I’ve been waiting for this announcement. I was asked a couple months ago to write the bio for the upcoming Author and Punisher album, Nocturnal Birding, because somebody out there liked my review of the San Diego industrialist’s 2022 album, Krüller (review here). Had a chat (my first) with A&P auteur Tristan Shone for it and everything, talking about the album’s themes of immigration, the natural world, human cruelty, and so on. Turned in a draft that was a little more out there and was met with a fervent “meh.” Turned in a second draft and looks like part of it is used below, so I guess my last couple weeks of feeling like I’d outright failed at the project were premature. I’d rather be pleasantly surprised in this manner, if it’s one or the other.

All of this, however, is just to tell you that I’ve gotten to be fairly familiar with Nocturnal Birding, which packs theme upon theme while at the same time absolutely burying you with the heaviest audio you’ve heard since, let’s say, Krüller, and that it’s a contender in my mind for album of the year. Shone, working in closer collaboration with guitarist Doug Sabolick, has tightened the songs with live presentation as the ideal, and they hit more directly accordingly, without giving up the atmospheric flourish that made the last record feel like so much of a world.

I have more to say and will say it in due time. The following came down the PR wire today. For my own future reference, my portion starts with “After celebrating 20 years…” and ends at, “…mechanized sounds,” which was a fun interplay for me to point out on this one because I was on an album earlier this year that did the same thing. Go figure.

From the PR wire:

AUTHOR & PUNISHER: Announces New Full-Length Nocturnal Birding Out October 3, 2025

Shares “Titanis” Music VIdeo (ft. Kuntari)

EU Nocturnal Birding Tour Through Oct / Nov 2025

US Record Release Shows Nov 12 + 13 in California

PRE-ORDER / PRE-SAVE / WATCH: https://orcd.co/authorandpunisher

After celebrating 20 years since the inception of AUTHOR & PUNISHER in 2024, founding composer, vocalist and mechanical engineer Tristan Shone embraces the project’s broadest scope to-date with Nocturnal Birding.

TRISTAN SHONE comments on the new album:

“When I sat down to start writing this album, I knew I wanted to make songs based on birdsong. The actual first guitar riff is one of the meadowlark’s songs. When you listen to ‘Rook,’ that melody is the rook’s sound. That track is us mimicking one of the rooks’ many songs. I wrote all my tracks around the rhythms and melodies of birds I researched or heard in the wild.”

Today, AUTHOR & PUNISHER shares the official video for Nocturnal Birding’s lead single “Titanis”. The video was filmed this past Summer in Bali, Indonesia live with Kuntari who performed on the studio recording of “Titanis”. Directed by Manda Selena and Ican Harem.

Watch on the Relapse YouTube Channel HERE.

Kuntari comment on the creation of the “Titanis” video:

“its hard to imagine the organic local sequence from us blend with monstrous industrial sound from Tristan. After many hours of discussion we instantly clicked and agreed where the song ended up. The results are beyond our imagination, Tristan easily fluids into fresh territory and we don’t have a border to break to. By far this is one of the most awe inspiring experience for us, not to mention our video production which is insanely epic and hilarious at the same time. The most memorable moment is we share a good laugh along the process”

Nocturnal Birding is out October 3, 2025 on LP/CD/Streaming via Relapse Records.

Pre-Order via Relapse.com HERE: https://www.relapse.com/pages/author-punisher-nocturnal-birding

Pre-Save / Listen HERE: https://orcd.co/authorandpunisher

Tracklisting:
1. Meadowlark
2. Titanis (ft. Kuntari) 03:01
3. Mute Swan (ft. Megan Oztrosits of Couch Slut)
4. Black Storm Petrel (ft. Fange)
5. Titmouse
6. Titmice
7. Rook
8. Thrush

After celebrating 20 years since the inception of AUTHOR & PUNISHER in 2024, founding composer, vocalist and mechanical engineer Tristan Shone embraces the project’s broadest scope to-date with Nocturnal Birding.

In addition to the strong and poignant messaging contained throughout the music, lyrics and artwork, Nocturnal Birding sees Tristan Shone synergizing with an array of artists from across the globe like never before in his career. From the artwork, meticulously designed by French artist Lucile Lejoly (Chat Pile, Roadburn Festival) to the mixing and mastering by Will Putney (Knocked Loose, Heriot, Body Count, Machine Head) to the musical guest appearances from France’s Fange, Indonesia’s Kuntari, and New York City’s Megan Oztrosits of Couch Slut, these outer creative inputs shine throughout the work.

Shone has welcomed collaborators in the past, but guitarist Doug Sabolick (Ecstatic Vision, Plaque Marks, A Life Once Lost, etc.) is the first genuine bandmate in AUTHOR & PUNISHER contributing creatively on guitar in ways that shape the persona of Nocturnal Birding, complementing Shone in melody and wrought tonal heft.

Removing himself from an artistic comfort zone proved fruitful inspiration. There is literal birdsong all over Nocturnal Birding, and transposing those melodies and rhythms to guitar became the root of the material, representing a rare coming together of the natural world and mechanized sounds.

Author & Punisher announce their Europe 2025 Tour, with Bong-Ra on select shows! Find all confirmed dates below.

Tickets are on sale now at AuthorandPunisher.com.

18/10/2025 – Lisbon (PT) – Amplifest #
20/10/2025 – Madrid (SP) #
21/10/2025 – Barcelona (SP)
22/10/2025 – Marseille (FR)
23/10/2025 – Montpellier (FR)
24/10/2025 – Nilvange (FR) %
25/10/2025 – Maastricht (NL) – Samhain
26/10/2025 – Hamburg (DE)*
27/10/2025 – Aarhus (DK)*
28/10/2025 – Oslo (NO)*
29/10/2025 – Goteborg (SE)*
30/10/2025 – Copenhagen (DK)*
31/10/2025 – Berlin (DE)*
01/11/2025 – Gdansk (PL)*
02/11/2025 – Warsaw (PL)*
03/11/2025 – Poznan (PL)*
04/11/2025 – Leipzig (DE)*
05/11/2025 – Frankfurt (DE)*
06/11/2025 – Paris (FR)*
07/11/2025 – Bruxelles (BE)*
08/11/2025 – Lille (FR)*
09/11/2025 – Manchester (UK) – Damnation Festival

http://www.authorandpunisher.com/
https://authorandpunisher.bandcamp.com/
http://instagram.com/authorandpunisher
http://facebook.com/authorandpunisher

http://www.relapse.com
https://relapserecords.bandcamp.com/
http://www.instagram.com/relapserecords
http://www.facebook.com/RelapseRecords

Author & Punisher, “Titanis” official video

Author & Punisher, Nocturnal Birding (2025)

Amsterdam-based longform heavy psychedelic rockers Temple Fang release their new album, Lifted From the Wind, April 25 through respected purveyor Stickman Records. Below, they’re premiering a video for “The Radiant,” and below that, in the blue text you’ll see kind of a brief background on the record that the band asked me to write a couple months ago. It’s not the story of how they got together, or the partnership of bassist Dennis Duijnhouwer (also synth) and guitarist Jevin de Groot (also percussion) going back to their time together in cosmic celebrants Mühr and probably well before that — both on vocals, they are more in harmony than they’ve ever been here, figuratively and literally — or of the deepened collaborative feel as the four-piece have solidified the lineup with guitarist Ivy van der Veer (also Myriad’s Veil) and drummer Daan Wopereis, both of whom also contribute backing vocals.

Lifted From the Wind isn’t the first Temple Fang studio LP, even if it feels like the beginning of their future. One might be forgiven for thinking of it as a kind of debut since it seems both so fresh in its delivery and so much like a moment of arrival and declaration for the band. And neither 2021’s Fang Temple (review here) nor any of the handful of live outings they’ve done since manifests their sound in the way Lifted From the Wind does.

This happens across an encompassing five-song/74-minute sprawl, and that is going to be an attention test for some listeners to be sure — I don’t know when the last time you tried to concentrate on anything for an hour was, but I’ve made a recent attempt and the results were nowhere near as gorgeous as the expansive verse and proggy twisting riffery, lush melody, heavy underpinning and welcoming grace of “The River,” which both gets outwardly heavier than Temple Fang have ever been and aligns their ethic of massive jamming around a structure of verses, allowing the band to tell their story in a different way than they have to this point.

If you’re worried, I get it. The jams are still there. We’re talking about a question of balance of the elements in Temple Fang‘s sound, and yes, as discusssions go, it’s heady, nerdy shit. Know this: If you’ve never heard Temple Fang before there’s still a decent chance Lifted From the Wind ends up on your list of 2025’s best albums, unless you have some moral objection to life-affirming heavy psychedelia, spiritual realization or, like, sunshine. I’m not saying the album is without its challenging aspects.

The 2LP puts “The River” and “Once” on the A and B sides, respectively, with de Groot‘s lyrics around the nine-minute mark in the latter, “Once you feel the sadness/You become the sadness/When you let it go/It finds another home/Shackles will explode,” leading into a tempo kick of swirl nonetheless plotted in its trajectory before the flow ebbs and the ebb flows, the build builds and they cruise, backing vocals arriving in a call and response on repeated lines until another starburst after 13 minutes in. Speedier solocraft and rhythmic rush ensues, but the last five minutes of Lifted From the Wind‘s longest track, summarized by the lyric, “Once you feel this way, then you surrender,” move into cymbal wash and ethereal noodling around this repeated mantra. Surrendering advised.

A belly breath starts “Harvest Angel” at the outset of side C, and fair enough. “Harvest Angel” bring shorter than “Once” by eight minutes gives it a more straightforward initial impression, but don’t be fooled, there’s a whole infinite of ‘far out’ in/out there to be explored. Languid at the start, and almost a little like ‘Temple Fang does the blues,’ the song transitions to a speedier, jazz-proggier stretch in its second half, everybody singing overtop, and though they give the listener a moment to recover afterward — nothing if not considerate — the intention behind the placement of the centerpiece feels all the more purposeful.

“Harvest Angel” and “The Radiant” are the only two inclusions to share a side, and de Groot‘s guitar-following vocals at the end of the former give the standalone drums at the beginning of the latter clear reign to create a feeling of movement. If you haven’t already stopped reading this and listened to the song — thanks, but don’t feel obligated to make the blah-blah journey — you’ll find it a resoundingly efficient encapsulation of what Lifted From the Wind is doing in terms of not grounding the band’s sound but giving new and solid shape to the skies in which they’ve largely heretofore floated. There’s an engaging hook delivered in harmonized layers, and with “The Radiant,” Temple Fang position themselves among Europe’s finer prog-psych .

Could it be a sign of a transition to a more verse/chorus approach? Hell if I know, and just at this moment it doesn’t matter. “The Radiant” is Temple Fang announcing themselves. They’re ready, and since the circa-2019 inception of the band, Lifted From the Wind is what they’ve been working toward. 15-minute capper “Josephine” gives serenity of guitar, gentle cymbals and vocals up front, moves with patience (and choice backing vocals throughout; not gonna spoil it) into a section of intertwining guitar reachout, purposeful twists and pulls somehow not struggling because the pace is so fluid.

They’re not a third of the way through when a more prominent lead takes over, beginning to shift in a section of all-in Dutch prog. It stops, it turns, and it’s precise instrumentally in a way Temple Fang have not been until this record. Closing the album with a love song is reasonable for an offering that has so much heart at root across the board, and in both the forward emotional expression of the lyrics and the takeoff of the instruments accopanying them, “Josephine” resolves in gorgeousness as it invariably must, piano lines in among the dream of guitar and light-bouncing groove that takes the record into its final fadeout.

Granted, if they were arrogant about it, the whole thing would fall flat, but my only gripe with Lifted From the Wind is how obviously its finished form wasn’t. By implying communion with the otherwordly in the making of the songs — which the sonic aesthetic reinforces; I am a firm believer in the jam-room conversation between instruments as a moment with something beyond oneself — the band skillfully redirects the conversation around the material from the clear work they have done, not only in nailing their performances in the studio, but in undertaking a willful aural growth and progression over the last six years that’s brought them to this moment of triumph. That harmony in “Harvest Angel” and that shuffle in “The Radiant” didn’t happen by accident. These are works of craft, of mastery, and deserve consideration as such, even if the four-piece aren’t going to lay them out that way for you.

With a few weeks still to go before the release, I offer the video for “The Radiant” premiering below, and encourage you to enjoy. Thanks for reading:

Temple Fang, “The Radiant” video premiere

With ‘Lifted From the Wind,’ Temple Fang posit their creativity not only as a communion with each other — a conversation of instruments — but with something more ethereal.

Their psychedelia is one of soul as much as sound, and where plenty of bands out there cast their songs as rituals, Temple Fang convey the joy of true reverence in the name of sonic exploration and, now more than ever, craft.

That’s right, kids. They’re still plenty sprawling, but these are the most refined songs Temple Fang have wrought to-date from their particular corner of the cosmos (somewhere in Amsterdam), digging into repetition for hypnosis and emphasis alike, and remaking various notions of heavy in their image.

‘Lifted From the Wind’ helps give shape to the trajectory Temple Fang have been on from their outset, and feels like a moment of arrival in terms of manifesting a vision of who they want to be. It’s a special, deeply honest record, and whatever Temple Fang do from here on out, a Landmark in the life of this band. You’d be lucky to see others working under its influence. – JJ Koczan, Feb. 2025.

Tracklisting:
1. The River (18:24)
2. Once (21:11)
3. Harvest Angel (12:34)
4. The Radiant (7:26)
5. Josephine (15:00)

Temple Fang are:
Dennis Duijnhouwer: Vox, Bass, Synth
Jevin de Groot: Vox, Guitar, Percussion
Ivy van der Veer: Guitar, Vox
Daan Wopereis: Drums, Vox

Temple Fang, Lifted From the Wind (2025)

Temple Fang on Facebook

Temple Fang on Instagram

Temple Fang on Bandcamp

Stickman Records on Facebook

Stickman Records on Instagram

Stickman Records website

Heads up on one of the best records you’ll hear this year. At least one of the best records I’ll hear. A Spring release suits Lifted From the Wind, which breathes new life into Temple Fang‘s sound and heavy progressive rock more broadly, the Amsterdam-native four-piece developing their craft a new degree of refinement without giving up the expansive feel of their work to-date — that sense of having gone far out one time a long while ago and stayed there to beam back soulful and immersive psych jams.

I was asked to do a bio for the record, and I did ultimately donate a few thoughts to the cause — the band sent me a file with a bunch of my quotes about them; turns out I’ve said some very nice things about Temple Fang since their inception; I stand by all of it — to go along with a piece they wrote in their own words. The bottom line narrative of the album though is that they’ve moved deeper into traditional songwriting without necessarily giving up the longform methodology of their work to this point, and oof, does it ever work.

If I’m lucky, I’ll get to do a premiere or something from Lifted From the Wind before it’s out April 25, but either way keep an eye for a review. This is a band actively pushing themselves to the next level creatively, and it’s not a thing to be missed. Once you hear “Once.”

The following came down the PR wire and includes dates for the band’s Spring tour:

We are proud to announce the release of our new album ‘Lifted from the Wind’ on Stickman Records on April 25th.

Our most ambitious and realized work yet, we can’t wait for y’all to hear it.

Pre-order starts on March 13th. XO TF

With ‘Lifted From the Wind’, Temple Fang posit their creativity not only as a communion with each other — a conversation of instruments — but with something more ethereal. Their psychedelia is one of soul as much as sound, and where plenty of bands out there cast their songs as rituals, Temple Fang convey the joy of true reverence in the name of sonic exploration and, now more than ever, craft.

That’s right, kids. They’re still plenty sprawling, but these are the most refined songs Temple Fang have wrought to-date from their particular corner of the cosmos (somewhere in Amsterdam), digging into repetition for hypnosis and emphasis alike, and remaking various notions of heavy in their image. ‘Lifted From the Wind’ helps give shape to the trajectory Temple Fang have been on from their outset, and feels like a moment of arrival in terms of manifesting a vision of who they want to be. It’s a special, deeply honest record, and whatever Temple Fang do from here on out, a landmark in the life of this band. You’d be lucky to see others working under its influence. — JJ Koczan, Feb. 2025

‘Lifted From the Wind’
01. The River
02. Once
03. Harvest Angel
04. The Radiant
05. Josephine

Produced by Sebastiaan van Bijlevelt

29/03 Terneuzen, NL Terneuzen on Fire
23/04 Køln, DE Sonic Ballroom
24/04 Duisburg, DE Bora
25/05 Münster, DE Rare Guitar
26/04 Jena, DE Kuba
27/04 Dresden, DE Chemiefabrik
28/04 Hamburg, DE Markthalle
30/04 Amsterdam, NL Secret Show w/ Heath
02/05 Eindhoven, NL Effenaar w/ Mojo & the Kitchen Brothers
03/05 Haarlem, NL Slachthuis w/ Heath
05/05 Augsburg, DE Soho Stage
06/05 Salzburg, AT Rockhouse Bar
07/05 Stuttgart, DE Goldmarks
08/05 Winterthur, CH Gaswerk
09/05 Seewen, CH Gaswerk
10/05 Delémont, CH SAS
11/05 Barberaz, FR Brin de Zinc
13/05 Esch-Alzette, LUX Kulturfabrik w/ Elder
14/05 Tourcoing, FR Le Grand Mix w/ Elder
15/05 Rotterdam, NL Baroeg @ Rotown
16/05 Groningen, NL Vera w/Heath
17/05 Nijmegen, NL Sonic Whip
19/05 Frankfurt, DE Das Bett w/ The Devil and The Almighty Blues
20/05 Karlsruhe, DE P8 w/ The Devil and The Almighty Blues
21/05 Bielefeld, DE Forum w/ The Devil and The Almighty Blues
22/05 Leipzig, DE Werk 2 w/ The Devil and The Almighty Blues
23/05 Oldenburg, DE Cadillac Club

Temple Fang:
Dennis Duijnhouwer – Bass, Vox
Jevin de Groot – Guitar, Vox
Ivy van der Veer – Guitar
Daan Wopereis – Drums

https://www.facebook.com/templefangband
https://www.instagram.com/templefang/
https://templefang.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/Stickman-Records-1522369868033940/
https://www.instagram.com/stickmanrecords/
https://www.stickman-records.com/

Temple Fang, Live at Krach am Bach (2024)

Concurrent to opening preorders for reissues of 2020’s Black Metal (review here) and 2016’s Nucleus (review here) both backed by the band’s new label, Heavy Psych Sounds, Sweden’s Witchcraft today unveil the first audio from their new full-length, Idag, out May 23. You can see below I wrote the bio, so I’m not going to pretend not to have heard it or that what’s happening sound-wise on it isn’t a big deal. In a song like “Burning Cross,” which is a swinging and classically dark first single, it’s the most in-conversation with doom Witchcraft have been in 20 years. That’s not minor in my mind.

I’ll have more to come — I hope — before May 23 gets here, but you can hear the song at the bottom of this post (Decibel had the premiere; I’ll never be that cool and I’ll always be insecure about it) and see what you think. If you want more of my take on the thing at this point, read ‘Album Description & Bio’ below.

Here’s how it came down the PR wire:

Heavy Psych Sounds to announce WITCHCRAFT new album IDAG – presale starts TODAY !!!

Today we are stoked to start the presale of the WITCHCRAFT upcoming brand new album IDAG !!

RELEASE DATE: MAY 23rd

ALBUM PRESALE: https://www.heavypsychsounds.com/shop.htm#HPS353

USA PRESALE: https://www.heavypsychsounds.com/shop-usa.htm#HPS353

TRACKLIST
SIDE A
Idag – 8:07
Drömmar av is – 2:55
Drömmen om död och förruttnelse – 3:24
Om du vill – 2:36
Gläntan – 1:02

SIDE B
Burning Cross – 4:59
Irreligious Flamboyant Flame – 3:54
Christmas – 6:07
Spirit – 6:30
Om du vill (Slight Return) – 0:44

ALBUM DESCRIPTION & BIO

More than 20 years after their debut, Witchcraft’s seventh album, ‘IDAG,’ is an awaited full accounting of who they are as a band. Those who have clamored for the return to an earlier sound rooted in ’70s classic progressive and heavy rock will delight to the strut of “Irreligious Flamboyant Flame” while the eight-minute opening title-track is the heaviest the band have ever sounded, and a succession of interspersed acoustic-based pieces helps create a vision of a new, soulfully folkish doom taking shape as they continue to move inexorably forward.

Founding guitarist/vocalist, Magnus Pelander, says of ‘IDAG’: “This album will reap souls and destroy wicked minds. And perhaps mend a couple of broken ones.”

These enigmatic few words from the Swedish band’s main songwriter give clues as to the songs’ intentions; a reference dropped to Coven’s 1969 album, ‘Witchcraft Destroys Minds and Reaps Souls.’ Coven also had a folkish, proto-doomed take at that point in their history, and that multifaceted nature has been a part of Witchcraft all along. On one level, Magnus is winkingly telling you it’s a Witchcraft record. The actual meaning of that becomes clear when you hear the album and find out just how much ‘a Witchcraft record’ can encompass.

The storyline of Witchcraft’s growth, from Pelander’s starting the band in Örebro in 2000 in the wake of his prior outfit Norrsken’s disbanding. A generational landmark of a 2004 self-titled debut helped spark a retroist movement that has become its own subgenre, but Witchcraft never stopped growing. 2005’s ‘Firewood’ and 2007’s ‘The Alchemist’ introduced more progressive sounds, and five years later, the pointedly modern ‘Legend’ established in 2012 that they had moved beyond the analog worship they had been a part of pioneering within the contemporary heavy rock and doom scene.

In 2016, the 2LP ‘Nucleus’ introduced fuller-toned doom, and 2020’s ‘Black Metal’ diverged into moody acoustic minimalism familiar to some fans from Pelander’s early solo work, but different from anything Witchcraft had done prior. ‘IDAG,’ then, is the tie that draws all of this – more than two decades of exploring and growth – together. Whatever they’ve done in the past and whatever they’ll do in the future, ‘IDAG’ feels like a nexus for defining who and what Witchcraft are. Even crazier, that might be the point of the thing. — JJ Koczan

CREDITS

Recorded and engineered by Johan Elander, Philip Saxin and David Storm.
Mixed and mastered by David Storm. Produced by Magnus Pelander.
All music and lyrics and guitars and vocals by Magnus Pelander.
Drums: Pär Hjulström. Bass: Philip Pilossian. Synth on track 1 by Björn Ekholm Eriksson.

Thanks to: Oscar Johansson for the pigtail and Pär and Philip for dedication and help. Anton Sundell for professional worship of audio files.
Very special extra thanks to: Sean Pelletier for driving the Wheels Of Confusion overboard then back starboards again. For making this LP happen. With peace in his mind. Forever in debt to your priceless advice.
Artwork: John Bauer.
Gatefold photo: Magnus Pelander.
Design: David Bååth.

www.witchraftswe.com
www.facebook.com/witchcraft
https://www.instagram.com/witchcraft.band/

heavypsychsoundsrecords.bandcamp.com
www.heavypsychsounds.com
https://www.facebook.com/HEAVYPSYCHSOUNDS/
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Witchcraft, “Burning Cross”

Don’t get so lost in the 12 minutes of Rwake‘s new single that you don’t realize the act of world-creation happening around you atmospherically, because The Return of Magik — which is the Little Rock, Arkansas, outfit’s first long-player since 2011’s Rest (review here) dwells in the sinister spirituality one can hear manifest in the title-track. The interweaving of vocalists CT and Brittany remains singularly vicious, and the former’s semi-spoken litany in the midsection of “The Return of Magik” is righteously weird and correspondingly from the heart. Rwake have never been about catchy hooks or fodder for light-listening. “The Return of Magik” asks you to immerse accordingly.

I was fortunate enough in December to do some bio writing for the album. Some of that appears below — “Years have now…,” the part about Austin Sublett and the paragraph after — which is neat if you happen to be me, but the real crux here is the song itself, which lays out a scope and vibe that really is Rwake‘s own, however one might align them to post-sludge or another niche of the like. Extreme swamp doom mysticism? Eventually, you keep paring down elements, and Rwake are just Rwake.

The PR wire gives it back thusly:

RWAKE To Release First New Album In Over 13 Years, The Return Of Magik, On March 14th Via Relapse Records; New Video/Single Now Playing + Preorders Available

Watch/stream RWAKE’s “The Return Of Magik” HERE: https://orcd.co/rwake

After thirteen years of silence, an unsettling sound that is strangely familiar yet somehow even more haunted re-emerges from the Arkansas depths. There is no mistake as to what this is. RWAKE has released a new transmission. The Return Of Magik, set for release on March 14th via Relapse Records, has arrived.

Years have now fed into an album that reaches into a swirling, cosmic unknown – RWAKE has grown, and the perspective of the material has shifted accordingly. Overwhelming at its peak and haunting during moments of respite, The Return Of Magik is undeniably RWAKE. Every movement feels like an emotionally engrossing journey. Arrangements carefully and thoughtfully built in layers over a period of years lend mystique and a feeling of building toward a cathartic release. There is no box into which the material might fit other than one with the band’s name on it.

Today, the band shares the official video for the album’s title track.

Watch RWAKE’s “The Return Of Magik” video, directed by Nouvel Photo & Film, on YouTube HERE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2_UhRDLZRI Stream the track HERE: https://orcd.co/rwake

The Return Of Magik will be released on CD, LP, and digital formats. Find preorders at Relapse.com HERE.

The Return Of Magik Track Listing:
1. You Swore We’d Always Be Together
2. The Return Of Magik
3. With Stardust Flowers
4. Distant Constellations And The Psychedelic Incarceration
5. In After Reverse
6. Φ

Additionally, RWAKE has announced their first shows of 2025 around the release of The Return Of Magik including a hometown release show on March 15th.

RWAKE Live:
3/14/2025 Eastside Bowl – Nashville, TN
3/15/2025 Rev Room – Little Rock, AR * Record Release Show
4/11/2025 Bear’s – Shreveport, LA
4/12/2025 Siberia – New Orleans, LA

Recorded in early 2024 at East End Sounds in Hensley, Arkansas, The Return Of Magik introduces RWAKE’s new lead guitarist Austin Sublett with a barrage of shredded solos suited to the angular, progressive metal riffing of the album’s most jaw-clenching moments, while presenting a through-line of molten, immersive ambience. The opener “You Swore We’d Always Be Together” – already a fixture of live sets – and the expansive sprawl of “Distant Constellations And The Psychedelic Incarceration” move with cruelty and grace alike. Foreboding, syncopated riffs sway against Moog-driven space and guttural bellows. The Return Of Magik’s songs stand alone as individualized post-metallic blends of genres.

RWAKE remains dually fronted; Chris Terry’s powerful vocals lay against Brittany Fugate’s visceral screams. Jeff Morgan returns to the drum kit, in addition to acoustic guitar and 12-string bass. Bassist/noisemaker Reid Raley, Sublett, and fellow guitarist John Judkins set an instrumental backdrop that is vast and engrossing in itself – quiet, contemplative passages often explode into gut-wrenching, doomed out distortions. The Return Of Magik, which features artwork by Loni Gillum of Minerva’s Menagerie and RWAKE, burns brighter and beyond the ferocity of the band’s already storied catalog.

Although the Magik may be bleak, the manner in which RWAKE revels in it can only be called a celebration.

RWAKE:
C.T. – vocals, words, theme
Reid – bass guitars, distortion
John – guitars, lap + pedal steel, 12-string bass
Austin – guitars
Brittany – energy peddler, keys and a microphone
Jeff – drums, acoustic guitar, 12-string bass

* “…Psychedelic Incarceration” written and spoken by Jim “Dandy” Mangrum, February 17th, 2024 in Black Oak, Arkansas.

https://facebook.com/rwakeband
https://www.instagram.com/rwakeband/
https://rwake.bandcamp.com/

http://www.relapse.com
http://www.instagram.com/relapserecords
http://www.facebook.com/RelapseRecords
https://relapserecords.bandcamp.com/

Rwake, “The Return of Magik” official video

Okay, no surprise I’m like, “DERP NEW 16 OMG COOL,” because I’m a dork like that. I was lucky enough to be asked to do some bio writing for 16’s upcoming onslaught, Guides for the Misguided, some of which is kind of interspliced with the promotional text below, the quotes and such. I assume the rest sucked. Fine. I hadn’t interviewed Bobby Ferry before, but dude was a sans-bullshit riot as I kind of expected, and was thankfully amenable to letting me rant about how fucking undervalued I think his band is. Because they are.

Having served in a backing capacity for decades in addition to playing guitar, Ferry took over on lead vocals for 16‘s last album, 2022’s Into Dust (review here), and while much of the story since the now-San Diego-based band began their second run with Bridges to Burn (discussed here) has been about the incremental progression they’ve undertaken in that time — also dat chug! — Guides for the Misguided includes clean, melodic singing in a way Into Dust didn’t, and is so purposeful in the doing that, more than three decades from their outset, one can only stand, point a finger at 16 and accuse the band of trying new things. Perish the thought.

Don’t worry. It’s not too pretty. Actually, from where I sit, the cleaner vocals make 16 a stronger band, without question. Another tool in the shed, sure, but the expansion of their dynamic results in richer songs, in material that can cover more ground from its brutalist foundations, and in the case of Guides for the Misguided, it feels like a conscious change, but an organic one helping them to make the album what they want it to be.

You get a preview in the first single “Proudly Damned,” for which a video is streaming below. Don’t be scared. You can handle it. And if you don’t come out the other end looking forward to this record… well, that’s a position with which I respectfully disagree and I think it might be advisable for you to revisit it. Sorry to be so harsh.

More to come, but that’s enough for now. You get the idea. Here’s word from the PR wire. Video’s at the bottom. Don’t skip this band or be put off if you don’t know their work. I’m not fucking around when I tell you this will be on my year-end list for 2025. Yeah, I know January is a week old. See “dork like that” above.

Go:

-(16)- To Release Guides For The Misguided Full-Length February 7th Via Relapse Records; “Proudly Damned” Video/Single Now Playing + Preorders Available

Nearly thirty-five years on, -(16)- remains one of the most enduring, hardest sounding rock and metal entities from North America. The San Diego band redefines heavy on their new album, Guides For The Misguided, set for release on February 7th via Relapse Records!

Bobby Ferry returns at the helm as the band’s visceral vocalist and guitarist, and in true -(16)- fashion, belts out stories of pain and unhinged anguish. Standout tracks like “Proudly Damned” see the band playing at the crowd while Ferry shares tales of personal strife and depression: “To defile and offend/These are the demons found within/The sullen face of communion’s alarm/It’s an incentive to do more harm.” Ferry is absolutely seething while the band plows through a virulent mix of rock, metal, and sludge. Dion Thurman’s pounding drum set, Ferry and Alex Shuster’s heavier-than-anything-else guitars, and the lowest low end from bassist Barney Firks herald tones so low they’re nearly apocalyptic.

Stream “Proudly Damned”: https://orcd.co/16-guidesforthemisguided

Guides For The Misguided will be released on CD, LP, and digital formats. Find preorders at Relapse.com HERE: https://www.relapse.com/pages/16-guides-for-the-misguided

Guides For The Misguided Track Listing:

1. After All
2. Hat On A Bed
3. Blood Atonement Blues
4. Fortress Of Hate
5. Proudly Damned
6. Fire And Brimstone Inc
7. Desperation Angel
8. Resurrection Day
9. Give Thanks And Praises (Bad Brains cover)
10. Kick Out The Chair
11. The Tower (Bonus Track – Superchunk cover)

-(16)- frontman Bobby Ferry comments on Guides For The Misguided, “The album came together after we wrapped the final mix of our last one, Into Dust. It’s all about harnessing creative momentum when it strikes and we’ve been in a kind of creative autopilot for about a decade. When inspiration is there, the rest seems to fall into place effortlessly. Thankfully, we’re still driven to write and perform even after all these years. There’s no grander meaning behind it than simply following that primal urge to create — put your head down and just make something.

“Age has of course given us a fresh perspective,” he continues. “In the eight years since Lifespan Of A Moth, our lineup has shifted. We lost a singer, gained Alex Shuster on lead guitar/producer, and I slid into the lead vocalist rhythm guitarist spot. Lyrically, we’ve moved beyond the personal and inward grievances of our earlier work and embraced broader themes of conflict, like the hypocrisy of religion and its negative effects on the psyche.

“There’s a song called ‘Blood Atonement Blues’ that delves into the story of Ervil LeBaron, often referred to as the ‘Mormon Manson,’ while ‘Proudly Damned’ explores addiction and how it turns into a Pagan Ritual with a witch-like character posing as the opiate – both in substance abuse and the spiritual realm – in parallel. In many ways, this album might be the closest we’ve come to creating a concept record. Including the two covers on the album is meant to lessen this heavy hand and lighten the focus.

“Musically, we are still grasping for the perfect riffs married to the most ideal arrangements. We’re not afraid to lean into the stuff we love: noise, classic rock, hardcore, doom metal, and thrash. We are well aware we are not reinventing the wheel but lovingly fashioning something from us and basically for us, first and foremost.”

Guides For The Misguided closes with the soberingly titled “Kick Out The Chair.” While the track sounds like a culmination of a thirty-five-year career, the band shows no signs of stopping; although the road ahead looks bleak, -(16)-‘s unrelenting trajectory continues upward.

-(16)- Live:
1/31/2025 Scumm – Pescara, IT
2/01/2025 Pippo Stage – Bolzano, IT
2/02/2025 Freakout – Bologna, IT
2/03/2025 Altroquando – Zero Branco, IT
2/04/2025 Vintage Industrial – Zagreb, HR
2/05/2025 Explosiv – Graz, AT
2/06/2025 Kabinet Muz – Bmo, CZ
2/07/2025 Liverpool Club – Wroclaw, PL
2/08/2025 Rockhouse – Salzburg, AT
2/09/2025 7er Club – Mannheim, DE
2/10/2025 V11 – Rotterdam, NL
2/11/2025 Gasttatte Ziller – Goppingen, DE
2/13/2025 Kuudes Linja – Helsinki, FI
2/14/2025 Raindogs House – Savona, IT
2/15/2025 Blah Blah – Torino, IT

– 16 – is:
Bobby Ferry: Guitar, Vocals
Alex Shuster: Lead Guitar
Barney Firks: Bass
Dion Thurman: Drums

http://www.facebook.com/16theband
http://www.instagram.com/16theband
http://www.16theband.bandcamp.com

http://www.relapse.com
http://www.instagram.com/relapserecords
http://www.facebook.com/RelapseRecords
https://relapserecords.bandcamp.com/

16, “Proudly Damned” official video

16, Guides for the Misguided (2025)

As I sit and put this post together, I honestly don’t even know what the single is yet from the Tony Reed-inclusive incarnation of Pentagram‘s forthcoming full-length, Lightning in a Bottle, but I wrote a bio for the record that accompanies the announcement of preorders opening below, and, well, there you go. I stand by those assertions of Pentagram as unkillable as a band. Certainly if they were going to actually end — and to be sure they’ve sort-of-ended plenty of times — it would’ve happened at some point in the last 50-plus years.

Founding frontman Bobby Liebling, joined in this new version of the band by the aforementioned Reed, who also produced Lightning in a Bottle, drummer Henry Vasquez and bassist Scooter Haslip, has arguably burned more bridges than he’s crossed, but I can’t sit here and deny either his stage presence, on-album charisma, or the chemistry of the trio backing him. I guess my feelings on the matter are covered in the PR wire text below, so whether you’re a fan of the band and/or their highly polarizing singer, the news is good. If you’re not, well, you’re probably not reading this in the first place, so maybe I don’t need to worry about it.

The bio starts with the paragraph beginning “You can try if you want…” and ends with “…defiant and perpetual.” I also did a bit of the album description here. That starts with “Between records like…” and ends at “…moment of their own making.”

No, I don’t actually think anyone gives a shit where my inclusions start and stop. That’s for my own future reference, since this site has also kind of become my archive for these things.

Once more unto the PR wire with my wordy ass:

PENTAGRAM share first single off new studio album “Lightning In A Bottle”, out January 31st on Heavy Psych Sounds!

US doom metal titans PENTAGRAM announce the release of “Lightning in a Bottle”, their first studio album in a decade to be issued on January 31st through Heavy Psych Sounds Records. Preorder the album and stream the first single now!

Stream Pentagram’s new single “Thundercrest” at this location: https://youtu.be/lqiYgldW5nw

Between records like Relentless and Show ‘Em How, Pentagram have never wanted for self-awareness in terms of album titles. The gauntlet thrown down by Lightning in a Bottle is very much in this tradition. The 10th Pentagram album sees founding frontman and doom figurehead Bobby Liebling leading a new cast of players that includes guitarist/producer Tony Reed (Mos Generator, Big Scenic Nowhere, etc.), drummer Henry Vasquez (Legions of Doom, Saint Vitus, Blood of the Sun, etc.) and bassist Scooter Haslip (Mos Generator, Saltine). It would be hard to overstate the energy the new band brings to songs like “Live Again,” “Solve the Puzzle” or “In the Panic Room,” but Lightning in a Bottle is unmistakably a Pentagram record, of course in Liebling’s unremittingly charismatic performance and the groove conjured to back it.

Recorded with Reed at the helm, Lightning in a Bottle recalls the best of what has allowed Pentagram to cast an influence across decades and generations of musicians, bands, and worshippers of Riff, and as just their third studio release in the last 15 years, it’s not a moment to neglect as they dig into a cut like “Dull Pain” or “Lady Heroin,” the latter of which is a naked reconciliation on the part of Liebling with a lifelong addiction to opiates that’s become an inextricable part of the Pentagram story. As he wonders in the lyrics, “Lady Heroin, have I seen the last of you?” it becomes difficult to know whether the separation would be through sobriety or death, and that ambiguity becomes part of what makes the song so striking.

It’s not all brooding, even if it is doom. “Thundercrest” is brash and the nodding title-track brings to mind past glories without actually reliving them. The central message, any way you want to look at it, is that no matter how much the band has been through over the last half-century-plus, they remain a singular force. Lightning in a Bottle might not be the first Pentagram reboot, but it brings fresh ideas and dynamic to one of doom’s most classic, formative acts, and as soon as you hit play, the band absolutely own the moment of their own making.

As part of their collaboration with Heavy Psych Sounds, Pentagram are reissuing their entire discography, including an awaited repress of the Show ‘Em How album. All records are available now at this location: https://www.heavypsychsounds.com/

New album “Lightning in a Bottle” (LP/CD/digital)
Out January 31st on Heavy Psych Sounds – PREORDER: https://www.heavypsychsounds.com/

You can try if you want – you wouldn’t be the first – but Pentagram are undeniable. More than 50 years on from the first incarnation of the band, through decades of tumult, hard wins and tough losses, the band has cast an influence across doom the likes of which few have ever attained, and as with Candlemass, or Saint Vitus, Trouble or any other ‘legendary’ name you want to drop, modern doom cannot not take the shape it has without them.

The singular presence of frontman Bobby Liebling has been the consistent driving factor keeping them going against odds, gods, and, sometimes, better judgment, and Pentagram’s history is known almost as much for drama and scandal, the comings and goings of members, sometimes acrimonious, as it is for classic songs like “All Your Sins,” “Be Forewarned” or “Forever My Queen.” In 2011, the documentary Last Days Here let Liebling tell part of the story, from the earliest demos to a flirtation with major-label stardom to the depths of addiction and obscurity. Unflinching and powerful, the film ended with a new incarnation of Pentagram on stage, reviving the band to a new generation of listeners hungry for what in the interim had become a classic, distinctive sound.

Pentagram’s most recent studio album was 2015’s Curious Volume, a follow-up to the record that started the resurgence, 2009’s Last Rites. Their catalog is replete with collected singles, different versions of LPs, and so on, but records like 1985’s Pentagram, 1987’s Day of Reckoning, the arrival of Relentless in 1993 or of the early-works compilation First Daze Here (The Vintage Collection) in 2002 are classics. They’ve inspired countless others not only in the band’s home in the Doom Capitol (Washington D.C./Maryland) region, but around the world, and ready definitions for the term ‘lifer’ are rarely so forthcoming. With a miles-long trail of burned bridges behind them, Pentagram may yet outlive us all.

The list of players who’ve helped shape this legacy is long, from guitarists like Geof O’Keefe (Macabre), Victor Griffin (Death Row, Place of Skulls) and Kelly Carmichael (Internal Void) to bassists like Kayt Vigil (Sonic Wolves), Adam Heinzmann (Internal Void, Foghound), and Greg Turley (Place of Skulls) and drummers like Gary Isom (Spirit Caravan, ex-Wretched), Joe Hasselvander (Raven, The Hounds of Hasselvander), Sean Saley (Satan’s Satyrs) and Pete Campbell (The Mighty Nimbus, Sixty Watt Shaman). That is a fraction of the full list. It is a family tree unmatched in doom, and it hasn’t always been pretty going from one incarnation of the band to the next, but anyone who’s ever counted them out or said, “oh that’s it they’re done,” has only thus far ever sounded foolish in hindsight.

It’s 2024 and Pentagram stand ready for another impossible comeback. A revamped lineup reads like a cast of ringers with guitarist/producer Tony Reed (Mos Generator, Big Scenic Nowhere) taking up six-string duties, Scooter Haslip (also Mos Generator) arriving on bass and Henry Vasquez (Saint Vitus, Legions of Doom, Blood of the Sun) atop the throne on drums, and their 10th studio album, Lightning in a Bottle, as a cause to once again take up arms and hit the road. Aligned with Italian label Heavy Psych Sounds, the album brings new ideas and perspectives while remaining true to Pentagram’s history in riffs and facebound groove.

The new material is delivered with due force, and in songs like “Lady Heroin,” “I Spoke to Death” and “I’ll Certainly See You in Hell,” there’s more than a little reconciliation happening as this version of Pentagram examine the long narrative of which they are now part. There’s no question that wherever the band go, chaos follows, and with Liebling as storyteller, the next controversy looms, but the lesson to take from more than five decades of Pentagram’s existence is that sometimes the mere existence of a thing can be an act of rebellion. Thus, Pentagram, defiant and perpetual.

PENTAGRAM is
Bobby Liebling – Vocals
Henry Vasquez – drums
Tony Reed – Guitar
Scooter Haslip – Bass

http://www.PentagramOfficial.com
https://www.facebook.com/pentagramusa
https://www.instagram.com/pentagram_the_band

heavypsychsoundsrecords.bandcamp.com
www.heavypsychsounds.com
https://www.facebook.com/HEAVYPSYCHSOUNDS/
https://www.instagram.com/heavypsychsounds_records/

Pentagram, “Thundercrest”

Boston-based stalwarts Cortez will release their fourth album, Thieves and Charlatans, this Fall. Set to arrive Oct. 18 through Ripple Music, the band’s follow-up to 2020’s Sell the Future (review here) continues that record’s somewhat darker outlook on their nonetheless melodically-centered, riff-heavy approach, traditional in many respects, but perhaps never more their own than now in terms of representing their metal/rock foundations and varied-of-purpose songwriting. October is a while away, so I don’t want to get into album-review mode and get ahead of things, but the record has been in the works for a while — it was recorded in Summer/Fall 2022 as the credits state below, and in the blue text after the headline is a bio I wrote last year — and time has done nothing to dull its impact.

In terms of style, it is the farthest reaching Cortez have been, but Cortez have never just been about reach so much as what can be done with a grounded sense of craft. That too is all over Thieves and Charlatans, and it coincides with a confidence born of maturity and the awareness-of-self in the material. That is to say, Cortez are intentional in what they do and they know what they’re about as a band. Those aren’t parameters being set or limits imposed — see “farthest reaching,” like, two sentences ago — but there’s a clarity of purpose that just can’t be faked, and it extends to bringing the likes of Craig Riggs (vocalist of Roadsaw, owner of Mad Oak Studio, drummer of Sasquatch, etc.) and Jim Healey (We’re All Gonna Die, Black Thai, countless others in addition to solo work) — two powerhouse singers — to join Matt Harrington on vocals across some of the tracks, both backing in “Levels” and contributing to “Stove Up” and “Leaders of Nobody,” respectively. It’s not the kind of thing Cortez would have done in a less-assured position, but Thieves and Charlatans is the moment, and those songs, as well as the rest of the record, hit just right.

Save a spot on your year-end list for when you hear the album, is what I’m saying.

And so much for “not review-mode.” Fair enough.

Thieves and Charlatans opener “Gimme Danger (On My Stereo” premieres in the video that follows directly here. The bio I wrote begins with “Boston loves…” and ends where my credit is listed (“Words by whatshisface”). I stand by every word of it.

Enjoy:

Cortez, “Gimme Danger (On My Stereo)” video premiere

CORTEZ: New album “Thieves And Charlatans” out October 18Th on Ripple Music (LP/CD/digital)

US Customers – Pre-order physical copies @ https://ripplemusic.bigcartel.com/
EURO Customers – Pre-order physical copies @ https://en.ripple.spkr.media/
Or get your digital AND physical pre-orders WORLDWIDE @ https://ripplemusic.bandcamp.com

Boston loves an underdog, and as double-guitar heavy rock five-piece Cortez pass 15 years since the release of their 2007 debut EP, Thunder in a Forgotten Town, they remain persistently underrated.

Cortez are among the safest bets you can make in heavy rock and roll. Across three full-lengths to-date – 2020’s Sell the Future, 2017’s The Depths Below, 2012’s Cortez – the band has solidified a songwriting process and a straight-ahead, don’t-need-nuthin’-fancy-when-you-can-rock-like-this attitude that is second to none, in their home city or out of it.

Their latest LP, Thieves and Charlatans, demonstrates their ability to, without aping anybody – a bit of Black Sabbath worship in the swaggering “Stove Up” notwithstanding – command a sound that is both classic-rooted and modern in its construction. Working in continued collaboration with producer Benny Grotto at Mad Oak Studio, and with the returning lineup of vocalist Matt Harrington, guitarists Scott O’Dowd and Alasdair Swan, bassist Jay Furlo and drummer Alexei Rodriguez (although he has since been replaced by Kyle Rasmussen) – as well as guest vocal spots from Craig Riggs (Kind, Roadsaw, Sasquatch, etc.) and Jim Healey (We’re All Gonna Die, Black Thai, Blood Lightning, etc.) – Thieves and Charlatans sees them look forward as ever while regarding their past in a new way.

“The Song ‘Stove Up’ is a tribute of sorts to Tony D’Agostino (our former guitarist),” says the band. “The music dates back to the period after Thunder in a Forgotten Town, when that lineup was writing songs for what eventually became the self-titled. We had played the song live a handful of times with the Thunder lineup but scrapped it once Tony left the band. We decided to rework it and have Matt add some vocals as a callback to our beginnings as a band.”

While the sprawl and doom-chug largesse of the eight-minute “Levels” – finding new ones, are Cortez – aren’t to be understated, even the verses of the Non-LP track “Odds Are” seem to be a solo, and closer “Solace” builds to as consuming an emotional finish as Cortez have ever wrought, the band makes clear statements of who they are in “Leaders of Nobody” and “No Heroes” and still have a party in “Gimme Danger (On My Stereo)” without giving up either impact or movement of the songs that follow. It is an attention to detail that serves them well.

“We were a bit selfish while writing and recording this album,” says O’Dowd. “There’s probably one of our catchiest songs in ‘Gimme Danger (On My Stereo),’ and yet some of our longer, gloomier songs as well. There are also more complex guitar and vocal arrangements than in the past.”

“This album is an anomaly of sorts because these songs were written and recorded in a vacuum, during a pandemic,” reminds Harrington. “Cortez has never been shy about playing new songs before they are released, and this is the first time we didn’t have the filter of an audience. I feel like this is a more personal record as a result. We wrote these songs as friends in a room that no longer exists, holding onto something real in a prolonged period of extreme doubt, and we present them in the same way.”

With unmatched consistency of craft and performance, Cortez’s willful progression continues through Thieves and Charlatans, a record born boldly of tumult that speaks to past as much as future that’s just waiting for you to take it on. (Words by JJ Koczan)

CREDITS
All songs written and performed by Cortez. “Stove Up” written by Tony D’Agostino and Cortez.
Recorded and mixed by Benny Grotto at Mad Oak Studios Summer/Fall 2022
Mastered by Alan Douches at West West Side Music
Album artwork by Titukh

Alexei Rodriguez performed all drums on Thieves And Charlatans.
Additional vocals by Jim Healey on “Leaders of Nobody” and “Levels”
Additional vocals by Craig Riggs on “Stove Up” and “Levels”
Additional percussion and synth by Benny Grotto

CORTEZ is:
Matt Harrington – Vocals
Scott O’Dowd – Guitar
Alasdair Swan – Guitar
Jay Furlo – Bass
Kyle Rasmussen – Drums

Cortez website

Cortez on Instagram

Cortez on Facebook

Cortez on Bandcamp

Ripple Music on Facebook

Ripple Music on Instagram

Ripple Music on Bandcamp

Ripple Music website