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Obelyskkh Premiere “The Ultimate Grace of God” Video; Album Out Jan. 27

Posted in Bootleg Theater, Reviews on January 9th, 2023 by JJ Koczan

OBELYSKKH The Ultimate Grace Of God

Obelyskkh, “The Ultimate Grace of God” video premiere

Steve Paradise on “The Ultimate Grace of God”:

The Song ‘The Ultimate Grace Of God’ is about all those too many people who care about only themselves, thinking they are the crown of creation. But they are wrong. This role is, by the grace of god, already taken by us. We tried to express that in the video. And we think that was impressively successful.

Album preorder: https://shop.mainstreamrecords.de/product/eom104

Avant sludge doomers Obelyskkh are set to issue their fifth full-length, The Ultimate Grace of God, through Exile on Mainstream on Jan. 27. Lurching, slamming, willfully unmanageable and abidingly miserable, it runs seven songs and 71 minutes and is the follow-up to 2017’s The Providence (review here). While I don’t know over what period of time it was recorded — days, weeks, months, years, or some outside measurement that takes into account the horror-and-bad-pills-filled dimension the three-piece are working in — it was wrought at Mach Ma Mecker Studio in Breitenguessbach with production by Moe Waldmann (who also mixed) and Seeb Gerischer, mastered by Brad Boatright at Audiosiege, and the scope of its component material is matched by how densely packed it is. So that not only are Obelyskkh pulling you over rocks for over an hour in ritualized fashion, they’re doing so with surprising efficiency considering all the atmospheric stretches of drone, changes within the individual songs, the collapsing universe around us about which we only continue to know less, etc.

Lyrically speaking, “Aquaveil” (8:30) might be a love song, or it might be about dropping acid, but it starts with what sounds like a kid playing amid apocalyptic winds before a rolling, driving riff takes hold and the first vocals arrive, sounding utterly disgusted. Obelyskkh — guitarist/vocalist Crazy Woitek, drummer/vocalist Steve Paradise, bassist Seb Duster — will come back again to this kind of “eww look at that” delivery throughout The Ultimate Grace of God at various points, and it becomes an underlying thread drawing the songs together along with the bitter, sometimes grueling, churn of their grooves and all-brown psychedelia that overlays.

Following the stomping verse and low speech eerily moving across channels, the first of many layered solos sweeps forward, and “Aquaveil” returns to that initial shove riff and moves into gruff incantations over lumbering crashes before coming apart at 3:40, letting the fuzz bass and drums set up a return for quieter guitars. It’s a build, and not necessarily slow, but not hurried, and kicks into more lumbering, almost Electric Wizardly, or at least Ramesses, but twisted, after the five-minute mark, delivering its title in what feels like reverent repetitions. This too will be a theme as the title-track follows, but first, “Aquaveil” lets a non-lyric “ahh” become a layered wash, cosmic as much anticosmic, the guitar’s threat never far even as they seem to be fading and the drums carry a layer of effects, the guitar fades out, rises up again in a dual-channel solo, the vocals gross-howl — moving toward and past seven minutes now — but eventually stop alongside the drums and a low frequency drone becomes the most dominant element, synthy ambience arriving but leaving quickly in the fade.

If one would look to “The Ultimate Grace of God” (9:55) to help solve some riddle, don’t bother. This is post-modern, the name comes from a hair salon, nothing means anything, take a scrub-sponge to your mind and rid it of the crust of expectation before you get dishpan hands, existentially speaking. If you can’t bask in absurdity, first, how do you survive?, and second, you might as well go back while you still can. The title-track is quicker into full volume at its outset, the drums plodding behind a start-stop riff that comes to be topped with dramatic, echoing guttural layers before two verse rhythms start happening at the same time. Is that Paradise and Woitek? Maybe, but this record isn’t about to go around explaining itself for you, so you’re better off accepting the mystery. In any case, the affect is overwhelming, one voice barking at you to look at this beautiful face, the other cultish moans faux-worshiping the wretchedness of beauty and excess as described in the lyrics.

It’s class warfare, and right. fucking. on., but Obelyskkh aren’t necessarily bound stylistically by these bourgeois concerns. Some of “The Ultimate Grace of God” reminds of mid-period Neurosis — unless that’s just the way the word “grace” seems to echo out — but they move from that manic dual-vocal back to start-stops to cycle through again, breaking into standalone guitar at about 4:45, wistful and classic rock in all but its layering, snapping at 5:41 into a heavier embodiment of the same part, now triumphant. Synth, or guitar effects, or horns, or something, add to it ahead of more left/right soloing, and the title-track makes clear once and for all the bleak, drugs-and-drear vision of prog that Obelyskkh are fostering. A xylophone shows up, purposefully grandiose, purposefully over the top, and they ride that movement as long as they ride anything throughout the entire album, slowing gradually around eight and a half minutes in, drawing out by nine, and making no attempt to hide their intent, finishing at a still-cohesive crawl until the last crash leaves a residual rumble behind.

“Black Mother,” which follows, is the shortest inclusion at 5:46. I haven’t seen a lyric sheet for it, so I won’t speak to the intention behind the title, but from what I can glean listening — and mind you these things don’t always come through with the utmost clarity on a record so prone to delivering headfucks — it’s at least not directly about race, i.e., a Black woman with a child. If I’m wrong and it is, or if I’m not and it’s not, the more important question is what ‘black’ portends in terms of the song itself, and that’s what I don’t know. There are lines about ‘Blissful mother’ protecting children and her own soul and ‘bewitcher and destructive lord’ (?) amid a nodding, counted-in riff, chugging in the verse, etc. After two minutes in, they shift to ’70s horror organ and another riff emerges behind repeated pleas to “Break me apart” and “Open me up,” the song growing more intense as it pushes deeper, not quite a traditional build, but increasingly urgent anyhow. They stop, jangle-chug to hold place with noodly lines overtop, build in with the ride cymbal, then they’re heads-down in shove, crashing quickly into a slowdown after four minutes, bringing back the cult-chant vocals, layering with shouts, before the stomping ending turns back to the beginning chorus in a surprising bookend. Had to end somehow, and fair enough.

The first of two songs over 14 minutes long, “Afterlife” (14:26) is a culmination for the first of the 2LPs and like its side D counterpart, an album unto itself. Noise drone starts, guitar enters slowly, sparse but setting a progression in motion. At 1:35 a clearer figure arrives over the noise, which starts to spiral in rhythm then evens out again. The lead line is sweet ahead of the full-on crash-in at 2:49, giving way to lumbers and drags that are hypnotic before galloping forward with the verse. A drum switch to hi-hat/snare from and then back to ride cymbal makes a difference in energy behind the same riff. The sound of Paradise‘s hi-hat there is sharp and biting, and the vocals are in that disgusted modus like “Aquaveil,” before cutting, getting quiet but staying tense as “Afterlife” moves past six minutes, building back up as signaled by drums and ferociousness of the guitar layers.

An oddly timed march is introduced at about 5:45 and starts in earnest around a minute later, the track full of unexpected turns like The Ultimate Grace of God. At 7:23, the same movement surges louder and that’s just fine. An echo-coated but nonetheless more traditional verse, gives over to psych-sludge shouts and drawls, two voices intertwining again, before a guitar solo takes hold at 9:09, layered again but righteous. All seems to be rolling along smoothly enough, so Obelyskkh pull the rug out from underneath and shift into Khanate crashes over empty space, becoming furious quickly — we’re past 10 minutes in now — until a snare hit quick-turns back to the galloping verse, crash, then hi-hat — this is a band with a marker board in their rehearsal space — repeating the song’s title in lyrics. A current of feedback builds after 11:30, the crashes become consuming, looped, the vocals open wide and swallow the song until after 12 minutes it’s a noise wash. The drums crash and everything else kind of fades away save for feedback and effects drone, synthy manipulations; caustic noise rising, receding over that drone, and then gradually the drone fades too. Death in “Afterlife.”

If that was the record, you’d probably call it complete, but the point here is that being digested by cruel aural antireality takes time and Obelyskkh aren’t about to loosen their grip. The Ultimate Grace of God might be ‘epic’ were it not so poisonous. Either way, there are more terrors to come as they engage the seemingly-purposefully-paired “Universal Goddess” (6:28) and “Dog Headed God” (9:26) — interesting that the two shortest tracks are about women idols/archetypes — land ahead of the finale. “Universal Goddess” has a creeper riff at its outset before the drums kick in and ends up using feedback like a sustained drone, cycling through four measures before turning to the next onslaught-take on that breaking-fragile-things rhythm, moving to a chugging march to offset as a transition to the feedback fading, a clearer, starker line of guitar used as backdrop for gothic-style melodrama in the vocals, laced with whispers of the title-line, a particularly religious-feeling call and response, like at a mass.

This seems to trail off but then “Universal Goddess” bursts to life before the halfway point, grueling vocals dug into lyrical paeans to the titular deity. There’s a noise rock jabber of a riff that’s given its due before it straightens out to a run and obliterates itself just after five minutes in, and from there, the sludge freakout is on. A layer of feedback noise returns, becomes the constant, then the drums crash out and the riff stops and the song ends with what sounds like the speaker cabinet howling in agony, or maybe worship. “Dog Headed God” comes on as immediately more together, and is already into what will become the weighted shove, into the first verse before hitting the one-minute mark. Obelyskkh dare a bit more melody in the layering, saying the title-line deep in the mix compared to the verse.

OBELYSKKH 2022

A churning riff pushes “Dog Faced God” forward — the Anubis reference clear — then there’s a sudden turn just before two minutes to a riff established then fleshed out with fuller fuzz. It stops, turns, attacks, and when the vocals sneer the line “My soul is pure,” before the layering and whispers start, the threat is real. They march and swing for a while, some shoutback response make the stretch even less lucid-seeming the second time through. Not quite a chorus, there’s shouting over the churn: “God of the dead/With a dog god head/Claws of red.” They turn back to churning verse past halfway, hits around on crashes and takes off again with “God of the dead…,” growing more distraught and witchy. I’m not sure if it’s percussion or keys/synth or another layer of guitar, but the ensuing movement is topped with weirdo bloops and beeps, as the song behind becomes even more out there and decay-stenched, manipulated and pulled apart molecularly while the drone of synth remains. Keyboard and sharp noise after eight minutes set the final haul in motion, but it’s all noise from there on out. They aren’t coming back. It ends: electronic stutters and the drone, then just the stutters, like a helicopter far away, then nothing. Mindfully praising chaos.

From this silence arrives “Sat Nam [Vision]” (16:49), the longest track on The Ultimate Grace of God and arguably the most ritualistic, despite abundant competition.

Pops of electronic or other noise over drone at the outset — maybe an answer to the end of “Dog Headed God” — and there’s a deep inhale (is that you,  drugs?), another, a cough. Thus the stage is set for trip to find universal truth, or at very least the unmaking of all things. After all this ambience, they crash in just before two minutes, finding semi-angular lumber, then proggy bounce, the bizarre chanting given suitable instrumental accompaniment, straightening out to horrifying lines about being saved. A layer of sub-caustic synth, like you just dialed the wrong number to one of those galaxies billions of lightyears away, backs more headfuck vocal layers thrown at you. A relatively quick transition results in, “I am the way the way, the truth, the life,” delivered like Monotheist-era Celtic Frost, back to the bops and that drone, a turn back to this chorus, layer of death growl or throat-singing underneath, nodding crash, coming apart as these parts do, capping with the keywords “way, truth, life” repeating over timed crashes.

There’s a moment of respite — surprising, considering — to “Sat Nam [Vision]” after five minutes as it oozes to feedback and drone, then on to throat-singing, cymbals, some other percussion, and the vocals reveal themselves as making a mantra of “Sat nam,” chimes and bowls and a noise like running water that isn’t comprising an atmospheric backdrop, also an undulating waveform drone. They’re not yet halfway through. A programmed beat starts circa eight minutes in, the chant still looping at first goes away before guitar reenters at 8:34, the bed for a low semi-spoken verse with keys prominent amid rumbling and light-plucked guitars. More layers are added for the repetitions of “be buried in oblivion” after a second cycle through that verse,  and just after 10 minutes, Obelyskkh move into a more guttural, “I was living in a sat nam vision,” the slow roll behind almost cinematic. This too is stripped away to just “sat nam” spit out, and at 11:48 another vocal layer enters and brings lead guitar lines, creating a fray that comes and goes around various “sat nam” repetitions.

It’s dramatic as it song moves toward the 13-minute mark, but feels like it’s drawing down, then noise drone rises over ’80s horror vibes, snare bends time deep in the mix. Lines of piano and guitar complement each other like they don’t know the world’s over yet, and eventually they go and the noise finishes and the album finishes and everything is finished, you, me, the mantra of one god that is “sat nam” and all else. Exhausted and undone, the closing piece of The Ultimate Grace of God leaves on a fast-fading line of guitar after a long stretch of drone, and if that’s the last bit of consciousness receding into the grim ether that’s been at the heart of Obelyskkh‘s work all along, that submission is well earned by the extremity, the oppressive reach, of the band’s tonal, ambient, conceptual heft and the experimental scope of their purposes. Too molten to be just-brutal, The Ultimate Grace of God is an accomplishment in bringing together such disparate notions of what makes music progressive, and its warped otherworldliness is visionary in the challenge it issues to its audience. If you can meet it on its level — and if you’re still reading, I’m not going to claim to have done that — it has the presence of dogma dragging you down with it. And to where?

Obelyskkh on Facebook

Obelyskkh on Bandcamp

Obelyskkh on Twitter

Exile on Mainstream website

Exile on Mainstream on Instagram

Exile on Mainstream YouTube channel

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Obelyskkh Announce The Ultimate Grace of God Due Jan. 27

Posted in Whathaveyou on December 14th, 2022 by JJ Koczan

OBELYSKKH 2022

You know, for some reason, I can never seem to spell Obelyskkh‘s name right. I guess when you get used to typing a certain word a certain way for so long, it’s just where your brain goes. But Germany’s Obelyskkh are consistently worth the effort of spelling their moniker correctly. Their last album, 2017’s The Providence (review here), was an otherworldly ripper, and it would seem the consciousness-shredding intention continues to hold sway over the impending The Ultimate Grace of God. There isn’t a track streaming yet, and I suspect that after you watch the teaser trailer for the album below — which starts, suitably enough, with a line of cocaine — you’ll share my opinion that that’s a bummer, because the swirling malevolent sludge doom this band conjures is likewise distinctive and disturbing. Righteously so. I’m gonna see if I can line up a single premiere ahead of the release — you never know if you don’t ask — but in the meantime, check out the album info, the killer AI cover art, and the teaser below.

By the way, about the art: I’d be genuinely surprised if we don’t see a lot of AI-born covers coming down the line in 2023 and maybe beyond. If you can get a look like this, why wouldn’t you? And if you don’t think that AI art is art, then AI art has made you feel something and form an opinion, and therefore it is art. If you disagree, it just proves it more. See also Marcel Duchamp and all those blank canvases at the Guggenheim.

From the PR wire:

OBELYSKKH The Ultimate Grace Of God

OBELYSKKH: German Psychedelic Sludge Metal Trio To Release Fifth LP, The Ultimate Grace Of God, Via Exile On Mainstream Records In January; Cover Art, Teaser, Preorders, And More Posted

German psychedelic doom/sludge metal goliath OBELYSKKH returns with their fifth album, and first in over five years, with The Ultimate Grace Of God. The band’s long-running allies at Exile On Mainstream will release the album worldwide on January 27th, today unveiling the record’s cover art, track listing, preorders, a brief teaser, and more.

Having remained quiet in recent years, OBELYSKKH celebrated a brilliant return at the South Of Mainstream Festival in September 2022. The show, which consisted only of new material, already showed clearly where the sonic journey is going: the psychedelic elements fade into the background and make way for increased pressure and a furious reckoning with noise and slamming riffs, focused, direct, and without frills. The Ultimate Grace Of God is a child of the times and its challenges, whose story began in April 2017 with a walk through Antwerp: In the middle of an uninviting district with cold-looking apartment blocks, there is an unassuming, run-down hair salon with the words “THE ULTIMATE GRACE OF GOD” emblazoned across the shop window. The idea for the next OBELYSKKH album was born. At the time, no one could have guessed that it would take almost five years from then until the idea for a physical release was implemented.

When their second guitarist left right before the release of their prior album, The Providence, OBELYSKKH had to restructure. They remembered the punk attitude of the early days and decided to pick it up again as a classic bass/guitar/drums power trio. Influences from old noise heroes such as KARP, Todd, Jesus Lizard, and the Melvins became more noticeable when writing the new songs and they were written just as quickly as they were direct. A studio was found. A test recording by Moe Waldmann and Seeb Gerischer in the lovingly furnished Mach Ma Mecker recording studio in the remote solitude of the Franconian town of Breitengüßbach convinced everyone involved. Rosy future. New album almost in the can. It could start.

Then, Corona hit… Several studio dates were repeatedly postponed due to contact bans, until a small Summer gap finally opened. In a week, OBELYSKKH pounded The Ultimate Grace Of God in, live and raw – a few overdubs here and there, followed by gorgeous mastering by Brad Boatright at Audiosiege Studios the beast was done and waiting to be released. The cover art was created by an AI, fed with keywords from the OBELYSKKH lyrics, and the beast was done and waiting to be released. But Corona was still there. A year passed and the album was gathering dust in a drawer. Then came the energy crisis. Then came inflation. The beer got so expensive that there was no money left to finish the album. And in no time at all it was 2022.

But what underlies through it all: the OBELYSKKH crew is tough, just like the music: a loud, angry hunk of noise. And despite all the crises, the hair salon in Antwerp is still styling.

The Ultimate Grace of God will be released on January 27th as a bundle of LP and CD as well as digitally. The CD and digital contain two additional bonus tracks. The CD is included with the LP; there is no separate CD release. Find preorders at the label webshop HERE: https://shop.mainstreamrecords.de/product/eom104

The Ultimate Grace Of God Track Listing:
1. Aquaveil
2. The Ultimate Grace Of God
3. Black Mother
4. Afterlife
5. Universal Goddess
6. Dog Headed God
7. Sat Nam (Vision)

OBELYSKKH:
Steve Paradise – drums
Crazy Woitek – guitars, vocals
Seb Duster – bass

https://www.facebook.com/TheObelyskkhRitual
https://obelyskkhnoise.bandcamp.com
https://twitter.com/OBELYSKKH

http://www.mainstreamrecords.de
https://www.instagram.com/exileonmainstreamofficial
https://www.youtube.com/@exileonmainstream3639

Obelyskkh, The Ultimate Grace of God teaser

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Quarterly Review: Earth, Heilung, Thronehammer, Smear, Deadbird, Grass, Prana Crafter, Vago Sagrado, Gin Lady, Oven

Posted in Reviews on July 1st, 2019 by JJ Koczan

quarterly-review

Deep breath. And… here we go.

Welcome to The Obelisk’s Summer 2019 Quarterly Review. You probably know the drill by now, but just in case, here’s what’s up: starting today and through next Monday, I’ll be reviewing 10 records per day for a total of 60. I’ve done this every three months (or so) for the better part of the last five years, each one with at least 50 releases included. Some are big bands, some are new bands, some are releases are new, some older. It’s a mix of styles and notoriety, and that’s exactly the intent. It’s a ton of stuff, but that’s also the intent, and the corresponding hope is that somewhere in all of it there’s something for everyone.

I’ll check in each day at the top with what usually turns out to be a “hot damn I’m exhausted, but this is worth it”-kind of update, but otherwise, if we’re all on board, let’s just get to it. First batch below, more to come.

Quarterly Review #1-10:

Earth, Full Upon Her Burning Lips

earth

Finding post-Southern Lord refuge with Sargent House in similar fashion to Boris, Earth seem to act in direct response to 2014’s Primitive and Deadly (review here) with the 10-track/62-minute Full Upon Her Burning Lips, stripping their approach down to its two essential components: Dylan Carlson‘s guitar and Adrienne Davies‘ drums. The former adds bass as well, and the latter some off-kit percussion, but that’s about as far as they go in the extended meditation on their core modus — even the straightforward photo on the cover tells the story — psychedelic and brooding and still-spacious as the music is. Gone are folk strings or vocals, and so on, and instead, they foster immersion through not-quite minimalist nod and roll, Carlson‘s guitar soundscaping atop Davies‘ slow, steady pulse. It’s not nearly so novel as the last time out, but timed to the 30th anniversary of the band, it’s a reminder that if you like Earth, this dynamic is ultimately why.

Earth on Thee Facebooks

Sargent House website

 

Heilung, Futha

heilung futha

It might seem like an incongruity that something so based in traditionalism conceptually would also turn into experimentalist Viking jazz, but I defy you to hear “Galgadr,” the 10-minute opener of Heilung‘s third full-length, Futha (on Season of Mist), and call it something else. Cuts like the memorable and melodic “Norupo” and the would-be-techno-but-I-think-they’re-actually-just-beating-on-wood “Svanrand,” which, like “Vapnatak” before it, is rife with the sounds of battle, but it’s in the longer pieces, “Othan,” 14-minute closer “Hamrer Hippyer,” and even the eight-plus-minute “Elivgar” and “Elddansurin” that precede it, that Heilung‘s dramas really unfold. Led by the essential presence of vocalist Maria Franz — who could hardly be more suited to the stated theme of calling to feminine power — Heilung careen through folk and narrative and full cultural immersion across 73 minutes, and craft something willfully forward thinking from the history it embellishes.

Heilung on Thee Facebooks

Season of Mist website

 

Thronehammer, Usurper of the Oaken Throne

thronehammer usurper of the oaken throne

The reliable taste of Church Within Records strikes again in picking up Thronehammer‘s first full-length, Usurper of the Oaken Throne. The project is a dark and warmaking epic mega-doom working mostly in longform material — it’s six tracks/78 minutes, so yeah — conjured in collaboration by the trio of vocalist Kat Shevil Gillham (Lucifer’s Chalice, etc.), guitarist/keyboardist Stuart Bootsy West (ex-Obelyskkh, ex-The Walruz) and drummer/bassist Tim Schmidt (Seamount), that hits with a massive impact from 17-minute opener “Behind the Wall of Frost” into “Conquered and Erased” (11:24) and “Warhorn” (19:12), making for an opening salvo that’s a full-length unto itself and a beast of doomed grandeur that balances extremity with clearheaded presentation. They simplify the proceedings a bit for “Svarte Skyer” and the eponymous “Thronehammmer,” but are clearly in their element for the 15-minute closing title-track, which rounds out one of the best doom debuts I’ve heard so far this year with due heft and ceremony.

Thronehammer on Thee Facebooks

Church Within Records on Bandcamp

 

Smear, A Band Called Shmear

Smear A Band Called Shmear

Smear‘s live-recorded A Band Called Shmear EP is basically the equivalent of that dude getting dragged out of the outdoor concert for being at the bottom of the puffing clouds of smoke going, “Come on man, I’m not hurting anybody!” And by that I mean it’s awesome. The Eugene, Oregon, four-piece get down on some psychedelic reefer madness tapped into weirdo anti-genre tendencies that come to fruition in the verses of “Guns of Brixton” after the drifting freaker “Old Town.” The whole thing runs an extra-manageable 21 minutes, and six of that are dedicated to the fuzzed jam “Zombie” — tinged in its early going with a reggae groove — so Smear make it easy to follow their outward path, whether it’s the surf-with-no-water “Weigh” at the outset or “Quicksand,” which hints at more complex melodic tendencies almost in spite of itself. You like vibe, right? These cats have plenty to go around, and they deliver it with an absolute lack of pretense. Whatever they do next, I hope they also record it live, because it clearly works.

Smear on Thee Facebooks

Smear on Bandcamp

 

Deadbird, III: The Forest Within the Tree

deadbird iii the forest within the tree

One hesitates to speculate on the future of a band who’ve just taken 10 years to put out an album, but Deadbird sound vital on their awaited third full-length: III: The Forest Within the Tree (arrived late 2018 through 20 Buck Spin), and with a revamped lineup that includes Rwake vocalist Chris Terry and Rwake/The Obsessed bassist Reid Raley as well as bassist Jeff Morgan, guitarist Jay Minish and founders Phillip (drums) and Chuck (guitar) Schaaf and Alan Short — all of whom contribute vocals — Deadbird emerge from the ether with a stunningly cohesive and varied outing of post-sludge, tinged Southern in its humid tonality but still very much geared toward heft and, certainly more than I recall of their past work, melody. In just 38 minutes they push the listener into this dank world of their creation, and seem to find just as much release in experiments “11:34” and “Ending” as in the crashes of “Brought Low” or “Heyday.” Are they really back? Hell if I know, but these songs are enough to make me hope so.

Deadbird on Thee Facebooks

20 Buck Spin on Bandcamp

 

Grass, Fresh Grass

grass fresh grass

Brooklyn four-piece Grass released a live recording in 2017, but the late-2018 EP Fresh Grass marks their studio debut, and it comprises five tracks digging into the traditions of heavy rock with edges derived from the likes of Clutch, Orange Goblin, maybe a bit of Kyuss and modern bluesier practitioners as well in cuts like “Black Clouds” — the lone holdover from one release to the next — and the swaggering “Runaway,” which veers into vocal layering in its second half in a way that seems to portend things to come, while the centerpiece “Fire” and closer “Easy Rider” roll out in post=’70s fashion a kind of rawer modern take. Their sound is nascent, but there’s potential in their swing and the hook of opener “My Wall.” Fresh Grass is the band searching for their place within a heavy rock style. I hear nothing on it to make me think they won’t find it, and if they were opening the show, you’d probably want to show up early.

Grass on Thee Facebooks

Grass on Bandcamp

 

Prana Crafter, MindStreamBlessing

Prana Crafter MindStreamBlessing

Reissued on vinyl through Cardinal Fuzz with two bonus tracks, Prana Crafter‘s 2017 offering, MindStreamBlessing, originally saw release through Eidolon Records and finds the Washington-based solo artist Will Sol oozing through acid folk and psychedelic traditions, instrumentally constructing a shimmer that seems ready for the platter edition it’s been granted. Songs like “As the Weather Commands” and “Bardo Nectar” are experiments in their waves of meandering guitar, effects and keys, while “Mycellial Morphohum” adapts cosmic ecology to minimal spaciousness and vague spoken word. Some part of me misses vocals in the earthy “FingersFlowThroughOldSkolRiver,” but that might just also be the part of me that’s hearing Lamp of the Universe or Six Organs of Admittance influences. The interwoven layers of “Prajna Pines,” on the other hand, seem fine without; bluesy as the lead guitar line is, there’s no doubting the song’s expressive delivery, though one could easily say the same of the krautrock loops and keys and reverb-drenched solo of “Luminous Clouds.”

Prana Crafter on Thee Facebooks

Cardinal Fuzz webstore

 

Vago Sagrado, Vol. III

vago sagrado vol iii

Heavy post-rockers Vago Sagrado set a peaceful atmosphere with “K is Kool,” the opening track of their third album, Vol. III, that is hard to resist. They’ll soon enough pump in contrast via the foreboding low end of “La Pieza Oscura,” but the feeling of purposeful drift in the guitar remains resonant, even as the drums and vocals take on a kind of punkish feel. The mix is one that the Chilean three-piece seem to delight in, reveling in tonal adventurousness in the quiet/loud tradeoff of “Fire (In Your Head)” and the New Wave shuffle of “Sundown” before “Centinela” kicks off side B with the kind of groove that Queens of the Stone Age fans have been missing for the last 15 years. Things get far out in “Listen & Obey,” but Vago Sagrado never completely lose their sense of direction, and that only makes the proceedings more engaging as the hypnotic “One More Time with Feeling” leads into the nine-minute closer “Mekong,” wherein the wash teased all along comes to fruition.

Vago Sagrado on Thee Facebooks

Vago Sagrado on Bandcamp

 

Gin Lady, Tall Sun Crooked Moon

gin lady tall sun crooked moon

I’m more than happy to credit Sweden’s Gin Lady for the gorgeous ’70s country rock harmonies that emanate from their fourth album, Tall Sun Crooked Moon (on Kozmik Artifactz), from the mission-statement opener “Everyone is Love” onward, but I think it’s also worth highlighting that the 10-track outing also features the warmest snare drum sound I’ve heard maybe since the self-titled Kadavar LP. The Swedish four-piece have nailed their sound down to that level of detail, and as they touch on twang boogie in “Always Gold” or find bluesy Abbey Roadian deliverance in the more riff-led chorus of “Gentle Bird,” their aesthetic is palpable but does not trump the straight-ahead appeal of their songwriting. The closing duo of “The Rock We All Push” and the piano-soother “Tell it Like it Is” are the only two tracks to push past five minutes long, but by then the mood is well set and if they wanted to keep going, I have a hard time imagining they’d meet with complaints. Serenity abounds.

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Kozmik Artifactz website

 

Oven, Couch Lock

oven couch lock

For an EP called Couch Lock — i.e., when you’re too stoned to even stand up — there’s an awful lot of movement on Oven‘s debut release, from the punk thrust of “Get It” to the arrogant sleaze of “Go James” and even the drums in “This Time.” And the nine-minute “Dark Matter” is basically space rock, so yeah, hardly locked to the couch there, but okay. The five-tracker is raw in its production as would seem to suit the Pennsylvania trio, but they still get their point across in terms of attitude, and a closing cover of Nebula‘s “To the Center” seems only to reinforce the notion. One imagines that any basement where they unleash that and the nod that culminates “Dark Matter” just before it would have to be professionally dehumidified afterward to get the dankness out, and an overarching sense of stoner shenanigans only adds to the good times that so much of East Coast-ish psych misses the point on. They’re having fun. You should too.

Oven on Bandcamp

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Willow Child Premiere Video for “Starry Road”; Paradise & Nadir out May 11

Posted in Bootleg Theater on April 16th, 2018 by JJ Koczan

willow child by Christian Illing

What do we learn in the new Willow Child video? Well, first off, we see that quite literally it’s vocalist/guitarist Eva Kohl driving the band, and while one could make the argument that the totality of the German five-piece’s debut album, Paradise & Nadir — out May 11 on StoneFree Records — works much the same way, it’s not entirely that simple. Kohl is most certainly a forward presence in the band and in the mix of Paradise & Nadir, which was recorded by vintage specialist Richard Behrens (Heat, ex-Samsara Blues Experiment) and features cover art by Harley and J, but the organ work of Jonas Hartmann plays a significant role in “Starry Road” as well as other album cuts like “Eirene” and “Red Wood,” while Eva‘s brother, David Kohl drives languid bluesy grooves there and on the subsequent, progressively-minded “Mayflies,” which not only highlights Eva‘s vocals in its verses, but leaves room for the lead guitar of Flo Ryan Kiss to shine soulfully as it moves through its midpoint while bassist Javier Zulauf adds depth and tonal warmth alike to a spacious soundscape.

willow child paradiseSo while it may be Eva Kohl in the driver’s seat of that classic Chevy truck, don’t take that to mean the band has nothing else going for them. Paradise & Nadir is a quick-turnaround first album — the band’s lineup only solidified last year — but the songs feel older. Not only older-school, but to listen to the jammy break in the seven-minute “Beyond the Blue Fields,” there’s an established feeling between the players that, no matter how tight they are when they go into the recording studio, simply can’t be faked. Maybe that’s a result of the Kohls and Hartmann playing together longer, but whatever the case, Willow Child‘s dynamic isn’t just making an introduction for itself here: it’s showing that the band entered into the process of making their debut with a firm grip on who they are and what they want to accomplish as a band. Opening both sides of the eight-track offering with the longest piece — that’s “Little Owl” on side A and “Beyond the Blue Fields” on side B — they quickly mark out an expansive feel and balance that with structural traditionalism that only enhances the classic heavy rock aspects in their work.

I don’t have any kind of inside track or anything, but I’d hardly be surprised to find Willow Child‘s logo starting to pop up on festival posters come this Fall or even summer, since I think once people get ahold of Paradise & Nadir the band aren’t going to have any trouble ingratiating themselves to the converted among Europe’s continually staggering heavy rock underground. If you’re up for the ride — and some lasers! — you can check out the “Starry Road” video premiere below, followed by more background from the PR wire.

Please enjoy:

Willow Child, “Starry Road” official video premiere

Directed/Edited by: Nicolas Jansky
Lights: Timon Seidl

Jonas Hartmann (organ) and siblings Eva (vocals, guitar) and David Kohl (drums) had been making music together since 2014, when in 2016 bass player Javier Zulauf completed their ranks. A small setback in 2017: Jonas, who up until then had been playing the guitar in addition to the organ, had to focus solely on the organ after injuring his hand and not making a full recovery, which is when Flo Ryan Kiss joined as lead guitarist.

The whole band takes part in the process of songwriting. “One member will come up with a basic idea, whether it’s a chord sequence, a riff, a feeling, a theme or a verse. Then we usually spin the idea around a little, jam to it and just try out whatever comes to mind, and then the pieces of the puzzle usually start coming together. Of course there are exceptions in songs that are written entirely by one band member, but we always manage to blend individual styles into a bigger picture”, says bassist Javier. Flo Ryan adds: “What we love most is locking ourselves away for a weekend and just jamming out in a practice space in our remote hometown. That really puts our ‘real lives’ on hold and we play 10 to 14 hours a day.”

The goals for 2018 have been set: “We’re working really hard on our music and putting a lot of time, energy and money into it“, Flo Ryan Kiss says. “Even if we can’t make a living off music yet, we really value professional structures. They help us grow as a band and leave more room for creativity. We really feel like our debut album is a great foundation for growing our fan base by touring Europe and playing festivals. In the long run, we want to reach people across all borders with our music.”

Line-up:
Eva Kohl (Vocals, Guitar)
Flo Ryan Kiss (Guitar)
Javier Zulauf (Bass)
Jonas Hartmann (Organ)
David Kohl (Drums)

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Willow Child on Bandcamp

StoneFree Records website

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Naked Star Announce Debut Album Ancient Rites Due Dec. 16

Posted in Whathaveyou on October 25th, 2016 by JJ Koczan

naked-star-700

Seems to me that if you’re going to release your debut album in the middle of December, that better be some cold-ass doom. None of this summer doom. I’m talking classic. Metal. Misery. Fortunately, that seems to be just the order of the day from Naked Star, the new project from Seamount‘s Tim Schmidt. Comprised just of Schmidt as multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Jim Grant, at least in the studio, the band will release their first full-length, Ancient Rites, on Dec. 16, 2016, through The Church Within Records after making an impressive initial offering earlier this year with the Bloodmoon Prophecy EP, a three-song 10″ that you can hear below and which makes me think Ancient Rites will more than stand up to whatever the coldest and darkest days have to offer. Guess we’ll find out.

Info follows from the PR wire:

naked-star-ancient-rites

NAKED STAR – Ancient Rites (The Church Within Records)

Release date: 16.12.2016

NAKED STAR is the new musical outlet of Tim Schmidt (Seamount) and Jim Grant (Vampyromorpha), born in a night with a lot of booze, horror movies and a bloodmoon. In spring 2016 the 10’’ EP “Bloodmoon Prophecy” has already been released via Voize Of Azram Records, followed by a tape version from Auric Records.

After the collaboration had turned out to be very fertile, the duo began working on their full-length debut very soon and found the right label with The Church Within Records. Expect a full dose of pure and extremely HEAVY Doom in the vein of Saint Vitus, Goatsnake, Black Sabbath, Electric Wizard, Count Raven, Hour Of 13 and the likes!

In the upcoming winter season 2016/2017, NAKED STAR will plan several club performances, consolidated by two live members.

Naked Star, Ancient Rites tracklisting:
1. Purgamantic
2. Stoned Demon
3. Spawn of the Witch
4. Be My Sacrifice
5. Bound to Hell
6. Alter Ego
7. I am the Antichrist
8. Necrolust

Distribution CD: Alive (GER) & Code7/PHD (Europe)
Distribution Vinyl: Voice Of Azram, Plastic Head, Clear Spot & All That Is Heavy (USA)

Members:
Tim Schmidt – Guitars, Bass, Drums;
Jim Grant – Vocals
live force:
Chris “the Amperor” – Bass
Markus “Satanas” – Drums

https://www.facebook.com/n.star666/
https://nakedstar.bandcamp.com/releases
http://doom-dealer.de/

Naked Star, Bloodmoon Prophecy EP (2016)

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Limestone Whale Premiere “Tale of the Snow Child” from Self-Titled Debut

Posted in audiObelisk, Reviews on May 12th, 2016 by JJ Koczan

limestone whale (Photo by Christian Illing)

Bavarian four-piece Limestone Whale will release their self-titled debut album on May 27 via Stone Free Records. They recorded the seven-track offering at Big Snuff Studio in Berlin with Richard Behrens, also of Heat, formerly of Samsara Blues Experiment and who also does live sound for Kadavar. That connection isn’t to be entirely forgotten when it comes to the sound of Limestone Whale‘s 39-minute LP, but neither is it the sum-total of their breadth, because while songs like “Paralyzed in Paradise” (video posted here) and hook-laden opener “Ambrosia” draw from a modified ’70s pastiche, vocalist Clement Hoffer, guitarist Flo Ryan Kiss, bassist René Preiß and drummer Maximilian Brev also dig into a grunge-style lumber on German-language centerpiece cut “Swarms” and the early-PearlJam-gone-bluesier guitar of “A Book I Have to Close,” which follows, one of several effective moments on the record of genuine melancholia alongside the earlier, doomier “Tale of the Snow Child” and closer “An Allegation,” which calls back to “Swarms” in its darker, chugging finish.

Establishing this decades-spanning sonic meld is the stated intent of Limestone Whale‘s debut, and the outcome is that the songs, whichever period they’re drawing from, are executed with an overarching focus on natural feel. It’s less about sounding like it’s 1971 than it is about presenting the material in organic a manner as possible. Again, I wouldn’t limestone whale limestone whalesay the band are completely divorced from retro European heavy — from the dry treatment on Hoffer‘s vocals to the rhythmic swing permeating the slower “W,” those elements are definitely there — but like their Pentagrammy Danish counterparts in Demon Head last yearLimestone Whale bring a near-immediate sense of persona to the songs on their first album, which is all the more impressive for that clarity of effort since it still sounds live-recorded and laid back. Some of that is Behrens, of course, but if the material wasn’t strong in the first place, the album would feel flat and lifeless, and instead it carries across a palpable energy without sounding sloppy or losing its sense of command as it sets up a dynamic of fluid rhythmic and volume changes that carries the listener across Limestone Whale‘s span.

Aside from the fact that the early ’90s are fair game again for influence, which is understandable since 1991 was 25 years ago, the message Limestone Whale send with these songs is that something truly classic is timeless. This decade has seen a boom in bands — largely in Europe, but in the US as well — turning their heads backward to find their inspiration, but with newer, next-generation acts like Limestone Whale, they don’t even have to go that far, since the heavy rock of the last half-century has become one giant mash, fed into itself and sustained by the continuing drive of those playing it to refine the form. Limestone Whale step into that process confidently on their self-titled, and as they execute broad-minded ambitions in a way that results in cohesive songcraft, one can only look forward to hearing how they’ll develop over their tenure and what they might ultimately contribute to that oeuvre. For now, they’ve shown remarkable potential in their debut full-length and accomplished precisely what it seems they set out to do. That’s more than enough to make the effort worthy of praise.

It’s my pleasure today to host “Tale of the Snow Child” as a track premiere. You’ll find it below, followed by some comment from Kiss about the song and the album as a whole.

Please enjoy:

Flo Ryan Kiss on “Tale of the Snow Child”:

Some parts of our music refer to late ’60s Heavy Psych Blues and early 70s Hard Rock because it’s a very important musical style for us, but we decided not only to revive the spirit of that era by playing riffs that have been played partly over and over again. Instead of that we want to add new flavours like 90s alternative rock or grunge elements. It’s like building bridges between different rock decades with the bridges consisting of a modern but very natural and analog sound.

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Limestone Whale on Bandcamp

Limestone Whale at Stone Free Records

Limestone Whale at Wormhole Mailorder

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Limestone Whale Post “Paralyzed in Paradise” Video

Posted in Bootleg Theater on May 5th, 2016 by JJ Koczan

limestone-whale-(photo-by-Christian-Illing)

Bavarian heavy rockers Limestone Whale issue their self-titled debut album May 27 via Stone Free Records. The album, which was recorded live to tape by Richard Behrens, formerly of Samsara Blues Experiment, finds the newcomer four-piece getting their feet wet in a newer-sounding take on heavy ’70s rock, organic but not necessarily vintage in trying to capture analog crackle as so many have the last few years, particularly in Europe. Nonetheless, some similarities of bounce exist between “Paralyzed in Paradise,” for which Limestone Whale have a new video, and the earlier work of Kadavar, for whom Behrens also does live sound. The influence of an influential band. Fair enough.

More encouraging, Limestone Whale bring a sense of personality to the style and come across as being in pursuit of their own niche, perhaps on their way to finding it. “Paralyzed in Paradise” centers around its hook much as its video, directed by Christian Fischer and at least nodding in the direction of One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest, basks in a sense of absurd imagery. It suits a stated youthful theme, but it’s not as though Limestone Whale aren’t clearheaded in their approach. The song is clean despite its naturalism, and catchy besides, and it demonstrates the clear grip Limestone Whale have on their aesthetic, which is likely only beginning to develop.

If, like me, the clip is your introduction to the band, I think you’ll find it’s a solid one. It’ll be interesting to dig into the rest of the LP and see how representative “Paralyzed in Paradise” is of their sound overall, or if it’s just a slice of what’s included in their scope. In either case, a hook is never a bad way to start.

Enjoy:

Limestone Whale, “Paralyzed in Paradise” official video

This is a song about idealization, about escaping and about being kept imprisoned. This is a figurative and surrealistic music video about YOUTH. Directed and filmed by:
Christian Fischer.

Formed in the shadows of the Bavarian forest Limestone Whale have developed their very own approach to heavy psych blues – far beyond prevailing stereotypes. The quartet combines the natural roughness of proto metal and psychedelic rock with straight 70s inspired hard rock and 90s alternative/grunge elements. With their mixture of heavy riffs and refreshing melodies the young but yet experienced musicians create a vivid and stirring presence on stage. Limestone Whale are definitely among the few bands who are able to revive the spirit of the golden age of rock music without trying to sound „retro“.

With their self-titled debut Limestone Whale set an example for their three-year-old career. The seven songs found on “Limestone Whale” are not just a good lesson in variety and covering different genres like they were meant to form a symbiotic relationship, but they also come with an outstanding, clear and characteristic sound, which is the result of recording the album live and with analogue technology at Berlin-based Big Snuff Studio.

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Limestone Whale on Bandcamp

Limestone Whale at Stone Free Records

Limestone Whale at Wormhole Mailorder

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Quarterly Review: Jess and the Ancient Ones, Iguana, Seamount, Gentlemans Pistols, Wired Mind, Automaton, Sideburn, Year of the Cobra, Drive by Wire, Akris

Posted in Reviews on January 4th, 2016 by JJ Koczan

the obelisk quarterly review winter

And so it begins again. It had been my original intention to launch this latest Quarterly Review last week, but as that would’ve had me basically walking out on the holidays with my family, it seemed somehow prickish to be like, “Uh, sorry dudes, riffs call” and split, particularly when there are hours of driving involved. Still, though it’s already running late by the arbitrary calendar in my mind, I’m glad to be able to tackle a batch of releases that both looks back on the last part of 2015 and to the New Year we’ve just entered. As ever, there is a lot, a lot, a lot of ground to cover, so I won’t delay except to remind of what the Quarterly Review actually is:

Between now and this Friday, I will post 10 reviews a day in a single batch grouped like this one. The order is pretty much random, though something higher profile is usually first. It is my intention that each post covers a range of styles, and hopefully within that, you’re able to find something that speaks to you. Many of these releases were sent to me as physical product, and before I start, I want to extend thanks to those groups for undertaking the time and expense of giving me the full representation of their work to hopefully better do mine.

Quarterly Review #1-10:

Jess and the Ancient Ones, Second Psychedelic Coming: The Aquarius Tapes

jess and the ancient ones the second psychedelic coming

Finnish six-piece Jess and the Ancient Ones pay homage to psych cultistry on their sophomore full-length, Second Psychedelic Coming: The Aquarius Tapes (on Svart), and while one might argue with the band marking this out as the “second coming” of psych – I’d say the third, generationally-speaking – the paean to late-‘60s sonic spaciousness in “In Levitating Secret Dreams” is unmistakable, the songwriting of guitarist Thomas Corpse conjuring fervent swirl behind the soulful Grace Slick-isms of vocalist Jess. At 65 minutes, it’s a classic double-LP, but Second Psychedelic Coming seems most engaged in its longer pieces, the eight-minute “Crossroad Lightning,” which pulls back from the urgency of earlier cuts “”The Flying Man” or the opening “Samhain,” and the 22-minute closer “Goodbye to Virgin Grounds Forever,” which has an arrangement to match its scope that unfolds no less gracefully. Some of the more frenetic parts seem to be arguing with themselves, but the overarching vibe remains satisfyingly tripped out and that closer is their to-date masterpiece.

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Jess and the Ancient Ones at Svart Records

Iguana, Cult of Helios

iguana cult of helios

No big surprise that a record called Cult of Helios would seem to so unabashedly bask in sunshine. The four-track/32-minute sophomore full-length from German heavy psych four-piece Iguana has its driving moments, some in opener “Josiah” but more in the subsequent melodic thriller “Albedo,” but the prevailing sensibility is toward tonal warmth and steady groove. The band – vocalist/guitarist Alexander Lörinczy, guitarist Thomas May, bassist Alexander May and drummer Robert Meier – debuted in 2012 with Get the City Love You (review here), but Cult of Helios is a more cohesive, individualized release, whether it’s the hook of “Albedo,” the Beatles-gone-fuzz of “A Deadlock Situation” or the lush, flowing 15-minute jam of the closing title-track. Iguana’s propensity for blending underlying structure with a wide-open, welcoming atmosphere is writ large over Cult of Helios, and the album shines in a manner befitting its inspiration. A sleeper that begs waking.

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Iguana website

Seamount, V: Nitro Jesus

seamount v nitro jesus

Most long-distance projects fizzle out after a record or two. With a lineup split between Bavaria and Connecticut, doom rockers Seamount have managed to sustain a remote collaboration, the German band of bassist Markus Ströhlein, guitarist Tim Schmidt and drummer Jens Hofmann working with New England-based vocalist Phil Swanson (ex-Earthlord, ex-Hour of 13, Vestal Claret, etc.). The excellently-titled Nitro Jesus (on The Church Within) is their fifth full-length since 2007, and boasts a refined blend of doom, NWOBHM and dark thematics common to Swanson’s lyrics. Tonally crisp but immersive, slow crawlers like “Can’t Escape the Pain” are offset by the ‘80s metal swing of “Beautiful Sadness,” and each side caps with a longer track, whether that’s the seven-minute “Scars of the Emotional Stuntman,” the most singularly sweeping movement here, or the closer “No One Knows,” which has a moodier feel, the guitar recalling Don Henley accompanied by piano as the finale hits its apex. For those who like their metal of tried and true spirit and individual presentation, Nitro Jesus delivers in more than just its name.

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The Church Within Records

Gentlemans Pistols, Hustler’s Row

gentlemans pistols hustler's row

Every now and then you hear a record that reminds you what you love about rock and roll in the first place. It doesn’t need to be the most complicated thing in the world, or the most expressive, or the heaviest or the most whatever of anything else, but like Gentlemans Pistols’ third LP, Hustler’s Row (on Nuclear Blast), if it locks in a special chemistry between its players, that’s more than enough to carry it through. That the UK four-piece are ace songwriters and bolstered by the lead guitar chops of Bill Steer (Firebird, Carcass) for the Thin Lizzy dual-solos – vocalist/guitarist James Atkinson on the other end – helps plenty as well, but with the tight, classic-style grooves brought to across Hustler’s Row by bassist Robert Threapleton and drummer Stuart Dobbins, Gentlemans Pistols give essential heavy rock a non-retro modern interpretation that might leave one wondering why so many people try to ape a ‘70s production to start with.

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Gentlemans Pistols at Nuclear Blast

Wired Mind, Mindstate: Dreamscape

wired mind mindstate dreamscape

Each side of Wired Mind’s Mindstate: Dreamscape LP (on HeviSike Records) gracefully unfolds a lushly-toned, warm, engaging heavy psychedelic sprawl. The chief influence for the Hannover two-piece of guitarist/vocalist Mikey and drummer Chris is their countrymen godfathers Colour Haze, but the duo make their presence felt early on “Road,” the opener and longest-track at 11:01, which balances serene and spaced exploration with post-Kyuss “Thumb” shuffle, all the more enticing for having been recorded live, conjuring Echoplex spaciousness around the repeated line, “All we gotta do is love.” Both sides work on the same structure of a longer track feeding into a shorter one, “Road”’s considerable amassed thickness giving way to the winding groove of “Jennifer’s Dream of a Switchblade” while the Duna Jam-ready vibes permeating from “Wired Dream” finding a moving complement in closer “Woman,” which effectively captures desert rock rhythmic propulsion. As their debut, Mindstate: Dreamscape feels conceptually and stylistically cohesive, and sets Wired Mind up with a sonic breadth on which to continue to build.

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Wired Mind at HeviSike Records

Automaton, Echoes of Mount Ida

automaton echoes of mount ida

Greek heavy rollers Automaton revisit their 2013 debut full-length, Echoes of Mount Ida, for a limited vinyl release. The four-track offering initially surfaced coated in burl and massive riffing, but a remix adds psychedelic edge to the lumbering fervor of “Fear,” on which the Athenian five-piece are joined by Scott “Dr. Space” Heller of Øresund Space Collective for added synth and swirl. He delivers, and the opener also adds guest vocals from Nancy Simeonidou, but the remix keeps things consistent as Automaton transition into the chugging “Beast of War,” a complex near-djent rhythm (which will find complement in the end of “Echoes of Mount Ida” itself) smoothly met by drummer Lykourgos to finish side A of the LP while the locked-in nod of “Breathe in Stone” bleeds into the closing title-track as Automaton offer riffy largesse set in a spacious backdrop like mountains in the distance. Interesting to see if the semi-reboot of their debut is indicative of some overall shift in direction, but at least on the vinyl offering, it makes their sound that much broader.

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Sound Effect Records

Sideburn, Evil or Divine

sideburn evil or divine

Between Martin Karlsson’s keys (also bass) and vocalist Dimitri Keiski’s propensity to soar, the mood turns epic pretty quick on Sideburn’s fifth album, Evil or Divine (on Metalville Records). The Swedish foursome’s latest shares more than just its titular reference in common with Dio — who, in addition to the lyric from “The Last in Line” had a live record with the same title – but keep a foot in doom territory throughout, drummer Fredrik Haake playing with metallic precision and an edge of swing as Morgan Zocek pulls out leads over “Sea of Sins.” The later “The Day the Sun Died” is particularly post-Ozzy Iommic, but Evil or Divine benefits from the kick in the ass that the penultimate “Evil Ways” seems only too happy to provide before “Presence” finishes on a hopeful note. Definitely more fist-pump than nod, Evil or Divine cries out to legions of the brave who want a thicker groove than modern metal is willing to provide without giving up the occasional cause to headbang.

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Metalville Records

Year of the Cobra, The Black Sun

year of the cobra the black sun

Seattle-based bass/drum duo Year of the Cobra had two labels pick up their debut EP, The Black Sun, between Devil’s Child Records and DHU Records, and they’ve signed to STB Records for the follow-up, so it seems safe to say their three-track outing has gotten a solid response. The songs make a compelling argument for why. With vocals that recall Soph Day from Alunah on opener “White Wizard” before delving into faster, more punkish fare on “The Black Sun” itself, Year of the Cobra serve immediate notice of a breadth in their sound, and the seven-minute wah-bass finale “Wasteland” enacts a low-end swirl that pushes even further out while keeping hold of itself via steady, tense drumming. That finisher is a particular high point, with bassist/vocalist Amy Tung Barrysmith self-harmonizing in layers over the steady build and drummer Johanes Barrysmith making sure the considerable tone keeps moving forward. Easy to hear why they’ve found such support in such a short time.

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Dark Hedonistic Union Records

Devil’s Child Records

STB Records

Drive by Wire, The Whole Shebang

drive by wire the whole shebang

The third long-player from Dutch four-maybe-five-piece Drive by Wire, The Whole Shebang gets more complex as it goes. Its first couple tracks, “Kerosine Dreams” [sic], “Woodlands,” “The Whole Shebang” and “Five Ft. High” are deeply indebted to desert rock circa Songs for the Deaf, tonally and even in some of Simone Holsbeek’s sing/talk call and responses on “Woodlands.” From there, “Rituals,” “In This Moment” and the moody “River Run” and “Promised the Night” push into more individual ground, and even though they tie it back together in the album’s third and final movement with “Rotor Motor,” “All Around” and “Voodoo You Do,” the context has changed, and by the time guitarist Alwin Wubben swells lead lines behind the verse of the closer, the fuzz of “Kerosine Dreams” is a distant memory. Completed by bassist Marcel Zerb and drummer Jerome Miedendorp de Bie, Drive by Wire wind up on a considerable journey, and while the title at first seems off-the-cuff, it works out to be a whole shebang indeed.

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Drive by Wire webstore

Akris, Fall EP

akris fall ep

Relaunched as a trio in the first half of 2015, Virginia trio Akris made a studio return with the four-song/32-minute Fall EP, which probably should’ve been called a full-length and probably should’ve been pressed to vinyl (paging Tony Reed to master and STB Records to release…), but the digital-only offering finds Akris and particularly founding bassist/vocalist Helena Goldberg anything but apprehensive as she, guitarist/vocalist Paul Cogle (Nagato, Black Blizzard) and drummer Tim Otis (Admiral Browning) follow-up the band’s raucous sans-guitar 2013 self-titled full-length debut (review here), balancing plodding grooves, melody and abrasion deftly atop rumble and riffs in “Forgiven” as Goldberg swaps between screams and grunge-styled croons. The subsequent “People in the Sky” is less patient, and caps its nine-minute run with a barrage of noise rock synth that continues at the start of closer “Alley Doorway” but ultimately recedes (momentarily) to let that song establish its own course of loud/quiet tradeoffs and resonant exploration. Unless Akris are planning a series of seasonal short releases, I see no reason why Fall EP shouldn’t be characterized as a second long-player and heralded for the bold expansion of the band’s approach it represents.

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Akris on Bandcamp

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