Spanish garage cultists Kabbalah have newly issued their full-length debut, Spectral Ascent, via respected tone-worshiping purveyor Twin Earth Records. If you want to look at the release via a telling statistic, it’s worth noting that three of the nine component tracks contain some version of the word “dark.” Those songs, “The Darkest End,” “The Darkness of Time” and “Dark Revelation” — one might but won’t count the penultimate “The Shadow” in with the bunch as well — only serve to emphasize the thematic point that the album as a whole is making in its organic semi-psych-but-still-clearly-structured atmosphere, given to flashes of post-Uncle Acid/Ghost horror-infused melody (looking at you, “The Darkest End”) but carrying a formative identity from its titular intro through the shuffling finale “Presence.”

“The Reverend,” for which Kabbalah have a new video posted below, is the centerpiece of Spectral Ascent, and it rightly earns its place on the altar with ringing guitar from Alba, a steady and tense low end courtesy of bassist Marga and the crisp punctuation of drummer Carmen‘s snare. Like much of the record that surrounds, its hook does a lot of the work in carrying over the desired vibe, but a little double-kick from Carmen and added flourish of theremin (or a synthesized approximation thereof) lends even more classic-style weirdness to the proceedings as the Pamplona trio move through the sharply executed three-minute push en route to the boogie of the subsequent “The Darkness of Time” and continue Spectral Ascent‘s cohesive, catchy and modern take on raw heavy rock.

The clip is basically an amalgam of garnered footage from horror movies, but it gets the point of the song across one way or the other. Spectral Ascent can be streamed now in its entirety (I’ve included the Bandcamp player at the bottom of this post) and Twin Earth has vinyl available to preorder ahead of an Oct. 1 ship date. Those details follow, courtesy of the PR wire, but of course, first comes the video.

Enjoy:

Kabbalah, “The Reverend” official video

Spanish occult doom metal band KABBALAH are pleased to announce that their new album Spectral Ascent is now available via Twin Earth Records. The album is a blend of occult rock, doom and psychedelic.

Buy the album here: https://kabbalahrock.bandcamp.com/album/spectral-ascent

Pre-order the vinyl edition here: http://twinearthrecords.storenvy.com/products/20518964-kabbalah-spectral-ascent-limited-edition-clear-transparent-vinyl-lp-pre-o

Kabbalah is:
Carmen (drums)
Marga (bass)
Alba (guitar)

Kabbalah, Spectral Ascent (2017)

Kabbalah on Thee Facebooks

Kabbalah on Bandcamp

Twin Earth Records on Thee Facebooks

Twin Earth Records website

Spanish four-piece Bones of Minerva issued their debut album, Blue Mountains, earlier this year, and cast themselves in a place somewhere between heavy rock, psychedelia and more aggressive, loosely-metallic fare. One finds this position established in the opening track, “Overcoming,” which though it clocks in at under five minutes long moves from noise-inspired start-stop riffing and soaring melodies into a fervent push of growls and tonally dense nastiness. This line, between heavy rock and metal, can be finer and finer depending on how a given band wants to toy with it, and Bones of Minerva do well throughout their hook-laden, self-released first outing to vary their methods on an almost per-track basis, so that while “Overcoming” makes that shift, an upbeat rocker like “Fear is a Biscuit,” which immediately follows, does not.

Accordingly, the four-piece of vocalist Blue, guitarist Ruth, bassist Chloé and drummer Koa don’t fall into a predictable pattern one way or the other. “Defenders” is pissed off almost to a blackened degree, but centerpiece “Eery Octopus” offers more drift, and in a mere 3:47, “Plastic Crown” efficiently ties the two sides together leading into the High Fighter-esque “Aces” and progressively-tinged finale “Whales.” Each cut has something different to offer that broadens the context of the record as a whole, and as their first full-length behind a 2014 EP titled Shot, the seven-song long-player both sees Bones of Minerva find their niche in terms of aesthetic and set themselves up for development going forward within that.

I’m not entirely sure where they’re headed or what exactly the ritual is in the video for “Overcoming,” but if they’re working on their own level, all the better as far as I’m concerned. Either way, I’m happy to host the premiere of the clip, which you’ll find below, followed by more background on the band, who’ll share the stage tomorrow night, June 28, at Wurlitzer Ballroom in their hometown with UK psych revelers Vodun. More info on that show can be found at the Thee Facebooks event page here.

Please enjoy:

Bones of Minerva, “Overcoming” official video

Bones of Minerva formed in 2013 in Madrid, Spain. Their eclectic sound is rooted in the genre of alt metal.

Formed by Blue (vocals), Chloé (bass), Koa (drums) and Ruth (guitars), they seek to merge heavy riffs with hypnotic rhythms, dreamy landscapes with vocals which range between shamanic and aggressive.

“Blue Mountains” is their first self-released album, after a previous Ep “Shot” in 2014, and they have thrown themselves completely into this new release, carrying out everything from the songwriting to the design and album art themselves. With it they intend to prove themselves and take their music as far as possible, with a raw live show which leaves no one indifferent. The band also does acoustic sets, adapting their music and using violin, acoustic guitar, percussion and even acapella vocals.

They are currently promoting the album, seeking to take their music as far as possible, with everything to gain and nothing to lose.

Bones of Minerva website

Bones of Minerva on Bandcamp

Bones of Minerva on Thee Facebooks

Click Here to Download

 

Yes! A new podcast! Are you stoked? I’m stoked. If you’re not, you will be when you look at the list of bands included. In any case, let’s be stoked together, because rock and roll, and heavy psych and good music and, well, yeah. That’s pretty much stuff to be stoked about. It’s been absurdly long since the last time we did one of these. Too long. I don’t really have an excuse other than… gainful employment? Don’t worry, though. That’ll be over soon enough. Then it’ll be podcasts out the ass.

There’s some killer goods here though. Yeah, I decided to do a “Yeti” double-shot with Green Yeti into Telekinetic Yeti. That’s my version of me being clever. But both bands are righteous, and if you haven’t heard the Savanah record, or that new Tia Carrera jam, or the Cachemira or Big Kizz or Yagow or Vokonis or the Elder — oh hell, frickin’ all of it — it’s worth your time. That Emil Amos track just premiered the other day and I think will surprise a lot of people, and I liked the way it paired with the dark neofolk of Hermitess. And of course we get trippy in the second hour, as is the custom around here. But first a moment of prog clarity from the aforementioned Elder. That’s a good time as well.

As always, I hope you enjoy.

Track details follow:

First Hour:

0:00:00 Vokonis, “The Sunken Djinn” from The Sunken Djinn
0:06:47 Tia Carrera, “Laid Back (Frontside Rock ‘n’ Roll)” from Laid Back (Frontside Rock ‘n’ Roll)
0:16:33 Supersonic Blues, “Supersonic Blues Theme” from Supersonic Blues Theme / Curses on My Soul
0:19:28 Emil Amos, “Elements Cycling” from Filmmusik
0:22:28 Hermitess, “Blood Moon” from Hermitess
0:26:24 Savanah, “Mind” from The Healer
0:34:22 Yagow, “Non-Contractual” from Yagow
0:42:35 Big Kizz, “Eye on You” from Eye on You
0:45:53 Cachemira, “Jungla” from Jungla
0:52:05 Green Yeti, “Black Planets (Part 2)” from Desert Show
0:58:02 Telekinetic Yeti, “Stoned and Feathered” from Abominable

Second Hour:

1:02:10 Elder, “The Falling Veil” from Reflections of a Floating World
1:13:20 Riff Fist, “King Tide” from King Tide
1:24:15 Cavra, “Montaña” from Cavra
1:39:18 Causa Sui, “A Love Supreme” from Live in Copenhagen

Total running time: 1:55:53

 

Thank you for listening.

Download audiObelisk Transmission 061

 

[Click play above to stream Cachemira’s Jungla in full. Album is out today, May 12, on Heavy Psych Sounds.]

More than most records, let alone most debuts, Cachemira‘s first offering, Jungla, gives the front-to-back impression of a live set. With “Ouverture” — French for “opening” — the Barcelona three-piece gradually bring the Heavy Psych Sounds release to life over the course of its first four minutes, and from there, it’s all about the naturalist chemistry that emerges as one song feeds into the next over the course of four pieces on two vinyl sides. When taken together, those two sides, “Ouverture” included, comprise a tight 30-minute set that showcases the band’s personality in what is apparently their formative stage. That is, while Cachemira may not sound like it as they round the hairpin turns of eight-minute tracklist centerpiece and side A closer “Goddess,” which follows “Sail Away” after “Ouverture,” they’re are a pretty new group.

The lineup has some measure of pedigree, as guitarist/vocalist Gaston Lainé has played in Brain Pyramid, bassist Pol Ventura in 1886 and drummer Alejandro Carmona in Prisma Circus, but Jungla is their debut outing together following a recorded early version of the album’s instrumental title-track and a posted leak of “Goddess,” which when taken together here comprise the whole of side B. I suppose one could call it boogie rock with all the scorching guitar-led shuffle in “Goddess” or “Jungla” itself, but the classic-rocking sensibility Cachemira elicit owes more to the likes of Radio Moscow than to Graveyard, and among the most appealing aspects of Jungla is its unpretentious, organic vibe.

Most especially for the heavy rock converted, it’s an easy listen that asks little of its audience other than they tag along for a slew of guitar solos and jam-based songcraft. Anyone who’s heard Prisma Circus can tell you Carmona is a monster shuffle-drummer, and he showcases some of that here, finding complement in the warm low tone of Ventura‘s bass as the band works in classic power trio construction — Carmona and Ventura the powerhouse rhythms section to Lainé‘s frontman presence. As recorded by Lainé‘s Brain Pyramid bandmate, Baptiste Gautier-Lorenzo, the spirit in “Ouverture” is immediately warm with a subtle underscoring of organ for the sweet guitar tone, and as they build toward “Sail Away,” transitioning via that same organ line, the groove that takes hold remains informed by the relatively patient start they give the album.

In terms of the basic elements at play, Jungla works in familiar terrain — guitar, bass, drums, vocals, some flourish of keys — but it’s really about what these players bring to it and how well they work together that lets Jungla impress in the way it does. The band has said outright that this is the product of their beginnings, some of their earliest work from about a year ago, and that may well be the case, but that also shows clearly that what they have most going for them at this point is the fluidity of the instrumental conversation between Lainé, Carmona and Ventura, as the smoothness of their delivery throughout becomes enough to even out the purposeful choppiness and bounce of their writing style such that even the more raucous back half of “Goddess” — drum solo and all — holds firm to its overarching languid mood. Even when they’re in a rush, they don’t sound like they’re in any rush whatsoever.

That’s not to say they don’t build some significant momentum throughout Jungla, because they most certainly do. Even as “Goddess” breaks before the side flip brings on the closing duo of “Jungla” and “Overpopulation,” the sense of motion to the songs is clear, and whether they’re running in circles as “Jungla” builds to a head in its second half, underscored by persistent, insistent crash from Carmona on drums and a steady throb from Ventura on bass, almost jazzy by the finish after a wah-soaked, forward-driven start, or squealing through the starts and stops and winding progression of the finale, that motion is as varied and multidirectional as it ultimately is maintained. If Jungla is to represent Cachemira‘s beginnings, then their beginnings find them not at all afraid of flying off the handle as they twist around complex rhythm structures, and proven that they’re right not to be.

Whether it’s from their collective experience in other outfits or just happenstance that they work so well together — or, I suppose, some combination of the two — the basic fact of the matter is Cachemira‘s debut offers explosive moments amid a liquid, welcoming, almost understated presentation for what they’re actually doing, and in addition to its own accomplishments, it sets them up to move forward and develop along the course they’re setting here. Primarily, though, it speaks to what would seem to be their force as a stage act, and though it’s a short set, there’s no question they leave their audience wanting more. One suspects it won’t be all that long until we get it, but until then, Jungla‘s balance between the head-spinning and the molten makes their first album a significant preach well worth engaging. It would be a hell of a live show.

Cachemira on Thee Facebooks

Cachemira on Bandcamp

Cachemira at Heavy Psych Sounds website

Heavy Psych Sounds on Thee Facebooks

If you’re getting tired of hearing me talk about it, that’s probably just too bad. This Friday, April 7, is the release date for Atavismo‘s wonderfully progressive, lush and psychedelic second album, Inerte (review here). It’s coming out via Temple of Torturous, and between the recent European tour announcement, their video for “La Maldición del Zisco” (posted here), the review/track premiere linked above, the initial album announcement, and my own Most Anticipated of 2017 list, the record has been an ongoing theme for the early part of the year. When I like something, I say so. It’s not like I’m doing this to keep secrets.

And not that I couldn’t keep rambling about its ongoing appeal, from the opening rush of “Pan y Dolor” to the musings of “Volarás” at the finale, but it seems only fair as it is release week to give someone else a shot. The band, say. Atavismo — the Algeciras-based three-piece of Jose “Poti” Moreno (ex-Viaje a 800, Mind!), bassist/vocalist Mateo and drummer/vocalist Sandri Pow (also ex-Mind!) — have been kind enough to let me host the full stream of Inerte, and while I’d normally pair that kind of thing with a review, that’s already been done, so instead, we’ll get their take on the record.

Below, you’ll find the five-track entirety of Inerte for your streaming pleasure, and I do hope you’ll make your way through it front to back. Beneath that is a track-by-track look at the album courtesy of Atavismo themselves, which is doubly appreciated for the fact that English isn’t their first language.

With special thanks to Becky Laverty for coordinating, I hope you enjoy:

Atavismo – Track by Track Through Inerte

“Pan y Dolor”

“Pan y Dolor” is the first track on the album — and one that we premiered here with the Obelisk! As we said at the time, this song is something of a tribute to the Spanish band, Triana. The act of breathing becomes the succinct exercise of feeling beyond paradigms and self inner worlds. The album starts with some serious psychedelia.

“El Sueño”

“El Sueño” is a long walk in the moonlight, catching all your senses from the first second. When you are completely in charge of creating your own album, you get to decide exactly how it will sound, then the results are a dream come true. We’re very happy with the way this sounds.

“La Maldición del Zisco”

“La Maldición del Zisco” suggests being a decadent trickster. Pot’s amazing vocal melody flies over an insidious bass reminding us of a real ’80s essence, that one which made us fall in love with riding on coloured cotton clouds and apocalyptical rainbows.

“Belleza Cuatro”

“Belleza Cuatro” is a slice of classic psychedelia — and in our opinion, a perfect, original crepuscular soundtrack.

“Volarás”

Inerte finishes with the track “Volarás,” a long way from the intense rhythm of the beginning of the album; it becomes a lysergic and poetic journey through our hearts. Guitar solos and harmony voices destroy our worst fears and make them become the most beautiful feelings of love and real truth.

Overall, Inerte is a neccesary trip, the unhurried sound which is hiding between your future visions; the best auditive pleasure you didn’t know you were looking for.

Atavismo on Thee Facebooks

Atavismo on Bandcamp

CD preorder at Temple of Torturous

Black LP preorder at Temple of Torturous

Clear LP preorder at Temple of Torturous

Temple of Torturous on Thee Facebooks

MotherSloth‘s new album, Moon Omen, is a weird one. Issued through Argonauta Records at the beginning of the month, it brings forth a cultish vision of doom that dips into influences from Alice in Chains to Danzig as it traverses a dark path of six deceptively memorable tracks — the sort of earworms that don’t beat you over the head with hooks, but wind up replaying themselves on the mental jukebox anyway in a “what just happened?” kind of retread. From the title-line howls in the opening cut “Shadow Witch” to the ambient unfolding of nine-minute closer “Moon Omen” and across the melodically resonant “Doomsday Cyborg” and mournful Cantrell-style churn of “Once Human” between, it’s a record that brings a deeply individualized context to a style of doom that draws from both modern and classic spheres. Also from who knows where else.

One would expect for any visual representation of Moon Omen to be accordingly bizarre, and the dark-hued video for “Shadow Witch” most certainly is that. I’m pretty sure the band is in there somewhere, but the whole affair is pretty obscure and willfully vague, and where later in the album, the Madrid three-piece dip into progressive melodies underscored by melancholy lead guitar on “The Firemill,” with “Shadow Witch,” it’s more about the dirge and the ritual, even unto the quiet, whispering break in the song’s second half that leads to the surprising, if brief, apex of all-out cacophony. I’m telling you, and I’m not lying, they do it strange and they do strange well. Moon Omen finds MotherSloth as much centered around atmosphere as basic songwriting, but both work together to serve an overarching purpose of bizarre evocation that’s almost bound to stay with you after the record is done, which of course is the whole idea.

If you haven’t heard Moon Omen in its entirety as yet, it’s available now through Argonauta and streaming in full on MotherSloth‘s Bandcamp page — both of which are linked at the bottom of this post. More background on the band and the video credits follow the clip itself, which you’ll find immediately below.

Hope you enjoy:

MotherSloth, “Shadow Witch” official video

Directed by: Hugo “Brutal Panacota” Martín
Production/ Film making/ Post production: Iván “Lobo” Moreno
Camera , Edition and VFX : Iván ”Lobo” Moreno
Production assistant: Malina Gancarz
Make up: Andrea Mena / Iris “Assa” Erza
Actors: Druid: Juan Carlos Zar
Punk guy: Jimmy Jazz
Witch: Leila Díaz
Witch Follower 1: MOnica Garcia .
Witch Follower 2: Iris ”Assa” Erza
Special thanks to Gloria Crespo and Mayte Moraleda for their support

MotherSloth is a Madrid-based band formed in 2008. In the band’s style, you can find several influences – ’70s inspired sounds combined with heavy guitar riffs and open chords, blended with spirally progressive melodies. After various formations, the band records demos under the title “Death Flowers” (2009), and plays live throughout Madrid with other avant-garde stoner bands. In 2012, with a more defined musical path, MotherSloth recorded their debut EP “Hazy Blur Of Life“, edited in 2013 by Peruvian underground label Dooom Records.

In late 2013, MotherSloth decided to focus on the instrumental songs they had been writing throughout the years, recording their new LP “Moribund Star” (2014), edited in 2015 with Germany’s Voodoo Chamber Records. In 2016 the band entered the studio to record their next album, consisting of 6 brand new songs, released by ARGONAUTA Records in CD/DD during Spring 2017.

MotherSloth is:
Dani – guitars and vocals
Moline – bass guitar and vocals
Oscar – drums

MotherSloth on Thee Facebooks

MotherSloth on Twitter

MotherSloth on Instagram

MotherSloth on Bandcamp

Argonauta Records website

Argonauta Records on Thee Facebooks

Glad to see Algeciras progressive psychedelic rock trio Atavismo getting out in support of their second album, Inerte (review here). That record, still forthcoming with an April 7 official release date through Temple of Torturous and a recently unveiled video for “La Maldición del Zisco” (originally posted here) that you can see below, has been an early favorite of 2017 for me, building on the fluidity of  2014’s engaging four-track debut, Desintegración (review here), while at the same time fleshing out a more pointed approach. Proggier, in other words, but in a classic, patient and not-at-all showy sense of the style. If you haven’t heard the album yet — and it’s okay if you haven’t, what with it not being out and all — keep it in mind. You should hear it.

I know I’ve said that before. Hard to imagine this will be the last time I say it either. Some points are worth reiterating. In any case, Atavismo‘s upcoming Euro run through Spain, Germany, the Czech Republic, Belgium and maybe the Netherlands has a few dates open, and if you’re in that part of the world and can help them out, well, do that.

From the social medias:

ATAVISMO EUROPEAN TOUR

Full of happiness for announcing this Tour Poster, lots of working behind it and not only from us (the design is amazing, thanks again Antonio Ramírez).

THANKS TO EVERYONE who has helped us to book some shows (still some of them TBA), your support has been incommensurable. We love you with all our hearts. This wish has become true.

14.04 El Perro Club Madrid ES
15.04 Inferno Pamplona / Iruna ES
16.04 Sala Shake Bilbao ES
18.04 Tiefgrund Berlin DE
20.04 Immerhin Wurzburg DE
21.04 Villa Nachttanz Heidelberg DE
22.04 Rock Pub Moskva Bilina CZ
23.04 TBA CZ or DE
25.04 The Mix ArtsSense Brussels BE
26.04 TBA NL or BE
27.04 Bombardon Gent BE
28.04 Jam Club Koblenz DE
29.04 TBA FR
30.04 Rocksound Barcelona ES

ATAVISMO are:
Poti: Guitar and vocals
Sandra: Drums and vocals
Mateo: Bass and vocals

https://www.facebook.com/Atavismo-233096556878903/
https://atavismo.bandcamp.com/
http://templeoftorturous.com/
https://www.facebook.com/ToTRecords/

Atavismo, “La Maldición del Zisco” official video

May 16 is the set release date for Full Moon in Scorpio, the second full-length and Fighter Records debut from Spanish heavy rockers The Wizards. To mark the announcement, the band has posted the track “Avidya,” which opens the album, for streaming, and as you can hear below, it gets the mastered-in-my-beloved-Garden-State outing off to an energetic start, taking elements from classic metal and an undercurrent of boogie at will and meshing them together in a cohesive package that reminds a bit of the post-NWOBHM dual-guitar antics of Bible of the Devil, which is not at all an unwelcome reminder to get. A little fist-pump to go with your shuffle and nod. Not gonna argue with it.

The track and background on the band came down the PR wire:

THE WIZARDS set release date for FIGHTER RECORDS debut, reveal first track

Spanish ’70s hard & heavy rock band The Wizards have inked a deal with Fighter Records for the release of their highly anticipated second album, Full Moon in Scorpio, which will see the light on May 16th internationally.

Formed in Bilbao (Basque Country) back in 2013, these five outcasts decided to form a band after several intense sessions of drug abuse and hard liquor drinking marathons at backyard parties where the records of Black Sabbath, Danzing, The Cult, Blue Oyster Cult, Pentagram, Deep Purple, Dio, Horisont, and Electric Wizard were played so loud, neighbors would call the police sooner than expected.

In January 2014, The Wizards recorded their first demo, Plagues. With only four songs recorded and a bunch of covers, they were able to win the 26th edition of the local pop/rock contest Villa de Bilbao, and during 2015, they released their self-titled debut album through their own label, Witch Records, in collaboration with French label Geea Music.

The band played live in France, Basque Country, and Spain opening for legendary bands and artists such as The Dictators, Iggy Pop, and Turbonegro, sharing the stage with bands like Horisont, Peter Pan Speed Rock, and Hypnos among others. They were even invited to participate in festivals such as Madrid Stoner Scene Fest, Kriston Fest, and Faan Fest.

During April 2016, The Wizards entered Gaua Studio together with Brooklyn-based produced Dean Rispler, current bass-player for The Dictators. During two weeks, they recorded eight songs that form their upcoming second album, Full Moon in Scorpio, engineered by Asier Zubelbu and mixed & mastered by Jesse Cannon (The Cure, The Misfits, The Dillinger Escape Plan) at Cannon Found Soundation in Union City, New Jersey.

Full Moon in Scorpio contains eight tracks of hard & heavy rock attack, the lyrics dealing with such issues as the destruction of the veils that blind us, the vast concepts of space and time, the search for spiritual enlightenment, and so on. For the band, it truly means a step forward in their quest for world domination. The sound is bigger, the songs are better, and The Wizards are ready to destroy and fuck things up wherever their presence is needed. The western world is collapsing – let’s dance over the fires while we howl at the Scorpio Moon. All in the name of rock ‘n’ roll – all in the name of Lucifer!

The Wizards’ Full Moon in Scorpio will be released May 16th through Fighter Records on CD and vinyl LP formats.

Tracklisting for The Wizards’ Full Moon in Scorpio
1. Avidya
2. Calliope (Cosmic Revelations)
3. Odinist
4. Stardust
5. Leaving the Past Behind
6. Halftones to Eternity
7. Who are You, Mr. Gurdjieff?
8. When We Were Gods

www.facebook.com/thewizardsrock
https://twitter.com/the_wizardss
https://thewizardsofrock.bandcamp.com/

The Wizards, “Avidya”