Athens-based heavy rockers The Vulcan Itch released their second full-length, Rise of the Fallen, this past Friday through The Lab Records, and there’s barely a second to spare in its 10-song/31-minute run. Sure, in the later reaches of side B’s “The Way” and “Chained Freedom” the trio might have a measure or two of flourish as part of their pointed, directed, plan-in-action execution, and closer/longest track “Drowning” dares to top four minutes, but particularly as “Wasted” (video premiering below) opens with such charge, the subsequent “Perfect Life” makes its sub-three minutes a showcase of perpendicular-feeling corners while unveiling the shoutier backing vocals from bassist and recording engineer Nikos “Lizard” Chalkousis that add a singalong kind of feel soon reinforced in the call-and-response payoff of “Addicted to the Dark” — the verse of which is the first time they really take their foot off the gas in terms of tempo, and even there they stay busy en route to the next chorus surge — the emphasis from Chalkousis, guitarist/lead vocalist Spy Das and drummer Erotokritos “Pepper” Kolaitis is on immediacy.

Their Spring 2020 self-titled debut hardly wanted for urgency in cuts like “Don’t Give a Fuck” or “Addiction,” and 2022’s Trapped in a Cage EP hit a similar degree of rush in “Find Yourself,” but on Rise of the Fallen — and yeah, the title is kinda generic; could you do better in Greek? — The Vulcan Itch have made an obvious effort to strip away anything that could be considered ‘excess’ during the writing process, and as such, “Now or Never,” the side B leadoff “Liars and Betrayers” that both hints at the sociopolitical lyric of “Chained Freedom” and has a bit of Don Henley in the lead guitar, and the already-noted one-two punch that starts the record come across as both worked on and an energetic rush. Das‘ vocals lean almost into pop-punk in “Wasted” and “Now or Never,” etc., but while thrust is such an overarching factor, they’re not at all monolithic in sound or arrangement as “Is it Happening” changes up the melody to evoke vibes from Beatles and Queens of the Stone Age at some remove from the palm-muting and crunching tonality of “The Way,” which puts riffy twists at the end of its start-stop verse measures and straightens its course through the hook before cycling through again.

As one might anticipate, it’s “Drowning” that is the real slowdown, but even there the fuzzy low end flow intertwines with airy guitar and the sense of movement isn’t given up in the chugging bridge and nodder chorus. Whether it’s the skronky flourishes of “Is it Happening,” the return of the shouts in “So Cold” and “Chained Freedom,” or the welcoming burst of speed offered in “Wasted,” The Vulcan Itch are professional in both the production and the consideration of their audience in the writing. Their material is accessible even at its most aggressive and able to deliver “Addicted to the Dark,” which is by no means optimistic in its theme, in such a way as to sound organic coming out of “Perfect Life” as part of Rise of the Fallen‘s momentum build rather than departing from that as more of the record’s personality is revealed. The sense of command and direction is palpable, the writing not at all haphazard in its level of depth or detail, and even at their most all-go-now-now-now, they never lose sight of their goals within the individual songs or in the overarching front-to-back journey, however brief that may be.

And while, yeah, that’s about Rise of the Fallen — the entirety of which is streaming near the bottom of this post — being on the shorter side of ‘full-length,’ that The Vulcan Itch didn’t pad it out and thereby risk giving up the efficiency so central to their purposes should be taken as further indication that they know what the hell they’re doing. The clip for “Wasted” premiering below is about as straightforward as you can get — the band, in a place, playing the track — but as with the record the song leads off, there’s no denying the personality brought to it through their collective performance.

Credits and such follow under the embed. Please enjoy:

The Vulcan Itch, “Wasted” video premiere

The Vulcan Itch – “Wasted” from the album “Rise Of The Fallen”
The Lab Records (2024)

Video credits:
Directed by Gerasimos Kolaitis
Cinematography by Alex Haritakis

Album credits:
Music written and performed by The Vulcan Itch
Lyrics by Spy Das
Recorded and mixed by Nikos Chalkousis at Lychnopolis studio
Mastered by Bill Lagos at Entasis studio
Design and illustration by A.D.Visions

Tracklitsing:
1. Wasted (2:12)
2. Perfect Life (2:47)
3. Addicted to the Dark (3:11)
4. Now or Never (2:44)
5. Is it Happening (3:18)
6. Liars and Betrayers (2:28)
7. The Way (3:37)
8. So Cold (3:23)
9. Chained Freedom (3:32)
10. Drowning (4:14)

Formed in 2018, The Vulcan Itch have released one self-titled album and one EP titled “Trapped In A Cage” which were both met with great critical acclaim and allowed the band to play numerous throughout Greece.

The Vulcan Itch are:
Vocals and guitars : Spy Das
Bass and backing vocals : Nikos “Lizard” Chalkousis
Drums : Erotokritos “Pepper” Kolaitis

The Vulcan Itch, Rise of the Fallen (2024)

The Vulcan Itch on Facebook

The Vulcan Itch on Instagram

The Vulcan Itch on Bandcamp

The Lab Records on Facebook

The Lab Records on Instagram

The Lab Records website

London-based groove-conjurors Stonus will return to Cyprus, where they originally formed in 2015, to support Sweden’s Truckfighters in the coastal city of Larnaca. Don’t be surprised if they end up putting some new material in the set, since as of at least a few weeks ago, they were planning to record this summer and make a follow-up to their debut LP, Aphasia, which was released in 2020 and followed the next year by their Séance EP (review here). In the presumed interim time between now and the arrival of that yet-unrecorded full-length, Stonus will offer Live in Zen, for which you can see a brief teaser below.

Zen Production Studios is also located in Cyprus, and honestly I don’t know how much of the band lives there versus in the UK, etc., but you can see in the clip it looks like a classy establishment to showcase Stonus‘ riffery. Details are short at this point as regards things like a tracklisting — possible there could be new material on Live in Zen too, depending on when it was recorded and apparently filmed — and a release date, artwork, and so on, but if the repeating undulations of heavy rock and doom have taught anything in the last five decades-plus, it’s patience. So be patient.

And yes, I’m talking to myself there.

The following was cobbled together from social media:

Stonus – Live in Zen (TEASER)

“We have been waiting for a while for this one and we are super-excited to finally start sharing it with you all!”

Out soon on youtube and on vinyl via Electric Valley Records and Ouga Booga and the Mighty Oug!!

We are currently working on our sophomore album which we are aiming to record this summer!

Couldn’t be more excited and we are eager to share with you some of our new material but till then we got work to do.

Recorded at Zen Production Studios in Nicosia, Cyprus
Filmed by SevenSouled Photography
Recorded & Engineered by Alexis Yiangoullis
Mastered by Billy Anderson
Lights by Nikolas Karatzas
Artwork by Seven souled Photography & Rafael Marquetto

https://www.facebook.com/stonerscy
https://www.instagram.com/stonus.band/
https://stonus.bandcamp.com/

http://electricvalleyrecords.com
https://www.facebook.com/electricvalleyrecords
https://www.instagram.com/electricvalleyrecord
https://evrecords.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/Ougaboogarecs
https://ougaboogaandthemightyoug.bandcamp.com/

Stonus, Live in Zen teaser

Stonus, Séance EP (2021)

Athens-based five-piece Under the Sun are set to issue their debut LP, The Bell of Doom, on April 5 through the e’er-reliable Sound Effect Records. And man, some albums just manage to sound loud no matter at what volume you’re actually playing them. Starting with a hearty “Oh yeah!” and diving almost immediately into a celebration of riff and drive with “Smoking Angels,” the shove is inviting through the slowdown and into the dual guitars assuring no dip in the heavy as they shred the solo into the fade. The initial impression is a party and they back that for sure in the burly swagger of “Cry Out,” the more rolling “One Reason” and side B’s pairing of “The Shot” (video premiering below) and “Pony Ride,” with classic-style hooks and careening riffs offered with no pretense in their impulse toward audience engagement. Sounds like a good time? Hell yes it does.

But if you’re looking at the cover art with its graveyard and kraken-church, red sky and vertigo-style swirl, dark hues and creeper logo treatments wondering if I’ve posted the wrong image or some such based on the above description, there’s another side to Under the Sun that manifests throughout the eight-song/38-minute LP. In the video for “The Shot,” they’re getting ready for the show, getting to the show, playing the show, and that focus on on-stage energy is an obvious priority. If they showed up at your front door and started rocking out (after knocking politely, of course), they could hardly make it easier to get on board with the groove. What’s not accounted for in that are cuts like the title-track, which trades “Oh yeah!” for a tolling bell ahead of its crashes and redirects the momentum built across “Smoking Angels” and “Cry Out” toward a post-Cathedral lurch that even when they seem to break out of their own trance later on with a last-minute tempo kick, continues to define “The Bell of Doom” as a marked turn from whence they set forth minutes earlier.

Side B leadoff “Going Down” subs in Sabbathian swing for its own second-half pickup, and they find some middle ground in brash closer “My Name” — which is the longest inclusion at 6:34 but departs to a residual drone around the 4:45 mark — but in that finale the vibe likewise feels grimmer. The vocals are throatier, and the on-beat forwardness that brought the double-time hi-hat, strutting riff and Southern-style soloing of “Pony Ride” has shifted its urgency to act as a setup for the quick drop to bass that precedes a markedly sludged-out nod, which serves as their mostly-instrumental outro before the aforementioned drone takes hold, pausing again to get even slower before it’s through and thereby hammering its teardown all the more into your brain. This dual-faceted ethic isn’t always so stark in presentation, which “One Reason” also demonstrates in sticking to its bigger-feeling lumber, and one has to acknowledge that the lines being drawn are between microniches under the umbrella of ‘heavy.’

It’s the sense of purpose with which Under the Sun toll their bell — aesthetically and literally speaking — when they do that is striking, ultimately, and it may be that as they press forward from The Bell of Doom, they’ll draw the various sides of their persona closer together and end up somewhere in the middle. The opposite feels no less likely; that the lines between their rocker and doomer sides will become more prevalent. As their first record, The Bell of Doom sets out on a path that’s unknowable as yet — though it’s almost always fun to guess, even when I say it isn’t — but what allows it to do so is a strength of performance and songwriting that communes with genre and audience even as the band begin to search for their place, their sound. Or maybe I should take a cue from “The Shot” below, let tomorrow worry about tomorrow, and bask in the revelry of the moment captured and offered, whatever form it might take.

Yeah, let’s roll with it.

Enjoy the video. PR wire info and links of course follow after:

Under the Sun, “The Shot” video premiere

Under the Sun, one of Athens, Greece’s best-kept secrets, announce their debut album “The Bell of Doom”, due out on vinyl and CD on April 5, 2024 on Sound Effect Records. A thunderous stoner-sludge album shaking the foundations of all-things-heavy with its combination of amp-splitting power and red-eyed psychedelics.

Under The Sun is a sludgerotic stoner band that emerged from the depths of heavy riffing and jamming, back in 2015. Inspired by historic ’70s bands like Black Sabbath and embracing the sound of newer bands, like Orange Goblin, Kyuss, and C.O.C., Under the Sun forge their own sound that appeals to both fans of 70s heavy rock and stoner / doom music lovers.

Passionate about creating music driven by fuzz-drenched guitars and groovy bass lines, Under the Sun operate on the event horizon between heavy-doom and sunbaked stoner-rock. Armed with tough riffing, powerful vocals and traveling drums, Under the Sun merge a punk-attitude (the album was recorded live and required a maximum of two takes for each song) with the “sweet surrender” of their more laid-back, psych-blues escapism, resulting in a classic r’n’r record!

From the pure r’n’r of “Smoking Angels” to the seemingly-occult aura of “The Bell of Doom” (in essence an allegorical song about the distortion of human relationships), Under the Sun revisit their childhood dreams (“Shot”), or embark on some… psychedelic ones (“Pony Ride”), pay tribute to choices turned sour and wrong paths (“One Reason”, “Going Down”), though, after all, they do not forget to praise Friday night in the city (“Looking for some dirt, 20 euros in my pocket, welcome to my world”, from “Know My Name”), or make a tender gesture to all those who have a hard time and need to take life in their own hands (“Cry Out”)…cause, as the band insists on, we are all equal under the sun.

Video credits:
Artist: Under The Sun
Song Title: The Shot
Album: The Bell Of Doom
Label: Sound Effect Records (www.soundeffect-records.gr)
Director: Spyros Kourkoulas

Tracklisting:
1. Smoking Angels
2. Cry Out
3. The Bell of Doom
4. One Reason
5. Going Down
6. The Shot
7. Pony Ride
8. My Name

Album credits:
Recorded at Unreal Studios
Engineered by Nick Dimitrakakos
Mixed and mastered by Alex Ketenjian
Artwork by CLLK

Under the Sun, The Bell of Doom (2024)

Under the Sun on Facebook

Under the Sun on Instagram

Under the Sun on Bandcamp

Sound Effect Records on Facebook

Sound Effect Records on Bandcamp

Sound Effect Records website

Dug-in Athenian riffchuckers Acid Mammoth are set to issue their fourth LP, Supersonic Megafauna Collision, on April 5 through Heavy Psych Sounds. It arrives three years after their duly rolling 2021 offering, Caravan (review here), and feels no less self-aware in highlighting its elephantine nature, a largesse of sound that begins in the opening title-track — catchy, doomed but not necessarily miserable, more reveling in the worship of volume and tone, a nodding testimony — and follows where the smoke goes throughout its six-track/41-minute entirety.

And if you’re expecting me to drop a reference here to that smoke leading to the Riff-Filled Land, well, I guess that’s reasonable enough. But don’t let that take away from the fact that Acid Mammoth have been declaring their brand of stoner-doom dogma since their 2017 self-titled debut caught the attention of Heavy Psych Sounds in the first place. And along with the over-the-top, heavy-speaking-to-heavy title underscoring the latest outing’s aural heft in language the genre-converted should have no trouble understanding — that is, it feels like one is supposed to look at Supersonic Megafauna Collision and/or the Branca Studio cover that adorns it and rightly anticipate being flattened by the proceedings — the overarching crush that gets a bit more down and dirty in “Fuzzorgasm (Keep on Screaming)” (video premiering below) becomes not a downer slog, but instead a vital celebration of its own motion.

This is an aspect of the work the band themselves acknowledge in the PR wire info below — thinking specifically of “all that enthusiasm and excitement,” etc. — and part of it might just be down to that the record, with the exceptions of 11:53 closer “Tusko’s Last Trip” and the trade-volume-for-hypnosis “One with the Void” (4:35) before it, keeps its songs to about six minutes in length, keeps its energy high, and feels in its bulk specifically composed to be played live. Through the title cut, “Fuzzorgasm (Keep on Screaming),” the Electric Wizardly slough of “Garden of Bones” on which Marios Louvaris seems to keep the momentum going in part by peppering in double-kick amid the tempo comedown riffery, and “Atomic Shaman,” which leads off side B in what feels like direct complement to the catchiness that began in “Supersonic Megafauna Collision,” Acid Mammoth dare to bring vibrancy to a style of doom that in the hands of many outfits in Europe and elsewhere has a hard time getting out of the way of its own misery. Among the many other things Acid Mammoth accomplish on Supersonic Megafauna Collision, they make it fun to play in the mud.

The vocals of Chris Babalis, Jr., which are Sabbath-rooted but have never wanted for their own character in that — Babalis on guitar/vocals and Louvis on drums make up half the returning lineup with guitarist Chris Babalis, Sr. and bassist Dimosthenis Varikos are another piece of what carries that fervor through to the listener. This is true even as one waits for the volume burst in “One With the Void” that doesn’t actually arrive until after the riff of “Tusko’s Last Trip” enacts its own build, and as infectious as the earlier pieces are in their choruses and brighter mood, it’s the vocals that provide consistency as the second half of the record departs from “Atomic Shaman” into the last two songs, fostering tension in “One With the Void” that “Tusko’s Last Trip” pays off in its outbound march and the gritty low end that leaves space for lead guitar to cut through before and after they set up and execute the concluding, jammier procession, an especially scorching solo over brash plod that could probably have just kept going all day like that providing the album’s final statement before the quick fade brings it down.

While consistent in tone, “Tusko’s Last Trip” is purposeful in delivering on the trope of a harder-hitting, broader-in-scope capstone, and it ends up hitting its mark — not unexpectedly, considering it’s Acid Mammoth‘s fourth full-length — in a way that also calls out the clarity of big-riff-party intent throughout Supersonic Megafauna Collision‘s early going. And yet, if they wrote it for Caravan, it would’ve been a completely different song three years ago. The band have never sounded tighter than they do in these songs, and while that’s part of the appeal, they neglect neither the atmospheric scope nor the raw impact crucial to engaging the audience whose passion for the form they so readily share. All of these elements, plus melody, chemistry, aesthetic and craft, align just right to let Supersonic Megafauna Collision present a fresh take to those with ears willing to hear it. Whatever else they do or don’t do from here, they’ve captured a moment.

Enjoy the clip for “Fuzzorgasm (Keep on Screaming)” — which is mostly safe for work, if that helps? — below, followed by some words from the band on it and more from the PR wire:

Acid Mammoth, “Fuzzorgasm (Keep on Screaming)” video premiere

Acid Mammoth on “Fuzzorgasm (Keep on Screaming)”:

“Fuzzorgasm (Keep on Screaming)” is the third track of our upcoming new album ‘Supersonic Megafauna Collision’. It is a witchy track, filled with fuzzy riffs and an unholy atmosphere. Debauchery is taking place in the wickedest of covens, with smoke and blood transcending your soul. Join the coven and relish its serpentine bliss!”

Preorder: https://www.heavypsychsounds.com/shop.htm#HPS299

About their upcoming fourth studio album “Supersonic Megafauna Collision”, vocalist and guitarist Chris Babalis Jr. says: “While the previous album was composed and recorded during a state of total COVID lockdown in 2020, our new album was composed and recorded after the world had gotten back to a new state of normalcy after we had toured and played shows all over Europe, and all that enthusiasm and excitement we gathered while touring was put into this new album. We wanted to record a heavy and explosive album with lots of fuzz, that retains what made our sound great in our previous releases but take it a few steps further, and that’s exactly what we did. The album starts as a celebration of all things fuzzy with the title track, and it just gets darker and darker as the album progresses, until it concludes in complete and utter heartbreak with the song “Tusko’s Last Trip”, telling the heart-wrenching real story of Tusko, an elephant who was murdered as a result of cruel human experimentation.”

“Supersonic Megafauna Collision” was recorded, mixed, and mastered at Descent Studio, with drums recorded at Ritual Studios. The artwork was created by Branca Studio.

*** ACID MAMMOTH *** EUROPEAN TOUR 2024
SA 27/04/2024 IT TORINO – Blah Blah
SU 28/04/2024 *** OPEN SLOT ***
MO 29/04/2024 ES BARCELONA – Razzmatazz 3
TU 30/04/2024 ES MADRID – Wurlitzer Ballroom
WE 01/05/2024 ES PORTUGALETE – Sala Groove
TH 02/05/2024 FR MARSEILLE – Le Molotov
FR 03/05/2024 FR CHAMBERY – Brin de Zinc
SA 04/05/2024 CH ALTDORF – Vogelsang
SU 05/05/2024 IT BOLOGNA – TBA
MO 06/05/2024 IT *** OPEN SLOT ***
TU 07/05/2024 IT *** OPEN SLOT ***

TRACKLISTING:
1. Supersonic Megafauna Collision (6:38)
2. Fuzzorgasm (Keep on Screaming) (6:12)
3. Garden of Bones (6:28)
4. Atomic Shaman (6:12)
5. One With the Void (4:35)
6. Tusko’s Last Trip (11:53)

ACID MAMMOTH is
Chris Babalis Jr. – Vocals, Guitars
Chris Babalis Sr. – Guitars
Dimosthenis Varikos – Bass
Marios Louvaris – Drums

Acid Mammoth, Supersonic Megafauna Collision (2024)

Acid Mammoth on Facebook

Acid Mammoth on Instagram

Acid Mammoth on Bandcamp

Heavy Psych Sounds on Bandcamp

Heavy Psych Sounds website

Heavy Psych Sounds on Facebook

Heavy Psych Sounds on Instagram

You know what was pretty awesome? Last year in Summer and Fall when Greek heavy rockers 1000mods partnered with Heavy Psych Sounds to do full-catalog reissues for their four full-lengths to-date (see here and here for full streams) and the band toured in the US for like a month and I got to see them at Desertfest New York (review here), that’s what.

I hadn’t seen the band in a decade, and in that interim they became arguably the most crucial Greek heavy rock act of their generation — a sonic spearhead for desert-heavy and those who’d branch elsewhere alike — and one of the staples of the broader European underground tour circuit. To wit, in addition to these April UK dates, they’ve got a show in Germany on May 30 and they’re set to play Hellfest in France on June 30. I would not be the least bit surprised if they did the entirety of the span between those two shows on the road.

The UK/Ireland dates were first announced almost a month ago but the band added to the tour the other day, so here they are now in all their currently-relevant glory as per social media:

***1000mods – UK & Ireland Tour 2024***

UK calling!

We ‘re so stoked to announce our first UK tour ever!

See you in April

Tickets on sale now: https://www.1000mods.com/tour

Poster by BeWild Brother

Upcoming Shows
04 Apr Bear Cave, Bournemouth, United Kingdom
05 Apr Rebellion, Manchester, United Kingdom
06 Apr Slay, Glasgow, United Kingdom
07 Apr Corporation, Sheffield, United Kingdom
09 Apr Voodoo, Belfast, United Kingdom
10 Apr The Grand Social, Dublin, Ireland
11 Apr The Bunkhouse Bar and Music Venue, Swansea, United Kingdom
12 Apr Garage, London, United Kingdom
13 Apr Thekla, Bristol, United Kingdom

Also:
30 May Colos-Saal Aschaffenburg, Germany
28 Jun Hellfest 2024, Clisson, France

1000mods is:
Dani G.
Giannis S.
Giorgos T.
Labros G.

https://www.instagram.com/1000mods/
https://www.facebook.com/1000mods/
https://1000mods.bandcamp.com/
https://soundcloud.com/1000mods

1000mods, Youth of Dissent (2020)

To advance the newly-announced April 5 release of their awaited fourth album, Supersonic Megafauna Collision, Greek doom rollers Acid Mammoth have chosen to unveil the title-track. In its six and a half minutes you will find pure, unadulterated love and worship of riff. It bleeds through the tones of father/son guitar duo Chris Babalis Jr. (also vocals; I met him at SonicBlast and he was super-nice; wish I had seen the band) and Chris Babalis Sr., who are joined in their oft-grim processions by bassist Dimosthenis Varikos and drummer Marios Louvaris, and, well, it doesn’t seem like a coincidence that the track (and album) ended up titled after the concept of large, probably-prehistoric animals smashing into each other at high speeds. Also it’s catchy.

Heavy Psych Sounds has the release and the PR wire has preorder links and more info below. I’ll hope to have more to come before Supersonic Megafauna Collision comes out, but here’s what’s up:

*** ACID MAMMOTH – Supersonic Megafauna Collision ***

– brand new album of the greek heavy doom wizards –

Athens doom metal pillars ACID MAMMOTH return this spring with their anticipated fourth album “Supersonic Megafauna Collision”, to be released on April 5th through Heavy Psych Sounds. Blast the title track now courtesy of Metal Injection!

Get ready to be overtaken by a storm of pachyderm-hefty riffs, wooly bass, fierce drumming, and witchy vocals. ACID MAMMOTH’s highly anticipated fourth album is an unholy celebration of all things heavy, and as the album progresses, it just keeps getting doomier. “Supersonic Megafauna Collision” is an evil and explosive album drenched in 666% fuzz!

About this new album, vocalist and guitarist Chris Babalis Jr. says: “While the previous album was composed and recorded during a state of total COVID lockdown in 2020, our new album was composed and recorded after the world had gotten back to a new state of normalcy, after we had toured and played shows all over Europe, and all that enthusiasm and excitement we gathered while touring was put into this new album. We wanted to record a heavy and explosive album with lots of fuzz, that retains what made our sound great in our previous releases but take it a few steps further, and that’s exactly what we did. The album starts as a celebration of all things fuzzy with the title track “Supersonic Megafauna Collision”, and it just gets darker and darker as the album progresses, until it concludes in complete and utter heartbreak with the song “Tusko’s Last Trip”, telling the heart-wrenching real story of Tusko, an elephant who was murdered as a result of cruel human experimentation.”

“Supersonic Megafauna Collision” was recorded, mixed, and mastered at Descent Studio, with drums recorded at Ritual Studios. The artwork was created by Branca Studio.

RELEASE DATE: APRIL 5th

ALBUM PRESALE: https://www.heavypsychsounds.com/shop.htm#HPS299

USA PRESALE: https://www.heavypsychsounds.com/shop-usa.htm

RELEASED IN
10 ULTRA LTD TEST PRESS VINYL
100 ULTRA LTD SIDE A–SIDE B WHITE/GREEN/ORANGE VINYL
100 ULTRA LTD HALF-HALF TRANSP. GREEN/SPLATTER BLACK/RED VINYL
400 LTD RED VINYL
BLACK VINYL
DIGIPAK
DIGITAL

TRACKLIST
SIDE A
Supersonic Megafauna Collision – 6:37
Fuzzorgasm (Keep On Screaming) – 6:12
Garden Of Bones – 6:28

SIDE B
Atomic Shaman – 6:11
One With The Void – 4:35
Tusko’s Last Trip – 11:53

We are very happy to announce our brand-new full-length album, “Supersonic Megafauna Collision”!

This product of impenetrable evil is coming out on April 5th by Heavy Psych Sounds Records! Get ready to be overtaken by a storm of pachyderm guitar riffs, wooly bass, explosive drumming, and witchy vocals!

“Supersonic Megafauna Collision” is an unholy celebration of all things heavy, and as the album progresses it just keeps getting doomier! It is an evil and explosive album, with 666% fuzz!

Recorded, mixed & mastered at Descent Studio. Drums recorded at Ritual Studios. Artwork by Branca Studio.

ACID MAMMOTH is:
Chris Babalis Jr. – Vocals, Guitars
Chris Babalis Sr. – Guitars
Dimosthenis Varikos – Bass
Marios Louvaris – Drums

https://www.facebook.com/acidmammoth
https://www.instagram.com/acidmammoth/
https://acidmammoth.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/HEAVYPSYCHSOUNDS
https://instagram.com/heavypsychsounds_records/
https://heavypsychsoundsrecords.bandcamp.com/
www.heavypsychsounds.com/

Acid Mammoth, “Supersonic Megafauna Collision” official video

I don’t know if they’re doing a record or something, but the new Supermoon song is a jam, and watch out for the righteous return late. “Inner Sun” starts out kind of sneaking its way toward the verse before you even really understand the movement that’s taking place, and it keeps that steady, languid procession as it comes to full tonality at around a minute in before receding back to the next verse. The tempo kick comes after the second sans-vocal chorus, a memorable declining figure of guitar matching step with the ride cymbal in heavy psychedelic blossom.

They hold that groove tight, through the tempo shift and everything, and as alluded, there’s time for a slowdown in the second half. The song is intentionally atmospheric, moody without melodrama, so it’s fitting that the video should focus on ambience as well. You’ll find the clip on the player below — don’t have to look too far — and I promise that if I at any point hear about Supermoon getting a full-length together to follow their 2021 self-titled, I’ll keep you in the loop to the best of my admittedly limited capacity.

For now, this. Video info follows, courtesy of the band.

Please enjoy:

Supermoon, “Inner Sun” official video

Supermoon return with a new track and video. Inspired by indigenous medicinal songs, “Inner Sun” is wandering in the forest, across the sea and through the dark, in search of light.

Supermoon are a psychedelic/stoner rock band from Athens, Greece, formed in 2019 by Vasilis Tsigkris. Starting as a solo project, in late 2020 they released their debut album (Made Of Stone Recordings, Southcave Records). They are now a power trio, performing live throughout Greece, opening for Naxatras, playing in the first Mammoth Fest, IMF Festival and more.

Combining heavy psychedelic atmosphere with spiritual lyrics and folkloric musical elements, Supermoon manage to succeed effortless crossovers in music genres, creating a brand new yet intimate musical universe, which stands on the brink of darkness, bathed in light.

Music by Supermoon, Lyrics by Vasilis Tsigkris
Recorded, mixed & mastered by Greg Konstantaras at Ritual Studios
Video by kaziman

Supermoon:
Vasilis Tsigkris, Giannis Tassopoulos, Jim Tsarnos

Supermoon on Facebook

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Athens heavy rock and rollers Diesel Cindy released their debut album, Spill the Dirt, last week through Sound Effect Records. If you’re in the Northern Hemisphere and don’t yet miss the summer, it might do the trick. Comprised of eight tracks running an unassuming 33-minutes, the record breaks into four tracks across two sides and is a smooth amalgam of desert-imported tones offered with a careening groove born out of garage rock, vocal melody over top in opener “Sons of Nothing” from guitarist Lee hinting toward Queens of the Stone Age but without much of the caricature that many Homme-style vocals end up portraying and a loosened swing and push that in “Angels” comes with a Mediterranean-folk-ish stretch filtered through scorching lead guitar — also a heaping dose of noise; two guitars between Lee and Red, while Gabriel R. holds down bass and Fivos Flat pounds away behind on drums — and a burst of a chorus near its culmination. What one learns early in Spill the Dirt is that Diesel Cindy are able to affect a change of mood in the span of three minutes without losing the listener.

It’s not the last time that message is delivered. “Seeds” opens up a bit in its verse and is casually psychedelic in the bridge with the martial undertones of space rock in the vocal cadence but a mellower crux overall at least for the most part. At 5:41, it is the longest piece on Spill the Dirt, but not by much and the ‘extra’ time compared to cuts like “Sons of Nothing” or “Angels” before it isn’t some shoehorned-in jam or radical departure from the established structure. It gets raucous enough by its finish to justify the shouts, but its more methodical tempo makes the subsequent side A capper “Bazooka Witch” feel that much more like a ’60s boogie biker party right up to its finish in psych drone and feedback. By then, both momentum and songwriting are on their side, so there’s really no stopping them as “No Truth No End” picks up at the outset of side B with a verse held back an extra measure or two and declarations of truth and lies set against more burner lead work and a subtly insistent backing strum.

Generally when one thinks of ‘headphone records’ it’s something expansive in breadth or minute in its sonic detailing. A lot of really trippy prog, etc. Diesel Cindy don’t necessarily fit with what I would usually say works well listening that way, but it does. The character in the drums and bass comes through as a backdrop for the guitars, the vocals malleable in their position in the mix, the tension in “Chieftains” at once like Talking Heads and synth-affected cosmic post-punk on its steady, rhythmically centered foundation. Tied with “Sons of Nothing” for the shortest track at 3:20, “Spill the Dirt” is the most resonant hook on the record sharing its title, as well as the full reveal of the Stooges influence that’s been a driving factor all along. It’s also something of the finale, since “The Walk” pivots to piano and turns heavy into creepy malevolent blues to round out, but fair enough for the last-minute switcheroo toward the unexpected. I don’t know that you’d say it fits, but it’s not supposed to.

And hell’s bells, I’m not about to hold a band laying claim to atmospheric territory on their first album against them, since in addition to being a kind of cool vibe in itself in a Velvet Underground-y kind of way, who knows to what it might lead. So mark it a win all around, but in terms of representing the record, the title-track appears below in a new video following up on the release date. I’m happy to be able to premiere it and I very much hope you enjoy. PR wire info follows, as you’d expect.

Have fun:

Diesel Cindy, “Spill the Dirt” video premiere

Diesel Cindy is a band of friends from Athens Greece. Them people share a common passion for a wide spectrum of fuzz sounds blended with a dry bass and old school drum sound. This sound, together with the distinctive voice of a tall angry shadow, deliver melodies inspired from favorite garage bands, mostly from the 60’s till the 90’s in a contemporary form of expression, revealing stories from the past, and whispering true tales from the present and future.

The friends, being members of other bands in the past such as One Man Drop, Vibratore Bizarro, Delightful, The Same River, Headquake, have been part of the Athenian underground scene in Greece for many years and have toured around the country several times. However, this time, they share a common project all together. The result is Diesel Cindy’s debut LP titled “Spill the Dirt”.

about the album:

recorded at AUX ‘studio’ Athens / Greece
produced by Diesel Cindy – Yiotis Paraskevaidis – Kimonas Vlachakis
engineered by Kimonas Vlachakis & Yotis Paraskevaidis
mastering at ‘Vu Productions Mastering Studio’ Piraeus / Greece by Nasos Nomikos
graphic design, coordination, photography by Peg Leg Green
front cover illustration by Dekel Hevroni

track list :
side A
1. Sons of nothing
2. Angels
3. Seeds
4. Bazooka Witch
side B
1. No truth no end
2. Chieftains
3. Spill the dirt
4. The walk

DIESEL CINDY
Members:
Lee – vocals, guitar
Red – guitar
Gabriel R – bass
Fivos Flat – drums, percussions

Diesel Cindy, Spill the Dirt (2023)

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