What was originally the vinyl-only bonus track of Dozer‘s Man’s Ruin-issued second album, 2001’s Madre de Dios (featured here), “Rings of Saturn” heralds a new rare-tracks compilation from the long-running Swedish heavy rockers. I don’t know what eras of the band this covers, but I promise you this isn’t something I knew was coming when I did that succession of closing out three weeks with Dozer‘s early split singles with Demon Cleaner (discussed here, here, and here) at the end of last month into this one. Rewind to Return will be a double-LP, and there’s certainly plenty of other off-album releases Dozer could pull from.

A bonus track, for example. It had been a while since I heard “Rings of Saturn,” which was long enough to forget the killer groove that the youngins lock in for the second half of the song. If you know the record, it’s got the same turn-of-the-century buzz in the tones, and there’s a visualizer up for it that you can check out at the bottom of this post.

Coincident to the release is a return for tour dates on the US West Coast. As with Domkraft, this will likely be on the same artist visa — these considerations are existential on financial terms for a band who want to travel — they got to play Desertfest New York 2024 (review here), and the underlying message there is buy lots of merch because they invested a shit-load of money into putting themselves in the US at all. They’ll be out with Abrams and Moon Destroys, the latter of whom just wrapped a run with Elder and Sacri Monti as well.

Here’s word from the PR wire:

Stoner rock legends DOZER to release “Rewind to Return: Rarities, Singles and B-Sides” double album on Blues Funeral Recordings; US summer tour announced

In celebration of their 30th anniversary, Sweden’s godfathers of stoner rock DOZER announce the special release of the “Rewind to Return: Rarities, Singles and B-Sides” double album on August 1st via Blues Funeral Recordings and share a first excerpt with “Rings of Saturn”. Don’t miss them on their upcoming European and US shows!

Crank Rings Of Saturn here: https://tinyurl.com/c27s99xa

Formed in 1995 in the town of Borlänge, Sweden, DOZER led the earliest wave of stoner/desert rock, a fusion of proto-metal, riff-rock and punk that blasted forth from Scandinavia and Europe in response to the tectonic heft and sun-baked fuzz of American bands Kyuss and Fu Manchu.

30 years on, DOZER are heralded as undisputed forerunners of a movement and champions of volcanic energy. Their status was affirmed in 2023 with the release of the landmark Drifting in the Endless Void, an amp-splitting return that dominated best-of lists and turntables, which Distorted Sound called, “a perfectly executed stoner album and then some” and was dubbed “an outstanding comeback” by Hellfire and “a magnetic fireball of propulsive hooks and cosmic majesty” by Decibel. This renewed dominance led to DOZER’s first US tour in 20 years and set the stage for their three-decade milestone in 2025.

DOZER have always been prolific. Driven by take-no-prisoners energy, they’d hit the studio often, laying down songs in rapid-fire batches with little concern for schedules and album planning, and their early days saw the band self-release a multitude of small-run 7-inch singles that tapped into their DIY leanings and allowed forward momentum at maximum velocity. More songs surfaced on compilations and as limited-release b-sides, while others went into the proverbial vault.

In celebration of their 30th anniversary, DOZER enthusiastically present Rewind to Return, a double album of singles, rare tracks and b-sides from across their prolific history. Neither a chronological document nor a comprehensive collection of every non-album track, this is a carefully considered selection of the band’s favorites, chosen for their meaning and impact, brilliantly remastered by Karl Daniel Lidén and assembled to create the best possible record to commemorate DOZER’s vast catalog and untouchable legacy.

DOZER “Rewind to Return: Rarities, Singles and B-Sides”
Out August 1st on Blues Funeral Recordings (2xLP/CD/digital)
Preorder on BFR website: https://www.bluesfuneral.com/
Bandcamp: https://dozerofficial.bandcamp.com/album/rewind-to-return-rarities-singles-and-b-sides
European store: https://en.bluesfuneral.spkr.media/

TRACKLIST:
1. Tanglefoot
2. Hail The Dude
3. Centerline
4. Southern Star
5. The Electrocuter
6. Universe 75
7. Serpent’s Head
8. Rings Of Saturn
9. She
10. Mammoth Mountain
11. Silverball
12. Star By Star
13. Season of Giants
14 Vinegar Fly
15. 2 Ton Butterfly

DOZER further underscore three decades at the forefront of the scene with a handful of European dates in 2025, along with a live return to the US this summer, embarking on a West Coast tour with spectacular up-and-comers ABRAMS and MOON DESTROYS supporting the monumental run.

European festival dates
May 3 – Izegem, Belgium @ Headbanger’s Balls Fest
May 23 – Berlin, Germany @ DesertFest Berlin
October 17 – Thessaloniki, Greece @ Eightball Club
October 18 – Athens, Greece @ Arch Club
Nov 14-15 – Stockholm, Sweden @ Fuzz Festival

Return to the Endless Void US Tour 2025 (with Abrams and Moon Destroys)
August 7 – Las Vegas NV @ The Swan Dive
August 8 – Los Angeles CA @ Lodge Room
August 9 – San Diego CA @ Brick By Brick
August 10 – Palmdale CA @ Transplants Brewing
August 12 – San Francisco CA @ Bottom Of The Hill
August 13 – Eureka CA @ Savage Henry Comedy Club
August 14 – Eugene OR @ John Henry’s
August 15 – Portland OR @ Dante’s
August 16 – Vancouver BC @ Rickshaw
August 17 – Seattle WA @ Substation

DOZER is:
Tommi Holappa – Guitar
Fredrik Nordin – Guitar/Vox
Johan Rockner – Bass
Sebastian Olsson – Drums

https://www.facebook.com/dozerband
https://www.instagram.com/dozer_band/
https://www.dozermusic.com/

https://www.facebook.com/bluesfuneral/
https://www.instagram.com/blues.funeral/
https://bluesfuneralrecordings.bandcamp.com/
bluesfuneral.com

Dozer, “Rings of Saturn” visualizer

Dozer, Drifting in the Endless Void (2023)

Good first day yesterday. Good second day today. I’ve been doing Quarterly Reviews for over a decade now, and I’ve kind of learned over time the kind of thing I should be writing about. It might be a record that has a ton of hype or one that has none, and it might be any number of styles — I also like to sneak some stuff in here that doesn’t ‘fit’ once in a while — but in my mind the standard is, “is this something I’ll want to have heard and/or written about later?”

For all the terrors of our age, the glut of good music coming out means there’s more than ever I want to write about, and in a weird way, I look forward to Quarterly Reviews as a way for me to dig in and get caught up a bit. I’ve already been blindsided this QR and it’s the second day. I call that a win.

Quarterly Review #11-20:

Kal-El, Astral Voyager Vol. 1

There are few acts the world over who so succintly summarize so much of the appeal of modern heavy rock. Norway’s Kal-El offer big riffs, big hooks, big melodies, songwriting, and still manage heavy-mellow vibes thanks to an ongoing cosmic thematic that brings desert rock methods to more ethereal places. Is “Cloud Walker” the best song they’ve yet written? It’s on the list for sure, but don’t discount nine-minute opener/longest track (immediate points) “Astral Voyager” or the hey-that’s-a-Star-Trek-reference “Dilithium” with its dug-in low-distortion verses and the Captain‘s vocal outreach. All along, it’s never quite felt like Kal-El were reshaping heavy, but as time passes and they unveil Astral Voyager Vol. 1 with immediate promise of a follow-up, it’s curious how much Kal-El and notions of ‘peak genre’ align. Those of you who proselytize for riffs: even before you get to riding that groove in “Cosmic Sailor,” Kal-El are primed for ambassadorship.

Kal-El website

Majestic Mountain Records store

Blues Funeral Recordings website

—

Bronco, Bronco

North Carolinian sludgethrowers Bronco take their name from their bassist/vocalist, who also goes by Bronco, and who in the 2010s cut a tone-worshiping generational swath through the Southern wing of the style as a member of Toke, proffering heavy riffs, harsh-throat vocals, and a disaffection that can only be called classic. With eight songs rolling out over 45 minutes, Bronco‘s Bronco picks up the thread where Toke left off with pieces like “Ride Eternal,” which crawls, or the declarative riffing of “Legion” (eerie guest vocals included amid all the pummel), or the closer “TONS,” which I’m going to assume isn’t titled after the Italian sludge-band, though if those guys wanted to put out a song called “Bronco” on their next record, they’d be well within their rights. A remarkably cohesive debut for something that’s so loudly telling you to fuck yourself. These guys’ll be opening for High on Fire in no time.

Bronco on Bandcamp

Magnetic Eye Records store

—

Ocultum, Buena Muerte

Although one wouldn’t listen to Santiago, Chile’s Ocultum and be likely to have “refined” top the list of impressions given by the raw, rot-coated sludge of their third album and Heavy Psych Sounds debut, Buena Muerte, the grim-leaning atmosphere, charge later in the title-track, cultish presentation and the atmosphere emergent both from guitar-wail and yelling interlude “Fortunato’s Fortune” and from the material that surrounds, whether that’s the title-track or the just-under-12-minute “Last Weed on Earth.” The record finds the three-piece of guitarist/vocalist Sebastián Bruna, bassist Pablo Cataldo and drummer Ricardo Robles dug in, stoned and malevolent. They’re not as over-the-top as many in cult rock, but one does get a sense of ceremony from “Last Weed on Earth” and subsequent capper “Emki’s Return” — the latter galloping in its first half and willfully devolved from there into avant noise — even if that’s more about the making of the songs than the performance of genre tropes.

Ocultum on Bandcamp

Heavy Psych Sounds website

—

Fidel A Go Go, Diss Engaged

The grunge crunch of “Running With Secrets” and the Cantrell-y acoustics of “Push” are barely the beginning of the story as regards Fidel A Go Go‘s meld of sounds, which ranges from the willfully desert rocking “Sandstorm” to the proggy “Lil Shit,” the transposed blues of “Rainy Days” and the penultimate “Psychedelicexistentialcrisisalidocious,” which is serene in its melody and troubling in the words, as one would hope, and while the moniker and the punny album title speak to shenanigans, the Brisbane four-piece offer a point of view both instrumentally and lyrically that is engaging and draws together the stylistic range. There’s little doubt left to whom “A Stench of Musk” and “Barely an Adversary” are about, but even that’s not the extent of the perspective resonant in these 11 songs. There’s enough fuzz here for desert heads, but Fidel A Go Go are broader in attitude and craft, and Diss Engaged makes a point of its artistic freedom.

Fidel A Go Go website

Fidel A Go Go on Bandcamp

—

Tumble, Lost in Light

Like their 2023 debut EP, Lady Cadaver, Tumble‘s second short offering, Lost in Light sees the trio of guitarist/vocalist Liam Deak, bassist Tarun Dawar and drummer Will Adams working with producer/engineer Ian Blurton (Ian Blurton’s Future Now, etc.) to hone and sharpen a classic, proto-metallic sound without seeing a dip in recording quality. As such, the five songs/20 minutes of Lost in Light are duly brash — looking at you, “Dead by Rumour” and the Radio Moscow-esque “The Less I Know” — but crisp in tone and execution. The mid-tempo “Sullen Slaves” picks up in its solo section later for a bit of boogie, and the slightly-slower metallic lurch of “Laid by Fear” sets up a contrast with the swinging closer “Wings of Gold” that makes the ending of the EP an absolute strut. They aren’t even asking a half-hour of your time, and the rewards are more than commensurate for getting down. They continue to be one to watch as they position themselves for a full-length debut in the next couple years.

Tumble’s Linktr.ee

Stickman Records website

Echodelick Records on Bandcamp

—

Putan Club, Filles d’Octobre

Normally I might consider it a hindrance to have no clue what’s going on, but if you’ve never before encountered Italy/France semi-industrial duo Putan Club you might just find yourself in better position going into Filles d’Octobre as the avant garde radfem troupe unfurl a live set recorded at Portugal’s Amplifest, presumably in 2022. But if you don’t know it’s a live record, what’s coming musically, or that Filles d’Octobre is derived from their 2017 debut album, Filles de Mai, there’s a decent change your contextless self will be scrathing your head in wonder of just what’s going on with the bouncy lurch and maybe xylophone of “Filippino,” and that seems to suit Putan Club just fine. If you have to break something to remake it, Putan Club are set to the task of manifesting a rock and roll that is dangerous, new, unrepentantly socially critical, and ready to dance when you are. That they meet these significant ambitions head on shouldn’t be discounted. Not for everybody, but definitely for everybody who thinks they’ve heard it all.

Putan Club website

Toten Schwan Records on Bandcamp

—

IAH, En Vivo en Cabezas de Tormenta

The first live offering from Argentinian prog-heavy instrumentalists IAH follows behind the band’s most expansive studio LP to-date, 2023’s V (review here), and brings into emphasis the group’s dynamic. It’s not just about being able to make a part sound floaty or to make the part next to it crush, but the character of a piece like the 24-minute “Noboj pri Uaset” (which might be new) is as much about the journey undertaken in their builds and the smoothness of the shifts between parts. They dip back to their earlier going for “Sheut” at the start of the set and “Ourboros” and “Eclipsum” the latter of which closes, and the bass in “Sentado en el Borde de una Pregunta” is worth the price of admission alone, never mind as a complement to the extended progression of “Noboj pri Uaset,” which is something of the buried lede here. So be it. On stage or on record, IAH offer immersion unto themselves. A little more tonal edge as a result of the live recording doesn’t hurt that one bit.

IAH website

IAH on Bandcamp

—

Gin Lady, Before the Dawn of Time

Before the Dawn of Time is upwards of the seventh full-length from Swedish vintage-style heavy rockers Gin Lady, and in addition to seeing them make the jump from Kozmik Artifactz to Ripple Music, the sans-pretense 11-songer invents its own moment. It’s like the comedown era (from 1968-1974, roughly) happened, but happened differently. It’s another path to a heavy rock future. There’s ’70s vibes in “Tingens Sanna Natur” a-plenty, and if it’s boogie or push or hooky melodic wash you want, “Mulberry Bend” has you covered for that and then some, never mind the down-home strum of “Bliss on the Line” or the pastoral contemplation of “The Long Now,” as Gin Lady put a classy stamp of their own on classic aural ideologies, as what are no doubt hyperspecific keyboards make the production smooth and let “Ways to Cross the Sky” commune with Morricone while capper “You’re a Big Star” drops a melody that can really only be called “arena ready.” As it stands, it’ll probably go over killer at festivals across Europe.

Gin Lady on Bandcamp

Ripple Music website

—

Adrift, Dry Soil

Duly apocalyptic for being the band’s first full-length release since 2019, Adrift‘s fourth album, Dry Soil, elicits an overarching doom that makes its tonal claustrophobia all the more affecting. The long-running Madrid outfit offer six songs that veer between the contemplative and the caustic as throatrippers worthy of Enslaved add an element of the extreme to the post-metallic intensity of “Edge” and “Restart” in the record’s middle. There are heavy rock underpinnings — that is, somebody here still likes Sabbath — but Adrift are well at home in all the bludgeonry, and “Bonfire” finishes by tying black metal, sludge, noise and darkly thrashing metal together with a suitably severe ambience. Are they torching it at the end? Kind of, but just replace “it” with “everything” and you’ll have a better idea perhaps of where they’re coming from on the whole. But for regionalist discrimination, Adrift would’ve conquered Europe a long time ago.

Adrift on Facebook

Adrift on Bandcamp

—

Black Sadhu, Ashes of Aether

Berlin trio Black Sadhu — guitarist/vocalist Max Lowry (also synth, effects), bassist Alex Glimm and drummer Martin Cederlund — employ atmosphere to a point of cinematics on their second full-length, Ashes of Aether, following up the post-doom wash of 2021 standalone single “Mindless Masses” with plays back and forth between full-heft nod and take-a-breather meanderings. This cuts momentum less than one might think as the keyboard and drone and sample of “Tumors of Light” lend experimentalist verve to “Descent,” the next of the nine-track outing’s more-complete-song songs, as the latter unfolds with a shine on the crash that continues to cut through the surrounding rumble as the procession unfurls. Patience, then. So long as you know the payoff is coming — and it is; looking at you, “Electric Death” — and don’t mind being stretched and contorted on a molecular level between here and there, you should be good to go.

Black Sadhu on Bandcamp

Black Sadhu on Instagram

—

Goya will release their first album in eight years, In the Dawn of November, on June 13 as their label-debut for Blues Funeral. Led off by its weighty-grooving title-track, the follow-up to 2017’s Harvester of Bongloads (review here) reaffirms the Phoenix trio among the dankest of riff worshippers the heavy ’10s wrought, whether it’s the title-track’s crawling catchiness, “Cemetary Blues” rolling out like Electric Wizard jamming with Type O Negative, organ and all, or “Depressive Episode” kicking the tempo for a dark stoner shuffle, “Sick of Your Shit” bring lumber and a standout vocal from guitarist Jeffrey Owens, “I Wanna Be Dead” bringing back some of that gothy vibe but doing it in a what-it’s-all-about 12 very, very stoned minutes of heavy pummel and suitably lethal hookmaking, or the vague outro “Comes With the Fall” thereafter — oops that’s the whole record; I guess it goes down smooth.

But while it does all that reaffirming, In the Dawn of November also offers clear growth in songwriting, performance, production and stylistic scope, and while celebrating their influences is still a part of Goya‘s purpose as a band, they’ve never come across as identifiably their own as they seem to in this material. I’m looking forward to getting to know the album better, but it’s a striking first impression, and I know nodders will be nodding. Will hope to have more to come. Video and audio for the title-track are at the bottom of the post.

From the PR wire:

Phoenix doom metal trio GOYA to release new album “In the Dawn of November” on Blues Funeral Recordings; stream title track now!

Phoenix, Arizona doom metal torchbearers GOYA have signed to Blues Funeral Recordings for the release of their fourth studio album “In the Dawn of November” this June 13th, and present the spine-shivering video for its title track today.

Goya is a Phoenix, Arizona doom metal band known and revered for delivering mountain-heavy riffs drenched in copious amounts of fuzz on top of haunting psychedelic atmospherics. Formed in 2011 by guitarist and vocalist Jeffrey Owens, the band takes its cue from genre pioneers like Electric Wizard, Acid King and Sleep, crafting a sound that is as hypnotic as it is defiantly punishing.

In the fall of 2024, Goya entered Soundhouse Studios in Seattle with legendary producer Jack Endino (High On Fire, Year of the Cobra, Soundgarden) to lay down a monolithic work of graveyard grooves and bleak reflections to herald their towering return with their most accomplished and unwaveringly bone-crushing record to date — leading the trio to ink a deal with revered Albuquerque-based label Blues Funeral Recordings. “We are proud to welcome these Arizona desert doom stalwarts to the label with a new LP of crushing cosmic sludge! Goya has historically done almost everything themselves, and we’re grateful for the trust they’ve shown by allowing us into their fortress to do what we do and help spread their monolithic riff-heaviness farther than ever before,” said label founder Jadd Shickler.

Let Goya crush your souls with new video “In the Dawn of November”
+ listen to the single on all streaming services: https://lnkfi.re/goyanovember

About the song, frontman Jeffrey Owens comments: “The eight years since the last Goya record have brought me face to face with some hard truths about life. I’m getting older, and mortality has struck me in new ways, so this album is largely a meditation on death. In the Dawn of November is the natural evolution of the band, and the culmination of everything that came before it, simultaneously signifying a new era for Goya.”

TRACKLIST:
1. In the Dawn of November
2. Cemetary Blues
3. Depressive Episode
4. Sick of Your Shit
5. I Wanna Be Dead
6. Comes with the Fall

Goya’s 2012 demo showcased their early potential, but it was their debut full-length “777” (2013) that announced their fearsome arrival in the doom underground. With sprawling, riff-heavy compositions and occult-tinged lyrics, “777” resonated deeply with fans of titanic sludge-metal. Continuing to evolve, Goya released “Obelisk” in 2015, a concept album that refined their blend of psychedelic doom. They followed this with their magnum opus, 2017’s “Harvester of Bongloads”, another concept album that leaned as heavily as ever into their fuzz-laden, riff-driven aesthetic and further cemented their legacy of unrelenting doom and immersive sonic landscapes.

In the summer of 2024, Goya returned to the road for a month-long US tour after taking a few years to write their fourth album “In the Dawn of November”, to be released in the spring of 2025 via New Mexico-based label Blues Funeral Recordings (Acid King, Lowrider, Dozer).

Goya is
Marcus Bryant – Drums
Jeffrey Owens – Guitar/Vocals
CJ Sholtis – Bass

facebook.com/goyastoner
https://www.instagram.com/goyaband/
marijuana.bandcamp.com
https://linktr.ee/goyadoom

https://www.facebook.com/bluesfuneral/
https://www.instagram.com/blues.funeral/
https://bluesfuneralrecordings.bandcamp.com/
bluesfuneral.com

Goya, “In the Dawn of November” official video

Goya, In the Dawn of November (2025)

You would not accuse Hashtronaut of not knowing what they’re about in Ufomammut-style cosmic largesse and crush and unmititgated stoner idolatry. The suitably-mile-high Denver rollers of very, very large riffs will head out next month on a Spring tour supporting their 2024 debut full-length, No Return (review here), which will see the anniversary of its release shortly before this run starts. Woe unto the eardrums of the masses.

I’m not sure if this is their first time on the Eastern Seaboard or not and I’m not going to pretend to know, but they mention a bunch of new cities either way in the quote below and hint at new material perhaps making its way into the set, to take it as a win either way. I spent half of last year wondering why I didn’t hear more people sloberring on this record on social media and the other half of the year being like “it’s because you don’t pay attention to that shit, duh.” Either way, somebody should be going door-to-door telling nodders about these dudes, and to-date I’ve heard nary a knock.

From the PR wire:

HASHTRONAUT announce East Coast spring tour; debut album available now on Blues Funeral Recordings

Denver, Colorado’s stoner doom specialists HASHTRONAUT are set to spread their skull-crushing, weed-laden gospel with an extensive East Coast tour this spring. Their debut album “No Return” is available now on Blues Funeral Recordings.

Red-eyed at the crossroads of thunderous stoner sludge and towering doom, HASHTRONAUT daze and inebriate the riff-obsessed masses on this planet and beyond. Released in 2024 on Blues Funeral Recordings, their acclaimed debut album “No Return” is a resiny slab in the grand tradition of weed-fiend odysseys from Sleep to Bongzilla, an intoxicating and pummeling trip with a lungful of potent hook-doom and strikingly anthemic vocals that will enthrall fans of Monolord, Windhand or Dopelord. Stream their debut album “No Return” at this location: https://lnkfi.re/hashtronaut

Order via Blues Funeral Recordings: https://www.bluesfuneral.com/

About the upcoming US tour, the band says: “We couldn’t be more excited to get back out on the road again this spring, and even more excited to visit a whole bunch of new cities along the way!! It’s been a long, cold winter in our bunker somewhere outside of Denver, but we emerge with new amps, new riffs, and a new trick or two up our sleeve! See you out there!”

Hashtronaut upcoming US shows:
4.4 – Chicago, Illinois – Reggies
4.6 – Youngstown, Ohio – Westside Bowl
4.7 – Troy, New York – No Fun
4.8 – Brooklyn, New York – The Woodshop
4.9 – Boston, Massachusetts – Middle East Upstairs *
4.10 – Providence, Rhode Island – Alchemy *
4.11 – Lewiston, Maine – The Cage *
4.12 – New London, Connecticut – Telegraph A.Z. *
4.13 – Washington, D.C. – Pie Shop *
4.14 – Atlanta, Georgia – Bogg’s Social
4.15 – Nashville, Tennessee – The Cobra
4.17 – Boone, North Carolina – Lily’s Snack Bar
4.18 – Lexington, Kentucky – Legalize Lex @ Al’s Bar
4.19 – Kansas City, Missouri – Minibar
4.20 – Denver, Colorado – Hi-Dive
* with Worshipper

HASHTRONAUT current lineup:
Michael Honiotes – Drums*
Kellen McInerney – Regular Guitar
Robb Park – Stunt Guitar
Daniel Smith – Bass/Vocals
*all tracks on the album recorded by Eric Garcia

https://www.facebook.com/wearehashtronauts
https://instagram.com/wearehashtronauts
https://wearehashtronauts.bandcamp.com/
https://linktr.ee/Hashtronaut

https://www.facebook.com/bluesfuneral/
https://www.instagram.com/blues.funeral/
https://bluesfuneralrecordings.bandcamp.com/
bluesfuneral.com

Hashtronaut, No Return (2024)

[*NOTE: It’s not a full-length. It’s one song. I’ve snuck EPs and splits into this feature before, but this is the first single I’ve done in memory in this format. Something new. Big day for me. Thanks for reading.]

Fortunately, it hasn’t been all that long since the last we heard from The Otolith. In September, the Salt Lake City five-piece took part in Desert Records‘ split series, Legends of the Desert, sharing a split LP alongside the also-Utah-based woodsy crunch-blues duo Eagle Twin, for which they presented the first two new songs since their wrenching 2022 debut, Folium Limina (review here). But just because it’s only been a few months doesn’t make the new single “Glimmer” any less welcome.

Released just this past Wednesday, March 5, presumably to get ahead of the somehow-inevitable onslaught of Bandcamp Friday offerings (oh no, more new music! run!) from artists around the world, “Glimmer” didn’t arrive with a ton of fanfare. They posted it on socials, and Blues Funeral Recordings, which also released the full-length and has been behind the band since their inception following the breakup of SubRosa in 2019. Inheriting vocalist/violinists Kim Cordray and Sarah Pendleton, guitarist Levi Hanna and drummer/producer Andy Patterson from that band and bringing in bassist/vocalist Matt Brotherton (Visigoth, Huldra) to complete the lineup, The Otolith captured the flattening resonance of most of its component members’ prior outfit while working pointedly to set out on a new creative path.

“Glimmer,” about which little actual information was posted — one assumes Patterson recorded it both because of how it sounds and because when you have that dude in your band why would you go anywhere else — continues that thread. It is reportedly, “one of their favorite tracks to perform live” — which of course implies the song has been around for some time; it’s not so new they’ve never played it before — and perhaps part of the reason why is for the simple contrast it makes with the rest of the material they’ve released to-date. Part of what The Otolith carried forward on Folium Limina and Legends of the Desert Vol. 4 was the sense of immersion, the otherworldly float of the violins over such crushing tonality, and a patient execution thereof.

I wouldn’t call “Glimmer” gleeful by any means in shirking the norm, because it certainly isn’t a gleeful sound, but the label refers to it as “cathartic” and this too would seem to derive from the band working at a faster pace and with a more immediate structure. I could very easily see standing in front of a stage and having my brain melt out of my ears as The Otolith lay out the dronescape at the start of the song — pure daydream as I’ve not yet been fortunate enough to see The Otolith live — and take it from the quiet guitar that follows and adds one element at a time, the violins, the hissing snares behind, the vocals, the bass, gradually unfolding and piecing itself together with suitable, signature presence before dropping everything but the violins and bass at 1:30, to 10 seconds later where the entire thing explodes into an intense, elephantine lumber. Bass leads through a chugging section and backing growls take their own course in the chorus that follows, violin still bringing melody to the upper frequency echelons of the mix. Just at three minutes in, they switch to more of a foward roll and that brings them to a finish of standalone vocals.

To-date, there has not been such an efficient encapsulation of The Otolith‘s sound — and I’ll drop the caveat that no, they’re not representing the totality of what they do in one sub-four-minute track; up to now, long songs has been part of that same methodology — or the powerful sweep of which their music is capable. The counterargument there is that perhaps until “Glimmer,” being efficient hasn’t been a primary concern for The Otolith nearly so much as building flowing arrangements and highlighting the ambience, emotionality, the depth of their work and the unmitigated heft they keep in reserve for when they need it. On the balance, their vocal harmonies are no less heavy than the guitar, bass or drums that reguarly churn like tectonics to accompany, and the question that “Glimmer” leaves open is if it is a sign of things to come or if this song, born for the stage and perhaps put to tape at the same time as the tracks for the Legends of the Desert split — I don’t know that, hence “perhaps” — the standalone single is less a shift in norms than a purposeful abberation from them, whether it was written ‘to be different’ or not.

The immediacy doesn’t hurt “Glimmer” in the slightest, and The Otolith seem to have zero trouble harnessing a world from a more linear-feeling course, so take it as a win either way. Whether it is a portent or not is academic at least for now, that it exists at all is further case for The Otolith‘s ongoing development moving forward from the less than ideal circumstances of their founding in the dissolution of SubRosa and honoring that past while letting evolution happen on new strides like this. When it was written becomes relevant if one wants to look at “Glimmer” as indication of where The Otolith are headed, but at the risk of sounding like less of a rock-blogger, maybe we can just take a couple days and appreciate it on its own terms while letting its ultimate context in the timeline of the band’s still-hopefully-barely-begun tenure work itself out later, organically. Fair enough.

Whether one basks in the finer details of its mix — that light bass chug in the calm before the storm, hints of tension on the horizon, or the smoothness of the awakening that gets the band to that unleashing point, etc. — or passes through “Glimmer” en route to whatever the next thing may be (I’m not judging; we all have those days), the brevity of the song makes it feel no less declarative, even if some of what’s being declared will have to remain a mystery for the time being.

Either way you go, as always, I hope you enjoy. Thanks for reading.

—

This weekend, we’re hosting — as is our wont — a cross-family gathering for my wife’s mother’s birthday. It’s a big one, so in a few minutes I’ll wrap this up probably on the quick and get back to cleaning the house. Vacuuming needs to get done. I’ve been in and out all morning, went to the grocery store, took out recycling, vacuumed upstairs yesterday, wiped down the bathroom downstairs and picked up upstairs, will windex the big mirror and the bathroom mirrors, blah blah blah, keeping up on dishes from The Patient Mrs.’ baking, putting the ‘big room’ in order including getting one of the foldout tables that I already forgot once (damn) from the garage and picking up The Pecan’s toys from the living room, along with whatever else. She made a rad tower, did the kid, and I told her it had to come down today, and she was bummed. Nature of the thing.

I have a couple reviews set for next week — Naxatras and Rwake — and a premiere for The Riven, so that should be good. I’m behind on news and everything and Bandcamp Friday is today so I’ve gotten more than a literal 300 emails this morning and it’s 11AM. Not that I’m reading them all, but they still require time and attention both of which are in e’er-dwindling supply.

But that’s the story of it. The Pecan had half-days this past Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, for parent-teacher conferences. I stayed with kiddo while The Patient Mrs. went. She’s doing fine academically, is weird about food and doesn’t want to take off her jacket. I think we’ll end up working an accommodation for extra food time, but if she feels weird about eating in front of people — COMES BY IT HONESTLY — then I’m less certain a decent answer is letting her be the only one still eating after everyone else is done. Teachers are smarter than me though, so I’m sure it’ll work out.

Oh yeah and the world’s horrifying and ending not soon enough. Wouldn’t want to neglect mentioning that just because I’m distracted thinking about how in 25 minutes I need to put syran wrap on a ginger cake. It’s cool, I set an alarm for it.

My sincere best to you and yours. I’m gonna get going on the weekend and take some pictures of that tower before I pull it down, which I promise not to enjoy doing. At all. Have a great and safe couple days. Don’t forget to hydrate, don’t get too stoned at your mother-in-law’s birthday party (maybe talking to myself a little there), and be careful out there because these are stupid, dangerous times. Love as much and as often as you can stand to do so.

And I say this every week, but new shirts are coming soon. April? I said next month last month, but whatever. I think it’s gonna be The Obelisk like Sleep and Black Sabbath Master of Reality logos. Classic stuff but hopefully they can stay up for a while. Will keep you posted.

FRM.

The Obelisk Collective on Facebook

The Obelisk Radio

The Obelisk merch

 

There’s no audio on their website or Bandcamp — the latter has shirts if you find yourself digging the logo — but I managed to find a snippet of Insomniac music on their Instagram, included in a Reel plugging their tour with Dead Register that ended last week. It’s just a few seconds, teaser of a teaser, but better than nothing. And even from that, I think you can get a sense that space is important in their sound, and that there’s a melody/heft collusion happening in that open-feeling expanse. I’m not gonna tag them with a genre or anything based on eight-to-10 seconds of hearing them, but that post is below, or a link to it is below, or whatever I can’t embed shit anymore the internet is broken if I could abandon ship and jump off the planet I’d already be gone.

Of course, the reason I spent upwards of seven earth minutes actually looking for a thing — in this case an Insomniac song — was because the band’s newly signed to Blues Funeral Recordings and Jadd‘s on a roll for the post-pandemic 2020s. Will be looking forward to hearing this one when the time comes.

From social media, which, sadly, is where these kinds of things are still posted:

We rarely get the chance to sign bands in person, so our founder was immensely grateful to meet and witness the extraordinary INSOMNIAC perform here in the desert last week, and we’re tremendously stoked to welcome them to the label! 🗿🌙🌵

Atlanta’s INSOMNIAC blend mind-expanding psychedelia with cosmic atmospherics and drony post-metal in a way that’s utterly transporting. Featuring members of Zoroaster, Hank III and Deceased, INSOMNIAC will guide you on an aural trip through your mind’s peaks and valleys toward enlightenment. Fans of REZN, Dead Meadow, King Buffalo and Russian Circles, prepare to journey within and ascend toward enlightenment when Blues Funeral presents INSOMNIAC’s debut LP this year! 🤘

Insomniac:
Juan Garcia – Bass Guitar
Mike Morris – Guitar, Vocals
Van Bassman – Vocals
Amos Rifkin – Percussion, Vocals
Alex Avedissian – Guitar

https://www.facebook.com/insomniacATL/
https://www.instagram.com/insomniac_atl/
https://insomniacvibes.bandcamp.com/
https://www.insomniacvibes.com/

 

View this post on Instagram

 

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Astral Voyager Vol. 1 will be released May 16 and begin a two-album cycle for Norwegian heavy rockers Kal-El. Also their first offering for Blues Funeral Recordings and a continued alliance with Majestic Mountain Records, the band’s sixth LP and the follow-up to 2021’s Dark Majesty (review here) is introduced to public ears and eyes via the new single “B.T.D.S.C.,” for which a new video is streaming at the bottom of this post. Both Astral Voyager Vol. 1 and its intended companion LP follow a narrative concept related to escaping oppression in space.

Those are the basic facts, and if you know Kal-El, the where and when and what is probably all you need. To that end, the single is an acronym standing for ‘Black Train Deep Space Caravan’ — obviously — and is a six-minute burner in what’s become the Kal-El tradition, blasting desert rock into the interstellar medium with energy to space and a solid sense of craft beneath. It’s very much a Kal-El song, in other words. Don’t be surprised when it’s stuck in your head. That’s part of the thing too.

I expect a press release about this any second now, but here’s the info from the Bandcamp page:

Set controls for the infinite expanse with staggering new epic Astral Voyager from KAL-EL.

Preorder: https://kal-el.bandcamp.com/

Formed in Stavanger, Norway in 2012, KAL-EL established themselves as a unique force in the international heavy underground, blending Scandinavian desert-style rock, classic metal, psychedelia and doom elements with ambitious sci-fi themes.

After a profuse series of mind-expanding journeys through spacetime (five albums and three EPs from 2013 to 2023), the band are back with the most significant milestone in their multi-dimensional journey yet.

Astral Voyager Vol. 1 tells the saga of intergalactic bounty hunter Mica, who trades in taking down the scum of the universe while dodging The Nine, a control-obsessed consortium that seeks to dominate her as they do the rest of the cosmos. Traveling and bringing in her marks, Mica’s journey is a story of hope, individuality and searching for meaning in the unknown.

Presented in two volumes during 2025, the Astral Voyager double album is the strongest realization of KAL-EL’s signature sonic approach to date. Full of downtuned grooves, soaring anthems and vintage sci-fi aesthetics, it’s an explosion of contagious fuzz-blues from Scandinavia’s prolific and impressive masters of starfaring heaviness!

releases May 16, 2025

Tracklisting:
1. Astral Voyager
2. B.T.D.S.C.
3. Void Cleaner
4. Cloud Walker
5. Dilithium
6. Cosmic Sailor

Written and performed by Kal-El
Recorded at Bridge Burner Recording
Engineered by Ørjan Kristoffersen Lund
Produced by Kal-El Co-produced by Ørjan Kristoffersen Lund
Mixed and mastered by Ruben Willem
Artwork by Steven Yoyada
Layout by ShaneHorror

http://kal-el.no
http://kal-el.bandcamp.com
http://facebook.com/kalelproject
http://instagram.com/kalelband

https://www.facebook.com/bluesfuneral/
https://www.instagram.com/blues.funeral/
https://bluesfuneralrecordings.bandcamp.com/
bluesfuneral.com

http://majesticmountainrecords.bigcartel.com
http://facebook.com/majesticmountainrecords
http://instagram.com/majesticmountainrecords

Kal-El, “B.T.D.S.C.” official video

Even as they get ready to undertake winter and spring tours in celebration of their 2024 album, The Head and the Habit (review here), Sweden’s Greenleaf are taking time to mark the 25th anniversary of the band. Their 2000 self-titled debut EP (discussed here) and 2001 follow-up debut LP, Revolution Rock (discussed here) have been compiled onto what Blues Funeral Recordings is billing as Revolution Rock Deluxe, a jam-packed-with-jams 15-track presentation of Greenleaf‘s earliest work, remastered by Karl Daniel Lidén. It’s about as close to a no-brainer as you can get without actually getting into not having a brain.

The remaster of “Sold My Lady (Out the Back of an Oldsmobile)” — which has always been a better title than a song, but is going to grab attention one way or the other — is streaming at the bottom of this post, along with The Head and the Habit should you want to do a side-by-side of the band Greenleaf were with the band they are now. There’s a lesson about predicting the future in there somewhere.

Info from the PR wire:

Blues Funeral Recordings team up with Swedish heavy rock giants Greenleaf to present “Revolution Rock Deluxe”, a 15-track monster of a record combining their landmark album “Revolution Rock” (featuring members of Dozer, Lowrider, Demon Cleaner) with the long out-of-print 2000 debut EP onto one single package, fully remastered by Karl Daniel Lidén Produktion and adorned with a fresh design by Peder Bergstrand.

⚡️ STREAM newly remastered single “Sold My Lady (Out the Back of An Oldsmobile)”: https://lnkfi.re/soldmylady
📀 PREORDER: https://greenleaf-sweden.bandcamp.com/album/revolution-rock-deluxe

It will be released on March 28th in limited and worldwide edition 2xLP and digipak CD formats as well as in an extremely limited special deluxe vinyl edition for Blues Funeral’s upcoming PostWax Unlimited subscription series. More info about PostWax Unlimited: bluesfuneral.com/collections/postwax

TRACKLIST:
1. Vat 69
2. Devil Woman
3. Status: Hallucinogenic, Phase II
4. You Got Me High
5. Red Tab
6. The Shipbuilder
7. Electric Ryder
8. Hexagram
9. Monostereowhatever
10. Get Your Love Outta Here
11. Sold My Lady (Out the Back of An Oldsmobile)
12. Kvinna Du Ger Mig Ingen Kärlek
13. Smell the Green
14. Land of Lincoln
15. Status: Hallucinogenic

Led by guitarist Tommi Holappa of European desert rock icons Dozer, Greenleaf began as an informal collective of friends making music inspired by their shared love of ’70s riff rock.

Having transformed into a proper band in 2013, Greenleaf enters 2025 at the forefront of the global heavy scene on the heels of acclaimed latest album The Head & The Habit. Moving into the staggering twenty fifth year of a monumental career, they mark the milestone with a very special reissue of their earliest releases.

Featuring members of Dozer, Lowrider, Demon Cleaner and more, Greenleaf’s first album Revolution Rock was self-released in 2001 and never widely distributed nor repressed since its original 500-copy run. The new Revolution Rock Deluxe combines that landmark album with Greenleaf’s long out-of-print 2000 debut EP onto a single stunning edition, with all songs fully remastered by Karl Daniel Lidén and the original art and design brilliantly refreshed and updated by Lowrider’s Peder Bergstrand.

Join us in celebrating a quarter century of riff majesty with Revolution Rock Deluxe, and experience Greenleaf’s Big Bang for the first time again!

GREENLEAF WINTER & SPRING 2025:

⚡️AUSTRALIA TOUR 2025⚡️:

20.2 Mo’s Desert Club, Gold Coast
21.2 Soapbox, Brisbane**
22.2 Marrickvile, Sydney **
23.2 The Baso, Canberra **
26.2 Tanwells Hotel, Beechworth **
27.2 Medusa, Geelong **
28.2 The Gaso, Melbourne**
1.3 The Cranker, Adelaide**
2.3 Spliffs n Riffs Festival, Perth **
** @iron_blanket

⚡️THE TRICKING TREE TOUR 2025⚡️

28.03.25 (DE) Karlsruhe, SOL Psych Out
29.03.25 (DE) Cologne, SOL Sonic Ride ^
30.03.25 (FR) Wasquehal, The Black Lab *
31.03.25 (FR) Paris, Backstage *
01.04.25 (FR) Nantes, Le Ferrailleur *
03.04.25 (NL) Deventer, Burgerweeshuis * ^
04.04.25 (NL) Eindhoven, Effenaar * ^
05.04.25 (DE) Aschaffenburg, Colos-Saal * ^
* @highdesertqueen
^ @gnomeverse

“Revolution Rock Deluxe” lineup:
Jocke Åslund – Hammond Organ
Bengt Bäcke – Bass, keys
Peder Bergstrand – Vocals, guitar, bass
Tommi Holappa – Guitars, bass
Daniel Lidén – Drums, percussion
Fredrik Nordin – Vocals

GREENLEAF is:
Arvid Hällagård – vocals
Tommi Holappa – guitars
Sebastian Olsson – drums
Hans Fröhlich – bass

www.facebook.com/greenleafrocks
https://www.instagram.com/greenleafband/
https://greenleaf-sweden.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/bluesfuneral/
https://www.instagram.com/blues.funeral/
https://bluesfuneralrecordings.bandcamp.com/
bluesfuneral.com

Greenleaf, Revolution Rock Deluxe (2025)

Greenleaf, The Head and the Habit (2024)