Posted in Whathaveyou on June 1st, 2022 by JJ Koczan
Phoenix, Arizona, sludge-doomers Mosara have announced a July 22 arrival for their second album, Only the Dead Know Our Secrets. No audio from it up yet, but if you didn’t catch Mosara‘s self-titled debut when it was released — the PR wire says 2020, which is probably right; the band’s Bandcamp says 2021, which may have been for one of the physical releases; I honestly don’t even know why I try to keep up with these things anymore — it’s name-your-price on Bandcamp, so safe to say the barriers to entry are minimal. You’ll find a riffy but spacious take on doomer nod at the core, nothing too fancy either called for or implemented. An easy-to-dig first record.
That doesn’t tell you much about the second, of course, but July is surely at least four months away from now and so there’s plenty of time to dole out singles one by one until… wait. It’s June now. So I guess July is next month. I’m going to take some time and process that emotionally while you peruse the PR wire info below.
Really? June?
Dig:
MOSARA To Release New Album Only The Dead Know Our Secrets
Releasing on July 22nd, 2022, the latest offering from the doom quartet delivers fuzz laden groove rhythms, dynamic riffs, and a progressive twist. Shrouded in an all encompassing gloomy atmosphere, Only The Dead Know Our Secrets is a smorgasbord of delicious distortion and heavy genre fusion.
MOSARA is a Phoenix, Arizona based doom band that was originally formed and active during the early 2000’s. In late 2018, founding vocalist/guitarist, Tony Gallegos (ENIRVA/TWINGIANT) reformed the band. The new members included guitarist Nikos Mixas (TWINGIANT), bassist Kristoffer Reynolds (BEIRA) and drummer John Quin (AUTHORITY ZERO/SECRETS OF LOST EMPIRES). MOSARA’s sound is a doom foundation that melds several different genres of heavy music to include stoner metal, classic/prog metal and atmospheric sludge.
In the fall of 2020, MOSARA started recording their first full-length, self-titled album. Mosara was recorded and mixed sans any recording software. The release was raw, authentic, and heartfelt. Mosara was released in May of 2021 via Transylvanian Recordings and was well received among several heavy music blogs and websites. The band’s brand of “atavistic doom” was what set MOSARA apart from all the other bands in its subgenre.
In 2021, bassist Kristoffer Reynolds left MOSARA and was replaced by Christopher Burns (HEX VOLT/BRIGHT SUNSHINE). The band immediately began writing material for their sophomore effort. Tracking commenced in March of 2022 and the new album, Only The Dead Know Our Secrets, is expected to be self-released in the summer. The album will be released on both vinyl and digital formats, with the vinyl having an additional secret track.
Only The Dead Know Our Secrets Track List: 1. Magissa 2. Zion’s Eyes 3. The Permanence of Isolation 4. Only The Dead Know Our Secrets
Mosara: Tony Gallegos – Vocals/Guitars Nikos Mixas – Guitars/Vocals Christopher Burns – Bass Daniel Garcia – Drums/Vocals/Percussion
Posted in Whathaveyou on May 20th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
Just a couple upstart heavy rock bands hitting the road together on the way to a festival in the summertime. Would be business as usual in the Before Times, but these are the After Times, and being down with the plague — which is not to say “the sickness” — at the moment, I can tell you the After Times kind of suck. But the shows will be good and that’s what we’re here to talk about.
Aiwass‘ 2021 debut, Wayward Gods (review here), was released before the Ohio-based outfit had solidified a live lineup, so inevitably there will be some shift in dynamic there as they move forward, and Illinois duo Twin Wizard issued Glacial Gods (review here) in 2020, revamped their own lineup, and went back and remade the record, so it’s fair to say there’s a bit of the mercurial around both acts at this point, but there’s little arguing with the output of either. They’ll hit spots up and down the Middle Western portion of the country as they make their way to Doomed and Stoned Ohio on July 30, and I wish them safe, healthy and happy travels.
The tour poster — which I haven’t seen yet as I write this and is hopefully cartoon-boob free — and the dates follow here, courtesy of the PR wire:
The sun has emerged from winter clouds and with it comes the emergence of two bands from the heavy underground, Aiwass and Twin Wizard! In a co-headlining tour, these bands will storm their way across the midwest on the Glacial Titans Tour, bringing the heaviest of riffs to a town near you! Don’t miss these bands as they tour across Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Ohio, culminating with performances at the Ohio Doomed and Stoned Fest at the Buzzbin in Canton, Ohio! Follow both Aiwass and Twin Wizard on social media for more information as dates approach!
Dates: July 26: Gabe’s – Iowa City, IA July 27: 7th St. Space – Dekalb, IL July 28: Cactus Club – Milwaukee, WI July 29: Liars Club – Chicago, IL July 30: Ohio Doomed and Stoned Fest – Canton, OH
Posted in Whathaveyou on May 19th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
Secret Iris self-identify as ‘depression rock’ and if you’re familiar with guitarist/vocalist Jeffrey Owens from his work in Goya, Tanner Grace from Sorxe or Matt Arrebollo from Gatecreeper, you’ll find their downer grunge a distinct shift in approach. Fair enough. Their first two-songer EP, What Are You Waiting For is seeing a vinyl release later this month through Crisis Tree Records, which if you need to know how new an imprint it is, you can look on the BigCartel store and find Secret Iris‘ impending platter is the only thing there. Cool by me. Support new shit. Ground floor, man. One chance to make a first impression, etc.
They got a mid-paced track and a fast track with a slow part, and you know what? For an offering of two songs from a new project that’s taken shape over the last few years that brings together different players from different styles and runs all of nine and a half minutes, that’s enough to make the time count.
I don’t know what will come next, but I missed this when it was released last year digitally because I suck at nearly everything, and I’m glad to have the opportunity to hear the songs. Maybe you’ll be too. That’s how this thing works.
From the PR wire:
SECRET IRIS (GOYA/GATECREEPER/Ex-SPIRIT ADRIFT) To Release What Are You Waiting For on Vinyl
SECRET IRIS will release their debut EP What Are You Waiting For on vinyl via Crisis Tree Records on May 27 2022. The EP was previously released digitally.
SECRET IRIS was born out of chance with Jeffrey Owens (GOYA, SPIRIT ADRIFT) writing in 2017 material initially intended for a new GOYA record. With the new tracks taking on a different character they were separated off to become SECRET IRIS. The new release delivers a powerful throwback to the early 00s with “What Are You Waiting For” packing a melancholic minimalist verse, reminiscent to NIRVANA, contrasted with an anthemic chorus. Heavy guitars and bass morph into a wall of sound, grounding the track with behemothic rhythms. “Extrasensory Rejection (Winter Sanctuary)” delivers a fast pace with energetic guitars and percussion. Progressing into a slow, doom-esque bridge, the track explores multiple layers both musically and conceptually.
The What Are You Waiting For 7” is the first release on new label Crisis Tree Records. CTR specializes in pressing limited-run 7” vinyl. This release (and all following) will be limited to 100 black vinyl, and 25 hand-made Wax Mage copies.
Album Credits: Engineered by Zachary Rippy at Sound Signal Audio Mastered by Dennis Pleckham at Comatose Studio Cover Art by Velvastein Photo by Hayley Rippy
Posted in Reviews on January 21st, 2022 by JJ Koczan
Last day. I guess we made it. There was never any doubt it would happen, but I wouldn’t call this the smoothest Quarterly Review ever by any stretch. Weather, canceled school, missed bus, The Patient Mrs. about to start a new semester at work, plus that day that had three noise rock records right in a row — who slots these things? (me) — it hasn’t all been easy. But, if you’ve ever read the QR you might know I’ve developed a tendency to load a bunch of killer stuff into the last day to kind of give myself a break, and here we are. No regrets.
Thanks for reading this week (and any other week if you’ve ever been on this site before). Here’s how we finish.
Quarterly Review #41-50:
Dream Unending, Tide Turns Eternal
Beautiful and sad, this first collaboration between drummer/vocalist Justin DeTore (Solemn Lament, ex-Magic Circle, many more) and guitarist/bassist Derrick Vella (Tomb Mold, Outer Heaven) under the moniker of Dream Unending harnesses a classic early ’90s death-doom melancholy, but it’s not as raw as the image of My Dying Bride circa ’92 that might bring to mind. If you want to do mashups, think Novembers Doom meets Alternative 4-era Anathema. Tide Turns Eternal brings together seven songs in 46 minutes and is memorable in stretches like the guitar progression of “In Cipher I Weep” and the crushing chug of the title-track as the Massachusetts/Toronto duo harness the a true sense of classic death metal just ahead of the two-minute weepy guitar interlude “Forgotten Farewell” and the 10-minute closing title-track. Perhaps there’s some inspiration from Bell Witch in the making, but Dream Unending‘s atmosphere and patience are their own.
The title don’t lie. French expat Sergio Garcia, living in Indonesia, concocts 11 instrumental tracks of fuzzy flood, and if he wants to call that soup, then yeah, that’s as good as anything I’ve got. “Razana” opens with two minutes of garage-style strut, while “Back to Origin” crunches and “Fuzz Soup” feels a bit more of a psych freakout with its lead guitar and drums that remind of Witch, all performed by Garcia, who adds organ to boot. “Quest for Fire” is probably more in homage to the movie than band, which is a little sad, but the song brings in some minor scales and droning atmospherics, and “Ride the Mammoth” pushes more straightforward into the languid wah whatnottery of “Argapura” at the presumed start of side B, which feels rawer in “The Shelter” and more chaotic in the buzz of “Surfin’ the Dune” before “The Cheating Mole” turns to nighttime darkjazz, “Tumulous” turns its acoustic start into a hairy march punctuated and grounded by the pop of snare, and closer “Narcolepsy” finishes with a duly zombified, organ-laced take on tape-trader doom. These experiments work well together throughout Fuzz Soup, united by weird and unpredictable as they are.
Gänger is third in a purported series of four EPs by Manchester, UK, four-piece Farfisa, and its four songs solidify some of the more let-go aspects of 2020’s Bravado, taking the folkish shine of a cut like “My Oh My” and turning it into the dug-in garage prog rock of “Honey Badger” and riffing out dirty and fuzzed on “River Rash.” Frankly, I don’t know why, having once conjured tones like those of the penultimate “Clinton” here, which sound like something that would make Ty Segall start a new band, one would ever not do that again, but I won’t claim to know what the fourth EP in the series might bring. One can only hope that, when the series is wrapped, they compile it into some sort of offering — a double-tape or some such — and release the whole thing together. As it stands though, Gänger is my first exposure to the band, and they smash through “Limitator” with due prejudice. I can think of five record labels off the top of my head who’d be lucky to have these guys, but nobody asks me these things.
Fucking a, rock and roll. Reykjavik’s Volcanova aren’t through “Salem,” the lead cut from their righteously titled Cosmic Bullshit EP, before they’ve cadenced Uncle Acid in the verse and broken out the cowbell, so yes, it’s that kind of party. That cowbell comes back almost immediately for “Gold Coast,” which tramps out big riffs like Def Leppard used to make, and “Desolation” brings the bass forward effectively in its hook, the band having already built fervent momentum that will carry through the rest of the 26-minute mini-album. Not to pick favorites, but “End of Time” feels purposefully placed near the middle, and “No Wheels” — yup, more cowbell — splits that and closer “Lost Spot” well, giving a grounded stretch of pure shove before the finale hard-boogies and big-drifts its way to a surprising wash of an ending, organ included. You don’t call your release Cosmic Bullshit if you’re not looking to get attention, and Volcanova certainly earn that with these tracks.
The premier collaboration between Arizona’s Aiwass and Colorado’s Astral Construct — the latter also stylized as ASTRAL COnstruct — is a seven-minute single called “Solis in Stellis” that bridges terrestrial and ethereal heavy psychedelias. At a bit under eight minutes, its melodic flourish and weighted underpinning of low end, drifting guitar and fluid rhythmic progression sound like nothing so much as the beginning of an album that should be made if it’s not currently in the works between Drew Patricks (Astral Construct) and Blake Carrera (Aiwass), who both function as solo artists in their respective projects but come together here to show the complementary potential of each for the other. Lush in atmosphere, patient in its delivery and spacious without being overwrought, “Solis in Stellis” is hopefully the beginning of more to come from these two, who might just end up having to call themselves the Aiwass Construct if they keep going the way they are.
Seven years after 2014’s The Witching Hour, Ohio’s Doctor Smoke return with Dreamers and the Dead, a solid 10-song/42-minute run that makes up for lost time by reimagining ’90s-era Megadeth sneer as dark and catchy heavy rock and roll. The four-piece led by founding guitarist/vocalist Matt Tluchowski may have let a few years get by them — that’ll happen — but if the intervening time was spent hammering out these songs, the effort shows itself in the efficiency with which each cut makes its point and gets out, a song like “These Horrid Things” casting its mood in the verses before opening to the chorus, winding fretwork building tension into and subsequently through the solo. This is a revamp of the idea of a classic metal influence, the first instance of a generational shift I can think of that’s bringing this particular vibe to a heavy rock context — the pounding and sprinting of the title-track might’ve been thrash in the ’80s, but a decade later it was thicker and so it is here as well — and Doctor Smoke make it theirs, no question. One wonders what the next seven years will bring.
Rebranded from their moniker of Sierra, Ontario progressive heavy rockers Willowater bring the four-track/14-minute EP as a quick hello to listeners new and old. Guitarist/vocalist Jason Taylor and bassist/drummer/vocalist Robbie Carvalho (also synth) chug out in early-Tool fashion on the opener “Ultimatum,” and the subsequent title-track answers back in kind with shared vocals and a bit of twisting, pulled squeals of guitar, and so on, while “Fly High” calls to mind Dio-style riffing with a bassline to bolster the classic metal vibe, and “Winter Now” builds a tension in its keyboard-laced 3:26 that, somewhat maddeningly, never pays itself off. Perhaps the message there is of more to come. Hope so, anyhow. Sierra were a quality band, and undervalued. Willowater seem to be taking another shot at catching as many ears as possible. A fresh start. Not so crazy different from what they were doing before, but sometimes a name can make all the difference.
This second EP from the anonymous Dutch outfit All Are to Return reignites the brutality of their 2020 self-titled debut short release (review here), while expanding the stylistic reach. Opener “Carceri” tips into industrial black metal before resolving itself in harsh screams and drones, while “Surveiller et Punir” feels even more experimental/art rock with tortured screams far back under noisy guitar. “Classified” is shorter and more beat-oriented, but the distorted wash of “Postscript on the Societies of Control” (bit of positive thinking there, almost in spite of itself) is abrasive as fuck, such that the quiet, minimal synth that starts “De Profundis” accompanied by more obscured screams seems almost like a relief before it builds to its own post-Godflesh industrialized crush. They finish atmospheric on “Desiring Machines,” blowing out conceptions of extreme music in about the time it takes for you to put on your shoes and jacket so you can go out, wander into the wilderness, and never be heard from again.
Members of Mirror Queen, the just-signed-to-Tee–Pee-proper Limousine Beach (really, I haven’t even had the chance to post the news yet), Zombi, Ruby the Hatchet and Osees coming together for three Mountain covers. Mountain Sides do “You Better Believe It,” “Dreams of Milk and Honey” and “Travelin’ in the Dark,” and they knock it out of the park accordingly. I don’t know that this would ever get to become a real band between the commitments of Morgan McDaniel, David Wheeler and Steve Moore, let alone Owen Stewart (Ruby the Hatchet‘s drummer) or Paul Quattrone from Osees and a geographic spread between New York, Philly, Pittsburgh and Los Angeles, but as a quick outing to test the waters, these three songs want nothing for vibe. Of course, being Mountain songs helps, but it almost inevitably would. Still, I’d take a record of tunes they wrote themselves, even if it doesn’t happen for another decade because everyone’s busy.
Serenity in experimentalist drone and psychedelia, marked by the interplay of organic folk and otherworldly elements of fluid aural adventures. The backward, swelling repetitions of “The Alluring Pool” answer the watery worldmaking of leadoff “Rivers are a Place of Power,” the backing chimes reminding of water moving the air, the acoustic guitar on centerpiece “Riverbank” furthering the theme in sweetly plucked notes while Duncan Park (who also collaborates with Seven Rivers of Fire) picks up the journey again on “The Winding Stream” with a current of melody playing beneath the main acoustic lines of the song, instrumental in its entirety. Invoking the Flood, apart perhaps from some warning that might be read into the opener, grows more peaceful as it goes, though Park‘s inclusion of vocals on closer “Over the River” speaks perhaps of other tributaries waiting to be explored. Still, it is a sweet and encompassing, if short, trip downstream with Park here, and if the flood comes, at least we had a good time.
Posted in Whathaveyou on December 23rd, 2021 by JJ Koczan
Two underground acts reaching across state lines to come together around an idea. Not the first time it’s happened, but I did immediately upon hearing “Solis in Stellis” for the first time tell Blake Carrera from Aiwass that I thought there was a full record to be made between him and ASTRAL CONstruct‘s Drew Patricks, and I stand by that. I already have the song slated in next month’s addendum to the Quarterly Review, so I’ll spare you reviewing it now, but if you get to check it out, it’s worth your time, and the proceeds from the digital sales will be donated to the Scleroderma Foundation, and who the hell is going to argue with that?
You can hear the song at the bottom of this post (as per usual; I feel like I don’t need to say that anymore and yet I keep doing so), and here’s more info on it courtesy of Carrera via the PR wire:
Aiwass & ASTRAL CONstruct – Solis in Stellis
Solis in Stellis. The Sun in the Stars. The newest track from Aiwass and Astral Construct is a collaboration meant to tantalize the ears, dancing between prog, psychedelia, doom, and stoner rock. The song, while following pop musical structures, is meant to challenge the listener, taking them on a journey of self-discovery, doubt, and exploration. Guitar solos dance between the left and right speakers, drums move from minimalism to bombastic explosions, and the bass carries the melody of the song. Haunting vocals only further hint at the darkness that inspired certain elements of the song.
Beyond just a collaboration between two emerging acts in the stoner/psych/doom underground, Solis in Stellis is also a song meant to raise money for the Scleroderma Foundation. Blake Carrera, the founder of Aiwass, lost his mother due to complications from scleroderma. With that in mind, Carrera and Drew Patricks (the guiding force behind Astral Construct) decided to donate all Bandcamp sales of the song directly to the Scleroderma Foundation in her honor in hopes that further research can be conducted into a cure for this autoimmune disease.
For more information about scleroderma and to donate directly to the foundation, please visitwww.scleroderma.org.
Posted in Questionnaire on November 26th, 2021 by JJ Koczan
The Obelisk Questionnaire is a series of open questions intended to give the answerer an opportunity to explore these ideas and stories from their life as deeply as they choose. Answers can be short or long, and that reveals something in itself, but the most important factor is honesty.
Based on the Proust Questionnaire, the goal over time is to show a diverse range of perspectives as those who take part bring their own points of view to answering the same questions. To see all The Obelisk Questionnaire posts, click here.
Thank you for reading and thanks to all who participate.
The Obelisk Questionnaire: Blake Carrera of Aiwass
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How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?
I’d describe my music as psychedelic doom. I didn’t make a conscious decision to start playing psychedelic doom or anything. It wasn’t like I sat down and said “yep, this is what I’ll be playing today.” Instead, it came from years of listening to music and playing downtuned guitars and one day it just started coming out of me. This was all during the pandemic when no one had anything better to do. Some people started baking; I started writing and recording an album that had been in my head in one form or another since I was fourteen or fifteen years old.
Describe your first musical memory.
My first musical memories are all about being in the car. This was back in the day when cassettes were contemporaneous and not collector’s items. We had so many of them. I remember the Beatles, the Stones, and Black Sabbath always being on. Before that, it was all lullabies I guess. I still remember those somewhat. I lucked out in that my mom always said she couldn’t remember the entirety of traditional lullabies so she sang what she knew – Elvis, The Doors, The Beatles, stuff like that. I guess if you really, really go back that’s my earliest musical recollection – being rocked to sleep while my mom sang me those songs.
Describe your best musical memory to date.
Maybe it’s not the best per se, but the most important musical memory is the first time I picked up a guitar. Originally, I wanted to play drums. I just wanted to make as much sound as possible. But that wasn’t going to jive with my mom. Instead, I was told I could have an acoustic guitar – little did she know I’d save up to buy an electric guitar and a loud amp down the line. But that first music shop experience where I held a bunch of cheap starter acoustic guitars was so important to my development as an artist and a human being. I felt an immediate connection to the instrument even though I had no clue how to play it. Something about it was calling to me. Then came the frustration and the blisters that turned into calluses, but I sure hated the thing for a while. Nonetheless, it was that pure memory of first holding a guitar that kept me going and still does. I can’t say that I really have any memories that compare in terms of the longevity of their impact – not good ones to say the least.
When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?
This is a hard one. I like to think that people are, at heart, good, but that belief has really been tested in the last few years. Whether it’s the political environment we live in or this BS about not getting the COVID vaccine, it seems like the worst in people is really coming to the forefront. I find it harder and harder to believe in the good in people, which is really sad. I’m starting to wonder whether we’re all just selfish and narcissistic at heart. There’s still plenty of good out there – I’ve met some incredible people since I started this project – but I see so much negativity and hatred out there that it’s getting harder to see that goodness.
Where do you feel artistic progression leads?
Artistic progression can only be a good thing. Not everyone may agree because some artists think they’re progressing when they’re really stumbling, but I think that as long as the artist feels that they are progressing, really good things are going to happen. The reason for that is that progression is a byproduct of growth, something that we should all be aspiring towards. An artist doesn’t just grow as an artist – they grow as a person. Some people might not like the results. A lot of people hated Bob Dylan for going electric, but he changed rock and roll forever (I would say for the better). The important thing is to cling to that sense of personal growth and to follow the wave of progression to see where it leads you. I know that the songs I’m working on now, for example, are the best ones I’ve done. I think they’re the most mature that I’ve produced. Some people might prefer what I’ve done and want me to stick to “what I’m good at” but that isn’t why I’m doing any of this. I’m doing this to grow as a human being and express myself. So, long story short, fuck ’em if they don’t like it. Artistic progression is everything, even if your audience doesn’t necessarily appreciate it. You have to progress in order to avoid stagnation which is, let’s face it, certain death for an artist.
How do you define success?
Ultimately, success is pretty ephemeral and hard to define, I believe. Part of that is because success is so subjective. It’s not something that I think you can quantify through commodities – money, possessions, things like that – because I don’t think that’s what success is about. Success is about happiness I think. Success is about feeling fulfilled. When it comes to music, success is about finding an audience that connects with your music. It doesn’t have to make you a lot of money or make you rich – it just has to find an audience who thinks your music matters and is worth listening to.
What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?
After I finished my first album, my mom got very sick very suddenly and passed away. It was incredibly hard to watch her waste away and ultimately fade away. She was in the ICU for about a month and I had to watch, day by day, while she drifted away from me. Being mostly raised only by her, we were pretty close. On top of that, the ICU ward was full of people on ventilators from COVID. I saw some really nightmarish things in there. I never doubted the danger of COVID, but I’m much more aware of just how bad it is now that I’ve seen it. It really makes me more comfortable in my atheism because if there was a god, that being is either very vengeful or doesn’t care about us. That’s in my music a lot – talking about how people are gods and there isn’t some entity up there in the clouds. It just so happened that the moment that I was most secure in my lack of belief in a god came after I was finished writing the first EP and album.
Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.
For my second album, I’d love to create a concept album. On the first album, the concept was really the occult, Jungian psychology, my own mental turmoil and struggles. But for the second album, I’d like to craft more of a story. I think part of that will come from forming a band and writing with other people. Overall, though, creating a story and telling that story through music is one of the things I’m most eager to do. I think concept albums are pretty much the apex of what you can do and I think I have the songwriting chops to actually get it done.
What do you believe is the most essential function of art?
Not to get too philosophical here, but art is about uplifting the mind and the soul – whatever the soul is. I think that art is the highest form of expression, communication, and interpersonal relationship-building. Without it, what are we but blind and dumb? We’re just organisms, animals. In my opinion, what distinguishes us from the rest of the natural world is our ability to create art. There’s so much out there, whether it’s visual, musical, literary, etc. and all of it is worth consuming in as much quantity as possible. The more that we imbibe art, the more that we become whole and fully actualized.
Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?
This is a hard one since most of my life revolves around music and work. But the thing that keeps me going when I’m not playing music is reading. I have a lot of great books on the docket. Some Crowley as always, a few other occult thinkers, but I’m also really diving into older classics and philosophy again. Right now I’m reading Paradise Lost and I hope to follow that up with Dante’s Inferno. On the side, I’m reading some Nietzsche, some Schoppenhauer. I’m really interested in keeping my mental blade sharp and I think reading is the best way to do that. Aside from reading, I’m a huge sports fan. Really enjoying the current NFL season.
Posted in Reviews on September 29th, 2021 by JJ Koczan
According to my notes, today is Day Three of the Fall 2021 Quarterly Review. Are you impressed to have made it this far? I kind of am, but, you know, I would be. I hope you’ve managed to find something you dig over the course of the first 20 records, and if not, why not? I’ve certainly added to a few year-end lists between debut albums, regular-old albums and short releases. Today’s no different. Without giving away any secrets ahead of time, this is a pretty wacky stylistic spread from the start and that’s how I like it. Maybe by next Tuesday it’ll all make a kind of sense, and maybe it won’t. In any case, this is apparently my idea of fun, so let’s have fun.
Quarterly Review #21-30:
Thief, The 16 Deaths of My Master
Someone used the phrase “techno for metalheads” in an email to me the other day (about something else) and I can’t get it out of my head concerning Thief‘s The 16 Deaths of My Master. From the swelling distortion of opener “Underking” to the odd bit of harpsicord that shows up in “Scorpion Mother” to the bassy rumble underscoring “Fire in the Land of Endless Rain,” the post-everything “Lover Boy,” droning “Life Clipper,” lazyman’s hip-hop on “Gorelord” and “Crestfaller” and Beck-on-acid finale in “Seance for Eight Oscillators,” there’s certainly plenty of variety to go around, but in the dance-dream “Apple Eaters” and goth-with-’90s-beatmaking “Bootleg Blood” and pretend-your-car-ride-is-a-movie-soundtrack “Wing Clipper,” the metallic underpinning of Dylan Neal (also Botanist) is still there, and the lyrical highlight “Teenage Satanist” rings true. Still, songs like the consuming washer “Night Spikes and subsequent drum’n’bass-vibing “Victim Exit Stage Left” are inventive, fascinating, short and almost poppy in themselves but part of a 16-track entirety that is head-spinning. If that’s techno for metalheads, so be it. Horns up for dat bass.
The album’s title is kind of another interpretation of the band’s name, the idea behind the Latin phrase Per Aspera Ad Astra being moving through challenges to the stars and the Santiago, Chile, one-man death-doom outfit being Rise to the Sky. Multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Sergio González Catalán reportedly wrote and arranged the title-track in the days following his father’s funeral, and the grand, flowing string sounds and engrossing heft that ensues feel genuinely mournful, capping with a progression of solo piano before “End My Night” seems to pick up where “The Loss of Hope” left off. The lyrics to closer “Only Our Past Remains” derive from a poem by Catalán‘s father, and the sense of tribute is palpable across the album’s 46 minutes. I’m not sure how the Russian folk melody bonus instrumental “Horse” might tie in, but neither is it out of place among “Deep Lament” and “Bleeding Heart,” the latter of which dares some clean vocals alongside the gutturalism, and in context, the rest of the album seems to answer with loss what opener “Life in Suspense” is waiting for.
Those familiar with Brian Ellis and Conor Riley‘s work in Astra should not be surprised to find them exploring ’70s-style progressive rock in Birth, and anybody who heard Psicomagia already knows that bassist Trevor Mast and drummer Paul Marrone (also Radio Moscow) are a rhythm section well up to whatever task you might want to set before them. Thus Birth‘s Demo arrives some four years after its recording, with “Descending Us” (posted here) leading off in dramatic Deep Purple-y fashion backed by the jammier but gloriously mellotroned and Rhodes’ed “Cosmic Wind” and “Long Way Down,” which digs itself into a righteous King Crimson payoff with due class even as it revels in its rough edges. Marrone‘s since left the band and whoever replaces him has big shoes to fill, but god damn, just put out a record already, would you?
Wielding mighty tonality and meeting Monolordian lurch with an aural space wide enough to contain it, Old Horn Tooth follow their 2019 debut LP, From the Ghost Grey Depths, with the single-song EP True Death, proffering a largesse rarely heard even from London’s ultra-populated heavy underground and working their way into, out of, back into, out of and through a nod that the converted among riff-heads likely find irresistible and hypnotic in kind. To say the trio of guitarist/vocalist Chris, bassist/keyboardist Ollie and drummer Mark ride out the groove is perhaps underselling it, but as my first exposure to the band, I’m only sorry to have missed out on both the orange tapes and the limited flash drives they were selling. So it goes. Slow riffs, fast sales. I’ll catch them next time and drown my sorrows in the interim in this immersive, probably-gonna-get-picked-up-by-some-label-for-a-vinyl-release offering. And hey, maybe if you and I both email them, they’ll press a few more cassettes.
Pro-shop-level doom from an initial public offering by Solemn Lament, bringing together the significant likes of vocalist Phil Swanson (ex-Hour of 13, Vestal Claret, countless others), drummer Justin DeTore (Magic Circle and more recently Dream Unending) as well as Blind Dead‘s Drew Wardlaw on bass and Adam Jacino on lead guitar, and Eric Wenstrom on rhythm guitar. These personages cross coastlines to three tracks and intro of grand and immersive doom metal, willfully diving into the Peaceville-three legacy on “Stricken” to find the beauty in darkness after the lumber and chug of the nine-minute “Celeste” resolves with patient grace and “Old Crow” furthers the Paradise Lost spirit in its central riff. Geography is an obvious challenge, but if Solemn Lament can build on the potential they show in this debut EP, they could be onto something really special.
A stunning third full-length from Fayetteville, Arkansas, trio Terminus, The Silent Bell Toll bridges doomed heft and roll, progressive melodicism and thoughtful heavy rock construction into a potent combination of hooks and sheer impact. It’s worth noting that the 10-minute closer of the nine-song/40-minute outing, “Oh Madrigal,” soars vocally, but hell, so does the 3:18 “Black Swan” earlier. Guitarist Sebastian Thomas (also cover art) and bassist Julian Thomas share vocal duties gorgeously throughout while drummer Scott Wood rolls songs like “The Lion’s Den” and “The Silent Bell Toll” — that nod under the solo; goodness gracious — in such a way as to highlight the epic feel even as the structure beneath is reinforced. With three instrumentals peppered throughout to break up the chapters as intro, centerpiece and penultimate, there’s all the more evidence that Terminus are considered in their approach and that the level of realization across The Silent Bell Toll is not happenstance.
Clearly named in honor of its defining intent, Recurring Nightmare is the three-song/48-minute debut full-length from Boston-based charred sludge outfit, who take the noisy heft of ultra-disaffected purveyors like Indian or Primitive Man and push it into a blackened metallic sphere further distinguished by harshly ambient drones. One can dig Neurosis-style riffing out of the 19:30 closer “Guillotine” or opener “Torch and Spear,” but the question is how much one’s hand is going to be sliced open in that process. And the answer is plenty. Their tones don’t so much rumble as crumble, vocals are willfully indecipherable throat-clenching screams, and the drums duly glacial. There is little kindness to be had in 16:43 centerpiece “Freedom Fever Dream” — originally broken into two parts as a demo in 2019 — which resolves itself lyrically in mourning a lost ideal over a dense lurch that’s met with still-atmospheric churning. Their established goal, if that’s what it is, has been met with all appropriate viciousness and extremity.
An ethic toward straight-ahead riff rock is writ large throughout Taxi Caveman‘s self-titled debut full-length, the Warsaw trio offering a face-first dive into fuzz of varying sizes and shaping their material around the sleek groove of “Prisoner” or the more aggressively bent vinyl-side-launchers “Building With Fire” and “Asteroid.” There’s a highlight hook in “I, the Witch” and the instrumental “426” leads into the Dozer-esque initial verse of 10-minute closer “Empire of the Sun,” but the three-piece find their own way through ultimately, loosening some of the verse/chorus reins in order to affect more of a jammed feel. It’s a departure from the crunch of “Asteroid” or “Prisoner” and the big, big, big sound that starts “Building With Fire,” but I’m certainly not about to hold some nascent sonic diversity against them. They’re playing to genre across these 33 minutes, but they do so without pretense and with a mind toward kicking as much ass as possible. Not changing the world, but it’s not trying to and it’s fun enough in listening that it doesn’t need to.
“Negative Libra” runs 36:36 and is the lone track on the album that bears its name from Las Vegas-based solo-project Droneroom. The flowing work of Blake Conley develops in slow, meditative form and gradually introduces lap steel to shimmer along with its post-landscape etherealities, evocative of cinema as they are without exactly playing to one or the other film-genre tropes. That is to say, Conley isn’t strictly horror soundtracking or Western soundtracking, and so on. Perhaps in part because of that, “Negative Libra” is allowed to discover its path and flourish as it goes — I’m not sure as to the layering process of making it vis-à-vis what was tracked live and put on top after — but the sense of exploration-of-moment that comes through is palpable and serene even as the guitar comes forward just before hitting the 27-minute mark to begin the transition into the song’s noisier payoff and final, concluding hum.
Blown-out vocals add an otherworldly tinge to Arizona-based one-man-band Aiwass‘ debut full-length, Wayward Gods, giving the already gargantuan tones a sense of space to match. Opener “Titan” and closer “Mythos” seem to push even further in this regard than, say, the centerpiece “Man as God” — the last track feeling particularly Monolordly in its lumbering — but by the time “Titan” and the subsequent, 10-minute inclusion “From Chains,” which ends cold with a guest solo by Vinny Tauber of Ohio’s Taubnernaut and shifts into the cawing blackbird at the outset of “Man as God” with a purposefully jarring intent. Despite the cringe-ready cartoon-boobs cover art, the newcomer project finds a heavy niche that subverts expectation as much as it meets it and sets broad ground to explore on future outings. As an idea, “gonna start a heavy, huge-sounding band during the pandemic,” is pretty straightforward. What results from that in Aiwass runs deeper.
Posted in Questionnaire on March 19th, 2021 by JJ Koczan
The Obelisk Questionnaire is a series of open questions intended to give the answerer an opportunity to explore these ideas and stories from their life as deeply as they choose. Answers can be short or long, and that reveals something in itself, but the most important factor is honesty.
Based on the Proust Questionnaire, the goal over time is to show a diverse range of perspectives as those who take part bring their own points of view to answering the same questions. To see all The Obelisk Questionnaire posts, click here.
Thank you for reading and thanks to all who participate.
The Obelisk Questionnaire: Zac Crye
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How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?
I just like to rock and roll. Most of the decisions I’ve made throughout my life have been weighed against how I can further this artistic endeavor that I’ve undertaken. I try to express myself in the world the way I express myself in my music – I’ve had to really design my life a certain way in order to do the things that I do.
Describe your first musical memory.
There are old photos of me at about age two, and my dad was holding me while he rehearsed with his band. I’m not sure if I can remember that or not, but I definitely have always had this seed in me to be a musician for as far as I can remember. The first thing that really caught my full attention was probably Prince or Michael Jackson, because of the visual aspects.
Describe your best musical memory to date.
I was a stagehand at Concrete Street Amphitheater in Corpus Christi, TX, probably around 2011. I was setting up the stage for Judas Priest and Black Label Society. It was right around my son’s second birthday and Zakk Wylde had just released a mini Les Paul Signature guitar. I bought the guitar a month in advance because I knew I would be working this show. I brought in with me to work and I caught Zakk Wylde on the side of the stage. Me and Zakk were standing there watching Judas Priest, and he was signing my son’s guitar. He kept pausing and pointing at the band going “fucking killer!!” and then finished signing the guitar. My son still has the guitar and is a huge fan of Zakk Wylde to this day!
When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?
I used to have this “If you build it, they will come,” mindset. So I would book tours without having the band in order which, on one hand can be very motivating, but on the other hand if you don’t do it correctly it can work against you. In this case, I had put a lot of work into booking the tour but we were traveling around half-assing our performances because we hadn’t had the proper time to prepare. On the flipside – we still had a great time and made a ton of new fans, so I’m not sure what to make of it…
Where do you feel artistic progression leads?
A fulfilling life.
How do you define success?
I think each individual has to set the parameters for the type of life they want and then do their best to execute that. That’s what I’m doing, and most of the time, I feel like I am succeeding in life. I don’t really have a firm vision for what success in the music industry would look like because it feels so farfetched to me. I think, if I’m executing the music the way I hear it in my head then that is a success, and the result of that is all secondary to me – my job is to write the next song.
What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?
I sat through a Papa Roach set once…
Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.
A homestead compound with a recording studio complex, and a succulent plant nursery.
What do you believe is the most essential function of art?
It’s the soul’s expression. It’s what compels the painting on the cave walls, or the Mona Lisa, or the Eiffel Tower, and all the other cliché references you could think of.
Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?
My wife and I have just purchased our first home, and I’m already planning out my recording studio which is very exciting!
