Posted in Bootleg Theater on October 10th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Fasano, Italy-based heavy rockers King Potenaz released their debut album, Goat Rider (review here), this past Spring through countryman imprint Argonauta Records. Business over, right? April was like 13 years ago. Who cares about records more than five minutes after they’re released anyway? On to the next thing.
Meanwhile, Giuseppe, Francesco and Pierro aka PRNX (I don’t know how you pronounce that, but if I’d been named after Prince, that’s how I’d spell it) take the nine-minute “Dancing Plague” for a full lap around from a quiet wakeup in the low end through more rockin’ post-Kyuss desert crunch — and they didn’t skip the crunch, as many others might — with snarling, echoing vocals almost guttural in the verses like Celtic Frost. I haven’t seen the lyrics, but THC and LSD both get namedropped in a single line, the hook is “She is my dancing plague,” and they back it with those red sun blues until about five minutes into the video when they shift into a jam.
That inward transition is awfully smooth for basically using the tactic of ‘now we’re doing this’ to make it happen. But a band confident enough — and with a good enough drummer — can be in a jam 10 seconds after finishing a chorus and still get cheers from the crowd. King Potenaz at their most immersive on Goat Rider retain the album’s lack of pretense — they friggin’ called it Goat Rider; nobody’s out here trying to be Very Serious ArtistsTM. These are riffers, reveling. And it’s the transition back out of the jam to the central riff — if ever there’s a moment not to screw up, that’s it — that absolutely makes it. They handle it with no more ceremony than they had going in, and clearly there’s no need for any.
And throughout whether it’s the quiet, the loud, the quiet or the loud, King Potenaz ask nothing more of the listener or viewer than to semi-consciously follow along, while making it both easy and enjoyable to do so. The video is basically a performance clip with the members superimposed on backgrounds of what look like architectural tourist attractions of Italy’s boot. It might be kind of an artsy send-up with the black and white, the atmospheric shots, etc., but in the lack of fancy tricks, it’s true to the band’s traditionalist ethos,and like the song itself it’s a reminder that when you strip everything else out, it’s still about the joy of communal creativity and playing with friends. That’s the vibe I get, anyhow. You can see for yourself and decide, I know.
Hope you dig it, in any case, and thanks for dedicating a few minutes of your day to doing so.
Born out of a series of jam sessions in 2019 in Fasano (Italy), KING POTENAZ began to write their own music by drawing heavily on the work of doom/stoner bands like Sleep, Electric Wizard, Kyuss, Monster Magnet and, of course, Black Sabbath.
After a change on drums, the lineup solidifies into the current power trio formed by Giuseppe (guitar and vocals), Francesco (bass guitar) and Piero (drums and synths).
Longtime friends and musicians, they are active in the local heavy/underground scene since the 90s: Giuseppe and Francesco initiated several black/doom/drone projects such as Helvete, Moriendoom and Rius de la Mort, whereas Piero played drums in punk/hardcore bands No Exit and Erpice and produced two electronic solo albums as PRNX.
King Potenaz: Giuseppe guitar/vocals Francesco bass PRNX drums/synth
Ah, a Quarterly Review Wednesday. Always a special occasion. Monday starts out with a daunting look at the task ahead. Tuesday is all digging in and just not trying to repeat myself too much. Wednesday, traditionally, is where we hit the halfway point. The top of the hill.
Not the case this time since I’ll have 10 records each written up next Monday and Tuesday, but crossing the midpoint of this week alone feels like an accomplishment and you’ll pardon me if I mark it as such. If you’re wondering how the rest of the week will go, tomorrow is all-business and Friday’s usually a party one way or the other. My head gets so in it by the middle of next week I’ll be surprised not to be doing this anymore. So it goes.
Quarterly Review #21-30:
Khanate, To Be Cruel
Who among mortals could hope to capture the horrors of Khanate in simple words? The once-New York-based avant sludge ultragroup end a 14-year hiatus with To Be Cruel, a fourth album, comprising three songs running between 19-21 minutes each that breed superlative hatefulness. At once overwhelming and minimalist, with opener “Like a Poisoned Dog” placing the listener in a homemade basement dungeon with the sharp, disaffection-incarnate bark of Alan Dubin (also Gnaw) cutting through the weighted slog in the guitar of Stephen O’Malley (also SunnO))), et al), the bass of James Plotkin (more than one can count, and he probably also mastered your band’s record) and the noise free-jazz drumming of Tim Wyskida (Blind Idiot God, etc.), they retain the disturbing brilliance last heard from in 2009’s Clean Hands Go Foul (discussed here) and are no less caustic for the intervening years. “It Wants to Fly” is expansive and wretched death poetry set to drone doom, a ritual made of its own misery, and the concluding title-track goes quiet in its midsection as though to let every wrenching anguish have its own space in the song. There is no one like them, though many have tried to convey some of what apparently only Khanate can. As our plague-infested, world-burning, war-making, fear-driven species plunges further into this terrible century, Khanate is the soundtrack we earn. We are all complicit. All guilty.
Though plenty atmospheric besides, Vancouver heavy fuzz rockers Space Queen add atmosphere to their nine-song/26-minute Nebula EP through a series of four interludes: the a capella three-part harmonies of “Deluge,” the acoustic-strummed “Veil” and “Sun Interlude,” and the finishing manipulated space-command sample in “End Transmission” after the richly melodic doom rock of “Transmission/Lost Causemonaut.” That penultimate inclusion is the longest at 6:14 and tells a story in a way that feels informed by the three-piece of drummer/vocalist Karli MacIntosh, guitarist/vocalist Jenna Earle and bassist/keyboardist/vocalist Seah Maister‘s past in the folk outfit Sound of the Sun, but transposes its melodic sensibility into a heavier context. It and the prior garage-psych highlight “When it Gets Light” — a lighter initial electric strum that arrives in willful-seeming contrast to “Darkest Part” immediately preceding — depart from the more straight-ahead push of opener “Battle Cry” and the guitar-screamer “Demon Queen” separated from it by the first interlude. Where those two come across as working with Alice in Chains as a defining influence — something the folk elements don’t necessarily argue against — the Nebula EP grows broader as it moves through its brief course, and flows throughout with its veering into and out of songs and short pieces. This is Space Queen‘s second EP, and if they’re interested in making a full-length next, they sound ready.
Fasano, Italy’s King Potenaz debut on Argonauta Records with Goat Rider, which conjures raw fuzz, garage-doom atmospherics, and vocals that edge toward aggression and classic cave metal, early Venom or Celtic Frost having a role to play even alongside the transposition of Kyuss riffing taking place in the title-track, which follows “Among Ruins” and “Pyramids Planet,” both of which featured on the trio’s 2022 Demo 6:66, and which set a tone of riff-led revelry here with a sound that reminds of turn-of-the-century era stoner explorations, but grows richer as it moves into “Pazuzu (3:33)” — it’s actually 5:18 — with guest vocals from Sabilla and the quiet three-minute instrumental “Cosmic Voyager” planet-caravanning into the 51-minute album’s second half, where “Moriendoom (La Ballata di Ippolita Oderisi)” and the even doomier “Monolithic” dig into cultish vibes and set up the bleak shuffle of nine-minute closer “Dancing Plague,” departing from its central ’90s-heavy riff into a mellow-psych movement and then returning from that outward stretch to end. Even at its most familiar, Goat Rider finds some way to harness an individual edge, cleverly using the mix itself as an instrument to create the space in which the songs dwell. It may take a few listens to sink in, but there’s real potential in what they’re doing.
With the release of their third album, New World Hoarder, German art-sludgers Treedeon celebrate their first decade as a band. The combined vinyl-with-CD follows 2018’s Under the Manchineel (review here) and proffers raw cosmic doom in “Omega Time Bomb,” crossing the 10-minute line for the first time after the particularly-agonized opener “Nutcrème Superspreader” and before the title-track’s nodding riff brings bassist Yvonne Ducksworth to the fore vocally, trading off with guitarist Arne Heesch as drummer Andy Schünemann crashes cyclically behind. “New World Hoarder” gives over to side B opener “Viking Meditation Song,” which rolls like an evil-er version of Goatsnake, and “RHV1,” on which Heesch and Ducksworth share vocal duties, as they also do in 12-minute closer “Läderlappen” — a shouting duet in the first half feels long in arriving, but that’s how you know the album works — as the band cap with more massive chug following an interplay of melody and throatier fare. They’re right to ride that groove, as they’re right about so much else on the record. Like much of what Exile on Mainstream puts out, Treedeon are stylistically intricate and underrated in kind.
There are a couple different angles of approach one might take in hearing Orsak:Oslo‘s In Irons full-length. The Norway/Sweden-based instrumental troupe have been heretofore lumped in with heavy post-rock and ambient soundscaping, which is fair enough, but what they actually unveil in “068 The Swell” (premiered here), is a calming interpretation of space rock. With experimentalism on display in its late atmospheric drone comedown, “068 The Swell” moves directly into the more physical “079 Dutchman’s Wake (Part I),” the languid boogie feeling modern in presentation and classic in construction and the chemistry between the members of the band. The drums sit out much of the first half of “069 In What Way Are You Different,” giving a sense of stillness to the drone there, but the song embraces a bigger feel toward its finish, and that sets up the feedback intro to “078 The Mute (Part II),” which veers dreamily between amplifier drone and complementary melodic guitar flourish. Taking 17 minutes to do it, they close with “074 Hadal Blue,” which more broadly applies the space-chill of “068 The Swell” and emphasizes flow and organic changes from one part to the next. Immersive, it would be one to get lost in if it weren’t so satisfying to pay attention.
Fuck. Yes. As much grind as sludge as electronics-infused hardcore as it is furious, unadulterated noise, the 12-song/50-minute onslaught that is Boss Blades arrives via Modern Grievance at the behest of Jon Weisnewski, also of Sandrider, formerly of Akimbo. If Weisnewski‘s name alone and the fact that Matt Bayles mixed the self-recorded debut LP aren’t enough to pull you into the tornado of violence and maddening brood that opener “Boss Blades” uses to open — extra force provided by one of two guest vocal spots from Dave Verellen of Botch; the other is on “Lasers in the Jungle” later on — then perhaps the seven-minute semi-industrial march of “Obsolete Food” or the bruising intensity of “Poorly Made Pots” or the minute and a half of sample-topped drone psych in “Guitart,” the extreme prog metal of “Eat Meth” or “Manifest Piss Tape” will do the trick, or the nine-minute near-centerpiece “Many Knives” (which, if there’s a Genghis Tron influence here generally — and there might be — is more the last record than the older stuff) with its slow keyboard unfolding as a backdrop for Dust Moth‘s Irene Barber to make her own guest appearance, plenty of post-everything cacophony mounting by the end, grandiose and consuming. I could go on — every track is a new way to die — but suffice it to say that this is what my brain sounds like when my kid and my wife are talking to me about different things at the same time and it feels like my skull is on fire and I have an aneurysm and keel over. Good wins.
Sometimes harsh but always free, 2022’s Chapter 4 from Croatian instrumentalist double-guitar five-piece Mycena — guitarists Marin Mitić and Pavle Bojanić, bassist Karlo Cmrk, drummer Igor Vidaković and synthesist/noisemaker Aleksandar Vrhovec — brings three tracks that are distinct unto themselves but listed as part of the same entirety, dubbed “Dissolution” and divided into “Dissolution Part 1” (17:49), “Dissolution Part 2” (3:03), and “Dissolution Part 3” (18:11), and it may well be that what’s being dissolved is the notion that rock and roll must be confined to verse/chorus structuring. Invariably, Earthless are a comparison point for longform instrumental heavy anything, and given the shred in “Dissolution Part 1” around five minutes deep and the torrent rockblast in the first half of “Dissolution Part 3” before it melts to near-silence and quietly noodles its way through its somehow-dub-informed last 11 or so minutes, building in presence but not actually blowing up to full volume as it caps. While totaling a manageable 39 minutes, Chapter 4 is a journey nonetheless, with a scope that comes through even in “Dissolution Part 2,” which may just be an interlude but still carries a steady rhythm that seems to reorient the band ahead of their diving into the extended final part, the band sounding natural in making changes that would undo acts with less chemistry.
Filthy tone. Just absolutely nasty. Atlanta’s Bog Monkey tracked Hollow, their self-released debut LP, with Jay Matheson at The Jam Room in South Carolina, and if they ever go anywhere else to try to capture their sound I’d have to ask why. With seven cuts totaling 33 minutes play-time and fuzz-sludge blowouts a-plenty in “Facemint,” the blastbeaten “Blister” and the heads-down largesse-minded shove-off-the-cliff that is “Slither” at a whopping 2:48, Hollow transposes Conan-style shouted vocals on brash, thickened heavy, the bass in “Tunnel” and forward-charging leadoff “Crow” with its thrash-riffing hook is the source of the heft, but it’s not alone. Spacious thanks to echoes on the vocals, Hollow crushes just the same, and as the trio plunder toward the eight-minute “Soma” at the end, growing intense quickly out of a calmer intro jam and slamming their message home circa 3:40 with crashes that break to bass and guitar noise to establish the nod around which the ending will be based, all you can really do is look forward to the bludgeoning to come and be glad when it arrives. Don’t be fooled by their generic name, or the silly stoner rock art (which I’m not knocking; it being silly is part of the point). Bog Monkey bring together different styles in a way that’s thoughtful and make songs that sound like they just rose out of the water to fucking obliterate you. So go on. Be obliterated.
Punkish in its choruses like the title-track or opener “Sports,” the four-song Dead Nature EP from South Africa’s The Man Motels is the latest in a string of short releases and singles going back to their 2018 full-length, Quit Looking at Me!, and they temper the urgency of their speediest parts with grunge-style melody and instrumental twists. Bass and drums at the base of “Young Father” set up the sub-three-minute closer as purely punk, but sure enough the guitar kicks in coming out of the verse and one can hear the Nirvana effect before it drops out again. Whether it’s a common older-school hardcore influence, I don’t know, but “Sports” and “Young Father” remind of a rawer Fu Manchu with their focus on structure, but “The Fever” is heavier indie rock and culminates in a tonally satisfying apex before cutting back to the main riff that’s led the way for… oh, about three minutes or so. All told, The Man Motels are done in 15 minutes, but they pack a fair amount into that time and they named the release after its catchiest installment, so there. Maybe not the kind of thing I’d always reach for in my own listening habits, but I’m not about to rag on a band for being good at what they do or showcasing their material with the kind of energy The Man Motels put into Dead Nature.
With a couple short(er) outings to their credit, Bayonne, New Jersey, three-piece Pyre Fyre present seven songs in the 18 minutes of their self-titled, which just might be enough to make it a full-length. Hear me out. They start raw with “Hypnotize,” more of a song than an intro, punkish and the shortest piece at 1:22. From there, the Melvins meet Earthride on “Flood Zone” and the range of shenanigans is unveiled. Produced by drummer/noisemaker Mike Montemarano, with Dylan Wheeler on guitar, Dan Kirwan on bass and vocals from all three in its hithers and yons, it is a barebones sound across the board, but Pyre Fyre give a sense of digging in despite that, with the echo-laced “Wyld Ryde” doled out like garage thrash, while “Dungeon Duster/Ice Storm” sounds like it was recorded in two different sessions and maybe it was and screw you if that matters, “Don’t Drink the Water” hits the brakes and dooms out with stoner-drawl vocals later, “Arachnophobia” dips into a darker, somehow more metal, mood, and the fuzzy “Cordyceps” ends with swagger and noise alike in just under two and a half minutes. All of this is done without pretense, without the band pausing to celebrate themselves or what they just accomplished. They get in, kick ass, get out again. You don’t want to call it an album? Fine. I respectfully disagree, but we can still be friends. What, you thought because it was the internet I was going to tell you to screw off? Come on now.
Posted in Whathaveyou on January 23rd, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Following their well-received 2022 initial public offering, Demo 6:66 (posted here), Italian heavy trio King Potenaz have signed with Argonauta Records to issue their debut album sometime this year. Presumably in Spring or summer, but either way there’s a new single, “Monolithic,” streaming now to herald the release, and that’ll do nicely for the moment.
Tricks of the algorithm, “Monolithic” actually came up in my YouTube recommendations before I even saw the press release below — they would seem to have learned to send videos from Argonauta‘s channel — and obviously no regrets on digging in there and then finding the info below. Not sure when to expect details of the eight-tracker to come, but it’s good to know I’ve got multiple avenues making sure I don’t miss it. A somewhat unexpected advantage of being tracked all the time.
Anyhoozle, more to come; here’s this from the PR wire:
Italian Stoner Doom Rockers KING POTENAZ Sign to ARGONAUTA Records; New Single Out Now
“We are proud and excited to announce our debut album release on Argonauta Records. We started writing songs a bit for fun and driven by the spirit of doom and stoner running through our veins since we were kids … the desire to share with everyone that spirit, turned into a whole album… 8 tracks of dirty and fuzzy heavy doom / stoner!”
Born out of a series of jam sessions in 2019 in Fasano, Apulia, Italy, King Potenaz began to write their own music by drawing heavily on the work of doom/stoner bands like Sleep, Electric Wizard, Kyuss, Monster Magnet and, of course, Black Sabbath.
After a change on drums, the lineup solidifies into the current power trio formed by Giuseppe (guitar and vocals), Francesco (bass guitar) and Piero (drums and synths).
Longtime friends and musicians, they are active in the local heavy/underground scene since the 90s:
Giuseppe and Francesco initiated several black/doom/drone projects such as Helvete, Moriendoom and Rius de la Mort, whereas Piero played drums in punk/hardcore bands No Exit and Erpice and produced two electronic solo albums as PRNX.
In 2022 King Potenaz launched “Among The Ruins” and “Pyramids Planet” [demo versions].
Their debut album is scheduled for release under Argonauta Records during 2023 on CD and DIGITAL editions, and the exciting first single “Monolithic” is streaming right now.
King Potenaz: Giuseppe guitar/vocals Francesco bass PRNX drums/synth
Posted in Questionnaire on August 29th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
The Obelisk Questionnaire is a series of open questions intended to give the answerer an opportunity to explore these ideas and stories from their life as deeply as they choose. Answers can be short or long, and that reveals something in itself, but the most important factor is honesty.
Based on the Proust Questionnaire, the goal over time is to show a diverse range of perspectives as those who take part bring their own points of view to answering the same questions. To see all The Obelisk Questionnaire posts, click here.
Thank you for reading and thanks to all who participate.
The Obelisk Questionnaire: Giuseppe Guarini of King Potenaz
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How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?
I play guitar and vocals in King Potenaz and I think it’s the most satisfying thing ever. I started as a kid as a self-taught and I played and sang in different bands in high school… then unfortunately I left everything for many years until 2019 when I was overwhelmed by the desire to compose original songs and in the end here I am.
Describe your first musical memory.
A cassette donated by a musician friend who had Iron Maiden’s The Number of The Beast on side A and Nirvana’s Nevermind on side B.
Describe your best musical memory to date.
A Black Mountain concert a few years ago… I remember being completely kidnapped by the performance and psychedelia of the songs and having goosebumps for the entire duration of the concert… it was a mystical experience.
When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?
When I took covid after taking the third dose of vaccine… the world collapsed on me not so much because I was sick but because I was I firmly believed I was immune.
Where do you feel artistic progression leads?
I believe that it leads to a greater understanding of yourself… art must bring to light what we have inside and carry into music the feelings, thoughts and dreams (whether positive or negative) of the man behind the artist.
How do you define success?
Success is having the opportunity to share your idea of music but above all being able to be satisfied with what you have created.
What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?
I saw a loved one who was a second father to me suddenly die and it is something I will never forget.
Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.
I’d like to create a concept album set in space… doom and overly psychedelic.
What do you believe is the most essential function of art?
Art is the expression of the innermost self.
Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?
