It’s been the better part of two years since Kentucky heavy rockers Moonbow made their debut with 2013’s The End of Time (review here), but the four-piece are back with the forthcoming Volto del Demone, an acoustic LP they’ve put together over the course the stretch since the debut’s arrival. Where The End of Time‘s centerpiece “Take it for Granted” boasted a guest appearance from John Garcia, with whom drummer Steve Earle played in Hermano, the new outing features Hank 3, in whose band guitarist David McElfresh also plays.

The PR wire brings art and info:

MOONBOW ANNOUNCE RELEASE OF ACOUSTIC ALBUM & UNVEIL COVER, TRACKLIST + RELEASE DATE!

US-based heavy stoner rock band MOONBOW are finally back but with a very special record, the band just announced the release of an upcoming acoustic album titled “Volto del Demone” – set to be released worldwide on August 28th 2015!

Back in August of 2013, Moonbow released their critical acclaimed debut album ‘The End of Time’. For the last 2 years, they have been writing a lot of material and playing shows in between David McElfresh’s touring with his other and well-known band Hank 3. During Moonbow’s writing process, vocalist Matt Bischoff and guitarist David had the idea to put out an acoustic record of songs that were very personal to them and what later would become “Volto del Demone”. The songs were recorded between December 2013 and April 2015 at The Den recording studio in Petersburg, KY. Now Moonbow finally unveiled their upcoming album artwork & tracklist for “Volto del Demone”, that also features a very special guest appearance of Hank 3 himself on vocals, drums, bass, keyboards & bizarre atmospheric sounds on the song “Face of the Demon”!

Artwork and Creative Direction by Ryan McAllister

The tracklist of Moonbow’s upcoming record reads as follows:
1) Devils Floor
2) Take me Home
3) Volto del Demone
4) The Wait
5) Memories Ahead
6) Mission 35
7) One Way to Die
8) Face of the Demon (Featuring Hank 3)

MOONBOW are:
Matt Bischoff: Vocals
David McElfresh: Guitars, Fiddle, Vocals, Mandolin, Steel Guitar
Ryan McAllister: Bass
Steve Earle: Drums

For More Info Visit:
www.facebook.com/Moonbowrocks
https://moonbowrocks.bandcamp.com/

Moonbow, The End of Time (2013)

They’ve been on hiatus since releasing a split 7″ with Trophy Wives (review here), but Louisville heavy rockers The Glasspack have announced a return from hiatus to be marked by the release of their fifth album, Moon Patrol. Frontman “Dirty” Dave Johnson has spent the last couple years tearing it up with poli-punkers The Decline Effect, who released their self-titled debut last year (review here), and while The Glasspack have always had more than a dash of punk to their sound, Johnson says they’re moving more toward the open psychedelia of cuts like “Louisiana Strawberry” (video here) from 2007’s Dirty Women.

Seven years have passed since that album came out on Small Stone, so if nothing else, The Glasspack are definitely due. The plan is reportedly for Moon Patrol to be entirely instrumental. They’re eyeing a 2015 release, and don’t seem to be in any rush, so I wouldn’t be surprised if the plans changed somewhat along the way. But the good news is The Glasspack are back and looking to wreak havoc once more.

Get the full story below:

THE GLASSPACK V: “MOON PATROL”

After nearly three years of hiatus, the Glasspack (formed 1999 in Louisville, Kentucky, USA) is active once again and finishing up writing their 5th full-length record.

The Glasspack’s last release was the “If You Don’t Have Anything Nice to Say…” single of 2010. This release was a one-off product for Noise Pollution Records of Louisville, split with Louisville band the Trophy Wives, and produced on orange 7-inch vinyl. Along with the vinyl came a free download card for unreleased Glasspack material which included part of the Glasspack’s sold-out headlining performance at the 2008 Roadburn Festival Afterburner in Tilburg, Holland in support of the Glasspack’s 2007 full-length release, “Dirty Women,” on Small Stone Records of Detroit.

The new Glasspack full-length record will likely be entitled “Moon Patrol.” It is also very likely to be all instrumental tracks with no vocals. Instead, the band wishes to focus on and emphasis sonic psychedelic exploration in heavy Glasspack fashion. It is no surprise looking back at prior Glasspack releases that bands such as Hawkwind, Chrome, Monster Magnet, and even Pink Floyd have played parts of inspiration for the band. Have a listen to Glasspack tracks “Jim Beam and Good Green,” “Louisiana Strawberry,” and “If You Don’t have Anything Nice to Say…” to get a feel of the possible direction the band is heading into now.

Johnson has stated that the record “will be less punk and a little slower than usual, but just as brutal and fuzzy. What will be different mostly is the complexity of the songs. We are looking to humble ourselves, the band, and others who listen with the sublime fear of psychedelia, not that happy hippy shit.”

The band has stated that the release will take some time, will be done right, and with 100% artistic direction in every way by the band members. The band has no potential record label in mind yet and is prepared to release the record itself if need be. There is even talk of it possibly being free. The bands believe release will be sometime in 2015. Most of the writing work is already finished.

In spring of this year while relocating in Louisville, Johnson retrieved his guitar equipment from storage, as well as the Glasspack’s extensive library (which has recently become part of the University of Louisville archives department). Johnson has stated, “I was moving all my stuff for the first time in a decade or two to under one roof. There was the Glasspack’s library and there was the old red bastard of an American Telecaster that a few years ago I sort of considered cursed. One day I was bored, picked up the Tele, and told myself ‘no Glasspack riffs,’ but that is exactly what came out. Only this time, the riffs were new and different. Most importantly, they were fun, powerful, and ‘Glasspack worthy.’ I told a couple friends that I would jam and all of a sudden, it seemed like everyone close to me wanted to do the Glasspack or hear new Glasspack. So, I started thinking.”

“Then, Nick Hall came over. He was the lead guitarist for the Glasspack before hiatus in 2010. He played lead guitar and synth keys on ‘If You Don’t Have Anything Nice to Say…” We jammed at my home and it was amazing. Nick is a trained musician and words cannot describe just how great he is. I had once tried to describe him as Frank Zappa, Robert Fripp, and Eddie Hazel rolled into one and though this is true in a sense, he is even more than that. He makes the Glasspack fun, complex, and fresh, and ten times more powerful. Just see the Noise Pollution single from 2010. After jamming, we decided it was time to act.”

“Before hiatus Nick and I had discussed my desire to one day make an instrumental space-rock record for the Glasspack. Nick had not forgotten and was all for bringing this idea to back to life. This idea had stemmed from the beginning of the Glasspack. I initially in 1999 had two ideas and band names: ‘the Glasspack’ and “Moon Patrol.” The Glasspack is the Glasspack, but the other was intended to be mutually exclusive from the idea of the Glasspack. It was to be a space rock band. I obviously went with the Glasspack. However, I now know that the only constant in this universe is change and that which is will one day become that which it is not, if it is to survive at all. It is inevitable. Therefore, the Glasspack is back, it will change, and change for the better because I will let it now. Moreover, there was always a hint of space-rock in the Glasspack anyway.”

The Glasspack will release more information on the upcoming album soon. The full band for the release is as follows:

“Dirty” Dave Johnson – vox, guitars (Decline Effect, Muddy Nasty River, and Dirty Bird)
Nicolas Hall – lead guitars, synth keys (Graffiti, Zach Longoria Project)
Rodney Roads – guitars, bass (The Hookers, Brothers of Conquest, Blade of the Ripper, and Purple Jesus)
Billy Lease – guitars, bass (Graffiti, Zach Longoria Project, and The Broken Spurs)
Mark Campbell – drums, percussions (Muddy Nasty River, Purple Jesus, Opposable Thumbs, and Strike City)

https://www.facebook.com/theGlasspack
http://www.youtube.com/user/theglasspack
http://theglasspackkentucky.blogspot.com/

The Glasspack, “If You Don’t Have Anything Nice to Say…”

Click here to listen.

There doesn’t seem to ever be a break with this stuff. 16 records joined The Obelisk Radio playlist today, and that’s still got me behind on checking out more to add. I don’t know what the state of that hard drive is, but I might not be far off from needing to add a second one. It’s become an archive for me.

Diligent and admirable bastard that he is, Slevin is working on an automatically refreshing script that will allow listeners to see what was played over the last 24 hours, which will be a big help if a file is missing its ID3 tags — that being how the player identifies the songs — as I know things sometimes are. I get asked regularly what was played at a specific time, so hopefully this will be able to answer that question.

So things are in the works, but of course there’s a ton of music to talk about in the meantime, and that’s the fun part anyway.

The Obelisk Radio Adds for July 11, 2014:

All Them Witches, Effervescent EP

There are at least two distinct jams at work in the 25-minute single track that makes up Effervescent, the 2014 EP from Nashville psych-blues rockers All Them Witches. The Fender Rhodes of Allan Van Cleave and airy guitar of Ben McLeod feature heavily in both, as bassist Michael Parks, Jr., and drummer Robby Staebler (interview here) provide a foundation on which to space out, and the two pieces find a bridge in hypnotic, psychedelic stretching and backwards noise beginning at around 13 minutes in before building back up. All throughout, the vibe is central, there is movement, and the four-piece demonstrate that the chemistry they showed burgeoning on last year’s brilliant Lightning at the Door (discussed here) was no fluke, but the beginning of a grand and creative exploration that finds its next installment here. It may be a stopgap — formerly their primary means of release, they’ve recently pulled their full-lengths down from Bandcamp; one expects big, got-signed-type news from them at any moment — but Effervescent is fluid and rich, and as deep as you want to go in listening to it, it’s willing to take you there and further. All Them Witches on Thee Facebooks, on Bandcamp.

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Nyarlathotep, The Shadow over Innsmouth

Some six years after releasing their initial The End is Always Near demo, New Jersey black metal outfit (whom, in the interest of full disclosure, I know personally) Nyarlathotep follow-up with the Lovecraftian full-length, The Shadow over Innsmouth. Based around the  short story of the same name, the album breaks down into five extended tracks plus an intro of rage-fueled atmospherics. Using programmed drums to their advantage on “Old Zadok Allen” — the only proper song here under 10 minutes — they add an industrial feel with a keyboard-led midsection backed by vague, ambient screams. The density in the material is striking, but even at their most unbridled — as on the blasting, solo-topped early moments in the title-track — Nyarlathotep hold their commitment to setting a mood firm, and the blown-out, distorted soundscape they create across the release is grim and otherworldly enough to be worthy of its subject matter. It is a complex, biting execution that won’t be for everyone, but that seethes in its quiet parts and gnashes its pointed teeth with monstrous force. Nyarlathotep on Thee Facebooks, on Bandcamp.

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Idre, Idre

Oklahoma City trio Idre specialize in ambient fluidity and deeply-weighted tonal crush. Their self-released, self-titled debut long-player is comprised of two extended cuts — “Factorie” (26:41) and “Witch Trial” (13:17) — that each impress with their patience, their impact and their ability to contrast the generally claustrophobic feel of post-metal with an open-spaced, salt-of-the-earth pulse. Within its first 10 minutes, “Factorie” has moved from undulating waves of riffing to vast, strumming, Across Tundras-esque roll, and never does it seem to be meandering without purpose in the noisy stages to come. It builds and collapses, and when they seem the most gone, the clean, twanging vocals return to finish out, leading to the parabolically constructed “Witch Trial,” which marries Earth-style drone and galloping drums effectively to create a decidedly Western feel while still building toward, and eventually moving through a sonically pummeling apex. Once again, vocals are sparse, but perfectly placed almost as if to remind the listener of how small a human being can be in so wide a space as the Midwest. Like that landlocked region, Idre‘s Idre is expansive and lets you see for miles. Idre on Thee Facebooks, on Bandcamp.

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Rainbows are Free, Waves ahead of the Ocean

Led by the substantial pipes of vocalist B. Fain Kistler, Norman, Oklahoma, four-piece Rainbows are Free seem keen on finding the place where classic doom and heavy rock meet, and on their second full-length, Waves ahead of the Ocean (released by Guestroom Records), they just about get there. Kistler is a singer worthy of comparison to Grand Magus‘ JB Christoffersson, but Rainbows are Free are less grandiose overall, early songs like “The Botanist,” the title-track and the cumbersomely-titled opener “Speed God and the Rise of the Motherfuckers from a Place beyond Hell” nestling into heavy, engaging grooves marked out by the choice riffing of Richie Tarver, the bass work of Chad Hogue and drums of Bobby Onspaugh. Unpretentious and professional in their presentation, they doom up an otherwise Clutch-style boogie in “Cadillac” before going full-on trad metal in “Snake Bitten by Love,” and ably making their way through a Dio Sabbath push on “Burn and Die,” which works well despite feeling a long way from the upbeat rockin’ of earlier highlight “Sonic Demon” and leads smoothly into closer “Comet,” the six-and-a-half-minute spacier thrust of which seems to be seems to be where Rainbows are Free most choose to harken to the psychedelia one might expect from their moniker. They most drive toward the epic in their finale, and the payoff there is churning and insistent in a way that more than justifies the song’s position on the 37-minute record, but even then have a keen eye for structure and holding the attention of their audience. An impeccably put together album from a band more than ready to turn heads. Rainbows are Free on Thee Facebooks, Guestroom Records on Bandcamp.

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Panopticon, Roads to the North

Despite the bluegrass influence and liberal inclusion of banjo amidst its blackened onslaught, Panopticon‘s Roads to the North (released on Bindrune) is perhaps most American of all for its pulling together seemingly disparate elements in defiance of European traditionalism. Billed as and creating the standard for American folk metal, it nonetheless is in conversation with European black metal — a conversation that in my head looks something like it’s being chased à la Benny Hill for its heresies — while purposefully working against its tenets. Roads to the North is the fifth full-length from the one-man project of Kentucky’s Austin Lunn, and made in collaboration with Krallice‘s Colin Marston (among others), it elicits a sprawl through both its metallic extremity and its devotion to the aesthetic it pioneers. It makes for a heady 74-minute listen, but Panopticon are cohesive throughout — five records deep, they should be — and one doesn’t embark on an album like Roads to the North lightly or without wanting full immersion into an evocative and blistering landscape. That’s just what you get. Panopticon on Thee Facebooks, Bindrune Recordings.

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For the full list of albums added to The Obelisk Radio this week and to see the latest updates, click here.

Thanks for reading and listening.

You’ll find almost nothing out of place on Moonbow‘s debut LP, The End of Time. The seven-song full-length wraps up in a neat 31-minute package, is comprised of catchy, well-constructed individual pieces put together to maximize overarching linear flow, and even features a guest vocal spot from John Garcia of Vista Chino/Kyuss on centerpiece “Take it for Granted,” basking in desert soul and traditional stoner rock application. Front to back, The End of Time is neat, crisp, professional and it goes down with enough flavor to let you know it’s there, but at no point proves overbearing or pretentious. It is a rock album, for rockers, by rockers, and clearly the individuals who made it knew what they were doing when they put it to tape. You will not find jagged turns or sloppy explorations. You will find a nearly perfectly-rounded heavy rock genre piece. It knows what it is, it doesn’t want to be anything else, and so long as it’s entered into with an expectation of seeing a form executed rather than reinvented, it can have a lot to offer listeners. The Kentucky-based lineup of vocalist Matt Bischoff, guitarist David McElfresh (also Hank III), bassist Ryan McAllister (also of Ohio’s Valley of the Sun) and drummer Steve Earle (also Garcia‘s bandmate in Hermano) do not try to remake rock and roll in their image. With AC/DC stomp and bouts of Mos Generator melodicism — the closing duo “Saved” and “Black Widow” come to mind most readily — theirs is a sound friendly and familiar that asks few indulgences over the course of this first offering.

An immediate nod to dudely countrified roots arrives in the intro to the opening title-track, “End of Time,” dogwhistling a Southern rock influence that shows up again loosely in the Down-style riffing of “Fire Bath” and some of McElfresh‘s soloing across the album, but like everything on The End of Time, ultimately is in balance with the other elements at work, be it stoner fuzz or heavy rock groove. Were the songs not so well made, one might be tempted to call them generic, or at very least safe. Certainly the band seems to be staying within a kind of comfort zone sonically, but within that, they’ve been able to craft material of remarkable smoothness and accessibility, and that’s not by any means easy to do. Songs don’t stay with you because they beat you over the head with their ideas, but instead, a track like the suitably motoring “Journey of the Iron Horse” gradually infects and proves memorable for the sheer quality of its making. One encounters bands like this from time to time, who seem to come from an alternate universe’s FM radio programming. They offer classically-influenced songs geared not toward bite or revolution, but toward solid realization of an style that in our reality has been replaced by either the bad-time caricature masculinity in heavy metal or the bland vanilla of indie rock and punk. If it were politics, their music would be that rarest of creatures to be found in the American sphere: A true moderate. That’s a word too often used or thought of interchangeably with mediocre, and while it’s true that by their very nature, Moonbow aren’t about to reshape the aesthetic in which they reside, their songwriting proves well above par.

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Unsurprisingly, the six-song Three is the third in a series of No Idea Records EPs from Louisville, Kentucky, noise punkers Black God, whose affinity for subversion bleeds into every one of the new release’s 10 minutes. That’s right. 10 minutes, six songs. The longest cut on Three is opener (immediate points) “Ghost in You,” which hits two minutes on the dog, but everything else is a straight A-to-B shot of efficient and conscious aggression. They are not a band who doesn’t know why they’re angry. Comprised of vocalist Rob Pennington (By the Grace of God, Black Cross), guitarist Ryan Patterson (Black Cross, Coliseum, The National Acrobat), bassist Nick Thieneman (Black Cross, Breather Resist, Young Widows) and drummer Ben Sears (Prideswallower, Mountain Asleep), Black God draws on the decades of experience of its members to craft a sound that’s bullshit free and laser focused.

Yet like the best of the Louisville hardcore scene from whence it comes, Three still sounds natural and not at all over-produced. Its social commentary comes across not as pretentious ramblings that assume ignorance on the part of its audience, but as a classical populism that’s managed to avoid being coopted by corporate influence. The songs — which are what really matters — are fast and aggressive, but not at all without swing or groove, whether it’s the initial rush of “Ghost in You” or the more winding guitar-led “The Trick.” Even closer “Won’t Kiss the Ring” — the shortest track at 1:30 — holds firm to a sensibility that doesn’t sacrifice flow to pissed-offery, rounding out Three with quick gang vocals that call to mind the earlier catchiness of “Washington.”

Blink and you’ll miss it, but “Washington,” as the start of the second half of the release is among its highlight moments, with two strong hooks and no letup in the intensity of the first three pieces. Pennington‘s vocals are have a classic punk edge but are clean and discernible, and the steady thud of Sears‘ drums gives a forceful shove and bounce to verse and chorus alike. The call and response chorus, “In Washington/The night creeps in,” is a defining moment of Three, and true to the no-frills ethic they’ve proffered to this point, once they’re done, they don’t waste any time in cutting right into the subsequent “Womb to Knife.”

Today I have the pleasure of featuring “Washington” as a stream from Three, maybe as a way to mark the impending US government shutdown (which if it weren’t for all the workers and poor people getting shit on might actually be a good thing) or maybe just to wake up at the start of the week. Either way, find it on the player below, and please enjoy:

Black God‘s Three is available now on 7″ from No Idea Records in a variety of limited colors. More info at the links below.

Black God on Thee Facebooks

No Idea Records

In science, the “decline effect” refers to once-supported claims or theories being seen as less true over time. Louisville, Kentucky, sludge punkers The Decline Effect take that notion and, on their self-titled 28:48 Records debut LP, make the obvious philosophical leap with it: What was true before is not true now, and vice versa. Or at very least that that’s where we’re headed. Melt that down in a hot vat of frill-less hardcore punk and riff-led fuckall, and The Decline Effect‘s The Decline Effect gradually begins to take shape, songs like the opener “Swine,” “Drone” and “Superstructure” metering out frustrations to whatever ears will be so bold as to listen.

Along with exploring the long-since-consummated unions between rock and punk and between punk and politics, the 29 minutes of The Decline Effect finds nuance in moments like the Iron Maiden-gone-garage opening progression of “I.N.S.” and the catchy proto-grunge of “Serpent to Slay.” Some might recognize vocalist “Dirty” Dave Johnson from his work in Louisville heavy rockers The Glasspack, though as he’s partnered here with guitarist Mark Abromavage (ex-Kinghorse), bassist Chris Abromavage and drummer Jae Brown, the resulting style across these nine songs is far less blues-based. Rawer and meaner, The Decline Effect backs up its attitude with high-efficiency thrust, the insistent sneer of “Divide and Conquer” meeting groovier contrast in the slower “Bulletproof,” which gives the bass more space to shine through the raw but not underproduced mix.

“Drone” touches on melody with vocal layering but ultimately runs it over with a motoring riff. That’s not The Decline Effect‘s trip anyway. They keep to the pummel, do it well and do it quick, and are in and out smartly in under half an hour. I don’t know if it’s an album to incite a riot, but there aren’t many who pull of grown-up punk this well without sounding either redundant or exhausted. The anger on the catchy “Sleeping Giant” feels genuine, and closer “Bodies” shows some emerging dynamic in tempo shifts that ties the record together surprisingly neatly considering how jagged parts of it can be.

28:48 has The Decline Effect out in a couple different vinyl versions, and you can hear it now in rotation on The Obelisk Radio‘s ever-expanding playlist, as well as get a taste and/or buy a download from the Bandcamp player below:

The Decline Effect, The Decline Effect (2013)

The Decline Effect on Thee Facebooks

The Decline Effect on Bandcamp

28:48 Records

Moonbow are catchy and heavy, and if you have to pick two things to be, those are good places to start. The Kentucky four-piece (which boasts members of Hermano and Valley of the Sun) will issue their debut long-player in the form of The End of Time on Aug. 30, which at very least is the end of the summer. Gotta start somewhere, I suppose.

They’ve got a video for the title-track that’s bound to get the song stuck in your head, so after you peruse the PR wire info below, get ready to hear the chorus of “The End of Time” for a while after the clip ends. Also there are robes:

Moonbow started out as a writing project when singer Matt Bischoff approached David McElfresh of Hank 3/Lethal. The plan was to get together to write some songs for a possible recording project. After a few weeks of getting together at David’s house it was obvious that something bad ass was happening. They approached former Afghan Whigs/Hermano drummer Steve Earle and Bassist Ryan Mcallister of Valley of the Sun to form Moonbow.

With the rock support of their fans and by a fundraising campaign on Kickstarter.com, Moonbow entered the Sneak Attack Studios in Lexington, KY, to record their first long-awaited full length and have just recently announced the worldwide release and album artwork for their debut album ‘The End Of Time’!

Engineered and mixed by Jason Groves, ‘The End Of Time’ will be finally coming out August 30th 2013 via CD Baby, Amazon + iTunes! Both CD & Vinyl will also include the special bonus track ‘Take It For Granted’, featuring and written by John Garcia (Kyuss/Vista Chino/Unida).

If you like a beard long and your whiskey with a full dose of heavy rock n roll, mark your calendars & get ready for Moonbow!

Moonbow – ‘The End Of Time’ – Coming August 30th, 2013
Out worldwide + also available as Vinyl – via CD Baby, Amazon & iTunes!

www.facebook.com/moonbowrocks

Moonbow, “The End of Time” official video

Featuring the vocal stylings of The Glasspack‘s “Dirty Dave” Johnson repurposed onto a brash, aggressive punk sound, Louisville, Kentucky’s The Decline Effect will reportedly have a debut full-length ready for release by the summer. Tentatively-titled The Land of -Isms, the record has been put to tape — yes, actually tape — by Kent O’Bryan and will be mastered by none other than Jack Endino. The Decline Effect is Johnson on vocals alongside guitarist Mark Abromavage (ex-Kinghorse), bassist Chris Abromavage and drummer Jae Brown.

More to come as they get closer to the release, but if you’ve got a minute — won’t take much more than that, they work quickly — the band put up a rough-mix trailer for the album a while back featuring the songs “Swine,” “Divide and Conquer” and “Superstructure,” which you can find below: