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Quarterly Review: Khemmis, Low Orbit, Confusion Master, Daemonelix, Wooden Fields, Plaindrifter, Spawn, Ambassador Hazy, Mocaine, Sun Below

Posted in Reviews on December 14th, 2021 by JJ Koczan

THE-OBELISK-FALL-2020-QUARTERLY-REVIEW

Day two, huh? Don’t know about you, but I’m feeling positively groovy after yesterday’s initial round of 10 records en route to 50 by Friday, and maybe that’s all the better since there’s not only another round of 10 today, but 50 more awaiting in January. Head down, keep working. You know how it goes. Hope you find something cool in this bunch, and if not, stick around because there’s more to come. Never enough time, never enough riffs. Let’s get to it.

Quarterly Review #11-20:

Khemmis, Deceiver

Khemmis Deceiver

Denver’s Khemmis are everything an American heavy metal band should be in 2021. The six-song Deceiver is the fourth LP from the band — now comprised of guitarist/vocalist Ben Hutcherson, guitarist/vocalist Phil Pendergast and drummer Zach Coleman — and it soars and crushes in kind. It is no more doom than thrash or epic traditional metal, with sweeping choruses from opener “Avernal Gate” onward, and yet it is intense without being boorish, accessible without being dumbed-down, dynamic in presentation. It commits neither to genre nor structure but is born of both, and its well-timed arrangements of more extreme vocalizations on “House of Cadmus” and “Obsidian Crown” are no less vital to its sonic persona than the harmonies surrounding. Even more here than on 2018’s Desolation (review here), Khemmis sound like masters of the form — the kind of band who’d make a kid want to pick up a guitar — and are in a class of their own.

Khemmis on Facebook

Nuclear Blast store

 

Low Orbit, Crater Creator

Low-Orbit-Crater-Creator

Somebody in Toronto’s Low Orbit likes Dr. Who, as signaled by inclusions like “Tardis” and “Timelord” on the trio’s third album, Crater Creator. Also huge riffs. Working with their hometown’s house helmer Ian Blurton (Rough Spells, Future Now, Biblical, etc.), guitarist/vocalist Angelo Catenaro, bassist Joe Grgic and drummer Emilio Mammone proffer seven songs across two-sides bent toward largesse of chug and spaciousness of… well, space. The opening title-track, which moves into the lumbering “Tardis” and the driving side-A-capper “Sea of See,” sets an expectation for massive tonality that the rest of what follows meets with apparent glee. The fuzz-forward nature of “Monocle” (also the cowbell) feels straightforward after the relative plod of “Empty Space” before it, but “Wormhole” and “Timelord” assure the mission’s overarching success, the latter with aplomb fitting its finale position on such a cosmically voluminous offering. Craters accomplished, at least in eardrums.

Low Orbit on Facebook

Pink Tank Records website

Olde Magick Records on Bandcamp

 

Confusion Master, Haunted

CONFUSION MASTER Haunted

One assumes that the Cthulhu figure depicted breaking a lighthouse with its cthrotch on the cover art of Confusion Master‘s Haunted is intended as a metaphor for the coming of the German four-piece’s engrossing psychedelic doom riffery. The band, who made their debut with 2018’s Awaken (review here), owe some debt to Electric Wizard‘s misanthropic stoner nihilism, but the horrors crafted across the six-song/56-minute sophomore outing are their own in sound and depth alike, as outwardly familiar as the lumbering central riff of “The Cannibal County Maniac” might seem. It’s amazing I haven’t heard more hype about Confusion Master, with the willful slog of “Jaw on a Hook”‘s 11 minutes so dug in ahead of the sample-topped title-track you can’t really call it anything other than righteous in its purpose, as filthy as that purpose is on the rolling “Casket Down” or “Under the Sign of the Reptile Master.” Shit, they don’t even start vocals until minute six of 10-minute opener “Viking X.” What more do you want? Doom the fuck out.

Confusion Master on Facebook

Exile on Mainstream website

 

Daemonelix, Devil’s Corkscrew

Daemonelix Devils Corkscrew

Sludge metal punishment serves as the introductory statement of Los Angeles’ Daemonelix, whose Devil’s Corkscrew EP runs just 18 minutes and four songs but needs no more than that to get its message across. The band, led by guitarist Derek Phillips, are uniformly brash and scathing in their composition, harnessing the punkish energy of an act like earlier -(16)- and bringing it to harsher places altogether, while still — as the motor-ready riff of “In the Name of Freedom” demonstrates — keeping one foot in heavy rock traditions. Vocalist Ana Garcia Lopez is largely indecipherable in her throaty, rasping growls on opener “Daemonelix” and the subsequent “Raise Crows,” but “In the Name of Freedom” has a cleaner hook and closer “Sing for the Moon” brings in more atmospherics during its slower, more open-feeling verses, before crushing once more in a manner that’s — dare I say it? — progressive? Clearly more than just bludgeoning, then, but yes, plenty of that too.

Daemonelix on Facebook

Metal Assault Records on Bandcamp

 

Wooden Fields, Wooden Fields

wooden fields wooden fields

While I’ll admit that Wooden Fields had me on board with the mere mention of the involvement of Siena Root bassist Sam Riffer, the Stockholm trio’s boogie-prone seven-song self-titled debut earns plenty of allegiance on its own, with vocalist/guitarist Sartez Faraj leading the classically-grooving procession in a manner that expands outward as it moves through the album’s tidy 38 minutes, taking the straight-ahead rush of “Read the Signs” and “Shiver and Shake” into the airier-but-still-grounded “Should We Care” before centerpiece “I’m Home” introduces a jammier vibe, drummer Fredrik Jansson Punkka (Witchcraft, etc.) seeming totally amenable to holding the track together beneath the extended solo. The transition works because no matter how far they go in “Don’t Be a Fool” or “Wind of Hope,” Wooden Fields never lose the thread of songcraft they weave throughout, and the melodies of closer “Endless Time” alone establish them as a group of marked potential, regardless of pedigree and the familiarity of their stylistic foundation.

Wooden Fields on Facebook

Argonauta Records website

 

Plaindrifter, Echo Therapy

Plaindrifter Echo Therapy

Surging forth with lush progressive heavy psychedelic rock, Plaindrifter‘s debut full-length, Echo Therapy, showcases an awareness of the context in which it arrives — which is to say the German three-piece seem to be familiar with the aesthetic tropes they’re working toward. Still, although their emphasis on bringing together melody and heft may result in flashes of Elder in the extended “Prisma” or the closer “Digital Dreamcatcher” or Elephant Tree in “New World,” with opener “M.N.S.N.” making its impression as much with ambience as tonal weight and centerpiece “Proto Surfer Boy” sneakily executing its linear build in space-creating fashion before its long fadeout, there’s an individual presence in the material beyond a play toward style, and from what they offer here, it’s easy to imagine their forward-thinking course will lead to further manifest individualism in subsequent work. That may be me reading into the possibilities cast by the melodies of “M.N.S.N.” and in the quieter break of “Proto Surfer Boy,” but that’s plenty to go on and by no means the sum of Echo Therapy‘s achievements.

Plaindrifter on Facebook

Plaindrifter on Bandcamp

 

Spawn, Live at Moonah Arts Collective

Spawn Live at Moonah Arts Collective

The kind of release that makes me want to own everything the band has done, Spawn‘s Live at Moonah Arts Collective enraptures with four tracks of meditative psychedelic flow, beginning with “Meditation in an Evil Temple” and oozing patiently through a cover of “Morning of the Earth” — from the 1971 Australian surf film of the same name — before “Remember to Be Here Now” issues that needed reminder to coincide with the drift that would otherwise so easily lead the mind elsewhere, and the 13-minute “All is Shiva” culminates with a spiritually-vibing wash of guitar, sitar, bass, drums, keyboard, tabla and tantric vocal repetitions. Based in Melbourne, the seven-maybe-more-piece outfit released a studio EP in 2018 on Nasoni Records (of course) and otherwise have a demo to their credit, but the with the sense of communion they bring to these songs, studio or live doesn’t matter anymore. At just under half an hour, it’s a short set — too short — but with the heavier ending of “All is Shiva,” there’s nothing they leave unsaid in that time. This is aural treasure. Pay heed.

Spawn on Facebook

Spawn on Bandcamp

 

Ambassador Hazy, Glacial Erratics

Ambassador Hazy Glacial Erratics

Formed as a solo-project for Sterling DeWeese, the lo-fi experimentalist psych of Ambassador Hazy‘s Glacial Erratics first showed up in 2020 after four years of making, and with a 2021 vinyl release, the 14-track/39-minute offering would seem to be getting its due. DeWeese — sometimes on his own, sometimes backed by a full band or just drummer Jonathan Bennett — delights in the weird, finding a place somewhere between desert-style drift (his vocals remind at times of mellower Mario Lalli, but I doubt that’s more than coincidence), folk and space-indie on “Ain’t the Same No More,” which is somehow bluesy while the fuzzy “Lucky Clover” earlier taps alterna-chic bedroom gaze and the subsequent “Passing into a Grey Area” brings in full backing for the first time. Disjointed? Yeah, but it’s part of the whole idea, so don’t sweat it. No single song tops four minutes — the Dead Meadowy “Sleepyhead” comes closest at 3:51 — and it ends with “The World’s a Mess,” so yeah, DeWeese makes it easy enough to roll with what’s happening here. I’d suggest doing that.

Ambassador Hazy on Facebook

Ambassador Hazy on Bandcamp

 

Mocaine, The Birth of Billy Munro

Mocaine The Birth of Billy Munro

A wildly ambitious debut — to the point of printing up a novella to flesh out its storyline and characters — The Birth of Billy Munro follows a narrative spearheaded by Mocaine guitarist/vocalist Amrit Mohan and is set in the American South following its title-character through a post-traumatic mental decay with material that runs a gamut from progressive metal to psychedelia to classic Southern heavy rock and grunge and so on. In just 43 minutes and with a host of dialogue-driven stretches — also samples like Alec Baldwin talking about his god complex from 1993’s Malice in the soon-to-be-churning “Narcissus” — the plot is brought to a conclusion on “The Bend,” which touches lighter acoustics and jazzy nuance without letting go entirely of the ’90s flair in “Psylocybin” a few tracks earlier, as far removed from the swaggering “Pistol Envy” as it seems to be, and in fact is. However deep the listener might want to explore, Mocaine seems ready to accommodate, and one only wonders whether the trio will explore further tales of Billy Munro or move on to other stories and concepts.

Mocaine on Facebook

Mocaine on Bandcamp

 

Sun Below, Sun Below

sun below sun below

Toronto riffers Sun Below would like to be your entertainment for the evening, and they’d probably prefer it if you were also stoned. Their 71-minute self-titled debut long-player arrives after a series of three shorter offerings between 2018-2019, and after the opening “Chronwall Neanderhal,” the 14-minute “Holy Drifter” lets you know outright how it’s gonna go. They’re gonna vibe, they’re gonna jam, they’re gonna riff, and your brain’s gonna turn to goo and that’s just fine. Stoner is as stoner does, and whether that’s on a shorter track like “Shiva Sativa,” the shuffling “Kinetic Keif” and the rumbling “Doom Stick,” or the 18-minute “Twin Worlds” that follows ahead of the 12-minute closer “Solar Burnout,” one way or the other, you get gargantuan, post-Pike riffage that knows from whence its grooves come and doesn’t care it’s going to roll out an hour-plus anyway and steamroll lucidity in the process. Is that a bongrip at the end of “Solar Burnout” or the end of the world? More to the point, can’t it be both?

Sun Below on Facebook

Sun Below on Bandcamp

 

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Confusion Master to Release Haunted Nov. 19

Posted in Whathaveyou on September 22nd, 2021 by JJ Koczan

confusion master

German four-piece Confusion Master made it plenty easy to dig their 2018 debut, Awaken (review here), and based entirely on the all-of-one-minute I’ve heard of the follow-up, Haunted, I expect no less from it. The ever-significant backing of Exile on Mainstream is, of course, part of that, but I think if you take a look at the cover art, a look at that upside-down cross serving as the ‘t’ in the band’s logo, a look at the Cthulhu art — on theme with the debut, as it happens — and then either listen to the first record or just take on that minute as it is streaming below, you can probably use some context clues to figure out where these dudes are coming from. They’re coming from riff church. Mass just let out.

Insert some clever line about Tony Iommi as the one true god here.

In any case, check out the fan edition of the impending, which not only brings the four-track full-length itself, but an extra 12″ single and a live album on tape. I don’t know if that’s a fan edition or a make-you-a-fan edition, but it’s a pretty killer package anyhow. But don’t listen to me. I’m biased in favor of cool shit. I’m sure someone out there will find something to complain about with it. “Ugh, why you gotta riff so heavy?” and so on.

From the PR wire:

CONFUSION MASTER Haunted

CONFUSION MASTER: German Doom Quartet To Release Second LP, Haunted, Through Exile On Mainstream In November; Teaser, Cover Art, And More Posted

Exile On Mainstream presents Haunted, the second album from German doom/sludge metal quartet CONFUSION MASTER. Confirming the album for November release, the label has posted its cover art, track listing, a brief teaser, and other details.

Uniting four musicians drawn together from across varied punk and metal circuits, unified through their shared love for sound, misanthropy, DIY values, and vintage gear, the members of CONFUSION MASTER have earned merits in underground stalwart outfits such as Cyness, Wojczech, Bad Luck Rides On Wheels, and Aequatorkaelte.

CONFUSION MASTER’s debut album, Awaken, was released through Exile On Mainstream in 2018, and having earned raving feedback from the international doom and stoner rock crowd, the group proved itself as a veritable touring machine. They provided support for Like Rats, Dopethrone, Crowskin, Bongzilla, Beehoover, and labelmates Black Shape Of Nexus, while conquering the 2019 edition of the mighty Roadburn Festival, all in one strike. Now it’s time for the next chapter.

After excessive touring on their debut album, CONFUSION MASTER again exchanged daylight for practice room jams and crafted four new tracks rooted in thundering groove, odd percussion breaks, and psychedelic swing. The Baltic Sea-based quartet once again delivers a crushing blow with forty-one minutes of raging intensity for your turntable, reminding you that the dead cannot die while they are still hungry. Recorded during the comprehensive Winter desolation of 2020, Haunted was captured by Lutz Baumann at various live sessions in multiple rooms and practice studios, after which it was mastered by James Plotkin (Khanate, Sunn O))), Pelican). Clearly not to be mistaken for a love and peace affair but channeling hardcore anger in its purity, the result is a bonafide gain in horror cosmic doom with a strong Lovecraftian existential swirl, as reflected in the stunning cover illustration by Antonio Ilievsky/Pig Hands.

Haunted will see release through Exile On Mainstream on November 19th through all digital services as well as 12” vinyl with a bundled CD. The CD features one bonus track not on the vinyl. Additionally, a special fan’s edition of the record contains an additional 12” single containing two more tracks, a patch, a sticker, and a cassette release, Live At Fusion Festival.

Watch for preorders, audio and video previews, and more on the album to be issued over the weeks ahead. Fans of Ufomammut, Electric Wizard, Yob, Goatsnake, and Black Shape Of Nexus should not miss CONFUSION MASTER.

Haunted Track Listing:
1. Viking X
2. The Cannibal County Maniac
3. Casket Down
4. Jaw On A Hook
5. Haunted (digital/CD/limited fan’s edition bonus track)
6. Under The Sign Of The Reptile Master (digital/limited fan’s edition bonus track)

CONFUSION MASTER:
Mathias Klein – bass
Stephan Gottwald – drums
Gunnar Arndt – guitars/effects
Stephan Kurth – guitars/effects/vocals

https://www.facebook.com/confusionmasterdoom
http://www.mainstreamrecords.de

Confusion Master, Haunted teaser

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DoomFarmFest 2021 Set for Aug. 27-29; Earthbong, Confusion Master, Deadly Moussaka & More to Play

Posted in Whathaveyou on July 30th, 2021 by JJ Koczan

The sadly-usual caveats that apply to everything circa 2021 — announcements, life, etc. — are of course in play here. Is DoomFarmFest 2021 going to happen? Well, I’m no viral expert — and that should probably be the end of the sentence, but it’s not — but it seems to me the fact that it’s in a barn, which is presumably a pretty well ventilated area, plus the fact that it’s in a kind of remote locale, means that you’ve got a likelier chance than something in a major urban center that’s perhaps about to come under lockdown scrutiny again. That doesn’t mean DoomFarmFest will, or can, or should be anything less than diligent in observing any and all local, national, international and — let’s face it — reasonable restrictions, I’m just saying we don’t know what those might be by the time the end of next month comes. Or next week, for that matter.

And anyway, if you’re getting either your information or your opinions on such things from my ass, shame on you.

But as I’ve said once or twice at this point, I’m choosing to err on the side of positivity. If that makes dumb in the face of cynicism-as-intelligence, then fine. I’ll be dumb.

Here’s event info:

doomfarmfest 2021 poster

Welcome to DoomfarmFest 2021! 27-29 August

https://www.facebook.com/events/182841223860374/

2 days packed with concerts from dusk till dawn. Come join the harvest of the DOOMFARM in the wastelands of Brandenburg. The stage is in a huge barn on a ancient farm outside of Putlitz, Brandenburg.

After a season of enjoying riffs with our online events on DoomFarmTV, the time of harvest has come to the farm of doom. 12 bands bringing you doom, psychedelic, black metal funeral doom, post-metal, stoner, sludge, bloodthirsty metal, dope doom bong metal, that will be a feast to your ears.

Fuzzy fields and distorted cows roam stoned through the meadows. After months of silence, our Post quarantined needy ears will rejoice to the drone of heavy riffs and growls through the night.

BANDS OF THE HARVEST:
++ EARTHBONG (Kiel, Germany)
++ CONFUSION MASTER (Rostock, Germany)
++ DEADLY MOUSSAKA (Berlin, Germany)
++ AUFHEBUNG (Brussels, Belgium)
++ PIECE (Berlin, Germany)
++ LARES (Berlin, Germany)
++ TEARS OF FIRE ((Berlin, Germany)
++ HOMECOMING (Paris, France)
++ CANNABINEROS (Berlin, Germany)
++ HEXKEY (Berlin, Germany)
++ HONEY BADGER (Berlin, Germany)

More bands to be announced!

Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.de/e/doomfarmfest-2021-tickets-163882455837

Free camping & shower. Food and bar will be there! We will be following all current and local hygiene requirements. To ensure the health of our crew and guests Everyone MUST bring a Negative test result or proof of vaccination, or convalescence. Stay doomed! Stay healthy!

See you there!

https://www.facebook.com/events/182841223860374/
https://www.facebook.com/electricsabbathshows/
https://www.instagram.com/doomfarmfest/

Earthbong, Bong Rites (2020)

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Roadburn 2019: LOOP, Sumac, Crippled Black Phoenix, Sherpa and More Added

Posted in Whathaveyou on November 15th, 2018 by JJ Koczan

roadburn 2019 banner

A return appearance from Crippled Black Phoenix seemed like asking a lot. A return appearance from LOOP seemed unrealistic. A complete showcase from Exile on Mainstream? Well now that’s just silly. But silly’s how it goes for Roadburn, which in 2019 will apparently continue to exist on a plane all its own, much to the general betterment of humanity. I’ll happily take the chance to see Emma Ruth Rundle and Sherpa and to get exposed to Cave, who sound so much up my alley that I’m kind of embarrassed I’ve never heard them before. Plus underrated sludgesters Treedeon and you know, Sumac, because Aaron Turner hasn’t curated a Roadburn yet and we might as well build up to that seeming inevitability with an unofficial kind of residency, and Young Widows and enough others that I forgot what the point of this sentence was when I started out and it doesn’t even matter because the lineup is so staggeringly incredible.

Fuck it. Dive in:

loop roadburn 2019

More additions for Roadburn 2019, including curated acts; day tickets on sale in December

TOMAS LINDBERG chooses LOOP and SLÆGT for his curated event
SUMAC to perform
YOUNG WIDOWS to play Old Wounds in full
Return performances for CRIPPLED BLACK PHOENIX and EMMA RUTH RUNDLE

TOMAS LINDBERG’S THE BURNING DARKNESS

LOOP
LOOP are no strangers to Roadburn – they headlined the 2014 edition of the festival. The psych titans split in 1991, reforming in 2013 and cementing themselves as legends of the scene – and amongst other activities, brought their glorious technicolour to the Roadburn stage. We’re thrilled to welcome them back for a special, one off show as part of Tomas Lindberg’s curated event, The Burning Darkness.
Lindberg comments: “I expect to see you all in the front row for this one. I have goosebumps already.”

SLÆGT
As the frontman for At The Gates, we know Tomas is something of an extreme metal connoisseur. He’s flexing that muscle with his latest addition to the line up, which comes in the shape of SLÆGT. Tomas explains:
“When I think of heavy metal, there is a certain feeling I am after. A special haunting, emotional impact that I’m seeking. I will always be super excited when I get that same feeling that was there when I first got into underground metal. SLÆGT is one of those rare examples.”

SUMAC
Aaron Turner is not a man who likes to sit still. When he realised that he would technically have a day off at Roadburn, his brain started to click and whirr. And soon enough we had SUMAC on the bill.

When Love In Shadow landed in September, it was a swift reminder not to assume you know all there is to know about a band. Turner has promised us something special at Roadburn: a titillating promise. But we can’t help but feel that any SUMAC experience is going to be a special SUMAC experience – and surely better than a day off.

YOUNG WIDOWS
If it’s true that absence makes the heart grow fonder, it doesn’t discount the fact that the occasional tease of a live show can still be pure agony, especially when Europe has historically been somewhat starved of YOUNG WIDOWS. So it’s with something akin to relief mixed with pure joy that we announce YOUNG WIDOWS’ performance at Roadburn 2019. For fans of their 2008 release, Old Wounds, the treat is two-fold; the band will be playing the album in full for us!

CRIPPLED BLACK PHOENIX
Following their mind-warping set on Roadburn’s main stage in 2017, we welcome back the progressive darkness of CRIPPLED BLACK PHOENIX. In the band’s decade and a half career, they have released an incredible ten studio records, the latest of which Great Escape is a powerful, treacherous exploration into a the bleakest realms of Justin Greaves’ psyche. A CRIPPLED BLACK PHOENIX performance is the sound of a band following their own path, their own rules, for their own enjoyment. And ours.

CAVE
Channeling Krautrock staples like Can and Neu! with Miles Davis/Funkadelic style funk, CAVE offers an instrumental galaxy of hypnotic jams. It’s the band’s groove-heavy – yet loose – approach which gives way to an intricate backdrop for these spontaneous explorations; from fuzzy leads to free jazz fusion, from prog to psychedelic library music, from subtle funk to South American delights.

EMMA RUTH RUNDLE
Emma Ruth Rundle made such a mark on Roadburn 2017, we’re overjoyed to have her back for 2019 – and we expect the results to be just as powerful and mesmerising as the first time around.
Her first solo performance at the festival was a pivotal moment for us. Not only did it mark a definitive turning point for the artistic scope of the festival, it was also the moment that we adopted Emma as one of our own. A kindred spirit, a sonic explorer, a soul sister.

LINGUA IGNOTA
Boldly straddling the classical music world and the often hellish soundscapes of harsh noise, LINGUA IGNOTA plucks what she wants from both – and elsewhere – to form a towering inferno of raging fury, manifesting as sonic indignation. The challenge of a visceral and abrasive show is one that we relish. If you’re looking for an experience, something that that burrows into your consciousness and niggles at you for months to come, sign up now. LINGUA IGNOTA will deliver a masterclass.

EXILE ON MAINSTREAM X ROADBURN
EXILE ON MAINSTREAM Records is celebrating twenty years of existence with us at Roadburn 2019. The iconic label has released almost 90 records over the past two decades.The label’s history is somewhat entwined with our own; in fact they celebrated their 15th birthday with us too! We guess we make good cake!
The label will commandeer the Hall of Fame venue on Saturday, 13 April and the following bands will perform:
OSTINATO
NOISEPICKER
CONNY OCHS
TREEDEON
BELLROPE
CONFUSION MASTER

ALSO CONFIRMED:
FEAR FALLS BURNING will see Dirk Serries performing an exercise in minimalism
JAYE JAYLE will reprise their 2017 performance – in the more spacious Green Room
OVTRENOIR will deliver a dose of sludgy post-metal
SHERPA will perform Tigris & Euphrates in full
SOFT KILL will perform both Savior and Heresy in full
THROANE offer a cold and violent take on modern black metal
TREHA SEKTORI will bring an innovative and immersive take on dark ambient sound

TICKETS:
Single day tickets will go on sale on Thursday, December 13. Weekend tickets are on sale now

Tickets are be priced as follows:
3 days ticket (Thu-Sat) €181 + €4,50 service fee
4 days ticket (Thu-Sun) €204 + €4,50 service fee
Day ticket (Thu, Fri or Sat) €62 + €4,50 service fee
Sunday ticket €55,50 + €4,50 service fee

Click here for more ticketing information.

https://www.facebook.com/roadburnfestival/
http://www.twitter.com/Roadburnfest
http://www.instagram.com/roadburnfest
http://www.roadburn.com

Roadburn 2019 November announcement video

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Confusion Master Premiere “In the Shadow of the Bong” Video; Debut Album Awaken out Now

Posted in Bootleg Theater on May 4th, 2018 by JJ Koczan

confusion master

I’m not 100 percent sure Confusion Master guitarist/vocalist Stephan Kurth isn’t embracing the absurd himself when he says that the band’s album cut ‘In the Shadow of the Bong’ is inspired by Albert Camus. I guess the Rostock-based four-piece wouldn’t exactly be Confusion Master if all their intentions came through clearly, but if he is being sincere, working off what Kierkegaard did almost a century earlier, Camus had three ways he thought it was possible for humans to escape the absurd: suicide, religion and acceptance. You can either off yourself, in which case the absurd doesn’t matter, buy into one or another deity, which gives you a convenient answer to all the questions in the universe, or just know that the absurd is there and there’s no getting away from it while alive. It would seem Confusion Master have chosen the latter.

So be it. Their debut album, Awaken, with it Cthulhu-y cover art, is out now via respected German purveyor Exile on Mainstream, and it offers an unmanageable 59 minutes of rumbling modern doom, finding a space among the Windhands, Monolords and Electric Wizards of the world without really sounding like either of them. Topped with samples from Full Metal JacketTwin Peaks and others, there’s a ’90s sludge sensibility to be sure, but Confusion MasterKurth on guitar/vocals, Gunnar Arndt on confusion master awakenguitar, Mathias Klein on bass and Stephan Gottwald on drums — bring an effects-drenched spaciousness to their sound as well, a song like the 11-minute “Goner Colony” seeming to reach outward in a similar way to Sons of Otis while remaining no less tonally weighted than they were on the 10-minute-plus opening duo “Witch Pollution” and its feedback-drenched compatriot “Northern Midnight Ghoul.”

These three tracks, comprising more than half of Awaken‘s notably — you’ll note it’s already been noted as notable — significant runtime, form a decent crux of the album’s overall impression, and they tell a tale of doom by doomers, players obviously aware of the tenets of style and looking to cast their own niche from them. As much as “Witch Pollution, “Northern Midnight Ghoul” and “Goner Colony” are obvious focal points, “Reaper’s Fist,” “In the Shadow of the Bong” and the closing duo “False Dawn” and the finale “Awaken” — which all run between six and eight minutes, save for the closer, which is just under five — have a major role to play as well. They not only keep Confusion Master from being bogged down in the repetition of longform doom, but the title-track cut out into an almost post-rock ambient sphere, “False Dawn” toys with pace shifts and “In the Shadow of the Bong,” well, aside from winning the battle of track names, is a wah-soaked slab of psychedelic doom miseries that summarizes a lot of the atmosphere of the album as a whole.

Maybe that’s why they chose it for their new video, which takes performance footage and runs it through a ringer of swirling chaos effects. There’s some old film footage I think from War of the Worlds tucked in there as well, so keep an eye out.

Confusion Master play the release show for Awaken tomorrow night in Rostock alongside countrymen labelmates Treedeon, and head to Japan later this month with Guevnna. You’ll find those dates and more info under the Camus-invoking quote from Kurth, which of course is under the video itself, which of course is right under the next line of text.

Please enjoy:

Confusion Master, “In the Shadow of the Bong” official video premiere

Stephan Kurth on “In the Shadow of the Bong”:

“In the Shadow of the Bong” draws inspiration from the three antidotes to the absurdity of life according to Albert Camus. Conditions must be fulfilled to be translated in consequences such as revolt, freedom and passion. Camus’ call to a greater degree of understanding among people and greater sincerity building on mankind becoming ultimately frank and free to allow communication inspired this song. This all we wrapped up in a Cavity-/Iron Monkey-inspired riffage. Enjoy!

In support of Awaken, CONFUSION MASTER will tour across Europe and beyond in the fall (dates to be announced), A hometown record release show is scheduled for next week’s May 5th with fellow labelmates Treedeon. This will be followed by a run of tour dates in Japan with Guevnna scheduled for May 21st through 26th, with shows in Tokyo, Fujisawa, Gifu, Nagano, Niigata, and Tokyo. Stand by for additional dates to be announced.

5/05/2018 Plattnfischn Record Fair – Rostock, DE *Awaken release show w/ Treedeon
5/21/2018 Ruby Room – Tokyo, JP
5/22/2018 Gigs Shonan – Fujisawa, JP
5/23/2018 Casper – Gifu, JP
5/24/2018 The Venue – Nagano, JP
5/25/2018 Golden Pigs – Niigata, JP
5/26/2018 Moonstep – Tokyo, JP

CONFUSION MASTER:
Mathias Klein – bass
Stephan Gottwald – drums
Gunnar Arndt – guitars/effects
Stephan Kurth – guitars/effects/vocals

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Exile on Mainstream website

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