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The Obelisk Presents: Planet of Zeus First-Ever North American Tour Dates

Posted in The Obelisk Presents on February 11th, 2020 by JJ Koczan

planet of zeusplanet of zeus us tour banner

Go, just go. Go see Planet of Zeus. The Greek heavy rockers are coming to the US (plus a couple Canadian shows) in April, and you should be there to see it. Not the least because they’re traveling in the certifiably legendary company of Fatso Jetson, as well as Druids — what a fucking tour — and not just because I get an ego boost out of seeing a logo for this site at the bottom of tour posters, but also because it’s their first time here and they come in celebration of their 20th anniversary as a band and should be accordingly made to feel nothing but welcome every step of the way.

Seriously, you know the vast, vast majority of the planet thinks Americans are assholes, right? Well, you can work to counter that impression by showing up. Hell’s bells, buy a t-shirt, if not because you dug the crap out of Planet of Zeus‘ 2019 record, Faith in Physics (review here), then at very least for diplomacy’s sake. You’re an ambassador. Start acting like it.

Before they make the journey across the Atlantic, Planet of Zeus will be out starting later this month in Europe — call it a pre-victory lap — and that’s awesome, but please know that I’m honored to have involved in presenting this in the tiny way that it is and humbled to have even been asked. Get your ass out of the house. Please. We want them to come back.

Dates follow as posted today by the band:

planet of zeus us tour poster

PLANET OF ZEUS – NORTH AMERICAN TOUR 2020

We are stoked to announce that the time has come for the band to tour America for the very first time! All these years, we have been receiving messages from our fans in the States and Canada to play a show in their town, so this upcoming April seems like the perfect time to pay them a visit!

Having the legends FATSO JETSON and Druids on board for this one, makes it honestly unique.for us.

The whole tour is presented and supported by The Obelisk and we couldn’t thank him enough for that!

April 8th: Omaha, NE – The Sydney
April 9th: Chicago, IL – Cobra Lounge
April 10th: Pittsburgh, PA – Cattivo
April 11th: Toronto, ON – Bovine Sex Club
April 12th: Montreal, QB – Cafe Dekcuf
April 13th: Quebec City, QB – La Source De Martiniere
April 14th: Brooklyn, NY – St. Vitus
April 15th: Frederick, MD – Cafe 611
April 16th: Charlotte, NC
April 17th: Atlanta, GA – The 529
April 18th: New Orleans, LA – Portside Lounge
April 19th: Lafayette, LA – Freetown Boom Boom Room
April 20th: Austin, TX – The Lost Well
April 21st: Dallas, TX – Lola’s Saloon
April 23rd: Tempe, AZ – Yucca Tap Room
April 24th: San Diego, CA – Soda Bar
April 25th: Costa Mesa, CA – The Wayfarer
April 26th: San Francisco, CA – Bottom of the Hill
April 28th: Portland, OR
April 29th: Seattle, WA – Funhouse
April 30th: Boise, ID – The Shredder
May 1st: Salt Lake City, UT
May 2nd: Denver, CO – Streets Denver

Tour poster by our beloved Bewild Brother
Tour powered by Atomic Music Group!

Our European tour with Kvelertak is getting close!

27/2: Kulturzentrum Schlachthof,Bremen (DE)
28/2: Gruenspan, Hamburg (DE)
29/2: Essigfabrik, Koln (DE)
1/3:Rockhal, Luxembourg, (LU)
3/3: Le Trapendo, Paris (FR)
4/3: Substage, Karlsruhe (DE)
6/3: Conne Island, Leipzig (DE)
7/3: SO 36, Berlin (DE)
8/3: Kwadrat, Krakow (PL)
10/3: Durer Kert, Budapest (HU)
11/3: Szene, Vienna (AT)
13/3: Meet Factory, Prague (CZ)
14/3: Backstage, Munich (DE)
16/3: Z7, Pratteln (CH)
17/3: Schlachtof, Wiesbaden (DE)
18/3: Patronaat, Haarlem (NL)
20/3: Academy 2, Manchester (UK)
21/3: SWX, Bristol (UK)
22/3: Electric Brixton, London (UK)

Tickets: http://planetofzeus.gr/tour-dates

PLANET OF ZEUS is:
Babis Papanikolaou – Vox & Guitars
Stelios Provis – Guitars
Giannis Vrazos – Bass
Serafeim Giannakopoulos – Drums

Planet of Zeus, Faith in Physics (2019)

Planet of Zeus website

Planet of Zeus on Thee Facebooks

Planet of Zeus on Bandcamp

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Heavy Psych Sounds website

Heavy Psych Sounds on Bandcamp

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Quarterly Review: Mos Generator, Psychic Lemon, Planet of Zeus, Brass Hearse, Mother Turtle, The Legendary Flower Punk, Slow, OKO, Vug, Ultracombo

Posted in Reviews on January 6th, 2020 by JJ Koczan

quarterly review

I’d like to hope y’all know the drill by now. It’s the Quarterly Review. We do it (roughly) every quarter. The idea is 10 reviews per day for a Monday to Friday span, running 50 total. I sometimes do more. Sometimes not. Kind of depends on the barrage and how poorly I’ve been doing in general with keeping up on stuff. This time is ‘just’ 50, so there you go. You’ll see some bigger names this week and some stuff that’s come my way of late that I’ve been digging and wanting to check out. It’s a lot of rock, which I like, and a few things I’m writing about basically as a favor to myself because, you know, self-care and all that.

But staring down the barrel of 50 reviews over the next few days has me as apprehensive and how-the-hell-is-this-gonna-happen as ever, so I think I’ll just get to it and jump in. No time to waste.

Quarterly Review #1-10:

Mos Generator, Exiles

mos generator exiles

Worth it just for the Sabbath cover? Most definitely. As Mos Generator take on “Air Dance” from Never Say Die as part of the Glory or Death Records LP compilation release, Exiles, they blend the proggy swagger of later-’70s Iommi leads with the baseline acoustic guitar fluidity that makes those final Ozzy-era records so appealing in hindsight. It’s just one of the six reasons to take on Exiles however. The A side comprises three outtakes from 2018’s Shadowlands (review here), and guitarist/vocalist Tony Reed‘s Big Scenic Nowhere bandmate Bob Balch sits in on “Battah,” while a duly manic reworking of Van Halen‘s “Light up the Sky,” the Black Sabbath track and a live version of Rush‘s “Anthem” from 2016 make up side B. It’s a quick listen and it’s Mos Generator. It may be a stopgap on the way to whatever they’re doing next, but if you think about it, so is everything, and that’s no reason not to jump in either for the covers or the originals, both of which are up to the band’s own high standard of output.

Mos Generator on Thee Facebooks

Glory or Death Records on Bandcamp

 

Psychic Lemon, Freak Mammal

psychic lemon freak mammal

The distorted wails of Andy Briston‘s guitar echo out of Freak Mammal — the five-track/46-minute third LP from London’s Psychic Lemon — like a clarion to the lysergic converted. A call to prayer for those worshiping the nebulous void, not so much kept to earth by Andy Hibberd‘s bass and Martin Law‘s drums as given a solidified course toward the infinite far out. Of course centerpiece “Afrotropic Bomb” digs into some Ethiopian groove — that particular shuffling mania — and I won’t take away from the lower buzz of “Free Electron Collective” or the tense hi-hat cutting through all that tonal wash or the ultra-spaced blowout that caps six-minute finale “White Light,” but give me the self-aware mellower jaunt that is the 13-minute second track “Seeds of Tranquility” any day, following opener “Dark Matter” as it does with what would be a blissful drift but for the exciting rhythmic work taking place beneath the peaceful guitar, and the later synthesized voices providing a choral melody that seems all the more playfully grandiose, befitting the notion of Freak Mammal as a ceremony or at very least some kind of lost ritual. Someday they’ll dig up the right pyramid and call the aliens back. Until then, Psychic Lemon let us imagine what might happen after they return.

Psychic Lemon on Thee Facebooks

Drone Rock Records website

 

Planet of Zeus, Faith in Physics

PLANET OF ZEUS FAITH IN PHYSICS

There’s a context of social commentary to Planet of ZeusFaith in Physics that makes one wonder if perhaps the title doesn’t refer to gravity in terms of what-goes-up-must-come-down as it might apply to class hierarchy. The mighty, ready to fall, and so on. Songs like the post-Clutch fuzz roller “Man vs. God” and “Revolution Cookbook” (video premiere here) would seem to support that idea, but one way or the other, as the later “Let Them Burn” digs into a hook that reminds of Killing Joke and the dense bass of eight-minute closer “King of the Circus” provides due atmospheric madness for our times, there’s a sense of grander statement happening across the album. The Athens-based outfit make a centerpiece of the starts and stops in “All These Happy People” and remind that whatever the message, the medium remains top quality heavy rock and roll songcraft, which is something they’ve become all the more reliable to deliver. The more pointed perspective than they showed on 2016’s Loyal to the Pack suits them, but it’s the nuance of electronics and arrangements of vocals and guitar on cuts like “The Great Liar” that carry them through here. If you believe in gravity, Planet of Zeus have plenty on offer.

Planet of Zeus on Thee Facebooks

Heavy Psych Sounds website

 

Brass Hearse, Oneiric Afterlife

brass hearse oneiric afterlife

Experimentalist keyboard-laced psychedelic goth your thing? Well, of course it is. You’re in luck then as Brass Hearse — an offshoot of once madly prolific Boston outfit Ice Dragon — unveil three new songs (plus an intro) with the Oneiric Afterlife and in 10 minutes work to unravel about 30 years of genre convention while still tying their material to memorable hooks. “Bleed Neon,” “Indigo Dust” and “Only Forever” seem simple on the surface, and none of them touch four minutes long, let alone “A Gesture to Make a Stop,” the 26-second introduction, but their refusal of stylistic constraint is as palpable as it is admirable, with a blend of folk guitar and dark-dance-party keys and percussive insistence on “Bleed Neon” and a ’60s Halloweeny rock organ line in “Only Forever” that’s complemented by low-end fuzz and a chorus that would rightly embarrass Ghost if they heard it. In comparison, “Indigo Dust” is serene in its presentation, but even there is a depth of arrangement of keys, guitar, bass and drums, and the skill tying it all together as a cohesive sound is not to be understated. A quick listen with a lot to unpack, it’s not going to be everyone’s thing, but those who get it will be hit hard and rightly so.

Brass Hearse on Thee Facebooks

Brass Hearse on Bandcamp

 

Mother Turtle, Three Sides to Every Story

mother turtle three sides to every story

The first of three tracks on Greek progwinders Mother Turtle‘s fourth LP, Three Sides to Every Story, “Zigu Zigu,” would seem to cap with a message of congratulations: “You’ve listened to three musicians indulging themselves with some kind of weird instrumental music.” It then goes on to question its own instrumentalism, because it has the words presently being spoken, continuing in this manner until a long fadeout of guitar leads to the funky start of the 15-minute-long “Notwatch.” Good fun, in other words. Mother Turtle maybe aren’t so weird as they think they are, but they are duly adventurous and obviously joyful in their undertaking, bringing chants in over drifting guitar and synth swirl in “Notwatch” before building to a crescendo of rock guitar and organ, ultimately dominated by a solo as it would almost have to be, before intertwining piano lines in 16:46 closer “A Christmas Postcard from Kim” lead to further shenanigans, vocal experimentation, plays on metal, holiday shimmer, and a fade into the close. At 38 minutes, Three Sides to Every Story doesn’t at all overstay its welcome, but neither is it an exercise looking for audience engagement in the traditional sense. Rather, it resonates its glee through its offbeat sensibility and thus works on its own level to craft a hook. One can’t help but smile while listening to the fun being had.

Mother Turtle on Thee Facebooks

Sound Effect Records website

 

The Legendary Flower Punk, Wabi Wu

The Legendary Flower Punk Wabi Wu

It is something to consider, perhaps as you dive into the nine-minute “Prince Mojito” on The Legendary Flower Punk‘s Wabi Wu, that the band started as a psych-folk solo-project. Currently working as a core trio plus a range of guests, the Russian troupe make their debut on Tonzonen with the brazenly prog seven-tracker, totaling just a 44-minute run but with a range that would seem to be much broader. Alternately jazzy and synth-laden, technically intricate but never overly showy, pieces like the bass-led “Azulejo” and the penultimate “Trance Fusion På Ryska” present a meeting of the minds with founding guitarist Kamille Sharapodinov at the center of most compositions, he and bassist Mike Lopakov and drummer Nick Kunavin digging into nothing’s-off-limits textures from fusion onward through New Wave and dub. The abiding rule followed seems to be whatever moves the band about a given track is what they roll with, and though The Legendary Flower Punk has evolved well beyond its origins, there’s still a bit of flower and still a bit of punk amid all the legends being made. Good luck keeping up with it.

The Legendary Flower Punk on Bandcamp

Tonzonen Records website

 

Slow, VI – Dantalion

Slow VI Dantalion

With the follow-up to 2018’s V – Oceans (review here), Belgian duo Slow rattle off another 78 minutes of utterly consuming, crushing, atmospheric and melancholic funeral doom like it’s absolutely nothing. Well, not like it’s nothing — more like it’s a weight on their very soul — but even so. Issued through Aural Music, VI – Dantlion brings the two-piece of guitarist/vocalist/drummer Déhà and bassist/lyricist Lore B. once again into the grueling, megalithic churn of self-inflicted riff-punishment that’s so encompassing, so dark, so deep and so dramatic it almost can’t help but also be beautiful. To wit, second track “Lueur” is a 17-minute downward journey into ambient brutalism, yet as it moves toward the midsection one can still hear melodic elements of keyboard and orchestral sounds peaking through. There is letup in the lush finale “Elégie,” but to get there, you have to make your way through “Incendiaire,” which is possibly the most extreme movement of the seven inclusions. Though frankly, after a while, you’re buried so far down by Slow‘s glorious miseries that it’s hard to tell. The world needs this band. They are what humanity would sound like if it was ever honest with itself.

Slow on Thee Facebooks

Aural Music on Bandcamp

 

OKO, Haze

oko haze

Adelaide, Australia, newcomers OKO present their debut EP in the form of Haze, a 14:44 single-song outing that sees the instrumental three-piece of guitarist Nick Nancarrow, bassist Tyson Ruch and drummer Ash Matthews tap into organic heavy psych vibes while working cross-planet with Justin Pizzoferrato (known for his work with Elder, among others) on the mix and master. The resulting one-tracker has a clarity in its drum sound and clean feel that one suspects might speak of more progressive intentions on the part of OKO in the longer term, but as they are here they have a sense of tonal warmth that serves them well across the unpretentious span of “Haze” itself, the winding riff inevitably bringing to mind some of Colour Haze‘s jammier work but still managing to find its own direction. I hear no reason OKO can’t do the same, regardless of the influences they’re working under in terms of sound. Further, the longform modus suits them, and while future work will inherently develop some variety in general approach, the natural exploration they undertake on this first outing easily holds attention for its span and is fluid enough that, had they wanted, they could have pushed it further.

OKO on Thee Facebooks

OKO website

 

Vug, Onyx

vug onyx

Vug are not the first European heavy rock band to blend vintage methods with modern production. They’re not the first band to take classic swagger and drum urgency and meld it with a pervasive sense of vocal soul. I’m not sure I’d tell them that though, because frankly, they’re doing pretty well with it. At its strongest, their Tonzonen-released sophomore outing, Onyx, recalls Thin Lizzy via, yes, Graveyard, but there’s enough clarity of intention behind the work to make it plain they know where they’re coming from. Such was the case as well with their 2018 self-titled debut (review here), and though they’ve had some lineup turnover since that first offering, the self-produced four-piece bring a character to their material on songs like “Tired Of” and the penultimate boogier “Inferno” before closing with the acoustic “Todbringer” — a mirror of side A’s “On My Own” — that they carry the classic-style 39-minute long-player off without a hitch, seeming to prep the heavy ’10s for a journey into a new decade.

Vug on Thee Facebooks

Noisolution webstore

 

Ultracombo, Season 1

Ultracombo Season 1

As the title hints, the Season 1 EP is the debut from Italy’s Ultracombo, and with it, the five-piece of vocalist Alessio Guarda, guitarists Alberto Biasin and Giordano Tasson, bassist Giordano Pajarin and drummer Flavio Gola work quickly to build the forward momentum that brings them front-to-back through the 23-minute five-track release. “Flusso” and opener “The King” feel particularly drawn from an earlier Truckfighters influence, but Guarda‘s vocals are a distinguishing factor amidst all that ensuing fuzz and straight-ahead drive, and in “Sparatutto” and the closer “Il Momento in Cui Non Penso,” they seem to strip their approach to its most basic aspects and bring together the tonal thickness and melodicism that’s been at root in their sound overall. The subtlety, such as it is, is to be found in their songwriting, which results in tracks that transcend language barriers through sheer catchiness. That bodes better for them on subsequent outings better than a wall o’ fuzz ever could, though of course that doesn’t hurt them either, especially their first time out.

Ultracombo on Thee Facebooks

Ultracombo on Bandcamp

 

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Planet of Zeus Premiere “Revolution Cookbook” Video from Faith in Physics

Posted in Bootleg Theater on June 18th, 2019 by JJ Koczan

planet of zeus

Last week, it was announced that Planet of Zeus had signed to Heavy Psych Sounds and will release their new album, Faith in Physics, on Sept. 27, with preorders up now. The album would seem to take a more political direction that the opening title-track of their 2016 LP, Loyal to the Pack, hinted toward, and with the unveiling of the first single/video for “Revolution Cookbook,” that’s borne out across a sub-three-minute run of catchy, uptempo and hard-hitting heavy rock. My curiosity when the press release came through was how the Athens-based four-piece would square their burly, Clutch-style groove with the thematic, and I think “Revolution Cookbook” answers that question pretty succinctly in its intense forward drive and cyclical chorus, sticking the landing on the line “We got our first-world problems” and pitting that against the contrast of “They got the tv and the money and the power and the guns.” I don’t want to put too fine a point on it, but it sounds in that scenario like “we” are fucked.

I’m not sure who that “we” encompasses, but fair enough. If nothing else, “Revolution Cookbook” would seem to demonstrate that Planet of Zeus, if indeed they’re revising their focus lyrically, aren’t doing so at the expense of efficiency in craft. That is, they’re not so caught up in the message as to lose sight of the song. Faith in Physics would seem to be setting itself up for an exploration of these contrasts, whether it’s the melodic and shouted vocals here or the workman groove and more considered lyrics themselves. I haven’t heard the rest of the record yet — and since the release date is still more than three months out, I think that’s totally reasonable — but even the title Faith in Physics speaks to an idea of conflict or struggle, hinting toward the idea of science vs. dogma and commenting that even “believing” in science is a belief system, even if one based on empirical observation. This too would seem to make it a fitting follow-up to Loyal to the Pack, the first lines of which were, “No fake gods/No submission/No trust to anyone.”

The video itself is pretty straightforward in terms of capturing the band’s performance, but is well timed to the rhythm of the song nonetheless, though if you’re sensitive to flashing lights you might want to watch out in parts. It’s not too bad. I expect you’ll be fine.

Ultimately, it does nothing so much as make me curious to hear the rest of the album.

Enjoy:

Planet of Zeus, “Revolution Cookbook” official video premiere

ALBUM PRESALE: https://www.heavypsychsounds.com/shop.htm#HPS108

Faith in Physics was recorded in Autumn 2018 at “Villa Guiseppe Studio” (drums), Planet of Zeus’s studio (guitars and bass) and “Kiwi Studio” (vocals) in Athens, Greece. It was produced by Planet of Zeus and recorded, mixed and mastered by Nikos Lavdas. The album artwork was created by “Aristotle Roufanis Studio”.

PLANET OF ZEUS is:
Babis Papanikolaou – Vox & Guitars
Stelios Provis – Guitars
Giannis Vrazos – Bass
Serafeim Giannakopoulos – Drums

Planet of Zeus website

Planet of Zeus on Thee Facebooks

Planet of Zeus on Bandcamp

Heavy Psych Sounds on Thee Facebooks

Heavy Psych Sounds website

Heavy Psych Sounds on Bandcamp

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Planet of Zeus Sign to Heavy Psych Sounds; Faith in Physics Preorders Up

Posted in Whathaveyou on June 14th, 2019 by JJ Koczan

planet of zeus

There’s no audio from it yet, but the description of the intent behind the upcoming album from Planet of Zeus — titled Faith in Physics, out Sept. 27 through Heavy Psych Sounds — certainly has my interest piqued, and not just because I watched that Flat Earther documentary on Netfli. The Greek outfit would seem to be taking on a more grounded-in-now perspective in their themes, and I have to wonder how that will manifest in their songs. I tend to think of them as burly heavy rock, but maybe some different kinds of energies this time around? Titles like “The Great Liar” and “Let Them Burn” would seem to hint toward a yes in that regard, but definitely, I’m curious to hear how it will all meld. It’s the band’s first outing through Heavy Psych Sounds and preorders are up as of yesterday for vinyl and CD and whatnot.

The PR wire puts it thusly:

PLANET OF ZEUS FAITH IN PHYSICS

Heavy Psych Sounds Records & Booking is really proud to start the presale of the new album PLANET OF ZEUS – FAITH IN PHYSICS

ALBUM PRESALE:

https://www.heavypsychsounds.com/shop.htm#HPS108

USA PRESALE via All That Is Heavy (available soon):

https://allthatisheavy.com/search?type=product&q=faith+in+physics

RELEASE DATE: SEPTEMBER 27th

AVAILABLE IN :
40 ULTRA LTD TEST PRESS VINYL
250 TRANSPARENT SPLATTER BLUE / CLEAR BLUE / PINK FLUO / GREEN FLUO VINYL
550 LTD GOLD VINYL
BLACK VINYL
DIGIPAK
DIGITAL

In 2019, at a time in which irrationalism seems to be king, with far-right politics enjoying mainstream status worldwide, religious fundamentalists, flat-earthers, and anti-vaccinists testing the limits of freedom of speech, Planet of Zeus return with their highly anticipated fifth studio album, “Faith in Physics” (Heavy Psych Sounds records). Lyrically, this album seems to be Planet of Zeus’s most socio-politically conscious release, dealing with themes such as digitalization, religion, social network pseudo-revolution, addiction and lonerism. Musically, it sounds like the band’s chosen to take the dirtiest path possible in order to create the highly charged atmosphere needed to get its messages through. 46 minutes of heavy, intellectual riffology and fat grooves, reminiscent of RATM’s best days, MC5-esque attitude and energy, coupled with QOTSA’s pop sensibilities. An album that flows like water and closes with Planet of Zeus’s signature psychedelic last track, that sounds like “the Doors” landing in 2019 Athens via teleportation.

Faith in Physics was recorded in Autumn 2018 at “Villa Guiseppe Studio” (drums), Planet of Zeus’s studio (guitars and bass) and “Kiwi Studio” (vocals) in Athens, Greece. It was produced by Planet of Zeus and recorded, mixed and mastered by Nikos Lavdas. The album artwork was created by “Aristotle Roufanis Studio”.

TRACKLIST
Gasoline 4:31
Man Vs God 5:26
The Great Liar 5:03
Revolution Cookbook 2:55
All These Happy People 4:04
Your Song 4:46
Let Them Burn 5:58
On Parole 5:23
King of the Circus 8:15

PLANET OF ZEUS is:
Babis Papanikolaou – Vox & Guitars
Stelios Provis – Guitars
Giannis Vrazos – Bass
Serafeim Giannakopoulos – Drums

http://www.planetofzeus.gr
https://www.facebook.com/planetofzeus
http://planetofzeus.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/HEAVYPSYCHSOUNDS/
http://www.heavypsychsounds.com/
https://heavypsychsoundsrecords.bandcamp.com/

Planet of Zeus, Loyal to the Pack (2016)

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