Posted in Whathaveyou on March 21st, 2022 by JJ Koczan
To go with the unveiling of preorders for their upcoming debut album, The Return, Brazilian double-guitar five-piece Weedevil are streaming the opening song “Underwater,” which you’ll find at the bottom of this post. For the band, this first full-length answers the 2021 two-song EP, The Death is Coming (review here), and it marks the arrival in the band of vocalist Lo Scar and guitarist/backing vocalists Bodão, Paulo Ueno, the band having been essentially remade around drummer/backing vocalist Flávio Cavichioli and bassist/keyboardist Dani Plothow.
Abraxas and DHU Records have the release, and you’ll find the PR wire background below. It’s an April 8 release, so coming up:
WEEDEVIL – The Return
We are pleased to announce the opening of the digital pre-sale and the release of the cover of the first full of the stoner/doom band Weedevil.
Revamped, re-energized and denser than ever. The new formation of the Brazilian stoner/doom metal band Weedevil presents us in 2022 their most solid and powerful version, a five piece that bases their immersive and captivating sonority in lacerating riffs, hypnotic vocals and a refined and vibrant rhythm section. And it’s just the beginning.
“The Return” will bring out on April 8 a Weedevil never seen before, reaching the prime shape and taking a significant flight in the national scene of the segment. The quintet formed by Lo Scar (vocals), Paulo Ueno (guitar), Bodão (guitar), Dani Plothow (bass) and Flávio Cavichioli (drums) arrives in their first full album with a select tracklist, built by five exuberant tracks that keeps winding between the melancholic, dark and electrifying, packed by deep and existential themes narrating a kind of “opera” that promises to draw the listeners into a private, unique universe. “The Return” is the band’s masterpiece so far, a masterful work resulting from dedicated work.
With a digital release scheduled for April 8th and a physical LP version already confirmed by the Dutch label DHU Records the album “The Return” promises to reintroduce in the most impressive form a band that was already standing out on the scene, now ready to take the most demanding listeners in a unavoidable way.
Pre order em: https://weedevil.bandcamp.com/album/the-return
Tracklisting: 1. Underwater 2. The Void 3. The Return 4. Isn’t a Love Song 5. Genocidal
Posted in Whathaveyou on January 31st, 2022 by JJ Koczan
Now a five-piece, Brazilian riffers Weedevil will debut their new lineup on their first full-length, The Return. Set to release later this year on vinyl through DHU Records, the release will be the follow-up to last year’s two-songer The Death is Coming (review here) and will be preceded by a first single “Underwater” — which also happens to be the opening track of the LP — to see release this Friday. If you do the Spotify/DSP thing, then you can pre-save the track now. I will not pretend to know how that works. The digital release of the album is in April through Abraxas, and the DHU LP follows when it follows. Because it’s 2022 and that’s the world we live in. If I could change any number of things about it, I’d line up release dates across formats, but I don’t think that’s what I’d change first.
First I’d make a three-day work week, universal basic income, and $35 an hour minimum wage. Then healthcare. Then maybe the release date thing. It’s on the list.
Info came down the PR wire:
Weedevil new single “Underwater” out in February, 4; pre-save available!
Marking a new and even more promising moment of the band ( in course of release their first full album titled “The Return”, debuting the new lineup) the single Underwater will be released on digital platforms on February 4th through Abraxas Records. Dense, dark and with a touch of tragedy the track got in its essence a charge of twist, guided by the Stoner and Doom Metal strands.
Underwater sing about the turbulent story of a woman through mysterious and dangerous waters surrounded by menacing sea creatures that want to drag her to the bottom of the sea. The song inspires agony and danger, but also presents in its climax a positive twist with the woman finally revealing her power and becoming an entity that vanquishes her abusers before finding the void.
According to vocalist Lo Scar, author of the lyrics, the song helps to compose a panel that developed in a time physically and emotionally troubled with the first rehearsal of the new lineup having taken place while she was injured, as well as what has developed since so until your recovery.
Underwater is the first chapter of The Return, highly emotionally charged conceptual material based on Stoner/Doom Metal sonority and scheduled for release on streaming in April and with a Vinyl version already confirmed together with the Dutch label DHU RECORDS.
Weedevil lo scar – vocal Paulo Ueno – guitar, theremin, fx Bodão – guitar Dani Plothow – bass Flavio Cavichioli – drums
Posted in Whathaveyou on October 11th, 2021 by JJ Koczan
I’m glad this is happening for two reasons. Interesting band, highlighting their work the kind of limited release that’s bound to catch a few new ears. For example, I hadn’t heard Shrooms Circle‘s “S.L.E.” before and it’s a fascinating blend of styles, bringing together classic cultism and ’90s-style goth — that skippy guitar gets me every time — with a well-crafted melody. The song featured on DHU Records‘ DHU Sampler MMXXI Vol. 6 earlier this year, and that leads me to the second reason I’m glad this exists, which is it means the vinyl-centric label is still keeping active despite the delays in pressing times one hears about so often these days.
So it’s a heads up on a record I’ll want to keep an ear out for in 2022, and it’s a label persevering through hardship to do what it does best in offer a cool product to its select market. That’s a win as far as I’m concerned.
To wit:
Promo 7″ Single By Shrooms Circle Released Halloween
Since it’s taking forever these days to press regular vinyl with production times running anywhere between 8-12 months now, it’s a real hassle to maintain an underground record label which mostly has a small run of pressings, which results in bigger pressings getting cut first. Not to mention the cost of materials rising due to scarcity.
BUT! That doesn’t mean we can’t do other fun stuff in the meantime!
Up next on DHU Records we present the Promo Single S.L.E. by Shrooms Circle on Limited Edition Single Sided Crystal Clear Lathe Cut 7″ w/ a screen print on the Bside!
S.L.E. was presented on the DHU SAMPLER MMXXI last August 2021 and is a promo single for the upcoming second full length which will see the light of day in 2022 (date to be confirmed).
S.L.E. will NOT be on the second full length vinyl release! S.L.E. will be released October 31st Halloween 2021 and will be ready to pre order Friday October 22nd @ 7PM CEST.
Available as follows:
Lathe Cut Edition Strictly Limited to 66 copies Single Jacket Exclusive DHU Halloween Sticker Bside Screen Print Artwork & Layout by Shane Horror Pressed by Royal Mint Records Comes on Crystal Clear Lathe Cut 7″ vinyl
(PLEASE NOTE: Lathe cut records are cut manually, meaning the drop of the cutting needle is done by hand. They are time consuming to make, which limits the size of the run.)
Shrooms Circle ~ S.L.E. (Sadistic And Lovely Execution) (DHU053)
Side A: A1. S.L.E. Side B: Screen Print
Produced and Recorded by Kelen Ob At Flying Beast Studio Mastered by DC Mastering Artwork & Layout by Shane Horror
In my hubris of adding an 11th day to this Summer 2021 Quarterly Review — why not just do the whole month of July, bro? what’s the matter? don’t like riffs? — I’ve rendered today somewhat less of a landmark, but I guess there’s still some accomplishment to be felt in completing two full weeks of writing about 10 records a day, hitting triple digits and all that. Not that I doubted I’d get here — it’s rare but it’s happened before — and not that I doubt I’ll have the last 10 done for Monday, but yeah. It’s been a trip so far.
Quarterly Review #91-100:
Per Wiberg, All Is Well In the Land of the Living But for the Rest of Us… Lights Out
The cumbersome-seeming title of Per Wiberg‘s new solo EP derives from its four component tracks, “All is Well,” “In the Land of the Living,” “But for the Rest of Us…” and “Lights Out.” The flow between them is largely seamless, and when Wiberg (whose pedigree as an organist/keyboardist includes Opeth, Candlemass, Big Scenic Nowhere and more others than I can count) pauses between tracks two and three, it feels likewise purposeful. It’s a dark mood inflected through the melodies of the opener and the atmospheric piano lines of “But for the Rest of Us…,” but Wiberg offers a driving take on progressive heavy rock with “In the Land of the Living” and the build in the subsequent “Lights Out” is encompassing with the lead-in it’s given. Wiberg sounds more comfortable layering his voice than even on 2019’s Head Without Eyes, and his arrangements are likewise expressive and fluid. Dude is a professional. I think maybe that’s part of the reason everybody wants to work with him.
Massive, droning lurch, harsh, biting screams and lumbering, pummeling weight, Body Void‘s third album and first for Prosthetic, Bury Me Beneath This Rotting Earth, boasts feelgood hits like “Wound” and “Laying Down in a Forest Fire,” bringing cacophonous, Khanate-style extremity of atmosphere to willfully, punishingly brutal sludge. It is not friendly. It is devastating, and it is the kind of record that sounds loud even when you play it quietly — and that’s before you get to “Pale Man”‘s added layers of caustic noise. Front to back in the four songs — all of which top 12 minutes — there’s no letup, no moment at which the duo relent in order to let the listener breathe. This is intentional. A conjuring of aural concrete in the lungs coinciding with striking lines like “Your compromises are hollow monuments to your cowardice” and other bleak, throatripping poetry of dead things and our complicity in making them. Righteous and painful.
Ghorot is the three-piece of bassist/vocalist Carson Russell (also Ealdor Bealu), drummer/vocalist Brandon Walker and guitarist Chad Remains (ex-Uzala), and Loss of Light is a debut album no less gripping for its push into darkness, whether it’s the almost-toying-with-you Sabbath-style riff of “Harbinger” or the tortured atmospherics in the back end of “Charioteer of Fire,” which follows. Competing impulses result in a sense of grueling even through the barks and faster progression of “Woven Furnace,” while “Dead Gods” offers precious little mourning in its charred deathsludge, saving more ambience for the 12-minute closer “In Endless Grief,” which not only veers into acoustics, but nods toward post-metal later on, despite holding firm to cavernous growls and wails. Obscure? Opaque? There isn’t a way in which Loss of Light isn’t heavy. Everywhere they go, Ghorot carry that weight with them. It is existential.
Lush from the outset and growing richer in aural substance as it plays out, the 17:56 longest/opening (immediate points) title-track of Methadone Skies‘ latest work, Retrofuture Caveman, is an obviously intended focal point, and a worthy one at that. Last heard from with 2019’s Different Layers of Fear (review here), the Romanian four-piece break down walls across the bulk of this fifth full-length, with “Retrofuture Caveman” itself setting the standard early in moving instrumentally between warm heavy psychedelia, prog, drone, doom and darker black metal. It’s prog heavy that ultimately wins the day on the subsequent linear build of “Infected by Friendship” and centerpiece “The Enabler,” but there’s room for more lumber in the 11-mminute “Western Luv ’67” and closer “When the Sleeper Awakens” offers playful shove riffing in its midsection before a final stretch of quiet guitar leads to a last-minute volume burst, no less consuming or sprawling than anything before, even if it feels like it finishes too soon.
Stood out by the gotta-hear bass tone of Cam Alford, the ethereal-or-shouting-and-sometimes-both vocals of Lea Reto, the crash of Nick Kervin‘s drums and the encompassing wah of Peter Turik‘s guitar, Toronto’s Witchrot offer a striking debut with their awaited first full-length, Hollow, oozing out through opener/longest track (immediate points) “Million Shattered Swords” before the stomping wash of “Colder Hands” sacrifices itself on an altar of noise, leading to the more directly-riffed “Spiral of Sorrow,” which nonetheless maintains the atmosphere. Things get noisier and harsher in the second half of Hollow, which is presaged in the plod of “Fog,” but as things grow more restless and angrier after “Devil in My Eyes” and move into the pair “Burn Me Down” and “I Know My Enemy,” both faster, like blown-out Year of the Cobra toying with punk rock and grunge, Witchrot grow stronger for the shift by becoming less predictable, setting up the atmospheric plunge of the closing title-track that finishes one of 2021’s most satisfying debut albums.
Omen is the first long-player from Evansville, Indiana, four-piece Rat King, who use rawness to their advantage throughout the nine included tracks, at least one of which — “Supernova” — dates back to being released as a single in 2017. With manipulated horror samples and interludes like the acoustic “Queen Anne’s Revenge” and “Shackleton” and the concluding “Matryoshka” spliced throughout the otherwise deep-toned and weighted fare of “Capsizer” and the chugging, pushing, scream-laced “Druid Crusher,” Omen never quite settles on a single approach and is more enticing for that, though the eight-minute “Vagrant” could well be a sign of things to come in its melodic reach, but the band revel in the grittier elements at work here as well — the thunderplod of “Glacier,” the willful drag of “Nepenta Divinorum,” and so on — and the ambience they create is dreary and obscure in a way that comes across as purposeful. Is Omen a foreshadow or just the name of a movie they dig? I don’t know, but I hope it’s not too long before we find out.
What was Earthling Society continues to evolve into Taras Bulba at the behest of Fleetwood, UK’s Fred Laird. Sometimes the Night (on Riot Season) is a mostly solo affair, and truth be told, Laird doesn’t need much more than his own impulses to conjure a full-sounding record, as he quickly shows on the acid lounge opener “The Green Eyes of Dragon,” but the guest vocals from Daisy Atkinson bring echoing presence to the subsequent “Orphee” and Mike Blatchford‘s late-arriving sax on “The Sound of Waves,” “The Big Duvall” and “House in the Snow” highlight the jazzy underpinnings of the organ-laced “Night Train to Drug Town” and the avant, anti-anything guitar strum and piano strikes of “One More Lonely Angel.” No harm done, in any case, unless we’re talking about the common conception of what a song is, and hey, if it didn’t need to happen, it wouldn’t have. An experiment in vibe, perhaps, in psychedelic brooding, but evocative for that. Laird‘s no stranger to following whims. Here they lead to moodier space.
I’ll admit, there’s a part of me that, when “Intro” hits its sudden forward surge, kind of wishes Opium Owl had kept it mellow. Nonetheless, the Riga, Latvia-based double-guitar (mostly) instrumental heavy psych four-piece offer plenty of serenity throughout the four-song live set Live at Hodila Records, and the back and forth patterning of the subsequent “Echo Slam” is all the more effective at winning conversion, so fair enough. “Stone Gaze” dips into even bigger riffage, while “Tempest Double” dares vocals over its quieter noodling, dispensing with them as it pushes louder toward the finish. For a live recording, the sound is rich enough to convey what would seem to be the full warmth of Opium Owl‘s tonality, and in its breadth and its impact, there’s no lack of studio-fullness for the session-style presentation. Live at Hodila Records may be formative in terms of establishing the methods with which the band — who formed in 2019 — will continue to work, but showcases significant promise in that.
Doled out with chops to spare and the swagger to show them off, Kvasir‘s eight-song debut LP, 4, puts modern heavy rock riffing in blender and sets it on high. Classic, epic heavy in “Where Gods to to Pray” and a more nodding groove in “Authenticity & the Illusion of Enough” meet with the funkier starts-stops of “Slow Death of Life” and the languid Sabbathism of “Earthly Algorithms.” “Chill for a Church” opens side B with trashier urgency and suitable rhythmic twist, and “The Brink” sets its depressive lyric to a ’70s boogie swing, not quite masking it, but working as a flowing companion piece for “The Black Mailbox,” which follows in like-minded fashion, letting closer “Alchemy of Identity” underscore the point with a rawer take on what once made The Sword so undeniable in their groove. There’s growing to do, patience to learn, etc., but Kvasir make it easy to get on board with 4 and their arguments for doing so brook little contradiction. Onto the list of 2021’s best debut albums it goes.
Lurcher might go full-prog before they’re done, but they’re not their yet on their four-song debut EP, Coma, and the songs only benefit from the band’s focus on impact and lack of self-indulgence. The leadoff title-track has an immediate hook that brings to mind an updated, tonally-heavier version of what Cave In innovated for melodic post-hardcore, and the subsequent “Remove the Myth From the Mountain” follows with a broader-sounding reach in its later solo that builds on the heavy rock foundation the first half of the song put forth. Vocalist/guitarist Joe Harvatt — backed by the rhythm section of bassist Tom Shortt and drummer Simon Bonwick — is prone, then, to a bit of shred. No argument as that’s answered with the Hendrix fuzz at the outset of “All Now is Here,” which both gets way-loud and drones way-out in its seven minutes, in turn setting up the lush-and-still-hard-hitting capper “Cross to Bear,” which rounds off the 26-minute release with all the more encouraging shifts in tempo, flowing melody, and mellotron sounds to add to the sweeping drama. I know the UK underground is hyper-crowded at this point, but consider notice served. These cats are onto something.
Posted in Whathaveyou on June 14th, 2021 by JJ Koczan
Ably-monikered Brazilian trio Desert Druid and the Acid Caravan have signed on to release their debut EP, The VVitch, through DHU Records. The cover art and info for the release are below, and I don’t have a release date as yet, but you the video for the title-track was posted here earlier and you can see it below as well — isn’t that convenient — and the four songs will come on a one-sided 12″ mastered by Tony Reed with art on the B-side. For a second there, I looked at the press release and thought they had a 20-minute track called “Silkscreen,” which would be fun, but alas. Probably etched? I don’t know. Sounds neato either way. And by “neato” I mean heavy and doomed and “that way lies madness” and all that kind of fun stuff.
You might recall Ruidoteka Records had the tape of The VVitch out. So far as I know that’s still happening as well.
Behold:
New Signing to DHU Records: Desert Druid and the Acid Caravan
DHU Records is excited to announce the signing of Brazilian Doomers DESERT DRUID AND THE ACID CARAVAN!
“Formed in early 2020 in the city of Sorocaba / SP by three musicians who have known each other for over a decade, the band Desert Druid and the Acid Caravan seek to bring to their sonority elements of classic bands from the Heavy Metal and Doom Metal genre, adding a few splashes of Stoner Rock.
Recorded at Covil Studio in Sorocaba in 2020, “The VVitch” is the Debut EP of the trio formed by F. Klinger (bass / vocals), P. Nass (guitar) and E. Lisboa (drums) and consists of four tracks where 70s Hard Rock, Doom Metal and Stoner intertwine in an atmosphere of dark and the obscure, inviting the listener on a journey through dense riffs coupled with clean & ethereal vocals, lyrically tapping into occult & horror movie themes and aesthetics. The title track can be streamed at Bandcamp and the video can be seen at YouTube”
DHU Records will release The VVitch on a Single Sided 12″ record w/ silkscreened B side. Pre orders + release date to be confirmed.
The VVitch is mastered for vinyl by Tony Reed at HeavyHead Recording Co.
Test Press, DHU Exclusive & Band Editions will be available
“SO COME THE VVITCH!”
Side A: A1. The VVitch A2. Total Madness A3. Mistress of the Black Heart A4. Witching Hour
Side B: Silkscreen
Recorded at Covil Studio in Sorocaba in 2020 Produced and mixed by F. Klinger Mastered for vinyl by Tony Reed at HeavyHead Recording Company Artwork by Desert Druid
Desert Druid and the Acid Caravan F. Klinger (bass / vocals) P. Nass (guitar) E. Lisboa (drums)
Posted in Whathaveyou on May 18th, 2021 by JJ Koczan
Astute observers-of-things — Thing Observers, you might call them — will notice that the tracklisting for Santa Sangre‘s upcoming self-titled debut full-length and that of their prior-posted 2021 demo, which hit Bandcamp on April 21, are the same. So’s the art. Fair enough. The Yucatán-based trio would not be the first to make a record out of an initial showing, and while you’re observing things, go ahead and observe the consumption happening in “Reanimador,” with its slow-rolling psychedelic crush that’s as far-reaching as the raw nod of “Gripa Colombiana” is scathing. One way or t’other, the shit hits the fan in heavy fashion, and I’m not inclined to argue either with DHU Records on the righteous pickup or the band on the potential in their sound and stated mission. In other words, fucking a, all around.
Info from the PR wire:
New Signing to DHU Records: Santa Sangre
DHU Records is excited to announce the signing of Mexican Doom Lords SANTA SANGRE!
“From Merida, Mexico Heavy Psychedelic Doom trio “Santa Sangre”, release their self titled debut album via Dark Hedonistic Union Records.
After members of the band had been playing in several different rock and metal projects for years, these three dope fiends finally decided to converge as one after the 3 of them went to a Sleep concert in 2018 and had a vision. Looking for their own original sound by persuing the endless forms of amplifier worship and being heavily influenced by bands like BORIS, Acid King and Weedeater they recorded their first album entirely in their rehearsal room during summer of 2020.”
DHU Records will release Santa Sangre on Limited Edition vinyl
Test Press, DHU Exclusive and Band Editions will be available
Side A: A1. Bufo Alvarius A2. Vendiendo Droga A3. Reanimador
Side B: B1. Gripa Colombiana B2. To The Moon
Recorded by Santa Sangre in Mérida, México during June/July 2020 Mixed by Manuel “Kowalski” Mastered by Christian “Red” Sánchez Cover art and layout by Fando Praga Produced by Ergnas Atnas Mastered for vinyl by Tony Reed at HeavyHead Recording Co.
Santa Sangre: Antonio Echazarreta – Lead guitar / Synth Fando Praga – Drums Mario Mendoza – Bass / Vocals / Rhythm guitar
Posted in Questionnaire on April 16th, 2021 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: Lidi Ramirez of Lucifer’s Children
—
How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?
I am currently singer of blues, rock n roll blues, heavy metal and doom metal styles, actually my style was always classic, especially with 70s rock n roll and I have an obsession with everything related with obscure and occult and I started to love music cause’ of my father, who plays the guitar and sing.
Describe your first musical memory.
At my school, when the waitress put heavy metal on the radio.
Describe your best musical memory to date.
When I saw Motörhead, Judas priest and Ozzy at the same time and when I saw Iron Maiden too.
When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?
Oh, maybe when I was a teenager and I started to sing in bars and the people wanted to hear more.
Where do you feel artistic progression leads?
To do more and more.
How do you define success?
When you’re happy doing what you love and go perfecting what you like and makes you happy, also do more things.
What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?
Wow, a lot of things haha but when I went to several concerts of musicians covering songs that they shouldn’t played.
Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.
Many topics that I have in mind and maybe play the guitar and compose, can be?
What do you believe is the most essential function of art?
The transmission and everything you create, your feelings, your experiences, make other people feel it.
Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?
Travel to go to concerts that I like, visit museums in many destinations cause’ I have an obsession with history, the truth, many more things.
Posted in Whathaveyou on April 16th, 2021 by JJ Koczan
If you’re not already looking forward to Hollow, the debut album from Toronto’s Witchrot, then the 50-second teaser making its first airing at the bottom of this post should take care of that with all due efficiency. The four-piece outfit will have the Tony Reed-mastered record up for preorder on May 1, and from its moody-then-explosive opening in “A Million Shattered Swords” and the equal-parts massive and soaring “Burn Me Down” and the final closing statement in its title-track — the word “hollow,” incidentally, is how guitarist Peter Turik once described the voice of singer Leo Reto as making him feel — the band make spaces and fill them with drenched tones and post-grunge melody. They may have made their name by breaking up, but this album is nothing if not alive.
Vinyl release date is June 30, and there are the preorder links that you’ll find with that teaser clip below in shimmering PR wire blue:
Two years ago, Witchrot splattered across the internet with an infamous breakup post on Facebook. The notoriety from the breakup gave them renewed vigor and they soldiered on to fashion themselves into the seventh best band of all time (narrowly pushing the Beatles out of the top ten).
Now Witchrot are set to premiere their debut vinyl long player – Hollow. This killer mix of ethereal vocals, crushing riffs and bottom end dredged up from your local graveyard will be available on Fuzzed and Buzzed Records in North America and DHU in Europe.
The wax comes in three different colorways including the Band edition, the DHU edition and Fuzzed and Buzzed black. Artwork is by ZZ Corpse and each edition comes with a bonus poster from Shane Horror. The whole thing is mastered to vinyl by the heaviest of all heads, Tony Reed.
