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: Brendan Parrish of Horehound

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How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?
I simply consider myself a guitarist, irrespective of genre or style. Before I knew what guitar really was, I was always drawn to the sound of the electric guitar in songs. I was fortunate to meet a good friend in high school who taught guitar, and he became my guitar teacher after I received my first acoustic for Christmas when I was 18. I took lessons with him consistently for about 5 years. He’s one of my closest friends still and I contact him when I need to learn something in particular, but it’s been a while since I’ve taken lessons regularly.

Describe your first musical memory.

It’s hard to describe the absolute first. I remember getting the self-titled Third Eye Blind album as my first ever CD when I was 10, and subsequently Collective Soul, and Garbage’s Version 2.0. My strongest early musical memory was sitting in the car on the way to my Grandpa’s funeral and listening to the guitar solo from “Hotel California” over and over again. Didn’t even really realize that it was electric guitar, just loved how it sounded.

Describe your best musical memory to date.

This is a tough one, but the memory I keep going back to was playing our song “L’appel Du Vide” live at Gooski’s for the very first time. We had struggled with nailing it consistently in practice, but really liked the song and wanted to see how it went over live. We ended up nailing it live for the first time, in front of a really solid crowd (can’t wait to get back to Gooski’s!), and it just felt great.

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

I think this one has evolved over time, regarding my opinion of talent and what being a good guitar player means. Historically, I tend to walk into a gig we’re playing, or go to see a local show, and just assume that I’m the least talented guitarist in the room. Now I definitely don’t feel like I’m a hot shot, but I’ve grown more comfortable identifying as a guitarist and feeling competent enough to hold my own.

Where do you feel artistic progression leads?

Artistic progression really leads wherever the artist decides it should. We’ve had discussions about this as a band, regarding what genre we feel we fit into, and how we write. I think we’ve ultimately decided that we have figured out how we want to sound, and it’s more a reflection of our natural writing style, rather than trying to force the ideas into a genre or style. I guess artistic progression leads to being more comfortable and confident as an artist, and not feeling held back by expectations or limits that others might have put on you.

How do you define success?

I think success is more of a spectrum than it is one finite goal. Before starting Horehound, I think my goal of success would probably have been touring and opening for acts that I really respect. And that still is success to me. But now, the goalpost has moved. I’d like to reach a bigger audience, develop as a songwriter and guitarist, and eventually make music my full-time job. I don’t think I’d ever feel happier and more successful than if I could turn this passion into a career.

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

Oh, there are lots of things. I’ve seen bands be really disrespectful to the venue, sound guy, other bands on the bill, etc. Often by playing longer than they were allotted, or breaking down everything on stage, or just flat out being rude. I hate seeing those things, and when we can all get back out there and play again, I’m hopeful that the shared sense of purpose will minimize a lot of those things going forward.

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

I’d like to create something that balances heavy and pretty as well as “Marrow” or “Beauty in Falling Leaves” by Yob. Mike Scheidt’s guitar playing, songwriting, and vocal ability is just so incredibly impressive to me. If I could write something and someone said “That sounds like a Yob tune,” it would be such amazing praise. But I think I’ve got some work to do still.

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

I think that’s different for everyone. For me, it’s an escape and a catharsis primarily. I struggle with anxiety pretty heavily, so I’m extremely grateful that of all the things I put off learning, guitar wasn’t one of them. Playing guitar and listening to music just really helps with the anxiety when everything else doesn’t.

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

I’m looking forward to just being able to sit at a bar with friends again. I know the last year has been difficult for everyone, and I’m no exception to that. It’s difficult to overstate how much of our social lives have been put on hold, so I’m just really looking forward to having a drink with some friends at a bar and feeling a small sense of normalcy again.

https://www.facebook.com/horehoundband/
https://www.instagram.com/horehound420/
http://horehound.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/DHURecords/
https://www.instagram.com/dhu_records/
https://darkhedonisticunionrecords.bandcamp.com/
darkhedonisticunionrecords.bigcartel.com/

Horehound, Weight (2019)

On a certain level, what you see is what you get with Ariez‘s debut EP, Ritual Doom. It says it’s going to do a thing and then it does. Fair enough. The manner in which it does so, however, has proven remarkable enough to catch the ready ears of DHU Records, and the cult-heavy specialist imprint has picked up the German band for a limited vinyl release later this year. There’s ears to the ground and then there’s this. I’m gonna claim to be Johnny Occultguy or anything, but DHU consistently serves up classic-minded heavy with an edge of the ethereal, and to my ears at least they’ve become one of the foremost supporters of the style.

The band — whose moniker I was pronouncing “air-ee-ay” like a French word in the second-person plural, but is probably just “aries” with a ‘z’ — released the EP on their own last Fall, and you can hear it on the player at the bottom of this post. It grooves and more than lives up to the billing.

From the PR wire:

New Signing to DHU Records: Ariez

DHU Records is excited to announce the signing of German Doom Rockers ARIEZ!

“Ariez was formed in early 2014 in Germany, when Michael Ariez Vent du Nord had the idea to start a band with the roots of classic Heavy Rock bands from the late 60s & early 70s, adding Black Metal influences to create a unique sound.

It didn’t take too long for drummer Luis and vocalist Sue to join as they both brought the same musical background to form the Ariez sound.

After a year of rehearsing Ariez played a few gigs, with duties on Bass changing regularly and because of the pandemic, silence set in… The three band members kept on writing and Luis & Michael recorded and produced all material in the band’s rehearsal room and on November 3rd 2020 digitally released their first 4 song EP entitled Ritual Doom.

With plenty of hooks & licks & a darkened atmosphere Ritual Doom will captivate and leave you wanting more with each listen!

Ariez’s lyrics deal with the inescapable topic of life and death; mystic, spiritual and occult in nature.

Ariez is a Heavy Occult Rock band.

Come one, come all, and embrace the Ritual Doom!”

DHU Records will release Ritual Doom on Limited Edition vinyl approximately August 2021

DHU Exclusive, Band Edition & Test Press will be available

Side A:
A1. Never Dying Sun
A2.Stardust in the Light of the Wind

Side B:
B1. Bee Eater
B2. Queen of the Forest

Released November 3rd 2020

All songs are written, recorded and mixed by Ariez
Artwork by Ariez
Vinyl mastering by Tony Reed at HeavyHead Recording Company
2020 All rights reserved.

(NOTE: the vinyl release has a different track order than on bandcamp)

Ariez:
Vocals: Sue Leafheart
Drums and Bass: Luis
Guitar and Bass: Ariez Vent du Nord

https://www.facebook.com/ariezritualdoom
https://www.instagram.com/ariez_ritual_doom/
https://ariezband.bandcamp.com/
darkhedonisticunionrecords.bigcartel.com/
https://www.facebook.com/DHURecords/
https://darkhedonisticunionrecords.bandcamp.com/

Ariez, Ritual Doom (2020)

Right on. I dug the 2020 Strega / Hey Hey My My (review here) single from Toronto’s Witchrot, and the news of an impending full-length debut is only welcome as far as I’m concerned. The release — which will be out… ever — is unsurprisingly set to issue through the ongoing collaboration between Fuzzed and Buzzed and DHU Records that has wrought much cultishness of purpose and much fuzz of tone already and one hopes will only continue to do so throughout 2021. The more the merrier.

If you didn’t hear the single last year, it’s streaming below as there’s no audio as yet from the album, which is titled Hollow. One assumes that will come in time along with stuff like, oh, a release date and preorders and all that whatnot.

DHU sent the preliminaries along the PR wire:

New release by Fuzzed and Buzzed & DHU Records: Witchrot ~ Hollow

DHU Records is excited to announce we will be teaming up once again with that super stoned label of Canadian descent Fuzzed and Buzzed Records to bring you the debut full length LP Hollow by Toronto Doom Cult Witchrot!!

“After releasing 2 crushing 7″ & 8” singles in 2019 and 2020, the time has come for Canadian Doomers Witchrot to unleash their debut full length and they did not hold back to bring you earth shattering hymns of colossal proportions!

Ultra Heavy riffing, uncomfortable atmospheres coiled in overwhelming & mesmeric chants from singer Lea make Hollow a Doom Masterpiece!”

DHU Records & Fuzzed and Buzzed Records are proud to bring you Hollow on Limited Edition Vinyl in the second quarter of 2021. DHU, Fuzzed and Buzzed and Witchrot Editions will be available. All Editions will be available to order in EU and CAN/US

More info & details coming soon…

Side A:
A1. Million Shattered Swords 6:44
A2. Colder Hands 5:42
A3. Spiral Of Sorrow 5:58
A4. Fog 2:46

Side B:
B1. Devil In Your Eyes 5:10
B2. Burn Me Down 5:27
B3. I Know My Enemy 4:16
B4. Hollow 5:04

Engineered and mixed by Dylan Frankland
At Palace Sound // Candle Studio November 2019 and October 2020.
Assistant Engineer Simon Kou
Mastered by Tony Reed at HeavyHead Recording Co.
Album art & layout by ZZ Corpse
Executive Producer Lex Shuper

Witchrot are:
Lea Reto
Peter Turik
Nick Kervin
Cam Alford

https://www.facebook.com/witchrot
https://www.instagram.com/witchrotband/
https://witchrot.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/Fuzzedandbuzzed-631019733954614/
https://www.instagram.com/fuzzedandbuzzed/
https://www.fuzzedandbuzzed.com/
https://www.facebook.com/DHURecords/
https://www.instagram.com/dhu_records/
https://darkhedonisticunionrecords.bandcamp.com/
darkhedonisticunionrecords.bigcartel.com/

Witchrot, Strega / Hey Hey My My (2020)

Issued digitally less than a month ago, on New Year’s Eve overlooking the precipice of doom that is 2021 thus far, Kuala Lumpur-based stoner doomers Ibliss‘ debut album, Demonic, Her, is set to release through DHU Records (vinyl) and Forbidden Place Records (CD, tape) sometime in the coming months. Its place in the physical realm is earned with a dirt-raw approach that, I don’t care what quality download you get, still sounds rough and lo-fi as hell — and hell is the point. The band recorded live and don’t seem at least on social media to go back much further than Sept. 2020 and they formed in June, so if you’re looking for fresh doom, this would seem to be it. The motto “raw, dirty and evil” sums it up pretty well.

DHU sent the following down the PR wire:

New signing to DHU Records: IBLISS

DHU Records is excited to announce the signing of Malaysian Demonic Stoner Doom Cult IBLISS!

“IBLISS is a three piece Demonic Stoner Doom band hailing from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Formed in June 2020, 3 friends; Wan, Fo & Dan, who share the same interest in Stoner Rock & Doom music started to jam together to write their own Raw, Dirty & Evil hymns. On December 31st 2020 they released their debut album Demonic, Her.”

DHU Records will release Demonic, Her in the second quarter of 2021 on Limited Edition Vinyl. DHU Exclusive, Band Edition & Test Press will be available.

Cassette & CD will be released by Forbidden Place Records

Side A:
A1. Iblis Bloody Iblis!
A2. Acid Day
A3. Blood Party

Side B:
B1. Dark Room Charm
B2. Sweetheart, I Need Blood
B3. Demonic, Her

This album was recorded live at iseekmusic studio from September to December 2020.
Mixing and mastering by Mokhtar.
Music by IBLISS.
Lyrics by IBLISS/Yoshi.
Made in Malaysia.

Listen to Demonic, Her here: https://ibliss666.bandcamp.com/album/demonic-her

IBLISS:
Wan – guitar
Fo – bass/vocal
Dan – drums

https://www.facebook.com/iblissband666
https://ibliss666.bandcamp.com
darkhedonisticunionrecords.bigcartel.com/
https://www.facebook.com/DHURecords/
https://darkhedonisticunionrecords.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/forbiddenplacerecords/
https://www.instagram.com/forbiddenplacerecords/
https://forbiddenplacerecords.bandcamp.com/

Ibliss, Demonic, Her (2020)

The end of the week for the Quarterly Review is a special time, even if this particular QR will continue into next Monday and Tuesday. Also apparently today is Xmas? Okay. Whatever, I’ve got writing to do. I hope you’re safe and not, say, traveling out of state to see family against the urging of the CDC. That would be incredibly irresponsible, etc. etc. that’s what I’m doing. Don’t get me started.

However you celebrate or don’t, be safe. Music will help.

Quarterly Review #41-50:

Celestial Season, The Secret Teachings

Like many of the original death-doom set, Dutch masters Celestial Season gave up the style during their original run, departing toward heavy rock after 1995’s Solar Lovers. At an hour’s run spread across 13 tracks including ambient guitar and violin/cello interludes, The Secret Teachings has no time for such flighty fare. Reunited with original vocalist Stefan Ruiters and bassist Lucas van Slegtenhorst, the band return in grand fashion for their first full-length in 20 years, and songs like “Long Forlorn Tears” and “Salt of the Earth” conjure all the expert-grade morose plod one could possibly ask, as each side of the 2LP begins with its own intro and sets its own mood, from the almost-hopeful wistfulness of opener/longest track (immediate points) “The Secret Teachings of All Ages” at the start to the birdsong-laced “Beneath the Temple Mount” that leads the way into “A Veil of Silence” and “Red Water” at the finish, the latter a Type O Negative cover that fits well after the crescendo of the song before it.

Celestial Season on Facebook

Burning World Records website

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Wren, Groundswells

The gift Wren make to post-metal is that even in their quietest stretches, they maintain tension. And sure, the Londoners’ second LP, Groundswells — also stylized all-caps: GROUNDSWELLS — has in “Murmur” its “Stones From the Sky” moment as all works of the genre seemingly must, but the six-cut/44-minute follow-up to 2017’s Auburn Rule (discussed here) casts a scope less about pretense or ambition than largesse and heft, and that serves it well, be it in the shorter “Crossed Out Species” or longer pieces like the opener “Chrome” and the penultimate “Subterranean Messiah,” which injects some melodic vocals into the proceedings and airy string-inclusive prog amid all the surrounding crush. All well and good, but it’s hard to deny the sheer assault of the doomed apex in closer “The Throes,” and you’ll pardon me if I don’t try. Ambience through volume, catharsis through volume, volume all things.

Wren on Facebook

Gizeh Records website

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Sumokem, Prajnaparadha

With strength of performance to fall back on and progressive realization in their songwriting, Little Rock, Arkansas’ Sumokem would seem to come of age on their third long-player, Prajnaparadha, answering the flourish of 2017’s The Guardian of Yosemite (discussed here) with an even more confident stylistic sprawl and an abiding patience that extends even to the album’s most intense moments. Not at all a minor undertaking in dynamic or its run of five long songs following the intro “Prologue,” Prajnaparadha manages not to be dizzying mostly because of the grace with which it’s crafted, tied together by ace guitar work and a propensity for soaring in order to complement and sometimes willfully contrast the tonal weight. When the growls show up in “Fakir” and carry into “Khizer,” Sumokem seem to push the record to its final level, and making that journey with them is richly satisfying.

Sumokem on Facebook

Cursed Tongue Records webstore

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Oginalii, Pendulum

Psychedelia comes poison-tipped with brooding post-grunge atmospheres as Oginalii‘s Pendulum swings this way and that between “Scapegoat” and “Black Hole” and “Pillars” and “Veils” across its too short 24 minutes. The Nashvillainous four-piece explore an inner darkness perfect for these long months of forced-introspection, and though calling something pandemic-appropriate has become a tired compliment to give, the underlying rhythmic restlessness of “Scapegoat” and the crying out overtop, the fuzzy burst of “Veils” and the interweaving drums and guitar noise behind the recited semi-sung poetry of “Pillars” serve the soundtrack cause nonetheless, to say nothing of the two-minute minimalist echoing stretch of “Black Hole” or the oh-okay-it’s-indie-post-rock-but-oh-wait-what-the-hell-now-it’s-furious closer “Stripped the Screw.” Anger suits Oginalii as it comes through here, not in tired chestbeating but in spacious craft that manages to sound intense even in its languid reach. Pretty fucking cool, if you ask me.

Oginalii on Facebook

Devil in the Woods on Bandcamp

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Völur, Death Cult

Toronto’s Völur offer their third album, Death Cult, in cooperation with Prophecy Productions, and it comes in four string-laced tracks that waste little time in pushing genre limits, bringing folk influences in among doom, blackened metallurgy and more ethereal touches. Arrangements of violin, viola, cello, double-bass, keys, and the shared vocals of Laura Bates and Lucas Gadke (the latter also of Blood Ceremony) give a suitably arthouse feel to the proceedings rounded out by the drums and percussion of Justin Ruppel, and it’s far from unearned as the four songs play out across 37 minutes, “Dead Moon” veering into lumbering death-doom in its apex ahead of the jazz-into-choral-into-drone-into-freer-jazz-into-progressive-black-metal of the 11-minute “Freyjan Death Cult,” subsequent closer “Reverend Queen” leaving behind the chaos in its last few minutes for an epilogue of mournful strings and drums; a dirge both unrepentantly beautiful and still in keeping with the atmospheric weight throughout. Bands like this — rare — make other bands better.

Volur on Facebook

Volur at Prophecy Productions

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Wedge, Like No Tomorrow

Bursting with enough energy to make one miss live music, Wedge‘s third album, Like No Tomorrow, transcends vintage-ism in its production if not its overall mindset, bringing clarity to Deep Purple organ-tics on opener “Computer” while keeping the lyrics purposefully modern. Bass leads the way in “Playing a Role” and the spirit is boogie fuzz until the jam hits and, yeah, they make it easy to go along for the ride. “Blood Red Wine” has arena-rock melody down pat while centerpiece and likely side A closer “Across the Water” at last lets itself go to that place, following the guitar until the surge that brings in “Queen of the Night” indulges purer proto-metal impulses, still accomplished in its harmonized chorus amid the charge. Is that the guitar solo in “U’n’I” panning left to right I hear? I certainly hope so. The shortest cut on Like No Tomorrow feels like it’s in a hurry to leave behind a verse, and sets up the surprisingly modestly paced “At the Speed of Life,” which is lent a cinematic feel by the organ and layered choral vocals that bolsters yet another strong hook, while the nine-minute “Soldier” is bluesier but still sounds like it could be the live incarnation of any of these tracks depending on where a given jam takes Wedge on any given night. Here’s hoping, anyhow.

Wedge on Facebook

Heavy Psych Sounds website

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SpellBook, Magick and Mischief

About a year and a half after issuing Otherworldly (review here), their third album under the moniker Witch Hazel, the dukes of York, PA, are back with a new name and a refreshed sound. As SpellBook, vocalist Nate Tyson, guitarist Andy Craven, bassist Seibert Lowe and drummer Nicholas Zinn push through two vinyl sides of classic heavy f’n metal, less concerned with doom than they were but still saving a bit of roll for the longer centerpiece “Not Long for This World” and the airy, dramatic closer “Dead Detectives.” Elsewhere, “Black Shadow” brings a horns-at-the-ready chorus, “Motorcade” reminds that the power of Judas Priest was always in the basslines (that’s right, I said it), and “Ominous Skies” brims with the vitality of the new band that SpellBook are, even as it benefits from the confidence born of these players’ prior experience together.

SpellBook on Facebook

Cruz Del Sur Music website

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Old Blood, Acid Doom

Kudos to L.A.’s Old Blood for at least making the classification part easy when it comes to their debut album, conveniently titled Acid Doom, though that category hardly accounts for, say, the piano stretch of second cut “Bridge to Nowhere,” or the heavy rock theatricality in “Heavy Water” or the horn sounds of “Slothgod” a few songs later, but I suppose one has to start somewhere, and ‘acid doom’ is fair enough when it comes to accounting for the sleekery in the vocals of Lynx, the weight of the riffs of C. Gunner, the roll of bassist Octopus and drummer Diesel and the classic-style organ work of J.F. Stone. But if Old Blood want to unfurl something deceptively complex and stylistically intricate on their debut, that’s certainly cool as far as I’m concerned. Production is a strong presence throughout in a way that pulls a bit from what the impact of the songs might be on stage (remember stages?), but the songwriting is there, and Lynx‘s voice is a noteworthy presence of its own. I’m not sure where they’ll end up sound-wise, but at the same time, Acid Doom comes across like nothing else in the batch of 70 records I’m doing for this Quarterly Review, and that in itself I find admirable.

Old Blood on Facebook

Metal Assault Records on Bandcamp

DHU Records webstore

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Jahbulong, Eclectic Poison Tones

Just because you know the big riff is going to kick in about a minute into opening track “Under the Influence of the Fool” on Jahbulong‘s tarot-inflected stoner doom four-songer Eclectic Poison Tones doesn’t make it any less satisfying when it happens. The deep-rolling three-piece from Verona make their full-length debut with the 45-minute offering through Go Down Records, and the lurching continues in “The Tower of the Broken Bones” and “The Eclipse of the Empress,” which is the only cut under 10 minutes long but still keeps the slow-motion Sabbath rolling into the 15-minute closer “The Eremite Tired Out (Sweed Dreams)” (sic), which plays off some loud/quiet changes fluidly without interrupting the nod that’s so central to the entirety of the album. Look. These guys know the gods they’re worshiping — Sleep, Black Sabbath, Electric Wizard maybe, etc. — and they’re not trying to get away with saying they invented any of this. If you can’t get down with 45 minutes of slower-than-slow grooves, maybe you’re in the wrong microgenre. For me, it’s the lack of pretense that makes it.

Jahbulong on Facebook

Go Down Records website

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Heavy Trip, Heavy Trip

Heavy Trip. Four songs. Two sides. Three dudes. Instrumental. Accurately named. Yeah, you’ve heard this story before, but screw it. They start out nice and spacious on “Hand of Shroom” and they finish with high-speed boogie in the 13-minute “Treespinner,” and all in between Heavy Trip make it nothing less than a joy to go along wherever it is they’re headed. The Vancouver three-piece make earlier Earthless something of an elephant in the room as regards influences, but the unhurried groove in second cut “Lunar Throne” is a distinguishing factor, and even as “Mind Leaf” incorporates a bit more shove, it does so with enough righteousness to carry through. As a debut, Heavy Trip‘s Heavy Trip might come across more San Diego than Vancouver, but screw it. Dudes got jams like Xmas hams, and the chemistry they bring in holding listener attention with tempo changes throughout here speaks to a progressive edge burgeoning in their sound.

Heavy Trip on Facebook

Burning World Records on Bandcamp

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Damn, DHU. Give it a week between signings, why don’t you? What’s that you say? No? Well, okay.

The latest pickup from the obviously-driven-by-dark-forces European imprint is Buenos Aires cult troupe Wicca, whose sludgy, post-EWiz riffing is exemplified in “The Devil’s Hand” from their 2020 EP, You Sow Your Crop. Call it lumbering, call it plodding, call it nodding, it all comes down to slow riffs and right-on heavy groove. And I mean all of it. If you care to march along with Wicca on their hillside jaunt toward oblivion — and why not? — you can stream the ‘Alucarda Edition’ of You Sow Your Crop below.

Dig:

New signing to DHU Records: WICCA

DHU Records is excited to announce the signing of Argentina’s Occult Rock band WICCA!

“Wicca is a rock band from the west of Buenos Aires, Argentina. With a fuzz up front and clear voices they are looking for a place between Heavy Blues, Stoner, Sludge and Doom Metal. Wicca 333 isn’t just a few dirty riffs and some excuse to talk about Satan. It arises from a need: Be the voice of those who never had it.

It is no coincidence and less marketing, choosing to be represented by the name of a Pagan religion that gives us an ancestral wisdom (persecuted and punished throughout History in the name of the Christian faith) thus summarizing an aesthetic concept that goes beyond the spiritualism and that it is not just a political decision but signs of a new culture.

DHU Records will be releasing You Sow Your Crop and a Bonus 7″ of Oracular on Limited Edition vinyl in the first quarter of 2021!

Test Press, DHU Exclusive and Band Editions will be available

Wicca ~ You Sow Your Crop (DHU060)
Side A:
A1. 13 Women
A2. The Devil’s Hand
A3. Black Witch

Side B (Alucarda Trip Edition):
B1. 13 Women
B2. The Devil’s Hand (Alucarda Trip)
B3. Black Witch

Released September 21, 2020

You Sow Your Crop was recorded, produced mixed and mastered between 2019 and 2020 by Pablo Michelin at Chamánico Records
Additional participation:
Achi Lamas: Claps in The Devil’s Hand

All Artwork will be provided by ZZ Corpse

Listen to You Sow Your Crop here: https://wicca333.bandcamp.com/album/you-sow-your-crop
You Sow Your Crop (Alucarda Trip Edition): https://wicca333.bandcamp.com/album/you-sow-your-crop-alucarda-trip-edition

Oracular Bonus 7″
Side A:
A1. 333
A2. The 7 Wonders

Side B:
B1. The Empress
B2. Medium

Oracular was recorded at Underyuls Records by Yuls
Listen to Oracular here: https://wicca333.bandcamp.com/album/wicca-oracular

Both You Sow Your Crop and Oracular are mastered for vinyl by Tony Reed at HeavyHead Recording Co.

WICCA
Aixa Pilmayquen Lamas – Guitar & Vocals
Sebastián Regueira – Guitar
Pechx Mielnik – Drum
Pablo Michelin -Bass

https://www.facebook.com/wicca333band
https://www.instagram.com/wicca.gram/
https://wicca333.bandcamp.com/
darkhedonisticunionrecords.bigcartel.com/
https://www.facebook.com/DHURecords/
https://darkhedonisticunionrecords.bandcamp.com/

Wicca, You Sow Your Crop (Alucarda Trip Edition) (2020)

French-German duo Lucifer Lives will release their debut album, Love, Music, Lucifer, on DHU Records next year, and as noted below, the two-piece — who were a trio when they made the release — are already working on a follow-up to be called Forgotten Tears. It’s a cool vibe in a classic doom sense to their of-course-cultish leanings. I’ll profess that some of the Satanic stuff hits me as pretty goofy these days in general, but Lucifer Lives sneak some harmonies into “All is Over” and their initial rollout with “A Slice of Life” brings to mind just how relevant Pentagram continue to be in doom rock. Plus a Hüsker Dü cover, enviable logo design, and art by Goatess Doomwych.

Also, I’m almost hesitant to mention it because the label never does, but if you look at the groups DHU Records picks up, they consistently support women artists in bands and sometimes entire groups, and that’s worth supporting. I may or may not chase down an individual release, but in an underground beyond saturated with dudes, the label’s contrary push is one I deeply respect.

Info came down the PR wire, and the album’s streaming at the bottom of the post:

New signing to DHU Records: Lucifer Lives!

DHU Records is excited to announce the signing of France/Germany’s Occult Rock duo LUCIFER LIVES!

“Lucifer Lives was founded in 2011 by MorighosT (drums, guitar, bass, keys and vocals) and Maho (Guitar). 2012 Louve La Nuit (Lead Vocals) joined the group and the recording began for the debut album called LOVE, MUSIC, LUCIFER.

This album was finally released October 20, 2020 via bandcamp. Some months before Maho left the band.

This moment the french /german duo is working on the second album “Forgotten Tears” that will be finished in 2021.

Lucifer Lives plays Doom and Hard Rock with a Gothic edge.”

DHU Records will be releasing Love, Music, Lucifer on Limited Edition vinyl in the first quarter of 2021! Test Press, DHU Exclusive and Band Editions will be available.

Side A:
A1. A Slice of Life
A2. Lucifer Lives
A3. All Is Over
A4. Rest In Silence

Side B:
B1. Standing by the Sea (Hüsker Dü cover)
B2. Forest of Fear
B3. Shadow People
B4. In the Sign of the Pentagram

Artwork by Goatess Doomwych

Listen to Love, Music, Lucifer here: https://luciferlives.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/LuciferLivesBand
https://luciferlives.bandcamp.com/
darkhedonisticunionrecords.bigcartel.com/
https://www.facebook.com/DHURecords/
https://darkhedonisticunionrecords.bandcamp.com/

Lucifer Lives, Love, Music, Lucifer (2020)

One imagines it’s difficult to be a cult rocker. I mean in terms of lifestyle commitment. Like it used to be hard to be goth, I’d think. For those who are really deep into it.

An example. I dig a lot of cult heavy stuff on the doomier end, where Coven Spell reside with their instrumental selves, and on the classic rock end, bands sounding like Black Widow and all that. At very least, I keep an open mind going into it. But right now as I write this post, I’m sitting in front of the bathtub while my kid gets clean so he doesn’t go to school in about 40 minutes smelling like cheese. Really, little dude gets cheesy. So what could be less cult rock than that? Even with a bath bomb turning the water blue, I feel like it’s all the wrong kind of ritual.

Maybe I just suck at cult rock. I’ve never even read Aleister Crowley.

Whatever it’s worth, I still think this record sounds pretty cool, and if you’re somebody who finds cultish stuff perhaps a bit silly when it comes to lyrics, well, that’s not a problem you’re going to have here. Again, worth the open mind.

DHU — nothing if not experts in the field — sent the following down the PR wire:

New signing to DHU Records: Coven Spell

DHU Records is honored to announce the signing of Germany’s Occult Doom cult COVEN SPELL to release the stunning 2020 Magnum Opus CIRCLE OF 13 (DHU058) on Limited Edition Vinyl!

“With a combination of Drone/Doom Riffs and Occult, Slow & Sluggish Rhythms, Coven Spell will make you invoke a succubus by candlelight.

The man behind Coven Spell is the musician Eugen Kohl, who is already active in various metal and industrial genres (among others Crypt Witch, Donarhall, Sinister Downfall, Cinereous Rain, Urschmerz, etc.) and is committed to worshipping metal music.

‘Circle Of 13’ is the first ritual to be released in 2021 by Dark Hedonistic Union Records.”

DHU Records will be unleashing Circle of 13 in the first quarter of 2021 on Limited Edition 2LP

Test Press, DHU Exclusive and Band Editions will be available

Side A:
A1. Phantom of Shadows

Side B:
B1. Blood Chalice

Side C:
C1. Kingdom of Heretics
C2. Damage Spell

Side D:
D1. Black Magic Cult
D2. Night Stalker

Instrumental Occult Doom Metal from the high north of Germany
Written, recorded, mixed and mastered by Eugen Kohl at Misanthropic Studios

Listen to Circle of 13 here: https://covenspell.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/covenspelldoom/
https://covenspell.bandcamp.com/
darkhedonisticunionrecords.bigcartel.com/
https://www.facebook.com/DHURecords/
https://darkhedonisticunionrecords.bandcamp.com/

Coven Spell, Circle of 13 (2020)