Posted in Whathaveyou on February 12th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
Tennessee-based acid scuzz rockers Wicked Trip‘s second full-length, Cabin Fever (review here), has been issued on tape through Saturn Eye Records. I don’t know about you, but I think that works. They put it out on CD too, which is always great, don’t get me wrong, though especially for something that’s so raw and that rawness becomes part of the aesthetic, something that doesn’t feel like it was made for everybody, I think the format works especially well. Maybe it’s compression, maybe it’s placebo; I won’t claim to know and it doesn’t really matter. But I always feel like I need to justify posting about something coming out on tape as news, when no, I almost certainly don’t.
There’s vinyl coming in April through DHU Records, if that’s your format preference — no judgment either way; life is short and difficult, love what you love — and there are still both CDs and of course an infinite supply of .zip files in various bitrates and digital compressions, so Wicked Trip have you covered in any case. Saturn Eye sent the following down the PR wire:
LABEL ANNOUNCEMENT (SE-012) — Now on cassette is the paranoia-inducing doom opus CABIN FEVER, from Tennessee burnouts @thewickedtrip. This album was digitally released last October but hasn’t seen a physical edition until now.
CABIN FEVER is a 46 minute long acid-fried journey of soul crushing psychosis-riffing and sampling. Listeners be advised – your mental state may be adversely affected… But if you follow this label then you’re probably already fried. So grab a cassette and do a little more damage!
Tracklisting: 1. Introduction 01:03 2. Cabin Fever 03:16 3. Hesher 08:01 4. Night of Pan 11:07 5. Black Valentine 05:12 6. Evils of the Night 08:51 7. No Longer Human 08:38
Art/design by @zz_corpse Mixed and mastered by @lucafrizza.rec Promo gfx by @deepfriedfx Vinyl is on the way in April from our friends @dhu_records Stream it from wickedtrip.bandcamp.com
Introduction by Gabriel Jahr Lyrics by Sam Daniels Mixing/Mastering by Luca Frizza Artwork by ZZ Corpse
Wicked Trip are: Sam Daniels – Guitars/Vocals/Keys Joseph Metler – Bass/WAH Troy Walker – Drums/Synth
Posted in Reviews on November 28th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Day two and no looking back. Yesterday was Monday and it was pretty tripped out. There’s some psych stuff here too, but we start out by digging deep into metal-rooted doom and it doesn’t get any less dudely through the first three records, let’s put it that way. But there’s more here than one style, microgengre, or gender expression can contain, and I invite you as you make your way through to approach not from a place of redundant chestbeating, but of celebrating a moment captured. In the cases of some of these releases, it’s a pretty special moment we’re talking about.
Places to go, things to hear. We march.
Quarterly Review #11-20:
—
Primordial, How it Ends
Excuse me, ma’am. Do you have 66 minutes to talk about the end of the world? No? Nobody does? Well that’s kind of sad.
At 28 years’ remove from their first record, 1995’s Imrama, and now on their 10th full-length, Dublin’s Primordial are duly mournful across the 10 songs of How it Ends, which boasts the staring-at-a-bloodied-hillside-full-of-bodies after-battle mourning and oppression-defying lyricism and a style rooted in black metal and grown beyond it informed by Irish folk progressions but open enough to make a highlight of the build in “Death Holy Death” here. A more aggressive lean shows itself in “All Against All” just prior while “Pilgrimage to the World’s End” is brought to a wash of an apex with a high reach from vocalist Alan “A.A. Nemtheanga” Averill, who should be counted among metal’s all-time frontmen, ahead of the tension chugging in the beginning of “Nothing New Under the Sun.” And you know, for the most part, there isn’t. Most of what Primordial do on How it Ends, they’ve done before, and their central innovation in bridging extreme metal with folk traditionalism, is long behind them. How it Ends seems to dwell in some parts and be roiling in its immediacy elsewhere, and its grandiosities inherently will put some off just as they will bring some on, but Primordial continue to find clever ways to develop around their core approach, and How it Ends — if it is the end or it isn’t, for them or the world — harnesses that while also serving as a reminder of how much they own their sound.
With a partner in drummer Johnny Kelly (Type O Negative, Danzig, etc.), guitarist/songwriter Dan Lorenzo (Hades, Vessel of Light, Cassius King, etc.) has found an outlet open to various ideas within the sphere of doom metal/rock in Patriarchs in Black, whose second LP, My Veneration, brings a cohort of guests on vocals and bass alongside the band’s core duo. Some, like Karl Agell (C.O.C. Blind) and bassist Dave Neabore (Dog Eat Dog), are returning parties from the project’s 2022 debut, Reach for the Scars, while Unida vocalist Mark Sunshine makes a highlight of “Show Them Your Power” early on. Sunshine appears on “Veneration” as well alongside DMC from Run DMC, which, if you’re going to do a rap-rock crossover, it probably makes sense to get a guy who was there the first time it happened. Elsewhere, “Non Defectum” toys with layering with Kelly Abe of Sicks Deep adding screams, and Paul Stanley impersonator Bob Jensen steps in for the KISS cover “I Stole Your Love” and the originals “Dead and Gone” and “Hallowed Be Her Name” so indeed, no shortage of variety. Tying it together? The riffs, of course. Lorenzo has shown an as-yet inexhaustible supply thereof. Here, they seem to power multiple bands all on one album.
Just because it wasn’t a surprise doesn’t mean it’s not one of the best debut albums of 2023. Bringing together known parties from Boston’s heavy underground Jim Healey (We’re All Gonna Die, etc.), Doug Sherman (Gozu), Bob Maloney (Worshipper) and J.R. Roach (Sam Black Church), Blood Lightning want nothing for pedigree, and their Ripple-issued self-titled debut meets high expectations with vigor and thrash-born purpose. Sherman‘s style of riffing and Healey‘s soulful, belted-out vocals are both identifiable factors in cuts like “The Dying Starts” and the charging “Face Eater,” which works to find a bridge between heavy rock and classic, soaring metal. Their cover of Black Sabbath‘s “Disturbing the Priest,” included here as the last of the six songs on the 27-minute album, I seem to recall being at least part of the impetus for the band, but frankly, however they got there, I’m glad the project has been preserved. I don’t know if they will or won’t do anything else, but there’s potential in their metal/rock blend, which positions itself as oldschool but is more forward thinking than either genre can be on its own.
Based in Oakland and making their debut with the significant endorsement of Small Stone Records and Kozmik Artifactz behind them, atmospheric post-heavy rock five-piece Haurun tap into ethereal ambience and weighted fuzz in such a way as to raise memories of the time Black Math Horseman got picked up by Tee Pee. I don’t think that’s a coincidence. With notions of Acid King in the nodding, undulating riffs of “Abyss” and the later reaches of “Lost and Found,” but two guitars are a distinguishing factor, and Haurun come across as primarily concerned with mood, although the post-grunge ’90s alt hooks of “Flying Low” and “Lunar” ahead of 11-minute closer “Soil,” which uses its longform breadth to cast as vivid a soundscape as possible. Fast, slow, minimalist or at a full wash of noise, Haurun‘s Wilting Within has its foundation in heavy rock groove and riffy repetition, but does something with that that goes beyond microniche confines. Very much looking forward to more from this band.
Its point of view long established by the time they get around to the filthy lurch of “Hesher” — track three of seven — Cabin Fever is the first full-length from cultish doomers Wicked Trip. The Tennessee outfit revel in Electric Wizard-style fuckall on “Cabin Fever” after the warning in the spoken “Intro,” and the 11-minute sample-topped “Night of Pan” is a psych-doom jam that’s hypnotic right unto its keyboard-drone finish giving over to the sampled smooth sounds of the ’70s at the start of “Black Valentine,” which feels all the more dirt-coated when it actually kicks in, though “Evils of the Night” is no less threatening of purpose in its garage-doom swing, crash-out and cacophonous payoff, and I’m pretty sure if you played “No Longer Human” at double the speed, well, it might be human again. All of these grim, bleak, scorching, nodding, gnashing pieces come together to craft Cabin Fever as one consuming, lo-fi entirety, raw both because the recording sounds harsh and because the band itself eschew any frills not in service to their disillusioned atmosphere.
There’s an awful lot of sex going on in Splinter‘s Role Models, as the Amsterdam glam-minded heavy rockers follow their 2021 debut, Filthy Pleasures (review here), with cuts like “Soviet Schoolgirl,” “Bottom,” “Opposite Sex” and the poppy post-punk “Velvet Scam” early on. It’s not all sleaze — though even “The Carpet Makes Me Sad” is trying to get you in bed — and the piano and boozy harmonies of “Computer Screen” are a fun departure ahead of the also-acoustic finish in closer “It Should Have Been Over,” while “Every Circus Needs a Clown” feels hell-bent on remaking Queen‘s “Stone Cold Crazy” and “Medicine Man” and “Forbidden Kicks” find a place where garage rock meets heavier riffing, while “Children” gets its complaints registered efficiently in just over two boogie-push minutes. A touch of Sabbath here, some Queens of the Stone Age chic disco there, and Splinter are happy to find a place for themselves adjacent to both without aping either. One would not accuse them of subtlety as regards theme, but there’s something to be said for saying what you want up front.
Beginning with its longest component track (immediate points) in “Asteroid,” Terra Black‘s All Descend is a downward-directed slab of doomed nod, so doubled-down on its own slog that “Black Flames of Funeral Fire” doesn’t even start its first verse until the song is more than half over. Languid tempos play up the largesse of “Ashes and Dust,” and “Divinest Sin” borders on Eurometal, but if you need to know what’s in Terra Black‘s heart, look no further than the guitar, bass, drum and vocal lumber — all-lumber — of “Spawn of Lyssa” and find that it’s doom pumping blood around the band’s collective body. While avoiding sounding like Electric Wizard, the Gothenburg, Sweden, unit crawl through that penultimate duet track with all ready despondency, and resolve “Slumber Grove” with agonized final lub-dub heartbeats of kick drum and guitar drawl after a vivid and especially doomed wash drops out to vocals before rearing back and plodding forward once more, doomed, gorgeous, immersive, and so, so heavy. They’re not finished growing yet — nor should they be on this first album — but they’re on the path.
Sometimes the name of a thing can tell you about the thing. So enters Musing, a contemplative solo outfit from Devin “Darty” Purdy, also known for his work in Calgary-based bands Gone Cosmic and Chron Goblin, with the eight-song/42-minute Somewhen and a flowing instrumental narrative that borders on heavy post-rock and psychedelia, but is clearheaded ultimately in its course and not slapdash enough to be purely experimental. That is, though intended to be instrumental works outside the norm of his songcraft, tracks like “Flight to Forever” and the delightfully bassy “Frontal Robotomy” are songs, have been carved out of inspired and improvised parts to be what they are. “Hurry Wait” revamps post-metal standalone guitar to be the basis of a fuzzy exploration, while “Reality Merchants” hones a sense of space that will be welcome in ears that embrace the likes of Yawning Sons or Big Scenic Nowhere. Somewhen has a story behind it — there’s narrative; blessings and peace upon it — but the actual music is open enough to translate to any number of personal interpretations. A ‘see where it takes you’ attitude is called for, then. Maybe on Purdy‘s part as well.
A heavy and Sabbathian rock forms the underlying foundation of Spiral Shades‘ sound, and the returning two-piece of vocalist Khushal R. Bhadra and guitarist/bassist/drummer Filip Petersen have obviously spent the nine years since 2014’s debut, Hypnosis Sessions (review here), enrolled in post-doctoral Iommic studies. Revival, after so long, is not unwelcome in the least. Doom happens in its own time, and with seven songs and 38 minutes of new material, plus bonus tracks, they make up for lost time with classic groove and tone loyal to the blueprint once put forth while reserving a place for itself in itself. That is, there’s more to Spiral Shades and to Revival than Sabbath worship, even if that’s a lot of the point. I won’t take away from the metal-leaning chug of “Witchy Eyes” near the end of the album, but “Foggy Mist” reminds of The Obsessed‘s particular crunch and “Chapter Zero” rolls like Spirit Caravan, find a foothold between rock and doom, and it turns out riffs are welcome on both sides.
The closing “Sex on a Grave” reminds of the slurring bluesy lasciviousness of Nick Cave‘s Grinderman, and that should in part be taken as a compliment to the setup through “Black Cat” — which toys with 12-bar structure and is somewhere between urbane cool and cabaret nerdery — and the centerpiece “Bad Day,” which follows a classic downer chord progression through its apex with the rawness of Backwoods Payback at their most emotive and a greater melodic reach only after swaying through its willful bummer of an intro. Last-minute psych flourish in the guitar threatens to make “Bad Day” a party, but the Louisville outfit find their way around to their own kind of fun, which since the release is only three songs long just happens to be “Sex on a Grave.” Fair enough. Rife with attitude and an emergent dynamic that’s complementary to the persona of the vocals rather than trying to keep up with them, the counterintuitively-titled second short release (yes, I know the cover is a Zeppelin reference; settle down) from Bandshee lays out an individual approach to heavy songwriting and a swing that goes back further in time than most.
Posted in Whathaveyou on October 31st, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Issued by the band in January, there was little doubt the full-length debut from Danish doom metallers Dread Witch, Tower of the Severed Serpent (review here) would end up plucked from out of the digital ether for vinyl realization. Sure enough, DHU Records has stepped in to do the dirty work of standing behind the pressing, which conveys the severity of its intention and announces its of-the-genre stance with riffs and Branca Studio cover art alike. I almost met that dude this year at SonicBlast. He does art for the Portuguese fest as well and had a merch table. I wasn’t brave enough to say hi in the end. Maybe some day.
If you missed the record, the stream is below and if I didn’t think it was worth your time I wouldn’t be here writing about it. Band and label both posit an early 2024 release for the vinyl of Tower of the Severed Serpent, after which one imagines the band will at some point adjourn to the dank, cold, largely-unlit cave where they composed the first release in order to set fire beneath the cauldron of a follow-up. Be patient. Good doom takes time. It’s like the baked potato of musical genres.
On that note, this from the PR wire:
DHU Signs Dread Witch
*** LISTEN UP ***
DHU Records is thrilled to announce the signing of Denmark Death Doomers Dread Witch !! (#127465#)(#127472#)
“Tower Of The Severed Serpent” is the stunning, otherworldly, debut album by Dread Witch that will surely leave you aghast and in awe when immersing yourself in this bitter & weighty tome! Not to mention the Sinister & Delightfully fitting artwork by Branca Studio (#128013#)(#128128#)(#128396#)
Posted in Whathaveyou on March 16th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Being of a certain age, I recall distinctly walking as a child through the video store and seeing, among the VHS tapes available to rent, the 1985 horror flick Ghoulies. And I must’ve been just the right age for it to really make an impression, because even after well over three decades I still remember it and I never actually watched the film. I did, however, always watch the toilet with a bit of side-eye. So yeah, the cover of Toilet Snake‘s 2022 self-titled album hit a nerve.
Also, I feel the need to point out that compared to the sundry slimeball routes they could’ve gone in interpreting the band’s moniker in the artwork, this is comparatively not-slimeball in a way that is very much appreciated. It’s a snake in a toilet. Bam. Maybe some kid will see it and have it imprinted on their brain too.
That’s one reason I’m posting about it. Another is the record is a beast of classic heavy riffing and sludgier intention, the push of “Is This Fire?” seeming to answer its own question in theoretical emoji fashion. I missed the album last year — hey, it happens, pretty much all the time — so I’m glad to post about it now, and wish the band congratulations on signing to DHU Records to give it a vinyl issue. Here’s to not getting bit on the ass.
From the PR wire:
New Signing to DHU Records: Toilet Snake
DHU Records is excited to announce the signing of Italian Sludge Doomers TOILET SNAKE !!
“Toilet Snake is a sludge-doom power trio that delivers a raw and unapologetic sound.
With Marco ripping through vocals & guitar, Davide crushing the bass and Giacomo beating the drums like it owes him money, Toilet Snake deliver a no frills, no bullshit, straight-up, relentless groove.
Based in Milan, Italy, and drawing inspiration from the NOLA scene, Toilet Snake has been crafting their abrasive, filthy riffs since 2018 and released their self-titled debut digitally and on cassette (DIY) in 2022, and will soon become the latest, infamous addition to the DHU Records catalogue on Limited Edition Vinyl.”
DHU Records will release the self titled debut album by Toilet Snake in 2023
Test Press, DHU Exclusive and Band Editions will be available…
Side A: A1. Night Vision A2. Ashtray Mouth A3. Into High Gear
Side B: B1. Is This Fire? B2. Bills Overdue B3. Checkpoint
Recorded, mixed and mastered at Dirty Sound Studio, VR, Italy Artwork by ZZ Corpse
Posted in Whathaveyou on January 25th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
March 10 has been set as the arrival date for Witchrot‘s Live in the Hammer, the follow-up to their 2021 studio debut, Hollow (review here), and reportedly a herald of a second record to come from the Toronto-based four-piece. Fuzzed and Buzzed will handle the release, Tony Reed mastered, preorders are up, and everything seems to be in line to keep the momentum the band had coming off the debut, which came after a lineup split that went viral, blah blah.
I’ll be honest: I know that kind of thing is good for clicks, building a social media following, and so on, and I understand that the quantifiable terms of that following go a long way toward defining how well regarded a band is at this point in time, but I would have to work hard to care less. Whether or not someone becomes a meme has nothing to do with their music — somehow I feel old believing that — and it’s the music that will ultimately outlast any incurred virality. I hope they sold shirts, but I dug Hollow on its own terms and expect no different with the live record. Not even sure why I need to say that, so maybe I’ll just shut the fuck up and post the press release.
Here you go:
WITCHROT Announce Spring Tour
Sizzling, soulful and bewitching, WITCHROT is gearing up for their latest offering Witchrot: Live in the Hammer, due out for its international release March 10, 2023. Shortly after, the band will hit the road in Canada in support of the album. Their tour kicks off on March 31st at the Ottowa House of Targ and wraps on May 13th at Sudbury Townhouse Tavern. Full dates below. Tickets can be found HERE or purchased at the door of each venue.
March 31 Ottawa House of Targ April 1 Sherbrooke Murdoch April 2 Montreal Turbohaus April 13 London Richmond Tavern April 14 Sarnia Mauds April 15 Hamilton Casbah May 11 Toronto Hardluck May 12 Barrie Infinity Zero May 13 Sudbury Townhouse Tavern More about Live In The Hammer:
All sleaze and psych, Live In The Hammer has the fuzz fueled quartet playing in the grease trap of Ontario. Smoky vocals overtop mesmeric psychedelic doom fill the room to the brim. Pre-orders for Live In The Hammer are available HERE:https://witchrot.bandcamp.com/music
Formed in Toronto in 2018, WITCHROT was founded by Lea Reto (vocals) & Peter Turik (Guitar). After some international press over band disputes, betrayals, and a temporary break up, the band recruited Lea’s boyfriend Nick Kervin (Drums) and Cam Alford (Bass). Together they recorded the band’s debut full-length Hollow (2021) and most recently Live In the Hammer. Currently, Nick “Nido” Dolphin has joined the band on bass.
Pulling from the lost psychedelic masterpieces with fuzz erupting like a volcano and the ethereal shoegaze music of the late 80s and 90s, WITCHROT has carved their own haunting path. The all-consuming wave of divine music that is terrifying by its sheer velocity and force rather than dissonance.
Simultaneously beautiful and putrid, Live In The Hammer pays homage to the grime of the past, paved over by the glitz of the present. Live In The Hammer was recorded at Boxcar Sound in Hamilton, and mastered by Tony Reed at Heavy Head Recording.
The bubbling cauldron that is Live In the Hammer, serves as a bridge between Hollow and the band’s forthcoming next album, currently in the works. There’s no escaping the strange web of WITCHROT. Fall into the chasm and embrace the dark.
WITCHROT is:
Lea Reto – Vocals Peter Turik – Guitar Nick Kervin – Drums Nick “Nido” Dolphin – Bass
Posted in Whathaveyou on September 26th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
Oh hey Doomstress. Been a minute. The Houston-based outfit fronted with power by their namesake Doomstress Alexis will return to the road in their home state over the coming weeks, and they have a few cool shows lined up, including hitting Corpus Christi with (honestly how did anyone ever think Wino would take the shot?) The Obsessed and Switchblade Jesus, and Heavy Mash on Oct. 9 in Arlington. They’ll do a Gravitoyd-presented show on Austin and a hometown stop with Destroyer of Light and a date meeting up with Darsombra as well, so I’m addition for there being opportunity to hit up a show there’s also multiple motivating factors for doing so.
You’ll note that in the lineup below there’s no drummer listed. That might also explain some of the haven’t-toured-lately-ness on the part of Doomstress, but they will, in fact, have someone behind the kit for these dates. Alex Erhardt (The Scourge, EMP) holds the spot for the Obsessed show, and Spike the Percussionist of Fiddlewitch & the Demons of Doom set to take over for October. What comes after as regards lineup, I can’t say, but with hopes to continue plugging away on recordings over the next few months, safe bet is somebody will don the mantle. I’ll let you know, and in the meantime, if you’re in Houston and a drummer, what the hell? Drop a note. Worst thing that happens is they already have someone.
Just saying.
Here’s the tour announcement:
After months of crawling out to play an occassional show, Doomstress is about to spin their wheels across Texas for a month full of weekend shows & fests across the lonestar state including taking Houston friends Quinn the Brain (alt rock) out for 2 dates.
Doomstress has been relatively quiet since the pandemic started following a few years of touring. Almost all members have been involved in other projects including guitarists Brandon Johnson’s new death metal band Haserot (also feat members of Blues Funeral & Sanctus Bellum) and Matt Taylor’ joining sludgy thrashers Thundertank.
Plans after this run of shows are to get back into the studio to review and finish a few new tracks the band had previously been working on. After that Doomstress will continue writing sessions to complete several new songs with plans to get back in the studio by early Spring.
9/30 Corpus Christi, TX @ Boozerz Rock Bar w/ The Obsessed, Switchblade Jesus & Dust in the Void 10/8 Houston, TX @ Black Magic Social Club w/ Destroyer of Light & Scrollkeeper 10/9 Arlington, TX @ Division Brewing/Growl Records – Heavy Mash Fest day 2 10/14 Bryan, TX @ The 101 w/ Quinn the Brain, Cortege & Darsombra 10/15 Tyler, TX @ The Green Room w/ Quinn the Brain & tba 10/22 Austin, TX @ Independence Brewing 10/29 Spring, TX Thistle Draftshop – Craft Beer Fest
Doomstress is: Doomstress Alexis (bass&vox) Brandon Johnson & Matt Taylor (lead/rhythm gtrs).
Week two, day one. Day six. However you look at it, it’s 10 more records for the Summer 2022 Quarterly Review, and that’s all it needs to be. I sincerely hope you had a good weekend and you arrive ready to dig into new music, most of which you’ve probably already encountered — because you’re cool like that and I know it — but maybe some you haven’t. In any case, there’s good stuff today and plenty more to come this week, so bloody hell, let’s get to it.
Quarterly Review #51-60:
Celestial Season, Mysterium I
After confirming their return via 2020’s striking The Secret Teachings (review here), Netherlands-based death-doom innovators Celestial Season embark on an ambitious trilogy of full-lengths with Mysterium I, which starts with its longest song (immediate points) in the heavy-hitting single “Black Water Rising,” but is more willing to offer string-laced beauty in darkness in songs like “The Golden Light of Late Day,” which transitions fluidly into “Sundown Transcends Us.” That latter cut, third of seven total on the 40-minute LP, provides some small hint of the band’s more rock-minded days, but the affair is plenty grim on the whole, whatever slightly-more-uptempo riffy nod might’ve slipped through. “This Glorious Summer” hits the brakes for a morose slog, while “Endgame” casts it lot in more aggressive speed at first, dropping to strings for much of its second half before returning to the deathly chug. The pair “All That is Known” and “Mysterium” close in massive and lurching form, and not that there was any doubt about this group 30 years on from the band’s founding, but yeah, they still got it. No worries. The next two parts are reportedly due before the end of next year, and one looks forward to knowing where the rest of the story-in-sound goes from here. If it’s down, they’re already there.
Post. Metal. Also post-metal. The third full-length from Koln-based instrumental four-piece Noorvik, Hamartia, glides smoothly between atmosphere and aggression, the band’s purposes revealed as much in their quiet moments as in those where the guitar comes forward and present a more furious face. In the subdued reaches of “Ambrosia” (10:00) or even opener “Tantalos” (6:55), the feeling is still tense, to where over the course of the record’s 68 minutes, you’re almost waiting for the kick to come, which it reliably does, but the form that takes varies in subtle ways and the bleeding of songs into each other like “Omonoia” into “Ambrosia” — which crushes by the time it’s done — the delving into proggy astro-jazz on “Aeon” and the reaching heights of “Atreides” (which TV tells me is a Dune reference) assure that there’s more than one path that gets Noorvik to where they’re going. At 15:42, “The Feast” is arguably the most bombastic and the most ambient both, but if that’s top and bottom, the spaces in between are no less coursing, and in their willingness to be metal while also being post-metal, Noorvik bring excitement to a style that’s made a trope of its hyper-cerebral nature. This has that and might also wreck your house, and if you don’t think that’s a big difference, ask your house.
Wait. What? You mean to tell me that right now there are some people in the world who aren’t about to dig on 78 minutes’ worth of improvised psychedelic synth and guitar drones? Like, real people? In the world? What kind of terrible planet is this? Obviously, for Doctors of Space — Scott “Dr. Space” Heller (Øresund Space Collective) on synth, Martin Weaver (Wicked Lady) on guitar — this planet is nowhere near cool enough, and while it’s fortunate for the cosmos at large that once shared, these sounds have launched into the broader reaches of the solar system where they’ll travel as waves to be interpreted by some future civilization perhaps millions of years from now that evolved on a big silly rock a long, long way from here and those people will finally be the audience Doctors of Space richly deserve. But on Earth? Beyond a few loyal weirdos, I don’t know. And no, Doctors of Space aren’t shooting for mass appeal so much as interstellar manifestation through sound, but they do break out the drum machine on 23-minute closer “Titular Parody” to add a sense of ground amid all that antigravity float. Nonetheless, Mind Surgery is far out even for far out. If you think you’re up to it, get your head in the right mode first, because they might just open that thing up by the time they’re done.
Pull Astral Pigs‘ second album, Our Golden Twilight, out of the context of the band’s penchant for vintage exploitation horror and porn and the record’s actually pretty cool. The title-track and slower-rolling “Brass Skies/Funeral March” top seven minutes in succession following instrumental opener “Irina Karlstein,” and spend that time in nod-inducement that goes from catchy-and-kinda-slow to definitely-slow-and-catchy before the long stretch of organ starts the at least semi-acoustic “The Sigil” and “Dragonflies” renews the density of lumbering fuzz, the English-language lyrics from the Argentina-based four-piece giving a duly ceremonious feel to the doomly drama unfolding, but long song or shorter, their vibe is right on and well in league with DHU Records‘ ongoing fascination with aural cultistry. The Hammond provided by bassist/producer Fabricio Pieroni isn’t to be ignored for what it brings to the songs, but even just on the strength of their guitar and bass tones and the mood they conjure throughout, Our Golden Twilight, though just 25 minutes long, unquestionably flows like a full-length record.
No question, Carson have learned their lessons well, and I’ll admit, it’s been a while since a basically straightforward, desert-derived heavy rock record hit me with such an impression of songwriting as does their second full-length, The Wilful Pursuit of Ignorance. Issued through Sixteentimes Music, the eight-track/36-minute outing from the Lucerne-via-New-Zealand-based unit plays off influences like Kyuss, Helmet (looking at you, title-track), Dozer, Unida, and so on, and honest to goodness, it’s refreshing to hear a band so ready and willing to just kick ass musically. Not saying that an album with a title like this doesn’t have anything deeper to say, just that Carson make their offering without even a smidgeon of pretense about where they’re coming from, and from opener “Dirty Dream Maker” onward, their melody, their groove, their transitions and sharper turns are right on. It’s classic heavy rock, done impeccably well, made modern. A work of genre that argues in favor of itself and the style as a whole. If you were introducing someone to riff-based heavy, Carson would do the trick just fine.
Comprised of vocalist Hoanna Aragão, guitarist/vocalist Jorge Rabelo (also keys, co-production, etc.), guitarist Guilerme Tanner, bassist Renata Marim and drummer Roberto Tavares, Brazil’s Isaurian adapt post-rock patience and atmospheric guitar methods to a melody-fueled heavy purpose. Production value is an asset working in their favor on their second full-length, Deep Sleep Metaphysics, and seems to be a consistent factor throughout their work since Matt Bayles and Rhys Fulber produced their first two EPs in 2017. Here it’s Muriel Curi (Labirinto) and Chris Common (Pelican, many others), who bring a decided sense of space that’s measurable from the locale difference in Aragão‘s and Rabelo‘s vocal levels from opener “Árida” onward. Their intensions vary throughout — “For Hypnos” has “everybody smokes pot”-esque gang chants near its finish, “The Dream to End All Dreams” is a piano-inclusive guitar-flourish instrumental, “Autumn Eyes” is duly mellow and brooding, “Hearts and Roads” delivers culmination in a brighter melodic wash ahead of a bonus Curi remix of the opener — but it’s the melodic nuance and the clarity of sound that pull the songs together and distinguish the band. They’ve been tagged as “heavygaze” and various other ‘-gaze’ whathaveyou, and they borrow from that, but their drive toward fidelity of sound makes them something else entirely. They should tour Europe asap.
Hints of Kadavermarch‘s metallic origins — members having served in Helhorse, Illdisposed, as well as the Danish hip-hop group Tudsegammelt, and others — sneak into their songs both in the more upfront manner of harsher backing vocals on “The Eschaton” and the subsequent “Abyss,” and in some of the double-guitar work throughout, though their first album, Into Oblivion, sets their loyalties firmly in heavy rock. Uncle Acid may be an influence in terms of vocal melody, but the riffs throughout cuts like “Satanic” and “Reefer Madness” and the galloping “Flowering Death” are bigger and feel drawn in part from acts like The Sword and Baroness, delivered with a sharp edge. It’s a fascinating blend, and the recording on Into Oblivion lets it shine with a palpable band-in-the-room sensibility and stage-style energy, while still allowing enough breadth for a build like that in the finale “Beyond the End” to pay off the record as a whole. Capable craft, a sound on its way to being their own, a turquoise vinyl pressing, and a pedigree to boot — there’s nothing more I would ask of Into Oblivion. It feels like an opening salvo for a longer-term progression and I hope it is precisely that.
The violence implied in the title “Regurgitated Ambition Consuming Itself” takes the form of a harsh wall of noise drone that, once it starts, continues to unfurl for the just-under-eight-minute duration of the first of two pieces on Büzêm‘s more simply named Here EP. The Portland, Maine, solo art project of bassist/anythingelse-ist Finn has issued a range of exploratory outings, mostly EPs and experiments put to tape, and that modus very much suits the avant vibe throughout Here, which is markedly less caustic in the more rumbling “In an Attempt to Become the Creator” — presumably about Jackson Roykirk — the 10 minutes of which are more clearly the work of a standalone bass guitar, but play out with a sense of the human presence behind, as perhaps was the intention. Here‘s stated purpose is meditative if disaffected, Finn turning mindfulness into an already-in-progress armageddon display, and fair enough, but the found recording at the end, or captured footsteps, whatever it is, relate intentions beyond the use of a single instrument. Not ever going to be universally accessible, nonetheless pushing the kind of boundaries of what’s-a-song that need to be pushed.
Can’t mess with this kind of heavy rock and roll. The fuzz runs thick, the groove is loose (not sloppy), and the action is go from start to finish. Electric Mountain‘s second LP, Valley Giant digs on classic desert-style heavy vibes, with “Vulgar Planet” riffing on Kyuss and Fu Manchu only after “Desert Ride” has dug headfirst into Nebula via Black Rainbows and cuts like “Outlanders” and the hell-yes-wah-bass of big-nodder “Morning Grace” have set the stage for stoner and rock, by, for and about being what it is. Picking highlights, it might be “A Fistful of Grass” for the angular twists of fuzz in the chorus, but “Vulgar Planet” and the penultimate acoustic cut “At Last Everything” both make a solid case ahead of the eight-plus-minute instrumental closing jam “A Thousand Miles High.” The band’s 2017 self-titled debut (also on Electric Valley Records) was a gem as well, and if they can get some forward momentum going on their side after Valley Giant, playing shows, etc., they’d be well placed at the head of the increasingly crowded Mexico City underground.
Also stylized all-caps with punctuation — perhaps a voice commanding: HUSH. — Hudson, New York, five-piece Hush conjure seven songs and 56 minutes of alternately sprawling and oppressive atmospheric sludge on their third full-length, The Pornography of Ruin, and if you take that to mean the quiet parts are spaced and the heavy parts are crushing, well, that’s true too, but not exclusively the case. Amid lyrical poetry, melodic ranging, slamming rhythms — “There Can Be No Forgiveness Without the Shedding of Blood” walks by and waves, its hand bloody — and harsh shouts and screams, Hush shove, pull, bite and chew the consciousness of their listener, with the 12-minute “By This You Are Truly Known” pulling centerpiece duty with mostly whispers and ambience in a spread-out midsection, bookended by more slow-churning pummel. Followed by the shorter “And the Love of Possession is a Disease with Them,” the keyboard-as-strings “The Sound of Kindness in the Voice” and the likewise raging-till-it-isn’t-then-when-it-is-again closer “At Night We Dreamed of Those We Were Stolen From,” the consumption is complete, and The Pornography of Ruin challenges its audience with the weight of its implications and tones alike. And for whatever it’s worth, I saw these guys in Brooklyn a few years back and they fucking destroyed. They’ve expanded the sound a bit since then, but this record is a solid reminder of that force.
Posted in Questionnaire on April 1st, 2022 by JJ Koczan
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: Bailey Smith of Youngblood Supercult
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How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?
I’m a creator. I love to experiment with melodies and harmonies, and put them together in a fashion that is both familiar and different. I sometimes feel more like my credits should read “conductor/composer” rather than “guitarist.” That’s not to say that others didn’t play very important roles in Youngblood Supercult. I guess I was just more of a mother figure or the composer. That’s not an easy role, because of the fact that you have to exert a certain level of control. I suppose some of the guys came to resent that, haha. I really just always wanted to make music, for as long as I can remember. I have always wanted to write fiction or prose – I went to college for it. And I’ve always had a passion for cinematography. I guess in a weird way, all these things come together in my mind, and a song or concept or storyline or album comes out of it.
Describe your first musical memory.
My parents singing and playing records for me – styles ranging from Wynonna Judd to the Beatles to CSNY to Mozart.
Describe your best musical memory to date.
When David joined Youngblood Supercult and we debuted most of the material for High Plains at a small show in KC. People lost their minds. It was very surreal. Getting pressed on vinyl for the first time was a huge deal, especially as a 2LP. I will always be grateful for DHU’s Robert Black for doing that for us. Also hanging out with Steve Moss (The Midnight Ghost Train – Topeka) and listening to the debut of Buffalo before it was released and just bullshitting. He was a great mentor to me and I tried to soak up everything he said to me.
When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?
Don’t work with friends. Creative criticism is something that many folks don’t have the the stomach for anymore. I think many of our fans ate up The Great American Death Rattle when it was produced and mixed so poorly. The friend we had who recorded it and mixed it initially wanted to master it. This was not a guinea pig project, and when I brought up the fact that it sounded too over-produced and not, well, “right” — that friend pouted and claimed to not be able to remove any of the mastering/mixing plugins, essentially sabotaging the mix.
Compare High Plains and TGADR — same person at the mixing booth. I was berated as a megalomaniac and control freak for protesting the sound. The resulting remixes and masters sounded so muddy and horrible, and we just had to roll with it. We were so disappointed with the resulting sound and had Joel Nanos try to clean it up for us, to not much avail. We were so disappointed as a group on how that album sounded and I caught the flack for it for “ruffling feathers.” But I guess people appreciated the content enough to ignore the sound quality. That was very much a catalyst for the end of the group. Some of us started drinking more because of it, and fighting. It was depressing and an accomplishment at the same time. Which is a hard thing to reconcile.
Where do you feel artistic progression leads?
To new but familiar spaces. You have to explore sound but I think fans come to expect a certain vibe from a group’s sound. To stay within a certain confine of what people expect your band to sound like, but exploring new and different musical territories can be a very difficult task. Even leading to the breakup of a group.
How do you define success?
When people connect with the music. When you have someone pop up in your DMs and say, “Thank you for this music, it really helped me get through a difficult time.” That’s my definition of success.
What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?
The cancel culture and personal destruction of individuals that is currently en vogue and permeating our society, and the underground musical scene in particular. We have become so enamored with spinning tales against each other; whether for personal gain, scene clout, victimized treatment, etc., that we have become the very thing we write most of our songs about.
And nobody ever questions it, and that’s the sad and disgusting part of it. There is so much vitriol in our world as it is – do things within this scene have to be that way as well? Not saying I’m perfect. I have definitely done my share of badmouthing when things would’ve really been best left unsaid.
Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.
More music. I’m not done by any means.
What do you believe is the most essential function of art?
Let it breathe. Explore space. Don’t be afraid to do something weird. Because you’re inspiring young people and young musicians. It’s a teaching moment, for sure. That’s the goal – to inspire and encourage.
Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?
Every new day is something I look forward to, whether it’s musical or not. I’m looking forward to seeing what my son is going to be like as the years progress. His passions, personality, and of course, how he feels about art and music.
