The digital edition of Paralyzed‘s second album, Heavy Road, will be released this Friday, July 15, through StoneFly Records. The same date marks the opening of vinyl preorders ahead of a slated Oct. 15 arrival, which puts it precisely one year to the day since the Bramberg, Germany, heavy bluesin’ four-piece issued their self-titled debut (review here) on the same imprint. That in itself should tell you something about the classic-minded ethic under which the band work — one year, one record — but their vibe throughout the eight songs of Heavy Road is more than enough to get the point across in less subtle fashion. The swing of “Pilgrim Boots” like an organ-laced Rolling Stones discovering fuzz in its payoff. Or the opener “Devil’s Bride,” which may or may not be a sequel to “Lucifer’s Road (My Baby and Me)” from Paralyzed, unfurling across 7:38 as the longest track on the album (immediate points) and its anchor lyric, “I do believe she died by the sword,” over-the-top midsection and dramatically shredded finish.
As one would hope, Heavy Road was recorded live at least in its basic tracks, with engineering, mixing and mastering by Jörg Völker at Voelker Studio Bamberg, and it brings the band not only into conversation with the heavy ’70s and the retro-idolizations of various vintage amp hounds from Graveyard on down the line to today’s various practitioners, but also with themselves, building on the accomplishments of the first record in what sounds like a direct, wilful drive to move forward creatively.
This is evident in the songwriting from the outset. Though one might say lead guitarist Michael Binder lays it on a bit thick vocally in that midsection — and I think that’s the point — there’s no question “Devil’s Bride” sets the mood and tempo for the rest of what follows. Binder, along with guitarist/organist Caterina Böhner, bassist Philipp Engelbrecht and drummer Florian Thiele bring past and present together fluidly in their style, and the engagement with color in the lyrics throughout, whether it’s “Orange Carpet,” whatever’s purple in “Mayday,” or “Black Trees Pt. 1” and “Black Trees Pt. 2,” and contrasting closer “White Jar” broaden the Doorsy spirit of “Coal Mine,” which builds from its open beginning into one of Heavy Road‘s most satisfyingly shoved directives.
The vocals are a major unifying factor across Heavy Road‘s span, with Binder‘s throaty approach more forward perhaps than on the self-titled, but likewise more confident. In the strutting garage rock of “Mayday” and “Black Trees Pt. 1,” one is reminded particularly of Baltimore’s The Flying Eyes, while “Pilgrim Boots” meets its Morrisonian slurring of words with an expanse of guitar soloing, not as urgent as, say, “White Jar” at the finish, or the brazen boogie of “Black Trees Pt. 2,” but not far off either. Whatever else it may do or be, Heavy Road is a stomper, energetically wrought and conceived in connection with classic heavy but developing its own take within that, showing progression in the short time since the debut even in the increase in organ quotient, with Böhner taking on what were guest duties last time around and featuring keys on “Devil’s Bride,” “Orange Carpet,” “Pilgrim Boots,” and “White Jar” — half the record, at least.
Not every song has room for those sustained organ notes — “Black Trees Pt. 2” walks by and waves — but where they fit, they fit well, and it demonstrates Paralyzed‘s interest in continuing to try new ideas, moods and atmospheres, which is something that Heavy Road further bears out in the builds of “Black Trees Pt. 1,” “Devil’s Bride” (is that you, Phantom of the Opera riff?) and the particularly hard-driving finish of “Coal Mine” ahead of “White Jar” closing out. The careening from one moment to the next, the way the album sets and knocks down its targets, the fact that there’s a plan underneath while it sounds like they just rolled up and let rip — it’s all testament to Paralyzed‘s conveyance of aesthetic and purposeful craft. These elements served the group well a year ago, they serve them well on Heavy Road, and one suspects that if they have another LP ready for Oct. 2023, they’ll do likewise then too. Some things are just timeless.
In advance of Heavy Road‘s release on Friday the album is streaming in full on the player below.
Please enjoy:
StoneFly Records is honored to announce the return of Bamberg, Germany based quartet PARALYZED for their newest album on 180g vinyl. Heavy Road is the highly anticipated follow up to their much-lauded self-titled album.
Paralyzed are proud to present you their brand-new full-length studio album called HEAVY ROAD. It´s a wild mixture of Heavy Blues Rock, 70´s Rock and Stoner with loads of shimmering straight organ and psychedelic wafting wah wah guitar sounds backed up with solid stamping bass lines and fogging drum sounds. The album was live recorded at the Voelker Studio in Bamberg. Recorded, mixed, mastered and produced by Jörg Völker.
Paralyzed – Heavy Road will be released digitally on July 15th, 2022.
Vinyl Pre-Order will go live at the same date on July 15th, 2022.
Vinyl will be officially released on October 21st, 2022.
Stonefy Records is very excited to give this album a spectacular vinyl treatment. The vinyl edition has been mixed and mastered by Jörg Völker. We open the doors for the vinyl pre-orders on July 15th, 2022, at 19:00 CET/1pm EDT/10am PDT/6pm BST.
Tracklisting: 1. Devil’s Bride 2. Orange Carpet 3. Mayday 4. Black Trees Pt.1 5. Pilgrim Boots 6. Black Trees Pt.2 7. Coal Mine 8. White Jar
PARALYZED is: Michael Binder – Vocals & Solo Guitar Caterina Böhner – Rhythm Guitar & Organ Philipp Engelbrecht – Bass Guitar Florian Thiele – Drums
Posted in Whathaveyou on October 6th, 2021 by JJ Koczan
Preorders are up now for the Tony Reed-remixed/remastered vinyl edition of German vintage heavy rockers Paralyzed‘s debut album. Released digitally by the band earlier this year, the self-titled outing (review here) will mark the first release from new label StoneFly Records, a logical offshoot from StoneFly Effects, who of course are no strangers to bringing the fuzz. The record will be out in two editions, a spotty/swirly one limited to 100 and a stark red that’s 200. Either way, you’ll note that’s not very many for an album that from everything I saw about it was only well received. Release date is Oct. 15, as the headline says.
Really, what you need at this point is the link, right? Well, that’s under the pretty picture of the vinyl below, and if you already know the record and want to skip the rigmarole, you’re forgiven. If you didn’t hear it, the full stream is at the bottom of this post, and there’s plenty to dig into here with the label announcement and full background on the band. As introductions go, it’s a solid one.
Behold:
HEAVY BLUES/ STONER ROCK QUARTET PARALYZED SIGNS TO STONEFLY RECORDS FOR A WORLDWIDE VINYL RELEASE OF THEIR SELF-TITLED DEBUT ALBUM ON OCTOBER 15 2021.
StoneFly Records is privileged to announce the signing of Bamberg, Germany based quartet PARALYZED and look forward to release their self-titled debut album on 180g vinyl. This album will be the very first release made by StoneFly Records and aim to make a remarked entrance in the Heavy Underground world with this flawless album that already stands among the very best of 2021.
In April 2020, PARALYZED released a single: ‘This Woman (Pariah Music Studios Version)’ which I missed out at this moment. So, it was only later in January 2021 that I first heard the PARALYZED self-titled album. It was an instant love matter. I was taken over by the both soulful and powerful vocals that were floating in between Jim Morrison and Danzig. A perfect album where Heavy Blues meets Stoner Rock in a grandiose way. 70’s Hard/Psychedelic Rock influences are pouring out like a liquid fire. At this moment the StoneFly Records project was still at its primary stages. I didn’t felt I was ready to pick up my first band; so, I pitched them to few label mates. Few weeks after, PARALYZED were still unsigned; so I decided to reach them. I deeply wanted PARALYZED on my label.
Here’s a fun fact. Back in 2019, towards the end’s year, I stated that their EP ‘Hidden Sun’ was one of the album that should have been released on wax. This never happened. However 2021 is back with a vengeance!
The self-titled debut album is channeling the magic of the seventies while incorporating proto-doom elements to the whole chemistry. Close your eyes, you’re not only hearing accomplished musician, you are hearing living legends! A sizzling warmness emanates from this album made of dreams.
PARALYZED’s self-titled debut was digitally released January 29, 2021
BAND BIO PARALYZED is a German rock band from Bamberg, founded in spring 2019. Their retro style incorporating blues rock and stoner rock is compared to bands of the 1970s hard rock era.
The members Michael Binder (guitar and vocals), Caterina Böhner (guitar), Philipp Engelbrecht (bass) and Florian Thiele (drums) were moved by the legacy of giants such as Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin, and quickly recorded their first EP ’Hidden Sun’ in September 2019.
The result is a unique mixture of Binder’s guitar work with swooping wah solo’s, combined with his powerful vocals. Engelbrecht´s booming, growling bass lines sit just beneath Böhner´s crunching power chords and single note riffs. Additionally, Thiele’s solid, tight and punchy percussion contribute the groove into the live-recorded EP.
ALBUM BACKGROUND
In October 2020 they again entered the studio to record their debut album. They stayed true to their line and relied on the energy of live recording and the spirit of the seventies. Being a breed of 70s Vintage Rock, Heavy Blues and Stoner Rock, this album unites several different influences in itself.
Straight forward rock, dark melancholy paired up with optimistic sounding rock ballads.
Stonefly Records is damn proud to give this album a much needed vinyl treatment. The vinyl edition has been re-mixed and mastered by Tony Reed at HeavyHead Recording Company. We open the doors for the vinyl order on September 10 2021.
[SFR-001: PARALYZED – “PARALYZED” official album vinyl release: October 15 2021 ]
Tracklisting: 1. Paralyzed 2. Lucifer’s Road (My Baby And Me) 3. Prophets 4. Noise On The River 5. Golden Days 6. Lowlands 7. Green Eyes 8. This Woman 9. Mother’s Only Son 10. Parallel
PARALYZED is: Michael Binder – Vocals & Solo Guitar Caterina Böhner – Rhythm Guitar Philipp Engelbrecht – Bass Guitar Florian Thiele – Drums
Day Three. The kinds of material covered have varied, but it’s been pretty good so far, which as you can probably imagine makes this whole process much, much easier. Today would traditionally be hump day, where we hit and surpass the halfway mark, but since this is a double-size Quarterly Review, we’re only a quarter of the way there. Still a long way to go, but I’ve got decent momentum in my head at this point and I’ve taken steps not to make the workload crushing on any given day (this mostly involved working last weekend, thanks to The Patient Mrs. for the extra time), so I’m not feeling overly rushed either. Which is welcome.
In that spirit, let’s get to it.
Quarterly Review #21-30:
The Vintage Caravan, Monuments
To every sorrowful head who bemoans the state of rock and roll as being dead, who misses big songs, bands unafraid to groove, to engage their audience, to change things up and stay anchored to a vital spirit of the live experience, the answer is The Vintage Caravan. Monuments is the Icelandic trio’s follow-up to 2018’s Gateways (review here) and it opens with a righteous four-song mission-statement salvo from “Whispers” to “Dark Times” before mellowing out in “This One’s for You” and diving into the eight-minute centerpiece “Forgotten” — later answered by the more subdued but likewise proggy closer “Clarity” — before the hard-hitting shuffle renews on side B with “Sharp Teeth,” “Hell” and “Torn in Two” try to outdo each other in has-the-most-swagger and “Said & Done” sneaks in ahead of the finale to walk away with that particular title. Suitably enough. Momentum is almost a detriment to the proceedings, since the songs are worth individual attention, but among the classic tenets here is leave-’em-wanting-more, and The Vintage Caravan do, no question.
First thing to note? Oslo Tapes are not from Oslo. Or Trondheim, for that matter. Founded by Marco Campitelli in Italy, the band is a work of homage and exploration of ideas born out of a trip to Oslo — blessings and peace upon the narrative — and ØR, which is Norwegian for “confusing,” is their third album. It arrives loaded with textures from electro-krautrock and ’70s space modernized through to-day’s post-heavy, a breathy delivery from Campitelli giving a song like “Kosmik Feels” an almost goth-wave presence while the harder-landing “Bodø Dakar,” which follows, shifts with pointed rhythm into a textured percussion jam in its second half, with ethereal keys still behind. The shimmering psychedelia of “Norwegian Dream” comes paired with “Exotic Dreams” late in the record’s eight-track procession, and while the latter emphasizes Oslo Tapes‘ can-go-anywhere sensibility with horn sounds and vague, drumless motion, the hard dance in closer “Obsession is the Mother of All” really seems to be the moment of summary here. That must’ve been some trip.
Clocking in at 15 tracks and 77 minutes of deeply varied cosmic fuckery, from the motorik push of “Your Are the Sun” to the ’90s Britgaze stylizations of “Mystified” to the twanging central guitar figure of “The Air is Poison” and onward into the blowout kosmiche echo “Sweet Dreams and Nicotine” and chic the-underground-is-actually-made-of-velvet “Like a Halo” ahead of the Hawkwind-on-ludes “I’m Buggin’ Out,” Filthy Hippies‘ Departures at very least gets points for having the right title. Departs from everything. Reality, itself, you. The whole nine. The good news is the places it goes have a unifying element of grunge laziness woven throughout them, like Filthy Hippies just rolled out of bed and this material just happened — and maybe that’s how it went — and the journey they make, whistling as they go on “Among the Wire” and ending up in the wistful wash of “Empty Spaces” is a joy to follow. Heady. More purposeful than it’s letting on. Not a minor investment, but not a minor reward either.
Long since in command of their aesthetic, Norway’s Dunbarrow embark on III, their third long-player, with a full realization of their purpose. Recorded by the five-piece in Spring 2020 and left to gestate for a year’s time, it’s having been unearthed is suitable to the classic doom vibe wrought throughout the eight tracks, but Dunbarrow‘s sound is more vintage in structure than production at this point, and the shifting balance between ‘then’ and ‘now’ in what they do imagines what might’ve been if self-titled era Witchcraft had retained its loyalty to the tenets of Sabbath/Pentagram while continuing to grow its songcraft, such that “Worms of Winter” both is and is decidedly not “Snowblind,” while “Lost Forever” embarks on its own roll and “Turn in Your Grave” makes for an organ-laced folkish highlight, fitting in its cult atmosphere and setting up the rawer finish in “Turns to Dust.” This is who Dunbarrow are, and what they do, they do exceedingly well.
The year is 2076. The world’s first Whole Earth parliament has come together to bask in the document Transmission, originating in Gothenburg, Sweden, at the behest of an entity known only as Djinn and respected purveyor Rocket Recordings. It is believed that in fact Transmission and its eight component freak jazz psychedelia tracks were not written at the time of their first release some 55 years earlier, but, as scholars have come to theorize after more than a half-century of rigorous, consistent study, it is a relic of another dimension. Someplace out of place, some time out of time as humanity knows it. So it is that “Creators of Creation” views all from an outsider’s eagle eye, and “Urm the Mad” squees its urgency as if to herald the serenity of “Love Divine” to come, voices echoing up through the surcosmic rift through which Djinn sent along this Transmission. What was their purpose? Why make contact? And what is time for such creatures? Are they us? Are we them? Are we alone? Are we “Orpheus?” Wars have been fought over easier questions.
Their third album, Shevils‘ Miracle of the Sun renews the band’s collaboration with producer Marcus Forsgren, which obviously given the sound of the record, was not broken. With a tidy 10 songs in 32 minutes, the Oslo-based four-piece deliver a loyal reading of heavy hardcore riffing minus much of the chestbeating or dudely pretense that one might otherwise encounter. They’ve got it nailed, and the break as “Monsters on TV” squibblies out is a forceful but pleasant turn, especially backed by the pure noise rock of “Scandinavian Death Star.” The band plays back and forth between heft and motion throughout, offering plenty of both in “Wet Soaking Wet” and “Ride the Flashes,” hitting hard but doing more than just hitting at the same time. Topped with fervent shouts, Shevils feels urgent in manner that to my ears recalls West Coast US fare like Akimbo, but is nonetheless the band’s own, ranging into broader soundscapes on “No More You” and anti-shred on “It Never Ends,” the only two cuts here over four minutes long. No time to screw around.
If they haven’t been yet — and they may have — it’s entirely likely that by the time I’m done writing this sentence some record label or other will have picked up Paralyzed to release their self-titled debut album on vinyl. The Bamberg, Germany-based four-piece bring classic heavy metal thunder to still-Sabbathian doom rock, casting their lot in with the devil early on “Lucifer’s Road (My Baby and Me),” which feels like as much a statement of aesthetic purpose as it does a righteous biker riff. It’s by no means the sum-total of what’s on offer in a more extended piece like “Prophets” or side B’s rumble-and-roll-plus-wah-equals-doom “Mother’s Only Son,” but the brash fare they bring to light on “Green Eyes” and the post-lizard king-turns-Purple spirit of “Golden Days” tie in well with the toss-your-hair-in-the-wind, how’d-that-hole-get-in-my-jeans spirit of the release on the whole. They start instrumental with the eponymous “Paralyzed,” but vocals are a focus point, and as they round out with the rawer “Parallel,” their command of ’70s heavy is all the more evident. They signed yet? Give it another minute, if not.
Admittedly, I’m late to the party on Black Spirit Crown‘s 2020 debut full-length, Gravity, but as one will when in orbit, it’s easy to be pulled in by the record. The Ohio-based two-piece of Dan Simone (vocals, guitar, theremin, dulcimer) and Chris Martin (vocals, keys & programming, bass) — plus guitar spots from Joe Fortunato (Doomstress, ex-Venomin James) — flourish over longform progressive heavy rock pieces like “Doomstar” and “Orb,” both over eight minutes, and the 21:10 closing title-track, which well earns having the album named after it for its consuming balance between aural weight, darkness of atmosphere and tone, and breadth. Before the last several minutes give way to droning noise, “Gravity” counterbalances the metallic underpinning of “Saga” and the rush of the penultimate “Teutates,” its patience singular even among the other longer cuts, balanced in alternating fashion with the shorter. Peppered-in growls make the proceedings less predictable on the whole, and feel like one more strength working in favor of these complex compositions.
Intraveineuse, Chronicles of an Inevitable Outcome
Parisian instrumentalists Intraveineuse make a strong statement with their 32-minute/single-song debut EP, Chronicles of an Inevitable Outcome, the feeling of aftermath — regret? — permeating the goth-doom atmosphere coming through in tectonically-dense riffs as well as the piano that offsets them. France would seem to have a post-Type O Negative standard-bearer in Hangman’s Chair, but to discount Intraveineuse on that basis is to miss out on the flowing, immersive progression the band emit on this already-sold-out tape, working in three distinct movements to find their own place within the style, building momentum gradually until the last payoff cuts itself short, as if to emphasize there’s more to come. Hopefully, anyhow. EP or LP, debuts with this kind of scope are rare and not to be overlooked, and though there are stretches where one can hear where vocals might go, Intraveineuse ably steer “Chronicles of an Inevitable Outcome” through its various parts with natural-sounding fluidity.
Grim, gritty and ghastly, Void Tripper is the debut full-length from Brazil’s Void Tripper, comprised of five tracks marked by the shared/alternating vocals of guitarists Mário Fonteles and Anastácio Júnior. The former gurlges on opener “Devil’s Reject” while the latter complements with a cleaner take on the subsequent “Burning Woods,” setting up the back and forth that plays out in the remaining three tracks, “Hollow,” “Satan & Drugs” and “Comatose.” With the lumbering bass and drums of Jonatas Monte and Gabriel Mota, respectively, as the thickened foundation beneath the riffs, there are shades throughout of Electric Wizard and other acts to be heard, but it’s Sabbath-worshiping sludge one way or the other, and Void Tripper willingly head into that void with a dense fog preceding them and a bleak mood that does nothing if it doesn’t feel suited to our times. Riffy disaffection writ large. You wouldn’t call it groundbreaking, but you’d nod the fuck out.
directives.
