This is the part where I’m supposed to tell you I’m quaking in my flip-flops about doing 100 reviews in the span of two weeks, how worried I am I’ll run out of ways to say something is weird, or psychedelic, or heavy, or whatever. You know what? This time, even with a doublewide Quarterly Review — which means 100 records between now and next Friday — I feel like we got this. It’ll get done. And if it doesn’t? I’ll take an extra day. Who even pretends to give a crap?

I think that’s probably the right idea, so let’s get this show on the road, as my dear wife is fond of saying.

Quarterly Review #1-10:

Alunah, Strange Machine

Following on from 2019’s Violet Hour (review here), Birmingham’s Alunah offer the nine songs and 42 minutes of Strange Machine on Heavy Psych Sounds. It’s a wonder to think this is the band who a decade ago released White Hoarhound (review here), but of course it’s mostly not. Alunah circa 2022 bring a powerhouse take on classic heavy rock and roll, with Siân Greenaway‘s voice layered out across proto-metallic riffs and occasional nods such as “Fade Into Fantasy” or “Psychedelic Expressway” pulling away from the more straight-ahead punch. One can’t help but be reminded of Black Sabbath with Ronnie James Dio — a different, more progressive and expansive take on the same style they started with — which I guess would make Strange Machine their Mob Rules. They may or may not be the band you expected, but they’re quite a band if you’re willing to give the songs a chance.

Alunah on Facebook

Heavy Psych Sounds on Bandcamp

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QAALM, Resilience & Despair

Skipping neither the death nor the doom ends of death-doom, Los Angeles-based QAALM make a gruesome and melancholic debut with Resilience & Despair, with a vicious, barking growl up front that reminds of none so much as George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher, but that’s met intermittently with airy stretches of emotionally weighted float led by its two guitars. Across the four-song/69-minute outing, no song is shorter than opener “Reflections Doubt” (14:40), and while that song, “Existence Asunder” (19:35), “Cosmic Descent” (18:23) and “Lurking Death” (17:16) have their more intense moments, the balance of miseries defines the record by its spaciousness and the weight of the chug that offsets. The cello in “Lurking Death” adds fullness to create a Katatonia-style backdrop, but QAALM are altogether more extreme, and whatever lessons they’ve learned from the masters of the form, they’re being put to excruciating use. And the band knows it. Go four minutes into any one of these songs and tell me they’re not having a great time. I dare you.

QAALM on Facebook

Hypaethral Records website

Trepanation Recordings on Bandcamp

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Ambassador Hazy, The Traveler

The Traveler is Sterling DeWeese‘s second solo full-length under the banner of Ambassador Hazy behind 2020’s Glacial Erratics (review here) and it invariably brings a more cohesive vision of the bedroom-psychedelic experimentalist songcraft that defined its predecessor. “All We Wanted,” for example, is song enough that it could work in any number of genre contexts, and where “Take the Sour With the Sweet” is unabashed in its alt-universe garage rock ambitions, it remains righteously weird enough to be DeWeese‘s own. Fuller band arrangements on pieces like that or the later “Don’t Smash it to Pieces” reinforce the notion of a solidifying approach, but “Simple Thing” nonetheless manages to come across like Dead Meadow borrowed a drum machine from Godflesh circa 1987. There’s sweetness underlying “Afterglow,” however, and “Percolator,” which may or may not actually have one sampled, is way, way out there, and in no small way The Traveler is about that mix of humanity and creative reaching.

Ambassador Hazy on Facebook

Cardinal Fuzz webstore

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Spiral Skies, Death is But a Door

Strange things afoot in Stockholm. Blending classic doom and heavy rock with a clean, clear production, shades of early heavy metal and the odd bit of ’70s folk in the verse of “While the Devil is Asleep,” the five-piece Spiral Skies follow 2018’s Blues for a Dying Planet with Death is But a Door, a collection that swings and grooves and is epic and intimate across its nine songs/43 minutes, a cut like “Somewhere in the Dark” seeming to grow bigger as it moves toward its finish. Five of the nine inclusions make some reference to sleep or the night or darkness — including “Nattmaran” — but one can hardly begrudge Spiral Skies working on a theme when this is the level of the work they’re doing. “The Endless Sea” begins the process of excavating the band’s stylistic niche, and by “Time” and “Mirage” it’s long since uncovered, and the band’s demonstration of nuance, melody and songwriting finds its resolution on closer “Mirror of Illusion,” which touches on psychedelia as if to forewarn the listener of more to come. Familiar, but not quite like anything else.

Spiral Skies on Facebook

AOP Records website

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Lament Cityscape, A Darker Discharge

Almost tragically atmospheric given the moods involved, Wyoming-based industrial metallurgists Lament Cityscape commence the machine-doom of A Darker Discharge following a trilogy of 2020 EPs compiled last year onto CD as Pneumatic Wet. That release was an hour long, this one is 24 minutes, which adds to the intensity somehow of the expression at the behest of David Small (Glacial Tomb, ex-Mountaineer, etc.) and Mike McClatchey (also ex-Mountaineer), the ambience of six-minute centerpiece “Innocence of Shared Experiences” making its way into a willfully grandiose wash after “All These Wires” and “Another Arc” traded off in caustic ’90s-style punishment. “The Under Dark” is a cacophony early and still intense after the fog clears, and it, “Where the Walls Used to Be” and the coursing-till-it-slows-down, gonna-get-noisy “Part of the Mother” form a trilogy of sorts for side B, each feeding into the overarching impression of emotional untetheredness that underscores all that fury.

Lament Cityscape on Facebook

Lifeforce Records website

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Electric Octopus, St. Patrick’s Cough

You got friends? Me neither. But if we did, and we told them about the wholesome exploratory jams of Belfast trio Electric Octopus, I bet their hypothetical minds would be blown. St. Patrick’s Cough is the latest studio collection from the instrumentalist improv-specialists, and it comes and goes through glimpses of various jams in progress, piecing together across 13 songs and 73 minutes — that’s short for Electric Octopus — that find the chemistry vital as they seamlessly bring together psychedelia, funk, heavy rock, minimalist drone on “Restaurant Banking” and blown-out steel-drum-style island vibes on “A2enmod.” There’s enough ground covered throughout for a good bit of frolicking — and if you’ve never frolicked through an Electric Octopus release, here’s a good place to start — but in smaller experiments like the acoustic slog “You Have to Be Stupid to See That” or the rumbling “Universal Knife” or the shimmering-fuzz-is-this-tuning-up “Town,” it’s only encouraging to see the band continue to try new ideas and push themselves even farther out than they were. For an act who already dwells in the ‘way gone,’ it says something that they’re refusing to rest on their freaked-out laurels.

Electric Octopus on Facebook

Interstellar Smoke Records store

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Come to Grief, When the World Dies

Behold, the sludge of death. Maybe it’s not fair to call When the World Dies one of 2022’s best debut albums since Come to Grief is intended as a continuation by guitarist/backing vocalist Terry Savastano (also WarHorse) and drummer Chuck Conlon of the devastation once wrought by Grief, but as they unleash the chestripping “Life’s Curse” and the slow-grind filthy onslaught of “Scum Like You,” who gives a shit? When the World Dies, produced of course by Converge‘s Kurt Ballou at GodCity, spreads aural violence across its 37 minutes with a particular glee, resting only for a breath before meting out the next lurching beating. Jonathan Hébert‘s vocal cords deserve a medal for the brutality they suffer in his screams in the four-minute title-track alone, never mind the grime-encrusted pummel of closer “Death Can’t Come Fast Enough.” Will to abrasion. Will to disturb. Heavy in spirit but so raw in its force that if you even manage to make it that deep you’ve probably already drowned. A biblical-style gnashing of teeth. Fucking madness.

Come to Grief on Facebook

Translation Loss Records store

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ZOM, Fear and Failure

In the works one way or the other since 2020, the sophomore full-length from Pittsburgh heavy rockers ZOM brings straight-ahead classicism with a modernized production vibe, some influence derived from the earlier days of Clutch or The Sword and of course Black Sabbath — looking at you, “Running Man” — but there’s a clarity of purpose behind the material that is ZOM‘s own. They are playing rock for rockers, and are geared more toward revelry than conversion, but there’s no arguing with the solidity of their craft and the meeting of their ambitions. Their last record took them to Iceland, and this one has led them to the UK. Don’t be surprised when ZOM announce an Australian tour one of these days, just because they can, but wherever they go, know what they have the songs on their side to get them there. In terms of style, there’s very little revolutionary about Fear and Failure, but ZOM aren’t trying to revamp what you know of as heavy rock and roll so much as looking to mark their place within it. Listening to the burly chug of “Another Day to Run,” and the conversation the band seems to be having with the more semi-metal moments of Shadow Witch and others, their efforts sound not at all misspent.

ZOM on Facebook

StoneFly Records store

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MNRVA, Hollow

Making their debut through Black Doomba Records, Columbia, South Carolina’s MNRVA recorded the eight-song Hollow in Spring 2019, and one assumes that the three-year delay in releasing is owed at least in to aligning with the label, plus pandemic, plus life happens, and so on. In any case, from “Not the One” onward, their fuzz-coated doom rock reminds of a grittier take on Cathedral, with guitarist Byron Hawk and bassist Kevin Jennings sharing vocal duties effectively while Gina Ercolini drives the march behind them. There’s some shifting in tempo between “Hollow” and a more brash piece like “With Fire” or the somehow-even-noisier-seeming penultimate cut “No Solution,” but the grit there is a feature throughout the album just the same. Their 2019 EP, Black Sky (review here), set them up for this, but only really in hindsight, and one wonders what they may have been up to in the time since putting this collection to tape if this is where they were three years ago. Some of this is straight-up half-speed noise rock riffing and that’s just fine.

MNRVA on Facebook

Black Doomba Records on Bandcamp

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Problem With Dragons, Accelerationist

The third full-length, Accelerationist, from Easthampton, Massachusetts’ Problem With Dragons is odd and nuanced enough by the time they get to the vocal effects on “Have Mercy, Show Mercy” — unless that’s a tracheostomy thing; robot voice; that’s not the first instance of it — to earn being called progressive, and though their foundation is in more straightforward heavy rock impulses, sludge and fuzz, they’ve been at it for 15 years and have well developed their own approach. Thus “Live by the Sword” opens to set up lumbering pieces like “Astro Magnum” and the finale title-track while “In the Name of His Shadow” tips more toward metal and the seven-minute “Don’t Fail Me” meets its early burl (gets the wurlm?) with airier soloing later on, maximizing the space in the album’s longest track. “A Demon Possessed” and “Dark Times (for Dark Times)” border on doom, but in being part of Problem With Dragons‘ overall pastiche, and in the band’s almost Cynic-al style of melodic singing, they are united with the rest of what surrounds. Some bands, you can just tell when individualism is part of their mission.

Problem With Dragons on Facebook

Problem With Dragons on Bandcamp

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Bringing together players from Germany, the Netherlands, France, the UK, Austria, Northern Ireland, Italy, Greece, Sweden, the US and Brazil, the Stoner Rock Worldwide Community Album 2021 boasts seven tracks of remote compositions and recordings, with the songs emerging from members having participated in a call to arms during the pandemic. It’s a hugely ambitious project. In regular circumstances, it would be impressive enough to curate a series of bands and players coming together on a new anything. To sort various parties across international borders into working units even in the age of social media, and then to have them work together creatively, is an oh-hell-no kind of job. Kudos to Felix Melchhardt on making it happen.

Pretty astounding stuff. Vinyl’s in the works as we speak, and the stream went live this past Friday. You’ll find it at the bottom of this post, and considering the amount of effort that seems to have gone into every level of making it, the download is dirt-frickin’-cheap.

More info:

Stoner Rock World Wide Community Album Digital Release out now! 35+ Musicians, Remotely composed and recorded.

Remotely composed, recorded and finally pressed on vinyl together as a worldwide community of heavy rock lovers – The Stoner Rock World Wide Community Album.

26. May 2020: “What if we release an album remotely composed, recorded and finally pressed on vinyl together as a worldwide community of heavy rock lovers? Musicians world wide writing an album for our lovely world wide community, that’s the deal and we think we could make this happen.” – And we did so.

Key Facts
– 7 Tracks – Remotely composed, recorded and mixed by more than 35 musicians spread over the globe. Magic definitely happened, friendships were made.
– Mastered by Niklas Källgren (Truckfighters).
– Once pressed, worldwide distribution via various heavy rock labels.
– Special guests: Bob Balch (Fu Manchu), Papanikolaou Babis (Planet of Zeus), Tolis Motsios (Nightstalker).
– People participating in the project did not know each other before. Only the love for heavy rock connects them. They were brought together by an open call-out to the community by SRWW 2 years ago.
– Groups were brought together via Facebook. They internally organized themselves on how to approach the songwriting process, exchanged ideas and finally put together 7 unique songs.
– Anything that could go wrong, went wrong (really) – but we made it. **ck COVID.
– Pressed on vinyl right now.
– Bandcamp digital release co-finances the master, distribution and further costs.
– Endurance was key. Shoutout to all the people involved.
– Coordinated by Felix Melchhardt in the name of SRWW. (Cone (Band), Blackdoor Music Festival, SRWW)

Personnel:
Track 1 – Dreams of Space
Francesco Bonardi – Guitar (Hackberry, Netherlands)
Eric Frantzen – Bass (Mantra Machine, Netherlands)
Drev – Vocals (Descarado, Sweden)
Miguel Pereira – Guitar (Bushfire, Germany)
Sascha Holz – Drums (Bushfire, Germany)

Track 2 – Remain
Martin Frank – Bass / Vocals (White Noise Generator, Germany)
Thomas Berger – Drums (Timestone, Austria)
Tony Hochhuber – Guitars (Germany)

Track 3 – The All Seeing Sun
Diamond Pr – Guitar / Vocals (The Same River, Greece)
Oscar Flanagan – Guitar (Insonika, Sweden)
Armin Lehner – Keys (Ozymandias, Austria)
Brien Gillen – Drums (Elder Druid, Northern Ireland)
Rafael Denardi – Bass (Rafael Denardi, Brazil)
Special Guest: Papanikolaou Babis (Planet of Zeus, Greece)

Track 4 – Raw
Luke Taylor – Drums (White Noise Generator, Germany)
Derek Fisher – Guitar (Moth66, USA)
Niels van Eldijk – Bass (Ramkoers, Netherlands)
Ben Plochowietz – Guitar / Vocals (Scorched Oak, Germany)
Christoph W. – Vocals (Ozymandias, Austria)
Special Guests: Tolis Motsios Nightstalker (Greece)

Track 5 – Calypso
Tom Maene – Guitar (Motsus, Belgium)
Jeroen Schippers – Drums (Mantra Machine, Netherlands)
Linda Hackmann – Bass / Vocals (Scorched Oak, Germany)
Dimitris Vardoulakis – Vocals (Honeybadger, Greece)
Jonas Hartmann – Keys (Willow Child, Germany)
Special Guest: Bob Balch (Fu Manchu, US)

Track 6 – Stalactite Caves
Alex Pöll – Bass / Vocals (Cone, Germany)
Jakob Aigner – Guitar / Vocals (Timestone, Austria)
Massimiliano Boventi – Drums (Humulus, Italy)
Uwe Halmich – Guitar (Eternal Engine, Germany)

Track 7 – Wastelands
Peter Dragt – Drums (Bismut, Netherlands)
Jake Wallace – Guitar (Elder Druid, Northern Ireland)
Jason Recoing – Bass (Pelegrin, France)
Dale Hughes – Synth / Keys (Electric Octopus, Northern Ireland)
Francois Roze – Guitar / Vocals (Pelegrin, France)

https://www.facebook.com/stonerrockworldwide
https://srww.bandcamp.com/releases
https://apps.apple.com/de/app/stoner-rock-world-wide/id1478558984
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.srww&hl=de&gl=US

Various Artists, Stoner Rock Worldwide Community Album 2021

Those who took on Inclinations (review here) earlier this year will recall that even on the scale of Belfast explorers Electric Octopus, it was pretty far out there. With flute. Limited physical pressings on tape and CD seem warranted for what’s over two and a half hours’ worth of only the jammiest of the jammy jams, and Galactic Smokehouse has stepped forth to make it happen. No word on a quintuple vinyl issue as of yet, but we live in a universe of infinite possibility, and crazier things have happened — though with ever-increasing production delays, one would expect the band to be several releases ahead by the time such a hypothetical showed up.

I know this isn’t everybody’s thing. Honestly, it’s not supposed to be. I love thinking of Electric Octopus and a few others of their hit-record-and-go ilk as extreme music. It’s not, in the context of heavy metal for which the phrase is most often employed, but in the search for the authentic moment of creativity, in doing so much to portray that, what else is there to call such a thing? A lot of bands jam. This style takes that another step beyond.

Stream is below. CDs and tapes now:

Electric Octopus release Inclinations physicals!

Belfast’s funky psychedelic trio Electric Octopus released their album Inclinations at the beginning of 2021, and the long awaited CD’s and Tapes are finally available through Galactic Smokehouse label.

Inclinations is the first album in the wake of guitarist’s spiritual journey to the far east of India. The album presents changes in instrumentation which shine this exciting trio in a new light. With the addition of flute into the mix, the jams are more mellow and laid back, however the guys are still able to get the whole floor dancing and grooving with their funky beats.

Two and a half hours of music are available now as a double CD in a DIY handmade felt cover or a normal ecopack. Additionally, there are hand-numbered magnetic tapes coming in a recycled cloth case, with SIDE D featuring exclusive bonus tracks available only on this version.

Electric Octopus are:
Guy Hetherington – Drums
Tyrell Black – Flute, Guitar
Dale Hughes – Bass, Guitar

https://www.facebook.com/electricoctopusjams/
https://www.instagram.com/electric_octopus/
https://electricoctopusofficial.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/GalacticSmokeHouse
https://galacticsmokehouse.bigcartel.com/

Electric Octopus, Inclinations (2021)

The last Electric Octopus studio offering was Smile (review here), released in Jan. 2019. For a band of the Belfast trio’s improvisatory ilk, that’s practically a lifetime ago, and even though they’ve had two live albums out since then — the most recent being July 2019’s Live at the Kinky Star Round 2, they still acknowledge that Inclinations arrives after what they call a “hiatus.” For most bands, it would be a quick turnaround from one LP to the next — not to mention those live records — but again, Electric Octopus aren’t most bands. Their ongoing project is based around improv jamming, freeform exploration of the creative, resulting in flowing, sometimes sprawling excursions of vibe, and that’s certainly the case with Inclinations, which brings together six separate pieces and amasses a total runtime of well over two hours.

This is, of course, done purely for a digital format. Electric Octopus have done plenty of physical releases before — they recently sold out of another pressing of 2016’s This is Our Culture — but for something like Inclinations, the digital format ends up becoming part of the experience. As guitarist/flutist Tyrell Black, bassist Dale Hughes (who also fills in on guitar when Black moves to flute and also produces) and drummer Guy Hetherington took to Attic Studios in Belfast in Nov. 2020, they brought a camera with them and streamed some part of the recording process live.

The resulting video also ran about two hours and 20 minutes — though of course the total output of Inclinations would’ve taken longer — and in addition to their playing, flute and all, they chatted to those watching and sort of milled about as one might in a relaxed studio setting. Whether or not anything they played at the time made it on the record, or if that was just a rehearsal and the tracking was done later, I don’t know, but it’s a crucial showcase of the ethic with which Electric Octopus operates generally, pre- or post-hiatus. Their output has been and remains distinguished by its honesty.

In aesthetic terms, that translates to a certain amount of rawness. Sure, there are echo effects and fuzz and swirls and all that fun stuff, but to listen to the tinny, biting snare at the of the jazz-flutey “2” (13:23) or the twisting leads in the first half of “1” (21:22) leading into the funkier, bass-popping midsection, and even by the time the louder stretch kicks in sometime around the 16-minute mark you’re still struck by the abidingly languid feel of what’s taking place. Electric Octopus are unflinchingly organic in sound and style.

Their explorations don’t attempt to be anything they aren’t — they’re not pushing for any sort of theatricality or anything like that — and even when the guitar, and now flute, gets showy, they might back that up with laughter you can hear come through the mics in the recording. They’re having fun playing music. It meanders, hiccups, stretches out and contracts. One member might switch tempo ahead of the others to lead them in a different direction. Every now and again, the whole thing might seem like it’s going to fall apart. And maybe it will. The point is that’s okay too, because if that’s what the jam needs to be then that’s what it’s going to be. Like few others, Electric Octopus seem able to let themselves go and let the music they’re making together guide them through wherever it’s going.

Sometimes it’s just going. To wit, “3” is runs just over 27 minutes of flute and drums. Is this going to be everyone’s cup of tea? No it is not. But it ends and “4” (18:19) picks up with the same laughter as the band move naturally onto the next jam, which flows a little easier in that conversation between Black and Hetherington, until finally in “5” — which is an album unto itself at 32:54 — as Hughes and Hetherington hold down the central rhythm, Black swaps back and forth between guitar and flute and pulls together a narrative of cosmic jazz in the process, evoking something interstellar without ever losing sense of that studio space.

It should go without saying that by the time Electric Octopus get to that point, a given listener is either going to be on board for the ride or not. This is, after all, a kind of sonic extremity. Not in the extreme-metal sense, where it’s about hyper-aggression or blastbeats, etc., but there’s a sense of limits-pushing that comes through in Inclinations just the same as the band dig further and further into the heart of their creative processes. “5” devolves into a stretch of drum-maintained noodling before it’s a half-hour in, and picks up for a funky minute or two before a dreamier ending, but one way or the other, what you’re hearing there is just the band messing around with music. It’s not songwriting and it’s not supposed to be. It’s that moment, as it happened. A genuine document of what was going on right then.

That’s part of what makes it so interesting that they potentially recorded part of the album while live streaming, since it bridges that gap between what’s a live album and what’s an album recorded live, while introducing another layer to the conceptual moment-captured intention of the band. “6” rounds out Inclinations at 18:04 with flute and guitar intertwining, giving the storyline of the day — afternoon, evening, whatever it might have been — a fitting ending as those two sides are brought together for a last psychedelic jaunt. And if you’ve taken the trip with them, consciously listening for changes and twists and lapses and bursts, then the manner in which they wrap the proceedings should make sense, but even if “6” becomes the stuff of drifted-attention background listening, I don’t think that’s necessarily against Electric Octopus‘ purposes. They do what they do, regardless of what one might make of it.

Willful sonic escape is an idea easier to conceive than execute. Try too hard and you’re undone before you start. Electric Octopus hit that balance just right on Inclinations, and though the runtime is well beyond what one might consider “manageable,” well, you’ve got a whole lifetime to get caught up, so what the hell?

Electric Octopus, Inclinations (2021)

Electric Octopus on Thee Facebooks

Electric Octopus on Instagram

Electric Octopus on Bandcamp

Day four of the six-dayer. Head’s a little reeling, but I’m not sure any more so than, say, last week at this time. I’d be more specific about that, but oddly enough, I don’t hook my brain up to medical scanners while doing reviews. Seems like an oversight on my part, now that I think about it. Ten years later and still learning something new! How about that internet, huh?

Since I don’t think I’ve said it in a couple days, I’ll remind you that the hope here is you find something you dig. There’s a lot of cool stuff in this batch, so that should at least make skimming through it fun if you go that route. Either way, thanks for reading if you do.

Quarterly Review #31-40:

Electric Octopus, Smile

It’s been about two months since Electric Octopus posted Smile, so they’re about due for their next release. So, quick! Before this 82-minute collection of insta-chill jams is out of date, there’s still time to consider it their latest offering. Working as the four-piece of Tyrell Black and Dale Hughes — both of whom share bass and guitar duties — drummer Guy Hetherington and synthesist Stevie Lennox, the Belfast improv jammers rightfully commence with the 25-minute longest track (immediate points) “Abberation” (sic), which evolves and devolves along its course and winds up turning from a percussive jam to a guitar-led build up that still stays gloriously mellow even as it works its way out. You can almost hear the band moving from instrument to instrument, and that’s the point. The much shorter “Spiral,” “Dinner at Sea, for One” and closer “Mouseangelo” bring in a welcome bit of funk, “Moth Dust” explores minimalist reaches of guitar and ambient drumming, and “Hyperloop” digs into fuzz-soaked swirl before cleaning up its act in the last couple minutes. These cats j-a-m. May they do so into perpetuity.

Electric Octopus on Thee Facebooks

Electric Octopus on Bandcamp

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Crypt Trip, Haze County

Onto the best-albums-of-2019 list go San Marcos, Texas, trio Crypt Trip, who, sonically speaking, are way more Beto O’Rourke than Ted Cruz. The three-piece have way-way-upped the production value and general breadth from their 2018 Heavy Psych Sounds debut, Rootstock, and the clarity of purpose more than suits them as they touch on ’70s country jams and hard boogie and find a new melodic vocal confidence that speaks to guitarist Ryan Lee as a burgeoning frontman as well as the shredder panning channels in “To Be Whole.” Fortunately, he’s backed by bassist Sam Bryant and drummer Cameron Martin in the endeavor, and as ever, it’s the rhythm section that gives the “power trio” its power. Centerpiece “Free Rain” is a highlight, but so is the pedal steel of intro “Forward” and the later “Pastures” that precedes six-minute closer “Gotta Get Away,” which makes its transport by means of a hypnotic drum solo from Martin. Mark it a win and go to the show. That’s all you can do. Haze County is a blueprint for America’s answer to Europe’s classic heavy rock movement.

Crypt Trip on Thee Facebooks

Heavy Psych Sounds website

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Love Gang & Smokey Mirror, Split Double EP

A bit of Tull as Love Gang‘s flute-inclusive opener “Can’t Seem to Win” skirts the line of the proggier end of ’70s worship. The Denver outfit and Dallas’ Smokey Mirror both present three tracks on Glory or Death Records‘ Split Double EP, and Love Gang back the leadoff with “Break Free” and “Lonely Man,” reveling in wall-o’-fuzz chicanery and organ-laced push between them, making their already unpredictable style less predictable, while Smokey Mirror kick off side B in particularly righteous fashion via the nine-minute “Sword and Scepter,” which steps forth to take ultra-Sabbathian ownership of the release even as the filthy tone of “Sucio y Desprolijo” and the loose-swinging Amplified Heat-style megashuffle of “A Thousand Days in the Desert” follow. Two bands in the process of finding their sound coming together to serve notice of ass-kickery present and future. If you can complain about that, you’re wrong.

Love Gang on Thee Facebooks

Smokey Mirror on Thee Facebooks

Glory or Death Records BigCartel store

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Heavy Feather, Débris & Rubble

Very much a solid first album, Heavy Feather‘s 11-song Débris & Rubble lands at a run via The Sign Records and finds the Stockholm-based classic heavy blues rockers comporting with modern Euro retroism in grand fashion. At 41 minutes, it’s a little long for a classic-style LP if one measures by the eight-track/38-minute standard, but the four-piece fill that time with a varied take that basks in sing-along-ready hooks like those of post-intro opener “Where Did We Go,” the Rolling Stones-style strutter “Waited All My Life,” and the later “I Spend My Money Wrong,” which features not the first interplay of harmonica and lead guitar amid its insistent groove. Elsewhere, more mellow cuts like “Dreams,” or the slide-infused “Tell Me Your Tale” and the closing duo of the Zeppelinian “Please Don’t Leave” and the melancholy finisher “Whispering Things” assure Débris & Rubble never stays in one place too long, though one could say the same of the softshoe-ready boogie in “Hey There Mama” as well. On the one hand, they’re figuring it out. On the other, they’re figuring it out.

Heavy Feather on Thee Facebooks

The Sign Records on Bandcamp

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Faith in Jane, Countryside

Five full-lengths deep into a tenure spanning a decade thus far, Faith in Jane have officially entered the running to be one of the best kept secrets of Maryland heavy. Their late-2018 live-recorded studio offering, Countryside, clocks in at just under an hour of organic tonality and performance, bringing a sharp presentation to the chemistry that’s taken hold among the three-piece of guitarist/vocalist Dan Mize, bassist Brendan Winston and drummer Alex Llewellyn, with Mize taking extended solos on the Wino model throughout early cuts “All is All” and “Mountain Lore” while the trio adds Appalachian grunge push to the Chesapeake’s flowing groove while building “Blues for Owsley” from acoustic strum to scorching cacophonous wash and rolling out the 9:48 “Hippy Nihilism” like the masters of the form they’re becoming. It’s not a minor undertaking in terms of runtime, but for those in on what these cats have been up to all the while, hard to imagine Countryside is seen as anything other than hospitable.

Faith in Jane on Thee Facebooks

Faith in Jane on Bandcamp

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The Mound Builders, The Mound Builders

Lafayette, Indiana’s The Mound Builders last year offered a redux of their 2014 album, Wabash War Machine (review here), but that was their last proper full-length. Their self-titled arrives as eight bruiser slabs of weighted sludge/groove metal, launching with its longest track (immediate points) in the 7:30 “Torchbearer,” before shifting into the outright screams-forward pummel of “Hair of the Dogma” and the likewise dry-throated “Separated from Youth.” By the time they get to the hardcore-punk-via-sludge of “Acid Slugs,” it’s not a little heavy. It’s a lot heavy. And it stays that way through the thrashing “Star City Massacre” and “Regolith,” hitting the brakes on “Broken Pillars” only to slam headfirst into closer “Vanished Frontier.” Five years later and they’re still way pissed off. So be it. The four-formerly-five-piece were never really all that gone, but they still seem to have packed an extended absence’s worth of aggro into their self-titled LP.

The Mound Builders on Thee Facebooks

Failure Records and Tapes

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Terras Paralelas, Entre Dois Mundos

It’s a fluid balance between heavy rock and progressive metal Terras Paralelas make in the six inclusions on their debut full-length, Entre Dois Mundos. The Brazilian instrumentalist trio keep a foundation of metallic kickdrumming beneath “Do Abismo ao Triunfo,” and even the chugging in “Espirais e Labirintos” calls to mind some background in harder-hitting fare, but it’s set against a will toward semi-psychedelic exploration, making the giving the album a sense of refusing to play exclusively to one impulse. This proves a strength in the lengthier pieces that follow “Infinito Cósmico” and “Do Abismo ao Triunfo” at the outset, and as Terras Paralelas move from the mellower “Bom Presságio” and “Espirais e Labirintos” into the more spaciously post-rocking “Nossa Jornada Interior” and the nine-minute-plus prog-out title-track that closes by summarizing as much as pushing further outward, one is left wondering why such distinctions might matter in the first place. Kudos to the band for making them not.

Terras Paralelas on Thee Facebooks

Terras Paralelas on Bandcamp

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The Black Heart Death Cult, The Black Heart Death Cult

Though one wouldn’t accuse The Black Heart Death Cult of being the first cumbersomely-named psych-rocking band in the current wave originating in Melbourne, Australia, their self-titled debut is nonetheless a gorgeous shimmer of classic psychedelia, given tonal presence through guitar and bass, but conjuring an ethereal sensibility through the keys and far-back vocals like “She’s a Believer,” tapping alt-reality 1967 vibes there while fostering what I hear is called neo-psych but is really just kinda psych throughout the nodding meander of “Black Rainbow,” giving even the more weighted fuzz of “Aloha From Hell” and the distortion flood of “Davidian Dream Beam” a happier context. They cap with the marshmallowtron hallucinations of “We Love You” and thereby depart even the ground stepped on earlier in the sitar-laced “The Magic Lamp,” finding and losing and losing themselves in the drifting ether probably not to return until, you know, the next record. When it shows up, it will be greeted as a liberator.

The Black Heart Death Cult on Thee Facebooks

Oak Island Records webstore

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Orbiter & Roadog, Split

I’m pretty sure the Sami who plays drums in Orbiter is the same dude playing bass in Roadog, but I could easily be wrong about that. Either way, the two Finnish cohort units make a fitting complement to each other on their two-songer 7″ single, which presents Orbiter‘s six-minute “Anthropocene” with the hard-driving title-track of Roadog‘s 2018 full-length, Reinventing the Wheels. The two tracks have a certain amount in common, mostly in the use of fuzz and some underlying desert influence, but it’s what they do with that that makes all the difference between them. Orbiter‘s track is spacier and echoing, where “Reinventing the Wheels” lands more straightforward in its three minutes, its motoring riff filled out by some effects but essentially manifest in dead-ahead push and lyrics about a motorcycle. They don’t reinvent the wheel, as it happens, and neither do Orbiter, but neither seems to want to do so either, and both bands are very clearly having a blast, so I’m not inclined to argue. Good fun and not a second of pretense on either side.

Orbiter on Thee Facebooks

Roadog on Thee Facebooks

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Hhoogg, Earthling, Go Home!

Space is the place where you’ll find Boston improvisationalists Hhoogg, who extend their fun penchant for adding double letters to the leadoff “Ccoossmmooss” of their exclamatory second self-released full-length, Earthling, Go Home!, which brings forth seven tracks in a vinyl-ready 37 minutes and uses that opener also as its longest track (immediate points) to set a molten tone to the proceedings while subsequent vibes in “Rustic Alien Living” and the later, bass-heavy “Recalled to the Pyramids” range from the Hendrixian to the funkadelicness he helped inspire. With a centerpiece in “Star Wizard, Headless and Awake,” a relatively straightforward three-minute noodler, the four-piece choose to cap with “Infinitely Gone,” which feels as much like a statement of purpose and an aesthetic designation as a descriptor for what’s contained within. In truth, it’s a little under six minutes gone, but jams like these tend to beg for repeat listens anyway. There’s some growing to do, but the melding of their essential chemistry is in progress, and that’s what matters most. The rest is exploration, and they sound well up for it.

Hhoogg on Thee Facebooks

Hhoogg on Bandcamp

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Good show. I had fun, anyway. I cut the voice breaks for this one while The Patient Mrs. and her mom took The Pecan out to the grocery store, but the breaks nonetheless worked out to be maybe a minute longer than usual and that gave me a little rant time. Right before I played Goatsnake, which was the “new classic” choice cut for this episode, I went off about doing my dishes as rock and roll. As usual with words coming out of my mouth, the idea was kind of half-represented, but what I was talking about was the notion that your love of music should be a part of your life, not something separate from the rest of it. If you love music, it shouldn’t be something you segregate from the rest of who you are — something you sneak off to a dive bar to partake of — it should be a part of your everyday. I cut radio voice breaks while running the dishwasher. It’s a part of who I am.

How fortunate I have this post to explain the half-formed notions I don’t have the wherewithal to properly express vocally. Huzzah.

Anyway, if you got to listen, I tried to set this one up with a good flow from front to back plus a couple stark contrasts in the second hour. The break is between Graven and SubRosa, contrary to what the playlist says, but I liked that transition anyhow, and I think you can see early on that the focus is on some boogie with a sense of atmosphere. I talk up the Green Lung record again, because, well, it’s worth talking up, and dig into a few other things that I think are killer, including that Mount Saturn EP, which is likewise right on. And then I dip back from new music to play SubRosa’s “The Mirror” from their SubDued: Live at Roadburn 2017 release, because it’s a song I sing to The Pecan when I put him down for naps and have just about every day since he was born some 15 months ago. Fun stuff.

If you missed the show, it airs again tomorrow at 9AM Eastern at http://gimmeradio.com

And if you dig this and want to hear more of The Obelisk Show, Gimme of course has their archive set up that you can sign on for at a reasonable price and dig into a bunch of various kinds of metallurgy.

Okay, here’s the playlist. Thanks to reading and/or listening:

The Obelisk Show Ep. 09 – 02.03.19

Straytones	Dark Lord	Beware, Dark Lord! Here Comes Bell-Man*	0:04:07
Green Lung	Let the Devil In	Woodland Rites*	0:05:02
BREAK
Geezer	Spiral Fires Pt. 1	Spiral Fires*	0:05:50
Seedium	Mist Haulers	Seedium*	0:09:15
Crypt Trip	Wordshot	Haze County*	0:04:22
Cloud Catcher	Beneath the Steel	The Whip EP*	0:04:45
Heavy Feather	Waited All My Life	Debris & Rubble*	0:03:10
Mount Saturn	Dwell	Kiss the Ring*	0:07:08
BREAK
Goatsnake	Mower	I + Dog Days	0:06:05
The Black Heart Death Cult	Davidian Beam Dream	The Black Heart Death Cult	0:05:50
Crystal Spiders	Tigerlily	Demo*	0:05:37
Swallow the Sun	When a Shadow is Forced into the Light	When a Shadow is Forced into the Light*	0:07:26
Graven	Backwards to Oblivion	Heirs of Discord*	0:06:15
SubRosa	The Mirror	SubDued: Live at Roadburn	0:04:43
BREAK
Electric Octopus	Mouseangelo	Smile*	0:12:58
Tia Carrera	Early Purple	Visitors/Early Purple*	0:16:28

The Obelisk Show on Gimme Radio airs every other Sunday night at 7PM Eastern, with replays the following Tuesday at 9AM. Next show is Feb. 17. Thanks for listening if you do.

Gimme Radio website

The Obelisk on Thee Facebooks

I’ve been doing this for a while, the whole Quarterly Review thing. Not just talking about the last two weeks — though that also feels like a while to be doing it — but over the last few years. And in so doing I have a couple running gags kind of with myself. One obvious one is the “(immediate points)” for bands who put their longest song first on their album. There is no point system. There will be no tally at the end. I don’t grade records. It’s just a way of noting a decision I almost always find to be particularly bold.

Another is the use of “penultimate.” I don’t even know how this happened, but I use that word all the time in these reviews, way, way more than I might in day-to-day life. Somehow I’m always talking about the second-to-last song. Keep an eye out today, I’m sure it’ll be in there.

Indeed, I bring it up because today is the penultimate day of this extended Quarterly Review. We’ll finish out with the last 10 records tomorrow, and no doubt by the end of it I’ll be doling out more “(immediate points)” and talking about the “apex of the penultimate cut” or whatever else it is I do. Hard not to repeat yourself when you’re writing about 100 records. Or, you know, one.

Quarterly Review #81-90:

Rotor, Sechs

Long-running Berlin instrumentalists Rotor issue Sechs, their aptly-titled sixth album, as their second for Noisolution after 2015’s Fünf (review here), and in so doing blend the best impulses from where they started with where they’ve ended up. Fünf, not without its moments of heavy psych drift, was a deeply progressive album, and Sechs is likewise, but it also brings in a more natural, warmer production sound like some of their earlier material, so that songs like “Vor der Hern” or “Allmacht” come across as nuanced but welcoming all the same. “Allmacht” is a highlight for its classic prog elements, but that’s not to discount the centerpiece “Abfahrt!,” with its raucous second half or the nine-minute penultimate cut “Druckverband,” which finds Rotor pushing themselves to new heights some 20 years on from their beginnings. Or anything else, for that matter, because it’s all brilliant. And that, basically, is how you know you’re listening to Rotor.

Rotor on Facebook

Noisolution website

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Electric Octopus, Line Standing

Next-level naturalism from Belfast trio Electric Octopus means that not only does the digital-only-otherwise-it’d-be-a-box-set Line Standing top four and a half hours, but those four and a half hours bring the listener into the studio with the band — guitarist Tyrell Black, bassist/keyboardist Dale Hughes and drummer Guy Hetherington — as they talk between jams, goof around and discuss what they just played in quick interludes. Complementing cuts like 35-minute opener “Iliudi,” the 38-minute “Line Standing 23336,” the 24-minute “Room Move” and the three-minute funk-reggae vibe of “Inspired by a Chicken,” the chatter gives Line Standing an even more organic vibe not by trying to capture a live feel, like what they’d do on stage — they have plenty of live albums for that — but by bringing the listener into the studio while they pick up their instruments and improvise their way through whatever it is that’s coming next, which is something that everyone seems to find out together. It’s not always smooth, but neither should it be. This is pure sonic exploration — and not a little of it.

Electric Octopus on Facebook

Electric Octopus on Bandcamp

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Randall Dunn, Beloved

Randall Dunn, through his production work, collaborations with Sunn O))), founding Master Musicians of Bukkake, etc., is no stranger to experimentalism, and his first solo album, Beloved (on Figureight), finds him evoking cinematic landscapes one at a time in ambient tracks that range from minimalist to consuming by sheer will. His range as a composer means that “Mexico City” shimmers with a near-overwhelming post-Vangelis splendor while “Lava Rock and Amber” is barren enough to make each strike of the piano keys feel like a lifeline before the synth horror takes hold near the end. Dunn brings in several guest vocalists for spots on “Something About that Night” and closer “A True Home,” but there’s hardly a lack of human presence throughout the material anyway, as the nine-minute centerpiece “Theoria : Aleph” resonates with the creative drive that made it. Not by any means a record that’s going to be for everyone, Beloved casts a sound that’s impeccably broad.

Randall Dunn on Facebook

Figureight on Bandcamp

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Graven, Heirs of Discord

Heirs of Discord, indeed. With guitarist/vocalist Peter Maturi and drummer Chris Csar from the much-missed Swarm of the Lotus and bassist Teddy Patterson of Burnt by the Sun and Human Remains in the up-and-down-the-Eastern-Seaboard lineup with vocalist Jason Borowy, there’s no shortage of discord to go around. Deathly extremity and a pervasive grinding sensibility is conveyed with tones that absolutely crush and a groove that, while not shy with the blastbeats on “I Dreamt You Were Dead” — or the bonus track Human Remains cover “Human,” for that matter — is no less comfortable locked in the nod of the nine-minute “Thieves of Rotted Ilk.” It reportedly took Graven over a year to make the six-song/28-minute LP at various studios (including one two towns over from where I grew up in my beloved Garden State), and one only hopes the no-doubt daunting nature of that task doesn’t dissuade Graven from a follow-up, because whether it’s the angular starts and stops of “Backwards to Oblivion” or the initial assault of “A Failed Mask,” they bring a stylistic nuance to extreme metal that goes beyond the often dry showcase of technical prowess the style can sometimes be. However long it might take to put together, a sophomore outing feels well justified.

Graven on Facebook

Graven on Bandcamp

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Near Dusk, Near Dusk

The cleverly-titled “Humboldt Pie” finds them dipping into bluesier fare with some psychedelic effect on guitarist Matthew Orloff‘s vocals, and “We are the Buffalo” has a distinct spaciousness, but the core of Denver trio Near Dusk‘s self-released, self-titled debut is in straightforward heavy rock, and Orloff, bassist Kellen McInerney and drummer Jon Orloff sound well schooled in the ways of following the riff. “That Bastard” chugs out behind a vocal echo and the six-minute opener and longest track (immediate points) “No More” introduces the steady factor that is McInerney‘s bass behind some initial guitar noodling that leads to the first of many rolling grooves to come on the seven-track/34-minute outing. The bass again gets to shine in the subsequent “Sweet Home,” setting up the final push for a moment before being joined by the drums and guitar, and the low-end tone is right on, though by the time they close out with “Furnace Creek,” all three of them seem to tease some jammier sensibilities. Near Dusk allow themselves room to develop their approach and perspective, but establish a strong root of songwriting to serve as their foundation as they move forward.

Near Dusk on Facebook

Near Dusk on Bandcamp

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Svuco, El Gran Mito de SanSaru

At least some of the material on Svuco‘s debut long-player, El Gran Mito de SanSaru, dates back a few years. The release includes what was the title-track of their 2015 Mizaru EP as well as the title-track of 2016’s Kikazaru, as well as a number of tracks that also featured on the Iwazaru EP shortly before the album actually arrived. Still, taken in this form and with these recordings, the Granada-based four-piece unfurl a varied 13-song full-length that’s crisp in its production and smoothly constructed to hit hard but with a sense of tonal presence that speaks to a heavy rock influence. That is, there might be a current of noise rock to the ’90s-style chug of “Llorarás,” but “Fuzzia” still has room for organ and acoustic guitar along with its central riff. Later cuts like “Nobogo,” the layered-vocals of “El Color del Sol,” and the almost-industrial pulsations (conveyed through organic instrumentation) of “El Dios del Nuevo Mundo” branch out, but there’s an underlying identity taking shape all the while.

Svuco on Facebook

Svuco on Bandcamp

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Stonus, Lunar Eclipse

Welcoming in its tone and bordering on cosmic in its atmosphere, Lunar Eclipse is the second EP from Cyprus-based troupe Stonus, and for the sprawl of its eight-minute title-track alone, it showcases distinct potential on the part of the band. Intro and outro tracks help set up a flow, but as “Aspirin” and “Spiritual Realities” fuzz their way toward “Lunar Eclipse” itself, it’s hardly like Stonus need the help. The tempo of “Aspirin” tells the tale, taking desert rock to three-quarters speed for an extra laid back vibe, still pushed along by the drums, but chill, chill, chill as it goes. “Spiritual Realities” is a little more tripped out in its lumber, and its vocals are more forward in the mix, but once again, “Lunar Eclipse” is nothing but a joy to behold from front to back, and in large part it defines the short release that shares its name. They close out with the minute of experimentalism on “Euphoric Misery” and only make one hope they don’t lost those impulses by the time they get around to a full-length, because they’ll only help them further distinguish themselves.

Stonus on Thee Faceboks

Stonus on Bandcamp

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Acolytes of Moros, The Wellspring

Seven years on from playing their first show, Swedish doomers Acolytes of Moros present their first full-length, The Wellspring (CD on Nine Records), and if that might stand as an indication of their pacing overall, it would certainly apply to the album itself. Presented as four extended tracks with an interlude/instrumental near seven minutes dividing the two halves, it’s a rawly-produced take on doom-death traditionalism with an emphasis on the first part of that equation. Calling it “morose” feels too easy given the band’s moniker, but they’re nothing if not self-aware, and the miseries they portray in “Quotidian” and the 14-minute “A Yen to Relinquish and Evanesce” border on the dramatic without ever really tipping too far in that direction, coming through as much in the grueling riffs as in the vocal declarations and willfully repetitive rhythms. It’s a slog and it’s supposed to be, but Acolytes of Moros eschew the sometimes lush presentation of their genre in favor of a barebones take that loses none of its emotional impact for that.

Acolytes of Moros on Facebook

Nine Records website

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Lime Eyelid, Week of Wonders

As regards recording narratives, it’s hard to beat the image of Traveling Circle drummer Josh Schultz recording Lime Eyelid‘s debut album, Week of Wonders (as in, The Wonder Weeks?), alone in his kitchen. The resulting limited LP is comprised mostly of numbered instrumental experiments in drone and languid groove, save for “I Saw Waves,” which brings to mind some of Six Organs of Admittance‘s far-out earlier fare, but psychedelia holds a prominent sway and if you ever want a lesson in doing something new with familiar elements, look no further than the watery guitar line of “1” or “3,” with its Earth groove gone processional. The 12-minute soundscape of “4” follows as Schultz moves deeper into the realms of cosmic minimalism — that big, mostly empty, galaxy — but “5” somehow sounds even more piped in from outer space, and closer “6” rounds out with swells of high-pitched volume that seem to be speaking their own language in tone. Pretty vast reaches for a record to hit, having been recorded in the kitchen. One awaits further adventures in the follow-up.

Lime Eyelid on Soundcloud

Lime Eyelid on YouTube

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Tombtoker, Coffin Texts

I don’t know if the band’s moniker refers to one who actually tokes tombs or who tokes in tombs, but neither would surprise me. The Baltimorean five-piece Tombtoker unveil their 20-minute debut EP, Coffin Texts (on Seeing Red, tapes through Metal Swarm), with a melding of doom, sludge and metallic extremity that is righteous in its riffs and malevolent in its purposes. That is to say, they mean harm. “Warfare Revolution” and “Robo Cujo” demonstrate that plainly ahead of the centerpiece “Stenchsquatch” with its oh-you’re-gonna-have-to-play-that-at-all-the-shows lurching midsection of death, while the subsequent “Blood Freak” taps Eyehategoddy swing and closer/shortest track “Globster” (3:21) bludgeons its own riffs before a bit of Slayer-style ping ride late adds even more of that metal-for-metal feel. I’d call it promising, but maybe “foreboding” is a better word. Whether they’re smoking your corpse or just smoking near your corpse, Tombtoker bring a welcome sense of chaos to extreme sludge that hearkens to the genre’s original, unhinged appeal.

Tombtoker on Facebook

Seeing Red Records on Bandcamp

Metal Swarm website

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Two unfuckwithable days await the fortunate souls attending SonicBlast Moledo 2018. For a minute there I thought I’d be able to count myself among their number, but alas, it doesn’t seem to have come together. So it goes. I can ogle from afar just the same as the schedule is revealed amid the final confirmations for the lineup, which include primo jammers Electric Octopus as well as The Wizards, Astrodome, Talea Jacta and Desert’Smoke. These join stellar lineups on the main stage and pool stage at the venue in Moledo, Portugal, which is close enough to the coast that the pre-fest party will be held on the beach. This one would’ve been worth an overnight layover in the Azores easily. Alas. Maybe in 2019.

The final announcement and full schedule for the fest follows here, courtesy of the PR wire:

The eighth edition of SonicBlast Moledo, with the dates settled for August 10th and 11th , closes the 2018 lineup with the confirmations of Electric Octopus, The Wizards, Astrodome, Talea Jacta and Desert’Smoke! They will be joining the previously confirmed acts Earthless, Kadavar, Causa Sui, Nebula, Samsara Blues Experiment, Mantar, The Atomic Bitchwax, 1000mods, Conan, Ufomammut, Naxatras, Purple Hill Witch, The Black Wizards, Atavismo, Ruff Majik, Solar Corona and Greengo!

The warm-up sessions are also back, happening on August 9th at Moledo’s beach, to celebrate the beginning of another SonicBlast edition. The warm-up sessions lineup will be announced very soon.

The prolific Electric Octopus, ascending band in the art of improvisation, come from Northern Ireland to present their refined conjuction of sounds. With albums passing the four hours of running time, the huge instrumental voyages created by this trio, comprise a vast panoply of varied influences such as blues, psychedelic, jazz or even funk. We may await for a transcendental communion, moved by unique and hypnotic moments, where the free spontaneity is the law.

Hailing from the Basque Country, more concretely from Bilbao, The Wizards practice vintage Hard Rock, marked by flaming guitars, clear seventies influences and powerful occult vocals. Back in 2017, they released their latest album “Full Moon in Scorpio”, which lead them to new venues and consolidated the band as one of the most promising Spanish bands.

Three years after their double dose in Moledo, Astrodome return again, this time with a remodeled formation and a formidable new album, righteously entitled “II”. With their maturity clearly demonstrated in these compositions, the quartet embarks on the psychedelic fields of music, fearless of entering onto the fields of jazz or progressive, to make us singularly levitate in their musical journey.

Formed by guitarist Pedro Pestana (10,000 Russians, Tren Go! Sound System) and drummer João Pais Filipe (HHY & The Macumbas, Sektor 304, Magnetic Mountain, Paisel), Talea Jacta are a duo specialist in creating deep musical landscapes, using endless loops and mesmerizing tribal beats, which elevate the mind to another state in an unparalleled way.

Surprising everyone and everything with their debut work “Hidden Mirage”, the quartet Desert’Smoke shape their music in a purely instrumental way, which blends the harmony of the Heavy Psych dynamics with the heaviest moments of Stoner Rock. Indeed, the ideal junction of contemplative psychedelia with the power of Rock.

TICKETS
sonicblastmoledo.com/tickets
– From March 1st to June 30th – 48€
– From July 1st to July 31st – 55€
– As of August 1st – 60€

sonicblastmoledo.com
facebook.com/sonicblastmoledo

Electric Octopus, Line Standing (2017)