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

Desertfest Belgium 2016 Lineup Complete: Arabrot, Alkerdeel and Komatsu Added

Posted in Whathaveyou on September 7th, 2016 by JJ Koczan

In the words of one of the shittiest tv themes ever recorded: It’s been a long road, getting from there to here. That song was a terrible way to start a Star Trek, but it’s true nonetheless of Desertfest Belgium 2016, which after months of trickling out names a few at a time has finally confirmed the entirety of its lineup.

The Antwerp-based festival extension of the Desertfest brand spent the last month or so rolling through its headliners — Graveyard, Red Fang and Goat — and today it takes a victory lap in confirming Arabrot, Alkerdeel and Komatsu as the last three acts to join the bill. It looks like a great way to spend three days if you happen to be in that part of the world or of the means to get there. Definitely the farthest reaching Desertfest Belgium yet, and I suspect the event will only continue to grow.

Here’s the last announcement:

desertfest belgium 2016 final poster

EXTRA BANDS ADDED TO LINEUP: ARABROT, ALKERDEEL, KOMATSU

You might have thought we had nothing more in store after the threedouble whammy of Red Fang, Goat and Graveyard, but Desertfest always has a few tricks left up the sleeve.

So with this last announcement we fill in the holes in the Desertfest program – which is not to say these bands are filler! With Arabrot and Alkerdeel, we present you with some of the most exciting and original metal to be crafted in Europe. Arabrot has most definitively made their mark on the heavy music scene, and make sure to check Alkerdeel live, as they are one of the most exciting Belgian bands you’ll hear.

Finally, the last name to make the DF Antwerp 2016 bill is the Dutch powerhouse Komatsu. Straight up stoner metal for sure – but if Desertfest is not the place for that, we don’t know what is!

And that’s a wrap. Now all you have to do is sit back and relax… no strike that: check if you have your ticket booked, travel arrangements made… and THEN sit back, relax and count the days until DESERTFEST ANTWERP 2016!

ARABROT

ARABROT has been an outsider on the Norwegian music scene since their beginning in 2001. They quietly built a reputation among music fans in Europe as a daring and uncompromising live band. They have always been described as “weird and heavy”, and on their latest album ‘The Gospel’, they’re at their weirdest and best!

ALKERDEEL

With a name that means “manure cart” in a local Flemish dialect, and a singer who keeps a collection of “weird images”, Alkerdeel is already one of Belgium’s most distinctive metal bands. Their new album ‘Lede’ does away with the sludge influence of the past, while old-school doom (Winter) and kraut-like psychedelics are pushed to the front. Live they are no less than a visceral sensation.

KOMATSU

Komatsu is a super-massive rock band from Eindhoven, the rock capital of the Netherlands. Their music is a mix of sludge, stoner rock and metal. They have toured Europe as a support alongside John Garcia and most recently Mondo Generator!

https://www.facebook.com/desertfestbelgium/
https://twitter.com/desertfestBE
https://www.facebook.com/events/488174281372335/
http://www.desertfest.be/tickets

Alkerdeel, Lede (2016)

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Heavy Psych Sounds Fest Vol. III: Mos Generator, The Atomic Bitchwax, Isaak, Glowsun, Komatsu, Void of Sleep & Black Bone Added

Posted in Whathaveyou on July 21st, 2016 by JJ Koczan

Based for the first time in Parma, Italy — the two prior editions had been held in Rome — Heavy Psych Sounds Fest Vol. III has announced a massive round of bands newly joined the proceedings, set for Oct. 28 and 29. The names have trickled out over the last couple weeks, but it seems a roundup is in order, considerable as the names are. In addition to The Atomic Bitchwax, who’ll be on the road with Pentagram at the time, and Fatso Jetson, whose slot was previously announced as part of their Heavy Psych Sounds-sponsored Italian tour, the likes of Mos GeneratorGlowsunIsaakKomatsuVoid of Sleep and Black Bone have joined on.

I’d expect that means Mos Generator are about to announce a European tour, but I don’t think they’ve done so yet. They’ll head abroad supporting their new album, the excellent Abyssinia (review here), while hopefully Fatso Jetson‘s upcoming LP will be out by then as well. More on that if/when I hear it.

I’ve noted more than a handful of times how crowded the European festival circuit is for this fall, but Heavy Psych Sounds continues to put Italy on the map for heavy rock, its reach extended both domestically and internationally more than ever before, as you can see:

heavy psych sounds fest vol iii new poster

HEAVY PSYCH SOUNDS FEST VOL 3 with Atomic Bitchwax, Fatso Jetson, Mos Generator, Giobia, Glowsun, Isaak….

Here to announce the HEAVY PSYCH SOUNDS FEST VOL 3.

The Festival will take place in Parma, Italy at Mu Club, 90 minutes down Milan or 45 minutes up Bologna, both are the good spot to arrive with airplane. The shows will be divided between 2 stages.

***Friday 28 October ticket 15 euro
**Saturday 29 October ticket 15 euro

*2 days ticket 25 euro only available at http://www.heavypsychsounds.com/fest/

Line Up:
THE ATOMIC BITCHWAX
FATSO JETSON
MOS GENERATOR
GLOWSUN
GIöBIA
ISAAK
FUZZ ORCHESTRA
DUEL
DEVILLE
KOMATSU
VOID OF SLEEP
BLACK BONE
……….More bands Tba…..

Artwork by Solo Macello.

WWW.HEAVYPSYCHSOUNDS.COM

MU CLUB:
www.muparma.club

www.heavypsychsounds.com/fest
https://www.facebook.com/HEAVYPSYCHSOUNDS/
https://twitter.com/heavypsychsound
heavypsychsoundsrecords.bandcamp.com

Mos Generator, “Outlander” from Songs for the Firmament

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Komatsu Sign to Argonauta Records; Recipe for Murder One out Sept. 23

Posted in Whathaveyou on June 16th, 2016 by JJ Koczan

It’s been five years since Eindhoven heavy rockers Komatsu offered up their self-titled EP (review here), but the band has set a Sept. 23 release date for Recipe for Murder One, which will serve as their second long-player behind 2013’s Manu Armata debut. The new release will be out via Argonauta Records, and there’s a video now for “So How’s About Billy?” that actually gets pretty dark, what with the horse and the bird mask and the rifle and the high-contrast black and white and all, but how that might carry through to the record as a whole, I couldn’t say.

Word came down the PR wire of the signing:

komatsu

ARGONAUTA RECORDS NEW SIGNING: KOMATSU

Beyond excited to welcome a new great band in the ARGONAUTA Records family: the super massive rock band from Eindhoven (NL) KOMATSU, with their stunning mix of sludge, stoner rock and metal!

Formed in early 2010, the band released a self-titled EP in 2011. After that, they focused on live shows and writing material for their first full length album. “Manu Armata” saw the daylights in February of 2013 and was instantly well received by the international press. It got raving reviews and Komatsu’s music style was compared to bands like Queens of the Stone Age, Torche, Mastodon, Monster Magnet and Karma to Burn.

Over the past five years they have steadily grown and were asked to be the support act for internationally well-known bands like Truckfighters (SWE), Lonely Kamel (NO) and a range of bands from the USA such as Monster Magnet, Karma to Burn, The Sword, Red Fang, Clutch, Nashville Pussy, High on Fire, Corrosion of Conformity and Baroness. They also performed at the official Queens of the Stone Age after party in the Effenaar in Eindhoven. In 2014 they went on European tour with none other than John Garcia (Vista Chino, ex-Kyuss, Hermano, Unida and Slo Burn) and played 32 shows in 13 countries.

In November 2015 Komatsu was on the verge of crossing and conquering Europe again with another Palm Desert Scene stoner hero: a tour with Nick Oliveri’s Mondo Generator!

The new album RECIPE FOR MURDER ONE will be released Sept 23rd 2016 by ARGONAUTA Records in CD/DD formats. And the vinyl edition via Lighttown Fidelity.

European tour to follow in September/October, more details soon on the band website and facebook.

KOMATSU:
Joris Lindner – Drums, backing vocals
Mathijs Bodt – Guitar
Martijn Mansvelders – Bass guitar, backing vocals
Mo Truijens – Lead singer, guitar

https://www.facebook.com/komatsurock/
https://www.instagram.com/komatsurock/
http://komatsu.bandcamp.com/
http://www.komatsurock.com/
https://www.facebook.com/ArgonautaRecords/
http://www.argonautarecords.com/

Kotmatsu, “So How’s About Billy?” official video

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On the Radar: Komatsu

Posted in On the Radar on May 4th, 2012 by JJ Koczan

Starting off your EP with a three-minute clip of Muhammad Ali‘s braggadocio sampled over your riff metal is a pretty bold move. Ali‘s talk of wrestling alligators and being so mean he made medicine sick was arrogant when he let it loose in 1974, and it remains so 38 years later as it starts the six-track self-titled debut from Eindhoven four-piece Komatsu. That’s not to say every band isn’t convinced of their ultimate supremacy — or even that they shouldn’t be; I’ll gladly argue it essential for any artistic success whatsoever to at least have the balance of arrogance and self-consciousness tipped more toward the former — but still. Maybe Ali is less of a god in the Netherlands than American culture has built him up to be. I’d certainly believe that.

That opener is “The Mountain…” and it leads Komatsu into the High on Fire-style stoner metallurgy of their eponymous track. The real twists begin with the more melodic “Believe,” which offsets ’90s noise riffing à la Helmet with a smooth vocal — at least until the screams start and the band goes full-on into heavyweight groove. Guitarist/vocalist Erik van Schenk Brill and fellow six-stringer Mo Truijens work mostly in tandem, but there’s room for some interplay on “Komatsu” and “Believe” both, and they even work a little (just a little) harmony into the quick “Gator,” which is not only about the 1973 Burt Reynolds film White Lightning, but actually features a sample that I assume is taken from the trailer as its only vocals. It seems to be all bassist Martijn Mansvelders and drummer Miriam Bekkers can do to keep the charm from simply devouring the song whole, but the uptempo metal chug of the rhythm manages to do just that.

“Comin'” sounds like partial homage to Queens of the Stone Age, but van Schenk Brill‘s vocals are coming from somewhere else entirely, especially during the verse, the start-stop choppiness of which is near industrial compared to the more straightforward rock groove of the chorus. Komatsu — whose name you’ve seen advertised around construction zones for years now — do well with the change, and seem never completely to align themselves with one genre or another, other perhaps than the overarching tag of “heavy,” which, you know, no complaints. To underscore their pop-culture charm, they finish the EP that bears their moniker with “Hail to the King,” which boasts their strongest chorus and most engaging blend of influences, like Dozer met with Prong or something like-mindedly hypermasculine.

The EP was released late last year — I’ll admit, they got in touch a good long time ago — so a follow-up may or may not already be in the works, but in any case, I figured they were worth a look if you haven’t encountered them yet and were looking for something a little tougher this evening than the usual bit of fuzz and roll. You can hit up Komatsu on their website or check out the EP stream from Bandcamp before you drop a line on Thee Facebooks and tell them I said hi and that I apologize for it taking so long for me to write on their tunes. Here’s that Bandcamp stream if you’re up for digging in:

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