Posted in Bootleg Theater on September 15th, 2026 by JJ Koczan
I need to do a bit of disclosure here, so bear with me. First, I like Samavayo. I’ve been in touch with guitarist/vocalist Behrang Alavi from the Berlin-based trio for longer than I can at this moment remember, though it wasn’t until they played Planet Desert Rock Weekend (review here) early last year that we actualy got to hang out. I’ve covered the band a lot and consider them friends. Behrang‘s company hosts this site. I helped him with translating the Persian lyrics to “Bavar” — the video premiering below, taken from the band’s recent split with UK chums Alunah (review here) — into English for the lyric video premiering below. We talk on the regular. At this point, I kind of consider it doing myself a favor when I get to write about what they’re up to. So here I am, doing myself a favor.
And since this is the second premiere I’m doing from that split, obviously I like doing myself favors. Last time around it was the 10-minute “California Sky,” which the band wrote following the aforementioned trip to the US West Coast that included that stop in Vegas, and which was a 10-minute acoustic-based exploratory piece; more than a jam since there were lyrics, but an outlier in terms of sound. “Bavar,” at just under eight minutes, also has its sense of space, but hits hard, and is tense from the start as well as atmospheric and immersive. If you heard the band’s 2022 LP, Pāyān (review here), it’s not so far removed in terms of intention from there, which makes sense since that’s when it was recorded. It hits hard and is about love. I’m not sure what more you would ask of it.
The video below was made by Malachi Cull, and to be perfectly honest, my first question when I saw it was whether or not it was made with AI. If it had been, I probably wouldn’t be posting it. The environmental and ethical implications of using generative AI for art aside, it’s just not a conversation I want to have, so better to avoid. But I see slow pans over complex digitally-rendered environments, and yes, the alarm bells go off. Isn’t it kind of a bummer how quickly that stuff has kind of the dominant aesthetic of our time, to the point where I’m posting two videos today, this being one, and both feel compelled to point out that no AI was used in their making? That happened fast. Years from now when people look back on this wretched time, assuming there are still people to look back, what fools and savages we’ll have made ourselves out to be.
Unreal Engine, referenced in the video info below, is what’s used to make video games — like, a lot of them. It’s like an underlying digital skeleton on which one can lay the organs, muscle and skin of their own work, an infrastructure, that’s used by game designers far and wide. All those games you see where some character in a close third-person view is running through a big open world either ninja-jumping or swinging a giant sword at some even-more-giant monster? You got it. I’ve never seen it put to use like this before, but I know there are film directors who use it as well, so there you go.
Enjoy the video:
Samavayo, “Bavar” video premiere
Video by our beloved friend Malachi Cull: “No AI was used! I used prebuilt Unreal Engine environments, moved assets around, and created my own camera angles.” https://linktr.ee/palantir.visuals
BAVAR is a crushing heavy piece built on the Fibonacci sequence, featuring Persian lyrics inspired by a poem from Siavash Kasraie. It stands as a defiant cry against grief and mortality—the narrator refuses to accept the death of loved ones, clinging instead to love, shared tears, and the breath of life as proof that loss can neither truly be believed nor surrendered to.
Bavar is a song, taken from the split album with Alunah, released on heavy psych sounds records in 2026. Recorded along with the songs from the album Payan (2022) in Big Snuff Studio Berlin.
The lyrics are based on the poem of Siavash Kasraie “Bavar nemikonam” (باور نمی کنم , سیاوش کسرایی).
Posted in Whathaveyou on September 14th, 2026 by JJ Koczan
No surprise whatsoever to see Desertfest London 2027 going big out of the gate with destroy-on-stage legends the Melvins headlining. The UK flagship edition of the Desertfest brand made their first 2026 announcement in September as well, so they’re right on the mark in terms of continuity, and I’m glad to see the likes of Monolord, Year of the Cobra, Inter Arma, Kanaan, Desert Storm and Modder added to the bill too, along with The Grudge, Omo and Row of Ashes, making for a lineup that’s already both international and cross-generational.
Every year, the Spring Desertfests in London and Berlin provide not only an anchor for tours but a highlight of the entire underground festival circuit, continually meeting and exceeding high expectations and remaining unflinching in their dedication to heavy sounds. I look forward to seeing how the rest of next year’s lineup shakes out, and to daydreaming of a return to Camden Town one of these years.
Whether you’ve ever been or not, if you’re a heavy rock fan, you’re fortunate to live in the Desertfest era.
Here’s what the PR wire has to say:
MELVINS TO HEADLINE DESERTFEST LONDON 2027
PLUS MONOLORD, MANTAR, INTER ARMA, DOPETHRONE AND MORE – PHASE 1 TICKETS ON SALE NOW.
Desertfest London | 21st- 23rd May 2027
Desertfest London is proud to announce the Melvins as the first headliner for their 2027 edition, taking place next May 21st-23rd in the heart of Camden Town. Formed in 1983 in Montesano, Washington, the Melvins are a band that need little introduction at this point in their career. As true pioneers in heavy music their status as one of modern music’s most influential bands is undeniable, and their live shows are truly unparalleled. Often imitated, never duplicated, we here at Desertfest London are honoured to have the Melvins take their rightful place as headliner next May 2027.
Masters in molten riffs, Monolord have been carving out their path in the heavy for well over a decade. Beloved by fans and peers alike, they are no strangers to the Desertfest stage – who can forget their packed out unforgettable 2024 Ballroom set? It was a no-brainer to have them return for Desertfest ‘27.
For those craving something ferocious and filthy, Mantar’s heavy hybrid of blackened death-punk grooves will be served up by the German duo to those brave enough to devour it. Festivities continue as Virginia’s dissonant doom disciples Inter Arma celebrate 20 years of unparalleled pummelling haunting music. And they won’t be celebrating alone, as we also honour 20 years of Desert Storm, homegrown heroes of British heavy metal.
Meanwhile, Montreal powertrio Dopethrone will bring a hefty dose of “Canadian Slutch” filth direct to the streets of Camden, and Seattle duo Year of the Cobra return in sonic style to the Desertest stage for the first time in 8 years.
Desertfest London announces:
MELVINS MONOLORD MANTAR INTER ARMA DOPETHRONE YEAR OF THE COBRA DESERT STORM THE GRUDGE MODDER KANAAN OMO ROW OF ASHES
Desertfest London takes place in its annual home across multiple venues in Camden Town Fri 21st May – Sunday 23rd May 2027.
Posted in Whathaveyou on September 14th, 2026 by JJ Koczan
This one’s a no-brainer for me. Like, full-on ‘duh.’ Live Heavy Temple. Yes, sign me up. Due out Oct. 9, less than a month from now, the Philadelphia trio’s Live From the Inner Sanctum is a digital-only release with tape-style art, but whether or not they eventually do a physical pressing of any sort, I’m on board, and if you’ve ever seen them, I can only imagine you are as well. I also love that the first single from the thing is “Key and Bone,” which bassist/vocalist High Priestess Nighthawk reveals in the PR wire info below was the first song she wrote for the band. You might remember it from their Chassit EP (review here) a decade ago.
Stupid increasingly fast passage of decades.
My head hurts. Here’s the press release:
HEAVY TEMPLE announce digital live album “Live from the Inner Sanctum”
HEAVY TEMPLE drop a new heavy-working music video featuring the song ‘Key and Bone (Live)’. This track is taken from the psychedelic heavy rockers’ digital live album “Live from the Inner Sanctum”, which is slated for release on October 9, 2026.
HEAVY TEMPLE comment: “‘Key and Bone’ was the first song that I ever wrote”, frontlady High Priestess Nighthawk writes. “We’ve never updated it to reflect how we play it now, so I thought it was time for a little glow-up. The last two minutes are still one of my favorite parts of the set all these years later, and it’s great fun to hear the song as it exists in its current form.”
Video credit Edited by Rick Rhody
Tracklist 1. Enter the Heavy Temple 2. Extreme Indifference to Life (Live) 3. Hiraeth (Live) 4. Diving Indiscretion (Live) 5. Key and Bone (Live) 6. The Maiden (Live) 7. A Desert Through the Trees (Live) 8. Return to the Garden of Heathens (Live) 9. Jesus Wept (Live) 10. Psychomanteum (Live)
HEAVY TEMPLE are built to perform. The natural habitat of these American heavy rockers is the stage. They live and breathe playing live. They eat and drink the sweet nectar of stage sweat and backstage grub.
With their digital album “Live from the Inner Sanctum”, HEAVY TEMPLE deliver an authentic, honest, and raw statement about that irresistible impulse that drives them onto the roads of America and Europe to work extra hard every night to delight their audiences.
“Live from the Inner Sanctum” is not faking it at all. Honest mistakes are not electronically polished away, AI holds no sway over humanity here. This album is deliberately truthful and pointedly neither glossy nor sugar-coated. Take HEAVY TEMPLE as they are or leave it.
Live w/ Crystal Spiders 02 OCT 2026 Philadelphia, PA (US) Nikki Lopez 03 OCT 2026 Cheshire, CT (US) Counterweight 04 OCT 2026 Cambridge, MA (US) Middle East 06 OCT 2026 Washington, D.C. (US) Pie Shop 07 OCT 2026 Cleveland, OH (US) No Class 08 OCT 2026 Lexington, KY (US) Al’s Bar 09 OCT 2026 Indianapolis, IN (US) The 808 10 OCT 2026 Grand Rapids, MI (US) Grand Rapids Doom Fest 11 OCT 2026 Chicago, IL (US) Reggies
Auralayer release their new album Into the Aura Lair on Dec. 4. The Greenville, North Carolina, trio debuted three years ago with Thousand Petals (review here) on King Volume Records, and like that record, the nine-song/33-minute Into the Aura Lair arrives with production by Philip Cope of the reactivated Kylesa as bassist/vocalist Jake Williams and guitarist Thomas Powell welcome new drummer Harold Smith with a collection of tunes that builds momentum quickly and doesn’t look back, careening through “Saldo” (after that mini noise wash at the outset for an intro), “Tantalus” and the particularly crunching “Wall to Wall” (premiering below) before they even come up for air amid the proggier lead at the start of “Survival.” Their sound is an amalgam of modern heavy, and one can hear elements of Red Fang, Torche, Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol and Mastodon, among others, with a spaciousness in the guitar solos that hints toward psychedelia while staying grounded and keeping the focus on impact.
The songwriting on Thousand Petals was sharp, and Into the Aura Lair follows suit with vibrant groove and no time to waste. They convey and carry energy through not only the early part of the album, but in a dynamic threaded across the entirety, as “Down From Evil Eyes” plays off an almost Weezery chug early but finishes with a swirl of guitar and double-kick bass, having already taken its riff and bashed you over the head with it for two minutes. This lets the subsequent “Mythomania” arrive strumming as the source of the Mastodon comparison above, but explodes into a Torcheier rush and punker melody, so again, it’s about the blend, and even more than on the debut, with Into the Aura Lair, one can hear Auralayer carving their own persona from their influences. And as much as that persona is ‘attack attack attack’ in terms of how the songs come at you as a listener, it’s also a hell of a lot of fun to keep up with the onslaught, and the way Williams‘ vocals stand astride the riff convey a focus on melody and are an accessible in ways that provide an unspoken benefit to the material.
“Layers Beneath” follows “Mythomania” with a more angular foundation, but still the motion is forward and still, momentum is on the band’s side. They harness a shove, sure enough, but Into the Aura Lair‘s only instrumental inclusion highlights technique in a different way and its turns speak to an underpinning of metal — one might say in the layers beneath (!) — while also breaking to an engagingly deep and proggy feeling soundscape that’s working double to set up how the album ends a short time later. They make their way back from “out there” (which is in quotes because “the truth is…”) and push “Layers Beneath” into a linear, forward-moving finish, shifting immediately into “Stuck on a Spike,” which doesn’t really need to reorient or redirect from the song before it, but brings back the vocals and has that effect anyway, and feels purposefully catchy in the doing as the burn ground through two minutes of verses and chug and solo for the last of them, burning a hole in your brain to let the bad juju out.
That just leaves closer “Dead Arrival” to finish, and the slowdown is immediate but the tension is still there. A layer of acoustic guitar in the intro reinforces the Mastodony foundation and the thicker roller of a riff that follows reaffirms it, but the verse itself has more breadth than crunch, and that’s a first on Into the Aura Lair, which is fair enough since the song’s also by far the longest on the album at 6:40. The debut also ended with a broader reach, and “Dead Arrival” isn’t trying to fix what wasn’t broken. Ultimately, it’s a blend (there’s that word again) of elements presented throughout, but with a push leveled up enough to feel like it’s in league with the rad RPG-esque Alexey Gorboot cover art and a coinciding sense of ‘boss fight.’ It’s a full-on finish, but even in that, the guitar solo finds a shimmer like aughts-era Devin Townsend and especially as the final statement they make, it seems to be a signal of more to come as they bring it to a wash and then drop to a silence that much heavier for how it arrives.
On the player below, you’ll find the aforementioned premiere of “Wall to Wall,” which threatens lumber and pummels quick, laced with attitude and, though it’s one of just three songs on the album over four minutes long alongside “Dead Arrival” and “Layers Beneath,” it captures the intensity of Into the Aura Lair and the poise that Auralayer maintain in their delivery even as they’re merrily shredding and crushing any and everything in their path.
I know mid-Sept. is early to review an album that comes out Dec. 4, but (1:) if you’re the type to preorder, that doesn’t matter and (2:) I take the opportunities I get, so (3:) if you want to call this a really long album announcement, fine. Either way, enjoy the song and perhaps after doing so, keep an eye out for more from Into the Aura Lair between now and the release date:
Far too many heavy rock and doom bands overlook that the classic progenitors of the genre were firmly rooted in strong melodic hooks, not just skull thwacking riffs. Greenville, SC trio Auralayer bring pop melodies to the forefront of their sound, ensuring that the heaviness hits with exceptional impact.
Into the Aura Lair, the anticipated followup to Auralayer’s 2023 debut full length, Thousand Petals (King Volume Records) is heavy, fun and unpredictable. Think YOB, Torche and The Sword blended with 90s alt rock akin to Hum: Huge riffs pummeling through huge amplifiers, precise cannon like drums, and melodies that stick with you.
Guitarist Thomas Powell zeroes in on slamming High on Fire riffs counterbalanced with Hendrix psychedelic flourish and open-tuned alt-rock shimmer. Bassist/vocalist Jake Williams lays down sludgy, growling lows while his soaring, clean vocals hit powerful highs. The album is the first to feature new drummer Harold Smith, who brings a harder hitting style to their sound than heard previously.
To help them harness their energetic musical vision, the band once again recruited Philip Cope, the founder of the experimental metal band Kylesa, who also engineered, mixed, and mastered their debut album at Jam Room Recording Studio in Columbia, SC. As with Kylesa, Cope helped to capture and channel the band’s diverse influences and experimentation into a cohesive sonic palette.
“Phil has had a huge influence on me as an artist,” says Powell, “so it was great having him around. He’s just as passionate about our music as we are, so it almost feels like he’s part of the band. And since he’s worked on so many cool projects, like the first Baroness album, he has so many cool perspectives and great attention to detail, and that really helps us capture the sound we were going for.”
Into the Aura Lair will be available digitally on December 4th, 2026.
Tracklisting: 1. Saldo 2. Tantalus 3. Wall to Wall 4. Survival 5. Down From Evil Eyes 6. Mythomania 7. Layers Beneath 8. Stuck on a Spike 9. Dead Arrival
Into the Aura Lair All songs written and performed by Auralayer Engineered/Mixed by Phillip Cope at Jam Room Studios Mastered by Brad Boatright at Audiosiege Cover Art by Alexey Gorboot
Auralayer are: Thomas Powell – Guitar Jake Williams – Vocal/Bass Harold Smith – Drums
Posted in Bootleg Theater on September 11th, 2026 by JJ Koczan
If you go to the Colour Haze Bandcamp page, where there isn’t music streaming or I’d embed that but where you can nonetheless buy physical media, you’ll see they refer to 2000’s CO2 (properly ‘CO2‘) as their debut. And I see where they’re coming from with that. I do. But it’s not really the case, and positioning it as such inherently devalues the work and the growth that the Munich-based forebears of heavy psychedelia put in to get to this point. CO2, issued first through Homegrown Records and subsequently reissued through Elektrohasch in 2014 and 2021, is the fourth Colour Haze full-length, following just one year behind 1999’s Periscope (discussed here) and preceded by 1998’s Seven (discussed here) and 1995’s Chopping Machine (discussed here), and even if the band wanted to position Chopping Machine and Seven as demo full-lengths — neither really represent what would take shape as Colour Haze‘s approach in either lineup or sound and the latter was never released to any kind of actual public distribution — it’s a shame to see Periscope written off in that manner, since it was an important step on the way to what was further realized across CO2 in terms of the desert rock influence the trio of guitarist/vocalist Stefan Koglek, bassist Philipp Rasthofer (he also did the cover art) and drummer Manfred Merwald were beginning to branch off from even as they celebrated some of their thickest and gnarliest riffage.
But again, I get it. What Colour Haze are saying in doing that is that nothing up to this point really portrays the band they became or what they wanted their music to be, and CO2 inarguably does in some very crucial ways. The telltale, immediately-identifiable warmth in Koglek‘s guitar tone is intact here, put to rocking use on opener “Get it On,” “All Right” and the later roller “Motormind,” as well as various crescendos throughout, and the sense of dynamic, especially for it having only been a year since the initial explorational flourishes of Periscope, is much broader. The closing title-track, at 11 minutes long, is the best example here of their uptick in reach, but it’s audible in every song. The way Colour Haze dwell in this material is different than everything that came before. Even the rough-edged layered vocal of second cut “Shine” and the mellow mini-jam it leads to make sense on a timeline of the band’s discovering who they are. It’s a tricky question — artistic intent is a moving target, as one can hear throughout Colour Haze‘s 30-plus-year catalog — but if they feel CO2 is more representative of the band as a whole, I can only agree. Where I respectfully part-ways opinion-wise is in writing off the three albums the band made to get to this point at the turn of the century, which I’d argue are essential to the process of creative evolution that, also more than three decades on, is still underway in their sound.
‘All Colour Haze albums matter?’ A fan’s argument if ever I heard one, but I’ll cop to being a fan, and CO2 showcases a swath of reasons why.
Recorded in their rehearsal space with Koglek producing — overdubs and mixing found them once again working with former drummer Tim Höfer — and sounding both more confident and bolder in pushing himself on vocals, the six songs of CO2 present as a fluid 40-minute entirety. It wasn’t written and doesn’t play out as one long song, but the album is in conversation with itself in a way their material had not yet been, and though the roots are evident as well on Periscope, the riffs to pieces like “CO2” and the prior “Inside” (which was adapted from James Taylor‘s “Angry Blues”) present a few progressions that the next few years would reveal as signature. The way “Inside” swells and recedes in volume, for example, is telling for what the latter half of the aughts would manifest in their sound, and the shove in “All Right” rests well alongside future breakouts across albums that would follow. Perhaps most of all, CO2 ties together threads present in the band’s prior material and codifies them into a burgeoning perspective on heavy rock and roll. They’re not experimenting with flashes of post-Kyuss desert influence. They’ve found their own way to be heavy and still sound laid back.
An essential piece of this puzzle and something critical CO2 brings to their work, is patience. Sure, they were recording at band practice, and of course capturing an energy akin to what they bring to the stage is a part of the apparent intention behind that — the saga of Colour Haze self-recording is long and something of an experiential roller coaster; we’ll get there — but it’s in terms of how they’re playing the songs that the change is audible. There’s no sense of rush even in the quickest, loudest parts on CO2, and with the strength of the rhythm section behind it, the guitar is able to breathe differently in “Shine,” “Motormind,” “Inside” and of course “CO2” itself, and this would over the next few years become an essential facet of their sound. Consider the way Koglek handles the lead coming out of the midsection in “Motormind.” That’s a plotted, careful stretch into the stop, not a haphazard tossoff solo. It adds to the character of the song in a more conscious way than Colour Haze had yet brought to bear.
Without discounting the growth that took them to this point, CO2 is inarguably envisioning Colour Haze as part of an international heavy rock underground, but beginning to find their own way within that. It is a work of genre with a spin of persona, and 26 years after its release, it remains a satisfying listen both for what it demonstrates in the richness of tone and the emergent chemistry between Koglek, Rasthofer and Merwald that would continue to develop and let them explore more progressive and psychedelic ideas over the next few years, and on its own in terms of the songs and the sweep of its groove. It’s the point in the discography at which Colour Haze feel fully like themselves, and as such, a landmark.
As always, I hope you enjoy. Thanks for reading.
—
I slept late this morning. The Pecan came in at 6:30, her alarm having gone off, and got me up. The last few weeks, I’ve been getting up at 5:30 to at least start writing before she wakes up and the morning routine of breakfast, get dressed, bathroom, go to school, etc., begins. And being able to pound out 500 or so words in that hour goes a long way toward a review or a post like the above, and I for sure missed that today, but man, I needed that hour. The Patient Mrs. said my alarm did go off but I shut it off. I do not have any conscious recollection of that, and I do not have any trouble believing her recollection of events.
Even with this past Monday off for Labor Day, the half-hour-each-way commute to and from The Pecan’s new school has required a restructuring of how I go about my day and what my expectations for productivity can really be. If we didn’t have the dog, I’d go to the library near her school and do whatever writing the day requires of me there, but I can’t really just leave the dog alone at the house — she has a little gated area in our pantry that we call “the Tilly apartment,” and that’s better than a crate, but still — for six hours. It’s irresponsible and not good for the dog. She’s a companion dog.
But so I do the back and forth, leave at 8:05 of thereabouts to drop The Pecan off, head back home — yesterday I made it just in time for Hungarian class at 9:30; today was better on timing — and then at like 1:40, I go back for a 2:10-2:15 pickup. Between, I’m here banging out as much as I can and have capacity to do. I wasn’t kidding last week or the week before, whenever it was, when I said I needed some time to get adjusted. That adjustment continues. It’ll be a few more weeks at least, but I know that by June, it’ll flow more naturally. It’s just a lot right now, in no small part because I’ve had it so easy for the last eight-plus years in terms of driving. This is more in-the-car time than I’ve had since the summer before she was born, and that was 2017.
So what, life is change. And tiring. I guess all I’m saying is that if you saw like two posts a day this week — yesterday was three, so was today — that change is part of the reason why.
The good news is that, thus far, the ultimately minor inconvenience of restructuring the she’s-at-school part of my day has been entirely worth it. The Patient Mrs. asked her flat out this morning if she loved the new school she’s at — usually a question to which one probably wouldn’t expect an answer, because that would be a direct expression of feelings — and The Pecan gave a yes without hesitation. She’s started to brush her own teeth at night as well, and is taking part more in dressing herself.
When I go to pick her up, she’s excited to show me the projects she’s working on — she made a cardboard guitar this week in art and was stoked on it, yesterday built a bridge with magnetic Minecraft blocks and an RV with magnatiles and made a tomato/basil/japapeno salad with stuff from the garden they grow behind the building — and when we had our first real hiccup this week and she fought with her gym teacher about being allowed to get something out of the supply closet which led to an attempted bite, the school heard our concerns and advice and eased up a bit yesterday.
They’re starting to introduce more academic work to the day, but they’re giving her the time she needs to actually build a rapport and understand and feel good in the place she’s in instead of coercing her with a token economy point system. It’s a different approach, and more rough days will happen, and rougher ones, but I’m glad to see her feeling engaged because she didn’t really have that last year at the public school except in fourth grade math, which had its own issues, and the second half of the year before she was too much in burnout to really be part of anything.
The district continues with bullshit. Now they’re delaying signing the agreement, I think just to be dicks. Clearly they don’t want to educate her. And clearly they’re unable to do so as they couldn’t do it for three years, but our trying something outside their institutional structure seems to have broken something in the collective brain — I say this in full recognition that my wife is on the school board — and they can’t get on board with the idea that either this might work or that something out of the but-we-don’t-call-it-punishment behaviorist purview might be answer for our child who is an outlier in so many ways: academic, social, existential, etc. All they have is that square hole they’re trying to push her through. It being 9/11, one recalls the time George W. Bush said the problem with Vietnam was that US troops didn’t stay long enough.
Whatever the ultimate outcome of this academic year is, I won’t send her back to public school. We’d keep her home and I’d do a homeschool curriciulum. Not preferrred, but especially after seeing how she’s hit the ground running at this new place, the active harm her prior setting was doing to her has been made that much clearer.
Unless you’re the Parsippany Troy-Hills school district, and actively, with no data to support any claims you make, not paying the slightest bit of attention. Really, problematically, invested in that point system, because it’s all they’ve got.
Enough.
Next week, premieres are slated for Auralayer, Samavayo, Saturna and Dead Sea Apes, and honestly, that’ll probably be enough. I have a bunch of Sept. releases I want to review, like Green Lung and Polymoon, Moon Destroys and so on, and I might mark off some space the week after for that, but I was glad to get Sleep and Besvärjelsen done this week, not to mention the Shovelhead piece that went up today or the Buzzard and Spirit Mother and The Machine reviews last week. I’m keeping up as best I’m able and slating stuff for a Quarterly Review next month at the same time, though looking at the calendar that might be the first week of November. We’ll see.
Zelda update: I beat A Link Between Worldsagain earlier this week and Wednesday night ran through the Twilight Princess endgame in Dusklight (the unofficial PC port; recommended if you want to play) just to watch the ending. Last night The Pecan did the same with Tears of the Kingdom and I got a chuckle out of that. I played a bit of The Adventures of Elliott yesterday as well, which I hadn’t had the chance to pick up in a while, and which remains both fun and very derivative of A Link to the Past. It’s got a Final Fantasy-style narrative though, and I like that too since I always enjoyed those games. It’s nerdy, cozy fun. I watched the Nintendo Direct earlier this week for the Zelda 40th anniversary and in addition to being bummed the preorders are sold out for the Zelda-themed Switch 2, I’m very much looking forward to getting my preorder in for the Ocarina of Time remake. The trailer looks awesome and I could pick out the spots in the game being showcased too, which was enjoyable.
That’s the story of it. I hope you have a great and safe weekend, as always, and I thank you for reading. The world continues to be a shitshow but this place and this project have been a refuge for me amid the broader horrors. I hope you’ve found cool music, at the very least.
Unless you’re a fascist, in which case, as always, you can fuck yourself off what your dumb ass believes is the edge of the flat Earth.
Posted in Whathaveyou on September 11th, 2026 by JJ Koczan
Congratulations to solo artist Dee Calhoun (formerly of Spiral Grave, Iron Man, and a slew of others) on signing to Combat Records. The legendary metal label was announced as being under new ownership this past January, and they’ve been adding artists to their roster across a range of styles. Calhoun, whose solo work is largely acoustic-based, might seem like an odd fit for an imprint that put out Megadeth, but it makes more sense when you factor in Calhoun‘s actual music, which is definitely, inescapably, righteously metal.
It’s been 10 years since Calhoun released his first solo outing, Rotgut (review here) and he’s worked with labels like Argonauta and Black Doomba along the way, also appearing on this year’s Witching Buzz Records tribute to Sleep (review here). His latest LP, 2025’s Angry Old Man (review here), is streaming at the bottom of this post.
Calhoun posted the following on social media:
Stop the presses: I’m officially part of the Combat Records family!
Somehow, the stars aligned and landed a strummer and slummer on a roster that has included legends like Megadeth, Mercyful Fate, Savatage, Exodus, and many more. I’m going to stick out like a sore thumb, and I plan to own every second of it.
We’re gearing up for my first Combat release in early 2027, with a wave of big announcements rolling out over the next few weeks and months.
A huge, heartfelt shoutout to the incredible team making this happen:
-Robert Dujmusic & Alex Stojak at Combat Records for believing in the noise.
-Christian Lawrence at Mindsnap Music.
-Doug Benson at Commodore Recording Studio for his brilliant mastering.
-The fans across the pond who made enough noise at just the right time to get the right ears listening.
-My wife, April—my rock, my cheerleader, and my love. I couldn’t do any of this without you, darlin’.
Most of all, thank YOU. What started as a happy accident has become my forever home as a solo artist, and I’m beyond grateful to have you in my corner.
New Jersey heavy rock stalwarts Shovelhead return this Saturday, Sept. 12, with their first new album since 2007. Titled A Place of Dead Roads, the 44-minute self-released seven-tracker is the fourth Shovelhead full-length overall, but you read that right, it’s been 19 years since they put out Spitting Oil. I mean, sometimes life happens, right? Well, sometimes life takes a while too.
They’re not calling it a return or a reboot or whathaveyou because Shovelhead have never had even an ounce of pretense to them. I remember being in college and hearing 2003’s Red Sky Horizon (discussed here), going on to see them blow other bands off the stage at still-missed Long Branch institution the Brighton Bar; always killer, always humble. And A Place of Dead Roads has more on offer than ‘still got it,’ though it’s got plenty of that as well. The three-piece of guitarist/vocalist Jim LaPointe and drummer Mike Scott parted ways at some point in the last couple years with Sha Zaidi and recruited George Pierro (Solarized, 00, Maegashira, Tarpit Boogie, etc.) on bass, and Pierro also recorded, mixed and mastered the album.
I don’t know how much of that tracking was done live, but listening to “Witching Hour” at the outset, a precedent for scorch is quickly set and upheld for the seven-song/44-minute duration. Shovelhead push, careen and twist, sprinting with glee and control in kind. Pro shop and casual. With songs apparently written across a period of decades, back to the band’s roots as The Lemmings before the turn of the century, they highlight the taut delivery that’s always made them so righteous on stage while barnburning their way through these cuts with demonstrable no-nonsense, heavy rocking intensity.
What makes the issue so urgent after 19 years? Who cares, it works. “Witching Hour” is shorter than much of what follows — the side A capper/tracklist centerpiece standalone guitar interlude “Ghost in the Garden” notwithstanding — but sets a tone for brashness that the rest of A Place of Dead Roads stands up to with due fire. “Tempest” toys a bit with tempo, starting off with speed in its shreddy intro, pushing the boogie harder before mellowing for the verses, getting shoutier in the chorus and finishing with more of the shove. On paper it’s somewhat headspinning, but it’s easy enough to follow where they’re leading, and the subsequent “Dominion/Big Tex” brings further dug-innery and an underlying sense of ‘classic’ that in the listening experience is as much ’90s as it is ’70s, with LaPointe‘s vocals shouting to cut through the riffy barrage.
It’s a boogie if you can keep up with it, and if you need the breather, “Ghost in the Garden” follows ahead of the wallop packed by “Middle Man,” a slower but no less swaggering rollout that morphs into a heavy jam in a way “Tempest” doesn’t, but that adds space to A Place of Dead Roads without incongruity in terms of sound or process. A lot of the record is about what LaPointe is doing on guitar at any given moment, and whether you call it ‘riff-led’ or ‘lead-led,’ it’s the guitar at the forefront, but that doesn’t mean Shovelhead are without dynamic 30-plus years on, and both Scott and Pierro are given moments to shine in “Middle Man,” which is fitting ahead of the 12-minute “White Stag Ghost,” which soon moves from its strutting intro through a succession of turns that leads to an even broader-reaching jam, LaPointe soloing away while Pierro and Scott hold down the groove — yes, the stuff of classic power trioism. Could hardly be more appropriate.
They close with “Bombers,” which after “Middle Man” and “White Stag Ghost” feels like a return to ground and maybe a bookend with “Witching Hour” in reminding the listener that at the end of the day it’s about rock and roll. The scorch, the shred, the twists are all there as they have been across A Place of Dead Roads, and Shovelhead ride the rumble to the finish with a sense of triumph that might feel even more earned in the context of the 19 years it’s been since their last LP. Other than the shows listed below, I don’t know what Shovelhead‘s future holds, but they’ve been a well kept, undervalued secret of the New Jersey heavy underground for a long time. If that secret is a little less kept for the advent of A Place of Dead Roads, good.
Album streams in full below, followed by the buy link and more from the PR wire.
Please enjoy:
Shovelhead on A Place of Dead Roads:
“This album exemplifies the 30+ year legacy we have been establishing since the genre’s inception. There are brand new jams (Witching Hour, White Stag Ghost, Bombers, Ghost in the Garden), there are previously unrecorded songs that have been kicking around for years (Tempest, Dominion/Big Tex), and there is even a tune that was originally written and recorded way back in the early 90s (Middle Man).”
Tracklisting: 1. Witching Hour 3:47 2. Tempest 7:05 3. Dominion/Big Tex 6:40 4. Ghost in the Garden 2:53 5. Middle Man 7:14 6. White Stag Ghost 11:59 7. Bombers 4:24
Alongside other pioneering bands that helped lay the foundation for the coveted genre we know as Stoner Rock, SHOVELHEAD began crafting their sound before the genre had fully formed, resulting in a distinctive style of Stoner Rock N’ Roll that has served the scene for over three decades. During their initial run, three regionally notorious SHOVELHEAD albums (and one Lemmings album) were released, and at this point the titanic number of shows played is uncountable.
SHOVELHEAD decelerated in the late 2010s, along with the majority of planet Earth, but is back to full open throttle in 2026. Founding members Mike Scott and Jim LaPointe (also a contributor to Black NASA’s ‘Deuce’ album and live performer with the band) fused with George Pierro (Solarized, Maegashira, Tarpit Boogie) to resume playing shows, writing fresh tunes, and recording a new album.
‘A Place of Dead Roads’ is due out through independent release on Saturday, September 12, 2026. The heavy power trio self-produced the new full-length, with recording, mixing, and mastering all handled by George Pierro.
Posted in Whathaveyou on September 10th, 2026 by JJ Koczan
The San Francisco dates and Roadburn Festival next April were previously announced here, but what you see listed below from the PR wire represents the most significant touring Neurosis have undertaken since before the pandemic. The progenitors of post-metal go in support of their 2026 album, An Undying Love for a Burning World (review here), which marks their first outing with Aaron Turner (Sumac, ex-Isis, countless others) alongside Steve Von Till on vocals and guitar. From what I heard about their performance at this year’s Fire in the Mountains, it was an experience bordering on the religious, and honestly one would expect no less.
Heads up major markets, and note they’re playing Converge‘s Saddest Day in Boston as a December fly-in. That’s a hell of a bill as well, and I’ll be curious who ends up opening that L.A. show in January. Guess there’s time to find out:
NEUROSIS Announces New 2026 And 2027 Tour Dates In Support Of First New Album In A Decade, An Undying Love For A Burning World, Out Now On Neurot Recordings
The mighty NEUROSIS continues to book new live performances in support of their mammoth An Undying Love For A Burning World LP, today announcing tour dates through the end of the year and into 2027.
Following the already announced San Francisco shows on October 16th and 17th, NEUROSIS has just announced two shows in Brooklyn on October 30th and 31st, two Chicago shows on November 21st and 22nd, two Portland shows on November 27th and 28th, a Seattle show November 29th, a set at Converge’s Saddest Day in Boston on December 12th, and a Los Angeles performance on January 2nd. They will also make their return to play two sets at Roadburn Festival in the Netherlands in April of 2027.
General ticket sales for the new shows begin this Friday, September 11th at 10am local time. Both San Francisco shows are sold out. Expect to see more NEUROSIS live announcements over the coming months.
NEUROSIS Tour Dates: 10/16/2026 The Fillmore – San Francisco, CA w/ Terry Gross 10/17/2026 The Fillmore – San Francisco, CA w/ Kowloon Walled City 10/30/2026 Warsaw – Brooklyn, NY w/ Uniform 10/31/2026 Warsaw – Brooklyn, NY w/ Primitive Man 11/21/2026 Metro – Chicago, IL w/ Mr. Phylzzz 11/22/2026 Metro – Chicago, IL w/ Primitive Man 11/27/2026 Revolution Hall – Portland, OR w/ special guests TBA, Great Falls 11/28/2026 Revolution Hall – Portland, OR w/ special guests TBA, Trigger Object 11/29/2026 Showbox SODO – Seattle, WA w/ special guests TBA, Great Falls 12/12/2026 Converge’s Saddest Day @ Roadrunner – Boston, MA w/ Converge, Coalesce, more 1/02/2027 The Wiltern – Los Angeles, CA w/ Special Guests TBA 4/17/2027 Roadburn Festival – Tilburg, NL w/ Emma Ruth Rundle, more
