Posted in Whathaveyou on December 19th, 2019 by JJ Koczan
The news out of Pittsburgh is doomy as word comes through the PR wire that Molasses Barge have signed to Argonauta Records for the release of their second album, A Grayer Dawn. The record’s not due out until April 10 — which is far enough in the future that my feeble brain can barely comprehend it — and yet not only are we getting the news that the band have been picked up, but also the record’s cover art, tracklisting, and a streaming track. No one-at-a-time trickle of information here. Molasses Barge are laying it on the line and with “Control Letting Go” as the first impression they’re making, frankly, they’re not wrong to do so. You can hear the track at the bottom of this post, and from its kind of raw coming together at the start, it sets an organic atmosphere that I have the feeling the band are going to toy around with a lot in the surrounding material. We’ll see though.
I’d expect to hear more about A Grayer Dawn in the New Year, and in the meantime, as the kind of guy who has a running list of 2020’s anticipated releases, I’ve got another name to jot down in my notes.
Here’s all the whatnot:
MOLASSES BARGE Sign To Argonauta Records For Release Of Brand New Album + Share First Single!
Pittsburgh PA’s Molasses Barge have inked a worldwide deal with rising cult label Argonauta Records, who will release the band’s sophomore album in the Spring of 2020! Titled A Grayer Dawn and set for a release on April 10th, since their critically acclaimed 2017- self-titled debut album Molasses Barge are following their path in the name of doom metal and finest heavy rock grooves, creating a blistering, raw and authentic sound.
“We are very excited to bring this new album to our friends and fans around the globe in 2020.” The band comments. “We were first fortunate to have the engineering and mastering expertise of Jason Jouver and Jack Endino for this recording, and secondly to have Argonauta Records sign us on to be a part of their burgeoning label. Thank you to everyone who has supported us for all of these years!”
The A Grayer Dawn tracklist reads as follows: 1. The Snake 2. Desert Discord 3. Control Letting Go 4. Holding Patterns 5. Black Wings Unfurl 6. Distant 7. A Grayer Dawn 8. Reprise
Molasses Barge were formed in 2008 by Wayne Massey (drums), Brian “Butch” Balich (vocals), and Justin Gizzi (guitar). Originally intended as a side project with designs on recording an EP and making a few live appearances, the group picked up momentum following the additions of second guitarist Ken Houser in 2009, and bassist Amy Bianco at the outset of 2010, recording a pair of EPs and playing numerous shows in PA, Maryland, and New York. After Ken Houser and the group parted ways in 2014, David Fresch was brought aboard and the band released a self titled double-CD through Blackseed Records in 2017. Now entering 2020, with their core still intact and mainstays of Pittsburgh PA’s heavy music scene, Molasses Barge are set to release their second full length album via Italy’s Argonauta Records, featuring the addition of new guitarist Barry Mull.
A Grayer Dawn will see the light of day on April 10th, the band has also been confirmed to play Maryland Doom Fest in 2020. Watch out for more news and album tunes to follow in the weeks ahead!
Molasses Barge is: Brian “Butch” Balich – Vocals Amy Bianco – Bass Justin Gizzi – Guitar Barry Mull – Guitar Wayne Massey – Drums
Posted in Bootleg Theater on December 16th, 2019 by JJ Koczan
I have been spending some significant time with Deathwhite‘s second long-player, Grave Image, since hosting the premiere of the first single from it last month. That song was “Further From Salvation” (posted here) and proved to be a deceptively catchy grim joy of darkened melodicism, taking cues from death-doom instrumentally while refusing to give itself over entirely to that breed of the sonically extreme. The just-under-five-minute “Funeral Ground” is the album opener and follows a similar atmospheric course while serving the dual purpose of leading the listener along the vine-covered path that runs deeper into the record itself. There are some growl-ish backing vocals in a call and response in the chorus of “Funeral Ground,” but that’s about as far as Grave Image goes in that direction, which is consistent as well with 2017’s For a Black Tomorrow (review here). Gracefully, it captures that spirit regardless.
Very purposefully, I’m not listening to Grave Image as I write this post, since I want to give the album a proper review sometimes before its Jan. 31 release through Season of Mist. But thus far, it has become my winter’s soundtrack, suiting well these grey days and the rain that would formerly be snow, somehow all the more mournful given the context of that change in temperature. It’s not as cold as it used to be in December, but it’s no less dark, figuratively or literally. Though it’s still more than a month to go before it comes out, Grave Image is suiting that mood well.
See? There I am writing about the album and it’s not even on. Sometimes it’s hard to stop myself.
The “Funeral Ground” video was filmed alternately it would seem in the woods of Pennsylvania and somewhere in the vicinity of a fog machine. Both fair enough, as far as locales go. You’ll find the clip below, followed by more background and the album preorder link, courtesy of the PR wire.
Enjoy:
Deathwhite, “Funeral Ground” official video
Enigmatic dark metal collective DEATHWHITE premiere the morbid music video for their brand new song, “Funeral Ground.” The track is taken from the band’s upcoming full-length, ‘Grave Image,’ which is due on January 31, 2020.
DEATHWHITE comments: “We were quite elated upon seeing Jérôme Comentale’s cover art design for ‘Grave Image.’ With that mind, we wanted to find some way to tie it into a video, which we did for “Funeral Ground”. It is not obvious at first, but, rest assured, it is there. We had the good fortune of shooting during a brisk autumn day in the natural outdoors, something that we feel only added to the song’s overall atmosphere, which treads some new – no pun intended – ground for us. Due credit to our resident jack-of-all-trades Shane Mayer, who lent his considerable time and energy to the video’s creation.”
‘Grave Image’ can be pre-ordered in various formatsHERE.
‘Grave Image’ Track List: 1. Funeral Ground (05:05) 2. In Eclipse (04:46) 3. Further from Salvation (04:56) 4. Grave Image (04:50) 5. Among Us (04:11) 6. Words of Dead Men (03:56) 7. No Horizon (05:29) 8. Plague of Virtue (04:14) 9. A Servant (04:43) 10. Return to Silence (06:38) Total Length: 48:48
Line-up: The band does not provide line-up information.
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before, but winter is coming. As I sit and write this in the middle of the pre-dawn night, it’s single-digits cold in what’s been hyperbolized as an Arctic deathfreeze or some such. The moon is full through the trees outside my window and the wind sounds biting and harsh even from the delusional comfort of indoors. It is going to be a long, dark several months ahead, and the melancholia of Deathwhite would seem to be ready for it. Following up their debut, For a Black Tomorrow (review here) — independently issued in 2017 and picked up early last year by Season of Mist — the anonymous Pittsburgh-based outfit will offer the bleak emotionalism of their second long-player, Grave Image, on Jan. 31, 2020.
“Further from Salvation” is the first audio to come from Grave Image, and despite the grimness of its atmosphere, I’m thrilled to host the premiere of it. With recording done in Pittsburgh and Florida and mastering in Sweden, it represents a range of histories from the unheralded Midwestern death-doom pioneering of Novembers Doom to the Sunshine State’s sonic extremity — something that comes through in the drumming here as well — and of course the European legacy of depressive melodic heaviness, as expressed through bands like Katatonia, Paradise Lost, Anathema and My Dying Bride. This sense of drama can be felt in “Further from Salvation” in the whispered vocals of the verse and the morose theme being conveyed, the loss of one’s name, the pursuit of knowledge under penalty of death, and as they did on their debut, Deathwhite bring it forth on “Further from Salvation” with conviction and aesthetic loyalty that is as genuine in its identity as in its homage.
I’ve yet to hear the entirety of Grave Image, but the band speaks to an added sense of severity in their presentation, and I think that is apparent in this track, which is one of a total 10 on the album, the stark and frigid artwork for which could hardly be more suited to the swaying and sad melodycraft and the sense of longing being conveyed.
Rather than prattle on, I’ll turn you over to the song itself and let the copious PR wire background do the rest of the talking while I listen through again and wait for the sun to come up, which it will sooner or later despite the current encompassing darkness.
Deathwhite, “Further from Salvation” official track premiere
Deathwhite on “Further from Salvation”:
“‘Further from Salvation’ was the first song we wrote for ‘Grave Image.’ It gave us the confidence and direction to move forward in a similar direction for the rest of the album, whereby we decided to place more emphasis on heaviness and melody. ‘Further from Salvation’ is also unique for its drum break in the middle portion of the song, something we are imminently proud of. The song itself is reflective of the regular back-and-forth of the human psyche, where inner peace and turmoil is sometimes a mirage of one’s own doing. There is, of course, no parallel to peace of mind, as difficult as it is to achieve.”
The fallible nature of mankind is reflected through its actions and words. Once an absolute, truth is now fluid, twisted and contorted to suit the often-short-sighted needs of those who now suffer the indignation of willful ignorance. Paired with the stench of hypocrisy and unrelenting depletion of the earth’s resources, and the state of the world could not appear graver. It is under this grey cloud that enigmatic dark metal collective DEATHWHITE created their second full-length studio album, Grave Image.
Grave Image was recorded during April and May 2019 at Cerebral Audio Productions with producer/engineer Shane Mayer; vocal tracking took place at Erik Rutan’s (Hate Eternal, Morbid Angel) Mana Recording under the supervision of engineer Art Paiz. The album was mastered by the incomparable Dan Swanö (Bloodbath, Edge of Sanity, Nightingale) at Unisound, and, as with the band’s previous two efforts, the artwork and design were handled by Jérôme Comentale, whose visuals are crucial to DEATHWHITE’s overall aesthetic.
Written over the span of 18 months, Grave Image is a largely heavier and more orchestrated body of work than its 2018 For a Black Tomorrow predecessor. The album is driven by clean, emotive vocals, an increasingly rare commodity in a metal scene so committed to harsher styles of singing. This embrace and execution of such vocals are one of the defining traits of the ten songs found therein, which also offer a wall of guitars flanked by a constant stream of melodies, the direct result of the band adding a second guitarist in 2018.
Since its 2012 formation, DEATHWHITE has remained committed to playing dark metal while remaining anonymous. The band is the utter representation of “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts” adage — its members are from disparate backgrounds and are once again spread out across the United States. However, DEATHWHITE remains a vehicle for its members to create new music and convey their unflinching sense of despair as the human race continues its rapid descent to the bottom.
“We consider ourselves to be quite privileged to have DEATHWHITE in our lives,” concludes the band. “With that in mind, Grave Image represents the months of hard work that went into its creation. It is our hope it will resonate long after we’ve outlived our usefulness. If nothing else, we hope it will find a home with those who share a similar frame of mind as us.”
‘Grave Image’ Track List: 1. Funeral Ground (05:05) 2. In Eclipse (04:46) 3. Further from Salvation (04:56) 4. Grave Image (04:50) 5. Among Us (04:11) 6. Words of Dead Men (03:56) 7. No Horizon (05:29) 8. Plague of Virtue (04:14) 9. A Servant (04:43) 10. Return to Silence (06:38) Total Length: 48:48
Line-up: The band does not provide line-up information.
Posted in Reviews on October 4th, 2019 by JJ Koczan
Oh hi, I didn’t see you there. Earlier this week — Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and yes, even Wednesday — the alarm went off at 4AM as usual and I got up, got coffee going and a protein bar and sat down to write, starting basically around quarter-after with a quick email check and whatnot. In terms of basic timing, this last morning of the Fall 2019 Quarterly Review is no different. I even have the baby monitor streaming on my phone as I would most mornings, so I can keep an eye on when The Pecan gets up. What’s changed is I’m sitting in a hotel lobby in Oslo, Norway, having just arrived on an overnight flight from Newark. Managed to sleep some on the plane and I’m hopeful adrenaline will pick up the rest of the slack as regards getting through the day. That and caffeine, anyhow.
Although, speaking of, my debit card doesn’t work and I’ll need to sort that out.
First thing’s first, and that’s reviews. Last batch of 10 for the week. We made it. Thanks as always for reading and being a part of this thing. Let’s wrap it up in style, and because I like working on a theme, three Irish bands in a row close out. Hey, I went to Ireland this year.
Quarterly Review #41-50:
Ufomammut, XX
Five years ago, Roman cosmic doom masters Ufomammut took a reflective look back at their career for its 15th anniversary with the documentary/live-performance DVD XV (review here). And since one might define the arc of their tenure as constantly trying to top themselves, for their 20th anniversary, they’ve issued a 12LP boxed set, titled simply XX, that compiles their nine albums to-date and tops them off with the mostly-subdued-style XX itself, which reimagines past cacophonies like “Mars” and “Plouton” in a quieter context. That part of the mega-offering issued through their own Supernatural Cat imprint comprises six songs recorded live and makes highlights out of the hypnotic strum and incantations of “Satan” as well as the rumbling drone of “Lacrimosa,” which takes on new emotional resonance for the shoegazy treatment it receives. I’ve said on multiple occasions throughout the years that Ufomammut are a band to be treasured, and I stand by that 100 percent. The XX box should be perceived by fans as an opportunity to do likewise.
Less than a year after issuing their second long-player in the form of Holocene (review here) through Blackseed and Doom Stew Records, Pittsburgh atmosludgers Horehound align with DHU Records for the two-song 8″ EP Weight, which brings “Unbind” and “The Heavy,” two new cuts that, while I’m not sure they weren’t recorded at the same time as the last album — that is, they may have been — they nonetheless showcase the emergent melodic breadth and instrumental ambience that is developing in their sound. Even as “Unbind” rolls toward its low-end tempo kick, it does so with marked patience and a willingness to stay slow until just the right moment, which is not something every band cane effectively do. “The Heavy,” meanwhile, builds itself around a Crowbar-style dirge riff before Shy Kennedy‘s verse arrives as a standalone element, all the instruments around her dropping out from behind. That moment alone, frankly, is worth the price of admission, as whether it’s through that extra inch in diameter of the platter itself or through the audio of the tracks in question, Horehound continue to distinguish themselves.
I’m not sure I’m qualified to write about Lingua Ignota‘s CALIGULA (on Profound Lore), but I’m not sure anyone else is either. Like a self-harmonizing mega-Jarboe turning existential horror into epic proclamations of “I don’t eat/I don’t sleep” on “DO YOU DOUBT ME TRAITOR?” amid bass throb and terrifying melodic layering before making bedroom black metal sound like the lightweight self-indulgence it’s always been on the subsequent check-out-the-real-shit “BUTCHER OF THE WORLD,” Kristin Hayter‘s work is little short of experimentalist brilliance. She is minimal and yet over-the-top, open in creative terms but unwaveringly dark and rife with melody but severe to the point now and again of true aural abrasion. She weaves a context of her own into “FUCKING DEATHDEALER” as she recalls the lyrics to the aforementioned “BUTCHER OF THE WORLD,” while the outright brutality of “SPITE ALONE HOLDS ME ALOFT” is married to a piano-led meditation that, even without the noise wash from whence it comes, is enough to recast visions of what heavy is and can be in musical terms. I won’t pretend to get all the references like “kyrie eleison” (“lord have mercy”) worked into “IF THE POISON WON’T TAKE YOU MY DOGS WILL” and the violent strains surrounding, but it’s impossible not to realize the power of what you’re hearing when you listen.
With an intensity born out of a history of industrial music and focus on tight rhythms making an impact in even-tighter songwriting, Valborg are neither beholden to death metal nor entirely separate from it, but their style has taken on a life of its own over the course of the last 10 years, and their latest offering, Zentrum (on Prophecy Productions), is the German trio’s most individualized take yet, whether that’s shown in the unbridled melodicism of “Anomalie,” the sludgy riff that drives the barking “Ultragrab” or the seemingly unrelenting snare pops of “Kreuzer” that, even when they finally release that tension, still make it only a temporary reprieve. Valborg‘s sense of control through the epic “Nonnenstern” should not be understated, and though the track is under four minutes long, yes, “epic” very much applies. Suitably enough, they close with “Vakuum” and throw everything at the listener at once before resolving in relatively peaceful atmospherics that could just as easily serve as an introduction to the next round of malice to come, whenever it shows up.
Spanish trio Sageness — also written SageNESS — conjure smooth Electric Moon-style soundscapes on their second album, Akmé, and yes, that is a compliment. The record brings forth six tracks of easy-rolling instrumentalist jam-based heavy psychedelia that offer much and take little in return, the richness of the guitar tone from Dawyz and Michi‘s bass given jazzy fluidity by Fran‘s drumming. “Ephemeral” touches most directly on a Colour Haze, as it would almost have to, but even there, the feeling of spaciousness that Sageness present in the recording is a factor that helps them come across as more individual. Earlier, “The Thought” is a little more directly space rock, but opener “Andromeda” seems to be charting the course with its liquefied effects and somehow-even-more-liquefied groove, and if you can’t get down with that, I’ve got nothing for you and neither does the rest of the universe.
It’s not exactly true, about their being no light ever on Boston post-metallers Glacier‘s latest full-length, No Light Ever. Sure, it’s plenty dark and heavy and brooding and all that fun stuff, and the riffs get loud and the drums break stuff and all that, but it’s certainly colorful in its way as well, and more than just shades of black on black. Comprised of four tracks cumbersomely titled in keeping with the traditions of the likes of Red Sparowes and the band’s own past work, cuts like “O World! I Remain No Longer Here.” and “The Bugles Blow, Fanned by Hysteria.” stretch themselves out along a scope as massive as the tonality the band emits, and as the wash of “We Glut Our Souls on the Accursed,” — the comma is part of the title there — gives way to feedback and the onset of “And We Are Damned Amid Noble Sound.” the sense of immersion is complete and clear as the priority under which they’re working. It’s about the whole album, or at least the two sides, as a unified work, and about crafting a world through the atmosphere evoked in the material. It works. If they say there’s no light in that world, so be it. It’s whatever they want it to be.
Not-entirely-bereft-of-vowels South Carolina heavy trio MNRVA make their debut with the three-song EP Black Sky, a beast of a short release led by the riffs of guitarist Byron Hark on a stretch of ’90s-style crunch and sludge, with bassist/vocalist Kevin Jennings and drummer Gina Ercolini adding to the weight and shove of the proceedings, respectively. “Not the One” has the hook, “No Solution” has the impact and the title-track has both, and though I’m by no means saying the issue of their sound is settled 100 percent and they won’t grow or find their way from this — again, their debut — EP, they do prove to be well in charge of where their songs head in terms of mood and the atmosphere that comes through elements like the blown-out vocals and the rumbling bass beneath the lead guitar in the second half of “Black Sky” itself. Indeed, it’s those harsher aspects that help MNRVA immediately establish their individuality, and the vibe across these 18-plus minutes is that the punishment is only getting started.
Just because Irish four-piece Coroza — guitarist/vocalists Ciaran Coghlan and Jack O’Neill, bassist/vocalist Jonny Canning and drummer Ollie Cunningham — might write a song that’s 18 minutes long, that doesn’t mean they forgot to actually make it a song as well. Thus it is that extended cuts like “The Plutonian Drug” (18:24) and closer “Iron from the Sky” (19:30) have plenty of room to flesh out their more progressive aspects amid the other three also-kind-of-extended pieces on Chaliceburner, the group’s ambitious hour-plus/five-track debut full-length. Each song essentially becomes a front-to-back movement on its own, with shifts between singers arranged thoughtfully from one part to the next and hooks along the way to serve as landmarks for those traversing, as in the opening “Chaliceburner” or the gruff winding moments of “Mountain Jaw,” which follows the nine-minute sax-inclusive centerpiece “Scaltheen,” because of course there’s a saxophone in there somewhere. All of this is a recipe for a band biting off more than they can chew stylistically, but Coroza manage pretty well the various twists and turns of their own making, particularly considering it’s their first album.
Encased front and back by witchy samples and creepy vibes, Sept. 2019’s She of the Woods is the second demo in two months to come from Cork, Ireland’s Noosed. And you know it when they get around to the closing seven-minute title-track because it’s just about the only thing other than “Intro” that isn’t raging with grind intensity, but that stuff can be fun too. I don’t know how much witch-grind-doom is out there, but Noosed‘s first, self-titled demo (released in August) had a sludgy edge that seems to have separated out to some degree here into a multifaceted personality. Can one possibly be certain of the direction the band will ultimately take? Shit no. It’s two demos with basically no time differential between them. But if they can effectively bridge the gap between “Fuck Up,” “Wretch” and “She of the Woods,” or even play directly with the contrast, they could be onto something with all this noise and fuckall.
The narrative — blessings and peace upon it — has it such that Irish four-piece zhOra wanted to do something less complicated than was their 2017 album, Ethos, Pathos, Logos (discussed here), so they went ahead and wrote a song that’s five minutes long and purposefully hops between subgenres, going from sludge to doom to a deathcore breakdown, with a snare-pop count-in, to blackened death metal and then back to a lumbering chug to finish out. Okay, zhOra, “Ruthless Bastards” is a an awful lot of metal and an awfully good time, but you missed the mark on “simple” by a considerable margin. If indeed the band had been plotting toward something, say, easier to play or to compose, “Ruthless Bastards” ain’t it. They’ll have to settle for being brutal as fuck instead. Something tells me they’ll survive having made that trade, as much as anything will.
Posted in Whathaveyou on September 10th, 2019 by JJ Koczan
At the end of last month, it was announced that DHU Records had picked up Pittsburgh post-sludgers Horehound for the release of their new EP, Weight, as an 8″ record that’s bound to screw up somebody or other’s vinyl shelf organization in a delightful fashion. The A-side of the two-tracker is called “Unbind” — why my brain keeps typing that as “unblind,” I have no idea, but it does — and it’s streaming now thanks to a new sampler that DHU has put up as a free download that also includes cuts from Doomstress, Astral Witch, Black Road, The Red Widows and a slew of others that only emphasize the good company Horehound are keeping on the label.
The band had some comment about the release come down the PR wire, so hell yeah I’ll post that with the stream of the track. The EP? Yeah, there are a whopping 66 copies being made, so yes, if you want one, you should not hesitate to place your orders promptly.
Info:
HOREHOUND RELEASE NEW EP SEPT. 27
Post-Doom authors Horehound have recorded their third release: a short, sweet, and intentional teaser of things to come. The two songs set-up on 8″ lathes for a special limited press will also be available on their Bandcamp page on September 27th. The group has kept with its ritual of recording and mixing with Matt Schor at The War Room, and mastering with James Plotkin.
DHU is including the first-side single, Unbind, from this record in their DHU SAMPLER MMXIX VOL. IV, which is set for 9/6/19, so you can get a peek at it now!
“The songs are the most personally connected I’ve felt to anything we’ve written as a band and I hope that connection is something people feel when listening but, more than anything, I hope people just rock it the fuck out.” — Vocalist, Shy Kennedy
“DHU Records understands the Heavy Underground better than most and works hard to find and market the bands in its roster. We are certain this will be a strong partnership to build on.” — Guitarist, Brendan Parrish
Weight will be available for purchase on vinyl through DHU Records website, as well as a limited amount on the Horehound site, and while copies last, at live shows. It will also be available digitally on Bandcamp (https://pro-sludge.com) and through streaming services beginning September 27th, 2019.
HOREHOUND | WEIGHT EP Side One: Unbind Side Two: The Heavy
Posted in Whathaveyou on August 29th, 2019 by JJ Koczan
Before this entire post devolves into dick jokes — which, let’s just say, could happen — an eight-inch EP is just like a seven-inch EP, only, guess what?, one inch bigger. I can only think of one other heavy band in recent years who’ve put one out, so good for Pittsburgh’s Horehound and DHU Records teaming up to do something special together. As the band follows up late-2018’s full-length, Holocene (review here), they will release Weight, as a two-songer on eight-inch vinyl through the Netherlands-based imprint. That’s cool. Good fit, all that. The thing is, they’re only pressing 66 of them. That’s like nothing. Less than. That’s gone-on-preorders edition. The official release date is Sept. 27, and yeah, unless preorders open on Sept. 26, I can’t imagine there could possibly be any left by the time the official arrival gets here.
Horehound announced earlier this month that bassist Nick Kopco was leaving the band on amicable terms and that Louis Snyder (also Riparian) would fill in on for the time being until they get somebody to take the role permanently. I would assume it’s still Kopco on the EP, so Weight would also serve as, again presumably, his final recorded output with the band.
The following showed up on social medias:
!! LISTEN UP !!!
DHU Records is damn excited to sign Pittsburgh Heavies Horehound to join the DHU Family and release their upcoming 2 song EP Weight on an Exclusive and Limited 8″ Clear Lathe Cut Vinyl!
That’s right, you read that correct, an 8″ vinyl record!
Pressed once again by our vinyl brothers at Royal Mint Records and mastered for vinyl by the one and only James Plotkin
DHU is honored to be releasing new music by one of my favorite Doom bands!
Posted in Whathaveyou on July 30th, 2019 by JJ Koczan
I’ve had the good fortune of flying to Reykjavik a few times over the years, and from the air, Iceland is stark and gorgeous and like nothing else I’ve ever seen. I’ve never, however, had enough time there to actually leave the airport. It’s always fly-in-fly-out. Pittsburgh’s ZOM, on the other hand, will shoot over for a three-date run of Iceland at the end of August, hitting Reykjavik, Hafnarfjörður and Dalvik, a trip that will let them drive up the western coast of the country for a time before cutting inland a bit as they make their way north. Looks like an awesome way to do a weekender, and hey, if you could get three shows together in Iceland, wouldn’t you do it? Absolutely you would. It’s frickin’ Iceland. You go if you can go.
ZOM released their Argonauta Records debut, Nebulos, last year, and have been playing shows steadily since. This trip marks the first time they’ll leave the States for a show, though somehow one doubts it will be the last. An initial incursion, then.
Their announcement and the show details follow here. Because if you could go see a band from Pittsburgh in Icleand, wouldn’t you do it? Absolutely you would.
You get the idea:
ZOM to tour Iceland this August!
Pittsburgh, USA Stoner/Groove Heavy Rockers, ZOM (Argonauta Records) will embark on a tour of Iceland in late August, 2019.
It’s the band’s first trip overseas as a group in what they hope will be the first of many.
ZOM started as a recording project between Gero von Dehn (Von Dane/Monolith Wielder) and Andrew D’Cagna (Brimstone Coven/Ironflame) but morphed into a full fledged band after the recording of their debut release, Nebulos.
ZOM now features von Dehn (v/g), Ben Zerbe (Monolith Wielder-d), Matt Tuite (Penance/Blackfinger-g) and Sam Pesce (Del Rios-b).
Joining them on all three dates will be Icelandic heavy rockers, Alchemia. Southern flavored, stoner rockers, Volcanova (Iceland) will be perform on select shows.
ICELAND DATES:
Thur Aug 29th Gaukurinn Reykjavik With Alchemia and Volcanova
Friday Aug 30th R6013 or íslenski rokkbarinn Hafnarfjörður. With Alchemia and Volcanova
Sat Aug 31st – Dalvik Theatre Leikfelag Dalvikur Dalvik With Alchemia
Posted in Whathaveyou on July 16th, 2019 by JJ Koczan
First, I’d like to point out that the Thee Facebooks address for Pittsburgh’s Urns is ‘booUrns,’ which is about as choice as Simpsons references get without actually shooting Mr. Burns. Second, there’s a new song streaming now called “Curse” that leads off their upcoming self-titled debut that will see release on Aug. 10, one day after the release party at Howler’s in the band’s hometown. I’m getting a doom rock vibe from the first half of the track and some distinctly sludgier vibes from the second, but all that really tells me is they’re looking to throw a few curves here and there, and that’ll do nicely. One might recognize bassist/backing vocalist Justin Gizzi from Monolith Wielder and Molasses Barge as well, just in case you needed more proof of doomly bona fides.
Pedigree goes far, but riffs go further, so dig into the track and see what you think. Here’s some background:
Crying out like the last gasp of a man on fire, punctuated by overdriven guitars growling and biting through shifting moods, Urns take their time to get where they are going, exploring the smoke-filled soundscape along the way. Droning guitars give way to aureate vocal harmonies at times, just as soon as sludgy riffs desperately trudge forward behind blood-throated shrieks. Vocalist/guitarist Mike Myzak recruited bassist Justin Gizzi and drummer Rick Fontanese in 2014, with Mitchell Cochran joining in 2017 to form the line-up for Urns’ debut self-titled record (engineered by Jason Jouver of Plus/Minus Recording, mastered by Jack Endino of Soundhouse Recording) to be released 8/9 at Howler’s in Pittsburgh.
Has played with: Weedeater, Bell Witch, Full of Hell, Yob, Heavy Temple, Stinking Lizaveta, Witch Mountain
