Ealdor Bealu release their third full-length, Psychic Forms, April 22 as their first offering through Metal Assault Records. The still above comes from one of the very last shots from the band’s video for album-closer “Mirror Reflecting Mirror,” which you can see premiering below, and while certainly the image of guitarist/vocalist Carson Russell (also of Ghorot) holding a sign that reads ‘the end is nigh’ is relevant to the storyline that accompanies the eight-minute track, if you want to get a real sense of where the band are coming from in terms of style and message, look at those fucking mountains behind him. They’re way up, out of town, high Rocky Mountains, their points looming, present even at a distance. If you want to hear those mountains beckoning, Ealdor Bealu — Russell, bassist/vocalist Rylie Collingwood, guitarist/vocalist Travis X. Abbott (also Sawtooth Monk) and new drummer Michael Mulcock — do a pretty good job of translation across the fluidly executed and at times surprisingly lush five songs and 40 minutes that comprise Psychic Forms. They are the very definition of the earthy ethereal. Mountain pastoralism. And they’re not hiding it. It’s right there on the album cover.
Psychic Forms follows three years after 2019’s Spirit of the Lonely Places (review here), and is in some ways less up front about its sense of communion, but as opener and longest track (immediate points) “Be Ye Gone” unfurls with a multi-tiered progression of acoustic and electric guitar and adds vocals not so much to beat the listener over the head with verses and hooks, but to add to the atmosphere, it proves to be Ealdor Bealu‘s most expansive production to-date, reaching outward in ways that the prior release seemed to turn its meditative crux inward. No complaints with that offering, or 2017’s Dark Water at the Foot of the Mountain (review here) for that matter, but Psychic Forms works smoothly to convey high-altitude warmth, the crispness of the guitar evocative of a light breeze, the thoughtful changes and shifts progressive in tone and structure, moving into a solo-topped heavier push that comes together to remind just a bit of Valley of the Sun‘s “Riding the Dunes” in its rhythmic urgency. Given the span of time between Ealdor Bealu‘s second album and the third, one wonders if there isn’t an escapist impulse playing out in the material as well.
The video for “Mirror Reflecting Mirror,” which is the second single from Psychic Forms behind the opener, nods in its narrative to escapism as well, with the band as a supporting cast. Fair enough, frankly. Though like “Fade into Nothing” earlier on, “Mirror Reflecting Mirror” veers into some shredding guitar and bombast before three of its eight minutes are up, the bulk of the impression Ealdor Bealu are looking to make is in the atmosphere and mood of the piece, as the balance of vocals in the mix as well as the more languid groove that takes hold demonstrate. With Collingwood echoing out soothing “ooh”s as they move into the last comedown and strums, any and all freneticism is gone, and just maybe they’ve arrived at that other place for which they’ve seemed all along to present such a longing — even if that’s not necessarily how it works out in the video. In any case, between “Be Ye Gone” and “Mirror Reflecting Mirror,” Psychic Forms heathen dances and twists through “Fade into Nothing,” the centerpiece “Way of the Sudden Storm” and “Laid on Display,” bringing individualist purpose to an aural ideology that is classically heavy and yet brought to bear as informed by the modern prog of Elder, a European folk-metal aesthetic and a deep sense of Americana as well. From the graceful manner in which “Way of the Sudden Storm” executes its midpoint sweep to its last drift into the highlight serenity in the opening moments of “Laid on Display,” which will bring forth its crunch in its own time thank you very much, the forward steps the band are taking as a collective are considered, plotted skillfully, and presented to the listener with an intention toward immersion and communicating identity through sound.
And while Psychic Forms is declarative in that way, it does not impose. The shove in “Be Ye Gone” is gentle — answered with nearly-subconscious-seeming symmetry in “Mirror Reflecting Mirror” — and even at its most forceful, “Fade into Nothing” uses heft and intensity — you’ll note the screams late for a touch of blackened extremity amid the solo — as means rather than ends, and for however much time they spend exploring the air around them, Ealdor Bealu refuse to lose their footing. This dynamic, perhaps with Mulcock shifting the chemistry somewhat as a new member of the band, still feels built off their prior accomplishments, but the fluidity of “Way of the Sudden Storm” alone is enough to demonstrate the clarity with which they approach their craft. Psychic Forms is consciousness speaking to the organic. Not light on ambition by any means, but the scope of shimmering highs and dug-in lows realizes the aims of Psychic Forms in such a way as to be wholly satisfying and almost impressionistic in its brush strokes. They are not necessarily telling you at any moment where they’re putting you, but you end up there and they’re ready to greet you just the same. The listening experience is ultimately rewarding in proportion with the effort one puts into it. To engage and be engaged.
As to Russell‘s message in the sign above, I might only argue that ‘the end,’ such as it is, is neither one thing nor ‘near’ as much as unfolding on multiple fronts before our unwilling-to-see-it eyes. No shortage, then, of fodder for escapism. May the world that Ealdor Bealu seem to find in this music actually come to pass.
And if there’s any message being delivered here, it is the old adage: quit your fucking job.
Off we go:
Ealdor Bealu, “Mirror Reflecting Mirror” video premiere
We’re thrilled to finally announce that our new album Psychic Forms will be released into the world on Friday, April 22nd on Vinyl/CD/Digital via Metal Assault Records!! Recorded in Boise, ID by Z.V. House of Rabbit Brush Audio and mastered by the legend himself James Plotkin, Psychic Forms is the strongest album Ealdor Bealu has ever achieved in all aspects of song craft, performance, and production. It is also our first offering with new drummer Michael Mulcock steering the rhythm section to prolific and uncharted territory, as well as our first to be fully supported by a record label. Metal Assault Records has an incredibly creative and formidable roster, and we’re honored to be able to work with this rapidly growing label on our new album.
The majestic, sprawling gate-fold artwork for the record was created by Italy’s Leoncio Harmr, and lends itself perfectly to the diverse and unpredictable album it bears. Always with a mind toward the natural world around us, but steeped in the intricacies of our own human existence and struggles, Psychic Forms delves deep into the path Ealdor Bealu has carved out over these past 7 years all the while pushing toward bold and surprising new realms.
Track Listing:
Be Ye Gone 9:28 Fade into Nothing 8:15
Way of the Sudden Storm 7:05 Laid on Display 7:04 Mirror Reflecting Mirror 8:07
Recorded & Mixed by Z.V. House @ Rabbit Brush Audio (Boise, ID) Mastered by James Plotkin Album Art by Leoncio Harmr Album Layout by Adam Rosenlund
Ealdor Bealu is: Carson Russell: Guitar, Vocals Rylie Collingwood: Bass, Vocals Travis Abbott: Guitar, Vocals Michael Mulcock: Drums
Posted in Whathaveyou on January 10th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
Brazen in its forward reach, the upcoming third album, Psychic Forms, by Boise, Idaho, four-piece Ealdor Bealu, is set to release April 22 through Metal Assault Records. And oh my goodness. Its five tracks run a particularly gorgeous and progressive 40-minute stretch, and with preorders coming Feb. 18, I know word’s out early here, but wow this record right on. With vocal contributions from guitarists Carson Russell (also Ghorot) and Travis X. Abbott (also Sawtooth Monk) as well as bassist Rylie Collingwood — I never realized how many double-letters there were in this band; I wonder if drummer Michael Mulcock feels left out, though at least he’s got some alliteration — their earthen psychedelic procession has never sounded more vital or patient in its flow and you’ll pardon me if I just cut to the chase, save the review for the review, and tell you that it’s already on my best of 2022 list.
So think of this as a heads up, or a keep-your-eyes-peeled or just a more-to-come if you want. Whatever gets you there. There’s no audio from Psychic Forms yet to share, much to my chagrin — opener “Be Ye Gone” makes the point beautifully and will serve as the lead single next month — but 2019’s Spirit of the Lonely Places (review here), which was also one of that year’s favorite offerings, is streaming below to give you a base to work from as it seems they’ve also done.
Go ahead:
EALDOR BEALU – Psychic Forms – April 22
New Full-Length Album(3rd): Psychic Forms Release Date: Friday April, 22nd 2022 First Single/Vinyl Pre-Order: Friday February, 18th 2022
Record Label: Metal Assault Records (LA) Medium: 200 Multi-Color Vinyl, 200 CD, Digital Recorded and Mixed by: Z.V. House @ Rabbit Brush Audio (Boise, ID) Mastered by: James Plotkin Album Artwork: Leoncio Harmr
We’re thrilled to finally announce that our new album Psychic Forms will be released into the world on Friday, April 22nd on Vinyl/CD/Digital via Metal Assault Records!! Recorded in Boise, ID by Z.V. House of Rabbit Brush Audio and mastered by the legend himself James Plotkin, Psychic Forms is the strongest album Ealdor Bealu has ever achieved in all aspects of song craft, performance, and production. It is also our first offering with new drummer Michael Mulcock steering the rhythm section to prolific and uncharted territory, as well as our first to be fully supported by a record label. Metal Assault Records has an incredibly creative and formidable roster, and we’re honored to be able to work with this rapidly growing label on our new album.
The majestic, sprawling gate-fold artwork for the record was created by Italy’s Leoncio Harmr, and lends itself perfectly to the diverse and unpredictable album it bears. Always with a mind toward the natural world around us, but steeped in the intricacies of our own human existence and struggles, Psychic Forms delves deep into the path Ealdor Bealu has carved out over these past 7 years all the while pushing toward bold and surprising new realms.
The first single from Psychic Forms, Be Ye Gone, arrives on Friday, February 18th as well as the Vinyl Pre-Order kickoff via Metal Assault Records. Follow us on all platforms for tons of new content over the coming weeks and months as our album release draws closer!!
Track Listing:
Be Ye Gone 9:28 Fade into Nothing 8:15
Way of the Sudden Storm 7:05 Laid on Display 7:04 Mirror Reflecting Mirror 8:07
Ealdor Bealu is: Carson Russell: Guitar, Vocals Rylie Collingwood: Bass, Vocals Travis Abbott: Guitar, Vocals Michael Mulcock: Drums
I knew I wanted to start the show with Fuzzy Lights and I knew I wanted to end with Iceburn. Putting together the in-between was where the adventure happened here. I included some stuff still rippling out from the Quarterly Review last month — that’s you, Expo Seventy, The Black Heart Death Cult, LáGoon (also Iceburn) — as well as some more that’s been kicking me around and covered here in the few weeks since one way or the other, like Healthyliving, Horte, The Angelus, Guhts, Hippie Death Cult, Ouzo Bazooka, Kadabra, Ealdor Bealu and Acid Magus. Top that off with The Otolith covering “Would?” and it’s a pretty cool progression of sound and style. There’s a lot to dig here. If you listen, I hope you dig it.
And if you don’t listen — and I don’t have numbers to back this up but in my head no one ever gives a crap about anything I do except me; there are pros and cons to this position — and you’ve made your way to this post anyhow, I hope you take the here’s-a-list-of-bands-you-might-want-to-check-out-cue and hear something you might not have otherwise heard. That’s pretty much what I’m here for.
Either way, thanks for listening and/or reading. I hope you enjoy.
The Obelisk Show airs 5PM Eastern today on the Gimme app or at: http://gimmemetal.com
Full playlist:
The Obelisk Show – 08.06.21
Fuzzy Lights
Songbird
Burials
Expo Seventy
Echoes of Ether
Evolution
Healthyliving
Below
Until / Below
Horte
Pelko karistaa järjen
Maa antaa yön vaientaa
VT
LáGoon
Skullactic Visions
Skullactic Visions
The Black Heart Death Cult
Trees
Sonic Mantras
Ouzo Bazooka
Monsters
Dalya
Kadabra
Settle Me
Ultra
Acid Magus
Conscientious Pugilist
Wyrd Syster
VT
Hippie Death Cult
Circle of Days
Circle of Days
The Angelus
Hex Born
Why We Never Die
Ealdor Bealu
Isolation
Spirit of the Lonely Places
Guhts
Handless Maiden
Blood Feather
The Otolith
Would?
Alice in Chains Dirt: Redux
VT
Iceburn
Dahlia Rides the Firebird
Asclepius
The Obelisk Show on Gimme Metal airs every Friday 5PM Eastern, with replays Sunday at 7PM Eastern. Next new episode is Aug. 20 (subject to change). Thanks for listening if you do.
Posted in Whathaveyou on July 28th, 2021 by JJ Koczan
Some two years after its original issue in July 2019, Ealdor Bealu‘s Spirit of the Lonely Places (review here) will see release through Metal Assault Records in time for the band to bring the CDs on their newly announced West Coast tour this Fall. The reissue/first-to-my-knowledge-CD-pressing will be the beginning of an ongoing collaboration between the band and the label, and sees the Boise four-piece become labelmates to the likes of Solar Haze, Circle of Sighs, Old Blood, and a varied slew of others. It is a suitable home for a group who just about every time I hear them I think of a different genre tag, most of them rounding out to “a band I think is good.”
The signing announcement and tour dates follow here. They look pleased about all of it, which is understandable:
Ealdor Bealu Sign to Metal Assault Records
Ealdor Bealu are thrilled to announce the signing of a multi-album deal with Metal Assault Records from Los Angeles, CA!! We are honored to be joining the massively diverse, dynamic MA roster including Old Blood, Through the Occulus, Solar Haze, Beekeeper, and many more. Our first order of business together will be a limited run of 4-panel DigiPak CDs of our sophomore album Spirit of the Lonely Places, available this September. We are also very pleased to announce our Fall West Coast Tour today!! We are returning to a lot of our favorite cities on the coast as well as new stops in Sacramento, Los Osos, and Olympia. SEE YOU ON THE ROAD
Ealdor Bealu is a progressive stoner rock quartet from the high desert of Boise, ID. With a focus on shifting dynamics from the ambient to the massive and back again, their sound expands beyond the boundaries of genre to create a mosaic of sonic praise.
The band’s first full-length offering DARK WATER AT THE FOOT OF THE MOUNTAIN (Independent 2017) drew local, regional, and even international praise as a standout debut offering. With the release of Ealdor Bealu’s sophomore full-length album SPIRIT OF THE LONELY PLACES on July 20th 2019 on vinyl/digital the band has seen new levels of success around the globe.
TOUR 9.30 THURS Sacramento, CA Cafe Colonial 10.1 FRI Santa Cruz, CA The Blue Lagoon 10.2 SAT Los, Angeles, CA Old Towne Pub 10.3 SUN San Diego, CA Til Two Club 10.4 MON Los Osos, CA Sweet Spring’s Saloon 10.5 TUES Oakland, CA Elbo Room Jack London 10.6 WED Chico, CA The Maltese Bar 10.7 THURS Portland, OR High Water Mark 10.8 FRI Olympia, WA Cryptatropa Bar 10.9 SAT Seattle, WA Victory Lounge
Ealdor Bealu is: Carson Russell: Guitar, Vocals Rylie Collingwood: Bass, Vocals Travis Abbott: Guitar, Vocals Alex Wargo: Drums
Posted in Questionnaire on February 24th, 2021 by JJ Koczan
The Obelisk Questionnaire is a series of open questions intended to give the answerer an opportunity to explore these ideas and stories from their life as deeply as they choose. Answers can be short or long, and that reveals something in itself, but the most important factor is honesty.
Based on the Proust Questionnaire, the goal over time is to show a diverse range of perspectives as those who take part bring their own points of view to answering the same questions. To see all The Obelisk Questionnaire posts, click here.
Thank you for reading and thanks to all who participate.
The Obelisk Questionnaire: Travis X. Abbott of Ealdor Bealu, Sawtooth Monk, The Western Mystics & Obscured by the Sun
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How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?
I am an artist, through and through. Ever since I was a child, I’ve just had this drive to create things. Originally, I think people thought I was going to grow up to be an illustrator or graphic designer because I was constantly drawing things. But by the time I was a teenager, I found that music was more of my thing and have pursued it ever since. Even now, I still feel similarities between the two, even though I haven’t really drawn anything since childhood. They’re both just avenues of creation. Basically, they both involve playing pretend with an idea, having some fun with it, and working at it until it becomes something that you’re happy you’ve spent some time on.
Describe your first musical memory.
My first musical memory was probably listening to Queen’s A Night at the Opera. At the time, I didn’t know exactly what it was, or how I even came to listen to it in the first place. I was probably six or seven years old… I’m not sure. But I remembered the band’s name and that sound. It was only years later that I figured out exactly what album it was, because when I heard the first few notes of “Death on Two Legs,” I immediately knew how the rest of the album going to go. And then it all clicked.
Describe your best musical memory to date.
If I had to choose just one, I think my favorite musical memory was playing with The Western Mystics at Treefort Music Fest (Boise, ID) in 2016. It was a total risk on everyone’s part. The band itself was more “free,” meaning that we had a few themes we would play, but would improvise most of the set, and all transitions were based off of certain cues that any particular band member would signal. We had two baritone guitars, keys, drums, some ambient vocals, and had only been a full band for just a few months. Nevertheless, Treefort had us slotted for one of the prime spots on opening night of the 2016 festival (which was right after the set of other band I am in, Ealdor Bealu, on the same stage).
The house was packed and the crowd was electric, and we somehow nailed all of the transitions. Not many bands take such risks, it seems, and I don’t blame them. It had the potential to be a trainwreck, but we trusted each other musically and let the music itself lead us. Every member of that band was musically gifted, so ultimately, I wasn’t too concerned, but was still blown away by our performance, the energy of the room, and the warm reception we received. It was kind of a spiritual experience, and it set the standard for what I want music to mean to me.
In a way, I knew that the music we were making together in that group wasn’t going to last long, as the band itself formed out of the desire to play music for music’s sake – nothing more or less. In a world where you’re often told that you have to keep figuring out ways to impress audiences, it was pure freedom to just go out and play our hearts out for no other reason than to enjoy the process. I often look back to that exact performance when I need to remind myself that music is supposed to be, at its core, a cathartic and joyful experience.
When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?
In reality, just about every time I read a well-written book this happens – which is often. Although I am an individual who has my own firm convictions, I am also a person who believes that adaptation is the key to survival, and I try to keep an open-mind to new experiences that shed light on things that I would not have previously considered. Sometimes this can be agonizing, which is why many people avoid such circumstances. In this sense, the last time that a truly firm belief of mine was challenged was just a few years ago when I had to go through the work to untie many of the self-destructive knots of my own mind – which is something I believe more people should be doing. My mind was running many self-destructive “programs” or “software,” so to speak, but of course, I didn’t realize it until I was tested. It took a lot of dismantling of my own self-perception in order to heal.
Where do you feel artistic progression leads?
I’m not sure how to answer this question, as I feel that there’s not really a destination. Sure, I’d like to have more people listen to my music, to regularly release albums that people enjoy, to play shows in other countries, and even to make a living doing it all. But even then, it’s as simple as working to get better at my craft merely for the sake of getting better at my craft. If I can keep doing this, then I feel the music should speak for itself, and by doing so, I hope it inspires others to pursue what they have a drive to do as well.
How do you define success?
Success is just creating a life in which you can be at peace with yourself – to be able to find your center anywhere you go – even during times of great turmoil. At the end of the day, I just want to know that I made the best of the opportunities I was presented, and did the best that I could with what I had to work with. To me, adding anything more to this definition makes it much more unrealistic.
What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?
There are a few things… that I won’t elaborate on. But I do think that anytime someone you once looked up to is revealed to be a questionable person (to say the least), you wish that you hadn’t placed them on such a high pedestal to begin with. When you finally see such people for who they truly are, you definitely spend a great amount of time wishing you hadn’t seen what you did. You often wish that you could just ignore some of the things you’ve seen because life we be so much simpler if you could. But you can’t un-see things. Growing up can fuck you up. And don’t worship other human beings.
Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.
I want to create an actual story – like a comic book, novel or film. To me, that’s the ultimately piecing together of a puzzle. You can emulate this process with music at times, but it’s much more abstract. I’d love to just create an entire world of characters and settings and pour all of my thoughts and understanding into it.
What do you believe is the most essential function of art?
I believe the most essential function of art is to hold a mirror up to society and challenge its perceptions. Art helps us understand others and makes conversations possible. It is a form of communication that provides perspective and allows us to look at the past, present and future simultaneously. In our society, we tend to be encouraged to view art as only being “entertainment,” which completely misses the mark in my mind. Art is much more than that. It allows us to actively shape our world without trying to force people to see things our way against their will. You can’t directly change someone’s perception by actively trying to change them, but you can plant seeds of change – which can be done most effectively through art. If you truly want to make the world a better place, then turn to art to discover the answers you seek. Each observer must find the answers for themselves in order for the message to be fully received. And through art, this is possible.
Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?
I’m looking forward to doing more hiking during the summer and hopefully playing more basketball at some point (although both activities seem to be destroying my knees). Other than that, I’m really looking forward to the new DUNE movie. I really love Frank Herbert’s original six books, but can’t stand David Lynch’s 1984 film (to the fans of this film, I am sorry), and am not that interested in any of the newer books that weren’t written by Frank.
Posted in Bootleg Theater on September 9th, 2020 by JJ Koczan
There have been plenty of times in recent years where one might take something like this for granted. “A video of a band playing live in a room together? Wait — on the internet???” Yeah, I know, wild times we live in. But you know, this isn’t a thing to be overlooked. If the course 2020 has taken has taught anything, it’s to appreciate each other and each other’s work in exactly the ways that have seemed ho-hum and everyday in the past. Who the hell knows when the lungfire is coming? So you’re telling me you’ve got Ealdor Bealu hanging out in Boise with a two-camera setup playing a new song live? Shit yeah I’m in for that. Band in a room. Sign me right up.
When the band’s Carson Russellchecked in this Spring, he was hopeful that Ealdor Bealu‘s rescheduled-to-Fall tour would happen. Well, yeah. Obviously not so much. They would’ve been headed out next month in order to support their righteous second LP, Spirit of the Lonely Places (review here), which came out July 2019. Instead, like many, they’ve opted to pursue writing new material, and the single “Way of the Sudden Storm” — which seems aptly-named, if nothing else — is a first sampling of that. Again, it’s a band in room. The recording is pretty raw in terms of the audio, but you’ll hear guitarist/songwriter Travis Abbott, Russell (also guitar) and bassist Rylie Colllingwood sharing vocal duties while Alex Wargo — making his debut here after replacing Craig Hawkins, who played on the last record — introduces the song with a flowing progression on his cymbals and snare that acts as the foundation upon which the linear build unfolds.
It does so with a patience that speaks to the band working quickly toward their third album but well established and aware of the sound they’re after and how they want to handle fleshing out their arrangements. Of course, one will look forward to the finished version of “Way of the Sudden Storm” — which unless they’re in the studio right this second and opted for some reason to engage in misdirection it in the quote below will likely feature on a full-length release sometime next year — but if you think of this as a live demo version, you can still get some sense of the atmosphere they’re shooting for, and, I’d argue, attaining.
Spirit of the Lonely Places is at the bottom of this post if you’d like a refresher, but immediately below you’ll find the premiere of “Way of the Sudden Storm” live from Ealdor Bealu‘s rehearsal space. As you watch, try to remember the context in which this is happening and just how fortunate we are to be in a position where people can get together again and explore and create art and even just breathe the same air for a while. Band in a room. They offer a quote as a group as well.
Please enjoy:
Ealdor Bealu, “Way of the Sudden Storm” official video premiere
Ealdor Bealu on “Way of the Sudden Storm”:
“Ealdor Bealu would have been preparing for our two-week Fall West Coast Tour right about now. As it was for our spring tour, the fall tour has been cancelled. With live music on an indefinite hiatus, we have used these past six months to create and sharpen the songs for our third full-length album, which is slated to be recorded this winter. We had plans to debut a couple of these tracks on the road, but with that no longer an option we have decided to release one of these brand new songs via a live video from our practice space at the Boise Bomb Shelter! Please enjoy this sneak peak of album #3 with this killer single ‘Way of the Sudden Storm.’ We hope it brings you comfort in these perilous times. Be well, stay safe, and we shall see you all on the road again when this too has passed.” – Carson, Rylie, Travis, and Alex
Way of the Sudden Storm Recorded Live at Boise Bomb Shelter (Boise, ID) August 2020 All Music and Lyrics By: Travis Abbott Video Editing: Travis Abbott
Ealdor Bealu is: Carson Russell: Guitar, Vocals Rylie Collingwood: Bass, Vocals Travis Abbott: Guitar, Vocals Alex Wargo: Drums
The ongoing nature of the COVID-19 pandemic, the varied responses of publics and governments worldwide, and the disruption to lives and livelihoods has reached a scale that is unprecedented. Whatever the month or the month after or the future itself brings, more than one generation will bear the mark of having lived through this time, and art, artists, and those who provide the support system to help uphold them have all been affected.
In continuing the Days of Rona feature, it remains pivotal to give a varied human perspective on these events and these responses. It is important to remind ourselves that whether someone is devastated or untouched, sick or well, we are all thinking, feeling people with lives we want to live again, whatever renewed shape they might take from this point onward. We all have to embrace a new normal. What will that be and how will we get there?
Thanks to all who participate. To read all the Days of Rona coverage, click here. — JJ Koczan
Days of Rona: Carson Russell of Ealdor Bealu and Ghorot (Boise, Idaho)
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How have you been you dealing with this crisis as a band? As an individual? What effect has it had on your plans or creative processes?
Coronavirus dealt a swift and all-encompassing blow to both of my bands in mid-March as Idaho finally succumbed to the pandemic. Ealdor Bealu was slated to play Treefort Music Fest in late March as well as a Pacific Northwest Tour in April/May in support of our sophomore record Spirit of the Lonely Places. It was a disheartening setback, but fortunately most of the tour dates were successfully rescheduled to a larger West Coast tour in October. Only time will tell if that tour will come to fruition, there is little to rely upon these days. My new doom-metal trio Ghorot (featuring Chad Remains of UZALA) was also set to play Treefort Music Fest supporting the almighty YOB.
More importantly, Ghorot was slated to record and mix our debut record at Rabbit Brush Audio (Boise, ID) in April, but those dates have now been moved to August. On a positive end, both bands were just recently able to practice again for the first time in nearly two months, an immensely necessary and cathartic meeting to say the least. The future is most uncertain, but being reunited in music has given us purpose and strength, and I know we shall persevere through this crisis and arrive on the other side with renewed vigor for life, music, nature, and the artist community we so proudly hail from.
How do you feel about the public response to the outbreak where you are? From the government response to the people around you, what have you seen and heard from others?
Idaho is our home; its natural, rugged beauty greatly impacts our music and inspires our lives.
That said, it is also unfortunately a very conservative, religious state and its politics follow heavily along those lines. Although the local government has acted in a rather surprisingly but certainly welcomed cautious manner throughout the crisis, there has been a lot of pushback from the far-right community. Heavily armed anti-lockdown protesters gathered by the hundreds at the capitol demanding their freedom to return to work and Amon Bundy, the leader of the Malhuer County Wildlife Refuge takeover in 2016 and son of Clive Bundy, attempted to hold a 2,000 person Easter church service in defiance of social distancing enforcement (only 60 showed up, to the chagrin of every touring musician who knows that’s just how gigs go haha).
It’s been disheartening to see so many people here refuse to adhere to wearing masks and social distancing. A lot of Idahoans just can’t seem to wrap their heads around the idea of enduring minor inconveniences to protect someone you don’t know. Luckily, we seem to have dodged the bullet as our case load and deaths have been minimal so far. However, as the state begins to reopen we now face an uphill battle to keep those stats low as many look to flaunt guidelines meant to keep our community safe. Freedom, it would seem, comes at a cost we have yet to reckon with.
What do you think of how the music community specifically has responded? How do you feel during this time? Are you inspired? Discouraged? Bored? Any and all of it?
Our situations have varied greatly over this time of crisis: some working full-time in essential industries, others working remotely from home, and others without work or pay since mid-March. It has been a difficult task to maintain some sort of positivity when the world seems to be falling into chaos. Luckily, Rylie, Travis, and I (three of the four members of Ealdor Bealu) share a home, which has created the ability to continue our writing and practicing via acoustic sessions. It’s been a beautiful spring in Boise, despite the circumstances, and our nights around the campfire singing and strumming guitars have been a lifesaver. It is still uncertain how this crisis will affect the Boise music scene.
We are a small, but vibrant community that greatly cherishes our local music venues like Neurolux and The Shredder as well as our independent record store The Record Exchange. These institutions mean the world to us all, and although we can’t yet know the impact this work stoppage will have on their ability to continue operations we have great hope that they will all make it thru these trying times and we may yet return to nights of sweat and booze, laughter and love, guitars and a fuck ton of amplifiers!
What is the one thing you want people to know about your situation, either as a band, or personally, or anything? What is your new normal? What have you learned from this experience, about yourself, your band, or anything?
This crisis has revealed our most vulnerable positions as a country, and as a species in general. Humanity, finally given a chance to show some semblance of unity under a global problem, has pushed instead toward a further divide between the have’s and have-not’s. The disparity between the ruling elite and the rest of us has never been so starkly laid bare before our eyes. But I feel that the working class, the true lifeblood of human civilization, is becoming galvanized by these savageries instead of backing down. The fight for equality, for equity, for decency, and for truth is growing to levels not seen in most of our lifetimes.
Protests and demonstrations were at a virulent high across the world before this crisis struck, and I believe this situation will only guide the 99 percent further down this path rather than backtrack. We must stand now, arm in arm, and with a singular unified voice demand a world that works for all of mankind, not just the one percent. As musicians, friends, and family we must do everything in our power to champion each other during these perilous times so that we may arise from the ashes stronger than before.
Posted in Features on December 24th, 2019 by JJ Koczan
[PLEASE NOTE: These are not the results of the year-end poll, which is ongoing. If you haven’t contributed your list to the cause yet, please do so here.]
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Make no mistake, my friends. 2019 was the year it went off the rails.
Every 12-month period brings a lot of records, and they all seem overwhelming, but this was the first year I’ve ever felt quite so helpless when it came time to sit down and actually make my list. Of course, I keep running notes all year long, but even so, ordering everything, bringing it all together? What a mess.
I almost thought of breaking it down into smaller lists in addition to the big one, subgrouped by style. But then, where does doom end and sludge begin? What about psych and heavy rock? Should prog get its own list? And what the hell counts as prog?
In the end, that didn’t seem like it would be doing me any favors, so we’ll stick with the one big list and then others for debut releases and another for EPs, splits, demos and so on. You know, the usual.
Pretty sure I say this every year too, but it bears repeating: if you read any of the below — and thanks if you do — and have a response, be nice. If I’ve forgotten something — and yes, I have; I’m sure of it — that you think needs to be included, and you want to leave a comment that says so, please, by all means. But keep it civil. I know people are passionate about this stuff and so am I, but consider there are probably over 200 offerings covered here by the time you get through all the lists and honorable mentions, and I’m one person. I’m doing my best, and though I try not to, I tend to take being called a dumbass personally. So yeah, chill out and please be constructive in calling me a dumbass. Words matter.
A few hard choices here, most especially for album of the year. I was back and forth with each of the top three in the top spot for a good long while, and it might change again between now and when this post goes up. But it’s been that kind of year. In 2018, there was no question. It was Sleep all the way. The question was what came after that. This year has been different without that kind of duh, punch-in-the-face obvious pick. Relative parity isn’t a bad thing though.
Enough delay. The usual parameters apply. These are a combo of my personal listening habits and what I think are the most important records/achievements of the year, critical importance, etc.
Here we go:
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The Top 50 Albums of 2019
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#50-31
50. Hazemaze, Hymns of the Damned
49. Lightning Born, Lightning Born
48. Bees Made Honey in the Vein Tree, Grandmother
47. PH, Osiris Hayden
46. Thunderbird Divine, Magnasonic
45. Abrahma, In Time for the Last Rays ofLight
44. Uffe Lorenzen, Triprapport
43. Swallow the Sun, When a Shadow is Forced into the Light
42. Caustic Casanova, God How I Envy the Deaf
41. The Devil and the Almighty Blues, Tre
40. SÂVER, They Came With Sunlight
39. Ogre, Thrice as Strong
38. Lamp of the Universe, Align in the Fourth Dimension
37. Vokonis, Grasping Time
36. Sacri Monti, Waiting Room for the Magic Hour
35. Across Tundras, The Rugged Ranges of Curbs and Broken Minds
34. Duel, Valley of Shadows
33. Orodruin, Ruins of Eternity
32. Zaum, Divination
31. Inter Arma, Sulphur English
Notes: Honestly, if this had been the top 20 of the year, I’d still call 2019 a win. Aside from the fact that I somehow thought Caustic Casanova would enjoy coming in a number 42, the sheer quality of this stuff should tell you what kind of year 2019 was. Inter Arma’s Sulphur English was a significant achievement in genre melding, and Orodruin’s return after more than a decade since their last LP was a masterclass in doom worship. Debut albums from SÂVER and Thunderbird Divine and Lightning Born showed marked promise of things to come — and there’s more on them below as well — while Zaum’s, Bees Made Honey in the Vein Tree’s and Lamp of the Universe’s meditations, Vokonis’ noise, Abrahma’s emotive progressivisim, Swallow the Sun’s melodic melancholy, Sacri Monti’s boogie, and whatever the hell PH were doing on Osiris Hayden remind just how much the word “heavy” can encompass. The Devil and the Almighty Blues, Duel and Uffe Lorenzen and Hazemaze were musts here, and Ogre are perennial favorites whose work always brings a doomly grin. Don’t sleep on any of it.
Until they put out a complementary follow-up record of such fare, one might’ve accused Idaho three-piece Sun Blood Stories of becoming less experimentalist/droned-out/noisy on Haunt Yourself, but they seem to have met their quota one way or the other with the Oct. 2019 advent of Static Sessions Vol. 1. Still, it’s melody, heavy post-rock/psychedelic drift and emotive soul that rule the day on the crushing and enriching Haunt Yourself, and no complaints from me on that.
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29. Church of the Cosmic Skull, Everybody’s Going to Die
I don’t have to do anything more than read the name of the album to have the chorus of the title-track stuck in my head, and it’s a reminder that although the Nottingham troupe put so much into their progressive style and vocal harmonies and arrangements, and a more conceptual theme in the case of Everybody’s Going to Die — their answer to 2018’s excellent Science Fiction (review here) — their roots are in songcraft, and it’s the foundation of songcraft that lets them soar. Would be higher on the list if it weren’t so new.
With their sixth album, Indianapolis’ Devil to Pay collect 10 tracks of unpretentious-almost-to-a-fault of straightforward heavy rock songwriting that continues to be woefully underappreciated. They have become utterly reliable in that regard — you know, to a certain extent, what’s coming — but the vocals of guitarist Steve Janiak (also Apostle of Solitude) and some more metallic turns to the riffing give Forever, Never or Whenever a subtlety that holds up all the more on repeat visits. I don’t know if Devil to Pay will ever get their due, but suffice it to say, they’re due.
If you’re of a certain age, you remember when the first Playstation came out and everyone looked around at their Nintendos and Segas like, “What the hell am I messing around with Mario Golf for? I could be playing Resident Evil!” That’s kind of what Howling Giant are as compared to “regular” rock bands. They’re the Playstation of heavy: that next progressive step forward carrying an inhuman amount of swagger and personality while still delivering a stepped-up product from their would-be peers. The scariest thing about The Space Between Worlds is it’s their first LP. One looks forward to the next generation.
I know for a fact that bassist Pat Bruders and drummer Henry Vasquez had a hand in writing some of the material on Saint Vitus’ second self-titled LP, and yet the album so much bears the indelible mark of guitarist Dave Chandler that it’s hard not to think of it all as his. The album marked their first release with original singer Scott Reagers since 1995’s Die Healing (discussed here) and featured among their trademark low-tuned slog, an actual punk song, which showed the grinning glee that underlies all they do. Four decades on, Saint Vitus sound like they’re having fun. How is that not a win?
Woodsy Rocky Mountain psychedelia abounded on Boise foursome Ealdor Bealu’s second full-length, and their blend of landscape meditations and grounded heavy progressive melodicism made Spirit of the Lonely Places as much about impact as about space, though of course the real joy was the experience of the entirety. Very much a sophomore album, it learned lessons from 2017’s Dark Water at the Foot of the Mountain (review here) that one only hopes the band will continue to push forward in scope as they so gracefully did here.
Though hard- and to-date quick-working Maryland trio Yatra have already moved on and are looking ahead to releasing their second album, Blood of the Night (review here), their Grimoire-delivered debut, Death Ritual, is impossible to ignore for the impact it had on reminding listeners of the impact that primeval extreme sludge can have. Another couple tours and some bigger label — Relapse, Prosthetic, eOne, Season of Mist, whoever — will decide they’re “ready,” whatever that means, and then sign them and I won’t be cool enough to do track premieres for them anymore, but as far as accolades go, Yatra earn whatever they get and Death Ritual stands among 2019’s most landmark debuts. They’ve already outdone it, but it’s a stunner just the same.
Ecstatic Vision frontman Doug Sabolik has cast himself in the mold of Arthur Brown or Dave Wyndorf or probably seven or eight dudes who were in Hawkwind at some point as a manic-but-stoned space rock preacher with as he and his band behind him plunge headfirst-or-feetfirst-it-doesn’t-matter-because-your-body-is-an-illusion-man into the molten multicolor void. For the Masses. The ‘masses,’ such as they are, should be so lucky, but the double-meaning is the real tell for where the Philly unit are coming from. Their shows are the masses — gatherings of spirit and song to give praise to the willful expansion of mind. If you can’t get behind that, you might as well go get a job or something. This ain’t no lightweight party for squares and dabblers. This is a high-potency happening for werewolves on motorcycles and freaks of all stripes. Get weird stay weird. Ecstatic Vision are one mostly-mellow 15-minute “Spine of God”-style psych-epic away from perfection.
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22. Beastwars, IV
Released by Destroy Records. Reviewed June 27.
But for the circumstances that brought it about — i.e. Beastwars vocalist Matt Hyde’s cancer — the unexpected fourth installment in the Beastwars trilogy was nothing if not welcome. An grand-feeling sense of largesse was nothing new to the New Zealand four-piece, but after breaking up and getting back together to make the album, the grim sincerity with which they presented this exploration of mortality and betrayal by one’s own body was no less palpable than the undulating riffs that threatened, as ever, to consume all in their path. I don’t know their future plans in terms of continuing to write and/or record, but there are reports of touring beyond Aus/NZ for 2020, so one way or another, stay tuned for more from them. Whether or not they do anything else, IV was a triumph in spirit and execution.
With the nine songs of Slow Burn Suicide, Brooklyn’s Eternal Black began to unveil the true depth of their project. Their 2017 debut, Bleed the Days (review here), was well received, and rightly so, but operated more in a straight-ahead doom sphere. The second outing, by contrast, delved into a particular vision of the style informed by the crunch of peak-era New York noise and crossover hardcore, and it succeeded not just because it did this, but because it did so around a conjuration of memorable riffs and tracks building on accomplishments carried over from its predecessor. Is this an awaited arrival of next-generation ‘New York doom’? Will theirs be a blueprint others will follow? It’s impossible to know now, and their next album will be telling either way, but the course they’ve set is significant.
It may have been the Tony Iommi guest appearance that got Swedish doom legends Candlemass — the world’s earliest and foremost purveyors of doom both classic and epic — their recent Grammy nomination, but it was the long-overdue reunion with original vocalist Johan Längquist that made the album as a whole as powerful as it was. Pairing Längquist’s theatrical and vital approach with founding bassist Leif Edling’s second-to-none doomcraft, The Door to Doom was a catapult not to the bygone days of the band’s landmark debut, 1986’s Epicus Doomicus Metallicus, but an inspired look at not just what might’ve been had Längquist remained with the band longer, but what might still be if he does this time around. Candlemass have been through their share of singers, but as fresh as The Door to Doom sounded, it’s hard not to hope for something more than a one-off with he who got there first. The songs, the spirit, the sheer heart poured into Candlemass’ doom some 35 years past the band’s start only emphasizes how special they have always been.
Anyone who might’ve predicted Nebula getting into the studio and making a new album was either in the room when it happened or talking out their ass. And speaking of, was Nebula’s Holy Shit named for the shock one might’ve felt at its existence, or the surprise at how good it actually sounded when you put it on? I don’t know. I probably won’t ever know. It was the best title I saw all year, but more than that, it was a Nebula record, fueled by the classic riffing and unmitigated desert punk soul of founding/guitarist Eddie Glass, whose absence from the heavy underground for the last decade left a void only too many others whiffed on filling. Holy Shit showed just how singular a player Glass was and is, and how much character there is in his style, particularly in solos, but also in rhythmic changes, and so on. I won’t discount the work of bassist Tom Davies and drummer Mike Amster in making Nebula what they are in this incarnation — they’re essential, obviously — but there’s simply no denying that presence at the band’s core.
This was a heavy rock record that had everything. Everything. It had songs, style, ups, down, purples, greens, ins, outs, all kinds of whathaveyou. Riffs forever. Valley of the Sun should keep their eyes on Sasquatch, because if they want it, that path is theirs. I know the Cincinnati outfit have had trouble keeping lineups together, but if they can hold onto one, and maybe after their next record start touring more, domestically and abroad — not at all a minor ask, I know — then people will catch on. Old Gods is evidence of the fact that they genuinely have something to offer, and frankly, it’s not at all the first such effective case they’ve made in their career. But they’ve never put anything out that wasn’t a step forward, and yet they’ve never lost sight of the roots of their initial inspiration. And they’ve never sacrificed the song for the riff, which so many do. They’ve only ever gotten better. Let Old Gods be a step toward them getting attention they’ve long since deserved.
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17. Kadavar, For the Dead Travel Fast
Released by Nuclear Blast. Reviewed Oct. 28.
In style and production, For the Dead Travel Fast is the most vintage-sounding offering Berlin trio Kadavar have made in over a half decade, yet neither is it looking backward wistfully toward 2013’s Abra Kadavar (review here) or giving up the modern clarity of 2017’s Rough Times (review here) or 2015’s Berlin (review here). Instead, it strikes a balance with a more sinister edge à la Uncle Acid in songs like “Children of the Night” and “Demons in My Mind” — both singles — and makes a home for itself between proto-metal and garage doom. Whatever genre tag you want to give it — and that might vary from track to track, mind you — it’s unmistakably Kadavar, with the signature hooks and memorable craftsmanship that have made them one of the decade’s most pivotal heavy bands. The real challenge at this point in their career is not to take for granted that Kadavar will produce material of such quality, because, frankly, that’s all they’ve ever done.
Welsh sci-fi cosmic doomers Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard billed Yn Ol I Annwn as the final installment of a trilogy that includes their two prior LPs, 2015’s Noeth Ac Anoeth (review here) and 2016’s Y Proffwyd Dwyll (review here), and while that may be true thematically, there’s also no question the third is a marked step forward from anything they’ve done before. They’re one foot out of the airlock and into space as their synth-laden longform riffing and melodies take them to places they’ve not yet gone, explorations of sight as much as sound, aural translation of colors humans aren’t gifted to see. Their songs across the 65-minute span unfold with the grace of a gravity spiral, pulling the listener deeper into the proceedings with each new phase that emerges until, what, obliteration? Stellar genesis? I’m not sure. They’ve reportedly got one more record to make and then they’re done. If that’s true, they’ll be missed then they’re gone.
They’ve found their way to die, and it’s upon an altar of classic metal and doom. And honestly, they make a pretty good case for it. Departed Souls is the third full-length from the Boston unit and their most stylistically realized work yet, with vocalist Brendan Radigan giving a standout performance alongside the guitars of Chris Corry and Renato Montenegro, the bass of Justin DeTore and Michael “Q” Quartulli’s drums, as the entire band taps into vibes from mid-’70s Black Sabbath and brings them to bear with an energy that is unlike anything in Magic Circle’s history. 2015’s Journey Blind (review here) brought in NWOBHM flash in the guitar work, sure enough, but Departed Souls doesn’t so much carry the torch of classic metal as it does use it to burn down the whole village and rebuild it in the five-piece’s image. From their doomed beginnings on their 2013 self-titled debut (review here) to now, they’re an act who’ve genuinely earned cult status. If you can find a backpatch, buy it.
Controversy! Drama! Well, probably not, but at very least some respectful disagreement on my part. You see, Poland’s Spaceslug have stated publicly that their latest release, the late-2019 surprise Reign of the Orion is an EP. Their albums regularly top 50 minutes, and at 36 minutes, I guess relative to that, you can see where they’re coming from. However, with the flow of these five songs and the ease with which they carry the listener from front-to-back through the listening experience, I’m sticking to my guns and calling Reign of the Orion an album. Sorry guys. True, it’s shorter than the other full-lengths, but it’s got everything you could ask an album to have in terms of how tracks like “Spacerunner” and the shouty “Half-Moon Burns” play into each other, and the fluidity of the outing on the whole is inarguable. An LP by any other name? Whatever you or they want to call it, there’s no question in my mind Reign of the Orion is one of 2019’s best records. If they insist on it being an EP, then it’s the best one of the year, but I still say it belongs in another category altogether, so here it is.
As hyper-crowded as London is with bands at this moment in history, there continue to be acts who sneak through with an individualized and intriguing perspective on doom and heavy rock, and Green Lung are a perfect example, learning from fellow Brits like Alunah and Elephant Tree and incorporating folk and forest goth vibes to their debut album, Woodland Rites. Laced with organ and stuck-in-the-head choruses like “Let the Devil In” and the creeper “Templar Dawn,” the record also pushed into drifting verses on “Into the Wild,” setting up future experimentation with atmospheric variety and genre manipulation. If part of any first album’s appeal is the potential it represents, Green Lung’s offers plenty, but wherever their subsequent course may or may not take them, their accomplishments here shouldn’t be overlooked. Woodland Rites is nothing less than the heavy rock debut album of the year, and though they emerge from a packed field, the work they do to stand themselves out already carries their mark and an apparent will toward progression. They’re on their way.
My head immediately goes to the hooks of “Ten Days” and “Ascension Day” and “Savage Heart,” but the up-down surges of guitar in “Old News/New Fire” and the midtempo soulfulness in “A Thousand Miles” are no less resonant when it comes to the actual listening experience of the fifth Lo-Pan LP. Subtle, when it came to living up to its name, as much wasn’t as it was. Flourishes of harmony in the vocals of Jeff Martin, the pops in Jesse Bartz’s snare punctuating and propelling in kind, turns in Scott Thompson’s bass work twisting around the guitar of Chris Thompson, a relative newcomer to the fold making his debut with the band and showing no apparent trouble fitting in. I don’t imagine Lo-Pan is an easy band to join, especially at this point. They thrive on personality clash and, through years of touring, have a chemistry they’ve built between them that comes through even on their recordings. Nonetheless, Subtle is their clearest, sharpest-edged work yet, and as tight as their songwriting has become, they still groove and groove mightily. They are a treasure of American heavy rock and roll. Believe it.
While members of Roadsaw have spent the intervening years in projects like Kind, White Dynomite, Sasquatch and Murcielago, the Boston heavy rock kingpins have indeed been missed, and Tinnitus the Night works quickly to show why. It’s been well over 20 years since their first LP — hell, it’s been eight since they put out their 2011 self-titled (review here) — but their craft is at its own level, and Tinnitus the Night comes barreling through with “Shake” and “Along for the Ride” and “Final Phase” before opening up to broader fare on side B with “Find What You Need,” “Under the Devil’s Thumb” and “Midazolam” ahead of the subdued finale “Silence,” and the result is nothing less than a classic heavy rock LP structure as befitting what is itself a classic heavy rock LP. What’s Roadsaw’s future? I don’t know. It took them the better part of a decade to make this one happen, so take from that what you will, but to me, all it says is there’s even more reason to be grateful they got it done and out. To say the songs deserve that is putting it mildly.
I’m not doing a ‘song of the year’ post, but if I was, Worshipper’s “Coming Through” might be it. The opening track from the Boston four-piece’s second album, Light in the Wire, marries classic pop drama in its melody with careening progressive riffing, and sets the tone for a record that is of both future and past, twistingly complex and yet immediately accessible, immersive as an entirety and still comprised of standout moments. These aren’t contradictions in Worshipper’s skillful hands, but the stuff of what’s already becoming their own take on rock. Tied together through melody, skillful rhythmic intricacy and solid structural foundations, “Light in the Wires,” “Visions from Beyond,” “Wither on the Vine” and others throughout post their own triumphs en route to enhancing the album as a whole, while “Nobody Else” and closer “Arise” underscore the emotive basis from which the perspective of the whole LP emanates. There are a lot of “next-gen” heavy rock bands out there weaving prog elements and traditional riffing together to some degree or other. Few, if any, can write a song like Worshipper can. I mean it. This band is something special.
What is there to say about Solace? A band who, nine years after revealing the expectation-slaughtering masterpiece A.D. (review here), return with three-fifths of a swapped-out lineup and simply do it again? This band is explosive. Really. Like, they might explode at any minute. It’s a miracle The Brink ever happened. I’ll be honest, I had my doubts. But Solace are a force like nothing else I’ve ever encountered in music. They take metallic aggression, hardcore’s sense of self-righteousness and heavy rock’s groove, set it all to a doomly swing and they play it in such a way as to leave you utterly dumbfounded by what you just experienced. Here’s a challenge though, for the band personally. From me to them. Do another one. Go ahead. Put out another album. You don’t even have to do it in 2020. Do it 2021. Write the songs and give me a no-holds-barred 45-minute LP of the tightest, meanest shit you’ve ever written. Because massive as the accomplishments are on The Brink, it’s the potential to build from them that resonates most here. So do it, guys. Step up and take advantage of the moment. Call me greedy if you want, I don’t care. Give me another Solace record. I dare you.
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8. Brume, Rabbits
Released by Doom Stew Records & DHU Records. Reviewed Nov. 6.
Simply a case of a band wildly outdoing themselves. Easy story, yeah? In some ways, maybe, but the truth of what Brume achieve on Rabbits. Their second long-player behind 2017’s Rooster (review here), the five-track offering sees the San Francisco three-piece of vocalist/bassist Susie McMullan, guitarist/vocalist Jamie McCathie and drummer Jordan Perkins-Lewis working with producer Billy Anderson to bring theatricality and emotionalism together in a flowing post-heavy context that’s neither derivative nor working at cross purposes. Instead, it is a gorgeous and blooming undertaking across its 43-minute span, working in its own light/dark spectrum and bringing not just the sense of trapped fragility evoked by the cover art, but a corresponding sureness of intent to its ascendant heavy surges. Like Rooster before it, it is loaded with potential, but in “Scurry” and “Lament” and “Despondence” and “Blue Jay and “Autocrat’s Fool,” there’s a patience and command that absolutely does not waver. So yes, a band outdoing themselves. But so much more too.
This may forever be known as the Mars Red Sky album they wrote in a cave, but the Bordeaux three-piece of guitarist/vocalist Julien Pras and bassist/vocalist Jimmy Kinast and drummer Matieu “Matgaz” Gazeau nonetheless plunged forward along the progressive course they charted back on 2014’s sophomore outing, Stranded in Arcadia (review here), and continued to manifest in 2016’s Apex III (Praise for the Burning Soul) (review here). Their blend of melody and tonal heft has become a hallmark of their work to this stage in their career, but The Task Eternal continues to add a sense of breadth to the proceedings, giving their sound a full three-dimensional pull that feels tailor-made for headphones and is consuming in its entirety. With experiments in structure like the pairing of “Recast” and “Reacts,” and the rushing sweep of melody in “Hollow King,” Mars Red Sky’s latest is, as ever, their finest. Outdoing themselves would seem to be the task from which the record derives its title. Fine. Just keep going. Please.
Every time I think I understand where Kings Destroy want to go as a band, they pull the rug out. That’s what Fantasma Nera is. After their 2015 self-titled (review here) third LP seemed to declare them once and for all in a space between doom and noise rooted in their respective hardcore pasts, the Brooklynite five-piece hooked up with producer David Bottrill (Tool, etc.) and composed a rock album. A real live rock album! With progressive undertones in the guitar work and the most accomplished melodicism of their career, Kings Destroy put everything they had into making Fantasma Nera and one need look no further than the title-track to hear the result of that monumental effort. It is the realization of a band challenging themselves to go so far out of their comfort zone as to be only recognizable in the most rudimentary of ways, and to say it as plainly as I can, “Dead Before” is enough of an accomplishment — and enough of a full-length, at all of 4:25 — to make this list on its own, whatever surrounds it. Song of the year. I’ll say every time I’m a Kings Destroy fan, but I’ve never been gladder to say it than I am in talking about Fantasma Nera.
If you’re saying to yourself, “Ah come on, Colour Haze are always on the list when they put out records,” I have two answers. One, you’re right, and two, if you have a problem with that, blow it out your ass. The Munich forefathers of the European heavy psychedelic underground — yup — marked their 25th anniversary this year, and did so not just by putting out an album, but by putting out We Are, which introduces a full-fledged fourth member to what’s been a three-piece since 1998. Granted, it’s not the first time guitarist/vocalist Stefan Koglek, bassist Philipp Rasthofer and drummer Manfred Merwald have worked with organist/keyboardist/synthesist Jan Faszbender, but never has the presence of keys been so integral to their work, and never has the dynamic between players shifted in the way it does on tracks like “The Real” and “Life” and “I’m With You,” with keys fleshing out melodies and enriching the bass and guitar. Add to that the Spanish-style guitar on centerpiece “Material Drive” or the operatic flash in the penultimate “Be With Me,” and it’s one more example of one of the best bands on earth refusing to rest on their laurels. Which, as it happens, is why they’re one of the best bands on earth. So hell yes, they’re on all my lists. Fact is my lists are lucky to have them.
Like nothing else I heard in 2019, Veils of Winter had repeat listenability. It was the album that, most often, when I was choosing something I actually wanted to hear, I went back to time and again. Its dark, moody psychedelic and heavy vibe stands alone among the year’s releases, and is a stylistic milestone that one only hopes other artists will pick up on. Toying with pop melodies on tracks like “Death Realms” and bringing hypnosis and clarity in kind to the subtly traditionalist winding riff of “Moonlit” — would it have been out of place on the first Witchcraft LP? — the Portland, Oregon, five-piece worked on a speedy turnaround and squashed even the significant expectations I had after their self-titled debut (review here) last year. They’ve begun to tour, so I don’t know if another full-length is in the works for 2020, but their craft is enviable in its flow and their songs are shimmering in tone and cohesion alike. Given how bold a step forward Veils of Winter is, I hear nothing in their material to this point to make me think their momentum won’t continue to carry them forward. But, you know, if not, I’d also take about six or seven records just like this one. That’d be fine too. Whatever they want, really.
Belfast, Northern Ireland, three-piece Slomatics — guitarists David Majury and Chris Couzens and drummer/vocalist/synthesist Marty Harvey — finished a narrative trilogy with 2016’s Future Echo Returns (review here), and though the storyline was always vague throughout that and the preceding two offerings, the question of how they would proceed nonetheless hung over Canyons prior to its release. The answer is in the songs themselves. From the sci-fi majesty of lumbering, rolling groove in opener and longest track “Gears of Despair” — oh, they grind — through the mega-stomp of “Telemachus, My Son” and the righteously synth-laden wash that consumes “Mind Fortresses on Theia,” Slomatics bring together concept and execution with a readiness that highlights the fact of their 15th anniversary. They are mature in their approach, yes, but the fact is their approach is so much their own and so given to their particular mode of progression that it almost can’t help but feel fresh. How could something so utterly crushing also feel rejuvenating? As they plod through finale “Organic Caverns II” ending with more waves of synth and tectonic guitar — no bass, remember — they are as restorative as they are punishing, and they stand astride that duality with neither mercy nor pretense. Canyons, whether it’s setting up a new story, building from the old, or doing something completely different, stands on its own.
My anticipation for and expectations of Year of the Cobra’s second long-player were high most especially after 2017’s Burn Your Dead EP (review here), which along with the dead, set alight the notion that the Seattle duo of bassist/vocalist Amy Tung Barrysmith and drummer Jon Barrysmith were simply a heavy/doom band. With elements of post-punk, psych wash, minimalist stretches and propulsive gallop, Ash and Dust cast itself out over an aesthetic range that set a new standard not just for Year of the Cobra, but for anyone who’d dare match them at their own game — and that list will grow with time, absolutely. As their first outing through Prophecy Productions, Ash and Dust threw itself into the very melting pot of its own ambition and emerged with songs that didn’t just bring together disparate ideas, but made them flourish and engage and challenge the listener while still proving consistent in tone and underlying groove. For a two-person, two-instrument outfit (not counting voice, though I should), they proved more malleable than many with more than twice the number of hands on deck, and pushed the notion of what heavy rock is and does forward without stopping to look back or ask for permission. They just did it, and maybe Ash and Dust is the aftermath of all that burning.
Look back over the course of this list, and you will find no shortage of bands and releases that surpassed the group in question’s past work. With Gothenburg, Sweden’s Monolord, it wasn’t just about No Comfort — their debut on Relapse, fourth full-length overall — being better than 2017’s Rust (review here), because that was pretty jolly gosh darn enjoyable, but about the band reaching a moment of transcendence to which Rust and all their prior work across 2015’s Vænir (review here) and 2014’s Empress Rising has been leading. With the six tracks of No Comfort, guitarist/vocalist Thomas Jäger, bassist Mika Häkki and drummer Esben Willems not only overcome the influences that launched them — taking full ownership of their sound and defending that claim with the sheer quality of their songwriting — and they not only become as identifiable as those influences themselves, but they overcome themselves. No Comfort means no comfort. Monolord take the simplicity that once fueled their riffing, the willful primitivism of their earliest work, and with songs like “Larvae” and “The Bastard Son” and the closing title-track use it as the foundation it was apparently always intended to be. Monolord have toured plenty and certainly their studio output has shown an increasing complexity from one LP to the next, so progression isn’t unexpected, but the manner in which Monolord have executed that progression has been. Even on “The Last Leaf,” which is arguably the most straightforward fare on the album, one hears it as them rather than the manifestation of the acts that inspired them. The same holds for “Skywards” later on, and for the immersion that takes hold as the mournful “Alone Together” plays into “No Comfort” itself. Monolord take their place among the best bands on the planet, and deliver an Album of the Year for 2019 that, like the absolute best, will have an impact lasting much longer than any period of 12 months might convey.
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The Top 50 Albums of 2019: Honorable Mention
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You didn’t think we’d stop at 50, did you? Come on. You know me better than that. The fact is that the list itself, humongous as it is, is just the start of the tip of an iceberg attached to a glacier that’s somewhere on an entire planet constructed of ice.
Honorable mentions, you say? Yeah, a few. Here they are in no order whatsoever:
Lord Vicar, Goatess, The Lord Weird Slough Feg, Zone Six, Lykantropi, Earth, White Manna, Atala, Tia Carrera, Merlin, WEEED, Híbrido, Cities of Mars, Stone Machine Electric, Bretus, Blackwolfgoat, The Black Wizards, Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell, Alunah, V, Pale Grey Lore, Leeds Point, Sons of Alpha Centauri, Spidergawd, Bus, Death Hawks, BBF, Vessel of Light, Crypt Trip, The Pilgrim, Uffe Lorenzen, Brant Bjork, Doomstress, Black Lung, Kandodo3, Monkey3, Bask, Horseburner, Zed, Bright Curse, Spillage, Sigils, Papir, Dune Sea, Destroyer of Light, Mastiff, Warp, Centrum, Varego, Lord Dying, Volcano, Saint Karloff, Firebreather, High Reeper, Bible of the Devil, Obsidian Sea, Torche, Motorpsycho, Sunn O))), Deadbird, Russian Circles, El Supremo, Pyramidal, Holy Serpent, Elizabeth Colour Wheel, Demon Head, Red Beard Wall, Onhou, Kamchatka, Iguana, Arrowhead, The Whims of the Great Magnet, Serial Hawk, Scissorfight, Monte Luna, Lingua Ignota, Valborg, Sageness, Ruff Majik, The Giraffes, High Fighter, Comacozer, Burning Gloom, Swan Valley Heights, Mark Deutrom, Cable, AVER, Superlynx, The Munsens, No Man’s Valley, Old Mexico, Skraeckoedlan, Godsleep, Øresund Space Collective Meets Black Moon Circle.
Seems cruel to leave it to you to sort through those, but I’m tempted to do just that. You might notice some bigger names there in bands like Earth, Russian Circles, Torche and Sunn O))). Nothing against those bands, but I think we’re seeing a moment where a different group of artists are taking point in terms of innovating heavy styles across an entire swath of microgenres. Either way it’s not a slight that something is here instead of above. And of course, there are plenty of up and coming groups here as well, with Ruff Majik, Elizabeth Colour Wheel — who I’m sure would be a top 30 if I knew the record better than I do — Pale Grey Lore, Monte Luna, Papir, Destroyer of Light, The Munsens, No Man’s Valley, Skraeckoedlan, and so on, but hell’s bells, there’s already a list of 50 and I’m only one man. How high is the list supposed to go and still be a list?
Bottom line: Music is as endless as space and has as much beauty in it for those willing to hear. Do more digging.
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The Top 20 Debut Albums of 2019
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1. Green Lung, Woodland Rites
2. Yatra, Death Ritual
3. Howling Giant, The Space Between Worlds
4. Thunderbird Divine, Magnasonic
5. SÂVER, They Came with Sunlight
6. Lightning Born, Lightning Born
7. Elizabeth Colour Wheel, Nocebo
8. The Pilgrim, Walking into the Forest
9. Sigils, You Build the Altar You Lit the Leaves
10. E-L-R, Maenad
11. Hey Zeus, X
12. Bellrope, You Must Relax
13. Asthma Castle, Mount Crushmore
14. Thronehammer, Usurper of Oaken Throne
15. Inner Altar, Vol. III
16. Infinity Forms of Yellow Remember, Infinity Forms of Yellow Remember
17. Hippie Death Cult, 111
18. Faerie Ring, The Clearing
19. Gone Cosmic, Sideways in Time
20. Haze Mage, Chronicles
Honorable Mention: Warp, Pelegrin, Lucy in Blue, Volcano, The Sabbathian, Red Eye Tales, Dune Sea, Dury Dava, Pharlee, Giant Dwarf, Ghost:Hello, Surya, Workshed, Children of the Sün, Burning Gloom, Temple of the Fuzz Witch.
Notes: As ever, I consider a band’s debut album something unique and separate from everything else they’ll ever do, and so worthy of highlighting in its own category. It’s a different standard in my mind, one that takes into account what a group might accomplish going forward as well as what they do on the record itself. Plus, putting out an album is hard. Getting two, three, four, five or more people to agree on anything is an accomplishment. Making a cohesive album? Come on. So yes. We see some crossover from the main list above, but I want to draw attention to Howling Giant, Thunderbird Divine and SÂVER particularly here. There’s a swath of genres represented and I feel like a couple of these releases — Sigils, Bellrope, Thronehammer, Inner Altar, Faerie Ring, Infinity Forms of Yellow Remember — didn’t get their due attention. It’s a busy year, I get it. But if you’re skimming through looking for stuff to check out, DON’T IGNORE THIS LIST. Aside from whatever line about the best of tomorrow you want to trot out, there’s important work being done by these acts today. As somebody who’s constantly behind the times, I urge you not to miss it.
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The Top 20 Short Releases of 2019
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1. Geezer, Spiral Fires
2. Ufomammut, XX
3. All Them Witches, 1×1
4. Mount Saturn, Mount Saturn
5. Dopelord, Weedpecker, Major Kong & Spaceslug, 4-Way Split
6. Horehound, Weight
7. Molasses, Mourning Haze
8. Saint Karloff & Devil’s Witches, Split
9. Here Lies Man, No Ground to Walk Upon
10. The Golden Grass, 100 Arrows
11. Mount Atlas, Mistress
12. Midas, Solid Gold Heavy Metal
13. Glory in the Shadows, Glory in the Shadows
14. Hot Breath, Hot Breath
15. Crystal Spiders, Demo
16. Red Wizard, Ogami
17. Thermic Boogie, Fracture
18. Pinto Graham, Dos
19. High Priest, Sanctum
20. Set Fire, Traya
21. Seedium, Awake
Honorable Mention: Love Gang & Smokey Mirror Split, Forebode, Land Mammal, Very Paranoia, Plague of Carcosa, Daal Dazed, Komodor, Mourn the Light & Oxblood Forge Split, High on Fire, Mount Soma.
Notes: This is probably the least complete of the lists, because it’s the hardest category for me to keep up with. EPs, singles, demos, splits and basically anything else that isn’t an album, all lumped together. Still, I stand by the picks here, and I don’t think anyone who takes on any of them will regret doing so, whether it’s All Them Witches’ surprisingly weighted first single as a trio, Mount Saturn’s debut release, or Geezer’s cosmic jams. Felt a little like cheating putting Ufomammut on there, since technically XX wasn’t new material so much as reworked stuff captured live, but if you want to call me out on it, my own listening habits also factor in, and I’ve spent plenty of time with those reimagined tracks. But anyway, I’m sure there’s a ton of stuff that hasn’t been included here, so please feel free to let me know in the comments and I’ll work accordingly.
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Postwax
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I haven’t felt comfortable with the idea of writing about it editorially, since I’ve been involved in discussions about it since before it came together and since I did the liner notes for each of the six releases (plus one to come), but I wanted to take a moment to acknowledge the incredible work done on the Postwax vinyl subscription series by Blues Funeral Recordings. Label head Jadd Shickler and design specialist Peder Bergstrand (also of Lowrider) put together six offerings that came out in the span of this year and when you hold the LPs in your hand, you can feel the passion that went into making them, from the artists in question to those curating the series in the first place. I hear tell there’s going to be a Postwax Year Two, and I don’t know if I’ll be involved or not, but I’m proud of my miniscule part in the work that went into making these and wanted to bring them to your particular attention. They are something special for those who got to partake:
Elder, The Gold and Silver Sessions
Daxma, Ruins Upon Ruins
Besvärjelsen, Frost
Big Scenic Nowhere, Dying on the Mountain
Domkraft, Slow Fidelity
Lowrider, Refractions
And while we’re talking about projects I was proud to be involved with, I also did liner notes for Acrimony’s The Chronicles of Wode box set from Burning World Records and was honored to do so. Thanks to any and everyone in question for having me involved and dealing with me blowing past deadlines one after the next. It is humbling.
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Looking Ahead to 2020
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A few names and nothing more about what definitely is and/or might be in the works for next year. Woefully incomplete, so feel free to add to it:
1000mods, Wolves in the Throne Room, Deathwhite, Mondo Drag, Drug Cult, Ocean Chief, Soldati, Sergio Ch., Mitochondrial Sun, Geezer, Mirror Queen, Mondo Generator, The Otolith, Asteroid, Yatra, Vestal Claret, Farer, Ryte, Shadow Witch, Six Organs of Admittance, Naxatras, Wolftooth, Snail, Elder, Pale Divine, Grey Skies Fallen, Ruby the Hatchet, Yuri Gagarin, Sasquatch, Godthrymm, Wo Fat, Red Mesa, CB3, Onsegen Ensemble, Insect Ark, Acid Mammoth, Ritual King, Ulls, Om.
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Thank You
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Thank you for reading, and please, if you have a thought or something you want to share in the comments, please remember to be kind to each other. We are all human beings behind our phones and keyboards, and while we’ll disagree, often in some ways and some cases, a basic level of respect is always appreciated. At least by me.
I am not so deluded as to think anyone might still be reading, but I want it on record how much I appreciate you being a part of this site and a part of my experience in making it. I’ve been ruminating all year since marking the 10th anniversary back in January about how much The Obelisk has become a part of who I am, and it’s utterly essential to my every day. The way I continue to think about it — and myself, as it happens — is a work in progress, and that would not be possible without you. One more time. Thank you. Always. Always thank you. Thank you.
Mountain pastoralism. And they’re not hiding it. It’s right there on the album cover.
folk-metal aesthetic and a deep sense of Americana as well. From the graceful manner in which “Way of the Sudden Storm” executes its midpoint sweep to its last drift into the highlight serenity in the opening moments of “Laid on Display,” which will bring forth its crunch in its own time thank you very much, the forward steps the band are taking as a collective are considered, plotted skillfully, and presented to the listener with an intention toward immersion and communicating identity through sound.
