Posted in audiObelisk on September 15th, 2017 by JJ Koczan
It’s been tradition around these parts for I don’t even know how long to post the annual audio streams as they come out from each http://www.fernwege.de/?dissertation-african-american-studies - work with our scholars to get the quality report meeting the requirements If you want to know how to write a top-notch Roadburn, and I hope the case will be no different as we move further away from Pelog Scale Homework Help September 17, 2013 by Jeff, the Coffee Lover. Online Dissertation Writing Provider: A Help or A Traitor in Disguise. Photo: Facebook.com. There are lots of companies that claim to be a genuine essay and dissertation writing companies targeting to serve the Americas, UK and other European and American countries. Essay or dissertation writing companies offers a wide Roadburn 2017 this past April in Tilburg, the Netherlands, and inexorably toward the first announcements for custom written paper services The Best Homework Writing Service dissertation abstract level aspiration write research proposal phd economics Roadburn 2018 to come. This process — the posting — used to require a slew of links and media players, which I actually kind of liked because it allowed for emphasis on just how much material there was emerging from the festival, how much work college application essays on leadership Writing Colege Reaction Papers Uk best homework help online integrity definition essay Marcel van de Vondervoort and his team put into the recording and mixing of these sets for all the bands, and so on.
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Not inconsiderable. It’s been mere hours since Slomatics‘ Futurians: Live at Roadburn was reviewed here, but I also had occasion to see Warning (pictured above), Joy, Les Discrets, Atala, Valborg and others on that list, and I can attest to their being a joy to behold. Part of the fun of these streams is also getting some sense of what you missed at Roadburn due to making the inevitable hard choice of a schedule conflict, so I guess this is my shot at hearing what Bongzilla got up to during their time on stage. If you need me I’ll be doing that.
Hope you enjoy as well:
Thanks as always to Walter for sending the embed my way. For all this site’s Roadburn 2017 coverage, click here.
My friends, the time has come. Well, actually the time came about two weeks ago at the end of June, but I won’t tell if you don’t. Better late than never as regards all things, but most especially The Obelisk’s Quarterly Review, which this time around features releases recent, upcoming and a bit older, a mix of known and lesser known acts, and as always, hopefully enough of a stylistic swath to allow everyone whose eyes the series of posts catches to find something they dig between now and Friday. As always, it’ll be 50 records from now until then, 10 per day, and I see no reason not to jump right in, so let’s do that.
Considering the pedigree involved in guitarist/vocalist Darryl Shepard (ex-Milligram, Blackwolfgoat, Kind, etc.), bassist Aarne Victorine (UXO, Whitey) and drummer Michael Nashawaty (Planetoid, Bird Language), itâs little surprise that Test Meatâs Demo would have a pretty good idea of where it wants to come from. The five-track first showing from the Boston trio blends raw-edge grunge and noise rock on âHe Donât Knowâ after opening with its longest inclusion (immediate points) in the 3:50 âCuffing Season,â and though centerpiece âDoneâ nods at the starts-and-stops of Helmet, the subsequent 2:35 push of âIf You Wannaâ is strikingly post-Nirvana, and closer âPermanent Festivalâ rounds out by bridging that gap via a still-straightforward heavy rock groove. Formative, yeah, but thatâs the whole point. Test Meat revel in their barebones style and clearly arenât looking to get overly lush, but one canât help but be curious how or if theyâll develop a more melodic sensibility to go with the consuming, full buzzsaw tones they elicit here.
Worth noting that while the opening cut here, âClaroscuro,â shares its title with Matusâ 2015 full-length (review here), that song didnât actually appear on that album. Does that mean that the Lima, Peru, classic progressive rockers are offering leftovers from the same sessions on their new EP and perhaps final release, Intronauta? I donât know, but the four tracks of the digital outing are a welcome arrival anyway, from the laid back easy vibes of the aforementioned opener through the riffier âIntronauta (Including Hasta Que El Sol Descanse en Paz),â the Theremin-soaked finish of the harder-driving âCatalinaâ and the acoustic-led four-part closer âArboleda Bohemia,â which unfolds with lushness that remains consistent with the naturalism that has always been underlying in the bandâs work. Theyâve said their last few times out that the end is near, and if itâs true, they go out with a fully-cast sonic identity of their own and a take on â70s prog that remains an underrated secret of the South American underground.
The jury, at least when it comes to the internet, still seems to be somewhat divided on whether the name of Farflungâs five-track/34-minute EP is Unwound Celluloid Frown or Unwound Cellular Frown. Iâd say another argument is whether itâs an EP or an LP, but either way, let the follow-up to the more clearly-titled 2016 album 5Â (review here)Â demonstrate how nebulous the long-running Los Angeles space rockers can be when it suits them. Hugely and continually underrated, the troupe once again aligns to Heavy Psych Sounds for this release, which is rife with their desert-hued Hawkwindian thrust and weirdo vibes, permeating the rocket-fuel chug of the title-track and the noise-of-the-cosmos 13-minute headphone-fest that is âAxis Mundi,â which seems to end with someone coming home and putting down their car keys before a slowly ticking clock fades out and into the backwards swirling intro of lazily drifting closer âSilver Ghost with Crystal Spoons.â Yeah, itâs like that. Whatever you call it, the collection proves once again that Farflung are a secret kept too well.
Immersive and progressive psychedelia unfolds from the very opening moments of Carpetâs third album, Secret Box (on Elektrohasch Schallplatten), as the Augsberg, Germany-based five-piece explore lush arrangements of Moog, Rhodes, trumpet, vibraphone, etc. around central compositions of fluid guitar-led melodies and engaging rhythms. Their 2015 Riot Kiss 7â (review here) and 2013 sophomore long-player, Elysian Pleasures (review here), came from a similar place in intent, but from the funk wah and percussion underscoring the pre-fuzz-explosion portion of âBest of Hard Timesâ and the okay-this-oneâs-about-the-riff âShouting Florenceâ to the serene ambience of âFor Tildaâ and ethereal fluidity of âPale Limbsâ later on, the secret of Secret Box seems to be that itâs actually a treasure chest in disguise. Opening with its longest track in âTemperâ (immediate points), the album hooks its audience right away along a graceful, rich-sounding melodic flow and does not relinquish its hold until the last piano notes of the closing title-track offer a wistful goodbye. In between, Carpet execute with a poise and nuance all the more enjoyable for how much their own it seems to be.
Full, natural production, crisp and diverse songwriting, right-on performances and a name youâre not about to forget â thereâs nothing about Tricky Lobsters not to like. Worlds Collide is their sixth album and first on Exile on Mainstream, and the overall quality of their approach reminds of the kind of sonic freedom proffered by Astrosoniq, but the German trio of guitarist/vocalist Sarge, bassist/vocalist Doc and drummer/vocalist Captain Peters have their own statements to make as well in the stomping âBattlefields,â the mega-hook of âBig Book,â the dreamy midsection stretch of âFather and Sonâ and the progressive melody-making of âTarred Albinoâ (video premiere here). The emphasis across the nine-song/42-minute outing is on craft, but whether itâs the patient unfolding of âDreamdiver Pt. I & IIâ or the harp-and-fuzz blues spirit of closer âNeeds Must,â Tricky Lobstersâ sonic variety comes paired with a level of execution thatâs not to be overlooked. Will probably fly under more radars than it should, but if you can catch it, do.
Ten Foot Wizard & Chubby Thunderous Bad Kush Masters, Special
Dubbed Special for reasons that should be fairly obvious from looking at the cover art, this meeting of minds, riffs and cats between Manchesterâs Ten Foot Wizard and Londonâs Chubby Thunderous Bad Kush Masters brings four tracks â two per band â and goes so far as to find the groups collaborating on the formerâs âGet Fucked,â which opens, and the latterâs âDunkerque,â which begins their side of the 7â, as vocalists The Wailing Goblin (of Chubby Thunderous) and Gary Harkin (of Ten Foot Wizard) each sit in for a guest spot on the other bandâs cuts. Both bands also offer a standalone piece, with Ten Foot Wizard digging into heavy rock burl on âNight Witchesâ and Chubby Thunderous blowing out gritty party sludge in âNutbar,â which rounds out the offering, and between them they showcase well the sphere of the UKâs crowded but diverse heavy rock underground. Kind of a niche release in the spirit of Gurt and Trippy Wickedâs 2016 Guppy split/collab, but it works no less well in making its impact felt.
It turns out that Vol. 11 is actually Vol. 1 for Garden City, Idaho, three-piece The Acid Guide Service, who dig into extended fuzz-overdose riffing on the 52-minute nine-tracker, proffering blown-out largesse even on shorter cuts like the five-minute âInto the Skyâ while longer pieces like opener âRapturedâ (7:16), âEODâ (9:38) and closer âBlack Leather Jesusâ (10:04) skirt lines between structure and jams as much as between heavy rock and psychedelia. Proffered by the trio of guitarist/vocalist Russ Walker, bassist/vocalist Tyler Walker and drummer Nick McGarvey, one can hear shades of Wo Fat in the guitar-led expanse of âRock ânâ Roll (Is the Drug Iâm On),â but on the whole, Vol. 11 speaks more to the late-â90s/early-â00s post-Kyuss stoner rock heyday, with flourish of Monster Magnet and Fu Manchu for good measure in the hard-swinging âDude Rockinââ and its chugging companion piece, âMarauder King.â Big tones, big riffs, big groove. The Acid Guide Service are preaching to the converted, but clearly coming from a converted place themselves in so doing. Right on.
Professing a self-aware love for the earliest days of heavy metal in idea and sound, Oaklandâs Skunk offer their full-length debut with the self-released Doubleblind, following up on their 2015 demo, Heavy Rock from Elder Times (review here). That outing featured four tracks that also appear on Doubleblind â âForest Nymph,â âWizard Bong,â âBlack Hashâ and âDevil Weed.â Working on a theme? The theme is âstoned?â Yeah, maybe, but the cowbell-infused slider groove and standout hook of âMountain Childâ are just as much about portraying that â70s vibe as Skunk may or may not be about the reefer whose name they bear. Presumably more recent material like that song, âDoubleblind,â closer âWaitinâ Round on Youâ and leadoff cut âForest Nymphâ coherently blend impulses drawn from AC/DC, Sabbath and Zeppelin. John McKelvyâs vocals fit that spirit perfectly, and with the grit brought forth from guitarists Dmitri Mavra and Erik Pearson, bassist Matt Knoth and drummer Jordan Ruyle, Skunk dig into catchy, excellently-paced roller riffing and cast their debut in the mold of landmark forebears. Mothers, teach your children to nod.
As they make their way through a temporal drift of three tracks that play between krautrocking jazz fusion, psychecosmic expansion and Floydian lushness, Kiev-based explorers The Raynbow keep immersion central to their liquefied purposes. The Cosmic Adventure (on Garden of Dreams Records) is an aptly-titled debut full-length, and the band who constructed it is comprised of upwards of eight parties who begin with the 16-minute opener and longest track (immediate points) âChanges,â which builds toward and through a metallic chug apex, sandwiching it on either side with ultra-patient molten tone and soundscaping that continues to flourish through the subsequent âCosmic Foolâ (5:17) and âBlue Deep Sea Eyesâ (8:18), the whole totaling a still-manageable outward trip into reaches of slow-moving space rock that whether loud or quiet at any individual moment more than earns a volume-up concentrated headphone listen. The kind of outfit one could easily imagine churning out multiple albums in a single year, The Raynbow nonetheless deliver a dream on The Cosmic Adventure that stands among the best first offerings Iâve heard in 2017.
Posted in Features, Reviews on April 23rd, 2017 by JJ Koczan
04.23.17 — 22.26 — Sunday night — Hotel room
The last day of putting together the Weirdo Canyon Dispatch started with a panic when the office coffee machine was busted. At first I didn’t believe it and plugged the thing in to see if the sign that had been taped onto the front was bullshit, but indeed, it was not. Could’ve cried. Instead, went downstairs to the backstage area where they serve the meals and got coffee there. Survived.
What used to be known as the Afterburner, the traditional easing between a given Roadburn and the transition back to real life, is now basically just another day of the fest proper. They’ve dropped the name, and fairly enough so. Running across four stages this year, it’s hardly a means of becoming less immersed in the Roadburn experience at this point. If anything, it’s Roadscorch. The absolute last blast from the furnace that is this festival. My brain has turned into Roadchar.
I had no fewer bands I wanted to see today than yesterday or the day before, and a few others that I wouldn’t have minded catching had I been able to do so, so yeah, it was definitely Roadburn. It started early and went late and was packed for the duration. I did one more bounce between venues as I had earlier in the weekend — none at Cul de Sac for me today, but two at Het Patronaat — and was back and forth a few times between the Main Stage and the Green Room at the 013 proper, running past the merch area as well for good measure. Can’t be too careful. Wouldn’t want something to get by unnoticed.
It was a 15.00 start in the big room with Temple of BBV. I knew from seeing Gnod the other night (review here) that the culmination of their residency in a collaboration with Radar Men from the Moon was one I didn’t want to miss, so while it was early, I figured a head-first dive into willful prog oddity was well in order. I won’t like to you — it was a lot for three in the afternoon. Or three in the morning, for that matter. It was a lot, period. 10 people on stage, including two drummers, a near-constant throb and pulsations pushing outward into psycho-psychedelic reaches of the bizarre.
They were aggressively strange. On a strangeness crusade. They wore their strangeness like a badge of strangeness honor and as the room filled up slowly, people seeing to be hungover perhaps from the sensory assault Mysticum had provided the night before as much as from actual inebriation of whatever sort, the crowd had no choice but to be subsumed by what Temple of BBV were doing on that stage. Hair of the cosmic dog that gave you demonic space-rabies. Was it weird? Why, yes. Yes, it was.
I couldn’t help but try to remember when last I actually saw Pallbearer as their set got underway, also on the Main Stage. Turns out it was 2013 (review here). I’d also caught them at Roadburn that year (review here), as part of what was then the Afterburner in the Green Room. While I didn’t think it’d been that long at the time, the reason I thought of it was because of how much the Arkansas doomers seem to have stepped up their game in the intervening years. Their third album, Heartless (review here), is newly issued and fresh in mind, but live that material became heavier than it is on record and their presence in delivery was unmistakable. Since the last time I saw them, Pallbearer have become a headlining band.
No question they belonged on the Main Stage at Roadburn 2017. They not only held down that spot well, but were in full command of their material and their sound, and with shared vocals across the front of the stage, they offered a richness to their doom that only underscored just how much they’ve made the genre work to their interests rather than working to the interests of genre. Heartless cuts like “I Saw the End,” “Thorns” and “Dancing in Madness” were high points in emphasizing their progression, but the churning heft of the whole set was dead on, whether it was those or “Fear and Fury,” “Worlds Apart,” or “The Ghost I Used to Be.” Remarking from the stage that playing Roadburn felt like coming home since it was where they’d done their first European show, they were welcomed as returning heroes and clearly rose to the occasion.
I know they’re like the hottest shit in the world and everyone knows it and Heartless is going to be everyone’s album of the year and blah blah blah so I’m giving away state secrets or anything, but Pallbearer fucking killed at Roadburn. I’ve seen them before and I was still genuinely surprised at how good they were.
In hindsight, it probably would’ve made narrative sense to stay put in the big room and await the arrival of the aforementioned Ulver. I didn’t do that. First, I went and grabbed dinner — chicken salad over lettuce and arugula with bacon and a bit of chicken/peppers in curry sauce; some bean sprouts in there, no corn, no onions, no celery; two plates, second void of curry and bacon — and was fortunate enough to sit in the company of Norwegian artist and Weirdo Canyon Dispatch contributor Kim Holm, and then I made my way back up to the Green Room to catch at least some of Valborg. I knew that I wanted to watch somebody from the Green Room balcony, and the underrated German martial metallers seemed like the perfect occasion.
And so they pretty much were. I watched as the space below filled up and when the German trio — whose new record, Endstrand, is also out on Prophecy this month (it came out April 7) — took stage, it was pretty clear the crowd knew them well. “Werwulf” from the 2016 single of the same name (review here) was like a riff-led wrecking ball that highlighted how perfectly paced Valborg‘s material is and the genre lines their songwriting so fluidly crosses between death metal, progressive synth textures and goth atmospherics. They demonstrated clearly they can roll a groove with the best of them but seem to have little interest in heavy rock or anything quite so not-extreme, but wherever it was ultimately coming from, their sound was on its own wavelength and its complete lack of compromise notched a mark in the skull of everyone who was there to hear it, myself included.
I didn’t get to stay for Valborg‘s whole set because I knew Ulver were soon to go on the Main Stage. I worked my way off the balcony much to the delight of the person who’d been standing behind me while I leaned over the rail to take a couple pictures of the band and down around the back way to the Main Stage room — still kind of strange to me how the 013 works since it was remodeled last year; there’s a hallway with bathrooms there now that I think used to lead to the Bat Cave/Stage01, but jeez, don’t quote me on that. I’d have to look at the blueprints to be sure, and that would probably take hours because I’d have to find a YouTube video on how to read blueprints first. Sucks being useless sometimes. Most of the time, actually.
Anyway, I did manage to get myself one room over in time for the start of Ulver, and when the Norwegian more-post-everything-than-everything outfit got underway, I was really, really glad I’d already heard the new album which was the focus of their set: The Assassination of Julius Caesar (review here). Otherwise all that dark post-New Wave moodiness and nighttime ambience might’ve thrown me for a loop. It’s usually safe to assume two things about Roadburn attendees. One, they’re open-minded. Two, they’re pretty well informed. Still, of all the men and women assembled at the 013 to watch Ulver play, I have to imagine there was at least one person who had no idea what they were in for, and so when the band broke out the laser light show and the electronica beats and the Depeche Mode gone prog sexytime vibes they were completely taken aback by all of it. Now that I think about it, it might’ve been fun to be surprised like that.
But when it comes to Ulver, part of the appeal is the band’s willingness to dismantle their own formula, or more precisely, to not have a formula in the first place, so it’s safe to assume that whether this hypothetical Roadburner knew or not what they were getting with the songs featured from The Assassination of Julius Caesar, they were still able to get on board. Still, one day someone’s going to trick Ulver into playing 2007’s Shadows of the Sun front to back — or at least doing live variations based thereupon — and that’s going to be incredible. One for Roadburn 2022, maybe?
I didn’t stay for all of Ulver either. Not for lack of patience or anything, but I could feel my Roadburn 2017 crunch winding down and knew I had to try to pack as much in as I could. That meant getting my ass to Het Patronaat to see The Doomsday Kingdom. Every year I’m lucky enough to be at Roadburn I let myself buy one piece of vinyl. This year it was the special edition 12″ The Doomsday Kingdom were selling at the merch stand. Why? Because Leif Edling, god damn it. The founding Candlemassbassist and crucial architect of what we know to be true and traditional doom metal — yes, I mean that — was making a live debut with this new four-piece at the church, and I knew I didn’t want to regret later not getting that record when I had the chance. It’ll probably get damaged in my luggage on the trip home. Still worth it.
Their set was likewise. Songs like “Never Machine” and “The Silence” offered classic doom very much of the style one might expect from Edling‘s long-established craft and methodology, but hell, I’ve got no problem with that whatsoever. It hasn’t been that long since Candlemass put out their 2016 EP, Death Thy Lover (review here), and they’re still doing shows as well, but before he took over lead vocals from mesh-shirt-clad frontman Niklas StĂ„lvind — who’d been righteously belting out the material up to that point — for the set finale “God Particle,” Edling called The Doomsday Machine his “therapy band.” I wasn’t sure what he meant, but I sure was glad I stayed to watch their full set, because they were awesome. A couple first-show-type hiccups, but nothing major by any stretch, and after “God Particle,” they even came back out in made an encore of the metallic-galloping “Hand of Hell,” with StĂ„lvind back on vocals, guitarist Marcus Jidell tearing into solo after solo and drummer Andreas Johansson fueling the big rock finish before coming out from behind the kit to take a bow with the band. If that was therapy, sign me up.
“No Savior” and “JunkLove” from the latter (and later) release were featured, but at their core, wherever they were drawing material from, Come to Grief were a mainline shot of visceral abrasiveness. Intense, pummeling and straight from the gut, they crashed each riff with maximum intensity and left no mystery about the sincerity of their intent to kill. It was impressive the way one thinks of primitive humanoids bashing in each other’s heads as a sign of evolution at work. Like I said, the perfect finale to my Roadburn 2017 — one last raw scrub to get the unwanted pieces of myself gone before I get on that plane and go home tomorrow morning.
—
Did I just say tomorrow morning? Yuppers. It’s 01.40. Shuttle comes to take me to the airport in about five hours, as it happens. When I left Het Patronaat, in addition to looping through the merch area to pick up the aforementioned Come to Grief CD, I made one last run through the 013 hoping to find Walter and say goodnight and thanks, but no such luck. Tired, beaten, missing my wife and with my earplugs still in, I trod past the assembled throngs in Weirdo Canyon and back to the hotel, where packing still awaits and pictures want sorting.
So yeah, I’m going to go get on that.
I’ll have another post up at some point tomorrow, but in the meantime, thank you so much for reading and please find the rest of those pics after the jump here:
Will look forward to hearing how this one turns out, but then, I always do when it comes to Les Discrets. If it’s the way you like to roll, preorders are up now from Prophecy Productions, as the PR wire informs:
Posted in Reviews on October 7th, 2016 by JJ Koczan
Last day. As ever, I am mentally, physically and spiritually exhausted by this process, but as ever, it’s been worth it. Today I do myself a couple favors in packing out with more familiar acts, but whatever, it’s all stuff I should be covering anyway, so if the order bothers you, go write your own 50 reviews in a week and we can talk about it. Yeah, that’s right. That’s what I said. Today we start with Swans. Everything’s a confrontation.
Once again, I hope you’ve found something somewhere along this bizarre, careening path of music that has resonated with you, something that will stick with you. That’s why we’re here. You and me. If you have, I’d love to know about it. Until then, one more time here we go.
Quarterly Review #41-50:
Swans, The Glowing Man
Oh fucking please. You want me to try to summarize The Glowing Man â the culmination and finale of an era of Swans that Michael Gira began now more than half a decade ago â in a single review? Even putting aside the fact that the record two hours long, the notion is ridiculous. If there ever was a chart, the scope here is well off it. The material unfolds and churns and is primal and lush at once on âCloud of Forgetting,â genuinely chaotic on the 28-minute title-track, and it ends with a drone lullaby, but seriously, what the fuck? Some shit is just beyond, and if you donât know that applies to Swans by now, itâs your own fault. You want a review? Fine. I listened to the whole thing. It ate my fucking soul, chewed it with all-canine teeth and then spit it out saying âthanks for the clarityâ and left me dazed, bloodied and humbled. Thereâs your fucking review. Thanks for reading.
Oslo trio Virus have long since established that theyâre a band working on their own wavelength. Memento Collider (on Karisma Records) is the jazzy post-black metallersâ first album in five years and brings together adventurous rhythms, poetic declarations, dissonant basslines and â in the case of âRogue Fossil,â the occasional hook â in ways that are unique unto Virus. Look at this site and see how often I use the word âunique.â It doesnât happen. Virus, however, are one of a kind. Memento Collider makes for a challenging listen front to back on its six-track/45-minute run, but it refuses to dumb itself down or dull its progressive edge, bookending its longest (thatâs opener âAfieldâ at 10:41; immediate points) two tracks around jagged explorations of sound like âSteamerâ and âGravity Seeker,â which engage and intrigue in kind after the melodic push of âDripping into Orbitâ and leading into âPhantom Oil Slick,â a righteous affirmation of the angular thrust at the core of Virusâ approach.
In 2010, Moscow troupe The Re-Stoned issued their first EP, Return to the Reptiles, and being obviously concerned with evolution, theyâve now gone back and revisited that debut release with Reptiles Return, a reworking of the four studio tracks that made up the initial version â âReturn,â âRun,â âThe Mountain Giantâ and âSleeping World.â The opener is a straight re-recording, as is one other, where another is remixed and the other two remastered, and Reptiles Return â which is presented on limited vinyl through Clostridium Records and a CD box set with bonus tracks via Rushus Records â pairs them with more psychedelic-minded soundscape pieces like âWinter Witchcraft,â âWalnut Talks,â the proggy âFlying Cloudsâ and sweetly acoustic âRoots Patter,â that showcase where founding multi-instrumentalist Ilya Lipkin is taking the band going forward. The result is a satisfying side A/B split on the vinyl that delights in heavy riffing for its own sake in the first half and expands the scope in the second, which should delight newcomers as well as those whoâve followed The Re-Stoned along this evolutionary process.
It may well be the fate of San Franciscoâs hard-touring, ass-kicking, genre-refusing duo Castle to be terminally underappreciated, but that has yet to stop them from proliferating their righteous blend of thrash, doom and classic, fistpump-worthy metal. Their latest outing, Welcome to the Graveyard, arrives via respected purveyor VĂĄn Records, and entices in atmosphere and execution, cohesively built tracks like âHammer and the Crossâ and the penultimate âDown in the Cauldron Bogâ finding a balance of personality and delivery that the band has long since honed on stage. The Dio-esque barnburner riff of âFlash of the Pentagramâ makes that cut a highlight, but as they roll out the cultish vibes of âNatural Parallelâ to close, there doesnât seem to be much on the spectrum of heavy metal that doesnât fit into Castleâs wheelhouse. For some bands, thereâs just no justice. Four records deep, Castle have yet to get their due, and Welcome to the Graveyard is further proof of why they deserve it.
One can hear a new wave of modern doom taking shape in Chained to Oblivion, the Prosthetic Records debut from Arizona one-man outfit Spirit Adrift. The work of Nate Garrett alone in the studio, the full-length offers five mostly-extended tracks as a 48-minute 2LP of soaring, emotional and psychedelic doom Ă la Pallbearer, but given even further breadth through progressively atmospheric passages and a marked flow in its transitions. To call it personal seems superfluous â itâs a one-man band, of course itâs personal â but Garrett (also formerly of metallers Take Over and Destroy) brings a palpable sense of performance to the songwriting, and by the time he gets to the 11-minutes-apiece finale duo of the title-track and âHum of Our Existence,â itâs easy to forget youâre not actually listening to a full band, not the least because of the vocal harmonies. Calling Chained to Oblivion a promising first outing would be underselling it â this is a project with serious potential.
Unpredictable from the start of opener âFlesh ânâ Steel,â Once upon the Wings is a first-time multinational collaborative effort from Robbi Robb of Californiaâs 3rd Ear Experience and Paul Pott of Germanyâs The Space Invaders. Its five tracks/42 minutes arrive through no less than Nasoni Records, and provide a curious and exploratory blend of the organic and the inorganic in sound, as one finds the 11-minute âGrassâ no less defined by its percussion solo, guitar line and â60s-style vocal than the electronic drums that underscore the layered wash of noise in its midsection. Further definition hits with the 16-minute centerpiece âProphecy #1,â which works in a space-rocking vein, but the shorter closing duo of the catchy âLooney Toonâ and darkly progressive âSpace Earâ show a creative bent that clearly refuses to be tamed. Robb & Pott, as a project, demonstrates remarkable potential throughout this debut, as they seem to have set no limits for where they want their sound to go and they seem to have the command to take it there.
Most of the tracks on Brooklyn progressive noise rockers Familyâs second album and Prosthetic Records debut, Future History, come paired with interludes. That cuts some of the growling intensity of winding pieces like âFuntime for Bigboyâ and âFloodgates,â and emphasizes the generally experimental spirit of the record as a whole, broadening the scope in sound and theme. Iâm somewhat torn as to how much this actually works to the 51:50 outingâs benefit, as shorter pieces like âPrison Hymnâ and âTransmission,â while adding dynamic to the sound and narrative drama, also cut the immediacy in impact of âThe Trialâ or closer âBone on Bone,â but itâs entirely possible that without them Future History would be an overwhelming tumult of raw prog metal. And while the play back and forth can feel cumbersome when one considers how effectively âNight Visionâ bridges the gap between sides, Iâm not sure thatâs not what Family were going for in the first place. Itâs not supposed to be an easy record, and it isnât one.
Presented across four tracks beginning with the 12-minute and longest-of-the-bunch (immediate points) âThe Corpse of Dr. Funkensteinâ (double points for the reference), II, the aptly-titled second album from Liquido di Morte expands the progressive atmospherics of the Italian four-pieceâs 2014 self-titled debut (review here) without losing sight of the performance and spirit of exploration that helped bring it to life. Isaakâs Giacomo H. Boeddu guests on brooding vocals and whispers for âThe Saddest of Songs Iâll Sing for You,â which swells in seething intensity as it moves forward, while âRodents on the Uphillâ casts a vision of post-space rock and closer âSchwartz Pitâ rounds out with crash and wash that seems only to draw out how different the two halves of II actually are. Not a complaint. Liquido di Morte make their way across this vast span with marked fluidity, and if they prove anything throughout, itâs that theyâre able to keep their command wherever they feel like using it to go.
Canberra, Australia, trio Witchskull initially released their debut full-length, The Vast Electric Dark, last year, and caught the attention of the cross-coastal US partnership between Ripple Music and STB Records, who now align for a reissue of the eight-tracker. Why is quickly apparent. In addition to having earned a fervent response, The Vast Electric Dark basks in quality songcraft and doomly, heavy vibes, keeping a consistent pace while rolling through the semi-metallic push of âRaise the Deadâ or the later rumble/shred of âCassandraâs Curse.â All the while, guitarist/vocalist Marcus De Pasquale provides a steady presence at the fore alongside bassist Tony McMahon and drummer Joel Green, and whatâs ultimately still a straightforward rocker of an album finds a niche for itself between varies underground styles of heavy. Between the balance they strike across their 37 minutes and the energy that courses through their songs, Witchskullâs The Vast Electric Dark proves easily worth the look itâs getting.
Posted in Whathaveyou on October 5th, 2016 by JJ Koczan
So, uh, 2017 over. Roadburn wins.
The Netherlands-based festival comes out of the gate with its first announcements for Roadburn 2017 and immediately proves why it’s like nothing else happening on this poor pitiful planet we happen to occupy. To bring Coven back to the stage for the first time in untold decades and for their first European show ever? Come on. I don’t care where you live, that’s worth getting on a plane for.
But of course, this is just the start of announcement season for Roadburn 2017. Over the next several months, in addition to these revelations that John Dyer Baizley of Baroness will curate and Baroness will perform as a part of that, that Warning will show up to play Watching from a Distance in full, that Gnod will be artists-in-residence and that Oranssi Pazuzu, Les Discrets, Pillorian, Perturbator, Schammasch and Zeal & Ardor will also play, Roadburn 2017 will spend the next several months unfolding its unparalleled creative progression as an event. Expect once-in-a-lifetime sets — see the ultra-pivotal cult rock progenitors named above — and an amazing and diverse roster of acts such that, by the time they’re done, the biggest complaint people will have is that there are too many incredible things to see that it’s impossible to do it all in the five days between the Hard Rock Hideout on Wednesday and the Afterburner on Sunday. Tough times, to be sure.
Enter Roadburn 2017. Mind already blown:
Roadburn 2017: A Coven, a comeback, a curator and more
COVEN will play their first show in decades, and for the first time ever on European soil.
Jinx Dawson quote: “Roadburn Festival’s intrepid ring master, Walter, hath stirred us from our Coven lair. We shall be performing a musickal ritual for the first time in many ages. We are wickedly delighted to travel to the Netherlands for this very special festival concert, and to bring our musickal form of Witchcraft once again to the live stage.â
JOHN DYER BAIZLEY will curate Roadburn 2017 – the main stage on Friday 21 April, and Het Patronaat on Saturday 22 April. BARONESS will perform on the Friday night as part of his curated event.
John said: “It is such a high honor to have even been considered for the role; I feel genuinely privileged to have fostered so many wonderful relationships within the microcosmic-world that surrounds this incredibly unique festival. Without revealing anything too specific concerning the lineup, I can confidently say that the groundwork that Walter and I have laid in the preceding months is staggering, both in itâs scope and itâs diversity. I could never have dreamed that Iâd get to communicate with, let alone invite and present so many incredible bands during this one consolidated musical event. I am proud to have the opportunity to showcase so many of those artists, who have had an indelible impact on my own work, so many esteemed friends and tour-mates, and people/ bands with whom so many in our community share fundamental creative ideals.” http://wp.me/p1m0FP-aKb
WARNING will perform Watching from a Distance in its entirety at Roadburn 2017. Please write the album title as here!
Quote from Patrick Walker: “I am humbled that there is still an interest in Watching from a Distance all these years on, and Iâm going to be very moved to be able to play it for an audience at Roadburn 2017.â
GNOD will be Roadburn 2017âs artist in residence, which means they will perform four times throughout the festival. This will mark their tenth anniversary as a band. http://wp.me/p1m0FP-aJH
ZEAL & ARDOR will perform on Friday, April 21 at Het Patronaat –http://wp.me/p1m0FP-aJQ PERTURBATOR will perform Friday, April 21 at Het Patronaat –http://wp. me/p1m0FP-aK8 SCHAMMASCH will perform on Friday, April 21 at Het Patronaat –http://wp.me/p1m0FP-aJT PILLORIAN will perform on Sunday, April 23 at the 013 venue –http://wp.me/p1m0FP-aK2 LES DISCRETS will perform on Sunday, April 23 at the 013 venue –Â http://wp.me/p1m0FP-aK4 ORANSSI PAZUZU will perform on Saturday, April 22 at the 013 venue –http://wp.me/p1m0FP-aK6– OP played Roadburn 2016 but a lot of people missed out on them as they played at Het Patonaat and we were overwhelmed by the number of people who wanted to see them. So this time around they will play the MainStage so everybody gets to see them!
Day one down and feeling good so far. Day two continues the thread of mixing more known quantities with bands either self-releasing or putting out demos, etc., and I like that. More than last time around — last quarter, if you want to use the business-y sounding language for it — I tried to really get a balance across this batch of reviews, posted yesterday and coming up over the next couple days. We’ll see how it works out when it’s over. It remains a ton of stuff, and I hope you dig it. Day two starts right now.
Quarterly review #11-20:
Horsehunter, Caged in Flesh
Pushing their way to the fore of Melbourneâs heavy surge, double-guitar four-piece Horsehunter proffer oppressive tonal crush on the four tracks of their 2LP Magnetic Eye Records debut, Caged in Flesh. The story goes that, unsatisfied the initial recordings werenât heavy enough, the band â guitarists Michael Harutyanyan (also vocals) and Dan McDonald, bassist/vocalist Himi Stringer and drummer Nick Cron â went back into the studio and redid the entire thing. Mission accomplished. By the time 16-minute opener and longest track (immediate points) âStoned to Deathâ is done, lungs are suitably deflated, spines are cracked, skulls cleaved, and so on. Theyâre hardly the only ones in the world to conjure formidable tonal heft, but itâs the deft changes in vocals â clean here, shouts there, more abrasive at the start of the title-track â and the sense of atmosphere in the three-minute penultimate interlude that really distinguish Horsehunter, as well as how smoothly that atmosphere integrates with the pummel in the second half of closer âWitchery,â attention to detail and awareness of the need for more than just sonic weight boding well for future progression.
A staggeringly heavy debut full-length from Sacramento, CA, five-piece Church, Unanswered Hymns was initially released digitally by the band and quickly picked up for a cassette issue by Transylvanian Tapes and forthcoming LP through Battleground Records. One gets the sense listening to the three extended tracks â 19-minute opener âDawningâ being the longest of the bunch (immediate points) â that those wonât be the last versions to come. Psychedelic doom blends seamlessly with vicious sludge extremity, creating a morass engulfing in its tones, spacious in its breadth and unrepentantly heavy, making it one of 2015âs best debut releases, hands down, and a glorious revelry in bleak tectonics that challenges the listener to match its level of melancholy without giving into an impulse for post-Pallbearer emotive theatrics. As thrilling as they are plodding, expect the echoes of âDawning,â âStargazerâ and âOfferingâ to resonate for some time to come, and should Church show any predilection for touring in the next couple years, they have the potential to make a genuine impact on American doom. Yes, I mean it.
Recorded in a day and released by Grimoire Records, the four-track Without Form is slated as the debut from Baltimore atmospheric doomers Corpse Light, but the band have had tracks come out in drips and drabs since getting their start as Ophidian in mid-2012, even if this is their first proper release. Either way, âThe Foolâ sets up an immediate and grim ambience, the churning lurch from guitarists Keiran Holmes and Don Selner and bassist Aurora Raiten set to roll by Lawrence Grimes (The Osedax) and given earthy aggression by the vocals of Jim Webb. âLying in Stateâ fleshes out these morose aggro vibes, but itâs with the drop-everything-and-kill peak of the subsequent âR Complexâ that Corpse Light hit their angriest mark. If Without Form was just about that, it would be the highlight, but the albumâs 29 minutes have more to offer than pissed off tonally-weighted post-hardcore, as closer âKenophobiaââs clever turns and deceptive forward momentum demonstrate, though a touch of that kind of thing never hurts either.
Heavy psych four-piece Sunder will make their debut this summer through Tee Pee and Crusher Records with a 7â for âCursed Wolf,â so consider this notice of the tracks on their not-for-public-consumption demo a heads up on things to come. Their âDeadly Flowerâ was streamed here this past April, and the bandâs previous incarnation, The Socks, released their self-titled debut (review here) on Small Stone in 2014, but with songs like the key-laced stomper âBleeding Trees,â the â70s rusher âAgainst the Grain,â and the Uncle Acid-style swinging âDaughter of the Snows,â the Lyon, France, outfit continue to refine a style drawing together different vibes of the psychedelic era. âDeadly Flowerâ was also distinguished by its key work, and as for âCursed Wolfâ itself, the melody reminds of proto-psych Beatles singles (thinking âRainâ specifically), but the groove still holds firm to a sense of weight thatâs thoroughly modern, and by that I mean it sounds like 1972. Keep an eye out.
Granted not everyone is going to make this immediate association, but when I first saw the moniker T-Tops, I couldnât help think of like C-grade generic stonerisms, songs about beer and pretending to be from the South and all that. If you experienced something similar in seeing the name, rest easy. The Pittsburgh trio of guitarist/vocalist Pat Waters (ex-The Fitt, Wormrigg), bassist Jason Orr (Wormrigg) and drummer Jason Jouver (ex-Don Caballero) are down with far more sinister punk and noise on their self-titled, self-released debut full-length, riding, shooting straight and speaking truth on cuts like âWipe Downâ and the catchy âPretty on a Girlâ after the tense sampling of âA Certain Cordial Exhilarationâ turns over the power-push to âCruisinâ for a Bruisinâ.â âRalphieâ is probably an inside-joke if not a Christmas Story reference, but point is these guys are way less about-to-sing-about-muscle-cars than the name implies and their tight, crisp rhythmic turns come accompanied by vicious tonal force and an utter lack of bullshit, which is a scenario far preferable to that which one might otherwise expect.
Issued by Aqulamb in the imprintâs standard 100-page art book/download format, the self-titled debut from fellow Brooklynites The Space Merchants seeks to draw a line between psychedelic rock and country. And not pretend country like people with a Johnny Cash fetish because he covered that Nine Inch Nails song one time â actual, bright, pastoral, classic country. Call the results psychtwang and applaud the effort, which works oddly well in a thoroughly vintage context to come across on âMainline the Sunâ like something from a lost â60s variety show. Parts of âOne Cut Like the Moonâ and the later fuzz of âOne Thousand Years of Boredomâ give away their modernity, but The Space Merchantsâ push toward a stylistic niche suits them well, and the intertwined vocal arrangements from guitarist Michael Guggino, bassist Aileen Brophy and keyboardist Ani Monteleone â Carter Logan drums to round out the four-piece â add to the rich, welcoming feel that remains prevalent even as the eight-minute âWhereâs the Rest of Lifeâ slips into wah-soaked noise to finish out.
The undercurrent of black metal coursing beneath the surface of Etiolatedâs debut full-length, Grey Limbs, Grey Skies, eventually comes to the surface in 10-minute opener âInternal Abyssâ and 16-minute eponymous closer, which bookends, but in part itâs the tension of waiting for those rampaging surges that keeps one hooked to the Armus Productions release. Guttural death growls echo up from dense tonal reaches, and tempo shifts, whether in those longer tracks or three-minute lumbering slice âFutilityâ are fluid, the North Carolina five-piece executing a slow-grinding chug in centerpiece âExsanguinate,â which seems like a murk without end until the 1:47 âFor Your Hellâ kicks into a speedier, more blackened rush, guest vocalist Ryan McCarthy joining guitarist/vocalists James Storelli and Walls, bassist Cody Rogers and drummer Elliot Thompson in furthering the already prevalent sense of extremism before âEtiolated,â after a surprisingly peaceful if brooding midsection, plods the album to a close. To say ânot for the faint of heartâ would be putting it lightly, but if I had a vest and if Etiolated had patches, the two parties would definitely meet up at some point in the near future.
It has not taken long for the discography of UK psych jammers Blown Out to become a populated murky cosmos of its own. Planetary Engineering is released on Oaken Palace Records and finds the three-piece of guitarist Mike Vest (also Bong, etc.), bassist John-Michael Hedley (also Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs) and drummer Matt Baty (also the head of Box Records) exploring two mesmeric and sprawling instrumentals â one per side â that bend and flourish and hypnotize in organically-concocted swirl. Side Aâs âTranscending Deep Infinityâ tops 20 minutes and shifts from its spacey build to a low key groove at about 7:30 in, pulsing forward once more amid head-turning repetition, deep echoes and longform nod, culminating in a two-minute fadeout that brings forward âThousand Years in the Sunshine,â an immediate bass groove and interstellar swirl no less trance-inducing than its predecessor. Cyclical drum fills morph over time behind the guitar and bass, and Planetary Engineering seems to push continually further out until, of course, it disintegrates, presumably as it crosses the galactic barrier.
Brooklynite foursome Beast Modulus seem to care less about meshing with ideas of genre than sticking them in a meatgrinder and seeing what comes out. To wit the riotous chugging of âCowboy Caligula,â and the blackened thrust of âWaSaBi!â on their self-released, self-titled outing, which leads to dueling growls and screams on the tonally weighted post-hardcore âFabulous,â and the appropriately mathy turns of the thrashing âTyranny of Numbers.â Inventive in their stylizations and in where the six songs included on the release actually go â hint: they go to âheavyâ â the lineup of vocalist Kurt Applegate, guitarist Owen Burley, bassist Jesse Adelson and drummer Jody Smith have some post-Dillinger Escape Plan vibe in the calculated chaos of âKalashnikov,â but closer âKilling Championâ is too impatient to even be held by that, the prevailing manic angularity of Beast Modulus ultimately crafting its own identity from the physical assault the music seems intent on perpetrating upon the listener.
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If you listen to these podcasts on the regular, you might notice this one is a little different than other recent editions have been. I was all set to start it off at a raging clip as per usual and then that Bison Machine track stood out to me with that warm bassline and I just decided that was the way to go, start off languid with that and My Sleeping Karma and ease into the rawer and meaner stuff from there. There are a couple jarring moments here and there, but that’s kind of the idea too, and I think overall across the board it flows well across the two hours, the second of which builds across All Them Witches’ jams and Ichabod’s sludge rock right into the atmospheric doom extremity of Bell Witch. Three songs in about 55 minutes. Awesome.
You might also notice the tracklist below has time stamps. Listed is the start time for each song, so if you get lost along the way, that should hopefully provide some point of reference. In case there was any doubt I pay attention to the stuff people say in comments to these podcast posts.
As always, hope you enjoy:
First Hour:
0:00:00 Bison Machine, âGamekeeperâs Thumbâ from Hoarfrost
0:07:12 My Sleeping Karma, âPrithviâ from Moksha
0:13:39 Weedeater, âClaw of the Southâ from Goliathan
0:19:00 Sinister Haze, âBetrayed by Timeâ from Betrayed by Time EP
0:24:15 Sun and Sail Club, âDresden Fireball Freakout Flightâ from The Great White Dope
0:26:11 Lasers from Atlantis, âProtectressâ from Lasers from Atlantis
0:33:29 Arenna, âDrums for Sitting Bullâ from Given to Emptiness
0:39:40 Mirror Queen, âScaffolds of the Skyâ from Scaffolds of the Sky
0:45:47 Les Discrets, âLa Nuit Muetteâ from Live at Roadburn
0:51:02 Cigale, âHarvest Begunâ from Cigale
0:54:49 Black Mare, âA Low Crimesâ from Black Mare/Lycia Split
Second Hour:
1:00:03 All Them Witches, âIt Moved We Moved/Almost There/A Spiderâs Giftâ from A Sweet Release
1:24:09 Ichabod, âSquallâ from Merrimack
1:33:39 Bell Witch, âSuffocation, a Burial I â Awoken (Breathing Teeth)â from Four Phantoms