Posted in Questionnaire on June 1st, 2023 by JJ Koczan
The Obelisk Questionnaire is a series of open questions intended to give the answerer an opportunity to explore these ideas and stories from their life as deeply as they choose. Answers can be short or long, and that reveals something in itself, but the most important factor is honesty.
Based on the Proust Questionnaire, the goal over time is to show a diverse range of perspectives as those who take part bring their own points of view to answering the same questions. To see all The Obelisk Questionnaire posts, click here.
Thank you for reading and thanks to all who participate.
The Obelisk Questionnaire: Jay Ovittore of Holyroller
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How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?
Music is life for me. Playing, discovering, learning or listening to music. Music has always been in my blood. I started playing drums around 6 years old. My Dad was a Bass Player before I was born and was always supportive of me and my music, so maybe it was in my genes. I was lucky to have that supportz most aren’t as lucky.
As far as defining what I do, me personally, I beat the shit out of my drums to express emotions I am feeling. It is the best stress relief. The band gets a lot of labels, Doom, Stoner, Psych,etc…I like to think we are a rock n roll band, and if it fits into a niche that you enjoy then great, but the reality is we strive to write good rock n roll songs.
Describe your first musical memory.
I used to spend summers in Mount Vernon, NY (home of Lou Albano and Denzel Washington) with my grandparents. My Uncle Ronnie lived there too. We would hang out and he would play me some of his vinyl. The one that changed my life was The Police- Reggatta de Blanc. I was air drumming to Stewart Copeland and my Uncle caught that and called my Dad and said, “You have to get this boy a drum kit”. Rest is history.
Describe your best musical memory to date.
I got to open for Clutch on their Robot Hive/Exodus tour on New Year’s Eve here in NC. I would describe more but I was in the moment and not so sober.
When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?
Religion seems to be a good one…I am an Atheist and it seems a challenge to some who do have different beliefs to test my “lack of faith”. I believe in those I surround myself with and they believe in me….I do good things and treat folks like I want to be treated. I don’t need organized religion to justify who I am or what I do. I’m also not going to judge you if you need it your life, because it’s really none of my business.
Where do you feel artistic progression leads?
I think artists are always growing, or they should be. It seems that most bands debuts are always golden, but those follow up albums always seem to lack. We strive to not jump off the cliff with our writing. We changed a lot from our self titled EP to our debut label release Swimming Witches. I feel like we push each other to be better, write better and I just wish the world could see the magic when it happens, because sometimes it’s hard for me to believe that we just wrote that. It’s natural to mature as an artist, experiment and explore. It’s healthy for you.
How do you define success?
Some define success in dollars or album sales. As those would be nice, I see it a bit different. Not every band can go out and make a living doing this thing. So for me it is those moments with fans we make…when they tell us how they feel because of what we play. If I change one person’s life with the music we put out, I am successful.
What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?
Can I just list our some of my ex’s here?
Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.
A solution to all this hatred in the world. People of different political beliefs, religions, color, lifestyle just flat out hating each other and there is no room to discuss things like adults and get shit done. Smoke some weed and have a conversation. Maybe if weed was legal in more places we would have as many fucked up mass shootings that seem like just every day normal events now because we have become numb. I certainly don’t have the answer to solve all of it, but violence and hatred has to stop.
What do you believe is the most essential function of art?
Art is a historical document of the time we live in. It tells a story of a certain time and be it music or paintings or tattoos, the story lies within.
Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?
This is the toughest question here, because everything in my life is musical in some way. I guess I can say eventually going to Italy (but I’m really hoping that it is part of a tour). It’s the one place on the world I want to see more then any other. Hell, I might not come back.
Posted in Whathaveyou on May 2nd, 2023 by JJ Koczan
EMBR have a new record apparently in the can and they’ll release it as their first offering as part of the emergent lineup of Black Doomba Records. The Birmingham, Alabama-based four-piece join the ranks of MNRVA, Grave Next Door, HolyRoller, Grave Huffer and DayGlo Mourning, with whom they collaborated last year on a cover of “Bury Me in Smoke” from Down‘s seminal Nola LP, and their signing to Black Doomba comes shortly after the release of their Idolatry four-song EP with covers of Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, Nirvana and Stone Temple Pilots. Because the ’90s, that’s why.
They also come to Black Doomba as veterans of New Heavy Sounds and while I don’t have a release date for their next offering as yet, one imagines they’ll get there sooner or later since they’ve had a productive run of offerings since 2016, before they lost that second ‘e’ in their moniker.
In a spirit of looking forward, here’s word from the PR wire:
Progressive Doom Band ‘EMBR’ Signs With Black Doomba Records!
EMBR has many solid releases under their belt. In 2016 they released ‘261’, followed by ‘271’ and ‘326:Spiritual Dialysis’. They released their debut full length album ‘1823’ on the UK label New Heavy Sounds in 2020 to critical acclaim. After ‘1823’ they released the 4 song EP ‘Idolatry’ and also a single for “Mary Did You Know” in December 2020. In 2021 EMBR released a 3 song EP, ‘1021’, to commemorate New Heavy Sound’s 10-year anniversary along with a cover of the Down classic “Bury Me in Smoke” in collaboration with DayGlo Mourning.
EMBR has completed the next album in which they used the current cultural chaos as fuel. It will be released via Black Doomba Records.
Statement from Tommy Stewart, Black Doomba Records, “I’m very proud to be able to work with the unique sound and talents of EMBR. We’ll have more information to release about their newest album describing the meaning of the album, title, and cover art soon, planned to be available in 2023.”
Posted in Whathaveyou on March 28th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Cheers to Long Island’s Indus Valley Kings on signing with Black Doomba Records to release their third long-player at some point in the unknowable future. The band, whose sophomore outing was 2022’s done-thick-and-hooky Origin (review here), don’t have a release date set or anything, and I don’t know if they’ve even recorded or started writing or what for the next record, but if it’s on the strength of Origin and the preceding 2021 self-titled that they got picked up, you won’t hear me argue. Melodic, unpretentious heavy rock is nearly always welcome in my earbuds, and only more so with that bassline tucked into the midsection of “…And the Dead Shall Rise,” never mind the boogie and/or roll that ensue from there.
Album news will come when it comes — what’re you, in a hurry? — but in the meantime, the trio have live dates set throughout Spring and Summer. They hit Maryland Doom Fest in 2022 and they’ll play the Long Island Doom, Sludge & Metal Festival on April 29, as well as dates around the Eastern Seaboard and an Ohio weekender in May, keeping company with Sons of Ghidorah.
Those dates, the text signing announcement, and the video signing announcement follow here in blue, as culled from social media:
Black Doomba Records is proud to announce signing the amazing Indus Valley Kings !
Please check out their first two albums. We’ll be thrilled and honored to released their 3rd full album when they’re ready.
Says the band: “We are elated to announce we’ve signed with Black Doomba Records! Tommy Stewart has been in our corner since he first heard our band and we are looking forward to releasing a killer 3rd album on his prosperous and ever-evolving label!”
More about:
From Long Island, New York, Indus Valley Kings offer their heavy, down-tuned music to rock the souls of a modern civilization. They’re often compared to Kyuss, Corrosion of Conformity, and 70’s era Black Sabbath.
Upcoming shows 2023!
April 1 – The Kennel at West York Inn – York, PA w/ Weed Coughin, Almost Honest, Wrath of Typhon April 21 – The Depot – Baltimore, MD w/ /High Leaf, Mangog, The Crows Eye April 29 – Long Island Doom, Sludge & Metal Festival 2023 – Bethpage, NY May 5 – Westside Bowl – Youngstown, OH w/ Sons of Ghidorah May 6 – Buzzbin – Canton, OH w/ Sons of Ghidorah July 15 – 3rd Annual River Jam – Falling Waters, WV
More shows TBA!
Indus Valley Kings are: Billy Fridrich – lead and rhythm guitars, lead vocals Jonathan Lesley Habers – bass, vocals Dan Lofaro – drums
Posted in Questionnaire on November 14th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
The Obelisk Questionnaire is a series of open questions intended to give the answerer an opportunity to explore these ideas and stories from their life as deeply as they choose. Answers can be short or long, and that reveals something in itself, but the most important factor is honesty.
Based on the Proust Questionnaire, the goal over time is to show a diverse range of perspectives as those who take part bring their own points of view to answering the same questions. To see all The Obelisk Questionnaire posts, click here.
Thank you for reading and thanks to all who participate.
The Obelisk Questionnaire: Kevin Jennings of MNRVA
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How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?
We call it doom fuzz; others call it doom metal. It hangs in that zone of black electricity that flows in between everything. We had been in other bands, and this was an outlet that was different from what we had done before. Byron had experience playing in technical, prog type metal over the years and Gina and I had been in the garage rock scene for a while. We just started jamming together doing cover songs at first and then it turned into us showing each other what we had been working on. Those turned into the songs on our album.
Describe your first musical memory.
I remember seeing Phil Collins on MTV when I was a kid and music videos interested me at an early age. That turned into appreciating the music. We would also watch movies and I’d find the soundtrack at the store and have my mom buy the tape. I remember my aunt bought me the Mortal Kombat movie soundtrack and I played the tape until it died. There were so many great bands on there like Bile, Traci Lords, and Gravity Kills. At a young age I was getting into the weird snippets of industrial an when I was in my early 20s, my old boss shined me onto Nitzer Ebb’s Belief and that album was nothing I had heard at the time. Great stuff.
Describe your best musical memory to date.
The best musical memory to date was my wife and I’s first date. It was also our other band’s first practice. Both the band and our relationship started at the same time.
When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?
That’s almost constant. The more you open yourself to what is outside of yourself or your small world, you really find how much you don’t know. That’s exciting though, living life like a sponge.
Where do you feel artistic progression leads?
Artistic progression can lead you anywhere and to anything. Don’t settle for just one artistic outlet. Find multiple outlets to get the expression out. There’s no wrong way to go. See where it takes you.
How do you define success?
The only thing we have “for sure” is right now. There’s no guarantee of anything else. Take the opportunity to do what makes you happy, as long as it doesn’t hurt others. Success to me is being able to do the things you love and taking that to other places around the world.
What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?
Have you been on the internet?
Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.
I’d like to have the time to do a weird side project in the vein of Fever Ray’s first album.
What do you believe is the most essential function of art?
The freedom of expression.
Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?
My wife and I are planning a trip to Hawaii in the spring!
This is the part where I’m supposed to tell you I’m quaking in my flip-flops about doing 100 reviews in the span of two weeks, how worried I am I’ll run out of ways to say something is weird, or psychedelic, or heavy, or whatever. You know what? This time, even with a doublewide Quarterly Review — which means 100 records between now and next Friday — I feel like we got this. It’ll get done. And if it doesn’t? I’ll take an extra day. Who even pretends to give a crap?
I think that’s probably the right idea, so let’s get this show on the road, as my dear wife is fond of saying.
Quarterly Review #1-10:
Alunah, Strange Machine
Following on from 2019’s Violet Hour (review here), Birmingham’s Alunah offer the nine songs and 42 minutes of Strange Machine on Heavy Psych Sounds. It’s a wonder to think this is the band who a decade ago released White Hoarhound (review here), but of course it’s mostly not. Alunah circa 2022 bring a powerhouse take on classic heavy rock and roll, with Siân Greenaway‘s voice layered out across proto-metallic riffs and occasional nods such as “Fade Into Fantasy” or “Psychedelic Expressway” pulling away from the more straight-ahead punch. One can’t help but be reminded of Black Sabbath with Ronnie James Dio — a different, more progressive and expansive take on the same style they started with — which I guess would make Strange Machine their Mob Rules. They may or may not be the band you expected, but they’re quite a band if you’re willing to give the songs a chance.
Skipping neither the death nor the doom ends of death-doom, Los Angeles-based QAALM make a gruesome and melancholic debut with Resilience & Despair, with a vicious, barking growl up front that reminds of none so much as George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher, but that’s met intermittently with airy stretches of emotionally weighted float led by its two guitars. Across the four-song/69-minute outing, no song is shorter than opener “Reflections Doubt” (14:40), and while that song, “Existence Asunder” (19:35), “Cosmic Descent” (18:23) and “Lurking Death” (17:16) have their more intense moments, the balance of miseries defines the record by its spaciousness and the weight of the chug that offsets. The cello in “Lurking Death” adds fullness to create a Katatonia-style backdrop, but QAALM are altogether more extreme, and whatever lessons they’ve learned from the masters of the form, they’re being put to excruciating use. And the band knows it. Go four minutes into any one of these songs and tell me they’re not having a great time. I dare you.
The Traveler is Sterling DeWeese‘s second solo full-length under the banner of Ambassador Hazy behind 2020’s Glacial Erratics (review here) and it invariably brings a more cohesive vision of the bedroom-psychedelic experimentalist songcraft that defined its predecessor. “All We Wanted,” for example, is song enough that it could work in any number of genre contexts, and where “Take the Sour With the Sweet” is unabashed in its alt-universe garage rock ambitions, it remains righteously weird enough to be DeWeese‘s own. Fuller band arrangements on pieces like that or the later “Don’t Smash it to Pieces” reinforce the notion of a solidifying approach, but “Simple Thing” nonetheless manages to come across like Dead Meadow borrowed a drum machine from Godflesh circa 1987. There’s sweetness underlying “Afterglow,” however, and “Percolator,” which may or may not actually have one sampled, is way, way out there, and in no small way The Traveler is about that mix of humanity and creative reaching.
Strange things afoot in Stockholm. Blending classic doom and heavy rock with a clean, clear production, shades of early heavy metal and the odd bit of ’70s folk in the verse of “While the Devil is Asleep,” the five-piece Spiral Skies follow 2018’s Blues for a Dying Planet with Death is But a Door, a collection that swings and grooves and is epic and intimate across its nine songs/43 minutes, a cut like “Somewhere in the Dark” seeming to grow bigger as it moves toward its finish. Five of the nine inclusions make some reference to sleep or the night or darkness — including “Nattmaran” — but one can hardly begrudge Spiral Skies working on a theme when this is the level of the work they’re doing. “The Endless Sea” begins the process of excavating the band’s stylistic niche, and by “Time” and “Mirage” it’s long since uncovered, and the band’s demonstration of nuance, melody and songwriting finds its resolution on closer “Mirror of Illusion,” which touches on psychedelia as if to forewarn the listener of more to come. Familiar, but not quite like anything else.
Almost tragically atmospheric given the moods involved, Wyoming-based industrial metallurgists Lament Cityscape commence the machine-doom of A Darker Discharge following a trilogy of 2020 EPs compiled last year onto CD as Pneumatic Wet. That release was an hour long, this one is 24 minutes, which adds to the intensity somehow of the expression at the behest of David Small (Glacial Tomb, ex-Mountaineer, etc.) and Mike McClatchey (also ex-Mountaineer), the ambience of six-minute centerpiece “Innocence of Shared Experiences” making its way into a willfully grandiose wash after “All These Wires” and “Another Arc” traded off in caustic ’90s-style punishment. “The Under Dark” is a cacophony early and still intense after the fog clears, and it, “Where the Walls Used to Be” and the coursing-till-it-slows-down, gonna-get-noisy “Part of the Mother” form a trilogy of sorts for side B, each feeding into the overarching impression of emotional untetheredness that underscores all that fury.
You got friends? Me neither. But if we did, and we told them about the wholesome exploratory jams of Belfast trio Electric Octopus, I bet their hypothetical minds would be blown. St. Patrick’s Cough is the latest studio collection from the instrumentalist improv-specialists, and it comes and goes through glimpses of various jams in progress, piecing together across 13 songs and 73 minutes — that’s short for Electric Octopus — that find the chemistry vital as they seamlessly bring together psychedelia, funk, heavy rock, minimalist drone on “Restaurant Banking” and blown-out steel-drum-style island vibes on “A2enmod.” There’s enough ground covered throughout for a good bit of frolicking — and if you’ve never frolicked through an Electric Octopus release, here’s a good place to start — but in smaller experiments like the acoustic slog “You Have to Be Stupid to See That” or the rumbling “Universal Knife” or the shimmering-fuzz-is-this-tuning-up “Town,” it’s only encouraging to see the band continue to try new ideas and push themselves even farther out than they were. For an act who already dwells in the ‘way gone,’ it says something that they’re refusing to rest on their freaked-out laurels.
Behold, the sludge of death. Maybe it’s not fair to call When the World Dies one of 2022’s best debut albums since Come to Grief is intended as a continuation by guitarist/backing vocalist Terry Savastano (also WarHorse) and drummer Chuck Conlon of the devastation once wrought by Grief, but as they unleash the chestripping “Life’s Curse” and the slow-grind filthy onslaught of “Scum Like You,” who gives a shit? When the World Dies, produced of course by Converge‘s Kurt Ballou at GodCity, spreads aural violence across its 37 minutes with a particular glee, resting only for a breath before meting out the next lurching beating. Jonathan Hébert‘s vocal cords deserve a medal for the brutality they suffer in his screams in the four-minute title-track alone, never mind the grime-encrusted pummel of closer “Death Can’t Come Fast Enough.” Will to abrasion. Will to disturb. Heavy in spirit but so raw in its force that if you even manage to make it that deep you’ve probably already drowned. A biblical-style gnashing of teeth. Fucking madness.
In the works one way or the other since 2020, the sophomore full-length from Pittsburgh heavy rockers ZOM brings straight-ahead classicism with a modernized production vibe, some influence derived from the earlier days of Clutch or The Sword and of course Black Sabbath — looking at you, “Running Man” — but there’s a clarity of purpose behind the material that is ZOM‘s own. They are playing rock for rockers, and are geared more toward revelry than conversion, but there’s no arguing with the solidity of their craft and the meeting of their ambitions. Their last record took them to Iceland, and this one has led them to the UK. Don’t be surprised when ZOM announce an Australian tour one of these days, just because they can, but wherever they go, know what they have the songs on their side to get them there. In terms of style, there’s very little revolutionary about Fear and Failure, but ZOM aren’t trying to revamp what you know of as heavy rock and roll so much as looking to mark their place within it. Listening to the burly chug of “Another Day to Run,” and the conversation the band seems to be having with the more semi-metal moments of Shadow Witch and others, their efforts sound not at all misspent.
Making their debut through Black Doomba Records, Columbia, South Carolina’s MNRVA recorded the eight-song Hollow in Spring 2019, and one assumes that the three-year delay in releasing is owed at least in to aligning with the label, plus pandemic, plus life happens, and so on. In any case, from “Not the One” onward, their fuzz-coated doom rock reminds of a grittier take on Cathedral, with guitarist Byron Hawk and bassist Kevin Jennings sharing vocal duties effectively while Gina Ercolini drives the march behind them. There’s some shifting in tempo between “Hollow” and a more brash piece like “With Fire” or the somehow-even-noisier-seeming penultimate cut “No Solution,” but the grit there is a feature throughout the album just the same. Their 2019 EP, Black Sky (review here), set them up for this, but only really in hindsight, and one wonders what they may have been up to in the time since putting this collection to tape if this is where they were three years ago. Some of this is straight-up half-speed noise rock riffing and that’s just fine.
The third full-length, Accelerationist, from Easthampton, Massachusetts’ Problem With Dragons is odd and nuanced enough by the time they get to the vocal effects on “Have Mercy, Show Mercy” — unless that’s a tracheostomy thing; robot voice; that’s not the first instance of it — to earn being called progressive, and though their foundation is in more straightforward heavy rock impulses, sludge and fuzz, they’ve been at it for 15 years and have well developed their own approach. Thus “Live by the Sword” opens to set up lumbering pieces like “Astro Magnum” and the finale title-track while “In the Name of His Shadow” tips more toward metal and the seven-minute “Don’t Fail Me” meets its early burl (gets the wurlm?) with airier soloing later on, maximizing the space in the album’s longest track. “A Demon Possessed” and “Dark Times (for Dark Times)” border on doom, but in being part of Problem With Dragons‘ overall pastiche, and in the band’s almost Cynic-al style of melodic singing, they are united with the rest of what surrounds. Some bands, you can just tell when individualism is part of their mission.
Posted in Whathaveyou on September 3rd, 2021 by JJ Koczan
Columbia, South Carolina’s MNRVA will make their full-length debut sometime in 2022 on Black Doomba Records. You can hear the ol’ crunchnlumber of their 2019 EP, Black Sky (review here), below and from there the label’s interest should pretty much be self-explanatory. The three-piece clearly know how to conjure some rumble and whether it’s the guitar hook of “Not the One,” the low-end-forward, punk-at-half-speed grit of “No Solution” or the chug that comes to define the title-track, the three-tracker makes no bones about where it’s coming from sonically and wouldn’t make any sense if it did. Riffs by riff-heads, groove by groovers, captured in such a way as to give a sense both of space and largesse.
If you feel like you might be able to vibe to such a thing, and you’re still reading this sentence, you’re probably right. So have at it.
Announcement came down the PR wire:
MNRVA Sign to Black Doomba Records
Conjuring ludicrously distorted guitar tones and guttural lows, doom-fuzz trio MNRVA combine the essence of doom metal with a razor-sharp sludge edge. Since forming in 2018, MNRVA have been striving to transcend the boundaries within heavy music by cultivating a progressive style. Their debut EP Black Sky provided a tantalising glimpse of MNRVA’s musical capabilities and paves the way for their upcoming full-length, releasing via Black Doomba Records.
MNRVA comments:
“We are super excited to announce we’ve signed to Black Doomba Records! The vibe they are on is the perfect fit for MNRVA and we can’t wait for everyone to hear the record in 2022.”
Tommy Stewart of Black Doomba Records comments:
“Black Doomba Records is proud to have sealed a pact with South Carolina’s MNRVA. I’m looking forward to sharing the upcoming album which is dripping with fuzzy sludgy vibes and a bit of southern style sludge. Initially I think what got me the most were the vocals, cloaked in floating and haunting melodies and the songs themselves. MNRVA will be out on vinyl and CD and I can wait to share it with fans.”
MNRVA’s forthcoming release was recorded at The Jam Room Recording Studio which has been used by the likes of southeastern U.S. heavyweights such as BARONESS, BLACK TUSK, and KYLESA. The heavy trio strive to produce an unyielding sound blending the guitar grind of the MELVINS, the vocal interplay of MASTODON, and the post-doom heaviness of BEREFT.
Posted in Questionnaire on August 16th, 2021 by JJ Koczan
The Obelisk Questionnaire is a series of open questions intended to give the answerer an opportunity to explore these ideas and stories from their life as deeply as they choose. Answers can be short or long, and that reveals something in itself, but the most important factor is honesty.
Based on the Proust Questionnaire, the goal over time is to show a diverse range of perspectives as those who take part bring their own points of view to answering the same questions. To see all The Obelisk Questionnaire posts, click here.
Thank you for reading and thanks to all who participate.
The Obelisk Questionnaire: Tommy Stewart of Tommy Stewart’s Dyerwulf, Hallows Eve and Black Doomba Records
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How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?
I am an explorer of music! I’m a producer with a studio, a label, I’m a songwriter, bassist and vocalist mostly. I’m often thought of as the bassist of Hallows Eve. How did I come to do it? I had music and art in the house from the very beginning and my mother began teaching me about music on piano at age four.
Describe your first musical memory.
Playing ‘Silent Night’ on piano at a Christmas recital in kindergarten at age five.
Describe your best musical memory to date.
One of my favorite musical memories was being dragged up onstage at a Supremes show and singing with Mary Wilson plus making her laugh because I did all her dance moves with her. It was quite surreal, being a metal guy.
When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?
This is a tough one. I keep finding out everything I think is a certain way turns out to be true. Which is pretty scary since I have a fairly bleak opinion of the world that I keep to myself except in art and music where I express it, you lucky people.
Where do you feel artistic progression leads?
I don’t know, I never saw art as a destination which takes us or me anywhere. I just… do. I create in the moment and it reflects what’s happening to me now.
How do you define success?
Being happy. It’s that simple.
What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?
I can’t think of anything. Most unpleasant things I’ve seen I accept as parts of life, even death right before me. All parts of life are part of life, I accept it. I’m the one not shocked when others around me are freaking.
Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.
I have painted since I was a kid, it started with coloring. I’m not good at drawing and don’t enjoy it, but I like painting. I’d like to paint much more. I feel that time is coming, wherein I may do less music and paint more, not for anyone in particular but just for the sake of it and myself.
What do you believe is the most essential function of art?
To express oneself as a form of language, at times just to oneself. An example is I feel, I play, you hear, you feel. That is language.
Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?
I’m spending December holidays on a small island with my family!
Posted in Reviews on March 29th, 2021 by JJ Koczan
The Spring 2021 Quarterly Review begins here, and as our long winter of plague-addled discontent is made glorious spring by this son of York Beach, I can hardly wait to dig in. You know the drill. 50 records between now and Friday, 10 per day. It’s a lot. It’s always a lot. That’s the point.
Words on the page. If I have a writing philosophy, that’s it. Head down, keep working. And that’s the challenge here. Can you get over your own crap and say what you need to say about 10 records every day for five days straight out? I’ll be exhausted by the end of the week for sure. I’ll let you know when we get there if it feels any different. Till then, let’s roll.
Quarterly Review #1-10:
Wolvennest, Temple
The second full-length offering — and I mean that: ‘offering’ — from Belgium’s Wolvennest is an expansive and immersive follow-up to their 2018 debut, Void, as the Brussels six-piece offers next-stage extreme cult rock. Across 77 willfully-unmanageable and mind-altering minutes, the troupe caroms between (actual) psychedelic black metal and sheer sonic ritualism, and the intent is made plain from 12:26 opener/longest track (immediate points) “Mantra” onward. Wolvennest are enacting a ceremony and it’s up to the listener to be willing to engage with the material on that level. Their command is unwavering as the the heft and wash of “Alecto” and the ethereal swirl and dual vocal arrangement of “All that Black” show, but while King Dude himself shows up on “Succubus,” and that’s fun, especially followed by the penultimate downward march of “Disappear,” the greatest consumption is saved for “Souffle de Mort” (“breath of death,” in English; it’s not about eggs). In that 10-minute finale, marked out by the French-language declarations of Shazzula Vultura, Wolvennest not only make it plain just how far they’ve brought you, but that they intend to leave you there as well.
A 15-minute playful jaunt into the funk-grooving max-fuzzed whatever-works garage headtrip if Toronto’s Lammping is right on the money. The four-piece start channel-spanning and mellow with “Jaws of Life” — which is a righteous preach, even though I don’t know the lyrics — and follow with the complementary vibe of “The Funkiest,” which would seem to be titled in honor of its bassline and conjures out-there’est Masters of Reality in its face-painted BlueBoy lysergics over roughly traditional songwriting. Is “Neverbeen” weirder? You know it. Dreamily so, and it’s followed by the genuinely-experimental 40 seconds of “Big Time the Big Boss” and the closer “Other Shoe,” which if it doesn’t make you look forward to the next Lammping album, I’m sorry to say it, but you might be dead. Sorry for your loss. Of you. This shit is killer and deserves all the ears it can get with its early ’90s weirdness that’s somehow also from the late ’60s and still the future too because what is time anyway and screw it we’re all lost let’s ride.
Tales to Be Told is the late-2020 third long-player from Swedish classicists Lykantropi, following 2019’s Spirituosa (review here) with a warmth of tone that’s derived from ’70s folk rock and vaguely retro in its tones and drum sounds, but remains modern in its hookmaking and it’s not exactly like they’re trying to hide where they’re coming from when they break out the flute sounds. Harmonies in “Mother of Envy” make that song a passionate highlight, while the respective side-endings in “Kom Ta Mig Ut” and “Världen Går Vidare” add to the exploratory and roots-proggy listening experience, the album’s finale dropping its drums before the three-minute mark to allow for a drifting midsection en route to a class finish that answers the choruses of “Spell of Me” and “Axis of Margaret” earlier with due spaciousness. Clean and clear and wanting nothing aesthetically or emotionally, Tales to Be Told is very much a third album in how realized it feels.
Japanese trio Mainliner — comprised of guitarist Kawabata Makoto (Acid Mothers Temple), bassist/vocalist Kawabe Taigen (Bo Ningen) and drummer Koji Shimura (Acid Mothers Temple) — are gentle at the outset of Dual Myths but don’t wait all that long before unveiling their true freak-psych intention in the obliterating 20 minutes of “Blasphemy Hunter,” the opener/longest track (immediate points) that’s followed by the likewise side-consuming left-the-air-lock-behind-and-found-antimatter-was-made-of-feedback “Hibernator’s Dream” (18:38), the noisier, harsher fuckall spread of “Silver Guck” (19:28) and the gut-riffed/duly scorched jazz shredder “Dunamist Zero” (20:08), which culminates the 2LP beast about as well as anything could, earning the gatefold with sheer force of intent to be and to harness the far-out into some loosely tangible thing. Stare into the face of the void and the void doesn’t so much stare back as turn your lungs into party balloons.
On a certain level, what you see is what you get with the Orion slavegirl warriors, alien mushrooms and caithan beast that adorn DayGlo Mourning‘s debut album, the six-song/35-minute Dead Star, in that they’re suitably nestled into the sonic paraphernalia of stoner-doom as well as the visual. With bassist Jerimy McNeil and guitarist Joseph Mills sharing vocal duties over Ray Miner‘s drums, variety of melody and throatier shouts are added to the deep-toned largesse of riff, and the Atlanta trio most assuredly have their heads on when it comes to knowing what they want to do sound-wise. The hard-hit hi-hat of “Faithful Demise” comes with some open spaces after the fuzzy lumber that caps “Bloodghast,” and as “Ashwhore” and “Witch’s Ladder” remind a bit of the misogyny inherent in witchy folklore — at the end of the day it was all about killing pretty girls — the grooves remain fervent and the forward potential on the part of the band likewise. It’s a sound big enough that there isn’t really any room left for bullshit.
Issued in the waning hours of Dec. 2020, Chamán‘s 70-minute, six-song debut album, Maleza, is a psicodelico cornucopia of organic-toned delights, from the more forward-fuzz of “Poliforme” — which is a mere six and a half minutes long but squeezes in a drum solo — to the 13-plus-minute out-there salvo that is “Malezo,” “Concreto” and “Temazcal,” gorgeously trippy and drifting and building on what the Mendozza, Argentina, three-piece conjure early in the proceedings with “Despierta” and “Ganesh,” each over 10 minutes as well. Even in Maleza‘s most lucid moments, the spirit of improv and live recording remains vibrant, and however these songs were built out to their current form, I’m just glad they were. Whether you put it on headphones and bliss out for 70 minutes or you end up using it as a backdrop for whatever your day might bring, Chamán‘s sprawling and melted soundscapes are ready to embrace and enfold you.
Italian duo Sonic Demon bring a lethal dose of post-Electric Wizard grit fuzz and druggy echoed snarl to their debut full-length, Vendetta, hitting a particularly nasty low end vibe early on “Black Smoke” and proving willing to ride that out for the duration with bouts of spacier fare in “Fire Meteorite” and side A capper “Cosmic Eyes” before the second half of the 40-minute outing renews the buzz with “FreakTrip.” Deep-mixed drums make the guitar and bass sound even bigger, and such is the morass Sonic Demon make that even their faster material seems slow; that means “Hxxxn” must be extra crawling to feel as nodded-out as it does. Closing duo “Blood and Fire” and “Serpent Witch” don’t have much to say that hasn’t already been said, style-wise, but they feel no less purposeful in sealing the hypnosis cast by the songs before them. If you can’t hang with repetition, you can’t hang, and the filth in the speedier-ish last section of “Serpent Witch” isn’t enough to stop it from being catchy.
Sow Discord is the solo industrial doom/experimentalist project of David Coen, also known for his work in Whitehorse, and the bleak feel that pervades his debut full-length under the moniker, Quiet Earth, is resonant and affecting. Channeling blowout beats and speaker-throbbing crush on “Ruler,” Coen elsewhere welcomes Many Blessings (aka Ethan Lee McCarthy, also of Primitive Man) and The Body as guests for purposefully disturbing conjurations. Cuts like “Desalination” and “Functionally Extinct” churn with an atmosphere that feels born of a modern real-world apocalypse, and it’s hard to tell ultimately whether closer “The World Looks on with Pity and Scorn” is offering condolence or condemnation, but either way you go, the bitter harshness that carries over is the thread that weaves all this punishment together, and as industrial music pushes toward new extremes, even “Everything Has Been Exhausted” manages to feel fresh in its pummel.
Formed by members of Lord Humungus, Frank Sabbath and Carpet Burns, Cerbère offer three tracks of buried-alive extreme sludge on their self-titled debut EP, recorded live in the band’s native Paris during a pandemic summer when it was illegal to leave the house. Someone left the house, anyhow, and the resultant three cuts are absolutely unabashed in their grating approach, enough so to warrant in-league status with masters of misanthropy like Grief or Khanate, even if Cerbère move more throughout the 15-minute closing title-track, and dare to add some trippy guitar later on. The two prior cuts, “Julia” — the sample at the beginning feels especially relevant in light of the ongoing Notre Dame rebuild — and “Aliéné” are no less brutal if perhaps more compact. I can’t be sure, because I just can’t, but it’s entirely possible “Aliéné” is the only word in the song that bears its name. That wouldn’t work in every context. Here it feels earned, along with the doomier lead that follows.
They’ve cooled down a bit from the tear they were on for a few years there, but Dali’s Llama‘s new Dune Lung EP is no less welcome for that. The desert-dwelling four-piece founded by guitarist/vocalist Zach and bassist Erica Huskey bring a laid back roll to the nonetheless palpably heavy “Nothing Special,” backing the opener with the fuzzy sneer of “Complete Animal,” the broader-soundscape soloing of “Merricat Blackwood,” and the more severe groove of “STD (Suits),” all of which hit with a fullness of sound that feels natural while giving the band their due as a studio unit. Dali’s Llama have been and continue to be significantly undervalued when it comes to desert rock, and Dune Lung is another example of why that is and how characteristic they are in sound and execution. Good band, and they’re edging ever closer to the 30-year mark. Seems like as good a time as any to be appreciated for the work they’ve done and do.
