The Long Morrow is striking in the nuance of its sound and process alike. It is the second full-length from West Coasterly conglomeration Big Scenic Nowhere, the project founded by guitarists Bob Balch (Fu Manchu) and Gary Arce (Yawning Man) that quickly came to include multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Tony Reed (keys, bass, guitar, synth, Mellotron, etc.) of Mos Generator and Yawning Man drummer Bill Stinson, as well, initially, as a range of guests. That was true of their early-2020 debut LP, Vision Beyond Horizon (review here), which brought contributions from members of The Well, Monolord and acknowledged keymaster Per Wiberg (Kamchatka, King Hobo, Candlemass, Opeth, Switchblade, on and on forever).

Comprised of five tracks running 36 minutes — a substantial portion of which are dedicated to closer “The Long Morrow” (19:45) itself — The Long Morrow pulls back on that inclusionary mission somewhat. Wiberg makes a return appearance on synth, and guitarist Reeves Gabrels (David Bowie, The Cure, many others) does likewise, both on the title-track, but beyond that, The Long Morrow is Arce, Balch, Reed and Stinson, and it proves handily that the band — and yes, they are a band — doesn’t need anything else.

In Oct. 2020, Big Scenic Nowhere issued their Lavender Blues EP (review here), and with it came more understanding about how their songs are made, and when. The core four-piece have gotten together all of once, jamming for a stretch of three apparently-quite-productive days in Nov. 2019. And everything they’ve released since, across Vision Beyond Horizon, Lavender Blues and now The Long Morrow, has been culled from those sessions. But it’s what’s behind that culling. With Reed in Washington and Stinson, Arce and Balch in California (which doesn’t necessarily make them neighbors, by the way), the band has worked remotely.

It’s been a good time to do so, of course. But even without the plague, The Long Morrow finds Balch and Reed passing the initial jams and improvisations back and forth to each other, trading ideas and gradually sculpting songs out of pieces set to loops, with Balch finding common tunings and melodic expressions and parts that might set well next to each other to build cuts like “Defector (of Future Days)” while Reed fleshes out structures with verses, sundry keys, some acoustic guitar on “Murder Klipp” and the grand finale.

This work, which one imagines is both deeply tedious and deeply satisfying when it works — like a jigsaw puzzle that can be any shape; Balch talks about it here — can and sometimes does result in open-ended, longer-form material. Such was the case on the band’s first release, which was the 2019 proof-of-concept PostWax EP, Dying on the Mountain EP (discussed here). Likewise, the title-track of Lavender Blues easily reached over 13 minutes, and the aforementioned “The Long Morrow” nearly hits 20, so Big Scenic Nowhere want now and have wanted nothing for showcasing their jammy roots. At the same time, The Long Morrow feels like the most directly song-based work they’ve yet done.

Part of that clarity might perhaps stem from the relative hunkering-down of the lineup involved in those original jams implied through inviting fewer outside participants, but through “Defector (of Future Days),” “Murder Klipp” “Lavender Bleu” — which is a five-minute stretch constructed from the same foundation as the lengthier “Lavender Blues,” and admirably finds its own direction — the quicker, more intense “LeDü” and even in “The Long Morrow,” the band consciously carve progressive heavy psychedelic rock, lush in melody and aware of its own aural impact, from the sonic ether of those jams.

“Defector (of Future Days)” begins the proceedings with a purposeful crunch and angularity to its central riff. It feels written traditionally, a verse/chorus structure bringing the first of the Reed-delivered hooks as Arce‘s inimitable guitar tone adds post-rocking float to the winding rhythm from Balch (who swaps with Reed, playing bass on the track) and Stinson, whose reliability as a drummer isn’t to be understated. As “Murder Klipp” adds Mellotron and acoustic guitar to its dramatic second half and “Lavender Bleu” (premiered here) begins its serene unfolding with Arce‘s quiet dream-desert noodling at the front before the more direct fuzz of its chorus hits, Stinson‘s drums never seem to miss a moment or a turn. Even a cut-and-paste situation, where one wouldn’t necessarily expect to find ‘mistakes’ such as they are, he brings a fluidity to the songs that reminds of just how essential his work is to Yawning Man as well.

It’s all the more crucial, though, in a band with three guitarists, each with his own personality in Arce, Balch and Reed — the last of whom, yes, plays bass on most of the material, but adds acoustic to “Murder Clip” and “The Long Morrow,” as noted, and is very much a melodic presence on vocals and synth/Mellotron as well — even before they bring in someone like Reeves Gabrels, who’s presumably the party responsible (in part at least) for the shredfest that starts shortly after the nine-minute mark in the closer. The underlying point is that Big Scenic Nowhere come across in The Long Morrow more like a band than a project, and each member is essential to that, whether it’s Reed tossing in lyrical themes of one’s place in passing time and arrangement elements like the soft electric piano in the beginning verses of “The Long Morrow” or the layered vocal in “LeDü,” Arce spacing out the atmospherics, Balch finding the groove for a riff and piecing the songs together or Stinson serving as the baseline (not bassline) from which the material is crafted.

Finding a narrative of progression from one release to the next is an impulse on the part of the listener — what are they doing here as opposed to last time? — but despite pulling their songs from the same three-day stretch of show-up-with-nothing-and-see-what-happens jamming that resulted in the first album and subsequent EP, The Long Morrow indeed demonstrates growth in what’s being made from that raw material, and the deeper Big Scenic Nowhere go into the ground they’re working from, the more what they unearth seems to be their own. The Long Morrow affirms Big Scenic Nowhere‘s prog-hued vision of desert psychedelia, heavy without being held down by its weight, and able to drift or land hard at will. It is cohesive like an ecosystem.

Big Scenic Nowhere, The Long Morrow (2022)

Big Scenic Nowhere on Facebook

Big Scenic Nowhere on Instagram

Big Scenic Nowhere on Bandcamp

Heavy Psych Sounds on Facebook

Heavy Psych Sounds website

Heavy Psych Sounds on Bandcamp

The Obelisk Questionnaire is a series of open questions intended to give the answerer an opportunity to explore these ideas and stories from their life as deeply as they choose. Answers can be short or long, and that reveals something in itself, but the most important factor is honesty.

Based on the Proust Questionnaire, the goal over time is to show a diverse range of perspectives as those who take part bring their own points of view to answering the same questions. To see all The Obelisk Questionnaire posts, click here.

Thank you for reading and thanks to all who participate.

The Obelisk Questionnaire: RoadkillSoda

—

How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?

Mishu: I guess I can define it as simply creating music or just generally being involved in any kind of music-related activity. I came to do it randomly, I didn’t think much of it even though I liked music, but I met with some friends that were doing music and they wanted someone to write a drum line and I said I’ll try. And after that I guess it just kept on evolving

Byst: I’m glad that I can achieve one of my childhood dreams: to sing and make music, and I think it was a combination of different elements acquired in time that drove me here. Making music for me is a life pressure relief valve.

Panda: I am living my childhood dream. Playing the music I love, with my friends around the world.

Describe your first musical memory.

Mishu: I have a bad memory and the first musical memory was way too many years ago, but I think it was listening to some music player of someone somewhere.

Byst: At my seventh birthday I received a cassette from my uncle with the Judas Priest, Painkiller album, and I was blown away by the album cover and the fact that you could insert the cassette the other way in the case. And when I started to listen to it, a universe opened for me.

Panda: A trip to the seaside with my parents and my brother, when they would put on mixtapes and sing along, this is the first vivid memory that comes to mind. They would harmonize beautifully.

Describe your best musical memory to date.

Mishu: I don’t know what the best would be, most of them are as good as they can be. It can be attending a live show or playing in one or being in the studio and hearing a dope track or chilling with the gang and getting turned up together while listening to music or it can be finally getting to listen to some new music being released after you have been waiting for it.

Byst: In 2010 I saw Korn in Romania and I was with two friends. I think it was my first big concert with one of my favorite bands and the world just stopped when they started playing. It was so intense; we were moshing in the middle of a crazy crowd and singing and it was unbelievable. And after the show we decided to drive back home for like 230 km passing through some narrow roads in the mountains and at one point the driver fell asleep and that could have been the end of the story.

Panda: Highlights from my career would be anytime I would meet one of my musical influences at shows, and getting a chance to talk to them. This includes Slash, Nick Oliveri, Isaiah Mitchell, Chino, the guys from Alice in Chains and so on. It is always amazing to see their way of seeing music.

When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?

Mishu: I don’t remember exactly but I’ve had a few times it was tested more in the sense that I reacted to certain situations in ways that I wouldn’t have to normally but the belief made me react in that only to confirm my belief.

Byst: Fortunately, I have not been put in a situation like this in recent times, after I started to develop some firmly held beliefs, and I don’t have that many. The ones I have are really hard to be put to the test. I’m a pretty flexible guy most of the time.

Panda: I think as a musician in an underground scene, you get tested pretty much on a daily basis. You believe in what you are doing, and you do it with great passion, and there is always a promoter, a booker, a music expert that maybe isn’t having his best day, and decides to tell you different. Nevertheless, I think sticking to your gut feeling is the best approach.

Where do you feel artistic progression leads?

Mishu: Progression leads to better understanding of the art and how to transpose whatever you want to say or whatever feelings you want to express into the art itself.

Byst: Where progression in everything leads… In the beginning can’t seem like much but after a while thing start to change and evolve. Can’t stop progress.

Panda: I think it’s in our nature to progress. I think once you stop evolving you kinda die inside. Then again, I am a firm believer that doing things just for the sake of not repeating yourself is bad. Change has to come naturally, in order to feel natural.

How do you define success?

Mishu: For me, success would be being able to do whatever you want without having to think about anything else and having all your needs fulfilled so you can only focus on what you really want to.

Byst: I can’t say what success is, ‘cause I don’t know it. And it’s a very loose term, I think it depends on the mentality of people and the society each individual lives in.

Panda: Success is getting people to ask for you, and not the other way around. It is not introducing yourself but being known. It’s being able to have a constant schedule in advance. I don’t think it has anything to do with money. And as my colleagues mentioned, to each his own. For me, it would be to be remembered as someone who did his part right.

What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?

Byst: If I saw something, I learned something from it, so I took all the things I’ve seen as part of my experience and I embraced them all, bad or good.

Panda: If you live and breathe you get constantly into weird situations. As Byst mentioned, the important thing is to react correctly and learn from everything.

Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.

Mishu: Electronic music like gabbar or bassline, and maybe music not related to bands or any musical projects, something like making the soundtrack for some anime would be cool.

Byst: It will be a surprise so I don’t want to spoil it.

Panda: For now, the next step for me is to build my house, that will include my studio. So, until I create that physically, it remains on paper, and remains a wish.

What do you believe is the most essential function of art?

Mishu: It’s art, it can be anything but I guess it’s the way it can expand your creativity or how you can just get lost in art.

Byst: To inspire people and make them dream.

Panda: To complement your feelings, your adventures in life. I think we find answers in life to certain thoughts that we cannot explain. I think without art, we would become robots.

Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?

Byst: At this moment I just want to finish my DIY tiny music/house shack before the winter comes.

Panda: As mentioned, and apparently, it’s a thing with the RoadkillSoda boys, finishing my house, before next winter comes. :)

https://roadkillsoda.bandcamp.com/
https://facebook.com/RoadKillSoda/
https://www.instagram.com/roadkillsoda/
https://www.youtube.com/user/RoadkillSoda/videos
https://shorturl.at/chrtN

RoadkillSoda, “Loud and Proud”

Cincinnati heavy rockers Valley of the Sun have signed to Ripple Music. The band, who are also newly announced as openers for Clutch‘s New Year’s Eve show, released their most recent album, Old Gods (review here), in 2019 through the Truckfighters-helmed Fuzzorama Records, and it seems that label will have a hand in the band’s next offering as well. The more (distribution), the merrier (will be listeners who don’t have to pay crazy international shipping rates).

Valley of the Sun‘s breakout second EP, The Sayings of the Seers (review here, discussed here), turned 10 this year, and an anniversary reissue doesn’t seem beyond the realm of possibility, coupled either with Two Thousand Ten from the year before or whatever other early demos, etc., the band invariably has hanging around. But old material aside, new would also certainly be welcome, if they’ve got a new record in the works for sometime in 2022 with perhaps an eye toward returning to touring either domestically or abroad as they have on multiple occasions.

Whatever comes next, it’s good to know there are plans being put in place. Like Fuzzorama, Ripple is an excellent fit for Valley of the Sun, and if it gets their music into more ears, that’s a win.

The label and band were pretty aligned in their social media messaging:

From Ripple Music:

Waveriders!! Huge news to end the year.

In conjunction with Fuzzorama Records, Please welcome to the Ripple family, Ohio rockers Valley of the Sun!

And for the first order of business, be sure to catch them as they open for Clutch in Cincinnati on New Years Eve!!!

From Valley of the Sun:

Lots of great news today! We’ve just joined the Ripple Music family! We’ll be releasing our next album jointly with them and Fuzzorama Records !!!

JUST ANNOUNCED! We’re opening for Clutch and Stöner at the ICON Center in Cincinnati on NEW YEAR’S EVE!!!

VALLEY OF THE SUN are:
Ryan Ferrier – Guitar/Vocals
Lex Vegas – Drums
Chris Sweeney – Bass, Keys
Josh Pilot – Guitar

https://www.facebook.com/valleyofthesun/
http://valleyofthesun.bandcamp.com/
http://www.twitter.com/centaur_rodeo
https://www.facebook.com/theripplemusic/
https://www.instagram.com/ripplemusic/
https://ripplemusic.bandcamp.com/
http://www.ripple-music.com/
http://www.fuzzoramarecords.com/
http://www.twitter.com/fuzzorecords
http://www.facebook.com/Fuzzorama

Valley of the Sun, Old Gods (2019)

The Obelisk Questionnaire is a series of open questions intended to give the answerer an opportunity to explore these ideas and stories from their life as deeply as they choose. Answers can be short or long, and that reveals something in itself, but the most important factor is honesty.

Based on the Proust Questionnaire, the goal over time is to show a diverse range of perspectives as those who take part bring their own points of view to answering the same questions. To see all The Obelisk Questionnaire posts, click here.

Thank you for reading and thanks to all who participate.

The Obelisk Questionnaire: Jordan Forster of Vessel

—

How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?

High school teacher by day, musician by spare moment! Which honestly, has been hard to come by in the last few years since becoming a father. Nevertheless, a musician that still has something to say is still a musician, even if it takes longer to find the opportunity to say it. As the driving force (guitarist and songwriter) behind the Vessel project, I define it as exactly that, more of a project than a band. I have been lucky to hook up with vocalist, multi-instrumentalist and long-time acquaintance Mason [Matheson] who has become the main voice of the music, but I really define Vessel as a solo-project and a vehicle for my own self-expression. That came about from being dissatisfied and disgruntled from the dynamics that come with being in a band, and just wanting something that I can be solely responsible for. That still comes with its challenges and mismanaged relationships, but at least I don’t lose my art to the distortion of compromise and the abyss of time, which has happened in the past with previous bands.

Describe your first musical memory.

I am the youngest in a group of siblings, so I remember music and pop culture always being around growing up. My sister had an obsessive phase with Michael Jackson in the late ’80s and early ’90s which rubbed off on me as a young child. The guitar collaborations with Eddie Van Halen, Steve Lukather, Slash and Steve Stevens are probably what turned me on to rock music. No specific memories, just an aura of big riffs in pop music. Something that pop music today is lacking.

Describe your best musical memory to date.

When doing a collaboration with another musician that you admire, and you get their recorded takes back and listen to them for the first time. Hearing amazingly talented singers put themselves into your art and interpreting your words is mesmerizing. Definitely a different feeling to anything else. That one actually came to me after I had finished the questionnaire, but here is my initial response, which I’ll keep in as well. Last year I happened across some positive comments about one of my songs in a Facebook group, and when I replied with a thank you, the fan just gave some of the most beautiful compliments. It was so unexpected, and during the pandemic it felt fantastic to be able to reach people around the world with my music. So different from some of my other favorite memories which are based around playing live. Another similar one was a fellow musician sharing one of my songs on socials with a comment along the lines of “when you hear a song that you wish you had written.” I can’t think of a bigger compliment than that really. Anyone reading this, please continue to let bands know what their music means to you, because those comments mean the world to them/us!

Oh, and the time I saw Iron Maiden’s ‘Somewhere Back In Time’ Tour, I may have cried during “Revelations” haha.

When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?

I mentioned earlier that trying to progress a band can cost you relationships and friendships. That. My music, my art, is an important part of my life. An integral part of my life. I understand that it might not be as important to those around me as it is to me (I’d be shocked if it was, really. It’s my art after all), and they may not prioritize it in their life like I do in mine, and that is ok with me. Unfortunately, when decisions need to be made to ensure that studio time is booked, deadlines are met, and opportunities aren’t missed, people don’t like decisions being made around them. I guess the firmly held belief is that you should back yourself and your art at (almost) all costs, as it means more to you than it does to anyone else. Others aren’t going to champion you if you don’t champion yourself. This belief was tested, as I don’t want to lose friends over it, but if people take offence to that notion, that is on them. I just want to be me, without limits.

Where do you feel artistic progression leads?

Exploration of self. I can’t tell you what the next song I write is going to sound like, what themes it will explore or what message it might want to share with both the listener and myself as the writer. And I’ll never know either if I don’t pick up the guitar again and see what happens. I’m always discovering a variety of new music (nowhere NEAR as much as yourself JJ and many of your readers, [where do you find the time!?], but still..), which means I’m always going to be influenced by new things when it comes to playing my instrument. Being a bit obsessed with stomp boxes will always help progress your sound too! Back to the question though; I think you can surprise yourself with what is important to you and what affects you as a person. It can become much more obvious what makes you tick, when you find yourself waking up in the night to continue writing a song about it. I sometimes wonder about how people who aren’t creating in some capacity know who they really are.

How do you define success?

Realization of ideas and completion of projects. I see our last album as a huge success as it was released, and nothing was compromised in the creation of it. I’ve been in bands in the past that I would not refer to as a success, as we never recorded some great songs or played certain shows, and people involved were left dissatisfied. Perhaps another reason why I structured Vessel as a solo project, as I don’t need to align other people’s ideas of what success is to get things done. Setting goals and meeting them is success to me. I look forward to meeting some new ones in the future!

What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?

At first I thought “the dark side of some people”, but then thinking on it a little more, I am glad I have seen that, as now I know where to place them. The more you know. Knowledge is power. Oh, maybe that time I caught Mötley Crüe live in 2009, what a shit-show. That is something I never needed to see.

Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.

I would love to write a book. I have a couple of ideas, both fiction and non-fiction, but time is scarce as it is. Spare moments are put into music where possible. Maybe I need a collaborator!

What do you believe is the most essential function of art?

I am not sure that there is one ‘most’ essential function. If I had to choose, perhaps the ability to connect individuals with the emotion of others from another time and place. Or for the artist, to be heard, even if only by others in another time and space. To communicate what words cannot? To capture a moment in time to be looked upon forevermore? To leave a stain of yourself on the fabric of history? Haha ok I’ll stop.

Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?

Taking my children to the beach when summer rolls around. That seems like the furthest thing from a winter lockdown; being on the coast far from home, in the sun, watching my children play in the ocean (and probably hate it like I seem to remember from my childhood haha!). Time to get back to life again.

www.instagram.com/the.vessel.project
www.facebook.com/thevesselproject
http://thevesselproject.bandcamp.com
https://majesticmountainrecords.bigcartel.com/

Vessel, Vagabond Blues (2020)

On Dec. 31, Los Angeles-based classic-style doomers Early Moods will take the stage at the Permanent Records Roadhouse in their hometown to ring in 2022 alongside Deathchant. Further occasion to celebrate comes with the fact that the two bands are now labelmates on RidingEasy Records, which, even if you’re not into getting loaded on the last night of the year, is reason for the season, if you know what I’m saying. If you do, please tell me, because I’m not quite certain.

Early Moods, who’ve also been confirmed for the Legions of Metal Festival in Chicago next May, released their debut EP, Spellbound (review here), in 2020 through Dying Victims Productions, and in addition to that release, the EP is also available on tape thanks to Olde Magick Records in a pressing of what I’m sure is a suitably doomed shade of purple.

I don’t know if RidingEasy Records has plans for Spellbound as well, but band and label alike mentioned plans for new material in 2022. One can’t help but wonder if there will be continued delays in the pressing of vinyl. How quickly it’s become normal for a 12″ to arrive months past a CD/DL. RidingEasy puts CDs in handy lil digipaks, and that does just fine for me, so I’m not in crisis over those wait times, but I acknowledge being in the weirdo minority — that is, in the minority of weirdos — currently of that mindset. People want their records on records. Not gonna say I don’t get it.

No big announcement on Early Moods at this point, which either would or pointedly wouldn’t have word of a next release/maybe debut full-length, but here’s this from social media along with the stream the the EP in case you need an argument to buy whatever format is left.

Behold:

We are proud to welcome @early_moods to the #ridingeasyrecords roster. Give them a follow and look out for new music next year!

Early moods is :
Eddie Andrade – Guitar
Elix Feliciano – Bass
Alberto Alcaraz – Vocals
Chris Flores – Drums & Percussions
Oscar Hernandez – Guitar

https://www.facebook.com/earlymoods/
https://www.instagram.com/early_moods
https://earlymoods.bandcamp.com/releases
ridingeasyrecs.com

Early Moods, Spellbound (2020)

Last week, which seems like a lifetime ago because holidays, news went up that Montana rockers Wizzerd had signed to Fuzzorama Records, and hey, that’s great. What I didn’t know until about five minutes after that post went live, however, is that Fuzzorama had two signings they were announcing on the same day. Sometimes people tell me things, other times not so much.

Perpignan, France, four-piece Deadly Vipers are the band in question who’ve also been picked up by Fuzzorama to release their new album in 2022. No title for it yet that I’ve seen, but the offering will be the follow-up to late-2017’s debut, Fueltronaut (review here), and one should always take it as a good sign when the same person mixing a record (who also happens to have a label) decides to put the record out. You know why? Because mixing is a pain in the ass. You can listen to the 15 seconds of a song like 75 times in a row and still not be done. If you can get through mixing something and still dig it enough to sign the band? Yeah, chances are you probably really dig that thing.

So, cool for Deadly Vipers and cool for Fuzzorama and cooler still as the band are trying some new things this time out. Here’s to progress:

Deadly Vipers – Fuzzorama Records

We are so proud to announce that our second record will be released in 2022 on Fuzzorama Records!

It’s a big step for us, and we want to thank our friends, Mr. Ozo & Mr. Dango for their support, and all of you guys!

We’re really pleased to be part of the fuzz family, we’ve been fan of Truckfighters and all the label’s bands since years. We have always found that our music and its energy matched the label perfectly, so we are very happy and grateful that Mister Dango and Mister Ozo welcomed us.

Our upcoming release will push more our “stoner rock” music into new territories, with some touch of prog, doomy stuff and the addition of synth.

Bon appétit

Stay in tune for more news to come.

Band members:
Fred: Vocals
David: Guitar
Thomas: Bass
Rudy: Drums (new drummer)

https://www.facebook.com/Deadly1Vipers
https://www.instagram.com/deadlyvipers/
https://deadlyvipers.bandcamp.com/
http://www.fuzzoramarecords.com/
http://www.facebook.com/Fuzzorama
https://us.fuzzoramastore.com/en/

Deadly Vipers, Fuzzorama announcement

Deadly Vipers, Fueltronaut (2017)

As it invariably must, Memorial begins with a dirge. The fifth album from Wrocław-based earthadelic three-piece Spaceslug, recorded over a period of four days this past Spring, arrives after 2020’s Leftovers EP (review here) and 2021’s even-more-leftover digital-single The Event Horizon (review here), which was recorded at the same time as the EP and came out as a fundraiser following a practice space flood. The Polish outfit have worked quickly across the last five-plus years of their career to establish and develop an approach of their own, and Memorial is the next logical forward creative step in that process.

At eight songs and 46 minutes, it breaks just about in half to work across two vinyl sides, and the returning trio of drummer/vocalist Kamil Ziółkowski, bassist/vocalist Jan Rutka and guitarist/backing vocalist Bartosz Janik sound not only committed to their forward progress, but recommitted, as though, having brought forth such new ideas on Leftovers and the prior 2018 LP, Eye the Tide (review here), they’re all the more clearheaded about the direction they want Memorial to take.

That leaves more room for things like emotional expression, and Memorial offers that right from “Into the Soil” that serves as the aforementioned dirge at the outset. The sense of loss is palpable and continues to work into the melodies of songs like “Follow This Land,” which follows that leadoff, and “Memorial” itself, the mirror-position starter of side B, as well as in the pointedly post-metallic psychedelia — I hope someone sends Pelagic Records a copy of this album with a friendly note — of the finale “At the Edge of Melting Point.” As to what’s being mourned, as the listener you’re left to pretty much take your pick.

The earth? Well, “At the Edge of the Melting Point” and the penultimate “Of Trees and Fire” — a highlight for its melding of psych and harsher aspects of metal; furthering the sonic accomplishments laid out through Eye the Tide at the same time it builds on the atmospherics of Leftovers — would seem to have something to say about it. The plague? Hello to “Spring of the Abyss” and “In the Hiatus Fall,” a powerful wallop of Memorial‘s longest song at 9:23 and the post-rock-into-black-metal-decay of the side-A closer. Something more personal? “Into the Soil,” “Follow This Land,” “Memorial,” and maybe even the sorrowfully hooky “Lost Undone” on side B could certainly apply — note, I haven’t seen a lyric sheet — with its Katatonia-worthy melancholy and trades between its sweeping chorus and the open, quiet stretches in its first and second halves.

Or perhaps, as with the Maciej Kamuda cover art, it’s all of these things, and Spaceslug, who began their course with 2016’s debut, Lemanis (review here), followed with Time Travel Dilemma (review here) and answered that with the Mountains and Reminiscence EP (review here) in 2018, have come to a place aesthetically where they feel comfortable making an expression and being content to have put it out there for their audience to interpret on their own. It should be noted, the ground on which they allow that interpretation to take place has far more life on it than the cover necessarily depicts, whatever losses may be being perceived by the listener or processed on the part of the band.

“Spring of the Abyss” is an obvious focal point both in its standout songcraft and for being the longest of the inclusions here, and it answers that call with an immediately tense ambience of guitar stretching for the first minute and a half before introducing the subdued, melodic vocals that are a staple of Spaceslug‘s style, mellow, echoing broadly, they’re an element that has been there since the band’s beginning but like so much else in their style has never been more able to convey emotion than they are here. Memorial is the work of a band who’ve figured out who they are pushing themselves to refine what that means.

They’ve brought together memorable hooks before, and Memorial has them too in “Follow This Land,” “Lost Undone” and even “Spring of the Abyss” to a point, but the latter is more about mood, shifting as it does after five minutes in toward throatier, meaner barks vocally and lumbering low-end tonality. The song will end with a layered solo backed by far-away drums, which feels a bit like preface for “Lost Undone,” and is something that “Of Trees and Fire” — in April 2020, Poland’s largest national park burned with what was reported as the largest wildfire in five years — answers in agonized fashion, setting forth its roll with guitar as drums, screams and bass kick in before the first minute is through, calling out into the void of grueling atmosludge and immersive tonal depth, a grey-hued psychedelic churn that gives way to a lengthy, experimentalist-feeling midsection.

The punishment, such as it is, resumes at 6:34 into the total 8:25, but along the way, Spaceslug entrance to make that resurgent impact all the more effective, and to give Memorial a due payoff such that “At the Edge of the Melting Point” — almost goth in its phrasing — is carried through like the epilogue it’s intended to be.

As to the experience of loss, one could hardly call its manifestation here anything other than timely — in the last two years, it’s been a tragically prevalent universal human thematic to such a degree that my pointing that out feels completely needless — but more to the point, it’s the manner in which Spaceslug resonate their identity in their exploration(s) of the idea that distinguish Memorial from their prior output as well as from the bulk of heavy and/or psychedelic fare surrounding. They have become only more recognizable over their time, and though the tools they’re using might be familiar — melody, tonal heft, drift, groove, and so on — the combinations and the stylistic functions they’re serving are Spaceslug‘s own.

And they’ve changed over time. It’s not unreasonable for an act to progress through however many releases they might put out in a given stretch of years, but Memorial reaffirms that progression with a fresh perspective not so much contradicting the depressive aspects of Spaceslug‘s songwriting as see the band as all the more able to convey them vibrantly. Five albums in, they may be looking back at things lost, but Spaceslug are still moving forward.

Spaceslug, Memorial (2021)

Spaceslug, “Spring of the Abyss” official video

Spaceslug on Facebook

Spaceslug on Bandcamp

Spaceslug on Instagram

BSFD Records on Facebook

BSFD Records website

Tenth one, huh? And final? Why, I remember when the first Ceremony of Sludge was announced, put together at the ambitious behest of members of Lamprey, who played, and Captain Couch Records. Well, even with the lost year in 2021 — they got to sneak one in for March 2020 before lockdowns happened — doing anything like putting together a festival 10 times, even an intentionally small one, is an accomplishment of which to be proud. I wish them nothing but the best in February, and I hope that this is actually able to happen as scheduled.

There are no bands shared between the first and last lineups for Ceremony of Sludge — and here I should say that the usual never-say-never applies here as with most things concerning rock and/or roll — though that would be fun. There are veterans though in Witch Mountain, Glasghote, and Mane of the Cur, and I think Lord Dying might’ve played at some point too, as well as members of A//tar in other bands. And while we’re talking about it, these bands rule. I’d be well into seeing Breath and ILS and Maximum Mad. Ceremony of Sludge always knew what was good in Portland, not the least because it was a part of making it happen.

Congrats on 10 editions and a job well done. Maybe this is it, maybe not, but if it is, all the more reason to celebrate.

Lineup follows:

CEREMONY OF SLUDGE X – Feb. 25 & 26

This is the end, friends: the tenth and FINAL Ceremony Of Sludge! It’s been a blast celebrating Portland’s (and beyond) heaviest bands with you all this past decade – we hope you’ll join us one last time.

Tickets: https://ceremonyofsludge.ticketleap.com

Night 1 – Feb. 25
Lord Dying
Maximum Mad
Glasghote
ILS

Night 2 – Feb. 26
Witch Mountain
A//tar
Breath
Mane of the Cur

https://www.facebook.com/ceremonyofsludge/
https://instagram.com/ceremonyofsludge
https://ceremonyofsludge.ticketleap.com/

Lord Dying, Mysterium Tremendum (2019)

Witch Mountain, “Priceless Pain”