Posted in Whathaveyou on December 31st, 2014 by JJ Koczan
I was lucky enough to be able to watch Yawning Man and Fatso Jetson play back to back at Desertfest London 2013. What an absolute blast it was, to see those two bands who by all rights should walk the earth as gods among men get on stage and show the entire room the roots of a sound they obviously hold very dear, myself included. Yawning Man looked like they could’ve played for four hours and Fatso Jetson were a punk/blues rager with Mario and Dino von Lalli nailing blinding turns on classic early material. So cool. Their split was new at that point, and Yawning Man‘s Nomadic Pursuits was fresh in mind as well, but even just to stand in front of the stage was one of those lucky-to-be-there moments.
And that’s my story about it. I’d call their upcoming European run nothing if not well named:
Yawning Man & Fatso Jetson to tour Europe in February 2015
Fatso Jetson and Yawning Man, two legendary bands whose roots are from the low desert area of Southern California and are well regarded amongst the underground heavy music community as pioneers of the “desert rock” scene will be pairing up to embark on a month long trek across The Old World in the month of February for a tour properly and respectively called “Legends Of The Desert” tour. Masterminds Mario “Boomer” Lalli and Gary Arce have considerable musical history with one another, having contributed to each other’s projects (Fatso Jetson and Yawning Man respectively) and playing live with one another on both domestic and international level all throughout their humble/experimental beginnings to the present as the established/experimental artists they are revered as today.
The Palm Desert music scene’s most notable names have credited their beginnings in music through attending witnessing the well documented generator parties that took place in various spots around the low desert area in the late 80s. These gatherings is where Gary Arce and the Lalli cousins (Mario and Larry) and notable desert drummer Alfredo Hernandez would enchant and hypnotize spectators with colorful and dynamic reverb drenched tones and seemingly endless improv jam sessions that echoed through the barren, rocky landscapes of La Quinta all the way to Yucca Valley as the first incarnation of Yawning Man was birthed and would assist in planting the seeds of a sound that would define a geographic areas.
Fast forward a few years later (1994 to be exact) and enter Rhythm and Brews, a drinking hole/live venue venture that the Lallis helmed and it was there, the idea of the riff monolith known as Fatso Jetson was materialized between Mario, Larry and Tony Tornay. Forging a sound that combines the elements of what has been coined “stoner rock”, punk and surf their catalog has seen the light of day on such labels as SST, Bongload, Man’s Ruin Records (Flames For All – Gary Arce was recruited as second guitar player for this release and joined Fatso on tour in support of the album as support for Queens of The Stone Age on their first European run), Rekords Rekords Cobraside and Go Down Records since their formation and they’ve shared the stage/toured with some of the most iconic acts in heavy rock including Queens Of The Stone Age and an appearance at Dynamo Open Air in Eindhoven alongside Mercyful Fate and Metallica.
Now fast forward into the new century and the evolution of both bands , recent activities in the past few years have been a new recordings amongst the two bands released by various labels across the world (including a split 12” of the two released in 2013), appearances at festivals across the world: Desertfest Berlin (both), Roadburn (Fatso Jetson) With Fatso Jetson now expanded from a trio to a quintet via the addition of the next generation of the Lalli family, Dino Von Lalli on second guitar and exploring jazz textures through Boomer’s recruitment of Vince Meghrouni on sax and harmonica. Yawning Man has revamped their lineup as well with the inclusion of Bill Stinson on drums.
At the present, Yawning Man are currently in the middle of writing a new record that is set for a 2015 release and Fatso Jetson are setting their sights upon recording of new material as well with plans for a US tour in the works for the coming year.
Tour Dates Feb 5 – Dortmund, Germany (The Piano) Feb 6 – London, UK (The Purple Turtle) Feb 7 – Leuven, Belgium (Orange Factory) Feb 8 – Drachten, Netherlands (Iduna) Feb 9 – Hamburg, Germany (Hafenklang) Feb 10 – Bielefeld, Germany (Forum) Feb 11 – Berlin, Germany (Cassiopeia) Feb 12 – Jena, Germany (Kulturbanhof) Feb 13 – Deventer, Netherlands (De Hip) Feb 14 – Mons-en Baroeul, France (Le Trait d’Union) Feb 15 – Paris, France (Glazart) Feb16 – Karlsruhe, Germany (Alte Hackerei) Feb 17 – Munich, Germany (Feierwerk) Feb 18 – Linz, Austria (Stadtwerkstatt) Feb 19 – Vienna, Austria (Arena) Feb 20 – Innsbruck, Austria (PMK) Feb 21 – Bozen, Italy (Pippo Stage) Feb 22 – Brescia, Italy (Latteria Molloy) Feb 23 – Rome, Italy (Sinister Noise) Feb 24 – Ravenna, Italy (Bronson) Feb 25 – Padova (Go Down Festival), Italy – Mame Club Feb 26 – Milan, Italy (Magnolia) Feb 27 – Lucerne, Switzerland (Sedel) Feb 28 – Frankfurt, Germany (Das Bett)
Fatso Jetson Mario Lalli – Vocals/Guitar Dino Von Lalli – Guitar Larry Lalli – Bass Vince Meghrouni – Saxophone and Harmonica Tony Tornay – Drums
Yawning Man Gary Arce – Guitar Mario Lalli – Bass Bill Stinson – Drums
Posted in Whathaveyou on December 31st, 2014 by JJ Koczan
It’s just 54 seconds, so by no means does the snippet unveiled today of UK space metallers Enos‘ “Son of a Gun” offer a definitive glimpse at the track, which features a second drummer and guest vocals alongside the four-piece and will serve as their portion of a split 7″ with Mangoo due early in 2015 on H42 Records, but it’s a suitable teaser anyway since it makes me want to hear the rest of the song. Enos are also working on their third album and the follow-up to 2012’s All too Human, which hopefully will be out by the end of the New Year as well, lest my timing prove wrong for including it in my anticipated-albums notes. That list will be out in a week or two. Enos will be on it.
Until then, the news:
New year, new release, more gigs!
New release…
So, it’s been quite a while since we’ve posted here but fear not, we’ve been keeping ourselves busy. A few of you may have noticed that we’ve been a bit quiet on the gig front recently, there’s a reason for that! Work on our third record is coming along very well. We’ve been writing and demoing tracks over the past couple of months (any of you who came to one of our shows in 2014 will have heard one or two of them. We started airing a couple on tour with Abrahma and Mother Corona back in March). We’re quickly closing in on the point where we will be ready to commit them to tape, we’ll keep you posted!
If you simply can’t wait then we have something to keep you going! Over the summer we spent a bit of time in the studio recording a track for a split 7? with Mangoo. Due out in the spring this release will be out as a limited edition via H42 Records and features exclusive artwork by the talented Alex Von Wieding on both sides (Alex is responsible for the artwork on All Too Human). As this is a special release we decided to push the boat out with this track. Son Of A Gun features Sam Dorrell of Left Arm Pregnant (who also stepped in for Sparky on our European tour with Mangoo and Rescue Rangers in 2013) joining Sparky for some double drum kit action. We also recruited Sigrid Jakobson (whose vocals appear on Collisions and Obscured on All Too Human) for some backing vocals. Son Of A Gun was recorded at Empora Studios and produced by Mark Roberts. Here’s a snippet….
And now for some gigs….
We’re very happy to say that we’ll be starting 2015 with a couple of shows (where you will no doubt be hearing some of our new material). First off we’ll be taking to the stage at The Macbeth in Hoxton on the 20th January alongside Slabdragger, Trippy Wicked and The Cosmic Children of The Knight and Jack and The Bearded Fisherman. This is a Nightshift Promotions show in association with Rock-A-Rolla magazine. Keep an eye on their Facebook event for more details.
We are also very happy to announce our return to Paris on February 26th 2015. We’ll be playing at Glazart alongside Monolord and Salem’s Pot. This show is for Stoned Gatherings and Dead Pig Entertainment. We are very happy to be returning to Paris once more and we’re looking forward to seeing you there! Keep an eye on the Facebook event for more details.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Thera Roya & 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.
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.
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.
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.
Posted in Whathaveyou on December 31st, 2014 by JJ Koczan
With a steady supply of sludgy fuckall in tow, Connecticut trio Stone Titan will hit the road on Jan. 2 for an 11-show run beginning the next night in Richmond, Virginia. Having been fortunate enough to catch the band earlier this year, I have a pretty easy time recommending a set to anyone who needs a dose of alternately grueling, bludgeoning heavy fueled by a hooch and nihilism. Which is pretty much everybody, right? Because that’s the way the world works?
They recently announced the run with characteristic excitement at the prospect of touring once again:
STONE TITAN WINTER TOUR
Hey all you stupid fucks. We leave for tour on Friday in case you forgot (you probably did). Come drink your feelings away with us.
The title explains most of this. USA and a lil’ taste of Canada.
We will be touring in support of no new record. We might bring some special goodies though. We will see.
A “*” indicates that you need to help us get a “gig”. As you can see, we need help.
1/2- Going to Richmond, VA a day early to get dumb. 1/3- Richmond, VA @ Cedar Haus 1/4- Knoxville, TN @ Poison Lawn w/ In La Kesh & Maker 1/5- Lexington, KY @ Al’s Bar 1/6- Columbia, MO @ TBA 1/7- Kansas City, MO @ Vandals w/ Ignis Gratis 1/8- Omaha, NE @ West Wing w/ Genocide Pact 1/9- Minneapolis, MN @ Secret Service w/ Larry Wish and His Guys, Weakwick 1/10- Winnipeg, MB @ Handsome Daughter w/Plague, Beast & Violent Gorge 1/11- Duluth, MN @ The Happy Hole w/ Agitate, Nopamine & Ire Wolves 1/12- Madison, WI @ The Wisco w/Satans Dealer, Blunt & No Question 1/13- Akron, OH @ Annabelle’s 1/14- Western MA @TBA
Posted in Bootleg Theater on December 31st, 2014 by JJ Koczan
Seems only fair to close out another year of Wino Wednesdays with the most recent clip possible. I guess it’s not really such a novelty anymore that a show can happen and video from it can surface almost immediately — instant gratification isn’t really anything new at this point, at least as regards digital media — but I still get a kick out of it when something like this clip of Wino at the St. Vitus bar in Brooklyn this past weekend comes up. Because, hey, this pretty much just happened. And I’m old. The latter probably has something to do with it as well.
The occasion was a two-night fest called Feast of Krampus held in Philly at Underground Arts and the aforementioned St. Vitus bar. Also on the bill with Wino were Sixty Watt Shaman, Godmaker, Moon Tooth, Birch Hill Dam, Wizard Eye and Buzzard Canyon. A stacked lineup, to say the least, and plenty of volume to precede an acoustic set that probably would be a mystery to all but the converted who knew what and whom they were watching. Anyone else might wonder why six loud-as-hell bands might precede a guy playing (mostly) unplugged solo singer-songwriter material.
But you get it, so it doesn’t really need explaining. I’m happy to be able to round out 2014’s many Wino Wednesdays with this latest show from the man himself, and all the better that it was filmed by ubiquitous Brooklyn cameraman Frank Huang, whose work is as admirable as the ethic that so steadily produces it. Seems like it was a pretty cool show, and of course no matter the context, Wino always manages to pull off unmatched heavy vibes.
Hope you enjoy and hope you have a great New Year’s:
Wino, Live at Feast of Krampus, St. Vitus bar, Brooklyn, 12.28.14
Posted in Buried Treasure on December 30th, 2014 by JJ Koczan
Some records just gnaw at you, and that’s the short version of the story of me and Eternal Season. The sophomore outing and Napalm Records debut from Lille, France-based trio Glowsun was released in 2012, and I got the usual digital promo of it at the time. I’d greatly enjoyed the 2011 split between Glowsun and German jammers ElectricMoon, cleverly titled Sun and Moon(review here), but basically I didn’t want to dig into Eternal Season, wind up loving it and then have to chase down a copy. I kept up with the band as they did various fests — Keep it Low, Desertfest — played shows alongside countrymen Mars Red Sky and released a video for “Lost Soul,” the third of the album’s eight tracks, but still never really sat with the record itself.
Finally, just after Xmas, I saw their name somewhere again and popped onto Major Corporate Purveyor X™ to look for a deal, and there was one, so with a couple extra bucks in my account after the holiday, I finally decided to make it mine. It showed up in the mail today and as usual, I feel like twice the sucker for sleeping on it for so long. Glowsun — the trio of guitarist/vocalist Johan Jaccob (also responsible for the gorgeous artwork on the six-panel digipak), bassist Ronan Chiron and drummer Fabrice Cornille — proffer dense low end and airy psychedelics in kind, equally comfortable in long instrumental passages like those of “From the Sky” or “Dragon Witch” as they are in the chugging progressive rock of “Reverse” or the jabbing CD bonus track “No!,” which arrives after the closer of the album itself, “Money Time,” a song that could just as easily be named in homage to Monkey3 as for its primate samples.
“Lost Soul” effectively blends the various sides at work throughout, but at least what I’ve found in listening so far is that like their labelmates in My Sleeping Karma, Glowsun‘s Eternal Season is better taken as a whole, without so much of a focus on individual turns as on overarching atmosphere — of which it has plenty. A creepy opening in “Thing” gives way to driving heavy rock with vocals emerging after three minutes in, and “Sleepwaker” assaults with noise up front only to provide both Cornille‘s most satisfying performance but an apex that functions to payoff the record as a whole in stylized fashion. From the gradual unfolding of opener “Death’s Face,” Chiron‘s basslines are the foundation on which the songs play out, but the variety of direction and consistency of tone make the listening experience as immersive as it is entrancing. That is, you can dig as deep as you might want to go, and there’s still substance to be found.
Along with a slot at 2015’s Hellfest and no doubt others, Glowsun have a new full-length slated for release in 2015. Might be needless to say — I will anyhow — but letting one of their records slip by me isn’t a mistake I’m going to make twice. I’m glad I finally caved and picked this one up.
Posted in Whathaveyou on December 30th, 2014 by JJ Koczan
Brooklyn four-piece Mountain God are getting ready to release their Forest of the Lost EP in Feb. on Archaic Revival Records, and they’ve announced the release show Feb. 20 at The Acheron. Joining them on the bill for the night will be Imperial Triumphant, Hercyn and Dreadlords, so it should prove an evening of varied extremities, but some pretty steady pummel throughout. I’ll be interested to hear how Mountain God‘s lineup shifts since the release of their 2013 demo, Experimentation on the Unwilling (review here), and if you make your way through the info below, you’ll notice I’ll be streaming the EP a week before it’s officially out, so we’ll get an advance answer on that question when the time comes.
Info follows:
Mountain God: “Forest of the Lost” Record Release Show Announced
Mountain God, in conjunction with the acclaimed booking/promotion agency Signature Riff (New Jersey), is proud to announce the “Forest of the Lost” record release show, to be held at the Acheron (Brooklyn, NY) on February 20th, 2015. “Forest of the Lost” will be available to download through Mountain God’s bandcamp page, as well as physically through a limited run of 50 cassettes. Additionally, the band is proud to announce that the Obelisk, noted blog for all things heavy, will stream the record beginning the week before the release date.
Mountain God arrived on the scene back in 2013 with their first record, “Experimentation on the Unwilling”. Since that time, the band has continued to explore and develop their own musical identity, melding guitars, bass, and various types of keyboards and synths to create what some concert attendees have described as a “wall of sound, emotion, and texture”. Live, Mountain God works toward making each individual show an experience unto itself, a non-stop, unrelenting barrage of riffing, melody, and noise.
The band is proud to share the stage with black metal juggernauts Imperial Triumphant, who have been hard at work on their sophomore release “Abyssal Gods”, and are no strangers to the Brooklyn scene. Also on the bill are New Jersey’s own Hercyn, who recently put out a split with Brooklyn act Thera Roya. They are known for their own trailblazing style of experimental, atmospheric black metal, complete with plenty of tremolo picked, intense passages. Rounding out the bill is Pennsylvania’s Dreadlords, who recently made CVLT’s Top 6 Avante Garde releases for their first full length, “Death Angel”.
Huge thanks to New Jersey’s Signature Riff, well known in the metal community for their work on such festivals as Martyrdoom, as well as countless other shows supporting bands from all over the world.
When: Feb 20th, 2015 Where: The Acheron, 57 Waterbury Street in Brooklyn Cost: $5 advance/$8 day of Doors: 8pm
Posted in Reviews on December 30th, 2014 by JJ Koczan
Happy to report that I survived the first day of this project. Spirits are good and I look at the stack of discs (plus one book; we’ll get there) in front of me and feel relatively confident that by the time I’m through it, my cerebral cortex will still manage to function in the limited way it usually does. If yesterday’s installment is anything to go by, however, I’ll be well out of adjectives by then. What’s another word for “heavy?”
There’s only one way to find out. These will be reviews 11-20 of the total 50. I don’t know if they say the first 10 are the hardest or the last, but I’ll be in the thick of it when this is posted and while I’m sure I probably could turn back and catch minimal if any flack for it — one “Hey wha happen?” on Thee Facebooks seems likely penance — better to just keep going. Another stack awaits tomorrow, after all.
Thanks in advance to anyone reading:
Nate Hall, Electric Vacuum Roar
Electric Vacuum Roar is one of two Nate Hall physical releases from this fall. The U.S. Christmas frontman and solo performer also has a few digital odds and ends and Fear of Falling, on which he partners with a rhythm section. Released by Heart and Crossbone Records and Domestic Genocide, Electric Vacuum Roar is closer to a solo affair. Hall is joined by Caustic Resin’s Brett Netson on guitar/bass on two extended tracks: “Dance of the Prophet” (16:46) and “Long Howling Decline/People Fall Down” (11:57). The second part of the latter is a reinterpretation of a Caustic Resin song, though here it is droned out and put through a portal of drumless and inward-looking psychedelia, turned into the finale of a communicative and intimate affair. Amp noise and effects swirl around “Dance of the Prophet,” and it’s easy to get lost in it, but Hall maintains a steady presence of obscure vocals and the result is what tribal might be if tribes were comprised of one person.
I’ve never tried to break up a one-man band, but I can’t imagine Scott Conner – who helped pave the way for US black metal under the moniker Malefic in Xasthur – has had an easy time of it since he put that band to bed in 2010. Nocturnal Poisoning, whose Doomgass arrives via The End Records, is an entirely different beast. Centered around layers folkish acoustic guitar, cleanly produced backed by occasional bass and tambourine, Doomgrass is still depressive at its core – Robert N. contributes guest vocals, almost gothic in style, to songs like “Starstruck by Garbage” and “Illusion of Worth” – but if the name is a portmanteau of doom and bluegrass, it fits the style. If anything ties Nocturnal Poisoning to Xasthur aside from Conner’s involvement, it’s a focus on atmosphere, but the two ultimately have little in common otherwise, and Nocturnal Poisoning’s exploratory feel is refreshingly individualized and leaves one wondering if Conner will be able to resist the full-band-sound impulse going forward.
Though they’re decidedly post-metal in their influences – Neurosis, YOB, obviously Ufomammut for whose record they are named – Sweden’s Snailking keep to heavy rock tones on their Consouling Sounds debut full-length, Storm, and that greatly bolsters the album’s personality. Even as they lumber, the riffs of 11-minute opener “To Wander” are fuzzed-out, and that remains true throughout the five mostly-extended cuts the trio of drummer Olle Svahn, bassist Frans Levin and guitarist/vocalist Pontus Ottosson present on their first record, which follows the 2012 demo, Samsara (review here). Centerpiece “Slithering” is the shortest and most churning of the bunch at 6:32, but the particularly YOBian “Requiem” underscores another value greatly working in Storm’s favor – the patience with which Snailking present the ambience of their pieces. That will serve them well as they continue to distinguish themselves from their forebears, but for now, Storm makes a welcome opening salvo from the three-piece highlighting both their potential and how far they’ve come already since the release of their demo.
The self-titled debut from thoroughly-bearded Brooklynite four-piece Godmaker arrives via Aqualamb as an art-book and download, a full 96 pages of designs, lyrics to the four included tracks of the vinyl-ready 32-minute long-player, live shots from a variety of sources, bizarre geometry and odd etchings feeding the atmosphere of the songs themselves, somewhere between sludge, thrash and aggressive noise with scream-topped moments of doom like “Shallow Points.” Comprised of guitarist/vocalists Pete Ross and Chris Strait, bassist Andrew Archey and drummer Jon Lane, Godmaker fluidly shifts between the various styles at work in their sound, whether it’s the explosion at the end of “Shallow Points” or that beginning the rush of opener “Megalith,” and while their self-titled is a dense listen, with the surprising post-hardcore take of “Desk Murder” and the check-out-this-badass-riff-now-we’re-going-to-smash-your-face-with-it 11-minute metallic closer “Faded Glory,” it efficiently satisfies. More so after a couple listens front to back. If Godmaker were breaking your bones, it would be a clean break, and yes, that’s a compliment to their attack.
Supersound is the first full-length from Italian heavy psych rockers Void Generator since 2010’s Phantom Hell and Soar Angelic (review here), and where that album held three extended pieces, the latest and third overall breaks into smaller pieces. Some of those are extended – opener “Behind My Door” is 8:09 and “Master of the Skies” tops nine minutes – but the bulk of Supersound’s seven tracks is shorter works somewhere between desert rock and classic psych, guitarist Gianmarco Iantaffi leading the four-piece with a more subdued vocal approach than last time out, compressed even in the rowdier verses of “What are You Doin’” (written by Sandro Chiesa), on which the keys of Enrico Cosimi feature heavily and add to the sound too crisp to be totally retro but still vehemently organic. Bassist Sonia Caporossi (also acoustic guitar on penultimate interlude “Universal Winter”) and drummer Marco Cenci hold together the fluid grooves as Void Generator follows these varied impulses, and Supersound proves cohesive and no less broadly scoped than its predecessor.
There’s a version of The Mound Builders’ 17-minute Wabash War Machine EP from Failure Records and Tapes that includes a comic book, but even the regular sleeve CD edition gives a glimpse at the Lafayette, Indiana, five-piece’s heavy Southern metal push. The middle two of the four inclusions, “Sport of Crows” and “Bar Room Queen,” surfaced earlier this year on a split tape with Bo Jackson 5 (review here), but opener “Wabash War Machine” and the sludged-up closer “The Mound” on which the guitars of Brian Boszor and “Ninja” Nate Malher phase between channels and vocalist Jim Voelz delivers his harshest performance to date, are brand new, albeit recorded at the same sessions in July 2013. “Wabash War Machine” highlights the band’s blend of southern metal and heavy groove, guitar intricacy and a gang-shout chorus meeting thick rollout from bassist Robert Ryan Strawsma and drummer Jason “Dinger” Brookhart, but it’s the finale that’s the EP’s most lasting impression, as pummeling as The Mound Builders have gotten to date.
In Olof’s buzzsaw guitar tone, the thud of Karl’s drums and Gidon’s abiding vocal menace, “Strike of the Emperor” gives notice of some Celtic Frost influence, but that’s hardly the whole tale when it comes Stockholm trio Mother Kasabian’s self-titled, self-released debut EP, as “The Black Satanic Witch of Saturn” immediately calls to mind The Doors in its minimal, spacious verse and offsets this with a soulful classic heavy rock chorus en route to the seven-minute “Close of Kaddish,” which works in a similar pattern – hitting notes of Trouble-style doom in its crescendos – and offers Mother Kasabian’s widest ranging moment ahead of the swaggering closer “The Return of the Mighty King and His Cosmic Elephants.” Swinging drums and variety in Gidon’s The Crazy World of Arthur Brown-style approach give the EP a distinguished feel despite raw production and it being Mother Kasabian’s first outing, and with the psych touches in the finale and a generally unhinged vibe throughout, the trio showcase considerable potential at work.
Active since 2011 and with two prior full-lengths – 2012’s I (review here) and 2013’s II (review here) – under their belt, Oulu, Finland, heavy psych trio Deep Space Destructors offer their definitive stylistic statement in the wash of III, a five-song/45-minute cosmic excursion with progressive krautrock edge (see “Spaceship Earth”) driven into heavier territory through dense fuzz in guitarist Petri Lassila’s tone and the chemistry between he, vocalist/bassist Jani Pitkänen and drummer Markus Pitkänen. Their extended but plotted jammy course finds culmination in the 15-minute penultimate cut “An Ode to Indifferent Universe,” – King Crimson and Floyd laced together by synth sounds – but the space-rock thrust of closer “Ikuinen Alku” highlights the multifaceted approach Deep Space Destructors have developed since their inception, consistently psychedelic but expansive. The sides gel effectively on “Cosmic Burial,” lending modern crash and tonal heft to classic ideals to craft something new from them in admirable form. As far out as they’ve gone, Deep Space Destructors still seem to be exploring new ground.
Released as a cooperative production between Garage Records and Go Down Records, Italian trio Underdogs’ second, self-titled LP pushes further along the straight-lined course of heavy rock their 2007 debut, Ready to Burn, and 2011’s Revolution Love (review here) charted. Songs like “Nothing but the Best” strip away the Queens of the Stone Age-style fuzz of past outings in favor of a cleaner tone and overall feel, and while that spirit shows up later on side B’s “Called Play” and the rumbling grunge of “My Favourite Game” (a cover of The Cardigans), the prevailing vibe speaks to European commercial viability with clear hooks and straightforward structures. Acoustic finale “The Closing Song” offers a last-minute shift in style, calling to mind Underdogs’ Dogs without Plugs digital release, but even in more barebones form, the songwriting remains the focus on this mature third offering from a three-piece who’ve clearly figured out the direction in which they want to head and have set about developing an audience-friendly sound.
Since they issued their self-titled debut (review here) in 2012, Virginia’s Human Services have brought aboard Steve Kerchner of Lord, and he brings as much a sense of chaos to Animal Fires as one might expect in teaming with Jeff Liscombe, Sean Sanford, Don Piffalo and Billy Kurilko, though the 59-minute full-length isn’t without its structure. Longer songs pair with concise noise experiments throughout the first 10 of the total 13 tracks, and each is different, so that even as the gap between songs is bridged, the stylistic basis for Animal Fires is branched out. The result is that by the time “Onyedinci Yil Sürüsü” closes out the album proper before the 17-minute live inclusion “No Structures in the Eye of the Jungle” hits, Human Services have reimagined the modus of Godflesh as an extremity of organic noisemaking, Southern heavy and eerie progressivism. Shades of Neurosis show up in centerpiece “Rats of a Feather,” but they too are twisted to suit the band’s creative purposes, threatening and engagingly bleak.
