Posted in Whathaveyou on April 17th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
In a couple days — on April 20, as it happens — Baltimore psychic energy transfer specialists Darsombra will air a new installment of what they call ‘Darsombra TV,’ which in this case is a video of a 2017 performance in Wyoming in the path of totality of a solar eclipse plus resultant shenanigans, because frickin’ of course it is. This news came out last week — Quarterly Review takes its toll in the timeliness of everything else — but it’s not too late to set a reminder for that clip, and not too late to check out the June tour the band has announced that features a stop at Mutants of the Monster in Arkansas and a support slot for YOB and Cave In at The Ottobar that makes that night that much more of a winner, as well as shows with Lark’s Tongue and a merry cast of others throughout the Midwest, where they’ll spend most of the month.
The duo have also announced their next album will be called Dumesday Book and issued sometime later in 2023 either on their own or through some label TBA. The more the merrier, and it’s been a bit, as their last full-length was 2019’s Transmission (review here), though the years since have found them touring as much and as often as possible, and they’ve had various live and studio offerings in that time, all consistent in their on-own-wavelength weirdo art-drone purposes, all different and vibrant and exploratory as Darsombra always manage to be. I don’t know if you’re looking forward to their next record, but I am.
From the PR wire:
DARSOMBRA: Baltimore Psychedelic Galaxy Rock Duo Announces North American Great Lakes Tour Dates; New Album To See Release This Year
Maryland’s psychedelic tour machine DARSOMBRA has just announced their next excursion, confirming a month-long late-Spring/early-Summer tour, as they complete their new album for release later this year.
Initially planned for 2020, the DARSOMBRA duo has rescheduled their tour through the Central, Midwest, and Eastern US and Canada encircling the Great Lakes from May 31st to June 25th. The tour includes a performance at Mutants Of The Monster Fest in Little Rock, Arkansas running from June 1st through 4th with with Yob, Cave In, Deadird, Pallbearer, Thou, -16-, and more, and a set supporting Yob and Cave In on June 8th in DARSOMBRA’s hometown of Baltimore. See all confirmed dates below and watch for new tour dates for later Summer and Fall to post over shortly as well.
Preceding the tour, DARSOMBRA will be releasing the third episode of Darsombra TV on 4/20, a thirty-minute show documenting the band’s outdoor generator show livestream in Lost Springs, Wyoming, in the path of totality during a total solar eclipse in 2017, and all the coolness/weirdness involved in it and the aftermath. Join the band in the digital realm to watch Darsombra TV’s “The Eclipse Show,” premiering live on Thursday, April 20th (or 21st if you’re in the Eastern Hemisphere), at 8:40 pm EDT, at THIS LOCATION:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nb9iFMVqnso
The band writes, “Greetings From DARSOMBRA! We’ve been hermiting in the DARSOMBRA Mothership (a.k.a. Whale Manor) here in Baltimore since November of last year, so we’ve got some really great things on the horizon for you — a North American tour and another episode of Darsombra TV. Also, keep an eye out for our new album Dumesday Book, to be released later this year!”
Watch for details on the new album to post over the months ahead.
DARSOMBRA Tour Dates: 5/31/2023 Hideaway – Johnson City, TN w/ Cosmicosis 6/01/2023 Corner Lounge – Knoxville, TN w/ Leslie Walker & Dark Mountain Orchid 6/02/2023 Mutants of the Monster Fest – Little Rock, AR 6/04/2023 Black Lodge – Memphis, TN w/ General Labor 6/06/2023 Northside Tavern – Cincinnati, OH w/ Hemlock Branch, Sharp Toys, Cold Stereo 6/07/2023 Westside Bowl – Youngstown, OH 6/08/2023 Ottobar – Baltimore, MD w/ Yob, Cave In 6/09/2023 Music on Main – Bridgeport, WV w/ The Long Hunt, Grey Harbinger 6/10/2023 RHAD – Detroit, MI w/ Botanical Fortress, Oscillating Fan Club 6/11/2023 The Burlington – Chicago, IL w/ Lark’s Tongue, Sanford Parker, Plague Of Carcosa 6/13/2023 Cactus Club – Milwaukee, WI w/ Powerwagon, Spidora 6/15/2023 The Crib – Marquette, MI 6/16/2023 Witches Tower – Minneapolis, MN w/ Comets Ov Cupid, PLVS VLTRA 6/17/2023 RT Quinlan’s – Duluth, MN w/ Aural Paradox, The Nevins 6/18/2023 Cumberland Cinema 5 Indoor Skatepark – Thunder Bay, ON w/ Jake & The Town, Ukkon3n 6/21/2023 Bellevue Park – Sault Ste Marie, ON w/ Chase James Wigmore 6/22/2023 Zig’s – Sudbury, ON w/ Mark Howitt 6/23/2023 Tranzac – Southern Cross Room – Toronto, ON w/ Alia Synesthesia 6/24/2023 Rosen Krown – Rochester, NY 6/25/2023 Mohawk – Buffalo, NY w/ Cult Mother
Posted in Whathaveyou on March 15th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
To those imagining Maryland field rock trio Faith in Jane are heralding a quick follow-up to last year’s Axe to Oak (review here), it wouldn’t necessarily be out of character for the band, but that’s likely not what’s happening here. Instead, the newly posted digital single “Children of Fire” was recorded as part of the same session as that album, produced by Greg Diener (Pale Divine) and mixed/mastered by Noel Mueller at Tiny Castle. And like that record, it finds the three-piece led by guitarist/vocalist Dan Mize turning fuzz-grunge traditionalism into the foundation from which their jam-based sensibility takes flight.
No radical changes in approach or perspective — if you want that, dig into their Trippin’ After Supper series on Bandcamp — but the song stands well on its own just the same, and Faith in Jane elicit perpetual welcome with their organic tonality and unpredictable instrumental turns. Regulars at Maryland Doom Fest, where they’ll appear again this June, the band is also set to play Grim Reefer Fest in Baltimore this April. Last time I saw them was in 2019 (review here), and needless to say, “Children of Fire” does nothing to stop me from looking forward to doing so again at some point this year, in whatever context that might take place. Presumably I’ll figure that out ahead of time.
Enjoy the track:
FAITH IN JANE – Children of Fire
Our new single, Children of Fire, is here! It is available to download/stream on our bandcamp page (https://faithinjane.bandcamp.com/track/children-of-fire), and also on Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes, Amazon Music and Pandora!
Also, check out the lyric video, created by Caroline Winston.
This song was recorded during the Axe to Oak sessions at Diener Manor in July 2021. Engineered by Greg Diener, Mixed and Mastered by Noel Mueller in the Tiny Castle.
FAITH IN JANE: Dan Mize – guitar, vocals Brendan Winston – bass Alex Llewellyn – drums
Maryland heavy genremelders High Noon Kahuna released their debut album, Killing Spree (review here), last November. The new video for “Danger Noodle,” the second cut on the record, presents a cautionary tale of what happens when religious fanatics handle their serpents in traffic — and no, that’s not euphemism. Snake-handling as a religious practice is mostly a US thing, more specifically mostly an Appalachian thing, and of course has been somewhat exaggerated in terms of the numbers of people who actually do it, but that’s only because it’s so fascinating and seemingly random. Yeah, I know there’s a snake in the Bible who’s kind of a big deal. But there are lots of animals. Remember Noah?
Nonetheless, somehow snakes are the thing, and to be perfectly honest with you I’m too terrified of American religious culture to dive into why that happens — presumably something about the devil and rugged individualism — but if it makes people feel special for five minutes out of their day, well, the rest of life can be pretty crushing and miserable, so I won’t say I don’t understand being part of a weirdo community with practices that seem odd to outsiders either as I’ve worn a black t-shirt almost every day of my life for at least the last 25 years and I woke up at 4AM to start writing this post. Religion, whatever you worship and however you practice, dogma or not, is bizarre. You ever read about what happens in the brains of people speaking in tongues?
So yes, sometimes faith comes back to bite you, be it in unresolved trauma or with literal teeth. Made by Chaos Cartoon and Design, the “Danger Noodle” clip reminds of this and offers as well a chance to dig back into Killing Spree as a whole, which was the proverbial ‘these guys are onto something’ debut album tucked away amid the onslaught of releases late last year, the band combing a desert of sound and finding remnants of black metal, surf rock, heavy riffing and shover-prog in order to attain some individualism — rugged, of course — of their own amid a flood of acts. Their pedigree in bands like Internal Void, Akris and Admiral Browning is welcome context, but High Noon Kahuna‘s style is something else almost entirely, and as “Danger Noodle” shows, their approach is loaded with potential. With a sound that stretches so far and stays cohesive, they can go just about wherever they want, and they do on the record, from the almost Kylesa-esque jabbing rhythm of “Parachute” to the low-end fuzz that precedes the freakout in the second half of closer “Sand Storm.”
It is my sincere hope that Paul Cogle, Tim Otis and Brian Goad keep the band going, and continue to explore outward from the foundation they’ve constructed; as intentionally wobbly as it can seem in places, that’s the point. The record’s only 34 minutes long and if you haven’t heard it, please consider this gentle encouragement to dig in (the Bandcamp stream is down there somewhere) after you watch the video. They’ve got live dates coming up as well, including playing a VHS expo in Hagerstown, MD, which fits somehow.
Enjoy:
High Noon Kahuna on “Danger Noodle”:
We have always loved the irony that one of the most poisonous creatures on earth can be given such a cute name.
Lyrically, the song speaks of the dangers of obsession; be it money, religion, or power.
We have been friends with Troy at Chaos Cartoon and Design for a long time. When he approached us about doing an animated video we got very excited. We briefly discussed Serpent Handling factions of Christianity and shared a few gory images of preachers who were bit. Mostly those of Cody Coots from Kentucky, there is an amazingly violent video of him getting bit on youtube. Troy took it from there!
High Noon Kahuna is a trio of veteran heavy music musicians based in the Mid-Atlantic U.S. region of Frederick, Maryland. With Tim Otis on guitar (Admiral Browning / Akris), Brian Goad on Drums (Internal Void / The Larrys), and Paul Cogle on Bass and Vocals (Akris / Black Blizzard).
HIGH NOON KAHUNA – Live shows: – March 25 – Frederick MD – Cafe 611 – April 23 – Hagerstown MD – Captian Adam’s VHS Pirate Ship VHS EXPO – May 6 – Frederick MD – Olde Mother Brewing Company MINI-SPREE-TOUR: – May 25 – Harrisonburg VA – Crayola House – May 26 – Asheville NC – Shakeys – May 27 – Marryville TN – The Bird & The Book – May 28 – Lexington KY – The Green Lantern Bar
High Noon Kahuna: Tim Otis: Guitar Brian Goad: Drums Paul Cogle: Bass / Vocals
Posted in Whathaveyou on February 7th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Keytar-inclusive Baltimorean heavy instrumentalists Severed Satellites are making their way toward a debut EP hopefully later this year, recording with Noel Mueller of Grimoire Records, as one will in that region. The band, which boasts the current rhythm section of Ripple Music shovemasters Foghound in bassist Adam Heinzmann and drummer Chuck Dukehart alongside guitarist Matt Naas and Dave Drell on the aforementioned synth, have been eeking out rehearsal videos over the better part of the last however long, a year, maybe, and offer up the single “Apollo” as their first actual studio recording.
In addition to Foghound, Dukehart and Heinzmann have a pedigree between them that goes back to the former’s work in Sixty Watt Shaman and Serpents of Secrecy — apparently also an affinity for starting bands with the letter ‘s’ — and the latter is a founding member of Internal Void and was in Pentagram for a stretch in the early ’00s. Together with the melodic substance of Drell‘s keys and Naas‘ guitar, the four-piece create a carved-from-jams sensibility in “Apollo,” holding off the impulse to go longform exploring in favor of a tighter adherence to plot. The impression you get is that if you showed up to rehearsal, they might just plug in and go for a couple hours wherever the music took them, but that by the time they got into the studio with Mueller, they’d hammered out specifically what they wanted the song to be.
Looking forward to the EP when it’s ready, and in the meantime, “Apollo” also features on Weedian’s Trip to Maryland compilation (on Bandcamp here), issued in homage to Dave Sherman of Earthride, whose suicide last year devastated the MD doom community and many others around the world.
Info and stream:
The new single “Apollo” now available on Bandcamp!
Catch us live at The Depot Baltimore Mon Feb. 20 w/ Bone Church & Indus Valley Kings!
New logo design by the indomitable Mr. Bill Kole.
“Apollo” released January 29, 2023. Recorded/ Mixed at Tiny Castle by Noel Mueller. Additional guitars recorded at Developing Nations by Kevin Bernsten.
Severed Satellites are: Chuck Dukehart III – Drums Adam Heinzmann – Bass Matt Naas – Guitar Dave Drell – Keys
Posted in Whathaveyou on January 17th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Using context clues like the fact that they’ve been announced for Freak Valley Festival this June in Germany, I’ll say it seems reasonable to expect Clutch will follow this announcement sometime in the not too distant future (perhaps even next Sunday, AD) with a round of European touring probably starting a couple weeks later. In the meantime, like the everlasting gobstoppers of groove that they are, the four-piece will begin this run on April 11 in Norfolk, Virginia, and wrap it a month and a week later in my own beloved Garden State.
They go, of course, supporting last year’s righteous-and-consistent-in-its-righteousness Sunrise of Slaughter Beach (review here), and they’ll bring along Amigo the Devil and Nate Bergman to open. They’re calling it the ‘No Stars Above Tour,’ which comes from the lyrics of the album track “Nosferatu Madre,” and as always with these dudes, the shows promise to be a good time, as they have proven over and again to be one of heavy rock’s finest live acts, all time.
Tickets are on sale this Friday, earlier if you’re on their email list, which I am. You might say it’s how I know about the tour.
To wit:
CLUTCH ANNOUNCES: 2023 “NO STARS ABOVE” NORTH AMERICAN TOUR
Supporting Acts: Amigo the Devil & Nate Bergman
Hi Gearheads! With the code below, you can purchase tickets today before they go on sale to the general public. We are excited to hit the road again. We hope to see y’all out there. Thanks for supporting the music! – Jean-Paul
4/11/23 – Norfolk, VA – Norva 4/13/23 – Lancaster, PS – Freedom Hall 4/14/23 – Portland, ME – State Theatre 4/15/23 – Montreal, QB – MTELUS BREWTAL Festival 4/16/23 – Niagara Falls, NY – The Rapids Theatre 4/18/23 – Memphis, TN – Minglewood Hall 4/19/23 – Fort Smith, AR – Temple Live 4/21/23 – Cincinnatti, OH – Andrew J. Brady ICON Music Center 4/22/23 – Milwaukee, WI – The Rave 4/24/23 – Winnipeg, MB – Burton Cummings Theatre 4/25/23 – Saskatoon, SK – Coors Event Centre 4/26/23 – Edmonton, AB – Union Hall 4/27/23 – Calgary, AB – MacEwan Hall 4/29/23 – Vancouver, BC – Commodore Ballroom 4/30/23 – Spokane, WA – Knitting Factory 5/01/23 – Bend, OR – Midtown Ballroom 5/02/23 – Chico, CA – Senator Theatre 5/04/23 – San Francisco, CA – The Regency Ballroom 5/05/23 – Stateline, NV – Harrah’s Lake Tahoe South Shore Room 5/06/23 – Anaheim, CA – House of Blues 5/07/23 – Flagstaff, AZ – Orpheum Theater 5/09/23 – Albuquerque, NM – El Rey Theater 5/11/23 – Omaha, NE – The Admiral 5/12/23 – Chesterfield, MO – The Factory at the District 5/13/23 – Grand Rapids, MI – GLC Live at 20 Munroe 5/14/23 – Cleveland, OH – Jacobs Pavillion 5/16/22 – Hartford, CT – The Webster 5/17/23 – Huntington, NY – The Paramount 5/18/23 – Sayreville, NJ – Starland Ballroom
More dates here: https://linktr.ee/clutchofficial
CLUTCH: Neil Fallon – Vocals/Guitar Tim Sult – Guitar Dan Maines – Bass Jean-Paul Gaster – Drums/Percussion
Posted in Whathaveyou on January 10th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Good one, Grim Reefer Fest. The 2023 edition of the Baltimorean all-dayer is the biggest lineup yet, showing some geographic reach in bringing Bongzilla and Wizard Rifle to proceedings — the former being in Wisconsin and the latter Oregon; one suspects they’ll be announcing a tour together any minute now, and if they do, they make a complementary pair — and rounding out with a sonically diverse cast of locals and regional acts, from natives Haze Mage and Holy Fingers to Borracho and Ilsa from D.C., Sun Voyager heading down from New York, and so on.
I’m gonna go ahead and put this one in my calendar. Seems like a pretty cool way to spend a Saturday. Drive down in the morning, see the show, find a spot to crash, leave Sunday AM after coffee and be home in time for lunch? That’s doable, right? I’ll talk to The Patient Mrs. before I start bugging the fest about it, but yeah, this looks like a good time and I’ve wanted to get down to one of these for a couple years now. In a universe of infinite possibilities, maybe 2023 is my year.
From the PR wire:
Grim Reefer Fest returns to the Legendary Ottobar on Saturday April 29th with our biggest and best lineup to date! Join us for the annual celebration of the high holidays, good vibes, and all your favorite variations of heavy music!
Bongzilla Ilsa Borracho Haze Mage Wizard Rifle False Gods Sun Voyager Faith in Jane Holy Fingers Blightbeast
And as always we will have a food truck parked right outside the venue throughout the duration of the event to take care of all of your munchie needs!
Tickets are $35 in adv and $50 at the door.
Tickets can be purchased here starting 1/13/23 at 10am https://www.etix.com/ticket/p/6831820 Doors at 2pm – Music starts at 3pm and runs all day and night
Poster by GhostBat.
We will not be live streaming this time around but we do hope to have all of the sets recorded and eventually uploaded to our YouTube Channel (where you can currently see all of our GRF 2022 performers).
Posted in Reviews on January 9th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Welcome to the second week of the Quarterly Review. Last week there were 50 records covered between Monday and Friday, and barring disaster, the same thing will happen this week too. I wish I could say I was caught up after this, but yeah, no. As always, I’m hearing stuff right and left that I wish I’d had the chance to dig into sooner, but as the platitude says, you can only be in so many places at one time. I’m doing my best. If you’ve already heard all this stuff, sorry. Maybe if you keep reading you’ll find a mistake to correct. I’m sure there’s one in there somewhere.
Winter 2023 Quarterly Review #51-60:
Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol, Doom Wop
Powered by eight-string-guitar and bass chug, Austin heavy party rockers Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol offer markedly heavy, Steve Brooks-style weight on “Doom Wop,” the title-track of their second album, and prove themselves catchy through a swath of hooks, be it opener “Heel,” “Chew” or “I’m the Fucking Man,” which, if the finale “Jesus Was an Alien” — perhaps the best, also the only, ‘Jesus doing stuff’ song I’ve heard since Ministry‘s “Jesus Built My Hotrod”; extra kudos to the band for making it about screwing — didn’t let you know the band didn’t take themselves too seriously, and their moniker didn’t even before you hit play, then there you go. Comprised of guitarist Leo Lydon, bassist Aaron Metzdorf and drummer Sean St. Germain, they’re able to tap into that extra-dense tone at will, but their songs build momentum and keep it, not really even being slowed by their own massive feel, as heard on “Chew” or “The Bog” once it kicks in, and the vocals remind a bit of South Africa’s Ruff Majik without quite going that far over the top; I’d also believe it’s pop-punk influence. Since making their debut in 2020 with Burger Babes… From Outer Space!, they’ve stripped down their songwriting approach somewhat, and that tightness works well in emphasizing the ’90s alt rock vibe of “The Room” or the chug-fuzzer “Fly Super Glide.” They had a good amount of hype leading up to the Sept. 2022 release. I’m not without questions, but I can’t argue on the level of craft or the energy of their delivery.
French heavy rock traditionalists DoctoR DooM return following a seven-year drought with A Shadow Called Danger, their late 2022/early 2023 follow-up to 2015’s debut, This Seed We Have Sown (review here). After unveiling the single “What They Are Trying to Sell” (premiered here) as proof-of-life in 2021, the three-piece ’70s-swing their way through eight tracks and 45 minutes of vintage-mindset stylizations, touching on moody Graveyardian blues in “Ride On” and the more uptempo rocker “The Rich and the Poor” while going more directly proto-metallic on galloping opener “Come Back to Yourself and the later “Connected by the Worst.” Organ enhances the sway of the penultimate “In This Town” as part of a side B expansion that starts with tense rhythmic underlayer before the stride of “Hollow” and, because obviously, an epilogue take on Händel‘s “Sarabande” that closes. That’ll happen? In any case, DoctoR DooM — guitarist/vocalist Jean-Laurent Pasquet, guitarist Bertrand Legrand, bassist Sébastien Boutin Blomfield and drummer Michel Marcq — don’t stray too far from their central purpose, even there, and their ability to guide the listener through winding progressions is bolstered by the warmth of their tones and Pasquet‘s sometimes gruff but still melodic vocals, allowing some of the longer tracks like “Come Back to Yourself,” “Hollow” and “In This Town” to explore that entirely imaginary border where ’70s-style heavy rock and classic metal meet and intertwine.
Clearly when you start out with a direct invocation of epic tales like “Gilgamesh (…and Enkidu’s Demise),” you’re going big. Portugal’s Stones of Babylon answer 2019’s Hanging Gardens (review here) with Ishtar Gate, still staying in Babylon as “Annunaki,” “Pazuzu,” the title-track, “The Fall of Ur,” and “Tigris and Euphrates” roll out instrumental embodiment of these historical places, ideas, and myths. There is some Middle Eastern flourish in quieter stretches of guitar in “Anunnaki,” “Pazuzu,” “The Fall of Ur,” etc., but it’s the general largesse of tone, the big riffs that the trio of guitarist Alexandre Mendes, bassist João Medeiros and drummer Pedro Branco foster and roll out one after the other, that give the sense of scale coinciding with their apparent themes. And loud or quiet, big and rolling or softer and more winding, they touch on some of My Sleeping Karma‘s meditative aspects without giving up a harder-hitting edge, so that when Ur falls, the ground seems to be given a due shake, and “Tigris and Euphrates,” as one of the cradles of civilization, caps the record with a fervency that seems reserved specifically for that crescendo. A few samples, including one at the very end, add to the atmosphere, but the band’s heart is in the heavy and that comes through regardless of a given moment’s volume.
Released on Halloween 2022, Alconaut‘s “Slugs” is a six-minute roller single following-up their 2019 debut album, Sand Turns to Tide, and it finds the Corsican trio fuzz-grooving their way through a moderate tempo, easy-to-dig procession that’s not nearly as slime-trail-leaving as its title implies. A stretch building up the start-stop central riff has a subtle edge of funk, but then the pedal clicks on and a fuller tone is revealed, drums still holding the same snare punctuation behind. They ride that stretch out for a reasonably unreasonable amount of measures before shifting toward the verse shortly before two minutes in — classic stoner rock — backing the first vocals with either organ or guitar effects that sound like one (nobody is credited for keys; accept the mystery) and a quick flash of angularity between lines of the chorus are likewise bolstered. They make their way back through the verse and then shift into tense chugging that’s more straight-ahead push than swinging, but still friendly in terms of pace, and after five minutes in, they stop, the guitar pans channels in re-establishing the riff, and they finish it big before just a flash of feedback cuts to silence. Way more rock and way less sludge than either their moniker or the song’s title implies, their style nonetheless hints toward emergent dynamic in its tonal changes even as the guitar sets forth its own hooks.
Instrumental save for the liberally distributed samples from Planet of the Apes, including Charlton Heston’s naming of Nova in “Nova” presented as a kind of semi-organic alt-techno with winding psychedelic guitar over a programmed beat, Maybe Human‘s Ape Law is the second long-player from the Los Angeles-based probably-solo outfit, and it arrives as part of a glut of releases — singles, EPs, one prior album — issued over the last two years or so. The 47-minute 10-songer makes its point in the opening title-track, and uses dialogue from the Apes franchise — nothing from the reboots, and fair enough — to fill out pieces that vary in their overarching impression from the heavy prog of “Bright Eyes” and the closing “The Killer Ape Theory” to the experimentalist psych of “Heresy.” If you’re looking to be damned to hell by the aforementioned Heston, check out “The Forbidden Zone,” but Ape Law seems to be on its most solid footing — not always where it wants to be, mind you — in a more metal-leaning guitar-led stretch like that in the second half of “Infinite Regression” where the guitar solo takes the forward role over a bed that seems to have been made just for it. The intent here is more to explore and the sound is rawer than Maybe Human‘s self-applied post-rock or pop tags might necessarily imply, but the deeper you go there more there is to hear. Unless you hate those movies, in which case you might want to try something else.
Beginning with its longest track (immediate points) in the nine-minute “Rust and Rot,” the third full-length from Vancouver’s Heron, Empires of Ash, offers significant abrasive sludge heft from its lurching outset, and continues to sound slow even in the comparatively furious “Hungry Ghosts,” vocalist/noisemaker Jamie having a rasp to his screams that calls to mind Yatra over the dense-if-spacious riffing of Ross and Scott and Bina‘s fluid drumming. Ambient sections and buildups like that in centerpiece “Hauntology” allow some measure of respite from all the gnashing elsewhere, assuring there’s more to the four-piece than apparently-sans-bass-but-still-plenty-heavy caustic sludge metal, but in their nastiest moments they readily veer into territory commonly considered extreme, and the pairing of screams and backing growls over the brooding but mellower progression on closer “With Dead Eyes” is almost post-hardcore in its melding aggression with atmosphere. Still, it is inevitably the bite that defines it, and Heron‘s collective teeth are razor-sharp whether put to speedier or more methodical use, and the contrast in their sound, the either/or nature, is blurred somewhat by their willingness to do more than slaughter. This being their third album and my first exposure to them, I’m late to the party, but fine. Empires of Ash is perfectly willing to brutalize newcomers too, and the only barrier to entry is your own threshold for pain.
A reissue of their 2020 second LP, My Octopus Mind‘s Faulty at Source (Bonus Edition) adds two tracks — “Here My Rawr,” also released as a single, and “No Way Outta Here Alive” — for a CD release. Whichever edition one chooses to take on, the range of the Bristol-based psych trio of guitarist/vocalist/pianist Liam O’Connell, bassist Isaac Ellis and drummer Oliver Cocup (the latter two also credited with “rawrs,” which one assumes means backing vocals) is presented with all due absurdity but a strongly progressive presence, so that while “The Greatest Escape” works in its violin and viola guest appearances from Rebecca Shelley and Rowan Elliot as one of several tracks to do the same, the feeling isn’t superfluous where it otherwise might be. Traditional notions of aural heft come and go — the riffier and delightfully bass-fuzzed “No Way Outta Here Alive” has plenty — while “Buy My Book” and the later “Hindenburg” envision psychedelic noise rock and “Wandering Eye” (with Shelley on duet vocals as well) adds mathy quirk to the proceedings, making them that march harder to classify, that much more on-point as regards the apparent mission of the band, and that much more satisfying a listen. If you’re willing to get weird, My Octopus Mind are already there. For at least over two years now, it would seem.
Having become a duo since their debut, 2019’s Lux in Morte (review here), was released, Et Mors are no less dirgey or misery-laden across Lifeless Grey for halving their lineup. Wretched, sometimes melodic and almost universally deathly doom gruels out across the three extended originals following the shorter intro “Drastic Side Effects” — that’s the near-goth plod of “The Coffin of Regrets” (9:45), “Tritsch” (16:13), which surprises by growing into an atmosludge take on The Doors at their most minimalist and spacious before its own consumption resumes, and “Old Wizard of Odd” (10:29), which revels in extremity before its noisy finish and is the ‘heaviest’ inclusion for that — and a concluding cover of Bonnie “Prince” Billy‘s “I See a Darkness,” the title embodied in the open space within the sound of the song itself while showcasing a soulful clean vocal style that feels like an emerging distinguishing factor in the band’s sound. That is, a point of growth that will continue to grow and make them a stronger, more diverse band as it already does in their material here. I’d be interested to hear guitarist/vocalist Zakir Suleri and drummer/vocalist Albert Alisaug with an expansive production able to lean more into the emotive aspects of their songwriting, but as it is on Lifeless Grey, their sound is contrastingly vital despite the mostly crawling tempos and the unifying rawness of the aural setting in which these songs take place.
Future Mirror is The Atomic Bomb Audition‘s first release since 2014 and their first studio album since 2011’s Roots into the See (review here), the returning Oakland-based four-piece of guitarist/vocalist Alee Karin, bassist/vocalist Jason Hoopes, drummer Brian Gleeson and synthesist/engineer The Norman Conquest reigniting their take on pop-informed heavy, sometimes leaning toward post-rock float, sometimes offering a driving hook like in “Night Vision,” sometimes alternating between spacious and crushing as on “Haunted Houses,” which is as much Type O Negative and Katatonia darkness as the opener “Render” was blinding with its sweet falsetto melodies and crashing grandeur. Two interludes, “WNGTIROTSCHDB” and “…Spells” surround “Golden States, Pt. 1” — note there is no second part here — a brief-at-three-minutes-but-multi-movement instrumental, and the linear effect in hearing the album as whole is to create an ambient space between the three earlier shorter tracks and the two longer ones at the finish, and where “Dream Flood” might otherwise be a bridge between the two, the listening experience is only enhanced for the flourish. Future Mirror won’t be for everybody, as its nuance makes it harder to categorize and they wouldn’t be the first to suffer perils of the ‘band in-between,’ but by the time they get the payoff of closer “More Light,” tying the heft and melody together, The Atomic Bomb Audition have provided enough context to make their own kind of sense. Thus, a win.
Maharaja‘s new EP, Aviarium (on Seeing Red), might be post-metal if one were to distill that microgenre away from its ultra-cerebral self-indulgence and keep only the parts of it most crushing. The downer perspective of the Ohio trio — guitarist Angus Burkhart, bassist Eric Bluebaum, drummer Zack Mangold, all of whom add vocals, as demonstrated in the shouty-then-noisy-then-both second track — is confirmed in the use of the suffix ‘-less’ in each of the four songs on the 24-minute outing, from opener “Hopeless” through “Soulless,” into the shorter, faster and more percussively intense “Lifeless” and at last arriving in the open with the engrossing roll of 10-minute finisher “Ballad of the Flightless Bird,” which makes a home for itself in more stoner-metal riffing and cleaner vocals but maintains the poise of execution that even the many and righteous drum fills of “Hopeless” couldn’t shake loose. It is not an easy or a smooth listen, but neither is it meant to be, and the ambience that comes out of the raw weight of Maharaja‘s tones as well as their subtle variation in style should be enough to bring on board those who’d dare take it on in the first place. Can be mean, but isn’t universally one thing or the other, and as a sampler of Maharaja‘s work it’s got me wanting to dig back to their 2017 Kali Yuga and find out what I missed.
Posted in Reviews on January 6th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
There was some pretty good stuff this week, I gotta say. Feels self-congratulatory to be like, ‘hey good job slating reviews, me!’ but there it is. I don’t regret hearing anything I have thus far into the Winter 2023 Quarterly Review, and sometimes that’s not the case by the time we get to Friday.
Of course, there’s another week to go here as well. We’ll pick it back up on Monday with another 10 records and proceed from there. If you’ve been following along, I hope you’ve found something you dig as well.
Winter 2023 Quarterly Review #41-50:
Astrosaur, Portals
This is what happens when you have virtuoso players writing songs rather than paeans to their own virtuosity. Led by founding guitarist Eirik Kråkenes, with drummer Jonathan Eikum (also Taiga Woods) and bassist Steinar Glas (also Einar Stray Orchestra), Astrosaur are blindingly progressive on their third full-length, Portals (on Pelagic), operating with post-metallic atmospheres as a backdrop for stunning instrumental turns, builds and crashes, willful repetition and the defiant denial of same. There’s more scope in the intro “Opening” than on some entire albums, and what “Black Hole Earth” begins from there is a dizzying array of sometimes cosmic sometimes earthborn riffing, twisting bass and mindfully restless drums. “The Deluge” hitting into that chase after four minutes in, that seemingly chaotic swirling noise suddenly stopping “Reptile Empire” and the false start to the 23-minute epic “Eternal Return” — these details and many besides give the overarching weight of Portals at its heaviest a corresponding depth, and when coupled with the guitar’s ability to coast overhead, they are genuinely three-dimension in their sound. You’d be right to want to hear Portals for “Eternal Return” alone, but there’s so much more to it than that.
Kvasir‘s Sagittarius A* Star is named for the black hole at the center of the galaxy, and the 21-minute single-song EP is the follow-up to their 2021 debut album, 4 (review here), a dug-in proto-metallic exploration composed in movements that flow together as a whole organic work. The Portland-based four-piece of guitarists Christopher Lee (also vocals) and Gabriel Langston, bassist Greg Traw and Jay Erbe work on either side between traditional metal and heavy rock riffing, inhabiting both here as “Sagittarius A* Star” launches into its initial verses over the first four minutes, a solo emerging after 5:30 to set the pattern that will hold for the remaining three-fourths of the song. A slowdown takes hold about a minute later and grooves until at about nine minutes in when the bass comes forward and things get funkier. The vocals return at about 11:30 to complement a galloping riff that’s fleshed out until just after the 14-minute mark, when a jazzier instrumental movement begins and the band makes it known they’re going out and not coming back, the swaying finish with more insistent guitar, first interjecting then satisfyingly joining that sway, capping with a (still plotted) jammier feel. If that’s the Milky Way succumbing to ultragravity and being torn apart molecule by molecule en route to physics-defying oblivion, then fair enough. Worse ways to go, certainly.
Though the leadoff Sins of the Father gets reminds of circa-’90s noise metal like Nailbomb, Marylander four-piece Bloodshot lean more into a hardcore-informed take on heavy rock with their aggressively-purposed debut album. Comprised of vocalist Jared Winegardner, guitarist Tom Stacey, bassist Joe Ruthvin (ex-Earthride) and drummer JB Matson (ex-War Injun, organizer of Maryland Doom Fest, etc.), the band push to one side or the other throughout, as on the more rocking “Zero Humility” and the subsequent metallic barker “Uncivil War,” the mid-period Megadeth-style riffer “Beaten Into Rebellion,” the brooding-into-chugging closing title-track and “Fyre,” which I’m pretty sure just wants to kick my ass. The 10-track entirety of the album, in fact, seems to hold to that same mentality, and there’s a sense of trying to recapture something that’s been lost that feels inherently conservative in its theme — “Faded Natives,” “Visions of Yesterday,” the speedier “Worn and Torn,” and so on — but gruff though it is, Sins of the Father offers a pissed-off-for-reasons take on heavy that’s likewise intense and methodical. That is to say, they know what they’re doing as they punch you in the throat.
A second release through Heavy Psych Sounds and Tons‘ third full-length overall, Hashension wears its love of all things cannabian on its crusty stoner sludge sleeve throughout its six-track/39-minute run, begun with the riffnotic “Dope Dealer Scum” before “A Hash Day’s Night” introduces the throatripper vocals and backing growls and a more heads-down, speedier tempo that hits into a mosh of a slowdown. “Slowly We Pot” — a play on Obituary‘s Slowly We Rot — to go along with the Beatles, Rolling Stones and Pink Floyd (and Gummo) titular references — follows in a spirit as angry as one imagines Bongzilla might be if someone un-freed their weed. Yes, “Hempathy for the Devil” and “Ummagummo” precede the sample-topped slamming march of “Hashended,” and lo, the well-baked extreme sludge they’ve wrought rumbles and thuds its way out, not so much gnashing in the way of “A Hash Day’s Night” or the roll after the midpoint in “Ummagummo” — though the lyrics there seem to be pure weed-worship — but lumbering in such a way as to ensure the point gets across anyhow. I’m not going to tell you you should be stoned listening to it, because I don’t know, maybe you’re driving or something, but I doubt Tons would argue if you brought some edibles to the gig. Enough to share, perhaps.
Mothman & the Thunderbirds vs. World Eaters, Split
In the battle of Philly solo-project Mothman and the Thunderbirds vs. Ontario-based duo World Eaters, the numbers may be on the side of the latter, but each act offers something of its own on their shared 18-minute EP. Presenting two tracks from each band, the outing puts Mothman and the Thunderbirds‘ “Rusty Shackleton” and “Nephilim” up front, the latter particularly reinforcing the Devin Townsend influence on the part of multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Alex Parkinson, while “Flash of Green” and “The Siege” from World Eaters — drummer Winter Stomp and guitarist/bassist/vocalist/synthesist David Gupta — present an atmospheric death metal, more than raw bludgeoning, but definitely that as well. As a sampler platter for both bands, there’s more time to get to know World Eaters since their songs are markedly longer, but the contrast from one to the other and the progression into the mire of “The Siege” gives the split an overlaid personality, almost a narrative, and the melodies in Parkinson‘s two cuts have a lingering presence over the masterful decay that follows in World Eater‘s material. One way or the other, these are both relatively upstart projects and their will toward progression is clear, as pummeling as its form may be. Right on.
Preceded by the two-song single Witches Brew/Psychedelic Roadkill, the six-song/24-minute Dark Matter Pt. 1 is short but feels nonetheless like a debut album from Sonoma County, California (try the cabernet), three-piece Deer Lord, who present adventures like getting stoned with witches on a mountaintop, riding free with an out-on-bail “Hippie Girl” in the backseat of presumably some kind of roadster, going down the proverbial highway and, at last, welcoming you to “Planet Earth” after calling out and casting off any and all “Ego” along the way. It is a modern take on stonerized heavy, starting off with “Witches Brew” as the opener/longest track (immediate points) with a languid flow and psychedelic underpinnings that flesh out even amid the apex soloing of “Planet Earth” or the fervent push of the earlier “Ride Away,” that tempo hitting a wall with the intro of “Ego” (don’t worry, it takes off) so as to support the argument in favor of Dark Matter Pt. 1 as an admittedly brief full-length, the component tracks working off each other to enhance the entirety. The elements beneath are familiar enough, but Deer Lord put an encouraging spin of their own on it, and especially as their debut, it’s hard to imagine some label or other won’t get on board, if not for pressing this, then maybe Pt. 2 to come. Perhaps both?
IO Audio Recordings, Awaiting the Elliptical Drift & VVK
Compiling two 2022 EPs into a single LP and releasing through a microcosm of underground imprints in various terrestrial locales, IO Audio Recordings‘ Awaiting the Elliptical Drift & VVK is my first exposure to the Orange, CA, out-there-in-space unit, and from the blower kosmiche rocking “Awaiting the Elliptical Drift” to the sitar meditation “Luminous Suspension,” and the hazy wash of “Sunrise and Overdrive” (that’s side A) to the experimentalist consumption of “VVK” and “Gramanita” rounding out with its heartbeat rhythm giving over to a hardly-flatlined drone after shuffling cool and bassy and fuzzy with jangly jam strum overtop, I tell you in all sincerity it won’t be my last. There’s a broad cross-section stylistically, which suits a compilation mindset, but I get the feeling that if you called it an album instead, the situation would be much the same thanks to an underlying conceptualism and the adventuring purpose beneath the open-structured fluidity. That’s just fine, as IO Audio Recordings‘ sundry transformations only enhance the anything-that-works-goes and shelf-your-expectations listening experience. Not that there’s no tension in their groovy approach, but the abiding sensibility advises an open mind and maybe a couple deep breaths in and out before you take it on. But then definitely take it on. If you need me, I’ll be spending money I don’t have on Bandcamp.
While “bong” in a band name usually connotes dense sludge in my head, Oslo four-piece Bong Voyage defy that stereotype with their Dec. 2022-released second single, “Feverlung” — the first single was October’s “Buzzed Aldrin” — and no, the song isn’t about the pandemic, it’s about getting high. The six-minute rocker hoists jammy flourish mostly in its second half, in a break that, in turn, shifts into uptempo semi-space rock post-Slift pulsations atop a progression that, while I’ll readily admit it sounds little like the song on the whole still puts me in mind of Kyuss‘ “Odyssey” in its vocal patterning and melody. That ending is a step outward from the solidified early verses, which are more straight ahead heavy rock in the vein of Freedom Hawk or a less-directly-Ozzy take on Sheavy, and while one listening for them to bring it back around to the initial riff will find that they don’t, the band’s time isn’t necessarily misspent in terms of serving the song by letting it push beyond exospheric traps. They won’t catch me by surprise next time aesthetically, and it wouldn’t be a shock to find Bong Voyage in among the subset of up and coming heavy rockers that’s put Norway on the underground radar so much these last couple years. Either way, I’ll look forward to more here.
In its early going, Sun Years‘ “Codex” stagger-sludges like Eyehategod with guitarist Dalton Huskin‘s shouty echoing vocals on top, but as it moves into its second half, there’s a pickup in tempo and a bit of swirling lead guitar emerges in the 4:37 song’s closing stretch as Asechiah Bogdan (ex-Windhand, ex-Alabama Thunderpussy) makes his presence felt. Alongside bassist Buddy Bryant and drummer Erik Larson (once-and-again guitarist for Alabama Thunderpussy, drummer of Avail, Omen Stones, ex-Backwoods Payback, the list goes on), Bogdan and Huskin explore mellower and more melodic reaches the subsequent “Teeth Like Stars,” still holding some of their demo’s lead track’s urgency as a weighted riff takes hold in trade with the relatively subdued verse. That’s a back and forth they’ll do again, moving the second time from the more weighted progression into a solo and build into a return of the harsher vocals, some double-kick drumming and a last shove that lasts until everything drops out except one guitar and that riffs for a few seconds before being cut off mid-measure. Well, that’s a band with more dynamic in their first two tracks than some have in their entire careers, so I guess it’s safe to say it’ll be worth following the Richmond, Virginia, foursome to see where they end up next time out.
Recorded by Jan Oberg (Grin, Slowshine, EarthShip) at Hidden Planet Studio in Berlin, Daevar‘s five-track/32-minute 2023 debut album, Delirious Rites, arrives likewise through Oberg‘s imprint The Lasting Dose Records and finds the man himself sitting in for guest vocals on the 10-minute “Leviathan” alongside the band’s own bassist/vocalist Pardis Latif, who leads the band from the depths of the rhythm section’s lurch on the gradually unfolding Windhand-vibing leadoff “Slowshine,” the particularly Monolordian “Bloody Fingers” with Caspar Orfgen‘s guitar howling over a marching riff, and “Leila” where Moritz Ermen Bausch‘s drums offer a welcoming grounding to Electric Wizardly nod and swirl. Thus, by the time his spot in the aforementioned “Leviathan” rolls (and I do mean rolls) around, just ahead of closer “Yellow Queen,” the layers of growling and screaming he adds to the procession are a standout shift well placed to play off the atmosphere established by the previous tracks. Shortest at 5:10, “Yellow Queen” lumbers through more ethereal doom and hints at a psychedelic current that might continue to develop in a midsection drifting break that builds back into the catchy plod from whence it came. Not necessarily innovative at this point — they’re a new band — but they seem to know what they want in terms of sound and style, and that only ever bodes well.
