In the world of Ice Dragon, six months between releases is kind of a long time. Not their longest stretch, I don’t think, but for the band who issued two full-lengths last August and September about two weeks apart — and who might put out another at a moment’s notice — it’s a notable span of time. And more than their prolific level of output, the growth of their aesthetic range over the last eight years since they released their 2008 self-titled debut (discussed here) has been even more impressive than their ability to self-record and release albums with little more ceremony than making a Bandcamp post public. Recent outings like the Aug./Sept. pair, Seeds from a Dying Garden (review here) and Loaf of Head (review here) have delved into psychedelic serenity and weirdo lysergic rock with equal abandon, the band seeming at times to follow a conceptual path sound-wise if not in narrative terms, but then also pushing against that impulse when their whim takes them elsewhere, as on the brash opening salvo of Loaf of Head. Their latest work, a half-hour full-length dubbed A Beacon on the Barrow, seems interested in bringing together these impulses with a sensibility of riffing more akin to the medieval, cavernous doom they conjured across records like 2010’s The Burl, the Earth, the Aether and 2011’s The Sorrowful Sun (both reviews here), but one of the five-track outing’s great strengths is that it keeps the anything-goes unhinged vibe of their later work, so that as A Beacon on the Barrow progresses, the material itself ranges further sonically and stylistically. Recorded, as ever, at Ron’s Wrecker Service, and with the (presumed) lineup of vocalist/drummer Ron Rochondo, guitarist/bassist Carter, bassist/guitarist Joe and drummer Brad, Ice Dragon continue one of the underground’s most intriguing progressions, rife with classic swagger and a truly open creative feel. They continue to bend genre to their will better than most of the few who actually try.

And unlike much of their other material — an exception perhaps in 2013’s Born a Heavy Morning (review here) — this record does follow a narrative course. Or at least it’s easy to put one to the consecutive titles “The Rider,” “The Journey,” “The Arrival,” “The Light” and “The Return,” and imagine that the songs are shifting according to where the story goes. Lyrics, which are included in the post with the album, are vague enough to be taken as chapters or not, but as the uptempo riffing and stonerly vibe of “The Rider” launched A Beacon on the Barrow, there’s little doubt Ice Dragon have movement in mind. While later cuts like “The Arrival” and “The Light” venture pretty far into doom, and even the chorus of “The Rider” itself has a slowdown, the momentum given to the album by its first cut, with its unabashed hook, ethereal vocal layering and near-Songs for the Deaf-style rush, proves invaluable as the story continues to play out. “The Rider” cuts its pace for a second-half doom weirdout, but the effect is accomplished anyway. “The Journey,” sure enough, is a march. Or at least a stomp. Or a slog. Big drums slam hard behind a winding riff, and a careening current of noise comes to the fore in the midsection, the progression resuming in the raw-throated verse, the song ending with the riff repeated topped by rhythmic screams. It seems for a minute there like “The Journey” isn’t going well, but inevitably it leads to the centerpiece of the album, “The Arrival.” Also the longest cut at 8:18, “The Arrival” is complex in its structure, early frenetic vibing topped by grandiose spoken word after a full-thrust verse leading to a stop, long pick-slide and swaggering chorus, cycling back through, and halting, after five minutes in, for a longer break before the chorus kicks back in, that leading to a stop of its own and some flourish of amp noise and drone that would seem to act as a signal for the oddities to come in “The Light” and “The Return.”

“The Light” immediately constructs a wall of megafuzz under which the vocals are buried, an echoing, indecipherable drawl that moves atop the slower verse, which gives way to a tense bridge that, later in the track, takes hold following a feedback-soaked dirge of psychedelic doom, a riff emerging but the shape of the song overall more amorphous than would allow for calling it a central figure. Briefly, they cut to just an intake of breath, then that original bridge line returns, this time met by obscure incantations that devolve into screams as the tension continues to build. It finally comes to a head and crashes out, the last 40 seconds or so of the song’s 6:47 given over to quiet amp hum that one almost expects to surge again at any time. With “The Return” still to go, it’s already been a considerable voyage. A Beacon on the Barrow‘s seven-minute closer is hauntingly beautiful; an experiment in subtle melodicism, drone-riffing and psychedelia gone right. “The Return” holds onto the rawness that has been pervasive all along and is by now a signature element in Ice Dragon‘s aesthetic, but its spaciousness and fluidity bring something new to the table for them as well. They’ve done plenty of droning in their time, but the way the guitar layers interlace across “The Return,” the way its instrumental course ebbs and flows, makes it something special. The band never fails to offer a twist of some forward-thinking sort or another, and as much as A Beacon on the Barrow updates some of their doomed impulses in cuts like “The Journey” and “The Rider,” it pushes ahead with “The Return” with a boldness as much Ice Dragon‘s own as the roughness of their production, ending their latest album with a humming resonance that gently gives way to silence. Those who’ve followed their growth in the last several years will know that when it comes to their material, anything can happen at any time, but A Beacon on the Barrow isn’t without its moments of surprise, and whether a listener is hearing Ice Dragon for the first time or the 30th, there’s as much weight in the creativity of these tracks as there is in the tones.

Ice Dragon, A Beacon in the Barrow (2015)

Ice Dragon on Thee Facebooks

Ice Dragon on Bandcamp

It is always a pleasure to play host to the live sets from Roadburn. This batch — the sixth to come from last year’s fest at the 013, Cul de Sac and Het Patronaat venues in Tilburg, the Netherlands — includes a couple particularly choice acts from the fest. I caught some of Papir through the door and they were awesome even being outside the room, and Sourvein kicked off the festival with a sludgy immediacy that let the Main Stage crowd know they were in for a hell of a weekend to come. That’s not to take anything away from Tribulation, Momentum, Promise and the Monster or Scorpion Child, but I can only go by what I saw.

And in that regard, I’m not sure any band who played Roadburn last year killed it quite as hard as did Conan at Het Patronaat. Having previously witnessed their Roadburn debut in 2012 (review here), it was something particularly special to see them come back and destroy in Roadburn‘s church, the stained glass windows rattling from the density of their low end, one tectonic riff feeding into another with explosive energy and ferocity unmatched in doom. They could’ve easily been on the Main Stage, but somehow it was even more appropriate in that venue. Fit for worship and then some.

They played the same day as Sourvein and Corrections House, and several of these others if I’m not mistaken. Oh, and if that pic of Sanford Parker looks familiar (it won’t, but I’m mentioning it anyway), it came from the review of their first show at the Saint Vitus Bar back in 2013. Good times.

As always, thanks to Walter for allowing me to host the streams and to Marcel Van De Vondervoort of Torture Garden Studio for busting his ass to record it all.

Enjoy:

Conan – Live at Roadburn 2014

Corrections House – Live at Roadburn 2014

Momentum – Live at Roadburn 2014

Papir – Live at Roadburn 2014 (Saturday)

Promise and the Monster – Live at Roadburn 2014

Scorpion Child – Live at Roadburn 2014

Sourvein – Live at Roadburn 2014

Tribulation – Live at Roadburn 2014

For the other batches of audio from Roadburn 2014 — there’s some stuff worth digging for — click here, here, here, here, and here, and to read the coverage from last year’s fest, click here. For all Roadburn 2015 updates, click here.

Roadburn’s website

Marcel Van De Vondervoort on Thee Facebooks

Last time we heard from Los Angeles trio Wake Up Lucid, they were issuing a heartfelt invitation to “Get Fucked.” That song (streamed here) is the nine-minute penultimate jammer on the half-hour Gone with the Night EP, which is set to release on March 31 through the band’s own WUL Records. And as one of the six tracks on the offering, it’s no less a standout than it was on its own, but as fate has it, “Get Fucked” is only one slice of the stylistic whole of Gone with the Night, and Wake Up Lucid — cousins Ryan, Ian and Jamie Baca — range even further outside genre bounds on songs like “Don’t Fear” and “White Collar Love,” incorporating elements out of Americana, grunge, fuzz punk and shoegaze for an enticing and varied approach that offers full-length flow across what’s still billed as a shorter release.

Easily-enough split into two vinyl-ready sides, Gone with the Night opens with the immediate rush of the aforementioned “White Collar Love,” with its tense chugging and buzzsaw leads, punker snarl and underlying moodiness. Some sonic similarity to the post-Queens of the Stone Age garage-isms of Elvis Deluxe‘s 2011 outing, Favourite State of Mind (review here), but it’s a passing thing, and by the time they’re into “Let it Roll,” Wake Up Lucid are on a more languid trip, a rolling groove persisting for the 4:50 span that transitions smoothly into the subtly organ-laced ramble of “Don’t Fear,” as pretty as it is threatening. “I Want” follows, reigniting the sexualized energy of the opener, and serves more or less as a manifesto for the mindset from which the entire EP emanates, drenched in attitude and wah guitar, thrusting into a crash-wash apex that closes out the first half of the release with a fade of feedback.

Side B goes every bit as far, if not farther, aesthetically, but in the span of two tracks. The extended “Get Fucked” opens, and a 5:45 title-track closes, but between the two there’s a significant amount of ground covered. “Get Fucked” remains a serious, significant jam built on a foundation of gorgeous bass tone and wide-open drum swing. It has its upbeat moments, builds to a head early and shifts through verses, but the primary impression is a heavy hypnosis, thick on vibe and getting into a wash of noise in the second half before transitioning back to its central groove in the last minute and fading into the quieter strum of “Gone with the Night” itself. The closer teases an explosion but is ultimately restrained in the spirit of “Don’t Fear”‘s rural grunge, electric guitar layered in to fill out the atmosphere more than to serve as a focal point, as well as to make the final statement in a soulfully fuzzed last solo.

Their varied approach turns out to be one of Wake Up Lucid‘s best-used assets on Gone with the Night, but that shouldn’t necessarily discount the individual performances either. Whatever level you want to take it on, the EP moves with deceptive efficiency, and for something that’s only half an hour long, it’s awfully easy to be caught up in its changing currents.

Please find Gone with the Night in its entirety on the player below, followed by some more background on the band courtesy as ever of the PR wire, and enjoy:

On their upcoming fourth release Gone With The Night, Los Angeles gutter rock trio Wake Up Lucid puts it simply: “Give us something real, something we can feel. Or get fucked.” This statement resounds as both rejection of fakery and pursuit of honest music, which have remained Wake Up Lucid’s only guidelines for writing and performing throughout the half decade’s worth of their existence. The new album was produced by Icarus Line’s Joe Cardamone at his studio, Valley Recording Co. in Burbank and is being released March 31 on WUL Records.

Gone With The Night is a sampling of the fruits of the group’s determined efforts to develop further as song-writers, offering songs that are much more focused and realized, and diversely dynamic — a departure from the band’s usual m.o. of grit and groove hammered-out at high volumes — while still maintaining the inimitable Wake Up Lucid vibe that has crept around L.A. for the past few years.

Their authenticity and immediacy as writers and performers is rooted in their experience of growing up together in the same extended family—a musical one to boot. After pursuing their respective musical aspirations in other outfits, they formed their own some six years ago, distilling their now matured, ripened abilities into the woozy juggernaut that is Wake Up Lucid.

Wake up Lucid on Thee Facebooks

Wake up Lucid on Twitter

Wake up Lucid’s website

Danish heavy psych rockers Gas Giant haven’t been heard from much in the last decade. In 2004, their participation in the High Volume compilation put together by Bobby Black of High Times magazine introduced them to a wider American audience, but by then, the band was already winding down. With two records under their collective belt — 2000’s Pleasant Journey in Heavy Tunes and 2003’s Mana — plus the unfinished Portals of Nothingness from 1999, they faded out just as heavy rock was beginning a resurgence, and had they come along either four years earlier or four years later, I’ve no doubt they would’ve garnered more attention around the world. Better late than never.

The axiom applies because the Copenhagen-based four-piece have reactivated. They’ll play a weekender in Germany this week, and in June, return for the Freak Valley festival. Pleasant Journey in Heavy Tunes is set for reissue via Space Rock Productions, and other releases might follow as well if the response warrants.

Below, Scott “Dr. Space” Heller offers the story of Gas Giant and a video of their new lineup rehearsing the song “Never Leave this Way” from their 2001 split with WE from Norway:

GAS GIANT is back!

Gas Giant formed in 1996 under the name Blind Man Buff with Pete Hell on Drums, Thomas Carstensen on bass, Stefan Krey on guitars and Jesper Valentin on vocals. In April 1997, the Blind Man Buff EP was recorded and released the next year. In 1999, they changed the name to Gas Giant and recorded a record called Portals of Nothingness which showed a more melodic and spacey direction but this was not released as the band was not really happy with the sound production, despite the amazing songs, several of which the band would rerecord on later albums. We sold this on CD-R at the shows between 2001-2004 so about 50 copies exist on CD-R.

In late 1999 and early 2000, their now classic record, Pleasant Journey in Heavy Tunes (Burnt Hippie Recordings) was recorded. This was released in 2000 and the band rerecorded their track, Too Stoned, in a slower version than what appeared on the Blind Man Buff EP, which was a real hit on the stoner rock underground and even the lead track on a High Times Magazine compilation CD that came out in 2004.

I first met the guys in November 1998 and started hanging out with them a lot and recording their shows and rehearsals and running a primitive web site (before Kim took over), and managing the band. In 2000, Pete Hell left the band and they had Kjeld on drums for about a year before he split in April 2001. I started playing with the band in November 2001, when they recorded the tracks for the split LP with the Norwegian band WE. I played on the track Firetripper. Tommy replaced Kjeld in August 2001. From Nov 2001 to 2004 I played at most of the bands live concerts and recorded every show, which you can hear at the link below for the archive.org web site. There are 45 shows that have been downloaded 65,000 times! In 2002, the band recorded and released the Mana record on the Elektrohasch label on CD and the Nasoni record label on vinyl in an abbreviated version. The band played quite a few shows in support of the record in Finland, Denmark, Holland, Belgium and Germany.

The band was really amazing live and changed the set every night and did amazing jamming at each show, which I hope they will continue to do with the new lineup. The underground German press called them the Grateful Dead of stoner rock and we did a lot of amazing improvisation and jamming on tracks like Never leave this Way, Back on the Headless Track, Ride the Red Horse and Storm of my Enemies. These were the real jam tracks that were very different every night. The live show reviews were always great. If the band had really had the time to play more shows at this time, I really think they would have been as big or bigger than bands like Nebula, Fu Manchu, Monster Magnet, at least in Germany, but they were all having children and it was harder and harder to live this life and tour. In 2004, they decided to take a different turn in the music and lose the synthesizers (and me) and try with a more mainstream sound. The next two years they struggled and eventually the band broke up with Jesper leaving. Although the band would play the occasional party or reunion show for special events like Ralph Rjeily’s Tribute show, they did not really exist as a band.

Come 2015 and Gas Giant is back! The band has a new energy with the addition of a new bass player, Kasper (Bleeder Group, Dyreforsøg, Megafon, Gyserfilm, and Marte) and drummer, Martin (Psyched up Janis, The Univerzals, Fri Galaxe, The Saints) replacing original member Thomas (bass) and Tommy (who drummed with the band since 2001). Here is a short video of the band rehearsing from march 21st, 2015. Just sneak preview of the new line up!

The band is out on the road in 2015 with the following confirmed dates:

Thu, Mar 26 Schaubude, Kiel, Germany
Fri, Mar 27 Cafe Tiko, Erfurt, Germany
Sat Mar 28th Zukunft :: Ranch am Ostkreuz, Berlin, DE
Thurs April 30th HDDT, Loppen, Christiania, DK
Thurs June 4th Freak Valley Festival, DE

In June this year, the Pleasant Journey in Heavy Tunes will be released as a single vinyl lp on the Space Rock Productions label with additional sales and distribution via Kozmik Artifactz in Germany. If this does well, other old Gas Giant material may be released as well on vinyl.

https://archive.org/details/GasGiant
http://thegasgiant.bandcamp.com
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Gas-Giant/587716488024613

Gas Giant, “Never Leave this Way” March 2015 Rehearsal

If living the dream makes you want to scream, San Francisco four-piece Hot Lunch invite you to “live the nightmare” in one of the several infectious hooks on their new Scion A/V EP, Slappy Sunday. Out next week, March 31, the five-song release follows Hot Lunch‘s appearance on the Riley Hawk-curated (also for Scion) Northwest Blow Out compilation alongside Kadavar, The Black Angels and Loom, as well as their Who Can You Trust? Records self-titled debut, released in 2013, an EP for Heavy Psych Sounds and other sundry appearances on splits the last couple years to go along with slots at Scion Rock Fest and the venerable daydream Duna Jam in Sardinia. If it seems like a lot of people are ready to get behind the band, they are, and it won’t take long into the Slappy Sunday EP before you figure out why.

Hot Lunch tap into a blend of proto-heavy rock and punk that’s so seamless it practically rewrites history. Slappy Sunday has five tracks — “Slappy Sunday,” “Expectations,” “China Banks,” “Pot of Gold” and the prior-alluded “Living the Nightmare” — and by the time its 17 minutes are through, the band has offered classic two-guitar soloing Thin Lizzy-style (as on “Pot of Gold”), introduced the Ramones to Jimi Hendrix (with “Expectations”), conjured simple, raw brashness (on the title-track) and even found room for some acoustic work (on “Living the Nightmare”). With “China Banks” as its centerpiece, Slappy Sunday shows off an impressive range, but even more, there’s little to no hiccup in terms of how the songs relate to each other. Classically styled and analog-sounding, Hot Lunch make difficult stylistic turns sound easy; a molten aesthetic that shifts according to the whims of deceptively complex songwriting.

Today I have the pleasure of hosting “China Banks” for stream and download ahead of the Slappy Sunday release next week. The last of an initial three songs all under three minutes before the final two cuts reach past the four-minute mark, it’s a bombastic hook that melds shuffle and thrust smoothly as it works its way to a quick, somewhat understated conclusion. Hot Lunch — the lineup of Eric Shea, Aaron Nudelman, Rob Alper and Charlie Karr — have places to be, and even in the longer tracks, they don’t linger, but “China Banks” should still provide a solid look at what’s on offer with their new Scion EP, and one doubts it will be the last we’ll hear from them this year.

Please enjoy “China Banks” on the player below, followed by the link to the EP at Scion A/V and some comment from the band, courtesy of the PR wire:

Hot Lunch, the San Francisco-based band, releases the Slappy Sunday EP on March 31 via Scion Audio Visual.

The EP’s title track, “Slappy Sunday,” is available now for free download via Scion Audio Visual’s Soundcloud page (http://www.scionav.com/2015/03/16/download-hot-lunch-slappy-sunday-brand-new-track-release).

“We’re beyond stoked about this latest batch of tunes,” said Hot Lunch drummer Rob Alper. “Both structurally and sonically they’re true to Hot Lunch form, but we can’t help feel that this five-headed beast is of a new breed. Born of an all night rock ‘n’ roll house party? Or following a ferocious Sunday curb-skating session? We know not from whence it came. We’re honored to continue working with Scion A/V to bring high-energy punk ‘n’ roll music to the people! The Slappy Sunday EP is up-to-the-very-minute Hot Lunch in all its fuzzy, monstrous glory!”

Hot Lunch on Thee Facebooks

Slappy Sunday at Scion A/V

Long Island trio Axis/Orbit have announced they’ll release their debut LP on limited vinyl through ultra-respected long-running German imprint Nasoni Records. The LP, of which the title has yet to be revealed, is the follow-up to a self-titled EP that contains three songs and was issued by the band digitally late in 2014, and to my knowledge, this will be their first physical pressing. Due date is June 1, though as the band notes, that’s tentative.

The prior EP is streaming on the band’s Bandcamp, and as you can hear below, they dig into classic heavy rock with some garage-style flourish. Tones are warm but not necessarily retro, and the vibe on cuts like “Hazy” and the bass-led “The Owl” is laid back — at least until the animal noises kick in — and closer “Riot Canal” has an open-spaced, jammy sensibility that follows a linear course toward a satisfying freakout. Not to spoil it if you were going to listen, but solos are had.

Here’s the announcement and the band’s bio off the PR wire:

Axis/Orbit sign with Nasoni Records to release limited edition vinyl!!

Long Island’s stone groovers Axis Orbit have signed with seminal Stoner/Psych label Nasoni Records in Berlin to release their debut LP in a limited edition run of colored vinyl. Tentative release is June 1, 2015. Distribution through Clearspot of the Netherlands.

The album was recorded at Freedom of Speech Recording and engineered by Micky James (Chris Angel Mindfreak). Original art by Vincent Scala (www.vincentscala.com).

Axis/Orbit makes Rock and Roll. Stoner rock, retro rock, doomy, but unabashedly not completely metal. More of a cavalcade of 60’s-70’s rock stylings from the menace of Sabbath to the spaciness of Floyd’s cosmic tracks, to the heavy prog jam trio art of Cream and Band of Gypsies, with strokes of classic Cali folk rock, vintage grunge and straight up garage rawk. Formed in 2014 on Long Island, NY by drummer Mike Margulis, guitarist Bill Fridrich and bassist Lee Greenman with all contributing to writing, arranging and vocal duties, the group is rapidly gaining a following headlining regional shows, releasing an EP and preparing for a full length album of heavy psyche rancor for 2015.

https://www.facebook.com/axisorbitmusic
http://www.axisorbitmusic.com
http://axisorbit.bandcamp.com/releases
https://twitter.com/axisorbit
http://www.nasoni-records.com/

Axis/Orbit, EP (2014)

It is my sincere hope that, come April 18, I get to see Sun Voyager live. It would be a while in the making. Last time the New York groove-rolling four-piece made a trip north, I was already booked for the evening. Their current-planned excursion follows the arrival of a new tape on King Pizza Records compiling some recently-issued tracks onto an EP called Lazy Daze, with five-cuts of their heavygaze vibing that will be out digitally next week with a cassette release to follow shortly thereafter.

I’m not sure if the below is or isn’t the cover of Lazy Daze, but the band sent the following encouraging words down the PR wire, and new news is good news:

SUN VOYAGER “LAZY DAZE” EP RELEASE DETAILS

Wanted to reach out and share some super exciting news with you regarding a little release we’re putting out next week on King Pizza Records.

You may have heard Cosmic Tides, Mecca, or our latest split with our friends Greasy Hearts. Those all had three songs. This one’s got five, baby.

“Lazy Daze” is the title of our next release. It’s a tape. You may have heard God Is Dead, Be Here Now, Gypsy Hill, and Black Angel. Well those tracks will finally have a home. You can hear them now on soundcloud. The whole thing will be on bandcamp early next week. Spotify, iTunes, Amazon, & more coming soon.

We’re throwing release parties in Brooklyn, Newburgh, and Boston where you can buy our tape and share in the fun. Here are some details on those parties:

4/3 – Brooklyn, NY – Don Pedro w/ Psychiatric Metaphors, St James & The Apostles, The Off White
4/9 – Brooklyn, NY – Don Pedro w/ Mountain God, Kosmodemonic, Maggot Brain
4/11 – Newburgh, NY – The Wherehouse w/ St James & The Apostles
4/18 – Boston, MA – The Womb w/ Black Beach, Midriffs, & CREATUROS

Come party with us. We’re grateful to have you all as fans and can’t wait to share this with you.

http://sun-voyager.bandcamp.com
http://www.facebook.com/sunvoyagerband
http://www.twitter.com/sunvoyager_rock
http://sunvoyagerband.tumblr.com
https://soundcloud.com/sunvoyager

Sun Voyager, “Black Angel”

Driving the four-plus hours from Massachusetts to NYC to see Enslaved, YOB, Witch Mountain and Ecstatic Vision on Saturday wasn’t the practical choice, but it was the only choice. True, three of the four would be much, much closer to me this week, but to catch them in a bigger room and with Witch Mountain wasn’t an opportunity I wanted to miss. I left much earlier than I needed to, leaving as little as humanly possible to chance in terms of sitting in traffic, stressing out, etc. Turned out to be one of the easier rides south that I’ve had.

A positive omen? Maybe. I had time to hit Academy Records before the the show, which was a rare pleasure, and plenty of opportunity to catch my breath before doors to Gramercy Theatre opened. Last time I was there was for Pentagram, Kings Destroy, Bang and Blood Ceremony, and as ambivalent as I was at being back in Manhattan itself, it would prove to be a night surrounded by old friends, laughs and good vibes. More than anything, that made trip worthwhile.

But there was a show on as well, and a killer one at that. An early start for a packed night had Witch Mountain on at 7:30, and here’s how it went from there:

Witch Mountain

A couple new faces in Portland’s scene-preceding four-piece, Witch Mountain. Very new, as it happened. As in, this was their second show. Led by founding guitarist Rob Wrong and drummer Nate Carson, the band had played Pittsburgh the evening prior, and that was the first gig with newcomer vocalist Kayla Dixon and bassist Justin Brown (also of Lamprey). Night two of the band’s Mk. III lineup was a short set, but they made the most of it and showcased the potential for continued growth. Dixon had a distinctly metallic presence as frontwoman, and the entire band, Brown included, seemed to relish the opportunity to have a bigger stage on which to unfurl their doom. Again, their time was brief, but “Psycho Animundi” from last year’s Mobile of Angels (review here) more than ably demonstrated Dixon‘s vocal range, while “Veil of the Forgotten” and particularly the end of “Shelter” from 2012’s Cauldron of the Wild (review here) thrust into an almost power metal presentation, already edging up to the boundaries of a shifting personality for the band. Especially for it being night two, it was an encouraging sight. I’d expect over time Witch Mountain will loosen up further in presence as they continue to tighten sonically, but I felt fortunate to see that process at its beginning.

Ecstatic Vision

Of the four bands on the bill, I wondered most about how Ecstatic Vision‘s sound would translate to the spaciousness of Gramercy Theatre. The Philly three-piece would hardly be the first act in history to play space rock in a high-ceiling room, but for their being a newer band despite the experience of guitarist/vocalist Doug Sabolik and drummer Jordan Crouse in A Life Once Lost, it was a point of curiosity. Some of Sabolik‘s flourish, the chimes on his mic stand and melodica, weren’t as prevalent as they had been when I saw the band open for YOB at the Saint Vitus Bar in December (review here), but they did well all the same, and bassist Michael Connor‘s tone came through the house clear and warm in kind. Their custom lighting, the rope lights around the drums, strobe, and so on, left Connor more or less out of the equation, and that seemed to create some imbalance on stage, but unless you happened to be the black metal purists positioned in front of me as I watched Estatic Vision space out on encompassing, fluid psychedelic jams, there was little to argue with as they warmed up and settled into their engaging vibe. They still don’t have much recorded but are expected to make a debut sometime later this year on Relapse. Still worth keeping an eye on.

YOB

Would YOB do “Marrow” in that room? Yes, they would. Three of the four cuts from last year’s Clearing the Path to Ascend (review here) — also my pick for the best album of 2014 — were aired, with opening duo “In Our Blood” and the scorching “Nothing to Win” leading to the aforementioned 19-minute record-closer, which was followed in turn by the title-track of their 2011 sixth album, Atma (review here), the Eugene, Oregon, three-piece of guitarist/vocalist Mike Scheidt, bassist Aaron Rieseberg and drummer Travis Foster crisp in their delivery but not at all dead-eyed in the here’s-another-show way one might expect after their having spent the better part of the last three weeks on the road. The run with Enslaved ends this week, but YOB will continue to tour their way back west before returning in May to the East Coast for Maryland Deathfest in Baltimore. In New York, their response showed a considerable crossover response from the clearly-there-for-Enslaved contingent, particularly as the culmination of “Marrow” hit and they followed it by the gallop-laden “Atma,” which seemed all the more furious in comparison. I’ve seen YOB at least five times in the last 12 months and have yet to come out of a set without any regrets. Foster‘s snare was loud in the house mix, but so was everything else, so, you know, it kind of worked itself out. Every accolade YOB gets, they earn. I know they did that European stint last year with Pallbearer, and that was a month-plus on the road, but it’s still a change to think of YOB as a touring band after their years of keeping shows limited. While I wonder what the rest of 2015 will hold for them, I also couldn’t help but notice how sustainable and decidedly un-worn they looked on stage, like they could just keep going. I doubt they’d have met any complaints if they had.

Enslaved

Last time I saw Enslaved in New York was early 2013. They played the Bowery Ballroom (review here), which is a not-insignificant space in itself, but not as sizable as the Gramercy, and I think it says something about the long-running Norwegian outfit’s growing US fanbase that their return to Manhattan would be in a larger venue. They’re supporting the release of their 13th full-length, In Times (review forthcoming) on Nuclear Blast, but new material or old, they had the room on their side from the word go. Bassist/vocalist Grutle Kjellson joked with the crowd between songs, and by the time they got down to playing the title-track from In Times laughingly promised the crowd that it would be the last new song they played. For what it’s worth, I didn’t notice much of a change in reception for recent or older material. Sure, a song like “The Watcher” from 2008’s Vertebrae, with its mega-chorus, or a by-now staple like “Ruun” from the 2006 LP of the same name is bound to get a response, but “Thurisaz Dreaming” and “Building with Fire” sat well alongside those and “Death in the Eyes of Dawn” from 2012’s RIITIIR (review here), and wherever the band headed, the crowd went along. Of course, their stage presentation was air-tight, Kjellson holding down a frontman role flanked on either side by guitarists Ivar Bjørnson and Arve “Ice Dale” Isdal, while keyboardist/vocalist Herbrand Larsen made a case for up-front featuring of his own with stellar command of the clean-sung parts — I saw Enslaved for the first time eight years ago at SXSW, and I’d mark Larsen‘s growth as a vocalist among the foremost catalysts enabling their musical progression in that time; that growth was, I’ll note, already underway for several years by then — and drummer Cato Bekkevold sat swallowed up by his expansive kit surrounding. They came out one at a time to start their set and for the encore, and each time Bekkevold sat down, he disappeared. Good for a laugh, but he also used that whole drumset, and flawlessly. Their encore was “As Fire Swept Clean the Earth” from 2003’s Below the Lights, “Fenris” from 1994’s sophomore outing, Frost, and the title-cut from 2004’s landmark Isa, and when it was over, there was nothing left for the audience to do but leave, having so thoroughly been handed its ass on a platter by the five-piece, whose reach seems only to continue growing with time.

—

If you want the short version, the show was a win, but what made it even better was seeing old friends throughout the night and catching up, and that was something that continued even as security started shuffling people out of the downstairs lounge. On my way back north on Sunday, it was the memories of good times and good music that seemed to make the trip shorter, both thoroughly appreciated.

Speaking of old friends, this review is dedicated to Loana dP Valencia of Nuclear Blast, alongside whom it has been my complete and utter pleasure to work for the last decade.

More pics after the jump. Thanks for reading.

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