Posted in Whathaveyou on October 29th, 2020 by JJ Koczan
write my paper in apa format get link masters of architecture thesis project write my paper today Dawn of Days — one assumes as to the end thereof — will serve as the title for the second full-length from Massachusetts-based death-sludgers Students, teachers, parents, and everyone can http://www.icvbc.cnr.it/Itinerari_petrografici/?essays-on-othello find solutions to their math. Our college homework help services provide cheap Conclave, who made their debut with Assignment Helper - Proposals, essays and academic papers of top quality. leave behind those sleepless nights working on your report with our Sins of the Elders (review here) in 2016. I’ve been lucky enough to have heard a few snippets along the way from AUTOBIOGRAPHY/basics Do you need help writing your autobiography? Would you like to surprise a loved-one by arranging for their memoirs Conclave, works in progress and that sort of thing, and if you’re thinking something along the lines of, “well shucks that’s probably going to be very very heavy,” you’re not that far off at least as regards what I’ve encountered to-date.
Some particulars unveiled today — the title, the recording info, the lineup; that’s more than you get sometimes — but the real news here is that the Spring 2021 release is being handled through Get quick and affordable online tutoring or Should I Buy A Research Paper Online from our team of professional tutors. Dozens of subjects covered and a fast response! Argonauta Records, which makes Need some Research Paper Apa Style Template to promote your company? Order content from BusinessThePensters and attract more target audience to your enterprise. Conclave labelmates to other East Coast acts like Phd Dissertations Online Repository editor - Allow us to take care of your Bachelor or Master Thesis. top-ranked and affordable paper to ease your studying Clamfight, Buy custom kindergarten writing paper from trusted custom writing service. BuyEssayClub is a perfect place to purchase custom papers and make your academic life easier. Dee Calhoun and Where can i click site - Dissertations and essays at most attractive prices. Entrust your task to us and we will do our best for you receive Shadow Witch, never mind all the bands from everywhere else on the label. It’s a good fit either way, and I’m looking forward to the album whenever it might show up.
Announcement follows from the PR wire:
Heavy Doom Collective CONCLAVE Signs With Argonauta Records!
Put a professional Read More Here to work for you today. Services are available 24/7. New Album To Be Released In Spring 2021!
Massachusetts-USA Heavy Doom collective, CONCLAVE, have signed with Italian record label ARGONAUTA RECORDS for the Worldwide release of their forthcoming album, entitled ”Dawn Of Days”. CONCLAVES sophomore full-length will be released on colored and black vinyl, CD and digitally in the Spring of 2021.
With a musical resume that includes such acts as WarHorse, PanzerBastard, Desolate, Tenebrae, and Benthic Realm, along with several other bands and projects over the decades, ”Dawn Of Days” will be the crushing culmination of all the members’ longtime experience. Continuing to be anything but categorical in their song writing, combining melodic doom, pounding sludge and heavy grooves, their sound appeals to fans of all genres of heavy music.
“We feel fortunate and thankful to have Gero of Argonauta Records welcome us into his label’s family during what has likely been the worst year in the history of the arts and entertainment industry.“ Says the band about their upcoming label collaboration. “It really speaks volumes to Gero’s dedication and support of musicians, bands, and the art they create. We’re friends with some and fans of many of the bands on the Argonauta roster and are very excited to join their ranks.
Our last album “Sins Of The Elders” was released in 2016. Since then our sound and writing style has evolved along with our line up, with the addition of Chris Giguere on lead and rhythm guitar. The new album “Dawn Of Days” has something for all fans of heavy music. From the cadence of the riffs, to the dueling hypnotic and frenzied lead guitars; the melancholy acoustic parts to the crushing bass lines, it all rounds out our brand of punishing doom. We’re very proud of this album. To be able to work with Gero at Argonauta Records and Mona of All Noir PR, Bookings & Management on its release in 2021 is everything we could have hoped for. We can’t wait to share it with the world.”
CONCLAVE’s upcoming album was recorded and engineered by Eric Sauter at Blackheart Sound in Manchester New Hampshire, and was mastered by Esben Williams at Berserk Audio (Monolord) in Gothenburg, Sweden during the Spring and Summer of Rona, 2020. With an endless supply of depressing uncertainty and rage coursing through the United States in 2020, CONCLAVE used that energy to forge 5 new staggeringly heavy and atmospheric songs. There is no catering to trends or watering down the riffs with this band. It’s pure and honest metal in an uncompromised form.
Stay tuned for many more updates and album tunes to follow in the weeks ahead!
CONCLAVE are: Jerry Orne – Bass and vocals Jeremy Kibort – Rhythm/lead guitars + backing vocals Chris Giguere – Rhythm/lead guitars Dan Blomquist – Drums/percussion
Posted in Whathaveyou on October 29th, 2020 by JJ Koczan
english essay outline How To Write A Good Personal Statement dissertation book manuscript how to write an assignment proposal The Goat Ritual (review here) was the one that kicked off Professional http://www.cleode.fr/en/?research-paper-on-dth-servicess catering for clients worldwide at all career levels - Established in 2003 High Fighter. An initial EP comprised of four tracks of blistering sludge metal that was equal parts both, it introduced the Hamburg outfit to the underground in blazing and brazen fashion. After releasing two full-lengths in 2019’s Get a full access to easy and efficient tools letting you What Is Literature Review In Research with only a couple of clicks. Choose from the list of secure payment options. Champain (review here) and 2016’s This article provides a list of Jonathan Franzen Essays for a wide variety of writing scientific papers: essays, research papers, reports, articles, and Scars and Crosses (review here), the band will go back to the start with a new tape version of The role of "help write my research paper" is most important and usually among the least prepared. The Service Writer Seminar helps a new or a seasoned Writer to retake The Goat Ritual through Argonauta Records. Due out Dec. 4, it’s the second outing for High Fighter through Argonauta — the debut album was on Svart — and the tapes are up for preorder now. I’m not usually a huge preorder guy, but there is something about reserving a cassette in advance that appeals to my child-of-the-’80s sensibilities. Sweet nostalgia, harsh riffs.
High Fighter recently taped a Rockpalast performance on the rooftop of some industrial-looking building and you can see that linked below. I’d have embedded it, but the site wouldn’t let me. Fair enough. They’ll apparently air it on the old-fashioned tele-tube next month. Staying busy in difficult times and all that.
Info from the PR wire:
Sludge Metal Juggernaut, HIGH FIGHTER, To Release Limited Tape Edition of 2014-Debut EP “The Goat Ritual”!
Hamburg- based Sludge and Stoner Metal act, HIGH FIGHTER, has announced a limited Tape edition of their critically acclaimed, 2014- debut EP “The Goat Ritual“.
Recorded on one weekend in the band’s rehearsal room, HIGH FIGHTER’s first and self-released EP took the heavy music scene by storm, and gained the band not just high praise from both fans and critics alike, but also opened the stages on tours with bands alike AHAB, GREENLEAF, THE MIDNIGHT GHOST TRAIN as well as Europe’s finest underground festivals such as Sonic Blast, Stoned From The Underground, Desertfest Berlin, Red Smoke Festival and many more. During the past 6 years, the band continued to heavily tour Europe with acts such as CONAN, DOWNFALL OF GAIA, ELDER or DOPETHRONE, and appeared at Wacken Open Air, Desertfest London & Antwerp, Summer Breeze, Keep It Low, Up in Smoke and countless more.
With the “The Goat Ritual”, HIGH FIGHTER introduced themselves to the world of Stoner Rock, Doom and Sludge Metal, and perfectly set the scene for their wild ride of styles and fast-paced hardcore based Stoner Metal. While the record, with its stunning cover artwork, was released exactly 6 years ago on Bandcamp and as Vinyl and CD formats, December 4th 2020 will see HIGH FIGHTER’s debut EP coming out as a limited Tape edition on Argonauta Records but also appearing on Spotify for the first time ever! This is a Must-Have record for any Stoner, Sludge, Heavy Rock and Doom Metal fan, but better be quick to pre-order your copy, as the Cassettes will most definitely run out fast at THIS LOCATION: https://www.argonautarecords.com/shop/other-stuff/506-high-fighter-the-goat-ritual-mc.html
Furthermore, HIGH FIGHTER have just announced a postponed festival appearance from 2020 at VAGOS METAL FEST to return next summer. They will be playing the Portuguese metal festival alongside acts such as Emperor, Dimmu Borgir, Exodus, Testament and many more. Find out more infos HERE!
HIGH FIGHTER also recently played an exclusive “Offstage“ show for German TV, WDR Rockpalast. This very special “Corona” concert in a unique setting at the Landschaftspark Duisburg, will be airing on TV on November 9th, but has just been premiered online at THIS LOCATION!
HIGH FIGHTER is: Mona Miluski – vocals Christian Pappas – guitar Ingwer Boysen – guitar Constantin Wüst – bass Thomas Wildelau – drums & backing vocals
Posted in Bootleg Theater on October 28th, 2020 by JJ Koczan
Just by way of a refresher, New York dark heavy rockers Shadow Witch released their latest album, Under the Shadow of a Witch (review here), this year. That’s right. This year. 2020. It was Feb. 14, for Valentine’s Day. Except of course people were less concerned with the love in the air than the looming threat of a global pandemic that in the ensuing eight months has gone on to claim the lives of over 225,000 Americans, because…. freedom? But yeah. This year. I swear to you, in all honesty I thought it was October 2019.
Maybe that’s because it was around this time last year that my feed on thee social medias started getting flooded with pics of the Kingston-based outfit in blacklight regalia, playing a couple special gigs with the due color effects to match the onstage theatrics of frontman Earl Walker Lundy, who’s joined in Shadow Witch by bassist David Pannullo, guitarist Jeremy Hall and drummer Justin Zipperle. They did it as a Halloween-time thing, and since obviously the same won’t be happening this weekend for that most Reese’s-minded of pagan harvest festivals, they’ve gone ahead and put together a likewise neon-burst video for the track “Spearfinger” from the — again, wow — 2020 full-length. At three minutes, it’s a rush but it’s got one of the record’s best hooks, and since they can’t get out and do the shows, the reminder is welcome.
Fun fact: when I worked at KB Toys Store #1051 in Morris Plains, NJ — about two minutes from where I now live, if you hit the red light; it’s right by where they whacked Phil Leotardo on The Sopranos — we sold blacklights and I used my employee discount to do my whole 18-year-old bedroom in them. It was fun but mostly it just showed all the lint on my t-shirts. Shadow Witch are way better at it than I ever was.
So with that, think back to the Before Time and the shows that might’ve been, and get ready to have this one stuck in your head for the rest of your day. Also don’t go into the forest.
Enjoy the clip:
Shadow Witch, “Spearfinger” official video premiere
Since we were unable to do our usual season of (HALLOWS) blacklight gigs, we wanted to make a celebrational video for the Holy(holi)Day. We invited a friend Esther Gin, she’s a real drag, to have a go at lip-syncing to the song. We wanted to make something fun, trippy, and colorful, and I think we’ve accomplished that. Happy Halloween & Samhain Blessings !
Posted in Whathaveyou on October 15th, 2020 by JJ Koczan
It brings a sense of normalcy to my day when news comes through about Argonauta Records signing a band. Really, it’s good to know that amid all the pervasive chaos that seems to unfold every single exhausting day, Gero is out there snagging this or that act for release sometime in the not-too-distant-yet-still-entirely-unknowable future. In this case, it’s French burl-rockers Goatfather, whose 2017 single “Black Goat” you can hear below and who made their debut in 2016 with a record that somehow they decided it was a good idea to call Hipster Fister. Well then. If you need me, I’ll be giving the benefit of the doubt that all such sexual aggression is taking place in a loving and consensual context.
The new full-length has the more innocuous title of Monster Truck, and as the parent of a toddler who spends a goodly portion of his day thinking about such things, I know damn well somebody who is going to be excited about whatever video might accompany the release. Fingers crossed anyhow.
Release is tagged for “early 2021,” as per the PR wire:
French Heavy Stoner Rock Overlords GOATFATHER Sign Worldwide Deal with Argonauta Records!
New Album, “Monster Truck”, Coming in Early 2021!
French heavy stoner rock overlords, GOATFATHER, have announced their signing with Argonauta Records, who will release the band’s sophomore album in early 2021!
With their acclaimed debut album, “Hipster Fister”, GOATFATHER quickly gained high praise from both fans and critics alike, and burst into the heavy rock scene with shows in support of acts such as STONED JESUS, MARS RED SKY or PLANET OF ZEUS to name just a few. Their filthy blend of high-voltage, heavy and powerful stoner rock takes you on a wild ride, and GOATFATHER’s new album will show no signs of slowing down on that trip! Fasten your seatbelts, as the “Monster Truck” will be rollin‘ as LP, CD and Digital formats in early 2021, says the band about their upcoming collaboration with Argonauta Records:
“Stonerheadz!
As Bruce Willis once said, to be the best you have to work with the best. So we’re very proud to announce our collaboration with Argonauta Records and All Noir! We know that Gero, Mona and all the Argonauta family are real music lovers, who like it heavy, fuzzy and groovy. Seems we were made to get along!
Now let’s kick some asses! Goatfather’s 2nd album “Monster Truck” will be released in 2021 in LP, CD and digital. So brace yourself and see you all in the pit (hopefully)!“
Label owner, Gero Lucisano, comments: “I’ve got the chance to be in touch with Raphaël, band’s drummer, a few months ago, he sent me some links and some band details I immediately found intriguing. After exchanging few messages I immediately got the band would have been ready for a collaboration with a label. They not only have a top notch sounding album, they also have that kind of attitude that I dig when it comes to understand that from now on we will work as a team. So do not expect GOATFATHER being just a band with a massive wall of groovy songs, yet also a bunch of guys with attitude and the need to shout their strength to the whole world. I’m excited to start now to work with them!”
Goatfather is: Drums : Raph “Grizzly” J. Bass : Quentin “Greunt” J. Lead Guitar : Pierre “Menhir” B. Rhythm Guitar/Vocals : Yann “Olaf” S.
Posted in Reviews on October 6th, 2020 by JJ Koczan
We roll on with day two of the Fall 2020 Quarterly Review featuring another batch of 10 records en route to 50 by Friday — and actually, I just put together the list for a sixth day, so it’ll be 60 by next Monday. As much as things have been delayed from the pandemic, there’s been plenty to catch up on in the meantime and I find I’m doing a bit of that with some of this stuff today and yesterday. So tacking on another day to the end feels fair enough, and it was way easy to pick 10 more folders off my far-too-crowded desktop and slate them for review. So yeah, 60 records by Monday. I bet I could get to 70 if I wanted. Probably better for my sanity if I don’t. Anyhoozle, more to come. For now…
Quarterly Review #11-20:
Molasses Barge, A Grayer Dawn
Following up their 2017 self-titled debut issued through Blackseed Records, Pittsburgh-based rockers Molasses Barge present A Grayer Dawn through Argonauta, and indeed, in songs like “Holding Patterns” or the melancholy “Control Letting Go,” it is a somewhat moodier offering than its predecessor. But also more focused. Molasses Barge, in songs like stomping opener “The Snake” and its swing-happy successor “Desert Discord,” and in the later lumber of “Black Wings Unfurl” and push of the title-track, reside at an intersection of microgenres, with classic heavy rock and doom and modern tonality and production giving them an edge in terms of overarching heft in their low end. Riffs are choice throughout from guitarists Justin Gizzi and Barry Mull, vocalist Brian “Butch” Balich (Argus, ex-Penance, etc.) sounds powerful as ever, and the rhythm section of bassist Amy Bianco and drummer Wayne Massey lock in a succession of grooves that find welcome one after the other until the final “Reprise” fades to close the album. Its individuality is deceptive, but try to fit Molasses Barge neatly in one category or the other and they’ll stand out more than it might at first seem.
Yes, this. Slow Green Thing‘s third album, Amygdala, is melodic without being overbearing and filled out with a consuming depth and warmth of tone. A less jammy, more solo-prone Sungrazer comes to mind; that kind of blend of laid back vocals and heavy psychedelic impulse. But the Dresden four-piece have their own solidified, nodding grooves to unveil as well, tapping into modern stoner with two guitars setting their fuzz to maximum density and Sven Weise‘s voice largely floating overtop, echo added to give even more a sense of largesse and space to the proceedings, which to be sure have plenty of both. The six-track/44-minute outing picks up some speed in “Dirty Thoughts” at the outset of side B, and brings a fair bit of crush to the title-track earlier and lead-laced finale “Love to My Enemy,” but in “Dreamland,” they mellow and stretch out the drift and the effect is welcome and not at all out of place beside the massive sprawl conjured in side A capper “All I Want.” And actually, that same phrase — “all I want” — covers a good portion of my opinion on the band’s sound.
Anyone bemoaning the state of traditionalist doom metal would do well to get their pants kick’d by Haze Mage, and when that’s done, it’s time to let the stoned zombie sludge of Tombtoker rip your arms off and devour what’s left. The two Baltimorean five-pieces make a righteously odd pairing, but they’ve shared the stage at Grim Reefer Fest in Charm City, and what they have most in common is a conviction of approach that comes through on each half of the four-song/19-minute offering, with Haze Mage shooting forth with “Sleepers” and the semi-NWOBHM “Pit Fighter,” metal, classic prog and heavy rock coming together with a vital energy that is immediately and purposefully contradicted in Tombtoker‘s played-fast-but-is-so-heavy-it-still-sounds-slow “Braise the Dead” and “Botched Bastard,” both of which find a way to be a ton of fun while also being unspeakably brutal and pushing the line between sludge and death metal in a way that would do Six Feet Under proud. Horns and bongs all around, then.
Oldschool newcomers White Dog earn an automatic look by releasing their self-titled debut through former Cathedral frontman Lee Dorrian‘s Rise Above Records, but it’s the band’s clearcut vintage aesthetic that holds the listener’s attention. With proto-metal established as an aesthetic of its own going on 20 years now, White Dog aren’t the first by any means to tread this ground, but especially for an American band, they bring a sincerity of swing and soul that speaks to the heart of the subgenre’s appeal. “The Lantern” leans back into the groove to tell its tale, while “Abandon Ship” is more upfront in its strut, and “Snapdragon” and opener “Sawtooth” underscore their boogie with subtle progressive nods. Closing duo “Pale Horse” and “Verus Cultus” might be enough to make one recall it was Rise Above that issued Witchcraft‘s self-titled, but in the shuffle of “Crystal Panther,” and really across the whole LP White Dog make the classic ideology theirs and offer material of eminent repeat listenability.
The only thing that might save you from being swallowed entirely by the deathly mire Brazil’s Jupiterian craft on their third full-length, Protosapien, is the fact that the album is only 35 minutes long. That’s about right for the robe-clad purveyors of tonal violence — 2017’s Terraforming (review here) and 2015’s Aphotic (review here) weren’t much longer — and rest assured, it’s plenty of time for the band to squeeze the juice out of your soul and make you watch while they drink it out of some need-two-hands-to-hold-it ceremonial goblet. Their approach has grown more methodical over the years, and all the deadlier for that, and the deeper one pushes into Protosapien — into “Capricorn,” “Starless” and “Earthling Bloodline” at the end of the record — the less likely any kind of cosmic salvation feels. I’d say you’ve been warned, but really, this is just scratching the surface of the trenches into which Jupiterian plunge.
It’s an archival release, recorded in 2014 and 2015 by the Buenos Aires-based band, but all that really does for the three-song/hour-long Vol. I is make me wonder what the hell Experiencia Tibetana have been up to since and why Vols. II and III are nowhere to be found. The heavy psych trio aren’t necessarily inventing anything on this debut full-length, but the way “Beirut” (18:36) is peppered with memorable guitar figures amid its echo-drifting vocals, and the meditation tucked into the last few minutes of the 26:56 centerpiece “Espalda de Elefante” and the shift in persona to subdued progressive psych on “Desatormentandonos” (14:16) with the bass seeming to take the improvisational lead as guitar lines hold the central progression together, all of it is a compelling argument for one to pester for a follow-up. It may be an unmanageable runtime, but for the come-with-us sense of voyage it carries, Vol. I adapts the listener’s mindset to its exploratory purposes, and proves to be well worth the trip.
Filth-encrusted and lumbering, Yanomamo‘s sludge takes Church of Misery-style groove and pummels it outright on the opening title-track of their four-song No Sympathy for a Rat EP. Like distilled disillusion, the scream-laced answer to the Sydney four-piece’s 2017 debut, Neither Man Nor Beast, arrives throwing elbows at your temples and through “The Offering,” the wait-is-this-grindcore-well-kinda-in-this-part “Miasma” and the suitably destructive “Iron Crown,” the only letup they allow is topped with feedback. Get in, kill, get out. They have more bounce than Bongzilla but still dig into some of Thou‘s more extreme vibe, but whatever you might want to compare them to, it doesn’t matter: Yanomamo‘s unleashed assault leaves bruises all its own, and the harsher it gets, the nastier it gets, the better. Can’t take it? Can’t hang? Fine. Stand there and be run over — I don’t think it makes a difference to the band one way or the other.
Mos Eisley Spaceport, The Best of Their Early Year
They mean the title literally — “early year.” Bremen, Germany’s Mos Eisley Spaceport — who so smoothly shift between space rock and classic boogie on “Further When I’m Far” and brash tempo changes en route to a final jam-out on “Mojo Filter,” finally unveiling the Star Wars sample at the head of organ-inclusive centerpiece “Space Shift” only to bring early Fu Manchu-style raw fuzz on “Drop Out” and finish with the twanging acoustic and pedal steel of “My Bicycle Won’t Fly” — have been a band for less than a full 12 months. Thus, The Best of Their Early Year signals some of its own progressive mindset and more playful aspects, but it is nonetheless a formidable accomplishment for a new band finding their way. They lay out numerous paths, if you couldn’t tell by the run-on sentence above, and I won’t hazard a guess as to where they’ll end up sound-wise, but they have a fervent sense of creative will that comes through in this material and one only hopes they hold onto whatever impulse it is that causes them to break out the gong on “Space Shift,” because it’s that sense of anything-as-long-as-it-works that’s going to continue to distinguish them.
One doesn’t often hear “the Wolfowitz Doctrine” brought out in lyrics these days, but Chicago heavy noise metallers Of Wolves aren’t shy about… well, anything. With volume inherent in the sound no matter how loud you’re actually hearing it, conveyed through weighted tones, shouts of progressions unified in intensity but varied in aggression and actual approach, the three-piece take an unashamed stance on a range of issues from the last two decades of war to trying to put themselves into the head of a mass shooter. The lyrics across their sophomore outing, Balance, are worth digging into for someone willing to take them on, but even without, the aggro mosh-stomp of “Maker” makes its point ahead of the 17-second “Flavor of the Weak” before Of Wolves dive into more progressively-structured fare on the title-track and “Clear Cutting/Bloodshed/Heart to Hand.” After “Killing Spree” and the aural-WTF that is “Inside (Steve’s Head),” they finish with a sludgecore take on the Misfits‘ “Die, Die My Darling,” which as it turns out was exactly what was missing up to that point.
Comprised of four-fifths of what was Virginian outfit King Giant, it’s hard to know whether to consider Pimmit Hills a new band or a name-change, or what, but the first offering from vocalist David Hammerly, guitarist Todd “TI” Ingram, bassist Floyd Lee Walters III and drummer Brooks, titled Heathens & Prophets and self-released, hits with a bit of a bluesier feel than did the prior outfit, leaving plenty of room for jamming in each track and even going so far as to bring producer J. Robbins in on keys throughout the four-song/29-minute release. I suppose you could call it an EP or an LP — or a demo? — if so inclined, but any way you cut it, Heathens & Prophets plainly benefits from the band’s experience playing together, and they find a more rocking, less moody vibe in “Baby Blue Eyes” and the harmonica-laced “Beautiful Sadness” that has a feel as classic in substance as it is modern in sound and that is both Southern but refusing to bow entirely to cliché.
Posted in Reviews on October 5th, 2020 by JJ Koczan
Oh hi there. It’s Quarterly Review time again, and you know what that means. 50 records between now and Friday — and I may or may not extend it through next Monday as well; I think I have enough of a backlog at this point to do so. It’s really just a question of how destroyed I am by writing about 10 different records every day this week. If past is prologue, that’s fairly well destroyed. But I’ve yet to do a Quarterly Review and regret it when it’s over, and like the last one, this roundup of 50 albums is pretty well curated, so it might even be fun to go through. There’s a thought. In any case, as always, I hope you find something you enjoy, and thank you for reading if you do or as much as you do.
Quarterly Review #1-10:
Steve Von Till, No Wilderness Deep Enough
Neurosis guitarist/vocalist Steve Von Till seems to be bringing some of the experimentalism that drives his Harvestman project into the context of his solo work with No Wilderness Deep Enough, his fifth LP and first since 2015’s A Life unto Itself (review here). Drones and melodic synth backs the deceptively-titled “The Old Straight Track,” and where Von Till began his solo career 20 years ago with traditional folk guitar, if slower, on these six tracks, he uses that meditative approach as the foundation for an outward-reaching 37-minute run, incorporating ethereal strings among the swirls of “Shadows on the Run” and finishing with the foreboding hum of “Wild Iron.” Opener “Dreams of Trees” establishes the palette’s breadth with synthesized beats alongside piano and maybe-cello, but it’s Von Till‘s voice itself that ties the material together and provides the crucial human presence and intimacy that most distinguishes the offerings under his own name. Accompanied by Von Till‘s first published book of poetry, No Wilderness Deep Enough is a portrait of the unrelenting creative growth of its maker.
Cyttorak, Simultaneous Invocation of Apocalyptic Harbingers
Take a breath before you hit play only to have it punched right out from your solar plexus by the brutalist deathsludge Cyttorak cleverly call “slowerviolence.” Dominated by low end and growls, screams, and shouts, the lumbering onslaught is the second standalone EP for the three-piece who hail from scenic Pawtucket, Rhode Island (former home of the PawSox), and throughout its six-track run, the unit conjure an unyieldingly punishing tonal morass set to aggressive purpose. That they take their name from the Marvel Universe character who controls X-Men villain Juggernaut should not be taken as coincidence, since their sound indeed seems intended to put its head down and smash through walls and/or anything else that might be in its path in pursuit of its quarry. With Conan-esque lyrical minimalism, the songs nonetheless give clues to their origins — “Royal Shokan Dismemberment” refers to Goro from Mortal Kombat, and finale “Domination Lord of Coldharbour” to Skyrim (which I still regret not playing) — but if you consider comics or video games to be lighter fare, first off, you’re working with an outdated mentality, and second, Cyttorak would like a bit of your time to smother you with volume and ferocity. They have a new split out as well, both on tape.
Also signified by the Greek letter from which they take their moniker, Czech four-piece Lambda represent a new age of progressive heavy post-rock. Influences from Russian Circles aren’t necessarily surprising to find coursing through the instrumental debut full-length, Heliopolis, but there are shades of Elder as well behind the more driving riffs and underlying swing of “Space Express,” which also featured on the band’s 2015 EP of the same name. The seven-minute “El Sonido Nuevo” did likewise, but older material or newer, the album’s nine-song procession moves toward its culminating title-track through the grace of “Odysea” and the intertwining psychedelic guitars of “Milkyway Phaseshifter” with an overarching atmosphere of the journey to the city of the sun being undertaken. And when they get there, at the closer, there’s an initial sense of peace that gives way to some of the most directly heavy push Heliopolis has to offer. Payoff, then. So be it. Purposeful and somewhat cerebral in its execution, the DIY debut brings depth and space together to immersive effect.
Following his 2016 debut, Rotgut (review here) and 2018’s Go to the Devil (review here), Godless is the third full-length from former Iron Man and current Spiral Grave frontman Dee Calhoun, and its considerable 63-minute runtime finds him working in multiple directions while keeping his underlying roots in acoustic-based heavy metal. Certainly “To My Boy” — and Rob Calhoun has appeared on his father’s releases before as well — has its basis in familial expression, but its pairing with “Spite Fuck” is somewhat curious. Meanwhile, “Hornswoggled” cleverly samples George W. Bush with a laugh track, and “Here Under Protest,” “The Greater Evil,” “Ebenezer” and “No Justice” seem to take a worldly view as well. Meanwhile again, “Godless,” “The Day Salvation Went Away” and “Prudes, Puritanicals and Puddles of Piss” make their perspective nothing if not plain for the listener, and the album ends with the two-minute kazoo-laced gag track “Here Comes the Bride: A Tale From Backwater.” So perhaps scattershot, but Godless is nonetheless Calhoun‘s most effective outing yet in terms of arrangements and craft, and shows him digging further into the singer-songwriter form than he has up to now, sounding more comfortable and confident in the process.
Melodic vocal lines weave together and float over alternately weighted and likewise ethereal guitars on Turtle Skull‘s second album, Monoliths. The percussion-inclusive (tambourine, congas, rain stick, etc.) Sydney-based heavy psychedelic outfit create an immersive wash that makes the eight-song/55-minute long-player consuming for the duration, and while there are moments of clarity to be found throughout — the steady snare taps of “Why Do You Ask?” for example — but the vast bulk of the LP is given to the overarching flow, which finds progressive/space-rock footing in the 11-plus minutes of finale “The Clock Strikes Forever” and is irresistibly consuming on the drifting wash of “Rabbit” or the lysergic grunge blowout of “Who Cares What You Think?,” which gives way to the choral drone of “Halcyon” gorgeously en route through the record’s back half. It’s not the highest profile heavy psych release of 2020, but neither is it to be overlooked for the languid stretch of “Leaves” at the outset or the fuzz-drenched roll in the penultimate “Apple of Your Eye.”
In some ways, the dichotomy of Diuna‘s 2019 sophomore full-length, Golem, is set by its first two tracks, the 24-second intro “Menu” and the seven-minute “Jarmark Cudów” that follows, each longer song throughout is prefaced by an introduction or interlude, varying in degrees of experimentation. That, however, doesn’t cover the outsider vibes the Polish trio bring to bear in those longer songs themselves, be it “Jarmark Cudów” devolving into a post-Life of Agony noise rock roll, or the thrust in “Frank Herbert” cut into starts and stops and shouting madness. Heavy rock, noise, sludge, post-this-or-that, it doesn’t matter by the end of the 12-track/44-minute release, because Diuna establish such firm control over the proceedings and make so clear the challenge to the listener to keep up that it’s only fun to try. It might take a couple listens to sink in, but the more attention one gives Golem, the more one is going to be rewarded in the end, and I don’t just mean in the off-kilter fuckery of closer “Pan Jezus Idzie Do Wojska.”
“Ambitious” doesn’t begin to cover it. With eight songs (plus a bonus track) and 11 listed guest musicians, the debut full-length, Hollow, from Tel Aviv-based death-doomers Tomorrow’s Rain seems to be setting its own standard in that regard. And quite a list it is, with the likes of Aaron Stainthorpe of My Dying Bride, Greg Mackintosh of Paradise Lost, Fernando Ribeiro of Moonspell, Mikko Kotamaki of Swallow the Sun, and so on, it is a who’s-who of melodic/gothic death-doom and the album lives up to the occasion in terms of the instrumental drama it presents. Some appear on one track, some on multiple tracks — Ribeiro and Kotamaki both feature on “Misery Rain” — and despite the constant shifts in personnel with only one of the eight tracks completely without an outside contributor, the core six-piece of Tomorrow’s Rain are still able to make an impression of their own that is bolstered and not necessarily overwhelmed by the extravagant company being kept throughout.
Mother Eel‘s take on sludge isn’t so much crushing as it is caustic. They’re plenty heavy, but their punishment isn’t just meted out through tonal weight being brought down on your head. It’s the noise. It’s the blown-out screams. It’s the harshness of the atmosphere in which the entirety of their debut album, Svalbard, resides. Five tracks, 33 minutes, zero forgiveness. One might be tempted to think of songs like “Erection of Pain” as nihilistic fuckall, but that seems incorrect. Nah, they mean it. Fuckall, yeah. But fuckall as ethos. Fuckall manifest. So it goes through “Alpha Woman” and “Listen to the Elderly for They Have Much to Teach,” which ends in a Primitive Man-ish static assault, and the lumbering finish “Not My Shade,” which assures that what began on “Sucking to Gain” half an hour earlier ends on the same anti-note: a disaffected malevolence writ into sheer sonic unkindness. There is little letup, even in the quiet introductions or transitions, so if you’re looking for mercy, don’t bother.
The four-song/39-minute atmospheric sludge long-player Filled by Empty Spaces is listed by Brazilian solo outfit Umbilichaos as being the third part of, “the Tetralogy of Loneliness.” If that’s the emotion being expressed in the noise-metal post-Godflesh chug-and-shout of “Filled by Empty Spaces Pt. 02,” then it is loneliness viscerally presented by founding principal and multi-instrumentalist Anna C. Chaos. The feel throughout the early going of the release is plodding and agonized in kind, but in “Filled by Empty Spaces Pt. 01” and “Filled by Empty Spaces Pt. 03” there is some element of grim, crusted-over psychedelia happening alongside the outright dirge-ism, though the latter ultimately wins out in the four-minute instrumental capper “Disintegration.” One way or the other, Chaos makes her point through raw tonality and overarching intensity of purpose, the compositions coming across simultaneously unhinged and dangerously under control. There are many kinds of heavy. Filled by Empty Spaces is a whole assortment of them.
Fueled by avant grunge/noise impulsion, Radar Men From the Moon‘s latest foray to Planet Whothefuckknows arrives in the eight-song/41-minute The Bestial Light, a record alternately engrossing and off-putting, that does active harm when the sounds-like-it’s-skipping intro to “Piss Christ” comes on and then subsequently mellows out with psych-sax like they didn’t just decide to call the song “Sacred Cunt of the Universe” or something. Riffs, electronics, the kind of weirdness that’s too self-aware not to be progressive, Radar Men From the Moon take the foundation of experimentation set by Astrosoniq and mutate it via Swans into something unrecognizable by genre and unwilling to compromise its own direction. And no, by the time “Levelling” comes on to round out, there is no peace to be found, though perhaps a twisted kind of joy at the sheer postmodernism. They should score ballets with this stuff. No one would go, but three centuries from now, they’d be worshiped as gods. Chance of that anyway, I suppose.
Posted in audiObelisk on September 23rd, 2020 by JJ Koczan
Port Orchard, Washington’s Mos Generator and Milan, Italy’s Di’Aul will release a split LP this Friday through Argonauta Records. It’s a vinyl-only, limited-to-250 copies pressing, and if the pairing of bands seems random or at very least plucked out of the ether, the story behind how it came together could hardly be simpler. Reportedly, members of Di’Aul went to see Mos Generator on tour a few years back and hit up guitarist/vocalist Tony Reed about making something happen. Couple years after the fact, here we are. The life lesson is you lose nothing by sending that email, and maybe you get to put out a split with Mos Generator.
The Pacific Northwest heavy rock institution offer three tracks on side A of the quite-manageable 32-minute outing, and bring forth an installment of their ‘Plundering of the Vaults’ series with demos recorded between 2014 and 2018. As self-sufficient as they are in the studio with Reed working as producer as well as helming mixing and mastering, it’s hard to imagine the vaults aren’t overflowing at any given time, but the three inclusions here run shortest to longest and feel particularly choice.
“I Spoke to Death” opens in Sabbath-rock fashion while also invoking Americana folk, while “The Paranoid” rolls at a lumbering pace in contrast to its own obvious reference while the lyrics nod to The Stooges‘ “TV Eye” and vocal lines intertwine behind one of the most outwardly doomed progressions I’ve heard from the band. Somehow fitting, a cross-lineup (explained below) cover of Pink Floyd‘s “Fearless” — also recently taken on by Seattle/Los Angeles heavies Snail — caps Mos Generator‘s portion of the release with clarity cutting through psychedelia and a kick of energy bolstering the mellow vibe of the Meddle original while still ending with a crowd chant, maybe backwards in this case.
Meanwhile, in Milan, Di’Aul crush it. The four-piece of vocalist MoMo, guitarist LeLe, bassist Jeremy Toma and drummer Diego Bertoni celebrate 10 years of the band’s existence in 2020, and their two assembled cuts — “The House on the Edge of the World” (8:47) and “Three Ladies” (7:56) — stand in immediate contrast to side A in their focus on sheer tonal heft and impact. Beginning with two minutes-plus of ambience and stark guitar, “The House on the Edge of the World” builds into a massive and righteous nod without losing its hook in the ensuing fray.
It is H-E-A-V-Y, and harsher in its approach than Mos Generator, but makes a better complement for the fact that each act brings something different to the release. There’s sludge underlying what Di’Aul are doing, and some jabs and turns of riff in “The House on the Edge of the World” remind of YOB, but as the track chug-stop-chugs to its end, its gravity is its own. More immediate, “Three Ladies” starts out with bass and drums and is underway soon enough with its own stomp and drawl, a solo break as it heads into its midsection proving only a brief respite from the willful repetition and concrete-on-skull vibe that surrounds.
If you think you can hang, you probably can. Splits like this often become a footnote in the respective catalogs of the bands that take part in them. Mos Generator always have a slew of things going on, and Di’Aul are two years removed from their second LP, Nobody’s Heaven (review here), but for an offering that asks next to nothing of the listener beyond the time involved in hearing the thing, and for the quality of work put in by both groups, you can’t really go wrong, whether either band is new to you or not. The relatively few physical copies that exist create some urgency around it, so I’m that much more appreciative of being able to host the full stream of the split for you to check out in advance of the proper release this Friday.
More PR wire info follows under the player.
Please enjoy:
Mos Generator & Di’Aul, Split official premiere
Heavy rock icons, Mos Generator, have teamed up with Italy’s doom and sludge rock heavy weights Di’Aul for the release of a 5-track split vinyl-only LP, coming out on September 25th, 2020, via Argonauta Records!
Mos Generator’s plundering of the Vaults continues with three demos recorded between May 2014 and June 2018. Says Tony Reed, “All three of these songs were recorded live in our rehearsal space and then layers were added later in the studio. There are a few interesting things about these songs. First, they are loosely arranged ideas that were only played two or three times before we recorded them, and I think that is what helps give them the raw edge that they have. And two, there is a crossover of band line-ups. On the Pink Floyd cover “Fearless”, original drummer Shawn Johnson is playing with second line-up bassist Sean Booth. That has happened before with other configurations and I enjoy it. Someday I would like to record with both rhythm sections at once.”
After a decade of shows across Europe and four albums to date, Di’Aul have grabbed the chance to team up with one of the best rock bands of our time: Mos Generator. “We saw them live with Saint Vitus during their European tour, completely astonished from their sound, MoMo and Rex decided to write a message to Mr. Tony Reed and ask him to make a record together. And so it is!”
Di’Aul recorded two brand new songs in a one day session with longtime friends and producers Federico Lino and Alessio Massara of the Iron Ape Studio in Vigevano (Pavia – Italy), mastered at HeavyHead Recording Co. by Tony Reed himself.
Tracklist: A Side Mos Generator – “Plundering of the Vaults : Vol II” 1. I Spoke to Death 2. The Paranoid 3. Fearless ( Pink Floyd Cover )
B Side Di’Aul 1. The House on the Edge of the World 2. Three Ladies
Posted in Bootleg Theater on September 17th, 2020 by JJ Koczan
Italian instrumentalists Vesta will release their second full-length through Argonauta Records, titled Odyssey, on Oct. 16, and they’re not kidding around when it comes to that title. Even going beyond the references to 2001: A Space Odyssey in the Viareggio trio’s new video for album-opener “Elohim” premiering below, the record itself spans eight songs and an encompassing 52 minutes that bring together heavy rock and roll and progressive metal, seeming to find a space between Tool, Russian Circles, Karma to Burn and maybe even a bit of Isis (looking at you, “Tumae”) as the journey unfolds.
Though they remain wordless, their expression comes through use of effects and a general sense of poise that underscores the notion of the band as progressive; they’re well in control of what they’re doing, and whatever exploratory elements they might have at work throughout, be it flutter of guitar here or a crushing low-end shove a short time later — the punch of bass at the start of “Breach” is particularly fun — they contradict hypnotic passages with sudden turns in a way that can only be purposeful. That is to say, they know where they want to put their audience and how to get them there.
The album would seem to be comprised of two different methods playing out across longer and shorter tracks. “Elohim” tops seven minutes and is of a kind with the closing salvo of “Temple,” “Supernova” and “Cerere,” all of which are between 7-8 minutes. The space between the beginning and that consuming finish is given to “Tumae,” “Breach,” “Juno” and the transitional highlight “Borealis,” all of which are under six minutes long. True enough that all the material throughout Vesta‘s Odyssey has a sense of scope and that the breadth they show comes through wherever a given song might lead, but “Elohim” seems specially positioned to immerse the listener in what the outing has to offer, to capture the attention and mindset and from there manipulate it in the manner stated above.
Comprised of guitarist Giacomo Cerri, bassist Lorenzo Iannazzone and drummer Sandro Marchi, the three-piece are able to bring a sense of energy to the proceedings that makes them breathe all the more, but it is the patient and unfurling nature of the material that most comes through. “Juno” touches on a “Stones From the Sky” moment — the Neurosis riff that launched post-metal as a genre — but whether Vesta are drawing from that well of inspiration or another, it’s hard to say, and it being hard to say is what makes the album work as it pulls together its songs from various sounds and styles.
It’s in “Temple” that the Tool-ness most comes forward, but that in itself is really just an introduction to the final stage of Odyssey as a whole, which progresses smoothly into “Supernova” — there’s a burst, sure enough, but it’s less sudden than one might expect given the title — and into the kind of epilogue of “Cerere,” which finds room for a playfully bluesy solo and a last push through wash that, if you managed to sneak in some ghostly howls way down in the mix, would for sure be able to pass as black metal. You find the darnedest things lurking in the corners of records by bands who are obviously pushing themselves to reach someplace new.
I don’t know if there’s an overarching narrative to Odyssey, but there’s certainly one to “Elohim,” and it plays out in the video with all the clarity one might expect given the atmospheric intention on the part of the band behind it, adopting the aforementioned Kubrickian modus and ending on an alien landscape when its voyage is complete.
Live long, prosper, and enjoy:
Vesta, “Elohim” official video premiere
Vesta on “Elohim”:
“Being an instrumental group, we prefer to leave free interpretation to those who enjoy our music, but lately we are taking more into consideration the potential of a visual integration in support. Regarding the first single Elohim, the basic meaning of the name is “God”, “Divinity” intended as the One God … and like every human being we ask ourselves if we are alone in the universe or, and if there really is a mind superior to us, maybe it too is looking for answers. During these months of lockdown we got an idea of ??how we could tell what we had in mind through a short film. The story speaks of a signal picked up on earth, identified and analyzed. Through a spacetime tunnel man manages to have a vision, which leads him to explore Mars in search of answers to that signal but there is no life, there is nothing other than red rocks and rocky deserts. Yet in the middle of a Canyon there is an artifact placed by who knows, that transports us back to another part of the Cosmos. Something happens there; are we alone?”
Three years after their self-titled debut, Italy’s post-rock and metal outfit, Vesta, returns with their sophomore album, titled “Odyssey”, on October 16th 2020 via Argonauta Records.
“We’re three people, three individuals who came together to create something, to make music and to complete each other musically, to form a perfect Triangle.” The band explains. “Everyone in VESTA is interested in how we present our music. We write a group of songs that have a vibe, energy and feeling, and then we try to pick an image to capture that and communicate a feeling. We want something that adds to the connection with the audience.What makes us a bit nervous is, in this instant time, to release something that might take more than one listen. Where everything is instantly judged on YouTube or something! It’s a bit like releasing a horse and cart on a racetrack. With three perfectionists in the band, we have a hard time reaching perfection.”
“Odyssey” was recorded and mixed by Alessandro “Ovi” Sportelli and mastered by James Plotkin (Khanate, Cave In, Isis, Sumac), the result is a powerful, roaring wall of sound, a 54 minutes long, sonic Odyssey.
