I’ll find out for sure in a bit, but I think this might be one of those supremely weird Quarterly Review days where it’s a total mash of styles and it doesn’t make any sense whatsoever from one release to the next so that by the time the batch of 10 records is done we’ve ended up covering a pretty significant swath of heavy music’s spectrum. I ain’t out here trying to be comprehensive, you understand. I’m just doing my best to keep up. And in that, sometimes you hit a weird day.

In fact, I think “weird” might be the operative word for the Quarterly Review so far. I think about this music, who it’s for, why, and it’s weird and it’s for weirdos in my head. Both of those things are meant in a spirit of reverence for weirdness. Weird is interesting. Weird stands out. Weird is… also how I feel basically any time I’m out of the house among other adults unless I’m at a show. Weird is that beautiful thing that unites those people who don’t seem to fit anywhere else but in this.

So yeah, today’s weird. Strap in, kids.

Quarterly Review #31-40:

Church of the Sea, Odalisque

Electronic beats, live guitar, and a resonant human voice make for a fascinating blend on Church of the Sea‘s richly atmospheric Odalisque. The Athenian trio of vocalist Irene, guitarist Vangelis (a different Vangelis) and synthesist/sampler Alex conjure a deep sense of mood in songs like “Mirror” and the closer “Me as the Water, Me as a Tree,” operating from the weighted beginning of opener “No One Deserves” onward in a slow-moving, open-spaced take on heavy post-rock that staves off the shimmering guitar in favor of adding the rumble of distortion often as a backing drone to fill out the sound alongside the synth behind Irene‘s voice. There are shades of Author & Punisher‘s latest — but Odalisque is less about slamming impact than spreading out the landscape of its title-track and the personal examinations of its lyrics, though “Raindrops” doesn’t seem fully ready to commit to one or the other and it’s easy to appreciate that. A striking debut from a band whose individualized purpose sets them apart even within Greece’s crowded and wildly creative underground.

Church of the Sea on Facebook

Church of the Sea links

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Gu Vo, Gu Vo

Drummer Edu Escobar, bassist Raúl Burrueco and vocalist/synthesist Alejandro Ruiz are Gu Vo, and given their lack of guitar, it should come as little surprise that their Sentencia Records self-titled debut is a markedly rhythmic experience. Taking some example perhaps from Slift‘s uptempo space/krautrockism, the Spanish three-piece bring an avant garde vibe even to the ultra-smooth build of “Crab Ball Gate,” hypnotizing through repetition in the low end and drums while the keys weave in and out of prominence, “Little Lizard” arriving with storybook fanfare before toying with willful-sounding low- and high-end frequency imbalance — you go this way and I’ll go that, etc. — and vocals that are duly spaced. The nine-song/49-minute outing is ambitious, droning large in “USG Ishimura” and actually maybe-actually-sampling Altered Beast for the chiptunery of “Rise From Your Grave.” “TuunBaq” brings some of these impulses together at the end, but Gu Vo‘s Gu Vo is more about the trip you take than where you end up, and that’s much to its advantage.

Gu Vo on Facebook

Sentencia Records on Bandcamp

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Witchfinder, Endless Garden

Watch out for the slowdown in about the last minute and a half of “The Maze” (6:28) which is the first of two songs on Witchfinder‘s Endless Garden EP. Things are rolling along, some Acid King nod in that main riff, and then, wham, screams and meaner sludge pushes into the proceedings without so much as a s’il vous plaît from the Clermont-Ferrand-based four-piece. The keyboard later in the subsequent “Eternal Sunset” (10:41) running alongside the slower movement there calls to mind Type O Negative — though I understand it’s Hangman’s Chair holding down such vibes in France these days, so maybe or maybe not an influence — plays a similar function in distinguishing the ending from what’s come before, but it’s the overarching heft of Endless Garden that makes it such a fulfilling answer to 2019’s Hazy Rites (review here), the band perhaps pushing back against some of the more cultish tendencies of current heavy in favor of a more individual statement of fuzz and psych-doomer spaciousness. It’s been a hell of a three years since the album. A reminder of Witchfinder‘s growth in progress is welcome.

Witchfinder on Facebook

Mrs Red Sound on Bandcamp

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Centre El Muusa, Purple Stones

Imagine yourself having a dream about surfing and you might be on your way to Centre El Muusa‘s sound. The Estonian instrumentalist four-piece debuted on Sulatron with their 2020 self-titled (review here), and they cohesively explore various realms here, dream-beach among them, but also some twangy slide guitar in opener “Pony Road” and “Desert Song,” the band using the titles seemingly to drop hints of the vibes being captured. Sure enough, the dirty fuzz in “Boomerang” comes back around, “Keila Train” — it’s about a 15-mile trip from Talinn, where the band are from, to Keila — has a distracted line of keys over mellow jazz drumming and meandering guitar, and “Pilot on Board” brings a subtle kosmiche push with an undulating waveform drone that’s like the wind passing under and over the wings of an airplane. Each of these moments of (assisted) evocation can be experienced or not depending on how far in a given listener wants to plunge — or how high they want to float, in the case of “Pilot on Board” — but the abiding sense of exploration in sound remains vital just the same. Wherever it may want to take you at a given moment, it wants to take you. Let it.

Centre El Muusa on Facebook

Sulatron Records webstore

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0N0, Unwavering Resonance

I’ll admit that Unwavering Resonance is my first exposure to Slovakia’s 0N0, but it won’t be the last. Their third full-length following 2016’s Reconstruction and Synthesis with an EP and a split between, the new outing collects four cuts across a manageable 36 minutes and begins with its longest track (immediate points) in the 12-minute declaration of purpose “Clay Weight.” Though reputed for more industrialized fare in the past — and still definitely utilizing programming for the ‘drums’ and other synthy sounds — one cannot ignore the chug that rises to prominence in the leadoff, or the malevolence of purpose in the deathly use to which it’s put. Post-metal and death-doom come together fluidly enough in “Clay Weight” and the subsequent “Shattering” (5:12) with a balance tipped to one side or another — the second track, shortest, blasts furiously — and one wouldn’t call what happens in the nine-minutes-each pair of “Unwavering Resonance” and closer “Wander the Vacant Twilight” an evening out, since they continue to lean to particular aspects of their crushing sound in a given stretch, but hell’s bells it’s heavy, and its catharsis is less about making your skin crawl than turning bones into powder. Methodical, not chaotic, but ready to bask in the chaos surrounding. More brutalism than brutal.

0N0 on Facebook

0N0 on Bandcamp

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Faeries, Faeries

Shit, that’s heavy. Released on cassette and download, the 2021 self-titled debut long-player from Savannah, Georgia’s Faeries is a beast working under suitably beastly traditions. Tapping into a tonal density and an and-yet-it-moves crush of riff that reminds of the earliest days of fellow Peach Staters Mastodon, there’s a more straight-ahead, heads-down, push-through-with-the-shoulder sensibility to David Rapp‘s solo outfit, an underlying sense of riff worship in “March March,” “Megadrone,” and the rest of the nine-song/45-minute outing that — much to Rapp‘s credit — are set for destructive purposes rather than self-indulgent progressivism. That’s not to say Faeries, the album, is dumbed down. It’s not, and even in the vocal gruel of “Fresh Laces” and “The Pain of Days” or the chug-‘n’-swing instrumental “The Volcano,” that can be heard in the structure of the songs — “Slurricane” deviates to somewhat lighter tone and also-instrumental closer “Traces” echoes that — but Rapp‘s clear intention here is to base his songwriting around the heaviest sounds possible, and while it’s exciting to think maybe he got there on this first outing, it’s even more exciting to think maybe he didn’t and is going to try again sometime soon. Either way, happy bludgeoning/being bludgeoned.

Faeries on Instagram

The Silver Box on Bandcamp

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The Cult of Dom Keller, Raiders of the Lost Archives: Demos & Rarities 2007-2020

Somewhat inevitable that a 100-minute collection of lost tracks, demos, alternate versions and live takes from UK psych adventurers Cult of Dom Keller would be something of a fan-piece. Still, as Raiders of the Lost Archives: Demos & Rarities 2007-2020 spans its 20-song run and multiple lineups of the band, its moving between years and methodologies has plenty of flow if you’re willing to open yourself to the essential fact that the band can do whatever. the. fuck. they. want. To wit, “Monarch” with its relatively forward verses and choruses and the lo-fi howling feedback of “QWERTYUIOP,” or 2020’s creep-into-wash “Dead Don’t Dream” and the garage-psych urgency of 2007’s “We Left This World Behind for a Place in the Sun.” Those who’ve followed Cult of Dom Keller on their merry path will dig the (again, relatively) efficient look at how far they’ve come and in how many different directions, while those unfamiliar with the band might want to find something less inherently uneven to dig on (start with 2020’s Ascend! (review here), then work back), but cuts like “Broken Arm of God” and “Jupiter’s Beard” are ready to catch ears either way, and if it takes time to digest, well heck, you’ll have all the time in the world if you quit your day job, so why not just go ahead and do that?

Cult of Dom Keller on Facebook

Cult of Dom Keller on Bandcamp

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Supplemental Pills, Volume 1

The narrative — blessings and peace upon it — holds that Supplemental Pills got together at the behest of vocalist/guitarist Ezra Meredith when his main outfit, Hearts of Oak stepped back for pandemic lockdown. Fair enough. With Joel Meredith on guitar, bassist/synthesist Aron Christensen (also Hearts of Oak) and drummer/vocalist Mark Folkrod, these seven songs feel carved out of jams as the reportedly were, with “Feel It” blinking momentarily into Endless Boogie-sounding improv preach while mellower and more spacious pieces like opener “Run On,” the nine-minute drone-drawler “Floating Mountains Over Rivers” and the 11-minute fuzz-go repetitions of “Gonna Be Alright” — a decent mantra if e’er there was one — ooze deeper into vibe rock far-outreach. “Freedom March” is fairly active, with Ezra‘s vocals there and in “Run On” seeming to nod at the departed Mark Lanegan, and “The Wizard Was Right” has a sense of movement as well that suits its overlaid verses. If it feels right, it is right. Drone what thou wilt. And if this is what they’re coming up with essentially by accident, one shudders to think what might happen if they actually tried to write a song. It’s just crazy enough to work.

Supplemental Pills on Facebook

In Music We Trust Records on Bandcamp

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Green Hog Band, Crypt of Doom

Some sonic coincidence brings Amorphis‘ “Forever More” to mind in hearing the winding guitar figure featured in Green Hog Band‘s instrumental-but-for-the-sample “Iron Horses,” but that’s not a direct influence. The Brooklynite trio’s third full-length, Crypt of Doom, follows last year’s Devil’s Luck (review here) and sees the self-recording trio of vocalist/bassist Ivan Antipov, guitarist Mike Vivisector (also lyrics) and drummer Ronan Berry weaving into and out of Russian-language lyrics on top of their thick-toned sludge rock, which they shove resolutely on “Sweet Tea, Banana Bread” and even give a little shuffle on the penultimate “New Year Massacre,” but which is invariably more suited to the doomly lurch of opener “Dragon” or its later giant-lizard-thing counterpart “Leviathan.” Still, that these guys can make that bubbling cauldron of sludge and are even vaguely interested in doing anything else is admirable, and as raw as Crypt of Doom is, even the air seems to be stale, never mind the bare walls of rock and dirt surrounding. Dig a hole, reside therein, riff.

Green Hog Band on Facebook

The Swamp Records on Bandcamp

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Circle of Sighs, Alabaster

Most of all, one has to give kudos to Los Angeles experimentalist outfit for daring to cross the line between hard industrial music and the hip-hop it’s been summarily ripping off for the last quarter-century-plus. Alabaster is the third full-length from the unit not-so-secretly led by bassmaster/programmer/etc.-ist Collyn McCoy (also Night City, Aboleth, a bunch of others), and in addition to guest rappers A-F-R-O, Zombae and Kayee on cuts like “Anatomy Autonomy” (relevant) and the becomes-a-black-metal-onslaught “Copy Planet,” the nine-song/32-minute outing regurgitates genre expectations in a spew so willfully individual it can’t help but make its own kind of sense even unto the sound collage of “Segue-08” or “ec63294e-0dcf-4947-bb7c-965769967dbd,” which answers the freak-dance of “A Magical Journey of Love” with sentient-AI-knows-where-you-live moodsetting, which of course is an excellent precursor to the organ-laced cult extremity of “FLESHSELF: Abandon the Altars.” This is never going to be for everyone, but Alabaster‘s willingness to play with risk in sound makes just about everything that ‘fits in’ feel ridiculous. You think you’ve heard it all? Think you’re bored? Check this shit out and see how wrong you are.

Circle of Sighs on Facebook

Circle of Sighs on Bandcamp

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Tour on, tour off. As previously noted, this inaugural Planet of Zeus tour in the US (a couple shows in Canada as well; not to be forgotten) was scheduled for 2020, and it was a bummer when it was canceled the first time, though of course everything was canceled at that point, so it was just one more for the pile. Now that some tours are actually happening, seeing this one fall by the wayside is even harder. They were to have appeared at Desertfest New York, playing the pre-show at the Saint Vitus Bar, and as you can see for the list of affected dates below, that was just one righteous stop they were making on a coast-to-coast-and-then-some run. I’ve seen no word on whether they’ll try again.

I do not envy any band trying to get to the States my country’s ridiculous visa application process, either in terms of inconvenience or expense. Rest assured, if America was the greatest country in the world as the slogan says, its doors would be open to any and all who might approach them. The problem here lies not with those seeking to share their art, thereby benefiting themselves, their dedicated audience and the community at large.

From social media:

PLANET OF ZEUS – NORTH AMERICAN TOUR CANCELLED

We’re absolutely devastated to have to announce this, but our planned shows in North America, Canada and festival appearance at Desertfest are unfortunately cancelled.

We took every measure to ensure our visas were granted in time but at this point we’re still lacking the correspondence and reassurance that we need in order to go ahead with the tour. We wanted nothing more than to make some noise on US soil but the odds are stacked against us and we simply just can’t make it happen.

Please know that we’re working hard to reschedule the shows and we hope to have clarity on our visa situation soon.

Sincerest apologies to everyone that was hoping to see us and thank you in advance for your understanding.

CANCELLED DATES
May 4 – Des Moines, IA – XBK LIVE
MAY 5 – Chicago, IL – REGGIE’S
May 6 – Youngstown, OH – WESTSIDE BOWL
May 7 – Toronto, ON – BOVINE SEX CLUB
May 8 – Ottawa, ON – DOMINION TAVERN
May 9 – Quebec City – QC – LA SOURCE DL MARTINIERE
May 10 – Providence, RI – ALCHEMY
May 11 – Frederick, MD – CAFE 611
May 12 – Brooklyn NY – DESERTFEST – ST VITUS BAR
May 13 – Virginia Beach – THE BUNKER BREWPUB
May 14 – Atlanta, GA – BOGGS SOCIAL
May 15 – New Orleans, LA – PORTSIDE LOUNGE
May 16 – Lafayette, LA – FREETOWN BOOM BOOM ROOM
May 17 – Austin, TX – INDEPENDENCE BREWING
May 19 – Tempe, AZ – YUCCA TAP ROOM
May 20 – San Diego, CA – KENSINGTON CLUB
May 21 – Costa Mesa, CA – THE WAYFARER
May 22 – San Francisco, CA – BOTTOM OF THE HILL
May 24 – Portland, OR – DANTES
May 25 – Seattle, WA – FUNHOUSE
May 26 – Boise, ID – SHREDDER
May 27 – Salt Lake City, UT – THE LOADING DOCK
May 28 – Denver, CO – HQ

Art by Bewild Brother

PLANET OF ZEUS is:
Babis Papanikolaou – Vox & Guitars
Stelios Provis – Guitars
Giannis Vrazos – Bass
Serafeim Giannakopoulos – Drums

http://www.planetofzeus.gr
https://www.facebook.com/planetofzeus
http://planetofzeus.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/HEAVYPSYCHSOUNDS/
http://www.heavypsychsounds.com/
https://heavypsychsoundsrecords.bandcamp.com/

Planet of Zeus, Faith in Physics (2019)

When we’re keying down after an invariably long day at my house and it’s getting close to The Pecan’s bedtime, we often watch a “bonus-extra” video. Sometimes it’s “Yellow Submarine,” sometimes a Peep and the Big Wide World on YouTube, whatever. Point is, think of today like a bonus-extra for the Quarterly Review after last week. Sometimes we do an extra-bonus-extra too. That will not be happening here.

So, we wrap up today with this bonus-extra batch of 10 records, and yes, as always, I took it easy on myself in backloading the last day of the QR with stuff I knew I’d dig. It’s called self-care, people. I practice it in my own way, usually incorrectly. Nonetheless, here’s 10 more records and thanks for tuning in to the Quarterly Review if you did. Next one is probably early July.

Quarterly Review #51-60:

Crowbar, Zero and Below

Six years after The Serpent Only Lies (review here), New Orleans sludge metal progenitors Crowbar deliver Zero and Below, a dutiful 10-song and 42-minute collection that emphasizes the strength of the current lineup of the band. It should go without saying that more than 30 years on from Crowbar‘s founding, guitarist/vocalist Kirk Windstein knows exactly what he wants the band to be and how to manifest that in the studio and live, and he does that here. The real question is whether “The Fear that Binds You” or maybe even the later “Bleeding From Every Hole” will make it into the touring set, but those are just two of the candidates on a record that feels like it was expressly written for Crowbar fans with a suitably masterful hand, which of course it was. There’s only one Crowbar. Treasure them while you can. And hell’s bells, go see them on stage if you never have. Buy a shirt.

Crowbar on Facebook

MNRK Heavy website

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Eric Wagner, In the Lonely Light of Mourning

Joined by a litany of musicians and friends he at one point or another called bandmates in Blackfinger and Trouble, as well as Victor Griffin of Pentagram, Place of Skulls, etc., for a lead guitar spot, Eric Wagner‘s solo album, In the Lonely Light of Mourning, takes on an all-the-more-sorrowful context with Wagner‘s untimely death last year. And in many ways, the underlying message of In the Lonely Light of Mourning is the same message that Wagner‘s participation in The Skull for the better part of the last decade reinforced: he still had more to offer. He still had that voice, he still knew who he was as a singer and a songwriter. He still loved The Beatles and Black Sabbath and he was still one of the best frontmen after to do the job for a doom band. I don’t know what kind of archive exists of recordings he may have done before his death, but if In the Lonely Light of Mourning is the last release to bear his name, could there be a better note to close on than “Wish You Well” here?

Eric Wagner on Bandcamp

Cruz Del Sur Music website

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Ode and Elegy, Ode and Elegy

Recorded and seemingly layered together over a period of years between 2016 and 2020, Ode and Elegy‘s self-titled debut features only its 55-minute eponymous/title-track, and that’s more album conceptually and personnel-wise than most albums are anyway. There are guitar, bass, drums and vocals, and those recordings began in 2016 (vocals were done in 2018), but also a string quartet (recorded in Minneapolis, 2017), a brass section and full choir (recorded in Sofia, Bulgaria, 2020), flute (recorded in London, 2020) and harp (recorded in Manchester, UK, 2020). What the Parma, NY-based outfit make of all this is an organic, neoclassical and folk-informed complexity worthy of headphones for its texture and encompassing in both its heaviest and its most sweeping sections. There’s a vision at work across this span, and from the Behemoth-esque grandiosity of the horns about 33 minutes in to the final payoff and bookending subdued melody, the execution is no less impressive than the scope behind it. The years of effort in making it were not wasted. But how on earth do you write a follow-up for a debut like this?

Ode and Elegy on Instagram

Ode and Elegy website

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Burn the Sun, Le Roi Soleil

The thing about the jazzy break in the middle of second cut “A Fist for Crows” (as opposed to a feast?) is that it’s not at all out of place with the lumbering-but-moving heavy noise-rock-toned riffing or the big melodies that surround on Burn the Sun‘s first LP, Le Roi Soleil. After the relatively straightforward opener “Wolves Among Us,” it’s the beginning of the Athenian rockers showcasing their multi-tiered ambitions. “Fool’s Gold” is a short melodic heavy punk rocker, and those elements pop up again throughout, but “Severance” oozes into Deftones-y melody on vocals early and drifts out in psychedelia for much of its second half build, and there’s post-metal to be found in 12-minute closer “Torch the Skies,” but with ambient interludes in “Crawling Flame” and “The Calm Before,” even that’s not accounting for the whole breadth of the nine included pieces. Much to the band’s credit, they pull off their abrupt turns like that in “A Fist for Crows” and the later highlight “Tidal Waves,” while also keeping more charging aggression in their back pocket for the penultimate “Siren’s Call.” Some sorting out to do, but there’s a strong sense of identity in the songwriting.

Burn the Sun on Facebook

Burn the Sun on Bandcamp

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Amon Acid, Demon Rider

A two-songer being offered up as a 7″ sacrifice presumably to the antigods of riffy lysergic doom, while, yes, also heralding the Leeds trio’s forthcoming second LP, Cosmology, Amon Acid‘s Demon Rider may be a bite-size slab, but it’s a slab nonetheless of tripped out doom, drawing on Cathedral in the title-track and bringing some of Orange Goblin’s burl to the still-spacious and freaked “Incredible Melting Man” in a whopping 3:43, as the founding UK-via-Greece duo of Sarantis Charvas (guitar, synth, vocals) and Briony Charvas (bass, synth) — as well as singly-named drummer Smith — follow-up their 2020 debut, Paradigm Shift, with a fuller and more realized shove. The synth does more work in their sound than it first seems, and together with the echoing vocals, it brings “Demon Rider” to a darkly psychedelic place. If that’s where Cosmology is headed as well, I guess it’s time to get on your possessed motorcycle and ride it into interstellar oblivion. You knew this day would come. Come on now. Off you go.

Amon Acid on Facebook

Helter Skelter Productions website

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Mucho Mungo, Moth Bath

Those ever-reliable climbers of Weird Mountain at Forbidden Place Records snagged Mucho Mungo‘s gem of a 2020 debut EP, and with an extra track added, made a first full-length from Moth Bath that shimmers like a reinvented moment where classic prog and garage rock met. For a record that opens with a song called “Bear Attack,” the Madrid three-piece of guitarist/vocalist/keyboardist Marco González, bassist/vocalist Adrien Elbaz and drummer/vocalist/keyboardist Santiago Aguilera take a wholly unaggressive approach, digging into psychedelia only so much as it suits their movement-based purpose. That is to say, “Sandworm I” boogies down, and even though “Sandworm II” is comparatively mellow, there’s a space rock shuffle happening beneath those echoing space-out vocals. “Pocket Rocket” devolves in its sub-four-minute stretch but features some choice drumming and Galaga-esque keyboard sounds for atmosphere, while “Blue Nectar” captures a brighter jamminess and “The Moth” signals more cosmic intentions for what’s to come. Sign me up. Familiar sounds that don’t quite sound like anything else.

Mucho Mungo on Facebook

Forbidden Place Records website

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Sum of R, Lahbryce

Bringing Swiss duo Sum of R into the realm of Finland’s weirdo-brilliant Waste of Space — Dark Buddha Rising, Atomikylä, Dust Mountain, a handful of other associated acts — by having founder Reto Mäder add vocalist Marko Neuman and drummer Jukka Rämänen from Dark Buddha Rising was not going to make Lahbryce any less devastating. And sure enough, “Sink as I” unfolds with a genuine sense of immersion-toward-drowning that the vague ambience of “Crown of Diseased” and the no-less-airy-for-being-crushing “Borderline” immediately expand. For its eight songs and 54 minutes, what was a tailor-made Roadburn lineup push deeper. Deeper than Sum of R‘s 2017 debut, Orga (review here), and deeper than many consciousnesses will want to go. The instrumental “The Problem” is actually less challenging, but “Hymn for the Formless” makes short work of the tropes of European post-metal while “Shimmering Sand” and the noise-laden “144th” once more spread out in terms of ambience, and closer “Lust” finally swallows us all and we die. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer species, and what a way to go.

Sum of R on Facebook

Consouling Sounds store

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Albatross Overdrive, Eye See Red

Albatross Overdrive‘s third full-length, Eye See Red, opens with a hearty invitation to “Get Fucked,” and that is but the first of a slew of catchy, hard-edged, punk-informed heavy rock kissoffs. “Eye See Red” is duly frustrated as well, but as “Coming Down” suitably mellows out and “Been to Space” redirects the energy behind the earlier cuts’ delivery, there’s a feeling of the palette broadening on the part of the California-based five-piece, leading to the centerpiece “Bring Love,” the chorus of which sounds aspirational in light of the leadoff, and “Sagittarius” and “Fuente del Fuego” skirt the line between classic punk and biker rock, Albatross Overdrive continue the gritty and brash style of 2019’s Ascendant (review here) but find new reaches to explore. To wit, the nine-minute closer “Shattered” here reaches farther into melody and instrumental dynamic, bringing the different sides together in a way that’s genuinely new for the band while still having their core of songcraft underneath. They’ve well established themselves as a nothin’-too-fancy heavy rock act, but that doesn’t seem to be an aversion to forward progression either. Best of both worlds, then.

Albatross Overdrive on Facebook

Albatross Overdrive on Bandcamp

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Guided Meditation Doomjazz, Summer Let Me Down

To a certain extent, what you see is what you get with Guided Meditation Doomjazz. The Austin-based outfit led by six-string bassist J. Blaise Gans aka Blaise the Seeker conjure a half-hour session, recorded mostly if not entirely live, with a direct intention toward high-order chill and musical adventuring. Across “Warm Me Up,” “Summer,” “Let Me,” “Down” and “It’s Winter Again,” the band — working as the trio of Gans, Greg Perlman and drummer Mathew Doeckel — are fully switched-on and exploratory, and the pieces carved from their jams are hypnotic and engaging. A check-in from a prolific outfit, but with the backing of The Swamp Records, Summer Let Me Down comes across as something of a moment’s realization, placing the listener in the room — all the more with the photography included in the download — with the band as the music happens. Immersion, trance, digging in, vibing, all that stuff applies, but it’s the hiccups and the letting-them-go that feel even more instructive. If you can remember to breathe, it’s just crazy enough to work. Made to be heard more than once, and serves that well.

Guided Meditation Doomjazz on Instagram

The Swamp Records on Bandcamp

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Darsombra, Fill Up the Glass

Everybody’s favorite drone freaks Darsombra — who just might play your house if you pay them, feed them, allow them enough electricity and/or maybe sex them up a little — released the 7:50 single “Fill Up the Glass” on the last Bandcamp Friday as a 24-hours-only offering that was there and gone before I could even grab the cover art to go with it. Rife with spacey, spicy sounds, their interweaving of synth and guitar sounds improvised if it isn’t, rumbling and oozing at the start and drifting joyously into the cosmos over its stretch. No clue whether the song will show up on their next album — as ever, Darsombra are on to the next thing, which is a tour that begins at Grim Reefer Fest in Baltimore and some kind of special offering, presumably a video, for April 20 — but like all their work, “Fill Up the Glass” is evocative and a revelry in creative spirit, and if seeing this gets you on board with checking out any of their more recent work, then I’ll consider it a win regardless of this song’s availability over the longer term. But it is a cool track.

Darsombra Linktree

Darsombra store

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Athens-based four-piece Acid Mammoth and Sardinian trio 1782 have announced a tour to take place in April throughout Europe. The two acts are no strangers to each other, being labelmates on Heavy Psych Sounds. Both are also confirmed for the label’s impending festival in Salzburg, Austria, this June.

1782 issued their From the Graveyard (review here) LP last year and Acid Mammoth offered Caravan (review here) earlier in 2021 as well. The latter release was Acid Mammoth‘s third full-length and the former 1782‘s second, but both bands have followed a course of big-riff doom, 1782 playing more toward cultish tropes and Acid Mammoth complementing their tones with a due sense of haze.

It makes sense, accordingly, that they’d tour together as 1782 head toward Desertfest London 2022 (couldn’t find a slot for Acid Mammoth? maybe another announcement coming?) and further a connection that was forged before either of the latest releases from the bands, when they joined forces in 2019 for the second installment of Heavy Psych Sounds‘ Doom Sessions split series (discussed here).

They’ll play the Go Down Festival, Dudefest, and Doom in Bloom together, and there are still a couple dates TBA, so if you can help out in an appropriate part of the world, do it. Hell, make an offer and put on a show in your back yard. Here’s what’s up:

Heavy Psych Sounds announce ACID MAMMOTH & 1782 DOOM TOUR EUROPE 2022 !!!

*** ACID MAMMOTH & 1782 ***
DOOM TOUR EUROPE 2022
15/04/2022 IT **OPEN SLOT**
16/04/2022 IT FIRENZE CPA
17/04/2022 IT BOLOGNA FREAKOUT
18/04/2022 IT ZEROBRANCO GO DOWN FESTIVAL
19/04/2022 SLO LJUBLJANA CHANNEL ZERO
20/04/2022 AT GRAZ EXPLOSIV
21/04/2022 DE ULM HEXENHAUS
22/04/2022 AT INNSBRUCK PMK
23/04/2022 DE KARLSRUHE DUDEFEST
24/04/2022 NL SNEEK BOLWERK
25/04/2022 DE HAMBURG KNUST
26/04/2022 DE BERLIN DOOM IN BLOOM
27/04/2022 FR **OPEN SLOT**
28/04/2022 FR DIJON LES TANNERIES
29/04/2022 CH FR **OPEN SLOT**
30/04/2022 CH BRUNNEN KULT-TURM
01/05/2022 UK LONDON DESERTFEST (only 1782)

ACID MAMMOTH is:​
Chris Babalis Jr. – Vocals, Guitars
Chris Babalis Sr. – Guitars
Dimosthenis Varikos – Bass
Marios Louvaris – Drums

1782 is:​
Marco Nieddu – vocals/guitar
Gabriele Fancellu – drums/back. vocals
Francesco Pintore – bass

www.facebook.com/1782doom
https://1782doom.bandcamp.com/
https://www.instagram.com/1782_doom/

https://www.facebook.com/acidmammoth
https://www.instagram.com/acidmammoth/
https://acidmammoth.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/HEAVYPSYCHSOUNDS
https://twitter.com/HEAVYPSYCHSOUND
https://instagram.com/heavypsychsounds_records/
https://heavypsychsoundsrecords.bandcamp.com/
www.heavypsychsounds.com/

Acid Mammoth & 1782, Doom Sessions Vol. 2 (2020)

Already confirmed for Desertfest NYC 2022 in Brooklyn this May, Athenian heavy rockers Planet of Zeus today announce their inaugural US tour after stomping only so many mudholes in the European circuit. The run was originally supposed to take place in 2020, but I think we all know how that went. Needless to say, I like their chances of making it over now much better than they might’ve been as the world was turning to shit, and having the occasion of Desertfest to tour around only makes it make more sense. I’m not saying it’s convenient to have the tour kicked back by two years, but I’m saying that at least they’re making the most of the opportunity that delay presents.

Speaking of presents, I was one of the presenters of the original tour and have been back and forth with the booking concerns, etc., over the last couple days about this announcement. I don’t know if I’m still presenting or what, but frickin’ hell, this band plays arenas in Greece. I’ll bet they blow the roof off some of these places they’re playing.

Here there be tour dates:

PLANET OF ZEUS NORTH AMERICAN HEADLINE TOUR

We are so excited to visit North America for the first time. Things are about to get loud in here and we can’t wait to perform alongside Freedom Hawk, Void Vator and Druids and to bring the party to NA. See you on the road!!

DATES
May 4 – Des Moines, IA – XBK LIVE
MAY 5 – Chicago, IL – REGGIE’S
May 6 – Youngstown, OH – WESTSIDE BOWL
May 7 – Toronto, ON – BOVINE SEX CLUB
May 8 – Ottawa, ON – DOMINION TAVERN
May 9 – Quebec City – QC – LA SOURCE DL MARTINIERE
May 10 – Providence, RI – ALCHEMY
May 11 – Frederick, MD – CAFE 611
May 12 – Brooklyn NY – DESERTFEST – ST VITUS BAR
May 13 – Virginia Beach – THE BUNKER BREWPUB
May 14 – Atlanta, GA – BOGGS SOCIAL
May 15 – New Orleans, LA – PORTSIDE LOUNGE
May 16 – Lafayette, LA – FREETOWN BOOM BOOM ROOM
May 17 – Austin, TX – INDEPENDENCE BREWING
May 19 – Tempe, AZ – YUCCA TAP ROOM
May 20 – San Diego, CA – KENSINGTON CLUB
May 21 – Costa Mesa, CA – THE WAYFARER
May 22 – San Francisco, CA – BOTTOM OF THE HILL
May 24 – Portland, OR – DANTES
May 25 – Seattle, WA – FUNHOUSE
May 26 – Boise, ID – SHREDDER
May 27 – Salt Lake City, UT – THE LOADING DOCK
May 28 – Denver, CO – HQ

Art by Bewild Brother

PLANET OF ZEUS is:
Babis Papanikolaou – Vox & Guitars
Stelios Provis – Guitars
Giannis Vrazos – Bass
Serafeim Giannakopoulos – Drums

http://www.planetofzeus.gr
https://www.facebook.com/planetofzeus
http://planetofzeus.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/HEAVYPSYCHSOUNDS/
http://www.heavypsychsounds.com/
https://heavypsychsoundsrecords.bandcamp.com/

Planet of Zeus, Faith in Physics (2019)

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: Vasilis Tsigkris of Supermoon

—

How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?

I compose music, sing and play the bass for Supermoon. I like to describe our sound as Forest Rock, which is a mix of psy, stoner/doom and folk. I’ve been playing with bands since junior high-school and it’s the best thing I’ve done. I couldn’t imagine my life without playing music, it’s like an urge from within.

Describe your first musical memory.

Some time when I was really young, we went for a visit at my grandparents’ house in central Athens. It was there, inside a bedroom, that i saw an electric guitar for the very first time. It was my uncle’s guitar: an old golden semi-hollow Gibson or Epiphone — I can’t recall. I was enchanted by its looks and the sound the strings made, and i thought this must have been a magical object and it was me who has discovered it!

Describe your best musical memory to date.

When i first visited Ozora Festival in Hungary, five years ago. It’s by far the best festival experience I’ve had. I had no idea that a festival could even be like that. I can’t really explain it, those who have been there know what I’m talking about.

When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?

With the loss of a loved one in a really early age, at a time when I thought grown-ups are so strong — almost immortals.

Where do you feel artistic progression leads?

I believe artistic progression derives from maturation of the individual. Being able to incorporate this maturation into your art, could lead to more authentic creations.

How do you define success?

As the connection created between you and the people who embrace your music. When your songs are played in a home far from your home, when your lyrics are sang in a gig, by people you don’t know.

What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?

Human tactics in general. From being disrespectful towards one another, to polluting the seas and forests, abusing power, animals, creating monstrous cities.. This list is endless.

Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.

I’d like to write a book, a fantasy novel maybe. I like to write a lot and I find it fascinating, that one can create a whole new universe from blank pages and give birth to brand new settings and images. I try to do it from time to time, but I find it really difficult to be honest. Well maybe someday, who knows.

What do you believe is the most essential function of art?

Art to the people; Sharing!

Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?

We are planning a trip to Italy, my girlfriend and I. Really looking forward to it, especially after all this time in a covid cell.

https://www.facebook.com/supermoongr
https://www.instagram.com/supermoongr/
https://supermoongr.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/madeofstonerecordings
https://madeofstonerecordings.bandcamp.com/

Supermoon, Supermoon (2020)

Hey, it’s a tour, right? That’s cool. In the immortal words of Life of Agony, “let’s pretend” that 2022’s gonna be a year where stuff like this can happen — something I’ll allow myself a not-terrified-of-everything moment to do because these are two bands with two very different purposes. Belzebong and Nightstalker, together?

I’m not about to accuse Sound of Liberation of picking names out of a hat, but it’s not the most obvious pairing, considering Belzebong‘s ultra-stoned sludge ethos and Nightstalker‘s status as we-were-here-first figureheads of Greece’s modern heavy rock underground. It’s cool, don’t get me wrong. I’m into it. I’m sure the two bands will get along famously provided they can settle on a language between them, it’s just a surprise to see them sharing a bill.

So right on. I like surprises.

It’s nice not to be terrified of everything for a minute. Okay, back to it.

From Sound of Liberation on the social media:

BELZEBONG + NIGHTSTALKER 2022 TOUR

Friends, fasten your seatbelts and light up your – uh – Christmas candles of course, as we got one last smokin’ good announcement for you this year.

Are you ready for tons of evil weedian riffage under the sign of the Goat? BelzebonG drown themselves in a sea of distortion, fuzz and bottom-end and invite you to headbong and smokedive live and in colour with them.

But make no mistake, they’re not alone! Raw Rock-n-Roll simplicity, stunning riffs, and electric haze; this is Nightstalker joining the heavy-riffing train, rolling over Europe next Spring!

Sound of Liberation proudly presents:
BELZEBONG & NIGHTSTALKER
“BACK 2 SMOKE 2022 TOUR”
09.03.22 – Vienna | ARENA WIEN
10.03.22 – Dresden | Chemiefabrik Dresden (Chemo)
11.03.22 – Passau | Zauberberg Passau
12.03.22 – Jena | KuBa
13.03.22 – Wiesbaden | Schlachthof Wiesbaden
14.03.22 – Zürich | Dynamo Zürich (offiziell)
15.03.22 – Basel | Hirscheneck
17.03.22 – Paris | The Backstage Paris
18.03.22 – Brussels | Magasin 4
19.03.22 – Dortmund | JunkYard
21.03.22 – Bremen | Zollkantine
22.03.22 – Hamburg | Knust Hamburg
23.03.22 – Berlin | cassiopeia Berlin
24.03.22 – Hannover | CAFE GLOCKSEE
25.03.22 – Nürnberg | MUZclub
26.03.22 – Siegen | Vortex Surfer Musikclub

We can not wait to see this evil package fill the clubs with smoke and riffs. Get your tickets while they’re hot!

https://www.facebook.com/belzebong420/
https://www.instagram.com/belzebong420/
https://belzebong.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/vinterrecords
https://www.instagram.com/vinter_records/
http://vinterrecords.com/

https://www.facebook.com/nightstalkerband/
https://nightstalker.bandcamp.com/
http://www.nightstalkerband.com/

https://www.facebook.com/HEAVYPSYCHSOUNDS/
http://www.heavypsychsounds.com/
https://heavypsychsoundsrecords.bandcamp.com/

Belzebong, De Mysteriis Dope Sathanas – Live in Oslo (2021)

Nightstalker, Great Hallucinations (2019)

A never-released 2006 EP from Solarius, who featured Graveyard’s Jonatan Ramm on guitar and vocals, a reissue of B.U.S. The Unknown Secretary‘s 2016 debut (review here), and another reissue, of Stonewall Noise Orchestra‘s 2005 debut album, Vol. 1. Heavy Psych Sounds is sending multiple signals here. First, that its reissue program, which has already fostered revisits to outings from Dozer, Nebula, Kylesa, Josiah, Sgt. Sunshine, and others, will continue to dig into the pre-social-media era of underground heavy and find treasure waiting to be unearthed. Stonewall Noise Orchestra alone proves that, and Solarius feels like a flex there too.

It may be that B.U.S. have been picked up by Heavy Psych Sounds for their next outing — they released an album in 2019 (review here) on RidingEasy that was killer and showed them as underrated — but either way, five years later, their first one is worth another look, and it demonstrates the ever-increasing reach of HPS to do what it wants and when. The Italian label is the go-to for heavy rock and roll and psych in Europe. Their reissues are a victory lap in that regard.

Do Norrsken‘s complete works next.

Info and preorder links follow, courtesy the PR wire:

HPS183 *** SOLARIUS – Universal Trial ***
– first press of the 2006’s unreleased EP feat. members of Graveyard –

We are extremly proud to start the presale of the SOLARIUS 2006’s unreleased EP UNIVERSAL TRIAL !!

ALBUM PRESALE: https://www.heavypsychsounds.com/shop.htm#HPS183

USA PRESALE: https://www.heavypsychsounds.com/shop-usa.htm#HPS183

Recorded back in 2006 and hidden up until now. Swedish retro rockers Solarius masterpiece “Universal Trial” is now brought to daylight with this release. 70’s groovy hard blues rock with a psychedelic twist and featuring Jonatan Ramm of Graveyard fame (before joining that band). Hard, groovy, soft and fuzzy sound that brings you back to the early 70’s.

The songs were recorded in Don Pierre Studios in Gothenburg produced by the legendary Don Alsterberg (Graveyard etc). The master tapes were forgotten but are now found and released on Heavy Psych Sounds Records. The recording is 100% analogue and recorded and mixed on tape. The songs gets its magic from a beautiful mix of groove, melodies, fuzzy hard rock and dreamful psych prog rock influences.

RELEASED IN
15 TEST PRESS VINYL
100 ULTRA LTD 3 COLOR STRIPED GOLD/TRANSPARENT/BLUE VINYL
300 LTD NEON YELLOW VINYL
BLACK VINYL
DIGIPAK
RELEASE DATE: SEPTEMBER 24th

TRACKLIST
SIDE A
Universal Trial – 4.58
Sky Of Mine – 4.14
SIDE B
Into The Sun – 6.26
Mother Nature Mind – 5.25

SOLARIUS is:
Jonatan Ramm – Guitar and vocals
Mattias Ohde – Bass and vocals
Fredrik Aghem – Drums
Johan Grettve – Keys

HPS184 *** B.U.S. – The Unknown Secretary ***
– repress of the 2016’s debut album –

We are extremly proud to start the presale of the B.U.S. 2016’s debut album THE UNKNOWN SECRETARY repress !!

ALBUM PRESALE: https://www.heavypsychsounds.com/shop.htm#HPS184

USA PRESALE: https://www.heavypsychsounds.com/shop-usa.htm#HPS184

In the beginning, there was chaos…

A while later in the Heavens, where angels reigned, there was once held a great symposium, a glorious feast. Everyone was happy and having a great time, until Lucifer, fairest and mightiest of all the angels, brought in suspicious and strange substances, offering them freely with both hands for everyone to take. All were fooled by the Ancient Serpent, starting to misbehave and act in contradiction to the Heavenly Laws. The Almighty God, enraged upon learning about the mutiny, threw everyone down on earth to suffer eternally in hunger, ugliness and desperation. Vulnerable now to each and every temptation, they are ready to perpetuate Good and Evil, while building their new earthly Kingdom in any way they can.

Angelic chants, Demon’s screams, witches dancing and woeful mortal suffering are recounted in this album’s songs, embellished with mesmerising hymns and sharp riffs. Chaos is always close and all that remains is the human revolution against the forces of evil.

“The Unknown Secretary” comes to further unsettle the turbulent waves of music and burn its own mark in history.

Today, five years after its original release, Heavy Psych Sounds reissues this retro gem, serving it once again straight into your record case.

RELEASED IN
15 TEST PRESS VINYL
100 ULTRA LTD QUAD BLACK/RED VINYL
300 LTD BLUE VINYL
BLACK VINYL
DIGIPAK

RELEASE DATE: OCTOBER 8th

TRACKLIST
A1 Fallen – 3:33
A2 Masteroid – 4:45
A3 New Black Volume – 4:53
A4 Forever Grey – 3:28
A5 Don’t Fear Your Demon – 5:04
SIDE B
B1 Rockerbus – 7:38
B2 Withered Thorn – 4:49
B3 Over The Hills – 4:56
B4 Jimi – 5:20

B.U.S. is:
Bill Politis – Vocals & Guitars
Dimitris Papavasileiou – Bass Guitar
Aris Fasoulis – Drums
Fotis Kolokithas – Guitars

HPS190 *** STONEWALL NOISE ORCHESTRA – Vol. 1 ***
– repress of the legendary album in new coloured versions –

We are also stoked to start the presale of the STONEWALL NOISE ORCHESTRA legendary debut album VOL. 1 repress !!

ALBUM PRESALE: https://www.heavypsychsounds.com/shop.htm#HPS190

USA PRESALE: https://www.heavypsychsounds.com/shop-usa.htm#HPS190

VOL. 1 is the legendary debut album of the swedish stonerockers Stonewall Noise Orchestra, released via Daredevil Records in 2005 featuring ex members from Demon Cleaner and Greenleaf!! This is a Stoner Rock masterpiece picked with some Black Sabbath and Hawkwind fragments! If you like it slow, heavy and straight in your face you can’t miss this one.

After more then 15 years Heavy Psych Sounds decided to give a new life to this masterpiece and repress it in completely new coloured vinyl versions.

RELEASED IN
15 TEST PRESS VINYL
100 ULTRA LTD 3 COLOR STRIPED RED/TRANSPARENT/BLACK VINYL
300 LTD LIGHT BLUE VINYL
BLACK VINYL
DIGIPAK
DIGITAL

RELEASE DATE: NOVEMBER 5th

TRACKLIST
Superfortress – 5:05
An Epic Curse – 7:41 (CD BONUS TRACK)
Two Sides Of A Sin – 4:51
As My Sun Turns Black – 3_51
Freedoms Prize (Demon Cleaner cover) – 5:21
Going To Clarksdale – 4:33
Evolution? – 5:28
High Octane Fever – 5:14
Hill Street Madman – 3:49
Sweet Queen – 4:49

STONEWALL NOISE ORCHESTRA (2005 lineup):
Lars-Inge – vocals
Snicken – guitar
Jansson – guitar
Jonas – bass
Mr. Pillow – drums

heavypsychsoundsrecords.bandcamp.com
www.heavypsychsounds.com
https://www.facebook.com/HEAVYPSYCHSOUNDS/
www.youtube.com/user/MonoStereo79

Solarius, “Universal Trial”

Stonewall Noise Orchestra, “Sweet Queen”

B.U.S., The Unknown Secretary (2016)