Hold onto your ears, eyes and wallet, because Italian ‘zine Vincebus Eruptum is back with Issue No. 15, the latest on their ongoing effort to expand consciousness of the worldwide heavy underground. Printed on high-quality paper stock with a thicker, glossier feel than ever before, Vincebus Eruptum earns even more respect for keeping analog in a digital world. As someone who works for a “living” in print media, I have a hard time checking out this mag every time it comes in and not being insanely jealous of editor Davide “Davidew” Pansolin and his staff’s free-ranging will to explore the depths and uncover new and awesome bands.

This time around, the focus is as ever on the European heavy sphere. The one US-based band interviewed is Carlton Melton, from California, but with Ireland’s Electric Taurus, Scotland’s The Cosmic Dead, Swedish acts Skånska Mord and Spiders, and Italy’s own Doctor Cyclops (Vincebus Eruptum is famously supportive of its native scene and rightly so), there’s a decent spread of styles and geography. Not being familiar with a few of those names — Carlton Melton, Electric Taurus — it was cool to get to know them before I got to know them, and as ever, the reviews section reads like a wishlist in the making, with records from Karma to Burn, Vibravoid and Eternal Elysium alongside recent outings from less known names like Mombu, Orrenda Acciaieria and Sendelica — the very first release on the ‘zine’s own Vincebus Eruptum Recordings.

Kudos to Davidew and company for branching out — and for very subtly informing their readership that they’ve done so — but for anyone who’d really want to dig into the European underground, Vincebus Eruptum #15 offers the “Stoned Handbook” guide to the German scene. Put together in collaboration with Stonerrock.eu, it’s a list of bands, venues, promotion outlets and labels, that might not look very in-depth on the surface, but nonetheless provides an excellent research platform from which to explore, and whether you wind up checking out Ahab or Low Gravity Circus or Zone Six as a result, you’re not going to lose out, and by just providing the list like they do, Vincebus Eruptum actually plays it pretty smart in understanding how print and online media can work together: “Here’s what you should be Googling next,” and so forth. Awesome.

I’ve made overtures of my ongoing respect for the pub before, and that continues for this latest issue, and even if you look at the quality of people taking out ads — Sulatron, Small Stone, Elektrohasch, Desertfest, Go Down, Heavy Psych Sounds – it’s a testament to the quality of Vincebus Eruptum that they’re thriving in an age where print media is supposedly in full decline. Right on and keep up the great work. It continues to be a pleasure each time a new edition shows up.

Carlton Melton, “Space Treader” from Photos of Photos (2012)

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Swedish five-piece Skånska Mord follow-up their Small Stone debut with Paths to Charon, a second full-length that affirms the band’s blend of ‘70s and ‘90s heavy rocks. As with its predecessor, 2010’s The Last Supper (review here), there’s very little about Paths to Charon that’s striving to be modern, and yet the production is clean, crisp and not at all geared toward a retro mentality. The Örkelljunga band – comprised of former members of Sverige clans Half Man and Mothercake – let the classic structures, soulful vocals, occasional flourishes of organ (provided by recording engineer Martin Ekelund) and riff-led songwriting do that work for them. Guitarists Patrik Berglin and Petter Englund are at the fore for most of the album, but in the tradition of their countrymen in Abramis Brama, vocalist Janne Bengtsson provides a standout performance in the tradition of Soundgarden’s Chris Cornell, backed by Englund on the album highlight/longest cut “Lord of Space and Time” and by guest vocalist Ann-Sofie Hoyles on the earlier “Addicts,” the second song on Paths to Charon following the opener “Dark Caves of Your Mind,” an immersive, rocking start that sets a tone with its catchy chorus and classic-style verse riff. Amid a final build of swirling wah guitar and rhythmic push from bassist Patric Carlsson and drummer Thomas Jönsson, Bengtsson throws his harmonica into the mix to play up a bluesier vibe and it works well as a catalyst for the duet in “Addicts” to follow, on which the fuzzier guitar rests below Bengtsson and Hoyles’ shared verses while Carlsson holds the song together with a semi-shuffling bassline. Hoyles’ approach is breathy and fits well with Skånska Mord overall, but there’s a sense in putting that song up front, followed by the moodier “A Black Day” and “Lord of Space and Time” that Skånska Mord are frontloading the tracklisting, perhaps more than they necessarily need to. There’s plenty to Paths to Charon that characterizes the second half of the album over the last five tracks – and a vinyl-type side A/B structure both suits the band’s influences and Small Stone’s recent shift into the format – but on a final impression, a lot of what stands out about Paths to Charon happens over the course of those first four cuts.

That’s not to disparage the second half of the record, just to say that a lot of the stylistic elements it presents – the progressive boogie of “Laggåsen” or the more foreboding mood of “The Ambassadeur” – already make themselves known on Side A. If Paths to Charon were 65 minutes long, this might be a real sticking point, but at 44:44, Skånska Mord’s sophomore outing doesn’t lose its straightforward heavy rocking appeal to redundancy. Jönsson effectively propels the early verses of “Lord of Space and Time” with his snare as the guitars cycle through the riff until breaking to a slower groove shortly before two minutes in. Here Bengtsson rests farther back vocally than anywhere on the album, and it works both to change up the approach and add psychedelic vibing to Skånska Mord’s otherwise organic but still earthbound aesthetic. Their build is patient, rising first, then falling again, before playing out its subdued course into the CD centerpiece “The Flood,” which proffers a mid-paced hook of a riff complemented in breaks by Bengtsson’s harmonica. There isn’t much to distinguish “The Flood” as the centerpiece – the song’s bounce is effective and in its later moments, Carlsson kicks into a few choice bass fills under a likewise impressive guitar solo, but especially after “Lord of Space and Time,” it’s something of a comedown, though it works well transitioning into the change of course that “Laggåsen” brings on, with its classic prog vibe and tight rhythmic execution. Skånska Mord never really tap into the retro rock put forth by an increasing number of their countrymen – again, their sound is natural, but not necessarily analog or “vintage” seeming – but the sixth track is as close as they come, a sweet melody playing over forest-type bounce, keyboards and guitar leads working in post-blues tandem, Jönsson’s snare runs sounding richer than anywhere else on Paths to Charon for the extra space around them. All instrumental, the quieter jam picks up to full heavy breadth twice but doesn’t ever really telegraph where it’s headed, so as to snap you out of hypnosis as quickly as it put you under.

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I?ve been going over in my head how exactly to get around saying Sk?nska Mord is generic, but ultimately, there?s really no way to do it. If stoner rock has any kind of traditionalism, then The Last Supper, the Small Stone Records debut from the Swedish five-piece is it. The 10 tracks of the album offer few surprises, focusing instead on meaty ?70s riffs with the occasional additions of harmonica and organ that, although welcome, aren?t off the wall as far as non-guitar/bass/drums instrumentation goes. Especially in this genre.

With two members of Half Man — vocalist Jan Bengtsson and bassist Patric Carlsson — and three from Mothercake — drummer Thomas J?nsson and guitarists Patrik Berglin and Petter Englund — Sk?nska Mord comes with built in interest for those who?ve been around the scene for a while, but The Last Supper still needs to stand on its own as a quality release before it?s going to be accepted. And for the most part, it does. A trio of tracks toward the latter half of the album, ?In the Dark,? ?111? and ?The Hermit? are all highlights, and earlier rockers ?A Journey? and opener ?Under the Volcano? satisfy any riff cravings that might pop up. It?s just straightforward stoner rock. If that?s what you?re looking for, then Sk?nska Mord is what you need.

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