Posted in Whathaveyou on January 31st, 2024 by JJ Koczan
I’ve been trying to post this for like a week. This happens to me now. I’ll be sitting on the couch at like 7PM or some such — well past what I consider ‘Obelisk time’ in my feeble brainclock — and see some relevant item on my phone. I haven’t covered Krach am Bach much in years past, so I probably said something like, “Oh shit right on, I can post about something new,” and started to put the thing together. I don’t remember if I squared the poster image or the fest did — probably them. But then I get in the actual back end of the site and there are like 50 other things and then I’m already late and blah blah fucking blah here I am with another festival lineup post. I’m sure by now the lineup has been completed and the festival — which is set for Aug. 2-3 — has already taken place. Because time would bend over backwards just to screw me up, and I say that as the voice of experience.
But the lineup. Seems likely The Devil and the Almighty Blues will be out on tour, ditto A Place to Bury Strangers, Wine Lips, Deathchant, El Perro. You’ll notice Elder-offshoot Delving among the confirmations, which might mean another studio offering from that project is on the way, and I’ll go to bat for each of Karkara, Humulus, Travo and Black Helium being worth your time based solely on my experience with their recorded output. There’s more to come here, but I’m not sure how much more you really need.
Check it:
+++ First announcements || Tickets available +++
In case you’re wondering about some news for the 29. Krach am Bach Festival, we’ve got the finest selection for a ride through heavy, fuzz-drowned and hypnotic space trips.
Orange Goblin |UK A Place To Bury Strangers |US The Devil And The Almighty Blues |Norway Wine Lips |Canada Tuber |Greece Deathchant |US El Perro |US Madmess |Portugal delving |US Verstärker |US KARKARA |France Humulus |Italy TRAVO |Portugal Black Helium |UK ᴉGeRaldᴉ |France
Posted in Whathaveyou on January 3rd, 2024 by JJ Koczan
In a week that’s pretty light on announcements, be it for tours or new releases or whathaveyou, Italy’s Humulus shine through with live plans for the early part of this New Year, with one TBA still saddled in a stretch of 10 days and more listed as being in the offing. The occasion of the trio’s going is 2023’s Flowers of Death (review here), which was the first outing from the band to feature guitarist/vocalist Thomas Mascheroni after a lineup shift that saw him step in after 2020’s The Deep (review here).
Their fourth full-length overall, it also featured a collaboration with Colour Haze guitarist/vocalist Stefan Koglek, whose presence and influence certainly doesn’t hurt, and in part with that laid out a progressive and psychedelic course for their work to follow going forward. If you didn’t hear it — and if you didn’t, it’s okay, I don’t hear everything either — it’s at the bottom of this post and since it came out in September and 2024 is only two days old, it’s still a new release, so have at it. The dates were posted on social media as follows:
Flowers of Death Tour 2024 💥 here’s the first part of the tour dates confirmed for the next year…Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Italy and for the first time Denmark 🔥 We wish you all the best for the new year and we hope to see you in front of the stage…and don’t forget to drink good beers 🍺 cheeeers
07.03 Gerwerk Winterthur CH 08.03 Freiburg Im Breisgau DE 09.03 Sas Delemont CH 10.03 Rockhaus Salzburg AT 11.03 Kopi Keller Berlin DE 12.03 TBA 13.03 Lygtens Kro Copenhagen DK 14.03 Pogo Retroquitaten Telgte DE 15.03 Vortex Siegen DE 16.03 Bandhaus Erfurt DE 17.03 Live Bar Sölden AT more TBA
Humulus: Thomas Mascheroni – Guitar and Voice Massimiliano Boventi – Drums Giorgio Bonacorsi – Bass
Revamped Italian heavy rockers Humulus will release their new album, Flowers of Death, on Sept. 1 through Taxi Driver Records and Kozmik Artifactz. Running seven tracks/43 minutes and varying from the heavy psychedelic post-stoner earthiness of opener “Black Water” to the blasted-into-space finale in “Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth,” it is the fourth full-length overall from the Brescia trio, who made their self-titled debut in 2012. It follows a not unreasonable three years behind 2020’s The Deep (review here), and is consistent with theme that emerged there of progressing outward from their heavy rock foundation. Flowers of Death has the additional distinguishing factor of being the first Humulus outing since guitarist/vocalist Thomas Mascheroni joined the band late last year, taking the place of Andrea Van Cleef alongside bassist Giorgio Bonacorsi and drummer Massimiliano Boventi.
In some ways, that change is the story of the album. It’s not the story of the songs, but if one heard The Deep or 2017’s Reverently Heading into Nowhere (review here), there’s been incremental growth all along from the band’s beery beginnings, and that’s true here too. Swapping in Mascheroni — who also fronts garage’d psych-blues rockers Thomas Greenwood and the Talismans and did the covers for the “Seventh Sun” single (premiering below) and the LP — accounts for the shifts in sound beyond that, whether that might be manifest in the way second cut “Secret Room” follows the fluid and modern roll of “Black Water” with a faster, riffier push, turns on a dime drawn from “Misty Mountain Hop” and winds up in pastoral psych that puts one in Arbouretum-style sunshine ever so briefly, and finishes by hinting at the cosmic launch to come at Flowers of Death‘s end as it fades out.
Not only is there variety in terms of where a given song might go, but structurally between them as well. “Shimmer Haze” essentially follows one righteously swinging progression for most of its five minutes, with a guitar-led mellow break in its second half that builds back up and some groovy kick drum in its earlier verses, and when they bring back that main riff at 4:47 with barely half a minute left, they gracefully and unhurriedly tie it together as a grounded heavy rocker while holding to the exploratory atmosphere of the first two tracks. I don’t think “Shimmer Haze” is anything particularly new from Humulus, but it’s greatly to their credit that they make it come across like it is. As the centerpiece, “Buried by Tree” moves into a slightly faster tempo and is marked by the tom work behind Mascheroni‘s vocals and guitar starts and stops, coming to a head as the guitar aligns with Bonacorsi and Boventi and shoots into the chorus, departing from there into a spacious midsection that gradually jams back to another round through the verse and hook, both efficient in execution and laid back in presence.
At 7:30, “Seventh Sun” is the second longest piece on Flowers of Death and is something of a landmark for Humulus. As the band explains below, it was the first track written with Mascheroni, and its languid rollout through an extended intro positions it directly into heavy psychedelia in a way that the additional guitar from Colour Haze‘s Stefan Koglek (who also apparently leant a hand in songwriting as well) very much fits when it arrives near the song’s middle. By the time they get there, Humulus have already hypnotized the listener with the flow built around the bassline, guitar starting off, leaving, then fading back in as the track sleeks into its verse. Koglek‘s lead will be recognizable to Colour Haze fans, and its end marks a change into a more active solo and ending section, and where “Shimmer Haze” turned back from its shorter excursion to finish with reinforcement of structure, “Seventh Sun” willingly lets itself go instrumental into that good night, its residual hum seeming to last right until the snare snap of the title-track announce it’s time to boogie.
And so it may be. Surf boogie at that. Taking ’60s garage and modern heavy psych and, yeah, some surf in that guitar line, the three-piece skillfully bring the listener back from the trance of “Seventh Sun” with physical (relative) urgency in the short cut that precedes the takeoff of the 10-minute “Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth” — one imagines a document with three words all-caps: “PLANT MORE TREES” — which follows suit from “Seventh Sun” in not coming back once it goes into its jam, but is resolute in its cosmic feel. Once more to the credit of Humulus‘ songwriting, the initial verses are more than a formality en route to the extended instrumental finish, which comprises the last six-plus minutes and brings subtle dynamic in its moments of digging in loud or quiet, but definitely saves its biggest thrust for last, a coursing wall of interstellar fuzz nova-blasted by a star about to be recycled.
I’m not sure one could really hope to summarize the totality of Flowers of Death in a single track anyway, and as an alternative, space rock works to emphasize the open stylistic nature of Humulus at this stage in their career, more than a decade on from their first record and with a one-third-new lineup. I’ve said on multiple occasions that swapping a guitarist — let alone a guitarist/vocalist — from a power trio is a major change for a band to make. It’s had a significant impact on Humulus as well, but they haven’t lost the thread from where The Deep was leading, even as they’ve thrown open new and exciting creative avenues to traverse.
“Seventh Sun” premieres below, with more comment from the band, preorder links, and so on after.
Please enjoy:
Humulus, “Seventh Sun” track premiere
https://youtu.be/i-QhVYwFxF0
Humulus on “Seventh Sun”:
“The idea of this song came from an old bass riff that Giorgio used to play to check his sound in rehearsal, studio, live, etc. We never built up a song on this riff, so when Thomas joined the band in November 2022 was the first idea we started to jam on. This is the first song that we wrote for the new LP and during the months we’ve spent writing the rest of the songs, it changed a lot and we added and cut different parts. Also under the supervision of Stefan from Colour Haze who played an additional guitar part. For sure is one of the most psychedelic and atmospheric song of this LP and more than the others represents well the transition from the ‘Old Humulus sound’ to the new one.”
Song Name: Seventh Sun LP Name: Flowers of Death Music by Humulus, Lyrics by Thomas Mascheroni Additional guitar by Stefan Koglek (Colour Haze) Artwork for the Single by Thomas Greenwood
Posted in Whathaveyou on June 23rd, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Something of a different look from Humulus on their upcoming Flowers of Death LP. The follow-up to 2020’s The Deep (review here) sees the Brescia-based three-piece making their first offering with new guitarist/vocalist Thomas Mascheroni, who joined the band late last year, playing alongside bassist Giorgio Bonacorsi and drummer/band-ambassador Massimiliano Boventi. The heft is still there, as songs like “Shimmer Haze” and “Buried by Tree” will attest, but some of the burl has been swapped out for an exploratory sense, and Mascheroni imports some of his psychedelic and melodic sensibility from his solo work — he also did the cover art — giving a fresh voice to the group who released their beer-rocking self-titled debut in 2012.
They don’t sound like a completely different band — though they do go full-space rock at the end with “Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth,” with engrossing results — but like they’re pursuing the direction they took with the somewhat-left-turn that their 2020 LP represented, and they sound like they’ve restructured the group, which they have. Mascheroni replaces Andrea Van Cleef in Humulus, and has a style of his own. I’m not going to say it’s better or worse now, because that’s not really what it’s about — though if you want radical honesty, Humulus now are probably more in line with what I’d put on for a given afternoon — but listening to Flowers of Death as I’ve been fortunate enough to do, they sound excited and eager to plumb these new reaches of sound, and I look forward to hearing where they end up.
They’re confirmed for Keep it Low in Munich this year, which Colour Haze also regularly play, it being their hometown. You’ll note that band’s guitarist Stefan Koglek had a hand in advising on songwriting (not a tutelage that’s going to hurt) and plays extra guitar on “Seventh Sun.” That song has a mellow drift and the kind of build that I very much wouldn’t mind watching emanate from a festival stage. I won’t make it to Keep it Low unless a miracle happens, but as a word to the wise, it’s something you might consider.
I’ll hope to have more to come on the record as we get closer to the release. For now, here’s the announcement and some words on it from Boventi:
Says Massimiliano Boventi: “I think that the most important thing for a band like us who recently had a lineup change, is to start immediately to work hard on new material…and it’s exactly what we did from november until april 2023. The result is an LP that reflects what Humulus are in this moment: you can feel in the songs the ‘classical’ Humulus style that is more connected to the rhythmical part of the band, the oldest part :) , and the fresh air given by the new member. But the most important thing for us is that these parts are well connected and we feel us again as a band, musically speaking but also as friends.
It was also a pleasure and a great honour to be helped by Stefan Koglek from Colour Haze who gave us precious tips about what to do in the songs without changing our band sound. We never did this before with other artists for previous records and was really a different and very stimulating thing to do for composing part of the LP. And he played an additional guitar part on the song called “Seventh Sun”.
So we are really excited about this release, and also some gigs for October and November are coming.
All the songs are written and played by Humulus. This Lp was recorded in April 2023 at IndieBox Music Hall Studio (Brescia) by Giovanni Bottoglia. Cover art by Thomas Mascheroni (our Singer and Guitar player). Stefan Koglek: Additional guitar on “Seventh Sun”.
Humulus: Thomas Mascheroni – Guitar and Voice Massimiliano Boventi – Drums Giorgio Bonacorsi – Bass
Posted in Whathaveyou on March 20th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
And so the Fall tourscape continues to unfold. King Buffalo heading abroad again is news, I think. They’re playing RippleFest Texas at the end of September, and between Keep it Low 2023 on Oct. 6-7 and the also-Sound–of–Liberation-affiliated Lazy Bones Festival in Hamburg, for which they were confirmed last week, it looks like they’ll once more spend at least the better part of a month on the road. Good to know these things.
Joining them in this whopper of an announcement is the e’er aggro Mantar, reinvigorated doom legends The Obsessed — who seem to be hitting the touring circuit that much harder with their revamped lineup — the reliably-unhinged Eyehategod, upstart rockers Slomosa, and Humulus, Dirty Sound Magnet, The Moth (who rule and hopefully have a new record coming), Eremit, Lucid Void and masked marauders Iron Walrus. It’s a busy one, but check out the generational blend between the likes of Colour Haze, The Obsessed, Eyehategod and Alabama Thunderpussy and the likes of Slomosa, King Buffalo, and Lucid Void.
Seems to me like we’re in a pretty killer moment of established acts still getting out and releasing quality material (The Obsessed have a new album that hopefully will be out concurrent to this tour) and newer bands on the rise. As the 2020s play out post-pandemic, this may be the shape of the next few years. Let’s learn from the past and support the shit out of the next generation of bands, hmm?
Here’s the latest:
NEW BANDS ADDED TO KEEP IT LOW FESTIVAL 2023
Hey Keepers,
we’re super stoked to present you the latest additions to our Keep It Low line up!
Please welcome to the bill:
MANTAR The Obsessed King Buffalo EYEHATEGOD Slomosa Dirty Sound Magnet Humulus THE MOTH Eremit Lucid Void IRON WALRUS
Posted in Whathaveyou on December 30th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
A few weeks back, Italian heavy rockers Humulus announced the departure from the band of guitarist/vocalist Andrea Van Cleef, a not-at-all minor presence in the Brescia-based trio alongside bassist Giorgio Bonacorsi and drummer Massimiliano Boventi. Good terms, still friends, all that. Sometimes it’s time to go. It happens. Boventi and Bonacorsi said at the time they would be continuing the group, and today they announce that Thomas Mascheroni will take over fronting duties from here on out.
Mascheroni, who also performs as Thomas Greenwood in the outfit Thomas Greenwood and the Talismans, released the psych-garage-blues-ish Rituals full-length earlier this year, and comes to Humulus following the band’s 2020 third LP, The Deep (review here). That record greatly expanded Humulus‘ prior approach, sort of blew the roof off the thing, and while there isn’t any new audio from Humulus Mk. II yet, I’ve been fortunate enough to hear some recent rehearsal recordings of new songs in progress, and they sound like Humulus are going to be continuing on an exploratory path as Mascheroni and the established rhythm section come together.
They’re saying new album in 2023. Crazier things have occurred, certainly, and I hear having goals is a good thing. Best of luck to the band, and Van Cleef, who has said he’s soon to return with a new project. Again, goals. My goal right now is another cup of coffee, so while I handle that you read this from the PR wire:
Lineup changes are often difficult and complex and when Andrea decided to quit Humulus was for sure not easy to look to the future immediately with positive vibes… but we’ve been lucky and few days after the break up, Thomas Mascheroni joined the band!!!
He has also a solo project with the name of Thomas Greenwood and his last record “Rituals” (https://thomasgreenwoodband.bandcamp.com/album/rituals) went out this year. We’ve listened to this LP, and we really liked his sound and his voice.
So here we are!!! We are working hard on new material, new songs are coming fast and for sure we’ll be out later in 2023 with an LP.
Some gigs are already planned for spring and summer and we’ll play new songs and some old classics… stay tuned on our social pages for announcements.
We are very excited for this new adventure, for sure the new sound and songs will be different, but this is the best part of the game!!!
Humulus are: Thomas Greenwood – Guitar/Vocals Giorgio Bonacorsi – Bass Massimiliano Boventi – Drums
Posted in Whathaveyou on February 7th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
Bringing together players from Germany, the Netherlands, France, the UK, Austria, Northern Ireland, Italy, Greece, Sweden, the US and Brazil, the Stoner Rock Worldwide Community Album 2021 boasts seven tracks of remote compositions and recordings, with the songs emerging from members having participated in a call to arms during the pandemic. It’s a hugely ambitious project. In regular circumstances, it would be impressive enough to curate a series of bands and players coming together on a new anything. To sort various parties across international borders into working units even in the age of social media, and then to have them work together creatively, is an oh-hell-no kind of job. Kudos to Felix Melchhardt on making it happen.
Pretty astounding stuff. Vinyl’s in the works as we speak, and the stream went live this past Friday. You’ll find it at the bottom of this post, and considering the amount of effort that seems to have gone into every level of making it, the download is dirt-frickin’-cheap.
More info:
Stoner Rock World Wide Community Album Digital Release out now! 35+ Musicians, Remotely composed and recorded.
Remotely composed, recorded and finally pressed on vinyl together as a worldwide community of heavy rock lovers – The Stoner Rock World Wide Community Album.
26. May 2020: “What if we release an album remotely composed, recorded and finally pressed on vinyl together as a worldwide community of heavy rock lovers? Musicians world wide writing an album for our lovely world wide community, that’s the deal and we think we could make this happen.” – And we did so.
Key Facts – 7 Tracks – Remotely composed, recorded and mixed by more than 35 musicians spread over the globe. Magic definitely happened, friendships were made. – Mastered by Niklas Källgren (Truckfighters). – Once pressed, worldwide distribution via various heavy rock labels. – Special guests: Bob Balch (Fu Manchu), Papanikolaou Babis (Planet of Zeus), Tolis Motsios (Nightstalker). – People participating in the project did not know each other before. Only the love for heavy rock connects them. They were brought together by an open call-out to the community by SRWW 2 years ago. – Groups were brought together via Facebook. They internally organized themselves on how to approach the songwriting process, exchanged ideas and finally put together 7 unique songs. – Anything that could go wrong, went wrong (really) – but we made it. **ck COVID. – Pressed on vinyl right now. – Bandcamp digital release co-finances the master, distribution and further costs. – Endurance was key. Shoutout to all the people involved. – Coordinated by Felix Melchhardt in the name of SRWW. (Cone (Band), Blackdoor Music Festival, SRWW)
Personnel: Track 1 – Dreams of Space Francesco Bonardi – Guitar (Hackberry, Netherlands) Eric Frantzen – Bass (Mantra Machine, Netherlands) Drev – Vocals (Descarado, Sweden) Miguel Pereira – Guitar (Bushfire, Germany) Sascha Holz – Drums (Bushfire, Germany)
Track 2 – Remain Martin Frank – Bass / Vocals (White Noise Generator, Germany) Thomas Berger – Drums (Timestone, Austria) Tony Hochhuber – Guitars (Germany)
Track 3 – The All Seeing Sun Diamond Pr – Guitar / Vocals (The Same River, Greece) Oscar Flanagan – Guitar (Insonika, Sweden) Armin Lehner – Keys (Ozymandias, Austria) Brien Gillen – Drums (Elder Druid, Northern Ireland) Rafael Denardi – Bass (Rafael Denardi, Brazil) Special Guest: Papanikolaou Babis (Planet of Zeus, Greece)
Track 4 – Raw Luke Taylor – Drums (White Noise Generator, Germany) Derek Fisher – Guitar (Moth66, USA) Niels van Eldijk – Bass (Ramkoers, Netherlands) Ben Plochowietz – Guitar / Vocals (Scorched Oak, Germany) Christoph W. – Vocals (Ozymandias, Austria) Special Guests: Tolis Motsios Nightstalker (Greece)
Track 5 – Calypso Tom Maene – Guitar (Motsus, Belgium) Jeroen Schippers – Drums (Mantra Machine, Netherlands) Linda Hackmann – Bass / Vocals (Scorched Oak, Germany) Dimitris Vardoulakis – Vocals (Honeybadger, Greece) Jonas Hartmann – Keys (Willow Child, Germany) Special Guest: Bob Balch (Fu Manchu, US)
Posted in Reviews on March 23rd, 2020 by JJ Koczan
I’ve got a fresh cup of coffee and 50 records that need to be reviewed, so it must be time for… constant distractions! Oh, no, wait, sorry. It must be time for the Quarterly Review. Yeah, there it is. I know there’s a global-pandemic-sized elephant in the room as a backdrop for the Spring 2020 Quarterly Review, but it seems to me that’s all the more reason to proceed as much as possible. Not to feign normality like people aren’t suffering physically, emotionally, and/or financially, but to give those for whom music is a comfort an opportunity to find more of that comfort and, frankly, to do the same for myself. I’ve said many times I need this more than you do, and I do.
So, you know the drill. 10 records a day, Monday to Friday through this week, 50 when we’re done. As Christopher Pike says, let’s hit it.
Quarterly Review #1-10:
Total Fucking Destruction, …To Be Alive at the End of the World
The long-running experimentalist grind trio Total Fucking Destruction remain a sonic presence unto themselves. Their strikingly apropos fifth LP, …To Be Alive at the End of the World, begins with the five-minute psychedelic wash of its unrepentantly pretty, somewhat mournful title-track and ends with a performance-art take on “The Star Spangled Banner” that shifts into eight or so minutes of drone and minimalist noise before reemerging in manipulated form, vocalist/drummer Richard Hoak (also the odd bit of flute and ocarina), bassist/vocalist Ryan Moll and guitarist Pingdum filling the between space with the blasts and jangles of “A Demonstration of Power,” the maddening twists of “Attack of the Supervirus 1138” and other mini-bursts of unbridled aggression like “Stone Bomb,” “Doctor Butcher” and the outright conceptual genius of “Yelling at Velcro,” which, indeed, is just 20 or so seconds of yelling ahead of the arrival of the closer. In an alternate future, Total Fucking Destruction‘s work will be added to the Library of Congress. In this future, we’re boned.
For the six-song/51-minute The Deep, Italian three-piece Humulus somewhat depart the beer-rocking ways of 2017’s second LP, Reverently Heading into Nowhere (review here). Sure, the riff of “Gone Again” is pure Kyuss idolatry (not a complaint), and “Devil’s Peak (We Eventually Eluded Death)” brims with drunkard’s swagger, but factor in the wonderfully executed linear build that takes place across the eight-minute “Hajra,” the mellow emotionalism of the penultimate acoustic track “Lunar Queen,” and the two extended psychedelic bookends in opener “Into the Heart of the Volcano Sun” (14:48) and closer “Sanctuary III – The Deep” (14:59), and the narrative becomes decidedly more complex than just “they drink and play riffs.” These elements have been in Humulus‘ sound all along, but it’s plain to hear the band have actively worked to push themselves forward in scope, and the range suits them, the closer particularly filled with a theatricality that would seem to speak to further storytelling to come on subsequent releases. So be it. They called the album The Deep and have dived in accordingly.
An atmosphere of melancholy is quickly established on The River‘s third LP, Vessels into White Tides (on Nine Records), and for being the London four-piece’s first album 10 years, it takes place in a sense of unrushed melody, the band rolling out a morose feel born of but not directly aping the likes of My Dying Bride and Paradise Lost as the vocals of guitarist Jenny Newton (also strings, percussion) — joined in the band by guitarist Christian Leitch, bassist Stephen Morrissey and drummer Jason Ludwig — make their presence felt soon in opener “Vessels,” which unfolds gracefully with a crash and rumble fading into the beginning of the subsequent “Into White” (15:01) with the four-minute string-laced “Open” and the 9:44 shifting-into-intensity “Passing” preceding closer “Tides,” which is duly rolling in its progression and offers a sweet bit of release, if wistful, from some of the more grueling moments before it, capping not with a distorted blowout, but with layers of strings reinforcing the folkish underpinning that’s been there all along, in even the most tonally or emotionally weighted stretches.
Mountain Pass, which begins with “The Northern Face,” ends with “The Southern Face” and along the way treks through its on-theme title-track and the speedier “You Don’t Know Death,” catchy “Thunder I Am” and fairly-enough bluesy “Devil Blues,” has its foundations in oldschool metal and punk, but is a decidedly rock-based offering. It’s the debut from Oakland’s Phantom Hound, and its eight component tracks make no attempt to mask their origins or coat their material in unnecessary pretense — they are what they are; the album is what it is. The three-piece dip into acoustics on the instrumental “Grace of an Angel,” which shifts with a cymbal wash into the lead guitar at the outset of the eight-minute title-track — the stomp of which is perhaps more evocative of the mountain than the passing, but still works — but even this isn’t so far removed from the straightforward purposes of “Irons in the Fire,” which stakes its claim to dead-ahead metal and rock, barely stopping along the way to ask what else you could possibly need.
Munich-based trio Chang, with clear, modern production behind them, present their debut EP release with the 29-minute Superlocomotodrive, and though it’s short, one is left wondering what else they might need to consider it an album. What’s missing? You’ve got the let’s-jam-outta-here in the six-minute opener and longest track (immediate points) “Mescalin,” and plenty of gruff riffing to back that up in “Old Rusty Car” and the later title-track, with a bit of Oliveri-era Queens of the Stone Age edge in the latter to boot, plus some psychedelic lead work in “Sterne,” some particularly German quirk in “Bottle Beach” and a massive buildup in tension in the finale “Bombs Whisper” that seems to arrive at its moment of payoff only to instead cut to silence and purposefully leave the listener hanging — an especially bold move for a first release. Yeah, it’s under half an hour long, but so what? The heavy rock terrain Chang are working in is familiar enough — right down to the less-than-P.C. lyrics of “Old Rusty Car” — but there’s no sense that Superlocomotodrive wants to be something it isn’t. It’s heavy rock celebrating heavy rock.
Though the grunge influence in the vocals of guitarist Simone Pennucci speak to more of a hard-rocking kind of sound, the basis of The Dhaze‘s sprawl across their ambitious 53-minute Sound Effect Records debut album, Deaf Dumb Blind, is more in line with progressive metal and heavy psychedelia. Bassist Vincenzo La Tegola backs Pennucci on vocals and locks in fluid mid-tempo grooves with drummer Lorenzo Manna, and makes a highlight of the low end in “Death Walks with Me” ahead of the titular trilogy, presented in the order of “Deaf,” “Blind” and “Dumb,” which flow together as one piece thanks in no small part to the synth work added by La Tegola and Pennucci together. Obviously comfortable in longer-form stretches like “Death Walks with Me” or the earlier “Neurosis,” both of which top nine minutes, the Napoli trio bring a fervent sense of variety to their work while leaving themselves open to future growth in terms of sound and playing with the balance between elements they establish here.
Hailing — because metal bands hail, to be sure — from the Pittsburgh area, newcomers Lost Psychonaut boast in their ranks two former members of sludgers Vulture in guitarist/vocalist Justin Erb and bassist Garrett Twardesky, who, together with drummer Tristan Triggs, run through a debut LP made up of five tracks that skirt the line between groove metal and heavy rock, tapping-like-flowing-kegs influences from the likes of ’90s-era C.O.C. and others such burl-laced groovers. Tales of day-to-day struggles make a fitting enough backdrop to the riff-led proceedings, which commence with the prior-issued single “My Time” and roll-groove their way into a duo of longer cuts at the end in “Restitution Day” (8:46) and “On a Down” (7:44). Frankly, any mention of the word “Down” at all in a song that feels so outwardly “buried in smoke” can hardly be coincidental, but that nod is well earned. With a couple years behind them, they know what they’re going for in this initial batch of songs, and the clearheaded nature of their approach only gives their songwriting more of a sense of command. There’s growth to be undertaken, but nothing to say they can’t get there.
I suppose you could, if so inclined, live up to Liquido di Morte‘s slogan, “We play music to take drugs to,” but you’d be shorting yourself on the experience of a lucid listen to their third long-player IIII. Issued in limited handmade packaging by the band, the Milan instrumentalists offer a stylistic take across the late-2019 five-tracker that stands somewhere between heavy post-rock and post-metal, but in that incorporates no shortage of thoughtful psychedelic meditations and even some kraut and space rock vibes. The primary impact is atmospheric, but there’s diversity in their approach such that the centerpiece “Tramonto Nucleare” begins cosmic, or maybe cataclysmic, and ends with an almost serene roll into the floating guitar at the outset of the subsequent “Rebus (6,5),” which is the longest inclusion at 13:40 and an encompassing, hypnotic srpawl that, whether you take drugs or not, seems destined to commune with expanded or expanding minds. The front-to-back journey ends with “The Fattening,” a cinematic run of synth after which a slaughter feels almost inevitable, even if it arrives as silence.
Bonus points to Netherlands four-piece Black Burned Blimp for including song titles like “What Doesn’t Kill You, Makes You Weirder” and “The Good, the Bad and the Fucking Horrific” and, at the start of “Desert Wizard,” the sample from Trailer Park Boys wherein Mr. Lahey declares, “I am the liquor” on their debut LP, Crash Overdrive. Native to a heavy rock legacy that includes acts like 13eaver, 35007, Astrosoniq and Celestial Season, among many others, the band hint toward melodic complexity while remaining focused on raw energy in their songwriting, such that even the drumless, harmonized and minute-long “Flock” seems to seethe with unstated tension for “Robo Erectus,” which follows, to pay off. It does, though perhaps with less of a tempo kick than one might expect — certainly less than the careening “The Good, the Bad and the Fucking Horrific” a few tracks later — but somehow, no matter what speed they’re actually playing, Black Burned Blimp seem to make it sound fast. Vitality will do that.
Though their arrival comes amid a German heavy rock underground that’s nothing if not well populated, Fulda-based five-piece Crimson Oak present with their self-titled debut long-player a stylistic take that’s both modern and genuine sounding, finding solid ground in well-crafted songs drawing more from ’90s-era heavy and punk in “Danger Time,” which follows the contemplative “Of My Youth,” the bulk of what surrounds expressing a similar level of self-awareness, up to and including the nine-minute side B opener “Brother of Sleep,” which sets psychedelic guitar against some of the album’s biggest riffs (and melodies). There’s middle ground to be had in cuts like “Displace” and “Sunset Embrace” still to come and “Fulda Gap” earlier, but Crimson Oak seem to touch that middle ground mostly en route to whichever end of the spectrum next piques their interest. At seven songs and 42 minutes, it’s not an insubstantial LP, but they hold their own with confidence and a poise that speaks to the fact that some of this material showed up on prior EPs. That experience with it shows but does not hold the band or songs back.
