Posted in Reviews on January 8th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
One should know immediately that the two bands involved in this split, Lotus Thief and Forlesen, are intricately connected. Lotus Thief‘s lineup has been an evolutionary process that here finds them a six-piece, but three of those six players — vocalist Beth “Bezaelith” Gladding (also bass, guitar, mandolin, synth), screamer Alex “Ascalaphus” Lindo and guitarist/synthesist Petit Albert Yeh — also make up 75 percent of Forlesen, which is completed by Sam “Maleus” Gutterman on drums. And Gutterman was in Maudlin of the Well (which begat Kayo Dot), and Gladding and Lindo were both in Botanist and Yeh has played with the piano-driven Wreche, who like both units here are also on I, Voidhanger Records.
Lotus Thief has Mohrany (Heather) on backing vocals, Romthulus (Kevin) on guitar and Sonnungr (who I would imagine was born with a different first name) on percussion alongside Gladding, Lindo and Gutterman, they and Forlesen both offer one mostly-side-consuming track around 12 minutes long — Lotus Thief‘s “In Perdition” is 11:56, Forlesen‘s “Black is the Color” checks in at 12:19 — while highlighting the similarities of mindset and the beyond-genre outreach each makes in its own direction. Not discounting anyone else’s contributions to the material, but it’s Gladding at Lotus Thief‘s conceptual core, and the band’s established methodology of adapting obscure ancient texts — “In Perdition” draws lines from the first story of Giovanni Boccaccio’s 1353 story collection The Decameron, which tells the tale of a Master Ciappelletto in suitably lofty religious tones. I don’t think you were allowed to write anything in Europe before 1700 that wasn’t about God. Ask Galileo. Or Copernicus.
But it is amid a spacious strum that Gladding sets the foundation for “In Perdition,” moving smoothly into harmony with Mohrany with an air of Americana that feels as much 16 Horsepower as all the talk of perdition and paradise put one in mind of Lingua Ignota, but at about two and a half minutes, Lotus Thief transition to a resonant melodic wash and from there burst out with soaring goth metal lead guitar (that is to say, soaring, but still sad) and a slow roll punctuated by Sonnungr‘s crash and plod. By the time another minute has passed, Lindo has arrived with the first screams and the entire context of the song has shifted, but that’s not to be unexpected considering the avant garde nature of both these bands. But the moment of post-extremity works well and when the fog clears, Lotus Thief take a moment to examine how the texture has changed in “In Perdition,” Gladding ultimately stepping forward for a next verse as the track heads toward its midpoint.
I’ll cop to a lack of familiarity with The Decameron, but the thing seems to be that Master Ciappelletto was “The worst of men,” and died without confession, was named a saint, and the point of the story seems to be he was an asshole. Fair enough. A blackened push, winding of riff, echoing of scream, charged and tense but progressive and melodic in ambience, gives over to a stately guitar solo before Gladding returns for a final verse and the fluid ending, which I don’t want to call doomgaze because it feels like an insult or a too-easy summary for such a headphone-worthy depth of layering, but at least on paper is an interpretation of the style.
It’s a comedown at the end, and it’s from there that Forlesen — who are the newer of the two bands, with two LPs out to Lotus Thief‘s three (not that it’s a contest) — pick up with the gradual forward percussive build, low rumble and vague melodic vocal of “Black is the Color,” which rises in its first four minutes to a crash-laced duet from Gladding and Lindo. A duly foreboding, brooding lumber takes hold, with charred whispers and screams far back as a hairier lead guitar accompanies strikes of piano in dramatic fashion.
And drama is for sure part of the crux for both Lotus Thief and Forlesen, the latter of whom issued a cover of Type O Negative‘s “Red Water (Christmas Mourning)” (posted here) last month in time for the holidays, and that influence can be heard in the lead guitar on “In Perdition” and “Black is the Color” as well, the latter oozing into an atmospheric slog laced with what might or might not actually be far-back screams and whispers, vague presences moving through, with grounding by the drums and piano as it turns to its most minimal point, with drum thud in open space, whispers, and crashes that feel inevitable as a next step forward on the marching progression. Yeh‘s piano is all the more resonant circa 7:45 just before Gladding and Lindo return on vocals (both clean singing), but when they do, the song has clearly hit its crescendo.
In it, Forlesen are poised enough to stand up to Lotus Thief “In Perdition,” but the backdrop against which that happens is darker, and however much both groups come across like they’re working to push their respective sounds — which are different, no matter how much they might have in common — as far into the unknown as they can, they’re still writing songs as a part of that process, it’s just what “song” means that changes, and that, as an ethic, is something to be admired. The repeated line, “We’ll be as one,” with Gladding in more of a lead spot mix-wise, caps the nodding last section of “Black is the Color,” and after all the lurch and distortion, it’s the quietly thudding drums and the melodic delivery of those lyrics that end the split, which in about 24 minutes’ time has given a fitting summation of what each of these projects is about, working on its own respective wavelength while complementary to the other.
Lotus Thief and Forlesen aren’t the first to put out a split while sharing members, and I’ll emphasize again that each has its own persona and purpose, and that those are brought to life with no less clarity than the tonal aspects or aesthetic intentions that might be common between them under a kind of progressive post-black metal/doom/this-genre-is-still-being-made-check-back-later-for-a-clever-name umbrella. By bringing the two entities together as they do here, what they’ve done is to essentially let each give a sampling of what they’re about in a way that, as neither act’s sound is particularly accessible despite being at least periodically gorgeous, allows those who might hesitate in the face of something so outsider-art, even in a heavy context, to take both on and get a preliminary understanding for what they’re about. To do so, especially for those who haven’t before, feels like a fast track to mind expansion.
Posted in Whathaveyou on December 13th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Silent in terms of output since the release of their consuming second album Black Terrain (review here) late last year, now-Oregonian progressive post-black metallers Forlesen leave a mark on 2023 in seasonal form with the Type O Negative cover “Red Water (Christmas Mourning).” Originally on the seminal Brooklyn goth/doom metallers’ landmark 1996 LP, October Rust (discussed here), which fuck yes I listened to in high school, the track has been encased in obsidian and buried alive from the sound of the treatment Forlesen give it, but the stately plod of the original is intact within that. This isn’t the only heavy Xmas song out there this year by any means, but if you’re out shopping or some such and that Mariah Carey song comes on, at least you have something to clean the slate afterward.
The PR wire sent the release info. No word on a third Forlesen yet, which if I’m honest is kind of a relief since 2024 is already slammed with releases and the prospect of something that might be more realized than Black Terrain is intimidating. But hopefully they get there sooner or later, and some unexpected fun — yeah, fun — in the meantime is an invite to fans to dig further into the band’s influences. I also heartily approve of doom claiming Type O Negative in hindsight, just so you know.
Song is out Friday, which is in two days. You’ll make it. Here’s that info:
FORLESEN draws from dark ambient, epic doom, black metal and slowcore, to create a dynamic and experimental sound. The quartet are preparing to unveil their black metal cover of TYPE O NEGATIVE’s “Red Water (Christmas Mourning)” on streaming platforms on December 15th.
Vocalist and guitarist Ascalaphus comments:
“TYPE O NEGATIVE were foundational for me, serving as my gateway into doom metal and remaining one of my favorite bands since. In a spirit of Saturnian revelry and sincere mournfulness, we offer this cover of the Drab Four’s grimmest of holiday songs, one that emphasizes the duality that made them such a special band – embers hardly alight after the evening’s celebration, a dark chill entering the room, a sense of both grandeur and nostalgia, along with a very sharp sense of loneliness and despair.
In our cover, then, we simply implemented that duality through the black metal prism. A lushness of melody and atmosphere that provides the backdrop to basically any and every TYPE O NEGATIVE song, cut to the core with the brute strength of raw, piercing, unfiltered emotion. In many ways this is TYPE O NEGATIVE’s bombast taken one step further, and their cruelty and hardship perhaps one step further than that.
TYPE O NEGATIVE did a lot of covers and always made it sound like themselves. There’s an irony to the fact that for a band who could make whatever they touched their own, so many other bands now try (and fail) to imitate them or are fairly literal in their interpretation. So paradoxically, I think the best way to honor what made a song of theirs special is to reinterpret it.
God Jul! Io Saturnalia! Ho ho ho…”
The track has premiered on the Machine Music digital compilation titled Milim Kashot Vol. 5, featuring alongside the likes of PANOPTICON, GNAW THEIR TONGUES and TRHA. All sales of the compilation go to For The Wildlife, a wildlife rescue and rehabilitation center.
About FORLESEN: FORLESEN formed in San Francisco at the end of 2016 and released their debut, Hierophant Violent, in 2020. Comprised of two side-length tracks, it soon found a cult following. Now based in Portland, OR, FORLESEN’s compositional evolution continued with the release of Black Terrain in 2022, which saw the band expand into previously untapped musical realms.
FORLESEN is: Ascalaphus (ex-BOTANIST) – Vocals, guitars, synth, harmonium, bass Bezaelith (LOTUS THIEF) – Vocals, bass, guitars, synth Petit Albert (LOTUS THIEF) – Guitars, synth, Hammond B3 organ, backing vocals Maleus (ex-KAYO DOT, ex-MAUDLIN OF THE WELL) – Drums
Posted in Reviews on January 12th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
We press on, until the end, though tired and long since out of adjectival alternatives to ‘heavy.’ The only way out is through, or so I’m told. Therefore, we go through.
Morale? Low. Brain, exhausted. The shit? Hit the fan like three days ago. The walls, existentially speaking, are a mess. Still, we go through.
Two more days to go. Thanks for reading.
Winter 2023 Quarterly Review #81-90:
Farflung, Like Drones in Honey
No question Farflung are space rock. It’s not up for debate. They are who they are and on their 10th full-length, Like Drones in Honey (on Sulatron, which suits both them and label), they remain Farflung. But whether it’s the sweet ending of the “Baile an Doire” or the fuzz riffing beneath the sneer of “King Fright” and the careening garage strum of “Earthmen Look Alike to Me,” the album offers a slew of reminders that as far out as Farflung get — and oh my goodness, they go — the long-running Los Angeles outfit were also there in the mid and late ’90s as heavy rock and, in California particularly, desert rock took shape. Of course, opener “Acid Drain” weaves itself into the fabric of the universe via effects blowout and impulse-engine chug, and after that finish in “Baile an Doire,” they keep the experimentalism going on the backwards/forwards piano/violin of “Touch of the Lemmings Kiss” and the whispers and underwater rhythm of closer “A Year in Japan,” but even in the middle of the pastoral “Tiny Cities Made of Broken Teeth” or in the second half of the drifting “Dludgemasterpoede,” they’re space and rock, and it’s worth not forgetting about the latter even as you blast off with weirdo rocket fuel. Like their genre overall, like Sulatron, Farflung are underrated. It is lucky that doesn’t slow their outbound trip in the slightest.
Whether you want to namedrop one or another Coltrane or the likes of Amon Düül or Magma or whoever else, the point is the same: Neptunian Maximalism are not making conventional music. Yeah, there’s rhythm, meter, even some melody, but the 66-minute run of the recorded-on-stage Finis Gloriae Mundi isn’t defined by songs so much as the pieces that make up its consuming entirety. As a group, the Belgians’ project isn’t to write songs to much as to manifest an expression of an idea; in this case, apparently, the end of the world. A given stretch might drone or shred, meditate in avant-jazz or move-move-move-baby in heavy kosmiche push, but as they make their way to the two-part culmination “The Conference of the Stars,” the sense of bringing-it-all-down is palpable, and so fair enough for their staying on theme and offering “Neptunian’s Raga Marwa” as a hint toward the cycle of ending and new beginnings, bright sitar rising out of low, droning, presented-as-empty space. For most, their extreme take on prog and psych will simply be too dug in, too far from the norm, and that’s okay. Neptunian Maximalism aren’t so much trying to be universal as to try to commune with the universe itself, wherever that might exist if it does at all. End of the world? Fine. Let it go. Another one will come along eventually.
Four years after their 2018 self-titled debut (review here), Denver heavy rock and rollers Near Dusk gather eight songs across and smooth-rolling, vinyl-minded 37 minutes for Through the Cosmic Fog, which takes its title from the seven-and-a-half-minute penultimate instrumental “Cosmic Fog,” a languid but not inactive jam that feels especially vital for the character it adds among the more straightforward songs earlier in the record — the rockers, as it were — that comprise side A: “The Way it Goes,” “Spliff ’em All,” and so on. “Cosmic Fog” isn’t side B’s only moment of departure, as the drumless guitar-exploration-into-acoustic “Roses of Durban” and the slower rolling finisher “Slab City” fill out the expansion set forth with the bluesy solo in the back end of “EMFD,” but the strength of craft they show on the first four songs isn’t to be discounted either for the fullness or the competence of their approach. The three-piece of Matthew Orloff, Jon Orloff and Kellen McInerney know where they’re coming from in West Coast-style heavy, not-quite-party, rock, and it’s the strength of the foundation they build early in the opening duo and “The Damned” and “Blood for Money,” that lets them reach outward late, allowing Through the Cosmic Fog to claim its space as a classically structured, immediately welcome heavy rock LP.
The 2023 self-titled debut EP from Portland, Oregon’s Simple Forms collects four prior singles issued over the course of 2021 and 2022 into one convenient package, and even if you’ve been keeping up with the trickle of material from the band that boasts members of YOB, (now) Hot Victory, Dark Castle and Norska, hearing the tracks right next to each other does change the context somewhat, as with the darker turn of “From Weathered Hand” after “Reaching for the Shadow” or the way that leadoff and “Together We Will Rest” seem to complement each other in the brightness of the forward guitar, a kind of Euro-style proggy noodling that reminds of The Devil’s Blood or something more goth, transposed onto a forward-pushing Pacific Northwestern crunch. The hints of black metal in the riffing of “The Void Beneath” highlight the point that this is just the start for guitarists Rob Shaffer and Dustin Rieseberg, bassist Aaron Rieseberg and grunge-informed frontman Jason Oswald (who also played drums and synth here), but already their sprawl is nuanced and directed toward individualism. I don’t know what their plans might be moving forward, but if the single releases didn’t highlight their potential, certainly the four songs all together does. A 19-minute sampler of what might be, if it will be.
Probably safe to call Lybica a side-project for Justin Foley, since it seems unlikely to start taking priority over his position as drummer in metalcore mainstays Killswitch Engage anytime soon, but the band’s self-titled debut offers a glimpse of some other influences at work. Instrumental in its entirety, it comes together with Foley leading on guitar joined by bassist Doug French and guitarist Joey Johnson (both of Gravel Kings) and drummer Chris Lane (A Brilliant Lie), and sure, there’s some pretty flourish of guitar, and some heavier, more direct chugging crunch — “Palatial” in another context might have a breakdown riff, and the subsequent “Oktavist” is more directly instru-metal — but even in the weighted stretch at the culmination of “Ferment,” and in the tense impression at the beginning of seven-minute closer “Charyou,” the vibe is more in line with Russian Circles than Foley‘s main outfit, and clearly that’s the point. “Ascend” and “Resonance” open the album with pointedly non-metallic atmospheres, and they, along with the harder-hitting cuts and “Manifest,” “Voltaic” and “Charyou,” which bring the two sides together, set up a dynamic that, while familiar in this initial stage, is both satisfying in impact and more aggressive moments while immersive in scope.
Just as their moniker might belong to some lost-classic heavy band from 1972 one happens upon in a record store, buys for the cover, and subsequently loves, so too does Naples four-piece Bird tap into proto-metal vibes on their latest single Walpurgis. And that’s not happenstance. While their production isn’t quite tipped over into pure vintage-ism, it’s definitely organic, and they’ve covered the likes of Rainbow, Uriah Heep and Deep Purple, so while “Walpurgis” itself leans toward doom in its catchy and utterly reasonable three-plus minutes, there’s no doubt Bird know where their nest is, stylistically speaking. Given a boost through release by Olde Magick Records, the single-songer follows 2021’s The Great Beast From the Sea EP, which proffered a bit more burl and modern style in its overarching sound, so it could be that as they continue to grow they’re learning a bit more patience in their approach, as “Walpurgis” is nestled right into a tempo that, while active enough to still swing, is languid just the same in its flow, with maybe a bit more rawness in the separation of the guitar, bass, drums and organ. Most importantly, it suits the song, and piques curiosity as to where Bird go next, as any decent single should.
Without getting into which of them does what where — because they switch, and it’s complicated, and there’s only so much room — the core of the sound for Melbourne-based four-piece Pseudo Mind Hive is in has-chops boogie rock, but that’s a beginning descriptor, not an end. It doesn’t account for the psych-surf-fuzz in two-minute instrumental opener “Hot Tooth” on their Eclectica EP, for example, or the what-if-Queens–of–the–Stone–Age-kept-going-like-the-self-titled “Moon Boots” that follows on the five-song offering. “You Can Run” has a fuzzy shuffle and up-strummed chug that earns the accompanying handclaps like Joan Jett, while “This Old Tree” dares past the four-minute mark with its scorching jive, born out of a smoother start-stop fuzz verse with its own sort of guitar antics, and “Coming Down,” well, doesn’t at first, but does give way soon enough to a dreamier psychedelic cast and some highlight vocal melody before it finds itself awake again and already running, tense in its builds and overlaid high-register noises, which stand out even in the long fade. Blink and you’ll miss it as it dashes by, all momentum and high-grade songcraft, but that’s alright. It does fine on repeat listens as well, which obviously is no coincidence.
On. Slaught. Call it atmospheric sludge, call it post-metal; I sincerely doubt Philadelphia’s Oktas give a shit. Across the four songs and 36 minutes of the two-bass-no-guitar band’s utterly bludgeoning debut album, The Finite and the Infinite, the band — bassist/vocalist Bob Stokes, cellist Agnes Kline, bassist Carl Whitlock and drummer Ron Macauley — capture a severity of tone and a range that goes beyond loud/quiet tradeoffs into the making of songs that are memorable while not necessarily delivering hooks in the traditional verse/chorus manner. It’s the cello that stands out as opener “Collateral Damage” plods to its finish — though Macauley‘s drum fills deserve special mention — and even as “Epicyon” introduces the first of the record’s softer breaks, it is contrasted in doing so by a section of outright death metal onslaught so that the two play back and forth before eventually joining forces in another dynamic and crushing finish. Tempo kick is what’s missing thus far and “Light in the Suffering” hits that mark immediately, finding blackened tremolo on the other side of its own extended cello-led subdued stretch, coming to a head just before the ending so that finale “A Long, Dreamless Sleep” can start with its Carl Sagan sample about how horrible humans are (correct), and build gracefully over the next few minutes before saying screw it and diving headfirst into cyclical chug and sprinting extremity. Somebody sign this band and press this shit up already.
This is a rock and roll band, make no mistake. Berlin’s Scream of the Butterfly draw across decades of influence, from ’60s pop and ’70s heavy to ’90s grunge, ’00s garage and whatever the hell’s been going on the last 10-plus years to craft an amalgamated sound that is cohesive thanks largely to the tightness of their performances — energetic, sure, but they make it sound easy — the overarching gotta-get-up urgency of their push and groove, and the current of craft that draws it all together. They’ve got 10 songs on The Grand Stadium, which is their third album, and they all seem to be trying to outdo each other in terms of hooks, electricity, vibe, and so on. Even the acoustic-led atmosphere-piece “Now, Then and Nowhere” leaves a mark, to say nothing of the much, much heavier “Sweet Adeleine” or the sunshine in “Dead End Land” or the bluesy shove of “Ain’t No Living.” Imagine time as a malleable thing and some understanding of how the two-minute “Say Your Name to Me” can exist in different styles simultaneously, be classic and forward thinking, spare and spacious. And I don’t know what’s going on with all the people talking in “Hallway of a Thousand Eyes,” but Scream of the Butterfly make it easy to dig anyway and remind throughout of the power that can be realized when a band is both genuinely multifaceted and talented songwriters. Scary stuff, that.
Based in Kassel with lyrics in their native German, Holz are vocalist/guitarist Leonard Riegel, bassist Maik Blümke and drummer Martin Nickel, and on their self-titled debut (released by Tonzonen), they tear with vigor into a style that’s somewhere between noise rock, stoner heavy and rawer punk, finding a niche for themselves that feels barebones with the dry — that is, little to no effects — vocal treatment and a drum sound that cuts through the fuzz that surrounds on early highlight “Bitte” and the later, more noisily swaying “Nichts.” The eight-minute “Garten” is a departure from its surroundings with a lengthy fuzz jam in its midsection — not as mellow as you’re thinking; the drums remain restless and hint toward the resurgence to come — while “Zerstören” reignites desert rock riffing to its own in-the-rehearsal-room-feeling purposes. Intensity is an asset there and at various other points throughout, but there’s more to Holz than ‘go’ as the rolling “50 Meilen Geradeaus” and the swing-happy, bit-o’-melody-and-all “Dämon” showcase, but when they want to, they’re ready and willing to stomp into heavier tones, impatient thrust, or as in the penultimate “Warten,” a little bit of both. Not everybody goes on a rampage their first time out, but it definitely suits Holz to wreck shit in such a fashion.
Posted in Reviews on December 6th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
A thing to celebrate. The advent of a second Forlesen album, titled Black Terrain and issued by the respected I, Voidhanger Records, comes after the band’s striking 2020 debut, Hierophant Violent (review here), and finds the now-Portland-based four-piece reveling in a lush aftermath of contemplative cross-genre singularity. At four songs, 59 minutes, it carries over the debut’s predilection toward longform craft, but offers more variety in that regard as “Strega” (19:57) and “Saturnine” (18:07) bookend as the opener and closer, respectively, with “Black Terrain” (8:58) and “Harrowed Earth” (12:29) between. This structure is complemented by a linear thread that carries through across the entire span, bolstered by strong divisions of movements in “Strega” and “Black Terrain” especially — perhaps an indicator of shorter pieces coming together as part of the recording process to make each piece; it wouldn’t be a surprise if Forlesen had a four-minute song on their next record, if only because they seem so intent on breaking rules that they’re bound to turn that inward at some point — and results in an overarching flow that presents Black Terrain as one consuming entirety.
This union happens despite the individual tracks having a distinct direction and style, and makes moments like the bursting-forth of “Harrowed Earth” from out of the drone-hypnosis of “Black Terrain” another level on which the care put into this creation can and should be appreciated. At times horrific, Black Terrain is no less engaging for its wretched aspects. It finds Alex “Ascalaphus” Lindo (vocals, guitar, bass, keys, harmonium), Beth “Bezaelith” Gladding (vocals, guitar, bass, synth, lyrics on “Black Terrain”) and drummer Sam “Maleus” Gutterman — who all have arthouse-worthy pedigrees that I’m not going to list because, two albums in, Forlesen is pedigree enough — joined by “Petit Albert” Yeh (guitar, Hammond, backing vocals, synth), with guest glockenspiel and trumpet from (the) Leila Abdul-Rauf, and manifests a sense of world-creation that is its own. It is and isn’t black metal, doom, post-whatever, was reportedly three years in the making — that puts at least some of it as contemporary to the first album, which is interesting — and offers depth enough to truly lose oneself within. An active listen, be it headphones-on or not, is rewarded with boldness of scope, confidence of performance and a sense of the progression underway in Forlesen‘s sound, different styles beginning to fuse themselves into something new, as might happen on something that feels both so epic and personal.
“Strega” begins with a mounting horror drone, almost like cats but maybe people — if you saw Nope, the mind might go there — and piano-laced doom emerges. A layer of guitar seems just to be for maybe-looped noise, but there is an immediate melodic complexity, even before vocals align with organ in the verse. Drums depart for mournful prog shoegaze, keys reminding of Ancestors‘ “First Light,” so too the breadth of the sweep that ensues at four minutes in. Layers and multiple singers top a slow ascending progression, almost ceremonial, and blackened, screaming vocals first enter subtly at the end of a verse, deep in the mix for atmosphere. This will happen again. Already there is motion, the listener is picked up and transported in it. The lead guitar feels skeletal but isn’t at all, adding to the drama of the proceedings before being complemented by the clean vocals and more prominent keys, holding on through the ensuing march again upward. Screams return to mark another verse ending, much less imaginary-feeling this time, and ghoulish layers of probably-vocals lead into a goth rocker riff that could unite doom, duly poised and unrepentantly heavy in tone. Hearing it, I find I can’t get away from feeling like it is religious.
There’s a deadpan layer in the vocals, which makes the “Strega” sound even more like chanting. They sweep again, the guitar solo this time leading the movement toward a more decisively black metal verse progression, running through some particularly cavernous effect. It is at least part psychological trauma. From there everything drops out right at about 11:01 and a raw and badass riff is teased for a measure before far-back strum hits into that same verse, basically alone though everyone still feels present in the room, sonically speaking if not actually there (most recording took place in home studios).
A folkish verse starts and the melody from Gladding brings SubRosa‘s depressive triumph “Despair is a Siren” to mind, splash cymbal behind for punctuation. It’s still a build. Whispers enter, voices joining in, one of them Bowie-esque in the line that ends with “fire.” There’s a chorus of voices then, nearly ’70s pop and praise upon it, until a scream hits at 15:49 and the song eats itself again. Screams and Gladding‘s and Lindo‘s clean vocals together; guitar solo duly grandiose as the screams leave and the instrumental hook line is reinforced. The last guitar solo is still of the extreme metal variety, but gorgeous and not at all glib about the over-the-top progression surrounding where it feels like it could be. With less than two minutes to go, the screams run deep in the mix as things have started to come apart but pick up a final wind to close with an earned-feeling verse on their part. It is done, beautifully.
Noise at the beginning of the title-track echoes the start of “Strega” but is less nightmarish, forming the bed of what will be essentially a single linear build over the course of the song’s just-under-nine-minutes. If it’s theatrical, it’s experimental theatre. Vocals enter softly in repeated melodies — what might be words, it’s hard to tell — and the guitar is there almost before its presence registers in the mind, the patience extending to the introduction of drums. There are layers of chanting vocals soon enough to complement the barely-there verse, but the heavier guitar strum at 5:05 marks a definite arrival, touching ground in a way that even the far-back, maybe-looped drum progression — intentionally vague like the verse in a whirling fog moving intentionally maddeningly into and through harmony with the chant behind, lead guitar waking up and adding a few notes to the morning prayer — wouldn’t quite harness.
That moment when the guitar hits, there’s an inhale right before that’s not audible on the recording but definitely there, and the riff is a drone as well, playing off the when-did-that-happen established melody of the vocals, becoming grand with the keyboard behind and the chanting drone, distortion ringing out in all this open space. Then a voice howling more distinctly, almost shouting those notes, then screaming, turning hellish at about 7:30 in, deep under cymbal wash. The air turns gruesome; body gore, a visceral twisting. Cymbals are looped, backwards, maybe everything is looped, I can’t even tell you. Maybe the universe is looped. Maybe you’re looped. It is a headfuck of a moment of a song. And then it ends suddenly, exploding.
So enters “Harrowed Earth,” seamlessly and with immediate thrust from the title-track. The sprint is full, heads down black metal intensity, righteous blasting rising, still black metal, churning. Screaming, vocals are deep back, then scathing at the fore. Spitting words. Furious. Glorious. There is a line of melodic guitar standing out in the mix, sort of surveying the devastation being wrought, minimal but surrounded by these furies. It’s psychedelic, truly, and some of the best psych metal I’ve ever heard. And it’s barely half the song. It turns clear-headed in bite for a moment but shifts back to that world it has begun to rip apart, howls and screams and growls dwelling in it viciously. That melodic guitar line is still there, sounding more discordant amid the pummel.
For all its black metal pageantry, whole-album-shifting presence, and this-is-where-we-wreck-shit mentality, “Harrowed Earth” is still fairly trippy in this stretch, crashing into so a running lead guitar can take off at the head of the mix. It sings past four and a half minutes with the drums chasing behind but is ultimately swallowed by the vocals, mostly high-throated and universally nasty, then human shouting, then human screaming. Crash again, the fading cymbal hits, distorted guitar. “Harrowed Earth” is brought almost to silence at about six minutes in, the stark break to the second movement letting it begin more or less as a new song with the song, and yes, the pairing is important.
A re-arrival of vocals is announced with kick drum, subsequently used to punctuate harmonized verse measures. At 7:50, it thunders into death-doom, melodic vocals over low growls, rolling movement, slow and marching; spiritual-trial-underway, not victory or funeral yet. Screams mark change to a guitar solo atop the lumbering, hypnotic than dramatic but definitely both, and plotted in its transitions as part of the unfolding drama. Piano, if that’s what it is, joins vibrantly. Vocals and lead guitar and there’s still growling somewhere in there until a whole bunch of everything drops out for a bit before being revived as the song’s final movement. The funeral, incidentally. There’s melody belted out mournfully, lines folkish and graceful and immersive, and it might be keys, or Hammond, guitar, who knows, as it fades out. Little to do but survey the dead.
“Saturnine” begins with a misdirection of heavy, distorted guitar drone. Four weighted strums before it disappears. Not yet a minute in, the finale of Black Terrain has filled out the residual feedback with another intertwining ambient hum, and this becomes the bed for much of what ensues, building one measure at a time toward a yet-unknown but inevitable destination, mirroring somewhat the title-track, but changed for the proceedings there and in “Harrowed Earth” between. Just after three minutes in, a more prominent hum takes hold and carefully places the central melody in the listener’s mind, where it will become a theme to which Forlesen return throughout. They’re building toward introducing the drums but refuse both being rushed and rushing it, and having already done the work to debunk expectation across the three songs prior, the inclination to follow where “Saturnine” leads feels natural.
It’s not necessarily percussive, but there’s a rhythmic echo behind, and a bell is struck (harmonium?) with these probably-loops surrounding, with Abdul-Rauf entering on duly melancholic trumpet at about 6:30, which they keep vague and deep in the mix — plenty of room — rather than have it burst outward, not quite a drone instrument by its nature, but long notes just the same. 8:17, harsh feedback and low distorted riff, slow, slow, slow still. It’s a major change and over the course of the next minute-plus, one can almost hear ghost vocals screaming lines that may or may not actually be there, but it feedbacks out and fades and at last, the drums begin just past the 10-minute mark. There’s clearer guitar now, echoing the earlier melody if not following the pattern exactly, and a heavy shoegaze gradually moves forward led by a central riff and the surrounding keys. The backing drones are gone but there’s a layer of lead guitar hitting the root notes before Lindo begins singing the verse, soon joined in harmony before a full roll begins at about 12:45, drones rising alongside.
The echoing voices, the drums stepping back to give space but keeping time on hi-hat, and the once more ascendant progression of the march — there might even be a layer of backward guitar there — all seem to call back to “Strega,” but “Saturnine” has its own personality as well, post-black metal in its airy melodicism but still doomed even in its defiance of that spirit. The big finish, then, is emotional. Circa 15:45, a quick thud-thud-thud-thud buildup on drums brings on a held vocal note and a guitar solo that is the crescendo for closing track and album alike; the rhythm guitar track going so far as to throw in a pickslide just in case the message didn’t come through clear enough. As a unit, a band, they ride that part and give due justice to the entirety of the work they’ve done before, crashing into another Gregorian-style verse before, at last, everything seems to let go suddenly. An amp hums, there’s a wisp of feedback, and that’s it.
I don’t imagine many, if any, who started out reading this review have made it this far. Fine. If you take nothing else away from the glut of play-by-play above, take that it seemed warranted given the creative achievement that Forlesen have in what’s still just their second record. One doesn’t want to get into hyperbole (too late), but at a time of year when best-of-this-and-that is on the brain, it’s hard not to think of Black Terrain as something that will outlast 2022, and its reach and sense of flourish will continue to speak to listeners for years to come. In the best case scenario, Forlesen would influence others to try and harness the same heights and depths, but I’m shaking my head as I write this because honestly, what they do here is so much their own that it’s hard to imagine another band taking them on as an influence and not falling flat. But it’s happened before; Forlesen have their influences as well.
As Black Terrain followed Hierophant Violent, so too something will follow it, at least hopefully. For everything accomplished here, it’s worth reiterating that the growth that Forlesen have undertaken between the first album and this one does not feel finished. They do not sound like they’ve said all they have to say as either emotive songwriters or bringers of aural extremity, and whatever they might do subsequent to it, Black Terrain feels like a landmark, regardless of genre. Recommended.
Posted in Questionnaire on October 19th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
The Obelisk Questionnaire is a series of open questions intended to give the answerer an opportunity to explore these ideas and stories from their life as deeply as they choose. Answers can be short or long, and that reveals something in itself, but the most important factor is honesty.
Based on the Proust Questionnaire, the goal over time is to show a diverse range of perspectives as those who take part bring their own points of view to answering the same questions. To see all The Obelisk Questionnaire posts, click here.
Thank you for reading and thanks to all who participate.
The Obelisk Questionnaire: Ascalaphus from Forlesen
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How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?
Most broadly, I exist, fleetingly, like everyone else. Where that begins and ends is probably outside the scope of the question. It feels pertinent to begin there because the music we make is often about the loss universal to existence and seeking the transcendent. And everything else is context dependent.
More narrowly, I am a musician and songwriter. If I had to concisely describe our sound, I’d say something like Pink Floyd’s Dogs or Echoes filtered through doom and black metal, though that leaves a lot out. But I’ve written songs since I was a kid and became more serious about it roughly 20 years ago.
I was deeply immersed in black metal and dark ambient and from there got into doom through stuff like Skepticism and Khanate. That creates a backdrop for a lot of my sensibilities, but then I was studying composition and theory in college while obsessively listening to Sigh’s Imaginary Sonicscape and Sunn O)))’s Flight of The Behemoth. Some of my teachers were people that had albums out on Tzadik – including Milford Graves! – so that experimental, avant-garde, sometimes revolutionary way of thinking about music felt within reach. I don’t feel like I can claim that lineage in my music, but it certainly influenced me. Speaking of Tzadik, Kayo Dot’s Choirs of the Eye was another album that meant a lot to me. It’s still really a trip that someone who played on that album is part of Forlesen.
I think all that crystallized into wanting to make music that was as ambitious and grand in scope as classical or modern composition, but with a sensibility that hit a listener on a visceral level. Not that classical can’t do that, but I mean like Tony Iommi, Lou Reed or Michael Gira. Music that leaves space for you to be leveled by the right two to three notes repeated ad nauseam if that’s what is going to be most powerful. I wanted to claw open new sonic space the way Black Sabbath, Swans, Bathory and Neurosis all did. A lot of the time when you see someone cite one of those bands as an influence, it means they basically sound like audio fan fiction, some quite good of course. But I wanted, and suppose still want, not to sound like those bands, but to be like them.
Lastly, working with Bezaelith has dramatically impacted how I think about writing. Everyone in the band helps shape the sound immensely, but she and I began this together and her mark is indelible.
Describe your first musical memory.
Probably my dad playing acoustic guitar or my mom singing to me.
Describe your best musical memory to date.
I’ve been fortunate to have a lot of really cool experiences, both as a musician and as a fan. I’ve played shows that felt like a scene from a movie and I’ve witnessed truly uncanny things in live settings. But as a creator, the best musical memory I have is always the most recent instance of hearing whatever I am working on come to life, especially when other people are involved. There isn’t some time in the past that was better.
As far as life changing experiences go, when I was 12, my dad took the family to Woodstock 94. I saw Nine Inch Nails play their (in)famous set, the one where they were covered in mud. While they aren’t a band that I actively listen to at all these days, that absolutely set my path. It felt dark in a way I hadn’t experienced before. In a certain sense, I’d call it a spiritual awakening. I was seeking out whatever I could find that was dark from that point forward. While my tastes and interests are more evolved and less unidirectional now, that hasn’t stopped.
When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?
I feel like if you have any spiritual/animistic tendencies, this is essentially what it is to be alive every day in the modern materialist/materialistic world. This is not a romanticization of some mythic past that for the most part never existed, but it is a prerequisite to endure and navigate if one wants a life beyond the mundane while still existing within society. I certainly fall prey to it myself.
Where do you feel artistic progression leads?
As a creator, ideally to the here and now, and from there, the future. But perhaps that’s reversed. Being with what is alive here and now and creating from that place hopefully breeds progress. Then again, Motörhead will always be one of my favorite bands. And for a lot of bands, their best work is obviously at the beginning of their career. So, true inspiration must be present, but presence is essential to receive that. Though I’ll note the irony in that statement, given that we sometimes spend 4+ years refining and adding layers to a song.
Within the world, I think new art can unlock new or hidden parts of the universe. It changes people’s minds, perhaps extremely subtly, but certainly sometimes less so. And for that matter, we shouldn’t discount the subtle. The subtle can be quite powerful.
How do you define success?
Any success still exists within a process of losing. The world is on fire and we’re all doomed and damned. This is an eternal truth, but especially so these days. But there’s a freedom that comes with that too. So if you’re someone who feels called to bring something into the world, especially something with a sense of Otherness to it, and you somehow get to do it, you’ve won. You might just get to score the soundtrack to the fucking apocalypse. Everything else is a bonus. Though it’s much easier to say that when it feels like things are going well. And let’s not make this overly pos. Even if through a certain lens just the act of making music is winning, there is certainly plenty of bad art out there.
So, internally: Forging new paths. Doing something that feels unsafe and honest as well as you possibly can. Being a torchbearer, defiantly holding a dwindling light as the world is subsumed by darkness. Or raining darkness upon the light of the obsequious. Getting to make music that feels inspired, in the true sense of the word, with people that I respect.
Externally: Making music that means to someone else what the most important music in my life has meant to me. And hopefully, for it to have as broad an opportunity to reach those people as possible.
What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?
There’s a lot that’s deeply horrific and sad in the Anthropocene, but I think it’s better to recognize it than to turn a blind eye or live in denial. There are wounds we all bear, trauma from what we have been shown of the world, of life, of other people’s behavior and of our own. I don’t know that that’s for the best, in fact, I think by definition it isn’t, but it is a feature of being alive. So the work isn’t to not see it, but to not be blinded or paralyzed by it. That said, I have to acknowledge the relative safety I live in and the amount of horrific shit out there that many people in the world are confronted with on a daily basis. I haven’t been forced to watch war crimes perpetrated against my family.
With that acknowledged, I had an experience with DMT where it felt like the hologram of consensual reality completely shattered and I was being chewed up in the gears of what exists behind it. While on some level even “bad” experiences like that are still pretty interesting, and I do have an interest in the otherworldly and monstrous, it gave me a firsthand appreciation for the Lovecraft quote about the terrifying vistas of reality that would drive us mad if we understood them.
Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.
A body of work that carves out its own sonic space within music. But that’s only something that can happen as a byproduct of being successful in the ways described above.
What do you believe is the most essential function of art?
To create/destroy. To be as god. Or to be God. Union. The most essential function is in the doing/being. There are certainly many important places this can lead both internally and externally, but they are secondary.
Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?
Posted in Whathaveyou on August 29th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
No doubt you’ve seen this album announcement by now, as I’m perfectly willing to admit the unveiling of cover art, details, etc. happened a couple weeks ago for Forlesen‘s second album, Black Terrain. The streaming track “Strega,” however, is newer. it would seem to be one of three inclusions on the follow-up to 2020’s legitimately-ballyhooed Hierophant Violent (review here), and it brings the band with members of Lotus Thief, Botanist and Kayo Dot further toward the outer charted limits of what constitutes progressive doom, black metal and so on, beginning with a note of glockenspiel before a sense of mounting horror noisy fade-in leads to a massive, doomed roll, lush melodies, volume trades, an arrangement as deep as you want to plunge, and later, throwing it all down to build up from minimalist maybe-guitar to a consuming and urgent but still slow finish.
If you heard the first record and dug it, you’re either already listening to the song at the bottom of this post or you already caught wind of it when it premiered elsewhere late last week, so either way, I hope you’re digging it. For anyone experiencing the band for the first time now, just open your mind and let yourself follow where the band lead and know that you won’t regret it.
Breathe in, and…:
FORLESEN – Black Terrain – Oct. 28
FORLESEN have offered up the first taste of their upcoming album with new their new single “Strega”. Taken from their upcoming album, Black Terrain, out on October 28th via I, Voidhanger Records, the band draws from dark ambient, epic doom, black metal and slowcore, subverting traditional songwriting.
FORLESEN formed in San Francisco at the end of 2016 and released their debut, Hierophant Violent, in 2020. Comprised of two side-length tracks, it soon found a cult following. Now based in Portland, OR, FORLESEN continues their compositional evolution with Black Terrain, expanding into previously untapped musical realms.
As with their debut, Black Terrain’s monolithic songs, at times approaching twenty minutes in length, fully immerse the listener in a contrast of the serene and cacophonous. “Strega” begins shrouded in eerie atmosphere before embarking on a journey from vulnerable ballad to hymnal dirge. The ferocity of “Harrowed Earth” thrusts the album into the realm of black and doom metal. In the aftermath, “Saturnine” brings the album full circle, culminating in an ethereal mantra.
Black Terrain evokes a sense of the grand, but also the intimate. Each instrument and voice is carefully placed and each musical transition seamless to prevent the mesmerizing spell from being broken. FORLESEN have crafted a stunning cinematic masterpiece.
FORLESEN is:
Ascalaphus (ex-BOTANIST) – Vocals, guitars, synth, harmonium, bass Bezaelith (LOTUS THIEF) – Vocals, bass, guitars, synth Petit Albert (LOTUS THIEF) – Guitars, synth, Hammond B3 organ, backing vocals Maleus (ex-KAYO DOT, ex-MAUDLIN OF THE WELL) – Drums
Credits:
Glockenspiel and trumpet performed by Leila Abdul-Rauf. Music and lyrics by Ascalaphus except lyrics on Black Terrain by Bezaelith. All music arranged by Forlesen. Drums and Hammond B3 recorded by Justin Phelps at the Hallowed Halls, Portland, OR. All other recording done in various home studios between 2018 and 2021. Mixed by Jack Shirley at the Atomic Garden, Oakland, CA. Mastered by Garrett Haines at Treelady Studios, Pittsburgh, PA. Artwork by Benjamin A. Vierling
Posted in audiObelisk on February 23rd, 2016 by JJ Koczan
Rochester, New York-based trio Blizaro will release their new album, Cornucopia della Morte, on April 15 via I, Voidhanger Records. The nine-track/52-minute full-length was originally set to release in 2013. It is the sophomore outing from the three-piece led by guitarist/vocalist/keyboardist John Gallo, also of vastly-underappreciated doomers Orodruin, and it follows 2010’s City of the Living Nightmare full-length as well as a slew of shorter offerings, some of which were compiled in 2013’s 2CD Strange Doorways (review here), also on I, Voidhanger. If nothing else, the fact that its opener comes in four different parts should tell you that Blizaro‘s methods tend toward the grand. That’s been the case all along, but as their awaited second album, Cornucopia della Morte has the complicated task before it of working in both classical and progressive forms. Gallo, joined in the band by drummer Mike Waske (also of Orodruin) and bassist Mark Rapone, conjures a blend of essential doom metal and eerie cinematics in Blizaro that results in a sound familiar but distinct from its influences.
Those influences? Paul Chain is a big one. Goblin and Candlemass also make sweeping appearances in the sound, but in the combination of elements, Blizaro are a unit unto themselves, and even as “Nemesis Pt. 4: Altered State” begins with a mixture of swirling and chugging, there remains a broader scope in the songwriting. It’s not entirely wrong to call it classic doom, or traditional doom, but to do so discounts the progressive side of Blizaro‘s take, whether that’s the transitional push that underlies the midsection guitar solo or the organ lines that emerge atop Rapone‘s bassline past the halfway point. A big slowdown gives Gallo plenty of room to work in overlaying different keyboard/organ sounds, and as Waske pushes the procession forward, “Nemesis Pt. 4: Altered State” builds to a dirge worthy of any number of grainy VHS funerals. I can’t speak to how it represents the entirety of Cornucopia della Morte, but on its own, it certainly captures the intersection of soundtracking and classic doom metal that are so pivotal to Blizaro‘s style.
And so it seems only a fitting place to start ahead of the album’s release in April. Please find the exclusive stream of “Nemesis Pt. 4: Altered State” below, followed by more info on the record from the PR wire, and enjoy:
John Gallo, the unsung American master of horror doom, is back with the long-awaited sophomore album by BLIZARO. No less adventurous than its predecessor (“City Of The Living Nightmare”, Razorback Rec. 2010) or the “Strange Doorways” collection of demos and rarities (I, Voidhanger Rec. 2013), “Cornucopia della Morte” is however more powerful, dynamic, focused and refined; a mature effort from talented musicians that worked in perfect harmony. Written and recorded in 2013, the album was then shelved to make room to Gallo’s uncontrollable bursts of creativity which lead to JOHN GALLOW, a solo project that debuted on I, Voidhanger Records in 2014 with the acclaimed doom masterpiece “Violet Dreams”.
Now that BLIZARO are writing new material, “Cornucopia della Morte” has been called back from its provisional grave and wrapped in an imaginative cover painting by Dan Bell which perfectly captures BLIZARO’s penchant for all things horror, doomy and weirdly dark. Driven by Gallo’s rip-roaring guitar-playing and slanted vocals, and by the formidable rhythm section of Mark Rapone (bass) and Mike Waske (drums), “Cornucopia della Morte” conjures up the ghosts of Goblin, Black Sabbath, Paul Chain, Pentagram and Candlemass at the crossroad of doom, prog, psych rock, heavy metal, and the Italian horror soundtracks from the 70’s. The album features 8 new BLIZARO songs, plus a shattering cover of “Voyage To Hell” which preserves the dark and menacing aura of the original by Paul Chain Violet Theatre.
TRACKLIST 1. Nemesis pt. 1 – Daughter Of The Scarab (6:55) 2. Nemesis pt. 2 – Citadel Of The Lunatic (5:14) 3. Nemesis pt. 3 – Interludio (1:50) 4. Nemesis pt. 4 – Altered State (5:15) 5. Giallo (7:26) 6. Frozen Awakening (7:58) 7. Voyage To Hell (3:14) 8. The Staircase (5:54) 9. Stygian Gate (8:21)
Before I even start, let’s get one thing out of the way. I want a new Sleep album too. My not including them on this list isn’t due to the fact that I don’t think a new Sleep album is a good idea, but just because I haven’t seen anything about it being recorded or released in the next five-plus months. If it hits on Jan. 1, 2015, I’ll be the happiest Baby New Year you ever saw, but that’s a different list altogether.
Ditto that Om and High on Fire. The latter were writing as of May, and I know Om did some recording way back in January, but I’ve yet to see solid word of new records at all, let alone before the end of the year. Either or both or all three may happen, but until I see some hint of it, all I can go on is the info I can find.
Seriously though, how badass would it be if all three put out albums before the New Year? That excitement is kind of what this list is about. Some of these records I’ve heard, but most I haven’t, so it’s just basic speculation about what I think could be some of the best releases in the next couple months. You’ll note that while there are plenty of dates TBA, nothing listed arrives in November, so as 2014 winds down, there’s bound to be even more quality stuff than appears here.
In fact, I struggled to take things out to get it down to 30. And it still goes to 31! I figured no one would mind. They’re numbered, but the list is in alphabetical order.
If I left something out you’re dying to hear, please let me know in the comments.
Thanks in advance for reading:
1. Alunah, TBA (Sept.)
Birmingham’s Alunah, like several others below, are a holdover from the Most Anticipated Albums list back at the start of the year. The difference between now and then is that, while its title still hasn’t been revealed so far as I know, their Napalm Records debut has been recorded, mixed and mastered, the latter by Tony Reed, the former by Greg Chandler of Esoteric, and given a September release date. Two years after Alunah made riffy doom sound easy on their sophomore outing, White Hoarhound (review here), I look forward to hearing how they’ve grown and shifted in their approach to warm-sounding tones and memorable hooks. They’ve set a pretty high standard for themselves. Alunah on Thee Facebooks, Napalm Records.
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2. Apostle of Solitude, Of Woe and Wounds (Oct.)
These guys. I don’t mind telling you it was a thrill when Indianapolis doomers Apostle of Solitude were announced as having signed to Cruz del Sur to release their third album, Of Woe and Wounds, this fall. Their second outing, 2010’s Last Sunrise (review here), didn’t get the attention it deserved, but the handful of songs they’ve made public since have shown much promise, and as the first Apostle of Solitude full-length to feature guitarist/vocalist Steve Janiak (also Devil to Pay) in harmony with guitarist/vocalist Chuck Brown — the band is completed by bassist Dan Davidson and drummer Corey Webb — this is definitely going to make for a doomly autumn. Apostle of Solitude on Thee Facebooks, Cruz del Sur Music.
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3. Blackwolfgoat, Drone Maintenance (Aug. 26)
Recorded late last year at Amps vs. Ohms in Boston, the third album from Maple Forum alum Blackwolfgoat — the prog-drone alter ego of guitarist Darryl Shepard (Milligram, Black Pyramid, The Scimitar, Roadsaw, etc.) — is the project’s most expansive outing yet, and it seems Shepard is moving more in a song-based direction, rather than some of the building loops of the past two offerings. Of course, there will be plenty of those as well, but watch out for some acoustic guitar, and deep-in-the-mix vocals, as they could easily hint of things to come. Or Darryl could turn it on its head and do a calypso record. Either way, I’m on board with no pretense of impartiality. Blackwolfgoat on Bandcamp, Small Stone’s Bandcamp.
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4. Blues Pills, Blues Pills (Aug. 5)
The much-heralded Swedish/French/American psych-blues conglomeration Blues Pills will make their self-titled debut (short review here) next month, and while it’s probably going to be a bigger deal in Europe than in the States — at least until Nuclear Blast brings them over here for a tour, then the country is going to go apeshit for them — the songwriting and soulful execution of their tracks justifies the hype. There’s a bit of retro posturing to what they do, some Graveyard shuffle (it feels inevitable at this point with a ’70s-influenced band), but the grooves are easy to dig into and the potential is basically limitless for where they want to go. It’s scary to keep in mind, but this is just the beginning. Blues Pills on Thee Facebooks, Nuclear Blast.
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5. Bongripper, Miserable (July 7)
You may notice something strange about the date above for a list of upcoming albums in that July 7 was yesterday. Well, Chicago’s Bongripper posted their new three-track full-length monster Miserable on their Bandcamp for stream and download ahead of the vinyl’s arrival, and it was just too righteous to leave out. Those seeking landmark riffing need look no further than the 19-minute centerpiece “Descent,” which meters out stomp enough that future “scientists” will study its footprint, and closer “Into Ruin” (28:25) is guaranteed to be the heaviest half-hour you’ll spend today. Miserable feels like a no-brainer, but maybe that’s just because Bongripper have such a propensity for pounding skulls into mush. Bongripper on Thee Facebooks, Miserable on Bandcamp.
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6. Botanist, VI: Flora (Aug. 11)
I feel like I missed a couple numbers from San Francisco-based environmentalist black metal unit Botanist along the way, but they’ll nonetheless issue VI: Flora on The Flenser next month, furthering their marriage of destruction and beauty and insistent percussive expression. The spaces Botanist — a one-man project from Robert Martinelli — create feel ritualistic without the dramatic posturing that pervades much of the genre, and sound, somewhere between raging and mournful, is hypnotic. Whatever your expectation might be, Martinelli seems pleased to use it to their advantage, and ultimately, defy it. Post-human, hammered dulcimer-laden black metal. It would be harder for Botanist to not be unique. Botanist on Thee Facebooks, The Flenser.
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7. Brant Bjork, TBA (TBA)
When Brant Bjork‘s next album might show up, I don’t know. I know he’s signed to Napalm, and I know the photo above was snapped as he finished some vocals before going on tour with his Low Desert Punk band that includes guitarist Bubba DuPree, bassist Dave Dinsmore and drummer Tony Tornay, but whether or not the album they made is the funk-inspired Jakoozi that’s been in the offing for a while, or another collection of songs, and if Napalm will get it out before the end of the year remain a mystery. I do find it interesting that for his first “solo” outing post-Vista Chino (that band being on hiatus), Bjork has assembled a new band to work with rather than record multiple instruments himself, but no matter who’s involved, when it’s Brant Bjork writing the songs, it’s gonna be high rock from the low desert. Can’t wait to dig into whatever comes. Brant Bjork on Thee Facebooks, Napalm Records.
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8. Earth, Primitive and Deadly (Sept.)
The headline for Earth‘s new album is it’s the one where they experimented with vocalists. And hey, if you’re going to toy around with the idea, you might as well get Mark Lanegan involved. The former Screaming Trees frontman is one of several singers appearing on Primitive and Deadly, due in September on Southern Lord, and it would appear that Earth‘s sound — always evolving, always somehow changing — is about to take another considerable turn. Fortunately, the Seattle band, led by guitarist Dylan Carlson and now approaching their 25th year, have long since proven worthy of trusting with their own direction. Earth will never be huge, by the simple nature of what they do, but their influence resounds and the quality of their output is unmatched. Earth on Thee Facebooks, Southern Lord Recordings.
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9. Electric Wizard, Time to Die (Sept.)
“Wake up baby/It’s time to die.” So goes the title-track hook of Electric Wizard‘s new album and Spinefarm Records debut, Time to Die. As ever, it’s simple, hateful, drenched-in-fuzz misanthropy, and Electric Wizard revel in it accordingly. Their witchcult continues to grow in their native UK and abroad, and while their last two records have divided some listeners, they’ve invariably gained more ground than they’ve lost. A legal dispute with Rise Above finds them on the new label, and if there’s even the slightest chance that change will bring them to the US for a tour, I’ll take it. Expect 66 minutes of glorious filth. Electric Wizard on Thee Facebooks, Spinefarm Records.
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10. Fever Dog, Second Wind (TBA)
Palm Desert youngsters Fever Dog have been kicking around the last few years finding their sound in varying elements of heavy rock and psychedelic experimentation. Most recently, they impressed with the single “Iroquois” (review here) taken from their new album Second Wind, and in looking forward to the full-length, I’m eager to learn how their style has solidified and what sort of vibes they conjure over its course. They’ve shown plenty of propensity for jamming in their prior work, so hopefully there’s a bit of that on hand as well. I’ve said before they’re a trio of marked potential, and nothing I’ve yet heard has dissuaded me from that impression. Fever Dog on Thee Facebooks, Fever Dog on Bandcamp.
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11. Goat, Commune (Sept. 23)
Somehow, a band from Sweden who dress up in tribal costumes (problematic) and play Afrobeat psychedelia became a very, very big deal. I couldn’t explain it if I wanted to, and I won’t try, but I know that when Sub Pop releases Goat‘s second album, Commune, it’s going to be to a flurry of hype and heaps of critical fawning. It would be tempting to call Goat a novelty act, but their 2012 debut, World Music (discussed here), showcased a legitimately creative musical approach to go with the visual aspects of their presentation, and I find the fact that I have no idea what to expect from Commune to be refreshing. Goat on Thee Facebooks, Sub Pop Records.
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12. Grifter, The Return of the Bearded Brethren (Aug. 11)
UK heavy rockers Grifter will make a welcome resurgence on Ripple Music with The Return of the Bearded Brethren, an album that builds on the straightforward, catchy sounds of their 2011 self-titled label debut (review here) and takes their infectiousness to new places lyrically, such as exploring issues of aging via an ode to Princess Leia from Star Wars. That particular brand of humor and is writ large on Grifter‘s second Ripple outing, and the trio set to work refining their take without losing the engaging feel of their self-titled. It feels like a long three years since that record hit, and I’ll be glad to have a follow-up in-hand. Grifter on Thee Facebooks, Ripple Music.
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13. Ice Dragon and Space Mushroom Fuzz, New Blue Horizon/A Peak into the Future (TBA)
Unclear at this point whether Boston outfits Ice Dragon and Space Mushroom Fuzz collaborated on New Blue Horizon/A Peak into the Future, or if it’s a split. Either way, the prolific acts make a sound pairing. Both are vehemently creative and exploratory, psychedelic and progressive each in their way, and if what’s presumably a single finds them working together, all the better, but even if not, new material from either is nothing to balk at, particularly when topped off by such gorgeous artwork. Neither act is ever long from putting something out, so to have them come together one way or another makes a weird brand of sense, which I’m relatively sure the songs will as well. Ice Dragon on Thee Facebooks, Space Mushroom Fuzz on Thee Facebooks.
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14. Ides of Gemini, Old World New Wave (Sept. 16)
Ides of Gemini‘s 2012 Neurot Recordings debut, Constantinople (discussed here), established the three-piece as freely inhabiting either side of the imaginary line between ambience and heaviness, J. Bennett and Kelly Johnston providing sometimes minimal, sometimes consuming foundations for vocalist Sera Timms (ex-Black Math Horseman, also Black Mare) to cast ethereal melodies. What Old World New Wave will hold sound-wise, I don’t yet know, but Ides of Gemini‘s otherworldly resonance and ultra-patient approach makes it well worth finding out. Ides of Gemini on Thee Facebooks, Neurot Recordings.
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15. John Gallow, Violet Dreams (Aug. 4)
Frontman of Blizaro and Orodruin guitarist John James Gallo adds a ‘w’ to his last name and steps out solo on the I, Voidhanger Records release, Violet Dreams, the title hinting at some of his on-his-sleeve affinity for Italian psych-doom master Paul Chain and Swedish legends Candlemass. Gallo‘s work in Blizaro has a tendency to lean toward the progressive and cinematic, but as John Gallow, the focus is more on classic doom riffing and darkened metallurgy. As one would expect, he’s well in his element on the hour-long album, and I hope he decides to call the next one Ancient Theatre. Also note the incredible artwork of Costin Chioreanu. John Gallo on Thee Facebooks, I, Voidhanger Records.
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16. John Garcia, John Garcia (Aug. 5)
A long-discussed solo debut for the former Kyuss frontman following a stint alongside Brant Bjork in Vista Chino, John Garcia‘s John Garcia (review here) finds the singer right in his comfort zone, topping desert rock riffs with his trademark guttural vocals. To be perfectly honest, I’m not sure I’d trade a second Vista Chino outing for it if given the choice — that band seemed to be on course for a sound of its own, separate from Kyuss‘ legacy, and that struck me as worth pursuing — but these songs have a similar enough production style that it’s easy to think of the one as an offshoot of the other, and of course Garcia calls his shots well throughout. John Garcia on Thee Facebooks, Napalm Records.
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17. King Buffalo, TBA (TBA)
Including King Buffalo here was pretty speculative on my part, but I dig the Rochester, NY, outfit and didn’t want to leave the prospect of their STB Records debut long-player out. It probably won’t land until 2015 — the future! — but their demo (review here) still gets regular plays around these parts, and I’m very much looking forward to catching them with similarly-minded Nashville blues rockers All Them Witches when they tour together next month. Whatever King Buffalo‘s recording/release plans might be, they’re definitely one to keep an eye on in the back half of this year. King Buffalo on Thee Facebooks, STB Records.
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18. Kings Destroy, Kings Destroy (TBA)
Love these guys, love this band. I make no bones about it. Their third record, self-titled and produced as the last two were by Sanford Parker, is as close as they’ve yet come to capturing their live sound, and while they’ve yet to nail down an exact release date, they have a couple very cool tours in the works for this fall, including dates next month with Eric Wagner‘s Blackfinger, that will make a fitting lead-in to their best outing yet. I’ve heard this and had the chance to see some of the material live, and they’ve outdone themselves again, which, considering the esteem in which I continue to hold their 2013 sophomore full-length, A Time of Hunting, is really saying something. Kings Destroy on Thee Facebooks, War Crime Recordings.
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19. The Kings of Frog Island, V (Fall)
Easily one of the LPs I’m most eager to hear over the next few months, and specifically on vinyl. The Kings of Frog Island have shown themselves to be so dedicated to the format that their early-2013 album, IV (review here), was presented as two bundled sides even digitally. They recently gave a taste of what their fifth album will in-part hold via a video for “Sunburn” and I’m told more jamminess ensues elsewhere to complement that track’s easygoing flow and platter-ready hook. All the better. The Kings of Frog Island on Thee Facebooks, The Kings of Frog Island on YouTube.
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20. Lonely Kamel, Shit City (Sept. 9)
I’d be lying if I said part of my immediate interest in Oslo heavy rockers Lonely Kamel‘s fourth record wasn’t due to the cheeky title, but it’s been three years since the Napalm Records four-piece released their last album, Dust (track stream here), and as they’ve put in plenty of road-time, it doesn’t seem unreasonable to go into this time around with elevated anticipation. I’m not sure you could get away with calling an album Shit City unless you meant business. Got my fingers crossed that’s precisely the case with Lonely Kamel. Lonely Kamel on Thee Facebooks, Napalm Records.
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21. Lo-Pan, Colossus (Oct. 7)
Fucking a. Doing the research for this list was the first I’d seen the Jason Alexander Byers cover art for Lo-Pan‘s fourth album, Colossus, or its Oct. 7 Small Stone release date. I haven’t heard the tracks yet — they recorded in Brooklyn back in March, and while I got 2012’s Salvador (review here) pretty early, the Columbus four-piece seem to be keeping a tighter lid on the follow-up — and I can’t help but feel like that’s my loss. Judging by what I’ve heard of the material live, Lo-Pan have dug further into their individual brand of riff-led soulful heavy, and I’ve got a high wager that a few months from now, Lo-Pan‘s latest will make an appearance on another list. More to come. Lo-Pan on Thee Facebooks, Small Stone Records.
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22. Novembers Doom, Bled White (July 15)
One of doom’s most fascinating and largely ignored progressions is that of Chicago melancholists Novembers Doom, who, when they started out 25 years ago, did so largely as a death metal band, and then moved on to pioneer an American interpretation of what’s commonly thought of as European doom, until, over their last several records, as they’ve started to move back to a more extreme, double-kick-drummed style. Bled White, on The End Records, continues along this path, but especially in the cleaner vocals of frontman Paul Kuhr there remain shades of the morose emotionality that typified what’s now become their mid-period doom idolatry. Unheralded, Novembers Doom keep exploring deeper, darker terrain. Novembers Doom on Thee Facebooks, The End Records.
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23. Pallbearer, Foundations of Burden (Aug. 19)
Foundations of Burden is unquestionably among the second half of 2014’s most anticipated albums. Arkansas-based doom four-piece Pallbearer will mark its release with extensive European and North American tours, and where their 2012 Profound Lore debut, Sorrow and Extinction (review here), came out and caught listeners off-guard with its unabashed emotional core, their sophomore outing finds them positioned at the forefront of American doom. Already the hype machine is rolling out the red carpet for the Billy Anderson-produced Foundations of Burden, but no one can say these guys haven’t put their work in, and the record is indeed one to look forward to. Pallbearer on Thee Facebooks, Profound Lore Records.
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24. The Skull, TBA (TBA)
For The Skull to put out an album of original material is a unique challenge. Their earlier-2014 first single (stream/review here) found them standing up to it on the new song “Sometime Yesterday Mourning,” but at least half the point of the band since its inception has been to pay homage to legendary doomers Trouble, from whence vocalist Eric Wagner, bassist Ron Holzner and drummer Jeff “Oly” Olson come. For their Tee Pee Records debut full-length — yet untitled and hopefully out before 2015 — it’ll be most interesting to see how guitarists Matt Goldsborough (ex-Pentagram) and Lothar Keller (Sacred Dawn) rise to the occasion of building off some of doom metal’s most celebrated tones. Fingers crossed on this one. The Skull on Thee Facebooks, Tee Pee Records.
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25. Snail, Feral (TBA)
Nothing has been formally announced yet, but on Small Stone Records‘ website, they list Snail‘s Feral among their upcoming releases. It would make a suitable pairing, the West Coast riffers having previously worked with MeteorCity on their 2009 post-reunion outing, Blood (review here), prior to independently releasing 2012’s Terminus (review here), and Small Stone seems like a good home for their fourth overall record and return to form as a trio, which was their original incarnation before their original dissolution circa 1994. How they expand on the heavier crunch of Terminus remains even more a point of fascination, and surely their cult following will be glad to find out. I know I will. Snail on Thee Facebooks, Small Stone Records.
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26. Steak, Slab City (Sept. 9)
After two strong EPs in 2012’s Disastronaught (review here) and 2013’s best-title-ever-boasting Corned Beef Colossus (review here), it’s time for London stoner rockers Steak to step up their game for their Napalm Records debut full-length. The four-piece headed to the Californian desert to record Slab City, and so it’s fair to think some of that atmosphere may have worked its way into the material. Would be an awfully long way to go, otherwise. In either case, Steak have showcased considerable songwriting chops already, now it’s just a matter of sustaining it for a full album’s runtime and keeping enough variety in their approach. I have no doubt they’re ready for this next step. Steak on Thee Facebooks, Napalm Records.
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27. Stubb, Cry of the Ocean (TBA)
It is with simple, unabashed warm feelings that I look forward to hearing Cry of the Ocean, the second long-player and Ripple Music debut from UK riffers Stubb. They’ve traded out drummers since 2012’s self-titled (review here), bringing aboard Tom Fyfe with guitarist/vocalist Jack Dickinson and bassist/vocalist Peter Holland, but I’m excited to hear what changes and shifts in sound Cry of the Ocean might have in store to match its provocative title. Goes without saying the photo above isn’t the final artwork, but instead Tony Reed‘s mastering sheet from back in May when he worked on the tracks. No solid release date yet, but hopefully soon. Stubb on Thee Facebooks, Ripple Music.
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28. Torche, TBA (TBA)
Torche‘s new album and Relapse Records debut was originally slated for the end of the summer. Given that no official word has come out about a title or anything like that and the members of the band have been busy with other projects, it seems unlikely as of now that they’ll hit that target, but after something of a break so frontman Steve Brooks could focus on the resurgent trio Floor, Torche are in fact getting going again, beginning with their first tour of Australia this fall. Maybe their LP will be out by the time they go and maybe it won’t, but word on the street is that whenever the thing arrives, it’s gonna be heavy, which I have no problem believing. Torche on Thee Facebooks, Relapse Records.
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29. The Well, Monomyth (Late Summer)
I’ve been waiting since the March announcement that Austin trio The Well signed with RidingEasy Records for further word of their debut full-length, Monomyth (pretty sure that’s not the cover above), but thus far to no avail. Their 2012 single, Seven (review here), was a repeat-listen thriller, and anticipation abounds for what sort of psychedelic garage riffing they’ll conjure up for the album itself. It’s been a couple months at this point, and maybe it’ll be 2015 before Monomyth gets out, but screw it, a boy can hope. The Well on Thee Facebooks, RidingEasy Records.
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30. Witch Mountain, Mobile of Angels (Sept.)
Please note: The original cover art with this post was not final and has been replaced with the above band photo.
Portland, Oregon’s Witch Mountain have spent much of the two years following their 2012 third LP, Cauldron of the Wild (review here) on tour in the US and abroad, playing fests, headlining, supporting, but generally putting in a lot of time. As such, Mobile of Angels, which will be out on Svart in Europe and Profound Lore in North America, comes as the end product of a considerable touring cycle. Has all that gigging worn Witch Mountain into the ground, or will they rise above it with metal-loving doom-blues supremacy? They’ve got a vinyl-ready 38 minutes on tap for September and if they’ve ever been in a position to make their case, it’s now. Watch out for the killer sway in “Can’t Settle,” the title of which seems a fitting theme for the band. Witch Mountain on Thee Facebooks, Profound Lore Records.
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31. YOB, Clearing the Path to Ascend (Sept. 2)
Yet again — as was the case back in January — alphabetical order forces me to end with YOB, whose seventh full-length and Neurot debut might just be my most anticipated of all on this list. The recently-unveiled Orion Landau cover speaks to a brooding sentiment, and from the one time I was fortunate enough to hear it to-date, the four-track album from the Eugene, Oregon, natives corresponds to its visual side in being a more aggressive push than was 2011’s Atma (review here), but also more exploratory and contemplative in its approach. Now statesmen in American doom and the forebears of a cosmic-minded sound, YOB stand ready to showcase a creative progression that has yet to find its end point. YOB on Thee Facebooks, Neurot Recordings.
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Other Notable Mentions
Just a couple of these I’d be remiss if I didn’t note. Some were carried over from earlier this year, others just come up along the way. Not sure on all the release dates, but these are worth keeping an ear out for:
Acid King — Were listed in January, but their record has a Feb. 2015 release date.
Bright Curse — Second album recorded at Skyhammer Studios.
Brothers of the Sonic Cloth — My understanding is the album is done and they’re waiting to secure a label. Seems like a good occasion for Southern Lord to step forward, if not Profound Lore or Neurot.
Eggnogg — Not sure if it’s their full-length, You’re all Invited, or something else that’s coming, but whatever. More stoner-funk riffing needs to be had.
40 Watt Sun — There was some word of this early in the year, but nothing since.
Godflesh — Their first in 15 years, A World Lit Only by Fire, will be out Oct. 7. A fuckup not including them on the list proper.
It’s Not Night: It’s Space — Eagerly awaiting the Small Stone debut from this instrumental outfit, but it might be next year.
Karma to Burn — New album, Arch Stanton, out in August. I emailed for a review promo and never heard back. Always a great feeling.
Larman Clamor — Solo-project from Alexander von Wieding has a new one in the can, but I’m not sure on the release schedule.
Lowrider — They’re working on it, but don’t hold your breath to have it out by December.
The Machine — Kind of a slow year for Elektrohasch, but the new one from these Dutch fuzzers would be a nice way end up.
Nachtmystium — Century Media releases their final album, The World We Left Behind, on Aug. 5.
Orange Goblin — Seriously debated putting them on the list, since I know they’ve recorded, but they seem to be promoting a recent reissue of 2007’s Healing through Fire and their upcoming European tour with Saint Vitus rather than their new album, so unless news comes out about it like this week from Candlelight, I wouldn’t expect it until early in 2015.
Pink Floyd — Believe it when I see it, but I honestly couldn’t care less either way if I tried.
Ruby the Hatchet — Their full-length Tee Pee debut is due sometime in the next couple months.
Sun Voyager — Upstate NY youngsters had hinted at new recordings.
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Again, if I forgot anything — and I’m sure I did — please let me know in the comments.
