Posted in Whathaveyou on January 19th, 2026 by JJ Koczan
Oh what a difference a tiny thing like a decade might make. Ten years ago, when Truckfighters released what until this April is still their most recent studio LP, V (review here), I think the Örebro fuzz titans were somewhat taken for granted. Ho hum, here’s another Truckfighters record that both maintains their foundation in forward-driving desert-style riffs while broadening their sound in new and progressive directions.
They had label trouble, and/or management trouble, and they were in a tough position at that point, as I recall. Some of that record — “The Chairman,” etc. — dealt with that. But Truckfighters have been remarkably not-absent despite the dearth of studio material since V. They’ve toured steadily all the while and cemented a reputation among Europe’s most reliably kickass heavy rock bands, and having had the pleasure of seeing them last Spring at Desertfest Oslo (review here), I’m not at all surprised they’re making the rounds again this Spring through fests and more, including the flagship London and Berlin Desertfests, Sound of Liberation‘s Sonic Rides, Mystic Festival in Poland and others over the next few months. Note Hellfest in June as well. Size-wise, that might be the biggest here.
Masterflow is set to arrive April 10, which makes it about one week before the rest of everyone who thinks they’re clever releasing on the Friday closest to 4/20 puts out their records. At the risk of sounding like a nerd, I’ll say that among all the heavy albums to come in the next few months, this is one I’m most curious to hear, both for what might be familiar and what might not.
They posted the following image, text and video on socials:
Hey ho everyone. Pre orders are up for our first release in 10 years – MASTERFLOW – How cool is that, well you tell us! Leave a comment , tag your friends, spread the fuzz.
Go tohttps://www.fuzzoramastore.comand lay your hands on some very cool pre order special options like for examle a combined online pre listening session / Q&A !!
Check out our tourdates too and remember to stay fuzz 🌵🤘
11.04.2026 COLOGNE – Sol Sonic Ride – DE 15.04.2026 OSLO – Parkteatret – NO 16.04.2026 BERGEN – Hulen – NO 17.04.2026 STAVANGER – Folken – NO 18.04.2026 PORSGRUNN – R.I.P. – NO 28.04.2026 HAMBURG – Grünspan – DE 29.04.2026 GRONINGEN – Vera – NL 30.04.2026 AMSTERDAM – Melkweg – NL 01.05.2026 DORDRECHT – Bibelot – NL 02.05.2026 IZEGEM – Headbanger’s ball fest – BE 08.05.2026 COPENHAGEN – A Colossal Weekend – DK 11.05.2026 VIENNA – Arena – AT 14.05.2026 BERLIN – Desertfest – DE 17.05.2026 LONDON – Desertfest – UK 25.05.2026 NEUNKIRCHEN – Stummsche Reithalle – DE 26.05.2026 STUTTGART – Im Wizesmann – DE 27.05.2026 WINTERTHUR – Gaswerk – CH 28.05.2026 LUZERN – Sedel – CH 29.05.2026 MÜNCHEN – Backstage (Halle) – DE 30.05.2026 DRESDEN – Beatpol – DE 04.06.2026 GDANSK – Mystic Festival PO 18.06.2026 CLISSON – Hellfest – FR 27.06.2026 WIESBADEN – Sonic ride IV – DE 26.07.2026 MILAN – Magnolia Stone fest – IT 14.08.2026 TAARSTEDT – Angeliter Open air – DE
Posted in Whathaveyou on December 17th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
I think we should take Truckfighters‘ word for it when they say there are more dates to be announced than are currently listed for their Spring tour. To wit, there are already other dates announced that aren’t below, like Desertfest Berlin and Desertfest London, both of which the Swedish fuzz mavens are set to play in addition to these dates in Germany and Switzerland. So yeah, more to come. Heads up.
It was another busy year for the Örebro, Sweden, three-piece led by bassist/vocalist Oskar Cedermalm and guitarist Niklas Källgren (who if I remember right was making himself big to scare off a bear that had gotten into the venue when I took the photo below; hero; we’ll never know how many lives he saved), as they toured the West and East Coasts of the US, indeed did a round of Spring Euro dates — I was lucky enough to see them at Desertfest Oslo (review here), and it’s always a pleasure — and once more hosted their own festival in Stockholm last month.
Granted, I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out that the arrival of 2026 makes it 10 years since the arrival of their fifth album, V (review here), and hey, that seems like as good a time as any for a new one, but they’ve managed to keep going for this long without, and at this point I wouldn’t rush it because why would you. Look for more dates and if word of anything else comes, bonus. I’m just glad they’re still a band.
The following comes from socials:
⚡TRUCKFIGHTERS – TOUR ANNOUNCEMENT 2026 ⚡
The desert kings are loading the amps, firing up the fuzz and hitting the road once again. TRUCKFIGHTERS are coming through Germany and Switzerland in May 2026, bringing their unmistakable blend of massive riffs, hypnotic grooves and pure, unfiltered stoner rock energy. For everyone who believes riffs should rumble your chest and melodies should linger long after the lights go out.
Catch TRUCKFIGHTERS live: 📍 May 25, 2026 – Neunkirchen (GER) – Stummsche Reithalle 📍 May 26, 2026 – Stuttgart (GER) – Im Wizemann 📍 May 27, 2026 – Winterthur (CH) – Gaswerk 📍 May 28, 2026 – Luzern (CH) – Sedel 📍 May 29, 2026 – Munich (GER) – Backstage (Halle) 📍 May 30, 2026 – Dresden (GER) – Beatpol
Tomorrow, Friday, Aug. 15, marks the release date of Witchrider‘s new EP, Metamorph, on Fuzzorama Records. The Austrian heavy rockers are following up their 2020 sophomore full-length, Electrical Storm (review here), and bring six tracks across 23 minutes that, although the PR wire info immediately notes the move into a rawer presentation than the LP boasted, remain crisp and professional to be sure. “Used to Be a King” opens with a modern pulse underlying tones that complement the airy vocal melody, and the subsequent “Sound of the Presidents” pulls back on the tempo to make that groove feel broader, so if they’re talking ‘raw,’ it’s not lo-fi garage indie or recorded-onto-a-phone-from-a-room-mic fare. It still sounds sharper than half the records on your top 10.
Some of that feels like an inheritance from Queens of the Stone Age, who’ve been an element in Witchrider‘s sound all along — their debut, Unmountable Stairs, came out in 2014 — but an engagement with pop melody is a distinguishing factor, and the sense of scope brought to “Hold My Mind,” the spaciousness in the crash and sprawl, is their own. One is reminded of big-swing heavy rockers like Sundrifter, and as the initial shimmy of “Safe to Say” — a mellow roll that’s feeling good, if with some underlying emotional complexity — builds to its crescendo wash, the mix is engagingly three-dimensional. The song is three and a half minutes long, so we’re not talking the kind of thing that’s going to eat your entire afternoon, but they give a sense of dynamic just the same, and that continues as “Wake Me Up” digs further into electronics and perhaps inadvertently imagines a heavy rock Stabbing Westward. That may or may not be something you needed in your life, and you may or may not have known it.
The underlying bluesy sensibility of the songs and Mathew Bethancourt-esque vocal melodies come to fruition on the acoustic-based closer “Alive,” with backing shaker and a loose vibe like something out of one of the first couple The Kings of Frog Island LPs. With chains and handclaps and such produced-and-arranged hullabaloo, it reaffirms the notion that just because Witchrider are aiming for a more direct impact doesn’t mean they’re giving up on craft or creative progression. This is good news as regards these songs as well as, obviously, whatever they might do next, and if Metamorph — as if to say “change is in the air” — is indicative of a path they’re intending to walk in terms of sound, they approach it with artistic clarity and room to grow in kind. It’s not every band who, 13 years on from getting together, mark out a divergence in their own evolution. Anybody taking on Metamorph who’s dug into Witchrider before will find them consistent in terms of their foundation in songwriting, and if they’re new to you, well, they kind of sound new to themselves too, so that works out nicely.
Witchrider‘s Metamorph EP streams in full. It’s out tomorrow on Fuzzorama. Hit up that PR wire info in blue for more info:
Breaking away from the more polished tones of their previous release Electrical Storm, METAMORPH leans into a rawer, more unfiltered sound. As frontman Dan explains, “It took several attempts and studio setups to capture the direct, raw power of the drums and blend them with our heavy guitars to build the wall of sound we had in mind.”
Formed in 2012, WITCHRIDER have built a reputation as a must-see live act. Their explosive performances and gritty vocals have drawn comparisons to early Queens of the Stone Age and Foo Fighters — and with good reason. The band’s chemistry on stage is undeniable, their sound unapologetically loud and emotionally charged.
After making waves with their song Bad Boy featured in the final season of the US hit series Shameless, WITCHRIDER is once again proving why they’re one of Europe’s most exciting names in underground rock. With METAMORPH, they’re not just back — they’re reborn.
METAMORPH tracklisting: 1. Used to be a King 2. Sound of the Presidents 3. Hold My Mind 4. Safe to Say 5. Wake Me Up 6. Alive
Posted in Whathaveyou on July 17th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
Six tracks, six different impressions on Witchrider‘s upcoming EP, Metamorph. From post-QOTSA clean desert-heavy verring into psychedelia to the meaner push of “Wake Me Up” ahead of the acoustic-led finisher “Alive,” the Graz, Austria, rockers find their angles and melodies to convey a sense of craft while making it all sound natural like they just showed up at the rehearsal spot and the songs were there waiting for them.
It’s been five years since the four-piece issued their last album, Electrical Storm (review here), and while there’s no streaming audio from Metamorph as yet, I’m currently booked to stream the EP in full with a review on Aug. 14, so if you want to hear it, come back the day before the release and it’ll be here waiting. Of course, if you want to return to the site anytime between now and then, you’re certainly welcome to do that as well.
From the PR wire:
Get Ready to Ride the Fuzz – WITCHRIDER Unleash Their Boldest Sound Yet with METAMORPH
Mark your calendars for August 15th – Austrian stoner rock powerhouse WITCHRIDER is back with a vengeance. Their new 6-track EP, METAMORPH, is a high-octane evolution of the band’s signature style: heavy, fuzz-laden riffs paired with brooding, catchy melodies and emotionally raw lyrics. It’s a sonic journey through personal struggles and visceral moods, all delivered with unmistakable intensity.
Breaking away from the more polished tones of their previous release Electrical Storm, METAMORPH leans into a rawer, more unfiltered sound. As frontman Dan explains, “It took several attempts and studio setups to capture the direct, raw power of the drums and blend them with our heavy guitars to build the wall of sound we had in mind.”
Formed in 2012, WITCHRIDER have built a reputation as a must-see live act. Their explosive performances and gritty vocals have drawn comparisons to early Queens of the Stone Age and Foo Fighters — and with good reason. The band’s chemistry on stage is undeniable, their sound unapologetically loud and emotionally charged.
After making waves with their song Bad Boy featured in the final season of the US hit series Shameless, WITCHRIDER is once again proving why they’re one of Europe’s most exciting names in underground rock. With METAMORPH, they’re not just back — they’re reborn.
METAMORPH tracklisting: 1. Used to be a King 2. Sound of the Presidents 3. Hold My Mind 4. Safe to Say 5. Wake me Up 6. Alive
Posted in Whathaveyou on July 14th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
Swan Valley Heights go out at the top of their game. Their Fuzzorama-delivered 2023 album, Terminal Forest (review here), was their best, and is the kind of record that people will continue to discover for years, even though the Munich-based three-piece have played their last show and gone their separate ways.
The band’s 2016 self-titled debut (review here) set them forth on a trajectory of warm heavy psychedelic rock, and 2019’s The Heavy Seed (review here) solidified that with more progressive construction and ideology in the songwriting. Terminal Forest — very much in third-record fashion — was the point where the different sides came together to create something richer than the parts comprising it. Not a moment that a band can fake, and again, they may be done, but the document remains. In light of the fact that they won’t do a follow-up (immediately; never say never on a reunion), I’m that much gladder for the realization of Terminal Forest‘s songs.
That album streams at the bottom of this post, along with the video for “My First Knife Fight” (premiered here) that they reference in their goodbye message, which appears below in blue as hoisted from social media. All my best to the members of Swan Valley Heights on future endeavours:
Friends, this is it. This is the end. The end of Swan Valley Heights’ story.
The quick, honest, and probably very unspectacular “why”: Life changes. People change. And when your focus shifts away from being in a band (which demands a lot), and the enthusiasm to write music—or to sit in a van for countless hours to play it—starts to fade for some in the band, it’s time to call it quits. That’s what happened. Very simple. That’s why you’re reading this.
But that’s okay. The journey this band had, the time we spent with each other and of course with all of you, was priceless. Swan Valley Heights has been a massive part of our lives for a long time, and we are—and always will be—beyond grateful for what it gave us. Playing beautiful festivals, wild DIY shows, meeting so, so many awesome people and bands, hearing from every single one of you who came to see us, wrote to us, supported us, offered us a place to sleep. You know who you are! <3 Over ten years is a long time. And all of it shaped us.
And the journey’s not quite over. There will be one last show — our swan song, if you will — [this past weekend] at Knispival. It’s an awesome little festival, organized by Oroboros e.V. and our dear friend Felix — roadie, merch guy, driver, motivator, and basically fourth band member (he especially has earned a lot of good karma, +6 mana, and our eternal gratitude for the last years). The festival’s also just a couple stone throws away from where this band was born, and at the same place we recorded our final LP, Terminal Forest — a bit prophetic in hindsight. One last show, in a place that means a lot, surrounded by friends.
We know this is short notice for a PSA like this, but we couldn’t imagine a better way to close the circle. And what a circle it was!
So, what’s left to say? Thanks for reading this far. And of course — thank you! Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Posted in Whathaveyou on June 25th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
The fuzz kings of Örebro, Truckfighters, will return to the troubled shores of the United States this August for an East Coast tour taking them from Boston to wind up in Tennessee for the end of the month’s Muddy Roots fest. They’ll dip into the Midwest as they fill in ground not covered on the corresponding West Coast run they did this Spring. They say in the announcement below that this tour will be the last on their current visa, and the part about ‘who knows when we will be back’ is because of the prohibitive costs involved in obtaining travel documents for foreign acts to come tour the US. Thousands of dollars, on top of travel expenses.
There are myriad reasons the US has enacted those price hikes, all of them shitty. Ultimately, if you narrow the marketplace of ideas, your population becomes easier to control. We wouldn’t want strangers coming in from countries that have things like healthcare and decent public infrastructure and asking questions, now would we? Better to just make it cost $15k to get through the door and say it’s because America is so wonderful it should cost that much to sell t-shirts here.
No gods, no masters, no borders, just fuzz.
RestlessSpirit were on the West Coast run as well, so this is a bit of a reunion too. And having just seen Truckfighters in May at Desertfest Oslo (review here), I’ll happily confirm they’re up to their own high standard of performance. Best advice I have is the same they have. See them while you can.
Dates from socials:
U.S.A. we return in August for the last bunch of shows on this VISA, who knows when we will be back next time so don’t miss out. Come out and get your doze of Swedish Fuzz!!!
8.20 Cambridge MA Sonia 8.21 New York NY The Meadows 8.22 Baltimore MD Metro Gallery 8.23 Cleveland OH The Foundry 8.24 Grand Rapids MI Pyramid Scheme 8.25 Detroit MI The Magic Bag 8.27 Greenville SC Radio Room 8.28 Charleston SC Music Farm 8.29 Orlando FL Conduit 8.30 Atlanta GA Masquerade (Purgatory) 8.31 Nashville TN Muddy Roots Festival
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.
