Posted in Whathaveyou on March 11th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats will release the instrumental conceptual soundtrack LP Nell’ Ora Blu on May 10 through Rise Above Records. It’s their first studio LP of any sort since 2018’s Wasteland (review here) and manifests the threat made when the UK garage doom innovators released their live album, Slaughter on First Avenue (review here), in 2023.
It isn’t the band’s first foray into atmospheres inspired by vintage Italian cinema, but at least on paper it’s inarguably the deepest they’ve gone in exploring it. Described by the PR wire below as instrumental save for voiceovers by Edwige French (All the Colors of the Dark and scores of others) and Franco Nero (he was Django in that crucial series of westerns and has appeared in over 150 movies, among them Die Hard 2), it’s an immediate departure for a band whose harmonies and hooks have always been a huge part of their approach. No doubt that’s the idea.
I’ll expect not to expect what I’m expecting, then, and you might want to do likewise, but I don’t think Uncle Acid getting weird and cinematic is going to hurt consider that’s another huge part of what they’ve always done. Lean this way, lean that way. Six years after their last record, it feels like a big shift, but it makes its own kind of sense.
The PR wire has it like this:
UNCLE ACID & THE DEADBEATS Announce New Album ‘Nell’ Ora Blu’ Out May 10th via Rise Above Records
Pre-Orders Available Soon!
Poised to stand out as the most radical album of UNCLE ACID & THE DEABEATS’ storied career, ‘Nell’ Ora Blu’ is a true tour-de-force of dramatic ingenuity. Inspired by the dark, mysterious, and often bloody Italian Giallo film scene, Kevin Starrs took a detour and created his own storyboard to play along with and the result is a beautiful and suspense-filled instrumental soundtrack…for a non-existent film.
Devoted fans will undoubtedly recognize the UNCLE ACID fingerprints here but this startling left-turn will also present a formidable challenge to even the most open-minded riff-heads. Like a tense and bewildering fever dream, ‘Nell’ Ora Blu’ is a vivid, lysergic excursion like no other.
“I know something like this might have limited appeal, but who cares?” says Starrs. “Most of what we do has a limited appeal anyway! It’s just a real mix of different styles that I like. There are no singles or ‘hits’. Instead, it all just flows along one thing into the next. You can think of it like blood seeping from a wound. It’s continuous. By the end of it, you’re left exhausted. It’s hard work for the listener. We don’t do easy listening!”
Unusual guest stars such as giants of the Italian film underground, Edwige Fenech and Franco Nero, present exclusive dialogue interspersed between tracks, contributing to a unique listening experience that throbs and shrieks with horrific intent.
Starrs explains: “It’s a tribute to 70s Italian cinema. It’s a story about people who decide to take the law into their own hands. Things get pretty dark straight away and of course, it doesn’t end well for anyone. It has elements of grimy poliziotteschi (Italian crime/action films) and classic Giallo (Italian cinema’s revered horror/sexploitation movement). Once I decided to do everything in Italian, I made a list of actors that I wanted. Franco Nero and Edwige Fenech were the first names I thought of. Two legends that had never been paired together before. I contacted their agents and both actors were interested in the idea, so we set it up from there.”
Having completed the project and been exhilarated by its creation, Starrs now has tentative plans to bring some of this incredible music to the morbid masses. What started as simply a new UNCLE ACID project, has evolved into a true project of passion bringing together the wonderful worlds of music and film in one dark, enthralling soundtrack for a film we can only wish to be actually watching.
‘Nell’ Ora Blu’ Track List: 1) Il Sole Sorge Sempre 2) Giustizia di Strada – Lavora Fino alla Morte 3) La Vipera 4) Vendetta (Tema) 5) La Bara Resterà Chiusa 6) Cocktail Party 7) Il Tesoro di Sardegna 8) Nell’ Ora Blu 9) Il Chiamante Silenzioso 10) Tortura al Telefono 11) Pomeriggio di Novembre Nel Parco – Occhi che Osservano 12) Il Retorno del Chiamante Silenzioso 13) Solo la Morte to Ammanetta 14) Il Gatto Morto 15) Guidando Veloce Verso la Campagna 16) L’Omicidio 17) Resti Umani 18) Sorge Anche il Sole 19) Ritorno All’Oscurità
‘Nell’ Ora Blu’ will be available on Vinyl as a double LP, CD, and for digital download on May 10, 2024, via Rise Above Records. Pre-orders will be available soon.
Posted in Reviews on October 2nd, 2023 by JJ Koczan
It’s been quite a morning. Got up at five, went back to sleep until six, took the dog out, lazily poured myself a coffee — the smell is like wood bark and bitter mud, so yes, the dark roast — and got down to set up this Quarterly Review. Not rushed, not at all overwhelmed by press releases about new albums or the fact that I’ve got 50 records I’m writing about this week, or any of it. Didn’t last, that stress-free sit-down — one of the hazards of being perfectly willing to be distracted at a moment’s notice is that that might happen — but it was nice while it did. And hey, the Quarterly Review is set up and ready to roll with 50 records between now and Friday. Let’s do that.
Quarterly Review #1-10:
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Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats, Slaughter on First Avenue
Recorded over two nights at First Avenue in Minneapolis sandwiching the pandemic in 2019 and 2022, Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats‘ 14-song/85-minute live album, Slaughter on First Avenue, is about as clean as you’re ever likely to hear the band sound. And the Rise Above-issued 2LP spans the garage doom innovators’ career, from “Dead Eyes of London” from 2010’s Vol. 1 (reissue review here) to “I See Through You” from 2018’s Wasteland (review here), with all the “Death’s Door” and “Thirteen Candles” and “Desert Ceremony” and “I’ll Cut You Down” you can handle, the addled and murderous bringers of melody and fuzz clear-eyed and methodical, professional, in their delivery. It sounds worked on, like, in the studio, the way oldschool live albums might’ve been. I don’t know that it was, don’t have a problem with that if it was, just noting that the sheer sound here is fantastic, whether it’s the separation between the two guitars and keys and each other, the distinction of the vocals, or the way even the snare drum seems to hit in kind with the vintage aspects of Uncle Acid‘s general production style. They clearly enjoy the crowd response to the older tunes like “I’ll Cut You Down” and “Death’s Door,” and well they should. Slaughter on First Avenue isn’t a new full-length, though they say one will eventually happen, but it’s a representation of their material in a new way for listeners, cleaner than their last two studio records, and a ceremony (or two) worth preserving.
Swedish retro soul rock forerunners Graveyard are on their way to being legends if they aren’t legends yet. Headliners at the absolute least, and the influence they had in the heavy ’10s on classic heavy as a style and boogie rock in particular can’t be discounted. Comprised of nine cuts, 6 is Graveyard‘s first offering of this decade, following behind 2018’s Peace (review here), and it continues their dual-trajectory in pairing together the slow, troubled-love woes emotionality of “Breathe In, Breathe Out,” “Sad Song” on which guitarist Joakim Nilsson relinquishes lead vocals, the early going of “Bright Lights,” and opener “Godnatt” — Swedish for “good night,” which the band tried to say in 2016 but it didn’t stick — setting up turns to shove in “Twice” and “Just a Drop” while “I Follow You,” closer “Rampant Fields” or the highlight “Just a Drop” finding some territory between the two ends. The bottom line here is it’s not the record I was hoping Graveyard would make, leaning slow and morose whereas when you could break out a groove like “Just a Drop” seemingly at will, why wouldn’t you? But that I even had those hopes tells you the caliber band they are, and whatever the tracks actually do, there’s no questioning them as songwriters. But the world could use some good times swagger, if only a half-hour of escapism, and Graveyard are perhaps too sincere to deliver. Fair enough.
The thing about Hexvessel that has been revealed over time is that each record is its own context. Grown out from the black metal history of UK-born/Helsinki-residing songwriter Mat “Kvohst” McNerney, the band returns to that fertile ground somewhat on the eight-song Polar Veil, applying veteran confidence to post-blackened genre transgressions. Songs like “A Cabin in Montana” and “Older Than the Gods” have some less-warlike Primordial vibes between the epic melodies and tremolo echoes, but in both the speedy intensity of “Eternal Meadow” and the later ethereally-doomed gruel of “Ring,” Hexvessel are distinctly themselves doing this thing. That is, they’re not changing who they are to suit the style they want to play — even the per-song stylistic shifts of 2016’s When We Are Death (review here) were their own, so that’s not necessarily new — but a departure from the dark progressive folk of 2020’s Kindred as McNerney, bassist Ville Hakonen, drummer Jukka Rämänen and pianist/keyboardist Kimmo Helén (also strings) welcome a curated-seeming selection of a few guest appearances spread across the release, always keeping mindful of ambience and mood however raging the tempest around them might be.
Bookended by its two longest songs in “Drink Some More” (8:44) and closer “Letter Full of Wine” (9:17), Munich-based troupe Godsground offer seven songs with their 47-minute third long-player, working quickly to bask in post-Alice in Chains melodies surrounded by a warmth of tone that could just as easily be derived from hometown heroes in Colour Haze as the likes of Sungrazer or anyone else, but there’s more happening in the sound than just that. The melodies reach out and the songs develop on paths so that “Balance” is a straight-up desert rocker where seven-minute centerpiece “Into the Butter” sounds readier to get weird. They are well at home in longer forms, flashing a bit of metal in teh later solo of the penultimate “Non Reflecting Mirror,” but the overarching focus on vocal melody grounds the material in its lyrics, and that helps stabilize some of the more out-there aspects. With the roller fuzz of “A Game of Light” and side B’s flow-into-push “Flood” finding space between all-out go and the longer songs’ willingness to dwell in parts, Godsground emerge from the collection with a varied style around a genre center that’s maybe delighted not to pick a side when it comes to playing toward this or that niche. There’s some undercurrent of doom — though I’ll admit the artwork had me looking for it — but Godsground are more coherent than bewildered, and their material unfolds with intent to immerse rather than commiserate.
Ambition abounds on Sleep Maps‘ Reclaim Chaos, as the once-NYC-based duo of multi-instrumentalist Ben Kaplan and vocalist David Kegg — finds somebody that writes you riffs like “Second Generation” and scream your ass off for them — bring textures of progressive metal, death metal, metal metal to the proceedings with their established post-whathaveyou modus. Would it be a surprise if I said it made them a less predictable band? I hope not. With attention to detail bolstered my a mix from Matt Bayles (Isis, Sandrider, etc.), the open spaces of “The Good Engineer” resonate in their layered vocals and drone, while “You Want What I Cannot Give” pummels, “In the Sun, In the Moon” brings the wash forward and capper “Kill the World” is duly still in conveying an apparent aftermath rather than the actual slaughter of the planet, which of course happened over a longer timeframe. All of this, and a good deal more, make Reclaim Chaos a heady feast — and that’s before you get to the ’00-era electronica of “Double Blind” — but in their reclamation, Sleep Maps execute with care and make a point about the malleability of style as much as about their own progression, though it seems to be the latter fueling them. Self-motivated, willful artistic progression is not often so starkly recognizable.
A reminder of the glories amid the horrors of our age: Dread Spire‘s Endless Empire — am I the only one who finds it a little awkward when band and release names rhyme? — probably wouldn’t exist without the democratization of recording processes that’s happened over the last 15-20 years. It’s a demo, essentially, from the bass/drum — that’s Richie Rehal and Erol Kavvas — Cali-set instrumentalist two-piece, and with about 13 minutes of sans BS riffing, they make a case via a linear procession of crunch riffing and uptempo, semi-metal precision. The narrative — blessings and peace upon it — holds that they got together during the pandemic, and the raw form and clearly-manifest catharsis in the material is all the backing they need. More barebones than complex, this first offering wants nothing for audio fidelity and gives Rehal and Kavvas a beginning from which to build in any and all directions they might choose. The joy of collaboration and the need to find an expressive outlet are the best motivations one could ask, and that’s very obviously what’s at work here.
A roiling post-metallic churn abides the slow tempos of “Torch Bearer” at the outset of Mairu‘s debut full-length, Sol Cultus, and it is but one ingredient of the Liverpool-based outfit’s atmospheric plunge. Across eight tracks and 49 minutes, the double-guitar four-piece of Alan Caulton and Ant Hurlock (both guitar/vocals), Dan Hunt (bass/vocals) and Ben Davis (drums/synth) — working apparently pretty closely over a period of apparently four years with Tom Dring, who produced, engineered, mixed, mastered and contributed saxophone, ebow, piano and additional synth — remind in their spaciousness of that time Red Sparowes taught the world, instrumentally, to sing. But with harsh and melodic vocals mixed, bouts of thrashier riffing dealt with prejudice, and the barely-there ambience of “Inter Alia” and “Per Alia” to persuade the listener toward headphones, the very-sludged finish of “Wild Darkened Eyes” and the 10-minute sprawl of “Rite of Embers” lumbering to its distorted gut-clench of a crescendo chug ahead of the album’s comedown finish, there’s depth and personality to the material even as Mairu look outside of verse/chorus confines to make their statement. Their second outing behind a 2019 EP, and again, apparently in the works on some level since then, it’s explorational, but less in the sense of the band figuring out who they want to be than as a stylistic tenet they’ve internalized as their own.
At first in “Hope Shines in the Autumn Light,” Brazilian instrumentalist heavy post-rockers Throe remind of nothing so much as the robots-with-feelings mechanized-but-resonant plod of Justin K. Broadrick‘s Jesu, but as the 14-minute leadoff from the apparently-mostly-solo-project’s three-song EP, O Enterro das Marés (one assumes the title is some derivation of being ‘buried at sea’), plays through, it shifts into a more massive galaxial nod and then shortly before the nine-minute mark to a stretch of hypnotic beat-less melody before resolving itself somewhere in the middle. This three-part structure gives over to the Godfleshier “Bleed Alike” (6:33), which nods accordingly until unveiling its caustic end about 30 seconds before the song is done, and “Renascente” (7:59), in which keys/synth and wistful guitar lead a single linear build together as the band gradually and with admirable patience move from their initial drone to the introduction of the ‘drums’ and through the layers of melody that emerge and are more the point of the thing itself than the actual swell of volume taking place at the same time. When it opens at about five minutes in, “Renascente” is legitimately beautiful, an echoing waterfall of tonality that seems to dance to the gravity pulling it down. The guitar is last to go, which tells you something about how the songs are written, but with three songs and three different intentions, Throe make a varied statement uniform most of all in how complete each piece of it feels.
Well guess what? They called the first track “Punkstarter,” and so it is. Starts off the album with a bit of punk. Blind River‘s third LP, Bones for the Skeleton Thief corrals 10 tracks from the UK traditionalist heavy rock outfit, who even on the likewise insistent “Primal Urges” maintain some sense of control. Vocalist Harry Armstrong (ex-Hangnail, now also bassist of Orange Goblin) belts out “Second Hand Soul” like he’s giving John Garcia a run for his pounds sterling, and is still able to rein it in enough to not seem out of place on the more subdued verses of “Skeleton Thief,” while the boogie of “Unwind” is its own party. Wherever they go, be it the barroom punkabilly of “Snake Oil” or the Southern-tinged twang of closer “Bad God,” the five-piece — Armstrong, guitarist Chris Charles and Dan Edwards, bassist William Hughes and drummer Mark Sharpless — hold to a central ethic of straight-ahead drive, and where clearly the intended message is that Blind River know what the fuck they’re doing and that if you end up at a show you might get your ass handed to you, turns out that’s exactly the message received. Showed up, kicked ass, done in under 40 minutes. If that’s not a high enough standard for you in a band recording live, that’s not Blind River‘s fault.
Rifftree of life. Rifftree‘s fuzz is so righteously dense, I want to get seeds from it — because let’s face it, riffs are deciduous and hibernate in winter — and plant a forest in my backyard. The band formed half a decade ago and Noise Worship is the bass-and-drums duo’s second EP, but whatever. In six songs and 26 minutes, they work hard on living up to the title they gave the release, and their schooling in the genre is obvious in Sleepery of “Amplifier Pyramid” or the low-rumbling sludge of “Brown Flower,” the subsequent “Farewell” growing like fungus out of its quieter start and “Brakeless” not needing them because it was slow enough anyhow. “Fuzzed” — another standard met — ups the pace and complements with spacey grunge mumbles and harshes out later, and that gives the three-minute titular closer “Noise Worship” all the lead-in it needs for its showcase of feedback and amplifier noise. Look. If you’re thinking it’s gonna be some stylistic revolution in the making, look at the friggin’ cover. Listen to the songs. This isn’t innovation, it’s celebration, and Rifftree‘s complete lack of pretense is what makes Noise Worship the utter fucking joy that it is. Stoner. Rock. Stick that in your microgenre rolodex.
Posted in Whathaveyou on June 20th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Pretty stoked on the idea of an Uncle Acid live record. That’s all well and good. I’ve been lucky enough to see the band a couple times — not in a while, admittedly — and they’ve always been an experience. I wonder how the songs will come across without the surrounding darkness, the low-to-absent lighting, staticky tvs behind, and the air of the audience’s anticipation for each individual riff, never mind entire songs. Slaughter on First Avenue comes from two shows in the same place in Minneapolis, recorded on either side of the pandemic, in 2019 and 2022.
And I bet it’s great. What, a band like Uncle Acid is gonna put out a live record if it’s a dud? Not likely. They’re not at a level where things like this happen by accident — that is, they’re not just throwing a thing on Bandcamp just to do it; there’s time and money involved — and reading through the copious narrative below that came courtesy of the PR wire, I’m of course drawn to the last paragraph where it says a new studio album, will happen and will see release without warning. Fair enough. Not like they need the hype. I’m glad it’s a thing they’re saying is going to happen, not the least because it’s the inevitable first question here, even though the answer doesn’t actually do much to change the marker’s position from ‘could happen at some point maybe’ when it comes down to it.
For now you can revel in the live version of “Dead Eyes of London” from their very first LP, 2010’s Vol. 1 (reissue review here), and sit tight for about a month till Slaughter on First Avenue arrives. You’ll make it.
Onward, to more words!
UNCLE ACID & THE DEADBEATS Announce New Live Album, ‘Slaughter on First Avenue’ Out 7/28 on Rise Above Records
Share New Single “Dead Eyes of London”
UNCLE ACID’s reputation as one of the most devastating and authentically psychedelic live bands on the planet became impossible to dispute, not least when they found themselves supporting the immortal Black Sabbath on 16 dates of their sold out reunion tour in 2013. Until now, however, the band’s unique and mind-melting live show has never been captured for posterity.
‘Slaughter On First Avenue’, the first official UNCLE ACID & THE DEADBEATS live record, is a furious and righteous document of Kevin Starrs and his henchmen at the height of their unearthly powers. With performances taken from two separate shows at the same venue – First Avenue, Minneapolis – in 2019 and 2022, it’s an 86-minute career retrospective that crackles with malicious intent.
14 songs deep and proudly devoid of gimmicks or distractions, ‘Slaughter On First Avenue’ is a riveting and raw account of UNCLE ACID in full flight. From early classics like “I’ll Cut You Down” and “Death’s Door” (both from ‘Blood Lust’), to more recent works of lysergic aggro like “Shockwave City” (from ‘Wasteland’) and sinister epic “Slow Death” (from ‘The Night Creeper’), this amalgamation of two fiery and unforgettable live shows has a mesmerising momentum all of its own. As Kevin Starrs explains, ‘Slaughter On First Avenue’ is a purposefully rough-hewn snapshot of two moments in time.
“People have been asking for a live record, and sometimes it’s nice to give people what they want. Especially if you follow it up with something they definitely don’t want! Overall it’s a very raw sounding recording, and that’s just how it was on the night. There was no specific reason for choosing the first show, other than some guy just turned up and offered to record it, so we let him! It’s a proper live record with all the mistakes kept in.”
“Tonight you will be subjected to an all-out audio assault that will begin here shortly. There will be no respite from this until we release you. The group will show no mercy, and will likely not communicate with you. There will be no dynamics and a complete disregard for expectation. It will all sound the same. Do you understand?”
The greatest bands exist out of necessity and UNCLE ACID & THE DEADBEATS fit that description to a cobwebbed tee. Led by singer/guitarist Kevin Starrs, the Cambridge-born masters of occult doom and psychedelic brutality have carved their own singular furrow since 2009. If they didn’t exist, we would have to invent them.
Defiantly dwelling in their own curious corner of the heaviness spectrum, UNCLE ACID & THE DEADBEATS have conjured a series of grimly spellbinding albums, starting with 2010’s ‘Volume 1’ debut and its spiky, shadowy successor ‘Blood Lust’, which marked the start of the band’s close relationship with Rise Above Records. Critically lauded masterworks ‘Mind Control’ and ‘The Night Creeper’ emerged in 2013 and 2015 respectively, and their most recent opus, the bleakly macabre ‘Wasteland’, garnered much effusive praise in 2018.
“I think one of our strengths is that most of what we do live is the exact opposite of what’s expected at a rock show,” says Kevin Starrs. “There’s no warm chit-chat, no rehearsed anecdotes, no pleasantries, no running around. It’s so dark you can’t see our faces, and sometimes we play with our backs turned. It shouldn’t work, but it does. We just lock into the music and feed off the crowd. Some people still want all that old-time stage banter stuff and want to feel loved, which is fine, but I think a cold relentless hammer attack on the senses works better for a band like us.”
“The second show had a few different songs so it made sense to add those in,” he adds. “The first show was better, though. I remember the crowd was pretty wild that night. The second show was more subdued and a bit looser. That was just as gigs started happening again, so I think people were still a bit cautious. Either that or all the wild ones had died!”
A throwback to the days when live albums were magical things, rather than cynical stopgaps, ‘Slaughter On First Avenue’ is a jolting dose of dark electricity and psychedelic terror. Swollen with the greatest of riffs and performed with grit, power and haughty disdain, it loudly confirms that UNCLE ACID & THE DEADBEATS have the raw, fuzzed-out power to drag everybody into their bewildering, bewitched vortex of doom. A dazzling, devilish squall to mark the beginning of a new chapter, ‘Slaughter On First Avenue’ also clears the decks for this band’s next malevolent move. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.
“Yes, There will be another record which will hopefully appear at some point without warning or explanation,” Kevin Starrs avows. “It will be completely different to anything else we’ve done. You can think of it as a late night detour. Its appeal will be extremely limited but that’s OK… ‘When you’re slapped, you’ll take it and like it!’”
‘Slaughter on First Avenue’ Track List: 1. I See Through You 2. Waiting for Blood 3. Death’s Door 4. Shockwave City 5. Thirteen Candles 6. Dead Eyes of London 7. Pusher Man 8. Ritual Knife 9. Slow Death 10. Crystal Spiders 11. Blood Runner 12. Desert Ceremony 13. I’ll Cut You Down 14. No Return
Posted in Reviews on September 27th, 2021 by JJ Koczan
Not really much to say about it, is there? You know the deal. I know the deal. This time we go to 70. 10 records every day between today and next Tuesday. It seems insurmountable as usual right now, but as history has shown throughout the last seven or however many years I’ve been doing this kind of thing, it’ll work out. Time is utterly irrelevant when there’s distortion to be had. Wavelengths intersecting, dissolution of hours. You make an extra cup of coffee, I’ll burn from the inside out.
The Fall 2021 Quarterly Review begins today. Let’s boogie.
Quarterly Review #1-10:
Delco Detention, From the Basement
The essential bit of narrative here is that Tyler Pomerantz, founding guitarist of Delco Detention, is about 10 years old. Kid can fuzz. With his father, Adam, on drums, the ambitious young man has put together a wholly professional heavy rock record with a who’s who of collaborators, including Clutch‘s Neil Fallon on “The Joy of Home Schooling” (a video for which went viral last year), Jared Collins of Mississippi Bones, Earthless‘ Isaiah Mitchell, Bob Balch of Fu Manchu on the instrumental “The Action is Delco,” Erik Caplan of Thunderbird Divine on the highlight “Gods Surround,” as well as members of Hippie Death Cult, Kingsnake, The Age of Truth and others across the 15 tracks. The result is inherently diverse given the swath of personnel, tones, etc., but From the Basement plays thematically at points around the experience of being a young rocker — “All Ages Show,” “Digital Animal,” the title-track and “The Joy of Home Schooling” — but isn’t limited to that, and though there are some moodier stretches as there inevitably would be, Tyler holds his own among this esteemed company and the record’s an unabashed good time.
A fourth album arriving some eight years after the third, Fuzzy Lights‘ Burials doesn’t necessarily surprise with its patience, but its sense of world-building is immaculate and immersive. The Cambridge, UK, five-piece of violinist/vocalist Rachel Watkins, guitarist/electronicist Xavier Watkins, guitarist Chris Rogers, bassist Daniel Carney and drummer Mark Blay offer classic Britfolk melody tinged with heavy post-rock atmospherics and foreboding rhythmic push on the 10-minute “Songbird,” with the snare drum building tension for the payoff to come. Elsewhere, opener “Maiden’s Call” and “Haraldskær Woman” drift into darker vibes, while “Under the Waves” dares more uptempo psychedelic rock ahead of the highlight “Sirens” and closer “The Gathering Storm,” which offers bombast so smoothly executed one is surrounded by it almost before noticing. “Songbird,” “Maiden’s Call” and “The Graveyard Song” have their roots in a 2019 solo outing from Rachel Watkins called Collectanea, but however long this material may or may not have been around, it sounds refreshingly individual, natural, full, warm and still boldly forward thinking.
One with greater knowledge of such things than I might be able to sit and analyze and tell you what loops and effects guitarist Darryl Shepard (Kind, Hackman, Milligram, etc.) is using to make these noises, but that ain’t me. I’m happy to accept the mystery of his new two-songer/23-minute EP, (In) Control / Tired of Dying, which slowly unfolds the psych-drone of its 14-minute leadoff cut over its first several minutes before evening out into a mellow, drifting one-man guitar jam, replete with a solo that subtly builds in energy before entering its minute-long fadeout, as if Shepard were to say he wouldn’t want things to get too out of hand. “Tired of Dying” follows with immediately more threatening tone, deep, distorted, lumbering, sludgy, with space for drums behind that never come. That’s not Blackwolfgoat‘s thing. As much as “(In) Control” hypnotized with its sweeter, unassuming rollout, “Tired of Dying” is consumption on a headphone-destroyer level, nine and a half minutes of low wash that’s exploratory just the same. These pieces were recorded live, and it hasn’t been that long since Shepard‘s 2020 Blackwolfgoat full-length, Giving Up Feels So Good (review here), but each cut digs in in its own way and the isolated feel is nothing if not relevant.
From the outset with the stomps later in “Day 1 – The Beginning,” Italian fuzzers Carcaňo reveal some of the rawness in the production of their second full-length, By Order of the Green Goddess, but that doesn’t stop either their tones or the melodies floating over them from being lush across the album’s eight-song/40-minute run, whether that’s happening in the massive “Day 2 – Riding Space Elephants” (aren’t we all?) or the howling leadwork that tops the languid Sabbath/earlier-Mars Red Sky-gone-dark lumber of “Day 6 – I Don’t Belong Here.” They make it move on the cosmic chaos shuffle-and-push of “Day 4 – The Birth” and tap blatant Queens of the Stone Age up-strum riffing and wood block on “Day 5 – The Son of the Sun,” but it’s in spacious freakouts like “Day 3 – Green Grace” and the righteously drawn out “Day 7 – Wasted Land” that By Order of the Green Goddess most seems to set its course, with room for the acoustic experimentalism of “Day 8 – Running Back Home” at the end, familiar in concept but delightfully weird and ethereal in its execution.
Paeans to space and the desert, riffs on riffs on riffs, grit hither and yon — Melbourne’s Planet of the 8s are preaching to the converted on Lagrange Point Vol. 1, and they go so far in the opening “Lagrange Point” to explain in a Twilight Zone-esque monologue what the phenomenon actually is before “Holy Fire” unfurls its procession with the first of four included guest vocalists. King Carrot of Death by Carrot would seem to know of which he speaks there, while Diesel Doleman (Duneater) tops “Exit Planet” for an effect wholly akin to Astrosoniq at max thrust, while Georgie Cosson of Kitchen Witch joins Planet of the 8s‘ own bassist Michael “Sullo” Sullivan on “X-Ray,” and Jimi Coelli (Sheriff) takes on the early QOTSA-style riffing of “The Unofficial History of Babe Wolf,” which would also seem to be the subject of the cover art. They wrap all these comings and going with “The Three Body Problem,” a jazzy minute-long instrumental that’s there and gone before you’ve even caught your breath from the preceding songs. 21 minutes, huh? That 21 minutes is packed.
Debut albums with their stylistic ducks so much in a row are rare, but with the declaration “I am the mountain/You are the quake,” the chugging boogie in the post-Trouble “Did She?,” the opening hook of “Heads Will Roll,” the duly-open, semi-progressive tinge of “Skyscraper,” and the we-saved-extra-heavy-just-for-this finish of “Bury the Queen,” Austin’s High Desert Queen indeed show themselves as schooled with Secrets of the Black Moon. It is an encapsulation of modern stoner heavy idolatry, riff-led but not necessarily riff-dependent in its entirety, and both the good-vibes fuzz of “As We Roam” and the aptly-titled penultimate roller “The Wheel” manage to boast soaring vocal melodies that put the band in another league. They’re not necessarily starting a revolution in terms of style, but they bring together lush and crush effectively and when a band has so much of a clear idea of what they’re going for and the songwriting to back them up, first record or not, they rule the day. Don’t lose them among the swaths either of three-word-moniker heavy newcomers or the flood of Texan acts out there.
Heavy and ritualized enough to earn its release on 50 neon green tapes — CDs too — the second full-length from Russia’s Megalith Levitation, Void Psalms tops 53 minutes of beastly lurch, with opener “Phantasmagoric Journey” (13:08) playing like half-speed Celtic Frost while the back-to-back two-parters “Datura Revelations/Lysergic Phantoms” (12:47) and “Temple of Silence/Pillars of Creation” (19:45) bridge cult-heavy worship with experimental fuckall, never quite dipping entirely into dark psychedelia, but certainly refusing lucidity outright. I don’t know what’s up with the punch of bass in the back end of “Temple of Silence/Pillars of Creation,” but that froggy sound is gloriously weirdo in its affect, and makes the whole jam for me. They cap with “Last Vision,” an admirably massive riffer that only spans seven and a half minutes but in that time still finds a way to drone the shit out of its nod. Cheers to Chelyabinsk as Megalith Levitation (who are not to be confused with Megaton Leviathan) offer intentionally putrid fruit on which to feast.
There is death, and there is sludge. Do doomers mosh in Texas? “Devil’s Due” might provide an occasion to find out, as the second EP, The Pit of Suffering, from Austin extremist slingers Forebode follows 2019’s self-titled short release (review here) with plenty of slow-motion plunder, “Metal Slug” opening in grim praise of weed before the rest of what follows moves from shortest to longest in an onslaught that grows correspondingly more vicious. Rest your head on that bit of twang at the start of “Pit of Suffering” if you want, that’s only going to make it easier for the band to crush your skull in the stretch before it returns at the end. And oh, “Bane of Hammers.” You build in speed and get so brutal, and then you do, you do, you do slam on the brakes and finish out as heavy as possible, an ultimate eat-all-in-its-path tonality that would be off-putting were it not so outright gleeful in its disgusting nature. What fun they’re having making these terrible sounds. Love it.
Yeah, you think you can hang. You’re like, “Whatever, I like weird psych stuff.” Then Codex Serafini start in with the cave echo wails and the drones and the artsy experimentalism and you’re like, “Well, maybe I’m just gonna go back to Squaresville after all. Work in the morning, you know.” The Brighton, UK, fivesome have four tracks on Invisible Landscape, and I promise you no one of them is more real than the other. In fact, the entire thing is pretend. It doesn’t exist. Neither do you. You thought you did, then the sax started blowing and you realized you were just some kind of semi-sentient wisp swirling around in reverb and what the hell were we talking about okay yeah planets and stuff whatever it doesn’t matter just quick, put this on and be ready for the splatter when “Time, Change & Become” starts. You’re not gonna want to miss it, but there’s no way that stain is ever coming out of that shirt. Kablooie is how the cosmos dies.
Killers is the third full-length from Colorado fuzz rockers Stone Deaf, and they continue to have a chorus for every occasion, in this case going so far as to import “Gone Daddy Gone” from your teenage remembrance of Violent Femmes and actually talk about burning witches in the “Burn the Witch”-esque “Tightrope.” Queens of the Stone Age has been and continues to be a defining influence here, but from the electronics in “Cloven Hoof” to the harder edges of closing duo “Silverking” and “San Pedro Winter,” the band refuse to be identified by anything so much as their songcraft, which is tight and sharply produced across the 44 minutes of Killers, their punk rock having grown up but not having dulled so much as found a direction in which to point its angst. A collection of individual tracks, there’s nonetheless a build of momentum that starts early and carries through the entirety of the outing. I’ll leave to you to make the clever remark about there being “no fillers.” Enjoy that.
It was a celebration. The first in a short series of release shows for Gozu‘s new album, Revival (review here), and for me, a fitting occasion to mark the last day of work at a job that, while providing a much-needed paycheck, for the last year put an unfortunate distance between myself and rock and roll. If I was looking to make up for lost time, a five-band lineup — more festival than show, even with a 9PM start — would probably be a decent way to make that happen, but while the bill was certainly packed, there was no one on it who felt like filler.
Rather, from starting off with Portland, Maine’s (the other Portland) Sylvia and continuing through Massachusetts-based Wormwood, Magic Circle, Worshipper and of course Gozu headlining, there was a flow to the night that took it from grinding sludge to soulful heavy rock in well-staged transitions, covering a swath of heft from front to back. Worth mentioning the show was presented by The Obelisk, but I had no hand in picking bands — that presumably was Gozu in conjunction with Grayskull Booking, who continues to do good work in Cambridge and Somerville, on the outskirts of Boston proper, which I think has banned music for its impediment to the developing of further luxury condos.
Here’s how it went down:
Sylvia
My first exposure to the dual-guitar Portland four-piece was their 2013 self-titled debut full-length (review here), produced by Steve Austin of Today is the Day, and so I knew somewhat to expect as they took the stage, though they still managed to work in a few surprises in their riff-led blend of thrash, grind, periodic heavy breakdowns and headfirst dives into crunch that brought to mind earliest, heaviest Mastodon without actually losing itself in pseudo-progressive winding. They owed as much to Napalm Death as to any kind of sludge, but seemed to play out that grinding influence on a bed of thickened, sometimes-lurching tonality that made their material as much about groove as about speed. I’d forgotten their connection through guitarist/vocalist Candy and bassist Reuben Little to defunct slow-crawling doomers Ocean, but afterwards that context continued to make sense in line with what guitarist Sean Libby and drummer Michael brought to the proceedings. After one of their songs, someone in the crowd shouted, “Play that riff again!” which was an impulse I could understand. They didn’t, but the next riff turned out to be killer as well, so it all worked out.
Wormwood
Based in Boston, Wormwood have a series of singles out and had merch on the table, but this was my first time catching them live. They’re something of a supergroup — though they might prefer “band with dudes who are in other bands too” — with guitarist/vocalist Chris Pupecki also playing in Doomriders, drummer Chris Bevilacqua a former member of that same outfit, guitarist Mike Gowell shared with Phantom Glue — who have a new record out — and bassist Greg Weeks hailing from metalcore pioneers The Red Chord, and their stage presentation offered due variety from that, with Gowell off to the side, casually shredding out lead after lead while Weeks thrashed out Pupecki unleashed a torrent of noise and Bevilacqua held it all together from behind. Following up on Sylvia, they had a definite core of extremity in their approach, but leaned more toward doom than grind, which set the progression of the evening in motion and provided nod-worthy stomp and consuming atmospherics that made me feel like I’d missed something by not checking them out earlier. A curious blend of elements warranting further investigation.
Magic Circle
Two albums in, it’s pretty clear that Magic Circle have earned a reputation. Their second LP, Journey Blind (review here), came out late last year through 20 Buck Spin, and as the follow-up to their 2013 self-titled debut (review here), it played down the doomed riffing of the first outing in favor of a more decisively classic metal approach. While they played what frontman Brendan Radigan laughingly called a “classic” from 2011 in “Scream Evil,” their first single, the vibe of the newer material held sway, driven by the NWOBHM gallop in the guitars of Chris Corry — whose “NCC-1701-D” and “make it so” amp decorations were appreciated — and Dan Ducas. As ever for their kind of metal, however, the rhythm section is what makes such shredding possible, and I’ve rarely seen a drummer who looks like he’s enjoying playing as much as Q (also of Doomriders). His presence adds levity — to compare, bassist Justin DeTore is more subdued and assured with the confidence that he’s the center around which this chaos is swirling; and he is — and allows the rest of the band to be who they are in a way that another drummer might not, but it’s the entire group making an impact from the stage, and as they ran through “The Damned Man” and closed with “Journey Blind” itself, their command of their sound was complete. I wouldn’t be surprised if they continued down a more metallic path going forward, and it suits them.
Worshipper
Played like a band on top of the world, which seemed reasonable. As announced here, Worshipper recently signed to Tee Pee Records for the release of their debut LP, Shadow Hymns, this August, and they’ve also reaped a Boston Music Award and the title at the annual Rock and Roll Rumble local competition, so if they’re feeling good about what they’re doing, the response they’ve gotten to their work thus far offers little counterargument. Neither could or would I, for that matter. Comprised of guitarist/vocalist John Brookhouse, guitarist Alejandro Necochea — who also filled in with Carousel on their last Euro run this Spring — bassist Bob Maloney and drummer Dave Jarvis, they offered noteworthy presence from the stage, playing in lighting that changed from the Middle East‘s bête noire red to near-total darkness save for some projections and reminding fervently of the chief appeal of what they do; the clear core of songwriting. Along with a grooved out cover of Pink Floyd‘s “Julia,” yet-to-be-released cuts listed as “Wolf” and “Arise” provided immediate impressions in their clarity of purpose, and if they weren’t professional-sounding enough, Brookhouse busted a string early in the set, calmly put his guitar down, walked off stage, came back with a flying V, plugged in, tuned and was ready to go in time for his next solo. They’re early into what one hopes will be a fruitful tenure, but they’re locked in already. Hope they tour.
Gozu
As stacked as the bill was, one could hardly accuse the headliners of taking it easy on themselves for their sold-out release show, but Gozu hit stage a little after midnight and made it abundantly clear to whom the evening belonged. Their set capped the evening’s progression from vicious grind to post-sludge to classic metal to classic heavy rock to heavy rock and while they didn’t play Revival — officially out June 10 on Ripple Music, but available on CD at the show — in its entirety, they did do every track but the spacier closer “Tin Chicken,” so it was well represented either way alongside “Ghost Wipe” and “Bald Bull” from 2013’s The Fury of a Patient Man (review here) and “Mr. Riddle” from 2010’s Locust Season (review here). They opened with the rampaging album launch, “Nature Boy,” which in just over three minutes’ time basked in both its own intensity and the maddening soul of its hook, guitarist/vocalist Marc Gaffney in top form joined here and there by guitarist Doug Sherman while bassist Joe Grotto and drummer Mike Hubbard nailed the grooves of “Big Casino,” which followed, only upping the party vibe. After “Ghost Wipe,” “Bubble Time” slowed the proceedings somewhat, but by then momentum was well on Gozu‘s side and it would not relent for the duration. Highlight of the set? Well, as they were playing it, I thought “D.D. McCall” into “Lorenzo Mama” — both from the new record — was as good as it was going to get, but they finished with “By Mennen,” which had Gaffney belting out the final lines of the set without instrumental backing, and it worked better than I might’ve hoped or expected, particularly with the older “Mr. Riddle” and “Bald Bull” as setup. There isn’t a band based in this region that I’ve seen more than I’ve seen Gozu since I moved to Massachusetts nearly three years ago now, and I’ve never seen them that they didn’t deliver. They owned the Middle East easily, out-rocked me by a mile at least — I hit a wall pretty hard from standing up front all night and had to move back or pass out — and gave Revival its due, which as that’s one of the best albums of this year, is saying something.
—
That having-hit-a-wall would define the rest of my night. Waiting outside the venue to meet up with The Patient Mrs., who’d been at another occasion in town, I could barely stand up. I was hydrated, hadn’t eaten much, and with the final work day I guess my body hit its limit. I had to stop and sit for a few minutes on a bench walking the several blocks back to where I’d parked, but the weather was gorgeous and my wife is gorgeous so I’d hardly call it unpleasant. The night on a whole had been a massive win, and I expect it will remain one of personal significance for some time to come, for multiple reasons.
On June 3, in conjunction with Grayskull Booking, The Obelisk will present the record release show for Gozu‘s new album, Revival, at the Middle East in Cambridge, MA. Due out June 10 via Ripple Music, Revival is Gozu‘s most ferocious outing yet, their first with a stable lineup and it shows the pointed trajectory their songwriting has taken, still unremittingly heavy, but less adherent to genre than they’ve ever been. I’ll have a review up before it’s out (hopefully), but the short version is it’s one of the year’s best records.
Accordingly, they’re doing it up to celebrate. It just wouldn’t be a Boston-area gig without five bands on the bill, so of course that’s where it’s at. But between bringing Sylvia down from Maine and partnering with Wormwood, Worshipper — recently signed to Tee Pee — and doom/classic metal mysteriosos Magic Circle, it’s a lineup worthy of consideration more as a festival than a regular gig, and considering advance tickets, which you can buy here, are a whopping $10, to say you’re getting your money’s worth feels like underselling it.
“I’m betting this night will have everything you need,” enthuses Gozu guitarist/vocalist Marc Gaffney. “Rock rolling, cocktails flowing, stomachs growing and many rock t-shirts primed for their first showing.”
“We are super excited to release this album and get it into the ears of peeps,” added guitarist Doug Sherman. “The release show will be a party with a bunch of bands/friends we respect. Come out and celebrate with us we’d love to have ya!! Massachusetts has an amazing scene and we are so blessed to be a part of it.”
Gozu also recently inked a deal with Heavy Psych Sounds and will tour Europe this fall with Holy Grove.
Here’s the release show info:
Grayskull Booking & The Obelisk Present
June 3 / 8PM / 18+
Gozu (Record Release!)
Worshipper
Magic Circle
Wormwood
Sylvia
Middle East Upstairs
472 Massachusetts Ave,
Cambridge, MA 02139
Posted in Reviews on October 28th, 2015 by JJ Koczan
I kind of love it that I don’t know what to expect at shows these days. Acid King, sold out, on a Monday night, for example. Don’t get me wrong, Acid King are fucking incredible live, and everyone and their cousin should show up to see them, but it was like a great correction in the universe to see that actually happen at the Cambridge’s Middle East Upstairs where the no-pun-intended riff royalty showed up aided by local support from Gozu and Black Beach, plus a liquid light show on three projectors shot upward from the front row of the crowd for all three sets. The packed house was a generational mix, some of those who probably saw Acid King on tour their last time through — some nine years ago — and others turned on and tuned in by this year’s excellent Middle of Nowhere, Center of Everywhere (review here) studio comebacker on Svart, but the gig was enough of a draw that even The Patient Mrs. came out for it, and that’s even rarer than a Monday sellout.
Speaking of not knowing what to expect, this was my first exposure to local trio Black Beach. The Middleboro, MA, trio have been around long enough to belt out a series of EPs and short releases since 2013 and have a debut full-length, Shallow Creatures, reportedly due early next year, and while they were the youngest act on the bill, that only served to add vigor to their swinging blend of heavy punk and indie, leaning at times toward stoner riffing but probably drawing from cooler influences than stuff like Nick Oliveri-fueled Queens of the Stone Age, even if they were taking the longer road around to get there. They had a good early crowd on their side and made the most of it on cuts like “Rats” from last year’s Play Loud, Die Vol. 1 or “Future Failure” from the upcoming LP while geometric shapes and orange and blue oils colored the stage, winding up with enough grunge in their sound to be distinct from heavy rock but not entirely separate, their most intense moments satisfyingly cathartic but still thoroughly grooved.
It’s only been five months since I last saw Gozu play, but they’ve clearly spent the intervening time hammering out new material. The slower groove of “Bubble Time” was complemented well by also-new set-opener “Lorenzo Llamas” and “Mr. Riddle” from 2010’s sophomore outing and Small Stone debut, Locust Season (review here), and after “Meat Charger” from the same record, they hit into the nodding chug of “Oldie” and the unabashed throttle of “Nature Boy,” both new, and the latter of which might have to become their closer for sets, as once people get a grip on what they’re doing with its quick turns between the verse and chorus and its building fury, it will be a hard one to follow. The four-piece of drummer Mike Hubbard, bassist Joe Grotto, guitarist Doug Sherman and guitarist/vocalist Marc Gaffney were locked in as one would expect, but encouragingly, there was no hiccup in the switch between new material and old, and like Black Beach, they seemed readily comfortable on their home turf.
After “Nature Boy,” they wrapped with “Bald Bull,” the only inclusion in the set from 2013’s The Fury of a Patient Man (review here). That was somewhat surprising, but I guess time was limited, and the show moved along at a pretty solid clip. Between that, the simple fact that Acid King were touring at all, that Gozu were on the bill — Kings Destroy played with them as well over the weekend, but weren’t doing the Boston-area show; nothing against Black Beach, but it would’ve been nice to see them and a three-band night with Kings Destroy, Gozu and Acid King would be like the god Apollo doing me personal favors — and that in keeping it to three bands, the show seemed to acknowledge the fact that most people there probably had to go to work in the morning, the whole vibe of the night felt like getting away with something. Like the entire room full of people snuck out of their lives to show up, or maybe that was just me.
Nearly all of Acid King‘s set — from “Intro” to “Outro” — came from Middle of Nowhere, Center of Everywhere, and as I continue to be enthralled with that record, that was just fine by me. Through “Red River,” “Laser Headlights” and “Infinite Skies,” the San Francisco three-piece of guitarist/vocalist Lori S., bassist Mark Lamb (also of Fought upon Earth) and drummer Joey Osbourne unfurled tonal bliss and unmatched rhythmic roll, Osbourne‘s swinging snare work in “Laser Headlights” like a master class in how to do groove right. The nod? Infectious. The performance? Dead on. Acid King took the stage and melted the room. Philistines moshed, others nodded, still others disrobed. I’m pretty sure three people called into work and quit their jobs in the midst of “Infinite Skies.” It was fantastic. It may have taken them 10 years to get a record out, but watching them play to the full-to-the-brim Middle East, it was more like Acid King had just been waiting a decade for the rest of the world to catch up, which obviously it has begun to do.
They played two older songs, “Electric Machine” from 1999’s landmark Busse Woods was led into perfectly by “Coming down from Outer Space” off the new record, and “2-Wheel Nation” from 2005’s III, which was the encore. “Electric Machine” might have gotten the biggest response of the night, though I was even more stoked for “Coming down from Outer Space,” not that it’s worth quibbling one or the other in a reality that was kind enough to present both. Lori‘s guitar finished out “2-Wheel Nation” alone after Lamb‘s bass and Osbourne‘s drums dropped out, the fuzz imprinting itself in a last remaining mental cast on those there to hear it. I consider myself fortunate to have been in that number.
Posted in Features on August 18th, 2015 by JJ Koczan
I’m a little ashamed to admit it, but I’d never been to New Alliance Audio before. In operation since 1987, it’s one of the Eastern Seaboard’s best-reputed studios — you’ve probably also seen “Mastered at New Alliance East” on a plethora of releases; that’s right next door — nestled into the heart of Cambridge a couple blocks down from The Middle East in a building that also houses the radio station WEMF and numerous other entities of note. The occasion that finally allowed me to sneak a look was Rozamov putting the finishing touches on their first full-length, and I very much appreciated the opportunity to stop by, even more because I got to hear some of their new material than because it granted me a look at the place where they tracked it.
Or tracked most of it, anyway. There was still a bit of work to be done, some vocal overdubs prior to mixing and the like. Guitarist/vocalist Matt Iacovelli met me at the door and gave me directions upstairs — he was stepping out into the August heat for a quick break from recording — and up in the studio itself, I found bassist/vocalist Tom Corino and New Alliance head engineer Jon Taft in the control room past a narrow lobby. The control room itself is spacious enough to record in, a high ceiling, intimidatingly large tape machine, professional-as-hell low wall of preamps, expansive console, ProTools setup, stack of monitors and so on, all dark colors and lights that could probably be turned up if you wanted to make someone uncomfortable or see to clean — unlike many studios I’ve been in, it was clean — and through the window was the recording room itself, which had been arranged to suit the vocals, with partitions arranged to capture the sound just right and give a projected feel. I didn’t get a close-up look at the microphone, but from listening to what came through it in the control room once Iacovelli came back in and got started, it sounded expensive.
Rozamov, after releasing their first, self-titled EP in 2012 and following it up with a second EP, Of Gods and Flesh, in 2013, joined forces with Midnite Collective earlier this year for a two-track split with Deathkings (review here). I’ve seen them play periodically since 2012, and watched Iacovelli, Corino and drummer Will Hendrix (elsewhere for the afternoon) transition from a four-piece to a trio — former guitarist Liz Walshak now plays in Sea — and step forward as one of next-gen Boston’s fiercest heavy bands. They headed into New Alliance a couple weeks ago to start recording their first full-length, and I’d be hard pressed to imagine a better time. With the experience of their two EPs and that split behind them, as well as veteran status for the 2015 Psycho California fest, an opening spot at a Converse-sponsored show for none less than Slayer and tours both behind and ahead of them. They are nothing if not ready for their next test, which of course is the album itself.
Laughing as they listened to a playback of a song called “Serpent Cult” — not to be confused with the Belgian band of the same name — Iacovelli laughed as he pointed out that all their releases so far have had four songs, and the difference this time was that four songs topped 40 minutes. “Serpent Cult” did seem immediately expansive, and the layers of clean vocals he added while I was there — Corino likened them to a harmonized Electric Wizard, Taft to melody-rich locals The Proselyte — did much to make it all the more so. I wouldn’t cheapen their past output by calling it their most complex work before experiencing a finished product, but the ambition was plain to hear. And coming through the New Alliance monitors, even the unmixed crawl of a cut that had the working title “Super Doom” lived up to its name. Jokes were tossed back and forth through the microphone connecting the control room and the recording space, and Taft and the band (and I as well, obviously, though one tries to keep one’s opinion-expressing to a minimum in those instances) listened through each line to make sure it was where they wanted it to be before moving forward.
And it says something about the work Rozamov have put in up to this point that they have such a grip on what they want to do sonically and that they seemed so comfortable in directing the material. The bulk of the recording was done and would be finished before long. They were still working out lyrics — I think it was “Super Doom” that still needed a line — but there was plenty to do while they worked to nail down the finishing touches, and though the original plan had been to start mixing immediately, already more than half the day was gone and lunch had yet to be consumed, so the conversation quickly turned to pressing matters: sushi, Thai, Indian, etc.
I’d eaten before I got there, so thought it better to excuse myself rather than double-up, but I was grateful for the slice of new Rozamov that I got to hear and I always feel like you never really know a band until you see them work in the studio — laughing through, “That was bad. Do it again,” and so on — so I’ll look forward to the arrival of their debut even more now having been fortunate enough to swing through while it was coming together. As to when that arrival might happen? Between the inevitable pressing delay, label scheduling and whatever else, I wouldn’t think it would show up before 2016, but you never know. Either way, I’ll let you know when I hear more.
it in the control room once Iacovelli came back in and got started, it sounded expensive.
