We meet again! The second week of this amply-proportioned Quarterly Review begins today as we move ever closer toward the inevitable 100-album finish line on Friday. There is an incredible amount of music to get through this week, so I don’t want to delay for too long, but as we look out across the vast stretch of distortion to come, I need to say thank you for reading, and I hope that you’ve been able to find something that’s kicking your ass a little bit in all the right ways so far. If not, well, there are 50 more records on the way for you to give it another shot.

Here goes.

Quarterly Review #51-60:

Thou, Magus

How can something be so raw and forward thinking at the same time? Baton Rouge’s Thou might be the band of their generation who’ve added the most to sludge in terms of pushing the style in new directions and shaping genre to their purposes. Magus (on Sacred Bones), their fourth or fifth full-length depending on whom you ask, is an overwhelming 75-minute 2LP of inward and outward destructive force, as heavy in its ambience as in its weight and throat-ripping sonic extremity, and yet somehow is restrained. To listen to the march of “Transcending Dualities,” there’s such a sense of seething happening beneath the surface of that chugging, marching riff, and after its creeping introduction, “In the Kingdom of Meaning” seems intent on beating its own rhythm, as in, with fists, and even a stop-by from frequent guest vocalist Emily McWilliams does little to detract from that impression. Along with Magus, which rightly finishes with the lurching threat of “Supremacy,” Thou have released three EPs and a split this year, so their pace runs in something of a contrast to their tempos, but whether you can keep up or not, Thou continue to press forward in crafting pivotal, essential brutalizations.

Thou website

Sacred Bones Records website

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Liquid Visions, Hypnotized

Sulatron Records‘ pressing of Liquid Visions‘ 2002 debut, Hypnotized, is, of course, a reissue, but also the first time the album has been on vinyl, and it’s not long into opener “State of Mind” or the grunge-gone-classic-psych “Waste” before they earn the platter. Members of the band would go on to participate in acts like Zone Six, Wedge, Electric Moon and Johnson Noise, so it’s easy enough to understand how the band ties into the family tree of underground heavy psych in Berlin, but listening to the glorious mellow-unfolding-into-noise-wash-freakout of 15-minute closer “Paralyzed,” the appeal is less about academics than what the five-piece of vocalists/guitarists H.P. Ringholz (also e-sitar) and Kiryk Drewinski (also organ), bassist Dave “Sula Bassana” Schmidt (also Fender Rhodes and Mellotron), drummer Chris Schwartzkinsky and thereminist Katja Wolff were able to conjure in terms of being both ahead of their time and behind it. As the album moves from its opening shorter tracks to the longer and more expansive later material, it shows its original CD-era linearity, but if an LP reissue is what it takes to get Hypnotized out there again, so be it. I doubt many who hear it will complain.

Liquid Visions on Thee Facebooks

Sulatron Records webstore

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Benthic Realm, We Will Not Bow

The second short release from Benthic Realm behind a 2017 self-titled EP (review here) finds the Massachusetts-based trio of guitarist/vocalist Krista van Guilder (ex-Second Grave, ex-Warhorse), bassist Maureen Murphy (ex-Second Grave) and drummer Dan Blomquist (also Conclave) working toward a refined approach bridging the divide between doom and darker, harder hitting metal. They do this with marked fluidity, van Guilder shifting smoothly between melodic clean singing and harsher screams as Murphy and Blomquist demonstrate like-minded ease in turns of pace and aggression. The penultimate semi-title-track “I Will Not Bow” is an instrumental, but “Save us All,” “Thousand Day Rain” and closer “Untethered” — the latter with some Slayer ping ride and ensuing double-kick gallop — demonstrate the riff-based songwriting that carries Benthic Realm through their stylistic swath and ultimately ties their ideas together. If they think they might be ready for a debut full-length, they certainly sound that way.

Benthic Realm on Thee Facebooks

Benthic Realm website

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Ape Machine, Darker Seas

Maybe Ape Machine need to make a video with cats playing their instruments or something, but five albums deep, the Portland outfit seem to be viciously underrated. Releasing Darker Seas on Ripple, they take on a more progressive approach with songs like “Piper’s Rats” donning harmonized vocals and more complex interplay with guitar. It’s a more atmospheric take overall — consider the acoustic/electric beginning of “Watch What You Say” and it’s semi-nod to seafaring Mastodon, the likewise-unplugged and self-awarely medieval “Nocturne in D Flat (The Jester)” and the rocking presentation of what’s otherwise fist-pumping NWOBHM on “Bend Your Knee” — but Ape Machine have always been a band with songwriting at their center, and even as they move into the best performances of their career, hitting a point of quality that even producer Steve Hanford (Poison Idea) decided to join them after the recording as their new drummer, there’s no dip in the quality of their work. I don’t know what it might take to get them the attention they deserve — though a cat video would no doubt help — but if Darker Seas underscores anything, it’s that they deserve it.

Ape Machine on Thee Facebooks

Ripple Music on Bandcamp

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Under, Stop Being Naive

Stockport, UK, three-piece Under bring a progressive edge to their pummel with their second album, Stop Being Naive (on APF), beginning with the deceptively thoughtful arrangement of crushing opener and longest track (immediate points) “Malcontent,” which unfurls a barrage of riffs and varied vocals contributed by guitarist Simon Mayo, bassist Matt Franklin and drummer/keyboardist Andy Preece. Later cuts like “Soup” and “Grave Diggers” tap into amorphous layers of extremity, and “Happy” punks out with such tones as to remind of the filth that became grindcore in the UK nearly 40 years ago, but while “Big Joke” rolls out with a sneer and closer “Circadian Driftwood” has a more angular foundation, there’s an overarching personality that comes through Under‘s material that feels misanthropic and critical in a way perhaps best summarized by the record’s title. Stop Being Naive is sound enough advice, and it comes presented with a fervent argument in its own favor.

Under on Thee Facebooks

APF Records webstore

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Evil Triplet, Have a Nice Trip

Trimming the runtime of their 2017 debut, Otherworld (review here) nearly in half, Austin weirdo rockers Evil Triplet present the six-song/38-minute single LP Have a Nice Trip on Super Secret with classic garage buzz tone on “A Day Like Any Other,” a cosmic impulse meeting indie sneer on opener “Space Kitten” and a suitably righteous stretch-out on “Aren’t You Experienced?” — which is just side A of the thing. The pulsating “Open Heart” might be the highlight for its Hawkwindian drive and momentary drift, but “Pyramid Eye”‘s blown-out freakery isn’t to be devalued, and the eight-minute capper “Apparition” is dead on from the start of its slower march through the end of its hook-topped jam, reminding of the purpose behind all the sprawl and on-their-own-wavelength vibes. A tighter presentation suits Evil Triplet and lets their songs shine through while still highlighting the breadth of their style and its unabashed adventurousness. May they continue to grow strange and terrify any and all squares they might encounter.

Evil Triplet on Thee Facebooks

Super Secret Records website

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Vestjysk Ørken, Cosmic Desert Fuzz

To a certain extent, what you see is what you get on Vestjysk Ørken‘s debut EP, Cosmic Desert Fuzz. At very least, the Danish trio’s three-tracker first outing is aptly-named, and guitarist/vocalist Bo Sejer, bassist Søren Middelkoop Nielsen and drummer Thomas Bonde Sørensen indeed tap into space, sand and tone on the release, but each song also has a definite theme derived from cinema. To wit, “Dune” (11:41) samples Dune, “…Of the Dead” (9:13) taps into the landmark George Romero horror franchise, and “Solaris” (14:15) draws from the 1972 film of the same name. The spaciousness and hypnotic reach of the latter has an appeal all its own in its extended and subtle build, but all three songs not only pay homage to these movies but seem to work at capturing some aspect of their atmosphere. Vestjysk Ørken aren’t quite rewriting soundtracks, but they’re definitely in conversation with the works cited, and with an entire universe of cinema to explore, there are accordingly no limits as to where they might go. Something tells me it won’t be long before we find out how deep their obsession runs.

Vestjysk Ørken on Instagram

Vestjysk Ørken on Bandcamp

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Dawn of Winter, Pray for Doom

I have no interest in playing arbiter to what’s “true” in doom metal or anything else, and neither am I qualified to do so. Instead, I’ll just note that Germany’s Dawn of Winter, who trace their roots back nearly 30 years and have released full-lengths on a one-per-decade basis in 1998, 2008 and now 2018 with Pray for Doom, have their house well in order when it comes to conveying the classic tenets of the genre. Issued through I Hate, the eight-track/51-minute offering finds drummer Dennis Schediwy punctuating huge nodder grooves led by Jörg M. Knittel‘s riffs, while bassist Joachim Schmalzried adds low end accentuation and frontman Gerrit P. Mutz furthers the spirit of traditionalism on vocals. Songs like “The Thirteenth of November” and the stomping “The Sweet Taste of Ruin” are timeless for being born too late, and in the spirit of Europe’s finest trad doom, Dawn of Winter evoke familiar aspects without directly worshiping Black Sabbath or any of their other aesthetic forebears. Pray for Doom is doom, because doom, by doomers, for doomers. The converted will be accordingly thrilled to hear them preach.

Dawn of Winter on Thee Facebooks

I Hate Records website

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Pale Heart, Jungeland

Semi-retroist Southern heavy blues boogie, some tight flourish of psychedelia, and the occasional foray into broader territory, Stuttgart three-piece Pale Heart‘s StoneFree debut long-player, Junegleland is striking in its professionalism and, where some bands might sacrifice audio fidelity at the altar of touching on a heavy ’70s aesthetic, guitarist/vocalist Marc Bauer, key-specialist Nico Bauer and drummer Sebastian Neumeier (since replaced by Marvin Schaber) present their work in crisp fashion, letting the construction of the songs instead define the classicism of their influence. Low end is filled out by Moog where bass might otherwise be, and in combination with Hammond and Fender Rhodes and other synth, there’s nothing as regard missing frequencies coming from Jungleland, the nine songs of which vary in their character but are universally directed toward honing a modern take on classic heavy, informed as it is by Southern rock, hard blues and the tonal warmth of yore. A 50-minute debut is no minor ask of one’s audience in an age of fickle Bandcamp attentions, but cuts like the 12-minute “Transcendence” have a patience and character that’s entrancing without trickery of effects.

Pale Heart on Thee Facebooks

StoneFree Records website

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Slowbro, Nothings

UK instrumentalist three-piece Slowbro‘s full-length debut, Nothings, brings forth eight tracks and 51 minutes of heavy-ended sludge rock notable for the band’s use of dueling eight-string guitars instead of the standard guitar/bass setup. How on earth does something like that happen? I don’t know. Maybe Sam Poole turned to James Phythian one day and was like, “Hey, I got two eight-string guitars. So, band?” and then a band happened. Zeke Martin — and kudos to him on not being intimidated by all those strings — rounds out on drums and together the trio embark on cuts like “Sexlexia” (a very sexy learning disability, indeed) and “Broslower,” which indeed chugs out at a considerably glacial pace, and “Fire, Fire & Fire,” which moves from noise rock to stonerly swing with the kind of aplomb that can only be conjured by those who don’t give a shit about style barriers. It’s got its ups and downs, but as Nothings — the title-track of which quickly cuts to silence and stays there until a final crash — rounds out with “Pisscat” and the eight-strings go ever so slightly post-rock, it’s hard not to appreciate the willful display of fuckall as it happens. It’s a peculiar kind of charm that makes it both charming and peculiar.

Slowbro on Thee Facebooks

Creature Lab Records website

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[Click play above to stream ‘We are the Aliens’ from Evil Triplet’s debut album, Otherworld. Release date is Feb. 10 on Super Secret Records.]

Like any good rocket launch, Evil Triplet‘s Otherworld works in stages. The Austin trio make their debut on Super Secret Records with the nine-song 2LP, clocking in at an unmanageable 72 minutes and veering their way between post-punk experimentalism and laid back cosmic rock. What are the likely side splits — three songs on side A, and two each on sides B, C and D — don’t quite tell the whole tale of how the album breaks down over a linear CD/DL listen, but one way or another, Evil Triplet conjure a sonic goo of just-sub-blissful tonality and keep themselves grounded despite never seeming to actually fully come to earth. Even on “Get a Job,” which is the most depressing song I’ve heard this month, they retain an airy undertone in the guitar work of Steve Marsh (also vocals) atop the push of drummer Kirk Laktas and the bass of Joe Volpi.

Despite this being Evil Triplet‘s first offering, all three members of the band have a history behind them, with Marsh having been in Terminal Mind, while Laktas has played in Cinders and My Education, among others, and Volpi in The Flood as well as Cinders and others. Does that experience help them keep afloat as “Get a Job” veers into a wash of downer abrasion toward its finish or help them balance space rock and structural nuance on opening duo “Star Ladder” and “Fungus?” I don’t know, but clearly these guys have had fun being weirdos for a long time, and now they’re very clearly having fun being weirdos together. Texas has a long tradition of anything-goes noise-infused anti-genre rock and roll. Evil Triplet fit well into it by not fitting at all.

There are moments where one is reminded of fellow Austin-dweller Mark Deutrom and his work with Bellringer‘s debut album last year, but as Evil Triplet move past side A and continue to flesh out across the dreamy “Planet I’m On” and the extended, mostly-drifting 10:55 “Post Group Date Scene” on side B, their vision becomes more distinct. Infused with organ and an initially wistful guitar strum, “Planet I’m On” holds some measure of sentimentality even after Marsh‘s vocals and Laktas‘ drums kick in and it swells to a more active thrust en route to a lengthy guitar solo that arrives just past the three-minute mark and does not relinquish until the end; Evil Triplet setting the course outward and following it vividly. “Post Group Date Scene” works in more of a late-’60s psychedelic vein as regards the guitar and background swirl, with vocals that seem to nod at Mario Lalli of Fatso Jetson and lost desert ceremonies in general. An emergent gallop leads to another flowing solo from Marsh, over toms and a fluid bassline, and just before eight minutes in, Laktas changes the drum progression to a more active beat and carries the rest of the track outward, like some lost moment that George Martin would’ve made The Beatles fade out of — all that’s missing is backmasked hidden messages about who buried whom.

The subsequent turn into “Pyramids” might feel more earthly, with its chug and straightforward beginning, but in reality the song is the beginning point of Otherworld‘s next stage — the second LP. Listening to digital files, one could argue “Post Group Date Scene” as the stretch that breaks them through the atmosphere. I’m not inclined to fight either way, but hearing the tracks with four sides in mind, even rounding out the first platter with the record’s longest track feels like a setup for what’s to come in side C’s “Pyramids” (9:02) and “We are the Aliens” (8:59),  and side D’s “Worship Satin” (7:16) and “Road Trips” (10:13), and those turn out to be where the expanse in Evil Triplet‘s approach more fully takes hold.

By the start of side C, Evil Triplet have already shown they’re ready to let a song go where it will behind Marsh‘s guitar, and the back half of “Pyramids” works similarly with an improvised feel, departing its verses in favor of a swirling psych jam, effects layered across for added texture that fade out into the speedier push of “We are the Aliens,” which makes a fitting complement for its catchiness early on and departure into a reach of effects noise that winds up being the last element remaining after the rest of the song has split, like some lost radio broadcast sent outside the solar system. Keys play a significant role in the jam, setting a relatively simple progression under the guitar that gives Volpi and Laktas another element to work with in the rhythm. Spaced. Thoroughly. When Evil Triplet decide to go, they go.

Side D opener “Worship Satin” (get it?) finds an anchor early on in repetitions of its title, listing various places and times one might worship satin, but has notions of its own departure lurking beneath the surface that, sure enough, come to fruition as it marches through its second half, this time even with Laktas getting in on the noise wash via cymbal crash and tom runs — a fitting cacophony that, though the song is shorter, is no less striking than that of “We are the Aliens” or “Pyramids” before it. All this space makes “Road Trips” a somewhat curious end. Tires on asphalt? That doesn’t run on nuclear fusion! Nonetheless, with a subtle emotional current of piano alongside the wailing guitar, “Road Trips” begins surprisingly tethered to terra firma, and as Marsh runs through a list of places been, things seen and deeds done, missed buses and so on, the vibe is an engaging blend of the lysergic and the lucid.

Of course, they arrive in Fresno and that becomes the locale from which the song shifts into its final instrumental movement, but the piano stays, so as much as the guitar turns to scorch, there’s still something to keep a foot on the ground before the somewhat cold, sudden ending. It makes a difference, and though Evil Triplet‘s scope proves plenty wide throughout Otherworld, the last of its motions adds a reminder to the listener of a consciousness at work driving all the madness surrounding. No challenge to chalk that up to experience on the part of the trio, but there are plenty who’ve been around for whom the sorts of chaos in which Evil Triplet traffic would simply be too much to hold together. On their sprawling debut, they handle it easily.

Evil Triplet on Thee Facebooks

Super Secret Records website

Rest assured that although Austin’s Evil Triplet put forth a track on their forthcoming Super Secret Records debut called ‘Get a Job,’ the sundry freakouts on offer across the 2LP are way more likely to make you want to quit the one you’ve already got than pretend on any level you’re a productive member of society. I’m not saying I’ve heard the thing or that I’m listening to it as I type this or whatnot, but it’s pretty telling that “Get a Job” is followed by “Planet I’m On.” That basically sets up the dichotomy right there. Dudes are tripped out, is what I’m saying. Immersive like heavy psych should be, but with some raw underpinnings that convey the punk lineage of guitarist/vocalist Steve Marsh without — miraculously without — aping The Stooges any more than anyone does by simply existing. Again, not saying I’ve heard it, but I dig the vibe.

There’s some live video below you can check out if you’re so inclined, and abundant background from the PR wire to dig into. Have at it:

Evil Triplet – Heavy psych by Austin punk pioneer ex-Terminal Mind, w/ mbrs of My Education, Cinders

Austin trio Evil Triplet announce their forthcoming double LP debut album Otherworld on Super Secret Records.

Evil Triplet is a heavy psych trio from Austin, TX. The space rock behemoth is comprised of Steve Marsh (guitar and vocals), Kirk Laktas (drums), and Joe Volpi (bass).

Marsh traces back to Terminal Mind, a seminal band in the Austin punk scene of the late 70s that spawned The Big Boys and The Dicks (Super Secret offshoot Sonic Surgery Records will be reissuing Terminal Mind’s original recorded output, plus unreleased studio and live tracks, later in 2017). He then led Miracle Room, a psychedelic industrial hoedown that shared stages with Snakefinger, Butthole Surfers, Scratch Acid, Negativland, and Sonny Sharrock, among others, and morphed into Wisdom Tooth, which released a CD on Knitting Factory’s imprint.

Kirk is the keyboard wizard in post-rock bands My Education and Cinders, and was an early member of Stars Of The Lid. He has worked sessions with Acid Mothers Temple, Shearwater, Pauline Oliveros and ST37.

Mr Volpi toured and recorded with Primordial Undermind, as well as lending his chops to countless other Austin bands, including The Flood and Reverend Glasseye. He also performs a dark acoustic song cycle solo as Kaiser Soze, and plays standup bass in Cinders.

Evil Triplet recorded their debut opus at Sonic Ranch Studios, in the desert outside El Paso, TX. The sound is lush, lysergic and overpowering. In addition to the solid foundation of classic heavy guitar rock, there are multiple points of experimentation, with Marsh attacking the electric guitar with vibrator, drill, electric razor and music box. There are also underlying synth loops, piano and organ, all in service to the tripped-out material, with lyrics covering such topics as space, mushrooms, human consciousness as alien possession, and a plea from Lucifer to his minions to stay in school.

The record will be distributed by Revolver USA and available in 180g vinyl and CD at record stores and by mail order from Super Secret Records. The band will be touring to support the record release this Spring, so get ready to be absorbed into Evil Triplet’s Otherworld!

Otherworld will be available on LP, CD and download on February 10th, 2017 via Super Secret Records.

Artist: Evil Triplet
Album: Otherworld
Label: Super Secret Records
Release date: February 10th, 2017

01) Star Ladder
02) Fungus
03) Get a Job
04) Planet I’m On
05) Post Group Date Scene
06) Pyramids
07) We Are The Aliens
08) Worship Satin
09) Road Trips

facebook.com/eviltriplet
supersecretrecords.com

Evil Triplet, Live in Austin, TX, July 23, 2016