Posted in Whathaveyou on November 10th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
I believe lineup dropoffs should be handled like removing band-aids, so in that spirit, I’ll not slow-peel the disappointment that Fuzz Sagrado (from Germany/Brazil) and Saint Karloff (from Norway) won’t be making the trip to Las Vegas in January for Planet Desert Rock Weekend VI. But when it comes to festivals of any size or shape, cancellations are part of the thing, and neither band is done, so you say ‘maybe next year’ and move forward with the fest to come. I was looking forward to seeing those bands, not the least since Fuzz Sagrado‘s Christian Peters is just coming back to the stage after the end of Samsara Blues Experiment, but it’s a big unknowable future and hopefully those paths will cross sooner or later. The conclusion every time, every context, is “so it goes.”
There are few bands who I could name in this paragraph who wouldn’t feel like a consolation prize, but Spaceslug is one of them. Fest curator John Gist — who thanked me in the below press release and I took it out because I’m all ego but also hyper-introverted; anyway, thanks for the thanks — and they and Black Water Rising, plus a couple teased confirmations to come, will add to the shape of the four-nighter from Jan. 29-Feb. 1, which also boasts The Atomic Bitchwax, The Devil and the Almighty Blues, The Quill, Westing, High Desert Queen and more.
Gist sent the following down the PR wire:
Vegas Rock Revolution is excited to announce the next two bands for Planet Desert Rock Weekend VI in Las Vegas! Two very different styles of bands to continues the legacy of PDRW. Both of these bands are already legacy PDRW bands and we are honored to have them back!
Spaceslug from Poland will be returning to play only their 3rd USA show ever for this exclusive set. Their spacey blend of atmospheric heavy psych with doom is a magnificent thing to see live. They will be playing their epic album Lemanis in its entirety plus a few more killer tracks to honor the 10th anniversary of the album. They will be headlining Night 4 on Sunday for the Last Call show at Swan Dive. We will have some sort of visuals set up for the evening as well! Should make for an amazing final night.
Spaceslug, “Proton Lander”
Black Water Rising is joining the party as well. This NYC heavy rock band played PDRW II back in 2019 and are no strangers to Las Vegas as they have played a number of times Vegas Rock Revolution shows. Their 2025 release “The Edge” landed #9 on the August Doom Charts and has really lit a spark in the rock scene. This is a very rare west coast show for these boys from Brooklyn and they are flying in just for the show so…..there are no other shows in surrounding area. The band brings great riff action while also providing strong vocals with smart lyrics that you can understand. If you are a fan of bands like COC, Crobot, Sasquatch, Monster Magnet and others then this band is right In your wheelhouse. Their breakthrough song “Brother Go On” catapulted itself to many ears via Sirius XM’s Octane Radio vis Jose Mangin.
Black Water Rising, “Brother Go On”
Now we have some disappointing news as Fuzz Sagrado and Saint Karloff will not be making it to PDRW VI. Possibly in the future we may have them if the timing is better. We wish it wasn’t so but this the reality.
We have two more bands to still announce and we don’t want to wait much longer to get those names to you. Our curation is done very carefully and we want to make sure the right bands that are a fantastic fit for our loyal and incredible fans is chosen. Nightly lineups will start coming out very soon as well as single night ticket options!
Also a massive thanks to our several sponsors we have so far. Ripple Music will again be part of PDRW and will have a full night of music from the label on Friday at The Usual Place. You might be able to figure out which bands are locked in for that evening already! Mettle Media run by long time contributor to the scene Leanne Ridgeway will again be part of Planet Desert Rock Weekend. She has been vital on helping with the Webpage and PR.
Posted in Whathaveyou on November 6th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
Hell yeah, Desertfest Berlin. The 2026 edition of the German flagship event of heavy’s most crucial festival brand will bring over Nebula for oldschool heads, Fomies for newer heads, Fuzz Sagrado for the in-betweens and Blackwater Holylight for the betterment of all humanity and the weekend in general. That’s not everybody in the second lineup announcement from Desertfest Berlin 2026, as Seattle’s Monsterwatch and Mexico City’s Cardiel will also be making the trip, but taken in combination with the first announcement — you can see the names below; golly they’ll make for a lovely assemblage — you can see it’s very much a roster worthy of the tradition they’re upholding. I don’t think underground heavy would be what it is in Europe today without Desertfest Berlin.
The PR wire brought the update:
DESERTFEST BERLIN reveals second wave of bands for 2026, adding NEBULA, BLACKWATER HOLYLIGHT & more!
The 2026 edition of DESERTFEST BERLIN just turned up the fuzz and drifted deeper into the void, as more mind-bending acts join the already eclectic line-up!
From the sunburned deserts of California, NEBULA bring their fuzz-soaked, interstellar riff rituals – pure cosmic fire. Portland’s BLACKWATER HOLYLIGHT summon a dark, dreamlike blend of heavy psych and ethereal melody, where doom meets hypnosis. Sweden’s EF shape vast post-rock landscapes, full of emotion and light, stretching beyond the horizon. Switzerland’s fuzz prophets FOMIES channel raw desert spirit through sun-cracked distortion and groove, while FUZZ SAGRADO (ex Samsara Blues Experiment) deliver hypnotic, groove-driven stoner rock rooted in thick tones and jam-heavy flow. Seattle’s MONSTERWATCH erupt in a storm of grunge and punk fury, reckless and cathartic. And from the streets of Mexico City, CARDIEL will ignite the DESERTFEST BERLIN stage with their skate-punk–meets–psychedelic fuzz revolution – political, wild, and unstoppable.
Today’s new additions crank the line-up to the next level, joining a first wave that already boasts heavy-hitters like RUSSIAN CIRCLES, HERMANO ft. JOHN GARCIA, THE SWORD, KING BUFFALO, ACID KING, TRUCKFIGHTERS, EARTHLESS, and many more!
From May 14–16, 2026 at Columbiahalle & Columbia-Theater, DESERTFEST BERLIN will turn the German capital into a heavy riff sanctuary, with more names and special suprises to follow. Better act quick and get your ticket now at:https://desertfest-tickets.de/produkte
Posted in Whathaveyou on August 11th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
Keeping things moving right along as he follows up on 2025 outings from his soon-to-be-live-incarnated project Fuzz Sagrado and the defunct Samsara Blues Experiment (a collection of material from well before they were defunct), Christian Peters has put word out of a new release under his solo banner — or one of them; there have been a couple and Fuzz Sagrado started as a solo-project and why you gotta categorize everything anyway, man??? — Surya Kris Peters. Produced and recorded by Peters in Brazil, Viva Galaxia promises a gamut run through influences new and old, and given the productive streak Peters is on (he’s got more coming, reportedly), I believe it.
The good news is it’s not a long wait to take the trip. Viva Galaxia is out this Friday, Aug. 15, as a digital release, with physical to follow. Nothing up from the record yet:
Surya Kris Peters new album “Viva Galaxia” is a rich tapestry of musical influences, blending sounds from across decades and continents.
Drawing deeply from the 70s German Krautrock scene – think Ashra & Manuel Göttsching, Michael Rother, Popol Vuh and Tangerine Dream – it also pays homage to English Prog, especially the atmospheric stylings of Mike Oldfield and Pink Floyd. Adding to the mix are vibrant global inspirations like India’s Ananda Shankar, Japan’s Osamu Kitajima and Isao Tomita, and Turkey’s Erkin Koray.
Modern textures weave through the album as well, with echoes of My Sleeping Karma, Ozric Tentacles, God Is An Astronaut, and even touches of 80s Synthwave and 90s Trance. Much like its predecessor, this release is packed with soaring guitar solos reminiscent of Peters’ former band, Samsara Blues Experiment. And this time, the Indian music influence makes a powerful return.
Alright, y’all. This is where it ends. The Quarterly Review has been an absolute blast, an easy, fun, good time to have, but inevitably it must come to close and that’s where we’re at. Last day. Last 10 releases. Thanks if you’ve kept up. I’ll be back I think in September with another one of these, probably longer.
Hope you’ve found something killer this week. I did.
Quarterly Review #41-50:
Katatonia, Nightmares as Extensions of the Waking State
Nightmares as Extensions of the Waking State is the first long-player in the 34-year history of Katatonia — upwards of their 13th album, depending on what you count — to not feature guitarist Anders Nyström. That leaves frontman Jonas Renkse as the remaining founder of the band, with two new guitarists in Nico Elgstrand and Sebastian Svalland, bassist Niklas Sandin and drummer Daniel Moilanen, steering one of heavy music’s most identifiable sounds in new ways. “Wind of No Change” is duly subversive, and “Departure Trails” basks in texture in a way Katatonia have periodically throughout the last 20 years, but the Opethian severity of they keys in “The Light Which I Bleed” and the declarative chug at the end of opener “Thrice” speak to the band’s awareness of the need to occasionally be very, very heavy, even as “Efter Solen” shifts into dark, emotive electronics ahead of the sweeping finale “In the Event Of…” Renkse has never wanted for expression as a singer. If he’s to be the driving force behind Katatonia, fair enough for how that manifests here.
Black Moon Circle, A Million Leagues Beyond: Moskus Sessions Vol. I
Trondheim, Norway’s Black Moon Circle recorded the four-song set of A Million Leagues Beyond: Moskus Sessions Vol. 1 at the hometown venue of Moskus, a small bar that, to hear them tell it, mostly hosts jazz. Fair enough for cosmic heavy psychedelic grunge rock to join the fray, I should think. It was late in 2023, so earlier that year’s Leave the Ghost Behind (review here) full-length features readily, with “Snake Oil” following the opener “Drifting Across the Plains” — which is jazzy enough, certainly — ahead of the chunkier-riffed “Serpent” and a 20-minute take on “Psychedelic Spacelord (Lighter Than Air),” which has become a signature piece for the three-piece, suitably expansive. If you know Black Moon Circle‘s studio albums, you know they do as much as they can live. Honestly, A Million Leagues Beyond: Moskus Sessions Vol. I isn’t all that different, but it’s definitely a performance worth enjoying.
Kudos if you had ‘new Bloodhorse‘ on your 2025 Stoner Rock Bingo card or caught it when they launched an Instagram page last year. I certainly didn’t. The Massachusetts aughts-type prog-leaning riffmakers were last heard from with their 2009 debut album, Horizoner (review here), and the six-song/28-minute A Malign Star serves as a vital return, if not one brimming with good vibes as “The Somnambulist” dream-crushes its four-minute course, the band not so much dwelling in atmospheres like the relatively careening “Shallowness,” but getting into a song, making their point, and getting out. This works to their advantage in opener “Saboteur” and the chuggier title-track that follows, but even six-minute closer “Illumination” retains a sense of immediacy amid the dirty fuzz and comparatively laid back roll. This band was once the shape of sludge to come. 16 years later, the future has taken a different course and everybody’s a little more middle-aged, but Bloodhorse still kind of feel like they’re waiting for the world to catch up.
Should you find yourself thinking you didn’t remember Canadian riffers Aawks — also stylized all-caps: AAWKS — having quite such a nasty streak, you’re not alone. Their 2022 debut, Heavy on the Cosmic (review here), had a take that seems like fuzzy dream-pop in comparison to “Celestial Magick” and the screamy sludge that populates On Through the Sky Maze, their second LP. The nine-song 48-minute full-length is the first to feature bassist/vocalist Ryan “Grime Pup” Mailman alongside guitarist/vocalist Kris Dzierzbicki, guitarist Roberto Paraíso, and drummer Randylin Babic, and songs like “Lost Dwellers” or the mellow-spacier “Drifting Upward,” with no harsh vocals, seem to hit more directly, in addition to arriving in a different context with the “blegh”s of “Wandering Supergiants” and “Caerdoia,” and so on. In the end, Mailman‘s rasp becomes one more tool in Aawks‘ songwriting shed, and the band have more breadth and are less predictable for it. Call that a win, even before you get to the record being good.
The shimmering, floating guitar in “Echoes (The Empress)” tells part of the story in the deep-running The Cure influence, and the somewhat moody vocals of Charlie Suárez echo that emotional foundation, which is coupled in that song and throughout Moon Destroys‘ debut album, She Walks by Moonlight, with a willful progressivism in the songwriting, attention to detail in the arrangements, melodies, even the mix. Comprised of Suárez, guitarist Juan Montoya (ex-Torche), bassist Arnold Nese and drummer/producer Evan Diprima (Royal Thunder), the band are able to set a wash in place that’s not deceptively heavy in “The Nearness of June” (an earlier demo track) because it’s beating you over the head with tone, but still has more to offer than just its own heft. “Only” sounds like heavied-up proto-emo, while the roll of “Set Them Free” is massive in terms of both its riff and its big feelings. If you’re willing to let it grow on you, She Walks by Moonlight can be a space to occupy.
In Space We Trust is one of four-so-far full-lengths that Santtu Laakso — multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, composer and producer — has out between Astral Magic and related collaborations and projects. It’s not a pace of releasing one can keep up with, but if you need a check-in from the generation ship that is Astral Magic, chances are Laakso is out there on some voyage or other between classic space rock and clearheaded prog, spanning galaxies. The eight-song/42-minute In Space We Trust pairs him with lead guitarist Jonathan Segel (Øresund Space Collective, etc.), and one should not be surprised at the cosmic nature of the resulting music. The pair get into some sci-fi atmospherics in “Ancient Pilots” and “Alien Emperor,” but the synth and guitar are leading the way across the galaxy and the vibe across the board is more Voyager and less Nostromo, so yes, smooth solar-sailing the whole way through.
The dreamy guitar, semi-rapped vocal, and dub backbeat give the opening title-track of Never Never a decidedly ’90s cast, but it’s not the summary of what Toronto’s Lammping have to offer in their collaboration with weirdo-rockabilly solo artist Bloodshot Bill, bringing together their urbane, grounded psych and studiocraft, samples, etc., with the singer/guitarist’s low, sometimes bluesy delivery across seven songs totaling 15 minutes, peppering the vibe-on-vibes of “Never Never,” “One and Own” and “Won’t Back Down” — the longest inclusion at 3:23 — with ramble and flow alike, with experimental jawns like “Coconut,” “0 and 1” or “Anything is Possible” and the closer “Nitey Nite,” all under two minutes long and each going their own way with the casual cool one has come to expect from Lammping, quietly staking out their own wavelength while still sounding like something from a half-remembered soundtrack to a radder version of your life. This is one of four releases Lammping will reportedly have over the next year or so. Way on board for whatever’s coming next.
After the disbanding of Samsara Blues Experiment in 2021, guitarist/vocalist Christian Peters — who had already by then moved from Germany to Brazil — unveiled Fuzz Sagrado with EPs in July and October of that year. Fuzz Sagrado‘s 2021 self-titled (review here) and Vida Pura EPs are included on Strange Daze, a new compilation of tracks unified through a remaster by John McBain, showcasing the early outreach of keyboard and guitar that served as the foundation for the project. As Peters readies a live band for an eventual return to the stage, Strange Daze demonstrates how multifaceted the growth has been in terms of songwriting and still feels exploratory in hindsight as it did when the material was first released. Also included is the jammy “Arapongas,” which wasn’t on either EP but was recorded around the same time. Something of a curio or a fan-piece, but I ain’t arguing.
When the Deadbolt Breaks, In the Glow of the Vatican Fire
A couple different modes on When the Deadbolt Breaks‘ In the Glow of the Vatican Fire, which is the long-running Connecticut malevolent doomers’ umpteenth album, running 63 minutes and eight songs. Some of those are longer pieces, like opener “The Scythe Will Come” (12:24), “The Chaos of Water” (14:02), “The Deep Well” (10:42) and “Red Sparrow” (10:57), but interspersed with these are a succession of shorter tracks, and the breakdown between them isn’t just that the short songs are fast and the long songs are slow. Certainly the ripping early portions (and the later, more minimalist spaciousness) of “The Chaos of Water” argue against this, and the dynamic turns out to be correspondingly complex to suit the abiding murk of mood, as founding guitarist/vocalist Aaron Lewis and co-singer Cherilynne provide foreboding croon to suit the lo-fi, creeping, distorted terrors of the music surrounding. This is When the Deadbolt Breaks absolutely in their element; bleak, churn-chaotic, expressive, immersive. They’re able to put you where they want you whether you want to go or not.
It may have sat on the shelf for two years since recording finished in 2023, but don’t worry, it’s still from the future. Laughter is the second-on-Sulatron full-length from Italian experimentalists A/lpaca, and it sees them push deeper into electronic elements and ambiences, keeping some of the krautrock elements of their 2021’s Make it Better, but with songs that are shorter on average and that stand ready to convey a sense of quirk in the keyboard elements or the Devo verses of the title-track, which isn’t without its aspect of shove. Does it get weird? You bet your ass it does. “Bianca’s Videotape,” “Who’s in Love Daddy?,” the post-punk synthery meeting doomed fuzz on “Empty Chairs,” the list goes on. Actually, it’s just the tracklisting and it’s all pretty freaked out, so as long as you know going in that the band are working from their own standard of weirdoism, making the jump into the keyboardy gorge of “Kyrie” or the new wave-y “Don’t Talk” should be no problem. If you heard the last record, yeah, this is different. Seems like the next one will probably be different again too. Not everyone wants to do the same thing all the time.
Posted in Whathaveyou on May 6th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
A lot happening in the Fuzz Sagrado camp at just this moment. Last week, the Brazil-based solo-outfit of Samsara Blues Experiment founding guitarist/vocalist Chris Peters, both released a comp of the project’s first two EPs, Strange Daze, and were announced as appearing in the US in early 2026 at Planet Desert Rock Weekend VI in Las Vegas. By my count, that’s Peters‘ first time in the States with a band since SBE came over in 2015 for a Psycho California and Austin Psych Fest. Fuzz Sagrado will likely have other shows around the fest appearance, as some international acts did for PDRW this year, and they’ve newly unveiled the lineup that will be playing any and all of the band’s gigs to be announced.
Members of Blackbox Massacre, Coogans Bluff, a four-piece incarnation — back to Samsara Blues Experiment‘s roots in that regard — and an intended mix of new material from the new band and some classics from the old, all make for an enticing proposition when it comes to ‘Fuzz Sagrado live.’ Of course, Samsara Blues Experiment was put to rest with 2020’s End of Forever (review here), though the years since have seen a few posthumous outings of live sets, demos and such. To wit, the latest collection under the band’s name, Time Wizardry, brings together material from their earliest self-released stuff and some others along the way. It also came out this past Friday, concurrent to Fuzz Sagrado‘s Strange Daze.
So, Samsara Blues Experiment, though not a band anymore, are still a presence here, and Fuzz Sagrado, with Peters steering, plans to acknowledge the legacy by playing those songs. That feels right, to be honest. Clearly there’s been some dispute about the name — Peters says below he can’t use the other one, and I have to think if he could he would if only for the ease of branding — but, frankly, Peters should be playing those songs if that’s what he wants to do. I’m not going to discount any former member of his band’s impact on that band, but nobody here is claiming to be that band, so it shouldn’t be a problem.
But, also being honest, if Peters had gotten to call this band a new version of Samsara Blues Experiment, I’d be looking forward to that too. Turns out the music is good whatever you want to call it. Don’t tell that to genre heads like me though.
From social media:
FUZZ SAGRADO – NEW LIVE BAND 💥
Simply because I can’t contain my own excitement any longer. The new FUZZ SAGRADO live band consists of a number of legends from the German Heavy Psych – scene …
With me are Steffen (formerly of SPACESHIP LANDING on additional guitar duty), Charlie (also drummer of COOGANS BLUFF) and young gun Raphael (bass). All three also play as BLACKBOX MASSACRE (new album coming soon).
On a personal note: We already had this band in 2023 – but the last few years have brought some confusion. A proposed former band name can and will no longer be used. We will continue as FUZZ SAGRADO for now, being very aware of my own musical heritage and the wishes of so many fans.
In short, among new songs we will continue to play a few SBE songs too. In a way, this is the long awaited sequel and we are all very excited about it!
Thank you to ALL former band mates. I am not perfect, will never be – I hope one day everyone can understand it all from a relaxed perspective.
Thank you Lorrayne Castro for the picture, and good vibes!
And this is the point: We all deserve good things!
Posted in Whathaveyou on May 2nd, 2025 by JJ Koczan
Continuing its thread of bringing international acts to a waiting audience, next January’s Planet Desert Rock Weekend VI in Las Vegas will host the first US appearance of Fuzz Sagrado, the recent-years project of Samsara Blues Experiment founding guitarist/vocalist Chris Peters. Based in Brazil for I think a half-decade now (time flies), Peters has been trying to find a way to bridge past and present between psychedelic rock and more progressive, synthier sounds, and while Fuzz Sagrado is less definitively heavy psych than Samsara Blues Experiment, it retains the stamp of Peters‘ songwriting that was the defining feature of his former outfit.
Why not just reunite Samsara Blues Experiment or pull together a new lineup with the name? Sometimes these things are complicated. But Peters has said the live incarnation of Fuzz Sagrado (which imports players from Germany) will perform his old band’s songs, so if you live in the States, or wherever, and ever wanted to hear “Double Freedom” live — and you know you did — this will probably be your best chance. Fuzz Sagrado joins an absolutely stacked bill from The Atomic Bitchwax to Huanastone, and there’s still more to come. Hell yes.
From the PR wire:
We like to bring in cool unique performances, so we are excited to announce Fuzz Sagrado (Brazil/Germany) is joining us for Planet Desert Rock Weekend VI! Fuzz Sagrado features former Samsara Blues Experiment frontman Kris Peters and he has put together a very special lineup that will be playing a great blend of songs. The band joining him is guitarist Steffen (ex-Spaceship Landing), drummer Charlie (Coogans Bluff) and bassist Raphael .
FUZZ SAGRADO in concert will continue the tradition of SBE, playing intense Psychedelic Stonerrock, including old and new titles in an explosive 70s Krautrock-influenced mixture. For the many of us old school fans who remember Samsara Blues Experiment this will be a cool treat to see these songs live. For others this will be a great discovery of a band that has always held a special place in our scene.
Also we sadly must announce that Swan Valley Heights will not be joining us in 2026. We hope in the future they can make it over!
We have 4 bands left to announce and we have some doozies coming at ya! Much love to everyone and their support and can’t wait to rock with you all next year!
From Kris Peters:
“I’m very excited about my return to the live scene. I’ve actually been planning my stage comeback for two years. I was looking for new musicians with the idea of putting together a best-of setlist of my career, including tracks from Samsara but also newer songs (Fuzz Sagrado, Surya) in a well-rounded package. I know what my fans like to hear, and now that I’ve found a great new band, I’m sure there’s no room for disappointment. This is going to be great!”
Posted in Whathaveyou on March 5th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
Likewise unexpected and bittersweet comes this two songer from the remote collaborative project Sleeping in Samsara, issued by guitarist/vocalist Christian Peters — Fuzz Sagrado, ex-Samsara Blues Experiment; he’s the ‘Samsara’ — and Steffen Weigand, the drummer of My Sleeping Karma, who passed away in June 2023. To hear Peters tell it, the project was Weigand‘s to start with, as were the foundations of the songs, which were eventually fleshed out with vocals, bass and lead guitar over Weigand‘s drums, synth and rhythm guitar.
“Downtime” is mellower and driftier than “Twilight Again,” and has some classic ’70s soul later on. The lead cut is longer and more active, though, with a janga-janga riff obscured in a not-too-busy mix, really pulling from both sides. They could’ve gotten a record’s worth of material out of this approach, no problem, so it’s something of a “what could’ve been” kind of release, but as a listener it’s fortunate these two songs are out there at all — let alone as a free download, which it is, by the way.
I’ll leave it to Peters to tell the rest. This is a thing that just happened today:
New and special release …
At the beginning of April 2023, Steffen Weigand contacted me via email, quite unexpectedly. We had known each other for about twenty years, but were not very close until then. Our previous bands The Great Escape and Terraplane played a few concerts together, and later we often shared stages with My Sleeping Karma and SBE. The Great Escape left quite an impression on us back then, as we were about ten years younger and much less experienced musicians, and I always respected the great rhythm work of Steffen and Matte Vandeven on bass.
When Steffen contacted me, we talked about everything really, and it was like really getting to know each other after such a long time. His illness was also a topic, and I remember how I tried to give him strength with anecdotes from my life, or experiences from the past. I lost my mother at a very young age and had seen a lot of what cancer can do. At some point Steffen mentioned working on a solo project, but he also wanted to involve other musicians. He offered me two of his songs to participate where he had already worked out quite a lot. Besides his drumming there were already melodies, song-structures, etc. What was missing, however, was perhaps a bit more character (especially lyrics) and that’s where I came in.
He was a bit shy and didn’t seem completely convinced with these tracks yet, but I immediately recognized the potential and delivered lyrics and guitar solos in no time. In about a week I had both ready, written and recorded, much to Steffen’s amazement. We were both euphoric!! In my naivety I thought that this collaboration would be so positive that it could help to heal him. Then it was time to mix, and I asked Steffen if it was okay if I published my own mixes. He allowed me to do that in one of his last emails, and then I waited about three weeks for further news from him. On the morning of June 13, 2023, however, I had to read the terrible news and was paralyzed for weeks. I couldn’t believe it.
What I also have to say is that this short collaboration was the first time I had seriously worked with another musician since the end of SBE in 2020. For this reason alone, these songs are very important to me, as difficult as it was to finish them for a long time. I also have a lot of personal connections to both. It’s a real collaboration between Steffen’s music and my lyrics and guitar solos, which I’m particularly proud of, especially in the first track. Interestingly, these were the very first rough takes, but I never captured that spirit again, so I left it at these relatively raw recordings.
So I will release the songs as they are now… as a gift to the fans of both our bands. Unfortunately, that’s all that will remain from this project.
I would like to dedicate these two tracks to Steffen and also to my mother-in-law (“mama dois”) Imaculada Silva Castro, who also died of cancer last year. She listened to “Downtime” during one of her previous visits to our house and she liked it very much. I will never forget that.
Music by Steffen Weigand. Lyrics by Christian Peters. Steffen’s parts recorded in Aschaffenburg. Chris parts recorded in Brasil, May 2023. Mix and master by Chris Peters, Brasil February 2025.
Sleeping in Samsara: Steffen Weigand – drums, keyboards and synthesizers, rhythm guitar in track 1 Christian Peters – vocals, lead guitar, bass guitar in track 2
Posted in Reviews on December 10th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
Day two. I mean, it’s work in the sense of it takes effort to put together these posts and structure thoughts into hopefully somewhat coherent sentences, etc., but at this point the Quarterly Review is a pretty important tool for me to hear records that, generally once I hear them, I feel like I want to be covering. Sometimes the intensity of that feeling varies; there are things that don’t “fit” with the stoner-and-doom adjacent foundations of what this site does, but the format allows for that flexibility as well, and I credit the QR for helping broaden the perspective of the site as a whole and making me push my own boundaries.
Admittedly, the trade for covering so much — 50 records in five days is a lot, if it needs to be said — is that I can’t always get as deep as I otherwise might, but as I’ve said before, the fact is that I’m one person, and if writing about a lot of this stuff didn’t happen in this way, it probably wouldn’t happen at all. It’s still never going to be everything I want to cover, but doing it this was is often more suited to the subject at hand than a longform writeup would be, it gives me a chance to explore, it’s a consistently challenging undertaking on multiple levels, and it’s satisfying like little else around here when you’re on the other end of one and immediately start building the next.
I’m not entirely sure why I felt the need right there to justify the existence of the entire Quarterly Review thing as a part of this site. If you care, thanks. If not, I can only call that understandable. Thanks for seeing this sentence and whatever you came here for anyway.
We march on, into day two.
Quarterly Review #11-20:
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Fuzz Sagrado, Cold Remains
As Christian Peters has gradually embraced his inner rocker over the last couple years with Fuzz Sagrado, rediscovering the sacredness of tone, if you will, and using an expanded palette of synth and keyboards to build on the project’s beginnings while tying it together with his prior outfit, the heavy psych rockers Samsara Blues Experiment, it’s fascinating how much the respective personalities of the two acts still shine through. On Cold Remains, along with the new song “Snowchild” that leads off, Peters showcases three until-now lost pieces that have their origins in his former band but were never released: “Cold Remains,” a grim-lyric title-track given due heft of low end, the short “Morphine Prayer,” which intertwines acoustic strum and electric leads and drops the drums for an even more open feel, and “Neurotic Nirvana,” which clues you into the grunge of its central riff in the title but stretches outward from there across six minutes with particular bliss in the solo for a hopeful second half. It sounds like reconciliation, and in that, it fits well with the ongoing growth of Peters‘ Brazilian period.
From the punkish opening shove of “Rat Race” and “Manic Street Ballet,” 24/7 Diva Heaven‘s second full-length for Noisolution, Gift, unfolds a style that’s both raw and dense enough to carry a heavy groove, straightforward but nuanced in craft and threaded through with attitude born out of ’90s-era riot grrrl noise rock, but able to temper that somewhat with a mellower, more melodic rocker like “Crown of Creation” — some influence from The Donnas, maybe? — before the sharp-edged intensity of “Face Down” and the thrust of “These Days” precede the centerpiece title-track’s quiet-grunge trading off with careening, hard-hitting punk rock in a way that works. No worries, as “L.O.V.E. Forever” and the Godsleep-esque aggro-rocker “Suck it Up” follow at what might be the start of side B, with a highlight bassy groove in the QOTSA-meets-Nirvana catchy “Born to Get Bored,” staying in a heavy rock modus but nonetheless faster and kind of threatening to throw a punch in “Flawless Fool,” the piano-led “Nothing Lasts” capping with duly wistful minimalism. Killer. It’s 11 tracks in 32 minutes, wastes zero of its own or your time, and has something to say both in sound and its lyrics. This band should be on all the festivals.
Holy smokes that’s a vibe. Even at its most active — which would be “Grey Smoke,” if you want specifics — the heavygaze-adjacent psych blues rock of Germany’s Mount Hush holds an encompassing sense of atmosphere, and while cuts like “All I See” or the smokey “Blues for the Dead” can trace some of what they do to the likes of All Them Witches, Queens of the Stone Age, Colour Haze, and so on, the material is inventive, unrushed and explores outward from a solid foundation of craft, leaning perhaps deepest into psych on “Celestial Eyes,” featuring a classy bit of flute in the penultimate “54” and going big in melody and tone for the finishing move in “Blood Red Sky,” working in Eastern scales for a meditative feel while staying loyal to its own distortion and post-Uncle Acid swing; one more part of the not-slapdash pastiche Mount Hush build as they take a marked breadth of influence, melt it down and shape something of their own from it. Gorgeously. Flowing with grace at no expense to the impact, II is a striking and forward looking point of arrival waiting to be caught up to. This is a band I’m glad to have heard, even before you get to the RPG.
Wherever you’re headed, Luna Sol are ready to meet you there. David Angstrom — also of Hermano — leads the bluesy heavy rockers with a slew of choice, family-style cuts. Granted, with 15 tracks and more than 50 minutes of material, there’s room to move around a bit, but whether it’s the Leaf Hound cover “Freelance Fiend” or Mountain‘s “Never in My Life” or the delay-laced verses of not-a-cover “Surrounded by Thieves” later on, Vita Mors offers both scope and craft around the heavy blues framework. That can get a little meaner tonally in “Watch Our Skeletons Die” or fuzzily back a bouncing groove on “I’ll Be Your One,” and the songs will remain united through Angstrom‘s vocals and the trust the band as a whole earn through the strength of their songwriting. It’s not a minor undertaking in an age of short attention spans, but given their time, Vita Mors‘ songs can very easily start to live with you.
Taut in their two-guitar drive and going big on hooks and harmonies alike, Ian Blurton’s Future Now‘s second album, Crimes of the City, is a heart-on-sleeve heavy rocker brimming with life, purpose in its construction, and a sense of celebrating the riffs and metals of old. With Blurton himself on guitar/vocals, guitarist Aaron Goldstein, bassist Anna Ruddick and drummer Glenn Milchem — Gregory MacDonald is also listed as ‘The Goose’ in the credits — the four-piece don’t touch the four-minute mark once in Crimes of the City‘s succession of 10 bangers, despite coming close in “Cast Away the Stones,” and as one could only expect, the songs are air tight in structure and delivery. And just when it seems to run the risk of being too perfect, Blurton drops the layers for the verse of “Nocturnal Transmissions” or exudes sheer delight in the ’80s metal of “Seventh Sin of Devotion,” or the whole band rides a groove like “School’s In,” and it’s all so open, welcoming and vibrant that it can’t help but be human in the end. Killer at any volume, but more don’t hurt.
Prone to a psych-garage freakout, willfully jagged on the swaying “Two Birds,” indie drifting to the Riff-Filled Land™ and the neighboring Epicsolosburg on “Ten Lies” and righteously horny/not creepy on “Woman,” Mirage is the first full-length from South Africa’s Moskitos, and while it has some element of sneer as a facet inherited from in-genre influences, “Ryder” still feels sincere as it departs what Moe called a “carhole” one time in favor of a more open landscape. There’s intricacy in the rhythm of “Believer” if you want it, and the set-up-for-contrast relative patience of opener “Umbra,” which, yeah, still twists the cosmos a bit by the time it’s done, is a highlight as well, and “Trigger” shifts between quiet parts and putting a shuffle beneath its melodic ending, but some of the most effective moments here are more about the soul behind it all. The feel is loose, but they’re not without a plan, and while there’s no shortage of haze between here and there, it will be interesting to hear how Moskitos build on ideas like the expansive-but-not-unpoppy-till-the-payoff “Ten Lies” and what new ground they find as they move forward.
This Halloween-issued sequel to Deer Lord‘s early-2023 EP, Dark Matter (review here) unfolds across six tracks broken into two sides of three each. Each begins with its longest track (immediate points), and uses the spaciousness cast in “Dark Matter” (8:11) and “Intelligent Life” (7:24), respectively, to bolster the atmosphere of the rockers that follow, “Faster” and “Dogma” on side A, the swinging cosmic blowout “Blade” and closer “Pay” on side B. If that makes it sound somewhat orderly, this symmetry is contrasted by the loosen-your-head psychedelic drive of “Dogma” or “Faster” sounding like Clutch as beamed from Voyager 1 hitting a gravity wave on the way. The now-trio of guitarist/vocalist Sheafer McOmber, drummer Ryan Alderman and bassist Jared Marill hit on a sonic niche of earthy fuzz meeting with spaced plasmatic volatility. It’s big and it moves! It would be more of a surprise if they weren’t signed by somebody or other by the time they get around to their debut full-length.
Following up on their 2023 self-titled-if-you-go-by-apparent-pronunciation LP, Tiefenrausch, Book of Circles sees instrumentalist three-piece TFNRSH make a striking entry into the admittedly crowded German and greater European sans-vocal heavy psychedelic underground. Standing out through a proggy use of synth, the second album offers “Zorn” in the place the first put “Slift,” and while it’s true the band remain not without influence from the modern European heavy psychedelic ouevre — some of the twists in “Zemestån” feel Elderian, as an example — they’re distinguished not only by how heavy “Zorn” eventually gets or “WRZL” is at its outset, or by Julius Watzl‘s stellar hold-it-together drumming amid the currents of synth being run by both guitarist Sasan Bahreini and bassist Stefan Wettengl there, but also by the float and patience of “Ammoglÿd” — imagine a mid-period Anathema intro but it unfolds as the whole song and it works — which only underscores the progressive mindset underlying all of this material. The kind of record that won’t hit with everybody but will hit with some very, very hard.
While based largely in doom, Altareth‘s Passage: The Welfare Sessions absolutely soars in the solo of its centerpiece track “Singapore,” picking up from a mellower kind of lumbering brood and answering the lift of its middle with a push to the finish. Passage: The Welfare Sessions may be worth the asking price for that alone, but that hardly means that’s all the Gothenburg five-piece have on offer, when there’s acoustic to layer into the subsequent “Pilgrim” or the blend of murk and impact in the rolling leadoff “Passage,” the way “The Stars” holds to its crawling tempo but offers a sense of payoff anyhow, or the psychedelia that runs alongside the march of “Recluse,” which rounds out the reportedly live-recorded proceedings with emotive melancholy and a final stretch of quiet, sample-topped guitar. Produced by Kalle Lilja and Per Stålberg at Welfare Sounds, hence the title, Passage: The Welfare Sessions speaks even more boldly to the band’s potential than their 2021 debut, Blood (review here). Don’t be fooled by smooth transitions and a subtlety of scope. Altareth are onto something.
If you find yourself wanting to applaud in the couple seconds of silence between “Bat Trip” and the pointedly doomjazzy “Piosenka o przemijaniu,” at least know that you’re not alone. Antropocen is the debut full-length from Kraków, Poland’s Jarzma, and with it, the band invent a style of playing that is immediately their own, basing their arrangements around nyckelharpha and imaginative percussion and drumming either folkish or not, voices coming and going through songs that don’t just sound the way they do as a novelty, but break their own rules from the very outset in the poppish dance hook of opener “Big Heat.” It’s brazen, it’s masterful in terms of performance, and it’s made from a place of wanting to add to the scope of the genre that birthed it (doom/heavy) and represent something about its place to those outside. I guess you could call it experimental in terms of sound, but that’s not to say there’s anything haphazard about it. Given the range of what they’re doing — the band is comprised of Piotr Aleksander Nowak on the aforementioned nyckelharpa and drummer/vocalist Katarzyna Bobik, and there are guests throughout — it’s kind of astonishing for how clearly the plan comes across, actually. When you want something in heavy music you’ve never heard before, Jarzmo will be waiting.
