Posted in Whathaveyou on October 1st, 2020 by JJ Koczan
Apparently Detroit’s personal background essay find this guide to writing a dissertation writing essay about my name Temple of the Fuzz Witch aren’t kidding when they say their new album, college application essay writing service my http://www.ieslasenia.org/dissertation-statement-of-purpose/ i need help with my high school essay term paper writers needed Red Tide, is coming soon. Soon, as in next week. Better get those preorders up before they’re just orders, I guess.
The full-length is the second for the band behind their 2019 self-titled debut (review here), and it’s seeing release through Importance Of Introduction In Essay Writing - Compose a timed custom research paper with our help and make your professors amazed professional writers, top-notch services Interstellar Smoke Records. Though that’s a pretty quick follow-up to their first offering, This is the leading This Sites provider online. We offer dissertation writing services, essay writing help, research paper writing help etc. Temple of the Fuzz Witch have already this year posted a single called “Burn” and a collection of unreleased songs and live tracks aptly-titled ZipJob's Skeletal System Essay, and our resume scanning technology, provide you with the best resume writing service possible. Get started with a Live and Unreleased. Whether “Burn” or any of that other material might feature on the upcoming LP, I’ve no idea, but hell, at least we don’t have to wait that long to find out.
While we’re on the subject of things I don’t know — as we so very, very often — I’m not sure if the Oct. 9 release is digital with vinyl later, i.e., if that’s when LP preorders go up, or if the record will actually be out and has been in the can already for however long. I’m sure you’re hipper to that situation than I am, but I dug the debut, so finding out there’s another on the way is welcome news as far as I’m concerned. And if I haven’t made the point yet, Oct. 9 is next week.
The following is culled from band and label posts:
It confirmed news, @templeofthefuzzwitch with brand new album ,Red Tide’ will be release via Interstellar Smoke.
“NEW TEMPLE OF THE FUZZ WITCH ALBUM COMING SOON. The title of the next release is “Red Tide”. We are very proud of this work and it will be on colored and splattered vinyl. There will be pre-orders soon.”
Posted in Whathaveyou on September 21st, 2020 by JJ Koczan
Shit, that’s cool. Good for Order http://www.qotec.com/frog-writing-paper/s from WritingSharks.net Choose from Professional Academic, ESL & Business Proofreading Services Temple of Void. Hell, good for There are many essay Franchise Restaurant Business Plans that think they are on top, so don't be cheated and check out this true list of the best paper writing services in 2018! Relapse. Good match all around, really. And if tours can ever happen again, all the better. Previously hooked up with I provide purchase review papers advising at every step in the writing process to make your essays vivid, thoughtful, and original. Shadow Kingdom Records, Detroit deathbringers make custom thesis theme Buy Essay.net how to write findings in dissertation nyu essay prompt Temple of Void released their prescient-in-title third album, Cheap Resources Papers. Students always encounter difficulties when solving algebra homework due to the lack of understanding during teaching. In some cases The World That Was (review here), this past March. Their follow-up will be their do my math homework websites The Homework Help Psychology done with all my homeworks legal resume bar admission Relapse Records debut, which for a band like this is pretty much living the dream. Can’t say they haven’t earned it, either. Their take on death metal and doom fluidly tips the balance to one side or another to serve songs that are inventive even as they don genre tropes, and the band revel in past glories even as they make them their own. Congrats and kudos all around.
You like good news? I do. Here’s some from the PR wire:
TEMPLE OF VOID Sign To Relapse Records; New Album Coming 2021
Relapse Records is proud to announce the signing of Detroit, MI based death/doom legion TEMPLE OF VOID. Temple of Void are currently writing their Relapse Records debut, their 4th full length, set to be released in 2021. Stay tuned for more information in the near future.
Regarding the signing, TEMPLE OF VOID Comments:
“The pandemic may have stopped us playing shows, but it can’t stop us writing a new record. We’ve been hard at work ever since lockdown started, crafting new songs and exploring new ways to expand and hone our signature sound. Never a band to write the same album twice, our debut for Relapse will both be familiar and new all at the same time. Echoes of the past will meet with glimpses into the future. Each record we write stands on the shoulders of the prior albums, and this is no different. We’re beyond fucking excited to get into the studio next year and track this beast.”
TEMPLE OF VOID have reverberated across the underground upon the releases of their 2014 full length “Of Terror and the Supernatural”, 2017’s critically acclaimed “Lords of Death”, and their most recent album, “The World that Was”.
“The World that Was” sold out of its first pressing before it was released, speaking to the support from death metal maniacs worldwide. Featuring incredible musical collaborations and artwork that pushed their cosmic atmosphere into new dimensions, “The World That Was” marked a new step in the band’s forward-thinking path, highlighting them as a contender for the year’s best in extreme music.
Now, with their signing to Relapse Records, TEMPLE OF VOID embark once again upon a voyage beyond death, beyond doom, and beyond the ultimate!
TEMPLE OF VOID Is: Michael Erdody – Vocals Don Durr – Guitar Jason Pearce – Drums Alex Awn – Guitar Brent Satterly –Bass
Posted in Reviews on March 27th, 2020 by JJ Koczan
I’m not saying I backloaded the Quarterly Review or anything — because I didn’t — but maybe subconsciously I wanted to throw in a few releases here I had a pretty good idea I was gonna dig beforehand. Pretty much all of them, as it turned out. Not a thing I regret happening, though, again, neither was it something I did purposefully. Anyone see A Serious Man? In this instance, I’m happy to “accept the mystery” and move on.
Before we dive into the last day, of course I want to say thank you for reading if you have been. If you’ve followed along all week or this is the only post you’ve seen or you’re just here because I tagged your band in the post on Thee Facebooks, whatever it is, it is appreciated. Thank you. Especially given the global pandemic, your time and attention is highly valued.
Quarterly Review #41-50:
Ocean Chief, Den Tredje Dagen
The first Writing a literature review may be boring or tiresome. http://mvcv.org/?essay-help-line help from the trusted professionals and be on the road to success Ocean Chief record in six years is nothing if not weighted enough to make up for anything like lost time. Also the long-running Swedish outfit’s debut on 127 go here Salaries provided anonymously by employees. What salary does a Assignment Editor earn in your area? Argonauta Records, My friend told me this service Have Someone Best Essay Words and that is why I can pay to Write My Essay for Me UK. Den Tredje Dagen on CD/DL runs five songs and 59 minutes, and though it’s not without a sense of melody either instrumentally or vocally — certainly its guitars have plenty enough to evoke a sense of mournfulness at least — its primary impact still stems from the sheer heft of its tonality, and its tracks are of the sort that a given reviewer might be tempted to call “slabs.” They land accordingly, the longest of them positioned as the centerpiece “Dömd” seething with slower-Places To Write About In A Descriptive Essay. growth and change essay car accident essay victoria's secret credit card. microfiche dissertation writing, Celtic Frost anxiety and the utter nastiness of its intent spread across 15-plus minutes of let-me-just-go-ahead-and-crush-that-for-you where “that” is everything and “no” isn’t taken for an answer. There’s respite in closer “Den Sista Resan” and the CD-bonus “Dimension 5,” but even these maintain an atmospheric severity consistent with what precedes them. One way or another, it is all fucking destroyed.
Come ye historians and classic heavy rockers. Come, reap what Rise Above Relics has sown. Though it’s hard sometimes not to think of the Rise Above Records imprint as label-honcho Lee Dorrian (ex-Cathedral, current With the Dead) picking out highlights from his own record collection — which is the stuff of legend — neither is that in any way a problem. Barnabus, who hailed and apparently on occasion still hail from the West Midlands in the UK, issued the Beginning to Unwind in 1972 as part of an original run that ended the next year. So it goes. Past its 10-minute jammy opener/longest track (immediate points) “America,” the new issue of Beginning to Unwind includes the LP, demos, live tracks, and no doubt assorted other odds and ends as well from Barnabus‘ brief time together. Songs like “The War Drags On” and “Resolute” are the stuff of ’70s-riff daydreams, while “Don’t Cry for Me My Lady” digs into proto-prog without losing its psych-folk inflection. I’m told the CD comes with a 44-page booklet, which only furthers the true archival standard of the release.
To those for whom Helen Money is a familiar entity, the arrival of a new full-length release will no doubt only be greeted with joy. The ongoing project of experimental cellist Alison Chesley, though the work itself — issued through Thrill Jockey as a welcome follow-up to 2016’s Become Zero (review here) — is hardly joyful. Coping with the universality of grief and notions of grieving-together with family, Chesley brings forth minimalism and electronics-inclusive stylstic reach in kind across the pulsating “Nemesis,” the periodic distortion of her core instrument jarring when it hits. She takes on a harp for “Coppe” and the effect is cinematic in a way that seems to find answer on the later “One Year One Ring,” after which follows the has-drums “Marrow,” but wherever Chesley goes on Atomic‘s 47 minutes, the overlay of mourning is never far off.
Belfast dual-guitar sludge five-piece Elder Druid return with seven tracks/39 minutes of ready punishment on their second album, Golgotha, answering the anger of 2017’s Carmina Satanae with densely-packed tones and grooves topped with near-universal harsh vocals (closer “Archmage” is the exception). What they’re playing doesn’t require an overdose of invention, with their focus is so much on hammering their riffs home, and certainly the interwoven leads of the title-track present some vision of intricacy for those who might demand it while also being punched in the face, and the transitional “Sentinel,” which follows,” brings some more doomly vibes ahead of “Vincere Vel Mori,” which revives the nod, “Dreadnought” has keys as well as a drum solo, and the penultimate “Paegan Dawn of Anubis” brings in an arrangement of backing vocals, so neither are they void of variety. At the feedback-soaked end of “Archmage,” Golgotha comes across genuine in its aggression and more sure of their approach than they were even just a couple years ago.
I know the whole world seems like it’s in chaos right now — mostly because it is — but go ahead and quote me on this: a band does not come along in 2020 and put out a record like Lost Orbiter and not get picked up by some label if they choose to be. Among 2020’s most promising debuts, it is progressive without pretense, tonally rich and melodically engaging, marked out by a poise of songcraft that speaks to forward potential whether it’s in the coursing leads of “Drake’s Equation” or the final slowdown/speedup of “Trappist-1” that smoothly shifts into the sample at the start of closer “Dead Space.” Mindcrawler‘s first album — self-recorded, no less — is modern cosmic-heavy brought to bear in a way that strikes such a balance between the grounded and the psychedelic that it should not be ignored, even in the massively crowded international underground from which they’re emerging. And the key point there is they are emerging, and that as thoughtfully composed as the six tracks/29 minutes of Lost Orbiter are, they only represent the beginning stages of what Mindcrawler might accomplish. If there is justice left, someone will release it on vinyl.
Michigan doom-death five-piece Temple of Void have pushed steadily toward the latter end of that equation over their now-three full-lengths, and though The World That Was (their second offering through Shadow Kingdom) is still prone to its slower tempos and is includes the classical-guitar interlude “A Single Obulus,” that stands right before “Leave the Light Behind,” which is most certainly death metal. Not arguing with it, as to do so would surely only invite punishment. The extremity only adds to the character of Temple of Void‘s work overall, and as “Casket of Shame” seems to be at war with itself, so too is it seemingly at war with whatever manner of flesh its working so diligently to separate from the bone. Across a still-brief 37 minutes, The World That Was — which caps with its most-excellently-decayed nine-minute title-track — harnesses and realizes this grim vision, and Temple of Void declare in no uncertain terms that no matter how they might choose to tip the scale on the balance of their sound, they are its master.
Lunar Swamp have spawned as a blusier-directed offshoot of Italian doomers Bretus of which vocalist Mark Wolf, guitarist/bassist Machen and drummer S.M. Ghoul are members, and sure enough, their debut single “Shamanic Owl,” fosters this approach. As the band aren’t strangers to each other, it isn’t such a surprise that they’d be able to decide on a sound and make it happen their first time out but the seven-minute roller — also the leadoff their first EP, UnderMudBlues, which is due on CD in June — also finds time to work in a nod to the central riff of Sleep‘s “Dragonaut” along with its pointed worship of Black Sabbath, so neither do they seems strictly adherent to a blues foundation, despite the slide guitar that works its way in at the finish. How the rest of the EP might play out need not be a mystery — it’s out digitally now — but as far as an introduction goes, “Shamanic Owl” will find welcome among those seeking comfort in the genre-familiar.
The nine-track/42-minute second LP, II, from Milano post-this-or-that five-piece Huge Molasses Tank Explodes certainly finds the band earning bonus points based on their moniker alone, but more than that, it is a work of reach and intricacy alike, finding the moment where New Wave emerged from out of krautrock’s fascination with synthesizer music and bring to that a psychedelic shimmer that is too vintage-feeling to be anything other than modern. It is laid back enough in its overarching affect that “The Run” feels dreamy, most especially in its guitar lines, but never is it entirely at rest, and both the centerpiece “No One” and the later “So Much to Lose” help continue the momentum that “The Run” manages so fluidly to build in a manner one might liken to space rock were the implication of strict adherence to stylistic guidelines so implicit in that categorization. They present this nuance with a natural-seeming sense of craft and in “High or Low,” a fuzzy tone that feels like only a welcome windfall. Those who can get their head around it should seek to do so, and kudos to Huge Molasses Tank Explodes for being more than just a clever name.
Set to release through Heavy Psych Sounds on the same day as the new album from his main outfit The Sonic Dawn, The Black Spider/Det Kollective Selvmord is the debut solo album from Copenhagen-based singer-songwriter and guitarist Emile Bureau, who has adopted his first name as his moniker of choice. Fair enough for the naturalism and intended intimacy of the 11-track/39-minute outing, which indeed splits itself between portions in English and in Danish, sounding likewise able to bring together sweet melodies in both. Edges of distortion in “Bundlos” and some percussion in the second half’s title-track give a semblance of arrangement to the LP, but at the core is Emile himself, his vocals and guitar, and that’s clearly the purpose behind it. Where The Sonic Dawn often boast a celebratory feel, The Black Spider/Det Kollective Selvmord is almost entirely subdued, and its expressive sensibility comes through regardless of language.
Sonic restlessness! “Fire Dome” begins with a riffy rush, “Forever Zero” vibes out on low end and classic swing, the title-track feels like an Endless Boogie jam got lost in the solar system, “Celestial Tunnel” is all-thrust until it isn’t at all, “Blind Faith” is an acoustic interlude, and “Dark Matter” is a punk song. Because god damn, of course it is. It is little short of a miracle Saturno Grooves make their second album, Cosmic Echoes as remarkably cohesive as it is, yet through it all they hold fast to class and purpose alike, and from its spacious outset to its bursting finish, there isn’t a minute of Cosmic Echoes that feels like happenstance, even though they’re obviously following one impulse after the next in terms of style. Heavy (mostly) instrumentalism that works actively not to be contained. Out among the echoes, Saturno Grooves might just be finding their own wavelength.
Posted in audiObelisk on November 11th, 2019 by JJ Koczan
As they stand on the precipice of their second tape EP release of 2019, and having just played their first gig in March of this year, Detroit classic metal four-piece Midas extend that waste-no-time ethic to their songwriting. Their first offering was March’s Solid Gold Heavy Metal (review here) that found the four-piece with members of Wild Savages and Bison Machine coming together around a shared appreciation for Priest, Maiden and all things NWOBHM and proto-heavy rock raucousness. The follow-up 16-minute four-tracker, Still Hungry, follows a similar course — it’s only been a few months, after all — but seems to be even tighter in its presentation and even more than its predecessor both the triumph and the celebration thereof, the double-guitar four-piece bringing the party and the reason to celebrate in the first place. It’s a fun combination in a way that doesn’t actually take itself as seriously yet as Iron Maiden always seemed to. One hopes they never get to that point, frankly.
The guitars of Casey O’Ryan (lead) and Joe Kupiec (rhythm, also vocals) lead the charge as one would expect, and the sense of gallop on second track “Usurper” tells you nearly everything you need to know about where they’re coming from. Following the winding grandeur of opener “Sands of Time,” the charge of “Usurper” is both the longest cut on the tape at 4:59 and a standout in terms of its pace. Choral vocals echo in the second half over drum thud from Breck Crandell as they make their way back toward the chorus, and whether it’s Anthony Franchina holding together the low-end beneath the head-spinning fretwork from his six-string compatriots or the turn to a more angular, heavy rocking jabs on “Street Knights,” Midas continue to wear their love of heavy metal glories on their sleeve. They call to mind the electrifying early days of Chicago’s Bible of the Devil in terms of their style and energy, and thereby seem to be picking up the torch of a Midwestern metallicism that, well, is the kind of thing that might produce a festival like Alehorn of Power or Legions of Metal, the latter of which Midas will play in Spring 2020.
They close Still Hungry with “White Wolf” and actually dare to hit the brakes momentarily in the process, but soon it’s back to choice dueling leads complemented by some particularly tasty basslines, and they cap with a driving forward riff and a few pow-pow-pow hits before dropping off cold at the finish. Boom, cue applause. You know, for a band in their first year to have such a sense of what they want to do, it basically tells you that they got together with an idea in mind. Midas isn’t a group that just happened to start playing in a room together and produced this grade of dual-axe antics. But even with a firm aesthetic goal, it’s hard to predict where they might go and what they might bring to their sound over the course of a whole album. Interludes, solos, arrangements, and so on. They’ve demonstrated twice now that they know what they’re doing in terms of songcraft, but that’s not the same as fleshing out their personality across a debut full-length. Before they get there, they’re reportedly in talks to bring Still Hungry and Solid Gold Heavy Metal to a compiled CD and LP for next Spring — presumably sometime around Legions of Metal, but who knows — and then I’d guess it’ll be sometime after that they settle down to work on their first proper long-player.
Whenever that shows up, it’ll be one to look forward to, as Still Hungry proves they are most certainly famished, what on earth might it take to sate a sound such as this?
Full Still Hungry EP stream is below, followed by tour dates. Thanks for reading:
And enjoy:
MIDAS has followed up ‘Solid Gold Heavy Metal’ with the heavier and more sinister ‘Still Hungry’. Still straddling that line that split the 70s and 80s, they bring bigger and more complex sounds to the feast with their latest release. Tape pre-order will be live on Nov. 11th. Tape release date is Nov. 20 through Hardcore Psychedelia in Detroit. Catch them on tour on the East Coast this November, and at Legions of Metal this spring in Chicago alongside speed metal legends, Exciter.
Still Hungry Tour Nov. 15th – New York – Sunnyvale* Nov. 16th – Philadelphia – The Tusk* Nov. 17th – Baltimore – The Depot* Nov. 19th – Providence – Dusk Nov. 27th – Ann Arbor MI – Lo Fi Nov. 29th – Dayton OH – Blind Bob’s
MIDAS is: Casey O’Ryan – Lead Guitar Joe Kupiec – Vox, Rhythm Guitar Anthony Franchina – Bass Breck Crandell – Drums
[Click play above to stream Bison Machine’s Seas of Titan in its entirety. Album is out Sept. 27 on Small Stone Records.]
It feels like an exceedingly long four years since Michigan classic heavy rockers Bison Machine issued their debut LP, Hoarfrost (review here), through Kozmik Artifactz after first releasing it themselves to significant acclaim. They boogied their way through a 2016 split with SLO and Wild Savages (review here) and issued the single “Cloak and Bones” (premiered here) the next year, and they’ve done a fair amount of touring between, mostly but not entirely in the Midwest, but as second-record Seas of Titan arrives via Small Stone Records — Detroit(-ish) band, Detroit label, Detroit rock — one seems to greet it almost with an exhale of relief: “ah, finally.” The winding shuffle of “Cloak and Bones” makes an appearance on side A amid semi-vintage stylized jams like the proto-metallic opener “The Tower,” “Knights of the Stars” and the somebody-please-isolate-the-bass-track-and-send-it-to-me shuffler “Echoes in Space,” which indeed trips out its guitar solo from Casey O’Ryan, who’s been in the band for a while now but is still the ‘new guy’ alongside vocalist Tom Stec, bassust/Moog-ist Anthony Franchina and drummer Breck Crandell.
But beyond that, everything on Seas of Titan at least feels fresh in listening to it, which is something of an accomplishment for a band so readily paying homage to the heavy ’70s in atmosphere and method. Brought together by a stellar recording job from Al Sutton and Steve Lehane, the latter of whom also co-produced with the band and handled mixing duties — Chris Goosman mastered, which is how it goes for most Small Stone releases — Seas of Titan comes across as natural to a clearly purposeful degree, taking that organic vibe and using it to bolster a live-feeling sound that further adds to the already considerable chemistry between Bison Machine as players. The tones are warm, the balance of instruments and vocals in the mix just right, and the flow between the songs enough to carry through the eight-track/42-minute run even before you know it’s over.
A sense of movement is essential to what Bison Machine do on their sophomore full-length, and that starts from the galloping guitar and emphasize-the-point snare of “The Tower” and continues one way or another through everything that follows. An echo treatment on Stec‘s vocals proves a uniting factor throughout, but isn’t any more overdone than intended, and as he seems to tap his inner Plant on “The Tower,” the message of what he’s going for comes through clearly. One might say the same of the band’s work on the whole. They inject boogie rock with a much-needed sense of energy and a much-needed sense of danger, not through violent lyrical themes or anything like that, but through the vitality of their swing, of the sharpness of their performance as captured here. Hooky enough to warrant its leadoff position, “The Tower” leads to “Knights of the Stars,” whereby Thin Lizzy‘s boys end up back in town and in a brawl with Cactus, only to resolve their differences peacefully in the song’s languid, solo-enriched second half, which cuts out before its 5:11 are done and gives way to “Cloak and Bones,” which channels biker-style death fetishism in its lyrics and sets it to an insistent rhythm and percussive foundation.
Bass and guitar wind their way around the snapping drums, and together with Stec, all seem to be resolved to conveying the same crucial aspects of their performance. Like “The Tower,” “Cloak and Bones” is more proto-metallic than not, but Bison Machine‘s ability to shift the balance between such runs and jams or boogie-downs is a big part of what makes Seas of Titan work so well for the duration. As “Echoes in Space” digs into a mellower softshoe riff, that range becomes that much clearer as a part of the listening experience, and while it’s all still well within a similar-enough vibe to be coherent — that is, Bison Machine aren’t trying to do something just to catch their audience off-guard — neither are they repeating themselves anymore than they want to be doing to nail down the grooves that so well populate the album, and indeed “Echoes in Space,” which picks up its tempo and adds a line of presumably Moog or other keyboard under the broad-sounding guitar solo for which one assumes the song was named in the first place.
So yes, movement. But also warmth. The synth that begins the side-B-opening title-track is an intro for one of Seas of Titan‘s most driving progressions, but even that carries a distinctly human warmth and character, mirroring the chorus of “The Tower” and some of that same burst of energy, but locking into a bluesier chorus as well, reminding a bit of Radio Moscow as it struts into and out of lead sections. “Seas of Titan” is the longest inclusion at 6:10, but not by so much over “Cloak and Bones” (6:02) or “The Tower” (5:46) that it’s out of step with the rest of the record that shares its name — that intro is essentially the difference, but it’s well enough earned.
They follow-it with a build of momentum through “Star Child,” which oddly enough is more Rainbow than KISS in terms of its sound, but a welcome delving into minor-key fretwork either way as O’Ryan‘s guitar swaps channels before the hook comes back through and leads to an effective section of starts and stops and a last push ahead of the already-going-already-gone “Electric Eliminator,” which somehow finds room in its sub-four-minute run for a winding, boogie-dense jam in its midsection that almost seems like it’s going to hold sway for the duration and then turns quickly back to the central riff. That lets the initial strum of closer “A Distant Sun” make an immediately more peaceful impression, but the tempo remains up and fuller fuzz makes its way in, Stec‘s vocals seeming to tap their inner Freedom Hawk past the midpoint just before they ride the last solo into a roundout with the last hook and then end the set with a ringout and fade, their sense of class coming through almost in spite of the grit of their presentation.
One wouldn’t necessarily accuse Bison Machine of reinventing the wheel in terms of aesthetic, but the fact of the matter is their take on boogie rock is presented with an energy and an edge of its own on Seas of Titan, and though acts like Kadavar, Graveyard, and half the population of San Diego have cut their teeth on ’70s riffage over the last decade, the grit Bison Machine bring to the proceedings — and again, that class underlying — is well on display throughout these songs. I wouldn’t be surprised in the future to find them loosening up the structure a bit — contrary to my usual impulse, I almost found myself wishing “Electric Eliminator” just let itself go without returning to the hook; the band’s songwriting acumen had already been thoroughly established, so why not? — but their tightness here extends to all levels of what they do and it becomes part of the overarching statement Seas of Titan makes, and makes resoundingly. Maybe it’ll be four years until the next one and maybe not, but it’ll be worth waiting for, in any case.
Posted in Whathaveyou on July 19th, 2019 by JJ Koczan
Even if you go by when the album came out on Kozmik Artifactz, it’s been four years since Bison Machine released their debut LP, Hoarfrost (review here), and that’s plenty long enough. They’ve done copious touring over the course of their near-decade together, and had other offerings out along the way, but if you believe in due, they’re due for a record. Fortunately, Seas of Titan will see release through Small Stone on Sept. 27 as their sophomore full-length, arriving not a moment too soon as far as I’m concerned. The album art pretty much rules, and I’ve been seeing posts on thee social medias about their widely available new t-shirt designs, so all that makes me think they’ll continue to hit the road as they have all along, and that’s only a good thing. They’re streaming the opening track from Seas of Titan now. I suggest you dig in.
PR wire info follows. I know I worked on this bio, but I think it was an update from what was already there rather than something I wrote from scratch. Kind of hard to keep it all straight in my head.
Either way, here it is:
BISON MACHINE: Michigan Fuzz Rockers To Release Seas Of Titan Full-Length Via Small Stone This Fall; New Track Streaming + Preorders Available
Michigan fuzz rockers BISON MACHINE will release their Seas Of Titan full-length via Small Stone this fall.
Since 2010, BISON MACHINE has been plying their trade in the dank, vinyl-smelling basements of Detroit, Michigan, the birthplace of a rock tradition for brashness and all-in physicality to music that the group lovingly upholds. Seas Of Titan is the band’s first album for Small Stone and a record years in the making. Since getting their start in early 2015 with the critically-lauded Hoarfrost, the four-piece have spent time putting out material in drips and drabs — a video here, a split there — all the while honing their craft on stages throughout the greater Midwest and beyond. This has all been in the name of chipping away at the marble that would become an awaited sophomore outing; a long-player from a band whose reputation already precedes them among the converted and who leave nothing unsaid in their sweating-blood approach to rock and roll.
Progressive and intense, the eight smoking tracks that comprise Seas Of Titan finds BISON MACHINE melding the best of classic heavy rock a la Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Captain Beyond, and MC5 with a forward-thinking style that is as much class as it is likely to show up in a loincloth. Rooted now in Hamtramck, Michigan, the band are hungry to the point of starving and bring a spirit to their latest work that serves to remind why they made guitars electric in the first place. Seas Of Titan was recorded by Al Sutton (Five Horse Johnson, Don Cabellero) and Steve Lehane (Sasquatch, Luder, The Black Dahlia Murder) at Rustbelt Studios, mastered by Chris Goosman (La Chinga, Gozu, Acid King, The Glasspack) at Baseline Audio Labs and features artwork by Alan Forbes (The Black Crowes, Lucifer, Earthless, Ghost).
BISON MACHINE’s Seas Of Titan will be released September 27th on CD and digitally via Small Stone. A limited-edition vinyl edition will also be released through Kozmik Artifacts in conjunction with Small Stone. Preorders are available at the label’s Bandcamp page at THIS LOCATION where first single, “The Tower,” can be streamed.
Seas Of Titan Track Listing: 1. The Tower 2. Knights Of The Stars 3. Cloak & Bones 4. Echoes In Space 5. Seas Of Titan 6. Star Child 7. Electric Eliminator 8. A Distant Sun
BISON MACHINE: Casey O’ryan – guitar Anthony Franchina – bass, moog Breck Crandell – drums, percussion Tom Stec – vocals
More computer bullshit this morning. I lost about 45 minutes because my graphics driver and Windows 10 apparently hate each other and before I could disable the former, the machine decided the best it could do for me was to load a blank screen. Hard to find the Pelican record on my desktop when I can’t see my desktop. The Patient Mrs. woke up while I was trying to fix it and suggested HDMIing it to the tv. When I did that, it didn’t project as was hoped, but the display came on — because go figure — and I was able to shut off the driver, the only real advantage of which is it lets me use the night light feature so it’s easier on my eyes. That’s nice, but I’d rather have the laptop function. Not really working on a level of “give me soft red light or give me death!” at this point. I may yet get there in my life.
Today’s the last day of this beast, wrapping up the last of the 60 reviews, and I’m already in the hole for the better part of an hour thanks to this technical issue, the second of the week. Been an adventure, this one. Let’s close it out.
Quarterly Review #51-60:
Pelican, Nighttime Stories
Split into two LPs each with its own three-minute mood-setter — those being “WST” and “It Stared at Me,” respectively — Pelican‘s Nighttime Stories (on Southern Lord) carries the foreboding sensibility of its title into an aggressive push throughout the album, which deals from the outset with the pain of loss. The lead single “Midnight and Mescaline” represents this well in directly following “WST,” with shades of more extreme sounds in the sharp-turning guitar interplay and tense drums, but it carries through the blastbeats of “Abyssal Plain” and the bombastic crashes of presumed side B closer “Cold Hope” as well, which flow via a last tonal wash toward the melancholy “It Stared at Me” and the even-more-aggro title-track, the consuming “Arteries of Blacktop” and the eight-minute “Full Moon, Black Water,” which offers a build of maddening chug — a Pelican hallmark — before resolving in melodic serenity, moving, perhaps, forward with and through its grief. It’s been six years since Pelican‘s last LP, Forever Becoming (review here), and they’ve responded to that time differential with the hardest-hitting record they’ve ever done.
Though the peaceful beginning of 13-minute opener and longest track (immediate points) “The Heavy Seed,” for which the five-song album is named, reminds of Swan Valley Heights‘ Munich compatriots in Colour Haze, the ultimate impression the band make on their Fuzzorama Records debut and second album overall behind a 2016 self-titled (review here) is more varied in its execution, with cuts like “Vaporizer Woman” and the centerpiece “Take a Swim in God’s Washing Machine” manifesting ebbs and flows and rolling out a fuzzy largesse to lead into dream-toned ethereality and layered vocals that immediately call to mind Elephant Tree. There’s a propensity for jamming, but they’re not a jam band, and seem always to have a direction in mind. That’s true even on the three-minute instrumental “My First Knife Fight,” which unfurls around a nod riff and simple drum progression to bridge into closer “Teeth and Waves,” a bookend to The Heavy Seed‘s title-track that revives that initial grace and uses it as a stepping stone for the crunch to come. It’s a balance that works and should be well received.
Released in the wee hours of 2019, Mark Deutrom‘s The Blue Bird marks the first new solo release from the prolific Austin-based songwriter/producer/multi-instrumentalist through Season of Mist, and it’s a 50-minute run of genre-spanning outsider art, bringing ’70s folk vibes to the weepy guitar echoes of “Radiant Gravity” right before “O Ye of Little Faith” dooms out for six of its seven minutes and “Our Revels Now Are Ended” basks in 77 seconds of experimentalist winding guitar. It goes like that. Vocals are intermittent enough to not necessarily be expected, but not entirely absent through the midsection of “Hell is a City,” “Somnambulist” and “Maximum Hemingway,” and if there’s traditionalism at play anywhere, it might be in “They Have Won” and “The Happiness Machine,” which, toward the back end of the album, bring a sax-laden melancholy vibe and a straightforward heavy rock feel, respectively, ahead of the closer “Nothing out There,” which ties them together, somehow accounting for the 1:34 “On Fathers Day” as well in its sweetness. Don’t go into The Blue Bird asking it to make sense on any level other than its own and you should be fine. It’s not a minor undertaking at 50 minutes, and not without its indulgences, but even the briefest of pieces helps develop the character of the whole, which of course is essential to any good story.
Austin bringers of hard-boogie Greenbeard reportedly issued the three-song Onward, Pillager as a precursor to their next full-length — even the name hints toward it being something of a stopgap — but its tracks stand well on their own, whether it’s the keyboard-laced “Contact High II,” which is presumably a sequel to another track on the forthcoming record, or the chunkier roll of “WCCQ” and the catchy finisher “Kill to Love Yourself,” with its overlaid guitar solo adding to a dramatic ending. It hasn’t been that long since 2017’s Lödarödböl (review here), but clearly these guys are committed to moving forward in neo-stoner rock fashion, and their emergence as songwriters is highlighted particularly throughout “WCCQ” and “Kill to Love Yourself,” while “Contact High II” is more of an intro or a would-be interlude on the full-length. It may only be pieces of a larger, to-be-revealed picture, but Onward, Pillager shows three different sides of what Greenbeard have on offer, and the promise of more to come is one that will hopefully be kept sooner rather than later.
Each of the three songs on Mount Soma‘s densely-weighted, live-recorded self-released Nirodha EP makes some mention of suffering in its lyrics, and indeed, that seems to be the theme drawing together “Dark Sun Destroyer” (7:40), “Emerge the Wolf” (5:50) and “Resurfacing” (9:14): a quest for transcendence perhaps in part due to the volume of the music and the act itself of creating it. Whatever gets them there, the trajectory of Nirodha is such that by the time they hit into the YOB-style galloping toward the end of “Resurfacing,” the gruff shouts of “rebirth!” feel more celebratory than ambitious. Based in Dublin, the four-piece bring a fair sense of space to their otherwise crush-minded approach, and though the EP is rough — it is their second short release following 2016’s Origins — they seem to have found a way to tie together outer and inner cosmos with an earthbound sense of gravity and heft, and with the more intense shove of “Emerge the Wolf” between the two longer tracks, they prove themselves capable of bringing a noisy charge amid all that roar and crash. They did the first EP live as well. I wonder if they’d do the same for a full-length.
One might get lost in the unmanageable 64-minute wash of Nibiru‘s fifth full-length (first for Ritual Productions), Salbrox, but the opaque nature of the proceedings is part of the point. The Italian ritualists bring forth a chaotic depth of noise and harsh semi-spoken rasps of vocals reportedly in the Enochian language, and from 14-minute opener “EHNB” — also the longest track (immediate points) — through the morass that follows in “Exarp,” “Hcoma,” “Nanta” and so on, the album is a willful slog that challenges the listener on nearly every level. This is par for the course for Nibiru, whose last outing was 2017’s Qaal Babalon (review here), and they seem to revel in the slow-churning gruel of their distortion, turning from it only to break to minimalism in the second half of the album with “Abalpt” and “Bitom” before 13-minute closer “Rziorn” storms in like a tsunami of spiritually desolate plunge. It is vicious and difficult to hear, and again, that is exactly what it’s intended to be.
The gift of Cable was to take typically raw Northeastern disaffection and channel it into a noise rock that wasn’t quite as post-this-or-that as Isis, but still had a cerebral edge that more primitive fare lacked. They were methodical, and 10 years after their last record, the Hartford, Connecticut, outfit return with the nine-song/30-minute Take the Stairs to Hell (on Translation Loss), which brings them back into the modern sphere with a sound that is no less relevant than it was bouncing between This Dark Reign, Hydra Head and Translation Loss between 2001 and 2004. They were underrated then and may continue to be now, but the combination of melody and bite in “Black Medicine” and the gutty crunch of “Eyes Rolled Back,” the post-Southern heavy of the title-track and the lumbering pummel of “Rivers of Old” before it remind of how much of a standout Cable was in the past, reinforcing that not only were they ahead of their time then, but that they still have plenty to offer going forward. They may continue to be underrated as they always were, but their return is significant and welcome.
Originally released in 2003, the self-titled debut from Lima, Peru’s Reino Ermitaño was a beacon and landmark in Latin American doom, with a sound derived from the genre’s traditions — Sabbath, Trouble, etc. — and melded with not only Spanish-language lyrics, but elements of South American folk and stylizations. Reissued on vinyl some 16 years later, it maintains its power through the outside-time level of its craft, sliding into that unplaceable realm of doom that could be from any point from about 1985 onward, while the melodies in the guitar of Henry Guevara and the vocals of Tania Duarte hold sway over the central groove of bassist Marcos Coifman and drummer Julio “Ñaka” Almeida. Those who were turned onto the band at the time will likely know they’ve released five LPs to-date, with the latest one from 2014, but the Necio Records version marks the first time the debut has been pressed to vinyl, and so is of extra interest apart from the standard putting-it-out-there-again reissue. Collectors and a new generation of doomers alike would be well advised on an educational level, and of course the appeal of the album itself far exceeds that.
Though one hails from Helsinki, Finland, and the other from Adelaide, Australia, Cardinals Folly and Lucifer’s Fall could hardly be better suited to share the six-song Cruz Del Sur split LP that they do, which checks in at 35 minutes of trad doom riffing and dirtier fare. The former is provided by Cardinals Folly, who bring a Reverend Bizarre-style stateliness to “Spiritual North” and “Walvater Proclaimed!” before betraying their extreme metal roots on “Sworn Through Odin’s and Satan’s Blood,” while the Oz contingent throw down Saint Vitus-esque punk-born fuckall through “Die Witch Die,” the crawling “Call of the Wild” and the particularly brash and speedier “The Gates of Hell.” The uniting thread of course is homage to doom itself, but each band brings enough of their own take to complement each other without either contradicting or making one or the other of them feel redundant, and rather, the split works out to be a rampaging, deeply-drunk, pagan-feeling celebration of what doom is and how it has been internalized by each of these groups. Doom over the world? Yeah, something like that.
Temple of the Fuzz Witch, Temple of the Fuzz Witch
A strong current of Electric Wizard runs through the self-titled debut full-length from Detroit’s Temple of the Fuzz Witch (on Seeing Red Records), but even to that, the outfit led by guitarist/vocalist Noah Bruner bring a nascent measure of individuality, droning into and through “Death Hails” after opening with “Bathsheba” and ahead of unveiling a harmonized vocal on “The Glowing of Satan” that suits the low end distortion surprisingly well. They continue to offer surprises throughout, whether it’s the spaciousness of centerpiece “329” and “Infidel,” which follows, or the offsetting of minimalism and crush on “The Fuzz Witch” and the creeper noise in the ending of “Servants of the Sun,” and though there are certainly familiar elements at play, Temple of the Fuzz Witch come across with an intent to take what’s been done before and make it theirs. In that regard, they would seem to be on the right track, and in their 41 minutes, they find footing in a murky aesthetic and are able to convey a sense of songwriting without sounding heavy-handed. There’s nothing else I’d ask of their first album.
Posted in audiObelisk on March 12th, 2019 by JJ Koczan
Well earning their two Flying Vs, Detroit newcomer four-piece make their debut with the Solid Gold Heavy Metal tape, pressed up in an edition of 100 copies and set to release in time for the band’s first live appearance on March 23 alongside Lucifer and Spell in their Motor City hometown. The new group is born out of classic heavy rockers Bison Machine and Wild Savages, who are no strangers to each other having both participated in a split alongside SLO (review here) in 2016. Midas, though, are on a different trip, deep-diving into the NWOBHM with both guitars blazing as Casey O’Ryan and Joe Kupiec (the latter also vocals) remind all with ears that it was denim and leather that brought us together, and Anthony Franchina and Breck Crandell, bass and drums, respectively, hold together the forward charge that seems ready to hijack Iron Maiden‘s private jet and fly it to glory.
Opener “Clash of Steel” is a clarion to the converted, making natural use of the NWOBHM’s Thin Lizzy influence to affect an early-metal atmosphere will still remaining modern in terms of production value. They’re aware of the influences they’re working under and the style toward which they’re playing, of course, but there’s nothing tongue-in-cheek about Solid Gold Heavy Metal that wasn’t tongue-in-cheek about the genre four decades ago. “Gauntlet” picks up with tales of legendary battles that, you know, may or may not be based on the video game — I’d have to see a lyric sheet to confirm — and “White Lightning” ups the Priestly groove as they lock in a somewhat more mitigated tempo, and that leads smoothly into “Blackened Blade,” which complements the proceedings fluidly and taps into an easier-rolling line of lead guitar to go with its capstone hook, “Curse this blackened blade.” There’s a fifth song, hidden — don’t tell anybody — and it’s a cover, but I’ve been politely asked not to say what it is. I’ll just say it’s a riot and it fits and leave it at that.
Imagine yourself getting the tape, dubbing copies for friends and trading with other people you got in touch with after seeing their trade lists in the back of print magazines. It’s like that. You can stream Solid Gold Heavy Metal using the player below. Have fun with it, because the good times are just getting started.
Enjoy:
Rising from the ashes of two long running Michigan rock bands, MIDAS rides forth bringing SOLID GOLD HEAVY METAL to the world! With a tip of the hat to bands like Thin Lizzy, Judas Priest, Saxon, and all the late 70s precious metal, their debut promo tape spans the spectrum but is still grounded in a continuation of the progress made during their previous tenure as separate bands. A short tour is in the works for this summer and work has already begun on a full length LP.
MIDAS makes their on-stage debut at Small’s in Detroit MI alongside Sweden’s Lucifer and Canada’s Spell on March 23rd. Copies of the tape will be available at the show and for order on the MIDAS bandcamp page. Limited to 100 copies. Surprise bonus cover track only available with purchase.
MIDAS is: Casey O’Ryan – Lead Guitar Joe Kupiec – Vox, Rhythm Guitar Anthony Franchina – Bass Breck Crandell – Drums
