Many of the influences Copenhagen five-piece Demon Head are working with will seem familiar. Of course there’s Sabbath, Pentagram, etc., and one can identify points of Witchcraft in the production of their Demo 2014, now available as a limited-to-100 purple cassette through Caligari Records, and some of Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats‘ garage-style shuffle, but what the four-track release really showcases from the Danish newcomers is swing. Fast or slow, their riffs wind their way around the listener’s consciousness, and with the bass of Fuglsang and drums of Wittus — middle and last names or initials only, depending on where you look — Demon Head never stray too far from the soul-corrupted boogie that serves them well here as they follow-up 2013’s Chaos Island Rehearsal 2013 with more developed but still raw and doomed rock.

The blown-out croon of Ferreira Larsen recalls ’80s metal conjurations on opener “Undertaker,” but is malleable ultimately to what’s called for by a given song, and his style helps distinguish Demon Head from the Uncle Acid jangle that’s clearly influenced “Undertaker” and shows up on the eponymous closer as well in its oozing, dirt-packed groove. A rough recording plays well on tape — the four-song program repeats on both sides — and Demo 2014 is most definitely a demo, but the songwriting is there and Larsen, Wittus, Fuglsang and the guitarists, both named Nielsen (presumably they’re related), don’t come off as so loose as to be self-indulgent or unaware of where they’re headed. “Ride the Wilderness” seems to be a band mantra, and as the second cut after “Undertaker,” it’s a faster push to set up the Witchcrafty turn to doom of the shorter “333” (alternately listed as “III” and “Three”), which leaves a mark lyrically and in the crashing lurch that gives way to a satisfying but not grandiose build before a deft slowdown returns to the chorus.

On the European edition, issued by Smokedd Productions with a different cover, “333” and “Ride the Wilderness” appear to be switched, but the Caligari version serves the overall flow well, the four songs moving smoothly between each other, getting progressively more doomed until “Demon Head” finishes with nod enough to tie everything else together, a bluesy lead in the first half perhaps foreshadowing developing guitar antics that will show up in increased volume next time out. They’ve got more than an ample amount of groove to justify the physical release — the j-card liner folds out to eight panels with art and recording info on one side and lyrics on the other — and as Demo 2014 fades out from its noisy ending, the tape bodes well both for what Demon Head might do and how they might do it. In terms of their overall approach, there’s room to grow into a more individualized take, but as noted, they’ve got the swing down, and that’s already more than an awful lot of bands.

Demon Head, Demo 2014

Demon Head on Thee Facebooks

Caligari Records on Bandcamp

Cast in shadows of Witchcraft‘s vintage stylizations and Uncle Acid‘s malevolent garage jangle, the Demo 2014 from Copenhagen five-piece Demon Head is available now and presumably not for long on limited-to-100 copies cassette (they seem to all have made it into the photo below) via Caligari Records. The four-song outing includes Demon Head‘s eponymous track, a highlight of the band’s post-Pentagram doom rock early going, resting comfortably on a bed of nodding riffs and skillfully pulled blues solos. It’s a cool atmosphere and I imagine the raw ’70s loyalism goes well on tape. For now a Bandcamp stream should be enough to give some idea.

The PR wire will make converts of us all:

DEMON HEAD – Demo 2014 – Out On Cassette Via CALIGARI Records

This four-song recording by doom band DEMON HEAD captures the essence of old school doom and skips entirely the musical evolution that has taken place during the last three decades. DEMON HEAD craft stripped down, soulful and blues-based doom rock and Demo 2014 is a wicked and evocative offering that vastly improves over the tracks included in last year’s Chaos Island Rehearsal 2013.

Long winters and short glimpses of the sun brought Demon Head to life in Copenhagen sometime during spring 2012. Jamming and refining the sounds of sinister voices has been the purpose since then, resulting in the first sonic outings in the course of the last year. Demon Head is heavy rock, aiming to fuse the atmosphere of 70’s dark heavy metal with twin guitar lead harmonies.

After a tour through the Winterland of northern Scandinavia, this February saw the release of a demo tape that we’ve been dying to put out. The recordings were made when the leaves fell red in 2013 and represent a starting point of what we’re trying to achieve in terms of sound. In March, a 7″ will be born from the hands of ourselves and the danish record coven Levitation Records.

Members have been or are active in other bands such as Scavenger Brats, I, Mountain, Øresund Space Collective, Alucarda and Reefer.

Limited to 100 copies. This is the 7th release of CALIGARI Records.

A European version of Demo 2014 has been released by Smokedd Productions.

Limited to 100 copies
Pro Tapes – Pro Covers With Full Lyrics

Listen: http://caligarirecords.bandcamp.com/album/demo-2014
Order $5.50: http://caligarirecords.storenvy.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/CaligariRecords
Official Site: http://www.caligarirecords.com

Demon Head, Demo 2014

Limited to 100 hand-numbered copies from Caligari Records, the Fuoco Fatuo tape compiles two 2012 EPs by the Italian extreme sludge trio of the same name, and the development is palpable from one to the next. The cassette comes professionally printed, with the screen directly on the tape (i.e. no sticker) and a six-panel j-card that only adds to the blackened atmosphere on hand within the music. Fuoco Fatuo — the lineup of guitarist/vocalist Milo Angeloni, bassist Giovanni “Ken” Piazza and drummer Fabrizio Moalli — released their self-titled, four-song EP in April 2012 and followed just months later with 33 Colpi di Schizofrenia Astrale Nell’Abisso Nero, in August. That latter EP is the rawer of the two, and its three songs come, fittingly enough, sandwiched between an intro, “Alpha,” and outro, “Omega.”

They’re also situated first on the Caligari tape, which basks in its filth without exactly making a show of it. The audio is compressed and dirty sounding even digitally, so on the cassette it self is all the more vicious. If I’d been forced to guess, I would have thought that the later songs on the tape were the newer material from the band, since Angeloni has a few cleaner-sung parts and there’s generally a more diverse approach musically, but it seems that Fuoco Fatuo‘s progression is more of a deconstruction at this initial stage and they’re endeavoring to get even more extreme stylistically. It works for them. A blackened take still comes through with sludge viscosity and the screams sound all the more tortured for the morass out of which they rise on “L’Abisso,” which adds a creepier vibe thanks to guest keys, credited to Adamennon.

But though they crossed the threshold that held the warning, “Abandon melody all who enter here,” there’s still character to their charred assault, and Fuoco Fatuo‘s two EPs show a distinct process solidifying any way you want to look at them. The viciousness and rawness of 33 Colpi and the sludgier push of Fuoco Fatuo play well off each other, and in the end it’s almost like the three-piece were putting out a split tape with themselves. That it was mere months between the two releases I can only chalk up to a genuine decision on the part of the band to become even more fucked sounding. The tape isn’t going to be for everyone — it’s not subtle and it already hates you — but if you’ve got a taste for absolutes and like your lo-fi offset by a bit of tonal weight, Fuoco Fatuo offer pummel and slice in like measure across these two releases compiled as one.

Fuoco Fatuo, Fuoco Fatuo (2013)

Fuoco Fatuo on Thee Facebooks

Fuoco Fatuo on Bandcamp

Caligari Records

Is Espejismos, the latest release from Peruvian progressive heavy psych rockers Don Juan Matus, an album? There are a couple different ways to answer the question, and I don’t think any of them are wrong, only more right than the others. You could say no, it’s not. It collects five new songs recorded separately by the band members and couples them with alternate versions and early mixes to, at most, make an EP with bonus tracks dispersed throughout. You’re not wrong. You could say yes, it’s an album. It’s cohesive, it’s got a flow from song to song, and the five-piece obviously took the time to structure it in a way that made the most of that, so who cares if there are six engineers listed in the tape liner and that recording was done over a period of six years between the band’s beginnings in 2007 and 2013? They put it out as an album, it’s an album. Who cares anyway?

You wouldn’t be wrong to say that either. It’s all true. I land on the third option: Kinda. Is it an album? Well, kinda. Those new tracks — “Contico a los Dioses Antiguos,” “Vortice Espiral II,” “Espejismos II,” “Auroral” and “Carne Humana para las Masas” — do a lot to tie the release together, but for anyone who heard 2010’s Más Allá del Sol Poniente (review here), the Melvins chug and soaring vocals of “Mundo Alterno” and the classic heavy prog rock of “Kadath” are going to be familiar, even if the context is different and the songs appear on Espejismos in different versions than on the last album (“Kadath” also showed up on a split 7″ with Oxido last year; streamed here). So it’s kinda a new album from Don Juan Matus, whose future is reportedly uncertain on account of geographical distance between its members, but whatever you want to call it, it’s a smooth, varied listen, and particularly on the Caligari Records tape, which forces you to hear one side at a time, it does have an undeniable flow.

Only one of the new songs appears on side one, and that’s the opener, so side two, which starts with “Vortice Espiral II” is bound to be less familiar. What starts out with heavy ’70s style weirdo psych — Alice Cooper Band, maybe? — soon gets met with chirping frogs, acoustic guitar, flute and mellotron on a 2008 version of “Matorral,” only to give way to cymbal wash and kick drum thud on the brief “Espejismos II,” only to move into patient, ambient pastoralia on “Auroral” and offset more nuanced psych exploration on “Verde Nocturno/Las Horas Azules” with a cinematic vocal and instrumental progression backing an extended classic rock solo. Rounding out, “Carne Humana para las Masas” is — of course — a theremin, snare and lightly plucked electric guitar piece that sounds vaguely Eastern European in its sad melody, only to end with concert hall applause. So yeah, it’s a bit of work to keep up with everything Don Juan Matus have to offer even on the half of Espejismos that’s mostly new, but as was the case with Más Allá del Sol Poniente, it’s a challenge worth taking on for adventurous ears.

The cassette version of the album — if that’s where you’re at on the delineation — is limited to 100 hand-numbered copies (I got #29), and comes with an eight-panel insert on quality card stock that on one side has the foldout Daniel Serrano artwork and on the other gives the info on who in the band recorded what and when. That’s a lot to keep up with as well, but the upshot is that even when you know the songs, you never quite know what’s coming next as you make your way through the two sides.

Don Juan Matus, Espejismos (2013)

Don Juan Matus on Thee Facebooks

Caligari Records