Norway’s Kal-El begin their tour of the US East Coast and Midwest tomorrow, Oct. 16. Today, they’re premiering their video for the new track “Juggernaut,” which heralds the coming in 2026 of their next full-length, Astral Voyager Vol. 2. If you’re not auto-stoked on that prospect by seeing the words alone, just hit up the video. Really. The best argument that anyone has ever made in favor of Kal-El has always been Kal-El songs. I could sit here for the next three hours trying to capture some aspect of the intangible righteousness of what the band does, and on a decent day, I might say something that someone hearing the song could relate to. Hypothetical cookie for me.

But even if that were to happen, there’s nothing I could say that’s going to convey the largesse of the roll that starts “Juggernaut,” or the way the five-piece seem to ‘go-big’ just as much on melody as impact. There is no revolution happening in Kal-El‘s music, and there never has been, and it’s never been about that. “Juggernaut,” in being the first audio from the follow-up to this year’s correspondingly banger Astral Voyager Vol. 1 (review here), is exciting regardless. It’s a celebration of heavy rock itself, of riffs, of volume, of the power of music to move you. I didn’t understand this about the band at first. But they’re songwriters, as they’ve proven over and again, and they prove once more with “Juggernaut.” I look forward to the next record and the many more steamroller grooves to follow.

Astral Voyager Vol. 2 will be out next year on Blues Funeral Recordings and Majestic Mountain Records. Some words on the single and the tour dates follow here, courtesy of the PR wire:

Kal-El, “Juggernaut” video premiere

Kal-El on “Juggernaut”:

“We are thrilled to finally unleash our next album “Astral Voyager Vol. 2” upon the world. “Vol. 2” is perhaps somewhat darker than Vol. 1, but everything is wrapped up in our style of playing and sound: expect heavy riffs, melodic vocals, and thunderous drums. “Juggernaut” is the first single, and it’s just that: a merciless juggernaut pounding every inch of your body with heavy, oh so heavy drums and riffs wrapped up in a wall of sound with the typical melodic KAL-EL vocals.”

Juggernaut is the lead single from the upcoming album ‘Astral Voyager Vol 2,’ set for release in February 2026. ‘Astral Voyager Vol 2 is a co-release by Majestic Mountain Records and Blues Funeral Recordings!

Kal-el will tour the US in October. Catch them on these dates
October 16: The Odditorium – Asheville, NC
October 17: The Pour House Music Hall – Raleigh, NC
October 18: TV Eye – Queens, NY
October 19: Sonia – Cambridge, MA
October 21: MilkBoy Philly – Philadelphia, PA
October 22: The Metro Gallery – Baltimore, MD
October 23: Westside Bowl – Youngstown, OH
October 24: The Sanctuary Detroit – Hamtramck, MI
October 25: Reggie’s Rock Club – Chicago, IL
October 26: X-Ray Arcade – Cudahy, WI
October 28: Bottleneck – Lawrence, KS
October 29: The Vanguard – Tulsa, OK
October 30: The Lost Well – Austin, TX

Enjoy, and may the fuzz be with you!

Credits
Video by Drain Hope ( / drainhope )
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
Copyright to Darkspace Music

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

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

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

Kal-El, Astral Voyager Vol. 1 (2025)

Insomniac are barely a minute into opening track “Meditation” — by then the ceremonial chime has been struck, so they’re officially underway — before their debut album, Om Moksha Ritam has revealed the creation of texture as a core facet of its purpose. The Atlanta-based then-five-piece of guitarist/vocalist Mike Morris — who played for a time in Zoroaster and whose death this past July changes the context of this release entirely — vocalist Van Bassman, guitarist Alex Avedissian, bassist Juan Garcia and drummer/vocalist Amos Rifkin present their first full-length through Blues Funeral Recordings as seven songs across a heady, immersive 47 minutes.

They use this time to reveal a nuance of approach that is as much post-metal as it is meditative doom as it is progressive heavy in its construction, bolstered by themes of journeying as given through the geologic features and biomes of (most of) the tracks themselves, as “Meditation” unfurls a density that’s more about the wash resulting from layering elements rather than simple tonal heft. Semi-spoken, whisper-screamed and clean-sung parts are interwoven, and the sense of communion with the ethereal is prominent almost immediately. This is not a straight-ahead party band. It’s a mystical-doom crashing exploration-type band. I guess that’s still kind of a party.

“Meditation” bookends with pointedly proggy album finale “Awakening” to give a sense of the result of all this astral-projection-via-riffs, a kind of enlightenment won through the undertakings of “Mountain,” “Forest,” “Sea,” and so on. There’s a chime in “Mountain” as well, but the song is not misnamed for its largesse, and as its initial chug opens to a crash-punctuated roll, one is reminded some of Forming the Void‘s airier moments, or the likes of Rezn for the fog that seems to rest between the sound and the listener’s ears.

A gallop emerges, which is sort of a hook in itself, but Insomniac aren’t looking to toss out catchy numbers so much as convey depth (or height, in this case), and “Mountain” somewhat ironically to its title carries a sense of movement in its later twists of guitar and grooving push. The vocal arrangement once again displays a thoughtful creativity, and when they hit into the slowdown toward the finish (classic), the affect is as consuming as would seem to have been intended.

The subsequent “Snow and Ice” is the longest inclusion at 9:53, and comes to offer a more direct and — this isn’t the right word, but it’s the closest I’ve got — stark payoff in its ending, but the hypnotic, aughts-era-Mastodon-derived shimmer of guitar that makes up much of the track is the real highlight. Getting there, in other words. “Snow and Ice” soothes early coming off the finish of “Mountain,” and gradually solidifies around a low groove kept by Rifkin, whose fills grow increasingly intense as the build progresses.

The third cut might be the answer to how heavy Insomniac get on this first record, but if it hasn’t been clear from the first sentence above, I’ll say outright that Om Moksha Ritam is about more than just being heavy. A later example of this is the sense of float that persists in the penultimate “Desert,” which is not ungrounded (it has drums, for example) but lets its acoustic/electric resonance answer the lushness of melody in the earlier centerpiece “Forest,” which answers back to much of what “Mountain” and “Snow and Ice” accomplish in terms of build, but is distilled in the doing across an album-shortest 4:23 runtime; toying with efficiency and structure, letting parts dwell when it feels right; all of this is dug-in in a positive sense.

As given to creating a wash as Insomniac are — and this should be considered something different from ‘crushing,’ which in my stoner headcanon is more definitively about tone — it’s easy to get lost in the proceedings as a listener and sort of snap back with the next change. “Forest” sees this become part of the dynamic of the band in a different way, broadening their reach even as it seems to rein in impulses toward longer-form expression. It’s fluid either way, and almost can’t help but be with its echoing vocals and cave-reverb, and so on.

These also become part of the persona of the release, and as “Forest” starts a mini-trilogy of three shorter tracks, with “Sea” and “Desert” behind, each one offers something distinct from the others — “Sea” starts out like drunken-regret QOTSA in a slog, builds suitable waves of distortion before the tide rolls out, while desert is clearer-eyed in its course toward the concluding payoff, with layers of vocals, sitar-esque guitar, and the full brunt of volume brought to a head before it’s done.

It’s unsurprising that “Awakening” should pick up from this moment, since it’s not the first time the band has by then employed finishing big and starting subdued going from one track to the next (see “dynamic,” above), but the closer has a sense of patience in its rollout and brings the vocal melody forward, finding Alice in Chainsy resolution after the three-minute mark en route to a resurgent gallop and a solo-topped onslaught finish. Somewhere in there a chime is hit again and it rings out to cap, which is fair for ending the meditation that began with — wait for it — “Meditation.” Although they don’t lack for impact really anywhere on the record, one of the chief accomplishments of Om Moksha Ritam is aesthetic.

The depth of production/mix become an essential piece of the songs’ character, and define a feeling of reaching into the unknown that’s all the more impressive as it seems to be a willfully honed aspect of their sound. It is somewhat inevitable that the band will be changed from here on. They not only have dealt with the trauma of losing Morris in the time leading up to a release that may well define their trajectory going forward, but on a practical level, even if they find another guitarist/vocalist to take up the role, the dynamic as presented across this material will shift as a simple matter of it involving somebody different. Knowing that, and in consideration of Om Moksha Ritam among the most cohesive and engagingly plotted debuts of the year — while at the same time fostering a mystique on a sheer sonic level — the record feels even more special.

Insomniac, Om Moksha Ritam (2025)

Insomniac, “Awakening” official video

Insomniac, “Mountain” official video

Insomniac website

Insomniac on Bandcamp

Insomniac on Instagram

Insomniac on Facebook

Blues Funeral Recordings website

Blues Funeral Recordings on Bandcamp

Blues Funeral Recordings on Instagram

Blues Funeral Recordings on Facebook

Well, “The House that Peterbilt” is a Clutch song, and their version of “Marigold,” if it’s a cover, isn’t the Dave Grohl-sung Nirvana B-side, so I’m guessing that’s original. I don’t know who “Grey” or “Find Away” might be by, but Floor had a tune on Oblation that shared the latter’s title, but I don’t know if Blue Heron are Floor fans. I guess we’ll find out sooner or later who they’re actually covering on this half-covers/half-session release, tracked earlier this year in the studio and at a college radio performance. [Edit 08/28: Indeed, it’s Floor, Clutch and Fudge Tunnel for the covers.]

As announced a couple weeks ago, Blue Heron have their first-ever European tour dates happening this October, and Emulations will follow 2024’s Everything Fades (review here) as the cause they’re heralding. Those dates are below, as well as the preorders for the new outing, which lands the same day the tour starts: Oct. 10.

And I’ll say too that I stopped covering Redux releases because it got to be too much, but I am looking forward to hearing Blue Heron‘s take on “Head Like a Hole,” Author & Punisher doing “Reptile,” and several others. Come to think of it, the self-titled Clutch (from whence “The House that Peterbilt,” again, featured here, comes) seems like another classic waiting to be reinterpreted. Just saying.

From the PR wire:

US desert metallers BLUE HERON debut new single “Marigold” taken from upcoming new release “Emulations” on Blues Funeral Recordings!

US desert rockers BLUE HERON announce the release of their new record “Emulations” on October 10th through Blues Funeral Recordings, to coincide with the beginning of their first-ever European tour. Listen to the first single “Marigold” on all streaming services now!

“Emulations” is an interim release, blending new studio recordings with live-in-the-studio performances captured during a session at Albuquerque’s KUNM college radio station last February. The project was conceived in early 2025, as Blue Heron prepared to record their rendition of the Nine Inch Nails classic “Head Like a Hole” for the forthcoming Magnetic Eye Records compilation, Best of NIN Redux: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/magneticeye/the-downward-spiral-redux-and-best-of-nine-inch-nails-redux

Blue Heron singer Jadd Shickler on the new record: “We’re on a streak of putting out something new every year since 2021, so knowing we were going in to record the Nine Inch Nails tune, we talked about what else we could do to get the most of our studio time. We’d gotten the invite to do KUNM and decided to see if we could pull a few things together and add them to whatever might come out of the in-studio session, and maybe we’d have something unique and cool ahead of our European tour.” The result is four new studio tracks (including three covers) along with four live recordings from the radio session, the latter inspiring the release’s title. “The name Emulations came from a lyric in one of the covers, and it fit the concept of a record that’s either us doing other bands’ songs or live versions of our own songs,” Shickler adds.

Blue Heron will bring their blistering desert rock to European stages for the first time this October, including two key scene festivals and nine shows total alongside the likes of Gnome, Mephistofeles and High Desert Queen:

Blue Heron European tour 2025
Oct 10 – Karlsruhe (DE) Alte Hackerei w/ High Desert Queen
Oct 11 – Munich (DE) Keep It Low Festival
Oct 12 – Arnstadt (DE) Rockjungfer
Oct 13 – Bamberg (DE) Live Club w/ Submarin On Mars
Oct 14 – Hagen (DE) Werkhof Hohenlimburg w/ Stargo
Oct 15 – Rotterdam (NL) Roodkapje w/ Mephistofeles, High Desert Queen
Oct 16 – Tilburg (NL) Little Devil w/ Gnome, Tankzilla
Oct 17 – Trier (DE) Rothaus
Oct 19 – Antwerp (BE) Desertfest Belgium

BLUE HERON ‘Emulations”
Out October 10th on Blues Funeral Recordings (cassette/CD/digital)
Bandcamp preorder: https://blueheronabq.bandcamp.com/
Label preorder: https://bluesfuneralrecordings.bandcamp.com/

TRACKLIST:
1. Grey
2. Marigold
3. The House That Peterbilt
4. Find Away
5. Everything Fades (Live at KUNM)
6. Day of the Comet (Live at KUNM)
7. Futurola (Live at KUNM)
8. Swansong (Live at KUNM)

BLUE HERON is
Mike Chavez – Guitars
Ricardo Sanchez – Drums
Steve Schmidlapp – Bass
Jadd Shickler – Vocals

https://blueheronabq.bandcamp.com/
https://www.instagram.com/blueheronabq/
https://www.facebook.com/blueheronabq

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

Blue Heron, Everything Fades (2024)

It’s the end of the week. It’s mid-August. Dead of summer. If I go outside, I drown in humidity. The days are eternal and the horrors are multidimensional. A bit of good news goes a long way.

So I’m happy for New Mexican desert rockers Blue Heron, who’ll head to Europe for their first bit of on-the-continent touring this October. They’re set to appear in Munich at Keep it Low (would go) and Desertfest Belgium (would go) with club dates in Germany and the Netherlands between, including shows with High Desert Queen and riffy troublemakers Gnome, as well as the speed rock magnates Tankzilla, which is sure to be a hell of a show.

They go in support of their 2024 LP, Everything Fades (review here), which came out through Blues Funeral Recordings, which is helmed by Blue Heron vocalist Jadd Shickler. The band will also take part in the upcoming Nine Inch Nails redux on Shickler‘s other label, Magnetic Eye, as noted below in the PR wire info:

Desert stoner metallers BLUE HERON announce fall European tour and festival appearances; new album out on Blues Funeral Recordings!

New Mexico, US stoner metal merchants BLUE HERON have announced their first-ever European tour in support of their latest album “Everything Fades”, released last fall on Blues Funeral Recordings.

Riding high on the success of their 2024 sophomore album “Everything Fades”, Blue Heron has announced a string of European tour dates this October, including performances at two key scene festivals. With nine shows alongside the likes of Gnome, Mephistofeles and High Desert Queen, the band will bring their blistering desert rock to stages across Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium for the first time ever.

Along with announcing their first live appearance in Europe, Blue Heron has also been revealed to be taking part in Magnetic Eye Records’ latest Redux Series installment, paying homage to industrial rock crossover icons Nine Inch Nails. Magnetic Eye has launched a Kickstarter in support of the project, with other initial artist reveals including Black Tusk, Daevar, Abrams, Grayceon and IAH. More info on the NIN Redux project and Kickstarter can be found at this location: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/magneticeye/the-downward-spiral-redux-and-best-of-nine-inch-nails-redux

Blue Heron European tour 2025
Oct 10 – Karlsruhe (DE) Alte Hackerei w/ High Desert Queen
Oct 11 – Munich (DE) Keep It Low Festival
Oct 12 – Arnstadt (DE) Rockjungfer
Oct 13 – Bamberg (DE) Live Club w/ Submarin On Mars
Oct 14 – Hagen (DE) Werkhof Hohenlimburg w/ Stargo
Oct 15 – Rotterdam (NL) Roodkapje w/ Mephistofeles, High Desert Queen
Oct 16 – Tilburg (NL) Little Devil w/ Gnome, Tankzilla
Oct 17 – Trier (DE) Rothaus
Oct 19 – Antwerp (BE) Desertfest Belgium

Surrounded by endless horizons, Blue Heron formed in 2018 out of a compulsion to fill the vastness with massive volume, saturating their piece of desert with rolling, thunderous riffs, drums that pummel and swing, deep, thrumming tones and vocals that rip and roar.

Their guitarist and singer were founding members of Spiritu, possibly Albuquerque, New Mexico’s first desert rock band, whose brief burn in the early aughts included a Jack Endino-produced LP, a European tour with Clutch, Spiritual Beggars and Dozer, and a compilation appearance alongside Entombed and Mastodon. Their debut LP “Ephemeral” arrived in May of 2022 via Kozmik Artifactz in Europe and Seeing Red Records in the USA. Substantial appreciation in the underground led to performances at Ripplefest Texas and Monolith on the Mesa and opening slots for The Well, Elder, Black Mountain, Ruby the Hatchet, Howling Giant, Heavy Temple and The Obsessed, along with a swath of positive reviews throughout the heavy media.

In May 2023, Blue Heron dropped three new tracks on a split LP with friends and fellow southwestern riff-purveyors High Desert Queen for Ripple Music’s Turned to Stone series, with cover art by award-winning comic and poster artist Johnny Dombrowski. The bands embarked on a short tour in August 2023, before they set to work on their next full-length.

Released in the fall of 2024, “Everything Fades” expands on their unyielding desert sound with a new slab of propulsive, sun-scorched riff-heaviness. Balanced between laid-back, meditative atmospherics and heavier, more aggressive lunges, Blue Heron’s cruising jams and gritty stoner romps call to mind echoes of Kyuss, Clutch and Monster Magnet, as well as modern contemporaries Valley of the Sun and Greenleaf. “Everything Fades” is available now through Blues Funeral Recordings.

BLUE HERON is
Mike Chavez – Guitars
Ricardo Sanchez – Drums
Steve Schmidlapp – Bass
Jadd Shickler – Vocals

https://blueheronabq.bandcamp.com/
https://www.instagram.com/blueheronabq/
https://www.facebook.com/blueheronabq

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

Blue Heron, Everything Fades (2024)

As they reel from the passing of guitarist Mike Morris — pictured second from the right in the photo below; backwards cap, sunglasses, beard — just weeks ago, Atlanta’s Insomniac are pushing forward with the ramp-up to the release of their debut album, Om Moksha Ritam, on Blues Funeral Recordings. The record is out Sept. 5 and “Awakening” finds the band paying homage to Morris in a touching and heartfelt manner at the end. This means the clip must be recent, so no doubt it would have been an emotional shoot for the remaining members of the band — vocalist Van Bassman, guitarist Alex Avedissian, bassist Juan Garcia and drummer/backing vocalist Amos Rifkin — and the realization is accordingly bittersweet.

Note they’ll be out with Kal-El following Om Moksha Ritam‘s Sept. 5 release. The PR wire brings the new video and reminds of doings:

Transcendent post-doom unit INSOMNIAC shares new single off upcoming debut album on Blues Funeral Recordings; fall US tour announced!

Atlanta-based transcendent post-doom architects INSOMNIAC (with members of Zoroaster, Deceased and Avedissian Pickups) present their new single “Awakening”, in memory of their recently departed guitarist and vocalist Mike Morris. Their debut album “Om Moksha Ritam” will be issued on September 5th via Blues Funeral Recordings.

“Om Moksha Ritam” (or “Liberation through merging with the Universal Rhythm”) is a concept album that guides the listener through an aural and spiritual journey across multiple extreme environments, testing their resolve, principles, and commitment to adhering to the path.

“‘Awakening’ is the synthesis of this trip and the climax of both our collective spiritual journey and the record. After enduring and ultimately triumphing over the trials and environments traversed across the seven songs, we find ourselves with the time, space, safety, and gained experience to finally connect, with all our focus and intention, to the universe itself,” says the band.

INSOMNIAC’s resolve has certainly been tested lately. After announcing their album, an upcoming US tour with fellow Blues Funeral Recordings artist Kal-El, and being added to this year’s RippleFest lineup, the band experienced the sudden passing of Mike Morris, guitarist and a founding member of Insomniac.

“Mike was one of a kind – a sweet and generous soul that was always there to spread his good vibes and help lift you up to the higher plane that he existed on. A beach bum at heart – never without a cigarette, Tecate, or guitar in hand. We were so incredibly thrilled to have him as a bandmate and a friend. The mark he made on the music we made together is impossible to quantify. The song, this video, and the record are all dedicated to the memory of Mike Morris.”

As is their way, Insomniac has decided to stick to the path and to continue sharing their music with the world, adding another batch of dates around Ripplefest Texas. “This music was so important to him, and to us, that we knew it was exactly what he would have wanted. The path, we must keep on.”

Upcoming fall shows:
9/16 – Birmingham, AL @ Firehouse
9/17 – Memphis, TN @ The Hi-Tone
9/18 – Dallas, TX @ Armoury DE
9/19 – Austin, TX @ Ripplefest
9/20 – Houston, TX @ 19th Hole
9/21 – Pensacola, FL – The Handlebar*
10/16 – Asheville, NC @ The Odd*
10/17 – Raleigh, NC @ The Pour House*
10/18 – Brooklyn, NY @ TV Eye*
10/19 – Cambridge, MA @ Sonia*
10/21 – Philadelphia, PA @ Milk Boy*
10/22 – Baltimore, MD @ Metro Gallery*
10/23 – Youngstown, OH @ Westside Bowl*
10/24 – Detroit, MI @ Sanctuary*
10/25 – Chicago, IL @ Reggies Music Joint*
10/26 – Milwaukee, WI @ X-Ray Arcade*
10/28 – Lawrence, KS @ Bottleneck*
10/29 – Tulsa, OK @ The Vanguard*
10/30 – Austin, TX @ The Lost Well*
11/31 – New Orleans, LA @ Holy Diver*
11/1 – Panama City, FL @ Mosey’s*
11/2 – Atlanta, GA @ Boggs Social*
* with Kal-El

On their debut record “Om Moksha Ritam”, to be released September 2025 via Blues Funeral Recordings, Insomniac delivers a brooding, heavy, and psychedelic journey, both physical and abstract. The duality of the experience is for you to experience. Every trip is different. Every spin reveals another layer. Here exists something new, unique, and incomparable. A band that made the music they wanted to hear because it needed to exist. What you choose to do with this information is your choice alone – but don’t sleep on it.

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

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

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

Insomniac, “Awakening” official video

Insomniac, “Mountain” official video

Moon Destroys already toured with Elder this year, and they’ll be out with Dozer and The Sword before 2025 is done. Significant time on the road and in some decent slots. And yeah, a pedigree that lets them namedrop Torche and Royal Thunder is nothing to sneeze at, but if you heard their 2025 debut album, She Walks by Moonlight (review here), upon its self-release this Spring, you already know that as a band they’re more than the sum of their collective discography.

Likely the Blues Funeral Recordings issue of She Walks by Moonlight set to release this October will be the ‘official’ edition, and fair enough for that since they’ll apparently spend much of 2026 touring to support it. Europe yet? Another record first, maybe, but you never know. They’d be a smart pickup for some Desertfest or other happening in Europe next Spring. Just thinking out loud.

Kudos to the band, cheers to Jadd on his forever-to-the-ground ear, and thanks for reading. Here’s the announcement from the PR wire:

Atlanta alternative psych unit MOON DESTROYS (w/ ex-Torche and Royal Thunder) sign to Blues Funeral Recordings; US tours with Dozer and The Sword coming!

Atlanta alternative psych rock unit MOON DESTROYS have signed to Blues Funeral Recordings for the reissue of their self-released debut “She Walks By Moonlight” as well as their new album release in 2026. The band is ready to embark on their US West Coast tour this week alongside Dozer and Abrams, and will be touring the East Coast with The Sword this fall.

Formed by guitarist Juan Montoya (ex-Torche) and drummer Evan Diprima (ex-Royal Thunder), Moon Destroys released their first EP ‘Maiden Voyage’ in 2020. The 5-song debut featured contributions from Troy Sanders (Mastodon) and Bryan Richie (The Sword) and laid a foundation that would come fully into focus when vocalist/guitarist Charlie Suárez (MonstrO) and bassist Arnold Nese completed the band in 2024.

April 2025 found Moon Destroys thrust into the limelight, supporting Elder on tour just as they were self-releasing their debut full-length “She Walks By Moonlight” in limited form. Despite hurrying to get the new LP ready in time to take on the road, the album inarguably captured the band’s tremendous evolution beyond the connections to the members’ former outfits.

Gritty and distorted yet hazy and hypnotic, “She Walks By Moonlight” shifts from shimmering post-rock to driving riff-doom and back to shoegazy psychedelia. It’s a cinematic and otherworldly journey from a band who breeze easily into the environs of Floor, Mother Love Bone, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Russian Circles and Ride, ultimately collapsing all efforts at categorization into its effervescent, compulsive swirl.

Blues Funeral Recordings is proud to welcome Moon Destroys to the label just in time for a string of US tour dates supporting Swedish icons Dozer alongside labelmates Abrams. The label will bring forth a proper worldwide release of “She Walks By Moonlight” this October as they will hit the stage for a coveted run of dates with The Sword, followed by their next album release and more touring in 2026.

The band says: “We are extremely excited to join forces with Jadd and the Blues Funeral Recordings team to continue the saga of Moon Destroys. It’s an honor to join a roster with great, like-minded artists to keep pushing the heavy underground forward! We will see you out on the West Coast this month supporting fellow label mates and Swedish legends Dozer. After that, we’ll be out supporting our friends and fellow rippers The Sword this October on the East Coast before heading back into the studio to finish a new album. We are looking forward to working hard for the rest of the year to make for an even busier 2026! It’s full steam ahead now with a great team!“

Summer 2025 supporting Dozer w/ Abrams
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

Fall 2025 tour supporting The Sword

October 13 – Boston, MA @ Paradise
October 14 – New York City, NY @ The Bowery Ballroom
October 15 – Burlington, VT @ Higher Ground
October 17 – Buffalo, NY @ Higher Ground
October 18 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Mr. Smalls
October 19 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer
October 22 – Raleigh, NC @ Lincoln Theater
October 23 – Atlanta, GA @ Variety Playhouse
October 24 – Orlando, FL @ The Beacham
October 26 – Nashville, TN @ Brooklyn Bowl

“She Walks By Moonlight” reissue
Available October 17, 2025 on Blues Funeral Recordings
Shop on BFR website: https://www.bluesfuneral.com/
Bandcamp: https://bluesfuneralrecordings.bandcamp.com/
European store: https://en.bluesfuneral.spkr.media/

MOON DESTROYS are:
Juan Montoya – Guitars
Evan Diprima – Drums
Charlie Suárez – Vocals Guitars
Arnold Nese – Bass

https://www.moondestroys.com/
https://moondestroys.bandcamp.com/
https://linktr.ee/moondestroys
https://www.instagram.com/moondestroys/
https://www.facebook.com/moondestroys/

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

Moon Destroys, She Walks by Moonlight (2025)

There have been a few editions of Lowrider‘s classic 2000 debut, Ode to Io (reissue review here), at this point. If one wants to begin with 2017 when the band released a deluxe edition of the album as their first offering through Blues Funeral, then with the subsequent 20th anniversary edition in 2020 and this 25th anniversary pressing, that’s three in the last eight years. Not every record needs to be constantly in print. Ode to Io might.

I was asked earlier this year to contribute to liner notes for this release with a few other people. I had a whole idea for it and whatnot, had hit up Peder Bergstrand and got him to tell me about growing up with this music, an experience of it no one outside the band can know anything about, but having the songs as formative in his life. I will try to get an interview going, though, ugh, looking at myself. In any case, it’s obviously a special record so I want to do something for it, and all the more since I ultimately wasn’t able to make those liner notes happen because I suck at everything and am so distractable I couldn’t even finish telling you about that before I got sidetracked by negative self-talk. Maybe not the time for me to be doing interviews after all.

I got to see Lowrider in May at Desertfest Oslo 2025 (review here) and it was a highlight of my year. I’m just saying that because it’s nice to remember. The punchline was I told them I’d do the liner notes for the 30th anniversary edition, so give me five years and I’ll get on it. Har har, but also I’d do that when the time comes.

Reissue is out Sept. 19, which was also the original release date. As per the PR wire:

European stoner rock icons LOWRIDER to reissue special 25th anniversary edition of classic debut album “Ode to Io” on Blues Funeral Recordings

The godfathers of European stoner rock LOWRIDER are set to release a special 25th anniversary reissue of their landmark album “Ode to Io” in a limited deluxe edition this September 19th, with preorders available now via Blues Funeral Recordings.

At the dawn of the internet, bands and fans around the world coalesced in the wake of defunct Palm Springs originators Kyuss to craft their own visions of the desert rock sound. Standing foremost among them was Lowrider, whose debut, “Ode to Io”, became the blueprint countless others would follow. Stream the full album at this location.

Now, longtime fans and new arrivals can delve into this rumbling chronicle of seminal desert fuzz-heaviness in deluxe remastered glory. Commemorating the 25th anniversary of its original release on September 19, 2000, Lowrider present a towering new reissue of this absolute foundational text for the post-Kyuss stoner rock movement.

“This is the version they didn’t let us do back then — only better. I can’t wait for people to see it”, says singer and bassist Peder Bergstrand. “When we handed in Ode to Io to be printed back in 1999, we had this elaborate silver screen print for the cover. But the external label tasked with making the vinyl were cheapskates. They forced the 2LP playing time into one LP, resulting in subpar audio quality. To finish off, they printed the elaborate silver cover as plain grayscale. Needless to say, we were pretty gutted by the result. Ever since, I’ve dreamt of making THAT version, doing it justice. That is exactly what we’ve done with the 25th anniversary version of ‘Ode to Io’.”

“It’s forever humbling and mindblowing that people care so much about this album, a fourth of a century later. We wanted to do the record justice, and invite fans to see photos and hear stories from that period that we haven’t shared before”.

This limited new special edition of “Ode to Io” will be issued on silver, black and white color merge 2xLP and features previously unpublished photos, essays, liner notes from the band, and updated silverboard packaging and silver-infused art and design.

“Ode to Io” Deluxe Edition
Out September 19th via Blues Funeral Recordings (LP/CD)
Bandcamp: https://lowriderofficial.bandcamp.com/album/ode-to-io-deluxe-edition-2
Bluesfuneral.com: https://www.bluesfuneral.com/search?q=lowrider
SPKR shop: https://en.bluesfuneral.spkr.media/en/Artists/Lowrider/Lowrider-Ode-to-Io-25th-Anniversary-Deluxe-Edition-Vinyl-2-LP-Gatefold-Silver-White-Black.html

https://lowriderofficial.bandcamp.com/
https://www.instagram.com/lowridergram/
https://www.facebook.com/lowriderrock/

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

Lowrider, Ode to Io (2000/2025)

Elephant Tree & Lowrider, The Long Forever (2024)

Dozer‘s new rare-tracks compilation, Rewind to Return: Rarities, Singles and B-Sides, is at least 25 years in the making. Released this week on Blues Funeral Recordings, it is in-part an accounting for the band’s earliest work, a succession of pre-first-album demos and three splits with Demon Cleaner — whose drummer, Karl Daniel Lidén, would remain an essential component of Dozer‘s story through the years, from recording and playing drums for a time up to remastering this material — and a cataloguing of off-album material. The tracklisting is varied in its origins and — with thanks to founding Dozer guitarist Tommi Holappa — appears with the sources below. So far as I know, this information hasn’t been released yet elsewhere:

Rewind to Return: Rarities, Singles and B-Sides tracklisting (w/ source)

1. Tanglefoot (Demon Cleaner vs. Dozer split, 1998)
2. Hail the Dude (Domestic Dudes split w/ Demon Cleaner, 1999)
3. Centerline (Demon Cleaner vs. Dozer split, 1998)
4. Southern Star (bonus track on Call it Conspiracy vinyl)
5. The Electrocuter (B-side on the Day of the Rope 7”, 2002)
6. Universe 75 (Unreleased early demo)
7. Serpents Head (2011 reissue bonus track for In the Tail of a Comet)
8. Rings of Saturn (LP-only bonus for Madre de Dios)
9. She (Graven Images, Misfits tribute CD, 2000)
10. Mammoth Mountain (Nerve Compilation CD with local Borlänge bands, 1997)
11. Silverball (Hawaiian Cottage split w/ Demon Cleaner, 1999)
12. Star by Star (Split 7” with Giants of Science released in Australia when we toured there in 2004, also B-side on the “Rising” cd single)
13. Season of Giants (Unreleased early demo)
14. Vinegar Fly (Sunride cover from Vultures session, c. 2004)
15. Two Ton Butterfly (Unreleased early demo)

The three demos — “Universe 75,” “Season of Giants” and “Two Ton Butterfly” — either come from 1998’s Universe 75 demo tape (discussed here) or concurrent recordings. The band sound like kids because they were. The material from the three Demon Cleaner splits — 1998’s Demon Cleaner vs. Dozer (discussed here), 1999’s Hawaiian Cottage (discussed here) and 1999’s Domestic Dudes (discussed here) — is just one step removed from those rougher sessions, and for those more familiar with their later work or who got on board with 2023’s righteous reunion offering, Drifting in the Endless Void (review here), might be surprising in its desert-rocking style, but Kyuss was a defining influence for a lot of bands at this point, and “Season of Giants” and “Two Ton Butterfly” bear that out, the latter like a specific attempt to capture some of the same energy of Kyuss‘ “Rodeo,” with its explosive volume trades and resultant grooveriding.

Compare that to “Star by Star” from a 2004 split or the depressive-lyric Sunride cover “Vinegar Fly,” which was previously a bonus track on the 2021 reissue (discussed here) of the Vultures EP (review here), originally released in 2013 and recorded with Lidén drumming in 2004-’05 as preproduction for 2005’s Through the Eyes of Heathens (featured here; discussed here), and there’s a notable shift in both the band’s style and the impact-mindedness of the recording. That is to say the band’s sound grew between the time they were appearing on a compilation of local bands from their hometown of Borlänge with “Mammoth Mountain,” which is the earliest and jammiest track on Rewind to Return, from 1997 — they sound like babies because they were — and their refined and somewhat more aggressively charged sound that came to the fore on their 2002 third album, Call it Conspiracy (featured here, discussed here).

Dozer represent all three of their first LPs on Rewind to Return, each with a bonus track. In the case of “Rings of Saturn,” which originally appeared on the vinyl of their 2001 second album, Madre de Dios (featured here), that’s a hook worthy of its position as the centerpiece, but part of the story Dozer are telling as they look back is how they figured out who they were as a band over the course of those first seven or eight years. Holappa and fellow founding guitarist Fredrik Nordin, whose voidbound melodic callout vocals are refined in realtime across “Serpents Head,” “Rings of Saturn” and the roughly concurrent Misfits cover “She,” have proven over time to be at the core of the group, but Lidén‘s work remastering highlights just how heavy Dozer were early on in a way that the original releases never could.

To wit, the tonal beef wrought by “Tanglefoot” and “Hail the Dude” at the outset. These songs, both from Demon Cleaner splits (this being a Dozer review, I’m not going to tell you to go back and listen to Demon Cleaner, but yes, do that), are treasures for longtime fans of the band. Whether you were with them from the start and have those 7″s because you’re Johnny Groundfloor and that’s just how you do, or you came along later and have been subject to someone on YouTube’s digital rip of the vinyl, hearing the fullness of the new masters, they sound new again, and the janga-janga push of “Hail the Dude” — if 1999 could be a riff, it’d be that riff — sounds fresh enough that if you told me it was a new band, I’d be like, “Wow that’s amazing, they sound just like Dozer,” because in any era, Dozer are unmisfugginstakable.

That might be the ultimate lesson of Rewind to Return: Rarities, Singles and B-Sides — that Dozer‘s progression defines their tenure; it’s a thesis worth exploring — and as a fan of the band who’s been whining loudly for years to have their early works compiled and released (that’s right folks, I’m taking credit for the whole thing; it was me; you’re welcome), these versions of these songs remind listeners new or old of the path Dozer took to becoming one of their generation’s defining heavy rock bands. I’ll note that it’s not complete. This may be where they blow up the Death Star, but it’s not the whole story. It’s not everything, laid out with the dry procession of ‘this was on this single,’ ‘this was recorded on this afternoon at this time after we had tacos,’ etc. that one might find on a more academically-minded offering, but the thing about the story being told is that it also isn’t complete, and there are more years in addition to more songs.

I don’t know that Rewind to Return will get a follow-up or it won’t, but it could. And whether it’s taken on for nostalgia or the curiosity of newer fans, as a historical document from one of the finest rock bands Sweden ever produced or a casual saunter through part of a footnote portion of Dozer‘s catalog, the songs hold up to the span of years and the weight of expectation, and it’s not hard to hear what would’ve been so exciting about a new band coming out of the gate with these sounds. It still is.

Dozer, “Rings of Saturn” visualizer

Dozer website

Dozer on Instagram

Dozer on Facebook

Blues Funeral Recordings website

Blues Funeral Recordings on Bandcamp

Blues Funeral Recordings on Instagram

Blues Funeral Recordings on Facebook