Parisian heavy rockers Abrahma remain among my most positive impressions from last year’s Roadburn festival. I mean, I dug the band before, but their set (review here) last April put that in a new light, and what was so doubly engaging about it was that not only were they heavy — hell, everybody’s heavy, right? — but they were able to really bring to life the atmospheres and open spaces of their second album, Reflections in the Bowels of a Bird (review here), in a manner that made their sound all the more immersive. And to go with that, they had scope, a melodic presence that stayed through the set even in its most aggressive moments. Heavy rock bands sometimes cast all that off in favor of an all-out assault live. I won’t take anything away from that approach when it works, but Abrahma‘s style was right not to sacrifice its dynamic moodiness for impact.

The Nazareth cover “Witchdoctor Woman” was put to tape last July and is set to be included on the Go Down Fighting tribute that’s been in the works for a while now from Underdogma Records (info here). I’m not sure what led to Abrahma posting it on their own, whether or not it’s in advance of a release for the compilation that will also include Calamus, Långfinger and Against the Grain, but having enjoyed the excuse to revisit how much ass they kicked when I was fortunate enough to see them last Spring, I’ll take what I can get. You’ll hear pretty quickly that Abrahma manage to make the song their own, lending a deep-toned psychedelia to the original, which opened Nazareth‘s 1971 self-titled debut.

Enjoy:

Abrahma, “Witchdoctor Woman” (Nazareth cover)

Discover our cover track of “WITCHDOCTOR WOMAN” from NAZARETH

Soon to be released on “Go Down Fighting” a riff rock tribute to Nazareth!

Song recorded in 2015 by Benjamin Colin at HAKESOUND STUDIO (Romainville, FR)
Produced by ABRAHMA
Mixed by Benjamin Colin
Mastered by James Plotkin @ PLOTKINWORKS

Coming soon
“Go Down Fighting” – a riff rock tribute to Nazareth!
Limited Edition Colored Vinyl.

Track List:
“Miss Misery” – The Rubes
“Sunshine” – Calamus
“Razamataz” – The Humanoids
“Changing Times” – The Heave-Ho
“Please Don’t Judas Me” – Argus
“Whiskey Drinking Woman” – Shatner
“Witchdoctor Woman” – Abrahma
“Expect No Mercy” – Against The Grain
“Empty Arms, Empty Heart” – Resande Man
“Alcatraz” – Wild Eyes
“Light My Way” – Långfinger
“Beggar’s Day” – Bozeman’s Simplex

Also possible contributions from RAGING SLAB, Left Lane Cruiser, Solace, Daniel Davies, Gideon Smith, Contra, Mothership, Magic Jove, and surprise special guests!

Abrahma on Thee Facebooks

Abrahma website

Underdogma Records on Thee Facebooks

Underdogma Records website

It’s been a minute, but there was a time when Underdogma Records proliferated a brand of heavy rock that stood right in line with their contemporaries in the likes of Small Stone and Tee Pee. Between about 2000 and 2009, Underdogma belted out killer offerings from bands like Sunnshine, The Rubes, Ironboss, Gate 9, Crom, Throttlerod and We’re all Gonna Die, spanning a genre range of heaviness that had its underlying identity in a running theme of grit and aggression. Tee Pee went psych, Small Stone got fuzzier, but Underdogma‘s trade was generally in dirtier, meaner fare.

Their Judge Not compilation from 2000 is still worth tracking down if you can find it, boasting cuts from Solace, Solarized, Calamus, The Quill, Satellite Circle, Raging Slab, Pale Divine and many, many others, and knowing that is part of why the announcement of Underdogma‘s return with the Go Down Fighting heavy rock tribute to Nazareth caught my attention. No release date has been named yet — and I wouldn’t want to try to pin something like that down — but a partial tracklisting has been posted, and with the likes of Abrahma, Against the Grain, Shatner and Argus involved, among many others of course, and more to come, it seems like they could come back with plenty of wallop.

That tracklisting follows here. Note the prospect of Solace recording a new track for the tribute. Makes one wonder just how much of a return to activity theirs might be:

Underdogma, brain step-child of Grant Williams and Carlton Duff, started out as a high school science project and has remained that way ever since…

Coming soon
“Go Down Fighting”
a riff rock tribute to Nazareth!

Limited Edition Colored Vinyl.
Track List:
“Miss Misery” – The Rubes
“Sunshine” – Calamus
“Razamataz” – The Humanoids
“Changing Times” – The Heave-Ho
“Love Hurts” – Easy Jesus Coe
“Please Don’t Judas Me” – Argus
“Whiskey Drinking Woman” – Shatner
“Witchdoctor Woman” – Abrahma
“Expect No Mercy” – Against The Grain
“The Ballad Of Hollis Brown” – Lifetime Shitlist

Also possible contributions from
RAGING SLAB, Left Lane Cruiser, Solace, Daniel Davies, Gideon Smith, Contra, Mothership, Magic Jove, and surprise special guests!

https://www.facebook.com/Underdogma
https://twitter.com/carlton_duff

The Rubes, “Wonder Why”