This Thursday, Baton Rouge, Louisiana-based noisemakers Woorms launch an East Coast/Midwest tour supporting their 2022 album, Fatalismo, but even as they go they’re moving forward from there too. If you’re sensitive to flashing lights, the idea of self-mutilation as sexual kink, or aural pummel, you might consider hanging back on this one, but for everyone else — therapy? — the 5:43 “Amputation Station” video should sit nicely. Making his first appearance in the trio is Miguel Rincon, and for those who encountered Fatalismo last year or who will find themselves standing in front of the stage on the band’s current tour, his presence would seem to make a marked difference in the group.

The narrative around the single is one of aural expansion. Drummer Aaron M. Polk and guitarist/vocalist Joey Carbo, and the aforementioned newbie low-ender Rincon, bring atmosphere into the song in a way that Fatalismo moved away from after 2019’s Slake (review here) was loaded with samples and whatnot. A keyboard part running alongside the central riff in the new song makes the last record seem so comparatively raw. Where even “And Heck Followed With Him” preferred to flesh out with feedback around its almost Melvins-y riffing and Carbo‘s guttural bellows, or the subsequent “Lunge Meat” held its noise till the end, “Amputation Station” builds off “Dead Dead Men”

Both of those, by the way, are well intact on “Amputation Station,” but with more layering, that current of keys comes through as methodical and a more essential piece of what gives the song its eerie vibe. It’s not a crazy shift in sound, but it does distinguish the track from the previous LP, and would seem to hint at the direction in which they’re moving, but of course what the hell do I ever know about any of it. Recorded by Carbo, “Amputation Station” is every-level-weird, a little off-putting in its subject matter, and visually abrasive. All of this is on purpose. Woorms are a band who offer their crunching, meat-toned aggression as a challenge to themselves and their audience alike. If you end up at a gig, I hope it’s a blast.

Carbo digs (carves?) into his fascination with the idea of amputation fetishization — I’m sure there’s a word for it, but I’m not going to look it up — in the PR wire info that follows the video, and sure enough, the video follows here. If you’re up for it on whatever level you want to read that as meaning, please enjoy:

Woorms, “Amputation Station” video premiere

“Amputation Station” is the newest video and single from Baton Rouge/New Orleans, Louisiana-based noise rock trio WOORMS. The standalone track drops as the band gets in the van to assault the Eastern half of the US on tour this week.

WOORMS’ material surges with dirge, grit, and groove, backed with bellowing amplification. Since their 2017 formation, the band has developed a diehard fanbase through three LPs, an array of singles, demos, and EPs, splits with A Hanging, Radiant Knife, and The Grasshopper Lies Heavy, released through the likes of Sludgelord Records, Forbidden Place Records, and their own Hospital Records. Most recently, the band’s third LP, Fatalismo, was recorded with Steve Austin from Today Is The Day and released on Austin’s SuperNova Records last Summer.

After the release of Fatalismo, guitarist/vocalist Joey Carbo and drummer Aaron M. Polk welcomed new bassist Miguel Rincon, and the trio immediately began creating new music, expanding the band’s sound with new stylistic experimentation. “Amputation Station,” the first new song from the revamped lineup, was recorded by Carbo at his own The Hospital studio in Baton Rouge, and now sees release through a video, filmed and edited by Istanbul-based director Ensar Oytun Morgul.

Carbo delves into the new song and video, “I have intended to write about self-surgery for maybe twenty years now. Back then I had read some accounts of people successfully removing glands in marathon self-surgery sessions, lying on plastic sheeting on a motel room floor. They would become obsessed with the removal of a certain organ; a pathology would develop there. I do a lot of research for songs and to find samples that no one will have heard before. These research sessions are not always the best part of my job, to put it nicely, but research for this song was fucking hardcore.

“I learned that there are a few subtypes within this community. So, let me be very clear on this video. The acts we portray mimic those of individuals who, for sexual and/or aesthetic purposes, willingly remove their own body parts. We absolutely don’t judge any of this behavior. We say go for it; safety first, and let God be your gardener… we don’t give a fuck. But what we are not making light of (or even portraying here) is the fetishization of those who have lost limbs in accidents, etc. Again, all good with us when consent is established. I say that because one thing I learned is that when someone suffers an amputation one of the first things doctors will prepare them for is the fact that they will be approached by or receive the attentions of certain people who will be attracted to the amputation itself, so they can decide how they will deal with that and consider how that might make them feel.

“We had no desire to tackle that nuanced subject. But two guys willing to take their own limbs off so they can enjoy some good old’ fashioned stump fucking? Well, that’s fair game. The extreme certainly interests me as much as anyone else. I am intrigued by those who would go so far as to self-mutilate, become a serial killer, or join a religion.”

WOORMS sets out across the Eastern US on tour this week. With sixteen shows confirmed, the band will play cities in Louisiana, Texas, Tennessee, Missouri, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, Georgia, and Alabama between June 8th and 24th. See all confirmed dates below and watch for additional live updates and more to post over the months ahead.

WOORMS June 2023 Tour Dates:
6/08/2023 Marsh Room – Metairie, LA
6/09/2023 The Mix – San Antonio, TX
6/10/2023 The 13th Floor – Austin, TX
6/11/2023 3 Links – Dallas, TX
6/12/2023 Growlers – Memphis, TN
6/13/2023 Kiss Bar – Springfield, MO
6/14/2023 Minibar – Kansas City, MO
6/15/2023 Buzzbomb – Springfield, IL
6/16/2023 Cobra Lounge – Chicago, IL
6/17/2023 The Lager House – Detroit, MI
6/18/2023 Buzzbin – Akron, OH
6/20/2023 Southgate House – Newport, KY
6/21/2023 Cherry St Tavern – Chattanooga, TN
6/22/2023 Starbar – Atlanta, GA
6/23/2023 Alabama Music Box – Mobile, AL
6/24/2023 Fractal Brewing – Huntsville, AL

WOORMS is:
Joey Carbo – guitar/vocals/keys/samples/etc.
Aaron M. Polk – drums
Miguel Rincon – bass

Woorms, Fatalismo (2022)

Woorms linktr.ee

Woorms on Instagram

Woorms on Facebook

Woorms on Bandcamp

Is it June yet? No? Then I’m glad not to be egregiously behind the times in posting these Woorms tour dates as the Louisiana-based atmosludgers/noisemakers will head out on a run through the Midwest and Southeast in support of last year’s Fatalismo, their third album, on SuperNova Records, the label helmed by Steve Austin of avant-caustic trailblazers Today is the Day.

Austin also produced, mixed and mastered Fatalismo, which is weirder than thou and judges thee harshly for that but is less prickish about it than, say, ’90s-era Melvins, and listening to it now, I wish I’d reviewed it a year ago (I did post a Questionnaire from Joey Carbo, so the neglect wasn’t complete), but such is Mango. Persistently.

The tour runs two-plus weeks and apparently they have a new single on the way as well. I’ll look forward to that press release coming in 10 minutes after this is published, because that’s how it goes when you suck as bad at life as I do.

From the PR wire:

WOORMS: Louisiana Noise Rock/Sludge Trio Announces Eastern US June Tour; Fatalismo LP Out Now On SuperNova Records + New Music In The Works

Baton Rouge/New Orleans, Louisiana sludge/noise rock crew WOORMS has announced a run of tour dates through the Eastern half of the US this June, supporting their SuperNova Records-released Fatalismo LP.

Released in May of 2022, WOORMS’ Fatalismo was produced, engineered, and mastered by Today Is The Day/SuperNova Records’ Steve Austin – who also provides additional vocals on “This Is Nothing Short Of Character Assassination” – at Austin Enterprise, with additional recording by the band’s Joey Carbo at The Hospital in Baton Rouge. The album was completed with surrealistic artwork by Januz Miralles and design/layout by Joshua Wilkinson.

Guitarist/vocalist Joey Carbo and drummer Aaron M. Polk also welcome new bassist Miguel Rincon, who joined the band in recent months. From Chicago, Rincon cut his teeth in the hardcore/metal scene of New Orleans. As a hired gun in various touring bands Rincon found a home in WOORMS in 2022. Known for his dynamic attack to the bass and high energy stage presence it’s safe to say he fits right in.

Having supported Fatalismo with regional live performances over the past year, WOORMS will now take the album out across the Eastern US in June. With sixteen shows confirmed, the band will play cities in Louisiana, Texas, Tennessee, Missouri, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, Georgia, and Alabama between June 8th and 24th.

WOORMS is also working on new material, some of which will be played on the new tour. The band is currently completing a new single which will be released in conjunction with the launch of the tour. See all confirmed dates below and stand by for the new single and other news to post shortly.

WOORMS June 2023 Tour Dates:
6/08/2023 Marsh Room – Metairie, LA
6/09/2023 The Mix – San Antonio, TX
6/10/2023 The 13th Floor – Austin, TX
6/11/2023 3 Links – Dallas, TX
6/12/2023 Growlers – Memphis, TN
6/13/2023 Kiss Bar – Springfield, MO
6/14/2023 Minibar – Kansas City, MO
6/15/2023 Buzzbomb – Springfield, IL
6/16/2023 Cobra Lounge – Chicago, IL
6/17/2023 The Lager House – Detroit, MI
6/18/2023 Buzzbin – Akron, OH
6/20/2023 Southgate House – Newport, KY
6/21/2023 Cherry St Tavern – Chattanooga, TN
6/22/2023 Starbar – Atlanta, GA
6/23/2023 Alabama Music Box – Mobile, AL
6/24/2023 Fractal Brewing – Huntsville, AL

WOORMS’ anthems thunder with elements of dirge, grit, groove, and bellowing amplification foundationally attributed to masters of the realms of noise rock, sludge, and psychedelic metal scenes. Since their 2017 formation, the band has developed a diehard fanbase through performing live and their records, released through Sludgelord Records, Forbidden Place Records, and their own Hospital Records, including two LPs, an array of singles, demos, and EPs, and split releases with A Hanging, Radiant Knife, and The Grasshopper Lies Heavy.

In March of 2020, WOORMS drove 1500 miles to open for Today is The Day in Ohio where frontman Steve Austin joined them on stage for a song. This connection led WOORMS to Austin’s compound in remote northern Maine in the Fall of 2020 to record what would be their third LP, Fatalismo.

https://linktr.ee/WOORMS
https://www.instagram.com/woorms_
https://www.facebook.com/WOORMSband
https://woorms.bandcamp.com

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https://twitter.com/supernovarecusa
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https://supernovarecordsusa.bandcamp.com

Woorms, Fatalismo (2022)

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: Joey Carbo of Woorms

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

I am a Recording Artist and a Writer. I’ve always done those things. It seems like the first thing I decided to do once I learned to write sentences was use them to create stories. And that’s still what I’m doing. I was always an artist. I spent almost all my time drawing, painting, and writing stories up to age 13 (when I went to my two only fiends and informed them that they would be learning to play because we were going to be a band).

I wrote a bunch of songs too, since my first memories, but had no idea how to play them; they were just in my head and, consequently I think, I still write my songs in my head most of the time. Only now, I know how to get them out.

Once I began to teach myself to play different instruments, it was all I ever wanted to do. I recorded with tape decks, I built a homemade 3 track before I got (or even knew that one could get) a little Tascam 4 track.

I still write stories and chip away at book manuscripts when I have time, but I spend very close to all of my time either making or thinking about making music.

Nowadays, I’m also a Producer/Engineer.

Describe your first musical memory.

I was about four. I heard “Big River” and I got a painful lump in my throat and goosebumps all over. I shivered. My chest ached. I didn’t know at the time why I felt this way and I didn’t know what an epiphany was but I DID know that I had to figure out how to make other people feel this way because it was both beautiful and horrible and it seemed to set the whole world right. I still feel that way and I am still only interested in sad songs, tragic songs, murder ballads, sacrifice, loss, intensity. I wasn’t a dark child yet by any means but darkness did move me at that very early age.

Describe your best musical memory to date?

I just did.

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

I hate to answer the question this way but I don’t believe much in belief. Certainty is reserved for fools. I think I’m paraphrasing Montaigne there but as long as I’m being a pretentious fuck, let’s look at it another way.

Bertrand Russell said, “The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are so certain of themselves and wiser people are so full of doubts.” Something like that. I fit the bill there (if I can call myself a wiser person, and I do) and as much as I like Russell’s work, I am of two minds about his wisdom here. While it may be tragic that “wise men” are not more certain, I’m not sure just how wise they’d continue to be if they strapped on some convictions and started in on finger pointing.

I try to free myself of belief in effort to be less vain and self centered. Not that I succeed as much as I’d like to.

Where do you feel artistic progression leads?

To isolation, to obscurity. My bands have always been too weird for the “intended audience”. And not that I ever “intended” an audience but my first touring band: too heavy for the indie or prog bands and too strangely quiet and sonically dynamic for the metal heads; I had a five piece noise rock/folk/country band: way too goddamn weird for that crowd but no way we could play with metal bands.

I don’t mind that it sounds cynical. For all but a very few, originality is a death knell. Once in a blue moon it catches on and no one wants to admit it but very few of us want to be taken out of our comfort zones. It’s depressing, to be honest. As I’m sure I am being right now.

How do you define success?

I want to be recognized for my work — any artist that says differently is not being honest with themself — but if you consider that during the creation process then the work dies on the vine. The only success is a satisfied mind. And NO ONE has figured out how to get their hands on one of those.

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

I’m sorry, I’m not really comfortable with the question.

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

A full film score. Woorms is slated to score a silent film for a live audience this fall (and we’re making a studio record of it) but I’d love to score a movie.

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

I don’t think there is time for, nor interest in, a good answer here. This is a huge question. Art is demonstrably inseparable from the human psyche. In a cage, we will sing. In a firing squad, we will imagine a life after death. The earth has turned to ice and trapped us inside caves to face starvation and still we will carve our dreams into the walls. Sappy, I know.

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

That’s a tough one …dinner? Haha!

I am traveling to Portugal later this year after tour to see a good friend and I’m learning the language. I do know him because of music but I can’t think of anyone I know for some other reason.

https://linktr.ee/WOORMS
https://www.instagram.com/woorms_
https://www.facebook.com/WOORMSband
https://woorms.bandcamp.com

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https://www.facebook.com/supernovarecordsusa
https://twitter.com/supernovarecusa
https://www.instagram.com/supernovarecordsusa
https://supernovarecordsusa.bandcamp.com

Woorms, Fatalismo (2022)

I used to be pretty artsy and write poetry. Let’s give it a shot:

There was an old man who wore no-toe shoes.
He said, I’mma go do 60 reviews.
He was out of his head,
Should’ve gone back to bed,
But he loves him some dirty psych blues.

Years from now, when I link back to this post for a “(review here)”-type scenario, I’m going to see that and I’ll still think it’s funny. The planet’s dying. I’d say a bit of silly is more than called for.

Quarterly Review #11-20:

Kungens Män, Chef

Krautrockers, assemble! Or, you know, whatever krautrockers do — I assume it involves homemade spacecraft that, yes, absolutely fly. Perhaps one of these days I’ll ask Stockholm’s Kungens Män, whose latest outing for Riot Season, simply titled Chef, is an outbound delight of psych-infused progressivism. Beginning with the opening throb of “Fyrkantig Böjelse” and moving into the volume swells, steady drum line and wandering guitar that starts “Öppen För Stängda Dörrar” on side A, its four extended tracks craft otherworldly textures through a meld of organic instrumental flow and waves of synth, the second cut building to a tense wash of distortion all the while keeping that hypnotic march. The two corresponding 10-minute-plus cuts on side B waste no time in offering cosmic boogie in “Män Med Medel” with a more active rhythmic flow, and closer “Eftertankens Blanka Krankhet” — longer than the opener by one second at 11:24 — fades in on meditative guitar and explores a serene minimalism that only underscores the all around joy of the album.

Kungens Man on Thee Facebooks

Riot Season Records webstore

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PFUND, PFUND

The self-titled, self-released debut full-length from Kiel, Germany’s PFUND arrives and departs with a guesting horn section, and while that inevitably adds a bit of grandeur to the proceedings, the bulk of the outing is dedicated to straightforward, semi-metallic heavy rock, held to ground even in the seven-minute “Spaceman” by a considered sense of structure and an earthy drum sound that draws the songs together, whether it’s the classic riff rock in “Sea of Life” or the moodier sway in the earlier “Lost in Rome.” Dual guitars effectively multiply the impact, and the vocals showcase a nascent sense of melody that one imagines will only continue to grow as the band moves forward. At nine songs and 44 minutes, it shows some breadth and nuance in “Exhaustion” and “Paranoia,” the former tapping into an edge of progressive metal, but the primary impact comes from PFUND‘s heft of groove and how it blends with a rawer edge to their production. The Kyuss-referencing centerpiece here might be called “Imbalance,” but that’s hardly representative of what surrounds, horns and all.

PFUND on Thee Facebooks

PFUND on Bandcamp

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Crystal Spiders, Demo

Three songs, 11 minutes and three distinct vibes from the aptly-titled Demo demo of North Carolinian three-piece Crystal Spiders. On “Tigerlily,” “Flamethrower” and “Devil’s Resolve,” the trio of bassist/vocalist Brenna Leath (also Lightning Born), guitarist/vocalist Mike Deloatch and drummer/backing vocalist Tradd Yancey careen from bluesy spaciousness to hard-driving catchiness and end up — because why not? — in repeating cult-sludge chants, “Come to the devil’s resolve!” like Black Widow trying to lure people to the sabbat, except shouting. If the purpose of a demo is for a new band to try different methods of working and thereby take a first step in discovering their sound, Crystal Spiders are well on their way, and for what it’s worth, there isn’t anything within their scope as they present it that doesn’t work for them. There are edges to smooth out, of course, but that too is a part of the process starting here.

Crystal Spiders on Thee Facebooks

Crystal Spiders on Bandcamp

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The Misery Men, Deathspiration

If you’d asked, depending on which part of Deathspiration was on, I’d probably have called The Misery Men a bass/drum duo, but nope, that’s guitar. Tonally one is reminded of At Devil Dirt from Chile, but the Portland, Oregon, two-piece of vocalist/guitarist Corey G. Lewis and drummer Steve Jones are entirely more barebones in their craft, eschewing digital involvement of any sort in the recording or mixing process and sounding duly raw as a result throughout the subtle earworm of “C.W. Sughrue” and the lumbering “Harness the Darkness.” The subsequent “Night Creeps In” brings a Northwestern noise payoff to quiet/loud trades and the near-10-minute closer “Stoned to Death,” well, it seems to meet an end befitting its title, to say the least. As their stated intent was to capture the most organic version of their sound possible, and made a point of working toward that ideal in their recording, one could hardly fault them for the results of that process. They wanted something human-sounding. They got it.

The Misery Men on Thee Facebooks

The Misery Men on Bandcamp

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Hubris, EP #II Live

Some — not all — of what one needs to know about Hubris‘ EP #II Live is right there in the title. Indeed, it’s their second EP. Indeed, it was recorded live. And indeed, like using a ‘#’ sign with a Roman numeral, there’s something about the way the three included songs from the Toulouse, France-based outfit sound that’s just a little bit off-kilter from what you might expect. “Zugzwang” (7:19), “Tergo” (19:58) and “Biotilus” (27:04) are arranged shortest to longest, and while the opener starts off like Queens of the Stone Age on an Eastern-tinged psychedelic bender, the lengthy jams that follow — the first of them with a fervent drum punctuation, the second a gradual intertwining of synth and guitar with hardly any percussion at all until after its 22nd minute. The instrumental flow that ensues from there is almost like a hidden bonus track, at least until they Hubris get to minute 26 and the whole thing explodes in crash and plod. The underlying message, of course, is that if you think you’re safe at any point, you’re not.

Hubris on Thee Facebooks

Hubris on Bandcamp

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Woorms, Slake

Lumbering fuckall pervades the debut full-length, Slake, from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, sludgers Woorms — also stylized all-caps — which incorporates past singles “Find a Meal Find a Bed Find a God” and “Mouth is a Wound” amid the sample/noise barrage of “Our Lady of Perpetually Shitfaced” and the willfully brash “Racist Kevin” that follows. There’s an edge of Melvinsian chug to the proceedings, but Woorms‘ take, though presented in finished compositions, comes across as almost nihilistic rather than making a show of its experimentalism. That is, they’re trying to say they don’t give a fuck, and in listening, they make it kind of easy to believe, but there’s still something about the cohesiveness of “Veni Vidi Fucki” and “Rice Crispy” and the saved-the-best-nod-for-last finale “Sore Afraid” that undercuts the notion even while making the listening experience all the more pummeling, and from the intro “Corpse Corps” through “Urine Trouble Now”‘s echoing shouts and the closer’s unmitigated stomp, there’s still plenty of exploration being done.

WOORMS on Thee Facebooks

WOORMS on Bandcamp

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Oreyeon, Ode to Oblivion

Rebranded since their 2016 debut, Builders of Cosmos (discussed here), from their more phonetically intuitive original moniker, Orion, Italy’s Oreyeon issue a cosmically expansive spacescape follow-up in their six-song/40-minute sophomore outing, Ode to Oblivion, also their first release through Heavy Psych Sounds. Echoing vocals pervade “Big Surprise” after the introductory “T.I.O.” and “Trudging to Vacuity” establish the wide-cast mix and anti-grav rhythmic density, and the nine-minute side A finale title-track runs mostly-instrumental circles around most of what I’d usually call “prog” only after it lays down a sleek hook in the first couple minutes. After “Big Surprise,” the 8:45 “The Ones” trades volume back and forth but finds its breadth at about the sixth minute as the dramatic lead turns on a dime to desert rock thrust en route to wherever the hell it goes next. Honestly, after that moment, everything’s gravy, but Oreyeon lay it on thick with closer “Starship Pusher” and never neglect melody in the face of nod. Worth a deeper dig if you get the chance.

Oreyeon on Thee Facebooks

Heavy Psych Sounds website

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Melody Fields, Melody Fields

Sometimes you hear a record and it’s like the band is doing you a favor by existing. To that, thanks Melody Fields. The Gothenburg psych troupe lace their lysergic flow with folkish harmonies and an open sensibility on their self-titled debut that comes coupled with enough tonal presence to still consider them heavy not that it matters. They break out the sax on “Morning Sun” to welcome effect, and the sun continues to shine through “Liberty” and the garage-buzzing “Run” before “Rain Man” turns water droplets into keyboard notes and Beatlesian — think “Rain” — voice arrangements atop soothing instrumental drift, every bit the centerpiece and an excellent precursor to the acoustic-based “Fire” and the 10-minute “Trädgränsen,” which is the crowning achievement of this self-titled debut, which, if I’d been hip to it in time, would’ve made both the 2018 best albums and best debuts list. They cap with a reprise of “Morning Sun” and underscore the solid foundation beneath the molten beauty of their work throughout. To ask for another album seems greedy, but I will anyway. More, please.

Melody Fields on Thee Facebooks

Sound Effect Records website

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Mammoth Grove, Slow Burn

Okay, look, enough screwing around. It’s time for someone to sign Mammoth Grove. The Calgary natives have been putting out quality heavy psych rock since their 2011 self-titled debut (review here), and their latest long-player, the four-song Slow Burn is a righteous amalgam of peace-thru-rock that lives up to its freewheeling vibes in “Seasons” after the methodical opener “Valleys” and rolls out a bit of melodic ’70s biker rock bliss in “Black Meadow” before the side-B-consuming “Gloria” (18:42) asks early if you’re ready to go and then goes like gone, gone, gone, and gone further. Given the analog mindset involved and the heart on display throughout, there’s something fitting about it being pressed up in an edition of 100 hand-screenprinted LPs and 100 CDs likewise, but the more people who could hear it, the merrier, so yeah, some label or other needs to step up and make that happen, and I dare you to listen to the solo that hits past the 14-minute mark in “Gloria” and tell me otherwise. Dare you.

Mammoth Grove on Thee Facebooks

Mammoth Grove on Bandcamp

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Crimson Devils, A Taste for Blood

Since pared down to a trio from the four-piece incarnation they present here, Austin’s Crimson Devils first released their debut, A Taste for Blood, in 2017, but gave it a vinyl revisit last year and it’s little mystery why. The record comprises 11 sharply-composed tracks of Small Stone-style heavy rock, taking cues from Sasquatch in modern-via-classic modus, picking and choosing elements of ’70s and ’90s rock to conjure formidable groove and engaging hooks. There’s considerable swagger and weight in “They Get It,” and while opener “Dead and Gone” seems to show an influence in its vocal patterning from Elder, as the album unfolds, it’s more about the blast of “Captain Walker” or the penultimate “Nothing to Claim” and the straight-ahead vibes of “Bad News Blues” and “No Action” than anything so outwardly prog. There’s plenty to dig in the rock-for-rockers mindset, and it’s the kind of offering that should probably come with an octane rating. However such things are measured, safe to say it would not be low.

Crimson Devils on Thee Facebooks

Crimson Devils on Bandcamp

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We meet again! The second week of this amply-proportioned Quarterly Review begins today as we move ever closer toward the inevitable 100-album finish line on Friday. There is an incredible amount of music to get through this week, so I don’t want to delay for too long, but as we look out across the vast stretch of distortion to come, I need to say thank you for reading, and I hope that you’ve been able to find something that’s kicking your ass a little bit in all the right ways so far. If not, well, there are 50 more records on the way for you to give it another shot.

Here goes.

Quarterly Review #51-60:

Thou, Magus

How can something be so raw and forward thinking at the same time? Baton Rouge’s Thou might be the band of their generation who’ve added the most to sludge in terms of pushing the style in new directions and shaping genre to their purposes. Magus (on Sacred Bones), their fourth or fifth full-length depending on whom you ask, is an overwhelming 75-minute 2LP of inward and outward destructive force, as heavy in its ambience as in its weight and throat-ripping sonic extremity, and yet somehow is restrained. To listen to the march of “Transcending Dualities,” there’s such a sense of seething happening beneath the surface of that chugging, marching riff, and after its creeping introduction, “In the Kingdom of Meaning” seems intent on beating its own rhythm, as in, with fists, and even a stop-by from frequent guest vocalist Emily McWilliams does little to detract from that impression. Along with Magus, which rightly finishes with the lurching threat of “Supremacy,” Thou have released three EPs and a split this year, so their pace runs in something of a contrast to their tempos, but whether you can keep up or not, Thou continue to press forward in crafting pivotal, essential brutalizations.

Thou website

Sacred Bones Records website

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Liquid Visions, Hypnotized

Sulatron Records‘ pressing of Liquid Visions‘ 2002 debut, Hypnotized, is, of course, a reissue, but also the first time the album has been on vinyl, and it’s not long into opener “State of Mind” or the grunge-gone-classic-psych “Waste” before they earn the platter. Members of the band would go on to participate in acts like Zone Six, Wedge, Electric Moon and Johnson Noise, so it’s easy enough to understand how the band ties into the family tree of underground heavy psych in Berlin, but listening to the glorious mellow-unfolding-into-noise-wash-freakout of 15-minute closer “Paralyzed,” the appeal is less about academics than what the five-piece of vocalists/guitarists H.P. Ringholz (also e-sitar) and Kiryk Drewinski (also organ), bassist Dave “Sula Bassana” Schmidt (also Fender Rhodes and Mellotron), drummer Chris Schwartzkinsky and thereminist Katja Wolff were able to conjure in terms of being both ahead of their time and behind it. As the album moves from its opening shorter tracks to the longer and more expansive later material, it shows its original CD-era linearity, but if an LP reissue is what it takes to get Hypnotized out there again, so be it. I doubt many who hear it will complain.

Liquid Visions on Thee Facebooks

Sulatron Records webstore

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Benthic Realm, We Will Not Bow

The second short release from Benthic Realm behind a 2017 self-titled EP (review here) finds the Massachusetts-based trio of guitarist/vocalist Krista van Guilder (ex-Second Grave, ex-Warhorse), bassist Maureen Murphy (ex-Second Grave) and drummer Dan Blomquist (also Conclave) working toward a refined approach bridging the divide between doom and darker, harder hitting metal. They do this with marked fluidity, van Guilder shifting smoothly between melodic clean singing and harsher screams as Murphy and Blomquist demonstrate like-minded ease in turns of pace and aggression. The penultimate semi-title-track “I Will Not Bow” is an instrumental, but “Save us All,” “Thousand Day Rain” and closer “Untethered” — the latter with some Slayer ping ride and ensuing double-kick gallop — demonstrate the riff-based songwriting that carries Benthic Realm through their stylistic swath and ultimately ties their ideas together. If they think they might be ready for a debut full-length, they certainly sound that way.

Benthic Realm on Thee Facebooks

Benthic Realm website

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Ape Machine, Darker Seas

Maybe Ape Machine need to make a video with cats playing their instruments or something, but five albums deep, the Portland outfit seem to be viciously underrated. Releasing Darker Seas on Ripple, they take on a more progressive approach with songs like “Piper’s Rats” donning harmonized vocals and more complex interplay with guitar. It’s a more atmospheric take overall — consider the acoustic/electric beginning of “Watch What You Say” and it’s semi-nod to seafaring Mastodon, the likewise-unplugged and self-awarely medieval “Nocturne in D Flat (The Jester)” and the rocking presentation of what’s otherwise fist-pumping NWOBHM on “Bend Your Knee” — but Ape Machine have always been a band with songwriting at their center, and even as they move into the best performances of their career, hitting a point of quality that even producer Steve Hanford (Poison Idea) decided to join them after the recording as their new drummer, there’s no dip in the quality of their work. I don’t know what it might take to get them the attention they deserve — though a cat video would no doubt help — but if Darker Seas underscores anything, it’s that they deserve it.

Ape Machine on Thee Facebooks

Ripple Music on Bandcamp

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Under, Stop Being Naive

Stockport, UK, three-piece Under bring a progressive edge to their pummel with their second album, Stop Being Naive (on APF), beginning with the deceptively thoughtful arrangement of crushing opener and longest track (immediate points) “Malcontent,” which unfurls a barrage of riffs and varied vocals contributed by guitarist Simon Mayo, bassist Matt Franklin and drummer/keyboardist Andy Preece. Later cuts like “Soup” and “Grave Diggers” tap into amorphous layers of extremity, and “Happy” punks out with such tones as to remind of the filth that became grindcore in the UK nearly 40 years ago, but while “Big Joke” rolls out with a sneer and closer “Circadian Driftwood” has a more angular foundation, there’s an overarching personality that comes through Under‘s material that feels misanthropic and critical in a way perhaps best summarized by the record’s title. Stop Being Naive is sound enough advice, and it comes presented with a fervent argument in its own favor.

Under on Thee Facebooks

APF Records webstore

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Evil Triplet, Have a Nice Trip

Trimming the runtime of their 2017 debut, Otherworld (review here) nearly in half, Austin weirdo rockers Evil Triplet present the six-song/38-minute single LP Have a Nice Trip on Super Secret with classic garage buzz tone on “A Day Like Any Other,” a cosmic impulse meeting indie sneer on opener “Space Kitten” and a suitably righteous stretch-out on “Aren’t You Experienced?” — which is just side A of the thing. The pulsating “Open Heart” might be the highlight for its Hawkwindian drive and momentary drift, but “Pyramid Eye”‘s blown-out freakery isn’t to be devalued, and the eight-minute capper “Apparition” is dead on from the start of its slower march through the end of its hook-topped jam, reminding of the purpose behind all the sprawl and on-their-own-wavelength vibes. A tighter presentation suits Evil Triplet and lets their songs shine through while still highlighting the breadth of their style and its unabashed adventurousness. May they continue to grow strange and terrify any and all squares they might encounter.

Evil Triplet on Thee Facebooks

Super Secret Records website

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Vestjysk Ørken, Cosmic Desert Fuzz

To a certain extent, what you see is what you get on Vestjysk Ørken‘s debut EP, Cosmic Desert Fuzz. At very least, the Danish trio’s three-tracker first outing is aptly-named, and guitarist/vocalist Bo Sejer, bassist Søren Middelkoop Nielsen and drummer Thomas Bonde Sørensen indeed tap into space, sand and tone on the release, but each song also has a definite theme derived from cinema. To wit, “Dune” (11:41) samples Dune, “…Of the Dead” (9:13) taps into the landmark George Romero horror franchise, and “Solaris” (14:15) draws from the 1972 film of the same name. The spaciousness and hypnotic reach of the latter has an appeal all its own in its extended and subtle build, but all three songs not only pay homage to these movies but seem to work at capturing some aspect of their atmosphere. Vestjysk Ørken aren’t quite rewriting soundtracks, but they’re definitely in conversation with the works cited, and with an entire universe of cinema to explore, there are accordingly no limits as to where they might go. Something tells me it won’t be long before we find out how deep their obsession runs.

Vestjysk Ørken on Instagram

Vestjysk Ørken on Bandcamp

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Dawn of Winter, Pray for Doom

I have no interest in playing arbiter to what’s “true” in doom metal or anything else, and neither am I qualified to do so. Instead, I’ll just note that Germany’s Dawn of Winter, who trace their roots back nearly 30 years and have released full-lengths on a one-per-decade basis in 1998, 2008 and now 2018 with Pray for Doom, have their house well in order when it comes to conveying the classic tenets of the genre. Issued through I Hate, the eight-track/51-minute offering finds drummer Dennis Schediwy punctuating huge nodder grooves led by Jörg M. Knittel‘s riffs, while bassist Joachim Schmalzried adds low end accentuation and frontman Gerrit P. Mutz furthers the spirit of traditionalism on vocals. Songs like “The Thirteenth of November” and the stomping “The Sweet Taste of Ruin” are timeless for being born too late, and in the spirit of Europe’s finest trad doom, Dawn of Winter evoke familiar aspects without directly worshiping Black Sabbath or any of their other aesthetic forebears. Pray for Doom is doom, because doom, by doomers, for doomers. The converted will be accordingly thrilled to hear them preach.

Dawn of Winter on Thee Facebooks

I Hate Records website

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Pale Heart, Jungeland

Semi-retroist Southern heavy blues boogie, some tight flourish of psychedelia, and the occasional foray into broader territory, Stuttgart three-piece Pale Heart‘s StoneFree debut long-player, Junegleland is striking in its professionalism and, where some bands might sacrifice audio fidelity at the altar of touching on a heavy ’70s aesthetic, guitarist/vocalist Marc Bauer, key-specialist Nico Bauer and drummer Sebastian Neumeier (since replaced by Marvin Schaber) present their work in crisp fashion, letting the construction of the songs instead define the classicism of their influence. Low end is filled out by Moog where bass might otherwise be, and in combination with Hammond and Fender Rhodes and other synth, there’s nothing as regard missing frequencies coming from Jungleland, the nine songs of which vary in their character but are universally directed toward honing a modern take on classic heavy, informed as it is by Southern rock, hard blues and the tonal warmth of yore. A 50-minute debut is no minor ask of one’s audience in an age of fickle Bandcamp attentions, but cuts like the 12-minute “Transcendence” have a patience and character that’s entrancing without trickery of effects.

Pale Heart on Thee Facebooks

StoneFree Records website

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Slowbro, Nothings

UK instrumentalist three-piece Slowbro‘s full-length debut, Nothings, brings forth eight tracks and 51 minutes of heavy-ended sludge rock notable for the band’s use of dueling eight-string guitars instead of the standard guitar/bass setup. How on earth does something like that happen? I don’t know. Maybe Sam Poole turned to James Phythian one day and was like, “Hey, I got two eight-string guitars. So, band?” and then a band happened. Zeke Martin — and kudos to him on not being intimidated by all those strings — rounds out on drums and together the trio embark on cuts like “Sexlexia” (a very sexy learning disability, indeed) and “Broslower,” which indeed chugs out at a considerably glacial pace, and “Fire, Fire & Fire,” which moves from noise rock to stonerly swing with the kind of aplomb that can only be conjured by those who don’t give a shit about style barriers. It’s got its ups and downs, but as Nothings — the title-track of which quickly cuts to silence and stays there until a final crash — rounds out with “Pisscat” and the eight-strings go ever so slightly post-rock, it’s hard not to appreciate the willful display of fuckall as it happens. It’s a peculiar kind of charm that makes it both charming and peculiar.

Slowbro on Thee Facebooks

Creature Lab Records website

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Sludgy all-caps Louisiana noisemakers WOORMS have set a Jan. 18 release for their debut album, Slake. To be released through Hospital Records, the 10-song outing comes prefaced by two to-date preview tracks, the latest of which is “Find a Meal, Find a Bed, Find a God,” which you can stream at the bottom of this post because the future blah blah. Low distortion and a massive rollout pervade, but the deeper into the song you dig, the more you find ambience alongside that bombast, and there’s a weirdo blues post-Eagle Twin thing happening on the vocals as well that only adds to the swampy malevolence.

It’s big, it’s nasty, and it sounds like there’s plenty more in store for the rest of the album. Also, kudos to the band for naming a song “Veni Vedi Fucki.” Nicely done.

Album art and details, as per the PR wire:

Schizoid Noise/Doom trio WOORMS to release debut album in January | Grab your free download of new single ‘Find a Meal, Find a Bed, Find a God’

Slake, the debut album by WOORMS is officially released 18th January 2019 on Hospital Records

For your free download of new song ‘Find a Meal, Find a Bed, Find a God’ head to – https://woorms.bandcamp.com/album/find-a-meal-find-a-bed-find-a-god-single

Formed in 2017 in Louisiana, WOORMS – featuring guitarist/vocalist Joey Carbo, bassist John Robinson, and drummer Aaron Polk – are something of a sleeping colossus. Based in Baton Rouge, the band has been delivering a devastating and brutal mélange of riffs and noise-rock righteousness on the precipice of significance for some time.

Yet despite only being a year or so into their sonic existence WOORMS has already racked up a number of releases; a collection of demos, digital one-offs (‘Daddy Was A Masker,’ ‘The Math Says, Yes’) and a split with NOLA thrashers, A Hanging. Last month, WOORMS returned with the first sanctioned cut from their debut album, Slake (which gets its official release this January). Fully stirred from a delirious slumber, we now have a second cut, ‘Find a Meal, Find a Bed, Find a God’ which, for all intents and purposes is the perfect introduction to the band; a lumbering, symphonic noise-rock shank fight between the fattest of riffs and the thinnest of patience with the world at large. Making for a devastatingly terse and perverse experience, from the pinnacle to the point of no return, it falls psychotically through the fuzz and unholy grind of bands like KARP, Jesus Lizard and Neurosis. Lead vocalist/guitarist Joey Carbo explains:

“Every person is a perfectly unfucked being at the outset.
The birth process takes care of all that.
This is like my ninety-ninth misanthropy song and, hopefully, it’s my best on the subject.
A fetus finds itself free of need or want; coming into consciousness in a dark and warm, red cloud.
Head down in the water.
It’s all downhill from there – as they say. And the greatest minds of any era: the artists and thinkers and titans of science, they all had a few things in common. Three, to my mind. They would need food and shelter and most of them would create or find (or be subject to) a god or group of gods.
You’ll also need a job out here. You may find it necessary to kill, to do terrifying things. All things considered, it’s a rigged game and a shit show from one end to the other.
What were you thinking?
Best you stay in there, in the water.”

Slake, the debut album by WOORMS is officially released 18th January 2019 on Hospital Records

TRACK LISTING FOR SLAKE:
1. Corpse Corps
2. Find a Meal Find a Bed Find a God
3. Veni Vidi Fucki
4. Stiff Upper Lisp
5. Urine Trouble Now
6. Mouth is a Wound
7. Our Lady of Perpetually Shitfaced
8. Racist Kevin
9. Rise Cripsy
10. Sore Afraid

WOORMS are:
Joey Carbo: guitars, vocals, noise, keys, synth
John Robinson: basses
Aaron Polk: drums

https://www.facebook.com/WOORMS-820255734812259/
https://www.instagram.com/woorms_/
https://woorms.bandcamp.com/
https://woorms.org/

WOORMS, “Find a Meal, Find a Bed, Find a God”

Actually, when it comes to the latest single from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, all-caps sludge noisemakers WOORMS, the math would seem to say ‘here’s a ridiculous amount of tension to make your skull feel like it’s about to explode so go ahead and have fun with that,’ but what’s in a name? “The Math Says, Yes,” will be out Aug. 24 through Hospital Records as a limited-pressing clear 8″ record, but you can stream it now along with the demo “Stiff Upper Lisp” (get it?) that is reportedly a song that will also appear on the trio’s forthcoming long-player debut. Sneak peak of things to come. Always appreciated.

The band have a couple live dates coming up over the next few months, including a gig in Lafayette on Aug. 18 alongside swamp rockers Suplecs, from whom I also wouldn’t mind a new record one of these days. Not to be greedy or anything, but you know.

Info and audio, courtesy of the PR wire:

Formed in 2017 in Louisiana, WOORMS – featuring guitarist/vocalist Joey Carbo, bassist John Robinson, and drummer Aaron Polk – are something of a sleeping colossus. Based in Baton Rouge, the band has been delivering a devastating and brutal mélange of riffs and noise-rock righteousness on the precipice of significance for quite some time.

Despite only being a year or so into their sonic existence WOORMS has racked up a number of releases; a collection of demos, digital one-offs (‘Daddy Was A Masker’) and most recently a split with NOLA thrashers, A Hanging. Now, with the release of their first official single, WOORMS will finally awaken from their delirious slumber.

The Math Says, Yes, is for all intents and purposes the perfect introduction to the band; A lumbering, slow-climbing symphony of noise-rock, which at its peak, slow-burns with the fire of Neurosis and from the pinnacle to the point of no return, falls psychotically through the unholy grind of bands like KARP and The Jesus Lizard. In itself the arrival of this new single is reason enough to get excited, but with the band currently holed up in the studio putting the final touches on their debut album (B-side demo ‘Stiff Upper Lisp’ is a taste of things to come) WOORMS are readying themselves for domination.

The Math Says, Yes, the brand new single by WOORMS will be officially released on all streaming services from 24th August 2018. To order the limited edition 8” square lathe cut and 7″ split colour vinyl variants, featuring artwork by Mow Skowz and David Paul Seymour, visit – https://woorms.bandcamp.com

WOORMS live:
Aug 18 Freetown Boom Boom Room Lafayette, LA w/ Suplecs
Sep 15 The Woodshop Baton Rouge, LA
Oct 05 Revolution Cafe & Bar Bryan, TX
Oct 06 The Lost Well Austin, TX

WOORMS are:
Joey Carbo: guitars, vocals, noise, keys, synth
John Robinson: basses
Aaron Polk: drums

https://www.facebook.com/WOORMS-820255734812259/
https://www.instagram.com/woorms_/
https://woorms.bandcamp.com/
https://woorms.org/

Woorms, The Math Says, Yes (2018)

Looks like it’ll be a glut of new Thou by the time summer is over. In addition to the promised new long-player, which as it turns out is titled Magus, the Baton Rouge sonic extremists have three different-sounding EPs in the works, crafted from various influences along the way. Sounds… prolific? I don’t know. Does anyone doubt Thou can pull this off? Anyone who’s heard them before? They’re like one of the most innovative sludge bands of their generation. Sure they can do an EP of dark grunge. They’d do showtunes and make them heavy.

PR wire sends aong rince emails:

Thou Announce New Full-Length Album ‘Magus’ Coming August 31st on Sacred Bones Records

Unveil New Single “The Changeling Prince”

Three EPs To Be Released Ahead of Full-Length

Thou have announced their return with new full-length, ‘Magus’. With the impending release of ‘Magus’, the band have decided to take a different approach and release three EPs ahead of the full-length, each of which the band note “are all a complete sonic departure from ‘Magus’ and from each other…”.

Sacred Bones Records is proud to present the new album, ‘Magus’, Thou’s first full-length since 2014’s Heathen. In the months leading into the new album, Thou will be releasing three drastically different EPs: The House Primordial on Raw Sugar, Inconsolable on Community Records, and Rhea Sylvia on Deathwish, Inc. Each record will focus on a particular sound-noisy drone, quiet acoustic, and melodic grunge-all of which is incorporated into the new LP, subsumed in the band’s more standard doom metal.

While sonically, ‘Magus’ may be a continuation of Heathen, thematically it stands as a stark rebuttal, a journey beyond the principles of pleasure and pain. It is more the culmination of these distinct EPs, which all orbit some internal black hole. FFO alienation, absurdity, boredom, futility, decay, the tyranny of history, the vulgarities of change, awareness as agony, reason as disease.

Though often lumped in with New Orleans sludge bands like Eyehategod and Crowbar, Thou shares a more spiritual kinship with ’90s proto-grunge bands like Nirvana, Alice in Chains, and Soundgarden (all of whom they’ve covered extensively, both in the studio and onstage). The band’s aesthetic and political impulses reflect the obscure’90s DIY hardcore punk found on labels like Ebullition, Vermiform, and Crimethinc. From 2004 through 2016, the band has released four full-length albums, six EPs (some bordering on full lengths), two collaboration records with The Body, and enough material spread out over splits to make up another four or five LPs.

‘Magus’ is available August 31st on Sacred Bones Records. For more details and pre-order information, check here.

Thou
‘Magus’
Sacred Bones
August 31, 2018

1 – Inward
2 – My Brother Caliban
3 – Transcending Dualities
4 – The Changeling Prince
5 – Sovereign Self
6 – Divine Will
7 – In the Kingdom of Meaning
8 – Greater Invocation of Disgust
9 – Elimination Rhetoric
10 – The Law Which Compels
11 – Supremacy

https://www.instagram.com/thou_band/
http://noladiy.org/thou/
https://www.sacredbonesrecords.com/products/sbr205-thou-magus

Thou, “The Changeling Prince”