It actually hasn’t been that long since I listened to one track off a forthcoming record from a band whose last work I dug a lot and immediately had to chase down the rest of the album because the tones hit me so hard. But if you discount that other instance, like on Tuesday, it’s been a good long while. Bristol, UK-based now-duo Cegvera bring expert-level thickness to the proceedings on their upcoming long-player, The Sixth Glare, and the video streaming below for “Red Swarm Beyond” is exactly what got me hooked, as it happens. I guess as far as the idea of a ‘teaser’ goes, whether it’s a whole track (as this is) or not, that’s basically the ideal.

Cegvera‘s last outing was 2019’s Live at Palíndromo (review here) on which some of this material also appeared. All the more reason to hit their Bandcamp.

The PR wire takes it from there:

Cegvera ‘The Sixth Glare’ (Stolen Body)

Dark psychedelia, mesmerising doomy soundscapes, obscured and enlightening riffs are just few components of what to expect from Cegvera’s new record ‘The Sixth Glare’. The album will be released on March 6th by Stolen Body Records (LP/CD/DL) and LSDR (CD).

Following on from their now sold out split release with Vinnum Sabbathi ‘The Good Earth Is Dying’ in 2018, Cegvera have become a two piece – Gerardo Arias (guitar) and Matt Neicho (drums). The bass duties have been taken on by Gerardo splitting the guitar between guitar and bass amps. A sound that needs to be seen to be believed. ‘The Sixth Glare’ represents the first full-length album that Cegvera has to offer as a duo. Recorded and mixed by Joe Clayton at No Studios (Manchester, UK) and mastered by KB at Testa studio (León, Gto. México).

‘The Sixth Glare’ is a reference to the environmental crisis that we are living through today and the anthropogenic extinction events that are referred by world-renowned scientists as ‘the Sixth Mass Extinction’.

The Sixth Glare stands as a conversation that needs to take place. The world is in danger of killing itself. You will find this subject embodied from the smallest scratch of the artwork (Hellbound Graphics, México) to the last second of the final track. The scene is actually set as precursor to Vinnum Sabbathi’s upcoming album ‘Of Dimensions and Theories’ (also to be released this year via SBR) which Gerardo plays drums on.

If it is well true that our planet is facing great biodiversity loss generated by human activity, this record tries to look at these phenomena in a broader context and offers a merely informative in-depth review of the factors that are mindlessly dragging our planet towards decay in modern times. This not only means that humans are depriving other species from their natural environments but they are also threatening their own existence by doing irreversible damage to the biosphere. Similarly, another factor of great importance, the overuse of antibiotics is inducing and facilitating the emergence of abnormal resistance traits in pathogenic microorganisms. At present, antibiotic-resistant diseases also represent and will remain a major threat to the human species.

It should also be said that Gerardo Arias has just become a doctor in Biology and had first hand knowledge on the subject matter.

Tracklist:
Side A (Antibiotic resistance – stages of a disease):
1. Infection (Entrance of the pathogen)
2. Incubation (period between infection and the first apparent symptoms)
3. Prodromal (period between first symptom and the full development of the disease)
4. Convalescence (period of recovery)

Side B (The Sixth Glare)
5. The Great Blackout (Environmental effects of nuclear war)
6. After the Thaw (Thawing of the permafrost)
7. The Sixth Glare (Climate change – Global Warming)
8. Red Swarm Beyond (Wildfires – Bushfires)

Cegvera is:
Gerardo Arias (guitar, bass)
Matt Neicho (drums)

https://www.facebook.com/cegueraUK
https://cegvera.bandcamp.com/
https://stolenbodyrecords.co.uk/
https://www.facebook.com/stolenbodyrecords/
https://www.instagram.com/stolenbodyrecords/

Cegvera, “Red Swarm Beyond” official video

[Click play above to stream the title-track of The Spacelords’ Spaceflowers. Album is out Feb. 21 through Tonzonen. Preoders are here.]

They say that in space, no one can hear you fall into a trace of repetitive heavy psychedelic bliss. Germany’s The Spacelords — guitarist Matthias “Hazi” Wettstein, bassist Erhard “Akee” Kazmaier and drummer Marcus Schnitzler; all of whom are also responsible for sundry other effects and/or noises — wrap up a trilogy of three-song full-lengths with Spaceflowers, taking what began on 2016’s Liquid Sun and continued with 2017’s Water Planet (review here) for their fourth release total on Tonzonen Records including last year’s live outing, On Stage. Whether they’re in the studio or not, the trio emit a cosmic vibe of marked depth, and in the three extended pieces of Spaceflowers, they bloom in true fashion, each one seeming to spread out in all directions at once, circular petals opening wide to catch the light of some strange sunlight and thereby be sustained. To say the least, 24-minute opener and longest track (immediate points) “Cosmic Trip” is nothing if not aptly named.

“Cosmic Trip” is joined by “Frau Kuhnkes Kosmos” (11:43) and the closing title-track (13:35), but its course is set early and maintained well throughout the 49 minutes of the proceedings overall, which isn’t short for an LP in this day and age, but doesn’t find The Spacelords at all overstaying their welcome. Be it Schnitzler‘s deceptively intricate kick timing in “Frau Kuhnkes Kosmos” — he was doubling for a while with Electric Moon, whose Sula Bassana put out The Spacelords‘ 2014 album, Synapse (review here), but parted ways with the band in 2016 — or the patient underlying wash of effects and the close-your-eyes-and-get-carried-away bassline in the second half of “Spaceflowers” itself, The Spacelords bring a personality and vibrance to their material, and though the overarching vibe is serene, they aren’t by any means still throughout these proceedings.

On the contrary, while “Cosmic Trip” and its side B counterparts want nothing for fluidity and are plenty atmospheric on an almost preternatural level with all of the effects surrounding the guitar, bass and drums — not separate from them at all but still bolstering the individual performances as Wettstein demonstrates early in the synth/guitar intertwining of “Cosmic Trip” circa the five-minute mark — they’re never entirely still throughout Spaceflowers. And neither are they overblown or launching the motorik space rock hyperdrive without sonic call to do so. In fact, while never really subdued in the sense of fading to drone or anything like that, they find a marked balance that allows them to explore without departing mid-tempo push. The build that ensues across the first eight minutes or so of “Cosmic Trip” pays off in satisfying fashion and gives way to joyous guitar drift kept in this dimension by Kazmaier‘s gotta-hear-it bass tone and Schnitzler‘s drumming, and gradually, patiently, pushes itself forward again, this time over the longer stretch of the remaining two-thirds of the song.

After the guitar solo arrives and eventually shifts into the riff that the drums and bass change with immediately — it’s announced by the drums, but let’s call it 22:22 into the 24:20 — it becomes clear to what all of the progression has been leading, and that obviously-prior-constructed move underscores a key factor in The Spacelords‘ approach throughout Spaceflowers in that these three songs do not at all come across as being “just jams.” That is, while there are no doubt improvisational elements at work and in all likelihood a great deal of jamming took place to put them together — and given the flow throughout, there was likely a proportionate amount of jamming in the recording process as well — there’s at least a blueprint being followed. They never come close to what would be commonly regarded as structure in the verse/chorus sense, and nor do they want or need to, but neither are they floating through the galaxy without a mission.

Given that, and taking into consideration Spaceflowers as the purported end of a trilogy of releases — they had two early self-released studio albums that seem to be unavailable and at least one other live recording, so fair to say it’s at least their sixth LP overall — one has to wonder if there’s a narrative taking place in the tracks or across the progression from Liquid Sun to Water Planet to this album. If there is, and it’s fun to think there might be, then perhaps it could be derived even just from the titles of the three full-lengths in question. A star, a planet, a landscape. Is this The Spacelords describing entering a strange solar system with a different kind of life source and discovering what sort of life might flourish there? Have we landed? The best answer I can give is “maybe,” which is to say that listening to the tension in the latter half of “Frau Kuhnkes Kosmos,” and the ensuing space-hippies-bathing-in-soundwaves vision of “Spaceflowers” itself, it’s open for interpretation.

Certainly the latter could be viewed as a landing point, even as Wettstein‘s guitar seems most to soar and the band — kudos to whoever is handling the organ sound there, whether or not it’s an actual organ — push to a rousing and, again, planned-seeming finish. Its mellow beginning picks up gently from the centerpiece before it, and it unfolds with a lighter sense of gravity but still brings a welcome and by-then-characteristic blend of earthy groove and floating guitar. It would be difficult for a single instrumental piece to serve as the summary of three albums’ worth of outward journeying, even one 13 minutes long, but “Spaceflowers” nobly pushes in its midsection into a section of thicker riffing before embarking on its final cosmic sprawl and solo-led ending.

It’s by no means the first such build on Spaceflowers, but it emphasizes the point of the power trio dynamic in the band, with the rhythm section functioning to hold the central groove together as the guitar — and more, in this case — adventures through the outer reaches of the great kosmiche beyond. Is this The Spacelords‘ last time at the helm of their particular starship? One doubts it. The creativity on display in these tracks and the will they put into making them does not seem the sort to be dissuaded, and the progressive aspects even in the final moments of the title-track make it plain that in terms of the band’s own story, the end is the beginning. Another trilogy ahead? A full saga? Could be. Wettstein, Kazmeier and Schnitzler clearly show they have the readiness to paint the universe as they see fit, so really all the listener has to do is be ready to go and be gone.

The Spacelords on Facebook

The Spacelords on Bandcamp

The Spacelords on Spotify

The Spacelords website

Tonzonen Records website

Tonzonen Records on Facebook

Cheers to Norwegian doomers Saint Karloff on making a studio documentary and avoiding having it basically be fodder for comparison to Spinal Tap. A rare dodge on the part of any band. The Oslo-based three-piece will begin a round of shows in February supporting their 2019 sophomore full-length, Interstellar Voodoo (review here), and they’ll be joined in the endeavor by countrymen garage heavies Magmakammer, making for a two-band complement that I have no doubt will be received with approving nods by all in their presence. This brand of riffing will do that, and each act has their own spin.

I was kind of hoping for some video interview footage in the documentary, and it’s the album playing (in full) over studio clips with info and background spliced in, making for an interesting, cool and not-at-all Tap excuse to revisit the record. You think that’d be easy but it’s not if you’ve ever done an interview.

Dates and that video follow, as per the PR wire:

Norwegian Occult Rockers SAINT KARLOFF announce European Tour with Magmakammer | Share Recording Session Documentary for INTERSTELLAR VOODOO

In association with The Doomsday Agency and hot on the heels of an impressive 2019, Doom Rock’s rising superpower, Saint Karloff, take to the road next month for a European tour with fellow Norwegians, Magmakammer.

Having made their mark on the international heavy music scene in 2018 with the release of their debut album, All Heed the Black God, the band continued to raise their game with newer, heavier and more complexly psychedelic material on last year’s Interstellar Voodoo, their follow-up album released on Majestic Mountain Records.

To showcase exactly what went into the recording, the trio have released a unique video documenting and detailing the very recording session that produced the album’s epic one-track conclusion. Soundtracked in full of course, by the album itself.

“This is a music video and documentary hybrid of our time recording our second album,” explains guitarist/vocalist, Mads Melvold. “It was recorded Easter 2019 and released in the autumn of that same year. People have reached out to us and asked us about the making of Interstellar Voodoo, and with this video we try to answer these questions. What you see is the actual recording. The whole thing was filmed and edited and it contains information and anecdotes on the whole process from start to finish.”

Released last year on Majestic Mountain Records, copies of Interstellar Voodoo are now sold out but you can purchase the album digitally, directly from the band (here) ahead of their tour, which kicks off in Norway next month. For the full list of dates and venues see list and tour poster below:

SAINT KARLOFF EUROPEAN TOUR 2020:

20/2 – Hulen – Bergen, Norway*
29/2 – Blitz – Oslo, Norway+
5/3 – 1000Fryd – Aalborg, Denmark*
6/3 – MTS Records – Oldenburg, Germany*
7/3 – Den Drummer – Gent, Belgium*
9/3 – Chemiefabrik – Dresden, Germany
12/3 – MS Stubnitz – Hamburg, Germany*
13/3 – Favela Café – Helsingborg, Sweden*
14/3 – MMR Fest Hus 7 – Stockholm, Sweden*+

*w. Magmakammer
+Saint Karloff to perform Interstellar Voodoo in its entirety

facebook.com/SaintKarloff/
saintkarloff.bandcamp.com
instagram.com/saintkarloff
majesticmountainrecords.bigcartel.com
facebook.com/majesticmountainrecords/
instagram.com/majesticmountainrecords/
https://oziumrecords.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/stonerwitchrecords/

Saint Karloff, Interstellar Voodoo Recording Documentary

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before from this site (yes, you absolutely have, and more than once), but Natas‘ Delmar is a special album. The standard comparison I make is I would not trade the songs on this record for all the Kyusses who ever walked the earth, and any chance to hear any part of it is only something I find makes my day better. Every time.

I have a profound association with the album and its centerpiece, “Soma,” from the time I spent working in New York City at Metal Maniacs magazine, when such a thing existed. This was 2007-2008. I commuted by train from the Denville stop in NJ and the trip into Penn Station was well over an hour each way. But for the fact that nearly every penny I made at the gig went to the cost of traveling to and from it, and the loss of four hours of my daily life on the door-to-door, and the fact that the company that owned Maniacs was clueless about the value of the property, that fucking girl in the office with no indoor voice, the shitty jam bands that the other/bigger mag played on the office stereo, the fact that going to shows required going home first then returning to the city by car, and the generally oppressive nature of NYC on general, it wasn’t a terrible job. I continue to have nothing but love for Liz Ciavarella-Brenner, the editor with whom I worked most directly in the office.

On the whole, however, it was a situation that required one to take solace where and when possible. Delmar was a means by which I did exactly that. Every morning I put Natas on my portable CD player and listened through my Bose noise-canceling headphones (since deceased) and it allowed just the right amount of morning escape my probably-hungover self needed. I loved the record before that, but there was a bond formed on that train ride and it has lasted longer than that job, the magazine, or, really, print media itself. I continue to hold it in a regard I hold few full-length albums.

New video for “Soma,” you say? First official video ever from Delmar to honor the next re-press of the 2018 reissue through Argonauta Records, you say? Yes, obviously I’m going to post that.

Enjoy:

Natas, “Soma” official video

VIDEO OFICIAL DEL DISCO DE LOS NATAS – “DELMAR”
PRODUCIDO POR PICHON DALPONT VIDEO
REALIZADO POR SERGIO CH.

LOS NATAS is a trio formed during 1994 in Buenos Aires/Argentina. Their musical influences are numerous and varied, having the base of the raw and psychedelic sound of 1970s bands such as The Doors, Black Sabbath, The Who, Pink Floyd and Hawkwind, among others. Los Natas propose a journey made of basic elements: valvular equipment and vintage instruments, they incorporate the use of the senses and perception of the listener as a part of a sonic trip.

They make music that changes constantly, supported by long jams that give them a different meaning every time they execute them having that way a sense of freedom in the way of interpreting the sounds, making this experience extremely related to the sensations that both the musicians and the audience receive every time a show begins. This is the essence of what people knows today as Stoner Rock.

Los Natas on Thee Facebooks

Los Natas website

Argonauta Records website

Argonauta Records on Thee Facebooks

Argonauta Records on Instagram

By the time they get around to releasing their new album, Collapse and Fail, as their debut release through Ripple Music, it will be closer than not to three years since France’s StoneBirds put out 2017’s Time (track premiere here). It seems like maybe the new record is a ways off yet — the press release says “summer,” if that helps — since the info on the thing is sparse apart from the title and the basic signing announcement to let you know that it’s arriving through Ripple, as well as the fact that it’s 40 minutes long, which actually I do appreciate knowing. Only so many hours in the day, and it says something about a band, particularly one playing a progressive style as StoneBirds do that they’re willing to keep things manageable.

Time is streaming at the bottom of the post if you’d care to revisit, and as you’ll hear, they bring an interesting edge to the label they’ve newly joined. Their style is a standout at least from some of the more straight-ahead rock stuff that Ripple is known for, and it’s awesome to see them branching out. That’s how longevity happens.

I’ll hope to have more to come on Collapse and Fail as “summer” approaches. Here’s the signing announcement, admittedly with some delay in getting it posted:

French post-doom royalty STONEBIRDS ink deal with Ripple Music for new album “Collapse and Fail”, to be released in the summer of 2020.

Ripple Music are happy to be welcoming France’s progressive doom trio STONEBIRDS to their roster. The Breton trio is set to blow minds once again, with their upcoming third album ‘Collapse and Fail’, due out in the summer.

With ‘Collapse and Fail’, STONEBIRDS will be releasing their darkest record to date. If previous albums resonated like distress calls for the planet, this third one is an excruciating work of hopelessness that embodies all the horror we’re collectively facing: this is too late. Throughout its gripping six songs, the band gives “doom metal” a more contemporary meaning, emotionally charged, linking a painful interiority with our collective gloomy destiny. This is too late, and all that is left is a burning violence .

The band enthuses: “We are very excited to be releasing our third album “Collapse and Fail” on Ripple Music. We were looking for a strong powerhouse owned by passionate people, and Todd and his team will be the best help we can get to promote that album. “Collapse and Fail” is the heavier and rawest piece of music we have ever written. As always, we intertwined solar soundscapes and darker moods to create this journey of forty minutes. Once again, we worked with the super dudes at Kerwax Studio for a great sound, and DZO for a mind-blowing visual. Hope you guys will lend an ear!”

https://www.facebook.com/Stonebirdsarestone/
https://www.instagram.com/stonebirdsofficial/
https://stonebirdsarestone.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/theripplemusic/
https://ripplemusic.bandcamp.com/
https://www.ripple-music.com/

StoneBirds, Time (2017)

There’s only so much burying of head in the sand/riffs one can do before acknowledging that the planet is quite literally on fire. Putting aside politics or the disgusting notion that these issues were made political in the first place, lands are burning, people and animals are dying and any and all predicted trajectories for the future do not indicate positive signs. The Avengers will not save us. Luke Skywalker will not save us. This is real life. Science is real life.

I am not the first person to say any of this or to note that if you and I don’t take care of each other, from daily kindness to crowdfunding, then we all burn and burn alone.

Indiana-based riffers Faerie Ring, who made an impressive debut last year with The Clearing (review here), today issue a live recording from a few weeks back, Live at Bokeh, in order to help raise funds for wildlife affected by the fires in Australia, which, hey look at that, are ongoing.

Entire species are dying. Today. And no, a recorded set from a recent heavy show is not the end-all answer to climate disaster. But it also isn’t nothing, which, to my shame, is what I’ve done to help at this point.

This is worth your money:

Faerie Ring – Live at Bokeh

Recorded live at Bokeh Lounge in Evansville Indiana Jan 4, 2020

*****All Proceeds with be going directly to the Kangaroo Island Wildlife Park****

This recording was handed to us free after one of our performance at Bokeh out of the kindness of heart. Seems only right to do something good with it. As always thanks for listening and we love you.

If you would like to donate directly or check in on rehabilitation progress, go to:

www.gofundme.com/f/help-save-kangaroo-islands-koalas-and-wildlife

From KIWildlife:

Over the past few days we have started to see a large number of injured koalas, along with other native species heavily impacted by this event. We have been treating these victims as best we can to supply pain relief, antibiotics, treatment to wounds and basic husbandry requirements. We spent most of January 3rd building extra holding enclosures as well as defending the park from the immediate threat of the fire. We will continue to prepare more infrastructure to house the extra wildlife we expect to see over the coming weeks.

For those of you who would like to contribute we are asking for funds to help with veterinary costs, koala milk and supplements, extra holding/rehabilitation enclosures, as well as setting up a building to hold supplies to treat these animals.

Due to the recent tragic bushfires, the Kangaroo Island Wildlife Park has received a lot of concerned phone calls and messages regarding the impacted wildlife from these fires.

We are working around the clock with a highly experienced, qualified and dedicated team of volunteers including qualified vets, vet nurses and wildlife carers to rescue, rehabilitate and care for all of the animals coming in from the bushfires.

On admittance to us, all efforts are made to rehydrate, treat and assess the wildlife by our vet care team. Many are being treated for severe burns with most burns being to their hands, feet and rumps.

We will continue to provide the best care possible for our injured wildlife, we expect due to significant habitat loss we will be building exhibits to hold the treated koalas until we can arrange release back into the wild for many of them.

Kangaroo Island is well known for its thriving koala population however over 150,000 hectares has been lost due to recent events, this will effect our koala population dramatically. We need to pull together to save this Australian icon.

Once conditions improve and we are granted access to fire ground, a qualified team will be going out to rescue wildlife caught in the fires and relocate those left without a food source or home.

credits
James Wallwork // Electric Guitars & Vocal
Kyle Hulgus // Electric Guitars
Alex Wallwork // 4 String Electric Bass Guitars
Joseph Rhew // Battery

Recorded live by John Kern with help from Steve Tyner of Black Cat Recording

Photo by Katelyn Knoll

http://www.facebook.com/FaerieRingBand/
http://www.instagram.com/faerie_ring
http://www.faeriering.bandcamp.com/
http://www.facebook.com/kingvolumerecords
http://www.kingvolumerecords.bandcamp.com
http://www.kingvolumerecords.limitedrun.com

Faerie Ring, The Clearing (2019)

[Click play above to stream Big Scenic Nowhere’s Vision Beyond Horizon in full. Album is out Jan. 31 on Heavy Psych Sounds with preorders here.]

At the heart of Big Scenic Nowhere is the collaboration between guitarists Bob Balch and Gary Arce, and if it came to it, that would probably be enough of a band to go on. The project inherits its name but not much else (aside the guitarist himself) from an older side-project of Arce‘s splintered off from his main outfit, desert rock progenitors Yawning Man that released a demo circa 2012. Balch is of course known for his tenure in Fu Manchu, but over the years has established himself apart from those landmark fuzz rockers in Sun and Sail Club and with the ongoing guitar instructional series Playthisriff.com. After getting together to jam, the two guitarists founded Big Scenic Nowhere and worked toward bringing in outside collaborators for their first studio foray, 2019’s sprawling and proggy Dying on the Mountain EP (discussed here), that was issued as a part of the Blues Funeral Recordings limited Postwax vinyl subscription series.

That release, inherently somewhat feeling-each-other-out in vibe, introduced Mos Generator‘s Tony Reed and The Well‘s Lisa Alley and Ian Graham as vocalists and contributors, as well as Per Wiberg (Spiritual Beggars, etc.), Thomas Jäger from Monolord and others along the way. Big Scenic Nowhere‘s debut full-length, the nine-song/44-minute Heavy Psych Sounds LP Vision Beyond Horizon, is almost entirely more cohesive in its purpose, blending some of the proggier elements of the EP into washes of Mellotron and Wurlitzer on side-ending pieces like “Hidden Wall” and “War Years” as Tony Reed becomes an essential third collaborator in the band alongside Balch and Arce.

At least according to the LP credits, Reed has a hand in writing five of the nine songs on Vision Beyond Horizon, including solo composition on the 95-second second-track hardcore punk blaster “The Paranoid,” on which his son, Kylen Reed, plays bass — and which changes the entire context of the opening of the record — as well as highlights “Mirror Image” and the penultimate “Tragic Motion Lines.” Balch, whose relative tally as regards songwriting is eight compared to Arce‘s four, would seem to be the driving force behind Big Scenic Nowhere at least at this stage.

However, given the breadth of the progressive, desert-hued rock they harness, the fact of multiple songwriters at all, and the work others like vocalist/guitarist Alain Johannes (Queens of the Stone Age, etc.), bassists Mario Lalli (Fatso Jetson, Yawning Man) and Nick Oliveri (Mondo Generator), keymaster Wiberg and drummer Bill Stinson (Yawning Man) are doing throughout, it doesn’t necessarily feel right to base expectation for future modus on what’s happening here. That is, just because it’s mostly Balch writing songs this time doesn’t mean it won’t be Arce and Reed jams next time, and so on. The nature of the band feels more fluid than that, and as players, Balch, Arce and Reed revel in that fluidity. It becomes an essential component of the album’s success and the band’s potential.

That’s a rare angle to take to head toward “encouraging debut,” but frankly, Big Scenic Nowhere are putting themselves in the position of being a rare band, and the varied persona they present on this encouraging debut is a big part of why. It’s the nature of “supergroups” to be uneven, but particularly the changes in vocalists weave a path through the proceedings that benefits from the changes. Whether it’s Johannes channeling David–Bowie-via-Jerry–Cantrell on the crashing-in opener “The Glim” and resurfacing on side B’s mellower “En las Sombras,” or Graham and Alley bringing their underappreciated cult-style duet arrangements to side A’s “Then I Was Gone” and the later counterpart “Shadows from the Altar,” Big Scenic Nowhere not only serves as a showcase for stellar performances, but elements like Arce‘s signature tone, Balch‘s choice riffing and Reed‘s taking point on the majority of tracks — he sings on “The Paranoid,” “Mirror Image,” “Hidden Wall,” “Tragic Motion Lines” and subsequent closer “War Years” — are all the more standouts in tying the material together.

Whatever their future plans or creative whims might be as regards these remote/fly-in collaborations, they serve on Vision Beyond Horizon to help define who and what are as a group, and the instrumental arrangements as vast enough to accommodate the shifts, be it the spooky boogie of “Then I Was Gone” and “Shadows from the Altar” or the emergent fuzz-laden rollout of “Hidden Wall,” which approaches the seven-minute mark and closes side A. That they’re able to harness consistency at all is a considerable achievement, but that they do so in such a fashion as to make change the constant effectively doubles that. “The Paranoid” also functions in this way, establishing early on in the overarching procession of the album that Big Scenic Nowhere are able and willing to tread whatever ground they see fit. If it opened or closed, it would be too easy to write off as an intro or afterthought. As it is, right after the immediately dug-in, Mellotron-laced midtempo groove of “The Glim,” its brash thrust is the proverbial suckerpunch for arriving so unexpectedly.

But that’s also what makes it fun.

As with most debut full-lengths, it’s hard to listen to what Big Scenic Nowhere — the core writing team of Balch, Arce and Reed — bring to Vision Beyond Horizon and wonder what might come next and into what direction their style or output might ultimately turn. If there’s an answer to be found in these tracks, it’s that they’re able to capture a multifaceted complexity of songwriting that highlights individual players while still serving a broader aesthetic purpose, and that basically, they can do whatever the hell they want with their sound. If Dying on the Mountain was an initial foray into working together, Vision Beyond Horizon lives up to its title in having the poise and confidence of its approach to earn the listener’s trust that, if something didn’t belong, or wasn’t doing what they intended, it wouldn’t be there. It may be next to impossible to predict what Big Scenic Nowhere might do from this point forward, but listening to Vision Beyond Horizon, it’s easy to know it will be worth finding out.

Big Scenic Nowhere on Thee Facebooks

Big Scenic Nowhere on Instagram

Big Scenic Nowhere on Bandcamp

Heavy Psych Sounds on Thee Facebooks

Heavy Psych Sounds website

Heavy Psych Sounds on Bandcamp

The unstated message here is that KITE haven’t released an album in more than a decade. True, they put out through Sludgelord Records the EP, The All Penetrating Silence, in 2018, but still. One record in 2009, so really this is a band getting going again. I’ve had the chance to hear some of Irradiance, the forthcoming sophomore LP from the Oslo-based trio, and it’s scathing and atmospheric in kind. Argonauta went about two weeks between band pickups — I almost called the hospitals looking for them; are they okay? — but despite the regularity of their expansion, they continue to bring forth quality in addition to quantity when it comes to output, and on increasingly varied sonic terrain. KITE should fit right in, and by that I mean they kind of don’t.

Irradiance is out March 27 and Argonauta sent the following down the familiar path of the PR wire:

Sludge Heavyweights KITE Sign Worldwide Deal With Argonauta Records

Share Album Details + First, Crushing Single!

Norwegian Sludge trio, KITE, have inked a worldwide deal with Argonauta Records, who will release the band’s sophomore album on March 27th 2020.

Following their 2009- debut album and the critically acclaimed EP, The All Penetrating Silence ( released in 2018 with Sludgelord Records ), KITE’s roots spring deep into the post-hardcore sound of 90’s acts such as Quicksand, Cave In, Deftones or Breach, while giving color to an updated sound with a refreshing hybrid of gloomy, crushing Sludge and melodic atmospheres. While the band members are usually busy with their other projects such as Sâver, Dunderbeist and Team Me, they have been highly productive with the outfit that is KITE.

“We are super-thrilled to be joining the Argonauta familiy, and think that this will be an absolute killer match for us!” the band states. “The label has a bunch of great bands, and seems like a hard working and passionate crew that will give our new album the attention it needs and spread it out to music lovers worldwide. We can’t wait for you all to hear this monster!”

KITE’s second full-length, titled Irradiance, is a dark and heavy, yet crisp and neckbreaking groove monster. Recorded at Tåkeheimen Lydrike in Oslo, Norway, the album consists of 7 heavy as hell tracks, and today KITE are sharing a first one of them with us!

Irradiance is the natural evolution from where we left off with our 2018 EP “The All Penetrating Silence”. The sound has been added a bit more space and air, but still has a sharp crispness and natural feel on top of the dark and heavy grooves and riffs.” KITE explains. “Several of the tracks have been colored with some moog synth magic by Mr. Ole Rokseth ( Sâver/Hymn) and the extra hands laid by producer Morten Øby and mixer Joona Hassinen have really helped these tracks reach their full potential. The first single out – “The Dweller” – represents the album well, with its repetitive over-gained riffs on pounding drums, and the combination of soar melodies and desperate abyssal growls.”

Album Tracklisting:
1. Ghost Signal
2. The Dweller
3. Blood Calls Blood
4. Morlock
5. Irradiance
6. Reveries
7. Mistweaver

Set for a release on March 27th as Vinyl and Digital formats on Argonauta Records, the pre-sale will be available at THIS LOCATION. Watch out for many more news, album tunes as well as a live schedule to follow in the weeks ahead!

KITE is:
Ronny Flissundet – Vocals + Guitars
Bjarne Ryen Berg – Drums
Ole Christian Helstad – Bass + Vocals

www.facebook.com/kitenorway
www.kitenorway.bandcamp.com
www.argonautarecords.com
www.facebook.com/argonautarecords

KITE, “The Dweller”