Austin, Texas, heavy Americana four-piece Lord Buffalo will release their third album, Holus Bolus, on July 12 through Blues Funeral Recordings. And as surely as one would never mistake a holus bolus for a rumpus, a ruckus or a hullabaloo, the textures of Lord Buffalo‘s sound across the record’s seven songs and 38 minutes are accordingly recognizable. If you heard 2020’s Tohu Wa Bohu (discussed here), the hard strikes of maybe-piano and low-drawl effects of “Slow Drug” will feel like an inheritor of some of that outing’s ambience, and the swing to which the band set those elements arises to sashay only after the opening title-track has reimagined Wovenhand as fronted by Nick Cave. We are grim, grey, thoroughly American gothic. Violins and violence.

Elsewhere amid the tumult, centerpiece “Malpaisano” tackles a vast dronescape that is not at all minimalist while seeming to be exactly and purposefully that, topped with Daniel Pruitt‘s All Them Witches-y musings, and “Passing Joy” brings together loose-strum acoustic ramble and bowed-string noise in a cinematic culmination that can’t help but resonate troubled times, and “I Wait on the Door Slab” (lyric video premiering below) teases folkish casualness, but is off on a build of layers upon layers in what first feels like manifest destiny trampling skulls forgotten in history’s romance but turns to a shimmer of guitar like it found Jesus meandering through the prairie because he’s always in the last place you look or so I’m told. The melody, the sweep, the underlying somehow-doom groove like the matte painting against which the grainy scene is portrayed — this is the stuff of thoughtful construction and meticulous detailing, maybe cynical but at least it seems to have earned that.

While there are plenty of moments throughout — to wit: the echoing lumber at the start of the penultimate “Cracks in the Vermeer,” soulful vocals soon to join — that feel obscure or perhaps intentionally vague in a way that comes across as more than the sum of their parts partly because you don’t know what the band is actually banging on, it would be a mistake to call Lord Buffalo or this encompassing Holus Bolus experimental, because by the time these songs hit your ears, the experiments have already been conducted. On a scientific level, a progression like “Cracks in the Vermeer,” or indeed “I Wait on the Door Slab” with its fuck-yes second-half heft and nigh on industrial stomp, does not hit its wash by happenstance. The sound of each cut is reasoned, plotted. And like the mix, which has enough going on to have potentially taken much longer than it probably actually did to finalize, the moody vibe of closer “Rowing in Eden” feels broader and deeper in its overarching instrumental severity than the band have yet gone; growth evident in in the vividness of the shapes and silhouettes in their fog.

As to what, if anything Holus Bolus is saying about America itself, I won’t speculate beyond basics like “dark” and “foreboding,” but that’s honestly enough in a culture that can’t stop hatefucking itself with false nostalgia en route to paved-over, luxury-rental, VC-funded obliteration masqueraded as authentic anything. Lord Buffalo aren’t trying to find redemption here, or to paint things as other than they are, but it’s not disgust that makes “Holus Bolus” shine and it’s not hopelessness that lends “I Wait on the Door Slab” such a feeling of rhythmic movement. Perhaps it is the nature of the thing to feel some hope. Perhaps it is desperate. Either way, before the oceans rightly rise to consume all of us, Holus Bolus gives an emotionalist lifeline to the lost and the weird who recognize the post-modernism for what it is — a death of gods and a call to dance. So get your shoes on and go.

Lyric video for “I Wait on the Door Slab” follows, backed by PR wire text in blue.

Please enjoy:

Lord Buffalo, “I Wait on the Door Slab” lyric video premiere

Lord Buffalo is heavy in the way that ghosts are heavy… in the way that billowing dust is heavy.

That is to say, the Austin, TX Psych-Americana band’s music impacts hard, though it seems impossible to touch. Their sound flows through us, it doesn’t invite the Pavlovian response of typical heavy rock music.

Perhaps it’s fitting then that their new album Holus Bolus takes its name from an antiquated term meaning “all at once.” It materializes instantly from the first notes of the opening title track, like a dark grey haze drawing listeners in with the band’s deft juxtapositions of droning violin, guitars, drums and vocals. It draws equally from Morricone and Badalementi as from Sabbath and Swans.

While the quartet trudges the same murky waters as dark emotive brethren David Eugene Edwards/Woven Hand, Chelsea Wolfe, Emma Ruth Rundle, Earth/Dylan Carlson, Echo & The Bunnymen, Nick Cave, etc., their creative interplay of Middle Eastern influence with a distinctly Western feel takes listeners in entirely new directions as the album envelops them.

Lord Buffalo is Daniel Pruitt (guitar, bass, piano, vocals, melodica), Garrett Hellman (guitar, sub-bass, piano, synths), Patrick Patterson (violin), and Yamal Said (drums, percussion). Holus Bolus was recorded by Danny Reisch and Max Lorenzen at Good Danny’s in Lockhart, TX. Mixed by Danny Reisch. Mastered by Max Lorenzen.

“While the making of this record feels a bit like a sleep-deprived hallucination to me,” Pruitt says. “Listening to it now, I find it strangely hopeful — there’s a kind of release that you hit in exhaustion. I think the record knew what it was after, even if we didn’t. It felt very much like the record just appeared one day, holus bolus.”

Holus Bolus will be available worldwide on vinyl, CD, and digital via Blues Funeral Recordings on July 12, 2024. Pre-order HERE: https://www.bluesfuneral.com/ & https://lord-buffalo.bandcamp.com/album/holus-bolus

TRACKLIST:
01. Holus Bolus
02. Slow Drug
03. Passing Joy
04. Malpaisano
05. I Wait on the Door Slab
06. Cracks in the Vermeer
07. Rowing in Eden

LORD BUFFALO is:
Daniel Pruitt – guitar, bass, piano, vocals, melodica
Garrett Hellman – guitar, sub-bass, piano, synths
Patrick Patterson – violin
Yamal Said – drums, percussion

Lord Buffalo, Holus Bolus (2024)

Lord Buffalo on Facebook

Lord Buffalo on Instagram

Lord Buffalo on Bandcamp

Lord Buffalo website

Blues Funeral Recordings on Facebook

Blues Funeral Recordings on Instagram

Blues Funeral Recordings on Bandcamp

Blues Funeral Recordings website

I did some bio-ish writing recently for the upcoming Spirit Mother album, so as the announcement comes through that they’ll release it through Heavy Psych Sounds — arguably the world’s foremost purveyor of, well, sounds that are heavy and/or psychedelic — I’ll tell you that the atmospheric desert-heavy troupe’s follow-up to 2020’s Cadets (review here) greatly expands the breadth of their sound. If you caught wind of their 2023 single “Locust//Dead Cells” (premiered here), that might be considered something of a preview of some of the impending-LP’s brooding vibe, but more of a teaser than an encapsulation.

After that single, Spirit Mother went on tour in Europe, where I was fortunate enough to catch them at SonicBlast Fest 2023 (review here) alongside Heavy Psych Sounds mainstays Black Rainbows, among others, and did a Fall stint in the US alongside Hippie Death Cult, now also labelmates. So maybe they’ve been going in this direction for a bit at this point, but it makes sense either way. They’ll be at Desertfest NYC this September and I look forward to catching them again. More to come, in other words.

From the PR wire:

Heavy Psych Sounds to announce SPIRIT MOTHER signing for their upcoming new album !!!

We’re incredibly stoked to announce that the US heavy rock band SPIRIT MOTHER is now part of the Heavy Psych Sounds Family !!!

NEW ALBUM PRESALE + FIRST TRACK PREMIERE

June 13th

SAYS THE BAND: “We are honored to sign with Heavy Psych Sounds and bring our sophomore album to life!”

BIOGRAPHY

Spirit Mother is a heavy rock band with their sound anthologized through a folk-informed and classical lens. Their dynamic and imposing wall of sound, coupled with a driving backbeat, grips through atmospheric strings and haunting vocals. Initially from Long Beach, CA, the band relocated across the United States residing in Buffalo, Los Angeles, and the high-desert of Eastern Oregon. Originally formed by vocalist and bassist, Armand Lance, and violinist, SJ, their line-up has since solidified with the addition of their guitarist, Sean McCormick, and Drummer, Landon Cisneros providing a striking sound. Lead singer and songwriter, Armand Lance, creates the bones of the music in the attic of his rural ranch between cattle working and mustang wrangling – a likeness to his father’s upbringing as an Ecuadorian cowboy. The group convenes at this cabin to write and develop their repertoire before hitting the road for tour nationally and abroad. Spirit Mother received critical praise for their first album, Cadets.

In 2020 Spirit Mother was tapped for a pandemic project to create a live record/concert film in the style of Pink Floyd’s Live at Pompeii. Fans and critics worldwide revered the band’s performance in Live In The Mojave Desert Volume 3 which was released by Giant Rock Records and Heavy Psych Sounds Records.

In 2023, the band released their latest single “Locust//Dead Cells” and embarked on their debut European tour summer of 2023 with festival appearances at Metal Days, PALP, and Sonic Blast followed by a Full US Tour Fall 2023.
Most recently the band signed to Heavy Psych Sounds Records while in studio for their sophomore album in between with regional west coast tours throughout the winter and spring of 2024. They eagerly await its release along with another coast-to-coast US tour this fall with stops at Desert Fest NYC and Levitation Fest in Austin, Tx.

SPIRIT MOTHER is
Armand Lance – Bass, Vocals
SJ – Violin, Vocals
Landon Cisneros – Drums
Sean McCormick – Guitar

https://www.facebook.com/SpiritMotherBand/
https://www.instagram.com/spiritmotherband/
https://spiritmother.bandcamp.com/
https://www.spiritmotherofficial.com/

heavypsychsoundsrecords.bandcamp.com
www.heavypsychsounds.com
https://www.facebook.com/HEAVYPSYCHSOUNDS/
https://www.instagram.com/heavypsychsounds_records/

Spirit Mother, “Locust//Dead Cells”

I’m not taking away from the rest of the press release below — a signing announcement is an important moment in the life of a band; at very least a big deal to those involved in putting names on a line, band and label alike — but if I may direct your weary eyeballs to the band’s lineup text below, it’s pretty magical. “His voice, a conduit for ancient echoes…” and “…imbued with celestial fire” and all that. There’s something to be said for playing it relatively straight while also going completely over-the-top. Take your fun where you can get it.

Void King‘s arrival to the roster of Argonauta Records comes on the heels of the Indianapolis-based element-invoking four-piece’s 2023 album, The Hidden Hymnal (review here), and while they wouldn’t be out of line to press that up with the Italian label’s stamp on back, or dip back further into their catalog, for that matter, the quick-working outfit are already talking about the proverbial “next record.” Moving forward, in the spirit perhaps of pulsing signals to other worlds or something like that.

There’s no timeline on that record listed below, but 2025 doesn’t seem like an unreasonable expectation given that it’s still far enough away in my head to be the distant future — it isn’t, I’m just old — and The Hidden Hymnal was maybe part of a broader conceptual work to which the follow-up was going to tie in. If that remains the case or not, I guess we’ll find out. “Ears to hear,” and all that.

Smile to your face from the PR wire:

US Stoner Doomsters VOID KING Sign to Argonauta Records

US stoner doom metal band VOID KING sign to Argonauta Records; founded in the crucible of Indianapolis, Indiana, Void King blends stoner rock and doom metal in a way that defies earthly boundaries. Led by the resonant voice of Jason Kindred, their sonic pilgrimage began – a quest to channel cosmic energies through their instruments. Void King, a luminary force in the realm of heavy music for more than a decade, transcends mere mortal soundwaves. Their saga unfolds against a backdrop of amplifiers and fog, where the ethereal meets the visceral.

“Working with Argonauta opens many doors for us that might have otherwise been closed, or hard for us to access. Physical media, distro, and getting us into markets that we might not have seen before are all enormous reasons why we are proud to be working with Argonauta on this next release. Putting out a concept record is a risky proposition, but we feel better about that gamble with Gero and his team on our side. It feels good to know that someone sees our vision and wants to support that.” – says the band

The band continues: “At current time, the band is preparing to play live this summer, starting with a supporting slot for the band Whores. This new batch of songs coming out on the next record are not a departure for us, but they are an evolution of who we were. The songs are cohesive and share an origin story. Each one of them has its own universe, as well as sharing a symbiotic relationship with the other songs on the album. We are excited for people to experience this album as a whole. It should be consumed in its entirety for maximum impact. While the individual songs will do just fine on their own, the record really shines when listened to from start to finish.”

Followers gather in dimly lit venues, shrouded in fog. The faithful raise their hands, eyes closed, as if reaching for salvation. Void King’s live rituals are transcendent—an invitation to commune with the numinous. The air vibrates with the collective pulse of believers and the thrum of burning amplifiers. The sudden blast of white, pure light exists to bring the listener to the promised land.

Void King’s mission transcends mere entertainment. Their music is a portal – a gateway to other dimensions. When you listen, you’re not an audience; you’re an initiate. Let the volume compel you forward, into the heart of the riff.

Void King’s journey continues, guided by unseen hands. They traverse the astral highways, seeking new chords, new revelations. Their legacy? Carved in stone and etched in stardust. As long as there are ears to hear, they shall echo across the ages.

Void King are:
Jason Kindred (Vocals): His voice, a conduit for ancient echoes, weaves tales of forgotten gods and lost civilizations. His timbre resonates with both sorrow and defiance.
Tommy Miller (Electric Guitar): The strings of his guitar are imbued with celestial fire. His riffs – majestic and mournful – speak of cosmic cataclysms and astral wanderings.
Chris Carroll (Bass Guitar): The heartbeat of Void King, his basslines pulse like signals to other worlds.
Derek Felix (Percussion): His drums are thunderstorms, primal and unyielding. With each beat, he summons tempests and quakes, invoking the very elements.

http://voidking.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/voidkingband/

https://www.facebook.com/argonuatarecords
www.instagram.com/argonautarecords
www.argonautarecords.com

Void King, The Hidden Hymnal (2023)

Swedish heavy rockers Långfinger have a history of good-times-had-by-all videos, whether that’s “Say Jupiter” (posted here) from their 2016 LP, Crossyears (review here), or the prior “Fox Confessor” (posted here), or the clip for “Herbs in My Garden” from 2010. “Arctic,” premiering below, is the latest in the series of their narrative clips. The song comes from their fourth album, Pendulum (review here), which was released earlier in 2024, and pokes fun at the fact that eight years passed in between Långfinger records while the band were ostensibly still active. A kind of answer to the question one might’ve asked circa 2022: “whatever happened to Långfinger?”

But of course the truth of what happened to them is a little less Blair Witch and a little more band-doing-other-stuff. In 2019, they released Live (review here) and a split with JIRM, and guitarist/backing vocalist Kalle Lilja’s work at Welfare Sounds Studio and participation in outfits like Toad Venom and Wolves in Haze has been discussed here before, so I’ll spare you running through the full timeline, but the fact is Långfinger still existed, even if they weren’t doing the self-imposed album-cycle thing of writing, recording, touring, and so on, or constantly feeding the social-media algorithmic monkey on a daily basis to capture some imaginary quantification of an audience share. Would it have been nice to have another LP in the interim? Sure. Would’ve also been nice if we hadn’t all lost two years to a fucking plague. Can’t have everything, kids.

In light of that stark reality, I’ll just note that it’s worth appreciating the things one has, and in this particular context, Pendulum is all the more a thing to celebrate. Not only did it bring Långfinger back around to those ears waiting for them in the heavy underground and perhaps introduce them to a slew of those who’d come aboard in the intervening time, but it expanded the band’s stylistic palette and found them working in new ideas from a more mature point of view. Not quite “grownup” in the sense of being either boring or lacking energy in their delivery — “Arctic” testifies in contrast — but aware of who they are as players in a way that when they did Skygrounds 14 years ago they couldn’t possibly have been. That it’s still fun is a boon, of course.

If you haven’t heard Pendulum, or if you watch “Arctic” and dig both the tune and the shenanigans, the full LP stream is waiting for you at the bottom of the post. However you go, I hope you enjoy, because there’s really no point to any of this otherwise.

Dig:

Långfinger, “Arctic” video premiere

Långfinger and Aurora Alänge (director) set out to make a video based off of three very distinct things that have been notable in our latest active era.

We’re huge fans of certain 00’s horror movies (who isn’t), we love riff driven ominous rock music and we wanted to give an explanation to – with a tongue in cheek approach – our absence these past 6-7 years from the observable universe.

The idea worked really well with Arctic, which is a song that as much as it pays homage to classic 70’s and 80’s metal tracks it shows us as a band as we venture towards a sound that’s heavier than anything we’ve ever done in the past.

Taken from the album ‘Pendulum’ out now through Welfare Sounds & Records.

Directed, produced, edited and filmed by Aurora Alänge. Band photo by Aurora Alänge.
Additional band footage filmed by Carl Thorén.

Långfinger are:
Kalle Lilja – guitar/backing vocals
Victor Crusner – vocals/bass/keys
Jesper Pihl – drums

Långfinger, Pendulum (2024)

Långfinger on Facebook

Långfinger on Instagram

Långfinger on Bandcamp

Långfinger website

At least part of the PR wire text below comes from the bio I wrote for Shun‘s second full-length, Dismantle, which is coming out through Small Stone Records on July 19. I think from after the first sentence through the part where Matt Whitehead comments on the first single “Drawing Names,” maybe? There was a press quote in there too, but yeah. In any case, let the point here be the song, since as the guy who wrote the bio I’ll tell you outright you and the band both are probably better served just by hearing the song, which is in the embed at the bottom of the post.

Heavy post-hardcore rock? Emo-informed progressive grungegaze? I don’t know how you categorize it — which should make writing the review a blast — but Dismantle follows behind the Shun‘s 2021 self-titled debut (review here), and I didn’t know how to categorize that either, but I enjoyed it. The new one’s a banger too, as it happens.

Info follows in blue. You know what’s up:

SHUN: North/South Carolina Rock Outfit To Release Dismantle Full-Length July 19th Via Small Stone Recordings; New Single Now Playing + Preorders Available

North/South Carolina heavy rock outfit SHUN will release their long-awaited new full-length, Dismantle, July 19th via Small Stone Recordings!

SHUN released their self-titled debut through Small Stone in 2021. Dismantle continues several crucial threads from the debut in terms of songwriting and the returning production of J. Robbins (who also contributes percussion, guitar, and synth), while expanding their scope with a more refined crunch and drifting, ethereal outreach. It is heavier and paints a broader landscape in Matt Whitehead’s vocal and guitar melodies, able to take a prog-metal chug in “Horses” and reshape it as the backdrop for weighted post-rock while refusing to sap its own vitality in service to shoegazey posturing.

Punk and noise rock such as Cave In and Hum feel like touchstones as much as Sabbath and whom- or whatever might’ve inspired the crush tucked at the end of “You’re The Sea,” and while Dismantle may hint as a title at notions of things coming apart, there’s as much being built in its ten tracks as is being destroyed. What results from the trio of Whitehead, bassist Jeff Baucom, and drummer Rob Elzey (Bo Leslie has since joined on guitar, re-completing the lineup) is material varied in its purpose but drawn together in traditional fashion by the electricity of its performances. The band-in-the-room feel in the methodical rollout of opener “Blind Eye” is all the more resonant with the debut having been remotely assembled during plague lockdowns.

Does that make Dismantle something like a second first album? Not really, but if it helps you get on board, you probably won’t get a ton of arguments. While Whitehead’s past in Small Stone denizens Throttlerod is still relevant to SHUN in some essential and riffy ways, SHUN steps forward with Dismantle and declares their meld of styles in tracks like “The Getaway” and “Interstellar” which are able to push, pull, crash down loud, or recede into float as they will. That they’d wield such command in their craft likely won’t be a surprise to those who took on the self-titled, but among the things Dismantle undoes, it strips the listener of expectations and replaces them with its unflinching creativity and refreshingly forward-looking take.

Comments Whitehead on the band’s first single, “‘Drawing Names’ was written in its entirety in under 30 minutes while jamming at our drummer’s house. I’ve found those quick-to-come-together songs that aren’t over-thought and overworked often turn out the best… go figure. The recording of the track was super fun and collaborative as well. I’ll never forget J. Robbins crouched down by my delay pedals turning knobs while I played one section. And then he later added a double tambourine part in the chorus which we absolutely loved.”

Dismantle, which features artwork by Alexander Von Wieding, will be released on CD, limited LP, and digital formats. Find preorders at THIS LOCATION: https://smallstone.bandcamp.com/album/dismantle

Fans of Torche, Cave In, Alice In Chains, Failure, ASG, and huge riffs, pay heed.

Dismantle Track Listing:
1. Blind Eye
2. Aviator
3. Horses
4. Drawing Names
5. Storms
6. NRNS
7. You’re The Sea
8. The Getaway
9. Through The Looking Glass
10. Interstellar

SHUN – Dismantle Record Release Shows:
7/19/2024 The Odditorium – Asheville, NC
7/20/2024 Swanson’s Warehouse – Greenville, SC
7/26/2024 New Brookland Tavern – Columbia, SC
8/02/2024 185 King – Brevard, NC

SHUN:
Matt Whitehead – guitar, vocals
Rob Elzey – drums
Jeff Baucom – bass
Additional musicians:
J. Robbins – percussion, synths, guitar
Bo Leslie – guitar

https://www.facebook.com/ShunTheBand
https://www.instagram.com/Shuntheband
http://shuntheband.bandcamp.com

http://www.smallstone.com
http://www.facebook.com/smallstonerecords
http://www.instagram.com/smallstonerecords
https://smallstone.bandcamp.com/

Shun, Dismantle (2024)

Demons My Friends filmed the video premiering below earlier this Spring as they played two support gigs for Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson in Guadalajara. There’s some joke there to be made about stoner rock and Dickinson famously yelling at people in the crowd for smoking weed, but that’s a good spot to play regardless of whether or not you’re a Maiden fan, and why poke fun anyhow. To mark the occasion, the song “Inner Slay” becomes the backdrop for a clip that captures the TX/MX-based three-piece onstage and off, and while it’s not the most party-ready cut from their 2023 debut long-player, Demons Seem to Gather (review here), with some edge of Pallbearer-style emotionalism resonating in its echoing melody, but that adds rather than takes away from the experience, and clearly it was a special moment for the band. At five minutes, “Inner Slay” is one of the longer songs on the record. Maybe they had more they wanted to remember than the 3:13 “Make Them Pay” could hold. I ain’t arguing.

The band were on tour in May and will be out again in September in Austin — where at least some percentage of the trio is based, I think, split between there and Mexico City — as part of the sprawling gathering that will be this year’s Ripplefest Texas, and in October they’re set to appear at Monterrey Metal Fest, where the likes of Satyricon and Enslaved will also play. Demons My Friends aren’t that aggro, but their tones are likewise fuzzed and expansive, and as alluded above, there are darker tinges of doom beneath the exterior of some of their material, whether it’s the Monolordy roll of album opener “The Tower Falls” or the thickened shuffle in the verses of “Fire Mountain” later on. Either way, the spirit in which the the “Inner Slay” clip arrives is pretty straightforward — commemoration — and indeed it looks like a couple nights worth remembering.

If you didn’t catch the album, no sweat, it’s not like they’ve put out three more since (yet). The full Bandcamp stream is at the bottom of this post, and you might find that after you see them celebrating what will surely be a highlight of the time around their first album, it’s cool to see clips spliced into the “Inner Slay” video of them laughing and having a good time backstage and soundchecking and whatnot. Cool band does cool thing — again, pretty straightforward. But if they’re new to you and you find yourself thinking of forward potential in their sound, the various avenues that Demons Seem to Gather sets up for them to explore while offering solid structures underneath their more soaring elements for a strong foundation in craft, that’s pretty much where I’m at too. Very interested to see where the next few years take them, and that they’re thus far playing into being the outsider act on more metal lineups — not that Bruce Dickinson and Satyricon play the same kind of stuff, but you know what I mean — is fascinating and bold. I expect to hear good things after Ripplefest.

For now, here’s the video. Please enjoy:

Demons My Friends, “Inner Slay” video premiere

Recorded on April 18 2024 at Teatro Diana in Guadalajara, Mexico during the first of the two shows that DMF opened for Bruce Dickinson on his Mandrake Project World Tour.

“Inner Slay” appears on Demons My Friends’ full-length album, “Demons Seem To Gather”, available everywhere via Gravitoyd Heavy Music (in partnership with Wiseband France).

Video shot, edited and directed by Alexander Bizzarro.
“Inner Slay” produced and mixed by Jeff Henson at Red Nova Ranch (Austin, TX) and mastered by Alberto De Icaza.

Festival Appearances
Sept 21st – Ripplefest Texas – Austin TX
Oct 12th – Mexico Metal Fest – Monterrey, Mexico

Demons My Friends is:
Pablo Anton – guitar/vox
Lu Salinas – Bass/vox
Tarro Martinez – Drums

Demons My Friends, Demons Seem to Gather (2023)

Demons My Friends on Facebook

Demons My Friends on Instagram

Demons My Friends on Bandcamp

Demons My Friends Linktr.ee

Gravitoyd Heavy Music on Facebook

Gravitoyd Heavy Music on Instagram

Gravitoyd Heavy Music on Bandcamp

Twenty years. As to where the time goes, I couldn’t hope to tell you. Anybody checked the accretion disks of black holes yet? Probably not. Nonetheless, it goes, and metal-leaning Swedish troupe Deville can surely confirm that as the band mark their 20th anniversary with the on-the-nose-titled compilation 20 Years, out Aug. 9. The cassette release will be through Sixteentimes Music, which also put out their 2022 LP, Heavy Lies the Crown (review here), and follows January’s video for “Serpent Days” (posted here) from that record, which brought the first hints of the comp to come.

Fair enough. Deville have always been a forward-looking act, so that they’re trying new things even as they celebrate to-date accomplishments is fitting. The new single — and that’s “new” as in doesn’t-appear-on-another-record, not just new in context — is called “Dust,” and it’s fuzzier feeling than some of what they’ve done in the last however long, but still has the punch one has come to expect from them coinciding with that, along with a healthy dose of shred. Further novelty is offered in the cover of Nine Inch Nails‘ “The Hand that Feeds,” which actually was the single that put me off listening to new stuff from that band — they went from The Fragile to “The Perfect Drug” to that; it was too much a leap for me to make at the time, apparently — but its already-looping-in-my-head hook is inarguable. I have no doubt Deville‘s take will be rad. They’ve been at this for 20 years. They know what they’re doing.

Word of the release came down the PR wire thusly:

DEVILLE: NEW SINGLE “DUST” OUT NOW and ANNOUNCING NEW ALBUM!

With two decades of heavy guitar riffs and thunderous drum beats, these rockers are ready to unleash a sonic storm like never before. Celebrating their 20 year anniversary, Deville put together 10 electrifying tracks that will take you on a journey through the bands work over time. With 8 handpicked gems from their albums and starting with the new single DUST, this record is a testament to their relentless passion for pure, unadulterated heavy rock and metal.

On this album, Deville is unleashing their first-ever cover song, a spine-tingling rendition of Nine Inch Nails „The Hand That Feeds”. Prepare to be blown away by their unique take on this legendary anthem. Join the celebration and crank up the volume as Deville invites you to experience 20 years of Rock n Roll magic in one epic record. The jubilee album is simply called 20 YEARS and will be out as a limited tape release. 20 Years is out on 9th of August via Sixteentimes Music.

Tracklist:
1. Dust
2. The Hand That Feeds ( Nine Inch Nails cover)
3. Lava
4. What Remains
5. Serpent Days
6. Deserter
7. Pigs With Gods
8. Gold Sealed Tomb
9. Wrecked
10. Rise Above

Celebrating 20 years as a band in 2024, an anniversary album containing some of the most played songs, some new tracks and surprises will be released in August with singles from May and forward. After touring Europe and Australia in 2023 the band will start of the new year with some shows in Sweden and around.

In 2004 in Malmö, faith united four musicians to form Deville, a heavy rock band with infectious energy. Armed with their authentic fusion of rock, metal and stoner, they got their first release out in 2006 and started to tour. Since 2004, they released six albums, played more than 500 shows and festivals all over Europe, Australia and the United States and shared the stage with great acts as Red Fang,Fu Manchu,Sepultura, Torche, Mustasch and many more.

Deville:
Andreas Bengtsson – Vocals, Guitars
Michael Ödegården– Drums
Andreas Wulkan – Lead Guitar,Vocals
Martin Nobel – Bass

http://www.deville.nu
http://www.facebook.com/devilleband
http://www.youtube.com/devilleband
http://www.instagram.com/devilleband

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https://sixteentimes.bandcamp.com/
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Deville, “Dust”

Deville, Heavy Lies the Crown (2022)

I mean, it’s not like the 2024 lineup for Desertfest Antwerp — aka Desertfest Belgium — wasn’t already stunning, but go ahead and throw Conan, Causa Sui, Ruff Majik, Birds in Row, Valley of the Sun, Delving, Daevar, Coilguns, and the others below into the mix and that definitely doesn’t hurt. The headliners speak for themselves — Monster Magnet are a call to show up, Fu Manchu will be supporting their new record, which is out this month, and Russian Circles are Russian Circles — but as you dig into each line of the poster below, you can see there isn’t really a point where the hits stop coming. I won’t claim to be familiar with the likes of Tangled Horns, Giac Taylor, Throatsnapper or Divided, who are also newly tacked onto the bill, but as they join the likes of Spaceslug, Stoned Jesus, Messa, Child, and others on my personal hope-I-see-before-I-die list, it’s striking both how broad and how rad this lineup is on the whole.

And yes, that’s the extent of the insight. This looks killer. I’ve only been through Belgium once, and it was to change trains. I was there just long enough to try and fail at ordering coffee in French, but if there ever was a reason to want to head back and give that another shot likely to the same result, this would likely be it. Rezn and Seedy Jeezus and Mondo Drag? In the parlance of our times: “let’s go.”

Ticket link and the relatively brief final announcement from the fest follow here, emojis intact, as seen on social media:

Hold fast for the 𝐃𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐀𝐧𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐩 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟒 lineup is complete! ⚡ Forged in blood and sweat, we present you with the final additions to the bill:

Conan / Birds in Row / Causa Sui / Valley of the Sun / Coilguns / delving / Ruff Majik / Red Scalp / Tangled Horns / Divided / Throatsnapper / Giac Taylor / Daevar

Now with that sweet cherry on top there’s no reason not to get a ticket 🍒: https://www.desertfest.be/antwerp/information/ticketing/

Spread the word, share the post and see you later in Antwerp!

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Ruff Majik, “Swine Tooth Grin” live in Nürnberg, Germany, 05.29.24