Welcome back to the Quarterly Review. Just because it’s a new week, I’ll say again the idea here is to review 10 releases — albums, EPs, the odd single if I feel like there’s enough to say about it — per day across some span of days. In this case, the Quarterly Review goes to 70. Across Monday to Friday last week, 50 new, older and upcoming offerings were written up and today and tomorrow it’s time to wrap it up. I fly out to Roadburn on Wednesday.

Accordingly, you’ll pardon if I spare the “how was your weekend?”-type filler and jump right in instead. Let’s. Go.

Quarterly Review #51-60:

Megaritual, Recursion

Last heard from in 2017, exploratory Australian psychedelic solo outfit Megaritual — most often styled all-lowercase: megaritual — returns with the aptly-titled Recursion, as multi-instrumentalist, vocalist and producer Dale Paul Walker taps expansive kosmiche progressivisim across nine songs and 42 minutes. If you told me these tracks, which feel streamlined compared to the longer-form work Walker was doing circa 2017, had been coming together since that time, the depth of the arrangements and the way each cut comes across as its own microcosm within the greater whole bears that out, be it the winding wisps of “Tres Son Multitud” or the swaying echoey bliss of later highlight “The Jantar Mantar.” I don’t know if that’s the case or it isn’t, but the color in this music alone makes it one of the best records I’ve heard in 2025, and I can’t get away from thinking some of the melody and progressive aspects comes from metal like Opeth, so yeah. Basically, it’s all over the place and wonderful. Thanks for reading.

Megaritual on Bandcamp

Echodelick Records website

Psychedelic Salad Records store

—

Red Eye, III

Slab-heavy riffage from Andalusian three-piece Red Eye‘s III spreads itself across a densely-weighted but not monolithic — or at least not un-dynamic or unipolar — eight songs, as a switch between shouted and more melodic vocals early on between the Ufomammut-esque “Sagittarius A*” (named for the black hole at the Milky Way’s center; it follows the subdued intro “Ad Infinitum”) and the subsequent, doomier in a Pallbearer kind of way “See Yourself” gives listeners an almost-immediate sense of variety around the wall-o’-tone lumbering fuzz that unites those two and so much else throughout as guitarist/vocalist Antonio Campos del Pino, bassist/synthesist Antonio Pérez Muriel and drummer/synthesist/vocalist Pablo Terol Rosado veer between more and less aggressive takes. “No Morning After” renews the bash, “Beyond” makes it a party, “Stardust” uses that momentum to push the tempo faster and “Nebula” makes it swing into the Great Far Out before “The Nine Billion Names of God” builds to a flattening crescendo. Intricate in terms of style and crushingly heavy. Easy win.

Red Eye’s Linktr.ee

Discos Macarras Records website

—

Temple of the Fuzz Witch & Seum, Conjuring

Even by the respective standards of the bands involved — and considering the output of Detroit grit-doomers Temple of the Fuzz Witch and Montreal sans-guitar scathemakers Seum to this point, it’s a significant standard — Conjuring is some nasty, nasty shit. Presented through Black Throne Productions with manic hand-drawn cover art that reminds of Midwestern pillsludge circa 2008, the 27-minute split outing brings three songs from each outfit, and maybe it’s the complementary way Seum‘s low-end picks up from the grueling, chugging, and finally rolling fare Temple of the Fuzz Witch provide, but both acts come through as resoundingly, willfully, righteously bleak. You know how at the dentist they let you pick your flavor of toothpaste? This is like that except surprise you just had all your teeth pulled. It only took half-an-hour, but now you need to figure out what to do with your dazed, gummy self. Good luck.

Seum on Bandcamp

Temple of the Fuzz Witch on Bandcamp

Black Throne Productions website

—

Uncle Woe, Folded in Smoke, Soaked and Bound

Uncle Woe offer two eight-minutes-each tracks on the new EP, Folded in Smoke, Soaked and Bound, as project founder/spearhead Rain Fice (in Canada) and collaborator Marc Whitworth (in Australia) bring atmosphere and grace to underlying plod. It’s something of a surprise when “One is Obliged” relatively-speaking solidifies at about five minutes in around vocal soar, which is an effective, emotional moment in a song that seems to be mourning even as it grows broader moving toward the finish. “Of Symptoms and Waves” impresses vocally as well, deep in the mix as the vocals are, but feels more about the darker prog metal-type stretch that unfolds from about the halfway point on. But what’s important to note is these plays on genre are filtered through Uncle Woe‘s own aesthetic vision, and so this short outing becomes both lush and raw for the obvious attention to its sonic details and the overarching melancholy that belongs so much to the band. A well-appreciated check-in.

Uncle Woe on Bandcamp

Uncle Woe’s Linktr.ee

—

Negative Reaction, Salvaged From the Kuiper Belt

I would not attempt to nor belittle the band’s accomplishments by trying to summarize 35 years of Negative Reaction in this space, but as the West-Virginia-by-way-of-Long-Island unit led by its inimitable principal/guitarist/vocalist Ken-E Bones mark this significant occasion, the collection Salvaged From the Kuiper Belt provides 16 decades-spanning tracks covering sundry eras of the band. I haven’t seen a liner, so I don’t even know the number of players involved here, but Bones has been through several incarnations of Negative Reaction at this point, so when “NOD” steamrollers and later pieces like “Mercy Killing” and the four-second highlight “Stick o’ Gum” are more barebones in their punksludge, it makes sense in context. Punk, psych, sludge, raw vocals — these have always been key ingredients to Negative Reaction‘s often-harsh take, and it’s a blend that’s let them endure beyond trend, reason, or human kindness. Congrats to Bones, whom I consider a friend of long-standing, and many more.

Negative Reaction on Bandcamp

Negative Reaction on Facebook

—

Fomies, Liminality

Given how many different looks Fomies present on Liminality, and how movement-based so much of it is between the uptempo proto-punk, krauty shuffle and general sense of push — not out of line with the psych of the modern age, but too weird not to be its own spin — it feels like mellower opener “The Onion Man” is its own thing at the front of the album; a mellower lead-in to put the listener in a more preferred mindset (on the band’s part) to enjoy what follows. This is artfully done, as is the aforementioned “what follows,” as the band thoughtfully boogie through the three-part “Colossus,” find a moment for frenetic fuzz via Gary Numan in “Neon Gloom,” make even the two-and-a-half-minute “Happiness Relay” a show of chemistry, finish in a like-minded tonal fullness with “Upheaval,” and engage with decades of motorik worship without losing themselves more than they want to in the going. At 51 minutes, Liminality is somewhat heady, but that’s inherent to the style as well, and the band’s penchant for adventure comes through smoothly alongside all that super-dug-in vibing.

Fomies on Bandcamp

Taxi Gauche Records website

—

The Long Wait, The Long Wait

Classic Boston DGAF heavy riff rock, and if you hear a good dose of hardcore in amid the swing and shove, The Long Wait‘s self-titled debut comes by it honestly. The five-piece of vocalist Glen Dudley (Wrecking Crew), guitarist Darryl Shepard (Kind, Milligram, Slapshot, etc.) and Steven Risteen (Slapshot), bassist Jaime Sciarappa (SSD, Slapshot) and drummer Mark McKay (Slapshot) plunder through nine cuts. Certainly elbows are out, but considering where they’re coming from, it’s not an overly aggressive sound. Hardcore dudes have been veering into heavier riffing à la “Uncharted Greed” or “FWM” for the last 35 years, so The Long Wait feels well in line with a tradition that some of these guys helped set in the first place as it revisits songs from 2023’s demo and expands outward from there, searching for and beginning to find its own interpretation of what “bullshit-free” means in terms of the band’s craft.

The Long Wait on Bandcamp

The Long Wait’s Facebook group

—

Babona, Az Utolsó Választás Kora

Since 2020, Miskolc, Hungary-based solo-band Babona have released three EPs, a couple singles and now two full-lengths, with Az Utolsó Választás Kora (‘the age of the last choice’) as the second album from multi-instrumentalist and producer Tamás Rózsa. Those with an appreciation for the particular kind of crunch Eastern Europe brings to heavy rock will find the eight-tracker a delight in the start-stops of “2/3” and the vocals-are-sampled-crying-and-laughing “A Rendszer Rothadása,” which digs into its central riff with suitable verve. The later “Kormányalakítás” hints at psych — something Rózsa has fostered going back to 2020 with Ottlakán, from whom Babona seems to have sprung — and the album isn’t without humor as a crowing rooster snaps the listener out of that song’s trance in the transition to the ambient post-rocker “Frakció,” but when it’s time to get to business, Rózsa caps with “Pártatlan” as a grim, sludgy lumber that holds its foreboding mood even into its own comedown. That’s not the first time Az Utolsó Választás Kora proves deceptively immersive.

Babona on Bandcamp

Babona on Facebook

—

Sutras, The Crisis of Existence

Sit tight, because it’s about to get pretty genre-nerdy. Sutras, the Washington D.C.-based two-piece of Tristan Welch (vocals/guitar) and Frederick Ashworth (drums/bass) play music that is psychedelic and heavy, but with a strong foundation specifically in post-hardcore. Their term for it is ‘Dharma punk,’ which is enough to make me wonder if there’s a krishna-core root here, but either way, The Crisis of Existence feels both emotive and ethereal as the duo bring together airy guitar and rhythmic urgency, raw, sometimes gang-shouted vocals, and arrangements that feel fluid whether it’s the rushing post-punk (yeah, I know: so much ‘post-‘; I told you to sit tight) of “Racing Sundown” or the denser push of “Bloom Watch” or the swing brought to that march in “Working Class Devotion.” They cap the 19-minute EP with posi-vibes in “Being Nobody, Going Nowhere,” which provides one last chance for their head-scratching-on-paper sound to absolutely, totally work, as it does. The real triumph here, fists in the air and all that, is that it sounds organic.

Sutras on Bandcamp

Sutras on Instagram

—

Sleeping in Samsara, Sleeping in Samsara

The story of Sleeping in Samsara‘s self-titled two-songer as per Christian Peters (formerly Samsara Blues Experiment, currently Fuzz Sagrado, etc.) is that in 2023, My Sleeping Karma drummer Steffen Weigand reached out with an interest in collaborating as part of a solo-project Weigand was developing. Weigand passed away in June 2023, and “Twilight Again” and “Downtime,” with underlying basic tracks from Weigand in drums, keys/synth, and rhythm guitar, and Peters adding lead guitar, vocals, bass in the latter, the songs are unsurprising in their cohesion only when one considers the fluidity wrought by both parties in their respective outfits, and though the loss of Weigand of course lends a bittersweet cast, that this material has seen the light of day at all feels like a tribute to his life and cretive drive.

Fuzz Sagrado website

Electric Magic Records on Bandcamp

—

This is the next-to-last day of this Quarterly Review, and while it’s been a lot, it’s been encouraging to dig into so much stuff in such intense fashion. I’ve added a few releases to my notes for year-end lists, but more importantly, I’ve gotten to hear and cover stuff that otherwise I might not, and that’s the value at a QR has for me at its core, so while we’re not through yet, I’ll just say thanks again for reading and that I hope you’ve also found something that speaks to you in these many blocks of text and embedded streaming players. If not, there’s still 20 records to go, so take comfort in that as needed.

Quarterly Review #81-90:

—

Harvestman, Triptych: Part One

The weirdo-psych experimental project of Steve Von Till (now ex-Neurosis, which is still sad on a couple levels) begins a released-according-to-lunar-orbit trilogy of albums in Triptych: Part One, which is headlined by opening track “Psilosynth,” boasting a guest appearance from Al Cisneros (Sleep, Om) on bass. If those two want to start an outsider-art dub-drone band together, my middle-aged burnout self is here for it — “Psilosynth (Harvest Dub),” a title that could hardly be more Von Till and Cisneros, appears a little later, which suggests they might also be on board — but that’s only part of the world being created in Triptych: Part One as “Mare and Foal” manipulates bagpipes into ghostly melodies, “Give Your Heart to the Hawk” echoes poetry over ambient strum, “Coma” and “How to Purify Mercury” layer synthesized drone and/or effects-guitar to sci-fi affect and “Nocturnal Field Song” finds YOB‘s Dave French banging away on something metal in the background while the crickets chirp. The abiding spirit is subdued, exploratory as Von Till‘s solo works perpetually are, and even as the story is only a third told, the immersion on Triptych: Part One goes as deep as the listener is willing to let it. I look forward to being a couple moons late reviewing the next installment.

Harvestman on Facebook

Neurot Recordings website

—

Kalgon, Kalgon

As they make their self-titled full-length debut, Asheville, North Carolina’s Kalgon lay claim to a deceptive wide swath of territory even separate from the thrashier departure “Apocalyptic Meiosis” as they lumber through “The Isolate” and the more melodic “Grade of the Slope,” stoner-doom leaning into psych and more cosmic vibing, with the mournful “Windigo” leading into “Eye of the Needle”‘s slo-mo-stoner-swing and gutted out vocals turning to Beatlesy melody — guitarist Brandon Davis and bassist Berten Lee Tanner share those duties while Marc Russo rounds out the trio on drums — in its still-marching second half and the post-Pallbearer reaches and acoustic finish of “Setting Sun.” An interlude serves as centerpiece between “Apocalyptic Meiosis” and “Windigo,” and that two-plus-minute excursion into wavy drone and amplifier hum works well to keep a sense of flow as the next track crashes in, but more, it speaks to longer term possibilities for how the band might grow, both in terms of what they do sonically and in their already-clear penchant for seeing their first LP as a whole, single work with its own progression and story to tell.

Kalgon on Facebook

Kalgon on Bandcamp

—

Agriculture, Living is Easy

Surely there’s some element in Agriculture‘s self-applied aesthetic frame of “ecstatic black metal” in the power of suggestion, but as they follow-up their 2022 self-titled debut with the four-song Living is Easy EP and move from the major-key lightburst of the title-track into the endearingly, organically, folkishly strained harmonies of “Being Eaten by a Tiger,” renew the overwhelming blasts of tremolo and seared screams on “In the House of Angel Flesh” and round out with a minute of spoken word recitation in “When You Were Born,” guitarists Richard Chowenhill (also credited with co-engineering, mixing and mastering) and Dan Meyer (also vocals), bassist/vocalist Leah B. Levinson and drummer/percussionist Kern Haug present an innovative perspective on the genre that reminds of nothing so much as the manner in which earliest Wolves in the Throne Room showed that black metal could do something more than it had done previously. That’s not a sonic comparison, necessarily — though there are basic stylistic aspects shared between the two — but more about the way Agriculture are using black metal toward purposefully new expressive ends. I’m not Mr. Char by any means, but it’s been probably that long since the last time I heard something that was so definitively black metal and worked as much to refresh what that means.

Agriculture on Facebook

The Flenser website

—

Saltpig, Saltpig

Apparently self-released by the intercontinental duo last Fall and picked up for issue through Heavy Psych Sounds, Saltpig‘s self-titled debut modernizes classic charge and swing in increasingly doomed fashion across the first four songs of its A-side, laces “Burn the Witch” with samples themed around the titular subject, and dedicates all of side B to the blown out mostly-instrumental roll of “1950,” which is in fact 19 minutes and 50 seconds long. The band, comprised of guitarist/vocalist/noisemaker Mitch Davis (also producer for a swath of more commercially viable fare) and drummer Fabio Alessandrini (ex-Annihilator), are based in New York and Italy, respectively, and whatever on earth might’ve brought them together, in both the heavy-garage strut of “Demon” and the willfully harsh manner in which they represent themselves in the record’s back half, they bask in the rougher edges of their tones and approach more generally. “When You Were Dead” is something of a preface in its thicker distortion to “1950,” but its cavernous shouted vocals retain a psychedelic presence amid the ensuing grit, whereas once the closer gets underway from its feedback-soaked first two minutes, they make it plain there’s no coming back.

Saltpig on Facebook

Heavy Psych Sounds website

—

Druidess, Hermits and Mandrakes

Newcomer UK doomers Druidess nod forth on their debut EP, Hermits and Mandrakes, with a buzzing tonality in “Witches’ Sabbath” that’s distinctly more Monolord than Electric Wizard, and while that’s fascinating academically and in terms of the generational shift happening in the heavy underground over the last few years, the fuzz that accompanies the hook of “Mandragora,” which follows, brings a tempo boost that situates the two-piece of vocalist Shonagh Brown and multi-instrumentalist/producer Daniel Downing (guitar, bass, keys, drum programming; he even had a hand in the artwork, apparently) in a more rocking vein. It’s heavy either way you go, and “Knightingales” brings Green Lung-style organ into the mix along with another standout hook before “The Hermit of Druid’s Temple” signs over its soul to faster Sabbath worship and closer “The Forest Witches’ Daughter” underscores the commitment to same in combination with a more occult thematic. It’s familiar-enough terrain, ultimately, but the heft they conjure early on and the movement they bring to it later should be plenty to catch ears among the similarly converted, and in song and performance they display a self-awareness of craft that is no less a source of their potential.

Druidess on Facebook

Druidess on Bandcamp

—

Astral Construct, Traveling a Higher Consciousness

One-man sans-vocals psych outfit Astral Construct — aka Denver-based multi-instrumentalist Drew Patricks — released Traveling a Higher Consciousness last year, and well, I guess I got lost in a temporal wormhole or some such because it’s not last year anymore. The record’s five-track journey is encompassing in its metal-rooted take on heavy psychedelia, however, and that’s fortunate as “Accessing the Mind’s Eye” solidifies from its languid first-half unfolding into more stately progressive riffage. Bookended by the dreamy manifestation of “Heart of the Nebula” (8:12) and “Interstellar” (9:26), which moves between marching declaration and expansive helium-guitar float, the album touches ground in centerpiece “The Traveler,” but even there could hardly be called terrestrial once the drums drop out and the keys sweep in near the quick-fade finish that brings about the more angular “Long View of Astral Consciousness,” that penultimate track daring a bit of double-kick in the drums heading toward its own culmination. Now, then or future, whether it’s looking inward or out, Traveling a Higher Consciousness is a revelry for the cosmos waiting to be engaged. You might just end up in a different year upon hearing it.

Astral Construct on Facebook

Astral Construct on Bandcamp

—

Ainu, Ainu

Although their moniker comes from an indigenous group who lived on Hokkaido before that island became part of modern Japan, Ainu are based in Genoa, Italy, and their self-titled debut has little to do sound-wise with the people or their culture. Fair enough. Ainu‘s Ainu, which starts out in “Il Faro” with sparse atmospheric guitar and someone yelling at you in Italian presumably about the sea (around which the record is themed), uses speech and samples to hold most positions vocals would otherwise occupy, though the two-minute “D.E.V.S.” is almost entirely voice-based, so the rules aren’t so strictly applied one way or the other. Similarly, as the three-piece course between grounded sludgier progressions and drifting post-heavy, touching on more aggressive moods in the late reaches of “Aiutami A. Ricordare” and the nodding culmination of “Khrono” but letting the breadth of “Call of the Sea” unfold across divergent movements of crunchier riffs and operatic prog grandiosity. You would not call it predictable, however tidal the flow from one piece to the next might be.

Ainu on Facebook

Subsound Records website

—

Grid, The World Before Us

Progressive sludge set to a backdrop of science-fiction and extrasolar range, The World Before Us marks a turn from heretofore instrumental New York trio Grid, who not only feature vocals throughout their 38-minute six-tracker third LP, but vary their approach in that regard such that as “Our History Hidden” takes hold following the keyboardy intro “Singularity” (in we go!), the first three of the song’s 12 minutes find them shifting from sub-soaring melodicism to hard-growled metallic crunch with the comfort of an act who’ve been pulling off such things for much longer. The subsequent “Traversing the Interstellar Gateway” (9:31) works toward similar ends, only with guitar instead of singing, and the standout galloping kickdrum of “Architects of Our World” leads to a deeper dig into the back and forth between melody and dissonance, led into by the threatening effects manipulations of the interlude “Contact” and eventually giving over to the capstone outro “Duality” that, if it needs to be said, mirrors “Singularity” at the start. There’s nuance and texture in this interplay between styles — POV: you dig Opeth and Hawkwind — and my suspicion is that if Grid keep to this methodology going forward, the vocal arrangements will continue to evolve along with the rest of the band’s expanding-in-all-directions stylizations.

Grid on Facebook

Grid on Bandcamp

—

Dätcha Mandala, Koda

The stated intentions of Bordeaux, France’s Dätcha Mandala in bringing elements of ’90s British alternative rock into their heavier context with their Koda LP are audible in opener “She Said” and the title-track that follows it, but it’s the underlying thread of heavy rock that wins the day across the 11-song outing, however danceable “Wild Fire” makes it or however attitude-signaling the belly-belch that starts “Thousand Pieces” is in itself. That’s not to say Koda doesn’t succeed at what it’s doing, just that there’s more to the proceedings than playing toward that particular vision of cool. “It’s Not Only Rock and Roll (And We Don’t Like It)” has fuzzy charm and a hook to boot, while “Om Namah Shivaya” ignites with an energy that is proggy and urgent in kind — the kind of song that makes you a fan at the show even if you’ve never heard the band before — and closer “Homeland” dares some burl amid its harmonized chorus and flowing final guitar solo, answering back to the post-burp chug in “Thousand Pieces” and underscoring the multifaceted nature of the album as a whole. I suppose if you have prior experience with Dätcha Mandala, you know they’re not just about one thing, but for newcomers, expect happy surprises.

Dätcha Mandala on Facebook

Discos Macarras Records website

—

Dr. Space Meets Mr. Mekon, The Bubbles Scopes

Given the principals involved — Scott “Dr. Space” Heller of Øresund Space Collective, Black Moon Circle, et al, and Chris Purdon of Hawklords and Nik Turner’s Space Ritual — it should come as no surprise that The Bubbles Scopes complements its grammatical counterintuitiveness with alien soundscape concoctions of synth-based potency; the adventure into the unknown-until-it’s-recorded palpable across two extended tracks suitably titled “Trip 1” (22:56) and “Trip 2” (15:45). Longform waveforms, both. The collaboration — one of at least two Heller has slated for release this Spring; stay tuned tomorrow — makes it clear from the very beginning that the far-out course The Bubbles Scopes follows is for those who dwell in rooms with melting walls, but in the various pulsations and throbs of “Trip 1,’ the transition from organ to more electronic-feeling keyboard, and so on, human presence is no more absent than they want it to be, and while the loops are dizzying and “Trip 2” seems to reach into different dimensions with its depth of mix, when the scope is so wide, the sounds almost can’t help but feel free. And so they do. They put 30 copies on tape, because even in space all things digitalia are ephemeral. If you want one, engage your FOMO and make it happen because the chance may or may not come again.

Dr. Space on Facebook

Dr. Space on Bandcamp

—

Barcelona classic-progressive heavy rockers Saturna released their fifth full-length, The Reset, last month through Spinda Records and Discos Macarras. A big gallop, an immediate sense of melodic mastery, and the listener is swept into “Your Whimsical Selfishness,” an oddly phrased but welcome hook that is the initial salvo from Saturna‘s latest offering, which in its digital edition runs 14 tracks and 66 minutes with the addition of four bonus live covers to the standard 10 originals. If you’ve heard the record already, great. As well written and produced heavy rock albums will, it snagged scene attention last month; a word of mouth hype spreading through shared links in a manner that it feels strange to think of as organic, because digital reality, but is that anyway.

Brightly fuzzed and putting Toni del Amo‘s guest keys to use with the organ sounds on that opener, Saturna‘s sound brings together decades of rock and heavy influences to feed into its construction. Of course, you get a ’70s-via-’90s feel at the root that one could argue is the foundation for the modern genre, but more pointedly, “Your Whimsical Selfishness” incorporates a stretch of folkish acoustic guitar to ease the transition into “The Never Ending Star,” which also tops five minutes (three songs do, including the first two, which feels purposeful), and has some light touch of Thin Lizzy in the guitars of James Vieco (also vocals) and Alexandre Sánchez, but its verse moves into a light-strum Zeppelin build back to its gentle push of a chorus. The four-piece — Vieco, Sánchez, bassist Rod Tirado and drummer Enric Verdaguer — trade between later Sabbathian largesse and subdued liquefaction on “Smile” and build off the earlier folkishness in the harmonized acoustic cut “December’s Dust” before “Into the Sun” surges forth with admirably Spidergawdy verve. So yes, more Thin Lizzy influence.

This is the part where I tell you Saturna bring their persona to that, and frankly, five albums deep into their tenure, as well they should. But part of what they do is to be in conversation with classics — and I think including not only four bonus covers, but covers of well known songs in Black Sabbath‘s “A National Acrobat,” The Beatles‘ “Come Together” (which nothing against the band’s version but I don’t think anyone should cover, ever; Soundgarden didn’t need to do it either; it’s not a song that should be touched; take on “Oh! Darling” instead if you’re feeling brave or “Yer Blues” if you wanna go dark), The Doors‘ “Five to One” and Jimi Hendrix‘s “Who Knows,” is intentional in its communion aspect — in their original songwriting as well, and that comes through in the proggy surge of “A Few Words to Say,” which feels like a continuation of the dialogue from “Your Whimsical Selfishness” on some level, maybe thematic, and captures an exciting push coming off the speedier “Into the Sun” that serves as a shift to the slower, more willfully expansive “The Sign,” rife with clearheaded ethereality and sunshiny heft.

“Made of Stone,” the longest song at 7:50, is a full-on classic heavy blues jam. It brings a return of the keys in a prominent role and dual vocals from Vieco and Sánchez as if to emphasize command even at what’s arguably The Reset‘s loosest moment. It builds to a classy apex but never wants to go over the top, so doesn’t, leaving the boogie “On Fire” — Priest via Motörhead is a winning combination — to give a landmark hook before the semi-titular closer “A Way to Reset” finishes along similarly straightforward lines structurally, but pulls back on tempo in favor of a nodding groove and intricate call and response bounce of guitar in its verse, almost Graveyard-esque, but the melody and the takeoff solo are Saturna‘s to be sure. They don’t blow it out at the finish, but the last chorus wants nothing for vibrance as a setup for the quiet finish and, on the download, immediate transition to the start of “A National Acrobat.”

Saturna did a covers night at some point, and apparently recorded it. Fair. Not every band would be malleable enough to shift from the sleek prot0-heavy blues wordplay of “Come Together” to the guttural stomp of “Five to One,” but Saturna make it work, with the vocals no less malleable. “Who Knows” comes across particularly funky, and that’s as reasonable an ending as one could ask for The Reset, which might be related as a title to some sense of starting over for the band — they were on one of Ripple‘s Turned to Stone splits in 2022 with Electric Monolith (review here), and one would not describe their sound at that point as broken or needing resetting, but you never know — or could just as easily be a broader call or something as simple as trying to fix the Super Nintendo they found in the garage. I don’t know, but taken on its own level and merits, The Reset stands up to the mighty forebears of its influences with a strength of craft and performance that are undeniable and a vitally engaging construction. There’s no real room for argument.

The band’s video for “A Few Words to Say,” which includes the shift to new guitarist Max Eriksson, premieres below. Please enjoy:

Saturna, “A Few Words to Say” video premiere

More than 4 years had passed since the Barcelona-based band Saturna released ‘Atlantis’, which was their latest full-length album until now. Much had happened since then, and their members had evolved musically, a fact evident from the first listening of “Your whimsical selfishness” and “The never ending star”, the two advance singles from ‘The reset’, their recently released new studio album.

This new offering from Saturna arrives through Spinda Records and Discos Macarras – who also co-released their previous album – and immediately positions itself as their best album to date , and also the most varied in terms of compositions. It explores a musical landscape that is a blend of hard rock, psychedelia, post-grunge, and heavy rock, as the band pointed out in recent interviews with Bienvenidos a los 90 and Siete Barbas Estudio, where they performed a live session, including “Smile” and “The never ending star”, both tracks from their new album.

Recorded at Analog Drive-in Studios, mixed by their regular collaborator Dani Pernas and mastered at Doctor Master, ‘The reset’ is now officially available in both physical formats (compact disc and vinyl) and digital. The Bandcamp edition includees 4 bonus live tracks featuring covers of Black Sabbath, The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix y The Doors.

First tour dates announced:
Jan 20 in Barcelona (ES) @ Sala Wolf
Feb 17 in Vitoria-Gasteiz (ES) @ Errekaleor Ouzo Askea
Mar 10 in Torredembarra (ES) @ La Travi
Jul 5 in Tenerife (ES) @ Teatro Leal La Laguna

THE RESET
1. Your whimsical selfishness
2. The never ending star
3. Smile
4. December’s dust
5. Into the sun
6. A few words to say
7. The sign
8. Made of stone
9. On fire
10. A way to reset

All songs have been written and produced by Saturna.
Lyrics by James Vieco and Saturna.

Recorded by Christian A.Korn at Analog Drive-in.
Mixed by Dani Pernas.
Mastered by Estanislao Elorza at Doctor Master.
Artwork and cover by Jondix.
Design and layout by Marta Ramon.

Additional musician:
Toni del Amo – Keyboards

SATURNA is:
Rod Tirado – Bass
James Vieco – Vocals, guitars
Alexandre Sánchez – Guitars, backing vocals
Enric Verdaguer – Drums

Saturna, The Reset (2023)

Saturna on Facebook

Saturna on Instagram

Saturna on YouTube

Saturna on Bandcamp

Discos Macarras on Instagram

Discos Macarras on Facebook

Discos Macarras on Bandcamp

Discos Macarras website

Spinda Records on Facebook

Spinda Records on Instagram

Spinda Records on Bandcamp

Spinda Records website

For a band who call themselves Fuzz Forward, one might expect the Spanish troupe to be an absolute hair-covered overdose of effects pedals sprawling out across whatever stage they’re playing, but to listen to the new single “Intoxicate” that’s coming out in about two weeks ahead of their next album, Parasites, next year, they’re awfully clearheaded in their approach. Such was the case as well with their 2018 debut, Out of Nowhere (review here), so it would seem their purposes are perhaps a little more straightahead than their moniker.

Fair enough, and that’s hardly true only of them, but the songwriting isn’t really arguable either way, and I know I’ve said this about releases of this sort before, but it’s the kind of thing you might see five record labels or so getting behind. Hail teamwork. I don’t have audio of “Intoxicate” yet to share, but I’ve got art, info, a lifetime’s supply of links and 2022 single “Shout to Forget,” which isn’t on the record but, you know, exists in a public sphere and is thus applicable to our purposes here.

Which are:

Fuzz Forward “Intoxicate” new single Oct 13th

You can pre save Intoxicate here: https://tinyurl.com/26mycfhh

Barcelona based Fuzz Forward are releasing the single Intoxicate next October 13th on Spotify.

The band continues to pursuit their own path with their personal blend of grunge, hard rock and stoner rock. FF is heavily influenced by Helmet, Alice In Chains, Black Sabbath…

Intoxicate is the first single off their sophomore album “Parasites” due for release on January 2024 via Glory or Death Records, Discos Macarras Records, Violence In The Veins, Hombre Montaña and Demons Punk Records.

Fuzz Forward “Parasites”

1. Shout To Forget
2. Intoxicate
3. Fade Away
4. You Never Learn
5. She Comes
6. S.O.S.
7. Set Me Free
8. Hand It Over
9. Dead Friends
10. These Flowers

https://www.facebook.com/fuzzforward/
https://www.instagram.com/fuzzforward/
https://fuzzforward.bandcamp.com/releases

https://www.facebook.com/Gloryordeathrecords/
http://gloryordeathrecords.bigcartel.com/
https://gloryordeathrecords.bandcamp.com/
https://www.gloryordeathrecords.com/shop/

https://www.facebook.com/discosmacarras
https://www.instagram.com/discosmacarras/
https://discosmacarras.bandcamp.com/
https://www.discosmacarras.com/en/

https://www.facebook.com/violenceintheveins
https://instagram.com/violenceintheveins
https://violenceintheveins.bandcamp.com/
https://linktr.ee/violenceintheveins

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100052386321069
https://hombremontana.bandcamp.com/

Fuzz Forward, “Shout to Forget”

The fucking intensity of this band. Following on from last year’s divine-comedic EP, Seconda Morte (review here), Alicante, Spain, heavy noise rock trio Rosy Finch offer further evidence of their general not-screwing-around nature with the 20-minute/three-song pro-captured live-in-studio clip ‘Live on Creative Madness Sessions.’ Premiering below, the session features three tracks — “Oxblood,” “Gin Fizz” and “Ruby” — taken from the band’s 2020 sophomore full-length, Scarlet (review here), and makes no apologies either for the fullness of its tonal assault or the way in which, like the record itself, the songs are able to shift between melodic, atmospheric heavy and rawer punishment.

Founding guitarist/vocalist Mireia Porto and bassist Óscar Soler share vocals in a way they couldn’t on Scarlet since the latter hadn’t joined the band yet when the record came out, representing their live presence with Juanjo Ufarte holding the march steady on drums. On paper, their approach shouldn’t work at all, but like Seconda Morte, these new takes on Scarlet cuts harness noise vibes without losing their ambience, cacophony without sacrificing groove, and have enough space to account for melody as well as the caustic, “Gin Fizz” blending grunge, riot-grrrl screams and sludge metal with purpose and force alike after the outright nastiness that emerges in “Oxblood” and before “Ruby” digs even deeper, comprising most of the second half of the video by itself.

Worth noting that Marcos Baño, who directs here, also helmed the clip for “Purgatorio” from the EP last year, the indoor portion of which was filmed at the Creative Madness Lab, and the collaboration is successful again in conveying the righteous fury as well as the scope of these songs. It may be that some of the intent behind ‘Live on Creative Madness Sessions’ — the last three words there indicative of a series — is to demonstrate the way Rosy Finch now handle the work of the band’s earlier incarnation, which they wield like a weapon, but to more generally showcase what they bring to the stage in a live setting; considerably more than simple aggression but plenty of that as well, deliberate in execution and the build and release of tension as it is.

That aggro sensibility has been a defining feature of their output to-date — though I’ll emphasize that it’s not all that’s happening in their songs and this video proves that again — and as such they’re somewhat subject to the perils of inhabiting a place between styles, crossing lines of heavy rock, punk, metal and noise while refusing to commit to just one approach. Or three. The tradeoff there is Rosy Finch are a more interesting band for the breadth, and if a given listener/viewer was undecided on whether or not to catch them performing, say, at Desertfest London 2023 where they’ll play next month, it’s hard to imagine taking in ‘Live on Creative Madness Sessions’ and not coming down in their favor.

Please enjoy:

Rosy Finch, ‘Live on Creative Madness Sessions’ premiere

Rosy Finch full performance at Creative Madness Lab

Audio by Red Records: https://www.redrecordsestudio.es

Video by Marcos Bañó: @marcos_bano

Recorded at Creative Madness Lab: https://creativemadnesslab.com

Tracklist:
00:37 Oxblood
06:39 Gin Fizz
11:52 Ruby

All songs included in “Scarlet” album 2020

Rosy Finch are:
Mireia Porto – guitar/vocals
Óscar Soler – bass/vocals
Juanjo Ufarte – drums

Rosy Finch, Seconda Morte EP (2022)

Rosy Finch on Instagram

Rosy Finch on Facebook

Rosy Finch on Bandcamp

Rosy Finch website

Lay Bare Recordings on Instagram

Lay Bare Recordings on Facebook/a>

Lay Bare Recordings on Bandcamp

Lay Bare Recordings website

Discos Macarras on Instagram

Discos Macarras on Facebook

Discos Macarras on Bandcamp

Discos Macarras website

LaRubia Producciones on Instagram

LaRubia Producciones on Facebook

LaRubia Producciones on Bandcamp

LaRubia Producciones website

Andalusian atmospheric heavy rock three-piece Santo Rostro will issue their fourth album, Después no habrá nada, on March 10 through Spinda Records, Discos Macarras and LaRubia Producciones. At 34 minutes and five songs, it’s barely as long as the list of links at the bottom of this post, but that’s plenty enough time for the Jaén trio to make their impression in fuzz, space and largesse, crafting a kind of heavy rock that, whether it’s celebrating riffs for crunch’s sake on “Carcasa Digital” or twisting around the more progressive headspins of “Matriz” later on, resounds with persona and purpose alike.

Self-recorded, the album is likewise heavy and movement-based, even in its basic construction; the individual tracks — “Telerañas” (3:50), “Carcasa Digital” (4:29), “Aire” (5:44), “Matriz” (8:09) and the instrumental “Después no habrá nada” (11:52) — being arranged shortest to longest to draw the listener further in as “Carcasa Digital” picks up from the post-grunge melodic noise rock of “Telerañas” to intertwine synth with the fuzzy crunch of (also vocalist) Miguel Ortega‘s guitar and Antonio Gámez‘s bass; Alejandro Galiano‘s snare drum tapping away furiously beneath the keyboard-topped swirl of “Carcasa Digital” before the whole thing shifts into a proggy run of start-stops and sweeps back into the build, ending with more of a tempo push than a swell of volume.

There’s grace here, and the listener is never in doubt Santo Rostro are going to get where they’re going, but the process of how that happens is what makes the record an exciting and grabbing listen, the jabs of keys in “Telerañas” and the beginning there of the almost manic guitar runs runs that typify the album as a whole (or at least as a most), and the sneaky entry of what on many albums would be a culmination-riff after the three-minute mark — it put me in mind of something Genghis Tron might use to make a declaration earlier in their career, but there isn’t much in common between the two bands otherwise, save for a generalization like “they’re intense” — and the trio’s Andalusian-folk-informed semi-psychedelic atmospheres emerging from the physicality of the music itself, angular and immediate in rhythm, but with an overarching flow like some kind of overly complex hyper-run-on sentence that just won’t end and maybe you forgot what you wanted to say when you started it but Santo Rostro still know what they’re doing when they’re spinning circles around the inside of your brain. Dance, baby, dance.

And then doom a bit, because indeed, Después no habrá nada (English: ‘Then there will be nothing’) isn’t screwing around when it comes to heft as one of the tools in its stylistic shed. The first three tracks — what one assumes is side A — drop hints of the largesse to come in “Matriz” and the title-cut, the acoustic guitar that starts “Aire” and remains beneath for the duration, the electrifying surge in the layers of the solo in the song’s second half ascends to its peak, the band exquisitely tapping aspects of regional heavy psych, less garage than Mía Turbia, in which Ortega drums, but certainly aware of the likes of Mind!, Atavismo and Híbrido and the post-Viaje a 800 cohort’s ability to create a flowing current from seemingly hairpin turns. Santo Rostro aren’t nearly as drift-minded or kosmiche as some of those, and they’re not trying to be, but there are shared elements just the same, as “Matriz” begins side B with an immediate run of full synth-complemented fuzz and sprinting progressive heavy.

This out-of-a-cannon madcap sproing is destined to hit a wall, but the infectiousness of Después no habrá nada‘s energy isn’t to be understated as the band’s rhythmic tension is taken in by the listener, turned into a skin-tightening grip as “Matriz” grows more spacious in its chorus, Ortega‘s gruff vocals (yes, in Spanish) echoing over. The bass and guitar foreshadow just after the four-minute mark, but they’re still in full-go mode, and not to be lost in the cacophony is the sense of control on the part of the band holding it all together even when the song itself sounds like it’s struggling to come apart.

You could debate who’s won as the drums crash out at 5:17 and not-just-a-but-the-slower-riff is introduced, taking the clue dropped in “Telerañas” and bringing that righteous nod forward as the foundation for the rest of the track. They set it up in grand style, Galiano keeping time on the crash, Gámez underscoring with warmth the guitar and the organ line that emerges to join the slow march. The ending of “Matriz” is a standout moment that grows noisier and its own kind of frantic in the layering despite the drop in pace, but the shift is intentional and smoothly done as Santo Rostro give themselves an arrival point to go along with all that going.

Of course, they’re not done yet. “Matriz” howls by the time it’s done, the vocals and guitar as stretched out as they’re going to get, and the closer “Después no habrá nada” takes off like nothing ever happened, effectively resetting the pieces on the board for another game as they bounce and careen, build and run through the first couple minutes of the title-track, vague in genre — if some dude was screaming on it circa the three-minute mark, you’d say it sounded like Enslaved, but in reality Santo Rostro aren’t nearly so metal — but right on in affect and, by this time, well established in their doing-their-own-thing ethic.

As noted, “Después no habrá nada” is instrumental, but that aside it accounts for most of what Santo Rostro do throughout the album that shares its name, including the prog-out-into-slowdown at 4:30, the echoing atmospheric lead lines thereafter and the keys bolstering the moment’s impact, a fluid jam proceeding until before seven minutes in the drums break and an acoustic guitar enters to set up the final section, a cosmic payoff that, while keeping the acoustic guitar beneath like in “Matriz,” unfolds with due sense of exhalation. Ortega throws some shred into the fray, but the ending is less about one player than the total immersion crafted by the three of them. It stops, invariably, and hums into a fade, but the acoustic returns for another minute-plus of grows-more-urgent strum before cutting to silence, as though the album could end any other way.

It’s been six years since Santo Rostro issued their third full-length, The Healer, and coming up on 10 since they made their self-titled debut, and while Después no habrá nada carries forward some of the sonic facets and attitude of their prior work, the change from English to Spanish lyrics and titles and the choice to record themselves can only be said to suit them. They make themselves at home in the stormy, jazzy feverishness, and effectively contrast that later on with more straight-ahead groove, furthering the whole-record experience at no cost to the individual tracks in terms of the impression made. Después no habrá nada, like any kind of extreme music or really anything, won’t be universally received, but for those willing to put in the effort to keep up with it, the satisfaction is commensurate.

The album is streaming in its entirety below, followed by some more basic info and the aforementioned barrage of links.

Please enjoy:

‘DESPUÉS NO HABRÁ NADA’ by Santo Rostro. Out 10th March 2023.

PRE-ORDER (10th Feb): Santo Rostro / Discos Macarras / LaRubia Producciones / Spinda Records

Spanish psych-doom rockers SANTO ROSTRO are back in business with their 4th studio album ‘Después no habrá nada’ – to be released on 10th March 2023 via Discos Macarras, LaRubia Producciones & Spinda Records.

Andalusian power trio returns with a dark-psych rock album, with long tracks including complex instrumental developments, processed atmospheres and a dirty sound plenty of echoes, different modulations and occasional synths.

Many things have changed in SANTO ROSTRO since they put out ‘The Healer’ in 2017, and this is obviously reflected in this new album. ‘Después no habrá nada’ is the result of a more mature band, with thousands of kilometers touring both Spain and EU on their back, several TV appearances and a couple of stand-alone video-singles – and everything 100% DIY.

The album was produced by the band itself; then recorded and mixed by Raúl Pérez at La Mina (Spain); and mastered by Mario G. Alberni at Kadifornia Mastering (Spain). Behind the artwork is The Braves Church, based on photographies by Manu Rosaleny.

Digital
300x CD Digipack
150x Black Vinyl
150x Orange Translucent Vinyl

TRACK-LIST:
1. Telarañas
2. Carcasa Digital
3. Aire
4. Matriz
5. Después no habrá nada

SANTO ROSTRO:
Miguel Ortega: guitars
Antonio Gámez: bass, vocals
Alejandro Galiano: drums

Santo Rostro on Facebook

Santo Rostro on Instagram

Santo Rostro on YouTube

Santo Rostro on Bandcamp

Spinda Records on Facebook

Spinda Records on Instagram

Spinda Records on Bandcamp

Spinda Records website

Discos Macarras on Facebook

Discos Macarras on Instagram

Discos Macarras on Bandcamp

Discos Macarras website

LaRubia Producciones on Facebook

LaRubia Producciones on Instagram

LaRubia Producciones on Bandcamp

LaRubia Producciones website

Okay, so, you’re probably going to notice pretty quickly the spaciousness in Santo Rostro‘s new single, “Telarañas,” what with all that cavernous echo and reverb tonality, vocals calling up from the mix and so on. Killer, right from the moment the song bursts in just when it should. As the Andalusian trio bring it forward through its utterly-consumable sub-four-minute run, you’ll notice that that space that feels so open at the beginning of the song has begun to fill up. By the end of the track, it becomes a full-on wash of clearheaded atmospheric heavy psych, pushing forward in a way that reminds me of bands like Arc of Ascent, who’ve mastered the art of bringing together grounded groove and lysergic effects plunge. The band’s fourth album — first I’ve heard, I’ll say outright; I ain’t perfect and I’m just about never Johnny Groundfloor — is called Después No Habrá Nada, and with the unveiling of the opening track today and the launch of preorders comes confirmation of a March 10 release through Spinda Records, Discos Macarras and LaRubia Producciones.

Yes, this is another post about Spinda engaging in a multi-label conglomerate to get behind a new release. Also yes, I recognize that Spanish imprints have been doing this for years, and that all three involved parties here — four if you count the band, which it’s fair to do — are based in Spain, but the last few weeks have seen Spinda making announcements that broaden this ethic to other places in Europe and beyond, and I’ll gladly reiterate that I think it’s a good thing.

Perhaps you don’t give a shit about any of that and just want to rock the tune and see if you’re interested. Go for it. But while you do, just keep in the back of your mind the sort of team ethic and extended reach that’s possible when independent labels like this work together. Teamwork, dream work, and all that. Then blow out the airlock and get ready to launch into open cosmos because that’s pretty much where this one goes.

Enjoy:

‘DESPUÉS NO HABRÁ NADA’ by Santo Rostro. Out 10th March 2023.

PRE-ORDER (10th Feb): Santo Rostro / Discos Macarras / LaRubia Producciones / Spinda Records

Spanish psych-doom rockers SANTO ROSTRO are back in business with their 4th studio album ‘Después no habrá nada’ – to be released on 10th March 2023 via Discos Macarras, LaRubia Producciones & Spinda Records, although the single “Telarañas” is coming out on 10th February. The pre-order for vinyl, compact discs and digital editions starts that same day.

Andalusian power trio returns with a dark-psych rock album, with long tracks including complex instrumental developments, processed atmospheres and a dirty sound plenty of echoes, different modulations and occasional synths.

Many things have changed in SANTO ROSTRO since they put out ‘The Healer’ in 2017, and this is obviously reflected in this new album. ‘Después no habrá nada’ is the result of a more mature band, with thousands of kilometers touring both Spain and EU on their back, several TV appearances and a couple of stand-alone video-singles – and everything 100% DIY.

This way, we find ourselves with a more balanced and determined sound, with a tremendous solid and seamless rhythmic base, powerful and organic at the same time, with a dance of tempos that accelerate and slow down at the right time – there’s no clapperboard in here.

In ‘Después no habrá nada’ you’ll find from doom to sludge, with high doses of progressive metal and even Andalusian heavy psych. It could be understood as a great mix of bands such as Viaje a 800, Adrift, Oransi Pazuzu, Mastadon or Russian Circles, but with an imprint that only SANTO ROSTRO has. This new album is a kind of a personal delirium and hangover; with some rehearsal room taste and accumulated fatigue.

The album was produced by the band itself; then recorded and mixed by Raúl Pérez at La Mina (Spain); and mastered by Mario G. Alberni at Kadifornia Mastering (Spain). Behind the artwork is The Braves Church, based on photographies by Manu Rosaleny.

‘Después no habrá nada’ comes out on 10th March 2023 through Discos Macarras, LaRubia Producciones and Spinda Records in the following editions:

Digital
300x CD Digipack
150x Black Vinyl
150x Orange Translucent Vinyl

TRACK-LIST:
1. Telarañas
2. Carcasa Digital
3. Aire
4. Matriz
5. Después no habrá nada

SANTO ROSTRO:
Miguel Ortega: guitars
Antonio Gámez: bass, vocals
Alejandro Galiano: drums

http://www.facebook.com/santorostrodoom
https://instagram.com/santorostro
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnN3cdd5mamBgzd5aG79tEA
https://santorostro.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/SpindaRecords
https://www.instagram.com/spindarecords
https://spindarecords.bandcamp.com/
https://www.spindarecords.com/

https://www.facebook.com/discosmacarras
https://www.instagram.com/discosmacarras/
https://discosmacarras.bandcamp.com/
https://www.discosmacarras.com/en/

https://www.facebook.com/LaRubiaProducciones/
https://www.instagram.com/larubiaproducciones/
https://larubiaproducciones.bandcamp.com/
https://www.larubiaproducciones.com/

Santo Rostro, “Telarañas”

Doing things a little differently this time. Yes, it’s still 10 records per day for a total of 50 between today and Friday, but with the utter glut — glutter! — of releases coming out and recently released, I’m doubling up on the Winter Quarterly Review and will be putting together another week of 50 records for January, after the holidays and all the year-end hullabaloo. So it’s 50 now and 50 later. I’ve never done it that way before, and I reserve the right to completely change my mind after this week, but as of right this second, that’s where I’m at. Talk to me again on Friday.

I guess we’d better get started, either way.

Quarterly Review #1-10:

Enslaved, Caravans to the Outer Worlds

With a relatively brief 18-minute excursion that pushes yet-deeper into their particular brand of progressive extreme metal, Norway’s Enslaved continue to walk the increasingly melodic and decreasingly genre-dependent path in following-up 2020’s Utgard (review here). Their affinity for krautrock experimentalism is well established but has never been so forwardly presented as on “Intermezzo I – Lönnlig. Gudlig.,” and the thrust of the opening title-track sets Caravan to the Outer Worlds off with a due sense of motion later complemented by the keyboard-heavy “Ruun II – The Epitaph,” an apparent 15-years-later sequel to the title-cut from 2006’s Ruun (discussed here). Rounding out with “Intermezzo II – The Navigator,” with its almost-motorik space-but-still-somehow-Norwegian-space rock vibe, Enslaved‘s short offering for 2021 demonstrates plainly that they can be whatever and do whatever the hell they want. 30 years from their beginning, they keep growing. Such bands are likewise rare and precious.

Enslaved on Facebook

Nuclear Blast website

—

 

Bisonte & Milana, Mallorca Stoner Vol. 1 Split

It’s not quite what-you-see-is-what-you-get, but the Discos Macarras split Mallorca Stoner Vol. 1 that brings together two tracks each from Spanish outfits Bisonte — also written Bis·nte — and Milana certainly lays out its mission in representing the Mediterranean island’s heavy underground, and Bisonte aren’t through the nine-minute doomer “Unbalanced” before I’m curious just how many volumes the label might be able to put together from Mallorcan acts. Nonetheless, Bisonte‘s wizardly march on “Involuntary Act” flows organically around its downtrodden vibe, and in the more psychedelic “White Buffalo” and burl-lumbering “Forest Tale,” Milana work even quicker to acquit themselves well with an underlying current of noise. However much of a scene there may or may not be in Mallorca, Mallorca Stoner Vol. 1 is a welcome means through which to begin exploring both these acts more and others with whom they might share local stages. One will await Vol. 2 with interest.

Bisonte on Facebook

Milana on Instagram

Discos Macarras website

—

 

Leeds Point, Mother of Eternity

New York’s Leeds Point seem on a doomed course with their Mother of Eternity EP on the opener “High Strangeness,” but they shake it up late with some cowbell boogie, and “The Summoning” further deepens the plot with layered in acoustics and a more lush melody as the trio builds out from their basic guitar-bass-drums configuration. Likewise, the shorter “Long Way Down” is a more straight-ahead ’70s rocker, and the closing title-track meets its initial prog rock melody first with driving riffs and later with more angularity and harsher barking vocals… before bringing it all back around at the end. With Eternal Black out of commission, NYC needs someone to champion traditional doom, but that’s not who these Long Islanders are. Their sound — set forth on their debut full-length some seven years ago; their most recent prior outing was 2019’s Equinox Blues (review here) — is more purposefully diverse. If they’re championing anything here, it’s their individuality. And that suits them.

Leeds Point on Facebook

Leeds Point on Bandcamp

—

 

Ocultum, Residue

The second full-length from Santiago, Chile’s Ocultum, Residue, was first issued by the band independently in 2019. Picked up for a vinyl release through Interstellar Smoke Records, the four-song/49-minute long-player (bong)rips into filthy-fuzz doom and scabbed-over sludge, the lumbering coming in one longform nod after another in “The Acid Road” and “Residue” itself — which might be the most densely-toned inclusion of the bunch, but it hardly matters when the 16-minute “Ascending With the Fumes of the Dead” and the 12-minute “Reflections on Repulsiveness” and you’re either on board with Ocultum‘s periodically-deathly-always-fucked style by then or you’ve probably been so grossed out that you’ve gone and gotten yourself a job, decided you were never really so misanthropic to start with, and that what you thought was the inner scum of your existential makeup was just you needing to have lunch or take a shower or some shit. Meanwhile, Ocultum are over here shrooming up and worshiping decay. Different league entirely. Even the quietest moments of Residue are heavy. There’s just no escape from it.

Ocultum on Facebook

Interstellar Smoke Records store

—

 

Cruel Curses, Fables, Folklore & Other Assorted Fever Dreams

If Tampa, Florida, heavy progressive rockers Cruel Curses decided to approach their third full-length, Fables, Folklore & Other Assorted Fever Dreams, with the goal of writing the entire album as a single-song, well, they did that. Though cumbersome in its title, “Fables, Folklore & Other Assorted Fever Dreams” is 36 minutes of linear-charted fare, twisting through parts both hard-hitting and airy, acoustic and electric and probably what could’ve been different songs if otherwise broken up in some places. Does it really matter? Nah. The finished piece, which is a departure from the four-piece and an impressive achievement in itself, makes its point with prog’s affection for funk propelling as many of its parts as metal’s more aggressive shred. Yet, Fables, Folklore & Other Assorted Fever Dreams does not merely trade between quiet and loud parts so much as fluidly bring the listener along its ebbs and flows, and though not without its element of self-indulgence, the album earns its swagger.

Cruel Curses on Facebook

Cruel Curses on Bandcamp

—

 

Green Hog Band, Devil’s Luck

Give me the raw swing, echoing gurgles and unabashed fuzz of Green Hog‘s “Luck of the Devil” any day of the week. The Brooklynite trio released their Dogs From Hell full-length last year and follow it with the also-sung-entirely-in-Russian sophomore outing, not without its sense of ambience in “Dark Territory” and “Desert King,” the biker-in-space instrumental capper “Ric Moto,” but perhaps even more about the impact of its crashes than the spaces being created. Whatever definition of the word you might want to apply, Devil’s Luck is fucking heavy. And grim, to boot. Still, one could only call “Long Smoke” some kind of stoner rock, even if it is an especially crusty take thereupon, and the novelty of gurgled-out vocals sung in another language, complemented by samples in classic sludgy fashion, isn’t to be understated. If my man’s voice can hold out for a whole set, these guys must put on a killer show.

Green Hog on Facebook

The Swamp Records on Bandcamp

—

 

Adliga, Vobrazy

There are a few different plot threads one might follow along as Vobrazy weaves through its six component tracks, but the debut full-length from Belarusian five-piece bring their varied fare together around a central idea of progressive, metallic doom. Sometimes that manifests as a post-metallic chug as one hears in “Apošni raz,” which leads off, or it can be the growls and black-metal-squibblies-gone-airy of the early going in “Žyvy.” Such shifting arrangements in vocals (in Belarusian) between guitarist Uladzimir Burylau and singer Kate Sidelova add to the unpredictable nature of the band, but there’s no question that melody wins the day, and given how Vobrazy plays out across its 41 minutes, one gets the feeling that the extremity of “Naščadkam” and the more-patient-before-they-hit-the-payoff closer “Bol na sercy” do not coexist by happenstance. The band — completed by guitarist Ignat Pomazkov, bassist Roman Petrashkevich and drummer Artem Voronko — are not light on ambition, aesthetically-speaking, but I like the fact that I have zero guess what their next record will sound like.

Adliga on Facebook

Adliga on Bandcamp

—

 

Buffalo Tombs, Two

While not barebones by any means, with solos aplenty and variety in their tempos readily established between the first two cuts “Slow Wisdom Coming” and “Hot Girl Summer,” there’s still something about Buffalo Tombs‘ aptly-titled second long-player, Two, that comes across as wholly unpretentious, not trying to overstate its own argument or draw the audience away from the riffs and grooves central to its purpose. Wholesome, if not always humble. The six-songer is done in under half an hour, so if you wanted to call it an EP, you could, but even as Eric Stuart brings in a bit of synth for “Dream Breather” and “The Beheading of John the Baptist” in its later percussion-meet-drift-out finish, the Denver instrumentalists maintain a straightforward underpinning, with Stuart‘s guitar/keys/bass met with Joshua Lafferty‘s basslines and Patrick Haga‘s drumming in easily-digested-but-not-earth-shattering fashion, the low end hitting a particular note of righteousness in rolling out “Al Khidr” without being too showy in doing so. I’d be interested to hear them explore their psychedelic side further, but there’s plenty of vibe here in the meantime.

Buffalo Tombs on Facebook

Buffalo Tombs on Bandcamp

—

 

BroodMother, The Third Eye

Though understated in the fullness of its production, BroodMother‘s The Third Eye EP leaves little doubt as to where the Worcester, UK, five-piece are coming from after having issued their first album, Sin, Myth, Power, in 2019. Jay Clark, who produced that outing, drums on and mixed this one, and its four songs readily serve as a sampler for an audience to be introduced to the band’s take on heavy rock and roll. “Spiritual Shakedown” and “Killing for Company” are midtempo riffers, with the latter touching slightly on Acrimony-style hookmaking and chug, while “(The Ballad of) Anti-Matter Man” gets trippy in its intro and shuffles into an apex in its second half before finishing mellow, and closer “The Trick of the Journey” hints toward ’90s crunch but marries it to a bluesier stretch of lead solo guitar. Still, it’s rock and roll, however you want to cut it — straight-up but not lifeless — and BroodMother proudly carry its banner.

BroodMother on Facebook

BroodMother on Bandcamp

—

 

King Bastard, It Came From the Void

From the almost-if-not-entirely-instrumental unfolding of “From Hell to Horizon” and “Kelper-452B” to the black metal vocals on “Psychosis (In a Vacuum),” the harsh sax of “Black Hole Viscera” and the drone-laden 10-minute finisher “Succumb to the Void,” the debut full-length from Stony Brook, New York’s King Bastard, It Came From the Void, seems wilfully bent toward disorienting those who’d dare to take it on. The breadth and spaciousness of its “From Hell to Horizon” isn’t to be understated — neither the percussion chill in its midsection — but the weight that corresponds there and in “Kelper-452B” and through “Bury the Survivors/Ashes to Ashes,” with its Aliens samples and dug-in-its-own-head proggy chaos is no less a factor in making the album as striking a first impression as it is. Jammy, heavy psych, black metal, doom, sludge — you could call King Bastard any of these and not be wrong, but it’s in how fluidly they unite them that their potential shines through.

King Bastard on Facebook

King Bastard links

—