https://www.high-endrolex.com/18

Saint Karloff Announce Tour with Magmakammer; Interstellar Voodoo Studio Documentary Streaming

Posted in Whathaveyou on January 30th, 2020 by JJ Koczan

saint karloff

Cheers to Norwegian doomers Saint Karloff on making a studio documentary and avoiding having it basically be fodder for comparison to Spinal Tap. A rare dodge on the part of any band. The Oslo-based three-piece will begin a round of shows in February supporting their 2019 sophomore full-length, Interstellar Voodoo (review here), and they’ll be joined in the endeavor by countrymen garage heavies Magmakammer, making for a two-band complement that I have no doubt will be received with approving nods by all in their presence. This brand of riffing will do that, and each act has their own spin.

I was kind of hoping for some video interview footage in the documentary, and it’s the album playing (in full) over studio clips with info and background spliced in, making for an interesting, cool and not-at-all Tap excuse to revisit the record. You think that’d be easy but it’s not if you’ve ever done an interview.

Dates and that video follow, as per the PR wire:

saint karloff magmakammer tour

Norwegian Occult Rockers SAINT KARLOFF announce European Tour with Magmakammer | Share Recording Session Documentary for INTERSTELLAR VOODOO

In association with The Doomsday Agency and hot on the heels of an impressive 2019, Doom Rock’s rising superpower, Saint Karloff, take to the road next month for a European tour with fellow Norwegians, Magmakammer.

Having made their mark on the international heavy music scene in 2018 with the release of their debut album, All Heed the Black God, the band continued to raise their game with newer, heavier and more complexly psychedelic material on last year’s Interstellar Voodoo, their follow-up album released on Majestic Mountain Records.

To showcase exactly what went into the recording, the trio have released a unique video documenting and detailing the very recording session that produced the album’s epic one-track conclusion. Soundtracked in full of course, by the album itself.

“This is a music video and documentary hybrid of our time recording our second album,” explains guitarist/vocalist, Mads Melvold. “It was recorded Easter 2019 and released in the autumn of that same year. People have reached out to us and asked us about the making of Interstellar Voodoo, and with this video we try to answer these questions. What you see is the actual recording. The whole thing was filmed and edited and it contains information and anecdotes on the whole process from start to finish.”

Released last year on Majestic Mountain Records, copies of Interstellar Voodoo are now sold out but you can purchase the album digitally, directly from the band (here) ahead of their tour, which kicks off in Norway next month. For the full list of dates and venues see list and tour poster below:

SAINT KARLOFF EUROPEAN TOUR 2020:

20/2 – Hulen – Bergen, Norway*
29/2 – Blitz – Oslo, Norway+
5/3 – 1000Fryd – Aalborg, Denmark*
6/3 – MTS Records – Oldenburg, Germany*
7/3 – Den Drummer – Gent, Belgium*
9/3 – Chemiefabrik – Dresden, Germany
12/3 – MS Stubnitz – Hamburg, Germany*
13/3 – Favela Café – Helsingborg, Sweden*
14/3 – MMR Fest Hus 7 – Stockholm, Sweden*+

*w. Magmakammer
+Saint Karloff to perform Interstellar Voodoo in its entirety

facebook.com/SaintKarloff/
saintkarloff.bandcamp.com
instagram.com/saintkarloff
majesticmountainrecords.bigcartel.com
facebook.com/majesticmountainrecords/
instagram.com/majesticmountainrecords/
https://oziumrecords.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/stonerwitchrecords/

Saint Karloff, Interstellar Voodoo Recording Documentary

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Magmakammer Release Bloody Diamond EP May 10

Posted in Whathaveyou on May 6th, 2019 by JJ Koczan

I feel like, among the phrases a band might use to promote themselves, something along the lines of “expect more lo-fi grit” is particularly aware of the audience to whom it’s speaking. Norwegian three-piece Magmakammer released their debut album, Mindtripper (review here), last year on Kozmik Artifactz, last year through Kozmik Artifactz, and it likewise showed some pretty consistent self-awareness in terms of the style it was playing toward and the heads it was looking to turn.

Garage doom is, at this point, almost singly attributable to an Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats influence, and Magmakammer had that working for them in spades on the debut, but the test of a band in that case isn’t necessarily how they come out of the gate, but how they continue to build their own identity as they go forward. Consider how much more Monolord sounded like Electric Wizard when they got their start.

Likewise, Magmakammer‘s sound was readily familiar to the converted upon first listen, but in cuts like the title-track and closer “Cosmic Dancers,” the band began to show their personality as well and what they could bring to that foundation of influence. I would expect and certainly hope that will continue on Bloody Diamond. And certainly, a little more lo-fi grit isn’t going to hurt.

They announced the EP thusly:

magmakammer bloody diamond

The upcoming EP is called Bloody Diamond and is set to release the 12th of May.

Here is the artwork for the EP which takes a stab at imitating an 80s thriller movie. Like last time, this one is also recorded in a not-at-all-suitable recording space. So expect more lofi grit.

Get hyped as we’re very excited to share this with you!! And make sure you’re following us on Bandcamp and Spotify so you’ll get reminded when the EP drops.

There is also a short video tease coming up, so keep your eyes peeled.

Love,
Magmakammer

Magmakammer is:
Guitar & Vocals: Ulrik Jacobsen
Bass: Stian Solberg
Drums: Lasse Røed

https://www.facebook.com/magmakammer/
https://magmakammer.bandcamp.com/

Magmakammer, Mind Tripper (2018)

Tags: , , , ,

Æsthetica Premiere “Ekstasis”; Debut Album Sonorous Æon out Dec. 8

Posted in audiObelisk on November 16th, 2017 by JJ Koczan

aesthetica-by-Peder-Blumlein

Norwegian four-piece Æsthetica will release their debut album, Sonorous Æon, on Dec. 8 via Esetiske Studier and Fysisk Format, and though thoroughly based in doom at its roots, it’s a six-song outing that nonetheless blurs the lines of subgenres and influences almost on a per-track basis. A sense of post-metallic drama of atmosphere pervades “Todesfuge,” for example, which hits after rolling opener “Haze” calls to mind the heavy-soul delivery of Goatsnake and Gozu. Comprised of Tobias Brynildsbakken HuseSimon Dahl OkoniweskiVetle Bråten Rian and Petter Rosendahl Moland — everybody gets three names; no more, no less — Æsthetica structure their first offering as a two-sided vinyl wherein each half features two cuts just under six minutes long and one longer one on either side of 10, and feel cohesive and self-aware in their approach even as they seem to be staking a claim on such varied stylistic ground as the alternately spacious and crushing side A finale “La Paz,” which moves from open-air guitar noodling to deeply weighted riffage and hits 10:36 as the longest inclusion on Sonorous Æon.

One could hardly consider the range of Æsthetica, whose very moniker speaks to a commitment to or at least awareness of style as an essential facet of art, to be a detriment in the first place, but what makes Sonorous Æon work particularly well is its front to back flow. As the somewhat grim march at the end of “Todesfuge” (‘Death Fugue,’ in German, aesthetica sonorous aeoncomplete with a lengthy spoken sample also in the same language) gives way to the vastness of “La Paz,” initially populated by echoing guitar and flourish of cymbal wash, the band do well to consider overarching presentation. Indeed, the same holds on side B as the airy post-rockisms of second-half-leadoff “Gates” build to an understated head and drop to the sparsest and most contemplative moment on Sonorous Æon, from which a couple seconds of feedback signal the slam into post-Electric Wizard riffing that’s to come in the penultimate “Worshipper.” These borders are crossed with confidence, as they must be to work at all, and while Æsthetica would have their work cut out for them in trying to meld all of these impulses into one overarching sound or idea, they show on their debut that they’re able to tie them together all the same and conjure a sensibility that forces the listener to think of Sonorous Æon as a whole work rather than assembled component parts.

At 9:57, “Ekstasis” closes out Sonorous Æon in answer to “La Paz” back on side A, and in so doing would seem to provide an opportunity for summary or final expansion into new ground. By then, as they approach the total 44 minutes that make up the album, it’s little surprise they choose the latter, bringing in a near-gothic theatricality amid guitar drift anchored by the heft of the corresponding bass tone as the drums push it forward. As they have across the record’s span, the vocals prove a uniting and commanding presence, and as “Ekstasis” builds in pace toward its midsection crashout, it would seem Æsthetica are looking to deliver the crescendo early, but in fact it’s a ruse, and instead, they set themselves up for a two-part cycle, essentially tearing down the fabric of one payoff in order to begin building another, even more satisfying one from the ground up. Instrumental and consuming, the back half of “Ekstasis” makes as fitting a closing argument for Sonorous Æon as anything might, and the album finishes on a resonant pluck of strings to reaffirm the space created.

Today I have the pleasure of hosting “Ekstasis” as a track premiere ahead of the Dec. 8 release of Sonorous Æon. Please find it on the player below, followed by more background on Æsthetica from the PR wire, and please enjoy:

Æsthetica, “Ekstasis”

From the densely wooded suburbs just outside of Oslo a deep, dark sound has emerged with the sonic intensity of Armageddon and the wistful sonorities of the birds. Æsthetica are a self-styled doom, post-rock band from Kolbotn whose live shows have mesmerised audiences for its fierce fervor and great big swathes of sound that envelop the listener like a mysterious mist. Combining elements of doom, progressive blues rock, eastern scales and even tubas, Æstethica have cultivated a sound uniquely their own and their debut album Sonorous Æon is bringing this to the recorded format for the first time.

Theirs is a bold new sound lifted from the petrified footsteps left by bands like Black Sabbath, Swans and Godspeed! You black Emperor and shaped by a stark coldness that lies beyond the tundra. Æsthetica’s textures are dense and powerful and without provocation they lure the listener into a calm noise that lies just beyond the superficial. It’s a quiet noise that’s best experienced in the live context, which the young four-piece group dominate with a sonic presence.

Recorded and mixed in Asker by Are Sorknes, mastered by Jack Control at Enormous Door Mastering.

Artist: Æsthetica
Title: Sonorous Æon
Release: December 8th, 2017
Label: Esetiske Studier/Fysisk Format

Tracklist:
1. Haze
2. Todesfuge
3. La Paz
4. Gates
5. Worshipper
6. Ekstasis

Æsthetica are:
Tobias Brynildsbakken Huse
Simon Dahl Okoniweski
Vetle Bråten Rian
Petter Rosendahl Moland

Æsthetica on Thee Facebooks

Æsthetica on Bandcamp

Fysisk Format website

Tags: , , , , , ,