Posted in Whathaveyou on March 12th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
Swedish heavy rockers Deville have never lacked for charm, and that they’d continue to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the band with a tour called ‘Usually It’s Packed’ is for sure emblematic of that. This Spring will also see Deville taking part in Desertfest London, and last summer they compiled album and off-album tracks onto the collection 20 Years, titled simply in honor of the occasion being marked.
And indeed that’s an occasion worth marking. No doubt it’s a blip in the band’s own history, but I recall fondly the time they stayed with us in Massachusetts when we lived up there, having come over to play a few shows, including one I was lucky enough to catch with Ichabod in Worcester (review here). We didn’t do a lot of that kind of thing and they were super nice and that was the nicer of the two condos we lived in while we were there too, so I’m glad that happened. Their last couple records have been more metal, but songwriting is songwriting.
From the PR wire:
EUROPE! DEVILLE are celebrating 20 Years of “Usually It´s Packed” and of course we will do it with a Tour! See you this spring and get your tickets! https://deville.nu/tour/
THU 17-04-2025 Flowerpower Magdeburg,Magdenburg (DE) FRI 18-04-2025 RESET – Live Club Berlin Kreuzberg,Berlin (DE) SAT 19-04-2025 Hexenhaus Ulm,Ulm (DE) SUN 20-04-2025 Fundament Studio Roosendaal (NL) Live session MON 21-04-2025 Backyard Club e.V. ,Recklinghausen (DE) THU 24-04-2025 La Maison Bleue – Strasbourg, Strasbourg (FR) FRI 25-04-2025 Brin de Zinc, Barberaz (FR) SAT 26-04-2025 Deux Ours, Modave (BE) SUN 27-04-2025 Kid’s Rhythm ‘n’ Blues Kaffee, Antwerp (BE) MON 28-04-2025 Pitcher – Rock’n’Roll Headquarter Düsseldorf, Dusseldorf (DE) TUE 29-04-2025 TANKSTATION,Enschede (NL) WED 30-04-2025 De VerbroederIJ, Amsterdam (NL) THU 01-05-2025 Azijnfabriek Roermond, Roermond (NL) FRI 02-05-2025 Poppoadium Iduna, Drachten (NL) SAT 03-05-2025 Mejeriet Sønderborg,Sønderborg (DK) FRI 16-05-2025 Deserfest London,London (UK)
ALBUM “20 YEARS” OUT NOW!
With two decades of heavy guitar riffs and thunderous drum beats, these rockers are ready to unleash a sonic storm like never before. Celebrating their 20 year anniversary, Deville put together 10 electrifying tracks that will take you on a journey through the bands work over time. With 8 handpicked gems from their albums and starting with the new single DUST, this record is a testament to their relentless passion for pure, unadulterated heavy rock and metal.
On this album, Deville is unleashing their first-ever cover song, a spine-tingling rendition of Nine Inch Nails „The Hand That Feeds”. Prepare to be blown away by their unique take on this legendary anthem. Join the celebration and crank up the volume as Deville invites you to experience 20 years of Rock n Roll in one epic record. The jubilee album is simply called 20 YEARS and will be out as a limited tape release. 20 Years is out on 9th of August via Sixteentimes Music”
Deville: Andreas Bengtsson – Vocals, Guitars Michael Ödegården– Drums Andreas Wulkan – Lead Guitar,Vocals Martin Nobel – Bass
Posted in Reviews on October 7th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
Oh hi, I didn’t see you there. Me? Oh, you know. Nothing much. Staring off a cliffside about to jump headfirst into a pool of 100 records. The usual.
I’m pretty sure this is the second time this year that a single Quarterly Review has needed to be two weeks long. It’s been a busy year, granted, but still. I keep waiting for the tide to ebb, but it hasn’t really at all. Older bands keep going, or a lot of them do, anyhow — or they come back — and new bands come up. But for all the war, famine, plague and strife and crisis and such, it’s a golden age.
But hey, don’t let me keep you. I’ve apparently been doing QRs since 2013, and I remember trying to find a way to squeeze together similar roundups before it. I have no insight to add about that, it’s just something I dug back to find out the other day and was surprised because 11 years of this kind of thing is a really long gosh darn time.
On that note, let’s go.
Quarterly Review #1-10:
—
Agusa, Noir
The included bits of Swedish dialogue from the short film for which Agusa‘s Noir was written to serve as a soundtrack would probably ground the proceedings some if I spoke Swedish, admittedly. As it is, those voices become part of the dream world the Malmö-based otherwise-instrumentalist adventurers conjure across 15 at times wildly divergent pieces. In arrangement and resultant mood, from the ’70s piano sentimentality of “Ljusglimtar” to the darker church organ and flute workings of “Stad i mörker,” which is reprised as a dirge at the end, the tracks are evocative across a swath of atmospheres, and it’s not all drones or background noise. They get their rock in, and if you stick around for “Kalkbrottets hemlighet,” you get to have the extra pleasure of hearing the guitar eat the rest of the song. You could say that’s not a thing you care about hearing but I know it’d be a lie, so don’t bother. If you’ve hesitated to take on Agusa in the past because sometimes generally-longform instrumental progressive psychedelic heavy rock can be a lot when you’re trying to get to know it, consider Noir‘s shorter inclusions a decent entry point to the band. Each one is like a brief snippet serving as another demonstration of the kind of immersion they can bring to what they play.
With an assembled cast of singers that includes Mikko Kotamäki (Swallow the Sun), his Amorphis bandmates Tomi Koivusaari and Tomi Joutsen, Petri Eskelinen of Rapture, and Barren Earth bandmate Jón Aldará, and guests on lead guitar and a drummer from the underappreciated Mannhai, and Barren Earth‘s keyboardist sitting in for good measure, bassist Olli Pekka-Laine harnesses a spectacularly Finnish take on proggy death-psych metal for Octoploid‘s first long-player, Beyond the Aeons. The songs feel extrapolated from Amorphis circa Elegy, putting guttural vocals to folk inspired guitar twists and prog-rock grooves, but aren’t trying to be that at all, and as ferocious as it gets, there’s always some brighter element happening, something cosmic or folkish or on the title-track both, and Octoploid feels like an expression of creative freedom based on a vision of a kind of music Pekka-Laine wanted to hear. I want to hear it too.
The Obscure River Experiment, as a group collected together for the live performance from which The Ore has been culled, may or may not be a band. It is comprised of players from the sphere of Psychedelic Source Records, and so as members of River Flows Reverse, Obscure Supersession Collective, Los Tayos and others collaborate here in these four periodically scorching jams — looking at you, middle of “Soul’s Shiver Pt. 2” — it could be something that’ll happen again next week or next never. Not knowing is part of the fun, because as far out as something like The Obscure River Experiment might and in fact does go, there’s chemistry enough between all of these players to hold it together. “Soul Shiver Pt. 1” wakes up and introduces the band, “Pt. 2” blows it out for a while, “I See Horses” gets funky and then blows it out, and “The Moon in Flesh and Bone” feels immediately ceremonial with its sustained organ notes, but becomes a cosmic boogie ripper, complete with a welcome return of vocals. Was it all made up on the spot? Was it all a dream? Maybe both?
Way underhyped South Carolinian progressive heavy rockers Shun arrive at the sound of their second LP, Dismantle, able to conjure elements of The Cure and Katatonia alongside Cave In-style punk-born groove, but in Shun‘s case, the underlying foundation is noise rock, so when “Aviator” opens up to its hook or “NRNS” is suddenly careening pummel or “Drawing Names” half-times the drums to get bigger behind the forward/obvious-focal-point vocal melodies of Matt Whitehead (ex-Throttlerod), there’s reach and impact working in conjunction with a thoughtful songwriting process pushed forward from where on their 2021 self-titled debut (review here) but that still seems to be actively working to engage the listener. That’s not a complaint, mind you, especially since Dismantle succeeds to vividly in doing so, and continues to offer nuance and twists on the plot right up to the willful slog ending with (most of) “Interstellar.”
No Man’s Valley, Chrononaut Cocktail Bar/Flight of the Sloths
Whether it’s the brooding Nick Cave-style cabaret minimalism of “Creepoid Blues,” the ’60s psych of “Love” or the lush progressivism that emerges in “Seeing Things,” the hook of “Shapeshifter” or “Orange Juice” coming in with shaker at the end to keep things from finishing too melancholy, the first half of No Man’s Valley‘s Chrononaut Cocktail Bar/Flight of the Sloths still can only account for part of the scope as they set forth the pastoralist launch of the 18-minute “Flight of the Sloths” on side B, moving from acoustic strum and a repeating title line into a gradual build effective enough so that when Jasper Hesselink returns on vocals 13 minutes later in the spaced-out payoff — because yes, the sloths are flying between planets; was there any doubt? — it makes you want to believe the sloths are out there working hard to stay in the air. The real kicker? No Man’s Valley are no less considered in how they bring “Flight of the Sloths” up and down across its span than they are “Love” or “Shapeshifter” early on, both under three minutes long. And that’s what maturing as songwriters can do for you, though No Man’s Valley have always had a leg up in that regard.
Dallas’ Land Mammal defy expectation a few times over on their second full-length, with the songwriting of Will Weise and Kinsley August turning toward greater depth of arrangement and more meditative atmospheres across the nine songs/34 minutes of Emergence, which even in a rolling groove like “Divide” has room for flute and strings. Elsewhere, sitar and tanpura meet with lap steel and keyboard as Land Mammal search for an individual approach to modern progressive heavy. There’s some shades of Elder in August‘s approach on “I Am” or the earlier “Tear You Down,” but the instrumental contexts surrounding are wildly different, and Land Mammal thrive in the details, be it the hand-percussion and far-back fuzz colliding on “The Circle,” or the tabla and sitar, drums and keys as “Transcendence (Part I)” and “Transcendence (Part II)” finish, the latter with the sounds of getting out of the car and walking in the house for epilogue. Yeah, I guess after shifting the entire stylistic scope of your band you’d probably want to go inside and rest for a bit. Well earned.
Released through Majestic Mountain Records, the debut full-length from Forgotten King, The Seeker, would seem to have been composed and recorded entirely by Azul Josh Bisama, also guitarist in Kal-El, though a full lineup has since formed. That happens. Just means the second album will have a different dynamic than the first, and there are some parts as in the early cut “Lost” where that will be a benefit as Azul Josh refines the work laying out a largesse-minded, emotively-evocative approach on these six cuts, likewise weighted and soaring. The album is nothing if not aptly-named, though, as Forgotten King lumber through “Drag” and march across 10 minutes of stately atmospheric doom, eventually seeing the melodic vocals give way to harsher fare in the second half, what’s being sought seems to have been found at least on a conceptual level, and one might say the same of “Around the Corner” or “The Sun” taking familiar-leaning desert rock progressions and doing something decisively ‘else’ with them. Very much feels like the encouraging beginning of a longer exploration.
Branched off from drummer/synthesist Paul Williams‘ intermittent work over the decades with Quarkspace, the mostly-solo-project Church of Hed explores progressive, kraut and space rock in a way one expects far more from Denmark than Columbus, Ohio — to wit, Jonathan Segel (Øresund Space Collective, Camper Van Beethoven) guests on violin, bass and guitar at various points throughout the nine-tracker, which indeed is about an hour long at 57 minutes. Church of Hed‘s last outing, 2022’s The Father Road, was an audio travelogue crossing the United States from one coast to the other. The Fifth Hour is rarely so concerned with terrestrial impressionism, and especially in its longer-form pieces “Pleiades Waypoint” (13:50), “Son of a Silicon Rogue” (14:59) or “The Fifth Hour” (8:43), it digs into sci-fi prog impulses that even in the weird blips and robot twists of the interlude “Aniluminescence 2” or the misshapen techno in the closing semi-reprise “Bastard Son of The Fifth Hour” never quite feels as dystopian as some other futures in the multiverse, and that becomes a strength.
Like the Melvins on an AC/DC kick or what you might get if you took ’70s arena rock, put it in a can and shook it really, really hard, Italian duo Zolle are a burst of weirdo sensation on their fifth full-length, Rosa. The songs are ready for whatever football match stadium P.A. you might want to put them on — hugely, straight-ahead, uptempo, catchy, fun in pieces like “Pepe” and “Lana” at the outset, “Merda,” “Pompon,” “Confetto” and “Fiocco” later on, likewise huge and silly in “Pois” or closer “Maialini e Maialine,” and almost grounded on “Toffolette e Zuccherini” at the start but off and running again soon enough — if you can keep up with guitarist/vocalist Marcello and drummer Stefano, for sure they make it worth the effort, and capture some of the intensity of purpose they bring to the stage in the studio and at the same time highlighting the shenanigans writ large throughout in their riffs and the cheeky bit of pop grandiosity that’s such a toy in their hands. You would not call it light on persona.
Thicker in tone than much of modern black metal, and willing toward the organic in a way that feels born of Cascadia a little more to the northwest as they blast away in “Era of Ash,” Boise, Idaho’s Shadow and Claw nonetheless execute moody rippers across the five songs/41 minute of their debut, Whereabouts Unknown. Known for his work in Ealdor Bealu and the solo-project Sawtooth Monk, guitarist/vocalist Travis Abbott showcases a rasp worthy of Enslaved‘s Grutle Kjellson on the 10-minute “Wrath of Thunder,” so while there are wolves amid the trio’s better chairs, to be sure, Shadow and Claw aren’t necessarily working from any single influence in or out of char-prone extreme metals, and as the centerpiece gives over to the eponymous “Shadow and Claw,” those progressive aspirations are reaffirmed as Abbott, drummer/backing vocalist Aaron Bossart (also samples) and bassist/backing vocalist Geno Lopez find room for a running-water-backed acoustic epilogue to “Scouring the Plane of Existence” and the album as a whole. Easy to imagine them casting these songs into the sunset on the side of some pointy Rocky Mountain or other, shadows cast and claws raised.
Posted in Whathaveyou on June 5th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
Twenty years. As to where the time goes, I couldn’t hope to tell you. Anybody checked the accretion disks of black holes yet? Probably not. Nonetheless, it goes, and metal-leaning Swedish troupe Deville can surely confirm that as the band mark their 20th anniversary with the on-the-nose-titled compilation 20 Years, out Aug. 9. The cassette release will be through Sixteentimes Music, which also put out their 2022 LP, Heavy Lies the Crown (review here), and follows January’s video for “Serpent Days” (posted here) from that record, which brought the first hints of the comp to come.
Fair enough. Deville have always been a forward-looking act, so that they’re trying new things even as they celebrate to-date accomplishments is fitting. The new single — and that’s “new” as in doesn’t-appear-on-another-record, not just new in context — is called “Dust,” and it’s fuzzier feeling than some of what they’ve done in the last however long, but still has the punch one has come to expect from them coinciding with that, along with a healthy dose of shred. Further novelty is offered in the cover of Nine Inch Nails‘ “The Hand that Feeds,” which actually was the single that put me off listening to new stuff from that band — they went from The Fragile to “The Perfect Drug” to that; it was too much a leap for me to make at the time, apparently — but its already-looping-in-my-head hook is inarguable. I have no doubt Deville‘s take will be rad. They’ve been at this for 20 years. They know what they’re doing.
Word of the release came down the PR wire thusly:
DEVILLE: NEW SINGLE “DUST” OUT NOW and ANNOUNCING NEW ALBUM!
With two decades of heavy guitar riffs and thunderous drum beats, these rockers are ready to unleash a sonic storm like never before. Celebrating their 20 year anniversary, Deville put together 10 electrifying tracks that will take you on a journey through the bands work over time. With 8 handpicked gems from their albums and starting with the new single DUST, this record is a testament to their relentless passion for pure, unadulterated heavy rock and metal.
On this album, Deville is unleashing their first-ever cover song, a spine-tingling rendition of Nine Inch Nails „The Hand That Feeds”. Prepare to be blown away by their unique take on this legendary anthem. Join the celebration and crank up the volume as Deville invites you to experience 20 years of Rock n Roll magic in one epic record. The jubilee album is simply called 20 YEARS and will be out as a limited tape release. 20 Years is out on 9th of August via Sixteentimes Music.
Tracklist: 1. Dust 2. The Hand That Feeds ( Nine Inch Nails cover) 3. Lava 4. What Remains 5. Serpent Days 6. Deserter 7. Pigs With Gods 8. Gold Sealed Tomb 9. Wrecked 10. Rise Above
Celebrating 20 years as a band in 2024, an anniversary album containing some of the most played songs, some new tracks and surprises will be released in August with singles from May and forward. After touring Europe and Australia in 2023 the band will start of the new year with some shows in Sweden and around.
In 2004 in Malmö, faith united four musicians to form Deville, a heavy rock band with infectious energy. Armed with their authentic fusion of rock, metal and stoner, they got their first release out in 2006 and started to tour. Since 2004, they released six albums, played more than 500 shows and festivals all over Europe, Australia and the United States and shared the stage with great acts as Red Fang,Fu Manchu,Sepultura, Torche, Mustasch and many more.
Deville: Andreas Bengtsson – Vocals, Guitars Michael Ödegården– Drums Andreas Wulkan – Lead Guitar,Vocals Martin Nobel – Bass
Posted in Whathaveyou on January 26th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
Cheers to Swedish hard ‘n’ heavies Deville on the new video for ‘Serpent Days’ from their 2022 album, Heavy Lies the Crown (review here), but double-cheers to the band on marking the 20th anniversary of their inception in 2024. Two decades of riding around the Continent (and beyond) for gigs continues this very evening, as the band undertake a weekender to start off this special year. They’ve got other shows booked through the next few months that you can see listed below as well.
And of course there’s the video too. Since their start, Deville have never stopped progressing, and as their sound has grown sharper and more aggressive in the delivery, their songwriting has grown correspondingly tight, and their niche is more their own now than it’s ever been. After 20 years, that doesn’t strike me as a terrible place to end up.
From the PR wire:
DEVILLE 20 Years and New Video!
“Serpent Days” Official Video is out from today. Taken from the 2022 album “Heavy Lies the Crown”.
And also!!
Celebrating 20 years as a band in 2024, an anniversary album containing some of the most played songs, some new tracks and surprises will be released. After touring Europe and Australia in 2023 the band will start of the new year with some shows in Sweden and around.
In 2004 in Malmö, faith united four musicians to form Deville, a heavy rock band with infectious energy. Armed with their authentic fusion of rock, metal and stoner, they got their first release out in 2006 and started to tour. Since 2004, they released five albums, played more than 500 shows and festivals all over Europe, Australia and the United States and shared the stage with great acts as Red Fang, Fu Manchu, Sepultura, Torche, Mustasch and many more.
UPCOMING SHOWS
01/26/24 DRAMMEN(NO) AT KOMETEN
01/27/24 ÖREBRO AT BJÖRNES PUB
02/16/24 HÖGANÄS AT GARAGE BAR
02/17/24 MOTALA AT BOMBER BAR
03/15/24 STOCKHOLM AT GAMLA ENSKEDE BRYGGERI
03/16/24 HOUSE OF BLUES AT BORLÄNGE
04/19/24 TBA AT GOTHENBURG
04/20/24 TRANÅS AT PLAN B
Deville: Andreas Bengtsson – Vocals, Guitars Michael Ödegården– Drums Andreas Wulkan – Lead Guitar,Vocals Martin Nobel – Bass
Posted in Whathaveyou on January 25th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
Emitting psych-revelry vibes in transluscent shades from Rolling Stones, Samsara Blues Experiment and the sunny acid folk of Tao and the Drones of Praise, Malmö weirdos Nepal Death offer “She Demon (The Exorcism of the Rakshasi)” as the follow-up single to the video they did for “Sister Nirvana” (posted here), which surfaced this Fall. And like that track, the new one marries classic pop ideologies with mushroomy oddball psych, a traditionalism based on shirking tradition, at least aesthetically, in favor of something more freeing. It wants you to sing along. Maybe you will or maybe not.
So let’s have a dream gig with Nepal Death and fellow outsider-art Swedes Toad Venom, shall we? Could add some cosmic strangeness from the UK in Codex Serafini if you want. Good bill, though I don’t know that it would or wouldn’t ever happen. In any case, a pocket of strangeness tucked away in the recesses of genre is welcome, and Nepal Death answer that call with a duly individualized sound. As to an album, I won’t speculate except to remind that we live in a universe of infinite possibility. Something perhaps to keep in mind as you listen.
From the PR wire:
The Musical Collective of Nepal Death now unleash their latest sonic story upon the world. “She Demon (The Exorcism of the Rakshasi)” will take you on a mind-bending trip spanning over nine glorious minutes.
The song echoes the rhythms of The Rolling Stones’ ”Sympathy for the Devil” and the vibes of Primal Scream’s “Movin’ on Up”. Feel the trippy seventies, featuring psychedelic guitars, infectious basslines, drum grooves, magical flute melodies, bells, singing bowls and massive choirs. The lyrics draw inspiration from Hindu legends of the Rakshasi-demons wielding supernatural powers for evil acts. Picture fierce beings with flaming red eyes and hair, savoring the scent of human flesh.
“Embark on a cosmic odyssey with ‘She Demon’ – Our tribute to ’70s psychedelia, blending the eerie with the energetic. Picture fierce Rakshasi demons and join us in this nine-minute sonic journey featuring amazing guest artists. It’s more than a song; it’s a direct line to the cosmic vibrations of fierce demons!” – says the band.
She Demon is written and performed by Nepal Death, featuring guest artists Pontus Torstensson (Exorcist GBG/Tentakel), Lisa Isaksson (Second Oracle/Me And My Kites), and Anders Kjellberg (Fontän/Tross).
Recorded at Studio Katakomb, Kali Kitchen Studios and Konrad Tönz Klangwerk. Released by Kali Psyche Records. Mixed and mastered by Mikael Andersson at Soundport Music. Artwork painted by enigmatic psychedelic performance artist Zephyr Wycorn.
Posted in Whathaveyou on October 16th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Much to Nepal Death‘s credit, they definitely own up to the “Gimme Shelter” influence in their new single “Sister Nirvana,” which arrives complete with backing singers and that everyone-on-board hook. Also to the Swedish outfit’s credit, they earn it. And they pitch the video as hippie horror, which I guess is fair, but I get way more of the dancing at the show than thee kitsch, but so it goes. I’m sure everyone gets slaughtered in there somewhere.
The band’s self-titled debut came out in 2021 and they have other, short-release odds and ends, EPs and singles. I don’t know if “Sister Nirvana” is heralding a follow-up or what, but it’s out now as things are at the places you can buy digital media — I didn’t find Bandcamp, if that’s your thing — so if you dig it, there’s more you can do which I feel like isn’t always the case in the age of preorders and so on.
Anyway, maybe you check out the track and dig it, or maybe you don’t. Costs you like 30 seconds either way and the video is well done. If you’d ask for more you’re on the wrong genre.
From the PR wire:
DEATH, DECADENCE, AND DISCO BALLS! NEPAL DEATH`S »SISTER NIRVANA!« – 1972 PSYCH ROCK B-MOVIE HIPPIE DANCE HORROR!
ABOUT NEPAL DEATH
Nepal Death is like a transcendent 1972 VW bus voyage along The Hippie Trail. This Swedish musical collective is painting a vibrant auditory tapestry reminiscent of the era of free love, all set against the mysterious backdrop of death goddess Kali Ma. Their music beckons listeners to c ontemplate the metamorphosis (or end) that await them beyond the ultimate destination of Kathmandu.
ABOUT »SISTER NIRVANA«
The music video pays homage to B-movie horror stories from the seventies, featuring captivating dance sequences and a gripping storyline. Directed by filmmaker Emil Dorbell and penned by Nepal Death’s frontman, Anders Hallberg, the video was shot on location in an old strippers’ joint featuring real actors and a horde of evil groovy cultists.
The song is a pulsating empowering psychedelic rock anthem aiming for cosmic dancefloors in all dimensions. Like a marriage of the vibes from The Rolling Stones’ »Gimme Shelter«, and the aura of The Soundtrack of Our Lives or even early Tame Impala. The track encapsulates the essence of the trippy seventies, featuring psych guitars, backward sitars, infectious basslines and a rhythmic drum groove. All interwoven with massive organ and magical flute melodies.
RELEASE DATE AND AVAILABILITY
»Sister Nirvana« will make its grand debut on all major streaming platforms starting NOW! The music video will premiere exclusively on the Nepal Death YouTube and Facebook pages.
[Click play above to stream the premiere of Moon Coven’s Sun King. It’s out Friday, Aug. 25, on Ripple Music.]
Swedish four-piece Moon Coven return with their fourth full-length, Sun King, collecting nine songs and 46 minutes of material that continues the band’s progression into the niche between niches. Their third album, 2021’s Slumber Wood (review here), brought them to Ripple Music after their 2016 self-titled (review here) came out on Transubstans, and found them solidifying their approach between classic heavy grooves and psychedelic or jammy impulses. Sun King isn’t a complete departure from this method, but in the fuzzy tone of “Wicked Words in Gold They Wrote” and “Behold the Serpent,” or the centerpiece “Below the Black Grow” with its plotted guitar leads later on, “Guilded Apple” coming across with a rock that seems just to want to skate and is way more San Diego than Malmö, and the closer “The Lost Color” feedbacking into its heavy garage thrust, Moon Coven — David Regn Leban (guitar/vocals, also cover art, production, mix), Axel Ganhammar (guitar), Pontus Ekberg (bass) and Fredrik Dahlqvist (drums), plus Joona Hassinen, who mastered — put their focus on songwriting and let the rest shake out as it will.
In the case of the sunny cultism of “Seeing Stone,” that shake is palpable, Moon Coven coming off the Fu Manchu-style riffery and blown-out Fuzz-in-the-woods vocals of “Wicked Words in Gold They Wrote” with a more straight-ahead shove in one of Sun King‘s standout hooks and a cut that, along with side B’s “The Yawning Wild” at 4:24, is one of the shorter inclusions at 4:32, sounding like potential Euro tour partners for their labelmates in Sun Voyager as they careen and crash and ion-drive their way through good-time cosmism and heavy vibes for heavy times. And I don’t know if Leban is looking for production clients, but with as full and dense and professional (for what it is) as Sun King sounds, he’s going to have them lining up soon enough if he doesn’t already.
Yeah, the bridge from Black Sabbath‘s “Children of the Grave” is recognizable after the midpoint in “Wicked Words in Gold They Wrote” and something about the swing and holding-on-by-a-thread looseness of the penultimate interlude “Death Shine Light on Life,” maybe the lead guitar tone, brings to mind All Them Witches, but beyond these and other superficial comparison points — a riff here reminding of another riff there, and so on — Moon Coven‘s purposes are more intricate than they’ve ever been. The quiet opening of “Behold the Serpent” and the doomly unfolding of its crash-laced nod riff sprawling out give over to a march of a verse with a deceptively complex melody in its low-end fuzz complementing the vocals, a second voice layer kicking in for the chorus/title-line before they shift back to the verse.
These structures are traditional, and stylistically at least, one might call Moon Coven traditional as well, but while they’re obviously schooled on the aesthetic foundations from which they’re operating, at this point they’re also coming on a decade’s remove from their first LP, 2014’s Amanita Kingdom, and that they’d be mature in terms of craft as they are shouldn’t be a surprise. Part of why it is one is because they still sound like a young band.
To listen to “Sun King,” the song itself, its fuzzy cosmic biker boogie is executed with suitable, palpable live energy — which it needs; credit again to Leban as producer as well as player — and it moves into and through its bass-and-drums-hold-the-rhythm-while-the-guitars-line-up-for-slow-Thin-Lizzy-style-soloing, the magic of the two guitars working together highlighted briefly before a sudden and righteous return of the chorus. It is not impatient, nor wanting urgency, and its last lyric, “The turning of the tide if coming/Let’s behead the king,” feels like it’s speaking to real-world concerns through metaphor — though actually Louis XIV of France, aka the Sun King, died of gangrene — in a way that is neither overbearing in stating the obvious message that economic disparity is a bad thing, nor shying away from making the comment at all.
Like a lot of what Moon Coven do, it is a question of finding the place on the balance from which one might manipulate multiple sides. A bassy highlight in its early going, “Below the Black Grow” has a languid fuzzy rollout in its verses and a solo section answering back to the title-track in how it winds into the chorus and makes its way through to finish with a return of that easygoing-feeling fuzz, almost Brant Bjorkian for its just-right tempo and abidingly cool vibe. “Guilded Apple” tucks a dream-shimmer solo away in its second half as its ending, but its six minutes are more defined by thrust and the smoothness of the shuffle happening amid the momentum carrying Moon Coven into “The Yawning Wild,” which is all about the fuzz and the winding lead that cuts through it. They have the riff, they know they have the riff, you know they have the riff, so here it is. And when you have that kind of riff, you don’t need anything else. That they realized it is further evidence to support their maturity, but it’s not really in argument.
Feedback caps “The Yawning Wild,” as one would hope, and the instrumental “Death Shine Light on Life” picks up with a subtle push thanks largely to the drums, which assure that the spacey guitar that might just otherwise lie down and relax a while keeps moving toward “The Lost Color.” The finale echoes some of the Californian twist of “Wicked Words in Gold They Wrote” or “Seeing Stone,” but has its own gritted-out intention before its solo closes like “Guilded Apple” earlier on; an ending that one might call understated if not for the song in question. “The Lost Color” certainly has a crescendo, but its payoff is for itself rather than the whole of Sun King, and maybe that’s a fitting representation of the record too, since it’s the songs that have led the way all along.
An accomplished creative process wrought with discernible care, attention and a mind toward continued growth, Moon Coven‘s Sun King signals that the four-piece have no interest in settling into easy categorization or resting on past laurels. It is an immersive but not numbing listening experience, and moves with sneaky grace derived from the band’s collective persona. Perhaps most of all, it rocks, and maybe that’s enough to ask of it.
Posted in Whathaveyou on June 30th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Swedish jammers CB3 have lined up a string of dates outside their home country for later this summer and early Fall. Starting Aug. 5 at Krach am Bach, they’ll play mostly in Germany — which I hear is how it goes — but will also support Earthless in Copenhagen, so that’s a bonus as the band supports their stellar-in-theme-and-realization 2022 release, Exploration (review here), and begins to hint at new music to come.
In April, CB3 — Charlotta’s Burning Trio, led by guitarist/vocalist Charlotta Andersson — announced bassist Pelle Lindsjö had left the band. They added Simon, either on bass and synth or just synth alongside Andersson‘s guitar and Natanael Solmonsson‘s drums, and these will be the group’s first shows in this incarnation. Hopefully someone gets good video.
The dates follow as posted on social media:
CB3 – European Tour 2023
This year we celebrate 10 years as a band/project. 10 years of experiments and exploration of music, soundscapes, improvisation and the riff.
To celebrate 10 years we will go on tour in Europe. We’re excited bring our new line-up with our incredible synth-player, bringing a big sound as we continue our space adventure for more years to come!
For 5 years of adventure we say thank you to Pelle, who has decided to move in another direction. We’ve been blessed to have you with us and wish you all the best moving forward. With that we say Welcome aboard to Simon! (#128512#) Looking forward towards Exploration part.2 and sharing some new sounds with you all!
Tourdates: 05.08 Krach am Bach Beleen DE 20.08 Spillestedet Stenegade Copenhagen DK w/ Earthless 19.09 C-Keller Weimar DE 20.09 Club VEB Hildesheim DE 21.09 TBA 22.09 Studentenclub Eberswalde DE 23.09 Schaubude Kiel DE
Thomas Moe Ellefsrud of hypnotistdesign has made this fantastic tourposter.
Shows mainly booked by Friedemann Jackalope – Artist Needs Management . Grateful for this collaboration.
We thank Kulturrådet in Sweden for making this tour possible.
