Posted in Whathaveyou on December 20th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Boston party sludgers Leather Lung have left boozy trails up and down the Eastern Seaboard these last several years — Maryland Doom Fest this past June, Desertfest NYC in 2022, and so on — and it would seem they’ve at last distilled their crusty-weedy-good-time-aggro-nod down to putting together a debut full-length, which will arrive on March 15 through Magnetic Eye Records. Graveside Grin follows behind the 2022 EP, Dive Bar Devil Mixtape, which was a quick two-day session through which they tested out their new-ish five-piece incarnation. They’ve been at it one way or another for a decade now — I feel like I lost time in there somewhere — and are immediately conveying rowdy vibes with the LP’s first single, “Spit in the Casket,” for which you can see the video below.
Must be nice to have friends. Leather Lung took a whole bunch of theirs — including Naked Guy On Motorcycle and boozy ladies galore — for a duly raucous woods party that seems to have somehow turned into a cogent music video. It looks like fun, which of course is part of the point. The other part is the raw weight of the riffs and the bounce in their nod. I guess the benefit of being together for 10 years before you put out your first full-length is that you know what the fuck you’re doing, or at least that’s what it sounds like where Leather Lung are concerned.
I’ll admit that, not being much for fun or joy generally, I feel a bit distant from the spirit of what Leather Lung do, but they do make it easy to go along with harsh sounds. And look up there. These guys look like the best time 1994 ever had, and no, I’m not making fun of that.
The PR wire sent the following:
LEATHER LUNG release first video single ‘Spit in the Casket’ and details of forthcoming new album “Graveside Grin”
Boston, Massachusetts quintet LEATHER LUNG unveil the first video single ‘Spit in the Casket’, the opening track of their forthcoming new album “Graveside Grin”. The sludge metal band’s first proper full-length is chalked up for release on March 15, 2024.
LEATHER LUNG comment on the single: “The opening track ‘Spit in the Casket’ is a middle finger in song form”, singer Mike announces. “It was written in the catharsis of leaving a toxic relationship. This song is dedicated to anyone that has ever disrespected you and lets them know that it won’t happen again. We play this track like we are kicking down your door with it. For that reason, we have chosen ‘Spit in the Casket’ as the first single and opening track off our new record ‘Graveside Grin’. This also happens to be our first full length release and first effort as a 5-piece band. It’s our beastly new form and we’re showing teeth. So better stay on our good side and blast the newest single as loud as it goes!”
Tracklist 1. Spit in the Casket 2. Big Bad Bodega Cat 3. Freewheelin’ Maniac 4. Empty Bottle Boogie 5. Guilty Pleasure 6. Macrodose (Interlude) 7. La La Land 8. Twisting Flowers 9. Headstone 10. Cornered Animal 11. Raised Me Rowdy
Let’s get this party started! The incorrigible headbangers in LEATHER LUNG have heard the pleas of their enthusiastic following to bring forth a new album of substance-fueled boogie metal, and have obliged at last with the raucous new full-length “Graveyard Grin”. The proper debut album from the New England five-piece has everything promised by their previous EP releases: a thick, chugging concoction of stoner metal, doom, and unrelenting sludge, blended into a refreshingly heavy brew with a catchy kick.
LEATHER LUNG are a wild bunch that know the meaning of fun. This is hardly surprising as the band sprang into existence out of friendship and the punk and hardcore scene of Boston in 2012. Starting as a four-piece, they quickly gained an excellent reputation in their local scene, as well as plenty of critical attention through a string of EPs, starting with “Reap What You Sow” (2014) and followed in regular intervals by “Lost in Temptation” (2016), “Lonesome, On’ry and Evil” (2019), and “Dive Bar Devil” (2022).
‘Dive Bar Devil’ is also the name of LEATHER LUNG’s own brand of lager beer, which has already sold out and been re-brewed multiple times. One may speculate that this is the liquid coming out off the can that the band’s Green Lady mascot of each of their record covers opens forcefully in the artwork of “Graveside Grin”.
Now a five-piece with the addition of a second guitarist, LEATHER LUNG are ready to take on the world. Following crushing live appearances at DesertFest New York and Psycho Las Vegas, the band return with “Graveside Grin”, a massive sign that these freaks from Boston are ready for the road and amped to get the global party going.
Recording & Mix by Chris Johnson at New Alliance Audio, Somerville, MA Mastering by Brad Boatright at Audiosiege, Portland, OR
Artwork by Mike Vickers Illustrated by Ester Cardella Layout by Mike Vickers
Line-up Mike – vocals Zach – guitar, vocals Ben – drums Jesse – bass, vocals Greg – guitar
Posted in Reviews on December 1st, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Well, this is it. I still haven’t decided if I’m going to do Monday and Tuesday, or just Monday, or Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, or the whole week next week or what. I don’t know. But while I figure it out — and not having this planned is kind of a novelty for me; something against my nature that I’m kind of forcing I think just to make myself uncomfortable — there are 10 more records to dig through today and it’s been a killer week. Yeah, that’s the other thing. Maybe it’s better to quit while I’m ahead.
I’ll kick it back and forth while writing today and getting the last of what I’d originally slated covered, then see how much I still have waiting to be covered. You can’t ever get everything. I keep learning that every year. But if I don’t do it Monday and Tuesday, it’ll either be last week of December or maybe second week of January, so it’s not long until the next one. Never is, I guess.
If this is it for now or not, thanks for reading. I hope you found music that has touched your life and/or made your day better.
Quarterly Review #41-50:
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David Eugene Edwards, Hyacinth
There are not a ton of surprises to behold in what’s positioned as a first solo studio offering from David Eugene Edwards, whose pedigree would be impressive enough if it only included either 16 Horsepower or Wovenhand but of course is singular in including both. But you don’t need surprises. Titled Hyacinth and issued through Sargent House, the voice, the presence, the sense of intimacy and grandiosity both accounted for as Edwards taps acoustic simplicity in “Bright Boy,” though even that is accompanied by the programmed electronics that provides backing through much of the included 11 tracks. Atop and within these expanses, Edwards broods poetic and explores atmospheres that are heavy in a different way from what Wovenhand has become, chasing tone or intensity. On Hyacinth, it’s more about the impact of the slow-rolling beat in “Celeste” and the blend of organic/inorganic than just how loud a part is or isn’t. Whether a solo career under his name will take the place of Wovenhand or coincide, I don’t know.
Whatever led Beastwars to decide it was time to do a covers EP, fine. No, really, it’s fine. It’s fine that it’s 32 minutes long. It’s fine that I’ve never heard The Gordons, or Julia Deans, or Superette, or The 3Ds or any of the other New Zealand-based artists the Wellington bashers are covering. It’s fine. It’s fine that it sounds different than 2019’s IV (review here). It should. It’s been nearly five years and Beastwars didn’t write these eight songs, though it seems safe to assume they did a fair bit of rearranging since it all sounds so much like Beastwars. But the reason it’s all fine is that when it’s over, whether I know the original version of “Waves” or the blues-turns-crushing “High and Lonely” originally by Nadia Reid, or not, when it’s all over, I’ve got over half an hour more recorded Beastwars music than I had before Tyranny of Distance showed up, and if you don’t consider that a win, you probably already stopped reading. That’s fine too. A sidestep for them in not being an epic landmark LP, and a chance for new ideas to flourish.
Because Messages From the Mothership stacks its longer songs (six-seven minutes) in the back half of its tracklisting, one might be tempted to say Sun Dial push further out as they go, but the truth is that ’60s pop-inflected three-minute opener “Echoes All Around” is pretty out there, and the penultimate “Saucer Noise” — the longest inclusion at 7:47 — is no less melodically present than the more structure-forward leadoff. The difference, principally, is a long stretch of keyboard, but that’s well within the UK outfit’s vintage-synth wheelhouse, and anyway, “Demagnitized” is essentially seven minutes of wobbly drone at the end of the record, so they get weirder, as prefaced in the early going by, well, the early going itself, but also “New Day,” which is more exploratory than the radio-friendly-but-won’t-be-on-the-radio harmonies of “Living for Today” and the duly shimmering strum of “Burning Bright.” This is familiar terrain for Sun Dial, but they approach it with a perspective that’s fresh and, in the title-track, a little bit funky to boot.
With rampant heavy blues and a Mk II Deep Purple boogie bent, Toulouse, France’s Fuzzy Grass present The Revenge of the Blue Nut, and there’s a story there but to be honest I’m not sure I want to know. The heavy ’70s persist as an influence — no surprise for a group who named their 2018 debut 1971 — and pieces like “I’m Alright” and “The Dreamer” feel at least in part informed by Graveyard‘s slow-soul-to-boogie-blowout methodology. Raw fuzz rolls out in 11-minute capper “Moonlight Shades” with a swinging nod that’s a highlight even after “Why You Stop Me” just before, and grows noisy, expansive, eventually furious as it approaches the end, coherent in the verse and cacophonous in just about everything else. But the rawness bolsters the character of the album in ways beyond enhancing the vintage-ist impression, and Fuzzy Grass unite decades of influences with vibrant shred and groove that’s welcoming even at its bluest.
If you go by the current of sizzling electronic pops deeper in the mix, even the outwardly quiet intro to Morne‘s Engraved with Pain is intense. The Boston-based crush-metallers have examined the world around them thoroughly ahead of this fifth full-length, and their disappointment is brutally brought to realization across four songs — “Engraved with Pain” (10:42), “Memories Like Stone” (10:48), “Wretched Empire” (7:45) and “Fire and Dust” (11:40) — written and executed with a dark mastery that goes beyond the weight of the guitar and bass and drums and gutturally shouted vocals to the aura around the music itself. Engraved with Pain makes the air around it feel heavier, basking in an individualized vision of metal that’s part Ministry, part Gojira, lots of Celtic Frost, progressive and bleak in kind — the kind of superlative and consuming listening experience that makes you wonder why you ever listen to anything else except that you’re also exhausted from it because Morne just gave you an existential flaying the likes of which you’ve not had in some time. Artistry. Don’t be shocked when it’s on my ‘best of the year’ list in a couple weeks. I might just go to a store and buy the CD.
Don’t tell the swingin’-dick Western swag of “Wounded,” but Appalooza are a metal band. To wit, The Shining Son, their very-dudely follow-up to 2021’s The Holy of Holies (review here) and second outing for Ripple Music. Opener “Pelican” has more in common with Sepultura than Kyuss, or Pelican for that matter. “Unbreakable” and “Wasted Land” both boast screams worthy of Devin Townsend, while the acoustic/electric urgency in “Wasted Land” and the tumultuous scope of the seven-plus-minute track recall some of Primordial‘s battle-aftermath mourning. “Groundhog Days” has an airy melody and is more decisively heavy rock, and the hypnotic post-doom apparent-murder-balladry of “Killing Maria” answers that at the album’s close, and “Framed” hits heavy blues à la a missed outfit like Dwellers, but even in “Sunburn” there’s an immediacy to the rhythm between the guitar and percussion, and though they’re not necessarily always aggressive in their delivery, nor do they want to be. Metal they are, if only under the surface, and that, coupled with the care they put into their songwriting, makes The Shining Son stand out all the more in an ever-crowded Euro underground.
An invitation to chill the beans delivered to your ears courtesy of Irish cosmic jammers Space Shepherds as two longform jams. “Wading Through the Infinite Sea” nestles into a funky groove and spends who-even-cares-how-much-time of its total 27 minutes vibing out with noodling guitar and a steady, languid, periodically funk-leaning flow. I don’t know if it was made up on the spot, but it sure sounds like it was, and though the drums get a little restless as keys and guitar keep dreaming, the elements gradually align and push toward and through denser clouds of dust and gas on their way to being suns, a returning lick at the end looking slightly in the direction of Elder but after nearly half an hour it belongs to no one so much as Space Shepherds themselves. ‘Side B,’ as it were, is “Void Hurler” (18:41), which is more active early around circles being drawn on the snare, and it has a crescendo and a synthy finish, but is ultimately more about the exploration and little moments along the way like the drums decided to add a bit of push to what might’ve otherwise been the comedown, or the fuzz buzzing amid the drone circa 10 minutes in. You can sit and listen and follow each waveform on its journey or you can relax and let the whole thing carry you. No wrong answer for jams this engaging.
Young Chilean four-piece Rey Mosca — the lineup of Josué Campos, Valentín Pérez, Damián Arros and Rafael Álvarez — hold a spaciousness in reserve for the midsection of teh seven-minute “Sol del Tiempo,” which is the third of the three songs included in their live-recorded Volumen! Sesion AMB EP. A ready hint is dropped of a switch in methodology since both “Psychodoom” and ” Perdiendo el Control” are under two minutes long. Crust around the edge of the riff greets the listener with “Psychodoom,” which spends about a third of its 90 seconds on its intro and so is barely started by the time it’s over. Awesome. “Perdiendo el Control” is quicker into its verse and quicker generally and gets brasher in its second half with some hardcore shout-alongs, but it too is there and gone, where “Sol del Tiempo” is more patient from the outset, flirting with ’90s noise crunch in its finish but finding a path through a developing interpretation of psychedelic doom en route. I don’t know if “Sol del Tiempo” would fit on a 7″, but it might be worth a shot as Rey Mosca serve notice of their potential hopefully to flourish.
Principally engaged in the consumption and expulsion of expectations, Fawn Limbs and Nadja — experimentalists from Finland and Germany-via-Canada, respectively — drone as one might think in opener “Isomerich,” and in the subsequent “Black Body Radiation” and “Cascading Entropy,” they give Primitive Man, The Body or any other extremely violent, doom-derived bludgeoners you want to name a run for their money in terms of sheer noisy assault. Somebody’s been reading about exoplanets, as the drone/harsh noise pairing “Redshifted” and “Blueshifted” (look it up, it’s super cool) reset the aural trebuchet for its next launch, the latter growing caustic on the way, ahead of “Distilled in Observance” renewing the punishment in earnest. And it is earnest. They mean every second of it as Fawn Limbs and Nadja grind souls to powder with all-or-nothing fury, dropping overwhelming drive to round out “Distilled in Observance” before the 11-minute “Metastable Ion Decay” bursts out from the chest of its intro drone to devour everybody on the ship except Sigourney Weaver. I’m not lying to you — this is ferocious. You might think you’re up for it. One sure way to find out, but you should know you’re being tested.
Do they pilot, a-pilot, do they the dune? Probably. Regardless, German heavy rockers Dune Pilot offer their third full-length and first for Argonauta Records in the 11-song Magnetic, taking cues from modern fuzz in the vein of Truckfighters for “Visions” after the opening title-track sets the mood and establishes the mostly-dry sound of the vocals as they cut through the guitar and bass tones. A push of voice becomes a defining feature of Magnetic, which isn’t such a departure from 2018’s Lucy, though the rush of “Next to the Liquor Store” and the breadth in the fuzz of “Highest Bid” and the largesse of the nod in “Let You Down” assure that Dune Pilot don’t come close to wearing down their welcome in the 46 minutes, cuts like the bluesy “So Mad” and the big-chorus ideology of “Heap of Shards” coexisting drawn together by the vitality of the performances behind them as well as the surety of their craft. It is heavy rock that feels specifically geared toward the lovers thereof.
Posted in Reviews on November 28th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Day two and no looking back. Yesterday was Monday and it was pretty tripped out. There’s some psych stuff here too, but we start out by digging deep into metal-rooted doom and it doesn’t get any less dudely through the first three records, let’s put it that way. But there’s more here than one style, microgengre, or gender expression can contain, and I invite you as you make your way through to approach not from a place of redundant chestbeating, but of celebrating a moment captured. In the cases of some of these releases, it’s a pretty special moment we’re talking about.
Places to go, things to hear. We march.
Quarterly Review #11-20:
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Primordial, How it Ends
Excuse me, ma’am. Do you have 66 minutes to talk about the end of the world? No? Nobody does? Well that’s kind of sad.
At 28 years’ remove from their first record, 1995’s Imrama, and now on their 10th full-length, Dublin’s Primordial are duly mournful across the 10 songs of How it Ends, which boasts the staring-at-a-bloodied-hillside-full-of-bodies after-battle mourning and oppression-defying lyricism and a style rooted in black metal and grown beyond it informed by Irish folk progressions but open enough to make a highlight of the build in “Death Holy Death” here. A more aggressive lean shows itself in “All Against All” just prior while “Pilgrimage to the World’s End” is brought to a wash of an apex with a high reach from vocalist Alan “A.A. Nemtheanga” Averill, who should be counted among metal’s all-time frontmen, ahead of the tension chugging in the beginning of “Nothing New Under the Sun.” And you know, for the most part, there isn’t. Most of what Primordial do on How it Ends, they’ve done before, and their central innovation in bridging extreme metal with folk traditionalism, is long behind them. How it Ends seems to dwell in some parts and be roiling in its immediacy elsewhere, and its grandiosities inherently will put some off just as they will bring some on, but Primordial continue to find clever ways to develop around their core approach, and How it Ends — if it is the end or it isn’t, for them or the world — harnesses that while also serving as a reminder of how much they own their sound.
With a partner in drummer Johnny Kelly (Type O Negative, Danzig, etc.), guitarist/songwriter Dan Lorenzo (Hades, Vessel of Light, Cassius King, etc.) has found an outlet open to various ideas within the sphere of doom metal/rock in Patriarchs in Black, whose second LP, My Veneration, brings a cohort of guests on vocals and bass alongside the band’s core duo. Some, like Karl Agell (C.O.C. Blind) and bassist Dave Neabore (Dog Eat Dog), are returning parties from the project’s 2022 debut, Reach for the Scars, while Unida vocalist Mark Sunshine makes a highlight of “Show Them Your Power” early on. Sunshine appears on “Veneration” as well alongside DMC from Run DMC, which, if you’re going to do a rap-rock crossover, it probably makes sense to get a guy who was there the first time it happened. Elsewhere, “Non Defectum” toys with layering with Kelly Abe of Sicks Deep adding screams, and Paul Stanley impersonator Bob Jensen steps in for the KISS cover “I Stole Your Love” and the originals “Dead and Gone” and “Hallowed Be Her Name” so indeed, no shortage of variety. Tying it together? The riffs, of course. Lorenzo has shown an as-yet inexhaustible supply thereof. Here, they seem to power multiple bands all on one album.
Just because it wasn’t a surprise doesn’t mean it’s not one of the best debut albums of 2023. Bringing together known parties from Boston’s heavy underground Jim Healey (We’re All Gonna Die, etc.), Doug Sherman (Gozu), Bob Maloney (Worshipper) and J.R. Roach (Sam Black Church), Blood Lightning want nothing for pedigree, and their Ripple-issued self-titled debut meets high expectations with vigor and thrash-born purpose. Sherman‘s style of riffing and Healey‘s soulful, belted-out vocals are both identifiable factors in cuts like “The Dying Starts” and the charging “Face Eater,” which works to find a bridge between heavy rock and classic, soaring metal. Their cover of Black Sabbath‘s “Disturbing the Priest,” included here as the last of the six songs on the 27-minute album, I seem to recall being at least part of the impetus for the band, but frankly, however they got there, I’m glad the project has been preserved. I don’t know if they will or won’t do anything else, but there’s potential in their metal/rock blend, which positions itself as oldschool but is more forward thinking than either genre can be on its own.
Based in Oakland and making their debut with the significant endorsement of Small Stone Records and Kozmik Artifactz behind them, atmospheric post-heavy rock five-piece Haurun tap into ethereal ambience and weighted fuzz in such a way as to raise memories of the time Black Math Horseman got picked up by Tee Pee. I don’t think that’s a coincidence. With notions of Acid King in the nodding, undulating riffs of “Abyss” and the later reaches of “Lost and Found,” but two guitars are a distinguishing factor, and Haurun come across as primarily concerned with mood, although the post-grunge ’90s alt hooks of “Flying Low” and “Lunar” ahead of 11-minute closer “Soil,” which uses its longform breadth to cast as vivid a soundscape as possible. Fast, slow, minimalist or at a full wash of noise, Haurun‘s Wilting Within has its foundation in heavy rock groove and riffy repetition, but does something with that that goes beyond microniche confines. Very much looking forward to more from this band.
Its point of view long established by the time they get around to the filthy lurch of “Hesher” — track three of seven — Cabin Fever is the first full-length from cultish doomers Wicked Trip. The Tennessee outfit revel in Electric Wizard-style fuckall on “Cabin Fever” after the warning in the spoken “Intro,” and the 11-minute sample-topped “Night of Pan” is a psych-doom jam that’s hypnotic right unto its keyboard-drone finish giving over to the sampled smooth sounds of the ’70s at the start of “Black Valentine,” which feels all the more dirt-coated when it actually kicks in, though “Evils of the Night” is no less threatening of purpose in its garage-doom swing, crash-out and cacophonous payoff, and I’m pretty sure if you played “No Longer Human” at double the speed, well, it might be human again. All of these grim, bleak, scorching, nodding, gnashing pieces come together to craft Cabin Fever as one consuming, lo-fi entirety, raw both because the recording sounds harsh and because the band itself eschew any frills not in service to their disillusioned atmosphere.
There’s an awful lot of sex going on in Splinter‘s Role Models, as the Amsterdam glam-minded heavy rockers follow their 2021 debut, Filthy Pleasures (review here), with cuts like “Soviet Schoolgirl,” “Bottom,” “Opposite Sex” and the poppy post-punk “Velvet Scam” early on. It’s not all sleaze — though even “The Carpet Makes Me Sad” is trying to get you in bed — and the piano and boozy harmonies of “Computer Screen” are a fun departure ahead of the also-acoustic finish in closer “It Should Have Been Over,” while “Every Circus Needs a Clown” feels hell-bent on remaking Queen‘s “Stone Cold Crazy” and “Medicine Man” and “Forbidden Kicks” find a place where garage rock meets heavier riffing, while “Children” gets its complaints registered efficiently in just over two boogie-push minutes. A touch of Sabbath here, some Queens of the Stone Age chic disco there, and Splinter are happy to find a place for themselves adjacent to both without aping either. One would not accuse them of subtlety as regards theme, but there’s something to be said for saying what you want up front.
Beginning with its longest component track (immediate points) in “Asteroid,” Terra Black‘s All Descend is a downward-directed slab of doomed nod, so doubled-down on its own slog that “Black Flames of Funeral Fire” doesn’t even start its first verse until the song is more than half over. Languid tempos play up the largesse of “Ashes and Dust,” and “Divinest Sin” borders on Eurometal, but if you need to know what’s in Terra Black‘s heart, look no further than the guitar, bass, drum and vocal lumber — all-lumber — of “Spawn of Lyssa” and find that it’s doom pumping blood around the band’s collective body. While avoiding sounding like Electric Wizard, the Gothenburg, Sweden, unit crawl through that penultimate duet track with all ready despondency, and resolve “Slumber Grove” with agonized final lub-dub heartbeats of kick drum and guitar drawl after a vivid and especially doomed wash drops out to vocals before rearing back and plodding forward once more, doomed, gorgeous, immersive, and so, so heavy. They’re not finished growing yet — nor should they be on this first album — but they’re on the path.
Sometimes the name of a thing can tell you about the thing. So enters Musing, a contemplative solo outfit from Devin “Darty” Purdy, also known for his work in Calgary-based bands Gone Cosmic and Chron Goblin, with the eight-song/42-minute Somewhen and a flowing instrumental narrative that borders on heavy post-rock and psychedelia, but is clearheaded ultimately in its course and not slapdash enough to be purely experimental. That is, though intended to be instrumental works outside the norm of his songcraft, tracks like “Flight to Forever” and the delightfully bassy “Frontal Robotomy” are songs, have been carved out of inspired and improvised parts to be what they are. “Hurry Wait” revamps post-metal standalone guitar to be the basis of a fuzzy exploration, while “Reality Merchants” hones a sense of space that will be welcome in ears that embrace the likes of Yawning Sons or Big Scenic Nowhere. Somewhen has a story behind it — there’s narrative; blessings and peace upon it — but the actual music is open enough to translate to any number of personal interpretations. A ‘see where it takes you’ attitude is called for, then. Maybe on Purdy‘s part as well.
A heavy and Sabbathian rock forms the underlying foundation of Spiral Shades‘ sound, and the returning two-piece of vocalist Khushal R. Bhadra and guitarist/bassist/drummer Filip Petersen have obviously spent the nine years since 2014’s debut, Hypnosis Sessions (review here), enrolled in post-doctoral Iommic studies. Revival, after so long, is not unwelcome in the least. Doom happens in its own time, and with seven songs and 38 minutes of new material, plus bonus tracks, they make up for lost time with classic groove and tone loyal to the blueprint once put forth while reserving a place for itself in itself. That is, there’s more to Spiral Shades and to Revival than Sabbath worship, even if that’s a lot of the point. I won’t take away from the metal-leaning chug of “Witchy Eyes” near the end of the album, but “Foggy Mist” reminds of The Obsessed‘s particular crunch and “Chapter Zero” rolls like Spirit Caravan, find a foothold between rock and doom, and it turns out riffs are welcome on both sides.
The closing “Sex on a Grave” reminds of the slurring bluesy lasciviousness of Nick Cave‘s Grinderman, and that should in part be taken as a compliment to the setup through “Black Cat” — which toys with 12-bar structure and is somewhere between urbane cool and cabaret nerdery — and the centerpiece “Bad Day,” which follows a classic downer chord progression through its apex with the rawness of Backwoods Payback at their most emotive and a greater melodic reach only after swaying through its willful bummer of an intro. Last-minute psych flourish in the guitar threatens to make “Bad Day” a party, but the Louisville outfit find their way around to their own kind of fun, which since the release is only three songs long just happens to be “Sex on a Grave.” Fair enough. Rife with attitude and an emergent dynamic that’s complementary to the persona of the vocals rather than trying to keep up with them, the counterintuitively-titled second short release (yes, I know the cover is a Zeppelin reference; settle down) from Bandshee lays out an individual approach to heavy songwriting and a swing that goes back further in time than most.
Posted in Whathaveyou on October 27th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Perhaps by the time they get the ball rolling on their debut album through Cruz Del Sur Music — to which the band are newly announced as signed — Boston’s The Watcher will have a band photo. Maybe they won’t; you know heavy metal is shy like that sometimes. I don’t like looking at pictures of myself either, and that might be the most metal thing about me save for the crushingly accurate lack of self worth of which that’s a symptom, but then again, I’m not promoting a first record being put out by one of the best underground heavy metal and doom imprints going. The Watcher — who are not to be confused with San Fran’s The Watchers or any other lookie-loo type monikers out there — find themselves, or will soon find themselves, in that very position.
The trio released their debut EP, Your Turn to Die, in 2021. You’ll note the cover where the band photo discussed above might otherwise be. You can stream the EP below because Bandcamp hasn’t actually collapsed yet after firing half their staff blah blah corporate bullshit ruining lives. Comprised of three songs and topping 13 minutes, it was recorded in 2017. Six years ago! How you can guess the album will be good is that Cruz Del Sur probably wouldn’t ink a band whose only offering came out two years ago and was recorded six years ago and who haven’t spent all that time touring incessantly without at least hearing some new music first, whether that’s demos or partial finished tracks as The Watcher will look to complete the recording process in November, as the PR wire tells it. Though if it was just Your Turn to Die that hooked the label, that’s fine too.
From the PR wire:
THE WATCHER Joins Cruz Del Sur Music, New Album Due in 2024
Cruz Del Sur Music is proud to announce the signing of Boston classic metal/doom outfit, THE WATCHER. The label will release the band’s first full-length album in 2024.
THE WATCHER is the 2016 creation of guitarist/bassist Max Furst, who, after many years of playing darker and heavier styles of metal, wanted to write music that was more driving, epic and up-tempo. Furst embarked on finding the proper musicians, first landing on drummer Chris Spraker. The two promptly began work on the music that would become the Your Turn To Die EP. But first, they needed to find a vocalist.
“After years of dead ends and countless ‘no’s,’ I was fortuitously introduced to Paden Reed in late 2020 through a mutual acquaintance,” says Furst. “Paden was the first person to come at the project with sincere enthusiasm, and in July 2020, he sent me a demo of what would become Your Turn To Die. I was beyond floored by his delivery of the vocals and his interpretation of the music. I immediately knew we had something special, so we spent the next few months developing vocals for two additional songs from a 2017 instrumental demo. Paden then went into a studio to properly record the vocals; we then mixed and mastered the entire session.”
The Your Turn To Die EP finally saw the light of day in 2021. The wait for THE WATCHER was worth it — the EP was warmly received across the metal underground for its tight, immediate songwriting and timeless blend of BLACK SABBATH and NWOBHM. (To boot, all physical copies of Your Turn To Die are sold out!)
Furst says THE WATCHER is currently set to finish tracking the album this coming month with Sasha Stroud at Artifact Audio in New York City.
With new tracks on the way along with the promise of future live shows, joining the Cruz Del Sur Music roster is the logical next step for THE WATCHER.
“Finding a label that felt right for the band was tricky,” says Furst. “I was fortunate enough to be put in touch with Cruz Del Sur through a mutual friend. Cruz Del Sur stood out to me because of the wide range of bands they release. While everything is squarely within the scope of the metal genre, each band has a distinct and unique quality about them. Above all, all of the folks at Cruz Del Sur seem incredibly passionate about the music they release. To me, that implies a true personal investment in what they do and that is the most important trait a label should have, in my opinion.”
The Watcher is: Paden Reed – Vocals Max Furst – Guitars & Bass Chris Spraker – Drums
Posted in Questionnaire on October 23rd, 2023 by JJ Koczan
The Obelisk Questionnaire is a series of open questions intended to give the answerer an opportunity to explore these ideas and stories from their life as deeply as they choose. Answers can be short or long, and that reveals something in itself, but the most important factor is honesty.
Based on the Proust Questionnaire, the goal over time is to show a diverse range of perspectives as those who take part bring their own points of view to answering the same questions. To see all The Obelisk Questionnaire posts, click here.
Thank you for reading and thanks to all who participate.
The Obelisk Questionnaire: Milosz Gassan from Morne
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How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?
Well, I’d say that I let out my passion for creating something, music or writing lyrics or doing anything around that territory. I let something that is inside out. Guess how I grew up and how my parents raised me and sparked all those interests led me to where I am and what I do.
Describe your first musical memory.
Can’t really remember exactly. There was always music in our house. My parents always listened to something. I’d say bands like Genesis, Pink Floyd come to mind. I wasn’t necessarily aware of it but it’s still somewhere in my head. Generally music is something that was always part of my day as a kid.
Describe your best musical memory to date.
My first distortion pedal. My dad bought me an electric guitar when I was 9 or 10 after seeing me rocking out around our house with an acoustic guitar for a couple of years. I had no idea how to make my electric guitar to make “that” sound until my neighbor gave me this piece of shit handmade distortion pedal. I could then figure out how to make my own noise. It pretty much changed my life.
When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?
I try to move forward as fast as I can so I don’t have to look back and remember any of that.
Where do you feel artistic progression leads?
To a lot of frustration that sometimes leads to satisfaction. Always a bumpy road with a lot of twists and turns but I wouldn’t want it any other way.
How do you define success?
Happiness. No matter how high or how low in your life you are, being happy is a success.
What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?
My friends passing away at young age. It’s devastating.
Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.
More Morne albums.
What do you believe is the most essential function of art?
Uncompromised education. Nothing more nothing less. It lets you think and it lets you learn.
Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?
Sharing more quality time with my family and my friends. Also getting a little bit more sleep would be good.
Posted in Whathaveyou on October 11th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
About a month ago, maybe two, I was fortunate to get an email from Metal Blade asking if I was interested in writing a bio for the new album from Boston atmospheric doomers, titled Engraved With Pain, and it was an easy yes. Heralded critically for their individualism and merging of different styles, I’d count them as undervalued considering their sound is malleable enough to fit on bills with a metal band like Gojira (a random name with precious little to do with Morne stylistically — any range of bleak proggers bubbled up from the heavy underground, sludge, death metal, industrial, on and on. And the record is four tracks long, utterly consuming, which is shown even in the small sample offered by the first single “Wretched Empire,” streaming below.
So I wrote the thing, duh. And it’s here though I’m posting it mostly to be archived here — it’s nice to keep things in a place — and if you want to skip it and go right to the song, no offense taken.
Here’s the art and info, including the bio I wrote (paragraphs two to four), and the single. Expect multi-tiered crush. Bask in it.
Off you go:
Morne: Boston Post-Metal Practitioners to Release “Engraved with Pain” Full-Length November 3rd via Metal Blade Records
“Wretched Empire” Video / Single Now Playing + Pre-orders Available
Boston-based post-metal practitioners and recent Metal Blade Records signees MORNE will unleash their devastating Engraved With Pain full-length on November 3rd, today unveiling the record’s first single, artwork, and pre-orders.
The stylistic pyroclasm of MORNE’s bleak, extreme but reachable metal did not happen overnight. Since their 2009 debut album, Untold Wait, the quartet has made simple categorizations like “doom” or even “metal” laughable, and their latest and fifth full-length, fittingly titled Engraved With Pain, refines their attack to a level toward which even 2018’s To The Night Unknown could only hint.
Engraved With Pain is a moment of grim triumph, as rooted in Celtic Frost as in Ministry, still somehow extrapolated from the gods Black Sabbath and characteristic of no one so much as themselves. Spacious, crushing, darkly thoughtful enough to be progressive but never so indulgent as to lose sight of its core message, the offering was recorded with legendary producer Kurt Ballou at GodCity Studio in Salem, Massachusetts.
Playing out across four chapters in forty-minutes, the album sees the veteran outfit crafting rhythmic tension and lung-squeezing atmospheres as Polish-born guitarist/vocalist Miłosz Gassan emits layered guttural shouts that speak to inner and outer crises. Engraved With Pain makes its title believable, and from its eponymous opener through “Memories Like Stone,” “Wretched Empire,” and “Fire And Dust,” it carries humanity individually and collectively through the realities of its decline.
“‘Wretched Empire’ is the first song off of our new album to be published bringing the wait to its end,” Gassan notes of the band’s first single, as well as their first ever video. “Barebone, stripped down riffs and a cold look at today’s reality, lyrically it’s my take on the current situation in the world: How divided everything is and how people are prone to being misled. How we forget our history; history that happened not that long ago. I never comment on my lyrics but maybe in this case it’s needed. I call humanity a ‘wretched empire.’ It’s not an optimistic song. I hope people will enjoy it and find something for themselves in this single and the whole album as well.”
Engraved With Pain will be released on CD, LP, and digital formats. Find pre-orders at: metalblade.com/morne
Photo by Hillarie Jason
MORNE: Milosz Gassan – Guitar, Vocals Paul Rajpal – Guitar Morgan Coe – Bass Billy Knockenhauer – Drums
Posted in Reviews on August 9th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
It’s not that expectations weren’t high for Close Encounters. By virtue of their lineup’s pedigree, Kind‘s output has been anticipated since before their first release, and their two albums to-date, 2015’s Rocket Science (review here) and 2020’s Mental Nudge (review here), set and lived up to a high standard for craft and melody, gleefully, mischievously kicking ass all the while since first getting together a decade ago.
I won’t take away from either of the first two records. They’re both some of the most essential heavy rock that’s come out of Boston, Massachusetts, in the last eight years. Rocket Science showed that the chemical formula resulting from the combined elements of vocalist/synthesist Craig Riggs (also drums in Sasquatch, Roadsaw frontman, etc.), guitarist/synthesist Darryl Shepard (so many bands and more all the time; he’s also a brilliant conceptualist standup comedian), bassist Tom Corino of newer-school sludge metallers Rozamov, and drummer Matt Couto (ex-Elder, also Aural Hallucinations) could function as a group rather than just players culled from elsewhere, and Mental Nudge reaffirmed it.
Where Close Encounters — because it’s the thirdKind record; get it? — goes further is in extending a sense of progression to the individual sound of Kind. That is, with these nine songs and 48 minutes, Kind and returning producer Alec Rodriguez (who recorded at Mad Oak in Spring 2022 and also mixed) refine the identity of Kind as their own band, identifiable in their melodicism, psych-leaning groove and tonality, and not even through opener “Burn Scar” (premiered here) before they’re trying new ideas, crushing in tone and spacious in breadth, vocals delivered in layers as they draw the listener deeper into the album’s unfolding.
The pattern continues through rolling highlight cut “Favorite One,” which joins closer “Pacino” as the only other inclusion on Close Encounters to hit seven minutes. That’s a shift in approach from Mental Nudge, which worked back and forth between longer and shorter tracks, but the band want nothing for flow either way. “Favorite One” finds Riggs delving into a fairly spot on Jerry Cantrell-circa-Facelift-style hook, backed by the synchronicity of Couto‘s snare and the punch of Corino‘s bass, and a drifting vocal melody after Shepard‘s solo that reminds of Snail, but is recontextualized to suit Kind‘s purposes of structured exploration.
The point of “Black Yesterday” seems to be to capture a sense of vastness, as evidenced by the reverb soaking the midsection before it hands off to Shepard for a particularly fuzzed lead section, but it’s also the last part of a three-song opening salvo that builds up the momentum that will carry Kind through the remining six pieces. “Snag” is a big help in that regard, with a stripped-back runtime — at 3:58, it is one of three Kind pieces to clock in under four minutes; the still-to-come “Power Grab” is the shortest song they’ve written at 2:56 — and a chorus that stands up well to being leaned on as it is, heavy and atmospheric, with the vocals seeming to sort of surf the riff as the band move into the crescendo hook and subsequent ending section, some ‘additional percussion’ credited to Riggs marking the change.
‘Just a rock song’ — in quotes because I’m someone whose life has been changed and in many ways shaped by rock songs — on paper, “Snag” is given space, character and dimension through the guitar and bass tones, the mix, and the echo treatment on the drums and vocals. This is emblematic of Kind‘s approach generally, but captured with particular efficiency and accessibility. They follow it with the centerpiece, named “Massive” presumably in honor of Corino‘s bassline, and swinging with a thickened strut that is at once classic heavy rock and a stylistic signature from Couto. Marked by vital nod, “Massive” sits well between “Snag” and “Power Grab,” both of which are faster and the latter of which is Close Encounters‘ most fervent push.
I’m not sure where the vinyl sides split, but if either “Massive” (seems more likely timing-wise) or “Power Grab” starts side B, then fair enough as it leads into the last section of the record, which begins explosive as “Of the Ages” bursts to life from its standalone-riffed intro. Quick into the verse, quick into the chorus, it follows suit from “Snag” and even “Massive” in terms of structural traditionalism, and so does “What It Is to Be Free,” but each has its own persona, with “Of the Ages” seeing itself out with a multi-stage solo atop its swaying lumber, and “What It Is to Be Free” finding an especially brash groove and a guitar melody in its intro that meets bombast with due swagger. It is not the sort of tune Kind would or maybe could have written together in 2015, but they sure make it sound easy now (and for all I know the song was written in 2015).
“Pacino” rounds out with what seems to be shimmy in surplus — no complaints — and a tension resulting that’s balanced through complementary twists led by Shepard on guitar and a stretch in the second half of more forward push. The key word is ‘push,’ though. Shepard takes a lead before Riggs returns with a last verse and chorus, and as it comes apart, “Pacino” spends not quite its full last minute in a lightbath of melodic psych drone carved out of residual comedown noise. Where much of Close Encounters up to that point has been about movement between parts, the flow within and between songs, and expansion on Kind‘s prior modus of craft and performance, “Pacino” dwells more in that boogie, riding the central chug for the vast majority of the proceedings and wrapping the album so that still kinetic in nature, but changed in shape and underlying makeup.
And while it’s a sidestep from some of the other material, it is consistent in both sound and atmosphere and well within their style, so not awkward or out of place. It’s like the rest of Close Encounters: the work of a band who have built their identity from the ground up, who know who they are, and who are working actively to evolve their processes and sound. I said when it was announced that Close Encounters is the best offering from Kind. It is. It weaves smoothly through complex changes and is soothing even at its heaviest, accomplishing a rare malleability of stylistic balance. More than anything though, it is Kind, and it broadens the scope of what that means.
Posted in Whathaveyou on July 31st, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Following up on a video for the track “Blankets” that was unveiled in June with the first word of Blood Lightning‘s self-titled debut, Ripple Music has confirmed an Oct. 20 release for that album. The metal-leaning heavy project from members of — yes I’m doing the list; it’s a fun list — Gozu, We’re all Gonna Die, Sam Black Church and Worshipper (among others) got their start as a live one-off and, whoops, I guess somebody started writing songs. Then recording them. They’ve been trickling out singles since late 2021 with “The Dying Starts,” and that track will open the album, so that’s two out of five originals already public. A not-insubstantial sampling for a record that’s still the better part of three months out. And yeah, I’d be up for hearing them take on Black Sabbath‘s “Disturbing the Priest.” Of course.
Blood Lightning join a busy Fall for Ripple. In addition to the new LP from Blood Lightning‘s fellow Bostonians Kind out Aug. 11, recent announcements have been made for albums from Moon Coven (Aug. 25), Fire Down Below (Sept. 8), Dead Feathers (Sept. 22), La Chinga (Oct. 6) and Appalooza, who share Blood Lightning‘s release date of Oct. 20. It’s to the label’s credit that none of these releases steps too hard on the toes of the others sound-wise, and if you don’t think we’re living in a guilded age for heavy music, well, think about a leading label putting out stuff basically every other week from now until mid-Fall with more maybe to come before the end of the year, and then get back to me.
The PR wire has it like this:
Boston heavy metal supergroup BLOOD LIGHTNING to release debut album on Ripple Music this fall; watch new video “Blankets” now!
Boston-based heavy metal supergroup BLOOD LIGHTNING (with members of GOZU, Sam Black Church, Worshipper, We’re All Gonna Die) team up with US powerhouse Ripple Music for the release of their self-titled debut this October 13th. Watch their brand new video for “Blankets” now!
Watch Blood Lightning’s fire it up on new “Blankets” video Single available now on all digital streaming services
Formed in December 2020, Blood Lightning brings together the talents of vocalist Jim Healey (We’re All Gonna Die), guitarist Doug Sherman (GOZU), bassist Bob Maloney (Worshipper) and drummer J.R. Roach (Sam Black Church). What began as a 2019 Halloween show playing the entire Black Sabbath “Born Again” album just for fun has culminated in the release of original material by four veterans of the Boston metal/hardcore community.
Blood Lightning was formed with one thing in mind: get back to the real essence of heavy metal. No pretense. No subgenres to fit into. Only badass, straightforward, hard-hitting heavy metal with a nod to old school NWOBHM with contemporary firepower. They teamed up with award-winning producer and engineer Benny Grotto (Rolling Stones, Aerosmith), and mastering legend Alan Douches (Motörhead, Mastodon, High On Fire) to record five original songs and one Black Sabbath cover over the course of 2021 and 2022.
They were also honored to be nominated in 2021 and 2022 for Metal Artist of the Year by the Boston Music Awards. The band recently signed with acclaimed Stoner/Doom/Metal label, Ripple Music, and is excited to take the next step in that partnership to bring some new music to the masses.
BLOOD LIGHTNING “Blood Lightning” Out October 20th on Ripple Music
TRACKLIST: 1. The Dying Starts 2. Hitting The Wall 3. Bananaconda 4. Face Eater 5. Blankets 6. Disturbing The Priest
BLOOD LIGHTNING is Jim Healey – Vocals Doug Sherman – Guitars Bob Maloney – Bass J.R. Roach – Drums
