Posted in Whathaveyou on June 3rd, 2026 by JJ Koczan
Longrunning and largely itinerant defenders of the faith Castle bring fistpump-ready catchiness to “Carry Chains,” the semi-title-track of their upcoming studio album, Carrie Chains, and Liz Blackwell‘s shouting-out-loud walk through whatever town that might be feels like the right setting for the video. The new album was previously announced and it’s worth noting that it’s Castle‘s second release of 2026, as they were already on tour in April throughout Canada supporting a covers EP, Double Vision, which was self-released. Like their 2024 full-length, Evil Remains (review here), the forthcoming Carrie Chains will be out through Hammerheart Records.
And they’re touring for it, of course. Castle have existed for over 15 years and they’ve hit the road hard for the vast majority of that time. One assumes a stint in Europe will follow the September tour below, either later this year or in 2027, and that the album will continue to triumph across the genre lines between doom and traditionalist, NWOBHM- and thrash-informed metal. Even with the glut of killer offerings this year, this is one I’m looking forward to.
Info follows from the PR wire:
Castle announce new album “Carrie Chains” and release first single!
US/Canadian heavy doom outfit Castle have just announced their new album “Carrie Chains”, which will be released on 4th September via Hammerheart Records. In celebration, the lead single of the album ‘Carry Chains’ is now streaming on all digital platforms.
“Carrie Chains” shows Castle at new heights of constructing their trademark serpentine riffs into powerful anthemic hooks while the whiskey throated vocals of powerhouse singer Liz Blackwell fill every spooky nook and cranny to intoxicating effect. Taking influence from the 70’s/80’s riff-heavy maestros like Black Sabbath, Judas Priest and Mercyful Fate and keeping a stripped down attack sound, Castle channel that classic heavy-metal DNA into something leaner, meaner, and unmistakably their own.
Castle have simultaniously announced a new US run, scheduled for September 2026. A full list of confirmed dates can be found below.
USA Tourdates: 03/09/2026 USA Detroit (MI), Smalls 04/09/2026 USA Cleveland (OH) – Maple Grove Tavern 05/09/2026 USA Montague (MA), RPM Fest 06/09/2026 USA Brooklyn (NY), Woodshop 07/09/2026 USA York (PA), Collusion Tap Works 09/09/2026 USA Washington D.C., Pie Shop 10/09/2026 USA Pittsburgh (PA), Poetry Lounge 11/09/2026 USA Indianapolis (IN), Black Circle 12/09/2026 USA Nashville (TN), Cobra Lounge 14/09/2026 USA Dallas (TX), Dusty’s 15/09/2026 USA Austin (TX), Valhalla 16/09/2026 USA Tulsa (OK), Whittier Bar 17/09/2026 USA Des Moines (IA), Locals Bar 18/09/2026 USA Chicago (IL), Reggies 19/09/2026 USA Madison (WI), Blades Of Steel Fest 23/10/2026 USA Seattle (WA), El Corazon 24/10/2026 USA Portland (OR), High Water Mark 25/10/2026 USA San Francisco (CA), Bottom Of The Hill 26/10/2026 USA Palmdale (CA), Transplants Brewery 27/10/2026 USA Las Vegas (NV), The Griffin 28/10/2026 USA Phoenix (AZ), Last Exit 29/10/2026 USA Los Angeles (CA), Knucklehead 30/10/2026 USA San Diego (CA), Tower Bar
Posted in Whathaveyou on January 26th, 2026 by JJ Koczan
As they apparently intend to release their next full-length later in the year, largely-nomadic capital-‘h’ Heavy metallers Castle have launched preorders for a self-released collection of covers from artists like Judas Priest, Mountain, Cheap Trick, and well, you can see the rest and it — plus a heaping dose of darkness — reads like an ingredients list for Castle‘s sound. It’s been dubbed Double Vision, and they have a video up now for their take on Danzig‘s “Am I Demon,” and the whole EP is streaming as well at the bottom of the post. You already know this. I don’t know why I feel the need to say it all the time. Maybe someone doesn’t?
In addition to the covers release and the new album to come via Hammerheart Records, the band also have Canadian tour dates — has there ever been a better time to tour Canada than now? take me with you and leave me somewhere cheap along the way — coming up this April, and they’re planning a US tour that I assume will coincide with the LP coming out, which they note will be in September.
Busy busy busy, but that’s not new for Castle. They sent the following from their PR wire to my own:
CASTLE ANNOUNCE CANADA TOUR, PREMIERE VIDEO FOR ‘AM I DEMON’ (DANZIG COVER)
Heavy metal doom trio CASTLE (Hammerheart Records) have announced a headlining Canada Tour including a stop at Speed Trap II Fest in Montreal, Quebec.
The 13 date run kicks off April 3 in Toronto and wraps up on April 18 in Edmonton, Alberta. A full list of dates can be seen below.
CASTLE ‘Double Vision’ Canada Tour APRIL 3 – TORONTO ON – THE CAVE APRIL 4 – KITCHENER ON – UNION APRIL 5 – WINDSOR ON – METEOR APRIL 8 – HAMILTON ON – DOORS PUB APRIL 9 – QUEBEC CITY QC – L’ANTI APRIL 10 – MONTREAL QC – SPEED TRAP II @ PIRANHA APRIL 11 – OTTAWA ON – DOMINION APRIL 12 – KINGSTON ON – DAFT BREWING APRIL 14 – VICTORIA BC – THE PHOENIX APRIL 15 – VANCOUVER BC – COBALT APRIL 16 – CHILLIWACK BC – CHILL HOUSE APRIL 17 – CALGARY AB – THE PALAMINO APRIL 18 – EDMONTON AB – STARLITE
To coincide with the tour CASTLE have released an all covers album ‘Double Vision’ on their own label, Black Wren Records. The album features the band’s doomed-out takes on Judas Priest (Love Bites), Foreigner (Double Vision) and Mountain (Blood Of The Sun) among others; including Danzig’s ‘Am I Demon’ which the band has just premiered a video for using studio footage of the recording session.
In addition, CASTLE has also recently announced their new as-of-yet untitled studio album will be released worldwide via Hammerheart Records in September. CASTLE was recently announced as part of the Blades Of Steel Fest in Madison, WI along with Metal Church, Savatage and others on Sept 18th and 19th. A full US tour will be announced in the coming months.
Castle, “Am I Demon” (Danzig cover) official video
Posted in Whathaveyou on December 5th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
A follow-up for 2024’s Evil Remains (review here) is an enticing prospect from nomadic heavy metallers Castle, but we’re not there yet. In the meantime, the band have put out the covers EP Double Vision, which finds them taking on songs from KISS, Danzig, Judas Priest, Foreigner for the title-track, and others. It’s a suitably ‘done their homework’ selection that’s apparently been in the works for some time, and they have a video up now for “Double Vision” that, well, it’s Castle kicking ass in the studio run through some effects, so you get the idea. This should tide them over until they hit the studio for their next album-proper, and “Double Vision” sounds rad. Can’t ask for anything more than that.
From the PR wire:
CASTLE Release The All-Covers E.P. ‘Double Vision’; Confirm Recording Dates For New Studio Album.
Doom-tinged heavy metallers CASTLE have released a new covers album featuring the songs of Judas Priest, Danzig, Kiss, Oxymoron, Cheap Trick, Foreigner, Leslie West and Alice Cooper. The vinyl only release comes courtesy of the band’s own label, Black Wren Records and is available for preorder now.
CASTLE have also announced they’ll be entering the studio early in 2026 to record the follow up to their most recent album ‘Evil Remains’. The as-yet untitled album is slated for worldwide release on Hammerheart Records later in the new year. The band states;
“We’ve had a list of 20 or so songs dating back to the beginning of band in 2009 that we always talked about reworking in some way… well here’s 8 of them! Hopefully we brought something new or brought something out in the songs that sounds new to your ears. We had a blast working these up as we get ready to record the new Castle record in a couple months. In the meantime enjoy our take on these 8 awesome tracks.”
Double Vision E.P. Track List:
Side one Love Bites (Judas Priest) Black Cats (Oxymoron) Double Vision (Foreigner) Heaven Tonight (Cheap Trick)
Side two Am I Demon (Danzig) I Stole Your Love ( Kiss) Blood Of The Sun ( Leslie West) Second Coming (Alice Cooper)
CASTLE is: Liz Blackwell – bass, vocals Mat Davis – guitar, vocals Mike Cotton – drums
Posted in Whathaveyou on April 3rd, 2025 by JJ Koczan
This weekend, dark metallic masters Castle will headline the proceedings at The Electric Highway festival in Calgary (info here), joining a stacked lineup on a bill co-presented by this site. The perennially undervalued doom-tinged rippers are set to then lanch a West Coast tour as they continue to support their 2024 album, Evil Remains (review here), on Hammerheart Records, and after that’s done, they’re off to Europe, where festivals and club shows await. They are no strangers to keeping busy.
In addition to the studio LP, Castle last year also issued the live outing, One Knight Stands: Live in NY, through their own imprint, Black Wren Records. If you’ve never seen them before, they’re killer onstage, and it’s never too long before they’re coming through again since that’s how they do. If you’re at The Electric Highway this weekend, I hope you have a blast, and wherever you get to catch Castle, that’s basically a lock.
From the PR wire:
CASTLE announce more “Evil Remains” tourdates in Europe, USA and Canada!
US/Canadian heavy doom outfit Castle have just announced new tour dates in support of their recent album “Evil Remains”, which was released in September 2024 via Hammerheart Records. A full list of confirmed shows can be found below.
Evil Remains North America 04/04 Calgary, AB – Electric Highway Fest @ Dickens 16/04 Sacramento, CA – Cafe Colonial 17/04 Los Angeles, CA – Knucklehead 18/04 San Francisco, CA – Kilowatt 19/04 Mt Shasta, CA – Vet’s Club 20/04 Portland, OR – High Water Mark 21/04 Seattle, WA – El Corazon 30/04 Toronto, ON – The Garrison 01/05 Detroit, MI – Smalls 02/05 Chicago, IL – Legions Of Metal Fest @ Reggies 03/05 Madison, WI – Gamma Ray Bar 04/05 Pittsburgh, PA – Poetry Lounge 05/05 Brooklyn, NY – The Woodshop 06/05 Boston, MA – Middle East Club 07/05 Montreal, PQ – La Sala Rossa 08/05 London, ON – Palasad 09/05 Hamilton, ON – Doors Pub 10/05 Ottawa, ON – Dominion Tavern
Evil Remains Europe 2025 29/05 Muskelrock Fest @ Tyrolen, SE 30/05 Hamburg, DE – Bambi Galore 31/05 Desertland Fest @ Pumptrack, Berlin DE 01/06 Prague, CZ – Modra Vopice 02/06 Goppingen, DE – Zille 03/06 Düsseldorf, DE – Pitcher 04/06 Rotterdam, NL – V11 05/06 Heerlen, NL – Nieuwe Nor 06/06 GockelScream Fest – near Dresden DE 07/06 Battle Cry Fest @ Turock, Essen DE
Over the years, Castle have maintained a rigorous touring schedule, performing nearly 700 shows between 2012 and 2019. They have shared stages with acts like The Sword, Conan, Intronaut and Pentagram, and have appeared at prominent festivals such as Roadburn Festival and Desertfest.
CASTLE is: Liz Blackwell – bass, vocals Mat Davis – guitar, vocals Mike Cotton – drums
I’ve been fortunate enough to have The Obelisk among the slew of included presenters for Calgary’s The Electric Highway festival, and I’m glad to be able to continue the thread in 2025. The site’s logo is down there on the poster, keeping company both good and plentiful, but if you’re drawn to the lineup itself rather than the ‘sponsors,’ that’s only reasonable. Bison will headline alongside Castle — two righteous Canadian exports, the latter with a new album out this past Fall — and Fever Dog wlil make the trip from California while Buffalo Bud Buster, The Getmines, Blacksmith and Brewer and La Chinga return, and others, including two Calgary locals to start each night, make first appearances.
It’s a rad mix and, again, thanks to The Electric Highway for letting The Obelisk have anything to do with it whatsoever. I’ll do an oldschool hip-hop shoutout to Billy Goate and Steve Howe. Woop woop and such.
Details as per the PR wire:
The Electric Highway Festival (Calgary, AB) Announces 2025 Lineup w/ BISON, CASTLE, LA CHINGA, BUFFALO BUD BUSTER and more!
The Electric Highway Festival is excited to announce the full lineup for the 2025 edition of the Festival being held in Calgary, AB on April 4 & 5 at Dickens (1000 9 Ave SW).
Canadian veteran sludge metal band BISON headlines the whole festival while doom metal band CASTLE headlines Friday night. They will be joined by Southern California band FEVER DOG, and various Western Canadian bands including LA CHINGA, BUFFALO BUD BUSTER, THE GETMINES, 88 MILE TRIP, and more. The Final Full Line Up by Day: Friday, April 4, 2025 Castle (San Francisco/ Vancouver) Buffalo Bud Buster (Calgary) Blacksmith and Brewer (Vancouver)) CHÛNK (Vancouver) Hydracat (Edmonton) The Astral Prophets (Calgary) BUNS (Calgary) Doors 5pm – Show 6pm Saturday, April 5, 2025 Bison (Vancouver) La Chinga (Vancouver) Fever Dog (Southern California) The Getmines (Vancouver) 88 Mile Trip (Vancouver) Lover (Calgary) GEOFF (Calgary) Doors 5pm – Show 6pm
Advance 2-day passes are available for $75. Advance single-day tickets are $40 for Friday and $45 for Saturday
The Electric Highway Festival hosts various genres that range from Desert Rock, Stoner Metal, Doom, Sludge, Trippy Psychedelic, Surf Rock, Acid Rock, Noise Rock, Fuzz Rock, Space Rock, Blues Rock, Heavy Psych, Heavy Blues, Southern Rock, Fuzzy Punk, Sludgy Hardcore bands and variations of any of the previously mentioned styles. The festival includes a vendor area with interesting goods for attendees to take home with them.
Previous editions of the festival featured one of the event’s past favorites Californian headliners Sasquatch, Juno Award-winning Canadian band ANCIIENTS, Vancouver’s La Chinga, Space Queen, Dead Quiet, and more, Gnarwhal from Yellowknife, NWT, Calgary’s Gone Cosmic, Hombre, Flashback among many more, and a whole host of other great bands.
Posted in Whathaveyou on January 27th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
Castle announcing a West Coast tour, you say? Sky is blue, you say? Yes, some headlines just roll off the typing-fingers because, well, you’ve typed them out a bunch of times and practice makes a difference. The foremost purveyors of heavy, doom-adjacent darkthrash issued their welcome-back LP, Evil Remains (review here), last Fall on Hammerheart, and it won’t be a surprise when they spend at least most if not all of this year and then some touring behind it. Castle‘s modus operandi has always been mobility, and they’re never more powerful than on stage.
This tour starts at Electric Highway Fest in Calgary, which this site co-presented in years past (I don’t think I’m doing that this year, but if you’re in the neighborhood, you should go regardless), and runs into May with a few days’ break between Seattle and Toronto. The dates follow here as posted on social media, which is why I’m still on social media. Well, band news and making myself feel like I’ve failed in life just because I’m not rich, good looking or successful in any way, anyhow. Wouldn’t want a day to pass without indulging that habit. At least there’s a text list of dates and it’s not just on the poster.
Here you go:
CASTLE – US/CAN Evil Remains Tour ANNOUNCEMENT!
We are stoked to announce the following US and Canada shows this spring. Can’t wait to hit the stage and play the new record live for you all! See you on the road \m/
4/04 Calgary, AB – Electric Highway Fest 4/16 Sacramento, CA – Cafe Colonial 4/17 Los Angeles, CA – Knucklehead 4/18 San Francisco, CA – Kilowatt 4/19 Mt Shasta, CA – Vet’s Club 4/20 Portland, OR – High Water Mark 4/21 Seattle, WA – El Corazon 4/30 Toronto, ON – The Garrison 5/01 Detroit, MI – Smalls 5/02 Chicago, IL – Legions Of Metal Fest 5/03 Madison, WI – Gamma Ray Bar 5/04 Pittsburgh, PA – Poetry Lounge 5/05 Brooklyn, NY – The Woodshop 5/06 Boston, MA – Middle East Club 5/07 Montreal, PQ – Piranha Bar 5/08 London, ON – Palasad 5/09 – TBA 5/10 – TBA
CASTLE is: Liz Blackwell – bass, vocals Mat Davis – guitar, vocals Mike Cotton – drums
Posted in Bootleg Theater on November 22nd, 2024 by JJ Koczan
Somewhere between jet-black thrash and cult doom violence, but always unto themselves with villainous intent, Castle returned this Fall after a six-year absence to once more put their knife to the throat of metallic mediocrity. A collection of eight taut, purposeful, powerfully-riffed incantations, their new album, Evil Remains, comes through as much as a statement of self as outward fact. The album was produced in Vancouver by Jesse Gander (Anciients, 3 Inches of Blood; “Canadian metal!,” as Fenriz once put it) and the band have live dates in that area next month as well, as you can see below. If you’ve never caught them — they were nomadic for a while, were said to have moved to the Californian desert, may have gone back up to CA since; I honestly don’t know — there’s a whole lot about what they do, including all those intangible sinisterisms in their sound and the resulting atmosphere of their extremity-influenced, groove-heavy approach.
Whether it’s the adrenaline charge of “Nosferatu Nights” or the careen and chug on “Black Spell,” with a riff that earns the gutted-out lead vocal from bassist Liz Blackwell, joined soon by guitarist Mat Davis, as on opener “Queen of Death,” “She” and others throughout. The manner in which they shift vocals can throw you for a loop, as Davis comes and goes depending on the needs of a given track, but Castle have been at this long enough that there’s no confusion of intent in their songs. Or if you’d prefer it with profanity: they know what the fuck they’re about and their craft benefits from it.
“Deja Voodoo,” for which a video premieres below taking footage from the band’s most recent European tour, runs 5:46 and is the longest individual track on the eight-track/37-minute Evil Remains. It presents something of a departure in its bilateral structure, a slower first-half giving way to a speedier second, but as the band has already torn into “Queen of Death” and “Nosferatu Nights” by then, the listener is ready for the pivot when it comes. As they do throughout, Castle wield their sound in a way that’s as much about the whole affect as the nuanced details, but from where I sit, the fact that after 15 years of plunder from Blackwell, Davis and a selection of drummers from various map points — Mike Cotton holds it down on Evil Remains — just how much the band have grown into themselves rather than into a single given microgenre emphasizes how special what they do is.
Maybe you’ve taken on Castle‘s work before. “Deja Voodoo” makes a winning ‘welcome back.’ But specifically for anyone who might see this who’s never listened to the band — it’s okay; engaging with new things and ideas is how we keep our brains from turning into fascist jelly — take a real listen. You might find elements familiar from the likes of Slayer, Celtic Frost, Trouble, Heart, on and on, Castle combine these in a way that remains (ha.) their own, and the latest outing is a duly visceral celebration of that.
Full stream of Evil Remains is at the bottom of the post, and the “Deja Voodoo” video premiere follows here.
Please enjoy:
Castle, “Deja Voodoo” video premiere
“Deja Voodoo” taken from the new album ‘Evil Remains’, released Sept. 2024 by Hammerheart Records.
Posted in Reviews on October 17th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
Writing this intro from a bench near the playground at my daughter’s grade school. It was different equipment at the time — made of unrecycled tires, because it was the ’80s — but I used to play here when I was her age too. The Pecan’s day ended about 10 minutes ago and after-school go-time has become part of the routine when we don’t have to be elsewhere. It’s chilly today — I have my hat on for the first time since winter, but if I was more used to the cold, I wouldn’t need it. If it was April, I’d be in shorts celebrating the arrival of spring. All depends on which way the planet is tipped, I guess.
Pretty sure I mentioned this at some point, but in part because the Quarterly Review is going well, I’m adding an 11th day. That brings it up to 110 releases, which, frankly, is just stupid. I don’t really have a reason I’m doing any of it except that I am. I feel the same about a lot of this lately.
As happens with any decent QR more than a week long, I’m behind on news. I don’t really have anything to say about a new Dax Riggs song or an Acid Bath reunion without any context, and I’m not cool enough to be in the know on any of it, but Roadburn has done a lineup announcement that I’d like to post and Uncle Acid announced a US tour, so there’s stuff to catch up on. Tuesday and on, I suppose. Good thing the internet exists or disseminating any of this information might have any stakes to it whatsoever.
Quarterly Review #81-90:
—
Castle, Evil Remains
Hammerheart Records steps forth to issue the masterful metallurgy of Castle‘s Evil Remains. The duo of bassist/vocalist Liz Blackwell and guitarist/vocalist Mat Davis work with drummer Mike Cotton on the 37-minute eight-tracker that’s the first new Castle LP since 2018’s Deal Thy Fate (review here), and their take on dark heavy rock meeting in a pocketknife alley with doom, thrash and classic metal continues to be utterly their own. “Queen of Death,” “Nosferatu Nights,” the swaggering “Evil Remains” itself, all the way down to the twisting leads, dual-vocals and hard-chug of “Cold Grave” — the message of the album is glaring across its span in how undervalued Castle are and have been over their 15 years, but even that can’t top the vibrancy of the songs themselves, which have long given up genre concerns in pursuit of the individualism they’ve found.
Clearly, Vancouver’s Waingro titled their new release Sports in honor of the 40th anniversary of the Huey Lewis album of the same name. It’s hard to find the influence of the 1980s pop superstar — who, with Sports, really came into his own, commercially and artistically, according to American Psycho — in the band’s ripper heavy hardcore punk, but they’ve got five tracks in 11 minutes, so there’s no risk of overstaying their welcome with the likes of the minute-long fuzz instrumental “Masonic Falls” or the apocalyptic post-hardcore of centerpiece “Brougham,” which follows the opening pair of “Fuel for Vomit” and “Sports,” which don’t seem to have been put together accidentally as the EP closes with its two shortest pieces in “Masonic Falls” and the subsequent “Pray for Blackout.” Both are under two minutes long, and while the former is something of a breather after the assault of “Brougham,” “Pray for Blackout” is vicious and pummeling, leaving on an intense, raw note in which Waingro bask.
15-minute opener “Dåderman Renoverar” jams its way into a sax-topped ’50 bop and swing, like you’re down at the soda shop getting a pull of root beer and here come these crazy Swedish psychedelic jammers to get the hula-hoops spinning, so yes, För Samtida Djur 2 is very much a Kungens Män release. As well it should be, following just months behind the preceding För Samtida Djur 1 (review here) with four more pieces piped in from the greater distances of Out There in improv rock-as-jazz psychedelic fashion. “Dåderman Renoverar” is leadoff and longest (immediate points), while “Väntar På Zonen” (8:28) is less of a build than a mellow dwell, “Skör Lugg” (11:43) hypnotizes with guitar before unfurling a pastoralism worthy of Sweden’s history of progressive psych-folk and “Gubbar Reser Sig” (8:36) ends with a bit of bounce and build amid brighter jangle that they let unwind at the finish, completing the cycle in duly eccentric fashion. This band is a treasure, make no mistake. Every time they step in a room, someone should be recording.
Maybe it shouldn’t be a surprise that Caffeine‘s The Threshold feels so tense and taut since it executes its eight songs in 29 minutes — 10 of which are dedicated to “Ghost Town” and “The Agency” on side B — but as its two sides play out, the Hanover, Germany-based trio of vocalist/bassist Denis Radoncic, guitarist Andre Werk and drummer/vocalist Enrico “Rocko” Winkler, plus Sebi on keys and guitar, find a progressive heavy thrust that’s informed by early Mastodon in its crunch and the rearing-up of riffs on “Last Train” and the twisting rhythms of the title-track, but from a post-hardcore rush in “The THreshold” to the humming tones of the penultimate interlude “Citadel” — which has a more percussive counterpart in side A’s “Rorschach’s Waltz” to the pro-shop heavy metal of “Dead End,” Caffeine‘s material sounds thoughtful in its construction without being a gimme in terms of influence or losing itself in the intensity as it unfolds. This is the band’s second record. It’s a fucking beast.
They’re delivered in a deathly rasp, as perhaps it would need to be, before the clean vocals arrive, but the lyrics in “Space is Now Tainted” from The Mountain King‘s 13th album in 10 years, Stoma, are among the most fitting encapsulations of life under apocalypse-capitalism that I’ve seen. The whole song is brilliant, and it’s one of eight on the 48-minute LP, so I’m not trying to neglect anything else, but when I see lines like, “And when the last tree is down/You will climb the bodies of the ones who didn’t drown,” it’s hard not to be taken aback. The later “Dripping Bats” offers thoughts and prayers for the death of god, so the righteousness is by no means isolated as The Mountain King find a version of doom metal the chug of which has learned at least as much from Carcass‘ Heartwork as anything Black Sabbath ever did, and pushes into avant miserablism in “Twomb” or the intermittently volatile/gorgeous “To the Caves!,” which would seem to be the end The Mountain King see for human decline. Back to the caves. At least the end of the world turned up some good art. I wish more bands would dare to have an opinion.
Time will tell how the balance of NWOBHM grandstanding and from-farther-back boogie shakes out in the sound of German newcomers Kant, but for now, it’s an intriguing blend on the Aschaffenburg-based four-piece’s debut album, Paranoia Pilgrimage, and with the backing of Sound of Liberation Records, one might take the cavernous vocals, cultish melodies and declarative guitar work as part of the needed injection of fresh perspectives that the European heavy underground has been receiving the last few years in generational turnover. That is to say, there’s potential in the nuance of a song like “Traitors Lair,” which injects from flute-prog into the proceedings, and even as Kant search for ‘their sound,’ what they’re finding is likewise varied and exciting, if not blindingly original. The sharper corners of “Dark Procession” and the atmospheric depth offered in opener “The Great Serpent” both find an underpinning of darker, more cultish sounds — unsurprisingly, “Occult Worship” bears that out as well — but when the lead cut launches into its solo late in its five-minute going, Kant revel in the freedom of that breakout. Wherever time and their exploration takes them, Paranoia Pilgrimage is the foundation on which they’ll build.
With a mix and master by Karl Daniel Lidén (Katatonia, Dozer, Greenleaf, Vaka, Demon Cleaner, etc.) building on the production helmed by guitarist/vocalist Luc Bourgeois and guitarist Shawn Rice, it’s little wonder Sandveiss‘ third full-length, Standing in the Fire, sounds as full and charged as it does, from the first tones of “I’ll Be Rising” through drummer Dominic Gaumond‘s clinic in “Bleed Me Dry.” Completed by bassist Maxime Moisan, who is the force behind the propulsive “Wait and See” and the later, more expansive “These Cold Hands,” Sandveiss present Standing in the Fire as a showcase of multifaceted songwriting intent. The title-track, opener “I’ll Be Rising,” and the careening “Fade (Into the Night)” are catchy uptempo fuzzers kin to the ethic of Valley of the Sun, but “No Love Here” and the ensuing huge roll of “Bleed Me Dry” bring a stately cast and highlight some of the variety of mood and purpose amid all the heft and professional-grade craft throughout.
If you like your sludge noisy — or your noise sludged — aggressive and pummeling, Plant signal from Madison, Wisconsin, with their first album, Cosmic Phytophthora, a gnashing and duly punishing 44-minute/six-song assault that hits a particularly escape-proof crescendo in side B’s “Envenoming the Carrion” (11:59) and “Skyburial” (11:04) before closing with the harsh tumult of “Wolf Plague.” Once upon a time bands like Axehandle and The Mighty Nimbus walked the earth. Plant would stand well alongside either, with leadoff “Until it Dies” cracking open a can — I’ll assume lime seltzer? — before the drums kick in on what’s basically a spoken-word-topped riff introducing the seethe and tones that define what’s to come, screaming by the time its three minutes are up. “Anthracnos Stalk Rot” and the outright brutality of “Root Worm” follow and underscore the impression of a horticultural thematic, but whether you’re digging on plant parts or reeling from the various punches the band throw along the way, it’s hard not to be moved by a debut that has such a clear idea of what it’s about. Make it loud, make it caustic, make it hurt. Riffs to break oneself upon.
Tommy and the Teleboys, Gods, Used, in Great Condition
There are threads of punk and classic rock running through Tommy and the Teleboys‘ dance-ready debut long-player, Gods, Used in Great Condition, but ultimately the album is neither of them. United under a scope that includes psychedelia, proggy-jazz and maybe a bit of heavy blues, the post-modern nine-song outing has a depth of mix all the more emphasized through the band’s stylistic range, but it’s a feeling of brashness that seems most to bring the songs together and the vital sense of command in the tracks themselves. Each follows its own plot, whether it’s the willfully off-kilter “Loverboy” or textured pieces like “Seninle” and “Srevokk” later on, but “Gib Mir” and “Jesus Crowd” at the start — shades of Bowie Ameriphobia in the latter — give Gods, Used in Great Condition quirk to coincide with all its hey-we’re-not-40-yet urgency, and while the band range hither and yon in terms of style, there’s nowhere the melodic wash of “Jeffrey 3000” or the otherworldly wistful strum of “Night at the Junkyard” go that feels out of place in the surrounding context, and Tommy and the Teleboys seem to be serving notice to anyone clued in of intention to disrupt. One hopes they do.
MEDB is a new solo-project by Rodger Boyle, who also runs Cursed Monk Records and features in bands like Noosed, ÚATH and Stonecarver, among others, and this first demo unveils four songs working under the stated concept of conveying the landscape/ambience of Boyle‘s home in Waterford, Ireland. Certainly the ambience of “Returning Home” is darker than the photos from the Port Láirge tourism committee, but while MEDB lays claim to a drumless drone on that nine-and-a-half-minute opener, “Glasha,” “Mahon Falls” and “The Wild Deer of Sillaheen” conjure a more full-band impression, plodding in “Glasha” before “Mahon Falls” digs into a more open and meditative feel in one guitar layer while lower distortion holds sway beneath, and “The Wild Deer of Sillaheen” earns its post-metallic antlers at the finish. So you’re saying there’s more than one thing going on in Waterford? Reasonable to expect for the oldest city in the Republic of Ireland, and all the better for inspiring future manifestation from MEDB, whatever form that might take. You could do worse than learning about a place through audio.
