Iron Man, Black Night (1993)

[Please note: Shadow Kingdom reissued Black Night in 2009 and the album is available on Bandcamp here.]

If you ever wanted a primer or a summary of the entire Maryland doom scene distilled into one record, it might be Iron Man‘s 1993 debut, Black Night (reissue review here). I say that because even more than Pentagram‘s Relentless or The Obsessed‘s self-titled — both landmarks, make no mistake — Black Night has remained an underground phenomenon, and while its tracks and particularly the riffs of founding guitarist “Iron” Al Morris III are on par with any of the post-Sabbath downer metal that region has produced and at this point has influenced a lot of it, to a broader worldwide audience, Iron Man continue to be a relatively obscure act. Less so now than perhaps ever following the 2013 release of their latest album, South of the Earth (review here), on Rise Above, but still. Riffers don’t come much more underrated than Morris.

Whether that’s due to issues of race or if it was a lack of promotion at the time, I don’t know, but Black Night is all the more exemplary for the whole of Maryland doom for being undervalued. It is unremittingly straightforward, whether its the hook of its title-track or the basic frustration at root in the social commentary of “A Child’s Future,” and its roots are directly traced to Black Sabbath and the heart of what doom metal was taking from them and melding to the gallop of the NWOBHM at the time. Black Night, in being issued via the German imprint Hellhound, was one of a swath of records from the Doom Capitol area that saw release at what was apparently just the right time to make a lasting impact, and one could easily look at it as well as concurrent offerings from Unorthodox, Internal Void, The Obsessed, Revelation and Wretched as the blueprints for what Maryland doom has become.

As with any scene, the players involved are pivotal. Morris has remained in Iron Man, and vocalist Rob Levey founded and ran the Stoner Hands of Doom festival series, while drummer Ron Kalimon split his time with Unorthodox. Bassist Larry Brown stuck around to play on Iron Man‘s 1994 follow-up, The Passage (reissue review here), and had played in Force with Morris as well, but parted ways with the band after that, and Iron Man would go on to become a hub for players and vocalists in the tradition of Pentagram, though by no means that extreme in turnover.

Hoping for a new Iron Man release in 2016, but I haven’t heard any solid news in that regard. Now fronted by “Screaming Mad” Dee Calhoun with Louis Strachan on bass and Jason “Mot” Waldmann on drums, the band began playing new material live as of this summer. Hope you enjoy.

—

Well, The Patient Mrs. is in Portland, Oregon, for a conference until Sunday, and you know what that means: Bachelor weekend! My plans? Make chicken soup, vacuum, and if there’s time, log the recent mail in the Excel file where I keep track of everything (physical; I’m sorry, but there’s no keeping up with Bandcamp links) that comes in for review. That last item might be ambitious, but either way, it’s gonna be a fucking rager. Look out.

Next week: Radio Adds! Yes. Radio Adds. It’s going to happen. No joke, I have well over 100 albums sitting in a folder on my desktop waiting to go on the server, and next week, it’s happening. It’s been since June, and it’s getting ridiculous, so the time has come. I’ll set it all up Sunday. Also Monday I’ll be streaming the new EP from Return from the Grave that Argonauta Records is putting out, and maybe Tuesday I might (fingers crossed) have a Death Hawks track premiere. I’m loving that album. Svart does not screw around.

Speaking of streams, if you didn’t listen to it yet, that Kristian Harting album is very much worth your time. Stream it here.

If you’re the celebrating-Halloween type, be safe. Whatever your plans might be — bet they don’t have you nearly as excited as the prospect of chicken soup has me — I hope you have a great and safe weekend. Please check out the forum and radio stream.

The Obelisk Forum

The Obelisk Radio

I’m not sure how Brooklyn stoner riffers Reign of Zaius knew I was thinking about setting up an Evil Dead marathon this Halloween (whether or not it materializes is another concern entirely, but I was thinking about it) but good on the four-no-wait-five-piece for keeping up with my half-formed intentions. I’m not really a big Halloween guy, actually — did you know people get dressed up for that? — but one thinks of these things. Clearly I wasn’t the only person thinking of Bruce Campbell, as Reign of Zaius have just released a new single called “Farewell to Arms” that takes its theme from the cult Sam Raimi trilogy of films, and I guess by extension from the new tv arm of the franchise, Ash vs. Evil Dead, which also premieres this weekend.

The song itself I remember from when the band played Worcester, MA, over the summer (review here) — watch out for getting your soul swallowed — and “Farewell to Arms” follows their last single, “Power Hitter” (posted here), and finds them welcoming guitarist Vlad the Inhaler back into the fold. Details follow:

Reign Of Zaius release Evil Dead themed song “Farewell to Arms”

Brooklyn-based stoner rockers Reign of Zaius have released a new single: “Farewell to Arms”, a musical tribute to the classic cult-horror film Evil Dead 2.
The song is available as a free download at the band’s website: http://reignofzaius.net/

“Farewell to Arms” arrives just in time for the Halloween premiere of “Ash vs. Evil Dead”, the latest installment in the Evil Dead franchise, produced by Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell for the Starz network.

Like their previous single “Power Hitter”, the song “Farewell to Arms” was recorded independently by Reign of Zaius at their secret headquarters in Brooklyn. This is the band’s second recording with vocalist Leon “Space” Chase and guitarist Mike “Creepy Mo” O’Neil. The single also marks the official return of guitarist “Vlad the Inhaler”, who left Reign of Zaius under mysterious circumstances a year ago but has now officially re-joined the band full-time.

In response to allegations that “Farewell to Arms” might actually contain ancient incantations capable of unleashing real-life demons into the homes of its listeners, Chase said only this: “As long as nobody plays it backwards, we’ll all be fine.”

http://reignofzaius.net
https://www.facebook.com/ReignOfZaius
https://twitter.com/reignofzaius
http://reignofzaius.tumblr.com/

Reign of Zaius, “Farewell to Arms”

Following up on what we found out from Borderland Fuzz Fiesta 2016 earlier this month, the Tucson-based desert and heavy rock fest has let loose two more big names for its lineup. Reportedly they still have a headliner for Saturday to announce sometime between now and February — should be plenty of time to do so — but with Dead Meadow and Yawning Man joining the previously-announced likes of Blaak Heat, Zed, 3rd Ear Experience, Funeral Horse, Big Mean, Waxy, Fuzz Evil, Dandy Brown, Cloud Catcher and Dead Canyon, the weekend’s roster stretches further sonically and upward in profile. I’m very curious to find out who that other headliner will be.

Borderland Fuzz Fiesta 2016 is set for Feb. 26 and 27 191 Toole in Tucson. The latest info off the PR wire follows here:

Dead Meadow, Yawning Man, Waxy & More To Play Tucson’s BORDERLAND FUZZ FIESTA

Back for its second year in a row, Borderland Fuzz Fiesta will once again bring the unmistakable sounds of Palm Desert, California and beyond to Tucson, Arizona. Curated by the Rudell brothers of both Powered Wig Machine and Fuzz Evil, the show will take place on Friday, February 26th and Saturday, February 27th at 191 Toole in the heart of Tucson’s historic downtown.

More band announcements will be revealed soon, but as of now, here’s the lineup:

Borderland Fuzz Fiesta 2016 Official Lineup:

Friday, February 26th:
Dead Meadow
Yawning Man
Blaak Heat
3rd Ear Experience
Zed
Funeral Horse
Big Mean
Dead Canyon

Saturday, February 27th:
Waxy
Dandy Brown (of Hermano)
Cloud Catcher
Fuzz Evil

*All bands will be accompanied by the Mad Alchemy Liquid Light Show*

EARLY BIRD TWO-DAY PASSES (limited to 50) are $30 and can be purchased HERE: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/2436886

Tickets for FRIDAY NIGHT ONLY are $20 and can be purchased HERE: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/2438504

Tickets for Saturday night will be released when the headliner is announced.

https://www.facebook.com/events/1105158519517789/
https://www.facebook.com/Borderlandfuzzfiesta
BorderlandFuzzfiesta@gmail.com

Yawning Man, “Perpetual Oyster” Live at Cobraside Records, June 2016

[Kristian Harting’s Summer of Crush is out today via Exile on Mainstream. Press play above to stream it in full.]

Almost on a per-song basis, Summer of Crush presents its audience with a lesson in how to capture scope within a solo performance. The album is the second for Copenhagen singer-songwriter Kristian Harting after 2014’s Float, which was also released via respected purveyors of the experimental Exile on Mainstream, and its 12 tracks/35 minutes are simultaneously intimate and grand. That’s rare enough, but Harting is a genuine solo act — he wrote, performed and recorded Summer of Crush entirely on its own, and given the breadth he shows, there’s no option in listening except to read purpose behind each of the turns in style or mood. Foot-pedaled synth and acoustic guitar intertwine with progressive folk without losing emotional resonance, and though a minute-long cut like “Cannibals” comes off minimal in its intent, it furthers the context of the record as a whole, which remains immersive, fluid and engaging, wherever Harting decides to go or is guided by a given track.

Songs feel built in the studio — “Ship of Fools” has percussion, layers synth, atmospheric guitar noise and a bassline — but Harting is never trying to trick his audience into thinking there’s a full band at work. Summer of Crush deftly retains its solo feel and is stronger for it, a solitary mood persistent across two sides constructed for vinyl but united by themes of travel, departure, movement. From the opening duo, “Traveller” [sic] and “Temporary Rooms,” Harting captures a moment as fleeting as the season from which the record takes its name, and as he careens from one piece into the next, it’s in the resolution of the final three tracks that he makes plain the directions he’s taking.

Hell, even the album’s cover brings a compass to mind, and with a heart at the center, it’s true to the nature of Summer of Crush as a whole. Its approach to beauty is unabashed, and as “Traveller” begins with soft acoustic pluck and deeper-mixed shaker, the nod toward complexity is subtle but by no means absent. Harting isn’t through the first song before a Morricone guitar echoes over top his acoustic, but “Temporary Rooms,” with a synth line that feels drawn from the teenage dramas of ’80s New Wave and an echoing low end guitar to match in the style of Angelo Badalamenti circa Twin Peaks — both set to an uptempo drum beat — is an immediate expansion. Harting himself is the unifying theme between the two songs, but he backs himself vocally on the second cut in a way the opener avoided, and sets forth a richness that “White Spirits” continues to build upon with an early drone-folk pulse that later gives way to full-on abrasive noise.

Miraculously, the chorus reemerges, unscathed from that momentary assault, and after a final moment of sweetness, “High High” taps coffeehouse lyrical cleverness and a more forward vocal presence, almost reminding of Michael Gira in Angels of Light during the verses, the second of which has an insistent kind of alarm sound deep under the melodic wash, just enough to be jarring until finally Harting hits the snooze button and lulls the listener back away from consciousness and toward the fuzzier, almost bouncing “I am You 2.” I don’t know if there was a first “I am You,” or if this is it — it wasn’t on Float — but the apparent sequel marries a wall of distorted guitar with a sweet sing-along, reveling in the contrast over a simple, programmed-sounding drum beat as “I am You 2” begins a section of shorter songs that moves forward through “Spirits Revisited,” an answer perhaps to “White Spirits” that gracefully blends noise, low-end synth and post-rock guitar airiness for a brief instrumental, and into “Cannibals,” which draws back the arrangement to a foundation of acoustic guitar and vocals. Like “Traveller” and “Temporary Rooms,” it is no accident that “Spirits Revisited” and “Cannibals” are paired up on the CD, though they’re also where the break in vinyl sides occurs.

There isn’t a single track on Summer of Crush that speaks to the entirety of the album — that is, no one-song summary of the overall scope — but “Ship of Fools” is a highlight anyway for its otherworldly echoing jangle, the intensity of its percussion, the way its synth line brings horns to mind and the edge of judgment in Harting‘s voice as he begins with the lines, “Eightballs of fine white powder/Snake oil and alchemy/Bottles of ancient poison/Portions of sweet honey,” before making a memorable hook out of “I know you know you know I know, you’re gambling/You know I know you know I know, we’re gambling” over a tense bassline and odd spurts of synth. Skillfully, Harting brings “Ship of Fools” to an apex of synthesized wash, and “Digging up Graves” takes hold with soft vocals, bass and far-off backing “ooohs,” but kicks at its midpoint into fuller-thrust bursting that, whether you call it post-punk or black metal, is brilliantly blown-out. Like a dream, it just happens and then is gone.

It cuts out and while one questions the reality of what they just heard, Harting is back to a soft verse like it was nothing, did you hear something? The quiet finish leads the way into the first piece of Summer of Crush‘s closing trio, which as noted, are where Harting notes his directions. Literally. “South North Passage,” “Soul Sister” and “East West Door” are the record’s final movement, and they feel linked in sound as much as the impression of the cardinal navigation with “Soul Sister” at the core, very much like the heart on the cover. “South North Passage” has vocals deep down — maybe recorded the same time as the guitar lead in the second half? — it but unfolds an atmospheric breadth behind a haunting central figure, while “Soul Sister” feels more straightforward from the start, at least within the context of Summer of Crush. Acoustic and dreamy electric guitars meet with keyboards, and a return-t0-earth vocal from Harting is presented in a synth-backed chorus. Near the end, the chorus of “I am You 2” gets a revisit, and as though just in case the album’s underlying symmetry wasn’t laid bare enough, Harting brings back the Morricone ramble in his guitar for “East West Door,” a soft programmed beat behind giving one last sense of motion as Summer of Crush marches to its finish.

Worth noting in summary that as Kristian Harting‘s second album makes its way through these varied realizations, it does so with little to no fullness of self. That is to say, while there’s going to be a certain amount of indulgence in the creative process — it’s a solo record; if there wasn’t, it wouldn’t exist — Summer of Crush is too busy actually being vibrant to revel in its vibrancy. Add to that the fact that it’s such a quick listen front-to-back and that even its longest cut is well under five minutes, and a listener could hardly accuse Harting of being pretentious. Rather, Summer of Crush arrives as the product of a genuinely open, individual creative process, and one that only seems geared toward growth. It is an even more satisfying experience on repeat visits.

Kristian Harting on Thee Facebooks

Kristian Harting on Twitter

Kristian Harting website

Exile on Mainstream

Sydney heavy post-rockers We Lost the Sea initially released their latest album, Departure Songs (review here), this summer, but it’s been picked up for a label-backed issue via Translation Loss next month, and if you heard it, there’s really no mystery as to why. Lush in its textures but still human-sounding in a this-might-be-able-to-be-replicated-on-stage kind of way, its atmospheric crux was as much emotional as sonic, and particularly for an instrumental band, its songs seemed to evoke precisely the kind of wistfulness that the band intended.

More about their intentions — including some of the direct themes they’re drawing from throughout — follows in the news about the Departure Songs release on Translation Loss. If you haven’t yet had the chance to take a listen to the tracks, they’re below courtesy of We Lost the Sea‘s Bandcamp. Well worth your time:

WE LOST THE SEA to Release New Album ‘Departure Songs’ November 27

Australian Post-Rock Pack Creates Cinematic Instrumental Atmospherics

Progressive instrumental heavy rock band WE LOST THE SEA will release its new LP, Departure Songs, on November 27 via Translation Loss Records. The Australian sextet, which calls its sound, “an unstoppable force meets an immovable object” and “crushing guitar noise with post-rock atmospherics”, recorded the album at Sydney’s 301 Studios (Coldplay, Chvrches, Muse) with producer Tim Carr. Departure Songs is the follow-up to WE LOST THE SEA’s 2012 release, The Quietest Place On Earth, a recording that was hailed as “a ride of despair, aggression and melancholy filled to the brim with emotion.”

A conceptual album with song titles and themes inspired by actual events, Departure Songs pairs heavy subject matter with the group’s depth-filled, melancholic, yet emotionally charged music. “A Gallant Gentleman” is a sound story about Laurence Oats, an English cavalry officer and explorer who, during an expedition to the Antarctic, willingly committed an act of self-sacrifice when aware that his ill health was compromising his companions’ chances of survival. “Challenger” pays homage to the Space Shuttle Challenger and its brave crew who perished on January 28, 1986. “Bogatyri” is a tribute to Valeri Bezpalov, Alexie Ananenko and Boris Baranov — aka “the suicide squad” — who gave their lives diving to the depths of the Ukraine’s Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in order to open its floodgates, saving much of Europe from deadly nuclear fallout. Finally, “The Last Dive of David Shaw” honors the Australian scuba diver, technical diver — one of only 11 people who have dived below a depth of 240 metres (800 ft) on self-contained underwater breathing apparatus — who gave his life in “Bushman’s Hole” (believed to be the sixth-deepest submerged freshwater cave (or sinkhole) in the world) while attempting to recover the body of Deon Dreyer, a South African diver who had died in the same spot ten years previously.

“‘Departure Songs’ is about failed journeys and it tells the stories of those who have gone above and beyond their duty as humans and sacrificed themselves for others for honorable reasons,” says the band. “It is also a tribute to our late friend and front man, Chris Torpy. It is about those that have left us and moved on. Each song on this album has a themed attached to it; almost like the song’s lyrics, telling a story. All of the stories are from history and about real people. Part of the band’s creative process was and is to find themes that fit the music and tell stories like that. Epic stories for epic songs. It helps give context, narrative and character.”

WE LOST THE SEA creates music that incorporates expression, pensive atmospherics melody, dynamics and crushing heaviness that, while seeming and sounding to be downbeat and somber, is also at once appreciative, commemorative, remembering and celebratory. A cathartic experience of sadness and perseverance encapsulated in five amazing instrumental passages, Departure Songs will come housed in a four panel heavyweight wallet with a 12 page booklet CD. The album will also be released on LP (packaged as a 2xLP gatefold), available in both black and limited colored vinyl, with accompanying 12 page / 12″ booklet.

Track listing:
1.) A Gallant Gentleman
2.) Bogatyri
3.) The Last Dive of David Shaw
4.) Challenger part 1: Flight
5.) Challenger part 2: A Swan Song

Departure Songs is available to pre-order now at this location.

WE LOST THE SEA features Mark Owen (guitar), Matt Harvey (guitar), Brendon Warner (guitar), Kieran Elliott (bass), Matthew Kelly (piano, keyboards) and Nathaniel D’Ugo (drums).

http://translationlossrecords.bigcartel.com/
https://www.facebook.com/welostthesea
https://twitter.com/welostthesea
http://welostthesea.bandcamp.com/
http://www.welostthesea.com/

We Lost the Sea, Departure Songs (2015)

I was hoping I’d get around to posting my interview with Lee Dorrian before With the Dead were announced for Roadburn 2016. He didn’t come right out and say that his new, post-Cathedral project would be taking part in his curated day at the fest, but he didn’t not say it either, and that was good enough for me. So it goes. If you haven’t heard it yet, With the Dead‘s self-titled debut (review pending) is excellent. All rolling groove, dirty as hell, low on bullshit and high on pills.

So yeah, maybe it’s not a huge surprise they’re playing, but still cool. A special set from Death Alley, whose debut, Black Magick Boogieland (review here), I had on just the other day on the way to work because nothing else seemed to be waking me up billed as “And Friends” reminds me of the tribute to Selim Lemouchi at the fest in 2014 that was among the most moving moments I’ve ever witnessed there, especially with Farida Lemouchi, Selim‘s sister and former vocalist of The Devil’s Blood, involved. But she sings a guest spot on Death Alley‘s LP as well, and I expect with the material from their record it’ll be a rager through and through.

For details, we turn to the PR wire:

WITH THE DEAD added to Lee Dorrian’s curated event, plus special DEATH ALLEY set confirmed

First confirmed live appearance for WITH THE DEAD
DEATH ALLEY will perform a special set featuring guest musicians including Farida Lemouchi

WITH THE DEAD

When we invited Lee Dorrian to be our 2016 curator, WITH THE DEAD was yet to be unleashed on the world. As snippets were released, and excitement mounted, we held out a bit of hope that WITH THE DEAD would make the transition from studio project to fully fledged live band.

Lee commented: “I am extremely pleased to announce the very first confirmed live appearance of my new band WITH THE DEAD. We will be grimacing the main stage of 013 at my curated event, Rituals For The Blind Dead, on Friday 15th April. Following the overwhelmingly positive response to the release our debut album, we felt the need to show our gratitude and commit to some special live performances. With me being so involved in Roadburn 2016, it seemed like the perfect opportunity for us to step up to the altar of heaviness and sacrifice our lamented souls to all in attendance.”

For the uninitiated, the WITH THE DEAD album was put together by an unholy trinity of doom – with individual reputations for contributing to some of the most bowel shakingly heavy output of the last twenty years. Dorrian joined forces with Tim Bagshaw (Electric Wizard, Ramesses, Serpentine Path) and Mark Greening (Electric Wizard, Ramesses) to lay down the six tracks that make up With The Dead’s self titled debut.

WITH THE DEAD have swaggered into 2015 without much in the way of fanfare, but they’re already creating enormous waves. With further announcements due as to exactly how these songs will be brought to life, we’re already beyond excited to see this nihilistic doom live at Roadburn 2016.

To find out more about WITH THE DEAD at Roadburn, click HERE

DEATH ALLEY

Spawned from the filthy sewers and dark basements of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, DEATH ALLEY deliver heavy punked-out proto-metal in spades. The band, revolving around former The Devil’s Blood guitarist Oeds Beydals and ex-members of Gewapend Beton and Mühr, released one the best heavy rock debuts of 2015, Black Magick Boogieland.

As there’s such a bond between DEATH ALLEY and Roadburn – the band not only played the 2014 Hard Rock Hideout, based on the Over Under / Dead Man’s Bones’ 7, while Mühr did their final show, Oeds Beydals was also invited for a jam session at Mikael Åkerfeldt’s curated event, and payed a very poignant tribute to Selim Lemouchi on the main stage with the remaining enemies – DEATH ALLEY will come full circle at Roadburn 2016.

Bringing Farida Lemouchi to the 2016 festival, plus inviting some other assorted friends for their performance as well, we can only expect a very special set by DEATH ALLEY, revolving around compelling tracks like Supernatural Predator.
Alongside DEATH ALLEY’s Roadburn performance, Van Records will put out Oeds Beydals’ Roadburn 2014 performance on vinyl too, turning Roadburn 2016 into a benchmark moment for DEATH ALLEY!

To find out more about DEATH ALLEY click HERE

FURTHER TICKETING INFORMATION

Tickets to Roadburn Festival 2016 are now on sale! Ticket sales got off to an incredible start with many of the available weekend tickets being snapped up within the first few days. There are still 3-day, 4-day, and Sunday tickets on sale. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday day tickets will be released at a a later date.
It is also possible to book camping tickets via Ticketmaster.

Click HERE for all the details.

http://www.roadburn.com/
https://www.facebook.com/roadburnfestival
https://twitter.com/roadburnfest

Death Alley, “Supernatural Predator”

Taking its acronym title ATGCLVLSSCAP from the initials of the 12 zodiac signs, the new full-length from Norwegian experimentalists Ulver will be released Jan. 22, 2016, via the new imprint House of Mythology. It’s a 2LP comprised largely of live explorations built on in the studio — what a lot of bands would probably call “jams” — and continues Ulver‘s long-since-established thread of doing whatever the hell they want, or at very least whatever the hell Kristoffer Rygg wants, while remaining utterly brilliant. I’ve heard none of it to-date, but remembering how righteous they were at Roadburn 2012 supporting the then-new covers/interpretations offering, Childhood’s End, and, you know, the rest of their work, brilliance is honestly the safer bet.

Stay tuned for more in-depth critical insight like the above. What’s that? PR wire? Yeah, sure. Here’s the PR wire with much verbiage:

ULVER? REVEAL DETAILS OF A BRAND NEW ALBUM ATGCLVLSSCAP ON NEW LABEL HOUSE OF MYTHOLOGY JANUARY 22ND 2016

House of Mythology proudly presents the new Ulver gatefold double album vinyl (also available on CD), with over 80 minutes worth of material. This album consists of multitracked and studio-enhanced live, mostly improvisational, rock and electronic soundscapes, 2/3 of which has never been heard before.

In Newton’s basic laws of motion – those which lie at the heart of modern physics – the paradox stands that constant velocity is essentially as natural as being at rest. True to form, in the now twenty-two-year-old life of Ulver, only one constant has remained, that being a forward-driving spirit that has moved this mercurial Norwegian-based collective forever through challenges and adventure anew, irrespective of reductive genre pigeonholing. Moreover, their latest voyage into the unknown is no different, marking another new chapter for an outfit characterised by wild and inspiring unpredictability, along with a fresh triumph for one of modern music’s most iconoclastic forces.

The basis for ATGCLVLSSCAP – which the band has been working with under the moniker ‘12’ – arrives from recordings made at twelve different live shows that Ulver performed in February 2014, in which band the band vaulted into the deep end of an improvisatory approach to their performance. As Kristoffer Rygg, the prime mover of the band since its inception puts it wryly, “The tour was to be an experiment, kind of loose and scary for a band as ‘set in their ways’ as us.”

Although the line-up for these shows remained similar to that on 2012’s psychedelic covers album Childhood’s End, and the band had taken succour from the sounds and headspace they explored on that record, this was another break into new territory, using their live energy and spontaneity as the fuel for aural explorations that would surprise even the band themselves. “At the end of any album process, I can’t wait to do something else,” comments Rygg. ”So yeah, it is partly borne out of that feeling, being a bit bored with the circumstances. It was quite liberating to do something more in the moment. One night a jam could be five minutes, and the next it could be fifteen. We couldn’t have captured these songs in a studio environment.”

Once the tour was over, it was down to his bandmate Daniel O’Sullivan to take charge of these multitrack recordings, sculpting and editing hours of material in his North London enclave, formerly owned by charismatic artist and Coil associate, the sadly departed Ian Johnstone – as O’Sullivan noted, “The hungry ghosts of the now empty house appear to be burrowing into this record.” Anders Møller, Kristoffer Rygg and Tore Ylwizaker got involved a bit later, honing things from their end in Subsonic Society and Oak Hill Studios, Oslo, before the vinyl cutting process took place at THD Vinyl Mastering, also in Oslo, in which the band was fully involved in the crucial initial cut of the 14” lacquer. What resulted is the widescreen sweep and atmospheric splendour of ATGCLVLSSCAP, ultimately a piece of work that exists above and beyond any conventional live recording, rather a hallucinatory travelogue as potent an experience to bear witness to as it was to construct.

As always in the world of Ulver, influences are disparate and diverse, yet as Rygg notes, “It’s quite tributary in a way, there are clear nods to sounds from the past.” Many of these dwell in progressive, electronic and krautrock realms, heralding a lifelong love within the band for the music of the 70s – the fiery mantras of ‘Om Hanumate Namah’ and the motorik drive of ‘Cromagnosis’ draw an astral trajectory between the propulsion of Kraftwerk/Neu! and the ritualistic intensity of prime Amon Düül II, whilst the spirits of both Klaus Schulze and John Carpenter are audible in the electronic soundscapes of ‘Desert/Dawn’, not to mention the Bernard Herrmann touch in the closing ‘Solaris’. Even when the band revisits an earlier gem from 2000’s Perdition City album, as on ‘Nowhere (Sweet Sixteen)’, its reinvigorated by their expansive and emotionally charged approach.

“We always feel like, independently of what kind of instrumentation we use, we’re still playing the same nocturnal stuff,” laughs Rygg. “There are a few motifs that keep recurring all the time in what we do, and if it’s in a rock form or an electronic form, it’s always there.” Yet as true as this may be, by shaking up their creative process, the band have summoned up a unique testimony to the creative power of a mighty force who remain blissfully free of genre or convention, ATGCLVLSSCAP is progressive in the truest sense of the word, a record that may be this capricious band’s pièce-de-resistance. (words by Jimmy Martin)

As a sidenote:

*The album title is an acronym for the twelve signs of the Zodiac, from Aries to Pisces

http://www.jester-records.com/ulver/ulver.html
https://www.facebook.com/Ulver-31166220421
https://twitter.com/ulverofficial
https://ulver.bandcamp.com
http://www.houseofmythology.com/

Ulver, Childhood’s End (2012)

[Note: Press play above to hear Sunder’s Sunder in full. It’s out tomorrow, Oct. 30, on Tee Pee and Crusher Records. Preorders are available from Tee Pee, at iTunes or on Amazon.]

Don’t call it a reboot. More like a do-over, maybe. The story goes like this: Early in 2014, a band from Lyon, France, called The Socks released their self-titled debut (review here) on Small Stone Records. Good album. Very much in the post-Kadavar/Graveyard retro-boogie vein, but ably executed, particularly for a young band on their first LP. About a year and a half later, that same band — identical lineup: guitarist/vocalist Julien Méret, drummer Jessy Ensenat, bassist Vincent Melay and organist/backing vocalist Nicolas Baud — reemerge as Sunder, and take a second shot at a self-titled debut, this time through Tee Pee and Crusher Records.

Near as I can tell, the major jump is in Baud swapping out a guitar for keys, but one of the most striking aspects of Sunder‘s first album is that it really is far enough away from what these guys were doing as The Socks to justify being a different band. Songs like the fortified opening salvo of “Deadly Flower,” “Daughter of the Snows” and “Cursed Wolf” — which were also included on Sunder‘s demo (review here) earlier this year — give the listener an immediately fuller sense of breadth, incorporating elements culled from earlier psychedelic and garage rock, less directly indebted to one band or another than to an aesthetic itself that, while undeniably drawn from these decades-old tenets, sounds refreshing for the nuance and melody with which Sunder carry it. If this is a do-over, they’re doing it right.

As with their prior incarnation, Sunder‘s debut arrives with remarkably little pretense. Its nine tracks comprise a thoroughly manageable 33:43, and from the beginning organ line and fuzz of “Deadly Flower” (video premiere here), the foursome maintain an efficient balance of resonant hooks, open vibe and pervasive groove. Nothing’s overcooked, but the material feels thought through and vocal arrangements tap Beatles-style harmonies without falling into a post-Uncle Acid trap, and while “Daughter of the Snows” has some of that Graveyardian swing, Sunder bring more than enough of their own personality to make the shuffle fit with the surrounding material, “Cursed Wolf” playing back and forth on the throttle early before shifting into a sun-caked midsection fuzz jam that seems like it’s going to be a departure point for a build but winds up trailing back to the verse and chorus to close — just a little break from reality, then. A welcome one at that.

“Wings of the Sun” is complementary in its trippy spirit and vocal harmonies, natural sounding but still leaving space for Ensenat‘s drums to thud out an easily-followed beat or for Baud‘s organ to bolster the overarching lysergic nostalgia, which presents a mood much more 1966 than 1971, leaning well over the cusp of the psychedelic era as though — not to harp on it — trying to capture a moment between Rubber Soul and Revolver, plus the organ and minus the cynicism that would later inform what became heavy rock. Sunder‘s Sunder has several legitimately gorgeous stretches, and “Wings of the Sun” is one of them.

Centerpiece “Bleeding Trees” follows and is perhaps even more of an accomplishment, since not only does it bask in the same warmth as the song before it, but it pushes that warmth to a weightier purpose. A darker turn in the verse, shoutier in its bridge, more direct in its choral fullness, “Bleeding Trees” brings out Mellotron backing for a high-point guitar solo and is still done in under four minutes, setting a quick return to the sun with “Eye Catcher,” an A-side in the making that freaks out on fuzz in its first half and goes buzzsaw in its second, all while keeping a fast pace and holding firm to the energy Sunder have shown throughout.

Méret presides over the subsequent “Thunder and Storm” with crisp frontman presence, though the backing he receives from the layered keys and Ensenat‘s what-did-the-drum-do-to-deserve-such-a-beating snare is not to be understated. These quick bursts in “Eye Catcher” and “Thunder and Storm” help propel Sunder‘s second half, but also add to the complexity of the first, expanding the album’s opening progression by showing the band aren’t necessarily beholden to one tack or another. The dynamic is emphasized in the slowdown of  the love-lorn “Don’t Leave it Behind,” an open crash, choice key line and balance in the high and low end showing just how deep in the mix Sunder can do while Méret — if I’m not mistaken — turns the vocals backwards from within the swirl. Closing out, the swaggering roll of “Lucid Dreams” is as close as they come to the five-minute mark at 4:51 and a legitimately earned victory lap through another memorable chorus.

It’s no small thing for a band to stop what they’re doing, look around them, decide they want to be somewhere else sonically, and then actually make that change happen. Not only to do it, but to do it without changing a lineup. Sunder‘s first LP is a standout release for the context in which it arrives, but it’s the songwriting and the potential the band shows in their arrangements that make it one of 2015’s strongest debuts, as brazen as it is completely realized. One hopes in listening to it that Méret, Baud, Melay and Ensenat have found the place they’ll call home in terms of style, because what they’re doing across these tracks suits them well and seems to be ripe for any number of avenues for future progression.

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