Formerly known as Nebula — no, not that Nebula, who remain AWOL — Australian heavy four-piece Jupiter Zeus today mark the release of their debut long-player, On Earth, via Magnetic Eye. The Perth-based outfit released their Green Mosquito EP last year (that’s also available from the NY-based label), but the full-length is comprised of all new material and makes a striking first impression.

On Earth is available to stream from Magnetic Eye‘s Bandcamp, and find it under the PR wire info about the release below. If it’s your first time hearing of the band, it was mine too. By way of a friendly reminder, you have nothing to lose by checking the album out:

Australian Psyche Rockers JUPITER ZEUS to Release On Earth via Magnetic Eye Records March 11

Straight out of Perth, Western Australia, JUPITER ZEUS’ new full-length album On Earth will be released by Magnetic Eye Records on March 11.

Psychedelic rock with mammoth grooves, fat riffs, and seriously catchy songwriting, the follow-up to the well-received Green Mosquito EP is statement album to say the least. Few bands are able to bridge the divide between psychedelic hypnosis and penetrating songwriting like JUPITER ZEUS does on On Earth. Take the trip and reap the rewards!

Stream album tracks “Waves” and “Over” at magneticeyerecords.bandcamp.com.

Waves
Over
Cosmic Rays
I Am
Psychotic Seeds
Talkback Caller
Divinity
The Sum Of
Co-Creators
Waiting In A Line
State Of Mind

Tucked away in Perth, Western Australia, Jupiter Zeus are the very definition of a band who seem to have come from nowhere… but their arrival – laden with walls of guitar, hypnotic rhythms and almost psychedelic vocals – is far from quiet. Debuting with the stunning Green Mosquito EP, it’s quite apparent that Jupiter Zeus aren’t exactly first timers. Their previous incarnation, Nebula, boasted a similarly cosmic slant to the heavier side of rock, and the band were pioneering in breaking ground in South East Asia, earning solid fan-bases in Indonesia and Malaysia. With a similarly global scope, but the advantage of experience at their disposal, Jupiter Zeus are looking past the horizon of the Indian Ocean to a big world of endless possibilities.

At its heart, the band’s music is about songs… epic, soaring and teaming with hooks. The decorations they put on these songs – tastes of the last 30 years of rock music – identify and define the band on a more specific, potent level. Atoms of worlds colliding, exploding into new compounds and creating new life. A self-evolving universe of sound.

From the stage or simply blasting in your car; the sound of Jupiter Zeus is as monolithic and grand as their namesakes.

JUPITER ZEUS is:
Aidrian Vudrug – Drums
Simon Staltari – Guitar/Vocals
Jeremy Graham – Bass
Michael Lawson – Guitar

www.jupiterzeus.com
www.facebook.com/jupiterzeusrock
http://magneticeyerecords.bandcamp.com/album/on-earth

Jupiter Zeus, On Earth (2014)

Submerged in organ-drenched blues, The Devil Rides Out delve into some gritty atmospheres on their new single “The Righteous Walk.” Even the Perth, Australia, outfit acknowledge that this is new territory for them — their 2011 full-length, The Heart and the Crown (review here) touched on some of the same kind of moodiness in a song like “Hard Love,” but didn’t go nearly as far — and though they assure that the rest of their forthcoming Ugly Creatures LP is full-on, this stuff sounds pretty heavy to me and still has an underlying groove that should tie it well to what one can reasonably expect the rest of the album to offer.

Off to the PR wire:

THE DEVIL RIDES OUT STREAMING NEW SINGLE ‘THE RIGHTEOUS WALK’

The new single for Western Australia’s disciples of all things dirty and doomy THE DEVIL RIDES OUT was delivered to radio this week and has been posted for streaming online here.

The first taste of their upcoming ‘Ugly Creatures’ is probably the least “metal” song that the band have ever released. The irony of this will soon come to light, as overall the new release is easily the heaviest thing they have ever committed to tape, a pitch-black descent into crushing sludge and doom.

For now though, we walk ‘The Righteous Walk’, a blues-drenched lament to loss and redemption. Featuring tasty guest keys from Julian Bolleter, the track simmers and swaggers with vulnerability and menace in equal measure before erupting into a frenzied and desperate climax.

Written in the wake of death and the midst of disintegration, this song – and indeed all of their ‘Ugly Creatures’ – reveals a darker and more reflective Devil. Perhaps no longer running from demons but rather standing and facing them. Walking through the fire… walking the righteous walk…

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FOLLOW www.twitter.com/devilridesout @thedevilridesout
VISIT www.thedevilridesout.com.au

The Devil Rides Out, “The Righteous Walk”

Well, maybe the Western Australian rockers aren’t crossing the line here, unless it’s the line between what is a stoner rock video and what isn’t. Not much question which side of that line they’re on. The clip features footage from the 1978 film Cosy Cool, full of wheelies and biker dudes and a little bit of cultish violence at the end there for good measure. Can’t leave that out.

The song, “Broken White Line,” is also catchy as hell, and one of the most memorable from The Devil Rides Out‘s The Heart and the Crown, which was reviewed earlier this year. Dig it and the subsequent PR wire informations:

The genesis of the clip came about when a member of the band won a beat up old VHS copy of the 1970s Australian biker flick Cosy Cool at a local cult video night. Coming across this vintage grindhouse obscurity felt like destiny somehow and the band set about scouring the internet in search of the filmmakers — not easy some 35 years later. They eventually managed to track down Gary Young, the director/star of the film, who was initially reluctant to licence the film for a video clip but was won over when he received a copy of the song.

The resulting video is an affectionately grimey tribute to a bygone drive-in era of “ozploitation” cinema, backed by a high-octane soundtrack courtesy of The Devil Rides Out. Among other things it features a cameo appearance from the Commanchero Motorcycle Club — many of whom would end up either deceased, injured or in prison several years later in the wake of the infamous Milperra Massacre.

The Devil Rides Out are currently holed up over the southern summer, writing material for album number two, set for release in the second half of 2012. They support Dead Meadow (US) and Pink Mountaintops in Perth on Saturday, April 7, at The Bakery.

Aussie bruisers The Devil Rides Out touch on a lot of familiar stoner rock elements without ever completely giving themselves over to them. The Perth four-piece follow a trio of EPs with The Heart and the Crown, their full-length debut, on Impedance Records (MVD distro in the US), and at 53 minutes, the album manages to reference the well-trod paths of fuzz and still wind up neither redundant nor completely cliché. A big part of the credit for that has to go to vocalist Joey K, whose gruff (still clean) delivery separates The Devil Rides Out from their heavier influences. The overall affect is that The Heart and the Crown has parts that will unquestionably remind the experienced listener of other bands, but enough personality in both the music and the singing to still come out of it with a sound of their own.

To be perfectly honest, I didn’t think much of The Heart and the Crown my first couple listens through. Even for the novelty of it being Australian and the band’s being part of the growing scene there, I couldn’t get past my initial impression that it was generic and even K’s vocals weren’t enough to set it apart from the scores of other throaty heavy rock bands out there. However, in further and further sessions, The Devil Rides Out – who take their name from a 1967 Hammer Horror film that starred, of course, Christopher Lee – make subtle tonal changes that reveal themselves more over time through the clean, crisp production. Andrew Ewing’s guitar pulls out über-fuzz on “Right Lane Man” (compare the opening riff to The Atomic Bitchwax’s cover of Core’s “Kiss the Sun” from 2005’s Boxriff), and “Gentlemen Prefer Bombs” moves from a Giraffes-style groove (thinking of “Honest Man” from 2008’s Prime Motivator) into driving, straight-ahead heaviness, but middle-cut “Phosphorous” has a slower, doomier feel, and late-album curveball “I Keep Secrets” – despite having the guitar too loud in the mix during the intro/choruses – shows a deft approach to Queens of the Stone Age’s six-string bounce. But even there, he’s not restrained by the fuzz or only bringing that to the table sonically. Bassist Brendan Ewing – since replaced by Scott Paterson – leads the way into that song and into a slower, more melancholy break on the title-track, not so disparate from what Brant Bjork did with “Somewhere Some Woman” on last year’s Gods and Goddesses.

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