Cheers to whoever runs the Deadly Vipers video editing department. I suppose it’s not that crazy for a tour to end and a good-times-we-had video to surface a couple weeks later, but the French four-piece were out at the end of March alongside Fuzzorama Records imprint heads Truckfighters (from Sweden, if it needs to be said) and Wizzerd for a multinational stint supporting their late-2022 album, Low City Drone (review here), the three labelmate acts rolling through Germany, Austria and the Netherlands as one will. And while I don’t know if they made the clip themselves in terms of actually putting the footage together, having such a project to work on would be a decent way to beat the post-tour blues, if in fact that’s the case.
Either way, it’s a welcome check-in from the Perpignan outfit in addition to a reminder/herald for the album. You can see the tour was a good time and the crowds showed up and that’s all fine, but the song brings to the forefront the strengths of the band in terms of craft and presentation, the songwriting wholly embracing a desert rock style while keeping the production full and modern. Maybe that doesn’t sound so off-the-wall on paper, but on “Last Rise” and throughout the record they bring freshness of perspective to the tenets of genre without coming across as too derivative or needing to mask their influences by superfluous arrangement elements. Solid, fuzzy, engaging heavy rock. You’ll pardon me if I don’t argue with it.
The video follows here and the album stream is down near the bottom of the post. You know the drill.
Please enjoy:
Deadly Vipers, “Last Rise” official video
Deadly Vipers did a video to the song ‘Last Rise’ with material from their European tour spring 2023 supporting Truckfighters.
Posted in Reviews on December 27th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
Fuzz gratia fuzzis. France’s Deadly Vipers have dug their hands into pilot-ready dunes and emerge with their second album and first for Fuzzorama Records, Low City Drone, collecting eight tracks that, while varied in their individual purposes, speak to an overarching love of the form and play to desert rock stylizations with marked and particular aplomb. The follow-up to 2017’s well-received Fueltronaut (review here), the 45-minute offering sounds bigger, broader in its soundscapes and brighter in the sunny warmth beating down thereupon, finding sonic kinship not only with the likes of Kyuss and Slo Burn, Dozer, Astrosoniq and Truckfighters — who of course run the Fuzzorama label and whose Niklas Källgren mixed and mastered the recording; David Hannier at Seven Theory Studio, SJPC, France, engineered — but with the generation of bands they helped plug in and turn up: the likes of earlier 1000mods, Valley of the Sun, and so on.
They know what they’re going for, in other words, and the mindful impact and flow of Low City Drone is the result — a groove that permeates loud or quiet, fast or slow, and carries the listener from the intro “Echoes From Wasteland” with its quiet beginning and click-pedals-on springing forth, gradually unveiling the full heft that Deadly Vipers have on offer, all the way to the seemingly complementary finisher “Big Empty,” which likewise starts quiet and builds its way engagingly toward a satisfying last crescendo, peaking, spacing out, and ultimately returning to cap with a riff that subtly calls out Kyuss‘ “Asteroid” and the earlier “Atom” as if to underscore the message they’ve been transmitting all along. I do not know the geology of Perpignan, France, from whence they hail and if you think desert rock can only come from the American desert, by now there are at least a quarter-century’s worth of killer bands to readily demonstrate otherwise. Deadly Vipers elbow their way onto that list with this record.
A highlight and focal point for the four-piece — the lineup: standalone vocalist Fred Chinarro, guitarist David Migaud, bassist Thomas Gronnier and drummer Rudy Carretero, any of whom might provide backing vocals — is the nine-minute title-track, “Low City Drone,” which is a standout in more than runtime, but before they get there, “Atom” picks up from “Echoes From Wasteland” with the first declaration of Kyussism in its riff and Chinarro‘s John Garcia-esque melodic belt-out. Catchy, the post-intro leadoff breaks at about its halfway point and throws in some speedier push and some well-placed distinguishing keyboard from Gronnier before turning back to the slower progression, mellowing out, building back up. A sense of Deadly Vipers weaving their way from one part to the next — not ever more abrupt than they want to be, but not staying still by any means — pervades Low City Drone, and much to its benefit.
The title-track puts the bass forward in the mix (not a complaint) early and sweeps into its hook at about 90 seconds into its comparatively extended runtime, verse vocals laced with echo to add to the spaciousness. The second verse/chorus trade finds the bassline holding across a break and guitar solo peppered with statistically significant crashes and jamming gradually toward organ-topped boogie and thrust, the chorus reemerging over top to effectively convey an uptick in intensity. They calm it down and mellow it out, but it’s just taking a breath before the last push — bass bouncing all the while — after which they bring it down gracefully, hit a final crash and precede side A closer “Welli Welloo” with a few seconds of silence before diving into the more straight-ahead hook, the backing vocals behind Chinarro subtly adding to the memorability of the song from within that wall of fuzz surrounding. The mini-closer marks the album’s midpoint with a summary of what’s worked best so far about Low City Drone in its tone, its awareness of craft and where it’s going, its pacing for maximum groove, etc. Deadly Vipers make their lack of pretense an essential facet of their style, and their clear passion and celebration of the fuzz feels sincere and is all the more engaging for that.
Marked by some sitar-y psych-leaning guitar in its second half before its big blowout — that’ll come back in the closer, briefly — the four-minute instrumental (more than an intro in substance as well as length) “Meteor Part II” leads side B in an apparent answer to “Meteor Valley” from the first record, not quite hypnotic and not quite trying to hypnotize, but comfortable in its nod just the same. “Last Rise” arrives with near-immediate ceremony in its lumbering beginning and the “ahh” vocals that come to back the chorus. The fuzz sounds like it just ate a very large dinner, and is what the comedian Patton Oswalt once referred to as ‘B-word fat,’ but Deadly Vipers still manage to bring it down to a stretch of dreamy guitar and melodic bass before blending the heavier low end back in, keys complementing en route back to the verse. They don’t bring back that “ahh” hook, but “Last Rise” ends with satisfyingly massive plod just the same, the organ the last thing to go before the penultimate “Ego Trip” picks up like nothing just happened; riffy business as usual on Low City Drone.
Fair enough, since that’s kind of true, and pretty clearly intentional on the part of the band. In its pace and progression, there’s a bit of cowbell in there past the midsection and it comes back at the end, later bass quirk in the suddenly-jazzy synth-accompanied bridge, and near-shouted resurgence, “Ego Trip” is maybe the most clearly aligned of the bunch with Truckfighters, but the personality it shows serves the album well carrying into “Big Empty,” which spaces the vocals out more, again leans on the bass like in the title-track (still not a complaint), and ties together the desert and the expanse atmospheres with one more fluid execution, lead guitar rising here, there a quick breath setting up the final movement across the last minute and a half, the moment of arrival as they harken back in the ending to “Atom” for just a measure before closing.
That’s fairly emblematic of Low City Drone as a whole, not just in its summary of what Deadly Vipers have wrought across the record, but also the depth that coincides with its forward shove and the sense of atmosphere that results organically from the amalgam that is their approach. Along with songwriting, one of the band’s strengths is their ability to hold their material together amid such tonal reverie, to not lose themselves in the world they’re making. That they’re ultimately clearheaded isn’t necessarily a surprise given how they presented themselves on Fueltronaut, but Low City Drone pushes them further along their charted course and feels purposeful in the moves its makes, delivering on potential while setting them up for continued growth and intricacy. One could ask no more of Low City Drone than one receives, and patient, repeat listens are all the more rewarded. It may be a wasteland, this ‘big empty,’ but it teems with life just the same.
Posted in Radio on October 14th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
This is me feeling like I can’t keep up, I suppose. Even in like the week, two weeks?, since the Quarterly Review ended, I’ve basically got another one full, and I’ve been feeling suitably overwhelmed as we move into Fall. The releases keep coming, keep being announced, and it’s just so much. I’m doing my best, and a lot of this stuff will be covered hopefully before December comes around, but I can’t promise that at this point. It would matter way less if records like Sky Pig, Smokes of Krakatau, Teverts, Deadly Vipers, Tons and Witchfinder, Grin, Grandier, Giant Mammoth weren’t as cool as they are.
I should’ve called the show ‘Punk Rock Guilt,’ but no one would get it anyway. I’m not sure anyone gets it now. I’m not sure why Gimme Metal continues to let me do this, but I’m happy they do. Anyway, for me personally this one’s all about the moment when it hits into Caustic Casanova’s “Bull Moose Against the Sky” from their just-released Glass Enclosed Nerve Center (review here) album, but I’m also reminding myself how much I dug that Ufomammut album and how just because Scott Kelly turned out to be a phony and a shit it doesn’t mean everything Neurot Recordings ever put out should be shunned like a mouthy Amish person. Also threw in some Kyuss, to remind myself I like them. Like, oh yeah, Kyuss. That’s a thing the internet and I agree on.
Bottom line is it’s a show with music I think will help your day, from All Souls and Sasquatch to Faith in Jane and the new Papir/Causa Sui collaboration Edena Gardens. If I’m going to take up two hours of Gimme Metal’s precious airtime — space on the internet may be unlimited and ever expanding, but time is still time — the least I can do is play good shit. So that’s what I’m doing.
Thanks if you listen and thanks for reading.
The Obelisk Show airs 5PM Eastern today on the Gimme app or at: http://gimmemetal.com.
Full playlist:
The Obelisk Show – 10.14.22 (VT = voice track)
Deadly Vipers
Welli Welloo
Low City Drone
Smokes of Krakatau
Septic
Smokes of Krakatau
Sky Pig
Motionless
It Thrives in Darkness
VT
Sasquatch
Live Snakes
Fever Fantasy
Ufomammut
Psychostasia
Fenice
Giant Mammoth
Circle
Holy Sounds
Teverts
Road to Awareness
The Lifeblood
Kyuss
100 Degrees
Welcome to Sky Valley
Grin
Transcendence
Phantom Knocks
Tons
A Hash Day’s Night
Hashension
Grandier
Viper Soul
The Scorn and Grace of Crows
All Souls
Roam
Ghosts Among Us
Witchfinder
Ghosts Happen to Fade
Forgotten Mansion
Edena Gardens
Hidebound
Edena Gardens
Faith in Jane
The Seeker
Axe to Oak
VT
Caustic Casanova
Bull Moose Against the Sky
Glass Enclosed Nerve Center
The Obelisk Show on Gimme Metal airs every Friday 5PM Eastern, with replays Sunday at 7PM Eastern. Next new episode is Oct. 28 (subject to change). Thanks for listening if you do.
I don’t remember the last time I did three voice breaks on a show, and while I’m of the general opinion that the less the universe hears my voice the better off said universe will likely be for not having heard me invariably say something stupid, I did turn in three VTs for this episode. Truth is I’ve been pretty dug in as regards this show — music, music, music — and I think that’s a winning philosophy for life in general, if one that doesn’t necessarily take advantage of the full potentialities of radio as a format. Gimme Metal have been kind enough to let me do 90 episodes (so far!) of this show. Making some effort to meet that audience halfway seems like the least my contrarian ass can do.
Maybe that’s just me getting old. Whatever. I sucked at being young anyway.
Further to that “making an effort thing,” I’ve tried last episode and this one specifically to include a few staples of stoner/heavy/doom/psych/whatever that even if people don’t know hopefully they can latch onto. Last ep started with Acid King, this one leads with Goatsnake. There’s Black Sabbath, Stoned Jesus, Sungrazer along the way before the playlist really digs into new stuff. And even some of that — My Sleeping Karma, Abrams, Elephant Tree — is from known parties. I don’t know. I’m trying my best here. I was happy to include the Guhts song that premiered, and CB3 finally putting out “To Space and Away” from their new record is a gift. This won’t be the last time I play that song, I’m sure.
Thanks if you listen and thanks for reading.
The Obelisk Show airs 5PM Eastern today on the Gimme app or at: http://gimmemetal.com.
Full playlist:
The Obelisk Show – 08.05.22 (VT = voice track)
Goatsnake
What Love Remains
I
Foehammer
Recurring Grave
Second Sight
VT
Elephant Tree
Sails
Track-by-Track
Abrams
Like Hell
In the Dark
Stoned Jesus
I’m the Mountain
Seven Thunders Roar
My Sleeping Karma
Avatara
Atma
Guhts
Burn My Body
Burn My Body
VT
Black Sabbath
Into the Void
Master of Reality
Sungrazer
Goldstrike
Mirador
Sons of Arrakis
The Black Mirror
Volume 1
All Souls
I Dream
Ghosts Among Us
Sleestak
Northwoods
Harbinger
Deadly Vipers
Big Empty
Low City Drone
CB3
To Space and Away
Exploration
VT
Obscure Supersession Collective
Auroral Purposes I
Obscure Supersession Collective
(If needed) Psychlona
El Tolvanera
Palo Verde
The Obelisk Show on Gimme Metal airs every Friday 5PM Eastern, with replays Sunday at 7PM Eastern. Next new episode is Aug. 19 (subject to change). Thanks for listening if you do.
Posted in Whathaveyou on July 12th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
Based in Perpignon, in Southern France, heavy psych four-piece Deadly Vipers have locked in a September release for their new album, Low City Drone, through Fuzzorama Records. The label, which has kind of paired Deadly Vipers with Montana’s Wizzerd in terms of release and promotional timing — that is to say, I’ve got a news post about Wizzerd‘s new record coming in September as well to put together — has posted the rolling closing track, “Big Empty,” from Low City Drone to coincide with the release announcement and the unveiling of the album cover, which you can see below.
“Big Empty,” which would seem to be about space — only 0.0000000000000000000042 percent matter, according to the internet — but actually puts a call out in the lyrics for the emergence of a ‘new mankind.’ Obviously this pulls my head right into the lore of Star Trek, Gene Roddenberry’s novelizations of “new humans” and all that. I imagine most will have other associations, but one way or the other, the track unfolds patiently toward a relatively quick apex, holding back some of the heft that showed up earlier in the previously-posted title-track, which ran nine minutes and can also be heard at the bottom of this post.
Because I like music. And words. So here’s words and there’s music. See why I might spend my time doing this?
From the PR wire:
Fuzzorama Records to release DEADLY VIPERS – Low City Drone in September
New Single ‘Big Empty’ released and available on digital platforms: YouTube (Lyric Video), Spotify/Itunes etc.
Real debauchery of decibels!
Deadly Vipers distills an effective fuzzy rock, without frills, thanks to the richness of the compositions, all made possible by grooves as catchy as they are devastating.
The band offer a personal vision of the genre, where the riff is the fuel that powers interstellar engines, actors of a journey from the desert expanses to the ends of the universe.
New album ‘Low City Drone’ is their own vision of the future/past, a dystopian tale about the humanity last breath and an utopian hope about the reconstruction after the end. Watch out for drones coming from above, they are listening to what is being said below…
Tracklisting: 1. Echoes From Wasteland 2. Atom 3. Low City Drone 4. Welli Welloo 5. Meteor Part II 6. Last Rise 7. Ego Trip 8. Big Empty
Posted in Whathaveyou on December 29th, 2021 by JJ Koczan
Last week, which seems like a lifetime ago because holidays, news went up that Montana rockers Wizzerd had signed to Fuzzorama Records, and hey, that’s great. What I didn’t know until about five minutes after that post went live, however, is that Fuzzorama had two signings they were announcing on the same day. Sometimes people tell me things, other times not so much.
Perpignan, France, four-piece Deadly Vipers are the band in question who’ve also been picked up by Fuzzorama to release their new album in 2022. No title for it yet that I’ve seen, but the offering will be the follow-up to late-2017’s debut, Fueltronaut (review here), and one should always take it as a good sign when the same person mixing a record (who also happens to have a label) decides to put the record out. You know why? Because mixing is a pain in the ass. You can listen to the 15 seconds of a song like 75 times in a row and still not be done. If you can get through mixing something and still dig it enough to sign the band? Yeah, chances are you probably really dig that thing.
So, cool for Deadly Vipers and cool for Fuzzorama and cooler still as the band are trying some new things this time out. Here’s to progress:
Deadly Vipers – Fuzzorama Records
We are so proud to announce that our second record will be released in 2022 on Fuzzorama Records!
It’s a big step for us, and we want to thank our friends, Mr. Ozo & Mr. Dango for their support, and all of you guys!
We’re really pleased to be part of the fuzz family, we’ve been fan of Truckfighters and all the label’s bands since years. We have always found that our music and its energy matched the label perfectly, so we are very happy and grateful that Mister Dango and Mister Ozo welcomed us.
Our upcoming release will push more our “stoner rock” music into new territories, with some touch of prog, doomy stuff and the addition of synth.
Bon appétit
Stay in tune for more news to come.
Band members: Fred: Vocals David: Guitar Thomas: Bass Rudy: Drums (new drummer)
Posted in Reviews on January 11th, 2018 by JJ Koczan
Day Four of the Quarterly Review! Welcome to the downswing. We’re past the halfway point and feeling continually groovy. Thus far it’s been a week of coffee and a vast musical swath that today only reaches even further out from the core notion of what may or may not make a release or a band “heavy.” Is it sound? Is it emotion? Is it concept? Fact is there’s no reason it can’t be all of those things and a ton more, so keep an open mind as you make your way through today’s batch and we’ll all come out of it better people on the other end. Alright? Alright. Here we go.
Quarterly Review #31-40:
Iron Monkey, 9-13
I’ll admit to some level of skepticism at the prospect of an Iron Monkey reunion without frontman Johnny Morrow, who died in 2002, but as founding guitarist Jim Rushby (now also vocals), bassist Steve Watson (who originally played guitar) and new drummer Brigga revive the influential UK sludge outfit with the nine songs of 9-13 on Relapse, it somehow makes sense that the band’s fuckall and irreverence would extend inward as well. That is, why should Iron Monkey find Iron Monkey an any more sacred and untouchable property than they find anything else? Ultimately, the decision will be up to the listener as to acceptance, but the furies of “OmegaMangler,” “Mortarhex,” “Doomsday Impulse Multiplier” and the nine-minute lumber-into-torrent closer “Moreland St. Hammervortex” make a pretty resounding argument that if you can’t get down with Iron Monkey as they are today, it’s going to be your loss and that, as ever, they couldn’t care less to see you stick around or see you go. So welcome back.
Mountain Legacy, which is the second Deadsmoke album for Heavy Psych Sounds, might be the heaviest release the label has put out to-date. For the band, it marks the arrival of keyboardist Claudio Rocchetti to the former trio, and from the lumbering space of aptly-titled post-intro opener “Endless Cave” to the later creeping lurch of “Wolfcurse,” it’s an outing worthy of comparison to the earlier work of Italian countrymen Ufomammut, but still rooted in the gritty, post-Sleep plod the band elicited on their 2016 self-titled debut (review here). The central difference seems to be an increase in atmospheric focus, which does well to enrich the listening experience overall, be it in the creepy penultimate interlude “Forest of the Damned” or side A finale “Emperor of Shame.” Whether this progression was driven by Rocchetti’s inclusion in the band or the other way around, it’s a marked showing of growth on a quick turnaround from Deadsmoke and shows them as having a much broader creative reach than expected. All the better because it’s still so devastatingly weighted.
To call Somnuri a formidable trio is underselling it. The Brooklynite three-piece is comprised of guitarist/vocalist Justin Sherrell (Blackout, ex-Bezoar, etc.), bassist Drew Mack (ex-Hull) and drummer Phil SanGiacomo (Family), and the noise they make on their Magnetic Eye-released self-titled debut is as progressive as it is intense. Recorded by Jeff Berner and mixed my SanGiacomo, cuts like “Kaizen” and “Same Skies” land with a doomed heft but move with the singular fury of the Northeastern US, and even as eight-minute closer “Through the Dead” balances more rock-minded impulses and seems to touch on a Soundgarden influence, it answers for the ultra-aggro tumult of “Pulling Teeth” just before. A flash of ambience in the drone interlude “Opaque” follows the plodding highlight “Slow Burn,” which speaks to yet another side of Somnuri’s potential – to create spaces as much as to crush them. With an interplay of cleaner vocals, screams, growls and shouts, there’s enough variety to throw off expectation, and where so much of New York’s noise-metal history is about angry single-mindedness, Somnuri’s Somnuri shows even in a vicious moment like “Inhabitant” that there’s more ground to cover than just being really, really, really pissed off.
Time to get weird. No. Really weird. In the end, I’m not sure Mumbai semi-improvisationalist troupe Daira did themselves any favors by making their sophomore LP, Vipreet Buddhi, a single 93-minute/16-track outing instead of breaking it into the two halves over which its course is presented – the first being eight distinct songs, the second a flowing single jam broken up over multiple parts – but one way or another, it’s an album that genuinely presents a vibe of its own, taking cues from heavy psych, jazz, funk, classic prog, folk and more as it plays through its bizarre and ambient flow, toying with jarring stretches along the way like the eerie “Apna Ullu Seedha” but so dug in by the time it’s jammed its way into “Dekho Laal Gaya” that it seems like there’s no getting out. It’s an overwhelming and unmanageable offering, but whoever said the avant garde wasn’t supposed to be a challenge? Certainly not Daira, and they clearly have plenty to say. Whatever else you listen to today, I can safely guarantee it won’t sound like this. And that’s probably true of every day.
Chest-compressing groove and drive will no doubt earn Hamburg four-piece Kavrila’s second album, Blight (on Backbite Records), some comparisons to Mantar, but to dig into tracks like “Gold” and “Each (Part Two)” is to find a surprising measure of atmospheric focus, and even a rage-roller like “Abandon” has a depth to its mix. Though it’s just 24 minutes long, I’d still consider Blight a full-length for the two-sided flow it sets up leading to the aforementioned “Gold” and “Each (Part Two),” both being the longest cut on their respective half of the record in addition to splitting the tracklisting, as well as for the grinding aspects of songs like “Apocalypse,” “Demolish” and “Golem” on side B, the latter of which takes the rhythmic churn of Godflesh to a point of extremity that even the earlier thrust of “Lungs” did little to foretell. There’s a balance of sludge and hardcore elements, to be sure, but it’s the anger that ultimately defines Blight, however coherent it might be (and is) in its violent intent.
Employing the session violin services of Jess Randall, the Melbourne-based two-piece of Brodric Wellington (drums/vocals) and Joseph Pap (guitar, bass, keys) – collectively known as Ivan – would seem to be drawing a specific line in the direction of My Dying Bride with their take on death-doom, but the emotionalist influence goes deeper than that on Strewn Across Stars, their second LP. Shades of Skepticism show themselves in opener and longest track (immediate points) “Cosmic Fear,” which demonstrates a raw production ready for the limited-cassette obscurism the band conjured for their 2016 debut, Aeons Collapse, but nonetheless fleshed out melodically in the guitar and already-noted, deeply prevalent string arrangement. The subsequent “Ethereal” (12:41), “Hidden Dimensions” (12:25) and “Outro” (8:18) dig even further into plodding shattered-self woefulness, with “Hidden Dimensions” providing a brief moment of tempo release before the violin and keys take complete hold in “Outro” to give listeners one last chance to bask in resonant melancholia. A genre-piece, to be sure, but able to stand on its own in terms of personality and patience alike.
Toronto singer-songwriter Clara Engel pays ambient folk homage to the Mexican surrealist painter/author with the five-tracks of Songs for Leonara Carrington, fleshing out creative and depth-filled arrangements that nonetheless hold fast to the intimate human core beneath. Engel’s voice is of singular character in its melding of gruff fragility, and whether it’s the psychedelic hypnosis of opener and longest track (immediate points) “Birdheaded Queen” or the seemingly minimalist drift of the penultimate “The Ancestor,” her confident melodies float atop gorgeous and sad instrumental progressions that cast an atmosphere of vast reaches. Even the more percussively active centerpiece “Microgods of all the Subatomic Worlds” feels informed by the gradual wash of guitar melody that takes hold on the prior “Sanctuary for Furies,” and as Engel brings in guest contributors for drums, bass, guitar, theremin and choir vocals alongside her own guitar, pump organ, flute and singing, there seems to be little out of her reach or scope. It is a joy to get lost within it.
I don’t know whether the title-cut of Blood on Satan’s Claw, the new two-songer EP from dirge-doomers Alastor, is leftover from the same sessions that bore their 2017 debut album for Twin Earth Records, Black Magic (review here), but as it’s keeping company with a near-11-minute take on Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Bad Moon Rising,” the four-piece’s return is welcome either way. Unsurprisingly, not much has changed in their approach in the mere months since the full-length was issued, but that doesn’t mean the swing of “Blood on Satan’s Claw,” the central riff of which owes as much to Windhand as to Sleep as to C.O.C.‘s “Albatross” as to Sabbath, isn’t worth digging into all the same, and with psychedelic vocals reminiscent of newer Monolord and flourish of creeper-style organ, its doom resounds on multiple levels leading into the aforementioned cover, which drawls out the classic original arrangement with a wilfully wretched tack that well earns a nod and raised claw. Alastor remain backpatch-ready, seemingly just waiting for listeners to catch on. If these tracks are any indication, they’ll get there.
Give it a couple minutes to get going and Fueltronaut, the debut full-length from French four-piece Deadly Vipers, is more than happy to serve up energetic post-Kyuss desert rock loyalism that’s true to form in both spirit and production. Shades of earliest Dozer and the wider pre-social media older-school Euro heavy underground show themselves quickly in “Universe,” but in the later mid-paced reach of “Stalker,” there’s more modern bluesy vibing and as the mega-fuzzed “Meteor Valley,” the driving jam of “Supernova,” and the let’s-push-the-vocals-really-high-in-the-mix-for-some-reason “Dead Summer” shove the listener onward with righteous momentum toward pre-outro closer “River of Souls,” each track getting longer as it goes, the melody that emerges there indeed feels like a moment of arrival. My only real complaint? The intro “Fuel Prophecy” and (hidden) outro, “Watch the Road End.” Especially with the immediacy that strikes when “Universe” kicks in and the resonant finish of “River of Souls” at its six-minute mark, having anything before the one and after the other seems superfluous. A minor quibble on an impressive debut (one could also ramble about cartoon tits on the cover, but what’s the point?) and showcase of potential from an exciting newcomer outfit clearly assured of the style for which they’re aiming.
Tokyo duo Storm of Void make their full-length debut with the nine-track/48-minute War Inside You, a full-length that might first snag attention owing to guest vocal spots from Napalm Death’s Mark “Barney” Greenway and Jawbox’s J. Robbins, but has no trouble holding that same attention with its progressive instrumental turns and taut execution. Released by Hostess Entertainment, it’s instrumental in bulk, with eight-string guitarist George Bodman (Bluebeard) and drummer Dairoku Seki (envy) coming together to deliver brisk and aggressive prog metal centered around chugging riffs and a tension that seems to take hold in “Into the Circle” and let up only for the momentary “Interlude” in the midsection before closer “Ghosts of Mt. Sleepwalker” finally allows for some exhalation. As for the guest spots, they’re nothing to complain about, and they break up the proceedings nicely placed as they are, but if Storm of Void are going to hook you, it’s going to be on their own merits, which are plentiful.
I don’t do podcasts that often at this point. I figure between the radio stream — which runs 24/7 — and the sundry track streams and other media, video premieres, and so on, there’s not much need. But every now and then I feel completely overwhelmed by the onslaught of music and the chance to put together a compilation of tracks is just too good to pass up. Most of the time, nobody complains. It being the internet, I generally take that as a good sign. If it sucked or was a crappy idea, for sure someone would be telling me to screw off.
So is there a running theme for this latest podcast transmission? Nope, not really. If you’re looking for something to tie it all together, it’s just stuff that I’ve been listening to lately. Some of it has already been covered — Low Orbit, T.G. Olson, 3rd Ear Experience — and some of it has coverage pending — Bong Wish, The Discussion, Arcadian Child, Zong, etc. — but basically this is all what that might be coming out of my speakers over the last however long. Couldn’t be any simpler than that, but for what it’s worth, I think it came together really well, whether it’s Telescope moving into Bong Wish or the transition into the second hour, which is ultra-tripped out, as usual.
As always, I hope you enjoy.
Track details follow:
First Hour:
0:00:00 Son of the Morning, “Left Hand Path” from Son of the Morning EP
0:05:08 All Souls, “Silence” from All Souls
0:09:15 Telescope, “With Your Truth” from Telescope EP
0:13:06 Bong Wish, “My Luv” from Bong Wish EP
0:15:29 Torso, “Mirror of My Mind” from Limbs
0:20:17 The Discussion, “Surf Jesus” from European Tour EP 2017
0:24:14 Arcadian Child, “Electric Red” from Afterglow
0:27:01 Comacozer, “Nystagmus” from Kalos Eidos Scopio
0:39:23 Deadly Vipers, “Dead Summer” from Fueltronaut
0:45:20 Low Orbit, “Dead Moon” from Spacecake
0:51:31 T.G. Olson, “On a High Like a Mountain” from Searching for the Ur-Plant
0:55:28 Jesus the Snake, “Karma” from Jesus the Snake
Second Hour:
1:03:31 Zong, “Cosmic Embryo” from Zong
1:16:18 Les Lekin, “Morph” from Died with Fear
1:29:50 3rd Ear Experience, “Infinite Unmanifest (Warm-up Jam Day One)” from Stoned Gold
1:46:34 Sleeping Pandora, “Sunrizer” from Quiet Pass
