Posted in Whathaveyou on February 28th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
If you think I’m about to start complaining about a new two-songer from Pelican, you’ve got the wrong place. The long-running Chicago (mostly-) instrumentalists helped pioneer a take on heavy informed by post-rock, post-punk, emo and shoegaze, and considering that kind of thing is everywhere now, I’d say history has proven them right, whereas one recalls in their earlier going the message-board kerfuffle the airier elements of their styles caused. Dudes were pissed. But in the parlance of that same internet, Pelican did nothing wrong. Wasn’t their fault, being skinny and playing heavy.
Yeah, there’s probably a bit of the power of suggestion with the first on-studio-recording appearance of guitarist Laurent Schroeder-Lebec since he rejoined the band — you’ll recall Dallas Thomas (Asschapel, The Swan King, etc.) held the position for the intervening years — but I do hear some aspects of Pelican‘s earlier work in Adrift/Tending the Embers, which carries all the poise one might expect from Pelican as a veteran act but seems as well to be exploring and questioning what it is that makes Pelican who they are. Was it a willingness to be heavy without metal’s chestbeating toxicity? That bit of float amid all the surrounding crunch?
I don’t have the answers to these questions, but as many have been following the band on the trail they’ve marched lo these last two-plus decades, as many have taken on their influence and as forward as the band has always looked, I’m sure glad there’s new music happening alongside the reissues and covers that came out last year. Whatever this leads to or doesn’t as regards a full-length, I’ll take what I can get. If you want to hear it before it’s out on Friday, there’s a listening party on Bandcamp tomorrow you can get on board for. Info follows as per the band’s email list:
Dear friends – we are thrilled to announce that we have launched pre-orders for our new ‘Adrift / Tending the Embers’ EP, which is out this Friday. These are our first new songs since 2019 and the first material written with founding guitarist Laurent Schroeder-Lebec since 2012.
Laurent joined us on our 2022 Summer tour and the reunion proved so inspiring that we began writing a new album early last year. The ideas were flowing so quickly that it soon became clear that there was more than an album’s worth of material in the works. Late last year we booked studio time with our longtime collaborator Sanford Parker to document a pair of the earliest compositions in order to present them to our supporters sooner than later.
The result is ‘Adrift / Tending the Embers’ – digital preorders are up right now and a limited cassette version (first press is 200 copies) will be coming on Friday. We’ve also launched preorders for a limited long sleeve shirt based on Christian Degn’s hand illustrated EP artwork- we will only be accepting orders for this until March 6, so jump on it sooner than later if you’re interested.
If you’re interested in hearing the EP early we will be hosting a Bandcamp listening party tomorrow at 2pm EST / 11am PST. Please join us!
We can’t thank you enough for you support and your patience. We’re still writing the album, so it may be a little wait for that still, but we are so excited by the direction of the new material and are thrilled for you all to hear it when the time comes.
Posted in Whathaveyou on February 26th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
The microgenre of ultra-thick sludge worship now called ‘bong metal’ has emerged largely in the six years since Chicago instrumental crushers Bongripper issued their most recent LP, 2018’s Terminal (review here), so a return from them with the impending Empty has some contextual differentiation in this not-yet-half-over decade, but beyond that, one kind of expects and looks forward to not much radical change on the part of the band, whose crushing ethic has united their output all along. I’m not saying they can’t grow or shouldn’t, haven’t, etc. (I haven’t even heard the thing), but if they were suddenly going to go ska they probably would mention it at some point and if it’s business as usual as they lower killer riffs with prejudice upon the skulls of the willing, would that really be a thing to complain about? Whatever new ideas they may or may not bring to their new material, it’s not like their core approach was ever broken.
Are Bongripper bong metal? Are Bongzilla? Are you? It would be in celebration of their uncompromising fuckall if they came to be viewed as figureheads, but ultimately it’s academic as relates to the record itself — something dudes like me think about likely much more than the band actually does, and fair enough — which will be out April 18 with a hometown release show booked for May 3 ahead of a lot at Desertfest London.
Preliminaries are below — read the tracklisting as a sentence and you almost get a sense of hope — and were offered with a suitable amount of flourish via socials. Behold:
BONGRIPPER – “Empty” 2LP/CD/Digital – 4/19/24
1. Nothing 2. Remains 3. Forever 4. Empty
Recorded at Comatose Studio. Artwork by Sam Alcarez.
Posted in Whathaveyou on February 12th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
Sometimes it’s kind of funny to write a band’s bio — in this specific case it’s also a frickin’ honor — and then not know when it’s going to be used and be surprised to see it come back down the PR wire. You do a thing, send it off, and a little while later, it comes back to you. I thank Liz Ciavarella, who has only been supporting my efforts and making me a better writer AS WELL AS giving me stuff to write about for the last, oh, 18 years or thereabouts, for putting my name out for bio writing stuff. Sometimes I get a little Paypal money for Bandcamp, sometimes it’s just a cool thing to do, but it’s always appreciated and if someone thinks enough of my work in general to ask, well, that’s a push to do a thing right there.
But to get to the point, Legions of Doom are recording this month their debut album. They’re in kind of a fluid situation, sort of transitioning out of The Skull but still keeping that band — whose frontman Eric Wagner passed away in 2021 — in reserve for special slots at festivals and such, and moving ahead with Legions of Doom as a next phase for bassist Ron Holzner, guitarist Lothar Keller and drummer Henry Vasquez. That that core trio are working with vocalists Scott Reagers (original frontman of Saint Vitus) and Karl Agell (Lie Heavy, ex-Leadfoot, C.O.C. Blind, Kinghitter) tells you the size of the gap left by Wagner‘s absence and also shows a readiness to explore new ideas. Guitarist Scott Little, also formerly of Leadfoot, will be a part of both Legions of Doom and The Skull, at least as I understood it.
Interested as always to hear what Sanford Parker, who will engineer the impending session leading toward a Fall release, gets from the band, especially working in Electrical Audio, which will make it a good day to be Vasquez for drum sounds. The bio I wrote appears in blue text below, as served up by the PR wire. Note they’ll be at Ripplefest Texas in September as I also hope very much to be:
LEGIONS OF DOOM: Doom Metal Supergroup Featuring Vocalist Duo Karl Agell And Scott Reagers To Enter Studio This Month
Banded together out of mutual respect, admiration, history, and a strong desire to move ever forward, LEGIONS OF DOOM brings together split-duty lead singers Scott Reagers (Saint Vitus) and Karl Agell (Lie Heavy, Karl Agell’s Blind, Leadfoot), bassist Ron Holzner (The Skull, Trouble, Earthen Grave), guitarists Lothar Keller (The Skull, Sacred Dawn), and Scott Little (Leadfoot), and drummer Henry Vasquez (The Skull, Saint Vitus, Blood Of The Sun), and was born as a project following the death of The Skull vocalist Eric Wagner (also ex-Trouble) in 2021. Initial The Skull/LEGIONS OF DOOM shows in tribute to Wagner were held in 2023, and in 2024, LEGIONS OF DOOM will record both the album that The Skull would have made and a new collection of original material that’s been worked on since.
Plans to record at Steve Albini’s Electrical Audio with engineer Sanford Parker (YOB, Wovenhand, Eyehategod) will lead to a first release this Fall on Tee Pee Records, and in the interim, LEGIONS OF DOOM will again take to the stage. Fall/Winter European and US touring is being discussed, with a just announced appearance in September of this year at Ripplefest in Austin, Texas. While LEGIONS OF DOOM will step forward as the priority, Holzner assures The Skull isn’t fading completely.
“The Skull, featuring me, Lothar, Henry, Scott Little, and Karl singing, will continue in a limited capacity doing occasional shows,” informs Holzner. “The Skull shows will consist of 90-95 percent The Skull music. LEGIONS OF DOOM shows consist of all our combined history: Blind-era Corrosion Of Conformity, Trouble, Leadfoot, The Skull, Saint Vitus, and LEGIONS OF DOOM material, too.”
Adds Karl Agell, “When Ron asked me to join him in carrying on the doom metal tradition that he was part of and established first with Trouble and then The Skull, there was only one path forward. I truly look forward to performing songs from the massive legacy of all the members of LEGIONS OF DOOM.”
Having already appeared at Hellfest in France, Graspop Metal Meeting in Belgium, and Legions Of Metal in Chicago, expect LEGIONS OF DOOM to continue to roll out confirmations as they move toward the album release, because with these guys, it’s never just about what’s been done in the past, but adding to that legacy as well. Just as The Skull built on the foundations Trouble laid at the core of the doom metal genre, look for LEGIONS OF DOOM to push to new ground along that familiar path. [words by JJ Koczan]
LEGION OF DOOM: Ron Holzner – bass Lothar Keller – guitars Scott Little – guitars Henry Vasquez – drums Karl Agell – vocals Scott Reagers – vocals
Posted in Bootleg Theater on December 22nd, 2023 by JJ Koczan
This was a PostWax release. The vinyl subscription service put forth by Blues Funeral Recordings has produced a string of stellar, genuinely special records in its second volume — Acid King were my pick for album of the year this year, and Dozer and Dopelord, which were in my top 10, both came out in PostWax editions; deluxe vinyl, exclusive tracks, artwork and layout that’s so gorgeous I don’t even want to touch it with my greasy fingers, etc. — and as with all of them, I was fortunate enough to do liner notes for this special collaboration between Chicago fog rockers REZN and Mexico City conceptual plodders Vinnum Sabbathi, titled Silent Future.
I always feel a little weird when it comes to covering PostWax stuff here on the site, and that’s precisely because I also work behind the scenes (in a limited but capacity, of course) on the releases as well, and I was compensated monetarily for doing that writing. I say so every time, but even with full disclosure I’m not trying to give an impression I’m doing promo. It’s not my job to sell you records. But the stuff is undeniable at this point, and what, I’m going to let 2023 end without talking about the exploratory textures of Silent Future, the album’s narrative foundation and the meld of climate anxiety, cosmic pulse and futurism that makes it such a hypnotically immersive listening experience? Come on.
REZN also had their fourth long-player, Solace (review here), out this year, but Silent Future is its own thing and has its own intention. For the four-piece of guitarist/vocalist Rob McWilliams (also lyrics), synthesist/saxophonist/flutist Spencer Ouellette, bassist Phil Cangelosi and drummer Patrick Dunn (who also had the monumental task of mixing), it was a self-recorded affair, done late in 2021 DIY in their own spot, and their basic tracks were sent to Vinnum Sabbathi — the lineup of guitarist/synthesist Juan Tamayo, effects specialist Roman Tamayo, bassist Samuel Lopez and Gerardo Arias on drums and lead guitar, with more guitar from Victor “KB” Velazquez — who also wrote the script for the storytelling monologue in intro “Born into Catatonia” and the likewise keyboardy side B complement, “Clusters,” delivered by the voice of Manuel Wohlrab, also of Yanos and Zone Six in Germany.
So, multinational, multicontinental collaboration across seven songs and a somehow-digestible 32 minutes of progressive, soulful, and at times very, very heavy music. While the record is patient in the subdued flow it sets up as “Born into Catatonia” shifts into “Unknown Ancestor” (the continuing monologue also helps), the sense of texture is immediate and is a luminescent drone that hints at a feeling of discovery. On some level, that’s what’s happening throughout Silent Future as Vinnum Sabbathi and REZN reveal to themselves and to their respective audiences alike — and let’s assume there’s crossover there, because genre — what happens when they fuse their methodologies. I talked to both bands about this release (granted it was a while ago) to do the liner notes, and I’m still not sure anyone knew going into it what would come out, or how they possibly could, but that adventurous spirit is to be commended and I honestly believe the world is a better place with the crushing roll that emerges in “Unknown Ancestor” than without it, never mind the rest of the slow-swirling and entrancing sway that surrounds, periodically channeling high impact in low gravity.
If you’re a synthesist or keyboardist in a heavy band, there’s plenty to learn here in the work of Ouellette and the Tamayo brothers (who I met this year in Germany and are sweethearts), from the New Age-y throb in behind the deceptively catchy hook of “The Cultigen” meditating lyrically as it does on a black chrysanthemum before the lumber-chuck of centerpiece “Hypersurreal” brings back Wohlrab with talk about multisensory alien contact and a verse that’s quiet but tense in its rhythm in no small part because of the riff that just receded. It comes back, that riff, of course, as McWilliams swaps to a more projected voice for another memorable, this-time-belted-out chorus, “Parallel universe/Parallel universe/The eye reflects itself/Into another realm/Am I the writer or the character?” before the verse repeats in a building cycle.
And when that cycle hits its payoff, the synth/effects are right there as well, and so even at its apex-heaviest, Silent Future remains true to its mood. “Clusters” fades in from silence as a reset, but both “Morphing” and the finale “Obliterating Mists” dig into the procession, and whether or not it was intentional, the two become a representative mini-monolith for the LP as a whole, with earworms revealed through multiple visits to their temporal dimension and a culmination in the latter that rises and ebbs with a fluidity and poise that emphasizes the consciousness at the center of the haze. There’s an episode of Star Trek: The Animated Series where the cartoon-Enterprise gets trapped in a giant thinking cloud. Listening to Silent Future kind of feels like that, or at least one imagines.
But either angle you want to take it from — whether it’s the creative bravery and ego-eschew of the collaboration in the first place or the righteousness of the end result in the material itself — Silent Futureis a standout release for 2023 (and beyond) and I didn’t want to let the year end without some proper recognition of that. It’s not the kind of offering every band or pairing of bands could make, and it’s not a pairing that is immediately intuitive because Vinnum Sabbathi and REZN have so much in common in sound, but what they do share is an openness to new ideas and ways of working, and the success of that in these songs I think is inarguable once you hear it.
Which I hope you do. Thanks for reading, and thanks to Jadd Shickler of Blues Funeral, Magnetic Eye Records, for making me a footnote part of the PostWax thing in the first place. Dude had the year of a lifetime between those two labels, and it was only because he made it happen.
Please enjoy, and once again, thank you for reading. I appreciate your time and attention. If you can go with this one, do. I admit it’s not the most intuitive of releases, but that’s also part of what makes it special. Might take a couple listens to sink in, but trust, and let it do its thing, and you’ll be set. Safe travels, wherever it takes you.
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Monday is Xmas. Happy Xmas if you celebrate. We do, in our pointedly secular fashion, and accordingly I’m taking Monday (which is the weekend’s writing) and Tuesday (which is Monday’s writing) off. I’m going to do my damnedest not to post at all in that time, but if there’s something I feel warrants immediacy — and anything can happen, of course — I’ll roll with it. Let us not forget that Lemmy was born on Dec. 24, died Dec. 27 and that he, more than the favorite fanfic of hateful/genocidal psychopaths and state-sponsored rape cabals, is the true reason for the season.
When I pick up Wednesday, it’ll probably also be pretty mellow. The Pecan is off from school next week and I’m sure that’ll be busy because, well, yes. We’re about to undertake the process of remaking bedtime — current system’s effectiveness has expired; a necessary pivot — and I expect that will result in a few bumpy nights. Almost always the case when transitioning from one thing to the other. Certainly was the story of my summer and fall.
To that. While I am not thrilled to know that my six-year-old goes to school every day on medication, I cannot deny the clear shift said meds have wrought in her day-to-day. I would not call her ‘easy’ or ‘easygoing’ as a personality-type — there is much she has learned from me, including how to be a prick, and there are times where she’s a few grades ahead of kindergarten in that regard — but from what I think everybody who observes her has seen, and that’s the rest of our family, her teacher, aide, other aide at school and therapist, we’ve had movement in a better direction. Between the wreck that was this summer’s kicked-out-of-camp marathon, the stress of her transition (which also has allowed a flourishing not to be denied; I’ve heard reports of another trans kindergartener on the planet, but The Patient Mrs. and I are already joking about the book we’ll write some day), and getting her to a point of being able to get through a school day without hurting someone else or herself is progress visible even in the trenches. By which I mean her mother and I can see it. She remains willful, just flat out ignores me when I ask her to do something most of the time and is ready with an argument for why one should fuck off on a daily if not hourly basis — less when she’s hungry — but she’s growing and she’s strong, which is a thing she is going to very much need to be.
That progress doesn’t mean I didn’t basically chase her back to bed at 10PM last night, but as I said, different methods are being put in place. She might get to sleep with the puppy. We’ll see. The Patient Mrs. is the spearhead of that project; I’ll confess reticence and a general lack of desire to clean up dog piss in my kid’s bed, on her floor, or really anywhere else. We’ve got a good thing going with the crate at night, and the dog is only six months old. I could go on and logic logic logic myself through this. Build reasoned arguments to never say out loud. Lay out a grand case. Clutch once told us “you can’t stop progress,” and so here I am, rolling with it to the limited extent I am able, even as my brain has that catch-fire feeling thinking about getting up at 5AM or earlier, going upstairs to get the dog out of her room, waking her up and then having to both deal with the dog needing to go out and the kid who just might want to tag along with as little light on as possible, as quiet as possible, and then try to sit down and write. A million ways to go wrong, fewer to go right.
Whatever you’re feeling anxious about, I wish you relief. I hope you have a great and safe weekend, and I’ll be back on Wednesday (I can hold off! I can do it!) with maybe a Dr. Space review or something else fun and more of the ol’ blah blah blah. Thanks for reading it.
Posted in Questionnaire on July 28th, 2023 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: Liam Shanley of Bin Chicken, Meleyahnsali & The Mausoliam
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How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?
I play guitar and a few of the other instruments one could expect to encounter in a rock setting. I also record myself and others. Lastly I make electronic music as Meleyahnsali. I’ve been fortunate enough to try these things out enough times to have gotten alright at them.
Describe your first musical memory.
Listening to classic rock and Irish music at the house or in my mom’s car.
Describe your best musical memory to date.
Putting out my band Bin Chicken’s first album.
When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?
I like to think I’m capable of achieving my loftiest ambitions but I’ve had collaborations end up being disappointing despite my best efforts.
Where do you feel artistic progression leads?
Hopefully towards something truly unique and original. But in a less literal sense, to a great understanding of life and one’s place in it.
How do you define success?
Finishing and releasing a project is the hard part. Anything that happens after that is icing on the cake.
What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?
An opossum that had recently been run over but wasn’t dead yet lying on the street, hissing.
Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.
I haven’t yet put something out on vinyl. I’d also like to release an album in the zeuhl style.
What do you believe is the most essential function of art?
A work of art should capture something meaningful or beautiful about life so that you can experience and ponder that thing through the given work of art.
Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?
Posted in Whathaveyou on July 26th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Perhaps it’s the Grace Slick-style stateliness in the delivery of Dead Feathers vocalist Marissa Welu on the title-cut of their forthcoming second LP, Full Circle, but it’s incredible to me how much past and present can intertwine in a heavy context. What I mean by that is, hearing “Full Circle,” with its almost Americana guitar in the midsection and abiding psychedelic fervor, the melodies in the aforementioned vocals and the structure of the seven-minute piece itself, one could very easily trace it back to influences modern or older.
’60s, ’70s, ’90s, ’10s — a span of decades finds an engaging summary in a single expression, and in its jammier stretch, “Full Circle” hints at more vital groove to come when the album arrives on Sept. 22 through Ripple Music, which if you’ll recall also released Dead Feathers‘ debut, All is Lost (review here), in 2019.
If you live according to such organization — and I say that from an admiring standpoint — preorder links are below, along with a whole bunch of PR wire info.
Have at it:
Chicago psychedelic rockers DEAD FEATHERS to release new album “Full Circle” on Ripple Music this fall; preorders and first single available!
Chicago’s up-and-coming psychedelic blues rockers DEAD FEATHERS announce the release of their sophomore album “Full Circle” this September 22nd on Ripple Music, and release the title track on all streaming platforms today!
The new single from the Chicagoans is a soulful and compelling 7-minute rocker that brilliantly invokes the five-piece’s 60s and 70s rock influences while showcasing their finely chiseled songcraft and Marissa Welu’s powerhouse vocals. Psych-tinged dual guitars and grooves burst at an inextinguishable pace, never letting go of the listener that will be instantly hooked and left wanting for more.
Based out of Chicago, IL, Dead Feathers has proven to be a band with exceeding potential and lasting appeal since day one. Building off of the success of their 2019 debut album “All is Lost” on Ripple Music, Dead Feathers has been gaining a growing fan base across North America and overseas through ambitious touring and supporting acts like Kikagaku Moyo, All them Witches, SLIFT, and many more in their home city. During that time, they established their name and carved a debut full-length album that gained enthusiastic reviews from the international press.
Their live shows, filled with sensual and thunderous energy on stage, have put concertgoers under their spell. Brought on by the soulful and emotional vocals from Marissa Allen combined with the fuzz and reverb-backed guitars, ever-flowing bass lines, and booming drums, Dead Feathers sets a mood that has been crafted with the skill and artistry they’ve come to be known for. While Dead Feathers has been compared to various classic bands such as Jefferson Airplane, Big Brother & the Holding Company, and Frumpy, along with modern acts like Blues Pills, Black Mountain and Graveyard, they bring a style and songwriting that is exclusively their own.
Posted in Whathaveyou on June 2nd, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Okay, this is super-complicated, so stay with me. It’s REZN and Vinnum Sabbathi together.
Okay, so maybe not actually that complicated. One might throw darts at band names on a wall for eternity and never come up with pairing the Chicago and Mexico City-based outfits for a split, let alone a collaborative LP, both bands working together on a single batch of songs in a one-time megaband, but every now and then actual-reality has a way of offering surprises and this was one of those. I was fortunate enough to do the liner notes for the release, to talk to the bands and get the story behind what they’re going for, how it came together, and so on, and if you’re a PostWax subscriber and up for some reading, that’s a thing that exists. The downloads of the album, which is called Silent Future, have gone out to PostWax folks — I know because I got mine — and the keys to getting into it are atmosphere and expanse. Do not approach with set expectations, do open your mind to immersive heavy psychedelic possibilities.
The non-PostWax general release for Silent Future is Aug. 11 and they’re streaming the centerpiece “Hypersurreal” now. The PR wire has preorder links and more background:
REZN and VINNUM SABBATHI to release collaborative album “Silent Future” on August 11th via Blues Funeral Recordings; stream first single!
Blues Funeral Recordings present the next chapter of their acclaimed PostWax series, with a fully collaborative album between Chicago avant-garde doom outfit REZN and Mexico City instrumental cosmic metallers Vinnum Sabbathi. “Silent Future” will be released worldwide on August 11th, with preorders and the first single available right now!
On Silent Future, Chicago atmospheric psych-doom outfit REZN teams up with Mexico City cosmic conceptualists Vinnum Sabbathi for a true union of heavy exploration. Allowing themselves a fluid, open canvas to experiment, members of both bands contribute equally to create an album of lush, hypnotic and frequently megalithic ambiance, yielding an utterly cohesive trip into the riff-drenched astral reaches.
About this collaborative album, REZN comments: “Ever since we played a show in Mexico City with Vinnum Sabbathi, we knew we wanted to find an opportunity to incorporate their cinematic style within the REZN soundscape. The Postwax creative concept helped guide us into making an album that stands out from the rest of our catalog, which was a really refreshing challenge for us. After the songwriting flowed freely, we intentionally left space so we could collaborate together on each song and explore the many shades of psychological cosmic horror.”
Vinnum Sabbathi adds: “We feel honored to be part of the Postwax series with this special collaboration with our Friends Rezn, the creation of “Silent Future” gave us the opportunity of experimenting with new ways of composing and recording, but also adding our own touch to the concept with the use of samples and this is very well represented in the first single “Hypersurreal”.
The fluidity with which REZN and Vinnum Sabbathi collaborate is unlikely, yet inarguable. Strong nuclear forces conjoin sections as alternatingly ethereal as celestial light and dense as a black hole collapse. Ultimately, the endeavor is never limited to being one thing for long, any more than it is limited to being the work of a single band. More than a listening experience, Silent Future’s vitality extends beyond the aural. This is the work of two groups pushing themselves further than they’ve gone before, each answering the other’s question of how far they can ultimately go. As heavy as Silent Future gets, as distant as it may range, one cannot regard this righteously thick, molten-tempo journey into the unknown as anything but breathtaking.
“Silent Future” will be released worldwide on August 11th in various vinyl formats, limited digipak CD and digital. The ultra-limited deluxe vinyl edition will be shipped in June to PostWax Vol. II subscribers. Preorders are available now on Blues Funeral Recordings.
TRACKLIST: 1. Born Into Catatonia 2. Unknown Ancestor 3. The Cultigen 4. Hypersurreal 5. Clusters 7. Morphing 8. Obliterating Mists
Album lineup: Gerardo Arias: Drums, Percussion, Lead Guitars Phil Cangelosi: Bass Patrick Dunn: Drums Samuel Lopez: Bass Rob McWilliams: Guitars, Vocals Spencer Ouellette: Synths, Sax, Flute Juan Tamayo: Heavy guitars, Synths Roman Tamayo: Additional FX Victor “KB” Velazquez: Additional Guitars Manuel Wohlrab: Spoken Word
Coming at you live and direct from the Wegmans pharmacy counter where I’m waiting to pick up some pinkeye drops for my kid, who stayed home from half-day pre-k on Monday because the Quarterly Review isn’t complicated enough on its own. It was my diagnosis that called off the bus, later confirmed over telehealth, so at least I wasn’t wrong and shot my own day. I know this shit doesn’t matter to anyone — it’ll barely matter to me in half an hour — but, well, I don’t think I’ve ever written while waiting for a prescription before and I’m just stoned enough to think it might be fun to do so now.
Of course, by the time I’m writing the reviews below — tomorrow morning, as it happens — this scrip will have long since been ready and retrieved. But a moment to live through, just the same.
We hit halfway today. Hope your week’s been good so far. Mine’s kind of a mixed bag apart from the music, which has been pretty cool.
Quarterly Review #21-30:
Yakuza, Sutra
Since it would be impossible anyway to encapsulate the scope of Yakuza‘s Sutra — the Chicago-based progressive psych-metal outfit led by vocalist/saxophonist Bruce Lamont, with Matt McClelland on guitar/backing vocals, Jerome Marshall on bass and James Staffel on drums/percussion — from the transcendental churn of “2is1” to the deadpan tension build in and noise rock payoff in “Embers,” the sax-scorch bass-punch metallurgical crunch of “Into Forever” and the deceptively bright finish of “Never the Less,” and so on, let’s do a Q&A. They still might grind at any moment? Yup, see “Burn Before Reading.” They still on a wavelength of their own? Oh most definitely; see “Echoes From the Sky,” “Capricorn Rising,” etc. Still underrated? Yup. It’s been 11 years since they released Beyul (review here). Still ahead of their time? Yes. Like anti-genre pioneers John Zorn or Peter Brötzmann turned heavy and metal, or like Virus or Voivod with their specific kind of if-you-know-you-know, cult-following-worthy individualist creativity, Yakuza weave through the consuming 53-minute procession of Sutra with a sensibility that isn’t otherworldly because it’s psychedelic or drenched in effects (though it might also be those things at any given moment), but because they sound like they come from another planet. A welcome return from an outfit genuinely driven toward the unique and a meld of styles beyond metal and/or jazz. And they’ve got a fitting home on Svart. I know it’s been over a decade, but I hope these dudes get old in this band.
The second offering from Philadelphia multi-instrumentalist Heath Rave (Altars of the Moon, former drums in Wolvhammer, etc.) under the banner of Lotus Thrones, the seven-song/38-minute The Heretic Souvenir (on Disorder and Seeing Red) draws its individual pieces across an aural divide by means of a stark atmosphere, the post-plague-and-the-plague-is-capitalism skulking groove of “B0T0XDR0NE$” emblematic both of perspective and of willingness to throw a saxophone overtop if the mood’s right (by Yakuza‘s Bruce Lamont, no less), which it is. At the outset, “Gore Orphanage” is more of an onslaught, and “Alpha Centauri” has room for both a mathy chug and goth-rocking shove, the latter enhanced by Rave‘s low-register vocals. Following the Genghis Tron-esque glitch-grind of 1:16 centerpiece “Glassed,” the three-and-a-half-minute “Roses” ups the goth factor significantly, delving into twisted Type O Negative-style pulls and punk-rooted forward thrust in a highlight reportedly about Rave‘s kid, which is nice (not sarcastic), before making the jump into “Autumn of the Heretic Souvenir,” which melds Americana and low-key dub at the start of its 11-minute run before shifting into concrete sludge chug and encompassing trades between atmospheric melody and outright crush until a shift eight minutes in brings stand(mostly)alone keys backed by channel-swapping electronic noise as a setup for the final surge’s particularly declarative riff. That makes the alt-jazz instrumental “Nautilus” something of an afterthought, but not out of place in terms of its noir ambience that’s also somehow indebted to Nine Inch Nails. There’s a cough near the end. See if you can hear it.
Realized at the formidable behest of Heavy Psych Sounds, the seventh installment of the Doom Sessions series (Vol. 8 is already out) brings together Sweden’s strongly cinematic sludge-doomers Endtime with fire-crackling North Carolinian woods-doomers Cosmic Reaper. With two songs from the former and three from the latter, the balance winds up with more of an EP feel from Cosmic Reaper and like a single with an intro from Endtime, who dedicate the first couple of minutes of “Tunnel of Life” to a keyboard intro that’s very likely a soundtrack reference I just don’t know because I’m horror-ignorant before getting down to riff-rumble-roll business on the righteously slow-raging seven minutes of “Beyond the Black Void.” Cosmic Reaper, meanwhile, have three cuts, with harmonized guitars entering “Sundowner” en route to a languid and melodic nod verse, a solo later answering the VHS atmosphere of Endtime before “Dead and Loving It” and “King of Kings” cult-doom their way into oblivion, the latter picking up a bit of momentum as it pushes near the eight-minute mark. It’s a little uneven, considering, but Doom Sessions Vol. 7 provides a showcase for two of Heavy Psych Sounds‘ up-and-coming acts, and that’s pretty clearly the point. If it leads to listeners checking out their albums after hearing it, mission accomplished.
Don’t skip this because of High Priest‘s generic-stoner-rock name. The Chicago four-piece of bassist/vocalist Justin Valentino, guitarists Pete Grossmann and John Regan and drummer Dan Polak make an awaited full-length debut with Invocation on Magnetic Eye Records, and if the label’s endorsement isn’t enough, I’ll tell you the eight-song/44-minute long-player is rife with thoughtful construction, melody and heft. Through the opening title-track and into the lumber, sweep and boogie of “Divinity,” they incorporate metal with the two guitars and some of the vocal patterning, but aren’t beholden to that anymore than to heavy rock, and far from unipolar, “Ceremony” gives a professional fullness of sound that “Cosmic Key” ups immediately to round out side A before “Down in the Park” hints toward heavygaze without actually tipping over, “Universe” finds the swing buried under that monolithic fuzz, “Conjure” offers a bluesier but still huge-sounding take and 7:40 closer “Heaven” layers a chorus of self-harmonizing Valentinos to underscore the point of how much the vocals add to the band. Which is a lot. What’s lost in pointing that out is just how densely weighted their backdrop is, and the nuance High Priest bring to their arrangements throughout, but whether you want to dig into that or just learn the words and sing along, you can’t lose.
Its catharsis laced in every stretch of the skin-peeling tremolo and echoing screams of “Altar of Liar,” Season Unknown arrives as the first release from Poland’s MiR, a directly-blackened spinoff of heavy psych rockers Spaceslug, whose guitarist/vocalist Bartosz Janik and bassist/vocalist Jan Rutka feature along with guitarist Michał Zieleniewski (71tonman) and drummer Krzystof Kamisiński (Burning Hands). The relationship to Janik and Rutka‘s other (main?) band is sonically tenuous, though Spaceslug‘s Kamil Ziółkowski also guests on vocals, making it all the more appropriate that MiR stands as a different project. Ripping and progressive in kind, cuts like “Lost in Vision” and the blastbeaten severity of “Ashen” are an in-genre rampage, and while “Sum of All Mourn” is singularly engrossing in its groove, the penultimate “Yesterday Rotten” comes through as willfully stripped to its essential components until its drifting finish, which is fair enough ahead of the more expansive closer “Illusive Loss of Inner Frame,” which incorporates trades between all-out gnash and atmospheric contemplations. I won’t profess to be an expert on black metal, but as a sidestep, Season Unknown is both respectfully bold and clearly schooled in what it wants to be.
Recorded by esteemed producer Martin Bisi (Swans, Sonic Youth, Unsane, etc.) in 2021-’22, Colder is Hiram-Maxim‘s third full-length, with hints of Angels of Light amid the sneering heaviness of “Bathed in Blood” after opener/longest track (immediate points) “Alpha” lays out the bleak atmosphere in which what follows will reside. “Undone” gets pretty close to laying on the floor, while “It Feels Good” very pointedly doesn’t for its three minutes of dug-in cafe woe, from out of which “Hive Mind” emerges with keys and drums forward in a moody verse before the post-punk urgency takes more complete hold en route to a finish of manipulated noise. As one would have to expect, “Shock Cock” is a rocker at heart, and the lead-in from the drone/experimental spoken word of “Time Lost Time” holds as a backdrop so that its Stooges-style comedown heavy is duly weirded out. Is that a theremin? Possibly. They cap by building a wall of malevolence and contempt with “Sick to Death” in under three minutes, resolving in a furious assault of kitchen-sink volume, that, yes, recedes, but is resonant enough to leave scratches on your arm. Don’t let anyone tell you this isn’t extreme music just because some dude isn’t singing about killing some lady or quoting a medical dictionary. Colder could just as easily have been called ‘Volcanic.’
Seeming always to be ready with a friendly, easy nod, Lafayette/Indianapolis, Indiana’s The Heavy Co. return with “Brain Dead” as a follow-up single to late-2022’s “God Damn, Jimmy.” The current four-piece incarnation of the band — guitarist/vocalist Ian Daniel, guitarist Jeff Kaleth, bassist Eric Bruce and drummer TR McCully — seem to be refocused from some of the group’s late-’10s departures, elements of outlaw country set aside in favor of a rolling riff with shades of familiar boogie in the start-stops beneath its solo section, a catchy but largely unassuming chorus, and a theme that, indeed, is about getting high. In one form or another, The Heavy Co. have been at it for most of the last 15 years, and in a little over four minutes they demonstrate where they want their emphasis to be — a loose, jammy feel held over from the riffout that probably birthed the song in the first place coinciding with the structure of the verses and chorus and a lack of pretense that is no less a defining aspect than the aforementioned riff. They know what they’re doing, so let ’em roll on. I don’t know if the singles are ahead of an album release or not, but whatever shows up whenever it does, The Heavy Co. are reliable in my mind and this is right in their current wheelhouse.
The intervening year since L.A.’s The Cimmerian made their debut with Thrice Majestic (review here) seems to have made the trio even more pummeling, as their Sword & Sorcery Vol. I two-songer finds them incorporating death and extreme metal for a feel like a combined-era Entombed on leadoff “Suffer No Guilt” which is a credit to bassist Nicolas Rocha‘s vocal burl as well as the intensity of riff from David Gein (ex-The Scimitar) and corresponding thrash gallop in David Morales‘ drumming. The subsequent “Inanna Rising” is slower, with a more open nod in its rhythm, but no less threatening, with fluid rolls of double-kick pushing the verse forward amid the growls and an effective scream, a sample of something (everything?) burning, and a kick in pace before the solo about halfway into the track’s 7:53. If The Cimmerian are growing more metal, and it seems they are, then the aggression suits them as the finish of “Inanna Rising” attests, and the thickness of sludge carried over in their tonality assures that the force of their impact is more than superficial.
Released as an offering from the amorphous Hungarian collective Psychedelic Source Records, the three-song Protoaeolianism arrives under the moniker of Nepaal — also stylized as :nepaal, with the colon — finding mainstay Bence Ambrus on guitar with Krisztina Benus on keys, Dávid Strausz on bass, Krisztián Megyeri on drums and Marci Bíró on effects/synth for captured-in-the-moment improvisations of increasing reach as space and psych and krautrocks comingle with hypnotic pulsations on “Innoxial Talent Parade” (9:54), the centerpiece “Brahman Sleeps 432 Billion Years” (19:14) and “Ineffable Minor States” (13:44), each of which has its arc of departure, journey and arrival, forming a multi-stage narrative voyage that’s as lush as the liquefied tones and sundry whatever-that-was noises. “Ineffable Minor States” is so serene in its just-guitar start that the first time I heard it I thought the song had cut off, but no. They’re just taking their time, and why shouldn’t they? And why shouldn’t we all take some time to pause, engage mindfully with our surroundings, experience or senses one at a time, the things we see, hear, touch, taste, smell? Maybe Protoaeolianism — instrumental for the duration — is a call to that. Maybe it’s just some jams from jammers and I shouldn’t read anything else into it. Here then, as in all things, you choose your own adventure. I’m glad to be the one to tell you this is an adventure worth taking.
There is much to dig into on the second full-length from Toledo, Ohio, duo Hope Hole — the returning parties of Matt Snyder and Mike Mulholland — who offer eight originals and a centerpiece cover of The Cure‘s “Sinking” that’s not even close to being the saddest thing on the record, titled Beautiful Doom presumably in honor of the music itself. Leadoff “Spirits on the Radio” makes me nostalgic for a keyboard-laced goth glory day that never happened while also tapping some of mid-period Anathema‘s abiding downer soul, seeming to speak to itself as much as the audience with repetitions of “You reap what you sew.” Some Godflesh surfaces in “600 Years,” and they’re resolute in the melancholy of “Common Sense” until the chugging starts, like a dirtier, underproduced Crippled Black Phoenix. Rolling with deceptive momentum, the title-track could be acoustic until it starts with the solo and electronic beats later before shifting into the piano, beats, drift guitar, and so on of “Sinking.” “Chopping Me” could be an entire band’s sound but it’s barely a quarter of what Hope Hole have to say in terms of aesthetic two records deep. “Mutant Dynamo” duly punks its arthouse sludge and shreds a self-aware over-the-top solo in the vein of Brendan Small, while “Pyrokinetic” revives earlier goth swing with a gruff biker exterior (I’d watch that movie) and a moment of spinning weirdo triumph at the end, almost happy to be burned, where the seven-minute finale “Cities of Gold” returns to beats over its gradual guitar start, emerging with chanting vocals to become its own declaration of progressive intent. Beautiful Doom ends with a steady march rather than the expected blowout, having built its gorgeous decay out of the same rotten Midwestern ground as the debut — 2021’s Death Can Change (review here) — but moved unquestionably forward from it.