In my hubris of adding an 11th day to this Summer 2021 Quarterly Review — why not just do the whole month of July, bro? what’s the matter? don’t like riffs? — I’ve rendered today somewhat less of a landmark, but I guess there’s still some accomplishment to be felt in completing two full weeks of writing about 10 records a day, hitting triple digits and all that. Not that I doubted I’d get here — it’s rare but it’s happened before — and not that I doubt I’ll have the last 10 done for Monday, but yeah. It’s been a trip so far.

Quarterly Review #91-100:

Per Wiberg, All Is Well In the Land of the Living But for the Rest of Us… Lights Out

The cumbersome-seeming title of Per Wiberg‘s new solo EP derives from its four component tracks, “All is Well,” “In the Land of the Living,” “But for the Rest of Us…” and “Lights Out.” The flow between them is largely seamless, and when Wiberg (whose pedigree as an organist/keyboardist includes Opeth, Candlemass, Big Scenic Nowhere and more others than I can count) pauses between tracks two and three, it feels likewise purposeful. It’s a dark mood inflected through the melodies of the opener and the atmospheric piano lines of “But for the Rest of Us…,” but Wiberg offers a driving take on progressive heavy rock with “In the Land of the Living” and the build in the subsequent “Lights Out” is encompassing with the lead-in it’s given. Wiberg sounds more comfortable layering his voice than even on 2019’s Head Without Eyes, and his arrangements are likewise expressive and fluid. Dude is a professional. I think maybe that’s part of the reason everybody wants to work with him.

Per Wiberg on Facebook

Despotz Records website

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Body Void, Bury Me Beneath This Rotting Earth

Massive, droning lurch, harsh, biting screams and lumbering, pummeling weight, Body Void‘s third album and first for Prosthetic, Bury Me Beneath This Rotting Earth, boasts feelgood hits like “Wound” and “Laying Down in a Forest Fire,” bringing cacophonous, Khanate-style extremity of atmosphere to willfully, punishingly brutal sludge. It is not friendly. It is devastating, and it is the kind of record that sounds loud even when you play it quietly — and that’s before you get to “Pale Man”‘s added layers of caustic noise. Front to back in the four songs — all of which top 12 minutes — there’s no letup, no moment at which the duo relent in order to let the listener breathe. This is intentional. A conjuring of aural concrete in the lungs coinciding with striking lines like “Your compromises are hollow monuments to your cowardice” and other bleak, throatripping poetry of dead things and our complicity in making them. Righteous and painful.

Body Void on Facebook

Prosthetic Records website

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Ghorot, Loss of Light

Ghorot is the three-piece of bassist/vocalist Carson Russell (also Ealdor Bealu), drummer/vocalist Brandon Walker and guitarist Chad Remains (ex-Uzala), and Loss of Light is a debut album no less gripping for its push into darkness, whether it’s the almost-toying-with-you Sabbath-style riff of “Harbinger” or the tortured atmospherics in the back end of “Charioteer of Fire,” which follows. Competing impulses result in a sense of grueling even through the barks and faster progression of “Woven Furnace,” while “Dead Gods” offers precious little mourning in its charred deathsludge, saving more ambience for the 12-minute closer “In Endless Grief,” which not only veers into acoustics, but nods toward post-metal later on, despite holding firm to cavernous growls and wails. Obscure? Opaque? There isn’t a way in which Loss of Light isn’t heavy. Everywhere they go, Ghorot carry that weight with them. It is existential.

Ghorot on Facebook

Transylvanian Recordings on Bandcamp

Inverse Records on Bandcamp

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Methadone Skies, Retrofuture Caveman

Lush from the outset and growing richer in aural substance as it plays out, the 17:56 longest/opening (immediate points) title-track of Methadone Skies‘ latest work, Retrofuture Caveman, is an obviously intended focal point, and a worthy one at that. Last heard from with 2019’s Different Layers of Fear (review here), the Romanian four-piece break down walls across the bulk of this fifth full-length, with “Retrofuture Caveman” itself setting the standard early in moving instrumentally between warm heavy psychedelia, prog, drone, doom and darker black metal. It’s prog heavy that ultimately wins the day on the subsequent linear build of “Infected by Friendship” and centerpiece “The Enabler,” but there’s room for more lumber in the 11-mminute “Western Luv ’67” and closer “When the Sleeper Awakens” offers playful shove riffing in its midsection before a final stretch of quiet guitar leads to a last-minute volume burst, no less consuming or sprawling than anything before, even if it feels like it finishes too soon.

Methadone Skies on Facebook

Methadone Skies on Bandcamp

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Witchrot, Hollow

Stood out by the gotta-hear bass tone of Cam Alford, the ethereal-or-shouting-and-sometimes-both vocals of Lea Reto, the crash of Nick Kervin‘s drums and the encompassing wah of Peter Turik‘s guitar, Toronto’s Witchrot offer a striking debut with their awaited first full-length, Hollow, oozing out through opener/longest track (immediate points) “Million Shattered Swords” before the stomping wash of “Colder Hands” sacrifices itself on an altar of noise, leading to the more directly-riffed “Spiral of Sorrow,” which nonetheless maintains the atmosphere. Things get noisier and harsher in the second half of Hollow, which is presaged in the plod of “Fog,” but as things grow more restless and angrier after “Devil in My Eyes” and move into the pair “Burn Me Down” and “I Know My Enemy,” both faster, like blown-out Year of the Cobra toying with punk rock and grunge, Witchrot grow stronger for the shift by becoming less predictable, setting up the atmospheric plunge of the closing title-track that finishes one of 2021’s most satisfying debut albums.

Witchrot on Facebook

Fuzzed and Buzzed Records website

DHU Records store

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Rat King, Omen

Omen is the first long-player from Evansville, Indiana, four-piece Rat King, who use rawness to their advantage throughout the nine included tracks, at least one of which — “Supernova” — dates back to being released as a single in 2017. With manipulated horror samples and interludes like the acoustic “Queen Anne’s Revenge” and “Shackleton” and the concluding “Matryoshka” spliced throughout the otherwise deep-toned and weighted fare of “Capsizer” and the chugging, pushing, scream-laced “Druid Crusher,” Omen never quite settles on a single approach and is more enticing for that, though the eight-minute “Vagrant” could well be a sign of things to come in its melodic reach, but the band revel in the grittier elements at work here as well — the thunderplod of “Glacier,” the willful drag of “Nepenta Divinorum,” and so on — and the ambience they create is dreary and obscure in a way that comes across as purposeful. Is Omen a foreshadow or just the name of a movie they dig? I don’t know, but I hope it’s not too long before we find out.

Rat King on Facebook

Rat King store

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Taras Bulba, Sometimes the Night

What was Earthling Society continues to evolve into Taras Bulba at the behest of Fleetwood, UK’s Fred Laird. Sometimes the Night (on Riot Season) is a mostly solo affair, and truth be told, Laird doesn’t need much more than his own impulses to conjure a full-sounding record, as he quickly shows on the acid lounge opener “The Green Eyes of Dragon,” but the guest vocals from Daisy Atkinson bring echoing presence to the subsequent “Orphee” and Mike Blatchford‘s late-arriving sax on “The Sound of Waves,” “The Big Duvall” and “House in the Snow” highlight the jazzy underpinnings of the organ-laced “Night Train to Drug Town” and the avant, anti-anything guitar strum and piano strikes of “One More Lonely Angel.” No harm done, in any case, unless we’re talking about the common conception of what a song is, and hey, if it didn’t need to happen, it wouldn’t have. An experiment in vibe, perhaps, in psychedelic brooding, but evocative for that. Laird‘s no stranger to following whims. Here they lead to moodier space.

Taras Bulba on Facebook

Riot Season Records website

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Opium Owl, Live at Hodila Records

I’ll admit, there’s a part of me that, when “Intro” hits its sudden forward surge, kind of wishes Opium Owl had kept it mellow. Nonetheless, the Riga, Latvia-based double-guitar (mostly) instrumental heavy psych four-piece offer plenty of serenity throughout the four-song live set Live at Hodila Records, and the back and forth patterning of the subsequent “Echo Slam” is all the more effective at winning conversion, so fair enough. “Stone Gaze” dips into even bigger riffage, while “Tempest Double” dares vocals over its quieter noodling, dispensing with them as it pushes louder toward the finish. For a live recording, the sound is rich enough to convey what would seem to be the full warmth of Opium Owl‘s tonality, and in its breadth and its impact, there’s no lack of studio-fullness for the session-style presentation. Live at Hodila Records may be formative in terms of establishing the methods with which the band — who formed in 2019 — will continue to work, but showcases significant promise in that.

Opium Owl on Facebook

Hodila Records on Facebook

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Kvasir, 4

Doled out with chops to spare and the swagger to show them off, Kvasir‘s eight-song debut LP, 4, puts modern heavy rock riffing in blender and sets it on high. Classic, epic heavy in “Where Gods to to Pray” and a more nodding groove in “Authenticity & the Illusion of Enough” meet with the funkier starts-stops of “Slow Death of Life” and the languid Sabbathism of “Earthly Algorithms.” “Chill for a Church” opens side B with trashier urgency and suitable rhythmic twist, and “The Brink” sets its depressive lyric to a ’70s boogie swing, not quite masking it, but working as a flowing companion piece for “The Black Mailbox,” which follows in like-minded fashion, letting closer “Alchemy of Identity” underscore the point with a rawer take on what once made The Sword so undeniable in their groove. There’s growing to do, patience to learn, etc., but Kvasir make it easy to get on board with 4 and their arguments for doing so brook little contradiction. Onto the list of 2021’s best debut albums it goes.

Kvasir on Facebook

Glory or Death Records on Bandcamp

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Lurcher, Coma

Lurcher might go full-prog before they’re done, but they’re not their yet on their four-song debut EP, Coma, and the songs only benefit from the band’s focus on impact and lack of self-indulgence. The leadoff title-track has an immediate hook that brings to mind an updated, tonally-heavier version of what Cave In innovated for melodic post-hardcore, and the subsequent “Remove the Myth From the Mountain” follows with a broader-sounding reach in its later solo that builds on the heavy rock foundation the first half of the song put forth. Vocalist/guitarist Joe Harvatt — backed by the rhythm section of bassist Tom Shortt and drummer Simon Bonwick — is prone, then, to a bit of shred. No argument as that’s answered with the Hendrix fuzz at the outset of “All Now is Here,” which both gets way-loud and drones way-out in its seven minutes, in turn setting up the lush-and-still-hard-hitting capper “Cross to Bear,” which rounds off the 26-minute release with all the more encouraging shifts in tempo, flowing melody, and mellotron sounds to add to the sweeping drama. I know the UK underground is hyper-crowded at this point, but consider notice served. These cats are onto something.

Lurcher on Instagram

Trepanation Recordings on Bandcamp

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Tomorrow, Bandcamp Friday, May 7, marks the digital release of Glory or Death Records‘ Deep Purple tribute, Bow to Your Masters Vol. 2. With a 2LP edition set to follow in November, the release brings together an assortment of established and new names — and stuff like Mothership-offshoot Topsy Kretts, Big Scenic Nowhere and Destroyer of Light-offshoot (also Mothership-offshoot) Temple of Love, which is new names from established names — as well as Mos Generator, Worshipper, Steak, frickin’ YOB and groups from the Glory or Death family tree including Red Wizard, KOOK, Gygax, RedWitch Johnny, and collaborations like High Reeper with Ruby the Hatchet‘s Jillian Taylor, Steak with Vodun‘s Chantal Brown, Francis Roberts of Old Man Wizard sitting in with Great Electric Quest, on and on and on and oh hell you can see the tracklisting below — just go look at it and tell me you don’t want to hear this thing. If you’ve ever EITHER heard Deep Purple OR heard any of these bands who’ve contributed to the comp, then yes, this is probably something that should pique your interest.

And yeah, YOB doing “Perfect Strangers” is a major draw, and as well it should be. It closes out the 15-song/78-minute offering with a duly flowing rendition of the title-track of the 1984 album that brought Blackmore and Gillan back together, albeit temporarily. But there’s more than just YOB going on here. Asphodel Wine‘s “Child in Time,” KOOK‘s “Space Truckin’,” RedWitch Johnny‘s “Maybe I’m a Leo” — also once covered by The Atomic Bitchwax — and Big Scenic Nowhere‘s “Demon’s Eye” are all killer, and from the boogie of “Black Night” as interpreted by Topsy Kretts to the sprawl of Worshipper taking on “Pictures from Home” — perfect band for that song, and they nail it — Bow to Your Masters Vol. 2 is jammed with what should be considered essentials. I know the sphere of heavy isn’t lacking in tributes these days, between Magnetic Eye‘s ever-expanding ‘Redux’ series and Ripple and others getting on board, but hell’s bells, how on earth are you going to deny Great Electric Quest‘s “Highway Star?” The simply answer is you’re not, and you shouldn’t bother to try.

I’ll make it simple. There’s a lot to like here.

The full thing is out tomorrow, and you can get your vinyl preorders in I assume when you do the Bandcamp thing or through BigCartel or however you go. Whatever it is that gets you on board though — whichever name is your pull — or even if its just the artwork by David Paul Seymour and Carin Hazmat that grabs you, don’t be surprised if you hear one track and wind up on board for a whole bunch more. Whether it’s Gygax boldly daring “Speed King” or Saturn doing “Into the Fire” or Steak taking one of the most iconic riffs ever and admirably making it their own, there’s plenty of fodder for a deep-dive.

That kind of makes the six-minute teaser premiering below excruciating, if I’m honest. Because while it features each song on the outing, it’s just enough of it to get hooked and want to hear the whole thing. A true tease, somewhat brutal. Fortunately a bunch of songs from the thing have already been posted and you can find them on the Bandcamp player nearer the bottom of the post.

The order link is down below as well, and the aforementioned tracklisting, which is substantial. I hesitate to call it a premiere for a teaser, but that’s what it is just the same.

Enjoy:

Bow to Your Masters Vol. 2 teaser premiere

FULL DIGITAL RELEASE is 5/7/21, but we have 6 minutes of pure bliss, a snippet of each song on the release in album order! There are a mix of incredibly faithful covers, cheeky tweaks, and full re-imaginings by 15 of the best bands making heavy music today!

ORDER YOUR COPY: https://gloryordeathrecords.bandcamp.com/

Big Scenic Nowhere – Demon’s Eye
Gygax – Speed King
RedWitch Johnny – Maybe I’m A Leo (Ft. Matthew Putman)
Topsy Kretts – Black Night
Saturn – Into the Fire
High Reeper – Burn (Ft. Jillian Taylor of Ruby The Hatchet)
Great Electric Quest – Highway Star (Ft. Francis Roberts)
Steak – Smoke (Ft. Chantal Brown)
Mos Generator – Love Child
Asphodel Wine – Child in Time
Temple of Love – Gettin’ Tighter (Ft. Anton Pukshansky)
Red Wizard – Fireball
KOOK – Space Truckin’
Worshipper – Pictures of Home
Yob – Perfect Strangers

Cover art by Carin Hazmat and David Paul Seymour
Mastered by James Page at Emerald Age Studios

Various Artists, Bow to Your Masters Vol. 2: Deep Purple (2021)

Glory or Death Records on Thee Facebooks

Glory or Death Records store

Glory or Death Records on Bandcamp

San Diego’s Formula 400 released their debut album, Heathens, in October 2020 through Glory or Death Records, and the video premiering below for the leadoff track “Light My Way” could hardly be more representative of what’s on offer throughout the record. In it, we see four dudes, showing up in a room, kicking ass until the ass is kicked, and then being done. There are few frills and zero time wasted, and the material is presented without trickery or any pretense whatsoever. At no point in Heathens‘ 31-minute run — from “Light My Way” through the acoustic instrumental closer “The Long Road Home” after the six-minute “Sun Destroyer” as built up and shredded out and stretched itself across what seemed to be the album’s greatest reaches — are Formula 400 attempting to be anything they’re not. They’re cracking a beer and playing some tunes. What more would you ask?

If you missed it above, Heathens is short for an LP, seeming to embody a ‘keep ’em wanting more’ ethic that works fairly enough even with the epilogue they present. Between the gruff delivery of the tracks and the riffs set to turn heads for fans of Wo Fat, Freedom Hawk and the like, they ride grooves like “Messenger” with its grungier hook and the bikerly-fuzzed “Ridin’ Easy” — you know that’s the name of a label, right guys? — smoothly ahead of “Spector,” which is about the now-dead producer/wall-of-sound-innovator/convicted-murderer named in its title. Plainly centered around their riffs, Formula 400‘s offer classic-style shifts in tempo and purpose, steering clear of the heavy psychedelic boogie for which their hometown has become known in recent years in favor of a more straightforward direction, begging no indulgences on their way to a sound that wouldn’t have been out of place on Small Stone Records some 20 years ago. Amazing how time flies. Or rides, as it were.

“Illusion” and “Sun Destroyer” have their hooks in place as well, as guitarist/vocalists Ian Holloway and Dan Frick work smoothly together, bassist Kip Page and drummer Ted Karol righteously refusing to relinquish the groove until the songs are done. The album would make a killer live set, maybe minus the outro for practicality’s sake, and one imagines that’s what Formula 400 had in mind. Until then, they seem glad enough to be making a toast and hitting it for “Light My Way,” and that works too from where I sit.

Nothin’ too fancy, but proof it doesn’t need to be when you do it right.

Enjoy:

Formula 400, “Light My Way” official video premiere

Ian Holloway on “Light My Way”:

“Light My Way” is the first song on our debut album, “Heathens.” It is a song written mostly about dealing with friends who have betrayed you and stabbed you in the back. You gotta burn those bridges down to the ground!

This video was recorded with no budget on a friend’s digital Canon Rebel and some various GoPro cams set up in our rehearsal space. It’s a video of us doing what we do best, rocking out! As with everything else in this band, we do it all ourselves. Enjoy, cheers.

Formula 400 are:
Dan Frick: Guitar and Vox
Kip Page: Bass
Ian Holloway: Guitar and Vox
Ted Karol: Drums

Formula 400, Heathens (2020)

Formula 400 on Thee Facebooks

Formula 400 on Instagram

Formula 400 on Bandcamp

Formula 400 website

Glory or Death Records on Thee Facebooks

Glory or Death Records on Instagram

Glory or Death Records on Bandcamp

Glory or Death Records webstore

Temple of Love is a new project with members of Mothership, Destroyer of Light, Witchcryer, Crimson Devils and Bexar County Bastards. They’ll make a live-ish debut as part of Mutants of the Monster‘s upcoming virtual fest next month, but in the interim, the five-piece are premiering their cover of “Gettin’ Tighter” from Glory or Death Records‘ previously-announced compilation, Bow to Your Masters Vol. 2: Deep Purple. To the surprise of precisely nobody, the song’s a ripper and they rip it accordingly.

To coincide with the premiere of “Gettin’ Tighter,” which originally appeared on Deep Purple‘s 1975 offering, Come Taste the Band, Glory or Death brings an update that Bow to Your Masters Vol. 2 is looking to be finished by Fall 2021, having made it through The Year That Scorched All Plans more or less on track with the original ETA. Kudos on that, as well as the finished selection of bands, which includes prior-revealed wizards like YOB, Big Scenic Nowhere, Steak and Worshipper, among others.

Also included in the announcement is some new artwork that will accompany the release. You can see the theme they’re working on, I think, and fair enough.

Track is at the bottom of this post, obviously made with love. Enjoy:

Official Update for Bow To Your Masters Volume Two: Deep Purple & Track Premiere for Temple of Love’s “Gettin’ Tighter”

Happy Holidays!

We are very excited to announce that so far we are right on track as planned for our estimated rough release date of Nov 2021 for the completion of this project. We may even wrap it up sooner than that, but we will have to see how things go with the bands finishing things up on their side and of course the ever questionable COVID-19. So far things are looking excellent though! We have been keeping in touch with our list of bands quite often as they work on their tributes to the great Deep Purple. Everyone is working very hard behind the scenes on this project and we are so honored and grateful for everyone’s efforts.

Temple of Love!

Get a load of this supergroup;
Steve Colca (Destroyer of Light)
Suzy Bravo (Witchcryer)
Shea McCoy (Bexar County Bastards)
Kyle Juett (Mothership)
Patrick Pascucci (Crimson Devils)

As if that’s not enough firepower already, they bring in Anton Pukshansky (who is a Grammy Award winning producer) to add his magic.

“All of us in the band are a big fan of Deep Purple, so when we were asked if we wanted to be a part of this compilation, we said hell yes. We asked Anton if he wanted to be a part of this song cause he is a fantastic keyboardist, and he was down. We decided to pick a pretty deep cut that gets lost in their impressive and extensive catalog because it has a killer groove and great vocals. Thanks for having us be a part of one of the best bands in rock n’ roll history!”

Feast your ears on this brand new track from the krew! If you dig it, be sure to tune in to “Mutants of the Monster” Virtual Concert Festival Jan 1st & 2nd where you can see them play this one live!

While you listen to Temple of Love’s insane version of “Gettin’ Tighter”, you can gaze at this incredible art Carin A Hazmat (@ArtofHazmat) has conjured up for us!

If you missed it – We also previously released this piece from David Paul Seymour!

Unfortunately our friends Holy Grove could not swing their cover of “Bloodsucker” and have dropped the project, BUT in true Glory or Death style, Mr. Kelley Juett of Mothership has stepped up and thrown together a top secret super group who have been working real hard on something special for us. That is all we can unveil for now per Kelley, but something wicked has been in the works and will be released soon!

Thank you all for the MEGA SUPPORT in getting this project fired up. There is no way this would be possible without you guys and we know it will be something very special when it is completed. Much love to you and yours! Stay safe, enjoy the holidays and you can look forward to some more tracks unleashed on our Band Camp over the next few weeks. Also if you haven’t preordered a copy you can do so there as well – PLUS this month we will be donating 20% of sales on BandCamp to fight Human Trafficking!

Glory or Death Records Presents;
Bow to Your Masters Volume Two: Deep Purple

Yob – “Perfect Strangers”
Mos Generator – “Love Child”
Big Scenic Nowhere – “Demon’s Eye”
The Grand Astoria – “The Mule”
Temple of Love – “Gettin’ Tighter”
Steak – “Smoke On the Water”
Worshipper – “Pictures of Home”
Great Electric Quest – “Highway Star”
Saturn Sweden – “Into the Fire”
Asphodel Wine – “Child in Time”
Kook – “Space Truckin'”
High Reeper – “Burn”
Red Wizard – “Fireball”
Kelley Juett Top Secret Super Group – ?????

https://www.facebook.com/Gloryordeathrecords/
gloryordeathrecords.bigcartel.com/
https://gloryordeathrecords.bandcamp.com/

Glory or Death Records announced their intentions to do a second installment of their Bow to Your Masters tribute compilation series back in 2018, when the first volume paying homage to Thin Lizzy was still new. Today, with the launch of a Kickstarter to help fund vinyl production with an eye toward a late-2021 release, the label announces the first two bands taking part in Bow to Your Masters Vol. 2: Deep Purple, and it’s abundantly clear that with YOB doing “Perfect Strangers” and Mos Generator doing “Love Child,” they’re looking to make an impression.

Mos Generator took part in the first Bow to Your Masters as well, alongside High on Fire, Wo Fat, Great Electric Quest and an entire festival’s worth of other killer acts, so I tend to believe Glory or Death when they say it’s a monster undertaking. Certainly giving tribute to Deep Purple would demand no less.

Art and Kickstarter info/links follow here, along with a teaser and a stream of the Thin Lizzy comp, courtesy of Glory or Death‘s Bandcamp:

The long awaited follow up to “Bow to Your Masters Volume One: Thin Lizzy” has begun! This time it is Deep Purple’s turn! In an effort to raise funds for this monster of a project we will be unraveling the artists, song choices, art and more as the kickstarter unfolds. We are committed to this project either way, but of course are very appreciative of the early supporters that help fund these things.

We have set the deadline for bands to turn in their tracks as December 2020. Turnaround for Vinyl production is roughly 5-7 months. We are playing it safe and guesstimating a November 2021 Delivery of the rewards in this kickstarter. Thank you all for your support! We are beyond excited to make this next “Bow to Your Masters” release a reality. LONG LIVE DEEP PURPLE!

Launch: Friday 7/17 at noon pacific
Kickstarter end: Saturday August 15th at noon pacific

Vinyl Editions available on Kickstarter:

-Gimme the Purps: unlimited standard edition
-Burn: limited to 50, kickstarter only *Includes Album Art Print
-Wax Mage: 15 available on kickstarter in the Shades of Deep Purple package
-Shades of Deep Purple (Purps 2LP, Burn 2LP, Wax Mage 2LP, Test Press 2LP *Shipped Early* and Album Art Print): 15 available on kickstarter

Bands/songs announced so far:
Mos Generator: Love Child
Yob: Perfect Strangers

Full link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/gloryordeath/bow-to-your-masters-volume-two-deep-purple
Short URL: http://tiny.cc/BTYMv2

https://www.facebook.com/Gloryordeathrecords/
gloryordeathrecords.bigcartel.com/
https://gloryordeathrecords.bandcamp.com/

VA, Bow to Your Masters Vol. 2 teaser

Various Artists, Bow to Your Masters Vol. 1: Thin Lizzy (2018)

I’d like to hope y’all know the drill by now. It’s the Quarterly Review. We do it (roughly) every quarter. The idea is 10 reviews per day for a Monday to Friday span, running 50 total. I sometimes do more. Sometimes not. Kind of depends on the barrage and how poorly I’ve been doing in general with keeping up on stuff. This time is ‘just’ 50, so there you go. You’ll see some bigger names this week and some stuff that’s come my way of late that I’ve been digging and wanting to check out. It’s a lot of rock, which I like, and a few things I’m writing about basically as a favor to myself because, you know, self-care and all that.

But staring down the barrel of 50 reviews over the next few days has me as apprehensive and how-the-hell-is-this-gonna-happen as ever, so I think I’ll just get to it and jump in. No time to waste.

Quarterly Review #1-10:

Mos Generator, Exiles

Worth it just for the Sabbath cover? Most definitely. As Mos Generator take on “Air Dance” from Never Say Die as part of the Glory or Death Records LP compilation release, Exiles, they blend the proggy swagger of later-’70s Iommi leads with the baseline acoustic guitar fluidity that makes those final Ozzy-era records so appealing in hindsight. It’s just one of the six reasons to take on Exiles however. The A side comprises three outtakes from 2018’s Shadowlands (review here), and guitarist/vocalist Tony Reed‘s Big Scenic Nowhere bandmate Bob Balch sits in on “Battah,” while a duly manic reworking of Van Halen‘s “Light up the Sky,” the Black Sabbath track and a live version of Rush‘s “Anthem” from 2016 make up side B. It’s a quick listen and it’s Mos Generator. It may be a stopgap on the way to whatever they’re doing next, but if you think about it, so is everything, and that’s no reason not to jump in either for the covers or the originals, both of which are up to the band’s own high standard of output.

Mos Generator on Thee Facebooks

Glory or Death Records on Bandcamp

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Psychic Lemon, Freak Mammal

The distorted wails of Andy Briston‘s guitar echo out of Freak Mammal — the five-track/46-minute third LP from London’s Psychic Lemon — like a clarion to the lysergic converted. A call to prayer for those worshiping the nebulous void, not so much kept to earth by Andy Hibberd‘s bass and Martin Law‘s drums as given a solidified course toward the infinite far out. Of course centerpiece “Afrotropic Bomb” digs into some Ethiopian groove — that particular shuffling mania — and I won’t take away from the lower buzz of “Free Electron Collective” or the tense hi-hat cutting through all that tonal wash or the ultra-spaced blowout that caps six-minute finale “White Light,” but give me the self-aware mellower jaunt that is the 13-minute second track “Seeds of Tranquility” any day, following opener “Dark Matter” as it does with what would be a blissful drift but for the exciting rhythmic work taking place beneath the peaceful guitar, and the later synthesized voices providing a choral melody that seems all the more playfully grandiose, befitting the notion of Freak Mammal as a ceremony or at very least some kind of lost ritual. Someday they’ll dig up the right pyramid and call the aliens back. Until then, Psychic Lemon let us imagine what might happen after they return.

Psychic Lemon on Thee Facebooks

Drone Rock Records website

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Planet of Zeus, Faith in Physics

There’s a context of social commentary to Planet of Zeus‘ Faith in Physics that makes one wonder if perhaps the title doesn’t refer to gravity in terms of what-goes-up-must-come-down as it might apply to class hierarchy. The mighty, ready to fall, and so on. Songs like the post-Clutch fuzz roller “Man vs. God” and “Revolution Cookbook” (video premiere here) would seem to support that idea, but one way or the other, as the later “Let Them Burn” digs into a hook that reminds of Killing Joke and the dense bass of eight-minute closer “King of the Circus” provides due atmospheric madness for our times, there’s a sense of grander statement happening across the album. The Athens-based outfit make a centerpiece of the starts and stops in “All These Happy People” and remind that whatever the message, the medium remains top quality heavy rock and roll songcraft, which is something they’ve become all the more reliable to deliver. The more pointed perspective than they showed on 2016’s Loyal to the Pack suits them, but it’s the nuance of electronics and arrangements of vocals and guitar on cuts like “The Great Liar” that carry them through here. If you believe in gravity, Planet of Zeus have plenty on offer.

Planet of Zeus on Thee Facebooks

Heavy Psych Sounds website

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Brass Hearse, Oneiric Afterlife

Experimentalist keyboard-laced psychedelic goth your thing? Well, of course it is. You’re in luck then as Brass Hearse — an offshoot of once madly prolific Boston outfit Ice Dragon — unveil three new songs (plus an intro) with the Oneiric Afterlife and in 10 minutes work to unravel about 30 years of genre convention while still tying their material to memorable hooks. “Bleed Neon,” “Indigo Dust” and “Only Forever” seem simple on the surface, and none of them touch four minutes long, let alone “A Gesture to Make a Stop,” the 26-second introduction, but their refusal of stylistic constraint is as palpable as it is admirable, with a blend of folk guitar and dark-dance-party keys and percussive insistence on “Bleed Neon” and a ’60s Halloweeny rock organ line in “Only Forever” that’s complemented by low-end fuzz and a chorus that would rightly embarrass Ghost if they heard it. In comparison, “Indigo Dust” is serene in its presentation, but even there is a depth of arrangement of keys, guitar, bass and drums, and the skill tying it all together as a cohesive sound is not to be understated. A quick listen with a lot to unpack, it’s not going to be everyone’s thing, but those who get it will be hit hard and rightly so.

Brass Hearse on Thee Facebooks

Brass Hearse on Bandcamp

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Mother Turtle, Three Sides to Every Story

The first of three tracks on Greek progwinders Mother Turtle‘s fourth LP, Three Sides to Every Story, “Zigu Zigu,” would seem to cap with a message of congratulations: “You’ve listened to three musicians indulging themselves with some kind of weird instrumental music.” It then goes on to question its own instrumentalism, because it has the words presently being spoken, continuing in this manner until a long fadeout of guitar leads to the funky start of the 15-minute-long “Notwatch.” Good fun, in other words. Mother Turtle maybe aren’t so weird as they think they are, but they are duly adventurous and obviously joyful in their undertaking, bringing chants in over drifting guitar and synth swirl in “Notwatch” before building to a crescendo of rock guitar and organ, ultimately dominated by a solo as it would almost have to be, before intertwining piano lines in 16:46 closer “A Christmas Postcard from Kim” lead to further shenanigans, vocal experimentation, plays on metal, holiday shimmer, and a fade into the close. At 38 minutes, Three Sides to Every Story doesn’t at all overstay its welcome, but neither is it an exercise looking for audience engagement in the traditional sense. Rather, it resonates its glee through its offbeat sensibility and thus works on its own level to craft a hook. One can’t help but smile while listening to the fun being had.

Mother Turtle on Thee Facebooks

Sound Effect Records website

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The Legendary Flower Punk, Wabi Wu

It is something to consider, perhaps as you dive into the nine-minute “Prince Mojito” on The Legendary Flower Punk‘s Wabi Wu, that the band started as a psych-folk solo-project. Currently working as a core trio plus a range of guests, the Russian troupe make their debut on Tonzonen with the brazenly prog seven-tracker, totaling just a 44-minute run but with a range that would seem to be much broader. Alternately jazzy and synth-laden, technically intricate but never overly showy, pieces like the bass-led “Azulejo” and the penultimate “Trance Fusion På Ryska” present a meeting of the minds with founding guitarist Kamille Sharapodinov at the center of most compositions, he and bassist Mike Lopakov and drummer Nick Kunavin digging into nothing’s-off-limits textures from fusion onward through New Wave and dub. The abiding rule followed seems to be whatever moves the band about a given track is what they roll with, and though The Legendary Flower Punk has evolved well beyond its origins, there’s still a bit of flower and still a bit of punk amid all the legends being made. Good luck keeping up with it.

The Legendary Flower Punk on Bandcamp

Tonzonen Records website

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Slow, VI – Dantalion

With the follow-up to 2018’s V – Oceans (review here), Belgian duo Slow rattle off another 78 minutes of utterly consuming, crushing, atmospheric and melancholic funeral doom like it’s absolutely nothing. Well, not like it’s nothing — more like it’s a weight on their very soul — but even so. Issued through Aural Music, VI – Dantlion brings the two-piece of guitarist/vocalist/drummer Déhà and bassist/lyricist Lore B. once again into the grueling, megalithic churn of self-inflicted riff-punishment that’s so encompassing, so dark, so deep and so dramatic it almost can’t help but also be beautiful. To wit, second track “Lueur” is a 17-minute downward journey into ambient brutalism, yet as it moves toward the midsection one can still hear melodic elements of keyboard and orchestral sounds peaking through. There is letup in the lush finale “Elégie,” but to get there, you have to make your way through “Incendiaire,” which is possibly the most extreme movement of the seven inclusions. Though frankly, after a while, you’re buried so far down by Slow‘s glorious miseries that it’s hard to tell. The world needs this band. They are what humanity would sound like if it was ever honest with itself.

Slow on Thee Facebooks

Aural Music on Bandcamp

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OKO, Haze

Adelaide, Australia, newcomers OKO present their debut EP in the form of Haze, a 14:44 single-song outing that sees the instrumental three-piece of guitarist Nick Nancarrow, bassist Tyson Ruch and drummer Ash Matthews tap into organic heavy psych vibes while working cross-planet with Justin Pizzoferrato (known for his work with Elder, among others) on the mix and master. The resulting one-tracker has a clarity in its drum sound and clean feel that one suspects might speak of more progressive intentions on the part of OKO in the longer term, but as they are here they have a sense of tonal warmth that serves them well across the unpretentious span of “Haze” itself, the winding riff inevitably bringing to mind some of Colour Haze‘s jammier work but still managing to find its own direction. I hear no reason OKO can’t do the same, regardless of the influences they’re working under in terms of sound. Further, the longform modus suits them, and while future work will inherently develop some variety in general approach, the natural exploration they undertake on this first outing easily holds attention for its span and is fluid enough that, had they wanted, they could have pushed it further.

OKO on Thee Facebooks

OKO website

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Vug, Onyx

Vug are not the first European heavy rock band to blend vintage methods with modern production. They’re not the first band to take classic swagger and drum urgency and meld it with a pervasive sense of vocal soul. I’m not sure I’d tell them that though, because frankly, they’re doing pretty well with it. At its strongest, their Tonzonen-released sophomore outing, Onyx, recalls Thin Lizzy via, yes, Graveyard, but there’s enough clarity of intention behind the work to make it plain they know where they’re coming from. Such was the case as well with their 2018 self-titled debut (review here), and though they’ve had some lineup turnover since that first offering, the self-produced four-piece bring a character to their material on songs like “Tired Of” and the penultimate boogier “Inferno” before closing with the acoustic “Todbringer” — a mirror of side A’s “On My Own” — that they carry the classic-style 39-minute long-player off without a hitch, seeming to prep the heavy ’10s for a journey into a new decade.

Vug on Thee Facebooks

Noisolution webstore

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Ultracombo, Season 1

As the title hints, the Season 1 EP is the debut from Italy’s Ultracombo, and with it, the five-piece of vocalist Alessio Guarda, guitarists Alberto Biasin and Giordano Tasson, bassist Giordano Pajarin and drummer Flavio Gola work quickly to build the forward momentum that brings them front-to-back through the 23-minute five-track release. “Flusso” and opener “The King” feel particularly drawn from an earlier Truckfighters influence, but Guarda‘s vocals are a distinguishing factor amidst all that ensuing fuzz and straight-ahead drive, and in “Sparatutto” and the closer “Il Momento in Cui Non Penso,” they seem to strip their approach to its most basic aspects and bring together the tonal thickness and melodicism that’s been at root in their sound overall. The subtlety, such as it is, is to be found in their songwriting, which results in tracks that transcend language barriers through sheer catchiness. That bodes better for them on subsequent outings better than a wall o’ fuzz ever could, though of course that doesn’t hurt them either, especially their first time out.

Ultracombo on Thee Facebooks

Ultracombo on Bandcamp

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You know my feelings on Mos Generator: the more the merrier. Fortunately, the band generally seems to work under this ethic as well. There’s been a fair amount of news from the Port Orchard, Washington, heavy rockers over the last couple months as they’ve played limited regional live shows but announced releases like the Spontaneous Combustions jam collection and the redux The Late Great Planet Earth Suite, following up on the bootleg-ish live record Night of the Lords earlier this year. Add to that list Exiles, due out at the end of this month through Glory or Death Records with preorders up now. The two-sided offering brings together tracks recorded during the sessions for Mos Generator‘s 2018 studio LP, Shadowlands (review here), with various covers of Van Halen, Rush and Black Sabbath on side B.

Cool stuff all around. The Sabbath cover — “Air Dance,” from Never Say Die — has been posted by the band before, and you can hear it below. I hate to say it, but would it be too much to ask Mos Generator to cover that whole album? I mean, I know that might be a lot of time, but they’ve done plenty of Sabbath tunes over the years any, as guitarist/vocalist Tony Reed notes below, and “Air Dance” really, really fits with their sound. I’d love to hear them do that entire record. And with the rate at which Mos does stuff these days, figure maybe they’d be up for it, just to keep busy.

I’ll look for an announcement of that soon (not really, but it would be cool). In the meantime, here’s preorder info for Exiles:

Mos Generator – Exiles

Side A of this release is a collection of outtakes from our last album Shadowlands. “Twelve Psychics” which was pulled from Shadowlands at the eleventh hour, and “Battah”, show a more metal side to our writing which is usually represented by at least one song on each of our albums. The third track on side A is an alternate version of a song from Shadowlands called Woman Song. “The Lady Vanishes” is an extended (and at times drastically different) version of the track that made it on the album. I think I prefer this version and I’m not sure why I put the edit on the final tracklisting for Shadowlands.

Side B is comprised of three covers we recorded over the last few years. The first is a song from Van Halen II. This is my favorite VH song and I’m very happy with how it came out. Next up is “Air Dance” by Black Sabbath. I really enjoy the Never Say Die album and although it doesn’t fall into the classic Sab album lineup, it has a lot to offer as a unique and diverse album. We’ve done a lot of Sabbath covers over the years and this was by far the most challenging. Last on side B is “Anthem” by Rush. Sometimes I think Rush get overlooked as being a powerhouse heavy rock band and I think Anthem is the proof. This was from our first live performance of it from Vancouver BC 2016.
– Reed, August 2019

Mos Generator – Exiles
Program One:
Twelve Psychics
Battah
The Lady Vanishes

Program Two:
Light Up The Sky (Van Halen)
Air Dance (Black Sabbath)
Anthem (Rush)

PreOrders are open now with official release set as October 28th.

You can secure your copy at Glory or Death Records Web Store;
gloryordeathrecords.bigcartel.com

Mos Generator “Exiles”

Side A
1. Twelve Psychics 03:49
2. Battah (Featuring Bob Balch of Fu Manchu) 03:42
3. The Lady Vanishes 05:05

Side B
4. Light up the Sky (Van Halen Cover) 03:09
5. Air Dance (Black Sabbath Cover) 05:19
6. Anthem (Rush Cover) 04:31

Available in 4 options;

Test Press;
12” Test Press “Exiles”

Die Hard Version;
Metallic Mix Cherry Bomb 12″ Vinyl
2′ x 3′ Mos G/Glory or Death Tapestry
(Photo attached)
Mega Mos G/Glory or Death Sticker Pack
(Photo attached *CD not included)
Digital Download

Transparent/Clearwater Blue 12″ Vinyl Mos Generator – “Exiles”;
Transparent/Clearwater Blue 12″ Vinyl
Random Stickers
Digital Download

Transparent/Clear 12″ Vinyl Mos Generator – “Exiles”;
Transparent/Clear 12″ Vinyl
Digital Download

Mos Generator is:
Tony Reed: guitar, vocals
Jono Garrett: drums
Sean Booth: bass

http://www.facebook.com/MosGenerator
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https://mosgenerator.bandcamp.com/
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https://www.gloryordeathrecords.com/

Mos Generator, “Air Dance” (Black Sabbath cover)

Day four of the six-dayer. Head’s a little reeling, but I’m not sure any more so than, say, last week at this time. I’d be more specific about that, but oddly enough, I don’t hook my brain up to medical scanners while doing reviews. Seems like an oversight on my part, now that I think about it. Ten years later and still learning something new! How about that internet, huh?

Since I don’t think I’ve said it in a couple days, I’ll remind you that the hope here is you find something you dig. There’s a lot of cool stuff in this batch, so that should at least make skimming through it fun if you go that route. Either way, thanks for reading if you do.

Quarterly Review #31-40:

Electric Octopus, Smile

It’s been about two months since Electric Octopus posted Smile, so they’re about due for their next release. So, quick! Before this 82-minute collection of insta-chill jams is out of date, there’s still time to consider it their latest offering. Working as the four-piece of Tyrell Black and Dale Hughes — both of whom share bass and guitar duties — drummer Guy Hetherington and synthesist Stevie Lennox, the Belfast improv jammers rightfully commence with the 25-minute longest track (immediate points) “Abberation” (sic), which evolves and devolves along its course and winds up turning from a percussive jam to a guitar-led build up that still stays gloriously mellow even as it works its way out. You can almost hear the band moving from instrument to instrument, and that’s the point. The much shorter “Spiral,” “Dinner at Sea, for One” and closer “Mouseangelo” bring in a welcome bit of funk, “Moth Dust” explores minimalist reaches of guitar and ambient drumming, and “Hyperloop” digs into fuzz-soaked swirl before cleaning up its act in the last couple minutes. These cats j-a-m. May they do so into perpetuity.

Electric Octopus on Thee Facebooks

Electric Octopus on Bandcamp

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Crypt Trip, Haze County

Onto the best-albums-of-2019 list go San Marcos, Texas, trio Crypt Trip, who, sonically speaking, are way more Beto O’Rourke than Ted Cruz. The three-piece have way-way-upped the production value and general breadth from their 2018 Heavy Psych Sounds debut, Rootstock, and the clarity of purpose more than suits them as they touch on ’70s country jams and hard boogie and find a new melodic vocal confidence that speaks to guitarist Ryan Lee as a burgeoning frontman as well as the shredder panning channels in “To Be Whole.” Fortunately, he’s backed by bassist Sam Bryant and drummer Cameron Martin in the endeavor, and as ever, it’s the rhythm section that gives the “power trio” its power. Centerpiece “Free Rain” is a highlight, but so is the pedal steel of intro “Forward” and the later “Pastures” that precedes six-minute closer “Gotta Get Away,” which makes its transport by means of a hypnotic drum solo from Martin. Mark it a win and go to the show. That’s all you can do. Haze County is a blueprint for America’s answer to Europe’s classic heavy rock movement.

Crypt Trip on Thee Facebooks

Heavy Psych Sounds website

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Love Gang & Smokey Mirror, Split Double EP

A bit of Tull as Love Gang‘s flute-inclusive opener “Can’t Seem to Win” skirts the line of the proggier end of ’70s worship. The Denver outfit and Dallas’ Smokey Mirror both present three tracks on Glory or Death Records‘ Split Double EP, and Love Gang back the leadoff with “Break Free” and “Lonely Man,” reveling in wall-o’-fuzz chicanery and organ-laced push between them, making their already unpredictable style less predictable, while Smokey Mirror kick off side B in particularly righteous fashion via the nine-minute “Sword and Scepter,” which steps forth to take ultra-Sabbathian ownership of the release even as the filthy tone of “Sucio y Desprolijo” and the loose-swinging Amplified Heat-style megashuffle of “A Thousand Days in the Desert” follow. Two bands in the process of finding their sound coming together to serve notice of ass-kickery present and future. If you can complain about that, you’re wrong.

Love Gang on Thee Facebooks

Smokey Mirror on Thee Facebooks

Glory or Death Records BigCartel store

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Heavy Feather, Débris & Rubble

Very much a solid first album, Heavy Feather‘s 11-song Débris & Rubble lands at a run via The Sign Records and finds the Stockholm-based classic heavy blues rockers comporting with modern Euro retroism in grand fashion. At 41 minutes, it’s a little long for a classic-style LP if one measures by the eight-track/38-minute standard, but the four-piece fill that time with a varied take that basks in sing-along-ready hooks like those of post-intro opener “Where Did We Go,” the Rolling Stones-style strutter “Waited All My Life,” and the later “I Spend My Money Wrong,” which features not the first interplay of harmonica and lead guitar amid its insistent groove. Elsewhere, more mellow cuts like “Dreams,” or the slide-infused “Tell Me Your Tale” and the closing duo of the Zeppelinian “Please Don’t Leave” and the melancholy finisher “Whispering Things” assure Débris & Rubble never stays in one place too long, though one could say the same of the softshoe-ready boogie in “Hey There Mama” as well. On the one hand, they’re figuring it out. On the other, they’re figuring it out.

Heavy Feather on Thee Facebooks

The Sign Records on Bandcamp

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Faith in Jane, Countryside

Five full-lengths deep into a tenure spanning a decade thus far, Faith in Jane have officially entered the running to be one of the best kept secrets of Maryland heavy. Their late-2018 live-recorded studio offering, Countryside, clocks in at just under an hour of organic tonality and performance, bringing a sharp presentation to the chemistry that’s taken hold among the three-piece of guitarist/vocalist Dan Mize, bassist Brendan Winston and drummer Alex Llewellyn, with Mize taking extended solos on the Wino model throughout early cuts “All is All” and “Mountain Lore” while the trio adds Appalachian grunge push to the Chesapeake’s flowing groove while building “Blues for Owsley” from acoustic strum to scorching cacophonous wash and rolling out the 9:48 “Hippy Nihilism” like the masters of the form they’re becoming. It’s not a minor undertaking in terms of runtime, but for those in on what these cats have been up to all the while, hard to imagine Countryside is seen as anything other than hospitable.

Faith in Jane on Thee Facebooks

Faith in Jane on Bandcamp

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The Mound Builders, The Mound Builders

Lafayette, Indiana’s The Mound Builders last year offered a redux of their 2014 album, Wabash War Machine (review here), but that was their last proper full-length. Their self-titled arrives as eight bruiser slabs of weighted sludge/groove metal, launching with its longest track (immediate points) in the 7:30 “Torchbearer,” before shifting into the outright screams-forward pummel of “Hair of the Dogma” and the likewise dry-throated “Separated from Youth.” By the time they get to the hardcore-punk-via-sludge of “Acid Slugs,” it’s not a little heavy. It’s a lot heavy. And it stays that way through the thrashing “Star City Massacre” and “Regolith,” hitting the brakes on “Broken Pillars” only to slam headfirst into closer “Vanished Frontier.” Five years later and they’re still way pissed off. So be it. The four-formerly-five-piece were never really all that gone, but they still seem to have packed an extended absence’s worth of aggro into their self-titled LP.

The Mound Builders on Thee Facebooks

Failure Records and Tapes

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Terras Paralelas, Entre Dois Mundos

It’s a fluid balance between heavy rock and progressive metal Terras Paralelas make in the six inclusions on their debut full-length, Entre Dois Mundos. The Brazilian instrumentalist trio keep a foundation of metallic kickdrumming beneath “Do Abismo ao Triunfo,” and even the chugging in “Espirais e Labirintos” calls to mind some background in harder-hitting fare, but it’s set against a will toward semi-psychedelic exploration, making the giving the album a sense of refusing to play exclusively to one impulse. This proves a strength in the lengthier pieces that follow “Infinito Cósmico” and “Do Abismo ao Triunfo” at the outset, and as Terras Paralelas move from the mellower “Bom Presságio” and “Espirais e Labirintos” into the more spaciously post-rocking “Nossa Jornada Interior” and the nine-minute-plus prog-out title-track that closes by summarizing as much as pushing further outward, one is left wondering why such distinctions might matter in the first place. Kudos to the band for making them not.

Terras Paralelas on Thee Facebooks

Terras Paralelas on Bandcamp

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The Black Heart Death Cult, The Black Heart Death Cult

Though one wouldn’t accuse The Black Heart Death Cult of being the first cumbersomely-named psych-rocking band in the current wave originating in Melbourne, Australia, their self-titled debut is nonetheless a gorgeous shimmer of classic psychedelia, given tonal presence through guitar and bass, but conjuring an ethereal sensibility through the keys and far-back vocals like “She’s a Believer,” tapping alt-reality 1967 vibes there while fostering what I hear is called neo-psych but is really just kinda psych throughout the nodding meander of “Black Rainbow,” giving even the more weighted fuzz of “Aloha From Hell” and the distortion flood of “Davidian Dream Beam” a happier context. They cap with the marshmallowtron hallucinations of “We Love You” and thereby depart even the ground stepped on earlier in the sitar-laced “The Magic Lamp,” finding and losing and losing themselves in the drifting ether probably not to return until, you know, the next record. When it shows up, it will be greeted as a liberator.

The Black Heart Death Cult on Thee Facebooks

Oak Island Records webstore

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Orbiter & Roadog, Split

I’m pretty sure the Sami who plays drums in Orbiter is the same dude playing bass in Roadog, but I could easily be wrong about that. Either way, the two Finnish cohort units make a fitting complement to each other on their two-songer 7″ single, which presents Orbiter‘s six-minute “Anthropocene” with the hard-driving title-track of Roadog‘s 2018 full-length, Reinventing the Wheels. The two tracks have a certain amount in common, mostly in the use of fuzz and some underlying desert influence, but it’s what they do with that that makes all the difference between them. Orbiter‘s track is spacier and echoing, where “Reinventing the Wheels” lands more straightforward in its three minutes, its motoring riff filled out by some effects but essentially manifest in dead-ahead push and lyrics about a motorcycle. They don’t reinvent the wheel, as it happens, and neither do Orbiter, but neither seems to want to do so either, and both bands are very clearly having a blast, so I’m not inclined to argue. Good fun and not a second of pretense on either side.

Orbiter on Thee Facebooks

Roadog on Thee Facebooks

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Hhoogg, Earthling, Go Home!

Space is the place where you’ll find Boston improvisationalists Hhoogg, who extend their fun penchant for adding double letters to the leadoff “Ccoossmmooss” of their exclamatory second self-released full-length, Earthling, Go Home!, which brings forth seven tracks in a vinyl-ready 37 minutes and uses that opener also as its longest track (immediate points) to set a molten tone to the proceedings while subsequent vibes in “Rustic Alien Living” and the later, bass-heavy “Recalled to the Pyramids” range from the Hendrixian to the funkadelicness he helped inspire. With a centerpiece in “Star Wizard, Headless and Awake,” a relatively straightforward three-minute noodler, the four-piece choose to cap with “Infinitely Gone,” which feels as much like a statement of purpose and an aesthetic designation as a descriptor for what’s contained within. In truth, it’s a little under six minutes gone, but jams like these tend to beg for repeat listens anyway. There’s some growing to do, but the melding of their essential chemistry is in progress, and that’s what matters most. The rest is exploration, and they sound well up for it.

Hhoogg on Thee Facebooks

Hhoogg on Bandcamp

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