Posted in Questionnaire on April 25th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
The Obelisk Questionnaire is a series of open questions intended to give the answerer an opportunity to explore these ideas and stories from their life as deeply as they choose. Answers can be short or long, and that reveals something in itself, but the most important factor is honesty.
Based on the Proust Questionnaire, the goal over time is to show a diverse range of perspectives as those who take part bring their own points of view to answering the same questions. To see all The Obelisk Questionnaire posts, click here.
Thank you for reading and thanks to all who participate.
The Obelisk Questionnaire: Matt Price of Behold! the Monolith
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How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?
I’m a guitarist, musician and guitar teacher. Playing guitar was just something I felt overwhelmingly drawn to pursuing and ultimately really enjoy doing.
Describe your first musical memory.
Probably just listening to my parent’s records as a little kid, which were mostly Beatles records, In-A-Gadda-Da Vida from Iron Butterfly and a Spider-Man “Rockomic” they got me. My first vivid musical memory was a few years later getting to see Judas Priest at the height of their powers.
Describe your best musical memory to date.
I’ve gotten to play with some of my Metal idols from time to time; so I’m going to go with the time I got to jam a few tunes with Lemmy at a small Hollywood club a few years back. He was so cool and just wanted to jam some Blues tunes. Of course at some point someone yelled “Lemmy is God” to which he replied “no I’m not, God is good”. It was a surreal evening.
When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?
I try not to be too rigid in my thinking so I feel like they are tested all the time.
Where do you feel artistic progression leads?
Getting better and better at creating or conveying whatever it is your art is.
How do you define success?
Doing something you love, and if it helps, entertains or uplifts others that’s a huge plus. And if makes a few bucks or at least doesn’t cause you to hemorrhage money indefinitely even better still.
What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?
Twitter.
Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.
The next Behold! The Monolith album (which we are actually working on now).
What do you believe is the most essential function of art?
To convey an idea or invoke or enhance a feeling or emotion. Sometimes it can make you think and sometimes it’s just entertainment (which is fine).
Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?
Posted in Reviews on September 30th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
Guess this is it, huh? Always bittersweet, the end of a Quarterly Review. Bitter, because there’s still a ton of albums waiting on my desktop to be reviewed, and certainly more that have come along over the course of the last two weeks looking for coverage. Sweet because when I finish here I’ll have written about 100 albums, added a bunch of stuff to my year-end lists, and managed to keep the remaining vestiges of my sanity. If you’ve kept up, I hope you’ve enjoyed doing so. And if you haven’t, all 10 of the posts are here.
Thanks for reading.
Quarterly Review #91-100:
Hazemaze, Blinded by the Wicked
This is one of 2022’s best records cast in dark-riffed, heavy garage-style doom rock. I admit I’m late to the party for Hazemaze‘s third album and Heavy Psych Sounds label debut, Blinded by the Wicked, but what a party it is. The Swedish three-piece of guitarist/vocalist Ludvig Andersson, bassist Estefan Carrillo and drummer Nils Eineus position themselves as a lumbering forerunner of modern cultist heavy, presenting the post-“In-a-Gadda-da-Vida” lumber of “In the Night of the Light, for the Dark” and “Ethereal Disillusion” (bassline in the latter) with a clarity of purpose and sureness that builds even on what the trio accomplished with 2019’s Hymns for the Damned (review here), opening with the longest track (immediate points) “Malevolent Inveigler” and setting up a devil-as-metaphor-for-now lyrical bent alongside the roll of “In the Night of the Light, for the Dark” and the chugging-through-mud “Devil’s Spawn.” Separated by the “Planet Caravan”-y instrumental “Sectatores et Principes,” the final three tracks are relatively shorter than the first four, but there’s still space for a bass-backed organ solo in “Ceremonial Aspersion,” and the particularly Electric Wizardian “Divine Harlotry” leads effectively into the closer “Lucifierian Rite,” which caps with surprising bounce in its apex and underscores the level of songwriting throughout. Just a band nailing their sound, that’s all. Seems like maybe the kind of party you’d want to be on time for.
Released as a name-your-price benefit EP in July to help raise funds for the Ukrainian war effort, Track by Track is two songs London’s Elephant Tree recorded at the Netherlands’ Sonic Whip Festival in May of this year, “Sails” and “The Fall Chorus” — here just “Fall Chorus” — from 2020’s Habits (review here), on which the four-piece is joined by cellist Joe Butler and violinst Charlie Davis, fleshing out especially the quieter “Fall Chorus,” but definitely making their presence felt on “Sails” as well in accompanying what was one of Habits‘ strongest hooks. And the strings are all well and good, but the live harmonies on “Sails” between guitarist Jack Townley, bassist Peter Holland and guitarist/keyboardist John Slattery — arriving atop the e’er-reliable fluidity of Sam Hart‘s drumming — are perhaps even more of a highlight. Was the whole set recorded? If so, where’s that? “Fall Chorus” is more subdued and atmospheric, but likewise gorgeous, the cello and violin lending an almost Americana feel to the now-lush second-half bridge of the acoustic track. Special band, moment worth capturing, cause worth supporting. The classic no-brainer purchase.
Between Telekinetic Yeti, Mythic Sunship and Limousine Beach (not to mention Comet Control last year), Tee Pee Records has continued to offer distinct and righteous incarnations of heavy rock, and Mirror Queen‘s classic-prog-influenced strutter riffs on Inviolate fit right in. The long-running project led by guitarist/vocalist Kenny Kreisor (also the head of Tee Pee) and drummer Jeremy O’Brien is bolstered through the lead guitar work of Morgan McDaniel (ex-The Golden Grass) and the smooth low end of bassist James Corallo, and five years after 2017’s Verdigris (review here), their flowing heavy progressive rock nudges into the occult on “The Devil Seeks Control” while maintaining its ’70s-rock-meets-’80s-metal gallop, and hard-boogies in the duly shredded “A Rider on the Rain,” where experiments both in vocal effects and Mellotron sounds work well next to proto-thrash urgency. Proggers like “Inside an Icy Light,” “Sea of Tranquility” and the penultimate “Coming Round with Second Sight” show the band in top form, comfortable in tempo but still exploring, and they finish with the title-track’s highlight chorus and a well-layered, deceptively immersive wash of melody. Can’t and wouldn’t ask for more than they give here; Inviolate is a tour de force for Mirror Queen, demonstrating plainly what NYC club shows have known since the days when Aytobach Kreisor roamed the earth two decades ago.
Los Angeles-based four-piece Faetooth — guitarist/vocalist Ashla Chavez Razzano, bassist/vocalist Jenna Garcia, guitarist/vocalist Ari May, drummer Rah Kanan — make their full-length debut through Dune Altar with the atmospheric sludge doom of Remnants of the Vessel, meeting post-apocalyptic vibes as intro “(i) Naissance” leads into initial single “Echolalia,” the more spaced-out “La Sorcie|Cre” (or something like that; I think my filename got messed up) and the yet-harsher doom of “She Cast a Shadow” before the feedback-soaked interlude “(ii) Limbo” unfurls its tortured course. Blending clean croons and more biting screams assures a lack of predictability as they roll through “Remains,” the black metal-style cave echo there adding to the extremity in a way that the subsequent “Discarnate” pushes even further ahead of the nodding, you’re-still-doomed heavy-gaze of “Strange Ways.” They save the epic for last, however, with “(iii) Moribund” a minute-long organ piece leading directly into “Saturn Devouring His Son,” a nine-and-a-half-minute willful lurch toward an apex that has the majesty of death-doom and a crux of melody that doesn’t just shout out Faetooth‘s forward potential but also points to what they’ve already accomplished on Remnants of the Vessel. If this band tours, look out.
Ferocious and weighted in kind, Behold! The Monolith‘s fourth full-length and first for Ripple Music, From the Fathomless Deep finds the Los Angeles trio taking cues from progressive death metal and riff-based sludge in with a modern severity of purpose that is unmistakably heavy. Bookended by opener “Crown/The Immeasurable Void” (9:31) and closer “Stormbreaker Suite” (11:35), the six-track/45-minute offering — the band’s first since 2015’s Architects of the Void (review here) — brims with extremity and is no less intense in the crawling “Psychlopean Dread” than on the subsequent ripper “Spirit Taker” or its deathsludge-rocking companion “This Wailing Blade,” calling to mind some of what Yatra have been pushing on the opposite coast until the solo hits. The trades between onslaughts and acoustic parts are there but neither overdone nor overly telegraphed, and “The Seams of Pangea” (8:56) pairs evocative ambience with crushing volume and comes out sounding neither hackneyed nor overly poised. Extreme times call for extreme riffs? Maybe, but the bludgeoning on offer in From the Fathomless Deep speaks to a push into darkness that’s been going on over a longer term. Consuming.
The second album from Nashville’s The Swell Fellas — who I’m sure are great guys — the five-song/32-minute Novaturia encapsulates an otherworldly atmosphere laced with patient effects soundscapes, echo and moody presence, but is undeniably heavy, the opener “Something’s There…” drawing the listener deeper into “High Lightsolate,” the eight-plus minutes of which roll out with technical intricacy bent toward an outward impression of depth, a solo in the midsection carrying enough scorch for the LP as a whole but still just part of the song’s greater procession, which ends with percussive nuance and vocal melody before giving way to the acoustic interlude “Caesura,” a direct lead-in for the noisy arrival of the okay-now-we-riff “Wet Cement.” The single-ready penultimate cut is a purposeful banger, going big at its finish only after topping its immediate rhythmic momentum with ethereal vocals for a progressive effect, and as elliptically-bookending finisher “…Another Realm” nears 11 minutes, its course is its own in manifesting prior shadows of progressive and atmospheric heavy rock into concrete, crafted realizations. There’s even some more shred for good measure, brought to bear with due spaciousness through Mikey Allred‘s production. It’s a quick offering, but offers substance and reach beyond its actual runtime. They’re onto something, and I think they know it, too.
Stockhausen & the Amplified Riot, Era of the Inauthentic
For years, it has seemed Houston-based guitarist/songwriter Paul Chavez (Funeral Horse, Cactus Flowers, Baby Birds, Art Institute) has searched for a project able to contain his weirdo impulses. Stockhausen & the Amplified Riot — begun with Era of the Inauthentic as a solo-project plus — is the latest incarnation of this effort, and its krautrock-meets-hooky-proto-punk vibe indeed wants nothing for weird. “Adolescent Lightning” and “Hunky Punk” are a catchy opening salvo, and “What if it Never Ends” provokes a smile by garage-rock riffing over a ’90s dance beat to a howling finish, while the 11-minute “Tilde Mae” turns early-aughts indie jangle into a maddeningly repetitive mindfuck for its first nine minutes, mercifully shifting into a less stomach-clenching groove for the remainder before closer “Intubation Blues” melds more dance beats with harmonica and last sweep. Will the band, such as it is, at last be a home for Chavez over the longer term, or is it merely another stop on the way? I don’t know. But there’s no one else doing what he does here, and since the goal seems to be individualism and experimentalism, both those ideals are upheld to an oddly charming degree. Approach without expectations.
Nothing is Real stand ready to turn mundane miseries into darkly ethereal noise, drawing from sludge and an indefinable litany of extreme metals. The End is Near is both the Los Angeles unit’s most cohesive work to-date and its most accomplished, building on the ambient mire of earlier offerings with a down-into-the-ground churn on lead single “THE (Pt. 2).” All of the songs, incidentally, comprise the title of the album, with four of “THE” followed by two “END” pieces, two “IS”es and three “NEAR”s to close. An maybe-unhealthy dose of sample-laced interlude-type works — each section has an intro, and so on — assure that Nothing is Real‘s penchant for atmospheric crush isn’t misplaced, and the band’s uptick in production value means that the vastness and blackened psychedelia of 10-minute centerpiece “END” shows the abyssal depths being plunged in their starkest light. Capping with “NEAR (Pt. 1),” jazzy metal into freneticism, back to jazzy metal, and “NEAR (Pt. 2),” epic shred emerging from hypnotic ambience, like Jeff Hanneman ripping open YOB, The End is Near resonates with a sickened intensity that, again, it shares in common with the band’s past work, but is operating at a new level of complexity across its intentionally unmanageable 63 minutes. Nothing is Real is on their own wavelength and it is a place of horror.
Copenhagen heavy psych collective Red Lama — and I’m sorry, but if you’ve got more than five people in your band, you’re a collective — brim with pastoral escapism throughout Memory Terrain, their third album and the follow-up to 2018’s Motions (discussed here) and its companion EP, Dogma (review here). Progressive in texture but with an open sensibility at their core, pieces like the title-track unfold long-song breadth in accessible spans, the earlier “Airborne” moving from the jazzy beginning of “Gentleman” into a more tripped-out All Them Witches vein. Elsewhere, “Someone” explores krautrock intricacies before synthing toward its last lines, and “Paint a Picture” exudes pop urgency before washing it away on a repeating, sweeping tide. Range and dynamic aren’t new for Red Lama, but I’m hard-pressed to think of as dramatic a one-two turn as the psych-wash-into-electro-informed-dance-brood that takes place between “Shaking My Bones” and “Chaos is the Plan” — lest one neglect the urbane shuffle of “Justified” prior — though by that point Red Lama have made it apparent they’re ready to lead the listener wherever whims may dictate. That’s a significant amount of ground to cover, but they do it.
Existing in multiple avenues of progressive heavy rock and extreme metal, Echolot‘s Curatio only has four tracks, but each of those tracks has more range than the career arcs of most bands. Beginning with two 10-minute tracks in “Burden of Sorrows” (video premiered here) and “Countess of Ice,” they set a pattern of moving between melancholic heavy prog and black metal, the latter piece clearer in telegraphing its intentions after the opener, and introducing its “heavy part” to come with clean vocals overtop in the middle of the song, dramatic and fiery as it is. “Resilience of Floating Forms” (a mere 8:55) begins quiet and works into a post-black metal wash of melody before the double-kick and screams take hold, announcing a coming attack that — wait for it — doesn’t actually come, the band instead moving into falsetto and a more weighted but still clean verse before peeling back the curtain on the death growls and throatrippers, cymbals threatening to engulf all but still letting everything else cut through. Also eight minutes, “Wildfire” closes by flipping the structure of the opening salvo, putting the nastiness at the fore while progging out later, in this case closing Curatio with a winding movement of keys and an overarching groove that is only punishing for the fact that it’s the end. If you ever read a Quarterly Review around here, you know I like to do myself favors on the last day in choosing what to cover. It is no coincidence that Curatio is included. Not every record could be #100 and still make you excited to hear it.
Posted in Whathaveyou on May 2nd, 2022 by JJ Koczan
Preorders up, song streaming, art and tracks and info revealed — looks like it’s an album release. Indeed, the exclamatory Los Angeles genresmashers Behold! the Monolith will issue their upcoming full-length, From the Fathomless Deep, on July 15 through Ripple Music. It’s the band’s first album since 2015’s Architects of the Void (review here), for which they toured Europe and played Roadburn and so on. The awaited offering is led into by the nine-minute opening track and first single “Crown/The Immeasurable Void” and I’m just willing to believe that said void is the same one they built on the last record. Certainly there are new horrors to unfold there as well.
I don’t know about you, but that monolith in the artwork looks an awful lot like an obelisk to me…
The PR wire has particulars for the album, and since that lumbering, rumbling, sinister groove on the single is hitting the spot right this second, I’m only looking forward to more.
Have at you:
Los Angeles blackened doom unit BEHOLD! THE MONOLITH to release new album ‘From The Fathomless Deep’ on Ripple Music; stream first track now!
Los Angeles blackened doom and sludge giants BEHOLD! THE MONOLITH sign to Ripple Music for the release of their fourth full-length ‘From The Fathomless Deep’ on July 15th. They unveil its stunning album art as well as a crushing first single entitled “Crown/The Immeasurable Void” right now.
Fresh off the recent endorsement of guitarist Matt Price on Orange Amps, the L.A. doom veterans return stronger and heavier than ever with their first new studio album in seven years. “From The Fathomless Deep” is BEHOLD! THE MONOLITH’s darkest and most menacing record yet, an album that stares fearlessly into the shadows. The fist-pumping bounce from Defender/Redeemist’s “We Are the Worm” is replaced with twisting and ghostly maneuvering on “Spirit Taker,” and Price’s solos clasp at heights unseen on “Psychlopean Dread” and the titanic typhoon that is “Stormbreaker Suite.”
Stream new single “Crown/The Immeasurable Void”
The BEHOLD! THE MONOLITH is not the same band we knew all those years ago: grizzlier, rougher-hewn and more technically visceral than they’ve ever been. A welcome reward for their decade-old following, and an ear-splitting surprise for those unbaptized.’From The Fathomless Deep’ will be released in various vinyl formats, CD and digital on July 15th, 2022 through Ripple Music. Its artwork was created by revered heavy metal and horror artist Dusty Peterson.
New album ‘From The Fathomless Deep’ Out July 15th, 2022 on Ripple Music Preorder here: https://ripplemusic.bandcamp.com/album/from-the-fathomless-deep
1. Crown/The Immeasurable Void 2. Psychlopean Dread 3. Spirit Taker 4. The Wailing Blade 5. The Seams of Pangaea 6. Stormbreaker Suite
BEHOLD! THE MONOLITH is Menno Verbaten – Bass & vocals Matt Price – Guitar Chase Manhattan – Drums
Posted in Whathaveyou on June 27th, 2017 by JJ Koczan
In all places and in all things, I remain a sucker for a good bill. I’ll be elsewhere this same weekend, as The Obelisk is presenting the Emerald Haze festival in Dublin, Ireland (info here), and I’ve been fortunate enough to be invited over for that, but a good bill is a good bill, and if you happen to be in Chicago or can head that way, Scorched Tundra VIII has one to offer, with Acid King, The Atomic Bitchwax and Oxbow positioned as headliners across three nights from Sept. 1-3 at The Empty Bottle.
Those names are enough to grab attention, to be sure, but toss in the post-metallic breadth of Minsk, perpetual sludge scumbags Fistula, Pelican offshoot RLYR (only fair since it’s Chicago after all), and others, and yeah, it looks like a damn fine way to spend a couple of nights, provided your calendar doesn’t conflict.
Tickets are available now and you’ll find those links and more info below, courtesy of the fest:
ACID KING, OXBOW, THE ATOMIC BITCHWAX, FISTULA, MINSK, BEHOLD! THE MONOLITH, AND MORE CONFIRMED FOR SCORCHED TUNDRA VIII
Scorched Tundra is proud to announce the lineup for its eighth edition. The second installment of 2017 – taking place September 1-3 at The Empty Bottle in Chicago – will feature the showcases’ most diverse and extensive lineup to date.
Friday September 1st The Atomic Bitchwax Fistula Electric Hawk
Saturday September 2nd Acid King Minsk Wolvhammer Bottomed
Sunday September 3rd Oxbow Behold! The Monolith RLYR
Tickets for each day can be purchased at the following links:
Scorched Tundra’s mission is to give a new generation of talented artists a unique live platform in Chicago and Gothenburg. Scorched Tundra’s billing – based on sound not stature – creates a unique aural experience for the audience. “The forthcoming eighth edition was the most enjoyable to put together as the lineup is extremely eclectic and in many ways different from past iterations. All of these artists are newcomers to Scorched Tundra; they are very difficult to pigeonhole; and transcend categorization. Intimate, historic, and highly respected, The Empty Bottle in Chicago will once again play as a perfect host to this unique set of artists,” states organizer Alexi Front.
Scorched Tundra VIII marks the event’s much anticipated return to Chicago after last years two day sold out event. The third ever Scorched Tundra beer – brewed in collaboration with Pipeworks Brewing Company –an India Pale Ale dry hopped with Australian and American aromatic varietals – will be available at select bars and stores in Chicago in August and at the festival. Longtime Scorched Tundra collaborator Axel Widén created artwork for the beer label and festival poster. Seven other Pipeworks beers will be available as part of a tap takeover throughout Scorched Tundra VIII.
Posted in audiObelisk on August 8th, 2016 by JJ Koczan
I was fortunate enough to catch a few of these bands at Roadburn 2016, among them Hills, Blind Idiot God and Peter Pan Speedrock (seen above). As an American traveling abroad — though I’ll say that eight Roadburns deep, there’s a big part of me that feels like going to Tilburg in April is a homecoming as much as foreign travel — it was particularly thrilling to watch Dutch natives Peter Pan Speedrock round out my second night of the fest (review here), their boot-to-the-ass thrust seeming to be in direct contradiction to their stated intent to retire. From Sweden, Hills‘ jammy psychedelics were also thoroughly welcome and somewhat less performative than Goat, which is made up in some measure or other of the same players.
And what to say about Blind Idiot God? Performance art. I might liken it to the first time I saw Cynic after they got back together in that the New York trio were so utterly assured of what they were doing that they managed to carry the audience in the revamped Green Room along their bizarre, oddly-timed path. It was jazz with metallic arrangement, essentially, but the people in front of the stage to see it were rapt the entire time and the level of appreciation was palpable and well justified. They were nothing short of incredible.
Of course, the same could be said for Roadburn 2016 as a whole. “Incredible” is just kind of how it goes. This latest round of streams also featured Behold! the Monolith, Blood Ceremony, a solo set from CHVE of Amenra and Of the Wand and the Moon.
Please enjoy:
Behold! the Monolith – Live at Roadburn 2016
Blind Idiot God – Live at Roadburn 2016
Blood Ceremony – Live at Roadburn 2016
CHVE – VERMAPYRE – Live at Roadburn 2016
Hills – Live at Roadburn 2016
Of The Wand and The Moon – Live at Roadburn 2016
Peter Pan Speedrock – Live at Roadburn 2016
Thanks as ever to Walter for letting me host the streams. To hear the first batch of Roadburn 2016 audio streams, click here, to hear the second one, click here, to hear the third one, click here, and for all of this site’s coverage of Roadburn 2016, click here.
Posted in Whathaveyou on March 15th, 2016 by JJ Koczan
Granted, the type of extremity might vary, but five editions deep, Southwest Terror Fest is on its shit. Southwest Terror Fest V, set for this October in scenic — literally; the desert is gorgeous — Tucson, Arizona, brings together long-running grind horrifiers Pig Destroyer, post-metal inheritors Sumac, psych-sludge purveyors CHRCH, heavy prog-metallers Behold! the Monolith, and a whole lot of others in the micro-subgenre game for a weekend that I’m sure is only beginning to take shape with this initial lineup announcement. The fest has only grown more organized and more lethal with time, so keep an eye out for more news in the months to come.
For now, if you want to get your tickets, the links for that came with the PR wire info below:
SOUTHWEST TERROR FEST V: Houses Of The Unholy — Initial October Festival Lineup Announced + Advance Tickets Available
The initial lineup for Arizona’s SOUTHWEST TERROR FEST V: Houses Of The Unholy has been announced, as early bird tickets for the event have been made available this week.
For the fifth installation of the annual SOUTHWEST TERROR FEST, this year’s edition will once again overthrow Tucson, the 2016 installment of the annual gathering running from October 20th through 23rd, with forty-five artists from across the US and Canada converging on three stages, including venues 191 Toole, Club Congress, The Flycatcher, and Gary’s Place..
The SOUTHWEST TERROR FEST V: Houses Of The Unholy initial lineup has been announced, this first wave of bands featuring Pig Destroyer, Agoraphobic Nosebleed, Infest, Nails, Power Trip, Final Conflict, Full Of Hell, Sumac, Kowloon Walled City, Khemmis, CHRCH, Behold! The Monolith, Theories, Wake, and The Drip!
A very limited number of early bird tickets are now available.
The second wave of artists set to play SOUTHWEST TERROR FEST V: Houses Of The Unholy will be announced April 18th, the same day VIP passes and individual tickets go on sale.
Since 2012, the SOUTHWEST TERROR FEST gathering has seen hordes flock to the desert city of Tucson for several days of music, the event rooted heavily into the community through local business sponsorship and cooperation. Prior festivals have seen dozens of extreme artists from across the spectrum, including Neurosis, Sunn O))), Sleep, The Body, Goatsnake, Pelican, Author & Punisher, Kylesa, Red Fang, Hull, and countless others performing, and there are several dozen more acts still to be announced for the upcoming fifth gathering.
Posted in Whathaveyou on March 8th, 2016 by JJ Koczan
Both Behold! the Monolith and CHRCH were announced for Roadburn 2016 back in November, but they’ve solidified a full round of European dates leading up to and through that fest that begins March 20 in Italy and includes stops at other fests like Tube Cult, Impetus and Doom over Leipzig as well. Each band is out supporting a 2015 release — in the case of Behold! the Monolith, it’s last fall’s Architects of the Void (review here), and for CHRCH, it’s their wildly well received debut, Unanswered Hymns (review here), initially self-released and then pressed to vinyl by Battleground Records.
The shows? They’ll be very, very heavy, and they’re part of a round of fests that the bands will play in the months to come. Behold! the Monolith and CHRCH will also feature together at Psycho Las Vegas in August, and CHRCH will also be at Crucial Fest 6 and Southwest Terror Fest later this year. Not too bad.
Dates for the European tour follow here, as well as both bands’ album streams:
Behold! The Monolith and CHRCH European Tour 2016
In case we haven’t mentioned it, Behold! The Monolith will be touring Europe very soon with CHRCH! Hope to see as many of you as possible out there! Here are the dates:
30-3 – Horizon Club – Bolzano – Italy 31-3 – Shai Hulud – Carpi Modena 01-4 – Tube Cult Fest – Pescara – Italy 02-4 – Circolo La Mesa – Montecchio Maggiore – Italy 03-4 – Les Pavillons Sauvages – Toulouse – France 04-4 – Glazart – Paris – France 05-4 – La Scène Michelet – Nantes – France 06-4 – Hipster Café – Rouen – France 07-4 – The Pit’s – Kortrijk – Belgium 08-4 – AZ Wuppertal – Wuppertal – Germany 09-4 – Impetus Festival – Lausanna – Switzerland 10-4 – AVAILABLE 11-4 – venue TBA – Berlin – Germany 12-4 – Magasin4 – Brussels – Belgium 13-4 – Antwerp Music City – Antwerp – Belgium 14-4 – Roadburn – Tilburg – The Netherlands 15-4 – Innocent – Hengelo – The Netherlands 16-4 – Doom Over Leipzig – Leipzig – Germany 17-4 – Hafenklang – Hamburg – Germany
Posted in Whathaveyou on November 19th, 2015 by JJ Koczan
Another day, another sigh heaved by Roadburn 2016 and a list of, I don’t know, like, 45 lineup additions expelled. Like it’s just happenstance, no big deal. Oh, Repulsion are playing Lee Dorrian‘s curated day. Oh, Bang are doing their first European show ever and they’ve been a band since 1970. Oh, G.I.S.M. are playing outside Japan for the first time ever. Ho hum. Meanwhile skulls around the planet cave in simultaneously, mine included.
Particularly noteworthy? CHRCH. The Sacramento five-piece released their devastating full-length, Unanswered Hymns (review here), earlier this year, and it’s quite simply one of 2015’s best debut albums. Also BloodCeremony, who’ll reportedly have a new record out by then,and Behold! the Monolith, whose new one, Architects of the Void (review here), came out this fall.
All this and more. Here are words from the PR wire:
Cult of Luna, G.I.S.M, Repulsion, Bang, and more added to Roadburn 2016 lineup
• CULT OF LUNA to celebrate tenth anniversary of Somewhere Along The Highway with a special performance. • G.I.S.M, REPULSION, and BLOOD CEREMONY added to Lee Dorrian’s curated events • BANG play their first show in Europe at Roadburn 2016.
CULT OF LUNA
2016 will mark a decade since CULT OF LUNA unleashed Somewhere Along The Highway – catapulting them to the top of end of year lists, and in to prized positions in record collections the world over.
Whilst the last ten years has seen the ascendency of CULT OF LUNA’s star, as well as two further stunning albums, Somewhere Along The Highway remains something of a marker in this history of the band. It seems fitting then, that just a week shy of the album’s official anniversary, CULT OF LUNA will be performing the album in full at the 013 venue on Thursday 14 April 2016.
It’s an honour to welcome back CULT OF LUNA to Roadburn Festival; the threads of their influence are weaved throughout many of the bands that have appeared on our line ups over the years. Join us as we honour the seminal importance of Somewhere Along The Highway, and celebrate all that CULT OF LUNA have achieved since its inception.
To find out more about CULT OF LUNA at Roadburn, clickHERE
LEE DORRIAN’S RITUALS FOR THE BLIND DEAD
Joining Pentagram, Galley Beggar and With The Dead at Lee Dorrian’s curated events will be three newly added bands.
• G.I.S.M
Over a decade after ceasing activities, G.I.S.M. reappear for their first concert ever outside their native Japan – at Roadburn 2016. The absolutely legendary Japanese band embody the true meaning of cult – one of the first acts to bridge the gap between hardcore punk and metal, and in the process redefined danger and unpredictability with violent stage antics and the insane aggression of their music
Lee Dorrian comments: “I thought it was an extremely long shot for many reasons. Mainly because I knew that they had never performed outside of Japan but also, they hadn’t even performed a show in Japan for over a decade. I still can’t quite believe that this is actually happening but the flights are booked and they are getting ready to come and boot you so brutally fucking hard in the ass!”
G.I.S.M’s Sakevi added: “It’s my pleasure to be involved and to be part of such a cool festival. It’s our first time ever playing outside of Japan, and it will be our fist show at all since February 2002! We’ll be playing a so-called “classic set” – and I’m already looking forward to having a lot of fun at Roadburn.”
Over 25 years after the release of REPULSION’s standalone masterpiece Horrified, still stands as one of the major cornerstones of not only grindcore, but extreme metal as a whole.
Lee Dorrian, a pioneer in the scene himself, says: “The line-up for my curated event is getting more and more exciting as we go along. I can’t tell you how happy I am that REPULSION are still playing live and crushing skulls wherever they appear. The legacy of this amazing and extremely influential band continues to grow and spread like wildfire as the years go on. It is a great honour that Matt and Scott accepted my invitation to come and destroy you all at Rituals For the Blind Dead.”
REPULSION will rip the 013 venue apart on Friday, April 15.
Canada’s BLOOD CEREMONY delivers the finest progged-out, occult-inspired acid folk this side of the early 70s, replete with an atmospheric Wickerman vibe, Hammer Horror organ, seriously doomy guitar riffage, and the sometimes soft, sometimes soaring vocals of Alia O’Brien, who’s also BLOOD CEREMONY’s flautist.
The band’s tales of witch-cult gatherings in wooded glens, pacts made in torch-lit abbeys and Victorian magic made such a huge impact on Roadburn back in 2011, thus we’re spellbound to report that Lee Dorrian has invited BLOOD CEREMONY to return to the 2016 festival on Saturday, April 16 as part of his curated Rituals For The Occult Pt.2 event.
Unsung heroes of the heavy ‘70s may be plenty in number, but few can offer the sweetness of groove that BANG bring to the stage, and we’re thrilled to announce they’ll be playing their very first European show ever at Roadburn 2016!
Says BANG of playing Roadburn, “We are incredibly excited to play Roadburn and for BANG to rock Europe for the first time. We know we have a lot of fans across the pond who are excited as well, and it’s going to be amazing to connect to that audience. We even heard they have amps over there that go to 11, so we will be extra loud!”
Naðra, NYIÞ and Grafir – clickHERE The Body – clickHERE Full of Hell – clickHERE John Haughm – clickHERE Behold! The Monolith – clickHERE Chrch – clickHERE Night Viper – clickHERE Sinistro – clickHERE Hair of the Dog – clickHERE
FURTHER TICKETING INFORMATION
Tickets to Roadburn Festival 2016 are now on sale! Ticket sales got off to an incredible start with many of the available weekend tickets being snapped up within the first few days. There are still 3-day, 4-day, and Sunday tickets on sale. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday day tickets will be released at a a later date. It is also possible to book camping tickets via Ticketmaster.
