Posted in audiObelisk on February 23rd, 2024 by JJ Koczan
It doesn’t take long on Live @ Club Void Effenaar 23-3-23 before you’re in the room. You can hear voices in the crowd as Dutch instrumental improvisationalists DUNDDW begin to unfold their set, soon enough to be joined by Scott “Dr. Space” Heller (Øresund Space Collective, Doctors of Space, Black Moon Circle, solo work, etc.) expanding the trio as a four-piece with a guest spot on synth after about 12 minutes in, some comment and a chuckle as things mellow and space way, way out thereafter in the jam’s dreamier midsection, and so on.
The LP-length single-song set is out today as an independent release from DUNDDW, for whom it follows a 2023 split with Kombynat Robotron (review here) and their 2022 debut, Flux (review here), and the occasion that brought Heller from Portugal to the Netherlands was Black Moon Circle touring to support their 2023 LP, the expansive Leave the Ghost Behind (review here). Held weekly in the smaller room at the legendary Effenaar in Eindhoven (and no, it’s not just legendary because I saw Motorpsycho there one time, though that’d be enough in my head), ‘Club Void’ is a series of shows put together by the venue’s Robert Schaeffer as well as Paul van Berlo of the Into the Void Festival (also Loud Noise Booking) and Peter van Elderen, formerly the vocalist of Peter Pan Speedrock. All of these are endorsements that, existentially speaking, are good to have.
But DUNDDW have been pretty well encouraged since their outset bringing bassist Huibert der Weduwen and drummer Peter Dragt of Bismut together with Mt. Echo‘s Gerben Elburg on guitar for pointedly exploratory purposes, and the flow they conjure throughout Live @ Club Void Effenaar 23-3-23 presents a vivid picture of why for listeners who haven’t had the chance to actually see them. The cosmic adventure is mellow in spirit on the whole, but communal in a way that feels active, and inviting in tone and groove. Dropping nearly to silence at times, it represents well the conversation happening on stage as the sounds were being made, while allowing the audience and the LP-listener space to put themselves in the moment. In the initial build-up, DUNDDW work their way into a voluminous build, guitar signaling volume changes as they ooze past nine minutes, and when Dr. Space hops on board after (or maybe during) the ensuing wash a short time later, the proceedings get duly hyperspatial.
They drift and reorient, finding a new path with the four of them on the stage, and gradually the float becomes more driving, pushing into intense space rock before noising out behind the waves of Heller‘s synth with Dragt‘s crash and tom fills marking the end of that movement circa 26:30 and the beginning of the final cycle of ebbs and flows, more solidified in their purpose than they were only minutes before, but clearly having learned from the second part of the jam. Keep an ear out for bells, which you might just hear in that last stretch if they, it, or anything actually exists, and know that DUNDDW save their most fervent push for the crescendo, and that the experience of getting there is as much the point as the big finish and ringout itself.
Live @ Club Void Effenaar 23-3-23 isn’t intended to be some grand statement. At its heart, it’s a bootleg-style outing that captures one night among many DUNDDW went on stage and did what they do. This, coupled with the Heller collaboration that stands it out among other gigs, is the appeal. It would be ridiculous if DUNDDW did some hyper-produced live record. They might as well go to a studio and jam out an new LP if they’re going to spend the time and money. But here, they express the sense of journey from one end of this massive piece to the other, while also conveying their root ethic of commitment to organically capturing the creative moment as it happens. For that, Live @ Club Void Effenaar 23-3-23 offers resonance even beyond that of its echoing final tones.
Again, it’s out today, so by all means, dig in below and enjoy. Some PR wire-type info follows:
Friday, February 23rd, we (Dutch improv instrumental spacerock band DUNDDW) will digitally release a 40 minute jam we played last year at Club Void in The Netherlands. Around 17 minutes in Dr. Space – aka Scott Heller from Øresund Space Collective, Black Moon Circle a.o. – joins in on the jam.
Says DUNDDW: ” We really felt the flow during this jam. It builds up in three waves, with Dr. Space joining in about halfway through with some great synths, bells and spacy genius.”
Says Dr. Space: “I’ve been friends with the guys in Bismut, and DUNDDW invited me to jam with them and it was fun. Sure we will do it again. Great guys.”
DUNDDW is a 100% improvising, instrumental spacerock/krautrock trio from The Netherlands, with members from Bismut and Mt. Echo. Their first full length album Flux was released in November 2022. In June 2023 they released a split vinyl LP with German krautrock band Kombynat Robotron. February 2024 marks the release of a live jam they played in 2023, with Dr. Space joining in.
DUNDDW = Peter Dragt – Drums Huibert der Weduwen – Bass Gerben Elburg – Guitars
Posted in Whathaveyou on January 26th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
As one would, I expected the new Dool single to be heavy, but it’s nonetheless heavier than I expected it to be, and I’m not complaining. The darkly-progressive Netherlands outfit fronted by Raven van Dorst had a live record out last year that I completely whiffed on because I suck at this, and their last studio LP was 2020’s Summerland (review here). If you heard that at all, you know that one song doesn’t necessarily tell the tale of a whole offering, and no doubt that’s true of “Hermagorgon” as relates to the impending The Shape of Fluidity too, but at least the new track lets you know the spaces the band are working in, and it opens the discussion of the breaking-out-of-gender-binaries-as-a-concept theme, as laid out by the PR wire below.
Dool‘s sound is so dug in, and given the weight of tone here I’m not sure mass appeal would be possible, but there’s definitely a conversation happening with pop and broader culture in sound as well as with modern atmospheric heavy and the Dutch tradition of innovation in same.
One way or the other, I’ll hope to review this one when the time comes. For now:
DOOL announce new album “The Shape of Fluidity” and release lyric video single ‘Hermagorgon’
DOOL are now unveiling the lyric video ‘Hermagorgon’ as the first single taken from their forthcoming third full-length “The Shape of Fluidity”. The new album is scheduled for release on April 19, 2024.
DOOL comment: “As one of the first songs that we had woven together for ‘The Shape of Fluidity’, ‘Hermagorgon’ gave us a very clear direction on where we wanted to go musically”, singer Raven van Dorst explains. “The track is about reclaiming space, breaking out of binary constraints, and facing the world head on. This is something that everyone can relate to one way or another. However, this is one of the most personal songs on the album. It describes the internal journey that I’ve gone through over the past few years. The song also displays the birth of the collective songwriting spirit on which this whole album is based, as well as producer Magnus Lindberg’s unique craftsmanship. We’ve been waiting a long time to share this with you.”
Tracklist 1. Venus in Flames 2. Self-Dissect 3. The Shape of Fluidity 4. Currents 5. Evil in You 6. House of a Thousand Dreams 7. Hermagorgon 8. Hymn for a Memory Lost 9. The Hand of Creation
Everything flows, nothing ever stays the same. This notion of the ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus applies to all of us as life itself is in a constant state of change. The same can be said about the third studio album of the fast-rising Dutch rock band DOOL.
Aptly entitled “The Shape of Fluidity” there is not just musical innovation but the full-length revolves around themes of personal change, physical change, psychological change, and the ever-changing world around us. DOOL and particularly singer and guitarist Raven van Dorst ask questions: How does change affect us? How do we keep being ourselves in a world that is so incredibly demanding and aggressive towards the individual? We must be as fluid as water to navigate ourselves through this ocean of possibilities and uncertainties – and make peace with chaos and impermanence.
Musically, DOOL continue on the path laid out on the two previous studio recordings of heartfelt rock music with added metal elements, while displaying a maturity and focus in songwriting that has grown out of experience. “The Shape of Fluidity” exhibits an eclectic yet seamless amalgamation of progressive and post-rock as well as doom and heavy metal in combination with an inherent catchiness and a dynamic backdrop.
What sets this album apart from its predecessors is the collective endeavour that went into it with the combined forces of songwriting trio Raven, and guitarists Nick Polak and Omar Iskandr. In the rhythm section, bass player JB van der Wal has been joined by the abundant creativity of new drummer Vincent Kreyder. On the technical side of the production, the outstanding engineering and mixing skills of Magnus Lindberg (CULT OF LUNA, RUSSIAN CIRCLES, TRIBULATION) and the excellent mastering by Ted Jensen (AC/DC, TALKING HEADS, MUSE, GHOST) have created the perfect crisp and transparent as well powerful sound for “The Shape of Fluidity”.
It is hardly surprising that the theme of the album that pitches the concept of identity against the backdrop of a world in constant flux connects the album’s lyrics to the biography of lead vocalist Raven. Born intersex, doctors at the time assumed that they could surgically determine which kind of life the infant should lead and decided that the child should be a girl. This has led to a life full of soul searching, fighting taboos and breaking boundaries, until recently Raven decided to reclaim that which others have tried so hard to take away from them, and finally embrace their hermaphroditic nature.
This much more personal approach than before does by no means become self-centred. The lyrics of “The Shape of Fluidity” can easily be read as universal stories about finding oneself, swimming against the stream, and facing the world head on. We are all affected by questions of change and identity, but it is only legitimate and natural that art also reflects the artists as well as the world around them.
The band derived the name DOOL from the Dutch word for ‘wandering’. When their debut album “Here Now, There Then” was released in 2017, it became an instant success. Their fresh and wild rock and metal sound received “Album of the Month” titles in the renowned German magazines Metal Hammer and Rock Hard as well as the “Best Debut Album 2017” award from the former, while Vice (US), Aardschok (NL), and De Volkskrant (NL) happily chimed in with heaping praise on the young Dutch band.
DOOL also established a reputation as an excellent live act that loves to rock stages around the world. They have meanwhile played several tours and often in sold-out venues and performed at all the main festivals such as Wacken Open Air (DE), Graspop (BE), Hellfest (FR), Metal Days (SL), Lowlands (NL), Fortarock (NL), Wave Gotik Treffen (DE), Rock Hard Festival (DE), Stoned from the Underground (DE), Metalitalia Festival (IT), and North of the Wall (UK) among many others.
With their sophomore full-length “Summerland” released in 2020, DOOL successfully exceeded the already sky-high expectations and scored even more “Album of the Month” awards in German Rock Hard (10/10) and Sonic Seducer magazines as well as #2 soundcheck positions in Metal.de, Metal Hammer (DE) and another #1 in the Polish edition – with a pile glowing reviews on both sides of the Atlantic. Having been barred from extensive touring due to the global pandemic, DOOL were finally able to play shows again in front of sold out houses and decided to release the live album “Visions of Summerland” as a gift for their huge following that had patiently waited for the band’s return to the stages.
Last but not least, it is well worth to note the cover art, which completes the Gesamtkunstwerk (synthesis of all arts) of “The Shape of Fluidity”, by physically embodying the concept. Renowned French artist Valnoir (Metastazis) has created a semi-transparent flag through hardening a liquid in a metamorphosis by reducing temperature, which is shown on the cover. Imagery, lyrics, and music all flow together and pose questions about identity, freedom, life, and the will to change things that hold more than just one finger straight at the pulse of the Zeitgeist – but without ever pointing or raising it.
With “The Shape of Fluidity”, DOOL offer so much more than just damn cool music. These extra dimensions of depth and meaning are all part of their unique appeal and come out clearly on the new album. May all those who wander gather under the fluid flag of DOOL!
Release date: April 19, 2024 Style: Dark Rock Label: Prophecy Productions Review impact date: March 25, 2024
“The Shape of Fluidity” is available as a 36-page hardcover CD artbook, Gatefold ltd. crystal clear vinyl LP, Gatefold black vinyl LP, and as a Digipak CD.
Recording by Magnus Lindberg & JB van der Wal at DAFT Studios, Malmedy (BE) Mixed by Magnus Lindberg at Redmount Studios, Stockholm (SE) Mastering by Ted Jensen at Sterling Sound, Nashville (US) Artwork & Layout by Valnoir (Metastazis)
Line-up: Raven van Dorst – vocals, guitar Nick Polak – guitar Omar Iskandr – guitar Vincent Kreyder – drums JB van der Wal – bass guitar
Posted in Whathaveyou on January 24th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
Behold Roadburn, Roadburning. Full-album performances, commissioned pieces, whatever the hell Xiu Xiu have going on I guess ever, and a glut of names you either know and are stoked on or don’t know and will likely see on festival bills throughout Europe for the next however many years.
Inter Arma have a new record called New Heaven that doesn’t have a release date yet that I’ve seen but that they’re slated to perform. They, like The Keening, come from the roster of Relapse Records, and The Keening will also have a full album performance for their debut, Little Bird (review here) (they’ll meet up on tour with Bell Witch shortly after; Bell Witch also play Roadburn, likely the first day given tour routing). Grails and Dool also feature, and there are special performances from Die Wilde Jagd, Couch Slut, Verwoed and Void ov Voices, and frankly the fact that White Ward can make it out of Ukraine to play at all should be considered one as well.
More than you could ever hope to fully experience in a span of four days and still just a fraction of what’s actually on offer. As I said in the first sentence: Roadburn, Roadburning. Creative director Walter posted the following on socials. There was a PR wire thing too, but this is a little simpler and I helped edit his quote, so I’ve got it there for posterity for myself as well. If you want more info on any of the below, you know how to use the internet. I’m sure the PR is out there.
Dig:
With this announcement, it all starts to come together. Artistically and musically, we are connecting dots between artists, genres, and audiences. We’re drawing lines between new and exciting bands and Roadburn veterans, attendees new and old. But the key is connection and inclusion. We are finally aligning all the creative elements with which we have been building Roadburn 2024.
These latest additions are instrumental in creating the communal joy of exploration we hope to foster in this year’s Roadburn.
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Twenty two names have been added to the Roadburn 2024 line up today:
Angry Blackman arms and sleepers Couch Slvt performing You Could Do It Tonight Death Goals DOOL performing The Shape of Fluidity Fluisteraars presents: Manifestaties van de Ontworteling Grails Inter Arma performing New Heaven JeGong John Francis Flynn Kavus Torabi Miaux Pruillip Scaler Spill Gold Stormo Takh The Keening performing Little Bird Tusmørke Verwoed performing The Mother Void Ov Voices presents Roadburn to Sungate Xiu Xiu presents The police bear such resemblance to those they pursue
Stay tuned for more line up announcements – including our free Wednesday night pre-festival warm up show. For all info and tickets head toroadburn.com.
Posted in Whathaveyou on December 7th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Insert your preferred cliché about Xmas coming early, as Roadburn Festival has just loosed a massive lineup announcement that will bring more than 30 bands and solo artists to the 2024 edition set for next April in the fest’s customary home of Tilburg, the Netherlands. They’ve brought on The Bevis Frond for the first time since 2006, and Health, Torpor, Full Earth, Darsombra, Alber Jupiter, Royal Thunder, Birds in Row, Deaf Club, Blood Incantation, on and on and on for a totally overwhelming multi-day experience that’s still just a fraction of what Roadburn will have on offer by the time the next few months have passed.
While I’m here and perhaps have the relevant attention, I owe Roadburn an apology for what was a misunderstanding on my part as regards Khanate. I said when Khanateannounced additional shows that I could’ve sworn they were Roadburn-exclusive. In fact, that was never the case and my “could’ve sworn” was incorrect. I’m sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused. Not making excuses or anything, but I was definitely stoned when I put that post together. While I’m being honest, sometimes I forget that anyone might read this or that the words I say might have any consequence whatsoever. I’m doing my best, kids. The mind wanders.
Often to thoughts of Tilburg, but I guess having a dog named Tilly will do that too. In any case, permanent, unflinching, deep-in-the-muscle-tissue love to all at Roadburn out front and behind the scenes. It goes without saying there’s some stunning stuff here, and should you be attending, I hope whatever Roadburn choose-your-own-adventure you undertake is a personal landmark.
From the PR wire this morning:
Roadburn adds over thirty new names to the 2024 lineup including Health, Kavus Torabi, UBOA and a second clipping. set.
Roadburn has today added over thirty new names to the 2024 lineup. Amongst the artists announced is Health who will make a triumphant return to the festival, Kavus Torabi who will perform a specially commissioned project, and a second set for experimental hip hop group, Clipping.
These artists – and more – join Blood Incantation who were announced for the festival last week. The Denver-based four piece will perform their ambient album, Timewave Zero, in full, as well as a second set that will encompass tracks from their metal catalogue.
Roadburn’s artistic director, Walter Hoeijmakers comments: “It’s a huge pleasure to finally bring you this extensive announcement. We have been working intensely for such a long time. As we add these artists to the lineup, we can see it beginning to reflect the broad scope and feel of Roadburn 2024, truly showcasing the underground as it is today – varied, innovative and incredibly exciting.
“We are flying in a lot of these bands from all over for the festival, and we know how daunting it can be for an artist to travel halfway across the world for just one gig. With that in mind, we have asked several of them to play multiple sets. This will help make the most of their time at Roadburn, amplifying their voices as much as possible and giving them a rare chance to fully express themselves through all of their different artistic and musical facets.”
Roadburn 2024 will take place between April 18-21 in Tilburg, The Netherlands. Tickets are on sale now.
Following a mind-blowing performance at Roadburn 2022, HEALTH will return to Tilburg to bring their distinctive sound and unparalleled energy back to the festival – this time on the main stage. With the release of their brand new album Rat Wars propelling them forward, the sky’s the limit for Health.
clipping. have added a second set – the experimental hip hop trio will now play both Thursday, 18 April and Friday, 19 April, promising that “one will be more of a “party” (more upbeat, dance-floor-ready tracks) and the other will be something darker (more of our harsher, less beat-driven tracks).”
Kavus Torabi – renowned for his work with the likes of Gong, The Utopia Strong, Knifeworld and The Holy Family – will present a commissioned project titled Lion of The Lord’s Elect. This performance will comprise original material, performed for the very first time, commissioned by Roadburn.
Uboa will be an artist in residence at Roadburn – performing three distinctive sets over the course of the festival, including the live debut of The Origin of My Depression in its entirety. The Australian noise artist will showcase different facets of her creativity across the trio of performances.
Labelmates Ragana and Drowse will perform a brand new collaborative piece of music titled The Ash from Mount Saint Helens. These two artists both release music under The Flenser label, and are uniting to create a new composition that will premiere at Roadburn.
Also announced:
Alber Jupiter will release a new album in 2024 and promise interstellar kosmische missives galore.
The experimental folk and drone of Annelies Monseré is set to leave an impression on Roadburn audiences.
After biding their time, Benefits will make their presence felt this coming April..
Birds In Row will perform their 2022 album, Gris Klein, in its entirety.
Body Void will return to Roadburn to perform their new release, Atrocity Machine, in full.
After much unavoidable delay, Cult Leader will finally performA Patient Man at Roadburn this Spring.
Krautrock and misty soundscapes collide as Darsombra prepare to take to the stage.
The effervescent Deaf Club will make their Roadburn debut.
Melancholic, ambient solo artist Kyle Bates aka Drowse will perform his own show as well as the collaboration with Ragana.
Eye Flys bring their distinctively caustic sound to Roadburn.
Drawing influence from the bleak tones of a post-industrial Northern England, Forest Swords will bring his spectral soundscapes to life.
Making their first foray into Europe, Frail Body will stop by Tilburg to perform tracks from their hotly anticipated new album.
Fuck Money are an incomparable band from Austin, TX – bringing their chaotic maelstrom of transgressive audio aggression to our doorstep.
The brand new psychedelic, organ-driven sound of Full Earth is heading to Roadburn.
Having dominated Europe already this year, Home Front will return with Roadburn in their sights; expect synth-driven post-punk.
The acerbic sound of macabre grindcore will make an appearance thanks to Knoll.
Industrial beats, apocalyptic noise, and gothic flourishes will all make an appearance during Lana Del Rabies’ Roadburn set
Laster will perform their incredible new album, Andermans Mijne, in full.
Titillation and transformation are high on the agenda for Patriarchy.
Having made a huge impact with their latest album, Desolation’s Flower, Ragana will at last make their Roadburn debut.
Richard Dawson’s distinctive take on British folk is long overdue an appearance at Roadburn.
Royal Thunder will perform two sets at Roadburn; one career-spanning set titled TIME + SPACE + REVIVAL and the other being a run through of their latest magnificent opus, Rebuilding The Mountain.
Sunrise Patriot Motion offer up an alluring take on gothic post-punk
New Jersey’s Sunrot will be making their first trip to Europe, starting at Roadburn.
Shadowy three piece, Thantifaxath, will bring their angular take on black metal to the festival.
After many years, The Bevis Frond will return to Roadburn – having last appeared with their take on psychedelic sonic explorations at the festival back in 2006.
Oppressive doom trio Torpor will perform their latest album Abscission in full.
Belgian-based trio Use Knife will present their radiant energy to Roadburn.
Posted in Reviews on November 28th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Day two and no looking back. Yesterday was Monday and it was pretty tripped out. There’s some psych stuff here too, but we start out by digging deep into metal-rooted doom and it doesn’t get any less dudely through the first three records, let’s put it that way. But there’s more here than one style, microgengre, or gender expression can contain, and I invite you as you make your way through to approach not from a place of redundant chestbeating, but of celebrating a moment captured. In the cases of some of these releases, it’s a pretty special moment we’re talking about.
Places to go, things to hear. We march.
Quarterly Review #11-20:
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Primordial, How it Ends
Excuse me, ma’am. Do you have 66 minutes to talk about the end of the world? No? Nobody does? Well that’s kind of sad.
At 28 years’ remove from their first record, 1995’s Imrama, and now on their 10th full-length, Dublin’s Primordial are duly mournful across the 10 songs of How it Ends, which boasts the staring-at-a-bloodied-hillside-full-of-bodies after-battle mourning and oppression-defying lyricism and a style rooted in black metal and grown beyond it informed by Irish folk progressions but open enough to make a highlight of the build in “Death Holy Death” here. A more aggressive lean shows itself in “All Against All” just prior while “Pilgrimage to the World’s End” is brought to a wash of an apex with a high reach from vocalist Alan “A.A. Nemtheanga” Averill, who should be counted among metal’s all-time frontmen, ahead of the tension chugging in the beginning of “Nothing New Under the Sun.” And you know, for the most part, there isn’t. Most of what Primordial do on How it Ends, they’ve done before, and their central innovation in bridging extreme metal with folk traditionalism, is long behind them. How it Ends seems to dwell in some parts and be roiling in its immediacy elsewhere, and its grandiosities inherently will put some off just as they will bring some on, but Primordial continue to find clever ways to develop around their core approach, and How it Ends — if it is the end or it isn’t, for them or the world — harnesses that while also serving as a reminder of how much they own their sound.
With a partner in drummer Johnny Kelly (Type O Negative, Danzig, etc.), guitarist/songwriter Dan Lorenzo (Hades, Vessel of Light, Cassius King, etc.) has found an outlet open to various ideas within the sphere of doom metal/rock in Patriarchs in Black, whose second LP, My Veneration, brings a cohort of guests on vocals and bass alongside the band’s core duo. Some, like Karl Agell (C.O.C. Blind) and bassist Dave Neabore (Dog Eat Dog), are returning parties from the project’s 2022 debut, Reach for the Scars, while Unida vocalist Mark Sunshine makes a highlight of “Show Them Your Power” early on. Sunshine appears on “Veneration” as well alongside DMC from Run DMC, which, if you’re going to do a rap-rock crossover, it probably makes sense to get a guy who was there the first time it happened. Elsewhere, “Non Defectum” toys with layering with Kelly Abe of Sicks Deep adding screams, and Paul Stanley impersonator Bob Jensen steps in for the KISS cover “I Stole Your Love” and the originals “Dead and Gone” and “Hallowed Be Her Name” so indeed, no shortage of variety. Tying it together? The riffs, of course. Lorenzo has shown an as-yet inexhaustible supply thereof. Here, they seem to power multiple bands all on one album.
Just because it wasn’t a surprise doesn’t mean it’s not one of the best debut albums of 2023. Bringing together known parties from Boston’s heavy underground Jim Healey (We’re All Gonna Die, etc.), Doug Sherman (Gozu), Bob Maloney (Worshipper) and J.R. Roach (Sam Black Church), Blood Lightning want nothing for pedigree, and their Ripple-issued self-titled debut meets high expectations with vigor and thrash-born purpose. Sherman‘s style of riffing and Healey‘s soulful, belted-out vocals are both identifiable factors in cuts like “The Dying Starts” and the charging “Face Eater,” which works to find a bridge between heavy rock and classic, soaring metal. Their cover of Black Sabbath‘s “Disturbing the Priest,” included here as the last of the six songs on the 27-minute album, I seem to recall being at least part of the impetus for the band, but frankly, however they got there, I’m glad the project has been preserved. I don’t know if they will or won’t do anything else, but there’s potential in their metal/rock blend, which positions itself as oldschool but is more forward thinking than either genre can be on its own.
Based in Oakland and making their debut with the significant endorsement of Small Stone Records and Kozmik Artifactz behind them, atmospheric post-heavy rock five-piece Haurun tap into ethereal ambience and weighted fuzz in such a way as to raise memories of the time Black Math Horseman got picked up by Tee Pee. I don’t think that’s a coincidence. With notions of Acid King in the nodding, undulating riffs of “Abyss” and the later reaches of “Lost and Found,” but two guitars are a distinguishing factor, and Haurun come across as primarily concerned with mood, although the post-grunge ’90s alt hooks of “Flying Low” and “Lunar” ahead of 11-minute closer “Soil,” which uses its longform breadth to cast as vivid a soundscape as possible. Fast, slow, minimalist or at a full wash of noise, Haurun‘s Wilting Within has its foundation in heavy rock groove and riffy repetition, but does something with that that goes beyond microniche confines. Very much looking forward to more from this band.
Its point of view long established by the time they get around to the filthy lurch of “Hesher” — track three of seven — Cabin Fever is the first full-length from cultish doomers Wicked Trip. The Tennessee outfit revel in Electric Wizard-style fuckall on “Cabin Fever” after the warning in the spoken “Intro,” and the 11-minute sample-topped “Night of Pan” is a psych-doom jam that’s hypnotic right unto its keyboard-drone finish giving over to the sampled smooth sounds of the ’70s at the start of “Black Valentine,” which feels all the more dirt-coated when it actually kicks in, though “Evils of the Night” is no less threatening of purpose in its garage-doom swing, crash-out and cacophonous payoff, and I’m pretty sure if you played “No Longer Human” at double the speed, well, it might be human again. All of these grim, bleak, scorching, nodding, gnashing pieces come together to craft Cabin Fever as one consuming, lo-fi entirety, raw both because the recording sounds harsh and because the band itself eschew any frills not in service to their disillusioned atmosphere.
There’s an awful lot of sex going on in Splinter‘s Role Models, as the Amsterdam glam-minded heavy rockers follow their 2021 debut, Filthy Pleasures (review here), with cuts like “Soviet Schoolgirl,” “Bottom,” “Opposite Sex” and the poppy post-punk “Velvet Scam” early on. It’s not all sleaze — though even “The Carpet Makes Me Sad” is trying to get you in bed — and the piano and boozy harmonies of “Computer Screen” are a fun departure ahead of the also-acoustic finish in closer “It Should Have Been Over,” while “Every Circus Needs a Clown” feels hell-bent on remaking Queen‘s “Stone Cold Crazy” and “Medicine Man” and “Forbidden Kicks” find a place where garage rock meets heavier riffing, while “Children” gets its complaints registered efficiently in just over two boogie-push minutes. A touch of Sabbath here, some Queens of the Stone Age chic disco there, and Splinter are happy to find a place for themselves adjacent to both without aping either. One would not accuse them of subtlety as regards theme, but there’s something to be said for saying what you want up front.
Beginning with its longest component track (immediate points) in “Asteroid,” Terra Black‘s All Descend is a downward-directed slab of doomed nod, so doubled-down on its own slog that “Black Flames of Funeral Fire” doesn’t even start its first verse until the song is more than half over. Languid tempos play up the largesse of “Ashes and Dust,” and “Divinest Sin” borders on Eurometal, but if you need to know what’s in Terra Black‘s heart, look no further than the guitar, bass, drum and vocal lumber — all-lumber — of “Spawn of Lyssa” and find that it’s doom pumping blood around the band’s collective body. While avoiding sounding like Electric Wizard, the Gothenburg, Sweden, unit crawl through that penultimate duet track with all ready despondency, and resolve “Slumber Grove” with agonized final lub-dub heartbeats of kick drum and guitar drawl after a vivid and especially doomed wash drops out to vocals before rearing back and plodding forward once more, doomed, gorgeous, immersive, and so, so heavy. They’re not finished growing yet — nor should they be on this first album — but they’re on the path.
Sometimes the name of a thing can tell you about the thing. So enters Musing, a contemplative solo outfit from Devin “Darty” Purdy, also known for his work in Calgary-based bands Gone Cosmic and Chron Goblin, with the eight-song/42-minute Somewhen and a flowing instrumental narrative that borders on heavy post-rock and psychedelia, but is clearheaded ultimately in its course and not slapdash enough to be purely experimental. That is, though intended to be instrumental works outside the norm of his songcraft, tracks like “Flight to Forever” and the delightfully bassy “Frontal Robotomy” are songs, have been carved out of inspired and improvised parts to be what they are. “Hurry Wait” revamps post-metal standalone guitar to be the basis of a fuzzy exploration, while “Reality Merchants” hones a sense of space that will be welcome in ears that embrace the likes of Yawning Sons or Big Scenic Nowhere. Somewhen has a story behind it — there’s narrative; blessings and peace upon it — but the actual music is open enough to translate to any number of personal interpretations. A ‘see where it takes you’ attitude is called for, then. Maybe on Purdy‘s part as well.
A heavy and Sabbathian rock forms the underlying foundation of Spiral Shades‘ sound, and the returning two-piece of vocalist Khushal R. Bhadra and guitarist/bassist/drummer Filip Petersen have obviously spent the nine years since 2014’s debut, Hypnosis Sessions (review here), enrolled in post-doctoral Iommic studies. Revival, after so long, is not unwelcome in the least. Doom happens in its own time, and with seven songs and 38 minutes of new material, plus bonus tracks, they make up for lost time with classic groove and tone loyal to the blueprint once put forth while reserving a place for itself in itself. That is, there’s more to Spiral Shades and to Revival than Sabbath worship, even if that’s a lot of the point. I won’t take away from the metal-leaning chug of “Witchy Eyes” near the end of the album, but “Foggy Mist” reminds of The Obsessed‘s particular crunch and “Chapter Zero” rolls like Spirit Caravan, find a foothold between rock and doom, and it turns out riffs are welcome on both sides.
The closing “Sex on a Grave” reminds of the slurring bluesy lasciviousness of Nick Cave‘s Grinderman, and that should in part be taken as a compliment to the setup through “Black Cat” — which toys with 12-bar structure and is somewhere between urbane cool and cabaret nerdery — and the centerpiece “Bad Day,” which follows a classic downer chord progression through its apex with the rawness of Backwoods Payback at their most emotive and a greater melodic reach only after swaying through its willful bummer of an intro. Last-minute psych flourish in the guitar threatens to make “Bad Day” a party, but the Louisville outfit find their way around to their own kind of fun, which since the release is only three songs long just happens to be “Sex on a Grave.” Fair enough. Rife with attitude and an emergent dynamic that’s complementary to the persona of the vocals rather than trying to keep up with them, the counterintuitively-titled second short release (yes, I know the cover is a Zeppelin reference; settle down) from Bandshee lays out an individual approach to heavy songwriting and a swing that goes back further in time than most.
Posted in Reviews on November 27th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Don’t ask me if the ‘quarter’ in question is Fall or Winter, and I’m still planning another QR probably in early January or even December if I can sneak it, but I was able to sneak this week in while no one was looking at the calendar — mostly, that is, while I wasn’t filling said calendar with other stuff — and I decided to make it happen. I even used the ol’ Bing AI to make a header image for it. I was tired of all the no-color etchings. It’s been a decade of that at this point. I’ll try this for a bit and see how I feel about it. The kind of thing that matters pretty much only to me.
This might go to 70, but for right now it’s 50 releases Monday to Friday starting today, 10 per day. I know the drill. You know the drill. Let’s get it going.
Quarterly Review #1-10:
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Negative Reaction, Zero Minus Infinity
Holy fucking shit this rips. You want sludge? Call the masters. There are two generations of bands out there right now trying to tap into the kind of slow and ultra-heavy disaffection — not to mention the guitar tone — of Negative Reaction, and yet, no hype whatsoever. This record didn’t come to me from some high-level public relations concern. It came from Kenny Bones, who founded Negative Reaction over 30 years ago in Long Island (he and thus the band are based in West Virginia now) and whose perpetual themes between crushing depression and the odd bit of Star Wars-franchised space opera have rarely sounded more intentionally grueling. Across six songs and a mood-altering 46 minutes, Bones, bassist KJ and drummer Brian Alien bludgeon with rawness and volume-worship weight that, frankly, is the kind of thing riff-dudes on social media should be tripping over themselves to be first to sing its praises, the lurch in “Back From the Sands” feeling sincere in its unconscious rifference (that’s a reference you make with a riff) to Saint Vitus‘ “Born Too Late,” and maybe Negative Reaction were, or maybe they were born too early, or whatever, but it’s not like they’ve been a fit at any point in the last 30-plus years — cheeky horror riff chugging in “Space Hunter,” all-out fuckall-punker blast in “I’ll Have Another” before the 13-minute flute-laced (yes, Bones is on it) cosmic doom finish of “Welcome to Infinity,” etc., reaffirming square-peg status — because while there’s an awful lot of sludge out there, there’s only ever been one Negative Reaction. Bones‘ and company’s angry adventures, righteous and dense in sound, continue unabated.
Arizona brothers Wayne and Joey Rudell return with New Blood, the first Fuzz Evil full-length since High on You (review here) in 2018, and make up for lost time with 53 minutes of new material across 13 songs from the post-Queens of the Stone Age rock at the outset in “Suit Coffin” to the slow, almost Peter Gabriel-style progressivism of “Littlest Nemo,” the nighttime balladry of “Gullible’s Travel” or the disco groove of “Keep on Living.” Those three are tucked at the end, but Fuzz Evil telegraph new ideas and departures early in “My Own Blood” and even the speedier “Run Away,” with its hints of metal, pulls to the side from “Souveneers,” the hooky “G.U.M.O.C.O.,” a cut like “Heavy Glow” (premiered here) finding some middle ground between attitude-laced desert rock and the expansions thereupon of some New Blood‘s tracks. Shout to “We’ve Seen it All” as the hidden gem. All Fuzz Evil have ever wanted is to write songs and maybe make someone — perhaps even you — dance at a show. With the obvious sweat and soul put into New Blood, a little boogieing doesn’t seem like too much to ask.
A second full-length from Serbia’s Cardinal Point, Man or Island asks its central question — are you a man or an island — in the leadoff title-track. I’m not sure what being one or the other delineates, but masculinity would seem to be preferred judging by the Down-style riffing of “Stray Dog” or the heavy-like-1991 “Right ‘n’ Ready,” which feels like it was written for the stage, whether or not it actually was. “Sunrise” borders on hard country with its uber-dudeliness, but closer “This Chest” offers tighter-twisting, Lo-Pan-style riffing to cap. The tracks are pointedly straightforward, making no pretense about where the band is coming from or what they want to be doing as players. The grooves swing big and the choruses are delivered with force. You wouldn’t call it groundbreaking, but the Vranje-based four-piece aren’t trying to revolutionize heavy so much as to speak to various among those traditions that birthed it. They succeed in that here, and in making the results their own.
Voices far more expert than mine have given pinpointed analyses of Vlimmer‘s goth-as-emotive-vehicle, semi-electronic, sometimes-heavy post-punk, New Dark Wave, etc., stylistic reach as relates to the Berlin-based solo artist’s latest full-length, Zerschöpfung, but hearing The Cure in “Makks” and “Fatalideal” taken to a place of progressive extrapolation on “Platzwort” and to hear the Author & Punisher-informed slow industrial churn of the penultimate “Todesangst” become the backdrop for a dreamy vocal like Tears for Fears if they stayed up all night scribbling in their notebook because they had so much to say. Vlimmer (né Alexander Leonard Donat) has had a productive run since the first numbered EPs started showing up circa 2015, and Zerschöpfung feels like a summation of the style he’s established as his own, able to speak to various sides of underground and outsider musics without either losing itself in the emotionalism of the songs or sublimating identity to genre.
Dutch sludge metallers No Gods No Masters may seem monolithic at first on their second full-length, the self-released Torment, but the post-metallic dynamics in the atmospheric guitar on lead cut “Into Exile” puts the lie to the supposition. Not that there isn’t plenty of extreme crush to go around in “Into Exile” and the four songs that follow — second track “Towering Waves” and closer “End” on either side of the 10-minute mark, “Such Vim and Vigor” and “A God Among the Waste” shorter like “Into Exile” in a five-to-six-minute range — as the band move from crawling ambience to consuming, scream-topped ultra-doom, leave bruises with elbows thrown before the big slowdown in “Such Vim and Vigor” and tear ass regardless of tempo through the finale, and while they never quite let go of the extremity of their purpose, neither do they forget that their purpose is more than extremity. Torment sounds punishing superficially — certainly the title gives a hint that all is not sunshine and puppies — but a deeper listen is met by the richness of No Gods No Masters‘ approach.
Italian psych rockers Ananda Mida are joined by a host of guests throughout their third full-length, Reconciler, including a return appearance from German singer-songwriter Conny Ochs on the extended heavy psych blueser “Swamp Thing” (14:52) and the four-part finale “Doom and the Medicine Man (Pt. V-VIII)” (22:09), which draws a thread through the history of prog and acid rocks, kraut and space applying no less to the 12-minute “Lucifer’s Wind” as to the surf-riffing “Reconciling” after — the latter gets a reprise on platter two of the 83-minute 2LP — as Ananda Mida dig deep into the shining thrust in the early verses of “Never Surrender” that give over to thoughtful jamming in the song’s second half, finding proto-metallic resolve in “Following the Light” before reconciling “Reconciling (Reprise)” and unfurling “Doom and the Medicine Man” like the lost ’70s coke-rock epic it may well be in some other universe, complete with the acoustic postscript. It’s two records’ worth of ambitious, and it’s two records’ worth of record. This is exploratory on a stylistic level. Searching.
Lumbering out of El Paso, Texas (where folks know what salsa should taste like), with seven tracks across a 23-minute debut EP, Ojo Malo follow a Sabbathian course of harder-edged doom, thick in its groove through “Crow Man” after the “Intro” and speedier with an almost nu-metal crunch in “Charon the Ferryman.” There’s Clutch and C.O.C. influences in the riffing, but there are tougher elements too, a tension that wouldn’t have been out of place 28 years ago on a Prong record, and the swing in “Black Trip Lord” has an undercurrent of aggression that comes forward in its chugging second half. The penultimate “Grim Greefo Rising” offers more in terms of melody after its riffy buildup, and “Executioner” reveals the Judas Priest that’s been in the band’s collective heart all the while. Bookended with manipulated sounds from the recordings in “Intro” and “Outro,” Black Light Fever Tripping sounds exactly like it doesn’t have time for your bullshit so get your gear off stage now and don’t break down your cymbals up there or it’s fucking on.
Druid Fluids — aka Adelaide, Australia’s Jamie Andrew, plus a few friends on drums, piano, and so on — inhabits a few different personae out of psychedelic historalia throughout Then, Now, Again & Again, finding favorites in The Beatles in “Flutter By,” “Into Me I See” (both with sitar), and “Layers” while peopling other songs specifically with elements drawn from David Bowie and the solo work of Lennon and McCartney, all of which feels like fair game for the meticulously-arranged 11-song collection. “Sour’s Happy Fantasy” offers sci-fi fuzz grandeur, while “Timeline” is otherworldly in all but the central strum holding it to the ground — a singularly satisfying melody — and “Out of Phase” swaggers in like Andrew knows he was born in the wrong time. He might’ve been, but he seems to have past, present and future covered either way in this material, some of which was reportedly written when he was a teenager but which has no doubt grown more expansive in the intervening years.
The years between their 2017 self-titled three-songer EP and the forthcoming 11-track debut full-length, Saturn V, would seem to have found Philly heavy rockers Gibbous Moon refining their approach in terms of craft and process. “Blue Shelby” has a turn on guitar like Dire Straits as vocalist Noelle Felipe (also bass) drops references to Scarface in “Blue Shelby” and brings due classicism to Mauro Felipe‘s guitar on “Ayadda.” That song, as well as “Everything” and closer “Peacemaker,” tie the EP to the LP, but Noelle, Mauro and drummer Michael Mosley are unquestionably more confident in their delivery, whether it’s the bass in the open reaches of “Sine Wave” or the of-course-it’s-speed-rock “Follow that Car” and its punker counterpart “Armadillo.” Space rock is a factor in “Indivisible,” and “Inflamed” is almost rockabilly in its tense verse, but wherever Gibbous Moon go, their steps are as sure as the material itself is solid. I’m not sure when this is actually out, if it’s 2023 or 2024, but heads up on it.
Arranged shortest to longest between the ah-oo-oo-ah-ah hookiness of “Sucker’s Disease” (3:03), the nodder rollout of “Daughters of the Sun” (5:47) and the reach into psych-blues jamming in “Goddess Land” (7:03), Mother Magnetic‘s self-titled three-song EP is the first public offering from the Brisbane four-piece of vocalist Rox, guitarist James, bassist Tim and drummer Danny, and right into the later reaches of the last of those tracks, the band’s intentions feel strongly declarative in establishing their melodic reach, an Iommi-circa-’81 take on riffmaking, and a classic boozy swagger to the vocals to match. There was a time, 15-20 years ago, when demos like this ruled the land and were handed to you, burned onto archaic CD-Rs, in the vain hope you might play them in your car on the way home from the show. To not do so in this case would be inadvisable. There’s potential in the songwriting, yes, but also on a performance level, for growth as individuals and as a group, and considering where Mother Magnetic are starting in terms of chemistry, that’s all the more an exciting prospect.
Posted in Whathaveyou on October 24th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Here be the second announcement from Roadburn 2024. The first one, made just over three weeks ago, brought skin-crawl legends Khanate as the first confirmtion, and really — I’m just being honest here — that was probably enough. Yeah, one band for a festival that’s like 10 days long now or something is probably a little light in terms of a general bill. But Khanate, you get one whole day to see them play three songs and then like five or six days to recover while you meander Tilburg in a stupor. Perfect plan.
This, along with irrelevance, poor networking skills and a general lack of utility, is perhaps a fraction of why I don’t book Roadburn. The groundbreaking Netherlands-based festival continues to push boundaries in their annual celebration of progressively-defined heavy. 2024 will make half a decade since I was last there — which I’ll tell you flat out is longer than I ever in my life wanted to again go, and while we’re honest I’m a little sad about it — but I carry a decade-plus of vivid and wonderful memories of the precise sort that I know those fortunate enough to witness it in 2024 will be making.
The lineup announcement came through the PR wire:
Roadburn announces first names for 2024 including The Jesus and Mary Chain, Chelsea Wolfe, Lankum and clipping.
Having already announced KHANATE for the 2024 edition of the festival, Roadburn has today made its first broader line up announcement, including THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN, CHELSEA WOLFE, LANKUM, and CLIPPING. Roadburn 2024 will take place between 18-21 April in Tilburg, The Netherlands.
Roadburn’s artistic director, Walter Hoeijmakers, comments:
“With this announcement, we are diving straight into the heart of what Roadburn 2024 is about. These artists that we are proud to unveil today are all of great significance for what the festival has become in recent times. We feel these artists represent the broad scope of Roadburn. With the first of the commissioned music projects also being revealed, we are as always, looking firmly into the future as well, presenting entirely new music. This is the start of many great things to come.”
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It’s simply not possible to capture the true essence of THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN within a few words. They are a band who have made such an impact on the world within which Roadburn operates, their legend feels outsized, too large to fully comprehend. The Jesus and Mary Chain offer up a heady blend of fuzz and melody as a transportation device; whisking us a way to a different time and place of rose-tinted romance, wistful existentialism and just the right dose of hedonism.
Alongside the announcement of a new CHELSEA WOLFE album, we’re thrilled to reveal plans for her return to mainland Europe – at Roadburn 2024. In the twelve years since her first Roadburn appearance, this already remarkable artist has blossomed into an unstoppable force. As a songwriter and consummate creative entity incorporating evocative songwriting and unparalleled artistic vision, Chelsea Wolfe wraps the entire package in an ethereal, shimmering bow.
To witness LANKUM live is an intimate experience – no matter the size of the room. The four Irish musicians on stage play a dizzying array of instruments between them and possess a deep understanding of traditional folk, an appreciation of heaviness and deft hand for putting a twist on what has gone before them in the folk genre.
Experimental hip hop trio CLIPPING will make their Roadburn debut in 2024. A force to be reckoned with in the live arena, their minimalist onstage aesthetic belies the sonic complexities that they effuse. Experimenting with confrontation and heaviness within hip hop is part of what makes Clipping so exciting, and to our ears, makes them a band that belongs at the heart of what we do at Roadburn.
The first commissioned performance of 2024 to be announced will be crafted by the hand of MAT MCNERNEY. Music for Gloaming: A Nocturne by the Hexvessel Folk Assembly will be an entirely original composition, written and performed exclusively at Roadburn 2024. Evoking night-time mysticism, a realm where daylight bows to advancing darkness, unraveling both the external twilight tapestry and the internal landscapes of memory and thought, this commissioned work promises to be something truly special.
Additionally, HEXVESSEL will perform their latest album, Polar Veil in full at Roadburn 2024. On this striking release, a majestic shroud of black metal grandiosity is overlaid upon heaving doom and psychedelic flourishes that capture what is at the heart of Hexvessel.
Los Angeles based ecstatic black metal group, AGRICULTURE, will make their European debut at Roadburn, flying in for an exclusive one-off performance.
Mysterious Dutch black metal band, FLUISTERAARS will play their second ever show – their first in mainland Europe – at Roadburn, showcasing what has made them such an integral part of the underground black metal scene for so many years.
CLOAKROOM will bring their particular take on interplanetary exploration to Tilburg, playing tracks from their latest album, Dissolution Wave and more.
With the promise of a new album on the horizon, melancholic black metallers DÖDSRIT will return to Roadburn this coming April.
Delivering a dose of bloodsoaked blasphemy, DEVIL MASTER will make their Roadburn debut, traveling from Philadelphia to bring their malevolent magick to the masses.
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The artwork for Roadburn 2024 has been unveiled; a striking video created by French artist, David Fitt is available to view in full via the Roadburn website. This extraordinarily talented French artist has been on our radar for some time now, and we had the great honour of hosting an exhibition of his portraits at Roadburn 2023. From there our appreciation for his work blossomed into a creative relationship that has resulted in the work that we’re thrilled to present to represent the 2024 edition of the festival.
4-day tickets for Roadburn 2024 are now on sale. Other ticket options – including single day tickets and accommodation – will follow on November 3. More artists will be announced in the coming weeks. For all information including tickets, please visit www.roadburn.com.
Posted in Whathaveyou on October 20th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
The Fall incarnation of Into the Void, held in Leeuwarden, took place on Sept. 30 with Alabama Thunderpussy, Howling Giant and scores of others, and that had been announced in April, so there’s a fitting symmetry to unveiling the initial lineup for Spring 2024 even as the autumnal festival season in Europe continues to play out. Look for Truckfighters, Mars Red Sky, Skraeckoedlan, Black Rainbows, Endonomos and Acid Mammoth to be out and about in Winter 2024, as the Dutch fest will be early on the circuit and probably a launch point for tours, and with Netherlands natives like Ter Ziele, Rrrags and Onhou, the regional underground is supported as well. Feb. 24 is the date and there are reportedly three more acts to add.
No, I don’t know who they are, but you might have fun trying to guess based on who has records out now and in the early going of 2024. No shortage of names on that list. But you’ll notice that Endonomos from Austria and Onhou aren’t included in the text of the announcement but are on the artwork, so don’t ask me who’s gonna play when. February is four months out. I’m sure by the time the fest happens it’ll be sorted. Everybody calm down in the meantime.
Lots to dig here, so get diggin’:
After a successful first edition of Into the Void in Rockcity Eindhoven, of course, a second edition can’t be missed. (#128640#) On February 24, 2024, the Effenaar will be submerged once again in a swamp of stoner, sludge and doom.
In this edition we welcome the following bands: BLACK RAINBOWS, Truckfighters, ️ Mars Red Sky,️ Acid Mammoth, SKRAECKOEDLAN, TER ZIELE and RRRags. The final 3 bands including the headliner will be announced soon.
