Posted in Whathaveyou on December 4th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
They’re announcing the tour. What they’re not announcing yet is the album that the tour will support. Recently recorded in the US Pacific Northwest with producer Sylvia Massy, the impending Monolord full-length — which maybe is being mastered while we speak if it isn’t done already; that’s kind of exciting in a nerdy way — has the grim duty of following 2021’s Your Time to Shine (review here), but I’m looking forward to hearing where Monolord are at circa 2026, after all three of them have done the solo-projects thing and after the band has toured multiple times over with Per Wiberg as a fourth member, continuing to branch out as they’ve done all along since the first record.
My curiosity here is what Monolord will be doing before this, since if the album’s out in Spring they’ll likely tour then too. Eurofests? The US East Coast seems like a lame place to launch your first record in five years, but I only think that because it’s where I live, so I guess that’s a possibility as well. They’ll be somewhere, certainly.
So yes, the tour. All part of the process. The wait begins.
From the PR wire:
MONOLORD ANNOUNCE FIRST U.S. TOUR DATES SINCE 2022
SWEDISH DOOM TRIO RETURNS TO STATES NEXT JUNE AS NEW ALBUM NEARS COMPLETION
Monolord return to the U.S. next June for their first North American tour since 2022, traversing the western United States with performances that include stops at The Regent Theater in Los Angeles and the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco.
The news arrives as the trio of Thomas Jäger (guitar/vocals), Esben Willems (drums), and Mika Häkki (bass), wraps up work on their highly anticipated fifth album.
“The new album is a wrap! Recording with Sylvia Massy has been a fantastic experience and we can’t wait to bring these new songs on the road,” the band shares, collectively.
Tickets are on sale this Friday, December 5, at 10 a.m. local time via Monolord.com. Mizmor supports on all dates.
Monolord U.S. tour dates: June 11 San Diego, CA Casbah June 12 Santa Cruz, CA The Catalyst June 13 San Francisco, CA Great American Music Hall June 14 Sacramento, CA Harlow’s June 16 Eugene, OR John Henry’s June 17 Portland, OR Nova PDX June 18 Seattle, WA Substation June 19 Bellingham, WA Structures Brewing June 20 Tacoma, WA Airport Tavern Music Hall June 23 Denver, CO Marquis Theater June 24 Salt Lake City, UT Urban Lounge June 25 Las Vegas, NV Swan Dive June 26 Pioneertown, CA Pappy & Harriet’s June 27 Los Angeles, CA The Regent Theater
Monolord have released four critically acclaimed albums: Empress Rising (2014), Vænir (2015), Rust (2017), and Your Time to Shine (2021). Their sound combines monolithic heaviness, psychedelic expansiveness, and meticulous production.
Monolord are: Thomas V Jäger – Guitars & vocals Esben Willems – Drums Mika Häkki – Bass
Gothenburg, Sweden’s Homegrown release their second, self-titled album this Friday, Dec. 5, through Majestic Mountain Records. Note that the knight on the album cover is riding his horse backwards. These little clues divulge the persona of the instrumentalist four-piece, whose prog aspects feel ’70s-rooted without retroism and who on “Huldran” here use that progressive ideology to bask in a dub jam, so Homegrown‘s Homegrown, substantial-feeling at 10 tracks/51 minutes. They get low-slung and blues-jammy on “Adams Äpple” and find a tonal brightness in “Häxjakt i Snetakt” that is about more than just the shreddy solo that takes hold. There’s a sense of charge there, in contrast to the later “Gånglåt till Käringberget,” which is more outwardly serene and folk-informed. Is that an accordion I hear? It might be, but I’ve got a cold, so don’t quote me on it.
Folk becomes no less essential to the listening experience, and if one hears some likeness to Needlepoint in the ultra-organic “Mylingen” before the surging but still melodic payoff — nickelharpa? — I don’t think that’s necessarily out of line, though I’ll admit my knowledge of actual Swedefolk is pretty limited. Fortunately for me, Homegrown have more going on than just that. “Huldran” has a heavy psychedelic swirl, and “Den Hornkrönte” sounds like a lost ’60s surf instrumental. Closer “Talisman” has a mellotron. Clearly this is a band willing and ready to go where their songs are leading them, but one can’t listen to an arrangement like “Ringöpolskan,” when it brings in the acoustic strum late and say Homegrown aren’t minding the details here. They credit themselves with guitar, bass and drums, and I suppose it’s possible to make all these noises with those instruments, but the plainness of that does little to convey the actual adventure you’re about to embark on in listening.
Beginning with “Frihetsvisa i A-Moll” at the album’s outset, but true of “Huldran,” “Den Hornkrönte” and “Ringöpolskan” as well, Homegrown attempt to knock the listener off balance with a kind of false start. It sounds like they were making noise before ‘record’ was pressed, and feels specifically geared to give this impression, but the effect is to make their audience all the more open to what a song is doing by making them believe it’s already started. There are some stark turns from these intros as well, and part of what the album teaches is that Homegrown can be relied on to change up their approach and include the occasional misdirect. Light tricksterism. It feels consistent with the charm of their arrangements on the whole.
If your takeaway from the above is progressive instrumentalist heavy psychedelia with Swedish folk elements, that’s a decent start for knowing where Homegrown are coming from, but no doubt there’s still a surprise or two in store for you listening to the album, which you can do on the player below, with more PR wire info following.
Please enjoy:
Formed in 2018, Homegrown quickly earned attention with their fuzz-drenched sound, equal parts psychedelic exploration and hypnotic groove. Their early work, including the debut EP Berget Gråter (2023) and full-length Himalayaz (2024), showcased a raw, vocal-driven approach with guitarist Cedric Bergendal handling the mic. But for their new album, they’ve decided to ditch vocals entirely and quite honestly, they don’t need them.
After years of sweaty, high-energy shows across Sweden alongside acts like Endless Boogie and Öresund Space Collective, Homegrown have built a reputation for turning live stages into volcanic experiences. Now with their self-titled release, the band cements their status as one of Scandinavia’s most magnetic instrumental acts, no words, no filters, just waves of heavy sound rolling straight from amp to audience.
Tracklisting: 1. Frihetsvisa i A-Moll 2. Häxjakt i Snetakt 3. Huldran 4. Adams Äpple 5. Mylingen 6. Forséns öra 7. Den Hornkrönte 8. Gånglåt till Käringberget 9. Ringöpolskan 10. Talisman
Producer: Sebastian Darthsson & Homegrown Engineer: Sebastian Darthsson Mixing Engineer: Sebastian Darthsson Mastering: Per-Robin Eriksson
Homegrown: Cedric Bergendal: Guitar Marcus Bertilsson: Guitar Adam Jensen: Bass Oskar Brindmark : Drums
Posted in Whathaveyou on November 24th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
Monolord are done recording their next album. The Gothenburg, Sweden, three-piece tracked their impending sixth full-length in Oregon with Sylvia Massey, whose decades-long career has seen her work with hundreds of acts, among them Tool, Green Jellö and Machines of Loving Grace, and with the mixing and mastering process presumably still ahead of them, a release in March or April doesn’t seem out of the question for what will almost certainly be one of 2026’s most anticipated heavy albums. I’m pretty sure they’re still on Relapse Records, but they mention ‘a new era of Monolord‘ below, so I’ll wait for a confirmation of what that means before I start any real rampant speculation.
Obviously, the prospect of a new Monolord release brings questions of where the band are at sound-wise. While known for and retaining a physically lumbering nod, there’s no question the trio of guitarist/vocalist Thomas V. Jäger, bassist Mika Häkki and drummer Esben Willems have grown more dynamic. “Empress Rising” might still finish out a set with all due steamroll, but the band have shown time and again that they have more to offer sound-wise. Their 2023 two-songer EP, It’s All the Same (review here), continued the band’s forays into psychedelia and post-heavy atmosphere-making, and to my remembering, this is the first time Monolord will have come back together to make an LP that all three members have active solo-projects under their respective names.
Monolord‘s most recent full-length is 2021’s stellar Your Time to Shine (review here), which you’ll find streaming below along with the 2023 EP. One looks forward hopefully to the dry sarcasm of what their next title might be. ‘I’d Rather Walk the Dog Than Tour This Record’ or some such.
Unlike mine, their announcement was short and sweet. From socials:
We have finished recording our new full-length album with the legendary Sylvia Massy in Ashland, Oregon!
Stay tuned in 2026 for a new era of Monolord…
Photo by James Rexroad.
Monolord are: Thomas V Jäger – Guitars & vocals Esben Willems – Drums Mika Häkki – Bass
Posted in Whathaveyou on October 23rd, 2025 by JJ Koczan
One might recall Blues.Noir bassist/vocalist Daniel Palm (center above) from the rhythm section of Gothenburg sci-fi-themed crunchriffers Cities of Mars, who called it a day last year. Blues.Noir is a new project whose debut single “Främlingar på tåg” is out today, working around the concept of playing dark, heavy blues rock and making a point of doing so in Swedish. For the song, Cities of Mars‘ drummer Johan Aronstedt recorded, and the trio indeed manifests a darker sense of tonal threat certainly than one thinks of modern blues rock as having.
I don’t know much about the band’s plans going forward, but they note below there are more singles coming as they continue their initial explorations of the concept and where it might take them in terms of sound. A heavy blues revamp is easy enough to get on board with considering that so much of ‘blues rock’ is flat-out awful — I’m not supposed to say that but I don’t care — but I wouldn’t assume they’re done growing as a project just because they have an idea to start from either.
You’ll find “Främlingar på tåg” at the bottom of this post. Here’s background from the PR wire:
BLUES.NOIR – On a mission to play the blues heavier than ever, in Swedish.
Once, the blues could be played loud and dirty, rivalling many rock bands in heavy ferocity. These days, the blues is often an old man’s genre, either relishing in glories past, lingering as a non-grooving inoffensive muzak or being packaged in a big band Bonamassa-style bonanza. This state of affairs will of course not do. In Sweden, as elsewhere, the blues needs a double shot of heaviness and darkness and that’s where BLUES.NOIR are cranking their amps.
To make things more interesting, all lyrics are sung in Swedish, drawing inspiration equally from our current bleak times of hybrid warfare and the rumble from the East, as well as Lovecraft-esque tales of horrors in the dark.
After disbanding Cities of Mars in 2024, Daniel Palm spent some time looking for a new creative outlet. Being a lifelong fan of ZZ Top, a seed was rooting for a band that combined the bluesy riffs of yesteryear with the influences of stoner, doom and heavy psych that years of writing, recording and touring with CoM had brought. Soon drummer Magnus Könberg was added with a string of potential guitarists coming and going. With the rhythm section quickly settling in firmly, finding a guitar player that had good improvisational skills, a sense of the blues as well as a good handling of brutal riff weight proved a lot harder. Most of 2024 was spent trying out guitar candidates while writing songs.
A concert with legendary Swedish band Kent in 2025 proved to be an epiphany, when the emotional directness of lyrics in Daniel’s native language suddenly gave an interesting idea of translating all the songs into Swedish. For better or worse, this change brought an interesting dimension to the band and at the same time drummer Magnus’ old bandmate Tim McWeird joined on guitar. Tim quickly proved to have both a properly loud amp setup as well as riffs and solos aplenty, suddenly songs were completed and the band live debuted short thereafter.
The first single Främlingar på tåg (Strangers on a train) was quickly recorded with ex-CoM drummer Johan Aronstedt before being sent to Kent Stump of Wo Fat fame at his Crystal Clear Sound studio in Dallas, TX for mixing. This first song has quite a classical blues structure, but played with hard intent and is meant to be cranked loud. Three more songs are in the pipeline for release in the coming months and now BLUES.NOIR are ready to blow out the windows of blues venues where cobwebs have grown long enough.
Blues.Noir are: Tim McWeird – guitar Daniel Palm – bass/vocals Magnus Könberg – drums
Posted in Bootleg Theater on September 19th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
In no way am I remotely qualified to summarize the career of or eulogize Tomas Lindberg. The frontman of Gothenburg, Sweden, melodic death metal forerunners At the Gates passed away this week after more than a year of fighting cancer, and while his contributions to metal went far, far beyond the ’90s-era run of this band — he was in Lockup, Disfear, Nightrage, The Lurking Fear, was even with The Crown for a record — their 1995 fourth album, Slaughter of the Soul, remains pivotal.
On the level of influence it’s a generational landmark, and whether it was fellow Swedes like In Flames and Dark Tranquility or an entire wave of US acts like Killswitch Engage, Unearth, and the masses of ’00s-era metalcore that followed, a great, great many groups learned how to pinpoint impact from this record, and its razor riffs have lost little of their slice in the subsequent 30 years. No doubt that’s an anniversary that the band should and would otherwise be celebrating.
Again, I’m not minimizing Lindberg‘s work in other outfits or even in the rawer earlier days of At the Gates. Their first two full-lengths, 1992’s The Red in the Sky is Ours and 1933’s With Fear I Kiss the Burning Darkness are raw and punishing, but there’s an intelligence in the songwriting there as well. The production uptick on 1994’s Terminal Spirit Disease makes it a preface in my mind to what the band — at the time comprised of brothers Anders Björler (guitar) and Jonas Björler (bass), guitarist Martin Larsson, drummer Adrian Erlandsson and Lindberg — would accomplish on Slaughter of the Soul, setting a standard of rush and righteousness that few could or would ever hope to meet.
The album runs 34 minutes and 11 tracks. I’ll admit it’s been a while since I last listened — five years post-reunion, At the Gates featured at Roadburn 2019 (review here), and that would’ve been the last time, probably — but I can still remember standing outside the cafeteria as a disaffected sophomore with headphones on hearing “Blinded by Fear” for the first time on a mixtape given to me by a friend I assume hoping to make me weirder. It worked. I wasn’t far off from finding my way into the more extreme end of metal in high school and college, including my first dalliances with the heavy underground, but Slaughter of the Soul was eye-opening for me in that process. One of those, “There’s a whole world out there, kid,” moments.
Opened with the noisy sweep and sampled speech, “We are blind to the worlds within us, waiting to be born” — a quote from Luke Rhinehart’s The Dice Man, and not the last — which by now is a familiar sign across generations of what’s about to follow, “Blinded by Fear” begins a succession of one of the finest A-sides heavy metal has ever produced, regardless of niche or microgenre. I don’t know who does all-time metal lists these days, but an easy way to tell if such a list is bullshit is if this record isn’t on it.
“Blinded by Fear” leads into “Slaughter of the Soul” — I don’t even have to hear the chorus, “Slaughter of the soul/Suicidal final art/Children born of sin/Tear your soul apart,” to hear it in my head — leads into the hard-chug gallop of “Cold,” leads into the double-kick shove of “Under a Serpent Sun,” gives over to the unrepentantly pretty instrumental “Into the Dead Sky” rounding out the first side of the album, and though it was the CD era in 1995, the structure (and a runtime abbreviated compared to much of what was around at the time in metal; further evidence of their being hardcore punks at heart, or at least influenced by crossover thrash) is set up for vinyl, with “Suicide Nation” leading off with a cocking rifle before the riff becomes the shot fired. Like “Under a Serpent Sun,” there’s a hook and some tension/release happening, but it’s so much more about charge.
And I’d say that’s the last of the record’s hits, but it isn’t. “World of Lies” stands out more to my ears now than it did when the record was new, both for its riff-groovy start and the dbeat verse that ensues over the next couple minutes leading into the rush of “Unto Others,” which isn’t the same kind of highlight but still offers something to the entirety through its twisting solo and momentum maintenance. It’s after “Unto Others” that Slaughter of the Soul shifts into its final stretch, though, with “Nausea,” “Need” and the calmer instrumental finishing move “Flames of the End” all under three minutes long and the first two of them unbridled in their intensity, at least until “Need” hits the two-minute mark and gives over to toy piano ahead of the ‘secret track’-type keyboard epilogue, the title and sans-vocal procession of which both reference “Blinded by Fear” back at the outset.
For what it is and what they were trying to do, Slaughter of the Soul edges toward perfection, and for 19 years, it was the final, definitive statement from At the Gates, but as alluded above, the band got back together in 2014 and released At War with Reality, which codified Slaughter of the Soul as defining At the Gates‘ sound. Two more albums followed, 2018’s To Drink From the Night Itself, which I heard, and 2021’s The Nightmare of Being, which I did not, as the band set themselves once again to the work of being active, touring regularly, main-staging metal festivals throughout Europe and flying the banner of their work without at any point becoming just a nostalgia act.
I could go on about what this particular record helped bring into my life, but, well, I’m mostly cliche and the story is too. Instead, I’ll emphasize for anyone unfamiliar that looking back at this one album barely leaves a mark on the surface of the career of Tomas Lindberg, but it’s a special moment and intricately tied to what his legacy in heavy metal will be. On behalf of myself and this site, condolences to you if you knew him (and given my social media this week, a lot of you seemed to), as well as to his family, friends and of course bandmates in and out of At the Gates. As always, it’s the work that remains and we’re fortunate to have it.
Thanks for reading.
—
More of the same this week. Meetings at and about school (and more to come! in like half an hour if the person actually calls!) while we decide on just what kind of class she’s going to spend just how much of her day in, and so on. Everybody seems to agree we’ll be back on an IEP from the 504, which I’ll point out that I brought up doing this past Spring and was largely poo-pooed, and that’s a big meeting with big paperwork that happens I want to say next Wednesday. I’ve kept the calendar around here pretty flexible accordingly. Psych, just kidding. I’ve got a Stoned Jesus review that I’m going to try to write for Monday and it’s fully booked thereafter. Duh.
Today in the meantime we need to go file paperwork to update her passport. Yes, because we lost the other one, but the name was wrong on it anyhow. Things are difficult. Picking her up early from school. She’ll enjoy that part of it, at least, then complain the entire time going to, potentially being at, and leaving from the passport place.
A backdrop of terror, corruption, collusion and normalized extremism helps this not even a teeny bit. But that’s the world we live in. If I knew a way to hide from it forever, I would. I suppose that makes me weak, but I never claimed not to be.
Premieres next week for Electric Hydra, Thunderbird Divine, Stone Machine Electric and Black Charger. If I get that Stoned Jesus review up, that’ll be a bonus since it won’t have to wait a week and everything else is on a schedule. I was hoping to review it before it was out — I was hoping to stream it; I was hoping to interview Igor — but these weeks are getting away from me and I’m splitting my time between this site, my kid who has me back and forth to the school three times a day (that is the literal minimum; dropoff, pickup and meds boost at lunchtime), continuing to learn Hungarian (I had two classes this week and about five hours of homework, which has become the standard), and whatever else around the house. I may or may not be as busy as I would be if I had a full-time job, but being pulled in however many different directions throughout the day isn’t really what I’d call preferred compared to the zen of sitting on the couch and writing about riffs. Once upon a time, I even had a desk. Those days would seem to be well behind me, and I won’t fall further prey to nostalgia by lionizing them. I do my best now, as I’ve always done.
Great and safe weekend. Hydrate. Fuck fascism and its perpetrators. Free Palestine.
Posted in Whathaveyou on September 10th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
Some of it vibes more experimental, and some leans into ur-cool Velvet Undergroundy gravelly poetry over a mellowpsych backdrop, but Gothenburg’s Per Svensson Psychedelic Sounds lives up to its name one way or the other. The upcoming Berlin Nights is the second album from Svensson this year behind a release with his Cosmic Garden Project (also on Sound Effect Records), but as I missed that and am getting caught up (my email and the label’s email haven’t been able to talk in months; I feel lucky to have gotten the PR), a moody but not necessarily brooding or downer execution gives pieces like the desert-fuzzy “Opening the Door to the Cosmos” and the sitar-laced “Philosopher’s Stone” charm beyond the plays to genre.
If you’re not familiar — and I’ll say it’s cool because I wasn’t either — Svensson is a sound artist of the wins-grants variety known for various installations and pieces around Sweden. Per Svensson Psychedelic Sounds and Cosmic Garden Project are ongoing current projects, and he was also in Swedish rockers Gold (not the Dutch band) in the however-long ago. There isn’t audio up from Berlin Nights as yet, but “Night Shift” below comes from the project’s last outing and is a burner just the same. I’m doing my best here, alright?
From the PR wire:
Sound Effect Records PRESENTS: Per Svensson Psychedelic Sounds – Berlin Nights: OUT Oct-10th, 2025
Per Svensson Psychedelic Sounds returns with the new album “Berlin Nights” released on Sound Effect Records. The Gothenburg-based multi-instrumentalist and “Contemporary Swedish psych overlord Per Svensson” (Shindig), on the new album, makes his psychedelic music created in the city of Berlin, in the Swedish countryside and in the endless Swedish forest. Songs like Endless Forest, Philosopher’s Stone, Berlin Nights and Opening the door to Cosmos.
Widening the psychedelic spectrum through poetic Sound Journeys into the unconscious. Per Svensson Psychedelic Sounds’ music is often described as a combination of kraut rock and psychedelia with poetic layers and field recordings. The band played at the first Psykstämman festival on Brännö in Gothenburg in 2023 and at Skeppet, Fyrens Ölkafé, Garaget in Hammenhög, Klubb Död in Stockholm etc. venues in connection with the release of previous albums “Magic Trip” in 2023, “Gothenburg Sounds” in 2022, “Psychedelic Sounds” in 2019. Per Svensson b. 1965 in Gothenburg Sweden, Artist, Musician, made 2 albums with The Kingdom of Evol together with Freddie Wadling etc., and 3 albums with The New Alchemy. Now working in parallel with Cosmic Garden Project, GOLD and Autosound. Per Svensson’s music is often connected to alchemy and nature.
The new album “Berlin Nights” was recorded at Hansa Studios in Berlin, Germany and in the Swedish countryside in Uppåkra, Sweden, at House on the Hill Studio. On the new album, the poetry describes the mystery of life and death, but also rebirth, the new beginning or reincarnation: The spiral rotation of time, space and matter. The music on the new album focuses on the return of life through death and opens the door to a Psychedelic cosmos.
Astroqueen‘s Rufus Rising EP will be the band’s first new release in over two decades. That in itself makes its May 2 arrival an event — but the manner of its making is also notable. The new song premiering in the video below, “Turbin Turbine” (sic) is their first single in just as long. This isn’t the most impartial, critic-y thing of me to say, but I’m honored to host it.
Rufus Rising is comprised of four new songs, and “Turbin Turbine” is the leadoff. The track is rooted in a 2003 session the band undertook to demo out songs for their next outing, the follow-up to 2001’s Into Submission, which Majestic Mountain also reissued in 2022 to at last give it some modicum of the presentation it had long deserved. That second full-length didn’t happen at the time and it hasn’t happened yet — the band said they were writing as of last September — but as Astroqueen have taken to the stage again over the last few years, playing festivals like Truckfighters Fuzz Fest (review here) and Freak Valley (review here), and more besides, the discussion of more recording has been there all the while.
So recording has been done. They’re meeting the original demos halfway, which means that the guitars have been redubbed by founding guitarist/vocalist Daniel Änghede, and the whole affair has been remixed and remastered by Andy La Rocque, who helmed the original tracking of the first three of the four songs on Rufus Rising. The 2003 demo, in other words, with new guitars worked in from Änghede. The fourth cut on the EP — the title-track — would seem to be a follow-up or a revisit on some level to Astroqueen‘s 1999 single “Rufus the Space Agent,” which came out on Monster Zero Records (which also released the first Colour Haze album in ’95). “Rufus Rising,” the song, was recorded in 2024 by Änghede.
The way it’s phrased below, I’m not sure if it was just him doing all the tracking solo or with the full band, and I haven’t heard it yet or I’d surely have some comment one way or the other in that regard, but for now, dig into the “Turbin Turbine” video below, get stoked on new Astroqueen in just a couple weeks (one of the vinyl editions is already sold out on preorder), and bask in the fuzz because it’s there just for you.
Enjoy:
Astroqueen, “Turbin Turbine” video premiere
Astroqueen is back with fresh material! This time, they’ve dusted off unreleased tracks from their debut album, Into Submission. New guitars have been recorded, but fans will still recognize the old, fuzzy Astroqueen sound we all love!
“Back in 2003, fresh off the release of Into Submission, Astroqueen hit the studio with Andy La Rocque to record a 3-track demo. Two of those tracks made it onto indie compilations, but the follow-up album never happened. – Life took us in different directions, and the recorded tracks were left to collect dust,” says drummer Johan Borgede.
Now, 20 years later, Astroqueen is back, picking up right where they left off. – When we started working on new material, we realized those demo tracks were too good to stay forgotten says guitarist and singer Daniel Änghede. The riffs still had the fire, but the tone needed an upgrade. – So, we re-recorded the guitars and returned back to Andy. This time at his new studio Sonic Train Studios, to give them the mix they deserved.
The result is Rufus Rising – Astroqueen at its rawest and fuzziest. This EP is both a time capsule and a rocket into the future: an echo from the past and a promise of what’s to come. Rufus Rising is just the beginning.
Artwork by @k_a_p_a_t_konto Released on Majestic Mountain Records Recorded at Andy La Rocque’s Sonic Train Studios
Tracklisting 1. Turbin Turbine 2. Other Side of Nothing 3. Tidal Wave 4. Rufus Rising
Track 1-3 recorded & mixed at Los Angered Records, April 4-6, 2003. Engineered by Andy La Rocque. Produced by Andy La Rocque & Astroqueen. Guitars recorded by Daniel Änghede at Astroblast Studios, January 2024.
Track 4 written and recorded by Daniel Änghede at Observatoriet Studios, January 2024. Mixed and mastered at Sonic Train Studios, March 22-23, 2024, by Andy La Rocque.
Astroqueen on this EP Daniel Änghede – Lead guitar & vocals Daniel Tolergård – Guitar Johan Borgede – Drums & Percussion Mattias Vester – Bass
Posted in Whathaveyou on April 16th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
Yes, I know this was announced last week. I don’t care if it was announced last year — it’s friggin’ Domkraft and friggin’ Howling Giant touring together. Can you imagine the banger show that must be? Howling Giant, who I think will be playing as a four-piece again, hitting the road after recording their next full-length (oh I’m so nervous for it), and Domkraft making the most of the US visa that brought them Stateside this past Fall to be at Desertfest New York (review here), which they just about rolled into a little ball and tucked into their pocket to save for later. They were incredible.
Getting this post ready yesterday, I put on 2023’s Sonic Moons (review here) again and at the risk of spoiling your own revisit for you, yup, it still destroys. Their massive lurch and Howling Giant‘s careening, hooky uptempo shove should mesh well, and one hopes a second tour puts Domkraft somewhere in the realm of breaking even as regards the cost of artist visas. If you go, buy a shirt. Buy 10.
And I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that Howling Giant are in my neighborhood (literally) this week for a show. I can’t attend as I’m traveling, but I’m sending The Patient Mrs. for a rare guest review. I’ll post it next week probably. Will be fun. There’s precedent, but I’ll have more on that later.
Here are Domkraft and Howling Giant dates, as per the announcement on socials:
[UPDATE JUNE 20: This tour has been postponed owing to an unspecified health issue in the Domkraft camp. Best wishes to them and here’s hoping they can make it back over soon.]
Here we go! The second and final leg of our US tour starts in June and we will be joined by none other than our ace label mates @howlinggiant. See you in the audiodomes!
Domkraft & Howling Giant West Coast USA tour: 6/26 San Diego, CA – Brick by Brick 6/27 Las Vegas, NV – The Griffin 6/28 Garden Grove, CA – The Locker Room 6/29 Palmdale, CA – Transplants Brewing 6/30 San Luis Obispo, CA – Dark Nectar 7/1 San Francisco, CA – Bottom of the Hill 7/2 Eureka, CA – Savage Henry Comedy Club 7/3 Eugene, OR – John Henry’s 7/4 Portland, OR – The High Water Mark 7/5 Vancouver, BC – Lanalou’s 7/6 Seattle, WA – The Funhouse
Line-up Martin Wegeland – vocals, bass Martin Widholm – guitars Anders Dahlgren – drums
