Solo singer-songwriter Dee Calhoun, who also fronts Spiral Grave and counts Maryland doom legends Iron Man among a slew of others in his pedigree, will release his fourth album, Old Scratch Comes to Appalachia, through Argonauta Records on June 23. The record arrives concurrent to a short-story/novella collection — also available as an audiobook read by the author — that’s Calhoun‘s fifth published work, and as he also produced and engineered the album, performed as multi-instrumentalist and vocalist, it’s a complete narrative work overseen by a distinct vision of what Calhoun wants the tale to be and how he might want it told.

In continued allegiance with bassist “Iron Louis” Strachan and percussionist/sometimes vocalist/progeny Rob Calhoun, the singer who for years has had “Screaming Mad” appear before his name in Spiral Grave, Iron Man — for whom he also flirted with recording on 2012’s Att hålla dig över EP — and other outfits has it seems grown more methodical than the title would imply. “Old Scratch Comes to Appalachia,” the title-track of the record the video for which you can see premiering below, follows the storyline of the devil arriving in a small rural town at some point in the overall-wearing past and sets about making deals to trick people out of their souls and other devilish fun-pretend whatnot. You know, Satan stuff. The uzh, or however you spell it.

Animated by Chaos Cartoons, who also recently realized High Noon Kahuna‘s video for “Danger Noodle” (premiered here) — their Maryland bona fides well in check — the clip calls to mind some of the spooky brooding and grim landscapes that fellow ’90s products of a nerdy persuasion might liken to Vampire Hunter D, but the setting is part of the story here. As Mormonism asks what might’ve been had Jesus come to America — try the fish, but not too much of it or you’ll get poisoned — the clip for “Old Scratch Comes to Appalachia” resonates blues-of-eld vibes throughout its acoustimetal procession, Calhoun‘s singularly powerful vocals at the forefront as if by their very nature they could ever be anywhere else.

As regards solo work, this has been Calhoun‘s niche all along, but his fourth LP in seven years and the follow-up to 2020’s Godless (review here) sees Calhoun step into the storyteller role with increased surety and an instrumental confidence that’s grown bolder since 2016’s Rotgut (review here) and 2018’s Go to the Devil (review here), and the detailing in the background of “Old Scratch Comes to Appalachia” brings that into clear relief. It’s there in the richness of the acoustic strum, underscored and bolstered by the bassline with hand-drums backing as Calhoun goes into fire-and-brimstone mode before the song’s halfway point, Dee Calhoun coming to the precipice of being a band rather than a project, holding firm to unplugged dark-country and Baptist balladeering with the righteousness of the unreligious.

Calhoun notes below the banjo, shovel guitar and cigar box guitar used to flesh out the arrangement for “Old Scratch Comes to Appalachia.” That he’d be hearing those kinds of sonic details in writing and recording a song — that drive to put something there just because it feels right and the song wants it — speaks to the progression of his craftsmanship as a solo artist. A narrative concept LP based on a short story collection and accompanied by that and the audiobook, everything all tied together in that way, isn’t the kind of thing a frontman does their first time out. Calhoun has been building toward this all the while, and Old Scratch Comes to Appalachia is his most three-dimensional, textured work yet.

Video premiere below, followed by more from the PR wire.

Please enjoy:

Dee Calhoun, “Old Scratch Comes to Appalachia” video premiere

Dee Calhoun on “Old Scratch Comes to Appalachia”:

“Old Scratch Comes to Appalachia” is a story of the dark one riding the rails to collect souls from the small corners of the world. It illustrates how the line between what’s good and what’s evil can be blurred once corruption has taken hold. The instrumentation of the song features a lot of elements to really give the song a dark, backwoods kind of feel; shovel guitar, cigar box guitars, and even a banjo make an appearance.

The animation was done by Troy Darr with Chaos Cartoons, and I am thrilled with the job he did. It’s my first time seeing one of my stories in visual form, and it was great to watch it all come together in that form.

Coming on June 23rd, the album will coincide with the release of Dee’s fifth book, “Old Scratch Comes to Appalachia (four devilish novelettes).” CD1 of the two-disc set will feature ten songs, while CD2 will feature the audiobook of the title novelette, read by the author.

Written during COVID lockdowns, the songs on OSCtA include a number of non-traditional stringed instruments such as cigar box guitars, shovel guitars, and diddley bows. Again joining Dee are bassist Louis Strachan and percussionist Rob Calhoun (who sings lead vocals on two tracks).

“Old Scratch Comes to Appalachia” will be released by Argonauta Records on CD and DIGITAL, and “Old Scratch Comes to Appalachia (four devilish novelettes)” will be available from Kindle Direct Publishing, each on June 23rd.

TRACKLIST:
1. The Day the Rats Came to Town
2. Verachte Diese Hure
3. A Wish in the Darkness
4. New Modern World
5. Conjured
6. Pulse
7. Self-Inflicted
8. Stand With Me
9. All I Need is One
10. Old Scratch Comes to Appalachia

Dee Calhoun on Facebook

Dee Calhoun on Instagram

Dee Calhoun website

Argonauta Records website

Argonauta Records on Facebook

Argonauta Records on Instagram

Argonauta Records on Bandcamp

It’s not the devil going down to Georgia, but maybe not so far off in basic concept of Beelzebub taking in the sights. As to what said antichrist does in Appalachia — aside presumably from enjoying the gorgeousness and palpable wisdom of the old rolling mountains themselves, greened over in communion with the world around them — I guess we’ll have to read the new book and listen to the new album from Dee Calhoun. Both are titled titled Old Scratch Comes to Appalachia — cross-media synergy! — and the record comes with the audiobook, with Calhoun himself doing the read. Dude gets to add ‘voice actor’ to an already well-populated CV.

Pretty astonishing that Dee has been doing solo stuff long enough now that his son, Rob Calhoun, has gone from being the kid on the record to being basically part of the band, singing lead twice here. Dee‘s stuff has never been and will never be for everybody, but I dig him and so I’ll try to cover Old Scratch Comes to Appalachia if I get the chance. Fingers crossed and so on.

From the PR wire:

DEE CALHOUN (SPIRAL GRAVE singer and the final voice of doom legends IRON MAN) announces new album “Old Scratch Comes to Appalachia”

Singer/songwriter/author Dee Calhoun – the voice of Spiral Grave and the final voice of doom legends Iron Man – has announced the release of “Old Scratch Comes to Appalachia,” his fourth solo album.

Coming on June 23rd, the album will coincide with the release of Dee’s fifth book, “Old Scratch Comes to Appalachia (four devilish novelettes).” CD1 of the two-disc set will feature ten songs, while CD2 will feature the audiobook of the title novelette, read by the author.

Written during COVID lockdowns, the songs on OSCtA include a number of non-traditional stringed instruments such as cigar box guitars, shovel guitars, and diddley bows. Again joining Dee are bassist Louis Strachan and percussionist Rob Calhoun (who sings lead vocals on two tracks).

“Old Scratch Comes to Appalachia” will be released by Argonauta Records on CD and DIGITAL, and “Old Scratch Comes to Appalachia (four devilish novelettes)” will be available from Kindle Direct Publishing, each on June 23rd.

TRACKLIST:
1. The Day the Rats Came to Town
2. Verachte Diese Hure
3. A Wish in the Darkness
4. New Modern World
5. Conjured
6. Pulse
7. Self-Inflicted
8. Stand With Me
9. All I Need is One
10. Old Scratch Comes to Appalachia

https://www.facebook.com/screamingmaddee/
https://www.instagram.com/screamingmaddee/
www.screamingmaddee.com

www.argonautarecords.com
www.facebook.com/ArgonautaRecords
https://www.instagram.com/argonautarecords/
https://argonautarecords.bandcamp.com/

Dee Calhoun, Old Scratch Comes to Appalachia teaser

Having spent a goodly portion of this year on tour, including playing the Snowblind Festival last month, appearing at Monolith on the Mesa and more, doom rock legends The Obsessed have signed a deal to release their next album — the follow-up to 2017’s Sacred (review here), which came out through Relapse — via Ripple Music sometime in the New Year.

Word just came down the PR wire and the band, led as ever by Scott “Wino” Weinrich with mainstay drummer Brian Costantino behind, restructured their lineup earlier this year to include second guitarist Jason Taylor (Sierra) and bassist Chris Angleberger, resulting in a road-ready four-piece who’ll also look to return to Europe in 2023, having already been announced for Desertfest Berlin in the Spring and Freak Valley Festival in the summer. Having a new record to support would be a fitting occasion to go.

So, more to come. Worth noting as well that Ripple released the last Wino solo album, so there’s prior experience collaborating there, and the label’s other most recent pickup, Hermano (info here), also included a legendary player in vocalist John Garcia. Clearly, for the US, Ripple has become something of a powerhouse outlet for the heavy underground. Makes me really glad it’s not run by assholes.

Here’s the announcement:

Doom metal godfathers THE OBSESSED sign to Ripple Music for their new studio album release in 2023!

Californian heavy rock and metal powerhouse Ripple Music is proud to welcome iconic doom metal veterans THE OBSESSED to its ever-expanding roster for the release of the band’s awaited fifth studio album in 2023!

Led by legendary frontman Scott “Wino” Weinrich, a heavy music lifer admired and acclaimed by the likes of Dave Grohl, Pepper Keenan, Henry Rollins and Phil Anselmo, Maryland-based doom godfathers THE OBSESSED just inked a deal with Californian powerhouse Ripple Music for the release of their fifth studio album and eagerly anticipated follow-up to 2017’s “Sacred”.

About joining Ripple Music, the band says: “The Obsessed are really happy to be signing with Ripple Music and joining the great bands on their roster. We have already begun recording and we’re looking to be finished in January. Thanks to Todd and everyone at Ripple for this opportunity and we look forward to working with them on this release.”

Ripple Music founder Todd Severin adds: “Having had the honor of working with the legendary Wino on his solo album, you can only imagine how thrilled I was when he came to me with the idea of a new album by The Obsessed. The band are doom legends, having contributed mightily to the doom template that we all love today. Can’t wait to unleash this album upon the world.”

Ripple Music will soon unveil more details about The Obsessed new album, stay tuned!

THE OBSESSED was formed in the late 1970s in Potomac, Maryland by legendary guitarist Scott “Wino” Weinrich (Saint Vitus, Spirit Caravan). The band spawned in the realm of musicians/artists such as Black Sabbath, Frank Zappa, The Dictators, and The Stooges. The earliest lineup consisted of Wino, bassist Mark Laue, guitarist John Reese, and drummer Dave Flood. In 1983, Wino took over vocal duties and the band became a three-piece to record the Sodden Jackal EP.
The band broke up in the late ’80s after Wino moved to California to join Saint Vitus. At that time, a German label, Hellhound Records, and the booking agency that had signed Saint Vitus, released The Obsessed, originally recorded in 1985, prompting Wino to reform THE OBSESSED. After multiple lineup changes, the band signed to Columbia Records in 1994 to release their third and final album, The Church Within. Despite highly acclaimed reviews, THE OBSESSED would breakup following the release, seeing Wino forming Spirit Caravan (then Shine) and other projects.

In September 2011, THE OBSESSED returned to the stage at Roadburn Festival with The Church Within’s legendary lineup (featuring Wino, Greg Rogers, and Guy Pinhas). The band played a few more reunion shows over the next couple years at Hellfest Open Air 2012 and Maryland Deathfest XI in May 2013 with bassist Reid Raley.

Wino announced the full-time return of THE OBSESSED in March 2016 and the band’s official signing to Relapse Records to record the follow up to The Church Within. The new lineup originally consisted of Spirit Caravan bassist Dave Sherman and Wino’s longtime friend and former road crew member Brian Costantino (drums). On October 31st, 2016, Wino announced another new lineup change for THE OBSESSED, including Bruce Falkinburg (bass) and Seraphim (guitar), making that the first time the band had been a four piece in over thirty-five years.

In 2017, THE OBSESSED unleashed Sacred, the band’s first studio album in over twenty years, further pushing the band into the annals of heavy metal history. After a few years on the road, the lineup stabilized around Brian Cnstantino on drums, Chris Angleberger on bass, Jason Taylor on guitar, and Wino at the helm.

THE OBSESSED line-up:
Chris Angleberger – bass and vocals
Jason Taylor – guitar and vocals
Brian Costantino – drums
Scott “Wino” Weinrich – guitar and vocals

http://www.facebook.com/TheObsessedOfficial
https://www.instagram.com/theobsessedofficial/
https://theobsessed.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/theripplemusic/
https://www.instagram.com/ripplemusic/
https://ripplemusic.bandcamp.com/
http://www.ripple-music.com/

The Obsessed, Sacred (2017)

However you want to take this, I read Mythosphere‘s new lyric video as a reminder to anyone who hasn’t yet checked out their debut album, Pathological (review here), to do so, please and thank you. The offering that brings together guitarist/vocalist Dana Ortt (Pale Divine, ex-Beelzefuzz), bassist Ron “Fezz” McGinnis (Pale Divine, Admiral Browning, so many more), drummer Darin McCloskey (Pale Divine, ex-Beelzefuzz) and Connecticut-based lead guitarist Victor Arduini (Fates Warning, Arduini/Balich, etc.) issued Pathological just last week, and though the modern model of release promotion seems to be ‘months of hype beforehand followed by either nothing or touring, depending on the band,’ it’s encouraging to see an act like Mythosphere — who likely won’t be out on the road for months at a time — find a way to get something out to add to the momentum coming off the release.

I’ve been in something of a bind as regards Pathological, and it’s forced my hand in terms of what I consider a debut full-length this year. Three of these guys play together in Pale Divine, and the lineage from Ortt and McCloskey‘s time in Beelzefuzz is writ large in Mythosphere‘s sound — not a complaint, mind you — even with Arduini adding metallic shred to the mix. Given their prior familiarity with each other, is Pathological still a first album, or some kind of extension of what they’ve done before? A branch or a new tree?

To an embarrassing degree, I’ve been back and forth on this question, and really the only reason it can even pretend to matter is thinking of where to place it in terms of 2022’s best debut albums come list-time next month. Because if it is a debut, it’s most definitely high on the list of the year’s finest. But Mythosphere aren’t the only former-members-of band to release a first record in 2022, and if I count them, it wouldn’t be fair to not also include the work of others born from similar circumstance. Ultimately, I’ve decided to err on the side of inclusion — which I think is a decent policy across the board — and if it’s one more chance for someone to catch on to what Pathological has to offer because they saw it here instead of there in a year-end post, so much the better. What are we doing here otherwise?

These are, sadly, the kinds of things that keep me up at night. In any case, I’m glad to have the excuse to post about Pathological again after the release. You’ll find the full album streaming at the bottom of this post — the band played a release show this past weekend in Frederick, Maryland, in the friendly company of Severed Satellites and High Noon Kahuna — for further digging.

Please enjoy:

Mythosphere, “For No Other Eye” lyric video

U.S. Progressive/Psychedelic Metal quartet MYTHOSPHERE – featuring past and present members of Pale Divine, Beezlefuzz and Fates Warning – have released a lyric video for “For No Other Eye,” a track from debut album Pathological. Check it out at youtu.be/TUL8GZsJlf8

Pathological was released November 18 on CD, vinyl, and digital formats via Cruz Del Sur Music. The album can be streamed in its entirety at:
mythosphere.bandcamp.com/album/pathological

Purchase Pathological:
CD: tinyurl.com/2xwr74c5
LIMITED EDITION GOLD VINYL (LMT 100): tinyurl.com/5aa3zb7c
LIMITED EDITION MARBLED VIOLET VINYL (LMT 200): tinyurl.com/b79n5h9d
REGULAR BLACK VINYL: tinyurl.com/bdcunb9u
BANDCAMP: mythosphere.bandcamp.com/releases

Line-up:
Dana Ortt – Vocals/guitar
Victor Arduini – Guitar
Ron McGinnis – Bass
Darin McCloskey – Drums

Mythosphere, Pathological (2022)

Mythosphere, “Pathological” official video

Mythosphere on Facebook

Mythosphere on Bandcamp

Cruz Del Sur Music on Facebook

Cruz Del Sur Music on Instagram

Cruz del Sur Music website

[Click play above to stream Mythosphere’s Pathological in full. Album is out Nov. 18 on Cruz Del Sur Music with preorders here.]

If Mythosphere‘s Pathological is Maryland doom — and it’s definitely that, at least in part — then it’s among the finest debut albums that venerable scene has produced. But then, of course, the band is new but the players are more familiar. Fronted by guitarist/vocalist Dana Ortt, formerly of Beelzefuzz, then Righteous Bloom, then Beelzefuzz again, then also Pale Divine, the band features drummer Darin McCloskey — who co-founded Pale Divine and has his own pedigree, but made the Beelzefuzz journey as well — bassist Ron “Fezz” McGinnis, known for his work in Admiral Browning, Thonian Horde, Bailjack, and others including also Pale Divine, and guitarist Victor Arduini.

The latter comprises the non-Chesapeake Region contingent of Mythosphere, as he’s based in Connecticut, and has a CV going back to the start of Fates Warning circa 1984, including more recently his work in Entierro and Arduini/Balich, and his solo parts are distinguished in class and the sharp-edged metallic traditionalism of his shred, while the punch he seems to bring to rhythm tracks adds impact to what one might expect from Ortt‘s riffing as well given his prior outfit, which ended up with two guitars by the time they were done too (it was Pale Divine‘s Greg Diener in Beelzefuzz‘s final incarnation, as if another connection was needed to make the point).

So is Mythosphere a new band or a continuation of the same voyage on a different path? It’s not the first time I’ve asked this question this year, and it doesn’t seem impossible that the covid-19 pandemic played a role on some level in the reshuffling, the starting of a new project born out of the old, and so on. Ortt offers a tour de force performance on vocals throughout Pathological‘s eight-track/35-minute run, with his voice soaring and theatrical in a way that is both classic metal and cult rock, controlled in its delivery but able to jump up to a higher note at the end of a word or phrase in a way that is exciting and demonstrates how little is actually out of his reach as a singer.

He and Arduini complement each other surprisingly well in the recording/mix by Noel Mueller at Tiny Castle Studios (also Grimoire Records, which one assumes isn’t releasing Mythosphere because of these players’ prior association with Cruz Del Sur), with differentiation between them that is in songs like “Walk in Darkness” or the earlier single “King’s Call to Arms” the difference between electric and acoustic guitar; the latter which is used to emphasize a folkish strum highlighting the lyrical storytelling, a kind of medievalism in theme that feels born out of the music itself rather than laid on top of it.

The album begins with “Ashen Throne,” and acoustic is immediately a part of the fray along with an electric rhythm track and a lead track over the so-solid-they-should-make-construction-company-style-t-shirts-as-a-rhythm-section — ‘groove you can rely on’ comes to mind as a slogan (a political campaign-style shirt would also work) — efforts of McCloskey/McGinnis, the latter of whom emerges in a final salvo of the three shorter tracks “Star Crossed,” “No Halo” and “Through the Night” with essential tonal punch. A fluid blending of these elements, bolstered by (some of) the players’ prior experience together and further strengthened by the depth of craft in the songwriting.

One does not need to know the output of Beelzefuzz, or Pale Divine, or Entierro, or any of the members’ other various units to understand where Mythosphere are coming from, in part because the approach the new band takes is so individualized. But it doesn’t hurt, either. From “Ashen Throne” through the sleek chugging of “For No Other Eye,” a mellow-heavy roll that leaves plenty of open space for both the lead guitar and the vocal melodies to fill, which they do, and into the more urgent jabs of and solo angularity of the title-track, Pathological is in some ways the record that Beelzefuzz were always working toward but never had the chance to manifest, and thinking of it as the manifestation of more than a decade’s worth of reshuffling and development since that band got their start around 2011, the maturity and the sureness with which Mythosphere offer these songs makes sense.

But it’s not like “King’s Call to Arms” is too inward to bring the listener along as it marches off to who knows what battle, or like the hook of “Star Crossed” won’t resonate its classic metal vibe if you don’t know Arduini‘s prior work and where all that ripping soloing is coming from — Ortt also adds leads, Arduini also plays rhythm tracks; it is not quite as stark a division of duties as you-do-this and you-do-that — but you can hear when that extra layer of a guitar solo enters in “Walk in Darkness” or the amid the NWOBHM gallop in the penultimate “No Halo,” though admittedly in the latter, the lead guitar is more of a constant than something that comes and goes (not a complaint, considering). Mythosphere manage to be their own thing, a project and the beginning of a progression separate from its own past but not entirely ignoring it.

A key difference is in dynamic. The guitar-as-organ tonality that’s a signature of Ortt‘s methods as much as his soaring vocals is present here, as well as the kind of bouncing style of riff in “King’s Call to Arms,” “Walk in Darkness,” etc., but like the acoustic guitar (and it feels like less than the acoustic, but I hope you’ll forgive me if I spare myself plotting out percentages), it is used for flourish more than foundation. A thread of guitar chug — and really, in focusing so much on the guitar, one isn’t trying to detract from what McGinnis and McCloskey do on bass and drums; they hold it down and it’s just never a question; relax they’ll take care of it — shows up as “Ashen Throne” smooths out from its noodlier beginning, and becomes a recurring theme, and even as “Through the Night” rounds out with what feels like a daring and perhaps subliminal nod to ’80s-era Dio, part of what ties it to the rest of Pathological before it, in addition to the acoustics brought back to the forefront of the mix and the fluidity of the groove overall is the capturing of tension in that chug.

Melodically, rhythmically, in its construction and presentation, Mythosphere‘s first full-length — first release of any kind apart from a limited CD sampler that featured some of its tracks sold at Maryland Doom Fest earlier this year — is a triumph of substance and style. It is apart from the current wave of traditionalist metal rising in generational throwback fashion, but relevant to it, and it is of doom without losing the progressive thoughtfulness of its arrangements either of guitar or vocals, or even the level of detail that makes the snare in “Ashen Throne” such a punctuating wake up. One of 2022’s best debuts, if that’s how it’s to be counted, and at the same time it pays off a decade-plus of creative growth for Ortt, it refuses to look anywhere but forward at its own potential to push even further.

Mythosphere, “Pathological” official video

Mythosphere on Facebook

Mythosphere on Bandcamp

Cruz Del Sur Music on Facebook

Cruz Del Sur Music on Instagram

Cruz del Sur Music website

Catching their breath for a moment coming off tours in July and September into earlier this month, The Obsessed will be back on the road starting Nov. 2 at Space Ballroom in Hamden, CT — nice spot to see a show — and running to and through a slot at the Snowblind Festival in Atlanta, Georgia, before finishing in York, PA, on the 17th. There’s one show still TBA, but honestly, even if nothing gets locked up for it at this point, after two solid weeks of playing every night, no one could accuse the band of not having earned a night off, especially when that involves travel from Static Age Records in Asheville (also a cool spot; I was there one time in 2009), North Carolina, to Pennsylvania for the next show. That’s a bit over eight hours by car or van, without stops. Breaking it into two days, it could almost be pleasant.

There’s apparently also a Wino documentary coming out and you can see the trailer for that at the bottom of this post, along with a live set from Long Beach, CA, in September, when The Obsessed were touring around their gig at Monolith on the Mesa in New Mexico. They get around.

To wit:

THE OBSESSED – November Tour

Our next tour is only a few weeks away! Shows in Florida, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina and Pennsylvania have just been added. Super last minute so help us spread the word and we’ll see you all on the road!

11.2.22 Hamden, CT Space Ballroom
11.3.22 Providence, RI Alchemy
11.4.22 Worcester, MA Ralph’s Rock Diner
11.5.22 Portland, ME Geno’s Rock Club
11.6.22 Brooklyn, NY Sovereign
11.7.22 Manchester, NH Shaskeen Pub
11.8.22 Amityville, NY Amityville Music Hall
11.9.22 Columbus, OH Ace of Cups with MOTHERSHIP
11.10.22 Charlotte, NC The Milestone Club
11.11.22 Huntsville, AL Shagnasty’s Grubbery and Pour House with PENTAGRAM
11.12.22 Atlanta, GA Snowblind Festival
11.13.22 Tampa, FL at Brass Mug
11.14.22 Jacksonville, FL Archetype
11.15.22 Asheville, NC at Static Age Records
11.16.22 TBA
11.17.22 York, PA at The Kennel at West York Inn

We’re on a mission to hit up the whole country. See you all out on the Tombstone Highway!

Poster by Bill Kole.

THE OBSESSED are:
Chris Angleberger (Tranquilizer): bass
Jason Taylor (Sierra, Witches of God): guitar
Brian Costantino: drums
Wino: guitar and vocals

http://www.facebook.com/TheObsessedOfficial
https://www.instagram.com/theobsessedofficial/
https://theobsessed.bandcamp.com/

http://www.relapse.com
http://www.relapserecords.bandcamp.com
http://www.facebook.com/RelapseRecords
http://www.twitter.com/RelapseRecords

The Obsessed, Live at Alex’s Bar, Long Beach, CA, Sept. 24, 2022

Wino: The Documentary official trailer

Couple different angles from which to approach Mythosphere, whether you take them as three-fourths of the current lineup of Cruz Del Sur Music labelmates Pale Divine or half of the band that was Beelzefuzz coming together with guitarist Victor Arduini of Arduini/Balich and Entierro, among others. Any way you go, the trad metal clarity of purpose in the songwriting and guitar and folkish mystique in Dana Ortt‘s vocals makes for a fascinating and immediately individualized blend. The band previously premiered their video for “King’s Call to Arms” here when they announced they’d signed with Cruz Del Sur, and preorders have now launched for their debut full-length, Pathological, ahead of a Nov. 18 release date.

Cool record. Works from familiar pieces but thankfully avoids both “true metal” posturing and sounding like everything else. I assume another song or two will be unveiled before the album itself, but if you missed that “King’s Call to Arms” video, it’s under the PR wire info below, along with a new teaser that’s handy-dandy shareable on the old-style social medias.

Check it out:

Mythosphere – “Pathological” to be released on Nov 18

Past and present members of Beezlefuzz, Fates Warning and Pale Divine team up in new band that marries pure metal with rich, progressive rock flourishes!

On their Pathological debut album, Mythosphere e re-ignites the flame of classic, emotional metal with eight songs of depth, introspection and harmony.

PRE-ORDER CD: https://tinyurl.com/2xwr74c5
PRE-ORDER LIMITED EDITION GOLD VINYL (LMT 100): https://tinyurl.com/5aa3zb7c
PRE-ORDER LIMITED EDITION MARBLED VIOLET VINYL (LMT 200): https://tinyurl.com/b79n5h9d
PRE-ORDER REGULAR BLACK VINYL: https://tinyurl.com/bdcunb9u
BANDCAMP: https://mythosphere.bandcamp.com/

Pathological track listing:
1. Ashen Throne
2. King’s Call to Arms
3. For No Other Eye
4. Pathological
5. Walk in Darkness
6. Star Crossed
7. No Halo
8. Through the Night

MYTHOSPHERE’s origins began in 2020 when Ortt and McCloskey started working on material intended to be the continuation of BEELZEFUZZ. Their songs came to fruition in 2021 once the pandemic subsided, prompting Ortt to reach out to Arduini to lend his identifiable brand of lead guitar playing. McGinnis was the natural choice for bass, thus completing MYTHOSPHERE, an outfit steeped in traditional metal and doom history that promises to live up to its lofty billing.

Recorded & Mixed by Noel Mueller at: Tiny Sound Studios
Mastered by Arthur Risk
Produced by Noel Mueller & Mythosphere

Logo by Shane Rice
Front & Back Cover Design by Bill Kole
Photos by Shane Gardner
Layout by Tamara Abarzua-Valencia

Mythosphere lineup:
Dana Ortt: Vocals/guitar
Victor Arduini – Guitar
Ron McGinnis – Bass
Darin McCloskey – Drums

https://www.facebook.com/Mythosphere-103752001922863
https://mythosphere.bandcamp.com/

cruzdelsurmusic.com
facebook.com/cruzdelsurmusic
cruzdelsurmusic.bandcamp.com

Mythosphere, Pathological teaser

Mythosphere, “King’s Call to Arms” official video

The outpouring of love for Dave “Sherm” Sherman — centered around but not at all limited to his home scene in Frederick, Maryland — that’s been happening since his death earlier this week has been beautiful to see. Yesterday and the day before, people from all over have been compelled to tell their own Sherm stories, and some of them have been pretty good. The members of a grieving community comforting each other and themselves. It’s the most human of things. Dave Sherman was the beating heart of Maryland doom. I’ve said that before. I still believe it.

I have to imagine that when Sherman’s work is remembered, the 2000 self-titled EP from Earthride will be on plenty of players of one sort or another. Self-released under the banner of Earth Brain Records — it would be reissued as a 10″ through Land o’ Smiles in 2007 and on remastered CD through Totem Cat in 2012 — and recorded by Chris Kozlowski (R.I.P. 2021) at the Polar Bear Layer in Middletown, MD, the first Earthride release happened while Sherman was still playing bass in Spirit Caravan. Joining the former Wretched frontman in the new band (who had gotten together a few years earlier in 1997, concurrent to Shine’s demos) at the time were guitarist Kyle Van Steinburg, bassist Joe Ruthvin and drummer Eric Little, and the band’s purpose and mission statement was put front and center in the opening, eponymous “Earthride.” Say the lines with me:

“So loud/So alive/All heavy/The earthride.”

That song, first of the four on the 23-minute EP, is the perfect introduction to the band. Two basic riffs, a fast one and a slow one, play off each other and cycle through twice before a switch to an extended bridge/solo with an even more choice groove before doubling back. The lyrics are about riding a motorcycle. It’s simple enough to be punk, and in its pulse you can hear The Obsessed, Pentagram, Motörhead, early C.O.C., and of course Black Sabbath — the part under Van Steinburg’s solo is basically “War Pigs” — but the impression is immediately individual owing to Sherman’s gritty, throaty voice and the warm density of the tones surrounding. Earthride would essentially build off this formula for the rest of their tenure — that’s a gross simplification, of course, but on 2002’s Taming of the Demons, 2005’s Vampire Circus (discussed here) and 2010’s Something Wicked (review here), the band would make “Earthride” definitive in that it defined the direction of who they were.

And in the case of Earthride as relates to the many, many other projects in which Sherman was involved in either a creative, supporting or guesting capacity, this was his band. Not Wino’s, not anyone else’s. Over time, even more than his work in Spirit Caravan, the prior Wretched, the later Weed is Weed, King Valley, Galactic Cross, his collaborations with Bobby Liebling of Pentagram, Hank Williams III and more players from the Maryland doom underground than I have space to name, Earthride became an extension of Sherman’s larger-than-life persona, and it could be hard to tell where the band ended and he began. This self-titled is the genesis of that. I don’t think it’s Earthride’s best work — take your pick between the albums; there are arguments to be made in favor of all three — but it represents a special moment in what was a special life that ended too soon.

“Earthride,” “Black,” the instrumental “Enter Zacfreyalz” and the longer closer “Weak End,” with its anti-suicide lyric, are prescient of heavy music’s celebration of itself. To listen to the riff and playfully cultish vocals of “Black,” the conversation happening between classic doom and the heavy rock taking shape at the time feels relevant today in no small part because it’s so self-aware. Earthride knew where they were coming from, what their music was intended to honor in terms of style. Doom for doomers. Heavy for heavy. If this showed up on Bandcamp these 22 years later as a new release, it’d probably do better than it did the first time around.

“Black” holds to a middle tempo but swells in volume behind its two guitar solos. In it and the slower, low-endier “Enter Zacfreyalz” — there’s an extra layer there of something; is it bass? keys? guitar? — the influence of Sherman’s work alongside Scott “Wino” Weinrich in Spirit Caravan is present and accounted for, and that association would likewise continue to define Earthride’s work even as the band came further into its own. Van Steinburg’s bluesy solo in “Black” likewise presages that process, which seemed to most manifest in Something Wicked, but the shuffle and nod of “Enter Zacfreyalz” speak to Earthride’s standing apart from Sherman’s then-concurrent outfit as well, and the return of tempo changes between the verses and chorus in “Weak End,” the sneering delivery of “Do you think I care” as the hook begins, works once more to establish patterns that the band would have for the rest of Sherman’s life. Again, I’m not saying this is the best thing Earthride ever did — though I’ve no doubt some will say it is, and I can’t imagine why on earth I’d fight the issue — but as a starting point for listeners it’s basically the band taking you to school and telling you who they are.

JB Matson — also of Maryland Doom Fest, Outside Truth, War Injun, Knoxxville, the newer band Bloodshot (whose record is a ripper, by the way) — has begun to put together a benefit for Sherman’s family in the wake of his passing. This is par for the course down there; Maryland doom takes care of its own. No lineup has been announced for the Nov. 12 show, but it’s hard to imagine anyone playing it who wouldn’t absolutely leave their hearts on the stage, and invariably that’s the best tribute to Sherman one could make. Info on that show is here and when the lineup is revealed I’ll make a separate post for it: https://www.facebook.com/events/1019802608697365

Even if Sherman or his music never touched your life — difficult as it is to imagine, it wouldn’t have been possible for him to meet everyone — if it was before your time, after, or you just never cared, at the very least, this was someone whose life was defined in no small part by his love of music and making music. That is a significant loss in itself, before you even get to the actual work, which might be the best way to remember him.

As always, I hope you enjoy. Thanks for reading.

—

School started this week. I damn near napped.

It was not the summer we’d planned. It became the Summer of Pivot after The Pecan got the boot from camp after a whopping three days, but he and I spent a lot, a lot, a lot of time together, and I don’t regret that, even as I watch some of my own unfortunate personality traits — my exasperation, my givenness to frustration and my anxiety, to be specific — manifest in his personality. He’s here now, in the bathtub, talking about the two lines we had to wait on to take the train at the Bronx Zoo… like, two years ago. These are the kinds of things we talk about. Moments ago it was why it would be a bad idea to run the propellers of his remote control speedboat on his penis. Real life.

But the upwards of three hours in a day between the bus and his actual school day are nice to have on my end, and he seems to appreciate being around other kids again, which is more important, so school it is. He’ll be five next month. Days drag, years sprint. He’s potty trained. That was my accomplishment this summer. I also went to Freak Valley. That was big.

Speaking of big, I saw Rammstein at Giants Stadium this week and that was a trip. I missed them when they came through in 2010 and probably wouldn’t have gone this time either, but my sister has Jets tickets and so got a discount. She, my mother and I went. What a blast. I didn’t review it but it was a pretty incredible event. The lights, the fire, the fireworks, etc., but also the songs that have been stuck in my head all week: “Engel,” “Ich Will,” “Du Hast,” “Sonne,” the newer “Deutschland,” “Zeit,” and so on. Pretty solid performance and stage presence to go with all that spectacle. I’ll remember it fondly as I remember seeing them in 2001 at Hammerstein Ballroom some 21 years ago.

That and Stöner back to back meant two nights in a row of not-festival shows for the first time in years, but the latter being so close to my house made that more doable and it apparently wasn’t so much that I’m not going to go see King Buffalo tonight in Connecticut, so there you go.

Review of that on Monday, and then next week is full. I think the Curse the Son reissue stream is in there somewhere, though I’m not 100 percent sure off the top of my head. There’s other stuff. I wanted to review the Tau record ahead of its release. Not gonna happen. I doubt anyone was holding their breath, but still, I was hoping to get that done. So it goes.

Quarterly Review starts week after next. Two weeks, 100 releases again. After that, my head starts shifting into year-end mode for real.

I have some more writing to do today, so I’m going to leave it there. I hope you have a great and safe weekend. Have fun, watch your head, all that stuff. It’s getting to be a little cooler here during the day. I hope you’re feeling a bit of relief from the heat as well where you are. And please remember even at your lowest that you have value and you are loved and your life touches other lives.

Thanks for reading.

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