The world wasn’t ready for Dopefight a decade ago. Would it be now, I wonder?

Guitarist/vocalist Owen Carty, drummer Ant Cole and bassist Epic-fail Hale put out the first of Dopefight‘s several split releases in 2009, along with a self-titled demo (discussed here). Their debut full-length, the 13-track, 50-minute Buds (review here) was a revelation when it followed in 2010. Here was a trio emergent in Brighton, UK, just at the cusp of a generational rollover. In the post about that demo is a link to Dopefight‘s MySpace page. By the time they took the stage at the first Desertfest London in 2012 (review here), heads in the crowd were talking about them as legends. Watching them on stage, I felt like someone standing in front of Saint Vitus in 1986 at the Palm Springs Community Center in that video Tony Tornay took.

Here was the fucking future, bashing itself whole-body over your head with what definitely felt like but wasn’t actually reckless abandon. Dopefight — whose moniker I’ll note was originally written as DopeFight — stood along with a group of English acts at the crest of a generational wave the impact of which continues to flesh out. Bands like Steak, Alunah, Grifter, Trippy Wicked, then Stubb and eventually Elephant Tree and so on, who in the last 10-plus years built UK heavy into a rich and varied underground second to none in the world, be it the US, Germany or Australia. Yes, Desertfest is a huge part of that in supporting up and coming acts, but that’s just the point. Dopefight were there at, and before, the start. Probably a little too early.

Because imagine a world in which Dopefight kept it going. Not only kept it going, but pushed further along the disaffected raw punk-doomcore of Buds in songs like “Brighton Town is a Fuckin’ Whore” or “Pistophelees,” the trio’s point of view evident even before the outright barrage of riffs starts. On Buds, the formula revealed itself (in part) to be starting a track with a fast riff, play another riff or two, sometimes they flow, sometimes it’s just these-are-two-riffs-and-fuck-you, then slowing down and sludging out later, and that’s where, generally, the vocals come in. There are departures, of course, as “Slug ‘n’ Mop” rolls its largesse in linear fashion and “Nob.Nod.Noi” crushes outright, but speaking broadly, the doom and the hardcore-derived aggressive shove both manifest in choice riffing and ferocious assault.

A second Dopefight album — perhaps following tours in the UK and Europe that didn’t really happen — might have found the trio pushing farther along these lines. Would they be more aggro? Groovier? Heavier in tone or faster in tempo or neither or both and more besides? Because with one record, well, you get a badass collection of songs, and at 50 minutes, Buds doesn’t owe you anything in terms of conveying where Dopefight were at circa 2010. With a second one, it would almost be the moment when we might have found out who they were going to be as a band. How would the follow-up compare to the debut? What did they carry over in sound? What did they leave behind? If you think of the changes their generational cohort has been through over the last 10-15 years, would Dopefight have been able to meet the standard of anger that “Baby Goat Sick” or the dragging-till-it-runs “(Don’t Inflict Your) Spawn (Upon Me)” set?

The potential here was huge. A homegrown Church of Misery in England’s green and pleasant land. Kids looking to clear away the dust gathered from the aughts with the sheer force of the air pushed by their amplifier worship. From Belzebong in Poland to Dopethrone in Montreal with scores in between, Dopefight were an incarnation of over-the-top heavy, crunchy stoner sludge, and they never got the chance really to be counted among those others. There was no second record. After Buds, they put out splits with Gurt, Lex Rhino and The Fucking Wrath, and there was another demo in 2012, but in 2013-2014, when they probably should’ve been announcing that they’d signed to whatever label to put out their next long-player, there was nothing.

And there were fewer labels at the time. Now, stick Dopefight on New Heavy Sounds, Heavy Psych Sounds, Magnetic Eye Records or Majestic Mountain, among a slew of others, and Buds would find ears. If this record was released as new in 2023, you’d have already heard about it. And yeah, maybe saying sludge still sounds like sludge 13 years later isn’t such a hot take — the point of genre is there are consistent aspects of style — but Buds was enough ahead of its time that there’d be no question of its relevance in the current underground sphere. The underground was lucky when Dopefight came along. If the band got back together today, the underground would be lucky again.

They announced they were done in Sept. 2012 and other projects began to take shape, mostly from Carty in the form of Grey Widow and Chubby Thunderous Bad Kush Masters. The latter released their own debut, Come and Chutney (review here), in 2018, and took on some of the disgruntled restlessness of Dopefight in a willfully quirky presentation — makeup, taking the piss out of heavy rock and nü-metal, life in general, tie-dye, etc. — and were active in 2021, and the drone project Thon seems to have taken shape from out of that lineup, but I’m not sure if that’s Carty or someone else from Chubby Thunderous behind it. It’s a far cry from Buds, in any case, if you’re following a family tree trajectory, Thon is on Bandcamp here.

To be sure, the world has gone on without Dopefight, and more bands have come and gone and come again and gone again in some cases. But in my mind, this was a trio who never got to realize their forward potential or contribute as much as they could have to the UK underground. Oh, what could’ve been. Second album in 2016, third album sometime between 2020-’21. They’d be over a decade old by now and probably some dingus like me would be calling them veterans. I wouldn’t have minded if that’d happened instead of the one and done.

As always, I hope you enjoy. Thanks for reading.

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Week sucked. I’m glad it’s over. My birthday was yesterday. Wrote the Howling Giant review as a favor to myself, and was going to pair it with a video interview — that actually turned out alright — I did earlier this week with all three members of the band. Well, Zoom got fucked up on my old-ass computer and I lost the interview. Review went up today, and that’s fine, but my special thing that I was going to have up for the end of their tour this weekend at Desertfest Belgium, the chat I got to do with the band when they were in Europe for the first time? Gone. It was a good talk.

The Patient Mrs. took off Monday and Tuesday from work, has Wednesday off anyway, and went back yesterday. So while I sat by myself and tried to finish that Howling Giant review — a record I started taking notes on over a month ago, mind you — a call came in from the principal over at the school that my daughter had punched her teacher in the stomach and had scratched at another kid’s face and was threatening someone with a chair or some such. Happy birthday, asshole. She had therapy yesterday evening. My mom came over for late dinner. I went to bed eventually. It was fine. I’m 42.

And the kid? What the fuck do you do? All the bribes, all the accommodations, all the help she’s getting at this point is in place. She has good days, but the message I’m getting from yesterday is that there’s clearly some gap in the fence keeping that kind of shit on lockdown. Impulse control is hard. Maybe she’s cold, or hungry, or misses her mom, or the dog. Who the hell knows. I said I heard she had a hard day, that I loved her and that today was another day.

Kid’s birthday is next week so this weekend is the big party. Gonna be a mess. You can come. Hit me up if you need the address.

Whatever you’re up to, I wish you a great and safe weekend. Have fun, watch your head, hydrate, all that. I’m just glad I fucking managed to finish writing this today.

FRM.

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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: Nessie Spencer of Freaks&Gigs Photographie and The Sleeping Shaman

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How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?

I write album reviews, live reports and do some gig photography. I’ve been writing on and off since I’m 19 and properly started gig photography when I was 25, because I was frustrated with my small compact camera taking shit pictures all the time.

Describe your first musical memory.

My mum would probably say me watching video clips on telly and giggling every time I loved a song. My first musical memory was when my father bought home a cassette of Soundgarden’s Badmotorfinger. I loved everything about these guys and was curious to know more about this band. My parents understood quickly how much music meant to me, so they would make sure to always play the radio, which played a lot of different genres at the same time. Gosh, I miss the ’90s.

Describe your best musical memory to date.

Without a shadow of a doubt, 4th July 2014, the day when Black Sabbath, Soundgarden, Faith No More and Motörhead were playing in Hyde Park. I went there as a 25th birthday gift to myself and got so excited the entire time. The whole day was magical, I got to see Lemmy and Chris Cornell for the last time and my favourite band of all time, Faith No More, not only opened the show with my favourite song of theirs (Zombie Eaters) but also debuted new material that made it into their latest album, Sol Invictus. I happily cried the entire time, it was the best birthday party I’ve ever attended. Other great musical memories include when I interviewed Page Hamilton for a French webzine I used to work with, Metal Sickness. This was astounding and ended up to last 20 minutes more than scheduled because Page was giving me a lecture in jazz history. I don’t even like jazz, but I learned so much from him, this is still something that I’m grateful for.

When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?

When was a time when a firmly held belief wasn’t tested? On a personal level, it happens more often than I’d like, but I’m always willing to learn. On a musical level, well, I suppose I can mention the times when you discover that someone from a band you love is an abusive arsehole, a racist arsehole, a homophobic arsehole or all of the above.

Where do you feel artistic progression leads?

In terms of photography, artistic progression is not something that you can really measure yourself, it comes from how well the shots are being received by the bands or the people in the audience. If people like what you do, it will give you the motivation to do more, do it more often and do it better every time. I think that it could be applied to every aspect of this industry, whether you are a musician, a photographer, a writer, a designer or a tour manager.

How do you define success?

Success is when you are being recognised for what you do, not only by the amount of money you make out of your career.

What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?

Swans at La Villette Sonique (Paris) in 2013. I knew them by name but never listened to any of it before. Fuck me, that was awful. I’ll never understand the hype around the band or Michael Gira. The whole thing was cringe. Cringier than my old Facebook statuses gushing about Hellfest.

Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.

I’d love to go back to drumming lessons because I love drums, and I’ve always been in admiration of people like Patty Schemel, Dave Lombardo, Dale Crover, Hozoji Margullis… In the meantime, I want to be able to get more paid photography gigs opportunities and get my name out there as someone who can capture great moments from great shows. So, any tip to become a better photographer will always be welcomed.

What do you believe is the most essential function of art?

Art is an extension of ourselves. When we create art, we share our most intimate thoughts to a wider audience, hoping someone else can relate to what you are trying to convey, which is why it is so important to protect and celebrate art in all its forms.

Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?

Payday. Because I’m broke, and I want to get myself a primer lens for my birthday. That could definitely help my photography skills.

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Soundgarden, Live in Hyde Park, London, UK, July 4, 2014

Brighton, UK, avant, cello-infused heavy rockers Birdeatsbaby are set to make their full-length debut next year. They’ve got a new video up now for the second single to see release ahead of the album, which will be called HEX — they put it all-caps, I’m doing the same — and while I’ll readily admit to being a sucker for at least 90 percent of what might qualify as capital-‘h’ Heavy and also has a cello, it’s actually the post-metal chug of the guitar, the patience of the rhythm, and the standout vocal melody that grabbed me here. Mishkin sounds trained as a singer but “Illuminate” — the song with the video; keep up — isn’t overblown, and it is metal. Some of the melancholia and sheer Britishness of it calls to mind Crippled Black Phoenix, which is the same as saying they breathe air considering that band’s scope, but there’s a sense of accomplishment and sweep in the production, and the whole thing feels righteously professional in a way that is both emblematic of doom and outside it.

I haven’t heard all of HEX yet, if I will, and I don’t know an exact release date to give you one, but “Illuminate” and the prior single “Ribbons,” which does feel more theatrical with its nuance of guitar and drums behind Mishkin‘s vocal, speak well to me of what the full-length might itself portend in terms of the band’s style and methodology. There’s a bit of chug and thud that happens in “Ribbons” as it moves toward its halfway point, and in addition to sounding big on a tonal level, it’s broad enough to allow the vocals space to reach out emotionally and melodically. And there’s a scream there too you’re going to want to listen for, before it trips out and finishes ethereal. There’s some edge of that in “Illuminate” as well, but the song remains patient enough for the video to include ballet and modern dance without looking completely ridiculous, which whatever else they might accomplish on their debut or elsewhere, is no minor shakes as an achievement.

More to come? Shit, if I’m lucky. Until then, here’s “Illuminate,” with “Ribbons” down below and all the info I got:

Birdeatsbaby, “Illuminate” official video

Always known for rising to new challenges, the music video for Illuminate features contemporary dance, ballet and demonology, all performed by singer Mishkin and cellist Hana. Mirroring each other in a beautiful church hall the pair perform a shadow and light dance ritual over a giant sigil chalked into the floor. Musically, the song is a construct of ethereal vocals on a bed of cellos, guitars and complex yet subtle drum patterns. As the song builds, singer Mishkin screams the lyrical mantra as the music explodes into a heavy instrumental before coming in for the final chorus. “Even if I crawl as a lay under the weight of it all” was the song’s original title but it was shortened to Illuminate, as its meaning is about waiting for the pathway to appear while in a period of dark reflection.

Illuminate is the second release from their upcoming album, HEX, a dark progressive collection of occult themed songs. Building on the success of the band’s last album, The World Conspires, which saw critical acclaim from the likes of Prog Magazine and Orkus, the band now step further into heavier rock and metal territory. Moving away from the classical instruments that pioneered their earlier work, Birdeatsbaby’s sound is now comprised of Garry Mitchell’s aggressive guitar riffs, Anna Mylee’s progressive rhythms and Hana Piranha’s lush layers of cello and harp. This heavy concoction lays the foundation for lead singer, Mishkin Fitzgerald, who now adds metal screams and growls to the ever-expanding sound of Birdeatsbaby.

Production comes from award-winning Evan Rodaniche (of Cage9 fame), and video from photographer and videographer Scott Chalmers (Jamie Lenman, Saint Agnes).

Video / Photography: Scott Chalmers
Production: Evan Rodaniche
Makeup: Charlie Temperton
Vocal coaches: Mary Zema and Will Gardner (Black Peaks)
Choreography: Harry Casella
Candles: Useless Poison Designs
Sigil design: Third Bloom
Special FX: Oliver Hollingdale

This video was funded by our Patrons, thank you for your support: https://www.patreon.com/birdeatsbaby

Birdeatsbaby, “Ribbons” official video

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Psych-folk rockers Wax Machine have vibe to spare if you’re ready for some. The Brighton, UK-based project spearheaded by Brazilian-born multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Lau will release their second full-length, Hermit’s Grove, on July 1. I haven’t heard the full thing, but there are three songs streaming already, so if this is the first you’re reading about it — and given that the entire universe is more on its shit than I am, I suspect it’s not — there’s plenty to dig into. I don’t think you’ll regret it as a way to spend a little time with some audio.

Wax Machine signed to Beyond Beyond is Beyond in latest-2019 and from there released their debut, Earthsong of Silence, in Spring 2020. Escapism ensued. The band says Hermit’s Grove is coming out through Batov Records, and that’s fine of course — bands changing labels between albums sometimes is a thing, you know — but my question comes in where the Bandcamp address for Hermit’s Grove preorders still has “bbib” in it and the Batov Records link on that page goes to Beyond Beyond is Beyond. Bottom line is there’s some relation between the labels or at very least a collaboration on this release, and I’m leaving it at that because I don’t imagine anyone cares enough to warrant this paragraph continuing. But these are the things I think about. And get wrong. All the time.

I honestly don’t know if I’ll get to hear this record or not, but I saw it was coming and wanted to put out the note because I liked the last one. Simple creature.

From social media:

WAX MACHINE – ‘Hermit’s Grove’

Our second album ‘Hermit’s Grove’ will be released on Batov Records on 1st July and is available for pre-order here – https://batov.lnk.to/HermitsGrove

Limited edition coloured vinyl is sold out already and the black copies are selling fast.

Artwork by the one and only @andrew_mcgranahan

This album was made during a transformational time in my life. The music was a doorway into an inner world beyond the limitations of my old identity. It is an invocation of the Sun and the Sea. An exploration into the tones of my Brazilian roots. The sound of surrendering to blissful solitude. An ode to mother Earth and a call for reconnection with her divine flow.

It was also mostly recorded and mixed in a tiny closet room directly above the mortuary in a funeral care place. It was quite a challenge working around the hum of the refrigerator, trying to keep my feet warm and dealing with the ghosts in the machine…
Love to all! – Lau

Compositions written and arranged by Lau, except for Canto De Iemanjá (written by Vinícius de Moraes and Baden Powell)

Lau – guitars, bass, vocals, percussion, drums (on Springtime)
Toma Sapir – drums, percussion, samples/synths
Isobel Jones – flute, vocals
Adam Campbell – electric piano
Freddie Willatt – tenor saxophone
Marja Burchard – vibraphone (on Gaian Dream)
Ella Russell – vocals (on Canto De Iemanjá)
Kate Mager – bass (on Canto De Iemanjá)

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Wax Machine, Hermit’s Grove (2022)

Not really much to say about it, is there? You know the deal. I know the deal. This time we go to 70. 10 records every day between today and next Tuesday. It seems insurmountable as usual right now, but as history has shown throughout the last seven or however many years I’ve been doing this kind of thing, it’ll work out. Time is utterly irrelevant when there’s distortion to be had. Wavelengths intersecting, dissolution of hours. You make an extra cup of coffee, I’ll burn from the inside out.

The Fall 2021 Quarterly Review begins today. Let’s boogie.

Quarterly Review #1-10:

Delco Detention, From the Basement

The essential bit of narrative here is that Tyler Pomerantz, founding guitarist of Delco Detention, is about 10 years old. Kid can fuzz. With his father, Adam, on drums, the ambitious young man has put together a wholly professional heavy rock record with a who’s who of collaborators, including Clutch‘s Neil Fallon on “The Joy of Home Schooling” (a video for which went viral last year), Jared Collins of Mississippi Bones, Earthless‘ Isaiah Mitchell, Bob Balch of Fu Manchu on the instrumental “The Action is Delco,” Erik Caplan of Thunderbird Divine on the highlight “Gods Surround,” as well as members of Hippie Death Cult, Kingsnake, The Age of Truth and others across the 15 tracks. The result is inherently diverse given the swath of personnel, tones, etc., but From the Basement plays thematically at points around the experience of being a young rocker — “All Ages Show,” “Digital Animal,” the title-track and “The Joy of Home Schooling” — but isn’t limited to that, and though there are some moodier stretches as there inevitably would be, Tyler holds his own among this esteemed company and the record’s an unabashed good time.

Delco Detention on YouTube

Delco Detention on Bandcamp

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Fuzzy Lights, Burials

A fourth album arriving some eight years after the third, Fuzzy Lights‘ Burials doesn’t necessarily surprise with its patience, but its sense of world-building is immaculate and immersive. The Cambridge, UK, five-piece of violinist/vocalist Rachel Watkins, guitarist/electronicist Xavier Watkins, guitarist Chris Rogers, bassist Daniel Carney and drummer Mark Blay offer classic Britfolk melody tinged with heavy post-rock atmospherics and foreboding rhythmic push on the 10-minute “Songbird,” with the snare drum building tension for the payoff to come. Elsewhere, opener “Maiden’s Call” and “Haraldskær Woman” drift into darker vibes, while “Under the Waves” dares more uptempo psychedelic rock ahead of the highlight “Sirens” and closer “The Gathering Storm,” which offers bombast so smoothly executed one is surrounded by it almost before noticing. “Songbird,” “Maiden’s Call” and “The Graveyard Song” have their roots in a 2019 solo outing from Rachel Watkins called Collectanea, but however long this material may or may not have been around, it sounds refreshingly individual, natural, full, warm and still boldly forward thinking.

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Meadows Records on Bandcamp

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Blackwolfgoat, (In) Control / Tired of Dying

One with greater knowledge of such things than I might be able to sit and analyze and tell you what loops and effects guitarist Darryl Shepard (Kind, Hackman, Milligram, etc.) is using to make these noises, but that ain’t me. I’m happy to accept the mystery of his new two-songer/23-minute EP, (In) Control / Tired of Dying, which slowly unfolds the psych-drone of its 14-minute leadoff cut over its first several minutes before evening out into a mellow, drifting one-man guitar jam, replete with a solo that subtly builds in energy before entering its minute-long fadeout, as if Shepard were to say he wouldn’t want things to get too out of hand. “Tired of Dying” follows with immediately more threatening tone, deep, distorted, lumbering, sludgy, with space for drums behind that never come. That’s not Blackwolfgoat‘s thing. As much as “(In) Control” hypnotized with its sweeter, unassuming rollout, “Tired of Dying” is consumption on a headphone-destroyer level, nine and a half minutes of low wash that’s exploratory just the same. These pieces were recorded live, and it hasn’t been that long since Shepard‘s 2020 Blackwolfgoat full-length, Giving Up Feels So Good (review here), but each cut digs in in its own way and the isolated feel is nothing if not relevant.

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Blackwolfgoat on Bandcamp

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Carcaňo, By Order of the Green Goddess

From the outset with the stomps later in “Day 1 – The Beginning,” Italian fuzzers Carcaňo reveal some of the rawness in the production of their second full-length, By Order of the Green Goddess, but that doesn’t stop either their tones or the melodies floating over them from being lush across the album’s eight-song/40-minute run, whether that’s happening in the massive “Day 2 – Riding Space Elephants” (aren’t we all?) or the howling leadwork that tops the languid Sabbath/earlier-Mars Red Sky-gone-dark lumber of “Day 6 – I Don’t Belong Here.” They make it move on the cosmic chaos shuffle-and-push of “Day 4 – The Birth” and tap blatant Queens of the Stone Age up-strum riffing and wood block on “Day 5 – The Son of the Sun,” but it’s in spacious freakouts like “Day 3 – Green Grace” and the righteously drawn out “Day 7 – Wasted Land” that By Order of the Green Goddess most seems to set its course, with room for the acoustic experimentalism of “Day 8 – Running Back Home” at the end, familiar in concept but delightfully weird and ethereal in its execution.

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Clostridium Records website

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Planet of the 8s, Lagrange Point Vol. 1

Paeans to space and the desert, riffs on riffs on riffs, grit hither and yon — Melbourne’s Planet of the 8s are preaching to the converted on Lagrange Point Vol. 1, and they go so far in the opening “Lagrange Point” to explain in a Twilight Zone-esque monologue what the phenomenon actually is before “Holy Fire” unfurls its procession with the first of four included guest vocalists. King Carrot of Death by Carrot would seem to know of which he speaks there, while Diesel Doleman (Duneater) tops “Exit Planet” for an effect wholly akin to Astrosoniq at max thrust, while Georgie Cosson of Kitchen Witch joins Planet of the 8s‘ own bassist Michael “Sullo” Sullivan on “X-Ray,” and Jimi Coelli (Sheriff) takes on the early QOTSA-style riffing of “The Unofficial History of Babe Wolf,” which would also seem to be the subject of the cover art. They wrap all these comings and going with “The Three Body Problem,” a jazzy minute-long instrumental that’s there and gone before you’ve even caught your breath from the preceding songs. 21 minutes, huh? That 21 minutes is packed.

Planet of the 8s on Facebook

Planet of the 8s on Bandcamp

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High Desert Queen, Secrets of the Black Moon

Debut albums with their stylistic ducks so much in a row are rare, but with the declaration “I am the mountain/You are the quake,” the chugging boogie in the post-Trouble “Did She?,” the opening hook of “Heads Will Roll,” the duly-open, semi-progressive tinge of “Skyscraper,” and the we-saved-extra-heavy-just-for-this finish of “Bury the Queen,” Austin’s High Desert Queen indeed show themselves as schooled with Secrets of the Black Moon. It is an encapsulation of modern stoner heavy idolatry, riff-led but not necessarily riff-dependent in its entirety, and both the good-vibes fuzz of “As We Roam” and the aptly-titled penultimate roller “The Wheel” manage to boast soaring vocal melodies that put the band in another league. They’re not necessarily starting a revolution in terms of style, but they bring together lush and crush effectively and when a band has so much of a clear idea of what they’re going for and the songwriting to back them up, first record or not, they rule the day. Don’t lose them among the swaths either of three-word-moniker heavy newcomers or the flood of Texan acts out there.

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Ripple Music on Bandcamp

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Megalith Levitation, Void Psalms

Heavy and ritualized enough to earn its release on 50 neon green tapes — CDs too — the second full-length from Russia’s Megalith Levitation, Void Psalms tops 53 minutes of beastly lurch, with opener “Phantasmagoric Journey” (13:08) playing like half-speed Celtic Frost while the back-to-back two-parters “Datura Revelations/Lysergic Phantoms” (12:47) and “Temple of Silence/Pillars of Creation” (19:45) bridge cult-heavy worship with experimental fuckall, never quite dipping entirely into dark psychedelia, but certainly refusing lucidity outright. I don’t know what’s up with the punch of bass in the back end of “Temple of Silence/Pillars of Creation,” but that froggy sound is gloriously weirdo in its affect, and makes the whole jam for me. They cap with “Last Vision,” an admirably massive riffer that only spans seven and a half minutes but in that time still finds a way to drone the shit out of its nod. Cheers to Chelyabinsk as Megalith Levitation (who are not to be confused with Megaton Leviathan) offer intentionally putrid fruit on which to feast.

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Pestis Insaniae Records website

Aesthetic Death website

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Forebode, The Pit of Suffering

There is death, and there is sludge. Do doomers mosh in Texas? “Devil’s Due” might provide an occasion to find out, as the second EP, The Pit of Suffering, from Austin extremist slingers Forebode follows 2019’s self-titled short release (review here) with plenty of slow-motion plunder, “Metal Slug” opening in grim praise of weed before the rest of what follows moves from shortest to longest in an onslaught that grows correspondingly more vicious. Rest your head on that bit of twang at the start of “Pit of Suffering” if you want, that’s only going to make it easier for the band to crush your skull in the stretch before it returns at the end. And oh, “Bane of Hammers.” You build in speed and get so brutal, and then you do, you do, you do slam on the brakes and finish out as heavy as possible, an ultimate eat-all-in-its-path tonality that would be off-putting were it not so outright gleeful in its disgusting nature. What fun they’re having making these terrible sounds. Love it.

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Forebode on Bandcamp

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Codex Serafini, Invisible Landscape

Yeah, you think you can hang. You’re like, “Whatever, I like weird psych stuff.” Then Codex Serafini start in with the cave echo wails and the drones and the artsy experimentalism and you’re like, “Well, maybe I’m just gonna go back to Squaresville after all. Work in the morning, you know.” The Brighton, UK, fivesome have four tracks on Invisible Landscape, and I promise you no one of them is more real than the other. In fact, the entire thing is pretend. It doesn’t exist. Neither do you. You thought you did, then the sax started blowing and you realized you were just some kind of semi-sentient wisp swirling around in reverb and what the hell were we talking about okay yeah planets and stuff whatever it doesn’t matter just quick, put this on and be ready for the splatter when “Time, Change & Become” starts. You’re not gonna want to miss it, but there’s no way that stain is ever coming out of that shirt. Kablooie is how the cosmos dies.

Codex Serafini on Facebook

Codex Serafini on Bandcamp

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Stone Deaf, Killers

Killers is the third full-length from Colorado fuzz rockers Stone Deaf, and they continue to have a chorus for every occasion, in this case going so far as to import “Gone Daddy Gone” from your teenage remembrance of Violent Femmes and actually talk about burning witches in the “Burn the Witch”-esque “Tightrope.” Queens of the Stone Age has been and continues to be a defining influence here, but from the electronics in “Cloven Hoof” to the harder edges of closing duo “Silverking” and “San Pedro Winter,” the band refuse to be identified by anything so much as their songcraft, which is tight and sharply produced across the 44 minutes of Killers, their punk rock having grown up but not having dulled so much as found a direction in which to point its angst. A collection of individual tracks, there’s nonetheless a build of momentum that starts early and carries through the entirety of the outing. I’ll leave to you to make the clever remark about there being “no fillers.” Enjoy that.

Stone Deaf on Facebook

Golden Robot Records website

Coffin and Bolt Records website

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With two 2018 EPs under their collective belt and a debut album titled Earthsong of Silence set to release on the vernal equinox, Brighton, UK, psychedelic whathaveyouists Wax Machine have inked a deal with Beyond Beyond is Beyond, whose sense of curation is, as ever, on the proverbial money. The now-UK-based outfit’s little-of-this-little-of-that sound suits them well on their past work, and the fact that they recorded their first record with Go Kurosawa from Kikagaku Moyo is bound not to hurt their cause. There’s no audio from the record yet, but the signing is still pretty newly announced and preorders start early January — I’m expecting next Monday to bring an everybody’s-back-to-work flood of press releases — so maybe at that point a song will leak out.

A recent live jam is streaming now to tide one over, and of course the two aforementioned EPs are up on Bandcamp for your casual perusal.

From the PR wire:

Introducing…Wax Machine!

Wax Machine’s debut LP “Earthsong of Silence” coming out March 20, 2020 (the vernal equinox) on Beyond Beyond is Beyond! Tunes coming soons…

Brighton’s Wax Machine are a band so steeped in the kernel of psychedelic seep that there’s every indication they may have slipped through a side door in space-time and sprouted anew a few years back on the UK coast. However, for all intents and purposes it’s best to believe that they truly sprang from the fertile mind of Brazilian-born, Italian/English-raised Lau Ro (Guitar/Vocals). Lau’s international upbringing served as the wellspring for some of the eclectic taste that informs the core of Wax Machine’s sound. On Earthsong of Silence (March 20th), that eclecticism incorporates Spiritual Jazz, Pop, Krautrock and Tropicália while filtering them all through a psychedelic lens.

On his journey Lau met up with fellow Brighton musicians and birthed Wax Machine with Isobel Jones, who adds soaring vocals and provides Wax Machine’s entrancing flute work alongside Toma Sapir who locks down a groove on the kit that keeps Earthsong of Silence from floating into the ether.

The flutes, wandering guitars, and jazz touches come rising through the mists with a guiding hand from Kikagaku Moyo’s Go Kurosawa behind the boards. With Earthsong, they add a new dimension to their sound, further exploring both their English psych-folk roots and mining a deeper appreciation for a West Coast sound dipped in sun, peace and GROOVE.

First single & pre-order coming early January. For now…

https://www.facebook.com/waxmachine
https://www.instagram.com/waxmachinemusic/
https://waxmachine.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/beyondbeyondisbeyond/
https://www.instagram.com/bbib/
https://soundcloud.com/mike-newman
https://www.twitter.com/BBiB/

Wax Machine, Live Jam from Rialto Theatre, Brighton, UK, Nov. 23, 2019

Wax Machine, Mind Palace (2018)

I had a terrible thought yesterday: What if this one… went to 11? That is, what if, after 10 days of Quarterly Review ending today with a grand total of 100 records reviewed since last Monday, I did another batch of 10? Like a bonus round? Like I said, terrible thought.

Pretty sure it won’t happen. I’ve already got a review and a video premiere booked for next Monday, but I definitely had the thought. It was easy, of course, to fill out another 10 slots, and who knows, maybe this weekend for the first time ever I wind up with some extra time and energy on my hands? Could happen, right?

Again, I’m fairly certain it won’t. Let’s proceed with the assumption today’s the last day. Thank you for reading. I hope you have found something cool in all of this that has really hit home. I certainly have. We cap very much in last-but-not-least fashion, and if nothing’s resonated with you yet, don’t count yourself completely out. You might just get there after all. Thanks again.

Quarterly Review #91-100:

Surya Kris Peters, Ego Therapy

Those feeling technical will note the full title of the album is Surya Kris Peters’ Ego Therapy, but the point gets across either way. And even as Christian Peters — also guitarist/vocalist for Samsara Blues Experiment — acknowledges the inherent self-indulgence of the proverbial “solo-project” that his exploration of synth and classically progressive textures under the moniker of Surya Kris Peters has become, with Ego Therapy as his second full-length of 2018, he branches out in including drums from former Terraplane bandmate Jens Vogel. The 10-song/53-minute outing opens with its longest cut (immediate points) in the 15-minute “Angels in Bad Places,” a spaced-out and vibrant atmosphere more cohesive than psychedelia but still trippy as all hell, and moves through a bluesy key/guitar interplay in “Wizard’s Dream” following the dancey thriller soundtrack “Beyond the Sun” and into the Blade Runner-style grandeur of “Sleeping Willow” and the video game-esque “A Fading Spark” before bookending with the sci-fi “Atomic Clock” at the close. I don’t know how ultimately therapeutic Peters‘ solo offerings might be, but he only seems to grow bolder each time out, and that certainly applies here.

Surya Kris Peters on Thee Facebooks

Electric Magic Records on Bandcamp

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Lewis and the Strange Magics, The Ginger Sessions

How are you not gonna love a release that starts with a song called “Sexadelic Galactic Voyage?” Barcelona vamp rockers Lewis and the Strange Magics embrace their inner funk on the 23-minute self-released EP, The Ginger Sessions, finding the place where their uptempo ’70s fusion meets oldschool The Meters-style rhythm, digging into the repetitions of “Candied Ginger” after the aforementioned instrumental opening burst and then holding the momentum through “Her Vintage Earrings.” Some departure happens on what might be side B of the 10″, with “The Shadow of Your Smile” turning toward pastoral psychedelia, still rhythmic thanks to some prominent wood block and xylophone sounds, but much calmer despite a consistency of wah and keys. “Suzy’s Room II” follows in fuzzy fashion, bridging the earlier cologne-soaked, chest-hair-out vibes with garage buzz and a heavier low end beneath the synthesized experimentation. Mellotron shows up and continues to hold sway in closer “Witch’s Brew,” playing the band outward along with layers of drifting guitar for about two and a half minutes of bluesy serenity that feel cut short, as does the release on the whole. One hopes they don’t lose that funky edge going into their next album.

Lewis and the Strange Magics on Thee Facebooks

Lewis and the Strange Magics on Bandcamp

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Lair of the Minotaur, Dragon Eagle of Chaos

Once upon the mid-aughts, Chicago’s Lair of the Minotaur roamed the land as the long-prophesied American answer to Entombed, as much classic, dirt-covered death metal as they were laden with heavy groove. Their tones filthy, their assault brutal all the while, war metal, ultimate destroyers. The whole nine. They released their last album, Evil Power (review here), in 2010. The two-songer Dragon Eagle of Chaos follows a 2013 single, and was released to mark the occasion of perhaps a return to some measure of greater activity. I don’t know if that’ll happen, but as both “Dragon Eagle of Chaos” and “Kunsult the Bones” affirm in about seven minutes between them, Lair of the Minotaur remain a wrecking ball made of raw meat when it comes to their sound. The madness that seemed to always underline their material at its most effective is present and accounted for in “Dragon Eagle of Chaos,” and the stripped-down production of the single actually helps its violent cause. Will they do another record? Could go either way, but if they decide to go that route, they clearly still have the evil power within.

Lair of the Minotaur website

Lair of the Minotaur on Bandcamp

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Sonic Wolves, Sonic Wolves

Eight tracks/34 minutes of smoothly-arranged and well-executed doom rock brought to bear with an abiding lack of pretense and a developing sense of songcraft and dynamic — there’s very little not to dig about Sonic Wolves‘ self-titled LP (on Future Noise and DHU), from the Sabbathian stretch of “Ascension” down through the bouncing low-key-psych-turns-to-full-on-wah-overdose-swirl in the penultimate “Heavy Light.” Along the way, bassist/vocalist Kayt Vigil (ex-Pentagram, etc.) — joined by guitarists Jason Nealy and Enrico “Ico” Aniasi and drummer Gianni “Vita” Vitarelli (also Ufomammut) — gallop through the traditional metal of “Red Temple” and ride a fuzzy roll in “Tide of Chaos,” leaving the uptempo shuffle of “You’ll Climb the Walls” to close out by tapping into a “Wicked World”-style vision of heavy blues that casts off many of the tropes of what’s become the subgenre in favor of a darker approach. If their self-titled is Sonic Wolves declaring who they are as a band after making their debut in 2016, the results are only encouraging.

Sonic Wolves on Thee Facebooks

DHU Records webstore

Future Noise Recordings webstore

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Spacelord, Indecipher

There is an immediate sensibility drawn from classic heavy rock to the vocals on Spacelord‘s second record, Indecipher, like Shannon Hoon fronting Led Zeppelin, maybe? Something like that, definitely drawn from a ’70s/’90s blend. Produced, mixed and mastered by guitarist Rich Root, with Chris Cappiello on bass, Kevin Flynn on drums and Ed Grabianowski on vocals, the four-piece’s sophomore LP is comprised of a neatly-constructed eight songs working around sci-fi themes on bruiser cuts like “Super Starship Adventure” and the particularly righteous “Zero Hour,” as opener and longest track (immediate points) “For the Unloved Ones” sets forth the classic vibe amid the first of the record’s impressive solos and resonant hooks. Something about it makes me want them to go completely over the top in terms of production their next time out — layers on layers on layers, etc. — but the kind of false start Grabianowski brings to the ultra-Zepped “New Machine” has a charm that I’m not sure it would be worth sacrificing.

Spacelord on Thee Facebooks

Kozmik Artifactz website

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Nauticus, Disappear in Blue

Six years after the release of their second album, The Wait (review here), Finnish atmospheric progressive metallers Nauticus effect a return with the 78-minute Disappear in Blue, which following the relatively straightforward opening with “Magma” casts out a vast sprawl in accordance with its oceanic theme. Longer tracks like “Claimed by the Sea,” “Strange Sequences/Lost Frequencies,” “Arrival” and “Hieronymus” are complex and varied but united through a deep instrumental dynamic that’s brought to light even in the three-minute ambient post-rocker “Desolation,” which is something of an interlude between “Strange Sequences/Lost Frequencies” and the tense build of “Singularity.” Other ambient spaces “Jesus of Lübeck” and the later “Whale Bones” complement and add reach to the longer-form works, but it’s hardly as though Nauticus‘ material lacks character one way or the other. Overwhelming in its length, Disappear in Blue might take some time to wade through, but what a way to go.

Nauticus on Thee Facebooks

Nauticus on Bandcamp

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Yuxa, Yuxa

As the greater part of anything related to post-metal invariably does, UK outfit Yuxa have their “Stones from the Sky” moment in “Founder in Light,” the opening cut from their self-titled debut EP, that most formative of progressions making itself known in modified form to suit the double-guitar four-piece’s intent with dramatic screams and shouts cutting through an ably-conjured surge of noisy adrenaline resolving in winding chug and crash en route to “Exiled Hand,” the seven-minute cut that follows and serves as centerpiece of the three-tracker. “Founder in Light,” “Exiled Hand” and nine-minute closer “Peer” are arranged shortest to longest, and the effect is to draw the listener in such that by the time the angular, purposeful lurch of the finale begins to unfold, Yuxa‘s rhythmic hypnosis is already well complete. Still, the straightforward arrangements of guitar, bass, drums and vocals give them a rawer edge than many synth- or sample-laden post-metallic cohorts, and that suits the atmospheric sludge with which they close out, harnessing chaos without giving themselves over to it. A quick sample of a creative development getting underway, though it’s telling as well that Yuxa ends with a sudden buzz of amp noise.

Yuxa on Thee Facebooks

Yuxa on Bandcamp

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Forktie, EP

The first EP release from Forktie — who stylize their moniker and titles all-lowercase: forktie — is untitled, but contains five tracks that tap into proto-emo post-hardcore and ’90s alt rock sensibilities, finding a place between heavy rock and grunge that allows for Aarone Victorine‘s bass to lead toward the hook of centerpiece “Decomposition Book” with a smooth presence that’s well complementary the vocals from guitarist Dom Mariano, their presence low in the mix only adding to the wistful feel of “Anywhere but Here” and “September Morning,” before the shorter “Spores” lets loose some more push from drummer Corey LeBlanc and closer “Ph.D. in Nothing” reinforces the underlying melancholy beneath the thicker exterior tones. It’s a new project, but Forktie have worked their way into a niche that suits their songwriting well, and given themselves a space to grow within their sound. Members experience in bands like UXO, Test Meat and textbookcopilot will serve them in that effort.

Forktie on Thee Facebooks

Forktie on Bandcamp

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Ohhms, Exist

As a fan generally of bands opening albums with the longest song included, I can get on board with UK heavy progressive metallers Ohhms opening Exist with the 22-minute “Subjects.” Immediate points and all that. Far more consequential, however, is the substance of that launch for the four-song/43-minute Holy Roar LP, which is the band’s fourth in four years. It’s a vast, broad and complex offering unto itself, consuming side A as vocalist Paul Waller embodies various entities, “I am wolf” (preceding a Duran Duran reference, perhaps inadvertent), “I am child,” and so on. Those proclamations are just the culmination of a progression that, frankly, is an album unto itself, let alone a side, and maybe should’ve been released as such, though the absolute post-metallic crush of “Shambles,” the seething of “Calves” and the heavy post-rock reach of “Lay Down Your Firearms” need no further justification than a simple listen provides, the last of them pummeling side B to a then-sudden stop. Ohhms are no strangers to longform work, and it suits them well enough to make one wonder if they couldn’t be headed toward a single-song LP in the near future.

Ohhms on Thee Facebooks

Holy Roar Records on Bandcamp

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Blue Dream, Volume Blue

Chicago four-piece Blue Dream issued their first LP, Volume Won, early in 2018 and follow with Volume Blue — as opposed to “two”; could ‘Volume Tree’ be in the works? ‘Volume Free?’ — which collects nine neo-psych-mit-der-funky-grooves cuts chic enough to be urbane but fuzzed out enough to make the freakouts more than just a come on. They open peaceful enough with “Delta,” before the hook of “9,000 lb. Machine” defines the course and cuts like “Thank You for Smoking” and the almost woefully catchy “She’s Hot” expand the parameters. I’ll take the dream-tone shimmer of “Kingsbury Goldmine” any day in a kind of self-aware reflection of British folk and/or the garage rock of “Shake the Shake,” but the dense roll of “Viper Venom” that immediately follows reimagines grunge as more than just an influence from three popular bands and something that could genuinely move forward from the perspective of a new generation. Hearing Blue Dream close out with the boogie of “The Glide,” one hopes they do precisely that, though I’d by no means limit them to one avenue of expression. They’re clearly able to harness multiple vibes here.

Blue Dream on Thee Facebooks

Blue Dream on Bandcamp

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UK doomers King Goat have signed to Aural Music to release a new album in 2018. Before they get there, the Italian imprint will also reissue the Brighton five-piece’s 2016 debut full-length, Conduit, in December, compiled with bonus tracks culled from the prior self-titled EP the band first put out in 2014. It’s a striking blend of doom groove and more straightforward, prog-tinged metal that King Goat elicit, and if they’re a new entity for you as they are for me — which I’m sure they’re not because you’re way more hip to what’s going on than I am, if history is anything to go by — you can get a handle on the original release of Conduit below, streaming in full from King Goat‘s Bandcamp. Because convenience.

And here’s word from the PR wire. Because information:

King Goat Sign to Aural Music

Progressive doom-mongers King Goat are excited to announce their signing with cult label Aural Music, marking the beginning of a very exciting new era for the band.

King Goat tease news of their highly anticipated second LP which is scheduled to arrive in early 2018. The band state: “Our latest recordings are further exploring the progressive elements of doom. We’ve pushed our dynamic boundaries further, experimented with songs in open tunings, more complex time signatures and more varied vocal textures. We’re eager to bring these new songs to the stage.”

Home of Ne Obliviscaris, Ephel Duath and more, Aural Music are also to re-release King Goat’s first EP and debut LP Conduit as one record – further details to be revealed over the coming weeks.

The momentous news continues King Goat’s steady rise as one of the most highly-regarded bands in British doom.

The band have previously played at Bloodstock Open Air, Mammothfest, Doom Over London; and alongside Enslaved, Grand Magus, Solstafir and others.

Live dates:
25th November: King Goat’s own Riffmass event, The Green Door Store, Brighton: https://www.facebook.com/events/219077765165942/

http://www.kinggoat.com/
https://www.facebook.com/kinggoatbri/
https://kinggoat.bandcamp.com/
www.auralmusic.com/
https://www.facebook.com/auralmusicgroup/
https://auralmusic.bandcamp.com/

King Goat, Conduit (2016)