Oakland-based five-piece Blackwülf will release their fourth full-length, Thieves and Liars, on Feb. 3, and the blending of traditional metal guitar shred with Sabbathian heavy rock groove finds them as displayed in the video for opening track “Shadow” below finds them in top form now past the decade mark in their tenure. Last heard from with 2018’s Sinister Sides (review here), they continue to straddle the line between nod and aggression, but “Shadow” offers a hook, a righteous solo and a grim sensibility likewise manifest in the video’s malleable focus and suitably dark vibe, and no, I haven’t heard the record yet, but the vibe I’m getting is that maybe that darker feel is going to carry over beyond just this one song. They would not be the only act to emerge from recent times with a grim viewpoint, and you will not, will not, will not hear me argue either the perspective or the results crafted here.

In short, dudes are rockin’ it. You’ll find the cover art for Thieves and Liars, the requisite preorder links and album info, and the video below. I assume that as December and January play out there will be more single reveals leading up to the release, so I’ll hope to have more to come before we get there.

Until then, then:

Oakland stoner metallers BLACKWÜLF to release new album “Thieves & Liars” this February on Ripple Music; watch new “Shadow” video now

Oakland stoner metal stalwarts BLACKWÜLF are set to release their fourth studio album “Thieves & Liars” on February 3rd through Ripple Music. Watch their brand new video for “Shadow” now!

akland, California’s BLACKWÜLF have roared back from the pandemic hiatus with their new Ripple Music album “Thieves and Liars”, recorded and produced in Oakland by Jesse Nichols (Iggy & The Stooges, Ty Segall, James Williamson). Borne out of the disintegration of the world around them, the new album encapsulates what the mighty five-piece does best: fist-pumping riffs, dark progressions, apocalyptic visions and plenty of epic heavy rock swagger.

About new single “Shadow”, the band comments: “It expresses the dark side that exists in everyone that, if unchecked, can creep to control motives, emotions, and actions. Often hidden beneath superficial layers of pretenses and false narratives, the “Shadow” lurks in the background, a self-manufactured darkness that can control from within. Always attached, and forever following, the shadow waits for its opportunity for the light to change, to consume all in its darkness…”

Forging melody, message, and authenticity with heavy raw power, BLACKWÜLF have been purveying massive riff rock for over a decade. Drawing from influences found in the darker corners of your stepdad’s vinyl collection, the vintage five-piece outfit’s electric live performances and headbanging heaviness have converted a wide base of ravenous fans from Los Angeles to London. What distinguishes BLACKWÜLF from many of their contemporaries is a strong emphasis on “songs” rather than “sounds”, delivering a wide slab of listenable vintage-style heavy metal that draws its strengths from imaginative content and quality performance.

BLACKWÜLF “Thieves & Liars”
Out February 3rd, 2023 on Ripple Music
on vinyl, CD and digital //
US preorder
World preorder

TRACKLIST:
1. Shadow
2. Seems To Me
3. Killing Kind
4. Thieves And Liars
5. Failed Resistance
6. Psychonaut / Edge Of Light
7. Mysteries Of This
8. Brother
9. Cries For A Dying Star

Comprised of rock veteran players, BLACKWÜLF features Alex Cunningham on vocals, Pete Holmes on guitar, Jesse Rosales on guitar, Scott Peterson on bass, and Dave Pankenier on drums. Founded in 2012 in the San Francisco Bay Area, the band’s first vinyl release, “Mind Traveler” was released on Wickerman Records and met to critical acclaim. 2015 saw BLACKWÜLF aligning with premier California heavy rock label Ripple Music, and releasing their signature second album, “Oblivion Cycle”, a riffed-out metal tour de force. 2018 found the band digging deeper into vintage metal roots, releasing their second Ripple Music vinyl, “Sinister Sides”; the album featured three guest tracks from a fan (and now friend) of the band, Geof O’Keefe, an original founder of Pentagram. BLACKWÜLF celebrated the release in the Spring of 2018 by performing as a featured artist at Austin’s South By Southwest Festival and then again across the pond at Desertfest Festival in London.

BLACKWÜLF is
Alex Cunningham — vocals
Pete Holmes — guitar
Jesse Rosales — guitar
Scott Peterson — bass
Dave Pankenier — drums

https://www.instagram.com/blackwulfusa/
https://www.facebook.com/blackwulfusa
https://blackwulfusa.bandcamp.com/
http://www.blackwulfusa.com/

https://www.facebook.com/theripplemusic/
https://www.instagram.com/ripplemusic/
https://ripplemusic.bandcamp.com/
http://www.ripple-music.com/

Blackwülf, “Shadow” official video

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: Bram the Bard of Wizard Tattoo

—

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

I guess I’d say I’m a music maker. I take songs that are banging around in my head, organize them a bit, record them, and then share them. I’ve found it to be an addictive but cathartic experience.

I got into playing music at an early age. My mother put me in piano lessons when I was eight, and when I was older, I played percussion in my high school marching band. I got my first guitar when I was 16 and played drums in a garage band with some friends covering songs by Nirvana and Metallica. When I was in my mid-20s and 30s, I played guitar, bass, drums, and/or keyboards in a few different classic rock cover bands around Southern Indiana. We mainly played songs by ZZ Top, The Allman Brothers, The Doors, etc.

Listening to and playing music has always been a big part of my life. Recording and releasing music was just the next logical step.

Describe your first musical memory.

Embarrassingly enough, my first musical memory is of listening to Kenny Rogers when I was around six or seven. I’m pretty sure I got into him because of watching the Gambler movies, but I had several of his tapes on cassette and would listen to them on long road trips with my family. It was the first music that I remember listening to outside of whatever my parents would put on, and I still think “The Gambler” is a cool song. I don’t care what anyone says!

Describe your best musical memory to date.

I have a lot of fond memories of playing in classic rock cover bands in dive bars around Southern Indiana, but I’d have to say my best musical memory is going to see an Indianapolis punk band called Sloppy Seconds when I was in junior high. I had some older friends that got me into heavier music and they took me with them. It was my first real show without an adult and it’s still one of the greatest experiences of my life. No other concert has topped it since.

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

The recent event with our Supreme Court overturning abortion rights is very concerning, and it’s really tested my belief in this country and what it stands for. I never thought that we’d take such a giant step backward like this and it’s scary to see it happening.

Where do you feel artistic progression leads?

I honestly don’t know. I started recording music because I wanted to get the songs that were stuck in my head out. Hopefully, my music will keep progressing and improving, and I’ll get better at expressing myself with more complex arrangements and better performances. I don’t know what the end looks like, but I bet it will be pretty cool.

How do you define success?

If just a few people listen to and like my music, I’ll consider it a success. That’s all I need.

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

Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. I absolutely loved the first three movies growing up and that last one soured how I view them now. They’re making another sequel too which I think is criminal. Hollywood is creatively bankrupt.

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

I’ve got three new songs that I’ve written for Wizard Tattoo that I’m excited about recording and releasing as part of a full-length album next year. My wife and I are also working on an ’80s synth-rock project that’s different than anything I’ve ever done before.

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

To connect people with one another. I think art is the purest form of communication that we have. Words are a clunky way to express ourselves, but you can listen to a song or look at a painting, and really connect with how someone felt when they created it and what they truly were trying to say.

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

Going to shows with friends, spending time with my family, and just chilling in a hammock with a beer in my backyard

https://www.facebook.com/wizardtattooband
https://www.instagram.com/wizardtattooband/
https://twitter.com/thewizardtattoo
https://wizardtattoo.bandcamp.com/
https://linktr.ee/wizardtattoo

Wizard Tattoo, Wizard Tattoo (2022)

One need not look farther than the painting by Gustave Doré used for its cover art to reason that the intention of Nashville trio Sapna — also all-caps: SAPNA — on their self-titled debut is toward immersion. And sure enough, the four-song, 48-minute outing plays into that in headphone-ready fashion, with coursing threads of drone and effects, manipulated feedback and various otherworldly noisescapes, all while maintaining a heavy meditation such that, when opener “The Vessel” (12:16) seems to blossom after five minutes of initial drone into its wall-of-fuzz and nodder groove, vocals calling out a chorus laced with twisting delay, the weight feels so complete as to remind of earlier Ufomammut‘s cosmic innovations.

The band would seem to have been born out of the more vintage-minded Red Feather, in which all three members — guitarist/vocalist Kevin Conlon, bassist/vocalist Ryon Westover (also of ElonMusk, etc.), drummer Logan Kirby — featured, but the direction here is purposefully atmospheric, a take on heavy post-rock that, with production by Westover at Grey Gardens and, for “The Vessel,” by Andy Putnam at The Flamingo, a mix by Ben McLeod (All Them Witches, Westing), and mastering by Mikey Allred at Dark Art Audio (All Them Witches, Across Tundras), comes to life with a dirt-psych vibe even as it never seems to quite touch the ground. Whether or not there’s actually any synth I don’t know — they don’t list any, and one struggles to think of a reason they’d keep it secret — but if there isn’t, then the image of pedal boards a city block wide comes to mind.

In any case, that’s not a complaint as “The Vessel” unfurls itself with deceptively-paced movement, seeming glacial while holding what in most contexts is probably a rock tempo in Kirby‘s drums; the quintessential “rolling right along.” If the band’s goal is immersion, one can only call Sapna an outright success. The LP — due for vinyl release in 2023 through St. Louis-based Infinite Spin Records — makes you feel like you’re swimming through it.

“The Vessel” is followed by “Oracle” (11:40), which begins similarly quiet on a fade-in — that sure sounds like a keyboard — but shifts more quickly, still smoothly, into feedback and its layered-over lead guitar intro shortly before two minutes in. At 2:30, the song doesn’t so much burst to life as pop like a lava bubble into its verse, with the vocals vague and echoing but a definite presence over the slower and, yes, molten, rolling procession. There are loosely cultish vibes, and perhaps that’s where the title came from, but the riff and the dirge that accompanies are the focus and despite something of a turn in ambience, the aesthetic in which Sapna are working renders the idea of an interrupted flow laughable.

The aesthetic is the flow. If the album isn’t flowing, it’s because you’ve hit pause. Go back and try again. A layer of backing vocals about six minutes in adds to the ethereal revelry of “Oracle,” giving a bright, classyc (that was a typo but I’m leaving it because it works) shimmer to the post-midsection unfurling, and the prominent buzz of the central riff of the song soon enough leads into a channel-spanning slow-scorcher of a guitar solo, vocals stepping back to allow due space before resuming in what on future releases might manifest as a full dual-vocal melodic wash and here feels nascent but still like an incantation.

There is a settling down as the bass rumbles forward. The song passes its 10th minute and soon gives way to residual distortion, the feedback from whence it came — did it ever leave? — and indeed, that keyboard-sounding maybe-keyboard returns, ending what will push the limits of a vinyl’s side A with trippy triumphalism, the band standing astride the landscape they’ve created and naming it thusly, maybe not interstellar conquerors or anything so implicitly violent, but explorers with a clear purpose of discovery and realization that feels as much about their experience of worship as that of the audience. So be it, shared.

Humming out a minimalist drone for its first minute and a half, “Veil” (8:02) rises like a morning star circa 1:40 with a stately line of feedback and holds back drums to let the vocals — more direct in the mix, more discernibly enunciated, still coated in effects — take a more featured role. By this point in listening, Sapna‘s hypnosis is in full effect, and even if the song is more than halfway over by the time the first gentle tap of a ride cymbal happens at 4:11, followed by a sweetly noodled, somewhat melancholic excursion of lead guitar, the time taken matters not even a little; patience is an asset. The solo grows in volume until at 6:42 there’s a crash-in and the heavier bass and ultra-fluidity reveals the payoff for what’s been a build all the while, happening almost without the listener realizing.

If you can hold your consciousness to it, that moment is especially glorious, but I’m not sure not-trancing out is the way to go. Choose your adventure. Considering the path they took to get there, the three-piece don’t dwell in that apex all that long, instead giving over to closer “SAPNA” (16:01), which like “The Vessel” before it sets its foundation in resonant drone before even letting the cymbals in on the flow, a first four minutes spent in meditation before the guitar announces the next stage, a motion gentle but not staid for the next minute or so leading into a heavier stretch that marches a bit in complement to the album’s beginning, with chug and stretch to coincide. Vocals enter after six minutes in, in what feels like a culmination carrying over the prominent positioning of “Veil” with the heft of “Oracle” and “The Vessel” in summary of many of the elements being cast throughout the entire procession.

They march like pilgrims, repeated lines about dust in the sun and holy light shining arriving, departing, a solo holding sway until at 10:52 they kick into another level of fuzzed fullness, another solo entering the left channel after 11 minutes in, the jam by then already pointed at the nearest star and gone. Crushing and soaring, Sapna give Sapna its due in both the ensuing crescendo and the drifting psychedelia of noise and drone that follows, the fadeout of “SAPNA” seeming to land at silence about 30 seconds before the track actually ends.

Maybe that’s the band giving the listener time to process what they’ve just heard, gently returning their audience to reality, or even mourning the passing of the album itself, or maybe not. In the end, the universe will die and nothing will matter. What I know is that the more one is willing to go with Sapna, the farther one will go. With their first release, Sapna not only bask in the tenets of longform heavy psychedelia, but underscore their rummaging-through-dimensions with a sense of purpose in itself; it is therefore it is because it is. The abiding worshipful feel of their tones and the construction of mood and world here aren’t to be understated, and neither is the potential for forward growth as they move beyond this initial offering. I won’t tell you how to hear it, only to approach with an open mind prepared to meet it on its own level for best results, which easily justify that effort.

SAPNA, SAPNA (2022)

SAPNA on Instagram

SAPNA on Facebook

SAPNA on Bandcamp

SAPNA links

Infinite Spin Records website

Infinite Spin Records on Instagram

Infinite Spin Records on Facebook

Infinite Spin Records on Bandcamp

A rare congruence of themes here. Last episode, which was all-Greek and started with a 13-minute track, an all-long-songs show idea was bandied about the Gimme chat. I’ve done this kind of thing before, and in more extreme fashion — there was the ep where I played “Dopesmoker” that time — so I set myself to the task of finding what for me passes as some kind of balance: a full show with songs having a minimum length of 10 minutes.

Easy, right? Too easy, as it turns out. So, since we’re coming on end o’ the year anyhow, I also decided to limit the playlist to songs that came out this year and use it as a beginning for the Some of the Best of 2022 coverage, which I was gonna start next episode anyhow. I’ve never done a year-end wrap that’s felt vaguely comprehensive, so if adding a third in the series this time gets me closer to that, I’ll take it.

Maybe it will, maybe it won’t — it’s been a pretty decent year for music, as most are when it comes to it — but I’m willing to roll the dice since I was headed in that direction anyway. I’ve made it 98 episodes without running out of shit to play. Somehow I don’t imagine I will now either.

Okay, that’ll do. Thanks for listening if you do, thanks for reading if you are.

The Obelisk Show airs 5PM Eastern today on the Gimme app or at: http://gimmemetal.com.

Full playlist:

The Obelisk Show – 11.25.22 (VT = voice track)

The Obelisk Show on Gimme Metal airs every Friday 5PM Eastern, with replays Sunday at 7PM Eastern. Next new episode is Nov. 25 (subject to change). Thanks for listening if you do.

Gimme Metal website

The Obelisk on Facebook

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: Adrian Zambrano of Brujas del Sol

—

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

I guess I’d just simply say I’m a guitarist. It’s been something I’ve been in love with since I was a kid. My dad is a huge rock and roll guy. Like most of my peers, I’m sure, I was raised on Floyd, Zeppelin, The Doors, ZZ Top. I suppose it just always looked cool to me. (Insert photo of Zeppelin in front of their plane)… How could that not be cool?

Describe your first musical memory.

I’ve always had a love for Guns ‘n’ Roses. I used to wear my dad’s cut off G’N’R shirt around the house as a little kid singing and air guitaring.

Describe your best musical memory to date.

My time in Lo-pan, forcibly short as it was due to family health issues, was so incredible. When Brujas del Sol started, we looked up to them so so much… We still do. Best dudes. Best band.

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

Oh man, one half of my family is from Mexico. Where do I start?

Where do you feel artistic progression leads?

Hopefully a path of happiness… fulfillment. That can mean a lot of different things to a lot of people.

For me personally, it’s knowing my bandmates feel challenged, open to express themselves.

How do you define success?

People feeling eager to listen to our music or come see a show is enough for me.

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

Halloween Resurrection.

Fuck… maybe I’m lying. Busta Rhymes yelling “Trick or treat, mother fucker” is pretty mint.

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

An all synthesized record. Something I’ve been messing with for a few years now.

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

This is probably a boring answer… but, for me, to get people to think.

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

Hmmm. I’ve gone out on my own professionally and started a finish carpentry company in North Carolina. So, between that and three bands, I reckon I’ve got my hands full.

https://www.facebook.com/BrujasdelSol/
https://www.instagram.com/brujasdelsol/
https://brujasdelsol.bandcamp.com/

http://kozmik-artifactz.com/
https://www.facebook.com/kozmikartifactz

Brujas del Sol, Deculter (2022)

No doubt there is an entire swath of silly subtitles one might — in a spirit of joy, of course — tack onto Tranquonauts 2, the upcoming, may-not-actually-be-called-that-when-it’s-released sequel to the 2016 first collaborative LP from Australia’s Seedy Jeezus and Earthless guitarist Isaiah Mitchell, Tranquonauts (review here). I don’t even know where to start, except to say that ‘Electric Boogaloo’ is out because it was usurped by fascist dickheads. Ditto Twitter and a whole bunch of other shit. Alas, the times.

I’m pretty sure Mitchell is back in Oz on tour playing guitar with some band called The Black Crowes, but Earthless have been out and about this year as well supporting the January release of their latest LP, Night Parade of One Hundred Demons (review here), their second record for Nuclear Blast and something of a return to form. Meanwhile, Seedy Jeezus issued the live 2LP The Hollow Earth (discussed here) on Lay Bare Recordings and Blown Music after a somewhat fraught pressing process. Was it really July that came out? Shit. I’m later than I thought on a review. So it goes. Constantly.

Needless to say, I’ll do my best when the time comes for Tranquonauts 2 though I wouldn’t necessarily think that’s happening soon. They mention setting the tracklist and having Tony Reed of Mos Generator, Big Scenic Nowhere and various others involved. Interesting that “his genius” isn’t specified as mixing, mastering or actually playing on the thing. All, incidentally, would only be good news.

Speaking of:

Tranquonauts 2 was recorded today Studio OneB.

It was awesome to get the album in the can…. we just need to pick n choose what will be the running order and how it will flow and then send it to Tony Reed to add his genius to the mix.

Heads up – It’s very different to the first Tranquonauts album . We decided to push in different directions to what we would usually go.

Bring on 2023 for its release.

Photo by Stephen Boxshall ( Rag and Bone photography) Barry Lumber, Mark Stewart Sibson, Lex Frumpy, Isaiah Mitchell.

https://www.facebook.com/seedyjeezuspage/
https://www.instagram.com/seedyjeezus/
https://seedyjeezus.bandcamp.com/
http://www.seedyjeezus.com/

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www.twitter.com/earthlessrips
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Tranquonauts, “The Vanishing Earth Pt. III

On Dec. 2, Pelagic Records will release the new split EP between Norwegian outfits Sâver and Frøkedal. History — namely Sâver‘s 2021 split LP with Belgium’s Psychonaut (review here) — teaches us that when the Oslo-based post-sludge trio team up with somebody, it’s not an accident, and the emphasis on breadth as regards this two-song offering is not misplaced. Each party has chosen a track of the other’s and pushed themselves outside the limits of expectation in order to present it across a 10″ vinyl.

Frøkedal, née Anne Lise Frøkedal issued the song “Shot-Put” on 2021’s Flora full-length, working with full-band backing under the banner of Frøkedal & Family. In her original version, neofolk and organic drones set a richly atmospheric backdrop for her confident and organic vocal layering. Sâver approach it as an opportunity to expand their sonic palette by redirecting their own style toward loyalty to the original track. They turn strings to synth, and the feeling is somewhat more minimalist, with floating melodic drone behind the clean-sung verses and a sense of broadening Frøkedal‘s piece that extends beyond just the increase in runtime. The song becomes a wash mindfully, but even in its last residual synth reaches retains its sense of purpose and patience.

Brought into Frøkedal‘s hands, Sâver‘s “I, Vanish” becomes a harmonic meditation reminiscent instrumentally somewhat of a quiet stretch on Neurosis‘ A Sun That Never Sets, but the vocals and string sounds direct its transportive sensibilities elsewhere. Not entirely earthy but definitely born on this planet, “I, Vanish” — which originally appeared on Sâver‘s 2019 debut LP, They Came With Sunlight (review here) — reaches a stirring vocal crescendo before hitting the four-minute mark and retains some of its original lurch thereafter, but is duly transformed from something crushing into a vibrancy no less immersive. In the context of this release, each artist branching beyond themselves, Frøkedal‘s interpretation of “I, Vanish” is no less bold than that of Sâver taking on “Shot-Put.”

Sâver‘s “Shot-Put” is premiering in the video below, followed by copious PR wire background — without narrative, we are but beasts; also with it — and I’ve also included the streams at the bottom of this post of Flora and They Came With Sunlight, neither of which you will regret digging into if you haven’t before, and each of which offers its own kind of encompassing welcome to the listener, even if in one case that means hitting you in the head with a hammer. Still counts.

Please enjoy:

Sâver, “Shot-Put” official video

“Shot Put” is taken from Frøkedal / Sâver’s upcoming Split EP. Out Dec 2 via Pelagic Records.

Video credits: Glenn Marshal

Norway is home to many genre-bending artists and its music scene has been an explorative playground for fans of transcendental music. We are happy to present a unique collaboration between two remarkable Norwegian acts who each represent two far ends of an intriguing spectrum.

Frøkedal is a popular folk singer-songwriter whose haunting vocals have scored the music of various acclaimed bands over the past decade. The members of Sâver are veterans of the Norwegian heavy scene. Having toured all over the world playing renowned festivals like Roadburn and Psycho Las Vegas, they now fill and orchestrate the gap between eerie softness and furious anger as a three-piece atmospheric sludge metal ensemble.

This split 10” sees each of these artists present a song from the respective other artist’s back catalogue, finding a transcendental middle ground between the other artist’s musical realm and their own sphere.

Commenting on the beginning of her own musical career, Frøkedal notes: “Because everyone has a computer these days there’s no limit to how many times you can multi-track. I [was] sick of that. I hoped to go the other way – to remove as much as I could and be left with a beating heart.”

Remarkably, Sâver have done just that in their execution of Frøkedal’s track «Shot-Put», turning down their guitars to give space to clean vocals and laying bare the synths that are an integral part of their sound. Driven by deep drones and soft layered vocals, the Homeric simile of a meeting at the shot put becomes even more compelling, turning the folksy original into a haunting ambient rock opus. In turn, Frøkedal lays bare the heart of «I Vanish» from Sâver’s debut LP in a gently swaying but bewitching folk version.

In a world somewhere between the triple harmony magic of The Staves and the polyphonic madness of Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares, Anne Lise conjures the unsettling path towards obliteration.

Many things can be said about the way these songs sound and even about how they transcend the originals in some ways, but the true beauty of this EP lies in the way both Frøkedal and Sâver incline towards each other to find a middle ground that is yet unexplored in their respective careers. Coming together, they prove that beauty is found in the eye of the beholder, but transcendence is found in the eye of the storm!

Frøkedal, Flora (2021)

Sâver, They Came With Sunlight (2019)

SÂVER on Facebook

SÂVER on Instagram

SÂVER on Bandcamp

Frøkedal on Instagram

Frøkedal on Facebook

Frøkedal on Bandcamp

Pelagic Records website

Pelagic Records on Facebook

Pelagic Records on Instagram

Pelagic Records on Bandcamp

The prospect of a solidified Merlock should only be concerning if you don’t like having your bones rattled. The Spokane, Washington, outfit led by guitarist/vocalist Taylor D. Waring — who writes expressively and efficiently and whose social media game is ever on point — have announced a Feb. 24 release date for Onward Strides Colossus, their awaited debut album following behind last year’s You Cannot Be Saved EP (review here) and 2020’s That Which Speaks EP (review here).

This material would seem to have been in the works for a while, since even before You Cannot Be Saved was released, the band had a live-ish video of a set (it’s at the bottom of this post) which included “Where No One Goes,” a lumbering psych-sludge rocker like YOB covered in mud and angry about it. That song — starting at 21:12 in the video, if you’re looking for it — will feature on Onward Strides Colossus, and I look forward to hearing the proper studio version of its duly soaring culmination and overarching chaotic vibe.

No audio yet, but here’s the album announce courtesy of the PR wire:

MERLOCK Announce New Album Onward Strives Colossus

Exploring gloomy realms, MERLOCK produce imposing soundscapes that embrace the murky depths. Seeing multiple genres converge, MERLOCK manifest a compelling doom, psychedelic and stoner mix in the new record Onward Strives Colossus.

“Onward Strides Colossus is a sort of “hero’s journey” set in a posthuman, postdoom atmosphere. Sonically and lyrically, it explores cycles of death and rebirth, notions of hell, and of self-actualization. Seeking truth is the primary urge of the album, and that urge becomes, at times, colossal, which is where the name comes from. Heady pretension aside, the album is also very much about the three of us building this monstrosity that is Merlock. Writing albums, touring, failure & victory — all of those intense experiences that continually shape and reshape us as people. We all had to grow into new, more powerful versions of ourselves to create this album. We know the colossus doesn’t stop here.” — Taylor D. Waring

Introducing the release is “Sovereign Throne”, a groove rhythm powered track with a bluesy side. Lead guitars emerge out of the shadows with bright intricate solos that interweave. An injection of energy sees the pace increase and elevates the music as the vocals soar above. “Behold the Sword of Lock” brings an aggressive onslaught seeing harsh vocals combined with noisy guitar tones to unleash a fully immersive sound. MERLOCK pull out all the stops with the album’s title track. Eerie, droning fuzz and wandering vocals evoke a haunting, otherworldly air. Playing with dynamics, the tracks builds up into explosive rhythmic guitars and percussion — “Onward Strides Colossus” delivers a powerful and impressive impact.

About MERLOCK:

Described by critics as “gloomy and semi-mystical”, “shadowy and mysterious”, and “epic and ever-climbing”, MERLOCK melds stoner doom with heavy psychedelic sounds to create heavy post-doom atmospheres. Formed in 2017 in Spokane, Washington, MERLOCK has self-released 2 EPs and toured the West Coast while continuously demonstrating their willingness to evolve a songwriters and performers. Having weathered line-up changes and the ever-evolving music scene in the post-COVID world, MERLOCK continues to look for new paths forward.

Tracklisting:
1. Sovereign Throne
2. Sunnbarren
3. Behold! The Sword of Lock
4. Where No One Goes
5. Somniloquy
6. Onward Strides Colossus

Album Credits:
Album Art – Leoncio Harmr
Album Layout – Taylor D. Waring
Engineering and Mixing – Nic Wilbur
Mastering – Adam Tucker

MERLOCK is:
Taylor D. Waring – Guitar / Vox
Andrew Backes – Bass
Lucas Barrey – Drums

https://www.facebook.com/MerlockSpokane/
https://www.instagram.com/merlocklives/
https://merlock.bandcamp.com/
https://www.merlocklives.com/

Merlock, You Cannot Be Saved performance video