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Boozewa Post “Maybe I’m a Bird” Video

Posted in Bootleg Theater on July 14th, 2023 by JJ Koczan

boozewa maybe i'm a bird

Shit, man. Maybe you are a fucking bird. I don’t know.

Also: Ha. You wish it was that easy to explain.

In a bit of fun coincidence, I actually decided the other night that in a former life I was some kind of dopey, prehistoric flying creature. Proto-bird, maybe, like an archaeopteryx only nowhere near cool enough to have that name. Ever. It’s the best name. Seriously. Say “archaeopteryx” out loud. You won’t regret it.

By the way, this is my review of the single. How do you like it so far? Well, next time I write about Boozewa, I’m probably going to link back to it. You know, the ol’ “(review here).” I like the thought that someone might click that link in that post and see this.

I also like the fact that “Maybe I’m a Bird” is three minutes long and that around the point when it’s spent the first 90 seconds establishing its verse and chorus with genetically-punk drive and denser fuzz than you’re imagining it throws off its cowl and reveals it was grunge all along. Without giving up its purpose in tone or rawness, “Maybe I’m a Bird” is the most realized work yet from the still-raw-but-recorded-in-a-studio trio, who turn it back to another verse before the repetitions of “Maybe I’m a…” start to build before the more declarative “…bird” stops the song with a bit of done-now noise after.

Boozewa growing as a band, almost in spite of themselves. They keep it up and someone’s gonna start wondering about an album. I kind of already was.

Enjoy the clip. Mike made it:

Boozewa, “Maybe I’m a Bird” official video

BOOZEWA is back and BOOZEWA-ier than ever! The basement dwelling sludgy punk outfit have crawled up from the underground to reveal their first single as the fully realized vision of BOOZEWA. Done in a studio, not the basement! “Maybe I’m A Bird” retains the low-fi vibes BOOZEWA is known for and is a chantable, danceable, fuzzy good ol’ time!

BOOZEWA comments on the single: “Every day you have to go to work and there’s that one person there. That one person that’s always giving you a hard time. Always with the stink eye, always checking their watch to see if you were a minute late. We all know them. They are everywhere. When you see them tomorrow, make eye contact with them. Don’t break it. And let them know ‘HEY! You don’t know me. Maybe I’m A Bird!'”

Bringing a distinctive sound, BOOZEWA draws passionately from the heaviest of the heavy through to the mellowest of the mellow. Emphasized by their unusual recording method, the vintage touch produces a unique tone with a dynamic, atmospheric quality.

Boozewa:
Jessica Baker / bass, hollering
Rylan Caspar / guitar, hollering
Mike Cummings (mRc) / drums, hollering

Boozewa on Facebook

Boozewa on Instagram

Boozewa on Bandcamp

Boozewa on the internet

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Boozewa Announce July Tour Dates

Posted in Whathaveyou on May 22nd, 2023 by JJ Koczan

As it was like three days ago, the memory of Boozewa announcing their new single “Maybe I’m a Bird” is pretty fresh. Not complaining though. It’s a good memory, and at this point I’ve heard the track and it’s easily the highest fidelity and most atmospheric recording they’ve yet had. The trade for that is the rawness of those basement tapes — which definitely have their place and their specific appeal — but here’s the thing: the one doesn’t at all preclude the other. If Boozewa want to follow the pro-shop sound of “Maybe I’m a Bird” with something they tracked vigilante style in a Costco parking lot, that’s allowed — artistically, anyhow.

They’re touring though, and that’s cool. Maybe this is when they decide they’re a real band after all. Maybe not. They were almost willfully casual about their formation, and I’m pretty sure these aren’t the first not-in-PA dates they’ve done, but it’s a tour either way and given the parties involved it likely won’t be the last.

Maybe three days from now they’ll post all the venues and whatnot, and I can’t promise I won’t do a follow-up to this at that time — can’t promise I will either; you’re perfectly capable of finding that information — but front-drummer-except-he’s-in-back Michael Rudolph Cummings (who also put out a solo record last year on Ripple) posted the following on socials with the poster and I happened to have a little time to think about how the band are cool. That time has now ended. On to the next thing.

Till then:

Boozewa tour

When Backwoods Payback went to hibernate, I don’t think Jess and I really knew what to do. We just wanted to play and have fun. Bionic Rylan deciding to pick up a guitar again around the same time just seemed to make this make sense.

I’m not a drummer, I just fill the gaps where needed.

A lot of these towns were Backwoods Payback mainstays. Can’t wait to see them again from a different part of the stage.

Full details next week, but for now, for this weekend… check your hands and study the lines.

See you all soon

Boozewa:
Jessica Baker / bass, hollering
Rylan Caspar / guitar, hollering
Mike Cummings (mRc) / drums, hollering

http://instagram.com/boozewa
https://boozewa.bandcamp.com/
https://www.BOOZEWA.com

Boozewa, Developing Good Health (2021)

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Boozewa Announce “Maybe I’m a Bird” Single Out July 5

Posted in Whathaveyou on May 16th, 2023 by JJ Koczan

A Boozewa recording? From a studio? Ohh, my medication… [faints].

That’s actually the story here. Boozewa recording in a studio. What studio? I don’t know. That studio could also be a living room for all I know, but even that would be up from the basement — stylistically if not literally speaking — which I’m pretty sure is where most of Boozewa‘s to-date output has been taped. Like, on a four-track. The will toward lo-fi sounds was part of the initial mission as Boozewa splintered off from the (presumed) (for-now at least) end of Backwoods Payback, in which the trio were all members, two of them founders, but if you’re thinking they’ve gone high-gloss for the new single “Maybe I’m a Bird” — it’s already printed on trucker hats; also, I invite you to take this moment to assess if, perhaps, you indeed are a bird — slow down.

While the fidelity of the three-minute song is a definite uptick from even 2021’s Developing Good Health EP (review here), we’re still well within the realm of rough-on-purpose. They’ve just given themselves more space in the mix for shenanigans, and they’ve got the shenanigans to fill it. It’s not streaming yet, but it’s a July 5 release, so I think we’ve got enough lead time, and until then, the PR wire has the background on the song. Thinking debut album, maybe? Does Boozewa put out records?

We’ll find out:

boozewa maybe i'm a bird

BOOZEWA Will Release New Single “Maybe I’m A Bird”

BOOZEWA is back and BOOZEWA-ier than ever! The basement dwelling sludgy punk outfit have crawled up from the underground to reveal their first single as the fully realized vision of BOOZEWA. Done in a studio, not the basement! “Maybe I’m A Bird” retains the low-fi vibes BOOZEWA is known for and is a chantable, danceable, fuzzy good ol’ time! The song will be released on July 5th 2023 on all streaming platforms.

BOOZEWA comments on the single: “Every day you have to go to work and there’s that one person there. That one person that’s always giving you a hard time. Always with the stink eye, always checking their watch to see if you were a minute late. We all know them. They are everywhere. When you see them tomorrow, make eye contact with them. Don’t break it. And let them know ‘HEY! You don’t know me. Maybe I’m A Bird!’”

Bringing a distinctive sound, BOOZEWA draws passionately from the heaviest of the heavy through to the mellowest of the mellow. Emphasized by their unusual recording method, the vintage touch produces a unique tone with a dynamic, atmospheric quality.

Boozewa:
Jessica Baker / bass, hollering
Rylan Caspar / guitar, hollering
Mike Cummings (mRc) / drums, hollering

http://instagram.com/boozewa
https://boozewa.bandcamp.com/
https://www.BOOZEWA.com

Boozewa, Developing Good Health (2021)

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Michael Rudolph Cummings of Boozewa Covers Neil Young’s “Cortez the Killer”

Posted in Whathaveyou on July 11th, 2022 by JJ Koczan

It’s a pretty common experience for an artist or a band to record a cover for a tribute album in progress and then not have that release actually happen. Happened to me, anyway. Happened apparently to Mike Cummings, then of Backwoods Payback, now of Boozewa (think ‘bourgeois’ but with the demon alcohol) circa 2012 for a Neil Young tribute for which he took on no less than “Cortez the Killer” from 1975’s Zuma, self-recording for a bedroom-folk intimacy and carrying the sweetly infectious melody of the original over to his own expressive modus. I’ll cop to not being nearly the Neil Young fan that Cummings or any number of other people are, up to and including Pearl Jam, of whom Cummings might just also have a cover or two laying around, but it’s a cool take, raw of course but the song suits that.

Giving ear won’t take but a few minutes — the player is at the bottom where the players go in hopes that you’ll read the words between here and there — and as always, I hope you enjoy.

From Bandcamp:

MRC Cortez the Killer

mRc – Cortez the Killer

Roughly a decade ago I was asked to be a part of a cassette only Neil Young tribute record. It was a small label based out of Virginia or DC from what I recall and I was excited to contribute to it. The band I was in at the time was of course in a state of flux and we were not able to get our shit together to make what I wanted to happen happen.

Instead, I decided to do this on my own, live with two mics taped to my Tascam 4 track tape machine.

The label never responded once the song was sent (in the mail mind you!) and honestly I don’t think the record ever ended up coming out.

This has sat on the shelf for a long time…and it felt like the right time to set it free.

mRc – vocal/guitar/harmonica

words/music – Neil Young

photograph – Jared Castaldi

https://michaelrudolphcummings.bandcamp.com/

https://instagram.com/boozewa
https://boozewa.bandcamp.com
https://www.BOOZEWA.com

mRc, “Cortez the Killer”

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Boozewa Premiere “Farm Witch” Video; Developing Good Heath Due Nov. 26

Posted in Bootleg Theater on November 3rd, 2021 by JJ Koczan

boozewa

Pennsylvania trio Boozewa release their new EP, Developing Good Health, on Nov. 26. Nice, right? Sure. That’s what I like to think of as a safe-bet-good-time. The lockdown-formed trio based in Coatesville (about 45 minutes west of Philly) started this year off by releasing the 90-second instrumental track “Farm Witch (Reprise).” It was the first song they put out, and it was less a song than a herald of things to come, fading in and out around one central riff riding past. Fair enough since they were quick to follow with the demo First Contact (review here) in February and the 7″ Deb (review here) in August, but it seems that with Developing Good Health, which will presumably be their final offering of the year — unless they decide to do that holiday-themed Boozewa and Phantom of the Park Watch TNG Instead of Saving Xmas concept 3LP that I pitched them over the summer — they are giving an answer back to the reprise with “Farm Witch” proper.

A temporal loop? Paradox effect? Who cares, the song rocks. Specifically, in the new video premiering below that they put together for it using a Sony Hi8 Handycam (they make tapes for them again now) and a JVC VHS-C (with the tiny tapes that you need the adapter to put in your VCR), it rocks the basement. We see Boozewa in their element with the cinderblocks behind, the Sunn amps lit for guitarist Rylan Caspar and bassist Jessica Baker and, thanks to the magic of editing, two versions of drummer/vocalist Mike Cummings, one fronting the band, one playing the relatively simple but catchy drum progression. Tap tap tap, and so on. The song runs almost three and a half minutes and calls you handsome in the process, so I fail to see what more you could possibly ask of it.

Boozewa played Maryland Doom Fest this past weekend and by all accounts it was a joy to witness. I don’t doubt it. While a new outfit, the three-piece are no strangers to that or any other stage, having all played in Backwoods Payback, and their suburban heavy cathartopunk is only growing more resonant as the months pass. I haven’t heard Developing Good Health in its entirety yet — I tried, but the band was traveling, blah blah I’m hopeful it’ll show up sooner or later — but at some point earlier this year I warned Boozewa that if they kept it up at the rate they were going, they were bound to turn into a real band. They sure sound like one here.

Okay, back to looking at camcorders on eBay I go.

Enjoy:

Boozewa, “Farm Witch” video premiere

“The video for Farm Witch was shot in our basement by ourselves using Mikes old camcorders. This tune from our new cd EP ‘Developing Good Health’ felt like it needed the old fashioned treatment we all grew up on. The song and video are kind of our love letter to Coatesville PA!”

Developing Good Health

Available everywhere Friday Nov 26

On all digital formats as well as limited edition CD

CATCH BOOZEWA ON THE ROAD!!
Nov 28 – Kung Fu Necktie , Philadelphia PA w/ Human Impact, L.M.I.
Dec 2 – JB Lovedrafts, Harrisburg PA w/ False Gods
Dec 3 – Westside Bowl, Youngstown OH w/ Rebreather, False Gods
Dec 4 – 123 Pleasant St, Morgantown WV w/ Cavern, False Gods
Dec 5 – The Depot. Baltimore MD (matinee) w/ False Gods, Almost Honest
Dec 17 – Ortliebs, Philadelphia PA w/ Infinity Land, Ritual Earth
Dec 18 – TBA, Connecticut w/ Infinity Land, Coma Hole

Boozewa are:
Rylan Caspar – guitar
Jessica Baker – bass/vocals
Michael Rudolph Cummings – vocals/drums

Boozewa on Instagram

Boozewa on Bandcamp

Boozewa website

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Boozewa Post “Deb” Video; 7″ Out Now

Posted in Bootleg Theater on August 17th, 2021 by JJ Koczan

boozewa

Hey, Boozewa! I don’t know how to tell you this, but you’re a band. I know you’re all recording on your four-track in your house, having a good time thinking it’s all toss-off this, super-casual that, but nah. You’re a real band. Two releases in the span of a year, the second markedly developed from the first — that’s the new two-songer Deb (review here) preceded by the demo First Contact (review here) in February — mastered by Tad Doyle and a cinematic narrative-style video for the title-track that features actual people who also don’t play an instrument in the group? Selling shirts? Yeah, that’s band stuff. What’s next? An album? Shows? Doing a Zoom interview that I haven’t yet hit you up for but probably will by the time this is posted? You’re a band. Tough break. That’s how it goes sometimes when you don’t suck.

“Deb,” from Deb, was posted last week ahead of the 7″ coming out, and as noted, it’s a step forward from the prior demo in sound. Still good and tracked-in-the-attic (basement? living room?) raw, but there’s melody peaking through “Deb” and theBoozewa Deb accompanying “Now. Stop.,” which is shorter and more punk but still nestled into a groove ahead of its belter finish, and “Deb” even dares a bit of atmosphere in its brooding vibe, which is complemented by the dark psychology of the video, which was directed by drummer/vocalist Mike Cummings and features him in the title role as the bartender/waitress Deb being stared at by the clip’s protagonist, who, again, isn’t in the band. You’ll see bassist/vocalist Jessica Baker among the crowd, and guitarist/vocalist Rylan Caspar is working the door, but “Deb” is a video with acting. A setting. Thought put into what people are wearing.

Band stuff.

I know it can be hard to accept, but don’t fight it. You can’t anyway. Write enough songs together, start playin’ and recordin’ ’em, and you’re gonna end up a band one way or the other. Might as well roll with that and make the most of it.

Video follows here. Enjoy:

Boozewa, “Deb” official video

Boozewa (Featuring members of Backwoods Payback) have unleashed a video for their song “Deb”. The track is taken from their upcoming EP of the same name mastered by Tad Doyle of the legendary band TAD at Witch Ape Studio in Seattle Washington.

The band commented “By the end of 2020 we had written roughly 20 songs and with ‘Deb’ I think we really started to settle into what I guess you could say is our ‘sound.’ It’s off, it’s catchy, it’s heavy, it’s Boozewa. We recorded the tune on the four-track cassette machine again, and this time sent it off to Tad Doyle (Tad/Witch Ape Studio) for mastering. If there’s a light in the dark year that was 2020 it was definitely getting to work with someone I’ve been a giant fan of for the better part of the last 20 years, that being Tad!”

BOOZEWA is
Jessica Baker – bass/hollering
Rylan Caspar – guitar/hollering
Mike Cummings (mRc) drums/hollering

Boozewa, Deb (2021)

Boozewa on Instagram

Boozewa on Bandcamp

Boozewa website

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Quarterly Review: Amenra, Liquid Sound Company, Iceburn, Gods and Punks, Vouna, Heathen Rites, Unimother 27, Oxblood Forge, Wall, Boozewa

Posted in Reviews on July 14th, 2021 by JJ Koczan

the-obelisk-fall-2016-quarterly-review

You’ll have to forgive me, what the hell day is it? The url says this is day eight, so I guess that’s Wednesday. Fine. That’s as good as any. It’s all just 10 more records to my brain at this point, and that’s fine. I’ve got it all lined up. As of me writing this, I still haven’t heard about my busted-ass laptop that went in for repair last Saturday, and that’s a bummer, but I’m hoping that any minute now the phone is going to show the call coming in and I’ll just keep staring at it until that happens and I’m sure that will be awesome for my already brutalized productivity.

My backup laptop — because yes, I have one and will gladly argue with you that it’s necessary citing this week as an example — is a cheapie Chromebook. The nicest thing I can say about it is it’s red. The meanest thing I can say about it is that I had to change the search button to a caps lock and even that doesn’t respond fast enough to my typing, so I’m constantly capitalizing the wrong letters. If you don’t think that’s infuriating, congratulations on whatever existence has allowed you to live this long without ever needing to use a keyboard. “Hello computer,” and all that.

Enough kvetching. Too much to do.

Quarterly Review #71-80:

Amenra, De Doorn

Amenra De Doorn

I’ve made no secret over the last however long of not being the biggest Amenra fan in the universe. Honestly, it’s not even about the Belgian band themseves — live, they’re undeniable — but the plaudits around them are no less suffocating than their crushing riffs at their heaviest moments. Still, as De Doorn marks their first offering through Relapse Records, finds them departing from their Mass numbered series of albums and working in their native Flemish for the first time, and brings Caro Tanghe of Oathbreaker into the songs to offer melodic counterpoint to Colin H. van Eeckhout‘s nothing-if-not-identifiable screams, the invitations to get on board are manifold. This is a band with rules. They have set their own rules, and even in pushing outside them as they do here, much of their ideology and sonic persona is maintained. Part of that identity is being forward thinking, and that surfaces on De Doorn in parts ambient and quiet, but there’s always a part of me that feels like Amenra are playing it safe, even as they’re working within parameters they’ve helped define for a generation of European post-metal working directly in their wake. The post-apocalyptic breadth they harness in these tracks will only continue to win them converts. Maybe I’ll be one of them. That would be fun. It’s nice to belong, you know?

Amenra on Facebook

Relapse Records website

 

Liquid Sound Company, Psychoactive Songs for the Psoul

Liquid sound company psychoactive songs for the psoul

A quarter-century after their founding, Arlington, Texas, heavy psych rockers Liquid Sound Company still burn and melt along the lysergic path of classic ’60s acid rock, beefier in tone but no less purposeful in their drift on Psychoactive Songs for the Psoul. They’re turning into custard on “Blacklight Corridor” and they can tell you don’t understand on “Who Put All of Those Things in Your Hair?,” and all the while their psych rock digs deeper into the cosmic pulse, founding guitarist John Perez (also Solitude Aeturnus) unable to resist bringing a bit of shred to “And to Your Left… Neptune” — unless that’s Mark Cook‘s warr guitar — even as “Mahayuga” answers back to the Middle Eastern inflection of “Blacklight Corridor” earlier on. Capping with the mellow jam “Laila Was Here,” Psychoactive Songs for the Psoul is a loving paean to the resonant energies of expanded minds and flowing effects, but “Cosmic Liquid Love” is still a heavy rollout, and even the shimmering “I Feel You” is informed by that underlying sense of heft. Nonetheless, it’s an acid invitation worth the RSVP.

Liquid Sound Company on Facebook

Liquid Sound Company on Bandcamp

 

Iceburn, Asclepius

iceburn asclepius

Flying snakes, crawling birds, two tracks each over 17 minutes long, the first Iceburn release in 20 years is an all-in affair from the outset. As someone coming to the band via Gentry Densley‘s work in Eagle Twin, there are recognizable elements in tone, themes and vocals, but with fellow founders Joseph “Chubba” Smith on drums and James Holder on guitar, as well as bassist Cache Tolman (who’s Johnny Comelately since he originally joined in 1991, I guess), the atmosphere conjured by the four-piece is consuming and spacious in its own way, and their willingness to go where the song guides them on side A’s “Healing the Ouroboros,” right up to the long-fading drone end after so much lumbering skronk and incantations before, and side B’s “Dahlia Rides the Firebird,” with its pervasive soloing, gallop and veer into earth-as-cosmos terradelia, the return of Iceburn — if in fact that’s what this is — makes its own ceremony across Asclepius, sounding newly inspired rather than like a rehash.

Iceburn on Facebook

Southern Lord Recordings website

 

Gods & Punks, The Sounds of the Universe

gods and punks the sounds of the universe

As regards ambition, Gods & Punks‘ fourth LP, The Sounds of the Universe, wants for nothing. The Rio De Janeiro heavy psych rockers herein wrap what they’ve dubbed their ‘Voyager’ series, culminating the work they’ve done since their first EP — album opener “Eye in the Sky” is a remake — while tying together the progressive, heavy and cosmic aspects of their sound in a single collection of songs. In context, it’s a fair amount to take in, but a track like “Black Apples” has a riffy standout appeal regardless of its place in the band’s canon, and whether it’s the classic punch of “The TUSK” or the suitably patient expansion of “Universe,” the five-piece don’t neglect songwriting for narrative purpose. That is to say, whether or not you’ve heard 2019’s And the Celestial Ascension (discussed here) or any of their other prior material, you’re still likely to be pulled in by “Gravity” and “Dimensionaut” and the rest of what surrounds. The only question is where do they go from here? What’s outside the universe?

Gods & Punks on Facebok

Abraxas on Facebook

Forbidden Place Records website

 

Vouna, Atropos

vouna atropos

Released (appropriately) by Profound Lore, Vouna‘s second full-length Atropos is a work of marked depth and unforced grandeur. After nine-minute opener “Highest Mountain” establishes to emotional/aural tone, Atropos is comprised mostly of three extended pieces in “Vanish” (15:34), “Grey Sky” (14:08) and closer “What Once Was” (15:11) with the two-minute “What Once Was (Reprise)” leading into the final duo. “Vanish” finds Vouna — aka Olympia, Washington-based Yianna Bekris — bringing in textures of harp and violin to answer the lap steel and harp on “Highest Mountain,” and features a harsh guest vocal from Wolves in the Throne Room‘s Nathan Weaver, but it’s in the consuming wash at the finish of “Grey Sky” and in the melodic vocal layers cutting through as the first half of “What Once Was” culminates ahead of the break into mournful doom and synth that Vouna most shines, bridging styles in a way so organic as to be utterly consuming and keeping resonance as the most sought target, right unto the piano line that tops the last crescend, answering back the very beginning of “Highest Mountain.” Not a record that comes along every day.

Vouna on Facebook

Profound Lore website

 

Heathen Rites, Heritage

heathen rites heritage

One gets the sense in listening that for Mikael Monks, the Burning Saviours founder working under the moniker of Heathen Rites for the first time, the idea of Heritage for which the album is titled is as much about doom itself as the Scandinavian folk elements that surface in “Gleipner” or in the brief, bird-song and mountain-echo-laced finish “Kulning,” not to mention the Judas Priest-style triumphalism of the penultimate “The Sons of the North” just before. Classic doom is writ large across Heritage, from the bassline of “Autumn” tapping into “Heaven and Hell” to the flowing culmination of “Midnight Sun” and the soaring guitar apex in “Here Comes the Night.” In the US, many of these ideas of “northern” heritage, runes, or even heathenism have been coopted as expressions of white supremacy. It’s worth remembering that for some people it’s actually culture. Monks pairs that with his chosen culture — i.e. doom — in intriguing ways here that one hopes he’ll continue to explore.

Heathen Rites on Facebook

Svart Records website

 

Unimother 27, Presente Incoerente

Unimother 27 Presente Incoerente

Some things in life you just have to accept that you’re never going to fully understand. The mostly-solo-project Unimother 27 from Italy’s Piero Ranalli is one of those things. Ranalli has been riding his own wavelength in krautrock and classic progressive stylizations mixed with psychedelic freakout weirdness going on 15 years now, experimenting all the while, and you don’t have to fully comprehend the hey-man-is-this-jazz bass bouncing under “L’incontro tra Phallos e Mater Coelestis” to just roll with it, so just roll with it and know that wherever you’re heading, there’s a plan at work, even if the plan is to not have a plan. Mr. Fist‘s drums tether the synth and drifting initial guitar of “Abraxas…il Dio Difficile da Conoscere” and serve a function as much necessary as grooving, but one way or the other, you’re headed to “Systema Munditotius,” where forward and backward are the same thing and the only trajectory discernible is “out there.” So go. Just go. You won’t regret it.

Unimother 27 on Facebook

Pineal Gland Lab website

 

Oxblood Forge, Decimator

Oxblood Forge Decimator

Not, not, not a coincidence that Massachusetts four-piece Oxblood Forge — vocalist Ken Mackay, guitarist Robb Lioy, bassist Greg Dellaria and drummer/keyboardist Erik Fraünfeltër — include an Angel Witch cover on their third long-player, Decimator, as even before they get around to the penultimate “Sorcerers,” the NWOBHM is a defining influence throughout the proceedings, be it the “hey hey hey!” chanting of “Mortal Salience” or the death riders owning the night on opener “Into the Abyss” or the sheer Maidenry met with doom tinge on “Screams From Silence.” Mackay‘s voice, high in the mix, adds a tinge of grit, but Decimator isn’t trying to get one over on anyone. This blue collar worship for classic metal presented in a manner that could only be as full-on as it is for it to work at all. No irony, no khakis, no bullshit.

Oxblood Forge on Facebook

Oxblood Forge on Bandcamp

 

Wall, Vol. 2

wall vol 2

They keep this up, they’re going to have a real band on their hands. Desert Storm/The Grand Mal bandmates and twin brothers Ryan Cole (guitar/bass) and Elliot Cole (drums) began Wall as a largely-instrumental quarantine project in 2020, issuing a self-titled EP (review here) on APF Records. Vol. 2 follows on the quick with five more cuts of unbridled groove, including a take on Karma to Burn‘s “Nineteen” that, if it needs to be said, serves as homage to Will Mecum, who passed away earlier this year. That song fits right in with a cruncher like “Avalanche” or “Speed Freak,” or even “The Tusk,” which also boasts a bit of layered guitar harmonies, feeling out new ground there and in the acousti-handclap-blues of “Falling From the Edge of Nowhere.” The fact that Wall have live dates booked — alongside The Grand Mal, no less — speaks further to their real-bandness, but Vol. 2 hardly leaves any doubt as it is.

Wall on Facebook

APF Records website

 

Boozewa, Deb

Boozewa Deb

The second self-recorded outing from Pennsylvania trio Boozewa, Deb, offers two songs to follow-up on Feb. 2021’s First Contact (review here) demo, keeping an abidingly raw, we-did-this-at-home feel — this time they sent the results to Tad Doyle for mastering — while pushing their sound demonstrably forward with “Deb” bringing bassist Jessica Baker to the fore vocally alongside drummer Mike Cummings. Guitarist Rylan Caspar contributes in that regard as well, and the results are admirably grunge-coated heavy rock and roll that let enough clarity through to establish a hook, while the shorter “Now. Stop.” edges toward a bit more lumber in its groove, at least until they punk it out with some shouts at the finish. Splitting hairs? You betcha. Maybe they’re just writing songs. The results are there waiting to be dug either way.

Boozewa on Instagram

Boozewa on Bandcamp

 

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Maryland Doom Fest 2021 Announces Lineup

Posted in Whathaveyou on April 22nd, 2021 by JJ Koczan

Maryland Doom Fest 2021 is set for Halloween Weekend, Oct. 28-31, in Frederick, Maryland. Some of the acts on the newly announced bill are carryovers from the first-delayed-then-canceled 2020 edition — among them SasquatchWorshipper, and so on — but it’s worth noting that among those and others, the likes of The Age of Truth will have a new record out by this Fall, and pre-pandemic, Boozewa didn’t even exist. So yes, things have changed.

For further proof of the festival’s stylistic branching out — and with this many bands, they’d just have have to — you’ll note the departure in the poster art from the fest-standard purple toward a greater range of color. The music they’re pushing is likewise broader in palette, and to think of seeing the likes of Howling Giant and Revvnant alongside Arduini/BalichOmen Stones, and Place of Skulls is an encouraging thought indeed. This even was much-missed last year.

Expect a time-table sooner than later, as organizer JB Matson doesn’t screw around when it comes to that kind of thing. The lineup announcement — short and sweet, as ever — is further proof of same.

I don’t know what the world’s gonna look like come Halloween, but I know damn well this is one reason I’m glad I got that vaccine.

[UPDATE 04/30: Black Road and Vessel of Light can’t make it. Lo-Pan and When the Deadbolt Breaks have been added. If there are any further changes, I’ll probably just make a new post.]

To wit:

maryland doom fest 2021 new poster

Here is the Md Doom Fest 2021 roster folks!!!
Halloween weekend – Oct 28-31, 2021
WE CANNOT WAIT TO DOOM WITH YOU!!

Lineup:

Poobah, Sasquatch, Place of Skulls, Lo-Pan, Lost Breed, Cavern, Horseburner, Spiral Grave, The Age of Truth, Mangog, Wrath of Typhon, Helgamite, Almost Honest, Indus Valley Kings, VRSA, Monster God, Et Mors, Astral Void, Worshipper, Boozewa, Admiral Browning, Omen Stones, Formula 400, Molasses Barge, Arduini/Balich, Dirt Eater, Dyerwolf, Ol’ Time Moonshine, Shadow Witch, Revvnant, Bloodshot, Ritual Earth, Gardens of Nocturne, Conclave, Crow Hunter, Bailjack, Warmask, Akris, Alms, Thunderbird Divine, Strange Highways, Howling Giant, Yatra, Jaketehhawk, When the Deadbolt Breaks, Grave Huffer, Dust Prophet, Plague Wielder, Weed Coughin, Morganthus, Tines

www.marylanddoomfest.com
#4daysofdoom

https://www.facebook.com/MdDoomFest/
https://www.instagram.com/marylanddoomfest/
www.marylanddoomfest.com

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