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The Spacelords Premiere Nectar of the Gods in Full; Out Friday

Posted in audiObelisk, Reviews on October 16th, 2023 by JJ Koczan

the spacelords nectar of the gods

This Friday, Oct. 20, German heavy psychedelic rockers The Spacelords return with their sixth full-length, the four-song Nectar of the Gods, through Tonzonen Records. Instrumental in its 44-minute entirety, the album runs a kosmiche web between classic prog, heavy and psychedelic rocks, looking outward from the foundation of its own jams but already more developed than the raw improv. To wit, the penultimate “Mindscapes” (9:42) plays around with and evolves a groove that feels culled in part from Black Sabbath‘s “War Pigs,” changing it over time in the nine-plus-minute course but both retaining the central character and presenting the influence from an internalized place, and they’re no less at home there than in the ultra-drift that begins the subsequent closer “Lost Sounds of Lemuria” (14:15).

Yet would you call the album comfortable? I don’t know. Space is always moving, it just looks still because it’s impossibly huge, and there are some moments through Nectar of the Gods where they seem to be resting in a part when in fact they’re evolving it subtly toward a linear end. Their 2021 album, Unknown Species (review here) had three songs and no less character, but Nectar of the Gods brings further into relief just where The Spacelords — the returning trio of guitarist Matthias “Hazi” Wettstein, bassist Erhard “Akee” Kazmaier and drummer Marcus Schnitzler, plus Jens Eberhard on keys for “Lost Sounds of Lemuria” — lie on the border between structured songwriting and jamming. Because as the sitar drone, tabla percussion and mantra chanting start “Nectar of the Gods,” it’s pretty clear they’re not making it up on the spot, but neither are they belting out verses and choruses in three-minute singles. There’s a plan at work, but it is looser, and it can be because of their instrumental approach.

Most vocals (because nothing is absolute) would diminish the forward march of “Nectar of the Gods,” which transcends its opening to find itself by its midpoint at the crescendo of a stoner rock nod. Lead guitar builds around it, weaving through in heavy psychedelic fashion, but as they will with that aforementioned “War Pigs” riff in “Mindscapes,” they ride the progression and seem to let it change its shape as it will. They work their way to a stop and renew the movement with satisfying crash of the drums for punctuation, and preface some of the titular payoff that “Endorphine High” (10:24) saunters through in a way that should please fans of latter-day Earthless, riding through what might’ve been an open jam before the fade brings the percussive start of “Mindscapes” and some of the funk in the bounce of the bass its first half, however many decades of all-in guitar-led powertrioism filtering through WettsteinKazmaier and Schnitzler‘s unflinching chemistry. There’s just the barest hint of heavy metal as they transition to the back-half stretch, but “Mindscapes” finishes quiet and gives “Lost Sounds of Lemuria” room to flourish as it will.

The Spacelords

Eberhard‘s keys on “Lost Sounds of Lemuria” make Nectar of the Gods‘ closing track an event more than its 14-minute runtime, though that also isn’t to be discounted when considering the sense of arriving one has at the fourth inclusion. It begins as a dream of Rhodes and guitar drift, bass and drums keeping it casual beneath, and moves into a more resolute psychedelic triumph as the keys continue to add complementary melody around the guitar lines, harmonizing maybe but in their own place through repetitive cycles of a riff and then taking a solo before seven minutes in, welcoming back the guitar over the next minute to resume the conversation. Wettstein steps forward circa 9:40 to lead into a more angular movement, but it’s clearly a transition taking place, and where they end up is with Hammond holding notes over the swirling builds of guitar and the forward motion of the rhythm section, a kind of ringing, multi-hued resonance that’s born of classic psychedelic and maybe even blues jamming with those keys, but that is a glory reserved specifically for this record much like the actual soma of mythology.

After starting Nectar of the Gods with the chanting, the hints toward Subcontinental Asian arrangement elements don’t return as one might expect, but if you start “Nectar of the Gods” right after the end of Unknown Species‘ 20-minute closer “Time Tunnel,” the new track picks up well out of the older, and that’s not nothing, whether or not it was on purpose. Conceptually, The Spacelords aren’t looking to trick anyone into thinking they’re something they’re not, and they’re not pretending these songs are off-the-cuff jams either. They’ve been worked on and completed in their own way and even when they seem at their loosest, they’re still following a plan that’s put them there. The material is dynamic, spacious, absolutely encompassing on headphones, and it rocks. They hit a groove and takeoff like they know you’re at the festival and it’s hot and you’ve been waiting for it so here it is, and that’s an energy specific enough that it can’t be faked.

Not everybody will be able to vibe with it, and that’s a little sad, but if you can put yourself in the right headspace to follow the places The Spacelords are leading, Nectar of the Gods is both a satisfying and a jovial trip to take. Whatever the state of the world, the songs are in good spirits and the invitation in them is palpable. Go with it and you might just make your day better.

Please enjoy:

The Spacelords, Nectar of the Gods full album premiere

Pre-order it here: https://www.tonzonen.de/shop/p/the-spacelords-coming-soon-

The Spacelords – the galactic grooving space rockers in the stoner space-time continuum – honor our sun sound system with their latest album Nectar Of The Gods. Its entry into the Earth’s atmosphere was calculated for the end of October!

Nectar Of The Gods is the 6th studio album on the Tonzonen Records label. The exceptional formation was founded in 2008 and is since May 2014 in their classic, perfect line-up, which inspires an ever-growing fan base worldwide.

After effusive reactions to the first five studio albums, The Spacelords open with Nectar Of The Gods another, so far unheard-of chapter in their original, magical space-atlas.

The trio’s constantly reinventing, deeply interwoven interplay is increasingly captivating the stoner, space and kraut rock community with its devotional joy of playing, as only true friends can muster.

On one of the four epic new tracks on Nectar Of The Gods the gigantic attraction of the massive Spacelords star has once again attracted a sympathetic emissary from the neighboring keyboard universe: Lost Sound Of Lemuria is enhanced by friend Guest Lord, namely Jens Eberhard of Jewelled Moon, with brilliant Fender Rhodes and organ sounds.

Four impressive new songs were created in the home studio, which have both a high recognition value, and know how to convince atmospherically.

Nectar Of The Gods is released on Digipack CD, limited label edition LP (yellow vinyl) and regular LP (black vinyl), as well as a digital release.

Tracklist
1. Nectar Of The Gods
2. Endorphine High
3. Mindscapes
4. Lost Sounds Of Lemuria

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The Spacelords on Spotify

The Spacelords website

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Esbjerg Fuzztival 2022 Lineup Complete; Conan, Domkraft & More Added

Posted in Whathaveyou on February 2nd, 2022 by JJ Koczan

Last we left them, Denmark’s upstart Esbjerg Fuzztival was teasing six more bands to add to finalize its bill for May 2022. Hell if they haven’t done precisely that thing. I’ll note that while my immediate association with acts called Khan goes right to the Australian sludge band, there is a Danish Khan as well and I’m not sure which is being confirmed here. As of me writing this sentence — your yesterday — neither act had posted one way or the other.

However, I am definitely sure which Conan, Domkraft, The Spacelords, Kombynat Robotron and Syreregn they’re talking about, even if I wasn’t previously familiar with the latter, whose 2019 LP, Cogito Ergo Sum, was released by Kozmik Artifactz, starts with a reminder that there is no spoon, and can be streamed in its entirety below. These last six round out a killer lineup that as I’ve been saying all along is most definitely the biggest that Esbjerg Fuzztival has put together, and if you’re headed to Denmark in May — why not? — get yourself in shape for 12 hours of heavy across two days that well earn the bigger poster they needed. Right, frickin’, on.

The fest’s announcement follows here from social media:

esbjerg fuzztival 2022 final poster

“We’re gonna need a bigger poster”

Thanks for your patience! To celebrate we decided to announce the last bands for Fuzztival 22, and they are HUGE!

PROUD to present… CONAN, DOMKRAFT, KHAN, THE SPACELORDS, KOMBYNAT ROBOTRON & SYREREGN

We can’t even believe we managed to pull off this ambitious a lineup on just one stage over two days! Near non-stop music Friday & Saturday from 1pm—1am both days! We present to you our picks of the very best in Heavy Psych and Doom. So so much doom. So so much heavy.

Who are you excited to see live in May!?

https://www.facebook.com/esbjergfuzztival/
https://www.instagram.com/esbjerg_fuzztival/
https://www.fuzztival.com/

Syreregn, Cogito Ergo Sum (2019)

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

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

THE-OBELISK-FALL-2020-QUARTERLY-REVIEW

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

As if I’d need another way.

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

Quarterly Review #31-40:

Dang!!!, Sociopathfinder

dang sociopathfinder

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

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Apollon Records website

 

Stew, Taste

stew taste

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

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Uprising! Records website

 

Nothing is Real, Transmissions of the Unearthly

nothing is real transmissions of the unearthly

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

Nothing is Real on Facebook

Nothing is Real on Bandcamp

 

Jerky Dirt, Orse

Jerky Dirt Orse

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

Jerky Dirt on Bandcamp

 

Space Coke, Lunacy

Space Coke Lunacy

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

Space Coke on Facebook

Space Coke on Bandcamp

 

Black Solstice, Ember

Black Solstice Ember

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

Black Solstice on Facebook

Ozium Records webstore

 

Dome Runner, Conflict State Design

Dome Runner Conflict State Design

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

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Dome Runner on Bandcamp

 

Moonlit, So Bless Us Now…

Moonlit So Bless us now

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

Moonlit on Instagram

Moonlit on Bandcamp

 

The Spacelords, Unknown Species

The Spacelords Unknown Species

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

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Tonzonen Records website

 

Scrying Stone, Scrublands

Scrying Stone Scrublands

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

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Scrying Stone on Bandcamp

 

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Review & Track Premiere: The Spacelords, Spaceflowers

Posted in audiObelisk, Reviews on January 30th, 2020 by JJ Koczan

THE SPACELORDS SPACEFLOWERS

[Click play above to stream the title-track of The Spacelords’ Spaceflowers. Album is out Feb. 21 through Tonzonen. Preoders are here.]

They say that in space, no one can hear you fall into a trace of repetitive heavy psychedelic bliss. Germany’s The Spacelords — guitarist Matthias “Hazi” Wettstein, bassist Erhard “Akee” Kazmaier and drummer Marcus Schnitzler; all of whom are also responsible for sundry other effects and/or noises — wrap up a trilogy of three-song full-lengths with Spaceflowers, taking what began on 2016’s Liquid Sun and continued with 2017’s Water Planet (review here) for their fourth release total on Tonzonen Records including last year’s live outing, On Stage. Whether they’re in the studio or not, the trio emit a cosmic vibe of marked depth, and in the three extended pieces of Spaceflowers, they bloom in true fashion, each one seeming to spread out in all directions at once, circular petals opening wide to catch the light of some strange sunlight and thereby be sustained. To say the least, 24-minute opener and longest track (immediate points) “Cosmic Trip” is nothing if not aptly named.

“Cosmic Trip” is joined by “Frau Kuhnkes Kosmos” (11:43) and the closing title-track (13:35), but its course is set early and maintained well throughout the 49 minutes of the proceedings overall, which isn’t short for an LP in this day and age, but doesn’t find The Spacelords at all overstaying their welcome. Be it Schnitzler‘s deceptively intricate kick timing in “Frau Kuhnkes Kosmos” — he was doubling for a while with Electric Moon, whose Sula Bassana put out The Spacelords‘ 2014 album, Synapse (review here), but parted ways with the band in 2016 — or the patient underlying wash of effects and the close-your-eyes-and-get-carried-away bassline in the second half of “Spaceflowers” itself, The Spacelords bring a personality and vibrance to their material, and though the overarching vibe is serene, they aren’t by any means still throughout these proceedings.

On the contrary, while “Cosmic Trip” and its side B counterparts want nothing for fluidity and are plenty atmospheric on an almost preternatural level with all of the effects surrounding the guitar, bass and drums — not separate from them at all but still bolstering the individual performances as Wettstein demonstrates early in the synth/guitar intertwining of “Cosmic Trip” circa the five-minute mark — they’re never entirely still throughout Spaceflowers. And neither are they overblown or launching the motorik space rock hyperdrive without sonic call to do so. In fact, while never really subdued in the sense of fading to drone or anything like that, they find a marked balance that allows them to explore without departing mid-tempo push. The build that ensues across the first eight minutes or so of “Cosmic Trip” pays off in satisfying fashion and gives way to joyous guitar drift kept in this dimension by Kazmaier‘s gotta-hear-it bass tone and Schnitzler‘s drumming, and gradually, patiently, pushes itself forward again, this time over the longer stretch of the remaining two-thirds of the song.

After the guitar solo arrives and eventually shifts into the riff that the drums and bass change with immediately — it’s announced by the drums, but let’s call it 22:22 into the 24:20 — it becomes clear to what all of the progression has been leading, and that obviously-prior-constructed move underscores a key factor in The Spacelords‘ approach throughout Spaceflowers in that these three songs do not at all come across as being “just jams.” That is, while there are no doubt improvisational elements at work and in all likelihood a great deal of jamming took place to put them together — and given the flow throughout, there was likely a proportionate amount of jamming in the recording process as well — there’s at least a blueprint being followed. They never come close to what would be commonly regarded as structure in the verse/chorus sense, and nor do they want or need to, but neither are they floating through the galaxy without a mission.

Tonzonen Records Labelnight 3 The Spacelords

Given that, and taking into consideration Spaceflowers as the purported end of a trilogy of releases — they had two early self-released studio albums that seem to be unavailable and at least one other live recording, so fair to say it’s at least their sixth LP overall — one has to wonder if there’s a narrative taking place in the tracks or across the progression from Liquid Sun to Water Planet to this album. If there is, and it’s fun to think there might be, then perhaps it could be derived even just from the titles of the three full-lengths in question. A star, a planet, a landscape. Is this The Spacelords describing entering a strange solar system with a different kind of life source and discovering what sort of life might flourish there? Have we landed? The best answer I can give is “maybe,” which is to say that listening to the tension in the latter half of “Frau Kuhnkes Kosmos,” and the ensuing space-hippies-bathing-in-soundwaves vision of “Spaceflowers” itself, it’s open for interpretation.

Certainly the latter could be viewed as a landing point, even as Wettstein‘s guitar seems most to soar and the band — kudos to whoever is handling the organ sound there, whether or not it’s an actual organ — push to a rousing and, again, planned-seeming finish. Its mellow beginning picks up gently from the centerpiece before it, and it unfolds with a lighter sense of gravity but still brings a welcome and by-then-characteristic blend of earthy groove and floating guitar. It would be difficult for a single instrumental piece to serve as the summary of three albums’ worth of outward journeying, even one 13 minutes long, but “Spaceflowers” nobly pushes in its midsection into a section of thicker riffing before embarking on its final cosmic sprawl and solo-led ending.

It’s by no means the first such build on Spaceflowers, but it emphasizes the point of the power trio dynamic in the band, with the rhythm section functioning to hold the central groove together as the guitar — and more, in this case — adventures through the outer reaches of the great kosmiche beyond. Is this The Spacelords‘ last time at the helm of their particular starship? One doubts it. The creativity on display in these tracks and the will they put into making them does not seem the sort to be dissuaded, and the progressive aspects even in the final moments of the title-track make it plain that in terms of the band’s own story, the end is the beginning. Another trilogy ahead? A full saga? Could be. WettsteinKazmeier and Schnitzler clearly show they have the readiness to paint the universe as they see fit, so really all the listener has to do is be ready to go and be gone.

The Spacelords on Facebook

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The Spacelords on Spotify

The Spacelords website

Tonzonen Records website

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Review & Full Album Premiere: The Spacelords, Water Planet

Posted in audiObelisk, Reviews on October 16th, 2017 by JJ Koczan

the spacelords water planet

[Click play above to stream The Spacelords’ Water Planet in full. Album is out Oct. 20 via Tonzonen and available to preorder on iTunes, Amazon and Google Play.]

As one might expect for a record comprised of three sprawling heavy psychedelic instrumentals, atmosphere plays a large role in The Spacelords‘ fifth studio outing and second for Tonzonen Records, Water Planet. But it’s not the whole story. And from the underlying progressive melodies in Hazi Wettstein‘s layers of guitar on 11-minute opener “Plasma Thruster,” it’s clear there’s a plotline being followed at least to some degree. No doubt that Wettstein, bassist Akee Kazmaier and drummer Marcus Schnitzler (the latter also Electric Moon) are following naturalist cues throughout “Plasma Thunder” and the subsequent “Metamorphosis” (11:52) and “Nag Kanya” (19:35) that round out the 42-minute offering, but Water Planet has none of the willful clumsiness that often found in spaced-out records based on pure improvisation.

There’s songcraft at work here, however little it might have to do with traditional verse chorus structures. The record, which follows the band’s similarly-minded 2016 three-track long-player, Liquid Sun, and 2014’s Sulatron Records-released Synapse (review here), greatly benefits from that directed sensibility, whether it’s the initial engagement of the opener or the manner in which “Nag Kanya” seems to solidify around its funky wah to push toward the album’s apex and then recede back into fluid drift to send the audience off into space one last time. Rest assured, there’s plenty of exploration still being done in this material — I’m not sure there would be much point, otherwise — but the overarching vibe is expressive as well. These aren’t just indulgent jams.

Perhaps to an unschooled ear, that doesn’t serve for much of a difference as the sampled launch countdown ignites the swirling effects and core bassline of “Plasma Thruster.” At a certain conceptual point, jams are jams, and fair enough, but while The Spacelords still have a sound molten enough as to draw readily on the chemistry between WettsteinKazmaier and Schnitzler, the fact that it also gives them someplace to go sonically seems huge in comparison to other space rock LPs playing to the other side of that equation. This distinction is perhaps evident nowhere so much as in “Metamorphosis,” which is the centerpiece of the three inclusions and presumably the side A finale of the vinyl.

the spacelords

Almost set to pure drift, its 12-minute stretch is hypnotic in the extreme, and yet, after about four minutes in, there’s a subtle turn from Schnitzler on drums, and as Kazmaier‘s bassline holds steady and the effects wash continues to unfold, Wettstein‘s guitar shifts into the next movement of the track. It’s such a small change, and it may indeed have been recorded live, but it comes across like The Spacelords knew they were going to make that pivot, as well as the one after that brings the song into even airier, post-rocking territory, and their knowing what’s following any given moment makes it that much easier to go with them along this path that, once again, still allows for much trance-inducing, purposeful wandering and spacious vibration.

Whatever commonality of theme may persist between Water Planet and its predecessor, the three inclusions of which were similarly broken down with two extended cuts on side A and one even longer one consuming the entirety of side B, there is a notable uptick in production value on the newer record, which makes the effects churn from Wettstein and Kazmaier and Schnitzler added synth all the more immersive. This is especially true throughout “Nag Kanya,” the rhythmic march of which is topped by a sustained drone that does much to fill out the sound, and to go back further and hear early work from The Spacelords on their 2010 self-titled debut or its 2011 follow-up, Dimension 7, it is plain that their progression has involved not only the move toward clearer intention in their craftsmanship, but also a fuller manner of presenting their material on the whole.

This, in combination with a lineup that feels further coalesced than it did on Liquid Sun, which marked Kazmaier‘s introduction to the band, stands Water Planet apart as The Spacelords‘ most realized full-length to-date. One can’t help but wonder if having this solidified base (bass?) beneath them, the band won’t feel freer their next time out to indulge a bit more improvisational wanderlust, but even if they continue to refine their methods with another liquid-theme three-songer, the obvious drive toward growth that shows itself on Water Planet will no doubt yield further forward progress. That is, there’s invariably more ground for The Spacelords to cover — a consequence in part of having a sound so vast — but between “Plasma Thruster,” “Metamorphosis” and “Nag Kanya,” nothing to argue against their being ready or willing to keep heading outward into the uncharted and, in the process of incorporating new elements and touches amid their already established modus, making that ground all the more their own just as they do here.

The Spacelords on Thee Facebooks

The Spacelords on Bandcamp

The Spacelords on Spotify (available Oct. 20)

The Spacelords website

Tonzonen Records website

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Here are 40+ New Releases to Look for in the Next Three Weeks

Posted in Features on September 21st, 2017 by JJ Koczan

Starting tomorrow, the next three weeks are absolutely stupid with new albums. Over-the-top, ridiculous. An immediately-go-broke amount of music. Nothing less than an onslaught. We’re under attack.

Far be it from me to tell you how to spend your money — also far be it from me not to — but there’s some really killer stuff in here. As to why it’s all landing now? Some of it of course has to do with the timing of when it was recorded, bands hitting the studio in Spring before heading out on the road over the summer, but Fall releases also line up nicely for tours in October and November, heading into the holiday season, when the music industry basically shuts down. This is the last chance for releases to come out in 2017 and be considered for best-of-year lists.

I doubt the likes of Chelsea Wolfe or Godspeed You! Black Emperor or even Kadavar would cop to that as a motivating factor, instead pointing to the timing of Fall touring and so on, but these things are rarely coincidental. You know how there aren’t any blockbusters in January but every movie feels like it’s trying to win an Oscar? Same kind of deal.

Nonetheless, 2017 is laying it on particularly thick these next couple weeks, and as you can see in the lists below, if you’ve got cash to spend, you can pretty much choose your rock and roll adventure. I’ll add to this as need be as well, so keep an eye for changes:

Sept. 22:

Alcest, Souveinirs d’un Autre Monde (10th Anniversary Edition)
Brant Bjork, Europe ’16
Chelsea Wolfe, Hiss Spunthe-flying-eyes-burning-of-the-season
Epitaph, Claws
Faces of the Bog, Ego Death
The Flying Eyes, Burning of the Season
Fvzz Popvli, Fvzz Dei
Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Luciferian Towers
Jarboe & Father Murphy, Jarboe & Father Murphy
Monarch, Never Forever
Nibiru, Qaal Babalon
Process of Guilt, Black Earth
Satyricon, Deep Calleth Upon Deep
Spelljammer, Inches from the Sun (Reissue)
Thonian Horde, Inconnu
Trash Titan, Welcome to the Banana Party
Ufomammut, 8
With the Dead, Love from With the Dead
Wolves in the Throne Room, Thrice Woven

Sept. 29:

monolord rust
Cities of Mars, Temporal Rifts
Deadsmoke, Mountain Legacy
A Devil’s Din, One Hallucination Under God
Disastroid, Missiles
Jim Healey, Just a Minute More (Sept. 26)
Idylls, The Barn
Kadavar, Rough Times
Lucifer’s Chalice, The Pact
Monolord, Rust
Outsideinside, Sniff a Hot Rock
Radio Moscow, New Beginnings
Scream of the Butterfly, Ignition
Tronald, Tronald (Sept. 30)
Unsane, Sterilize
Wucan, Reap the Storm

Oct. 6:

fireball-ministry-remember-the-storyElder Druid, Carmina Satanae
Fireball Ministry, Remember the Story
Frank Sabbath, Are You Waiting? (Oct. 2)
Himmellegeme, Myth of Earth
House of Broken Promises, Twisted EP
O.R.B., Naturality
Primitive Man, Caustic
Spirit Adrift, Curse of Conception
Spotlights, Seismic
Sumokem, The Guardian of Yosemite
Torso, Limbs
White Manna, Bleeding Eyes

Also:

Oct. 13: Enslaved, Firebreather, I Klatus, R.I.P., Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats (reissue), Weird Owl, etc.

Oct. 20: Iron Monkey, Spectral Haze, Bell Witch, The Spacelords, etc.

Something I forgot?

Invariably, right? If you know of something not seen above that should be, then by all means, please leave a comment letting me know. My only ask is that you keep it civil and not call me a fucking idiot or anything like that. I write these posts very early in the day, and if something has been neglected, I assure you it’s not on purpose and I’m happy to correct any and all oversights.

Thanks for reading and happy shopping. Support local record stores.

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Last Licks 2014: Brain Pyramid, Zaum, Fire Faithful, Pendejo, Heavy Glow, Bibilic Blood, Thera Roya & Hercyn, The Spacelords, The Good Hand and Byzanthian Neckbeard

Posted in Reviews on December 31st, 2014 by JJ Koczan

Yesterday was kind of crazy, but I don’t mind telling you I think today might be the most all-over-the-place of the week each of the five piles on my desk — now three, soon two — offers something different from the others, but it’s a wide spectrum being covered here, and there’s a couple abrupt turns from one to the next that I didn’t really do on purpose but I think will make for an interesting challenge anyway. In case you’ve been wondering, that’s what kind of nerd I am. Also the Star Trek kind.

I’m feeling really good about this series so far. Really good. I reserve the right to, by Friday, be so completely done with it that I never want to even think of the idea again, but I can only begin to tell you how satisfying it is to me to be able to write about some of these records after staring at them for so long sitting on my desk. Today’s batch is reviews 21-30 of the total 50, so we’ll pass the halfway point in this pile. If you’ve been keeping count since Monday or checking in, thanks, and if not, thanks anyway. Ha.

It’s about that time:

Brain Pyramid, Chasma Hideout

brain pyramid chasma hideout

Although it was streamed here in full in September, the persistent stoner charm of French trio Brain Pyramid’s debut album, Chasma Hideout (released by Acid Cosmonaut Records), seemed to warrant further highlight. Whether it’s small touches like the organ underscoring centerpiece “Lucifer” or the wah-ready bass of Ronan Grall – joined in the band by guitarist/vocalist Gaston Lainé and drummer Baptiste Gautier-Lorenzo – or the memorable if genre-familiar turns of “Into the Lightspeed,” the band’s first LP impresses with unpretentious heavy rock front to back. It’s not perfect. Lainé’s vocals come across high in the mix on opener “Living in the Outer Space” and there are points where the “familiar” runs stronger than others, but especially as their initial full-length offering, Chasma Hideout is one that one seems to continue to grow on the listener as time goes on, and one hopes that the heavy psych chicanery from which they launch the 11-minute closing title-track becomes the foundation from which they build going forward. Potential worth reiterating.

Brain Pyramid on Thee Facebooks

Acid Cosmonaut Records

Zaum, Oracles

zaum oracles

With the backing of venerable Swedish imprint I Hate Records, Canadian two-piece Zaum release their first LP in the four-song Oracles, a 48-minute work taking its central musical and atmospheric themes from Middle Eastern cues. Melodically and atmospherically, it relies on chants, slow, deep low end and minor key riffs to convey a dense ambience, reminding some of Om’s Mideast fixation on “Peasant of Parthia” – third and shortest here at 8:13 – but otherwise on a much heavier, darker trip entirely. Opener “Zealot” (12:55) and closer “Omen” (14:08) both offer plodding pace and a methodology not unlike Nile played at quarter-speed, but it would be a mistake to call the hand with which Kyle Alexander McDonald (vocals, bass, synth, sitar) and Christopher Lewis (drums) approach their aesthetic anything but commanding, and when McDonald switches to a semi-blackened rasp in the second half of “Omen,” Zaum demonstrate a desire to push even further into extremity’s reaches. I can’t help but wonder how far they’ll go.

Zaum on Thee Facebooks

I Hate Records

Fire Faithful, Organized Occult Love

fire faithful organized occult love

Some of the organ sounds on “Eye Opener,” the aptly-titled leadoff from Virginia four-piece Fire Faithful’s second LP, Organized Occult Love, remind of what Beelzefuzz conjured atmospherically, but an even more primary impression is the uptick in production value from Fire Faithful’s 2012 outing, Please Accept this Invocation (review here). Recorded by Windhand’s Garrett Morris, songs like “Last Fool on Earth” and “Organized Occult Love” brim with tonal resonance and a perfect balance the mix. Guitarist Shane Rippey handled the latter with Morris, and throughout, his tones and that of bassist Jon Bone shine, but whether it’s a more straightforward, Earthride-style groover like the title-track, or a more ranging doomer like “Combat,” vocalist Brandon Malone is well balanced to cut through the morass and drummer Joss Sallade’s crash resides comfortably behind the thick chugging. Melissa Malone and Gabrielle Bishop contribute backing vocals to “Last Fool on Earth” and only affirm how much Organized Occult Love brings Fire Faithful’s Southern doom to another level of presentation. An important forward step.

Fire Faithful on Thee Facebooks

Fire Faithful website

Pendejo, Atacames

pendejo atacames

Five years after debuting with 2009’s Cantos a Ma Vida, Amsterdam-based Pendejo return on Chancho Records with Atacames, a 10-track/44-minute wallop of classic heavy rock riffing and Latin American influence via the Spanish lyrics of vocalist El Pastuso and his readily-wielded-but-not-overused trumpet, which makes a surprising complement to Jaap “Monchito” Melman’s fuzz-heavy guitar, Stef “El Rojo” Gubbels’ bass and Jos “Pepellín” Roosen’s drums, but in context works well to bring personality and an individualized sensibility to a sound otherwise heavily indebted to the likes of Kyuss and Fu Manchu. Quality songwriting and variety in songs like the slower “Amiyano” and the building “Hermelinda” ensures Atacames offers more than novelty to those who’d gape at its other-ness, and when that trumpet does hit, it never falls flat. Closing out with a pair of big-riffers in “El Jardinero” and “La Chica del Super No Se Puede Callar,” Pendejo’s sophomore effort produces results as substantial as they are fun, and serve to remind that’s why we’re here in the first place.

Pendejo on Thee Facebooks

Chancho Records

Heavy Glow, Pearls and Swine and Everything Fine

heavy glow pearls and swine and everything fine

Cali trio Heavy Glow – guitarist/vocalist Jared Mullins, bassist Joe Brooks and drummer St. Judas – have spent a decent portion of the year on tour in support of their full-length, Pearls and Swine and Everything Fine. Understandable, and all the better to pick up your girlfriend in-person. Smooth, well-baked grooves permeate cuts like “Mine all Mine,” which also appeared on their prior 7” (review here), and the later “Nerve Endings,” a Queens of the Stone Age-style production giving about as much of a commercial vibe as a record can have and still be heavy rock, but the songwriting is paramount and definitely an element working in Heavy Glow’s favor, whether it’s the takeoff chorus of “Domino” or near-lounge vibe of “Fat Cat.” There’s an aspirational sensibility at the album’s core that’s going to make for an odd fit for some riff-heads who might be puzzled how something so nearly desert rock can still sound not at all like Brant Bjork, but hooks is hooks, and Heavy Glow use them well.

Heavy Glow on Thee Facebooks

Heavy Glow website

Bibilic Blood, Snakeweed

bibilic blood snakeweed

Bibilic Blood released three albums between 2009 and 2011, but the Eastlake, Ohio, duo haven’t been heard from since – their nightmarish, depraved psychedelic sludge vanishing in a smoky, somehow hateful wisp. Snakeweed marks their fourth album, and with it bassist/vocalist Suzy Psycho and drummer/guitarist Scott “Wizard” Stearns unfurl another demented collection of chaos snippets from an alternate, terrifying universe, the 11 songs totaling just 27 minutes with enough lumber and obscure freakout on two-minute mainliners like “Severed” and “Bloodnomicon” in the middle of the record to be a genre on itself — like a grainy horror flick made scarier by its rawness. Closer and longest cut at 4:10 “Bloody Rabbit” starts with Boris, Flood-style noodling from Stearns on guitar, but samples transition into Snakeweed’s most gruesome chapter, Suzy Psycho’s voice echoing, twisted, from out of an abyss that might as well be your own subconscious, referencing Jefferson Airplane along the way. Their particular brand of malevolence has been missed, and hopefully Snakeweed starts a new bout of activity.

Bibilic Blood on Bandcamp

Goat Skull Records

Thera Roya & Hercyn, All this Suffering is Not Enough

thera roya and hercyn all this suffering is not enough

Gloom prevails and takes multiple shapes on All this Suffering is Not Enough, the new jewel-case split between Brooklyn post-metallers Thera Roya and progressive New Jersey black metallers Hercyn. Each band includes one song, and for the trio Thera Roya, that’s “Gluttony,” which builds its churn from the ground up and intersperses spacious guitar and almost punkish clean singing en route to a wash of scream-topped distortion, trading off volume and ambience and ultimately delivering a lot of both in a densely-packed eight minutes. Hercyn, a four-piece, counter with the 14-minute “Dusk and Dawn,” which follows their also-longform Magda EP (review here) in grand and squibbly form, a gallop taking hold early topped with throaty screams and shifting between melodic and dissonant impulses, a midsection solo offering a standout moment before the bludgeoning resumes. Each act offers a quotient of noise not to be understated, and despite working in different styles, that’s enough to let them complement each other well on the searing 23-minute Ouro Preto Productions release.

Thera Roya on Thee Facebooks

Hercyn on Thee Facebooks

The Spacelords, Synapse

the spacelords synapse

Synapse, the third full-length from German trio The Spacelords, arrives like a gift from the bliss-jam gods. Four extended mostly-instrumental cuts arranged two per side on a Sulatron Records LP, crafting memorable impressions with washes of synth and guitar, intelligent jams that feel partially plotted and intelligent but still exploratory and natural in how they flesh out. Guitarist Matthias Wettstein is out front in the mix, but bassist Akee Kazmaier and drummer Marcus Schnitzler (also of Electric Moon) aren’t far behind, as much as a title like “Starguitar” might make you think otherwise. The chemistry between the three-piece remains tight across the album’s 41 minutes, and from the rich bass and chugging guitar of the opening title-track to the more laid-back groove of “No. 5” and voicebox strangeness of “Pyroclastic Master,” which has the record’s only vocals in robotically spoken lines, Synapse seems to make all of its connections along the way. Heavy psych heads previously unfamiliar will want to take note. The vinyl, of course, is limited.

The Spacelords on Thee Facebooks

Sulatron Records

The Good Hand, Atman

the good hand atman

A progressive heavy rock trio from the Netherlands, The Good Hand present Atman, their second album, on Minstrel Music, with an adventurous semi-desert sensibility given crisp production and a somewhat wistful feel in songs like “Greenwich Mean Time” and “Unity.” For a record that starts out with lead guitarist/vocalist Arjan Hoekstra (also tuba, trombone, bugle, keys, percussion) declaring “I am god,” Atman is surprisingly not-arrogant, owing probably as much to Radiohead as Kyuss and keeping an experimental feel to the stops and arrangement of “The Opposite,” bassist/vocalist Dennis Edelenbosch and drummer/vocalist Ingmar Regeling (both also Monotron) swinging out classic style but holding firm to a modern edge. Out of nowhere is the 19-minute closing title-track (nothing else hits six), on which The Good Hand unfold varied movements that push beyond the charm of “The Death of the Real”’s ‘60s affiliations and into spaces jazz-funky, or droning, or doomy, or all of them. No easy accomplishment, but The Good Hand manage to hold it all together fluidly.

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Minstrel Music

Byzanthian Neckbeard, From the Clutches of Oblivion

byzanthian neckbeard from the clutches of oblivion

Okay, seriously. What the hell do you think a band who live on an island in the English Channel and call themselves Byzanthian Neckbeard sound like? Burly as hell? Well you’re right. The Guernsey foursome of guitarist/vocalist Phil Skyrme, guitarist Jon Langlois, bassist Dano Robilliard and drummer Paul Etasse get down on some dudely, dudely grooves on their 2014 debut, From the Clutches of Oblivion. “Doppelganger” nestles somewhere between death rock, stoner and sludge, and there’s a heaping crash of doom on “Plant of Doom” (duh) and “To Seek the Cyberdwarf” to go with the more swaggering take of “Hive Mind Overlord” as well. But primarily, you don’t put the word “Neckbeard” in your band’s name unless you’re on a pretty masculine trip, and Byzanthian Neckbeard do not fuck around in that regard or in the aggro boogie of “The Ganch.” CD is limited to 200 copies in a four-panel digipak to house the growl-laden, riff-led plunder that ensues across its brief but bloody 32-minute span.

Byzanthian Neckbeard on Thee Facebooks

Byzanthian Neckbeard on Bandcamp

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