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.

Siena Root on Facebook

Atomic Fire Records website

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Los Mundos, Eco del Universo

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.

Los Mundos on Facebook

The Acid Test Recordings store

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Minnesota Pete Campbell, Me, Myself & I

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.

Minnesota Pete Campbell on Facebook

Kozmik Artifactz website

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North Sea Noise Collective, Roudons

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.

North Sea Noise Collective on Facebook

North Sea Noise Collective on Bandcamp

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Sins of Magnus, Secrets of the Cosmos

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.

Sins of Magnus on Instagram

Sins of Magnus on Bandcamp

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Nine Altars, The Eternal Penance

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.

Nine Altars on Facebook

Good Mourning Records website

Journey’s End Records website

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The Freqs, Poachers

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.

The Freqs on Facebook

The Freqs on Bandcamp

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Lord Mountain, The Oath

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.

Lord Mountain on Facebook

King Volume Records store

Kozmik Artifactz store

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Black Air, Impending Bloom

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.

Black Air on Instagram

Black Air on Bandcamp

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Bong Coffin, The End Beyond Doubt

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.

Bong Coffin on Facebook

Bong Coffin on Bandcamp

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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

Eclectic Album Engineered by Philip Cope (Kylesa)

Preorder link: https://auralayer.bandcamp.com/album/thousand-petals

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)

https://www.facebook.com/auralayermusic
https://www.instagram.com/auralayermusic/
https://auralayer.bandcamp.com/
https://www.auralayer.com/

http://www.facebook.com/kingvolumerecords
http://www.kingvolumerecords.bandcamp.com
http://www.kingvolumerecords.limitedrun.com

Auralayer, Solar Plexus demo (2021)

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.”

“Endless Color” Rainbow Splatter Variant: https://wisebloodrecords.bandcamp.com/album/weary-traveler

King Volume preorder: https://kingvolumerecords.limitedrun.com/bands/faerie-ring

Kozmik Artifactz preorder: http://shop.bilocationrecords.com/navi.php?suchausdruck=faerie+ring

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)

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Wise Blood Records on Facebook

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Wise Blood Records on Bandcamp

Wise Blood Records website

Kozmik Artifactz store

Kozmik Artifactz on Facebook

Kozmik Artifactz on Instagram

Oh hi, Lord Mountain. It’s been six years since the Santa Rosa, California, four-piece wrought their impressive self-titled debut EP (review here), and that feels like plenty. In accordance with local statutes and the dictates of commonly-agreed morality, the classic-tinged outfit will offer their first full-length album, The Oath (don’t break it!), on Jan. 20.

The advent of the new release — hard to think of a first record as a comeback, but it has been a while — comes with two streaming songs in album opener “Well of Fates” and the prior-issued single “The Last Crossing.” The latter was released as a standalone in — wait for it — summer 2020 — so as you may have suspected, The Oath has been in the works for some time. Listening to “Well of Fates,” I’m reminded of bands like Hour of 13 who meld classic heavy rock and doomed traditionalism to a new style of cultish, dark metal. I’m not sure Lord Mountain will be so severe ultimately across the board, but for a first listen, the sharper corners on their riffs are duly compelling.

I’ll hope to have more to come on this one either before or sometime in January, but for now, here’s the basic info hoisted from Bandcamp:

LORD MOUNTAIN – The Oath

Lord Mountain’s full length debut THE OATH is set for a January 20th, 2023 release date by King Volume Records and Kozmik Artifactz. The album is eight tracks of top notch heavy metal and doom. Synthesizing traditional metal and fantasy influences from the 70’s and 80’s, Lord Mountain brings a vintage style and perspective to the modern era. With nods to Pagan Altar, Pentagram, and Sabbath, Lord Mountain carries the flame of classic heavy metal forward. Filled with perilous adventure and somber laments, The Oath is a quest-like experience more than collection of songs. Jesse Swanson, the lead singer and songwriter, casts hallucinations of soaring towers and bottomless chasms, all for us to explore with sword in hand.

A professional tattoo artist by trade, Swanson has a comprehensive aesthetic mission for the band. He created original oil paintings and drawings for the album art. Lord Mountain represents the intersection of all his interests and abilities into one artistic vision.

“The Oath is one of the most fully realized pieces of art we have ever put out. Jesse has a vision that transcends his medium. The songs, his voice, his album art, all conspire to take you away on a dark journey of loss and discovery.” – Todd White, Owner of King Volume.

Pre-orders for the full length album will begin in November. With the full length on the horizon, the band is releasing exclusive singles to support the release of THE OATH.

RECEIVE TWO TRACKS NOW

Track Listing
The Last Crossing
Well of Fates
Pressing Information
1. Well of Fates
2. The Gaint
3. Beyond the Frozen Sea
4. The Last Crossing
5. Chasm of Time
6. The Sacrifice
7. Serpent Temple
8. The Oath

36 minutes of rocking old school doom!

Limited to 200 copies worldwide.

Lord Mountain:
Jesse Swanson – guitars and vocals
Sean Serrano – guitars
Andy Chism – bass
Pat Moore – drums

https://www.instagram.com/lordmountainband/
https://www.facebook.com/lordmountaindoom/
https://lordmountain1.bandcamp.com/

http://www.facebook.com/kingvolumerecords
http://www.kingvolumerecords.bandcamp.com
http://www.kingvolumerecords.limitedrun.com

http://kozmik-artifactz.com/
https://www.facebook.com/kozmikartifactz

Lord Mountain, “The Last Crossing”

The ongoing nature of the COVID-19 pandemic, the varied responses of publics and governments worldwide, and the disruption to lives and livelihoods has reached a scale that is unprecedented. Whatever the month or the month after or the future itself brings, more than one generation will bear the mark of having lived through this time, and art, artists, and those who provide the support system to help uphold them have all been affected.

In continuing the Days of Rona feature, it remains pivotal to give a varied human perspective on these events and these responses. It is important to remind ourselves that whether someone is devastated or untouched, sick or well, we are all thinking, feeling people with lives we want to live again, whatever renewed shape they might take from this point onward. We all have to embrace a new normal. What will that be and how will we get there?

Thanks to all who participate. To read all the Days of Rona coverage, click here. — JJ Koczan

Days of Rona: Kyle Hulgus of Faerie Ring (Evansville, Indiana)

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How have you been you dealing with this crisis as a band? As an individual? What effect has it had on your plans or creative processes?

We axed practices pretty early on, a few weeks before Indiana went on soft lockdown. It’s going on nine weeks since we’ve jammed together when we’re used to doing it every Monday. There weren’t any stringent orders put in place, just a lot of “Please don’t go outside…..well unless you need to….or you’re bored.” Admittedly, I didn’t accept the whole scope of how serious this was right off the bat. We were right in the middle of booking a tour through Canada, which would’ve been several of ours first time outside the country, and Covid-19 was threatening that. I just didn’t want to believe it. My roommate, who’s a paramedic, quickly whipped my ass into shape and the gravity of the situation really started to materialize in front of me. Without him, my dumb ass would probably be on a respirator.

Aside from all that, we’re still riffin’. Sending each other sound clips of potential songs and all that. We were about 70-ish percent done with the new album before all this started and I’m feeling good that we’ll be able to churn out the rest once we start getting back together, whenever that will be. At home, I’ve probably changed the strings and set up my guitars two times over. I’m in a lot of gear-swap groups on Facebook and have re-done my pedal board top to bottom. I’m wearin’ thin, JJ. If all this continues I might finally cave and start practicing playing in hopes of one day having passable skill.

How do you feel about the public response to the outbreak where you are? From the government response to the people around you, what have you seen and heard from others?

Indiana, along with much of the Midwest, against all odds, were quick to act. They closed schools before we even stopped practicing. Bars and sit-down restaurants soon after that.

I’m lucky enough to still be employed, so the mental anguish set upon some isn’t a card I have to pull. I sling pizza, so I’m in contact with 40-50 extra people a day and get to peek in to their situations. Some are in full hazmat, some are drunk and mad, some walk right up breathing in your mouth like a pandemic is ravaging the entire Earth. Out the door lines at Home Depot and Lowe’s (why are you even open?). Cars wrapped around fast-food restaurants. I drove through a makeshift tennis court in the middle of a neighborhood road last week and I got the stink eye from them! It’s mind boggling to me how crystal clear both ends of the spectrum are.

What do you think of how the music community specifically has responded? How do you feel during this time? Are you inspired? Discouraged? Bored? Any and all of it?

This can be said for many subcultures, but the underground Hard-Rock/Doom/Stoner community is one of the most supportive groups of people I’ve ever witnessed. In the middle of all this, we’ve had a new roll out of merch and a repress of our album that we’ve been sandbagging since winter. Since the Canada trip was canned and all our shows through June were canned, we were hit with it. “Are we dicks if we release this stuff?” People are struggling. Burning through their savings just to pay rent, and we expect them to buy our crappy album on top of that? Well, we did and to our utter surprise, they did too. We’ve had people supporting us since Day 1 that are still kicking us around and it’s outstanding, inspiring, unbelievable and all other things sports movies make you feel. Bandcamp doing the multiple fee waiving days is just icing on the cake that is the music community. All that being said, if your band is selling masks, know that every normal person thinks you’re corny.

What is the one thing you want people to know about your situation, either as a band, or personally, or anything? What is your new normal? What have you learned from this experience, about yourself, your band, or anything?

Man, that’s a loaded question. I’ve realized stupid stuff. Like….I can just buy a new toothbrush whenever I want. I don’t have to wait till it’s nasty or…..that’s it’s ok to have more than one phone charger and I don’t have to bring it room to room. But on a more serious note, I’ve witnessed personality en masse to each extreme. One thing this pandemic has done has turned whatever type of person you are to 11. It’s like how you see someone treat a Server or a Dog and you get a glance into their soul. You’re now getting that experience at Walmart in line from some lady with 256 rolls of Charmin and she’s tailgating you with no goddamn mask on. I think Feb 29th was the last show I saw. Om in Louisville. There was one man in the crowd in a N-95 respirator. He had a Miller Lite , cracked and uncovered, and he kept lifting his mask to drink. I had been ripping doobies all night entranced by this magical man. It was both the funniest and wildest thing I could’ve seen. If blissful ignorance had a mascot, it’d be my boy here.

As for the band, we’ll get right back out there. As EVERYBODY is, we’re rescheduling. I think it’s gonna whip ass to see if the crowds pack. People who wouldn’t normally show, might show. I’m excited for the future. The first month back after everyone is comfortable is going to make this all worth it.

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http://www.instagram.com/faerie_ring
http://www.faeriering.bandcamp.com/
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http://www.kingvolumerecords.bandcamp.com
http://www.kingvolumerecords.limitedrun.com

Once upon a time, ages ago, before the digital media three-month promotional cycle took hold as the standard form for how albums came to public light, every now and then you’d get a genuine early listen. Maybe a song would be on the radio, or maybe a cassingle would show up to tease something coming later on, whatever it might be. As L.A. heavy garage-fuzzer duo Lord Loud present the announcement that their second album, Timid Beast (cover art on left below), will be released on Sept. 4 through King Volume and Kozmik Artifactz, think of their unveiling the title-track (artwork on right below) as an early listen that portends good things for later this year.

It’s a heads up, ready to catch your ear so that maybe you’ll take the meantime to reintroduce yourself to 2017’s cucumber-cool debut, Passé Paranoia (review here), and in its sun-caked tone and rampant sense of melody and jangle it represents the album well. You can see from the tracklisting below that “Timid Beast” at 3:22 is one of the longer songs on the album that shares its name — though two cuts do reach the four-minute mark — but it still keeps with the two-piece’s garage traditionalism and straight-ahead riffy right-on-itude.

We’re half a year out — two days notwithstanding — from the release, so I’m going to leave it there for now and give the standard “more to come.” Preorders? Yeah, probably at some point. Most importantly though, you can hear the song at the bottom of the post.

Enjoy the early listen and worry about the rest later:

Lord Loud – Timid Beast

The album is called “Timid Beast”, and it drops Sept. 4th (available on digital and custom-color vinyl) out through King Volume Records/Kozmik Artifactz in Europe. This is our second LP, following up “Passé Paranoia”, with the same lineup (Mike Feld on drums/perc, Chris Allison on vox/guitars/other instruments). We recorded/mixed everything ourselves, and are juiced to get these slabs out into the world.

Chris Allison on “Timid Beast”:

“Timid Beast” was recorded almost a year ago. The song’s roots lied in a growing separation that I felt. Social, political, economic, technological. A lot of people have felt it, and have been fighting back or lashing out a bit to try to give themselves some agency in the path we’re on. In that struggle, I caught myself changing in ways I didn’t like. Things like cynicism were let to creep in amongst some of the other changes I was trying to make. As time passes, the rooted sentiment seems to be amplifying. This song will hopefully be one I can look back to constantly question myself: am I fighting the beast or am I becoming the beast.

Tracklisting:
1. Dirty Seeds 03:25
2. Without You 03:12
3. Lady Sunday 02:18
4. Timid Beast 03:22
5. Imaginary 04:16
6. The River 03:07
7. Wherewithal 02:49
8. Glances 03:12
9. Labyrinth 02:55
10. Labyrinth Coda 01:12
11. Turbulence 04:04

Lord Loud are:
Chris Allison – vocals, guitar, etc.
Mike Feld – drums, percussion

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https://www.instagram.com/lordloudmusic/
https://lordloudmusic.bandcamp.com/
http://www.facebook.com/kingvolumerecords
http://www.kingvolumerecords.bandcamp.com
http://www.kingvolumerecords.limitedrun.com
http://kozmik-artifactz.com/
https://www.facebook.com/kozmikartifactz

Lord Loud, “Timid Beast” track premiere

There’s only so much burying of head in the sand/riffs one can do before acknowledging that the planet is quite literally on fire. Putting aside politics or the disgusting notion that these issues were made political in the first place, lands are burning, people and animals are dying and any and all predicted trajectories for the future do not indicate positive signs. The Avengers will not save us. Luke Skywalker will not save us. This is real life. Science is real life.

I am not the first person to say any of this or to note that if you and I don’t take care of each other, from daily kindness to crowdfunding, then we all burn and burn alone.

Indiana-based riffers Faerie Ring, who made an impressive debut last year with The Clearing (review here), today issue a live recording from a few weeks back, Live at Bokeh, in order to help raise funds for wildlife affected by the fires in Australia, which, hey look at that, are ongoing.

Entire species are dying. Today. And no, a recorded set from a recent heavy show is not the end-all answer to climate disaster. But it also isn’t nothing, which, to my shame, is what I’ve done to help at this point.

This is worth your money:

Faerie Ring – Live at Bokeh

Recorded live at Bokeh Lounge in Evansville Indiana Jan 4, 2020

*****All Proceeds with be going directly to the Kangaroo Island Wildlife Park****

This recording was handed to us free after one of our performance at Bokeh out of the kindness of heart. Seems only right to do something good with it. As always thanks for listening and we love you.

If you would like to donate directly or check in on rehabilitation progress, go to:

www.gofundme.com/f/help-save-kangaroo-islands-koalas-and-wildlife

From KIWildlife:

Over the past few days we have started to see a large number of injured koalas, along with other native species heavily impacted by this event. We have been treating these victims as best we can to supply pain relief, antibiotics, treatment to wounds and basic husbandry requirements. We spent most of January 3rd building extra holding enclosures as well as defending the park from the immediate threat of the fire. We will continue to prepare more infrastructure to house the extra wildlife we expect to see over the coming weeks.

For those of you who would like to contribute we are asking for funds to help with veterinary costs, koala milk and supplements, extra holding/rehabilitation enclosures, as well as setting up a building to hold supplies to treat these animals.

Due to the recent tragic bushfires, the Kangaroo Island Wildlife Park has received a lot of concerned phone calls and messages regarding the impacted wildlife from these fires.

We are working around the clock with a highly experienced, qualified and dedicated team of volunteers including qualified vets, vet nurses and wildlife carers to rescue, rehabilitate and care for all of the animals coming in from the bushfires.

On admittance to us, all efforts are made to rehydrate, treat and assess the wildlife by our vet care team. Many are being treated for severe burns with most burns being to their hands, feet and rumps.

We will continue to provide the best care possible for our injured wildlife, we expect due to significant habitat loss we will be building exhibits to hold the treated koalas until we can arrange release back into the wild for many of them.

Kangaroo Island is well known for its thriving koala population however over 150,000 hectares has been lost due to recent events, this will effect our koala population dramatically. We need to pull together to save this Australian icon.

Once conditions improve and we are granted access to fire ground, a qualified team will be going out to rescue wildlife caught in the fires and relocate those left without a food source or home.

credits
James Wallwork // Electric Guitars & Vocal
Kyle Hulgus // Electric Guitars
Alex Wallwork // 4 String Electric Bass Guitars
Joseph Rhew // Battery

Recorded live by John Kern with help from Steve Tyner of Black Cat Recording

Photo by Katelyn Knoll

http://www.facebook.com/FaerieRingBand/
http://www.instagram.com/faerie_ring
http://www.faeriering.bandcamp.com/
http://www.facebook.com/kingvolumerecords
http://www.kingvolumerecords.bandcamp.com
http://www.kingvolumerecords.limitedrun.com

Faerie Ring, The Clearing (2019)

We begin Day Two of the Winter 2020 Quarterly Review. Snow on the ground fell overnight and the day ahead looks as busy as ever. There’s barely time to stop for sips of coffee between records, but some allowances must be made. It’s Tuesday after all. There’s still a lot of week left. And if we can’t be kind to ourselves in the post-holiday comedown of wintry gray, when can we?

So yes, pause, sip — glug, more likely — then proceed.

I don’t usually play favorites with these things, but I think today’s might have worked out to be my favorite batch of the bunch. As always, I hope you find something that speaks to you.

Quarterly Review #11-20:

Dommengang, No Keys

Driving heavy psych and rock meet with spacious Americana and a suburbanite dreaminess in Dommengang‘s No Keys, the now-L.A. trio’s follow-up to 2018’s Love Jail (review here). It is a melting pot of sound, with emphasis on melting, but vocal harmonies and consistently righteous basslines like that in “Stir the Sea” act to tie the nine component tracks together, making Dommengang‘s various washes of tone ultimately the creation of a welcoming space. Early cut “Earth Blues” follows opener “Sunny Day Flooding” with a mindful far-outbound resonance, and the later “Arcularius – Burke” finds itself in a linear building pattern ahead of “Jerusalem Cricket,” which reimagines ’70s country rock as something less about nostalgia than forward possibility. Having come far on their apparently keyboard-less journey, from the breadth-casting verses of “Stir the Sea” to the doomy interlude “Blues Rot,” they end with “Happy Death (Her Blues II)” which sure as hell sounds like it has some organ on it. Either way, whether they live up to the standard of the title or not is secondary to the album’s actual achievements, which are significant, and distinguish Dommengang from would-be peers in atmosphere, craft and melody.

Dommengang on Thee Facebooks

Thrill Jockey Records on Bandcamp

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Ice Dragon, Passage of Mind

Though they don’t do it nearly as often as they did between 2012 and 2015, every now and then Boston’s Ice Dragon manage to sneak out a new release. Over the last few years, that’s been a succession of singles, but Passage of Mind is their first LP since 2015’s A Beacon on the Barrow (review here), and though they’ll always in some part be thought of as a doom band, the unassuming organic psychedelia of “Don’t Know Much but the Road” reminds more of Chris Goss‘ work with Masters of Reality in its acoustic/fuzz blend and melody. The experimentalism-prone outfit have been down this avenue before as well, and it suits them, even as members have moved on to other projects (Brass Hearse among them), with the seven-minute “One of These Days” basing itself around willfully simplistic-sounding intertwining lines of higher and lower fuzz. There are moments of serenity, like closer “Dream About You” and “Sun in My Eyes,” but “The Sound the Rain Makes” is more of a blowout, and even the darker vibe of “Delirium’s Tears” holds hits melody as top priority. Hey guess what? Here’s an Ice Dragon album that deserves more attention than it’s gotten. I think it’s the 12th one.

Ice Dragon on Thee Facebooks

Ice Dragon on Bandcamp

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Saint Karloff, Interstellar Voodoo

Oslo’s Saint Karloff squash the high standard they set for themselves on their 2018 debut, All Heed the Black God (review here), with the 41-minute single-song long-player Interstellar Voodoo, basking in bluesy Sabbathian grandeur and keeping a spirit of progressive adventuring beneath without giving over entirely to self-indulgent impulses any more than one could as they careen from one movement to the next in the multi-stage work. With vinyl through Majestic Mountain Records, tape on Stoner Witch Records and CD through Ozium Records, they’re nothing if not well represented, and rightly so, as they veer in and out of psychedelic terrain in exciting and periodically elephantine fashion, still making room for classic Scandi-folk boogie on side A before the second half of the track stomps all over everything that’s come before it en route to its own organ-laced jammy meandering, Iommi shuffle and circa-’74 howl. As a new generation of doom rock begins to take shape, Saint Karloff position themselves well as earlier pursuers of an individualist spirit while still drawing of course on classic sources of inspiration. The first record was encouraging. The second is more so. The third will be the real tell of who they are as a band.

Saint Karloff on Thee Facebooks

Majestic Mountain Records webstore

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Witch Trail, The Sun Has Left the Hill

The jangling guitar strum in centerpiece “Lucid” on Witch Trail‘s The Sun Has Left the Hill (Consouling Sounds) has the indelible mark of classic rock and roll freedom to it. One wonders if Pete Townshend would recognize it, or if it’s too far blasted into oblivion by the Belgian trio’s aesthetic treatment across The Sun Has Left the Hill‘s convention-challenging 29-minute span, comprising seven tracks that bring together a heavy alternative rock and post-black metal vision marked by spacious echoes and cavern screams that are likewise tortured and self-assured. That is to say, there’s no mistaking the intent here. In the early intensity of “Watcher” or the shimmering and more patiently unfolding “Silent Running,” the Ghent three-piece mark out their stylistic terrain between bursts of noisy chaotic wash and clearheaded execution. The six-minute “Afloat” hisses like a lost demo that would’ve rewritten genre history some 25 years ago, and even in closer “Residue,” one can’t help but feel like Witch Trail are indeed looking to leave some lasting effect behind them with such forward-thinking craft. Sure to be a shock for those who take it on with no idea of what to expect.

Witch Trail on Thee Facebooks

Consouling Sounds website

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Love Gang, Dead Man’s Game

Shortly before Love Gang are halfway through the opening title-track of their debut album, Dead Man’s Game, just when you think you might have their blend of organ-laced Radio Moscow and Motörhead figured out, that’s when Leo Muñoz breaks out the flute and the whole thing takes a turn for the unexpected. Surprises abound from the Denver foursome of Muñoz (who also handles organ and sax), guitarist/vocalist Kam Wentworth, bassist Grady O’Donnell and drummer Shaun Goodwin, who find room for psychedelic airiness amidst the gallop of “Addiction,” which doesn’t seem coincidentally paired with “Break Free,” though the two don’t run together. Love Gang‘s 2016 self-titled EP (review here) had a cleaner production and less aggro throb, and there’s some of that on Dead Man’s Game in the peaceful melody of “Interlude,” but even seven-minute closer “Endless Road” makes a point of finishing at a rush, and that’s ultimately what defines the album. No complaints. Love Gang wield momentum as another element of inventive arrangement on this encouraging first long-player.

Love Gang on Thee Facebooks

Love Gang on Thee Facebooks

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Firebreather, Under a Blood Moon

‘Tis the stuff of battle axes and severed limbs, but it’s worth noting that three of the six inclusions on Firebreather‘s second LP and first for RidingEasy Records, Under a Blood Moon, have some reference to fire in their title. The follow-up to their brazen 2017 self-titled debut (review here) starts with its longest track (immediate points) in the nine-minute “Dancing Flames,” then follows immediately with “Our Souls, They Burn” and launches side B with the eponymous “Firebreather,” as the Gothenburg trio of Mattias Nööjd, Kyle Pitcher and Axel Wittbeck launch their riffy, destructive assault with urgency that earns all that scarred land left in its wake. The High on Fire comparison remains inevitable, perhaps most of all on “Firebreather” itself, but Firebreather have grown thicker in tone, meaner in approach and do nothing to shy away from the largesse that such a sound might let them convey, as “Our Souls, They Burn” and in the volume surges of closer “The Siren.” Under a Blood Moon is a definite forward step from the first LP, showing an evolving sound and burgeoning individuality that one hopes Firebreather continue to hunt down with such vigilance.

Firebreather on Thee Facebooks

RidingEasy Records on Bandcamp

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Karkara, Crystal Gazer

Presented through Stolen Body Records, the debut long-player from French trio Karkara purports to be “Oriental psych rock,” which accounts for an Eastern influence in the overall sound of its seven-track/41-minute run, but there are perhaps some geographical questions to be undertaken there, as “Camel Rider” and others show a distinctive Mideastern flair. Whatever works, I guess. At its core, Crystal Gazer is a work of psychedelic space rock, brought to bear with a duly open sensibility by guitarist/vocalist Karim Rihani (also didgeridoo), bassist Hugo Olive and drummer/vocalist Maxime Marouani as seemingly the beginning stages of a broader sonic adventure. That is to say, the stylistic aspects at play here — and they are very much “at play” — feel purposefully used, but like the foundation of what will be future growth on the part of Karkara as a unit. Will they progress along a more patient and meditative path, as “The Way” hints in some of its early roll, or will the frenetic winding of closer “Jedid” set their course for subsequent freakouts? I don’t know, but Karkara strike as a band who won’t see any point to standing still creatively any more than they do to doing so rhythmically.

Karkara on Thee Facebooks

Stolen Body Records website

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Circle of Sighs, Desolate

Information is limited on Circle of Sighs, and by that I primarily mean I don’t have any. They list their point of origin as Los Angeles, so there’s that, but as to the whos and whats, wheres and so on, it’s a mystery. Something tells me that suits the band, whose four-track debut EP, Desolate, gracefully executes a blend of melodic downerism with more extreme elements at play, melodic vocal arrangements offset by screams in the closing title-track after the prior rolling groove of “Burden of the Flesh” offered a progressive and synth-laden take on Pallbearer-style emotive doom. Acoustics, keyboard, and a clear use of multiple singers give Circle of Sighs‘ first outing a kitchen-sink feel, but one can only admire them for trying something new at their (presumed) outset, and the catchy chug of “Hold Me, Lucifer” speaks to more complex aesthetic origins than the simplistic subject matter might lead one to believe. The outlier is the penultimate nine-minute cut “Kukeri,” which broods across its first three minutes in a manner that would make Patrick Walker proud before unfolding the breadth of its lumber and arrangement, harmonies and screams and the first real showcase of more extreme impulses taking hold in its second half — plus strings, maybe — which “Desolate” itself will build upon after a bookending acoustic close. There’s some sorting out to do in terms of sound, but already they show a readiness to push in their own direction, and that’s more than it would seem reasonable to ask.

Circle of Sighs on Thee Facebooks

Circle of Sighs on Bandcamp

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Floral Fauna, Pink and Blue

Way out west, Chris Allison of the band Lord Loud is taking on psychedelic shimmer under the ostensible solo moniker of Floral Fauna, but the situation of the project’s 11-tracker debut LP, Pink and Blue is more complicated in personnel and style than that, melding fuzzy presence, classic ’60s surf-tone, rampant hooky melody and ready-to-go-anywhere-as-long-as-it-works pop experimentalism together in a steaming lysergic cauldron of neo-yourface-ism that’s ether blissed enough to tie funk and ancient R&B to cosmic flow together in a manner that feels like an utter tossoff, like, hey, yeah man, this kind of thing just happens all the time here. You know, no big deal on this wavelength. Mellow dreams in “Great White Silence,” a spacey ramble in “Velvet and Jade” and the echoing leadwork of “Red Anxiety” continue the color theme from the opening title-track, and the record caps with “Herds of Jellyfish,” which at last brings forward the vocal harmony that the whole album seems to have been begging for. Cool debut? Shit, man. It’s 36 minutes of straight-up psych joy just waiting to bring you on board. Legal psilocybin now.

Floral Fauna on Thee Facebooks

King Volume Records on Bandcamp

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Vvlva, Silhouettes

There are a couple things you can figure on in this wacky universe, and one of them is that German imprint World in Sound knows what it’s doing when it picks up a classic heavy rock band. Silhouettes is the second long-player the label has released from woefully-monikered Aschaffenburg-based four-piece Vvlva, and indeed in the upfront boogie of “Cosmic Pilgrim” or the more progressive unfolding of pieces like “Tales Told by a Gray Man,” the centerpiece “Gomorrah,” or the longer “Night by Night/The Choir” and “Dance of the Heathens,” which seem to bring the two sides together, there’s enough vintage influence to make the case once again. Like the more forward thinking of their contemporaries, Vvlva have brought this modus into the present when it comes to production value and clarity, and rather than sound like it’s 1973, they would seem to be making 1973 sound like them. Whether one dives in for the early hooks in “Cosmic Pilgrim” or “What Do I Stand For?” or the fuzzy interplay between the solo and organ in the maddeningly bouncing “Hobos,” there’s plenty in Silhouettes to demonstrate the vitality and continued evolution of the style.

Vvlva on Thee Facebooks

World in Sound website

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