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.

Yakuza on Facebook

Svart Records website

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Lotus Thrones, The Heretic Souvenir

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.

Lotus Thrones on Facebook

Seeing Red Records store

Disorder Recordings website

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Endtime & Cosmic Reaper, Doom Sessions Vol. 7

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.

Endtime on Facebook

Cosmic Reaper on Facebook

Heavy Psych Sounds website

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High Priest, Invocation

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.

High Priest on Facebook

Magnetic Eye Records store

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MiR, Season Unknown

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.

MiR on Facebook

MiR on Bandcamp

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Hiram-Maxim, Colder

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.’

Hiram-Maxim on Facebook

Wax Mage Records on Facebook

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The Heavy Co., Brain Dead

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 Heavy Co. on Facebook

The Heavy Co. on Bandcamp

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The Cimmerian, Sword & Sorcery Vol. I

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.

The Cimmerian on Facebook

The Cimmerian on Bandcamp

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Nepaal, Protoaeolianism

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.

Psychedelic Source Records on Facebook

Psychedelic Source Records on Bandcamp

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Hope Hole, Beautiful Doom

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.

Hope Hole on Facebook

Hope Hole on Bandcamp

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Kind of an odd Quarterly Review, huh? I know. The two extra days. Well, here’s the thing. I’ve already got the better part of a 50-record QR booked for next month. I’ve slid a few of those albums in here to replace things I already covered blah blah whatever, but there’s just a ton of stuff out right now, and a lot of it I want to talk about, so yeah. I tacked on the two extra days here to get to 70 records, and in May we’ll do another 50, and if you want to count that as Spring (I can’t decide yet if I do or not; if you’ve got an opinion, I’d love to hear it in the comments), that’s 120 records covered even if I start over and go from 1-50 instead of 71-120. Any way you go, it’s nearly enough that you could listen to two records per week for the next full year based just on two weeks and two days of posts.

That’s insane. And yet here we are. Two weeks in a row wouldn’t have been enough, and any more than that and I get so backed up on other stuff that whatever stress I undercut by covering a huge swath in the QR is replaced by being so behind on everything that isn’t said QR. Does that make sense at all? No? Well fine then. Shit.

Quarterly Review #51-60:

Ecstatic Vision, Live at Duna Jam

This is a good thing for everyone. Here’s why: For the band? Easy. They get a new thing to sell at the merch table on their upcoming European tour. Win. For the label? Obviously the cash from whatever they sell, plus the chance to showcase one of their acts tearing it up on European soil. “Check out how awesome this shit is plus we’re behind it.” Always good for branding. For fans of the band, well, you already know you need it. I don’t have to tell you that. But Ecstatic Vision‘s Live at Duna Jam — as a greater benefit to the universe around it — runs deeper than that. It’s an example to follow. You wanna see, wanna hear how it’s done? This is how it’s done, kids. You get up on that stage, step out on that beach, and you throw everything you have into your art, every fucking time. This is who Ecstatic Vision are. They’re the band who blow minds like the trees in the old videos of A-bomb tests. They’ve got six songs here, a clean 38-minute live LP, and for the betterment of existence in general, you can absolutely hear in it the ferocity with which Ecstatic Vision deliver live. The fact that it’s from Duna Jam — the ultimate Eurofest daydream — is neat, but so help me gawd they could’ve recorded it in a Philly basement and they’d still be this visceral. That’s who they are. And if we, as listeners, are lucky, others will hear this and follow their example.

Ecstatic Vision on Facebook

Heavy Psych Sounds website

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Usnea, Bathed in Light

Oppressive in atmosphere regardless of volume but with plenty of volume to go around, Portland all-doomers Usnea return after six years with their third full-length, Bathed in Light, a grueling and ultimately triumph-of-death-ant work spanning six songs and 43 minutes of unremitting drear positioned in the newer-school vein of emotionally resonant extreme death-doom. Plodding until it isn’t, wrenching in its screams until it isn’t, the album blossoms cruelties blackened and crushing and makes the chanting in “Premeditatio Malorum” not at all out of place just the same, the slow-churning metal unrelentingly brutal as it shifts into caustic noise in that penultimate track — just one example among the many scattered throughout of the four-piece turning wretched sounds into consuming landscapes. The earlier guitar squeals on “The Compleated Sage” would be out of place if not for the throatripping and blastbeating happening immediately prior, and whether it’s the synth at the outset and the soaring guitar at the end of “To the Deathless” or the Bell Witchian ambient start to closer “Uncanny Valley” — the riff, almost stoner — before it bursts to violence at three minutes into its 8:27 on the way to a duly massive, guttural finish for the record, Usnea mine cohesion from contradictions and are apparently unscathed by the ringer through which they put their audience. Sometimes nothing but the most miserable will do.

Usnea on Facebook

Translation Loss Records store

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Oceanlord, Kingdom Cold

The more one listens to Kingdom Cold, the impressive Magnetic Eye Records debut LP from Melbourne, Australia’s Oceanlord, the more there is to hear. The subtle Patrick Walker-style edge in the vocals of “Kingdom” and the penultimate roller “So Cold,” the Elephant Tree-style nod riff in “2340,” the way the bass underscores the ambient guitar and layered melodies in “Siren,” the someone-in-this-band-listens-to-extreme-metal flashes in the guitar as “Isle of the Dead” heads into its midsection, and the way the shift into and through psychedelia seems so organic on closer “Come Home,” the three-piece seeming just to reach out further from where they’ve been standing all the while for the sake of adding even more breadth to the proceedings. If the Magnetic Eye endorsement didn’t already put you over the edge, I hope this will, because what Oceanlord seem to be doing — and what they did on their 2020 demo (review here), where “Isle of the Dead” and “Come Home” appeared — is to work from a foundation in doom and slow-heavy microgenres and pick the elements that most resonate with them as the basis for their songs. They bring them into their own context, which is not something everyone does on their fifth record, let alone their first. So if it’s hearing the potential that gets you on board, fine, but the important thing is you should just get on board. They’re onto something, and part of what I like about Kingdom Cold is I’m not sure what.

Oceanlord on Facebook

Magnetic Eye Records store

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Morass of Molasses, End All We Know

Thoroughly fuzzed and ready to rock, Reading, UK, three-piece Morass of Molasses follow 2019’s The Ties That Bind (review here) with their third album and Ripple Music label debut, End All We Know, breaking eight songs into two fascinatingly-close-to-even sides running a total of 37 minutes of brash swing and stomp as baritone guitarist/vocalist Bones Huse, bassist Phil Williams and drummer Raj Puni embrace more progressive constructions for their familiar and welcome tonal richness. With Huse‘s vocals settling into a Nick Oliveri-style bark on opener “The Origin of North” and the likes of “Hellfayre” and “Naysayer” on side A, the pattern seems to be set, but the key is third track “Sinkhole,” which prefaces some of the changes the four cuts on side B bring about, trading burl and brash for more dug in arrangements, psychedelic flourish on “Slingshot Around the Sun” and “Terra Nova” — they’re still grounded structurally, but the melodic reach expands significantly and the guitar twists in “Terra Nova” feel specifically heavy psych-derived — before “Prima Materia” combines those hazy colours with prog-rock insistences and “Wings of Reverie” meets metallic soloing with Elder-style expanse. Not a record they could’ve made five years ago, End All We Know comes through as a moment of realization for Morass of Molasses, and their delivery does justice to the ambition behind it.

Morass of Molasses on Facebook

Ripple Music website

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Fuzzy Grapes, Volume 1

Real headfucker, this one. And I’ll admit, the temptation to leave the review at that is significant, since so much of the intent behind Fuzzy Grapes‘ Volume 1 seems to be a headfirst dive into the deepweird, but the samples, effects, of course fuzz and gong-and-chant-laced brazenness with which the Flagstaff, Arizona, unit set out on “Sludge Fang,” the Mikael Åkerfeldtian growls in “Snake Dagger” and the art-surf poetry reading in “Dust of Three Strings” that becomes a future cavern of synth and noise before the “Interlude” of birdsong and meditative noodling mark a procession too individual to be ignored. Three songs, break, three songs, break goes the structure of the 25-minute debut offering from the five-piece outfit, and by the time “The Cosmic Throne” begins its pastoral progadelic “ahh”s and dreamy ride cymbal jazz, one should be well content to have no idea what’s coming next. Once upon a time elsewhere in the Southwest, there was a collective of kitchen-sink heavy punkers named Leeches of Lore, and Fuzzy Grapes tap some similar adventurousness of spirit, but rarely is a band so much their own thing their first time out. “Made of Solstice” harsh-barks to offset its indie-grunge verse, fleshing out the bassy roll with effects or keys from the chorus onward, jamming like Blind Melon just ran into Amon Amarth getting gas at the Circle K. “Goatcult” ties together some of it with the harsh/chant vocal blend and a cymbal-led push, finishing with the line “Every day the world is ending” before the epilogue “Outro” plays like a vintage 78RPM record singing something about when you’re dead. Don’t expect to understand it the first time though, or maybe the first eight, but know that it’s worth pursuing and meeting the band on their level. I want to hear what they do next and how/if their approach might solidify.

Fuzzy Grapes on Facebook

Fuzzy Grapes on Bandcamp

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Iress, Solace EP

Conveying genuine emotionality and reach in the vocals of Michelle Malley, the four-track Solace EP from L.A.’s Iress turns its humble 16 minutes into an expressive soundscape of what the kids these days seem to call doomgaze, with post-rock float in the guitar of Graham Walker (who makes his first appearance here) atop the solemn and heavy-bottomed grooves of bassist Michael Maldonado and drummer Glenn Chu for a completeness of experience that’s all the more immersive on headphones in a close-your-eyes kind of listen — that low contemplation of bass after 2:20 into “Soft,” for example, is one of a multitude of details worth appreciating — and though leadoff piece “Blush” begins with a quick rise of feedback and rolls forth with a distinct Jesu-style melancholy, Iress are no less effective or resonant in the sans-drums first two minutes of “Vanish” in accentuating atmosphere before the big crash-in finishes and “Ricochet” offers further dynamic display in its loud/quiet trades, graceful and unhurried in their transitions, the surge of the not-cloying hook densely weighted but not out of place either behind “Vanish” or ahead of “Soft,” even as it’s patience over impact being emphasized as Malley intones “I’m not ready” as a thread through the song. Permit me to disagree with that assessment. The whole band sounds ready, be it for a follow-up album to 2020’s Flaw (which was their second LP) or whatever else may come.

Iress on Facebook

Dune Altar website

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Frogskin, III – Into Disgust

Long-running Finnish troupe Frogskin ooze forth with extremity of purpose even before the harsh-throated declarations of 10-minute opener “Mistress Divine” kick in, and III – Into Disgust maintains the high (or purposefully low, depending on how you want to look at it) standard that initial millstone-slowness sets as “Of Vermin and Man” (8:30) continues the scathe and tension in its unfolding and the somehow-thicker, sample-inclusive centerpiece “Serpent Path” (7:21) highlights violent intention on the way to the shift that brings the atmosphere forward on the two-minute still-a-song “B.B.N.T.B.N.” — the acronym: ‘Bound by nature to be nothing’ — which feels likewise pathological and methodical ahead of closer “The Pyre” (11:46). One might expect in listening that at some point Frogskin will break out at a sprint and start either playing death or black metal, grindcore, etc., but no. They don’t. They don’t give you that. And that’s the point. You don’t get relief or release. There’s no safe energetic payoff waiting. III – Into Disgust is aural quicksand, exclusively. Do not expect mercy because there’s none coming.

Frogskin on Facebook

Iron Corpse store

Violence in the Veins website

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Albinö Rhino, Return to the Core

No strangers to working in longform contexts or casting spacier fare amid their doom-rooted riffery, Helsinki’s Albinö Rhino downplay the latter somewhat on their single-song Return to the Core full-length. Their first 12″ since 2016’s Upholder (review here), the trio of guitarist/vocalist/Moogist Kimmo Tyni, bassist/vocalist VH and drummer Viljami Väre welcome back Scott “Dr. Space” Heller (also of Space Rock Productions, Øresund Space Collective, etc.) for a synthy guest appearance and Mikko Heikinpoika on vocals and Olli Laamanen on keys, and the resultant scope of “Return to the Core” is duly broad, spreading outward from its acoustic-guitar beginning into cosmic doom rock with a thicker riff breaking doors down at 9:30 or so and a jammed-feeling journey into the greater ‘out there’ that ensues. That back and forth plays out a couple times as they manifest the title in the piece itself — the core being perhaps the done-live basic tracks then expanded through overdubs to the final form — but even when the song devolves starting after the solo somewhere around 22 minutes in, they’re mindful as well as hypnotic en route to the utter doom that transpires circa 24:30, and that they finish in a manner that ties together both aspects tells you there’s been a plan at work all along. They execute it with particular refinement and fluidity.

Albinö Rhino on Facebook

Space Rock Productions website

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Cleõphüzz, Mystic Vulture

Self-released posthumous to the defunctification of the Quebecois band itself, Mystic Vulture ends up as a rousing swansong for what could’ve been from Cleõphüzz, hitting a nerve with “Desert Rider”‘s blend of atmosphere and grit, cello adding to the space between bass and guitar before the engrossing gang chants round out. With its 46 minutes broken into the two sides of the vinyl issue it will no doubt eventually receive, the eight-song offering — their debut, by the way — makes vocal points of the extended “Desperado” with its organ (I think?) mixed in amid the classic-style fuzz and “Shutdown in the Afterlife” bringing the strings further to the center in an especially spacious close. But whether it’s there or in the respective intros “The End” and “Sarcophage” or the proggy float of “Sortilège” or the Canadiana instrumental and vocal exploration of the title-track itself, Mystic Vulture flows easily across its material, varied but not so far out as to lose its human underpinning, and is more journey than destination. It’s gotten some hype — I think in part because the band aren’t together anymore; heavy music always wants what it can’t have — but in arrangement as well as songwriting, Cleõphüzz crafted the material here with a clear sense of perspective, and the apparent loss of potential becomes part of hearing the album. Some you win, some you lose. At least they got this out.

Cleõphüzz on Facebook

Cleõphüzz on Bandcamp

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Arriver, Azimuth

Expansive metal. Azimuth is the fourth long-player and first in seven years from Chicago progressive/post-metallers Arriver, who answer melody with destruction and crunch with sprawl. From opener “Reenactor” onward, they follow structural paths that are as likely to meld meditative psych with death metal (looking at you, “Only On”) as they are to combust in charred punker aggro rage on “Constellate” or second track “Knot.” The 10-minute penultimate title-track would seem to represent the crossroads at which these ideas meet — a summary as much as anything could hope to be — but even that isn’t the end of it as “None More Unknown” makes dramatic folkish proclamations before concluding with a purposeful nod. “In the Only” winds lead guitar through what might otherwise be post-hardcore, while “Carrion Sun” duly reeks of death in the desert, the complexity of the drum work alone lending gotta-hear status. Plenty of bands claim to be led by their songs. I won’t say I know how Arriver assembled these pieces to make the entirety of Azimuth, but if the band were to say they sat back and let the record write itself and follow its own impulses, I’d believe them more than most. Bound to alienate as well as engage, it is its own thing in its own place, and commanding in its moments of epiphany.

Arriver on Facebook

Arriver on Bandcamp

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If you work in an office, or you ever have, or you’ve ever spoken to someone who has or does or whatever — which is everybody, is what I’m saying — then you’ll probably have a good idea of why I cringe at saying “happy Friday” as though the end of a workweek’s slog is a holiday even with the next week peering just over the horizon beyond the next 48 hours of not-your-boss time. Nonetheless, we’re at the end of this week, hitting 50 records covered in this Quarterly Review, and while I’ll spend a decent portion of the upcoming weekend working on wrapping it up on Monday and Tuesday, I’m grateful for the ability to breathe a bit in doing that more than I have throughout this week.

I’ll say as much in closing out the week as well, but thanks for reading. As always, I hope you enjoy.

Quarterly Review #41-50:

Black Helium, UM

It’s just too cool for the planet. Earth needs to step up its game if it wants to be able handle what London’s Black Helium are dishing out across their five-song third record, UM, from the sprawl and heavy hippie rock of “Another Heaven” to the utter doom that rises to prominence in that 12-minute-ish cut and the oblivion-bound boogie, blowout, and bonfire that is 15:47 closer “The Keys to Red Skeleton’s House (Open the Door)” on the other end, never mind the u-shaped kosmiche march of “I Saw God,” the shorter, stranger, organ-led centerpiece “Dungeon Head” or the motorik “Summer of Hair” that’s so teeth-grindingly tense by the time it’s done you can feel it in your toes. These are but glimpses of the substance that comprises the 45-minute out-there-out-there-out-there stretch of UM, which by the way is also a party? And you’re invited? I think? Yeah, you can go, but the rest of these fools gotta get right if they want to hang with the likes of “I Saw God,” because Black Helium do it weird for the weirdos and the planet might be round but that duddn’t mean it’s not also square. Good thing Black Helium remembered to bring the launch codes. Fire it up. We’re outta here and off to better, trippier, meltier places. Fortunately they’re able to steer the ship as well as set its controls to the heart of the sun.

Black Helium on Facebook

Riot Season Records store

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Seismic, The Time Machine

A demo recording of a single, 29-minute track that’s slated to appear on Seismic‘s debut full-length based around the works of H.G. Wells sometime later this year — yeah, it’s safe to say there’s a bit of context that goes along with understanding where the Philadelphia instrumentalist trio/live-foursome are coming from on “The Time Machine.” Nonetheless, the reach of the song itself — which moves from its hypnotic beginning at about five minutes in to a solo-topped stretch that then gives over to thud-thud-thud pounding heft before embarking on an adventure 30,000 leagues under the drone, only to rise and riff again, doom. the. fuck. on., and recede to minimalist meditation before resolving in mystique-bent distortion and lumber — is significant, and more than enough to stand on its own considering that in this apparently-demo version, its sound is grippingly full. As to what else might be in store for the above-mentioned LP or when it might land, I have no idea and won’t speculate — I’m just going by what they say about it — but I know enough at this point in my life to understand that when a band comes along and hits you with a half-hour sledgehammering to the frontal cortex as a sign of things to come, it’s going to be worth keeping track of what they do next. If you haven’t heard “The Time Machine” yet, consider this a heads up to their heads up.

Seismic on Facebook

Seismic linktree

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These Beasts, Cares, Wills, Wants

Something of an awaited first long-player from Chicago’s These Beasts, who crush the Sanford Parker-produced Cares, Wills, Wants with modern edge and fluidity moving between heavier rock and sludge metal, the three-piece of guitarist/vocalist Chris Roo, bassist/vocalist Todd Fabian and drummer Keith Anderson scratching a similar itch in intensity and aggression as did L.A. sludgecore pummelers -(16)- late last year, but with their own shimmer in the guitar on “Nervous Fingers,” post-Baroness melody in “Cocaine Footprints,” and tonal heft worthy of Floor on the likes of “Blind Eyes” and the more purely caustic noise rock of “Ten Dollars and Zero Effort.” “Code Name” dizzies at the outset, while “Trap Door” closes and tops out at over seven minutes, perhaps taking its title from the moment when, as it enters its final minute, the bottom drops out and the listener is eaten alive. Beautifully destructive, it’s also somehow what I wish post-hardcore had been in the 2000s, ripping and gnarling on “Southpaw” while still having space among the righteously maddening, Neurot-tribal percussion work to welcome former Pelican guitarist Dallas Thomas for a guest spot. Next wave of artsy Chicago heavy noise? Sign me up. And I don’t know if that’s Roo or Fabian with the harsh scream, but it’s a good one. You can hear the mucus trying to save the throat from itself. Vocal cords, right down the trap door.

These Beasts on Facebook

Magnetic Eye Records store

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Ajeeb, Refractions

Comprised of Cucho Segura on guitar and vocals, Sara Gdm on bass and drummer Rafa Pacheco, Ajeeb are the first band from the Canary Islands to be written about here, and their second album — issued through no fewer than 10 record labels, some of which are linked below — is the 11-song/42-minute Refractions, reminding in heavy fashion that the roots of grunge were in noisy punk all along. There’s some kick behind songs like “Far Enough” and “Mold,” and the later “Stuck for Decades” reminds of grainy festival videos where moshing was just people running into each other — whereas on “Mustard Surfing” someone might get punched in the head — but the listening experience goes deeper the further in you get, with side B offering a more dug-in take with the even-more-grunge “Slow-Vakia” building on “Oh Well” two songs earlier and leading into the low-end shovefest “Stuck for Decades,” which you think is going to let you breathe and then doesn’t, the noisier “Double Somersault” and closer/longest song “Tail Chasing” (5:13) taking the blink-and-it’s-over quiet part in “Amnesia” and building it out over a dynamic finish. The more you listen, the more you’re gonna hear, of course, but on the most basic level, the adaptable nature of their sound results in a markedly individual take. It’s the kind of thing 10 labels might want to release.

Ajeeb on Facebook

Spinda Records website

Clever Eagle Records website

The Ghost is Clear Records website

Violence in the Veins website

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OAK, Disintegrate

One might be tempted to think of Porto-based funeral doomers OAK as a side-project for guitarist/vocalist Guilherme Henriques, bassist Lucas Ferrand and drummer Pedro Soares, the first two of whom play currently and the latter formerly of also-on-Season–of–Mist extreme metallers Gaerea, but that does nothing to take away from the substance of the single-song full-length Disintegrate, which plies its heft in emotionality, ambience and tone alike. Throughout 44 minutes, the three-piece run an album’s worth of a gamut in terms of tempo, volume, ebbs and flows, staying grim all the while but allowing for the existence of beauty in that darkness, no less at some of the most willfully grueling moments. The rise and fall around 20 minutes in, going from double-kick-infused metallurgy to minimal standalone guitar and rebuilding toward death-growl-topped nod some six minutes later, is worth the price of admission alone, but the tortured ending, with flourish either of lead guitar or keys behind the shouted layers before moving into tremolo payoff and the quieter contemplation that post-scripts, shouldn’t be missed either. Like any offering of such extremity, Disintegrate won’t be for everyone, but it makes even the air you breathe feel heavier as it draws you into the melancholic shade it casts.

OAK on Facebook

Season of Mist store

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Ultra Void, Mother of Doom

“Are we cursed?” “Is this living?” “Are we dying?” These are the questions asked after the on-rhythm sampled orgasmic moaning abates on the slow-undulating title-track of Ultra Void‘s Mother of Doom. Billed as an EP, the five-songer skirts the line of full-length consideration at 31 minutes — all the more for its molten flow as punctuated by the programmed drums — and finds the Brooklynite outfit revamped as a solo-project for Jihef Garnero, who moves from that leadoff to let the big riff do most of the talking in the stoned-metal “Sic Mundus Creatus Est” and the raw self-jam of the nine-minute “Måntår,” which holds back its vocals for later and is duly hypnotic for it. Shorter and more rocking, “Squares & Circles” maintains the weirdo vibe just the same, and at just three and a half minutes, “Special K” closes out in similar fashion with perhaps more swing in the rhythm. With those last two songs offsetting the down-the-life-drain spirit of the first three, Mother of Doom seems experimental in its construction — Garnero feeling his way into this new incarnation of the band and perhaps also recording and mixing himself in this context — but the disillusion comes through as organic, and whether we’re living or dying (spoiler: dying), that gives these songs the decisive “ugh” with which they seem to view the world around them.

Ultra Void on Facebook

Ultra Void on Bandcamp

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Aktopasa, Journey to the Pink Planet

Italian trio Aktopasa — also stylized as Akṭōpasa, if you’re in a fancy mood — seem to revel in the breakout moments on their second long-player and Argonauta label debut, Journey to the Pink Planet, as heard in the crescendo nod and boogie, respectively, of post-intro opener “Calima” (10:27) and closer “Foreign Lane” (10:45), the album’s two longest tracks and purposefully-placed bookends around the other songs. Elsewhere, the Venice-based almost-entirely-instrumentalists drift early in “It’s Not the Reason” — which actually features the record’s only vocals near its own end, contributed by Mattia Filippetto — and tick boxes around the tenets of heavy psychedelic microgenre, from the post-Colour Haze floating intimacy at the start of “Agarthi” to the fuzzy and fluid jam that branches out from it and the subsequent “Sirdarja” with its tabla and either sitar or guitar-as-sitar outset and warm-toned, semi-improv-sounding jazzier conclusion. From “Alif” (the intro) into “Calima” and “Lunar Eclipse,” the intent is to hypnotize and carry the listener through, and Aktopasa do so effectively, giving the chemistry between guitarist Lorenzo Barutta, bassist Silvio Tozzato and drummer Marco Sebastiano Alessi a suitably natural showcase and finding peace in the process, at least sonically-speaking, that’s then fleshed out over the remainder. A record to breathe with.

Aktopasa on Facebook

Argonauta Records store

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Troll Teeth, Underground Vol. 1

There’s heavy metal somewhere factored into the sound of Philadelphia’s Troll Teeth, but where it resides changes. The band — who here work as a four-piece for the first time — unveil their Underground Vol. 1 EP with four songs, and each one has a different take. In “Cher Ami,” the question is what would’ve happened if Queens of the Stone Age were in the NWOBHM. In “Expired,” it’s whether or not the howling of the two guitars will actually melt the chug that offsets it. It doesn’t, but it comes close to overwhelming in the process. On “Broken Toy” it’s can something be desert rock because of the drums alone, and in the six-minute closer “Garden of Pillars” it’s Alice in Chains with a (more) doomly reimagining and greater melodic reach in vocals as compared to the other three songs, but filled out with a metallic shred that I guess is a luxury of having two guitars on a record when you haven’t done so before. Blink and you’ll miss its 17-minute runtime, but Troll Teeth have four LPs out through Electric Talon, including 2022’s Hanged, Drawn, & Quartered, so there’s plenty more to dig into should you be so inclined. Still, if the idea behind Underground Vol. 1 was to scope out whether the band works as constructed here, the concept is proven. Yes, it works. Now go write more songs.

Troll Teeth on Facebook

Electric Talon Records store

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Finis Hominis, Sordidum Est

Lead track “Jukai” hasn’t exploded yet before Finis Hominis‘ Sordidum Est EP has unveiled the caustic nature of its bite in scathing feedback, and what ensues from there gives little letup in the oppressive, extreme sludge brutality, which makes even the minute-long “Cavum Nigrum” sample-topped drone interlude claustrophobic, never mind the assault that takes place — fast first, then slow, then crying, then slow, then dead — on nine-minute capper “Lorem Ipsum.” The bass hum that begins centerpiece “Improportionatus” is a thread throughout that 7:58 piece, the foundation on which the rest of the song resides, the indecipherable-even-if-they-were-in-English growls and throat-tearing shouts perfectly suited to the heft of the nastiness surrounding. “Jukai” has some swing in the middle but hearing it is still like trying to inhale concrete, and “Sinne Floribus” is even meaner and rawer, the Brazilian trio resolving in a devastating and noise-caked, visceral regardless of pace or crash, united in its alienated feel and aural punishment. And it’s their first EP! Jesus. Unless they’re actually as unhinged as they at times sound — possible, but difficult — I wouldn’t at all expect it to be their last. A band like this doesn’t happen unless the people behind it feel like it needs to, and most likely it does.

Finis Hominis on Facebook

Abraxas Produtora on Instagram

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Space Shepherds, Losing Time Finding Space

With its title maybe referring to the communion among players and the music they’re making in the moment of its own heavy psych jams, Losing Time Finding Space is the second studio full-length from Belfast instrumentalist unit Space Shepherds. The improvised-sounding troupe seem to have a lineup no less fluid than the material they unfurl, but the keyboard in “Ending the Beginning (Pt. 1)” gives a cinematic ambience to the midsection, and the fact that they even included an intro and interlude — both under two minutes long — next to tracks the shortest of which is 12:57 shows a sense of humor and personality to go along with all that out-there cosmic exploratory seeking. Together comprising a title-track, “Losing Time…” (17:34) and “…Finding Space” (13:27) are unsurprisingly an album unto themselves, and being split like “Ending the Beginning” speaks perhaps of a 2LP edition to come, or at very least is emblematic of the mindset with which they’re approaching their work. That is to say, as they move forward with these kinds of mellow-lysergic jams, they’re not unmindful either of the listener’s involvement in the experience or the prospect of realizing them in the physical as well as digital realms. For now, an hour’s worth of longform psychedelic immersion will do nicely, thank you very much.

Space Shepherds on Facebook

Space Shepherds on Bandcamp

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Having been lucky enough to see these cats play in 2019 (review here) and to dig into their till-now latest offering, that same year’s Sanctum EP (review here), I’m ready to stand on the precipice of their next record and declare them underrated. The melody and tonal depth of the new track “Divinity” bodes well for what’s to come when the Chicago four-piece issue their Invocation full-length, their approach solidified in terms of craft with a hefty push behind it while hitting harder here as well.

As to the reasons they might be underrated, well, history shows EPs consistently get less attention, and their moniker is generic to a point of being almost too easy to pass by — I would like to see them tour with L.A.’s High Priestess on some kind of non-lucid-clergy-themed excursion — and given the glut of heavy everything out right now, that’s probably enough. Market saturation and all that.

But if there’s one takeaway you get from this post, let it be not to sleep on them either because of your own burnout with all that is vaguely stoner, or at very least to check out the “Divinity” video below, which will neither take much of your busy day nor likely be a thing you’ll regret later. Info came from the PR wire:

HIGH PRIEST unleash video single ‘Divinity’ taken from the forthcoming new album “Invocation”

Preorder link:
http://lnk.spkr.media/highpriest-invocation

Chicago stoner doom aficionados HIGH PRIEST have released the psychedelic video ‘Divinity’ as the first single taken from their forthcoming debut album “Invocation”. The full-length is scheduled for release on June 23, 2023. Please find all album details below.

High Priest comment on the album: “This record was a long long time coming”, guitarist John Regan writes about “Invocation”. “On top of the craziness in the world the last two years, we experienced a lot of changes as a band: PHDs, new businesses, new homes, new cities. Despite all that, we brought all our energy into an album that feels like the best and most complete work we’ve ever done. ‘Invocation’ feels like catharsis inside chaos.”

John Regan discusses the lead single ‘Divinity’: “We had eight songs written and decided to do one more push to see what we could come up with”, the guitarist states. “I started playing some iPhone riff demos and when Dan heard ‘Divinity’, he said, ‘that one is a banger’. We started working with it and the full song pretty much came together in one day. It’s probably the most energetic song on the record, and we feel like it gives every piece a moment in the sun: huge drum fills, harmonized guitar solos, and a vocal hook. It’s the kind of song that makes you want to get in your car and drive down an open road, only your car is a spaceship and the road is the galaxy.”

Tracklist
1. Invocation
2. Divinity
3. Ceremony
4. Cosmic Key’
5. Down in the Dark
6. Universe
7. Conjure
8. Heaven

Release date: June 23, 2023

Recording & mixing by Pete Grossmann at Bricktop Recording, Chicago, USA

Artwork by John Regan

Available formats
“Invocation” is available as a translucent green vinyl LP, on translucent lime and green marble vinyl, and on orange vinyl, and as Digisleeve CD.

Line-up
Pete Grossmann – guitar
Justin Valentino – vocals, bass
Dan Polak – drums
John Regan – guitar

https://www.facebook.com/highpriestchicago
https://www.instagram.com/highpriestdoom
https://highpriestchicago.bandcamp.com/

http://store.merhq.com
http://magneticeyerecords.com/
https://www.facebook.com/MagneticEyeRecords

High Priest, “Divinity” official video

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: REZN

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How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?

Whatever we’re doing is just a culmination of all of our musical tastes and creative energies. We love the atmosphere of cinematic and psychedelic music, but we wanted to add more of an edge to it. At the beginning, it was just Rob and Phil jamming together with the intention of making a blend of heavy and cosmic music. When Patrick and Spencer were brought into the mix, our combined writing styles and personal musical goals gave REZN a backbone that was stronger than all of us could’ve imagined. It’s very much based around an organic friendship that glues us all together.

Describe your first musical memory.

We all grew up digging through our parent’s record collection and their music taste, which was mainly just a mix of classic rock and country music. It seems like the one common thread we all shared was listening to Pink Floyd from a very early age. Who would’ve thought?

Describe your best musical memory to date.

This is impossible to answer, but playing our ‘Live at Ohmstead” collaboration record with Lume live on stage at The Empty Bottle was up there as our favorite. Simultaneously, there were two drummers, two guitar players, two bassists, two vocalists, and the sax and synth just swirling everything into a sonic milkshake. Transforming simple melodies into colossal walls of sound with the people that we love was unforgettable, not to mention the feeling of playing it live. The Bottle was the perfect finale to that tour we did with Lume, and the energy in the room that night was very, very good. Here’s a video taken by our good friend Austin that gives you a glimpse into that performance: https://youtu.be/0qT00rnLGZ4

When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?

We come in conflict with our own independence quite a lot, mainly because we’re a small team and have very limited outside help as a band. Although that comes with its own set of challenges, it has allowed us to act and change whenever and however we want. As with other bands, our biggest challenge was getting through the pandemic with our sanity and ambition intact. We still managed to release a record during that time, and although we weren’t able to tour it like we would have wanted, we realized that our independence is what fulfills us as musicians. So even when the responsibilities and band tasks can become overwhelming between the four of us, we can appreciate those moments because they’re founded on an independence that has allowed us to grow in our own direction as a band and as people.

Where do you feel artistic progression leads?

We don’t necessarily think artistic progression is a linear process. We believe our music grows with our own life paths. That includes our influences and what we continue to learn in regard to writing, our style, and what is going on in our lives while we are creating new art. One major tenant of ours is to try to not make the same record twice, so we always focus our efforts to reshape and reinvent how we make music as REZN.

How do you define success?

In the context of our band, we would love to keep being able to write music we are proud of and perform it in front of the world. As long as we can continue to do that, we would consider ourselves successful.

What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?

We wish we never saw the black mold on that guy’s carpet floor we slept on after a show one time. We also wish we never saw the uncensored cover of The Origin of the Feces… so we could see it for the first time all over again.

Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.

We would love to make a dark ambient noise record. It’s something we are all interested in, and it would be fun to see where our vision for it leads us. We would also like to help create a space in the music scene where heavy music can continue to be fused and transformed by other genres and sounds. If someone can hear our hybrid blend of “psychedelic doom” and take it further, then we know we’ve done something meaningful.

What do you believe is the most essential function of art?

We believe it’s a connection between the creator and the observer. It’s a force that gathers, motivates, inspires, and provides pure enjoyment of life.

Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?

Disc golfing season. Everyone except Patrick loves it. Also excited to experience Chicago while Lori Lightfoot is no longer mayor. Lastly, we’re looking forward to camping and relaxing outdoors as much as possible once we’re done touring.

facebook.com/reznhits
instagram.com/rezzzn
rezzzn.bandcamp.com

Rezn, Solace (2023)

[Click play above to stream REZN’s Solace in its entirety. Album is tomorrow, March 8. US tour dates here.]

Serenity in and through heft, exploration of space and a space, creation of a parabolic world movement, and a bit of The Tempest to keep things classy; the fourth album from Chicago’s REZN, not coincidentally titled Solace, is revelatory as regards the band’s blend of cosmic doom, experimentalist ambience, drone and that-which-is-riffed-big. It is their most accomplished offering to-date. Though they’ve done between-LP releases before, collaborations, live records, etc. — and they’ll have more to come in a full-length PostWax collab with Mexico City instrumentalists Vinnum Sabbathi sometime later this year — it’s been three years since the four-piece of guitarist/vocalist Rob McWilliams, bassist Phil Cangelosi (also rainstick), drummer Patrick Dunn and synthesist, flutist, pianist and saxophonist Spencer Ouellette (aka Catechism) — who shines throughout Solace in ‘secret weapon’ style whether it’s the flourish of synth after a minute into “Possession” or the sax in the penultimate “Faded and Fleeting” — offered their sprawling, hour-plus-long third full-length, Chaotic Divine (review here), and while the comparatively tidy six-track/40-minute Solace doesn’t spread itself across two 12″ platters the same way, its consuming tonality, patient but methodical execution and overarching music-as-narrative procession are both more pointed and more engrossing.

Recorded and mixed in 2021 by Matt Russell, who mixed Chaotic Divine, with an abiding lushness of tone and psychedelic, headphone-filling fullness, mastered by Zach Weeks and topped off with cover art by rightly-revered Oregonian painter Adam Burke, the album plays out across three discernible stages that run through and between the songs themselves, and quickly benefits from perhaps the most crucial decision REZN made in its construction, which is to open instrumental. “Allured by Feverish Visions” is by no means the longest cut on the album — four of the six tracks are between seven-and-a-half and eight minutes long, including the leadoff — but its transcendental sensibility is pivotal to setting the mood and atmosphere for everything that follows.

It is the point from which the band branch out, unfolding gradually with gentle ride cymbal taps, ethereal wisps of flute, solidified bass underneath prefacing the roll to come, and standout shimmers of guitar, likewise soothing and hypnotic. In addition to beginning Solace as a whole, it marks the start of the first of the three stages, chapters, parts, movements, etc., of the record as a whole, growing heavier as it nears five minutes with deeper distortion and feedback, calling to mind the drone-heavy triumph of Mühr (who roundabout begat Temple Fang and is not a comparison I make lightly) a decade ago.

This relatively peaceful, gorgeous, molten and meditative beginning continues as the guitar and synth ring out on a fade into silence ahead of the more active beginning of “Possession,” more immediate in the kick drum and bassline, guitar soon joining. McWilliams‘ first vocals arrive shortly after, echoing, gently melodic, unforced and soulful as they shift from channel to channel with each line, and the temperament of “Allured by Feverish Visions” is maintained, and that’s the key.

In some ways, Solace feels less about the individual splits between songs — though pieces like “Stasis,” “Possession” “Reversal,” and even the spoken word-inclusive closer “Webbed Roots” have their standalone impressions as well — than the whole-album spirit that seems to have been so purposefully harnessed and toward the emphasis of which those individual songs seem placed. As “Possession” unfolds and builds, the second verse becomes more of a call and response and they sound like they’re still moving slow but they’re not, and when they let go, that’s the beginning of the next stage. There’s a break four minutes into “Possession.” The drums cut short, Dunn‘s hand muting the cymbal, some residual guitar is maintained for ambience, and when they sweep in at 4:16 with the heaviest riff they’ve yet brought, that’s the start of Solace‘s second phase.

Had REZN been writing strictly for bombast, chances are they would’ve called the record something else, but Solace at its heaviest — which is in this second movement across the middle of the record starting in the latter part of “Possession” and moving through “Reversal” and until about 5:30 into “Stasis” — wants neither for crunch, as the bass chugging in the march of “Possession” demonstrates before crashing into the amp hum and feedback from whence the ready-to-go lurch of “Reversal” picks up, nor mass, as said lurch offers in plenty. With synth again peppering and enriching the totality, the initial roll breaks to make way for the first verse, McWilliams again turning an otherwise inconspicuous moment into a soft-touch highlight à la Sean Lennon, but will return as the low-end volume surge after three minutes takes hold, this time met by the vocals (in at least two layers) in a kind of chorus preceding a spread-out guitar solo and whale-song synth/effects that leads the way back to the quieter verse.

But the tension is there where it hadn’t been until “Possession” established it, and through a willfully meandering stretch of echoing almost Morricone-style guitar, through the subsequent verse, stop and final plucks, it’s still there in the drums, waiting for payoff not in itself but to come with the rolling “Stasis,” which follows. I’ll put this in bold because it’s important: This interaction is what it’s all about. It’s not just the songs; it’s the way the material converses with itself, the way the songs interact and complement each other. On the vinyl, “Stasis” is the start of side B, but even as they capitulate to the needs of format, REZN maintain the linear trajectory begun with “Allured by Feverish Visions,” which “Stasis” brings to its most outwardly intense point.

One might liken its celebration of nod to Monolord, but “Stasis” is consistent atmospherically and speaks to Ufomammut‘s Eve in its larger-than-some-of-parts aspect. More forward vocally and swirling its heaviness as it goes, “Stasis” is a slow careen until nearly four minutes into its total 7:40, when it moves to a stretch of calmer guitar and verse that begins “Feels like I’ve been here before…,” and fairly enough so, but it’s something of a misdirect since at 4:54 the full brunt of the distortion lands punctuated by the thud of the drums, and all else seems to stop. It is the darkest moment of Solace and the topmost point of its whole-album parabolic sequence, with a light guitar strum and bright-shine of keyboard announcing the arrival at the third stage, which begins with the comparatively minimalist ambient guitar-and-keys-together-into-drone-oblivion end of “Stasis” and into and through the penultimate “Faded and Fleeting,” also the shortest single piece here at 3:32, and beyond, to “Webbed Roots” at the finish.

But just as “Allured by Feverish Visions” was more substantial than an intro, so too is “Faded and Fleeting” more than an interlude. For the moment at about 1:40 alone with McWilliams‘ voice and Ouellette‘s sax transition from one to the other on the same note alone, it is a high point of REZN‘s career to-date, and its mellow-heavy acid flow, feeling all the more there and gone for its relatively brief runtime, encapsulates the fluidity of Solace‘s entire articulation.

This third and final-with-an-asterisk movement of Solace concludes as “Webbed Roots” begins with a foreboding current of distorted drone beneath the floating figure of guitar, the drums pushing along and the bass tense. Over the first three-plus minutes, “Webbed Roots” follows a linear build, and gives it due crescendo with the synth-topped heft of the riff that emerges, but the feedback gives way to otherworldly drone and the drums announce the redirect about to take place with a quick fill, so that when Marie Davidson begins the recitation of Prospero’s monologue/soliloquy from Act V of The Tempest — “we are such stuff as dreams are made on,” etc. — and McWilliams returns for a last verse leading to a final heavy surge, the sense of arrival is palpable.

They’re at the end and REZN unrepentantly give the occasion its due, following an ascending heavy nodder progression to a logical peak and then stopping, leaving just an epilogue of standalone guitar to mirror “Allured by Feverish Visions” as the final element to depart.

In part because of that last stretch of guitar, “Webbed Roots” most makes sense in thee context of Solace as a whole, but that’s precisely the point. I don’t know when it was composed in relation to the rest of the album — the band has said that “Reversal” was one of the earliest written, so perhaps they worked from the middle out in terms of the movements across the span — but its intent as closer is as much to cap as to summarize the depth of what’s come before, and the incorporation or Shakespeare near the end feels as much like an underscoring of the record’s play-in-three-acts structure (despite the fact that The Tempest had five; similar shape, different application) as a suitable conclusion for this particular midwinter night’s dream.

It is further evidence to support Solace as intended to be taken in full, and invariably positions REZN among the US’ most resonant purveyors heavy psychedelia. In every turn and contemplation, it is ‘next level’ craft, concept and performance — no minor achievement, considering their first three long-players — and offers a progressive stylistic path forward that others hopefully will follow, using heft and repetition and scope and melody as tools toward the greater purpose of its expression, rewarding those who take it on through the internalization of its magnitude and the comfort complete panorama.

Solace wants to become a part of you. Let it.

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REZN on Bandcamp

It’s been over 10 years since Chicago’s Yakuza released Beyul (review here), and though the experimental troupe led by saxophonist/vocalist Bruce Lamont have done fest appearances and so on since then, if they were ever going to do another record, it’s probably time.

So, business: Svart is putting out Sutra on May 19. Preorders are up. There you go.

The news isn’t entirely unexpected if you follow them on social media — they dropped a  teaser of the new single “Alice” last week and announced the announcement, as one will — and I haven’t even had the chance to really dive into the song yet this morning — a first run through bears out the twisted metal and ambient consumption one would hope for — but my expectation of Sutra is for scope and for the band to continue to be the challenge to genre confines that they’ve always been, born out of Chicago post-metal but with on-their-own-wavelength as a defining factor. To date, their records have always been a heady experience, and have both demanded and warranted attention more than most acts, which has made them likewise revered critically and undervalued in terms of general listenership. And as per a recent discussion here in comments, some folks just don’t like sax in their rock and roll, for whatever reason. These things can’t be helped sometimes.

Looking forward to hearing more here and doing my damnedest to keep up with Yakuza once again when it comes time for a review. For now, this from the PR wire:

The Chicago based heavy hybridizers YAKUZA announce new album “Sutra”

Pre-order the album HERE: https://www.svartrecords.com/en/product/yakuza-sutra/11163

Svart Records unveils “Sutra”, the new album from grand master avant-garde overlords Yakuza. An genre crushing album of forward thinking metal for the modern age, “Sutra” is a powerhouse of unlimited expression and molten riffs. Formed in 1999, Chicago based heavy hybridizers Yakuza, are in a genre all of their own, which Pitchfork describe as a “a specialized and strange alloy”. So eclectic and hard to pigeon-hole, their music has been described over the years as everything from avant-garde metal, progressive metal, alternative metal to experimental rock, jazz metal, art metal and post-metal. Incorporating psychedelic rock jams that sprawl into heavy, sludging Doom with jazz influences, while also incorporating breakneck grind riffs and grooves, makes Yakuza’s new album “Sutra” a long awaited and insanely enjoyable feast of frequencies.

From their break-out debut album “Amount to Nothing” in 2000, which was met with critical acclaim, Yakuza have been a phenomenon in the world of heavy music, hot on the tongues of those who know. Their second album “Way of the Dead” in 2002 landed Yakuza a deal with Century Media and worldwide notoriety, securing them live slots with like-minded progressive heavyweights like Candira, Opeth, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Lacuna Coil and Mastodon. Several albums of top tier eccentric metal followed with “Samsara” in 2006 which was recorded by Matt Bayles (Isis, Botch, Pearl Jam) and featured Sanford Parker, and Mastodon’s Troy Sanders, the jazzier and spaced-out “Transmutations” in 2007, and “Of Seismic Consequence” in 2010 and “Beyul” in 2012 respectively released on cult underground label Profound Lore.

With a diamond back-catalogue of flawless genre breaking metal, having no stylistic constraints, Yakuza are maestros of highly creative, extreme music, ever ahead of the game. Over 10 years after their last release, Yakuza have returned with “Sutra” losing none of their expansive and wildly artistic approach to pushing the boundaries of heavy music. “Sutra” leans in on redefining the limits of heavy and eclectic metal, with songs like “Echoes From The Sky’s” epic sung vocals and zig zagging slabs of juggernaut riffing, all sewn together with Voivod chords and King Crimson structures, never coming apart but embracing the delightfully chaotic. New songs like “Alice” with its surge like quality, never heard before in Yakuza’s music, and “Psychic Malaise” with an exciting new vocal approach, drive through a feeling of a band not only in their prime but with many new sides of their sound story to express.

Like John Coltrane jamming with Napalm Death, Bruce Lamont (saxophone, vocals) has discussed an appreciation for Pink Floyd, Huun Huur Tu, Peter Brötzmann, Battles, Enslaved, Brighter Death Now, George Orwell, Ethiopian music, and Blut Aus Nord, perfectly picking up on the multifaceted angles that Yukuza exhibits. Standing in a world utterly of their own making, Yakuza’s unique mind-melting post-rock has never felt more ripe and fitting for the current state of the planet. Singer Bruce Lamont opts for letting Yakuza’s music do the magic, explaining that “Experience is subjective, and we hope each listener can come away with their own interpretation. We hope you go into this listening experience with an open mind and heart”. If ever there was a metal album where approaching with an open mind will reap rich rewards, then Yakuza’s “Sutra” is it. A thinking person’s extreme and inventive metal band, check out first single * to have your expectations and understanding of heavy music turned upside down and inside out.

“Sutra” will be out on Svart Records on May 19th 2023.

1. 2Is1
2. Alice
3. Echoes from the Sky
4. Capricorn Rising
5. Embers
6. Burn Before Reading
7. Walking God
8. Into Forever
9. Psychic Malaise
10. Never The Less

Yakuza is:
James Staffel-Drums and percussion
Matt McClelland -guitar/ backing vocals
Jerome Marshall- bass
Bruce Lamont- vocals and saxophone

http://www.yakuzadojo.com
https://www.facebook.com/yakuzadojo666
http://www.instagram.com/yakuzadojo
https://yazkua.bandcamp.com/

www.svartrecords.com
www.facebook.com/svartrecords
www.youtube.com/svartrecords

Yakuza, “Alice”

Split up into two runs, REZN’s newly announced US tour is still pretty extensive. On March 8, they release their new album, Solace, which, if you’re not hyped for it, I’ll tell you flat out you should be. It’s not the kind of record every band gets to make.

The Chicagoan troupe start in May, break in June, pick up in July. I wonder if they’ll go back to Europe for the Fall — I was lucky enough to be at last year’s Høstsabbat (review here) when they played, but I’m pretty sure that was the only stop of their trip — as that would certainly be a next logical step, considering this is their second US stint of the last year.

I’m considering REZN in a different league of bands, I guess is what I’m saying. So there’s that. I can’t wait to dive into this one for a review.

From the PR wire:

REZN: Chicago Heavy Psych Outfit Announces Solace North American Tour; New LP To See Release Next Month

Chicago-based ethereal heavy psych outfit REZN today announces their Solace North American Tour. Set to commence on May 20th and run through July 22nd, the tour will feature special guests Oryx and Grivo on select dates throughout the full US and Canada journey.

The tour comes in support of REZN’s upcoming new full-length, Solace, set for release March 8th. Their fourth studio offering and follow-up to the critically lauded Chaotic Divine finds REZN once again blurring the boundaries of their psych and doom labels. Solace was recorded in July of 2021 at Earth Analog in Tolono, Illinois, engineered, mixed, produced, and reduced by Matt Russell, and mastered by Zach Weeks at God City Studio in Salem, Massachusetts. The album art and tour poster features work by the prolific painter Adam Burke/Nightjar Illustration.

Tickets for all shows can be found at REZN’s website HERE or the REZN Bandcamp page HERE where first Solace single, “Possession,” can be streamed.

REZN – Solace North American Tour 2023:
5/20/2023 Lincoln Hall – Chicago, IL
5/25/2023 Black Circle – Indianapolis, IN **
5/26/2023 Portal – Louisville, KY **
5/27/2023 Sabbath Brewing – Atlanta, GA **
5/28/2023 The Pour House – Raleigh, NC **
5/29/2023 The Camel – Richmond, VA **
5/30/2023 Pie Shop – Washington, DC **
5/31/2023 Silk City – Philadelphia, PA **
6/01/2023 The Broadway – Brooklyn, NY **
6/02/2023 O’Brien’s – Boston, MA **
6/03/2023 Turbo Haus – Montreal, QC **
6/04/2023 The Garrison – Toronto, ON **
6/05/2023 Bug Jar – Rochester, NY **
6/07/2023 Spacebar – Columbus, OH **
6/08/2023 Sanctuary – Detroit, MI **
6/09/2023 Pyramid Scheme – Grand Rapids, MI **
6/10/2023 Cactus Club – Milwaukee, WI **
7/05/2023 7th St Entry – Minneapolis, MN ^
7/07/2023 Hi-Dive – Denver, CO ** ^
7/08/2023 Aces High Saloon – Salt Lake City, UT ^
7/09/2023 The Shredder – Boise, ID ^
7/11/2023 Substation – Seattle, WA ^
7/12/2023 High Water Mark – Portland, OR ^
7/13/2023 John Henry’s – Eugene, OR ^
7/14/2023 Eli’s Mile High Club – Oakland, CA ^
7/15/2023 Permanent Records Roadhouse – Los Angeles, CA ^
7/16/2023 Yucca Tap Room – Tempe, AZ ^
7/17/2023 Sister Bar – Albuquerque, NM ^
7/19/2023 Mohawk – Austin, TX ^
7/20/2023 Club Dada – Dallas, TX ^
7/21/2023 Gasa Gasa – New Orleans, LA ^
7/22/2023 Drkmttr – Nashville, TN ^
** w/ Oryx
^ Grivo

REZN are:
Rob McWilliams: Guitar + Vocals
Phil Cangelosi: Bass + Rainstick
Patrick Dunn: Drums + Percussion
Spencer Ouellette: Sax + Synth + Piano + Flute

facebook.com/reznhits
instagram.com/rezzzn
rezzzn.bandcamp.com

Rezn, Solace (2023)