Posted in Whathaveyou on April 25th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
Okay, here’s what I know. Telekinetic Yeti were the shit circa the 2017 release of their debut album, Abominable (featured here). Dudes were losing their minds, like “RIFFS AAARRRGGH GOD THE RIFFS ARE SO GOOD!” on and on. Hyperbole enough to drown in. And fair enough. The Iowan two-piece delivered high-energy fuzz in brash style, hitting into an early mastery of their style and a penchant for memorable craft. Plus they toured. And had big beards.
Then drama happened. Now Telekinetic Yeti is one band and Twin Wizard is another. We got two good bands out of one. I don’t know what the deal was — it seemed ugly, as some do — but at the end of the day, the new Telekinetic Yeti song is heavier than those boxes of books you (I) had to carry yesterday and as far as I’m concerned if a band has to split, getting two bands out of the deal and having both be cool is the best case. Primordial, the second Telekinetic Yeti LP and first with the lineup of guitarist/vocalist Alex Baumann and drummer Rockwel Heim, will be released July 8 through the venerable Tee Pee Records. The band will tour their way to and through Desertfest New York next month, and there you have it.
Oh wait. Here you have it. Sorry:
TELEKINETIC YETI RELEASE PRIMORDIAL ON JULY 8 VIA TEE PEE RECORDS
Telekinetic Yeti, the Iowa-based duo of Alex Baumann (guitar/vocals) and Rockwel Heim (drums) whose self-released debut album earned them accolades across the metal underground, have set a July 8 release date for their Tee Pee Records’ debut, Primordial.
“This song is about searching for meaning and purpose amidst the ubiquitous suffering we endure,” explains Baumann. “It’s also about something long lost being rediscovered, and the resonating ripples of butterfly effects from the ancient past that affect all life today. We really liked filming in this location because it had such a meditative and surreal quality to it. We felt that it fit the themes of the song well.”
A preview of the 11-song album arrives with the Joe Gibbs directed video for “Ancient Nug” video (https://metalinjection.net/video/telekinetic-yeti-sludges-their-way-through-new-single-ancient-nug).
Primordial was produced by Phillip Cope (Kylesa, Baroness). Album pre-orders are available now (https://teepeerecords.com/products/telekinetic-yeti-primordial-cd-lp), with the collection available on several limited-edition colored vinyl variants, CD and digitally.
Telekinetic Yeti’s debut album, Abominable, was one of the year’s most talked about debuts, as tours with Clutch, Red Fang and Weedeater followed. With Primordial, the band takes their game to a whole new level. The album explores themes as diverse as evolution, sorcery, black magic and the contradictions of the gloriously uplifting yet simultaneously melancholic human condition.
The band will spend the remainder of the year touring with a slot already on deck for Desertfest NYC.
Tour dates: May 11 Canton, OH Buzzbin May 12 Youngstown, OH Westside Bowl May 14 Boston, MA Middle East May 15 New York, NY Desertfest NYC May 16 Buffalo, NY Mohawk Place May 17 Columbus, OH Ace of Cups
Primordial track list: 1. Primordial 2. Ancient Nug 3. Ghost Train Haze 4. Stoned Ape Theory 5. Light In a Dying World 6. Beast 7. Toke Wizard 8. Rogue Planet 9. Tides of Change 10. Invention of Fire 11. Cult of Yeti
Second week, locked in and ready to roll. The message of today is that the Quarterly Review goes where it wants when it wants. If I’m steering this ship at all, it’s in only the most passive of ways. I hope you had a good weekend. I hope you spent it listening to killer music. I hope you managed to get all your reviews done. Ha.
So much good stuff to come this week. I’m looking forward to diving into it. And you know what? I did end up adding the extra day, so the Summer 2021 QR will go 11 days instead of 10, bringing it to 110 releases covered. Pretty sure that’s the longest I’ve ever gone.
Better get to it.
Quarterly Review #51-60:
Elara Sunstreak Band, Vostok I
True, Elara Sunstreak Band‘s second album and first for Sulatron Records, dubbed Vostok 1, is not a minor ask at four songs and 72 minutes. But by the time you’re through the 19:44 opener/longest track (immediate points) “Nexus,” the three-piece of bassist/vocalist Daniel Wieland, drummer Martin Wieland and guitarist/sitarist/synthesist Felix Schmidt have set their course outward and they continue to surprise along the way, from the shimmering Elder-style progressive guitar work in the title-track to the guest vocals of Felix Seyboth nodding at Blind Melon in the crescendo of sitar-laced closer “Orange October.” Even “On a Drink With Jim” manages to thrill with its blend of the terrestrial with the spacious, let alone its Doors homage as hinted in its title. These nuances meld with an overarching hypnosis to create a satisfying depth of presentation on the part of Elara Sunstreak Band, and it becomes all the more a far out journey worth taking.
Classic doom metal from experienced practicioners of the art. Speak No Evil is kind of a curious release. Vinyl only as yet, and self-released by the band, it answers back to the group’s initial Hellhound Records run in the 1990s and also their 1989 Wino Daze demo that featured Scott “Wino” Weinrich on vocals around the same time he left Saint Vitus and restarted The Obsessed. Weinrich appears on vocals and lead guitar throughout the first half of Speak No Evil, fronting the catchy opener “My Way Out” as well as “Thrift Store Girl,” “Cradle to the Grave” and the double-kick-laced “Doom,” which is nothing if not aptly-titled, while guitarist Pat Lydon sings on “Snakebite,” the less outwardly political “Wake the Dead,” “Siren Song” and “Stalker,” the pairing of which feels intentional. One might think the two sides/two-frontmen thing would make the release uneven, or the fact that it was recorded across two coasts, but nah, it’s doom either way and these guys know what they’re doing. Don’t sweat it. Do hope it gets a wider release.
Though it’s been a minute as he’s reprioritized Across Tundras, embarked on other projects, relocated to Iowa, farmed, and so on, T.G. Olson has still put out enough records under his own name that to have one arrive as a self-titled is significant in itself. Sure enough and somewhat ironically for someone who’s done so much him-and-guitar work in the past, the nonetheless-unassuming 35-minute eight-tracker features more personnel and broader arrangements than one might expect. That’s hardly a detriment, as even the layers of voice on “Steal a Day” come through as benefitting from the attention to detail, and the harmonica-inclusive twang of “Scythe” has its blues all the more emphasized for the clarity of its strum, while closer “Downer Town” invites a singalong. Personnel varies throughout, but the contibutions of Abigail Lily O’Hara (vocals), Ben Schriever (guitar, bass) and Caleb R.K. Williams (synth, guitar, banjo) — all of whom feature in the latest incarnation of Across Tundras as well — aren’t to be understated, as identifiable as Olson‘s songcraft is at the core of this material.
John McBain, Tim Cronin and Dave Wyndorf — in Dog of Mystery together at the time — would go on to form Monster Magnet a short time after, seemingly on a whim, Acid Reich‘s freakout Mistress of the Perpetual Harvest was put to tape in their rehearsal space as one of a number of “fake” weirdo projects. Listening to these five tracks, including likewise irreverent takes on “Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun” and “Amazing Grace,” the feel here is like an acid psych treasure trove of Jersey Shore fuckery. Joining the trio were Ripping Corpse‘s Shaune Kelley and Joe Paone of hellSausage, and by their own admission, the audio’s a mess. It’s an archival tape dug up from 1989 — if you’re thinking you’re getting high fidelity, you’re missing at least one of the points of putting it out in the first place. Laced with acid culture samples that may or may not have been added after the fact, this is the first official release this material has ever gotten, and it’s nasty, raw, demo fare that, if it wasn’t so blown into the cosmos you’d call it punk rock. If that doesn’t sound right on to you, it’s probably your loss.
Based in Austin, Texas, and operatin as the four-piece of guitarist Jason Morales (also Tia Carrera), bassist Win Wallace, keyboardist Ezra Reynolds and drummer Jeff Swanson, White Powder recorded their whoa-this-shit-is-awesome mostly-instrumentalist debut LP, Blue Dream in 2014 and only now is it being at last pressed to vinyl. Given their chosen moniker, the 46-minute/nine-song session is perhaps surprisingly laid back, with the keys/synth and guitar coming together in mellow-prog style atop not-entirely-languid-but-not-overly-insistent grooves; all parties seeming geared toward immersion as much of self as for their listenership, be it in the piano of “Connemara” or the later fuzzer “Rula Jabreal,” where ripplng organ lines top the popping-snare rhythmic tension until the guitar pushes it over the edge of volume swell and wash. Some classic heavy for good measure in “Alice Walker,” but Blue Dream works best taken in its entirety, and listening to it that way, one only hopes they manage to do another in seven years or so. Or seven months. That’d work too. Extra points for the sleek-as-hell soul vocals in the Steely Dan cover “Dirty Work” on side B.
Quarantine-era cross-country duo Hellish Form earn a Khanate comparison on their debut release, Remains, for their sheer unwillingness to pull back from the grueling, punishing tension they create in the slowly unfolding opener/longest track (immediate points) “Your Grave Becomes a Garden.” The dirge is so much forward that it makes the post-Bell Witch lead guitar mourning feel like an afterthought, and the screaming, echoing vocals shared between multi-instrumentalists Willow Ryan (Body Void) and Jacob Lee — who both recorded their parts at home — are a harsh reminder of the existential chaos serving as the background to these songs’ making. “Ache” is shorter and puts synth more forward, and “Shadows with Teeth” thicker and nastier if that’s possible, but through them and the 10-minute finale “Another World,” the feeling of dread, fear, and loss is palpable, and Remains is a fitting name for a record that feels so much like an aftermath.
Mosara emerge from Phoenix, Arizona, with a sound that just as easily could’ve come down from the mountains as out of the desert, and that’s by no means a complaint. Big riffs promulgate their eight-song self-titled debut LP, and they bring forth aggro sludge undertones alongside lumbering rollout, rawly-captured in the recording but not lacking presence for that, as the mounted chug of “Cypher” demonstrates. Is it heavy enough to crash your hard drive? I’m not trying to lay blame on Mosara‘s riffs or anyone else’s, but apparently there’s only so much assault modern technology can take before falling victim. We’ll call that computer a sacrifice to the eight-minute “Earth God,” its crashing drums and deceptively spacious mix creating a cavernous largesse in spite of the barebones vibe that persists across the span, “Clay and Iron” and “Majestik XII” establishing the atmosphere early but not the full sonic reach of the band, whose plunge is made all the deeper by the High on Fire-style drive of “Oumuamua.” Doesn’t have to be a revolution to fuck you up.
I don’t know if Grand Rapids, Michigan, yet has an officially designated “scourge,” but I’d be happy to see Tombstunner end up with the title. The band’s debut album, Call to the Void, reminds at once of fellow sneering Midwestern chicanery-bringers Bloodcow and also of early ’90s, Blind-era C.O.C., their tones refusing to give themselves over to one side or the other of the argument between metal and heavy rock. Marked out by considered and sometimes willfully clever lyrics, the record strikes with plenty of groove — plenty of “strike,” for that matter — and not an ounce of pretense on pieces like “ASH” or the later “Contempt’s Concrete,” which touches on harsher fare, but again, isn’t really keen to leave its rock foundation behind. They probably make the right choice in that. Eight-minute capper “The Last Ride” is catchy and weighted in kind, seeming to pack as much as possible into its finale as though to let there be no uncertainty the band has more to say. Fair enough. There’s growing to be done, but Call to the Void‘s untamed sensibility is ultimately a strength, not a weakness.
Sometimes there’s nothing like a good scream. Moscow-based Roman Filatov has one. The lone figure behind Moanhand can growl, and unlike many harsher metal vocalists, he can also sing, and does so readily across his band’s first album, Present Serpent, but god damn, that’s a good scream. Enviable. Comprised of six tracks, Present Serpent is as progressive as it is extreme, as doom as it is any number of other microgenres, and despite the formidable and varied nature of his performances throught — second track “The Charmthrower” has more scope than many bands do in an entire career arc — he does not fail to put songwriting first ahead of either technique or impact. Present Serpent will not hit a nerve with everyone, but the lumbering “Raw Blessings” and the atmosludge metal of finisher “The Boomering of Serpents,” calling back to opener “Serpent Soul (A Tale of Angels’ Slaughter)” in semi-blackened throb, just leaves me wondering why the hell not. On the level of Moanhand‘s forward potential alone — never mind any of the actual songs — it is a staggering debut.
The percussion nuance and guitar lick nodding at Morricone in opener “Storm” amid all the post-Alice in Chains vocal arrangements should be a signal of the reach France’s Appalooza bring to their second LP and Ripple debut, The Holy of Holies. To wit, the subsequent “Snake Charmer” is off and careening almost immediately on its own path, and it’s commendable on the band’s part that where they go on the burlier “Reincarnation” and the more spacious “Nazareth” and the centerpiece “Conquest” — which starts out particularly hard-hitting and by the time it’s done is given over to standalone acoustic guitar without sounding disjointed in getting there — remains so seemingly even-handed in its delivery. Their material is considered, then. It proves no less so through the brash/tense “Azazael,” the desert-but-not “Distress” and “Thousand Years After,” which is a melodic highlight even among the many other surrounding. Tasked with summarizing, closer “Canis Majoris” answers “Conquest” with melancholy and heft, its ending satisfying in an emotional context in additing to being a well earned sonic payoff.
Posted in Reviews on January 8th, 2020 by JJ Koczan
Welcome to Day Three of The Obelisk’s Winter 2020 Quarterly Review. It’s gonna be kind of a wild one. There’s a lot going on across this batch of 10 records, and it gets kind of weird — also, it doesn’t — so sit tight. It’ll be fun either way. At least I hope so. I’ll let you know when I’m finished writing. Ha.
Today we pass the halfway point on the road to 50 reviews by Friday. I think I’m feeling alright up to this point. It’s been a crunch behind the scenes, but it usually is and I’ve done this plenty of times now, so it’s not so bad. I always hold my breath before getting started, but once I’m in it, I rarely feel anymore overwhelmed than I might on any other given day. Which is still plenty, but you know, you make it work.
So let’s do that.
Quarterly Review #21-30:
Alcest, Spiritual Instinct
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the label’s modus in this regard as it’s picked up bands from the heavy underground over the last eight to 10 years — arguably a movement that began with Graveyard in 2012 — but Parisian post-black metal innovators Alcest make something of an aesthetic shift with their first outing for Nuclear Blast, Spiritual Instinct. Melody, of course, remains central to their purposes, but in the nine-minute side B opener “L’Île des Morts” as in its side A counterpart “Les Jardins de Minuit,” the subsequent “Protection” and “Sapphire” and even in the crescendo — glorious wash as it is — of the closing title-track, one can hear a sharper, decidedly metallic edge to the guitar and impact of the drums. That’s a turn from 2016’s Kodama (review here), which offered more of a conceptual progressivism, and of course the prior 2014 LP, Shelter (review here), which cast of metallic trappings almost entirely. Why the change? Who cares, it works, and they still have room for the cinematic keyboard-led drama of “Le Miroir” and plenty of the wistful emotionalism that’s been their hallmark since their debut in 2007. They’ve long since mastered their approach and Spiritual Instinct serves as another example of their being able to make their sound do whatever they want.
Four records and just about a decade deep into a tenure that began with the 2010 Rock Music EP (review here), Iowa heavy rockers Superchief have found ways to bring an inventiveness to what’s still an ostensibly straightforward approach. Moontower, named for a lookout point where — at least presuming from the album’s artwork — people tailgate and get drunk, finds the dudely five-piece no less embroiled in burl than they’ve ever been, but using samples and other elements in interesting ways as with the revving motor matching step with the drums at the start of “Barking Out at the Blood Moon” or keyboards in “Rock ‘n’ Roll War” filling out the breaks where the riffs take a step back. Handclaps early in “Beer Me Motherfucker” — as much post-“Introduction” mission statement for the LP as a whole as anything — set the party tone, and from the shaker on “The Approach” to the Southern tinged shred and organ on closer “Priority of the Summer,” a car speeding by at the finish, Superchief find ways to make each of their songs stand out from its surroundings. Then they pair that with choice riffery, pro-shop sound and hooks. Sure enough, it’s once again a winning formula and a distinct showing of personality and craft that still comports with classic heavy style.
Boston duo Test Meat are so utterly bullshit-free as to be almost intimidating. Guitarist/vocalist Darryl Shepard (Kind, Blackwolfgoat, Hackman, Milligram, etc.) and drummer Michael Nashawaty (Planetoid) dig into heavy grunge and noise rock influences across a 10-track/27-minute full-length that resounds with punker roots and an ethic of willful straightforwardness. It’s not that the music is so intense there would be no room for frills, it’s that the structures are so tight and so purposefully barebones that they’d be incongruous. And it’s not that Test Meat are writing half-hearted songs, either. Frankly, neither the quality of their material nor the sharpness of the sound they captured at New Alliance Studio with Alec Rodriguez would remotely lead one to believe so, and nothing with such stylistic clarity happens by mistake. This is a band with a mission, and Enjoy finds them bringing that mission to life with a complete lack of pretense. It’s a reminder of what made grunge so appealing in the first place some 30 years and an entire internet ago. Songs and performance. Yes.
Following a 2018 live demo, Portuguese instrumental three-piece Stones of Babylon — guitarist Rui Belchior, bassist João Medeiros, drummer Pedro Branco — embark with a conceptualist intent on their debut full-length, Hanging Gardens, issued through Raging Planet. An opening sample in the leadoff title-track describing the hanging gardens of Babylon sets the stage for what the band goes on to describe with wordless atmospheres over the five-song/47-minute long-player, their vision of heavy psychedelia touched with a suitable Middle Eastern/North African influence in the initial unfolding of the meditative 11-minute “Coffea Arabica” or the winding lead work over the punchy low end of “Black Pig’s Secret Megalith.” But Hanging Gardens is still very much a heavy rock release, and its material showcases that in tone and mood, with volume changes and builds taking hold like that in centerpiece “Ziggurat,” which in its second half sets a march of distorted largesse nodding forth until its final crashout. They save the most drift for “Babylonia (The Deluge),” and if they’re finishing with the story of the flood, one can’t help but wonder what narrative course they might follow in a second record. On the other hand, if one comes out of Hanging Gardens trying to envision Stones of Babylon‘s future, then the debut would seem to have done its job, and so it has. There’s stylistic and tonal promise, and with the edge of storytelling, an opportunity for development of which one hopes they avail themselves.
Frontman Argy and Greek heavy rock institution Nightstalker return with their eighth album in a quarter-century run, Great Hallucinations. Also their first LP for Heavy Psych Sounds after issuing 2016’s As Above So Below (review here) on Oak Island Records, it’s an up-to-par eight-track collection of catchy tracks marked out by psychedelic elements but underpinned by traditionalist structures, Argy‘s distinctive frontman presence, and an all-around unforced feeling of a mature, established band doing what they do. Not going through the motions in the sense of fulfilling some perceived obligation to stay on the road, but creating the songs they want to create in nothing less than the manner they want to create them. I won’t take away from the roll of “Seven out of Ten,” but as “Cursed” taps into a legacy of European heavy rock that runs from Dozer‘s turn of the century work — not to mention Nightstalker‘s own — to outfits today, it’s hard not to appreciate an act being so assured in what they do in terms of execution while actually doing it. In that way, Great Hallucinations is as refreshing as it is familiar.
From their beginnings in garage doom and subsequent dive into exploitation/vamp psych, Barcelona’s Lewis and the Strange Magics put themselves in even weirder territory on their third album, Melvin’s Holiday, centering a story around the titular character whose life is in turmoil and so he goes on vacation. The sound of the band seems to do likewise, veering into ’70s lounge sleaze and island influences, toying with funky rhythms and keyboards amid catchy choruses across what still would have to be called an experimental 34-minute run. It is a concept album, to be sure, and one that comes through in its stylistic choices like the dreamy keyboards of the centerpiece “Carpet Sun” or the fuzzy stomp in “Sad in Paradise” and the percussion amid the Ween-sounding lead guitar buzz of “Lounge Decadence.” This could be Lewis and the Strange Magics working purposefully to cast off any and all expectation that might be placed on them, or it could just be a one-off whim, but there’s no question they pull off an impressive turn and carry the concept through in story and substance. When it comes to what they might do next time, the payoff of closer “Afternoon on the Sand” serves as one more demonstration that the band can do whatever the hell they want with their sound, so I’d expect them to do no less than precisely that.
The debut EP from Lansing, Michigan, four-piece Room 101, called simply The Burden, would seem to take a scorched-earth approach to atmospheric sludge, setting their balance to exploring ambient textures and samples in pieces like “You Will Never Know Security” — which, sure enough, samples 1984 to recount the origin of the band’s name — and the brief “A Place to Bury Strangers,” while the churning “As the Crow Flies” and “Missing Rope” present an outright extremity that comes through in post-Godflesh vocal barks and a Through Silver in Blood-style intensity of churn and general approach. Yet I wouldn’t necessarily call Room 101 post-metal — at least not here. The solo on “Missing Rope” seems to draw from more traditional sources, and the manner in which the chugging in “Plague Dogs” caps with a sudden quick series of hits recalls grindcore’s pivoting brutality. One might hope all of these elements get fleshed out more over subsequent releases, but as a first outing, part of The Burden‘s promise is also drawn from the sheer rawness of its impact and the lack of compromise in its wrench of gut.
Albatross Overdrive‘s 2016 LP, Keep it Running (review here), ran 31 minutes. Their follow-up, Ascendant, reaches to 33, but loses two tracks in the doing. Clearly, one way or the other, this is a conscious ethic on the band’s part, and it tells you something about their approach to heavy rock as well. There’s nothing too fancy about it — even in “Come Get Some,” which is the longest song the band have ever written at 6:40 — and they are not an outfit to waste their time. Structures run from verse to chorus to verse to chorus led through by guitarists Andrew Luddy and Derek Phillips and Art Campos‘ gritty delivery with an expectedly solid underpinning from bassist Mark Abshire (ex-Fu Manchu) and drummer Rodney Peralta and songs like the careening title-track and the blues-licked shover “Undecided” are enough to give the impression that anything else would be superfluous. They’re not lacking style — because ’70s-meets-’90s-straight-ahead-heavy is, indeed, a style — but it’s the level of their craft that stands them out.
Kyuss-style riffing takes a beating at the hands of Chicago newcomers Cloud Cruiser — who are not to be confused with Denver’s Cloud Catcher — who make their debut on vinyl through Shuga Records with I: Capacity, giving an aggressive push to what’s commonly considered a more laid back sound. In tone and rhythm and general gruffness, they are a deceptively pointed outfit, with turns of broader groove like that at the outset of “575” that speak to more influences than simply those of the Cali desert. They start off catchy and familiar-if-reshaped, though, on “Transmission” and “Glow,” letting their tale of alien abduction unfold across the lyrics while setting up the shifts that “Gone” and “575” and the thick-boogie of “Orbitalclast” will make before the EP’s would-be-clean-but-for-all-that-dirt-it’s-kicked-up 23-minute run is through. The balance they present speaks to a background in metal, though if they’re fresh arrivals in this realm of heavy, you’d never know it from the lumbering finish they present. Sometimes you just gotta get mean to get your point across. It suits
It is a progressive interpretation of fuzz ‘n’ buzz that San Francisco four-piece The Spiral Electric realize on their self-titled, self-released debut long-player, with recording and mixing by Dead Meadow‘s Steve Kille, the band — vocalist/synthesist/noisemaker/guitarist/percussionist/co-producer Clay Andrews, lead guitarist/backing vocalist Nicolas Percey, bassist Michael Summers and drummer Matias Drago — bridge the generally disparate realms of heavy psych and riffer heavy rock, giving a dreamy sensibility to “Marbles” with no less an organic vibe than they brought to the howling, attitudinal push of “No Bridge Left Unburned” earlier. They skillfully mess with the scale across the lengthy 14-track span, and thereby hold their audience for the duration in longer pieces like “The True Nature of Sacrifice” (8:24) as easily as they do in a series of three episodic interludes of noise, field recordings, synth, etc. This is a band ready, willing and able to space. the hell. out., and after listening to the record, you’d be a fool if you wanted to try. Not that they don’t have aspects to shore up or shifts that could be tightened and so on, but from ambition to fruition, it’s the kind of first record bands should aspire to make.
The trick I finally learned to tell my left from my right was that your left hand is the one that makes the ‘L.’ The “Left Hand Path” has been a feature in heavy rock and metal for decades. Lest we forget it was the title of Entombed‘s first record 28 years ago, and of course, blah blah blah Anton LaVey, and the term goes much farther back in relation to black magic and, even deeper, to the breaking of societal taboos in India centuries ago. The Sanskrit word is “vamachara,” which, frankly, I can’t believe a band hasn’t taken for their moniker. That’s here or there, and certainly, Iowan cult rockers Sons of the Morning‘s name is Luciferian enough. Their self-titled debut album is out now on DHU Records, and their new video for the song “Left Hand Path” — the title of which is the reason for the whole non sequitur above; sorry about that — basks in its darkly ethereal visuals and features an assortment of actual left hands. Good to make sure the point gets across.
In the clip we meet Son of the Morning vocalist Lady Helena head on as she leads the way through the track, which is one of eight featured on the full-length that came out earlier this month, and gradually the rest of the four-piece seems to be brought into her purview. Helena‘s work on organ also features heavily on the swinging, classically doomed cut, and guitarist Levi Mendes shows up later to join in on vocals, chapeau and all. It’s a pretty straightforward video, though well designed by Transpiritus, and its atmosphere is both colorful and over-the-top enough to be fun as well as to showcase the cultish leanings of the band. Being catchy never hurts either, and “Left Hand Path,” which was also on the band’s 2017 self-titled three-tracker EP (review here), is most certainly that.
If you feel like hangin’ a louie, you can check out the video below, followed by more info from the PR wire.
Please enjoy:
Son of the Morning, “Left Hand Path” official video
Official music video for “Left Hand Path” by Son of the Morning Video by Transpiritus
From the pale grey light of America’s Midwest, come Son of the Morning. An occult rock, doom band that interplays the whimsical with the diabolical. The four members of Son of the Morning form the inner-circle of creativity that call upon the forebearers of dark hard rock and heavy metal. However, all is not as it seems as odd-meter and syncopated arrangements dwell within the musical offerings.
To most, the band would be considered new, if it were not for the wealth of experience amongst its members. Combined, the quintet represents decades of musical accomplishment and exploration. The bond was forged in 2016 and most of the year was spent crafting the band’s signature sound. 2017 saw a year of festivals and shows along with the release of a self-titled debut extended play featuring 3 songs. The release was well received by fans and critics alike.
Son of the Morning: Lady Helena – Vocals, Organ Lee Allen – Electric Bass Guitar H.W. Applewhite – Trap Kit Levi Mendes – Electric Guitar
Posted in Whathaveyou on July 12th, 2018 by JJ Koczan
Next month, Iowan cult doomers Son of the Morning will make their self-titled full-length debut via DHU Records. Last year, the same label stood behind a release of their also-self-titled three-song EP (review here), and as all three cuts from that offering will be included on the new one, it’s safe to say there’s some continuity happening there. All the better, since, you know, the EP kicked ass and everything. The album — I’m not saying I’ve heard it or anything, but I’ve got it playing right now as I write this — would seem to do likewise, with a garage doom swirl around vocalist Lady Helena that seems to be working its way toward a thicker-toned Ruby the Hatchet, darker overall in atmosphere and with its own personality in the execution, but which should still be greeted warmly by those with an affection for a bit of ritual with their melody. You certainly won’t hear me complain as I look forward to digging deeper into the outing.
DHU has vinyl on the way, as detailed in the PR wire update below:
Son of the Morning – S/T (DHU Records, 2018)
DHU Records will be releasing the Self Titled full length (DHU028) by Son of the Morning on August 3rd 2018 on limited edition vinyl.
!!! NO PRE ORDERS !!!
Sale goes live Friday July 20th at 7PM CET
Artwork for the album was done by the always amazing and talented artist Mr. David Paul Seymour and completely captures the mood of these Hymns of the Occult
Tracklist Side A A1. The Introduction A2. The Rule of Three A3. The Midwife A4. The Wild Hunt Side B B1. Release B2. Left Hand Path B3. Hour of Our Enemy B4. Eyes Sewn Closed
LEFT HAND PATH EDITION DHU EXCLUSIVE Limited to 90 copies Single jacket w/ 3mm spine Inside flooded in black Artwork by David Paul Seymour Black polylined innersleeves Hand numbered DHU Exclusive card Includes an A4 poster with art by Shane Horror Comes on Black/Purple Aside/Bside 12″vinyl
SON OF THE MORNING EDITION Limited to 150 copies Single jacket w/ 3mm spine Inside flooded in black Artwork by David Paul Seymour Black polylined innersleeves Includes an A4 poster w/ front cover art by DPS Comes on Half Milky Clear/Half White w/ Black and Purple Splatter 12″vinyl
From the pale grey light of America’s Midwest, come Son of the Morning. An occult rock, doom band that interplays the whimsical with the diabolical. The four members of Son of the Morning form the inner-circle of creativity that call upon the forebearers of dark hard rock and heavy metal. However, all is not as it seems as odd-meter and syncopated arrangements dwell within the musical offerings.
To most, the band would be considered new, if it were not for the wealth of experience amongst its members. Combined, the quintet represents decades of musical accomplishment and exploration. The bond was forged in 2016 and most of the year was spent crafting the band’s signature sound. 2017 saw a year of festivals and shows along with the release of a self-titled debut extended play featuring 3 songs. The release was well received by fans and critics alike.
Son of the Morning: Lady Helena – Vocals, Organ Lee Allen – Electric Bass Guitar H.W. Applewhite – Trap Kit Levi Mendes – Electric Guitar
Posted in Whathaveyou on July 4th, 2018 by JJ Koczan
I don’t know if there was a debut album that made an impression last year to match Telekinetic Yeti‘s Abominable (review here; interview here). Released on Sump Pump Records, it set the wheels in motion for the Iowa-based two-piece and they haven’t slowed down yet. After hitting the road earlier this year with Weedeater, they’ll be out on a headlining run as of July 7 — that’s this Saturday, in case you, like me, still think it’s March — and as a part of that will also have a couple dates opening for Black Label Society. With their fervent heavy fuzz and max-groove approach, I can’t help but wonder when Telekinetic Yeti might get down to the business of making their second record, but one can hardly begrudge them building on the momentum they’ve established so far in the wake of Abominable, which only continues to reap acclaim the more ears that hear it.
Once again, the tour starts later this week. Support comes from Hyborian for most of the shows. Dates follow with ticket-buy links where applicable:
Telekinetic Yeti July/August Tour Dates
07/07/2018 Des Moines IA @ 80 / 35 Festival – https://bit.ly/2IpuSod 07/16/2018 Peoria IL @ Monarch Music Hall w/BLS – https://ticketf.ly/2yfm841 07/17/2018 Joliet IL @ The Forge w/BLS – https://bit.ly/2MsT6AZ 07/18/2018 Detroit MI @ El Club – https://ticketf.ly/2lcxX1d 07/19/2018 Kalamazoo MI @ Shakespeares – https://bit.ly/2K1yAW9 7/20/2018 Indianapolis IN @ State Street Pub (Tickets expected to go on sale soon) 7/22 Lexington KY @ Cosmic Charlies (tickets expected to go on sale soon) 07/23/2018 Pittsburgh PA @ Howlers – https://bit.ly/2to7em3 07/24/2018 Toronto ON @ Bovine Sex Club – https://ticketf.ly/2MKTdrN 07/25/2018 Ottawa ON @ Cafe Dekcuf – (tickets expected to go on sale soon) 07/26/2018 Montreal QC @ La Vitrola – https://bit.ly/2ldoebf 07/27/2018 Portland ME @ Genos Rock Club – https://bit.ly/2tcDhFL 07/29/2018 Hartford CT @ Webster Theatre w/BLS – https://bit.ly/2MsT6AZ 07/30/2018 Brooklyn NY @ Kingsland – https://bit.ly/2JSEAom 07/31/2018 Philadelphia PA @ Kung Fu Necktie – https://ticketf.ly/2K57vER 08/01/2018 Baltimore MD @ Metro Gallery – https://bit.ly/2JPX44S 08/03/2018 Chapel Hill NC @ Local 506 – https://ticketf.ly/2JGIr83 08/05/2018 New Orleans LA @ Santos Bar – (tickets expected to go on sale soon) 08/06/2018 Houston TX @ Boondocks – (FREE SHOW) 08/07/2018 Austin TX @ Barracuda – https://bit.ly/2K4Gezl 08/08/2018 Oklahoma City OK @ 89th St – (tickets expected to go on sale soon) 08/09/2018 Little Rock AR @ Whitewater – (tickets expected to go on sale soon) 08/11/2018 Omaha NE @ Stoned Meadow of Doom – https://bit.ly/2yeHv5o 08/31/2018 Chicago IL @ Scorched Tundra Festival – https://bit.ly/29W1AMk
Posted in Reviews on January 8th, 2018 by JJ Koczan
Today begins the Quarterly Review. You know the deal by now. 50 records written up between today and this Friday, 10 per day. As always, it’s a huge swath of stuff, and by the end of it I’m usually ready to collapse in a heap, but I’ve yet to regret it afterwards, so we press on. I hope you find something you dig in all this. I say that every time, but it’s still true.
Speaking of digging, how about that new logo up there? Thanks goes out to the Lord of the Logos himself, Christophe Szpajdel, who took on the project. This is the second one he’s done for the site, and aside from being in a completely different style from the last — I like covering a good amount of ground, even in logos — I think it fits pretty well with a variety of aesthetics. Could be doom, could be heavy rock, psych, stoner garage, whatever. Anyway, I’m into it. Hope you are too.
Quarterly Review #1-10:
Carlton Melton, Mind Minerals
It might be decades before the dimension we live in has caught up to the plane from which Northern California’s Carlton Melton emanate their resonant transmissions of space-psych, but somehow time doesn’t seem to matter anyway when actually listening. To wit, Mind Minerals, the trio’s first LP since 2015’s Out to Sea, is an 11-track/76-minute whopper – unmanageable by any standard – but once it’s on, all you want to do is roll with it and by the time post-aptly-named intro “Untimely” has begat “Electrified Sky” has begat the droning “The Lighthouse” has begat the fuzzy swirl of “Eternal Return” has begat the 10-minute rumble-and-synth soundtracking of “Snow Moon,” etc., there’s neither escape nor the desire for it. Does it need to be a 2LP? Nope, but nothing needs to be anything, man. In the subdued boogie of “Basket Full of Trumpets,” the is-it-backwards slow freakout of “Sea Legs,” the experimental guitar ambience of “Way Back When,” headphone-ready minimalism of “Climbing the Ladder,” the shaker’s tension that sustains the otherwise wispy “Atmospheric River,” and the final fuzzy resurgence of “Psychoticedelicosis,” Carlton Melton thoroughly reaffirm their residency in the far, far out. Not that anyone was questioning their paperwork or anything.
With fluid shifts between Ripple-style straightforward heavy rock, rolling Sabbathian lumber and even some harsher sludge elements, the seven-minute “Black Dawn, Bright Day” sets a varied tone for Chemical Winter Blues, the second LP from North Carolina’s Horseskull. I’m not sure I’d declare any one side or the other the winner in the fight between them by the time the death ‘n’ roll of “Luckless Bastards” gives way to closer “Lost all I Had, then Lost Again” – itself a 17-minute noise-nodder triumph of, well, loss – but the trip through “Hypocrites and Pigs” and 10-minute centerpiece “The Black Flame of Cain” is unpredictable and fun to make in kind. Guitarist/vocalist Anthony Staton reminds a bit of Slough Feg’s Mike Scalzi in his cleaner delivery, which only adds to the album’s declarative feel, and the overarching groove surrounding from guitarist Michael Avery, bassist Robert Hewlett and drummer Steve Smith only reinforces the developing individualism.
There is very little beyond the reach of Denver four-piece Dreadnought. Their third album, A Wake in Sacred Waves (Sailor Records), blends open, psychedelic jazz, progressive black metal, folk and more into a sometimes-thrashing/sometimes-sprawling meld that recalls the promise of Grayceon and the poise of Opeth while at the same time casting its own impression in melody, arrangement, variety and scope. Opening with the 17-minute longest cut (immediate points) “Vacant Sea,” it brilliantly ties its elements together to present a story arc following in elemental theme from Dreadnought’s first two offerings in centering around the rise and fall of a water-born apex predator, the narrative of which plays out across its four intense, extended and resoundingly complex inclusions, which alternate between beautiful and terrifying in a way that leaves the line utterly blurred and irrelevant. Why this band isn’t on Profound Lore or Neurot, I have no idea, but either way, A Wake in Sacred Waves is a conceptual and manifest triumph not to be missed.
A spirit of classic doom metal abounds on Forsaken’s fifth long-player, Pentateuch (Mighty Music), which is the long-running Malta-based outfit’s first offering since 2009’s After the Fall, but though righteous fist-pumpers like “Primal Wound” and “Decalogue” carry an epic and unflinchingly progressive underpinning in their layered vocal melodies, a harsh snare sound and awkwardly punching bass stifle complete immersion. It’s less an issue in a cut like “Saboath (The Law Giver),” which has a full swing surrounding, but it makes post-intro opener “Serpent Bride” sound like a demo (unless it’s my digital promo?) in a way that sets an unfortunate tone in contrasting the obvious class and high-level execution of Pentateuch as a whole. It should be noted that even a rough production can’t hold “The Dove and the Raven” back from making its Candlemassian intent clear, but a record of such overall high standard should feel as crisp as possible, and particularly for being so many years in arriving, Forsaken’s latest seems to want more in that regard, despite the quality of the material that comprises it.
I’ve already counted Highway Lord among my favorite debuts of 2017, but consider it’s worth taking a moment to underline the point of the heavy psych and stoner-fuzz wash that Moon Rats so vigilantly emit on cuts like the opening salvo of “Become the Smoke,” “The Dark Takes Hold” and “Heroic Dose,” balancing languid vibe and sonic heft atop gorgeously natural songcraft. Among the short-feeling 29 minutes and seven inclusions, with the title-track at the center shifting into “Overdose,” the deeply atmospheric “The Hunter” the and melodically spacious “Motor Sword” at the finish, there isn’t a weak spot to be found, and whether it’s the added dynamic of a key arrangement in the closer or the landmark feel of the hook to “Heroic Dose,” the Milwaukee five-piece tap into the there’s-no-rush-we’ll-all-get-there sonic sentiment that once made Quest for Fire so entrancing, while engaging subtle flourish of presentation that promises creative development to come. Bring it on. Please. The sooner the better.
Newcomer four-piece Son of the Morning, with the crisply-realized three tracks of their self-titled debut EP, would seem right away to be trying to stake their claim on a piece of the Midwest’s doom legacy. Coiling between heavy rock swing and classic doom tonality, each cut, from “Left Hand Path,” which rounds out after its welcoming hook with a sample of what sounds like somebody hanging in the breeze, through the post-Uncle Acid riffing of “Release,” and the more ethereal, organ-laced psych of “House of Our Enemy,” offers its own take in a clearheaded and efficient five minutes, getting in, leaving its mark and getting out to make room for the next piece in this initial sampling. Potential abounds from vocalist/organist Lady Helena, bassist Lee Allen, guitarist Levi Mendes and drummer H.W. Applewhite, and the core question is how they might tie these elements together across a first full-length. It should be noted they sound more than ready to embark on that project and provide an answer.
A 31-minute debut EP clearly meant to be heard in its entirety, Jesus the Snake’s self-titled treads some familiar ground in progressive heavy psychedelic instrumentalism throughout its four tracks – “Floyds I,” “Floyds II,” “Karma” and “Moment” – but with an inherent sense of mood and reach not unlike earliest My Sleeping Karma, its tonal warmth and emergent weight of groove find welcome all the same. Particularly for being the Portuguese outfit’s first public unveiling, the interplay of Joka Alves’ keys and Jorge Lopes’ guitar is immediately fluid, and as the bass of Rui Silva provides foundation to let drummer João Costa explore jazzy snare textures and stylistic nuance. It’s a beginning, and it sounds like a beginning, but Jesus the Snake also offers a richness and patience that many bands simply don’t have their first time out, and for that and the classic stoner fuzz of “Moment” alone, it’s easily worth the time and effort of thorough investigation.
Officially defunct for some time now, Michigan’s BerT compile tracks from throughout their prolific and bizarre run in The Lost Toes (Madlantis Records), proffering a timeline of their post-Melvins avant weirdness that starts with their very first song, “Stuff,” and makes its way through various demos, lost tracks, noise experiments, etc., to the 11-minute drone-out “Return” at the finish line. The digital version on Bandcamp offers an origin story with each track – the 90-second noise rock blast “Human Bone Xylophone” was cut from 2012’s Return to the Electric Church for time concerns, and the subsequent “Commercial Break” (which, yes, is a commercial break) was a class project – but whether you engage the narrative or not, the enduring vibe remains strange and charming in its garage-fuckall, could-and-just-might-go-anywhere-at-any-moment kind of way. BerT were always good fun, and The Lost Toes serves as reminder of the personality they had together that was so very much their own.
Brazilian instrumental troupe Galactic Gulag traffic in cosmic heft across the five pieces that comprise their first full-length, To the Stars by Hard Ways, but there’s ultimately little about the album that seems to be the hard way. If anything, it’s easy: Easy to groove on, easy to let it unfold over you in a spacious psychedelic drift, easy to nod along as the bassline of “Escape from Planet Gulag” picks up from 12-minute opener “Home.” Easy even to get lost in the sax-laden swirl-bounce off-kilterism of “The Hollow Moon.” So yeah, guitarists Breno Xavier and Pablo Dias, bassist Gabriel Dunke and drummer César Silva might be overselling a sense of difficulty, but as “Space Time Singularity” rolls into the shreddy-style fuzz of 15-minute closer “Eta Orionis,” there are clearly more important issues at hand. Like space. And riffs. And tone. And everything else that’s working so well for the Natal-based foursome on this jam-laden debut.
Former Spiritual Beggars and The Mushroom River Band vocalist Christian “Spice” Sjöstrand has been fronting the namesake act Band of Spice – formerly Spice and the RJ Band — for over a decade now, and Shadows Remain (Scarlet Records) follows 2015’s Economic Dancers (review here) as their fifth overall full-length. After the suitably-drunk-sounding vocals-only intro “Only One Drink,” the album rides the line between classically metallic tones and heavy rock riffing, a cut like “Don’t Bring Me Flowers” having little time in its 2:46 for brooking nonsense of any sort while later pieces like “Apartment 8” and “The Savior and the Clown” find time for more brooding and sentimental fare, and the penultimate “Take Me Home” and closer “Apartment 8 (Part II)” offer acoustic-strummed departure, so while the 51-minute runtime gives the 13-tracker something of a CD-era throwback feel and the songwriting the resolute in its straightforwardness, neither is Shadows Remain completely single-minded in its approach. A touch of grunge-funk in “Sheaf” goes a long way as well in lightening the mood, making the whole presentation all the more pro-shop, as it should be.
Posted in Whathaveyou on January 4th, 2018 by JJ Koczan
Rife with classic swing and cultish theme, Son of the Morning‘s self-titled debut EP left a mark among listeners upon its release as the band’s opening salvo in 2017. The Iowa-based four-piece have accordingly been snagged by DHU Records for the follow-up first long-player, which is a prospect that has one curious to see how the group will answer the promise held in a fuzz-doom roller like “Release” while at the same time distinguishing themselves from the multitudes of riff rollers out there. Brimming with heft and proto-ethereal melodicism as they are, they’ve got their work cut out for them in that regard, but the atmospheric flourish and core songwriting approach the band showed their first time out does nothing if it doesn’t bode well.
The PR wire brought the announcement through:
NEW SIGNING TO DHU RECORDS: SON OF THE MORNING
Son of the Morning is an occult rock, doom 4 piece from Iowa.
From the pale grey light of America’s Midwest, come Son of the Morning. An occult rock, doom band that interplay’s the whimsical with the diabolical. The four members of Son of the Morning form the inner-circle of creativity that call upon the forebearers of dark hard rock and heavy metal. However, all is not as it seems as odd-meter and syncopated arragements dwell within the musical offerings.
Exploring the darker recesses of mankind’s aberrant behavior the band touches on religion, murder, pagan rites, superstition and worship. From fist pounding shuffle rhythms to skull crushed plodding, the music endeavors to take the listener through a dynamic range of expressions and emotions. The danger of Son of the Morning is the familiar invitation that gives way to a more sinister motive. By the time you learn of your fate, it is too late…
To most, the band would be considered new, if it were not for the wealth of experience amongst it’s members. Combined, the quintet represents decades of musical accomplishment and exploration.The bond was forged in 2016 and most of the year was spent crafting the band’s signature sound. 2017 saw a year of festivals and shows along with the release of a self-titled debut extended play featuring 3 songs. The release was well received by fans and critics alike.
If you give the devil an opening, he’ll take it…
DHU Records will be releasing their Self Titled full length (DHU028) in 2018 on limited edition vinyl.
For now you can partake of the 3 song EP released October 31st 2017 on bandcamp:
SON OF THE MORNING EP 1. Left Hand Path 2. Release 3. House of Our Enemy
Son of the Morning is: Lady Helena – Vocals, Organ Lee Allen – Electric Bass Guitar H.W. Applewhite – Trap Kit Levi Mendes – Electric Guitar
