Posted in Whathaveyou on February 7th, 2018 by JJ Koczan
You gotta watch out for these. They’re sneaky. Label samplers can be tricky in general — sometimes it’s nothing but rehashed tracks from years ago with one or two new songs from a band somebody’s trying to push, but with Heavy Psych Sounds, their annual sampler series has been a way of sneaking new tracks out for first public showcases. Last year, new Black Rainbows showed up, and sure enough they appear here as well, and there also seems to be some new stuff from The Freeks included, which as far as I’m concerned is reason enough on its own to chase the thing down. Also Tons will have a track on there ahead of their album release in April, and new Killer Boogie, so yeah, plenty to grab onto, and even the stuff that’s already out — Mother Engine, Fvzz Popvli, The Lords of Altamont, Nick Oliveri — is all still current, and righteous. That “Kyuss Dies” song is hilarious.
Full tracklisting follows here, courtesy of the PR wire:
As every Year, my little dear, what we have here is: HPS074 ***HEAVY PSYCH SOUNDS SAMPLER VOL.3***
We’re so proud to announce the new Sampler, is the third year we are going to release this, and tracklist look awesome!
You will find it in your HPS boxes when you will purchase from the site, or at some good festival in Europe for free at the merch table, or on tour with HPS bands…
RELEASE DATE: 16th MARCH 2018
PRESALE: 8th FEBRUARY 2018
Enjoy the tracklist!
Avon – Red Barn Black Rainbows – High To Hell Deadsmoke – Emperor Of Shame Fvzz Popvli – Lost In Time High Reeper – Die Slow House Of Broken Promises – Toranado Killer Boogie – Atomic Race Monsternaut – Landslide Mother Engine – Tokamak Nebula – Between Time Nick Oliveri (Kyuss Lives) – Kyuss Dies The Freeks – American Lighning The Lords Of Altamont – Going Downtown Tons – 99 Weed Balloons Turn Me On Dead Man – Vimana Wedge – Lucid
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.
Posted in Features on September 21st, 2017 by JJ Koczan
Starting tomorrow, the next three weeks are absolutely stupid with new albums. Over-the-top, ridiculous. An immediately-go-broke amount of music. Nothing less than an onslaught. We’re under attack.
Far be it from me to tell you how to spend your money — also far be it from me not to — but there’s some really killer stuff in here. As to why it’s all landing now? Some of it of course has to do with the timing of when it was recorded, bands hitting the studio in Spring before heading out on the road over the summer, but Fall releases also line up nicely for tours in October and November, heading into the holiday season, when the music industry basically shuts down. This is the last chance for releases to come out in 2017 and be considered for best-of-year lists.
I doubt the likes of Chelsea Wolfe or Godspeed You! Black Emperor or even Kadavar would cop to that as a motivating factor, instead pointing to the timing of Fall touring and so on, but these things are rarely coincidental. You know how there aren’t any blockbusters in January but every movie feels like it’s trying to win an Oscar? Same kind of deal.
Nonetheless, 2017 is laying it on particularly thick these next couple weeks, and as you can see in the lists below, if you’ve got cash to spend, you can pretty much choose your rock and roll adventure. I’ll add to this as need be as well, so keep an eye for changes:
Sept. 22:
Alcest, Souveinirs d’un Autre Monde (10th Anniversary Edition)
Brant Bjork, Europe ’16
Chelsea Wolfe, Hiss Spun
Epitaph, Claws
Faces of the Bog, Ego Death
The Flying Eyes, Burning of the Season
Fvzz Popvli, Fvzz Dei
Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Luciferian Towers
Jarboe & Father Murphy, Jarboe & Father Murphy
Monarch, Never Forever
Nibiru, Qaal Babalon
Process of Guilt, Black Earth
Satyricon, Deep Calleth Upon Deep
Spelljammer, Inches from the Sun (Reissue)
Thonian Horde, Inconnu
Trash Titan, Welcome to the Banana Party
Ufomammut, 8
With the Dead, Love from With the Dead
Wolves in the Throne Room, Thrice Woven
Sept. 29:
Cities of Mars, Temporal Rifts
Deadsmoke, Mountain Legacy
A Devil’s Din, One Hallucination Under God
Disastroid, Missiles
Jim Healey, Just a Minute More (Sept. 26)
Idylls, The Barn
Kadavar, Rough Times
Lucifer’s Chalice, The Pact
Monolord, Rust
Outsideinside, Sniff a Hot Rock
Radio Moscow, New Beginnings
Scream of the Butterfly, Ignition
Tronald, Tronald (Sept. 30)
Unsane, Sterilize
Wucan, Reap the Storm
Oct. 6:
Elder Druid, Carmina Satanae
Fireball Ministry, Remember the Story
Frank Sabbath, Are You Waiting? (Oct. 2)
Himmellegeme, Myth of Earth
House of Broken Promises, Twisted EP
O.R.B., Naturality
Primitive Man, Caustic
Spirit Adrift, Curse of Conception
Spotlights, Seismic
Sumokem, The Guardian of Yosemite
Torso, Limbs
White Manna, Bleeding Eyes
Also:
Oct. 13: Enslaved, Firebreather, I Klatus, R.I.P., Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats (reissue), Weird Owl, etc.
Oct. 20: Iron Monkey, Spectral Haze, Bell Witch, The Spacelords, etc.
Something I forgot?
Invariably, right? If you know of something not seen above that should be, then by all means, please leave a comment letting me know. My only ask is that you keep it civil and not call me a fucking idiot or anything like that. I write these posts very early in the day, and if something has been neglected, I assure you it’s not on purpose and I’m happy to correct any and all oversights.
Thanks for reading and happy shopping. Support local record stores.
Posted in Whathaveyou on June 30th, 2017 by JJ Koczan
Italian sludgers Deadsmoke will issue their second album for Heavy Psych Sounds this September. With the title set as Mountain Legacy, and newly-unveiled artwork keeping on theme with their 2016 self-titled debut (review here), it seems pretty safe to expect the same kind of formidable tones and riffs that album promulgated in cuts like “Endless Cave” and “Wolfcurse.” Some songs just sound heavy before you even hear them, and certainly the stated thematic the record will examine is one of considerable heft. We’ll see how it goes, I guess.
Either way, one looks forward to hearing Mountain Legacy when the time comes. Presales start Sept. 1, as the PR wire informs:
HPS Records & Booking presents a new release: DEADSMOKE – Mountain Legacy
THE NEW ALBUM OUT SEPTEMBER 29TH
PRESALE START SEPTEMBER 1ST
Mountain Legacy is an album exploring something fundamental to humanity: ISOLATION
The illusion of silence, which is a natural non-existing concept, is perfectly described by synthetized sounds and noises of the newly acquired band member Clavdio Rocchetti (In Zaire). These sounds are missing on the first self-titled release of Deadsmoke, so now the old tracks have been enriched and new ones have been composed providing a consistent psych-disturbed synthetized sound.
Everybody experiencing isolation and solitude on the mountain knows that the mind is constantly speaking. With a language made of noises. And the mountain itself is speaking. With a language made of slow, deep, grating, growling movements. This is what we try to represent with this album: a translation of how isolation can be felt. This is a precious legacy. The legacy of the previous album, the legacy of the mountain.
TRACKLIST
MALEVOLENT PATH ENDLESS CAVE HISS OF THE WITCH EMPEROR OF SHAME
WOLFCURSE FOREST OF THE DAMNED MOUNTAIN LEGACY
Deadsmoke is an Italian doom sludge band that sounds like amplifiers buried in the deep, with down-tuned monolithic guitar riff scraping the soil down to the core of the earth. Slow, hypnotic, dissonant cadences recall the eternal need for isolation and the atavistic fear of nothingness. Sub-frequencies corrode the one last trace of human cognition, apprehension and judgment.
Your soul is already burned, smoke is what remains.
Posted in Whathaveyou on July 6th, 2016 by JJ Koczan
With the final additions of Electric Citizen, Samavayo, Deadsmoke and Salem’s Pot, the lineup for Keep it Low 2016 in Munich, Germany, is complete. Presented by Sound of Liberation at the Feierwerk venue, the fest boasts John Garcia, Colour Haze, Elder and Greenleaf at the top of the bill and pulls acts from around Europe and the US together for a two-nighter focused on vibe and groove, but still pretty varied in its spirit overall between the likes of 1000mods and Deadsmoke. Wherever they’re at sound-wise, you’d be hard-pressed to find a dud in the bunch.
Last announcement from the fest follows here:
KEEP IT LOW 2016! Oct. 21st & 22nd… Electric Citizen, Salem’s Pot, Mother’s Cake, Samavayo & Deadsmoke complete the line-up!
We are pleased to tell you that our 2016 line-up is now complete: 21 bands that will blow your mind!!
Today, the American 70’s heavy rock influenced four-piece Electric Citizen, the Swedish catchy spooky doom rock quintet Salem’s Pot, the German not-quite-like-anything else stoner/heavy rock outfit Samavayo and the monolithic Italian doom sludge trio Deadsmoke joined the bill alongside previously announced John Garcia, Colour Haze, Karma To Burn, Elder, Greenleaf, The Atomic Bitchwax, Monkey3, 1000Mods, Toner Low, Black Rainbows, Fatso Jetson, Moaning Cities, Duel, Bright Curse, Grusom and Swan Valley Heights!
All those 4 bands released amazing new albums during the spring that you can listen to by clicking on the links above.
Also, due to the unfortunate cancellation of Kind, we are able to add John Garcia’s touring support band, Austrian Alternative Space Rockers Mother’s Cake! And we are very happy about that!
KEEP IT LOW 2016 will happen on October 21st and 22nd in FEIERWERK (Munich) and will greet with 3 stages and outside beergarden & skatepark. On this upcoming edition we are setting up a cozy and rain protected outside area with food and drink station. We also decided to play already on 2 stages on the Friday night and ending both KIL nights with aftershow parties and Dj Sets (Friday until 3 am and Saturday until 5 am).
Hard Tickets (2-day passes) are available on Woolheads for 65 €! Online tickets are also available on Eventim!
[Stream Deadsmoke’s Deadsmoke by clicking play above. Album out March 25 on Heavy Psych Sounds.]
The name of the game is plod. Deadsmoke, a newcomer trio from Italy who formed last year and already count themselves as veterans of Duna Jam, play it well on their self-titled debut. Released through Heavy Psych Sounds as arguably the most doomed release the imprint has issued, Deadsmoke‘s Deadsmoke lumbers under massive tonal heft, offering five tracks in a relatively brief 30-minute span that feels like more because of the impact of its material. Channeling Conan and Ufomammut across earlier cuts like opener “Branches of Evil” and “Eyes of the Blind Man,” the album deepens its breadth as it plays out through “Liar Behind Me,” “Tornado” and “Night of the Vipers,” but holds firm to the spacious aggression shown in its early stretches.
Contextually, the artwork of a dark mountain scene, barren winding road, no colors, snow on the ground, makes sense as a complement to the Alpine weight of the tracks themselves, and while the three-piece of guitarist/vocalist Matteo Lescio, bassist Gianmaria and drummer Maurice Belloti are still potentially in a nascent stage of development, they successfully avoid the trap of falling into line with post-Electric Wizard doom while expanding their basic sonic reach into psychedelia. Treatment of Matteo‘s voice, which shouts up from a trench of dense tones, adds to the spaces Deadsmoke create, but there really isn’t a moment in the five songs that the riff isn’t leading the way. That, of course, is the whole idea.
Repetition works out to be one of the most effective weapons in Deadsmoke‘s arsenal, and that, along with some of the use of synth/effects later in the record and the blown-out feel of the vocals in “Branches of Evil,” draws a line directly to Ufomammut as an influence. There are far worse acts to be working off of, frankly, and as they chug out the main riff in the opening track, Deadsmoke do so with flourishes of feedback, samples, effects and other sundry noises that add to the individual impression, though it’s not until halfway through the opener, when the chanting-style singing begins, that a fuller distinction is made. Touchstones in Monolord, Toner Low, and other bands whose largesse is a point of definition. “Branches of Evil” rolls to a finish and “Eyes of the Blind Man” seems to nod directly at Conan‘s “Crown of Talons” at its start, though it’s not long before it establishes its own vibe, again thanks in no small part to the vocals.
Like the opener, the pace is slow, deliberate and punctuated by low-toned snare as the vocals swap between cleaner singing, shouts and screams, the latter of which comes most forward in the second half as the guitar, bass and drums drop out for a measure and the abrasion hits in full force. The second track is the shortest at 4:41, but leaves a memorable impression nonetheless as its finish sweeps into the opening of centerpiece “Liar Behind Me,” more chugging and rumbling taking hold, but this time pushed faster. Particularly doomed as a foreshadow of “Night of the Vipers” still to come, “Liar Behind Me” also begins to shift the focus away from the raw tonal onslaught of “Branches of Evil” and “Eyes of the Blind Man” through an ambient break about 90 seconds in, steady drums topped with a quick tripped-out solo before the thrust resumes. It’s a brief interlude, but it effectively sets the stage for “Tornado” and “Night of the Vipers” on side B, and so serves as a fitting centerpiece.
In some ways, it’s a sign of both underlying consciousness and mercy that the album is only a half-hour long. Yes, repetition is an important factor, but even on “Tornado,” which creeps out its opening and establishes a central groove from there without letting go for its seven-minute span (the longest included here), one could hardly accuse Deadsmoke of overdoing it, and that sense of balance works greatly to their benefit. That, coupled with the gallop early, experiments in vocals — vague whispers, maybe samples, etc. — and the wash of psych guitar noise that emerges late — not to mention the bassline — makes “Tornado” both the stylistically boldest and most satisfying individual cut, and it too offers plenty of stomp, particularly in its repetitively marching midsection, stomping its way toward the aforementioned guitar wash with a chugging ritualism that rounds out to let the bass open “Night of the Vipers,” also nearly seven minutes long but darker in its overall direction.
Harsher vocals return to tie the album together, and “Night of the Vipers” seems to take a cue from Pallbearer and/or Candlemass in its mournful lead at the halfway point, which tops the excruciatingly slow pacing with an unexpected sense of emotionalism before the consuming whirlpool of fuzz resumes once again to draw Deadsmoke down to the album’s finish, which comes in a few final crashes and thuds and a minute or so of residual amp noise on an extended fade. It can be difficult for a band, especially for one so new, to mark itself out from prevalent modern influences, and where some groups spend years in the rehearsal room or in tiny bars, Deadsmoke are playing out the first levels of their progression here on this debut. I won’t say they don’t have growing to do, but the way they’ve structured their first album and the surehandedness with which they guide their aesthetic speak volumes as to their potential, and when it comes to anything voluminous, clearly Deadsmoke have it covered.
Posted in Whathaveyou on January 12th, 2016 by JJ Koczan
With plans to tour Europe in May to support the album, Italian sludge rollers Deadsmoke unveil the cover art and the centerpiece track from their self-titled debut, due out March 25 on Heavy Psych Sounds. The song, “Liar Behind Me,” can be heard below, and is plenty vicious, with echoing shouts cutting through a deeply weighted tonal heft that seems intent simply on crushing whatever might be in its path. How that plays out over the course of Deadsmoke‘s Deadsmoke remains to be seen, but it’s an encouraging start, and if you take a look at the artwork below, it seems doubtful things are going to get brighter from there.
Dig it:
DEADSMOKE to release self-titled album this March on Heavy Psych Sounds
After they won their spurs at last year’s Duna Jam festival, Italian doom and gloom merchants DEADSMOKE are set to release their tenebrous, thunderous self-titled debut LP on Heavy Psych Sounds. Discover the artwork and a first song off “Deadsmoke” now.
DEADSMOKE is a newcoming yet promising Italian sludge outfit who sounds like amplifiers buried in the deep, with down-tuned monolithic guitar riff scraping the soil down to the core of the earth. Slow, hypnotic, dissonant cadences recall the eternal need for isolation and the atavistic fear of nothingness. Sub-frequencies corrode the one last trace of human cognition, apprehension and judgment. Despair has never been as compelling that now.
TRACK LISTING: 1. Branches Of Evil 2. Eyes Of The Blind Man 3. Liar Behind Me 4. Tornado 5. Night Of The Vipers
Released 25.03.2016 in Ltd Gold Vinyl, Black Vinyl, Cd and Digital
Deadsmoke is an Italian doom sludge band that sounds like amplifiers buried in the deep, with down-tuned monolithic guitar riff scraping the soil down to the core of the earth. Slow, hypnotic, dissonant cadences recall the eternal need for isolation and the atavistic fear of nothingness. Sub-frequencies corrode the one last trace of human cognition, apprehension and judgment.
Your soul is already burned, smoke is what remains.
Posted in Whathaveyou on November 27th, 2015 by JJ Koczan
Italian three-piece newcomers Deadsmoke make a fitting complement to the already-announced early 2016 release list for Heavy Psych Sounds, whose expanding roster over the course of this year has made it one of the most up and coming heavy rock imprints in the US or Europe, even if the albums are just starting to materialize from the likes of Ape Machine and Isaak. The momentum will continue in Feb. 2016 with Banquet and Duel, and in March, it’s Holy Grove and Deadsmoke, who’ll be making their self-titled debut late in the month.
A teaser trailer has been posted for the record that’s basically just 50 seconds of a riff, but it says plenty about the band’s mindset and tonal density, and about the largesse of groove that will be on offer at least somewhere on the album when it arrives. Other details, presumably, are forthcoming, but here’s the announcement from the label, who can’t seem to let a week or two slip by these days without adding a new band to the roster:
HEAVY PSYCH SOUNDS RECORDS is stoked to announce a new band in the roster: *** Deadsmoke ***
Deadsmoke is a doom sludge Italian band sounding like deep entombed amplifiers and downtuned monolithic guitars scraping the soil down to the core of the sphere. Slow hypnotic not-harmonic cadences refresh the eternal need of isolation and the atavistic fear of nothingness. Sub lowered frequencies corrode the one last trace of human cognition, apprehension and judgment. Your soul already burned, smoke is what remains.
They already played at the mighty Duna Jam last summer and you will have the chance to see the band live at the HPS Fest Vol 2 in Rome December 12-2016!
