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

Enslaved Announce North American Tour Dates

Posted in Whathaveyou on December 15th, 2022 by JJ Koczan

Enslaved

Norwegian progressive black metal masters Enslaved recently announced their 16th full-length, Heimdal, would see release through Nuclear Blast on March 3, and today brings word that the band will return to North American shores to support it. Setting off from New York City on April 5 — which my calendar tells me is just four days after Church of the Cosmic Skull hit town for April Fools — Enslaved will co-headline with Insomnium for the better part of the month going coast-to-coast in the process with shoots up north for Montreal and Vancouver. I’m an easy sell on going to see Enslaved live, and if you’re not, it’s your loss. Me and Mike H.’ll happily tell you why you need to show up next time.

Rad as the tour news is, it’s only scratching the surface of everything the stalwarts have going on, between other special performances and festival dates coming up next year, special editions of Heimdal and this and that and then some. To wit, this PR wire info is about 700 words long. Most don’t crack 200, but then again, most bands who’ve been going for 30 years without a break aren’t still pushing boundaries the way Enslaved ceaselessly do with either their level of quality or productivity.

Anyway, here you go:

enslaved tour 2023

ENSLAVED Announce Co-Headline North American Tour With INSOMNIUM

Enslaved are pleased to announce a month-long, North American co-headline tour with Insomnium. The run will take place in April 2023, shortly after the release of Enslaved’s new studio album, Heimdal, out March 3rd. Support on the road will come from Black Anvil.

Ivar Bjørnson commented,

“Neither you nor we will BELIEVE how much we are looking forward to coming back to the US of A and Canada in April 2023! We have a new album (and more if you want to be technical), ‘Heimdal’, to show you – spoiler alert: it will lay venues waste. Yes, we are that confident. We also have some rather cosmically awesome (!) bands joining the trek in co-headliners Insomnium and support Black Anvil – how could this become anything but the most spectacular event of 2023?”

Tickets will go on-sale Friday December 16th @ 10am (local time) via the below links.

ENSLAVED + INSOMNIUM
NORTH AMERICAN CO-HEADLINE TOUR 2023
w/ Black Anvil
05 April New York, NY – Irving Plaza
06 April Boston, MA – Big Night Live
07 April Montreal, QC – Corona Theatre
08 April Toronto, ON – The Opera House
10 April Detroit, MI – Saint Andrew’s Hall
11 April Chicago, IL – House Of Blues
12 April Minneapolis, MN – Varsity Theater
14 April Denver, CO – The Gothic Theatre
15 April Salt Lake City, UT – The Complex
17 April Seattle, WA – The Crocodile
18 April Vancouver, BC – The Rickshaw
19 April Portland, OR – Hawthorne Theatre
21 April Berkeley, CA – The UC Theatre Taube Family Music Hall
22 April Los Angeles, CA – The Fonda Theatre
23 April Phoenix, AZ – Nile Theater
25 April Austin, TX – Come And Take It Live
26 April Dallas, TX – The Echo Lounge & Music Hall
28 April Atlanta, GA – Variety Playhouse
29 April Raleigh, NC – Lincoln Theatre
30 April Baltimore, MD – Baltimore Soundstage

ENSLAVED – 2023 FESTIVAL SHOWS
03 Feb 2023 DK, Fredericia – Winter Metal Magic
13 May 2023 UK, London – Incineration Festival
10-11 Nov 2023 MX, Monterrey – Mexico Metal Fest

But Enslaved have even more planned for 2023, including festival show dates, and a unique album release event in their home city of Bergen, Norway. Named Heimhug, the evening will feature an extended Enslaved live set with guests, and very special guest Jo Quail.

03 March 2023
Bergen, Norway @ USF Verftet
HEIMHUG – an Enslaved Heimdal album release event
Tickets available HERE: https://www.ticketmaster.no/event/enslaved-presents-heimhug-a-heimdal-album-release-event-billetter/705535?irgwc=1&utm_content=1220128_8215
Please head to enslaved.no/Heimhug for more information.

Grutle Kjellson commented,
“Sometimes the answers and the truths lie under your very nose, or where the journey starts, where you first set sail towards horizons unknown. This was very much the case when we started working on “Heimdal”; we stepped back and looked a bit inwards and also at our immediate surroundings, at the area we hail from and where we still dwell today; Hordaland. On these shores people have been living and dying, worshiping and crying, laughing and lying ever since the Stone Age. History has been written here, history will still be written here and we will continue to dwell here until the end of our days.

“Built around this historical narrative, “Heimdal” was created, and on the 3rd of March 2023 we would like to invite you to celebrate the album release with us and pay homage to our history.

“Under the “Heimhug”-banner, we’re gonna perform a two-set release concert at USF Bergen with very special guests, we’ll have an art exhibition with the specific photographs and drawings we used for the artwork on the album and also an exclusive showing of last year’s “The Otherworldly BigBand experience”.

“See you in Bergen in March!
Alu Alu Laukar!”

Enslaved’s 16th studio album, Heimdal, will be released on March 3rd 2023, via Nuclear Blast Records.

You can pre-order Heimdal here: https://enslaved.bfan.link/heimdal.ema
Listen to ‘Congelia’ here: https://enslaved.bfan.link/congelia.ema

Heimdal tracklisting
01. Behind The Mirror
02. Congelia
03. Forest Dweller
04. Kingdom
05. The Eternal Sea
06. Caravans To The Outer Worlds
07. Gangandi (Bonus Track)*
08. Heimdal

Heimdal, is both a departure and a communion with roots forged over three decades ago in the turbulent birth throes of Norway’s black metal scene. The record is named after Heimdal, arguably the most mysterious entity in Nordic mythology.

The record features psychedelic track ‘Caravans To The Outer Worlds’ from last year’s EP of the same name. Album bonus versions contain an extra track, ‘Gangandi’, alongside a Blu-Ray copy of 2021’s stunning Otherworldly Big Band Experience streamed event – the band’s boldest project to date, featuring fellow Norwegian prog band Shaman Elephant. The kaleidoscopic stage show features a stellar setlist, covering Enslaved’s career, both past and present.

Enslaved are:
Ivar Bjørnson | guitars
Grutle Kjellson | vocals
Arve ‘Ice Dale’ Isdal | guitar
Håkon Vinje | keyboards, clean vocals
Iver Sandøy | drums

http://www.facebook.com/enslaved
https://www.instagram.com/enslavedofficial
http://www.enslaved.no/

http://www.facebook.com/nuclearblastusa
http://instagram.com/nuclearblastusa

Enslaved, “Congelia” official video

Tags: , , , , ,

Enslaved to Release New Album Heimdal March 3; “Congelia” Video Posted

Posted in Whathaveyou on November 18th, 2022 by JJ Koczan

Enslaved

Norwegian progressive black metal progenitors Enslaved will release their 16th album, Heimdal, March 3 on Nuclear Blast. News comes fresh off the PR wire, along with a video for the first single “Congelia” and the opening of preorders. We would seem to be at the moment of launch, as regards the album generally.

I probably don’t have to ask you when the last time you felt so much anticipation for a band’s 16th record was, but there’s only one Enslaved. The single they released earlier this year, “Kingdom” (posted here), will feature on the record and since I’m in the waiting room of a doctor’s office I haven’t even had the chance to check out “Congelia” yet, but that’s for sure going to happen on the ride home, whether or not the orthopedist takes out the stitches currently residing on either side of my left knee. Good fun.

In any case, Heimdal will be the follow-up to 2020’s Utgard (review here), and on the off chance you don’t already have the kind of crazy unrealistic expectations that the band specialize in surpassing, I’ll tell you outright that you should.

Info from the PR wire:

Enslaved Heimdal

ENSLAVED Announce New Studio Album “Heimdal”
+
Release New Single/Video “Congelia”

Those few golden, undying hearts are those of secret sons.

And the secrets of the Sun are those of daughters asking to…

Bergen visionaries Enslaved are proud to announce their 16th studio album, Heimdal, set to be released on March 3rd 2023, via Nuclear Blast Records. Today’s news is accompanied by the release of a blistering new single, titled ‘Congelia’, alongside an emotive, environmental video.

Enslaved’s Ivar Bjørnson & Grutle Kjellson commented,

“It’s quite weird, yet pretty awesome that we are now talking about the release of our 16th album; yes our 16th full-length album release. That’s not too shabby for a couple of scallywags from rural western Norway, is it? If you count our stint in the short lived Phobia-act, we have been playing together for no less than 32 years!

In all these years, Norse mythology has been our umbilical cord to the realms of mysticism and philosophy, and our gateway to the realms of deep psychology and the esoteric worlds beyond. One of the most fascinating characters of our mythology is HEIMDAL, and he has been lurking around in our minds like an enigma for three decades now. His first appearance was in a song called ‘Heimdallr’ on our demo tape ‘Yggdrasill’ back in 1992, and he’s had both minor and more significant roles in our lyrical universe over the years.

This time we have decided to dedicate an entire body of work to this most enigmatic of characters and richest of archetypes – we give you ‘HEIMDAL’. We have reached deeper and scouted further ahead than ever before – the past, present and future sound of the band comes together in songs born from sheer inspiration – it is the common force of a close-nit group of friends and musicians.”

You can pre-order Heimdal here: https://enslaved.bfan.link/heimdal.ema
Listen to ‘Congelia’ here: https://enslaved.bfan.link/congelia.ema

Heimdal, is both a departure and a communion with roots forged over three decades ago in the turbulent birth throes of Norway’s black metal scene. The record is named after Heimdal, arguably the most mysterious entity in Nordic mythology.

The record features psychedelic track ‘Caravans To The Outer Worlds’ from last year’s EP of the same name. Album bonus versions contain an extra track, ‘Gangandi’, alongside a Blu-Ray copy of 2021’s stunning Otherworldly Big Band Experience streamed event – the band’s boldest project to date, featuring fellow Norwegian prog band Shaman Elephant. The kaleidoscopic stage show features a stellar setlist, covering Enslaved’s career, both past and present.

Heimdal tracklisting
01. Behind The Mirror
02. Congelia
03. Forest Dweller
04. Kingdom
05. The Eternal Sea
06. Caravans To The Outer Worlds
07. Gangandi (Bonus Track)*
08. Heimdal

Heimdal formats
CD
Limited edition digipack CD (inc. Bonus Track) + Blu-Ray*
2LP vinyl gatefold – black
2LP vinyl gatefold – white + black marble (Nuclear Blast Excl.)
2LP vinyl gatefold – white + green marble (Nuclear Blast + Selected Retailers)
2LP vinyl gatefold – blue + white marble (UK Retail + EMP)
2LP vinyl gatefold – white (USA Revolver Excl.)
2LP vinyl gatefold (inc. Bonus Track) + Blu-Ray – crystal clear w/ black marble (Nuclear Blast Excl.)*
2LP vinyl gatefold (inc. Bonus Track) + Blu-Ray – clear w/ black + gold marble (Band Excl.)*

Heimdal was produced by Enslaved’s own Ivar Bjørnson, Iver Sandøy and Grutle Kjellson. Mixing was handled by Jens Bogren at Fascination Street Studios, and the final treatment was mastered by Tony Lindgren. The concept and lyrics for Heimdal was, as always, developed by Ivar Bjørnson and Grutle Kjellson in tandem.

The album was recorded primarily at Solslottet Studios in Bergen, which is owned by Iver Sandøy. Solslottet is a satellite of the well-known Duper Studios, where the drums were recorded and engineered by Iver himself, with assistance from Vegard Lemme. The main guitars, bass, pianos, organs, and vocals were also recorded at Solslottet. Arve ‘Ice Dale’ Isdal recorded his guitar leads at his own Earshot & Conclave Studios. The final touches and a few experimental ideas were added at the Overlook Hotel using Solslottet’s mobile studio rig. All music for Heimdal was written and demoed at Ivar Bjørnson’s own Crow’s Nest studio.

Enslaved are:
Ivar Bjørnson | guitars
Grutle Kjellson | vocals
Arve ‘Ice Dale’ Isdal | guitar
Håkon Vinje | keyboards, clean vocals
Iver Sandøy | drums

http://www.facebook.com/enslaved
https://www.instagram.com/enslavedofficial
http://www.enslaved.no/

http://www.facebook.com/nuclearblastusa
http://instagram.com/nuclearblastusa

Enslaved, “Congelia” official video

Tags: , , , , ,

The Obelisk Show on Gimme Metal Playlist: Episode 96

Posted in Radio on October 28th, 2022 by JJ Koczan

the obelisk show banner

Good show. Gets heavy. I started thinking about how my knee hurt and that reminded me of Høstsabbat (where I hurt it) earlier this month and I decided to dedicate the second hour-ish of the program to celebrating that lineup. And, well, that lineup was really god damned heavy — though, I say in the voice tracks too, it was way more sonically diverse a proceeding than it appears on the playlist below. So it goes. I’ll plead guilty on that.

Before that though, each one of the first three tracks is something I genuinely hope people will check out. Brant Bjork because he’s Brant Bjork and 14 records in he’s still trying new stuff. UWUW because Ian Blurton is a master and psychedelic heavy soul rock needed to happen. Dead Shrine because it’s new stuff from Craig Williamson (also of Lamp of the Universe) in a heavy style like Arc of Ascent, but with some different kinds of spaces thrown in. Dude just riffs and riffs and riffs. Yes.

Not saying the rest isn’t worth checking out in Ruby the Hatchet, Love Gang, or The Otolith, which is really the rest of the new stuff. The Otolith I’ve been listening to all week to review it and it’s bludgeoningly beautiful and has me wondering how to add a sixth inclusion to my top five for the year. Ruby the Hatchet are like if 1971 happened in 1981, and Love Gang are like if Motörhead were from Southern California or, in other words, from Denver. I certainly thought that song was killer when I premiered it. And a couple classics, some recent Enslaved, Orange Goblin, then the turn up to Norway for the fest-homage. As I said at the top, good show.

Thanks if you listen and thanks for reading.

The Obelisk Show airs 5PM Eastern today on the Gimme app or at: http://gimmemetal.com.

Full playlist:

The Obelisk Show – 10.28.22 (VT = voice track)

Brant Bjork Bread for Butter Bougainvillea Suite
UWUW Staircase to the End of the Night UWUW
Dead Shrine The Formless Soul The Eightfold Path
VT
Ruby the Hatchet Deceiver Fear is a Cruel Master
Love Gang Meanstreak Meanstreak
The Otolith Ekpyrotic Folium Limina
Saint Vitus The Psychopath Saint Vitus
Enslaved Kingdom Kingdom
Orange Goblin Cozmo Bozo The Big Black
VT
Norna The Perfect Dark Star is Way Way is Eye
Bismarck The Seer Oneiromancer
The Moth Gatherer The Drone Kingdom Esoteric Oppression
Dopelord Your Blood Reality Dagger`
Graveyard Please Don’t Peace
Indian Directional From All Purity
VT
Slomatics Buried Axes on Regulus Minor Ascend/Descend
Kanaan Return to the Tundrasphere Earthbound

The Obelisk Show on Gimme Metal airs every Friday 5PM Eastern, with replays Sunday at 7PM Eastern. Next new episode is Nov. 11 (subject to change). Thanks for listening if you do.

Gimme Metal website

The Obelisk on Facebook

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Enslaved Post New Single and Video “Kingdom”

Posted in Bootleg Theater on August 25th, 2022 by JJ Koczan

enslaved

Anyone notice how the new Enslaved video has a better framerate than real life? Shit looks gorgeous. Also, I actually LOL’ed when the piggyback happened at 3:02. Don’t get me wrong, it’s all very artsy and I know it’s a metaphor and so on, but it’s also a guy doing light parkour in the wilderness and then running on a beach and having an old man climb on his back. So, video of the year? Maybe. In any case, you know it’s Iceland even before you look at the names in the credits and see all the ‘ð,’ ‘fn,’ ‘Þ,’ etc. As I said, gorgeous.

“Kingdom” — for that is the name of the song in question — doesn’t come from the band’s new album or anything (they’ve got a record due in Feb.; thanks Mike H. for the info), but it’s definitely, definitely Enslaved. And by that I mean a band who’ve been together over 30 years and have a continuous creative progressionenslaved kingdom the likes of which just about nobody else can boast. I guess you would say “Kingdom” is of the era of 2020’s Utgard (review here) and its Caravans to the Outer Worlds (review here) companion EP, but mostly because that means the band and guitarist/songwriter Ivar Bjørnson are doing whatever the hell feels right and following no other apparent standard. To be fair, that is all they need to do. I do not think Bjørnson or anyone else composing material in Enslaved sits down and says, “now we are going to try adding krautrock rhythmic repetitions to our progressive black metal foundation,” but they keep going and all that stuff comes out. They are exploratory unto themselves.

In the PR wire info below, you might note that in the quote from Bjørnson, he talks about a ‘coming trek.’ I do not know if that means a tour announcement is to follow shortly — I could live 400 years and I’d never be cool enough to have inside info on this band — but it’s something to keep an eye on. Enslaved were in North America this year, curating at the Fire in the Mountains festival in Wyoming, which if you’ve seen as many pictures of it on your social media as I have of mine, you know was quite a thing to miss out on as I did, sad to say. If you were there, you probably don’t need me to tell you about it. Right on.

This is Enslaved‘s second single of 2022 behind the live version of “Bounded by Allegiance” (posted here) earlier this year as taken from their ‘Otherworldly Big Band Experience’ collaborative streaming concert. I would not attempt to guess what they might do from here, but if it is a tour, the arguments in favor of showing up are about as vast as the Icelandic countryside through which all the admirably athletic Icelanders are running in the “Kingdom” video. Don’t worry, they get where they’re going.

Enjoy:

Enslaved, “Kingdom” official video

ENSLAVED Reveal New Single “Kingdom” Alongside Concept Video

ATOMS HUM.

THE ORDER OF ALL. THE OLDEST OF DREAMS.

Today, Enslaved release a stunning new track titled ‘Kingdom’ alongside an evocative concept video. The unorthodox Norwegians have found themselves at an intersection of sorts, where the momentum of living time rushes forward at an ever-increasing pace, imperceptibly modulated by the primeval echoes of eons past.

Ivar Bjørnson stated:
“Kingdom – a tribute to the endurance of ideas and the people that carry them forward through hardship and fatigue, for the benefit of us all.

Musically, it is a tribute to the Riff and the Rite: to the Teutonic Thrash kings, to Space Rock, to the Ambient pioneers of the 70s.

With this we ask you to join us on this coming trek. Thanks for listening!”

Stream/Download ‘Kingdom’ here: https://enslaved.bfan.link/single-kingdom.ema

Enslaved is:
Ivar Bjørnson – guitar
Grutle Kjellson – vocals/bass
Ice Dale – guitar
Håkon Vinje – keys/vocals
Iver Sandøy – drums

Enslaved, “Bounded by Allegiance” from The Otherworldly Big Band Experience

Enslaved on Facebook

Enslaved on Instagram

Enslaved on YouTube

Enslaved website

Nuclear Blast on Facebook

Nuclear Blast on Instagram

Nuclear Blast website

Tags: , , , , ,

Enslaved Post “Bounded by Allegiance” Live Video

Posted in Bootleg Theater on March 30th, 2022 by JJ Koczan

enslaved

Bergen, Norway, progressive black metal expansionists Enslaved held their ‘The Otherworldly Big Band Experience’ stream on Dec. 21, 2021, the Winter Solstice, and played as a nine-piece lineup — hence “Big Band” — that incorporated the four-piece outfit Shaman Elephant. Even for a band who’ve spent the better part of the last two decades refining and building on a sound that has only become more individualized for their efforts in making it, the stream was a distinct step beyond expectation. Enslaved‘s new interpretations of old songs — like “Bounded by Allegiance” below, originally taken from 2004’s Isa LP — found them all the more atmospheric for the stunning visuals and cinematography that accompanied, not to mention the extra players, and furthered their commitment to exploring progressive, psychedelic and extreme styles that broadened the definitions of genre as much as their own.

But you know all this. If you’ve heard me expound for the last decade-plus about Enslaved‘s evolving, consistent, and consistently evolving genius, you don’t need me to rehash the point. And to be perfectly honest, if you haven’t caught on by now, I sincerely doubt I’ll change your mind by telling you how good they are at what they do. I believe strongly in the power of words, but hey, some things just don’t connect. I get it.

Then I guess the underlying point in my posting “Bounded by Allegiance” as taken and made a single from what one can only assume/hope is a forthcoming live release for ‘The Otherworldy Big Band Experience’ — please, please, please let them do black metal Sgt. Pepper for the cover art — is that I’m doing it for me, as an Enslaved fan. I’m choosing to write about something I actively enjoy and appreciate. And if you want to come along with that, shit, the more the merrier. If not, maybe next time.

If you hit play on the clip, watching for flashing lights, as that’s a thing. There’s a link in the PR wire info that follows as well just to get to the audio if that might suit your better.

Otherwise, hope you dig:

Enslaved, “Bounded by Allegiance” from The Otherworldly Big Band Experience

Left-field metal luminaries ENSLAVED are proud to reveal their single and video for “Bounded by Allegiance – Live.” The track, which originally comes from their ground-breaking album “Isa” (2004), sees a live recording of a new avant-garde interpretation, with nuanced accompaniment by fellow psychedelic Norwegian prog band Shaman Elephant. This extraordinary performance took place on last year’s Winter Solstice, via the stunning streaming event “The Otherworldly Big Band Experience.”

Listen to the “Bounded by Allegiance – Live” single here:
https://enslaved.bfan.link/bounded-by-allegiance.ema

Frontman Grutle Kjellson stated, “So here’s a little memory from last year’s musical endeavor. Our ‘Big Band’ collaboration with Shaman Elephant was such a trip! It felt like, and indeed it was, an avalanche of locked up energy just bursting out. The streamed concert plus a small tour in Norway was pretty much the only shows we did in 2021, so the energy level was pretty much turned to 11, on all of us. All nine of us! ‘Bounded By Allegiance’ was one of the first songs we thought would fit being dressed for a nine man outfit, with its natural percussive nature. We hope we were right, enjoy!”

“The Otherworldly Big Band Experience” was an ENSLAVED show like none other, their biggest, boldest project to date – a colossal, kaleidoscopic stage show featuring a stellar setlist covering their career, both past and present. Including some tracks never previously performed live.

Enslaved is:
Ivar Bjørnson – guitar
Grutle Kjellson – vocals/bass
Ice Dale – guitar
Håkon Vinje – keys/vocals
Iver Sandøy – drums

Enslaved on Facebook

Enslaved on Instagram

Enslaved on YouTube

Enslaved website

Nuclear Blast on Facebook

Nuclear Blast on Instagram

Nuclear Blast website

Tags: , , , , ,

Quarterly Review: Enslaved, Milana & Bisonte, Leeds Point, Ocultum, Cruel Curses, Green Hog, Adliga, Buffalo Tombs, BroodMother, King Bastard

Posted in Reviews on December 13th, 2021 by JJ Koczan

THE-OBELISK-FALL-2020-QUARTERLY-REVIEW

Doing things a little differently this time. Yes, it’s still 10 records per day for a total of 50 between today and Friday, but with the utter glut — glutter! — of releases coming out and recently released, I’m doubling up on the Winter Quarterly Review and will be putting together another week of 50 records for January, after the holidays and all the year-end hullabaloo. So it’s 50 now and 50 later. I’ve never done it that way before, and I reserve the right to completely change my mind after this week, but as of right this second, that’s where I’m at. Talk to me again on Friday.

I guess we’d better get started, either way.

Quarterly Review #1-10:

Enslaved, Caravans to the Outer Worlds

enslaved caravans to the outer worlds

With a relatively brief 18-minute excursion that pushes yet-deeper into their particular brand of progressive extreme metal, Norway’s Enslaved continue to walk the increasingly melodic and decreasingly genre-dependent path in following-up 2020’s Utgard (review here). Their affinity for krautrock experimentalism is well established but has never been so forwardly presented as on “Intermezzo I – Lönnlig. Gudlig.,” and the thrust of the opening title-track sets Caravan to the Outer Worlds off with a due sense of motion later complemented by the keyboard-heavy “Ruun II – The Epitaph,” an apparent 15-years-later sequel to the title-cut from 2006’s Ruun (discussed here). Rounding out with “Intermezzo II – The Navigator,” with its almost-motorik space-but-still-somehow-Norwegian-space rock vibe, Enslaved‘s short offering for 2021 demonstrates plainly that they can be whatever and do whatever the hell they want. 30 years from their beginning, they keep growing. Such bands are likewise rare and precious.

Enslaved on Facebook

Nuclear Blast website

 

Bisonte & Milana, Mallorca Stoner Vol. 1 Split

bisonte milana mallorca stoner vol 1

It’s not quite what-you-see-is-what-you-get, but the Discos Macarras split Mallorca Stoner Vol. 1 that brings together two tracks each from Spanish outfits Bisonte — also written Bis·nte — and Milana certainly lays out its mission in representing the Mediterranean island’s heavy underground, and Bisonte aren’t through the nine-minute doomer “Unbalanced” before I’m curious just how many volumes the label might be able to put together from Mallorcan acts. Nonetheless, Bisonte‘s wizardly march on “Involuntary Act” flows organically around its downtrodden vibe, and in the more psychedelic “White Buffalo” and burl-lumbering “Forest Tale,” Milana work even quicker to acquit themselves well with an underlying current of noise. However much of a scene there may or may not be in Mallorca, Mallorca Stoner Vol. 1 is a welcome means through which to begin exploring both these acts more and others with whom they might share local stages. One will await Vol. 2 with interest.

Bisonte on Facebook

Milana on Instagram

Discos Macarras website

 

Leeds Point, Mother of Eternity

Leeds Point Mother of Eternity

New York’s Leeds Point seem on a doomed course with their Mother of Eternity EP on the opener “High Strangeness,” but they shake it up late with some cowbell boogie, and “The Summoning” further deepens the plot with layered in acoustics and a more lush melody as the trio builds out from their basic guitar-bass-drums configuration. Likewise, the shorter “Long Way Down” is a more straight-ahead ’70s rocker, and the closing title-track meets its initial prog rock melody first with driving riffs and later with more angularity and harsher barking vocals… before bringing it all back around at the end. With Eternal Black out of commission, NYC needs someone to champion traditional doom, but that’s not who these Long Islanders are. Their sound — set forth on their debut full-length some seven years ago; their most recent prior outing was 2019’s Equinox Blues (review here) — is more purposefully diverse. If they’re championing anything here, it’s their individuality. And that suits them.

Leeds Point on Facebook

Leeds Point on Bandcamp

 

Ocultum, Residue

ocultum residue

The second full-length from Santiago, Chile’s Ocultum, Residue, was first issued by the band independently in 2019. Picked up for a vinyl release through Interstellar Smoke Records, the four-song/49-minute long-player (bong)rips into filthy-fuzz doom and scabbed-over sludge, the lumbering coming in one longform nod after another in “The Acid Road” and “Residue” itself — which might be the most densely-toned inclusion of the bunch, but it hardly matters when the 16-minute “Ascending With the Fumes of the Dead” and the 12-minute “Reflections on Repulsiveness” and you’re either on board with Ocultum‘s periodically-deathly-always-fucked style by then or you’ve probably been so grossed out that you’ve gone and gotten yourself a job, decided you were never really so misanthropic to start with, and that what you thought was the inner scum of your existential makeup was just you needing to have lunch or take a shower or some shit. Meanwhile, Ocultum are over here shrooming up and worshiping decay. Different league entirely. Even the quietest moments of Residue are heavy. There’s just no escape from it.

Ocultum on Facebook

Interstellar Smoke Records store

 

Cruel Curses, Fables, Folklore & Other Assorted Fever Dreams

Cruel Curses Fables Folklore and Other Assorted Fever Dreams

If Tampa, Florida, heavy progressive rockers Cruel Curses decided to approach their third full-length, Fables, Folklore & Other Assorted Fever Dreams, with the goal of writing the entire album as a single-song, well, they did that. Though cumbersome in its title, “Fables, Folklore & Other Assorted Fever Dreams” is 36 minutes of linear-charted fare, twisting through parts both hard-hitting and airy, acoustic and electric and probably what could’ve been different songs if otherwise broken up in some places. Does it really matter? Nah. The finished piece, which is a departure from the four-piece and an impressive achievement in itself, makes its point with prog’s affection for funk propelling as many of its parts as metal’s more aggressive shred. Yet, Fables, Folklore & Other Assorted Fever Dreams does not merely trade between quiet and loud parts so much as fluidly bring the listener along its ebbs and flows, and though not without its element of self-indulgence, the album earns its swagger.

Cruel Curses on Facebook

Cruel Curses on Bandcamp

 

Green Hog Band, Devil’s Luck

green hog devils luck

Give me the raw swing, echoing gurgles and unabashed fuzz of Green Hog‘s “Luck of the Devil” any day of the week. The Brooklynite trio released their Dogs From Hell full-length last year and follow it with the also-sung-entirely-in-Russian sophomore outing, not without its sense of ambience in “Dark Territory” and “Desert King,” the biker-in-space instrumental capper “Ric Moto,” but perhaps even more about the impact of its crashes than the spaces being created. Whatever definition of the word you might want to apply, Devil’s Luck is fucking heavy. And grim, to boot. Still, one could only call “Long Smoke” some kind of stoner rock, even if it is an especially crusty take thereupon, and the novelty of gurgled-out vocals sung in another language, complemented by samples in classic sludgy fashion, isn’t to be understated. If my man’s voice can hold out for a whole set, these guys must put on a killer show.

Green Hog on Facebook

The Swamp Records on Bandcamp

 

Adliga, Vobrazy

Adliga Vobrazy

There are a few different plot threads one might follow along as Vobrazy weaves through its six component tracks, but the debut full-length from Belarusian five-piece bring their varied fare together around a central idea of progressive, metallic doom. Sometimes that manifests as a post-metallic chug as one hears in “Apošni raz,” which leads off, or it can be the growls and black-metal-squibblies-gone-airy of the early going in “Žyvy.” Such shifting arrangements in vocals (in Belarusian) between guitarist Uladzimir Burylau and singer Kate Sidelova add to the unpredictable nature of the band, but there’s no question that melody wins the day, and given how Vobrazy plays out across its 41 minutes, one gets the feeling that the extremity of “Naščadkam” and the more-patient-before-they-hit-the-payoff closer “Bol na sercy” do not coexist by happenstance. The band — completed by guitarist Ignat Pomazkov, bassist Roman Petrashkevich and drummer Artem Voronko — are not light on ambition, aesthetically-speaking, but I like the fact that I have zero guess what their next record will sound like.

Adliga on Facebook

Adliga on Bandcamp

 

Buffalo Tombs, Two

Buffalo Tombs Two

While not barebones by any means, with solos aplenty and variety in their tempos readily established between the first two cuts “Slow Wisdom Coming” and “Hot Girl Summer,” there’s still something about Buffalo Tombs‘ aptly-titled second long-player, Two, that comes across as wholly unpretentious, not trying to overstate its own argument or draw the audience away from the riffs and grooves central to its purpose. Wholesome, if not always humble. The six-songer is done in under half an hour, so if you wanted to call it an EP, you could, but even as Eric Stuart brings in a bit of synth for “Dream Breather” and “The Beheading of John the Baptist” in its later percussion-meet-drift-out finish, the Denver instrumentalists maintain a straightforward underpinning, with Stuart‘s guitar/keys/bass met with Joshua Lafferty‘s basslines and Patrick Haga‘s drumming in easily-digested-but-not-earth-shattering fashion, the low end hitting a particular note of righteousness in rolling out “Al Khidr” without being too showy in doing so. I’d be interested to hear them explore their psychedelic side further, but there’s plenty of vibe here in the meantime.

Buffalo Tombs on Facebook

Buffalo Tombs on Bandcamp

 

BroodMother, The Third Eye

BroodMother The Third Eye

Though understated in the fullness of its production, BroodMother‘s The Third Eye EP leaves little doubt as to where the Worcester, UK, five-piece are coming from after having issued their first album, Sin, Myth, Power, in 2019. Jay Clark, who produced that outing, drums on and mixed this one, and its four songs readily serve as a sampler for an audience to be introduced to the band’s take on heavy rock and roll. “Spiritual Shakedown” and “Killing for Company” are midtempo riffers, with the latter touching slightly on Acrimony-style hookmaking and chug, while “(The Ballad of) Anti-Matter Man” gets trippy in its intro and shuffles into an apex in its second half before finishing mellow, and closer “The Trick of the Journey” hints toward ’90s crunch but marries it to a bluesier stretch of lead solo guitar. Still, it’s rock and roll, however you want to cut it — straight-up but not lifeless — and BroodMother proudly carry its banner.

BroodMother on Facebook

BroodMother on Bandcamp

 

King Bastard, It Came From the Void

King Bastard - It Came From The Void art HD

From the almost-if-not-entirely-instrumental unfolding of “From Hell to Horizon” and “Kelper-452B” to the black metal vocals on “Psychosis (In a Vacuum),” the harsh sax of “Black Hole Viscera” and the drone-laden 10-minute finisher “Succumb to the Void,” the debut full-length from Stony Brook, New York’s King Bastard, It Came From the Void, seems wilfully bent toward disorienting those who’d dare to take it on. The breadth and spaciousness of its “From Hell to Horizon” isn’t to be understated — neither the percussion chill in its midsection — but the weight that corresponds there and in “Kelper-452B” and through “Bury the Survivors/Ashes to Ashes,” with its Aliens samples and dug-in-its-own-head proggy chaos is no less a factor in making the album as striking a first impression as it is. Jammy, heavy psych, black metal, doom, sludge — you could call King Bastard any of these and not be wrong, but it’s in how fluidly they unite them that their potential shines through.

King Bastard on Facebook

King Bastard links

 

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Enslaved Announce ‘The Otherworldly Big Band Experience’ Stream for Dec. 21

Posted in Whathaveyou on December 1st, 2021 by JJ Koczan

enslaved the otherworldly big band experience

Enslaved‘s new EP, Caravans to the Outer Worlds, leads off the next Quarterly Review, which starts Dec. 13. To support the release, the band have newly announced a collaboration with psych-proggers Shaman Elephant and the video-arts specialists Kolibri Media for what’s been dubbed ‘The Otherworldly Big Band Experience.’ Will it be Enslaved‘s Sgt. Pepper’s moment? Probably depends on the set they play, but if anyone was going to do that for black metal-rooted music, it would be Enslaved. I’m not even sure who the competition is at this point, not that I was ever an expert.

Dec. 21 is the air date for the stream, and of course you’ll recall that earlier this year, the long-running Norwegian outfit put together a box set of their prior streams as the 2020 Cinematic Tour DVD/CD and DVD/LP offering for fans (eternal gratitude to Mike H.). No clue of they’ll do something similar here, but wouldn’t it kind of be a waste to not? Shit, if you’ve got Iver Sandøy in the band, record everything.

Info came down the PR wire:

enslaved the otherworldly big band experience poster

ENSLAVED ANNOUNCE “THE OTHERWORLDLY BIG BAND EXPERIENCE” STREAMED EVENT ON DECEMBER 21ST

NEW EP “CARAVANS TO THE OUTER WORLDS IS OUT NOW

May those of Sense and Earth gather for the new dawn…

Enslaved’s new EP Caravans To The Outer Worlds was released unto the universe last month. It is a tale of departure, about leaving behind a barren and desolate world, traveling boldly into the future. It signaled the end of an era for the psychedelic Norwegians, hinting at new pastures.

In celebration of the EP’s release, tied in with the upcoming Winter Solstice (a Pagan holy day marking the symbolic death and rebirth of the Sun), Enslaved are proud to announce an extraordinary streaming event. ‘The Otherworldly Big Band Experience’ will take place on Tuesday December 21st. Fellow psychedelic Norwegian prog band Shaman Elephant will be joining Enslaved onstage.

The Otherworldly Big Band Experience
Tuesday December 21st @ 12:00PM PT / 3:00PM ET
Tickets are now on sale now via https://enslavedstore.com/collections/big-band-stream
The stream will be available to watch until the end of December 24th
Stream FAQ + support info is HERE: https://enslavedstore.com/pages/faq-support

Enslaved’s Ivar Bjørnson gave some insight, “Soon, the sun will turn – once again marking the transition from one year to another and the onset of brighter days ahead. We are many who wish to see this coming Winter Solstice mark a lasting turning away from dark days behind us. We have kept it up all along; virtual tours, rehearsing, writing, and releasing an album and an EP. You heard us when we said, “this will not stop us!” – the Enslaved Community has grown stronger through the crisis. Now we will close this cycle with a grandiose virtual concert, and hope for you to join us from all over the world.

“The Otherworldly Big Band Experience” is about wanting to show even more of what ENSLAVED is: ENSLAVED is also an idea. It is a live band that is teeth-grittingly metal, has rock’n’roll in its DNA, while maintaining and expanding on its position as a groundbreaking progressive metal act. All while exploring the boundaries of Norse Mythology and Rune-lore, Psychology and History.

We have recruited both an extension to the line-up with the young and talented Bergen prog rock band, Shaman Elephant. We have worked together with some of the most talented moviemakers and visual wizards around – also young and from Bergen: Kolibri Media. Add the Enslaved live crew to the mix and you have got magic, no less.

We have aspired to create a concert film that reflects this expanded representation of ENSLAVED and cannot wait to show you all. It is bigger than any project we have done before, and it is unlike anything else you have seen in this kind of music. You will see and hear songs that have never been performed before. Songs you might have heard will sound and look like you haven’t seen and heard before. There is new material, and material as old as the band. One constant binds it all together: it is ENSLAVED.”

Enslaved is:
Ivar Bjørnson – guitar
Grutle Kjellson – vocals/bass
Ice Dale – guitar
Håkon Vinje – keys/vocals
Iver Sandøy – drums

http://www.facebook.com/enslaved
https://www.instagram.com/enslavedofficial
http://www.enslaved.no/
http://www.facebook.com/nuclearblastusa
http://instagram.com/nuclearblastusa

Enslaved, ‘The Otherworldly Big Band Experience’ teaser

Enslaved, “Caravans to the Outer Worlds” official video

Tags: , , , , ,

The Obelisk Show on Gimme Metal Playlist: Episode 72

Posted in Radio on November 12th, 2021 by JJ Koczan

the obelisk show banner

I’ve been trying to do a best-of-2020-a-year-later episode since like June, but maybe it’s all the more appropriate since we’re coming up on that most wretched of years is actually nearly a full year buried. As much as it’s buried at all — don’t you kind of feel like 2020 lives on in our hearts, minds and residual traumas? I kind of do.

As I say in the voice breaks for this episode, I have very little conception of when 2020 ended and 2021 began as regards albums. I would’ve told you that the Grayceon record, the Enslaved record and Slift were 2021 releases. Yeah, I know Lowrider and Elephant Tree were last year, and Colour Haze and All Them Witches, but Polymoon? That could’ve been 2019.

So in addition to being a collection of what I think are killer tunes — always the goal, right? — this playlist is also a way for me to recall when things were ahead of digging into the best of 2021 over the course of the next month-plus. I’ve got a Black Friday episode, then two December episodes left this year. The December ones will both be best-of-the-year stuff. Let this be my precursor to that.

Thanks for listening if you do and/or reading. I hope you enjoy.

The Obelisk Show airs 5PM Eastern today on the Gimme app or at: http://gimmemetal.com.

Full playlist:

The Obelisk Show – 11.12.21

Grayceon Diablo Wind MOTHERS WEAVERS VULTURES
Deathwhite A Servant Grave Image
My Dying Bride To Outlive the Gods The Ghost of Orion
VT
Lowrider Red River Refractions
Elephant Tree Exit the Soul Habits
Forming the Void Ancient Satellite Reverie
Colour Haze Material Drive We Are
Enslaved Flight of Thought and Memory Utgard
VT
Kind Helms Mental Nudge
All Them Witches 41 Nothing as the Ideal
Sons of Otis Hopeless Isolation
Cinder Well No Summer No Summer
Slift Thousand Helmets of Gold Ummon
Polymoon Lazaward Caterpillars of Creation
VT
Elder Halcyon Omens
King Buffalo Dead Star Pt. 1 & 2 Dead Star

The Obelisk Show on Gimme Metal airs every Friday 5PM Eastern, with replays Sunday at 7PM Eastern. Next new episode is Nov. 26 (subject to change). Thanks for listening if you do.

Gimme Metal website

The Obelisk on Facebook

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,