Posted in Whathaveyou on February 19th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
If you’re going to pay for a US work visa at this point, you might as well use it. Thus will Sweden’s Truckfighters be following up the Fall 2024 East Coast tour that brought the celebrated fuzz mavens to Desertfest New York (review here) with a West Coast run starting in late April and rolling into May. Neither the past tour nor the one upcoming were the hugest the band has undertaken, but it’s enough to say they’ve covered the ground this time through as they hover somewhere near 25 years since their inception.
Their most recent studio album, V (review here), came out in 2016, and is ready for a follow-up if there’s ever going to be one, but far be it from me to rush anybody, and if there’s a chance to see Truckfighters in the meantime — there usually is; in addition to this tour they’ve already also been confirmed for Desertfest Oslo 2025 and StonerKras 2025, and they’ve revealed part of the lineup for their own Fuzz Festival in Stockholm this coming November; they’ll play, as well as Brant Bjork Trio, Gnome, Domkraft, Craneium, Carson, Stonus and Hellroom Projectors and more to come Nov. 14-15 — doing so should generally be considered the prudent course. Here’s where they’ll be, as per social media:
The time has come to return the the western parts of the USA. See you soon. Spread the word, come enjoy the fuzz!
Support from The Well and Restless Spirit *** TICKET links at our website (if a ticket link is not there now it will be very soon) ***
4/24 Phoenix, AZ @ Last Exit Live 4/25 San Diego, CA @ Brick By Brick 4/26 Los Angeles, CA @ The Moroccan 4/27 San Francisco, CA @ The Independent 4/29 Portland, OR @ Star Theater 4/30 Seattle, WA @ Substation 5/01 Boise, ID @ Neurolux 5/02 Salt Lake City, UT @ Ace High Saloon 5/03 Denver, CO @ HQ Denver
This Friday, in releasing the seven-track full-length, Saturnalia, Montana-based heavy troupe Wizzerd complete a song cycle they started earlier this year with their fourth LP, Kronia (discussed here). Both are issued through Fuzzorama Records, given the double-billing Solstice, which of course is the uniting factor between the ancient pagan holidays Saturnalia and Kronia; the former is a more well-known celebration of the Roman god Saturn, the latter is an egalitarian high-summer Greek harvest celebration of the grandfather of the gods, Kronos. Both are now marked near the winter and summer solstices, hence Solstice.
The project is easily grandest Wizzerd — the four-piece of guitarist/vocalist Jhalen Salazar, guitarist Jamie Yeats, bassist Layne Matkovich and drummer Sam Moore — have undertaken in the near-decade since they began putting out their first demos. Solstice essentially takes Kronia and Saturnalia — which were recorded at the same time in an apparently fruitful but shifted process as relates to the band’s norm — and makes a 2LP from them. Double-albums are tricky at this point in history, with attention spans trained for instant gratification and a rush toward the new that might make even the 59 minutes of the two records combined — 22 minutes for Kronia, 36 minutes for Saturnalia — seem like too much of a hurdle to get over. Wizzerd‘s ultra-clever workaround? They made two different albums.
As you can read below, all of the material, the 15 songs in their totality, were tracked over the course of eight days, and some of them written during the recording process. That spontaneity unites Kronia and Saturnalia even as the two diverge in terms of persona, with Saturnalia taking the atmosphere of the mostly-acoustic Kronia and pulling it across the fuller-sounding fare of “Snoozer” with its Stoned Jesus-style croon, the 11-minute “Loops” that works itself through enough repetitions to earn the title and has a darker vibe in its early going like Viaje a 800, or “Sadbot,” which mocks its own sci-fi emotionalism but moves into a wash of resonant tone that reminds of Craneium with more choice vocals over top. The later voices, sitar sounds and acoustic triumph of “Litany” — playing the riff unplugged, but nailing it.
The earlier bit-of-finger in “Tempest,” which is very much the kind of noodling a guitarist might do in the studio while waiting for something else to be tracked, and the part-in-Spanish finale “Visalia,” in addition to “Litany” and the surfy interlude prior “To the Sea,” ensure that there’s plenty of crossover as well, just as pieces like “Hel” and “Dire Wolf” on Kronia were rockers. It’s not all black and white, one or the other, and so much the better. Where Wizzerd could’ve fallen into a trap of releasing the same album twice as so many have who’ve spaced albums between ‘Pt. 1’ and ‘Pt. 2’ — I could drop names here, but I’m not looking to just talk smack about people; it’s a complicated thing and it often doesn’t work — the listener can read a narrative from one to the next as Kronia gives over to Saturnalia, the Clutch-gone-punk “Social Butterfly Effect” closing out the former on a note of high shenanigans to let the serene, Colour Hazed heavy psych that starts “Snoozer” reorient the proceedings.
It does so expertly, and as a whole Solstice sees Wizzerd fostering new creative elements in their sound and growing more patient in their execution. But growing, emphatically and actively, pushing themselves in directions outside of where they’ve been previously, whether it was their 2022 label debut, Space‽: Issue No. 001 (review here), or their more nascent outings. Now complete in its picture with the release of Saturnalia, Solistice proves to be the work of a band finding new ways to manifest their own progression and succeeding. Even before you get to the mellow overarching vibe or the changes in arrangement throughout, the sense of ‘play’ in their playing (a looseness that at times brings to mind the resurgent Mammoth Volume), there’s little to be respected more in music or art more broadly.
Saturnalia streams in its entirety below. Kronia can be found at the bottom of this post. How you take them on might depend on whether you’ve already heard Kronia or not, but however you go, understand that the malleability of the listening experience is also part of the accomplishment here. That the way you hear it might not be the way someone else does reminds us of the individual perspectives with which we view the universe more generally, as well as our place in it.
In any case, please enjoy:
Wizzerd on Solstice:
Solstice is a new kind of project for Wizzerd in many ways. Firstly, it was created in the most spontaneous way we have ever worked, with no concrete plan together as we entered the studio for an eight day marathon of recording direct to one inch tape on a farm in Visalia, CA – with some of the songs being written while in the studio, something else we’ve never done. It is also a new creative endeavor for us in that the influence for many of the songs came from very different directions on each band member’s part, leading to material that is not only all over the place, but also unlike anything Wizzerd has made before. It was almost like a creative reforming in a way. We saw ourselves stepping away from the heavy conceptual tendencies of our previous work while writing these songs.
In this whole sporadic process, we found a common connection in what everyone was bringing to the table; the cyclical nature of life and the human condition, ego-death, which is represented in many things such as night and day or summer and winter. We decided to base the albums around this concept, organizing the music into two parts that showcased the juxtaposition in our writing. Titling the records ‘Kronia’ and ‘Saturnalia’, both named after celebrations in mid-summer and mid-winter, we decided to put the entire project together under one name. Releasing music all year seemed like a good plan considering we had so many songs laid down. With the amazing help from Cody Tarbell at Double Wide Studios on recording, Ben McLeod at BRM Studios for mixing, Mikey Allred at Dark Art Audio for mastering, and Isaac M Passwater for creating a wild illustration representing all these songs, we have made this crazy project come to life.
We present to you: Solstice.
Dive into the mind-blowing realm of WIZZERD, the powerhouse rock band emerging from the wild heart of Kalispell, Montana! Prepare to embark on a sonic odyssey with their expansive new project, ‘Solstice,’ a dual album release featuring ‘Kronia’ and its captivating second part, ‘Saturnalia.’ This ambitious collection takes you on an epic journey, seamlessly blending rock, garage, stoner, and punk influences. WIZZERD weaves a heavy and hypnotic tapestry of sound, with crushing riffs and soaring melodies that are sure to leave you spellbound.
Posted in Whathaveyou on June 26th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
Reliably certain you’re in for a good time when Truckfighters take the stage. Doesn’t matter where you might run into them, and they seem to have an endless supply of drummers to accompany bassist/vocalist Oskar Cedermalm and guitarist Niklas Källgren, which is certainly useful. But I’ve been fortunate enough to see them on multiple occasions and in multiple contexts over the last decade-plus since they first came to the States, and have never, not once, walked away disappointed.
Anchored around previously confirmed slots at Desertfest New York and Ripplefest Texas — not taking away from the gig they’re doing with Acid King on Philly, mind you — this tour is by no means the most expansive the Swedish fuzzlords have undertaken in the 20-plus years since their first split EP came out in 2003, but anytime they hit US shores it’s going to be worth showing up for the show they’re going to deliver.
Truckfighters took a hiatus from Feb. 2018 to March 2019, and since touring became possible again post-pandemic in 2022, their focus has continued to be on live activity such that their most recent studio album, V (review here), is now eight years old, having been issued in 2016. Last I saw them was at the tail end of 2022 in Stockholm at their own Fuzz Festival#3 (review here) and in addition to building up that event — the initial lineup for this year was announced last week; Truckfighters will play, as well as 1000mods, Siena Root, Slomosa, Witchrider, Domkraft, Steak, 10,000 Years, Bottenhavet, Daevar, High Desert Queen (returning), Håndgemeng and Grand Atomic — and touring, they also keep plenty busy releasing bands through their label, Fuzzorama Records. Not by any means inactive, is what I’m saying, even if it’s been a minute since they pressed up an LP.
Dates follow, as per socials:
🔥USA tour🔥 This September we’ll do a bunch of shows from previously announced Desertfest NY to Ripplefest Texas. It’s been a good wile since last time in North America, we are stoked to the max and sure hope you are too! Spread the word, enjoy the fuzz!
Montana heavy rockers Wizzerd have newly announced not one, but a cycle of two full-lengths to be released in 2024 through Fuzzorama Records. The cover for the first of them, titled Kronia, was posted to their social media a couple days ago. Kronia and its yet-untitled counterpart are pieces of a whole work that’s being called Solstice, and the shenanigans-loaded video premiering below brings “HEL” as the latest single (in a series thus far of four; check Spotify) to coincide with the announcement.
Everybody caught up? Sweet. The band made their Fuzzorama label debut with 2022’s Space‽: Issue No. 001 (review here), and an earlier version of “HEL” appeared on that album’s precursor 7″, Space‽: Issue No. 000, which was released in 2021. Those who dug on it then, or who got down with the punkier side of the record that came after will likely find little to argue with in “HEL,” which is somewhat rawer in the presentation here, but suited to that with its gang-shout chorus and relatively uptempo swing, somewhere between classic boogie and barroom rock and roll, still with punk down at its roots and still catchy as hell. A mix by Ben McLeod (also guitarist for All Them Witches) helps make sense of the shove, and the master from Mikey Allred (who’s always up to something cool; seriously, just look up anything he puts his name to and you’re not likely to go wrong) gives a finish that one hopes is indicative of the whole album(s)’s sound.
And as for the video? Well, given all the snow, I’ll just assume they made it over the winter. They’re channeling the rich, violent history of Norwegian black metal with “HEL,” and a little bit giving it the LOL-ready, VHS-grainy sendup that it, like anything else that ever has taken itself so seriously, arguably earned. Spatter on snow. The woods. A sword. You get the idea. I don’t have a release date for Kronia yet, but I think preorders are starting… now?… so it can’t be too terribly far off, and hopefully they’re able to get the companion long-player to fruition before the end of the year. As it was all recorded in 2022, you might say a few crucial steps are already taken care of.
There are live dates below as well for June and July, as well as the already-nailed-down support slot for Mars Red Sky on the French heavy psych proggers’ return to the States tour in September. Wizzerd may or may not have more to come later this year in that regard too, but they were out on the West Coast in March and April, so it’s not like they’re neglecting it or anything. Two records seems like a fitting occasion to get back out, so they probably will, barring disaster.
Speaking of disasters, the clip for “HEL” is a delightful one. Please enjoy:
We are very excited to reveal the full artwork for our next album, ‘Kronia’, made by the amazingly talented @impillustration! If you’ve been following our recent single releases you will notice some details here…
‘Kronia’ will be the first of two albums released through @fuzzoramarecords in 2024 as a part of a year spanning project titled ‘Solstice’. More info on LP/CD preorders coming very soon!
‘Solstice’ is a project we have been working on for just over two years now. The albums are a culmination of many different styles and showcase wide input from all members’ out-reaching musical ideas.
All tracks were recorded direct to 1” tape at @dblwidestudio in Visalia, CA by @skitchpatterson in March 2022.
All tracks mixed by @benmcleod88 at @brmsound and mastered by Mikey Allred @darkartaudio.
Stockholm’s Bottenhavet make their full-length debut this week with Ljud i Tysta Rum on Fuzzorama Records. And yes, it’s in Swedish; titles and lyrics. I’ll spare you Anglicizing the songs or words — part out of respect to what feels like an aesthetic choice on the part of the four-piece, part just because there’s only so much room to go around and I’d rather talk about the music — and the truth of the matter is that while I don’t doubt the band have something to say, there’s plenty that gets posted around here in English that’s even less decipherable. If you find yourself wanting to sing along, swept up perhaps by opening cut “Våg” as it moves into its soaring chorus driven by a duly-fuzzed surge from Andreas Bohman‘s guitar, David Lecander‘s bass and Marcus Wigren‘s drums with the vocals of Kim Minkkinen, especially to my fellow Americans reading this sentence, I’ll just remind you that nobody’s gonna yell at you if you get the accent wrong in following the melody. We’re all friends here.
Its eight songs split in half such that the cyclical hum of interlude “Frågor Utan Svar” feeds into the start of “Jord” on side B — obviously in CD/DL, that’s a direct shift — Ljud i Tysta Rum (‘sound in quiet rooms’) plays out its 36 minutes with hook-minded accessibility, hitting hard at the outset with the aforementioned “Våg” to make sure all who are getting on board have good reason, before letting a more spacious verse hint at some of the progressive aspects that underscore “Bränn Broar” or the piano-inclusive “I Skuggan” in the shimmering, patient solo that matches the soulful vocal atop its post-Soundgarden nodding fluidity, and the twisting stylizations of guitar leading through vibrant closer “Hennes Liv.” To complement this emergent nuance, the big-riff ideology of “Talar Miljon,” the space cast in “Motorväg” to follow that of “Våg,” and even the drop to strum and vocals at the culmination of “Jord” — just talking about the last 20 seconds of the song, never mind what’s before that — offer character and craft alike, resulting in an across-album flow that is neither hurried nor content to dwell in one place in terms of sound.
These elements seem to have been there at the band’s beginnings in 2021’s Ett Hav av Tårar EP, which was answered over the next year by a trio of standalone singles, but Ljud i Tysta Rum is clear in its intention to continue to move forward along its varied course. What draws the individual pieces that comprise the record together are the tones, the vocals and the commitment to traditional heavy rock verse/chorus structures — “Frågor Utan Svar” notwithstanding — that make “Våg,” “Talar Miljon” and “Bränn Broar” with its furiously-drummed intro such an effective opening salvo. And while the dynamic at root in Bottenhavet‘s sound lets them explore the reaches and breadth in the payoff of the latter there before side A ends with its guitar almost solely focused on atmosphere is surely bolstered through the production of Robert Pehrsson, the immediacy of those initial moments never dissipates, even as the melancholic blues of “I Skugget” set out on their linear building course soon followed by . That is to say, in the foundations of the songs, Bottenhavet capture and maintain a live energy and momentum front-to-back, and the audience’s listening experience feels like a consideration in that balance.
And balance is a big part of by Ljud i Tysta Rum works so well and holds such promise. Regardless of the language barrier, it is thoroughly Swedish in style, and whether it’s a flash of Skraeckoedlan‘s melodiousness or Truckfighters‘ shove, Graveyard‘s soul or a Dozerian charge — and don’t make me namedrop November for classic prog; I’m just crazy enough to do it — a rich history and tapestry of Bottenhavet‘s native underground influences can be felt throughout, even as the band begin to distill them into the persona that they will hopefully carry ahead on subsequent offerings. To present thrills and optimistic futures, then. Skål.
Ljud i Tysta Rum streams in its entirety below. Bottenhavet have dates coming up in Sweden, Poland and Finland, and you’ll find those along with more PR wire background and the video for “Våg” after the YouTube embed.
Bottenhavet (translates to ’The Bothnian Sea’) was originally formed in 2020 by Marcus Wigren, Kim Minkkinen and Charlie Karlsson (2020-2023), and later joined by Andreas Bohman (2021). All being musicians with various musical backgrounds adding their skills and preferences to the mix that together creates the ”Bothnian sound”. To add another layer of uniqueness to the music, the songs are sung in their native language, Swedish. After gaining a steadily increasing following with their initial four track EP release “Ett hav av tårar” (released March 19th 2021) as well as follow up singles “När tiden dör”, “Faller” (released summer and autumn of 2021) and “Allt på svart” (released spring of 2022), the band knew it was about time to start working on their debut album.
The writing process started late 2022. And in mid April 2023 Bottenhavet entered Studio Humbucker, owned and run by the legendary Robert Pehrsson (known from Robert Pehrsson Humbucker, Death breath, Dundertåget, Imperial state electric etc), to record drums. Vocals and guitars were recorded by the band themselves before Pehrsson later mixed and mastered the album. In the summer of 2023 Bottenhavet signed a record deal with Fuzzorama Records, run by none less than the masterminds behind fuzz rock giants Truckfighters, Oskar Cedermalm and Niklas Källgren. The album ‘Ljud i tysta rum’ is to be released on Fuzzorama Records in early 2024.
In 2023 the band played the 4th edition of Fuzz Festival in Stockholm and David Lecander joined the band.
‘Ljud i tysta rum’ album tracklisting: 1. Våg 2. Talar miljon 3. Bränn Broar 4. Frågor Utan Svar 5. Jord 6. Motorväg 7. I Skuggan 8. Hennes Liv
Touring coming up as well, don’t miss out:
APR 13 – LATITUDE 59 – Uppsala, SWE APR 18 – UTOPIA – Turku, FIN APR 19 – TULLIKAMARI KLUBI – Tampere, FIN MAY 4 – TBA – Stockholm, SWE MAY 16 – 2PROGI – Poznan, PL MAY 17 – PROXIMA – Warzawa, PL MAY 24 – DIRTY DEEDS ROCK CLUB – Göteborg, SWE
This Wednesday, March 27, Swedish heavy and progressive rockers Skraeckoedlan return with their fourth full-length, Vermillion Sky. It is their second LP through Fuzzorama Records behind the sprawling realization of 2019’s Eorþe (review here), with the years between finding the Borlänge/Norrköping four-piece reissuing their 2011 debut, Äppelträdet (review here) and its 2015 follow-up, Sagor (review here), through The Sign Records, and its arrival has been anticipated since the band unveiled “The Vermillion Sky” as a standalone single over half a year ago.
Vermillion Sky is a multifaceted project even before one gets to the rhythmic twists and melodic reaches, the grandiosities and quiet moments offered in its component eight tracks and 47 minutes, and if part of either that span of months or the not-accounted-for-by-plague portion of the five years it’s been since Eorþe comes from lining up logistics on either the video game or English-language novel intended to be released to complement the music, fair enough, though it was four between Sagor and that record as well, so it’s not an outlandish dearth of activity by any means. The novelization of VermillionSky, reportedly broken into chapters around each song, will perhaps be of particular interest to that non-Swedish-speaking contingent of their listenership who’ve maybe not been curious enough to run their lyrics through a translation matrix to get a semblance of the themes out of science-fiction, daikaiju, and so on.
To wit, “The Vermillion Sky,” caps an expansive A-side that begins with the drone-backed staticky dialogue in the two-minute intro “Cosmic Dawn” from whence a Devin Townsendy prog flow emerges with the anchoring fuzz on Erik Berggren‘s bass and fluid drumming of Martin Larsson‘s drums complemented by shimmer of synth and the guitars of Robert Lamu and Henrik Grüttner in a showcase of maturity and (condensed) patience that serves as preface to the stately composition of the title-track and others here. That obscured speech, mixed low enough that you genuinely might not hear it the first time through, ties into the escape-from-earth — and no, it’s not lost on me that their last record was ‘earth’ in translation — narrative of “The Vermillion Sky,” and while they seem to work in as well as around this thematic and it might at first be unclear how the hooky repetitions of the in-English title lyric to second single “Night Satan” fit in, the concept remains present for the lines, “Så lägg din hand i min och visa mig bland stjärnorna/Jag la min hand i din och du visa mig oändlighet” (“So put your hand in mine and show me the stars/I put my hand in yours and you show me infinity,” according to the internet), so those connections are there if not always obvious. One assumes the same applies for the likes of “Starsquatch,” “Metagalactic Void Honcho,” who sounds as burly as one might expect given the title, “Meteorb” or “Astronautilus” as well.
But even if you as the listener don’t take Vermillion Sky on for its storyline at all or if scrolling shooter games aren’t your thing, the songs are enough to carry you through. “Starsquatch” enters with a burst, resets in an open expanse of keyboard and sweeps in the first of a vast collection of massive grooves, characteristic in its adherence to fuzzier tonality and arrangement depth evident even just in the space between the guitar and drums, never mind the e-bow or whatever effect it is or the arrangement of lead and backing vocals in the rolling chorus. Hitting a stop at 4:40 into its 7:58, they break to echoing vocals and standalone guitar before surging forward again in a pointed wash of distortion that turns out to be a misdirect as they cut to clearer-sounding dual-guitar leads and a faster tempo verse ahead of the actual solo. Of course the riff comes back, bigger and more consuming, and the pattern of side A is set when “Mysteria” takes its turn riff-punching through the wall with dense low end and purposeful shove — the first half of the album trading shorter-to-longer pieces starting with “Cosmic Dawn” and the second half switching that to its own two longer tracks bookending the relative brevity of “Night Satan” and “Meteorb.”
So Skraeckoedlan are playing with time as well as space on Vermillion Sky, and the level of composition and nuance with which they do so shouldn’t be understated. Lamu‘s vocal melodies — and I’m sorry, I don’t know every detail on who’s doing what vocally here, but there are voice-swaps enough to make me think it’s multiple singers — go beyond following the riffs, which are occasionally busy enough that that would be a challenge anyway, and feel like part of the atmosphere along with the Mellotron and Rhodes (or some such) that further distinguish “Mysteria” after the push through its first half has already brought intense strikes of piano as part of its culminating build just before the two-and-a-half-minute mark.
That holds true in rougher-delivered or shoutier stretches like the end of “Mysteria,” or the gutted-out verses of “Metagalactic Void Honcho” surrounded by what sounds like duly gravitational destruction that dares some hope in its lead-topped final nod before it cuts to far-back guitar echoes and thud to end, or the galloping midsection of “Meteorb,” wherein even the air-tight structure and quick 3:38 runtime are enough for the band to use vocals as an instrument corresponding to the mood of a given part. The scorch of keyboard in that song’s charge, the way the drums open up the groove in the last hook, the details and nuance of the keys, synth, guitar, effects, whatever, in the mix — it all comes together as a complete representation of craft from Skraeckoedlan that feels deeper and more dug into its own processes than they’ve been before, but at the same time is more engaging and outward-reaching for that. If that’s a mature Skraeckoedlan self-producing and wielding their own sound, cognizant of their dynamic and the physicality of the material they’re writing, I’ll take it happily. They always feel like they’re ready to break out and run. That catch-up-to-this energy is always there, pulling the audience forward.
At the same time, their sense of control is palpable, whether it’s the look-what-we-can-do-with-a-stoner-riff mid-tempo chug in the verses of “Night Satan” — lest we forget their tonal and recording tutelage under Truckfighters (who also run Fuzzorama Records) — or the furies manifest in dramatic style on “Metagalactic Void Honcho” just before, but detracts neither from the energy in their delivery or their willingness to go all-in on an arrangement like “Astronautilus,” mellowing after its verse for a moment of proggy, key-topped exploration as it circles around and builds tension for its flowing, deceptively graceful emergence, leading into a solo and chorus that reinforce notions of structure even as they adrenaline-boost Vermillion Sky out of the atmosphere and into the resonant float of its comedown, some staticky layer there calling back to the opening of “Cosmic Dawn” as that structural cohesion finds its own meta level on which to operate.
Each album Skraeckoedlan have released has been an incremental step forward creatively from the one before it, and that applies to Vermillion Sky even as the band further define and distinguish an idea of their individual sound. That they recorded and mixed it themselves (Magnus Lindberg mastered) is also a crucial consideration — not because of any kind of down-scaling in production value; there isn’t one — but as another way to continue to grow as a unit and a means of more directly bringing their music to life. And whatever else is happening around them in various media, whatever apocalypses they’re conveying in the world they’ve conjured, these songs feel utterly alive.
In short, this is a sci-fi themed concept piece that screams DIY, having been entirely written, recorded, produced and mixed by the band themselves. A huge undertaking, especially considering one of the first steps in the process was basically to google: “how to properly mic a snare drum”. Mastering however has been beautifully done by Magnus Lindberg (Cult of Luna), which as always has yielded fantastic results.
Speaking of DIY and huge undertakings, Vermillion Sky will also be available as a novel (date to come), where each chapter corresponds to a track on the album. The story has been written by the band and is for those that want to take a real deep dive into the concept and join the crew of the Vermillion Sky as they unravel a mystery with galactic consequences. Contrary to the signature Swedish lyrics of the songs, the novel is in English.
An even more active way to interact with the release is to play the Vermillion Sky computer game the band has helped create. It’s an 8-bit style point chaser, where you travel through the Void as the ship, collecting upgrades to survive the multitude of enemies trying to put an end to your journey. If you want the absolute best experience of the game, make sure to come to one of the release tour shows, where Skraeckoedlan’s very own Vermillion Sky-arcade machine will be featured.
Live long and prosper!
Vermillion Sky tracklist 1. Cosmic Dawn (2:42) 2. Starsquatch (7:58) 3. Mysteria (5:21) 4. The Vermillion Sky (7:10) 5. Metagalactic Void Honcho (8:07) 6. Night Satan (4:53) 7. Meteorb (3:38) 8. Astronautilus (7:50)
Skraeckoedlan: Robert Lamu – Vocals, Guitar Henrik Grüttner – Guitar, Vocals Erik Berggren – Bass, Vocals Martin Larsson – Drums, Vocals
Posted in Whathaveyou on February 21st, 2024 by JJ Koczan
In addition to a slot at Treefort Music Fest in Boise, Idaho, on March 22 and a three-pack of dates in the company of Matt Pike‘s Pike vs. the Automaton, the upcoming West Coast tour from Montana heavy rockers Wizzerd will lead to their return appearance at Rocky Mountain Riff Fest (info here), to be held April 20 in the band’s native Kalispell.
The four-piece toured this past Fall in support of 2022’s Space‽: Issue No. 001 (review here), hitting the Midwest and touching on the Eastern Seaboard, so a Spring complement along the Pacific (and inland) seems about right. They had talked at that point about moving on toward their next release, whatever shape that might ultimately take, and while this tour is substantial, I don’t see it precluding a focus on new material at all. What, if they play a couple new songs live it’s gonna hurt the next record? The opposite seems much likelier.
Either way — and mind you I don’t know that they’ll be playing new songs at all on the run — they continue to put their work in. The shows were posted on socials thusly:
⚡️TOUR ANNOUNCEMENT⚡️ We’re pleased to announce the Equinox Tour! We can’t wait to get back out on the west coast, and there are some real doozies on this one. More news coming very soon, but for now we’ll see you at one of the dates below… Details at the link in our bio! • 3/16 – Kalispell, MT – Eagles 3/22 – Boise, ID – @treefortfest 3/23 – Salt Lake City, UT – @aceshighsaloon_slc 3/24 – Las Vegas, NV – Dive Bar 3/26 – Tempe, AZ – @yuccataproom 3/27 – Los Angeles, CA – @theredwoodbarandgrill 3/29 – Oceanside, CA – @pourhouseoceanside 3/30 – Yucca Valley, CA – @giantrockmeetingroom 4/1 – Santa Cruz, CA – @bluelagoonsc 4/2 – San Francisco, CA – @theknockoutsf 4/3 – Eureka, CA – @solarsiren 4/5 – Portland, OR – @dantesportland * 4/6 – Bremerton, WA – @tracytonmoviehouse * 4/7 – Seattle, WA – @elcorazonseattle * 4/20 – Kalispell, MT – @rockymtnrifffest *=with Pike vs the Automaton
Poster by @isaacpasswaterillustration
Wizzerd is: Guitar/Vocals – Jhalen Salazar Guitar – Jamie Yeats Drums – Sam Moore Bass – Layne Matkovich
Posted in Whathaveyou on January 15th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
Time for new Skraeckoedlan. Indeed, perhaps the Swedish progressive heavy rockers/metallers were feeling some of the weight of the long stretch since they put out 2019’s Eorþe (review here) when they released “The Vermillion Sky” — which it turns out is the title-track of the new record, Vermillion Sky — as a standalone single last year. The four-piece’s impending fourth long-player will see release March 27 in continued collab with Fuzzorama Records, and I’ll tell you right now it’s a burner. If you didn’t hear that track, it and “Night Satan” are both streaming below.
I value your time and wouldn’t try to waste it by recommending crap, so if you don’t know Skraeckoedlan yet, please take that endorsement for what it’s worth. I do feel like the greater likelihood at this point is that people do know the band. The last album got a great response, they’ve been at it for well over 10 years now, and they’ve toured consistently if not constantly during that time. But if you didn’t hear that single, now’s a good time, what with album preorders up and t-shirt bundles and all that sort of whatnot.
The announcement came through in Fuzzorama‘s newsletter and I combined it with info from the preorder page. Have at it:
Skraeckoedlan announce new album ‘VERMILLION SKY’ out March 27th
Introducing the ultimate auditory experience for all rock enthusiasts – SKRAECKOEDLAN’s “Vermillion Sky”
Four bearded Swedes who’s forged their unique sound of progressive stoner rock in the cold northern forests. Previous album Earth was a massive domestic success as it hit the hard rock charts in Sweden.
Dive headfirst into the surreal world of Swedish stoner rock with this mind-bending album.
“Vermillion Sky” is a sonic journey that transcends boundaries, with SKRAECKOEDLAN’s signature blend of heavy riffs, mesmerizing melodies, and haunting vocals. Let the adrenaline-infused tracks transport you to a parallel universe, where the vermillion sky reigns supreme!
Crafted by masterful musicians, this album offers an immersive experience. Discover Vermilion Sky, out after five years of silence.
Five years. Is that a long time to wait? Generally speaking, yes. Probably. Well, maybe. Time is after all relative, so there surely isn’t a fail-safe answer.
Available on: Limited Edition 300 copies Gatefold Yellow vinyl with Red splatter Limited Edition 500 copies Gatefold blue vinyl with red splatter Limited Edition 400 copies Black vinyl CD digipack
Skraeckoedlan: Robert Lamu – Vocals/Guitar Henrik Grüttner – Guitar Erik Berggren – Bass Martin Larsson – Drums
