Dresden-based progressive blues/heavy psych rockers Gavial will release their new album, Thanks, I Hate It, on Jan. 23 through Exile on Mainstream. The band, which has its roots in the moniker Tourette Boys, issued VOR in 2023 as their first outing under the new banner, and they lead into the follow-up with the opening song as the first single in “Control.” The new song gives strong All Them Witches vibes in the vocals, but in its second half, departs toward a different kind of prog-psych fluidity from that bluesier start. Of course, the lesson, keep on your toes or you won’t know where you’ll end up.

Fair enough. The video for “Control” you’ll find below along with the Bandcamp player, and the PR wire brought copious info (the more the merrier) and the preorder links where one might chase the LP down ahead of its arrival next month. It all goes like this:

GAVIAL: German Psychedelic Blues/Post-Rock Band To Release New LP, Thanks, I Hate It, Via Exile On Mainstream January 23rd; “Control” Video Premiered + Preorders Posted

Germany’s GAVIAL has completed work on their new LP, Thanks, I Hate It. The band will release the album through their allies at Exile On Mainstream in January, today unveiling its cover art, preorders, and more, alongside a premiere of the lead single/video, hosted by Everything Is Noise.

Nearly three years have passed since GAVIAL – formerly known as Tourette Boys – released their VOR LP with an updated lineup. Since then, the band – guitarist/vocalist Benjamin Butter, drummer Conrad Brod, bassist Paul Kollascheck, and guitarist Paul-Willy Stoyan – has been operating from the Berlin–Dresden–Leipzig triangle. While most songs on VOR were already written by the time Kollascheck joined the band, the focus afterward shifted: writing together as a four-piece and allowing the bass to become a more active force in shaping the music.

The results of this intense creative period can now be heard on GAVIAL’s new album, Thanks, I Hate It. Here, the band stretches its fingers in many different directions. The opener, “Control,” takes a minimalist approach, concentrating on fusing diverse soundscapes. With “Koru Mindset,” the band ventures into up-tempo territory for the first time, driven by beat and rhythm at its core. In contrast, “Grow” taps into a more classic blues feel, while “Pretender” and “Leviathan” dive into long, sprawling psychedelic jams. The track “Wandern” offers a reinterpretation of an older band song — a piece that further highlights how seamlessly the quartet now works together. The album closes with a cover of Chris Isaak’s “Wicked Game.”

As with VOR, the new material is deeply shaped by the cultural, social, and political realities of our time. The album title itself captures the band’s pointed response: Thanks, I Hate It. A reaction to a world burning; societies fueled by hate; technologies drifting away from serving humanity; militarism rising once again; human rights ignored or unrealized; institutions riddled with corruption; and individuals claiming the wealth of all for themselves.

Recorded by GAVIAL in their band rehearsal space, Thanks, I Hate It was mixed by the band’s Benjamin Butter – who also created the cover art and videos for the record – and was mastered by Bernard Camillieri at Xekillton Studios, Malta.

With the video for the lead single and opening track, “Control,” Benjamin Butter writes, “The video for ‘Control’ starts in a classic way: the four musicians of the band GAVIAL are playing music in their rehearsal room. The video deliberately avoids a complex story and focuses on the stylistic design. Right at the beginning, the camera’s view is forced through night vision goggles, which from then on determine the stylistic direction with their striking green coloring. The focus shifts from a single perspective to a multitude of perspectives running in parallel, allowing the eye to jump from one focal point to another across the screen. The video thus turns the viewer into a restless observer who seems to be looking through the lenses of various surveillance cameras.

“With the resurgence of militarism in Europe, images documenting the killing on the battlefields of our planet from the perspective of drones have become increasingly common. From a seemingly safe distance, the horrors of war are transmitted almost live to thousands of screens.

“The video increasingly disrupts this aesthetic with visual artifacts. In the last third, ‘the broadcast’ is interrupted by a visually stunning collage that more and more transforms into an eye looking back at the viewer. The observer is now, in a sense, being ‘monitored’ in an allegory for the dwindling autonomy in our increasingly digitized society.

“In the end, ‘the broadcast’ is restored. However, all the people have turned into shadows and ghosts. What happened to the musicians in this iconoclasm remains unclear. The video ends with a sense of uncertainty that is so palpable when we look at our reality now: are you still observing or are you right in the middle of this video?”

The video makes its worldwide premiere via Everything Is Noise, who writes how the song, “…shows the band leaning into a bass driven groove with a steady drum beat, and guitars that flirt with the blues. Guitarist/vocalist Benjamin Butter delivers clear, melodious lyrics as the song progresses that echo my sentiments. ‘Control’ gradually builds in krautrock fashion revealing psych-rock crescendos with guitars swirling into the song’s gnarly climax. Butter also directed the video which shows glimpses of the band playing along with found footage behind night vision greens and blues during the build-up before bursting into a Technicolor visual collage that morphs into an eye watching the viewer back, a fitting and trippy visual accompaniment to ‘Control’ that ends with the band as ghostly shadows.”

Thanks, I Hate It will be released on Exile On Mainstream on black vinyl bundled with a CD and digitally on January 23rd. Physical preorders are live at the label webshop HERE: https://shop.mainstreamrecords.de/product/eom117

Digital preorders are up at Bandcamp HERE: https://gavial.bandcamp.com/album/thanks-i-hate-it

Presaves can be found HERE: https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/gavial/thanks-i-hate-it

Additional previews of the album and news will be posted over the weeks ahead as we head into the new year.

Thanks, I Hate It Track Listing:
1. Control
2. Koru Mindset
3. Pretender
4. Grow
5. Leviathan
6. Wandern
7. Wicked Game (Chris Isaak cover)

GAVIAL has booked two shows with Mriodom and labelmates Gaffa Ghandi to close out the year and is booking a release tour across Germany to take place in May. Additional live news will be posted shortly.

GAVIAL Live:
12/20/2205 Neue Zukunft – Berlin, DE w/ Gaffa Ghandi, Mriodom
12/21/2025 Chemiefabrik – Dresden, DE w/ Gaffa Ghandi, Mriodom

https://linktr.ee/gavialband
https://gavial.bandcamp.com
https://www.instagram.com/gavialband
https://www.facebook.com/Gavialband

http://www.mainstreamrecords.de
https://www.youtube.com/@exileonmainstream3639
https://www.instagram.com/exileonmainstreamofficial/

Gavial, “Control” official video

Gavial, Thanks, I Hate It (2026)

[UPDATE 10/07/25: A GoFundMe to help Brian with expenses has been launched. Find it and contribute here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/stand-with-brian-in-memory-of-ann]

Just a moment here to remember Ann Everton of Baltimore’s Darsombra, who passed away this weekend. The duo — Everton on synth, vocals, percussion visuals, etc., and Brian Daniloski on guitar, synth, the odd megaphone, and so on — were at the beginning of their Fall tour in Canada, with dates in the US Midwest/Southeast to follow, and details are scant, but there seems to have been an accident somewhere between one show and the next. Daniloski’s condition is unknown at this time, but reportedly he’s alive. His brother and former Meatjack bandmate, Jason Daniloski, posted the following on social media:

Words cannot convey how devastated we are. Ann Everton was truly one of a kind. A creative, wild, intelligent, kind soul. She will always be missed. I still can’t believe this is real. I feel so much pain for my brother. Please give him time to deal with this horrible tragedy. Please hug your loved ones and don’t let the day end without telling them how much you love them.

I won’t claim to have known Ann well, but she remains among the most gleeful weirdos I’ve ever met. Somebody who didn’t fit into society’s expectations for what she was to be, and who by all appearances, was just fine with that. She joined Darsombra around 2010, and the project flourished. Her role initially was more toward the visual aspect of their live presentation, and honestly, that was what always seemed to count the most to Everton and Daniloski — doing the thing live. As the band’s experimentalist bent pushed further and further into psychedelic drone and madcap oddballism, their outsider status held firm, and they continued to tour, and tour, and tour. Together, they became freedom in a van.

No matter what time of year it was, the safe bet was Darsombra were on the road, somewhere. They crisscrossed the United States together I don’t know how many times, and the band was always just the two of them, Everton and Daniloski. I was lucky enough to see them earlier in 2025 in the Netherlands at Roadburn Festival, and aside from being the most outright joyous moment I had over the course of my days in Tilburg, I was even more fortunate to sit down and have a real, human catchup with the two of them, to talk like people do, like friends do, about places and things in general, music and not. I feel privileged to say I knew her at all.

Both members of Darsombra — Ann and Brian — took the Obelisk Questionnaire in 2021. Thoughtful in her answers throughout (that’s my way of saying you should read it), Everton reflected on her creative journey, saying:

“In my own life as an artist, I have been cheered to see one thing hold true for the artist who keeps making art — the longer you stay at it, the better it gets, the more people are familiar with your work, enjoy it, get it, the more opportunities you get… the trick is, you’ve gotta keep doing it. In 2007, I did a short artist residency in rural Hungary, on lake Balaton. There was a Hungarian artist there that my 25-year-old self had such a crush on. So, of course, I was all ears to his very good advice, which was, “Keep making art. See where it goes. Never stop making art.” Very simple, so right — the world will give you a million-and-one reasons to stop being an artist, but if you just sort of keep doing it… I agree with his beautiful Hungarian ass! Keep making art and see where it goes!”

Brian Daniloski posted the following Sunday night:

Hello friends. I’m out of the hospital and in the care of Ann’s family who have flown up here to New York. It looks like we may be stuck here for a few days dealing with stuff. I have a working phone again and I have been getting all of your kind messages. If anyone wants to call it would be great to here from people. I don’t know what to say or do with myself. I’m devastated. My heart is so broken and I’m not sure how continue on, but I’m going to try. Ann was the sweetest person I ever knew and I always felt like the luckiest person on earth that she chose to spend her life with me. I should be back in Baltimore in the next few days and I would love to see anybody when I get back. This is such a loss for all of us. I love you all.

Darsombra didn’t need lights on stage because there was Ann. On behalf of myself, this site and anything else I might be able to put behind it, all love and condolences to Brian Daniloski, his family, Ann’s family, their many, many friends and anyone whose life she touched, which was a lot of people, including me. She will be deeply and sincerely missed.

[photo by Madeline Bilan]

Hamburg, Germany’s Karla Kvlt make their full-length debut through Exile on Mainstream Records on Feb. 21 with the seven-song sprawl and crush of Thunderhunter. Beginning with the stark thud of Johann Victor Wientjes‘ drums and gradually building over its early measures into a noisy soundscape of atmospheric sludge in lead cut “Karma,” the 37-minute long-player brings together hard-crunch with psychedelic resonance, reverb lacing the vocals of Teresa Matilda Curtens, who’s also responsible for the low-end rumble beneath the guitar of Markus E. Lipka — beneath in frequency, not necessarily in the mix — who adds vocals to Curtens‘ own in a blown-out break toward the end of the song, lending avant flourish to the earlier melody.

It all comes crashing down and Thunderhunter is underway. Below, you’ll find a visualizer premiering for “Swallowed,” which follows the lumber-plod of “Temple” near the start of the record and holds together with almost jazzy purpose through urbane verses and a raw but lush lead tonality from Lipka. Known for his work in Eisenvater — which I hadn’t heard prior to getting this record, but it’s devastating — the guitarist brings a suitably open feel to “Swallowed,” which holds pretty loose in the rhythm as it moves into its second half, exploring while still writing structured songs. Samples of crackling fire precede the burst, and with the force of Big Riff behind, Karla Kvlt roll through the crescendo with marked purpose.

That transition is not jarring, but some of Thunderhunter is, and into that category I’d put centerpiece “Magna Mater” with the sample of a baby crying mixed into its nod, and that’s pretty clearly on purpose. And it’s all part of the thing. There’s complexity of style throughout, and an overarching airiness of tone gives the band ample space to fill as they chase down one aural idea or another, be it a riff, sample, synth or the deceptively intricate chug coinciding with the cries in “Magna Mater.” The subsequent “Mun Kvlta” begins calmer with synth and standalone guitar, but it’s not long before a low-distortion drone takes hold for a few minutes of texture-exploration. Something of a preface there for the closing title-track, in that it’s instrumental and more about ambience despite being heavy as buildings.

Before “Thunderhunter” though, the penultimate “Hekate” seems to be a special moment just to highlight the chug, which is monstrous, and create a feeling of intensity in the turns that are post-metallic but that are raw enough in their presentation to be coming from somewhere else. The good news is that the place they’re coming from is Karla Kvlt‘s own, and that if Thunderhunter is the beginning of a new journey this apparent family band are undertaking, they set out in noteworthy and forward-thinking fashion. One looks forward to hopefully learning the places to which their sound might ultimately go, but what you need to know going into “Swallowed” is don’t get distracted and keep your mind open. Decent advice generally, I guess.

Beyond that, you’ll find more info from the PR wire below, but honestly in my head it’s such a given that anything on Exile on Mainstream is going to be somehow awesome that Karla Kvlt as a new band are already a no-brainer in my head. That the band actually turn out to kill it across the record feels like a bonus.

Please enjoy:

Karla Kvlt, “Swallowed” track/visualizer premiere

Karla Kvlt on “Swallowed”:

With ‘Swallowed,’ you come imminently closer to a state of complete self-dissolution. The ominous sound design of the intro immediately evokes the feeling of being trapped in the belly of a nameless beast, rendered helpless at its mercy. Vocals and bass come more to the fore here and reinforce the mysterious and trance-like atmosphere. ‘Swallowed’ is an infernal dance that celebrates utter madness.

Thunderhunter will be released on LP w/ bundled CD and digitally on February 21st.

Preorders are live at the Exile On Mainstream webshop HERE: https://shop.mainstreamrecords.de/product/eom114

…and Bandcamp HERE: https://karlakvlt.bandcamp.com/album/thunderhunter

…and digital presaves can be found HERE: https://linktr.ee/karlakvlt

—

“Swallowed” is the new single from new German sludge metal/post-rock trio KARLA KVLT. The song is found on the band’s impending debut LP, Thunderhunter, nearing release this month through Exile On Mainstream Records.

KARLA KVLT marks the return of Markus E. Lipka, the driving guitar force behind 1990s German alternative/noise rock heroes Eisenvater, here joined by his son Johann Wientjes on drums and his daughter-in-law, Teresa Matilda Curtens, on bass and vocals – both also in Melting Palms. Together, the trio delivers a raw and monolithic debut album that is unique in style and approach with Thunderhunter.

KARLA KVLT is currently booking live ventures across Europe for the Spring and Summer months, having booked a Thunderhunter release show in Hamburg April 25th and a gig with labelmates Caspar Brötzmann Massaker in June. Additional live updates will follow shortly.

KARLA KVLT Live:
4/25/2025 Elbdeichstudio – Hamburg, DE *record release show
6/07/2025 Z-Bau – Nürnberg, DE w/ Caspar Brötzmann Massaker

Tracklisting:
1. Karma
2. Temple
3. Swallowed
4. Magna Mater
5. Mun Kvlta
6. Hekate
7. Thunderhunter

Recorded by Stefan Gretscher at Privatear studios in Hamburg/Germany
Mixing by Nihil Rossburger
Mastering by Chris von Rautenkranz at Soundgarden Studio
Album cover design by Teresa Matilda Curtens

KARLA KVLT are:
Markus E. Lipka – Guitars, Guitar Soundscapes, Voice
Teresa Matilda Curtens – Bass, Vocals
J. Victor Wientjes – Heavy Drums, Synth Soundscapes

Karla Kvlt, Thunderhunter (2025)

Karla Kvlt on Instagram

Karla Kvlt on Bandcamp

Exile on Mainstream Records website

Exile on Mainstream Records on YouTube

UK heavy weirdo noise rock two-piece Noisepicker will put out their second album, The Earth Will Swallow the Sun, on March 21 through respected purveyor Exile on Mainstream. Aside from working with the label on the release, the band are pointedly DIY, as drummer Kieran Murphy and guitarist/vocalist Harry Armstrong — whose pedigree in Hangnail and End of Level Boss would be plenty even if he wasn’t also now a member of Orange Goblin — further demonstrate with the video premiering below for the album’s second single, “Chew.”

Second single and second track. In the album’s succession and in making its way to public ears, “Chew” follows behind “What You Deserve” in showcasing where The Earth Will Swallow the Sun is coming from. And where “What You Deserve” starts with an almost Steve Von Till-style throaty drawl ‘n’ drone before opening up to its bigger nod and answering the atmospheric tension in tonal spaciousness. It’s a slow roller on the surface, and with Armstrong‘s vocal delivery and the corresponding hum, it feels as much like a setup for what’s to follow throughout the 10-tracker as its own piece.

“Chew” reinforces that idea. With a sound that’s almost as ’90s noise rock as the band’s logo treatment on the front cover, the three-minute cut rides in on a harsher/harder tonalism and crunching groove. Melvins are an immediate touchstone in terms of sound, but “Chew” has a bit of reach in its chorus and is more about craft than its own weirder facets. The melody in the hook reaches up from deep in the mix with Facelift-era Alice in Chains desperation, and the shifts between the verse and chorus hint in sound toward the punkish ideology driving the shove. As songs go, it’s in and out, and surely “Tomorrow Lied the Devil,” which follows on the LP, will reap the benefit of the momentum it quickly and unpretentiously builds.

Sans-bullshit heavy crunch? With a chorus? I know; be still my beating heart. I haven’t heard all of The Earth Will Swallow the Sun at this point, and given the swath of ground they covered on 2018’s Peace Off, their first LP, I’m not about to speculate on sonic particulars or whims being chased. Fine. For today, take three minutes out of your life and appreciate a bit of puppetry and deceptively nuanced stylistic quirk.

Armstrong was kind enough to give some comment on the song and video, and the info for the record follows, as per the PR wire.

Please enjoy:

Noisepicker, “Chew” video premiere

Harry Armstrong on “Chew”:

The two of us live on opposite sides of the country, which makes getting together tricky at times. To the point where we never rehearse. Apart from two songs, we had only played the entire new album together when we entered the studio to record it. And those two tracks were only ever played during soundcheck, an hour before we played them live. Which probably explains a lot! This means we need to be “inventive” when thinking about videos, basically making sure that we are not the main focus of them. We grab footage of each other when we can and store it up in case it’s needed. That’s where the puppet idea came from. I couldn’t get both of us in the same room, so I had to improvise. I think it actually makes for a better video! The song is about hating what you’ve become after chasing the expectations of an unfulfilling society, and only realizing you’ve been had when it’s far too late. You’ve been played. Like a puppet on a string. Enjoy!

British avant doom/post-rock duo NOISEPICKER prepares to release their second album, The Earth Will Swallow The Sun, March 21st via Exile On Mainstream Records.

With more than a quarter of a century of noise making history behind him, singer and guitarist Harry Armstrong returns. Known as the current bass player in Orange Goblin, Armstrong has been a part of delivering the hard rock of Blind River, the sludgy thrash metal of End Of Level Boss, the piano-led jazz rock of The Earls Of Mars, the stoner fix of Hangnail and alongside Bill Steer and Ludwig Witt in Firebird, the instrumental soundscapes of The Winchester Club, the death metal of Decomposed, and many others. Armstrong, alongside drummer Kieran Murphy, are NOISEPICKER.

Having released their first album, Peace Off, through Exile On Mainstream in 2018, other commitments (and the dreaded COVID-19 shutdown) put NOISEPICKER on a slight hiatus, until a stash of unused riff ideas were dusted off during 2024 to make what is about to be their second full-length release, The Earth Will Swallow The Sun. On a permanent search to constantly try “something else,” Armstrong has taken to writing, recording, and mixing this new record himself, just to see if he could accomplish the task. Recorded in a rehearsal room and mixed in his kitchen – assisted only in the mastering, which was handled by Stefan Brüggemann – it is an approach to music with a DIY ethic fully embedded in its heart.

Do not expect neat, polished, note perfect, carefully constructed opuses in this environment. NOISEPICKER is loud, abrasive, and in constant flux, influenced by their love of all things doom, punk, and blues. Come stare aghast at it.

Exile On Mainstream will release The Earth Will Swallow The Sun March 21st, digitally and on audiophile virgin Black Vinyl LP with a bundled CD.

Find physical preorders at the label webshop HERE: https://shop.mainstreamrecords.de/product/eom115

Digital preorders at Bandcamp HERE: https://noisepicker.bandcamp.com/

And digital presaves HERE: https://fm.cargo-records.de/noisepicker-theearthwillswallowthesun

The Earth Will Swallow The Sun Track Listing:
1. What You Deserve
2. Chew
3. Tomorrow Lied The Devil
4. Leave Me The Name
5. What Did You Think Was Going To Happen
6. The End Of The Beginning
7. Start The Flood
8. The Earth Will Swallow The Sun
9. Lorraine In Blood
10. Lunatics

All words & music by Noisepicker. Recorded and mixed by Noisepicker.

Band photo by Jerry Deeney.

Noisepicker, The Earth Will Swallow the Sun (2025)

Noisepicker website

Noisepicker on Bandcamp

Noisepicker on Facebook

Noisepicker on Instagram

Exile on Mainstream Records website

Exile on Mainstream Records on YouTube

Hamburg, Germany’s The Moth exist in a world without genre, and their fourth album, Frost — also their first release for the likemided Exile on Mainstream — argues that maybe you should to. The three-piece of guitarist/vocalist Freden Mohrdiek, bassist/vocalist Cécile Ash and drummer Christian “Curry” Korr debuted a decade ago with 2013’s They Fall, answered back in 2015 with And Then Rise (review here), and made a declarative statement of persona on 2017’s Hysteria (review here), each record marked by incremental growth in an increasingly distinct stylistic context. Frost may arrive six years after the third long-player and through a new label, but as The Moth step forward again with this 10-song/44-minute collection, the many strengths of their approach are on ready display, whether it’s the intensity of chug in “Me, Myself and Enemy,” the sad hookiness of “Hundreds” or the thud and crush that caps with “Silent.”

One is tempted, perpetually, to think of The Moth as ‘experimental,’ but the truth is more complex. They’re not banging on steel girders or inventing instruments. They’re not looping effects until the cosmos seems to melt. Guitar, bass, drums, and the shared vocals of Ash and Mohrdiek are all they need to make Frost unpredictable front to back. They’re like the best present that noise rock never knew it got. Expansive and rolling in the Melvinsian tradition before the blowout on the title-track, loosely playing toward, well, Cathedral on “Cathedral” (could also say Type O Negative there), and set forth with punk-born fervor in the salvo “My, Myself and Enemy,” “Birmingham,” “Battlefield” and “Bruised” just before, the two instances of alliteration likely coincidental, but an example just the same of the identity and character in their material. A band not only saying they’re doing their own thing, but actually living up to that standard. And fostering an emotional expression as well.

“Bruised” seems especially well placed since, by the time one gets there it’s a potentially apt descriptor. Of the first four songs, only “Birmingham” is over three minutes long, and so where a psychedelic band might try to draw the audience in with some hypnotic, repetitive meditation, The Moth head out at a relative sprint and put their most driving material up front. That’s not a universal, blanket truth, by the way — because one must remember, The Moth are multifaceted, and a given track might do more than one thing — but applicable as a generalization. Certainly the penultimate “Dust,” which was also the lead single from Frost, has a suitably brash shove in addition to one of the record’s most satisfying nods, and “In the City” just before is tense enough to make your stomach hurt if you let it, with its weirdo effects in the second half lead over the double-time hi-hat and jet-engine rhythm layers of guitar and bass. But there is a definite transition as “Cathedral” picks up from “Bruised,” and “Hundreds” leans into its grunge-ish chorus melody with Ash and Mohrdiek together on vocals to end side A with a due sense of landing.

And it’s not the last one as The Moth move into side B and the last four, mostly longer, songs on the album. The rumble at the start of “Frost” boasts aww-yuck-face tone in only the most righteous fashion, and the sludgy crash and lumber that ensues is a redirect from “Hundreds,” which also ends thudding but in kind of a ’80s-thrash-tape manner. The title-track is the longest song at 6:52, and grows more consuming as it works toward its eventual fade, with Mohrdiek and Ash swapping back and forth in the vocal arrangement when not both shouting. With “In the City” after, they assure that the strides and vibe established on side A aren’t lost — that energy that comes through as “Me, Myself and Enemy” opens, I mean — and while one would hardly call the tremolo picking of “Dust” soothing, there is an overarching flow as it gives over to the avant raw riffing and toms of “Silent,” which brings back that forward-in-the-mix guitar-as-keyboard (unless it’s just a keyboard) sound from “In the City” as if continuing a theme across the final three tracks, pulling them together as a band might when considering the whole-LP impression of a work as well as the songs that make it.

Maybe The Moth sit and planned all this out before they hit the studio, or maybe the whole thing is magic. It matters only academically. What’s more relevant in terms of the listening experience is that Frost was tracked live, in a day. It is a band-showed-up-and-played record, and part of its sonic appeal comes from that. I used the word ‘raw’ above to describe the tones and I’ll stand by it, but it’s worth highlighting that while much of Frost can indeed be barebones from a production standpoint, the material neither sounds opaque nor difficult to engage. Even as they cap “Silent,” they do so on a march and a drone rather than some grandiose ending that would be out of place. If that’s a conscious choice on their part or just what felt right, the end result is the same. The Moth continue their progressive trajectory in these songs and meet the span of years it’s been since their last offering with head-on force of craft and delivery.

The Moth – Track-by-Track Through Frost:

ME, MYSELF & ENEMY

Sometimes the enemy can be yourself. That holds true for the emotional and psychological side as well as the physical side when something in your body turns against you and threatens your health and life.

BIRMINGHAM

The song is about people who want to change themselves or something in their lives and, despite being very motivated, have to realize how difficult it sometimes is to stop feeding the demons within them.

BATTLEFIELD

This is about being let down and emotionally injured by a person that you felt closest to. And about not being able to show or talk about the injury. So you smile though inside you are full of grief and not able to share it with anyone (yet). This denying of your feelings is (maybe literally) like killing parts of yourself over and over again.

BRUISED

This is about preparing for a fight and not being afraid of it, though the enemy may be strong. Because some fights are just necessary. Catching a few hits or getting bruised doesn’t scare you, because you know that you’ll get through this and though you may be smaller, you’re stronger.

CATHEDRAL

Some periods in life we feel like the present and the future are especially uncertain. It’s like walking through a fog and we just have to have faith in ourself, each other and that the good in humanity will win over the bad. In those times we should turn towards the other or the others, show that we feel the same, take each other’s hands (sometimes metaphorically speaking) and get through this together.

HUNDREDS

This is about past relationships and breakups. If they have truely loved, ex-partners may somehow stay connected on some other level even though they were not meant to be together in this life.

FROST

Sometimes what you most wish for and have fought for so long, just doesn’t happen or something puts a definite end to that vision you had: it will never become reality. So where is that hope that you fostered for so long, so suddenly supposed to go? Having to give up hope on something that was extremely important to you is a huge loss. So going through the grief that this brings feels like walking through a sea of ice, through the frost. And if nobody is sharing the grief with you, you have to confront this pain and emptiness on your own. Until the end of the frost.

IN THE CITY

It’s about people that are alive and have a lust for life and are not afraid to show it. They have dressed up, look sharp and walk the streets at night to go to a concert or a party and just enjoy themselves. They are being watched by others, half fascinated, half uncomprehending. The others are more ordinary people, who like to keep it „normal“, people with dead eyes. In this particular case we were thinking about four women from the Birmingham area who have supported us since we first came to the UK and definitely made the nights more colourful: Emma, Emily, Jess and Vic. Emma and Emily are also singing alongside Cécile on the chorus of this track!

DUST

Two years ago I (Cécile) had breast cancer. During that time I often listened to Anita Moorjani who once had cancer herself and a near death experience. She is just so encouraging. She says cancer patients should not accept the word „remission“ (fear-based) but should reinterpret this word as a shortform for „remember your mission“ (love-based). Our purpose is, she says, to remember what we came here for, what our mission is. And our first mission is, to truly be ourselves.

SILENT

The song is about the certainty or hope that someone is there for you and looks after you in tough times and will give you a hand.

German doom/sludge metal trio THE MOTH prepares to release their monstrous fourth album, Frost, through Exile On Mainstream this Friday.

Frost will be released on September 22nd digitally and on 140-gram pure virgin Black Vinyl including a bundled CD. Find physical preorders at the Exile On Mainstream webshop HERE: https://shop.mainstreamrecords.de/product/eom107
and digital at Bandcamp HERE: https://the-moth.bandcamp.com/

THE MOTH takes their approach to new heights with their fourth album, Frost. Catchy lines get stuck in the listener’s heart and mind like a dislodged meat hook, explaining why the band calls their style doom-sludge pop – “Kim Wilde-meets-Bolt Thrower” – or like a review for the 2017 album Hysteria put it: “pop music played with a bulldozer.” Lyrically, however, THE MOTH shows a new openness and vulnerability under the shell of raw power that the songs initially present. Experiencing and living through strokes of fate runs through the record as a recurring theme – all under a rough shell of distinctive and deliberately raw sound. Bassist/vocalist Cécile Ash, guitarist/vocalist Freden Mohrdiek, and drummer Curry Korr perform the dichotomy with a high recognition value. Boring riff hum and mantric stoner-esque repetition are not their thing.

Frost was recorded live in only 24 hours, the album recorded and mixed by José Lorenzo at Bombrec Recording, and then mastered by Timo Höcke at Die Wellenschmiede, and completed with artwork by Sarah Breen and layout by Cécile Ash. Emma Billingham and Emily Yardley provide additional vocals on “In The City.”

Frost will be released on September 22nd digitally and on 140-gram pure virgin Black Vinyl including a bundled CD. Find physical preorders at the Exile On Mainstream webshop HERE and digital at Bandcamp HERE.

THE MOTH has confirmed a string of release dates including shows with Thronehammer and labelmates Treedeon with more to be posted shortly.

THE MOTH Record Release Shows:
9/22/2023 Störtebecker – Hamburg, DE w/ Treedeon
10/03/2023 Alte Meierei – Kiel, DE w/ Thronehammer
10/04/2023 Fundbureau – Hamburg, DE w/ Thronehammer
10/05/2023 MTC – Cologne, DE w/ Thronehammer
10/06/2023 Immerhin – Wuerzburg, DE
10/07/2023 Keep It Low Festival – Munich, DE
11/17/2023 Thav – Hildesheim, DE w/ with Shakhtyor
11/18/2023 Die Trompete – Bochum, DE w/ Treedeon

THE MOTH:
Cécile Ash – bass, vocals
Freden Mohrdiek – guitar, vocals
Curry Korr – drums

The Moth, “Dust” official video

The Moth on Facebook

The Moth on Instagram

The Moth on Bandcamp

The Moth on YouTube

Exile on Mainstream website

Exile on Mainstream on Instagram

Exile on Mainstream YouTube channel

New The Moth track is a banger. The PR wire info below has all the details you could want about the Hamburg-based trio’s upcoming fourth album and first for Exile on Mainstream, titled Frost, and I’d encourage you to by all means dig in and learn a bit of the background as you listen to/watch the video for “Dust.” Apocalyptic and thus almost woefully catchy, it’s a first taste of Frost, and its tones don’t strike as being particularly cold in its rolling groove derived (mathematically speaking, of course) from ’90s noise and given a melodic foundation in its verse that the repeated lyrics make that much more memorable.

This song was recorded live in a day — apparently that also applies to the entire album — and so if it feels raw, good. That’s what they’re going for. But they’re not just raw, or just any one thing. They really are the perfect Exile on Mainstream band, in that they’re able to do six things at once and be confoundingly complex while still coming across barebones and utterly cohesive. “Dust” deals lyrically with bassist/vocalist Cécile Ash‘s cancer experience, as she recounts below:

THE MOTH: German Doom Metal Trio Announces Details Of Fourth LP, Frost, Confirmed For September Release Via Exile On Mainstream; “Dust” Video + Preorders Posted

Exile On Mainstream presents Frost, the colossal fourth LP from German doom metal trio THE MOTH, confirming the album for September 22nd release alongside preorders and other details. With the news comes the record’s first single, a video for the song “Dust.”

After three albums on the fantastic This Charming Man label, THE MOTH now presents their label debut on Exile On Mainstream with Frost. Having honed their no-nonsense approach to sludge/doom metal on numerous tours and gigs, the band’s songs are virtually void of frills, instead opting to turn out hammer heavy drums and riff-heavy rock as brutal as it is bewitching. Since their acclaimed debut They Fall in 2013, the Hamburg trio has regularly delivered tracks with a catchiness that is surprising for the genre. Kim Wilde-meets-Bolt Thrower, as they call it themselves, or like a review for the 2017 album Hysteria put it: “pop music played with a bulldozer.”

THE MOTH now takes this approach to new heights with their fourth album, Frost. Catchy lines get stuck in the listener’s heart and mind like a dislodged meat hook, explaining why the band calls their style “doom-sludge pop.” Lyrically, however, THE MOTH shows a new openness and vulnerability under the shell of raw power that the songs initially present. Experiencing and living through strokes of fate runs through the record as a recurring theme – all under a rough shell of distinctive and deliberately raw sound. Bassist/vocalist Cécile Ash, guitarist/vocalist Freden Mohrdiek, and drummer Curry Korr perform the dichotomy with a high recognition value. Boring riff hum and mantric stoner-esque repetition are not their thing. Anyone who experiences THE MOTH live will automatically find themselves in front of the stage with a biting head nod, a thirst for beer, and a fist clenched at hip height.

Frost was recorded live in only 24 hours, recorded and mixed by José Lorenzo at Bombrec Recording, and then mastered by Timo Höcke, at Die Wellenschmiede, and completed with artwork by Sarah Breen and layout by Cécile Ash. Emma Billingham and Emily Yardley provide additional vocals on “In The City.”

The first single from Frost, “Dust,” is delivered through a video by Niklas Krohn of Cruel Visions. Cécile Ash reveals the touching story behind the single, writing, “Two years ago, I had breast cancer. During that time, I discovered the writer Anita Moorjani and her own approach to cancer. After a near-death experience her tumor started regressing and she came out with a super positive, encouraging, and empowering attitude. One of the essences of her attitude is rewriting the meaning of the word remission, used to describe the 5-10 years phase after a treatment when signs and symptoms of cancer seem to be fading or completely going away – before doctors would use the word cure. Moorjani reinterprets and sees it as an abbreviation for ‘Remember your Mission’ postulating a pledge for asking yourself: ‘What is my mission, what am I here for?’ First and foremost, she says it’s about just being yourself. ‘Dust’ is about death holding the sword of Damocles of cancer recurrence over me. It says dagger instead of sword in the song simply because it did fit better with the music. It’s about remembering the mission of being yourself, which seems to be a strong force against a possible conquest and for a serious bye-bye to the ongoing threat.”

Check out THE MOTH’s video for “Dust” now at THIS LOCATION.

Frost will be released on September 22nd digitally and on 140-gram pure virgin Black Vinyl including a bundled CD. Find physical preorders at the Exile On Mainstream webshop HERE: https://shop.mainstreamrecords.de/product/eom107
and digital at Bandcamp HERE: https://the-moth.bandcamp.com/

Watch for additional videos and previews of the album to post shortly.

Frost Track Listing:
1. Me, Myself & Enemy
2. Birmingham
3. Battlefield
4. Bruised
5. Cathedral
6. Hundreds
7. Frost
8. In The City
9. Dust
10. Silent

THE MOTH has already confirmed a string of release dates including shows with Thronehammer and labelmates Treedeon with more to be posted shortly.

THE MOTH Record Release Shows:
9/22/2023 Störtebecker – Hamburg, DE w/ Treedeon
10/03/2023 Alte Meierei – Kiel, DE w/ Thronehammer
10/04/2023 Fundbureau – Hamburg, DE w/ Thronehammer
10/05/2023 MTC – Cologne, DE w/ Thronehammer
10/06/2023 Immerhin – Wuerzburg, DE
10/07/2023 Keep It Low Festival – Munich, DE
11/17/2023 Thav – Hildesheim, DE w/ with Shakhtyor
11/18/2023 Die Trompete – Bochum, DE w/ Treedeon

Founded in 2012, the feedback on THE MOTH’s first album They Fall was already quite enthusiastic. Right from the start, the band presented themselves as an international band that drew fans all over the world, from Tokyo to Vancouver. Between festival appearances at the Desertfests in London and Berlin, Stoned From The Underground, the Svart Festival Oslo, the Doom Over Vienna, and the Riff Mass Brighton, two more albums were released in 2015 with And Then Rise and 2017 Hysteria. On accompanying tours and shows throughout Europe and the UK with, among others, Treedeon, Conan, Eyehategod, Crowbar, Torche, and Red Fang, THE MOTH left enthusiastic fans behind.

THE MOTH:
Cécile Ash – bass, vocals
Freden Mohrdiek – guitar, vocals
Curry Korr – drums

http://www.facebook.com/listentoTHEMOTH
http://www.instagram.com/listentoTHEMOTH
http://the-moth.bandcamp.com/
https://www.youtube.com/user/listentoTHEMOTH

https://www.instagram.com/exileonmainstreamofficial/
https://www.youtube.com/@exileonmainstream3639
http://www.mainstreamrecords.de

The Moth, “Dust” official video

Insert forehead slap here. I mean, of course Hamburg’s The Moth would end up on Exile on Mainstream. Their outsider sludge rock is a perfect fit for the long-established imprint, whose general taste and will to bend the rules of genre are defining aspects. It’s like a dodecahedron peg in a dodecahedron hole. Bordering on the obvious.

Been a minute, but The Moth‘s last album, Hysteria (review here), was released through This Charming Man Records in 2017. Their next one is coming in September, so maybe we’ll get more info in the next month or so, but for now the news is good and a new record from them is something to look forward to. They’ll be out on the road for it in Germany with Thronehammer in Sept./Oct., also making a stop to rile up Keep it Low in Munich.

Right on:

THE MOTH: German Doom/Sludge Metal Trio Signs To Exile On Mainstream; LP Due This Fall

Exile On Mainstream welcomes fellow Germans THE MOTH and their groove-heavy brew of doom/sludge metal to the label for their impending LP.

Label owner Andreas Kohl states, “Just as a good friend recently put it: ‘This band, with this lineup and this sound – it was just a question of time until they land at your shores. They just belong to Exile On Mainstream.” The friend, Germany’s renowned Metal radio icon Jakob Kranz, envisioned what we kinda felt but didn’t know. So did we finally achieve becoming a label that defines through a certain sound? Have we become so predictable? Not at all. I mean come on, THE MOTH might be a power trio with their sound deeply rooted in sludge, a woman on bass creating the most thundering base a lover of the heavy could wish for, and they might share a certain approach to music and loving what they do with the likes of Treedeon and Might, but it’s not the sound. The Hamburg-based act got here based on the binding element in our universe: friendship.

“I have said it before: we either are friends, or we become it by working together. So, welcome to the tribe, THE MOTH! With three albums under their belt, all released by the fantastic brethren at This Charming Man, the members are no newbies and have honed their no-nonsense approach to sludge/metal/doom on numerous tours and gigs. Their songs are virtually void of frills, instead opting to turn out hammer heavy drums and riff ready rock ’n’ roll. As brutal as it is bewitching. With a fourth album in the making, we are thrilled to welcome THE MOTH.”

The new album by THE MOTH is under construction now. Expect a release in September 2023, with more details to post over the Summer.

Before the new album is even finished, THE MOTH has already confirmed a string of release dates including shows with Thronehammer and labelmates Treedeon with more to be posted shortly.

THE MOTH RECORD RELEASE TOUR 2023
22/09/23 D Hamburg, Störtebecker (w/ Treedeon)
03/10/23 D Kiel, Alte Meierei (w/ Thronehammer)
04/10/23 D Hamburg, Fundbureau (w/ Thronehammer)
05/10/23 D Cologne, MTC (w/ Thronehammer)
06/10/23 D Wuerzburg, Immerhin
07/10/23 D Munich, Keep it Low Festival

http://www.facebook.com/listentoTHEMOTH
http://www.instagram.com/listentoTHEMOTH
http://the-moth.bandcamp.com/
https://www.youtube.com/user/listentoTHEMOTH

https://www.instagram.com/exileonmainstreamofficial/
https://www.youtube.com/@exileonmainstream3639
http://www.mainstreamrecords.de

The Moth, Hysteria (2017)

There’s precious little you can trust in life and I know, I know, I know I’ve said this at least several times in the past, but you can trust the taste of Exile on Mainstream‘s Andreas Kohl when it comes to finding and issuing interesting, innovative and — perhaps most importantly — actually good music. I’m not saying the label and I are always 100 percent on the same page, but in all honesty, even stuff that I’m not super-all-over, I’ve never checked out an Exile on Mainstream release and regretted it. I hold the imprint to a pretty high, almost unrealistic, standard and have for a long time now. That standard has never not been met.

Gavial — and kudos to the band on changing their name from the former Tourette Boys — will release their debut-under-the-moniker VOR through Exile on Mainstream on May 19, and that’s all I need to know to get on board. Nonetheless, I’d be a prick if I didn’t actually include the PR wire info here, you know, for good measure, so here it is:

GAVIAL: German Blues/Psychedelic Rock Quartet Formerly Known As Tourette Boys To Release VOR LP Through Exile On Mainstream In May

Exile On Mainstream excitedly welcomes German quartet GAVIAL to the label, and is preparing to release the band’s new LP, VOR.

The story of GAVIAL began nearly fifteen years ago as a project adapted from a Nirvana song and pun as “Two Red Boys.” Having released three albums as Tourette Boys, two collaborations with UK-based blues musician Tim Holehouse, and a split EP with labelmates Gaffa Ghandi, the band played countless gigs and tours with bands like Acid Mothers Temple, Dyse, Gaffa Ghandi, The Skull, True Widow and Sleepy Sun. This musical project is based on friendship even though the musicians live in different cities. The vast and untouched landscapes between Berlin and Dresden may have contributed to the inspiration for the sound of the band, which repeatedly tries to ground Psychedelic abstraction in modern blues. The result is more reminiscent of the desert rock that we know from the vastness of Arizona than the urban hustle and bustle in big cities. Shimmering soundscapes, partly dark and melancholic, then again full of hope and glaring light filled with the comforting, but nonetheless ominous heat of the desert – GAVIAL remains true masters of that.

It’s 2023, and it’s time for a turning point… on multiple levels. With VOR, the band’s fourth album is for the first time distributed on a label, uniting with their friends at Exile On Mainstream. For the recordings in 2022 the band grew from a trio to a quartet, and with that move comes the name change that was long overdue, which the band explains by stating, “In the last few years, we frequently discussed our music, videos, and name and tried to reflect on our decisions during that time. Concerning the name of the band, we have come to the decision that it is no longer appropriate to continue using it. Affected people deserve respect and we think that this band name shows a lack thereof. For that, we want to apologize.”

VOR is once again characterized by the search for a contemporary expression of the blues without questioning its authenticity. GAVIAL weaves musical inspiration from ambient, soul, gospel, and country into different threads from a carpet of sound that simply ignores the sharp cliffs of redundant categories such as retro or stoner. The music doesn’t need name dropping, but if you still want to make room in your thematically sorted record shelf, you’re welcome to make some room in the compartments in which you put your Screaming Trees, Flying Eyes, Black Crowes, or Woodcocks, so that GAVIAL can find space in them. Sorted alphabetically, VOR also cuts a fine figure between Gaffa Ghandi, Geraldine Fibbers, and Giant Sand.

Lyrically, GAVIAL is cautiously concrete, exploring the ambivalent depths of the soul where there are more questions than answers. Singer Benjamin Butter intones lyrical sketches of emotional states between melancholy, quiet anger, and hope, reminiscent of Charles Baudelaire, and turns the voice into another instrument. The interplay with driving bass lines and Americana-esque guitars results in music as it should be: melodic but not profane, accessible but with a fragile base.

VOR was recorded in the band’s rehearsal room and mixed by Benjamin Butter and Bernard Camilleri, who has become their go-to sound engineer. Bernard Camilleri did the mastering at his Xekillton Studio in Malta. The artwork is from the Flowers Of Terrible series by Berlin-based artist Hamid Yaraghchi.

Exile On Mainstream will release GAVIAL’s VOR May 19th on Black Vinyl LP and digitally, and a limited CD version will be made available at the band’s concerts.

https://www.facebook.com/Gavialband
https://www.instagram.com/gavialband
https://gavial.bandcamp.com
https://linktr.ee/gavialband

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https://www.youtube.com/@exileonmainstream3639
http://www.mainstreamrecords.de

Tourette Boys, Zorn (2019)