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Quarterly Review: Hum, Hymn, Atramentus, Zyclops, Kairon; IRSE!, Slow Draw, Might, Brimstone Coven, All Are to Return, Los Acidos

Posted in Reviews on October 7th, 2020 by JJ Koczan

THE-OBELISK-FALL-2020-QUARTERLY-REVIEW

Day three of the Quarterly Review. Always a landmark. Today we hit the halfway point, but don’t pass it yet since I’ve decided to add the sixth day next Monday. So we’ll get to 30 of the total 60 records, and then be past half through tomorrow. Math was never my strong suit. Come to think of it, I wasn’t much for school all around. Work sucked too.

Anyway, if you haven’t found anything to dig yet — and I hope you have; I think the stuff included has been pretty good so far — you can either go back and look again or keep going. Maybe today’s your day. If not, there’s always tomorrow.

Quarterly Review #21-30:

Hum, Inlet

HUM INLET

One has to wonder if, if Hum had it to do over again, they might hold back their first album in 23 years, Inlet, for release sometime when the world isn’t being ravaged by a global pandemic. As it stands, the largesse and melodic wash of the Illinois outfit’s all-growed-up heavy post-rock offers 55 minutes of comfort amid the tumult of the days, and while I won’t profess to having been a fan in the ’90s — their last studio LP was 1997’s Downward is Heavenward, and they sound like they definitely spent some time listening to Pelican since then — the overarching consumption Inlet sets forth in relatively extended tracks like “Desert Rambler” and “The Summoning” and the manner in which the album sets its own backdrop in a floating drone of effects make it an escapist joy. They hold back until closer “Shapeshifter” to go full post-rock, and while there are times at which it can seem unipolar, to listen to the crunching “Step Into You” and “Cloud City” side-by-side unveils more of the scope underlying from the outset of “Waves” onward.

Hum on Thee Facebooks

Polyvinyl Records webstore

 

Hymn, Breach Us

Hymn Breach Us

Oslo’s Hymn answer the outright crush and scathe of their 2017 debut, Perish (review here), with a more developed and lethal attack on their four-song/38-minute follow-up, Breach Us. Though they’re the kind of band who make people who’ve never heard Black Cobra wonder how two people can be so heavy — and the record has plenty of that; “Exit Through Fire”‘s sludgeshuggah chugging walks by and waves — it’s the sense of atmosphere that guitarist/bassist/vocalist Ole Rokseth and drummer Markus Støle bring to the proceedings that make them so engrossing. The opening title-track is also the shortest at 6:25, but as Breach Us moves across “Exit Through Fire,” “Crimson” and especially 14-minute closer “Can I Carry You,” it brings forth the sort of ominous dystopian assault that so many tried and failed to harness in the wake of NeurosisThrough Silver in Blood. Hymn do that and make it theirs in the process.

Hymn on Thee Facebooks

Fysisk Format on Bandcamp

 

Atramentus, Stygian

Atramentus stygian

Carried across with excruciating grace, Atramentus‘ three-part/44-minute debut album, Stygian, probably belongs in a post-Bell Witch category of extreme, crawling death-doom, but from the script of their logo to the dramatic piano accompanying the lurching riffs, gurgles and choral wails of “Stygian I: From Tumultuous Heavens… (Descended Forth the Ceaseless Darkness)” through the five-minute interlude that is “Stygian II: In Ageless Slumber (As I Dream in the Doleful Embrace of the Howling Black Winds)” and into the 23-minute lurchfest that is “Stygian III: Perennial Voyage (Across the Perpetual Planes of Crying Frost and Steel-Eroding Blizzards)” their ultra-morose procession seems to dig further back for primary inspiration, to acts like Skepticism and even earliest Anathema (at least for that logo), and as guttural and tortured as it is as it devolves toward blackened char in its closer, Stygian‘s stretches of melody provide a contrast that gives some semblance of hope amid all the surrounding despair.

Atramentus on Thee Facebooks

20 Buck Spin webstore

 

Zyclops, Inheritance of Ash

zyclops inheritance of ash

As it clocks in 27 minutes, the inevitable question about Zyclops‘ debut release, Inheritance of Ash, is whether it’s an EP or an LP. For what it’s worth, my bid is for the latter, and to back my case up I’ll cite the flow between each of its four component tracks. The Austin, Texas, post-metallic four-piece save their most virulent chug and deepest tonal weight for the final two cuts, “Wind” and “Ash,” but the stage is well set in “Ghost” and “Rope” as well, and even when one song falls into silence, the next picks up in complementary fashion. Shades of Isis in “Rope,” Swarm of the Lotus in the more intense moments of “Ash,” and an overarching progressive vibe that feels suited to the Pelagic Records oeuvre, one might think of Zyclops as cerebral despite their protestations otherwise, but at the very least, the push and pull at the end of “Wind” and the stretch-out that comes after the churning first half of “Rope” don’t happen by mistake, and a band making these kinds of turns on their first outing isn’t to be ignored. Also, they’re very, very heavy.

Zyclops on Thee Facebooks

Zyclops on Bandcamp

 

Kairon; IRSE!, Polysomn

Kairon IRSE Polysomn

It’s all peace and quiet until “Psionic Static” suddenly starts to speed up, and then like the rush into transwarp, Kairon; IRSE!‘s Polysomn finds its bliss by hooking up a cortical node to your left temple and turning your frontal lobe into so much floundering goo, effectively kitchen-sink kraut-ing you into oblivion while gleefully hopping from genre to cosmic genre like they’re being chased by the ghost of space rock past. They’re the ghost of space rock future. While never static, Polysomn does offer some serenity amid all its head-spinning and lobe-melting, be it the hee-hee-now-it’s-trip-hop wash of “An Bat None” or the cinematic vastness that arises in “Altaïr Descends.” Too intelligent to be random noise or just a freakout, the album is nonetheless experimental, and remains committed to that all the way through the shorter “White Flies” and “Polysomn” at the end of the record. You can take it on if you have your EV suit handy, but if you don’t check the intermix ratio, your face is going to blow up. Fair warning. LLAP.

Kairon; IRSE! on Thee Facebooks

Svart Records webstore

 

Slow Draw, Quiet Joy

slow draw quiet joy

The second 2020 offering from Hurst, Texas’ Slow Draw — the one-man outfit of Mark “Derwooka” Kitchens, also of Stone Machine Electric — the four-song Quiet Joy is obviously consciously named. “Tightropes in Tandem” and closer “Sometimes Experiments Fail” offer a sweet, minimal jazziness, building on the hypnotic backwards psych drone of opener “Unexpected Suspect.” In the two-minute penultimate title-track, Kitchens is barely there, and it is as much an emphasis on the quiet space as that in which the music — a late arriving guitar stands out — might otherwise be taking place. At 18 minutes, it is intended to be a breath taken before reimmersing oneself in the unrelenting chaos that surrounds and swirls, and while it’s short, each piece also has something of its own to offer — even when it’s actively nothing — and Slow Draw brims with purpose across this short release. Sometimes experiments fail, sure. Sometimes they work.

Slow Draw on Thee Facebooks

Slow Draw on Bandcamp

 

Might, Might

might might

It took all of a week for the married duo of Ana Muhi (vocals, bass) and Sven Missullis (guitars, vocals, drums) to announce Might as their new project following the dissolution of the long-ish-running and far-punkier Deamon’s Child. Might‘s self-titled debut arrives with the significant backing of Exile on Mainstream and earns its place on the label with an atmospheric approach to noise rock that, while it inevitably shares some elements with the preceding band, forays outward into the weight of “Possession” and the acoustic-into-crush “Warlight” and the crush-into-ambience “Flight of Fancy” and the ambience-into-ambience “Mrs. Poise” and so on. From the beginning in “Intoduce Yourself” and the rushing “Pollution of Mind,” it’s clear the recorded-in-quarantine 35-minute/nine-song outing is going to go where it wants to, Muhi and Missullis sharing vocals and urging the listener deeper into doesn’t-quite-sound-like-anything-else post-fuzz heavy rock and sludge. A fun game: try to predict where it’s going, and be wrong.

Might on Thee Facebooks

Exile on Mainstream website

 

Brimstone Coven, The Woes of a Mortal Earth

brimstone coven the woes of a mortal earth

Following a stint on Metal Blade and self-releasing 2018’s What Was and What Shall Be, West Virginia’s Brimstone Coven issue their second album as a three-piece through Ripple Music, calling to mind a more classic-minded Apostle of Solitude on the finale “Song of Whippoorwill” and finding a balance all the while between keeping their progressions moving forward and establishing a melancholy atmosphere. Some elements feel drawn from the Maryland school of doom — opener the melody and hook of “The Inferno” remind of defunct purveyors Beelzefuzz — but what comes through clearest in these songs is that guitarist/vocalist Corey Roth, bassist/vocalist Andrew D’Cagna and drummer Dave Trik have found their way forward after paring down from a four-piece following 2016’s Black Magic (review here) and the initial steps the last album took. They sound ready for whatever the growth of their craft might bring and execute songs like “When the World is Gone” and the more swinging “Secrets of the Earth” with the utmost class.

Brimstone Coven on Thee Facebooks

Ripple Music website

 

All Are to Return, All Are to Return

all are to return all are to return

Take the brutal industrial doom of Author and Punisher and smash it together — presumably in some kind of stainless-steel semi-automated contraption — with the skin-peeling atmosphere and grueling tension of Khanate and you may begin to understand where All Are to Return are coming from on their debut self-titled EP. How they make a song like four-minute centerpiece “Bare Life” feel so consuming is beyond me, but I think being so utterly demolishing helps. It’s not just about the plodding electronic beat, either. There’s some of that in opener “Untrusted” and certainly “The Lie of Fellow Men” has a lumber to go with its bass rumble and NIN-sounding-hopeful guitar, but it’s the overwhelming sense of everything being tainted and cruel that comes through in the space the only-19-minutes-long release creates. Even as closer “Bellum Omnium” chips away at the last remaining vestiges of color, it casts a coherent vision of not only aesthetic purpose for the duo, but of the terrible, all-gone-wrong future in which we seem at times to live.

All Are to Return on Bandcamp

Tartarus Records website

 

Los Acidos, Los Acidos

Los Acidos Los Acidos

I saved this one for last today as a favor to myself. Originally released in 2016, Los Acidos‘ self-titled debut receives a well-deserved second look on vinyl courtesy of Necio Records, and with it comes 40 minutes of full immersion in glorious Argentinian psicodelia, spacious and ’60s-style on “Al Otro Lado” and full of freaky swing on “Blusas” ahead of the almost-shoegaze-until-it-explodes-in-sunshine float of “Perfume Fantasma.” “Paseo” and the penultimate “Espejos” careen with greater intensity, but from the folksy feel that arrives to coincide with the cymbal-crashing roll of “Excentricidad” in its second half to the final boogie payoff in “Empatía de Cristal,” the 10-song outing is a joy waiting to be experienced. You’re experienced, right? Have you ever been? Either way, the important thing is that the voyage that, indeed, begins with “Viaje” is worth your time in melody, in craft, in its arrangements, in presence and in the soul that comes through from front to back. The four-piece had a single out in late 2019, but anytime they want to get to work on a follow-up LP, I’ll be waiting.

Los Acidos on Thee Facebooks

Necio Records on Bandcamp

 

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Earth Witch Sign to Cursed Tongue Records; Out of the Shallow LP Due in December

Posted in Whathaveyou on September 22nd, 2017 by JJ Koczan

earth witch

Illinois trio Earth Witch will release their debut album, Out of the Shallow, on vinyl through Cursed Tongue Records before the end of the year. They mark the fifth pickup from the emergent imprint behind Neon WarshipDevil’s WitchesGreen Yeti and Mental Tremors, and the second to come from the US. First issued independently earlier this year on CD/DL, Out of the Shallow makes an immediately burled-out impression, dense in its riffing and decidedly belonging to the up-and-coming generation of heavy rock — the Bandcamp boom — but listening to the shouted vocals and dense riffing, one is reminded as well of the bluesy undertones of Egypt and Wo Fat as well.

The songs offer straight-ahead pummel and should make for a heavy platter, all the better since it seems Cursed Tongue has plans for deluxe editions, probably multiple colors, and so on. Preorders start in November for the December release, and you can stream Out of the Shallow in its entirety now on the player at the bottom of this post. Because it’s the future and that’s how shit works here.

Dig and enjoy:

earth-witch-out-of-the-shallow

EARTH WITCH SIGN TO CURSED TONGUE RECORDS

Earth Witch has signed to Cursed Tongue Records for a release of their highly appraised debut album ‘Out Of The Shallow’ coming late 2017. The label is extremely happy to have inked a deal with this hard hitting ensemble and look forward to give OOTS the full red carpet vinyl treatment. Expect several different vinyl editions, TP’s, posters, patches, etc. Already garnering quite a following and appraisal from around the scene amongst fellow musicians, fans and reviewers alike plus also securing them a place on the Doom Charts for March 2017 there is no questioning the band’s merits.

“It’s a real honor to get to work with such talented and focused people as the guys behind Earth Witch and we look forward to pay the much needed respect and acknowledgement to this high-octane stoner rock gold nugget, says Niels Bartholdy of Cursed Tongue Records.

Following up their doom laden 2013 Earthbound EP, Earth Witch unveils their debut longplayer, Out of the Shallow, that shows the trio in their truest rock n’ roll meets doom form. After founding members Ivan Catron (Guitar/Vocals) and Nathan Landolt (Drums) parted ways with their first bassist, they were joined by Derrin Coad (Bass/Vocals) for a Black Sabbath cover set on Halloween. The underlying doom sound remained a vital driving force in the writing, however the band was able to speed things up and get more technical with the new lineup.

Out of the Shallow pays tribute to Iommi style guitar solos and the driving force of rock bands like Red Fang, The Sword, and Kadavar. The 42 minute album was written over the course of two years and tracked in late 2015 with Brandon Carnes in Springfield, IL. From the fast paced high energy opening track until the last chords fade out, Earth Witch keeps the listener headbanging throughout. Album art by David Paul Seymour, with logo and additional layout by Mike Tirehaus. Recorded, mixed, and mastered by Brandon Carnes (Looming) in Springfield, IL at Southtown Studios, Out Of the Shallow was released digitally on Bandcamp as well as on CD and tape in March 2017.

Earth Witch – ‘Out Of The Shallow’ will be Cursed Tongue Records fifth release in just little more than a year. Pre-orders will go online Friday, November 3rd with an expected official release date early December just in right time for the Christmas shopping. So looks like the present hunt is an easy solve this year.

Earth Witch live:
Oct 21 Vaudeville Mews Des Moines, IA
Oct 25 The Swan Dive Austin, TX
Oct 26 Saturn Bar New Orleans, LA

Earth Witch is:
Ivan Catron – Guitars, Vocals
Derrin Coad – Bass, Vocals
Nathan Landolt – Drums

https://www.facebook.com/earthwitch420
https://www.instagram.com/earthwitchdoom
https://earthwitch.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/CursedTongueRecords/
https://www.instagram.com/cursedtongue
http://cursedtonguerecords.bigcartel.com/

Earth Witch, Out of the Shallow (2017)

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Frydee Tummler

Posted in Bootleg Theater on January 14th, 2011 by JJ Koczan

I thought rather than hold off and wait for either later tonight or tomorrow to end the week, I’d cut out early. I’m supposed to be interviewing “Dixie” Dave Collins of Weedeater at 7PM Eastern, and after that I’m off to pretend I’m a human being with The Patient Mrs. at a social-type gathering. One can only assume I’ll either fall down and hurt myself or end up swearing loudly near a group of small children. That’s usually how it goes.

This week caps off with Tummler, who ruled. They put out Queen to Bishop VI on Man’s Ruin in 2000, Early Man (which predated the band of the same name) on Small Stone in 2002, and were never heard from again. Good band. If I remember right — and there’s a chance I don’t — I either got to see them live at a SXSW or an Emissions from the Monolith somewhere along the line. A little “hey whoa momma yeah” in the vocals, but still cool. I haven’t had any Man’s Ruin-worship on here in a while, anyway. Fuzz on.

My semester starts next Wednesday, the thought of which is grueling. I believe the phrase I used when The Patient Mrs. reminded me the other day was “kill me in the face.” That is still very much how I feel about it. Somehow, some way, though, I’m still planning on posting my interview with Laura Pleasants of Kylesa, and maybe we’ll have some more goodies as well of the listening-to variety.

Until then, be safe and enjoy the weekend. Remember that the forums never close, and we’ll see you back here for more fun times on Monday.

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