Posted in Features on July 22nd, 2025 by JJ Koczan
The Godfather of Heavy Metal, Ozzy Osbourne, has passed away at the age of 76. His family confirmed his death in a statement on the BBC: “It is with more sadness than mere words can convey that we have to report that our beloved Ozzy Osbourne has passed away this morning. He was with his family and surrounded by love. We ask everyone to respect our family privacy at this time.”
Ozzy, born Dec. 3, 1948, as John Michael Osbourne, rose to prominence with Black Sabbath in the 1970s and from there, cast an indelible mark on metal music. Like Lemmy Kilmister, Ronnie James Dio, and other major figures who’ve preceded his passing, his is an influence that is impossible to measure because it continues to expand every day. An icon, he is a part of the culture.
Alongside guitarist Tony Iommi, bassist Geezer Butler and drummer Bill Ward, Osbourne established Black Sabbath at the nexus point where hard rock turned darker and became heavy metal. Their 1970 debut remains the first in a succession of debatably six landmark albums, and though he’d sing on nine Sabbath records ultimately — the final one being 2013’s reunion platter 13 — that initial run helped shape metal and launched the solo career that helped Osbourne make his name separate from the band he set out with.
Ozzy would release 12 or 13 albums under the band name Ozzy Osbourne, the latest of which, Patient Number 9, came out in 2022. From his 1980s heyday with records like his 1980 debut, Blizzard of Ozz, 1981’s Diary of a Madman or 1983’s Bark at the Moon, even amid the ongoing New Wave of British Heavy Metal with all its stately pretenses, Ozzy managed to communicate to his audience collections of songs that were comparatively down to earth (which would be the name of a later album), relying on charisma and the quality of the performances of generational-talent guitarists like Randy Rhoads, Jake E. Lee, Zakk Wylde, and others.
Founding Ozzfest in the late 1990s helped solidify Ozzy as a household name, not to mention his circa-then reunion with Black Sabbath, but it was the reality show The Osbournes, which aired on MTV from 2002-2005, that really brought pop-stardom to Ozzy, his wife and manager Sharon, and their kids Jack and Kelly (their eldest daughter, Amy, opted not to appear). Next-level fame came largely at the cost of dignity and the ‘Prince of Darkness’ image Osbourne had fostered leading up to those show seasons, but Ozzy would outlast even his own novelty, and be back on the road with his band, putting out records and dumping buckets of water on gleeful audiences.
Osbourne’s passing comes on the relative heels of a celebration of his life and work that saw artists from across generations gather — from Alice in Chains and Pantera to Yungblood — to play his and Black Sabbath’s songs in Birmingham, England, where it had all started so many years before. For one last time, Ozzy, Tony, Geezer and Bill took the stage. It will never happen again.
Heavy metal would not be what it is today without Ozzy Osbourne. I probably wouldn’t be here, you probably wouldn’t be here, the heavy underground probably wouldn’t exist. And like few figureheads, Ozzy never gave up his passion for performing and being with his audience. Seated on a well-earned throne, racked by the Parkinson’s Disease he was diagnosed with in 2019, he may not have looked strong, but the fire was still in him. Even if he couldn’t get it out.
The story is more complicated in reality, but if you said, “Black Sabbath invented metal,” you wouldn’t get a ton of argument. There is no other legacy to match his. There was ever, will only have ever been, one Ozzy Osbourne.
His memory will remain in the work that he’s done, in his family and those whose lives he touched either directly or not, and of course in the influence he’s had. We mourn his loss, and cherish the music and the community around it. Hail Ozzy Osbourne. May he rest in peace.
Whether they’re covering Billy Idol‘s “White Wedding,” blasting a sax and trumpet at the end of the ultra-swinging “The Fool” or telling you to “Scream Bloody Murder” in the night, Margarita Witch Cult have stepped up their game with their sophomore LP, Strung Out in Hell. Set to release on July 18 through Heavy Psych Sounds, it is the follow-up to the Birmingham, England, trio’s lauded 2023 self-titled debut (review here), with a sharp-cutting nine songs across 37 minutes of raw garage doom, proto-metal, scummer rock, and whatever brand of dirt-coated blowout “Conqueror Worm” is on offer for willing heads, truants, drunkards and general reprobates.
I’ll spare you a deep-dive because the record’s not out for a month and a half, but I got asked last-minute-style to host the premiere of “Scream Bloody Murder” as the lead track from the record and there are a couple things you should know going in. First of all, oof, that’s catchy. The debut wasn’t shy about an Uncle Acid influence, and part of that is represented here by a push into a nastier sound generally. There’s still melody, as “Scream Bloody Murder” demonstrates, but there’s a harsh streak in Margarita Witch Cult beyond the violence of the lyrics that Strung Out in Hell uses to make a central part of its impression.
But only part. As biting as “Dig Your Way Out” is and as much as “Who Put Bella in the Wych Elm” wraps with its own harsher moments, “Witches Candle” sounds like early Nebula tripping on occult biker magazine covers from 1968, the “White Wedding” cover — which is the side A finale and centerpiece of the tracklisting — is rougher than the original of course but fairly reverent, and “Mars Rover” touches on classic turn-of-the-century stoner rock with a fuzzy shove that can’t be faked. Strung Out in Hell presents itself as barebones, tapping into something ancient in metal, and the budget iconography of its rad-as-hell cover art referencing the songs bears that out (note the screaming cyclops skull; that’s for “Scream Bloody Murder”), but all is not as simple as it first appears and there is sonic range taking hold in their sound. Whether you hear that in “The Fool” or pointedly ’70s opener “Crawl Home to Your Coffin” will ultimately be up to you, but it’s there to be heard.
Volatility is a crucial element, but don’t expect outright chaos going into either “Scream Bloody Murder” or the LP it’s representing as the first single. Margarita Witch Cult send a clear message that the first album wasn’t a fluke and that they’re willing to chase their darker impulses in craft wherever they may lead. So be it, screaming bloody murder in the night.
“‘Scream Bloody Murder’ is an irresistible slice of classic heavy metal- an unapologetically melodious anthem for the damned that worms its way into the cerebral cortex and takes up permanent residency- just like the night terrors it depicts. Shock rock for the wretched soul- equal parts stadium-size banger and soundtrack for the dingiest dive-bar- it perfectly captures the essence of Margarita Witch Cult’s bombastic unrepentant sophomore album.”
Birmingham, UK’s doom rock torchbearers MARGARITA WITCH CULT are set to return with a bang this summer, with their sophomore album “Strung Out In Hell” to be issued on July 18th through Heavy Psych Sounds Records.
TRACKLIST SIDE A Crawl Home To Your Coffin – 4:07 Scream Bloody Murder – 3:41 Conqueror Worm – 4:21 Witches Candle – 2:38 White Wedding – 4:45 SIDE B Mars Rover – 4:53 Dig Your Way Out – 2:27 The Fool – 3:24 Who Put Bella In The Wych Elm – 6:46
CREDITS Recorded & Mixed by Mark Gittins at Megatone Studio, Birmingham, UK Mastered by Scott Middleton at High Wattage Cottage, Ontario, Canada Producer – @mark_gittins_sound / @megatonerecordingstudio Artwork by Dirt Wizard. All songs Copyright Margarita Witch Cult 2025 except Track 5.
Guest Performers Alicia Gardener-Trejo – Baritone Sax on ‘The Fool’ Sam Wooster – Trumpet on ‘The Fool’
Writing Credits All songs written by Scott Abbott except: Track 3 – Conqueror Worm – James Brown / Scott Abbott Track 5 – White Wedding – Billy Idol Track 7 – Dig Your Way Out – James Brown / Scott Abbott
MARGARITA WITCH CULT is: Scott Abbott – Vocals & Guitars James Brown – Bass, Vocals, Synth, Mellotron, Guitars George Caswell – Drums & Vocals
Posted in Whathaveyou on May 16th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
Note the cover art with its various iconography culled from the song titles. Whatever you do, don’t miss the Mars rover. Classic ’80s metal vibes there that have me somewhat curious as to how Birmingham heavy rock trio Margarita Witch Cult will have progressed from their well-received 2023 self-titled debut (review here), but there’s no audio yet to begin to get a sense. They’ll get there, I’m just impatient with this stuff.
Whatever the three-piece are up to in pieces like “Conqueror Worm” and “Crawl Home to Your Coffin,” the safer bet is it’ll be over the top, as that’s where the self-titled spent a good portion of its time. There’s still the better part of two weeks before the first single gets posted though, so really what they’re doing is laying the groundwork and getting those who dug the first record to snag the second one on spec, which honestly probably isn’t a bad call to make. I’m sure when one pressing sells out they’ll do another, because why not, but if you don’t look at this cover and want a first pressing, I feel like maybe you need to re-up your appreciation for the absurd.
From Heavy Psych Sounds via the PR wire
MARGARITA WITCH CULT – Strung Out In Hell
– sophomore album for the UK proto metal – doom riffers –
Today we are stoked to start the presale of the MARGARITA WITCH CULT upcoming sophomore album STRUNG OUT IN HELL !!
FIRST SINGLE COMING OUT ON ALL DIGITAL PLATFORMS MAY 28th
RELEASED IN 15 ULTRA LTD TEST PRESS VINYL 100 ULTRA LTD SIDE A – SIDE B YELLOW/ORANGE/RED VINYL 100 ULTRA LTD HALF-HALF TRANSP./RED TRANSP. + SPLATTER BLACK VINYL 400 LTD GOLD NUGGET VINYL BLACK VINYL DIGIPAK DIGITAL
TRACKLIST SIDE A Crawl Home To Your Coffin – 4:07 Scream Bloody Murder – 3:41 Conqueror Worm – 4:21 Witches Candle – 2:38 White Wedding – 4:45 SIDE B Mars Rover – 4:53 Dig Your Way Out – 2:27 The Fool – 3:24 Who Put Bella In The Wych Elm – 6:46
ALBUM DESCRIPTION Margarita Witch Cult captured lightning in a bottle with their 2023 debut- a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it behemoth that saw the band thrash and burn through Europe and the UK, picking up legions of fans and touring with the likes of Cancer Bats, Monster Magnet and Nebula.
Now, the Birmingham trio are set to pick their teeth with the bones of their own past- as their second LP ‘Strung Out In Hell’ takes everything that was so compelling about their debut and turns the knob up to 11; rips off the knob; throws the knob into the fires of hell and cackles maniacally in the wake of its demoniacal glory.
From top-to-tail, ‘Strung Out In Hell’ is a cloven hoof to the chest; a dizzying descent through infernus. It will caress you only to chew you up and spit you out. It is the soundtrack to the afterparty of all life on earth. Succumb to its sordid siren song. Bolder, stranger, and downright more mean, there’s no better time to jump on the Margarita Witch Cult train- and it’s going straight down, fast.
CREDITS Recorded & Mixed by Mark Gittins at Megatone Studio, Birmingham, UK Mastered by Scott Middleton at High Wattage Cottage, Ontario, Canada Producer – @mark_gittins_sound / @megatonerecordingstudio Artwork by Dirt Wizard. All songs Copyright Margarita Witch Cult 2025 except Track 5.
Guest Performers Alicia Gardener-Trejo – Baritone Sax on ‘The Fool’ Sam Wooster – Trumpet on ‘The Fool’
Writing Credits All songs written by Scott Abbott except: Track 3 – Conqueror Worm – James Brown / Scott Abbott Track 5 – White Wedding – Billy Idol Track 7 – Dig Your Way Out – James Brown / Scott Abbott
MARGARITA WITCH CULT is: Scott Abbott – Vocals & Guitars James Brown – Bass, Vocals, Synth, Mellotron, Guitars George Caswell – Drums & Vocals
Posted in Whathaveyou on January 20th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
This isn’t the first time UK doom/psych rockers Alunah have been in the position of replacing a vocalist. It was something of a shock last August when Siân Greenaway announced her departure from the band to pursue other projects, but Greenaway herself had taken on the lead singer role after founding bassist/vocalist Sophie Day left, so Daisy Savage comes to the group as the third lead singer in their 19-year history.
Alunah‘s final album with Greenaway was 2024’s Fever Dream (review here), about which the story very quickly became the departing singer. The band have done a couple shows with Savage already and what video I could find is below, but it’s hard to really get a full sense of what she’s bringing to the band from somebody’s social media story (as grateful as I am to that same person for posting the clip in the first place). The real tell will be when and if they get to work on their next recording, which feels both like it should happen quickly since there’s a new lineup to embark on and solidify, and too soon because a record just came out.
A pickle in time and space, but again, Alunah are pros and can be trusted to steer through the change with veteran maturity. I look forward to hearing Savage in action with the band. Continued best wishes, onward ever forward, all that get-out-there-and-kill-it-type stuff.
Their announcement and a new show confirmation are below, posted successive days on socials:
Today we’re announcing Daisy Savage as the permanent singer of Alunah.
After having opened for us in her previous outfit Hot Little Hands on our Strange Machine hometown launch show three years ago, and more recently having joined the live fold for two hugely successful festival dates in Leeds and London, the time feels right to announce her as our official bandmate!
Daisy has brought a new energy, charisma and grit to our set that’s made the future feel very exciting, just ahead of our run of festival dates in the UK and Europe this spring and summer.
We’ve got a few aces up our sleeve still to tell you about in good time, but our first show with Daisy officially in the band will be with Brant Bjork and Earl Of Hell in Birmingham on February 1st.
We hope you’ll all make her feel welcome as we embark on this new chapter. 🤘
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‼️GIG ANNOUNCEMENT‼️
Leicester! Following yesterday’s exciting news, we’re pleased to announce a one-off headline show at Duffy’s Bar as a warmup for our run of festivals in the UK and Europe.
We’re working on a set at the moment with old classics, new favourites, and perhaps something we haven’t played live before? 👀
Resin Events is helping to put this one together and we’ll have some special guests opening the night that we’ll let you know about very soon.
Mark your calendars and we’ll see you very soon! Until then, our next show is with ex-Kyuss legend Brant Bjork in Birmingham two weeks today via Rawk Promotions / DJ Harris, and then after this Leicester date we’re in Greece for HPS Athens 🤘
Posted in Reviews on October 11th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
I got a note from the contact form a bit ago in my email, which happens enough that it’s not really news, except that it wasn’t addressed to me. That happens sometimes too. A band has a form letter they send out with info — it’s not the most personal touch, but has a purpose and doesn’t preclude following-up individually — or just wants to say the same thing to however many outlets. Fair game. This was specifically addressed to somebody else. And it kind of ends with the band saying to send a donation link, like, “Wink wink we donate and you post our stuff.”
Well shit. You mean I coulda been making fat stacks off these stoner bands all the while? Living in my dream house with C.O.C. on the outdoor speakers just by exploiting a couple acts trying to get their riffs heard? Well I’ll be damned. Yeah man, here’s my donation link. Daddy needs a new pair of orthopedic flip-flops. I’ma never pay taxes again.
Life, sometimes.
Quarterly Review #41-50:
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Alunah, Fever Dream
The seventh full-length from UK outfit Alunah, Fever Dream, will be immediately noteworthy for being the band’s last (though one never knows) with vocalist Siân Greenaway fronting the band, presiding over an era of transition when they had to find a new identity for themselves. Fever Dream is the third Alunah LP with Greenaway, and its nine songs show plainly how far the band has come in the six-plus years of her tenure. “Never Too Late” kicks off with both feet at the intersection of heavy rock and classic metal, with a hook besides, and “Trickster of Time” follows up with boogie and flute, because you’re special and deserve nice things. The four-piece as they are here — Greenaway on vocals (and flute), guitarist Matt Noble, bassist Dan Burchmore and founding drummer Jake Mason — are able to bring some drama in “Fever Dream,” to imagine lone-guitar metal Thin Lizzy in the solo of the swaggering “Hazy Jane,” go from pastoral to crushing in “Celestial” and touch on prog in “The Odyssey.” The finale “I’ve Paid the Price” tips into piano grandiosity, but by the time they get there, it feels earned. A worthy culmination for this version of this band.
Swiss heavy post-hardcore unit Coilguns‘ fourth LP and the first in five years, though they’ve had EPs and splits in that time, Odd Love offers 11 songs across an adventurous 48 minutes, alternately raw or lush, hitting hard with a slamming impact or careening or twisting around, mathy and angular. In “Generic Skincare,” it’s both and a jet-engine riff to boot. Atmosphere comes to the fore on “Caravel,” the early going of “Featherweight” and the later “The Wind to Wash the Pain,” but even the most straight-ahead moments of charge have some richer context around them, whether that’s the monstrous tension and release of capper “Bunker Vaults” or, well, the monstrous tension and release of “Black Chyme” earlier on. It’s not the kind of thing I always reach for, but Coilguns make post-hardcore disaffection sound like a good time, with intensity and spaciousness interwoven in their style and a vicious streak that comes out on the regular. Four records deep, the band know what they’re about but are still exploring.
Subconscious Awakening is Robot God‘s second album of 2024 and works in a similar two-sides/four-songs structure as the preceding Portal Within, released this past Spring, where each half of the record is subdivided into one longer and shorter song. It feels even more purposeful on Subconscious Awakening since both “Mandatory Remedy” and “Sonic Crucifixion” both hover around eight and a half minutes while side A opens with the 13-minute “Blind Serpent” and side B with the 11-minute title-track. Rife with textured effects, some samples, and thoughtful melodic vocals, Subconscious Awakening of course shares some similarity of purpose with Portal Within, which was also recorded at the same time, but a song like “Sonic Crucifixion” creates its own sprawl, and the outward movement between that closer and the title-track before it underscores the progressivism at work in the band’s sound amid tonal heft and complex, sometimes linear structures. Takes some concentration to wield that kind of groove.
Especially for an experimentalist, drone-based act who relies on audience theater-of-the-mind as a necessary component of appreciating its output, Pittsburgh solo outfit Fuzznaut — aka guitarist Emilio Rizzo — makes narrative a part of what the band does. Earlier this year, Fuzznaut‘s “Space Rock” single reaped wide praise for its cosmic aspects. “Wind Doula” specifically cites Neil Young‘s soundtrack for the film Dead Man as an influence, and thus brings four minutes more closely tied to empty spread of prairie, perhaps with some filtering being done through Earth‘s own take on the style as heard in 2005’s seminal Hex: Or Printing in the Infernal Method. One has to wonder if, had Rizzo issued “Wind Doula” with a picture of an astronaut floating free on its cover, it would be the cosmic microwave background present in the track instead of stark wind across the Great Plains, but there’s much more to Fuzznaut than self-awareness and the power of suggestion. Chalk up another aesthetic tryout that works.
Trad metal enthusiasts will delight at the specificity of the moment in the history of the style Void Moon interpret on their fourth album, Dreams Inside the Sun. It’s not that they’re pretending outright that it’s 1986, like the Swedish two-piece of guitarist/bassist Peter Svensson and drummer/vocalist Marcus Rosenqvist are wearing hightops and trying to convince you they’re Candlemass, but that era is present in the songwriting and production throughout Dreams Inside the Sun, even if the sound of the record is less directly anachronistic and their metallurgical underpinnings aren’t limited to doom between slowed down thrash riffs, power-metal-style vocalizing and the consuming Iommic nod of “East of the Sun” meeting with a Solitude Aeturnus-style chug, all the more righteous for being brought in to serve the song rather than to simply demonstrate craft. That is to say, the relative barn-burner “Broken Skies” and the all-in eight-minute closer “The Wolf (At the End of the World,” which has some folk in its verse as well, use a purposefully familiar foundation as a starting point for the band to carve their own niche, and it very much works.
Best known for slinging his six-string alongside brother Kyle Juett in Texas rockers Mothership, Kelley Juett‘s debut solo offering, Wandering West pulls far away from that classic power trio in intention while still keeping Juett‘s primary instrument as the focus. Some loops and layering don’t quite bring Wandering West the same kind of experimental feel as, say, Blackwolfgoat or a similar guitarist-gonna-guitar exploratory project, but they sit well nonetheless alongside the fluid noodling of Juett‘s drumless self-jams. He backs his own solo in centerpiece “Breezin’,” and the subsequent “Electric Dreamland” seems to use the empty space as much as the notes being cast out into it to create its sense of ambience, so if part of what Juett is doing on Wandering West is beginning the process of figuring out who he is as a solo artist, he’s someone who can turn a seven-minute meander like “Lonely One” (playing off Mos Generator?) into a bluesy contemplation of evolving reach, the guitar perfectly content to talk to itself if there’s nobody else around. Time may show it to be formative, but let the future worry about the future. There’s a lot to dig into, here and now.
With vocalists Kristian Eivind Espedal (Gaahls Wyrd, Trelldom, ex-Gorgoroth, etc.) and Lindy-Fay Hella (Wardruna, solo, etc.), guitarist Ronny “Valgard” Stavestrand (Trelldom) and drummer/bassist/keyboardist/producer Iver Sandøy (Enslaved, Relentless Agression, etc.), who also helmed (most of) the recording and mixed and mastered, Whispering Void easily could have fallen into the trap of being no more than the sum of its pedigree. Instead, the seven songs on debut album At the Sound of the Heart harness aspects of Norwegian folk for a rock sound that’s dark enough for the lower semi-growls in the eponymous “Whispering Void” to feel like they’re playing toward a gothic sentiment that’s not out of character when there’s so much melancholy around generally. Mid-period Anathema feel like a reference point for “Lauvvind” and the surging “We Are Here” later on, and by that I mean the album is intricately textured and absolutely gorgeous and you’ll be lucky if you take this as your cue to hear it.
You know how sometimes in a workplace where there’s a Boss With Personality™, there might be a novelty sign or a desk tchotchke that says, “The beatings will continue until morale improves?” Like, haha, in addition to wage theft you might get smacked if you get uppity about, say, wage theft? Fine. Orme sound like what happens when morale doesn’t improve. The 24-minute single-song No Serpents, No Saviours EP comes a little more than a year after the band’s two-song/double-vinyl self-titled debut (review here) and finds them likewise at home in longform songwriting. There are elements of death-doom, but Orme are sludgier in their presentation, and so wind up able to be morose and filthy in kind, moving from the opening crush through a quiet stretch after six minutes in that builds into persistent thuds before dropping out again, a sample helping mark the transitions between movements, and a succession of massive lumbering parts trading off leading into a final march that feels as tall as it is wide. I like that, in a time where the trend is so geared toward lush melody, Orme are unrepentantly nasty.
Budapest instrumentalist duo Azutmaga make their full-length debut with the aptly-titled Offering, compiling nine single-word-title pieces that reside stylistically somewhere between sludge metal and doom. Self-recorded by guitarist Patrik Veréb (who also mixed and mastered at Terem Studio) and self-released by Veréb and drummer Martin Várszegi, it’s a relatively stripped-down procession, but not lacking breadth as the longer “Aura” builds up to its full roll or the minute-long “Orca” provides an acoustic break ahead of the languid big-swing semi-psychedelia of “Mirror,” informed by Eastern European folk melodies but ready to depart into less terrestrial spheres. It should come as no surprise that “Portal” follows. Offering might at first give something of a monolithic impression as “Purge” calls to mind Earth‘s steady drone rock, but Azutmaga have a whole other level of volume to unfurl. Just so happens their dynamic goes from loud to louder.
After trickling out singles for over a year, including the title-track of the album and, in 2022, an early version of the instrumental “The Freaks Come Out at Night” that may or may not have been from before vocalist Virginie D. joined the band, the hashtag-named #chaleurhumaine delights in shirking heavy rock conventions, whether it’s the French-language lyrics or divergences into punk and harder fare, but nothing here — regardless of one’s linguistic background — is so challenging as to be inaccessible. Catchy songs are catchy, whether that’s “Fada Fighters” or “La Diable au Corps,” which dares a bit of harmonica along with its full-toned blues rock riffing. Likewise, nowhere the album goes feels beyond the band’s reach, and while “La Ligne” doesn’t sound especially daring as it plays up the brighter pop in its verse and shove of a chorus, well made songs never have any trouble finding welcome. I’m not sure why it’s a hashtag, but #chaleurhumaine feels complete and engaging, at once familiar and nothing so much as itself.
Posted in Whathaveyou on August 26th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
Kind of a surprise to see vocalist Siân Blu Greenaway departing from Alunah, and that’s in no small part because the band are about to release a new album, titled Fever Dream, on Sept. 20 through Heavy Psych Sounds. They have shows coming up, too. At least a slot at Heavy Psych Sounds Fest in London this November. I don’t know what’s going to happen with that or with the band going forward, but one assumes Greenaway will shift her focus to her glam rock project Bobbie Dazzle, whose debut LP, Fandabidozi, will be out Oct. 4 on Rise Above Records.
One recalls vividly when Greenaway joined the band in 2017, taking on a standalone-singer role in place of guitarist/vocalist Sophie Day. That was after Alunah‘s 2017 album, Solennial (review here), came out through Svart and reaffirmed the forest-worship doom of the band’s earliest work. The addition of Greenaway would coincide with a shift away from the natural themes that were so much a part of the band’s original persona, and when guitarist David Day followed Sophie out, the metamorphosis was complete. Drummer Jake Mason, bassist Dan Burchmore and guitarist Matt Noble have said that the band will continue, but in just what form or incarnation remains to be seen. Can Alunah pull off remaking themselves twice? Why not?
Ultimately, Greenaway would front Alunah for three albums, including Fever Dream, and the 2018 EP that introduced her to the band’s established listenership. One looks forward to hearing what the future brings for Greenaway with Bobbie Dazzle and for Alunah, and certainly the upcoming LPs from both are given a different contextual shine from the announcement you’ll find below as it appeared on social media this past Friday:
ALUNAH – Announcement
Sian after 7 years with the band is hanging up her velvet catsuits and leaving Alunah.
“Thank you so much to all the fans for the years of love and support and thank you from me to Jake, Dan and Matt for the music we created together. Alunah isn’t over and I wish the boys all the luck as they go forward. I of course have my solo music so I’ll still be performing and I look forward to seeing the next phase of Alunah as they continue.”
Siân’s swansong is released September 20th so preorder “Fever Dream” from HEAVY PSYCH SOUNDS.
Long-running Birmingham heavy rockers Alunah will return with the band’s seventh full-length, Fever Dream, on Sept. 20. Following up 2022’s Strange Machine (review here) and continuing to issue through Heavy Psych Sounds — which last week announced it has re-signed them for this outing — the record also furthers the band’s collaboration with producer Chris Fielding (Conan, etc.), who has now helmed their last four albums going back to 2017’s Solennial (review here).
And while subsequent to that release the band went through their most major lineup shift, which brought vocalist Siân Greenaway on board with bassist Dan Burchmore and founding drummer Jake Mason — guitarist Matt Noble joined in 2020 — the fact remains that Alunah have never put out the same record twice. Their delve into classic heavy vibes can be heard on the suitably-hooky new single “Never Too Late,” and in the sharpness of its tonality and the urgent feel of its groove, there are hints of metal being dropped even as Francis Tobolsky of Dresden, Germany’s Wucan guests on vocals alongside Greenaway, who in the interim since 2022 has also signed to Rise Above with the more glam-rock-oriented project/alter-ego Bobbie Dazzle.
That is to say, “Never Too Late,” while catchy and very much Alunah‘s own, hints at shifts in intention as part of the band’s ongoing creative growth and expanding reach. This will likely be the record that carries them past their 20th anniversary (they started out in 2006), and moving forward feels like the most appropriate way they could possibly honor such a thing, since that’s what they’ve done all along.
Album details follow from the PR wire. “Never Too Late” premieres on the player like three lines down from here and last year’s standalone Alice Cooper cover is at the bottom of the post for further digging.
Get ready to have this one stuck in your head for the rest of the day, and enjoy:
Alunah, “Never Too Late” track premiere
With their third album on Heavy Psych Sounds Records, Alunah have wasted no time in a post-pandemic haze since their last release, balancing being on the European festival circuit alongside touring the UK. However, in a Birmingham rehearsal room away from the outside world, everyday life and online noise, their latest full length “Fever Dream” has been quietly brewing waiting to see the light of day.
Forged from a period of extensive jamming and soul searching “Fever Dream” digs into the core of what makes Alunah tick, being in a room together making the music they want to hear. Recorded during the winter of 2024, the atmosphere of the historic Foel Studio allows groove to flow alongside riff, heft and melody in equal measure. The brooding progressive majesty of the title track, the eastern soundscape of “Sacred Grooves” and the doom and roll of “Far From Reality” each highlight the album’s ability to surprise and deliver in equal measure throughout the emotive journey of its nine tracks. Let yourself fall deep into the “Fever Dream”.
“Never Too Late” combines the bones of an idea we came up with right at the start of the writing process for the album, along with fresh inspiration that happened once in the recording studio. Fran from Wucan graciously added her vocal lines to help surpass our initial vision, so turn it up loud and enjoy.
Credits Produced by Chris Fielding (Electric Wizard, Conan) Artwork by Stefán Ari (The Vintage Caravan) “Never Too Late” additional vocals by Francis Tobolsky (Wucan) “I’ve Paid The Price” additional piano by Aaron B. Thompson (Rosalie Cunningham)
ALUNAH lineup Siân Greenaway – Vocals Matt Noble – Guitar Dan Burchmore – Bass Jake Mason – Drums
Welcome back to the Quarterly Review. Good weekend? Restful? Did you get out and see some stuff? Did you loaf and hang out on the couch? There are advantages to either, to be sure. Friday night I watched my daughter (and a literal 40 other performers, no fewer than four of whom sang and/or danced to the same Taylor Swift song) do stand-up comedy telling math jokes at her elementary school variety show. She’s in kindergarten, she likes math, and she killed. Nice little moment for her, if one that came as part of a long evening generally.
The idea this week is the same as last week: 50 releases covered across five days. Put the two weeks together and the Spring 2024 Quarterly Review — which I’m pretty sure is what I called the one in March as well; who cares? — runs 100 strong. I’ll be traveling, some with family, some on my own, for a bit in the coming months, so this is a little bit my way of clearing my slate before that all happens, but it’s always satisfying to dig into so much and get a feel for what different acts are doing, try and convey some of that as directly as I can. If you’re reading, thanks. If this is the first you’re seeing of it and you want to see more, you can either scroll down or click here.
Either way, off we go.
Quarterly Review #51-60:
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Pelican, Adrift/Tending the Embers
Chicago (mostly-)instrumentalist stalwarts Pelican haven’t necessarily been silent since 2019’s Nighttime Stories (review here), with a digital live release in Spring 2020, catalog reissues on Thrill Jockey, a couple in-the-know covers posted and shows hither and yon, but the stated reason for the two-songer EP Adrift/Tending the Embers is to raise funds ahead of recording what will be their seventh album in a career now spanning more than 20 years. In addition to that being a cause worth supporting — they’re on the second pressing; 200 blue tapes — the two new original tracks “Adrift” (5:48) and “Tending the Embers” (4:26) reintroduce guitarist Laurent Schroeder-Lebec as a studio presence alongside guitarist Trevor Shelley de Brauw, bassist Bryan Herweg and drummer Larry Herweg. Recorded by the esteemed Sanford Parker, neither cut ranges too far conceptually from the band’s central modus bringing together heavy groove with lighter/brighter reach of guitar, but come across like a tight, more concise encapsulation of earlier accomplishments. There’s a certain amount of comfort in that as they surf the crunching, somehow-noise-rock-inspired riff of “Adrift,” sounding refreshed in their purpose in a way that one hopes they can carry into making the intended LP.
Something of a harsher take on A Mortal Binding, which is the 15th full-length from UK death-doom forebears My Dying Bride, as well as their second for Nuclear Blast behind 2020’s lush The Ghost of Orion (review here. The seven-song/55-minute offering from the masters of misery derives its character in no small part from the front-mixed vocals of Aaron Stainthorpe, who from opener “Her Dominion” onward, switches between his morose semi-spoken approach, woeful as ever, and dry-throated harsher barks. And that the leadoff is all-screams feels like a purposeful choice as that rasp returns in the second half of “The 2nd of Three Bells,” the 11-minute “The Apocalyptist,” “A Starving Heart” and the ending section of closer “Crushed Embers.” I don’t know when the last time a My Dying Bride LP sounded so roiling, but it’s been a minute. The duly morose riffing of founding guitarist Andrew Craighan unites this outwardly nastier aspect with the more melodic “Thornwyck Hymn,” “Unthroned Creed” and the rest that isn’t throatripper-topped, but with returning producer Mark Mynett, the band has clearly honed in on a more stripped-down, still-room-for-violin approach, and it works in just about everything but the drums, which sound triggered/programmed in the way of modern metal. It remains easy to get caught in the band’s wretched sweep, and I’ll note that it’s a rare act who can surprise you 15 records later.
Masonic Wave‘s self-titled debut is the first public offering from the Chicago-based five-piece with Bruce Lamont (Yakuza, Corrections House, Led Zeppelin II, etc.) on vocals, and though “Justify the Cling” has a kind of darker intensity in its brooding first-half ambience, what that build and much besides throughout the eight-song offering leads to is a weighted take on post-hardcore that earlier pieces “Bully” and “Tent City” present in duly confrontational style before “Idle Hands” (the longest inclusion at just under eight minutes) digs into a similar explore-till-we-find-the-payoff ideology and “Julia” gnashes through noise-rock teethkicking. Some of the edge-of-the-next-outburst restlessness cast by Lamont, guitarists Scott Spidale and Sean Hulet, bassist Fritz Doreza and drummer Clayton DeMuth reminds of Chat Pile‘s arthouse disillusion, but “Nuzzle Up” has a cyclical crunch given breadth through the vocal melody and the sax amid the multiple angles and sharp corners of the penultimate “Mountains of Labor” are a clue to further weirdness to come before “Bamboozler” closes with heads-down urgency before subtly branching into a more spacious if still pointedly unrelaxed culmination. No clue where it might all be headed, but that’s part of the appeal as Masonic Wave‘s Sanford Parker-produced 39 minutes play out, the songs engaging almost in spite of themselves.
There are shades of latter-day Conan (whose producer/former bassist Chris Fielding mixed here) in the vocal trades and mega-toned gallop of opening track “Sky Father,” which Bismarck expand upon with the more pointedly post-metallic “Echoes,” shifting from the lurching ultracrush into a mellower midsection before the blastbeaten crescendo gives over to rumble and the hand-percussion-backed whispers of the intro to “Kigal.” Their first for Dark Essence, the six-song/35-minute Vourukasha follows 2020’s Oneiromancer (review here) and feels poised in its various transitions between consuming aural heft and leaving that same space in the mix open for comparatively minimal exploration. “Kigal” takes on a Middle Eastern lean and stays unshouted/growled for its five-plus minutes — a choice that both works and feels purposeful — but the foreboding drone of interlude “The Tree of All Seeds” comes to a noisy head as if to warn of the drop about to take place in the title-track, which flows through its initial movement with an emergent float of guitar that leads into its own ambient middle ahead of an engrossing, duly massive slowdown/payoff worthy of as much volume as it can be given. Wrapping with the nine-minute “Ocean Dweller,” they summarize what precedes on Vourukasha while shifting the structure as an extended, vocal-inclusive-at-the-front soundscape bookends around one more huge, slow-marching, consciousness-flattening procession. Extremity refined.
That fact that Sun Moon Holy Cult exist on paper as a band based in Tokyo playing a Sabbath-boogie-worshiping, riff-led take on heavy rock with a song like “I Cut Your Throat” leading off their self-titled debut makes a Church of Misery comparison somewhat inevitable, but the psych jamming around the wah-bass shuffle of “Out of the Dark,” longer-form structures, the vocal melodies and the Sleep-style march of “Savoordoom” that grows trippier as it delves further into its 13 minutes distinguish the newcomer four-piece of vocalist Hakuka, guitarist Ryu, bassist Ame and drummer Bato across the four-song LP’s 40 minutes. Issued through Captured Records and SloomWeep Productions, Sun Moon Holy Cult brings due bombast amid the roll of “Mystic River” as well, hitting its marks stylistically while showcasing the promise of a band with a clear idea of what they want their songs to do and perhaps how they want to grow over time. If this is to be the foundation of that growth, watch out.
Dortmund, Germany’s Daily Thompson made their way to Port Orchard, Washington, to record Chuparosa with Mos Generator‘s Tony Reed at the helm, and the three-piece of guitarist/vocalist Danny Zaremba, bassist/vocalist Mercedes Lalakakis and drummer/vocalist Thorsten Stratmann bring a duly West Coast spirit to “I’m Free Tonight” and the grunge-informed roll of “Diamond Waves” and the verses of “Raindancer.” The former launches the 36-minute outing with a pointedly Fu Manchuian vibe, but the start-stops, fluid roll and interplay of vocals from Zaremba and Lalakakis lets “Pizza Boy” move in its own direction, and the brooding acoustic start of “Diamond Waves” and more languid wash of riff in the chorus look elsewhere in ’90s alternativism for their basis. The penultimate “Ghost Bird” brings in cigar-box guitar and dares some twang amid all the fuzz, but as “Raindancer” has already branched out with its quieter bassy midsection build and final desert-hued thrust, the album can accommodate such a shift without any trouble. The title-track trades between wistful grunge verses and a fuller-nodding hook, from which the three-piece take off for the bridge, thankfully returning to the chorus in Chuparosa‘s big finish. The manner in which the whole thing brims with purpose makes it seem like Daily Thompson knew exactly what they were going for in terms of sound, so I guess you could say it was probably worth the trip.
Kicking off with the markedly Graveyardian “Hangtime,” Mooch ultimately aren’t content to dwell solely in a heavy-blues-boogie sphere on Visions, their third LP and quick follow-up to 2023’s Hounds. Bluesy as the vibe is from which the Montreal trio set out, the subsequent “Morning Prayer” meanders through wah-strum open spaces early onto to delve into jangly classic-prog strum later, while “Intention” backs its drawling vocal melody with nylon-stringed acoustic guitar and hand percussion. Divergence continues to be the order of the day throughout the 41-minute eight-songer, with “New Door” shifting from its sleepy initial movement into an even quieter stretch of Doors-meets-Stones-y melody before the bass leads into its livelier solo section with just a tinge of Latin rhythm and “Together” giving more push behind a feel harkening back to the opener but that grows quiet and melodically expansive in its second half. This sets up the moodier vibe of “Vision” and gives the roll of “You Wouldn’t Know” an effective backdrop for its acoustic/electric blend and harmonized vocals, delivered patiently enough to let the lap steel slide into the arrangement easily before the brighter-toned “Reflections” caps with a tinge of modern heavy post-rock. What’s tying it together? Something intangible. Momentum. Flow. Maybe just the confidence to do it? I don’t know, but as subdued as they get, they never lose their momentum, and as much movement as there is, they never seem to lose their balance. Visions might not reveal its full scope the first time through, but subsequent listens bring due reward.
The narrative — blessings and peace upon it — has it that guitarist/vocalist Bobby Spender recruited bassist Loz Fancourt and drummer Harry Flowers after The Pleasure Dome‘s prior rhythm section left, ahead of putting together the varied 16 minutes of the Liminal Space EP. For what it’s worth, the revamped Bristol, UK, trio don’t sound any more haphazard than they want to in the loose-swinging sections of “Shoulder to Cry On” that offset the fuller shove of the chorus, or the punk-rooted alt-rock brashness of “The Duke Part II (Friends & Enemies),” and the blastbeat-inclusive tension of “Your Fucking Smile” that precedes the folk-blues finger-plucking of “Sugar.” Disjointed? Kind of, but that also feels like the point. Closer “Suicide” works around acoustic guitar and feels sincere in the lines, “Suicide, suicide/I’ve been there before/I’ve been there before/On your own/So hold on,” and the profession of love that resolves it, and while that’s at some remove from the bitter spirit of the first two post-intro tracks, Liminal Space makes its own kind of sense with the sans-effects voice of Spender at its core.
A solid four-songer from Birmingham’s Slump, who are fronted by guitarist Matt Noble (also Alunah), with drummer David Kabbouri Lara and bassist Ben Myles backing the riff-led material with punch in “Buried” after the careening hook of “Dust” opens with classic scorch in its solo and before the slower and more sludged “Kneel” gets down to its own screamier business and “Vultures” rounds out with a midtempo stomp early but nods to what seems like it’s going to be a more morose finish until the drum solo takes off toward the big-crash finish. As was the case on Slump‘s 2023 split with At War With the Sun, the feel across Dust is that of a nascent band — Slump got together in 2018, but this is their most substantial standalone release to-date — figuring out what they want to do. The ideas are there, and the volatility at which “Kneel” hints will hopefully continue to serve them well as they explore spaces between metal and heavy rock, classic and modern styles. A progression underway toward any number of potential avenues.
What dwells in Green Hog Band‘s Fuzz Realm? If you said “fuzz,” go ahead and get yourself a cookie (the judges also would’ve accepted “riffs” and “heavy vibes, dude”), but for those unfamiliar with the New Yorker trio’s methodology, there’s more to it than tone as guitarist/producer Mike Vivisector, bassist/vocalist Ivan Antipov and drummer Ronan Berry continue to carve out their niche of lo-fi stoner buzz marked by harsh, gurgly vocals in the vein of Attila Csihar, various samples, organ sounds and dug-in fuckall. “Escape on the Wheels” swings and chugs instrumentally, and “In the Mist of the Bong” has lyrics in English, so there’s no lack of variety despite the overarching pervasiveness of misanthropy. That mood is further cast in the closing salvo of the low-slung “Morning Dew” and left-open “Phantom,” both of which are instrumental save for some spoken lines in the latter, as the prevailing sense is that they were going to maybe put some verses on there but decided screw it and went back to their cave (presumably somewhere in Queens) instead, because up yours anyhow. 46 minutes of crust-stoned “up yours anyhow,” then.
