Quarterly Review: Chat Pile, Neon Nightmare, Astrometer, Acid Rooster, Giants Dwarfs and Black Holes, Oryx, Sunface, Fórn, Gravity Well, Methadone Skies

Posted in Reviews on October 21st, 2024 by JJ Koczan

THE-OBELISK-FALL-2020-QUARTERLY-REVIEW

This is the last day of the Fall 2024 Quarterly Review. Day 11 of 10, as it were. Bonus-extra, as we say at home. 10 more releases of various kinds to underscore the point of the infinite creative sphere. Before we dive in, I want to make a note about the header above. It’s the same one I used a couple times during the pandemic, with the four horseman of the apocalypse riding, and I put it in place of the AI art I’d been using because that seems to be a trigger for so many people.

In my head, I did that to avoid the conversation, to avoid dealing with someone who might be like, “Ugh, AI art” and then a conversation that deteriorates in the way of people talking at each other on the internet. This saves me the trouble. I’ll note the irony that swiping an old etching out of the public domain and slapping an Obelisk logo on it is arguably less creative than feeding a prompt into a generative whathaveyou, but at least this way I don’t have to hear the underground’s moral panic that AI is coming for stoner rock.

Quarterly Review #101-110:

Chat Pile, Cool World

chat pile cool world

Chat Pile are two-for-two on living up to the hype in my mind as Cool World follows the band’s 2022 debut, God’s Country (review here), with a darker, more metal take on that record’s trauma-poetic and nihilistic noise rock. Some of the bassy jabs in songs like “Camcorder” and “Frownland” remind of Korn circa their self-titled, but I’m not sure Chat Pile were born when that record came out, and that harder, fuller-sounding impact comes in a context with “Tape” following “Camcorder” in bringing together Meshuggah and post-punk, so take it as you will. Based in Oklahoma City, Chat Pile are officially A Big Deal With Dudes™, but in a style that’s not exactly known for reinvention — i.e. noise rock — they are legitimately a breath of air that would be ‘fresh’ if it weren’t so desolate and remains innovative regardless. There’s gonna be a lot of mediocre riffs and shitty poetry written in an attempt to capture a fraction of what this record does.

Chat Pile on Facebook

The Flenser website

Neon Nightmare, Faded Dream

Neon Nightmare Faded Dream

I guess the anonymous project Neon Nightamre — who sound and aesthetic-wise are straight-up October Rust-and-later Type O Negative; the reason the album caught my eye was the framing of the letters around the corners — have gotten some harsh response to their debut, Faded Dream. Critic-type dudes pearl-clutching a band’s open unoriginality. Because to be sure, beyond dedicating the album to Peter Steele — and maybe they did, I haven’t seen the full artwork — Neon Nightmare could hardly do more in naked homage to the semi-goth Brooklyn legends and their distinctive Beatles/Sabbath worship. But I mean, that’s the point. It’s not like this band is saying they’re the first ones doing any of this, and in a world where AI could scrape every Type O record and pump out some half-assed interpretation in five minutes, isn’t something that attempts to demonstrate actual human love for the source material as it builds on it worth at least acknowledging as creative? I like Type O Negative a lot. The existence of Neon Nightmare doesn’t lessen that at all, and there are individual flashes of style in “Lost Silver” — the keyboard line feels like an easter egg from “Anesthesia”; I wondered if the title was in honor of Josh Silver — and the guitar work of “She’s Drowning” that make me even more curious to see where this goes.

Neon Nightmare on Facebook

20 Buck Spin website

Astrometer, Outermost

astrometer outermost

Brooklyn-based instrumentalist five-piece Astrometer present their full-length debut after releasing their first demo, Incubation (review here), in 2022. The double-guitar pairing of Carmine Laietta V and Drew Mack and the drumming of Jeff Stieber at times will put you in mind of their collective past playing together in Hull, but the keys of Jon Ehlers (Bangladeafy) and the basswork of Sam Brodsky (Meek is Murder) assure that the newer collective have a persona and direction of their own, so that while the soaring solo in “Power Vulture” or the crashes of “Blood Wedding” might ring familiar, the context has shifted, so that those crashes come accompanied by sax and there’s room for a song like “Conglobulations” with its quirk, rush and crunching bounce to feel cosmic with the keyboard, and that blend of crush and reach extends into the march of closer “Do I Know How to Party…” which feels like a preface for things to come in its progressive punch.

Astrometer on Facebook

Astrometer on Bandcamp

Acid Rooster, Hall of Mirrors

acid rooster hall of mirrors

An annual check-in from universe-and-chill molten and mellow heavy psych explorers Acid Rooster. It’s only been a year since the band unfurled Flowers and Dead Souls, but Hall of Mirrors offers another chance to be hypnotized by the band’s consuming fluidity, the 39-minute four-songer coming across as focused on listener immersion in no small part as a result of Acid Rooster‘s own. That is, it’s not like you’re swimming around the bassline and residual synth and guitar effects noise in the middle of the 14-minute “Chandelier Arp” and the band are standing calm and dry back on the beach. No way. They’re right in it. I don’t know if they were closed-eyes entranced while the recording was taking place, but if you want a definition of ‘dug in,’ Hall of Mirrors has four, and Acid Rooster‘s capacity for conveying purpose as they plunge into a jam-born piece like “Confidence of Ignorance” sets them apart from much of Europe’s psychedelic underground in establishing a meditative atmosphere. They are unafraid of the serene, and not boring. This is an achievement.

Acid Rooster on Facebook

Cardinal Fuzz webstore

Little Cloud Records website

Tonzonen website

Giants Dawrfs and Black Holes, Echo on Death of Narcissus

Giants Dwarfs And Black Holes Echo on Death of Narcissus

Five years on from their start, Germany’s Giants Dwarfs and Black Holes present Echo on Death of Narcissus as their third full-length and the follow-up to 2023’s In a Sandbox Full of Suns (review here) as the four-piece bring in new guitarist Caio Puttini Chaves alongside vocalist Christiane Thomaßen, guitarist Tomasz Riedel (also bass and keys) and drummer Carsten Freckmann for a five-track collection that has another album’s worth of knows-what-it’s-about behind it. Opener “Again,” long enough at eight minutes to be a bookend with the finale “Take Me Down” (13:23) but not so long as to undercut that expanse, leads into three competent showings of classic progressive/psychedelic rock, casual in the flow between “Soul Trip” and the foreboding strums of centerpiece “Flowers of Evil” ahead of the also-languid “December Bloom.” And when they get there, “Take Me Down” has a jammy breadth all its own that shimmers in the back half soloing, which kind of devolves at the end, but resounds all the more as organic for that.

Giants Dwarfs and Black Holes on Facebook

Sireena Records website

Oryx, Primordial Sky

Oryx primordial Sky

Oryx‘s Primordial Sky threads a stylistic needle across its four songs. Delivered through Translation Loss, the 41-minute follow-up to the Denver trio’s 2021 offering, Lamenting a Dead World (discussed here), is no less extreme than one would expect, but to listen to 13-minute opener/longest track (immediate points), 13-minute capper “Look Upon the Earth,” or either of the seven-minute cuts between, it’s plain to both hear and see that there’s more to Oryx atmospherically than onslaught, however low guitarist Thomas Davis (also synth) pushes his growls amid the lurching grooves of bassist Joshua Kauffman and drummer Abigail Davis. This is something that five records and more than a decade on from their start their listeners know well, but as they refine their processes, even the outright sharp-toothed consumption of “Ephemeral” has some element of outreach.

Oryx on Facebook

Translation Loss Records store

Sunface, Cloud Castles

Sunface Cloud Castles

Heads up on this record for those who dig the mellower end of heavy psych, plus intricacy of arrangement, which is a number in which I very much count myself. By that I mean don’t be surprised when Sunface‘s Cloud Castles shows up on my year-end list. It’s less outwardly traditionalist than some of the heavy rock coming out of Norway at this point in history, but showcasing a richer underground only makes Cloud Castles more vital in my mind, and as even a shorter song like “Thunder Era” includes an open-enough sensibility to let a shoegazier sway enter the proceedings in “Violet Ponds” without seeming incongruous for the post-All Them Witches bluesy sway that underlies it. Innovative for the percussion in “Tall Trees” alone, Sunface are weighted in tone but able to move in a way that feels like their own, and to convey that movement without upsetting the full-album flow across the 10 songs and 44 minutes with radical changes in meter, while at the same time not dwelling too long in any single stretch or atmosphere.

Sunface on Facebook

Apollon Records website

Fórn, Repercussions of the Self

forn repercussions of the self

While consistent with their two prior LPs in the general modus of unmitigated aural heft and oppressive, extreme sludge, Fórn declare themselves on broader aesthetic ground in incorporating electronic elements courtesy of guitarist Joey Gonzalez and Andrew Nault, as well as newcomer synthesist Lane Shi Otayonii, whose clean vocals also provide a sense of space to 11-minute post-intro plunge “Soul Shadow.” If it’s the difference between all-crush and mostly-crush, that’s not nothing, and “Anamnesis” can be that much noisier for the band’s exploring a more encompassing sound. Live drums are handled in a guest capacity by Ilsa‘s Josh Brettell, and that band’s Orion Peter also sits in alongside Fórn‘s Chris Pinto and Otayonii, and with Danny Boyd on guitar and Brian Barbaruolo on bass, the sound is duly massive, tectonic and three-dimensional; the work of a band following a linear progression toward new ideas and balancing that against the devastation laid forth in their songs. Repercussions of the Self does not want for challenge directed toward the listener, but the crux is catharsis more than navelgazing, and the intensity here is no less crucial to Fórn‘s post-metallic scene-setting than it has been to this point in their tenure. Good band actively making themselves better.

Fórn on Facebook

Persistent Vision Records website

Gravity Well, Negative Space

Gravity Well Negative Space

Big-riffed heavy fuzz rock from Northern Ireland as the Belfast-based self-releasing-for-now four-piece of vocalist/synthesist Fionnuala McGlinchy, guitarist Tom Finney, bassist Michael McFarlane and drummer Ciaran O’Kane touch on vibes reminiscent of some of Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard‘s synth-fused sci-fi doom roil while keeping the material more earthbound in terms of tone and structure, so that the seven-minute “The Abstract” isn’t quite all-in on living up to the title, plenty liquefied, but still aware of itself and where it’s going. This mitigated terrestrialism — think Middle of Nowhere-era Acid King — is the source of a balance to which Negative Space, the band’s second album, is able to reshape as required by a given song — “Burning Gaze” has its far-out elements, they’re there for a reason — and thereby portray a range of moods rather than dwelling in the same emotional or atmospheric space for the duration. Bookending intro “As Above” and the closer “So Below” further the impression of the album as a single work/journey to undertake, and indeed that seems to be how the character of “The Forest,” “Delirium” and the rest of the material flourishes.

Gravity Well on Facebook

Gravity Well on Bandcamp

Methadone Skies, Spectres at Dawn

methadone skies spectres at dawn

Romanian instrumentalist heavy psych purveyors Methadone Skies sent word of the follow-up to 2021’s Retrofuture Caveman (review here) last month and said that the six-songer Spectres at Dawn was the heaviest work they’d done in their now-six-album tenure. Well they’re right. Taking cues from Russian Circles and various others in the post-heavy sphere, guitarists Alexandru Wehry and Casian Stanciu, bassist Mihai Guta and drummer Flavius Retea (also keyboards, of increasing prominence in the sound), are still able to dive into a passage and carry across a feeling of openness and expanse, but on “Mano Cornetto” here that becomes just part of a surprisingly stately rush of space metal, and 10-minute closer “Use the Excessive Force” seems to be laying out its intention right there in the title. Whether the ensuing blastbeats are, in fact, excessive, will be up to the individual listener, but either way, Methadone Skies have done their diligence in letting listeners know where they’re headed, and Spectres at Dawn embodies that forwardness of ethic on multiple levels.

Methadone Skies on Facebook

Methadone Skies on Bandcamp

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Fórn to Reissue Debut LP The Departure of Consciousness June 14

Posted in Whathaveyou on April 26th, 2024 by JJ Koczan

forn (photo by Reid Haithcock)

The most recent album from Boston’s Fórn, 2018’s Rites of Despair, saw them reaching deeper into death-doom with low growls and morose atmospheres, but the from-whence-it-came roots of that are there in their soon-to-be-reissued 2014 debut, The Departure of Consciousness. Originally issued through the reliably-genre-mashing Gilead Media and Vendetta Records, the LP’s anniversary edition is up for preorder now through Persistent Vision Records and boasts reworked art to go along with all the sludgier-leaning devastation of the original recording.

Shows are booked — nice to see Saint Vitus Bar on a list of dates; hope they’re open by then — and the PR wire has more background on the album and the band. Interested to read their first show was with Floor, which if it was 2014 would’ve been around the time of that band’s reunion run supporting their Oblation record. Hell of a start, but you can hear on the Bandcamp stream (also below) that the weight Fórn were bringing was well capable of holding up.

To wit:

Fórn The Departure of Consciousness

FÓRN: funeral sludge masters reissue debut album “The Departure of Consciousness” via Persistent Vision Records; new album in the works

Celebrating the tenth anniversary of Fórn’s debut album, The Departure of Consciousness, Persistent Vision Records announces its official reissue of the funeral sludge masterpiece.

Originally released in 2014 via Vendetta Recorda and Gilead Media, The Departure of Consciousness is an auspicious debut that documents this remarkable band in its earliest state.

Out June 14th, Persistent Vision’s 12” vinyl release will include expanded artwork, by tattoo artist Bryan Proteau, and limited color variants.

Pre-order the LP, here:

https://persistentvisionrecords.com/products/forn-the-departure-of-consciousness-lp

https://deathwishinc.com/collections/persistent-vision

Stream the album, here:

https://forn.bandcamp.com/album/the-departure-of-consciousness

In the band’s own words, Fórn was formed in 2012 in “a particularly dismal and harsh winter in Boston, Massachusetts” and found its initial inspiration in the sounds of Grief, Burning Witch, and Asunder. With instruments tracked by Alec Rodriguez at New Alliance, vocals tracked by Greg Wilkinson at Earhammer, and mastering handled by Brad Boatright at Audiosiege, debut album The Departure of Consciousness captures the raw greatness of those early days. A mix of cavernous atmosphere and gargantuan riffs, the six-track full-length plumbs the lowest depths of human misery, yet buzzes with a relentless energy that keeps the momentum flowing ever forward and holds the listener’s attention with a suffocating grip.

Reflecting on the TDOC era, vocalist Chris Pinto states: “Our first show ever was with the mighty Floor. It was also Joey’s first show playing guitar in a band. What I remember most is that we had way, way, way too many amps, but that was kind of the point. From there, things came very quickly. I remember getting to play with Thou, Windhand, Noothgrush, Brainoil, Bell Witch and The Body around when TDOC came out and those were all highlights.”

The band also famously played in a cave (located in the ruins of the historic Sutro Baths in San Francisco) in 2014, the week of the album’s original release.

Pinto reveals this about the concepts at play behind the album: “The title was inspired by some pseudo research paper I came across when I was studying cognitive psychology in college. A lot of concepts for Fórn songs relate to psychology and occult philosophy. A reoccurring theme on TDOC is facing your shadow self and the negative feelings and experiences that surround that, and how it’s even worse if you don’t confront your shadow self.”

In the years since TDOC, Fórn has released two more albums and a split with Yautja, and has established itself as a stalwart of the scene. With members spread now between Boston, LA, Portland and Berlin, the band confirms that a new album is in the works, to be released on Persistent Vision Records later in the year. Guitarist Joey Gonzalez gives the following statement on the upcoming new album: “It’s very much a test to see what I could do with this band and how I could push our art into uncharted territories, while still feeling like we’ve maintained the identity of the band. We’re very excited to share new music with the world. In many ways it feels like a homecoming, though certain aspects of the new record are definitely going to feel otherworldly compared to our past releases.”

In the meantime, the band will play select dates across the US and Canada, including stops at festivals such as Toronto’s Prepare the Ground Festival (with Orchid, Liturgy, Body Void) and Cascadian Midsummer Festival (with Wolves in The Throne Room, Steve Von Till, Earth).

Tracklist:
1) Emergence
2) Dweller on the Threshold
3) Gates of the Astral Plane
4) Alexithymia
5) Suffering in the Eternal Void
6) Cerebral Intermission

Tour:
May 29 – Cambridge, MA @ Middle East
May 30 – Brooklyn, NY @ Saint Vitus
Jun 1 – Toronto, ON @ Prepare The Ground Festival
Jun 2 – Montreal, QC @ Casa Del Popolo
Jun 20 – Los Angeles, CA @ Knucklehead
Jun 21 – Bakersfield, CA @ Death Over Bakersfield
Jun 23 – Pe Ell, WA @ Cascadian Midsummer Festival

The Departure of Consciousness lineup:
Chris Pinto – vocals
Joey Gonzalez – guitar
Brandon Terzakis – guitars
Brian Barbaruolo – bass
Chris Donaldson – drums

2024 live lineup:
Chris Pinto – vocals
Joey Gonzalez – guitar, electronics
Danny Boyd – guitar
Brian Barbaruolo – bass
Lane Shi – vocals, synth
Andrew Nault – drums, electronics

https://www.facebook.com/Forndoom
https://www.instagram.com/fornofficial/
https://forn.bandcamp.com/
http://forn.bigcartel.com/

https://www.instagram.com/persistentvisionrecords/
https://persistentvisionrecords.com/

Fórn, The Departure of Consciousness (2014)

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Roadburn 2017 Audio Streams Mega-Batch Posted Featuring Bongzilla, Slomatics, Valborg, Warning and More

Posted in audiObelisk on September 15th, 2017 by JJ Koczan

warning-1-Photo-by-JJ-Koczan

It’s been tradition around these parts for I don’t even know how long to post the annual audio streams as they come out from each Roadburn, and I hope the case will be no different as we move further away from Roadburn 2017 this past April in Tilburg, the Netherlands, and inexorably toward the first announcements for Roadburn 2018 to come. This process — the posting — used to require a slew of links and media players, which I actually kind of liked because it allowed for emphasis on just how much material there was emerging from the festival, how much work Marcel van de Vondervoort and his team put into the recording and mixing of these sets for all the bands, and so on.

Well, it’s the future now — or I guess it was the future like five years ago? I may have missed when it actually became the future; whatever — and we apparently don’t even need to have 22 different media players to post 22 different streams from Roadburn 2017. We need one. Netherlands-based media company 3voor12, which has always hosted the sets, brings forth a mega-batch today featuring the likes of (alphabetically) Atala, Author and Punisher, Bongzilla, Carpenter Brut, Casual Nun, Cobalt, Disfear, Forn, GNOD, Inter Arma, Joy, Les Discrets, Nadra, Pontiak, Serpent Venom, Slomatics, Temple ov BBV, Trans Am, Ultha, Valborg, Warning and Wolvennest.

Not inconsiderable. It’s been mere hours since Slomatics‘ Futurians: Live at Roadburn was reviewed here, but I also had occasion to see Warning (pictured above), JoyLes DiscretsAtalaValborg and others on that list, and I can attest to their being a joy to behold. Part of the fun of these streams is also getting some sense of what you missed at Roadburn due to making the inevitable hard choice of a schedule conflict, so I guess this is my shot at hearing what Bongzilla got up to during their time on stage. If you need me I’ll be doing that.

Hope you enjoy as well:

Thanks as always to Walter for sending the embed my way. For all this site’s Roadburn 2017 coverage, click here.

Roadburn’s website

Marcel Van De Vondervoort on Thee Facebooks

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Northwest Terror Fest 2017: Coven and John Haughm Added to Lineup

Posted in Whathaveyou on June 8th, 2017 by JJ Koczan

Losing Warning is a bummer, but Northwest Terror Fest 2017 is taking it in stride and taking its game to another level entirely by adding Coven to the bill for their first US show in 27 years. I had the good fortune of watching Coven play at Roadburn in April (review here), and their classic sound has never been more relevant than it is today, and Jinx Dawson remains a mystifying presence as frontwoman, even nearly five decades after the band issued their landmark 1969 outing, Witchcraft Destroys Minds and Reaps Souls, which you can hear in full below. The point of that massive fucking run-on sentence? Go see Coven if you can. There. I made it simple. I hear that’s what you’re supposed to do on the internet.

John Haughm of Pillorian and Agalloch will also play an acoustic set as part of the packed lineup, and as a side note, tomorrow I’ll have a Six Dumb Questions interview posted with David Rodgers of Godhunter, who organizes this fest as well as other Terror Fest incarnations like the Austin Terror Fest at SXSW and Southwest Terror Fest in Arizona. Dude breaks his ass in making these things happen, and you’ll note Godhunter aren’t on this bill, so it’s clearly not about just putting together an event to promote his own doings. Just something to keep an eye out for.

Northwest Terror Fest 2017 runs June 15-17. Here’s the latest from the PR wire, including the full schedule:

northwest-terror-fest-2017-poster

COVEN, JOHN HAUGHM JOIN NORTHWEST TERROR FEST

NORTHWEST TERROR FEST – SEATTLE JUNE 15-17

Due to matters out of control of Northwest Terror Fest, we regret to inform that Warning will no longer be able to perform during this specific weekend. But at the end of the darkness is light as we are proud to announce that the legendary Coven will be playing on the evening of Saturday June 17th in what will be their first stateside show in 27 years!

While its widely disputed that some have cited Coven as the first band to brandish the sign of the horns, their occult laced tunes have laid down an irrefutable influence on the world of metal and doom beginning with their mystic debut album, 1969’s Witchcraft Destroys Minds & Reaps Souls.

John Haughm of Agalloch will be performing an intimate set.

Inspired by Cormac McCarthy, Ennio Morricone, Neil Young’s “Dead Man” soundtrack, and the renegade years of the American old west, John Haughm’s solo performance is a haunting and sonic 30 minute journey through dystopian wastelands of the past. It is a bleak, atmospheric, and powerful droning Western soundscape in steadfast spirit of the years 1865 – 1895.

Northwest Terror Fest Schedule:

THURSDAY 6/15
Neumo’s:
10:10 – END – Wolves In The Throne Room
8:50 – 9:30 – Samothrace
7:35 – 8:10 – King Woman
6:30 – 7:00 – Lycus
5:30 – 6:00 – Uada

Barboza:
9:30 – 10:10 – Graves At Sea
8:10 – 8:50 – Take Over And Destroy
7:00 – 7:35 – Void Omnia
6:00 – 6:30 – Barghest
5:00 – 5:30 – Witch Ripper

THURSDAY AFTER PARTY

Highline:
1:00 – END – John Haughm
11:50 – 12:40 – Aerial Ruin
11:00 – 11:30 – Crowhurst

FRIDAY 6/16

Neumo’s:
10:10 – END – Cephalic Carnage
8:50 – 9:30 – Goatwhore
7:35 – 8:10 – Noisear
6:30 – 7:00 – Nomads
5:30 – 6:00 – Fucked And Bound

Barboza:
9:30 – 10:10 Cult Leader
8:10 – 8:50 – Call Of The Void
7:00 – 7:35 – Transient
6:00 – 6:30 – Endorphin’s Lost
5:00 – 5:30 – Recluse

FRIDAY AFTER PARTY

Highline:
12:40 – END – Usnea
11:50 – 12:20 – Burials
11:00 – 11:30 – Sol

SATURDAY 6/17

Neumo’s:
10:10 – END – Coven (First US Show in 27 years)
8:50 – 9:30 – Yob
7:35 – 8:10 – Marissa Nadler
6:30 – 7:00 – Young And In The Way
5:30 – 6:00 – Infernal Coil

Barboza:
9:30 – 10:10 – Bell Witch featuring Aerial Ruin
8:10 – 8:50 – Forn
7:00 – 7:35 – CHRCH
6:00 – 6:30 – Hands Of Thieves
5:00 – 5:30 – Cliterati

SATURDAY AFTER PARTY

Highline:
12:40 – END – Heiress
11:50 – 12:20 – Rhine
11:00 – 11:30 – Old Iron

www.facebook.com/northwestterrorfest
https://www.facebook.com/events/1741333786182206/
www.neumos.com
www.thebarboza.com
www.highlineseattle.com

Coven, Witchcraft Destroys Minds and Reaps Souls (1969)

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Roadburn 2017 Adds 24 New Bands: Bongzilla, Disfear, Serpent Venom, Lycus, Ruby the Hatchet, Harsh Toke, Joy and Many More

Posted in Whathaveyou on December 13th, 2016 by JJ Koczan

Roadburn 2017 banner

As one has come to expect by now, there’s an awful lot of badassery in this latest announcement from Roadburn 2017. The Tilburg-based festival doesn’t seem to do anything small at this point — though it boasts not one, but two delightfully intimate venues, so take that assertion with a grain of reality’s salt — and that certainly includes this round of 24 lineup additions. For me, particularly notable is the West Coast heavy psych invasion underway with the likes of Joy and Harsh Toke added — Tee Pee labelmates Ruby the Hatchet are no slouches themselves in that regard — and UK doomers Serpent Venom, who, as noted in the expansive update below, are overdue for an appearance at this showcase of showcases. I’ve included the stream of their last album as a refresher of its righteousness, in case you need one.

Also dig Bongzilla added to perform Gateway in its entirety. They’ll be part of a killer Main Stage lineup that day that’s basically untouchable and bound to engender much whining when the schedule is released and is packed as ever in all the other rooms. See also Big Business, Pontiak, Radar Men from the Moon, The Devil and the Almighty Blues, Lycus and so on. In the immortal words of pre-cold-dead-hands Charlton Heston, “it’s a madhouse.”

Check it out:

Twenty-four new additions to Roadburn’s 2017 line up

• John Dyer Baizley adds four new bands to his curated event, plus confirms a live interview at Roadburn 2017.
• Bongzilla confirm their first trip to Roadburn
• Big Business return to Roadburn ten years after their last performance at the festival.
….and more

JOHN DYER BAIZLEY

John Dyer Baizley has confirmed four more bands for his curated event, with the line up now almost complete. In addition, he will also take part in a live interview at Roadburn 2017 as part of the festival’s side programme.

Few others, if any, hardcore bands carry so much weight and impose so much respect outside their own scene as INTEGRITY do, perhaps because they have always transcended their “root” genre, both stylistically and conceptually. Baizley comments: “I hope to see you all there, while Integrity proves to all present that the ferocity has neither dulled nor become disingenuous throughout their career. Reality is bleak, but through darkness we are able to find connectivity and community.”

DISFEAR have been one of the leading lights of the Swedish d-beat scene in the almost three decades they have existed. They might not record of perform often, but when they do, you know it’s going to be something extraordinary, as John says: “I don’t know exactly what to expect from this re-emergence, but I’m sure it won’t be a gentle one. This should be a no-hold-barred, fists-in-the-air, mandatory-circle-pit set, and you better believe I’m not missing a minute of it.”

OATHBREAKER have wowed audiences around the world with the release of their latest album, Rheia. John counts himself among the devoted, commenting of the album: “Therein exists a healthy reverence and understanding of the genres it references; yet it’s a record that is beholden to no style, genre or convention. There are layers upon layers of sound that recall black metal, pop, indie, hardcore, shoe-gaze, you-name-it; yet as I listen, I am aware of none of this – it has been presented so artfully and with such earnest and unpretentious conviction.”

If you trace the history of post-rock, you’ll go all the way down the family tree to find Nathan Means, Philip Manley and Sebastian Thomson, the three members of TRANS AM, at the very root of it all. “I have always been a massive Trans Am fan, and I think their performance at Roadburn will be an incredible moment during next year’s festival,” John says, “I’m sure Sebastian will have his work cut out for him, playing two very intense and completely different sets, with both Baroness and Trans Am (Friday and Saturday, respectively). Do not miss this show, it will be a truly incomparable experience during Roadburn 2017.”

John Dyer Baizley will also be participating in Roadburn’s popular side programme, having confirmed that he will take part in a live interview hosted by Ula Gehret. John will talk through his personal and professional highs and lows before taking questions from the audience.

BONGZILLA

In an unparalleled stoner celebration, reformed Wisconsin riffmasters BONGZILLA have been confirmed to perform their classic album Gateway in its entirety at Roadburn Festival 2017. Next year marks 15 years since BONGZILLA originally released Gateway in 2002. Their third album, it indeed was for many listeners a doorway into a new world – a dimension of crust-laden sludge that, in the years since, has gone on to put an entire generation of bands under its influence. Unmatched in its dankness, coated in purple and green tonal wash, Gateway’s weedian righteousness is no less potent today than a decade and a half ago.

BIG BUSINESS

The last time this dynamic duo set foot at Roadburn was way back in 2007, in the company of their Melvins bros, but now, fully grown up and with a bunch more records, experience and exactly the same amount of boundless creativity, they will return on their own, as the singular, unique musical force they are.

WHORES.

Their live shows have a reputation for being way beyond the norm in terms on intensity, so we are super stoked to bring this power trio, WHORES.to Roadburn for the first time. We have the feeling it just might be one of those shows that everyone will talk about for years afterwards, so make sure you don’t miss WHORES. when they play Roadburn 2017 – they have a curious knack for melody that’ll ensure these tunes stay with you long after the bruises have healed up.

ALSO CONFIRMED:

Alaric will deliver a hybrid of post-punk’s tense, angular structures with the size and spread of extreme metal’s most dynamic sonic components.
Author & Punisher heralds the rise of the machines with a unique take on industrial doom.
Cobalt offer atypical excursions through black metal via apocalyptic tribalism, old Americana, and a doom-laden, ritualistic atmosphere.
Fórn bring both soul-crushing lows and groovy assaults at higher moments.
Gnaw Their Tongues have promised “something special” for their Roadburn set. Prepare for aural torture.
Harsh Toke will perform a set comprised entirely of Roky Ericsson covers.
Hedvig Mollestad Trio touch on genre-blurring hardrock and metal riffery as well as the noisier realms of jazz improvisation.
Joy are a San Diego heavy psych power trio, inviting you to ride along with them at Roadburn.
King Woman heavy, dark, emotional, beguiling, confrontational.
Lycus – monolithic, mournful, and massive sounding doom.
Pinkish Black will be making waves and breaking hearts with their chilling synthesiser dirges.
Pontiak are primal and fiery and often fuzzy and psyched out; ready to give a lesson in rock.
Radar Men From The Moon will team up with Roadburn 2017 artist in residence GNOD for a collaborative performance known as Temple Ov BBV, as well as playing their own show.
Ruby The Hatchet invite you to follow them on their kosmiche trip.
Serpent Venom – they’re trippy, they’re heavy, they are long overdue a Roadburn appearance.
The Devil & The Almighty Blues are heavily inspired by Delta blues, and standing at the crossroads of both American and British blues-based rock.
True Widow return with more sultry yet syrupy fuzzed out trips.

Artists already announced for Roadburn 2017 include Coven, Warning (playing Watching from a Distance in full), Artists in Residence – GNOD, My Dying Bride (performing Turn Loose The Swans in its entirety), Ulver and Hypnopaz?zu (David Tibet & Youth) and Zeal & Ardor, Mysticum, Deafheaven, Chelsea Wolfe, and our 2017 curator, John Baizley who will perform with Baroness, plus many more. Roadburn Festival will take place 20-23 April, 2017 at the 013 venue, Tilburg, The Netherlands.

Tickets (and campsite tickets) are on sale for Roadburn 2017 and can be purchased from this link.

4 day – 195 Euro
3 day (Thu, Fri, Sat) – 172 Euro
Single day ticket, Sunday only – 54 Euro

Thursday, Friday and Saturday single day tickets will be on sale on January 12 priced at 59 Euro.

http://www.roadburn.com/
https://www.facebook.com/roadburnfestival
https://twitter.com/roadburnfest

Serpent Venom, Of Things Seen and Unseen (2014)

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Midnite Communion III: Midnight Masquerade Dates and Lineup Announced

Posted in Whathaveyou on July 14th, 2015 by JJ Koczan

floating heads

Seems a little strange that Midnite Collective‘s Midnite Communion III: Midnite Masquerade fest this Nov. will take place in Long Beach, California, which is kind of the place on earth with the nicest weather ever, but if there was a lineup to darken a sky, this would seem to be it. The lineup boasts the likes of Buried at Sea, Morne, Church, Unearthly Trance, Beneath Oblivion and others, and the uniting factor seems to be an extremity of sludge and doom. Not sure what the Empire Ballroom of The Breakers in Long Beach is like, but the atmosphere will likely darken with an art show and the onslaught of distortion and volume.

Dig it if you dare:

midnite communion iii midnite masquerade

MIDNITE COMMUNION III: MIDNITE MASQUERADE Reveals 2015 Dates & Lineup

Upon this third-annual celebration of dark arts, crafts, and music, Midnite Collective has gathered seven artists from around the world, eight bands from the far reaches of North America, and with the help of Below (a curator of all things beautifully gloomy) brought together a gifted group to fill our Craft Gala*. Now spanning two evenings, Communion III: Midnite Masquerade will host an elegant mass on Friday, November 13th to continue the evening of Saturday, November 14th within the Empire Ballroom of The Breakers in Long Beach.

Midnite Collective’s Announcement & Invitation follows…

It is our esteemed privilege to present:

COMMUNION III:
“MIDNITE MASQUERADE”
Curated by Midnite Collective

with Live Performances from

NOVEMBER 13th
MORNE · BURIED AT SEA · DOPETHRONE · CHURCH

NOVEMBER 14th
UNEARTHLY TRANCE · BRAINOIL · FÓRN · BENEATH OBLIVION

Featuring Original Artwork by

Brandon Holt
Glyn Smyth
Sin-Eater
Rotten Fantom
Jason Barnett
Førtifem
& Photo Narrative by
Steph Cammarano

With surprises still to come..

Please Note: Capacity is extremely limited in this unique venue, creating an intimate environment to experience this ceremony. Thus, there will be no door sales once reservations sell out online.
All attendees must be over 21 and no regrets will be issued.

* Craft Gala is on Saturday only with full art exhibit free of charge; this portion of the event is all-ages and has extended hours beginning at 4pm until 10pm in a room apart from the musical portion of the evening.

Tickets are on sale now RIGHT HERE.

LINKS:
facebook.com/midnitecollective
twitter.com/midnitemasses

Atriarch, Live at Midnite Communion II

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