Hard to argue as the Fall fest and touring season for Europe takes shape. If you’re keeping up, you probably saw earlier this week that My Sleeping Karma, Psychlona and Kant were added to the Keep it Low Festival (info here), and Kanaan — who are newly-added to Up in Smoke 2025 in Switzerland along with the aforementioned three, Canada’s Sons of Arrakis, and the noise-rocking homegrown Swiss unit Hathors — had been previously confirmed for that Munich-based festival as well.

This is how it goes in Europe at this point and it’s a beautiful thing to see, whether it’s in autumn or spring or summer, where there’s another fest somewhere practically every weekend and touring bands have basically a guaranteed audience quotient as they make their way through. Up in Smoke happens earlier in October — it’s set for Oct. 3-5, as you can see on the poster below — and so will catch a lot of these acts at the start of their respective tours, whether that’s Sons of Arrakis or Graveyard, and do I really need to mention that this will be Orange Goblin‘s last show in Switzerland, perhaps ever?

I didn’t think so. The following came from social media via Sound of Liberation:

⚡️UP IN SMOKE 2025 – NEW BAND ANNOUNCEMENT⚡️

Hey Smokers,

The riff train rolls on – we’re thrilled to drop SIX more bands for this year’s Up In Smoke Festival! 🚂💨

MY SLEEPING KARMA – Hypnotic, instrumental journeys through space and soul!
KANAAN – Psychedelic power-trio from Norway bringing the fuzz and fire!
PSYCHLONA – UK desert rockers channeling the spirit of the sands!
SONS OF ARRAKIS – Spice-fueled heaviness straight from the Dune universe!
KANT – Progressive, dynamic, and heavy as hell – a must-see live act!
HATHORS – Swiss noise rockers with a raw edge and massive energy!

The smoke is getting thicker and the vibes even heavier – and we’re still just getting started. 👁️‍🗨️

Lock in your spot now and catch it all live from October 3 – 5, 2025 at Konzertfabrik Z7 in Pratteln! 🎟️ Link in bio.

See you in the smoke! 💨

Cheers,
Your Up In Smoke Crew

https://www.instagram.com/up_in_smoke_festival
https://www.facebook.com/upinsmokefestivalswitzerland

https://www.soundofliberation.com/
https://www.instagram.com/soundofliberation/
https://www.facebook.com/Soundofliberation/

Kanaan, Downpour (2023)

I’ve yet to hear a Black Helium release that didn’t make me think the psychedelic revolution wasn’t right around the corner. From 2018’s Primitive Fuck (review here) right on through to The Animals Are Coming. Like, oh wow man, this is too cool. No way people won’t catch onto this and lose their minds. Etc. I take it as emblematic of the exceptional nature of the band, their continual and continually successful chase toward individuality in their approach, their willingness to freak out, and the fact that while they’re nothing if not dug into the traditions of psychedelia and heavy psych rock as the six-song The Animals Are Coming lays in a course for your cerebral cortex with the lengthy jam that brings 10-minute closer “Inside the Horror Mask” to its culmination, their sound manages to come across as refreshing each time out because they make the going in their songs — long or short — a journey worth undertaking.

Last heard from with 2023’s Um (review here), Black Helium are the London three-piece of guitarist/vocalist Stuart Gray, bassist/vocalist Beck Harvey and drummer Diogo Gomes, and The Animals Are Coming was tracked about a year ago with Ben Turner at Axe and Trap Studios. Needless to say, dust is not an issue for the year the 43-minute long-player sat prior to meeting the sunlight of which parts of it seem to have been made. The album begins with its longest song (immediate points) in the casually drifting early vibery of “Return the Curse” (11:45), which drops its title line often in the mellow/melodic intro but gives over after its first minute to desert-hued crunch-riffed tonality, a terrestrial touchdown that cycles through measures and finds even stronger footing for additional tonal weight before the ‘gazing vocals return and bring human presence to the shove and build underway. At this point, The Animals Are Coming has been on for fewer than three minutes, but the band are wasting no time in teaching their listenership how to read the album, to expect turns like this, and letting anyone within earshot — which, if given the appropriate amount of volume, could include a fair amount of hu-mans — know that there’s a sense of control beneath all that unbridled freakout and blown fuses.

In preface to the finale, “Return the Curse” also departs its structure in favor of a noisy jam, and the freedom cast into the ether circa seven and a half minutes in can’t be faked. It’s not that Black Helium are working against genre, but they’re pointedly open-minded about what constitutes a song and the devolution of “Return the Curse” and the willfully all-in push of “Inside the Horror Mask” into residual guitar and cosmic noise are emblematic of that. They’re not, however, the only instances of it on the record, since dividing the two bookends are four tracks, alternatingly six and four minutes each, from the parade of effects, thud and roll and just-because-it’s-a-shorter-song-doesn’t-mean-it-can’t-have-a-big-payoff of “Saviour Destroyer” through the krautier instrumental exploration of “Worm Vision” with either keys or guitar or some kind of voicebox accompanying later in the procession and Gomes double-timing on the hi-hat for extra funk, and “They Have Bodies” with its fuzz-meets-psych texturizing, a vocal from Harvey echoing overtop a tense riff set in the open space of the mix. The vocals there might put one in mind of Sera Timms, but the movement behind is more classically lysergic, and though it gets danceable too, the repeated title line — again, an element introduced by “Return the Curse” — ensures that the start of side B is in conversation with what Black Helium have already laid out.

The culmination of this stretch, then, is in “Up on a Hill,” which finds its own niche in a modern-feeling psychedelia, resonant in its melody, the patient tone of its vocals and the active-but-not-overbearing rhythm that accompanies, prescient to the heavier unfolding that starts at about 2:40. Black Helium have played with varying notions of density all along, whether that’s departing verses and choruses for a plunge into the aural unknown on “Return the Curse” or finding a poppier post-rock bent in “They Have Bodies,” but with “Up on a Hill,” it’s clearly just time to push a riff, and that’s exactly what the song does. The chorus that ensues is accordingly effective in conveying a sense of crescendo for the proceedings up to that point, but the band don’t go so far out quite yet as to forget their purpose. “Up on a Hill” turns back from the precipice where it otherwise might leap into the void as Black Helium do on the more extended pieces here, which highlights the consciousness underpinning the decisions made both in presentation and craft when it comes to The Animals Are Coming.

If the band are positing themselves as ‘the animals’ in question, that’s not to say they’re unthinking in their work, just that the results are wild, which is fair enough. “Inside the Horror Mask” basks in its swirl and slower-tempo fluidity early and grows brighter as it proceeds through its middle, already by then underway on the last time-to-go instrumentalist voyage the trio will take on. That shimmer becomes blinding eventually in Gray‘s guitar, but Harvey, Gomes and the backing wash of effects/synth/whatever are all there too and everybody collectively holds it together. There’s a plot to it, even if the plot is the blowout. Still counts. And Black Helium don’t waste that last opportunity to revel in some brainmelting, taking advantage of the chance as they have all along while creating and overarching flow through individual tracks united in no small part by their unwillingness to bend to the limits of genre. As Black Helium approach maturity as a group, their fourth long-player brims with the confidence of a band who know what they want their songs to do, but who are nonetheless committed to finding new ideas to incorporate into their modus and growing as artists. Thus The Animals Are Coming is the best of both worlds, plus more than a bit of galaxial adventuring for the discerning weirdo, and Black Helium remain a better band than the underground knows or appreciates.

Black Helium, The Animals Are Coming (2025)

Black Helium on Bandcamp

Black Helium on Instagram

Black Helium on Facebook

Riot Season Records website

Riot Season Records on Bandcamp

Riot Season Records on Facebook

I like this band. In another timeline somewhere 20-25 years ago, one might’ve heard a band like this, signed them to Atlantic or some other major label with money to spend and a residual sense of rock music as something worth making a new investment in, and set them touring for the next decade or three, just to see what sticks. I liked the band’s 2023 self-titled debut (review here) and the follow-up 2024 EP, East Side (review here), and the upcoming single “Stranger” keeps the thread going by showcasing inheritances from grunge without being beholden to them, finding a youthful brooding that’s aware enough of its own craft not to get lost in navelgazing. Unlike fucking everybody, it sometimes feels like.

In case you, like me, have no idea when June 20 is, it’s next Friday. My suggestion is you just follow Laurel Canyon on Bandcamp/wherever and then you won’t miss it, because no, I’m not so full of myself as to think you’ll remember some song from a news post here more than a week earlier just on my say-so. Set an alarm or some such. Write it in pen on your wall calendar. Mine still says May, it turns out; though in my defense the baby-goats-calendar picture for May was extra adorable.

The mind wanders. The PR wire, however, stays on task with vigilence:

Noise punk outfit Laurel Canyon announce new single ‘Stranger’ out 20th June via Agitated Records

Recorded live to tape in London after an early morning drive from Liverpool during their first European tour, the track was laid down in just a few takes with Mercury Prize-winning producer Shuta Shinoda. What you will hear is exactly what echoed through sixteen sweaty clubs across Europe, raw and unfiltered. “Stranger” delves into themes of identity and transformation, propelled by explosive, fuzzed-out guitars, pounding drums, a hypnotic bassline and pristine vocal harmonies.

The single will be available on all major streaming platforms.

Laurel Canyon’s three-track 2024 EP East Side was the follow up to their self-titled debut album. The songs – ‘East Side’, ‘Garden of Eden’, and ‘Untitled’ – expand on their feedback-laden, amphetamine-fueled garage rock sound with sharper focus and tenacity. The cover art (by photographer Alec Ilstrup) shows a stark found object style photograph of Laurel Canyon-branded naloxone spray – which is used to reverse or reduce the effects of opioids – representing the music within as a shot-to-the-heart of rock ‘n’ roll.

https://linktr.ee/Laurel_Canyon
https://laurelcanyonmusic.bandcamp.com/
https://www.instagram.com/__laurelcanyon__
https://www.facebook.com/laurelcanyonmgmt
https://www.youtube.com/@laurelcanyonmusic

http://agitatedrecords.com/
https://agitatedrecords.bandcamp.com/
https://instagram.com/agitated_records
https://www.facebook.com/AGITATEDRECORDS/

Laurel Canyon, “East Side” official video

Welcome to the weirdest shit you’ll likely see/hear today. Nyte Vypr is the Los Angeles-based avant techno solo-project of Collyn McCoy, also known for his work in Circle of Sighs, playing bass in Unida, fronting an outfit like Trash Titan back in the Stonerrock.com days, playing with Ed Mundell in The Ultra Electric Mega Galactic, and so on. Last month brought the release of the full-length Plutonic (review here), and at about seven and a half minutes, “Necrotic Prayer” — with a video premiering below — is the shortest and arguably therefore the most accessible song on it.

And no, I’m not going to attempt to convince you that this bizarre slo-mo clip of an in-shape dude doing interpretative undulations to drones, noise and exploratory keys/maybe-guitar is the most important thing happening in Los Angeles this week as the president of the United States dicksmears the constitution of same by deploying armed marines against people protesting by-gestapo deportations of non-citizens and citizens, the decay of due process, and now, the use of military intervention on US soil, which I’m pretty sure hasn’t happened on this scale in about 165 years.

The video arrives in a genuine ‘here we are’ of a moment that may or may not be the find-out accompaniment to all the dismantling of institutions and purges fucking-around earlier this year; a government made intentionally dysfunctional so that the mechanisms that would normally impede a transition to authoritarianism are gone. Do I think martial law is coming? Police have tanks. Teargas. Automatic weapons. And nobody’s stopping them. They don’t need it. They can run your ass over just fine without martial law. They’re a gang. And that’s before you get to the actual-military as opposed to the para kind. And if you think you’d get some Tiananmen Square shit where the tanks turn around and some hopeful moment happens, forget it. This is America. Your life means nothing unless you’re rich or you serve ‘the party.’

What I will say about “Necrotic Prayer” and its otherworldly, dark, and likely-voidward procession is it emphasizes that one of the things most worth preserving about this country’s current system (and plenty of other places as well) is freedom of speech. The ability to say and do whatever the fuck you want so long as nobody who doesn’t want to get hurt doesn’t. Like most ingenious concepts, it is simple, bordering on stupid, and yet it is the single most important right that’s been granted (unevenly) to any people, anywhere, ever. McCoy, Divine Brick (who is the dancer here), and others out there so likewise dug into their own thing are pushing the limits of style, of established ideas, and are essential to the innovation of what we think music can do or be.

This is progressivism in art, and it should correspondingly lead to a progressivism of thought, but for the billions-dollar propaganda machines countermanding underground creativity, from talk radio to algorithmic muting to an oligarch buying Twitter — it’s like they’re fighting ants with an AR-15, which surely some asshole in this country is doing right now.

I’m saying now is a time to get weirder, not quieter. This should help:

[Addendum June 11: After I finished writing the above, I saw that just yesterday, Nyte Vypr released the At Nyte collaboration album with soul singer Señora Bufo; completely different vibe, different take, and exactly what I was talking about a couple paragraphs ago. It streams at the bottom of this post.]

Nyte Vypr, “Necrotic Prayer” video premiere

Movement by: Divine Brick
Filmed and Edited by: Soohoo
Music by: NYTE VYPR

From the record “Plutonic” out May 7th care of Owlripper Recordings and Pillars of Creation/Suspirium Tactile Goods.

Señora Bufo & NYTE VYPR, At Nyte (2025)

NYTE VYPR, Plutonic (2025)

NYTE VYPR website

NYTE VYPR on Bandcamp

NYTE VYPR on Instagram

Owlripper Recordings on Bandcamp

I’m fairly certain that the shows these two digital live releases come from happened last week, and I know it’s only because I’m old, but I still find a turnaround like that amazing. Even if you think of the time it takes to go through a recording, put it online for distribution, figure out all the details, put together art and post, it’s an accomplishment, and Büzêm‘s assembling of a weekender into two live outings from successive nights is an example of the internet working as it’s supposed to in order to facilitate reach and connect people to new and cool ideas.

That’s not to say Büzêm — also stylized all-caps: BÜZÊM — are making the going easy. Hardly. The Mainer experimentalists tap drone, sludge, and in the comedowns, some lonely ambience across the two-shows-and-two-nights that have been billed as Lost in New England, and the sounds are raw, raw, raw. This, however, is suited to the nastiness of the band’s take, which is also readily on display.

Büzêm note a date coming up at Geno’s in Portland with JD Pinkus (Butthole Surfers, etc.) and others. More info on that is on socials, linked below. The following comes from Bandcamp and has been assembled together as it is by me:

BÜZÊM just released Lost In New England: 06.04 Concord, NH and Lost In New England: 06.05 Burlington, VT.

“Hey there gang. By now you know we don’t gloat over what we do that often if ever. But this is a recording of BÜZÊM featuring Ben from Hobo Wizard on drums. It was our second time playing
together as the night before was our first. And I gotta say I think it went alright. Rough on the edges, but that’s how we like it. Audio from Airrick NH. Follow him on Youtube for some awesome shows they’ve documented!

“And for our next up on the list is our live set from Lost In New England in Burlington, VT at Despacito. You know that feeling when ya getting hot and all you can do is give what energy you have left. Phew. Raw as it’ll get I think.

“Thank you to all who have followed us.

See everyone on July 17th at Geno’s Rock Club in Portland, ME with JD Pinkus and Sexless Marriage and also joining BÜZÊM will be WEH-PEN the noise artist.”

https://buzem.bandcamp.com/
http://instagram.com/thedecayofnature/
https://www.facebook.com/thedecayofnature/

BÜZÊM, Lost In New England: 06.04 Concord (2025)

BÜZÊM, Lost In New England: 06.05 Burlington, VT (2025)

Don’t tell Keep it Low, but I’ve had a secret crush on the Munich-based Fall fest from Sound of Liberation pretty much since its outset. The look has gotten a little different over time, a little more in line now with the likes of Up in Smoke or Desertfest Belgium, but the vibe has always struck me as laid back even on the scale of pro-shop Euro heavyfests, and once again I find myself looking at the poster, seeing the bands getting added — in this case: My Sleeping Karma, Mondo Generator, Psychlona, Ritual King, Kant, Bikini Beach and Thra — and daydreaming of an absconding that’s not to be. Another year, another Keep it Low as my loss.

But it’s a win if you’re headed there, from Graveyard and Bongripper and Colour Haze‘s annual hometown throwdown to Blue Heron and Hidas and whoever’s still to come. You’ve got Conan and Lowrider and Kanaan and High Desert Queen and, well, yeah. Imagine taking two days of your life and dedicating them to the purpose of experiencing this thing. Just for a minute, think about it. Here’s the poster with the full list of names as it stands and the latest short announcement from the festival, which is set for Oct. 10 and 11 at Backstage, again in Munich, which does have its own international airport:

KEEP IT LOW 2025 – ⚡️NEW BANDS ANNOUNCED!⚡️

Hey Keepers,

More sonic firepower incoming – 7 new bands are joining the Keep It Low Festival 2025 lineup!

My Sleeping Karma
Mondo Generator
Psychlona
Kant
Ritual King
Bikini Beach
Thra

Prepare for psychedelic journeys, desert grooves, and crushing heaviness! 🔥

Hosted by Sound Of Liberation (Desertfest Berlin, Up In Smoke, Lazy Bones Fest a.o.), Keep It Low will be taking place between 10. – 11. October 2025 at Backstage.

Join the Facebook event for more updates at:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1200732624331625

Tickets are on sale at: www.sol-tickets.com

https://www.facebook.com/keepitlowfestival/
https://www.keepitlow.de/
https://www.soundofliberation.com/
http://www.sol-tickets.com

My Sleeping Karma, “Ephedra” live at Desertfest Berlin 2025

I was watching the ‘Space Seed’ episode of the original Star Trek the other night — as one will — and they made this same Milton reference, about it being better to rule in hell than serve in heaven. It’s a good one, and a pretty famous line as far as that kind of thing goes. Religion. Storybooks.

The Pale Hand are a newcomer proto-doom/doom rock/trad metal outfit with an apparent theatrical bent from New York City, and if that description put you in immediate mind of Castle Rat, whose horror show has been the Big Apple’s most vibrant doom export in recent memory, that’s probably fair enough. The bio below drops the name as well in a ‘played with’ context, and fair enough for a band starting out trying to make their name, put up their first song, and try to catch eyes and ears onto what they’re doing.

The track is called “Reign in Hell,” and there’s a video reportedly on the way. Will keep an eye out for that, but the song itself is tight and aesthetically aware of what its groove wants to do. Vocalist Kelsea Beck establishes a marked presence up front, plus reach, and the riff accompanying has crunch and push in kind. As first impressions go, it’s a burner. Big slowdown at the end is worth sticking around for, as is the boogie that follows.

Heads up from the PR wire:

NYC Doomers THE PALE HAND Release Debut Single, “Reign in Hell”

NYC Doomers, The Pale Hand, have released “Reign in Hell,” the band’s debut single, on all digital platforms. Click to stream below!

palehand.bandcamp.com/track/reign-in-hell

open.spotify.com/track/18R3sO6L9zKlRl5NS1Ijc3

music.apple.com/us/song/reign-in-hell/1813213799

youtu.be/ntJc4K-K2Ew

The band will release a music video for the single on June 20!

Like a love letter to old school heavy metal, The Pale Hand’s debut single, “Reign in Hell,” serves up fuzz-drenched riffs, a high energy groove, and lyrics inspired by Lucifer’s fall from heaven. It’s a sinister, psychedelic, and thunderous descent into madness showcasing the group’s unique take on doom—including a breakdown heavy enough to shake Grandma’s grave.

Lyrically, the song is a lapsed theologian’s wet dream. Christian doctrine asserts that free will is humankind’s unique gift, something not even angels possess. Therefore, the logical conclusion follows that in his so-called rebellion, Lucifer only played the role his creator intended for him, and was doomed to be cast into hell before he was ever made. “Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven,” a freshly exiled Satan proclaims in John Milton’s Paradise Lost while considering this injustice.

Milton famously humanized Satan in his epic work, arguably even placing him as the hero of the story, and The Pale Hand has gladly carried his torch into the 21st century, complete with vicious guitars, powerhouse vocals, and booming bass. In the end, it’s a match made in hell — after all, heaven’s overrated.

With members hailing from around the globe, The Pale Hand is a cross-cultural heavy metal phenomenon taking New York City’s underground by storm, sharing stages with Castle Rat and Alex Skolnick of Testament. To witness The Pale Hand live is to be baptized in the church of the undead; a vampire pastor gives blood offering before the first song is played and expects to be repaid before the night is over. With a wide range of influences beyond metal, including gospel and middle eastern music, their show is theatrical, interactive, even spiritual, and they use their music to explore the question “what really is evil?” In The Pale Hand’s world, the sinner is the saint, and corruption is the true enemy.

—

The Pale Hand is a heavy metal quintet led by a genderless vampire pastor. With each member hailing from a different corner of the world, their influences span a wide range beyond metal, including gospel and middle eastern music. Once you’ve been inducted into their church of Sabbathian riffage and blood ceremony, there’s no turning back—but why would you want to?

Line-up:
Kelsea Beck (they/them) – Vocals
Pamir Aysan (he/him) – Guitar
Diego Silva (he/him) – Guitar
Finnegan Hu (he/him) – Bass
Brian Del Guercio (he/him) – Drums

Photo Credit: Gannon Padgett

linktr.ee/thepalehand.music
instagram.com/thepalehand
facebook.com/thepalehand
youtube.com/@ThePaleHand

The Pale Hand, “Reign in Hell”

German instrumentalist trio Blackbox Massacre trace their origins back to a series of 2007 get-togethers between two bands: Spaceship Landing and Coogans Bluff. In 2008, the first Black Box Massacre LP, Deich was released with a six-piece lineup drawing members from both bands. Drummer Charlie Paschen (Coogans Bluff) and guitarist Steffen P. Schneider (ex-Spaceship Landing) remain in the lineup these 18 years later, and have brought bassist Raphael Nigbur on board for what sounds like a purposeful reboot of the band and what, across four extended tracks, becomes a likewise complex and rewarding listening experience.

Pink Edition is the name of the record, and its 45 minutes tell the tale of a three-piece — plus Ulf Kneitel guesting on organ — bringing a sense of adventure and range to a heavy psychedelic foundation. Prog, krautrock, riffs large and small are all at play, and the organ makes an early impression as part of the hypnotic opening stretch in lead cut “Pferd.” Also the shortest song on the LP at 9:50, it incorporates harmonica sounds and evokes Morricone early through an atmospheric stretch that is no less brimming with intention as the soothing, warm immersion gives quickly over at 3:30 to a boogie shove, not quite neo-space rock in the Slift tradition, but more in line with tight-knit US West Coast shuffle, active and speedy but not aggressive so much as inviting. The organ comes back and they open it up melodically while Paschen stays busy on the kit, and unfurl thicker riffing and crashes in a movement that consumes much of the song’s second half.

But for the ending, Blackbox Massacre and Kneitel resolve the crashing and momentary molten bombast in soothing residual drone and light exploration, which makes the transition into “Raffi Nerie” (12:23) that much smoother. And if the underlying message of “Pferd” was texture, “Raffi Nerie” bears that out, gradually rising from its initial minimalism to a mellow, fluid cosmic jam held by the drums. A linear build plays out as denser fuzz is revealed against the bassy backdrop while a lead layer floats overhead and the song manages to conduct a roll as it passes the halfway point en route to the payoff at 7:40. Marked by Paschen‘s switch to keeping time on the crash cymbal, it is the moment at which Blackbox Massacre fully reveal the crescendo they’ve already reached, and they ride that groove accordingly into a mounting oblivion of noise, dropping out around 9:20 to give space to a bit of human voice or what sounds like it amid retained drone and strumming guitar.

The interlude doesn’t last as “Raffi Neri” blasts back to full-crux at 10:36 and carries to as noisy as finish as one might expect and/or hope, having upended the start-one-place-go-somewhere-else-then-come-back structure of the opener in favor of a straight-up linear progression complete with a break to emphasize songwriting and dynamic. This is not a band haphazardly jamming. Nothing against that, but Blackbox Massacre very clearly weren’t coming back after 18 years or however-actually-long for no reason, and Pink Edition isn’t show-up-at-the-studio-and-hit-record instrumental psych.

These pieces are fleshed out, thought out, and as side B begins with a burst of fuzzy, organ-laced radness the band aptly title “Funk” (11:06) — taking part in an ongoing conversation between prog and funk that’s been going on for the part of half a century — and continue to sweep expectation out of the picture as they ebb and flow with smooth purpose and energetic delivery alike, bass and drums relishing the rhythmic breakout.

Lead guitar does a bit of storytelling before the midpoint and they shift into a fuzz-proggier stretch therefrom, executing a mini-build and finding room for an ’80s sci-fi verse before the electronic disco beat takes hold and the three-piece give a demonstration of how far they’re willing to push beyond the imaginary lines dividing genres. Shades of Quincy Jones circa 1978, and no complaints. Do they work the fuzz back in — somehow there’s a little of Uncle Acid in the structure of the riff, but it’s vague and tonal — and flow out to weirdo electronic space glory? Most certainly they do, with Schneider punctuating the angular progression with jabbing chords. No doubt the band could’ve kept that outward push going for another 20-35 minutes, but “Funk” ends organically enough for something that might otherwise prove perpetual, and closer “Texas” (12:05) hits with suitable swagger almost immediately thereafter, adding to the shuffling impression of “Pferd” earlier but giving strong let-loose vibes from its start.

For about a minute, anyhow. With the organ back in, “Texas” shifts into a mellower desert sprawl, subtly building over the next couple minutes until its inevitable apex, marked by a quick stop and return on the drums at 4:20, as the three-piece dig that much further into the motion at hand. Past six minutes in, they’ve constructed a wall of noise that they then proceed to tear down, and it’s the bass that answers the question ‘okay where to next?’ as the low and and drums reorient around a declining riff and organ line that feels like it might be the basis for the album’s ending, but which is barely recognizable as such by when they actually finish it out in chugging, noisy fashion, one last purposeful measure before they cut to silence, once again having offered a song that was both a fit with those around it and which works toward its own ends in style and direction. To be sure, Blackbox Massacre have normalized that kind of thing well and set their own context in a way that might be more common, say, from a group that had put out a record at some point in the last 18 years.

Blackbox Massacre came to attention as Schneider, Nigbur and Paschen are doubling with Christian Peters as the first live lineup of Fuzz Sagrado. One of course is looking forward to how they’ll operate in that capacity as well, but Pink Edition seems to be setting out on its own longer-term progression. It would be foolish to speculate what the band might do from here given the context of this release, but in persona, craft and the fervency of their motivation, they sure sound like they have more to say.

Blackbox Massacre, Pink Edition (2025)

Blackbox Massacre website

Blackbox Massacre on Bandcamp

Blackbox Massacre on Instagram