Released through Apollon Records amid the anxious hopelessness of June 2020, Kryptograf‘s self-titled debut was and is a deceptively complex outing. It runs a straightforward-enough eight songs and 38 minutes, and on its surface it’s something one would hear starting out with “The Veil” and probably classify the Norwegian four-piece as vintage-minded heavy rock and consider the matter settled. “The Veil” is among the clearest expressions of its own intentions in its new-generation-coming-up interpretations of earliest Witchcraft and Graveyard, but even in that song’s bridge riff, there are shades of doom, and later on, the easy plot essentially gets thrown out the window in favor of a tambourine-laced frenzy solo shove, loosely Graveyard-informed, but more raucous in Eirik Arntsen‘s (also vocals) cymbal work and more definitively fuzzed in the guitars of Vegard Strans and Odd Erlend Mikkelsen (both also vocals). Oh, and by the way, it’s also only about three minutes long.

And yeah, on paper that’s a tempo change, but like in (conceptual more than sonic, but a bit of that too, naturally) Sabbathian tradition, the tempo change does more for the song in the actual listening experience, informing subtly that one song isn’t necessarily going to be one thing, and as Eivind Standal Moen‘s bassline introduces “Omen,” the outward procession creeps forward with now-via-then flourish, reminding distinctly of Copenhagen’s Demon Head on the six-minute track as they proto-doom roll and nod their way toward the nine-minute “Seven.” There are a couple genuine twists as the Bergen-based unit move through their first record, and “Seven” is well placed as one of them. The only way it might work more to shift the listener’s expectation is if they’d put it as the opener instead of “The Veil,” but it gets the job done in contrasting that and “Omen” just fine, and unfurls with flourish born of a yet-unrevealed heavy psychedelic underpinning.

There are flashes of prog as well — largely unavoidable anytime you’re breaking out a mellotron — but the keys and guitars mesh together with a fluidity that hints toward the jam to come, and the band depart earth’s atmosphere with little fanfare and much hypnotic guitar work, spanning channels here and there while the drums and bass join the freakout, gradually parachuting back into the more structured riffing. The effect the departure has is to make the rest of the song feel more open, and as it pushes to the finish, the residual resonance carries over into the ’70s-future-synth that begins “Crimson Horizon,” a still-far-out atmosphere soon crashing into an earthy riff and one of Kryptograf‘s most memorable progressions, a purposeful regrounding on the part of the band that pins down the multifaceted nature of their craft. They can be both these things on their debut, and more besides, since the steady nod and lush vocal melody of “Crimson Horizon” — like a mellower take on modern stoner riffing — leads into the more garage-doom, post-Uncle Acid harmonized hook of “Sleeper,” which is a standout for the album as a whole with its chorus and vague air of danger.

The depth of vocal arrangements is something Kryptograf continued to explore earlier this year on their second album, The Eldorado Spell (review here), but it remains one of an apparent multitude of stylistic assets at their disposal, and as impressive as the playout of “Sleeper” is, it’s not by any means a full summary of the band’s strengths then or now. One could probably fill another post entirely with flowery (floury, if you’re thinking of it as baking bread, which I’m not; carbs) descriptions of the progression of material across side B of this self-titled, with “Crimson Horizon” acting as an album-leadoff-worthy introduction before its upbeat swing or the clarion stretch of standalone guitar that rises out of the crash circa four minutes in, reaffirming the groove they’ll ride to the song’s finish and the start of “Sleeper,” etc., but even in that regard, distinguishing side B from A, the last three tracks of the Kryptograf seem to have a mission of their own. “Ocean” begins with contemplative acoustic strum, Zeppelin-ish, but only because they made it shimmer, and a watery layer of vocals accompanying, taking cues more from the prog rock that took hold after Floyd than from Floyd themselves while lasting only 2:40, the shortest of the song-songs on the record.

In terms of value to the overarching listening experience of the album, “Ocean” and its placement in the tracklisting shouldn’t be discounted just because “Seven” is more than three times as long. The effect of giving the audience a chance to breathe, appreciate what’s just taken place across “Crimson Horizon” and “Sleeper,” while getting set up for “New Colossus” still to come, is crucial. Further, it claims an entire unplugged sonic spectrum as fair game for Kryptograf‘s future work — a notion the band wouldn’t wait long to pay off on opener “Asphodel” from The Eldorado Spell — and offers another avenue through which their longer term growth may or may not manifest. That doesn’t mean they have to do an entire unplugged release at any point however long their tenure may go, but if they wanted to, you wouldn’t be able to call it unprecedented.

But “Ocean” further works alongside the instrumental outro “∞ (Infinite)” to surround “New Colossus” and give that penultimate inclusion a presentation that feels duly earned by its marching early fuzz riff, spacious vocal melody — reminds me of Acid King, if faster — and cymbal-crashing proto-burl groove later as the band touches a bit on a Sleepy nod delivering the title-line, builds and crescendos in a tidy sub-five-minute course. The hums and psychedelic ambience of “∞ (Infinite)” afterward feel like and likely are an afterthought — and actually, if one discounts “∞ (Infinite),” it makes “Crimson Horizon” the centerpiece, which kind of makes sense in terms of how the record plays out front-to-back — but the subdued ending further adds to the scope of Kryptograf‘s Kryptograf, and presages future exploration that, two years later, is already underway.

Throughout this year and probably next and the one after and for however long I keep this site going, I’ve been going back and digging into albums that, because I apparently spent the whole year in a bunker, I didn’t get to review at the time. Kryptograf‘s self-titled was something I kept feeling like I needed to be writing about right up until the second LP was announced. I’ll say sincerely that having now dug into it thusly, I feel like a weight has been lifted. Fortunately I know a god record to put on for that kind of party.

As always, I hope you enjoy. Thanks for reading.

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Alarm went off at four, kid up at five. I woke up without any real sense of how today was going to go, which is far from a personal preference. To a certain extent, every day brings some invariable degree of chaos, today just more. Family stuff. A lot of it. This afternoon. I’m told it involves bowling.

I could use a shower that lasts as long as I’m thinking watching The Pecan bumper-bowl through however many frames will go, but it’s been a couple days and I’ll settle for whatever I can get. Summer of Pivot. I have pivoted to stink.

Ups and downs the week, usually within like 25 seconds of each other. I’ve informed The Pecan that I’m leaving next week for a few days — that’s Psycho Las Vegas, which I’ll be covering in my addled, harried fashion — and that he’ll be on his own taking care of mommy. He pretty much expresses any emotion, positive or negative, through some manner of violence right now, whether it’s pinching, punching, kicking, headbutting, biting, pushing, etc., so how he actually feels about me going is anyone’s best guess, but I’d say probably he’s less than pleased. Coming home from Freak Valley in June was a fucking disaster, on every level emotional and practical. I’m hoping this goes smoother but not holding my breath.

Precisely the same thing might be said of living into 2023 and beyond.

Speaking of the things we do to survive, I guess going without the antidepressants is going okay? Not great? Not terrible? It’s kind of just life, which is how I think it should feel about a week out from stopping the daily pills. I talked about this last week if you’ve no idea where it’s coming from. I haven’t been crying — except at that one episode of Bluey where Chili’s sister is infertile; that one sure hit home — which last time I tried to go off meds I definitely spent a good portion of the time doing, so that feels like a win. I haven’t really stopped moving this week either though, so maybe that’s part of it.

I don’t know. I’ll keep plugging along and see where I end up. This week was a week. Today has for the last nine hours been and will continue to be a day. The weekend will be a weekend. None of it will be easy, and hopefully none of it will be harder than it should be.

Are these the best days of my life?

I don’t know. Sometimes I feel so fortunate to be surrounded by so much love and other times I want nothing so much as to veer into oncoming traffic. It’s cool though, I hear there are pills for that. Ha.

Gimme show next week. Psycho Las Vegas coverage next week. Before I go, premieres for Howling Wolves, Faith in Jane, Electric Hydra and a full stream and review (I call them ‘fullies’ but only to myself because no one else in my day-to-day gives even the remotest of shits) for the All Souls/Fatso Jetson live split. If you want a preview of that, All Souls already snuck their portion up on Bandcamp. I don’t even care, I’m just happy to have the excuse to write about the bands.

That last will be up Thursday, which is also the start of Psycho, so there you go. I fly back the Monday after. Early, I think, but not as early as I’ll fly back from Høstsabbat in Oslo this October, which I’m already very, very much looking forward to attending as well. That one’s a to-the-airport-right-after-the-show kind of situation. Can always sleep at the gate if need be, and I suspect it will.

But I’m getting off track. Shower now, bowling after? Fun fact about me: I’m the worst bowler in the world. Even with bumpers. I’d be amazed if The Pecan, at four and a half, didn’t whoop my ass in bowling. Good. He could use a win and if I’m gonna lose anyway, it might as well be to him.

Or maybe I just won’t bowl and will spend my time on little-dude-management, which as I may or may not have effectively conveyed in the last four-plus years, is a full-time gig.

Thanks for reading. Great and safe weekend, whatever you might be up to. Hydrate, watch your head, shower when you can. Back on Monday.

FRM.

The Obelisk Forum

The Obelisk Radio

The Obelisk merch

I don’t know what day it is. The holiday here in the States has me all screwed up. I know it’s not the weekend anymore because I’m posting today, but really, if this is for Tuesday or Wednesday, I’m kind of at a loss. What I do know is that it’s 10 more records, and some quick math at the “71-80” below — which, yes, I put there ahead of time when I set up the back end of these posts so hopefully I don’t screw it up; it’s a whole fucking process; never ask me about it unless you want to be so bored at by the telling that your eyeballs explode — tells me today Wednesday, so I guess I figured it out. Hoo-ray.

Three quarters of the way through, which feels reasonably fancy. And today’s a good one, too. I hope as always that you find something you dig. Now that I know what day it is, I’m ready to start.

Quarterly Review #71-80:

MWWB, The Harvest

It’s difficult to separate MWWB‘s The Harvest from the fact that it might be the Welsh act’s final release, as frontwoman Jessica Ball explained here. Their synth-laced cosmic doom certainly deserves to keep going if it can, but on the chance not, The Harvest suitably reaps the fruit of the progression the band began to undertake with 2015’s Nachthexen (review here), their songs spacious despite the weight of their tones and atmospheric even at their most dense. Proggy instrumental explorations like “Let’s Send These Bastards Whence They Came” and “Interstellar Wrecking” and the semi-industrial, vocals-also-part-of-the-ambience “Betrayal” surround the largesse of the title-track, “Logic Bomb,” the especially lumbering “Strontium,” and so on, and “Moon Rise” caps with four and a half minutes of voice-over-guitar-and-keys atmospherics, managing to be heavy even without any of the usual trappings thereof. If this is it, what a run they had, both when they were Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard and with this as their potential swansong.

MWWB on Facebook

New Heavy Sounds website

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Righteous Fool, Righteous Fool

Look. Maybe it’s a fan-piece, but screw it, I’m a fan. And as someone who liked the second run of Corrosion of Conformity‘s Animosity-era lineup, this previously-unreleased LP from the three-piece that included C.O.C. bassist/vocalist Mike Dean and drummer/vocalist Reed Mullin (R.I.P.), as well as guitarist/vocalist Jason Browning, is only welcome. I remember when they put out the single on Southern Lord in 2010, you couldn’t really get a sense of what the band was about, but there’s so much groove in these songs — I’m looking right at you, “Hard Time Killing Floor” — that it’s that much more of a bummer the three-piece didn’t do anything else. Of course, Mullin rejoining Dean in C.O.C. wasn’t a hardship either, but especially in the aftermath of his death last year, it’s bittersweet to hear his performances on these songs and a collection of tracks that have lost none of their edge for the decade-plus they’ve sat on a shelf or hard drive somewhere. Call it a footnote if you want, but the songs stand on their own merits, and if you’re going to tell me you’ve never wanted to hear Dean sing “The Green Manalishi (With the Two-Pronged Crown),” then I think you and I are just done speaking for right now.

Righteous Fool on Facebook

Ripple Music website

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Seven Nines and Tens, Over Opiated in a Forest of Whispering Speakers

I agree, it’s a very long album title. And the band name is kind of opaque in a kind of opaque way. Double-O-paque. And the art by Ahmed Emad Eldin (Pink Floyd, etc.) is weird. All of this is true. But I’m going to step outside the usual review language here, and instead of talking about how Vancouver post-noise rock trio Seven Nines and Tens explore new melodic and atmospheric reaches while still crushing your rib cage on their first record for the e’er tastemaking Willowtip label, I’m just going to tell you listen. Really. That’s it. If you consider yourself someone with an open mind for music that is progressive in its artistic substance without conforming necessarily to genre, or if you’re somebody who feels like heavy music is tired and can’t connect to the figurative soul, just press play on the Bandcamp embed and see where you end up on the other side of Over Opiated in a Forest of Whispering Speakers‘ 37 minutes. Even if it doesn’t change your life, shaking you to your very core and giving you a new appreciation for what can be done on a level of craft in music that’s still somehow extreme, just let it run and then take a breath afterward, maybe get a drink of water, and take a minute to process. I wrote some more about the album here if you want the flowery whathaveyou, but really, don’t bother clicking that link. Just listen to the music. That’s all you need.

Seven Nines & Tens on Facebook

Willowtip Records website

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T.G. Olson, II

In March 2021, T.G. Olson, best known as the founding guitarist/vocalist for Across Tundras, released a self-titled solo album (review here). He’s had a slew of offerings out since — as he will; Olson is impossible to keep up with but one does one’s best — but II would seem to be a direct follow-up to that full-length’s declarative purpose, continuing and refining the sometimes-experimentalist, sometimes purposefully traditional folk songwriting and self-recording exploration Olson began (publicly, at least) a decade ago. Several of II‘s cuts feature contributions from Caleb R.K. Williams, but Olson‘s ability to build a depth of mix — consider the far-back harmonica in “Twice Gone” and any number of other flourishes throughout — is there regardless, and his voice is as definitively human as ever, wrought with a spirit of Americana and a wistfulness for a West that was wild not for its guns but the buffalo herds you could see from space and an emotionalism that makes the lyrics of “Saddled” seem all the more personal, whether or not they are, or the lines in “Enough Rope” that go, “Always been a bit of a misanthrope/Never had a healthy way to cope,” and don’t seem to realize that the song itself is the coping.

Electric Relics Records on Bandcamp

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Freebase Hyperspace, Planet High

Issued on limited blue vinyl through StoneFly Records, Freebase Hyperspace‘s first full-length, Planet High, is much more clearheaded in its delivery than the band would seem to want you to think. Sure, it’s got its cosmic echo in the guitar and the vocals and so on, but beneath that are solidified grooves shuffling, boogieing and underscoring even the solo-fueled jam-outs on “Golden Path” and “Introversion” with a thick, don’t-worry-we-got-this vibe. The band is comprised of vocalist Ayrian Quick, guitarist Justin Acevedo, bassist Stephen Moore and drummer Peter Hurd, and they answer 2018’s Activation Immediate not quite immediately but with fervent hooks and a resonant sense of motion. It’s from Portland, and it’s a party, but Planet High upends expectation in its bluesy vocals, in its moments of drift and in the fact that “Cat Dabs” — whatever that means, I don’t even want to look it up — is an actual song rather than a mess of cult stoner idolatries, emphasizing the niche being explored. And just because it bears mentioning, heavy rock is really, really white. More BIPOC and diversity across the board only makes the genre richer. But even those more general concerns aside, this one’s a stomper.

Freebase Hyperspace on Facebook

StoneFly Records store

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Melt Motif, A White Horse Will Take You Home

Not calling out other reviews (they exist; I haven’t read any), but any writeup about Melt Motif‘s debut album, A White Horse Will Take You Home, that doesn’t include the word “sultry” is missing something. Deeply moody on “Sleep” and the experimental-sounding “Black Hole” and occasionally delving into that highly-processed ’90s guitar sound that’s still got people working off inspiration from Nine Inch Nails‘ The Downward Spiral even if they don’t know it — see the chugs of “Mine” and “Andalusian Dog” for clear examples — the nine-track/37-minute LP nonetheless oozes sex across its span, such that even the sci-fi finale “Random Access Memory” holds to the theme. The band span’s from São Paulo, Brazil, to Bergen, Norway, and is driven by Rakel‘s vocals, Kenneth Rasmus Greve‘s guitar, synth and programming, and Joe Irente‘s bass, guitar, more synth and more programming. Together, they are modern industrial/electrionica in scope, the record almost goth in its theatrical pruning, and there’s some of the focus on tonal heft that one finds in others of the trio’s ilk, but Melt Motif use slower pacing and harder impacts as just more toys to be played with, and thus the album is deeply, repeatedly listenable, the clever pop structures and the clarity of the production working as the bed on which the entirety lays in waiting repose for those who’d take it on.

Melt Motif on Facebook

Apollon Records on Bandcamp

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Tenebra, Moongazer

Moongazer is the second full-length from Bologna, Italy-based heavy psychedelic blues rockers Tenebra, and a strong current of vintage heavy rock runs through it that’s met head-on by the fullness of the production, by which I mean that “Cracked Path” both reminds of Rainbow — yeah that’s right — and doesn’t sound like it’s pretending it’s 1973. Or 1993, for that matter. Brash and raucous on its face, the nine-song outing proves schooled in both current and classic heavy, and though “Winds of Change” isn’t a Scorpions cover, its quieter take still offers a chance for the band to showcase the voice of Silvia, whose throaty, push-it-out delivery becomes a central focus of the songs, be it the Iommic roll of “Black Lace” or the shuffling closer “Moon Maiden,” which boasts a guest appearance from Screaming Trees‘ Gary Lee Conner, or the prior “Dark and Distant Sky,” which indeed brings the dark up front and the distance in its second, more psych-leaning second half. All of this rounds out to a sound more geared toward groove than innovation, but which satisfies in that regard from the opening guitar figure of “Heavy Crusher” onward, a quick nod to desert rock there en route to broader landscapes.

Tenebra on Facebook

New Heavy Sounds website

Seeing Red Records website

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Doom Lab, IV: Ever Think You’re Smart​.​.​. And Then Find Out That You Aren’t?

With a drum machine backing, Doom Lab strums out riffs over the 16 mostly instrumental tracks of the project’s fourth demo since February of this year, Doom Lab IV: Ever Think You’re Smart​.​.​. And Then Find Out That You Aren’t?, a raw, sometimes-overmodulated crunch of tone lending a garage vibe to the entire procession. On some planet this might be punk rock, and maybe tucked away up in Anchorage, Alaska, it’s not surprising that Doom Lab would have a strange edge to their craft. Which they definitely do. “Clockwork Home II (Double-Thick Big Bottom End Dub)” layers in bass beneath a droning guitar, and “Diabolical Strike (w/ False Start)” is a bonus track (with vocals) that’s got the line, “You’ll think that everything is cool but then I’ll crush your motherfucking soul,” so, you know, it’s like that. Some pieces are more developed than others, as “Deity Skin II” has some nuanced layering of instrumentation, but in the harsh high end of “Spiral Strum to Heaven II” and the mostly-soloing “Infernal Intellect II,” Doom Lab pair weirdo-individualism with an obvious creative will. Approach with caution, because some of Doom Lab‘s work is really strange, but that’s clearly the intention from the start.

Doom Lab on Bandcamp

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White Fuzzy Bloodbath, Medicine

What you see is what you get in the sometimes manic, sometimes blissed-out, sometimes punk, sometimes fluid, always rocking Medicine by White Fuzzy Bloodbath, which hearkens to a day when the universe wasn’t defined by internet-ready subgenre designations and a band like this San Jose three-piece had a chance to be signed to Atlantic, tour the universe, and eventually influence other outcasts in their wake. Alas, props to White Fuzzy Bloodbath‘s Elise Tarens — joined in the band by Alex Bruno and Jeff Hurley — for the “Interlude” shout, “We’re White Fuzzy Bloodbath and the world has no fucking idea!” before the band launch into the duly raw “Chaos Creator.” Songs like “Monster,” “Beep-Bop Lives” and “Still” play fast and loose with deceptively technical angular heavy rock, and even the eight-minute title-track that rounds out before the cover of Beastie Boys‘ “Sabotage” refuses to give in and be just one thing. And about that cover? Well, not every experiment is going to lead to gold, but it’s representative on the whole of the band’s bravery to take on an iconic track like that and make their own. Not nearly everybody would be so bold.

White Fuzzy Bloodbath on Facebook

White Fuzzy Bloodbath on Bandcamp

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Secret Iris, What Are You Waiting For

With the vocal melody in its resonant hook, the lead guitar line that runs alongside and the thickened verse progression that complements, Secret Iris almost touch on Euro-style melancholic doom with the title-track of their debut 7″, What Are You Waiting For, but the Phoenix, Arizona, three-piece are up to different shenanigans entirely on the subsequent “Extrasensory Rejection (Winter Sanctuary),” which is faster, more punk, and decisively places them in a sphere of heavy grunge. Both guitarist Jeffrey Owens (ex-Goya) and bassist Tanner Grace (Sorxe) contribute vocals, while drummer Matt Arrebollo (Gatecreeper) is additionally credited with “counseling,” and the nine-minutes of the mini-platter first digitally issued in 2021 beef up a hodgepodge of ’90s and ’00s rock and punk, from Nirvana grunge to Foo Fighters accessibility, Bad Religion‘s punk and rock and a slowdown march after the break in the midsection that, if these guys were from the Northeast, I’d shout as a Life of Agony influence. Either way, it moves, it’s heavy, it’s catchy, and just the same, it manages not to make a caricature of its downer lyrics. The word I’m looking for is “intriguing,” and the potential for further intrigue is high.

Secret Iris on Facebook

Crisis Tree Records store

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Bergen, Norway, progressive black metal expansionists Enslaved held their ‘The Otherworldly Big Band Experience’ stream on Dec. 21, 2021, the Winter Solstice, and played as a nine-piece lineup — hence “Big Band” — that incorporated the four-piece outfit Shaman Elephant. Even for a band who’ve spent the better part of the last two decades refining and building on a sound that has only become more individualized for their efforts in making it, the stream was a distinct step beyond expectation. Enslaved‘s new interpretations of old songs — like “Bounded by Allegiance” below, originally taken from 2004’s Isa LP — found them all the more atmospheric for the stunning visuals and cinematography that accompanied, not to mention the extra players, and furthered their commitment to exploring progressive, psychedelic and extreme styles that broadened the definitions of genre as much as their own.

But you know all this. If you’ve heard me expound for the last decade-plus about Enslaved‘s evolving, consistent, and consistently evolving genius, you don’t need me to rehash the point. And to be perfectly honest, if you haven’t caught on by now, I sincerely doubt I’ll change your mind by telling you how good they are at what they do. I believe strongly in the power of words, but hey, some things just don’t connect. I get it.

Then I guess the underlying point in my posting “Bounded by Allegiance” as taken and made a single from what one can only assume/hope is a forthcoming live release for ‘The Otherworldy Big Band Experience’ — please, please, please let them do black metal Sgt. Pepper for the cover art — is that I’m doing it for me, as an Enslaved fan. I’m choosing to write about something I actively enjoy and appreciate. And if you want to come along with that, shit, the more the merrier. If not, maybe next time.

If you hit play on the clip, watching for flashing lights, as that’s a thing. There’s a link in the PR wire info that follows as well just to get to the audio if that might suit your better.

Otherwise, hope you dig:

Enslaved, “Bounded by Allegiance” from The Otherworldly Big Band Experience

Left-field metal luminaries ENSLAVED are proud to reveal their single and video for “Bounded by Allegiance – Live.” The track, which originally comes from their ground-breaking album “Isa” (2004), sees a live recording of a new avant-garde interpretation, with nuanced accompaniment by fellow psychedelic Norwegian prog band Shaman Elephant. This extraordinary performance took place on last year’s Winter Solstice, via the stunning streaming event “The Otherworldly Big Band Experience.”

Listen to the “Bounded by Allegiance – Live” single here:
https://enslaved.bfan.link/bounded-by-allegiance.ema

Frontman Grutle Kjellson stated, “So here’s a little memory from last year’s musical endeavor. Our ‘Big Band’ collaboration with Shaman Elephant was such a trip! It felt like, and indeed it was, an avalanche of locked up energy just bursting out. The streamed concert plus a small tour in Norway was pretty much the only shows we did in 2021, so the energy level was pretty much turned to 11, on all of us. All nine of us! ‘Bounded By Allegiance’ was one of the first songs we thought would fit being dressed for a nine man outfit, with its natural percussive nature. We hope we were right, enjoy!”

“The Otherworldly Big Band Experience” was an ENSLAVED show like none other, their biggest, boldest project to date – a colossal, kaleidoscopic stage show featuring a stellar setlist covering their career, both past and present. Including some tracks never previously performed live.

Enslaved is:
Ivar Bjørnson – guitar
Grutle Kjellson – vocals/bass
Ice Dale – guitar
Håkon Vinje – keys/vocals
Iver Sandøy – drums

Enslaved on Facebook

Enslaved on Instagram

Enslaved on YouTube

Enslaved website

Nuclear Blast on Facebook

Nuclear Blast on Instagram

Nuclear Blast website

Norwegian classic prog/doom rockers Strange Horizon will release their debut album, Beyond the Strange Horizon, through Apollon Records on May 6. From the opening “Tower of Stone” through the finale “Death in Ice Valley,” the record follows a course born of traditionalism in and outside of Northern Europe. One can hear shades of various landmark acts throughout the album’s eight-track course — they’re not wrong when they call out Black Sabbath and Saint Vitus specifically below; to that list I’d add Reverend Bizarre and Pagan Altar — but even in the layered vocals from guitarist Stig V. “Qvillio” Kviljo on “Tower of Stone,” one can hear shades of modern methodologies breaking through, to say nothing of the bass tone of Christer S. Lindesteg or Kviljo‘s own guitar, or the drums of Camilla Wergeland Anfinsen, which push the opener’s swinging progression right into the Dave Chandler-esque sway of “Fake Templar” like they were shoving riffs off a cliffside into murky waters below. Extra distortion, you say? Don’t mind if I do.

Beyond the Strange Horizon plays out in such fashion, the trio well aware of where they’re coming from and who they want to be for this, essentially the first collection of their career; the three-song Demo MMXVIII from 2018 appearing here reworked in the tracks “Fake Templar,” “The Final Vision” and “Chains of Society.” They’re reorganized and spread throughout the album — it’s not that they’re tacked on for filler, in other words — and as the nodding fuzz of “The Final Vision” picks up from “Fake Templar” before it, the hook of that second track almost daring to soar, Strange Horizon offer a take less definitively retro than that of Trondheim’s Dunbarrow, for example, but still showcase their roots well, ending side A with the longer and more progressive “Divine Fear” in classic LP fashion, giving an almost hypnotic and mournful conclusion to the engaging first-half salvo while expanding on the ideas presented, working in some more melodic flourish and entrancing the audience enough so that the snare that starts “They Never Knew” arrives as an extra snap-to-attention on linear (CD/DL) formats.

The rest of “They Never Knew” is duly brash, rawer than “Fake Templar” in its intention but still holding a swinging groove and a lyric that seems to be rife with doomly condemnation. It and “Chains of Society” together — the latter the last of the three demo pieces to appear on the record — establish a solid momentum for the second half of Beyond the Strange Horizon, longer and plenty dug in as “Tower of Stone” foretold, but moving fluidly all the while. Thus it is that the penultimate “Turning the Corner” is perfectly placed; a sub-four-minute quiet stretch born of “Planet Caravan” impulses but presented earthier, more personal, almost folkish in another context — a song that could just as easily have had a heavy incarnation but unfolds to add texture and atmosphere to the release as a whole. It is ever more righteous backed by the nine-minute “Death in Ice Valley” — which may or may not have guest vocals alongside those of Kviljo — which seeks to summarize what the band have accomplished throughout while still adding to it in terms of the near-psychedelic soloing and outward-seeming, keys-included jam at the finish, Strange Horizon having established the rules of structure and then chosen to break them with suitable aplomb.

In terms of appeal, there’s more than just classic doom happening in Beyond the Strange Horizon stylistically, but that is the ground from which the band are reaching up. This first full-length may prove formative in the light of subsequent releases to come — they certainly sound interested in building on what they do here — but the potential for what may be shouldn’t detract from the accomplishments they’ve already made in songwriting and performance, meeting trad doom head-on with individual drive. I feel like there’s more to say here about the richness of their tones and the subtle divergences there, but with “Divine Fear” premiering below, there’s no shortage of opportunity for you to hear that for yourself.

Order link and whatnot follow. If you’re wondering, “lead-heavy Scandinavian heavy metal” is the translation of what they call themselves. One is not inclined to argue.

Please enjoy:

Strange Horizon, “Divine Fear” track premiere

Preorder: https://orcd.co/strangefinal

Traditional doom metal, or as we often call it, blytung skandinavisk heavy metal! Influenced by Black Sabbath, Saint Vitus, Count Raven, the Finnish scene, the Maryland scene, 60s/70s proto-hardrock, blues and NWOBHM.

Strange Horizon:
Stig V. “Qvillio” Kviljo – Guitar, vocals
Christer S. Lindesteg – Electric bass guitar
Camilla Wergeland Anfinsen – drums on demo and album

Strange Horizon on Facebook

Strange Horizon on Instagram

Strange Horizon on Bandcamp

Apollon Records on Facebook

Apollon Records on Bandcamp

Apollon Records website

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: Leif Herland of Bismarck

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

First and foremost I’m an audio engineer and songwriter at Polyfon Studio, I don’t consider myself a musician although I play bass in several bands. At the studio I produce, record, mix and master music for bands, filmmakers and artists. I’ve been fascinated by sound and music since a very young age, and I started writing and recording music at the age of 16. I took a degree in Music Technology at Glamorgan University in Cardiff in 2011 and have been working with music and sound on a regular basis since then. I started Polyfon Studio in 2019.

Describe your first musical memory.

My first musical memory was my grandmother’s old Yamaha keyboard which had built-in rhythms and different sounds. I played with that a lot!

Describe your best musical memory to date.

I played a show with a band called Sworn at Garage in Bergen for 10-ish people in 2007. At the gig we got discovered by a German fellow who wanted to manage us and book shows for us. A few weeks later we played in front of 6,000 people in Germany, that was surreal and one of my best musical memories to date! We also got to play festivals and went on tour with Behemoth and Aborted!

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

I get tested in my work all the time. It’s important to stay open minded and alway try new things to achieve new sounds and new music! I try not to have any firm beliefs, neither professional nor private ones.

Where do you feel artistic progression leads?

In many cases artistic progression leads to better art. For me constant development and experimentation is key to keep my work interesting, both for me, my bandmates and customers in my studio.

How do you define success?

Success for me is when you can do what you love and make a living out of it. Most bands and artists strive to make this happen and when you’ve found your way and succeed it’s one of the greatest feelings there is!

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

I’ve seen some shit. I especially remember a foul website called rotten.com which had the worst kind of images and videos. I saw a man getting slowly beheaded with a knife when I was about 13 years old and that image stuck with me…

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

I’ve always wanted to create and release an electronic ambient doom album, and I work on it from now and then.

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

I believe the most essential function of art is to give you something. Whether it is anger, sense of relief or provoking doesn’t really matter to me. If the art doesn’t give me anything it is not relevant to me.

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

I’m currently renovating my apartment and I’m very much looking forward to getting it done!

http://www.bismarck.no
http://bismarck.bandcamp.com
http://www.facebook.com/bismarckdoom
http://www.instagram.com/bismarckdoom
https://www.facebook.com/bergenapollonrecords/
https://apollonrecords.bandcamp.com/
https://apollonrecords.no

Bismarck, Oneironmancer (2020)

Bergen, Norway, classic heavy/progressive rockers Kryptograf release their second full-length, The Eldorado Spell, through Apollon Records on Feb. 25. The follow-up to the four-piece’s well-received late-2020 self-titled debut is preceded by standalone singles made for “The Well” and “Cosmic Suicide,” both of which are included here as well as part of an overhead view of a garden of vintage delights. The sometimes-progressive-leaning outfit aren’t through opening track “Asphodel” before they’ve cut from their post-Witchcraft riffing into an acoustic led frolic nodding toward later-Ozzy Black Sabbath, but it’s ultimately the retro influence that wins out in terms of defining their sound — that is to say, Kryptograf build on the aesthetic pioneered by bands like Graveyard and the aforementioned Witchcraft, more than they try to pretend the last half-century of heavy rock never happened.

Either way you go, The Eldorado Spell is duly captivating for its 45-minute run, and further establishes Kryptograf among Northern Europe’s next-generation retro-ist practitioners in bands like Demon Head, Dunbarrow, Stuck in Motion and so on. While keeping an abidingly organic feel, however, Kryptograf don’t lean on aesthetic to take the place of songwriting. The chugging nod groove of “Cosmic Suicide” is familiar enough sounding as an execution of genre, but “Lucifer’s Hand” dips into more severe atmospherics in its second half, and “Creeping Willow” effectively pays off its early tension in a searing guitar solo later on; traditionalist, to be sure, but engaging that tradition toward its own ends as each piece of The Eldorado Spell makes its presence known while serving the grander purpose of the album as an entirety. Worth noting that at 45 minutes, The Eldorado Spell is actually on the longer end of a release of its style, but the proggier sides of “Creeping Willow” and the title-track — the fluidity with which the latter evolves into a kind of moody pastoralism of interwoven layers of guitar and spoken vocals, for example — account for that differential, and even in the interludes “Across the Creek” and the penultimate, mellotron-inclusive “Wormwood,” the time is not at all misspent.

If anything, the burgeoning patience in Kryptograf‘s sound speaks well of the direction Kryptograf are headed, but they still have the energy in their approach to pull influence from “Chylde of Fire” for the closer “The Well” at the end of side B’s immersive run through cuts like “The Spiral” and the bluesy “When the Witches,” with the latter being about as spacious as the band gets in its extended solo jam sounding improvised in its foundation but moving smoothly back to the chorus just the same. Kryptograf are growing, and that’s audible throughout The Eldorado Spell both in the standout pieces like “Cosmic Suicide” and “Creeping Willow” as well as in how the last three tracks flow one into the next. That growth — something to appreciate in itself, mind you — doesn’t take away from the depth of their craft here, however, and as they continue to develop aspects like the multi-vocalist arrangements and to find their niche between proto-metal, classic doom and progressive rock, the identity they’ve begun to shape will likewise find its form. What matters today is that The Eldorado Spell rocks, but it’s the manner in which it does so that will keep listeners returning to the full-LP experience on offer.

I dug the first record but didn’t get to properly cover it (look for it as a Friday Full-Length in a couple years, I guess), so it’s with marked pleasure that I can host the stream of The Eldorado Spell in its entirety ahead of the release. You’ll find it streaming on the player below, followed by a few preliminaries courtesy of the PR wire.

As always, I hope you enjoy:

Kryptograf is back with their second album The Eldorado Spell, to be released in February 25th on Apollon Records.

Inspired by the heavy sound of the late 60s and 70s, the four old souls in Kryptograf from Bergen, Norway will hex you with their collective vocals, destructive riffs and inventive songwriting.

Kryptograf is an eclectic but fiercely focused addition to the doomy Bergen underground.

Tracklist
1. Asphodel
2. Cosmic Suicide
3. Lucifer’s Hand
4. Creeping Willow
5. Across The Creek
6. The Eldorado Spell
7. The Spiral
8. When The Witches
9. Wormwood
10. The Well

Line-up:
Vegard Strand – Guitar / Vocals
Odd Erlend Mikkelsen – Guitar / Vocals
Eirik Arntsen – Drums / Vocals
Eivind Standal Moen – Bass

Kryptograf, “Cosmic Suicide” lyric video

Kryptograf on Bandcamp

Kryptograf on Facebook

Kryptograf on Instagram

Apollon Records on Facebook

Apollon Records on Bandcamp

Apollon Records website

Bergen, Norway, progressive heavy classicists Kryptograf will issue their second full-length, The Eldorado Spell, on Feb. 25, following up on their 2021 single release for the track “Cosmic Suicide,” which is set to feature as well on the LP. That’s fortunate, because I’ve still got the track on my desktop waiting to write about it from when it came out last year. So it goes. I get to these things eventually.

The four-piece outfit have a new lyric video for the aforementioned track, and that’s nifty for those who’ve been doing a better job of keeping up than I, and The Eldorado Spell will also be their answer back to the warm tones and melodic flourish of their 2020 self-titled debut (discussed here), promising a heavier punch that’s fair enough to expect given both “Cosmic Suicide” and album-closer “The Well,” which was also released as a single last Fall.

For those who (also) like to plan ahead, I already hit up the parties involved and am currently slated to stream the full album on Monday, Feb. 21, with a review. Calendar’s marked for it, so keep an eye out. Till then, here are the details off the PR wire:

KRYPTOGRAF To Release New Album The Eldorado Spell in February

New Single Online.

Kryptograf is back with their second album The Eldorado Spell, to be released in February 25th on Apollon Records.

Old school heaviness from Bergen, Norway – and this time the heaviness has been cranked up even more!

Following up on the success of their self-titled debut album from 2020, Kryptograf’s sophomore album titled The Eldorado Spell takes everything even further back to the 70s.

Inspired by the heavy sound of the late 60s and 70s, the four old souls in Kryptograf from Bergen, Norway will hex you with their collective vocals, destructive riffs and inventive songwriting.

Kryptograf is an eclectic but fiercely focused addition to the doomy Bergen underground.

Artist: Kryptograf
Title: The Eldorado Spell
Format: LP, CD, Digital
Label: Apollon Records
Distribution: Plastic Head Distribution
Genre: Heavy/ Doom Rock
Release Date: 25/02/2022

Tracklist
1. Asphodel
2. Cosmic Suicide
3. Lucifer’s Hand
4. Creeping Willow
5. Across The Creek
6. The Eldorado Spell
7. The Spiral
8. When The Witches
9. Wormwood
10. The Well

Line-up:
Vegard Strand – Guitar / Vocals
Odd Erlend Mikkelsen – Guitar / Vocals
Eirik Arntsen – Drums / Vocals
Eivind Standal Moen – Bass

https://kryptograf.bandcamp.com
https://facebook.com/KryptografMusic
https://www.instagram.com/kryptografband/
https://www.facebook.com/bergenapollonrecords/
https://apollonrecords.bandcamp.com/
https://apollonrecords.no

Kryptograf, “Cosmic Suicide” lyric video

Doing things a little differently this time. Yes, it’s still 10 records per day for a total of 50 between today and Friday, but with the utter glut — glutter! — of releases coming out and recently released, I’m doubling up on the Winter Quarterly Review and will be putting together another week of 50 records for January, after the holidays and all the year-end hullabaloo. So it’s 50 now and 50 later. I’ve never done it that way before, and I reserve the right to completely change my mind after this week, but as of right this second, that’s where I’m at. Talk to me again on Friday.

I guess we’d better get started, either way.

Quarterly Review #1-10:

Enslaved, Caravans to the Outer Worlds

With a relatively brief 18-minute excursion that pushes yet-deeper into their particular brand of progressive extreme metal, Norway’s Enslaved continue to walk the increasingly melodic and decreasingly genre-dependent path in following-up 2020’s Utgard (review here). Their affinity for krautrock experimentalism is well established but has never been so forwardly presented as on “Intermezzo I – Lönnlig. Gudlig.,” and the thrust of the opening title-track sets Caravan to the Outer Worlds off with a due sense of motion later complemented by the keyboard-heavy “Ruun II – The Epitaph,” an apparent 15-years-later sequel to the title-cut from 2006’s Ruun (discussed here). Rounding out with “Intermezzo II – The Navigator,” with its almost-motorik space-but-still-somehow-Norwegian-space rock vibe, Enslaved‘s short offering for 2021 demonstrates plainly that they can be whatever and do whatever the hell they want. 30 years from their beginning, they keep growing. Such bands are likewise rare and precious.

Enslaved on Facebook

Nuclear Blast website

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Bisonte & Milana, Mallorca Stoner Vol. 1 Split

It’s not quite what-you-see-is-what-you-get, but the Discos Macarras split Mallorca Stoner Vol. 1 that brings together two tracks each from Spanish outfits Bisonte — also written Bis·nte — and Milana certainly lays out its mission in representing the Mediterranean island’s heavy underground, and Bisonte aren’t through the nine-minute doomer “Unbalanced” before I’m curious just how many volumes the label might be able to put together from Mallorcan acts. Nonetheless, Bisonte‘s wizardly march on “Involuntary Act” flows organically around its downtrodden vibe, and in the more psychedelic “White Buffalo” and burl-lumbering “Forest Tale,” Milana work even quicker to acquit themselves well with an underlying current of noise. However much of a scene there may or may not be in Mallorca, Mallorca Stoner Vol. 1 is a welcome means through which to begin exploring both these acts more and others with whom they might share local stages. One will await Vol. 2 with interest.

Bisonte on Facebook

Milana on Instagram

Discos Macarras website

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Leeds Point, Mother of Eternity

New York’s Leeds Point seem on a doomed course with their Mother of Eternity EP on the opener “High Strangeness,” but they shake it up late with some cowbell boogie, and “The Summoning” further deepens the plot with layered in acoustics and a more lush melody as the trio builds out from their basic guitar-bass-drums configuration. Likewise, the shorter “Long Way Down” is a more straight-ahead ’70s rocker, and the closing title-track meets its initial prog rock melody first with driving riffs and later with more angularity and harsher barking vocals… before bringing it all back around at the end. With Eternal Black out of commission, NYC needs someone to champion traditional doom, but that’s not who these Long Islanders are. Their sound — set forth on their debut full-length some seven years ago; their most recent prior outing was 2019’s Equinox Blues (review here) — is more purposefully diverse. If they’re championing anything here, it’s their individuality. And that suits them.

Leeds Point on Facebook

Leeds Point on Bandcamp

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Ocultum, Residue

The second full-length from Santiago, Chile’s Ocultum, Residue, was first issued by the band independently in 2019. Picked up for a vinyl release through Interstellar Smoke Records, the four-song/49-minute long-player (bong)rips into filthy-fuzz doom and scabbed-over sludge, the lumbering coming in one longform nod after another in “The Acid Road” and “Residue” itself — which might be the most densely-toned inclusion of the bunch, but it hardly matters when the 16-minute “Ascending With the Fumes of the Dead” and the 12-minute “Reflections on Repulsiveness” and you’re either on board with Ocultum‘s periodically-deathly-always-fucked style by then or you’ve probably been so grossed out that you’ve gone and gotten yourself a job, decided you were never really so misanthropic to start with, and that what you thought was the inner scum of your existential makeup was just you needing to have lunch or take a shower or some shit. Meanwhile, Ocultum are over here shrooming up and worshiping decay. Different league entirely. Even the quietest moments of Residue are heavy. There’s just no escape from it.

Ocultum on Facebook

Interstellar Smoke Records store

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Cruel Curses, Fables, Folklore & Other Assorted Fever Dreams

If Tampa, Florida, heavy progressive rockers Cruel Curses decided to approach their third full-length, Fables, Folklore & Other Assorted Fever Dreams, with the goal of writing the entire album as a single-song, well, they did that. Though cumbersome in its title, “Fables, Folklore & Other Assorted Fever Dreams” is 36 minutes of linear-charted fare, twisting through parts both hard-hitting and airy, acoustic and electric and probably what could’ve been different songs if otherwise broken up in some places. Does it really matter? Nah. The finished piece, which is a departure from the four-piece and an impressive achievement in itself, makes its point with prog’s affection for funk propelling as many of its parts as metal’s more aggressive shred. Yet, Fables, Folklore & Other Assorted Fever Dreams does not merely trade between quiet and loud parts so much as fluidly bring the listener along its ebbs and flows, and though not without its element of self-indulgence, the album earns its swagger.

Cruel Curses on Facebook

Cruel Curses on Bandcamp

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Green Hog Band, Devil’s Luck

Give me the raw swing, echoing gurgles and unabashed fuzz of Green Hog‘s “Luck of the Devil” any day of the week. The Brooklynite trio released their Dogs From Hell full-length last year and follow it with the also-sung-entirely-in-Russian sophomore outing, not without its sense of ambience in “Dark Territory” and “Desert King,” the biker-in-space instrumental capper “Ric Moto,” but perhaps even more about the impact of its crashes than the spaces being created. Whatever definition of the word you might want to apply, Devil’s Luck is fucking heavy. And grim, to boot. Still, one could only call “Long Smoke” some kind of stoner rock, even if it is an especially crusty take thereupon, and the novelty of gurgled-out vocals sung in another language, complemented by samples in classic sludgy fashion, isn’t to be understated. If my man’s voice can hold out for a whole set, these guys must put on a killer show.

Green Hog on Facebook

The Swamp Records on Bandcamp

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Adliga, Vobrazy

There are a few different plot threads one might follow along as Vobrazy weaves through its six component tracks, but the debut full-length from Belarusian five-piece bring their varied fare together around a central idea of progressive, metallic doom. Sometimes that manifests as a post-metallic chug as one hears in “Apošni raz,” which leads off, or it can be the growls and black-metal-squibblies-gone-airy of the early going in “Žyvy.” Such shifting arrangements in vocals (in Belarusian) between guitarist Uladzimir Burylau and singer Kate Sidelova add to the unpredictable nature of the band, but there’s no question that melody wins the day, and given how Vobrazy plays out across its 41 minutes, one gets the feeling that the extremity of “Naščadkam” and the more-patient-before-they-hit-the-payoff closer “Bol na sercy” do not coexist by happenstance. The band — completed by guitarist Ignat Pomazkov, bassist Roman Petrashkevich and drummer Artem Voronko — are not light on ambition, aesthetically-speaking, but I like the fact that I have zero guess what their next record will sound like.

Adliga on Facebook

Adliga on Bandcamp

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Buffalo Tombs, Two

While not barebones by any means, with solos aplenty and variety in their tempos readily established between the first two cuts “Slow Wisdom Coming” and “Hot Girl Summer,” there’s still something about Buffalo Tombs‘ aptly-titled second long-player, Two, that comes across as wholly unpretentious, not trying to overstate its own argument or draw the audience away from the riffs and grooves central to its purpose. Wholesome, if not always humble. The six-songer is done in under half an hour, so if you wanted to call it an EP, you could, but even as Eric Stuart brings in a bit of synth for “Dream Breather” and “The Beheading of John the Baptist” in its later percussion-meet-drift-out finish, the Denver instrumentalists maintain a straightforward underpinning, with Stuart‘s guitar/keys/bass met with Joshua Lafferty‘s basslines and Patrick Haga‘s drumming in easily-digested-but-not-earth-shattering fashion, the low end hitting a particular note of righteousness in rolling out “Al Khidr” without being too showy in doing so. I’d be interested to hear them explore their psychedelic side further, but there’s plenty of vibe here in the meantime.

Buffalo Tombs on Facebook

Buffalo Tombs on Bandcamp

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BroodMother, The Third Eye

Though understated in the fullness of its production, BroodMother‘s The Third Eye EP leaves little doubt as to where the Worcester, UK, five-piece are coming from after having issued their first album, Sin, Myth, Power, in 2019. Jay Clark, who produced that outing, drums on and mixed this one, and its four songs readily serve as a sampler for an audience to be introduced to the band’s take on heavy rock and roll. “Spiritual Shakedown” and “Killing for Company” are midtempo riffers, with the latter touching slightly on Acrimony-style hookmaking and chug, while “(The Ballad of) Anti-Matter Man” gets trippy in its intro and shuffles into an apex in its second half before finishing mellow, and closer “The Trick of the Journey” hints toward ’90s crunch but marries it to a bluesier stretch of lead solo guitar. Still, it’s rock and roll, however you want to cut it — straight-up but not lifeless — and BroodMother proudly carry its banner.

BroodMother on Facebook

BroodMother on Bandcamp

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King Bastard, It Came From the Void

From the almost-if-not-entirely-instrumental unfolding of “From Hell to Horizon” and “Kelper-452B” to the black metal vocals on “Psychosis (In a Vacuum),” the harsh sax of “Black Hole Viscera” and the drone-laden 10-minute finisher “Succumb to the Void,” the debut full-length from Stony Brook, New York’s King Bastard, It Came From the Void, seems wilfully bent toward disorienting those who’d dare to take it on. The breadth and spaciousness of its “From Hell to Horizon” isn’t to be understated — neither the percussion chill in its midsection — but the weight that corresponds there and in “Kelper-452B” and through “Bury the Survivors/Ashes to Ashes,” with its Aliens samples and dug-in-its-own-head proggy chaos is no less a factor in making the album as striking a first impression as it is. Jammy, heavy psych, black metal, doom, sludge — you could call King Bastard any of these and not be wrong, but it’s in how fluidly they unite them that their potential shines through.

King Bastard on Facebook

King Bastard links

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