Posted in Whathaveyou on February 21st, 2025 by JJ Koczan
Being at just a couple weeks’ remove from this year’s Planet Desert Rock Weekend, I can tell you outright that the comedown is real. Even putting aside mindboggling performances from the likes of Iota, Luna Sol, Solace, Valley of the Sun and a host of others, the people and place, the vibe and heart of the event, and the sense of curation were excellent. It was a great, great time, and it was accordingly something of a challenge to get back to regular life.
The good news as regards daydreaming is that the first lineup reveals for Planet Desert Rock Weekend VI are happening today. The Atomic Bitchwax and Freedom Hawk top the thus-far bill, with The Heavy Eyes and High Desert Queen also making return appearances and Throttlerod traveling the farthest I’ve seen them go for a show since Small Stone was at SXSW. Also, Montreal’s Mooch, Sweden’s Huanastone, Saturna from Spain and Italian heavy rockers Isaak are slated to appear as imports, all apparently coming to the US for the first time.
Already the specificity of the picks — these aren’t just bands who’ll be on tour for new records stopping through town, I mean — speaks to the depth brought to putting together Planet Desert Rock Weekend by curator John Gist who heads the promotional company Vegas RockRevolution, and I look forward to learning more about the stories these nights will tell over the better part of the nex year, in addition to hoping I make it back to Vegas next January.
From the PR wire:
This year’s Planet Desert Rock Weekend V was an amazing success as we had outstanding performances from all 20 of the bands who came to play. This included a rare performance from Fireball Ministry at the Ripple Music Showcase along with ripping sets by legacy bands like Unida, Mos Generator and Solace as well as 8 international groups came out that included Sergeant Thunderhoof, JIRM, Sons of Arrakis, Mr. Bison, Samavayo, Fire Down Below, Omega Sun and Green Desert Water. Our turnout was simply a magnificent set of fans who love the heavy underground, enjoy the killer party & music each evening and want to give all the positive energy into the experience. PDRW does not exist without the feedback and love that our fans give.
So PDRW VI has its work cut out as the curation of the event’s bar has been set high. Happy to announce 10 bands to get the lineup rolling. Speaking of legacy bands, we are super excited to have The Atomic Bitchwax coming to Sin City! This New Jersey band has been rocking since 1992 and always delivers a massive energy to their presence. The band features two active members of Monster Magnet.
We return 4 PDRW players that have put on top notch performances and are super cool people. We have Freedom Hawk flying back to Sin City to rock the stage. They performed not only PDRW IV but also the 1st PDRW back in 2018. They are one of the best bands musically in the scene. The Heavy Eyes returns to PDRW after playing the debut of Planet Desert Rock. This Memphis band knows how to get the crowd moving! High Desert Queen who played a high octane set at PDRW III which was our basic reboot of PDRW. Vocalist Ryan Garney is a great friend to Vegas Rock Revolution and of course the man with the plan behind our other favorite fest Ripplefest. High Desert Queen’s 2024 album “Palm Reader” landed #2 for May on the Doom Charts. Spain’s Saturna returns to PDRW after playing at PDRW v2 and we can’t wait to hear some of the tracks of their highly regarded album “The Reset” that was Vegas Rock Revolution’s #4 album of 2023. They create songs so good that if rock radio was an actual thing still they would be on it. Vocalist James Vieco is one of the top singers in the scene.
Three more international bands from three more countries are next as each of the bands will be playing their USA debuts. Italy’s Isaak who is on the well-respected Heavy Psych Sounds label cruises out to pummel concert goers. They have been rocking the European stages since 2011 and are a high energy band sure to get your blood pumping! This will make 3 years in a row of Italian bands following in the footsteps of Black Elephant and Mr. Bison. From Sweden we have one of the best kept secrets in the scene Huanastone. Many in the know are very familiar with them due to their last two releases that includes 2024 release “Son of Juno” that landed #9 on the Doom Charts for June. They have a silky smooth style and sound that will be cool to hear live. From Montreal Canada as we continue the legacy of 3 straight French Canadian bands(Sandveiss+Sons of Arrakis) we have Mooch. Likely the most unknown of this batch of bands but we have had our eye and ears on them since their 2020 releases Hounds which was produced by Brant Bjork. Their style harkens back to some classic rock influences and a dash of Masters of Reality. Mooch is a younger band and all 3 members sing. Their tracks can stick in your ears for days at a time. Their 2024 release Visions landed #14 on the Doom Charts for June.
Lastly we got a righteous legacy band and a newer band. Throttlerod has been pretty dormant for a bit but they will be firing on all cylinders at PDRW VI . They started blazing stages back in 1999. Frontman Matt Whitehead has been busy with another stellar band Shun which is on Small Stone Records. The band’s sound has wide ranging influences sure to keep us on our toes! Oakland’s Phantom Hound rounds out the announcements for this grouping. VRR has been a big champion of them since the beginning and their recent album “From Boomtown to Ghost Town” on Glory or Death Records landed #5 on the Doom Charts. This power trio has lots of bluesy elements and stroytelling in their stuff.
Already in chats with 10 other very good bands and will release the names as we gather commitments. The list of who we are targeting is close to done and now it’s a matter of who gets the spots. We will have a Last Call Show again and will get a ticket link out for that soon! Some of these bands will be playing that night.
Thanks so much to everyone who has been amazing in their support and love for Planet Desert Rock Weekend. We can’t wait to see you again and party! We won’t let you down.
Life, man. This was my first night back in Jersey after being away for I think what ended up being nine days. Yesterday was a flight from Vegas to Providence via Baltimore, after driving from the Grand Canyon to Vegas the day before, from Mesa Verde to Grand Canyon the day before, Moab to Mesa Verde, Arches, etc., Zion to Moab and Vegas to Zion way back like a million years and a week and a half ago. The short version of the story is I was fucking exhausted. But, Freedom Hawk and The Bitchwax. In Clifton. At a brewery. It’s not like it was literally happening in my back yard, but it was as close to it as I could reasonably ask.
First heavy show at Ghost Hawk Brewing, and sold out to boot, so there’s a chance of it not being the last. Mellow vibe, dudes getting casually lager-drunk; I’ll call it relatable on demographic terms and stroke my graying beard. Food truck right there with the empanadas. I wasn’t in the door before I saw familiar faces. I’m pro-heavy rock in my beloved Garden State across a wide variety of situations, but if the Powers That Book wanted to make Ghost Hawk a stop on the circuit for bands coming through on tour now or ever, I’d call myself lucky. I neither drink alcohol nor eat cubanos at this point in my life, but the spot is pretty rad. Two bands, 7:30 start, a DJ playing cool whathaveyou in one of those turntable setups that are performative but kinda neat just the same. A fellow could get used to these things.
Freedom Hawk went on and were a couple songs in before the fuse or whatever it might’ve been blew — that whole ‘first heavy show here’ thing coming into play; bound to happen — but were back into it soon enough as the members of The Atomic Bitchwax and about 120 others looked on, surrounded by big-vat brewing machines and kegs with Ghost Hawk stickers on them, a tent outside with hightop tables and the smell of Jersey weed in the parking lot; a lovely evening on all accounts. And though they had that unexpected break, it’s not like Freedom Hawk were going to have trouble picking it up after the power came on. Too much groove to lose it so easily. And they’re all smiles on stage, having a good time, maybe a few drinks as well, and there’s no pretense and nobody’s arguing about absolutely nothing and the music started and I got a loud and clear reminder that that’s when things start to make sense. Well, loud and fuzzy anyhow.
By 10 after eight, the crowd was singing along with the riff to “Inside Out,” and that felt about right. “Indian Summer” followed, which is a signature piece for Freedom Hawk at this point, with a tense NWOBHM chug in its verse en route to an open hook that a fair but not at all exclusive swath of their work since has boasted and expanded on — the kind of tune a band writes and learns from, as they did. Catchy. Crazy catchy. Threatens metal but is a rocker all the way, representative of Freedom Hawk more broadly. And no bullshit. That was the theme for the night. Sans. Bull. Shit. It would take more time or energy than I have to convey how much I needed that. That might just be what ultimately got me to Clifton.
The semi-slowdown of “Stand Back” — I’d been listening to Brant Bjork in the car; decent fit — and “Land of the Lost” rounded out the set that had started raging with “Executioner” and “Under a Blood Red Sky.” The Bitchwax, meanwhile, kicked off with “Frankenstein” and “Hope You Die,” as they will, and went into “45” and “So Come On” directly thereafter, so yes, rock and roll was had. New or old, fast or not-quite-as-fast, The Atomic Bitchwax are a reason unto themselves why New Jersey is the most densely populated state in the union. Founding bassist/vocalist Chris Kosnik asked the crowd how many people had heard of the band; honestly I think most had. Then he said 2024 is their 30th year as a band and they tore into “Birth to the Earth.” Hell yes. What a way to announce yourself. Hi we’ve been here for three decades pardon us while we melt your face. Could only be an improvement, dudes. By all means.
Recent favorites like “Ninja” and “Coming in Hot,” “War Claw,” and so on found the apparently-been-at-it-for-30-years-almost-time-for-reissues-I-guess trio very much in their element as regards speed, and the fun they seemed to have bashing away at high velocity and volume was duly infectious as the songs came and went. Many fuck yeahs were had, from all sides. Kosnik on mic: “This one’s for all the girls…” followed by counting. “1.. 2… 6… If we get up to 10, that’s the most we’ve ever had!” Almost made it. Time for “Kiss the Sun,” the Core cover that might as well be an original by now. Let up on the throttle a bit so Garrett Sweeney’s shred feels all the more soulful, Kosnik and drummer Bob Pantella lockstep in holding the riff for the turn back to the verse and chorus, then on to the heavy boogie finish. Not unexpected, but definitely welcome.
I honestly don’t have it in me to check the balance of new vs. old in the set, let alone lay out the parameters of what counts as what, but it felt right on with where they were at last time I saw them, and “Ninja,” “Live a Little” and “Force Field” felt ace in setting up “Shitkicker” (plus a little more “Frankenstein” to cap) closing out. No bridges. No tunnels. No bullshit anywhere to be found. An evening of rare luxuries.
Back on Rt. 3 headed west to go home, I came upon the offramp for Nutley, and as I do nearly every time I pass by that exit on that road, I thought of my friend Gina Brooks, who lived in that area and is buried at a cemetery a bit down the way. She was someone deeply passionate about music, and supportive and kind to me when she really had no particular reason to be. A friend I’ve missed for over a decade now, and a chance to remember that I appreciated. She would have loved this show. I saw fireworks through the trees after I got on Rt. 80 a short time later. It was a good night.
Posted in Whathaveyou on September 4th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Planet Desert Rock Weekend IV will take place across three days this coming January in Las Vegas, and if you’re the type to travel, that should be plenty of notice for you to plan your excursion. Assembled by singularly-passionate promoter John Gist of Vegas Rock Revolution, the initial lineup features Sasquatch and Freedom Hawk and Borracho and a Spiralarms reunion and and and and, oh hell you can read it for yourself on the banner.
In all seriousness, it’s a solid bill. Sandveiss are awesome and they and Black Elephant and Mezzoa, Vegas’ own Sonolith are the kind of right on picks one would expect considering the personnel involved in making the thing. I’m not the world’s biggest Scorpion Child fan, but even I know they’re good at what they do and I would imagine they put on a killer show. I guess I felt compelled to mention it since they were the only band I hadn’t talked about yet. Unless I missed someone else. Ha.
Here’s all the info, courtesy of the ol’ social media:
Planet Desert Rock Weekend returns for V4 with a 3 night heavy rock and roll party on January 25-26-27, 2024! After this year’s amazing couple nights, we are excited to bring a new and different lineup w/ some familiar bands from the Vegas Rock Revolution family blended in as always. The unique thing about PDRW is that you have your days to do things in Vegas. Shows start in the early evenings each night and all shows are at one venue each day.
Vegas Rock Revolution is super psyched to have Sasquatch and Freedom Hawk returning to Planet Desert Rock Weekend along with local riffmasters Sonolith!
6 more bands to be announced to finish the lineup. This will be 3 days in Vegas you will not forget.
Posted in Whathaveyou on July 28th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Virginia Beach heavy rock stalwarts Freedom Hawk have announced a run of tour dates will follow their appearance at RPM Fest in Massachusetts on Sept. 2. Making a stop in Brooklyn, where in my experience they’re always well received, they’ll also head to Canada for gigs in Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal and Québec before cutting south, stopping in Maine and making their presence known in the home of Maryland Doom Fest, Cafe 611 in Frederick. A homecoming show on Sept. 16 rounds out following a TBA that, if you can help of course you should do that.
As they did for a corresponding two weeks in December, Freedom Hawk sally forth in support of 2022’s Take All You Can (review here), which was issued through Ripple Music and once more demonstrated the unflappable solidity if their approach, as well as the current of classic metal floating beneath all that double-guitar fuzz. With songwriting at their core and a catalog of killer tunes as the result, Freedom Hawk circa 2023 are veterans with little to prove and much to offer, particularly to those who’d make their way to a show.
If that’s you, you’ll find them in the following places on the following dates:
FREEDOM HAWK – \\TOUR ALERT//
Hey Y’all,
The Hawk is Flying North for the Summer!! Stoked to get out of the nest for a couple of headlining shows, RPM Fest….and stoked to visit/re-visit some killer spots and support the amazing @1000mods on a few dates and @mondogenerator !!
Come Rawk Out with your Hawk Out!! (#129311#)(#129413#)(#129311#) Peace, ~FH~
Dates: 09/02/23 RPM Fest, Montague, MA 09/03/23 Kingsland, Brooklyn, NY 09/05/23 West Side Bowl, Youngstown, OH 09/06/23 Kung Fu Necktie – Philadelphia, PA^ 09/07/23 The Stone Church – Brattleboro, VT^ 09/08/23 Dominion Tavern – Ottawa, ON^ 09/09/23 Lee’s Palace – Toronto, ON^ 09/10/23 Piranha Bar – Montréal , QC^ 09/12/23 La Source de la Martinière – Québec, QC^ 09/13/23 Geno’s Rock Club – Portland, ME^ 09/14/23 Cafe 611, Frederick, MD# 09/15/23 TBA 09/16/23 Bunker Brewpub, Virginia Beach, VA
^ w/ 1000Mods # w/ Mondo Generator
Tour Poster and Shirt Art provided by the one and only @steven_yoyada – available at the shows too!
Posted in Features on December 21st, 2022 by JJ Koczan
[PLEASE NOTE: These are not the results of the year-end poll, which is ongoing. If you haven’t contributed your picks yet, please do so here.]
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I believe we are in the midst of a generational turnover among artists and bands. Some have reshuffled as a result of either the pandemic or a basic desire to explore new creative reaches, and some are just plain younger, finding their way into a heavy underground that now has the fanbase ecosystem to support their work. The last couple years have not been easy for anyone, but this wouldn’t be the first instance of hard times making for good art.
The music that will define this decade is being made now. Fresh perspectives and new ideas have broadened the definitions of what makes a sound heavy, and while the change can feel and has felt excruciatingly slow, rock and roll has grown more diverse, much to its benefit. The boundaries between microgenres have become ever more porous, resulting in a vibrant shifting of styles and breadth that, even when playing directly to familiar ideals, is evolution at work. As/if you make your way through the lists below, consider the veteran acts and newcomers, young and old, how many debuts and sophomore albums and how many bands on their fifth, sixth, seventh, etc. Not that there’s nothing between, but the divide feels stark.
As war returned to Eastern Europe and the American political system teetered worryingly toward collapse, music was both respite and reportage, escape, therapy and critique marked by a blanket expressive urgency, no matter which side of which argument one was on. The ‘return’ of touring and live shows was a boon for escapists and celebrants, and one found new appreciation for the simple act of gathering. Some of the most beautiful moments I’ve ever seen on a stage happened in 2022.
In this spirit, I ask as I do every year to please, if you comment on this post in either agreement or disagreement, please, please keep it civil. For both my own sensitivities — yes, I take it personally — and those of anyone else reading. I thank you for reading, and if you feel compelled to respond, thank you for that too. I’m a human being. You’re a human being. Let’s just be nice. That’s all.
Okay. Deep breath in… and plunge:
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The Top 60 Albums of 2022
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Maybe you think a Top 60 is ridiculous. Fair. Too much? Okay. Anything else? No? Then let’s roll.
Precedent for this was set last year, and I found the trouble this time was not only sorting it by number — once you pass a certain point it’s more about including the names than the actual ordering, I’ll admit — but actually keeping it to 60. Believe it or not, these are packed in, and there were more than a handful of others I was heartbroken to have to leave out of the numbered list.
Here goes:
31. Ecstatic Vision, Elusive Mojo
32. Josiah, We Lay on Cold Stone
33. C.Ross, Skull Creator
34. Samavayo, Pāyān
35. Abronia, Map of Dawn
36. CB3, Exploration
37. Brant Bjork, Bougainvillea Suite
38. Valley of the Sun, The Chariot
39. Mos Generator, Time//Wounds
40. Edena Gardens, Edena Gardens
41. Cities of Mars, Cities of Mars
42. Dreadnought, The Endless
43. Clutch, Sunrise on Slaughter Beach
44. Tau and the Drones of Praise, Misneach
45. Nebula, Transmission From Mothership Earth
46. Birth, Born
47. Ufomammut, Fenice
48. Supersonic Blues, It’s Heavy
49. Naxatras, IV
50. Come to Grief, When the World Dies
51. Toad Venom, EAT!
52. Earthless, Night Parade of 100 Demons
53. Hazemaze, Blinded by the Wicked
54. Experiencia Tibetana, Vol. II
55. Les Nadie, Destierro y Siembra
56. MWWB, The Harvest
57. Obiat, Indian Ocean
58. Messa, Close
59. JIRM, The Tunnel, the Well, Holy Bedlam
60. Somali Yacht Club, The Space
Notes:
Some killer records. And not just things to be appreciated critically, either, but stuff I actually listened to a fair bit. Cities of Mars, Obiat, Tau and the Drones of Praise, Brant Bjork’s always a go-to. Seeing Ecstatic Vision and Josiah next to each other makes me want to book a UK tour for them together. And then you get into the gleeful acid fuckall of Nebula, Naxatras’ full-on-prog-rock pivot, Clutch being Clutch, Supersonic Blues’ right on debut — finally! — and Obiat’s first record in 13 years. Dreadnought and Edena Gardens and JIRM and CB3, Abronia. There isn’t a clunker in the bunch.
Don’t ignore this list, please, and please don’t think that because something’s not in the top 30 with the cover art right there I don’t think you should check it out. If that was the case, I’d cap the list at 30. There’s genuine treasure here to be found, and it’s my sincere hope you’ll take the time to find it.
My only hope is it wasn’t a one-off that Jason Haberman (Yeahsun), Ian Blurton (Ian Blurton’s Future Now, etc.), and Jay Anderson (Lammping) came together to form this classic psychedelic soul project. With guest vocalists, the six songs on this self-titled debut ranged from flowing extended jams to tight acid disco pop, as memorable as they were righteous. Sleeper hit.
By no means the only cause to rejoice to emerge over the last few years from Hungary’s Psychedelic Source Records collective, River Flows Reverse‘s second offering brings a crafted focus on organic, natural-world psychedelia that results in an affecting beauty and warmth all its own. It is the acid folk of another world; varied in instrumentation, exploratory, welcoming and wonderfully serene.
Long-since proven as songwriters, Virginia Beach’s Freedom Hawk one-upped themselves again with their sixth album. It was an effective summary of what has made the band so crucial and so largely undervalued during their time, bringing together elements from classic metal, classic heavy rock, desert riffing, and even some flourish of psychedelia in a DIY recording that told us we all need rock and roll and went on to demonstrate why.
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27. Lamp of the Universe, The Akashic Field
Released through Headspin Records & Astral Projection. Reviewed Jan. 10.
I’ll gladly cop to being a sucker for the long-running lysergic solo-project of Hamilton, New Zealand’s Craig Williamson (ex-Arc of Ascent, ex-Datura), and as he makes ready to unveil the more riff-heavy, still-solo band incarnation Dead Shrine in 2023 (info here), this offering from Lamp of the Universe pushed through a transitional spirit as though he was passing a torch… to himself. More than 20 years on, this project still evolves, can still surprise.
A beautiful bludgeoning. Metallic in its aggression, hardcore in its soul and sludged to its monstrously-proportioned gills, the latest from Los Angeles’ 16 felt tighter in its songwriting and meaner even than 2020’s Dream Squasher (review here), but maybe that’s the difference between being punched in the stomach and the solar plexus. This was the one that took the air right out of your lungs, and did so with purpose beyond the simple violence of the act.
Recorded (with Billy Anderson) during the general awfulness of 2020, this awaited third long-player from the Portland, Oregon, outfit led by former SubArachnoid Space guitarist/vocalist Melynda Marie Jackson harvested a vision of progressive black metal likewise expansive and dug into the dirt of its making. It was not easy listening by any stretch, but to undertake the challenge it issued listeners was to engage with a churning cosmic extremity that only emphasized the limits and folly of genre.
The follow-up from guitarist/vocalist Brant Bjork, bassist/vocalist Nick Oliveri and drummer Ryan Güt to 2021’s Stoners Rule (review here) had its challenge in continuing to speak to the rawest-form desert punk of the project’s debut while nonetheless growing the sound and moving forward. Stöner did this by making it a (pizza) party, with cuts like “A Million Beers,” “Driving Miss Lazy” and “Strawberry Creek (Dirty Feet)” bringing further vocal integration from Bjork and Oliveri as they blanketly refused to not have a good time. Easy record to dig, and it was dug.
One hates to use a cliché like “now more than ever,” but the return of UK lumberchuckers Conan was especially well-timed, and Evidence of Immortality spoke to the overwhelming strangeness of our times with clever metaphor while maintaining the trio’s punishing heft and extreme noise-doom onslaught. By now, their tonality is rightly the stuff of legend, and they know it and they play into it with particularly rampaging glee, but the six-track outing also showed how central atmosphere has become to their pummel, as heard on the 14-minute instrumental closer “Grief Sequence,” a somehow fitting complement to the all-in plod of leadoff “A Cleaved Head No Longer Plots.”
It is remarkable how distinctive My Sleeping Karma have become over time. Their ever-instrumental approach is progressive and reliably able to broaden beyond its root arrangements of guitar, bass, drums and synth, but at the same time, their meditative psychedelia is only ever their own. This was their first studio album in seven years, and while its component material played out with an overarching melancholy that seemed to look inward as much as at the state of the world at large, the four-piece likewise presented an answer in the catharsis of their expression. An essential reminder of the healing art can provide, Atma‘s resonance was an immersive comfort in its own right Like a weighted blanket, and accordingly warm.
New York’s Sun Voyager provided their own best descriptor of how their second full-length and first for Ripple functions in the song title “Rip the Sky.” The trio/sometimes-four-piece took cosmic bikerisms and classic punk/grunge shove, superheated them like they were about to fuse atoms, and accordingly scorched their way through a sans-nonsense-yet-full-of-nonsense 32 minutes and seven songs that, while varied enough in tempo, remained defined by their urgency. Last month, bassist/backing vocalist/keyboardist Stefan Mersch and drummer Kyle Beach announced Christian Lopez stepping in on guitar in place of Carlos Francisco, and whatever the future holds, they’re that much stronger for this wind pushing them forward.
This band is three-for-three in my mind, and as their third full-length, Psychic Forms fostered the most realized vision of their take on progressive heavy rock to-date while feeling not at all like a culmination. In its range and atmospheric focus, it built on what came before, but in pushing as far as it did, it seemed to open as many doors as it went through. Does that make any sense? Did I mix metaphors enough? Point is, the Boise, Idaho-based four-piece seem to develop new ideas and incorporate new influences every time out, and while their material becomes more complex as a result of that, they have yet to put those adventurous impulses to any use that does not best serve the song in question. Psychic Formsis what I wish the word ‘Americana’ actually meant.
On some level/levels, Mythosphere could be seen as a continuation of Beelzefuzz, the former outfit of guitarist/vocalist Dana Ortt and drummer Darin McCloskey (both also of Pale Divine). That simplistic view, however, doesn’t account for the shift in dynamic of bringing in Victor Arduini (ex-Fates Warning, Entierro, Arduini/Balich) on lead guitar or Ron “Fezz” McGinnis (Pale Divine, Admiral Browning, etc.) on bass. The latter two play a massive role in building on the foundation of Ortt‘s recognizable style, and as they unfurled Pathological, the sense was that they were stronger for the members’ familiarity with each other even as they undertook developing this new dynamic. One of the strongest and most progressive debut albums Maryland doom has ever produced in my view.
As the year went on, the sophomore long-player from Oregon’s Charley No Face just wouldn’t let go. Songs like “Mosaic Sky,” “Big Sleep,” “Satan’s Hand” — they just kept calling me back to hear them again. Languid fuzz, dual-vocals both delivered in dreamy breaths, the odd bit of cultish tendencies, all of it feeding into tracks catchy, heavy and miraculously unpretentious; Eleven Thousand Volts wasn’t necessarily reinventing a genre aesthetic or anything so grandiose, but its tracks were impeccably well done and seemed built for repeat listens, from the mellow-heavy strut of opener “Eyes” through the sweeping culmination of “Death Mask” at the end. Charley No Face nailed it. 2020’s The Green Man (discussed here) set the course, but in bringing in keyboardist/vocalist Carina Hartley alongside guitarist/vocalist Nick Wulfrost, bassist Brad Larson and drummer Tim Abel, they leaped beyond even the most unreasonable of expectations.
The combination in Atlas of breadth, spaciousness of sound, of rhythmic crunch, and of melody, put it in a stylistic category of its own. The Swedish fivesome whose moniker well-earned its own pronunciation guide have managed to grow and change each time out, but between the confident and soulful delivery of Lea Amling Alazam, the wide-spread tones of guitarists Andreas Baier and Staffan Stensland Vinrot, and the inherited-from-Dozer rhythm section of bassist Johan Rockner and drummer Erik Bäckwall, this felt like the moment where the band became themselves and seemed to realize the intentions they’d laid out at their beginning. Not bad for a self-produced second record, and not to be lost in the narrative of their ongoing maturation is the fact that for all their expanse, the songs seemed to get correspondingly tighter and more efficient structurally, which made them all the more engaging.
While the Dubuque, Iowa, duo remained somewhat defined by the split of their initial lineup that left guitarist/vocalist Alex Baumann — joined now by drummer Rockwel Heim — as the lone remaining founder, Telekinetic Yeti pressed ahead with self-aware riff-led stoner metal that demonstrated a special kind of revelry for the form even as Primordial left its own elephantine footprint thereupon. Unrepentant in their crushing fuzz, the band tapped into the lizard-brain-thrill of celebrating aural heft, but did so without neglecting songcraft, taking melodic cues from Floor and others while sounding fresh even as they seemed so utterly covered in dense, caked-on mud. As they move forward, they’re another act from an up-and-coming generation of players whose potential at this point seems only beginning to manifest, and while Primordial hardly put one in mind for evolution thematically, Telekinetic Yeti remain one of tomorrow’s brightest hopes for riffslinging.
Just about a year ago, I was lucky enough to be invited to the studio (features here and here) with Kingston, New York, trio Geezer while they put down the basic tracks for what would become Stoned Blues Machine. Even at that early point in the record’s making, it was apparent that they’d outdone even what was their definitive statement in 2020’s Groovy (review here). In terms of songwriting, the performances captured from guitarist/vocalist Pat Harrington, bassist Richie Touseull and drummer Steve Markota, and the scope of the record, Geezer took the lessons of their best album yet and made a new best album yet. Rife with hooks in “Atomic Moronic,” the title-track, “A Cold Black Heart,” etc., they dug into songs like “Eleven” and “Saviours” with an honest and sincere music-as-escape mindset and honored their jammier side with the tripped out “The Diamond Rain of Saturn.” I’m a fan of these guys, and Stoned Blues Machine was more than I’d have asked for, even holding them to the high standard I do.
Yeah, I said as much in the album review, and maybe-not-surprisingly my opinion hasn’t changed in the last two weeks, but if Sky Pig represent the future of sludge metal, that’s cool by me. The Sacramento outfit’s debut full-length takes the urgent crush of 2020’s Hell is Inside You EP and presents its maddening charge with offsetting, sometimes disturbing drone complement, sometimes resolving in steamroller-over-your-brain riffs and sometimes refusing to resolve at all. No matter how many times I put on the record, it’s a challenge. It’s not an easy listen, and where in many cases it wouldn’t be worth the effort, meeting Sky Pig on their level is thrilling and refreshing, which is so weird to think of about an album that so expertly seems to harness an atmosphere of decay. I won’t predict what the years to come will bring, or where Sky Pig will go from It Thrives in Darkness in terms of craft, but their first LP is both a significant accomplishment in individualizing stylistic impulses and overflowing with potential. A beast that hypnotizes, strikes, and hypnotizes again, purely because it can.
Listening to it, it seems somewhat cruel on the part of Los Angeles trio Sasquatch that, after being mastered in March 2020, Fever Fantasy sat in the proverbial can for more than two years before seeing release this June. Fortunately for all who’d take it on — only to be overwhelmed and consumed by the unruly dense fuzz of guitarist/vocalist Keith Gibbs and bassist Jason “Cas” Casanova en route to being punched upside your fool head by Craig Riggs‘ snare — the nine-song outing lost none of its edge for that time, and songs like “Lilac,” “Voyager” (dig that organ) and “Save the Day, Ruin the Night” hold firm to their on-the-beat intensity, a flawless uptempo heavy rock execution broadened by the flowing roll of the eight-minute “Ivy” and the full-bore-volume finish in “Cyclops” (dig that organ too). They’ve been on a streak for, I don’t know, the better part of two decades, and if the shove of “It Lies Beyond the Bay” doesn’t get you, then maybe the fact that in all their time they’ve never sounded this brazenly heavy will. Wouldn’t’ve minded it sooner, but it was certainly welcome this year. Inimitable energy in Sasquatch.
What do you say to a seven-track/75-minute Wo Fat album except maybe “yes please?” Could be the now-veteran Dallas-based three-piece — guitarist/vocalist Kent Stump, bassist Zack Busby, drummer Michael Walter — were making up for lost time, having not had a studio album since 2016’s Midnight Cometh (review here) when they’d previously been on an every-two-years pattern like relative clockwork, but whatever it was, The Singularity was an album by which to be engulfed. The riffs, of course, the riffs, but consider that quick break of bright noodling in 13-minute opener “Orphans of the Singe,” or the delve into next-level heaviness that followed in “The Snows of Banquo IV.” While keeping to their core approach in jazz-informed, jam-prone-but-still-hooky bluesy fuzz rock, Wo Fat seemed to purposefully screw with their own formula, giving “The Unraveling” a tense chug and finding new realms of vastness in 16-minute closer “The Oracle.” Maybe it’ll be two years for their next one, maybe six, maybe never, but Wo Fat answered the call in 2022 as only they could, and one could only be grateful for their return.
It’s my nature to dig a lot of bands. I’m left in awe by far fewer. The second album from Forlesen, recorded mostly remotely as at least some portion of the band is now based in Oregon, Black Terrain was stunning enough that I couldn’t bring myself to even review it until about two months after it was already out. Beautifully arranged and set to purposes that were at times genuinely terrifying, this four-song answer to 2020’s debut, Hierophant Violent (review here), felt more patient even as it drew thicker lines between its movements and seemed to begin a process of melding styles through which one can only hope Forlesen‘s style will continue to develop. Sad and aggressive, wholly immersive and still challenging to the listener, Black Terrain was just as likely to tear open the cosmic fabric in “Harrowed Earth” as to drone itself into oblivion on its title-track, but it was the enthralling nature of the album as a single work — never mind that triumphant final solo in “Saturnine” — that was the real accomplishment. Most of all, Forlesen stood on their own, as themselves, and set their own path forward into the actually-unknown, with all the gorgeousness and horror that might imply.
The way “Pleading to the Cosmic Mother” seemed to actually plead, and the swap in perspective for “Last Words of a Dying God.” The sinister underpinning in the lyrical promises of “One More Step.” The devotional sensibility and swirl of “Seven Rays of Colour” at the outset and the corresponding regret of “We Lost it Somewhere” at the end. That hook in “Now’s the Time.” The complement across sides in “Valleys and Hills Pt. 1 – Peel Away the Layers” and “Valleys and Hills Pt. 2 – Pure Illumination.” Church of the Cosmic Skull‘s fourth album not only brought founding guitarist/vocalist Bill Fisher‘s whole-album compositional sensibility to new heights, but was truly classic in feel and the ways in which the songs spoke to each other, worked off each other, melodically, rhythmically and in theme. Gorgeously harmonized as ever, the cult-minded UK seven-piece gave up nothing of craft in service to their audio/visual aesthetic, and even just on the level of a-thing-to-put-on, the utter listenability and welcome that There is No Time offered was no less resonant than the calls to sing along to any number of the choruses. There is no one else out there like them, no other band among the hundreds covered here who can do what they do, and yes, I mean that. They are special, transcendent.
Granted, as regards narrative, the story of All Souls‘ third album behind 2020’s Songs for the End of the World (review here) and 2018’s self-titled debut (review here) was always going to be that the Los Angeles-based then-trio of guitarist/vocalist Antonio Aguilar, bassist/vocalist Meg Castellanos (both ex-Totimoshi) and drummer Tony Tornay (also Fatso Jetson) recorded with producer Alain Johannes (Eleven, Queens of the Stone Age, etc.). And the songs bore his mark for sure, in backing vocals and lead guitar, complementing and fleshing out the root heavy punk rock-isms of the band, who, well, were down a guitarist anyhow and had room for such contributions. I don’t know what the impetus was behind the collaboration, but even just in the performances captured from the trio, the songs felt like the best versions of themselves, and went beyond third-record realizations in terms of stepping forward from where All Souls were two years ago. They remain woefully undervalued in my mind, and I have the feeling that might be the case even if they were millionaires, but the spirit in Ghosts Among Us, that intangible atmosphere and sonic persona that emerged was both intimate and sprawling, deeply singular and heartfelt while bringing the listener along for the journey across its still-humble 39 minutes. Records like this don’t happen every year. You should hear it.
Formerly (?) the drummer of New Paltz, New York, psych purveyors It’s Not Night: It’s Space, self-recording multi-instrumentalist Michael Lutomski is the lone figure behind Okkoto, and Climb the Antlers and Reach the Stars was his second full-length under the banner after 2019’s Fear the Veil Not the Void. Across five individualized but flowing pieces, Lutomski harnessed a meditative ambience that pushed into homemade intimacy and aural distance in kind, the songs serene as they evocatively conjured a three-dimensional world of length, width, depth. With just a couple guest appearances adding to his own performances, Lutomski found balance in exploration, and the resonance of “Wind at the Gated Grove,” the birdsong in “First Drops in the Cup of Dawn” and the ethereal presence in the soft, rolling nod of finale “Where the Meadows Dream Beside the Sea” all fed into an impression that one might call “striking” were it not so gently, carefully handled. Climb the Antlers and Reach the Stars felt like an offering in the truest sense of the word, and brought soulful purpose to its experimentalism, giving comfort to the listener in its willful contradiction of anxiety; not so much ‘for our times’ as beyond time. It established Lutomski as a noteworthy auteur and creator, and engaged with the organic on every level in a way unforced, loving and hypnotic. Everything was exactly as it needed to be.
There was so much happening at times throughout the 40 minutes of Axexan, Espreitan that it could be hard to keep up with, but in fusing together heavy psych and classic, progressive heavy rock with their native Galician folk influences, Moura found a sound unlike anything else I heard this year. It was such a palpable sense of sharing; an expression of the internalized value of culture. Even as “Romance de Andrés d’Orois” seemed at its outset to float in the antigravity space created by the prior intro “Alborada do alén,” it did so with humanity and made itself memorable in its arrangement and across-language-barrier total-dialogue, conversing with itself, history, the future and the listener. It could be traditionally heavy, as in the scorcher guitar work in the second half of “Pelerinaxes” or the closing stretch of “Lúa vermella,” but showed in songs like “Encontro cunha moura fiadeira en Dormeá” that Axexan, Espreitan was about more than where a given linear build was going, but about the sights and meetings along the way. On just their second full-length, Moura displayed a rare mastery of their approach and made each piece feel like a celebration of something beyond themselves and their songwriting, whether that was the relatively minimal “Cantar do liño” or the kosmiche thrust of “Baile do dentón.” Could be head-spinning, could be tranquil, but whatever else it was at any given time, it was wonderfully complete and engrossing.
ColourHaze are not only one of the most pivotal and influential European bands of their generation — heavy psychedelic rock would not exist as it does without them, period — but even more importantly, they’re a group who have refused stagnation outright. Sacred was the Munich-based four-piece’s 14th album, and it presented a shift in the dynamic in marking the studio introduction of bassist Mario Oberpucher — taking on the role held for more than two decades by Philip Rasthofer in the rhythm section alongside drummer Manfred Merwald — and found Stefan Koglek‘s guitar playing off Jan Faszbender‘s keys and synth in ever more engaging ways. It wasn’t just about stepping back and giving space to one instrument or the other anymore, but about how they can converse together and bolster the songs, push each other as players and bring the best out of each other to the ultimate strengthening of the record itself. Like so much of what Colour Haze do, this is organic; a natural process happening over time, and to be sure, their next album will likewise be an outgrowth of what they accomplished in Sacred, their songs so undeniably their own even as they explore new reaches and ideas. A bit of lyrical cynicism in “Avatar,” “See the Fools” and the defiant stance of “Goldmine” spoke to the moment of their creation, but Sacred provided its own best argument for love over hate, and perhaps the highest compliment that can be paid is that it’s a record worthy of the band that made it.
This was my album of the year for most of the year, and there’s a big part of me that continues to think of it on those terms. The eighth full-length from San Diego solo industrialist Tristan Shone — who brought Ecstatic Vision‘s Doug Sabolick on tour as guitarist — branched out melodically from 2018’s Beastland (discussed here), which was his first for Relapse, which could be heard likewise in his own not-just-harsh vocals and in the use of melodic programmed synth as well on a song like “Maiden Star.” At the same time, an uptick in production value gave cinematic presence to the storytelling of “Drone Mounting Dread,” “Centurion” and the concluding title-track (among others), and a corresponding increase in engagement with non-synth instrumentation — needing a guitarist was not a coincidence — brought weighted bass to “Centurion” and live drums to “Misery,” further broadening the scope of what was an examination of pandemic-era life in America, the dystopian nature of the US circa 2021 presented as the backdrop upon which the songs took place; see “Incinerator,” the electronic-noise overload of “Blacksmith” and even the masculine voice through which the Portishead cover “Glorybox” was manifest. Shone reaffirmed his place miles ahead of almost the entire sphere of industrial metal, and gave the everything-is-whole-planet-death-and-it’s-our-fault moment the cruel sense of tragedy it deserved, mourning chaos even as it acknowledged a place for love within it.
In the name of all that is good and right in the universe, have you heard this album? With it, Caustic Casanova — bassist/vocalist Francis Beringer (who wrote the best lyrics I read all year, hands down), drummer/vocalist Stefanie Zænker, and guitarists Andrew Yonki and Jake Kimberley — outdid themselves, the pandemic and the legacy of Theodore Roosevelt in five songs and 45 minutes of unflinchingly perfect quirk. Are they punk, noise, prog, stoner rock, post-hardcore or sludge? Yes. Also no. Also a little bit, maybe? I’ve been through Glass Enclosed Nerve Center — the band’s fifth album and first written as a four-piece — a bother-my-family-with-it amount of times, and I’m still up in the air on where it rests categorically, and perhaps that’s in part because the one thing it did not do was rest. Even in the multiple stages of 22-minute finale “Bull Moose Against the Sky,” which I promise you is the only reason I’m even doing a Song of the Year part of this post below, their moves were considered and unpredictable in kind, and whether it was the weight of “Lodestar,” the sunrise at the outset of “Anubis Rex,” the yes-it’s-been-like-that mania of “A Bailar Con Cuarentena” or the hypnotic-plus-dizzying then massive “Shrouded Coconut” on side A, Caustic Casanova were able to pivot from one part the next while making hooks out of single measures and crafting an outing that went beyond even the sundry weirdo triumphs they’ve had to this point in their tenure. A special record on every level one might want to consider, and quintessentially the band’s own.
When Salt Lake City, Utah’s SubRosa ended after releasing the best album of 2016 in For This We Fought the Battle of Ages (review here), the heart ached for the expressive artistry and distinct style that was snuffed out when it seemed the band still had so much more to say. The emergence of The Otolith, with former SubRosa members Sarah Pendleton and Kim Cordray (violin and vocals, both), Levi Hanna (now guitar/vocals) and Andy Patterson (drums, percussion, production, mixing, mastering) — four-fifths of the band that was — and their presentation of the debut album Folium Limina, has been the flower growing on top of that grave. Together with bassist/vocalist Matt Brotherton, the atmospheric, almost-gothic-but-too-in-the-real-world, gracefully flowing post-metallic five-piece didn’t so much pick up where the last band left off as use that ending to mark a new beginning of their own exploration. Increased use of sampling (at least one big one in the penultimate “Bone Dust”), keyboard/synth, and deeper arrangements of harsh/clean vocals on songs like “Ekpyrotic” and the finale “Dispirit” diverged in intent and the full album maintained a mournful, critical, intelligent-but-emotive poetic voice that carried across the entirety of its consuming 63 minutes. This made Folium Limina of a kind with its high desert/mountainous, surrounded-by-dangerous-fanatics-and-duly-frightened-and-defiant predecessor, but even better, it declared The Otolith as ready to step out of that significant shadow and flourish as something new.
The third of three was perhaps a definitive statement of who King Buffalo are as a group. The Rochester, New York, trio of guitarist/vocalist/synthesist Sean McVay, bassist/synthesist Dan Reynolds and drummer Scott Donaldson released two albums in 2021 in The Burden of Restlessness (review here), which was my pick for last year’s album of the year, and the also-in-the-top-five, cave-recorded Acheron (review here), the seven-song Regenerator, as their fifth full-length overall, faced the biggest challenge of any of their studio work to-date in completing their unofficial pandemic-era trilogy of LPs written during covid-19 lockdown in 2020. Regenerator not only rose to the occasion, but deftly served as keystone for the series in tying together the progressive psychedelia of The Burden of Restlessness with the exploratory, speaking-to-the-natural-world communion of Acheron. Whether it was the opener/longest track (immediate points) “Regenerator” itself, the tight push of tension in “Mercury” or the later melodic fleshing out of “Mammoth” and “Avalon,” or the all-embracing conclusion in “Firmament,” Regenerator tied together the two albums before and stepped forward as something new, finding an ideal balance for the band’s increasingly multifaceted approach without sacrificing songcraft in its individual pieces. These last two years have seen King Buffalo ascend among the foremost purveyors of heavy psychedelia, and the genre is stronger for the efforts they’ve made to reshape it in their image. The truly horrifying part is I’m convinced their best work is still ahead of them. Amid trauma and cynicism, King Buffalo made it okay to feel optimistic.
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2022 Album of the Year
1. Elder, Innate Passage
Released by Stickman Records & Armageddon Shop. Reviewed Nov. 17.
Sometimes the obvious answer is the answer. In the last decade, the first-Massachusetts-then-mostly-Berlin, first-trio-then-four-piece Elder became a defining presence in progressive heavy psychedelic rock, with 2011’s Dead Roots Stirring (review here), 2012’s Spires Burn/Release EP (review here), 2015’s landmark among landmarksLore (review here), and 2017’s Reflections of a Floating World (review here) each taking forward steps to create a sound influential even as it seemed to be constantly coming to fruition. This is their best album, no, this is their best album. In this decade, they stand astride their aesthetic as masters. As the follow-up to 2020’s moment-of-transition Omens (review here), the five-track Innate Passage is an arrival; a vision of Elder as mature and still evolving, veterans ahead of their time while most of their generation are upstarts, and on a wavelength of their own despite the increasing pervasiveness of their predominance. The flexibility of their songwriting, and the ability of founding guitarist/vocalist/keyboardist Nick DiSalvo — joined by founding bassist Jack Donovan, guitarist/keyboardist Mike Risberg and drummer Georg Edert — to marry parts together that would in other hands be too disparate to connect have never been so resonant, and in cuts like “Endless Return,” “Catastasis,” and the 14-minute two-parter “Merged in Dreams/Ne Plus Ultra,” Elder harvested their most accomplished melodicism to-date (guest vocal harmonies from Samavayo‘s Behrang Alavi and the production of Linda Dag at Clouds Hill Studio were both notable contributions to this aspect of the work), while simultaneously keeping mindful of the dynamic potential of the songs to be tonally and rhythmically heavy, as in “Coalescence” the otherworldly finisher “The Purpose” and indeed, impact-minded stretches in “Catastasis” and “Merged in Dreams/Ne Plus Ultra.” This emphasis felt daring from a band who had purposefully moved away from lumbering-style riffing a decade earlier, and the seamlessness with which Elder integrated these ideas into their proggy aural macrocosm helped make Innate Passage a standout even in their unflinchingly forward-moving discography, even as the title itself reminded that this too is likely only another step along their path. Off they go again, ascendant.
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The Top 60 Albums of 2022: Honorable Mention
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Strap yourselves in, kids. We’re not done yet.
The year wouldn’t have been as sonically stellar as it was without:
40 Watt Sun, 10,000 Years, Aawks, Abrams, Alunah, Ararat, Artifacts & Uranium, Basalt Shrine, Behold! The Monolith, Black Capricorn, Black Lung, Black Space Riders, Blue Heron, Boris, Brujas del Sol, Burning Sister, Cachemira, Candlemass, Carcaño, Carson, Cave In, Chat Pile, Church of the Sea, Circle of Sighs, Come to Grief, Crippled Black Phoenix, Crowbar, Michael Rudolph Cummings, Deathwhite, Deer Creek, Desert Wave, Deville, Dirty Streets, DRÖÖG, DUNDDW, Dune Sea, Dystopian Future Movies, Early Moods, Electric Mountain, El Perro, E-L-R, End Boss, Evert Snyman & The Aviary, Firebreather, Foot, Fostermother, Freebase Hyperspace, FutureProjektor, Fuzz Sagrado, Garden of Worm, Gaupa, Gnome, Goatriders, Greenbeard, Half Gramme of Soma, Horehound, Humanotone, Ian Blurton’s Future Now, James Romig/Mike Scheidt, Jawless, Kadavermarch, Kaleidobolt, Kanaan, Kandodo4, Kryptograf, LáGoon, Erik Larson, Les Lekin, Lydsyn, Madness, Mammoth Volume, Melt Motif, Mezzoa, MIGHT, Mirror Queen, Mother of Graves, Motorpsycho, Mount Desert, Mount Saturn, My Diligence, Mythic Sunship, Nadja, Ode and Elegy, Oktas, Olson Van Cleef and Williams, Ol’ Time Moonshine, Onségen Ensemble, Orango, Øresund Space Collective, Papir, Paralyzed, People of the Black Circle, Pia Isa, Pike vs. the Automaton, Psychlona, Red Eye, Reverend Mother, Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol, Rocky Mtn Roller, Ruby the Hatchet, Russian Circles, Seremonia, Sergeant Thunderhoof, Sergio Ch., Seven Nines and Tens, Sleepwulf, Slowenya, Soldat Hans, Somnus Throne, Sonja, Sons of Arrakis, Steak, Știu Nu Știu, Sula Bassana, Sum of R, Supplemental Pills, Swamp Lantern, The Swell Fellas, Tekarra, T.G. Olson, Trace Amount, Uncle Woe, Vitskär Süden, Voivod, Eric Wagner, Weddings, Wild Rocket, and Yatra.
Notes:
Some of these, in comparison to the year-end poll, are more popular picks than others. As always, part of what I base my list on is my own listening habits, so if my list is different than yours, well, I’m a different person. Mystery solved.
That said, I acknowledge that especially at post-time, this is preliminary and I am — at times overwhelmingly — fallible. While I keep a running list all year of standout records, based on my preferences as well as what I perceive as critical value separate from them within a given subset of styles, and despite the fact that I’ve gone back through the more than 300 releases that have been reviewed (so far) in 2022 to make this list, it’s possible and indeed likely I’ve forgotten somebody, left someone out who deserves to be here.
If that’s the case — and based on just about every other year I’ve done this, it very likely is — I ask again that you please be kind in pointing out whatever that may be and whyever you believe it should be where it isn’t. Maybe your pick for the best release of 2022 isn’t here at all. Instead of calling me a dipshit and an idiot, let’s try to celebrate the fact that in a single heavy underground, there can be such a diverse range of opinions and different artists and styles to appreciate, and how fortunate we are to be alive at a time when so much incredible art is available at the click of a make-believe button. Also indoor plumbing and penicillin, but that’s a different conversation entirely and best left to another day.
Last year, I limited honorable mentions to 60 to correspond with the numbered list. I’ve got over 115 bands listed above, and if in combination with the top 60 itself you find that to be an insurmountable swath of releases, good. That’s the point. We are surrounded by beauty every day. It can be difficult to keep this in mind, but there is little that’s more important than knowing that. I thank you for your attention and hope, as ever, that you find something in all of this that speaks to you.
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Debut Album of the Year 2022
The Otolith, Folium Limina
Other notable debuts (somewhat alphabetically):
AAWKS, Heavy on the Cosmic
Arð, Take Up My Bones
Basalt Shrine, From Fiery Tongues
Burning Sister, Mile High Downer Rock
Burn the Sun, Le Roi Soleil
Chat Pile, God’s Country
Church of the Sea, Odalisque
Come to Grief, When the World Dies
DRÖÖG, DRÖÖG
Early Moods, Early Moods
Edena Gardens, Edena Gardens
El Perro, Hair Of…
Elk Witch, Beyond the Mountain
End Boss, They Seek My Head
Faetooth, Remnants of the Vessel
Freebase Hyperspace, Planet High
The Gray Goo, 1943
High Noon Kahuna, Killing Spree
Jawless, Warrizer
Kadavermarch, Into Oblivion
Kamru, Kosmic Attunement to the Malevolent Rites of the Universe
Les Nadie, Destierro y Siembra
Limousine Beach, Limousine Beach
London Odense Ensemble, Jaiyede Sessions Vol. 1
Lydsyn, Lydsyn
Magnatar, Crushed
Maunra, Monarch
Mother Bear, Zamonian Occultism
Mount Desert, Fear the Heart
Mount Saturn, O Great Moon
Mythosphere, Pathological
Ode and Elegy, Ode and Elegy
Oktas, The Finite and the Infinite
People of the Black Circle, People of the Black Circle
Pia Isa, Distorted Chants
Reverend Mother, Damned Blessing
Rocky Mtn Roller, Haywire
Room 101, Sightless
SAPNA, SAPNA
Sky Pig, It Thrives in Darkness
Sonja, Loud Arriver
Sons of Arrakis, Volume 1
Supersonic Blues, It’s Heavy
Supplemental Pills, Volume 1
Swamp Lantern, The Lord is With Us
UWUW, UWUW
Venus Principle, Stand in Your Light
VoidOath, Ascension Beyond Kokytus
Voidward, Voidward
Yawn, Materialism
Notes:
I struggled this year with what counted as a debut album. As noted above, four-fifths of The Otolith were in a previous band together. Is this a first record or a continuing collaboration? What about Mythosphere, born out of Beelzefuzz? Come to Grief? Edena Gardens? Lydsyn? Ultimately I decided to err on the side of inclusion, as you can see, and count it all. I will not apologize for that.
The Otolith’s Folium Limina stood alone as the year’s best debut, but other personal favorites here were Sky Pig, Mythosphere, Early Moods (who are among the brightest hopes for traditional doom in my mind), Supersonic Blues, Mount Saturn, End Boss, Les Nadie and UWUW, and Edena Gardens — if you’re looking for recommendations of places to start before diving into the weedian mischief of The Gray Goo. Some of these got more hype than others, and there’s a fairly broad range of styles represented, but even as grim as the material on this list gets, these acts and artists are united by the potential they represent for pushing heavy music forward, covering new ground and exploring new ideas as only fresh perspectives can.
At the beginning, I asked you to note how many second LPs were included in the overall list, and it did feel like a lot to me. With the quality in this list as well, I would not expect that to change in the next few years to come, as generational turnover and post-covid reshuffling continue to shake out.
Short Release of the Year 2022
Domkraft & Slomatics, Ascend/Descend Split LP
Other notable EPs, Splits, Demos, etc.:
Ascia, III
Black Math Horseman, Black Math Horseman
Blasting Rod, Mirror Moon Ascending
Bloodshot Buffalo, Light EP
Captain Caravan & Kaiser, Turned to Stone Ch. 6
The Cimmerian, Thrice Majestic
Elephant Tree, Track by Track
Fatso Jetson & All Souls, Live From Total Annihilation
The Freeks, Miles of Blues
Lammping, Stars We Lost
Lightrain, AER
Naxatras, Live in Athens
Pyre Fyre, Rinky Dink City/Slow Cookin’
Red Mesa, Forest Cathedral
Ruby the Hatchet, Live at Earthquaker
Sâver & Frøkedal, Split
Saturna & Electric Monolith, Turned to Stone Ch. 4: Higher Selves
Slugg, Yonder
Temple Fang, Jerusalem/The Bridge
Torpedo Torpedo, The Kuiper Belt Mantras
Trillion Ton Beryllium Ships, Consensus Trance
Warpstormer, Here Comes Hell
Notes:
First I’ll say that of all the lists in this super-listy post, this is the least complete. I don’t know if I just sucked at keeping track of EPs this year, but if you’ve got more you’d like to add to the above, I’m all ears.
Slomatics and Domkraft took the top spot early. Yes, I did the liner notes for that release, but between Majestic Mountain’s presentation of the vinyl, the bands covering each other and their own original work, it was too substantial to not be considered as it is. Temple Fang were a late contender, and I’ll note the work of Torpedo Torpedo and Lightrain, who are newer acts of marked potential as well. I look forward to debut albums from both of them, if not in 2023 then hopefully 2024.
Some live stuff from Elephant Tree, Naxatras, Ruby the Hatchet and Fatso Jetson/All Souls. The always-welcome Lammping. Trillion Ton Beryllium Ships continuing their intriguing progression, Slugg with a single-track statement, Ascia marching forth, Red Mesa branching out — there’s a lot here to dig, even if it’s not everything. Note two of Ripple’s ongoing Turned to Stone split series being included, and the Sâver and Frøkedal split, which was among the year’s boldest outings while still relatively brief. That in itself is a thing to be honored.
Song of the Year 2022
Caustic Casanova, “Bull Moose Against the Sky”
Tracks from Conan, UWUW, Chat Pile, Temple Fang, CB3, The Otolith, Elder, King Buffalo, Ruby the Hatchet, Melt Motif, Forlesen, My Sleeping Karma, Author & Punisher, Church of the Cosmic Skull, -(16)-, River Flows Reverse, Telekinetic Yeti, Wo Fat, on and on and on, were also considered.
But they were considered after the fact of Caustic Casanova’s “Bull Moose Against the Sky.”
The 22-minute side-B-devouring epic tale — multiple speakers and Greek chorus included — spanned progressive Americana, heavy rock and roll, punk, black metal blastbeats, disco keyboards, and historical narrative with nigh-on-impossible fluidity, mining cohesion from confusion in a singular achievement and at a level of execution that most bands simply never touch. Though its purposes were different, I rate “Bull Moose Against the Sky” of a quality that stands alongside the likes of grand declarations like Ancestors’ “First Light” and YOB’s “Marrow” as the kind of song that happens only a couple times in a decade. As I said above, it is the reason I’m including a song-of-the-year section in this post at all. If you have not heard it, I tell you with all sincerity that you’re missing something special.
Looking Ahead to 2023
With the eternal caveat that release plans change and that production delays in vinyl and label release schedules are fluid, malleable things, here are some of the artists I’m watching for in the New Year to come, presented in some semblance of alphabetically:
Ahab, Ahrbeka, Aktopasa, The Awesome Machine, Azken Auzi, Benthic Realm, Big Scenic Nowhere, Bismut, Black Rainbows, Blackwülf, Carlton Melton, Cavern Deep, Child, Church of Misery, Clouds Taste Satanic, Dead Shrine, Dirge, Dozer, Draken, Endtime & Cosmic Reaper, Enslaved, Ethyl Ether, Fatso Jetson & Dali’s Llama, Fever Ray, Fuzz Sagrado, The Golden Grass, Gozu, Graveyard, Greenleaf, Green Lung, Gypsy Chief Goliath & End of Age, Hail the Void, High Leaf, High Priestess, Hippie Death Cult, Iron Void, Isaak, Jack Harlon and the Dead Crows, Katatonia, Kind, Kollapse, KVLL, Lord Mountain, Love Gang, The Machine, Mansion, Mars Red Sky, Mathew’s Hidden Museum, Merlock, Monarch, The Necromancers, Negative Reaction, No Man’s Valley, Obelyskkh, The Obsessed, Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs, Polymoon, Raum Kingdom, REZN, Ridge, Rotor, Ruff Majik, Sacri Monti, Saint Karloff, Seum, Shadow Witch, Siena Root, Solemn Lament, Stinking Lizaveta, Stöner, Super Pink Moon, Tidal Wave, Tranquonauts, Trillion Ton Beryllium Ships, Westing, Witch, Witch Ripper, Witchthroat Serpent, Yawning Balch, Yawning Man, Zeup
Thank you
A bit about what’s gone into making this post: In the ‘Notes’ doc by which I organize the bulk of the part of my life that deals with music, I have sections devoted to the various best-of categories you see above. These are always in progress. I began to keep track of 2022 releases in 2021, just as I’ve begun already to consider what’s in store for 2023 (and beyond). It does not stop.
Because of this, I cannot give you an accurate count of the hours involved in this project, but as it always seems to be, it is the biggest post I’ve written this year — over 8,000 words as of this paragraph, the most time-consuming, and second in importance in my mind only to the results of the year-end poll still to come. On this actual writing, I’ve spent the last week involved in prep work, from early mornings that start at four on my laptop and end when my son (now five) wakes up and immediately demands to watch Sesame Street, to frantically swiping words into my phone in between the sundry tasks of my ensuing day.
I’m not telling you this to brag — in fact I don’t think it’s anything to brag about — but to make the point that without your support, none of this would be worth my time. Year in and year out, I thank you for reading, and the longer I run this site, the more continually astounded I am that anybody beyond myself gives a crap about what goes on here. From the bottom of my heart to the farthest reaches of Hawkwindian space, I am grateful, humbled, and appreciative to my core. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
And thanks to my wife, The Patient Mrs., through whose support and love all things are possible.
I’m gonna try my damnedest to take tomorrow off, but rest assured, there’s more to come. Here’s to the next round, and thanks again for reading.
Posted in Whathaveyou on October 20th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
In the spirit of late ’90s hip-hop, I’ll give mad props to Freedom Hawk for heading out on tour at a time when most acts — Clutch, Orange Goblin are prominent traditional exceptions — seem to go to ground for the winter. Their pre-holiday December stint comes in support of their new album, Take All You Can (review here), and, it should be noted, finds them living up to that mindset in terms of getting the most out of 2022 while they can. With two weeks of dates culminating Dec. 19 at Saint Vitus Bar in Brooklyn, Freedom Hawk follow the September record release with what’s bound to be a miserable stint weather-wise — climate change has turned early winter into a grey, was-already-dark, December wet season for much of the Northeast; certainly the part of it in which I reside — but one that nonetheless owns a moment that even in the post-covid surge of live activity throughout this year has gone largely unclaimed.
Noble purposes, in other words. I can very easily see trudging to Brooklyn to blow off some pre-holiday steam, and if the four-piece have any interest in adding a show amid the legal green of my beloved Garden State, I know a spot.
Dates as they are follow:
US EAST TOUR ’22 for new release Take All You Can released Sept 23 on Ripple Music. Check it out and jam with us and our friends!! Lets Rawk and Get Rad!!! ~FH~
Dec 06 – Raleigh, NC – Pour House Dec 07 – Atlanta, GA – Boggs Social Dec 08 – New Orleans, LA – Santos Bar Dec 09 – Austin, TX – The Lost Well Dec 10 – Arlington, TX – Division Brewing Dec 11 – TBC Dec 12 – Louisville, KY – Portal @ fifteenTwelve Dec 13 – Indianapolis, IN – Black Circle Brewing Dec 14 – Chicago, IL – Cobra Lounge Dec 15 – Detroit, MI – Sanctuary Dec 16 – Columbus, OH – Ace of Cups Dec 17 – Youngstown, OH – Westside Bowl Dec 18 – Philadelphia, PA – Kung Fu Necktie Dec 19 – Brooklyn, NY – St. Vitus
Posted in Bootleg Theater on September 2nd, 2022 by JJ Koczan
We’re less than a month out from the Sept. 23 release date of Freedom Hawk‘s new album, Take All You Can (review here), which will be the band’s second album through Ripple Music after 2018’s Beast Remains (review here). If you’re feeling like it’s been a long wait, I’m inclined to agree.
The circumstances of pressing times are what they are — ah, the means of production! — some delay makes sense, but having been recorded by guitarist Brendan O’Neill and with new material that’s been hanging around at least since lockdown hit, yeah, four years is long enough between Freedom Hawk records. I’ve reviewed the thing, but the band’s blend of straight-ahead, don’t-need-nothing-fancy structures, extra-fancy guitar antics hoisted from out of the NWOBHM, sand-hued groove — you’d call it desert but for the fact that they’re from a town with “beach” in the name — and the occasional touch of psychedelia for flavor is vital and it all seems to come together in the six-minute title-track, “Take All You Can.”
I remain curious as to the meaning behind the title here, or if not the meaning, at least the message. Is it advice? ‘Get what you can and get out?’ Is it a criticism of selfishness? Or maybe just the band telling their audience to dig deep into the songs on the album themselves and get as much as possible out of listening? Could be any, all, or other. I don’t know, and even if I had the chance to interview the band, asking “what does your album title mean?” is about as lame as questions get. Right up there with “who are your influences” and “who plays guitar,” as far as I’m concerned.
So, let’s accept the mystery together as we watch the video, which I think the PR wire refers to as “bold” in no small part because half the band — the guitar half; that’s T.R. Morton and the aforementioned O’Neill — are topless. Whatever the case, the trippy effects suit the song well, and like the material across the album itself, all the visual swirls and dissolves in the clip are rooted in a band-in-room performance. If you’d ask more of Freedom Hawk, you’ve missed the point.
Fresh reminder as we move into the beginning of year-end-list season this record and band are killer.
Enjoy:
Freedom Hawk, “Take All You Can” official video
New album “Take All You Can” Out September 23rd on Ripple Music
East Coast-based heavy rock torchbearers FREEDOM HAWK share a bold and trippy video for their new single “Take All You Can”, the title track of their upcoming sixth studio album on Ripple Music. Get pumped up on the proto-metal frenzy of “Take All You Can” now!
“Take All You Can” was recorded by Brendan O’Neill and the band, mixed by Ian Watts at The Magic Closet Studio and mastered by Chris Goosman at Baseline Audio Labs. It will be issued on various vinyl formats, CD and digital through Ripple Music.
[Click play above to stream the premiere of Freedom Hawk’s ‘Seize the Day’ from their new full-length Take All You Can. Album is out Sept. 23 on Ripple Music (Bandcamp preorder).]
Reliability be thy name. For over 15 years, Virginia Beach heavy rockers Freedom Hawk have dug into a style that has only become more their own with time, offering songcraft that’s straightforward in structure and almost invariably led by its two guitars, while also digging deeper into their own presentation of ideas and methods and remaining unflinchingly honest in their purposes. Such is to say, when guitarist/vocalist T.R. Morton opines, “We all need rock and roll,” in the love song of the same name, you believe he means it.
Take All You Can is the four-piece’s sixth long-player and second for Ripple Music behind 2018’s Beast Remains (review here), as well as their second with guitarist Brendan O’Neill, whose addition to the lineup has clearly resulted in some shifts in style, pushing an already-there penchant for NWOBHM-inspired heroics — recontextualized into driving fuzz, naturally — more to the forefront in songs like “Take All You Can,” the centerpiece “Never to Return” and the never-not-be-soloing (not quite but you get the point) “From the Inside Out,” while allowing the band to explore atmospheres and moods that feel new at the same time. To wit, the aforementioned “We All Need Rock and Roll” arrives with a mellow grunge strum and spacious lead overtop and unfurls itself in a not-inactive fashion — Mark Cave‘s bass and Lenny Hines‘ drums assure there’s never a sacrifice of groove — and it’s not until Hines starts on the cowbell that the band signals the shove to come. And the two guitars get together, raise a toast of what is presumably celebratory homemade mead, and reaffirm said universal need, but so much to their credit, they don’t abandon that opening progression.
To be clear, “Age of the Idiot” and “Take All You Can” open Take All You Can at a fervent clip. The lead cut brings raucous shove and vitality as one would hope, and the title-track behind it prefaces the ’80s metal swagger of “From the Inside Out.” The arrival of “We All Need Rock and Roll” likewise is a preface to the expansion of sound that follows “Never to Return” and “From the Inside Out,” as Take All You Can wraps its nine-song/45-minute run with the salvo of “Skies So Blue,” “Comin’ Home” and “Desert Song,” transitioning from the dead-ahead urgency of the centerpiece and “From the Inside Out,” unfolding at more of a middle pace across the build of “Skies So Blue” while bringing hooks instrumental as well as vocal and a groove that is neither staid nor wanting for motion, nestled right into the vibe and where it wants to be as the band so often are. “Comin’ Home” pushes further along similar lines while broadening the atmospheric side, finding a more tranquil place from which its verses emanate, and keeping even its chorus consistent with this spirit, somewhat melancholy but treating its declaration of the title-line as a point of victory if the guitars are anything to go by.
Cave‘s bassline under the soaring guitar makes it — credit to Ian Watts, also of Ape Machine, who mixed at The Magic Closet in Portland, Oregon (Chris Goosman at Baseline Audio in Michigan mastered) — but the shift is so smoothly done by the band that it’s easy to follow along into the mellower terrain, which even without the dead-giveaway clue of “Desert Song” gives some hint of Pacific Coast purveyors like Yawning Man or Brant Bjork while filtering those impulses through its own, be it the harder riff of the chorus or the solidity of the structure beneath the jam. Freedom Hawk have done more than dipped toe into this kind of mood during their years and across their six-to-date LPs, but for a band defined in no small part by a nothin’-too-fancy, rock-like-they-used-to-make heavy riff ethos, the movement between “Skies So Blue,” “Comin’ Home” and “Desert Song” comes through as particularly bold; the group’s reach revealed all the more on repeat listens.
Thinking further of the shifting dynamic within the band, it’s noteworthy that they recorded with O’Neill at the helm and input from everyone, rather than an outside engineer. Their 2021 single, “Liftoff” (premiered here), was perhaps a test of method and there’s no sacrifice of production quality for going fully DIY for the first time on a full-length outing. Rather, “Desert Song” arrives at the conclusion with a sweetly fuzzed-out pastoralism, the bass and drums with just an edge of East Coast shove as Freedom Hawk even at their most subdued have always maintained, and demonstrates plainly to the audience where it’s coming from and the outward ride it’s ready to take. It’s not rushed, but neither is it really slowed down, but it serves as further evidence of the band to do whatever they want around a four-plus minute runtime and make a song out of it.
And whether that song is “Age of the Idiot” — the socially conscious lines of which are a misdirection to some degree of Take All You Can‘s more personal aspects, as best as one can tell without the benefit of a lyric sheet — or “Never to Return” or “Desert Song,” the purpose is the same. Freedom Hawk have never wanted anything more than to write the best material they can, record the best versions of the songs they can, and play them in front of human beings as often as they can.
It’s a simple formula, and to look at “verse chorus verse solo verse chorus end,” that’s a simple formula too on its face. The depths Freedom Hawk bring to Take All You Can remind that just because something is accessible, that doesn’t mean it lacks personality or individualism. Longtime listeners will recognize much of what Take All You Can has to give, but those same listeners should likewise be aware of how the band has grown and are still growing as veterans, and as one of the American Eastern Seaboard’s most vital presences in heavy rock.
If you need rock and roll, as I’m told we all do, trust well that Freedom Hawk will be on hand to deliver. They certainly do in these tracks.
