I’m not saying I’ve heard it yet or anything, or that I wrote a bio for it that I’ll be posting here sooner or later, but Mondo Drag‘s new album, The Occultation of Light, for which you can see the art and tracklisting below, is a pretty significant step forward from where they were on earlier-2015’s much-adored self-titled LP (review here), and while it’s a quick turnaround from the Cali-via-Iowa outfit in terms of releases, it’s worth remembering that the self-titled was actually recorded back in 2012, as well as with a different rhythm section.

The bigger shift is in terms of sound, however. The Occultation of Light pretty brazenly takes on classic prog ideals while holding onto the open, lysergic vibes of its predecessors, and its songs retain the richness that made the self-titled so ready for repeat listens. I’m sure I’ll have more about it before the release — like that bio that I’m not saying I wrote — but here are some preliminaries:

Mondo Drag Release “The Occultation of Light” on Feb. 26 via RidingEasy Records

Mondo Drag, the transplated Bay Area band (originally hailing from Iowa), release The Occultation of Light on Feb. 26, 2016.

“Each of our albums has directional changes in songwriting and this third chapter is no exception,” says vocalist/keyboardist John Gamino. “Since moving to Oakland, we’ve been privy to the large amount of music that flows through a major cultural center. We’ve seen legendary acts like Magma, King Crimson, Goblin, and Yes. We are always trying to expand our sonic range and we definitely explore some new areas on the new album that we’ve not been to before.”

Produced by fellow Bay Area resident Phil Manley (Trans Am, Wooden Shjips), the album was recorded live, tracked and mixed on analog tape at El Studio in San Francisco following a tour with Electric Citizen and Slow Season.

The Occultation of Light track list:
Initiation
Out of Sight
Rising Omen
Incendiary Procession
The Eye
In Your Head (Parts I & II)
Dying Light
Ride The Sky (Bonus Track)

Mondo Drag is John Gamino (vocals/keys), Nolan Girard (guitar/synth), Jake Sheley (guitar), Andrew O’Neil (bass) and Ventura Garcia (drums).

http://www.mondodrag.com
https://www.facebook.com/mondodrag
https://twitter.com/mondodrag
https://www.instagram.com/mondodrag
http://www.ridingeasyrecs.com

Mondo Drag, Live at Saint Vitus Bar, July 18, 2015

I’ve been pretty up front all along about my enduring affection for Virginian chaos weavers Lord, so I feel no need to search for excuses for posting this live video of their full-set from this summer’s inaugural Maryland Doom Fest. I dig the band, so there you go. Last month, they updated about the progress for their new album, Awake, which will be the follow-up to last year’s Alive in Golgotha EP (review here) and 2011’s Chief (review here), saying that the mix had been finalized and they’d be setting a release date soon, but part of the excitement with Lord is that you never really know. They could drop it tomorrow or they could completely revamp their lineup (again) and take three years off. They’re Lord. They’re not kidding when they say “No Explanations Necessary.”

Unsurprisingly, they crushed it at the Maryland Doom Fest in front of a not-quite-hometown-but-certainly-familiar crowd, playing new material and old. They’ve reportedly started writing for the follow-up to Alive already, and they’ve continued to do regional live shows, playing with the likes of Fistula and The Osedax, so they’re keeping plenty busy while they wait on artwork and so on for the pending release. One never really knows how things are going to shake out with Lord until they’re already shook, but a surge in activity would definitely be welcome by me, as I’ve said before, and I think the live video below gives a pretty good sense of why as they push into realms of extreme sludge and grind that no one else seems to capture with the same thickness or intensity. If you get the chance to check it out, hope you dig.

Filming was done by Jim Rosenkrans of LeadFoot Productions. Setlist and other info follow:

Lord, Live at Maryland Doom Fest 2015

Setlist:
1) breathe
2) what you may call the devil is amongst us
3) reset the wave
4) no explanations necessary
5) strangers on the road
6) one step away

The final mix for our new full length, Awake, has just been completed by Vince Burke! We’re hoping to get it out as quickly as possible. While we’re waiting on the final aspects (artwork, etc.), we’ve started writing new material and are already 2 songs deep into the next release. The fire’s been stoked and we’re keep the momentum going. Stay tuned for release info coming very soon!!!

Chris Dugay-Bass
Willy Rivera-Guitars/Vocals
Kevin “Skip” Marimow-Drums/Percussion
Todd Weurhmann-Guitars/Vocals
Steven Kerchner-Lead Vocals/Synths

Lord on Thee Facebooks

Heavy Hound Records

Maryland Doom Fest on Thee Facebooks

LeadFoot Productions on YouTube

Heavygaze two-piece Low Flying Hawks — also stylized as one word — will release their debut full-length, the spacious Kofuku (there’s an accent over the ‘o’ that I can’t seem to replicate), on Feb. 12, 2016, via Magnetic Eye Records. The duo offer pretty rare heft for something that might be classified as post-anything, and guest drum spots from Trevor Dunn and Dale Crover are enough to make me wonder who the hell these guys actually are, so I guess as far as being provocative goes, mission accomplished. When I find out more, I’ll let you know, but you can stream a couple tracks below for the time being.

And as always, the PR wire has the goods:

LOW FLYING HAWKS to release debut album K?fuku on Magnetic Eye Records

Kofuku by Low Flying Hawks will be released on 12th February 2016

Magnetic Eye Records is thrilled to announce the signing of Low Flying Hawks, and with it the release of their debut album K?fuku in February next year.

Working with producer Toshi Kasai (Big Business) at Sounds of Sirens studio in LA, and featuring Trevor Dunn (Mr Bungle, Melvins) and Dale Crover (Melvins, Nirvana) on drums, Low Flying Hawks is a project that consists chiefly of longtime collaborators and enigmatic multi-instrumentalists EHA and AAL.

Compellingly dark in content and undeniably heavy in tone, K?fuku – which comes from the Japanese word for ‘Surrender’ – has the ability to both satisfy and mollify listeners with an unerring confidence, that over ten tracks draws in funereal doom, grey echoes and psychedelic waves of post-rock disorder. A work that in no small part is informed by a diverse array of influences which include the likes of Richard D James, Estonian composer Arvo Pärt and bands such as Black Sabbath and My Bloody Valentine.

Album highlight ‘Ruins’ stands tall as a gripping arrangement that merges metal, rock and roll and crawling, corporeal drumming with the lysergic/elegiac mirrors in songwriter EHA’s mind. Whereas prolonged pieces such as ‘Wolves Within Wolves’ and ‘Destruction Complete’ explore profound themes such as loss and rebirth, amid the dramatic hefts in mood and guitar play that switch freely between seismic drone; noise-rock and shoegaze. All of which make K?fuku a remarkably moving experience.

K?fuku by Low Flying Hawks will be released on 12th February 2016 through the New York-based label, Magnetic Eye Records.

Low Flying Hawks:
EHA – Guitar, Bass, Lead Vocals
AAL – Guitar, Bass, Additional Vocals

Track Listing:
1. Kofuku
2. Now, Apocalypse
3. Seafloor Fathoms
4. Fading Sun
5. White Temple
6. Kokkai
7. Ruins
8. Wolves Within Wolves
9. Till The Night Meets The Light
10. Destruction Complete

https://www.facebook.com/Lowflyinghawks-1626755734268513/
https://twitter.com/lowflyinghawks
http://www.merhq.net/
https://www.facebook.com/MagneticEyeRecords/
http://store.merhq.com/album/k-fuku

Low Flying Hawks, Kofuku (2016)

Did you know Black Shape of Nexus made a 24-hour-long song? I didn’t. I’m about 10 minutes in and so far it’s droney as hell. It may not pick up at all. It may be a day’s worth of drone. I’m okay with that. I’m just glad it exists. Hell, I might even add it to The Obelisk Radio just to be a jerk. I have no idea why it isn’t on their Bandcamp. They should divide it up and press it to 24 individual hour-long CDRs, hand-number them, make 10 box set editions, send me one, and then never speak of it again. It’ll be like a secret.

Now, onto something that has nothing to do either with that or with Carrier, their new full-length being mastered by Rashad Becker that will allegedly be released CD/2LP-style in March 2016 via Exile on Mainstream. Bassist Stefan Kuhn helms the label Meta Matter Records, and in conjunction with Wolfbiker Records, he’ll release the Black Shape of Nexus compilation, Nothing New: 10 Years of Fresh Air Enjoyment, marking in the Mannheim-based band’s special, self-deprecating way their first decade of existence.

The comp brings together tracks from splits with Kodiak (2010) and Lazarus Blackstar (2014; streamed here) as well as other odds and ends that haven’t been pressed to CD before. Release date, if you didn’t see it in the headline, is Dec. 4. Art, info, links and the stream of the five included tracks follow here — in that order because I’m just that goddamned organized:

BLACK SHAPE OF NEXUS from Mannheim / Germany, with a compilation of material which was never before released on compact disc. Contains the two songs from the split LP w/ LAZARUS BLACKSTAR, the song from the CLONE Vol. IV Sampler, the track from the split LP w/ KODIAK and one more track from the same session, which was only released as download until now.

Pressing Info: 500 copies. Split label release w/ WOLFBIKER RECORDS.

*** Release Date: 04. December 2015 ***

MMR 012

https://www.facebook.com/blackshapeofnexus/
http://www.blackshapeofnexus.com/
http://metamatterrecords.blogspot.de/p/bson-nothing-new.html
https://metamatterrecords.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/meta.matter.rec
http://www.wolfbiker.de/

Black Shape of Nexus, Nothing New: 10 Years of Fresh Air Enjoyment (2015)

[Please note: Click play above to stream Vargariis in full. It’s out Dec. 4 on Soulseller Records. Thanks to Tombstones and Soulseller for letting me host the stream.]

It may or may not be right to call such barbarity progressive, but there is definitely a sense of growth in Vargariis, the new full-length from Norwegian trio Tombstones. Released by Soulseller Records, it’s their fourth long-player — something I also said about late-2013’s Red Skies and Dead Eyes (review here) — and finds the lineup of guitarist/vocalist Bjørn-Viggo Godtland, bassist/vocalist Ole Christian Helstad and drummer Markus Støle in an entirely more brutal, vicious era. Granted, the rather sizable wall of fuzz in Godtland and Helstad‘s tones remains, but they’ve shifted the context in which that wall is constructed, and Vargariis‘ six-track/56-minute run is made simultaneously broader and more oppressive by flourishes of sludge and black metal extremism, as on “The Dark High,” which starts side B, or “Oceans of Consciousness” right before it.

On one side or the other, each track hovers around the nine-minute mark in runtime, but what Tombstones do with that time is varied in aesthetic despite being universally dark appropriate to the tones of the album’s cover art. Like the release before it, Vargariis was recorded live, tracked by Joona Hassinen at at Studio Underjord in Norrköping, Sweden (Audun Strype mastered), but the two are very different in terms of concept and execution, Tombstones having grown thanks to some considerable roadtime the last couple years into a more patient, sonically ambitious and lethally grooving outfit, willing and capable to bend the genre of doom to suit their purposes rather than the other way around.

They start with a slow-motion pummel in “Barren Fields,” which seems to nod at Conan in its tablesetting opening riff before shifting into more hypnotic fare. For a release so aggressive on the whole, it doesn’t seem appropriate to think of Vargariis‘ leadoff track as easing the listener into the rest of what’s to come, but a big function of “Barren Fields” seems to be in establishing a baseline — also a bassline; that roll is thick — on which the rest of the songs continue to build. Godtland and Helstad trade vocals effectively as Støle, who makes his first studio appearance with the band here, bashes away beneath the morass, a midsection break providing a breather before a quickened ending movement grows more and more headbang-worthy as it thrusts toward an inevitable conclusion. Bass and drums start the semi-title-track, “And When the Heathen Strive, Vargariis Rise,” and the snare continues to be a punctuating factor through an extended intro and into a punishing slowdown of corresponding screams and growls that sets up a stretch of chugging, abrasive sludge topped with screams, moving into roaring shouts, Tombstones clearly having as much fun toying with the instrumental back and forth as that in the vocals.

There’s not much by way of hope to be found in any of it, but the guitar takes just a touch of brightness to its tone in the final third before a sudden drop-off in the drums brings about a quick fade and the blasting, charred-black opening of “Oceans of Consciousness” to stamp it out. They don’t keep up the onslaught for the entire 10:14 (the longest runtime), but play again with tradeoffs and heathen and sludge nod before all the bombast and gutturalism crashes to a halt at about 5:20 in and they begin the linear build that will consume the rest of the track with minimalist rumble and percussive gruel. Even in the quietest reaches, “Oceans of Consciousness” is filthy, and the lead that marks the beginning of the last minute is likewise, but by the time they get there, Tombstones‘ plunder is long-since established and the only thing to do is sit back and be impressed at how they manage to make mud so dense flow so well.

Vargariis is a definitive step forward from Red Skies and Dead Eyes because where that album played one side off another somewhere between stoner and doom impulses — and did it well, I’ll add — Vargariis flagrantly refuses to be bound by those or other constrictions, and where the predecessor worked its two sides with a duality in accord with its title, Vargariis is multi-faceted throughout and cohesive in spite of which element might be forward at any given moment. Even for appearing on a band’s fourth record, that cohesion is an impressive feat in “Oceans of Consciousness,” and the second half of Vargariis continues to build outward from there, “The Dark High” conjuring darkened swirl early on, breaking in the middle and finishing with more uptempo push à la “When the Heathen Strive, Vargariis Rise” as Støle distinguishes himself on drums and a long-sustained scream reminds of how effective harsh vocals can be when put to the right use. In addition to supplying a surprising dual-vocal hook, “Underneath the Earth” also brings about the most crushing tones on offer early on before shifting after six minutes — via standalone drums — into a fuzzier build that closes out.

That fuzzier vibe holds firm as the drums lead the way into “Pyre of the Cloth,” which is something of a further departure from the material before it in terms of its overall affect, though the oppressive heft is certainly a factor, particularly in the faster parts of the first half. There’s something psychedelic lurking beneath the surface ooze of “Pyre of the Cloth,” however, that isn’t in songs like “The Dark High,” and the closer locks in a central groove even as it rolls its way past excruciatingly slow sludge and higher-speed chugging Sleepism, ultimately finishing on the latter, and that winds up being the uniting factor holding it together. Like the bulk of the album before it, “Pyre of the Cloth” works structurally to hold together material that’s deceptively broad beyond its superficial drive toward the extreme, and most importantly, it shows Tombstones four albums in as a band whose palette is continuing to expand and who are clearly making the most of the experience they’re gaining along their way.

Tombstones on Thee Facebooks

Tombstones on Bandcamp

Soulseller Records

Soulseller Records on Thee Facebooks

This news came through the other day, but now that tickets are on sale, I didn’t figure anyone would really mind a retread of the fact that Neurosis have added Sleep and Shellac as openers for their 30th anniversary shows next March in San Francisco. They’ll play two nights at the Regency Ballroom March 4 and 5, doing career-spanning sets that they’ll be taking overseas a month later to perform again at Roadburn 2016. Hard to imagine a career as landmark as theirs being summed up even in two nights, but no doubt that 30 years after the fact, Neurosis know what the hell they’re doing.

And they’re certainly keeping good company. The PR wire has it like this:

NEUROSIS Announces Sleep And Shellac As Support For San Francisco 30th Anniversary Shows; Tickets Go On Sale Tomorrow

NEUROSIS announces the details for the band’s upcoming stateside 30th anniversary performances set to take place in San Francisco this March, including the opening support acts and ticket links.

Passing their thirty-year mark this Winter, NEUROSIS will celebrate this milestone with two stateside performances on March 4th and 5th at San Francisco’s Regency Ballroom, and then two more sets on April 16th and 17th headlining Roadburn Festival in Tilburg, The Netherlands. At these four very special performances, NEUROSIS will deliver a massive two-hour set list, invoking material spanning their entire recorded lineage, from 1987’s Pain Of Mind through 2012’s Honor Found In Decay, with varied set lists at each event. These sets will span the band’s entire career, showcasing the comprehensive evolution, from their primitive beginnings into the seminal, epic outfit of today, as the band’s ever evolving, sonic palette has become a genre-defying template for underground music over the last three decades, avoiding genre classification.

Support for NEUROSIS on Friday, March 4th will be provided by longtime Bay Area comrades and masters of the sonic doom riff, Sleep. Support for Saturday, March 5th will be handled by Steve Albini’s minimalist rock outfit, Shellac, also longtime friends of NEUROSIS through Albini’s involvement in helping capture much of the band’s recorded material since before the turn of the millennium.

Tickets to all of NEUROSIS’ San Francisco and Netherlands 30th Anniversary shows go on sale, Friday, November 20th, at Noon Pacific.

NEUROSIS 30th Anniversary Performances:
3/04/2016 Regency Ballroom – San Francisco, CA
3/05/2016 Regency Ballroom – San Francisco, CA
4/15/2015 Hat Patronaat – Roadburn, Tilburg, NL *STEVE VON TILL and SCOTT KELLY solo performances
4/16/2016 013 – Roadburn, Tilburg, NL
4/17/2016 013 – Roadburn, Tilburg, NL

http://www.neurosis.com
http://www.facebook.com/officialneurosis
http://www.twitter.com/neurosisoakland
http://www.neurotrecordings.com
http://www.facebook.com/neurotrecordings

Neurosis, Live at the Saint Vitus Bar, Brooklyn, Aug. 10, 2015

Nashville four-piece All Them Witches may or may not be about to unveil their first European tour dates, presumably for sometime early in 2016, but one never knows. It’s a prospect they teased the other day by posting, “Europe: you are about to be very happy,” which would be a notable change for Europe of late, and whenever they do go, it will be in support of their newly-issued third album, Dying Surfer Meets His Maker (review here), the mellow vibes and resonant grooves of which continue to enthrall, and which they’ve already supported in the US alongside Kadavar and The Sword, which is no minor shakes as far as touring partners goes.

The reason I say early 2016 is more likely for a European run, in fact, is because All Them Witches will spend most of December and January on the road in the States, dipping into Canada for Montreal and Toronto shows but mostly focusing on the East and West Coasts, though hitting select spots between too. They’re setting themselves up for 2016 to be a pretty road-heavy year, but when they started touring to support their second album, Lightning at the Door (review here), they worked quickly to make wider intentions known. A prior European appearance had been confirmed for Desertfest Belgium in 2014 that fell through, but it seems like it won’t be long before they cover that ground as well. Could just as easily be a Spring tour in time for festival season that’s going to be announced as it could something prior. We’ll just have to wait and find out.

To support the tiding-over process, the band has newly revealed a video for Dying Surfer Meets His Maker‘s most raucous track, “Dirt Preachers.” The song, also an advance single from the album, is set to an animated narrative of wizardry, questing and I’m not even sure what else, but a demon shows up and all hell seems to break loose, so yeah, it’s fitting enough. If I’m not mistaken — and I’m not — they had given a sneak preview of the clip on Halloween before removing it again, but this time it seems to be out there permanently. Directed and animated by Chad VanGaalen, you can find it below, followed by the currently-confirmed tour dates. When I hear of more, I’ll post accordingly.

Enjoy:

All Them Witches, “Dirt Preachers” official video

All Them Witches on Tour:

NOVEMBER
28 Atlanta, GA – The EARL
29 Winston-Salem – The Garage *
30 Carrboro, NC – Cat’s Cradle *

DECEMBER
1 Charlottesville, VA – The Southern *
2 Washington, D.C. – Black Cat *
3 Philadelphia, PA – Boot & Saddle %
4 Brooklyn, NY – Rough Trade %
5 Boston, MA – Great Scott %
6 Ithaca, NY – The Haunt *!
8 Montreal, QC – Le Ritz *
9 Toronto, ON – Garrison *
10 Buffalo, NY – Studio at Waiting Room *!
11 Cleveland, OH – Beachland *
12 Rochester, NY – Bug Jar *!
13 Pittsburgh, PA – Brillobox *
15 Detroit, MI – Marble Bar *
16 Columbus, OH – Ace of Cups *
17 Grand Rapids, MI – Founders *
18 Milwaukee, WI – Cactus Club *
19 St. Paul, MN – Turf Club *
20 Indianapolis, IN – Hi-Fi *
^ with Chrome Pony
++with The Sword & KADAVAR
! with The Sword, Kadavar and Windhand
+ with The Sword
% with Slothrust
* with New Madrid
*! with New Madrid and King Buffalo

JANUARY
Wed. 13 – Louisville, KY – Zanzabar
Thu. 14 – Chicago, IL – Lincoln Hall + Schubas
Fri. 15 – Madison, WI – High Noon Saloon
Sat. 16 – St. Louis, MO – The Demo STL
Mon. 18 – Denver, CO – Larimer Lounge
Wed. 20 – Crystal Bay, NV – Red Room @ Crystal Bay Casino
Thu. 21 – San Francisco, CA – Rickshaw Stop
Fri. 22 – West Hollywood, CA – The Roxy Theatre
Sat. 23 – San Diego,CA – Casbah San Diego
Mon. 25 – Fullerton, CA – The Continental room
Tue. 26 – Phoenix, AZ – The Rebel Lounge
Wed. 27 – El Paso, TX – The Lowbrow Palace
Fri. 29 – Austin, TX – Stubb’s Austin
Sat. 30 – Dallas, TX – Club Dada

All Them Witches on Thee Facebooks

All Them Witches on Bandcamp

New West Records

Houston five-piece the Linus Pauling Quartet signed with Vincebus Eruptum Recordings — the label arm of the ultra-respected Italian ‘zine of the same name — earlier this year, and at the time, it was announced that their next full-length, Ampalanche, would be out this summer. Well, here we are talking about preorders, so obviously that didn’t happen. As usual of late, seems likely there was some delay in pressing the thing on the plant’s end. Turns out the only bummer about the vinyl resurgence has been the complete lack of infrastructure to sustain it. Whoops.

Doesn’t matter though, at least in this instance, because Linus Pauling Quartet‘s Ampalanche will be out on Jan. 15 as one to look forward to early in the New Year. Vincebus Eruptum cover artist Kabuto has helmed the thematically-appropriate piece that will adorn the front of the LP, and of course there will be multiple color editions of the platter itself, all of which will be available to order soon.

Editor of Vincebus Eruptum and head of the label Davide Pansolin — who also had a fascinating interview with the band in the ‘zine’s most recent issue that gave much insight into their origins and the Houston noise rock scene in the ’90s — shared his excitement about the release thusly:

I’m really proud, glad, excited, … to announce the official details about the new masterpiece by Houston’s band THE LINUS PAULING QUARTET!

The new awesome artwork by Kabuto is the best way to present “Ampalanche”, six tracks of rock’n’roll…no stoner-rock, no psychedelic music, no folk, no labels…it’s the best musical synthesis we ever listened!!!

The album will be officially released on the 15th of January 2016.

Limited edition vinyl (VELP010)

Ultra-limited edition of 100 hand-numbered (001/100) copies on coloured (colour #1 TBA) vinyl + inner + exclusive poster
Limited edition of 200 hand-numbered (101/300) copies on coloured (colour #2 TBA) vinyl + inner
Standard edition of 200 copies on black vinyl

Track-list:
A1 – Ampalanche
A2 – Slave-Sometimes
B1 – Planck
B2 – Brisket
B3 – Nico
B4 – Alive

A MASTERPIECE!

http://www.worshipguitars.org/LP4/
https://www.facebook.com/LinusPaulingQuartet/
https://www.facebook.com/vincebuseruptumassociation/
http://vincebuseruptum.bigcartel.com/products

Linus Pauling Quartet, “Space Truckin'” live at Novembeerfest 2015