Posted in Whathaveyou on June 29th, 2021 by JJ Koczan
More surprising than High on Fire being announced for Freak Valley next year is the fact that they’ve never played it before. The two entities have shared existence for long enough that you would’ve thought they’d run into each other sooner or later, but if there has to be a first time 2022 works just as well as any. As previously announced — an announcement I wrote and somehow didn’t post here, oddly — Freak Valley 2022 will run an additional day with ticket-purchase optional for those who’ve already got passes to the main fest, which is and has been sold out. Witchcraft will headline that extra day, and Fu Manchu‘s delayed 30th anniversary will feature at the fest-proper, along now with High on Fire and a universe of others still to be added.
Get stoked and stay stoked for this one. I am. I don’t care what it takes, 2022 is my year to get to Siegen. If the pandemic has taught me anything it’s that life is too short and too precious to screw around.
Here’s High on Fire‘s announcement, which again, I wrote for the fest:
Freakiest of Freaks!
Bear witness as the legends HIGH ON FIRE join the lineup for Freak Valley 2022!
If you’re reading these words, then in all likelihood, High On Fire need no introduction. Formed by guitarist/vocalist Matt Pike six months after SLEEP originally disbanded, the band would go on to become one of heavy music’s most essential acts, bridging thrash, doom and classic metal into a marauding style all their own and influencing a generation of bands in the process.
Records like ‘The Art of Self-Defense,’ ‘Death is This Communion,’ and ‘De Vermis Mysteriis’ are landmarks, but if you know High on Fire, you know they never do anything without utterly killing it. With Pike and longtime bassist Jeff Matz saying goodbye to founding drummer Des Kensel in 2019, the band recently enlisted Coady Willis (Big Business, ex-Melvins) to take on the role and are back to doing what they do best in blasting out some of the most intense and righteous heavy you’ve ever heard.
This will be High on Fire’s FIRST TIME on the Freak Valley stage and we know it will be a union to remember. Can’t wait to see you here in Netphen!
Lineup Freak Valley Festival 2022: FU MANCHU HIGH ON FIRE WITCHCRAFT
Still many many more to come!
Freak Valley Festival // No Fillers – Just Killers
[Click play above to stream the premiere of The Kings of Frog Island’s video for ‘Beyond the Void.’ New album VII is out July 30 on Kozmik Artifactz.]
It was some 13 standard earth years ago that The Kings of Frog Island issued their “Welcome to the Void” on their second album, 2008’s II (discussed here), and now, with VII, they willfully go beyond. “Beyond the Void” leads off the Leicester, UK, outfit’s new collection, VII, a stirring 10-track offering that seems to make the listener the beneficiary of a surge in productivity on the part of the band. That is to say, it was six years between 2014’s V (review here) and the release of VI (review here) in 2020, and now, less than a year later, guitarist Mark Buteux, vocalist Gavin Searle, bassist Lee Madel-Toner, drummer Roger “Dodge” Watson — plus Gavin William Wright, Tony Heslop and Neve Buteux — have turned around a follow-up, comprising 47 minutes of sungazing, mellow-heavy psychedelia and fuzz, melodic, unpretentious, dug in and of a style the band have now worked over the last few years to establish as their own that pulls together the various sides of their now 18-year trajectory.
The key seems to have been the band launching their own studio in Amphibia Sound Studios IV, which not only has allowed them to record more, since they’re the ones doing it and thus less subject to schedules, etc., but also to build their songs in a different way. No doubt this process was upset by the covid-19 pandemic in some way over the course of the last 15 months — easy to speculate, since everything was — but The Kings of Frog Island still sound very much like themselves, and that distinction is important because it encompasses both the catchy, straightforward underlying structure of “Blackened Soul,” the drifting post-grunge of “Dopamine” and the psych blues minimalist try-it-and-see-how-it-goes experimentalism of “SuperEgo.” Though not without a darker moment in “Empire” on side B, VII speaks of the sunshine on three tracks in a row with “Blackened Soul,” “Summer Sun” and “Dopamine,” and even “Rain” talks about stepping into the light — its hook line being, “So get out of the rain.” The penultimate “Five Hours” does its part to “hold onto the summer” as well and assures, “it’ll be alright.”
In context, it’s easy to read this as psychedelic escapism on the part of the band, and if that’s the case, it works just as fluidly for the listener. While “Beyond the Void” sets up elements like the backing vocals behind Searle and the Revolver-in-an-alternate-reality-dance-hall groove that accompanies, it’s the interplay between that track and “All the King’s Horses” immediately following that gives the audience more of a clue as to the scope of The Kings of Frog Island at this stage in their career. For the better part of two decades and across seven records of various shifts in personnel and craft, the band has worked to find a way to carry those hearing their songs along the current of the material in the manner they make sound so natural here, blending the ethereality of “All the King’s Horses” with the harder fuzz of “The Silver Arrow” while retaining a consistent identity between them. This isn’t just about tones or melodies, but the production style and the manner in which parts are layered as well. This development of the studio space as a part of the character of the group as a whole, it comes through in the material in a way that it couldn’t have before Amphibia Sound IV, and it’s helped The Kings of Frog Island to find their multi-pronged path and to walk it in kind.
“Beyond the Void” (6:12), “Empire” (5:36) and “SuperEgo” (7:43) are the only tracks on VII that top five minutes long — though “All the King’s Horses” and “Blackened Soul” come close — and though that’s more than appeared on VI, that prior album also had 10 tracks and three of them under four minutes, where VII has four. Does that speak of a burgeoning divergence between longer songs and shorter in The Kings of Frog Island‘s approach? I’ve no idea, and I don’t think it’s a question that can be answered at this point. VI was put together over a series of years, and for all I know, VII might have been sculpted out of the same ongoing sessions, but as an album, it presents as being markedly cogent in its purposes, whether a given song works fast or slow, loud or quiet. The atmosphere and mood of “Empire,” or how the song descends into its fade ahead of the burst-to-life at the start of “The Silver Arrow,” isn’t to be taken for granted. They are far from the ’90s-style, handclap-inclusive Britpsych of “Summer Sun” at that point, or even the warm rumble of “Blackened Soul,” but the easy sway of “Five Hours” helps ease the transition into “SuperEgo,” and the breadth and subtlety of that final build is a marked achievement that underlines the songwriting at work throughout the album preceding it.
I see no reason to mince words or deny that I have been and remain a fan of The Kings of Frog Island‘s output over the better part of the last two decades. What VII does is add to their list of accomplishments, push further their creative style and make it that much easier for the listener — whether a fan of long-standing or not — to roll where they roll. You don’t have to know “Welcome to the Void” to go “Beyond the Void,” and through “Blackened Soul” and “Summer Sun” and “Dopamine” and “Rain” and “Five Hours” and really the whole thing, the prevalence of vibe in their material not only stems from the depth of the mix — the way the vocals are blown out on top of “Blackened Soul” or the slow-motion scorch of the lead guitar in “Empire” — but from the essence of the songs themselves. I’m not sure “exciting” is the right thing to call a release that spends so much of its time basking in psychedelic serenity, but VII is that, just the same, and each song is an invitation to the audience to join the band on this journey into the moment. They make it a pleasure to go.
The Kings of Frog Island, “Summer Sun” official video
Posted in Whathaveyou on June 29th, 2021 by JJ Koczan
If you watched/read the recent interview with Delving‘s Nick DiSalvo — the video of which is also embedded below — you already knew that a tour announcement was forthcoming, but really, isn’t it nice to see? Am I going to go to one of these shows? No. Sadly there are no trips to Luxembourg slated in my immediate future (I say that sincerely). But still, it’s refreshing to be able to post a list of tour dates not just for established acts — though DiSalvo brings a pedigree with him via fronting Elder for the better part of the last 15 years — but for a new project as well. Spring comes to planet Earth. New life out of all the chaos and death, and so on.
Delving‘s debut album, Hirschbrunnen (review here), is likewise refreshing and engaging and all that good stuff, not beholden to a sense of heft, but not entirely removed from one either, transposing the proggy flow of Elder to an instrumentalist context that lets itself be driven by other forces, keys, synth, etc. It’s out on Stickman, and while I won’t get to Luxembourg this time around, the fact that DiSalvo is taking Delving on the road even in this initial feel-it-out capacity speaks to his intention to keep the band going as more than a one-off. That’s also good news.
Dates follow, along with ticket links:
DELVING – FALL TOUR 2021
I’m beyond excited to announce some tour dates for delving coming up in a few months! Hope to see you at one of the shows below.
Thank you to Artourette for the beautiful tour poster! We’ll definitely be printing some of these for the upcoming run.
Posted in Whathaveyou on June 28th, 2021 by JJ Koczan
I know, I know, a double-LP is all cool and stuff, and two vinyl versions and that’s pretty special. But a jewel case CD with a four-panel insert? That’s got me grinning like the Drake meme. My jam. And a jewel case feels like a novelty at this point, so yeah, I’m on board for that.
Aug. 6 is the release date for Borracho‘s fourth album, Pound of Flesh, and considering the fact that it marks a decade since their debut, you almost have to sit back and look at the career they’ve put together. Especially since they didn’t end up being the band they started as, losing their frontman after that first record, their accomplishments are all the more impressive. And you know what? They’ve earned everything they’ve gotten, working with labels like Ripple Music, Cursed Tongue and Kozmik Artifactz, shows at home and abroad, fest appearances, wide-ranging accolades and all of it. Solid heavy rock and roll band. I’ve heard the new record. It’s long, but they earn that too. It’s awesome, and it’s another step forward for them.
I guess what I’m saying is “fucking a, new Borracho.” I’m gonna try to get one of these dudes on board for a video interview before the record’s out too, and there’ll be a review and all that whatnot, so keep an eye out. We’ve got time.
Here’s preorder info:
BORRACHO – New LP Pound of Flesh available August 6. Pre-order NOW!
Our 4th record Pound of Flesh officially drops August 6th and is available for pre-order on CD, digital, and vinyl now on our Bandcamp page: https://borracho.bandcamp.com/
Nine new tracks running more than 50 minutes will take you on a heavy trip from beginning to end. Here’s the first glimpse at the cover art and packaging, all designed by TMD – AKA our very own Tim Martin.
CDs are presented in jewel cases with full color 4-panel insert. But the stars of the show are the two vinyl versions. Two limited edition gatefold 2LP versions are available – Black & Blue, and special edition Multicolor Splatterburst. Side 4 includes a custom etching capturing various elements of the album’s theme. It’s a package you don’t want to miss in your collection. Pre-order NOW!
Pound of Flesh arrives nearly five years after its predecessor Atacama, and just on time for the tenth anniversary of our debut album Splitting Sky. It has been a labor of love, being largely written over a three year period when the band was geographically separated, and mostly recorded ahead of the onset of a global pandemic. The events of the past 16 months delayed its completion and release even further. We couldn’t be happier to finally bring you this amazing package, presented by the always on-point Kozmik Artifactz.
NOTE: if you are located in Europe we highly recommend you place your pre-order directly with Kozmik Artifactz for faster and cheaper delivery.
Posted in Whathaveyou on June 28th, 2021 by JJ Koczan
The last time Orange Goblin changed their lineup for real was 2004, when they bid farewell to guitarist Pete O’Malley, who was never replaced. For the London kingpins to welcome a new bassist as a permanent member, replacing a founder of the band, is a big deal. Harry Armstrong — who was in Hangnail, who you should check out; veterans of both Man’s Ruin and Rise Above, if that helps put you in motion; End of Level Boss were cool too — must be a really good dude, and I say that with the utmost sincerity since I don’t think he’d be in the band otherwise. After 26 years together, Orange Goblin aren’t just hiring a gun to handle low end. You’re talking about a familial relationship between these players.
Martyn Millard‘s final shows with the band were livestreamed from London. I know they did a live record last year (discussed here), but hell, if you’ve got the recordings anyway, maybe throw them up on Bandcamp? I don’t even care if they’re mixed. I’ll take a soundboard bootleg any day.
July 31 will be Armstrong‘s first show with Orange Goblin, and it leads into a few festival dates as well as their annual holiday tour around the UK, which, you know, delayed and pushed back and all the rest. As a fan, I’m happy to see them getting out. Wouldn’t mind a new record either, but yeah.
The PR wire made it official, as it will:
Orange Goblin announce new bass player following departure of Martyn Millard
Legendary UK metal band ORANGE GOBLIN have announced that Harry Armstrong (formerly of Decomposed, Hangnail, Earls of Mars, End of Level Boss and current frontman of Blind River) will be joining the band as a permanent replacement for Martyn Millard, a founding member and bass player for the past 26 years, who played his last shows with Orange Goblin this past weekend in London as part of their special 25 Year Anniversary celebration shows that were also livestreamed around the world.
Harry joins Orange Goblin immediately and his first show with the band will now be at The Yard in Cornwall on Saturday 31st July. Support at this show comes from Phil Campbell & The Bastard Sons, Massive Wagons, Raging Speedhorn, White Raven Down and Mother Vulture.
Asked about the changing of the guard, the band issued the following statement:
‘It is with very heavy hearts that the day has come and we finally say goodbye to our founding member, bass player, lifelong brother and best friend Martyn Millard. Martyn has made the very hard decision to step down from Orange Goblin and given us his blessing to continue with the band, something that we understand and accept. Things will never be the same without the thunder that only Martyn can bring but this opens a new chapter in the Orange Goblin story. We all thank Martyn for his contribution and sacrifices to Orange Goblin over the course of the past 26 years and wish him well in whatever he chooses to do next. We know that none of the things this band has achieved since the start would have been possible without his commitment, passion and talent and we are eternally grateful for that.
When Martyn informed us of his decision to leave there was only one person that all of us instantly and fully agreed on to fill the huge shoes that Martyn leaves, and so we would like to give a massive welcome to our long time friend and conspirator Harry Armstrong, as he joins Orange Goblin as the new bass player. Harry has been a part of the family since day one, his enthusiasm, talent and encyclopedic knowledge of heavy metal means that he is perfectly suited for the band and we look forward to what the future brings with this new line-up. We have all been fans of Harry and his musical output throughout his career (Decomposed, Hangnail, End of Level Boss, The Earls of Mars, Noisepicker, The Winchester Club, Blind River….the list goes on) and we have toured together, drunk together and laughed together enough to know that he is the perfect man for the job. We are about to sign a new record deal and Harry will play a vital role in the writing of the next record. Please join us in wishing Martyn a fond farewell and at the same time welcoming Harry Armstrong as the new bass player in Orange Goblin.’
– Ben, Joe and Chris – Orange Goblin, June 2021
And the departing Martyn Millard commented:
‘After thinking over my decision for some time, I informed Ben, Chris and Joe, over Christmas 2019 that I would depart at the end of 2020. It’s the hardest decision I have ever had to make but ultimately the correct one for all concerned. I love this band, its music, its members, its fans and all it stands for. It’s been my life for 26 years. But I just knew that my time had come to step aside. I will always be part of this ongoing story and I will continue supporting my best friends from the side of the stage.
So, thoughts turned to a new bass player. It was never about ‘replacing’ me. It’s always been about someone fitting what the band needed and required for it to progress smoothly and about the new guy or girl feeling as comfortable as possible in the transition. COVID scuppered that slightly but in the main only 1 name fitted the role from the start. Harry Armstrong. He shares the bands goals, musical tastes, sense of humour and desire. He is an exceptional musician and singer who we know will more than fit right in perfectly.
So, join me in welcoming Harry into the family. He’ll crush it, I know he will, and finally Ben has someone who can actually sing the bloody backing vocals in key!!! Thank you again for all the messages and well wishes.
It means more than you could imagine.’
Martyn Millard, June 2021
Orange Goblin recently celebrated 25 years as a band with two shows in London following last year’s cancellations and postponement. With the new bass player now in place, the band will be hitting the road at the following shows later this year:
Sat 31 Jul – The Yard, Cornwall, UK Sun 15 Aug – Bloodstock Open Air (Main Stage), UK Sunday 22 Aug – Dynamo Metalfest, Eindhoven, NL Sat 02 Oct – Headbangers Balls Festival, Izegem, BE Fri 05 Nov – Night of Salvation (Damnation Fest), Leeds, UK Sat 04 Dec – Dome of Rock Festival, Salzburg, AT Wed 08 Dec – The Booking Hall, Dover, UK Thu 09 Dec – The Tivoli, Buckley, UK Fri 10 Dec – Limelight 2, Belfast, UK Sat 11 Dec – Grand Social, Dublin, IRE Mon 13 Dec – King Tuts, Glasgow, UK Tue 14 Dec – Gorilla, Manchester, UK Wed 15 Dec – Asylum, Birmingham, UK Thu 16 Dec – The Globe, Cardiff, UK Fri 17 Dec – The Underworld, London, UK Sat 18 Dec – The Underworld, London, UK
Orange Goblin is: Ben Ward – Vocals Joe Hoare – Guitar Harry Armstrong – Bass / Backing vocals Christopher Turner – Drums
Posted in audiObelisk on June 28th, 2021 by JJ Koczan
Australian extreme doom five-piece The Slow Death release their fourth full-length, Siege, on Aug. 27 in a range of editions through Transcending Obscurity Records. It is the band’s first studio work in six years since 2015’s Ark, which was the final performance of then-vocalist Gregg Williamson, who passed away in 2014 after completing the recording, and in a style known for being morose, might be all the more so for that, but the arc of their storytelling looks seems more to look outward across the release.
And while one might balk at accusing an album comprised of four songs that runs a total of 63 minutes of being subtle, Siege nonetheless is that in the way it weaves guitar and keys and vocal arrangements within and between its extended cuts, keyboardist Mandy Andresen (also graphics) handling a cleaner singing style while Gamaliel complements with growls, and vice versa atop the tension-and-release riffing of guitarist/keyboardist Stuart Prickett, as well as Dan Garcia‘s bass and Yonn McLaughlin‘s drums, which drive the tempo changes that make 19-minute opener “Tyranny” feel like an album unto itself, with a complete flow and a progression that feels nigh on literary in its poise, however fast it may or may not be moving at a given point.
Each half of the record — that is to say, each platter of the 2LP — brings a 19-minute track and shorter one in “Famine” (13:44) and closer “Ascent of the Flames” (10:28), respectively. And make no mistake, by the time you get down to “Ascent of the Flames,” having just followed The Slow Death on their ultra-willful slog through “Pestilence,” you might be numb to the changes happening, but the shifts there and across Siege are worth paying attention to, as they make the entirety of the release all the more satisfying to hear.
Even within “Tyranny,” the break to keys and soft guitar and vocals after the growling stretch circa 13 minutes in is executed with such fluidity and depressive grace that it’s nothing less than a triumph as the heft surges back in behind Andresen a short time later. Siege is full of these moments, whether it’s “Famine” unveiling a folk melody in its tenth minute before dirge-marching to its piano-laced finish — having bludgeoned so forcefully earlier in its procession — or the sudden cutout from lead guitar five-plus minutes into the buildup of “Pestilence,” which Gamaliel starts on vocals, mirroring Andresen on the album’s leadoff, setting up back and forth movements that play out across the rest of the song.
An ability to convey beauty in darkness is a tenet of the style, but The Slow Death do so well, while still keeping an overarching rawness to their presentation that helps them blur the line between where goth ends and death-doom begins. The orchestral elements, even synthesized, bolster the drama of the material and could easily fall flat, but don’t, largely because of the human performances behind them, the dynamic setup between Andresen and Gamaliel essential to the outing and its thoughtful shifts from one part or one song to the next, landing with emotional weight as well as tonal — again, an essential factor in making the sound what it is.
“Famine” was previously streamed, and you’ll find that near the bottom of this post. Between that and “Tyranny” premiering below, you’ve got about 33 of the 63 minutes of Siege to give you an idea of what The Slow Death are all about, if the moniker didn’t already tell you. PR wire info follows the player. Seems cruel to say “enjoy” at this point, so yes, I will.
Enjoy:
The Slow Death, “Tyranny” official premiere
The Slow Death are an exceptional band that straddles the emotive as well as heavier aspect of atmospheric death/doom metal. There are eerie, haunting female vocals alternated with abysmally low growls to go with similarly undulating music, encompassing a terrific range of heart-rending expression. Members of veteran bands such as Illimitable Dolor, Horrisonous, ex-Mournful Congregation ensure that the music remains engaging, even during the sparser, atmospheric parts, which invariably give way to soul-piercing solos or dread-inducing chugging parts.
This is a staggering interpretation of the double-edged style with everything remaining all too palpable, as it hurtles you through a harrowing, emotional roller-coaster ride through four epochal tracks averaging over 15 minutes, at the end of which you’ll emerge cleansed, purged, feeling exhausted but somehow lighter. It’s a microcosm of the events that are bound to unfold in everyone’s life, and The Slow Death couldn’t express the inevitable moments of grief and triumph any better through their emotionally-charged music. Six years in the making, ‘Siege’ is sure to be remembered as one of the best albums in the style.
Artworks by Mandy Andresen
Track listing: 1. Tyranny 2. Famine 3. Pestilence 4. Ascent of the Flames
Line up – Mandy Andresen (ex-Murkrat, Crone) – Vocals and Keyboards Stuart Prickett (Horrisonous, Illimitable Dolor) – Guitars and Keyboards Yonn McLaughlin (Temple Nightside, Horrisonous, Illimitable Dolor, Nazxul) – Drums Dan Garcia (Horrisonous, Illimitable Dolor) – Bass Gamaliel (ex-Oracle of the Void) – Vocals
Posted in Whathaveyou on June 28th, 2021 by JJ Koczan
Umeå, Sweden, trio Maha Sohona released their first album in seven years — just their second overall — digitally on June 18, and I’ve been trying to find an excuse and the time to dig into the record for real ever since. With the news that Endless Searcher, which was preceded by the single “Leaves” just two weeks before, will be issued on vinyl through Greece’s Made of Stone Recordings, I feel pretty satisfied at finally having my chance. They’re not wrong when they talk about things like mellow heavy and atmospheric compositions. You get plenty of that across the five-song outing, and it’s an easy one to lose yourself in, whether you heard the band’s 2014 self-titled debut or not. To wit, I didn’t.
That’s still on their Bandcamp as well, of course, and you can stream Endless Searcher at the bottom of the post here. If the style of the cover art looks familiar, you might recognize the hand of Maciej Kamuda from his work for Spaceslug, Weedpecker, Sunnata, Scorched Oak and a slew of others. I just went down a 20-minute rabbit-hole on his Facebook page and don’t regret it in the least.
But I digress. The vinyl. Here’s PR wire info:
Maha Sohona release “Endless Searcher” via Made Of Stone Recordings
The overall vision behind Johan Bernhardtson’s power trio is not an easy task to describe. Hailing from Umeå, Sweden and with a mission to reach as far out as possible, the 3 musicians use the compelling power of riffing and the creation of translucent atmospheres as a vehicle that can easily become a weapon. Their dynamic stoner/desert/space rock is equally explosive and laid back, depending on the dynamics of each moment.
Having enough experience to channel the creative energy into well-crafted compositions, the energy of the band finds a way into the listener’s heart and mind, through meticulous rock n roll outtakes with a distinct character and identity.
All songs written and arranged by Maha Sohona Recorded December 5-6th 2020 at Järnhjälmen Studio Mixed by Stefan Johansson at Järnhjälmen Studio Mastered by Brad Boatright at Audiosiege Cover artwork and layout by Maciej Kamuda
Made of Stone Recordings presents the analogue vinyl editions of “Endless Searcher”:
– The splatter transparent 180gr in 100 limited copies – The double coloured 180gr in 200 copies – The all-time classic black LP 180gr in 200 copies,
With a release date of November 10, 2021.
Tracklisting: 1. Leaves 09:41 2. Luftslott 07:59 3. A Black Star 08:24 4. Scavengers 03:58 5. Orbit X 07:22
Maha Sohona are: Guitar/Vocals – Johan Bernhardtson Bass – Thomas Hedlund Drums – David Lundsten
As clarions go, the opening riff of “Sleepy Silver Door” is as much a call to the converted as it is a call to convert. The lead track of Dead Meadow‘s 2000 self-titled debut, released by Joe Lally of Fugazi‘s Tolotta Records, has become a staple of the then-Washington D.C./now-L.A. outfit’s live work, and it was apparently enough in their heads that it received a reprise on their fourth album, Feathers, in 2005. It is a landmark riff, languid in rhythm, fuzzed to the nines and in a matter of seconds, it tells you much of what you need to know about the band.
As the microgenre of stoner rock was beginning to shape itself in the wake of Sleep and Kyuss‘ demise, the advent of Queens of the Stone Age and rise of Nebula and Fu Manchu out west (let alone what was happening in Europe or South America at the time), Dead Meadow managed to outdo the vast majority of their West Coast counterparts in terms of crafting a sound that was both mellow and heavy, and with Jason Simon‘s floating voice over the proceedings, they were as much shoegaze as psychedelic rock, as much indie as stoner. They made Dead Meadow in their practice space, and for the sounds they were making, anywhere else wouldn’t have worked the same.
There are few who can roll a groove as they do, and “Sleepy Silver Door” demonstrates that in its first minute as it moves into that willfully repetitive note of the verse. There are twists and turns to be had, but that root is always there, and with Steve Kille‘s bass and Mark Laughlin‘s popping snare and dirty hi-hat, the jammy feel is resonant but still so righteously heavy as the track takes off into its solo — long, jammed, eventually falling apart because who cares anyway man. “Indian Bones” picks up at a more immediate run and answers some of the opener’s repetition, but is more active and freak-crashes in its second half for a minute before getting its head back together, a formative janga-janga riff that’s still mellow with the push behind it.
The beginning pair make up about 14 minutes of the album’s total 44-minute runtime, so a not insignificant portion — “Sleepy Silver Door” is 7:31, and the only longer track is side B’s “Beyond the Fields We Know,” at 9:31 — but the dreamy, drifting vibe of “Dragonfly” that follows is a pointed chill kept together by the drums, like the sunshiniest of grunge but distinct in its purpose from what the ’90s had on offer a few years before, even at its most psychedelic. The bass, the drums. It’s a heavy tune, and fades out on a march to “Lady,” which rounds out the record’s first half like the reason wah pedals were invented.
Seriously, it’s dizzying. Eventually the track evens out, such as it is, and shuffles a bit in its second half, but the earlier stretch still comes across like the bastard son “Electric Funeral” never knew it had. In comparison, “GreenSky GreenLake” is positively clear-eyed, opening with a stretch of quiet guitar before unveiling its Hendrix-at-wrong-(or-right?)-RPM central figure, pausing before the bass and drums enter, keeping an exploratory feel as it plays out in linear, instrumentalist fashion. I don’t know if we’re ending up underwater or out in space there — what planet that lake is on, etc. — but I remain ready to submit a resume to work for their tourism board.
On the sundry vinyl editions that have shown up over the years — Planaria Records in 2001, the band’s own Xemu Records in 2013 and 2015, and so on — “GreenSky GreenLake” opens the second side, and on whatever format, it’s all the more notable for leading into the utter hypnosis that is “Beyond the Fields We Know,” which even 21 years later feels like someone did to time what Mad Alchemy does to lightshows. Loose enough to make “Sleepy Silver Door” sound like punk rock. And they, they get it going with the tambourine and the push and all that, but by the time they’re five minutes in and you’re hanging out there with Kille‘s bassline for company before Simon‘s guitar comes back and you’re wondering like what the hell happened I thought we were cool, it’s Dead Meadow‘s go-wherever jam getting one over again, because where they’re headed is back to the verse — a masterful turn that contradicts earlier departures from structure and reinforces the craft underlying all of the album’s songwriting elements. Maybe there has been a plan all along.
Like the shorter pairing of “Dragonfly” and “Lady,” on side A, Dead Meadow rounds out with “At the Edge of the Wood” and “Rocky Mountain High,” the former three and a half minutes of unashamed acid folk, acoustic strum and voice put to tape with a spirit that, if it wasn’t done live, is as much of an approximation of same as one could ask it to be, and the latter just over four minutes of tambourine-laced wah victory lapping, pushing vocals below weightier fuzz and pitting roll against boogie until the wash of melodic tonality takes us all into the wormhole off to who knows where. Find me a more fitting end to this record, I dare you.
In the context of when it came out — now some 21 years ago — Dead Meadow‘s Dead Meadow offered something different from much of the heavy rock of its time, and it, as well as 2001’s Howls From the Hills and 2003’s Shivering King and Others are essential documents of stand-apart turn of the century heavy. The band of course continue to deliver. They’ve got a new release coming out through PostWax, and their latest album was 2018’s The Nothing They Need (review here), a win to be sure, even as Simon has split time with solo work and other projects like Old Mexico. With steady reissues along the way — CD and tape in addition the vinyl already noted — Dead Meadow remains that relevant clarion it started as being, and maybe it ultimately feels so timeless because it is.
As always, I hope you enjoy. Thanks for reading.
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Rough week with the kid home from school and still healing in the leg culminated yesterday with me getting pissed off and throwing a Lightning McQueen toy. The Pecan was adamant that I didn’t put his shorts on — yet he won’t go nap without them — and mommy do it mommy do it and I’d said I was doing it and so I was on the hook and when I put them on him he scratched and hit and kicked and even bit me which he hadn’t done in a while and then when he ran over to The Patient Mrs. after and pulled his shorts back off, I just lost it. Threw the toy, scared the kid, got his shorts back on and sent him upstairs to nap where he was consoled by his mother for 40 minutes before being left to go to sleep under his blanket. The dynamic in this house sucks right now and I think we all know it.
He and The Patient Mrs. are going to Connecticut for tonight and maybe part of tomorrow. I think I’m staying home to try and catch my head. Honestly, I’m hoping for a carbon monoxide leak or something like that so I can maybe just kind of pass out on the couch and not wake up and everyone can move forward for the better. Probably with a new couch.
I’m doing my best and it’s just not good enough. Ever. For anyone. Oh, and then DYFS or whatever they’re called now came back to the house to close out the case they opened because it was his second fracture in so short a time and I had to cancel the Monster Magnet interview I’d slated because I didn’t know when the case worker was coming. She showed up later anyhow. What a fucking trench of an existence this is.
He’s home next week too then starts camp. I took a xanax this morning and hope to spend as much of today as possible in bed. Make myself a protein shake and try to chill the fuck out. He has a follow-up x-ray at 9:15 on the leg. Still limps a bit, but is out of the boot. We see the orthopedist on Monday. I don’t know anything.
Fuck it. He’s up so I’m out. New Gimme show today at 5. You’re not gonna listen. It’s okay, I get it. Don’t feel bad. The world is not short on internet radio. But I feel obliged to give a plug because the Gimme crew is very tolerant of me.
And thanks if you’ve bought merch. More coming.
Great and safe weekend. Drink water. Wear a helmet. All that shit. Next week, more.
