Posted in Questionnaire on November 24th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
The Obelisk Questionnaire is a series of open questions intended to give the answerer an opportunity to explore these ideas and stories from their life as deeply as they choose. Answers can be short or long, and that reveals something in itself, but the most important factor is honesty.
Based on the Proust Questionnaire, the goal over time is to show a diverse range of perspectives as those who take part bring their own points of view to answering the same questions. To see all The Obelisk Questionnaire posts, click here.
Thank you for reading and thanks to all who participate.
The Obelisk Questionnaire: Adrian Zambrano of Brujas del Sol
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How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?
I guess I’d just simply say I’m a guitarist. It’s been something I’ve been in love with since I was a kid. My dad is a huge rock and roll guy. Like most of my peers, I’m sure, I was raised on Floyd, Zeppelin, The Doors, ZZ Top. I suppose it just always looked cool to me. (Insert photo of Zeppelin in front of their plane)… How could that not be cool?
Describe your first musical memory.
I’ve always had a love for Guns ‘n’ Roses. I used to wear my dad’s cut off G’N’R shirt around the house as a little kid singing and air guitaring.
Describe your best musical memory to date.
My time in Lo-pan, forcibly short as it was due to family health issues, was so incredible. When Brujas del Sol started, we looked up to them so so much… We still do. Best dudes. Best band.
When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?
Oh man, one half of my family is from Mexico. Where do I start?
Where do you feel artistic progression leads?
Hopefully a path of happiness… fulfillment. That can mean a lot of different things to a lot of people.
For me personally, it’s knowing my bandmates feel challenged, open to express themselves.
How do you define success?
People feeling eager to listen to our music or come see a show is enough for me.
What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?
Halloween Resurrection.
Fuck… maybe I’m lying. Busta Rhymes yelling “Trick or treat, mother fucker” is pretty mint.
Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to created.
An all synthesized record. Something I’ve been messing with for a few years now.
What do you believe is the most essential function of art?
This is probably a boring answer… but, for me, to get people to think.
Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?
Hmmm. I’ve gone out on my own professionally and started a finish carpentry company in North Carolina. So, between that and three bands, I reckon I’ve got my hands full.
Posted in Whathaveyou on November 10th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
Originally issued by the band in Jan. 2020, Isak‘s debut album, The Great Expanse, will see its first vinyl release through the esteemed Kozmik Artifactz next week. The record — which you can stream in its entirety below — blends heavy rock structures and psychedelic atmospheres together, doses it all with a heaping amount of lysergic fuzz and echo, and proceeds outward from there, songs like the 11-minute “Falling Satellite” honing on a progressive-style mapped-out course that still sounds organic as delivered by the Glasgow band, who, it should be noted, are not to be confused with Isaak, from Italy. Whole other ‘a’ in there for the Italian outfit.
I didn’t hear The Great Expanse when it came out the first time, so I’m kind of taking this post as an excuse to do so now, and no regrets. As regards reliability, Kozmik Artifactz want for nothing, and if their backing isn’t enough to pique your interest, well, maybe you’ll dig this anyhow.
The PR wire has it like this:
Cross the great expanse of the cosmos with ISAK
ISAK have been a force within the UK underground for over a decade. Hailing from Glasgow, Scotland, they have cut their way on the live scene from unknown to opening for the likes of Elder, Kylesa, Hair of the Dog and Volconova to name but a few.
With several self-released EPs under their belt, ISAK now sign with Kozmik Artifactz for the vinyl release of their debut full-length “The Great Expanse”. Heavily instrumental, The Great Expanse follows the journey of a lone voyager crossing the expanse of the cosmos. Through expanding soundscapes layered with spontaneous and sonic riffs, The Great Expanse really captures the sense of awe and deep vastness of the universe.
The Great Expanse will be released 18th November on Kozmik Artifactz, available on heavyweight gatefold vinyl from Kozmik Artifactz, as well as on Bandcamp and all major digital streaming platforms.
Available as Limited Edition Vinyl
Release Date: 18th November 2022
VINYL FACTZ – Plated & pressed on high performance vinyl – limited & coloured vinyl – 300gsm gatefold cover – special vinyl mastering
TRACKS 1. The Great Expanse 2. Beyond The Karman Line 3. Falling Satellite 4. Interstellar 5. Ablaze 6. Out Of Reach 7. Call Of The Void
Isak are: Joe McGarrity (Guitar/Vox) Mark Tait (Bass) Robert “Twigs” McLean (Drums)
Posted in Whathaveyou on November 2nd, 2022 by JJ Koczan
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
Posted in Whathaveyou on October 26th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
Don’t get me wrong, there’s precious little in this world for which I’d trade the acid-drenched psych and cosmic explorations of Lamp of the Universe, but damn, when Craig Williamson hits into a riff, fuzz on, amp loud, drums behind, bass under, you gotta just let that groove ride. Dead Shrine — a solo-project for the Hamilton, New Zealand, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, singer and producer — is an extension of impulses previously shown in Arc of Ascent and Datura in the long-long-ago, and “The Formless Soul,” which you can and should hear at the bottom of this post, is the opening track and one of the eight appearing on The Eightfold Path, the debut full-length that’s due out next year through Kozmik Artifactz.
If you’ve hung around here a while, chances are you’ve heard me at some point or other going on about how fucking righteous this dude’s work is. And not to toot my own horn there, but I’m only correct in doing so. The Eightfold Path plays out like a heavy rock and psychedelic bonfire, rolling through two sides of epic nod on the way to the absolute blowout that is “Incantations Call” at the back end. I hate to be all “if you know you know,” because the truth is you know way more than I do about basically everything, but god damn, what a record this is. No bullshit, it’s the first name on my best-of-2023 list, which, yes, I’ve started.
From YouTube and Williamson direct:
DEAD SHRINE – The Eightfold Path
Release date: Late February 2023 on Kozmik Artifactz and Astral Projection (Vinyl/CD/Digital)
The new album, and “band” as I like to call it has been a long running idea I’ve had since the Datura days, and that was to continue to play in a heavier 70s acid rock way on my own… in Datura and especially in Arc of Ascent I’d write the songs, produce them, record parts … even extra guitars, percussion and keyboards on the albums… so really, its been a natural progression to starting the Dead Shrine thing. I guess mostly it’s a return to a more rock thing as I used to do 20 plus years ago in Datura, still heavier, still with the Psych overtones…
Posted in Whathaveyou on October 25th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
Vastly pedigreed drummer “Minnesota” Pete Campbell — known for his work in Pentagram, Place of Skulls, In~Graved, The Mighty Nimbus, Vulgaari, etc. — is inching closer to the release of his first-ever solo album, Me, Myself and I. The nine-tracker bears influence from the traditional doom upon which Campbell has cut his teeth over the last 20-plus years, but there’s exploration as well in a piece like the instrumental “Uryah vs. Elmo” and the spacey drift-rock of “You’re My Angel,” which is both structured and atmospheric in surprising and complementary ways.
The real-world-happening-now, no-BS sensibility could be traced either to doom’s upfront nature about liferism — that is, you can doom and have a life — and even “Lockdown Blues” finds Campbell operating in Hendrixian swing with the vocals far back and treated as another instrument, the hard groove at the foundation comes through with a sense of where the song is ultimately coming from. In any case, relatable. So too the acoustics of “Midnight Dreamin’,” which follows in out-for-a-walk meandering fashion. You can dig it.
Preorders for Me, Myself and I have been made available through Kozmik Artifactz, which will have the release out Nov. 18. Given Campbell‘s description below, I guess you can call it a pandemic project if you want, but it seems like it’s going to keep carrying forward either way, and either way, Me, Myself and I begins to establish Campbell‘s craft in its own right, separate from a full band or other collaborations. Oh, and Tony Reed mastered.
Minnesota Pete Campbell has been a warrior of the underground for over 25 years. With a resume of bands like Pentagram, The Mighty Nimbus, Sixty Watt Shaman, Place of Skulls, Gygax, Brathair, Buzzard, In-Graved, and the list goes on and on. “Me, Myself, and I” is the first solo effort of many to come!
“During the start of the pandemic I got the call that all our Pentagram shows were being cancelled then the whole world was shutting down and I was going crazy! So I decided to build a studio in my home just to stay busy and capture ideas. Literally everyday in a three-month period I sat downstairs and put down ideas and they became songs for this record. I’d walk upstairs and see my daughter and boom… new song! I’d hear about all the places closing and people freakin’ out and boom… new song. “Me, Myself, and I” is a time capsule of that moment in human kind and how I chose to make a negative into a positive with Rock n Roll, frustration, and love! This record is very personal to me and I hope you can feel it, put it on, and let the music do the talkin!”, MPC
VINYL FACTZ – 300x 180g transparent orange – 200x 180g white/black marbled (KOZMIK MAILORDER EDITION) – plated & pressed on heavy high performance vinyl by Pallas Group in Germany – deluxe 300gsm gatefold cover – special vinyl mastering
Posted in Reviews on September 22nd, 2022 by JJ Koczan
On occasion, throughout the last eight years or so that I’ve been doing this kind of Quarterly Review roundup thing, I’ve been asked how I do it. The answer is appallingly straightforward. I do it one record at a time, listening to as much music as possible and writing as much as I can. If you were curious, there you go.
If, more likely, you weren’t curious, now you know anyway. Shall we?
Quarterly Review #31-40:
Russian Circles, Gnosis
You wanna know how big a deal Russian Circles are? I didn’t even get a promo of this record. Granted, I’m nobody, but still. So anyway, here I am like a fucking sucker, about to tell you Gnosis is the heaviest and most intense thing Russian Circles — with whose catalog I’m just going to assume you’re familiar because they’re that big a deal and you’re pretty hip; bet you got a download to review, or at least an early stream — have ever done and it means literally nothing. Just makes me feel stupid and lame. I really want to like this album. That chug in “Conduit?” Fuck yeah. That wash in “Betrayal?” Even that little minimalist stretch of “Ó Braonáin.” The way “Tupilak” rumbles to life at the outset. That’s my shit right there. Chug chug crush crush, pretty part. So anyway, instead of sweating it forever, I’ll probably shut Gnosis off when I’m done here and never listen to it again. Thanks. Who gives a shit? Exactly. Means nothing to anyone. Tell me why I do this? Why even give it the space? Because they’re that big a deal and I’m the nerdy fat kid forever. Total fucking stooge. Fuck it and fuck you too.
Are not all gods mere substitutes for the power of human voices united in song? And why not tonight for finding the grace within us? As Brother Bill, Sister Caroline and their all-colours Septaphonic congregation of siblings tell us, we’re only one step away. I know you’ve been dragged down, wrung out, you’ve seen the valleys and hills, but now’s the time. Church of the Cosmic Skull come forward again with the message of galactic inner peace and confronting the unreality of reality through choral harmonies and progressive heavy rock and roll, and even the Cosmic Mother herself must give ear. Come, let us bask in the light of pure illumination and revolutionary suicide. Let us find what we lost somewhere. All gods die, but you and I can live forever and spread ourselves across the universe like so much dust from the Big Bang. We’ll feel the texture of the paper. We’ll be part of the team. Oh, fellow goers into the great Far Out, there’s reverence being sung from the hills with such spirit behind it. Can you hear? Will you? There’s nothing to fear here, nothing sinister. Nothing to be lost except that which has held you back all along. Let it all move, and go. Open your eyes to feel all seven rays, and stand peeled like an onion, naked, before the truth being told. Do this. Today.
Saarbrücken duo Pretty Lightning follow 2020’s stellar Jangle Bowls (review here) with a collection of 14 instrumental passages that, for all their willful meandering, never find themselves lost. Heady, Dead Meadowy vibes persist on ramblers like “Sediment Swing” and “Splinter Bowl,” but through spacious drone and the set-the-mood-for-whatever “Glide Gently (Into the Chasm),” which is both opener and the longest track (immediate points) at just over five minutes, the clear focus is on ambience. I wouldn’t be the first to liken some of Dust Moves to Morricone, and sure, “Powdermill” has some of that Dollars-style reverb and “The Secret is Locked Inside” lays out a subtle nighttime threat in its rattlesnake shaker, but these ideas are bent and shaped to Pretty Lightning‘s overarching purpose, and even with 14 songs, the fact that the album only runs 43 minutes should tell you that even as they seem to head right into the great unknown wilderness of intent, they never dwell in any single position for too long, and are in no danger of overstaying their welcome. Extra kudos for the weirdness of “Crystal Waltz” tucked right into the middle of the album next to “The Slow Grinder.” Sometimes experiments work.
Combining burly modern heavy riffage, progressive flourish and a liberal dose of chicanery, Montana’s Wizzerd end up in the realm of Howling Giant and a more structurally-straightforward Elder without sounding directly like either of them. Their Fuzzorama Records label debut, the quizzically punctuated Space‽: Issue No. 001 echoes its title’s obvious nods to comic book culture with a rush of energy in songs like “Super Nova” and “Attack of the Gargantuan Moon Spiders,” the swinging “Don’t Zorp ‘n’ Warp” space-progging out in its second half as though to emphasize the sheer delight on the part of the band doing something unexpected. So much the better if they’re having fun too. The back half of the outing after the duly careening “Space Chase” is blocked off by the noisy “Transmission” and the bleep-bloop “End Transmission” — which, if we’re being honest is a little long at just under five minutes — but finds the band establishing a firm presence of purpose in “Doom Machine Smoke Break” and the building “Diosa del Sol” ahead of the record’s true finishing moment, “Final Departure Part 1: The Intergalactic Keep of the Illustrious Cosmic Woman,” which is both an adventure in outer space and a melodic highlight. This one’s a party and you’re invited.
Desert 9 is one of several projects founded by synthesist Peter Bell through a collective/studio called Mutaform in the Brindisi region of Southern Italy (heel of the boot), and the seven-song/63-minute Explora II follows quickly behind June’s Explora I and works on a similar theme of songs named for different deserts around the world, be it “Dasht-e Margo,” “Mojave,” “Gobi” or “Arctic.” What unfolds in these pieces is mostly long-ish-form instrumental krautrock and psychedelic exploration — “Arctic” is an exception at a somewhat ironically scorching three and a half minutes; opener “Namib” is shorter, and jazzier, as well — likewise immersive and far-outbound, with Bell‘s own synth accompanied on its journeys by guitar, bass and drums, the former two with effects to spare. I won’t take away from the sunburn of “Sonoran” at the finish, but the clazzic-cool swing of “Chihuahuan” is a welcome respite from some of the more thrust-minded fare, at least until the next solo starts and eats the second half of the release. The mix is raw, but I think that’s part of the idea here, and however much of Explora II was improvised and/or recorded live, it sounds like the four-piece just rolled up, hit record and went for it. Not revolutionary in aesthetic terms, but inarguable in vitality.
Originally pressed to tape in 2019 through Fuzz Ink and brought to vinyl through Sound Effect Records, Greek sludgers Gagulta begin their self-titled debut with an evocation of the Old Ones before unfurling the 13-minute assault of “Dead Fiend/Devil’s Lettuce,” the second part of which is even slower than the first. Nods and screams, screams and nods, riffs and kicks and scratches. “Late Beer Cult” is no less brash or disaffected, the Galatsi-based trio of ‘vokillist’ Johny Oldboy, baritone bassist Xen and drummer Jason — no need for last names; we’re all friends here — likewise scathing and covered in crust. Side B wraps with the 10-minute eponymous “Gagulta” — circle pit into slowdown into even noisier fuckall — but not before “Long Live the Undead” has dirty-steamrolled through its four minutes and the penultimate “War” blasts off from its snare count-in on a punk-roots-revealing surge that plays back and forth with tortured, scream-topped slow-riff madness. I don’t know if the Old Ones would be pleased, but if at any point you see a Gagulta backpatch out in the wild, that person isn’t fucking around and neither is this band. Two years after its first release, it remains monstrous.
Some 20 years removed from their debut album, Accidentally Making Enemies, and 13 past their most recent, 2009’s Eye Tree Pi (review here), London’s Obiat return at the behest of guitarist/keyboardist Raf Reutt and drummer Neil Dawson with the duly massive Indian Ocean, an eight-song collection spanning an hour’s listening time that brings together metallic chug and heavy post-rock atmospherics, largesse of tone and melody central to the proceedings from opener “Ulysses” onward. Like its long-ago predecessor, Alex Nervo‘s bass (he also adds keys and guitar) is a major presence, and in addition to vocalist Sean Cooper, who shines emotively and in the force of his delivery throughout, there are an assortment of guests on “Eyes and Soul,” “Nothing Above,” “Sea Burial” and subdued closer “Lightness of Existence,” adding horns, vocals, flute, and so on to the wash of volume from the guitar, bass, drums, keys, and though parts were recorded in Wales, England, Australia, Sweden, Norway and Hungary, Indian Ocean is a cohesive, consuming totality of a record that does justice to the long wait for its arrival while also earning as much volume as you can give it through its immersive atmospherics and sheer aural heft that leads to the ambient finish. It is not a minor undertaking, but it walks the line between metal and post-metal and has a current of heavy rock beneath it in a way that is very much Obiat‘s, and if they’re really back to being a band again — that is, if it’s not another 13 years before their next record — watch out.
Vienna five-piece Maunra enter the fray of the harsher side of post-metal with Monarch, their self-released-for-now debut full-length. With throaty growling vocals at the forefront atop subtly nuanced double-guitars and bouts of all-out chugga-breakdown riffing like that in “Wuthering Seas,” they’re managing to dare to bring a bit of life and energy to the generally hyper-cerebral style, and that rule-breaking continues to suit them in the careening “Embers” and the lumbering stomp-mosh of the title-track such that even when the penultimate “Lightbreather” shifts into its whispery/wispy midsection — toms still thudding behind — there’s never any doubt of their bringing the shove back around. I haven’t seen a lyric sheet, so can’t say definitively whether or not opener “Between the Realms” is autobiographical in terms of the band describing their own aesthetic, but their blend of progressivism and raw impact is striking in that song and onward, and it’s interesting to hear an early ’00s metal influence creep into the interplay of lead and rhythm guitar on that opener and elsewhere. At seven tracks/41 minutes, Monarch proffers tonal weight and rhythmic force, hints toward more melodic development to come, and underscores its focus on movement by capping with the especially rousing “Windborne.” Reportedly the album was five years in the making. Time not wasted.
Still mostly instrumental, formerly just-Ohio-based progressive heavy rockers Brujas del Sol answer the steps they took in a vocalized direction on 2019’s II (review here) with the voice-as-part-of-the-atmosphere verses of “To Die on Planet Earth” and “Myrrors” on their third album, Deculter, but more importantly to the actual listening experience of the record is the fact that they’ve never sounded quite this heavy. Sure, guitarist Adrian Zambrano (also vocals) and bassist Derrick White still provide plenty of synth to fill out those instrumentalist spaces and up the general proggitude, and that’s a signal sent clearly with the outset “Intro,” but Joshua Oswald (drums/vocals) pounds his snare as “To Live and Die on Planet Earth” moves toward its midsection, and the aggression wrought there is answered in both the guitar and bass tones as 12-minute finishing move “Arcadia” stretches into its crescendo, more about impact than the rush of “Divided Divinity” earlier on, rawer emotionally than the keyboardier reaches of “Lenticular,” but no less thoughtful in its construction. Each piece (even that intro) has an identity of its own, and each one makes Deculter a stronger offering.
A definite 2LP at nine songs and 68 minutes, Sergeant Thunderhoof‘s fifth full-length, This Sceptred Veil, is indeed two albums’ worth of album, and the songs bear that out in their complexity and sense of purpose as well. Not to harp, but even the concluding two-parter “Avon/Avalon” is a lot to take in after what’s come before it, but what Bath, UK, troupe vary their songwriting and bring a genuine sense of presence to the material that even goes beyond the soaring vocals to the depth of the mix more generally. There’s heavy rock grit to “Devil’s Daughter” (lil eyeroll there) and progressive reach to the subsequent “Foreigner,” a lushness to “King Beyond the Gates” and twisting riffs that should earn pleased nods from anyone who’s been swept up in Green Lung‘s hooky pageantry, and opener “You’ve Stolen the Words” sets an expectation for atmosphere and a standard for directness of craft — as well as stellar production — that This Sceptred Veil seems only too happy to meet. A given listener’s reaction to the ’80s metal goofery of “Show Don’t Tell” will depend on said listener’s general tolerance for fun, but don’t let me spoil that for them or you. Yeah, it’s a substantial undertaking. Five records in, Sergeant Thunderhoof knew that when they made it, and if you’ve got the time, they’ve got the tunes. Album rocks front to back.
Posted in Whathaveyou on August 8th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
In case you’d like a concise summary of Europe’s October festival season — not entirely complete, but not far off — Memphis rockers The Heavy Eyes have made a convenient list for your perusal that also just happens to be the routing for their upcoming tour. They go, at last, in support of 2020’s Love Like Machines (review here), and like so much else this year, their run happens now after being delayed for two years owing to the pandemic. Glad they finally get to go.
When the tour got postponed the first time, the band said they were recording new music, and just because there hasn’t been a release doesn’t necessarily mean that it didn’t happen. In any case, Love Like Machines was a record that they intended to support, that sounded like it was ready for the support, so as they swing through Up in Smoke, Fuzztival in Denmark, Setalight Festival, Keep it Low, FreakOut Fest and Desertfest Belgium in Antwerp, their arrival should be duly anticipated.
They’ve got club shows besides, and that’s great too, but the point here is basically that they’re going and that’s a good thing. Slowly the world gets itself back together, just in time for who the hell knows what winter will bring.
Dates follow:
The Heavy Eyes – Euro Tour 2022
The Heavy Eyes are set to cross the pond this October and finally embark on their twice-delayed EU tour from 2020. With the release of Love Like Machines in April of ’20, they were eager to hit the road that fall, but as we all know things didn’t go as planned. Now, two years later, they’re set to play Switzerland, France, Italy, Germany, Belgium, and Denmark on their two-week tour. Dates below.
-1.10 Paris, FR FR L’International -2.10 Basel, CH Up In Smoke Festival -3.10 Köln, DE MTC -5.10 Copenhagen, DK Fuzztival -6.10 Osnabrück, DE Bastard Club -7.10 Berlin, DE Setalight Festival -8.10 Munich, DE Keep It Low Festival -10.10 Chambéry, FR Brin du Zinc -11.10 Bologna, IT FreakOut Fest -13.10 Reigniers, FR Le Poulpe -14.10 Belgium, BE Desert Fest
THE HEAVY EYES are: Tripp Shumake Wally Anderson Matt Qualls Eric Garcia
Posted in Whathaveyou on May 27th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
Nearly four years since their last album, II (review here), came out in 2018, Ohio progressive heavy rockers Brujas del Sol will issue Deculter on July 22 in continued collaboration with Kozmik Artifactz. The record is sitting on my desktop, which would be awesome and I’d probably be going on right now about how rad it is but for the fact that my laptop crashed and I’m writing this on my phone, meanwhile feeling like a garbage fire because either of resurgent covid or allergies, one of which has also infected my son. His covid test was negative but he’s also extra miserable so who the royal fuck knows anything anymore.
So anyhow, I’ll get to listening at some point when my head doesn’t feel like it’s baking bread with too much yeast and then I’ve no doubt of the evening radness in the Middle West. One of these days. Looks like the album’s been done for a while though, which makes me wondering about the vinyl pressing delays. It’s a thing I’m glad exists either way. Let me say that for now.
Can’t fucking breathe through my nose.
PR wire:
Brujas Del Sol Return with Brand New Album “Deculter”
“Deculter is the quintessential record of the Brujas sound. Though several songs were written over a year before we recorded this album in the summer of 2020, that turbulent time only made us strive harder to capture our musical catharsis.
Alongside the rest of the world, our personal lives have changed quite a bit since we last released music. Adrian moved to Asheville, NC from our hometown of Columbus, Ohio; he and Derrick are now brother-in-laws, and Josh has become a father. Also, for the first time since forming this band 10 years ago, we wrote, recorded, and toured as a trio.
There was a sense of urgency, stronger than we’ve ever felt before, to get this album done and do it right – to prove to ourselves that making music was not only still possible, but necessary after everything we’ve been through together.
The heavy riffs, ethereal melodies, propulsive drums, and pulsating synths that are our trademarks have been refined on Deculter to something more than the sum of its parts. We hope this album is for you what it is for us: raw, progressive, and uncompromising.”
Deculter will be released 22nd July on Kozmik Artifactz, available on heavyweight gatefold vinyl from Kozmik Artifactz, as well as on Bandcamp and all major digital streaming platforms.
Available as Limited Edition Vinyl
Release Date: 22nd July 2022
VINYL FACTZ – Plated & pressed on high performance vinyl at Pallas/Germany – limited & coloured vinyl – 300gsm gatefold cover – special vinyl mastering
TRACKS 1. Intro 2. Divided Divinity 3. Lenticular 4. To Die on Planet Earth 5. Myrrors 6. Arcadia
