Posted in Whathaveyou on October 22nd, 2025 by JJ Koczan
Cypriot sludge slingers Stonus have three shows coming up next month in the UK. That’s not too crazy, though not a minor trip to undertake, considering both the distance and the fact that the very day after their run through Bournemouth, Bristol and London ends, they’ll be making their way to Stockholm — I assume flying — to appear at Truckfighters‘ Fuzz Fest. That’s a lot. You’ve barely adjusted to the hour time difference between CET and GMT and then you’re back on a plane going northeast. Unless they’re driving, in which case they’d need to leave I think before they actually play the London show.
Either way, there aren’t a ton of shows listed here, but in context, I don’t think you could accuse Cyprus’ favorite stoners of not putting the work in. Note that in December, they’ll scoot over to Italy to take part in Electric Valley Records‘ EVR Fest, first in Ossi, then Cagliari. All of this hurry-up-and-wait comes ahead of the release of their second full-length next year, and presumably that will be through Electric Valley as well, but we’ll see when we get there, which surely we will.
From the PR wire:
What the Fuzz, and Buried in Smoke Present… STONUS (Cyprus) – Mediterranean fuzzed-up heavy rock
STONUS are steadily building their presence across Europe with a raw, high-energy live show and a DIY work ethic. This drive has made them the most internationally active Cypriot rock band today.
STONUS’s acclaimed debut album “Aphasia” found life in 2020 through Electric Valley Records and Daredevil Records, earning its place in various AOTY lists within the heavy/stoner rock scene.
This year, they supported heavy rock powerhouses 1000mods, Truckfighters, Planet of Zeus, and Mars Red Sky on selected dates of their European tours. Later in 2025, STONUS will be headlining Electric Valley Festival (IT), and appearing at Truckfighters’ Fuzz Festival (SE).
STONUS’s highly-anticipated sophomore album is planned for release in Spring 2026, and they are eager to debut the new songs to audiences across Europe ahead of it.
Band Word:
“Freakin ‘excited to return to the UK after 2 years! And yeahh we are visiting Sweden and Italy for the first time for Truckfighters’ super special FUZZ FESTIVAL and Electric Valley Records FESTIVAL. Can’t wait to rock with you all, meet some old friends and have some good fuzzin time!
Special thanks to: What the Fuzz, Electric Valley Records, Buried in Smoke Promotions, Truckfighters and Ouga Bouga Records for making this possible!
See you on the road soon!”
Dates & info:
11/11 – Bear’s bar and venue – Bournemouth (UK) 12/11 – The Gryphon – Bristol (UK) 13/11 – Helgi’s bar – London (UK) 14/11 – Fuzz Festival – Stockholm (SE) 05/12 – EVR Festival – Ossi (IT) 06/12 – EVR Festival – Cagliari (IT)
Posted in Whathaveyou on September 17th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
Set to take place over the course of Dec. 5 and 6 in Cagliari and Ossi, in Sardinia, the Electric Valley Festival is put together at the behest of the label of the same name. Electric Valley Records has been a home to many cult, doom and stonerized underground outfits for well over a decade, and of the 10 acts confirmed to appear, the only ones without releases listed on the imprint’s Bandcamp page (linked below, also here) are Tons, Indigosaur and Crobu, and maybe I should just add “yet” there to be safe. You never know how it might all pan out.
What’s striking about the bill though is the sense of tone and riff worship that come through so plainly. Tons and Stonus and 1782 lead a charge of dark and gritty riffing that’s Sabbathian of course at its foundation, but that has committed itself to exploring atmospheres, stoned, ritualistic, or if you’re lucky, both. I’m making the narrowminded assumption that if you’re going or thinking of going to this maybe-seventh edition of the fest (going by the VII on the poster below; find it like Waldo), you’re either already familiar with the label and the bands or you’re planning to be by the time you show up to either of the night.
About that. Knowing nothing of Sardinian geography, I looked up Cagliari to Ossi and it’s about a two-and-a-half-hour drive south, cutting through a good portion of the island of Sardinia. If it seems nuts to think of flying to a place, going to a show, renting a car and driving basically the whole way across the island for the next night, consider how much of Sardinia you’ll have seen by the time you get to Ossi. You could do far worse, is what I’m saying.
The following confirmations came from social media:
Posted in Whathaveyou on July 16th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
Continuing to support 2024’s Revival (review here), played Rhüne Mountain Festival, and Maryland Doom Fest in June as part of a summer tour that will pick up next month where it left off and keep the band on the road into September. They’ve got Seismic Summer in Charlotte on Aug. 30, and that’ll be with Temple of the Fuzz Witch, Crystal Spiders, and a slew of others, and the string of club dates looks killer and will hit familiar spots throughout the Midwest and East Coast.
There’s a little break between the August and September stints, but it all adds up to one continuing summer run that began last month and I’m pretty sure makes 2025 WyndRider‘s most road-dogging year yet. Interested to see where they go next. In the meantime, most of these shows were previously announced, but Houston and Baltimore are new and none have been posted here yet, so here they are from various sources between Bandcamp emails and social media:
⚡WYNDRIDER⚡ TEMPLE OF THE COSMIC BOG WEED WITCH PRIEST WIZARD CULT TOUR 2025
NEW DATES ADDED! WyndRider will now be returning to Houston, TX on 8/21 and Baltimore, MD on 9/16.
The Temple of the Cosmic Bog Weed Witch Priest Wizard Cult Tour 2025 is coming your way. Thanks again to Satellite Touring and Electric Valley Records .
8/2 – Bristol, VA – Fern Ridge Distro 8/15 – Memphis, TN – Hi Tone 8/16 – Fort Smith, AR – Majestic 8/17 – Fort Worth, TX – The Cicada 8/19 – Austin, TX – Come and Take it Live 8/20 – San Antonio, TX – The Starlighter 8/21 – Houston, TX – Black Magic Social Club 8/22 – New Orleans, LA – Santos Bar 8/24 – Tampa, FL – Brass Mug 8/26 – Winter Park, FL – Conduit 8/27 – Jacksonville, FL – Jack Rabbits 8/29 – Spartanburg, SC – Ground Zero 8/30 – Charlotte, NC – Seismic Summer Fest at The Milestone Club 9/5 – Johnson City, TN – Capone’s 9/12 – Richmond, VA – Another Round 9/13 – Stanhope, NJ – Stanhope House 9/14 – Philadelphia, PA – The Fire 9/16 – Baltimore, MD – The Depot 9/18 – Akron, OH – The Vortex 9/19 – Toledo, OH – Frankie’s 9/20 – New Haven, IN – Carl’s Tavern 9/21 – Nashville, TN – The Cobra
Presented by Satellite Touring and Electric Valley Records Flyer by Josh Drinnen
Posted in Whathaveyou on April 25th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
A year ago this week, Tennessee doom rockers WyndRider brought forth Revival (review here), their second album. They spent a decent amount of last summer supporting the record, which like their 2023 self-titled debut (review here), was roundly well received. Their plans then also included a stop at Maryland Doom Fest, and to the hallowed streets of Frederick the four-piece will return this June, doing so as part of a tour that also takes them north into Canada for a slot at the Rhüne Mountain Festival, which they’ll play on the Thursday with Indian Handcrafts, Sun Below and a slew of others.
The run officially starts June 15, but that’s a few days ahead of Maryland Doom Fest on the 19th, it picks up from there with eight shows in 10 days and probably a decent amount of travel going from Connecticut to Montreal and Ontario to Michigan on the ‘days off.’ Hopefully those days are spent doing more than waiting for the show the next day. But I’m pretty sure WyndRider get stoned, so if it’s sitting and looking at water for a few hours in the Great Lakes sunshine, I somehow think they’d manage to get through it.
Their announcement of the tour was straightforward enough: just the dates and poster. I’ve got those below, as well as the stream of Revival in case you’d like a reminder what you’re in for, but this band has done well in spreading the word about what they do and what they’re into on socials, so I’m sure you’ve already seen these days, marked your calendar for whatever/wherever and moved on. Good on you for that.
Numbers and towns:
WyndRider USA/CAD 2025 6/15 Knoxville, TN 6/19 Maryland Doom Fest, MD 6/20 Brooklyn, NY 6/21 Hamden, CT 6/23 Montreal, QC 6/25 Toronto, ON 6/26 Rhune Mountain Fest, ON 6/28 Melvindale, MI 6/29 Cincinnati, OH
Sydney, Australia, sludge rock bruisers Amammoth will release their second album, Distant Skies and the Ocean Flies, on March 21, in continued cooperation with Electric Valley Records. Guess what? They’re heavy.
I know, with a name like Amammoth, somehow that’s not at all shocking even though with the ‘a’- prefix, there’s a suggestion of anti-mammoth. Like, in protest of the mammoth. Fuck this mammoth! I shall be the opposite! An amammoth!, and so on. (And yeah, I know I said as much when I reviewed The Fire Above in 2021.) But no, in fact Amammoth have way more in common in terms of sonic largesse with a mammoth than an amammoth, which isn’t a thing that ever existed so far as I know but if it did would surely cower beneath the grunt, roll and flourish of “Among Us” (video premiering below), the nine-minute post-intro opener and longest track on Distant Skies and the Ocean Flies. Drawing its expanse from sludge and doom and maybe even a little death metal in there somewhere of the European strain, pushing into psychedelia with organ and keys later on so that while Scott Fisher is gutting out vocals Kirk Windstein-style, what accompanies is trippier riffing (plus a bit of triangle, I think? maybe keyboard-triangle?) than one might necessarily expect. But that’s what one gets for having expectations in the first place. Gotta let that go. Zen and crushing riffs.
So there they are, Fisher, bassist Warwick Poulton (making his first appearance) and drummer Scott Wilson, hammering away at your cortex after setting an atmos-sludge course in the aptly-titled “Intro” like someone put an organ behind Souls at Zero, but “Among Us” isn’t post-metallic in its lumber necessarily, and its riffing leans more to Sleep than Neurosis, if we want to keep the comparisons to Jason Roeder bands. There’s something oldschool about the largely unipolar vocals — it’s gruff shouts and such, as noted, not screams for the most part, but not entirely “clean” singing either — like in the early ’90s when you could just get away with barking for an entire record; for what it’s worth, in the 40 minutes and eight songs of Distant Skies and the Ocean Flies, there’s enough variation in what Amammoth do around their central purpose in largesse that nothing feels like it’s missing.
“Among Us” caps with repetitions of “Walk among us” and a few homeward slams to make the point before they rumble to the finish, “Chosen” picking up almost immediately with its own muted crashes on the way to reveling in its combination of swinging drums and slogging riffs; the shift from what would be the closer on a lot of records (and is here the opener but for “Intro”) into the more-than-three-minutes-shorter track that follows letting Amammoth cast an open impression and then strip it down for a more direct attack.
To wit, “Chosen,” “So High So Numb” and the pointedly primordial “Sink or Swim” are positioned to feel comparatively immediate regardless of their actual tempos, and Amammoth bask in the lumbering reaches their tonal worship lets them conjure. And “Sink or Swim” coming through as so much of an epitome in this regard means “Satellite,” which follows, is a well-timed change.
Amid more Crowbar-esque seething and declarative steamrolling, the organ returns — joining the fray in a brazenly classic-heavy-rock manner that I can’t help but feel like would make Oppu from Amorphis/Octoploid smile in this context — and deftly calls back to “Among Us” before hitting its culmination and giving over to the penultimate “Ashes Remain,” which might be the rawest and angriest of the eight inclusions, and which serves as the whole-album crescendo accordingly before the thud-backed drone and noisemaking of “Interstitial” reinforce the atmospheric depth for three minutes on the band’s way out.
For a record that’s so much about throwing elbows, some of them at your larynx (heads up on that), the movement across Distant Skies and the Ocean Flies is remarkably easy. I guess the degree of that will be somewhat subject to one’s own tolerance for harder-edged fare, rough vocals, and so on, but Amammoth are perhaps not as monolithic in their approach as they would have you believe. In that case, “Among Us” represents the totality of Distant Skies and the Ocean Flies well, summarizing a lot of what the tracks that follow have on offer without giving away everything at the album’s outset.
The video has a flashing lights warning, and it comes up more later in the clip but they’re not kidding. More info follows from the PR wire below.
Please enjoy:
Amammoth, “Among Us” video premiere
Amammoth on “Among Us”:
Our second single “Among Us” is a B-grade psychedelic, sci-fi adventure, kind of like ET on acid.
Sydney’s sludgiest stoner outfit Amammoth’s trippy sonic sensibilities and intellectually vitriolic lyrical approach blur the boundaries between sedation and stimulation, simultaneously submerging listeners into the distorted depths of the human experience while lifting them up with a distinctly groovy vibe and clean vocal style that shines through both in the studio and on stage. Following the release of their debut EP and their first full-length album, as well as a host of electrically frenzied live shows, Amammoth’s momentum is at an all-time high as they prepare for their biggest year yet, with a second full-length album set for release with Electric Valley Records, to be officially announced in due time, much to the delight of their diverse and growing global fanbase.
Tracklisting: 1. Intro 2. Among Us 3. Chosen 4. So High So Numb 5. Sink or Swim 6. Satellite 7. Ashes Remain 8. Interstitial
Amammoth are: Scott Fisher : vocals/guitar Warwick Poulton : bass Scott Wilson : drums
Amammoth, Distant Skies and the Ocean Flies (2025)
German four-piece Deaf Lizard release their second album, The Last Odyssey, this Friday through Electric Valley Records (Glory or Death has US copies), and whether or not it’s the last one the desert-meets-psych outfit will undertake, the 35-minute sprawl of the outing lives up to its billing as a journey. Beginning instrumental with the tight-and-sandy-hued opener “Nuclear,” where a fuzzy lead guitar patterns out what might’ve otherwise been vocal lines, and moving into the grit-riffed bassy lumber of “The Devil’s Show,” which unveils the deep-mixed blown-out voice of guitarist Patrick Brödje — if it isn’t swapping channels, it feels like it could — amid a non-aggro groove that’s nonetheless darker for the prominence of Lars Wikström, the album counts on the audience’s ability to keep up as it shifts intentions on a per-song basis, letting Brödje and fellow guitarist Steffen Blancke‘s strum come back to the fore as the lyrics drop Doors references in “City of Life” and the tone sounds like Kyuss on an especially sun-baked afternoon, not the least for the momentum the band — which is completed by Marc Mattschenz on drums and synth, holding together the changes — amass as a fuller charge takes hold in “Independent Terror,” the centerpiece.
“Independent Terror” brings a desert boogie and holds back the vocals for the second half, setting an instrumental course and bringing revealing a punkish undertone in the up-to-the-mic not-quite-barks that send home the message of realization. Just on the other side of the last of the five shorter pieces awaits the closing pair of “Ape’s Odyssey” (8:37) and “The Veil” (7:03), but “Lady in Black” is more than a preface, hinting at the psychedelic lean to come in a more open guitar figure and purposefully repetitive vocal pattern. A couple times Mattschenz ups the intensity of the crash, and that’s all the band needs in terms of a fluid transition between the parts of the four-minute song, which gives over directly to “Ape’s Odyssey,” immediately jazzy in Wikström‘s bassline and still holding a bit of residual push in the drums as the guitars seem in succession to show off more shimmering lead work. It’s a change, but when they launch into the verse shortly before the three-minute mark, the crunch that takes hold — “This is the age of the mountain,” the lyrics inform — makes an effective offset for the float on either side of it, and the mellower turn that follows the verse is admirably smooth, done with confidence and poise and refusing to come apart at a moment that for many records would seem disjointed and pointedly doesn’t here.
They jam a bit from there, and manage to gradually bring the song all the way full circle back to the verse, which is a voyage in itself, and that fuzzy push opens to an improv-feeling ending topped with soloing and a display of character that suits the proceedings well. It’s something that, if the band are new to you as they are to me, you might not expect while listening to “The Devil’s Show” or “City of Life,” really any of the shorter five tracks that make up the album’s first 20 minutes or so, but that is a strength of The Last Odyssey for the increase in scope of what the band’s sound can encompass. That “Ape’s Odyssey” isn’t just about expanse, that there’s a structure before that ending departure, is all the more telling about who Deaf Lizard are as songwriters, able to know when it’s time to give up control for a bit and see where it goes. The results on that penultimate cut are worth it, and as they undercut expectation for “The Veil” in capping the record, so much the better. Watery, languid riffing introduces the finale, soon joined by the rhythm section, likewise fluid, and once more the lead guitar sings. That solo might be made up on the spot — it has an exploratory aspect, to say the least — but the bass and drums and rhythm hold it together as an unforced nod and when after four minutes in they shift to a clearly plotted declining line on repeat, the change sets up the next stage of the jam unfolding.
A solo and a short build to the conclusion, including a reprise of that central line, follow, and Deaf Lizard end mellow and big on vibe, bookending the instrumentalism of the leadoff while working unmistakably toward different ends. The band’s sound ends up deceptively rich while never quite beating the listener over the head with riffs or effects washes, etc. They know their genre, to be sure, and harness an individual sensibility within it that will ring familiar to heads while offering depth both in The Last Odyssey‘s more straightforward early fare and its later jams. They never really freakout, and they never really rage, and that’s not what the material wants, so it works, and the outward ease with which they move from one place to another within and between the songs gives an impression of whole-album consideration on the part of the band. That is to say, while the abiding spirit of The Last Odyssey is unpretentious in speaking to genre styles and a genre audience, this material is not unconsidered or haphazard. Well, maybe a little haphazard as “Ape’s Odyssey” comes apart, but that too is what it’s supposed to be. Desert rockers and psych worshipers will find the reaches here welcoming, and whether or not this actually is the band’s ‘last odyssey’ — I always raise an eyebrow when a group puts a notion of an ending in the title; can’t help it — it is a satisfying trip to take all the more because Deaf Lizard so clearly know where they’re coming from and what they’re about.
The album streams in its entirety below, followed by more from the PR wire.
Please enjoy:
German fuzzy psychedelic hard rockers Deaf Lizard’s second full-length, The Last Odyssey, is scheduled for November 01st physically (on four vinyl variants) and digitally via Electric Valley Records.
The Last Odyssey Track Listing: 1. Nuclear 2. The Devil’s Show 3. City of Life 4. Independent Terror 5. Lady in Black 6. Ape’s Odyssey 7. The Veil
Stoner rock group Deaf Lizard was formed in 2012 when Paddy, Steffen, and Lars joined French singer Jordan to jam for an as-yet-unnamed project. Jordan accompanied their heavy jams with artistic French vocals. After some early shows in 2014, the Oldenburg quartet’s musical endeavors soon developed into songs, which shaped their debut studio effort, The Firefly EP, recorded in 2016 but only released in 2023.
Line-up changes followed, especially after Jordan’s departure in 2018, and Marc joined as the new drummer. This reshuffle saw original drummer Paddy transition to second guitar and vocals. With this formation, the band self-released two singles, “El Tako” and “Tartaros,” in 2019. Riding a creative high, they continued to produce more music, culminating in their debut album, No Man’s Sky, in early 2020. To their surprise, No Man’s Sky garnered acclaim within the global stoner rock scene. However, the pandemic halted their live performances, limiting them to a brief 2021 tour through Northern Germany. Disappointed but undeterred, the band continued to write and record, setting the stage for their next release.
In 2023, they began recording The Last Odyssey in their own garage studio/rehearsal space. Entirely self-produced, this album represents the years of experience and the utmost worship of the forefathers of heavy rock. Across seven tracks, Deaf Lizard delivers a rough orgy of heavy fuzz rock paired with psychedelic and doomy elements. Channeling no less energy than their live performances, the band maintains an intense, gritty edge, blending slow, crushing riffs with more straightforward hard rock moments. With renewed vitality, the album explores a vast range of soundscapes—from slow, brooding doom to expansive, psychedelic improvisations—highlighting Deaf Lizard’s relentless quest for stoner galore.
Lyrically, the album loosely follows humanity’s self-inflicted downfall and its aftermath, providing a doomy context to its title, The Last Odyssey. Despite the weight of the doomy title, the band has no plans to slow down after the challenges brought by the pandemic.
Deaf Lizard will celebrate The Last Odyssey with a special record release show at MTS Record in their hometown of Oldenburg on 09 November.
Album Credits: —Lineup— Patrick Brödje – Vocals/Guitar Steffen Blancke – Guitar Lars Wikström – Bass Marc Mattschenz – Drums/Synths
—Others— Recorded at the Lizard’s Den. Mixed and Mastered by Matt Sounds Productions. Artwork by Marc Mattschenz.
Posted in Reviews on October 15th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
I’ll be honest, I don’t even want to talk about how well this Quarterly Review is going because I worry about screwing it up. It’s always a lot of work to round up 10 records per day, even if there’s a single or and EP snuck in there, but it’s been a long time now that I’ve been doing things this way — sometimes as a means of keeping up, sometimes to herald things to come, usually just a way to write about things I want to write about regardless of timeliness — and it’s always worth it. I’ve had a couple genuinely easy days here. Easier than expected. Obviously that’s a win.
So while I wait for the other shoe to drop, let’s keep the momentum going.
Quarterly Review #61-70:
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Massive Hassle, Unreal Damage
Brotherly two-piece Massive Hassle, comprised of brothers Bill Fisher and Marty Fisher — who played together in Mammothwing and now both feature in Church of the Cosmic Skull — get down with another incredibly complex set of harmonized ’70s-style soul-groovers, nailing it as regards tone and tempo from the big riff that eats “Lost in the Changes” to the strums and croons early in the penultimate “Tenspot,” hitting a high note together in that song that gives over to stark and wistful standalone guitar meander that with barely a minute ago gorgeously becomes a bittersweet triumph of nostalgic fuzz reminiscent of Colour Haze‘s “Fire” and having the sheer unmitigated gall to tell the world around them it’s no big deal by naming the band Massive Hassle and stating that as the thing they most want to avoid. When they did Number One (review here) in 2023, it felt like they were proving the concept. With Unreal Damage, they’re quietly pushing limits.
Iress are the Los Angeles-based four-piece of Michelle Malley (vocals), Michael Maldonado (bass), Glenn Chu (drums) and Graham Walker (guitar). Sleep Now, In Reverse is their fourth full-length in nearly 15 years of existence. As a record, it accomplishes a lot of things, but what you need to understand is that where it most succeeds and stands itself out is in bringing together a heavy post-rock sound — heavygaze, as the kids don’t say because they don’t know what it is — with emotive expression on vocals, a blending of ethereal and the most human and affecting, and when Malley lets loose in the payoff of “Mercy,” it’s an early highlight with plenty more to follow. It’s not that Iress are reinventing genre — evolving, maybe? — but what they’re doing with it is an ideal unto itself, taking those aspects from across an aesthetic range and incorporating them into a whole, at times defiantly cohesive sound, lush but clearheaded front to back.
When the band put the shimmying “Apocalypse Babes” up as a standalone single last year, it was some five years after their debut full-length, 2018’s Mindtripper (review here) — though there was a split between — so not an insignificant amount of time for Norway’s Magmakammer to expand on their methods and dig into the songs. To be sure, “Doom Jive” and “Zimbardo” still have that big-hook, Uncle Acid-style dirty garage buzz that lends itself so well to cultish themes but thankfully here is about more than murder. And indeed, the band seems to have branched out a bit, and the eight-song/43-minute Before I Burn is well served by divergences like the closing “I Will Guide Your Hand” or the way “Cult of Misanthropy” sounds like a studio outtake on a bootleg from 1969 until they kick it open around a build of marching guitar, even as it stays loyal to Magmakammer‘s core stylistic purposes. A welcome return.
The kind of sludge rock Ohio’s Evel play, informed by Mondo Generator‘s druggy, volatile heavy punk and C.O.C.‘s Southern metal nod, maybe a bit of High on Fire in “Alaska,” with a particularly Midwestern disappointment-in-everything that would’ve gone over well at Emissions From the Monolith circa 2003, isn’t what’s trendy. It’s not the cool thing. It doesn’t care about that, or about this review, or about providing social media content to maximize its algorithmic exposure. I’m not knocking any of that — especially the review, which is going swimmingly; I promise a point is coming — but if Evel‘s six-songer debut EP, Omen, is a foretell of things to come, the intention behind it is more about the catharsis of the writing/performance than trying to play to ‘scene’-type expectations. It is a pissed-off fuckall around which the band — which features guitarist/vocalist Alex Perekrest, also of Red Giant — will continue to build as “Dust Angel” and the swinging “Dawn Patrol” already find them doing. The going will likely be noisy, and that’s just fine.
Some six years and one reunion after their fourth album, 2018’s The Lucky Ones (review here), Virginia-born classic heavy barnburners Satan’s Satyrs are back with a fifth collection beating around riffs from Sabbath and the primordial ooze of heavy that birthed them, duly brash and infectious in their energy. Founding bassist/vocalist Clayton Burgess and guitarist Jarrett Nettnin are joined in the new incarnation of the band by guitarist Morgan McDaniel (also Mirror Queen) and drummer Russ Yusuf — though Sean Saley has been with them for recent live shows — and as they strut and swing through “Saltair Burns” like Pentagram if they’d known how to play jazz but were still doom, or the buzzy demo-style experimentation of “Genuine Turquoise,” which I’m just going to guess came together differently than was first expected. So much the better. They’ve never been hugely innovative, but Satan’s Satyrs have consistently delivered at this point across a span of more than a decade and they have their own spin on the style. They may always be a live band, but at least in my mind, there’s not much more one would ask that After Dark doesn’t deliver.
Delivered through Kozmik Artifactz, Weight in Gold is the second long-player from Melbourne, Australia’s Whoopie Cat, and it meets the listener at the intersection of classic, ’70s-style heavy blues rock and prog. Making dynamic use of a dual-vocal approach in “Pretty Baby” after establishing tone, presence and craft as assets with the seven-minute opening title-track, the band are unflinchingly modern in production even as they lean toward vintage-style song construction, and that meld of intention results in an organic sound that’s not restricted by the recording. Plus it’s louder, which doesn’t hurt most of the time. In any case, as Whoopie Cat follow-up their 2018 debut, Illusion of Choice, they do so with distinction and the ability to convey a firm grasp on their songwriting and convey a depth of intention from the what-if-Queen-but-blues “Icarus” or the consuming Hammondery of closer “Oh My Love.” Listening, I can’t help but wonder how far into prog they might ultimately go, but they’ve found a sweetspot in these songs that’s between styles, and they fit right in it.
Cheeky, heavy garage punk surely will not be enough to save the immortal souls of Earth Tongue from all their devil worship and intricate vocal patterning. And honestly the New Zealand two-piece — I could’ve sworn I saw something about them moving to Germany, but maybe they just had a really good Berlin show? — sound fine with that. Guitarist Gussie Larkin and drummer Ezra Simons benefit from the straightforward outward nature of their songs. That is, “Out of This Hell,” “The Mirror,” “Bodies Dissolve Tonight!” and any of the other nine inclusions on the record that either were or could’ve been singles, are catchy and tightly written. They’re not overplayed or underplayed, and they have enough tonal force in Larkin‘s guitar that the harder churn of closer “The Reluctant Host” can leave its own impression and still feel fluid alongside some of Great Haunting‘s sweeter psych-punk. Wherever they live, the two-piece make toys out of pop and praise music so that even “Miraculous Death” sounds like, and is, fun.
The collection House of Pain (Demos) takes its title from the place where guitarist/vocalist Tomas Iramain recorded them alongside bassist Matias Maltratador and drummer Jorge Iramain, though whether it’s a studio, rehearsal space, or an actual house, I won’t profess to know. Tomas is the lone remaining member carried over from the band’s 2020 self-titled LP, and the other part of what you need to know about House of Pain (Demos) can also be found in the title: it’s demos. Do not expect a studio sound full of flourish and nuance. Reportedly most of the songs were tracked with two Shure SM57s (the standard vocal mic), save for “Nomad” and “The Way I Am,” I guess because one broke? The point is, as raw as they are — and they are raw — these demos want nothing for appeal. The bounce in the bonus-track-type “Mountain (Take 1)” feels like a Dead Meadowy saunter, and for all of its one-mic-ness, “Nomad” gives a twist on ’50s and early ’60s guitar instrumentals that’s only bolstered by the recording. I’m not saying Las Historias should press up 10,000 LPs immediately or anything, but if this was the record, or maybe an EP and positioned as more substantial than the demos, aside from a couple repeated tracks, you could do far worse. “Hell Bird” howls, man. Twice over.
Certainly “Come With Me” and others on Aquanaut‘s self-titled debut have their desert rocking aspects, but there’s at least as much The Sword as Kyuss in what the Trondheim, Norway, newcomers unfurl on their self-titled, self-released debut, and when you can careen like in “Gamma Rays,” maybe sometimes you don’t need anything else. The seven-track/35-minute outing gets off to a bluesy, boozy start with “Lenéa,” and from there, Aquanaut are able to hone an approach that has its sludgier side in some of the Eyehategod bark of “Morality” but that comes to push increasingly far out as it plays through, so that “Living Memories” soars as the finale after the mid-tempo fuzzmaking of “Ivory,” and so Aquanaut seem to have a nascent breadth working for them in addition to the vigor of a young band shaping a collective persona. The generational turnover in Norway is prevalent right now with a number of promising debuts and breakouts in the last couple years. Aquanaut have a traditionalism at their core but feel like they want to break it as much as celebrate it, and if you’re the type to look for ‘bands to watch,’ that’s a reason to watch. Or even listen, if you’re feeling especially risk-friendly.
While I would be glad to be writing about Ghost Frog‘s quirky heavy-Weezerism and psychedelic chicanery even if their third album, Galactic Mini Golf didn’t have a song called “Deep Space Nine Iron” on it, I can’t lie and say that doesn’t make the prospect a little sweeter. It’s an interlude and I don’t even care — they made it and it’s real. The Portland, Oregon, four-piece of guitarist/vocalist Quinn Schwartz, guitarist/synthesist Karl Beheim, bassist Archie Heald and drummer Vincent LiRocchi (the latter making his first appearance) keep somewhat to a golfy theme, find another layer’s worth of heavy on “Shadow Club,” declare themselves weird before you even press play and reinforce the claim in both righteous post-grunge roll of “Burden of Proof” and the new wave rock of “Bubble Guns” before the big ol’ stompy riff in “Black Hole in One’ leads to a purposeful whole-album finish. Some things don’t have to make the regular kind of sense, because they make their own kind. Absurd as the revelry gets, Ghost Frog make their own kind of sense. Maybe you’ll find it’s also your kind of sense and that’s how we learn things about ourselves from art. Have a great rest of your day.
Posted in Whathaveyou on October 4th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
German heavy rockers Deaf Lizard will issue their sophomore LP, The Last Odyssey, on Nov. 1 through Electric Valley Records (Glory or Death will have it in the US). The first single “City of Life” has been up for a little bit now and it’s more about the vibe than intensity, but definitely grooves regardless, a little raw and punk-born in the self-recorded atmosphere, but no pretense or trying to change the universe around it, which honestly is refreshing. I’ll be streaming the whole album on Oct. 30, so keep an eye for that if you’re the type to keep an eye for such things, which since you’re already here I’m pretty comfortable assuming you are.
There’s a fair amount of info below — blessings and peace on the narrative — but if you’re out Bandcamp Fridaying tomorrow or it’s payday and you wanna dig into a preorder, all those links are in there too.
Have at it:
Deaf Lizard: German psychedelic doom/hard rockers announce new LP ‘The Last Odyssey’ via Electric Valley Records + stream 1st single “City of Life”
German fuzzy psychedelic hard rockers Deaf Lizard’s second full-length, The Last Odyssey, is scheduled for November 01st physically (on four vinyl variants) and digitally via Electric Valley Records. The album’s first single, “City of Life,” is available on streaming/digital platforms.
Of “City of Life,” Deaf Lizard states: “With its upbeat tempo and funky riffs, this song breathes fresh air into Deaf Lizard’s arsenal of slow-grinding doom and heavy rock tracks, without stepping out of line stylistically. Its lyrics paint an ambivalent picture of city life, where a person can find both bliss and trouble.”
The Last Odyssey Track Listing: 1. Nuclear 2. The Devil’s Show 3. City of Life 4. Independent Terror 5. Lady in Black 6. Ape’s Odyssey 7. The Veil
Stoner rock group Deaf Lizard was formed in 2012 when Paddy, Steffen, and Lars joined French singer Jordan to jam for an as-yet-unnamed project. Jordan accompanied their heavy jams with artistic French vocals. After some early shows in 2014, the Oldenburg quartet’s musical endeavors soon developed into songs, which shaped their debut studio effort, The Firefly EP, recorded in 2016 but only released in 2023.
Line-up changes followed, especially after Jordan’s departure in 2018, and Marc joined as the new drummer. This reshuffle saw original drummer Paddy transition to second guitar and vocals. With this formation, the band self-released two singles, “El Tako” and “Tartaros,” in 2019. Riding a creative high, they continued to produce more music, culminating in their debut album, No Man’s Sky, in early 2020. To their surprise, No Man’s Sky garnered acclaim within the global stoner rock scene. However, the pandemic halted their live performances, limiting them to a brief 2021 tour through Northern Germany. Disappointed but undeterred, the band continued to write and record, setting the stage for their next release.
In 2023, they began recording The Last Odyssey in their own garage studio/rehearsal space. Entirely self-produced, this album represents the years of experience and the utmost worship of the forefathers of heavy rock. Across seven tracks, Deaf Lizard delivers a rough orgy of heavy fuzz rock paired with psychedelic and doomy elements. Channeling no less energy than their live performances, the band maintains an intense, gritty edge, blending slow, crushing riffs with more straightforward hard rock moments. With renewed vitality, the album explores a vast range of soundscapes—from slow, brooding doom to expansive, psychedelic improvisations—highlighting Deaf Lizard’s relentless quest for stoner galore.
Lyrically, the album loosely follows humanity’s self-inflicted downfall and its aftermath, providing a doomy context to its title, The Last Odyssey. Despite the weight of the doomy title, the band has no plans to slow down after the challenges brought by the pandemic.
Deaf Lizard will celebrate The Last Odyssey with a special record release show at MTS Record in their hometown of Oldenburg on 09 November.
Album Credits: —Lineup— Patrick Brödje – Vocals/Guitar Steffen Blancke – Guitar Lars Wikström – Bass Marc Mattschenz – Drums/Synths
—Others— Recorded at the Lizard’s Den. Mixed and Mastered by Matt Sounds Productions. Artwork by Marc Mattschenz.
