Posted in Whathaveyou on July 13th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Listening for the first time to the track they’ve got streaming now, and this is some righteous shit. I remember digging their 2021 record, The Holy of Holies (review here), and I guess it’s been a minute since I put it on, but honestly I didn’t think even in the neighborhood of two years. Anyway, imagine progressive heavy rock in the spirit of a version of Howling Giant that grew up listening to Opeth on a near-exclusive basis. Anyway, the song is called “Wasted Land” and it’s way dudely. Dudely enough to earn the suspenders above if not the horse-names below, but if you just accept that it’s also really, really good. As in, can I please hear the album now?
The PR wire has all the pertinent particulars, release dates and such. Someone should really keep track of this stuff:
French heavy rock trio APPALOOZA to release new album “The Shining Son” on Ripple Music this fall; new track and preorders available now!
Brittany’s heavy rock goldsmiths APPALOOZA announce the release of their third studio album “The Shining Son” on October 20th through Californian powerhouse Ripple Music. Watch their thunderous new lyric video for “Wasted Land” now!
Following the release of their latest single “Pelican”, APPALOOZA are now unleashing a thunderous and stirring new song with “Wasted Land”. Propelled by an exhilarating stampede of thick metallic guitars, rumbling grooves and frontman Wild Horse’s dramatic baritone vocals, “Wasted Land” perfectly encapsulates the trio’s sound, with its rich and multi-layered songwriting and trademark tribal percussions.
Listen to Appalooza’s new sonic stampede “Wasted Land”
New album “The Shining Son” is the sequel to their sophomore effort and Ripple Music debut “The Holy of Holies” (2021), weaving its storyline around enigmatic Biblical references and a fascinating cinematic approach, all wrapped in eight massive-sounding and catchy songs that subtly blend stoner rock, alternative and grunge rock and acoustic tribal music.
“After the awakening and arrival of The Horse aka Azazael on Earth narrated in our latest album ‘The Holy Of Holies’, ‘The Shining Son’ tells how The Horse exercises its power and how it sows chaos towards the populations. Here again, we are talking about religion and its perdition. Indeed, the Pelican as told in the first track represents The Christ who feeds his little ones aka the people. But his powers are weakened and his wings are damaged. He can no longer fly properly and get food to feed the starving people,” says the band about the new album’s main thematics. “The sequels of a violent childhood are for life. This album is some kind of emotional liberation going through fear, escape, counterattack, violence and anger. It is the testament of a bygone era, the legacy of the past on the present, the cure for the future. It denounces the family and social imprisonment of an era. A coincidence with the liberation of the people with the Covid-19 crisis?” they add.
“The Shining Son” was recorded by Arthurus Lauth at Brown Bear Recording in Saint-Lumine-de-Clisson, France. Mixed by Arthurus Lauth & Wild Horse, and mastered by Ronan Cloarec at Master Lab Systems in Nantes, France. Artwork was designed by Wild Horse Artworks.
TRACKLIST: 1. Pelican 2. Unbreakable 3. Framed 4. Groundhog Days 5. Wasted Land 6. Wounded 7. Sunburn 8. Killing Maria
APPALOOZA is a lost steed thirsting for freedom, drawing inspiration and essence from the dust of an arid desert. After a first American tour in 2015, the band galloped relentlessly and trampled the paths of the studio to record their first album “Appalooza”. In the winter of 2018, the band returned from an extensive US West Coast tour and signed to Ripple Music for the release of their second full-length “The Holy Of Holies”, bearing a brand new visual identity and sound. The band is now set to release their third record “The Shining Son” this fall on Ripple Music.
Posted in Whathaveyou on July 7th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
If you’re reading these words, probably most of the seven-plus minutes of Occult Hand Order‘s new streaming track “Sink” will ring familiar, either because you know the Lyon, France, trio from their past offerings or it’s not your first time at the fuzz rodeo. But the band — whose second album, Silence by the Raging Sea, is to be released on Oct. 20 — are new to me, and they engage post-metal and psych-tinged heavy riffing together in a way that feels like it’s moving toward an individualized goal, if not already there, and instead of going heavygaze or some such, they use one style to offset and expand the parameters of the other. On “Sink,” they seem to meet that goal, with organic tone and structural complexity as assets in their favor
As to how “Sink” represents the rest of the album to follow this Fall, I can’t say as I’ve not yet heard it, but October is three months and five universes away, so there’s time to figure it all out. For now, just a cool track I found on the PR wire that does some interesting rearranging around what one would generally expect sound-wise and a release date. If you want to hear the song, it’s at the bottom of the post, of course.
From the PR wire:
Doom/post-rock trio OCCULT HAND ORDER present a stellar, mystical excerpt of their new album, due out on October 20th: “SINK”
French heavy psychedelic/post-rock outfit OCCULT HAND ORDER announce the release of their new album ‘Silence By The Raging Sea’ on October 20th 2023. To kick things off, they unveil a nebulous, cryptic first track: “Sink!
Lyon-based musicians OCCULT HAND ORDER have this ability to combine psychedelia and occult doom to produce an exhilarating soundscape, spiced with spectacular riffs and a crushing rhythmic pattern. With their new album ‘Silence By The Raging Sea’, OCCULT HAND ORDER play on the apocalyptic aspect of doom and post-rock-inspired soundscapes to point out an overwhelming, sometimes paralysing anxiety. The new track “Sink” perfectly introduces this unique, esoteric universe. Hugo Zepah (bass/vocals) details: “It’s all about human beings who believe that they understand and that they are capable of dealing with powerful forces, beyond their control. We want to focus on our own failings: envy, greed and indifference, especially regarding the horrors that are striking us without us being able to stop them. Sink is the fall: sinking into dark, cold abysses”.
In the absence of solution, violence and darkness provide an obvious way out. Like slow, impetuous waves, each track delivers a beauty either hypnotic or shattering. This gem has been mastered by Magnus Lindberg, Cult Of Luna’s guitarist. Recorded and mixed by Roman Peyr in Chasseneuil, France. Art direction: TINS. Mastering: Magnus Lindberg (Cult Of Luna). Artwork: Morgane Dezaubris.
New single “Sink” Off new album ‘Silence By The Raging Sea’ Available on October 20th 2023 on vinyl and digital
TOUR 14.09.2023 LYON, FR – Le Farmer [Release Party] 25.10.2023 KOSICE, SL – Collosseum Klub 26.10.2023 BUDAPEST, HU – Riff Klub 27.10.2023 BRATISLAVA, SL – Weranda 03.11.2023 NICE, FR – Altherax 16.12.2023 GENEVA, CH – Urgence Disk 17.12.2023 LA CLUSAZ, FR – Le Lion d’Or 21.01.2024 BARCELONE, SP – Nevermind 24.02.2024 GHENT, BE – Kinky Star 01.03.2024 BERLIN, DE – Loophole
Formed in Lyon in 2018, heavy psychedelic trio OCCULT HAND ORDER might be defined as an interstellar ship committed to carrying cinder blocks from one foggy planet to another. Cosmicity, heaviness and esotericism colour doom, sludge and stoner riffs. The vocal harmonies are intense and lend a magical mysticism to the compositions.
Following the release of a self-titled debut effort in 2019, Occult Hand Order approached the appropriately named Interstellar Smoke Records label and offered the public the EP ‘The Chained The Burned The Wounded’. The EP is warmly welcomed by the critics, opening the roads of the best European stages to the trio. Driven by the dynamism of these two releases, the French men’s upcoming new studio album ‘Silence By The Raging Sea’ is due out on October 20th 2023.
LINE-UP Hugo Zepah: vocals, bass Nico Fabre: guitar Tony Duvillard: drums
Posted in Whathaveyou on June 28th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Based in Strasbourg, France — which is a hometown they share with Los Disidentes del Sucio Motel — the rolling four-piece Yojimbo made their debut last year with their self-titled five-song EP. Fuzz and echoing vocal command, light progressive metal flourish, and atmosphere were the order of the day, with each song offering something different, be it “Kingdom” moving from its sample and acoustic to a brooding build and sprawling solo payoff, “Battlefield” layering its verse melody amid fervent, boogie-tinged push, longer centerpiece “The Far Still Grows” with its atmospheric focus and later-Truckfighters breadth, “Devil’s Dance” resolving the question of whether to slow down or push itself over by doing both in succession, or closer “Last Mile” with vital tension released in a particularly massive stomp. Being their initial public offering, all it did was bode well.
The track “Doomsday Clock” takes some of the tonal scope hinted at in the short release and expands on it with two guitars intertwining. The band has undergone some lineup change since that came out, though I’ll confess I’m short on details there. But as it stands, Yojimbo bring palpable growth to bear in the standalone single, the video clip for which was filmed as an ‘M33 Session’ — named for the triangulum galaxy; it’s in the local group — as part of a residency at Strasbourg’s M33 artist workshop. No word on a follow-up to the EP just yet, but you can stream the clip at the bottom of this post, and if you’re looking for big crash, big melody and vast vibes, they’ve got that ready to roll. All you gotta do is click play. When/if I hear more, I’ll post accordingly.
Info from the PR wire and YouTube page:
Self-proclaimed Intergalactic Stoner Rock, the French quartet YOJIMBO has given its first cries in the spring of 2019. Carried by vocal flights nourished by fuzz tones with progressive floydian accents, the ship Yojimbo sails through massive, catchy stoner grooves, to abyssal invocations of doom and the spatiality of post-rock.
A first self-produced eponymous EP is released in 2022, hailed enthusiastically by the specialized press. YOJIMBO pursues his journey with a promotional tour where it shares the stage with bands such as IAH, Geezer or Baron Crâne.
2023 marks a new milestone: new line-up, new identity; YOJIMBO continues his interstellar journey, ready to conquer new worlds.
Video recorded @ Atelier M33, Strasbourg April 2023 – as part of our creative residency
Mixed by Florent Herrbach
Direction: Marc Linnhoff
Posted in Whathaveyou on June 14th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Always right on to see a band get signed based on the strength of their live performance, and it would seem that Copper Feast Records, having caught the Paris-based Homecoming in at Desertfest London, has subsequently picked up the band to release their 2020 debut, LP01 (review here), on vinyl. Sad to say I didn’t see Homecoming at Desertfest London, but that the label ends up classifying the central genre as “post-whatever” below makes a fair amount of sense considering the prog/crush crossover happening in their sound. That record had both encouraging reach and sharp songcraft in the now (or in the couple-years-ago, as it were), and if we’re lucky maybe they’ll have a follow-up in the offing before too long.
The band kicked off a tour in support of LP01 on June 8, and you’ll find the remaining dates included below, in addition to the announcement of their signing as per Copper Feast‘s social media. Dig:
Surprise! It’s time to welcome the newest addition to the Copper Feast family!
Our favourite discovery of Desertfest London – Homecoming have signed with us as we prepare to reissue their debut album ‘LP01’ on vinyl for the first time.
This Parisian post-whatever stoner/sludge metal powerhouse are in the midst of a massive European tour that we thoroughly suggest you do what you can to see in the flesh.
For fans of Soundgarden, Baroness and if you’ve been following us for a while, Sleeping Giant
Homecoming – LP01 Spring Tour 2023 (remaining dates) 14.06 SZEKESFEHERVAR, Hungary Nyolcas Műhely 15.06 OSTRAVA, Czech Republic @ Rock Hill Club 16.06 WROCLAW, Poland Klub Szalonych 17.06 OPOLE, Poland San Diego // Opole 18.06 BERLIN, Germany RESET – Live Club Berlin Kreuzberg 19.06 NEED HELP 20.06 LYON, Le Farmer Le Farmer 24.06 ZURICH, Switzerland Dynamo Zürich 07.07 PARIS, Olympic Cafe Olympic Café 8.07 ANGERS, T’es Rock Coco T’ES ROCK COCO, Bistrot Culturel
Posted in Questionnaire on May 3rd, 2023 by JJ Koczan
The Obelisk Questionnaire is a series of open questions intended to give the answerer an opportunity to explore these ideas and stories from their life as deeply as they choose. Answers can be short or long, and that reveals something in itself, but the most important factor is honesty.
Based on the Proust Questionnaire, the goal over time is to show a diverse range of perspectives as those who take part bring their own points of view to answering the same questions. To see all The Obelisk Questionnaire posts, click here.
Thank you for reading and thanks to all who participate.
The Obelisk Questionnaire: Pierre Roulant of Deaf Blokes
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How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?
I discovered stoner not so long ago and I loved groups like kyuss, fu manchu, lowrider, truckfighter,… It made me want to create this kind of music and if I got there it was thanks to a person, now a very dear friend, who was looking for a bassist for a stoner project, he sent me a demo and I hung up right away. Since Deaf Blokes was born and I am very proud of it.
Describe your first musical memory.
My first musical memory, the one that made me want to become a musician, was simply when I heard “Orion” from Metallica, I was 15 years old and the bass line gave me chills, an unforgettable memory.
Describe your best musical memory to date.
It was when I played with a local punk band called Preparation H, one of my first big scenes with a lot of audience, it was insane.
When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?
Where do you feel artistic progression leads?
It leads to surpassing oneself, to sharing and meeting other artists and projects in common.
How do you define success?
The success is to make my music known as much as possible and above all to have the recognition of great artists. To be able to live on his music would already be a huge success for me.
What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?
The success that makes you lose your head, I think that despite everything we must not forget where we come from.
Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.
I think it’s music like Lowrider ;) I love their songs, It’s very well done, great sounds, perfect.
What do you believe is the most essential function of art?
Art is freedom, sharing, love, death, it’s vital.
Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?
Not an obvious question since my only projects for the coming years are musical, I have everything I need, woman, children, home, to be happy, we will say that I hope that my children will succeed in their lives and especially that they will be happy
Posted in Whathaveyou on April 28th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
I didn’t know it until I went ahead and googled the single looking for a Bandcamp version, but Sphaèros‘ Possession was apparently released in 2020 through Pan European Recording, which I guess makes this a reissue. And the whole album is streaming from that label, at least as of this writing. One might also note that, while Possession being released with Tee Pee‘s backing, it’s also coming out as digital-only, so as to why it’s Tee Pee Records proper and not the Tee Pee Digital Annex that’s done more than a handful of cool outings over the last few years, I don’t know. I gotta be honest with you. I got asked if I wanted to do this announcement like five months ago and I was like, “yeah sure of course” and thought I had it all figured out. Then this shows up in the ol’ inbox a bit ago in a general PR wire mailing and here I am.
Possession lays on Arthur–Brown-in-space vibes pretty hard, and the project is helmed by David Sphaèros of Aqua Nebula Oscillator — awkward to say, fun to listen to — and one might at any point hear frogs croaking, orgasmic moans (not from frogs) or subconscious-piercing synth. It’s gets weird is what I’m saying. Don’t fight it.
I don’t know if that Bandcamp player will still be there by the time this is posted, but I certainly don’t mind getting to sample Possession while I write about it. It’s wild stuff.
From the aforementioned PR wire:
SPHAÈROS | Aqua Nebula Oscillator Founder Raises Hell with Subterranean Psych Rock Project on Tee Pee Records
‘Possession’, the debut album by Sphaèros is released 23rd June 2023
Watch the video for ‘Lucifero’ HERE
After spending thirty years as a multimedia artist experimenting in sculpture, retinal visualization, travel, and poetry, Aqua Nebula Oscillator founder David Sphaèros has channelled his creative energies into music once again for the protean monster; Possession.
When forming the beloved Parisian psych rock cellar-dwellers ANQ in 1999, Sphaèros pulled inspiration from several dimensions. Voodoo, horror, underground literature, early cult cinema and even painters like Jérôme Bosch and Salvador Dali. Chartering more than his fair share of ships across many a sea of creative existence, in 2005 he eventually settled underground. Literally, beneath the capital, establishing a cosmic haven of crypts and sixteenth century caverns to house his art, sculptures, mystic paraphernalia, photos, and videos.
Due for release on the legendary New York label Tee Pee Records this June, Possession is the aural embodiment of those three years spent inside that inner world, living an almost monastic life to find the very essence of creation, and to openly share a vision of both magic and reality as without any concession.
“For Possession, I’ve created seven music pieces and seven films, born from spheres, without a preconceived form, created spontaneously like automatic writing, to let the spirits speak,” explains Sphaèros. “This work is made up of a superposition of successive layers of sound, visions, poetry, and colours. When linked together, these elements create a unique living kaleidoscopic universe that blends seeing, hearing, and spiritual thinking into the Beyond and its parallel worlds.”
Listen, watch, and partake in the first official offering from Possession, with new single ‘Lucifero’, ahead of the album’s official release on 23rd June 2023 on Tee Pee Records.
Cheers to whoever runs the Deadly Vipers video editing department. I suppose it’s not that crazy for a tour to end and a good-times-we-had video to surface a couple weeks later, but the French four-piece were out at the end of March alongside Fuzzorama Records imprint heads Truckfighters (from Sweden, if it needs to be said) and Wizzerd for a multinational stint supporting their late-2022 album, Low City Drone (review here), the three labelmate acts rolling through Germany, Austria and the Netherlands as one will. And while I don’t know if they made the clip themselves in terms of actually putting the footage together, having such a project to work on would be a decent way to beat the post-tour blues, if in fact that’s the case.
Either way, it’s a welcome check-in from the Perpignan outfit in addition to a reminder/herald for the album. You can see the tour was a good time and the crowds showed up and that’s all fine, but the song brings to the forefront the strengths of the band in terms of craft and presentation, the songwriting wholly embracing a desert rock style while keeping the production full and modern. Maybe that doesn’t sound so off-the-wall on paper, but on “Last Rise” and throughout the record they bring freshness of perspective to the tenets of genre without coming across as too derivative or needing to mask their influences by superfluous arrangement elements. Solid, fuzzy, engaging heavy rock. You’ll pardon me if I don’t argue with it.
The video follows here and the album stream is down near the bottom of the post. You know the drill.
Please enjoy:
Deadly Vipers, “Last Rise” official video
Deadly Vipers did a video to the song ‘Last Rise’ with material from their European tour spring 2023 supporting Truckfighters.
Posted in Reviews on April 10th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Welcome to the Spring 2023 Quarterly Review. Between today and next Tuesday, a total of 70 records will be covered with a follow-up week slated for May bringing that to 120. Rest assured, it’ll be plenty. If you’re reading this, I feel safe assuming you know the deal: 10 albums per day from front to back, ranging in style, geography, type of release — album, EP, singles even, etc. — and the level of hype and profile surrounding. The Quarterly Review is always a massive undertaking, but I’ve never done one and regretted it later, and looking at what’s coming up across the next seven days, there are more than few records featured that are already on my ongoing best of 2023 list. So please, keep an eye and ear out, and hopefully you’ll also find something new that speaks to you.
We begin.
Quarterly Review #1-10:
ISAAK, Hey
Last heard from as regards LPs with 2015’s Serominize (review here) and marking 10 years since their 2013 debut under the name, The Longer the Beard the Harder the Sound (review here), Genoa-based heavy rockers ISAAK return with the simply-titled Hey and encapsulate the heads-up fuzz energy that’s always been at the core of their approach. Vocalist Giacomo H. Boeddu has hints of Danzig in “OBG” and the swing-shoving “Sleepwalker” later on, but whether it’s the centerpiece Wipers cover “Over the Edge,” the rolling “Dormhouse” that follows, or the melodic highlight “Rotten” that precedes, the entire band feel cohesive and mature in their purposeful songwriting. They’re labelmates and sonic kin to Texas’ Duel, but less bombastic, with a knife infomercial opening their awaited third record before the title-track and “OBG” begin to build the momentum that carries the band through their varied material, spacious on “Except,” consuming in the apex of “Fake it Till You Make It,” but engaging throughout in groove and structure.
With doom in their collective heart and riffs to spare, UK doom metal traditionalists Iron Void roll out a weighted 44 minutes across the nine songs of their fourth full-length, IV, seeming to rail against pandemic-era restrictions in “Grave Dance” and tech culture in “Slave One” while “Pandora’s Box” rocks out Sabbathian amid the sundry anxieties of our age. Iron Void have been around for 25 years as of 2023 — like a British Orodruin or trad-doom more generally, they’ve been undervalued for most of that time — and their songwriting earns the judgmental crankiness of its perspective, but each half of the LP gets a rousing closer in “Blind Dead” and “Last Rites,” and Iron Void doom out like there’s no tomorrow even on the airier “She” because, as we’ve seen in the varying apocalypses since the band put out 2018’s Excalibur (review here), there might not be. So much the better to dive into the hook of “Living on the Earth” or the grittier “Lords of the Wasteland,” the metal-of-yore sensibility tapping into early NWOBHM without going full-Maiden. Kind of a mixed bag, it might take a few listens to sink in, but IV shows the enduring strengths of Iron Void and is clearly meant more for those repeat visits than some kind of cloying immediacy. An album to be lived with and doomed with.
An offering of thickened, massive lava-flow sludge, plodding doom and atmospheric severity, Dread Witch‘s self-released (not for long, one suspects) first long-player, Tower of the Severed Serpent, announces a significant arrival on the part of the onslaught-prone Danish outfit, who recorded as a trio, play live as a five-piece and likely need at least that many people to convey the density of a song like the opener/longest track (immediate points) “The Tower,” the eight minutes of which are emblematic of the force of execution with which the band delivers the rest of what follows, runtimes situated longest to shortest across the near-caustic chug of “Serpent God,” the Celtic Frost-y declarations and mega-riff ethos of “Leech,” the play between key-led minimalism and all-out stomp on “Wormtongue” and the earlier-feeling noise intensity of “Into the Crypt” before the more purely ambient but still heavy instrumental “Severed” wraps, conveying weight of emotion to complement the tonal tectonics prior. Bordering on the extreme and clearly enjoying the crush that doing so affords them, Dread Witch make more of a crater than an impression and would be outright barbaric were their sound not so methodical in immersing the audience. Pro sound, loaded with potential, heavy as shit; these are the makings of a welcome debut.
Next-generation heavy fuzz purveyed with particular glee, Tidal Wave seem to explore the very reaches they conjure through verses and choruses on their eight-song Ripple Music label debut (second LP overall behind 2019’s Blueberry Muffin), The Lord Knows, and they make the going fun throughout the 41-minute outing, finding the shuffle in the shove of “Robbero Bobbero” while honing classic desert idolatry on “Lizard King” and “End of the Line” at the outset. What a relief it is to know that heavy rock and roll won’t die with the aging-out of so many of its Gen-X and Millennial purveyors, and as Tidal Wave step forward with the low-end semi-metal roll of “Pentagram” and the grander spaces of “By Order of the King” before “Purple Bird” returns to the sands and “Thorsakir” meets that on an open field of battle, it seems the last word has not been said on Tidal Wave in terms of aesthetic. They’ve got time to continue to push deeper into their craft — and maybe that will or won’t result in their settling on one path or another — but the range of moods on The Lord Knows suits them well, and without pretense or overblown ceremony the Sundsvall four-piece bring together elements of classic heavy rock and metal while claiming a persona that can move back and forth between them. Kind of the ideal for a younger band.
Persistently weird in the mold of Arthur Brown with unpredictability as a defining feature, Guided Meditation Doomjazz may mostly be a cathartic salve for founding bassist, vocalist, experimentalist, etc.-ist Blaise the Seeker, but that hardly makes the expression any less valid. Expect arrives as a five-song EP, ready to meander in the take-the-moniker-literally “Collapse in Dignity” and the fuzz-drenched slow-plod finisher “Sit in Surrender” — watery psychedelic guitar weaving overhead like a cloud you can reshape with your mind — that devolves into drone and noise, but not unstructured and not without intention behind even its most out-there moments. The bluesy sway of “The Mind is Divided” follows the howling scene-setting of the titular opener, while “Stream of Crystal Water” narrates its verse over crunchier riffing before the sung chorus-of-sorts, the overarching dug-in sensibility conveying some essence of what seems despite a prolific spate of releases to be an experience intended for a live setting, with all the one-on-one mind-expansion and arthouse performance that inevitably coincides with it. Still, with a rough-feeling production, Expect carries a breadth that makes communing with it that much easier. Go on, dare to get lost for a little while. See where you end up.
II is the vocalized follow-up to Cancervo‘s 2021 debut, 1 (review here), and finds the formerly-instrumental Lombardy, Italy, three-piece delving further into the doomed aspects of the initial offering with a greater clarity on “Arera,” “Herdsman of Grem” and “The Cult of Armentarga,” letting some of the psychedelia of the first record go while maintaining enough of an atmosphere to be hypnotic as the vocals follow the marching rhythm as the latter track moves into its midsection or the rhythmic chains in the subsequent “Devil’s Coffin” (an instrumental) lock step with the snare in a floating, loosely-Eastern-scaled break before the bigger-sounding end. Between “Devil’s Coffin” and the feedback-prone also-instrumental “Zambla” ahead of 8:43 closer “Zambel’s Goat” — on which the vocals return in a first-half of subdued guitar-led doomjamming prior to the burst moment at 4:49 — II goes deeper as it plays through and is made whole by its meditative feel, some semblance of head-trip cult doom running alongside, but if it’s a cult it’s one with its own mythology. Not where one expected them to go after 1, but that’s what makes it exciting, and that they lay claim to arrangement flourish, chanting vocals and slogging tempos as they do bodes well for future exploration.
So heavy it crashed my laptop. Twice. The second full-length from Mumbai post-metallers Dirge is a self-titled four-songer that culls psychedelia from tonal tectonics, not contrasting the two but finding depth in the ways they can interact. Mixed by Sanford Parker, the longer-form pieces comprise a single entirety without seeming to have been written as one long track, the harsh vocals of Tabish Khidir adding urgency to the guitar work of Ashish Dharkar and Varun Patil (the latter also backing vocals) as bassist Harshad Bhagwat and drummer Aryaman Chatterji underscore and punctuate the chugging procession of opener “Condemned” that’s offset if not countermanded by its quieter stretch. If you’re looking for your “Stones From the Sky”-moment as regards riffing, it’s in the 12-minute second cut, “Malignant,” the bleak triumph of which spills over in scream-topped angularity into “Grief” (despite a stop) while the latter feels all the more massive for its comedown moments. In another context, closer “Hollow” might be funeral doom, but it’s gorgeous either way, and it fits with the other three tracks in terms of its interior claustrophobia and thoughtful aggression. They’re largely playing toward genre tenets, but Dirge‘s gravity in doing so is undeniable, and the space they create is likewise dark and inviting, if not for my own tech.
Witch Ripper‘s sophomore LP and Magnetic Eye label-debut, The Flight After the Fall, touches on anthemic prog rock and metal with heavy-toned flourish and plenty of righteous burl in cuts like “Madness and Ritual Solitude” and the early verses of “The Obsidian Forge,” though the can-sing vocals of guitarists Chad Fox and Curtis Parker and bassist Brian Kim — drummer Joe Eck doesn’t get a mic but has plenty to do anyhow — are able to push that centerpiece and the rest of what surrounds over into the epic at a measure’s notice. Or not, which only makes Witch Ripper more dynamic en route to the 16:45 sprawling finish of “Everlasting in Retrograde Parts 1 and 2,” picking up from the lyrics of the leadoff “Enter the Loop” to put emphasis on the considered nature of the release as a whole, which is a showcase of ambition in songwriting as much as performance of said songs, conceptual reach and moments of sheer pummel. It’s been well hyped, and by the time “Icarus Equation” soars into its last chorus without its wings melting, it’s easy to hear why in the fullness of its progressive heft and melodic theatricality. It’s not a minor undertaking at 47 minutes, but it wouldn’t be a minor undertaking if it was half that, given the vastness of Witch Ripper‘s sound. Be ready to travel with it.
In stated narrative conversation with the Arabic influence on Spanish and greater Western European (read: white) culture, specifically in this case as regards the work of Persian philosopher Ibn Sina, Parisian self-releasing three-piece Pelegrin follow-up 2019’s Al-Mahruqa (review here) with the expansive six songs of Ways of Avicenna, with guitarist/vocalist François Roze de Gracia, bassist/backing vocalist Jason Recoing and drummer/percussionist Antoine Ebel working decisively to create a feeling of space not so much in terms of the actual band in the room, but of an ancient night sky on songs like “Madrassa” and the rolling heavy prog solo drama of the later “Mystical Appear,” shades of doom and psychedelia pervasive around the central riff-led constructions, the folkish middles of “Thunderstorm” and “Reach for the Sun” and the acoustic two-minute “Disgrace” a preface to the patient manner in which the trio feel their way into the final build of closer “Forsaken Land.” I’m neither a historical scholar nor a philosopher, and thankfully the album doesn’t require you to be, but Pelegrin could so easily tip over into the kind of cartoonish cultural appropriation that one finds among certain other sects of European psychedelia, and they simply don’t. Whether the music speaks to you or not, appreciate that.
Lush but not overblown, Argentinian instrumentalists Black Sky Giant fluidly and gorgeously bring together psychedelia and post-rock on their third album, Primigenian, distinguishing their six-song/31-minute brevity with an overarching progressive style that brings an evocative feel whether it’s to the guitar solos in “At the Gates” or the subsequent kick propulsion of “Stardust” — which does seem to have singing, though one can barely make out what if anything is actually being said — as from the denser tonality of the opening title-track, they go on to unfurl the spiritual-uplift of “The Great Hall,” fading into a cosmic boogie on the relatively brief “Sonic Thoughts” as they, like so many, would seem to have encountered SLIFT‘s Ummon sometime in the last two years. Doesn’t matter; it’s just a piece of the puzzle here and the shortest track, sitting as it does on the precipice of capper “The Foundational Found Tapes,” which plays out like amalgamated parts of what might’ve been other works, intermittently drummed and universally ambient, as though to point out the inherently incomplete nature of human-written histories. They fade out that last piece after seeming to put said tapes into a player of some sort (vague samples surrounding) and ending with an especially dream-toned movement. I wouldn’t dare speculate what it all means, but I think we might be the ancient progenitors in question. Fair enough. If this is what’s found by whatever species is next dominant on this planet — I hope they do better at it than humans have — we could do far worse for representation.
