Hamburg, Germany’s Karla Kvlt make their full-length debut through Exile on Mainstream Records on Feb. 21 with the seven-song sprawl and crush of Thunderhunter. Beginning with the stark thud of Johann Victor Wientjes‘ drums and gradually building over its early measures into a noisy soundscape of atmospheric sludge in lead cut “Karma,” the 37-minute long-player brings together hard-crunch with psychedelic resonance, reverb lacing the vocals of Teresa Matilda Curtens, who’s also responsible for the low-end rumble beneath the guitar of Markus E. Lipka — beneath in frequency, not necessarily in the mix — who adds vocals to Curtens‘ own in a blown-out break toward the end of the song, lending avant flourish to the earlier melody.
It all comes crashing down and Thunderhunter is underway. Below, you’ll find a visualizer premiering for “Swallowed,” which follows the lumber-plod of “Temple” near the start of the record and holds together with almost jazzy purpose through urbane verses and a raw but lush lead tonality from Lipka. Known for his work in Eisenvater — which I hadn’t heard prior to getting this record, but it’s devastating — the guitarist brings a suitably open feel to “Swallowed,” which holds pretty loose in the rhythm as it moves into its second half, exploring while still writing structured songs. Samples of crackling fire precede the burst, and with the force of Big Riff behind, Karla Kvlt roll through the crescendo with marked purpose.
That transition is not jarring, but some of Thunderhunter is, and into that category I’d put centerpiece “Magna Mater” with the sample of a baby crying mixed into its nod, and that’s pretty clearly on purpose. And it’s all part of the thing. There’s complexity of style throughout, and an overarching airiness of tone gives the band ample space to fill as they chase down one aural idea or another, be it a riff, sample, synth or the deceptively intricate chug coinciding with the cries in “Magna Mater.” The subsequent “Mun Kvlta” begins calmer with synth and standalone guitar, but it’s not long before a low-distortion drone takes hold for a few minutes of texture-exploration. Something of a preface there for the closing title-track, in that it’s instrumental and more about ambience despite being heavy as buildings.
Before “Thunderhunter” though, the penultimate “Hekate” seems to be a special moment just to highlight the chug, which is monstrous, and create a feeling of intensity in the turns that are post-metallic but that are raw enough in their presentation to be coming from somewhere else. The good news is that the place they’re coming from is Karla Kvlt‘s own, and that if Thunderhunter is the beginning of a new journey this apparent family band are undertaking, they set out in noteworthy and forward-thinking fashion. One looks forward to hopefully learning the places to which their sound might ultimately go, but what you need to know going into “Swallowed” is don’t get distracted and keep your mind open. Decent advice generally, I guess.
Beyond that, you’ll find more info from the PR wire below, but honestly in my head it’s such a given that anything on Exile on Mainstream is going to be somehow awesome that Karla Kvlt as a new band are already a no-brainer in my head. That the band actually turn out to kill it across the record feels like a bonus.
Please enjoy:
Karla Kvlt, “Swallowed” track/visualizer premiere
Karla Kvlt on “Swallowed”:
With ‘Swallowed,’ you come imminently closer to a state of complete self-dissolution. The ominous sound design of the intro immediately evokes the feeling of being trapped in the belly of a nameless beast, rendered helpless at its mercy. Vocals and bass come more to the fore here and reinforce the mysterious and trance-like atmosphere. ‘Swallowed’ is an infernal dance that celebrates utter madness.
Thunderhunter will be released on LP w/ bundled CD and digitally on February 21st.
“Swallowed” is the new single from new German sludge metal/post-rock trio KARLA KVLT. The song is found on the band’s impending debut LP, Thunderhunter, nearing release this month through Exile On Mainstream Records.
KARLA KVLT marks the return of Markus E. Lipka, the driving guitar force behind 1990s German alternative/noise rock heroes Eisenvater, here joined by his son Johann Wientjes on drums and his daughter-in-law, Teresa Matilda Curtens, on bass and vocals – both also in Melting Palms. Together, the trio delivers a raw and monolithic debut album that is unique in style and approach with Thunderhunter.
KARLA KVLT is currently booking live ventures across Europe for the Spring and Summer months, having booked a Thunderhunter release show in Hamburg April 25th and a gig with labelmates Caspar Brötzmann Massaker in June. Additional live updates will follow shortly.
KARLA KVLT Live: 4/25/2025 Elbdeichstudio – Hamburg, DE *record release show 6/07/2025 Z-Bau – Nürnberg, DE w/ Caspar Brötzmann Massaker
Tracklisting: 1. Karma 2. Temple 3. Swallowed 4. Magna Mater 5. Mun Kvlta 6. Hekate 7. Thunderhunter
Recorded by Stefan Gretscher at Privatear studios in Hamburg/Germany Mixing by Nihil Rossburger Mastering by Chris von Rautenkranz at Soundgarden Studio Album cover design by Teresa Matilda Curtens
KARLA KVLT are: Markus E. Lipka – Guitars, Guitar Soundscapes, Voice Teresa Matilda Curtens – Bass, Vocals J. Victor Wientjes – Heavy Drums, Synth Soundscapes
Posted in Reviews on December 11th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
Wow. This is a pretty good day. I mean, I knew that coming into it — I’m the one slating the reviews — but looking up there at the names in the header, that’s a pretty killer assemblage. Maybe I’m making it easy for myself and loading up the QR with stuff I like and want to write about. Fine. Sometimes I need to remind myself that’s the point of this project in the first place.
Hope you’re having an awesome week. I am.
Quarterly Review #21-30
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Thou, Umbilical
Even knowing that the creation of a sense of overwhelm is on purpose and is part of the artistry of what Thou do, Thou are overwhelming. The stated purpose behind Umbilical is an embrace of their collective inner hardcore kid. Fine. Slow down hardcore and you pretty much get sludge metal one way or the other and Thou‘s take on it is undeniably vicious and has a character that is its own. Songs like “I Feel Nothing When You Cry” and “The Promise” envision dark futures from a bleak present, and the poetry from which the lyrics get their shape is as despondent and cynical as one could ever ask, waiting to be dug into and interpreted by the listener. Let’s be honest. I have always had a hard time buying into the hype on Thou. I’ve seen them live and enjoyed it and you can’t hear them on record and say they aren’t good at what they do, but their kind of extremity isn’t what I’m reaching for most days when I’m trying to not be in the exact hopeless mindset the band are aiming for. Umbilical isn’t the record to change my mind and it doesn’t need to be. It’s precisely what it’s going for. Caustic.
The fourth full-length from Boston’s Cortez sets a tone with opener “Gimme Danger (On My Stereo)” (premiered here) for straight-ahead, tightly-composed, uptempo heavy rock, and sure enough that would put Thieves and Charlatans — recorded by Benny Grotto at Mad Oak Studios — in line with Cortez‘s work to-date. What unfolds from the seven-minute “Leaders of Nobody” onward is a statement of expanded boundaries in what Cortez‘s sound can encompass. The organ-laced jamitude of “Levels” or the doom rock largesse of “Liminal Spaces” that doesn’t clash with the prior swing of “Stove Up” mostly because the band know how to write songs; across eight songs and 51 minutes, the five-piece of vocalist Matt Harrington, guitarists Scott O’Dowd and Alasdair Swan, bassist Jay Furlo and sitting-in drummer Alexei Rodriguez (plus a couple other guests from Boston’s heavy underground) reaffirm their level of craft, unite disparate material through performance and present a more varied and progressive take than they’ve ever had. They’re past 25 years at this point and still growing in sound. They may be underrated forever, but that’s a special band.
Writing a catchy song is not easy. Writing a song so catchy it’s still catchy even though you don’t speak the language is the provenance of the likes of Uffe Lorenzen. The founding frontman of in-the-ether-for-now Copenhagen heavy/garage psych pioneers Baby Woodrose digs into more straightforward fare on the second full-length from his new trio Lydsyn, putting a long-established Stooges influence to good use in “Hejremanden” after establishing at the outset that “Musik Er Nummer 1” (‘music is number one’) and before the subsequent slowdown into harmony blues with “UFO.” “Nørrebro” has what would seem to be intentional cool-neighborhood strut, and those seeking more of a garage-type energy might find it in “Du Vil Have Mere” or “Opråb” earlier on, and closer “Den Døde By” has a scorch that feels loyal to Baby Woodrose‘s style of psych, but whatever ties there are to Lorenzen‘s contributions over the last 20-plus years, Lydsyn stand out for the resultant quality of songwriting and for having their own dynamic building on Lorenzen‘s solo work and post-Baby Woodrose arc.
The popular wisdom has had it for a few years now that retroism is out. Hearing Baltimorean power trio Magick Potion vibe their way into swaying ’70s-style heavy blues on “Empress,” smoothly avoiding the trap of sounding like Graveyard and spacing out more over the dramatic first two minutes of “Wizard” and the proto-doomly rhythmic jabs that follow. Guitarist/vocalist/organist Dresden Boulden, bassist/vocalist Triston Grove and drummer Jason Geezus Kendall capture a sound that’s as fresh as it is familiar, and while there’s no question that the aesthetic behind the big-swing “Never Change” and the drawling, sunshine-stoned “Pagan” is rooted in the ’68-’74 “comedown era” — as their label, RidingEasy Records has put it in the past — classic heavy rock has become a genre unto itself over the last 25-plus years, and Magick Potion present a strong, next-generation take on the style that’s brash without being willfully ridiculous and that has the chops to back up its sonic callouts. The potential for growth is significant, as it would be with any band starting out with as much chemistry as they have, but don’t take that as a backhanded way of saying the self-titled is somehow lacking. To be sure, they nail it.
Oase is the second full-length from Berlin’s Weite behind 2023’s Assemblage (review here), also on Stickman, and it’s their first with keyboardist Fabien deMenou in the lineup with bassist Ingwer Boysen (Delving), guitarists Michael Risberg (Delving, Elder) and Ben Lubin (Lawns), and drummer Nick DiSalvo (Delving, Elder), and it unfurls across as pointedly atmospheric 53 minutes, honed from classic progressive rock but by the time they get to “(einschlafphase)” expanded into a cosmic, almost new age drone. Longer pieces like “Roter Traum” (10:55), “Eigengrau” (12:41) or even the opening “Versteinert” (9:36) offer impact as well as mood, maybe even a little boogie, “Woodbury Hollow” is more pastoral but no less affecting. The same goes for “Time Will Paint Another Picture,” which seems to emphasize modernity in the clarity of its production even amid vintage influences. Capping with the journey-to-freakout “The Slow Wave,” Oase pushes the scope of Weite‘s sound farther out while hitting harder than their first record, adding to the arrangements, and embracing new ideas. Unless you have a moral aversion to prog for some reason, there’s no angle from which this one doesn’t make itself a must-hear.
Big on tone and melody in a way that feels inspired by the modern sphere of heavy — thinking that Hum record, Elephant Tree, Magnetic Eye-type stuff — Florida’s Orbiter set forth across vast reaches in Distorted Folklore, a song like “Lightning Miles” growing more expansive even as it follows a stoner-bouncing drum pattern. Layering is a big factor, but it doesn’t feel like trickery or the band trying to sound like anything or anyone in particular so much as they’re trying to serve their songs — Jonathan Nunez (ex-Torche, etc.) produced; plenty of room in the mix for however big Orbiter want to get — as they shift from the rush that typified stretches of their 2019 debut, Southern Failures, to a generally more lumbering approach. The slowdown suits them here, though fast or slow, the procession of their work is as much about breadth as impact. Whatever direction they take as they move into their second decade, that foundation is crucial.
As regards genre: “dark arts?” Taking into account the 44 minutes of Vlimmer‘s fourth LP, which is post-industrial as much as it’s post-punk, with plenty of goth, some metal, some doom, some dance music, and so on factored in, there’s not a lot else that might encompass the divergent intentions of “Endpuzzle” or “Überrennen” as the Berlin solo-project of Alexander Donat harnesses ethereal urbanity in the brooding-till-it-bursts “Sinkopf” or the manic pulses under the vocal longing of closer “Fadenverlust.” To Donat‘s credit, from the depth of the setup given by longest/opening track (immediate points) “2025” to the goth-coated keyboard throb in “Mondläufer,” Bodenhex never goes anywhere it isn’t meant to go, and unto the finest details of its mix and arrangements, Vlimmer‘s work exudes expressive purpose. It is a record that has been hammered out over a period of time to be what it is, and that has lost none of the immediacy that likely birthed it in that process.
Indianapolis four-piece Moon Goons cut an immediately individual impression on their third album, Lady of Many Faces. The album, which often presents itself as a chaotic mash of ideas, is in fact not that thing. The band is well in control, just able and/or wanting to do more with their sound than most. They are also mindfully, pointedly weird. If you ever believed space rock could have been invented in an alternate reality 1990s and run through filters of lysergism and Devin Townsend-style progressive metal, you might take the time now to book the tattoo of the cover of Lady of Many Faces you’re about to want. Shenanigans abound in the eight songs, if I haven’t made that clear, and even the nod of “Doom Tomb Giant” feels like a freakout given the treatment put on by Moon Goons, but the thing about the album is that as frenetic as the four-piece of lead vocalist/guitarist Corey Standifer, keyboardist/vocalist Brooke Rice, bassist Devin Kearns and drummer Jacob Kozlowski get on their way to the doped epic finisher title-track, the danger of it coming apart is a well constructed, skillfully executed illusion. And what a show it is.
Although it opens up with some element of foreboding by transposing the progression of AC/DC‘s “Hells Bells” onto its own purposes in heavy Canadiana rock, and it gets a bit shouty/sludgy in the lyrical crescendo of “What a Dummy,” which seems to be about getting pulled over on a DUI, or the later “The Castle of White Lake,” much of Familiars‘ Easy Does It lives up to its name. Far from inactive, the band are never in any particular rush, and while a piece like “Golden Season,” with its singer-songwriter vocal, acoustic guitar and backing string sounds, carries a sense of melancholy — certainly more than the mellow groover swing and highlight bass lumber of “Gustin Grove,” say — the band never lay it on so thick as to disrupt their own momentum more than they want to. Working as a five-piece with pedal steel, piano and other keys alongside the core guitar, bass and drums, Easy Does It finds a balance of accessibility and deeper-engaging fare combined with twists of the unexpected.
Progressive stoner psych rockers The Fërtility Cült unveil their fifth album, A Song of Anger, awash in otherworldly soul music vibes, sax and fuzz and roll in conjunction with carefully arranged harmonies and melodic and rhythmic turns. There’s a lot of heavy prog around — I don’t even know how many times I’ve used the word today and frankly I’m scared to check — and admittedly part of that is how open that designation can feel, but The Fërtility Cült seem to take an especially fervent delight in their slow, molten, flowing chicanery on “The Duel” and elsewhere, and the abiding sense is that part of it is a joke, but part of everything is a joke and also the universe is out there and we should go are you ready? A Song of Anger is billed as a prequel, and perhaps “The Curse of the Atreides” gives some thematic hint as well, but whether you’ve been with them all along or this is the first you’ve heard, the 12-minute closing title-track is its own world. If you think you’re ready — and good on you for that — the dive is waiting for your immersion.
Hamburg-based heavy rockers Silverships issue their debut EP, the four-songer Kingdom of Decay, tomorrow through Tonzonen. At 19 minutes total, it is preceded only by a 2023 demo that had two tracks, and single releases for “Kingdom of Decay” and “Nevermore,” which are included here, to promote this release, so if you’re reading and thinking to yourself, “hey I’ve never heard of this band,” by no means are you late to the party. Ever; but particularly not in this case. Comprised of bassist Jan Gehrmann, guitarist/vocalist Nils Kock and drummer Tim Schröter, the band dig wholeheartedly into a turn-of-the-century desert rock sound as their foundation, giving a strong impression derived from Queens of the Stone Age throughout, but working around that root with persona and expressive character.
The group’s beginnings seem to be something of a winding tale, going back about a decade to Nils Kock leading an outfit called — of course — Kock’s Motel. Kock’s Motel put out an EP in 2016 and other demos and such along the way, and evolved into Silverships in ’22/’23. Somewhere in there Kock also took part in Crimson Coyote circa 2020, but Silverships is a refreshed lineup and renewed intention, and Kingdom of Decay, from the outset of its title-track, benefits from the new-band energy of the contained performances. And this might be splitting hairs, but while Josh Homme is an acknowledged defining influence in the material, I actually hear more Chris Goss and Masters of Reality in the opener. Kock‘s voice has that kind of croon made to ride a swinging groove, and as he names himself “a hopeless clown” in the verse, the likeness is there and in the arrangement flourishes throughout, even if the production sound puts their fuzz squarely in the realm of Lullabies to Paralyze.
That’s not a complaint, mind you. As the airy lead line starts “Kingdom of Decay” with an echoing memory of Kyuss‘ “Rodeo,” the stage is set, and Kock, Gehrmann and Schröter work from there to bring their interpretations to more familiar genre elements. They know how to write a song, and specifically how to end one, as both the lead/title-cut and “Beast” follows suit, with insistent fuzz and a brash, edgy snare sound behind the verse as it builds toward its thicker-toned chorus takeoff ahead of a vital last push that feels like it’s about to go off the rails when they end it. The second single, “Nevermore” shifts intention tonally and spaces its vocals out to accompany a thicker, lower buzz. Fair enough to change it up if they were going to, but they’re not far from the desert in the melody, and they do get around to another big finish, but the form has changed. This is more open, patient, and fluid. A roll rather than a charge. If you don’t think that makes a difference, I’m glad to argue the ‘pro’ side of hearing nascent dynamic in a new band’s early output.
And “War is Over” continues the shakeup of what “Kingdom of Decay” and “Beast,” and even “Nevermore” got up to. At 6:17, it’s the longest of the four on the EP, and it begins mellow and drifty, letting the atmosphere that shone through the more straightforward songs prior find fruition in the closer. In the instrumental and vocal arrangements, it’s Beatles, but again via Chris Goss, and as the pop-emotive layering of the vocals works well, spindly lead lines in the hook build off the verse’s thoughtful melody. The guitar spends most of its time soloing either gently or not, but it comes to the fore after the halfway point and smoothly changes from its casual strum to proggier, almost keyboardy sounds (if it’s keys, fine; I just didn’t see a credit), finishing somewhat grander but consistent in pace and a moment that feels ‘earned’ by the time they get there as a herald of things to come.
I know everybody’s busy, and the greater likelihood is you haven’t heard Silverships before since this is their first outing (I know you have, since you’re cool like that, but other people are lame like me), but it’s 19 minutes of your time and you might find something you dig. Low risk, high potential reward, and all you have to do is click play on the player below to hear it. PR wire info follows after. Easy-frickin’-peasy.
As always, I hope you enjoy:
Heavy groove driven Stoner/ Desert Rock Trio Silverships will release their debut Kingdom Of Decay on November 22, 2024 via Tonzonen Records/ Cargo.
The four songs of Silverships’ debut EP Kingdom Of Decay encompass all musical styles from which the band draws their inspiration. The desert rock of the 90s and 2000s forms the foundation of the trio. Many traces of Queens Of The Stone Age can be found in the songs. The heavy passages also conjure up associations to Kyuss. Soundscapes from 70s Pink Floyd also appear again and again. Light psych-pop moments of early Tame Impala are followed by dense and dark atmosphere capturing the vibe of The Doors – and would also work well as the soundtrack for a movie yet to be made.
Recorded at Studio Altona by Hauke Albrecht Mastered by Plätlin Mastering Video by Jonas Albrecht
In addition to opulent arrangements and varied songwriting, what characterizes the band is their love of B parts, always ending their songs on an exclamation point. Hauke Albrecht is the man behind the powerful production. With Mountain Witch, he produced the last bigger stoner export from Hamburg. The band was able to get BEWITCHED Graphics’ Benjamin Nickel for the artwork, whose psychedelic works have also been featured by the Reeperbahn Festival, for example.
The opener Kingdom Of Decay starts off softly. Bassist Jan Gehrmann’s hypnotic bassline floats over drummer Tim Schröter’s fluffy groove carpet, then Nils Kock’s hooky lead guitar joins in. His velvety singing tells a story of transitoriness. “And I never ever ever, never ever ever saw her again”, goes the chorus. Boy meets girl? A one unique rush experience? After the second chorus, the song’s heaviness increases: Huge fuzz guitars pick up the bassline and encourage subtle headbanging. After the lead fanfares and the bluesy solo have faded away, a mellotron lights up the song and the base riff returns, revolving, accelerating, taking off. The hook from the intro glides through the room one last time before a stoner rock bulldozer rips through the outro.
Overall, Silverships’ Kingdom Of Decay is a surprisingly fleshed out debut record. No wheels are reinvented, but many different influences and references are interweaved into a very harmonious and surprising combination. The result is a varied, yet homogeneous debut EP that leaves the listener curious about what’s to come next.
Posted in Whathaveyou on October 1st, 2024 by JJ Koczan
If Weite wanted to, they probably could parlay their collective in-other-bands pedigree — names there for the dropping like Elder/Delving, High Fighter and Perilymph — into slots on any and every Spring 2025 European heavyfest they might be able to play (actually, Elder are already on a decent number of those bills), but their first tour in support of the upcoming second album, Oase, is nothing so career-minded. A DIY run set for this January instead puts the exploratory progressive outfit on the road when most bands aren’t, working smart and hard to promote at a time when most bands are hunkered down for the winter, writing, recording or sitting on ass (nothing against any of that). There’s less out there grabbing at fickle audience attention spans, and it suits the organic nature of Weite generally to be a little lower key, even as they work at a relatively quick turnaround from their 2023 debut, Assemblage (review here).
The dates were posted on social media as follows, and Stickman will have Oase out on Nov. 22 as detailed here. Tour starts Jan. 10, goes to Jan. 25, and probably won’t be the only one they do heralding the new record:
Oase Tour 2025! We’ll be presenting our new record “Oase” (out November 22 on Stickman Records) this January. Excited to play this record we worked hard on the past year, along with most likely even more new tunes. This is a self-booked tour and we’d like to thank all the promoters who helped us put this together. Support your local scene!
The first single from “Oase” will be out in a few weeks.
Weite was formed in Berlin in winter 2022 by bassist Ingwer Boysen recruiting drummer Nick DiSalvo and guitarists Michael Risberg and Ben Lubin. Initially intended as a one-off recording session, the four recognized an obvious musical chemistry and common ground and decided to turn the project into a proper band. Keyboardist Fabien deMenou joined in 2024. “Oase” will be available on 180gr. pink marbled 2LP, on CD and digitally on November 22, 2024 via Stickman Records.
Amazing artwork by Sofia Hjortberg. Band photo by Maren Michaelis.
Legend has it that a long time ago, thousands of years ago, before even the founding of the Kingdom of New Jersey itself, there was a man who attempted a two-week, 100-album Quarterly Review. He truly believed and was known to say to his goodlady wife, “Sure, I can do 100 releases in 10 days. That should be fine,” but lo, the gods did smite him for his hubris.
His punishment? That very same Quarterly Review.
Like the best of mythology, the lesson here is don’t be a dumbass and do things like 100-record Quarterly Reviews. Clearly this is a lesson I haven’t learned. Welcome to the next two weeks. Sorry for the typos. Let’s roll.
Quarterly Review #1-10:
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Nebula, Livewired in Europe
A busy 2023 continued on from a busy 2022 for SoCal heavy rockers Nebula as they supported their seventh album, Transmission From Mothership Earth (review here), and as filthy as was founding guitarist Eddie Glass‘ fuzz on that record, the nine-track (12 on the CD) Livewired in Europe pushes even further into the rawer stoner punk that’s always been at root in their sound. They hit Europe twice in 2023, in Spring and Fall, and in the lumbering sway of “Giant,” the drawl of “Messiah,” the Luciferian wink of that song and “Man’s Best Friend” earlier in the set, and the righteous urgency of what’s listed in the promo as “Down the Mother Fuckin’ Highway” or the shred-charged roll of “Warzone Speedwolf” in the bonus cuts, with bassist Ranch Sironi backing Glass on vocals and Mike Amster wailing away on drums — he’s the glue that never sounds stuck — they document the mania of post-rebirth Nebula as chaotic and forceful in kind, which is precisely what one would most hope for at the start of the gig. It’s not their first live outing, and hopefully it’s not the last either.
The self-recording/self-releasing Kamil Ziółkowski offers his second solo LP with The Land, following in short order from last Fall’s In Roundness (review here) and the two-songer issued a month after. At six songs and 35 minutes, The Land further distinguishes Mountain of Misery stylistically from Ziółkowski‘s main outfit, Spaceslug. Yes, the two bands share a penchant for textured tones and depth of mix (Haldor Grunberg at Satanic Audio mixed and mastered), and the slow-delivered melodic ‘gaze-style vocals are recognizable, but “The ’90s” puts Nirvana through this somewhat murky, hypnotic filter, and before its shimmering drone caps the album, on closer “Back Again,” the multi-instrumentalist/vocalist reminds a bit of Eddie Vedder. Seekers of nod will find plenty in “Awesome Burn” and the slightly harder-hitting “High Above the Mount” — desert rock in its second half, but on another planet’s desert — while the succession of “Path of Sound” and “Come on Down” feel specifically set to more post-rocking objectives; the plot and riffs likewise thickened. Most of all, it sounds like Mountain of Misery is digging in for a longer-term songwriting exploration, and quickly, and The Land only makes me more excited to find out where it’s headed.
The named-for-their-names trio Page Williams Turner is comprised of electronicist/mixer Michael Page (Sky Burial, many others), drummer/percussionist Robert Williams (of the harshly brilliant Nightstick) and saxophonist Nik Turner (formerly Hawkwind, et al), and the single piece broken into two sides on their Opposite Records self-titled debut is a duly experimentalist, mic-up-and-go extreme take on free psychedelic jazz, drone, industrial noisemaking, and time-what-is-time-signature manipulation. “Rorrim I” is drawn cinematically into an unstable wormhole circa its 14th minute, and teases serenity before the listener is eaten by a giant spider in some kind of unknowable ritual, and while “Rorrim II” feels less manic on average, its cycles, ebbs and flows remain wildly unpredictable. That’s the point, of course. If the combination of personnel and/or elements seems really, really weird on paper, you’re on the right track. This kind of thing will never be for everybody, but those who can get on its level will find it transportive. If that’s you, safe travels.
The spoken intro welcoming the listener to “the greatest and last show of your lives” at the head of the chugging “Mortician Magician” is a little over the top considering the straightforward vibe of much of what follows on the 10 tracks of 2023’s The Hex of Penn’s Woods from Pennsylvania-based heavy rockers Almost Honest, but whether it’s the banjo early or the cowbell later in “Haunted Hunter,” the post-Fu Manchu riffing and gang shouts of “Alien Spiders,” “Ballad of a Mayfly”‘s whistling, the organ in “Amish Hex” (video premiere here), the harmonies of “Colony of Fire,” a bit of sax on “Where the Quakers Dwell,” that quirk in the opener, the funk wrought throughout by Garrett Spangler‘s bass and Quinten Spangler‘s drumming, the metal-rooted intertwining of Shayne Reed and David Kopp‘s guitars or the structural solidity beneath all of it, the band give aural character to coincide with the regionalist themes based on their Pennsylvania Dutch, foothill-Appalachian surroundings, and they dare to make their third album’s 44 minutes fun in addition to thoughtful in its craft.
Based in Western Massachusetts, Buzzard is the solo-project of Christopher Thomas Elliott, and the title of his debut album, Doom Folk, describes his particular intention. As the 12-song/44-minute outing unfolds from the eponymous “Buzzard” at its outset (even that feels like a Sabbathian dogwhistle), the blend of acoustic and electric guitar forms the heart of the arrangements, but more than that, it’s doom and folk, stylistically, that are coming together. What makes it work is that Elliott avoids the trap of 2010s-ish neo-folk posturing as a songwriter, and while there’s a ready supply of apocalyptic mood in the lyrical storytelling and abundant amplified distortion put to dynamic use, the folk he’s speaking to is more traditional. Not lacking intricacy in their percussion, arrangements or melodies, you could nonetheless learn these songs and sing them. “Death Metal in America” alone makes it worth the price of admission, let alone the stellar “Lucifer Rise,” but the sweet foreboding and build of the subsequent “Harvester of Souls” gets even closer to Buzzard‘s intention in bringing together the two sides to manifest a kind of heavy that is immediately and impressively its own. Doom Folk on.
Mt. Echo begin their third full-length primed for resonance with the expansive, patiently wrought “Veil of Unhunger,” leading with their longest track (immediate points) as a way of bringing the listener into the record’s mostly instrumental course with a shimmer of post-rock and later-emerging density of tone. The Nijmegen trio’s follow-up to 2022’s Electric Empire (review here) plays out across a breadth that extends beyond the 44-minute runtime and does more in its pieces than flow smoothly between its loud/quiet tradeoffs. “Round and Round Goes the Crown” brings a guest appearance from Oh Hazar guitarist/vocalist Stefan Kollee that pushes the band into a kind of darker, thoroughly Dutch heavy prog, but even that shift is made smoother by the spoken part on “Brutiful Your Heart” just before, and not necessarily out of line with how “Set at Rest” answers the opener, or the rumble, nod and wash that cap with “If I May.” The overarching sense of growth is palpable, but the songs express more atmospherically than just the band pushing themselves.
They’re probably to raw and dug into Satanic cultistry to agree, but with Per “Hellbutcher” Gustavsson (Nifelheim) on vocals, guitarists Beelzeebubth (Mystifier, etc.) and Nikolas “Sprits” Moutafis (Mirror, etc.), bassist Taneli Jarva (Impaled Nazarene, etc.) and drummer Tasos Danazoglou (Mirror, ex-Electric Wizard, etc.) in the lineup for second LP God Damned You to Hell, it’s probably safe to call Friends of Hell a supergroup. Such considerations ultimately have little to do with how the rolling proto-NWOBHM triumphs of “Bringer of Evil” and “Arcane Macabre” play out, but it explains the current of extremity in their purposes that comes through at the start with the title-track and the severity that surrounds in the layering of “Ave Satanatas” as they journey into the underworld to finish with the eight-minute “All the Colors of the Dark.” You’re either going to buy the backpatch or shrug and not get it, and that seems like it’s probably fine with them.
Not to be confused with France’s Red Sun Atacama, Italian prog-heavy psych instrumentalists Red Sun mark their 10th anniversary with the release of their third album, From Sunset to Dawn, and run a thread of doom through the keyboardy “The Sunset Turns Purple” and “The Shape of Night” on side A to manifest ‘sunset’ while side B unfolds with airier guitar in “The Coldness of the New Moon” and “Towards the End of Darkness” en route to the raga-leaning “The New Sun,” but as much as there is to be said for the power of suggestion and narrative titling, it’s the music itself that realizes the progression described in the name of the album. With a clear influence from My Sleeping Karma in “The Coldness of the New Moon” and the blend of organic hand-percussion and digitized melody in “The New Sun,” Red Sun immerse the listener in the procession from the intro “Where Once Was Light” (mirrored by “Intempesto” at the start of side B) onward, with each song serving as a chapter in the linear concept and story.
Cinematic enough in sheer sound and the corresponding intensity of mood to warrant the visual collaboration with Kai Lietzke that accompanies the audio release, the collaboration between Hamburg electronic experimentalist Peter Wolff (Downfall of Gaia) and vocalist Jens Borgaard (Knifefight!, solo) moves between minimalist soundscaping and more consuming, weighted purposes. Moments like the beginning of “Transmit” might leave one waiting for when the Katatonia song is going to kick in, but Wolff & Borgaard engage on their own level as each of the nine pieces follows its own poetic course, able to be caustic like the culmination of “Observe” or to bring the penultimate “Extol” to silence gradually before “Reaper” bursts to life with clearly intentional contrast. I heard this or that streaming service is making a Blade Runner 2099 tv series. Sounds like a terrible idea, but it might just be watchable if Wolff & Borgaard get to do the score with a similar evocations of software and soul.
The Portland, Oregon, two-piece of guitarist/bassist/vocalist Benjamin Caragol (ex-Burials) and drummer Ben Stoller (currently also Simple Forms, Dark Numbers, ex-Vanishing Kids) do much to ingratiate themselves both to the crowded underground of which their hometown is an epicenter, and to the broader sphere of heavy-progressivism in modern doom and sludge. Across the five tracks of their self-released for now debut full-length, Glacial Erratic, the pair offer a panacea of heavy sounds, angular in the urgency of “Toeing the Line,” which opens, or the later thud of “Selective Memory” (the latter of which also appeared on their 2020 self-titled EP), which seem more kin to Baroness or Elder crashes and twists of “A Distant Light” or the interplay of ambience, roll, and sharpness of execution that’s been held in reserve for the nine-minute “Wounds at the Stem” as they leave off. Melody, particularly in Caragol‘s vocals, is crucial in tying the material together, and part of what gives Semuta such apparent potential, but they seem already to have figured out a lot about who they want to be musically. All of which is to say don’t be surprised when this one shows up on the list of 2024’s best debut albums come December.
Hamburg, Germany’s The Moth exist in a world without genre, and their fourth album, Frost — also their first release for the likemided Exile on Mainstream — argues that maybe you should to. The three-piece of guitarist/vocalist Freden Mohrdiek, bassist/vocalist Cécile Ash and drummer Christian “Curry” Korr debuted a decade ago with 2013’s They Fall, answered back in 2015 with And Then Rise (review here), and made a declarative statement of persona on 2017’s Hysteria (review here), each record marked by incremental growth in an increasingly distinct stylistic context. Frost may arrive six years after the third long-player and through a new label, but as The Moth step forward again with this 10-song/44-minute collection, the many strengths of their approach are on ready display, whether it’s the intensity of chug in “Me, Myself and Enemy,” the sad hookiness of “Hundreds” or the thud and crush that caps with “Silent.”
One is tempted, perpetually, to think of The Moth as ‘experimental,’ but the truth is more complex. They’re not banging on steel girders or inventing instruments. They’re not looping effects until the cosmos seems to melt. Guitar, bass, drums, and the shared vocals of Ash and Mohrdiek are all they need to make Frost unpredictable front to back. They’re like the best present that noise rock never knew it got. Expansive and rolling in the Melvinsian tradition before the blowout on the title-track, loosely playing toward, well, Cathedral on “Cathedral” (could also say Type O Negative there), and set forth with punk-born fervor in the salvo “My, Myself and Enemy,” “Birmingham,” “Battlefield” and “Bruised” just before, the two instances of alliteration likely coincidental, but an example just the same of the identity and character in their material. A band not only saying they’re doing their own thing, but actually living up to that standard. And fostering an emotional expression as well.
“Bruised” seems especially well placed since, by the time one gets there it’s a potentially apt descriptor. Of the first four songs, only “Birmingham” is over three minutes long, and so where a psychedelic band might try to draw the audience in with some hypnotic, repetitive meditation, The Moth head out at a relative sprint and put their most driving material up front. That’s not a universal, blanket truth, by the way — because one must remember, The Moth are multifaceted, and a given track might do more than one thing — but applicable as a generalization. Certainly the penultimate “Dust,” which was also the lead single from Frost, has a suitably brash shove in addition to one of the record’s most satisfying nods, and “In the City” just before is tense enough to make your stomach hurt if you let it, with its weirdo effects in the second half lead over the double-time hi-hat and jet-engine rhythm layers of guitar and bass. But there is a definite transition as “Cathedral” picks up from “Bruised,” and “Hundreds” leans into its grunge-ish chorus melody with Ash and Mohrdiek together on vocals to end side A with a due sense of landing.
And it’s not the last one as The Moth move into side B and the last four, mostly longer, songs on the album. The rumble at the start of “Frost” boasts aww-yuck-face tone in only the most righteous fashion, and the sludgy crash and lumber that ensues is a redirect from “Hundreds,” which also ends thudding but in kind of a ’80s-thrash-tape manner. The title-track is the longest song at 6:52, and grows more consuming as it works toward its eventual fade, with Mohrdiek and Ash swapping back and forth in the vocal arrangement when not both shouting. With “In the City” after, they assure that the strides and vibe established on side A aren’t lost — that energy that comes through as “Me, Myself and Enemy” opens, I mean — and while one would hardly call the tremolo picking of “Dust” soothing, there is an overarching flow as it gives over to the avant raw riffing and toms of “Silent,” which brings back that forward-in-the-mix guitar-as-keyboard (unless it’s just a keyboard) sound from “In the City” as if continuing a theme across the final three tracks, pulling them together as a band might when considering the whole-LP impression of a work as well as the songs that make it.
Maybe The Moth sit and planned all this out before they hit the studio, or maybe the whole thing is magic. It matters only academically. What’s more relevant in terms of the listening experience is that Frost was tracked live, in a day. It is a band-showed-up-and-played record, and part of its sonic appeal comes from that. I used the word ‘raw’ above to describe the tones and I’ll stand by it, but it’s worth highlighting that while much of Frost can indeed be barebones from a production standpoint, the material neither sounds opaque nor difficult to engage. Even as they cap “Silent,” they do so on a march and a drone rather than some grandiose ending that would be out of place. If that’s a conscious choice on their part or just what felt right, the end result is the same. The Moth continue their progressive trajectory in these songs and meet the span of years it’s been since their last offering with head-on force of craft and delivery.
The Moth – Track-by-Track Through Frost:
ME, MYSELF & ENEMY
Sometimes the enemy can be yourself. That holds true for the emotional and psychological side as well as the physical side when something in your body turns against you and threatens your health and life.
BIRMINGHAM
The song is about people who want to change themselves or something in their lives and, despite being very motivated, have to realize how difficult it sometimes is to stop feeding the demons within them.
BATTLEFIELD
This is about being let down and emotionally injured by a person that you felt closest to. And about not being able to show or talk about the injury. So you smile though inside you are full of grief and not able to share it with anyone (yet). This denying of your feelings is (maybe literally) like killing parts of yourself over and over again.
BRUISED
This is about preparing for a fight and not being afraid of it, though the enemy may be strong. Because some fights are just necessary. Catching a few hits or getting bruised doesn’t scare you, because you know that you’ll get through this and though you may be smaller, you’re stronger.
CATHEDRAL
Some periods in life we feel like the present and the future are especially uncertain. It’s like walking through a fog and we just have to have faith in ourself, each other and that the good in humanity will win over the bad. In those times we should turn towards the other or the others, show that we feel the same, take each other’s hands (sometimes metaphorically speaking) and get through this together.
HUNDREDS
This is about past relationships and breakups. If they have truely loved, ex-partners may somehow stay connected on some other level even though they were not meant to be together in this life.
FROST
Sometimes what you most wish for and have fought for so long, just doesn’t happen or something puts a definite end to that vision you had: it will never become reality. So where is that hope that you fostered for so long, so suddenly supposed to go? Having to give up hope on something that was extremely important to you is a huge loss. So going through the grief that this brings feels like walking through a sea of ice, through the frost. And if nobody is sharing the grief with you, you have to confront this pain and emptiness on your own. Until the end of the frost.
IN THE CITY
It’s about people that are alive and have a lust for life and are not afraid to show it. They have dressed up, look sharp and walk the streets at night to go to a concert or a party and just enjoy themselves. They are being watched by others, half fascinated, half uncomprehending. The others are more ordinary people, who like to keep it „normal“, people with dead eyes. In this particular case we were thinking about four women from the Birmingham area who have supported us since we first came to the UK and definitely made the nights more colourful: Emma, Emily, Jess and Vic. Emma and Emily are also singing alongside Cécile on the chorus of this track!
DUST
Two years ago I (Cécile) had breast cancer. During that time I often listened to Anita Moorjani who once had cancer herself and a near death experience. She is just so encouraging. She says cancer patients should not accept the word „remission“ (fear-based) but should reinterpret this word as a shortform for „remember your mission“ (love-based). Our purpose is, she says, to remember what we came here for, what our mission is. And our first mission is, to truly be ourselves.
SILENT
The song is about the certainty or hope that someone is there for you and looks after you in tough times and will give you a hand.
German doom/sludge metal trio THE MOTH prepares to release their monstrous fourth album, Frost, through Exile On Mainstream this Friday.
THE MOTH takes their approach to new heights with their fourth album, Frost. Catchy lines get stuck in the listener’s heart and mind like a dislodged meat hook, explaining why the band calls their style doom-sludge pop – “Kim Wilde-meets-Bolt Thrower” – or like a review for the 2017 album Hysteria put it: “pop music played with a bulldozer.” Lyrically, however, THE MOTH shows a new openness and vulnerability under the shell of raw power that the songs initially present. Experiencing and living through strokes of fate runs through the record as a recurring theme – all under a rough shell of distinctive and deliberately raw sound. Bassist/vocalist Cécile Ash, guitarist/vocalist Freden Mohrdiek, and drummer Curry Korr perform the dichotomy with a high recognition value. Boring riff hum and mantric stoner-esque repetition are not their thing.
Frost was recorded live in only 24 hours, the album recorded and mixed by José Lorenzo at Bombrec Recording, and then mastered by Timo Höcke at Die Wellenschmiede, and completed with artwork by Sarah Breen and layout by Cécile Ash. Emma Billingham and Emily Yardley provide additional vocals on “In The City.”
Frost will be released on September 22nd digitally and on 140-gram pure virgin Black Vinyl including a bundled CD. Find physical preorders at the Exile On Mainstream webshop HERE and digital at Bandcamp HERE.
THE MOTH has confirmed a string of release dates including shows with Thronehammer and labelmates Treedeon with more to be posted shortly.
THE MOTH Record Release Shows: 9/22/2023 Störtebecker – Hamburg, DE w/ Treedeon 10/03/2023 Alte Meierei – Kiel, DE w/ Thronehammer 10/04/2023 Fundbureau – Hamburg, DE w/ Thronehammer 10/05/2023 MTC – Cologne, DE w/ Thronehammer 10/06/2023 Immerhin – Wuerzburg, DE 10/07/2023 Keep It Low Festival – Munich, DE 11/17/2023 Thav – Hildesheim, DE w/ with Shakhtyor 11/18/2023 Die Trompete – Bochum, DE w/ Treedeon
Posted in Whathaveyou on September 8th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
German post-hardcore-informed sludgers Kavrila (from Hamburg) and Shovel (from Berlin) will head out on what’s sure to be an onslaught of a 10-date run through Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, maybe-Switzerland, Austria and the Czech Republic. Kavrila‘s most recent LP is 2021’s Mor, but they’ve let it be known that they’ll release a new single at the end of this month called “Surface.” That will be out Sept. 29, which is well ahead of the start of this tour.
Shovel issued their self-titled full-length last year through Italy’s Argonauta Records and have started working on new songs. They’ve been playing shows pretty regularly, and while I don’t know if they’ve got new material ready to go, I do know that a year-old record is still worth supporting, especially when such furies are involved.
Open date in Switzerland; if you can help out, do. There’s a lot that goes into making a DIY run like this happen — easy for me to say as I’m two weeks late putting up the news — and it’s worth supporting one way or the other if you can.
From the PR wire:
KAVRILA & SHOVEL European Tour Okt/Nov 2023 – Here Come The Rats!
The rats are coming! We are thrilled to announce this tour together with our brothers in Shovel and can’t wait to get in the van. Mark your calendars, spread the word and prepare for some serious damage. We would be happy if you would spread the news and we also hope to see you in front of the stage in one or another city.
HERE COME THE RATS! European Tour 2023 27.10. DE Bremen – Zollkantine 28.10. NL Amsterdam – The Cave 29.10. BE Hasselt – De Witte Non 30.10. BE Ghent – Het Landhuis 31.10. FR Amiens – 1001 Bieres 01.11. CH —book us!— 02.11. AT Salzburg – Rockhouse 03.11. CZ Prague – Modra Vopice 04.11. DE Berlin – Urban Spree 05.11. DE Hamburg – Goldener Salon
Posted in Whathaveyou on August 21st, 2023 by JJ Koczan
New The Moth track is a banger. The PR wire info below has all the details you could want about the Hamburg-based trio’s upcoming fourth album and first for Exile on Mainstream, titled Frost, and I’d encourage you to by all means dig in and learn a bit of the background as you listen to/watch the video for “Dust.” Apocalyptic and thus almost woefully catchy, it’s a first taste of Frost, and its tones don’t strike as being particularly cold in its rolling groove derived (mathematically speaking, of course) from ’90s noise and given a melodic foundation in its verse that the repeated lyrics make that much more memorable.
This song was recorded live in a day — apparently that also applies to the entire album — and so if it feels raw, good. That’s what they’re going for. But they’re not just raw, or just any one thing. They really are the perfect Exile on Mainstream band, in that they’re able to do six things at once and be confoundingly complex while still coming across barebones and utterly cohesive. “Dust” deals lyrically with bassist/vocalist Cécile Ash‘s cancer experience, as she recounts below:
THE MOTH: German Doom Metal Trio Announces Details Of Fourth LP, Frost, Confirmed For September Release Via Exile On Mainstream; “Dust” Video + Preorders Posted
Exile On Mainstream presents Frost, the colossal fourth LP from German doom metal trio THE MOTH, confirming the album for September 22nd release alongside preorders and other details. With the news comes the record’s first single, a video for the song “Dust.”
After three albums on the fantastic This Charming Man label, THE MOTH now presents their label debut on Exile On Mainstream with Frost. Having honed their no-nonsense approach to sludge/doom metal on numerous tours and gigs, the band’s songs are virtually void of frills, instead opting to turn out hammer heavy drums and riff-heavy rock as brutal as it is bewitching. Since their acclaimed debut They Fall in 2013, the Hamburg trio has regularly delivered tracks with a catchiness that is surprising for the genre. Kim Wilde-meets-Bolt Thrower, as they call it themselves, or like a review for the 2017 album Hysteria put it: “pop music played with a bulldozer.”
THE MOTH now takes this approach to new heights with their fourth album, Frost. Catchy lines get stuck in the listener’s heart and mind like a dislodged meat hook, explaining why the band calls their style “doom-sludge pop.” Lyrically, however, THE MOTH shows a new openness and vulnerability under the shell of raw power that the songs initially present. Experiencing and living through strokes of fate runs through the record as a recurring theme – all under a rough shell of distinctive and deliberately raw sound. Bassist/vocalist Cécile Ash, guitarist/vocalist Freden Mohrdiek, and drummer Curry Korr perform the dichotomy with a high recognition value. Boring riff hum and mantric stoner-esque repetition are not their thing. Anyone who experiences THE MOTH live will automatically find themselves in front of the stage with a biting head nod, a thirst for beer, and a fist clenched at hip height.
Frost was recorded live in only 24 hours, recorded and mixed by José Lorenzo at Bombrec Recording, and then mastered by Timo Höcke, at Die Wellenschmiede, and completed with artwork by Sarah Breen and layout by Cécile Ash. Emma Billingham and Emily Yardley provide additional vocals on “In The City.”
The first single from Frost, “Dust,” is delivered through a video by Niklas Krohn of Cruel Visions. Cécile Ash reveals the touching story behind the single, writing, “Two years ago, I had breast cancer. During that time, I discovered the writer Anita Moorjani and her own approach to cancer. After a near-death experience her tumor started regressing and she came out with a super positive, encouraging, and empowering attitude. One of the essences of her attitude is rewriting the meaning of the word remission, used to describe the 5-10 years phase after a treatment when signs and symptoms of cancer seem to be fading or completely going away – before doctors would use the word cure. Moorjani reinterprets and sees it as an abbreviation for ‘Remember your Mission’ postulating a pledge for asking yourself: ‘What is my mission, what am I here for?’ First and foremost, she says it’s about just being yourself. ‘Dust’ is about death holding the sword of Damocles of cancer recurrence over me. It says dagger instead of sword in the song simply because it did fit better with the music. It’s about remembering the mission of being yourself, which seems to be a strong force against a possible conquest and for a serious bye-bye to the ongoing threat.”
Check out THE MOTH’s video for “Dust” now at THIS LOCATION.
Watch for additional videos and previews of the album to post shortly.
Frost Track Listing: 1. Me, Myself & Enemy 2. Birmingham 3. Battlefield 4. Bruised 5. Cathedral 6. Hundreds 7. Frost 8. In The City 9. Dust 10. Silent
THE MOTH has already confirmed a string of release dates including shows with Thronehammer and labelmates Treedeon with more to be posted shortly.
THE MOTH Record Release Shows: 9/22/2023 Störtebecker – Hamburg, DE w/ Treedeon 10/03/2023 Alte Meierei – Kiel, DE w/ Thronehammer 10/04/2023 Fundbureau – Hamburg, DE w/ Thronehammer 10/05/2023 MTC – Cologne, DE w/ Thronehammer 10/06/2023 Immerhin – Wuerzburg, DE 10/07/2023 Keep It Low Festival – Munich, DE 11/17/2023 Thav – Hildesheim, DE w/ with Shakhtyor 11/18/2023 Die Trompete – Bochum, DE w/ Treedeon
Founded in 2012, the feedback on THE MOTH’s first album They Fall was already quite enthusiastic. Right from the start, the band presented themselves as an international band that drew fans all over the world, from Tokyo to Vancouver. Between festival appearances at the Desertfests in London and Berlin, Stoned From The Underground, the Svart Festival Oslo, the Doom Over Vienna, and the Riff Mass Brighton, two more albums were released in 2015 with And Then Rise and 2017 Hysteria. On accompanying tours and shows throughout Europe and the UK with, among others, Treedeon, Conan, Eyehategod, Crowbar, Torche, and Red Fang, THE MOTH left enthusiastic fans behind.
clearly on purpose. And it’s all part of the thing. There’s complexity of style throughout, and an overarching airiness of tone gives the band ample space to fill as they chase down one aural idea or another, be it a riff, sample, synth or the deceptively intricate chug coinciding with the cries in “Magna Mater.” The subsequent “Mun Kvlta” begins calmer with synth and standalone guitar, but it’s not long before a low-distortion drone takes hold for a few minutes of texture-exploration. Something of a preface there for the closing title-track, in that it’s instrumental and more about ambience despite being heavy as buildings.
