Posted in Whathaveyou on January 15th, 2026 by JJ Koczan
No arguments to make here with the lineup for Grim Reefer Fest 2026. The Baltimorean all-dayer has been a regular feature of East Coast Springtime for the last however-many, and continues to grow its reach each time out. Black Tusk take a headliner position that in past years has gone the likes of Weedeater or Bongzilla, and that feels fair enough for the heft they bring, while Howling Giant provide a rocking counterpart as they support their well-received 2025 album, Crucible and Ruin (review here). They’ll be in Europe in May for Desertfest as well, if you’re in that part of the world and not this one.
Of course there’s more to it than headliners, with New York’s Shadow Witch and Pennsylvania’s Almost Honest representing Argonauta Records, the fest-associated Haze Mage playing a set as the house band, and Seasick Gladiator, Total Maniac, Necromancer and Cemetery Sex included. All told, it’s a nine-band day that starts at 3:30 and goes, well, probably until you’re ready to go to bed. Party hearty.
From the PR wire:
Grim Reefer Fest 2026
We are excited to announce the return of Grim Reefer Fest! Join us once again at the legendary Ottobar in Baltimore, MD for a full day of heavy music, dank vibes, and high spirits! Join us on Saturday April 18th, 2026 as we celebrate the High Holidays with a stacked lineup from start to finish with some of the best bands the scene has to offer! Featuring the heavy sludge sounds of Black Tusk, the heavy harmonized riffs Howling Giant (whose latest album was one of the best of 2025), the rockin sounds of Baltimore favorites Total Maniac, and many more (9 bands total)! Additionally, fest founders Haze Mage are announcing an indefinite hiatus after this year’s festival so all the more reason to come give these local heavy heroes a proper sendoff!
This is the 8th year of Grim Reefer Fest and one of our most ambitious lineups yet! We’re proud of what we’re accomplishing as a DIY grassroots festival. The genres and sounds for this year’s bands range are diverse, rocking, and full of some of our favorite underground bands on the scene today!
The full list of performers at this year’s fest includes:
Black Tusk Howling Giant Total Maniac Haze Mage Shadow Witch Cemetery Sex Almost Honest Seasick Gladiator Necromancer
Doors are at 2:30pm, Music starts at 3:30pm and runs until midnight
I was thrilled when Italy’s Argonauta Records asked if this site wanted to have a hand in presenting the first Magick Sun, Mystic Moon covers comp in 2023, and so the second was a no-brainer to sign on to as well. The focus this time out seems like a conversation between generations — whether that’s communing with the 1960s or 1990s, etc. — as is perhaps inevitable for this kind of thing. If you need further enticement, it’s free.
That’s pretty much all you need to know, since it means there’s zero risk in checking it out, save that of hearing something you might enjoy from among the 17 inclusions. Sounds vary, loyalism to the originals varies, and that’s exactly what you want from it. I didn’t really have a hand in putting it together, so I’m not gonna say I’m proud or anything like that, but I am glad to collaborate with Argonauta once again and if there’s Vol. III, I’d probably get on board for that too. Just saying.
The PR wire had word of the release:
Argonauta Records Releases ‘Magick Sun, Mystic Moon Vol. II’: A New Free Bandcamp-Exclusive Covers Compilation Celebrating the Roots of Heavy Music
Argonauta Records proudly presents Magick Sun, Mystic Moon Volume II, the second chapter of its acclaimed covers compilation series. Featuring 17 diverse and passionate reinterpretations, this exclusive digital release co-presented by THE OBELISK is now available for free via Bandcamp only, with all donations reinvested into boosting visibility and free credit circulation to help spread the word across the globe:
Once again, the Italian underground powerhouse curates a kaleidoscopic selection of tributes that span genres and generations: from The Beatles, David Bowie, The Who, and Jimi Hendrix to Tool, Radiohead, ZZ Top, and Nine Inch Nails. As with Volume I, the artists involved reflect the deep and eclectic spirit of the Argonauta roster: unified not by genre, but by vision, intensity, and reverence for music that shaped them.
Among the participating bands are returning favorites and fresh faces alike, including Almost Honest (who appear twice with Beatles covers), the volcanic Godzilla Was Too Drunk to Destroy Tokyo, psych heavies Rainbow Bridge, heavy doom bringers Mourn the Light, avant-rock explorers Folwark, and the crushing force of Columbarium, among many more. The result is a journey through doom, psych, sludge, alt-rock, classic heavy rock and beyond, all infused with love and grit.
“We launched this series with the intention of celebrating the music that brought us all here,” says label founder Gero Lucisano. “Volume II keeps the same spirit alive: it’s totally free, and every donation helps us push these great bands even further out into the world. These songs are a tribute to the past, but also a reminder that the heavy underground is as vital as ever.”
Adding to the uniqueness of the project, the cover artwork is an entirely hand-drawn original illustration, capturing the retro-psych and mystical spirit of the compilation, a perfect visual match to the eclectic soundscape within.
More than a simple collection of covers, Magick Sun, Mystic Moon Vol. II is a community-driven, artist-powered homage to the soundtracks of our lives. It’s about rediscovery, transformation, and the joy of honoring your heroes with your own voice.
Stream/download for FREE now and if you feel like supporting, every euro goes back into making the underground louder.
Tracklist – Magick Sun Mystic Moon Vol. 2:
Almost Honest – Wait (The Beatles) – 04:11 Sons of Ghidorah – Putting Out the Fire (David Bowie) – 06:14 The Dead Flowers Graves – Dig Up Her Bones (The Misfits) – 02:36 Godzilla Was Too Drunk To Destroy Tokyo – Godzilla (Blue Öyster Cult) – 03:02 Moonin Down – Shakin’ All Over (The Who) – 03:11 Pia Isa – Burn the Witch (Radiohead) – 04:29 Blu Mamuth – Warszawa (David Bowie) – 04:09 Sbarco – Getting Away With It (James) – 04:03 Columbarium – Memoriam (Memoriam) – 02:48 Mourn The Light – Headless Cross (Black Sabbath) – 06:08 Godzilla in the Kitchen – Schism (Tool) – 06:59 Zombie Eater – El Diablo (ZZ Top) – 03:47 Ciminero – Night of the Vampire (Roky Erickson) – 04:11 Hell Valley High – Send Me a Postcard (Shocking Blue) – 03:17 Folwark – Pilgrimage (Nine Inch Nails) – 05:09 Mandy Manala – Black Sheep (Gin Wigmore) – 04:03 Rainbow Bridge – Hear My Train A Comin’ (Jimi Hendrix) – 07:38 Almost Honest – And Your Bird Can Sing (The Beatles) – 02:58
Posted in Whathaveyou on August 26th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
I’m not sure I believe in ‘sacred ground’ in terms of some music being untouchable, but if I did, Rubber Soul would certainly qualify. Whatever folk influences The Beatles had internalized from their association with Bob Dylan and others of the day as they moved from their earlier mop-toppery and the British Invasion toward the pioneering, codified psychedelia-with-a-budget of 1966’s Revolver, Rubber Soul is for my money among the tightest pop-rock albums of all time. And you can argue against that, or tell me The Beatles are overrated. Fine. Whatever you think of their work, the impact they’ve had on all of rock and roll since speaks for itself and will not be denied. They’re the wall on which going-on six subsequent decades of rock have been scribbled. A collective Mozart, able to speak on a personal level to millions of people.
The original version of “Wait” appears toward the end of Rubber Soul — which on most days is my favorite Beatles record — immediately following “In My Life.” It is a pinpointed, two-minute-and-15-second Lennon/McCartney breakout that carries the lushness of the song prior in its vocal harmonies, but gives a kick of tempo leading into the album’s final movement, leading toward the culmination with the less-discussed-and-more-problematic-in-hindsight “Run for Your Life.” By then, the circa-half-hour LP has already made the journey through “Drive My Car,” “Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown),” “You Won’t See Me,” “Think for Yourself,” and so on, but Rubber Soul is a front-to-back listen, and side B holds up, with “Wait” recalling the straightforward, lifted-from-girl-group pop-soul of their first two full-lengths, but filtered through the burgeoning maturity in their craft and general expansion of their sound. In two years they’d do Sgt. Pepper. In five, they’d be done. Rubber Soul captures an amazing, transitional moment, and is beautiful besides.
I’m generally wary of Beatles covers not by Nina Simone, but Pennsylvania’s Almost Honest do well in making the source material their own. Their version of “Wait” restructures and expands on the original, rearranging for a heavy rock framework and putting emphasis on groove. Almost Honest had plenty of funk to share on last year’s The Hex of Penn’s Woods (review here), and there’s a bit of that here too, and the song is malleable to it. You’ll find the track at the bottom of the post, of course. PR wire follows here:
US Heavy Fuzz Rockers ALMOST HONEST Release Cover of The Beatles’ ‘Wait’
Pennsylvania-based groovy heavy rockers ALMOST HONEST have released a cover version of The Beatles’ ‘Wait’!
Band comments on the song: “We wanted to take our influences in Red Fang and Alice in Chains and bring them into this cover/reimagining. This is what we came up with. We kept the vocal harmonies relatively the same so it would give it the same feel. We reworked the riff to make it sludgy with a pinch of grunge. We also wanted to have a shredding solo at the end which was not in the original. We created a riff to go behind it. We wanted that riff to slowly fade to give the listener time to reflect.”
Legend has it that a long time ago, thousands of years ago, before even the founding of the Kingdom of New Jersey itself, there was a man who attempted a two-week, 100-album Quarterly Review. He truly believed and was known to say to his goodlady wife, “Sure, I can do 100 releases in 10 days. That should be fine,” but lo, the gods did smite him for his hubris.
His punishment? That very same Quarterly Review.
Like the best of mythology, the lesson here is don’t be a dumbass and do things like 100-record Quarterly Reviews. Clearly this is a lesson I haven’t learned. Welcome to the next two weeks. Sorry for the typos. Let’s roll.
Quarterly Review #1-10:
—
Nebula, Livewired in Europe
A busy 2023 continued on from a busy 2022 for SoCal heavy rockers Nebula as they supported their seventh album, Transmission From Mothership Earth (review here), and as filthy as was founding guitarist Eddie Glass‘ fuzz on that record, the nine-track (12 on the CD) Livewired in Europe pushes even further into the rawer stoner punk that’s always been at root in their sound. They hit Europe twice in 2023, in Spring and Fall, and in the lumbering sway of “Giant,” the drawl of “Messiah,” the Luciferian wink of that song and “Man’s Best Friend” earlier in the set, and the righteous urgency of what’s listed in the promo as “Down the Mother Fuckin’ Highway” or the shred-charged roll of “Warzone Speedwolf” in the bonus cuts, with bassist Ranch Sironi backing Glass on vocals and Mike Amster wailing away on drums — he’s the glue that never sounds stuck — they document the mania of post-rebirth Nebula as chaotic and forceful in kind, which is precisely what one would most hope for at the start of the gig. It’s not their first live outing, and hopefully it’s not the last either.
The self-recording/self-releasing Kamil Ziółkowski offers his second solo LP with The Land, following in short order from last Fall’s In Roundness (review here) and the two-songer issued a month after. At six songs and 35 minutes, The Land further distinguishes Mountain of Misery stylistically from Ziółkowski‘s main outfit, Spaceslug. Yes, the two bands share a penchant for textured tones and depth of mix (Haldor Grunberg at Satanic Audio mixed and mastered), and the slow-delivered melodic ‘gaze-style vocals are recognizable, but “The ’90s” puts Nirvana through this somewhat murky, hypnotic filter, and before its shimmering drone caps the album, on closer “Back Again,” the multi-instrumentalist/vocalist reminds a bit of Eddie Vedder. Seekers of nod will find plenty in “Awesome Burn” and the slightly harder-hitting “High Above the Mount” — desert rock in its second half, but on another planet’s desert — while the succession of “Path of Sound” and “Come on Down” feel specifically set to more post-rocking objectives; the plot and riffs likewise thickened. Most of all, it sounds like Mountain of Misery is digging in for a longer-term songwriting exploration, and quickly, and The Land only makes me more excited to find out where it’s headed.
The named-for-their-names trio Page Williams Turner is comprised of electronicist/mixer Michael Page (Sky Burial, many others), drummer/percussionist Robert Williams (of the harshly brilliant Nightstick) and saxophonist Nik Turner (formerly Hawkwind, et al), and the single piece broken into two sides on their Opposite Records self-titled debut is a duly experimentalist, mic-up-and-go extreme take on free psychedelic jazz, drone, industrial noisemaking, and time-what-is-time-signature manipulation. “Rorrim I” is drawn cinematically into an unstable wormhole circa its 14th minute, and teases serenity before the listener is eaten by a giant spider in some kind of unknowable ritual, and while “Rorrim II” feels less manic on average, its cycles, ebbs and flows remain wildly unpredictable. That’s the point, of course. If the combination of personnel and/or elements seems really, really weird on paper, you’re on the right track. This kind of thing will never be for everybody, but those who can get on its level will find it transportive. If that’s you, safe travels.
The spoken intro welcoming the listener to “the greatest and last show of your lives” at the head of the chugging “Mortician Magician” is a little over the top considering the straightforward vibe of much of what follows on the 10 tracks of 2023’s The Hex of Penn’s Woods from Pennsylvania-based heavy rockers Almost Honest, but whether it’s the banjo early or the cowbell later in “Haunted Hunter,” the post-Fu Manchu riffing and gang shouts of “Alien Spiders,” “Ballad of a Mayfly”‘s whistling, the organ in “Amish Hex” (video premiere here), the harmonies of “Colony of Fire,” a bit of sax on “Where the Quakers Dwell,” that quirk in the opener, the funk wrought throughout by Garrett Spangler‘s bass and Quinten Spangler‘s drumming, the metal-rooted intertwining of Shayne Reed and David Kopp‘s guitars or the structural solidity beneath all of it, the band give aural character to coincide with the regionalist themes based on their Pennsylvania Dutch, foothill-Appalachian surroundings, and they dare to make their third album’s 44 minutes fun in addition to thoughtful in its craft.
Based in Western Massachusetts, Buzzard is the solo-project of Christopher Thomas Elliott, and the title of his debut album, Doom Folk, describes his particular intention. As the 12-song/44-minute outing unfolds from the eponymous “Buzzard” at its outset (even that feels like a Sabbathian dogwhistle), the blend of acoustic and electric guitar forms the heart of the arrangements, but more than that, it’s doom and folk, stylistically, that are coming together. What makes it work is that Elliott avoids the trap of 2010s-ish neo-folk posturing as a songwriter, and while there’s a ready supply of apocalyptic mood in the lyrical storytelling and abundant amplified distortion put to dynamic use, the folk he’s speaking to is more traditional. Not lacking intricacy in their percussion, arrangements or melodies, you could nonetheless learn these songs and sing them. “Death Metal in America” alone makes it worth the price of admission, let alone the stellar “Lucifer Rise,” but the sweet foreboding and build of the subsequent “Harvester of Souls” gets even closer to Buzzard‘s intention in bringing together the two sides to manifest a kind of heavy that is immediately and impressively its own. Doom Folk on.
Mt. Echo begin their third full-length primed for resonance with the expansive, patiently wrought “Veil of Unhunger,” leading with their longest track (immediate points) as a way of bringing the listener into the record’s mostly instrumental course with a shimmer of post-rock and later-emerging density of tone. The Nijmegen trio’s follow-up to 2022’s Electric Empire (review here) plays out across a breadth that extends beyond the 44-minute runtime and does more in its pieces than flow smoothly between its loud/quiet tradeoffs. “Round and Round Goes the Crown” brings a guest appearance from Oh Hazar guitarist/vocalist Stefan Kollee that pushes the band into a kind of darker, thoroughly Dutch heavy prog, but even that shift is made smoother by the spoken part on “Brutiful Your Heart” just before, and not necessarily out of line with how “Set at Rest” answers the opener, or the rumble, nod and wash that cap with “If I May.” The overarching sense of growth is palpable, but the songs express more atmospherically than just the band pushing themselves.
They’re probably to raw and dug into Satanic cultistry to agree, but with Per “Hellbutcher” Gustavsson (Nifelheim) on vocals, guitarists Beelzeebubth (Mystifier, etc.) and Nikolas “Sprits” Moutafis (Mirror, etc.), bassist Taneli Jarva (Impaled Nazarene, etc.) and drummer Tasos Danazoglou (Mirror, ex-Electric Wizard, etc.) in the lineup for second LP God Damned You to Hell, it’s probably safe to call Friends of Hell a supergroup. Such considerations ultimately have little to do with how the rolling proto-NWOBHM triumphs of “Bringer of Evil” and “Arcane Macabre” play out, but it explains the current of extremity in their purposes that comes through at the start with the title-track and the severity that surrounds in the layering of “Ave Satanatas” as they journey into the underworld to finish with the eight-minute “All the Colors of the Dark.” You’re either going to buy the backpatch or shrug and not get it, and that seems like it’s probably fine with them.
Not to be confused with France’s Red Sun Atacama, Italian prog-heavy psych instrumentalists Red Sun mark their 10th anniversary with the release of their third album, From Sunset to Dawn, and run a thread of doom through the keyboardy “The Sunset Turns Purple” and “The Shape of Night” on side A to manifest ‘sunset’ while side B unfolds with airier guitar in “The Coldness of the New Moon” and “Towards the End of Darkness” en route to the raga-leaning “The New Sun,” but as much as there is to be said for the power of suggestion and narrative titling, it’s the music itself that realizes the progression described in the name of the album. With a clear influence from My Sleeping Karma in “The Coldness of the New Moon” and the blend of organic hand-percussion and digitized melody in “The New Sun,” Red Sun immerse the listener in the procession from the intro “Where Once Was Light” (mirrored by “Intempesto” at the start of side B) onward, with each song serving as a chapter in the linear concept and story.
Cinematic enough in sheer sound and the corresponding intensity of mood to warrant the visual collaboration with Kai Lietzke that accompanies the audio release, the collaboration between Hamburg electronic experimentalist Peter Wolff (Downfall of Gaia) and vocalist Jens Borgaard (Knifefight!, solo) moves between minimalist soundscaping and more consuming, weighted purposes. Moments like the beginning of “Transmit” might leave one waiting for when the Katatonia song is going to kick in, but Wolff & Borgaard engage on their own level as each of the nine pieces follows its own poetic course, able to be caustic like the culmination of “Observe” or to bring the penultimate “Extol” to silence gradually before “Reaper” bursts to life with clearly intentional contrast. I heard this or that streaming service is making a Blade Runner 2099 tv series. Sounds like a terrible idea, but it might just be watchable if Wolff & Borgaard get to do the score with a similar evocations of software and soul.
The Portland, Oregon, two-piece of guitarist/bassist/vocalist Benjamin Caragol (ex-Burials) and drummer Ben Stoller (currently also Simple Forms, Dark Numbers, ex-Vanishing Kids) do much to ingratiate themselves both to the crowded underground of which their hometown is an epicenter, and to the broader sphere of heavy-progressivism in modern doom and sludge. Across the five tracks of their self-released for now debut full-length, Glacial Erratic, the pair offer a panacea of heavy sounds, angular in the urgency of “Toeing the Line,” which opens, or the later thud of “Selective Memory” (the latter of which also appeared on their 2020 self-titled EP), which seem more kin to Baroness or Elder crashes and twists of “A Distant Light” or the interplay of ambience, roll, and sharpness of execution that’s been held in reserve for the nine-minute “Wounds at the Stem” as they leave off. Melody, particularly in Caragol‘s vocals, is crucial in tying the material together, and part of what gives Semuta such apparent potential, but they seem already to have figured out a lot about who they want to be musically. All of which is to say don’t be surprised when this one shows up on the list of 2024’s best debut albums come December.
Posted in Whathaveyou on January 24th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
Look at the blue text below and you know what you’re gonna see? Yes, a whole lot of skull emojis. Like a lot. But it happens that each individual one corresponds to a demonstration of the labor of love and community that is the Maryland Doom Festival. From Abel Blood through Zekiah, Maryland Doom Fest 2024 celebrates its 10th anniversary edition with its standard sans-bullshit glut of heavy. Once more the Frederick-based event looks your square in the eye, drops for absolutely immersive days on you and asks if you’re up for it. Well, are ya?
I’m not sure what my summer travel plans are yet — this and Freak Valley have overlapped the last couple years for me — but it’s been since 2019 that I was last down there and oh I’d be so eager to show up and have the three or four people who recognize me (and thus make it feel like an absolute family experience; love love love everywhere you go down there) quietly think to themselves I’ve gotten older and fatter en route to obliterating myself with volume for about 96 hours straight. Fuck. King. A.
Oh, and I hear Thunderbird Divine have new stuff in the works and it’s amazing. So that’s a thing too.
Social media had it like this:
We are super stoked to share with you the Maryland Doom Fest 2024 rosters, schedules, and lineups!!!
#4daysofdoom
THE MARYLAND DOOM FEST 2024
✝️Thursday June 20
Cafe 611-
💀 Thunderhorse 1115-1230 💀 The Magpie 1010-1055 💀 Born of Plagues 905-950 💀 Stone Nomads 800-845 💀 Pyre Fyre 700-740 💀 Dirt Eater 600-640
Olde Mother Brewery-
💀 Spellbook 920-1000 💀 Strange Highways 820-900 💀 Bailjack 720-800 💀 Stone Brew 620-700 💀 Abel Blood 520-600
💀 Ten Ton Slug 915-1000 💀 Thousand Vision Mist 815-855 💀 Crowhunter 715-755 💀 Asthma Castle 615-655 💀 Bonded by Darkness 515-555
✝️Saturday June 22
Cafe 611-
💀 WHORES. 1150-115 💀 AGE/S 1040-1130 💀 Bloodshot 935-1020 💀 O ZORN! 830-915 💀 Double Planet 730-810 💀 Sun Years 630-710 💀 When the Deadbolt Breaks 530-610
Olde Mother Brewery-
💀 Black Water Rising 915-1000 💀 Switchblade Jesus 815-855 💀 Wyndrider 715-755 💀 Indus Valley Kings 615-655 💀 Vermillion Whiskey 515-555 💀 Doctor Smoke 415-455
✝️Sunday June 23
Cafe 611-
💀 Cirith Ungol 1200-110 💀 Mythosphere 1055-1140 💀 Conclave 955-1035 💀 Compression 855-935 💀 Sons of Arrakis 755-835 💀 Curse the Son 655-735 💀 Kulvera 555-635 💀 Old Blood 500-535 💀 Cloud Machine 405-440
Olde Mother Brewery-
💀 Thunderbird Divine 920-1000 💀 Black Manta 820-900 💀 High Noon Kahuna 720-800 💀 Unity Reggae 620-700 💀 King Bastard 520-600 💀 Zekiah 420-500
52 bands over a 4 day weekend at 2 venues across the street from one another!! #4daysofdoom
Posted in Whathaveyou on November 1st, 2023 by JJ Koczan
With headlining performances slated from a soon-to-retire Cirith Ungol, noise crushers Whores., mostly-local melodic heavy proggers Mythosphere, Switchblade Jesus, Conclave, Ten Ton Slug (from Ireland; I got to see them one time; way burly; they’ll do well in Frederick), and plenty of other returning acts and newcomers alike, the lineup for Maryland Doom Fest 2024 could hardly be more appropriate a celebration of the annual Chesapeake gathering’s 10th anniversary. Based in Frederick, the four-day ultra-consuming sensory assault of volume will once again take place at Cafe 611 and Olde Mother Brewing, and if you’ve never been, I’ll tell you outright there’s nothing quite like it.
I mean that. Maryland Doom Fest goes harder than the average festival. A day might start at 1PM and not end until 2AM. And now more than ever, as the fest has grown with the two venues running alongside each other, the bill is packed. I think this year was 50 bands? Well, they’ve got 52 for 2024, and while next June is a while out, there’s a tradition to uphold of Halloween announcements, and festival honcho JB Matson (Bloodshot, War Injun, Outside Truth, etc.) pays tribute to his regulars — Shadow Witch, Bailjack, Thunderbird Divine, Thousand Vision Mist (congratulations to Danny Kenyon of Thousand Vision Mist on recently kicking cancer’s ass), among others here — while also giving showcase to outfits like Pyre Fyre, O Zorn! (whose very moniker heralds weirdness), WyndRider and more.
Congrats to Matson and all at Maryland Doom Fest on their 10th anniversary. To do something of this scope once is a lot. To do it across 10 years, well, aside from being fucking crazy, it’s also deeply admirable.
The aforementioned announcement — brief as ever; the poster lands heavy enough to cover any lack of verbiage — follows, courtesy of socials. Ticket link is there too:
WE ARE EXTREMELY PLEASED TO PRESENT TO YOU, THE MARYLAND DOOM FEST 2024 LINEUP!!!!! THIS WILL BE OUR 10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION!! (#128128#)(#129304#)(#128128#)
52 bands over a 4 day weekend at 2 venues across the street from one another!! #4daysofdoom
Posted in Bootleg Theater on September 8th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Almost Honest signed to Argonauta Recordsin July and at the time announced their first album for the label and third overall would be released this Fall. No exact date on it yet, but the title is The Hex of Penn’s Woods and the first single/video “Amish Hex” finds the New Cumberland, Pennsylvania-based outfit digging into their regional lore.
Southern Central PA — for those who didn’t grow up on the Eastern Seaboard of the US — and particularly Lancaster County, has been home to the religious community of the Amish for 300 years. The technology-averse sect — which has spread through Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and more than 25 other states, even if Lancaster County retains the highest population: about 30,000 — has long been a subject for television and films, novels, that one Weird Al video and so on depicting life inside and around the Amish way of being, but generally one’s experience with them will be limited to a hello passing by or giving wide berth to a slower-moving horse-drawn carriage traveling on the side of the road. They are something of a local feature, and if you ever end up someplace that promises the likes of ‘Penn Dutch’ cooking, that’s a thing you want to eat.
Driving out through farm land, one will likewise see plenty of hex signs as a local feature. Usually circular, intricate patterns; you can buy them at tourist shops and take them home. Almost Honest‘s take in the clip for “Amish Hex” is somewhat different, as the band explains below. The Amish kid who gets bullied gets his in the end, which I suppose is the advantage of being able to turn into a badass wizard who can control lightning. Handy, to say the least. As the song plays out through its nodder riff and layered, melodic chorus — the abiding attitude shooting for and hitting “nothing too fancy” without sounding staid or like anything’s missing — the video sympathizes with the young boy being pushed around, and fairly enough so. Granted, the Amish aren’t known for being a forward-thinking bunch, but it’s not the kid’s fault he was born. Again, good thing he’s a wizard.
Amish Gandalf’s revenge plays out cathartically as the song retains a likewise humble vibe, and in that, Almost Honest feel true to their origins. They’re not from some big hotspot city or scene. They’re probably not touring for six weeks at a clip. But they’re a rock and roll band with a point of view and the songs to express it, and as the first audio leak from the follow-up to 2019’s Seiches and Sirens (review here), “Amish Hex” is encouraging in both its actual sound and in the storytelling. In the spirit of the thing, I’ll leave you to check it out on your own and see where you end up. For me, it’s very much about place in a way I’ll be curious to hear if the album develops.
A quote from the band and more from the PR wire follows.
Please enjoy:
Almost Honest, “Amish Hex” video premiere
Almost Honest on “Amish Hex”:
We have lived in and around Lancaster County all of our lives and have always been around the Amish. It is not uncommon to get stuck behind a horse and buggy on your way to work or see parking spaces specifically for them. This song is a story we wrote about an Amish child who gets picked on by people from the outside world. Then one day he finds a book called The Hex of Penn’s Woods. He uses this book to summon an Amish Wizard who will have his revenge on those who mocked him. The lyrics push forth powerful south central Pennsylvania imagery. It even includes a nod to one of my favorite desserts, the Shoofly Pie. It’s nice to be able to take people to our little corner of the world without having to book a plane ticket.
ALMOST HONEST The Hex of Penn’s Woods release date Fall 2023 Argonauta Records
Almost Honest lineup: Shayne Reed – Guitar/Vocals Quinten Spangler – Percussion/Vocals David Kopp – Guitar/Vocals Garrett Spangler – Bass
Posted in Whathaveyou on July 3rd, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Cheers to New Cumberland, Pennsylvania’s Almost Honest, who have signed on to release their third album later this year through respected purveyor Argonauta Records. The band have become a four-piece since they issued their second full-length, Seiches and Sirens (review here), in 2019 through Electric Talon. There isn’t a timeline yet on their new release, but they join a glut of bands the Italian label has picked up over the last two months — also 10 years — that includes Superlynx, Fraught, Thedus, Slow Wake, and Dune Pilot. That would seem to speak to a busy Fall to come, one way or the other.
And that busy Fall now includes Almost Honest as well. The band celebrate their 10th anniversary this year since getting together in 2013 — their first EP, Profits of Doom, came out in 2016, followed by their debut album, Thunder Mouth, in 2017 — and releasing a third record on Argonauta sounds like a pretty killer way to mark the occasion. Good on them. I’ll hope to have more to come on the release as we get there.
From the PR wire:
US Heavy Fuzz Rockers ALMOST HONEST Sign to ARGONAUTA Records; New Album During Fall
Coughed up from a smoke filled corner deep in the Central Pennsylvania rock scene in 2012, Almost Honest is a four-piece riff conspiracy dipped in enough sludge to choke mammoth, enough groove to make the dead dance, lyrics that could summon a Sasquatch and make her sing along, and a tonal brilliance that was crafted by master sound-smiths and enchanted by sonic-shamans.
Says the band: “We at Almost Honest are absolutely thrilled to be working with Argonauta Records to release our 3rd record. We have been working tirelessly since 2020 on our new tunes and we are happy that it finally has a home. We know that we are going to accomplish wonderful things together and we cannot wait to share with you what we have been working on.”
Helmed by the darkly dulcet guitarist Shayne Reed, driven by the jungle rattling bassist Garrett Spangler, lifted up by the immense leads of David Kopp and powered by the ent-war thump of drummer Quinten Spangler, Almost Honest has evolved into a rock act to be reckoned with.
Focusing the energy they would have put into extensive touring during the past two years and using ritual druid magics, they conceived, wrote, and recorded a brand new album whose details will be revealed soon.
Almost Honest is poised to deliver more of their unique, creamy fuzz soaked, metallic prog-funk potion, with a riot punch live show that Pennsylvania head bangers have come to crave as soon as the world is ready!
