Posted in Whathaveyou on September 4th, 2026 by JJ Koczan
Brash Portland garage doom rockers LáGoon will issue Forget What You Heard on Sept. 18. Somewhere between an EP and an LP, the release is comprised of songs from LáGoon‘s raw-grooving back catalog revamped with the current lineup and shapeshifted after being hammered away at onstage for however long. Some of this stuff has already made its way onto Bandcamp (etc.) for streaming, and you can hear the opening “Kill the Messenger” in what I’m pretty sure is its current form below. And if you’ve heard it before, I guess you can forget about that.
Interstellar Smoke and Evil Noise Recordings have the release, as the PR wire confirms:
Scuzz n’ fuzz garage doomers LáGoon announce new album Forget What You Heard, out September 18th
Coming September 18th, get your skate, scuzz, and stoner rock fix with new album Forget What You Heard, serving up seven tracks of riffs and attitude.
You’ll likely recognize the names of most of these songs if you’ve been listening to us since the beginning. Over the years of playing these songs live, and with the addition of Kenny on bass, these songs have changed so much that we felt it was only right to re-record and re-release them in their final form. So Forget What You Heard in the past, this is how LáGoon really sounds.
LáGoon is a heavy riffing trio from Portland, Oregon that blends elements of punk, garage rock, doom, and stoner rock. They have released a large catalog of music, but are best known for their high energy shows.
The band has toured extensively and played with a number of notable bands including Nebula, Matt Pike vs the Automaton, Duel, Wo Fat, Mos Generator, and Sasquatch to name a few.
As always, the band’s next plans include playing live as much as possible. They’re also already working on new music for LáGoon and their other garagegaze project, OOPSY DAZEY.
The new album Forget What You Heard drops September 18th on vinyl via Interstellar Smoke Records and cassette via Evil Noise Recordings. Dig it.
Cover art: Connor Skooter Getzlaff
Tracklist: 1. Kill The Messenger (3:55) 2. You Tried (You Failed) (3:52) 3. Draculove (2:48) 4. Father Of Death (4:06) 5. Wheel Bite (4:11) 6. Skate Fast, Play Loud (3:01) 7. Smoke And Flesh (2:57)
LáGoon is: Brady Maurer – Drums Kenny Coombs – Bass Anthony Gaglia – Guitar/Vocals
Kiel, Germany, bong metal ritualists Earthbong will release their fourth album, Salutations to the Cultivators, on Oct. 23 through The Lasting Dose Records and Evil Noise Recordings. The day after that, they’ll be at the Church of Riffs to celebrate among the throng at this year’s Høstsabbat before undertaking more crush-you-in-person live activity in Germany in November, with more dates TBA for 2027. It is the band’s first studio outing since 2023’s Church of Bong (review here), and to mark this make-it-official announcement of the release, they’re premiering the track “Third Eye” — you know I love an eight-minute single — on the YouTube embed below. You’ll find it just above the righteous human-made cover art for the album.
Last year, the band sent forth the live-in-studio three-songer, Bring Your Lungs (review here), and “Third Eye” certainly stands in line with that effort in terms of the raw heft delivered and the unkind nature of the sound generally, but it’s also got a sense of space. This is not your friendly-fuzz, warm and inviting stonerism. This is flattened-by-the-edible-too-stoned couchlock and crush brought to bear in a world made mostly so it can be filled with the goo that was your sense of rational thinking. Sounds like hyperbole? Good. Extreme music should garner an extreme response, even if that’s staring straight ahead and loosing a “whoa” from the depths of your belly that comes up like the drums of Moria.
And maybe that’s fitting, since amid all that omegasludge and harsh rasp, there indeed lurks something ancient and monstrous in the reaches of “Third Eye,” which if it’s fostering enlightenment, it’s not without a price extracted. Death-doom pervades, extrapolating a vicious intensity from that most morose of metallic microgenres, and on that level, I am curious what Salutations to the Cultivators will bring. But October is so far away. Oh, however will we pass the time…
Enjoy:
Earthbong, “Third Eye” track premiere
Salutations to the Cultivators is Earthbong’s fourth album and their first for Berlin’s independent imprint The Lasting Dose Records. Unsurprisingly for a band whose past releases are entitled Church of Bong and Bring Your Lungs, this new record revolves around altered states and the craft of growing weed. “Bug” reimagines Kafka’s Metamorphosis as a stoner doom cautionary tale, the debut single “Third Eye” chases another state of perception while high, and “Harvester” and “Herbal Saints” honor the holy plant itself. Earth-shattering riffs collide with devastatingly heavy bass lines, mind-altering solos and the trio’s trademark caveman growls.
“‘Salutation to the Cultivators’ is a line taken from Sleep’s ‘Giza Butler’ track, as the album is meant as a homage, not only to the cultivators of weed but also to the cultivators of the stoner doom genre. As we have started with long-form songs and a more unconventional approach to songwriting and structures, we feel that this is our most accessible album yet,” says the band.
Tracked live over a weekend at Kassel’s Kulturzentrum Karnak, the album was recorded, mixed and mastered by Felix Margraf. It features guest contributions from Timo Fritz (Purple Dawn) and Feli (Frost, Pisse & Elend).
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Earthbong is a three-piece doom band from Kiel/Germany. The band was formed in 2018 and released three studio records, a live album and one EP so far. Earthbong are heading towards the riff-filled land with their unique blend of doom, metal and sludge: “They’re like a Bongzilla-Sleep-Milkshake. But they get it. They are their own thing.” (Mike Scheidt, YOB).
Earthbong has toured Australia in spring 2025, including headlining performances at Sun Burn Festival and Stoned To Death Fest Sydney and shared the stage with the ancestors of the bong metal genre like Bongzilla, Bongripper and Belzebong. They also supported bands such as The Obsessed, Unida and Firebreather. With more than 90 shows over the past years, including festivals like ReykjaDoom Festival (Iceland), Stoned From The Underground (DE), Rock in Bourlon (FR) and Hoflärm Open Air (DE), Earthbong earned a reputation as one of the heaviest and best live acts within the underground doom scene.
Their 4th studio album SALUTATIONS TO THE CULTIVATORS will be released on October 23rd 2026 via The Lasting Dose Records (Vinyl, CD, digital) and Evil Noise Recordings (Cassette), followed by a show at the legendary Høstsabbat Festival in Oslo/Norway. More shows and festivals for 2026/2027 are planned.
Earthbong live: 24.10. – NO – Høstsabbat Festival Oslo 19.11. – DE – Hamburg, MS Stubnitz 20.11. – DE – Berlin, Neue Zukunft 21.11. – DE – München, Black Mantra Festival
Posted in Whathaveyou on July 9th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
Once upon a long, long seven years ago, in autumn, I found myself in the basement of Kulturkirken Jakob to see Taiga Woods launch the second day of Høstsabbat 2018 (review here), which they did in rousing fashion. By then, their 2017 self-titled debut, which ran between desert-style riffing and excursions into more complex melody and heavy psychedelic divergences, was already out and processed by those fortunate enough to have taken it on, and I kind of lost track of the band on any level more than something cool I was lucky to see that one time I was.
Fans of Spidergawd, Truckfighters, Kyuss, who might be interested in hearing some ELO vocal harmonies that presage pretty much all of 2020’s heavy rock (I’m exaggerating, but not a ton), should probably stop reading now and check out the stream of the 2017 album at the bottom of this post. The news here is that Taiga Woods have linked up with Evil Noise Recordings to the end of releasing not a second full-length, but the collection Demos and Rarities Limited Edition that will go in-part toward funding the recording of their next album, though I admit I don’t know the status of that recording, i.e., whether or not such a thing exists in a tangible, off-to-mastering kind of way.
Given the span of time since the debut, I’m not holding my breath for Taiga Woods‘ second LP to be out this year. Not to say it couldn’t happen, but 2026 seems more likely, if they’re actually knuckling down and working on it. But forward motion still counts, and for those who dug the self-titled, Demos and Rarities Limited Edition should be a reminder of why.
From Evil Noise on socials:
EVIL NOISE RECORDINGS – 🌲TAIGA WOODS🌲
Super stoked to present Taiga Woods !
Taiga Woods have been working hard on their sophomore album, set to be released soon.
But first an exclusive release: Out August 29th, “Demos & Rarities Limited Edition” , is a collection of demos and rarities that will never be released elsewhere.
All income from this limited cassette will go to mixing and mastering Taiga Woods second album. This release will only be available through the band.
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.
This Friday, UK longform doomers Old Horn Tooth will release their second album, Mourning Light, via Evil Noise Recordings (tape) and their own London Doom Collective imprint. Prefaced by the 2021 standalone 21-minute-long single, “True Death” (review here), the four-song/68-minute sophomore outing gazes unflinchingly into the void of its own construction — a dark, densely humid weight of tone and purpose likewise realized in terms of the fervency of its riff worship and its downerism — and follows 2019’s debut, From the Ghost Grey Depths, with a strong, plodding and declarative step forward. Through “Precipice,” “No Salvation,” “Mourning Light” and “Invisible Agony,” the three-piece of guitarist/vocalist Chris Jones, bassist Ollie Isaac and drummer Mark Davidson (also credited with “griefcase,” which I’m going to assume is a laptop or some other kind of synthesizer apparatus) present themselves as monolithic but not monotonous and extreme in their approach but not without melodic accessibility or emotional resonance. That is to say, yeah, it’s a slog, but it’s very much the slog they intended it to be.
At nearly 17 minutes long, “Precipice” begins with a whole-album ambient intro before giving over to its first distorted rumblings and the march counted slowly in by Davidson‘s ride cymbal. The immediate touchstone in terms of modus is Monolord, but Old Horn Tooth carve their own niche in mountainous sounds as Jones‘ vocals echo in the mix’s deceptively broad space with a sense of longing that calls Warning to mind, and that continues to serve as a defining aspect of what they do as one verse gives way to the next, the trio departs to a more meditative instrumental stretch anchored around Isaac‘s bassline and lumber toward and through a suitable crescendo, fading to silence before the comparatively immediate impact of “No Salvation” arrives, quickly nestling into a grueling and punctuated roll topped with mournful lead guitar as preface for the condemnation narrative of the lyrics. By the time a few more minutes have passed, they’ve gone even further in this grim and consuming plunge, and as “No Salvation” nears its midpoint, the wash of distortion recedes and the drums momentarily depart, leaving a clean line of morose ambience soon given tension through kickdrum lubdubs.
It’s less a build than a setup for a burst, but whatever gets you there. At 9:22 into its total 14:38, “No Salvation” blows its own top (again) and renews the roll. Vocals come and go again in the unmired-but-engrossing nod, which culminates pretty much when they decide to let it come apart, having already given the repetition its due. The title-track follows, with a similar runtime and a smooth shift from its first-minute intro to the melancholic riff that earns the record’s title. “Mourning Light” holds the emotive crux for the album, and doubles as the catchiest of the four inclusions, with room for organ in its mix but an orthodox approach that keeps to some notion of being straight-ahead in its guitar-bass-drums-vocals arrangement despite the fact that nothing on Mourning Light is under 14 minutes long. Maybe it would’ve been too much, since part of what makes “Mourning Light” so effective is how it feels tied to classic and modern doom as Old Horn Tooth mold their niche within the genre. As if to say, “Nothin’ too fancy here, folks. Just some e’eryday dudes bangin’ out lengthy slabs o’ massive riffery.” Likewise humble and flattening.
“Mourning Light” ends quiet on guitar and so the drummed start of 21-minute closer “Invisible Agony” feel duly stark in their setting out before the guitar joins. As they have all along, the band bring a sense of patience to the finale — fairly sure if they weren’t willing to take their time, this music wouldn’t exist at all; the name of the game is ‘gradual’ — but when the bass starts rumbling the threat is clear. Right as they hit the six-minute mark, long after the hypnotic effect has been achieved, the lurch takes its full-toned form, still based around the flowing progression of the drums, but given heft through a semi-drone of low end and the self-assured course led by Jones‘ guitar. The verse starts eight minutes in and becomes part of that same movement, which pushes into a depressive swirl in a bleakly semi-psychedelic conclusion. It’s someplace they haven’t gone yet, so fair enough, but as with the launch of “Precipice,” the ending of “Invisible Agony” feels applied to the entire 2LP as much as to itself. And like much of what precedes it, it is vibrant in its misery without tipping over into actual melodrama or goofy posturing, finding a balance along its own deeply immersive wavelength.
Mourning Light streams in its entirety below, followed by more from the PR wire. Please enjoy:
Last heard slinging low slung fuzzed-out doom on their 2019 album, From the Ghost Grey Depths, this July will see the official worldwide release of Mourning Light, the brand-new studio album from London-based trio, Old Horn Tooth.
For any fans of the genre that have stalked the capital in recent years, chances are London Doom Collective has supplied you with ample opportunity to sample some of the finest underground bands in a live setting. Since 2020 – Ollie, Chris Jones, Mark Davidson, and Sean Durbin – have flexed their DIY muscle as friends, promoters, and three-quarter members of Old Horn Tooth to devastating effect. Now, with the band’s new album on the horizon, they finally turn their hand toward a new endeavour, releasing music on vinyl.
“Putting out a record ourselves through London Doom Collective is our own personal statement of independence,” explains bassist, Ollie Isaac. “It’s a testament to the power of the underground and a direct connection with the scene, people and international doom community that has supported, guided and helped us grow.”
Live Dates 24th August – Cambridge (w/The Grey) 25th August – Cosmic Vibration Fest, Sheffield 28th September – Riffolution Fest, Manchester 16th November – Tonehenge, Kent
Posted in Whathaveyou on June 4th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
There’s a special category for the kind of music Old Horn Tooth play; I like to call it “very, very heavy.” The UK trio’s new album, Mourning Light, imagines Warning and Monolord come together, and the doom that ensues is of marked impact. Comprised of just four tracks, it nonetheless runs 68 minutes, and is an immersive, righteous slog of a one-song-per-side 2LP, with as much thought given to the atmospheric stretches that offset the churning weight as to that weight itself. Literally and figuratively, there’s a lot to like about it.
July 5 is the release date, and preorders are up through London Doom Collective — in which the band I guess are involved; I’m not sure if I knew that or not — and Evil Noise Recordings, whose tapes rule. You’ll find the title-track streaming at the bottom of this post, and I’m sure there’s another single coming soon, like six minutes after this is posted because that’s 100 percent how it goes sometimes. One way to find out — by posting it.
So here goes:
Old Horn Tooth | London-based Doom Trio Usher in New Album and Single
The men behind London Doom Collective summon their heaviest and most fuzzed out riffs yet on follow-up to their 2019 debut…
Last heard slinging low slung fuzzed-out doom on their 2019 album, From The Ghost Grey Depths, this July will see the official worldwide release of Mourning Light, the brand-new studio album from London-based trio, Old Horn Tooth.
For any fans of the genre that have stalked the capital in recent years, chances are London Doom Collective has supplied you with ample opportunity to sample some of the finest underground bands in a live setting. Since 2020 – Ollie, Chris Jones, Mark Davidson, and Sean Durbin – have flexed their DIY muscle as friends, promoters, and three-quarter members of Old Horn Tooth to devastating effect. Now, with the band’s new album on the horizon, they finally turn their hands toward a new endeavour, releasing music on vinyl.
“Putting out a record ourselves through London Doom Collective is our own personal statement of independence,” explains bassist, Ollie Isaac. “It’s a testament to the power of the underground and a direct connection with the scene, people and international doom community that has supported, guided and helped us grow.”
Often drawing comparisons to the likes of Conan and Monolord, Old Horn Tooth are a stirring colossus that offer up hypnotic, megaton grooves of slow heavy riffage in thrall to the cosmos.
New single and the title track for Mourning Light is a perfect case in point. Serving as an epic fifteen-minute jaunt into the sinister undertones of doom it’s the centrepiece to a startling collection of new songs. All of which navigate the complexities of grief and the resilience of the human spirit.
“This particular song explores the bittersweet memories and hidden sadness accompanying loss, while also offering glimpses of potential hope in the ‘mourning light’. Through its journey from bleak despair to the final acceptance, it encapsulates a shared sorrow and solace in vulnerability.”
LIVE DATES: 24th August – Cambridge (w/The Grey) 25th August – Cosmic Vibration Fest, Sheffield 28th September – Riffolution Fest, Manchester 16th November – Tonehenge, Kent
Norwegian heavy rockers Masheena released their debut album, West Coast Hard Rock, this past Friday, Sept. 1, through Majestic Mountain Records. From the heavy hotbed of Bergen — home to, among others, Enslaved, Slomosa, Strange Horizon, Green Sky Accident, Bismarck, Kryptograf, Melt Motif, on and on across a range of genres — the four-piece of Luis-Alberto Salomon, Tarjei A. Heggernes (formerly Lost at Last), drummer Gerhard “Armagedda” Herfindal (ex-Immortal, I, etc.) and Ole Andre “El Mago” Farstad (Abbath) offer eight tracks in a 35-minute salvo of immediately-pro-shop performance and production.
The latter was helmed by producer Iver Sandøy (also drums/vocals in Enslaved), and when you add in a mix/master by thrice-over Clutch producer Machine, the output sounds as clear, sharp and full as any larger-scale, commercially relevant offering, without necessarily being that thing. In terms of general sound, one might recognize elements of latter-day Alice in Chains in Masheena tracks like “Under the Same Sun,” the semi-acoustic harmonies in “Looks Like a Man” (video premiere below) and the more-acoustic-but-still-not-completely-unplugged “Sun Remains” on side B, where the early vocals lug a Jerry Cantrell-esque burden.
That is only part of the conversation Masheena are having, however. Being on Norway’s west coast, they’re positioning themselves in terms of place and giving name to the varied style they show throughout these songs, richly melodic, able to be huge or intimate, deep-toned but accessible in its structure and presentation. From the hooky launch of opener “1979” — not a Smashing Pumpkins cover, thankfully; the PR wire tagged it as KISS-meets-Sabbath and I ain’t arguing — they’re also speaking to a sense of Gen-X nostalgia in rock and roll and communing with various aspects of American West Coast rock, from desert heavy and grunge to the sitar-laced psych flourish of “Where Are You Now,” engaging modernity in the lyrics of “Five Seconds of Fame” while at the same time tapping into a rocker strut of a lead line that becomes an increasingly spacious solo as the band gallops through the “Okay/It’s okay” reassurance in the back half, double-kick drum providing extra push and maybe showing some of the band’s metallic roots in making that choice, but not interrupting the flow or putting aggressive elements where the songs don’t want them.
Side A’s got hooks. Side B’s got hooks. Rest assured, here be hooks. West Coast Hard Rock isn’t trying to challenge its audience so much as carry it, and as broad as the layered chorus of “Under the Same Sun” is, Masheena never come remotely close to losing themselves or meandering from their purpose in craft. True, starting off with “1979” carries some risk in alienating post-Millennial heads, but (1:) that’ll last about as long as it takes to press play on the record and (2:) it’s likely honest to the band’s experience and what drove them to start this project in the first place, so I’m not about to knock it. And there’s a bit of burl in the repeated delivery of the title-line in “Looks Like a Man,” but rather than some chestbeating hyper-masculine trumpeting, the lyrics unfold a story about blacking out, maybe-murder, and the police investigation through its three verses as the electric/acoustic guitar blend gives a lush feel as they creep into the building chorus.
There, as well as in “Sun Remains” before and after the fuzz kicks in, in the breadth of the finale’s later reaches and in the relative thrust of the three-and-a-half-minute “Remember the Rain” just before, Masheena‘s songs are extroverted in their intention to affect the listener and loaded with aural details, little things here and there — the held bass note under the shuffle in “Five Seconds of Fame,” or the vocal arrangements in “Under the Same Sun” and “Looks Like a Man,” for example — to be found on repeat visits, which honestly seem to be the whole goal for the LP. To keep you coming back.
Masheena would seem to have built the material accordingly. From Sahg noted below to Grand Magus to any number of other examples, they exist as part of a decades-long history of Scandinavian heavy rock acts comprised of dudes from extreme metal outfits, but that’s only part of the story here. In concept, Masheena have more in common with their Motorpsycho-adacent countrymen Spidergawd, in that the material is straightforward on its face, still has an atmosphere — sun’s out, if you couldn’t tell — and rocks in such a way as to remind one that that’s all it needs to do when done well enough, which it is.
That’s probably more than one would reasonably ask of a newer band, even considering the context of pedigree/production, and they still get there in impressive and inviting fashion, with a batch of songs that are dynamic up to the last moments of “Where Are You Now,” with a heavy-prog roll and consuming, weighted, spacious and crashing outreach. It’ll probably be a few years before they follow it up, and when they do, it will be exciting to see how they grow their approach since four of these tracks — I’m going with side A — were from their initial demo, but West Coast Hard Rock sets its standard for longevity, and might just have delivered it. I’ll let you know in half a decade. Ha.
Video for “Looks Like a Man” premieres below, followed by more from the PR wire. Please enjoy:
Masheena, “Looks Like a Man” video premiere
Masheena on “Looks Like a Man”:
This video was shot over three hectic days on location in the North Coast of the Dominican Republic. Shot, directed and edited by New York -based director Lex Lukas, and video features members from Bergen’s Lovebugs and local rapper El Tampa.
In this video we follow the misadventures of former Austrian police detective Franz Hölzer (@derkommisarfranz) trying to solve a case and keep himself together in a tropical paradise. In between pristine beaches, lush tropical vegetation and pool parties we witness his failed interactions with locals, tourists and expats alike.
Video for the track “Looks Like A Man” from the album “West Coast Hard Rock” out on @majesticmountainrecords (vinyl) @TalonRecordsUSA (CD and cassette) Evil Noise Recordings (cassette) and on all digital platforms. Filmed and Edited by @LexLukas1 / @OutDuhBoxMedia. Story by Masheena and Lex Lukas. Featuring performances by @eltampa7133 and @norwegianlovebugs. Filmed on location in The Dominican Republic.
In 2021, Luis-Alberto Salomon started sharing demos with his longtime friend Tarjei A. Heggernes. Before Masheena, Luis had been a vocal and instrumental cornerstone in Royal Rooster, while Tarjei played bass and drove the rhythm for Lost at Last. Seeing the potential in the demos, Tarjei jumped on board, and also roped in Gerhard Herfindal, better known as Armagedda; A legendary drummer, who has played with formidable acts such as Immortal, I, and Demonaz. The ensemble was completed with the inclusion of Luis’s friend, multi-instrumentalist Ole Andre Farstad aka “El Mago”, current lead guitarist for Abbath.
The group soon decided to form a band, and the raw mixes of their initial four songs, originally slated to form an EP, piqued the interest of the revered label Majestic Mountain Records. Impressed with the sound, the label urged the band to develop a full-length album.
The recording sessions took place at Solslottet Studio in the band’s hometown of Bergen, Norway, with the assistance of another long-time friend, the award-winning producer and Enslaved drummer, Iver Sandøy. For the crucial process of mixing and mastering, they turned to the industry titan known as Machine. As a Clutch fan, Tarjei relished the opportunity to collaborate with the wizard who had shaped the sound of legendary albums like Blast Tyrant and Earth Rocker.
Regarding the album’s title and artwork, Tarjei aka “El Profesor” provides an insight: “Bergen is renowned for its diverse musical genres, from Black Metal to Tropical House. However, the west coast of Norway has always nurtured a vibrant hard rock scene, boasting bands like Kvelertak, Audrey Horne, Sahg, Kal-El, and more. We also draw inspiration from the (US) west coast rock of the ‘70s, the ‘80s LA scene, and the Seattle-based hard rock of the ‘90s. West Coast Hard Rock! For the artwork, we commissioned LA tattoo artist Chon Hernandez, known for his work on Clutch’s Blast Tyrant cover. We requested coastal elements and a potential robot. The resulting hand-drawn masterpiece was nothing short of astonishing, exceeding our wildest dreams!”
German megasludgers Earthbong are set to issue their third album, Church of Bong, Aug. 25 on tape via Evil Noise Recordings, with Black Farm Records vinyl to follow shortly thereafter. The Kiel-based three-piece issued their Proceed as One EP earlier this year, and have been basking in dense, low, 100MG-per-gummy riffing since their first demo in 2018 (review here), plunging deeper into resinous muck with their 2018 debut album, One Earth One Bong, and 2020’s Bong Rites (review here), the abiding idolatry amid all the rumble and semi-caustic noise being directed to the ultra-dug-in heavy likes of Bongzilla and a tonal attack that should remind of Conan, volume begetting volume in duly excessive proportion. Riffs piled on riffs piled on you, that kind of thing.
Church of Bong — perhaps a play on Belgian post-metallers Amenra‘s self-proclaimed ‘church of Ra?’; part of me hopes so — is two tracks and 39 minutes long, which considering the first two records both topped an hour feels like a direct choice of a single LP format. With it, the three-piece of bassist/vocalist Mersel “Selly” Nuhiji, guitarist Claas “Ogo” Ogorek and drummer Tommy Handschick offer the on-theme “Bong Aeterna” (18:59) and “Dies Bongrae” (20:36; video premiering below) as respective A and B sides, putting ars gratia artis to a test against purposefully wretched tectonic largesse. “Smoke weed until you fucking die,” chants the second cut in repetitions as the back half unfolds, answering the destructive lurch of its predecessor with a likeminded swallowing-whole vibe, even if for being so cannabinoid Earthbong don’t forget to make friends with some fungus either. The doom of shroom, perhaps, sneaking its way into the band’s sonic lair, which one imagines as a cavern filled with grow lights, meticulously arranged rows of pointy leaves sticking into the makeshift aisles; no pesticides, no actual sunlight, and life blossoming just the same. Chlorophyll is some magical shit.
And on the walls of that cavern, a lysergic fungus grows that manifests itself fluidly in both “Bong Aeterna” and “Dies Bongrae.” Look. I know there’s a whole league of bands around with ‘bong’ in their name, and for-stoner-by-stoner riff worship isn’t necessarily new, but if you let Earthbong go as a result of prejudice against either, you miss out. Not just on the onslaught. Building off of where they were Bong Rites, Nuhiji, Ogorek and Handschick bring a jammy chemistry to the procession of Church of Bong, resulting in pieces that are laid back even as they seem to be gnashing very large and monstrously sharp teeth. “Bong Aeterna,” after about seven minutes of extreme sludge lumber and death-stench zombie march, uses feedback and downwardly cascading tom hits to shift smoothly and gradually into a bassy exploration that still holds some residual threat — make no mistake, they come back huge after the 12-minute mark — but is much more subdued in its actual form, ambient guitar flourish joining the rhythm section’s steady flow.
If you’ve already been hypnotized or made swollen to the point of numbness by the first section of the song, it would be easy to miss, but that relatively brief jam is a part of the growth that Earthbong have undertaken over the last half-decade. In an aesthetic — they call it ‘bong metal,’ which I guess is fair enough; you could go with ‘bong doom’ to emphasize the riffs, but that’s splitting hairs — that seems to tout willful regression among its tenets in fostering big riffs played loudly, shouted over if possible and glacial in tempo, such divergence is notable, and “Dies Bongrae” follows suit structurally, fading in on biting feedback for its first minute before even thinking about introducing a riff, plunging into an abyss of sludgy nod and periodic bellowing. There are definitely lyrics to “Dies Bongrae” beyond the above-noted “Smoke weed till you fucking die,” but the last time that line is delivered as the song moves past its own 12th minute is especially punishing with an additional layer of shout joining the rasping growl. The turn happens there, and the included jam feels daringly mellow before it builds to layers of psych-tinged guitar shred, comes back screaming and giant-sloths its way to a sensory overload of a finish, feedback, soloing, throatrippers, crash, the whole deal. It’s like Earthbong decided to finish Church of Bong by razing the building, and maybe that’s the right idea.
With monolithic realization, Earthbong stand astride their third record with a sure notion of themselves as a group and a sense of spontaneity if not improvisation that complements the ur-stone doom revelry. The trio performed “Dies Bongrae” (a somewhat shorter version at just under 17 minutes) in January for a livestream event, and you can see the result premiering below. In a word, you would call it ‘heavy.’
Please enjoy:
Earthbong, “Dies Bongrae” video premiere
Earthbong on “Dies Bongrae”:
Dies Bongrae is the second song of our new album Church Of Bong. The title is a bongification of the roman rite requiem dies irae (day of wrath), which is also cited musically in the middle of the song. The message of the song is this: SMOKE WEED UNTIL YOU FUCKING DIE!
The live video is part of a video live session that was recorded on January 14th 2023 in Lübeck as a part of the localconcerts.stream-project.
ONE EARTH ONE BONG
Dies Bongrae is the second song of Earthbong’s new album CHURCH OF BONG that will be out on August 25th 2023 through Black Farm Records and Evil Noise Recordings.
Church Of Bong was written over the course of the past three years. The final form of the album was recorded live at Dickfehler Studio / East Frisia in August 2022 by Hanno Janssen and Johnny Röhl. The cover artwork was once again made by Rino Pelli who is the artist behind all album covers of the band. The album will be released on vinyl through Black Farm Records (France) and tape through Evil Noise Recordings (Norway).
Digital and tape release is set for August 25th 2023. On this day pre-order for the vinyl edition starts, too. Vinyl release of Church Of Bong is scheduled for November 2023.
A repress of their sold-out 2nd album Bong Rites and a vinyl release of their first album One Earth One Bong which was only released on tape so far are both scheduled for November 2023, too. Both albums will be released as double LP through Black Farm Records.
Earthbong is: Mersel (Selly) Nuhiji: bass + vocals Claas (Ogo) Ogorek: guitar Thomas (Tommy) Handschick: drums
