Posted in Whathaveyou on June 23rd, 2016 by JJ Koczan
One never really knows where German outfit Deaf Proof are going to wind up on a release until they get there. This time around, the Freiburg trio come down to earth to meet up with the progressively-styled Holistic Hobos for a three-tracks-each split offering that brings out a heavy side of both. For Holistic Hobos, this marks their first outing since their 2013 Let Loose be Free EP, while Deaf Proof take a much different turn than the extended improv jams they brought out for 2015’s Blood Red Sky Sessions (review here), going for a more straightforward overall sound.
It’s my first listen to Holistic Hobos, and gives a positive impression of the four-piece. The two bands complement each other well on the six tracks, as you can hear via the players below, hoisted from the respective Bandcamp pages. Note that the physical version is CD digipak and that it’s limited to 100 copies. Just in case you were thinking you had time on it, you probably don’t.
Release announcement looks an awful lot like this:
Deaf Proof Holistic Hobos Split
Two heavy rocking bands of stony south-west-german origin gather to release some of their new tunes together on a split album.
Come on, there’s a fuzz-split-monstrosity emerging from south-west Germany: The Holistic Hobos from Stuttgart present their latest compositions. These are quiet psychedelic, sometimes grungy and with NWOBHM-style twin-guitars, always diversified and heavy. In the end it’s more than stoner and doom, if Baroness comes to your mind, this is more than reasonable.
The Freiburg trio Deaf Proof puts aside the jammy moments and most of the FX this time, only the fuzz pedal is cranked to 11, so the boys are rockin’ straightforward and kickin’ ass hard: Ouch ;) !
Last year, The Obelisk was proud to be among the presenters for the Northwest Hesh Fest, and it looks like Northwest Hesh Fest 2016 — set for Sept. 22-24 at Dante’s in Portland, Oregon — will be no different. I’ll have a ticket giveaway closer to the event, so keep an eye out for that, and the festival has just unveiled the lineup for each night, and it brings some formidable names.
Headliners are Red Fang, Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats, and Deafheaven, which I think would probably be enough on their own to draw a three-night crowd, but they’re joined by American Sharks, native Portlanders Witch Mountain, Diesto and Danava, as well as The Blood Royale, Banquet and Greenbeard.
American Sharks, Greenbeard and The Blood Royale hail from Austin, Texas, which makes sense as a complement to the Portland acts since American Icon, which puts together the festival, is based there as well. Of the non-headliner acts, that’s as far east as Northwest Hesh Fest 2016 looks, but in bringing aboard UK garage doom forerunners Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats, it extends its reach internationally for the first time. That’s a hell of an opening salvo to the rest of the world.
More to come as we get closer to September and the fest itself, but American Icon announced the lineup today and tickets are now on sale both for the individual nights — for which you can see the complete lineup breakdown below — and for a combined three-night pass. I won’t tell you what to do with your time, but this looks like an awful lot of fun:
NORTHWEST HESH FEST 2016
Sept 22-24 @ Dantes in Portland Oregon RED FANG-UNCLE ACID & THE DEADBEATS-DEAFHEAVEN American Sharks-Witch Mountain-Danava The Blood Royale-Diesto-Banquet-Greenbeard
[Click play above to hear ‘Artificial Light’ from Comet Control’s Center of the Maze. Album is out this Friday on Tee Pee Records.]
Though it spends much of its time engaged in a garage-in-space push, the prevailing vibe on Comet Control‘s second album, Center of the Maze, is still one of serenity. The Toronto five-piece’s sophomore release follows their 2013 self-titled (review here), and like that debut it arrives via Tee Pee Records with a bright, vital blend of heavy psychedelic and space rock lent further shoegazy ethereality by the languid vocals of guitarist Chad Ross. Ross, joined in the band by guitarist Andrew Moszynski, bassist Nicole Howell, drummer Jay Anderson and keyboardist Christopher Sandes, is responsible in no small part for that serene impression, and after full impulse power of songs like opener “Dig out Your Head” and “Criminal Mystic” is disengaged and Comet Control set themselves to the relative drift of closing duo “Sick in Space” and “Artificial Light” — which between them comprise 18 of the record’s total 45-minute runtime — the vocals become another part of the lush and consuming arrangements that offer warmth as much as hypnotism.
Although Center of the Maze ultimately finds Ross and Moszynski pushing farther away from their work with prior outfit Quest for Fire (they were also in The Deadly Snakes), the songcraft and depth of mix in these eight tracks speaks to some measure of continuity between the two projects. Still, there’s little question that Comet Control have set themselves to the task of finding their own personality apart from what their members have done before, and that shows itself in dividends from one end of the LP to the other.
The sense of journey along the way isn’t to be understated. At their starting point in “Dig out Your Head,” Comet Control dive and weave and space-rock-stomp through what serves as an immediate hook on which they continue to build as they go forward into other early cuts like the more shuffling “Darkness Moves,” with some highlight snare work from Anderson, and the more folkish “Silver Spade,” which calls to mind Revolver-era The Beatles without aping them either in melody or structure. That in itself is an accomplishment worthy of note, acoustics leading as Mellotron-style keys add melodic flourish and brighten the atmosphere. They seem to be setting up a solo freakout like that which “Darkness Moves” undertakes in its solo section, but keep it smooth as “Silver Spade” heads into the tambourine-laden shoegaze of “The Hive.”
Acoustic strum is audible in kind with the spaced-out fuzz, and “The Hive” seems to deliver the swirlfest in its second half that “Silver Spade” hinted toward, the march that’s been underway the whole time subtle but already at some distance removed from when they set out on “Dig out Your Head,” the flow between songs remarkable and feeling very intentional but not in a way that sacrifices the natural sound of the material. Purposeful but not contrived. That continues as the motion of “The Hive” feeds into “Criminal Mystic,” on which Sandes comes forward in the chorus wind a similar course to the guitars but provide the hook beneath the heavier, lower-toned fuzz of the guitars and Howell‘s bass. “Criminal Mystic” is a particularly good example of the heavy psychedelia that Comet Control have made their own, a blend of instrumental push and vocal calm, swirling and spacious but still catchy as well. In its place at the end of side A (I think), it becomes a high point of Center of the Maze‘s first half.
There is, however, a decided sonic shift as Comet Control begin side B. It happens as the keys come to the fore on “Golden Rule” after space rock howling opens to elicit a late-’60s stomp, soon further emphasized through tambourine. In pace, it connects with a lot of side A — even “Silver Spade” moved — but it also sets up the transition into the more pastoral spaces that “Sick in Space” and “Artificial Light” will cover. The closing duo also comprise the two longest tracks on Center of the Maze at eight and 10 minutes, respectively, and between them also go further out into cosmic meandering, wonderfully melodic and full in sound and realization, “Sick in Space” soothing even as its wash grows more prevalent. That apex is powerful, but the song ends with Ross delivering the album’s title line and it feels like a setup for “Artificial Light,” which of course it is.
And it’s a finale worthy of setup. No doubt in my mind that when December list time comes around, “Artificial Light” will be one of the best songs of the year. Sonically, it recalls some of the best moments of Quest for Fire‘s laid-back mind expansion, but as they have all along, Comet Control put their own twist on it, this time via a flat-out beautiful meld of standout synth lines and background effects wash and overarching vocal harmonies for the ultra-memorable chorus, “I’ll be your eyes/I’ll be your heart and your breath/Spread your wings or fall to your death.” Once again, acoustic strum emerges alongside the electrified guitars, and Comet Control cap the triumph of their second record with a sense of patience that answers all the prior rush as if to wonder what was the hurry in the first place. As it gracefully waltzes into its second half solo, “Artificial Light” dives into classic heavy grandeur while sounding effortless and keeping its core rhythm, tempo and that current of acoustic guitar intact, never quite letting go until it casts out its final, long-fading wash of keys and noise to end the album.
Staggering in resonance and emotionally gripping as it is, Center of the Maze‘s finish is still just one part of what it has to offer, and after it’s over, it’s all the more worth looking back to “Dig out Your Head” and internalize the distance covered. It is vast. A follow-up from Comet Control had been one to anticipate, but I’m not sure even the most hopeful of scenarios could have accurately predicted what they achieve here.
Posted in Whathaveyou on June 22nd, 2016 by JJ Koczan
After an initial foray into Maryland doom with the release of Iron Man frontman Dee Calhoun‘s solo record earlier this month, Italian imprint Argonauta Records has announced another pickup from that crabbiest of states — newcomer outfit Mangog. The group, which features bassist Bert Hall, also of Beelzefuzz and formerly of Revelation, and drummer Mike Rix, formerly of Iron Man, will make their full-length debut through the label early next year with the ominously-titled Mangog Awakens, a follow-up for their initial EP, Daydreams Within Nightmares.
Looking forward to getting a glimpse of these guys live at Maryland Doom Fest this weekend. The label sent the following background info along with word of the signing:
ARGONAUTA RECORDS – NEW SIGNING: MANGOG
Beyond proud to announce that US doomsters MANGOG are now part of our family!
Mangog is a doom metal band based out of Baltimore, Maryland. Formed by bassist Bert Hall Jr. (Revelation and Against Nature), Drummer Stephen Branagan (Revelation, Against Nature and Yet So Far), Major Company’s Bassist Darby Cox and Final Answer’s Vocalist Myke Wells. In February of 2015 Drummer Mike Rix (formally of doom legends IRON MAN) replaced Steve Branagan.
After a year of REVELATION and AGAINST NATURE being on hiatus, bassist Bert Hall Jr. (now on guitar and vocals) assembled a lineup to form a dark alliance founded on the copious use of punishingly heavy riffs, odd ball time signatures (13/8 anyone?) and dystopian lyrics. The band entered the studio in March 2015 and recorded their debut EP titled “Daydreams Within Nightmares”. One year later in 2016 the band completed recording its first full length CD “Mangog Awakens”, and was signed to Argonauta Records.
The band says: “Mangog would like to thank Gero for singing us to Argonauta Records, he has fastly become our fifth band member in a sense and we look forward to his expertise and guidance in our future collaboration with this great label.”
The album MANGOG AWAKENS will be released in CD/DD by early 2017.
MANGOG are: Myke Wells – Vocals Bert Hall Jr. – Guitars/Vocals Darby Cox – Bass Mike Rix – Drums
Who’s ready for another round of 10 reviews in The Obelisk’s Quarterly Review? I know I am. We gotta hit 50 by Friday, and there’s still a lot — a lot — of ground to cover. Yesterday was all over the place style-wise and today has some of that going as well, but there’s a lot of quality in both, so hopefully you get to check some of it out. Today is the all important QR Hump Day, wherein we pass the halfway mark on our way to the total 50 reviews. If you’re wondering, it’s Lord Vicar who do the honors this time around at #25. Just kind of worked out that way, but I’ll take it. Down to business.
Quarterly Review #21-30:
Mirrors for Psychic Warfare, Mirrors for Psychic Warfare
Probably fair to call Mirrors for Psychic Warfare an offshoot of Corrections House, since its two members – Scott Kelly (also Neurosis) and Sanford Parker (producer extraordinaire/also Buried at Sea) – are also in that group, but the feel of their Neurot Recordings self-titled debut is substantially different, rawer and at times harsher. Parker handles beats and electronics, creating at times a wash of abrasive noise as in the culmination of “CNN WTZ,” the centerpiece of the five tracks, and elsewhere providing an industrial backdrop for Kelly’s voice for a gothic feel, as on “A Thorn to See.” Unsurprisingly, nothing about Mirrors for Psychic Warfare makes for particularly easy listening – though opener “Oracles Hex” has some commonality with Kelly’s solo work and his voice is resonant as ever – but as they round out the album with “43,” the keys, synth and guitar find some common ground, which leaves distorted shouts from Kelly to do the work of taking listeners to task. We already knew these two worked well together, and the partnership once again bears fruit here.
The four-song Death Thy Lover EP (on Napalm) is the first new studio offering of original material from Swedish doom legends Candlemass since their 2012 album, Psalms for the Dead (review here), marked the end of the tenure of vocalist Robert Lowe, also of Solitude Aeturnus. His replacement is the person who nearly had the job in the first place, Mats Levén (formerly Therion), who has a kind of stateliness to his presence in opener “Death Thy Lover” but suits the plod of “Sleeping Giant” well. Of course, at the center of the band is bassist/songwriter Leif Edling, whose style is unmistakable in these tracks, whether it’s the late-Iommi-style riffing of “Sinister ‘n’ Sweet” or “Death Thy Lover”’s chugging its way toward the hook. Candlemass save the most grueling for last with “The Goose,” as guitarists Mats “Mappe” Björkman and Lars “Lasse” Johansson intertwine a chugging rhythm and extended soloing over dirge-march drums from Jan Lindh to give the short release a darkened instrumental finale.
Talk about scope. Oh, only a country’s entire cultural history is fair game for Skuggsjá, the brainchild of Norwegian artists Ivar Bjørnson (also Enslaved) and Einar Selvik (also Wardruna) that crosses the line between black metal and Norse traditionalism probably better than anyone has ever done it before. A Piece for Mind and Mirror is the studio incarnation of the work the two composers and a host of others did as commissioned for the 200th anniversary of the Norwegian constitution, and though it’s broken into 10 movements for the album, it flows together as one orchestral entirety, the gurgle of Grutle Kjellson (Enslaved) recognizable in the eponymous track amid choral backing and a richly textured blend of traditional folk instruments and metallic thrust. The lyrics are Norwegian, but whether it’s the blowing horn of “Makta Og Vanæra (I All Tid)” or the lush melodies in the march of “Bøn Om Ending – Bøn Om Byrjing,” the sense of pride and the creative accomplishment of A Piece for Mind and Mirror ring through loud and clear.
Two years after making their self-titled debut, Baltimore heavy bluesfuzz trio Black Lung come swaggering back with the spacious vibes of See the Enemy (on Noisolution), which takes the establishing steps the first album laid out and builds on them fluidly and with a clear direction in mind. At eight tracks/45 minutes produced by J. Robbins, the album was clearly structured for vinyl, each half ending with a longer cut, the psych-jamming “Nerve” on side A, which resounds in an ending of scorching guitar from Adam Bufano atop the drums of Elias Schutzman (both of The Flying Eyes), and the closer “8MM,” on which Bufano, Schutzman, guitarist/vocalist Dave Cavalier and Robbins (who also contributes bass) roll out the record’s most massive groove and cap it with an impenetrable wall of noise. While the songs are striking in their cohesion and poise, there are moments where one wants Black Lung to really let loose, as after Trevor Shipley’s keyboard stretch in “Priestess,” but they have other ideas, feeding the title-track directly into “8MM” with no less a firm sense of control than shown earlier. All told, an excellent follow-up that deserves broader consideration among 2016’s finer offerings.
Offered through The Church Within Records as a paean to classic doom, Lord Vicar’s third LP, Gates of Flesh, nonetheless almost can’t help but put its own mark on the style. The Turku, Finland, outfit’s first album in five years, it finds guitarist Kimi Kärki (ex-Reverend Bizarre, Orne, E-Musikgruppe Lux Ohr, etc.), vocalist Chritus (also Goatess, ex-Saint Vitus, Count Raven, etc.), and drummer Gareth Millsted (ex-Centurions Ghost) — who, along with Kärki, also contributed bass after the band parted ways with Jussi Myllykoski and prior to adding Sami Hynninen as a temporary replacement — bold enough to shift into minimalist spaciousness on “A Shadow of Myself,” and really, they’re not through opener “Birth of Wine” before Kärki executes a gorgeous dual-layered solo. Trace those roots back to Trouble if you must, but there’s no question to whom the lurch of centerpiece “Breaking the Circle” or the sorrowful 10-minute closer “Leper, Leper” belongs, and the same holds true for everything that follows, be it the quiet start of “A Woman out of Snow” or the swinging second half of “Accidents.” Lord Vicar enact the doom of ages and take complete ownership of the sound, thus only adding to the canon as they go.
Like the stench of rotting, Dakessian’s The Poisoned Chalice provokes a visceral and physical response. The long-in-the-making debut release from the Portland-based duo of vocalist Kenny Snarzyk (also Fister) and multi-instrumentalist Aaron D.C. Edge (Lumbar, Roareth, so many others) had its music recorded back in 2013, and the vocals were added earlier this year, throat-searing screams and growls that top the noisy, claustrophobically weighted tones from Edge’s guitar. The onslaught is unrelenting, both longer songs like “Demons” and “Ten Double Zero” and shorter cuts “Nothing Forever” and the sample-laced opener “Choose Hate” brim with aggressive misanthropy, the will against. Even the penultimate “Baerial,” which offers a glimmer of melody, continues to crush, and starting with a slow drum progression, closer “Cosmic Dissolution” barely tops two and a half minutes, but it brings thorough reassurance of the project’s destructive force before its final drone rounds out. One never knows with Edge if a given band will ever have a follow-up, but as ever, the quality is consistent. In this case, brutally so.
Actually, if you want to get technical about it, Gypsy Chief Goliath are citizens of Ontario, but you’d never know it from listening to their third album, Citizens of Nowhere, which if you had to pin a geographic locale on it might be more of a fit for New Orleans than Canada. The Pitch Black Records release sees the triple-guitar-plus-harmonica six-piece outfit dug deep in Southern metal grooves, marked out by the burl-bringing vocals of frontman/guitarist Al “The Yeti” Bones, formerly of Mister Bones, Serpents of Secrecy and The Mighty Nimbus and the chug-and-churn of cuts like “Black Samurai” and the shuffle of “We Died for This.” The title-track winds its central riff with thickened-up ‘70s boogie, while “Elephant in the Room” and “The Return” space out a bit more, and the closing Black Sabbath cover “Killing Yourself to Live” (a CD bonus track) plays it loyal structurally while dude’ing up the original like it was on hormone therapy.
Hard-touring Richmond genre-benders Inter Arma are due for a landmark release. Their 2014 single-song EP, The Cavern, was wildly well received and earned every bit of praise it got. Their follow-up to that is Paradise Gallows, their third album and second for Relapse behind 2013’s Sky Burial (track stream here). Is Paradise Gallows that landmark? Hell if I know. Recorded, mixed and mastered by Mikey Allred, who also guests on trombone, bass violin, organ and noise, Inter Arma’s third brings an expansive 70 minutes of bleak progressivism, conceptually and sonically broad enough to be considered brilliant and still weighted enough that the prevailing vibe is extremity in their blend of sludge, doom, black metal, post-metal, atmospherics, and a moody acoustic closer. The only real danger is that it might take listeners time to digest – because it’s a lot to take in, all those twists and turns in “Violent Constellations,” particularly after the plod of the title-track – but I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised to find Inter Arma inhabiting any number of year-end lists for 2016. Once again, they earn it.
Virginian bruisers Helgamite manage to cover a deceptive amount of sonic ground on their second LP, Hypnagogia (on CD through Lost Apparitions with vinyl soon on Flesh Vessel), spending plenty of time in dense-toned sludge metal but using that as a foundation for a wider range of explorations, winding up in blastbeats by the time 13-minute side B finale “The Secret” comes around, but by then having torn through the aggro-thrash of “Origins,” lumbered through the mosher “Æstrosion” and topped off “Shaman’s Veil” with math-metal guitar fits melded to a saxophone arrangement. Growls from vocalist William Breeden and Jonah Butler’s drums tie it all together as guitarist Casey Firkin (also sax) and bassist Matthew Beahm pull off intermittently jazzy runs, but impressively, Helgamite never sound in danger of losing sight of the songs they’re serving, and Hypnogogia is stronger for its unwillingness to waste a second of its runtime, even in the aforementioned “The Secret” or its 10-minute side A counterpart, “Snowdrifter.”
Get it? Children of the Chron? I’ll admit it took me a second. While I was thinking about it, Allston, Massachusetts, duo Mollusk doled out sludge-punk-metal beatings via raw tones and shouts and a general sense of checked-out attitude, “Glacier” reminding of earliest, least-poppy Floor, but cuts like “Demon Queen” and “When You’re Gone” finding guitarist Hank Rose using a purposefully monotone vocal approach that works well over slower parts. Rose is joined in Mollusk by drummer Adam O’Day, and though I’ve already noted that the 11-track album is raw, their sound wants nothing for impact in the low end or any other end for that matter. Rather, the harsher aspects become part of the aesthetic throughout Children of the Chron and the band successfully navigates its own mire without getting lost in either its own “Torture Chamber” or “Zombie Apocalypse,” which like opener “Ride the #9,” is almost certainly a song about life in the Boston area.
Posted in Whathaveyou on June 22nd, 2016 by JJ Koczan
I don’t recall hearing too many complaints when Oregon visionaries YOB and San Francisco demolition specialists Black Cobra hit the road together last fall in the US, and I don’t imagine they’ll come up against much resistance when they bring the show to Europe this September and October. YOB are still out supporting 2015’s album of the year, Clearing the Path to Ascend (review here), while Black Cobra head out under the banner of earlier-2016’s Imperium Simulacra (review here), for which they’ve already toured in the States alongside Bongzilla, Lo-Pan and Kings Destroy and which offers a broader take on their trademark tumult.
The tour will hit an impressive number of festivals, from Incubate to Smoke the Fuzz to Asymmetry to Up in Smoke to Desertfest Belgium, each one basically providing an anchor with club shows in between. Looks like it’ll be a great time.
YOB announced the tour thusly:
EU FALL TOUR ANNOUNCEMENT: All current festival and show dates for our European tour this fall with black cobra are below.
Check back for more dates and ticket info, as we’ll be updating again soon!
11/09/2016 – Tilburg NL – Incubate Festival – September 2016 12/09/2016 – Dortmund DE – FZW 13/09/2016 – Aarhus DK – Radar 14/09/2016 – Gothenburg SE – Sticky Fingers // Göteborg 15/09/2016 – Oslo NO – BLÅ 16/09/2016 – Copenhagen DK – Pumpehuset 17/09/2016 – Athens GR – Smoke The Fuzz gigs Fest 19/09/2016 – Wiesbaden DE – Schlachthof Wiesbaden 20/09/2016 – Munich DE – Feierwerk 21/09/2016 – Berlin DE – Musik & Frieden 22/09/2016 – Wroclaw PL – Asymmetry Festival 23/09/2016 – Leipzig DE – UT Connewitz 24/09/2016 – Nurnberg DE – Z-Bau 25/09/2016 – Vienna AT – Chelsea 26/09/2016 – Ljubljana SL – Club Gromka 28/09/2016 – Zagreb HR – VintageIndustrial Bar 29/09/2016 – Linz AT – Stadtwerkstatt 30/09/2016 – Milan IT – Lo Fi Milano 01/10/2016 – Pratteln CH – UP in SMOKE indoor festival in Z7 02/10/2016 – Orleans FR – L’Astrolabe – Orléans 04/10/2016 – Belfort FR – La Poudrière – Belfort 05/10/2016 – Paris FR – GLAZART 06/10/2016 – Tourcoing FR – Le Grand Mix 07/10/2016 – Bristol UK – The Fleece Bristol 08/10/2016 – Glasgow UK – The Garage 09/10/2016 – Birmingham UK – The Rainbow Venues 10/10/2016 – Manchester UK – The Ruby Lounge 11/10/2016 – Dublin IRE – Whelan’s 13/10/2016 – London UK – Scala 14/10/2016 – Antwerp BE – DESERTFEST ANTWERP 2016 15/10/2016 – Hannover DE – CAFE GLOCKSEE
Posted in Whathaveyou on June 22nd, 2016 by JJ Koczan
If you’re not familiar with the phrase memento mori, which also serves as the title of Sahg‘s upcoming album, out Sept. 23 on Indie Recordings, it’s basically a reminder of death. The actually-Latin equivalent of Game of Thrones‘ “valar morghulis.” Similar to the cover art below, a memento mori often appears in paintings as the top of a skull, either in the background or foreground, sometimes acknowledged, sometimes not, but like death itself, always lurking. You get the idea.
For the Norwegian band, Memento Mori will serve as their fifth full-length after a numerically-numbered initial trio of records between 2006 and 2010 and 2013’s Delusions of Grandeur, and with the touted progressive feel and more metal vibes this time around, it should be interesting to hear how far they’ve come since their more classically rocking earlier works.
From the PR wire:
SAHG – MEMENTO MORI – NEW ALBUM SEPTEMBER 23RD
In a time when threats of religious hostility and environmental decay loom heavily over the world, we have no choice but to acknowledge the inevitability of death. Not only does it spread fear, stigma and hatred, but it also reminds us of the grasp our own mortality has on us. Death is just a heartbeat away and our fear of the unknown is apparent now more than ever. Thus the title Memento Mori (Latin: remember that you must die).
For a long while, the album title remained undecided.
“Memento Mori was one of several options that we had on note for a long time. But then Lemmy died. And Bowie died. And all of a sudden, all these rock icons disappeared, one by one. People that have made their imprint on history and influenced us musically since childhood. It made a great impression on a personal level, and started a grieving process that influenced the making of the album. Suddenly it was very clear what the album title would be. ‘Remember, you must die.’ Even immortal legends like Bowie and Lemmy don’t live forever”, comments singer, guitarist and songwriter Olav Iversen.
Musically the album dwell in a heavier landscape than its predecessor, Delusions Of Grandeur, with metal infused heavy rock containing clear progressive elements. The voices of Olav Iversen and Tony Vetaas are more present and insistent than ever.
Tracklist:
1. Black Unicorn 2. Devilspeed 3. Take It To The Grave 4. Silence The Machines 5. Sanctimony 6. (Praise The) Electric Sun 7. Travellers Of Space And Light 8. Blood Of Oceans
The new Sahg album, Memento Mori, will be out on Indie Recordings, September 23rd.
They were known as Soon just a couple scant months ago when they released their debut album, Vol. 1 (review here), through Temple of Torturous, but apparently sometime between then and now, they’ve added the someone-threatened-to-sue A.D. to the moniker. Thus, Soon A.D. have a new video. Fine. My question here is who the hell owns the word “soon?” Is there another band out there called Soon? Was the Chapel Hill, North Carolina, four-piece just completely tired of being Googleproof? I’d be very interested to know what happened there. Soon A.D., however, seem to prefer being shrouded in mystery.
If you got the chance to hear Vol. 1, there’s a high probability “Gold Soul” was one of the most resonant impressions. Like the bulk of its surroundings, it’s coated in effects and given a melodic depth to match, but its central riff is a particular standout and likely to get in your head and not get out. Soon A.D. wander around here and there during the midsection of the song, but the verses have a kind of lumber to them that usually doesn’t come hand-in-hand with their brand of accessibility. It’s the key blend — heavy, melodic, psychedelic, poppy — that defines Soon A.D.‘s first offering, and it would seem to be the groundwork for future stylistic expansion. At least that’s the hope.
Album is out now. Might be a sleeper, but I think if you take the time to check out “Gold Soul” below, you’re not likely to regret it.
Enjoy:
Soon A.D., “Gold Soul” official video
Chapel Hill, North Carolina-based transcendental rock unit, SOON A.D., (formerly Soon), is very pleased to unveil the stunning new video accompaniment to “Gold Soul.”
What SOON A.D. has manifested with Vol. 1 is multifaceted, melodic and adventurous. The Chapel Hill, North Carolina-based quartet pulled from a deep well of influence and experience in crafting its eight-song LP spending a concentrated week of revising and tracking, plus two months of tinkering, at the Greensboro studio Legitimate Business with engineer Kris Hilbert (Torch Runner, Between The Buried And Me, The Body) at the helm.
