Posted in Whathaveyou on July 4th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
I’m not at all at a place in my life where I could even if I was ever to be invited — which, in a conservative estimate I’ll say is struck-by-lightning-and-live-level unlikely — but man, I’d love to go on this tour. Imagine following Dozer, Gozu and High Desert Queen as they traipse across the US colluding on the delivery of ultra-fine heavy rock and roll for nine days, including stops at Desertfest New York and Ripplefest Texas both. Damn that’d be fun. Also tiring. And my wife would have my ass, if my entering-first-grade daughter didn’t get to kicking it first. Nonetheless, even the daydream of hurry-up-and-wait tour existence is fun in this case.
I think the last time Dozer were in the US was 2000? Something like that. I seem to recall they played the Brighton Bar in my beloved Garden State, but I could be wrong about that. They return Stateside in 2024 riding the utter triumph of their 2023 return LP, Drifting in the Endless Void (review here), which indeed is a cause worth heralding. I was lucky enough to catch Dozer last summer supporting the album (review here) and even luckier that it wasn’t my first time seeing the band, but to have them hit the US (and a lil bit of Canada!) alongside Gozu — their 2023 album, Remedy (review here), remains a standout — and High Desert Queen, who issued their widely anticipated second album, Palm Reader (review here) in May, is even better.
Mark it a win, kids. Poster and such from the ol’ social media:
USA! Endless void tour is coming for you this September…are you ready? 🤘 Support by @highdesertqueen and @gozu_band_boston
DOZER – Endless Void US Tour 2024 feat. Gozu & High Desert Queen 09.13 Braintree MA Widowmaker Brewing 09.14 Queens NY Desertfest NYC 09.15 Montreal QC Piranha Bar 09.16 Toronto ON The Garrison 09.17 Grand Rapids MI Pyramid Scheme 09.18 Chicago IL Reggies Rock Club 09.19 Omaha NE Reverb Lounge 09.20 Oklahoma City OK Resonant Head 09.21 Austin TX Ripplefest Texas
DOZER is: Tommi Holappa – Guitar Fredrik Nordin – Guitar/Vox Johan Rockner – Bass Sebastian Olsson – Drums
People and faces, horses and wolves in the mind, a tumult of inner and outer overwhelm; it’s no wonder that Greenleaf‘s ninth album, The Head and the Habit, starts with the reminder to “Breathe, Breathe Out” amid all the tumult. There’s more to it as well. 2024 makes it 10 years since 2014’s Trails and Passes (review here) introduced vocalist Arvid Hällagård to listeners. Hällagård stepped in to fill the significant shoes of Oskar Cedermalm (also Truckfighters), who had handled vocals on their two prior outings, and has gradually become a defining presence in the band. Never more so than on The Head and the Habit, which in addition to serving as a handy showcase for how the Swedish four-piece founded by guitarist Tommi Holappa (also Dozer) have taken shape in the last decade, is also the band’s first outing for Magnetic Eye after a trilogy of releases — 2021’s Echoes From a Mass (review here), 2018’s Hear the Rivers (review here) and 2016’s Rise Above the Meadow (review here) — issued through Napalm Records.
Hällagård fronts the band — Holappa, bassist Hans Fröhlich and drummer Sebastian Olsson — with marked presence in the material, and with the somewhat contrasting pair of shorter, subdued blues cuts “That Obsidian Grin” and “An Alabastrine Smile” positioned at the end of each side, his soulful delivery has become an essential facet in the band’s consistently evolving dynamic, as well as the symmetry of this LP in its own right. Greenleaf has seen a number of vocalists (not to mention bassists or drummers) come and go, between Fredrik Nordin (Dozer), Peder Bergstrand (Lowrider). and Cedermalm, but the nine songs of The Head and the Habit wouldn’t function as they do with another singer. In framing the lyrics around his experience as a counselor, handling the cover art (Lili Krischke also contributed to the layout) and recording whatever of his own performance wasn’t captured by the esteemed Karl Daniel Lidén (who once upon a time drummed in Greenleaf, lest we forget) at Studio Gröndahl in Stockholm, Hällagård‘s work in cuts like the duly charging “Different Horses” or the eight-minute side B apex “The Tricking Tree” cannot be discounted as part of the band’s persona, especially as they lean further into their own version of a heavy blues sound.
That’s not to say The Head and the Habit lacks for thrust, but where Echoes From a Mass edged closer than ever in terms of riffing to the intensity Holappa might proffer with Dozer — whose first album in 15 years, Drifting in the Endless Void (review here), came out in 2023 on Blues Funeral — this 43-minute collection feels more dug into Greenleaf‘s distinguishing elements. The meandering solo before “The Tricking Tree” slams into its final, nodding roll, answering back to the weight wrought in the likely-titled-for-its-tumbling-riff second cut “Avalanche” much as “That Obsidian Grin” and “An Alabastrine Smile” or even the hooky “Breathe, Breathe Out” and its side-B-opening counterpart “The Sirens Sound” serve as complements. The structure of the record puts one additional song on side A, but the cohesiveness and clarity of purpose throughout — as well as the breadth of the mix/master Lidén at his Tri-Lamb Studios — allows Greenleaf to shift intention from one track to the next without losing sight of where they are in the overarching progression.
The result is that The Head and the Habit flows smoothly despite conveying a bumpier path in theme and sound. Part of what makes it a success is the swagger put into a piece like “Oh Dandelion,” with its start-stop verse and twisting chorus, but as Greenleaf once again diverge from Dozer in terms of style, it’s the bluesier nature underlying even the shove of “Different Horses” or the foreboding “A Wolf in My Mind” — the hook of which brings the album’s title line — that comes into focus as being crucial to the songs. From the righteous shaky-cam rumbles of tone in “Avalanche” to Holappa‘s wistful leads in “An Alabastrine Smile,” as heavy and loud and brash or as quiet, lonely and contemplative as they want to get, it all becomes part of a take that is inextricably Greenleaf while reorienting the band’s position in terms of style, pulling in a direction they seem to be charting as they go.
This is exciting enough in concept — Greenleaf are approaching the 25th anniversary of 2000 their self-titled EP (discussed here); such ongoing creative development is rare regardless of how personnel factors in — but none of it would matter if the songs didn’t hold up. Fortunately, they do. It’s hardly the first time the band have been catchy and able to pack an emotional punch, but they continue to make it sound easier than it actually is from “Breathe, Breathe Out” on. And even in “The Tricking Tree,” with its earlier bashing away and pre-midpoint departure into mellower, jammier, bassier fare, they hold a sense of energy that is individual, unquestionably theirs. Olsson‘s drumming can’t be discounted in keeping the material fluid, but this incarnation of Greenleaf has put in the time on stage and in the studio to win their chemistry as a collective, and the strength of craft across The Head and the Habit feels like its own reward. It’s not just Holappa‘s riffs — though that might be enough, considering — or Hällagård‘s vocals, the character in Fröhlich‘s bass or Olsson‘s drums; it’s how they come together around these songs, which vary in shape but are largely unflinching in quality.
Any album a given band might release is a marker of an ‘era’ in terms of encapsulating a time in that band’s existence — and, obviously, all things end at some point or another; Greenleaf don’t owe anyone anything and have precious little to prove, though they keep proving it anyhow — but The Head and the Habit seems so much to look ahead and to so fervently bask in what makes Greenleaf who they are nearly a quarter-century on that one can’t help but think of it as the realization of what their last decade has been driving toward. A to-date culmination made all the more vital by the high level of performance, the almost deceptively tight songwriting, and the fullness of scope in its component pieces and the flow between them. They’re a special band, and to call The Head and the Habit one of 2024’s best in heavy rock feels like limiting its appeal in terms of time and underselling the growth that’s led Greenleaf to this point — it’s part of a story bigger than itself — but it’s true just the same.
Posted in Whathaveyou on April 29th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
A couple raw stats here to start. Greenleaf‘s ninth LP, The Head and the Habit, is out June 21 on Magnetic Eye. Slomosa‘s second album, the title of which I don’t think is public yet, is scheduled to arrive later this year (presumably before this tour) through Stickman Records. And Psychlona, who also signed to Magnetic Eye at the end of 2023, reportedly just finished tracking their own upcoming album this past week.
Three killer bands touring with new music, is the upshot. It’s emblematic of the continued ascent of Norwegian four-piece Slomosa to the forefront of the European heavy underground that they’re co-headlining with a band who’ve been around for about 25 years, but as the single “Cabin Fever” (video premiered here) makes plain, their intent is to continue the significant momentum behind them at this point, and no doubt this Fall tour — hitting Into the Void in Leeuwarden, the Netherlands, Up in Smoke in Switzerland, and Keep it Low in Germany on the Sound of Liberation October festival circuit — will help them do that.
For Greenleaf, the tour announcement comes coupled with the unveiling of “Avalanche,” the duly-tumbling-of-groove second single from The Head and the Habit, which seems nestled into its hook for the duration until… well, I won’t spoil it. But if you think maybe they named the song after the riff, I’ll agree that it’s a definite possibility. At very least, they’d have been well justified in doing so.
Who’s first on the poster depends on whose poster you’re seeing — note the two below — but ‘Habit of the Tundra’ starts Sept. 30 either way. The below is from multiple PR wire sources, so maybe reads a bit choppy, but if you find the dates and the music, you’ll get the idea anyhow. Have at it:
Swedish heavy rockers GREENLEAF reveal a sparkling lyric video for the groovy ten-ton track ‘Avalanche’ as the next single from their forthcoming full-length “The Head & The Habit”, which is scheduled for release on June 21, 2024 via Magnetic Eye Records! In support of “The Head & The Habit”, GREENLEAF have just announced European live dates of the “Habit of the Tundra Tour” with Norwegian desert rockers SLOMOSA and support from PSYCHLONA for autumn 2024.
Following first, previously-released new singles, “Cabin Fever” as well as “Rice”, taken off their forthcoming studio album, Norwegian desert rock upstarters SLOMOSA have confirmed a European Tour with Swedish heavy groove rockers GREENLEAF, who are currently gearing up for the release of their new album “The Head & The Habit” (June 21st via Magnetic Eye Records)! Make sure to catch this killer tour package live at the dates below:
GREENLEAF & SLOMOSA w/ PSYCHLONA 30 SEP 2024 Leipzig (DE) Werk2 01 OCT 2024 Berlin (DE) Lido 02 OCT 2024 (DE) Hamburg (DE) Gruenspan 03 OCT 2024 Köln (DE) Club Volta 04 OCT 2024 Bielefeld (DE) Forum 05 OCT 2024 Leeuwarden (NL) Into the Void 06 OCT 2024 Pratteln (CH) Up in Smoke 07 OCT 2024 Innsbruck (AT) PMK 09 OCT 2024 Wien (AT) Arena 10 OCT 2024 Zagreb (HR) Vintage Industrial Bar 11 OCT 2024 Graz (AT) PPC 12 OCT 2024 München (DE) Keep It Low
GREENLEAF is: Arvid Hällagård – vocals Tommi Holappa – guitars Sebastian Olsson – drums Hans Fröhlich – bass
SLOMOSA are: Benjamin Berdous – Vocals/guitar Marie Moe – Vocals/bass Tor Erik Bye – Guitar Jard Hole – Drums
Posted in Whathaveyou on March 26th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
Well, the album was the missing piece to Greenleaf spending much of the rest of 2024 on tour supporting a new album, so this little bit of paperwork takes care of that. The announcement just came through and brings the first single “Breathe, Breathe Out” from the record in question, titled The Head and the Habit and due June 26 through Magnetic Eye Records, which I haven’t even had time yet to hear owing to the domestic whathaveyou of a given morning. I’ll get there as soon as possible, to be sure. [EDIT: Got there. The video is charming and the song feels right on. Duh, I’m stoked for the record.]
Expect summer and autumn tours around the fest appearances listed below, more to come on the album, and, well, probably a lot of me nerding out about Greenleaf coinciding with all of it. I’ve been lucky enough to see the band a couple times in the last few years, and in addition to being gentlemen of the highest order, they’re brilliant on stage. Catch them if you can.
More later. This now:
GREENLEAF release first video single ‘Breathe, Breathe Out’ and details of new album “The Head & The Habit”!
Swedish heavy rockers GREENLEAF release the tongue-in-cheek video clip and super catchy tune ‘Breathe, Breathe Out’ as the first driving single taken from their forthcoming full-length “The Head & The Habit”, which is slated for release on June 26, 2024 via Magnetic Eye Records!
The video ‘Breathe, Breathe Out’ combines the struggles of great parenting with social commentary on the generational gap and film directing.
“The first single ‘Breathe, Breathe Out’ conveys a message of self-reflection and resilience”, explains vocalist Arvid Hällagård. “The repetition of the chorus emphasizes the importance of taking a moment to relax and let go of negative emotions. The overall theme encourages embracing one’s current state, appreciating what you have, and navigating through life with a sense of control and acceptance. I’ve had to teach these things to myself during the last couple of years. This is also the overall theme of the album, the head and its habits.”
With their ninth full-length “The Head & The Habit”, GREENLEAF have reached the pinnacle of a long evolution. The musical handwriting and well-honed mastery of guitarist Tommi Holappa, who has been a pioneer and pillar of the European stoner rock scene for more than 25 years, shines clearly through. This is perfectly complemented by the soulfulness, intuitive sense of melody, and depth of character that the vocals of classically-trained singer Arvid Hällagård brings to the sound of GREENLEAF.
Apart from world-class vocal lines and massive riffs with electric fuzz-power, GREENLEAF have put extra thought into the themes of “The Head & The Habit”, which lift its lyrics far above much of the often cliché-ridden genre. As the album title implies, the new songs resemble symbolic short stories that revolve around emotional struggles and even mental illness. Written by the vocalist, the lyrics reflect real life experience as Hällagård works with people who suffer from problems with drug abuse and psychological health.
Tracklist: 1. Breathe, Breathe Out 2. Avalanche 3. Different Horses 4. A Wolfe in My Mind 5. That Obsidian Grin 6. The Sirens Sound 7. Oh Dandelion 8. The Tricking Tree 9. An Alabastrine Smile
GREENLEAF Live: 2 APR 2024 Barcelona (ES) BCN @ Sala Upload 3 APR 2024 Bilbao (ES) Bullitt Groove Club 04 APR 2024 Avilés (ES) Factoria Sound 05 APR 2024 Porto (PT) Hard Club 06 APR 2024 Madrid (ES) Wurlitzer Ballroom 05 JUN 2024 London (UK) Stoomfest 12 June 2024 Erfurt (DE) Stoned from the Underground 31 AUG 2024 Aarschot (BE) Down the Hill 12 OCT 2024 München (DE) Keep It Low
Recording with Karl Daniel Lidén at Studio Gröndahl, Stockholm (SE) Additional vocals recorded by Arvid Hällagård at Studio Baking Cabin Mix by Karl Daniel Lidén in Tri-lamb Studios, Stockholm (SE) Mastering by Karl Daniel Lidén in Tri-lamb Studios, Stockholm (SE)
Artwork by Arvid Hällagård Layout by Arvid Hällagård & Lili Krischke
GREENLEAF is: Arvid Hällagård – vocals Tommi Holappa – guitars Sebastian Olsson – drums Hans Fröhlich – bass
This Wednesday, March 27, Swedish heavy and progressive rockers Skraeckoedlan return with their fourth full-length, Vermillion Sky. It is their second LP through Fuzzorama Records behind the sprawling realization of 2019’s Eorþe (review here), with the years between finding the Borlänge/Norrköping four-piece reissuing their 2011 debut, Äppelträdet (review here) and its 2015 follow-up, Sagor (review here), through The Sign Records, and its arrival has been anticipated since the band unveiled “The Vermillion Sky” as a standalone single over half a year ago.
Vermillion Sky is a multifaceted project even before one gets to the rhythmic twists and melodic reaches, the grandiosities and quiet moments offered in its component eight tracks and 47 minutes, and if part of either that span of months or the not-accounted-for-by-plague portion of the five years it’s been since Eorþe comes from lining up logistics on either the video game or English-language novel intended to be released to complement the music, fair enough, though it was four between Sagor and that record as well, so it’s not an outlandish dearth of activity by any means. The novelization of VermillionSky, reportedly broken into chapters around each song, will perhaps be of particular interest to that non-Swedish-speaking contingent of their listenership who’ve maybe not been curious enough to run their lyrics through a translation matrix to get a semblance of the themes out of science-fiction, daikaiju, and so on.
To wit, “The Vermillion Sky,” caps an expansive A-side that begins with the drone-backed staticky dialogue in the two-minute intro “Cosmic Dawn” from whence a Devin Townsendy prog flow emerges with the anchoring fuzz on Erik Berggren‘s bass and fluid drumming of Martin Larsson‘s drums complemented by shimmer of synth and the guitars of Robert Lamu and Henrik Grüttner in a showcase of maturity and (condensed) patience that serves as preface to the stately composition of the title-track and others here. That obscured speech, mixed low enough that you genuinely might not hear it the first time through, ties into the escape-from-earth — and no, it’s not lost on me that their last record was ‘earth’ in translation — narrative of “The Vermillion Sky,” and while they seem to work in as well as around this thematic and it might at first be unclear how the hooky repetitions of the in-English title lyric to second single “Night Satan” fit in, the concept remains present for the lines, “Så lägg din hand i min och visa mig bland stjärnorna/Jag la min hand i din och du visa mig oändlighet” (“So put your hand in mine and show me the stars/I put my hand in yours and you show me infinity,” according to the internet), so those connections are there if not always obvious. One assumes the same applies for the likes of “Starsquatch,” “Metagalactic Void Honcho,” who sounds as burly as one might expect given the title, “Meteorb” or “Astronautilus” as well.
But even if you as the listener don’t take Vermillion Sky on for its storyline at all or if scrolling shooter games aren’t your thing, the songs are enough to carry you through. “Starsquatch” enters with a burst, resets in an open expanse of keyboard and sweeps in the first of a vast collection of massive grooves, characteristic in its adherence to fuzzier tonality and arrangement depth evident even just in the space between the guitar and drums, never mind the e-bow or whatever effect it is or the arrangement of lead and backing vocals in the rolling chorus. Hitting a stop at 4:40 into its 7:58, they break to echoing vocals and standalone guitar before surging forward again in a pointed wash of distortion that turns out to be a misdirect as they cut to clearer-sounding dual-guitar leads and a faster tempo verse ahead of the actual solo. Of course the riff comes back, bigger and more consuming, and the pattern of side A is set when “Mysteria” takes its turn riff-punching through the wall with dense low end and purposeful shove — the first half of the album trading shorter-to-longer pieces starting with “Cosmic Dawn” and the second half switching that to its own two longer tracks bookending the relative brevity of “Night Satan” and “Meteorb.”
So Skraeckoedlan are playing with time as well as space on Vermillion Sky, and the level of composition and nuance with which they do so shouldn’t be understated. Lamu‘s vocal melodies — and I’m sorry, I don’t know every detail on who’s doing what vocally here, but there are voice-swaps enough to make me think it’s multiple singers — go beyond following the riffs, which are occasionally busy enough that that would be a challenge anyway, and feel like part of the atmosphere along with the Mellotron and Rhodes (or some such) that further distinguish “Mysteria” after the push through its first half has already brought intense strikes of piano as part of its culminating build just before the two-and-a-half-minute mark.
That holds true in rougher-delivered or shoutier stretches like the end of “Mysteria,” or the gutted-out verses of “Metagalactic Void Honcho” surrounded by what sounds like duly gravitational destruction that dares some hope in its lead-topped final nod before it cuts to far-back guitar echoes and thud to end, or the galloping midsection of “Meteorb,” wherein even the air-tight structure and quick 3:38 runtime are enough for the band to use vocals as an instrument corresponding to the mood of a given part. The scorch of keyboard in that song’s charge, the way the drums open up the groove in the last hook, the details and nuance of the keys, synth, guitar, effects, whatever, in the mix — it all comes together as a complete representation of craft from Skraeckoedlan that feels deeper and more dug into its own processes than they’ve been before, but at the same time is more engaging and outward-reaching for that. If that’s a mature Skraeckoedlan self-producing and wielding their own sound, cognizant of their dynamic and the physicality of the material they’re writing, I’ll take it happily. They always feel like they’re ready to break out and run. That catch-up-to-this energy is always there, pulling the audience forward.
At the same time, their sense of control is palpable, whether it’s the look-what-we-can-do-with-a-stoner-riff mid-tempo chug in the verses of “Night Satan” — lest we forget their tonal and recording tutelage under Truckfighters (who also run Fuzzorama Records) — or the furies manifest in dramatic style on “Metagalactic Void Honcho” just before, but detracts neither from the energy in their delivery or their willingness to go all-in on an arrangement like “Astronautilus,” mellowing after its verse for a moment of proggy, key-topped exploration as it circles around and builds tension for its flowing, deceptively graceful emergence, leading into a solo and chorus that reinforce notions of structure even as they adrenaline-boost Vermillion Sky out of the atmosphere and into the resonant float of its comedown, some staticky layer there calling back to the opening of “Cosmic Dawn” as that structural cohesion finds its own meta level on which to operate.
Each album Skraeckoedlan have released has been an incremental step forward creatively from the one before it, and that applies to Vermillion Sky even as the band further define and distinguish an idea of their individual sound. That they recorded and mixed it themselves (Magnus Lindberg mastered) is also a crucial consideration — not because of any kind of down-scaling in production value; there isn’t one — but as another way to continue to grow as a unit and a means of more directly bringing their music to life. And whatever else is happening around them in various media, whatever apocalypses they’re conveying in the world they’ve conjured, these songs feel utterly alive.
In short, this is a sci-fi themed concept piece that screams DIY, having been entirely written, recorded, produced and mixed by the band themselves. A huge undertaking, especially considering one of the first steps in the process was basically to google: “how to properly mic a snare drum”. Mastering however has been beautifully done by Magnus Lindberg (Cult of Luna), which as always has yielded fantastic results.
Speaking of DIY and huge undertakings, Vermillion Sky will also be available as a novel (date to come), where each chapter corresponds to a track on the album. The story has been written by the band and is for those that want to take a real deep dive into the concept and join the crew of the Vermillion Sky as they unravel a mystery with galactic consequences. Contrary to the signature Swedish lyrics of the songs, the novel is in English.
An even more active way to interact with the release is to play the Vermillion Sky computer game the band has helped create. It’s an 8-bit style point chaser, where you travel through the Void as the ship, collecting upgrades to survive the multitude of enemies trying to put an end to your journey. If you want the absolute best experience of the game, make sure to come to one of the release tour shows, where Skraeckoedlan’s very own Vermillion Sky-arcade machine will be featured.
Live long and prosper!
Vermillion Sky tracklist 1. Cosmic Dawn (2:42) 2. Starsquatch (7:58) 3. Mysteria (5:21) 4. The Vermillion Sky (7:10) 5. Metagalactic Void Honcho (8:07) 6. Night Satan (4:53) 7. Meteorb (3:38) 8. Astronautilus (7:50)
Skraeckoedlan: Robert Lamu – Vocals, Guitar Henrik Grüttner – Guitar, Vocals Erik Berggren – Bass, Vocals Martin Larsson – Drums, Vocals
Posted in Whathaveyou on January 15th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
Time for new Skraeckoedlan. Indeed, perhaps the Swedish progressive heavy rockers/metallers were feeling some of the weight of the long stretch since they put out 2019’s Eorþe (review here) when they released “The Vermillion Sky” — which it turns out is the title-track of the new record, Vermillion Sky — as a standalone single last year. The four-piece’s impending fourth long-player will see release March 27 in continued collab with Fuzzorama Records, and I’ll tell you right now it’s a burner. If you didn’t hear that track, it and “Night Satan” are both streaming below.
I value your time and wouldn’t try to waste it by recommending crap, so if you don’t know Skraeckoedlan yet, please take that endorsement for what it’s worth. I do feel like the greater likelihood at this point is that people do know the band. The last album got a great response, they’ve been at it for well over 10 years now, and they’ve toured consistently if not constantly during that time. But if you didn’t hear that single, now’s a good time, what with album preorders up and t-shirt bundles and all that sort of whatnot.
The announcement came through in Fuzzorama‘s newsletter and I combined it with info from the preorder page. Have at it:
Skraeckoedlan announce new album ‘VERMILLION SKY’ out March 27th
Introducing the ultimate auditory experience for all rock enthusiasts – SKRAECKOEDLAN’s “Vermillion Sky”
Four bearded Swedes who’s forged their unique sound of progressive stoner rock in the cold northern forests. Previous album Earth was a massive domestic success as it hit the hard rock charts in Sweden.
Dive headfirst into the surreal world of Swedish stoner rock with this mind-bending album.
“Vermillion Sky” is a sonic journey that transcends boundaries, with SKRAECKOEDLAN’s signature blend of heavy riffs, mesmerizing melodies, and haunting vocals. Let the adrenaline-infused tracks transport you to a parallel universe, where the vermillion sky reigns supreme!
Crafted by masterful musicians, this album offers an immersive experience. Discover Vermilion Sky, out after five years of silence.
Five years. Is that a long time to wait? Generally speaking, yes. Probably. Well, maybe. Time is after all relative, so there surely isn’t a fail-safe answer.
Available on: Limited Edition 300 copies Gatefold Yellow vinyl with Red splatter Limited Edition 500 copies Gatefold blue vinyl with red splatter Limited Edition 400 copies Black vinyl CD digipack
Skraeckoedlan: Robert Lamu – Vocals/Guitar Henrik Grüttner – Guitar Erik Berggren – Bass Martin Larsson – Drums
There are about five different angles of approach I’ve come up with that I could take in discussing Vaka‘s 2009 full-length debut and lone-to-date offering, Kappa Delta Phi (review here). Here they are:
1. I could start by telling you about the career trajectory that led Karl Daniel Lidén to form the studio project, solo-based but expanded into complete-band arrangements filled out by players recruited for bass, guitar, vocals, even some cello tucked into expansively marching, gloriously Mellotronned closer “For Redemption.” Already by 2009, Lidén had been a member of Demon Cleaner, Greenleaf and Dozer. He’d founded Tri-Lamb Studios, where he’d not only record his own drums, piano, Mellotron and other keys, synth and probably a little bit of whatever was around for the Vaka material he composed, but would go on to helm albums for Katatonia, Greenleaf, Switchblade, Propane Propane, Bloodbath, Crippled Black Phoenix and a slew of others. He’s been an essential part of the course of Swedish heavy music over the last 20-plus years and Kappa Delta Phi remains the project of his own that, to-date, he has most spearheaded as a musician, songwriter, and producer. It’s a fun story, and a multifaceted enough record to stand up to the winding course which brought Lidén to it circa 2008-2009.
2. I could talk about the songs themselves, which are varied as one might expect for an album that features upwards of 10 different players contributing to its 10 component pieces and built on mostly post-metallic foundations given distinction through heavy use of piano — it starts on the intro “The Ship” and piano and keys are prominent throughout; a common element skillfully tying otherwise disparate ideas together; it’s very much a producer’s record — and marked by the shifts in atmosphere from the call-and-response barks and Neurosis-style churn of the nine-minute “Born to Secrecy” to the rumbling, lumbering payoff of the writhing “Stalemates” near the finish, to the midsection, might’ve-been-the-side-B-intro-to-a-vinyl-release interlude “Glacialis” and the various drones abounding blending the grounded and ethereal, severity and float. What might’ve been a messy process (let alone mix) working remotely before doing so became commonplace resulting in crushing, purposeful, and thrillingly volatile songs. There’s a lot going on here and a lot to talk about. This also would be fun.
3. I could tell you that when the Bandcamp broken heart thing came up because I’d streamed the album so many times revisiting it over the last couple weeks, I bought it (I have the CD from when it was released on Murkhouse Recordings in ’09 as well), and downloaded the wav files instead of mp3s because I wanted to hear it as full and uncompressed as possible.
4. I could run down that aforementioned significant number of artists involved in making the record, from vocalist Manne Ikonen (also ex-Zerocharisma) and guitarist Wille Naukkarinen (also ex-Sunride, he runs St-st-studio as well), both of Finland’s Ghost Brigade, contributing to “Born to Secrecy,” Ikonen trading lines with Misha Sedini of Come Sleep and Lingua, among others, to cellist Christoffer Ohlsson (Blue Foundation) adding to the breadth of “For Redemption,” where Melloboat Festival founder Stefan Dimle (also Landberk) handles bass. Ikonen and Naukkarinen, the Finnish contingent, both take part in the linear build across “At the Hands of Loss,” and also on bass are Johan Rockner, known for his work in Dozer and Greenleaf and up until 2023 also in Besvärjelsen, and Peder Bergstrand, who in 2008 released the debut from I Are Droid (who played in Stockholm last month; a third LP would be a pleasant surprise), and had already issued one of the most influential heavy rock records of the turn-of-the-century era in Lowrider‘s ultra-classic 2000 debut, Ode to Io (reissue review here). Bergstrand (who also did the design and layout for the digipak) and Rockner had both worked with Lidén previously in some context or other between Greenleaf and Dozer. Very much a drummer picking his bassists, which is probably what you want here. Erik Nilsson (Come Sleep, runs Version Studio in Stockholm) contributes guitar to highlight cut “I of Everything” — a hook to serve as landmark, and a righteous takeoff in its second half hitting its mark for post-metal’s requisite “Stones From the Sky” moment — as well as “Stalemates” and “For Redemption,” where Tommi Holappa (Dozer, Greenleaf) also adds the slide guitar that courses the melodic thread through the adrenaline-push crescendo. With Lidén‘s drums and keys at the core represented through his own signature production style — he gets a drum sound that is his own, period — the tracks on Kappa Delta Phi range far into atmospheric heavy and are willing to sound messy without being a mess, unfold into a landscape’s shimmer drone or dive into make-a-stinkface bludgeonry as “Born to Secrecy” nails its apex to your forehead. I count Vaka alongside Battle of Mice and SubRosa as an example of what I wish post-metal had evolved into.
5. Inevitably, I would finish by noting the never-say-never nature of rock and roll and life more generally, and perhaps wonder what might’ve been had Vaka done a second album or what might be if you rolled a 20 on a longshot and Lidén picked up the project again at some point. Not the most likely, not impossible, but for how much of Kappa Delta Phi is constructed around experiments in synth and keys laid over the drum tracks and then layered again with guitar, bass, more synth, vocals, etc., Lidén could have taken the band in any number of directions even just as regards his own songwriting, never mind putting together a lineup, playing live, or continuing with the ethic of guest performers. Whatever aesthetic elements might have been working in accord with the tenets of post-metal, Kappa Delta Phi was too much its own thing to be derivative, and wound up a singular expression and perhaps a footnote in a storied career, but only a footnote because not nearly enough people have heard this record.
And to go back to the top, I couldn’t decide which of these five approaches I wanted to take… so I took them all. For a collection that on paper might seem like a jumble but that proves coherent when engaged, it doesn’t seem like the least appropriate move. As always, I thank you for reading and hope you enjoy.
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Costco trip in a couple minutes, so I’m short on time. Need eggs, cheese, rug cleaner, a few other odds and ends. More possible during school hours, which are also my main writing hours these days. I’ve been playing a good bit of Zelda and relaxing some as well. The Patient Mrs. and I are doing a January yoga challenge that we also did last year, which I feel like a dork about but is actually awesome in the doing. Never underestimate the value of a good stretch in middle-age. That shit can make your whole day better.
The Patient Mrs. got sworn in on the Board of Education last night, so The Pecan and I rolled along (also like half my family was there) to see mommy continue to be amazing. We spent most of the time in a conference room down the hall with the Switch (kiddo also enjoys a good bit of Tears of the Kingdom and we mostly play as a family, but I do a decent bit of resource farming on my own as well because I’m compulsive and enjoy it), but she did get to be in the room for the actual thing. The board is divided politically, so her reasonable, ultra-competent, able-to-listen-and-process-and-then-respond-to-a-thing presence as a progressive can only be a boon. To say I am proud of her is laughable because she’s in another league entirely. I might as well be proud of the planet Jupiter.
Up and down week. The Pecan, super-punchy, mostly to The Patient Mrs. She’s got a long-term sub at school since her kindergarten teacher went out on maternity leave — till April rather than like the three years that are actually required for such a thing, because Americans are savages — and has never handled going from one thing to the other with smoothness generally. I don’t like having my routine upset either, if you couldn’t tell just from looking around this site, so I get where she’s coming from. She’s also not sleeping because ADHD drugs and being super-tired, super-resistant to the idea of laying down pretty much ever, and broadly given to ignoring you no less than 80 percent of the time when you ask her to do a thing, whether it’s go pee or grab a game to play — often that’s a question of her being hyperfocused on a thing, but yeah sometimes she’s just not giving a fuck — so perhaps it’s fair to note what success is being had despite the wobbly setup for it of late. I haven’t heard from the principal since at least early December for anything behavioral. The meds are working, which is a mantra. She lets me brush her hair. And sometimes, maybe once every day or two, you can say to please throw her socks in the wash or get her jacket and it’ll happen. It’s hard to remember after the tumult that defined the second half of 2023, but I don’t think that was the case last January, or at least not to the same proportion between the yes and no. We argue less than we used to, but I did say “bullshit” the other day when we were fighting to get her to take a bath. Ugh. In my defense, I was in the process of calling her a genius and telling her not to waste her time on bullshit. There are only so many hours in the day. Before dropoff this morning, The Patient Mrs. got the shit kicked out of her trying to put in pony tails for a school spirit day. We spend so much time doing that, we miss out on other stuff.
I also will note that I suck at and apparently don’t particularly enjoy fun. Fun is not fun for me. Fun is work. Fun is I gotta go to some place that I don’t want to be at, probably see a bunch of people, feel weird and put on and then do whatever wrong or badly and feel like garbage later. I’ve never been good at fun. I sucked at sports. I was fat and weird didn’t have a lot of friends. I wrote stories as a kid. I trudged around my neighborhood listening to Alice in Chains’ Dirt on my tape Walkman. This was my idea of a good time. What’s changed is that when you have a kid you have to go do all kinds of shit. You have to go to see things and be in places where people are and you have to pretend you feel normal doing any of it and it gets pretty wretched in my head. People talk about stuff that’s fun and I fear the word. Who the hell wants to get on a rollercoaster? Not even just for the fact that they’re shoddy or some safety concern. I mean who wants to get up, get dressed, leave their house to go to some expensive-ass theme park or some extra-rundown local thing or a town fair and go stand in line to get in, stand in line for tickets, stand in line for the ride, bake in the sun on a hot day, and then be shoved around and up and down in a machine at high speed, only to return to the ground like three minutes later expected to be grateful for the experience? Fuck that shit. I’ll stay home and eat a gummy.
And on that happy note, it’s time to go to Costco. I hope you have a great and safe weekend, and as always, I appreciate your time and value your being a part of this thing. Watch your head, don’t forget to hydrate, and I’ll be back on Monday with I don’t know probably a review and some more complaining about stuff, because I’m charming like that.
Posted in Whathaveyou on August 1st, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Okay, so it looks like the fourth full-length from Swedish progressive heavy rockers Skraeckoedlan will be released next year through Fuzzorama Records, and that the first single from that album, “The Vermillion Sky,” is out Aug. 17. If you get nothing else from this post, that’s enough of a takeaway. What that doesn’t tell you is the way the new record ties into 2019’s Eorþe (review here) — which is reportedly does — or what else they have in the works as regards narrative and so on, which is a whole other sphere to be explored.
I’ve read some preliminary info, but I don’t think it’s public yet and don’t want to give away something I shouldn’t, so please, consider this a heads up on the forthcoming track and the record to be. I haven’t heard it yet, but Skraeckoedlan have never wanted for ambition and this seems like their broadest reaching work yet. Even beyond digging into the single, I am curious as to how it will all come out when it does. Spring, maybe?
Fuzzorama‘s newsletter had the following:
It’s been a while. A good, long four years since Skraeckoedlan released their latest album, Earth. Meaning it’s time for something new. It’s time to take off.
The Vermillion Sky, is the first single from Skraeckoedlan’s upcoming 2024-release and will be available digitally on August 17. A mere 7 minutes can take you pretty far. You will hop planets, watch heavenly bodies collide, traverse galaxies and get drawn into the all-encompassing nothingness. The Void. And there are also rainbows. If that’s not enough, good news. This is only part of a continuous, much larger story. But that is something to be heard (and read) at a later date.
So, come August 17, keep your eyes toward the heavens.
Have a look at The Vermillion Sky!
Skraeckoedlan: Robert Lamu – Vocals/Guitar Henrik Grüttner – Guitar Erik Berggren – Bass Martin Larsson – Drums
