Posted in Whathaveyou on March 13th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
Goya will release their first album in eight years, In the Dawn of November, on June 13 as their label-debut for Blues Funeral. Led off by its weighty-grooving title-track, the follow-up to 2017’s Harvester of Bongloads (review here) reaffirms the Phoenix trio among the dankest of riff worshippers the heavy ’10s wrought, whether it’s the title-track’s crawling catchiness, “Cemetary Blues” rolling out like Electric Wizard jamming with Type O Negative, organ and all, or “Depressive Episode” kicking the tempo for a dark stoner shuffle, “Sick of Your Shit” bring lumber and a standout vocal from guitarist Jeffrey Owens, “I Wanna Be Dead” bringing back some of that gothy vibe but doing it in a what-it’s-all-about 12 very, very stoned minutes of heavy pummel and suitably lethal hookmaking, or the vague outro “Comes With the Fall” thereafter — oops that’s the whole record; I guess it goes down smooth.
But while it does all that reaffirming, In the Dawn of November also offers clear growth in songwriting, performance, production and stylistic scope, and while celebrating their influences is still a part of Goya‘s purpose as a band, they’ve never come across as identifiably their own as they seem to in this material. I’m looking forward to getting to know the album better, but it’s a striking first impression, and I know nodders will be nodding. Will hope to have more to come. Video and audio for the title-track are at the bottom of the post.
From the PR wire:
Phoenix doom metal trio GOYA to release new album “In the Dawn of November” on Blues Funeral Recordings; stream title track now!
Phoenix, Arizona doom metal torchbearers GOYA have signed to Blues Funeral Recordings for the release of their fourth studio album “In the Dawn of November” this June 13th, and present the spine-shivering video for its title track today.
Goya is a Phoenix, Arizona doom metal band known and revered for delivering mountain-heavy riffs drenched in copious amounts of fuzz on top of haunting psychedelic atmospherics. Formed in 2011 by guitarist and vocalist Jeffrey Owens, the band takes its cue from genre pioneers like Electric Wizard, Acid King and Sleep, crafting a sound that is as hypnotic as it is defiantly punishing.
In the fall of 2024, Goya entered Soundhouse Studios in Seattle with legendary producer Jack Endino (High On Fire, Year of the Cobra, Soundgarden) to lay down a monolithic work of graveyard grooves and bleak reflections to herald their towering return with their most accomplished and unwaveringly bone-crushing record to date — leading the trio to ink a deal with revered Albuquerque-based label Blues Funeral Recordings. “We are proud to welcome these Arizona desert doom stalwarts to the label with a new LP of crushing cosmic sludge! Goya has historically done almost everything themselves, and we’re grateful for the trust they’ve shown by allowing us into their fortress to do what we do and help spread their monolithic riff-heaviness farther than ever before,” said label founder Jadd Shickler.
Let Goya crush your souls with new video “In the Dawn of November” + listen to the single on all streaming services: https://lnkfi.re/goyanovember
About the song, frontman Jeffrey Owens comments: “The eight years since the last Goya record have brought me face to face with some hard truths about life. I’m getting older, and mortality has struck me in new ways, so this album is largely a meditation on death. In the Dawn of November is the natural evolution of the band, and the culmination of everything that came before it, simultaneously signifying a new era for Goya.”
TRACKLIST: 1. In the Dawn of November 2. Cemetary Blues 3. Depressive Episode 4. Sick of Your Shit 5. I Wanna Be Dead 6. Comes with the Fall
Goya’s 2012 demo showcased their early potential, but it was their debut full-length “777” (2013) that announced their fearsome arrival in the doom underground. With sprawling, riff-heavy compositions and occult-tinged lyrics, “777” resonated deeply with fans of titanic sludge-metal. Continuing to evolve, Goya released “Obelisk” in 2015, a concept album that refined their blend of psychedelic doom. They followed this with their magnum opus, 2017’s “Harvester of Bongloads”, another concept album that leaned as heavily as ever into their fuzz-laden, riff-driven aesthetic and further cemented their legacy of unrelenting doom and immersive sonic landscapes.
In the summer of 2024, Goya returned to the road for a month-long US tour after taking a few years to write their fourth album “In the Dawn of November”, to be released in the spring of 2025 via New Mexico-based label Blues Funeral Recordings (Acid King, Lowrider, Dozer).
Goya is Marcus Bryant – Drums Jeffrey Owens – Guitar/Vocals CJ Sholtis – Bass
Posted in Bootleg Theater on February 21st, 2025 by JJ Koczan
Hell yeah. I love a winning recommendation. A scant couple weeks ago — three now, I think — I stood in the aftermath of Planet Desert Rock Weekend V in Las Vegas, saying a few goodnights at the end of four killer days of music and hugs and such. Among the people I met was Phil from Phoenix, who asked me if I’d ever heard of Stone Witch.
Now, it had been a long fest and I was pretty out of it. Plus, it’s kind of a generic name. No, I didn’t know the band. I also didn’t know he was talking about a band. The way he said it, it kind of sounded like Stone Witch was a genre, or something else entirely. Less a band than a secret being shared, was how he said it. Like a regional delicacy cooked up with special Arizona seasonings, and not the ones they have in the Penzey’s catalog, but like maybe some regional dirt thrown in with all the spicey groove and classic flair.
Order of the Goat was originally released by Stone Witch as an EP in 2016 — at the time, the lineup was listed as guitarist/vocalist Jayare Robbins, lead guitarist Matt Wentz, bassist Ian Colbert and drummer Jason Colbert — and the original five-tracker was expanded to seven songs and 36 minutes in 2022. By then, the band had already offered their fuzz-slinging debut full-length, Desert Oracle, in 2019. So no, the album version of Order of the Goat featured above (on Wet Records, though Glory or Death and Interstellar Smoke had copies) isn’t the OG edition, but like I said, I didn’t know the band until Phil from Phoenix hinted that there was some grand mystery that I needed to solve as to just who or what Stone Witch was. I never claimed to be Johnny Groundfloor here.
They’re pretty raw, to start with. Desert Oracle smoothed out some of the grit that pervades in Order of the Goat — not all of it, thankfully — but the fact that these songs were recorded earlier even if they made it to a 12″ platter later shouldn’t be neglected. But the rawness becomes part of the character, like earliest Duel or any number of other hard-hitters who also happen to boogie down. Stone Witch most certainly do that, and while I don’t know the relationship between Ian on bass and Jason handling percussion — if they’re brothers, cousins, just people who have the same last name and play in a band together — I’m assuming they’re siblings simply based on the chemistry between them in the janga-janga shuffling “Wind Walker” or as the later “Oath Breaker” picks up the tempo heading into its solo section.
Rest assured, no attempt is being made to reinvent the wheel here, and this too works entirely to the benefit of the listening experience. Who needs to innovate when you can pull off a shuffle as tight as “Dark Goddess” or find a classic doomer roll in “Blood Feast” like some lost Pagan Altar track from 197X but still with room for an airy lead stretch from Wentz, or you have the monolithic low end distortion of “1903” — which wasn’t on the original EP but closes the LP — sitting in your back pocket the whole time? Stone Witch are a celebration of heavy rock from Black Sabbath and Deep Purple, plus more obscurities of the age, through Pentagram, Cathedral and maybe even some Fu Manchu or Kyuss, High on Fire and Monolord. A melting pot of heavy ideologies. But, crucially, they make it dance.
It’s hard to fight an impulse to credit Jason Colbert with that specifically for what he brings to the drums — the push later in “1903” is a fitting example, or the swing and proto-metallic lateral thrust behind the other not-originally-included cut, “Ghost Rider,” earlier on — and how it enhances the character of the material while furthering the sense of movement. “Blood Feast” digs into a chugging swing in its second half and the drums are right there making it happen; the band almost functioning in the ’70s power trio ideal, except with two guitars for extra punch of riff and to let the rhythm have extra force during solos. In any case, just as it’s so often the bass that gives heavy music its sense of heft, the momentum Stone Witch are able to harness across Order of the Goat comes from the fluidity of the drumming. When they’re kicking up dust on “Herald,” though, by no means are the drums alone in being all-in.
Is this the part where I wax poetic about the power of community in the heavy underground, express my wonder at the support this site gets and my thanks to Phil from Phoenix for putting the question of what and/or who Stone Witch was in the back of my head in the first place? Well, I could. It’s all certainly true. But you know it already, and as the four-piece space out a bit in “Herald” and jam their way to a finish that if you were drunk enough standing in front of the stage while it happened surely you would lose your addled mind — never mind the blowout that follows in “1903” — some big divergence from the central purpose here would be in the wrong spirit. Stone Witch very clearly went into their first EP with an idea of who they were as a band or at very least the sounds they wanted to worship, and the second album that’s resulted from that is richer for it. Yeah, the heavy rock underground is amazing, but more to the point the record’s a banger.
So, thanks Phil from Phoenix for clueing me in on a treasure of his hometown underground. I checked out the band’s socials to see if maybe there was something I could plug — maybe they’ve got a record out next week or some such — but not much really going on except some Reels plugging the vinyl. Not a criticism. Not everybody can or wants to play the ‘content’ game, and given the heart behind what they’re doing on Order of the Goat, I don’t think Stone Witch are much for bullshit generally. If you’ve heard it before, cool, if not, cool. I hope you dig it either way. It’s one I’m happy to have encountered, and at some point I’ll probably dig into Desert Oracle too. If that’s next week, so be it.
Thanks for reading.
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Weird week. Monday there was no school, so The Pecan was hanging around. I spent the first half of the week fretting about getting Hungarian homework done and the second thinking about fleeing the country. Anybody in Europe got a home they want to open up to my family for, say, six weeks or until we can find a place to exist? Just a heads up, all your stuff will be broken if you say yes. The dog is really good though. She’s never pooped in the house. She did pee on the couch that one time in Budapest last summer though.
So maybe not lodging thanks to the kindness of strangers/internet acquaintances. So it goes.
Still, it is a compelling consolidation of power in the executive branch taking place, and the nakedness of the corruption makes me think maybe it’s time to call up one of those “I’ll help you pack”-type fascists and take them up on the offer.
I don’t know what that would do to this site, and honestly the safety of my family is a higher priority. I have a lot of fun here and I’ve seen and heard amazing things as a result of doing The Obelisk for the last 16 years, but if I need to drop it I will. I would not miss sorting links or images for news posts. I still suck at SEO. If I’m here, there, doing this or something else, I’ll probably keep writing in some context or other. I don’t know how else to live at this point.
Maybe you think that’s over the top, melodramatic. I don’t care. It’s where I’m at.
This weekend I’m traveling to Massachusetts to see the Worshipper 10th anniversary show and a bunch of old friends. That will be good. Show review Monday, then next week is full with a video premiere for Church of the Sea, a Make Money From Home review, I think a video premiere for Amammoth, and hopefully an interview with Matte from Sound of Liberation if I can edit the transcript in time.
If this week seemed light on posts, I was doing other stuff besides. In the last seven days I’ve banged out two band bios — for Witchcraft and Dwellers — and done two more edits/reads, for Temple Fang and Clamfight. That’s a lot for a week’s time. I have to do another album-bio piece too in the next couple weeks. I keep saying I’m gonna say no to that kind of work and then it’s like “so-and-so has a new record!” and I get excited because silly brain like shiny things.
I mention the bio writing to give myself a little grace on the week here. I wanted to review Make Money From Home yesterday morning to go up today, but the kid was up before I was in the morning, so I couldn’t get the usual jump on the day, I had one of the bios above to do that I’d promised would be in, and the review got pushed back. There’s a ton of stuff on my list though. That record, Yawning Balch, Naxatras, Year of the Cobra, Conan, Dirtmother, Kryptograf, Colour Haze’s To the Highest GodsWe Know redux and, at the start of April, Lo-Pan. And I still don’t even know when the Dead Shrine record is coming out.
All of which, I guess, is my way of reminding myself why I do a Quarterly Review.
Whatever you’re up to, I hope you have a great and safe weekend. Thanks again for reading, watch your head, be safe, hydrate. The bastards are lurking everywhere and they’re hidden in the code. Keep your head.
Posted in audiObelisk on January 17th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
Arizona heavy rockers Fuzz Evil — led as ever by guitarist/vocalist Wayne Rudell and bassist/vocalist Joey Rudell — will release their fourth album, Smear Merchants, on March 21 through Desert Records. And more than two months is early for a review of the thing, admittedly, but I’m not sure I can let this post go live without telling you it’s the best and farthest-reaching work the band have done. In the 10-plus years since their first split 7″ (review here), the Rudell brothers have steered through a number of sonic shifts, trying out ideas in persona and style. The preceding 2023 outing, New Blood (review here), pushed their prior good-times desert-style aesthetic forth with a bit more of an edge, and as the revamped four-piece of Wayne, Joey, baritone guitarist Preston Jennings and drummer Cajun Adams take off on the 10-song/45-minute plunge, they sound like they’ve thrown off some of the shackles of writing to genre and are a freer in their expression. It would seem Fuzz Evil have hit the point of bring able to let their music become whatever the hell they think it wants to be.
Considering they’ve been skillful songwriters all along, Smear Merchants comes across like an organic arrival at a moment of realization and self-reflection. It gets darker than one might think of as ‘refreshing,’ but it is the most individual they’ve sounded. Some of it is outwardly aggressive, more than the band has been before, as with the screams in the charged “Wanderer’s Wake” and some of it is quieter and more hypnotic. Those who got down to the dancey side of New Blood might be surprised at the noisy aural context “Smear Merchants” (premiering below) sets for the album that shares its name with its wailing-wah solo and tonal crunch.
But the brash punker thrust in the first half of the two-minute “Sermons of the Defiant” (where the repeated line sounds like, “I wanna fight the pope, I wanna fight the pope,” and if it’s not that, I’m not sure I want to know) just prior and the uptick in scope for the subsequent eight-minute sprawl of “Progression of the Black Sun”, languid swing hinting at doom in its twists and use of organ, but unmistakably desert-born, paint a more complex picture. And in truth, that’s the story of the whole record: it’s a more complex picture of who you thought Fuzz Evil were as a band. They’re still heavy, they’re still writing memorable pieces like the aforementioned “Wanderer’s Wake,” which picks up from the 17-second intro “The Fraile Mourning of Eternity” — weightier in its title than acoustic strum, but fair enough — and gives over to the shorter instrumental blast “Doomsayer’s Lament,” setting up a back-and-forth that plays out into the shuffling highlight “The Juice is Loosh,” the aforementioned “Sermons of the Defiant” and the title-track across side A with “Progression of the Black Sun” waiting to immerse the listener after the (perhaps virtual) LP platter flip.
The longest cut on Smear Merchants is a highlight as well for what it encompasses while still shining through with purpose for its comparatively extended run, but Fuzz Evil aren’t finished yet, and they flesh out side B with the ultra-hooky “Starlight Grave” and “How to Vibe Alone,” the latter of which brings a marked focus on fuzzal density and a right-on grooving lead and sludgy shouts later on, echoing back to “Wanderer’s Wake,” giving the record a sense of symmetry, and still leaving room for one final turn toward the unexpected with the patient drone intro that picks up from the residual crashes of “How to Vibe Alone” and moves fluidly into the instrumental finale “Whispers From the Abyss.” This last inclusion makes its way to a last nod, but for the first 3:45 of its total 5:11, it explores a guitar-effects drone, and so gives one more new look from Fuzz Evil before they turn their audience back over to the real world with no less intent than they started out in “The Fraile Mourning of Eternity” at the start.
…Well, so much for not reviewing it. I knew that was gonna happen.
Maybe you skipped to the audio here. Enough blah blah, give me the song. Fair.
What you really need to know, even two months ahead of the release, is that Fuzz Evil have found something new in this material and set themselves to exploring it with the same vitality they’ve always brought to their work. Take a listen to “Smear Merchants” on the player below and I think you’ll agree that defying expectation suits them quite well.
A quote and PR wire info follow. Please enjoy:
Fuzz Evil on Smear Merchants:
“This album is a journey, designed to be experienced in one sitting, with each track seamlessly transitioning into the next through wild time-signature shifts, key changes, and an intricate use of effects that add a whole new dimension to our sound.”
“Smear Merchants” is the title track of Fuzz Evil’s 4th studio record “Smear Merchants” to be released on March 21st, 2025 on Desert Records. The band evolves their music each record and with “Smear Merchants” it will be their take on more doom metal/stoner.
Smear Merchants marks a transformative moment for Fuzz Evil. Expanding from a 3-piece to a 4-piece lineup, the band’s sound is bigger, heavier, and more dynamic than ever before. Written, recorded, and produced entirely DIY, this album gave Fuzz Evil the freedom to push boundaries and experiment—and it shows. Every riff, transition, and effect reflects the band’s uncompromising vision and creative exploration.
While staying true to their signature driving energy, Smear Merchants ventures into bold new territory. Preston Jennings’ love for ambient textures and psychedelic soundscapes adds depth and atmosphere, while Kenneth “Cajun” Adam’s screaming vocals introduce a raw intensity that amplifies the band’s doom/metal elements. Together, these additions create a powerful blend of storytelling, instrumental exploration, and crushing riffs that redefine what Fuzz Evil can do.
From hypnotic breakdowns to blistering highs, Smear Merchants captures the full spectrum of sound, layered with effects that pull listeners deeper into the experience. This is Fuzz Evil at their most ambitious and innovative, delivering an album meant to take you on an unforgettable sonic journey. Experience the raw creativity and limitless energy of Smear Merchants, where DIY ingenuity meets heavy, transformative soundscapes.
Fuzz Evil is: Vocals & Guitar: Wayne Rudell Bass & Backing Vocals: Joseph Rudell Baritone Guitars: Preston Jennings Drums: Cajun Adams
Posted in Whathaveyou on January 13th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
Phoenix, Arizona, stone-worshiping sludge gutter-outers Goya have returned and will release their fourth album, yet untitled, through Blues Funeral Recordings. Once upon a mid-2010s, the trio led by vocalist/guitarist Jeff Owens were a flagship band for STB Records, but 2017’s Harvester of Bongloads (review here) was issued through the band’s own Opoponax Records. Full-lengths have been part of what Goya have done since their outset circa 2011, but not all of it. Their most recent offering was 2021’s The Universe Wails, an acoustic EP. Before that, a 7″ single in 2019 called “200 and 4.” You get the idea.
I have no concrete info on the state of Goya‘s next record, unfortunately. They say the album will be out in the first half of 2025. If that means late March, this announcement times out well enough for a PR plan to start rolling maybe this week — maybe there’s a press release in my email now? if I get one in the next day or so I’ll replace the social media post below, after that it is what it is unless there’s actually new info or a/v — but if it’s not actually all the way 100 percent done, it could be May or even June before the record shows up. So yeah, I guess that’s me taking an entire paragraph to explain something potentially happening between now and five months from now. Rest assured, I feel accordingly stupid.
This is a good band to have back at it. I’ll keep an eye for more news, but yeah, here’s what they put on Instagram:
We are excited to announce that we’ve partnered with Blues Funeral to release our upcoming fourth full-length album. If you aren’t familiar with the label, we suggest you pop over to their page and get familiar. They’ve been blazing a trail with killer releases, and it’s an honor to be on the roster.
Expect to see the new record in the first half of 2025. The proceeding days will never look the same.
Posted in Reviews on October 14th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
Second week of the Fall 2024 Quarterly Review begins now. You stoked? Nah, probably not, but at least at the end of this week there will be another 50 records for you to check out, added to the 50 from last week to make 100 total releases covered. So, I mean, it’s not nothing. But I understand if it isn’t the make-or-break of your afternoon.
Last week was killer, and today gets us off to another good start. Crazy, it’s almost like I’m enjoying this. Who the hell ever heard of such a thing?
Quarterly Review #51-60:
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White Hills, Beyond This Fiction
New York’s own psychedelic heads on fire White Hills return with Beyond This Fiction, a collection of sounds so otherworldly and lysergic they can’t help but be real. Seven tracks range from the fluid “Throw it Up in the Air” to the bassy experimental new wave of “Clear as Day,” veering into gentle noise rock as it does before “Killing Crimson” issues its own marching orders, coming across like if you beamed Fu Manchu through the accretion disk of a black hole and the audio experienced gravitational lensing. “Fiend” brings the two sides together and dares to get a little dreamy while doing it, the interlude “Closer” is a wash of drone, and “The Awakening” is a good deal of drone itself, but topped with spoken word, and the closing title-track takes place light-years from here in a kind of time humans haven’t yet learned to measure. It’s okay. White Hills records will still be around decades from now, when humans finally catch up to them. I’m not holding my breath, though.
Five records deep into a tenure now more than a decade long, I feel like Demon Head are a band that are the answer to a lot of questions being asked. Oh, where’s the classic-style band doing something new? Who’s a band who can sound like The Cure playing black metal and be neither of those things? Where’s a band doing forward-thinking proto-doom, not at all hindered by the apparent temporal impossibility of looking ahead and back at the same time? Here they are. They’re called Demon Head. Their fifth album is called Through holes Shine the Stars, and its it’s-night-time-and-so-we-chug-different sax-afflicted ride in “Draw Down the Stars” is consuming as the band take the ’70s doomery of their beginnings to genuinely new and progressive places. The depth of vocal layering throughout — “The Chalice,” the atmo-doom sprawl of “Every Flatworm,” the rousing, swinging hook and ensuing gallop of “Frost,” and so on — adds drama and persona to the songs, and the songs aren’t wanting otherwise, with a dug-in intricacy of construction and malleable underlying groove. Seriously. Maybe Demon Head are the band you’re looking for.
You can call Earth Ship sludge metal, and you’re not really wrong, but you’re not the most right either. The Berlin-based trio founded by guitarist/vocalist Jan Oberg and bassist Sabine Oberg, plus André Klein on drums, offer enough crush to hit that mark for sure, but the tight, almost Ministry-esque vocals on the title-track, the way “Radiant” dips subtly toward psychedelia as a side-A-capping preface to the languid clean-sung nod of “Daze and Delights,” giving symmetry to what can feel chaotic as “Ethereal Limbo” builds into its crescendo, fuzzed but threatening aggression soon to manifest in “Acrid Haze,” give even the nastiest moments throughout a sense of creative reach. That is to say, Soar — which Jan Oberg also recorded, mixed and mastered at Hidden Planet Studio and which sees release through the band’s The Lasting Dose Records — resides in more than one style, with opener “Shallow” dropping some hints of what’s to come and a special lumber seeming to be dedicated to the penultimate “Bereft,” which proves to be a peak in its own right. The Obergs seem to split their time these days between Earth Ship and the somewhat more ferocious Grin. In neither outfit do they misspend it.
Bassist/vocalist Tommy Stewart (ex-Hallows Eve, owner of Black Doomba Records) once more sits in the driver’s seat of the project that shares his name, and with four new tracks Tommy Stewart’s Dyerwulf on Fyrewulf One — which I swear sounds like the name of a military helicopter or somesuch — offer what will reportedly be half of their third long-player with an intention toward delivering Fyrewulf Two next year. Fair enough. “Kept Pain Busy” is the longest and grooviest fare on offer, bolstered by the quirk of shorter opener “Me ‘n’ My Meds” and the somewhat more madcap “Zoomagazoo,” which touches on heavy rockabilly in its swing, with a duly feedback-inclusive cover of Bloodrock‘s “Melvin Laid an Egg” for good measure. The feeling of saunter is palpable there for the organ, but prevalent throughout the original songs as well, as Stewart and drummer Dennis Reid (Patrick Salerno guests on the cover) know what they’re about, whether it’s garage-punk-psych trip of “Me ‘n’ My Meds” the swing that ensues.
The narrative — blessings and peace upon it — presents A Grand Stream as the result of Smote guitarist Daniel Foggin and drummer Rob Law absconding to a cabin in the woods by a stream to write and record. There’s certainly escapism in it, and one might argue Smote‘s folk-tinged drone and atmospheric heavy meditations have always had an aspect of leaving the ol’ consciousness at the flung-open doors of perception, etc., but the 10-minute undulating-but-mostly-stationary noise in “Chantry” is still a lot to take. That it follows the 16-miinute “Coming Out of a Hedge Backwards,” laced with sitar and synth and other backing currents filling out the ambience, should be indicative of the sprawl of the over-70-minute LP to begin with. Smote aren’t strangers at this point to the expanse or to longform expression, but there still seems to be a sense of plunging into the unknown throughout A Grand Stream as they make their way deeper into the 18-minute “The Opinion of the Lamb Pt. 2,” and the rolling realization of “Sitting Stone Pt. 1” at the beginning resounds over all of it.
Hard to argue with Mammoth Caravan‘s bruising metallism, not the least because by the time you’d open your mouth to do so the Little Rock, Arkansas, trio have already run you under their aural steamroller and you’re too flat to get the words out. The six-song/36-minute Frostbitten Galaxy is the second record from the three-piece of guitarist/vocalist Robert Warner, bassist/vocalist Brandon Ringo and drummer Khetner Howton, and in the willful meander of “Cosmic Clairvoyance,” in many of their intros, in the tradeoffs of the penultimate “Prehistoric Spacefarer” and in the clean-sung finale “Sky Burial,” they not only back the outright crush of “Tusks of Orion” and “Siege in the Stars,” as well as opener/longest track (immediate points) “Absolute Zero,” with atmospheric intention, but with a bit of dared melody that feels like a foretell of things to come from the band. On Frostbitten Galaxy and its correspondingly chilly 2023 predecessor Ice Cold Oblivion (review here), Mammoth Caravan have proven they can pummel. Here they begin the process of expanding their sound around that.
If you caught Harvestman‘s psychedelic dub and guitar experimentalism on Triptych Part One (review here) earlier this year, perhaps it won’t come as a shock to find former Neurosis guitarist/vocalist Steve Von Till, aka Harvestman, working in a similar vein on Triptych Part Two. There’s more to it than just heady chill, but to be sure that’s part of what’s on offer too in the immersive drone of “The Falconer” or the 10-minute “The Hag of Beara vs. the Poet (Forest Dub),” which reinterprets and plays with the makeup of opener “The Hag of Beara vs. the Poet.” “Damascus” has a more outward-facing take and active percussive base, while “Vapour Phase” answers “The Falconer” with some later foreboding synthesis — closer “The Unjust Incarceration” adds guitar that I’ve been saying for years sounds like bagpipes and still does to this mix — while the penultimate “Galvanized and Torn Open,” despite the visceral title, brings smoother textures and a steady, calm rhythm. The story’s not finished yet, but Von Till has already covered a significant swath of ground.
Following up on 2022’s successful debut full-length, Born of Obsidian, the 11-song/37-minute Of Amber and Sand highlights the UK outfit’s flexibility of approach as regards metal, sludge, post-heavy impulses, intricate arrangements and fullness of sound as conveyed through the production. So yes, it’s quite a thing. They quietly and perhaps wisely moved on from the bit of amateur anthropology that defined the MesoAmerican thematic of the first record, and as Of Amber and Sand complements the thrown elbows in the midsection of “Death No More” and the proggy rhythmmaking of “Fenjaan” with shorter interludes of various stripes, eventually and satisfyingly getting to a point in “Bell Tower,” “Neheh” and “Timekeeper” where the ambience and the heft become one thing for a few minutes — and that’s kind of a separate journey from the rest of the record, which turns back to its purposes with “Crux Ansata,” but it works — but the surrounding interludes give each song a chance to make its own impact, and Kurokuma take advantage every time.
SlugWeed, The Mind’s Ability to Think Abstract Thoughts
Do you think a band called SlugWeed would be heavy and slow? If so, you’d be right. Would it help if I told you the last single was called “Bongcloud?” The instrumental New England solo-project — which, like anything else these days, might be AI — has an ecosystem’s worth of releases up on Bandcamp dating back to an apparent birth as a pandemic project with the long-player The Power of the Leaf, and the 11-minute single “The Mind’s Ability to Think Abstract Thoughts” follows the pattern in holding to the central ethic of lumbering instrumental riffage, all dank and probably knowing about trichomes and such. The song itself is a massive chug-and-groover, and gradually opens to a more atmospheric texture as it goes, but the central idea is in the going itself, which is slow, plodding, and returns from its drift around a fervent chug that reminds of a (slower) take on some of what Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol had on offer earlier in the year. It probably won’t be long before SlugWeed return with anther single or EP, so “The Mind’s Ability to Think Abstract Thoughts” may just be a step on the way. Fine for the size of the footprint in question.
Dug-in solo krautistry from Tempe, Arizona’s Jeff Hopp, Man and Robot Society‘s Asteroid Lost comes steeped in science-fiction lore and mellow space-prog vibes. It’s immersive, and not a story without struggle or conflict as represented in the music — which is instrumental and doesn’t really want, need or have a ton of room for vocals, though there are spots where shoehorning could be done if Hopp was desperate — but if you take the trip just as it is, either put your own story to it or just go with the music, the music is enough to go on itself, and there’s more than one applicable thread of plot to be woven in “Nomads of the Sand” or the later “Man of Chrome,” which resonates a classic feel in the guitar ahead of the more vibrant space funk of “The Nekropol,” which stages a righteous keyboard takeover as it comes out of its midsection and into the theremin-sounding second half. You never quite know what’s coming next, but since it all flows as a single work, that becomes part of the experience Man and Robot Society offer, and is a strength as the closing title-track loses the asteroid but finds a bit of fuzzy twist to finish.
Posted in Whathaveyou on May 10th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
Glory or Death Records has announced a pair of label showcases for next month. Set to take place over two nights — June 7 in Tempe, Arizona, and June 8 in El Cajon, California (in San Diego County) — and true to the ‘Friends and Family’ tag applied to the duly wizardly posters below, the lineups feature Glory or Death denizens like Great Electric Quest, Formula 400, Hudu Akil, PhantomHound, Tzimani and a solo performance from guitarist Kelley Juett of Mothership, who recently signed to the Cali-based imprint to release his first solo album, Wandering West.
Juett is billed as doing “loops,” which is fair enough if you take a listen to the initial single “Mind Mirage” from his upcoming LP (at the bottom of the post, as it happens), and seems to be in the opening spot for both nights, though that kind of thing can also be cool during changeovers between more-than-one-person-involved bands sometimes, so you never know. In addition, Phoenix psychedelic instrumental outfit Secrets of Lost Empires — whose Joshua Mathus has done comic-style graphic work for Zac Crye of Hudu Akil, Desert Records, Stone Machine Electric and scores of others — will appear at the Temple show only.
The posters (by MontDoom), info, ticket links and such came down the PR wire:
Glory or Death Records Friends and Family Showcase Back-to-Back shows in Tempe and San Diego
Glory or Death Records Friends & Family Showcase
Tempe Date: June 7 at Yucca Tap Room
Featuring live solo loop performance by Kelley Juett; Secrets of Lost Empires, Tzimani, Phantom Hound, Hudu Akil, Formula 400, and Great Electric Quest
Posted in Whathaveyou on May 1st, 2024 by JJ Koczan
What do we know about Arizona’s Fuzz Evil? They’re songwriters. No matter what the Sierra Vista-based troupe led by brothers Joey and Wayne Rudell get up to on a given release — whether it’s their new single “Wanderer’s Wake” below, issued ahead of their Desert Records label-debut, Smear Merchants, or the 2023 full-length that preceded it, New Blood (review here), or anything else they’ve done over the eight years since their 2016 self-titled debut (review here) — they have songs. They’ve never been an overly self-indulgent band, never left their audience behind, and their catalog is that much stronger for it.
Even as they pivot to heavier fare with “Wanderer’s Wake” and introduce the lineup they revealed in January alongside their cover of The Cars‘ “Just What I Needed” (speaking of songwriters…), the song remains the priority, and that’s also what lets them pull off the dive into gruff vocals and harder-hitting tones without losing the plot. It’s a less friendly sound on the surface, but still very much Fuzz Evil in the underlying groove and structure. I would say it meets the stated intention toward more of a stoner-doomed feel, and not that I wasn’t already keeping an eye for Smear Merchants — not sure if it’s an EP or LP at this point, but it’s a title, which is more than you sometimes get — but I hear all the more reason to do so in the single’s sub-five-minute stretch.
TL;DR: New Fuzz Evil track mixes it up with a little bit o’ nasty to go around. Dig it:
“Wanderer’s Wake” is the first single from Fuzz Evil’s fourth studio record “Smear Merchants” to be released in late 2024 on Desert Records.
“We are always trying to evolve our music each record and with “Smear Merchants” it will be our take on more doom metal/stoner.” -FUZZ EVIL
As purveyors of chug-heavy, fuzz-laden riffs, this heavy rock ensemble unleashes a monolithic fuzzpocalypse that reverberates through your ears and straight to your soul. With raw, gritty Fuzz and unique tones, FUZZ EVIL combines baritone fuzz, extraordinary riffs, and heavy bass tones to create a sound that’s as soulful as it is earth-shattering.
To stay updated on Fuzz Evil’s latest releases and upcoming shows, follow them on handles here:https://linktr.ee/fuzzevil
Song written by Fuzz Evil Song Recorded, Produced, and Mixed by: Joseph Rudell Art by: Joseph Rudell
Fuzz Evil is: Vocals & Guitar: Wayne Rudell Bass & Backing Vocals: Joseph Rudell Baritone Guitars: Preston Jennings Drums: Cajun Adams
Posted in Whathaveyou on January 9th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
Not so terribly far removed from the Sept. 2023 release of their latest full-length, New Blood (review here), Sierra Vista, Arizona’s Fuzz Evil would seem to have answered the call for some themselves. Founded by brothers Joey Rudell and Wayne Rudell, the band have welcomed Cajun Adam, who is at least their fourth drummer, and multi-instrumentalist/guitarist Preston Jenning, who’ll make their debut with the now-a-four-piece band on the new EP, Smear Merchants. When’s that out? I don’t know, but they covered The Cars‘ “Just What I Needed” — and I’m sorry for getting the song stuck in your head just by mentioning the title, Ric Ocasek‘s magnum opus of catchy is infectious — and that’s a fun nugget to go on for today.
Looking at the below, I’m not actually sure “Just What I Needed” will show up on the EP, either, but I guess we’ll find out sometime in the coming months. Until then, the cover tune and the stream of New Blood are down at the bottom there and you can read more from the PR wire in the blue text.
Enjoy:
Fuzz Evil Expands Sonic Horizon as a Four-Piece Band with New Single and EP Release
Fuzz Evil, the powerhouse three-piece known for their infectious blend of doom and stoner rock, is set to kick off 2024 with a bang. On January 5, the band will drop their latest single, a cover of The Cars’ classic hit “Just What I Needed,” available on all major streaming platforms. This marks a thrilling departure from their signature sound and showcases the band’s versatility.
Following the single release, Fuzz Evil will treat fans to a brand new EP titled “Smear Merchants,” an eagerly anticipated follow-up to their 2023 ,”New Blood ” album. “Smear Merchants” is poised to captivate listeners with its immersive sonic experience, delving deeper into the realms of doom and stoner rock. Serving as a sister record to their self-titled release in 2016, this EP promises to deliver a fresh perspective on Fuzz Evil’s evolving musical journey.
In 2023, Fuzz Evil expanded their sonic horizons by adding two new talented members to their lineup, further enriching their musical tapestry. Preston Jenning, a versatile multi-instrumentalist, joined the band to lend his skills on guitar, baritone, and synth duties. His musical prowess is expected to add new dimensions to Fuzz Evil’s evolving sound. Cajun Adam, the newest addition on drums, brings a rhythmic intensity that complements the band’s dynamic energy.
Fuzz Evil has built a solid reputation in the rock scene, and “Smear Merchants” is poised to be a milestone in their discography. Fans can look forward to a sonic journey that transcends boundaries, blending the familiar with the unexpected.
To stay updated on Fuzz Evil’s latest releases and upcoming shows, follow them on handles here:https://linktr.ee/fuzzevil
