Posted in Whathaveyou on May 1st, 2025 by JJ Koczan
As heavy as Ten Ton Slug‘s 2024 debut LP Colossal Oppressor (review here) sounds, it’s a testament to the vinyl format that the platter can hold the music at all. The Galway-based punishers o’ sludge metal are taking their show on the road this June, heading forth with Diggeth from the Netherlands on a round of dates that includes, wait for it, not one festival.
That’s right, not one. A tour happening in Europe this June, and instead of every third stop being a fest in some other country, they’re slogging it out like it’s the ’90s and the whole thing is still way more punk rock. It’s not the easy way, but it’s a worthy cause, to be sure. And as for all the fests they’re not playing, well, I’m sure intimidation is a factor there, but the album did well enough that they’re embarking on a new pressing, so Ten Ton Slug are very clearly doing something right.
From the PR wire. Note that all those event-page links by the tour dates should work:
Ten Ton Slug announce ‘Colossal Oppressor’ Vinyl 2nd pressing + European co-headline summer tour with Diggeth
Ten Ton Slug release the second vinyl pressing of their acclaimed ‘Colossal Oppressor’ LP on May 1st 2025, one year to the day from the album’s initial release. The initial pressing sold out early this year, with the limited Ooze green variant selling out within the first week of release.
‘Colossal Oppressor’ features guest vocals from Memoriam/Bolt Thrower frontman Karl Willetts on the track ‘Brutus’ and features original artwork from Adam Burke at Nightjar Illustration.
The second pressing comes in two variant colours:
– limited edition 180gm marble red (limited to 150 units) – 180gm black vinyl
The vinyl is available to order now through their bandcamp page (shipping from May 4th) at tentonslug.bandcamp.com, or at the merch stand on their European tour this summer.
Diggeth and Ten Ton Slug – “Slimin’ and Diggin’ Summer Tour 2025”
Ten Ton Slug have teamed up with Netherland’s finest purveyors of rock/metal/blues Diggeth for a summer European tour, embarking on a run of co-headline shows spanning 9 countries. They bring the energetic and powerful live performances that both bands have become known for to new territories in a mutual European riff assault.
The ‘Slimin and Diggin Europe 2025’ tour begins in the Netherlands at the end of May and finishes with a show in Paris on June 11th. Shows will feature local support, with the exception of Ljubljana where the bands are supporting Bewitcher, and Wiesbaden where Ten Ton Slug support Eyehategod.
The poster and merch artwork is a collaboration between longtime Slug artist and former bassist Eoghain Wynne (at Screwtape Designs) and Gert-Jan Aaltink (Cult Art Shop Nijverdal/Zwolle)
Ten Ton Slug play riff-laden sludge from the west of Ireland and have shared stages with Black Label Society, Corrosion of Conformity, Crowbar, Jinjer and many more, while Diggeth play a mix of metal, blues and rock from the Netherlands and have supported bands such as Soulfly, Black Label Society, Megadeth and Slayer to name but a few.
Ten Ton Slug: Rónán Ó hArrachtáin – Vocals Pavol Rosa – Bass Sean Sullivan – Guitars/Vocals Kelvin Doran – Drums* *All drums written and arranged by Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin
By the time today is through — come hell or high water! — we will be at the halfway point of this two-week Quarterly Review. It hasn’t been difficult so far, though there are ups and downs always and I don’t think I’m giving away secrets when I tell you that in listening to 50 records some are going to be better than others.
Truth is that even outside the 100 LPs, EPs, etc., I have slated, there’s still a ton more. Even in something so massive, there’s an element of picking and choosing what goes in. Curation is the nice word for it, though it’s not quite that creatif in my head. Either way, I hope you’ve found something that connects this week. If not yet, then today. If not today, then maybe next week. As I’m prone to say on Fridays, we’re back at it on Monday.
Quarterly Review #41-50:
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Pallbearer, Mind Burns Alive
While I won’t take away from the rawer energy and longing put into their earlier work, maturity suits Pallbearer. The Little Rock, Arkansas, four-piece of vocalist/guitarist Brett Campbell, guitarist/backing vocalist Devin Holt, bassist/synthesist/backing vocalist Joseph D. Rowland and drummer Mark Lierly have passed their 15th anniversary between 2020’s Forgotten Days (review here) and the self-recorded six tracks of Mind Burns Alive, and they sound poised harnessing new breadth and melodic clarity. They’ve talked about the album being stripped down, and maybe that’s true to some degree in the engrossing-anyhow opener “When the Light Fades,” but there’s still room for sax on the 10-minute “Endless Place,” and the quieter stretches of the penultimate “Daybreak” highlight harmonized vocals before the bass-weighted riff sweeps in after the three-minute mark. Campbell has never sounded stronger or more confident as a singer, and he’s able to carry the likewise subdued intro to “Signals” with apparent sincerity and style alike. The title-track flashes brighter hopes in its later guitar solo leads, but they hold both their most wistful drift and their most crushing plod for closer “With Disease,” because five records and countless tours (with more to come) later, Pallbearer very clearly know what the fuck they’re doing. I hope having their own studio leads to further exploration from here.
With its six pieces arranged so that side A works from its longest track to its shortest and side B mirrors by going shortest to longest, Denver‘s BleakHeart seem to prioritize immersion on their second full-length, Silver Pulse, as “All Hearts Desire” unfolds fluidly across nearly eight minutes, swelling to an initial lumbering roll that evaporates as they move into the more spacious verse and build back up around the vocals of Kiki GaNun (also synth) and Kelly Schilling (also bass, keys and more synth). Emotional resonance plays at least as much of a role throughout as the tonal weight intermittently wrought by JP Damron and Mark Chronister‘s guitars, and with Joshua Quinones on drums giving structure and movement to the meditations of “Where I’m Disease” before leaving the subsequent “Let Go” to its progression through piano, drone and a sit-in from a string quartet that leads directly into “Weeping Willow,” the spaces feel big and open but never let the listener get any more lost in them than is intended. This is the first LP from the five-piece incarnation of BleakHeart, which came together in 2022, and the balance of lushness and intensity as “Weeping Willow” hits its culmination and recedes into the subdued outset of “Falling Softly” and the doomed payoff that follows bodes well, but don’t take that as undercutting what’s already being accomplished here.
Austria’s Pryne — also stylized all-caps: PRYNE — threaten to derail their first album before it’s even really started with the angular midsection breakdown of “Can-‘Ka No Rey,” but that the opener holds its course and even brings that mosher riff back at the end is indicative of the boldness with which they bring together the progressive ends of metal and heavy rock throughout the 10-song/46-minute offering, soaring in the solo ahead of the slowdown in “Ramification,” giving the audience 49 seconds to catch its breath after that initial salvo with “Hollow Sea” before “Abordan” resumes the varied onslaught with due punch, shove and twist, building tension in the verse and releasing in the melodic chorus in a way that feels informed by turn-of-the-century metal but seeming to nod at Type O Negative in the first half bridge of “Cymboshia” and refusing flat-out to do any one thing for too long. Plotted and complex even as “The Terrible End of the Yogi” slams out its crescendo before the Baronessy verse of “Plaguebearer” moves toward a stately gang shout and squibbly guitar tremolo, they roll out “Enola” as a more straight-ahead realignment before the drone interlude “Shapeless Forms” bursts into the double-kick-underscored thrash of closer “Elder Things,” riding its massive groove to an expectedly driving end. You never quite know what’s coming next within the songs, but the overarching sense of movement becomes a uniting factor that serves the material well regardless of the aggression level in any given stretch.
Backed by looped percussive ticks and pops and the cello-esque melody of the gudok, Toronto experimental singer-songwriter Avi C. Engel is poised as they ask in the lyrics of “Breadcrumb Dance,” “How many gods used to run this place/Threw up their hands, went into real estate” near the center of the seven-song Too Many Souls LP. Never let it be said there wasn’t room for humor in melancholy. Engel isn’t new to exploring folkish intimacy in various contexts, and Too Many Souls feels all the more personal even in “Wooly Mammoth” or second cut “Ladybird, What’s Wrong?” which gets underway on its casual semi-ramble with the line, “One by one I watch them piss into the sun,” for the grounded perspective at root. An ongoing thread of introspection and Engel‘s voice at the center draw the songs together as these stories are told in metaphor — birds return in the album’s second half with “The Oven Bird’s Song” but there’s enough heart poured in that it doesn’t need to be leaned into as a theme — and before it moves into its dreamstate drone still with the acoustic guitar beneath, “Without Any Eyes” brings through its own kind of apex in Engel‘s layered delivery. Topped with a part-backmasked take on the traditional “Wayfaring Stranger” that’s unfortunately left as an instrumental, Too Many Souls finds Engel continuing their journey of craft with its own songs as companions for each other and the artist behind them.
The 13-minute single “Ultrawest” follows behind Aktopasa‘s late-2022 Argonauta Records debut, Journey to the Pink Planet (review here), and was reportedly composed to feature in a documentary of the same name about the reshaping of post-industrial towns in Colorado. It is duly spacious in its slow, linear, instrumentalist progression. The Venice, Italy, three-piece of guitarist Lorenzo Barutta, bassist Silvio Tozzato and drummer Marco Sebastiano Alessi are fluid as they maintain the spirit of the jam that likely birthed the song’s floating atmospherics, but there’s a plan at work as well as they bring the piece to fruition, with Alessi subtly growing more urgent around 10 minutes in to mark the shift into an ending that never quite bursts out and isn’t trying to, but feels like resolution just the same. A quick, hypnotic showcase of the heavy psychedelic promise the debut held, “Ultrawest” makes it easy to look forward to whatever might come next for them.
Right onto the list of 2024’s best debuts goes Guenna‘s Peak of Jin’Arrah, specifically for the nuance and range the young Swedish foursome bring to their center in heavy progressive fuzz riffing. One might look at a title like “Bongsai” or “Weedwacker” (video premiered here) and imagine played-to-genre stoner fare, but Guenna‘s take is more ambitious, as emphasized in the flute brought to “Bongsai” at the outset and the proclivity toward three-part harmonies that’s unveiled more in the nine-minute “Dimension X,” which follows. The folk influence toward which that flute hints comes forward on the mostly-acoustic closer “Guenna’s Lullaby,” which takes hold after the skronk-accompanied, full-bore push that caps “Wizery,” but by that point the context for such shifts has been smoothly laid out as being part of an encompassing and thoughtful songwriting process that in less capable hands would leave “Ordric Major” disjointed and likely overly aggressive. Even as they make room for the guest lead vocals of Elin Pålsson on “Dark Descent,” Guenna walk these balances smoothly and confidently, and if you don’t believe there’s a generational shift happening right now — at this very moment — in Scandinavia, Peak of Jin’Arrah stands ready to convince you otherwise. There’s a lot of work between here and there, but Guenna hold the potential to be a significant voice in that next-gen emergence.
The interplay of stoner-metal tonal density and languid vocal melody in “I Thought I Would Not” sets an atmospheric mood for Slow Green Thing on their fourth LP, Wetterwarte / Waltherstrasse, which the Dresden-based four-piece seem to have recorded in two sessions between 2020 and 2022. That span of time might account for some of the scope between the songs as “Thousand Deaths” holds out a hand into the void staring back at it and the subsequent “Whispering Voices” answers the proggy wash and fuzzed soloing of “Tombstones in My Eyes” with roll and meditative float alike, but I honestly don’t know what was recorded when and there’s no real lack of cohesion within the aural mists being conjured or the heft residing within it, so take that as you will. It’s perhaps less of a challenge to put temporal considerations aside since Slow Green Thing seem so at home in the flow that plays out across Wetterwarte / Waltherstrasse‘s six songs and 44 minutes, remaining in control despite veering into more aggressive passages and basing so much of what they do on entrancing and otherworldly vibe. And while the general superficialities of thickened tones and soundscaping, ‘gaze-type singing and nod will be familiar, the use made of them by Slow Green Thing offers a richer and deeper experience revealed and affirmed on repeat listens.
Don’t expect a lot of trickery in Ten Ton Slug‘s awaited first full-length record, Colossal Oppressor, which delivers its metallic sludge pummel with due transparency of purpose. That is to say, the Galway, Ireland, trio aren’t fucking around. Enough so that Bolt Thrower‘s Karl Willetts shows up on a couple of songs. Varied but largely growled or screamed vocals answer the furious chug and thud of “Balor,” and while “Ghosts of the Ooze” later on answers back to the brief acoustic parts bookending opener “The Ooze” ahead of “Mallacht an tSloda” arriving like a sledgehammer only to unfold its darkened thrash and nine-plus-minute closer “Mogore the Unkind” making good on its initial threat with the mosh-ready riffing in its second half, there’s no pretense in those or any of the other turns Colossal Oppressor makes, and there doesn’t need to be when the songs are so refreshingly crushing. These guys have been around for over a decade already, so it’s not a surprise necessarily to find them so committed to this punishing mission, but the cathartic bloodletting resonates regardless. Not for everyone, very much for some on the more extreme end of heavy.
Don’t let the outward Beatles-bouncing pop-psych friendly-acid traditionalism of “Goodbye Suzy” lull you into thinking San Francisco psych rockers Magic Fig‘s self-titled debut is solely concerned with vintage aesthetics. While accessible even in the organ-and-synth prog flourish of “PS1” — the keyboards alone seeming to span generations — and the more foreboding current of low end under the shuffle and soft vocals of “Obliteration,” the six-song/28-minute LP is no less effective in the rising cosmic expanse that builds into “Labyrinth” than the circa-’67 orange-sun lysergic folk-rock that rolls out from there — that darker edge comes back around, briefly, in a stop around the two-minute mark; it’s hard to know which side is imagining the other, but “Labyrinth” is no less fun for that — and “Distant Dream,” which follows, is duly transcendent and fluid. Given additional character via the Mellotron and birdsong-inclusive meditation that ends it and the album as a whole, “Departure” nonetheless feels intentional in its subtly synthy acoustic-and-voice folkish strum, and its intricacy highlights a reach one hopes Magic Fig will continue to nurture.
If you followed along with Dortmund, Germany’s Scorched Oak on their 2020 debut, Withering Earth (review here), as that album dug into classic heavy rock as a means of longer-form explorations, some of what they present in the 39 minutes of Perception might make more sense. There was plenty of dynamic then too in terms of shifts in rhythm and atmosphere, and certainly second-LP pieces like “Mirrors” and “Relief” come at least in part from a similar foundation — I’d say the same of the crescendo verse of “Oracle” near the finish — but the reportedly-recorded-live newer offering finds the band making a striking delve into harder and more metallic impacts on the whole. An interplay of gruff — gurgling, almost — and soulful melodic vocals is laid out as opener/longest track (immediate points) “Delusion” resolves the brooding toms of its verse with post-metal surges. Perhaps it’s obvious enough that it doesn’t need to be said, but Scorched Oak aren’t residing in a single feel or progression throughout, and the intensity and urgency of “Reflection” land with a directness that the closing “Oracle” complements in its outward spread. The element of surprise makes Perception feel somewhat like a second debut, but that they pull off such an impression is in itself a noteworthy achievement, never mind how much less predictable it makes them or the significant magnitude of these songs.
Posted in Whathaveyou on April 15th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
As is the case here, I often ask bands for quotes about songs, new albums, tours, whatever the news is, really. I think Ten Ton Slug might be the first outfit who’ve ever sent back a blurb about a new single and ended it with an all-caps “OUGH,” in the fine tradition of one Tom G. Warrior. Since the song the Irish burlbringers are unveiling from their upcoming Colossal Oppressor is the aggro-shoving “Ancient Ways,” this could hardly be more appropriate.
“Ancient Ways” brings five-plus minutes of overarching groove, layered growls, shouts and screams, and a largesse-bent approach that, if it was sloppier, you could probably call sludge, but that here stands astride your soon-to-be-hammer-smashed skull with poise in its own violence. It’s a big groove, big tone, big riffs, and the vibe is punishment, but almost certainly the kind of punishment inflicted on one’s neck after a night of headbanging, however ominous the threat of the album’s title.
Ten TonSlug journey to the US in June for Maryland Doom Fest, and they’ve got dates in Limerick and Dublin before they travel. More on that, the quote, and of course the song follow here, courtesy of the PR wire:
Ten Ton Slug on “Ancient Ways”:
The album ‘Colossal Oppressor’ concerns itself primarily on the theme of oppression in its many guises, and on the many ways it is inflicted on humanity by the world and by the Slug. ‘Ancient Ways’ is one of two tracks on the album (along with the Irish language track – ‘Mallacht an tSloda’) which deals with this theme not from the perspective of the oppressor, but instead from the perspective of those under the yoke of unbearable hardship. More specifically it reveals the mindset and determination needed to overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles, to face the monster and beat it to the earth, to ultimately summon your power, and move forward.
The track is blues inspired with a stoner feel, featuring big dirty riffs and colossal drums. OUGH.
Ten Ton Slug release the 2nd single from the upcoming album ‘Colossal Oppressor’ which releases everywhere on May 1st on Vinyl, CD and Digital
The song ‘Ancient Ways’ is more stoner/blues/melody driven than the previous single yet contains all the elements one has come to expect from the Slug and more. Huge riffs, pummelling drums and grooves and melodies that stick in your head.
Subjugation approaches.
Catch the Slug live in Ireland this May: May 3rd Dolans Limerick (ticket link) May 5th The Grand Social Dublin (ticket link)
And in the USA this June: June 23rd Maryland Doom Fest, Maryland, USA (ticket link)
Ten Ton Slug: Rónán Ó hArrachtáin – Vocals Pavol Rosa – Bass Sean Sullivan – Guitars/Vocals Kelvin Doran – Drums* *All drums written and arranged by Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin
Posted in Whathaveyou on March 6th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
Preorders are up now for Ten Ton Slug‘s debut full-length, Colossal Oppressor, which the Galway, Ireland, burlbringers will self-release on May 1. To mark the announcement and presumably let listeners know the sort of bludgeoning they’re signing up for in preordering, the band has posted “Mindless and Blind” as the first single from the outing, and it quickly becomes clear they were not lacking self-awareness in their choice of album titles. Presented with a fervent groove and aggressive overarching feel, they take the metal angle on sludge metal and emerge likewise methodical and ferocious. It’s gonna be a heavy record, is what I’m telling you.
Heavy enough they got Karl Willetts from Bolt Thrower in for guest vocals and Adam Burke to do the cover, which, thankfully, features the giant slug you can see below. Crowbar and Sepultura duking it out sound about right? Could be. There’s more here than just that, but it’s a start at least. And it was seven years ago and at least in part a different lineup, but I did get to see these guys one time in Ireland (review here) and they smoked then as well. Relevant as they’ll be coming to the US to feature at Maryland Doom Fest 2024 in June, headlining what was the stage at Olde Mother Brewing but will now be a second stage at Cafe 611, for which there’s ample room. They play Friday, June 21, as per the timetable (posted here).
All other info and the preorder link follow, sourced fresh from the PR wire:
TEN TON SLUG – Colossal Oppressor – May 1
‘Colossal Oppressor’ , the highly-anticipated debut album by Ten Ton Slug, releases May 1st 2024 digitally on all major streaming platforms, and on CD and Vinyl pre-order through Bandcamp.
Following up previous EP releases ‘Brutal Gluttonous Beast’ and ‘Blood & Slime’ and clocking in at just over 40 minutes, ‘Colossal Oppressor’ is the bands first full-length release and represents a natural progression from previous releases with an increased focus on songwriting and dynamics, yet still featuring the trademark huge riffs and pummelling drums that have come to characterise the sound of the Slug.
Featuring guest vocals from Memoriam/Bolt Thrower frontman Karl Willetts on the track ‘Brutus’, Colossal Oppressor represents five years of work and riffs distilled into 8 tracks of unrelenting heaviness. First single stream and pre-orders open March 4th:http://tentonslug.bandcamp.com/
Tracklist: 1. The Ooze 2. Balor 3. Ancient Ways 4. Brutus* 5. Mindless and Blind 6. Ghosts of the Ooze 7. Mallacht an tSloda 8. Mogore the Unkind
*featuring guest vocals by Karl Willetts of Memoriam/ Bolt Thrower
Original hand-painted artwork (acrylic on wood) by Adam Burke at Nightjar Illustration Recorded at Ciaran Culhane Recording in Limerick. Mixed and mastered at Trackmix Recording Studio Dublin by Michael Richards. Produced by Sean Sullivan and Rónán Ó hArrachtáin. All songs written by Ten Ton Slug(Sean Sullivan, Rónán Ó hArrachtáin, Micheal O Suilleabhain, Pavol Rosa). This release was part funded by the Galway City Arts Office. Dedicated to the memory of Dessie Harrington.
Ten Ton Slug: Rónán Ó hArrachtáin – Vocals Pavol Rosa – Bass Sean Sullivan – Guitars/Vocals Kelvin Doran – Drums* *All drums written and arranged by Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin
Admittedly, the title doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue, but the thing says what it is. Having been confirmed to play the prestigious Roadburn Festival in 2020, Tau and the Drones of Praise — who mostly record in Berlin but are very much from Ireland while drawing from various other folk traditions as well — took part in the 2021 Roadburn Redux first-ever virtual edition of the fest, which for obvious and much-recounted reasons couldn’t meet in-person (they ended up playing Roadburn 2022 too).
The name they gave to the set (posted here) was ‘Tau Presents: Dream Awake,” and the concept was a special set focused spiritually and musically on past and present as much as future, new songs, new explorations of older material, and a full interpretation of what Tau and the Drones of Praise, as a project spearheaded by Seán Mulrooney, are as they head toward their impending third studio LP. Thus, Tau Presents: Dream Awake Live at Roadburn Redux is what it says it is, and its release through Burning World/Roadburn Records continues a long tradition of recorded live outings from the Tilburg-based fest, even if the avenue taken to get there is a little different.
Led by Mulrooney on vocals and guitar, the band includes guitarist/synthesist Ruairi Mac Neill Aodha, bassist Iain Faulkner, percussionist/vocalist Bob Glynn, drummer Ken Mooney and the whistle and vocals of Pól Brennan, known for his work in Clannad, who brings a distinct and suitable flair of Irish folk to “Éist le Ceol an Chré” and “Seanóirí Naofa,” the former of which will be on the next Tau record, the latter the title-track of 2019’s EP of the same name (discussed here). Roadburn Redux was the second livestream for Tau and the Drones of Praise behind a live set captured in Dublin (posted here), and though that broadcast was somewhat less ambitious as regards setting and presentation — it was in black and white, where the Roadburn stream was full color, surrounded by a more lush studio set and so on — the real difference in ambition between the two is in the scope of the music itself.
Granted, three songs from the Dublin stream feature on side D of the 2LP here, with “Craw,” “Mongolia” and “Speak Your Truth” rounding out, but here they serve as part of a broad-scope, encompassing and engrossing vision of a psychedelic-bent world-folk. From the invocation of MesoAmerican spirit guides in the leadoff “Kauyumari” amid warm melodies and fuzz guitar, call and response, harmonized ’60s rock and more, Mulrooney serves as a guide through traditions from Mexico, the Mesopotamia, Asia and Ireland, moving deftly from “Huey Tonantzin & Mother” and the Aztec-minded “Tonatiuh” into “Bridge of Khaju” (look it up, it’s gorgeous) in Iran before the nine-minute “Erasitexnis: Four Horsemen Medley” draws it together with Mediterranean flair and a vital percussive jam.
The sense of movement, of travel, isn’t to be understated. It extends to the journey the music is undertaking, but also to the entire group’s ability to move the listener from place to place, idea to idea. And it’s worth emphasizing that Tau and the Drones of Praise are not just mashing influences into songs, or cynically putting a Middle Eastern part beside an Irish folk part and calling it something else. One side or another may come to prominence in a given track, but even in pieces like the hard-science-as-philosophy “It’s Already Written,” which opened the band’s 2019 self-titled LP, or “Espiral,” which closes this set in gloriously freaked-out fashion and comes from 2016’s Tau Tau Tau where it sat directly next to “Kauyumari,” there’s a drawing together of ideas, a genuine sense of mixture as everything comes filtered through the band’s own impulses.
And oh, it’s a good time. Tau Presents: Dream Awake Live at Roadburn Redux is not at all a minor undertaking. With the Dublin tracks, it comes to a whopping 13 songs and 81 Earth minutes, but terrestrial concerns and whatever else you were doing this afternoon need not apply. Be it the incantations of “Huey Tonantzin” or hearing the song of the land in “Éist le Ceol an Chré,” the memorable boogie of “It’s Already Written” and the mountainous trudge uphill in “Mongolia” — less slog than adventure, but still carrying a sense of, well, carrying perhaps a heavy backpack along for the trip — the feeling of motion is no less palpable than the sense of place at any given moment, even if that place is somewhere in a swirling cosmos of spirit and mind. It doesn’t seem like coincidence that “Speak Your Truth” features here as a closer, since ultimately that voyage from start to finish is the truth of the outing as a whole.
In Old Irish, “Imbás” — positioned ahead of the half-in-Spanish “Espiral” — translates roughly to “inspiration,” but carries with it a sense of that inspiration being born of a kind of clairvoyance given by the land. It would be hyperbole to say Tau and the Drones of Praise are tapped into these kinds of cosmic energies, but that is what the music is seeking to do, and admirably, there’s nothing tongue-in-cheek about it. There’s no irony here in adapting songcraft to the various wonders of craft from around the world, and more, in uniting them for the purposes of this material, this set. Rather, Mulrooney and his assembled cohort are all-in, all-go, and the energy they bring doesn’t need to be loud to immerse the listener in the space they’re creating.
To put it mildly, this was a special set. Its reach goes outside the common bounds of genre and so is suited to the festival that gave it a home, but in representing the past and what’s to come for Tau and the Drones of Praise, ‘Dream Awake’ feels comprehensive while existing on a wavelength largely its own, whether you tag that as neo-folk or acid-this-or-that or whatever it is. There is no cheapening the accomplishment of sound and performance here, and rarely are artists willing to be so naked in portraying where they’re coming from. Perhaps it helps that Tau are coming from everywhere. Whatever else one might say about it — and there’s plenty more one could — this was a beautiful moment. The effort to preserve it should be commended.
Tau and the Drones of Praise, Tau Presents: Dream Awake Live at Roadburn Redux (2022)
Posted in Whathaveyou on February 8th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
There were a few that were up there, but I think this is the set I’ve gone back to most since Roadburn Redux last year, and when I think about the potentiality of not being at Roadburn 2022, Tau and the Drones of Praise are among the acts I’m saddest to miss. Putting out a live-2LP version of their ‘Dream Awake’ set that aired last April in place of a physical festival makes a lot of sense to me. The performance was great, the songs incredible, and the vitality with which they were presented gives them a character of its own. By the time it aired, I’d already said that their prior stream from Dublin in Dec. 2020 (posted here) should be a live record. Some of those songs, as it turns out, will appear here as bonus tracks.
My only question here is whether I need to also buy the limited yellow vinyl edition as well as the CD and DL. I have not yet decided. We’ll see. Vinyl’s due in June, CD/DL now, so patience might be a factor.
From the PR wire:
First release of the Roadburn Redux 2021 festival that was held 100% online to much applause
TAU will be back at Roadburn 2022 to play in front of an actual live audience
This album and cd include the whole set played at Roadburn Redux and 3 bonus tracks from a session they played in Dublin in December 2020.
Could this be one of the first ever live stream LPs?
Tau is the group formed by Seán Mulrooney who started his voyage into psychedelia music as a member of Dead Skeletons in 2012/2013. Tau who have released 2 LPs and 3 Eps to date have now evolved into Tau & the Drones of Praise.
Their music has been called Shamanic Rock, Ancestral Goth and neo Folk to name a few. The most recent explorations into Mulrooney’s ancient Irish spirituality and folk music traditions has made the sound something singular and unique.
Tau & the Drones of Praise was already slated to appear at the cancelled Roadburn Festival 2020, participated in Roadburn Redux back in April, helping to tide us over in yet another year with no physical edition of the festival. Their hypnotic neo-folk performance featured an appearance from Clannad’s Pól Brennan, and dived headfirst into their back catalogue of delights. No-one could accuse them of phoning it in. As Mulrooney says, “As was with the lockdown situation last year, we hadn’t been in the studio together for months. We were adulated to perform again and get creative. Even without an audience, we built our own world. There is something vital about the whole concert. I’m very proud to release this journey through past, present and future material, Dream Awake”.
Roadburn comments: “We’re thrilled to announce that this acid-tinged psych troupe will be packing up and heading to Tilburg in April, led by Dubliner Sean Mulrooney. Bringing along a suitcase full of extrasensory delights and magic potions, no doubt, Tau & the Drones of Praise will be setting up shop and handing out feel good vibes like nobody’s business. Expect to leave this earthly plane and head out on a meditative voyage of sonic discovery – Sean will be our guide through shamanic experimentalism, folk-led flourishes and far out lysergic luminance.
Having already wowed the crowds at highly regarded festivals throughout Europe, such as Transmusicales, Fusion Festival and Le Guess Who? we’re beyond excited to be one of the first stops on their return to the live stage. Expectations are high!”
Tracklisting: 1. Kauyumari 05:09 2. Already Written 04:58 3. Huey Tonanzin & Mother 10:32 4. Tonatiuh 05:58 5. Bridge Of Khaju 04:34 6. Erasitexnis: Four Horsemen Medley 09:43 7. Éist Le Ceol An Chre 07:39 8. Seanóirí Naofa 04:19 9. Mbás 06:27 10. Esprial 07:23 11. Craw (Live In Dublin) 05:18 12. Mongolia 04:24 13. Speak Your Truth 04:36
Tau and the Drones of Praise: Seán Mulrooney Guitar/Vocals Bob Glynn Percussion/Vocals Ruairi Mac Neill Aodha Guitar/Synth Iain Faulkner Bass/Vocals Ken Mooney Drums Pól Brennan – Whistles/Vocals
Posted in Features on April 29th, 2020 by JJ Koczan
The statistics of COVID-19 change with every news cycle, and with growing numbers, stay-at-home isolation and a near-universal disruption to society on a global scale, it is ever more important to consider the human aspect of this coronavirus. Amid the sad surrealism of living through social distancing, quarantines and bans on gatherings of groups of any size, creative professionals — artists, musicians, promoters, club owners, techs, producers, and more — are seeing an effect like nothing witnessed in the last century, and as humanity as a whole deals with this calamity, some perspective on who, what, where, when and how we’re all getting through is a needed reminder of why we’re doing so in the first place.
Thus, Days of Rona, in some attempt to help document the state of things as they are now, both so help can be asked for and given where needed, and so that when this is over it can be remembered.
Thanks to all who participate. To read all the Days of Rona coverage, click here. — JJ Koczan
Days of Rona: Rodger Mortis of Cursed Monk Records (Galway, Ireland)
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How are you dealing with this crisis as a label? Have you had to rework plans at all? How is everyone’s health so far?
We’re doing OK. We’ve stopped mailing orders for a few weeks as we are limiting going outside as much as possible. We have made our entire digital catalog free so hopefully this will help folks while away the hours of isolation. We’ve also started up a podcast (The Cursed Cast) which will highlight some of our favourite labels and the excellent acts they put out. So again, hopefully this will help people pass the time. Health-wise, we’re fine. We both came down with a cold the first week, which ramped up the paranoia as we’re both high risk. But thankfully it passed. We also had to postpone our wedding, but that’s small potatoes in the grand scheme of things.
What are the quarantine/isolation rules where you are?
We’re in lockdown at the moment, so you have to stay at home except to buy food, care for vulnerable people, do work deemed essential or briefly exercise within 2km (1.2 miles) of home. When you are out you have to adhere to social distancing. The state has deployed hundreds of extra police on the streets and passed laws to enforce the restrictions – violators can be arrested, fined €2,500 ($2715) and jailed for six months.
How have you seen the virus affecting the community around you and in music?
We live in a small town in the West of Ireland, the community seem to be taking this very seriously which is great. Ireland as a whole seems to be doing its best and giving the situation the gravity it deserves. Plus, comparatively to other countries, it’s not too bad here yet. The Government has taken the proper steps, you can get a test if you need to, and there’s plenty of food on the shelves. I think it’s much scarier for Amanda (Cursed Monk Records co-founder, Rodge’s Fiancee) as her whole family lives in the States.
Music-wise, I can see the community coming together and helping each other through. It’s a beautiful thing. Times are hard, but we will come out the other side.
What is the one thing you want people to know about your situation, either as a label, or personally, or anything?
I want people to take this very seriously. Wash your hands. Give people space if you absolutely have to go out. If you’re wearing protective gloves or homemade masks, please learn how to use them properly. But most of all, if you are not working on the front lines or in essential services, just stay at home. It’s easy. There’s endless entertainment online, in books, around the house, in your own head. Plus, the world is more connected than it has ever been. If you need to talk to someone, jump online or pick up the phone. There’s no excuse.
As for our situation as a label, I want people to know that we are not going anywhere, and we will strive to keep releasing dark musical esoterica from the underground.
Posted in Reviews on October 4th, 2019 by JJ Koczan
Oh hi, I didn’t see you there. Earlier this week — Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and yes, even Wednesday — the alarm went off at 4AM as usual and I got up, got coffee going and a protein bar and sat down to write, starting basically around quarter-after with a quick email check and whatnot. In terms of basic timing, this last morning of the Fall 2019 Quarterly Review is no different. I even have the baby monitor streaming on my phone as I would most mornings, so I can keep an eye on when The Pecan gets up. What’s changed is I’m sitting in a hotel lobby in Oslo, Norway, having just arrived on an overnight flight from Newark. Managed to sleep some on the plane and I’m hopeful adrenaline will pick up the rest of the slack as regards getting through the day. That and caffeine, anyhow.
Although, speaking of, my debit card doesn’t work and I’ll need to sort that out.
First thing’s first, and that’s reviews. Last batch of 10 for the week. We made it. Thanks as always for reading and being a part of this thing. Let’s wrap it up in style, and because I like working on a theme, three Irish bands in a row close out. Hey, I went to Ireland this year.
Quarterly Review #41-50:
Ufomammut, XX
Five years ago, Roman cosmic doom masters Ufomammut took a reflective look back at their career for its 15th anniversary with the documentary/live-performance DVD XV (review here). And since one might define the arc of their tenure as constantly trying to top themselves, for their 20th anniversary, they’ve issued a 12LP boxed set, titled simply XX, that compiles their nine albums to-date and tops them off with the mostly-subdued-style XX itself, which reimagines past cacophonies like “Mars” and “Plouton” in a quieter context. That part of the mega-offering issued through their own Supernatural Cat imprint comprises six songs recorded live and makes highlights out of the hypnotic strum and incantations of “Satan” as well as the rumbling drone of “Lacrimosa,” which takes on new emotional resonance for the shoegazy treatment it receives. I’ve said on multiple occasions throughout the years that Ufomammut are a band to be treasured, and I stand by that 100 percent. The XX box should be perceived by fans as an opportunity to do likewise.
Less than a year after issuing their second long-player in the form of Holocene (review here) through Blackseed and Doom Stew Records, Pittsburgh atmosludgers Horehound align with DHU Records for the two-song 8″ EP Weight, which brings “Unbind” and “The Heavy,” two new cuts that, while I’m not sure they weren’t recorded at the same time as the last album — that is, they may have been — they nonetheless showcase the emergent melodic breadth and instrumental ambience that is developing in their sound. Even as “Unbind” rolls toward its low-end tempo kick, it does so with marked patience and a willingness to stay slow until just the right moment, which is not something every band cane effectively do. “The Heavy,” meanwhile, builds itself around a Crowbar-style dirge riff before Shy Kennedy‘s verse arrives as a standalone element, all the instruments around her dropping out from behind. That moment alone, frankly, is worth the price of admission, as whether it’s through that extra inch in diameter of the platter itself or through the audio of the tracks in question, Horehound continue to distinguish themselves.
I’m not sure I’m qualified to write about Lingua Ignota‘s CALIGULA (on Profound Lore), but I’m not sure anyone else is either. Like a self-harmonizing mega-Jarboe turning existential horror into epic proclamations of “I don’t eat/I don’t sleep” on “DO YOU DOUBT ME TRAITOR?” amid bass throb and terrifying melodic layering before making bedroom black metal sound like the lightweight self-indulgence it’s always been on the subsequent check-out-the-real-shit “BUTCHER OF THE WORLD,” Kristin Hayter‘s work is little short of experimentalist brilliance. She is minimal and yet over-the-top, open in creative terms but unwaveringly dark and rife with melody but severe to the point now and again of true aural abrasion. She weaves a context of her own into “FUCKING DEATHDEALER” as she recalls the lyrics to the aforementioned “BUTCHER OF THE WORLD,” while the outright brutality of “SPITE ALONE HOLDS ME ALOFT” is married to a piano-led meditation that, even without the noise wash from whence it comes, is enough to recast visions of what heavy is and can be in musical terms. I won’t pretend to get all the references like “kyrie eleison” (“lord have mercy”) worked into “IF THE POISON WON’T TAKE YOU MY DOGS WILL” and the violent strains surrounding, but it’s impossible not to realize the power of what you’re hearing when you listen.
With an intensity born out of a history of industrial music and focus on tight rhythms making an impact in even-tighter songwriting, Valborg are neither beholden to death metal nor entirely separate from it, but their style has taken on a life of its own over the course of the last 10 years, and their latest offering, Zentrum (on Prophecy Productions), is the German trio’s most individualized take yet, whether that’s shown in the unbridled melodicism of “Anomalie,” the sludgy riff that drives the barking “Ultragrab” or the seemingly unrelenting snare pops of “Kreuzer” that, even when they finally release that tension, still make it only a temporary reprieve. Valborg‘s sense of control through the epic “Nonnenstern” should not be understated, and though the track is under four minutes long, yes, “epic” very much applies. Suitably enough, they close with “Vakuum” and throw everything at the listener at once before resolving in relatively peaceful atmospherics that could just as easily serve as an introduction to the next round of malice to come, whenever it shows up.
Spanish trio Sageness — also written SageNESS — conjure smooth Electric Moon-style soundscapes on their second album, Akmé, and yes, that is a compliment. The record brings forth six tracks of easy-rolling instrumentalist jam-based heavy psychedelia that offer much and take little in return, the richness of the guitar tone from Dawyz and Michi‘s bass given jazzy fluidity by Fran‘s drumming. “Ephemeral” touches most directly on a Colour Haze, as it would almost have to, but even there, the feeling of spaciousness that Sageness present in the recording is a factor that helps them come across as more individual. Earlier, “The Thought” is a little more directly space rock, but opener “Andromeda” seems to be charting the course with its liquefied effects and somehow-even-more-liquefied groove, and if you can’t get down with that, I’ve got nothing for you and neither does the rest of the universe.
It’s not exactly true, about their being no light ever on Boston post-metallers Glacier‘s latest full-length, No Light Ever. Sure, it’s plenty dark and heavy and brooding and all that fun stuff, and the riffs get loud and the drums break stuff and all that, but it’s certainly colorful in its way as well, and more than just shades of black on black. Comprised of four tracks cumbersomely titled in keeping with the traditions of the likes of Red Sparowes and the band’s own past work, cuts like “O World! I Remain No Longer Here.” and “The Bugles Blow, Fanned by Hysteria.” stretch themselves out along a scope as massive as the tonality the band emits, and as the wash of “We Glut Our Souls on the Accursed,” — the comma is part of the title there — gives way to feedback and the onset of “And We Are Damned Amid Noble Sound.” the sense of immersion is complete and clear as the priority under which they’re working. It’s about the whole album, or at least the two sides, as a unified work, and about crafting a world through the atmosphere evoked in the material. It works. If they say there’s no light in that world, so be it. It’s whatever they want it to be.
Not-entirely-bereft-of-vowels South Carolina heavy trio MNRVA make their debut with the three-song EP Black Sky, a beast of a short release led by the riffs of guitarist Byron Hark on a stretch of ’90s-style crunch and sludge, with bassist/vocalist Kevin Jennings and drummer Gina Ercolini adding to the weight and shove of the proceedings, respectively. “Not the One” has the hook, “No Solution” has the impact and the title-track has both, and though I’m by no means saying the issue of their sound is settled 100 percent and they won’t grow or find their way from this — again, their debut — EP, they do prove to be well in charge of where their songs head in terms of mood and the atmosphere that comes through elements like the blown-out vocals and the rumbling bass beneath the lead guitar in the second half of “Black Sky” itself. Indeed, it’s those harsher aspects that help MNRVA immediately establish their individuality, and the vibe across these 18-plus minutes is that the punishment is only getting started.
Just because Irish four-piece Coroza — guitarist/vocalists Ciaran Coghlan and Jack O’Neill, bassist/vocalist Jonny Canning and drummer Ollie Cunningham — might write a song that’s 18 minutes long, that doesn’t mean they forgot to actually make it a song as well. Thus it is that extended cuts like “The Plutonian Drug” (18:24) and closer “Iron from the Sky” (19:30) have plenty of room to flesh out their more progressive aspects amid the other three also-kind-of-extended pieces on Chaliceburner, the group’s ambitious hour-plus/five-track debut full-length. Each song essentially becomes a front-to-back movement on its own, with shifts between singers arranged thoughtfully from one part to the next and hooks along the way to serve as landmarks for those traversing, as in the opening “Chaliceburner” or the gruff winding moments of “Mountain Jaw,” which follows the nine-minute sax-inclusive centerpiece “Scaltheen,” because of course there’s a saxophone in there somewhere. All of this is a recipe for a band biting off more than they can chew stylistically, but Coroza manage pretty well the various twists and turns of their own making, particularly considering it’s their first album.
Encased front and back by witchy samples and creepy vibes, Sept. 2019’s She of the Woods is the second demo in two months to come from Cork, Ireland’s Noosed. And you know it when they get around to the closing seven-minute title-track because it’s just about the only thing other than “Intro” that isn’t raging with grind intensity, but that stuff can be fun too. I don’t know how much witch-grind-doom is out there, but Noosed‘s first, self-titled demo (released in August) had a sludgy edge that seems to have separated out to some degree here into a multifaceted personality. Can one possibly be certain of the direction the band will ultimately take? Shit no. It’s two demos with basically no time differential between them. But if they can effectively bridge the gap between “Fuck Up,” “Wretch” and “She of the Woods,” or even play directly with the contrast, they could be onto something with all this noise and fuckall.
The narrative — blessings and peace upon it — has it such that Irish four-piece zhOra wanted to do something less complicated than was their 2017 album, Ethos, Pathos, Logos (discussed here), so they went ahead and wrote a song that’s five minutes long and purposefully hops between subgenres, going from sludge to doom to a deathcore breakdown, with a snare-pop count-in, to blackened death metal and then back to a lumbering chug to finish out. Okay, zhOra, “Ruthless Bastards” is a an awful lot of metal and an awfully good time, but you missed the mark on “simple” by a considerable margin. If indeed the band had been plotting toward something, say, easier to play or to compose, “Ruthless Bastards” ain’t it. They’ll have to settle for being brutal as fuck instead. Something tells me they’ll survive having made that trade, as much as anything will.
