Posted in Whathaveyou on July 28th, 2026 by JJ Koczan
German instrumentalist trio Kardeathian are streaming a video for the track “Six” now. If you read that sentence and a Karma to Burn-y light went off in your brain because of the word instrumentalist and the fact that the song is named a number, I don’t think that’s unintentional, but neither do the Dortmund trio sound quite so stripped down across the three-minute riffer. Yeah, it’s guitar, bass and drums, but the push is their own when they get there, and the song brings a sense of atmosphere that, considering the band’s self-titled debut — out Aug. 27 through respected purveyor Worst Bassist Records — only has four tracks, I’m guessing gets further fleshed out in the other three.
If you’re headed to the Hoflärm festival Aug. 13-15, Kardeathian will be there to herald the release, and you can check out the clip for the song at the bottom of this post. Hopefully I’ll have more to come before the album’s out, but either way, enjoy:
Formed in February 2023, the Dortmund-based instrumental trio KARDEATHIAN has impressed audiences since late 2024—both at their own shows and as a supporting act for bands such as Eyehategod, Daily Thompson, Speck, and Godsleep.
Musically, KARDEATHIAN navigate the space between stoner doom, post-metal, and hypnotic heavy psych, refusing to be bound by conventional genre tropes. They deliberately eschew vocals and break away from standard song structures. Driving rhythms and massive riffs generate an instrumental heaviness that is not merely about brute force, but a state of being that transforms the room through density, repetition, and volume.
Without succumbing to clutter or technical self-indulgence, KARDEATHIAN create a constant, compelling pull and an atmosphere that completely captivates the listener. With their self-titled debut, they carve their statement into the listener’s consciousness—aiming, at best, to set their brains ablaze (metaphorically speaking) so they can cast off distracting thoughts and surrender to the aural flow.
1. Sleep 2. Six 3. Wal Der Tyr Ahn 4. Garden
Kardeathian: Guitar – Uwe Drums – David Bass – Moh
Posted in Whathaveyou on April 13th, 2026 by JJ Koczan
I like that Daily Thompson‘s new album, Glue, isn’t coming out until August and they’re already talking about it and plugging the Fall tour they’ll undertake to support it. Of course, in September, the German three-piece return to the US to play Ripplefest Texas 2026. The release will once again be through Noisolution and like 2024’s Chuparosa (review here), it was recorded with Tony Reed, though I’m not sure what ‘recording across the Pacific Northwest’ means, if it was done live or what that process might’ve been. But, you know, the record’s not released for four months. There’s time to find these things out.
The band posted the following details on socials, and after that you’ll find the previously announced dates for their Fall European run. Have at you:
It is with the greatest of pleasures that we can finally announce our new album “GLUE” is coming out August 21st, 2026 via Noisolution
this album took shape back in 2025 and then this January we reunited with our dear friend Tony Reed in Port Orchard, Washington USA to produce the album together across the Pacific Northwest. over the course of two weeks we made this record and not a second feels wasted.
This record feels like the most complete thing that we`ve ever made, it came outa lots of little jams and blasting the ideas we had in our mind but mostly it is the result of the three of us hanging out with no big plan just a good feeling making music together.
can`t wait to share more soon – in the meantime grab a ticket to a gig at the link in our bio and thanks very much for your ongoing support & for being here
“GLUE” produced by Daily Thompson engineered at APL Recordings mixed and mastered by Tony Reed album cover and layout by Jonas Wenz
GLUE will be released via Noisolution on CD, cassette, limited green vinyl, black vinyl and there is also an exclusive “Club 100” edition available one month before the release
Daily Thompson – Glue Release Tour:
05.11. GER Düsseldorf – @pitcherrocknrollhq 06.11. GER Oldenburg – @cadillacoldenburg 07.11. GER Flensburg – @kulturwerkstatt_kuehlhaus 08.11. GER Hamburg – @hafenklanghamburg 10.11. GER Hannover – @cafe_glocksee 11.11. GER Berlin – @badehaus_berlin 12.11. GER Dresden – @chemiefabrik_dresden 13.11. AT Wien – @arenawien 14.11. CZ Prague – @subzero.prague 16.11. GER Bamberg – @liveclub.bbg 17.11. GER München – @backstagemunich 18.11. GER Karlsruhe – @altehackerei 19.11. GER Mainz – @kulturclub_schon_schoen 20.11. GER Bielefeld – @forum_bielefeld 21.11. GER Köln – @helios.37 04.12. GER Dortmund – @musiktheaterpiano
Can`t wait to rip the gigs with our very special guest @constance_tomb with our friend @tony_reed2112 (@mosgenerator @bigscenicnowhere @pentagram_the_band )
Posted in Whathaveyou on March 2nd, 2026 by JJ Koczan
Just because Daily Thompson are having a good time doesn’t mean they’re screwing around. The Dortmund trio traveled to Washington State for a second time to record their upcoming album, Glue, having also worked with producer Tony Reed (Mos Generator, Big Scenic Nowhere, Constance Tomb, Pentagram, etc.) for their 2024 LP, Chuparosa (review here), and thereby written a loveletter to heavy rock of various eras while refining the band’s own processes.
Producer and band were a match that worked well, as you can hear in the mellow grunge of the title-track or the shove in “Pizza Boy,” or any of the other tracks, and while Daily Thompson have maintained a pretty straight-ahead, sans-pretense persona in their songwriting, the energy of their delivery is as infectious as any of their hooks could hope to be. Not overly simple, but good vibes consistently.
All of which is to say that I’m looking forward to hearing what’s in store for the next full-length, for which they’re already putting out tour dates as you can see here. I’m fairly sure the release will be through Noisolution, but obviously the exact date is still TBA. Note that Reed‘s Constance Tomb is going over to Europe for the tour:
We’re finally ermerging from the shadows! This year we will go on a headline tour in November presenting you our new album ⚡️⚡️ GLUE ⚡️⚡️ More kool news about it very soon! we’ve asked if you are ready for a new chapter? WE ARE!!!
It`s all about the music which keeps us together in times of hate! Music is our GLUE – are you joining us?
05.11. GER Düsseldorf – @pitcherrocknrollhq 06.11. GER Oldenburg – @cadillacoldenburg 07.11. GER Flensburg – @kulturwerkstatt_kuehlhaus 08.11. GER Hamburg – @hafenklanghamburg 10.11. GER Hannover – @cafe_glocksee 11.11. GER Berlin – @badehaus_berlin 12.11. GER Dresden – @chemiefabrik_dresden 13.11. AT Wien – @arenawien 14.11. CZ Prague – @subzero.prague 16.11. GER Bamberg – @liveclub.bbg 17.11. GER München – @backstagemunich 18.11. GER Karlsruhe – @altehackerei 19.11. GER Mainz – @kulturclub_schon_schoen 20.11. GER Bielefeld – @forum_bielefeld 21.11. GER Köln – @helios.37 04.12. GER Dortmund – @musiktheaterpiano
Can`t wait to rip the gigs with our very special guest @constance_tomb with our friend @tony_reed2112 (@mosgenerator @bigscenicnowhere @pentagram_the_band )
Posted in Whathaveyou on January 9th, 2026 by JJ Koczan
My first reaction to seeing the photo below of Dortmund, Germany, good-vibes heavy rockers Daily Thompson with Tony Reed (Mos Generator, Big Scenic Nowhere, Hot Spring Water, Constance Tomb, solo, Pentagram, and more besides) was to wonder if it was old, because in my head, it was about a year ago that the band traveled to Port Orchard, Washington, to record their 2024 LP, Chuparosa (review here), when actually it would’ve been at least two years by now. “Quick turnaround!” was what I commented. Still true relative to some, but not, apparently, as quick as I thought.
So it indeed is a new photo and Daily Thompson are presently renewing their collaboration with Reed as producer as they work on the follow-up to Chuparosa, the title of which is obviously still TBA. I could speculate on a timeline for when the record will be out — it will be their seventh full-length, so lucky you for having a back catalog to dig into if you’re just getting into them — but it seems more useful to note that Daily Thompson were among the first batch of confirmations for Ripplefest Texas 2026 (info here) in Austin, so while they have a couple Washington dates lined up after recording, you can rest easy knowing they’ll be back around later this year. Tour around that? I don’t know. Would you want to tour this country right now?
Curious what ‘new era’ they’re talking about, but I guess we’ll find out in time:
Ready for a new chapter? We are! On Monday we arrived in Seattle and are now finally back in Port Orchard to record our new album! Our friend @tony_reed2112 will do his magic again ✨ and we are really excited about everything! Let a new DT era begin (you will see)
Oh and we got some shows on both sides of the sea 🤯 to all humanoids in the Pacific Northwest it’s time to party
🇺🇸01.17.26 Bremerton – @manettesaloon * 🇺🇸01.18.26 Port Angeles- @littledevilslunch ^ 🇩🇪01.31.26 Frankfurt – The Cave @ffm_jam 🇩🇪04.11.26 Münster – Alterna Sounds Festival
Posted in Whathaveyou on September 10th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
Feelgood heavy rockers Daily Thompson have some characteristically feelgood news in that they’ll be providing support for Monster Magnet‘s upcoming 35th anniversary tour, which starts on Sept. 22 and rolls through Desertfest Belgium 2024 en route to a late-October finish in Berlin. As tours go, it’s something of a daydream for most bands, but if you heard Daily Thompson‘s Chuparosa (review here), or if you’ve been fortunate enough to see the Dortmund-based three-piece live, you know they bring something inimitable to the proceedings in terms of groove and persona. They’re a band willing to have fun. Not every band can do that.
If you didn’t hear the record — no shame in that; we all have busy lives — it’s streaming at the bottom of this post, and whether I have more to come on the Monster Magnet tour or not kind of depends on whether I can get Dave Wyndorf on a video call. It’s been a while. I’m sure he’s got stuff to say about the last few years and the reality in which we find ourselves. In any case, Daily Thompson pick up the tour on the Sept. 30 date in Paris — did I see it’s Margarita Witch Cult doing the UK portion? — and will kick it for the duration. Radness pervades everywhere you look.
From social media:
👹 Cat’s out of the bag 🤯😱
Gonna support these legends Monster Magnet on their whole european tour 🇫🇷🇩🇪🇨🇭🇮🇹🇭🇺🇦🇹🇩🇰🇸🇪🇳🇱🇵🇱🇨🇿
We`re hittin all these fine cities! Denmark and Cologne we are back and we can`t wait to play Zagreb, Stockholm, Warsaw and Ostrava for the first time.
Join the joyride and party with your favourite action mongers ⚡️Where will we see you?
Mon 30.09. FR – Paris / Le Trabendo Tue 01.10. DE – Cologne / Carlswerk Victoria Wed 02.10. DE – Erfurt / HsD Fri 04.10. DE – Dresden / Alter Schlachthof Sat 05.10. CH – Pratteln / Up In Smoke Sun 06.10. DE – Stuttgart / LKA Longhorn Mon 07.10. IT – Milan / Magazzini Generali Wed 09.10. HR – Zagreb / Boogaloo Club Thu 10.10. AT – Vienna / Simm City Fri 11.10. DE – Munich / Theaterfabrik Sat 12.10. DE – Wiesbaden / Schlachthof Mon 14.10. DE – Hamburg / Grosse Freiheit 36 Tue 15.10. DK – Copenhagen / Amager Bio Wed 16.10. SE – Stockholm / Fallan Fri 18.10. NL – Nijmegen / Doornroosje Sat 19.10. NL – Leiden / Gebr. De Nobel Tue 22.10. PL – Warsaw / Progresja Wed 23.10. CZ – Ostrava / Barrak Thu 24.10. DE – Berlin / Huxley`s Neue Welt
We are so happy to bring the Chuparosa vibes across this continent! Sound of Liberation we 🫶 ya!
Welcome back to the Quarterly Review. Good weekend? Restful? Did you get out and see some stuff? Did you loaf and hang out on the couch? There are advantages to either, to be sure. Friday night I watched my daughter (and a literal 40 other performers, no fewer than four of whom sang and/or danced to the same Taylor Swift song) do stand-up comedy telling math jokes at her elementary school variety show. She’s in kindergarten, she likes math, and she killed. Nice little moment for her, if one that came as part of a long evening generally.
The idea this week is the same as last week: 50 releases covered across five days. Put the two weeks together and the Spring 2024 Quarterly Review — which I’m pretty sure is what I called the one in March as well; who cares? — runs 100 strong. I’ll be traveling, some with family, some on my own, for a bit in the coming months, so this is a little bit my way of clearing my slate before that all happens, but it’s always satisfying to dig into so much and get a feel for what different acts are doing, try and convey some of that as directly as I can. If you’re reading, thanks. If this is the first you’re seeing of it and you want to see more, you can either scroll down or click here.
Either way, off we go.
Quarterly Review #51-60:
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Pelican, Adrift/Tending the Embers
Chicago (mostly-)instrumentalist stalwarts Pelican haven’t necessarily been silent since 2019’s Nighttime Stories (review here), with a digital live release in Spring 2020, catalog reissues on Thrill Jockey, a couple in-the-know covers posted and shows hither and yon, but the stated reason for the two-songer EP Adrift/Tending the Embers is to raise funds ahead of recording what will be their seventh album in a career now spanning more than 20 years. In addition to that being a cause worth supporting — they’re on the second pressing; 200 blue tapes — the two new original tracks “Adrift” (5:48) and “Tending the Embers” (4:26) reintroduce guitarist Laurent Schroeder-Lebec as a studio presence alongside guitarist Trevor Shelley de Brauw, bassist Bryan Herweg and drummer Larry Herweg. Recorded by the esteemed Sanford Parker, neither cut ranges too far conceptually from the band’s central modus bringing together heavy groove with lighter/brighter reach of guitar, but come across like a tight, more concise encapsulation of earlier accomplishments. There’s a certain amount of comfort in that as they surf the crunching, somehow-noise-rock-inspired riff of “Adrift,” sounding refreshed in their purpose in a way that one hopes they can carry into making the intended LP.
Something of a harsher take on A Mortal Binding, which is the 15th full-length from UK death-doom forebears My Dying Bride, as well as their second for Nuclear Blast behind 2020’s lush The Ghost of Orion (review here. The seven-song/55-minute offering from the masters of misery derives its character in no small part from the front-mixed vocals of Aaron Stainthorpe, who from opener “Her Dominion” onward, switches between his morose semi-spoken approach, woeful as ever, and dry-throated harsher barks. And that the leadoff is all-screams feels like a purposeful choice as that rasp returns in the second half of “The 2nd of Three Bells,” the 11-minute “The Apocalyptist,” “A Starving Heart” and the ending section of closer “Crushed Embers.” I don’t know when the last time a My Dying Bride LP sounded so roiling, but it’s been a minute. The duly morose riffing of founding guitarist Andrew Craighan unites this outwardly nastier aspect with the more melodic “Thornwyck Hymn,” “Unthroned Creed” and the rest that isn’t throatripper-topped, but with returning producer Mark Mynett, the band has clearly honed in on a more stripped-down, still-room-for-violin approach, and it works in just about everything but the drums, which sound triggered/programmed in the way of modern metal. It remains easy to get caught in the band’s wretched sweep, and I’ll note that it’s a rare act who can surprise you 15 records later.
Masonic Wave‘s self-titled debut is the first public offering from the Chicago-based five-piece with Bruce Lamont (Yakuza, Corrections House, Led Zeppelin II, etc.) on vocals, and though “Justify the Cling” has a kind of darker intensity in its brooding first-half ambience, what that build and much besides throughout the eight-song offering leads to is a weighted take on post-hardcore that earlier pieces “Bully” and “Tent City” present in duly confrontational style before “Idle Hands” (the longest inclusion at just under eight minutes) digs into a similar explore-till-we-find-the-payoff ideology and “Julia” gnashes through noise-rock teethkicking. Some of the edge-of-the-next-outburst restlessness cast by Lamont, guitarists Scott Spidale and Sean Hulet, bassist Fritz Doreza and drummer Clayton DeMuth reminds of Chat Pile‘s arthouse disillusion, but “Nuzzle Up” has a cyclical crunch given breadth through the vocal melody and the sax amid the multiple angles and sharp corners of the penultimate “Mountains of Labor” are a clue to further weirdness to come before “Bamboozler” closes with heads-down urgency before subtly branching into a more spacious if still pointedly unrelaxed culmination. No clue where it might all be headed, but that’s part of the appeal as Masonic Wave‘s Sanford Parker-produced 39 minutes play out, the songs engaging almost in spite of themselves.
There are shades of latter-day Conan (whose producer/former bassist Chris Fielding mixed here) in the vocal trades and mega-toned gallop of opening track “Sky Father,” which Bismarck expand upon with the more pointedly post-metallic “Echoes,” shifting from the lurching ultracrush into a mellower midsection before the blastbeaten crescendo gives over to rumble and the hand-percussion-backed whispers of the intro to “Kigal.” Their first for Dark Essence, the six-song/35-minute Vourukasha follows 2020’s Oneiromancer (review here) and feels poised in its various transitions between consuming aural heft and leaving that same space in the mix open for comparatively minimal exploration. “Kigal” takes on a Middle Eastern lean and stays unshouted/growled for its five-plus minutes — a choice that both works and feels purposeful — but the foreboding drone of interlude “The Tree of All Seeds” comes to a noisy head as if to warn of the drop about to take place in the title-track, which flows through its initial movement with an emergent float of guitar that leads into its own ambient middle ahead of an engrossing, duly massive slowdown/payoff worthy of as much volume as it can be given. Wrapping with the nine-minute “Ocean Dweller,” they summarize what precedes on Vourukasha while shifting the structure as an extended, vocal-inclusive-at-the-front soundscape bookends around one more huge, slow-marching, consciousness-flattening procession. Extremity refined.
That fact that Sun Moon Holy Cult exist on paper as a band based in Tokyo playing a Sabbath-boogie-worshiping, riff-led take on heavy rock with a song like “I Cut Your Throat” leading off their self-titled debut makes a Church of Misery comparison somewhat inevitable, but the psych jamming around the wah-bass shuffle of “Out of the Dark,” longer-form structures, the vocal melodies and the Sleep-style march of “Savoordoom” that grows trippier as it delves further into its 13 minutes distinguish the newcomer four-piece of vocalist Hakuka, guitarist Ryu, bassist Ame and drummer Bato across the four-song LP’s 40 minutes. Issued through Captured Records and SloomWeep Productions, Sun Moon Holy Cult brings due bombast amid the roll of “Mystic River” as well, hitting its marks stylistically while showcasing the promise of a band with a clear idea of what they want their songs to do and perhaps how they want to grow over time. If this is to be the foundation of that growth, watch out.
Dortmund, Germany’s Daily Thompson made their way to Port Orchard, Washington, to record Chuparosa with Mos Generator‘s Tony Reed at the helm, and the three-piece of guitarist/vocalist Danny Zaremba, bassist/vocalist Mercedes Lalakakis and drummer/vocalist Thorsten Stratmann bring a duly West Coast spirit to “I’m Free Tonight” and the grunge-informed roll of “Diamond Waves” and the verses of “Raindancer.” The former launches the 36-minute outing with a pointedly Fu Manchuian vibe, but the start-stops, fluid roll and interplay of vocals from Zaremba and Lalakakis lets “Pizza Boy” move in its own direction, and the brooding acoustic start of “Diamond Waves” and more languid wash of riff in the chorus look elsewhere in ’90s alternativism for their basis. The penultimate “Ghost Bird” brings in cigar-box guitar and dares some twang amid all the fuzz, but as “Raindancer” has already branched out with its quieter bassy midsection build and final desert-hued thrust, the album can accommodate such a shift without any trouble. The title-track trades between wistful grunge verses and a fuller-nodding hook, from which the three-piece take off for the bridge, thankfully returning to the chorus in Chuparosa‘s big finish. The manner in which the whole thing brims with purpose makes it seem like Daily Thompson knew exactly what they were going for in terms of sound, so I guess you could say it was probably worth the trip.
Kicking off with the markedly Graveyardian “Hangtime,” Mooch ultimately aren’t content to dwell solely in a heavy-blues-boogie sphere on Visions, their third LP and quick follow-up to 2023’s Hounds. Bluesy as the vibe is from which the Montreal trio set out, the subsequent “Morning Prayer” meanders through wah-strum open spaces early onto to delve into jangly classic-prog strum later, while “Intention” backs its drawling vocal melody with nylon-stringed acoustic guitar and hand percussion. Divergence continues to be the order of the day throughout the 41-minute eight-songer, with “New Door” shifting from its sleepy initial movement into an even quieter stretch of Doors-meets-Stones-y melody before the bass leads into its livelier solo section with just a tinge of Latin rhythm and “Together” giving more push behind a feel harkening back to the opener but that grows quiet and melodically expansive in its second half. This sets up the moodier vibe of “Vision” and gives the roll of “You Wouldn’t Know” an effective backdrop for its acoustic/electric blend and harmonized vocals, delivered patiently enough to let the lap steel slide into the arrangement easily before the brighter-toned “Reflections” caps with a tinge of modern heavy post-rock. What’s tying it together? Something intangible. Momentum. Flow. Maybe just the confidence to do it? I don’t know, but as subdued as they get, they never lose their momentum, and as much movement as there is, they never seem to lose their balance. Visions might not reveal its full scope the first time through, but subsequent listens bring due reward.
The narrative — blessings and peace upon it — has it that guitarist/vocalist Bobby Spender recruited bassist Loz Fancourt and drummer Harry Flowers after The Pleasure Dome‘s prior rhythm section left, ahead of putting together the varied 16 minutes of the Liminal Space EP. For what it’s worth, the revamped Bristol, UK, trio don’t sound any more haphazard than they want to in the loose-swinging sections of “Shoulder to Cry On” that offset the fuller shove of the chorus, or the punk-rooted alt-rock brashness of “The Duke Part II (Friends & Enemies),” and the blastbeat-inclusive tension of “Your Fucking Smile” that precedes the folk-blues finger-plucking of “Sugar.” Disjointed? Kind of, but that also feels like the point. Closer “Suicide” works around acoustic guitar and feels sincere in the lines, “Suicide, suicide/I’ve been there before/I’ve been there before/On your own/So hold on,” and the profession of love that resolves it, and while that’s at some remove from the bitter spirit of the first two post-intro tracks, Liminal Space makes its own kind of sense with the sans-effects voice of Spender at its core.
A solid four-songer from Birmingham’s Slump, who are fronted by guitarist Matt Noble (also Alunah), with drummer David Kabbouri Lara and bassist Ben Myles backing the riff-led material with punch in “Buried” after the careening hook of “Dust” opens with classic scorch in its solo and before the slower and more sludged “Kneel” gets down to its own screamier business and “Vultures” rounds out with a midtempo stomp early but nods to what seems like it’s going to be a more morose finish until the drum solo takes off toward the big-crash finish. As was the case on Slump‘s 2023 split with At War With the Sun, the feel across Dust is that of a nascent band — Slump got together in 2018, but this is their most substantial standalone release to-date — figuring out what they want to do. The ideas are there, and the volatility at which “Kneel” hints will hopefully continue to serve them well as they explore spaces between metal and heavy rock, classic and modern styles. A progression underway toward any number of potential avenues.
What dwells in Green Hog Band‘s Fuzz Realm? If you said “fuzz,” go ahead and get yourself a cookie (the judges also would’ve accepted “riffs” and “heavy vibes, dude”), but for those unfamiliar with the New Yorker trio’s methodology, there’s more to it than tone as guitarist/producer Mike Vivisector, bassist/vocalist Ivan Antipov and drummer Ronan Berry continue to carve out their niche of lo-fi stoner buzz marked by harsh, gurgly vocals in the vein of Attila Csihar, various samples, organ sounds and dug-in fuckall. “Escape on the Wheels” swings and chugs instrumentally, and “In the Mist of the Bong” has lyrics in English, so there’s no lack of variety despite the overarching pervasiveness of misanthropy. That mood is further cast in the closing salvo of the low-slung “Morning Dew” and left-open “Phantom,” both of which are instrumental save for some spoken lines in the latter, as the prevailing sense is that they were going to maybe put some verses on there but decided screw it and went back to their cave (presumably somewhere in Queens) instead, because up yours anyhow. 46 minutes of crust-stoned “up yours anyhow,” then.
By the time today is through — come hell or high water! — we will be at the halfway point of this two-week Quarterly Review. It hasn’t been difficult so far, though there are ups and downs always and I don’t think I’m giving away secrets when I tell you that in listening to 50 records some are going to be better than others.
Truth is that even outside the 100 LPs, EPs, etc., I have slated, there’s still a ton more. Even in something so massive, there’s an element of picking and choosing what goes in. Curation is the nice word for it, though it’s not quite that creatif in my head. Either way, I hope you’ve found something that connects this week. If not yet, then today. If not today, then maybe next week. As I’m prone to say on Fridays, we’re back at it on Monday.
Quarterly Review #41-50:
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Pallbearer, Mind Burns Alive
While I won’t take away from the rawer energy and longing put into their earlier work, maturity suits Pallbearer. The Little Rock, Arkansas, four-piece of vocalist/guitarist Brett Campbell, guitarist/backing vocalist Devin Holt, bassist/synthesist/backing vocalist Joseph D. Rowland and drummer Mark Lierly have passed their 15th anniversary between 2020’s Forgotten Days (review here) and the self-recorded six tracks of Mind Burns Alive, and they sound poised harnessing new breadth and melodic clarity. They’ve talked about the album being stripped down, and maybe that’s true to some degree in the engrossing-anyhow opener “When the Light Fades,” but there’s still room for sax on the 10-minute “Endless Place,” and the quieter stretches of the penultimate “Daybreak” highlight harmonized vocals before the bass-weighted riff sweeps in after the three-minute mark. Campbell has never sounded stronger or more confident as a singer, and he’s able to carry the likewise subdued intro to “Signals” with apparent sincerity and style alike. The title-track flashes brighter hopes in its later guitar solo leads, but they hold both their most wistful drift and their most crushing plod for closer “With Disease,” because five records and countless tours (with more to come) later, Pallbearer very clearly know what the fuck they’re doing. I hope having their own studio leads to further exploration from here.
With its six pieces arranged so that side A works from its longest track to its shortest and side B mirrors by going shortest to longest, Denver‘s BleakHeart seem to prioritize immersion on their second full-length, Silver Pulse, as “All Hearts Desire” unfolds fluidly across nearly eight minutes, swelling to an initial lumbering roll that evaporates as they move into the more spacious verse and build back up around the vocals of Kiki GaNun (also synth) and Kelly Schilling (also bass, keys and more synth). Emotional resonance plays at least as much of a role throughout as the tonal weight intermittently wrought by JP Damron and Mark Chronister‘s guitars, and with Joshua Quinones on drums giving structure and movement to the meditations of “Where I’m Disease” before leaving the subsequent “Let Go” to its progression through piano, drone and a sit-in from a string quartet that leads directly into “Weeping Willow,” the spaces feel big and open but never let the listener get any more lost in them than is intended. This is the first LP from the five-piece incarnation of BleakHeart, which came together in 2022, and the balance of lushness and intensity as “Weeping Willow” hits its culmination and recedes into the subdued outset of “Falling Softly” and the doomed payoff that follows bodes well, but don’t take that as undercutting what’s already being accomplished here.
Austria’s Pryne — also stylized all-caps: PRYNE — threaten to derail their first album before it’s even really started with the angular midsection breakdown of “Can-‘Ka No Rey,” but that the opener holds its course and even brings that mosher riff back at the end is indicative of the boldness with which they bring together the progressive ends of metal and heavy rock throughout the 10-song/46-minute offering, soaring in the solo ahead of the slowdown in “Ramification,” giving the audience 49 seconds to catch its breath after that initial salvo with “Hollow Sea” before “Abordan” resumes the varied onslaught with due punch, shove and twist, building tension in the verse and releasing in the melodic chorus in a way that feels informed by turn-of-the-century metal but seeming to nod at Type O Negative in the first half bridge of “Cymboshia” and refusing flat-out to do any one thing for too long. Plotted and complex even as “The Terrible End of the Yogi” slams out its crescendo before the Baronessy verse of “Plaguebearer” moves toward a stately gang shout and squibbly guitar tremolo, they roll out “Enola” as a more straight-ahead realignment before the drone interlude “Shapeless Forms” bursts into the double-kick-underscored thrash of closer “Elder Things,” riding its massive groove to an expectedly driving end. You never quite know what’s coming next within the songs, but the overarching sense of movement becomes a uniting factor that serves the material well regardless of the aggression level in any given stretch.
Backed by looped percussive ticks and pops and the cello-esque melody of the gudok, Toronto experimental singer-songwriter Avi C. Engel is poised as they ask in the lyrics of “Breadcrumb Dance,” “How many gods used to run this place/Threw up their hands, went into real estate” near the center of the seven-song Too Many Souls LP. Never let it be said there wasn’t room for humor in melancholy. Engel isn’t new to exploring folkish intimacy in various contexts, and Too Many Souls feels all the more personal even in “Wooly Mammoth” or second cut “Ladybird, What’s Wrong?” which gets underway on its casual semi-ramble with the line, “One by one I watch them piss into the sun,” for the grounded perspective at root. An ongoing thread of introspection and Engel‘s voice at the center draw the songs together as these stories are told in metaphor — birds return in the album’s second half with “The Oven Bird’s Song” but there’s enough heart poured in that it doesn’t need to be leaned into as a theme — and before it moves into its dreamstate drone still with the acoustic guitar beneath, “Without Any Eyes” brings through its own kind of apex in Engel‘s layered delivery. Topped with a part-backmasked take on the traditional “Wayfaring Stranger” that’s unfortunately left as an instrumental, Too Many Souls finds Engel continuing their journey of craft with its own songs as companions for each other and the artist behind them.
The 13-minute single “Ultrawest” follows behind Aktopasa‘s late-2022 Argonauta Records debut, Journey to the Pink Planet (review here), and was reportedly composed to feature in a documentary of the same name about the reshaping of post-industrial towns in Colorado. It is duly spacious in its slow, linear, instrumentalist progression. The Venice, Italy, three-piece of guitarist Lorenzo Barutta, bassist Silvio Tozzato and drummer Marco Sebastiano Alessi are fluid as they maintain the spirit of the jam that likely birthed the song’s floating atmospherics, but there’s a plan at work as well as they bring the piece to fruition, with Alessi subtly growing more urgent around 10 minutes in to mark the shift into an ending that never quite bursts out and isn’t trying to, but feels like resolution just the same. A quick, hypnotic showcase of the heavy psychedelic promise the debut held, “Ultrawest” makes it easy to look forward to whatever might come next for them.
Right onto the list of 2024’s best debuts goes Guenna‘s Peak of Jin’Arrah, specifically for the nuance and range the young Swedish foursome bring to their center in heavy progressive fuzz riffing. One might look at a title like “Bongsai” or “Weedwacker” (video premiered here) and imagine played-to-genre stoner fare, but Guenna‘s take is more ambitious, as emphasized in the flute brought to “Bongsai” at the outset and the proclivity toward three-part harmonies that’s unveiled more in the nine-minute “Dimension X,” which follows. The folk influence toward which that flute hints comes forward on the mostly-acoustic closer “Guenna’s Lullaby,” which takes hold after the skronk-accompanied, full-bore push that caps “Wizery,” but by that point the context for such shifts has been smoothly laid out as being part of an encompassing and thoughtful songwriting process that in less capable hands would leave “Ordric Major” disjointed and likely overly aggressive. Even as they make room for the guest lead vocals of Elin Pålsson on “Dark Descent,” Guenna walk these balances smoothly and confidently, and if you don’t believe there’s a generational shift happening right now — at this very moment — in Scandinavia, Peak of Jin’Arrah stands ready to convince you otherwise. There’s a lot of work between here and there, but Guenna hold the potential to be a significant voice in that next-gen emergence.
The interplay of stoner-metal tonal density and languid vocal melody in “I Thought I Would Not” sets an atmospheric mood for Slow Green Thing on their fourth LP, Wetterwarte / Waltherstrasse, which the Dresden-based four-piece seem to have recorded in two sessions between 2020 and 2022. That span of time might account for some of the scope between the songs as “Thousand Deaths” holds out a hand into the void staring back at it and the subsequent “Whispering Voices” answers the proggy wash and fuzzed soloing of “Tombstones in My Eyes” with roll and meditative float alike, but I honestly don’t know what was recorded when and there’s no real lack of cohesion within the aural mists being conjured or the heft residing within it, so take that as you will. It’s perhaps less of a challenge to put temporal considerations aside since Slow Green Thing seem so at home in the flow that plays out across Wetterwarte / Waltherstrasse‘s six songs and 44 minutes, remaining in control despite veering into more aggressive passages and basing so much of what they do on entrancing and otherworldly vibe. And while the general superficialities of thickened tones and soundscaping, ‘gaze-type singing and nod will be familiar, the use made of them by Slow Green Thing offers a richer and deeper experience revealed and affirmed on repeat listens.
Don’t expect a lot of trickery in Ten Ton Slug‘s awaited first full-length record, Colossal Oppressor, which delivers its metallic sludge pummel with due transparency of purpose. That is to say, the Galway, Ireland, trio aren’t fucking around. Enough so that Bolt Thrower‘s Karl Willetts shows up on a couple of songs. Varied but largely growled or screamed vocals answer the furious chug and thud of “Balor,” and while “Ghosts of the Ooze” later on answers back to the brief acoustic parts bookending opener “The Ooze” ahead of “Mallacht an tSloda” arriving like a sledgehammer only to unfold its darkened thrash and nine-plus-minute closer “Mogore the Unkind” making good on its initial threat with the mosh-ready riffing in its second half, there’s no pretense in those or any of the other turns Colossal Oppressor makes, and there doesn’t need to be when the songs are so refreshingly crushing. These guys have been around for over a decade already, so it’s not a surprise necessarily to find them so committed to this punishing mission, but the cathartic bloodletting resonates regardless. Not for everyone, very much for some on the more extreme end of heavy.
Don’t let the outward Beatles-bouncing pop-psych friendly-acid traditionalism of “Goodbye Suzy” lull you into thinking San Francisco psych rockers Magic Fig‘s self-titled debut is solely concerned with vintage aesthetics. While accessible even in the organ-and-synth prog flourish of “PS1” — the keyboards alone seeming to span generations — and the more foreboding current of low end under the shuffle and soft vocals of “Obliteration,” the six-song/28-minute LP is no less effective in the rising cosmic expanse that builds into “Labyrinth” than the circa-’67 orange-sun lysergic folk-rock that rolls out from there — that darker edge comes back around, briefly, in a stop around the two-minute mark; it’s hard to know which side is imagining the other, but “Labyrinth” is no less fun for that — and “Distant Dream,” which follows, is duly transcendent and fluid. Given additional character via the Mellotron and birdsong-inclusive meditation that ends it and the album as a whole, “Departure” nonetheless feels intentional in its subtly synthy acoustic-and-voice folkish strum, and its intricacy highlights a reach one hopes Magic Fig will continue to nurture.
If you followed along with Dortmund, Germany’s Scorched Oak on their 2020 debut, Withering Earth (review here), as that album dug into classic heavy rock as a means of longer-form explorations, some of what they present in the 39 minutes of Perception might make more sense. There was plenty of dynamic then too in terms of shifts in rhythm and atmosphere, and certainly second-LP pieces like “Mirrors” and “Relief” come at least in part from a similar foundation — I’d say the same of the crescendo verse of “Oracle” near the finish — but the reportedly-recorded-live newer offering finds the band making a striking delve into harder and more metallic impacts on the whole. An interplay of gruff — gurgling, almost — and soulful melodic vocals is laid out as opener/longest track (immediate points) “Delusion” resolves the brooding toms of its verse with post-metal surges. Perhaps it’s obvious enough that it doesn’t need to be said, but Scorched Oak aren’t residing in a single feel or progression throughout, and the intensity and urgency of “Reflection” land with a directness that the closing “Oracle” complements in its outward spread. The element of surprise makes Perception feel somewhat like a second debut, but that they pull off such an impression is in itself a noteworthy achievement, never mind how much less predictable it makes them or the significant magnitude of these songs.
Posted in Whathaveyou on March 29th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
Dortmund heavy rockers Daily Thompson have posted a new video for “I’m Free Tonight,” the first single from their upcoming long-player, Chuparosa, which they traveled to the US Pacific Northwest to record this past December with Tony Reed of Mos Generator/Big Scenic Nowhere. As ever, they’re making it easy to get on board. The black and white performance clip gives the song a suitable late-night-MTV feel, footage of speeding through this or that desert included, and while I get more Fu Manchu than grunge out of the track at least for the first four of the total six minutes — whereas their Spring 2023 standalone single “Raindancer (From Outta Space)” seemed to go the full-Soundgarden — that’s definitely not something you’ll hear me whine about. That I haven’t heard the entire record yet, on the other hand…
You’ll note an actual Fu Manchu connection with “I’m Free Tonight” as well in the late-in-track guest appearance from guitarist Bob Balch — also bandmate to Reed in Big Scenic Nowhere — who seems only to happy to show up and lend some oomph to the back half, which brings a harder-landing bridge before turning back to the chorus as if to remind Daily Thompson are songwriters ahead of that culmination. I’ll say it again, they make it easy. Hook, groove, vibe. Whatever you’re chasing down, they’re here to help.
Right on:
“Chuparosa”, the fourth DAILY THOMPSON album in four years on Noisolution, will be released on May 17th!!! The guys from Dortmund seem to have not only won our hearts and continue to go full throttle and grow with every release.
More information about the album, the tour, the next single and the strictly limited CLUB100 edition (which will once again be a very special goodie, Trust me!!!) coming soon.
“I’m Free Tonight” is the first herald of the upcoming album. But DAILY THOMPSON are not alone here, because Bob Balch from Fu Manchu and Big Scenic Nowhere was in the studio and recorded the solo!!! The album was recorded and mastered in Port Orchard near Seattle by Mos Generator frontman Tony Reed. So it’s hardly surprising that “Chuparosa” smells of Seattle, of 90s alternative, grunge and lumberjack shirts.
