Posted in Whathaveyou on December 20th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Boston party sludgers Leather Lung have left boozy trails up and down the Eastern Seaboard these last several years — Maryland Doom Fest this past June, Desertfest NYC in 2022, and so on — and it would seem they’ve at last distilled their crusty-weedy-good-time-aggro-nod down to putting together a debut full-length, which will arrive on March 15 through Magnetic Eye Records. Graveside Grin follows behind the 2022 EP, Dive Bar Devil Mixtape, which was a quick two-day session through which they tested out their new-ish five-piece incarnation. They’ve been at it one way or another for a decade now — I feel like I lost time in there somewhere — and are immediately conveying rowdy vibes with the LP’s first single, “Spit in the Casket,” for which you can see the video below.
Must be nice to have friends. Leather Lung took a whole bunch of theirs — including Naked Guy On Motorcycle and boozy ladies galore — for a duly raucous woods party that seems to have somehow turned into a cogent music video. It looks like fun, which of course is part of the point. The other part is the raw weight of the riffs and the bounce in their nod. I guess the benefit of being together for 10 years before you put out your first full-length is that you know what the fuck you’re doing, or at least that’s what it sounds like where Leather Lung are concerned.
I’ll admit that, not being much for fun or joy generally, I feel a bit distant from the spirit of what Leather Lung do, but they do make it easy to go along with harsh sounds. And look up there. These guys look like the best time 1994 ever had, and no, I’m not making fun of that.
The PR wire sent the following:
LEATHER LUNG release first video single ‘Spit in the Casket’ and details of forthcoming new album “Graveside Grin”
Boston, Massachusetts quintet LEATHER LUNG unveil the first video single ‘Spit in the Casket’, the opening track of their forthcoming new album “Graveside Grin”. The sludge metal band’s first proper full-length is chalked up for release on March 15, 2024.
LEATHER LUNG comment on the single: “The opening track ‘Spit in the Casket’ is a middle finger in song form”, singer Mike announces. “It was written in the catharsis of leaving a toxic relationship. This song is dedicated to anyone that has ever disrespected you and lets them know that it won’t happen again. We play this track like we are kicking down your door with it. For that reason, we have chosen ‘Spit in the Casket’ as the first single and opening track off our new record ‘Graveside Grin’. This also happens to be our first full length release and first effort as a 5-piece band. It’s our beastly new form and we’re showing teeth. So better stay on our good side and blast the newest single as loud as it goes!”
Tracklist 1. Spit in the Casket 2. Big Bad Bodega Cat 3. Freewheelin’ Maniac 4. Empty Bottle Boogie 5. Guilty Pleasure 6. Macrodose (Interlude) 7. La La Land 8. Twisting Flowers 9. Headstone 10. Cornered Animal 11. Raised Me Rowdy
Let’s get this party started! The incorrigible headbangers in LEATHER LUNG have heard the pleas of their enthusiastic following to bring forth a new album of substance-fueled boogie metal, and have obliged at last with the raucous new full-length “Graveyard Grin”. The proper debut album from the New England five-piece has everything promised by their previous EP releases: a thick, chugging concoction of stoner metal, doom, and unrelenting sludge, blended into a refreshingly heavy brew with a catchy kick.
LEATHER LUNG are a wild bunch that know the meaning of fun. This is hardly surprising as the band sprang into existence out of friendship and the punk and hardcore scene of Boston in 2012. Starting as a four-piece, they quickly gained an excellent reputation in their local scene, as well as plenty of critical attention through a string of EPs, starting with “Reap What You Sow” (2014) and followed in regular intervals by “Lost in Temptation” (2016), “Lonesome, On’ry and Evil” (2019), and “Dive Bar Devil” (2022).
‘Dive Bar Devil’ is also the name of LEATHER LUNG’s own brand of lager beer, which has already sold out and been re-brewed multiple times. One may speculate that this is the liquid coming out off the can that the band’s Green Lady mascot of each of their record covers opens forcefully in the artwork of “Graveside Grin”.
Now a five-piece with the addition of a second guitarist, LEATHER LUNG are ready to take on the world. Following crushing live appearances at DesertFest New York and Psycho Las Vegas, the band return with “Graveside Grin”, a massive sign that these freaks from Boston are ready for the road and amped to get the global party going.
Recording & Mix by Chris Johnson at New Alliance Audio, Somerville, MA Mastering by Brad Boatright at Audiosiege, Portland, OR
Artwork by Mike Vickers Illustrated by Ester Cardella Layout by Mike Vickers
Line-up Mike – vocals Zach – guitar, vocals Ben – drums Jesse – bass, vocals Greg – guitar
Posted in Whathaveyou on December 13th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
So to pick up the thread where we left off: last time around, UK heavy rocker Psychlona were getting confirmed for Desertfest London 2024. That was just a couple days after revealing they had swapped out half of their lineup. Today comes the news that the Bradford-based four-piece have signed with Magnetic Eye Records — as regards Psychlona news stories in the last two weeks, this is the big one — to release their next album sometime in 2024. Apparently somewhere in there they were confirmed for Stoned From the Underground next July too. One might speculate it feels pretty good to be in Psychlona right now.
Not the least because their new single “Liberty” absolutely oozes vibe. And the vibe is ooze, so that works out too. Molten psychedelia, dug-in tempo but not too slow it loses you, mellow but sure of where it’s headed. If it ended up opening or closing their new long-player when the time comes, yes.
Congrats to band and label. The PR wire has it as follows:
PSYCHLONA sign with Magnetic Eye Records & release new video single ‘Liberty’
PSYCHLONA have set their signatures under a multi-album deal with Magnetic Eye Records, with the British desert rockers planning to release their fourth album via the label later in 2024. See below for statements regarding the signing.
In celebration of joining Magnetic Eye, PSYCHLONA also release a new video single today. Please see below for further details of the smoking track ‘Liberty’.
PSYCHLONA comment: “We are stoked to be joining Magnetic Eye”, guitarist and singer Phil Hey writes on behalf of the band. “We had a few offers on the table but we all knew that this label was the way we wanted to go. We have already worked with label director Jadd Shickler under various guises over the past few years and he has become a trusted confidant and friend. That was probably our primary reason, very closely followed by the fact that Magnetic Eye has a great roster including Greenleaf, who are one of my all-time favourite bands. It made perfect sense. We’re looking forward to a long relationship with Jadd and the guys!”
Jadd Shickler welcomes PSYCHLONA: “I’ve been working with Psychlona for several years in different capacities, and admire the fast leaps forward they’ve taken in a short time”, the Magnetic Eye director explains. “In 2020, they gave even Lowrider and Elephant Tree some tough competition for a lot of folks’ favorite record that year. Then they played back to back at Psycho Las Vegas, and I saw people go crazy for them firsthand. I dig their effortless desert vibe despite the guys being as British as it gets, and I love the dynamic they bring to our carefully curated roster of driven, sonically unique acts. I can hardly wait to hear what they’ll do on their first full album for us next year!”
Live 17-19 May 2024 London (UK) Desertfest 11-13 July 2024 Erfurt (DE) Stoned from the Underground
Line-up Ian ‘Izak’ Buxton – bass guitar Scott Frankling – drums Phil Hey – guitar, vocals Martin Wiseman – lead guitar, backing vocals
Posted in Whathaveyou on December 8th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
This is a ‘make it official’ kind of announcement from Philadelphia’s Heavy Temple, who’ve already appeared at Desertfest New York 2023 (review here) and subsequently banged out a European tour with Christian Lopez on guitar, as well as, you know, probably hung out a whole bunch at rehearsal and stuff. Lopez takes the place of Lord Paisley, who joined Heavy Temple in time to play on 2021’s debut full-length, Lupi Amoris (review here), be a part of their continuing emergence as a touring act, and take part in tributes, splits, the whole thing.
It’s only been a few years, but Heavy Temple have been through a couple of guitarists and drummers around founding bassist/vocalist High Priestess Nighthawk, so it’s not the craziest thing in the world to think they’d be trading out personnel again. Lopez, meanwhile, had been playing with Sun Voyager — I got to see him with them this Spring (review here) and they were awesome — and they’re in NY and Heavy Temple are in Philly and that seems like a heck of a commute, so I’m not sure what the status with Sun Voyager is, but I’ll tell you from personal experience that Lopez tore it up as the new guy in both bands, has shred and apparently will travel.
And while I’m a little sad to know there’s new Heavy Temple somewhere on the planet and I haven’t heard it — at least I think so if I read the implication below correctly — I’m glad to learn the three-piece’s second album will be out in 2024. I have no doubt it will be a highlight.
From socials:
You may have noticed some changes in the HT camp. @calivibescustom started as a fill in for Lord Paisley on our Euro tour but has quickly cemented himself as in invaluable member of the Temple consort. While we are sad that our paisley prince will no longer be shredding with us, he leaves behind his contributions to arguably the best record we’ve ever made, due in no small part to his talent and ability. We wish him all the best in his new endeavors and look forward to whatever this new iteration may be.
This is the tl;dr part. When I started the band 11 years ago, I always wanted a permanent line up, but wanted to be realistic when it came to commitments and time. So I modeled the band after Queens of the Stone Age, meaning I viewed it as sort of an open collective. Having now had more than a handful of line up changes, it truly shows me what I’ve always known, which is that there is no growth without change.
I’m once again eternally grateful for all the creativity and inspiration I’ve found with everyone I’ve been fortunate enough to call a bandmate. Never stop not stopping.
Posted in Reviews on October 20th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Thoughtful and clever, Howling Giant‘s Glass Future demonstrates its consideration of craft even in its choice of samples, as intro “Hourglass” begins with a sample of Burgess Meredith in The Twilight Zone talking about how he has time to read because everyone else is dead — “there’s time enough at last” — and the 10-track/41-minute album closes with “There’s Time Now,” bookend-referencing the same soliloquy. The Nashville trio have put in as much work as possible over the years since their debut, 2019’s The Space Between Worlds (review here), and the songs of Glass Future would seem to reap the benefit of that experience in positioning the band to make a record that sets high goals for itself and meets them, not just tightening the melodies and harmonies of the vocals — to which guitarist Tom Polzine, drummer Zach Wheeler and bassist Sebastian “Seabass” Baltes all contribute — but enabling Howling Giant to hone a sound at once informed by progressive heavy rock and pop-punk.
“Siren Song” tells the tale. At five minutes, it’s longer than the brooding “Aluminum Crown” or the rush of sample-topped instrumental “First Blood of Melchior” — Frankenstein isn’t quite on theme with the apocalyptic sci-fi being engaged elsewhere in the lyrics (also debatable whether the apocalypse is fiction), but the dialog fits the mood and is timed well to the mosh riff in its second half — or the penultimate rush of “Juggernaut,” and “Siren Song” has a hook of the caliber of that song or “Glass Future” itself, or “Sunken City,” or even the suitably mournful and slow “There’s Time Now,” but its structure is different. Where even the verse of “Hawk in a Hurricane” is a hook, and “Sunken City” wants so badly to get to its next chorus that it barely ends the first, “Siren Song” holds back slightly, at least on relative terms. To be sure, the initial flurry of riff, Elderian verse/bridge spaciousness and even the earlier stage of the chorus make a positive impression, but they’re playing for the blindside when “Siren Song” opens up at 2:34 and unveils the first of Glass Future‘s made-for-the-stage megahooks. And the play works. All of a sudden, the end of the world is a party.
And one could rail on and on about the post-modernism of that point of view and I’m sure that that would be a whole lot of fun for my brain and typing fingers and for exactly nobody else. More important is that between “Hourglass” and “Siren Song,” Howling Giant are telling you much of what you need to know in terms of how to read Glass Future. Before the album hits six minutes, they’ve given a sense of atmosphere and dropped hints of melancholy that will flesh out further on “Aluminum Crown,” “Tempest and the Liar’s Gateway” and “There’s Time Now,” established the tones and the righteous punch of the Kim Wheeler production and mix, reminded handily of the difference talking out melodies and vocal arrangements can make, and began the impeccable construction of the whole album from the first of the songs around which its overarching flow is based. “Siren Song” represents multiple sides there as well, and it’s worth emphasizing that Howling Giant are not simply unipolar fast in “Hawk in a Hurricane” — its ambient finish is a purposeful comedown ahead of “First Blood of Melchior” — or slow in “Aluminum Crown,” which answers its more languid roll with later push, but that the material included here has functional intent behind it.
This dynamic extends to what each track brings to the record, and involves the interplay of one piece into the next. Side A builds momentum as “Aluminum Crown” gives over to “Hawk in a Hurricane,” which plays midtempo through tis chorus complemented as many of the songs are here by the organ of Drew David Harakal II (also synth/piano), who’s already bolstered “Siren Song” and “Aluminum Crown” and soon takes a solo on the title-track that reminds me of Amorphis and is thus endeared forever, the keys adding depth to the arrangements, variety to the sound and reach to the melodies. As Polzine and Wheeler‘s voices pair (JamesSanderson also contributes to “Siren Song,” “Hawk in a Hurricane” and “There’s Time Now), so too do Polzine‘s guitar and Harakal‘s keys, and the level of detail and consideration in those arrangements shouldn’t be understated. With “Glass Future” capping side A through a lyrical narrative around an asteroid smashing into the planet — the first verse begins with the image, ‘Flashing lights race on monitors lining the wall’; we’re already running, grounded in the human experience of watching a mass extinction not in slow motion — the speed and twisting course come around to preface the sharpening of focus across side B.
“Tempest and the Liar’s Gateway” begins a succession of four tracks of unflinching poise and mastery. Slow, Fast, Fast, Slow, if you want the basic pattern, with “Tempest and the Liar’s Gateway” expanding on the quieter delivery of “Aluminum Crown” and a hook about death waiting up ahead before “Sunken City” and “Juggernaut” comprise a one-two punch of two of the sharpest heavy rock songs one might hear in 2023. In their energy, lyrical themes, catchiness and the exquisiteness of the performances captured, “Sunken City” and “Juggernaut” feel like a realized version of the pop-heavy that was promised with Torche but which Torche never had much interest in being. Howling Giant could hardly make it easier for a heavy rock audience to get on board. After years of willful progression live and in the studio, they come bearing gifts, which are the songs themselves, and where the first half of Glass Future had “Hourglass” and “First Blood of Melchior” and the end of “Hawk in a Hurricane” for atmospheric sprawl, that side B’s softer or more contemplative moments occur within “Tempest and the Liar’s Gateway” and “There’s Time Now” lend an even more focused feel. “Sunken City” and “Juggernaut” would be frontloaded on a lot of records. Howling Giant are smarter than that.
On an album of lyrical highlights, “There’s Time Now” is nonetheless a standout, and its storyline of living in apocalyptic aftermath is well told, whether it’s the notion of “Walking on top of abandoned cars” or stars “blinking out one by one” before they at last lay it all on the proverbial table, “It’s the end of the world.” The second verse utilizes a favorite metaphor of nature’s persistence in “Green pushing through all the grey cement” as a reminder Earth will go on regardless of what happens to humans, and similar to the mirror of the title and the Twilight Zone sample earlier, in “There’s Time Now” they’ve arrived at a point where, “The siren’s still singing, there’s no one to hear,” harmonized for emphasis calling back of course to “Siren Song.” The first verse of “There’s Time Now” repeats as a third, with a key change that underscores the band’s background in theory as well as their knowledge of how to push emotion in a song; it’s one more level on which Glass Future is a model of what a modern heavy rock record can be. The kind of lessons that, especially backed by the efforts of Howling Giant on tour, lead an act to become influential.
Rife with personality, wit, care and heart, Glass Future lets the diverse aspects of Howling Giant‘s sound find coherent existence as a single thing — see “Howling Giant‘s sound” — as the band maintain the high level of craft they’ve fostered in The Space Between Worlds and codify the epic nature of their breakout contribution to the 2021 split with Sergeant Thunderhoof, Masamune/Muramasa (review here), while effectively translating it into shorter, tighter material. This they deliver with class and distinct vitality, everything symmetrical, in its place, serving a purpose, but not hackneyed or forced or cloying. It is an ambitious culmination of the work they’ve done to-date — they might need a full-time keyboardist/organist for live shows — and a step forward on a path they’ll continue to walk. I don’t think they’ve peaked or stopped growing, but they’re going to have a challenge in topping the defining statement they make here. One would hardly call it optimistic, but Glass Future holds nothing but promise to that end.
Posted in Whathaveyou on October 13th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
I’ve been back and forth with Howling Giant trying to set up an interview to talk about their stellar new record, Glass Future, and the tour in Europe they’re currently undertaking in the company of Philly’s Heavy Temple, and so yesterday caught word that the van the two acts were traveling in together had its window busted in broad daylight and the band lost laptops, merch, clothes, and so on. No gear seems to have been taken, so that’s one expense avoided, but travel documents and other items are gone. Of course there’s a GoFundMe. If you haven’t donated, I’m putting the link on its own line to make it stand out and guilt you into it:
Just looked and they passed their goal. It doesn’t matter. Give them your money. What were you going to do, pay bills with it?
The European run wraps up at Desertfest Belgium on Oct. 22, Glass Future drops Oct. 27 — good for me, casually using ‘drops’ like the kids do (or did, anyway) — and they’ve just announced two more weeks of touring in the Midwest and Southeastern US that will take them into mid-November. They might slow down for winter or they might not, but if you haven’t dug into any of the singles from the album yet, I’ll tell you outright that the onus is on you to see them now or regret it later.
Dates and info from the PR wire:
HOWLING GIANT announce US-Tour in Fall 2023
Hot on the heels of the release of their sophomore full-length “Glass Future” on October 27, HOWLING GIANT will hit the roads of North America again. Warming up for their headliner dates, the cosmic stoner metal trio from Nashville, Tennessee will support BLACK TUSK on the first three shows, before taking the helm themselves. After three more gigs, label mates RESTLESS SPIRIT will join the tour as special guests in support of their brand new album “Afterimage”.
Please see below for all confirmed HOWLING GIANT live dates.
HOWLING GIANT comment: “All systems go!”, singer and guitarist Tom Polzine enthuses. “We are stoked to unleash Glass Future on October 27th, and cannot wait to bring this album to life in November at a US dive bar near you. We’re pumped to share the stage with our buds in Black Tusk and Restless Spirit. Come hear the sounds of these new riffs as they plummet towards our fragile planet. We’ll have shirts for sale in the crater.”
On rather sad news, HOWLING GIANT got robbed while in the city of Milan during their ongoing European with label mates HEAVY TEMPLE, who are also affected. If you want to lend a helping hand, please feel free to contribute or spread this link:https://www.gofundme.com/f/howling-giant-heavy-temple-robbed-on-tour
Howling Giant supporting Black Tusk 03 NOV 2023 Atlanta, GA (US) The Earl 04 NOV 2023 Wilmington, NC (US) Reggie’s 42nd Street Tavern 05 NOV 2023 Asheville, NC (US) The Odd
Howling Giant headlining 07 NOV 2023 Louisville, KY (US) Portal 08 NOV 2023 Cleveland, OH (US) No Class 09 NOV 2023 Detroit, MI (US) Sanctuary 11 NOV 2023 Chicago, IL (US) Reggies, Music Joint
Howling Giant with support Restless Spirit 10 NOV 2023 Cudahy, WI (US) X-Ray Arcade 12 NOV 2023 St Louis, MO (US) Platypus Bar 14 NOV 2023 Dallas, TX (US) Club Dada 15 NOV 2023 Austin, TX (US) The Lost Well 17 NOV 2023 New Orleans, LA (US) Gasa Gasa
REMAINING EUROPEAN DATES: 13 OCT 2023 Roma (IT) RCCB 14 OCT 2023 Viareggio (IT) Circolo ARCI GoB 15 OCT 2023 Carmagnola (IT) Circolo ARCI Margot 18 OCT 2023 San Sebastian (ES) Dabadaba 19 OCT 2023 Barcelona (ES) Razz3 21 OCT 2023 Paris (FR) Glazart 22 OCT 2023 Antwerp (BE) Trix, Desertfest Belgium
HOWLING GIANT is Tom Polzine – Guitar and Vocals Zach Wheeler – Drums and Vocals Sebastian Baltes – Bass and Vocals
Posted in Reviews on October 3rd, 2023 by JJ Koczan
I broke my wife’s phone yesterday. What a mess. I was cleaning the counter or doing some shit and our spare butter dish — as opposed to the regular one, which was already out — was sitting near the edge of the top of the microwave, from where I bumped it so that the ceramic corner apparently went right through the screen hard enough that in addition to shattering it there’s a big black spot and yes a new phone has been ordered. In the meantime, she can’t type the letter ‘e’ and, well, I have to hand it to Le Creuset on the sturdy construction of their butter dishes. Technology succumbing to the brute force of a harder blunt object and gravity.
Certainly do wish that hadn’t happened. What does it have to do with riffs, or music at all, or really anything? Who cares. I’m about to review 10 records today. I can talk about whatever the hell I want.
Quarterly Review #11-20:
—
Samsara Blues Experiment, Rock Hard in Concert
10 years after releasing 2013’s Live at Rockpalast (review here), and nearly three after they put out their 2021 swansong studio LP, End of Forever (review here), German heavy psych rockers Samsara Blues Experiment offer the 80-minute live 2LP Rock Hard in Concert, and while it’s not their first live album, it gives a broader overview of the band from front to (apparent) back during their time together, as songs opening salvo of “Center of the Sun,” “Singata Mystic Queen” and “For the Lost Souls” from 2010’s debut, Long-Distance Trip (review here), melds in the set with “One With the Universe” and “Vipassana” from 2017’s One With the Universe (review here), End of Forever‘s own title-track and “Massive Passive,” and “Hangin’ on a Wire” from 2013’s Waiting for the Flood (review here) to become a fan-piece that nonetheless engages in sound and presentation. If you were there, it’s likely must-own. For the rest of us, who maybe did or didn’t see the band during their time — glad to say I did — it’s a reminder of how immersive they could be, especially in longer-form material, and how much influence they had on the last decade-plus of jam-based heavy psych in Europe. Recorded in 2018 at a special gig for Germany’s Rock Hard magazine, Rock Hard in Concert follows behind 2022’s Demos & Rarities (review here) in the band’s posthumous catalog, and it may or may not be Samsara Blues Experiment‘s final non-reissue release. Whether it is or not, it summarizes their run gorgeously and puts a light on the chemistry of the trio that led them through so many winding aural paths.
Sounding modern and full and in opening cut “Marrow” almost like the fuzz is about to swallow the rest of the song, Restless Spirit step forward with their third long-player, Afterimage, and establish a new level of craft for themselves. In 2021, the Long Island heavy/doom rock trio offered Blood of the Old Gods (review here), and their guitar-led energetic surges continue here in Afterimage riffers like the chug-nod “Shadow Command” and “Of Spirit and Form,” which seems to account for the underlying metallic edge of the band’s execution with its sharper turns. Their first album for Magnetic Eye Records, its eight tracks fit smoothly into the label’s roster, which at its baseline might be said to foster modern heavy styles with a particular ear for songwriting and melody, and Restless Spirit dig into “All Furies” like High on Fire galloping into a wall of Slayer records, only to follow with the 1:45 instrumental reset “Brutalized,” which is somehow weightier. They touch on the ethereal with the guitar in “The Fatalist,” but the vocals are more post-hardcore and have a grounding effect, and after starting with outright crush, “Hell’s Grasp” offers respite in progressive flourish and midtempo meandering before resuming the double-plus-huge roll and pointed riff and noodly offsets, the huge hook coming back in a way that makes me miss doing a radio show. “Hell’s Grasp” is the longest piece on the collection at 6:25, but “From the Dust Returned” closes, mindful of the atmospherics that have been at work all along and no less huge, but clearly saving a last push for, well, last. I’ll be interested in how it holds up over the long term, but Magnetic Eye has become one of the US’ most essential labels in heavy music and releases like this are exactly why.
When did Graham Clise from WitchLecherous Gaze, etc. — dude used to be in Uphill Battle; I remember that band — move to Australia? Doesn’t matter. It happened and Stepmother is the raw, garage-ish fuzz rock outfit the now-Melbourne-residing Clise has established, with Rob Muinos on bass and vocals and Sam Rains on drums. With Clise on guitar/vocals peppering hard-strummed riffs with bouts of shred and various dirtier coatings, the 12-tracker goes north of four minutes one time for “Do You Believe,” already by then having found its proto-Misfits bent in the catchy “Scream for Death.” But whether they’re buzz-overdosing “Waiting for the Axe” or digging into the comedown in “Signed DC” ahead of the surf-informed rager of a finale “Gusano,” Planet Brutalicon is a debut that presents fresh ideas taking on known stylistic elements. And it’s not a showcase for Clise‘s instrumental prowess on a technical level or anything — he’s not trying to put on a clinic — but from the sound of his guitar to the noises he gets from it in “The Game” (that middle part, ultra-fuzz) and at the end of “Stalingrad,” it is very much a guitar-centered offering. No complaints there whatsoever.
Pilot Voyager, The Structure is Still Under Construction
WARNING: Users who take even a small dose of Pilot Voyager‘s The Structure is Still Under Construction may find themselves experiencing euphoria, or adrift, as though on some serene ocean under the warm green sky of impossibly refracted light. The ethereal drones and melodic textures of the 46-minute single-song LP may cause side effects like: momentary flashes of inner peace, the quieting of your brain that you’ve been seeking your whole life without knowing it, calm. Also nausea, but that’s probably just something you ate. Talk to your doctor about whether this extended work from the Hungarian collective Psychedelic Source Records (szia!) is right for you, and if it is, make sure to consume responsibly. Headphones required (not included or covered by insurance). Do not be afraid as “The Structure is Still Under Construction” leaves the water behind to float upward in its midsection, finally resolving in intertwining drones, vague sampled speech echoing far off somewhere — ugh, the real world — and birdsong someplace in the mix. Go with it. This is why you got the prescription in the first place. Decades of aural research and artistic movement and progression have led you and the Budapesti outfit to this moment. Do not operate heavy machinery. Ever. In fact, find an empty field, take off your pants and run around for a while until you get out of breath. Then drink cool water and giggle. This could be you. Your life.
Philadelphia has become the East Coast US’ hotbed for heavy psychedelia, which must be interesting for Northern Liberties, who started out more than two decades ago. The trio’s self-released, 10-song/41-minute Self-Dissolving Abandoned Universe — maybe their eighth album, if my count is right — with venerated producer Steve Albini, so one might count ‘instant-Gen-X-cred’ and ‘recognizably-muddy-toms’ among their goals. I wasn’t completely sold on the offering until “Infusorian Hymnal” started to dig a little further into the genuinely weird after opener “The Plot Thickens” and the subsequent “Drowned Out” laid forth the crunch of the tones and gave hints of the structures beneath the noise. “Crucible” follows up the raw shove of “Star Spangled Corpse” by expanding the palette toward space rock and an unhinged psych-noise shove that the somehow-still-Hawkwindian volatility of “The Awaited” moves away from while the finale “Song of the Sole Survivor” calls back to the folkish vocal melody in “Ghosts of Ghosts,” if in echoing and particularly addled fashion. Momentum serves the three-piece well throughout, though they seem to have no trouble interrupting themselves (can relate), and turning to follow a disparate impulse. Distractable heavy? Yeah, except bands like that usually don’t last two decades. Let’s say maybe their own kind of oddball, semi-spaced band who aren’t afraid to screw around in the studio, find what they like, and keep it. And whatever else you want to say about Albini-tracked drums, “Hold on to the Darkness” has a heavier tone to its snare than most guitars do to whole LPs. Whatever works, and it does.
“Good Night, Ophelia” is the first single from the forthcoming debut full-length from semi-goth Portland, Oregon, heavy rock four-piece Nyxora. There are worse opening shots to fire than a Hamlet reference, I suppose, and if one regards Ophelia’s character as an innocent driven to suicide by gender-based oppression, then her lack of agency is nothing if not continually relevant. Nonetheless, for Nyxora — Vox on, well, vox, guitarist E.Wrath, bassist Luke and drummer Weatherman — she pairs with dark-boogie riff recorded for edge with Witch Mountain‘s Rob Wrong at his Wrong Way Studio. There are some similarities between Nyxora and Wrong‘s own outfit — I double-checked it wasn’t Uta Plotkin singing some of the higher-reaching lines of “Good Night, Ophelia,” which is a definite compliment — but I get the sense that fuller atmosphere of Nyxora‘s first LP isn’t necessarily encapsulated in this one three-and-a-half-minute song. That is, I’m thinking at some point on the album, Nyxora will get more morose than they are here. Or maybe not. Either way, “Good Night, Ophelia” is an enticing teaser from a group who seem ready to dig their niche when the album is released, I’ll assume in 2024 though one never knows.
I hate to do it, but I’m calling bullshit right now on Sydney, Australia’s Old Goat Smoke. Sorry gents. To be sure, your Bongzilla-crusty, ultra-stoned, Church of Misery-esque-in-its-madcap-vocal-wails, goat weed metal is only a pleasure to behold. But that’s the problem. How’re you gonna write a song called “Old Goat Smoke” and not post the lyrics? I shudder to think of the weed puns I’m missing. Fortunately, it’s not too late for the newcomer band to correct the mistake before the entire project is derailed. In that eponymous one of three total tracks included, Old Goat Smoke cast themselves in the mold of the despondent and disaffected. “Return to Dirt” shifts fluidly in and out of screams and harsher fare while radioactive-dirt tonality infects the guitar and bass that have already challenged the drums to cut through their morass. So that there’s no risk of the point not being made, they cap this initial public offering with “The Great Hate,” and eight-and-a-half-minute treatise on feedback and raw scathe that’s likewise a show of future nastiness to manifest. Quit your job, do all the drugs you can find, engage the permanent fuck-off. Old Goat Smoke may not have ‘bong’ in their moniker, but that’s about all they’re missing. And those lyrics, I guess, though by the time the 20 minutes of Demo have expired, they’ve made their caustic point regardless.
German transport-themed heavy rock and rollers Van Groover — as in, one who grooves in or with vans — made a charming debut with 2021’s Honk if Parts Fall Off (review here), and the follow-up five-song EP, Back From the Shop, makes no attempt to fix what isn’t broken. That would seem to put it at odds with the mechanic speaking in the intro “Hill Willy’s Chop Shop,” who runs through a litany of issues fixed, goes on long enough to hypnotize and then swaps in body parts and so on. From there, the motor works, and Van Groover hit the gas through 21 minutes of smells-like-octane riffing and storytelling. In “A-38″ — the reference being to the size of a sheet of paper in Europe; equivalent but not the same as the US’ 8.5″ x 11” — they either get arrested, which would seem to be the ending of “The Bandit” just before,” or are at the DMV, I can’t quite tell, but it doesn’t matter one you meet “The Grizz.” The closer has an urgency to its push that doesn’t quite sound like I’d imagine being torn apart by a bear to feel, but the Lebowski-paraphrased penultimate line, “Some days you get eaten by the bear, some days the bear eats you,” underscores Van Groover‘s for-the-converted approach, speaking to the subculture from within. Possibly while driving. Does look like a nice van, though. The kind you might write a song or two about.
Facts-wise, there’s not much more I can tell you about Hotel Lucifer than you might glean from looking at the New York four-piece’s Bandcamp page. Their self-released and self-titled debut runs 43 minutes and eight tracks, and its somewhat bleak, not-obligated-to-heavy-tonalism course takes several violent thematic turns, including (I think.) in opener “Room 222,” where Katie‘s vocals seem to talk about raping god. This, “Murderer,” “Torquemada,” “The Ultimate Price,” “Picking Your Eyes Out” and 12-minute horror noisefest closer “Beheaded” — only the classic metaller “Training the Beast” and the three-minute acoustic-backed psychedelic voice showcase “Echidna” seem to restrain the brutaller impulses, and I’m not sure about that either. With Jimmy on guitar, Muriel playing bass and Ed on drums, Hotel Lucifer are defined in no small part by the whispers, rasps and croons that mark their verses and choruses, but that becomes an effective means to convey character and mood along with the instrumental ambience behind, and so Hotel Lucifer find this strange, almost willfully off-putting cultish individualism, and it’s not hooks keeping your attention so much as the desire to figure it out, to learn more about just what the hell is going on on this record. I’ll wish you good luck with that as I continue my efforts along similar lines.
Its five songs broken into two sections along lines of “Obscure Fire” pairing with “Of Silence” and “Descending” leading to “Into the Depths” with “Of Eternal Doom” answering the question that didn’t even really need to be asked about which depths the Russian stoner sludge rollers were talking about. The Sleep-worshiping three-piece of guitarist/vocalist SAA, bassist KKV and drummer PAN — whose credits are worth reading in the band’s own words — lumber with purpose as they make that final statement, each side of Obscure Fire working shortest to longest beginning with the howling guitar and drum thud of the title-track at nine minutes as opposed to the 10 of “Of Silence.” At two minutes, “Descending” is barely more than feedback and tortured gurgles, so yes, very much a fit with the concrete-toned plod of the subsequent “Into the Depths” as the band skirt the line between ultra-stoner metal and cavernous atmospheric sludge without necessarily committing to one or the other. That position favors them, but after a certain point of being bludgeoned with huge riffs and slow-nodding, deeply-weighted churn, your skull is going to be goo either way. The route Megalith Levitation take to get you there is where the weed is, aurally speaking.
Posted in Whathaveyou on September 21st, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Two answers to questions nobody asked: First, yes, I am starting to feel a bit the broken record posting endless lists of everybody’s Fall 2023 European tour dates. Second, yes, I knew Domkraft‘s isn’t the most extensive list of shows that I’ve put up as part of that. It’s basically a weekender that starts tonight, a dream-team bill in Denmark with Conan and Slomatics — a power-riff triumvirate when you include Domkraft — and a fest in Germany and another show in Belgium in November. But it’s not a week on the road, 10 days, two weeks, etc. It’s what press releases used to call ‘select dates.’
I almost made that the headline, but didn’t want anyone to think I was trying to be a dick. You don’t see me announcing a three-week tour either. Domkraft‘s new album, Sonic Moons (review here) has only been out for a couple weeks, and if you haven’t heard it — oh, do — it’s of course down at the bottom there, and you should know that posting the player again is almost entirely the reason for this post. Yeah, Fall tour dates have become a theme around here lately. Fine. Here are some more.
The difference is these are Domkraft‘s.
From the PR wire:
DOMKRAFT announce European live shows following the release of acclaimed new album “Sonic Moons”!
DOMKRAFT have announced a first string of live shows in Europe following hot on the heels of the release of the Swedish psychedelic doom masters’ acclaimed new album “Sonic Moons”, which hit stores worldwide on September 8, 2023 via Magnetic Eye Records.
DOMKRAFT comment: “We always strive to make music that is close to our hearts without repeating ourselves”, singer and bass player Martin Wegeland writes. “As we see it, if you want to hear something that sounds like our debut ‘The End of Electricity’ that album is already there to be listened to. We try to keep things fresh by taking different routes, inviting new elements into the toolbox that we start from, and it has been a pure joy to see how well received ‘Sonic Moons’ has been. Almost overwhelming, to be honest. Now we want nothing more than to go out and play these songs live. We’e starting with a select run of shows this autumn, and will cover much more ground on the live front in 2024.”
DOMKRAFT Live
21 SEP 2023 Oslo (NO) Vaterland 22 SEP 2023 Linköping (SE) The Crypt 23 SEP Malmö (SE) Plan B 21 OCT 2023 København (DK) Loppen +Conan +Slomatics 17 NOV 2023 Halle (DE) Deep Sound City Fest V 19 NOV 2023 Liege (BE) Kultura
Line-up Martin Wegeland – vocals, bass Martin Widholm – guitars Anders Dahlgren – drums
Posted in Reviews on September 14th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Sonic Moons commemorates the moment when a riff becomes the Riff. The fourth full-length from Swedish trio Domkraft — the stable lineup of bassist/vocalist Martin Wegeland, guitarist Martin Widholm and drummer Anders Dahlgren — is a seven-song/47-minute meditation on nod. As Domkraft have emerged to portray their own vision of psychedelic noise rock and melodic, atmospheric sludge, they haven’t wanted for variety, and they don’t here either as nine-minute cuts “Whispers” and “The Big Chill” bookend a procession that is no less at home casting deep spaces in its mix than honing catharsis via crush.
But Sonic Moons also has this groove. This ur-groove. It is primal, lurching, undulating. Much of the second half of “Whispers” is given to floating lead guitar, but earlier in the track, as all the ambience seems to solidify in the build at about two minutes in and tensely chug through the verse, right at 2:30 it kicks in, and it’s not a full minute before the band are back in the chug from whence they came, but they’ll break up those solos with a reprise and it’s how they end the song as well. It becomes a thread that runs across the album. It’s never quite the same, can be fast like in the barrage shove at the start of “Stellar Winds,” or expansive like when it comes out of the solo in “Magnetism.” It can be the foundation, like in the very-purposeful-seeming centerpiece “Slowburner,” or a blowout like in “Downpour,” maddeningly tense in “Black Moon Rising” and it helps put the crescendo of “The Big Chill” over the top in paying off the entire album while moving deeper into heavy psychedelia than the band have ever gone.
It is able to do all these things, this groove. It is Domkraft‘s own, and it’s never sounded more like a signature than it does here. You understand, I’m not saying Domkraft only have one rhythm. I’m saying that Sonic Moons taps into that node in your brain where the australopithecus once danced to two rocks banged together in time. Each track has its own intention, but feeds into an overarching flow that draws the songs together. A complete work derived from its individual pieces. The Riff becomes the theme around which the material is united. And as themes go, whoever came up with ‘kickass riffs exclusively’ should probably get a trophy.
The album is an accomplishment toward which Domkraft have been steadily building. Clearly working with the production team of Kalle Lilja and Per Stålberg at Welfare Sounds in Gothenburg — they helmed 2021’s Seeds (discussed here) and the band’s 2022 split LP with Slomatics, Ascend/Descend (review here) — and the also-returning Karl Daniel Lidén for mixing and mastering suits them. And Sonic Moons is a step forward from Seeds, which was a step forward from 2018’s Flood (review here), and so on back to 2016’s The End of Electricity (review here), but there will be recognizable elements in some of the harsher vocals, the tonal breadth and the upside-your-head nature of the riffing, but Domkraft are more psychedelic in passages of “The Big Chill” and “Whispers” (thinking the midsection in the latter) than they’ve ever outwardly been, and “Downpour” is heavy space rock à la Monster Magnet that feels like it’s hit the big finish by the time it’s halfway through and only grows more cacophonous from there. Even the cover art by Björn Atldax is in keeping with the spirit of what Domkraft have done before while making it own impression.
Trippy, vast, intermittently sprawling though Sonic Moons is, it’s also grounded in the post-hardcore/noise rock sludge of the band’s roots, and that serves them in their heaviest reaches, whether it’s the start of the extra-noisy “Stellar Winds” or the way “Magnetism” grows epic in its chorus like something New Zealand’s Beastwars might conjure, but churning, and part of that whole-album theme in its riffing. “Slowburner” is a landmark for the release as an entirety in no small part because it seems to strip away everything else that the other songs are doing, whether it’s the airy leads or some other exploration, and bask in the purity of its crunch.
But it wouldn’t be a landmark without those other songs around it, and much of the material throughout Sonic Moons interacts in that way, tracks enhancing each other, working off each other, complementing or contrasting like the dizzying finish of “Downpour” stopping cold as the clarity of the intro to “Black Moon Rising” is counted in, seeming to have discovered an extra layer of thickness as it revives the telltale nod following the closest thing to a departure therefrom. Or without the complexity of the shifts in “The Big Chill,” bass and drums mellowing ahead of the suitably massive peak as the vocals, not the guitar, put it over the top and the guitar sneaks a little melodic resonance into the last 30 seconds or so of the closer, as if to say thanks for coming and they’re not done yet.
That may well be the case and nothing on Sonic Moons leaves one thinking Domkraft are finished growing. If anything, the organic nature of how they’ve done so to this point — four LPs of steady, unforced evolution — sets them up for the longer-term progression that would already seem to be playing out. Their take has become more individualized with time and more malleable, and these tracks magnify what has worked to distinguish the band for the last seven years while actively pushing themselves further as musicians and songwriters.
Domkraft have more space than ever before, and they hit harder. They’re more melodic, but arguably more furious as well. It is so much to their credit that these notions that should be in conflict are not when one actually hears the record, and that Domkraft don’t come out of Sonic Moons sounding like anybody more than themselves. This is an act who’ve taken the time to develop their point of view on the kind of music they want to play, and who are able to reshape that perspective in service to their songs.
