Posted in audiObelisk on September 28th, 2015 by JJ Koczan
Relocated from Brittany in France to Barcelona, Spain, heavy rock trio Brain Pyramid have made their second long-player, Magnetosphere, available to preorder from Vincebus Eruptum Recordings. A vinyl/download available either on black or green wax, it’s their follow-up to 2014’s Chasma Hideout (stream here; review here) as well as a split with French act Missingmile and finds guitarist Gaston Lainé and drummer Baptiste Gautier-Lorenzo joined by new bassist Paul Arends. One doubts it’s completely attributable to the lineup change, but the difference between the first album and the sophomore outing is palpable, Brain Pyramid departing from structured songwriting in favor of instrumental heavy psych sprawl, Magnetosphere made up of just three tracks totaling 43 minutes.
To make matters even more spaced out, 25 of those 43 minutes are dedicated to the title-track, which serves as the entirety of side A. On side B, Lainé, Gautier-Lorenzo and Arends offer up two more jams, “Solar Wind” and the closing “Electric Spell,” each running the better portion of nine minutes. All told, Brain Pyramid retain the natural tones and stoner grooves of their debut but branch way out into improv psychedelics, and while it may be a one-off — that is, they’ll get back to verses and choruses sooner or later; unless they don’t — if the three-piece were looking to demonstrate their newfound chemistry, they do so across these songs in the rawest form possible. Their weighted jams swell in volume and recede over the solid foundation of Gautier-Lorenzo‘s drumming, and Lainé runs through extended solos that only make the proceedings more molten as they go, each cut operating with the same live-style warmth that, whether or not Brain Pyramid decide to return from the lysergic region of subspace they’re inhabiting here will serve them well as a stylistic groundwork from which to build.
As a way of heralding Magnetosphere‘s arrival, you can stream “Electric Spell” on the player below. Something of an outlier for not being completely improvised, it nonetheless represents the general methodology well. Album info and preorder links follow. Please enjoy:
Brain Pyramid was formed in November 2012, in Rennes (Brittany—France). This is the initiative of the actual lead guitarist Gaston Lainé and the drummer Baptiste Gautier-Lorenzo.
Influenced by the sweet old Rock n Roll (Led Zeppelin, Hendrix, Sabbath, Motörhead, Blue Cheer, etc.) but also by stoner rock and actual psychedelic scene (Kyuss, Sleep, Fu Manchu, Earthless, Orange Goblin, etc.) they decided to create a band to play like these masters. After the release of their first EP «Magic Carpet Ride», the former bassman left his place to Ronan Grall from the doom band Huata. The band recorded it’s first LP called «Chasma Hideout» and release it on Acid Cosmonaut Records. After the 2014 European tour, the band proceed to another line-up change, to welcome a new bass player: Paul Arends. They made a Split with the french stoner band Missingmile, and they recorded an other LP in 2015, based on free jams, called Magnetosphere. They are now beginning a new era in the city of Barcelona.
Brain Pyramid is a Heavy Bluesy Stoner Psychedelic Rock And Roll band. They play loud enough to make you feel like blown by a lsd dose. They are actually searching for lots of gigs to expend their experience and grow up to the sun.
Posted in Reviews on December 31st, 2014 by JJ Koczan
Yesterday was kind of crazy, but I don’t mind telling you I think today might be the most all-over-the-place of the week each of the five piles on my desk — now three, soon two — offers something different from the others, but it’s a wide spectrum being covered here, and there’s a couple abrupt turns from one to the next that I didn’t really do on purpose but I think will make for an interesting challenge anyway. In case you’ve been wondering, that’s what kind of nerd I am. Also the Star Trek kind.
I’m feeling really good about this series so far. Really good. I reserve the right to, by Friday, be so completely done with it that I never want to even think of the idea again, but I can only begin to tell you how satisfying it is to me to be able to write about some of these records after staring at them for so long sitting on my desk. Today’s batch is reviews 21-30 of the total 50, so we’ll pass the halfway point in this pile. If you’ve been keeping count since Monday or checking in, thanks, and if not, thanks anyway. Ha.
It’s about that time:
Brain Pyramid, Chasma Hideout
Although it was streamed here in full in September, the persistent stoner charm of French trio Brain Pyramid’s debut album, Chasma Hideout (released by Acid Cosmonaut Records), seemed to warrant further highlight. Whether it’s small touches like the organ underscoring centerpiece “Lucifer” or the wah-ready bass of Ronan Grall – joined in the band by guitarist/vocalist Gaston Lainé and drummer Baptiste Gautier-Lorenzo – or the memorable if genre-familiar turns of “Into the Lightspeed,” the band’s first LP impresses with unpretentious heavy rock front to back. It’s not perfect. Lainé’s vocals come across high in the mix on opener “Living in the Outer Space” and there are points where the “familiar” runs stronger than others, but especially as their initial full-length offering, Chasma Hideout is one that one seems to continue to grow on the listener as time goes on, and one hopes that the heavy psych chicanery from which they launch the 11-minute closing title-track becomes the foundation from which they build going forward. Potential worth reiterating.
With the backing of venerable Swedish imprint I Hate Records, Canadian two-piece Zaum release their first LP in the four-song Oracles, a 48-minute work taking its central musical and atmospheric themes from Middle Eastern cues. Melodically and atmospherically, it relies on chants, slow, deep low end and minor key riffs to convey a dense ambience, reminding some of Om’s Mideast fixation on “Peasant of Parthia” – third and shortest here at 8:13 – but otherwise on a much heavier, darker trip entirely. Opener “Zealot” (12:55) and closer “Omen” (14:08) both offer plodding pace and a methodology not unlike Nile played at quarter-speed, but it would be a mistake to call the hand with which Kyle Alexander McDonald (vocals, bass, synth, sitar) and Christopher Lewis (drums) approach their aesthetic anything but commanding, and when McDonald switches to a semi-blackened rasp in the second half of “Omen,” Zaum demonstrate a desire to push even further into extremity’s reaches. I can’t help but wonder how far they’ll go.
Some of the organ sounds on “Eye Opener,” the aptly-titled leadoff from Virginia four-piece Fire Faithful’s second LP, Organized Occult Love, remind of what Beelzefuzz conjured atmospherically, but an even more primary impression is the uptick in production value from Fire Faithful’s 2012 outing, Please Accept this Invocation (review here). Recorded by Windhand’s Garrett Morris, songs like “Last Fool on Earth” and “Organized Occult Love” brim with tonal resonance and a perfect balance the mix. Guitarist Shane Rippey handled the latter with Morris, and throughout, his tones and that of bassist Jon Bone shine, but whether it’s a more straightforward, Earthride-style groover like the title-track, or a more ranging doomer like “Combat,” vocalist Brandon Malone is well balanced to cut through the morass and drummer Joss Sallade’s crash resides comfortably behind the thick chugging. Melissa Malone and Gabrielle Bishop contribute backing vocals to “Last Fool on Earth” and only affirm how much Organized Occult Love brings Fire Faithful’s Southern doom to another level of presentation. An important forward step.
Five years after debuting with 2009’s Cantos a Ma Vida, Amsterdam-based Pendejo return on Chancho Records with Atacames, a 10-track/44-minute wallop of classic heavy rock riffing and Latin American influence via the Spanish lyrics of vocalist El Pastuso and his readily-wielded-but-not-overused trumpet, which makes a surprising complement to Jaap “Monchito” Melman’s fuzz-heavy guitar, Stef “El Rojo” Gubbels’ bass and Jos “Pepellín” Roosen’s drums, but in context works well to bring personality and an individualized sensibility to a sound otherwise heavily indebted to the likes of Kyuss and Fu Manchu. Quality songwriting and variety in songs like the slower “Amiyano” and the building “Hermelinda” ensures Atacames offers more than novelty to those who’d gape at its other-ness, and when that trumpet does hit, it never falls flat. Closing out with a pair of big-riffers in “El Jardinero” and “La Chica del Super No Se Puede Callar,” Pendejo’s sophomore effort produces results as substantial as they are fun, and serve to remind that’s why we’re here in the first place.
Cali trio Heavy Glow – guitarist/vocalist Jared Mullins, bassist Joe Brooks and drummer St. Judas – have spent a decent portion of the year on tour in support of their full-length, Pearls and Swine and Everything Fine. Understandable, and all the better to pick up your girlfriend in-person. Smooth, well-baked grooves permeate cuts like “Mine all Mine,” which also appeared on their prior 7” (review here), and the later “Nerve Endings,” a Queens of the Stone Age-style production giving about as much of a commercial vibe as a record can have and still be heavy rock, but the songwriting is paramount and definitely an element working in Heavy Glow’s favor, whether it’s the takeoff chorus of “Domino” or near-lounge vibe of “Fat Cat.” There’s an aspirational sensibility at the album’s core that’s going to make for an odd fit for some riff-heads who might be puzzled how something so nearly desert rock can still sound not at all like Brant Bjork, but hooks is hooks, and Heavy Glow use them well.
Bibilic Blood released three albums between 2009 and 2011, but the Eastlake, Ohio, duo haven’t been heard from since – their nightmarish, depraved psychedelic sludge vanishing in a smoky, somehow hateful wisp. Snakeweed marks their fourth album, and with it bassist/vocalist Suzy Psycho and drummer/guitarist Scott “Wizard” Stearns unfurl another demented collection of chaos snippets from an alternate, terrifying universe, the 11 songs totaling just 27 minutes with enough lumber and obscure freakout on two-minute mainliners like “Severed” and “Bloodnomicon” in the middle of the record to be a genre on itself — like a grainy horror flick made scarier by its rawness. Closer and longest cut at 4:10 “Bloody Rabbit” starts with Boris, Flood-style noodling from Stearns on guitar, but samples transition into Snakeweed’s most gruesome chapter, Suzy Psycho’s voice echoing, twisted, from out of an abyss that might as well be your own subconscious, referencing Jefferson Airplane along the way. Their particular brand of malevolence has been missed, and hopefully Snakeweed starts a new bout of activity.
Thera Roya & Hercyn, All this Suffering is Not Enough
Gloom prevails and takes multiple shapes on All this Suffering is Not Enough, the new jewel-case split between Brooklyn post-metallers Thera Roya and progressive New Jersey black metallers Hercyn. Each band includes one song, and for the trio Thera Roya, that’s “Gluttony,” which builds its churn from the ground up and intersperses spacious guitar and almost punkish clean singing en route to a wash of scream-topped distortion, trading off volume and ambience and ultimately delivering a lot of both in a densely-packed eight minutes. Hercyn, a four-piece, counter with the 14-minute “Dusk and Dawn,” which follows their also-longform Magda EP (review here) in grand and squibbly form, a gallop taking hold early topped with throaty screams and shifting between melodic and dissonant impulses, a midsection solo offering a standout moment before the bludgeoning resumes. Each act offers a quotient of noise not to be understated, and despite working in different styles, that’s enough to let them complement each other well on the searing 23-minute Ouro Preto Productions release.
Synapse, the third full-length from German trio The Spacelords, arrives like a gift from the bliss-jam gods. Four extended mostly-instrumental cuts arranged two per side on a Sulatron Records LP, crafting memorable impressions with washes of synth and guitar, intelligent jams that feel partially plotted and intelligent but still exploratory and natural in how they flesh out. Guitarist Matthias Wettstein is out front in the mix, but bassist Akee Kazmaier and drummer Marcus Schnitzler (also of Electric Moon) aren’t far behind, as much as a title like “Starguitar” might make you think otherwise. The chemistry between the three-piece remains tight across the album’s 41 minutes, and from the rich bass and chugging guitar of the opening title-track to the more laid-back groove of “No. 5” and voicebox strangeness of “Pyroclastic Master,” which has the record’s only vocals in robotically spoken lines, Synapse seems to make all of its connections along the way. Heavy psych heads previously unfamiliar will want to take note. The vinyl, of course, is limited.
A progressive heavy rock trio from the Netherlands, The Good Hand present Atman, their second album, on Minstrel Music, with an adventurous semi-desert sensibility given crisp production and a somewhat wistful feel in songs like “Greenwich Mean Time” and “Unity.” For a record that starts out with lead guitarist/vocalist Arjan Hoekstra (also tuba, trombone, bugle, keys, percussion) declaring “I am god,” Atman is surprisingly not-arrogant, owing probably as much to Radiohead as Kyuss and keeping an experimental feel to the stops and arrangement of “The Opposite,” bassist/vocalist Dennis Edelenbosch and drummer/vocalist Ingmar Regeling (both also Monotron) swinging out classic style but holding firm to a modern edge. Out of nowhere is the 19-minute closing title-track (nothing else hits six), on which The Good Hand unfold varied movements that push beyond the charm of “The Death of the Real”’s ‘60s affiliations and into spaces jazz-funky, or droning, or doomy, or all of them. No easy accomplishment, but The Good Hand manage to hold it all together fluidly.
Byzanthian Neckbeard, From the Clutches of Oblivion
Okay, seriously. What the hell do you think a band who live on an island in the English Channel and call themselves Byzanthian Neckbeard sound like? Burly as hell? Well you’re right. The Guernsey foursome of guitarist/vocalist Phil Skyrme, guitarist Jon Langlois, bassist Dano Robilliard and drummer Paul Etasse get down on some dudely, dudely grooves on their 2014 debut, From the Clutches of Oblivion. “Doppelganger” nestles somewhere between death rock, stoner and sludge, and there’s a heaping crash of doom on “Plant of Doom” (duh) and “To Seek the Cyberdwarf” to go with the more swaggering take of “Hive Mind Overlord” as well. But primarily, you don’t put the word “Neckbeard” in your band’s name unless you’re on a pretty masculine trip, and Byzanthian Neckbeard do not fuck around in that regard or in the aggro boogie of “The Ganch.” CD is limited to 200 copies in a four-panel digipak to house the growl-laden, riff-led plunder that ensues across its brief but bloody 32-minute span.
Posted in audiObelisk on September 17th, 2014 by JJ Koczan
It’s good to get the basics covered. Grooving riffs, songs about space and monsters, a Kyuss influence, some blues. French heavy rock trio Brain Pyramid hit their marks on their debut full-length, Chasma Hideout. The album will be released on Oct. 1 by Acid Cosmonaut Records, and shortly thereafter, the three-piece — guitarist/vocalist Gaston Lainé, bassist Ronan Grall and drummer Baptiste Gautier-Lorenzo — head out on a European tour to support. They’re newcomers, having formed just at the end of 2012, but as the seven tracks of Chasma Hideout demonstrate, they know what makes stoner rock go.
They have a structured but still jammy approach, as the Sabbathian beginning of “Lucifer” unfolds topped with psychedelic guitar effects swirl, and a crisply layered production that results in a fat, front-of-the-speaker kind of sound. The preceding “Landing on the Pyramind” offers bluesy bounce after the jammier open of “Living in the Outer Space” and subsequent shuffle of “Lazy,” and while “Lucifer” is about as far into doom as Brain Pyramid move, they never lose sight of the heavy psych elements at work in what they do. It’s their propensity for making these sounds cohesive that makes the album a satisfying listen — how Lainé tears into a solo just as the tempo kicks up or how Grall‘s bass subtly carries the melody of “Twin Headed Giant” — and while they’re far from reinventing the wheel sonically, they’re starting out ahead of the game by working to find a place of their own within the style, learning the rules even as they determine which ones they want to break and how they want to go about it.
The boogie runs strong in “Into the Lightspeed” — if you’re wondering about the extra “the”s in that title and “Living in the Outer Space,” it could be a translation issue, it could be on purpose — and which incorporates some organ to go with the wah bass jam, spaced out guitar and Gautier-Lorenzo‘s thudding tom rolls. They ebb and flow and get hypnotic across that song and the 11-minute closing title-track, though it’s probably the latter that makes Chasma Hideout‘s definitive statement, pushing away from verses and choruses for a linear instrumental build based around psychedelic soundscaping early and extra-blown-out fuzz later on, Lainé shredding a head-turner of a solo before embarking on the riffing that will carry the record to its raucous conclusion, a wash of amp noise, rumble and feedback leading the way out in the last minute as Brain Pyramid make their exit on a final, fading tone.
While it’s true they still have some stuff they’re figuring out — vocals are a little high here and there, including on “Living in the Outer Space,” and there’s development to be undertaken all around — Chasma Hideout is all the more impressive considering these dudes have basically been a band for not quite two years’ time. Ahead of the aforementioned Oct. 1 release, I’m happy to be able to stream the album in full. Please find it on the player below, followed by their tour dates, and enjoy:
Posted in Whathaveyou on September 4th, 2014 by JJ Koczan
French trio Brain Pyramid seem to have recently suffered the loss of their boogie van. Yes, it looks like the “King of the Road” is going to be way too slow from here on out, and by that I mean not going anywhere because it broke down. I’m not sure what they’ll be hitting the road in to memorialize the vehicle — one imagines another, comparable van — but they’ve got another month to figure it out, with the string of Western European dates starting Oct. 10.
Their debut LP, ChasmaHideout, will be released by then on Acid Cosmonaut Records, and as you can see in the list, they’re still looking for help with a couple shows, so if you happen to be in Toulouse or Perpignan or Xijon and have a room that could use some riffs, you might want to drop them a line.
Here are the dates:
Brain Pyramid was formed in November 2012, in Rennes (Brittany-France). This is the initiative of the actual lead guitarist Gaston Lainé and the drummer Baptiste Gautier-Lorenzo.
Influenced by the sweet old rock n roll (Led Zeppelin, Hendrix, Sabbath, Motörhead, Blue Cheer, etc.), but also by stoner rock and actual psychedelic scene (Kyuss, Sleep, Nebula, Earthless, Orange Goblin, etc.) they decided to create a band to play like these masters.
After the release of their first EP Magic Carpet Ride, the former bassman left his place to Ronan Grall, spiritual Guru from the French Doom band Huata. Then they toured in Spain, Portugal, France, having some great gigs with bands like Blues Pills, The Atomic Bitchwax, Prisma Circus, Cuzo, Fungus…
Brain Pyramid is a Heavy Bluesy Stoner Psychedelic Rock And Roll band. They play loud enough to make you feel like blown by a LSD dose. They are actually searching for lots of gigs to expend their experience and grow up to the sun.
[TBC] Friday 10/10/14 : Le Mans [TBC] Saturday 11/10/14 [TBC] Sunday 12/10/14 Monday 13/10/14 : Caen w/ Missingmile @ Le bocal [TBC] Tuesday 14/10/14 Wednesday 15/10/14 : Amiens/w Cheap Wine Thursday 16/10/14 : Lyon @ Trokson Friday 17/10/14 : Montpellier @ Le MAT [TBC] Saturday 18/10/14 : Perpignan/Toulouse Sunday 19/10/14 : Barcelone @ rocksound [TBC] Monday 20/10/14 : Valencia TBC Tuesday 21/10//14 : Madrid @ Wurlitzer Ballroom w/Mr. Wilfried Wednesday 22/10/14 : Ourense @ Centro Cultural Auriense Thursday 23/10/14 : Lisboa @ Stairway Club Friday 24/10/14 : Barcelos Saturday 25/10/14 : Viseu @ fora de rebanho [TBC] Sunday 26/10/14 @ Xijon Tuesday 28/10/14 : Bilbao w/ The wizards Wednesday 29/10/14 : Bordeaux @ Le Capharnaüm Thursday 30/10/14 : Paris @ Le Klub Saturday 1/11/14 : Tours @ Hurricane’s w/ Crackhouse booked Wednesday 5/11/14 : Rennes @ Le Gazoline + Cuzo [TBC] Thursday 6/11/14 : Alençon w/Birth of Joy Tuesday 20/11/14 : Nantes @ Scène michelet w/ Fange
Posted in Whathaveyou on August 19th, 2014 by JJ Koczan
In a way, the photo above kind of says it all, right down to the The Atomic Bitchwax t-shirt. Dudes and reefer. I guess the only part not conveyed is the volume, and Brain Pyramid seem to have that working for them as well. The French trio will release their debut album, Chasma Hideout, through Acid Cosmonaut Records this October, at which point riffs will abound. No word on the exact date — i.e. when in October the record is due — but, you know, figure it’ll be along at some point after they’ve finished with everything in that field.
Cover art, track stream and info follow, care of the PR wire:
Acid Cosmonaut Records to release Chasma Hideout, the debut LP by Brain Pyramid
After the two last instrumental releases, Acid Cosmonaut Records is proud to announce its return to singing with Chasma Hideout, the debut album by French Heavy Psych trio Brain Pyramid!
Brain Pyramid was formed in November 2012, in Rennes (Brittany—France). This is the initiative of the actual lead guitarist Gaston Lainé and the drummer Baptiste Gautier-Lorenzo.
Influenced by the sweet old rock n roll (Led Zeppelin, Hendrix, Sabbath, Motörhead, Blue Cheer, etc.), but also by stoner rock and actual psychedelic scene (Kyuss, Sleep, Nebula, Earthless, Orange Goblin, etc.) they decided to create a band to play like these masters.
After the release of their first EP Magic Carpet Ride, the former bassman left his place to Ronan Grall, spiritual Guru from the French Doom band Huata. Then they toured in Spain, Portugal, France, having some great gigs with bands like Blues Pills, The Atomic Bitchwax, Prisma Circus, Cuzo, Fungus…
Brain Pyramid is a Heavy Bluesy Stoner Psychedelic Rock And Roll band. They play loud enough to make you feel like blown by a LSD dose. They are actually searching for lots of gigs to expend their experience and grow up to the sun.
Chasma Hideout will be released this October. Stay tuned on our pages for updates!
up two more jams, “Solar Wind” and the closing “Electric Spell,” each running the better portion of nine minutes. All told, Brain Pyramid retain the natural tones and stoner grooves of their debut but branch way out into improv psychedelics, and while it may be a one-off — that is, they’ll get back to verses and choruses sooner or later; unless they don’t — if the three-piece were looking to demonstrate their newfound chemistry, they do so across these songs in the rawest form possible. Their weighted jams swell in volume and recede over the solid foundation of Gautier-Lorenzo‘s drumming, and Lainé runs through extended solos that only make the proceedings more molten as they go, each cut operating with the same live-style warmth that, whether or not Brain Pyramid decide to return from the lysergic region of subspace they’re inhabiting here will serve them well as a stylistic groundwork from which to build.
