Posted in Whathaveyou on June 19th, 2020 by JJ Koczan
Alright, so the teaser got me. I guess I didn’t read the whole press release before I clicked on the link to check out the video and I thought it was going to be a whole song, then when it faded out just as it seemed like everything was about to kick in, I kind of got annoyed at it. Because I couldn’t hear more. The teaser totally worked. It doesn’t always, but yeah, pretty much nailed me this time.
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You’ll find that below. Just don’t expect the whole song.
From the PR wire:
MERCURY CIRCLE (feat. members of SWALLOW THE SUN) sign worldwide record deal with Noble Demon and announce first EP!
Noble Demon is proud to announce the newest signing to their eclectic artist roster: MERCURY CIRCLE, the brand new project by ICONCRASH’s and SWALLOW THE SUN’s Jaani Peuhu, has signed a worldwide deal with the German record company! Dark metal infused with powerful synth/electro waves and doom – Helsinki, Finland based MERCURY CIRCLE is creating a diverse offering of atmospheric and darkly music where the songs differ wildly in expression and sonic aesthetics. Truly a genre of its own, grabbing the listener’s attention while establishing their very own kind of “New Doom”.
Says Jaani Peuhu about the signing:
“We are so excited about these news! I was on a North American tour with Swallow the Sun supporting Children of Bodom and we shared a bus with Wolfheart. One day I was chatting with Tuomas Saukkonen about our future plans and he told me about this new label who will release the Dawn of Solace album. I have known Tuomas since he started with Before the Dawn because I produced their first two albums and I know that he knows what he is doing. Always. I’d already forgotten the conversation we had, but a few months later I was talking about the Mercury Circle album with an A&R of one of my fav labels and he said that Noble Demon would be a perfect label for us because I want to do something fresh and fearless with this band. No rules and 100% artistic freedom. Our agent then contacted Patrick and he instantly understood my vision and we have been a team since.”
Furthermore he comments: “Noble Demon does not care about social media numbers or how many gigs we have played. They were willing and excited to start an adventure with a band who were still working with their first demos. That is rare these days when nothing is certain in the music industry. All that matters to me and Noble Demon is the quality of the art.”
Already preparing for their first full length record for late 2020, today MERCURY CIRCLE announced the release of “The Dawn Of Vitriol”, the band’s first EP and a fantastic preview of what to follow. To be released on August 14th on Noble Demon (Digital) and The Vinyl Division (Vinyl + Digipack CD), make sure to check out the official trailer and a first appetizer for “The Dawn Of Vitriol”, streaming here:
Two times Finnish grammy award nominated producer, songwriter and musician Jaani Peuhu, who joined SWALLOW THE SUN in the year of 2019 and has also worked with various multiplatinum-selling Finnish pop artists and metal acts like Before The Dawn, Lord of the Lost, Thunderstone and Hallatar, continues to stir up the scene with his brand new and unique sounding project, MERCURY CIRCLE.
On the official landing-page you can already NOW give permission to have a release saved to your streaming library or added to your playlist as soon as it is out. So no need to mark your calendar anymore! You will also find the videos streaming and links to physical pre-orders at THIS LOCATION
Tracklist: 01. Oil Of Vitriol 02. The Beauty Of Agony 03. Black Flags 04. The Last Fall 05. New Dawn
MERCURY CIRCLE are: Jaani Peuhu – Vocals, Guitars, Synths (Iconcrash, Swallow the Sun, Hallatar) Jussi Hämäläinen – Guitars, Synths, Backing vocals (Hanging Garden, The Chant) Juppe Sutela. – Guitars (To/Die/For) Ande Kiiski – Bass (Sleep of Monsters, Rytmihäiriö) Juuso Raatikainen- Drums (Swallow the Sun)
Posted in Whathaveyou on June 16th, 2020 by JJ Koczan
Am I the only one who looks at live albums with a kind of wistfulness now? Like, “Oh yeah, I remember when concerts were a thing.” It’s not like it’s been years or anything. Certainly in my life I’ve got a few months without going to a show before, but I guess there’s something about the shows not even happening that makes the difference. Finland’s The How To Write A Medical Thesis will gladly help you with your paper, if you cannot write it yourself for whatever reason. We deal with any topics, available for any term. Superfjord, who released the stellar http://www.joyshop.it/?best-resume-writing-services-chicago-for-accountants - Get an A+ grade even for the most urgent assignments. All kinds of writing services & custom essays. professional writers All Will Be Golden (review here) through Homework Writing Sites without empty words. EssayViewer.com provides only proof facts about all best and cheap paper companies. Check top list sites Svart in 2018, are beginning a new live series they’re calling Owl Writing Paper. We guarantee that our papers are plagiarism-free. Each order is handcrafted thoroughly in accordance to your personal preferences For the Moment, focusing as they apparently do when onstage on improv and exploration. Affordable article gay and lesbian essays from native English experts. Increase traffic to your website the easy way. For the Moment Vol. 1 is streaming at the bottom of this post and is on Bandcamp, Spotify and I assume all the rest.
It makes for quite a moment:
New live release series from Superfjord
Improvisation in live performance has always been at the heart of Finnish cosmic psych-rockers Superfjord. Following the release of the band’s well-received second album (All Will Be Golden / Svart Records 2018), in concert the band found themselves gradually tipping the balance between composed and freeform music, evermore in favour of the latter.
For The Moment, vol. 1 is the first release in a digital series of live recordings that aims to capture Superfjord at their purest, in a way no studio recordings are able to. Volume 1 features excerpts – or captured Moments – from the band’s January 2020 concert at Helsinki’s G Livelab. The venue’s state-of-the-art audio fidelity and cozy atmosphere allowed the band an ideal opportunity to chase after that chakra-opening critical mass, where band and audience travel together through no one knows what exactly.
As its name implies, the new release series is all about what happens in the Moment. Enjoy.
For The Moment, vol. 1 is available on all major streaming platforms and as a digital download on Bandcamp.
1. Moment 1 10:09 2. Moment 2 11:00 3. Rainbow 08:03 4. Moment 3 11:22
Superfjord – For The Moment, vol. 1: Sampo Fagerlund: drums, percussion Mikko Kapanen: vocals, guitars Juho Ojala: vocals, keyboards, synthesizers Jussi Ristikaarto: vocals, guitars, electronics, percussion Teemu Soininen: bass Olavi Töyli: tenor saxophone, percussion Jukka Hyvärinen: recording, mixing, mastering Rami Mursula: cover art
Finland’s 2nd Law: http://m2online.at/communication-personal-statement/ Online custom order assignment online essays, term papers, research papers, reports, reviews and homework assignments. Get Caskets Open release their new album, Let a Ph.D. degree holding writer prepare a go for you. You will be proud of the professional dissertation services we provide. Get a free Concrete Realms of Pain, on March 20 through paper writting services. Our company can provide you with any kind of academic writing services you need: essays, research papers, dissertations etc Nine Records. It is the depressive Helsinki three-piece’s fourth full-length in a tenure that dates back to 2007, and it brings together nine songs for 46 minutes that alternate between willful slog and outright thrashing punk. With little more notice than a grunt from bassist/vocalist If You Have Decided To Avail Our Services Simply Let Our Team Know That I Am Ready To “English Paper Leaving Cert” Being a student the most Timo Ketola, the drums of Pyry Ojala and the riffs of Antti Ronkainen might take off at any moment and speedily complement the downer movement of a cut like the opener “Four Shrines” or the later and especially grueling “Tadens Tolthe” — which goes from minimalist crawl to Misfits-style brashness — with a rush of raw adrenaline.
The more-melodic-but-als0-screamy “Homecoming” and decidedly midtempo “Tunnel Guard,” which follows, find some measure of balance between the two extremes as laid out in “Four Shrines” and all-go second cut “Riding on a Rotten Horse,” but Concrete Realms of Pain continues to bring in a variety of sonic elements, be it the Type O Negative-style bass fuzz on “White Animal,” the chug and starts and stops of “Blossom,” and the melo-punk-into-noise-wash procession of “Soul Stained Glass” ahead of the building finale “Pale Hunter,” which moves from the ground up in increasingly aggro fashion.
There are shades of the rich history of Finnish doom to be heard here and there among the other aspects of the band’s persona, but Caskets Open have clearly established parameters for their sound and work effectively in pushing forward one side, the other, or in some cases, both at the same time. It works well for them throughout Concrete Realms of Pain in creating an atmosphere that’s never quite lush, but neither afraid to incorporate or cast off melody as the song requires, whichever song it might be. In the three tracks that top six minutes — “Four Shrines,” “Tadens Tolthe” and “Pale Hunter” — they’re able to find room to flesh out the journey from beginning to end more than, say, “Tunnel Guard,” which though it gets more aggressive vocally in its second half and Ketola tosses in one of the record’s several effective “ough” grunts, largely holds to its central pace and style around that.
Nothing against either approach — if anything, the diversity of the material is one of Concrete Realms of Pain‘s greatest strengths; it is a less predictable album because of it — but though the album itself is longer than was its 2017 predecessor, Follow Nothing, its songs seem shorter on average than anything Caskets Open have done before, which speaks to an interesting cohesion taking hold in their execution, perhaps even a shifting of focus to more traditionalist songcraft. No matter. In the center of the centerpiece, at the midpoint of “White Animal,” it’s still that bass fuzz getting the band’s point across.
Doom is engaged, internalized, reformed and deployed, and 13 years on from their formation, Caskets Open righteously hold onto a volatile sensibility that makes Concrete Realms of Pain as exciting as it sometimes seems barebones. It is a doom record, to be sure, but it nonetheless forces one to ask themselves exactly what that means and how that is judged. Righteous.
The video for “Tunnel Guard” is premiering below. Please have at it. PR wire info for Concrete Realms of Pain follows.
Enjoy:
Caskets Open, “Tunnel Guard” official video
“Tunnel Guard” from Caskets Open’s fourth full-length album “Concrete Realms of Pain”. Recorded and mixed at Tonehaven Recording Studio by Tom Brooke. Mastered by James Plotkin. Shot and edited by Sakari Rinta-Valkama.
Finnish Doom Lords Caskets Open will release Concrete Realms of Pain, the trio’s fourth album, March 20 on Nine Records. Suicide plans in a nocturnal ski-jump tower, existential anxiety in a bleak sports bar, long walks in the shadows of the Central Park, Concrete Realms of Pain is a journey into experiences of loss and human suffering. Icicle sharp guitar leads guide the listener through sorrowful doom metal to gnarly hardcore punk parts. And of course the songs are enveloped by the band’s trademark buzzing bass sound. Caskets Open have outdone themselves on Concrete Realms of Pain.
Concrete Realms of Pain was recorded and mixed at Tonehaven Recording Studio by Tom Brooke. It was mastered by James Plotkin.
Track Listing: 1. Four Shrines 2. Riding on a Rotting Horse 3. Homecoming 4. Tunnel Guard 5. White Animal 6. Tadens Tolthe 7. Blossom 8. Soul Stained Glass 9. Pale Hunter
Line-up Timo Ketola – bass, vocals Antti Ronkainen – guitars Pyry Ojala – drums
Posted in Whathaveyou on January 22nd, 2020 by JJ Koczan
Following up on their announcement last November of the single Bone to Earth, Finnish heavy five-piece Orbiter have now put out word that their debut EP, a four-tracker titled The Deluge, will be out on Jan. 29. Rest assured, I have no frickin’ idea what day it is as I write this, but when I take the millisecond to glance downward at the calendar, it says that’s next week, so there you go. Quick turnaround.
“Bone to Earth” will lead off the EP, and its rolling groove is welcome to be sure. Orbiter‘s take is in a place between heavy rock and doom, and Carolin Koss‘ vocals highlight an edge of psychedelia in the guitar, but that only makes the overall outing richer in sound. The Deluge‘s scope might be familiar to experienced heads, but that does nothing to make it less enjoyable, particularly in the righteously atmospheric eight-minute closer “In Echoes.” Admittedly, I’m still digging into the release, but that’s an immediate standout.
One to keep an eye on. Maybe mark your calendar. Set a reminder. Do the thing. Get involved. Make your way. Blah blah blah. Whatever, it’s right on. You like music, right?
Dig:
Finnish doom metal band Orbiter to release debut EP “The Deluge” on January 29, 2020
The Finnish doom metal band Orbiter will release their debut EP The Deluge on Wednesday, 29 January. The four-song EP is a blend of heavy riffing, atmospheric psychedelia, and soaring vocals. The central theme of the record is human nature and its contradictions: over and over again people’s aspirations towards wisdom are in danger of being drowned under the waves of their own greed. The EP has been mastered by Brad Boatright (Audiosiege), one of the most renowned mastering engineers in the industry worldwide.
Orbiter released a pre-single Bone to Earth in late November. In addition to the Finnish media, the song also received international attention in Germany, Spain, France, and America.
Founded at the turn of the year 2014-2015, the band has been influenced by the genre’s founder Black Sabbath, 90s stoner bands like Kyuss, and 21st century doom bands. Additional influences have been drawn from psychedelic and progressive rock.
Orbiter’s new vocalist Carolin Koss joined the band last April. She’s an artist, filmmaker, and singer originally from Germany, and now residing in Finland. This is Orbiter’s first record with Koss. The band has previously released three singles, most recently Anthropocene in early 2019.
Upcoming gigs (in Finland) 6.2. Lepakkomies, Helsinki 10.4. Ravintola Cactus, Helsinki
Orbiter: The Deluge 1. Bone to Earth 2. Astral Racer 3. Orchids 4. In Echoes
Orbiter Carolin Koss – Vocals Alexander Meaney – Guitar Jere Remes – Guitar Tuomas Talka – Bass Sami Heiniö – Drums
Posted in Whathaveyou on November 27th, 2019 by JJ Koczan
Not the kind of thing I usually say when I put up a track with a news post, but the song at the bottom here, which comes from Orbiter‘s 2019 split with Roadog (review here), doesn’t really do much to represent where the Helsinki five-piece are coming from on their new single, “Bone to Earth.” Sure, the new cut still has some of those haze-doom underpinnings — a feeling of psychedelic immersion set to big-feeling riffly-roll derived in part from “Witchcult Today” but transmogrified into something less willfully cartoonish, but with vocalist Carolin Koss making her debut in the band, it’s nonetheless a significant change that’s taken place, and it has an effect on their sound of course. For what it’s worth, I’ve heard the new song — it’s out tomorrow, so you know, not really so much advance listening there — and it’s awesome. Also of note is the uptick in the production of the drums. The snare sounds right on in the new track.
Promises of good things to come? Here’s hoping. We’ve got a whole new decade arriving in a little over than a month. Time to start filling it with killer tunes.
From the PR wire:
Orbiter – New single ‘Bone to Earth’ out on November 28!
Founded at the turn of the year 2014-2015, the band has been influenced by the genre ancestor Black Sabbath, 90s stoner bands like Kyuss, and 21st century doom bands. Additional influences have been drawn from psychedelic and progressive rock.
Now Orbiter is releasing new music! Bone to Earth single will be released on Thursday 28 November. The song is a pre-release from the band’s upcoming debut EP The Deluge, which will come out on January 29.
Bone to Earth is a song about the duality of human nature, which is self-destructive and yet longing for wisdom. The song’s unhurried and heavy riffing blends hypnotically with the voice of the new vocalist, Carolin Koss, who joined the band in April. Koss is an artist, filmmaker and singer originally from Germany, and now residing in Finland.
The upcoming four-song EP contains previously unrecorded material from the band’s earlier days as well as newer songs composed with Koss. Orbiter has previously released three singles, most recently Anthropocene in early 2019.
Upcoming gigs (in Finland) 30.11.19 Ravintola La Barre, Joensuu 11.1.20 UUS HOI SIE, Lappeenranta 10.4.20 Ravintola Cactus, Helsinki 23.5.20 Henry’s Pub, Kuopio
Orbiter Carolin Koss – Vocals Alexander Meaney – Guitar Jere Remes – Guitar Tuomas Talka – Bass Sami Heiniö – Drums
[Click play above to stream Let the Night Come by The Lone Madman in its entirety. Album is out Oct. 25 on Saturnal Records.]
With the melodic grandeur of Candlemass, the grim moral certitude of Reverend Bizarre and a patient-but-intense severity behind their execution across four mostly-extended tracks of darkened doom, Helsinki, Finland’s The Lone Madman offer an unconventional take on the genre’s traditional elements with their Saturnal-issued debut LP, Let the Night Come. A dual-guitar four-piece with Turkka Inkilä (also vocals) and Juuso Raunio handling the downtrodden riffery, Veera Vallinkoski on bass and Leevi Lönnrot on drums, there isn’t much about the group on paper that would make one necessarily expect anything crazy from the 42-minute proceedings. They’ve been together for five years, released a single and their Dreary Task EP in 2016, have played shows mostly around their hometown and are very clearly dug into doom as a foundation for what they do. Fine. Certainly there are worse places to start, but unless one has a particular fetish for Finnish doom — which would be understandable — there’s not much to immediately catch the brain. No gimmick to speak of. Even when the flute shows up in “Häxan,” it feels reasonable. But The Lone Madman nonetheless subtly bring together shades of NWOBHM self-righteousness with doom’s utter disaffection in a way that strikes a surprisingly individualized note. The gang shouts in “The Downfall” feel to my East Coast US ears derived from Type O Negative, while some of Inkilä‘s melodies on vocals bring to mind a Finnfolk-infused vision of underground metal that’s a tradition unto itself, apart from doom or anything else.
The Lone Madman thrive in this context, offering little by way of letup in terms of the emotional and spiritual downerism being showcased. From the catchy opening provided by the title-track to the plotted lead in the first half of closer “House of Mourning” before a tempo kick ignites a midsection charge — leading, naturally, to the final slowdown acting as the apex of the song — this is not drink-a-beer-and-ride-a-motorcycle doom, or if it is, it’s with the addendum of being miserable while doing so. Perhaps helping distinguish Let the Night Come from some of its traditionalist forebears (Reverend Bizarre notwithstanding) is the fact that the material feels purposefully longform. The penultimate “Häxan” (7:29) is the only inclusion under 11 minutes long, while “Let the Night Come” (11:04),” “The Downfall” (11:27) and “House of Mourning” (12:47) each seem to push deeper into the spiritual miasma in which the band are, well, not quite reveling — that would imply some kind of celebration — but certainly enamored. This I guess leads to another impressive aspect of Let the Night Come, particularly as The Lone Madman‘s debut album, in that it presents itself in this emotional mire and down-down-down existentialist position, but it isn’t a drag to hear. Of course that’s owed to the songwriting generally, and also to the band’s will to throw in a curve every now and again, usually on a one-per song basis.
That’s maybe how you wind up with the gang shouts on “The Downfall,” the flute on “Häxan,” later Valborgian shouts and the faster solo that tops the (relative) thrust in “House of Mourning.” With “Let the Night Come” at the outset, The Lone Madman set a working foundation for themselves by giving their audience a straightforward look at their style, with a strong presence from Inkilä on vocals and hints at layering of melodies, crashing riffs and flourish of softer complementary meanderings that enhance the overarching impact of that to which they invariably lead, i.e. more doom. I wouldn’t suggest The Lone Madman — yes, all four of them — sat down and decided they needed a way to change up each track on the album just a little bit, but following an instinct for what a given song needs in its arrangement isn’t something to be ignored in a band’s sound. Especially on their first record. So as Let the Night Come unfolds, it sees the band making these decisions with clarity and purpose, resulting in a whole that’s even richer than it would otherwise be, tense in its execution, but using that to help convey its emotional state, not beating the listener over the head with its depression diagnosis as some modern melodic doom can do, but finding a ground that expresses such a state on multiple levels. The changes from song to song, while minute on the bigger scale of the album itself — it’s not like at some point they put the guitars down and pick up a lute; though if they did I bet they could make that work — bolster the underlying affect.
At the same time, there’s a formative feel to Let the Night Come as well, as though this instinct is really just beginning a larger exploration of style and intent and that, yeah, The Lone Madman may get those lutes yet, or at least a kantele. Or maybe just some keyboard. Either way, the ground they lay out on these tracks holds the potential for future statements even as they make their own in the present, bringing a weight of atmosphere as much as tone while remaining mindful of its roots and striving toward something more individual. There’s little else one could reasonably ask of a debut album, and though living in a culture of mass shootings, an American might raise an eyebrow at a moniker like The Lone Madman, it’s worth keeping in mind that Finland, by contrast, had three such sprees between 2008 and 2013, and for what it’s worth, the band give no outward signs of being fascinated with political extremism of any sort. With the storytelling of “Häxan” perhaps as an exception, they seem more concerned with inner turmoil and alienation, and though their sound is cold and isolated, its nascent outward reach demonstrates a will to progress that one hopes The Lone Madman pursue as they move forward. As it is, they find a balance where they need one and thereby secure a place for themselves to proceed however they should desire to do so. Future prospects are exciting, but present accomplishments shouldn’t be overlooked on that account either.
Posted in Whathaveyou on October 11th, 2019 by JJ Koczan
Desert Hel is a new heavy fest marking its debut in Finland next April. It’s ‘Hel’ as in -sinki, and the two-dayer is set to take place April 24-25 at On the Rocks in the Finnish capitol. It’s not affiliated with Desertfest in any way so far as I know, but they’ve pulled together a solid lineup nonetheless, with multinational acts Lucifer (UK/Sweden) and Lonely Kamel (Norway) headlining and the likes of natives Craneium and Kaleidobolt and Russia’s The Re-Stoned offering their support of the endeavor. Also noteworthy is the cleverly named One Inch Band, who’ll play not just a set of Kyuss covers, but specifically the setlist that the desert rock legends played at the much-bootlegged Bizarre Festival in 1995. If that doesn’t sound like fun to you, I don’t know what might.
The info below has been run through a major tech company’s translation matrix, but should still be enough for you to get the idea. Spring in Europe is always a busy time, but Desert Hel 2020 promises to bring something to the northern part of the continent that seems well due.
Word follows:
Desert Hel is a new stoner & doom music festival in Helsinki. The first event will take place at On the Rocks on 24th-25th of April, 2020! Ticket sale starts on Thursday 10.10.2019
The new Desert Hel Festival, focused on stoner and doom music, will take place 24-25 April 2020 at the Helsinki On the Rocks Club. In addition to foreign and domestic bands, it is also possible to enjoy craft beers and food served during the festival. Tickets for the event will go on sale at Tiketti on Thursday, October 10, 2009 at 9:00 am.
On Friday, the festival’s main performer will be the Swedish heavy rock band Lucifer, who is preparing for the new album. Nicke Andersson, a multifunctional artist known for Hellacopters and Emtombed. Friday’s program will be complemented by Re-Stoned, the Moscow-based messenger of psychedelic Instrumental stoner, Craneium playing heavy-duty riffs, and Jupiter, a psych-rock band.
On Saturday, the show features Norwegian heavy blues and stoner Lonely Kamel, Helsinki-based power trio Kaleidobolt, Thermate from the 70’s heavy and 90’s stoner rock, and Kaiser playing the majestic cruel desert fuzz. In addition, Desert Hel’s backing party picks up a tribute band, One Inch Band plays Kyuss, for Saturday night, which plays Kyuss’s 1995 Bizarre Festival set list.
LINE UP FRIDAY: LUCIFER (SWE) The Re-Stoned (RUS) Craneium Jupiter
SATURDAY: Lonely Kamel (NOR) KALEIDOBOLT Thermate Kaiser One Inch Band plays Kyuss
Tickets: Fri 24€/25€ Sat 22€/23€ 2 days 42€/45€
Posted in Reviews on October 2nd, 2019 by JJ Koczan
Had to take a second this morning to get my email back under 100 unread. It currently stands at 95. There’s just something about being in triple digits that I can’t stand. Press releases and stuff I can usually file right away since not everything’s relevant to the site, etc., but that’s all stuff that either wants follow-up or could be a factor here if there was time. I do my best to try to keep up. And I fail, consistently.
The tradeoff, of course, is I spend that time writing reviews and other stuff for the site. Today’s hump day when we pass the halfway mark of the Fall 2019 Quarterly Review, and we’re doing it in absolutely all-over-the-place style, so all the better. Some pretty familiar names today, but some that might not be as well, so whatever your poison, I hope you enjoy the picking.
Quarterly Review #21-30:
Russian Circles, Blood Year
There’s simply no denying the force behind the depths and swell of a song like “Kohokia” on Russian Circles‘ latest offering, Blood Year (Sargent House), and though one knows what to expect to some degree from the Chicago heavy post-rockers at this point in their career, they seem to be doing all they can to deliver their instrumental progressions with energy to match the breadth of the spaces and the heft they conjure. Like 2016’s Guidance (review here), the seven-track/39-minute Blood Year — was recorded with Kurt Ballou, whom the trio imported to their hometown to work at Electrical Audio (aka Steve Albini‘s stomping ground) instead of traveling to Massachusetts to track at Ballou‘s Godcity. If it was the long-famed drum sound of Electrical Audio that they wanted and the live feel that so many of the recordings done there have, they got both, so mark it a success and another notch in the belt of one of the heavy underground’s most immersive and evocative outfits. Their building and releasing of tension is second to none and moves into the spiritual by the time they even get to side B, let alone through it.
Oh, the riffs you’ll gallop. Oakland, California’s War Cloud skirt the line between classic thrash and heavy rock and roll on their second album for Ripple Music, State of Shock, and from the sound of things, they have a good time doing it. The record’s not much over a half-hour long, which is as it should be for this kind of party, and they toy a bit with the balance between their two sides on a rocker like “Do Anything” or the subsequent “Means of Your Defeat” on side B, but the main crux of State of Shock and certainly the impression it makes off the bat with “Striker” and “White Lightning” up front ahead of the six-minute that-moment-when-Thin–Lizzy-turned-into-Iron–Maiden “Dangerous Game” is one of homage to the metal of yore, and in following-up the band’s 2017 self-titled debut (review here), it’s a showcase of energy and craft alike as two guitars shred, chug, groove and charge through the material. If they were from the Eastern Seaboard, I’d say something about getting caught in a mosh. As it stands, I’ll go with urging you to jump in the fire instead. Horns up, either way.
They should’ve just called it an album. Yeah, it would be short at 26 or so minutes, but it’s got everything you’d want from a full-length, and if they’d put a four-minute jam or something on it, they’d have been there anyhow. In any case, Los Angeles’ Afrobeat-infused heavy psych rockers Here Lies Man present seven tracks of dug-in glory with No Ground to Walk Upon (on RidingEasy), continuing to build on the potential shown across their first two LPs, 2017’s self-titled debut (review here) and last year’s You Will Know Nothing (review here), even as they swagger their way through a groove like “Long Legs (Look Away)” and show their continued forward potential. They continue to be a special band — the kind of band who doesn’t just come along every day and who shouldn’t be overlooked during their time, because maybe they’ll be around 30 years and maybe they won’t, but what they’re doing now is bringing something wholly individual to a heavy context. They’ve already proven influential to some degree, but listening to No Ground to Walk Upon cuts like the dream-keyed “Iron Rattles” and the opening strut-into-drone of “Clad in Silver,” one wonders if they wouldn’t be more so if people weren’t too afraid to try to pull this thing off. Hard to argue with that, since more likely than not most couldn’t.
I won’t take anything away from the eight-minute “Blacklight Warpriest” earlier in the offering, but the highlight of Book of Wyrms‘ second album, Remythologizer (on Twin Earth & Stoner Witch Records) has to be the closing “Dust Toad,” which at 9:25 is the longest track and the slowest crawl included. Led into by the synth-infused “Curse of the Werecop,” it takes the crunch that showed itself through opener “Autumnal Snow” and, later, the melody and swing of “Undead Pegasus” — as seen on the cover art — and brings them together in order to perfectly summarize the doom rocking ethic the Richmond, Virginia, four-piece are working from. Tonally righteous and more solvent in their songwriting than they were on their 2017 debut, Sci-Fi/Fantasy (review here), the band sound assured as they move in “Spirit Drifter” from a standout keyboard line to a likewise standout guitar solo, giving a feeling of progressive nuance that’s continuing to take hold in their sound, balanced by the underlying naturalism of their approach. That dynamic continues to duke it out on Remythologizer, much to the benefit of anyone who takes the record on.
Too weird for planet earth and, well, probably too weird for anywhere else too, Helsinki psych-space-kraut-whathaveyou experimentalists issue their third tape in the form of Huume Jet Set Life and whether it’s the cosmo-jamming on “MITĂ„ ON TULLUT VEDETTYĂ„?” or the who-the-hell-knows-what-ism of “MEDIA-AJOJAHTI 2000,” the band at no point fail to make an impression of being out there in the far gone far out there reaches of the far out there. Talkin’ freaked out next level total, like the cassette just fell into the atmosphere to represent some other planet’s culture where things are both dangerous and interesting and you never really know if you’re going to get laid or eaten or both. Still, they may be doing math of the likes not yet conceived by humanity, but Möyhy-Veikot go about it in suitably friendly if totally over-the-top fashion, and it’s fun to play along while also being completely overwhelmed at the various pushes and pulls happening all at once, the media samples and the Windows 95 compatibility of it all. It’s one small step for man, one giant leap for disco.
It’s just lovely. Really. In some ways it feels like the 41:20 single-track full-length Transmission — self-released, no less — is what Baltimore ambient exploratory two-piece Darsombra have been building toward all along, but I think the truth is they probably could’ve done this at any time if they’d chosen to do so. Still, the fluidity of “Transmission” itself is something special, with its cascades of manipulated voice, riffs that swell and recede, loops, synth and somehow-manifested light that are as much immersion for the spirit as the eardrum. One doesn’t want to dive too deep into hyperbole and oversell it to the point of dulling the listener’s own impression, but Transmission is the kind of record that even those who profess to never “get” drone or noise offerings can engage with. Part of that is owed to Brian Daniloski‘s guitar, which provides landmarks along the path of swirl conjured by his own effects and the synth from Ann Everton (both add vocals where applicable; don’t look for lyrics or verses) that allow those who’d take it on to do so more easily. But the real joy in Transmission is letting go and allowing the piece to carry you along its progressive course, genuine in its reaching for the unknown. Plus there’s a gong, and that’s always fun too. Go with it.
Traya is the third three-song full-length from Boston’s Set Fire, and it would seem that, and in addition to marking the last recording to feature drummer Rob Davol, who’s since been replaced by Josh Cronin, it would seem to show the three-piece nailing their sound of classic-tinged duet-fronted heavy rock and roll. With two powerhouse vocalists on board in guitarist Jim Healey (We’re all Gonna Die, Black Thai, etc.) and keyboardist Jess Collins (ex-Mellow Bravo), they work in varying arrangements across a meager 12-minute run that feels short mostly because it is short. Too short. “Any Place Left” puts Collins in the foreground, while “Sacred Song” is more Healey‘s, and unsurprisingly to anyone who’s experienced their past work either together or separate, they’re more than able to carry the material — only more so with the other party backing. “Waves” brings them together around theatrical layers of piano and keyboard and guitar, and that they manage to hold it steady at all, let alone take flight as it does, speaks to how ready they are to embark on a longer offering. Put out an album, already, would ya?
For those feeling adventurous, Portugal’s Jesus the Snake follow-up their 2017 self-titled EP (review here) with the unmitigated warmth of Black Acid, Pink Rain, their live-recorded full-length debut. And for the sort of heavy psych-jazz-prog meandering, one would almost expect the organ-laced instrumentalist four-piece to track the record as they perform it, if not front-to-back then certainly one song at a time across multiple takes. Not one piece of the five total on the 49-minute offering is under eight minutes long, and sandwiched between opener “Karma” (10:28) and the closing title-track (10:55) are three cuts circa nine that prove no less hypnotic. The beginning of “Floyds I” is so fluid with the interplay of organ and guitar that one almost expects a gentle Portuguese spoken word verse to start, but of course one never does. Instead, Jesus the Snake complement mindful drift with flashes of more weighted or active fare, all the while holding to a central vibe that is peaceful even as “Duna” finds its chill before the halfway point, with no loss of spirit in the process.
As with any kind of sonic minimalism or release based around trance induction — see Darsombra above — there’s a certain amount of buy-in that needs to happen on the listener’s side. Accordingly, those going into the fourth LP from Chilean duo Föllakzoid, titled I and issued through Sacred Bones Records as a double-vinyl, should be aware that it’s requires that kind of interaction from one side to the other. It’s not especially loud or abrasive, or even demanding in terms of the basic sonics of the thing, but as “I” becomes “II” becomes “III” becomes “IIII” and the songs such as they are alternate between 17- and 13-minute runtimes and the blend of effects and electro beats tips to one side or the other — “II” with a fervent ‘ump-tis’ in its early going while “III” brings a more Vangelis-style cinematic wash — of course there’s an ask in terms of indulgence happening on the part of the two-piece to their audience. Whether an individual is willing to make that jump is obviously going to be up to their headspace and where they’re at, but Föllakzoid‘s work here is more than worth the investment, even for those less familiar with their methods.
The sub-three-minute “Hiedra – Sencillo” is the latest in an ongoing series of digital offerings from Mexico City’s Dresden Wolves, and though the two-piece band bill themselves as post-punk and they may actually have a history in playing punk rock — stranger things have happened, certainly — the song finds them working in a taut heavy rock context, brash in delivery but not overly so as to lose the overarching swagger they seem intent on conveying. Particularly as it follows behind two EPs and a swath of other single tracks, and is offered name-your-price through their Bandcamp, “Hiedra – Sencillo” feels like its most nefarious aim is to hook anyone who’d click play on first listen and try and keep them intrigued for next time out. Fair enough. I won’t profess to know what Dresden Wolves‘ plans are, but they’ve got songwriting in their pocket and the production on “Hiedra – Sencillo” is crisp and clear enough to convey the heft of the guitar but not so much so as to dull its rawer aspects. They’ve got the balance ready to go, whatever they might choose to do with it from here.
