Ultimately, it’s not such a huge surprise to find Albuquerque-based trio Red Mesa — who Desert Records founder Brad Frye and Monolith on the Mesa co-founder Roman Barham in their ranks along with bassist/vocalist Alex Cantwell, who I’m sure runs a record pressing plant or something likewise relevant — digging into doomier sounds. As much as the band are of the desert regionally, their 2020 full-length, The Path to the Deathless (review here), offered an array of sonic branchouts, demonstrating their will not to be pigeonholed in terms of style. The new single “Forest Cathedral” finds its equilibrium in chunky-style riffs and a classic nod that’s malevolent in atmosphere even as the lyrics offer a sense of worship for the natural world.

Red Mesa have live shows coming up starting tomorrow and running throughout Spring, including a brief stint with Cloud Catcher, and have already been announced for this year’s Monolith on the Mesa as well in September. If there are further recording plans (aren’t there always?), I’ve no specifics to offer, but I wouldn’t read “Forest Cathedral” as a radical shift in overarching direction for the band as much as the three-piece continuing to explore having multiple songwriters tapping into a greater swath of influence even than what they showed two years ago. Continued progression, heavy riffs. Claiming more territory and topography with their sound. I will not argue.

It’s not streaming yet, but info on what drove Cantwell into the forest follows here ahead of preorders starting next week. As per the PR wire:

RED MESA to release their new Doom Metal single “Forest Cathedral” on May 6th via Desert Records

The heavy desert trio will start preorder on April 1st (Bandcamp only) for limited edition 7″ lathe vinyl & merch bundle that will include Taos desert sage, t-shirt, patch, stickers.

A walk in the woods. That’s what inspired Red Mesa’s new single “Forest Cathedral” on Desert Records. Not to sound trite, but even saying that anything “inspired” the song is a misnomer. A more accurate way to explain how the song came about is that it was “revealed” to bass player Alex Cantwell during repeated hikes in the same area of Oak Flat in Tijeras, NM.

“In New Mexico where we live”, explains Alex, “there are different topographies within a short drive from each other including high desert landscapes, forested mountains, river valleys with old growth trees called the bosque, sand dunes, grass plains, salt flats, caves, etc. This provides an aesthetic variety and different perspectives. I spent 10 months renting a cabin in the mountains in the forest, and it was an amazing place to spend time. I especially loved my frequent hikes, and this song, riff by riff was all pieced together in my head as the muse provided it to me and made it available for me to snatch out of the air. The lyrics are simply an outpouring of simple gratitude for the forest itself.”

“Forest Cathedral” sees Red Mesa embracing it’s gratitude and reverence for something else as well; doom metal. While their 2020 album “The Path to the Deathless” saw the band branch out from a desert rock format with nods to Kyuss, but also Motorhead, east coast doom, and expansive soundscapes that would give way to quiet acoustic passages and death metal alike, this new single is a nod to true doom, but done in Red Mesa’s ever-evolving style.

RED MESA hit the road this spring for a mini-tour with Cloud Catcher, and shows with Earthless, Nebula.

3/25 LAUNCHPAD- Albuquerque, NM w/Destroyer of Light
3/30 LAUNCHPAD- Albuquerque, NM w/REZN
4/10 LAUNCHPAD – Albuquerque, NM w/Earthless
5/7 LAUNCHPAD – Albuquerque, NM w/Nebula, Year of the Cobra
5/14 TRINIDAD LOUNGE, Trinidad, CO w/Cloud Catcher
5/15 REVOLT GALLERY, Taos, NM w/Cloud Catcher
5/16/22 TUMBLEROOT BREWERY Santa Fe, NM w/Cloud Catcher
5/17 LAUNCHPAD – Albuquerque, NM w/Cloud Catcher
5/27-5/28 – THE FEST IN THE NEST- Eagle Nest, NM.

Red Mesa is (L to R): Alex Cantwell – bass/vox, Brad Frye – guitar/vox, Roman Barham – drums/backing vox

https://www.facebook.com/redmesaband/
https://www.instagram.com/redmesaband/
https://redmesarock.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/desertrecordslabel/
https://desertrecords.bandcamp.com/
https://desertrecords.bigcartel.com/

Red Mesa, The Path to the Deathless (2020)

There’s a lot of information below. Here’s a few takeaways. Blake Edward Conley, aka Droneroom, is going to release a new full-length through Desert Records called Whatever Truthful Understanding on April 15. Right now, you can stream the premiere of the opening track “God Does Not Help Those Who Are Invisible” below — note the crickets are in the song, not in your house — and if you want to go ahead and do that, that’s fine. You’ve gotten the essentials that you most need from this post and I thank you for your time.

If you’re still here — hi! — there’s so much deeper that you can dig. Whether it’s the fact that this isn’t even Conley‘s first album of 2022 or that he’s opening up the project to outside collaborators for the first time or approaching the construction of the album like the telling of a cinematic narrative through impressionist soundscapes, sometimes minimal, sometimes encompassing. It’s a breadth-born desert blues that feels like the beginning explorations of a new kind of folk as much as an established modus of experimentalist Americana. One way or the other, we go adventuring someplace where scorpions live.

Not a one of the five inclusions on the record are under 10 minutes long, so understand as you immerse in “God Does Not Help Those Who Are Invisible” that while each piece has its own persona — the warped speech of “Mojave Pastoral,” the voluminous wash of “Beyond the Horse Gate,” etc. — they are all tied together by a willingness to deep-dive into ambience in a way that may at times seem opaque, but is nonetheless right there, waiting to be understood. Headphones? Nighttime? Maybe, if it wouldn’t scare the crap out of you.

Enjoy:

Droneroom ‘Whatever Truthful Understanding’ – 4/15/2022 – Desert Records

Droneroom is the nom de strum of Blake Edward Conley, a certified Kentucky Colonel and the self-professed ‘Cowboy of Drone’. Conley has demonstrated his ability to drift, twang, and sear over the course of numerous releases (including …The Other Doesn’t, Neon Depression, and Negative Libra), but on his new album, he does something he has never done before. While prior drone releases have predominantly featured the stinging bite of his telecaster and the occasional wash of lapsteel, Conley finally succumbs to the lure of having the acoustic be at the forefront.

Recorded by Conley at Here There Are No Answers in Las Vegas and mastered by Jason Lamoreaux in Shepherdsville KY, this is hardly droneroom ‘Unplugged’. Conley allows the naturalistic chime of the instrument to be warped by beds of drones, his walls of effect pedals, and unexpected field recordings to create an atmosphere that feels both out of and deeply embedded in the world.

The title “Whatever Truthful Understanding” is derived from the dedication in a century old book about the history of Kentucky. The music was written in the wake of an emotionally taxing relocation from Louisville to the cosmopolitan blight of Las Vegas. Conley has often made music that reflects the wider expanses of the desert, but living in a city surrounded by it has opened up his sound even further. Here he displays finger picking that drones, that leads, that bounces, that grinds. Tempos flutter like ripples on ponds, notes cascading like rain on rooftops. Here Conley truly embraces guitar techniques he hasn’t before.

“God Doesn’t Help Those Who Are Invisible” begins with the sound of crickets before drifting into a twangy nocturne, a pensive walk through a desert landscape of trying to find one’s self. This is embellished by the ending which features the sounds of a car starting resulting in a static wave of radio sounds which drops us into ‘Just One More Thing’. This track’s Junior Kimbrough-esque blues drone momentum definitely lends itself to a bad drive to something unseemly. This trip ends in a road hazard fever dream named “Mojave Pastoral”. This track is another first from Conley with the accompaniment of the Texolina Electric Lawyers.

The TEL include Adrian Voorhies of Cortege on shirtless jazz swing and Keith RN Chandler of odd.circles on dual basses and their improvised performances to Conley’s guitar, along with a disembodied field recording of an unsettling trip, provide a hallucinogenic chamber performance. The comedown from this is “We Are The Creatures This Desert Makes Us”. The quietest and gentlest piece, it is the perfect lull before the storm that is “Beyond The Horse Gate”. This searing finale creeps in gently before building itself up into the loudest part of the whole record, the inevitable storm, the final decisive moment of clarity, what truly lies at the end of the journey.

And that is what this album ultimately is – a journey. Whether one across the country, or from destruction to health, or even vice versa, “Whatever Truthful Understanding” is the compelling feeling to seek out and process. A map for you, the listener. Keep your eyes on the road. -Ira Kinder, Zippo Museum Bradford, PA 1/21/22

1 God Does Not Help Those Who Are Invisible
2 Just One More Thing
3 Mojave Pastoral
4 We Are The Creatures This Desert Makes Us
5 Beyond The Horse Gate

CREDITS:

droneroom is Blake Edward Conley- acoustic guitar, fender amp, drones, field recordings

Recorded at Here There Are No Answers in Las Vegas NV 2021
Edits, EQs, & Mixing by Keith RN Chandler at Childhood Memories in Swansboro NC
Post-Production & Mastering by Jason T Lamoreaux at Somewherecold Studios in Shepherdsville KY

Mojave Pastoral features the Texolina Electric Lawyers, composed of Adrian Voorhies on drums and Keith RN Chandler on stand up bass.

AV drums recorded by Chris Meyers at the Crystal Palace in Austin TX
KRC stand up bass recorded by KRC at Childhood Memories in Swansboro NC

AV also performs with Cortége and the Tennessee Stiffs
KRC performs with odd.circles and Lucy Stoner

Field and voice recordings courtesy of Lexi Kite, Amber Biggs, Trevor Evans-Young, Nick Kizirnis, and various other unidentified sources.

Photography by BEC
Photo enhancement by Carlie Rhoads

https://www.facebook.com/Droneroom
https://www.instagram.com/droneroomnotdrones/
https://droneroom.bandcamp.com/
https://droneroomswc.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/desertrecordslabel/
https://desertrecords.bandcamp.com/
https://desertrecords.bigcartel.com/

Droneroom, Sage Metallic (2022)

The Obelisk Questionnaire is a series of open questions intended to give the answerer an opportunity to explore these ideas and stories from their life as deeply as they choose. Answers can be short or long, and that reveals something in itself, but the most important factor is honesty.

Based on the Proust Questionnaire, the goal over time is to show a diverse range of perspectives as those who take part bring their own points of view to answering the same questions. To see all The Obelisk Questionnaire posts, click here.

Thank you for reading and thanks to all who participate.

The Obelisk Questionnaire: Corey Quintana of Nebula Drag

—

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

I’m a guitar player who also sings. I wanted a guitar from the first time I saw one.

Describe your first musical memory.

I have lots of “musical memories,” but my first musical instrument encounter was when I was around eight or nine, I was living with my Grandma, and her oldest daughter had just attacked her husband with a late ’60s Teisco electric guitar, which ended up getting the neck broken off of it. I walked into the house and saw the guitar all busted up and shit, and was smitten with it real quick! I still couldn’t have it though and they threw it away.

Describe your best musical memory to date.

My favorite music memory? Just one is Impossible. For sure when I saw Pink Floyd in Sacramento in ’88 or when my friend dragged me along to see Pantera and White Zombie. Could also be the first real show I ever played when my band opened for Operation Ivy up in Redding, CA in the ’80s. But a more contemporary answer would be when Nebula Drag played our first show with YOB.

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

Tough question. I feel like my beliefs are tested almost daily. I question most everything and as I get older, I continue to grow and change… as do my beliefs.

Where do you feel artistic progression leads?

I wanna say that artistic progression leads to happiness and possible knowledge… if it’s what you really enjoy or love.

How do you define success?

I define success by not quitting! Unless of course some horrible shit happens and forces one to change their path.

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

Those ASPCA commercials are pretty tough on the tear ducts.

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

Doing good to finish up our third album during a pandemic.

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

To express and to inspire.

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

Family vacation!!!

https://www.facebook.com/NebulaDragz/
https://www.instagram.com/nebuladrag/
https://nebuladrag.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/desertrecordlabel/
https://desertrecords.bigcartel.com/
https://desertrecords.bandcamp.com

Nebula Drag, Blud (2019)

The Obelisk Questionnaire is a series of open questions intended to give the answerer an opportunity to explore these ideas and stories from their life as deeply as they choose. Answers can be short or long, and that reveals something in itself, but the most important factor is honesty.

Based on the Proust Questionnaire, the goal over time is to show a diverse range of perspectives as those who take part bring their own points of view to answering the same questions. To see all The Obelisk Questionnaire posts, click here.

Thank you for reading and thanks to all who participate.

The Obelisk Questionnaire: Brad Frye of Red Mesa & Desert Records

—

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

I am the sole owner/operator of the small record label, Desert Records.

I am the founding member of the desert rock band, Red Mesa.

Both the label and band are very active and take all my free time when I’m not working or raising my family. I live in Albuquerque, NM, a place I moved to in 2010 to start a “desert rock” band, which directly led to me forming Red Mesa. New Mexico is high desert, I live at 5,000 feet of elevation here in the city. The energy and spirit of the high desert helps fuel my creativity and stamina for both of these projects.

With the label, it’s 100% DIY. At the moment, I have 23 bands/artists on the label with 20 albums being released in 2021. This might be boring… but here’s the basic run-down of what I do with DR. I scout and sign bands, send out agreements/contracts, organize all aspects of releases, do all the admin work for setting up the music for streaming/distribution/direct sales. I do all the PR campaigns in house. I do all the accounting reports and handle all finances. I run the label’s social media/ marketing/advertising. On top of that, I spend a fair amount of time talking/messaging/emailing with the bands/artists directly. My approach is to operate a label that supports the musical vision of the artists on the label.

Overall, it’s a ton of work, a true labor of love. I put my heart and soul into this. So far, I have not been able to pay myself or bring home money to my family. I hope so one day, but in the meantime I reinvest any profits back into the label to help it grow.

Describe your first musical memory.

I guess it would be listening to cassette tapes in my folks car in the early 80’s in rural Maine. My parents introduced me to The Beatles, CCR, Bob Segar, Bruce Springsteen, and ’50s-’80s radio pop and rock. No one in my family played music, so I didn’t grow up around instruments nor did I see any live music as a kid.

Describe your best musical memory to date.

My first concert was seeing Tool in 1998 in Lewiston, ME. I was 18, a senior in high school, and it was truly the first big concert I had ever seen. They were touring for the Aenima album and they were in their prime. Completely blew my mind. That experience has stuck with me.

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

Good question. Hard to pick one moment. Daily, I am confronted with doubt and belief, good and evil, light and dark, peace and chaos. I am not religious, but I am certainly of the spiritual realm (I believe we all are). Finding the peace within is the only thing that will keep me (or anyone) balanced to deal with all of life’s pressures and stress. Then you die. You can die at any minute. I do not want to be surprised by death. I want to be able to be at peace with that moment whenever it comes.

Where do you feel artistic progression leads?

Evolution of the individual. Honesty. Finding the peace within. There is no other point to life. Stasis is death…

How do you define success?

The correct and true answer is happiness. My motto is “Follow your projects with purpose and passion without attachment to the outcome.” That is much easier said than done. Happiness in art can get buried in a number of things in which musicians and labels also have to gauge as “success”. When running a record label, you are helping release someone else’s art. This is extremely important to them, and must be handled with the utmost respect and care for their music. There are deadlines, budgets, sales goals, social media, growing a fan base, playing live shows/tours, on and on and on….It’s easy to get lost in the work and stress of it all. You have to believe in the music.

It’s the same with making your own music. You have to love it for yourself. You can’t care if anyone else will love it or hate it. You must also find a balance in your life…income, rent & bills, family, health, etc.

All the bands and labels that I work/communicate with do not earn any income from their music.

This is a tough reality to swallow. That means you really have to have your shit together.

Do not take things too seriously. Enjoy what you are doing. Play what you love and what makes you happy. If you can sit outside with your instrument in nature and play for no one AND be happy, you are doing fine. Truly, nothing else really matters.

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

Greed, hatred, and violence. It all stems from fear. I have seen it from myself. I have seen it from people I love. I see it daily in my neighborhood. On the news/internet/social media. Something about those things make being a human being seem disgusting and hopeless. I still believe in love and gratitude. I strive to cultivate those on a daily basis to destroy fear.

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

An instrumental/ambient/western/drone solo album(s). I have hundreds of voice memos on my iPhone of little ideas and pieces of music. I find it relaxing to play stuff that isn’t a structured song. When I get some time, I will start putting these together and record/release some of this stuff.

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

To connect humans to a higher level of consciousness. Art provides perspective. It is an expression. It provides hope that life is not just work, chores, routine, birth and death cycles. Good music has always inspired me. Inspiration can be a powerful factor in motivating humans to strive for a higher consciousness.

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

Raising my one-year-old son, Wyatt. He’s changed my life for the better. I want to be the best father I can be for him.

https://www.facebook.com/redmesaband/
https://www.instagram.com/redmesaband/
https://redmesarock.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/desertrecordslabel/
https://desertrecords.bandcamp.com/
https://desertrecords.bigcartel.com/

Red Mesa, The Path to the Deathless (2020)

I’m not going to be the one to tell you that it doesn’t matter that Albuquerque, New Mexico, duo Gral Brothers — also stylized as GRAL Brothers in honor of combining the first names of component members Greg Williams and Alex McMahon — recorded Dawson Cemetery at least partially in the real-world locale the name of which it bears as its title. Obviously they thought it mattered enough to drag gear into the place and do the thing, and that in itself is value. What I will say is that as you listen to the premiere of “383” below ahead of the download-and-limited-tape-only release’s Halloween arrival, if you’re not actually leaning on some gravestone smoking a clove cigarette like you were when you were 16, it still works.

Ambient experimentalist drone is never going to be everybody’s bag. Nor should it be. It’s not meant to be. If you can put yourself in the right headspace for this, though, the rewards are right there in the listening experience. Like the prior-streamed opener “Underbridge,” “383” is evocative and desolate. The song takes its title from the number of people killed in mine explosions between 1913 and 1923 who are buried there, and what was an actual town surrounding has been gone since the middle of the last century, so yes, with just the cemetery remaining, desolation should be the thematic base from which Gral Brothers are drawing. The site is listed among New Mexico’s “most haunted” — Pennsylvania imprint Perpetual Doom, which is co-releasing Dawson Cemetery with Desert Records, issues a warning that the tapes are as well — and that feel certainly carries over to the wistfulness of the music itself.

But the point here is to go exploring with it and see where it takes you. So do that.

Copious background follows, courtesy of Desert Records.

Enjoy:

Gral Brothers, “383” track premiere

GRAL Brothers ‘Dawson Cemetery’

This is a co-release with Perpetual Doom.

Only available on Bandcamp – digital and cassette tape only.

No streaming services. No distribution.

If you have found your way here, you are on the right path as a true music fan.

https://thegralbrothers.bandcamp.com/album/dawson-cemetery

https://perpetualdoom.bandcamp.com/album/dawson-cemetery

HOW COOL IS THIS?!

The brand new GRAL Brothers album is the true spirit of Desert Records.

Greg (GR) and Alex (AL) took their instruments, microphones, and handheld recording devices to Dawson, NM to record this album in a cemetery.

Dawson Cemetery, in fact.

Then, they took all their recordings and tracks home to Albuquerque, NM and mixed it together with the eerie field recordings they captured.

They got more than just music…listen and hear for yourself.

Side A is the “above” ground side.

Side B is the “below” ground side.

What is it about a cemetery that’s so unsettling?  Silk flowers fading in the sun, cracked weathered granite, stillness and goatheads. Quietness quickly disrupted by creaking gates and birdsong. Moment fading into moment, listening to the metronome of your temple as you consider your mortal fate more and more centered. Feeling small and vulnerable on a timeline that has already seen more seasons than you ever will, and allowing that feeling to oscillate and sustain.

A heavy sadness radiates from Dawson. A lead blanket of wildflowers and stooping bluffs. A small occasional river like the veins of a blue-blood carrying ancient coal dust. A ghost town that’s survived by photos and occasional visitations to swap out silk flowers and offer a moment of solace, realizing you’re standing on top of waves of death and loss that tell a story of a state in which you’d feel alien, even though this place was home to so many. But that’s what this is, listening to a story that you’re provisionally a part of, tangibly apart from. Wondering if in another hundred years people will make this trip out of morbid curiosity and retell this story over a newer, stranger timeline.

We respond to the heaviness, the unknown, the happenchance beauty of bird calls and wrought iron gate squeals. With geophones and field recorders we amplify the voices of this place, we offer a platform to share a story that will continue to be told. Dawson comes to life again, not to descend again into the Stag Canyon Mine but instead to be in the spotlight. One place that holds so much while being so securely out of the way. Five miles north of Highway 64, through Spring Canyon where every season puts on its cyclical display of birth, death and rebirth.

A portable generator gives my amplifier life in a tunnel under the road. A tunnel with names carved in it, dating back to the 1930’s. A tunnel that served as another conduit, offering overtones and reflections from beyond life, echoing the canyon winds and elk calls. The sounds here could never be credited as just our own, instead we’re having a conversation with those who still call Dawson home. In fact, we are really the conduit, responding immediately to what this place makes us feel and following those instincts as far as they’d take us. Transporting us across timelines, relishing temporality and life while honoring death’s certainty and depth. Like stone slowly being worn away by wind and water, we’ve unearthed stories from the Northern New Mexico relic that can now be retold.

-GRAL

Dawson Cemetary

Side A/”Above”
Underbridge
Rail Canyon
Vermijo River
Rork, JD & Trujillo

Side B/”Below”
383
Phelps Dodge
Opera House
Stag Canyon Mine

Album Credits:

All compositions made by Alex McMahon and Greg Williams of GRAL Brothers.

Recorded remotely in Dawson NM at Dawson Cemetery.

Processed, edited and overdubbed in Albuquerque NM by GRAL.

Mastered by Chris Leva.

https://facebook.com/gralbrothersmusic/
https://www.instagram.com/gralbrothersmusic/
https://thegralbrothers.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/desertrecordslabel/
https://desertrecords.bandcamp.com/
https://desertrecords.bigcartel.com/
https://www.instagram.com/perpetualdoom/
https://perpetualdoom.bandcamp.com/
http://www.perpetualdoom.com/

Gral Brothers, Dawson Cemetery tape teaser

Gral Brothers, Dawson Cemetery (2021)

Portland, Oregon’s The Misery Men are set to release their third album, Devillusion, on Oct. 1 through Desert Records. It is a record that immediately wants some context, first for its homage to Chris “Snow Bud” Newman in the covers “Cat With Nine Lives” (premiering below) and “The Reaper.” Those tracks are by Newman-inclusive outfits Napalm Beach and Snow Bud and the Flower People and they appear here following Newman‘s death earlier this Spring and include different players from Portland’s underground than appear on the rest of Devillusion, save of course for The Misery Men founder Corey G. Lewis (vocals, rhythm guitar) and lead guitarist Rob Wrong, whom one might recognize from Witch Mountain or his work in The Skull circa 2019. Wrong also produced the album, with Lewis, at his newly established Wrong Way Recording Studio, though it’s easy enough to think that Billy Frickin’ Anderson, who plays bass, had some opinions to share in that regard as well, his engine-ear work being the stuff of legend at this point. Blah blah Neurosis, Sleep, Acid King, and if you need more names than that — you don’t — there are a million of ’em, right up to The Misery Men‘s 2020 album, Doomtopia (discussed here). While we’re talking about legends, Tad Doyle (TAD, Brothers of the Sonic Cloth) mastered.

The band proper, as opposed to the band doing the Newman tributes, is rounded out by Breath drummer Ian Caton, who also plays in the more meditative outfit Breathe, labelmates to The Misery Men on Desert Records. The mission here, which believe it or not given the swath of information above is stripped-down, digging to the roots of grunge where it turned from punk and noise to something thicker, groovier, and ultimately more its own. The Misery Men — Lewis, Wrong, Anderson and Caton — cap Devillusion with a cover of PJ Harvey‘s “To Bring You My Love” to emphasize the point, but it’s right there from the early, gritty chug of “Devil’s Balls” onward into the howl-laced “Werewolf” and the more decidedly punk “Iron Front,” sleek-but-lumbering riffs offset by Wrong‘s scorcher solos topped with Lewis‘ throaty delivery. In overall sound, the eight-song/38-minute course of Devillusion is lean and raw, suited to the style the band is leaning into, but as side B hits the brakes following “The Reaper” and plods out “Tardigrades” ahead of the more explosive “Nirüth,” which Cobain‘s out its ending lines as it invariably must, the procession of ideas is by no means disjointed. There’s a lot going on, one way or the other.

If you find that you’re somewhat overwhelmed by the fact that The Misery Men play out two of their eight inclusions here as a different lineup, or that you’re unfamiliar with Newman‘s work and concerned you might be missing something as regards hearing Devillusion, do what I do: put it on. The simple truth of the matter is that whether it’s the swing and swagger of “Cat With Nine Lives” taking hold after the “we don’t tolerate scum” reaffirmation of “Iron Front,” or the drawling, swirling conjurations of “To Bring You My Love” at the finish, The Misery Men make it easy on the listener. Riffs, grooves, guts. Whoever’s involved, when, where and why, the songs come together around Lewis‘ gruff vocals and around the baseline purpose of heavy, sludge-minded rock. The dive just happens to go deeper as well.

You can hear “Cat With Nine Lives” on the player below and watch the accompanying, shenanigans-laced video. What follows thereafter is info from Lewis about Devillusion, the process of making it and the reasoning why. It’s a lot, but if you didn’t like words, what are you still doing reading this?

Please enjoy:

The Misery Men, “Cat With Nine Lives” official video premiere

“I started writing Devillusion at the beginning of the Pandemic. 16 months of bloodletting 5 songs and 3 covers later we have an album. It was a therapeutic writing process to say the least. Inspired by the “Grunge” influencers in the PNW like Napalm Beach, Dead Moon, The Wipers, that definitely impacted TAD, Nirvana, Alice In Chains, Screaming Trees, Soundgarden, etc. I wanted to pay homage to the folks who laid the foundation and paved the path that we walk down. I’m humbled and grateful daily that I have found a vortex that aligns with my frequencies to allow me through great collaboration to tap into the ether, transmutating a Rock n’ Roll album I feel proud to be a part of and co-produce with Rob Wrong. We all had a good time making this album. It’s been challenging but ever rewarding.

I had asked Chris Newman to collaborate on something, maybe lay down a solo or harmonize on a song or write something together, and at first he was very interested and excited once he recovered from surgery. Unfortunately his health took a turn for the worse and Chris passed May 5th 2021. So Rob and I decided we needed to honor him and record a couple songs. We contacted Sam Henry (Napalm Beach, The Wipers, Jenny Don’t and the Spurs) to play drums and it just made sense to have Kelly Halliburton (Dead Moon, Pierced Arrows, Jenny Don’t and the Spurs) to play bass. We also recruited Jeffrey Larson (Lucky 13’s, Misfortunes of Mr Teal) to play rhythm guitar along with Rob Wrong on lead, plus me just on vocals. We recorded “Cat With Nine Lives” by Napalm Beach and The Reaper by Snow Bud and the Flower People. Both songs were Chris Newman songs, that turned out pretty damn good! Hell, we didn’t even practice together before we recorded. :)

Again I recruited Billy Anderson to play bass again on this album, because beyond his ability of musicianship and his legendary enginear status he’s also a pleasure to be around. Hilarious, kind, and smarter than your average Neanderthal bassist. Ha! He also studied anthropology so he knows a thing or two about humans. Not to mention he played a Baseball growing up, so I figured he must really know what he’s doing with basses. Oh and he’s the master of Pun!

Once again Ian Caton of Breath is playing drums on this album. Talk about a Beast Of Burden, what an absolute animal! He usually doesn’t have a problem playing any style or tempo and is able to tap into the ether with ease!

Of course Rob Wrong once again delivers some of the best solos he’s ever played. Not only that but he doubled the rhythm to give this album the full collective collaboration. I’m humbled to work with him and call him a best friend. It’s been a ton of fun making two albums with him at Wrong Way Recording.

Again I got Ben House to make some incredible artwork! It’s beyond expectations and couldn’t have been happier with the results!

Devillusion was also mastered by TAD, not to mention inspired by him as well. I originally wanted to call the album Devil’s Balls, but after watching the TAD documentary and the scene where he showed his mom the album and she said something like, “Tad you’re smiling…Tad God’s Balls? But Tad you have such a great smile.” :) Nevertheless, we have a song called Devil’s Balls and Werewolf that we’re most definitely influenced by some Tad. I’m forever grateful for his existence.“ – Corey Lewis, The Misery Men

Side A:
Devil’s Balls 4:28
Werewolf 5:29
Iron Front 5:43
Cat With Nine Lives 4:34

Side B:
The Reaper 2:52
Tardigrades 5:34
Nirürth 4:22
To Bring You My Love 5:59

Recorded at Wrong Way Recording (c)2021
Produced by Corey G Lewis & Rob Wrong

Mixed by Rob Wrong
Mastered by Tad Doyle at Witch Ape Studios

All songs written by Corey G Lewis
Except
To Bring You My Love written by PJ Harvey
The Reaper by Snowbud & The Flower People (Written by Chris Newman & Nathan Jorg)
Cat With 9 Lives by Napalm Beach (Written by Chris Newman)

Personnel:
Corey G Lewis: Vocal, Rhythm
Rob Wrong: Rhythm & Lead
Billy Anderson: Bass
Ian Caton: Drums

Special Guest Performances as The Slughs tribute to Chris Newman on: The Reaper & Cat With 9 Lives
Sam Henry: Drums
Kelly Halliburton: Bass
Rob Wrong: Lead & Rhythm
Jeffrey Larson: Rhythm
Corey G Lewis: Vocals

This album is dedicated to the Master of the Wu Chris Newman aka Snow Bud / Pugsley! We miss you!

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Portland, Oregon’s The Misery Men will release their third full-length, titled Devillusion, on Oct. 1. Going by the story as told by founding guitarist/vocalist Corey G. Lewis, it seems like maybe the bad missed the point of social distancing. I kid, of course, but still, there are a plethora of guest appearances throughout the impending Desert Records offering, which follows behind last year’s Doomtopia and 2019’s Deathspiration (review here) in both the heavy and portmanteau departments. Oh you didn’t know there’s a portmanteau department? Fourth floor. Or was it flourth?

You’re welcome.

Preorders for Devillusion are up now through Bandcamp and there are two songs on there streaming and a video besides, all of which you’ll find below ready for your media consumption. By all means, have at it.

From the PR wire and Bandcamp combined:

The Misery Men have gone all out on their third studio album, ‘Devillusion’. Due out on Desert Records on October 1st, 2021.

The band’s mastermind, Corey Lewis, pulled together a Pacific Northwest cast of all-star musicians.

“I started writing Devillusion at the beginning of the Pandemic. 16 months of bloodletting 5 songs and 3 covers later we have an album. It was a therapeutic writing process to say the least. Inspired by the “Grunge” influencers in the PNW like Napalm Beach, Dead Moon, The Wipers, that definitely impacted TAD, Nirvana, Alice In Chains, Screaming Trees, Soundgarden, etc. I wanted to pay homage to the folks who laid the foundation and paved the path that we walk down. I’m humbled and grateful daily that I have found a vortex that aligns with my frequencies to allow me through great collaboration to tap into the ether, transmutating a Rock n’ Roll album I feel proud to be a part of and co-produce with Rob Wrong. We all had a good time making this album. It’s been challenging but ever rewarding.

I had asked Chris Newman to collaborate on something, maybe lay down a solo or harmonize on a song or write something together, and at first he was very interested and excited once he recovered from surgery. Unfortunately his health took a turn for the worse and Chris passed May 5th 2021. So Rob and I decided we needed to honor him and record a couple songs. We contacted Sam Henry (Napalm Beach, The Wipers, Jenny Don’t and the Spurs) to play drums and it just made sense to have Kelly Halliburton (Dead Moon, Pierced Arrows, Jenny Don’t and the Spurs) to play bass. We also recruited Jeffrey Larson (Lucky 13’s, Misfortunes of Mr Teal) to play rhythm guitar along with Rob Wrong on lead, plus me just on vocals. We recorded Cat With Nine Lives by Napalm Beach and The Reaper by Snow Bud and the Flower People. Both songs were Chris Newman songs, that turned out pretty damn good! Hell we didn’t even practice together before we recorded. :)

Again I recruited Billy Anderson to play bass again on this album, because beyond his ability of musicianship and his legendary enginear status he’s also a pleasure to be around. Hilarious, kind, and smarter than your average Neanderthal bassist. Ha! He also studied anthropology so he knows a thing or two about humans. Not to mention he played a Baseball growing up, so I figured he must really know what he’s doing with basses. Oh and he’s the master of Pun!

Once again Ian Caton of Breath is playing drums on this album. Talk about a Beast Of Burden, what an absolute animal! He usually doesn’t have a problem playing any style or tempo and is able to tap into the ether with ease!

Of course Rob Wrong once again delivers some of the best solos he’s ever played. Not only that but he doubled the rhythm to give this album the full collective collaboration. I’m humbled to work with him and call him a best friend. It’s been a ton of fun making two albums with him at Wrong Way Recording.

Again I got Ben House to make some incredible artwork! It’s beyond expectations and couldn’t have been happier with the results!

Devillusion was also mastered by TAD, not to mention inspired by him as well. I originally wanted to call the album Devil’s Balls, but after watching the TAD documentary and the scene where he showed his mom the album and she said something like, “Tad you’re smiling… Tad God’s Balls? But Tad you have such a great smile.” :) Nevertheless, we have a song called Devil’s Balls and Werewolf that we’re most definitely influenced by some Tad. I’m forever grateful for his existence.“ – Corey Lewis, The Misery Men

Recorded & Mixed by: Rob Wrong at Wrong Way Recording

Mastered by Tad Doyle at Witch Ape Studio

All songs written by Corey G Lewis
Except To Bring You My Love written by PJ Harvey
The Reaper by Snowbud & The Flower People (Written by Chris Newman & Nathan Jorg)
Cat With 9 Lives by Napalm Beach (Written by Chris Newman)

Side A:
Devil’s Balls 4:28
Werewolf 5:29
Iron Front 5:43
Cat With Nine Lives 4:34

Side B:
The Reaper 2:52
Tardigrades 5:34
Nirürth 4:22
To Bring You My Love 5:59

Personnel:
Corey G Lewis: Vocal, Rhythm
Rob Wrong: Rhythm & Lead
Billy Anderson: Bass
Ian Caton: Drums

Special Guest Performances as
The Slughs tribute to Chris Newman on: The Reaper & Cat With 9 Lives
Sam Henry: Drums
Kelly Halliburton: Bass
Rob Wrong: Lead & Rhythm
Jeffrey Larson: Rhythm
Corey G Lewis: Vocals

https://www.facebook.com/themiserymen
https://www.instagram.com/themiserymen/
https://themiserymen.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/desertrecordslabel/
https://desertrecords.bandcamp.com/
https://desertrecords.bigcartel.com/

The Misery Men, “Tardigrades” official video

The Misery Men, Devillusion (2021)

The Angelus make their label debut for Desert Records on Aug. 20 with their third album, Why We Never Die. It is perhaps an unfortunate outing, monetarily, since for anyone not previously familiar with the band’s work, it just might make one inclined to buy everything they’ve done to-date. Heavy Western vibes pervade the Dollars-trilogy-esque bells of the introductory “Honor to Feasts,” and that two-minute preliminary is followed immediately by the bluesier fuzz of “Hex Born,” of a spiritual kinship somehow to the likes of All Them Witches, latter-day Greenleaf, harmony-laced Wovenhand‘s tense rhythm changes, Lord Buffalo and others while working with their own carefully carved identity. They make fitting labelmates to Cortége in mood (also those bells), and though their arrangements have been stripped down somewhat since their string-laced 2011 debut, On a Dark and Barren Land, and the choruses in “Hex Born” and the subsequent “Ode to None” are hooks enough to set a tone of songcraft-focus for everything that follows, the Dallas trio led by guitarist/vocalist Emil Rapstine with Justin Evans on drums/backing vocals and Justin Ward on bass, are not at all without subtlety either in presentation or aesthetic. Earthy psychedelia pervades as Why We Never Die moves deeper into its ultra-manageable 34-minute procession, but The Angelus never grow so ethereal as to forget to bring their audience along.

“Ode to None” in particular has the feeling of a landmark in its position backing “Honor to Feasts” and “Hex Born” with a longer runtime and a more patient feel. The following “Of Ashen Air” is suitably floating in its midsection vocals and brings fluid forward motion in the drums, less lush than the song before it, but flowing easily enough from one to the other. Momentum is already on The Angelus‘ side as the first half of Why We Never Die careens ahead, never really bursting out with energy or pushing over the top, but not at all staid in its delivery either. Both “Of Ashen Air” and the more shimmer-and-crash-prone heavy post-rock of “When the Hour is Right” hold to the central atmosphere, which is not necessarily paramount — that’s songwriting and performance, as regards priorities — but always there in terms of the backdrop on which the action of the songs takes place; a stretched out Western landscape, breeze blown and looming, maybe threatening. The quicker “Another Kind” sneaks in post-industrial electronics ahead of its satisfyingly thickened payoff, leading into the seven-minute title-track, the arrival of which feels no less momentous than that of “There Will Be No Peace” on the 2017 sophomore LP of the same name, despite the fact that the intro didn’t reference it specifically. Harmonies and instrumental dynamics alike serve as strengths alongside old-timey phrasing in the lyrics, as heard when the instruments drop out behind the vocals after four minutes in, the melody quickly setting up the building triumph that follows. This is considered, progressive movement in craft, but the mood behind it feels real.

Along with a looped-seeming fuzzy guitar line that borders on techno, the outro “Hustle the Sluggard” provides closing Morricone-ism to bookend that of “Honor to Feasts,” right down to a moment of military snare drum, as the album carries to its finish. It is a last reminder of the coherence at work in The Angelus‘ material, pushing forward even as they move farther out from the place they were as a unit. This is bolstered by a smoothness of the production and a balance of mix brings perfect emphasis on the shifting balance of melody and heft throughout. Why We Never Die is impeccable in its realization, but it does not come across as forced even in its most nuanced reaches.

On the player below, you can stream the premiere of “Hex Born.” Rapstine, also of Dead to a Dying World, offers some comment on the track, and more PR wire info follows.

Please enjoy:

Emil Rapstine on “Hex Born”:

Death and rock & roll, rock & roll and death. Hex Born was one of the first songs I started working on for “Why We Never Die” and the first I finished the lyrics for. Those lyrics would set the theme and tone for the rest of the record.

“The curse is spoken, cast down to me.
The spell remains unbroken, calling out forever unto thee.”

The curse mentioned is one shared by all humanity and one handed down from generation to generation. A curse to die. The unbroken spell is the music we summon up, an eternal current we connect to to find meaning, and one that will ring out long after we are gone.

“Come lay your head beneath this heavy stone, come carve your given name.
We’ll save you a space, where we’re dreaming no more, with the waking and the slain”

As we leave this world we mark our place with headstones and engravings for others to remember us by. Music can also serve this purpose, creating a record and space for the world to remember our hopes and desires and in a way letting us live forever.

In a dim world, with death our only guarantee, The Angelus returns with their third full-length offering ‘Why We Never Die’. An album full of songs both powerfully engulfing and mesmerizingly intimate, the album’s title alludes to one’s constant rebirth through the creation of music and to the band’s hope to transcend the impending eventuality of death when all that remains is the music, and art becomes artifact. The cover art, featuring a highly stylized rendering of a white peacock resembling the traditional description of the phoenix, reinforces the hope that rebirth through creation allows us to live forever in the material world. The Dallas, Texas trio consists of Emil Rapstine (Dead To A Dying World) on guitar and vocals, accompanied by his stalwart co-conspirator Justin Evans on drums and backing vocals, and their newest accomplice Justin Ward on bass. The album, saturated with plaintive, intoning, and harmonizing vocals, despairing lyrics and darkly droning guitar, draws from post-rock, doom, folk, and dark psychedelic rock. The pleading voices and resounding chords here do not decay because they belong to any ears open to hear them as they reverberate for eternity.

Tracklist:
Honor To Feasts
Hex Born
Ode To None
Of Ashen Air
When The Hour Is Right
Another Kind
Why We Never Die
Hustle The Sluggard

“Why We Never Die” was recorded by Alex Bhore (formerly of This Will Destroy You) in Dallas, TX at Elmwood Recording, which belongs to Grammy Award winning producer John Congleton (SWANS, Chelsea Wolfe, St. Vincent, Angel Olsen). The album was mastered by Sarah Register (Protomartyr, Horse Lords, Lower Dens).

The Angelus: Emil Rapstine (guitar, vocals), Justin Evans (drums, vocals), and Justin Ward (bass)

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