Posted in Whathaveyou on January 19th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
I was fortunate enough to run into Castle Rat this past Fall in the smaller room at Desertfest New York 2023 (review here), and such has been the hype around the Brooklynite theatrical doom rockers whose debut album will be out April 12 that that actually felt late. Sex is a big part of the show, but so is medieval fantasy lore, so take that with the appropriate grain of salt, and if you’re ever gonna do this kind of thing, do it while you’re young and hot. I write about a lot of bands 40 and up. Not a lot of them walking around without shirts on. Though some.
But Into the Realm, which is seeing release through King Volume, is probably about to get all kinds of outside-genre crossover attention, and when it comes to that kind of thing, my general tendency is to stay away. But I’ve been turned off my hype before much to my detriment — I can cite examples from Uncle Acid through Spotlights and tons more; sometimes I get on board sometimes I don’t — so I want to give Into the Realm a shot and see where I land with it on a song level. Castle Rat‘s first two singles showed craft and perspective to match the band’s stage-minded focus and presentation.
From the PR wire:
Castle Rat Announce Into the Realm LP
Highly-Anticipated Full-Length from Immersive Medieval Fantasy Doom Metal Visionaries Out April 12 via King Volume Records
Castle Rat — the story-driven Medieval Fantasy Doom Metal band from Brooklyn known for its theatrical, action-packed live shows complete with full costumes, choreographed sword fighting, and fake blood — is releasing their highly anticipated album, Into the Realm, through King Volume Records on April 12th, 2024.
“It’s taken a couple years to see this record through, and it is so exciting and rewarding to finally be welcoming it into the world. A huge part of the time it’s taken to release it has been finding someone we could trust to see our vision and bring Into The Realm into the universe with the same amount of love and passion we poured into it — and King Volume is undoubtedly that label,” wrote vocalist Riley Pinkerton.
Into the Realm – TRACKLISTING:
01. Dagger Dragger 02. Feed The Dream 03. Resurrector 04. Red Sands 05. The Mirror 06. Cry For Me 07. Realm 08. Fresh Fur 09. Nightblood
Into the Realm arrives after a blistering year that marked a successful Southwestern US tour; a lauded appearance at Desertfest New York alongside underground luminaries like Brant Bjork, 1000mods, Monster Magnet, Colour Haze, and Melvins; and their first powerful, doom-laden single, “Feed the Dream,” on its way to more than 500,000 streams.
While the band pulls its visual inspiration from the over-the-top stylings of KISS and uses intricate costumes and theatrics to deliver spellbinding live shows, the band remains rooted in the Doom tradition of Black Sabbath, playing massive riffs and Tony Iommi-influenced licks under Pinkerton’s powerful vocals.
To that end, Castle Rat’s live shows have already grown legendary in the underground community. While performing, the band reenacts the lore behind The Rat Queen (performed by Riley Pinkerton on guitar/vocals): On her mission to expand and defend “The Realm” from those who seek to destroy it, The Rat Queen is joined by The Count (Franco Vittore – lead guitar), The Plague Doctor (Ronnie Lanzilotta III – bass), and The Druid (Josh Strmic – drums). Together they face the relentless wrath of their arch nemesis: Death Herself — The Rat Reaperess (actress Maddy Wright). The Realm of Castle Rat exists for those who crave swords and sorcery; stoner and doom; Frazetta & Sabbath; and battle-babes and beasts.
True to the band’s ethos, Into the Realm was recorded in an abandoned Philadelphia church the band temporarily converted into a studio. Among the flooded floors, decaying plaster, and ornate stained glass windows, the band stacked their Orange amps and tracked over two and half days, with engineering and production assistance from Davis Shubs and Thomas Johnsen.
“The energy within The Church is undeniable,” wrote Pinkerton. “While tracking vocals for ‘Cry For Me’ I was standing there alone in the center of the church, surrounded by stained glass windows as they faded to a pale grey-blue in the twilight. The veil between the spirit realm and the realm of the living became so thin it felt as if I were floating between them. I feel that particular vocal take was aided or influenced by something beyond my understanding…”
Surrounded by the church’s dreadful atmosphere and a certainty that the property was haunted, the band eventually decided to shoot the “Dagger Dragger” music video in the same location.
With their eye for visual storytelling and an ear for writing captivating doom metal, Castle Rat is a force even more powerful than the Rat Reapress. Dive into the lore on April 12th, 2024.
Pre-Orders for Into the Realm are available via Castle Rat’s Bandcamp NOW. This release will be supported by additional vinyl variants from Wise Blood Records and Kozmik Artifactz (Europe). The band will also be celebrating the record release with a show on April 19th at Brooklyn Made with support from Tower and Killer Kin.
Riley Pinkerton – Singer, Guitarist, Songwriter; Rat Queen Franco Vittore – Lead Guitarist; Count Ronnie Lanzilotta III – Bassist; Plague Doctor Josh Strmic – Drummer; The All-Seeing Druid Maddy Wright; The Rat Reapress (Live shows)
Recording, Mix, and Engineering: Davis M. Shubs and Thomas Johnsen Cover Art: Photo by Ronnie Lanzilotta, Layout and Editing by Olivia Cummings Logo by Riley Pinkerton
Posted in Whathaveyou on August 30th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Aiwass will release their second album, The Falling, on Oct. 13 through King Volume Records. The Phoenix, Arizona-based atmospheric doom metal outfit began as a solo-project of multi-instrumentalist, vocalist and songwriter Blake Carrera with 2021’s Wayward Gods (review here) but toured this summer as a full band, just last week released a split with AAWKS, and last month added Eddy Keyes on bass as a seemingly permanent member; change is afoot. And fair enough, since Carrera‘s vision for what Aiwass will be and do is also expanding. With five songs running 40 minutes, Carrera — functioning alone in conjunction with engineer Edsel Holden and co-producer/mixer Grant Husselman, who’s best known for his work across multiple King Buffalo releases but has done plenty besides — guides the listener with a steady hand through a course of expansive heavy craft, beginning its world-creation with “Prometheus” (premiered below) featuring guest vocals from Niuvis Martin along with Carrera‘s own.
“Prometheus,” which takes its title from the Titan who gave fire to mortals and thus earned Zeus-decreed a daily disembowling from an eagle while tied to a rock — Heracles eventually let set him free — begins to explore the wash at which The Falling derives some of its fullest and strongest moments. In the later “Be Not a Man,” Carrera will turn that toward almost cultishly sinister ends with a mellow vocal laced with effects over organ, guitar, programmed drums, bass, and so on, but in “Prometheus” with Martin‘s voice added, the album is given an almost operatic beginning.
It is immersive to the point of the listener almost not realizing it’s being moved along by the drum sounds, and it smoothly glides through its eight and a half minutes with airiness of melody and density in the underlying heft. The subsequent “Gnosis” is bleakly psychedelic — a gray swirl — and uses open space fluidly with volume surges and a last build that’s masterfully executed, while centerpiece “The Light of Evil” feels more grounded in its procession. Maybe it’s the drumming more forward in the mix, or more clarity in the rumble beneath the organ of its chorus, or maybe it’s that chorus itself, but it’s a well-placed landmark around which The Falling can function. I’d call it the heart of the record, but the record is all heart. I’m sorry, but you don’t make this kind of music unless there’s something inside telling you that you need to do it.
The aforementioned “Be Not a Man” follows with apocalyptic overtones and vibrant lead work layered in along with its early chug, the wash in the chorus, and an organic stretch-out of doomly vibes, and closer “Crossing the Veil” begins with standalone acoustic strum and pluck, vaguely Western, but too trippy to be aping country. There’s a layer of maybe-ebow guitar and the vocals topping all this ambient breadth would call to mind “Planet Caravan” by rote, but “Crossing the Veil” moves into a march after two minutes — still acoustic — with organ and far-off drumming, keys, a chorus of voices almost in echo of “Prometheus” holding until right at the six-minute mark the song sweeps into a grandiose heavy rolling finish, with hard cymbal hits, a scorching guitar solo, and a payoff no less satisfying than the realization of ambitions has been throughout.
By the next time Aiwass puts out an album — hell, by the time Aiwass puts out this album — the band might have a completely different configuration around Carrera. That’s one more reason to appreciate the moment captured here, and the reach of the creativity brought to bear on The Falling, which no matter what follows will have built effectively on Wayward Gods and revealed a depth to Carrera‘s intention that is an accomplishment in itself, never mind the actual execution of the thing, which resides in a place between styles and is confident, poised and sincere there. A more than solid fit for King Volume‘s varied roster.
Please, feel free to stream the premiere of “Prometheus” while you peruse the PR wire info below, and please, enjoy:
Blake Carrera on “Prometheus”:
“Prometheus rise up from your lone grave”
The song “Prometheus” was born of pain, strife, and uncertainty. It is a reflection of one artist crying out his reality to the world. It is also a declaration of strength and resiliency before the avalanche of life. On a personal level, “Prometheus” is one of my greatest achievements as an artist, one that was helped massively by the contributions of Niuvis Martin (Amenorrhea) and my producer Grant Husselman, both of whom helped me put forward my nightmares into musical form.
As the first single off of a concept album focused on grief and strength, “Prometheus” is the foundation upon which The Falling resides. It is the setting of the play, the locus of invention, the spring from which the parched wanderer satiates their thirst. Unearthly voices mate with the crush of bombastic guitars to create a spell meant to transfix the listener, situating them in a world of discomfort and examination. I hope that, through my work, listeners are able to gain a better understanding of both myself and themselves.
Aiwass, the Aleister Crowley-obsessed psychedelic doom project out of the American Southwest, has stretched beyond the soul-shaking soundscapes of its highly revered debut album Wayward Gods to deliver The Falling, a genre-bending experience with towering riffs, heart-wrenching melodies, layered instrumentation, and meticulous attention to detail through King Volume Records on October 13.
The Falling demonstrates marked growth in the Aiwass sound—a sonic tapestry that was already complex and mature enough to push 2021’s Wayward Gods to No. 11 on the Doom Charts upon release. In The Falling, Aiwass reaches further outside the psychedelic doom template to incorporate influences from classical music, black metal, country, and other genres.
“When I started The Falling,” Aiwass founder and solo musician Blake Carrera says, “I felt like doom was getting played out. I didn’t want to be another copycat. I wanted to be me. As a result, this album is much more exploratory and experimental.”
In charge of capturing the new vision for Aiwass was Grant Husselman, the album’s co-producer and long-time King Buffalo collaborator. “This record wouldn’t have happened without Grant,” Carrera says. “When we first started collaborating, The Falling was raw and scattered, even though the ideas were there. He helped shape them and give them new depth and space. He gave me the belief in myself to push beyond what I created in my early demos.”
The Falling exhibits renewed confidence in Carrera’s songwriting, which was also partially sparked by experiences during the Aiwass 2022 summer tour with Twin Wizard. “Being on the road really helped me figure out what works and what doesn’t, and I started enhancing the things that people really responded to while we were on stage. They loved the bludgeoning choruses on Wayward Gods, so I double-downed on that in The Falling. But I also looked for opportunities to do something unexpected, like adding in acoustic guitar on songs like ‘Crossing the Veil.’”
With so many different influences, The Falling is a risky album—but it’s one that shines even more brightly because of it. The themes of Aleister Crowley and Thelema are still prominent, but they’re woven into lyrics that explore Carrera’s personal struggles and thoughts around mental illness, philosophy, and psychology. The album also features greater doses of black metal and new vocal harmonies—something Wayward Gods avoided.
The result is an innovative, jaw-rattling slab of layered harmonic doom that pushes the genre forward into new, exciting directions—becoming a complex album that should appeal to a wide variety of metal fans.
Aiwass – The Falling Release Date: October 13, 2023 Label: King Volume Records Runtime: 40:48
Additional Vocals: Niuvis Martin (“Prometheus”) Mixing/Co-Producer: Grant Husselman Engineering: Edsel Holden Cover Art: Justyna Koziczak
Track List: 1. Prometheus 2. Gnosis 3. The Light of Evil 4. Be Not A Man 5. Crossing the Veil
Posted in Whathaveyou on July 25th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Ahead of their appearance at Desertfest NYC this September, Brooklyn-native trad metal/doom rock five-piece Castle Rat will play a string of five West Coast shows leading up to their support slot for Cirith Ungol in Denver, which is certainly a fitting line for their CV at this point in their career. Surely adding to the hype and momentum the fantasy-themed outfit has amassed since holding forth their debut single “Feed the Dream” (review here) last Fall is the fact that the band are now signed to King Volume Records to release their first full-length next year. Onto the ‘most anticipated’ list it goes.
King Volume is a solid fit. It was pretty assured that Castle Rat would end up on some imprint or other. I had them pegged for Cruz Del Sur or Shadow Kingdom, but with King Volume, their willful flippancy of genre rules will be given the respect it deserves, and they’re now labelmates to Lord Mountain, with whom they should tour more or less immediately. Or at very least after Desertfest. You get the idea. Potential out the proverbial wazoo. Their second single “Dagger Dragger” streams at the bottom of this post.
The announcement came down the PR wire as follows:
CASTLE RAT – King Volume Records
The KING VOLUME KULT grows with the addition of the mighty CASTLE RAT! The Brooklyn-based fantasy doom rockers dwell in a REALM of their own. Wielding the sonic axe, CASTLE RAT explores new depths of the dungeons first unlocked by their rock-god predecessors! Sabbath, Cirith Ungol, Manilla Road all contributed ingredients to their audio alchemy. Having crafted a uniquely heavy and accessible sound, the band elevates the experience with an immersive stage performance. Prepare for the mystery, the power, and the plague as CASTLE RAT rips a heart shaped hole into your music love life!
This year CASTLE RAT will be making a few high profile appearances including opening for Cirith Ungol Aug. 18th at The Gothic Theater and performing at Desertfest NYC, Sept. 15th. CASTLE RAT will be releasing their debut album with King Volume in 2024. Research medieval disease and witchcraft NOW so you will be prepared when CASTLE RAT is unleashed upon the world!
8/14 Los Angeles, CA Resident LA @residentdtla: @nutt.porfa @ughhband
8/15 Tempe, AZ Yucca Tap Room @yuccataproom: @uvcband + special guests
8/16 Albuquerque, NM Long Hair Records @longhairrecords: Grifter @spectral_decay_666 @nomestomper
8/17 Santa Fe, NM Tumbleroot Distillery @tumblerootsf: @savagewizdomofficial @iwatchyousleepband
8/18 Denver, CO Gothic Theater @gothictheatre: @cirithungolband @nightdemonmetal @chambermage
Photos by @bmillz_nyc
Short Bio: Castle Rat is a fantasy doom metal band hailing from Brooklyn, NY, led by The Rat Queen (guitar/vocals). On her mission to expand and defend ‘The Realm’ from those who seek to destroy it, The Rat Queen is joined by The Count (lead guitar), The Plague Doctor (bass), and The Druid (drums). Together they face the relentless wrath of their arch nemesis: Death Herself —The Rat Reaperess. The Realm of Castle Rat exists for those who crave swords & sorcery; stoner & doom; Frazetta & Sabbath; battle-babes & beasts.
Posted in audiObelisk on June 1st, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Los Angeles fuzz rockers Lord Loud released their second album, Timid Beast (discussed here), in Sept. 2020, and their new single “Pressure,” comes from the same recording session. And though it was left off the record, and though it’s been three years, “Pressure” arrives sounding fresh and duly urgent, its descending riff and sub-three-minute runtime reminiscent of classic garage rock but also emblematic of the niche the duo of guitarist/vocalist Chris Allison and drummer Michael Field have dug out for themselves stylistically. Able to pivot to psychedelia or pastoral heavy vibes, languid classic heavy rock or proto-punkish shove made gentler by the rampant melody that surrounds, it is a molten sound on a fireproof structural foundation. With what feels like vital attention to pace and efficiency of craft, “Pressure” doesn’t depart this methodology to make its atmospheric impression, instead letting the ambience and mood become part of the track itself.
TimidBeasthas 11 songs on it, and the band hints that there may be more singles like this coming, so it must have been a productive time putting material together after 2017’s debut, Passé Paranoia (review here), but “Pressure” does have more movement than some of the album-proper’s laid back fare — and you’ve got “Lady Sunday” in there for the more action-packed contingent, and that’s got handclaps — so it’s understandable how it might not fit in a final tracklisting. I think a lot of the time bands feel compelled to point out, “It’s not that we don’t like this song, it’s that it works better this way,” and this far out from Timid Beast, “Pressure” does stand well on its own, Allison‘s cover art suitably horrifying.
“Don’t forget to breathe” is something of a personal mantra — one I often forget — so the whispered “breathe in, breathe out” reminders peppered through the track’s final section after the jangly mini-freakout guitar solo are welcome, if actually a little fast to follow along with as a relaxation method. Fair enough since the song is about being up against a proverbial wall on any number of fronts described below. But if you didn’t hear Timid Beast or just want a refresher or something to listen to next after the premiere of “Pressure” below, that Bandcamp stream is near the bottom of the post as well.
With the caveat of maybe more to come, enjoy “Pressure,” followed by more background in blue provided by the band:
Lord Loud on “Pressure”:
‘Pressure’ was written at a time where we felt an undercurrent of tension fomenting but before all the events that are probably going to end up in history books. Prices, politics, and the music scene all teemed and boiled under the surface. We were also closing in on wrapping up recording sessions to figure out what our album TIMID BEAST might become, so there was some personal pressure on us to produce a crop of songs to cull down to a tight and lean offering. At this time, we were recording in Downtown Rehearsal, and were losing the practice space at the end of the month. We had the idea of doing a song with a lot of loud to quiet dynamics, and we turned it around in a couple days. It was a shared space, so recording sessions would consist of setting up all the mics and getting our engineering down, and Mike usually got it in a couple takes. We didn’t really have time for more because we had to break down and get to our jobs.
The song seemed a little more frenetic than some of the cuts that made the album and we thought it might have a better chance to live on its own. The world got thrown into chaos, and us with it, but we’re finally piecing some things back together to finalize the remaining songs we had. Not sure if the societal tension that inspired this song has been released when I look around at different cities and countries, but the timing feels right for us to finally release some ‘Pressure’.
After three quiet years, Lord Loud peaks out to release a new hair raising single, Pressure. Recorded during the 2020 Timid Beast sessions, Pressure remained an interesting outlier of a song that didn’t find its way onto the final album. When it came time to compose the track order for Timid Beast, the band chose to be concise and to the themes of the album and a few wonderful songs fell to the wayside. The song embodies the sonic qualities of building, heart pumping tension, transforming anxiety and stress into a hard rock classic.
Along with this single, we have the great pleasure of releasing a repress of the long sought after TIMID BEAST lp. Two stunning variants are available. The first is an Orange Splatter in Ultra Clear vinyl with a standard jacket limited to 200 copies worldwide. The second is Creamsicle Swirl in Opaque vinyl that includes a double sided, hand screen printed jacket with a new art layout.
All artwork including the single was make by lead singer/guitarist, Chris Allision. Chris, a professional story artist for animated feature films and draws comics on the side. Michael Feld, drummer, just released a documentary about My Morning Jacket titled “Return to Thunderdome” that he co-directed and co-edited. The band has had expansive reach into creative fields outside of their music output.
Lord Loud are: Chris Allison – vocals, guitar, etc. Mike Feld – drums, percussion
Japanese psychedelic rockers Tō Yō will release their debut album, Stray Birds From the Far East, on Aug. 18 through King Volume Records and Kozmik Artifactz. With depth of arrangement enough to allow for the various effects and hand percussion, shifting moods coming and going, as well as funky grooves and broadened sometimes folkish vocal melodies from guitarist Masami Makino, the six-song/30-minute offering brings forth a vibrant, movement-ready psychedelia that’s not shy about freaking out in the wah-soaked, let’s-bang-on-stuff ending of “Tears of the Sun” or the thicker fuzz of the subsequent “Titania Skyline,” but the band introduce themselves gently if quickly on opener “Soaring,” as if in the first 45 seconds or so, they’re looking around at reality and saying, “Okay, we tried that, now let’s move on to this,” and citing the drift/strum guitars of Masami and Sebun Tanji, Issaku Vincent‘s boogie bass and Hibiki Amano‘s drumming and percussion as an alternate, perhaps preferable path to follow. The argument made is convincing.
Its personality is complex enough to be more than one thing even sometimes at once, but Stray Birds From the Far East never quite lets go of its abidingly mellow spirit, which even as “Soaring” moves into start-stop jangle near its finish, percussion going all-in underneath, holds steady. Funk is at the forefront on “Hyu Dororo,” which goes dream-tone in its bridge but returns to the verse, and side A’s capper “Twin Mountains” melts vintage heavy rock and psychedelia together so that the snare and hand-drum meet up on the beat as the howling guitar solo floats ahead before the second verse starts up in the same stratosphere. At 3:41, the song is short — the shortest on the LP, but not by a ton — but even in that more clear structure, the feel Tō Yō present is organic, prone to subtlety and given to a kind of communion with its own making.
One often thinks of the phrase ‘locked in’ as a way to convey a band effectively communicating with each other musically, perhaps to the exclusion of the outside world. The rhythm and melody and interplay of instruments becomes the thing. Tō Yō are locked in on Stray Birds From the Far East, but far from keeping listeners on the other side of the door, the warmth of their tones and sometimes soft vocals and the feeling of motion in the low end and percussion give an unmistakable feeling of welcome to the entire proceedings.
They might be locked in, but that doesn’t mean you’re not invited too. Talking about “Soaring” below, they call it danceable, which is true of much of the record thanks to the interplay of various rhythms, and as “Tears of the Sun” moves deeper into its second half, the build in intensity is resonant enough to feel in your blood, even if as much as I agree with the physical urgency there, I wouldn’t call the leadoff or anything that follows ‘primitive’ in either its construction or the end-product of the arrangements themselves, though there are certainly aspects of traditional Japanese folk music, as well as some hints of Mediterranean traditionalism and/or Afrobeat — one hates to use a phrase like ‘world music’ — to go along with a wash that might be familiar to those who’ve previously dived into the work of outfits like Dhidalah or others from the Guruguru Brain Records-fostered, deeply-adventurous current generation of J-psych.
“Titania Skyline” is positioned ahead of closer “Li Ma Li” and starts its verse early to reground after “Tears of the Sun” left off with such a noiseblast. Backing vocals, a steady, jazzy snare and noodly rhythmic figure on guitar below the lead provide ample groove as a foundation, and after dropping a quick hint of Captain Beyond‘s “Mesmerization Eclipse,” they embark at 2:45 into a follow-up raucous jam to reinforce that of “Tears of the Sun” prior, never losing the underlying progression until it drops to a quick bite of feedback as preface to “Li Ma Li,” which begins with swirl behind a mellow-funk nod, spaces out the vocals engagingly and adds what sounds like organ or other synth that bolsters the classic vibe in a manner righteous and well-placed. The vocals reside in a kind of sub-falsetto upper register, and the shift is fascinating.
The song will solidify near the end — relatively speaking — around a steady riff and a bit of low-key scorch, but the proceedings are friendly regardless, and that initial gentle sensibility from “Soaring” is a further unifier of the material that enters Tō Yō into the vibrant fray of the Japanese psychedelic underground, showing them as willing to explore new ideas even as they bask in decades’ worth of lysergic aural influence. Subdued but not lazy, Stray Birds From the Far East finds its balance in fluidity and feels like the breakthrough point of a seed that will continue to flower over future outings. One hopes for precisely that.
You can stream “Soaring” on the player below, followed by some comment from Tō Yō and info from the PR wire.
Please enjoy:
Tō Yō, “Soaring” track premiere
Tō Yō on “Soaring”:
This track anticipates the beginning of the journey and is a good entry point into our world. The lyrics are spiritual, in that the land of the unseen is always inside of you. Imagine flying somewhere far away and returning home as completely synonymous.
The beat is very danceable, maybe not rock-like in a sense, but considering the connection between the slow tempo parts, this was the best way to create the most beautiful transitions. It’s obvious how many instruments are used to create the beat, but that’s not what we intended, in a way, the melody is almost entirely left to the vocals, which calls to mind a primitive form of musical expression. I think this primal juxtaposition helps induce a sense of spirituality.
Most of the tracks were created from jamming, and we thought about what percussion would be great for the track while recording, which is our style. Most of the percussion was improvised by our crazy drummer Hibiki.
Tō Yō, the Tokyo-based psychedelic quartet, has announced their debut record Stray Birds From the Far East—a dreamy, pop-infused psych/acid rock concept album about nostalgia for a place yet to be discovered—to be released through King Volume Records on August 18, 2023.
The Tō Yō sound is simultaneously unique yet familiar—but it’s also moving. “Our psychedelic sound is at times violent and at times naïve,” says vocalist and guitarist Masami Makinom, “but we also believe our sound is meant to awaken the most primitive senses in order to sublimate the rise of the soul and its uncontrollable impulses.”
Tō Yō is an ambitious band with an ambitious vision, so it’s no surprise some of their biggest influences are known for complex, groundbreaking visions; Far East Family Band, J. A. Seazer, Flower Travellin’ Band, Kikagaku Moyo, YU Grupa, Ali Farka Touré, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, and Red Hot Chili Peppers all show up in the list of the band’s most important influences.
As a self-described jam band, hashing out Tō Yō’s songs in the studio was a necessity, but it also proved to be a strategic benefit, as working with engineer Yui Kimijima at Tsubame Studio (the mecca for today’s Japanese psychedelic rock) in Tokyo helped the band take their sound to the next level.
“He is not sparing in his experimentation,” says Makinom. “In fact, the studio has a wonderful atmosphere that inspires the imagination, with instruments that we have never touched, and things that were originally used for other purposes but can function as instruments. For example, in ‘Tears of the Sun,’ the glittering steel popping sound in the second half is actually the sound of a tarai—a tin tub.”
With Tō Yō, the band embarks on an ambitious journey of experimentation and musical risks, but this has led to a colorful and often unpredictable sonic tapestry that embodies their myriad influences while combining with the heroics of indie darlings Built to Spill, the shimmering charm of My Morning Jacket, the carefree spirit of surf rock, and the wild, swirling sounds of the psychedelic giants of the 1970s.
Recording: Yui Kimijima at Tsubame Studio in Asakusabashi, Tokyo Mastering: Yui Kimijima at Tsubame Studio in Asakusabashi, Tokyo Art: Todd Ryan White
Tracklisting: Side A: 1. Soaring 2. Hyu Dororo 3. Twin Mountains Side B: 4. Tears of the Sun 5. Titania Skyline 6. Li Ma Li
Posted in Reviews on April 11th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
If you missed yesterday, be advised, it’s not too late. If you miss today, be advised as well that tomorrow’s not too late. One of the things I enjoy most about the Quarterly Review is that it puts the lie to the idea that everything on the internet has to be so fucking immediate. Like if you didn’t hear some release two days before it actually came out, somehow a week, a month, a year later, you’ve irreparably missed it.
That isn’t true in the slightest, and if you want proof, I’m behind on shit ALL. THE. TIME. and nine times out of 10, it just doesn’t matter. I’ll grant that plenty of music is urgent and being in that moment when something really cool is released can be super-exciting — not taking away from that — but hell’s bells, you can sit for the rest of your life and still find cool shit you’ve never heard that was released half a century ago, let alone in January. My advice is calm down and enjoy the tunes; and yes, I’m absolutely speaking to myself as much as to you.
Quarterly Review #11-20:
Siena Root, Revelation
What might be their eighth LP, depending on what counts as what, Revelation is the second from Siena Root to feature vocalist/organist Zubaida Solid up front alongside seemingly-now-lone guitarist Johan Borgström (also vocals) and the consistent foundation provided by the rhythm section of bassist Sam Riffer (also some vocals) and drummer Love “Billy” Forsberg. Speaking a bit to their own history, the long-running Swedish classic heavy rockers inject a bit of sitar (by Stian Grimstad) and hand-percussion into “Leaving the City,” but the 11-song/46-minute offering is defined in no small part by a bluesy feel, and Solid‘s vocal performance brings that aspect to “Leaving the City” as well, even if the sonic focus for Siena Root is more about classic prog and blues rock of hooky inclusions like the organ-and-guitar grooving opener “Coincidence and Fate” and the gently funky “Fighting Gravity,” or even the touch of folkish jazz in “Winter Solstice,” though the sitar does return on side B’s “Madukhauns” ahead of the organ/vocal showcase closer “Keeper of the Flame,” which calls back to the earlier “Dalecarlia Stroll” with a melancholy Deep Purple could never quite master and a swinging payoff that serves as just one final way in which Siena Root once more demonstrate they are pure class in terms of execution.
The latest and (again) maybe-eighth full-length to arrive within the last 10 years from Monterrey, Mexico’s Los Mundos, Eco del Universo is an immersive dreamboat of mellow psychedelia, with just enough rock to not be pure drift on a song like “Hanna,” but still an element of shoegaze to bring the cool kids on board. Effects gracefully channel-swap alongside languid vocals (in Spanish, duh) with a melodicism that feels casual but is not unconsidered either in that song or the later “Rocas,” which meets Western-tinged fuzz with a combination of voices from bassist/keyboardist Luis Ángel Martínez, guitarist/synthesist/sitarist Alejandro Elizondo and/or drummer Ricardo Antúnez as the band is completed by guitarist/keyboardist/sitarist Raúl González. Yes, they have two sitarists; they need both, as well as all the keyboards, and the modular synth, and the rest of it. All of it. Because no matter what arrangement elements are put to use in the material, the songs on Eco del Universo just seem to absorb it all into one fluid approach, and if by the time the hum-drone and maybe-gong in the first minute of opener “Las Venas del Cielo” unfolds into the gently moody and gorgeous ’60s-psych pop that follows you don’t agree, go back and try again. Space temples, music engines in the quirky pop bounce of “Gente del Espacio,” the shape of air defined amid semi-krautrock experimentalism in “La Forma del Aire”; esta es la música para los lugares más allá. Vamos todos.
Well, you see, sometimes there’s a global pandemic and even the most thoroughly-banded of artists starts thinking about a solo record. Not to make light of either the plague or the decision or the result experience from “Minnesota” Pete Campbell (drummer of Pentagram, Place of Skulls, In~Graved, Vulgarri, Gygax, Sixty Watt Shaman for a hot minute, guitarist of The Mighty Nimbus, etc.), but he kind of left himself open to it with putting “Lockdown Blues” and the generally personal nature of the songs on, Me, Myself and I, his first solo album in a career of more than two decades. The nine-song/46-minute riffy splurge is filled with love songs seemingly directed at family in pieces like “Lightbringer,” “You’re My Angel,” the eight-minute “Swimming in Layla’s Hair,” the two-minute “Uryah vs. Elmo,” so humanity and humility are part of the general vibe along with the semi-Southern grooves, easy-rolling heavy blues swing, acoustic/electric blend in the four-minute purposeful sans-singing meander of “Midnight Dreamin’,” and so on. Five of the nine inclusions feature Campbell on vocals, and are mixed for atmosphere in such a way as to make me believe he doesn’t think much of himself as a singer — there’s some yarl, but he’s better than he gives himself credit for on both the more uptempo and brash “Starlight” and the mellow-Dimebag-style “Whispers of Autumn,” which closes — but there’s a feeling-it-out sensibility to the tracks that only makes the gratitude being expressed (either lyrically or not) come through as more sincere. Heck man, do another.
Based in the Netherlands, North Sea Noise Collective — sometimes also written as Northsea Noise Collective — includes vocals for the first time amid the experimental ambient drones of the four pieces on the self-released Roudons, which are reinterpretations of Frisian rockers Reboelje, weirdo-everythingist Arnold de Boer and doom legends Saint Vitus. The latter, a take on the signature piece “Born Too Late” re-titled “Dit Doarp” (‘this village’ in English), is loosely recognizable in its progression, but North Sea Noise Collective deep-dives into the elasticity of music, stretching limits of where a song begins and ends conceptually. Modular synth hums, ebbs and flows throughout “Wat moatte wy dwaan as wy gjin jild hawwe,” which follows opener “Skepper fan de skepper” and immerses further in open spaces crafted through minimalist sonic architecture, the vocals chanting like paeans to the songs themselves. It should probably go without saying that Roudons isn’t going to resonate with all listeners in the same way, but universal accessibility is pretty clearly low on the album’s priority list, and for as dug-in as Roudons is, that’s right where it should be.
Philly merchants Sins of Magnus offer their fourth album in the 12 songs/48 minutes of Secrets of the Cosmos, and while said secrets may or may not actually be included in the record’s not-insignificant span, I’ll say that I’ve yet to find the level of volume that’s too loud for the record to take. And maybe that’s the big secret after all. In any case, the three-piece of bassist/vocalist Eric Early, guitarist/vocalist Rich Sutcliffe and drummer Sean Young tap classic heavy rock vibes and aim them on a straight-line road to riffy push. There’s room for some atmosphere and guest vocal spots on the punkier closing pair “Mother Knows Best” and “Is Anybody There?” but the grooves up front are more laid back and chunkier-style, where “Not as Advertised,” “Workhorse,” “Let’s Play a Game” and “No Sanctuary” likewise get punkier, contrasting that metal stretch in “Stoking the Flames” earlier on In any case, they’re more unpretentious than they are anything else, and that suits just fine since there’s more than enough ‘changing it up’ happening around the core heavy riffs and mean-muggin’ vibes. It’s not the most elaborate production ever put to tape, but the punker back half of the record is more effective for that, and they get their point across anyhow.
Steeped in the arcane traditions of classic doom metal, Nine Altars emerge from the UK with their three-song/33-minute debut full-length, The Eternal Penance, leading with the title-track’s 13-minute metal-of-eld rollout as drummer/vocalist Kat Gillham (also Thronehammer, Lucifer’s Chalice, Enshroudment, etc.), guitarists Charlie Wesley (also also Enshroudment, Lucifer’s Chalice) and Nicolete Burbach and bassist Jamie Thomas roll with distinction into “The Fragility of Existence” (11:58), which starts reasonably slow and then makes that seem fast by comparison before picking up the pace again in the final third ahead of the more trad-NWOBHM idolatry of “Salvation Lost” (8:27). Any way they go, they’re speaking to metal born no later than 1984, and somehow for a band on their first record with two songs north of 11 minutes, they don’t come across as overly indulgent, instead borrowing what elements they want from what came before them and applying them to their longform works with fluidity of purpose and confident melodicism, Gillham‘s vocal command vital to the execution despite largely following the guitar, which of course is also straight out of the classic metal playbook. Horns, fists, whatever. Raise ’em high in the name of howling all-doom.
Fuzzblasting their way out of Salem, Massachusetts, with an initial public offering of six cuts that one might legitimately call “high octane” and not feel like a complete tool, The Freqs are a relatively new presence in the Boston/adjacent heavy underground, but they keep kicking ass like this and someone’s gonna notice. Hell, I’m sure someone has. They’re in and out in 27 minutes, so Poachers is an EP, but if it was a debut album, it’d be one of the best I’ve heard in this busy first half of 2023. Fine. So it goes on a different list. The get-off-your-ass-and-move effect of “Powetrippin'” remains the same, and even in the quiet outset of the subsequent “Asphalt Rivers,” it’s plain the breakout is coming, which, satisfyingly, it does. “Sludge Rats” decelerates some, certainly compared to opener “Poacher Gets the Tusk,” but is proportionately huge-sounding in making that tradeoff, especially near the end, and “Chase Fire, Caught Smoke” rips itself open ahead of the more aggressive punches thrown in the finale “Witch,” all swagger and impact and frenetic energy as it is. Fucking a. They end noisy and crowd-chanting, leaving one wanting both a first-LP and to see this band live, which as far as debut EPs go is most likely mission accomplished. It’s a burner. Don’t skip out on it because they didn’t name the band something more generic-stoner.
Doomer nod, proto-metallic duggery and post-NWOBHM flourish come together with heavy rock tonality and groove throughout Lord Mountain‘s bullshit-free recorded-in-2020/2021 debut album, issued through King Volume as the follow-up to a likewise-righteous-but-there-was-less-of-it 2016 self-titled EP (review here) and other odds and ends. Like a West Coast Magic Circle, they’ve got their pagan altars built and their generals out witchfinding, but the production is bright in Pat Moore‘s snare cutting through the guitars of Jesse Swanson (also vocals and primary songwriting) and Sean Serrano, and Andy Chism‘s bass, working against trad-metal cliché, is very much in the mix figuratively, literally, and thankfully. The chugs and winding of “The Last Crossing” flow smoothly into the mourning solo in the song’s second half, and the doom they proffer in “Serpent Temple” and the ultra-Dio Sabbath concluding title-track just might make you a believer if you weren’t one. It’s a record you probably didn’t know you were waiting for, and all the more so when you realize “The Oath” is “Four Horsemen”/”Mechanix” played slower. Awesome.
Opener “The Air at Night Smells Different” digs into HEX-era Earth‘s melancholic Americana instrumentalism and threat-underscored grayscale, but “Fog Works,” which follows, turns that around as guitarist Florian Karg moves to keys and dares to add both progressivism and melody to coincide with that existential downtrodding. Fellow guitarist Philipp Seiler, standup-bassist Stephan Leeb and drummer Marian Waibl complete the four-piece, and Impending Bloom is their first long-player as Black Air. They ultimately keep that post-Earth spirit in the seven-minute title-track, but sneak in a more active stretch after four minutes in, not so much paying off a build — that’s still to come in “A New-Found Calm” — = as reminding there’s life in the wide spaces being conjured. The penultimate “The Language of Rocks and Roots” emphasizes soul in the guitar’s swelling and receding volume, while closer “Array of Lights,” even in its heaviest part, seems to rest more comfortably on its bassline. In establishing a style, the Vienna-based outfit come through as familiar at least on a superficial listen, but there’s budding individuality in these songs, and so their debut might just be a herald of blossoming to come.
Oh yeah, you over it? You tired of the bongslaught of six or seven dozen megasludge bands out there with ‘bong’ in their name trying to outdo each other in cannabinoid content on Bandcamp every week? Fine. I don’t care. You go be too cool. I’ll pop on “Ganjalf” and follow the smoke to oh wait what was I saying again? Fuck it. With some Dune worked in for good measure, Adelaide, Australia’s Bong Coffin build a sludge for the blacklands on “Worthy of Mordor” and shy away not a bit from the more caustic end their genre to slash through their largesse of riff like the raw blade of an uruk-hai shredding some unsuspecting villager who doesn’t even realize the evil overtaking the land. They move a bit on “Messiah” and “Shaitan” and threaten a similar shove in “Nightmare,” but it’s the gonna-read-Lovecraft-when-done-with-Tolkien screams and crow-call rasp of “Träskkungen” that gets the prize on Bong Coffin‘s debut for me, so radly wretched and sunless as it is. Extreme stoner? Caustic sludge? The doom of mellows harshed? You call it whatever fucking genre you want — or better, don’t, with your too-cool ass — and I’ll march to the obsidian temple (that riff is about my pace these days) to break my skull open and bleed out the remnants of my brain on that ancient stone.
Posted in Whathaveyou on March 15th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
South Carolinian trio Auralayer make their full-length debut with Thousand Petals on July 14 through King Volume Records. The nine-song/35-minute outing is the latest in a splurge of quality offerings from the label — see also Fairie Ring‘s LP out in April and Lord Mountain‘s January release this year alone — and boasts production by former Kylesa guitarist Phillip Cope, who duly highlights the tonal depth and largesse on cuts like opener “All My Time,” which premieres below, while allowing for the movement in “Shelf Black,” first shuffle, then nod and (relative) lumber, enough breadth to exist fluidly side-by-side with the shove of “Dance to Thrash” and the bombastic stoner swing of “Monstrum” in which the High on Fire influence noted in the PR wire info comes home to roost in a rager of a riff and solo from guitarist Thomas Powell before the next galloping verse Kyuss careens through the barren wastes en route to “The Lake,” which pushes that lethal impulse even further in its chugging verse before opening to its unabashed hook.
Along with bassist/vocalist Jake “Kimble” Williams and drummer/backing vocalist Vladimir Doodle (also percussion), Powell lands numerous bruiser blows throughout, the band taking cues from ’90s and ’00s heavy and stoner rock and adding their own perspective as well as tonality such that “Faith to Reason” lands like dirtied-up C.O.C. and “Christ Antler” can build an atmosphere of its own around its beginning desert-style riff. The band call it “power doom” and fair enough for the push of air they unleash throughout, if not some of the more soaring aspects of power metal the self-applied tag might imply. They cap likewise melodic and intense on “You Walk,” nakedly referencing Sleep as they gleefully chug toward Thousand Petals‘ final payoff, but there’s a richer mix at play throughout the proceedings thanks to the sonic persona readily on display. That is, whatever aspects come across as familiar — that looming air of Goatsnake not directly traceable to any single riff, for example — Auralayer are purposeful in sounding like themselves.
The aforementioned “All My Time” was one of three songs included on the band’s 2021 demo EP Solar Plexus, but like its compatriots “Faith to Reason” and “Christ Antler,” it’s been re-recorded and fleshed out for the record. You can hear it on the player below, followed by a quote from Williams and the announcement from King Volume of the upcoming release. We’ve got a few months before July gets here, but heads up anyway:
Auralayer, “All My Time” track premiere
Jake “Kimble” Williams on “All My Time”:
“All My Time” is one of the first Auralayer songs we wrote, which at the time Auralayer was just Thomas and Myself in the basement of my home, jamming and seeing what would happen when two very different types of musicians made music. No name, no drummer, just throwing ideas at the wall and seeing what worked. I was very much looking to prove myself at the time. This song is partially me telling myself “this time I have something to say, I have something to show the world.” And the other half is the self-doubt and the doubt of my peers growing up who didn’t believe in me telling me “You ain’t never going anywhere.” It’s me screaming back to the void of voices screaming self-doubt. It’s a song I think many can relate to. To be brave in the face of odds stacked against you, and believing in yourself when no one else does.
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Bombastic Progressive Doom Power Trio Auralayer to Release Debut Album ‘Thousand Petals’ Through King Volume Records On July 14, 2023
Auralayer, the visionary and captivating power trio out of Greenville, SC, has announced the release of their raucous debut album, Thousand Petals, through King Volume Records, due July 14, 2023. Delivering a unique blend of powerful doom riffs, kinetic progressive rock drums, and electrifying pop-inspired melodies, Thousand Petals is impressively heavy and undeniably catchy.
The band’s signature brand of metal comes from its members’ diverse musical interests. “I’m really into doom, especially bands like High on Fire,” says guitarist Thomas Powell. “Vlad, the drummer, is really into progressive rock, and his favorite drummer is Neil Peart. And Jake, our bassist, really likes pop music — The Beatles and Talking Heads.” Thanks to those disparate influences, the band is largely unencumbered by typical doom and stoner rock clichés during the writing phase — a fact that has helped them develop their own original metal sound.
To help them harness their energetic musical vision, the band recruited Philip Cope, the founder of the experimental metal band Kylesa, to engineer, mix, and master their debut at Jam Room Recording Studio in Columbia, SC. As with Kylesa, Cope helped to capture and channel the band’s diverse influences and experimentation into a cohesive sonic palette — on both the debut album and the band’s 2021 Solar Plexus EP.
“Phil has had a huge influence on me as an artist,” says Powell, “so it was great having him around. He’s just as passionate about our music as we are, so it almost feels like he’s part of the band. And since he’s worked on so many cool projects, like the first Baroness album, he has so many cool perspectives and great attention to detail, and that really helped us capture the sound we were going for.”
Despite the band’s collective encyclopedic knowledge of music, the trio has also pulled inspiration from a variety of artistic and philosophical sources—while still maintaining a unified final product. The album title, for example, comes from the Sahasrara padma, the crown chakra that translates to “the lotus of a thousand petals” and is symbolic of supreme consciousness and enlightenment.
Thousand Petals comes after the success of the band’s original demo EP, Solar Plexus (also inspired by Eastern cultures and the Chakra Manipura), which was released on August 13, 2021. All three songs from that demo — “Christ Antler,” “Faith to Reason,” and “All My Time” — have been sharpened and honed onto Thousand Petals.
Auralayer – Thousand Petals Release Date: July 14, 2023 Label: King Volume Records
Tracklisting: 1. All My Time 2. Christ Antler 3. Dance to Thrash 4. Peacemonger 5. Faith to Reason 6. Shelf Black 7. Monstrum 8. The Lake 9. You Walk
Recording, Mix, and Engineering: Philip Cope (Jam Room Recording Studio, Columbia, SC) Art: Juan Montoya (Formatted by Wes Brooks)
Band: Thomas Powell (Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, FX/Pedals) Jake “Kimble” Williams (Vocals, Bass Guitar, Miscellaneous Percussion) Vladimir Doodle (Drums, Percussion, Backup Vocals)
Posted in audiObelisk on January 26th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Evansville, Indiana’s Faerie Ring will release their second album, Weary Traveler, on April 14 through cooperation between King Volume Records, Wise Blood Records and Kozmik Artifactz. The follow-up to 2019’s The Clearing (review here), the album is a six-song beast of mammoth fuzz and doomly celebration, presented across two three-song sides running 40 minutes with to-tape production by Alex Kercheval at Postal Recording Studio, dialed in for largesse from the outset on its leadoff title-track and “Silver Man in the Sky” (premiering below), moving between slowed-down ’80s-metal-at-night chug and lumbering still-kind-of-a-party doom, catchy all the while and setting out on the journey not so much weary as resolute.
“Weary Traveler” is the shortest song here at 5:05 — it bookends with closer “Motor Boss” at 5:37 — and though it’s among the more unabashedly massive, “Silver Man in the Sky” is emblematic of the accessibility of the album as a whole at 6:36 of fluidly unfolding plod, more intricate in its weaving together layers of Kyle Hulgus‘ and James Wallwork‘s guitars (the latter also handles vocals) atop the emergent roll and will to boogie that’s made to flow so well through Alex Wallwork‘s bass and Joey Rhew‘s drumming.
Whether it’s the turn of “Weary Traveler” to an almost bomb-tone nod filled out by swirling feedback later, the apparently-hammer-on-a-pan bangs mixed well into the rhythm of “Silver Man in the Sky,” the slowed-down The Sword twists in the second half of “Never Rains at Midnite,” or the noisy intro to the shoving “Lover” on side B after the nine-minute psych-doom outbound adventure of “Endless Color / Dope Purple,” the shimmering latter stretch of which reminds of some of King Buffalo‘s ambient flourish after so much by marching, or the harmonica-laced shuffle and swing of the speedier-but-still-thick “Motor Boss,” each piece on Weary Traveler offers something to distinguish it from the bunch while adding to the overarching scope of the album.
The narrative — blessings and peace upon it — has it that this is the result of the fact that, while the band recorded live, being in the studio with Kercheval for a week allowed them time to experiment and flesh out happy accidents during the recording, try new ideas and offbeat ways of doing things. Fair enough. That’s not something every act gets to do, and Weary Traveler is indeed stronger for the attention to detail, but the real story of the album is more about the growth in songwriting and the clarity of the band’s presentation even as they drop to noise before the finish in “Lover” or the fact that “Endless Color / Dope Purple” — which, yes, does have some organ on it — is able to move from its initial march into its long stretch of hypnotic drift with such organic seeming care.
So, attention to detail. Fine. But Weary Traveler has some funk to it too tucked in amidst the doom. The relatively uptempo beginning and bassy punch in “Never Rains at Midnite,” the blues-via-tonal-wash of “Motor Boss,” and even the direct transition from “Lover” that leads into it are emblematic of Weary Traveler functioning as a good time, daring to have and to be fun, and that doesn’t necessarily feel transgressive as much as it’s simply something not every band is willing to do. It makes the listening experience front to back on Weary Traveler easier to undertake — the record is not at all the slog its title might imply — and even in the construction of the tracklist, how they start side B with “Endless Color / Dope Purple” before the (relatively) speedier concluding one-two of “Lover” and “Motor Boss” demonstrates the care put into this particular execution of their craft; a significant step forward from where they were on The Clearing even as it expands on the ideas that first album put forth.
The pan, the piano in “Never Rains at Midnite,” the looping their sounds through an AM radio discussed below, these are nifty bits of nuance and though that sounds like I’m devaluing their effect on the record, I’m not. But without the underlying foundation that’s present here in the songs, Weary Traveler would simply fall flat instead of triumphing as it does.
Still, there’s something insular about these tracks, something dug into itself and its own making — the process as part of the outcome, maybe. And maybe hearing that in the music is what I get for reading the bio and the power of suggestion there, but still, even in the depth of tone between the guitars of Hulgus and Wallwork there’s evidence of just how purposeful each consideration on Weary Traveler is, and even if some ideas were birthed by off-the-cuff studio experiments — I’d also believe “Endless Color / Dope Purple” didn’t have a title before it was recorded, but I don’t know that — that shouldn’t be taken to mean Faerie Ring didn’t have their collective shit together going in to work with Kercheval. At their core, these songs have been ironed out and honed for maximum impact.
Their affect is modern — they sound big, they speak to classic metal early and more cosmic fare later on, and they blur the lines between different heavy styles in between, etc. — and their sound, crushing and spacious in kind, is still developing. After going from one extreme of recording in a basement to the other of working in a pro-shop studio, one might expect them to find a space in between for a crucial third album (unless they decided this is how they want to roll, which would also be understandable, considering the results), but wherever they end up, it seems likely the lessons they learn across Weary Traveler — how to be as much Red Fang as Electric Wizard while being neither, for example — will serve them well as they move forward. What matters more than that, though, is that Faerie Ring declare essential aspects of themselves here and present them to the listener in a spirit of mutual appreciation — because make no mistake, they’re into it too — and righteous, dug-in, weighted revelry.
“Silver Man in the Sky” premieres on the player below, followed by more from the PR wire.
Please enjoy:
Faerie Ring, “Silver Man in the Sky” track premiere
Faerie Ring on “Silver Man in the Sky”:
“The main riff in Silver Man in the Sky was conjured within a dense weed fog mid-2019 at 3am. With it came images of mysterious blades, lightning, and an even more mystifying silver skinned man looming in the æther. If you have an ass, it’ll kick it. Our ode to the almighty Power Trip.
Our hearts might’ve said Power Trip, but our Caveman hands said Electric Wizard. This entire album was recorded live in studio straight to tape just how God intended. Two Sunn Model T’s roaring into infinity. Stacks of ’70s $50 solid state Peaveys were the icing on the cake that really set this track off. By the end of the session, our V’s were flying us.
This was our first foray into recording at a real studio. With that came the ability to experiment and try things outside the box. Objects that weren’t musical all the sudden became the key to unlocking a song. We needed a striking steel sound, therefore I found myself in the booth with a doobie hanging out of my mouth hitting an iron skillet with a hammer into a vintage $20,000 Telefunken Mic then cooking our dinner in it an hour later. What really blew our minds was the pan strike turned out to be in the same key that we were playing and slid in pitch perfect with the rest of the song. Lightning in a bottle kept getting captured over and over like that. I credit that to living at the studio for a week creating this album for your consumption. An undeniable banger for all banging’s sake! A monolithic celebration for all things volume.”
Faerie Ring – Weary Traveler Release Date: April 14, 2023 Labels: King Volume Records with Wise Blood Records and European distribution through Kozmik Artifactz
Faerie Ring, the hazy and gloomy stoner doom band from Evansville, Indiana, channels their love for bombastic riffs, soaring vocals, high fantasy, and science fiction into Weary Traveler, a mystical and weed-inspired romp recorded by Alex Kercheval (Coven) and set for release through King Volume Records on April 14, 2023.
Weary Traveler is a marked step forward in the band’s songwriting and recording processes. While their debut album (2019’s The Clearing) was an amalgam of massive riffs recorded in a friend’s basement, Weary Traveler delivers a coordinated and deliberate buffet of cohesive songs meticulously written by the band. Just as important, the album was professionally recorded at Postal Recording Studio in Indianapolis by Alex Kercheval, an essential part of the legendary rock band Coven. Under Kercheval’s guidance, the band recorded directly to tape and took numerous opportunities to experiment in the studio.
“Alex Kercheval is a genius,” says guitarist Kyle Hulgus. “In the beginning of ‘Lover,’ one of our singles, we have a section that sounds like it’s coming through a radio… Well, Alex did this by broadcasting the raw tape tracks over AM radio, then recorded the radio, dialed it in, then bounced that through a series of outboard pre-amps for about 15 seconds. It was amazing.”
Experimentation was a key part of the creative process in Weary Traveler. For “Silver Man In The Sky,” another single, the band wanted the sound of an anvil, so they took an iron skillet (which the band wound up cooking in a few hours later) into the recording booth and bashed it with a hammer in front of a $20,000 Telefunken microphone. As Kyle recalls: “There was a moment in the song where we were sending a signal from a Steinway piano worth more than my house through a Death By Audio Fuzz Delay into a Sunn Model-T. I felt like a mad scientist.”
Working in a professional studio also gave them access to professional equipment for the first time. From the Steinway piano to the Telefunken microphone, the band found the perfect complements to its arsenal of Sunn Model-T & Orange amplifiers and Big Muff & Turbo Rat pedals. With these components combined, the band created an album that is crisper and more focused—while still generating the same loud energy that made The Clearing so impressive. Incredibly, Alex Kercheval managed to capture the entire album in one go, which provided him and the rest of the band with multiple days to perfect the record’s sound.
Weary Traveler is punctuated by three distinctive, enthralling singles: “Silver Man In the Sky,” “Never Rains at Midnight,” and “Lover.” “Silver Man In the Sky” combines massive, Sleep-inspired riffs with Brant Bjork-styled flourishes, “Never Rains At Midnight” is a foot-stomping headbanger that displays traces of Trouble and The Obsessed, while “Lover” channels Fu Manchu energy through a gloomy Doom delivery. Overall, Weary Traveler is a six-pack of masterful riffage and stunning melodies.
Recording: Alex Kercheval & Morgan Satterfield at Postal Recording Studio Mastering: Cauliflower Audio Art: Jerry Hionis (@Wyrmwalk) Logo: Daniel Porta (@thepitforge)
Band: James Wallwork (Guitar & Vocals), Kyle Hulgus (Guitar), Alex Wallwork (Bass), Joey Rhew (Drums)
