Tomorrow, March 28, marks the release of the second Smoke Mountain full-length, The Rider, through Argonauta Records. With it, the Floridian three-piece bring into focus the gothic atmosphere somewhat obscured by the low fuzz of their debut, 2020’s Queen of Sin (review here), while saving room in the final three tracks for the band to do a complete revisit to the initial self-titled demo/EP (review here) that set them forth with such ceremony upon its arrival in 2017.
Those three songs appear in their original order, even, so if you told Smoke Mountain at any point in the last eight years or so you liked them, it would seem your voice was heard. The path the band take to get there makes up the heart of what The Rider have on offer, and as they take the chug of Type O Negative‘s verse riff to “Black No. 1” and revamp it for opener “Hell or Paradise,” they do so with a clearly conveyed intent to bridge the (imaginary) gap between doom, goth and heavy rock. This journey culminates in the likeminded march of “The Sun and Heavens Fall,” rich in presence and correspondingly lo-fi in its buzz, as is the procession through “The Way to Heaven” — faster, like late 1970s catchy heavy punk gone cult stoner, so yeah, a little Misfitsy as it gets swallowed by the noise of its own making — the big-on-crash “Bringer of Doom,” and the title-track, which runs under three minutes and has a “Neon Knights” or “Turn up the Night” kind of tension to it its verse.
TheRider, then, isn’t without its sense of dynamic, but it leaves little question that Smoke Mountain know what they’re about in terms of mood and songwriting, and the aesthetic they’re exploring here, continuing on from the first LP, is deceptive in its complexity owing in part to the rawness of the production and the live, in-the-room feel of the performances. And much to the band’s credit, they revisit their origins in such a way as to convey the progression they’ve undertaken since, whether that’s the hypnotic chorus of “Demon” or the stomp of “Violent Night” snapping you back to reality, or the eponymous “Smoke Mountain,” which remains a filthy delight of crunch and march while still letting the vocal cut through. The closing trilogy are distinct, but I don’t think so far out of character with the new material prior as to be incongruous. The tones are there. The structure, the melody. Groove is groove. You split hairs, I’ll nod out.
A suitably blasphemous thematic gives a metallic aftertaste, something dark and seething, and there’s a level of harshness intended in the recording itself, but for experienced heads, nothing on The Rider should be such a challenge as to be completely inaccessible. This is an asset on the band’s part, and something one hopes they’ll carry forward as they move toward the potential realizations of a third record, learning from the meld they undertake in these songs and bringing that experience to the studio as they did after the first outing going into this one. If you’d take on the whole album — awesome; it’s streaming below — keep an ear for the goth vibes and the malleable way the band speak to the different facets of their sound both before and after they dive back to retell their origin story.
And however you go, and wherever you end up, I hope you enjoy.
PR wire info follows:
Smoke Mountain, The Rider album premiere
The Rider combines elements of the past, present, and future of Smoke Mountain. In addition to featuring the three songs from our debut EP, The Rider contains five powerful new tracks that provide a glimpse into the direction the band is heading. We’re very happy with the final product.
Smoke Mountain, the celebrated doom trio hailing from Tallahassee, Florida, is thrilled to announce the release of their highly anticipated new album, The Rider, out March 28th, 2025, via Argonauta Records.
Formed in 2015, Smoke Mountain quickly carved out a place in the doom metal scene with their self-titled debut EP in 2017, which garnered widespread acclaim and set the stage for their first full-length album. Released via Italy’s Argonauta Records in 2020, Queen of Sin earned critical praise for its haunting melodies, crushing riffs, and atmospheric depth.
With The Rider, Smoke Mountain builds upon this legacy while exploring new sonic territories. The album remains true to the band’s doom roots, showcasing their signature blend of occult themes, heavy grooves, and evocative lyrics. At the same time, it reveals a matured approach to melody, arrangement, and production.
Tracklisting: 1. Hell or Paradise 2. The Way to Heaven 3. Bringer of Doom 4. The Rider 5. The Sun and Heavens Fall 6. Demon 7. Violent Night 8. Smoke Mountain
Posted in Whathaveyou on March 10th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
Floridian heavybringers Hollow Leg and Florist have paired up for an East Coast run surrounding their respective appearances at Maryland Doom Fest 2025 in Frederick, MD, this June. Hollow Leg are familiar enough around these parts, but I’ll confess I apparently whiffed on Florist‘s 2023 debut album, Contact, and the price of my ignorance is being blindsided by it now, a bright shove a bit manic like a spacebound Torche, if we want to keep it to FL, rooted in punk and aughts-era stoner idolatries but with an immediate point of view in the songwriting. It’s in my notes but they’ll probably have another record out before I can close a week with it. I’ve maintained all along I suck at this.
The bottom line is I dig it, I suppose, and the band will make a solid complement to Hollow Leg on the road. Hollow Leg of course released two EPs last year, Dust (review here) and Echoes (review here), that last I heard were to be compiled onto a single LP sometime in 2025 as may yet still be the plan. Between those two and the band’s by-now-not-insignificant back catalog, they can change up their setlist as much as they want, to lean nastier or more melodic, more aggressive or laid back and rolling, and accordingly, I’d expect these shows to kick ass. Maybe I’ll get lucky and Curse the Son will get added to that Norwich, CT, show.
From Hollow Leg via the PR wire:
Say Hollow Leg: “Hollow Leg and Florist have spent a lot of 2023/2024 playing shows together around Florida so when both bands were booked for this year’s Maryland Doom Fest it was a no brainer that we were gonna do a run together! Thanks to Jean Saiz for the awesome poster!”
Hollow Leg / Florist 2025 summer tour
June 12 -Orlando, FL @ wills pub June 13- Atlanta, GA @ 529 June 14- Asheville, NC @ sly grog lounge (Hell Chere Fest) June 15-Nashville TN @ the Basement June 16- Louisville, KY @ MagBar June 17-Youngstown, OH @ Westside bowl June 18- Syracuse, NY @ the jugg June 19-Norwich CT @ Strange Brew June 20-Brooklyn NY @ Goldsounds June 21-Fredrick, MD-Doomfest (HL only) June 22-Fredrick, MD Doomfest (Florist only) June 23- Wilmington, NC @ Reggie’s
Posted in Whathaveyou on February 7th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
With a shimmer in the guitar and the breathy verse vocal of guitarist Charlie Suárez in its first single, the debut album from Moon Destroys, She Walks by Moonlight, isn’t shy about giving a heavy post-rock initial impression, and that’s nothing to complain about. The Miami/North Carolina-based four-piece are set to begin supporting She Walks by Moonlight the night before it comes out, as they’ll open for Elder and Sacri Monti on the former’s Lore-celebration tour, and they bring something to that bill distinct from either of the other two sound-wise. The single is called “Echoes (The Empress)” and it’s showcased in a visualizer below.
The band’s pedigree in bands like Torche and Royal Thunder is nifty-nifty and certainly relevant, but less applicable to the sound than the context from which it emerges. I’ve been looking forward to this album for a minute or two. Only more so after hearing the single.
Here’s the PR wire with more:
Dark Psychedelic Outfit MOON DESTROYS Announces Debut Album ‘She Walks By Moonlight’ Out April 4th via Limited Fanfare Records
New Single “Echoes (The Empress)” Out Now + Visualizer
Today, Dark Psychedelic outfit MOON DESTROYS are excited to announce their debut album ‘She Walks By Moonlight’ due out on April 4th via Limited Fanfare Records. To celebrate the announcement, MOON DESTROYS share the second single off the album titled “Echoes (The Empress)”, accompanied by a visualizer available to view below.
About the single, vocalist/guitarist Charlie Suárez states:
“If time is an illusion, it’s fair to say that Ego elects which aspects of it all circle back as perceived experiences of Love, Hate, and everything in between. ‘Echoes (The Empress)’ addresses the repetitive “in between” areas of human disconnect with overwhelming uncertainty and reflective conviction.”
MOON DESTROYS, the project of guitarist Juan Montoya (ex-Torche, MonstrO) and drummer/bassist/producer Evan Diprima (Gold Pyramid, ex-Royal Thunder), delivers a fusion of massive, swirling guitars and tight rhythmic counterpoints influenced by Alternative, Post-Punk, and Dark Wave. Their 5-song EP, ‘Maiden Voyage’, was released in March 2020 via Brutal Panda Records, featuring guest vocals from Troy Sanders (Mastodon) and Paul Masvidal (Cynic), with synth contributions from Bryan Richie (The Sword).
Now, their debut LP, ‘She Walks By Moonlight’, arrives April 4, 2025, on Limited Fanfare Records. Writing began in late 2023, with Montoya in Miami and Diprima in North Carolina, collaborating remotely. Realizing the need for a permanent vocalist, they enlisted Montoya’s former MonstrO bandmate, Charlie Suárez, who contributed vocals, guitars, and synths. Diprima handled most engineering, production, and mixing, with mastering by Carl Saff (Sonic Youth, Magnolia Electric Co., Melt-Banana).
The album’s first single, “The Nearness of June”, showcases Suárez’s hypnotic vocals and lyrical depth. Other standout tracks include today’s “Echoes/The Empress”, exploring human disconnect, and “Only”, a plea to mend the irreconcilable.
In late 2024, bassist Arnold Nese (ex-Sunday Driver) joined to complete the lineup.
On the album, guitarist Juan Montoya shares:
“This record is like a phoenix, soaring over the moon’s glow leaving behind the ashes of darker days. These are songs with passion in every pulse, tapping into a universal sound for the receptive mind.”
‘She Walks By Moonlight’ Track List: 1. She Walks By Moonlight 2. The Nearness of June 3. Only 4. Set Them Free 5. A Song For Jade 6. Losing Sleep 7. Echoes (The Empress) 8. Metallic Memories 8. Sway
Catch MOON DESTROYS across the US and Canada this April supporting Elder!
MOON DESTROYS Live:
Supporting Elder 4/3 Brooklyn, NY @ The Meadows 4/4 Baltimore, MD @ The Ottobar 4/5 Raleigh, NC @ The Pour House 4/6 Asheville, NC @ Eulogy 4/8 Orlando, FL @ The Conduit 4/9 Atlanta, GA @ The Earl 4/11 Columbus, OH @ Ace of Cups 4/12 Chicago, IL @ Reggies 4/13 Detroit, MI @ Sanctuary 4/14 Buffalo, NY @ Rec Room 4/15 Toronto, ON @ Axis 4/17 Montreal, QC @ Theatre Fairmount 4/18 Hamden, CT @ Space Ballroom 4/19 Cambridge, MA @ Middle East / Downstairs
MOON DESTROYS are: Juan Montoya – Guitars Evan Diprima – Drums Charlie Suárez – Vocals Guitars Arnold Nese – Bass
Posted in Reviews on December 11th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
Wow. This is a pretty good day. I mean, I knew that coming into it — I’m the one slating the reviews — but looking up there at the names in the header, that’s a pretty killer assemblage. Maybe I’m making it easy for myself and loading up the QR with stuff I like and want to write about. Fine. Sometimes I need to remind myself that’s the point of this project in the first place.
Hope you’re having an awesome week. I am.
Quarterly Review #21-30
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Thou, Umbilical
Even knowing that the creation of a sense of overwhelm is on purpose and is part of the artistry of what Thou do, Thou are overwhelming. The stated purpose behind Umbilical is an embrace of their collective inner hardcore kid. Fine. Slow down hardcore and you pretty much get sludge metal one way or the other and Thou‘s take on it is undeniably vicious and has a character that is its own. Songs like “I Feel Nothing When You Cry” and “The Promise” envision dark futures from a bleak present, and the poetry from which the lyrics get their shape is as despondent and cynical as one could ever ask, waiting to be dug into and interpreted by the listener. Let’s be honest. I have always had a hard time buying into the hype on Thou. I’ve seen them live and enjoyed it and you can’t hear them on record and say they aren’t good at what they do, but their kind of extremity isn’t what I’m reaching for most days when I’m trying to not be in the exact hopeless mindset the band are aiming for. Umbilical isn’t the record to change my mind and it doesn’t need to be. It’s precisely what it’s going for. Caustic.
The fourth full-length from Boston’s Cortez sets a tone with opener “Gimme Danger (On My Stereo)” (premiered here) for straight-ahead, tightly-composed, uptempo heavy rock, and sure enough that would put Thieves and Charlatans — recorded by Benny Grotto at Mad Oak Studios — in line with Cortez‘s work to-date. What unfolds from the seven-minute “Leaders of Nobody” onward is a statement of expanded boundaries in what Cortez‘s sound can encompass. The organ-laced jamitude of “Levels” or the doom rock largesse of “Liminal Spaces” that doesn’t clash with the prior swing of “Stove Up” mostly because the band know how to write songs; across eight songs and 51 minutes, the five-piece of vocalist Matt Harrington, guitarists Scott O’Dowd and Alasdair Swan, bassist Jay Furlo and sitting-in drummer Alexei Rodriguez (plus a couple other guests from Boston’s heavy underground) reaffirm their level of craft, unite disparate material through performance and present a more varied and progressive take than they’ve ever had. They’re past 25 years at this point and still growing in sound. They may be underrated forever, but that’s a special band.
Writing a catchy song is not easy. Writing a song so catchy it’s still catchy even though you don’t speak the language is the provenance of the likes of Uffe Lorenzen. The founding frontman of in-the-ether-for-now Copenhagen heavy/garage psych pioneers Baby Woodrose digs into more straightforward fare on the second full-length from his new trio Lydsyn, putting a long-established Stooges influence to good use in “Hejremanden” after establishing at the outset that “Musik Er Nummer 1” (‘music is number one’) and before the subsequent slowdown into harmony blues with “UFO.” “Nørrebro” has what would seem to be intentional cool-neighborhood strut, and those seeking more of a garage-type energy might find it in “Du Vil Have Mere” or “Opråb” earlier on, and closer “Den Døde By” has a scorch that feels loyal to Baby Woodrose‘s style of psych, but whatever ties there are to Lorenzen‘s contributions over the last 20-plus years, Lydsyn stand out for the resultant quality of songwriting and for having their own dynamic building on Lorenzen‘s solo work and post-Baby Woodrose arc.
The popular wisdom has had it for a few years now that retroism is out. Hearing Baltimorean power trio Magick Potion vibe their way into swaying ’70s-style heavy blues on “Empress,” smoothly avoiding the trap of sounding like Graveyard and spacing out more over the dramatic first two minutes of “Wizard” and the proto-doomly rhythmic jabs that follow. Guitarist/vocalist/organist Dresden Boulden, bassist/vocalist Triston Grove and drummer Jason Geezus Kendall capture a sound that’s as fresh as it is familiar, and while there’s no question that the aesthetic behind the big-swing “Never Change” and the drawling, sunshine-stoned “Pagan” is rooted in the ’68-’74 “comedown era” — as their label, RidingEasy Records has put it in the past — classic heavy rock has become a genre unto itself over the last 25-plus years, and Magick Potion present a strong, next-generation take on the style that’s brash without being willfully ridiculous and that has the chops to back up its sonic callouts. The potential for growth is significant, as it would be with any band starting out with as much chemistry as they have, but don’t take that as a backhanded way of saying the self-titled is somehow lacking. To be sure, they nail it.
Oase is the second full-length from Berlin’s Weite behind 2023’s Assemblage (review here), also on Stickman, and it’s their first with keyboardist Fabien deMenou in the lineup with bassist Ingwer Boysen (Delving), guitarists Michael Risberg (Delving, Elder) and Ben Lubin (Lawns), and drummer Nick DiSalvo (Delving, Elder), and it unfurls across as pointedly atmospheric 53 minutes, honed from classic progressive rock but by the time they get to “(einschlafphase)” expanded into a cosmic, almost new age drone. Longer pieces like “Roter Traum” (10:55), “Eigengrau” (12:41) or even the opening “Versteinert” (9:36) offer impact as well as mood, maybe even a little boogie, “Woodbury Hollow” is more pastoral but no less affecting. The same goes for “Time Will Paint Another Picture,” which seems to emphasize modernity in the clarity of its production even amid vintage influences. Capping with the journey-to-freakout “The Slow Wave,” Oase pushes the scope of Weite‘s sound farther out while hitting harder than their first record, adding to the arrangements, and embracing new ideas. Unless you have a moral aversion to prog for some reason, there’s no angle from which this one doesn’t make itself a must-hear.
Big on tone and melody in a way that feels inspired by the modern sphere of heavy — thinking that Hum record, Elephant Tree, Magnetic Eye-type stuff — Florida’s Orbiter set forth across vast reaches in Distorted Folklore, a song like “Lightning Miles” growing more expansive even as it follows a stoner-bouncing drum pattern. Layering is a big factor, but it doesn’t feel like trickery or the band trying to sound like anything or anyone in particular so much as they’re trying to serve their songs — Jonathan Nunez (ex-Torche, etc.) produced; plenty of room in the mix for however big Orbiter want to get — as they shift from the rush that typified stretches of their 2019 debut, Southern Failures, to a generally more lumbering approach. The slowdown suits them here, though fast or slow, the procession of their work is as much about breadth as impact. Whatever direction they take as they move into their second decade, that foundation is crucial.
As regards genre: “dark arts?” Taking into account the 44 minutes of Vlimmer‘s fourth LP, which is post-industrial as much as it’s post-punk, with plenty of goth, some metal, some doom, some dance music, and so on factored in, there’s not a lot else that might encompass the divergent intentions of “Endpuzzle” or “Überrennen” as the Berlin solo-project of Alexander Donat harnesses ethereal urbanity in the brooding-till-it-bursts “Sinkopf” or the manic pulses under the vocal longing of closer “Fadenverlust.” To Donat‘s credit, from the depth of the setup given by longest/opening track (immediate points) “2025” to the goth-coated keyboard throb in “Mondläufer,” Bodenhex never goes anywhere it isn’t meant to go, and unto the finest details of its mix and arrangements, Vlimmer‘s work exudes expressive purpose. It is a record that has been hammered out over a period of time to be what it is, and that has lost none of the immediacy that likely birthed it in that process.
Indianapolis four-piece Moon Goons cut an immediately individual impression on their third album, Lady of Many Faces. The album, which often presents itself as a chaotic mash of ideas, is in fact not that thing. The band is well in control, just able and/or wanting to do more with their sound than most. They are also mindfully, pointedly weird. If you ever believed space rock could have been invented in an alternate reality 1990s and run through filters of lysergism and Devin Townsend-style progressive metal, you might take the time now to book the tattoo of the cover of Lady of Many Faces you’re about to want. Shenanigans abound in the eight songs, if I haven’t made that clear, and even the nod of “Doom Tomb Giant” feels like a freakout given the treatment put on by Moon Goons, but the thing about the album is that as frenetic as the four-piece of lead vocalist/guitarist Corey Standifer, keyboardist/vocalist Brooke Rice, bassist Devin Kearns and drummer Jacob Kozlowski get on their way to the doped epic finisher title-track, the danger of it coming apart is a well constructed, skillfully executed illusion. And what a show it is.
Although it opens up with some element of foreboding by transposing the progression of AC/DC‘s “Hells Bells” onto its own purposes in heavy Canadiana rock, and it gets a bit shouty/sludgy in the lyrical crescendo of “What a Dummy,” which seems to be about getting pulled over on a DUI, or the later “The Castle of White Lake,” much of Familiars‘ Easy Does It lives up to its name. Far from inactive, the band are never in any particular rush, and while a piece like “Golden Season,” with its singer-songwriter vocal, acoustic guitar and backing string sounds, carries a sense of melancholy — certainly more than the mellow groover swing and highlight bass lumber of “Gustin Grove,” say — the band never lay it on so thick as to disrupt their own momentum more than they want to. Working as a five-piece with pedal steel, piano and other keys alongside the core guitar, bass and drums, Easy Does It finds a balance of accessibility and deeper-engaging fare combined with twists of the unexpected.
Progressive stoner psych rockers The Fërtility Cült unveil their fifth album, A Song of Anger, awash in otherworldly soul music vibes, sax and fuzz and roll in conjunction with carefully arranged harmonies and melodic and rhythmic turns. There’s a lot of heavy prog around — I don’t even know how many times I’ve used the word today and frankly I’m scared to check — and admittedly part of that is how open that designation can feel, but The Fërtility Cült seem to take an especially fervent delight in their slow, molten, flowing chicanery on “The Duel” and elsewhere, and the abiding sense is that part of it is a joke, but part of everything is a joke and also the universe is out there and we should go are you ready? A Song of Anger is billed as a prequel, and perhaps “The Curse of the Atreides” gives some thematic hint as well, but whether you’ve been with them all along or this is the first you’ve heard, the 12-minute closing title-track is its own world. If you think you’re ready — and good on you for that — the dive is waiting for your immersion.
Floridian sludge metal veterans Hollow Leg self-release their new EP, Echoes, tomorrow, Dec 6. I’ll make no attempt to hide the soft spot I have for these guys or the sweet spot they hit between density of groove and aggressive intention, and you might recall back in May their Dust EP also premiered here. The two offerings, the first with five songs and the second with four, were recorded together and are intended as thematic companions, with Dust giving off more aggressive vibes and Echoes honing in on more of a rock groove, though it’s Hollow Leg, so of course intensity is still a part of what they do, as “Red Skies” reminds even as it digs into a righteous chug and leans almost toward Southern heavy in its central riff as vocalist Scott Angelacos screams his head off, as will happen.
No question Echoes is more upbeat than Dust, though, at least on average. Hollow Leg have never shied away from confrontation in their sound, and indeed Angelacos is a big part of that impression — which definitely not to say guitarist Brent Lynch, bassist Tom Crowther and drummer John Stewart aren’t — in both his generally-visceral, Matt Pike-esque-but-more-scream delivery and his on-beat patterning, but the intro to “Last Tribe” and what’s presumably the ‘Dig the Grave’ part of closer “Ride the Wave/Dig the Grave” (the longest inclusion on either EP at 6:33) offer a trippier feel and a more melodic roll, respectively, and though the whole release is only 19 minutes long, that’s plenty of time for the band to conjure a sense of atmosphere around their hard-hitting foundation of sludge. The more you listen, the more you’ll find, and the focus on hooks becomes part of the procession throughout.
To wit, “Last Tribe” Echoplexes its way in as it establishes its riff, and so the immediate impression is swirl, but swiftly moves into its first verse and the start-stop chorus that follows, scream-topped but fluid and effectively riding the groove back to its core swing, dropping the tradeoff after two cycles to move from the verse into the bridge and Lynch‘s solo. “Bury Our Kings” is perhaps appropriately stately but still brash for all that poise, and the gurgly holdout at the finish sets up the crash and riff of “Red Skies” in a way that feels purposeful and flows smoothly despite the angles and elbows being thrown in the material itself. At 3:29, “Red Skies” is the shortest song on either Dust or Echoes — which will see joint release on a single LP in 2025 — and follows suit in its sans-nonsense take on heavy sludge rock before “Ride the Wave/Dig the Grave” pushes outward from the straightforward nod, building classic tension in its verse before the chorus release and with its airier solo prefacing the drop-everything shift into the second part happening around 4:30.
The guitar stands alone to lead the way back in from silence and layered vocals give a resounding impression as the noise builds to the end. Hollow Leg doing doomgaze? It feels that way a little, but that kind of flourish showcasing broader influences isn’t necessarily a new aspect of the band’s sound, even if it’s realized differently in Echoes. That is, the underlying ethic driving them toward individualism is unchanged, but takes a different shape here than it sometimes has in the past, though I guess if you want to nitpick ambiences amid all the crush, you can do that too. Everything’s relative, but if Hollow Leg come out of Echoes sounding like Hollow Leg — and yeah, they do — they demonstrate clearly that there are multiple avenues by which they might get there, and if Dust was a dirge, Echoes feels more like a revelry in its movement.
And, crucially, that seems to be intentional. I don’t know whether Hollow Leg went into the studio with famed metal producer Zeuss thinking they were going to divide up the material as they have over the course of 2024 or not, but even if this plan emerged after, the framing of the material does a lot in terms of creating the impression of variety around the onslaught, and on the most basic level, the listening experience proves they were right to present the two EPs as they have. It will be interesting to hear the direct back-to-back when Dust/Echoes surfaces as a 12″, but though there’s a lot shared between what will be sides A and B, each one emerges with its own character as well. It’s the kind of thing a band can do when they know who they are and are dedicated to the idea of exploring and expanding around that. I think having been around for a decade and a half is probably an asset in their favor there as well.
Assuming I get the player working in time, you’ll find Echoes streaming in its entirety below, followed by more info from the PR wire.
Please enjoy:
IN THE BAND’S OWN WORDS:
“We wanted to change up the way we wrote and released a record this time around. The original idea was just simply making EPs, however many that was, but somewhere during the demoing process we decided we had an overarching theme and sound/vibe to these ideas, and maybe instead of making them separate pieces we could make them a series, parts one and two.
DUST & ECHOES are made to stand on their own but also as a tandem, which is why we are releasing them the way we are, and as a split vinyl in 2025. There’s also some practical reasoning behind it, but really it just boiled down to wanting to try something different. ECHOES is the slightly more hopeful counterpart to DUST, but thematically there is a through line.
Scott and Zeuss did a great job tying the sonics together as well, while also allowing them to keep their own personalities. We’re very excited about this output!”
Tracklist: 1. Last Tribe (5:11) 2. Bury Our Kings (4:43) 3. Red Skies (3:28) 4. Ride the Wave/Dig the Grave (6:33)
Hollow Leg is: Scott Angelacos – vocals Brent Lynch – guitar/backing vocals Tom Crowther – bass John Stewart – drums
Posted in Whathaveyou on November 5th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
Floridian sludge metallers Hollow Leg aren’t letting 2024 go without getting one more gut-punch in. The blow will come in the form of Echoes, a companion four-song EP to earlier this year’s Dust (review here), which was the four-piece first offering in half a decade. With Echoes, the band admit a little that there’s a continuity from one to the next — Echoes and Dust, hmm, doesn’t that ring a bell? — and so they’ll receive a joint vinyl release in the New Year, which if you’re gonna basically do an album split into two parts makes sense to compile it all together. And gruff vocalist Scott Angelacos gives the “Dust and echoes” title line(s) in Echoes opener “Last Tribe,” so yeah, the sense is very much of the band revealing the full scope of the project that began this past May with the release of Dust.
I’m just digging into the songs as the announcement comes through, so I’ll hold off any actual opinion-having, but if you know Hollow Leg, you know the pummel being discussed by the PR wire below, so I won’t keep you any longer. Have at it:
Sludge veterans Hollow Leg to release ECHOES, the follow-up and sister EP to DUST, on December 6th
New album ECHOES, sister EP to DUST, out December 6th
Self-released (Digital)
Hollow Leg have no plans to slow their decade-plus quest to pummel and groove, and 2024 has proven to be one of their most prolific years yet since the band’s formation in 2010. Following on the heels of the DUST EP released this May, the crew return with its sister EP ECHOES, sonically both kin and counterpart to its forebear.
Where DUST saw the brutality and bone-shaking aspects of Hollow Leg’s sludge and doom stand front and center, ECHOES finds the band pivoting towards another part of the heavy spectrum. Still as crushing as ever, the 2nd EP leans further into groove and psychedelia, creating a lean, mean riff machine of hooks and atmospheric guitar leads, all running on the pounding rhythms that are the lifeblood of Hollow Leg. Sledgehammer guitars and drums rolling through thick distortion are balanced by passages of icy, atmospheric serenity, tied together by raging vocals and thunderous tones.
Even 14 years into their existence, Hollow Leg continue to explore and evolve, and ECHOES is one of their most dynamic and adventurous works to date. Released digitally, the two EPs will also be combined into a true dyad as a vinyl release in 2025 on Third House Communications.
IN THE BAND’S OWN WORDS:
“We wanted to change up the way we wrote and released a record this time around. The original idea was just simply making EPs, however many that was, but somewhere during the demoing process we decided we had an overarching theme and sound/vibe to these ideas, and maybe instead of making them separate pieces we could make them a series, parts one and two.
DUST & ECHOES are made to stand on their own but also as a tandem, which is why we are releasing them the way we are, and as a split vinyl in 2025. There’s also some practical reasoning behind it, but really it just boiled down to wanting to try something different. ECHOES is the slightly more hopeful counterpart to DUST, but thematically there is a through line.
Scott and Zeuss did a great job tying the sonics together as well, while also allowing them to keep their own personalities. We’re very excited about this output!”
Tracklist: 1. Last Tribe (5:11) 2. Bury Our Kings (4:43) 3. Red Skies (3:28) 4. Ride the Wave/Dig the Grave (6:33)
Hollow Leg is: Scott Angelacos – vocals Brent Lynch – guitar/backing vocals Tom Crowther – bass John Stewart – drums
Posted in Bootleg Theater on September 20th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
I’m not saying the heavy underground took Torche for granted, but yes, in fact that’s very much what I’m saying. The Miami-based innovators of what for a time was called sludge-pop called it quits in 2022, when founding frontman Steve Brooks announced he was leaving the band just a few nights before they featured at Desertfest New York (review here) and began a Fall tour alongside Meshuggah. No one would accuse the band, founded in 2004 and with five full-lengths to their credit — the last of them being 2019’s Admission (review here) — of owing anybody anything, but it was still a bummer to see them disband. Their 2005 self-titled debut (discussed here) had taken the bomb-toned emo-punk leanings of Brooks‘ prior band, Floor, and crafted a worthy successor to that band’s landmark 2002 self-titled LP (discussed here), pushing into a new kind of heavy rock that was as dense as any colossally-riffed nodding doom, but uptempo, major key, and with a shove that would become a signature.
Comprised then of Brooks, guitarist Juan Montoya, drummer Rick Smith and bassist Jon Nuñez — the band’s final lineup would see Nuñez on guitar in place of Montoya and Eric Hernandez on bass — Torche issued the In Return EP as a combined 10″ and CD with a rare non-booby-lady cover by John Dyer Baizley of Baroness, pressed through Robotic Empire in 2007, between the self-titled and their 2008 Hydra Head-backed breakout, Meanderthal. It’s a blip in their career arc, but at just 19 minutes and seven songs, it serves the immediacy of what Torche did in a way that a full album never could. That’s not to say their records were too long — the self-titled was 29 minutes, Meanderthal still just 36; they never went over 40 — but that the EP format was suited to the rush of a piece like In Return‘s title-track, a two-and-a-half-minute burst of solar-matter-made-riff that feels like it should fall apart before its first verse but that holds itself together right into its midsection stops and shifts into a stoner-metal nod with Brooks‘ always clean vocals over top. Torche songs never wanted for having a lot going on. On In Return, that could be true without their being more overwhelming than they wanted.
In Return highlights what works in Torche‘s sound in a way that their albums couldn’t, and it wasn’t the only EP they put out during their time that did so — 2010’s Songs for Singles (review here) had enough substance to carry the band from Meanderthal to 2012’s Harmonicraft (review here) with little dip in momentum; certainly a full touring schedule helped in that regard as well — but is a special moment just the same, and not only because it features at its penultimate moment one of the heaviest and most righteously dug-in tracks Torche would ever produce in the outright-monstrous “Tarpit Carnivore.” Amid a riff in the imitable low tone that few but Brooks could hope to conjure, simple lyrics like “Sabretooth mastodon/Dire wolf/Native American” feel duly primal in a way that presages the coming of a next generation of heavy purveyors; these are lessons bands like Conan would pick up and use as a foundation to embark in new, sometimes much more outwardly ferocious directions.
But In Return is no more only about “Tarpit Carnivore” than it is any of its other six component cuts — well, maybe a little; they do revel in it and build up to the track’s arrival with the angular procession in the two-minute instrumental “Olympus Mons,” named for the Martian volcano that, to-date, is the largest discovered in the solar system. Even so, that movement from one to the other is just part of an overarching flow that begins with the suitably cannon-esque shots of distortion and crash fired at the outset of “Warship” and continues in the declarative stomp that emerges from the title-track. As tightly packed as the songs seem to be in themselves, they in conversation with each other as well, whether it’s “In Return” fading into the explosion of light at the start of “Bring Me Home” — ahead of the curve on heavygaze by more than half a decade, with its resonant vocal melody and airy guitar — and the flurried intensity of “Rule the Beast,” which follows with a gallop that rivals what High on Fire might’ve produced at the time while remaining very much its own thing, and fun as part of that in a way many of their peers couldn’t be. As much ‘worship’ pervades the heavy underground, whether it’s volume, tone, riff, weed, or whatever as the object of it, Torche were one of few bands who could actually cast a song as a celebration.
To wit, the EP follows the great flattening of “Tarpit Carnivore,” Torche further the onslaught in “Hellion,” the closer and longest track at a whopping 3:37. Smith‘s toms take a beating as thrown-down-the-stairs fills pepper the chorus, and that hook is anchored by heft inherited from the song prior while the melodic vocals, still part-shout, sneer out the title line. It’s an exciting sound at its root, and Torche never gave the impression of not knowing what they were going for as a band, even as an LP like 2015’s Restarter (review here) expanded the sonic palette, and so when they end “Hellion” by scorching the ground with feedback, there’s little chance it’s a coincidence. Torche have laid waste. It took them less than 20 minutes to do so.
That’s the underlying message of In Return, really. If you heard Torche at the time it came out and were curious who this band were going to become, In Return provided a vital, crushing answer, with maximum efficiency. Torche couldn’t very well have spent their career putting out half-albums and attained the kind of profile they did, but they were unquestionably suited to the format, and In Return demonstrates their ability to tell a story in sound, mirroring the relative brevity of their songs themselves with the presentation thereof. I don’t have a bad word to say about their work more broadly unless you count “fuck yeah,” but that In Return was anything more than a tossoff to begin with epitomizes the singular nature of it and the band, who for all the acclaim they received during their run still seem to be somewhat underappreciated in what they accomplished.
As always, I hope you enjoy. Thank you for reading.
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This weekend is kind of a marathon. Tonight we’re going to Connecticut, then tomorrow back down to NJ to see Slomosa at Starland Ballroom, and Sunday we’re having family friends over, so yeah, I expect by the start of next week I’ll be duly shitkicked. Big change.
Thanks to everybody who checked out the Desertfest NYC coverage last week. I got some nice comments particularly about the photos, which was great since I’m well aware taking pictures isn’t always my strong suit. I did get some decent ones though. Maybe hanging out with the likes of Tim Bugbee had an effect, though it feels like flattering myself to even think so. Maybe I was just the right amount of stoned. Who knows.
Look out for a Terry Gross review next week, that Slomosa live review, and premieres for Starmonger, Northern Heretic and Caixao. We’re coming up on the next Quarterly Review. I had wanted to do it at the start of September — you can see how that went by the lack of Quarterly Review happening — and as a result of not getting it done, it’s currently slated for two weeks starting Oct. 7. There’s a ton coming out right around then, and I’m already doubled-up on some of those days, which isn’t what I want to be when I’m already writing about 10 different releases in one post, but I’ve done it before and I’ll survive again. It will be good to have another 100 albums off my back in terms of things I want to have covered in some way — whether that’s Alunah (out today), Massive Hassle, Steve Von Till, Castle and Elder or Sandveiss, Endless Floods, Land Mammal and Satan’s Satyrs. One way or the other, it is packed. I’ve got like two slots left and then I need to start putting in alternatives and filling the next one.
Some of that stuff I’m behind on, but one thing about that is I think I care less about timeliness than I ever have. Part of that is reactionary. I see things on social media, bands of the minute, whatever it is, and while I know lists can be fun however often they’re derided for ranking things that shouldn’t be ranked — a fair argument — to me it just seems emblematic of the current disposability of creative work. It says that this stuff matters when it comes out and then it goes away to make room for the next thing. I’ll do a year-end list this year because I feel like I have to, like it’s expected of the site and good for me to have to refer to later, but I can’t help but feel like new music is given an expiration date when it neither needs nor deserves one. If an album came out in June, what, that means October is too late? By what standard could that possibly be true in anything other than the setting of panicked internet FOMO capitalism in which the heavy underground permeates?
As far as that does, I’m a do what I want, and by my own standard. That’s why I started this site in the first place. That doesn’t make me cool, just old and ornery. The cool kids share memes.
I hope you have a great and safe weekend. Have fun out there while the weather’s still good (if it is where you are) and don’t forget to hydrate. See you back here Mubblesday for that Slomosa review and whatever news I’m probably trying to catch up on. Ha.
Floridian heavy rockers The Electric Mud will release their new album, Ashes and Bone, on Oct. 4 through Small Stone Records. Named of course after the classic Muddy Waters album, Electric Mud (discussed here), the band made their Small Stone debut with 2020’s Burn the Ships (review here) and there and on the subsequent Black Wool EP (review here), they fostered a markedly bluesy heavy rock sound. That’s still definitely a factor on Ashes and Bone‘s 10-track/43-minute span, most notably in the vocals of guitarist Peter Kolter — joined in the band by guitarist Constantine Grim, bassist Tommy Scott and drummer Pierson Whicker — but change is clearly afoot in their sound.
In the twisting lead riffing of “The Crown That Eats the Head’ or the rhythmically tense chug behind “The Old Ways” and “Manmade Weather” later on, The Electric Mud transpose an early-Mastodon influence into a more aggressive form of their own heavy blues. This, coupled with a sharper attack in the grooves of pieces like opener “Silent Gods” and the careening “Top of the Tree” in the album’s initial salvo, changes the scope of Ashes and Bone coming off of Burn the Ships, and while that record wanted nothing for energy, the direction in which that manifests is notably shifted from where it was. Whether that was conscious or not as the band set themselves to the task of writing, I don’t know, but they’re at least aware of it after the fact as a characteristic of the album — the PR wire info below attests — and even as they make their way from the taut craft of “Manmade Weather” and the angularity of the penultimate “Pillars” into the nine-minute progressively-structured semi-metallized “Ace” to round out, they seem to revel in the new without entirely letting go of who they were last time around.
“Ashes and Bone,” the title-track with a lyric video premiering below, is somewhat anomalous in its construction. It follows the organ-laced meld of presumed side-A capper “Wrath of the Mighty,” which brings in a bit of dogmatic fire and brimstone, and brings together fluid melody and more complex rhythms, and keeps the organ behind a brooding verse en route to building to a chorus delivering the album’s titular line. It is bluesier than some of the album that shares its name, but its ebbs and flows resolve in a solo-topped crescendo that’s precise enough to tie it to the surrounding pieces. It’s a somewhat mournful lyrical perspective — fair enough — shared with the likes of “The Old Ways” and “Gone Are the Days,” but “Ashes and Bone” is a standout for highlighting both how anchored in roll The Electric Mud are and how much they are able to work around that solid center.
Moreover, Ashes and Bone serves as a reminder that the lines between microgenres are imaginary in the first place, that music is music, and that part of the function of art is to be a showcase for new ideas and interpretations. For someone like me, sitting at a keyboard after the fact of the album’s making and trying to convey some of its intent to anyone who might take it on, this notion is crucial to keeping an open mind. It may be that The Electric Mud are in a transitional moment on their way to become a metal band. If so, all the better that they’ve managed to capture that process as it’s happening rather than simply showing up next time around as basically a different band. Whether that’s the case or not, I obviously have no idea, but with as much motion as there is throughout Ashes and Bone, however post-apocalyptic it may be, it’s hard to think of The Electric Mud resting on these laurels any more than they did after Burn the Ships.
If it needs to be said, that’s a good thing. As a niche, blues rock could use a kick in the ass and a refreshed perspective. The Electric Mud would seem to be providing both.
Enjoy the video:
The Electric Mud, “Ashes and Bone” video premiere
It’s been three years since the release of THE ELECTRIC MUD’s Black Wool EP and, encouraged by friends, family, and the brass at Small Stone, the band is excited to announce their return. They believed they had more to say, and that their best music was still in front of them. They believed the ideas and creative philosophy that brought the band to life and to the precipice of so many exciting things just a few short years ago had to be carried to the next point in their evolution. A new full-length album, it was decided, was the best way to make that statement.
During the writing sessions, a theme emerged: Mankind’s obsession with its own destruction. Where did it come from, and where will it take us? THE ELECTRIC MUD intended to examine some of the darker angels of our nature, and set it to a heavy, post-apocalyptic soundtrack. Decamping to Juniper Recordings in Cape Coral, Florida, and bringing Caleb Neff aboard not just to engineer the record but produce it created an open and creative environment in the studio that’s integral to the sound. There is a deep collaborative bond stitched into the fabric of the record, a collection of heavy sounds and ideas that are truly egalitarian in nature. The point is emphatically driven home with a fantastic mix by Ben McLeod, studio wiz by day, guitar demigod for All Them Witches by night. The resulting record, Ashes And Bone, has been a labor of love, and a reminder of what they love about music and each other.
Boasting a heavier, more aggressive sound that owes as much to the sludgy, prog inflected ferocity of Soundgarden or Mastodon as it does the eerie proto-metal riffing of Black Sabbath and soulful energy of Graveyard, Ashes And Bone is a firmly taken musical step forward into the future as much as it is the sound of a band taking care of unfinished business.
Ashes And Bone, which features album artwork and design by Alexander von Wieding, will be released on CD, LP and digital formats.
Ashes And Bone Track Listing: 1. Silent Gods 2. Top Of The Tree 3. The Crown That Eats The Head 4. Gone Are The Days 5. Wrath Of The Mighty 6. Ashes And Bone 7. The Old Ways 8. Manmade Weather 9. Pillars 10. Ace
THE ELECTRIC MUD: Constantine Grim – guitar Pierson Whicker – drums, percussion Peter Kolter – vocals, guitar Tommy Scott – bass
Special Guests: Joe Reppert – organ and keys on “Wrath Of The Mighty” Jon Meek – synths on “Wrath Of The Mighty” and “Ace”
tension to it its verse.
