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Quarterly Review: Boris, Mother Bear, Sonja, Reverend Mother, Umbilicus, After Nations, Holy Dragon, Trillion Ton Beryllium Ships, Deer Creek, Riffcoven

Posted in Reviews on September 26th, 2022 by JJ Koczan

THE-OBELISK-FALL-2020-QUARTERLY-REVIEW

Welcome back to the Fall 2022 Quarterly Review. It’s not quite the same as the Mountain of Madness, but there are definitely days where it feels like they’re pretty closely related. Just the same, we, you and I, persist through like digging a tunnel sans dynamite, and I hope you had a great and safe weekend (also sans dynamite) and that you find something in this batch of releases that you truly enjoy. Not really much point to the thing otherwise, I guess, though it does tend to clear some folders off the desktop. Like, 100 of them in this case. That in itself isn’t nothing.

Time’s a wastin’. Let’s roll.

Quarterly Review #51-60:

Boris, Heavy Rocks

Boris Heavy Rocks (2022)

One can’t help but wonder if Boris aren’t making some kind of comment on the franchise-ification of what sometimes feels like every damn thing by releasing a third Heavy Rocks album, as though perhaps it’s become their brand label for this particular kind of raucousness, much as their logo in capital letters or lowercase used to let you know what kind of noise you were getting. Either way, in 10 tracks and 41 minutes that mostly leave scorch marks when they’re done — they space out a bit on “Question 1” but elsewhere in the song pull from black metal and layer in lead guitar triumph — and along the way give plenty more thick toned, sometimes-sax-inclusive on-brand chicanery to dive into. “She is Burning,” “Cramper” and “My Name is Blank” are rippers before the willfully noisy relative slowdown “Blah Blah Blah,” and Japanese heavy institution are at their most Melvinsian with the experiment “Nosferatou,” ahead of the party metal “Ruins” and semi-industrial blowout “Ghostly Imagination,” the would-be-airy-were-it-not-crushing “Chained” and the concluding “(Not) Last Song,” which feeds the central query above in asking if there’s another sequel coming, piano, feedback, and finally, vocals ending what’s been colloquially dubbed Heavy Rocks (2022) with an end-credits scene like something truly Marvelized. Could be worse if that’s the way it’s going. People tend to treat each Boris album as a landmark. I’m not sure this one is, but sometimes that’s part of what happens with sequels too.

Boris on Facebook

Relapse Records store

 

Mother Bear, Zamonian Occultism

Mother Bear Zamonian Occultism

Along with the depth of tone and general breadth of the mix, one of the aspects most enjoyable about Mother Bear‘s debut album, Zamonian Occultism, is how it seems to refuse to commit to one side or the other. They call themselves doom and maybe they are in movements here like the title-track, but the mostly-instrumental six-track/41-minute long-player — which opens and closes with lyrics and has “Sultan Abu” in the middle for a kind of human-voice trailmarker along the way — draws more from heavy psychedelia and languid groove on “Anagrom Ataf,” and if “Blue Bears and Silver Spliffs” isn’t stoner riffed, nothing ever has been. At the same time, the penultimate title-track slows way down, pulls the curtains closed, and offers a more massive nod, and the 10-minute closer “The Wizaaard” (just when you thought there were no more ways to spell it) answers that sense of foreboding in its own declining groove and echo-laced verses, but puts the fuzz at the forefront of the mix, letting the listener decide ultimately where they’re at. Tell you where I am at least: On board. Guitarist/vocalist Jonas Wenz, bassist Kevin Krenczer and drummer Florian Grass lock in hypnotic groove early and use it to tie together almost everything they do here, and while they’re obviously schooled in the styles they’re touching on, they present with an individual intent and leave room to grow. Will look forward to more.

Mother Bear on Facebook

Mother Bear on Bandcamp

 

Sonja, Loud Arriver

sonja loud arriver

After being kicked out of black metallers Absu for coming out as trans, Melissa Moore founded Sonja in Philadelphia with Grzesiek Czapla on drums and Ben Brand on bass, digging into a ‘true metal’ aesthetic with ferocity enough that Loud Arriver is probably the best thing they could’ve called their first record. Issued through Cruz Del Sur — so you know their ’80s-ism is class — the 37-minute eight-tracker vibes nighttime and draws on Moore‘s experience thematically, or so the narrative has it (I haven’t seen a lyric sheet), with energetic shove in “Nylon Nights” and “Daughter of the Morning Star,” growing duly melancholy in “Wanting Me Dead” before finding its victorious moment in the closing title-track. Cuts like “Pink Fog,” “Fuck, Then Die” and opener “When the Candle Burns Low…” feel specifically born of a blend of 1979-ish NWOBHM, but there’s a current of rock and roll here as well in the penultimate “Moans From the Chapel,” a sub-three-minute shove that’s classic in theme as much as riff and the most concise but by no means the only epic here. Hard not to read in catharsis on the part of Moore given how the band reportedly came about, but Loud Arriver serves notice one way or the other of a significant presence in the underground’s new heavy metal surge. Sonja have no time to waste. There are asses to kick.

Sonja on Facebook

Cruz Del Sur Music store

 

Reverend Mother, Damned Blessing

Reverend Mother Damned Blessing

Seven-minute opener ends in a War of the Worlds-style radio announcement of an alien invasion underway after the initial fuzzed rollout of the song fades, and between that and the subsequent interlude “Funeral March,” Reverend Mother‘s intent on Damned Blessing seems to be to throw off expectation. The Brooklynite outfit led by guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Jackie Green (also violin) find even footing on rockers like “Locomotive” or the driving-until-it-hits-that-slowdown-wall-and-hey-cool-layering “Reverend Mother,” and the strings on the instrumental “L.V.B.,” which boasts a cello guest spot by High Priestess Nighthawk of Heavy Temple, who also returns on the closing Britney Spears cover “Toxic,” a riffed-up bent that demonstrates once again the universal applicability of pop as Reverend Mother tuck it away after the eight-minute “The Masochist Tie,” a sneering roll and chugger that finds the trio of Green, bassist Matt Cincotta and drummer Gabe Katz wholly dug into heavy rock tropes while nonetheless sounding refreshing in their craft. That song and “Shame” before it encapsulate the veer-into-doom-ness of Reverend Mother‘s hard-deliver’d fuzz, but Damned Blessing comes across like the beginning of a new exploration of style as only a next-generation-up take can and heralds change to come. I would not expect their second record to sound the same, but it will be one to watch for. So is this.

Reverend Mother on Instagram

Seeing Red Records store

 

Umbilicus, Path of 1000 Suns

Umbilicus Path of 1000 Suns

The pedigree here is notable as Umbilicus features founding Cannibal Corpse drummer Paul Mazurkiewicz and guitarist/engineer Taylor Nordberg (also visuals), who’s played with Deicide, The Absence and a host of others, but with the soar-prone vocals of Brian Stephenson out front and the warm tonality of bassist Vernon Blake, Umbilicus‘ 10-song/45-minute first full-length, Path of 1000 Suns is a willful deep-dive into modernly-produced-and-presented ’70s-style heavy rock. Largely straightforward in structure, there’s room for proto-metallurgy on “Gates of Neptune” after the swinging “Umbilicus,” and the later melodic highlight “My Own Tide” throws a pure stoner riff into its second half, while the concluding “Gathering at the Kuiper Belt” hints at more progressive underpinnings, it still struts and the swing there is no less defining than in the solo section of “Stump Sponge” back on side A. Hooks abound, and I suppose in some of the drum fills, if you know what you’re listening for, you can hear shades of more extreme aural ideologies, but the prevailing spirit is born of an obvious love of classic heavy rock and roll, and Umbilicus play it with due heart and swagger. Not revolutionary, and actively not trying to be, but definitely the good time it promises.

Umbilicus on Facebook

Listenable Insanity Records on Facebook

 

After Nations, The Endless Mountain

After Nations The Endless Mountain

Not as frenetic as some out there of a similar technically-proficient ilk, Lawrence, Kansas, double-guitar instrumental four-piece After Nations feel as much jazz on “Féin” or “Cae” as they do progressive metal, djent, experimental, or any other tag with which one might want to saddle the resoundingly complex Buddhism-based concept album, The Endless Mountain — the Bandcamp page for which features something of a recommended reading list as well as background on the themes reportedly being explored in the material — which is fluid in composition and finds each of its seven more substantial inclusions accompanied by a transitional interlude that might be a drone, near-silence, a foreboding line of keys, whathaveyou. The later “Širdis” — penultimate to the suitably enlightened “Jūra,” if one doesn’t count the interlude between (not saying you shouldn’t) — is more of a direct linear build, but the 40-minute entirety of The Endless Mountain feels like a steep cerebral climb. Not everyone is going to be up for making it, frankly, but in “}}}” and its punctuationally-named companions there’s some respite from the head-spinning turns that surround, and that furthers both the dynamic at play overall and the accessibility of the songs. Whatever else it might be, it’s immaculately produced and every single second, from “Mons” and “Aon” to “))” and “(),” feels purposeful.

After Nations on Facebook

After Nations on Bandcamp

 

Holy Dragon, Mordjylland

Holy Dragon Mordjylland

With the over-the-top Danzig-ian vocals coming through high in the mix, the drums sounding intentionally blown out and the fuzz of bass and guitar arriving in tidal riffs, Denmark’s Holy Dragon for sure seem to be shooting for memorability on their second album, Mordjylland. “Hell and Gold” pulls back somewhat from the in-your-face immediacy of opener “Bong” — and yet it’s faster; go figure — and the especially brash “War” is likewise timely and dug in. Centerpiece “Nightwatch” feels especially yarling with its more open riff and far-back echoing drums — those drums are heavy in tone in a way most are not, and it is appreciated — and gives over to the Judas Priestly riff of “Dunder,” which sounds like it’s being swallowed by the bass even as the concluding solo slices through. They cap with “Egypt” in classic-metal, minor-key-sounds-Middle-Eastern fashion, but they’re never far from the burly heft with which they started, and even the mellower finish of “Travel to Kill” feels drawn from it. The album’s title is a play on ‘Nordjylland’ — the region of Denmark where they’re from — and if they’re saying it’s dead, then their efforts to shake it back to life are palpable in these seven songs, even if the end front-to-back result of the album is going to be hit or miss with most listeners. Still, they are markedly individual, and the fact that you could pick them out of the crowd of Europe’s e’er-packed heavy underground is admirable in itself.

Holy Dragon on Instagram

Holy Dragon on Bandcamp

 

Trillion Ton Beryllium Ships, Consensus Trance

Trillion Ton Beryllium Ships Consensus Trance

Lincoln, Nebraska, trio Trillion Ton Beryllium Ships are right there. Right on the edge. You can hear it in the way “Beg Your Pardon” unfolds its lumbering tonality, riff-riding vocals and fervency of groove at the outset of their second album, Consensus Trance. They’re figuring it out. And they’re working quickly. Their first record, 2021’s TTBS, and the subsequent Rosalee EP (review here) were strong signals of intention on the part of guitarist/vocalist Jeremy Warner, bassist Karlin Warner and drummer Justin Kamal, and there is realization to be had throughout Consensus Trance in the noisy lead of “Mystical Consumer,” the quiet instrumental “Distalgia for Infinity” and the mostly-huge-chugged 11-minute highlight “Weeping Beast” to which it leads. But they’re also still developing their craft, as opener “Beg Your Pardon” demonstrates amid one of the record’s most vibrant hooks, and exploring spaciousness like that in the back half of the penultimate “Silo,” and the sense that emerges from that kind of reach and the YOB-ish ending of capper “I.H.” is that there’s more story to be told as to what Trillion Ton Beryllium Ships have to offer in style and substance. So much the better since Consensus Trance has such superlative heft at its foundation.

Trillion Ton Beryllium Ships on Facebook

Trillion Ton Beryllium Ships on Bandcamp

 

Deer Creek, Menticide

Deer Creek Menticide

Kind of funny to think of Menticide as a debut LP from Deer Creek, who’ve been around for 20 years — one fondly recalls their mid-aughts splits with Church of Misery and Raw Radar War — but one might consider that emblematic of the punk underpinning the sludgy heavy roll of “(It Had Neither Fins Nor Wings) Nor Did it Writhe,” along with the attitude of fuckall that joins hands with resoundingly dense tonality to create the atmosphere of the five originals and the cover medley closer “The Working Man is a Dead Pig,” which draws on Rush, Bauhaus and Black Sabbath classics as a sort of partially explanatory appendix to the tracks preceding. Of those, the impression left is duly craterous, and Deer Creek, with Paul Vismara‘s mostly-clean vocals riding a succession of his own monolithic riffs, a bit of march thrown into “The Utter Absence of Hope” amid the breath of tone from his and Conan Hultgren‘s guitars and Stephanie Hopper‘s bass atop the drumming of Marc Brooks. One is somewhat curious as to what drives a band after two full-length-less decades to make a definitive first album — at least beyond “hey a lot of things have changed in the last couple years” anyhow — but the results here are inarguable in their weight and the spaces they create and fill, with disaffection and onward and outward-looking angst as much as volume. That is to say, as much as Menticide nods, it’s more unsettling the more attention you actually pay to what’s going on. But if you wanted to space out instead, I doubt they’d hold it any more against you than was going to happen anyway. Band who owes nothing to anyone overdelivers. There.

Deer Creek on Facebook

Deer Creek on Bandcamp

 

Riffcoven, Never Sleep at Night

Riffcoven Never Sleep at Night

Following the mid-’90s C.O.C. tone and semi-Electric Wizard shouts of “Black Lotus Trance,” “Detroit Demons” calls out Stooges references while burl-riffing around Pantera‘s “I’m Broken,” and “Loose” manifests sleaze to coincide with the exploitation of the Never Sleep at Night EP’s cover art. All of this results in zero-doubt assurance that the Brazilian trio have their bona fides in place when it comes to dudely riffs and an at least partially metal approach; stylistically-speaking, it’s like metal dudes got too drunk to remember what they were angry at and decided to have a party instead. I don’t have much encouraging to say at this juncture about the use of vintage porn as a likely cheap cover option, but no one seems to give a shit about moving past that kind of misogyny, and I guess as regards gender-based discrimination and playing to the male gaze and so on, it’s small stakes. I bet they get signed off the EP anyway, so what’s the point? The point I guess is that the broad universe of those who’d build altars to riffs, Riffcoven are at very least up front with what they’re about and who their target audience is.

Riffcoven on Facebook

Riffcoven on Bandcamp

 

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Tattered the Wall Sign to Cursed Monk Records; Shedding Season Out Sept. 3

Posted in Whathaveyou on July 20th, 2022 by JJ Koczan

It’s a well-established science-fact that Cursed Monk Records signs some way out there, extreme of the extreme shit. That goes for bands that are all-in aggro and others who, like Tattered the Wall are perhaps less outwardly about pummel but inflected with rampant and cacophonous noise. The debut album from Tattered the Wall is titled Shedding Season and it will be released on Sept. 3 as the band’s first outing through Cursed Monk — preorders tomorrow, if you’d like to set an alarm; I’m not joking, by the way, I set alarms for that kind of shit — and the follow-up to their 2021 three-songer-and-that’s-probably-plenty-for-an-introductory-statement EP, which was self-titled.

That’s streaming below, should you wish to be inundated in anti-genre-but-still-heavy, sometimes-tinged-with-electronica fuckery. And if you don’t, congrats on probably being something close to normal. But if you’re the sort of oddball who gets down on this kind of noise, you’re gonna have a blast here.

This was posted in the Obelisk group on the ol’ Facebook. Thanks to label head Rodger Mortis for that.

Dig:

tattered the wall

Tattered The Wall Sign To Cursed Monk Records

We are thrilled to announce that Tattered The Wall have signed to Cursed Monk Records.

Tattered The Wall are a three-piece, guitarless, instrumental, sludge/industrial/junk band with bass, drums, and noise, based in Tokyo.

The band started in 2017 when UV and YSK started playing together in the studio.

Then Marie joined the band as drummer and started full-fledged activities in 2019.

They released their first demo sounds on Bandcamp in 2020.

They released a self-titled EP independently in August 2021.

Then released it on CD-R and cassette via German label Econore Records, and Ukrainian label Depressive Illusions Records respectively.

Tattered The Wall’s tracks are influenced by breakcore, doom, sludge, and noise. It is extreme music with electric sounds sprinkled throughout.

Their debut album Shedding Season will be out on CD and Digital Download, September 3rd, via Cursed Monk Records, and preorders will begin this Friday, July 22nd.

https://linktr.ee/tatteredthewall
https://www.instagram.com/tatteredthewall/
https://twitter.com/tatteredthewall
https://tatteredthewall.bandcamp.com/

https://www.cursedmonk.com/
https://cursedmonk.bandcamp.com
https://www.facebook.com/cursedmonk/
https://www.instagram.com/cursedmonkrecords/

Tattered the Wall, Tattered the Wall (2021)

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Church of Misery to Record New Album

Posted in Whathaveyou on July 8th, 2022 by JJ Koczan

Japanese murder rock stalwarts Church of Misery announce they’ll make a new album this summer. The band, who just slid under the lockdown wire in being able to perform their 25th anniversary North American tour in 2020 before lockdowns started, released their most recent outing, And Then There Were None (review here) in 2016, and it was particularly notable for American fans since founding bassist, songwriter and lone consistent member Tatsu Mikami selected a US-based lineup for the band, with guitarist Dave “Depraved” Szulkin (Blood Farmers), drummer Eric Little (Earthride, ex-Internal Void), and Scott Carlson of frickin’ Repulsion on vocals.

For the new incarnation of Church of MiseryTatsu — who also has a new album coming out Sept. 30 with his even-more-’70s-rock band Sonic Flower on Heavy Psych Sounds — brings in Sonic Flower‘s drummer, Tishiaki Umemura, vocalist Hiroyuki Takano (who did the aforementioned tour in 2020) and Eternal Elysium‘s Yukito Okazaki.

The prospect of Eternal Elysium guitar and Church of Misery bass together is an intriguing one, but Tatsu always has a few surprises up his sleeve. Among the points of intrigue, I’m curious to know how the band’s outright glorification of violence — a signature element no less than their ultra-Sabbathian riffs — will be received in a social climate where the value of life, such as it is, has been reinforced by the near-universal trauma of plague, as well as political violence, and in the case of Europe, outright war. Also entirely possible that, after more than a quarter-century, they’ve run out of serial killers to talk about.

Oh wait. Actually there’s no way that last one is true. So much murder.

From social media:

church of misery

Church of Misery – New Album

It has been 6 years since the last album “And then there were none” released in 2016. Finally, Church of Misery will start recording for new album in this summer!

TATSU MIKAMI (bass) and HIROYUKI TAKANO (vocals) will do the recording with supporting musicians for this album. TOSHIAKI UMEMURA on drums (Sonic Flower, ex-AUMA) who also plays on the Sonic Flower new album. And on guitar, Japanese Doom Guru YUKITO OKAZAKI (Eternal Elysium). Eternal Elysium is a doom band with a longer career than Church of Misery actually!

Recording will be start at the end of August in Tokyo and Nagoya Japan. The album will be total 7 songs that consist of 6 new songs plus one cover song of a 70’s heavy rock band. The album will continue to be released on Rise Above Records.

More details will be announced as they become available!

http://www.churchofmisery.net/
https://www.facebook.com/churchofmiserydoom/
https://www.instagram.com/churchofmiseryofficial/

Church of Misery, Live at the High Water Mark, Portland, OR, March 1, 2020

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Quarterly Review: Trigona, Blasting Rod, From Those Ashes, Hashishian, Above & Below, Lord Elephant, Dirty Shades, Venus Principle, Troy the Band, Mount Desert

Posted in Reviews on July 5th, 2022 by JJ Koczan

THE-OBELISK-FALL-2020-QUARTERLY-REVIEW

Day seven of a Quarterly Review is pretty rarefied air, by which I mean it doesn’t happen that often. And even with 100 records in the span of these two weeks, I’ll never ever ever ever claim to approach being comprehensive, but the point is take it as a sign of just how much is out there right now. If you find it overwhelming, me too.

But think about our wretched species. What’s our redeeming factor? Treatment resistant bacteria? War? Yelling for more war? Economic disparity? Abortion rights? Art. Art’s it. Art and nothing.

So at least there’s a lot of art.

Quarterly Review #61-70:

Trigona, Trigona

Trigona Trigona

With independent label distribution in the UK, US, Australia and Europe, Trigona‘s Trigona is about as spread out geographically as sonically. The Queensland, AUS-based instrumental solo outfit of Rob Shiels — guitar, bass, synth, drum programming, effects, noise, etc. — released the Meridian tape earlier in 2022 on Echodelick and I’m honestly not sure if this six-song self-titled is supposed to count as a debut full-length or what, expanded as it is from Trigona‘s 2021 EP of the same name, albeit remastered with a new track sequence and the eight-minute “Via Egnatia” tagged onto the end of side B to mirror side A’s eight-minute finale, “Rosatom.” Sweet toned progressivism and semi-krautrock bass meditation pervades, debut or not, as Shiels touches on more terrestrial songwriting in “Monk” only after “Shita Ue” has offered its uptempo, almost poppy except not at all pop take on space rock outwardness, a mirror itself somewhat for album opener “Von Graf,” while second cut “Nudler” spreads proggy guitar figures over a sunshiny movement, letting “Rosatom” handle the wash-conjuring. There’s a slowdown at the finish of “Via Egnatia,” its effect lessened perhaps by the programmed drums, but Trigona‘s Trigona is so much more about atmosphere than heft it feels silly to even mention. Debut or not, it is striking.

Trigona on Bandcamp

Weird Beard Records store

Ramble Records website

Echodelick Records website

Worst Bassist Records on Bandcamp

 

Blasting Rod, 月鏡 (Mirror Moon Ascending)

Blasting Rod Mirror Moon Ascending

Hells yeah J-psych. Nagoya-based three-piece Blasting Rod — guitarist/vocalist S. Shah (also electronics), bassist/guitarist Yoshihiro Yasui and drummer Chihiro (everybody also adds percussion) — already have a follow-up LP, Of Wild Hazel, on the way/streaming for the two-songer Mirror Moon Ascending, and that and some of their past work has aligned them with US-based Glory or Death Records, but if you’re looking to be introduced to their world of sometimes serene, sometimes madcap psychedelia, these two mono mixes by Eternal Elysium‘s Yukito Okazaki, with the drift and languid crash, far-back drums of “Mirror Moon Ascending” and the shaker-inclusive insistence of “Wheel Upon the Car of Dragonaut,” which turns its title into a multi-layered mantra, can be a decent place to start as a springboard into the band’s and S. Shah‘s sundry other projects. Their experimentalism doesn’t stop them from writing songs, at least not this time around, and it seems to drive aspects of what they do like mixing in mono in the first place, so there’s meta-screwing with form as well as get-weird-stay-weird heavy space rock push. After this, check out 2021’s III and then the new one. After that, you’re on your own. Good luck and have fun.

Blasting Rod on Facebook

Low&Slow.Disk on Facebook

 

From Those Ashes, Contagion

From Those Ashes Contagion

From Those Ashes, a double-guitar four-piece from Chicago, present four songs in Contagion of thrash-derived but ultimately mostly mid-tempo metal, vocalist/guitarist Aaron Pokoj (also production) leading the charge with Jose “Mop” Valles ripping solos for good measure and bassist Ryan Compton and drummer Omar “Pockets” Mombela holding together tight grooves amid the deathlier moments of the title-track. Pokoj‘s trades between harsh and clean vocals show a firm grasp of melody and arrangement, and though their lyrical perspective is disaffected until basically the last two lines of EP-closer “Light Breaks,” the aggression doesn’t necessarily trump craft, though “The Reset Button” moves through throwing elder-hardcore elbows and the first words shouted on opener “Devoid of Thought” are “fuck it.” Fair enough. The Iron Maiden-style opening of “Light Breaks” is a standout moment, though guitar antics aren’t by any means in short supply, but when From Those Ashes build their way into the song proper, the death-thrash onslaught is fervent right up to the end. And those last lines? “As light breaks through the shadow and gives way to life/Sustained emergence of the soul and the will to survive?” Brutally, righteously growled.

From Those Ashes on Facebook

From Those Ashes on Bandcamp

 

Hasishian, Hashishian

hasishian hasishian

Rarely does music itself sound so stoned. Across six tracks of bassy, at least partially Dune-referential — the hand-drummed “Shai Hulud,” etc. — meditative heavy, the anonymous outfit Hashishian from somewhere, sometime, convey a languid, loosely Middle Eastern-informed, vibe-dense aural weedianism. And much to their credit, “Mountain of Smoke” seems to live up to its name. Less so, perhaps, “Let Us Reason,” which is drawn out in such a way that the moderation implied, maybe with desperation, is inhaled like so much pine-smelling vapor. “Shai Hulud” is the longest cut, mostly instrumental, and might be as far out as Hashishian go, but even the twisting feedback and lead notes at the beginning of closer “Nazareth” feel like a heavy-eyelidded march toward the riff-fill’d land, never mind the bass-led procession of the song itself, manifesting the ethic of opener “Onward” that seems to be the mentality of the 39-minute self-titled as a whole. It is molten in a way not much can claim to be, more patient than the most patient person you know, and seems to find way to make even the tolling bell of the penultimate “High Chief” a drone. Definitely post-Om in sound, Hashishian‘s Hashishian is a sprawl of sand waiting to engulf you. And to whoever is playing this bass, thank you.

Hashishian on Bandcamp

Herby Records on Bandcamp

 

Above & Below, Suffer Decay Alone

Above and Below Suffer Decay Alone

Ohio-based industrialists Above & Below — primarily Plaguewielder‘s Bryce Seditz on vocals, guitar, synth, programming with Chrome WavesJeff Wilson adding bass, noise, production and a release through his Disorder Recordings imprint — make their debut with the seven tracks/27 minutes of Suffer Decay Alone, which digs into modern stylistic features like the weighted tonality of the guitar in “Isolate” and the screams on top, some The Downward Spiraling atmosphere given a boost in rhythm from the dense machine churn of Author & Punisher there and on the prior “Hope,” while “Rust” approaches danceable but for all that screaming. “Dead” sounds like something Gnaw might come up with, but the cold realization of craft in “Tear” feels like a signpost telling the project where it wants to head, and the same applies to the 3Teeth-style horror noise of “Covered.” I don’t know which impulse will win out, songwriting or destructive noise, and I’m not sure it needs to be one or the other, but Suffer Decay Alone sets out with a duly harsh mentality and sounds to match. If this is Rust Belt fuckall circa 2022, I’m on board.

Above & Below on Facebook

Disorder Recordings website

 

Lord Elephant, Cosmic Awakening

Lord Elephant Cosmic Awakening

Shades of Earthless‘ more meandering stretches pervade “Cosmic Awakening Pt. I – Forsaken Slumber,” the opener of Lord Elephant‘s Heavy Psych Sounds debut, Cosmic Awakening, and those are purposefully brushed away as “Cosmic Awakening Pt. II – First Radiation” brings on more straight-ahead instrumental shove. The Florence, Italy, trio issued the eight-track album independently in 2021 and their being on the label they are earns them a certain amount of trust before one even listens, but the vibe throughout the outing’s 43 minutes is a don’t-worry-we-know-what-we’re-doing blend of psychedelia and underlying tonal heft. Bass. Tone. Guitar. Tone. Drums. On point. There’s nothing overly fancy about it and there doesn’t need to be as “Raktabija” is a rush and a blast at once, “Covered in Earth’s Blood” crunches and builds and builds and crunches again and “Stellar Cloud” has enough low end to make you feel funny for staring. I wouldn’t put it past them to make friends with an organist at some point, but they’ve got everything they need for right now even without vocals, and the combination of weight and breadth is effectively conveyed from front to back, with closer “Secreteternal” executing a final slowdown until it just seems to come apart. Right on.

Lord Elephant on Facebook

Heavy Psych Sounds website

 

Dirty Shades, Lift Off

Dirty Shades Lift Off

French double-guitar four-piece Dirty Shades released their debut EP in March 2020, so yeah, there goes that. Lift Off is the four-song follow-up short release, tagged as a ‘live session,’ and given the organic vibe of the performances, I’m inclined to believe it. Vocalist/guitarist Anouk Degrande leads the way as “Dazed” picks up in winding style from the more ethereal opening across the two-minute “Ignition,” her voice reminding in places of No Doubt-era Gwen Stefani, albeit in a much different context. Fellow guitarist Nathan Mimeau provides backing for the chorus, ditto bassist Martin Degrande, and drummer Mathurin Robart is charged with keeping the patterns together behind the various turns in volume and intensity through “Dazed” and the subsequent “Running for Your Life,” which is full, spaced and surprisingly heavy by the time its five minutes are done but is still somehow more about the trip getting there. And a shorter take on now-closer “Trainwreck” appeared on 2020’s Specific Impulse, but its added dreaminess serves it well. Jazzy in spots and showing the band still seeking their stylistic niche, Lift Off may well prove to be the foundation from which the band launches.

Dirty Shades on Facebook

Dirty Shades webstore

 

Venus Principle, Stand in Your Light

Venus Principle Stand in Your Light

Best case scenario when a band revamps its lineup is that listeners get another killer band out of it. With that, bid hello to Venus Principle‘s debut album, Stand in Your Light. With vocalist/guitarist Daniel Änghede (also Astroqueen), pianist/vocalist Daisy Chapman, guitarist/keyboardist Jonas Stålhammar (also At the Gates), keyboardist/backing vocalist Mark Furnevall and drummer Ben Wilsker all having been in Crippled Black Phoenix — only bassist Pontus Blom would seem not to be an alumnus — this more recent project perhaps unsurprisingly digs into a deeply, richly melodic, expanded-definition-of-heavy post-rock. The songs across the 68-minute 2LP, which starts with its longest track (immediate points) in the 10:34 “Rebel Drones,” are afraid neither to be loud nor minimal, and standout moments like “Shut it Down” or the Mellotron into absolute-melody-wash of “Sanctuary” bear out that vibe as a reminder of the gorgeousness that can come from emotions normally thought negative. The promo text for this record says it, “provides balm for the wound that the split of ANATHEMA has caused,” and that’s a lofty claim from where I sit, but you know, it’s a start, and clearly a lineup capable of a certain kind of magic that they represent well here.

Venus Principle website

Prophecy Productions store

 

Troy the Band, The Blissful Unknown

troy the band the blissful unknown

One doesn’t imagine it’s easy to be a new band in London at this point, with the seen-it-all-plus-we’re-all-in-like-10-bands-ourselves crowd and so many acts in and around the sphere of Desertfest, etc. — or maybe I’m way off and the community is amazing; I honestly don’t know — but Troy the Band distinguish themselves through the pendulum swing in their debut EP, The Blissful Unknown, guitars and bass both fuzzed to and beyond the gills and just a bit showy in “Michael” to give the outing a hint of strut despite its generally laid back attitude. Opener “I Wage a War” is the shortest inclusion by far on the 26-minute offering, and it’s a sprint compared to the more plodding, drone-hum-backed “Less Than Nothing,” and after “Michael” chugs and sways to its noisy finish, the title-track blows it all out to end off by underscoring the encouragingly atmospheric impression made by the songs prior, loose-sounding but not at all sloppy and occupying an expanse that comes across like it only wants to grow bigger. Here’s hoping it does exactly that. In the meantime, even in England’s green, pleasant and perpetually-full-of-riffs land, Troy the Band carve a fascinating place for themselves between various microgenres, psychedelic without being carried off by self-indulgence.

Troy the Band on Facebook

Troy the Band on Bandcamp

 

Mount Desert, Fear the Heart

Mount Desert Fear The Heart

Oakland, California’s Mount Desert make an awaited full-length debut with Fear the Heart a full seven years after releasing their self-titled two-songer (review here), both cuts from which feature on the record. Hey, life happens. I get that. And if the tradeoff for not putting out two or three records in the interim is the airy float of guitar throughout and the subtle-then-not-so-subtle build in “Semper Virens,” I’ll take it. Who the hell needs more records when you can have one that speaks to your unconscious like that? In any case, Fear the Heart is striking in more than just its moments of culmination, “Blue Madonna” and “New Fire” at the outset casting a fluidity that “The River I” and “The River II” perhaps unsurprisingly further even as they find their own paths into the second half of the record. “The Wail” closes with nighttime howls only after “Fear the Heart” — one of the two from the first outing — and the aforementioned “Semper Virens” have their say in progressive guitar and weighted psychedelicraft, earthbound thanks to vocal soul and ‘them drums tho,’ and especially as a debut, and one apparently a while in the making, Mount Desert‘s first LP justifies all that hype from more than half a decade and 15 lifetimes ago. They’re a band with something to say aesthetically and in songwriting. I hope they continue to move forward.

Mount Desert on Facebook

Mount Desert on Bandcamp

 

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Hebi Katana to Release Impermanence June 24 on Argonauta Records

Posted in Whathaveyou on May 11th, 2022 by JJ Koczan

hebi katana

Hebi Katana self-released their second album, Impermanence, this past February in their native Japan, and the impending Argonauta-backed edition of the record will broaden that distribution and bring the Tokyo trio to wider recognition well earned by their riffs. For what reportedly began as a pandemic project — I had one too; it was called not leaving the house — Hebi Katana have been distinctly productive since their outset, and as you can see below in their video for “Pain Should I Take” and indeed in the full-length as a whole, which is streaming in its entirety on their Bandcamp, their heart is well in the right place when it comes to heavy, doom infused chicanery.

This isn’t the first time band and imprint have worked together either, as the PR wire informs:

Japanese Doom Metal Trio HEBI KATANA Announces New Album With Argonauta Records!

Impermanence coming out on June 24th!

Tokyo, Japan-based doom metal trio, HEBI KATANA, has announced the worldwide release of their latest, sophomore studio album, Impermanence. Following an exclusive Japanese edition, the album will be released on June 24, 2022 via Argonauta Records!

HEBI KATANA was formed in 2020 in the midst of the pandemic. Of what started in extensive jam sessions and first demo recordings on an iPhone, should soon become a monolith of a heavy doom debut, when the trio took the heavy music community by storm with their self-released album. In 2021, the Samurai doomsters teamed up with the Italian powerhouse label Argonauta, who released their first full-length album as a part of the Argonauta LTD100 Vinyl-series.

While HEBI KATANA‘s second album, Impermanence, was distributed earlier this year, in February via Unforgiven Blood Records (Disc Union) in Japan, heavy and classic doom metal fans, who have a soft spot for 70’s vintage rock, dark melodies, big groove and a hint of grunge, should give ear and watch out, when Impermanence will be available in the rest of world this summer! To get you in the mood, the band has just unleashed a music video for Pain Should I Take, watch the clip right here.

Impermanence was recorded by HEBI KATANA at studio Koyama and Yasuzo place in Koenji, and was produced, mixed and mastered by Yukito Okazaki (Eternal Elysium) at studio ZEN.

Impermanence track listing:
01. Dirty Moon Child
02. Pain Should I Take
03. Devastator
04. Unforgiven Blood
05. Aqua De Vida
06. You Don’t Lie
07. Running In My Vein
08. Take My Pills
09. Underneath The Sky

HEBI KATANA is:
Nobu – Vocals, Guitar
Yasuzo – Bass
Max – Drums

https://www.facebook.com/Hebi-Katana-100679608460379/
https://www.instagram.com/hebikatana/
https://twitter.com/hebikatana
http://www.hebikatana.bandcamp.com/
https://linktr.ee/Hebikatana

www.argonautarecords.com/shop
www.facebook.com/argonuatarecords
www.instagram.com/argonautarecords

Hebi Katana, Impermanence (2022)

Hebi Katana, “Pain Should I Take” official video

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Eternal Elysium to Release Share Remaster Feb. 25

Posted in Whathaveyou on February 16th, 2022 by JJ Koczan

With the three bonus tracks included in Robustfellow‘s anniversary edition, Eternal Elysium‘s Share tops out at 73 minutes long. What I dig about this second reissue collaboration between the Japanese band and the Ukrainian label is that Robustfellow aren’t just working with the undervalued Nagoya heavy rockers. They’re championing them. Putting them on a (deserved) pedestal. Even the way Share, which originally came out in 2002 — thus 20th anniversary — is noted in the info below as “iconic” speaks to the imprint’s genuine esteem for the work being re-released.

And one can hardly argue. Eternal Elysium, who bridge doom and heavy rock and psychedelia with a fluidity that sounds so much easier from them than it actually is to pull off, have been kicking ass periodically for more than this two decades, and the more people who know about it, the better. Righteous album, killer mission, made with love. If you need an example of what to appreciate about the heavy underground, this is a good one. Passion on every level.

Many bundles available, preoders up, all that, as per the PR wire:

Eternal Elysium share reissue

Anniversary edition of the iconic album “Share” from Japanese legends Eternal Elysium -> https://bit.ly/3rEKXQe

“Share” is the third full-length album in the band’s discography and the second release of Eternal Elysium in the Robust Relics series.

(“Searching Low & High” was released in 2017 – https://bit.ly/3HHtKeN)

Release Date set exactly 20 years after the original edition on February 25, 2022

Anniversary Issue Ingredients:

• remaster from Okazaki
• Three bonus tracks
• new cover of the release from Lviv artist Dmytro Dimorphic (posters for Robustfest 2016: 5R6, Weedpecker, Dekonstruktor | Robust Evening: Somali Yacht Club “The Sea” launch party)

CD [Standard Edition]

2-panel digipak, gloss lamination

CD L [Robust Edition]
• 3-panel digipak, matt lamination
• Completely Remastered Audio +3 Bonus Tracks
• Alternate Cover artwork by “Dimorphic” (Robust Artist)
• Collectable cards:

1/3 Tour 2002 T-shirt art

2/3 Signed band photo card

3/3 original “Share” artwork card
• Digital DL Card for MP3/FLAC/WAV
• Exclusive Laminated Sticker
• OBI Strip

Limited to 50 hand-numbered copies

Limited Edition Cassette
•oldschool plastic box
• thick booklet
• shape DLC for MP3/FLAC/WAV
• transparent orange shell cassette

Edition of 50 hand-numbered copies

Eternal Elysium “Share” T-Shirt (Pre-Order)
• finest textile
• high quality print
• RRS logo on the shoulder
• RBF tag

Pre-Order at this location: https://bit.ly/3rEKXQe

Tracklisting:
1. Schizy
2. Feel The Beat
3. Movements And Vibes
4. Waiting Tor The Sun
5. Machine
6. No Answer
7. Love Is All
8. Dogma
9. Fairies Never Sleep
10. Burning A Sinner (Bonus Track)
11. Just Friends (Empty Love) (Bonus Track)
12. Godzilla (Bonus Track)

Produced by ETERNAL ELYSIUM
Engineered and Mixed by Yukito Okazaki
Recorded & Mixed at Studio Zen Nagoya,Japan
Mastered at Soybean Nagoya, Japan

Remastered at Studio Zen by Yukito Okazaki in 2020

Bonus Tracks:
*Burning A Sinner – previously released only at “I Am Vengeance” soundtrack CD by MeteorCity
*Just Friends (Empty Love) – previously unreleased
*Godzilla – previously unreleased

Musicians:
YUKITO OKAZAKI – Vocals, Guitars, Keys, Percussions
TOSHIAKI UMEMURA – Bass, Voices
RIO OKUYA – Drums

Additional:
Tom Huskinson – Drums on “Movements and Vibes’
Senpo Ito – Fairy on “Fairies Never Sleep” and Chorus on “Dogma”
Makoto Iwakura – Chorus on “Dogma” KengoTashiro – Voice on “Fairies Never Sleep” and Chorus on “Dogma”

www.eternalelysium.com/
http://eternalelysiumshop.bigcartel.com/
https://www.facebook.com/Eternal-Elysium-official-160089987381948/
https://www.facebook.com/RobustfellowProds/
http://robustfellow.blogspot.com/
robustfellow.bandcamp.com

Eternal Elysium, Share (2022 edition)

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Kikagaku Moyo Announce Indefinite Hiatus After Next Album

Posted in Whathaveyou on January 21st, 2022 by JJ Koczan

Man, people are gonna be stealing this band’s shit forever. Like, 40 years from now there will be white-boy psych-prog bands playing in plagued-out bombshelters hiding from post-climate-apocalypse cannibal marauders looking for water and flesh upon which to cruelly feast, and those bands will sound like Kikagaku Moyo. I’m dead serious. These guys were never huge, never the most popular kind of act, but their sound is set up for a slow-burner influence that might really resonate for decades. They’re going to be the kind of band who, if you’ve seen them, you’ll be glad you did.

One last album in May on Guruguru Brain, a veritable buttload of tour dates — a Fall run on the West Coast still TBA — and then they’re done. I know we never say never when it comes to bands breaking up and reuniting and whatnot, but you can’t argue with the ethic of wanting to go out while they’re still having a good time. Seems like a killer way to spend a decade.

From social media:

Kikagaku Moyo

Happy New Year, everyone!

We hope you all had great holidays despite the ongoing pandemic.

Today, we have important news to share with you.

After much discussion between the five of us at the end of last year, we have decided to go on an indefinite hiatus after 2022. This means 2022 will be our last year as Kikagaku Moyo.

We have come to the conclusion that because we have truly achieved our core mission as a band, we would love to end this project on the highest note possible. Since first starting as a music collective on the streets of Tokyo in 2012, we never, ever imagined being able to play all over the world for our amazing audiences. It is all because of you that this was ever possible…and to this we are eternally grateful.

With this in mind, our very last album will be released by Guruguru Brain on May 2022.

We enjoyed making this album so much and are incredibly excited to finally release it this spring for you.

Following our last album release, we will do our very last tours this spring and fall.

Tickets for the spring tours will go on sale on Jan 21st, and will be available for purchase on our new website.

https://kikagakumoyo.com

Fall west-coast tour will be announced next week.

Please do not miss this chance to get your tickets, because there will be no next time

We sincerely thank all of you for your continuous support and cannot wait to see you all at our shows one last time.

SPRING TOUR 2022
-East Coast N.America-
May 11 Toronto, ON – Lee’s Palace
May 12 Montreal, QC – La Tulip
May 13 Winooski, VT – Waking Windows
May 14 Boston, MA – Royale
May 17 Brooklyn, NY – Elsewhere
May 18 Philadelphia, PA – Union Transfer
May 19 Asheville, NC – Hazel Robinson Amphitheatre
May 20 Atlanta, GA – Variety Playhouse
May 21 Nashville, TN – The Basement East
May 23 Madison, WI – Majestic Theatre
May 24 Chicago, IL – Thalia Hall
May 25 Detroit. MI – El Club
May 27 Napa, CA – Bottle Rock Festival

-EU & UK-
June 6 Paris, FR – Trabendo
June 9 Oslo, NO – Loaded Festival
June 11 Beekse Bergen, NL – Best Kept Secret
June 12 Tourcoing, FR – Le Grand Mix
June 13 Brussels, BE – Botanique Orangerie
June 14 Cologne, DE – Gebaude 9
June 15 Copenhagen, DK – Punpehuset
June 16 Berlin, DE – Festsaal Kreuzberg
June 17 Prague, CZ – Futurum
June 18 Vienna, AT – Flex
June 20 Lausanne, CH – Les Docks
June 21 Zurich, CH – Mascotte
June 22 Amsterdam, NL – Paradiso
June 26 London. UK – Clapham Grand

https://www.facebook.com/kikagakumoyo/
https://www.instagram.com/kikagaku.moyo/
https://twitter.com/kikagaku_moyo
https://kikagakumoyo.com/
https://gurugurubrain.bandcamp.com/
http://www.facebook.com/GuruguruBrain

Kikagaku Moyo, Mammatus Clouds (2020)

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Boris to Release New Album W Jan. 21; “Drowning by Numbers” Video Posted

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

boris wata

A new Boris record with Wata taking lead vocals on all the songs? Well that should go over pretty well with the universe. Boris follow-up last year’s self-issued No (discussed here) by aligning with Sacred Bones Records for what’s simply been called W, though whether that’s because of Wata — and if so, are A and T soon to follow? — or if they’ll get distracted by a thing and go off and be brilliant in some other completely different direction is anyone’s best guess. But good for the perpetually-on-their-own-wavelength Japanese post-universe trio on picking up where they left off before continuing to do whatever the hell they want. It’ll still be a century or two before humanity has caught up to them, but one assumes by then we’ll have some AI specializing in WTF to help us mortals with the task.

Oh, and preorders are up. And a video. So there.

Sacred Bones Records sent word down the PR wire:

boris w cover

New Boris album W up for pre-order!

Huge announcement today: The legendary experimental band Boris, one of the heaviest bands ever to come out of Japan, has joined the Sacred Bones family! In their nearly three decades together, Boris has infused doom, hardcore, thrash, noise-core, ambient, free improv, drone, psychedelia, and more into their extensive discography and have earned legions of zealous fans along the way. We feel honored to be working with them and are excited to announce their forthcoming record W with an incredible video for the standout track “Drowning by Numbers.”

Preorder: https://www.sacredbonesrecords.com/products/sbr287-boris-w

In an effort to sublimate the negative energy surrounding everyone in 2020, legendary Japanese heavy rock band Boris focused all of their energy creatively and turned out the most extreme album of their long and widely celebrated career, “NO.” The band self-released the album, desiring to get it out as quickly as possible but intentionally called the final track on the album “Interlude” while planning its follow-up.

The follow-up comes with “W”, the band’s debut album for Sacred Bones Records. The record opens with the same melody as “Interlude” in a piece titled “I want to go to the side where you can touch…” and in contrast to the extreme sounds found on “NO”, this new album whispers into the listener’s ear with a trembling hazy sound meant to awaken sensation.

On all of “W” Wata carries the lead vocal duties. In general the styles on the album range from noise to new age, as is typical with one of our generation’s most dynamic and adventurous bands, but there is a thread of melodic deliberation through each song that successfully accomplishes the band’s goal of eliciting deep sensation. Be it through epic sludgey riffs, angelic vocal reverberations or the seduction of their off-kilter percussion, Boris will have you fully under their spell. This languid and liquifying sound is perfectly represented in the beautiful Kotao Tomozawa cover art and in suGar yoshinaga’s sound production.

“NO” and “W” weave together to form NOW, a duo of releases that respond to one another. In following their hardest album with this sensuous thundering masterpiece they are creating a continuous circle of harshness and healing, one that seems more relevant now than ever and shows the band operating at an apex of their musical career.

Additional details on EarthQuaker Devices exclusive pedal: https://www.sacredbonesrecords.com/products/sbr287-boris-w

Releases January 21, 2022.

Boris is:
Takeshi: Vocals, Guitar & Bass
Wata: Vocals, Guitar & Echo
Atsuo: Vocals, Percussion & Electronics

http://www.facebook.com/borisheavyrocks/
https://www.instagram.com/borisdronevil/
https://boris.bandcamp.com/
http://borisheavyrocks.com/
https://www.facebook.com/SacredBones
http://instagram.com/sacredbones
https://sacredbonesrecords.bandcamp.com/
https://www.sacredbonesrecords.com/

Boris, “Drowning by Numbers” official video

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