Posted in Bootleg Theater on September 21st, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Oxford-based heavy burl riffers Desert Storm released their sixth full-length, Death Rattle (review here), earlier this year through APF Records. This is the second video premiere I’ve done from the record — the first was with the review, which is why I’m not spamming you with the link right now — behind that for “Bad Trip,” and, well, if they asked me to do a third, I probably would.
Here’s why: Desert Storm are among the dudeliest bands I cover on this site. You hear Death Rattle or anything going back to their 2010 debut, Forked Tongues (review here) — that’s right, I’ve been writing about these guys for over 12 years now — and you have no doubt that the parties behind it are dudes. From the guttural vocals of Matthew Ryan through Ryan Cole‘s guitar, Matthew Dennett‘s bass and Elliot Cole‘s drumming, and across different lineups, they have been no less consistent in this regard than in the growing quality of their songwriting, their expanding creative reach, and their maturity as performers.
Gender issues and gender expression — the performance of gender — have come into my life recently in a way that I never anticipated, and I find I’m thinking about these things differently than I used to. What is masculine? What does femininity look like? I’ve had occasion to examine these questions from a new point of view, as a parent, as an adult, rather than being a young (or old) person trying to figure something out about myself. But I’ve never been particularly ‘manly.’ I can move furniture, because I’m big, but that’s about as far as it goes, and maybe I find Desert Storm‘s expressed hyper-dudeness as a kind of fascinating, unconscious declaration of themselves. They border on chestbeating, but I know they’re on the right side of the line there, because if they weren’t, I wouldn’t have had words to say about them for the last decade-plus. Helps when the band kicks ass, just about always.
“Salt of the Earth” crunches with force and purpose, and if you dig the clip premiering below — and I hope you do — the full Death Rattle stream is below, courtesy of Desert Storm‘s Bandcamp. The band’s Nov. live dates are in there as well.
Here you go:
Desert Storm, “Salt of the Earth” video premiere
Taken from Desert Storm’s new album Death Rattle, released by APF Records 31st March 2023.
“Salt of the Earth” Recorded and mixed at Woodworm Studios, Oxfordshire UK, between winter of 2021 and summer of 2022 by Steve “Geezer” Watkins. Mastered in September 2022 by Brad Boatright at Audiosiege, Portland OR, USA. All music written by Desert Storm. All lyrics writted by Matthew Ryan. Artwork design by David Paul Seymour. Layout by Dominic Sohor.
Desert Storm UK Tour Dates 23.09.23 | Bristol | The Gryphon 29.09.23 | Hull | Polar Bear Music Club 30.09.23 | Manchester | Riffolution Festival 05.01.24 | Southampton | The Joiners 06.01.24 | London | The Black Heart 07.01.24 | Sheffield | Corporation 23.03.24 | Oxford | Buried In Smoke Festival
Desert Storm is – Matthew Ryan – Vocals Ryan Cole – Guitars Elliot Cole – Drums & Percussion Matthew Dennett – Bass
Having marked their 15th anniversary two years ago, Oxford semi-aggro heavy rockers Desert Storm will issue their sixth album, Death Rattle, on March 31 through respected purveyor APF Records. The occasion also brought some change, as concurrent to their celebratory tour — also supporting their last album, 2020’s Omens (discussed here) — the veteran outfit swapped bassists, bringing Matthew Dennett (also of Battalions) in to replace Chris Benoist, who’d been with them at least since 2010’s debut album, Forked Tongues (review here), and probably longer, and also stripped down their lineup, moving from two guitarists to one in bidding farewell to Chris White (who also handled keys, backing vocals and some bass).
That leaves vocalist Matthew Ryan, guitarist Ryan Cole and drummer Elliot Cole (the latter two, who, yes, are twins, also of Wall and the recently-hiatus’ed The Grand Mal) as the remaining founders of a band that up till that point had managed to keep its lineup steady all the while. Longtime followers of Desert Storm may note some shift in dynamic in the direct one-to-the-other in comparing the nine-song/47-minute Death Rattle to its predecessor, but anyone concerned about some lack of impact as a result of the missing guitar need not fret — it’s called layering, as heard in the layered lead lines of “Druid’s Heath” — as there’s still heavy to spare in Desert Storm‘s sound, and perhaps a bit more flexibility around that than there’s been previously.
But the truth is even that’s more a continuation of the steady expansion of sound that’s been taking place all the while in Desert Storm rather than some radical shift brought on by a specific event. That’s not to downplay what either Benoist or White brought to the band, just to say that Desert Storm have been about more than boozy Southern-style burl ‘n’ plunder for years now and Death Rattle continues to move forward. “Master of None” provides a reassuringly weighted opening, a big swing in the drums behind the relatively straightforward, stage-ready rocker, catchy and punchy in kind in its hook and hinting in the melody of its bridge at some of the range that fleshes out beginning with second track (and lead single) “Cheyne Stoking,” also the longest inclusion at 7:46.
With no shortage of crash and thud behind in Elliot Cole‘s drumming, building tension that’s carried over from the leadoff and opening wide as it moves into its midsection, the band move fluidly through a progressive-tinged bombast, Ryan audibly pushing himself vocally to add to the melody around the three-minute mark as much as he brings to the headbanger-chugging crunch just half a minute later after the next turn. “Death Rattle” has a hook of its own and is emblematic of many of the moves Desert Storm make throughout Death Rattle, whether it’s the way the later “Insomniac” bravely lets go of its massive, intense and guttural beginning to shift into a long and relatively minimal stretch before coming back not quite at full oomph for a long march and fadeout, or the acoustic-underpinned album centerpiece “Salt of the Earth,” with its trades in volume and intertwining layers of fuzz and melody.
As “Melatone” touches on post-rock in its own floating layers of guitar — if you told me White was actually on the record alongside Ryan Cole, I’d believe you, but the point about the more open sound stands — and echoes the patient intro and subdued finish of the earlier “Bad Trip” (video premiering below), the sense that Desert Storm are perhaps letting the songs breathe a bit more becomes all the more an essential facet of Death Rattle. Even set next to, say, “The Path of Most Resistance” from Omens, the band in their maturity seem comfortable in pulling back on the onslaught factor — in places, lest we forget the frustrated mania that launches “Insomniac” or the wash of crash behind the final chorus of “Cheyne Stoking,” let alone the payoff of “Bad Trip” itself — and that also lets the distinguishing fuzz of “Melatone” and the crush/drift duality of the penultimate “Self Deprecation” have a richer context in which to unfold. Death Rattle, then, becomes not a story of what Desert Storm have lost, but the manner in which they’ve been able to stay on the path of their overarching progression despite the changes in their makeup.
Taken as a whole, Death Rattle is their most expansive offering to date, and maintains the strength of songwriting that’s been so consistent throughout their career while stepping with characteristic boldness onto new-feeling stylistic ground. If there’s a hiccup in the material from bringing Dennett in on bass, I haven’t found it, and as the record unfolds from “Master of None” into the more complex fare that follows, the band come across as well in control of both where their material is going, how it’s getting there, and — perhaps most importantly — why.
They close Death Rattle with the 2:42 instrumental “New Dawn,” which sweeps in on atmospheric guitar and percussion that still has some density of stomp behind; a desert-bluesy vibe without being blues or desert rock. Acoustic guitar returns under the electrics and there’s a vague sense of threat in the tension of its more active parts, but the guitars let it go gently at around two and a half minutes in and Desert Storm finish in a way that’s not so much unlike “Rebirth” from the last album (save for not having vocals), but more efficiently establishes its mood.
It becomes an ending representative in affect if not a total summary of how Death Rattle functions, and underscores the point that Desert Storm, at this stage in their tenure, know who they are and what they want to do as a unit, even as that idea evolves with time. One tends to make note of titles that could be interpreted as endings for the band in question, and Death Rattle — recorded and mixed by Steve “Geezer” Watkins at Woodworm Studios in Oxfordshire — certainly fits that bill, but whether or not it’s last rites for Desert Storm personally, the scope and sense of craft they bring forth is a triumph for them as a group and feels like a level of realization they’ve been working toward for years now. If they keep it going, so much the better.
The video premiere for “Bad Trip” is on the player below, followed by some comment from the band, the preorder link, tour dates and whatnot from the PR wire.
Please enjoy:
Desert Storm, “Bad Trip” video premiere
Matthew Ryan on “Bad Trip”:
“What happened quite naturally during the writing process for Bad Trip, was something just clicked. The thoughts and emotions associated just felt so familiar. It was an obvious choice at the time. This is a Eulogy about a great man who the band knew fondly. March 2023 marks the tenth year of his premature passing, and so it felt fitting to pay tribute by releasing Death Rattle this month. He was a thinker, was studying philosophy and was a self-professed psychonaut. He joined us on tour in our formative years and we loved having him on the road. We admired him and cared a lot about him, has been in our thoughts and our liner notes, but it is high time we immortalised him through song. As we get older, we think about our life experiences as well as his own that he is missing out on. Not able to join us in the journey through life, to see us wed, with families, large milestones and celebrations. He is sorely missed. The title itself refers to a particularly hairy moment in his history where we learned that the intensity of blotter acid is far easier to regulate than that of concentrated liquid acid. It was understood that a single droplet would be sufficient for an intense hallucinogenic experience, however, to mark the final trip of the bottle, somebody decided to lick the glass pipette.”
Desert Storm is a four-piece progressive metal band, which has been wielding crushing riffs and grooves into earholes around the world for the past 15 years. 31st March 2023 will see the release of their new album ‘Death Rattle’ out worldwide on APF Records (Video Nasties, Possessor, Battalions). In 2023 they will tour extensively to support the release of ‘Death Rattle’.
DESERT STORM ‘DEATH RATTLE’ EUROPEAN TOUR 31.03.23 | UK | Oxford | o2 Academy 2 01.04.23 | NL | Arnhem | Willemeen 02.04.23 | BE | Retie | Cafe Bazaar 03.04.23 | DE | Hamburg | Bar 227 04.04.23 | NL | Den Haag | Paard Cafe 05.04.23 | NL | Eindhoven | Effenaar 06.04.23 | DE | Dresden | Chemiefabrik 07.04.23 | CZ | Prague | Modra Vopice 08.04.23 | SK | Kosice | Collosseum 09.04.23 | PL | Katowice | Katofonia 10.04.23 | DE | Furth | Kunstkeller 027 11.04.23 | BE | Antwerp | Kids Rhythm n blues kaffee 12.04.23 | DE | Aachen | Musikbunker 20.05.23 | UK | London | The Dome 08.09.23 | NO | Stavanger | Checkpoint Charlie 09.09.23 | NO | Sandnes | Tribute 10.09.23 | NO | Oslo | Brewgata 30.09.23 | UK | Manchester | Riffolution Festival 17.11.23 | NL | Amsterdam | The Cave 18.11.23 | NL | Coevorden | MFC
Desert Storm is – Matthew Ryan – Vocals Ryan Cole – Guitars Elliot Cole – Drums & Percussion Matthew Dennett – Bass
Posted in Whathaveyou on February 8th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Last year, Oxford four-piece Desert Storm celebrated their 15th anniversary, and the impending APF Records issue of their new album, Death Rattle, and the concurrent tour that starts with a March 31 hometown release show would seem to double-down on their commitment to the ideal. They’ve got a couple runs lined up throughout this year — they’ll be in Norway in September, the Netherlands in November, etc. — and that’s about right for the band, whose hard-hitting approach is reaffirmed amid a played-up progressive flourish in the new single “Cheyne Stoking,” for which you can see a fairly disturbing video at the bottom of this post.
I try not to be too superstitious generally, but my eyebrows always go up at least a little when a band inadvertently references a demise, since I tend to believe that all art is on some level about itself. There are a lot of final albums with death or departure in the title, is all. Plenty without, too, but if Death Rattle was to be the final statement from Desert Storm, the band by no means owe anyone anything. They’ve consistently put everything they’ve got into what they do, and if you can’t respect that I’ve got nothing for you. I haven’t heard the new album yet, but I look forward to doing so in good time.
Meanwhile, the PR wire has preorders, tour dates, and copious narrative, blessings and peace upon it:
DESERT STORM ANNOUNCE NEW ALBUM ‘DEATH RATTLE’
RELEASED 31ST MARCH 2023 (APF RECORDS) / SHARE FIRST SINGLE
Desert Storm is a four-piece progressive metal band, which has been wielding crushing riffs and grooves into earholes around the world for the past 15 years.
Hailing from Oxford, the city of screaming spires, Desert Storm deliver their own unique brand of heavy music. Their sound is loud, punishing and unforgiving, but also woven with elation and electrical ecstasy.
31st March 2023 will see the release of their new album ‘Death Rattle’ out worldwide on APF Records (Video Nasties, Possessor, Battalions). Vocalist Matt Ryan states, “Death Rattle is an album that leans to Desert Storm’s strengths in songwriting ability. It is cohesive and flows with each song telling an individual tale, bound by common topics throughout. Genre traversing, musically progressing from the extreme and hard to softer palettes, moments of the ethereal. The light and dark shades are synonymous with the Desert Storm sound, as that which is completely light or dark is neither truly without contrast. This is true also for the lyrics which span thematically. The core string section of two guitars and single bass are complemented by an array of other instruments throughout the album, but act as a solid foundation for heavy grooves and riffs. Death Rattle is best served loud.”
The album was recorded & mixed at the beautiful Woodworm Studios in Oxfordshire by Steve ‘Geezer’ Watkins. The studio used to be owned by legendary folk band Fairport Convention, and in recent years has seen the likes of Tony Iommi & Rob Halford recording there.
Once the album was recorded and mixed, it was sent to Portland, Oregon, USA for Brad Boatright at Audiosiege to master (Torche, Nails, High on Fire). The artwork is by David Paul Seymour & layout by Dominic Sohor.
Commenting on first single ‘Cheyne Stoking’, Matt adds, “Cheyne Stoking is about the death trip that occurs in all of us, moments before we die. As the pineal gland just straight dumps what DMT remains into the body to invoke the deepest dreamlike experience, otherwise referred to as the near-death experience. Lyrics drawing partially from ingestion of synthesized DMT and some imagination as it differs to what is reported of the actual death experience. Thoughts and memories come to the forefront of the mind, and it is reportedly like living everything all at once before the final curtain call. The lyrics are not cryptic, they quite explicitly describe what we imagine to be the experience. Cheyne stokes breathing is also known as the death rattle. This is where the breath becomes irregular and raspy in the final moments before death. This seemed a fitting title for the track and subsequently the album.”
In some towns you have a music scene to work with and in others, you have to make the scene around you. Desert Storm built the Oxford scene themselves. Launched into the world in 2007, Desert Storm’s mix of progressive metal and stoner doom was underpinned with a driving, pure rock ‘n’ roll strut. It’s a formula which makes for a reliably arse-kicking band.
After testing the waters with their 2008 self-titled EP, Desert Storm truly came into their own in time for their debut full length, Forked Tongues in 2010; a radically tighter band on said record and finally beginning to capture the force of their live shows. It’s an upward trend that carried through their two follow ups Horizontal Life and Omniscient respectively.
Perhaps that evolution in sound on record is through their consistency in touring. Always taking their wares on the road, operation Desert Storm has been in full effect on tours with the likes of Karma to Burn and Nashville Pussy, as well as when sharing the stage with bands such as Orange Goblin, Weedeater and The Atomic Bitchwax.
By the time of 2018’s Sentinels [APF011], Desert Storm had found a refined sound. More “oomph” driving the power behind the band than in any previous outing, tastier riffs and more viscidity throughout the record, it captured a band at the top of their game; road hardened and ready to get stuck in. Whether it’s the springy, stoner stomp of ‘Drifter’, or the verging on thrash moments seen in ‘Too Far Gone’ or everything in between, this was THE Desert Storm album so far.
But we didn’t bet against them topping those heights when the next album came around, and we were right not to do so. 2020’s Omens became their piece de la resistance. In 2022 Desert Storm won an HRH Award, in the Stoner Lords category, beating off stiff competition from Black Rainbows, Kadavar and Green Lung.
Unable to tour it due to the pandemic, work commenced on a new record which has resulted in ‘Death Rattle’, their greatest effort yet.
Over the years Desert Storm have been out on countless headline tours and have toured and shared the stages across the UK & Europe with many incredible bands including Crowbar, Orange Goblin, Karma To Burn, Red Fang, Corrosion of Conformity, CKY, American Headcharge, Conjurer and Raging Speedhorn to name a few. In 2023 they will tour extensively to support the release of ‘Death Rattle’.
DESERT STORM ‘DEATH RATTLE’ EUROPEAN TOUR 31.03.23 | UK | Oxford | o2 Academy 2 01.04.23 | NL | Arnhem | Willemeen 02.04.23 | BE | Retie | Cafe Bazaar 03.04.23 | DE | Hamburg | Bar 227 04.04.23 | NL | Den Haag | Paard Cafe 05.04.23 | NL | Eindhoven | Effenaar 06.04.23 | DE | Dresden | Chemiefabrik 07.04.23 | CZ | Prague | Modra Vopice 08.04.23 | SK | Kosice | Collosseum 09.04.23 | PL | Katowice | Katofonia 10.04.23 | DE | Furth | Kunstkeller 027 11.04.23 | BE | Antwerp | Kids Rhythm n blues kaffee 12.04.23 | DE | Aachen | Musikbunker 20.05.23 | UK | London | The Dome 08.09.23 | NO | Stavanger | Checkpoint Charlie 09.09.23 | NO | Sandnes | Tribute 10.09.23 | NO | Oslo | Brewgata 30.09.23 | UK | Manchester | Riffolution Festival 17.11.23 | NL | Amsterdam | The Cave 18.11.23 | NL | Coevorden | MFC
Desert Storm is – Matthew Ryan – Vocals Ryan Cole – Guitars Elliot Cole – Drums & Percussion Matthew Dennett – Bass
Oxford heavy rockers The Grand Mal issue their second album, The Grand Mal II — or simply II, since you’ll be on friendly terms with it soon enough — on Nov. 4 through APF Records. The reshuffling of personnel from other bands, which actually took place before the pandemic hit, brings together drummer Elliot Cole and guitarist Ryan Cole (both also of Wall and Desert Storm) and Möther Cörona‘s vocalist Dave-O, bassist Rob Glenn, and for this record, guitarist Lee Cressey as well, rounding out a desert-style double-guitar five-piece cramming 12 songs into 36 minutes that still give a sense of composition along with energy both stage-born and stage-ready.
The obvious influences at play are Cali desert. Following the synthy-feedbacky-thudding intro “Another Replicant,” “Petit Mal” takes off like Oliveri-penned Queens of the Stone Age, and a Lullabies to Paralyze-ish vocal melody and acoustic guitar — almost like a Mark Lanegan tribute — plays out in the later interlude “Lost in Time” as well, but amid the Kyuss-ism of “I Live for Today” and the Dave-O‘s calling to mind mellowed-out John Garcia circa Hermano in “Shallow” and “Seas of Glory,” the latter with a riff that feels particularly Orange Goblin‘ed, coming out of the handclap guitar/drone raga of “The Lingering” (the record’s by no means all desert, aesthetically), but whether it’s the fuzz shove of “Shallow” or the funky stoner strut of “Rule My Soul,” done faster in “Hellbound Blues,” there’s a strong current of Dutch heavy rockers Astrosoniq.
I don’t think that’s a direct influence — it’s certainly not impossible — but it is kind of where The Grand Mal end up. Like their preceding 2019 self-titled debut (discussed here), II is a deceptively varied listen. “Another Replicant” hints toward some of the reach that will follow, but the hooks across side A in “Petit Mal,” “Shallow,” “I Live for Today,” “Rule My Soul” and “Smash the Grave” have a grounding effect even as they space out with sundry swirls, tempo shifts, and other quirky odds and ends. Some lap steel guitar before the falsetto finish in “Rule My Soul.” The thicker roll of “Shallow” that still has room for tambourine to dance. On and on, the more one listens, the more The Grand Mal‘s depth of craft shows itself, and that’s very much in an Astrosoniq spirit, experimenting on a foundation of strongly composed heavy rock and roll inspired by ’90s and ’00s forerunners of the style that’s not afraid to bring something of its own to the mix, or to have a good time. There are far worse bands one could happen into sounding like; for example, most.
If one considers vinyl structure, then “Lost in Time” (found you right around 2005) is an intro for side B, which branches out in alternating more straightforward pieces with interludes, such that the rush of “Hellbound Blues” that resolves in the nodder chug of the song’s second half is complemented by the ’60s folk-psych of “The Lingering,” loops and samples courtesy of producer Jimmy Hetherington adding to the laid back ceremonial vibe, from which “Seas of Glory” picks up like it was Made in Oss with the fuzzy lead tucked into the finish to prove it. The back-and-forth flow, a purposeful shift from where The Grand Mal were on side A, is maintained as the penultimate guitar-led instrumental piece “Empire of Vultures” leads into capper “Bloodmoon,” which ties it all together in an electric-backed acoustic-up-front epilogue, creatively percussed and a final showcase of breadth that stands as analog for II ideologically — that is, it emphasizes the adventure that’s just taken place, rather than summarizes the sound, which would likely take more than its three and a half minutes anyhow.
The growth from the first record is likewise palpable here, and while The Grand Mal aren’t necessarily the first act to come along and make something of their own from their component influences, they do so with a marked attention to presentation and toward making each track hit with an impact of its own while feeding the overarching flow of the record as well. It’s classic heavy methodology, but as in the best case scenarios, they bring something of their own to it, too. More here than the first record, and probably more next time too. That’s how this shit works, ideally. The Grand Mal II lives up to that ideal and establishes the band as formidable songwriters as well as a group of dudes who clearly have their heads on straight when it comes to knowing what they want to sound like.
Most of all, it’s a rocker, so get to rockin’. PR wire info follows the album stream on the player below.
Please enjoy:
The Grand Mal are essentially Oxford royalty. A coming together of five of the city’s favourite sons, in the form of Desert Storm’s twin brothers Ryan (guitar) and Elliot Cole (drums), as well as Möther Cörona’s Rob Glenn (bass), Lee Cressey (guitar) and Dave-O (vocals), this is a band you should definitely already be interested in from that fact alone.
Formed in 2015 and having already honed their chops in their other bands, it was always a no brainer that they should find a place at APF Records given their individual pedigrees; so after hearing their tracks put to record, the band signed to APF in 2018.
Their self-titled debut, October 2019’s The Grand Mal [APF021], leant into grunge, whilst maintaining elements of the sludge, southern and stoner that have become staples of Desert Storm and Mother Corona’s output. Following the album’s release The Grand Mal would play live all over the UK, both on a 10-date headline tour and as support to Conjurer, Evil Scarecrow, Sergeant Thunderhoof, Tuskar, Dead Lettuce, The Brothers Keg, Alunah, Desert Storm, Limb, and many others.
Tracklisting: 1. Another Replicant 2. Petit Mal 3. Shallow 4. I Live For Today 5. Rule My Soul 6. Smash The Grave 7. Lost In Time 8. Hellbound Blues 9. The Lingering 10. Seas of Glory 11. Empire of Vultures 12. Bloodmoon
In support of the album release The Grand Mal will be performing at:
04.11.22 | UK | Oxford | Rabidfest w/ Discharge & Desert Storm 19.11.22 | UK | Stafford | Red Rum 10.12.22 | UK | London | The Devonshire Arms 12.02.22 | UK | Cardiff | The Moon 13.01.23 | UK | London | Helgi’s 14.01.23 | UK | Rotherham | The Hive 15.01.23 | UK | Nottingham | Tap n Tumblr 03.03.23 | UK | Bournemouth | The Bear Cave
Recorded and mixed at Shonk Studios January to July 2021 by Jimmy Hetherington. Mastered by Jimmy Hetherington at Warehouse Studios August 2022. Art layout by Dominic Sohor.
The Grand Mal is: Dave-O – vocals, tambourine, keys Ryan Cole – guitars, acoustic guitar on Lost In Time Elliot Cole – drums, percussion Rob Glen – bass Lee Cressey – guitars, acoustic guitar on Bloodmoon
Jimmy Hetherington – additional lapsteel on Rule My Soul; handclaps, loops and samples on The Lingering; mellotron on Lost in Time, guitar on Bloodmoon. Additional backing vocals by Ryan Cole and Lee Cressey.
Posted in Whathaveyou on October 26th, 2021 by JJ Koczan
Congratulations to Oxford, UK, heavybringers Desert Storm on the impending celebration of their 15th anniversary. Looks like it’ll come with a new album too, so all the better. The band are in the studio now-ish, at least judging by the look of the pictures they posted a couple days ago on the social medias, and what will be the follow-up to 2020’s Omens (discussed here) — they’re right on target with an album on every even year — will also mark the first appearance of bassist Matthew Dennett (also Battalions) with the five-piece, who steps in for Chris Benoist. Benoist, meanwhile, is getting a send-off at the hometown show, so the transition will actually take place on stage, though if I’m not mistaken Dennett has already done a couple gigs with the band as well. In any case, it’s nice when someone can leave a band and it’s not a fight or a hard-feelings thing and they actually get a chance to say goodbye. Kudos on being civilized, you riffy bastards.
I haven’t seen a target release date for the album yet, but will keep an eye. In addition to the February and March dates, Desert Storm also play at Desertfest London and at Riff Fest in Bolton. The full slate is as follows:
Desert Storm – 15th Anniversary Tour
Pleased to announce 2022 marks the 15 year anniversary of Desert Storm. To celebrate the occasion we have some tour dates in place…
***The Oxford date will be a special show where half the set will be with our new bassist Matt Dennett and half with Chris Benoist, his last show with us, so lets give him a great send off! (Tix from o2 website) ***
We’re happy to announce Matthew Dennett to the Desert Storm family as our new bass player. He brings great power, energy and tone to the band, and we are really looking forward to having him in the band and on the next album, which we start tracking next month.
A few of you will know him as bassist of Battalions. Dennett will still be playing for them as well as Desert Storm, they are a great band and friends of ours and the last thing we wanted to do was poach him / step on their toes…
PLEASE NOTE Birmingham show subject to change…
Support on selected dates from the awesome Battalions, Suns of Thunder and Regulus
TOUR DATES –
16.02.22 | UK | Bristol | The Crofters Rights 17.02.22 | UK | Cardiff | Clwb Ifor Bach 18.02.22 | UK | Manchester | factory251 19.02.22 | UK | Edinburgh | Bannermans Bar 20.02.22 | UK | Newcastle | Trillians Rock Bar 21.02.22 | UK | Leeds | Temple Of Boom Leeds 22.02.22 | UK | Blackpool | Waterloo Music Bar Blackpool 23.02.22 | UK | Birmingham | The Victoria 24.02.22 | UK | Milton Keynes | The Craufurd Arms (Live Music Venue) 25.02.22 | UK | Bournemouth | Anvil Rockbar Bournemouth 26.02.22 | UK | Oxford | O2 Academy Oxford 25.03.22 | UK | Lincoln | The Scene Lincoln 26.03.22 | UK | Sheffield | network 27.03.22 | UK | Nottingham | Nottingham Chameleon 21.04.22 | BE | Antwerp | Kid’s Rhythm ‘n’ Blues Kaffee 22.04.22 | NL | Arnhem | Willemeen 23.04.22 | NL | Coevorden | MFC Coevorden 24.04.22 | BE | Ghent | Muziekcentrum Kinky Star 01.05.22 | UK | Lomdon | The Underworld Camden ( Desertfest London ) 25.06.22 | DE | Obernzeen | Wasted Openair 16.07.22 | IE | Dublin | Fiibber Magees 17.07.22 | UK | Belfast | Voodoo Belfast 27.08.22 | UK | Bolton | The Alma ( Riff Fest)
You’ll have to forgive me, what the hell day is it? The url says this is day eight, so I guess that’s Wednesday. Fine. That’s as good as any. It’s all just 10 more records to my brain at this point, and that’s fine. I’ve got it all lined up. As of me writing this, I still haven’t heard about my busted-ass laptop that went in for repair last Saturday, and that’s a bummer, but I’m hoping that any minute now the phone is going to show the call coming in and I’ll just keep staring at it until that happens and I’m sure that will be awesome for my already brutalized productivity.
My backup laptop — because yes, I have one and will gladly argue with you that it’s necessary citing this week as an example — is a cheapie Chromebook. The nicest thing I can say about it is it’s red. The meanest thing I can say about it is that I had to change the search button to a caps lock and even that doesn’t respond fast enough to my typing, so I’m constantly capitalizing the wrong letters. If you don’t think that’s infuriating, congratulations on whatever existence has allowed you to live this long without ever needing to use a keyboard. “Hello computer,” and all that.
Enough kvetching. Too much to do.
Quarterly Review #71-80:
Amenra, De Doorn
I’ve made no secret over the last however long of not being the biggest Amenra fan in the universe. Honestly, it’s not even about the Belgian band themseves — live, they’re undeniable — but the plaudits around them are no less suffocating than their crushing riffs at their heaviest moments. Still, as De Doorn marks their first offering through Relapse Records, finds them departing from their Mass numbered series of albums and working in their native Flemish for the first time, and brings Caro Tanghe of Oathbreaker into the songs to offer melodic counterpoint to Colin H. van Eeckhout‘s nothing-if-not-identifiable screams, the invitations to get on board are manifold. This is a band with rules. They have set their own rules, and even in pushing outside them as they do here, much of their ideology and sonic persona is maintained. Part of that identity is being forward thinking, and that surfaces on De Doorn in parts ambient and quiet, but there’s always a part of me that feels like Amenra are playing it safe, even as they’re working within parameters they’ve helped define for a generation of European post-metal working directly in their wake. The post-apocalyptic breadth they harness in these tracks will only continue to win them converts. Maybe I’ll be one of them. That would be fun. It’s nice to belong, you know?
Liquid Sound Company, Psychoactive Songs for the Psoul
A quarter-century after their founding, Arlington, Texas, heavy psych rockers Liquid Sound Company still burn and melt along the lysergic path of classic ’60s acid rock, beefier in tone but no less purposeful in their drift on Psychoactive Songs for the Psoul. They’re turning into custard on “Blacklight Corridor” and they can tell you don’t understand on “Who Put All of Those Things in Your Hair?,” and all the while their psych rock digs deeper into the cosmic pulse, founding guitarist John Perez (also Solitude Aeturnus) unable to resist bringing a bit of shred to “And to Your Left… Neptune” — unless that’s Mark Cook‘s warr guitar — even as “Mahayuga” answers back to the Middle Eastern inflection of “Blacklight Corridor” earlier on. Capping with the mellow jam “Laila Was Here,” Psychoactive Songs for the Psoul is a loving paean to the resonant energies of expanded minds and flowing effects, but “Cosmic Liquid Love” is still a heavy rollout, and even the shimmering “I Feel You” is informed by that underlying sense of heft. Nonetheless, it’s an acid invitation worth the RSVP.
Flying snakes, crawling birds, two tracks each over 17 minutes long, the first Iceburn release in 20 years is an all-in affair from the outset. As someone coming to the band via Gentry Densley‘s work in Eagle Twin, there are recognizable elements in tone, themes and vocals, but with fellow founders Joseph “Chubba” Smith on drums and James Holder on guitar, as well as bassist Cache Tolman (who’s Johnny Comelately since he originally joined in 1991, I guess), the atmosphere conjured by the four-piece is consuming and spacious in its own way, and their willingness to go where the song guides them on side A’s “Healing the Ouroboros,” right up to the long-fading drone end after so much lumbering skronk and incantations before, and side B’s “Dahlia Rides the Firebird,” with its pervasive soloing, gallop and veer into earth-as-cosmos terradelia, the return of Iceburn — if in fact that’s what this is — makes its own ceremony across Asclepius, sounding newly inspired rather than like a rehash.
As regards ambition, Gods & Punks‘ fourth LP, The Sounds of the Universe, wants for nothing. The Rio De Janeiro heavy psych rockers herein wrap what they’ve dubbed their ‘Voyager’ series, culminating the work they’ve done since their first EP — album opener “Eye in the Sky” is a remake — while tying together the progressive, heavy and cosmic aspects of their sound in a single collection of songs. In context, it’s a fair amount to take in, but a track like “Black Apples” has a riffy standout appeal regardless of its place in the band’s canon, and whether it’s the classic punch of “The TUSK” or the suitably patient expansion of “Universe,” the five-piece don’t neglect songwriting for narrative purpose. That is to say, whether or not you’ve heard 2019’s And the Celestial Ascension (discussed here) or any of their other prior material, you’re still likely to be pulled in by “Gravity” and “Dimensionaut” and the rest of what surrounds. The only question is where do they go from here? What’s outside the universe?
Released (appropriately) by Profound Lore, Vouna‘s second full-length Atropos is a work of marked depth and unforced grandeur. After nine-minute opener “Highest Mountain” establishes to emotional/aural tone, Atropos is comprised mostly of three extended pieces in “Vanish” (15:34), “Grey Sky” (14:08) and closer “What Once Was” (15:11) with the two-minute “What Once Was (Reprise)” leading into the final duo. “Vanish” finds Vouna — aka Olympia, Washington-based Yianna Bekris — bringing in textures of harp and violin to answer the lap steel and harp on “Highest Mountain,” and features a harsh guest vocal from Wolves in the Throne Room‘s Nathan Weaver, but it’s in the consuming wash at the finish of “Grey Sky” and in the melodic vocal layers cutting through as the first half of “What Once Was” culminates ahead of the break into mournful doom and synth that Vouna most shines, bridging styles in a way so organic as to be utterly consuming and keeping resonance as the most sought target, right unto the piano line that tops the last crescend, answering back the very beginning of “Highest Mountain.” Not a record that comes along every day.
One gets the sense in listening that for Mikael Monks, the Burning Saviours founder working under the moniker of Heathen Rites for the first time, the idea of Heritage for which the album is titled is as much about doom itself as the Scandinavian folk elements that surface in “Gleipner” or in the brief, bird-song and mountain-echo-laced finish “Kulning,” not to mention the Judas Priest-style triumphalism of the penultimate “The Sons of the North” just before. Classic doom is writ large across Heritage, from the bassline of “Autumn” tapping into “Heaven and Hell” to the flowing culmination of “Midnight Sun” and the soaring guitar apex in “Here Comes the Night.” In the US, many of these ideas of “northern” heritage, runes, or even heathenism have been coopted as expressions of white supremacy. It’s worth remembering that for some people it’s actually culture. Monks pairs that with his chosen culture — i.e. doom — in intriguing ways here that one hopes he’ll continue to explore.
Some things in life you just have to accept that you’re never going to fully understand. The mostly-solo-project Unimother 27 from Italy’s Piero Ranalli is one of those things. Ranalli has been riding his own wavelength in krautrock and classic progressive stylizations mixed with psychedelic freakout weirdness going on 15 years now, experimenting all the while, and you don’t have to fully comprehend the hey-man-is-this-jazz bass bouncing under “L’incontro tra Phallos e Mater Coelestis” to just roll with it, so just roll with it and know that wherever you’re heading, there’s a plan at work, even if the plan is to not have a plan. Mr. Fist‘s drums tether the synth and drifting initial guitar of “Abraxas…il Dio Difficile da Conoscere” and serve a function as much necessary as grooving, but one way or the other, you’re headed to “Systema Munditotius,” where forward and backward are the same thing and the only trajectory discernible is “out there.” So go. Just go. You won’t regret it.
Not, not, not a coincidence that Massachusetts four-piece Oxblood Forge — vocalist Ken Mackay, guitarist Robb Lioy, bassist Greg Dellaria and drummer/keyboardist Erik Fraünfeltër — include an Angel Witch cover on their third long-player, Decimator, as even before they get around to the penultimate “Sorcerers,” the NWOBHM is a defining influence throughout the proceedings, be it the “hey hey hey!” chanting of “Mortal Salience” or the death riders owning the night on opener “Into the Abyss” or the sheer Maidenry met with doom tinge on “Screams From Silence.” Mackay‘s voice, high in the mix, adds a tinge of grit, but Decimator isn’t trying to get one over on anyone. This blue collar worship for classic metal presented in a manner that could only be as full-on as it is for it to work at all. No irony, no khakis, no bullshit.
They keep this up, they’re going to have a real band on their hands. Desert Storm/The Grand Mal bandmates and twin brothers Ryan Cole (guitar/bass) and Elliot Cole (drums) began Wall as a largely-instrumental quarantine project in 2020, issuing a self-titled EP (review here) on APF Records. Vol. 2 follows on the quick with five more cuts of unbridled groove, including a take on Karma to Burn‘s “Nineteen” that, if it needs to be said, serves as homage to Will Mecum, who passed away earlier this year. That song fits right in with a cruncher like “Avalanche” or “Speed Freak,” or even “The Tusk,” which also boasts a bit of layered guitar harmonies, feeling out new ground there and in the acousti-handclap-blues of “Falling From the Edge of Nowhere.” The fact that Wall have live dates booked — alongside The Grand Mal, no less — speaks further to their real-bandness, but Vol. 2 hardly leaves any doubt as it is.
The second self-recorded outing from Pennsylvania trio Boozewa, Deb, offers two songs to follow-up on Feb. 2021’s First Contact (review here) demo, keeping an abidingly raw, we-did-this-at-home feel — this time they sent the results to Tad Doyle for mastering — while pushing their sound demonstrably forward with “Deb” bringing bassist Jessica Baker to the fore vocally alongside drummer Mike Cummings. Guitarist Rylan Caspar contributes in that regard as well, and the results are admirably grunge-coated heavy rock and roll that let enough clarity through to establish a hook, while the shorter “Now. Stop.” edges toward a bit more lumber in its groove, at least until they punk it out with some shouts at the finish. Splitting hairs? You betcha. Maybe they’re just writing songs. The results are there waiting to be dug either way.
Posted in Whathaveyou on June 1st, 2021 by JJ Koczan
Immediate and well-deserved points to the Brothers Cole for not calling the second Wall release Wallume 2. That temptation could not have been easy to resist, but that they managed to do so makes the world a better place. New song, preorders, all that stuff. Note that the band, who made a debut with their self-titled EP (review here) last year through APF remain refreshingly honest in acknowledging their influences, with Elliot and Ryan Cole this time paying homage to Will Mecum of Karma to Burn in “Nineteen” whereas last time out it was Black Sabbath‘s “Electric Funeral.” If you can find argument with either, you’ve probably stumbled onto this site by accident. Welcome. Try the riffs. Hope you like run-on sentences.
Wall have UK tour dates up for August, which it looks like just might happen. How about that? Wall Vol. 2 will be out before then, arriving July 30, again through APF Records.
The following came down the PR wire:
Wall – Vol. 2 – July 30, 2021
APF Records is delighted to announce the release of WALL’s sophomore EP Vol. 2 on 30th July 2021. First single The Tusk hits Spotify on 1st June.
Elliot and Ryan Cole have been stalwarts of the international stoner doom scene since they formed Desert Storm almost 15 years ago in their home town of Oxford, releasing five albums with that band and touring Europe like dogs ever since. They are two parts of the quintet which is The Grand Mal, also signed to APF Records, whose self-titled debut was released in 2019.
Their latest project Wall was conceived during lockdown. Frustrated at not being able to tour, and stuck at home together, Elliot and Ryan found themselves seeking a substantially creative way to kill the boredom. The debut eponymous five track EP was released by APF Records on 15th January 2021, chock full of Iommi-worshipping instrumental sludge doom. The homage to Black Sabbath was manifest in an electrifying cover of Electric Funeral, featuring vocals by The Grand Mal’s Dave-O. Wall entered the Doom Charts at number 10, and was met with acclaim in the stoner doom underground.
Now, a mere six months later, Wall unleash Vol 2. Once again recorded with Jimmy Hetherington at Shonk Studios, this second effort leans more towards the classic US rock the lads grew up on. It features a cover of Karma To Burn’s Nineteen, released as a tribute to Elliot and Ryan’s friend Will Mecum who sadly passed away in May. The Cole twins other band Desert Storm and Karma To Burn had toured the UK together on several occasion, becoming firm buddies on the road.
About Nineteen, the Cole Brothers say “We recorded it a few months ago in lockdown as a way of saying thanks, and showing our appreciation for one of our favourite bands – true pioneers of the genre and an inspiration to many. It feels right to share it now with the sad news of his passing. It’s been an honour knowing you, Will. Rest in peace”.
Tracklisting: 1. Avalanche 2. The Tusk 3. Speed Freak 4. Nineteen 5. Falling From the Edge of Nowhere
Wall tour the UK with The Grand Mal in August: 12.8.21 : Banbury – The Wheatsheaf 13.8.21 : Glasgow – Ivory Blacks 14.8.21 : Bolton – The Alma Inn 15.8.21 : Blackpool – Waterloo Music Bar 16.8.21 : Hull – Gorilla Studios 17.8.21 : Bradford – Al’s Juke Bar 18.8.21 : London – The Black Heart 19.8.21 : Gloucester – The Dick Whittington 20.8.21 : Swansea – The Bunkhouse 21.8.21 : Oxford – The Wheatsheaf
Wall is: Ryan Cole – guitar / bass Elliot Cole – drums
Posted in Whathaveyou on February 3rd, 2021 by JJ Koczan
Of course, this tour announcement — like just about anything these days — comes with a big ol’ asterisk that leads to a reminder saying ‘we sure hope this actually happens.’ But to look at the list of dates, it seems like this might be how tours need to happen for a while. Two bands touring their own country, hardly seems like minimalizing exposure, but even these two bands share members. Wall is Ryan Cole and Elliot Cole, who also happen to play in The Grand Mal (also Desert Storm, but let’s stick to one story at a time) as part of what’s apparently now a five-piece.
And while bringing a new bandmate along is one more person breathing air in the van, certainly having one band sprung off from the other mitigates that somewhat. The Grand Mal released their self-titled debut (review here) on APF Records in Oct. 2019, and Wall did the same (review here) just last month. They’re labelmates as well as bandmates. So there you go.
And hey, maybe in the UK in August these shows can be outdoors somehow? Seems impossible at The Black Heart, unless they take over that alley, but that’d be kind of fun too. In any case, I hope the gigs happen, and it’s easy to imagine the bands do too.
The Grand Mal posted the following on the social medias:
The Grand Mal w/ Wall – UK Tour 2021
Pleased to announce, (providing Covid doesn’t stop things) we will finally be touring the UK to promote our debut album, which is out now on APF Records.
Support from WALL.
TOUR DATES ——————— 12.08.21 | Banbury | Wheatsheaf Banbury 13.08.21 | Glasgow | Ivory Blacks 14.08.21 | Bolton | The Alma Inn 15.08.21 | Blackpool | Waterloo Music Bar Blackpool 16.08.21 | Hull | Gorilla Studio 17.08.21 | Bradford | Al’s Juke Bar 18.08.21 | London | The Black Heart 19.08.21 | Gloucester | The Dick Whittington 20.08.21 | Swansea | The Bunkhouse Swansea 21.08.21 | Oxford | The Wheatsheaf Oxford
