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Live Review: ROADBURN 2019 Day Three, 04.13.19

Posted in Features, Reviews on April 13th, 2019 by JJ Koczan

Roadburn 2019 banner (Photo by JJ Koczan)

04.14.19 – 02.15 CET – Saturday night – Hotel

It snowed today. That was a first. Hail too. I wasn’t outside for it, but unless European snow bounces, it was hail, followed by snow. 11 Roadburns later, Tilburg still holds a few surprises. And no, I don’t just mean the secret Thou set where they did the Misfits covers and Emma Ruth Rundle got in on the action, though that too.

ROADBURN 2019 WEATHERThe weather wasn’t a hardship or anything — the joke was that Sumac were so heavy they made it hail, and fair enough — since apart from a short walk here or there I spent very nearly the entire day inside. I was bumming hard after finding out about a brutal fuckup on my part with today’s issue of the daily ‘zine, the Weirdo Canyon Dispatch. Basically I left out an important piece and we’ll run it tomorrow anyway, but I still felt very, very much like shit about it. Like, “I don’t deserve to be here” beating myself up. I went and found the writer in question and damn near broke out into tears apologizing.

I know it’s a festival fanzine and all, but that shit is important to me, and it was squarely my mistake that dropped the article. It won’t be as timely tomorrow when it goes in the issue. I know it’s not the end of the world, ultimately, but this fest puts its faith in me not to screw up doing this one thing, and I screwed it up. I’d already seen Temple Fang and Wolvennest and a couple seconds of Confusion Master by then, and I thought long and hard about just coming back to the hotel and going to bed, but eventually got it together. It sucks being bad at, like, everything you do.

Like I said, I saw Temple Fang again. They opened up the pre-show on Wednesday (review here), and they opened up today in a kind of super-early showcase slot at 1:30PM in an especially foggy Hall of Fame, up by the Koepelhal and the Ladybird Skatepark, which is very quickly becoming another Roadburn venue. Launching with “Gemini,” Temple Fang were this time around a little less Temple Fang (Photo by JJ Koczan)tense — maybe just waking up — and a little more locked into an overarching groove that still highlighted their progressive take on space rock and psychedelia, but seemed to give the songs a little more space to breathe. I’m not sure I can speak to exactly what the difference was. It might’ve been just as simple as playing a little more relaxed. But both sets showed the serious potential on the part of the band and my only problem with seeing them play a second time was that it meant they did not immediately on Thursday morning enter the studio to record their debut album, which had been my hope after their first show. Oh well. Always tomorrow, guys.

Wolvennest opened the Main Stage, with theremin, incense and a few skulls here and there amid their darkened cult rock atmospherics. The Brussels-based outfit are celebrating the release this month of their new EP, Vortex, which came out last week through the ever-tasteful Ván Records, and I have no doubt they persuaded a few heads with their murky vibe and swirling, obscure but still progressive heaviness. Fronted by Sharon Shazzula, who’s done work over the years with Aqua Nebula Oscillator, Kadavar, Farflung and a host of others — in addition to having founded Swamp Booking — and she and the full band alongside her brought a consuming wash of noise to the big room at the 013, and once I got back from my Wolvennest (Photo by JJ Koczan)Beto-esque apology tour (except I meant it), I found I was even more into it near the finish. It was somewhere between black metal, psychedelia and lurch, and wherever that was, that seemed definitely like the place to be. I’m sure someone cleverer than me has already invented a genre tag for it. To me it just sounded awesome.

Today was Maalstroom — a massive celebration of Dutch black metal held at Het Patronaat and given the added poignancy of also serving as an ad hoc tribute to former Dodecahedron frontman Michiel Eikenaar, who passed away yesterday after a long illness. Malstroom itself is the third of Roadburn 2019’s commissioned projects, and like last year’s Vánagandr formed of Icelandic black metallers, Maalstroom drew/draws from various projects working together on a new piece as a new entity. The whole day at the church was dedicated to it, and though my own adventure would take me on a different path, it would be hard not to admire the vision in putting that kind of thing together with Witte Wieven, Turia, Laster, Terzij de Horde, the aforementioned Dodecahedron and then Maalstroom itself to close out. One way or the other, it was going to be a special day.

Sumac (Photo by JJ Koczan)There were also more acts today from Tomas Lindberg‘s curation, including UranThe Exorcist GBG, and Orchestra of Constant Distress, and it was the Exile on Mainstream Records 20th anniversary celebration. Oh, and Sleep played Sleep’s Holy Mountain (2009 reissue review here) in its entirety. You know, because why not. I wound up flitting back and forth between 013 and the Koepelhal complex for the day, as I think a lot of people did who didn’t otherwise camp out at the Patronaat. Sumac absolutely floored me playing the Main Stage. What’s been my hesitation with those guys? I have no idea. I’ve dug both their records — last year’s Love in Shadow (review here) and 2016’s What One Becomes (review here) — but I still never really considered myself a fan. It’s Aaron Turner (ex-Isis, etc.), Bryan Cook (Russian Circles) and Nick Yacyshyn (Baptists), and their tone was probably the heaviest I’d heard this weekend up to that point. I don’t know what my hangup was with that band, but yeah, I’ll go ahead and credit the universe with being right on that one. More records to buy: just what I need.

Mythic Sunship had added another set at the Skatepark — they wound up playing three times, so I’m extra glad I caught them at least once — so I made my way up there and stopped in Koepelhal first to see Boston’s Morne, who were casting death across that packed and massive space. Couldn’t help but notice guitarist/vocalist Milosz Gassan wearingMorne (Photo by JJ Koczan) a t-shirt for Armageddon Shop (or Armageddon Boston, to be more specific) on the stage. Today was apparently Record Store Day, so fair enough. Roadburn never seems to lack for commerce, as the merch area just outside the Koepelhal proper shows, but I’m sure plenty of people also made it over to Sounds, which is the local shop down the road a little ways. I went once. It was cool. This year, however, my feet were glued in place for Morne, who issued their To the Night Unknown LP through that same Armageddon Shop label last year. No regrets. Their sound has the classic emotional crux of death-doom but toys with that balance effectively and still holds a pervasive sense of atmosphere.

It was almost time for that Mythic Sunship show, and I was looking forward to it, but Treedeon in the Hall of Fame for the Exile on Mainstream 20th anniversary was too good to pass up. The German trio’s bizarre noise rock is so emblematic of that label, and while I don’t think my tastes and those of Andreas Kohl, who runs imprint, always line up — though we’re both big Wino fans — it’s a fair bet that something on Exile on Mainstream is going to at very least be interesting. In the case of Treedeon, it was interestingTreedeon (Photo by JJ Koczan) like a fucking boot to the throat. Even their recorded work — the latest LP was 2018’s Under the Manchineel (review here) — doesn’t quite capture the density of their approach to noise rock, and golly it was loud in the Hall of Fame. It’s a low ceiling, so the sound just feels like it’s collapsing on you, and that suited Treedeon well in portraying another vision of extremity after Morne.

Among other things, it was about the polar opposite of seeing Mythic Sunship in a skate park, so that was fun. Indeed, dudes were skating on the ramps and rails and whatnot and looking annoyed as people started filing in for the show. Sorry. The Copenhagen four-piece have been on tour since April 4 supporting their excellent 2018 offering, Another Shape of Psychedelic Music (review here), and though they didn’t have the sax with them today as they apparently did yesterday, they still tore it up ferociously, by which I mean they played a smoothly progressive jam-based kraut-psych-rock and their chemistry was out in full force. Their drummer ate a banana right before they went on, which I’m sure helped keep his energy up, and the Ladybird filled up well for them. They’re the kind of band I’d probably never get to see if I wasn’t here, let alone see in such a context, so I was stoked on the opportunity and the outcome of it. I don’t think they will, but if they played another set tomorrow, I doubt anyone would complain, Mythic Sunship (Photo by JJ Koczan)except maybe those skateboarders.

Dinner was chicken in peanut sauce. I had a few quick bites and then went back to the Main Stage to watch the end of Cave In‘s set. I gotta say, I haven’t listened to Cave In actively in a long time, and I still knew just about every word to everything they were playing. That band can write a song. They had Nate Newton (Converge) on bass in the place of Caleb Scofield, who passed away and was memorialized with an acoustic set last year by his bandmates Steve Brodsky and Adam McGrath that’s since been released by Roadburn Records, and while I didn’t see the full set, what I caught was dead on. They’ve always occupied a space between punk, metal and rock, but they’ve also always made that space their own, and to see them do that in front of a crowd so into it as that at Roadburn was affirming even if I only caught a couple songs.

It was time for Sleep. There was the requisite changeover after Cave In, and fair enough for the mighty stacks of amps and cabinets brought out, as well as Jason Roeder‘s drum riser. I mean, Sleep playing Sleep’s Holy Mountain. In full. Sleep (Photo by JJ Koczan)Front-to-back. As the first of two nights of sets. What the hell more could you want? If your answer was, “maybe a shortened version of ‘Dopesmoker’ and ‘The Clarity,'” they did those too, but obviously the highlight was seeing Al CisnerosMatt Pike and Roeder run through those Holy Mountain tracks. Pike even switched to an acoustic guitar for an extended take on “Some Grass” ahead of “Aquarian.” The Main Stage hall was packed to the point that the upstairs balcony looked like it was about to spill over, and the whole room just became a sea of nodding heads to each riff. Everyone kept up with the changes. Everyone knew where they were going. It was yet another of those Roadburn things that make you feel so stupid lucky to be here to see. Funny how those keep popping up all weekend. Every year. All weekend. They’re back tomorrow doing The Sciences in full. Again, Roadburn.

There was still plenty of Roadburn day three to go, but I was (un)fairly beat. Still, there was one more thing I had to, had to, had to see, and it was Bellrope. They were closing out the Exile on Mainstream celebration at Hall of Fame, and though the hike up there felt daunting to my riffed-out legs, I did it anyway and got up there before the two-bass-one-guitar-all-smash German foursome got started. Their debut album, You Must Relax (review here), is on my list of 2019’s best despite (because of?) its initial feedback assault to weed out the Bellrope (Photo by JJ Koczan)weak-hearted among its listenership. They did similar on stage, by the way, but shorter, and with a mammoth and punishing low end push to fill out that feedback, it was brutal in the best way possible. They brought up two members of Treedeon for a guest vocal spot and the sort of sludge ensued that you should need a prescription to get, which should explain the line that went out the door.

Despite the day’s rough start with my stupid, stupid, stupid, unprofessional bullshit error in the ‘zine, it was still a day that was as fantastic as it was busy. Tomorrow is the end of Roadburn 2019, and it’s always bittersweet, so while I’m plenty exhausted, like At the Gates before me, I’m going to try to drink from the night itself and let adrenaline carry me through as, hopefully, it will.

Thanks for reading. More pics after the jump.

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Quarterly Review: Bellrope, Cracked Machine, The Sky Giants, Sacred Monster, High ‘n’ Heavy, Warlung, Rogue Conjurer, Monovine, Un & Coltsblood, La Grande Armée

Posted in Reviews on March 25th, 2019 by JJ Koczan

quarterly-review-spring-2019

Day Six. Not that there wasn’t a bit of a crunch along the way, but I definitely think this Quarterly Review was aided by the fact that I dug so much of what I was writing about on a personal-taste level. You get through it one way or the other, but it just makes it more fun. Today is the last day and then it’s back to something approaching normal tomorrow, but of course before this thing is rounded out I want to thank you as always for taking the time and for reading if you did. It means a tremendous amount to me to put words out and have people see them, so thank you for your part in that.

This could’ve easily gone seven or eight or 10 days if scheduling had permitted, but here’s as good a place to leave it. The next one will probably be the first week of July or thereabouts, so keep an eye out.

Quarterly Review #51-60:

Bellrope, You Must Relax

bellrope you must relax

How much noise can your brain take? I don’t mean noise like start-stop riffs and dudes shouting. I mean actual, abrasive, amelodic noise. Bellrope, with ex-members of the underrated Black Shape of Nexus start their Exile on Mainstream-delivered debut album, You Must Relax, with three minutes of chaff-separation they’re calling “Hollywood 2001/Rollrost.” It’s downright caustic. Fortunately, what follows on the four subsequent extended tracks devotes itself to lumbering post-sludge that’s at least accessible by comparison. “Old Overholt” is the only other inclusion under 10 minutes as the tracks are arranged shortest to longest with the 17:57 “CBD/Hereinunder” concluding. The thickened tones brought to bear throughout “Old Overholt” and the blend of screams and growls that accompany are more indicative of what follows on the centerpiece title-track and the penultimate “TD2000,” but the German four-piece still manage to sound plenty fucked throughout. Just not painfully so. There’s something threatening about the use of the word “must” in the album’s title. The songs realize that threat.

Bellrope on Thee Facebooks

Exile on Mainstream Records website

 

Cracked Machine, The Call of the Void

Cracked Machine The Call of the Void

Here be dragons. Though its core tonality is still within the bounds of heavy rock, Wiltshire, UK, four-piece bring a far more atmospheric and progressive style to fruition on their second album, The Call of the Void, than it might at first appear. With post-rock float to the guitar of Bill Denton, keyboard textures from Clive Noyes, and fluid rhythms carried through changes in volume and ambience from bassist Christ Sutton and drummer Blazej Gradziel, the PsyKA Records outfit present a cerebral seven tracks/47 minutes of immersive and seemingly conceptual work, with opener “Jormungandr” establishing the context in which each song that follows is named for a different culture’s dragon, whether it’s the Hittite “Illuyanka,” Japan’s “Yamata No Orochi” or the Persian “Azi Dahakar.” Cracked Machine use this theme to tie pieces together, and they push farther out as the record unfolds late with “Typhon” and “Vritra” a closing pair of marked scope. The shortest cut, the earlier 5:14 “Kirimu,” has probably the most straightforward push, but Cracked Machine demonstrate an ability to adapt to the needs of whatever idea they’re working to convey.

Cracked Machine on Thee Facebooks

PsyKA Records webstore

 

The Sky Giants, The Shifting of Phaseworld

the sky giants the shifting of phaseworld

Taking cues from psychedelia almost as much as jangly West Coast noise and punk, Tacoma, Washington’s The Sky Giants offer the 10-track sophomore outing The Shifting of Phaseworld, which finds a balance in songs like “Dream Receiver” between progressive heavy rock and its rawer foundations. The trio of guitarist/vocalist Jake Frye, bassist Jessie Avery and drummer/vocalist/engineer/graphic artist Peter Tietjen are comfortable tipping from one side to the other between and within songs, starting off with the shove of “Technicolor Kaleidoscope” and getting mathy on the later “Half Machine” ahead of the chunkier-riffed “Rhyme and the Flame,” which somehow touches on classic punk even as it hones a wash of distortion that that has to cut through. Closing each side with a longer track in the rolling, airy “Solid State” (6:53) and the frenetic ending of “Simian” (7:38), The Sky Giants stake out a sonic terrain very much their own throughout The Shifting of Phaseworld and only seem to expand their territory as they go.

The Sky Giants on Thee Facebooks

The Sky Giants on Bandcamp

 

Sacred Monster, Worship the Weird

sacred monster worship the weird

Topped off by the ace screams of vocalist Adam Szczygiel, who taps his inner Devin Townsend circa Strapping Young Lad on “High Confessor” and “Re-Animator,” Sacred Monster‘s debut album, Worship the Weird would seem to cull together elements of Orange Goblin and Bongzilla for a kind of classic-metal-aware sludge rock, the riffs of Robert Nubel not at all shy about digging into aggressive vibes to go with the layers of growls and throatrippers and the occasional King Diamond-esque falsetto, as on “Waverly Hills,” as bassist Guillermo Moreno and drummer Ted Nubel bolster that feel with tight turns and duly driven bottom end. I’ll take “Face of My Father” as a highlight, if only for the excruciating sound of Szczygiel‘s screech, but the swing in closer “Maze of Dreams” has an appeal of its own, and as a Twilight Zone and a Shatner fan, “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet” offers its own charm.

Sacred Monster on Thee Facebooks

Sacred Monster on Bandcamp

 

High n’ Heavy, Warrior Queen

high n heavy warrior queen

Shades of grunge and skate-fuzz fuckall pervade the Sabbathian grooves of High n’ Heavy‘s second album, Warrior Queen, as guitarist John Steele works some doomly keys into second cut “Shield Maiden” and vocalist Kris Fortin moves in and out of throaty shouts on side B’s “Lydia.” They thrash out in the noisy “Catapult” and Nick Perrone‘s drums seem to bounce even in the longer-winded “Lands Afar” and closer “Smell of Decay / Wings and Claw,” on which Mike Dudley‘s rumble backs classically metallic shred in the lead guitar after offering likewise support to the piano in the early going of “Join the Day.” Released through Electric Valley Records, the eight-song/36-minute LP comes across as raw but not without purpose in that, and its blend of tonal thickness and the blend of thrust and nod does well to ensure High n’ Heavy remain unpredictable while also living up to the standard of their moniker. There’s potential here that’s worth further exploration on the part of the band.

High n’ Heavy on Thee Facebooks

Electric Valley Records website

 

Warlung, Immortal Portal

Warlung Immortal Portal

Houston, Texas, four-piece make a quick case for the attention of Ripple Music on their sophomore outing, Immortal Portal, which is slickly-but-not-too-slickly produced and sharply-but-not-too-sharply executed, a professional sensibility in “Black Horse Pike” and the subsequent “The Palm Reader” — which manages to be influenced melodically by Uncle Acid without sounding just like them — ahead of the ’80s metallurgy of “Heart of a Sinner” and the reference-packed “1970.” “We All Die in the End” gives an uptempo swing to the opening salvo ahead of the more brooding “Between the Dark and the Light,” but Warlung hold firm to clearly-presented melodies and riff-led rhythms no matter where they seem to go in mood or otherwise. That ties the drift of the later “Heavy Echoes” to the earlier material and makes the harmony-laced “No Son of Mine” and the organ-ic proggy sprawling finale “Coal Minors” all the more effective in reaching beyond where the album started, so that the listener winds up in a different landscape than they started, still grounded, but changed nonetheless.

Warlung on Thee Facebooks

Warlung on Bandcamp

 

Rogue Conjurer, Of the Goddess / Crystal Mountain Lives

rogue conjurer of the goddess

Originally released digitally by the Baltimore-based unit in 2017, the two-songer Of the Goddess / Crystal Mountain Lives sees pressing as an ultra-limited tape via Damien Records and finds the three-piece of guitarist/bassist/vocalist Tonie Joy, drummer Colin Seven and organist Donny Van Zandt — since replaced by Trevor Shipley — honing a psychedelic take on doomly riffs and groove. “Crystal Mountain Lives” has a more distinct nod to its central progression, with a wah-drenched break and greater overall largesse of fuzz, but “Of the Goddess” brings an effective almost shoegazing sense to its downer spirit. The first track is also longer, so it has more time to move from that initial impression to its own payoff, but either way you go, Rogue Conjurer bring out their dead ably on the tape, showing influences from heavy psych and beyond as “Of the Goddess” winds its way to its close and “Crystal Mountain Lives” begins its fade-in all over again. No pretense, but a broad range that would allow for some if they wanted.

Rogue Conjurer on Instagram

Damien Records on Bandcamp

 

Monovine, D.Y.E

monovine dye

Athens heavy rockers Monovine wear their grunge influence proudly on their third full-length, D.Y.E, issued late in 2018 digitally with an early 2019 vinyl release. It’s writ large in the Nirvana-ism of the slurring “Mellow” at the outset and remains a factor through the melodies of “Void” and the later punkery of “Messed Up” or “Ring a Bell,” as well as the toying-with-pop “Me (Raphe Nuclei)” and “Your Figure Smells,” but where Monovine succeed in making that influence their own is by filtering it through a fuzzier presentation. The guitar and bass tones keep a modern heavy feel, and as the drums roll and crash through songs like “For a Sun” and “Why Don’t You Shoot Me in the Head,” that makes a difference in the overall impression the album leaves. Still, there’s little question as to their central point of inspiration, and they bring it out in homage and as a fairly honed mode of expression on closer “Haunt,” which teases an explosion in its melancholy strum and then… well, don’t let me spoil it.

Monovine on Thee Facebooks

Monovine on Bandcamp

 

Un & Coltsblood, Split

un coltsblood split

A festering 42 minutes of lurching agonies, Un and Coltsblood‘s split taps the best of modern death-doom’s emotionalism and bent toward extremity. Billed as a “tribute to grief: the final act of love,” it brings just two tracks, one per band, as Coltsblood open with “Snows of the Winter Realm” and Un follow with “Every Fear Illuminated.” Both bands proffer a terrifyingly weighted plod and offset it with a spacious ambience, whether it’s Un departing their grueling nod after about six and a half minutes only to build back up over the next six and grow more ferocious until devolving into noise and slamming crashes ahead of an outro of echoing, needs-a-tune-sounding piano, or Coltsblood fostering their own tonal brutalism and casting their lot with death and black metal while a current of airy guitar seems to mourn the song even as it plays out. Each cut is a monument built to loss, and their purpose in conveying that theme is both what unites them and what makes their work so ultimately consuming, as grief is.

Un on Thee Facebooks

Coltsblood on Thee Facebooks

 

La Grande Armée, La Grande Armée

La Grande Armée La Grande Armée

The blend of drifting guitar and psychedelic wash on opener “El Canto de las Ballenas” earns La Grande Armée‘s self-titled debut three-song EP immediate favor, and the patient execution they bring to the subsequent “Tripa Intergaláctica” and “Normandía,” particularly the latter, only furthers that appeal. The Chilean trio keep a decidedly natural feel to the exploratory-seeming work, and if this is them finding their sound, they seem happy to do it by losing themselves in their jams. All the better someone thought to press record, since although there’s clearly some trajectory behind the progression of songs — i.e., they know at least to a degree where they want to end up — the process of getting there comes across as spontaneous. Guitar pans channels as bass and drums hold down languid flow, and even in the more active midsection of “Tripa Intergaláctica,” La Grande Armée there’s a sense that it’s more about the space being created than the construction under way. In any case, wherever they want to head next, they would seem to have the means of travel at their disposal.

La Grande Armée on Thee Facebooks

La Grande Armée on Bandcamp

 

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Bellrope Stream New Track; You Must Relax out Feb. 22

Posted in Whathaveyou on January 22nd, 2019 by JJ Koczan

bellrope

Somehow, when Germany’s Black Shape of Nexus went the way of… well, of bands breaking up, it just didn’t quite seem like the end. Some creativity you just can’t kill. And sure enough, with Bellrope members of Black Shape of Nexus find a new outlet backed by the familiar source of Exile on Mainstream. They’ll play the label’s upcoming showcases in Leipzig and at Roadburn in the Netherlands this April, and they’re on my list of must-catch bands at the latter, considering I never had the fortune of seeing the prior band. Bonus points to the band for calling their debut album You Must Relax when surely there’s plenty of onslaught to behold. To that end, they’re streaming the track “Old Overholt” now, which features members of labelmates Treedeon, who also just happen to be brutally underrated.

Feb. 22 is the release date, as the PR wire confirms:

bellrope you must relax

BELLROPE: Exile On Mainstream To Release You Must Relax Debut LP By German Volume Abusers Featuring Black Shape Of Nexus Alumni; Track Streaming

Exile On Mainstream confirms the February release of You Must Relax, the debut album by Germany’s high-volume doom dealers, BELLROPE, the band which has ascended from the ashes of Black Shape Of Nexus. Raised on a diet of doom, noise, and crust punk, thriving in the international DIY/squat communities, BELLROPE is a band who dubs their sound as, “the total absence of tonal sanity.” The album’s thundering lead single “Old Overholt,” featuring Yvonne Ducksworth and Arne Heesch of labelmates Treedeon, is now streaming, and preorders for the record are now available.

Driven by a rabid sense of urgency, and with a simple goal in mind — “Amp hauling and amp abusing” — BELLROPE’s sonic maelstrom traverses many different plains of heavy, oft recognizable, but never bound to one formula. Case in point being the visceral album opener; more than a palette cleanser, this is sensory overload, total tonal (in)sanity. Elsewhere, the stomping second track, “Old Overholt,” replete with blood curdling bellows, pays tribute to the iconic rye whiskey, whilst the morose dueling vocals of Arne Heesch and Yvonnne Ducksworth of labelmates Treedeon, and sonic samples on “TD 200,” carry that colossal track to a climatic end, leading into the album closer “CBD/Hereinunder,” a heavy combination of chugging guitars and psych-like leads locking into a repetitive, almost entrancing groove.

Exile On Mainstream label owner Andreas Kohl remarks, “In utter contradiction to your usual heavy rock bands with an esoteric twist and the common (non)sense of interweaving ritualistic riff-mongery with some heritage-purveying focus to ancient rites, rituals, and ideologies, BELLROPE is a hurricane of fresh air, well needed and even more welcome. There will be no antlers, mandalas, fur or badly drawn symbols on stage when they are coming after you. BELLROPE doesn’t need to charge their sonic urgency with ideology.”

BELLROPE’s You Must Relax debut album will see release through Exile On Mainstream February 22nd on CD, LP, and digital formats. Fans of Celestial-era ISIS, early-Cult Of Luna, Old Man Gloom, and of course Black Shape Of Nexus must hear this. Find preorders at the label webshop HERE.

You Must Relax Track Listing:
1. Hollywood 2001/ Rollrost
2. Old Overholt
3. You Must Relax
4. TD200
5. CBD/ Hereinunder

BELLROPE is booking live performances in support of You Must Relax, including a run through Germany in early February. This will be followed by performances at the Exile On Mainstream 20th Anniversary Parties this year, April 4th through 7th at UT Connewitz in Leipzig, Germany, and on April 13th at Roadburn Festival in Tilburg, Netherlands. Watch for more widespread tour news to be released in the weeks ahead.

BELLROPE Tour Dates:
2/06/2019 Lükaz – Lünen, DE w/ Eisenvater
2/07/2019 Zukunft am Ostkreuz – Berlin, DE w/ Eisenvater
2/08/2019 Rosenkeller – Jena, DE w/ Eisenvater
2/09/2019 JuHa West – Stuttgart, DE w/ Eisenvater, Arsen
4/06/2019 UT Connewitz – Leipzig, DE @ 20 Years Exile On Mainstream
4/13/2019 Roadburn Festival – Tilburg, NL @ 20 Years Exile On Mainstream

https://www.bellrope-doom.com
https://www.facebook.com/bellropedoom
https://bellrope.bandcamp.com
http://www.mainstreamrecords.de

Bellrope, You Must Relax (2019)

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Roadburn 2019: LOOP, Sumac, Crippled Black Phoenix, Sherpa and More Added

Posted in Whathaveyou on November 15th, 2018 by JJ Koczan

roadburn 2019 banner

A return appearance from Crippled Black Phoenix seemed like asking a lot. A return appearance from LOOP seemed unrealistic. A complete showcase from Exile on Mainstream? Well now that’s just silly. But silly’s how it goes for Roadburn, which in 2019 will apparently continue to exist on a plane all its own, much to the general betterment of humanity. I’ll happily take the chance to see Emma Ruth Rundle and Sherpa and to get exposed to Cave, who sound so much up my alley that I’m kind of embarrassed I’ve never heard them before. Plus underrated sludgesters Treedeon and you know, Sumac, because Aaron Turner hasn’t curated a Roadburn yet and we might as well build up to that seeming inevitability with an unofficial kind of residency, and Young Widows and enough others that I forgot what the point of this sentence was when I started out and it doesn’t even matter because the lineup is so staggeringly incredible.

Fuck it. Dive in:

loop roadburn 2019

More additions for Roadburn 2019, including curated acts; day tickets on sale in December

TOMAS LINDBERG chooses LOOP and SLÆGT for his curated event
SUMAC to perform
YOUNG WIDOWS to play Old Wounds in full
Return performances for CRIPPLED BLACK PHOENIX and EMMA RUTH RUNDLE

TOMAS LINDBERG’S THE BURNING DARKNESS

LOOP
LOOP are no strangers to Roadburn – they headlined the 2014 edition of the festival. The psych titans split in 1991, reforming in 2013 and cementing themselves as legends of the scene – and amongst other activities, brought their glorious technicolour to the Roadburn stage. We’re thrilled to welcome them back for a special, one off show as part of Tomas Lindberg’s curated event, The Burning Darkness.
Lindberg comments: “I expect to see you all in the front row for this one. I have goosebumps already.”

SLÆGT
As the frontman for At The Gates, we know Tomas is something of an extreme metal connoisseur. He’s flexing that muscle with his latest addition to the line up, which comes in the shape of SLÆGT. Tomas explains:
“When I think of heavy metal, there is a certain feeling I am after. A special haunting, emotional impact that I’m seeking. I will always be super excited when I get that same feeling that was there when I first got into underground metal. SLÆGT is one of those rare examples.”

SUMAC
Aaron Turner is not a man who likes to sit still. When he realised that he would technically have a day off at Roadburn, his brain started to click and whirr. And soon enough we had SUMAC on the bill.

When Love In Shadow landed in September, it was a swift reminder not to assume you know all there is to know about a band. Turner has promised us something special at Roadburn: a titillating promise. But we can’t help but feel that any SUMAC experience is going to be a special SUMAC experience – and surely better than a day off.

YOUNG WIDOWS
If it’s true that absence makes the heart grow fonder, it doesn’t discount the fact that the occasional tease of a live show can still be pure agony, especially when Europe has historically been somewhat starved of YOUNG WIDOWS. So it’s with something akin to relief mixed with pure joy that we announce YOUNG WIDOWS’ performance at Roadburn 2019. For fans of their 2008 release, Old Wounds, the treat is two-fold; the band will be playing the album in full for us!

CRIPPLED BLACK PHOENIX
Following their mind-warping set on Roadburn’s main stage in 2017, we welcome back the progressive darkness of CRIPPLED BLACK PHOENIX. In the band’s decade and a half career, they have released an incredible ten studio records, the latest of which Great Escape is a powerful, treacherous exploration into a the bleakest realms of Justin Greaves’ psyche. A CRIPPLED BLACK PHOENIX performance is the sound of a band following their own path, their own rules, for their own enjoyment. And ours.

CAVE
Channeling Krautrock staples like Can and Neu! with Miles Davis/Funkadelic style funk, CAVE offers an instrumental galaxy of hypnotic jams. It’s the band’s groove-heavy – yet loose – approach which gives way to an intricate backdrop for these spontaneous explorations; from fuzzy leads to free jazz fusion, from prog to psychedelic library music, from subtle funk to South American delights.

EMMA RUTH RUNDLE
Emma Ruth Rundle made such a mark on Roadburn 2017, we’re overjoyed to have her back for 2019 – and we expect the results to be just as powerful and mesmerising as the first time around.
Her first solo performance at the festival was a pivotal moment for us. Not only did it mark a definitive turning point for the artistic scope of the festival, it was also the moment that we adopted Emma as one of our own. A kindred spirit, a sonic explorer, a soul sister.

LINGUA IGNOTA
Boldly straddling the classical music world and the often hellish soundscapes of harsh noise, LINGUA IGNOTA plucks what she wants from both – and elsewhere – to form a towering inferno of raging fury, manifesting as sonic indignation. The challenge of a visceral and abrasive show is one that we relish. If you’re looking for an experience, something that that burrows into your consciousness and niggles at you for months to come, sign up now. LINGUA IGNOTA will deliver a masterclass.

EXILE ON MAINSTREAM X ROADBURN
EXILE ON MAINSTREAM Records is celebrating twenty years of existence with us at Roadburn 2019. The iconic label has released almost 90 records over the past two decades.The label’s history is somewhat entwined with our own; in fact they celebrated their 15th birthday with us too! We guess we make good cake!
The label will commandeer the Hall of Fame venue on Saturday, 13 April and the following bands will perform:
OSTINATO
NOISEPICKER
CONNY OCHS
TREEDEON
BELLROPE
CONFUSION MASTER

ALSO CONFIRMED:
FEAR FALLS BURNING will see Dirk Serries performing an exercise in minimalism
JAYE JAYLE will reprise their 2017 performance – in the more spacious Green Room
OVTRENOIR will deliver a dose of sludgy post-metal
SHERPA will perform Tigris & Euphrates in full
SOFT KILL will perform both Savior and Heresy in full
THROANE offer a cold and violent take on modern black metal
TREHA SEKTORI will bring an innovative and immersive take on dark ambient sound

TICKETS:
Single day tickets will go on sale on Thursday, December 13. Weekend tickets are on sale now

Tickets are be priced as follows:
3 days ticket (Thu-Sat) €181 + €4,50 service fee
4 days ticket (Thu-Sun) €204 + €4,50 service fee
Day ticket (Thu, Fri or Sat) €62 + €4,50 service fee
Sunday ticket €55,50 + €4,50 service fee

Click here for more ticketing information.

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Roadburn 2019 November announcement video

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