Iron Jinn Premiere “Lick it or Kick It” Video; Live at Roadburn 2LP Preorder Available

Posted in Bootleg Theater, Reviews on February 12th, 2024 by JJ Koczan

iron jinn 1 (Photo by David Eering)

Amsterdam-based dark-progressive heavy outsiders Iron Jinn celebrated the release of their 2023 self-titled debut (review here) by playing the release show at Roadburn Festival, bringing their sprawling, melodically-thoughtful and above-all-adventurous material to life in front of a packed Green Room at the 013 in Tilburg, the Netherlands. You can see in the video premiering below for “Lick it or Kick It” from that set that it was packed. With guitarist/vocalist Wout Kemkens, guitarist/vocalist Oeds Beydals, bassist/backing vocalist Gerben Bielderman and drummer/backing vocalist Bob Hogenelst, along with guest keyboardist Jarno van Es, on stage playing Iron Jinn in full save only for “Relic,” the resultant Live at Roadburn — why call it anything else when you can call it that? — is a new format to showcase the songs, the complement to the studio release it’s their stated intention it should be, with a vibrancy and personality of its own, and an emphasis on the distinct sounds through which the band conjures a style lush, fluid and creepy. Able to speak to the long history of European heavy weirdoism and off-kilter prog, they’re nonetheless fluid in their execution across songs like “Soft Healers” and “Winding World,” and the audio mixed/mastered by the esteemed Pieter Kloos from the front-of-house board helmed by Rutger Drenth finds them balancing the restlessness of a band playing their release party for their first album against the willful patience of the material.

There’s a bit of push-pull there, and there should be. That would have been part of the experience on stage/in the room, and the tension Iron Jinn create in their material — you can certainly hear it on “Lick it and Kick It,” a video for the studio version of which also premiered here — is an energy that band and audience both seem to feed off. Iron Jinn are methodical in their delivery, touching on folkish melody in “Blood Moon Horizon” before casting themselves into the ether in “Ego Loka” to set up an explosive cathartic shove, and thereby making clearer the dynamic within the group, who twice now have shown themselves ready to go where they must to meet the demands of their craft, which iron jinn live at roadburn vinyl mockupare significant considering the ambitious and encompassing sprawl both of Live at Roadburn and Iron Jinn when taken in their entirety. But what’s true of the studio record is true of the live one too — there’s no getting away from the potential of this band or the fact that, from here, they can become anything they want. They can be firebreathing monsters or psychedelic explorers, freely dropping subtle references to the krautrock of eld while in a creative pursuit that seems so forward-minded — so eager to make manifest the band’s progression; so ready to grow — that one can hardly think of the past at all while listening for the prominence of the future on one’s mind.

It would be fun to speed up time and see, all other things allowing, where Iron Jinn are sound-wise 10 years from now, because what I can’t get away from is how Beydals, Kemkensvan Es, Hogenelst and Bielderman have been able to bring their collective experience to the band and immediately create something new from it. You can dig back all you want through their pedigree, and you might find some commonality of atmosphere with Beydals‘ work in Molassess or Kemkens‘ in Shaking Godspeed, but it’s pieces from everything being put together in a different way, and the more one immerses in the proceedings, the greater the reward. It may be that over time Iron Jinn‘s sound will streamline, whittle down some of the aesthetic elements in this material to become something more straightforward, or they might push the structural experimentalism of the self-titled into exponential spaces, stepping into the realm of the avant garde and remaining probably several years ahead of their time forever how long they go. The answer is probably somewhere between, but right now it’s a joy not to know in addition to being fun to speculate. To listen to Live at Roadburn in all its grim vitality and imagine, if they can do this now, the places they may yet take their listeners in the years and songs to come.

The Roadburn set, filmed/edited by Tijmen Hobbel in its entirety, is a full dive. From thoughtful harmonies to crushing noise, contemplative spaces and caveman thud, the band leave little in reserve as they push into the foreboding “Truth is Your Dagger” and “Bread and Games,” which ends with a righteous charge and a sense of blowout that the set has by then more than earned. My friends, I will tell you in all honesty that I think these guys are onto something special, and that given the trajectory of their past work, where they are now as songwriters and players, they have an opportunity to step forward from their influences and define their own path in a way not every band can or gets to do. If you struggle to find positive prospects in the next few years, watch “Lick it or Kick It” below and just think for a minute about what Iron Jinn‘s second and third albums might sound like if this is them supporting their first.

PR wire info and the e’er crucial preorder link follow below. The 2LP Live at Roadburn releases April 5 through Lay Bare Recordings.

Please enjoy:

Iron Jinn, “Lick it or Kick It (Live at Roadburn)” video premiere

Iron Jinn Unveils Mesmerizing Video and Track from Upcoming Live At Roadburn Double Album and Announces Vinyl Pre-order

Experimental psychedelic rock sensation Iron Jinn, hailing from Amsterdam, is set to captivate the music world with the release of the first video and track Lick It Or Kick It from their highly anticipated live album. Recorded during their spellbinding performance at the renowned Roadburn Festival in 2023, the album promises to be a musical journey, showcasing the band’s unique blend of psychedelic rock and experimental sounds.

Iron Jinn comprises the exceptional talents of Oeds Beydals (The Devil’s Blood, Death Alley), Wout Kemkens (Shaking Godspeed, De Niemanders), Bob Hogenelst (Birth of Joy), and Gerben Bielderman (Pauw). The collaboration of guitarists and songwriters Oeds and Wout traces back to their shared history in Death Alley and Shaking Godspeed, united by a passion for challenging the norms of heavy rock music.

The band’s inception took place at the Last Night On Earth festival, organized by Oeds and Wout, and subsequently evolved into Iron Jinn with their second performance at Roadburn 2018.

“The Iron Jinn 2023 Roadburn performance was the perfect opportunity for us to present our debut album in the flesh. Roadburn’s Walter Hoeijmakers made it possible for us to expand the band’s line-up for this show with the addition of Jarno Van Es on keys, so we could recreate the layered density the album has to offer,” said Oeds Beydals. “This show is a moment in time that we are thankful to have captured: a band getting into its own at a very early stage.”

Expertly produced by Pieter ‘Pidah’ Kloos at The Void studio, the album promises to be a sensational auditory and visual experience. Iron Jinn aims to transport listeners into a realm of sonic exploration, weaving spontaneous improvisation and new energy into their studio-produced material.

“Creating fresh counterparts to the more produced studio versions by adding spontaneous improvisation and new fire to the music. Although we hope to keep evolving, this show is a moment in time that we are thankful to have captured: a band getting into its own at a very early stage,” added Oeds Beydals.

Live At Roadburn is set for release on 2 x 180g heavy weight black vinyl on the 5th April via Lay Bare Recordings. The double album captures the essence of Iron Jinn’s musical evolution and creative process perfectly.

Pre-order The Album Here: https://laybarerecordings.com/release/live-at-roadburn-by-iron-jinn-lbr055

Tracklist
1. Soft Healers
2. Blood Moon Horizon
3. Ego Loka
4. Lick It or Kick It
5. Cage Rage
6. Winding World
7. Truth Is Your Dagger
8. Bread and Games

Iron Jinn invites you to relive the magic and immerse yourselves in an unforgettable experience at the album release show on the 5th April at Ekko’s in Utrecht.

Buy Tickets Here: https://ekko.nl/event/iron-jinn-presents-live-at-roadburn/

Iron Jinn are Oeds Beydals (The Devils Blood/Molassess/Death Alley), Wout Kemkens (Shaking Godspeed/De Niemanders), Bob Hogenelst (Birth of Joy/Molassess) and Gerben Bielderman (Pauw).

Video credits:
Filmed and edited by Tijmen Hobbel
Audio recorded by Pieter Kloos & Loet Braamkolk
Audio mixed and mastered by Pieter Kloos
FOH sound by Rutger Drenth
Lights by Robbie van Reen
Monitors by Lars Spijkervet
Recorded April 22nd 2023 at Roadburn Festival at 013 Tilburg, The Netherlands
All songs written by Iron Jinn
Performed by Oeds Beydals, Gerben Bielderman, Jarno van Es, Bob Hogenelst and Wout Kemkens

Iron Jinn, “Winding World” from Live at Roadburn (2024)

Iron Jinn, Iron Jinn (2023)

Iron Jinn on Instagram

Iron Jinn on Facebook

Iron Jinn on Bandcamp

Lay Bare Recordings on Facebook

Lay Bare Recordings on Instagram

Lay Bare Recordings on Bandcamp

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Quarterly Review: Primordial, Patriarchs in Black, Blood Lightning, Haurun, Wicked Trip, Splinter, Terra Black, Musing, Spiral Shades, Bandshee

Posted in Reviews on November 28th, 2023 by JJ Koczan

The-Obelisk-Quarterly-Review

Day two and no looking back. Yesterday was Monday and it was pretty tripped out. There’s some psych stuff here too, but we start out by digging deep into metal-rooted doom and it doesn’t get any less dudely through the first three records, let’s put it that way. But there’s more here than one style, microgengre, or gender expression can contain, and I invite you as you make your way through to approach not from a place of redundant chestbeating, but of celebrating a moment captured. In the cases of some of these releases, it’s a pretty special moment we’re talking about.

Places to go, things to hear. We march.

Quarterly Review #11-20:

Primordial, How it Ends

primordial how it ends

Excuse me, ma’am. Do you have 66 minutes to talk about the end of the world? No? Nobody does? Well that’s kind of sad.

At 28 years’ remove from their first record, 1995’s Imrama, and now on their 10th full-length, Dublin’s Primordial are duly mournful across the 10 songs of How it Ends, which boasts the staring-at-a-bloodied-hillside-full-of-bodies after-battle mourning and oppression-defying lyricism and a style rooted in black metal and grown beyond it informed by Irish folk progressions but open enough to make a highlight of the build in “Death Holy Death” here. A more aggressive lean shows itself in “All Against All” just prior while “Pilgrimage to the World’s End” is brought to a wash of an apex with a high reach from vocalist Alan “A.A. Nemtheanga” Averill, who should be counted among metal’s all-time frontmen, ahead of the tension chugging in the beginning of “Nothing New Under the Sun.” And you know, for the most part, there isn’t. Most of what Primordial do on How it Ends, they’ve done before, and their central innovation in bridging extreme metal with folk traditionalism, is long behind them. How it Ends seems to dwell in some parts and be roiling in its immediacy elsewhere, and its grandiosities inherently will put some off just as they will bring some on, but Primordial continue to find clever ways to develop around their core approach, and How it Ends — if it is the end or it isn’t, for them or the world — harnesses that while also serving as a reminder of how much they own their sound.

Primordial on Facebook

Metal Blade Records website

Patriarchs in Black, My Veneration

Patriarchs in Black My Veneration

With a partner in drummer Johnny Kelly (Type O Negative, Danzig, etc.), guitarist/songwriter Dan Lorenzo (Hades, Vessel of Light, Cassius King, etc.) has found an outlet open to various ideas within the sphere of doom metal/rock in Patriarchs in Black, whose second LP, My Veneration, brings a cohort of guests on vocals and bass alongside the band’s core duo. Some, like Karl Agell (C.O.C. Blind) and bassist Dave Neabore (Dog Eat Dog), are returning parties from the project’s 2022 debut, Reach for the Scars, while Unida vocalist Mark Sunshine makes a highlight of “Show Them Your Power” early on. Sunshine appears on “Veneration” as well alongside DMC from Run DMC, which, if you’re going to do a rap-rock crossover, it probably makes sense to get a guy who was there the first time it happened. Elsewhere, “Non Defectum” toys with layering with Kelly Abe of Sicks Deep adding screams, and Paul Stanley impersonator Bob Jensen steps in for the KISS cover “I Stole Your Love” and the originals “Dead and Gone” and “Hallowed Be Her Name” so indeed, no shortage of variety. Tying it together? The riffs, of course. Lorenzo has shown an as-yet inexhaustible supply thereof. Here, they seem to power multiple bands all on one album.

Patriarchs in Black on Instagram

MDD Records website

Blood Lightning, Blood Lightning

Blood Lightning self titled

Just because it wasn’t a surprise doesn’t mean it’s not one of the best debut albums of 2023. Bringing together known parties from Boston’s heavy underground Jim Healey (We’re All Gonna Die, etc.), Doug Sherman (Gozu), Bob Maloney (Worshipper) and J.R. Roach (Sam Black Church), Blood Lightning want nothing for pedigree, and their Ripple-issued self-titled debut meets high expectations with vigor and thrash-born purpose. Sherman‘s style of riffing and Healey‘s soulful, belted-out vocals are both identifiable factors in cuts like “The Dying Starts” and the charging “Face Eater,” which works to find a bridge between heavy rock and classic, soaring metal. Their cover of Black Sabbath‘s “Disturbing the Priest,” included here as the last of the six songs on the 27-minute album, I seem to recall being at least part of the impetus for the band, but frankly, however they got there, I’m glad the project has been preserved. I don’t know if they will or won’t do anything else, but there’s potential in their metal/rock blend, which positions itself as oldschool but is more forward thinking than either genre can be on its own.

Blood Lightning on Facebook

Ripple Music website

Haurun, Wilting Within

haurun wilting within

Based in Oakland and making their debut with the significant endorsement of Small Stone Records and Kozmik Artifactz behind them, atmospheric post-heavy rock five-piece Haurun tap into ethereal ambience and weighted fuzz in such a way as to raise memories of the time Black Math Horseman got picked up by Tee Pee. I don’t think that’s a coincidence. With notions of Acid King in the nodding, undulating riffs of “Abyss” and the later reaches of “Lost and Found,” but two guitars are a distinguishing factor, and Haurun come across as primarily concerned with mood, although the post-grunge ’90s alt hooks of “Flying Low” and “Lunar” ahead of 11-minute closer “Soil,” which uses its longform breadth to cast as vivid a soundscape as possible. Fast, slow, minimalist or at a full wash of noise, Haurun‘s Wilting Within has its foundation in heavy rock groove and riffy repetition, but does something with that that goes beyond microniche confines. Very much looking forward to more from this band.

Haurun on Facebook

Small Stone Records website

Kozmik Artifactz website

Wicked Trip, Cabin Fever

wicked trip cabin fever

Its point of view long established by the time they get around to the filthy lurch of “Hesher” — track three of seven — Cabin Fever is the first full-length from cultish doomers Wicked Trip. The Tennessee outfit revel in Electric Wizard-style fuckall on “Cabin Fever” after the warning in the spoken “Intro,” and the 11-minute sample-topped “Night of Pan” is a psych-doom jam that’s hypnotic right unto its keyboard-drone finish giving over to the sampled smooth sounds of the ’70s at the start of “Black Valentine,” which feels all the more dirt-coated when it actually kicks in, though “Evils of the Night” is no less threatening of purpose in its garage-doom swing, crash-out and cacophonous payoff, and I’m pretty sure if you played “No Longer Human” at double the speed, well, it might be human again. All of these grim, bleak, scorching, nodding, gnashing pieces come together to craft Cabin Fever as one consuming, lo-fi entirety, raw both because the recording sounds harsh and because the band itself eschew any frills not in service to their disillusioned atmosphere.

Wicked Trip on Instagram

Wicked Trip on Bandcamp

Splinter, Role Models

Splinter Role Models

There’s an awful lot of sex going on in Splinter‘s Role Models, as the Amsterdam glam-minded heavy rockers follow their 2021 debut, Filthy Pleasures (review here), with cuts like “Soviet Schoolgirl,” “Bottom,” “Opposite Sex” and the poppy post-punk “Velvet Scam” early on. It’s not all sleaze — though even “The Carpet Makes Me Sad” is trying to get you in bed — and the piano and boozy harmonies of “Computer Screen” are a fun departure ahead of the also-acoustic finish in closer “It Should Have Been Over,” while “Every Circus Needs a Clown” feels hell-bent on remaking Queen‘s “Stone Cold Crazy” and “Medicine Man” and “Forbidden Kicks” find a place where garage rock meets heavier riffing, while “Children” gets its complaints registered efficiently in just over two boogie-push minutes. A touch of Sabbath here, some Queens of the Stone Age chic disco there, and Splinter are happy to find a place for themselves adjacent to both without aping either. One would not accuse them of subtlety as regards theme, but there’s something to be said for saying what you want up front.

Splinter on Facebook

Noisolution website

Terra Black, All Descend

Terra Black All Descend

Beginning with its longest component track (immediate points) in “Asteroid,” Terra Black‘s All Descend is a downward-directed slab of doomed nod, so doubled-down on its own slog that “Black Flames of Funeral Fire” doesn’t even start its first verse until the song is more than half over. Languid tempos play up the largesse of “Ashes and Dust,” and “Divinest Sin” borders on Eurometal, but if you need to know what’s in Terra Black‘s heart, look no further than the guitar, bass, drum and vocal lumber — all-lumber — of “Spawn of Lyssa” and find that it’s doom pumping blood around the band’s collective body. While avoiding sounding like Electric Wizard, the Gothenburg, Sweden, unit crawl through that penultimate duet track with all ready despondency, and resolve “Slumber Grove” with agonized final lub-dub heartbeats of kick drum and guitar drawl after a vivid and especially doomed wash drops out to vocals before rearing back and plodding forward once more, doomed, gorgeous, immersive, and so, so heavy. They’re not finished growing yet — nor should they be on this first album — but they’re on the path.

Terra Black on Facebook

Terra Black on Bandcamp

Musing, Somewhen

musing somewhen

Sometimes the name of a thing can tell you about the thing. So enters Musing, a contemplative solo outfit from Devin “Darty” Purdy, also known for his work in Calgary-based bands Gone Cosmic and Chron Goblin, with the eight-song/42-minute Somewhen and a flowing instrumental narrative that borders on heavy post-rock and psychedelia, but is clearheaded ultimately in its course and not slapdash enough to be purely experimental. That is, though intended to be instrumental works outside the norm of his songcraft, tracks like “Flight to Forever” and the delightfully bassy “Frontal Robotomy” are songs, have been carved out of inspired and improvised parts to be what they are. “Hurry Wait” revamps post-metal standalone guitar to be the basis of a fuzzy exploration, while “Reality Merchants” hones a sense of space that will be welcome in ears that embrace the likes of Yawning Sons or Big Scenic Nowhere. Somewhen has a story behind it — there’s narrative; blessings and peace upon it — but the actual music is open enough to translate to any number of personal interpretations. A ‘see where it takes you’ attitude is called for, then. Maybe on Purdy‘s part as well.

Musing on Facebook

Musing on Bandcamp

Spiral Shades, Revival

Spiral Shades Revival

A heavy and Sabbathian rock forms the underlying foundation of Spiral Shades‘ sound, and the returning two-piece of vocalist Khushal R. Bhadra and guitarist/bassist/drummer Filip Petersen have obviously spent the nine years since 2014’s debut, Hypnosis Sessions (review here), enrolled in post-doctoral Iommic studies. Revival, after so long, is not unwelcome in the least. Doom happens in its own time, and with seven songs and 38 minutes of new material, plus bonus tracks, they make up for lost time with classic groove and tone loyal to the blueprint once put forth while reserving a place for itself in itself. That is, there’s more to Spiral Shades and to Revival than Sabbath worship, even if that’s a lot of the point. I won’t take away from the metal-leaning chug of “Witchy Eyes” near the end of the album, but “Foggy Mist” reminds of The Obsessed‘s particular crunch and “Chapter Zero” rolls like Spirit Caravan, find a foothold between rock and doom, and it turns out riffs are welcome on both sides.

Spiral Shades on Facebook

Spiral Shades on Bandcamp

Bandshee, Bandshee III

Bandshee III

The closing “Sex on a Grave” reminds of the slurring bluesy lasciviousness of Nick Cave‘s Grinderman, and that should in part be taken as a compliment to the setup through “Black Cat” — which toys with 12-bar structure and is somewhere between urbane cool and cabaret nerdery — and the centerpiece “Bad Day,” which follows a classic downer chord progression through its apex with the rawness of Backwoods Payback at their most emotive and a greater melodic reach only after swaying through its willful bummer of an intro. Last-minute psych flourish in the guitar threatens to make “Bad Day” a party, but the Louisville outfit find their way around to their own kind of fun, which since the release is only three songs long just happens to be “Sex on a Grave.” Fair enough. Rife with attitude and an emergent dynamic that’s complementary to the persona of the vocals rather than trying to keep up with them, the counterintuitively-titled second short release (yes, I know the cover is a Zeppelin reference; settle down) from Bandshee lays out an individual approach to heavy songwriting and a swing that goes back further in time than most.

Bandshee on Facebook

Bandshee on Bandcamp

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Splinter Set Aug. 25 Release for Role Models

Posted in Whathaveyou on July 27th, 2023 by JJ Koczan

Splinter

Amsterdam glam-informed classic-heavy semi-punk other-hyphenated-words rockers Splinter have signed to Noisolution and announced that their second full-length, Role Models, will be out next month. You might recall their debut, Filthy Pleasures (review here), came out in 2021 through Robotor Records, the label run by members of Kadavar. That endorsement was a boon to the uptempo purveyors of hook fronted by Douwe Truijens, best known for his time in Death Alley.

The band issued the single “Velvet Scam” in a new video a couple months back, and if you didn’t catch it, that’s below along with an unboxing video — those are strangely entertaining; it’s amazing what humans will watch; ‘here’s a person opening a thing’ — for the record itself. A release show has been lined up for Sept. 1 in Leiden, the Netherlands, at Studio Klaplong, and of course more info on that is below, culled from the band’s socials and included amid the promo text for the record, which came through the PR wire.

Dig that cover:

Splinter Role Models

Splinter – “Role Models” Out 25th August via Noisolution

Cheeky and snotty, the Dutch fourpiece dances between the styles. And sort themselves between punk, rock, pop and they give the guitars back to the dancefloor. A contemporary and fresh retro rock album that is danceable and catchy through and through – but most of all fun!

BIRTH OF JOY and DEATH ALLEY, two of the best Dutch live bands, played one last tour together and fell apart. How close “birth” and “death” are sometimes, is also shown here. After the tour, parts of both bands found each other again in the rehearsal room and formed SPLINTER. The debut album was released via Robotor Record, the label of Kadavar, who then found too little time besides their own band activities and thankfully recommended the band to Noisolution. We did not have to think long…

The album will be released on August 25th via NOISOLUTION!

RELEASE SHOW: Friday 1 September in a very special venue in Leiden with special guests The sha-la-lee’s and Skallebieter. Tickets are strictly limited: only 120 available. Order yours right away via https://lastnightonearth.stager.nl/web/tickets

SPLINTER question everything musically and throw their preferences and influences together. Danceable, sleazy, full of pop and yet a feisty heavy rock album. Much reminds of the late 80s, when rock flew apart disoriented but full of ideas in all directions. Punk was over, wave was over, metal was coming up, alternative rock was knocking on the door… SPLINTER have a bit of everything. “Heavy rock ‘n’ roll” is pretty accurate. Sometimes I also refer to the punk foundations of the band, because it’s cheeky, defiant and unorthodox” says singer Douwe Truijens.

The biggest difference to the debut album is that they were able to get Mario Goossens (drummer of Triggerfinger) as producer for the new record and that they took a lot of time to write and record. “Unique is the punk sound with Hammond organ and the energy and dance moves of the singer,” Douwe says with a smile, “for me it’s very important that the songs are catchy and danceable. I always like bands that have that. It doesn’t have to be mellow music to be poppy, it can still rock hard and make your hips swing.”

Songs like “Velvet Scam” or “Bottom” let the disco ball rotate, whereas “Every Circus needs A Clown” rather leaves room for duels between guitar and organ. Cheeky, defiant and unorthodox they dance between the styles. And sorts itself between Blondie and Iggy, Viagra Boys and The Who, Hanoi Rocks and Killing Joke. A contemporary and fresh retro rock album that is danceable, that grooves, rocks but above all is fun and announces a fantastic live band!

And the artwork is also a clear nod to Pop, reminiscent of Warhol or Lichtenstein, who liked to pick up trivial motifs from everyday culture. The Banana Man shows what today’s role models of the world are: “just fruits in suits.” Political leaders and so-called influencers are “role models,” smartly dressed but empty and disposable. Everything plastic, everything fake, image instead of message and appearance instead of content. Superficially colorful, but still with depth and message.

https://www.facebook.com/splintergeneration
https://www.instagram.com/splinter.generation/
https://www.youtube.com/@splintergeneration2166
https://open.spotify.com/artist/5R9WJjT2i9zmBWMNWD2rLp
https://splinter-music.com/

http://www.noisolution.de/
https://www.facebook.com/noisolution
https://www.instagram.com/noisolution/

Splinter, “Velvet Scam” official video

Splinter, Role Models unboxing teaser

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Quarterly Review: Bell Witch, Plainride, Benthic Realm, Cervus, Unsafe Space Garden, Neon Burton, Thousand Vision Mist, New Dawn Fades, Aton Five, Giants Dwarfs and Black Holes

Posted in Reviews on July 18th, 2023 by JJ Koczan

the-obelisk-qr-summer-2020

Welcome to day two of the Summer 2023 Quarterly Review. Yesterday was a genuine hoot — I didn’t realize I had packed it so full of bands’ debut albums, and not repeating myself in noting that in the reviews was a challenge — but blah blah words words later we’re back at it today for round two of seven total.

As I write this, my house is newly emerged from an early morning tornado warning and sundry severe weather alerts, flooding, wind, etc., with that. In my weather head-canon, tornados don’t happen here — because they never used to — but one hit like two towns over a week or so ago, so I guess anything’s possible. My greater concern would be flooding or downed trees or branches damaging the house. I laughed with The Patient Mrs. that of course a tornado would come right after we did the kitchen floor and put the sink back.

We got The Pecan up to experience and be normalized into this brave new world of climate horror. We didn’t go to the basement, but it probably won’t be the last time we talk about whether or not we need to do so. Yes, planet Earth will take care of itself. It will do this by removing the problematic infection over a sustained period of time. Only trouble is humans are the infection.

So anyway, happy Tuesday. Let’s talk about some records.

Quarterly Review #11-20:

Bell Witch, Future’s Shadow Part 1: The Clandestine Gate

bell witch future's shadow part 1 the clandestine gate

Cumbersome in its title and duly stately as it unfurls 83 minutes of Billy Anderson-recorded slow-motion death-doom soul destroy/rebuild, Future’s Shadow Part 1: The Clandestine Gate is not the first longform single-song work from Seattle’s Bell Witch, but the core duo of drummer/vocalist Jesse Shreibman and bassist/vocalist Dylan Desmond found their path on 2017’s landmark Mirror Reaper (review here) and have set themselves to the work of expanding on that already encompassing scope. Moving from its organ intro through willfully lurching, chant-topped initial verses, the piece breaks circa 24 minutes to minimalist near-silence, building itself back up until it seems to blossom fully at around 45 minutes in, but it breaks to organ, rises again, and ultimately seems to not so much to collapse as to be let go into its last eight minutes of melancholy standalone bass. Knowing this is only the first part of a trilogy makes Future’s Shadow Part 1: The Clandestine Gate feel even huger and more opaque, but while its unrelenting atmospheric bleakness will be listenable for a small percentage of the general populace, there’s no question Bell Witch are continuing to push the limits of what they do. Loud or quiet, they are consuming. One should expect no less in the next installment.

Bell Witch on Facebook

Profound Lore Records website

 

Plainride, Plainride

plainride self titled

Some records are self-titled because the band can’t think of a name. Plainride‘s Plainride is more declarative. Self-released ahead of a Ripple Music issue to accord with timing as the German trio did a Spring support stint with Corrosion of Conformity, the 10-song outing engages with funk, blues rock, metal, prog and on and on and on, and feels specifically geared toward waking up any and all who hear it. The horns blasting in “Fire in the Sky” are a clear signal of that, though one should also allow for the mellowing of “Wanderer,” the interlude “You Wanna…” the acoustic noodler “Siebengebirge,” or the ballady closer “The Lilies” as a corresponding display of dynamic. But the energy is there in “Hello, Operator,” “Ritual” — which reminds of Gozu in its soulful vocals — and through the longer “Shepherd” and the subsequent regrounding in the penultimate “Hour of the Mûmakil,” and it is that kick-in-the-pants sensibility that most defines Plainride as a realization on the part of the band. They sound driven, hungry, expansive and professional, and they greet their audience with a full-on “welcome to the show” mindset, then proceed to try to shake loose the rules of genre from within. Not a minor ambition, but Plainride succeed in letting craft lead the charge in their battle against mediocrity. They don’t universally hit their marks — not that rock and roll ever did or necessarily should — but they take actual chances here and are all the more invigorating for that.

Plainride on Facebook

Ripple Music store

 

Benthic Realm, Vessel

Benthic Realm Vessel

Massachusetts doomers Benthic Realm offer their awaited first full-length with Vessel, and the hour-long 2LP is broad and crushing enough to justify the wait. It’s been five years since 2018’s We Will Not Bow (review here), and the three-piece of bassist Maureen Murphy (ex-Second Grave, ex-Curse the Son, etc.), guitarist/vocalist Krista Van Guilder (ex-Second Grave, ex-Warhorse) and drummer Dan Blomquist (also Conclave) conjure worthy expanse with a metallic foundation, Van Guilder likewise effective in a deathly scream and melodic delivery as “Traitors Among Us” quickly affirms, and the band shifting smoothly between the lurch of “Summon the Tide” and speedier processions like “Course Correct,” the title-track or the penultimate “What Lies Beneath,” the album ultimately more defined by mood and the epic nature of Benthic Realm‘s craft than a showcase of tempo on either side. That is, regardless of pace, they deliver with force throughout the album, and while it might be a couple years delayed, it stands readily among the best debuts of 2023.

Benthic Realm on Facebook

Benthic Realm on Bandcamp

 

Cervus, Shifting Sands

Cervus Shifting Sands

Cervus follow 2022’s impressive single “Cycles” (posted here) with the three-song EP Shifting Sands, and the Amsterdam heavy psych unit use the occasion to continue to build a range around their mellow-grooving foundation. Beginning quiet and languid and exploratory on “Nirvana Dunes,” which bursts to voluminous life after its midpoint but retains its fluidity, the five-piece of guitarists Jan Woudenberg and Dennis de Bruin, bassist Tom Mourik, keyboardist/guitarist Ton van Rijswijk and drummer Rogier Henkelman saving extra push for middle cut “Tempest,” reminding some of how The Machine are able to turn from heavy jams to more structured riffy shove. That track, shorter at 3:43, is a delightful bit of raucousness that answers the more straightforward fare on 2021’s Ignis EP while setting up a direct transition into “Eternal Shadow,” which builds walls of organ-laced fuzz roll that go out and don’t come back, ending the 16-minute outing in such a way as to make it feel more like a mini-album. They touch no ground here that feels uncertain for them, but that’s only a positive sign as they perhaps work toward making their debut LP. Whether that’s coming or not, Shifting Sands is no less engaging a mini-trip for its brevity.

Cervus on Facebook

Cervus on Bandcamp

 

Unsafe Space Garden, Where’s the Ground?

Unsafe Space Garden Where's the Ground

On their third album, Where’s the Ground?, Portuguese experimentalists Unsafe Space Garden tackle heavy existentialist questions as only those truly willing to embrace the absurd could hope to do. From the almost-Jackson 5 casual saunter of “Grown-Ups!” — and by the way, all titles are punctuated and stylized all-caps — to the willfully overwhelming prog-metal play of “Pum Pum Pum Pum Ta Ta” later on, Unsafe Space Garden find and frame emotional and psychological breakthroughs through the ridiculous misery of human existence while also managing to remind of what a band can truly accomplish when they’re willing to throw genre expectations out the window. With shades throughout of punk, prog, indie, sludge, pop new and old, post-rock, jazz, and on and on, they are admirably individual, and unwilling to be anything other than who they are stylistically at the risk of derailing their own work, which — again, admirably — they don’t. Switching between English and Portuguese lyrics, they challenge the audience to approach with an open mind and sympathy for one another since once we were all just kids picking our noses on the same ground. Where’s the ground now? I’m not 100 percent, but I think it might be everywhere if we’re ready to see it, to be on it. Supreme weirdo manifestation; a little manic in vibe, but not without hope.

Unsafe Space Garden on Instagram

gig.ROCKS on Bandcamp

 

Neon Burton, Take a Ride

NEON BURTON Take A Ride

Guitarist/vocalist Henning Schmerer reportedly self-recorded and mixed and played all instruments himself for Neon Burton‘s third full-length, Take a Ride. The band was a trio circa 2021’s Mighty Mondeo, and might still be one, but with programmed drums behind him, Schmerer digs in alone across these space-themed six songs/46 minutes. The material keeps the central duality of Neon Burton‘s work to-date in pairing airy heavy psychedelia with bouts of denser riffing, rougher-edged verses and choruses offsetting the entrancing jams, resulting in a sound that draws a line between the two but is able to move between them freely. “Mother Ship” starts the record quiet but grows across its seven minutes to Truckfighters-esque fuzzy swing, and “I Run,” which follows, unveils the harder-landing aspect of the band’s character. The transitions are unforced and feel like a natural dynamic in the material, but even the jammiest parts would have to be thought out beforehand to be recorded with just one person, so perhaps Take a Ride‘s most standout achievement — see also: tone, melody, groove — is in overcoming the solo nature of its making to sound as much like a full band as it does in the 10-minute “Orbit” or the crescendo of “Disconnect” that rumbles into the sample-topped ambient-plus-funky meander at the start of instrumental closer “Wormhole,” which dares a bit of proggier-leaning chug on the way to its thickened, nodding culmination.

Neon Burton on Facebook

Neon Burton on Bandcamp

 

Thousand Vision Mist, Depths of Oblivion

Thousand Vision Mist Depths of Oblivion

Though pedigreed in a Maryland doom scene that deeply prides itself on traditionalism, Laurel, MD, trio Thousand Vision Mist mark out a progressive path forward with their second full-length, Depths of Oblivion, the eight songs/35 minutes of which seem to owe as much to avant metal as to doom and/or heavy rock. Opener “Sands of Time” imagines what might’ve been if Virus had been raised in the Chesapeake Watershed, while “Citadel of Green” relishes its organically ’70s-style groove with an intricacy of interpretation so as to let Thousand Vision Mist come across as respectful of the past but not hindered by it creatively. Comprised of guitarist/vocalist Danny Kenyon (ex-Life Beyond, Indestroy, etc.), bassist/backing vocalist Tony Comulada (War Injun, Outside Truth, etc.) and drummer Chris Sebastian (ex-Retribution), the band delves into the pastoral on “Love, the Destroyer” and the sunshine-till-the-fuzz-hits-then-still-awesome “Thunderbird Blue,” while “Battle for Yesterday” filters grunge nostalgia through their own complexity and capper “Reversal of Misfortune” moves from its initial riffiness — perhaps in conversation with “We Flew Too High” at the start of what would be side B — into sharper shred with an unshakable rhythmic foundation beneath. I didn’t know what to expect so long after 2018’s Journey to Ascension and the Loss of Tomorrow (review here), which was impressive, but there’s no level on which Thousand Vision Mist haven’t outdone themselves with Depths of Oblivion.

Thousand Vision Mist on Facebook

Thousand Vision Mist on Bandcamp

 

New Dawn Fades, Forever

New Dawn Fades Forever

Founded and fronted by vocalist George Chamberlin (Ritual Earth), the named-for-a-JoyDivision-tune New Dawn Fades make their initial public offering with the three-songer Forever, which at 15 minutes long doesn’t come close to the title but makes its point well before it’s through all the same. In “True Till Death,” they update a vibe somewhere between C.O.C.‘s Blind and a less-Southern version of Nola-era Down, while “This Night Has Closed My Eyes” adds some Kyuss flair in Chamberlin‘s vocal and the concluding “New Moon” reinforces the argument with a four-minute parade of swing and chug, Sabbath-bred if not Sabbath-worshiping. If the band — whose lineup seems to have changed since this was recorded at least in the drums — are going to take on a full-length next, they’ll want to shake things up, maybe an interlude, etc., but as a short outing and even more as their first, they don’t necessarily need to shock with off-the-wall style. Instead, Forever portrays New Dawn Fades as having a clear grasp on what they want to do and the songwriting command to make it happen. Wherever they go from here, it’ll be worth keeping eyes and ears open.

New Dawn Fades on Facebook

New Dawn Fades on Bandcamp

 

Aton Five, Aton Five

aton five self titled

According to the band, Aton Five‘s mostly-instrumental self-titled sophomore full-length was recorded between 2019 and 2022, and that three-year span would seem to have allowed for the Moscow-based four-piece to deep-dive into the five pieces that comprise it, so that the guitar and organ answering each other on “Danse Macabre” and the mathy angularity that underscores much of the second half of “Naked Void” exist as fully envisioned versions of themselves, even before you get to the 22-minute “Lethe,” which closes. With the soothing “Clepsydra” in its middle as the only track under eight minutes long, Aton Five have plenty of time to develop and build outward from the headspinning proffered by “Alienation” at the album’s start and in the bassy jabs and departure into and through clearheaded drift-metal (didn’t know it existed, but there it is), the work they’ve put into the material is obvious and no less multifaceted than are the songs, “Alienation” resolving in a combination of sweeps and sprints, each of which resonates with purpose. That one might say the same of each of the three parts that make up “Lethe” should signal the depth of consideration in the entirety of the release. I know there was a plague on, but maybe Aton Five benefitted as well from having the time to focus as they so plainly did. Whether you try to keep up with the turns or sit back and let the band go where they will, Aton Five, the album, feels like the kind of record that might’ve ended up somewhere other than where the band first thought it would, but is stronger for having made the journey to the finished product.

Aton Five on Facebook

Aton Five on Bandcamp

 

Giants Dwarfs and Black Holes, In a Sandbox Full of Suns

Giants Dwarfs and Black Holes In a Sandbox Full of Suns

Their second LP behind 2020’s Everwill, the five-song In a Sandbox Full of Suns finds German four-piece Giants Dwarfs and Black Holes fully switched on in heavy jam fashion, cuts like “Love Story” and “In a Sandbox Full of Suns” — both of which top 11 minutes — fleshed out with improv-sounding guitar and vocals over ultra-fluid rhythms, blending classic heavy blues rock and prog with hints and only hints of vintage-ism and letting the variety in their approach show itself in the four-minute centerpiece “Dead Urban Desert” and the suitably cosmic atmosphere to which they depart in closer “Time and Space.” Leadoff “Coffee Style” is rife with attitude, but wahs itself into an Eastern-inflected lead progression after the midpoint and before turning back to the verse, holding its relaxed but not lazy feel all the while. It is a natural brand of psychedelia that results throughout — an enticing sound between sounds; the proverbial ‘not-lost wandering’ in musical form — as Giants Dwarfs and Black Holes don’t try to hypnotize with effects or synth, etc., but prove willing to take a walk into the unknown when the mood hits. It doesn’t always, but they make the most of their opportunities regardless, and if “Dead Urban Desert” is the exception, its placement as the centerpiece tells you it’s not there by accident.

Giants Dwarfs and Black Holes on Facebook

Interstellar Smoke Records store

 

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Iron Jinn to Support Alain Johannes in the Netherlands

Posted in Whathaveyou on June 27th, 2023 by JJ Koczan

Netherlands-based dark-prog rockers Iron Jinn announced a while back that they’d be supporting and collaborating on stage with Alain Johannes in September, opening a trio of Dutch shows for the singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist (also producer!) known for his work in Eleven, Queens of the Stone Age, Them Crooked Vultures, and so on as part of the latter’s broader European tour. Not a minor gig for Iron Jinn, whose self-titled debut (review here) came out this past Spring through Stickman Records and who played the release show for it at this year’s Roadburn Festival in Tilburg, and my only real complaint with any part of their working with Johannes was I wasn’t going to be able to see it.

Well, in addition to posting the ticket links and the handy reminder below along with the update that they got together presumably to do a bit of prep and see whether the entire idea was going to work at all, Iron Jinn have announced that they and Johannes have together filmed a ‘2 Meter Sessions’ that will be unveiled sometime I guess in the coming months, so that those unable to actually catch them live can have a bit of the experience. If you’re not familiar — and it’s okay, I wasn’t either — the ‘2 Meter Sessions’ is a series that’s been going on for at least 30 years and their YouTube channel has an archive of 150-plus clips to lose your afternoon perusing. Hopefully this one streams as well.

Words from Iron Jinn follow, as per social media:

Iron Jinn with Alain Johannes

Stoked to have had Alain Johannes as a guest at the Iron Jinn HQ, a sweet week of jamming on his music, hanging out and playing the legendary 2 Meter Sessies together. Waiting for his return in September to play some exciting evenings at the clubs. Iron Jinn kicks off every night with a full set and this melts into Alain Johannes’ iconic musical legacy (solo/QOTSA/Eleven). Interchanging musicians, instruments and building on each others energy is gonna be the adage and living in the moment will be a necessity. Tickets on sale now at the venues!

Hedon, Zwolle, Sept 8
https://www.hedon-zwolle.nl/voorstelling/31517/alain-johannes
Gebr. De Nobel, Leiden, Sept 9
https://gebrdenobel.nl/programma/alain-johannes/
De Nieuwe Nor, Heerlen, Sept 10
https://nieuwenor.nl/artist/alain-johannes

Photo by the great Maaike Ronhaar

Iron Jinn are:
Oeds Beydals
Gerben Bielderman
Bob Holgenelst
Wout Kemkens

Alainjohannes.com
Alainjohannes.eu
Facebook.com/alainjohannesmusic
Instagram.com/alainjohannes
Instagram.com/alainjohannestour

https://www.instagram.com/iron_jinn=-
https://www.facebook.com/ironjinn
https://ironjinn.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/Stickman-Records-1522369868033940/
https://www.instagram.com/stickmanrecords/
https://www.stickman-records.com/

Iron Jinn, Iron Jinn (2023)

Alain Johannes, Hum (2020)

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Review & Full Album Stream: Temple Fang, Live at Freak Valley

Posted in audiObelisk, Reviews on April 4th, 2023 by JJ Koczan

temple fang live at freak valley

[Click play above to stream Temple Fang’s Live at Freak Valley in its entirety. Album is out on CD April 21 through Stickman Records with preorders available here and through Electric Spark/Right on Mountain on LP with preorders available here.]

Temple Fang were smack in the middle of the fourth and final day of 2022’s Freak Valley Festival, Saturday, June 18. Their set (review here) was the centerpiece of the lineup, and by the time they went on, the assembled masses had long since been sun-baked and ear-blasted in a celebration of heavy vibe unto itself. The narrative — blessings and peace upon it — goes that just before being introduced by Volker Fröhmer, whose robust “liebe freunden” greets bands and fans alike in announcing each act to hit the stage and is a part of the ritual itself and features on many of the Live at Freak Valley-type releases but is absent here, the Amsterdam four-piece scrapped the setlist they were going to play.

Maybe it was material from their 2021 studio debut, Fang Temple (review here), or the then-unreleased Jerusalem/The Bridge EP (review here) that came out at the end of last year, but either way, they put it aside in favor of “Grace,” a yet-unrecorded single piece that would comprise the entirety of their set. Recorded by Niek Manders, the Stickman-backed Live at Freak Valley presents “Grace” in in full breadth, feeling likewise bold and searching in its approach as its circa-45-minute run holds sway in a series of builds and crashes, meditative and consuming in a way that live music, especially outside on a sunny day, can’t always be. By no means alone in this regard for that long weekend, it was nonetheless a beautiful, affirming moment to be alive.

Comprised of guitarist/vocalist Jevin de Groot, bassist/vocalist Dennis Duijnhouwer, guitarist/keyboardist Ivy van der Veer (who also sings a little here) and drummer Egon LoosveldtTemple Fang have — including Live at Freak Valley — now issued four live albums in the last three years, starting with 2020’s Live at Merleyn (review here) that was their first release. Put in a ratio to studio recordings, that’s four-to-one, at least as regards LPs; though I’ll gladly argue that Jerusalem/The Bridge wanted nothing for substance, so if it’s four-to-two, fine. Still, let that math — which gets even murkier when one considers the live-recorded basic tracks of Fang Temple — stand as testament to their ethic as a group and, amid the other narrative surrounding Live at Freak Valley, serve as a demonstration of their priorities.

At least thus far into their tenure and as much as has been possible over the last few years, they’re a live band. That they’d even be comfortable enough to step out on a stage and play a 45-minute-long song to a crowd that’s never heard it before supports the argument, let alone that they would consider releasing it afterward or that “Grace” unfolds in such a patient manner, fluidly shifting in volume and dynamic before its sweeping final movement, a multi-tiered apex with a subtly doomed riff at its foundation that turns to space rock and airy comedown lead work before another soloing tonal-wash crescendo. I don’t know if it was the first time Temple Fang had broken out “Grace” at a show, but standing in front of the stage and watching it happen at Freak Valley, it certainly felt like a landmark for them, which this release seals it as being.

Would it be too on-the-nose to call “Grace” graceful? Probably. But while the nature of from-stage recordings is such that the sundry little bumps and flubs along the way that go almost universally unnoticed by the crowd (and can define an evening for the band in question, whoever it might be) become part of the finished product, and that’s invariably the case here as well, the slow rise of effects noise and cymbals that begins it and shifts within two minutes to anticipatory howls of guitar set as fitting a scene as one could hope for what follows, in range as well as methodical delivery. Loosveldt‘s drums enter after the third minute with Duijnhouwer‘s bass, one guitar softly noodling, the other holding to undulating swells of manipulated feedback as they immerse the audience  in the song-in-progress seemingly before it’s even started.

temple fang live at freak valley gatefold

The first verse is Duijnhouwer‘s, and like the rest of “Grace,” it is rolled out gently, complemented by dual-channel echoing guitar solos from one lyrical stanza to the next, de Groot joining on vocals to deliver what no one knew then was the title of the song in a next-stage kind of arrival that more fully reveals the build that’s been taking place all the while beneath the entrancing sounds on the surface, consciousness buried but by no means absent from the proceedings, just sort of placed to the side in favor of the invitation to the crowd to get lost early and stay that way for the duration. Bass and drums hold steady as the guitar drops the scorch to allow the next verse to begin. Nine minutes have passed, whatever time used to mean, and they get back to what’s now revealed itself as the chorus, and at 10:30, a vocal culmination is met by a heavy surge, winding soloing from de Groot underscoring that first build’s payoff stretch.

It is, as noted, not the last. A jazzy flow distinguishes the next movement of “Grace,” making a Pink Floyd comparison feel both lazy and necessary as it re-coalesces and moves into more angular guitar on either side of the 18-minute mark, and though they hit into some improv-sounding urgency about five-to-six minutes later, they emerge unscathed from the freakout — Loosveldt at the foundation, as ever — as they pass 26 minutes into the track, and from there set up the massive ending noted above, fully hypnotic in going to ground and engrossing in the construction from there, the sense of destination apparent even as the journey there continues as from about 30 minutes on, Temple Fang are fully dug into this procession to be realized from there out, the weight of the lumber a few minutes later nod-rolling until more active guitar kicks in for the outward launch and carries through the (spoiler alert) false peak before they actually get to the top of that (right on) mountain, ending with a brief bit of serenity as they look out from it and see how far they’ve come before a noisy finish reinforces the point.

In releasing “Grace” on Live at Freak Valley, Temple Fang give the moment its due ceremony. The video of the set (filmed by Rockpalast) has been available for some time, but the capture of the song pressed on plastic feels especially crucial in light of the scope of the piece itself, and for those who were there, should be considered nothing less than essential. No brainer. Likewise, if you’ve followed Temple Fang to this juncture, “Grace” comes through as a significant forward step in a hopefully continuing progression of chemistry and craft, and while the single-song-album may be an endgame for many longform acts — one recalls de Groot and Duijnhouwer‘s decade-ago cosmic doom project Mühr offering the 47-minute one-tracker LP, Messiah (discussed here; review here), as their final outing in 2013; this isn’t that in sound or purpose, but it’s a relevant example given the personnel — Temple Fang seem to have found a place from which they can keep exploring, regardless of how long whatever they do next might end up being or not.

So maybe it wasn’t the set they had planned on playing, but Temple Fang‘s will to follow their instinct and bring “Grace” to life in front of the Freak Valley crowd more than earns this preservation. It was one in a weekend of righteous performances, but something special that comes through on Live at Freak Valley as shared between artists, art, and audience that now can stand even longer.

Temple Fang, Live at Freak Valley Festival 2022

Temple Fang on Facebook

Temple Fang on Instagram

Temple Fang on Bandcamp

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Electric Spark Records on Instagram

Electric Spark Records website

Right on Mountain on Facebook

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Review & Video Premiere: Iron Jinn, Iron Jinn

Posted in Bootleg Theater, Reviews on April 3rd, 2023 by JJ Koczan

iron jinn iron jinn

Based in The Netherlands, Iron Jinn release their self-titled debut album April 21 through Stickman Records, celebrating with a release show at Roadburn Festival on April 22. The venerable Tilburg fest is a fitting showcase for the band, who’ll present their nine-song/60-minute 2LP cycle after having made their live debut at Roadburn 2018 (review here), working then under the moniker Iron Chin and entrancing a packed 013 Green Room with material it had never heard before. With the collaboration between guitarist/vocalists Wout Kemkens (Shaking Godspeed) and Oeds Beydals (Death Alley, Gewapend Beton, Molassess, The Devil’s Blood) at its foundation and the lineup solidified with Birth of Joy‘s Bob Hogenelst on drums and Gerben Bielderman (Pronk, Pauw, Helm Op, Figgie, etc.) on bass, the album sprinkles moments of clarity amid headed-way-down plunges into atmospheric ethereality, seeking to and succeeding in immersing listeners in a sprawl of dark and progressive heavy rock with the stated goal of evoking the feel of dreams.

It is ostensibly psychedelic, but an is-it-real psychedelia of the unconscious more than an effects wash, and in moments like the winding build to the crescendo of “Blood Moon Horizon” tucked away before closer “Cage Rage” with its extended drone finish or the dual-vocal melody of “Ego Loka” rounding out the three-song leadoff salvo with particularly Swansy vibes after “Winding World” first sounds the alarm at the very beginning of the record — howling lead guitar with frenetic strums behind; Beydals and Kemkens announcing the band’s arrival — before the string sounds swap channels, the effigies are burnt and the mellowing resolution feels like a gift after and before “Soft Healers” plunges once again into foreboding creep groove, jazzy intensity and a feel like being transported to someplace else as (I think?) the keys emulate horns to set up a stretch of electronic low-end beneath the meditative doom drums and second cynical verse — “break through the fourth wall and ‘burn the green room” feels like it’s dropping references — lead to a wobbly weirdo guitar solo emblematic of the manner in which Iron Jinn as a whole is too cohesive to be experimental at least in the we-tried-a-thing-and-recorded-it sense, but remains deep in its exploratory sensibility, notably in the guitars and synth, which makes it fortunate that Bielderman and Hogenelst are there to provide a grounding presence.

I haven’t seen a tracklisting for the 2LP version, and perhaps unsurprisingly for something with so much flux and fluidity, there are multiple ways it can be parsed, whether it’s the first three songs on side A or just the pairing of the seven-minutes-each “Winding World” and “Soft Healers,” which on their own do a lot of the necessary scene-setting for what follows, even as “Ego Loka” offers reinforcement of their vaporous motives. Stylistically, Iron Jinn is much the same, and whether one wants to approach it as a work of dark prog, heavy psychedelia edging on the stratospheric, a new branch on the cultish family tree of The Devil’s Blood or the something-else that it ultimately is, what you put into listening is what you’re going to get out. “Truth is Your Dagger” picks up to establish new momentum coming out of “Ego Loka,” unfurling its somehow-drifting angularity on either side of a midsection break held together by Hogenelst that leads into a surge topped by a triumphant delivery of the title-line by Kemkens and Beydals in unison; the encouragement to break out of one’s own conceptions that the concluding lyric “stab your truth” seems to be — and fair enough — the ethic seems to be conveyed by the example of the music itself as much as the words. Whatever else Iron Jinn might be at this point and however one might want to categorize this initial offering, it is markedly individual.

That is to say, if you want to sit with it and parse out where centerpiece  “Lick It or Kick It” — lyric video premiering below; the single’s been out for a week or so — comes by its grim ambience, vague threat and theatricality (also glockenspiel, maybe), controlled bombast and abiding tension that seems unreleased even through the fuzzed payoff it gets, amplifier hum carrying into the willful play on Devin Townsend doing ’60s psych that “Relic” posits itself as being, you can do that. I won’t say you’re wrong, and the rewards of closer listening throughout Iron Jinn‘s Iron Jinn are abundant, from the arrangements of synth to the manner in which the guitars work off each other from the outset on, to the subtle energetic push of the vocals coming together and the tent of Weird under which the entire cosmic circus is held, to the chiming notes in “Bread and Games” that seems to push as far into amorphousness as they’ll go until the aforementioned drone epilogue of “Cage Rage” still to come, viewing the world around them with due terror and refusing to capitulate to the demands of genre. But whether you’re with them or not, Iron Jinn are going to that place right where the brain meets the stem, the moment right before you’re actually asleep when you have that last conscious thought, whatever it might be. They’ll take you if you’re willing to go, and I’d bet that if you asked, they already know not everyone is going to be willing.

IRON JINN (Photo by Louise te Poele)

As “Bread and Games” gives over not-quite-patiently to the here-we-go spacey intro of “Blood Moon Horizon,” and the eventual breakout that everything seems to have been moving toward that’s still preface to the linear build across the first six-plus minutes of “Cage Rage” — a fitting title to encapsulate the jaw-clenching tension throughout — the real accomplishment of Iron Jinn becomes somewhat clearer. The reason it works is because none of the four-piece are playing against each other. Beydals and KemkensHogenelst and Bielderman, drawn together by the smoothness in the production sound by Sebastiaan van Bijlevelt — let alone the scope of the mix — are united in their purpose. Even when Hogenelst sits out “Ego Loka” and “Bread and Games,” and even in the comings and goings around that long final contemplation, the impression is that Iron Jinn are trying this thing and following where it has led them. You wouldn’t be wrong to say it’s a record born out of and for strange times, but the ambition here is even broader than the hour-long stretch of the 2LP. They sound like a band frustrated with conceptions of style driving themselves to create something new, like a sculptor whose medium just happens to be fog, or the first chapter of a book the plot of which is only starting to reveal itself.

Maybe that’s the case, and if so, I won’t predict where Iron Jinn are headed in terms of sound, or why, or how long it might take them to get there, if ‘there’ is even an endgame and the goal is not the going in the first place. What I’ll say instead is that I hope they keep moving. In following Beydals‘ work over the last decade, as a player and songwriter he seems to have been a reluctant focal point, searching for an outlet wherein his expressive intent can flourish, untethered. And it could well be that Iron Jinn, that the creative partnership with Kemkens is the vehicle through which that will happen, but it will be years more before we know, and in a universe of infinite possibility the band could break up before the record’s even out and an asteroid could smash into the ocean and set all the oxygen in Earth’s air on fire, so no, no speculation. But there’s potential and promise at this point, and Iron Jinn builds on past successes — by no means just for Beydals — while carving out their own path, not with arrogance, but with artistic certainty and an awareness of and (if understated) excitement for what they might yet achieve.

In addition to the Roadburn release show, Iron Jinn have slots lined up at Desertfest London, Sonic Whip, Bridge Festival and Void Fest, as well as club dates and gigs supporting and performing with the venerable Alain Johannes in September. You’ll find those dates, the preorder link, and more info under the premiere of the “Lick It or Kick It” lyric video below, courtesy of the PR wire.

Hope you enjoy:

Iron Jinn, “Lick it or Kick It” lyric video

The third song from our upcoming debut album, preorder the record at https://www.stickman-records.com/shop/iron-jinn-iron-jinn/

Iron Jinn are Oeds Beydals (The Devils Blood/Molassess/Death Alley), Wout Kemkens (Shaking Godspeed/De Niemanders), Bob Hogenelst (Birth of Joy/Molassess) and Gerben Bielderman (Pauw).

‘Iron Jinn’ tracklisting
1. Winding World
2. Soft Healers
3. Ego Loka
4. Truth Is Your Dagger
5. Lick It Or Kick it
6. Relic
7. Bread And Games
8. Blood Moon Horizon
9. Cage Rage

Credits
Written by Iron Jinn
Recorded and mixed at Galloway Studio by Sebastiaan van Bijlevelt
Mastered by Pieter Kloos
Video concept and styling Louise Te Poele
Camera, animation and editing Daan van der Pluijm
Handwriting by William van Giessen
Released by Stickman Records

The release party takes place at Roadburn Festival Saturday April 22nd. Other shows we can announce at this point are:

14.04.2023 – Live At The Farm, Varsseveld Gelders Goed
05.05.2023 – London (UK), Desertfest London
06.05.2023 – Nijmegen (NL), Sonic Whip
12.05.2023 – Eindhoven (NL), Bridge Festival Eindhoven
27.05.2023 – Den Haag (NL), Sniester
12.08.2023 – Void Fest, Waldmünchen (DE)
08.09.2023 – Zwolle – Hedon Zwolle w/ Alain Johannes
09.09.2023 – Leiden – Gebr de Nobel w/ Alain Johannes
10.09.2023 10.09.2023 – Heerlen – @de nieuwe nor w/ Alain Johannes

Iron Jinn are:
Oeds Beydals
Gerben Bielderman
Bob Holgenelst
Wout Kemkens

Iron Jinn, “Winding World” lyric video

Iron Jinn, “Soft Healers”

Iron Jinn on Instagram

Iron Jinn on Facebook

Iron Jinn on Bandcamp

Stickman Records on Facebook

Stickman Records on Instagram

Stickman Records website

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Iron Jinn Announce Debut Album Release Show at Roadburn 2023; New Single Posted

Posted in Whathaveyou on January 19th, 2023 by JJ Koczan

Listen to the two singles back to back and you can hear some of the differing sides of Iron Jinn‘s makeup coming forward, between psychedelia and some more urgent push. The Amsterdam-based four-piece, which boasts Oeds Beydals on guitar — see also Death AlleyMolassessThe Devil’s Blood, etc. — will release their self-titled debut full-length through Stickman Records this April, playing a release show at, where else?, Roadburn Festival, where Beydals and Wout Kemkens (also Birth of Joy) first came together, then under the moniker of Iron Chin, in 2018.

Neat, right? New song, release show, things happening. Cool. You’ll also note the part below at the end where it mentions ever so casually that members of Iron Jinn (all or some, I don’t know) will pull double-duty this coming Fall, touring with and playing in the backing band for Alain Johannes. That is a show I would like very much to see. Johannes has promised a career-spanning set, if such a thing is even possible in a single night, and I feel like only good things can come from these two parties meeting and working together over a stretch of dates.

The PR wire takes it from there:

iron jinn

IRON JINN (feat. members of The Devil’s Blood, Death Alley & more!) announce Roadburn record release & share new single “Winding World”!

Years after debuting at Roadburn 2018 as a European counterpoint for the San Diego-Takeover, Iron Jinn, featuring members of The Devil’s Blood, Death Alley, Shaking Godspeed and Birth Of Joy, comes full circle with a release party at Roadburn 2023!

Iron Jinn will be released on April 21, 2023 coinciding with the band’s appearance at the festival. A limited Roadburn edition of the vinyl will be available exclusively there and in the Stickman Records webshop.

You can get a taste of their woozy rock’n’roll on debut single Soft Healers, and get swept along with the tide on Winding World – their brand new track released today to coincide with this very announcement. Listen to Winding World now!

Says guitarist/singer Wout Kemkens of the new single:
”Winding World is like a sonic action painting to me; the parade of seemingly unrelated images/happenings that pass by during the song is an ode to the fact that everything is constantly changing, which is maddening, but beautiful. I always loved Louis Armstrong’s ‘Wonderful World’ and for me ‘Winding World’ feels related, but as a hectic 21st century version. A stroll in this particular moment of time, and really feeling and seeing what is happening, such a day.”

Ever since we came off stage at Roadburn 2018 as the one off Iron Chin project, I always wondered what would happen if Wout Kemkens and I would share writing duties equally and develop an actual band,” Oeds says, “By circumstances beyond our control we suddenly had the time to make it happen and Iron Jinn quickly developed a mind of its own. To be able to present it where the first seeds were sown makes it all the more special.

The Amsterdam-based band has also announced a slew of live dates celebrating the record, as well as an upcoming tour with Alain Johannes (Queens of the Stone Age, Them Crooked Vultures). Not only will Iron Jinn be directly supporting Johannes on the tour, but also playing in his live band. Dates have not been made public yet, but the tour is slated for September/October of this year. Find more info HERE: https://alainjohannes.eu/alain-johannes-european-tour-2023/

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https://www.instagram.com/stickmanrecords/
https://www.stickman-records.com/

Iron Jinn, “Winding World” lyric video

Iron Jinn, “Soft Healers”

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