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The Obelisk Questionnaire: Anders Martinsgård of Black Solstice

Posted in Questionnaire on March 9th, 2022 by JJ Koczan

Anders Martinsgard of Black Solstice

The Obelisk Questionnaire is a series of open questions intended to give the answerer an opportunity to explore these ideas and stories from their life as deeply as they choose. Answers can be short or long, and that reveals something in itself, but the most important factor is honesty.

Based on the Proust Questionnaire, the goal over time is to show a diverse range of perspectives as those who take part bring their own points of view to answering the same questions. To see all The Obelisk Questionnaire posts, click here.

Thank you for reading and thanks to all who participate.

The Obelisk Questionnaire: Anders Martinsgård of Black Solstice

How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?

Well, in this context I play guitar. I’m one of the guitarists and perhaps the main riff maker in Black Solstice and I also play lead guitar in Cobra Cult, which is perhaps a different matter. I started out learning playing the guitar rather late. It was just something that felt interesting to do when I was in my teens.

I didn’t do sports, I was thinking too much, reading to much, was too shy, but playing guitar got me another way to express myself. I didn’t realize that back then, but that got clearer later on in life. I’m more of a songwriter then a technical guitarist so I kind of talk through the riffs instead of my verbal voice. Nowadays after having releasing records in various band for the last 12 years, this is more of a musical environment where I want to maintain.

Describe your first musical memory.

A bit hard to say. I remember my mom playing Finnish tango records when I was a young kid. I remember when we bought our new LP player and my sister bought Simon and Garfunkel’s Live in Central Park. I guess I was around eight then. And Gullan Bornemark of course. And Pippi!

Describe your best musical memory to date.

There has been a quite few of them over the years. Some extraordinary shows, record deals, great reviews, surprisingly good riffs, etc. But I do remember an occasion at a party in high school when people realized that I could play guitar. And way better then most of them. That was a bit groundbreaking. And I do remember the first time I wrote something on the guitar that I knew that I liked. It was an astounding feeling and I always look for that feeling in my playing.

When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?

In these times? I’m not an anti-vaxxer, that’s for sure!

Where do you feel artistic progression leads?

Hmm, I think it always leads you away from where you’re standing right now. I can’t write the same riffs or songs as I could 10-15 years ago. But at the same time the latest Black Solstice tracks where unthinkable earlier. Look at your favorite bands, none of those except for perhaps AC/DC and similar hasn’t evolved musically and artistically. I always used hate when my favorite bands changed their style or direction after a few records. But who wants to do the same thing over and over?

How do you define success?

Reaching break-even? It must be that. The moment when I actually don’t end up losing money. I’m not there yet and probably never will be. But that’s ok! On a personal level I guess it is a sign of some success to have to go to the post office to send a record to Australia!

What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?

I’m turning 50 in a couple of years, so I have of course been through both rain and sunshine. And during some periods it’s has been raining a lot. That’s for sure. What an adult answer.

Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.

Be a part of the perfect recording session? I still have plans and goals. I would want to be in a surf band or a blues band at some point. I would like to record an instrumental album. I want to release a split 7″! How hard can it be?!

What do you believe is the most essential function of art?

Making people think. And make them reach out to their own feelings. And I do think that people in general should be more open and subject themselves to different kinds of art forms. It’s not bad art just because you don’t understand it. There’s usually always an interesting idea of momentum behind that can be acknowledged if you just take your time. But always remember that good art takes time.

Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?

Ah, the Christmas session is coming. I fucking love Christmas!

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Black Solstice, Ember (2021)

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Quarterly Review: DANG!!!, Stew, Nothing is Real, Jerky Dirt, Space Coke, Black Solstice, Dome Runner, Moonlit, The Spacelords, Scrying Stone

Posted in Reviews on December 16th, 2021 by JJ Koczan

THE-OBELISK-FALL-2020-QUARTERLY-REVIEW

Day four. Fancy pants. Yesterday was the most effective writing day I’ve had in recent memory, which makes today kind of a harrowing prospect since the only real way to go after that is down. I’ve done the try-to-get-a-jump-on-it stuff, but you never really know how things are going to turn out until your head’s in it and you’re dug into two or three records. We’ll see how it goes. There’s a lot to dig into today though, in a pretty wide range of sounds, so that helps. I’ll admit there are times when it’s like, “What’s another way to say ‘dudes like to riff?'”

As if I’d need another way.

Anyhoozle, hope you find something you dig, as always. If not, still one more day tomorrow. We’ll get there. Thanks for reading.

Quarterly Review #31-40:

Dang!!!, Sociopathfinder

dang sociopathfinder

It would take all the space I’ve allotted for this review to recount the full lineup involved in making DANG!!!‘s debut album, Sociopathfinder, but the powerhouse Norwegian seven-piece has former members of The Cosmic Dropouts, Gluecifer, Nashville Pussy, and Motorpsycho, among others, and Kvelertak drummer Håvard Takle Ohr, so maybe it shouldn’t be a surprise they get down to serious business on the record. With influences spanning decades from the ’60s-gone’90s organ-laced electro-rock of “Long Gone Misery” and the Halloween-y “Degenerate,” to the rampaging heavy rock hooks of “Manic Possessive” and “Good Intentions” and the “In the Hall of the Mountain King”-referencing closer “Eight Minutes Till Doomsday,” the 12-song/46-minute outing is a lockdown-defiant explosion of creative songwriting and collaboration, and though it features no fewer than six guitarists throughout (that includes guests), it all flows together thanks to the strength of craft, urgency of rhythm, and Geir Nilsen‘s stellar work on organ. It’s a lot to take on, but pays off any effort put in. Unless you’re a sociopath, I guess. Then you probably don’t feel it at all.

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Stew, Taste

stew taste

Following up their 2019 debut, People (review here), Swedish classic-heavy trio Stew offer an efficient nine-song/38-minute excursion into ’70s/’10s-inspired boogie rock and heavy blues with Taste, balancing modern production and its own yore-born aesthetic in sharp but not overly-clean fashion. The vocal layering in the back half of opener “Heavy Wings” is a clue to the clarity underlying the band’s organic sound, and while Taste sounds fuller than did People, the bounce of “All That I Need,” the blues hooks in “Keep on Praying” and “Still Got the Time,” subtle proto-metallurgy of “New Moon” (one almost hears barking at it) and the wistful closing duo of “When the Lights Go Out” and “You Don’t Need Me” aren’t so far removed from the preceding outing as to be unrecognizable. This was a band who knew what they wanted to sound like on their first album who’ve set about refining their processes. Taste checks in nicely on that progress and shows it well underway.

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Nothing is Real, Transmissions of the Unearthly

nothing is real transmissions of the unearthly

Are the crows I hear cawing on “Tyrant of the Unreal” actually in the song or outside my window? Does it matter? I don’t know anymore. Los Angeles-based psychological terror rock unit Nothing is Real reportedly conjured the root tracks for the 87-minute 2CD Transmissions of the Unearthly with guest drummer Jeremy Lauria over the course of two days and the subsequent Halloween release has been broken into two parts: ‘Chaos’ and ‘Order.’ Screaming blackened psychedelia haunts the former, while the latter creeps in dark, raw sludge realization, but one way or the other, the prevailing sensory onslaught is intentionally overwhelming. The slow march of “King of the Wastelands” might actually be enough to serve as proclamation, and where in another context “Sickened Samsara” would be hailed as arthouse black-metal-meets-filthy–psych-jazz, the delivery from Nothing is Real is so sincere and untamed that the horrors being explored do in fact feel real and are duly disconcerting and wickedly affecting. Bleak in a way almost entirely its own.

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Jerky Dirt, Orse

Jerky Dirt Orse

After immersing the listener with the keyboard-laced opening instrumental “Alektorophobia” (fear of chickens), the third album from UK outfit Jerky Dirt, Orse, unfolds the starts and stops of “Ygor’s Lament” with a sensibility like earlier Queens of the Stone Age gone prog before moving into the melodic highlight “Orse, Part 1” and the acoustic “Eh-Iss.” By the time the centerpiece shuffler “Ozma of Oz” begins, you’re either on board or you’re not, and I am. Despite a relatively spare production, Jerky Dirt convey tonal depth effectively between the fuzz of “Ygor’s Lament” and the more spacious parts of “In Mind” that give way to larger-sounding roll, and some vocal harmonies in “The Beast” add variety in the record’s second half before the aptly-named “Smoogie Boogie” — what else to call it, really? — and progressive melody of “Orse, Part 2” close out. A minimal online presence means info on the band is sparse, it may just be one person, but the work holds up across Orse on multiple listens, complex in craft but accessible in execution.

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Space Coke, Lunacy

Space Coke Lunacy

A scouring effort of weirdo horror heavy, the five-track Lunacy from South Carolina’s Space Coke isn’t short on accuracy, seemingly on any level. The swirl of nine-minute opener “Bride of Satan” is cosmic but laced with organ, underlying rumble, far-back vocals and sundry other elements that are somehow menacing. The subsequent “Alice Lilitu” is thicker-toned for at least stretches of its 13 minutes, and its organ feels goth-born as it moves past the midpoint, but the madness of a solo that ensues from there feels well cast off (or perhaps on, given the band’s moniker) the rails. Shit gets strange, people. “Frozen World” is positively reachable by comparison, though it too has its organ drama, and the ensuing “Lightmare” starts with an extended horror sample before fuzzing and humming out six minutes of obscure incantation and jamming itself into oblivion. Oh, and there’s a cover of Danzig‘s “Twist of Cain” at the end. Because obviously. Doom filtered through goth kitsch-horror VHS tape and somewhere behind you something is lurking and you don’t see it coming until it’s too late.

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Black Solstice, Ember

Black Solstice Ember

Broken into two halves each given its own intro in “Intervention” and “Celestial Convoy,” respectively, the debut full-length from Stockholm’s Black Solstice brings back some familiar faces in guitarist Anders Martinsgård and drummer Peter Eklund, both formerly of Ponamero Sundown. Ember, with flourish of percussion in “Signs of Wisdom,” grunge-style harmonies in “Burned by the Sun” and just a hint of winding thrashy threat in “Firespawn,” is deeply rooted in doom metal. They count Sabbath as primary, but the 10-track/42-minute offering is more metal than stonerized riff worship, and with vocalist “Mad Magnus” Lindmark and bassist Lelle B. Falheim completing the lineup, the four-piece boast an aggressive edge and hit harder than one might initially think going in. That is no complaint, mind you. Perhaps they’re not giving themselves enough credit for the depth of their sound, but as their first long-player (following a few demos), Ember finds a niche that hints toward the familiar without going overboard in tropes. I don’t know who, but someone in this band likes Megadeth.

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Dome Runner, Conflict State Design

Dome Runner Conflict State Design

Begun as Paleskin before a probably-for-the-best name change, Tampere, Finland’s Dome Runner offer a hard-industrial bridge between Godflesh at their angriest and earliest Fear Factory‘s mechanized chugging assault. Conflict State Design is the trio’s first full-length, and along with the stated influences, there’s some pull from sludge and noise as well, shades of Fudge Tunnel in “Unfollow” met with harsh screaming or the churning riff underscoring the explosions of synth in “The Undemonizing Process,” like roughed-up Souls at Zero-era Neurosis. With the seven-minute extreme wash of “Impure Utility of Authoritarian Power Structure” at its center, Conflict State Design harkens back to the dreary industrialism of two decades ago — it very pointedly doesn’t sound like Nine Inch Nails — but is given a forward-thinking heft and brutality to match. Amid something of an industrial revival in the heavy underground, Dome Runner‘s debut stands out. More to the point, it’s fucking awesome.

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Moonlit, So Bless Us Now…

Moonlit So Bless us now

Varese, Italy, instrumentalist heavy post-rockers Moonlit almost can’t help but bring to mind Red Sparowes with their debut album, So Bless Us Now…, though the marching cymbals early in the 17-minute finale “And We Stood Still Until We Became, Invisible” seem to be in conversation with Om‘s meditative practice as well, and the violin on the earlier “Empty Sky/Cold Lights…” (11:25) is a distinguishing element. Still, it is a melding of heft and float across “For We Have Seen” (12:29) at the beginning of the record, more straight-ahead riffing met with a focus on atmospherics beyond conventional sense of aural weight. Each piece has its own persona, some linear, the penultimate “Shine in the Darkest Night” more experimentalist in structure and its use of samples, but the whole 55-minute listening experience is consuming, minimal in its droning finish only after creating a full wash of mindful, resonant psychedelic reach. With titles drawn from Nietzsche quotes from Thus Spake Zarathustra, there are suitably lonely stretches throughout, but even at its maddest, So Bless Us Now… holds to its stylistic purpose.

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The Spacelords, Unknown Species

The Spacelords Unknown Species

Not to be confused with New York outfit Spacelord, the now-decade-plus-runnin German instrumental kosmiche-harvesters The Spacelords present Unknown Species across three — and I’m just being honest here — wonderful extended works, arranged from shortest to longest as “F.K.B.D.F.” (8:10), “Unknown Species” (14:53) and the initially-unplugged “Time Tunnel” (20:26) unfurl a thoughtful outbound progression that finds beauty in dark times and jams with intent that’s progressive without pretense — and, when it wants to be, substantially heavy. That’s true more of the end in “Time Tunnel” than the initial synth-laced drift of “F.K.B.D.F.,” but the solo-topped punch of the title-track/centerpiece isn’t to be understated either. In 2020, the trio released their Spaceflowers (review here) LP, as well as a documentary about their recording/writing processes, and Unknown Species pushes even further into defining just how special a band they are, gorgeously constructed and impeccably mixed as it is. Can’t and wouldn’t ask for more.

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Scrying Stone, Scrublands

Scrying Stone Scrublands

A debut outing from Michigan-based newcomers Scrying Stone, the 29-minute Scrublands flows like an album so I’m going to consider it one until I hear otherwise. And as a first album, it sets melody and tonal density not so much against each other, but toward like purposes, and even in the instrumental “Ballad of the Hyena,” it finds cohesive ground for the two sides to exist together without contradiction and without sounding overly derivative of its modern influences. “At Our Heels” makes an engaging hello for first-time listeners, and the faster “The Marauder” later on adds a sense of dynamic at just the right moment before the fuzzy overload of “Desert Thirst” dives into deeper weedian idolatry. There’s some boogie underneath the title-track too, and as a companion to the willing-to-soar closer “Dromedary,” that unrushed rush feels purposeful, making Scrublands come across as formative in its reach — one can definitely hear where they might branch out — but righteously complete in its production and songwriting; a strong opening statement of potential for the band to make en route to what might come next.

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The Awesome Machine: God Damn Rare Collection Available to Preorder

Posted in Whathaveyou on September 21st, 2021 by JJ Koczan

It wasn’t until I was writing recently about their 2003 swansong, The Soul of a Thousand Years, that I even knew this collection was happening, but the thing about The Awesome Machine was that, if you knew, you knew, and clearly Ozium Records knew. The collection of demos and remixes, etc., is titled God Damn Rare, and it’s out sometime next Spring — given vinyl production delays, things like nebulous release dates are becoming more common; you will see that until somebody opens up another plant or two; also, how has no one turned that into an artisanal thing? boutique vinyl production? — but preorders and a teaser clip are up now, and surely there will be more to come through the Ozium page on Bandcamp.

[EDIT: April is the targeted release date as of Oct. 26, 2021, and hopefully that pans out. Sooner the better as far as I’m concerned. Further update: So far as I know, no one has started a boutique vinyl pressing plant. Fair enough.]

Here’s preorder info:

the awesome machine god damn rare

The Awesome Machine – God Damn Rare – For release spring 2022

Preorder: https://oziumrecords.com/product/lp/god-damn-rare-by-the-awesome-machine-lp-red-black/

The spirit of Kyuss lives on years after their breakup, and Sweden has churned out a number of quality stoner rock bands in recent times, such as Mushroom River Band, We, Spiritual Beggars, and others. The Awesome Machine was another such band, and one of the better late-period Kyuss soundalikes to be heard in some time. A lot of stoner bands seem to stick to the tried and true, and in that respect The Awesome Machine was no different, but they were excellent at what they did. Containing previously unreleased material. Demo versions, remasters, remixes spanning from 1998 – 2005.

Tracklisting:
1. God Damn Evil
2. By No One
3. For The Weaker Ones
4. Gasoline
5. Digging
6. Shakedown
7. Ompa Bompa
8. Above All
9. Sun Don’t Shine
10. Demon King
11. I Never Knew (live)

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The Awesome Machine, God Damn Rare teaser

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Morpholith Premiere Video for Electric Wizard Cover “We Hate You”

Posted in Bootleg Theater on December 22nd, 2020 by JJ Koczan

Morpholith (photo by Verthi Ljos)

Icelandic cosmic crushers Morpholith recently issued their debut full-length, Null Dimensions, through Ozium Records and Sludgelord Records. Guess what? The “We Hate You” cover isn’t on it. It happens. The album is made up of two gargantuan psych-doom rituals, with “Orb” (20:20) and “Monocarp” (13:31) unfolding like hidden messages waiting for those whose ears are tuned to the right frequency to hear them. A dogwhistle calling the doomed to prayer before some massive idol or maybe one of those shiny monoliths that keeps showing up hither and yon. I don’t know if there have been any in Iceland yet, but only a place with black volcanic sand could possibly hope to produce minor-key meditations like those swirling in the fog of “Orb,” which transcends circa 13:20 into a sludge that’s harsher and meaner and betrays Morpholith‘s connections to more extreme metallurgies, though I’m reasonably certain Iceland’s heavy underground is the same 20 or so dudes and they’re just all in five different bands, most of them awesome.

Either way, “Orb” and “Monocarp,” the latter of which picks up directly from the first track and slams its point home with no less impact for the spaciousness that accompanies, shifting eventually into a kind of pummeling post-sludge odd-time chaos before morpholith null dimensionsbecoming engulfed in its own finish, are a rare fix to the problem ‘nothing sounds heavy enough.’ As for their take on “We Hate You,” it’s as suitable an homage to 2020 as anything I could come up with unless there were actually some way to set the year’s lungs on fire, and that it coincides with Dopethrone‘s 20th anniversary is a fitting touch as well. You get a sense of the tonal density Morpholith have on offer throughout Null Dimensions in “We Hate You” as well, though vocalist Snæbjörn Þór Árnasson adjusts his delivery to play more directly off of Jus Oborn, and of course it’s a shorter sampling of their wares than either of the two cuts on the album-proper, but if you’re looking for a way to proceed here, I’ve got you covered. Do both.

The album stream is down near the bottom of this post, the video is premiering below, and any suggestion that you have to pick one or the other to dig into is pure fiction. Watch the video and then dive into the record. Dive into the record and then check out the video. It doesn’t matter. The point is Morpholith kick ass on both. I can’t say it any plainer than that.

And if I can add my own spin on it, I fucking hate the holidays, so misanthropic bludgeoning sludge suits me just fine right now. If that’s where you land too, so be it.

Enjoy the clip (and album):

Morpholith, “We Hate You” official video premiere

The video we have made is our tribute to Electric Wizard’s Dopethrone, which was released 20 years ago now and the year of 2020. The song is one we know well and we planned to play it live at some point this year, but that of course did not work out. So to celebrate one of the greatest doom metal records of all time and this exceptionally gloomy year, we decided to record the song and make a video for it instead. Our tribute to Electric Wizard and their masterpiece, Dopethrone on the 20th anniversary of the album.

Dedicated, with all our hate, to the year of 2020.

Our new EP Null Dimensions is out on Ozium and Sludgelord Records!

We got help from two legends of our black metal scene to help us with making the track. D.G from Misþyrming (also Drottinn, Naðra and Núll to name a few) recorded, mixed and mastered the audio for us and Andri Björn Birgisson from Auðn shot, directed and edited the video.

Morpholith are:
Snæbjörn Þór Árnasson | vocals
Víðir Örn Gunnarsson | Guitars
Hörður Jónsson | Guitars, synths
Stefán Gestur Stefansson | Bass
Jónas Hauksson | Drums

Morpholith, Null Dimensions (2020)

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Temple Premiere Funeral Planet in Full

Posted in audiObelisk on November 24th, 2020 by JJ Koczan

temple

Swedish murk doomers Temple will release their debut full-length, Funeral Planet, through Ozium Records on Friday. One should not be surprised to fine the Gävle-based four-piece of guitarists Jimmy Hedlund and Otto Molin (the latter also vocals), bassist Erik Bergqvist and drummer Marcus Ström emitting massive tonal heft and lumbering groove, as that’s become something of a national pastime for Sweden, but Funeral Planet‘s somehow-still-unassuming seven-track/37-minute run brings atmosphere, tapping influence not only from elephant-in-the-room countrymen in Monolord as evident in the riffs of “Drain” or the sheer heft they trebuchet forth upon the listener in galloping break in second cut “Magma” earlier on — it’s like if the central chug from “Holy Diver” was ultra-weighted doom, and that’s just fine by me — but from the swirling swamp-fog of Windhand as well.

In some ways, that’s two trails leading one through the creepy woods to the distortion-and-groove waterfall that is Electric Wizard circa 2007, but as Monolord and Windhand have spearheaded progression away from that root on their own respective paths, Funeral Planet marks a beginning point for Temple in likewise starting their own exploration of sound and style. Their roll is massive from the outset with “Sea of Grief” as the launchpoint, and it seems only to grow more and more consuming as “Ashes” temple funeral planetand the birdsong-laced title-track leave little to wonder how Temple feel about the direction in which the planet is headed environmentally. As 2020 has become a choose-your-apocalypse adventure, the immediacy of a global pandemic has usurped some of the press that probably otherwise would’ve gone toward the slower-unfolding but even more terrifying climate disaster — 1.3 million deaths worldwide and counting; my understanding as well is that Temple‘s home country is being hit hard right now, to which I can relate — but just because there’s more than one clusterfuck defining this moment in human existence doesn’t meant that Funeral Planet is any less relevant. If anything, the figure quoted in that last sentence makes the album’s title all the more tragically so.

Still, it seems not to be happenstance that “Changes” is the centerpiece on Funeral Planet, with a speedier tempo than some of what surrounds but still plenty of lurch on offer, since “change” is what it’s all about. Remember when it used to snow? Remember when half the globe wasn’t on fire for half the year? When hurricanes didn’t need multiple alphabets in a single season? If you’re about 20 years old, probably not, but there used to be seasons other than “wet,” “dry,” and “dead.” I won’t profess to know the extent of Temple‘s activism in this regard, but it’s statements and examinations like this that, in part, define our time, as humanity is forced to look around and realize what it’s done to itself. Unless, of course, you refuse to do that, in which case I guess everything’s hunky-dory. Must be nice.

As “Funeral Planet” hits its last crashout and bookended stretch of quiet guitar and birds chirping into a fadeout, the vibe is duly mournful, but Temple are also about more than just the message, and the underlying strength of their debut — because the overlying strength is the tone they use to crush your face into pulp — is their songwriting. Hooks may be obscured by echo and walls-o’-fuzz, but they’re there nonetheless, and deceptively resonant in their after-effect. Put on the record and nod out if you will, but you might be surprised how much the tracks of Funeral Planet keep playing in your mind after they’re done.

You can find out for yourself on the full album stream below.

Please enjoy:

“Listen to the planet and she’ll tell you where she stands.” According to Temple, a fresh doom metal band out of Sweden, it’s not in good stead with humanity. On their début record Funeral Planet, the four conjure a blend of melancholic yet fuzzy doom that sets the perfect ambience. This is not their first rodeo, either – those familiar with Silver Devil and Surfing In Hell will instantly know they are in good hands, but for the rest, it’s time to strap in for a riffing ride.

The message is as important as the music on Funeral Planet – the name alone a powerful social commentary, and the lyrics support this. The constant thread throughout is one of the abuse that Mother Nature has suffered, and the wrath that she will inflict (“She paints the ground with her lava brush”), written with the same pained emotion that frontman Otto Molin wails them. Each song carries a unique perspective, from the man-tames-wild-nature take on “Whipped” to the appeal to reason on “Ashes”. A stunning set of performances.

Temple are:
Otto Molin – Vocals, Guitar
Erik Bergqvist – Bas
Marcus Ström – Drums
Jimmy Hedlund – Guitar

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Saint Karloff Announce Tour with Magmakammer; Interstellar Voodoo Studio Documentary Streaming

Posted in Whathaveyou on January 30th, 2020 by JJ Koczan

saint karloff

Cheers to Norwegian doomers Saint Karloff on making a studio documentary and avoiding having it basically be fodder for comparison to Spinal Tap. A rare dodge on the part of any band. The Oslo-based three-piece will begin a round of shows in February supporting their 2019 sophomore full-length, Interstellar Voodoo (review here), and they’ll be joined in the endeavor by countrymen garage heavies Magmakammer, making for a two-band complement that I have no doubt will be received with approving nods by all in their presence. This brand of riffing will do that, and each act has their own spin.

I was kind of hoping for some video interview footage in the documentary, and it’s the album playing (in full) over studio clips with info and background spliced in, making for an interesting, cool and not-at-all Tap excuse to revisit the record. You think that’d be easy but it’s not if you’ve ever done an interview.

Dates and that video follow, as per the PR wire:

saint karloff magmakammer tour

Norwegian Occult Rockers SAINT KARLOFF announce European Tour with Magmakammer | Share Recording Session Documentary for INTERSTELLAR VOODOO

In association with The Doomsday Agency and hot on the heels of an impressive 2019, Doom Rock’s rising superpower, Saint Karloff, take to the road next month for a European tour with fellow Norwegians, Magmakammer.

Having made their mark on the international heavy music scene in 2018 with the release of their debut album, All Heed the Black God, the band continued to raise their game with newer, heavier and more complexly psychedelic material on last year’s Interstellar Voodoo, their follow-up album released on Majestic Mountain Records.

To showcase exactly what went into the recording, the trio have released a unique video documenting and detailing the very recording session that produced the album’s epic one-track conclusion. Soundtracked in full of course, by the album itself.

“This is a music video and documentary hybrid of our time recording our second album,” explains guitarist/vocalist, Mads Melvold. “It was recorded Easter 2019 and released in the autumn of that same year. People have reached out to us and asked us about the making of Interstellar Voodoo, and with this video we try to answer these questions. What you see is the actual recording. The whole thing was filmed and edited and it contains information and anecdotes on the whole process from start to finish.”

Released last year on Majestic Mountain Records, copies of Interstellar Voodoo are now sold out but you can purchase the album digitally, directly from the band (here) ahead of their tour, which kicks off in Norway next month. For the full list of dates and venues see list and tour poster below:

SAINT KARLOFF EUROPEAN TOUR 2020:

20/2 – Hulen – Bergen, Norway*
29/2 – Blitz – Oslo, Norway+
5/3 – 1000Fryd – Aalborg, Denmark*
6/3 – MTS Records – Oldenburg, Germany*
7/3 – Den Drummer – Gent, Belgium*
9/3 – Chemiefabrik – Dresden, Germany
12/3 – MS Stubnitz – Hamburg, Germany*
13/3 – Favela Café – Helsingborg, Sweden*
14/3 – MMR Fest Hus 7 – Stockholm, Sweden*+

*w. Magmakammer
+Saint Karloff to perform Interstellar Voodoo in its entirety

facebook.com/SaintKarloff/
saintkarloff.bandcamp.com
instagram.com/saintkarloff
majesticmountainrecords.bigcartel.com
facebook.com/majesticmountainrecords/
instagram.com/majesticmountainrecords/
https://oziumrecords.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/stonerwitchrecords/

Saint Karloff, Interstellar Voodoo Recording Documentary

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Quarterly Review: Dommengang, Ice Dragon, Saint Karloff, Witch Trail, Love Gang, Firebreather, Karkara, Circle of Sighs, Floral Fauna, Vvlva

Posted in Reviews on January 7th, 2020 by JJ Koczan

quarterly review

We begin Day Two of the Winter 2020 Quarterly Review. Snow on the ground fell overnight and the day ahead looks as busy as ever. There’s barely time to stop for sips of coffee between records, but some allowances must be made. It’s Tuesday after all. There’s still a lot of week left. And if we can’t be kind to ourselves in the post-holiday comedown of wintry gray, when can we?

So yes, pause, sip — glug, more likely — then proceed.

I don’t usually play favorites with these things, but I think today’s might have worked out to be my favorite batch of the bunch. As always, I hope you find something that speaks to you.

Quarterly Review #11-20:

Dommengang, No Keys

dommengang no keys

Driving heavy psych and rock meet with spacious Americana and a suburbanite dreaminess in Dommengang‘s No Keys, the now-L.A. trio’s follow-up to 2018’s Love Jail (review here). It is a melting pot of sound, with emphasis on melting, but vocal harmonies and consistently righteous basslines like that in “Stir the Sea” act to tie the nine component tracks together, making Dommengang‘s various washes of tone ultimately the creation of a welcoming space. Early cut “Earth Blues” follows opener “Sunny Day Flooding” with a mindful far-outbound resonance, and the later “Arcularius – Burke” finds itself in a linear building pattern ahead of “Jerusalem Cricket,” which reimagines ’70s country rock as something less about nostalgia than forward possibility. Having come far on their apparently keyboard-less journey, from the breadth-casting verses of “Stir the Sea” to the doomy interlude “Blues Rot,” they end with “Happy Death (Her Blues II)” which sure as hell sounds like it has some organ on it. Either way, whether they live up to the standard of the title or not is secondary to the album’s actual achievements, which are significant, and distinguish Dommengang from would-be peers in atmosphere, craft and melody.

Dommengang on Thee Facebooks

Thrill Jockey Records on Bandcamp

 

Ice Dragon, Passage of Mind

ice dragon passage of mind

Though they don’t do it nearly as often as they did between 2012 and 2015, every now and then Boston’s Ice Dragon manage to sneak out a new release. Over the last few years, that’s been a succession of singles, but Passage of Mind is their first LP since 2015’s A Beacon on the Barrow (review here), and though they’ll always in some part be thought of as a doom band, the unassuming organic psychedelia of “Don’t Know Much but the Road” reminds more of Chris Goss‘ work with Masters of Reality in its acoustic/fuzz blend and melody. The experimentalism-prone outfit have been down this avenue before as well, and it suits them, even as members have moved on to other projects (Brass Hearse among them), with the seven-minute “One of These Days” basing itself around willfully simplistic-sounding intertwining lines of higher and lower fuzz. There are moments of serenity, like closer “Dream About You” and “Sun in My Eyes,” but “The Sound the Rain Makes” is more of a blowout, and even the darker vibe of “Delirium’s Tears” holds hits melody as top priority. Hey guess what? Here’s an Ice Dragon album that deserves more attention than it’s gotten. I think it’s the 12th one.

Ice Dragon on Thee Facebooks

Ice Dragon on Bandcamp

 

Saint Karloff, Interstellar Voodoo

Saint Karloff Interstellar Voodoo

Oslo’s Saint Karloff squash the high standard they set for themselves on their 2018 debut, All Heed the Black God (review here), with the 41-minute single-song long-player Interstellar Voodoo, basking in bluesy Sabbathian grandeur and keeping a spirit of progressive adventuring beneath without giving over entirely to self-indulgent impulses any more than one could as they careen from one movement to the next in the multi-stage work. With vinyl through Majestic Mountain Records, tape on Stoner Witch Records and CD through Ozium Records, they’re nothing if not well represented, and rightly so, as they veer in and out of psychedelic terrain in exciting and periodically elephantine fashion, still making room for classic Scandi-folk boogie on side A before the second half of the track stomps all over everything that’s come before it en route to its own organ-laced jammy meandering, Iommi shuffle and circa-’74 howl. As a new generation of doom rock begins to take shape, Saint Karloff position themselves well as earlier pursuers of an individualist spirit while still drawing of course on classic sources of inspiration. The first record was encouraging. The second is more so. The third will be the real tell of who they are as a band.

Saint Karloff on Thee Facebooks

Majestic Mountain Records webstore

 

Witch Trail, The Sun Has Left the Hill

witch trail the sun has left the hill

The jangling guitar strum in centerpiece “Lucid” on Witch Trail‘s The Sun Has Left the Hill (Consouling Sounds) has the indelible mark of classic rock and roll freedom to it. One wonders if Pete Townshend would recognize it, or if it’s too far blasted into oblivion by the Belgian trio’s aesthetic treatment across The Sun Has Left the Hill‘s convention-challenging 29-minute span, comprising seven tracks that bring together a heavy alternative rock and post-black metal vision marked by spacious echoes and cavern screams that are likewise tortured and self-assured. That is to say, there’s no mistaking the intent here. In the early intensity of “Watcher” or the shimmering and more patiently unfolding “Silent Running,” the Ghent three-piece mark out their stylistic terrain between bursts of noisy chaotic wash and clearheaded execution. The six-minute “Afloat” hisses like a lost demo that would’ve rewritten genre history some 25 years ago, and even in closer “Residue,” one can’t help but feel like Witch Trail are indeed looking to leave some lasting effect behind them with such forward-thinking craft. Sure to be a shock for those who take it on with no idea of what to expect.

Witch Trail on Thee Facebooks

Consouling Sounds website

 

Love Gang, Dead Man’s Game

love gang dead mans game

Shortly before Love Gang are halfway through the opening title-track of their debut album, Dead Man’s Game, just when you think you might have their blend of organ-laced Radio Moscow and Motörhead figured out, that’s when Leo Muñoz breaks out the flute and the whole thing takes a turn for the unexpected. Surprises abound from the Denver foursome of Muñoz (who also handles organ and sax), guitarist/vocalist Kam Wentworth, bassist Grady O’Donnell and drummer Shaun Goodwin, who find room for psychedelic airiness amidst the gallop of “Addiction,” which doesn’t seem coincidentally paired with “Break Free,” though the two don’t run together. Love Gang‘s 2016 self-titled EP (review here) had a cleaner production and less aggro throb, and there’s some of that on Dead Man’s Game in the peaceful melody of “Interlude,” but even seven-minute closer “Endless Road” makes a point of finishing at a rush, and that’s ultimately what defines the album. No complaints. Love Gang wield momentum as another element of inventive arrangement on this encouraging first long-player.

Love Gang on Thee Facebooks

Love Gang on Thee Facebooks

 

Firebreather, Under a Blood Moon

firebreather under a blood moon

‘Tis the stuff of battle axes and severed limbs, but it’s worth noting that three of the six inclusions on Firebreather‘s second LP and first for RidingEasy Records, Under a Blood Moon, have some reference to fire in their title. The follow-up to their brazen 2017 self-titled debut (review here) starts with its longest track (immediate points) in the nine-minute “Dancing Flames,” then follows immediately with “Our Souls, They Burn” and launches side B with the eponymous “Firebreather,” as the Gothenburg trio of Mattias Nööjd, Kyle Pitcher and Axel Wittbeck launch their riffy, destructive assault with urgency that earns all that scarred land left in its wake. The High on Fire comparison remains inevitable, perhaps most of all on “Firebreather” itself, but Firebreather have grown thicker in tone, meaner in approach and do nothing to shy away from the largesse that such a sound might let them convey, as “Our Souls, They Burn” and in the volume surges of closer “The Siren.” Under a Blood Moon is a definite forward step from the first LP, showing an evolving sound and burgeoning individuality that one hopes Firebreather continue to hunt down with such vigilance.

Firebreather on Thee Facebooks

RidingEasy Records on Bandcamp

 

Karkara, Crystal Gazer

karkara crystal gazer

Presented through Stolen Body Records, the debut long-player from French trio Karkara purports to be “Oriental psych rock,” which accounts for an Eastern influence in the overall sound of its seven-track/41-minute run, but there are perhaps some geographical questions to be undertaken there, as “Camel Rider” and others show a distinctive Mideastern flair. Whatever works, I guess. At its core, Crystal Gazer is a work of psychedelic space rock, brought to bear with a duly open sensibility by guitarist/vocalist Karim Rihani (also didgeridoo), bassist Hugo Olive and drummer/vocalist Maxime Marouani as seemingly the beginning stages of a broader sonic adventure. That is to say, the stylistic aspects at play here — and they are very much “at play” — feel purposefully used, but like the foundation of what will be future growth on the part of Karkara as a unit. Will they progress along a more patient and meditative path, as “The Way” hints in some of its early roll, or will the frenetic winding of closer “Jedid” set their course for subsequent freakouts? I don’t know, but Karkara strike as a band who won’t see any point to standing still creatively any more than they do to doing so rhythmically.

Karkara on Thee Facebooks

Stolen Body Records website

 

Circle of Sighs, Desolate

circle of sighs desolate

Information is limited on Circle of Sighs, and by that I primarily mean I don’t have any. They list their point of origin as Los Angeles, so there’s that, but as to the whos and whats, wheres and so on, it’s a mystery. Something tells me that suits the band, whose four-track debut EP, Desolate, gracefully executes a blend of melodic downerism with more extreme elements at play, melodic vocal arrangements offset by screams in the closing title-track after the prior rolling groove of “Burden of the Flesh” offered a progressive and synth-laden take on Pallbearer-style emotive doom. Acoustics, keyboard, and a clear use of multiple singers give Circle of Sighs‘ first outing a kitchen-sink feel, but one can only admire them for trying something new at their (presumed) outset, and the catchy chug of “Hold Me, Lucifer” speaks to more complex aesthetic origins than the simplistic subject matter might lead one to believe. The outlier is the penultimate nine-minute cut “Kukeri,” which broods across its first three minutes in a manner that would make Patrick Walker proud before unfolding the breadth of its lumber and arrangement, harmonies and screams and the first real showcase of more extreme impulses taking hold in its second half — plus strings, maybe — which “Desolate” itself will build upon after a bookending acoustic close. There’s some sorting out to do in terms of sound, but already they show a readiness to push in their own direction, and that’s more than it would seem reasonable to ask.

Circle of Sighs on Thee Facebooks

Circle of Sighs on Bandcamp

 

Floral Fauna, Pink and Blue

floral fauna pink and blue

Way out west, Chris Allison of the band Lord Loud is taking on psychedelic shimmer under the ostensible solo moniker of Floral Fauna, but the situation of the project’s 11-tracker debut LP, Pink and Blue is more complicated in personnel and style than that, melding fuzzy presence, classic ’60s surf-tone, rampant hooky melody and ready-to-go-anywhere-as-long-as-it-works pop experimentalism together in a steaming lysergic cauldron of neo-yourface-ism that’s ether blissed enough to tie funk and ancient R&B to cosmic flow together in a manner that feels like an utter tossoff, like, hey, yeah man, this kind of thing just happens all the time here. You know, no big deal on this wavelength. Mellow dreams in “Great White Silence,” a spacey ramble in “Velvet and Jade” and the echoing leadwork of “Red Anxiety” continue the color theme from the opening title-track, and the record caps with “Herds of Jellyfish,” which at last brings forward the vocal harmony that the whole album seems to have been begging for. Cool debut? Shit, man. It’s 36 minutes of straight-up psych joy just waiting to bring you on board. Legal psilocybin now.

Floral Fauna on Thee Facebooks

King Volume Records on Bandcamp

 

Vvlva, Silhouettes

vvlva silhouettes

There are a couple things you can figure on in this wacky universe, and one of them is that German imprint World in Sound knows what it’s doing when it picks up a classic heavy rock band. Silhouettes is the second long-player the label has released from woefully-monikered Aschaffenburg-based four-piece Vvlva, and indeed in the upfront boogie of “Cosmic Pilgrim” or the more progressive unfolding of pieces like “Tales Told by a Gray Man,” the centerpiece “Gomorrah,” or the longer “Night by Night/The Choir” and “Dance of the Heathens,” which seem to bring the two sides together, there’s enough vintage influence to make the case once again. Like the more forward thinking of their contemporaries, Vvlva have brought this modus into the present when it comes to production value and clarity, and rather than sound like it’s 1973, they would seem to be making 1973 sound like them. Whether one dives in for the early hooks in “Cosmic Pilgrim” or “What Do I Stand For?” or the fuzzy interplay between the solo and organ in the maddeningly bouncing “Hobos,” there’s plenty in Silhouettes to demonstrate the vitality and continued evolution of the style.

Vvlva on Thee Facebooks

World in Sound website

 

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Saint Karloff Announce New Album Interstellar Voodoo out Oct. 4

Posted in Whathaveyou on August 13th, 2019 by JJ Koczan

saint karloff

Oslo’s Saint Karloff are working at a good clip coming off their 2018 debut, All Heed the Black God (review here), in that it’s barely been a year since that release came out and already they’ve got a split and a new full-length due this Fall. The split is with Devil’s Witches and it’s out Sept. 6, and not quite a month later, on Oct. 4, they’ll issue their second long-player, Interstellar Voodoo. It’s set to be issued through Majestic Mountain RecordsOzium Reords and Stoner Witch Records, which is nice because, you know, the more the merrier when it comes to promotion.

These cats played Esbjerg Fuzztival earlier this Spring, and I’d expect much of their summertime has been spent coordinating making both these offerings come out, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they took to stages in early 2020, to at least get back out and promote late-2019’s wares.

Nothing on that yet, and no audio from Interstellar Voodoo, but here’s the album announcement from the PR wire:

saint karloff interstellar-voodoo

Rising Norwegian Occult Rockers Saint Karloff to unleash monolithic, one-track album, Interstellar Voodoo, this October on Majestic Mountain Records

Hot on the heels of a sold-out split from two of doom’s rising superpowers, the recently formed Swedish label, Majestic Mountain Records, is psyched to announce the release of Interstellar Voodoo; the brand-new studio album from Norwegian occult-rockers, Saint Karloff.

Having made their mark on the international heavy music scene in 2018 with the release of their debut album, All Heed the Black God, the band has continued to raise their game with new material that is far heavier, more psychedelic and complex than anything they’ve ever done before.

All Heed the Black God was inspired by 70s heavy blues bands like Black Sabbath and early Pentagram (official) and allowed the band to fuse this vintage sound with modern day stoner rock to create a sound indebted to world of today and the music of yesteryear.

With the impending release of Coven of the Ultra-Riff in September, a limited edition split with fellow riff worshippers, Devil’s Witches, Saint Karloff – featuring Mads Melvold (Guitar, Vocals), Ole Sletner (Bass) and Adam Suleiman (Drums) – are a mounting force to be reckoned with. And as you’ll hear from the progressive, one-track multiverse journey that spans the whole of Interstellar Voodoo, they’re unlikely to slow down for anyone, anytime soon.

“Interstellar Voodoo has been a labour of love, written and recorded to fill a void in our collective souls,” explains bassist, Ole Sletner. “To put this much devotion into something experimental is a bit scary, but luckily we have a label who believes in us. We are eternally gratefull to Marco Berg at Majestic Mountain Records for stepping up to the challenge of releasing our blood, sweat and tears on vinyl.

Interstellar Voodoo by Saint Karloff is released on 4th October through Majestic Mountain Records with pre-order beginning on 30th August.

Saint Karloff’s split with Devil’s Witches – Coven of the Ultra-Riff – is released on 6th September 2019.

Artist: Saint Karloff
Release: Interstellar Voodoo
Label: Majestic Mountain Records
Release Date: 04/10/2019
Format: Vinyl (Majestic Mountain Records), CD (Ozium Records), Tape (Stoner Witch Records)

facebook.com/SaintKarloff/
saintkarloff.bandcamp.com
instagram.com/saintkarloff
majesticmountainrecords.bigcartel.com
facebook.com/majesticmountainrecords/
instagram.com/majesticmountainrecords/
https://oziumrecords.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/stonerwitchrecords/

Saint Karloff, All Heed the Black God (2018)

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