess. So here’s the symmetry — the photo above is the same one I used in 2020 and I’m proud to be presenting this upcoming US run as well. And hey, it’s still their first North American shows since 2016! Not much has happened since then around these parts, right?

More than a decade removed from their reissued-last-year 2011 self-titled debut (review herediscussed here), it’s interesting to think of the band’s impact not only helping foster heavy music’s engagement with its own vision of thoughtful craft and artistic growth — they’re nothing if not a positive example in that regard — but also just the manner in which their blend of vocal float and tonal weight has become so widespread. They’re not the only reason for that — bands like MonolordElephant Tree, and King Buffalo have certainly had a say — but at least two of those have drawn marked influence from Mars Red Sky, and that’s by no means the end of that list.

The reason Mars Red Sky are so special, if you’ll permit me the indulgence, is that they didn’t stop with that central innovation/nuance. Their penchant for heavy/melodic has become more complex as their songwriting has done the same. The Task Eternal branched as far out as they’ve gone so far, and while I wonder if the forced time off the road of the last few years and the reissue of their self-titled in 2021 might see them reexamine the impact of that early work, invariably affecting their sound, whatever shape the next Mars Red Sky offering might take, I’m only keen to find out. Whichever way they go, they always seem to move forward.

Heavy music in 2022 wouldn’t be the same without this band’s work over the last 11-plus years. That is reason to show up much more than maybe an Obelisk logo on the poster or whatever. Plus they’ll be out with Greenbeard, and I just saw those guys at Desertfest New York (review here) and they tore it up. These are going to be some good-ass shows, and like in 2020, Mars Red Sky will hit Monolith on the Mesa as well. One more reason to abandon your life and roll to the desert, as if you needed another.

Dates follow, as well as Mars Red Sky‘s previously announced European summer stint, because this is the internet, damnit, and no gods no masters no borders just riffs.

Dig:

mars red sky north america dates 2022

The Obelisk Presents: MARS RED SKY US TOUR DATES
– With Support from Greenbeard

9/09 Chicago, IL @ Reggies
9/10 Rock Island, IL @ Wake Brewing
9/11 Minneapolis, MN @ Skyway Theatre
9/13 Denver, CO @ Hi-Dive
9/16 Taos, NM @ Monolith on the Mesa Festival *
9/17 Phoenix, AZ @ The Rebel Lounge
9/18 San Diego, CA @ Brick By Brick
9/19 Costa Mesa, CA @ The Wayfarer
9/20 Los Angeles, CA @ Resident
9/21 Oakland, CA @ Starline Social Club
9/23 Portland, OR @ The High Water Mark
9/25 Seattle, WA @ Substation
* = No Greenbeard

mars red sky euro tour 2022Previously announced European tour:
3C, Sound of Liberation, Ya Ya Yeah and Mrs Red Sound proudly present Mars Red Sky on tour:

02.07.22 SLUNJ (HR) Bear Stone Festival
06.07.22 LILLE (FR) La Bulle Café *
07.07.22 DORTMUND (DE) JunkYard *
08.07.22 JENA (DE) KuBa *
09.07.22 PLESZEW (PL) Red Smoke Festival *
10.07.22 GÖTTINGEN (DE) Vinyl-Reservat *
16.07.22 LA ROCHELLE (FR) Les Francofolies
21.07.22 SANTANDER (SP) Rock Beer the New
22.07.22 OVIEDO (SP) TBA
23.07.22 FIGUEIRA DA FOZ (PT) WoodRock Festival
24.07.22 MADRID (SP) Wurlitzer Ballroom
29.07.22 NEUENSEE (DE) Rock im Wald Festival
06.08.22 ERCÉ_EN_LAMÉE (FR) Macumba Open Air Festival
*With Witchfinder

Mars Red Sky celebrated the anniversary of their cult eponymous debut album in December 2021 by releasing an original online tool entitled “Inside MRS”, that allows to remix the album stems. Anyone who bought the record gets a private access code to log in to the website and to listen to the bass only, or to the lead guitar and vocals only, while watching footage of the recording sessions in the Bardenas Desert, Spain, about ten years ago. The band wanted to let the fans explore the entrails of the recordings. This release also features an illustrated lyrics booklet with fans artworks. Available for purchase at this location, through Mrs Red Sound Records: https://marsredsky.rocks/debutLPreissue

MARS RED SKY are:
Julien Pras : guitar, vocals
Jimmy Kinast : bass, vocals
Mathieu Gazeau: drums, vocals

Mars Red Sky, Web-mixing teaser

Mars Red Sky, Mars Red Sky (2011)

Mars Red Sky on Facebook

Mars Red Sky on Instagram

Mars Red Sky store

Mars Red Sky website

Mrs Red Sound website

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Mars Red Sky Playing Fests and More This Summer

Posted in Whathaveyou on June 1st, 2022 by JJ Koczan

mars red sky

Any day that I get to write about Mars Red Sky doing a thing is a good day, in no small part because it means I’m probably going to put on Mars Red Sky while I do. The Bordeaux-based three-piece reissued their 2011 self-titled debut (review here; discussed here) late last year in suitably creative fashion, letting the audience mix it themselves, which you bet your ass I did. It feels like longer than it’s actually been since they released 2019’s The Task Eternal (review here), and one might hope for an EP at least from them sometime soon — their long-standing habit of preceding LPs with EPs well established by now — but I’ve heard nothing in that regard.

Their tourmates for the Summer, Witchfinder — who are also on Mars Red Sky‘s label, Mrs Red Sound (sic) — do have a new album coming though, and that’s something. The two bands will team up for a handful of dates including Red Smoke Festival in Poland, which is just one of the fests Mars Red Sky have slated for the next few months. Take note also of Bear Stone Festival, which looks friggin’ awesome, as well as WoodRock, Rock im Wald and Macumba Open Air, on the list below.

Which reminds me, the list:

mars red sky euro tour 2022

MARS RED SKY: new European dates announced

Relentless Bordeaux-based heavy psychedelic merchants MARS RED SKY unleash new European Tour dates including some gigs supported by their label mates: doom quartet Witchfinder.

3C, Sound of Liberation, Ya Ya Yeah and Mrs Red Sound proudly present Mars Red Sky on tour:

02.07.22 SLUNJ (HR) Bear Stone Festival
06.07.22 LILLE (FR) La Bulle Café *
07.07.22 DORTMUND (DE) JunkYard *
08.07.22 JENA (DE) KuBa *
09.07.22 PLESZEW (PL) Red Smoke Festival *
10.07.22 GÖTTINGEN (DE) Vinyl-Reservat *
16.07.22 LA ROCHELLE (FR) Les Francofolies
21.07.22 SANTANDER (SP) Rock Beer the New
22.07.22 OVIEDO (SP) TBA
23.07.22 FIGUEIRA DA FOZ (PT) WoodRock Festival
24.07.22 MADRID (SP) Wurlitzer Ballroom
29.07.22 NEUENSEE (DE) Rock im Wald Festival
06.08.22 ERCÉ_EN_LAMÉE (FR) Macumba Open Air Festival
*With Witchfinder

Artwork by Crime da Mala Editions.

Mars Red Sky celebrated the anniversary of their cult eponymous debut album in December 2021 by releasing an original online tool entitled “Inside MRS”, that allows to remix the album stems. Anyone who bought the record gets a private access code to log in to the website and to listen to the bass only, or to the lead guitar and vocals only, while watching footage of the recording sessions in the Bardenas Desert, Spain, about ten years ago. The band wanted to let the fans explore the entrails of the recordings. This release also features an illustrated lyrics booklet with fans artworks. Available for purchase at this location, through Mrs Red Sound Records: https://marsredsky.rocks/debutLPreissue

MARS RED SKY are:
Julien Pras : guitar, vocals
Jimmy Kinast : bass, vocals
Mathieu Gazeau: drums, vocals

http://www.facebook.com/marsredskyband/
https://marsredsky.bigcartel.com/
http://www.marsredsky.net
https://mrsredsound.com/

Mars Red Sky, Web-mixing teaser

Mars Red Sky, Mars Red Sky (2011)

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Mars Red Sky Self-Titled Reissue Out Dec. 10

Posted in Whathaveyou on October 29th, 2021 by JJ Koczan

I love this record. As much melodic and/or mellow heavy rock has been released since Bordeaux, France’s Mars Red Sky released their 2011 self-titled debut (review here; discussed here), few if any have been able to capture a roll and a basic quality of songwriting and melody as effectively. The idea of the band reissuing the album through their own Mrs Red Sound imprint, well, that’s just ducky as far as I’m concerned. But that the new version comes with access to a tool that lets you play around and make your own mix of it is even more fun.

Maybe I’ll just sit for a while and listen to the bassline of “Way to Rome” on its own. Or mess around with the levels in the harmonies that come up later in “Up the Stairs.” Just for kicks. I’m not looking to replace the original mix of the album or anything — great record, natural feel, doesn’t need me screwing with it — but it’s still an awfully cool idea as a way to revisit an outing well worth revisiting.

The PR wire has details:

Mars Red Sky (photo by Titouan Massé)

French heavy psychedelic trio MARS RED SKY to reissue their cult debut album including a web mixing tool on December 10th via Mrs Red Sound.

For the ten-year anniversary of their eponymous debut album, Bordeaux-based heavy psychedelic merchants MARS RED SKY treat their fans to a very special release including a web mixing tool! The album is due out on December 10th through their own record label Mrs Red Sound.

Heavy psychedelic three-piece MARS RED SKY celebrate the anniversary of their cult eponymous debut album by releasing an original online tool entitled “Inside MRS”, that allows to remix the album stems. Anyone who bought the record, and got a private access code, will be able to log in into the website and to listen to the bass only, or to the lead guitar and vocals only, while watching footage of the recording sessions in the Bardenas Desert, Spain, about ten years ago. The band wanted to let the fans explore the entrails of the recordings. It was created by French web development agency Aropixel. This release also features an illustrated lyrics booklet with fans artworks. Preorder are available at this location.

‘Mars Red Sky’ was recorded by Pierre Fillon in The Bardenas Reales Natural Park, Spain. Mixed by Pierre Fillon and Mars Red Sky in Bordeaux, France. Except “Saddle Point” and “The Ravens Are Back”, recorded and mixed by Mars Red Sky at Mad Reed Studio in Bordeaux, France. Remastered for vinyl by Stéphane Teynié at AD Mastering. Mastered by Mats “Limpan” at Cutting Rooms Studios (Sweden).

Web development: Aropixel. Artwork: Carlos Olmo. Layout: Caroline Paigné. Video editing: Joséphine Labesse. Lyrics booklet cover and back: Freaks.FM. Strong Reflection art: Markus Hiltunen. Curse art: Diogo Soares. Falls art: Emmanuel Garcia. Marble Sky art: Romain Argant. Way To Rome art: Julian Langguth, Black Leaf Designs. Saddle Point art: Luka Noos. Up The Stairs art: Guillaume Magermans. The Ravens Are Back art: Lukasz Marzec.

MARS RED SKY debut album reissue ‘Mars Red Sky’
Out December 10th on Mrs Red Sound
PRE ORDER HERE: https://marsredsky.bigcartel.com/product/mars-red-sky-vinyl-debut-album-reissue

TRACK LISTING :
1. Strong Reflection
2. Curse
3. Falls
4. Marble Sky
5. Way To Rome
6. Saddle Point
7. The Ravens Are Back (bonus track)

MARS RED SKY are:
Julien Pras : guitar, vocals
Jimmy Kinast : bass, vocals
Mathieu Gazeau: drums, vocals

http://www.facebook.com/marsredskyband/
https://marsredsky.bigcartel.com/
http://www.marsredsky.net
https://mrsredsound.com/

Mars Red Sky, Web-mixing teaser

Mars Red Sky, Mars Red Sky (2011)

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Quarterly Review: Carlton Melton, Crown, Noêta, Polymerase, Lucid Sins, Hekate, Abel Blood, Suffer Yourself, Green Dragon, Age Total

Posted in Reviews on July 5th, 2021 by JJ Koczan

the-obelisk-fall-2016-quarterly-review

This will be a two-week Quarterly Review. That means this Monday to Friday and next Monday to Friday, 10 releases per day, totaling 100 by the time it’s done.

Me? I’m taking it one week, one day, one album at a time. It’s the only way to go and not have it seem completely insurmountable. But we’ll get through it all. I started out with the usual five days, and then I went to seven, then eight, and at that point I felt like I had a pretty good idea where things were headed. The last two days I filled up just at the end of last week. Some of it is I think a result of quarantine productivity, but there’s a glut of relevant stuff out now and some of it I’m catching up on, true, but some of it isn’t out yet either, so it’s a balance as ever. I keep telling myself I’m done with 2020 releases, but there’s one in here today. You know how it goes.

And since you do, I won’t delay further. Thanks in advance for reading if you do.

Quarterly Review #1-10:

Carlton Melton, Night Pillers

carlton melton night pillers

Rangey mellow psych collected together with the natural shimmer of a Phil Manley (Trans Am) recording and a John McBain master, the new mini-LP from Mendocino medicine makers Carlton Melton is a 31-minute, five-song meditative joy. To wit, “Safe Place?” Is. “Morning Warmth?” Is, even with the foreboding march of drums behind it. And “Striatum,” which closes with interplay of keys and fuzzy leads and effects, giving a culminating seven-minute wash that doesn’t feel like it’s pushing far out so much as already gone upon arrival, indeed seems like a reward for any head or brain that’s managed to make it so far. Opener “Resemblance” brings four minutes of gentle drone to set the mood ahead of “Morning Warmth” — it might be sunrise, if we’re thinking of it that way — and centerpiece “High Noon Thirty” bridges krauty electronic beats and organic ceremony that feels both familiar and like the band’s own. They may pill at night, but Carlton Melton have a hell of a day here.

Carlton Melton on Facebook

Agitated Records website

 

Crown, The End of All Things

Crown The End of All Things

Weaving in and around genres with fluidity that’s tied together through dark industrial foundations, Crown are as much black metal as they are post-heavy, cinematic or danceable. “Gallow” or the earlier “Neverland” call to mind mid-period, electronica-fascinated Katatonia, but “Extinction” pairs this with a more experimental feel, opening in its midsection to more unsettling spaces ahead of the dance-ready finish. There’s nothing cartoonish or vamp about The End of All Things, which is the French outfit’s fourth album in 10 years, and it’s as likely to embrace pop (closer “Utopia”) as extremity (“Firebearer” just before), grim atmospherics (“Nails”) or textured acoustics (“Fleuve”), feeling remarkably unconcerned with genre across its 45 entrancing minutes, and remarkably even in its approach for a sound that’s still so varied. It’s not an easy listen front to back, but the challenge feels intentional and is emotional as much as cerebral in the craft and performance.

Crown on Facebook

Pelagic Records on Bandcamp

 

Noêta, Elm

Noêta elm

Swedish duo Noêta offer their second record for Prophecy Productions in Elm, comprising a deceptively efficient eight songs and 38 minutes that work in atmospheres of darker but not grim or cultish folk. Vocalist Êlea is very much a focal point in terms of performance, with Andris‘ instrumentals forming a backdrop that’s mournful on “Above and Below” while shimmering enough to bring affirmation to “As We Are Gone” a short while later ahead of the electrified layering in “Elm” and the particularly haunted-feeling closer “Elm II.” “As I Fall Silent” is a singularly spacious moment, but not the only one, as “Fade” complements with strings and outward-sounding guitar, and some of Elm‘s most affecting moments are its quietest stretches, as “Dawn Falls” proves at the outset and the whispers of “Elm” reaffirm on side B. Subdued but not lacking complexity, Noêta‘s songs make an instrument of mood itself and are pointedly graceful in doing so.

Noêta on Facebook

Prophecy Productions website

 

Polymerase, Unostentatious

Polymerase Unostentatious

Unostentatious, which is presumably not to say “humble,” may or may not be Polymerase‘s debut release, but it follows on from several years of inactivity on the part of the Philippines-based mostly-instrumentalist heavy psych trio. The band present four duly engaging and somewhat raw feeling jams, with a jump in volume as “Lightbringer//Lightgiver” picks up from “A Night with a Succubus” and opener “The Traveler” and a final touch of thickened, fuzzy sludge in the rolling “Green is the Color of Evil,” which closes at a lurch that comes across at significant remove from the title-hinted brightness of the song just before it. Uneven? Maybe, but not egregiously so, and if Polymerase are looking to give listeners an impression of their having a multifaceted sound, they most assuredly do. My question is over what span of time these tracks were recorded and what the group will do in moving forward from them, but I take the fact that I’m curious to find out at all as a positive sign of having interest piqued. Will hope for more.

Polymerase on Facebook

Polymerase on Bandcamp

 

Lucid Sins, Cursed!

lucid sins cursed

Lucid indeed. The band’s self-applied genre tag of “adult AOR” is more efficient a descriptor of their sound than anything I might come up with. Glasgow’s Lucid Sins released their acclaimed debut, Occultation, in 2014, and Cursed! is the exclamatory seven-years-later follow-up, bringing together classic progressive rock and modern cult heavy sensibilities with a focus on songwriting that’s the undercurrent from “Joker’s Dance” onward and which, as deep as “The Serpentine Path” or the title-track or “The Forest” might go, is never forgotten. To wit, the penultimate “By Your Hand” is a proto-everything highlight, stomping compared to the organ-prog “Sun and the Moon” earlier, but ultimately just as melodic and of enviable tonal warmth. Seven years is a long time between records, and maybe this material just took that long to put together, I don’t know, but I had no idea “cult xylophone” was a possibility until “The Devil’s Sign” came along, and now I’m not sure how I ever lived without it.

Lucid Sins on Facebook

Totem Cat Records store

 

Hekate, Sermons to the Black Owl

Hekate Sermons to the Black Owl

Australia’s history in heavy rock and roll is as long as that of heavy rock and roll itself and need not be recounted here, except to say that Hekate, from Canberra and Sydney, draw from multiple eras of it with their debut long-player, Sermons to the Black Owl, pushing ’70s boogie over the top with solos on “Carpathian Eagle” only after “Winter Void” and “Child of Black Magick” have seen the double-guitar-and-let’s-use-both four-piece update nascent doom vibes and “Burning Mask” has brought a more severe chug to the increasingly intense procession. A full production sound refuses to let the quick eight-tracker be anything other than modern, and though it’s only 28 minutes long, the aptly-titled “Acoustic Outro” feels earned atmospherically, even down to the early-feeling cold finish of “Cassowary Dreaming.” The balance may be then, then, then, and now, but the sense of shove that Hekate foster in their songs gives fresh urgency to the tenets of genre they seem to have adopted at will.

Hekate on Facebook

Black Farm Records store

 

Abel Blood, Keeping Pace with the Elephants

Abel Blood Keeping Pace with the Elephants

One does not evoke elephantine images on a heavy record, even on a debut release, if aural largesse isn’t a factor. New Hampshire trio Abel Blood — guitarist/vocalist Adam Joslyn, bassist Ben Cook, drummer Jim DeLuca — are raw in sound on their first EP, Keeping Pace with the Elephants, but the impact with which they land “The Day that Moby Died” at the outset is only encouraging, and to be sure, it’s not the thickest of their wares either. “Enemies” already pushes further, and as centerpiece “UnKnown Variant” would seem to date the effort in advance, it also serves the vital function of moving the EP in a different, more jangly, grungier direction, which is a valuable move with the title cut following behind, its massive cymbals and distorted wash building to a head in time for the nine-minute finale “Fire on the Hillside” to draw together both sides of the approach shown throughout into a parabolically structured jam the middle-placed surge of which passes quickly enough to leave the listener unsure whether it ever happened. They’re messing with you. Dig that.

Abel Blood on Facebook

Abel Blood on Bandcamp

 

Suffer Yourself, Rip Tide

Suffer Yourself Rip Tide

Begun in 2011 by guitarist/vocalist Stanislav Govorukha and based in Sweden by way of Poland and the Ukraine, death-doom lurchbringers Suffer Yourself are not strangers to longer-form material, but to my knowledge, “Spit in the Chasm” — the opening and longest track (immediate points) on their third record, Rip Tide — is the first time they’ve crossed the 20-minute mark. Time well spent, and by that I mean “brutally spent,” whether its the speedier chug that emerges from the willful slog of the extended piece’s first half or the viciously progressive lead work that tops the precise, cold end of the song that brings final ambience. Side B offers two shorter pieces in “Désir de Trépas Maritime (Au Bord de la Mer Je Veux Mourir),” laced with suitably mournful strings and a fair enough maritime sense of gothic drama emphasized by later spoken word and piano, and the brief, mostly-drone “Submerging,” which one assumes is the end of that plotline playing out. The main consumption though is in “Spit in the Chasm,” and the dimensions of that fissure are significant, figuratively and literally.

Suffer Yourself on Facebook

Aesthetic Death website

 

Green Dragon, Dead of the Night

Green Dragon Dead of the Night

High order Sabbathian doom rock from my own beloved Garden State, there’s very little chance I’m not going to dig Green Dragon‘s Dead of the Night, and true to type, I do. Presented by the band on limited vinyl after digital release late in 2020, the four-song, 24-minute outing brings guitarist/vocalists Zach Kurland and Ryan Lipynsky (the latter also adding keys and known for his work in Unearthly Trance, etc.), bassist Jennifer Klein and drummer Herbert Wiley to a place so dug into its groove it almost feels inappropriate to think of it as a peak in terms of their work to-date. They go high by going low, then. Fair enough. “Altered States” opens with a rollout of fuzz that miraculously avoids the trap sounding like Electric Wizard, while “Burning Bridges” murks out, “The Sad King” pushes speed a bit will still holding firm to nod and echo alike, and “Book of Shadows” plunges into effects-drenched noise like it was one of the two waterslides at the Maplewood community pool in summertime.

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ÂGE TOTAL, ÂGE TOTAL

ÂGE ? TOTAL

The kind of record that probably won’t be heard by enough people but will inspire visceral loyalty in many of those who encounter it, the self-titled debut from French collaborative outfit Age Total — bringing together members from Endless Floods out of Bordeaux and Rouen’s Greyfell — is a grand and engrossing work that pushes the outer limits of doom and post-metal. Bookending opener “Amure” (14:28) and closer “The Songbird” (16:45) around the experimentalist “Carré” (4:06) and rumbling melodic death-doom of “Metal,” the album harnesses grandiosity and nuance to spare, with each piece feeling independently conceived and enlightening to musician and audience alike. It sounds like the kind of material they didn’t know they were going to come up with until they actually got together — whatever the circumstances of “together” might’ve looked like at the time — and the bridges they build between progressive metal and sheer weight of intention are staggering. However much hype it does or doesn’t have behind it, Age Total‘s Age Total is one of 2021’s best debut albums.

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Year of No Light to Release Consolamentum on Pelagic Records July 2

Posted in Whathaveyou on April 21st, 2021 by JJ Koczan

year of no light

Well that’s a pretty heavy 12-minute single you’ve got there, Year of No Light. The Bordeaux-based six-piece haven’t issued a full-length since they gave the Vampyr score a once-over in 2013, and to herald the coming of Consolamentum, the band have revealed “Réalgar,” a post-metallic instrumental soundscaper that’s suitably big on atmosphere and impact without losing itself entirely to either. The new album will be their first for Pelagic, and it comes as they mark their 20th anniversary as a band, also releasing a new limited box set that is nothing if not extensive. You know bands are giving it their all when they put the slipmat along with 12 platters in the hand-silkscreened wood box.

What’s really enticing about “Réalgar” — aside from that synth line running beneath the airy guitars — is how short it makes that 12 minutes seem. Didn’t we just set out on this journey, Year of No Light? And already we’re dissolving into gorgeous ambience? They do spend the last couple minutes in that swirl, but don’t be fooled by the lack of drums, there’s still plenty of substance to the proceedings.

Cool beans. (That’s probably something no one else will say about this track, so there. Thanks for reading.) You’ll find the details for the box and Consolamentum below, courtesy of the PR wire:

year of no light consolamentum

Year of No Light announce Consolamentum album and 20th anniversary box set

Bordeaux, FR post-metal sextet joins Pelagic Records w/ heaviest album to date

Bordeaux, France post-metal sextet Year of No Light announce their forthcoming fifth studio album Consolamentum today, sharing the first single “Réalgar” via all DSPs. Hear and share “Réalgar” via Bandcamp, Spotify and YouTube.

Consolamentum is the band’s first album on Pelagic Records. To celebrate joining the label and Year of No Lights’s 20th anniversary, they will release a limited edition deluxe wooden box set of the band’s entire discography, titled Mnemophobia on July 2nd. The handmade, hand-silkscreened wooden box features 12 vinyl LPs in 6 gatefold sleeves, exclusive colored vinyl variants, a slipmat, metal pin, patch and poster. For more information, see HERE: https://pelagic-records.com/product/year-of-no-light-mnemophobia-wooden-lp-boxset/

Year of No Light’s lengthy, sprawling compositions of towering walls of guitars and sombre synths irradiate a sense of dire solemnity and spiritual gravity, and couldn’t be a more fitting soundtrack for such grim medieval scenarios. But there is also the element of absolution, regeneration, elevation, transcendence in the face of death. Consolamentum is dense, rich and lush and yet somehow feels starved and deprived.

It comes as no surprise that ever since the beginning of their career, the band have had an obsession for the fall of man and salvation through darkness. The term “consolamentum” describes the sacrament, the initiation ritual of the Catharic Church, which thrived in Southern Europe in the 12th – 14th Century – a ritual that brought eternal austereness and immersion in the Holy Spirit.

“There’s a thread running through all of our albums”, says the band, collectively “an exploration of the sensitive world that obeys a certain telos, first fantasized (“Nord”) and reverberated (“Ausserwelt”), then declaimed as a warning (“Tocsin”). The deeper we dig, the more the motifs we have to unveil appear to us. Yes, it’s a bit gnostic. This album is invoked after the Tocsin, it’s the epiphany of the Fall.”

With debut album Nord (2006) and sophomore release Ausserwelt (2010), the band made themselves a name in the European avant-metal scene. Extensive tours of Europe, North America and Russia in 2013 and 2014, including two appearances at Roadburn festival, Hellfest and a spectacular performance in a 17th Century fortress in the Carpathian mountains introduced them to a broader and quickly growing international audience.

With their seminal 3rd album Tocsin, released in 2013, Year Of No Light reached the peak of their career thus far – a logical decision that Consolamentum was made with the same team again: recorded and mixed by Cyrille Gachet at Cryogene in Begles / Bordeaux, mastered by Alan Douches at West West Side.

“We wanted this album to sound as organic and analog as possible”, comments the band. “All tracks were recorded live. The goal was to have the most natural, warm and clean takes possible, to give volume to the dynamics of the songs. We aimed to have a production with a singular personality.”

For the adept listener, Consolamentum seems to be venturing deeper into the dark and claustrophobic spheres explored on Tocsin – but the band doesn’t conceive of the evolution of their music in a linear way, as it would be apparent from looking at their discography.

“It’s more a matter of sonic devotion. Music against modern times. Year Of No Light” is above all a praxis. We wanted intensity, trance, climax and threat, all of them embedded in a bipolar and mournful ethos.”

Consolamentum will be available on 2xLP, CD and digital on July 2nd, 2021 via Pelagic Records. Preorders are available HERE: https://pelagic-records.com/artist/year-of-no-light/

Tracklisting:
01. Objuration
02. Alétheia
03. Interdit aux Vivants, aux Morts et aux Chiens
04. Réalgar
05. Came

https://yearofnolight.bandcamp.com/
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https://www.instagram.com/yearofnolightofficial
http://smarturl.it/yearofnolightDGTL
http://www.pelagic-records.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pelagicrecords

Year of No Light, Consolamentum (2021)

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Mars Red Sky Post “Hollow King” Official Live Video

Posted in Bootleg Theater on November 3rd, 2020 by JJ Koczan

mars red sky (photo by Rob Maurice)

Bordeaux heavy psychedelic progressives Mars Red Sky recently announced a couple of weekenders in their native France, the first of which is set for this weekend. I have no idea if that’s still happening or how it might play out given the EU’s turn toward further lockdown measures following a cold-weather-and-everyone’s-apparently-tired-of-masks spike in COVID-19 cases. What I do know — and stop me if you’ve heard this one before — is I really, really miss going to shows. It’s been 10 months since I’ve been in a venue! That’s insane. Even at my most hermit-like, I don’t think I ever went this long.

Mars Red Sky did a couple live streams in June (review here), but they’re clearly hankering too. Not only can you tell from the fact that they’re bothering to book dates at all, let alone maybe even play them, but also their new video for “Hollow King” from 2019’s The Task Eternal (review here) is a recorded live performance of the song. They did it during soundcheck before playing a gig in Dijon last month. Close your eyes and visualize a time when that would be no big deal. Can you?

Bottom line: I love this song. I dug this record a lot and this band remains pretty frickin’ special. I hope to see them on stage again someday.

Enjoy the video:

Mars Red Sky, “Hollow King” official live video

Bordeaux-based psychedelic rockers MARS RED SKY unveil bold new live video “Hollow King” – recorded a few hours before their latest show in Dijon, France. The track is taken from their new album ‘The Task Eternal’, out on Mrs Red Sound and Listenable Records.

MARS RED SKY’s new live video “Hollow King” highlights the band’s unique sounding, propelled by a pachydermic rhythm section, ethereal vocals, enthralling riffs and meaningful lyrics. Video recorded live in La Vapeur, Dijon (France) by Sébastien from Faits-Divers. “Hollow king” is taken from the album “The task Eternal’ (2019), recorded and mixed by Benjamin Mandeau at Cryogene Studio, mastered by Pierre Etchandy.

MARS RED SKY live:
06.11.20 BESANÇON (25) La Rodia
07.11.20 CHALON-SUR-SAÔNE (71) Théâtre de Chalon-sur-Saône / LaPéniche (portes 18h30 – concert 19h)
08.11.20 BOURG-EN-BRESSE (01) La Tannerie (portes 17h – concert 17h30)
25.03.21 LYON (69) L’Épicerie Moderne / salle musiques actuelles
26.03.21 MULHOUSE (68) Noumatrouff avec Witchfinder
27.03.21 STRASBOURG (67) La Laiterie Artefact

MARS RED SKY are:
Julien Pras : guitar, vocals
Jimmy Kinast : bass, vocals
MatGaz : drums, vocals

Mars Red Sky, The Task Eternal (2019)

Mars Red Sky on Thee Facebooks

Mars Red Sky website

Listenable Records website

Listenable Records on Thee Facebooks

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