Posted in Whathaveyou on December 31st, 2021 by JJ Koczan
Sweden’s Deville will enter the studio to record their sixth album in January. Their fifth LP, Pigs With Gods (review here), was released through Fuzzorama in 2018, and going by the new single it would seem that the band’s course toward more aggressive fare is proceeding apace, driven by chunkier riffing and harder-edged rhythms. It’s a departure from where they started out, certainly, but you if you were to listen to their records in order, you can make sense from where they were to where they are, and a consistency of songwriting is at their core, now as ever.
I assume “Speaking in Tongues” will be on the next record, and I was also thinking this version of it, but I guess with the main recording to take place in the coming weeks, anything is possible. Sixteentimes Music will have the new release.
From the PR wire:
DEVILLE New single out!
We will enter the studio in January next year and record our sixth studio album. It will once again be recorded in Sunnanå Studios and will be engineered by Tobias Ekqvist. Mixing will be taken care of by Richard Larsson (Soilwork etc). It will be released fall 2022 through Sixteentimes Music and a European tour will follow. #sixteentimesmusic #sixtm
When it all came together in 2004 Deville was born after some years of searching. Through a haze of rock, metal and stoner the members have found a way to do something that feels… The line-up was complete when Åkesson came back from Australia and Hambitzer gave up soulless pop and joined the duo, Andy and Markus. Since the 2004 line-up there have been over 400 gigs and festivals in all over Europe and in the U.S and joined bands on tours like Red Fang, Torche, Mustasch and Truckfighters among other great acts.
It all started when Daredevil Records released a double feature cd lp with Deville at the end of 2005.Deville later signed to Buzzville Records in 2007 and the first full length album with material recorded during the period -06 and -07 “Come Heavy Sleep” was released in Europe and the US in the beginning of 2008. “Hail the Black Sky” followed in june 2009 again through Buzzville in Europe and in the US and the touring in Europe continued.
During 2011 and 2012 the album “Hydra” was created and Jan Persson joined the forces on guitar when Martin left after recording the album.This new album was the most intense and elborate so far and received great reviews. In march 2013 “Hydra” was released on Small Stone Records. During the summer Andreas Wulkan (Death Ray Boot etc.) replaced Janne on lead guitar.
Touring continued through 2013 and 2014 in the US and Europe. The work on a new record began and the album “Make It Belong To Us” was recorded summer 2015 again at Sunnanå Studios and produced and mixed by drummer Markus Nilsson. It became a more progressive and metal influenced record but still with the significant hooks and melodies that the band is known for.Released in November 2015 on swedish label Fuzzorama Records.
In 2016 Markus Nilsson and Markus Åkesson decided to leave the band and the new lineup, announced in august, was complete with Martin Nobel on bass, known from bands as Bad Barber, and Martin Fässberg on drums, known from Quit your dayjob, Suma a.o.
Deville are: Andreas Bengtsson – Vocals, Guitars Michael Ödegården– Drums Andreas Wulkan – Lead Guitar,Vocals Martin Nobel – Bass
Swedish haze rockers Moon Coven released their third album, Slumber Wood, last month through Ripple Music. The band’s first offering in some five years, it’s a 42-minute nodder of righteous proportion and density, led off by “Further” (premiered here) as an entry point into the broadened melody and shoring-up of aesthetic that’s taken place since Moon Coven offered the well-received-and-would-seem-to-be-reissue-fodder self-titled sophomore LP (review here) in 2016. In eight tracks here, they elicit riffage both familiar and nuanced, finding bounce in “Ceremony” no less worthy of its title than was “Further” in its demonstration of their progress, but neither cut completely summarizes what Moon Coven are up to across the whole span, be it the more atmospheric unfurling of “Gibeki Tape/Potbelly Hill” or the humming-organ interlude “A Tower of Silence” that follows the garage-doomed “Eye of the Night” and leads into the longest track “Bahgsu Nag,” the band seeing their way into a dead-on psychedelic dreamspace of interspliced guitar and intermittent push.
This is the first installment of a resounding closing trilogy given due ceremony by “A Tower of Silence” situated at the start of side B, with each cut functioning not only to bring something of its own to the proceedings — while emphasizing as well how much side A did the same — be it the tipping-balance-toward-ethereality of “Bahgsu Nag” or the manner in which echoing howls of the penultimate “Seagull” give way to mournful, downerist lumber at the finish, or how “My Melting Mind” doesn’t so much return to ground as plunder deeper (“further?”) into it initially while still leaving room in the second half to ring out a more drifting solo, never quite leaving the heft behind, but spreading outward from it ahead of the last chorus, which likewise highlights the subtlety of vocal layering that’s both been a melodic foundation and is surely to be a point of continued development for the band. Taken in its entirety, Slumber Wood offers breadth and depth of mix and a cohesive sound that’s unafraid to put its own stamp on what would otherwise be the hallmarks of genre. You can take it as hypnotic if you want, but it only justifies conscious attention when it’s given.
That said, the video below for “Further” is trippy as hell, so there you have it. If you want to think of it as a sampling of tone and general craft before you dive deeper into the record itself, go ahead. Whatever gets you there is only doing you a favor.
Have at it:
Moon Coven, “Further” official video
Up and coming Swedish psychedelic doom band MOON COVEN take you deeper into their dream realm, with their brand new “Further” video. Their third full-length ‘Slumber Wood’ is available right now on Ripple Music.
Bathed in a sublime pink aura, “Further” unfurls this dark, forlorn number with soaring vocals and deadly downtuned leads, as acid bubbles blossom around dreams of solitary walks through the cold, lonely woods. This new video is a perfect example of the occult energies MOON COVEN are able to deploy to mesmerize their audiences.
Posted in audiObelisk on April 9th, 2021 by JJ Koczan
Swedish psychedelic post-rock explorers Den Der Hale release their debut album Harsyra through Sound Effect Records on June 11. Even if the endorsement from the Greek imprint isn’t enough to immediately pique your interest — and it probably should be — the Malmö-based five-piece won’t take long to immerse you in their melodic wash, speaking here and there to post-punk or proto-New Wave (is there a difference?) or sundry other microgenres and eternal niches-within-niches they simply dub “post-psych.” Points for being concise, but much as the LP’s accessible runtime of five tracks/35 minutes unfolds sonic spaces greater than the sum of their time, so too does their chosen designation only begin to explain where they’re coming from on Harsyra, from the airy, harmony-culminating come-with-us downer-dirge of “Carcassonne,” string break included, to the surging wash of bliss that caps the concluding title-track.
Perhaps their path to creating such a striking first full-length makes more sense when one learns of band members’ past in Insaunas, whose dreamy svenskfolk found itself combining bedroom-psych intimacy and experimentalism on 2019’s We Brought Some Days Back, released through the Malmö label Nytt Arkiv. Knowing that isn’t going to account for all of the ritual-style standalone vocals at the end of second cut and side A closer “Ant Mill” — a 13-minute journey of spaces lush and minimal, fuzzed-out, weirded up and moving into your neighborhood, and, in that finish, more or less still; it is a beautiful thing that feels reckless without being so — but it’s a foundation to work from, and as much as Den Der Hale have their own mission throughout Harsyra, finding a place for themselves between that which is essentially human and that which is formless ether and grooving in and on that divide, melody is melody. Fortunately.
Side B is about a minute shorter than A when all put together — which is how I got the album, by the way; two files, one for each side and a time sheet from Magnus Lindberg Mastering that showed where one track ended and another began; pioneer spirit! — but it spends its time digging further into the post-heavy vibe set forth in the first two tracks. To wit, the droning line of guitar/maybe-keys/who-knows-what underscoring “Armoured,” which arrives as the first half-ish of the eight-minute “Armoured/Endurance,” the latter half of the track picking up immediately and letting the guitar come more forward to create Harsyra‘s most fervent wash (it’s no wonder they didn’t want to give it away by premiering the whole thing), vital and weighted and engulfing in its distortion and broad in its aftermath of noise and feedback. This builds on what Den Der Hale were doing previously, takes it someplace new, and there’s still enough context so that when the far-back programmed beat behind the guitar of the two-minute “Tinktur” comes in, it’s not at all out of place.
“Tinktur,” while short, is more than an interlude. Its soothing vocal calls back to “Carcassonne” at the outset and while it provides a convenient basis for contrast when the immediately motorik guitar chug begins at the start of “Harsyra” itself, it’s not without a presence of its own either. Still, once the Hawkwindian launch sequence begins, Den Der Hale make it clear they’ll not be returning to ground anytime soon. The melody remains fluid as the finale finds its grandness, guitars and drums leading an outward procession that’s loyal to the core rhythm while teasing the payoff to come and still giving the vocals room when necessary. It is tense, exciting. And then they’re off again. God knows what the lyrics are about — the title refers to a wood-sorrel, a three-leaf clover, which blooms from Spring to Midsummer, so maybe there’s some alignment with the June release — but the echoing voices provide a reassurance just the same. You’re not on this trip alone, and that becomes comforting as “Harsyra” is brought to its end. It’s not as cacophonous a blaster as “Armoured/Endurance” becomes, but it sure is fascinating that they put both those songs on side B to set up the contrast between them. Almost enough to make you think there’s been a plan underway the whole time.
And maybe there has, but Den Der Hale aren’t telling, and though Harsyra‘s accomplishments across this first 12″ are significant, they’re all the more so for the potential they hold. I’m no arbiter of cool and I never have been, but this one speaks to me and so I wanted to cover it. It’s as simple as that. I hope you find it speaks to you too. If you check out “Armoured” on the player below, it’s not going to tell you everything you need to know about the album. Don’t expect it to. It’s a teaser. Half a track. But it’s what I could get, and no one pays attention to anything that isn’t a premiere anymore and I thought this was worth someone paying attention to it, so here we are. I’ve put this record on my list of 2021’s best debuts, and I look forward to hearing what Den Der Hale do next.
That and preorder links is all I got, friends. PR wire info follows the song below.
After forming in late 2019, Den Der Hale quickly wrote and put out a number of singles, straddling the genres of post-rock and psych. ‘Harsyra’ is their debut album, a 5-track output which crystallizes their particular brand of post-psych. Tracks range from anthem-like and earthy, to fast paced and grimy, all while keeping an ethereal atmosphere throughout. “Harsyra” is out, on limited edition black and bone color vinyl, on June 11th via Sound Effect Records.
Born in Oljehamnen, the industrial harbour of Malmö, Den Der Hale rose from the remnants of former neo-folk project Insaunas. The addition of new members saw the sound evolve in a heavier and more complex direction, drawing on a wide array of influences. After putting out two singles during 2020, and polishing their sound through a number of live shows, guitarist Max Bredberg dubbed their new brand of music ‘post-psych’. The continued lockdown in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, has led to a sharp decrease in opportunities to play live shows. For Den Der Hale, this meant that the creative energy had to find some other form of outlet.
That outlet is what would eventually become the debut album Harsyra. Recorded and produced by the band itself in a studio located in the old railway roundhouses of Malmö, the album features five tracks, ranging in tone from earthy, grimy and ethereal to heavy hitting and fast-paced. Until the day comes when we can again enjoy music performed in the flesh, this post-psych oeuvre can best be experienced on vinyl, put out by Sound-Effect Records.
Swedish psych-doom riffers Moon Coven have signed to Ripple Music and will release their third album and label debut, Slumber Wood, on May 7. You may recall the culty obscure radness that ensued on their 2016 self-titled (review here), and honestly, whether you do or not it’s up on Bandcamp and if you want a way to get stoked for the new record to come, listening to the band is probably the way to go.
Not much of an insight, I know, but to make up for that I’m pleased to be able to host the premiere of the first single post likely several slated from Slumber Wood. The track in question is called “Further,” and I can scarcely think of a better word to describe the way it builds on what Moon Coven were doing half a decade ago. In the underlying sharpness of the songwriting and the maintained atmospheric murk it’s inherited, “Further” indeed stands as ready evidence of sonic progression, and whether you’re familiar with the band or not, there’s nothing quite like having your interest piqued by new tunes. You know that or you likely wouldn’t be here.
I would love to go on about the album, but honestly, my plan was to listen today (Wednesday) and write about it in advance of this post as you see it now (on Thursday), but I’m in the hospital with my kid and his cracked skull. I beg your indulgence. I’ll have a review up sometime before the release — with a little under two months to go, that should just about be enough time — and until then, I put you in the capable hands of the PR wire.
Thank you:
Moon Coven are a Swedish stoner rock band whose deep understanding of the classics and their passion for fuzz make for a distinct and potent sound. Having formed out of the desire to get back to their musical roots, Moon Coven documents the musicians journeys both as individuals and as friends. The bands sound is a fusion of genre staples like Black Sabbath and Acid King with the progressive magic of Pink Floyd and the psychedelic influences of The Black Angels. They are currently gearing up to release their brand new album, “Slumber Wood” on Ripple Music in 2021.
Having opened for bands like Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats, Monolord, Blues Pills and Jex Thoth – Moon Coven knows what it means to share the stage with the best of the best. It was this same attitude that they brought on their three European tours as well as to festivals like Krokbacken, Children of the Sun fest or the legendary Red Smoke Festival in Poland! As work wraps up on their third album, it seems like at long last the early promise of these Swedish riff masters is becoming fulfilled and pointing towards bold new futures.
The band have already looked beyond 2021’s “Slumber Wood” though. They are deep in the process of writing a fourth album. This period of intense creativity for Moon Coven belies their goal of continuing to create heavy music together for years to come. As for now though – fans have a veritable storm of fuzzy riffs descending upon their eardrums in just a few months time. “Slumber Wood” will be Moon Coven’s first new album in five years and they promise that it will have been worth the wait. The journey back to their roots is nearly complete!
CB3 will release Aeons Live Session this Friday, Jan. 15, on The Sign Records. And first of all, what you see is what you get. Aeons Live Session. Well, okay. So parse it out. Burgeoning Swedish instrumentalists put out a full-length called Aeons (review here) last year, so this would pretty clearly be a recording of them playing songs from it live. And since it’s a ‘session’ instead of an ‘at’ or ‘in’ kind of live record, it’s clearly live in a studio setting. So there you go. It was Signalverket, in Malmö. Unable of course to play shows to support their LP released by The Sign Records, the trio of guitarist Charlotta Andersson — who, if we’re playing guessing games, one might wager is a Rush fan — bassist Pelle Lindsjö and drummer Natanael Salomonsson did what a lot of bands at various stages in their careers have done and recorded themselves playing live. There are videos to accompany and with Aeons Live Session, CB3 get a chance to air out three of the total five songs from the album in “Acid Haze” (12:15), “Sonic Blaze” (8:11) and “Warrior Queen” (7:36) for a total set of about 28 minutes.
But hold on. Wasn’t Aeons recorded live? Yeah, it was. I raised the issue when Aeons Live Session was announced and Salomonsson was kind enough to offer a bit of an explanation: “Regarding the recording live-part, you are correct that both were recorded live. A more apt description for this might have been ‘concert-form’ rather then live album, but it is what it is. The music and songs keep evolving as we play them and we like to consider each recording more of as a timestamp on where we are at the moment.”
He’s not wrong and he’s not exaggerating. I wouldn’t know, never having been so fortunate as to see the band — who are based in Malmö — live, but the songs are reshaped as they’re played here compared to what they were less than a year ago. “Acid Haze,” which is both opener and longest track (immediate points) becomes a side-A-consuming jam, its midsection stretched with an Andersson-led effects freakout that morphs from a likewise exploratory solo section. Listening to the ensuing shred, one is put in mind of Earthless, but there’s a progressive undercurrent as well in the use of effects from Andersson and Lindsjö, and that comes across as well in “Sonic Blaze” as the various melodic flourishes hint toward what vocals might do in those places, not quite forming words but setting the listener’s brain to the task of hearing them nonetheless.
And with a solid weight of distortion behind them, “Acid Haze” and “Sonic Blaze” — there’s something satisfying about that rhyme; put them together and you actually have a pretty apt description of CB3‘s sound and style; indeed they’re all about acid haze in terms of their heavy psychedelic and sonic blaze in terms of their ability to scorch with various effects and Andersson‘s lead work — offer no shortage of depth for listener immersion. But parts are also maintained to make the songs recognizable, such as the emergent chug in the second half of “Sonic Blaze” or the monolithic plod as “Acid Haze” returns from its jammier stretch.
Of the three inclusions, “Warrior Queen” is the closest to how it appeared on Aeons proper, but the organ-style melodic effects still manage to shimmer through its earlier heavier parts and the kind of manic rush as it moves toward its midpoint — a proggy freneticism that “Sonic Blaze” also tapped, suitably enough — and there are still spaces being explored that the original dared not tread, the band seemingly bolder in this live show-esque context, though it could also be a case of the rougher sound generally adding edge to their style. One way or the other, it works in the songs’ favor.
Each of CB3‘s to-date three studio offerings — Aeons, 2018’s From Nothing to Eternity (discussed here) and 2015’s CB3 — has had a companion live release. So in a way, Aeons Live Session is right on form, but it still manages to reveal a different side of the band, and more importantly, it demonstrates their ongoing evolution as players and as a unit. I would not be at all surprised if their next full-length pushed even further into prog-psych adventures, since what CB3 show most of all with Aeons Live Session is that it isn’t just the songs themselves that grow and change, but the chemistry of the band as well.
More PR wire/pressing info follows the stream of Aeons Live Session below.
Please enjoy:
CB3 released their second studio album Aeons in February 2020, right before the pandemic hit. The essence of the band is the live concert experience; every song becomes different and new, solos are improvised, and the intensity is ever-shifting. With limited opportunities for gigs, the band decided to capture the live experience on record, so that fans can experience the music the way it’s meant to be heard.
Aeons Live Sessions will be available on Youtube, streaming platforms, and as a limited edition 12” vinyl. Recorded live at Signalverket in Malmö, the tracks “Sonic Blaze,”, “Acid Haze,” and “Warrior Queen” add up to almost half an hour of intoxicating, instrumental jamming. Close your eyes, set your mind free, and drift away into the musical universe of CB3!
Aeons Live sessions will be released January 15 on The Sign Records on digital and 12? vinyl format. The physical release is limited to 300 copies.
CB3 are: Charlotta Andersson – Electric Guitar Pelle Lindsjö – Electric Bass Natanael Salomonsson – Drums
Posted in Reviews on December 28th, 2020 by JJ Koczan
New week, same Quarterly Review. Today is the next-to-last round for this time, though once again, I look at the folders of albums on my desktop and the CDs and LPs that have come in and I realize it could easily go longer. I never really caught up from the last QR. I guess it’s been that kind of year. In any case, more good stuff today, so sit tight and enjoy. If you didn’t find anything last week that stuck out to you, maybe today’s your day.
Quarterly Review #51-60:
Emma Ruth Rundle & Thou, May Our Chambers Be Full
Sure, there’s poise and plunder amid torrents of emotion and weighted tonality, but what’s really astonishing about May Our Chambers Be Full, the first collaboration between Louisville’s Emma Ruth Rundle (Red Sparowes‘ third LP, the Nocturnes, Marriages, etc.) and New Orleans’ sludgers Thou is that it feels so much more substantial than its 36 minutes. That’s not to say it drags, though it does when it wants to in terms of tempo, but just that its impact both in songs where Rundle and Thou‘s Bryan Funck trade off like “Ancestral Recall” or when they come together as on opener “Killing Floor” is such that it feels longer. Atmosphere is certainly a factor, but May Our Chambers Be Full is so striking because of its blend of extremity and melody, emotion and sheer catharsis, and the breadth that seems to accompany its consuming crush. In a couple years, there are going to be an awful lot of bands putting out debut albums that sound very much like this. Follow-up EP out soon.
Produced by the band and Piotr Grzegorowski — who also guests on synth and guitar — during the plague-addled Spring of 2020, Spaceslug‘s Leftovers EP represents a branching out in terms of style to incorporate a sense of melancholy alongside their established sprawling psychedelics. The 21-minute five-tracker is less a follow-up to 2019’s Reign of the Orion (review here) than a standalone sidestep, but in the acoustic/synth rollout of “From Behind the Glass” and in the especially-stripped-down-feeling centerpiece “The Birds are Loudest in May” it lives up to the challenge of blending an organic atmosphere with the otherworldly sensibilities Spaceslug have honed so well throughout their tenure. Having started with its longest and synthiest track in “Wasted Illusion,” Leftovers caps with the shorter and more active “Place to Turn” and its title-track, which adds a spindly layer of electric guitar (or something that sounds like it) for an experimentalist vibe. Very 2020, but no less welcome for that. The question is whether these impulses show up in Spaceslug‘s work from here on out, and if so, how.
Malmö-based four-piece Malsten make their full-length debut on Interstellar Smoke Records with the four-song/44-minute The Haunting of Silvåkra Mill, and in so doing show an immediate command of post-Pallbearer spaciousness and melodic-doom traditionalism. Their lumber is prevalent and engrossing tonally on opener “Torsion” (10:36), uses silence effectively on “Immolation” (10:24), and seems to find a place between Warning and Lord Vicar on “Grinder” (9:02) ahead of the epic-on-top-of-epics summary in closer “Compunction” (13:54), which finds Malsten having reserved another level of heavy to keep as their final statement. So be it. Very heavy and worthy of as much volume as you can give it, The Haunting of Silvåkra Mill is an accomplished beginning and heralds significant potential on the part of what’s to come from Malsten. I’d watch this band do a live stream playing this record front-to-back. Just saying.
A significant undertaking of progressive heavy and noise rock, Sun Crow‘s Quest for Oblivion is among the most ambitious debut albums I’ve heard in 2020, but there’s nothing it sets for itself in terms of goals that it doesn’t accomplish, as vocalist Charles Wilson flips between clean melodies and effective screams atop the riffs of guitarist Ben Nechanicky, the bass of Brian Steel and Keith Hastreiter‘s drums. Somebody’s gonna sign these guys. Even at 70 minutes, Quest for Oblivion, from its post-apocalyptic standpoint, aesthetic cohesion, fluid songcraft and accomplished performance, is simply too good to leave without a proper 2LP release. Individualized in atmosphere though working with familiar-enough elements, it is an album that makes it joyously difficult to pick apart influences, unleashing an initial burst of four longer tracks before giving way (albeit momentarily) to “Fear” and the outlying, brazenly Motörheady “Nothing Behind” before returning to cosmic heavy in “Hypersonic” and the 11-minute “Titans,” which uses its time just as well as everything else that surrounds. Ironic that a record that seems to be about a wasteland should bring so much hope for the future.
It doesn’t take Honeybadger long to land their first effective punch on their debut LP, Pleasure Delayer, as the hook of opener/longest track (immediate points) “The Wolf” hits square on the jaw and precedes an atmospheric guitar outro that leads into the rest of the album as a closer might otherwise lead the way out. A product of Athens’ heavy rock boom, the four-piece distinguish themselves in fuzzy tones and an approach that comes right to the edge of burl and doesn’t quite tip over, thankfully and gracefully staving off chestbeating in favor of quality songcraft on “The Well” and the engagingly bass-led “Crazy Ride,” from which the initially slower, bluesier “Good for Nothing” picks up with some Truckfighters, some 1000mods and a whole lot of fun. Side B’s hooks are no less satisfyingly straightforward. “That Feel” feels born for the stage, while “Laura Palmer” makes a memorable chorus out of that Twin Peaks character’s slaying, the penultimate “Holler” feels indeed like the work of a band trying to stand themselves out from a crowded pack and “Truth in the Lie” caps mirroring the energy of “Good for Nothing” but resounding in a cold finish. Efficient, hooky, smoothly executed. There’s nothing one might reasonably ask of Pleasure Delayer that it doesn’t deliver.
Released name-your-price as a benefit for the venue The Lost Well in Monte Luna‘s hometown of Austin and derived from a CvltNation-sponsored livestream, the three-song Mind Control Broadcast follows 2019’s Drowners’ Wives (review here) and is intended as a glimpse at their impending third LP, likely due in 2021. That record will be one to look forward to, but it’ll be hard to trade out the raw bludgeon of “Blackstar” — the leadoff here — for another, maybe-not-live-recorded version. True, the setting doesn’t necessarily allow for the band to bring in guests like they did last time around or to flesh out melodies in the same way, but the sound is brash and thrilling and lets “Rust Goliath” live up to its name in largesse, while saving its nastiest for last in “Fear the Sun,” the glorious bassline of which it feels like a spoiler even mentioning for someone who hasn’t heard it yet. 22 of the sludgiest minutes you’re likely to spend today.
As satisfying as the laid-back-heavy desert rock flow of “Rolito” is, and as well done as what surrounds on Hombrehumano‘s 2019 debut album, Crepuscular, turns out to be in its 53-minute run, it’s in the longer pieces like the Western “Puerto Gris” or the post-Brant Bjork “Metamorfosis” that they really shine. That’s not to take away from the opening instrumental “Nomada” that establishes the tones and sets the atmosphere in which the rest of the record takes place, or the nod of “Primaveras de Olvido,” and certainly the fuzz-boogie and percussion of “Ouroboro” shine in a manner worthy of being depicted on the cover, but the Argentinian four-piece do well with the extra time to flesh out their material. But, either way you go, you go. Hombrehumano craft sweet fuzz and spaciousness on “Puerto Gris” and answer it back later in “Zombakice” and add twists of percussion and acoustics and vocal effects — never mind the birdsong — on closer “Del Ensueño.” Es un ejemplo más de lo que le falta a la cultura gringo al no adorar fuertemente a los sudamericanos.
Even my non-Spanish-speaking ass can translate Viva el Diablo, the title of Mexican instrumentalist three-piece Veljet‘s debut album. Initially released by the band in March 2020, it was subsequently reissued for physical pressing with a seventh track, “Leviatan,” added, bringing the runtime to a vinyl-ready 37 minutes. The apparently-devil-worshiping title-cut is still the longest at a doomly eight minutes, but though the production is fairly raw, Veljet‘s material taps into a few different impulses within the heavy rock sphere, offsetting willfully repetitive riffing in “El Día de las Manos” with scorching solo work while “Jay Adams” — presumably named in homage to the Dogtown skater — pulls some trad-metal riffing into its second half. “Cutlass” is short at 2:36, but makes the record as a whole feel less predictable for that, and the add-on “Leviatan” embodies its great sea beast with a nod up front that opens to later cacophony. The vibe throughout is you’re-in-the-room live jams, and Veljet have well enough chemistry to carry the songs across in that setting.
Smoothly produced and executed, not lacking energy but produced for a very studio-style fullness, Witchrider‘s second LP arrives via Fuzzorama Records in answer to 2014’s Unmountable Stairs with a pro-shop feel for its 50-minute duration. Songs are sharply hooked and energetic, beefing up Queens of the Stone Age-style desert rock early on “Shadows” and “You Lied” before the guitars introduce a broader palette with the title-track. The chorus of “Mess Creator” and the big finish in closer “The Weatherman” are highlights, but songs like “Keep Me out of It” and “Come Back” feel built for a commercial infrastructure that — at least in radio-free America — doesn’t exist anymore. I’m not sure what it takes to attract the attention of picky algorithms, but if it’s grounded songwriting, varied material and crisp performance like it was when there was a cable channel playing music videos, then Witchrider are ready to roll. As it stands, the Austrian outfit seem underserved by the inability to even get on a festival stage and play this material live to win converts in that manner. They’re hardly alone in that, but with material that seems so poised specifically toward audience engagement, it comes through all the more, which of course is a testament to the quality of the work itself.
Opening with its longest track (immediate points) in the 10-minute “Silver Dagger” and presented with the burning red eyes of Christopher Lee’s Dracula on the front, the 33-minute 3 tape from Seattle’s Devil Worshipper maintains the weirdo-experimental spirit of the outfit’s 2015 self-titled debut (review here), finding a kind of Butthole Surfers-into-a-cassette-recorder, anything-goes-until-it-sucks, dark ’90s psychedelia they call “garage metal.” Fair enough. Apparently more efficient than anything I can come up with for it, though what doesn’t necessarily account for is the way the 3 challenges the listener, the remastered versions of “Into Radiation Wave” and “Chem Rails” from the first album, or the horror atmospherics of “Drinking Blood.” It’s like it’s too weird for this planet so it finally made one for itself. Well earned.
Posted in Whathaveyou on November 17th, 2020 by JJ Koczan
Let’s go ahead and make the rash assumption that CB3 are in their element on the upcoming Aeons Live Session. My first thought when I saw the news about the release: ‘Wait a second, Aeons (review here) wasn’t recorded live?’ Either way, the band’s work is based around improvisational conversation between the guitar, bass and drums, and it seems only natural that at a time when they can’t get on stage and offer that to an in-person audience, they might seek to at least do what they can to support the record that came out earlier this year. You might’ve noticed, they’re not the only ones taking such a course.
They’re underknown as yet, but I dig the vibe CB3 bring, and if you want to do the same, the video below for “Sonic Blaze” makes a compelling case toward doing so. You could do way, way, way worse with your time.
PR wire info follows, along with this badass cover art:
CB3 release first single from upcoming live album
CB3 (Charlottas Burning Trio) are set to release a live session album on The Sign Records early 2021. The album contains three tracks from the band‘s latest release “Aeons”, clocking in at 28 minutes of mind-bending and psychedelic cosmic jams. All three tracks are accompanied by live videos. The first single leading up to the live-album is called “Sonic Blaze (Live)” and is out now on all streaming platforms.
CB3 released their second studio album “Aeons” in February 2020, right before the pandemic hit. The essence of the band is the live concert experience – every song becomes different and new, solos are improvised and the intensity is ever-shifting. With limited opportunities for gigs, the band decided to capture the live experience on record, so that fans can experience the music the way it’s meant to.
Aeons Live Session is a video and music release, to be available on Youtube, streaming platforms and as a limited edition 12″ vinyl. It was recorded live recording at Signalverket in Malmö, Sweden, with three of the band‘s favorite songs from their latest full-length “Aeons”. The tracks, “Sonic Blaze”, “Acid Haze” and “Warrior Queen” ad up to almost half an hour of intoxicating, instrumental jamming. Close your eyes, set your mind free, and drift away into the musical universe of CB3!
Aeons Live sessions will be released January 15 on The Sign Records on digital and 12″ vinyl format. The physical release is limited to 300 copies.
CB3 are: Charlotta Andersson – Electric Guitar Pelle Lindsjö – Electric Bass Natanael Salomonsson – Drums
Posted in Whathaveyou on January 17th, 2020 by JJ Koczan
Yeah, that’ll do nicely, thanks. Checking out the new track from Sweden’s Huanastone, it’s little mystery why a label like Argonauta Records would want to pick them up, with their modern, open feeling tones reminiscent of some of Lowrider‘s original purposes, but set to more psychedelic reaching, an edge of post-rock coming through in the patience and jammier aspects enough to make “Bad Blood” suitably fluid. It’s the only thing I’ve heard from the upcoming Third Stone From the Sun album that Huanastone will issue through Argonauta this Spring, but it bodes well. I know Swedish heavy bands aren’t exactly a rarity these days — Huanastone hometown of Malmö makes me think immediately of Deville, with whom they’re playing this weekend as it happens — but pound for pound I don’t know if there’s another single nation on earth that delivers so much quality heavy rock and roll per capita. Germany? Argentina? I’d have to look at respective proportions of population vs. kickassery. I’ll get back to you once I’ve properly analyzed census data.
Point is the track is cool, so before you play the cynical, “Oh hey another band from Sweden bet they sound like Graveyard,” thing — they don’t, at all — take a couple minutes and listen to the track. You might dig it.
I hope you do, anyhow. That’s kind of the point.
From the PR wire:
Swedish Stoner Rockers HUANASTONE Sign With Argonauta Records And Reveal First Album Details + Brand New Song!
Malmö, Sweden, based stoner and fuzz rock unit, HUANASTONE, has announced their worldwide signing with Argonauta Records – joining the label’s eclectic artist roster for an album release in the Spring of 2020!
Each of HUANASTONE’s records tells a new story and opens up new opportunities for exploration, while the band is creating an authentic, heartfelt and ominous sound backed up by steady riffs, big fuzz and heavy grooves. Following their critically acclaimed debut EP and first full-length album, HUANASTONE emphasize the importance of live studio recordings, and so it goes for their upcoming, sophomore album titled Third Stone from the Sun.
Says the band: “After years of hard work, Huanastone finally achieved something not many bands gets to experience. We’ve landed a record-deal! We are excited to inform you that we will be working with the one and only, Argonauta Records. Housing some mad bands like Suma, Wasted Theory and Kal-El, we know that we’re in good hands.
Before the full release of the album, we will release 2 singles that will be on all your usual streaming platforms.”
Recorded at Studio Möllan in their hometown of Malmö, today HUANASTONE are already sharing with us a first album appetizer to the heavy stoner juggernaut Bad Blood, listen to the track right HERE!
With many more details and tunes from their upcoming Spring release to follow in the weeks ahead, HUANASTONE will be playing a show in support of DEVILLE on January 18th at Kulturbolaget in their hometown Malmö, a heavy touring schedule with many more dates will be revealed soon.
HUANASTONE is: Filip Larsson – Bass Tobias Gonzalez – Vocals/Guitar Carl Lambertus Olofsson – Guitar Victor Hansson – Drums
