Happy Monday, and welcome to the Quarterly Review. Or welcome back, anyhow. I said last month that I might try to sneak another one of these weeks in before the end of November, and I’m honestly not prepared to say this’ll be it for the year. There’s a lot out there to keep up with, and this is the most efficient means I have for ‘keeping up,’ as best as I can do that anyhow. I don’t know, man. I’m just trying to get through the day.

This QR is 50 releases — I was slating them right up to yesterday, so some of it’s pretty fresh — and will go from today through Friday. It will be most, if not all, of what is posted this week. I hope you find something you enjoy. Let’s go.

Quarterly Review #1-10:

Beastwars, The Ship // The Sea

At nearly 15 years’ remove from their self-titled debut (review here), New Zealand’s Beastwars have been through ringers in life and music alike, but their sound on their sixth full-length, they’ve never sounded quite so refined. Understand, it’s Beastwars, so I still mean immersive and crushing riff-heavy rock, which the band have honed to a point of bordering on noise rock in pieces like “The Storm” or the later “You Know They’re Burning the Land.” “Rust” and “The Howling” maintain a sense of the epic with Matt Hyde‘s shouts alternately into and out from the abyss, but the band have grown in the six years since their last album of originals, 2019’s IV (review here), and for the blowout in “The Devil” and the weight of chug in “Guardian of Fire,” their impact feels all the more craterous for it.

Beastwars store

Beastwars on Bandcamp

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Lacertilia, Transcend

I won’t take away from the shorter bangers here, whether it’s the wah-on immediacy of “Listen Close” or “Weird Scenes” with its stick-click immediacy, but each half(-ish) of Lacertilia‘s third LP (first for Majestic Mountain), Transcend, ends with a more extended cut, with “Nothing Sacred” (10:34) and “The Sun is the Key” (7:13) rounding out their respective sides, and the band are right to take the time when they take it. Of course, it’s symptomatic of the broader variety brought to the Cardiff five-piece’s craft, and they make Transcend a showcase of their reach, be it into acoustic strum and emergent bluesier scorch on “Over and Out,” the twisting lead guitar progressivism of “Deviate From the Plan,” which meets the grandeur halfway, or the percussion-laced instrumentalist build of the semi-title-track “Transcending.” They end up offering something different with each of the 10 songs, and balance raucousness and expressive purpose as they go in malleable and distinctive style.

Lacertilia on Bandcamp

Majestic Mountain Records store

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Dune Aurora, Ice Age Desert

With their debut album, Turin three-piece Dune Aurora draw together disparate ideas from across the modern riffy pastiche such that garage-style sway and more traditonalist stoner chug combine with at-times-ethereal melody, desert push, psychedelia and, in the case of “Trapdoor,” a poppier take entirely. There’s cohesion in the songwriting to match the aesthetic ambition, though, and Dune Aurora don’t come off as haphazard so much as multifaceted. The reworked prior single “Fire” demonstrates a fuzzy drive waiting in the wings as part of their approach, but the nod in “Burning Waters” is more dug in, and “Sunless Queen” reveals a patience underlying their builds that might come out more on subsequent outings, but the shove of “Crocodile” and that Nirvana riff in “Dune Chameleon” are vital to Ice Age Desert too, and it’s still just a sampling of the elements Dune Aurora use to ensnare the listener. As much as they have going on, that they don’t come across as confused seems to give them all the more potential.

Dune Aurora on Bandcamp

Argonauta Records website

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Khayrava, Ghost Pain

Ghost Pain is the debut two-songer from Almeria, Spain, post-metallic four-piece Khayrava, who present “Red Hot Sun” (7:04) and “Ghost Pain” (10:32) with a marked sense of texture as part of their intention. Both tracks crush, but both also offer a moment of departure from that, and the latter plays off the impact of the former with a keyboardier air and its later divergence into floating melody and crash before, just past the eight-minute mark, they torch the whole thing with a worthy and minutes-long crescendo. “Red Hot Sun” is huge, but its midsection gives over to a break of Tool-y groove met with heavy post-rock flourish from the guitar. That also, of course, comes back around to the pummel, but it’s in the getting there that Khayrava begin to reveal the character of the band, and with the depth of mix they bring to Ghost Pain and the clear intent toward nuance of style, I’ll be on the lookout for where they go from here.

Khayrava on Bandcamp

Khayrava on Instagram

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River Cult, High Anxiety

“Who invented 9-5,” River Cult ask on “Fast Crash.” “They should be shot dead,” is the answer the lyrics give. Fair. The third long-player from the heretofore undervalued New York-based disgruntled fuzzbringers manages to make a mental health crisis swing like desert rock on “Smoke Break,” the sixth of the seven inclusions on the 38-minute offering, seeming to answer the crash-in, warm tone and lyrical fuckall of the opening title-track in the process. They’re not wrong, and if you’re gonna say the world sucks, at least “Feels Good to Scream” has a density of distortion to hold up to the message, vocals biting through like early-metal’s cultist inheritor, cavernous and obscure ahead of centerpiece “Mind the Teeth” start-stop chugging as the lore of ‘The Wolf’ is cast. The trio of guitarist/vocalist Sean Forlenza, bassist Anthony Mendolia and drummer Eli Pizzuto (ex-Naam) find a niche for themselves in downtrodden fuzz, ending with “New Song,” which even having been tracked at Brooklyn’s Studio G sounds fresh off the stage.

River Cult on Bandcamp

River Cult on Instagram

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Beast Eagle, Sorceress

In the soaring vocals of Kate Prokop and the riffs behind them chugging away at the verses of “The Dead Follow” and the moodier surge into the layered hook of “Witch Hunt,” Omaha, Nebraska’s Beast Eagle answer their 2024 self-titled debut EP with five more songs of metal-rooted heavy groove, clear and fluid in “Sharp Tongue” but not without aggression underlying. The bass in “The Dead Follow” is mixed the way I feel bass should always be — forward — and that gives even the mellower stretch as they move into the ending a different sense of presence than it might otherwise have, but in the galloping verse and sprawling chorus of “The Demonstration” and the rush of “Send Me Down,” the latter of which, admittedly, is more of a rocker, speaking to a burgeoning dynamic in their sound, they retain a feeling of charge, and that defines Sorceress‘ 19-minute run as much as the taut chug in “Sharp Tongue.”

Beast Eagle on Bandcamp

Beast Eagle on Instagram

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The Munsens, Degradation in the Hyperreal

Having relocated from Denver to Asbury Park, New Jersey, The Munsens are no less vicious or crushing on their second album, Degradation in the Hyperreal. “Eternal Grasp” starts the procession as much death metal as it is sludge, which is an ethic that “Supreme Death” will bring to gorgeously extreme fruition a short time later, while pieces like the melancholic, minimalist instrumental “Vesper” and the blistering megasludger “Sacred Ivory” and the outro “I Avow” offset the onslaught of “The Knife,” “Scaling Ceausescu’s Balcony” and the lumber-into-double-kick of “Drauga,” vocals offering precious little comfort for the downward journey of the record’s 46 minutes. That “The Knife” finishes, specifically, ahead of “I Avow,” stands as testament to just how far The Munsens have pushed into extremity over the course of their decade-plus, but they are not entirely unforgiving either, despite having grown only more gnashing over the course of their decade-plus tenure.

The Munsens on Bandcamp

The Munsens on Instagram

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Rattlesnake Venom Trip, Eclipse the Sun

They’re not thrash, but thrash is part of what Dayton, Ohio’s Rattlesnake Venom Trip get up to on their new four-song EP, Eclipse the Sun, with a sharp edge to the riffing on lead cut “Hollowed Eyes” that tells the tale. The second half of that track subsides some in terms of forward thrust, setting up the still-chugging-but-slower “Ablaze Set I,” with a more resonant hook, and “Brushstrokes/Eclipse the Sun,” which in its first half is as far as Rattlesnake Venom Trip go in divergence from the burl and push, but in its second answers for the metal and the nod both that it seems to have inherited from the opener. Punchy bass’ed reinforcement takes place over the five minutes of “Cold Winds Blow,” and the four-piece maintain a clear-eyed sense of identity through whatever turns the material makes, somewhere between heavy rock, Southern metal, thrash and stoner idolatry. You could sit and parse it, but the band make it pretty easy to trust where they’re headed as they go.

Rattlesnake Venom Trip website

Rattlesnake Venom Trip on Bandcamp

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Pesta, The Craft of Pain

For their third long-player, The Craft of Pain (on Glory or Death), Brazil’s Pesta offer a take on doom born of traditional metal. They’re not aggro, or outwardly depressive, but “Masters of the Craft of Pain” and the swinging “Marked by Hate” find a route from Sabbath and the NWOBHM to doom just the same. A guest appearance from Scott “Wino” Weinrich (The Obsessed, etc.) on vocals for “Mirror Maze” is a departure, but not so radical as to be out of place, especially backed by the depth of groove in the subsequent rocker “In the Drive’s End.” On side B, the pair of “The Inquisitor Pt. I” and the initially-acoustic-based “The Inquisitor Pt. II” provide a more theatrical reach, but the acoustic-and-key-strings “Canto XXI” brings in Rodrigo Garcia (Diffuse Reality) for another curve before “Shadows of a Desire” returns to ground to finish out not so far from where “Marked by Hate” left off. At no point do Pesta feel like they’ve diverged from where they want to be.

Pesta on Bandcamp

Glory or Death Records website

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Atom Lux, Voidgaze Dopamine Salad

The lyrics posted with the cumbersomely-titled “J.I.B.B.E.R.I.S.H. (John Inflates Balloons Because Every Remote Island Starts Hallucinating)” are wrong, and the level of psychedelic tricksterism and playfulness across Atom Lux‘s debut, Voidgaze Dopamine Salad is such that I’m not sure if that’s on purpose or not. Rest assured, different references to “I Am the Walrus” are being made. The self-recording solo-project of Roman multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Lucio Filizola is a garden of weirdo delights, with the keyboardy bounce of “Death by Small Talk” giving away none of the subversively easy garage swing of “Spaghettification Apocalypse” and “Stoned Monkey Heritage” bashing away like it’s an alternate-reality 1964, which by the way I’m no longer convinced it isn’t. It’s from gleeful oddities like “Dance Plague Delirium” that progressive rock first emerged in the comedown era. The same trajectory may or may not be in store for Atom Lux long term, but right now any kind of ‘comedown’ still feels a good ways off.

Atom Lux on Bandcamp

Atom Lux on Instagram

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For those who’ve already purchased the box set, the second volume of Spinda Records‘ massive split-series compilation project Grados. Minutos. Segundos., reportedly ships out this month. You might recall a few months back, the label here unveiled a track-by-track for the first installment, and once all the songs are out digitally in October, we’ll do that again with the six bands sharing three new split 7″ releases as part of building toward the whole box: strong>Habitar la Mar and Acid Mess, Cró! and The Dry Mouths — whose video for “More Oo Less Fluid” is premiering below as well — and Saturna and Laverge, all of whom are paired thusly.

In the meantime, to herald the arrival of this second of four installments, Almeria three-piece The Dry Mouths are premiering their track “More Oo Less Fluid” in the video below. You’ll see the Tabernas Desert featuring heavily along with some Egyptian imagery and a belly dancer, none of which feels especially out of place with the heavy psychedelic instrumentalism the band bring to bear. One might recall they offered two full-lengths in 2019 with Memories from Pines Bridge (review here) in April followed by Lo-Fi Sounds for Hi-Fi People in November — working with a range of labels in the process — in celebration of the life of bassist Andy Reyes, who passed away early that year. Of the two, “More Oo Less Fluid” has more in common with Memories from Pines Bridge in its sans-vocals psych methodology.

In sharing a 7″ with the exclamatory Cró!, The Dry Mouths find unity in a heavy underpinning even as they complement that band’s more outwardly proggy style. As the curation of Spinda Records plays out over the course of the series, one only continues to look forward to what’s coming in this one-of-a-kind celebration of the modern Spanish underground.

Enjoy the clip:

The Dry Mouths, “More Oo Less Fluid” video premiere

Track extracted from Spinda Records’ compilation boxset ‘Grados. Minutos. Segundos.’

Buy ‘Grados. Minutos. Segundos.’: https://bit.ly/2WDDCnv

Subscribe to Spotify’s official playlist: https://spoti.fi/3jZxrld

Music by The Dry Mouths
Video by Rubo Reugner

Produced by The Dry Mouths
Recorded in 2020 and mixed in 2021 by Christ O. Rodríguez at Desert City Studio (Spain)
Mastered by Pike Cavalero at deLEI Music (Spain) in 2021

The Dry Mouths:
Josh Morales: drums
Víctor Gutiérrez: bass
Christ O. Rodríguez: guitars
Andy Reyes: soul

The Dry Mouths website

The Dry Mouths on Facebook

The Dry Mouths on YouTube

The Dry Mouths on Bandcamp

Spinda Records on Facebook

Spinda Records on Instagram

Spinda Records on Bandcamp

Spinda Records website

The Dry Mouths release their sixth full-length, Memories from Pines Bridge, tomorrow, April 5. For those familiar with the Almeria-based trio’s past work, it will no doubt seem like something of a departure from their generally straightforward desert-rocking songcraft, which may or may not be rooted in jams, but ultimately pushes much farther out here in songs like “Impromental VII – Moustachette,” a nine-minute off-the-cuff exploration of canyon echoes and cymbal wash, or the earlier “Low Savvia,” which brings a bit of thicker distortion to the dream-toned modus of Yawning Man. The instrumental outing is a departure even just for its lack of vocals, but the resonant tonality and the adventurous spirit of the sonic interaction between the three-piece of guitarist/thereminist Christ O. Rodrigues, bassist Andrés Reyes and drummer Josh Morales makes it a joyful undertaking despite the tragic circumstances of its arrival following the death of Reyes in February.

Memories from Pines Bridge is one of two albums The Dry Mouths will reportedly release in 2019 in that most unfortunate of contexts, and while there hasn’t been any information given on whether it will follow the band’s more established methodology or the pattern set forth by these tracks, there’s no denying that what they’re doing here works. With Rodrigues‘ guitar drifting outward in pieces like “Promenade” or “Mangai Maroke” or conjuring desert visions in opener “La Chasseure,” or delving into minimalist ambience on “Bootha,” there’s a sense of patterning behind most of what the band are doing here. With the exception of the aforementioned “Impromental VII – Moustachette” and “El Cairo ’78” right before it, most of the tracks are under five minutes long, and the theremin-laced “L’Enfer” is 63 seconds, so while they range far in the nine songs, it’s still just a 40-minute outing, and that too feels purposeful. Songs ease their way in and gently fade out, like the penultimate “Bootha” or “El Cairo ’78” after “L’Enfer,” and even when The Dry Mouths build a wash, they do so with patience and melodic emphasis. It sounds like it was a joy to make, and that carries into the execution of the songs themselves, as well as the listening experience.

Immersion is the key. Hypnosis is the key. The Dry Mouths are issuing an invitation to get lost with them. Closer “La Siesta (Sleep Paralysis)” has a little bit of a darker foundation, but the vast, vast majority of Memories from Pines Bridge is dedicated to sweetly melodic instrumentalist passages of these fleeting musical ideas that weave their way in and out fluidly as the album progresses. It’s the kind of record that is exceedingly easy to put on and lose time with. “What just happened?” and on it goes again. Its blend of plotted material and improv keeps things moving in a way that adds a subtle sense of variety, and no matter where the band seems to head, they’re able to bring the listener along with them for the ride. And their scope is pretty broad while being tethered to its desert rock foundation, so while you might get lost in listening to it, the band are never really any more lost than they want to be in their playing.

With the release tomorrow, I’m thrilled today to be able to host the full stream of Memories from Pines Bridge. And whether their next outing is a return to their prior form or another willful excursion into the unknown along these lines, the fact remains that they’ve brought something special to light in these tracks — and no, I don’t just mean the theremin, though that’s always fun — and that despite the loss of Reyes following the sessions for this and the impending follow-up, the work will always remain a moment worthy of celebration.

Please enjoy:

‘Memories From Pines Bridge’ is the sixth album by the Almerians The Dry Mouths. It is a 40-minute LP composed of 9 tracks performed live as “jam sessions” and instrumental passages of psycho-hypnotic character.

“Our intention is to create a sound sensation with which to delve into the mind towards memories of a past that we long for, whose memory is far away in a sensation that vanishes, that sometimes surfaces, and makes us relive experiences that still remain in our unconscious , that make us who we are, that represent the harshness of our lives…” — The Dry Mouths

‘Memories From Pines Bridge’ is the first of two albums that the band will release in 2019, after the tragic death of bassist Andrés Reyes earlier this year. Both works had previously been recorded and mixed by Chris O. Rodrigues, Josh Morales and Andy Reyes himself.

The artwork of the album is a work by Iván Carreño (who already worked with the band in 2018 in ‘When The Water Smells Of Sweat’). This new work will be published in CD format and in a careful edition on transparent vinyl by co-editing between the labels Spinda Records, Aneurisma Records, Surnia Records, Zona Rock Productions, Monasterio de Cultura and Odio Sonoro.

TRACK-LIST
1. La Chaussure
2. Low Savvia
3. MangaiMakore
4. L’Enfer
5. ElCairo78
6. Impromental VII – Moustachette
7. Promenade
8. Bootha
9. La Siesta (Sleep Paralysis)

The Dry Mouths are: Andy Reyes (bajos), Christ O. Rodrigues (guitarras and theremin) and Josh Morales (batería).
Recorded at Sonobalance Studio by Víctor Ortíz, Alberto Chamorro and Daniel Ruíz.
Mixed at Desert City Studio by Christ O. Rodrigues, Andy Reyes and Josh Morales.
Mastered at Kadifornia Mastering by Mario G. Alberni.

The Dry Mouths website

The Dry Mouths on Facebook

The Dry Mouths on YouTube

The Dry Mouths on Bandcamp

Spinda Records website

Aneurisma Records website

Surnia Records website

Zona Rock Productions on Facebook

Monasterio de Cultura website

Some bands — one or two labels. Frankly, one is impressive. I know I post all the time about bands getting signed and it’s a thing that happens every day, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy. Bands and imprints both put in a shit-ton of work, and then they need to find each other, coordinate something everyone can agree on, make a release plan, on and on and on — it can be an agonizing, anxious process.

I mention it because as you look through the PR wire info below about The Dry Mouths‘ forthcoming EP, When the Water Smells of Sweat, you’ll notice there are no fewer than seven different labels standing behind the release. Seven. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen that many parties standing behind a single offering. And it’s not even a full-length! I mean, don’t get me wrong — listening to the six-and-a-half-minute closer “Doomental VI: Law Far Low Par,” I get it — but still. That’s a pretty considerable gathering. Imagine getting seven people to agree on anything. Ever.

On the other hand, The Dry Mouths manage to cover a pretty wide swath of sound on the short release, so maybe it’s a case of everyone hearing something different. Whatever got the job done, kudos.

Here’s info off the PR wire:

After 12 years touring around Spain, and five studio albums, The Dry Mouths have made a name for themselves in the Spanish Underground Music Scene.

Over the years, The Dry Mouths have evolved and played their cards between different styles, from psycho rock to alternative rock or stoner. As a result, they bring us “When The Water Smells Of Sweat” (2018), a 6-track EP recorded, produced and mixed at their recording studio, Desert City Studio, and containing the singles “Catalonian Cream” and “Doomental VI: Law For The Law Par”.

“When The Water Smells Of Sweat” is released on 12″ and CD thanks to seven indie record labels: Aneurisma Records, Spinda Records, RadiX Records, Cosmic Tentacles, Surnia Records and Zona Rock Productions from all over Spain, and Tim Tam Records from Germany. The awesome artwork is by local artist Ivan Carreño, who brings the visual experience to the next level, closer to psychedelia.

ALBUM: When The Water Smells Of Sweat
YEAR: 2018
FORMAT: EP/MinilP. 12″ Vinyl and CD
LABELS (Co-Edition): Aneurisma Records, RadiX Records, Cosmic Tentacles, Spinda Records, Surnia Records, Tim Tam Records, Zona Rock Productions

TRACKUST,
1. Low Clouds (2:13)
2. Catalonian Cream (4:34)
3. The Whip (3:35)
4. When The Water Smells Of Sweat (1:13)
5. This Could Be The Beginning Of A Beautiful Friendship (3:54)
6. Doomental VI: Law Far Low Par (6:33)

Produced by The Dry Mouths
Recorded and Mixed at Desert City Studio
Mastering by Mario G. Alberni (Kadifornia)
Artwork by Ivan Carreno
Music and Lyrics by The Dry Mouths

MEMBERS:
Christ O. Rodrigues: Guitar & Vocals
Andy Reyes: Bass, Backing Vocals, Synth, Sax
Josh Morales: Drums, Backing Vocals

www.thedrymouths.com
FACEBOOK.com/thedrymouths
YOUTUBE.com/thedrymouths
thedrymouths.BANDCAMP.com

The Dry Mouths, “Doomental VI: Law Far Low Par”