Posted in Whathaveyou on July 24th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
Oh, you know, no big deal. It’s just Desertscene (the folks behind Desertfest London) and Heavy Psych Sounds (the foremost European heavy imprint and booking concern) pairing up for a London-based Heavy Psych Sounds Fest this November with Dozer, Black Rainbows, Lord Dying, Black Tusk, Alunah, The Cosmic Dead, Margarita Witch Cult, Child, Josiah, MR.BISON and The Clamps at The Underworld and The Black Heart. Oh wait, that is a big deal, and awesome besides. Like a mini-Desertfest, tucked right in there after the end of the always-busy Eurofestival October. Killer bill, killer clubs. Dozer and Josiah in the same lineup alone. Total no-brainer. If you can go, just go. Trust me, the rest of us will wish we could too.
From the PR wire:
*** HEAVY PSYCH SOUNDS FEST LONDON 2024 ***
– LINEUP + TICKETS PRESALE ANNOUNCED –
HEAVY PSYCH SOUNDS FEST returns to London after four years this fall to make Camden Town rumble and crumble under the mighty fuzz assault of some of the most revered bands in the stoner, doom, psych and heavy rock scene!
The festival will proudly welcome Swedish stoner rock royalty Dozer, Portland genre-bending heavy metallers Lord Dying, and Savannah swamp sludge specialists Black Tusk for the first time. Fuzz and buzz will be supplied by some of the finest live acts from the HPS roster with stoner rock icons Black Rainbows, Scottish space rock explorers The Cosmic Dead, Birmingham’s soulful proto-rock merchants Alunah and occult doom revelers Margarita Witch Cult, Italian heavy psych goldsmiths Mr.Bison and speed stoner’n’roll unit The Clamps, as well as UK heavy psych veterans Josiah. Fans of the finest psychedelic blues be delighted by an exclusive UK appearance of Australia’s own Child.
Curated by two major players of the European & UK heavy rock scene with London’s fuzz-worshipping Desertscene and leading independent heavy rock label Heavy Psych Sounds, this decibel-charged weekender promises to be one for the books, so don’t wait to book your ticket!
HEAVY PSYCH SOUNDS FEST LONDON 2024 @ The Underworld // 2nd November 2024 @ The Black Heart // 3rd November 2024
– LINEUP – DOZER BLACK RAINBOWS LORD DYING BLACK TUSK THE COSMIC DEAD ALUNAH MARGARITA WITCH CULT CHILD JOSIAH MR.BISON THE CLAMPS
It’s a rare band that one might call hungry 10 records into a nearly-30-year career, but as Orange Goblin return with their first LP in six years, Science, Not Fiction — also their label-debut for Peaceville Records — they transpose the more metallic aggression that typified 2018’s The Wolf Bites Back (review here) and 2014’s Back from the Abyss(review here) onto a production sound more decisively rooted in heavy rock and roll. As a result, not only do songs like the declarative opener “The Fire at the Centre of the Earth is Mine” — which gives making-his-first-on-album-appearance bassist/backing vocalist Harry Armstrong, who joined in 2021, the honor of starting off after a few seconds of threatening rumble — or “(Not) Rocket Science,” the classically Motörheaded “Cemetery Rats,” “The Fury of a Patient Man,” the penultimate “The Justice Knife,” and so on, pummel you into the ground, but they do so with an overarching vibe as natural as the dirt you’re about to eat.
Armstrong, guitarist Joe Hoare, drummer Christopher Turner and vocalist Ben Ward recorded with producer Mike Exeter — who also mixed (Peter Hewitt-Dutton mastered) and notably worked on Black Sabbath‘s 13 album as well as several other catalog releases from doom’s forebears, has helmed outings for latter-day Judas Priest, etc. — and are well served by the character and shape of the resulting sound, which is less about isolating each element in its own everything-else-muted waveform than bringing together the entirety with as much force as possible. And if it needs to be said, in Orange Goblin‘s case, there’s a lot possible.
That’s not to say Science, Not Fiction — and as someone who appreciates a well-placed comma, the title is all the more admirable for the heavy lifting it does in framing the perspective of the lyrics to pieces like “(Not) Rocket Science” and “False Hope Diet” — is all thrust. Since 1997’s Frequencies From Planet Ten (discussed here), Orange Goblin have been about a more dynamic take on songwriting, and however much they might be defined here by charge, Science, Not Fiction is characteristic in its ability to change it up around that, whether that’s manifest in the midtempo groove of “False Hope Diet” — which is the longest inclusion at 7:13 and a duly grim assessment of the current age echoing the watch-the-world-melt/we’re-all-screwed-and-it’s-our-own-fault point of view in “The Fire at the Centre of the Earth is Mine” — the piano introducing “Cemetery Rats” or the breakdown in closer “End of Transmission,” which feels as self-referential in its near-psychedelic divergence as in the namedropping of past full-lengths.
But even these moments carry the tension of the surges and gnashing around them, and while the band aren’t shy in telegraphing their own intensity amid the swinging slowdown in the nod beneath the somehow-motivational layered shouts in the second half of “Ascend the Negative” — lines like “Reclaim your time, reclaim your mind, conquer negativity” feel a bit like Ward self-coaching through his well-publicized experience of getting sober (nothing against that, of course) but are ultimately too intelligent to fall into a St. Anger-style trap of therapist-delivered cliché maxims — just because you know the next punch is coming doesn’t make the bruise any less purple afterward.
Indeed, across the 53-minute entirety of Science, Not Fiction‘s deluxe edition, which includes the bonus track “Eye of the Minotaur,” one finds Orange Goblin doing nothing so much as owning who they are through reaffirmations of perspective, craft and character, and the challenge being issued is more inward than out. That is, they’re pushing themselves to hit their own high standards, whether that’s in capturing the sweeping energy of who they are onstage (in which I’d argue they’re successful) or in the level of songwriting that lets “Gemini (Twins of Evil)” feel so fluid in the groove it rides while remaining memorable (despite being tucked into on side B with “The Justice Knife,” away from ‘focus tracks’ like “(Not) Rocket Science” and “The Fire at the Centre of the Earth is Mine” at the album’s outset.
All of it is quintessential Orange Goblin, from the hook “It’s not rocket science and we’re doing alright” — one wonders who the “we” is there; if it’s human beings generally, the point is arguable; if it’s the band itself, kudos on the humility since by that time, about seven minutes into the record, they’re kicking a fair amount of ass — to “This isn’t over/We’ve got the devil’s work to do” in “Gemini (Twins of Evil).” And while the boundary pushing that comes through feels born of uniting past and present styles, this too feeds into the idea of Orange Goblin declaring themselves, taking uncompromising ownership of who they are as a band, and putting it directly in the face of those fortunate enough to listen.
No doubt some of those will be newcomers to the band, whether that’s listeners beginning to make their way into the heavy underground or those who up till now just haven’t taken them on. In that regard, the vitality of Science, Not Fiction seems primed to serve as a righteous introduction to what Orange Goblin do in uniting metal, punk, heavy rock and various other substyles under those umbrellas. The reference to past work in “End of Transmission,” or maybe even the way it shifts into an early-’90s-style brooding spoken part after the midpoint, would surely find its impression enriched in the context of prior releases, but I’m not sure that hurts the basic listening experience of the song taken on its own merits so much as it might add another layer of appreciation after the fact.
And if you wanted to show someone what Orange Goblin are about, cuts like “Cemetery Rats,” “The Fire at the Centre of the Earth is Mine,” and “False Hope Diet” represent them at their absolute best, as veterans who may have moved beyond youthful arrogance but still have something to say and a suitable propulsion with which to say it. Because of this, it matters little if Science, Not Fiction is your first Orange Goblin record or if you tape-traded the Our Haunted Kingdom demo in 1994; they sound fresh, excited and exciting in these songs in a way that can only be considered definitive. They are unmistakable, and this album is a welcome example of why.
Posted in Whathaveyou on July 15th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
It’s the first, but you can place a solid bet it won’t be the last time London-based folkloric heavy rockers Green Lung travel to the US to tour. The widely celebrated purveyors of all-in, grandiose cult melodic classicism were previously announced for Desertfest New York, so the greater likelihood was a round of shows beyond that was coming, but the whens and wheres and particulars make it real, and if those don’t, the fact that tickets are on sale certainly should.
It’s been six years since Green Lung made a clarion debut with the Free the Witch EP (review here), and their momentum has hardly let up since, which is all the more impressive considering that particular six-year span. Their arrival on US (and Canadian) shores — it can only happen first once — comes after their 2023 third album and Nuclear Blast debut, This Heathen Land (review here), saw them flirt with classic heavy rock and pop sounds, the material tied together with tight craft and a flair for the epic that’s been with them all along, if not before to such a sweeping degree. With a pointed sonic vision brought to life in memorable style, the occasion could hardly be more fitting.
It’s East Coast, and Brooklyn ultra-theatrical dark rockers Castle Rat will support. Tickets are on sale now. As per socials:
GREEN LUNG 🇺🇸 HEATHEN REALM MMXXIV 🇨🇦
It’s finally happening! Our first ever North American tour is booked for September, taking in eight cities around our Desertfest NYC appearance, with support from very special guests in the mighty and fantastical Castle Rat. We can’t wait to hail the Old Gods in the New World! Artwork by Kris Putter 🇺🇸 👹🇨🇦
USA and Canada, come join our rites! Tickets for our first ever North American tour are on sale now at greenlung.co.uk. We’ll be supported by the mythical and magical Castle Rat. We look forward to spreading the folklore, riffs and legends of Britain stateside in a couple of months! 🇺🇸 👹 🇨🇦 🏰 🐀
09/13/24 BALTIMORE, MD Metro Gallery 09/14/24 BROOKLYN, NY @desertfest_nyc 09/15/24 BOSTON, MA Sonia 09/16/24 MONTREAL, QC Fairmount 09/17/24 TORONTO, ON Velvet Underground 09/18/24 DETROIT, MI Small’s 09/19/24 COLUMBUS, OH Ace of Cups 09/20/24 PHILADELPHIA, PA Milkboy 09/21/24 RICHMOND, VA Music Hall
Green Lung is: Tom Templar – Vocals Scott Black – Guitar Joseph Ghast – Bass John Wright – Organ Matt Wiseman – Drums
This Friday, UK longform doomers Old Horn Tooth will release their second album, Mourning Light, via Evil Noise Recordings (tape) and their own London Doom Collective imprint. Prefaced by the 2021 standalone 21-minute-long single, “True Death” (review here), the four-song/68-minute sophomore outing gazes unflinchingly into the void of its own construction — a dark, densely humid weight of tone and purpose likewise realized in terms of the fervency of its riff worship and its downerism — and follows 2019’s debut, From the Ghost Grey Depths, with a strong, plodding and declarative step forward. Through “Precipice,” “No Salvation,” “Mourning Light” and “Invisible Agony,” the three-piece of guitarist/vocalist Chris Jones, bassist Ollie Isaac and drummer Mark Davidson (also credited with “griefcase,” which I’m going to assume is a laptop or some other kind of synthesizer apparatus) present themselves as monolithic but not monotonous and extreme in their approach but not without melodic accessibility or emotional resonance. That is to say, yeah, it’s a slog, but it’s very much the slog they intended it to be.
At nearly 17 minutes long, “Precipice” begins with a whole-album ambient intro before giving over to its first distorted rumblings and the march counted slowly in by Davidson‘s ride cymbal. The immediate touchstone in terms of modus is Monolord, but Old Horn Tooth carve their own niche in mountainous sounds as Jones‘ vocals echo in the mix’s deceptively broad space with a sense of longing that calls Warning to mind, and that continues to serve as a defining aspect of what they do as one verse gives way to the next, the trio departs to a more meditative instrumental stretch anchored around Isaac‘s bassline and lumber toward and through a suitable crescendo, fading to silence before the comparatively immediate impact of “No Salvation” arrives, quickly nestling into a grueling and punctuated roll topped with mournful lead guitar as preface for the condemnation narrative of the lyrics. By the time a few more minutes have passed, they’ve gone even further in this grim and consuming plunge, and as “No Salvation” nears its midpoint, the wash of distortion recedes and the drums momentarily depart, leaving a clean line of morose ambience soon given tension through kickdrum lubdubs.
It’s less a build than a setup for a burst, but whatever gets you there. At 9:22 into its total 14:38, “No Salvation” blows its own top (again) and renews the roll. Vocals come and go again in the unmired-but-engrossing nod, which culminates pretty much when they decide to let it come apart, having already given the repetition its due. The title-track follows, with a similar runtime and a smooth shift from its first-minute intro to the melancholic riff that earns the record’s title. “Mourning Light” holds the emotive crux for the album, and doubles as the catchiest of the four inclusions, with room for organ in its mix but an orthodox approach that keeps to some notion of being straight-ahead in its guitar-bass-drums-vocals arrangement despite the fact that nothing on Mourning Light is under 14 minutes long. Maybe it would’ve been too much, since part of what makes “Mourning Light” so effective is how it feels tied to classic and modern doom as Old Horn Tooth mold their niche within the genre. As if to say, “Nothin’ too fancy here, folks. Just some e’eryday dudes bangin’ out lengthy slabs o’ massive riffery.” Likewise humble and flattening.
“Mourning Light” ends quiet on guitar and so the drummed start of 21-minute closer “Invisible Agony” feel duly stark in their setting out before the guitar joins. As they have all along, the band bring a sense of patience to the finale — fairly sure if they weren’t willing to take their time, this music wouldn’t exist at all; the name of the game is ‘gradual’ — but when the bass starts rumbling the threat is clear. Right as they hit the six-minute mark, long after the hypnotic effect has been achieved, the lurch takes its full-toned form, still based around the flowing progression of the drums, but given heft through a semi-drone of low end and the self-assured course led by Jones‘ guitar. The verse starts eight minutes in and becomes part of that same movement, which pushes into a depressive swirl in a bleakly semi-psychedelic conclusion. It’s someplace they haven’t gone yet, so fair enough, but as with the launch of “Precipice,” the ending of “Invisible Agony” feels applied to the entire 2LP as much as to itself. And like much of what precedes it, it is vibrant in its misery without tipping over into actual melodrama or goofy posturing, finding a balance along its own deeply immersive wavelength.
Mourning Light streams in its entirety below, followed by more from the PR wire. Please enjoy:
Last heard slinging low slung fuzzed-out doom on their 2019 album, From the Ghost Grey Depths, this July will see the official worldwide release of Mourning Light, the brand-new studio album from London-based trio, Old Horn Tooth.
For any fans of the genre that have stalked the capital in recent years, chances are London Doom Collective has supplied you with ample opportunity to sample some of the finest underground bands in a live setting. Since 2020 – Ollie, Chris Jones, Mark Davidson, and Sean Durbin – have flexed their DIY muscle as friends, promoters, and three-quarter members of Old Horn Tooth to devastating effect. Now, with the band’s new album on the horizon, they finally turn their hand toward a new endeavour, releasing music on vinyl.
“Putting out a record ourselves through London Doom Collective is our own personal statement of independence,” explains bassist, Ollie Isaac. “It’s a testament to the power of the underground and a direct connection with the scene, people and international doom community that has supported, guided and helped us grow.”
Live Dates 24th August – Cambridge (w/The Grey) 25th August – Cosmic Vibration Fest, Sheffield 28th September – Riffolution Fest, Manchester 16th November – Tonehenge, Kent
Posted in Whathaveyou on June 11th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
There’s a lot of information below, but what it works out to is Elephant Tree are reissuing 2014’s Theia (review here) and 2020’s Habits (review here), and releasing a new B-sides/rarities compilation, Handful of Ten, in celebration of their 10th anniversary. It’s all out Sept. 6 through Magnetic Eye Records, to which the band returns following the dissolution of Holy Roar Records, and there’s a video up for the previously unreleased “Try” now.
The pitch is easy: the advent and emergence of Elephant Tree from London’s e’er-saturated underground is one of the best things to happen to heavy rock in the last 10 years. Their 2016 self-titled (review here, discussed here) — which I generally count as their debut, with Theia as an EP prior — remains a landmark, and I’m pretty sure the only reason it’s not included in the reissue batch is because it hasn’t been allowed to go out of print. Nor should it. But there is some new-to-listeners music included with Handful of Ten, including “Try” with the video at the bottom of this post.
Oh yeah, and I did liner notes for the Theia release.
I think that’s the basics. The PR wire has a deeper dive on all of it, plus live shows:
ELEPHANT TREE drop video single ‘Try’ & celebrate anniversary with 3 releases
ELEPHANT TREE are having a party and they’re inviting everyone to hitch a ride and join in! September 2024 marks ten years since Magnetic Eye’s release of the beloved British stoner doom quartet’s first album “Theia” (2014), and in observance of that milestone, the label is proud to showcase three releases celebrating one of the label’s landmark bands:
“Theia” (Anniversary Edition) and “Habits” (2020) are presented as reissues without additional audio content, but in new physical formats. The former comes packaged with updated artwork and significantly expanded background content (see below for more details).
The third release entitled “Handful of Ten” is a new full-length containing brand-new tracks, demos, and b-sides, and includes two of the first new ELEPHANT TREE tracks in numerous years, recorded specifically for this compilation. All three albums have been scheduled for release on September 6, 2024. Pre-orders are available viahttp://lnk.spkr.media/elephant-tree-ten
As a first delicious taste from “Handful of Ten”, the Londoners release the video single ‘Try’.
“This was really a cathartic exercise in playing something a little different, written with an initial cast-away attitude after a few pints on a sweltering summer’s day”, guitarist and singer Jack Townley writes on behalf of the band. “We don’t play faster songs often, let alone get space to add them to records. The subject matter is about someone conforming to try be a model citizen, not wanting to step out of line in fear of the repercussions. He tries his hardest to not express his alternate views while others around him conform and in the end it all boils over, leaving him feeling ‘forever lost’.”
Tracklist: 1. Attack of the Altaica (2013 Demo) 2. Visions (The Planet of Doom) 3. Try 4. Bird (2017 Demo) 5. Faceless (2017 Hurin Version) 6. Sunday
The seed for ELEPHANT TREE was planted in a rehearsal space somewhere in the smelly back alleys of England’s sleepless capital of London in 2013. There, the first notes of what would become ‘Attack of the Altaica’ sprang from the bass of Jack Townley and Sam Hart’s drums. Thus, it is fitting that this earliest demo became the opening track of the band’s new rarities collection “Handful of Ten”.
Soon the duo became a trio with the addition of bassist and vocalist Peter Holland, who had already established himself in the London scene with TRIPPY WICKED & THE COSMIC CHILDREN OF THE KNIGHT, allowing Townley to pick up the guitar again. With the addition of Canadian sitar player Riley MacIntyre, who also stepped in as a third singer, the band’s classic first line-up was completed.
From there, things fell into place quickly. The infectious blend of warm, syrupy fuzz and soaring vocal harmonies on the demo ‘Attack of the Altaica’ captured the ears of Magnetic Eye Records. Soon a contract was signed and the debut full-length “Theia” was released in September 2014. ELEPHANT TREE had a lightning start and the debut album achieved an excellent reception by critics and fans alike. Now reissued as “Theia” (Anniversary Edition), the music of this milestone release is untouched, but the artwork has been given a refreshing inversion, and a wealth of rare photos, liner notes and lyrics have been added to provide a thorough look at the band’s first decade since the original release.
These hardworking Englishmen did not rest on their laurels, and in 2015 followed up with the self-titled sophomore full-length “Elephant Tree”. While “Theia” had opened the European continent for touring, their second album carried ELEPHANT TREE across the Atlantic to perform at the tastemaker Psycho Las Vegas.
In the meantime, John Slattery, who initially was added to give support as second guitarist and synth player for the band’s live shows, joined ELEPHANT TREE as a permanent member. About the same time, Riley MacIntyre decided to draw back from the band to focus on production. ELEPHANT TREE also decided to try a label closer to home, a choice which ultimately did not work out as the new label ran into trouble and left the band’s third and latest album “Habits” (2020) without the ongoing support it deserved.
During the turmoil of the global pandemic years, ELEPHANT TREE were affected and set back like everyone else. Jack Townley suffered a serious accident in early 2023, and the time needed for his recovery delayed the band again. Yet despite all of this, they put plans into motion for a return both to the stages and studio. Taking matters into their own hands, the band initiated a plan to self-release some of their material – with a little help from old friends. At long last, ELEPHANT TREE are reissuing the acclaimed “Habits” via Magnetic Eye to make it widely available once more and satisfy the continued demand.
Looking back at ten most exciting years, ELEPHANT TREE enthusiastically present ‘Handful of Ten’ containing great tunes pulled from their archive alongside the brash and blistering new tracks, ready to delight longtime followers and win over new friends to their unique brand of melodic doom: all thriller, no filler!
Mastering of all tracks by Karl Daniel Lidén Artwork & layout by Ieva Misiukonytė
Available formats “Handful of Ten”
“Handful of Ten” is available as digisleeve CD, as a solid white vinyl LP, and as a marbled black & violet vinyl LP.
Available format “Theia” “Theia” (Anniversary Edition) is available as 36-page hardcover CD-Artbook, and as a gatefold LP on marbled clear, white & transparent green vinyl.
Available formats “Habits” “Habits” is available as digisleeve CD, and as a marbled orange & white vinyl LP.
Live: 13 SEP 2024 Sheffield (UK) The Corporation 14 SEP 2024 Southampton (UK) Abyssal Festival 15 SEP 2024 Bristol (UK) The Exchange 29 SEP 2024 Manchester (UK) Riffolution Festival 19 DEC 2024 London (UK) The Black Heart 20 DEC 2024 London (UK) The Black Heart
Current line-up: Jack Townley – guitar, vocals, synths Peter Holland – bass, vocals John Slattery – guitar, synths, vocals Sam Hart – percussion
Posted in Whathaveyou on June 4th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
There’s a special category for the kind of music Old Horn Tooth play; I like to call it “very, very heavy.” The UK trio’s new album, Mourning Light, imagines Warning and Monolord come together, and the doom that ensues is of marked impact. Comprised of just four tracks, it nonetheless runs 68 minutes, and is an immersive, righteous slog of a one-song-per-side 2LP, with as much thought given to the atmospheric stretches that offset the churning weight as to that weight itself. Literally and figuratively, there’s a lot to like about it.
July 5 is the release date, and preorders are up through London Doom Collective — in which the band I guess are involved; I’m not sure if I knew that or not — and Evil Noise Recordings, whose tapes rule. You’ll find the title-track streaming at the bottom of this post, and I’m sure there’s another single coming soon, like six minutes after this is posted because that’s 100 percent how it goes sometimes. One way to find out — by posting it.
So here goes:
Old Horn Tooth | London-based Doom Trio Usher in New Album and Single
The men behind London Doom Collective summon their heaviest and most fuzzed out riffs yet on follow-up to their 2019 debut…
Last heard slinging low slung fuzzed-out doom on their 2019 album, From The Ghost Grey Depths, this July will see the official worldwide release of Mourning Light, the brand-new studio album from London-based trio, Old Horn Tooth.
For any fans of the genre that have stalked the capital in recent years, chances are London Doom Collective has supplied you with ample opportunity to sample some of the finest underground bands in a live setting. Since 2020 – Ollie, Chris Jones, Mark Davidson, and Sean Durbin – have flexed their DIY muscle as friends, promoters, and three-quarter members of Old Horn Tooth to devastating effect. Now, with the band’s new album on the horizon, they finally turn their hands toward a new endeavour, releasing music on vinyl.
“Putting out a record ourselves through London Doom Collective is our own personal statement of independence,” explains bassist, Ollie Isaac. “It’s a testament to the power of the underground and a direct connection with the scene, people and international doom community that has supported, guided and helped us grow.”
Often drawing comparisons to the likes of Conan and Monolord, Old Horn Tooth are a stirring colossus that offer up hypnotic, megaton grooves of slow heavy riffage in thrall to the cosmos.
New single and the title track for Mourning Light is a perfect case in point. Serving as an epic fifteen-minute jaunt into the sinister undertones of doom it’s the centrepiece to a startling collection of new songs. All of which navigate the complexities of grief and the resilience of the human spirit.
“This particular song explores the bittersweet memories and hidden sadness accompanying loss, while also offering glimpses of potential hope in the ‘mourning light’. Through its journey from bleak despair to the final acceptance, it encapsulates a shared sorrow and solace in vulnerability.”
LIVE DATES: 24th August – Cambridge (w/The Grey) 25th August – Cosmic Vibration Fest, Sheffield 28th September – Riffolution Fest, Manchester 16th November – Tonehenge, Kent
Posted in Whathaveyou on May 28th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
Orange Goblin will this summer lay claim to the fire at the centre of the earth (among other things) with the July 19 arrival of their new album, Science, Not Fiction, and honestly, a reminder of that is probably enough to justify this post on its own, but the London stalwarts announced this UK/Ireland tour with Conan last week while my head was ostriched in the Quarterly Review, and that pairing is too good to let slip. Plus it’s not until October, so the idea that I’m ‘late’ on posting the news is an illusion bred by social media brain-shortening. December would be late.
There are two singles streaming from the impending Science, Not Fiction in the title-track and “Cemetery Rats,” both of which have a shove behind them one can only call signature Orange Goblin groove and push. Not that I can confirm or deny having heard it or anything, but the whole album is a burner. Conan reportedly have a new LP in the works as well, which will be their first to feature bassist David Riley (ex-Fudge Tunnel), who joined late last year. No idea whether that will be 2024 or 2025, but my suspicion is the latter.
But there’s no time like the nearer-future to get yourself pummeled by two of England’s finest, so here are the dates:
Not only are we releasing a new album in July, but we are going on tour in October around the UK & Ireland and taking our good friends in Conan with us!
Tickets for the Orange Goblin ‘Science, Not Fiction’ UK & Ireland tour in October 2024 are on sale NOW and already selling fast so don’t miss out!
04.10 – Opium, Dublin, REP. OF IRELAND 05.10 – Limelight 2, Belfast, N. IRELAND 06.10 – King Tut’s, Glasgow, UK 08.10 – Gorilla, Manchester, UK 09.10 – KK’s Steel Mill, Wolverhampton, UK 10.10 – The Fleece, Bristol, UK 11.10 – The 1865, Southampton, UK 12.10 – The Dome, London, UK
Artwork by: Machine
Orange Goblin is: Ben Ward – Vocals Joe Hoare – Guitar Harry Armstrong – Bass / Backing vocals Christopher Turner – Drums
This is it. This one’s for all the marbles. Well, actually there are no marbles involved, but if you remember way back like two weeks ago when this started out, I told you the tale of a hubristic 40-something dickweed blogger who thought he could review 100 albums in 10 days, and assuming I make it through the below without having an aneurysm — because, hey, you never know — today I get to live that particular fairy tale.
Lamp of the Universe Meets Dr. Space, Enters Your Somas
Who’s ready to get blasted out the airlock? New Zealand solo-outfit Lamp of the Universe, aka multi-instrumentalist Craig Williamson (also Dead Shrine, ex-Datura, etc.), and Portugal-residing synth master Dr. Space, aka Scott Heller of Øresund Space Collective, Black Moon Circle, and so on, come together to remind us all we’re nothing more than semi-sentient cosmic dust. Enters Your Somas is comprised of two extended pieces, “Enters Your Somas” (18:39) and “Infiltrates Your Mind” (19:07), and both resonate space/soul frequencies while each finds its own path. The title-track is more languid on average, where “Infiltrates Your Mind” reroutes auxiliary power to the percussive thrusters in its first half before drifting into drone communion and hearing a voice — vague, but definitely human speech — before surging back to its course via Williamson‘s drums, which play a large role in giving the material its shape. But with synthy sweeps from Heller, Mellotron and guitar coming and going, and a steady groove across both inclusions, Lamp of the Universe Meets Dr. Space offer galactic adventure limited only by where your imagination puts you while you listen.
Richmond, Virginia’s Inter Arma had no small task before them in following 2019’s Sulphur English (review here), but from the tech-death boops and bops and twists of New Heaven‘s leadoff title-track through the gothic textures of “Gardens in the Dark,” self-aware without satire, slow-flowing and dramatic, this fifth full-length finds them continuing to expand their creative reach, and at this point, whatever genre you might want to cast them in, they stand out. To wit, the blackdeath onslaught of “Violet Seizures” that’s also space rock, backed in that by the subsequent “Desolation’s Harp” with its classically grandiose solo, or the post-doom lumber of “Concrete Cliffs” that calls out its expanse after the seven-minute drum-playthrough-fodder extremity of “The Children the Bombs Overlooked,” or the mournful march of “Endless Grey” and the acoustic-led Nick Cavey epilogue “Forest Service Road Blues.” Few bands embrace a full spectrum of metallic sounds without coming across as either disjointed or like they’re just mashing styles together for the hell of it. Inter Arma bleed purpose in every turn, and as they inch closer to their 20th year as a band, they are masters unto themselves of this form they’ve created.
The opening “Chimera” puts Chasing Shadows quickly into a ritualized mindset, all the more as Warsaw meditative doomers Sunnata lace it and a decent portion of their 11-track/62-minute fifth album with an arrangement of vocals from guitarists Szymon Ewertowski and Adrian Gadomski and bassist/synthesist Michal Dobrzanski as drummer/percussionist Robert Ruszczyk punctuates on snare as they head toward a culmination. Individual pieces have their own purposes, whether it’s the momentary float of “Torn” or the post-Alice in Chains harmonies offset by Twin Peaks-y creep in “Saviours Raft,” or the way “Hunger” gradually moves from light to dark with rolling immersion, or the dancier feel with which “Like Cogs in a Wheel” gives an instrumental finish. It’s not a minor undertaking and it’s not meant to be one, but mood and atmosphere do a lot of work in uniting the songs, and the low-in-the-mouth vocal melodies become a part of that as the record unfolds. Their range has never felt broader, but there’s a plot being followed as well, an idea behind each turn in “Wishbone” and the sprawl is justified by the dug-in worldmaking taking place across the whole-LP progression, darkly psychedelic and engrossing as it is.
Among the most vital classic elements of The Sonic Dawn‘s style is their ability to take spacious ideas and encapsulate them with a pop efficiency that doesn’t feel dumbed down. That is to say, they’re not capitulating to fickle attention spans with short songs so much as they’re able to get in, say what they want to say with a given track, and get out. Phantom is their fifth album, and while the title may allude to a certain ghostliness coinciding with the melancholy vibe overarching through the bulk of its component material, the Copenhagen-based trio are mature enough at this stage to know what they’re about. And while Phantom has its urgent stretches in the early going of “Iron Bird” or the rousing “Think it Over,” the handclap-laced “Pan AM,” and the solo-topped apex of “Micro Cosmos in a Drop,” most of what they’re about here harnesses a mellower atmosphere. It doesn’t need to hurry, baby. Isn’t there enough rush in life with all these “21st Century Blues?” With no lack of movement throughout, some of The Sonic Dawn‘s finest stretches here are in low-key interpretations of funk (“Dreams of Change,” “Think it Over,” “Transatlantique,” etc.) or prog-boogie (“Scorpio,” “Nothing Can Live Here” before the noisier crescendo) drawn together by organ, subdued, thoughtful vocal melodies and craft to suit the organic production. This isn’t the first The Sonic Dawn LP to benefit from the band knowing who they are as a group, but golly it sure is stronger for that.
It’s not until the hook of second cut “Ohm Ripper” hits that Rifflord let go of the tension built up through the opening semi-title-track “Serpent Power,” which in its thickened thrashy charge feels like a specific callout to High on Fire but as I understand it is just about doing hard drugs. Fair enough. The South Dakota-based five-piece of bassist/vocalist Wyatt Bronc Bartlett, guitarists Samuel Hayes and Dustin Vano, keyboardist Tory Jean Stoddard and drummer Douglas Jennings Barrett will echo that intensity later in “Church Keys” and “Tumbleweed,” but that’s still only one place the 38-minute eight-track LP goes, and whether it’s the vocals calling out through the largesse and breadth of “Blessed Life” or the ensuing crush that follows in “LM308,” the addled Alice in Chains swagger in the lumber of “Grim Creeper” or the righteously catchy bombast of “Hoof,” they reach further than they ever have in terms of sound and remain coherent despite the inherently chaotic nature of their purported theme, the sheer heft of the tonality wielded and the fact that 39 Serpent Power has apparently been waiting some number of years to see release. Worth the wait? Shit, I’m surprised the album didn’t put itself out, it sounds so ready to go.
At the core of Mothman and the Thunderbirds is multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Alex Parkinson, and on the band’s second album, Portal Hopper, he’s not completely on his own — Egor Lappo programmed the drums, mixed, and plays a guitar solo on “Fractals,” Joe Sobieski guests on vocals for a couple tracks, Sam Parkinson donates a pair of solos to the cause — but it’s still very much his telling of the charmingly meandering sci-fi/fantasy plot taking place across the 12 included progressive metal mini-epics, which he presents with an energy and clarity of purpose that for sure graduated from Devin Townsend‘s school of making a song with 40 layers sound immediate but pulls as well from psychedelia and pop-punk vocals for an all the more emphatic scope. This backdrop lets “Fractals” get funky or “Escape From Flatwoods” hold its metallic chicanery with its soaring melody while “Squonk Kingdom” is duly over-the-top in its second-half chase soon enough fleshed out by “So Long (Portal Hopper)” ahead of the lightly-plucked finale “Attic.” The specificity of influence throughout Portal Hopper can be striking as clean/harsh vocals blend, etc., but given the narrative and the relative brevity of the songs complementing the whims explored within them, there’s no lack of character in the album’s oft-careening 38-minute course.
Given its pro-shop nature in production and performance, the ability of The Lunar Effect to grasp a heavy blues sound as part of what they do while avoiding either the trap of hyper-dudely navelgazing or cultural appropriation — no minor feat — and the fluidity of one piece into the next across the 40-minute LP’s two sides, I’m a little surprised not to have been sick of the band’s second album, Sounds of Green and Blue before I put it on. Maybe since it’s on Svart everyone just assumed it’s Finnish experimentalist drone? Maybe everybody’s burnt out on a seemingly endless stream of bands from London’s underground? I don’t know, but by the time The Lunar Effect make their way to the piano-laden centerpiece “Middle of the End” — expanding on the unhurried mood of “In Grey,” preceding the heavy blues return of “Pulling Daisies” at the start of side B that mirrors album opener “Ocean Queen” and explodes into a roll that feels like it was made to be the best thing you play at your DJ night — that confusion is a defining aspect of the listening experience. “Fear Before the Fall” picks on Beethoven, for crying out loud. High class and low groove. Believe me, I know there’s a lot of good stuff out already in 2024, but what the hell more could you want? Where is everybody?
Even if I were generally inclined to do so — read: I’m not — it would be hard to begrudge Portland heavy rock institution Danava wanting to do a live record after their 2023’s Nothing But Nothing (review here) found them in such raucous form. But the aptly-titled Live is more than just a post-studio-LP check-in to remind you they kick ass on stage, as side A’s space, classic, boogie, heavy rocking “Introduction/Spinning Temple” and “Maudie Shook” were recorded in 2008, while the four cuts on side B — “Shoot Straight with a Crooked Gun,” “Nothing but Nothing,” “Longdance,” “Let the Good Times Kill” and “Last Goodbye” — came from the European tour undertaken in Fall 2023 to support Nothing But Nothing. Is the underlying message that Danava are still rad 15 years later? Maybe. That certainly comes through by the time the solo in “Shoot Straight with a Crooked Gun” hits, but that also feels like reading too much into it. Maybe it’s just about representing different sides of who Danava are, and if so, fine. Then or now, psych or proto-thrashing, they lay waste.
A free three-songer from Varese, Italy’s Moonlit, Be Not Afraid welcomes the listener to “Death to the World” with (presumably sampled) chanting before unfurling a loose, somewhat morose-feeling nighttime-desert psych sway before “Fort Rachiffe” howls tonally across its own four minutes in more heavy post-rock style, still languid in tempo but encompassing in its wash and the amp-hum-and-percussion blend on the shorter “Le Conseguenze Della Libertà” (1:57) gives yet another look, albeit briefly. In about 11 minutes, Moonlit — whose last studio offering was 2021’s So Bless Us Now (review here) — never quite occupy the same space twice, and despite the compact presentation, the range from mid-period-QOTSA-gone-shoegaze (plus chanting! don’t forget the chanting!) to the hypnotic Isis-doing-space-push that follows with the closer as a but-wait-there’s-more/not-just-an-afterthought epilogue is palpable. I don’t know when or how Be Not Afraid was recorded, whether it’s portentous of anything other than itself or what, but there’s a lot happening under its surface, and while you can’t beat the price, don’t be surprised if you end up throwing a couple bucks Moonlit‘s way anyhow.
Much of Northern Lights is instrumental, but whether or not Leo Scheben is barking out the endtimes storyline of “Darkhammer” — stylized all-caps in the tracklisting — or “Night Terrors,” or just digging into a 24-second progression of lo-fi riffing of “Paranoid Isolation” and the Casio-type beats that back his guitar there and across the project’s 16-track latest offering, the reminder Doom Lab give is that the need to create takes many forms. From the winding scales of “Locrian’s Run” to “Twisted Logic” with its plotted solo lines, pieces are often just that — pieces of what might otherwise be a fleshed-out song — and Doom Lab‘s experimentalism feels paramount in terms of aural priorities. Impulse in excelsis. It might be for the best that the back-to-back pair “Nice ‘n’ Curvy” and “Let ’em Bounce” are both instrumental, but as madcap as Scheben is, he’s able to bring Northern Lights to a close with resonant homage in its title-track, and cuts like “Too Much Sauce on New Year’s Eve” and “Dark Matter” are emblematic of his open-minded approach overall, working in different styles sometimes united most by their rawness and uncompromising persona. This is number 100 of 100 records covered in this Quarterly Review, and nothing included up to now sounds like Doom Lab. A total win for radical individualism.
