Hard not to take long-running Irish metallers Primordial at their word when they say that the new album sounds like Primordial. That’s basically their specialty. Fronted by Alan “Nemtheanga” Averill, who might seriously consider a foray into national politics if he hasn’t, the band will issue their 10th full-length — hot damn — which has been given the foreboding title How it Ends, on Sept. 29 through Metal Blade. This is the band’s first outing since 2018’s Exile Amongst the Ruins (review here), and while I get the distinct feeling they’re talking about bigger endings, they are giving away the ending of the record itself in having the closing track as the first single.

The song is called “Victory Has 1,000 Fathers, Defeat is an Orphan,” and the post-black metal style of Primordial, informed as ever by Celtic folk progressions and melodies, is rampant throughout its six-plus minutes, which are presented with an accompanying video, duly moody and cinematic. It’s the first clip I’ve seen in a while where a band wears armor and doesn’t immediately look ridiculous, so kudos to Primordial on that. Experts on tough balances, they are.

The PR wire has album details. Can’t wait. I want the 2CD digipak with the six bonus tracks:

PRIMORDIAL To Release How It Ends September 29th Via Metal Blade Records; New Video/Single Now Playing + Preorders Available

Long-running, Dublin, Ireland-based Pagan metallers PRIMORDIAL will release their tenth full-length, How It Ends, on September 29th via Metal Blade Records.

PRIMORDIAL has nothing to prove. Having lasted thirty-two years and now returning with their devastating new studio offering, the Irish band has made it clear they are a primal force who consistently lay it all on the line. The follow-up to 2018’s critically lauded Exile Amongst The Ruins, How It Ends sees them delivering more of their seminal blend of Celtic and black metal, with an extra added urgency, and staring down the apocalypse.

“The title is a question – is this how it ends? How it all goes down: culture, language, history, society – humanity – who knows?,” says vocalist A. A. Nemtheanga. “Regardless of who you are or were, you get one chance at all of this, and it’s asking is this the end of your town, state, nation? Myths, traditions, relationships, and I suppose it asks the question, who reacts, who rebels – how does it end now for them?”

Working alongside founding members Pól MacAmlaigh (bass) and Ciáran MacUilliam (guitar) and longtime drummer Simon O’Laoghaire, the band started writing in earnest in the Fall of 2022, having lit a fire under themselves to work hastily and productively. PRIMORDIAL never plans out a record beforehand, letting them come together naturally, though Nemtheanga knew he wanted something with a bigger, more open sound, and something more aggressive, which is exactly what they achieved. “How It Ends is a very angry, defiant, visceral, and rebellious album, and as we worked it all began to take more shape and form itself. It may be the note we go out on but it will be a note of resistance, in musical terms. I think it’s also more metal! And more epic!”

It only takes one listen for these claims to be proven true, whether it’s the surging, gruff, dark “Ploughs To Rust, Swords To Dust,” the moody, desperate “Pilgrimage To The World’s End,” or the sprawling “All Against All,” which is drenched in a sinister air and driven by pounding rhythms, wielding a towering climax. “It certainly sounds like PRIMORDIAL, there is no doubt about that, we have our own style and this is a new chapter of the same book. If we have done anything new it’s really to work with more conviction than ever, and trust more than ever our instincts.”

Drawing lyrical influence both from modern and historical ideas, Nemtheanga always gives the listener something to think about. How It Ends is no exception. “If, for example, To The Nameless Dead (2007) was about the movement of borders, building of nations and those sent to war who gave their lives forming them, then this is the album more about resisting those empires, the freedom fighters, the outlaws, the people who made suicidal stands for freedom of speech, or independence – or for the most important word in the English language: liberty. It’s not hard to see why the album is inspired by this considering where we are right now in the world.”

In advance of the record’s release, today the band unleashes first single and album closer, “Victory Has 1000 Fathers, Defeat Is An Orphan,“ and its accompanying video.

How It Ends was tracked at Hellfire Studios on the outskirts of Dublin, produced by the band, and engineered by previous collaborator Chris Fielding. The record will be released in the following formats:

(Worldwide) – Digital
(US) – Jewel Case CD
(Worldwide) 2xLP in Gatefold, with insert and downloadcard
(EU) – 2xDigipak CD (6-panel digi w/ 12-page booklet) w/ 6-bonus tracks
(EU) 2xLP Special Edition in Gatefold, with insert and downloadcard in slipcase with tote bag, slipmat, double-sided poster (ltd. to 1000 copies)

Find preorders at www.metalblade.com/primordial.

How It Ends Track Listing:
1. How It Ends
2. Ploughs To Rust, Swords To Dust
3. We Shall Not Serve
4. Traidisiúnta
5. Pilgrimage To The World’s End
6. Nothing New Under The Sun
7. Call To Cernunnos
8. All Against All
9. Death Holy Death
10. Victory Has 1000 Fathers, Defeat Is An Orphan

Coinciding with the release of How It Ends, PRIMORDIAL will serve as direct support to Paradise Lost on the Ultima Ratio Fest European Tour. Additional support will be provided by Omnium Gatherum and Harakiri For The Sky. Find tickets at THIS LOCATION.

PRIMORDIAL w/ Paradise Lost, Omnium Gatherum, Harakiri For The Sky:
9/28/2023 Substage – Karlsruhe, DE
9/29/2023 Komplex – Zurich, CZ
9/30/2023 Kaminwerk – Memmingen, DE
10/01/2023 Schlachthof – Wiesbaden, DE
10/02/2023 Löwensaal – Nuremberg,DE
10/04/2023 Trix – Antwerp, BE
10/05/2023 Garage – Saarbrücken, DE
10/06/2023 MeetFactory – Prague, CZ
10/07/2023 Vienna Metal Meeting – Vienna, AT
10/08/2023 Barba Negra – Budapest, HU
10/10/2023 A2 – Wroclaw, PL
10/11/2023 Capitol – Hanover, DE
10/12/2023 Kronensaal – Hamburg, DE
10/13/2023 Hellraiser – Leipzig, DE
10/14/2023 Turbinenhalle 2 – Oberhausen, DE
10/15/2023 Roanda – Utrecht, NL

PRIMORDIAL:
A.A. Nemtheanga – vocals
Ciarán MacUilliam – guitar
Michael O’Floinn – guitar
Pól MacAmlaigh – bass
Simon O’Laoghaire – drums

https://www.primordialofficial.com
https://www.facebook.com/primordialofficial
https://www.instagram.com/primordial_official

http://www.metalblade.com
http://www.facebook.com/metalbladerecords
http://www.instagram.com/metalbladerecords

Primordial, “Victory Has 1,000 Fathers, Defeat is an Orphan” official video

One doesn’t even have to click play to hear the original hook of Demon Head‘s “Demon Head” on the ol’, increasingly dusty mental jukebox. The song first appeared on a Danish doom rock traditionalists’ Caligari-issued Demo 2014 tape (review here), and would show up again on the two-songer Winterland (review here) later that year and on side B of their debut album, Ride the Wilderness (review here), in 2015.

It is their quintessential, in some ways defining, work, and in light of that, their revisiting the track to mark their 10th anniversary as a group could hardly be more appropriate. The ‘new’ single comes with the bonus of being made in collaboration with cult legends Coven, whose founding vocalist Jinx Dawson is positioned alongside the band’s own Marcus Ferreira Larsen in the verses and rolling hook. It was killer nine years ago, so it’s not really a surprise “Demon Head” holds up — hasn’t been that long — but the arrangement is creative here and it’s a reminder of how malleable a well-written song can be.

You can see the video at the bottom of this post, and yeah, it’s a little over-the-top with the skull and all that, but there are photos and memories from the band’s decade together, so a sweet undercurrent to the whole thing. Dig it:

Demon Head featuring Jinx Dawson & Coven

Today marks the release of a song that celebrates ten years of life, blood and demon adventures. A completely reimagined version of the very first one we ever wrote, a decade ago this month.

On this recording we are joined by our dear friends Jinx and Coven, Anders M Jørgensen and Brandon.

Thank you all for the support through the years, which has made this whole voyage worthwhile! The second decade looks to begin with a fiery spirit and there is much more to come …

Find the song and David Thelen’s music video by following this link: https://bit.ly/demonhead

The song is also available at our bandcamp as a name-your-price download: https://demonhead.bandcamp.com

Pre-save the single: https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/demonhead1/demon-head-feat-jinx-dawson–coven

See you soon at this summer’s festivals!

We remain humbly,
Your Demons

Recorded at No Master’s Voice
Mixed by Flemming Rasmussen at Sweet Silence Studios
Mastered by Magnus Lindberg at VRTKL
Video footage by Kristian Blond Møller, Alex Kercheval and Jess

Guests on this recording:
Jinx Dawson – Vocals
Chris Wild – Guitar solo and vocals
Chris Vaughn Bird – Guitar solo
Alex Kercehval – Zither harp
Brandon Monohaus – Tape echo manipulation
Anders M Jørgensen – Guitar solo

Demon Head line up:
Mikkel Sander Fuglsang – bass
Birk Gjerlufsen Nielsen – guitars
Marcus Ferreira Larsen – vocals
Thor Gjerlufsen Nielsen – guitars
Jeppe Wittus – drums

https://www.facebook.com/Demoncoven/
http://www.instagram.com/demonhead_official/
http://demonhead.bandcamp.com/
https://demonhead.bigcartel.com/
http://www.demonhead.org

Demon Head, “Demon Head” (feat. Jinx Dawson & Coven) official video

The first 10 seconds of “Tom Cruise Control” are pretty telling in that they remind the listener just how little Gozu actually need to make a hook. It’s just the guitar, then the bass and drums pick up and are swept along with the immediate momentum garnered. This has been Gozu‘s method for seven years now, to take the tones, grooves and, particularly in the vocals of guitarist Marc “Gaff” Gaffney, the soul of heavy rock and recontextualize them with a force of impact born of heavy metal. As the Boston four-piece offer the nine songs and 48 minutes of Remedy as their first studio LP since 2018’s Equilibrium (review here), they not only welcome drummer Seth Botos to the lineup alongside Gaffney, lead guitarist Doug Sherman and bassist Joe Grotto, but they reaffirm and refine the aesthetic stance they initially took on Equilibrium‘s predecessor, 2016’s Revival (review here).

That record, issued in a stopover through Ripple Music before they were picked up by Metal Blade imprint Blacklight Media, first united Gozu with producer Dean Baltulonis at Wild Arctic Studios in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. None of their work before that — 2013’s The Fury of a Patient Man (review here), 2010’s Locust Season (discussed here; review here), or their 2008 self-titled demo — had the same purposeful, directed punch. Make no mistake, Gozu always hit hard, but rounded edges turned into sharp corners right around the middle of the last decade and they’ve been riding those crisp orange lines ever since. Their collaboration with Baltulonis — who has produced records for Primitive Weapons, Sick of it All, Hatebreed, and it’s safe to say is no stranger to the aurally aggro — is part of what lets them so quickly establish themselves on Remedy. They are as sure in their method of delivery as they are in their songwriting, and they’re not wrong about either one.

But of course, there’s more to any Gozu record than just the shove, though it’s somewhat comforting to know that five years and two drummers after their last record the shove is still ready to go. Second cut “CLDZ” takes its name from a cannabis-infused beverage company part-owned by Baltulonis, so one imagines the recording was a good time, but it’s also the longest inclusion save for nine-minute closer “The Handler,” its two halves split by a solo united by a richly layered melodic chorus from Gaffney, a casually shredded solo from Sherman providing the transition as Grotto — who would be a secret weapon were it not for the consuming thickness of the bass running alongside the guitars; not a new aspect of Gozu‘s sound but universally effective — blends intricacy and fluidity to complement the riffy core of the material, there and in the dare-you-rockers-to-mosh procession of the subsequent “Rambo 2” and side B’s penultimate “Ash,” the latter a declarative stomp that can’t help but feel like Boston hardcore.

Between those two songs, a forward sprint like the three-minute “Joe Don Baker” or even the verses of “Tom Cruise Control,” the spirit of Remedy is charged and metallic, but that isn’t all it is. In doubling as the first single, “Tom Cruise Control” and its standout chorus did more than hint at a career performance vocally from Gaffney, and the rest of the album bears that out in striking fashion. A scream sneaks into the end of the verse in “Rambo 2.” The effects-laced layers backing “The Magnificent Muraco” add to the confident and soulful presence of the can-sing-lead-singerism happening at the forefront — that Gaffney holds it down live while playing rhythm guitar is not a minor achievement, either — which gives over to falsetto soon enough. And amid the open strumming of “The Handler,” which crushes with repetition in a way that reminds of The Fury of a Patient Man capper “The Ceaseless Thunder of Surf,” Gaffney goes there again as the lumbering nod moves through its middle.

Even in the dual-personality of “Ben Gazzara Loves No One,” with a penetrating build of feedback at its start, a thud of kickdrum and a dust-covered tone of riff that reminds of Author & Punisher more than Fu Manchu that turns very much toward boogie after three minutes into its total five and a half, Gaffney is there to emphasize the dance after Sherman‘s solo reorients the song to its second movement. One could just as easily cite the way “Ash” opens up from its crunch in the verse and sweeps through its own chorus, or any number of other examples in the material to make the point. The overarching message there applies to the band as a whole as well. Some 15 years past their first release, Gozu sound comfortable in their skin as a group, like they know who they are and what they want their sound to be, but have not given up pushing themselves creatively, or — as comes across in the brash start of “CLDZ,” the intensity of “Joe Don Baker” imagining what would happen if ‘thrash rock’ existed, or the largesse in the rollout of “Ben Gazzara Loves No One” — physically.

Part of that might be due to the shift in dynamic that comes from bringing in Botos on drums, but Gozu have been delving further into kinetic surge for the last decade or more. And while Remedy can be read as the deepest they’ve gone in that regard, it might just as easily be noted for the hypnotic melody and nod at the end of “CLDZ” or the dreamy fade in “Rambo 2,” “The Magnificent Muraco,” or even the ‘ooh-aah’ stretch in “Ben Gazzara Loves No One,” or the consuming atmospherics of the last stretch in “The Handler.” The truth is that Gozu are a more complex group than can be summarized through one person, performance, or song, and Remedy is a reminder of the greater strength that arises as the sum of its parts.

It is not a revolution in sound for them, but it is theirs entirely — one does not hear it and mistake it for somebody else — and if they’re offering it as a cure either for modern ills, a statement that the band itself is the cure for the members, or something else related to either the pandemic years or whathaveyou, their catharsis is easy (and fun!) to internalize as a listener. That roll at the end of “The Handler” sure feels like a big exhale, and that’s suitable after some of the clenched-teeth surges that Remedy has presented. If one wants to extrapolate from that to the rest of what surrounds, then the album title makes sense. The song titles, well, that’s always been a thing for Gozu and if you can’t Google the references or don’t care or think the songs are a joke because they’re named that way, maybe you’re the one with the problem. Sorry. If you want to talk about it, I’m available and have been where you are.

For the rest, Gozu‘s steady growth along their charted path should serve as comfort enough, let alone the character of these songs, which can be propulsive or meditative without losing either their expressive intent or underlying structures and are drawn together as a group through tone without leaning on that same tone as a stylistic crutch. They are, in concept and execution, all in. On Remedy, Gozu come across like they’re holding nothing back, like each song, each part, each contribution is there for a reason in service to the LP as a whole and the individual pieces, and like they’re putting everything they have into these tracks and recordings. That’s not really anything new for them either, but five records deep, the dedication to the cause feels all the more noteworthy for the lack of stagnation that accompanies.

Arriving as veterans, they use their fifth album to reaffirm the progression they’ve taken on over their time and to demonstrate clearly their commitment to it as an ongoing factor in their makeup. That Remedy is an utter triumph for them in this should be no surprise to those who’ve heard them before, and for new listeners, these songs should serve as prime immersion. All these guys do, have ever done, is kick ass. Kudos to them on the consistency here.

Gozu, Remedy (2023)

Gozu, “CLDZ” visualizer

Gozu, “Tom Cruise Control” official video

Gozu on Facebook

Gozu on Bandcamp

Gozu on Instagram

Blacklight Media website

Blacklight Media on Facebook

Blacklight Media on Instagram

Metal Blade Records website

Would it be funny if I said I didn’t get the reference in ‘Tom Cruise Control?’ Probably not. “What’s a ‘danger zone’?,” and so on. Meh.

The news is still good, as Boston heavy rockers Gozu send first word of their upcoming album, Remedy, which will be out May 19 through Blacklight Media. It is their second full-length for the label — which is an imprint of Metal Blade Records — behind 2018’s Equilibrium (review here), as well as their third to be recorded with Dean Baltulonis, who also helmed 2016’s Revival (review here). The PR wire has it as their fifth long-player overall, and my count is six, but I guess it depends on how you situate their 2008 self-titled. Well, I just checked the band’s Bandcamp and they call it a demo, so there you go. Remedy is number five.

In case you’re looking at the tracklisting and curious, I looked up “CLDZ” and it’s a cannabis-infused drink company — whose beverages look lovely — owned in part by Baltulonis. I bet that’s a good-ass song. Sadly, I haven’t heard the record yet to confirm for myself. There’s time.

And until then, the four-piece have a video up for Remedy‘s first single, the aforementioned “Tom Cruise Control,” and it’s a riffer for all seasons, topped with a career performance from Marc Gaffney on vocals. The chorus hits with harmonies that are a technology I don’t understand and so can only think of as magic, the kick is heavy and aggro in the verses, and Doug‘s fuck-it noise shred is on point, while Joe Grotto joegrottos it on bass, holding the nod as they build toward the finish past the four-minute mark. Hot shit. It’s a fuckin’ burner. Sign me up.

Today started out pretty rough. This made it better:

GOZU ANNOUNCE FIFTH ALBUM ‘REMEDY’ OUT MAY 19 BLACK LIGHT MEDIA/METAL BLADE

BAND SHARES “TOM CRUISE CONTROL” VIDEO

Boston’s GOZU — Marc Gaffney (vocals and guitar); Joseph Grotto (bass); Doug Sherman (lead guitar); and Seth Botos (drums) — return riffing and screaming with their fifth full-length Remedy.

It arrives via Black Light Media/Metal Blade on May 19. Pre-order it here: blacklightmediarecords.com/gozu

Today, the band has shared the video for “Tom Cruise Control.” Watch it here.

“‘Tom Cruise Control’ will take you riding into the danger zone,” the band shares. “It will take you right into the danger zone! Turn ‘n Burn.”

The record was engineered, mixed, and mastered by Dean Baltulonis (Death Ray Vision, The Hope Conspiracy) at Wild Arctic studios in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The album will be available via Digital/Streaming, CD, and vinyl. The U.S. vinyl variant will be Blue/White Melt, while the European vinyl variant will be Red/Black Melt.

About the album Gozu says, “A wise man said, ‘To rock is human, to roll is divine. Gozu’s Remedy should be cranked at full volume, all the time.”

REMEDY TRACK LISTING:
“Tom Cruise Control”
“CLDZ”
“Rambo 2”
“Joe Don Baker”
“Pillow Talk”
“The Magnificent Muraco”
“Ben Gazzara Loves No One”
“Ash”
“The Handler”

Gozu will also hit the road this May. “On May 19, Gozu hit the road with some serious BGVs. Get ready to stop, drop, and open up shop! See you all at a club near you. Woooo.”

GOZU ON TOUR:
5/19 — Brooklyn, NY — Saint Vitus
5/20 — Philadelphia, PA — Kung Fu Necktie
5/21 — Pittsburgh, PA — Green Beacon Gallery
5/23 — Indianapolis, IN — Black Circle *
5/24 — Columbus, OH — Ace of Cups *
5/25 — Newport, KY — Southgate House/Revival Room *
5/26 — Chicago, IL — Reggies / Music Joint *
5/27 — Lincoln, NE — Cosmic Eye Brewery
5/28 — Denver, CO —The Crypt
5/30 — Houston, TX — Black Magic Social Club
5/31 — Austin, TX — The Lost Well
6/1 — Arlington, TX — Division
6/2 — New Orleans, LA — Gasa Gasa
6/3 — Nashville, TN — Springwater *
6/4 — Atlanta, GA — Boggs Social & Supply *
6/5 — West Columbia, SC — New Brookland Tavern *
6/7 — Raleigh, NC — The Pour House *
*With Ancient Days

VIDEO CREDITS:
Director, Editor, Animation & VFX: Shawn Reilly
PunchDance Studios
Studio Manager- Frank Pino JR
Grip: Alex Fiorentino

GOZU is:
Marc Gaffney – guitar and vocals
Joe Grotto – bass
Doug Sherman – lead guitar
Seth Botos – drums

https://www.facebook.com/GOZU666
http://gozu.bandcamp.com
instagram.com/gozu666

https://www.instagram.com/blacklightmediaofficial/
https://www.facebook.com/BlacklightMediaOfficial/
http://www.blacklightmediarecords.com/

Gozu, “Tom Cruise Control” official video

In the ever-present question of “crunch or crush,” Boston’s Morne realize that it in no way needs to be one or the other. The doom-tinged aggressors have signed to Metal Blade Records — congrats on that, by the way; pretty much the dream — and are currently dig into the recording process for their next full-length, to be released hopefully sometime before the end of the year. Honestly, if it’s November or even early December, I think that makes sense for Morne‘s sound, which to me speaks of cold Massachusetts winters where the sky is just grey from late Fall until, oh, May or so, and you never see the sun and everybody gets even angrier at each other and the only thing stopping the masses from rioting at any given moment is the continued success of the local sports franchises. It’s an intense season, the northern winter. I’m surprised everybody doesn’t play black metal up there, but I suppose that’s a different conversation. In any case, in 2015, Morne put out The Coming of Winter, so they would seem to know it as well.

I was fortunate enough to catch Morne at the 2019 Roadburn Festival (review here) as they supported their 2018 LP, To the Night Unknown, which was released by the band in collaboration with Armageddon Shop. Their next outing is being recorded with the esteemed Kurt Ballou, a parenthetical snippet of whose pedigree you can see below, which is no doubt a promise of continued bludgeonry. So much the better. The four-piece will also travel to Germany for Hell Over Hammaburg, where they’ll play with the likes of Sanhedrin, The Ruins of Beverast, High Spirits and others. Good fun.

The PR wire tells the tale:

Metal Blade Records Announce the Signing of Morne

Metal Blade Records is proud to announce the signing of Boston, Massachusetts’ MORNE who are adding their brand of crusty and ethereal doom to the label’s celebrated roster. The band is currently recording a new album with Kurt Ballou (Converge, Cave In, High On Fire) for release in late 2023.

“We are wrapping up the recording session at GodCity Studio with Kurt Ballou in Salem, Massachusetts. This will be our fifth studio album and we are very excited that a legendary label like Metal Blade is releasing it to the universe.” comments MORNE vocalist Milosz adding that “music and words for this album were written during stressful and challenging times and life changing moments and I hope people will find something for themselves in this album and enjoy it. I’m very grateful that Metal Blade helped us put it all together.”

Metal Blade GmbH Label Manager, Markus Grasseck, had this to say about the signing: “We’re very excited to welcome MORNE to our Metal Blade family. Being a fan of the band since their Demo 2008, it’s a great honor to finally work together for the years to come. The band’s unique blend of atmospheric Doom with Crust attitude is unparalleled and we can’t wait to get this out to as many people as possible. Brace yourself for their new album due out this fall!”

In other news, MORNE will be heading over to Hamburg, Germany to perform at this year’s Hell Over Hammaburg Festival in March. More festival details can be found here: helloverhammaburg.blogspot.com

MORNE is:
Miłosz Gassan – vocals, guitars
Paul Rajpal – guitars
Morgan Coe – bass
Billy Knockenhauer – drums

About the band:
Formed in 2005, MORNE blends doom metal and classic British crust but stretches beyond those boundaries, combining a bleak lyrical style with driving riffs. Four studio albums have been released to date with the band currently recording material for their 5th studio album. Their first, Untold Wait, was on Feral Ward Records in 2009 then in 2011, the band signed with Profound Lore Records and released Asylum that same year, followed by Shadows, in 2013. Their latest, To the Night Unknown, was released in September of 2018 on Armageddon Label and the band’s own Morne Records. The band has toured the US, Canada and Europe, where they have been part of large festivals such as Roadburn, Hellfest, Quebec Deathfest, Psycho Las Vegas, Into the Void and Blow Up the Gramaphone.

https://www.facebook.com/mornecrust
https://www.instagram.com/morneband
https://twitter.com/morneband
https://morneband.bandcamp.com

https://www.facebook.com/metalbladerecords
https://www.instagram.com/metalbladerecords/
https://www.metalblade.com/

Morne, Live at Roadburn 2019 (2020)

Edinburgh-based heavy progressive metallers DVNE are set to hit the road across the UK next April as a precursor to appearing at Resurrection Fest in Spain and ArcTanGent in England. They go ostensibly as they continue to support 2021’s Etemen Ænka (review here), which will be two years old by the time these shows start, but is a cause worth supporting nonetheless. And for the merch table, they did issue a live album earlier this year. Actually, I wouldn’t necessarily be surprised if they put together an EP or something ahead of next Spring and Summer and hit the road harder again, but if this is it, then at least they’re getting out. Certainly right around March 2021 there wasn’t a lot of that happening, UK or elsewhere.

I was fortunate enough to catch DVNE for the second time this past summer as they appeared at Freak Valley Festival (review here), and hearing the complex structures and melodies from Etemen Ænka come through with no letup on impact — that blend of progressivism and heft — was only reassuring when it comes to their presentation of the work live. I guess that’s my way of saying if you dug the record — stream is below for a refresher — you won’t be disappointed by how they present it live, as sharply-produced as that album is.

Shows shows shows. You like shows, right? Cool:

DVNE 2023 UK tour kicking off in April!

We’ll be playing 6 headlining shows with a beautiful tour support (soon to be revealed). Tickets info at:
https://www.songsofarrakis.com/pages/tour

TUE 11 APRIL Stereo Glasgow, UK
WED 12 APRIL Nottingham Bodega Nottingham, UK
THU 13 APRIL The Corporation Sheffield, UK
FRI 14 APRIL Crofters Rights Bristol Bristol, UK
SAT 15 APRIL Oslo Hackney London, UK
SUN 16 APRIL Soup Manchester, UK
WED 28 JUNE – SAT 1 JULY Resurrection Fest 2023 Viveiro, Spain
WED 16 AUGUST ArcTanGent 2023 Compton Martin, UK

Excited to get back on the road.

Art by Chris J Alliston

Dvne line-up:
Victor Vicart – guitar, vocals, keys
Dudley Tait – drums
Daniel Barter – guitar, vocals
Allan Paterson – bass
Maxime Keller – keys

https://www.facebook.com/DvneUK
https://twitter.com/SongsOfArrakis
https://www.instagram.com/dvne_uk/
https://songs-of-arrakis.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/metalbladerecords
https://www.instagram.com/metalbladerecords/
https://www.metalblade.com/

DVNE, Etemen Ænka (2021)

Check out DVNE with a full Fall of touring. Europe and UK and Damnation Festival to boot. I kind of feel like everybody’s waiting to see what’s going to happen with that pesky Delta Variant — which is SUCH a cooler name than either “coronavirus” or “COVID-19”; I’m not glad the pandemic is ongoing, I am glad it finally hired someone to handle branding — playing havoc in various places around the world, but even if the Edinburgh five-piece can squeeze in a little road time to support this year’s Etemen Ænka (review here), that’s a worthy cause. The release was a highlight of early 2021 and while some of the hype has subsided, the stylistic reach of the album itself has not dulled in the slightest. Getting out and pressing more vinyl, as they are, would be a boon toward forward momentum.

And forward momentum is itself a novelty at this point.

The PR wire has this:

Dvne announces European tour with labelmates Déluge; new Bandcamp exclusive vinyl for ‘Etemen Ænka’ now available!

After releasing their sophomore album, Etemen Ænka, earlier this year – and landing on the worldwide charts for their efforts (#43 in Germany, #65 on the UK Indie Charts!) – Dvne has now announced a European co-headlining tour with labelmates Déluge. Kicking off in September, this will be the first run of shows in support of Etemen Ænka, before the band heads to the UK for an appearance at Damnation Fest, followed by a trek with Bossk in the winter.

See below for all dates! Purchase your tickets now at: https://www.songsofarrakis.com/tour/

Dvne + Déluge 2021 tour dates
Presented by The Link Productions
Sept. 15 – Nijmegen, Netherlands – Merleyn
Sept. 16 – Brussels, Belgium – La Botanique
Sept. 17 – Paris, France – Petit Bain
Sept. 19 – Nantes, France – Le Ferrailleur
Sept. 22 – Toulouse, France – Le Rex
Sept. 23 – Madrid, Spain – Caracol
Sept. 24 – Barcelona, Spain – Razz3
Sept. 25 – Bilbao, Spain – Groove
Sept. 26 – Black Sheep, France – Montepellier
Sept. 28 – Lyon, France – Rock N Eat
Sept. 29 – Strasbourg, France – La Maison Bleue
Sept. 30 – Martigny, Switzerland – Les Caves Du Manoir
Oct. 1 – Berlin, Germany – Zukunft am Ostkreuz
Oct. 2 – Poznan, Poland – Pod Minoga
Oct. 3 – Leipzig, Germany – Bandhaus

Dvne live 2021
Nov. 6 – Leeds, UK – Damnation Festival @ Leeds University Union

Dvne 2021 tour dates
w/ Bossk
Dec. 12 – Nottingham, UK – Bodega
https://www.alttickets.com/bossk-tickets
Dec. 13 – Bristol, UK – The Exchange
https://www.seetickets.com/event/bossk/exchange/1816003
Dec. 14 – Birmingham, UK – Mama Roux’s
https://www.seetickets.com/event/bossk/mama-roux-s/1817854
Dec. 15 – London, UK – The Garage
https://formpresents.seetickets.com/event/bossk/the-garage/1817728
Dec. 16 – Leeds, UK – Brudenell Social Club
https://brudenellsocialclub.seetickets.com/event/bossk/brudenell-social-club/1815299
Dec. 17 – Manchester, UK – Deaf Institute
https://formpresents.seetickets.com/event/bossk/the-deaf-institute/1817729
Dec. 18 – Glasgow, UK – Ivory Blacks
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/bossk-dvne-glasgow-tickets-148572489315

A new Bandcamp exclusive vinyl edition of Etemen Ænka – white with black dust (featuring a gatefold jacket, 2-sided insert, and poster) – can be pre-ordered now at: https://songs-of-arrakis.bandcamp.com. Limited to 200 copies, this vinyl will be released on August 13th, 2021 – reserve your copy now!

Dvne line-up:
Victor Vicart – guitar, vocals, keys
Dudley Tait – drums
Daniel Barter – guitar, vocals
Allan Paterson – bass
Evelyn May – keys

https://www.facebook.com/DvneUK
https://twitter.com/SongsOfArrakis
https://www.instagram.com/dvne_uk/
https://songs-of-arrakis.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/metalbladerecords
https://www.instagram.com/metalbladerecords/
https://www.metalblade.com/

DVNE, “Sì-XIV” official video

There can be no doubt youth was a factor on Pilgrim‘s side when they made their debut with 2012’s Misery Wizard. Their first long-player was released in January of that year through Metal Blade following a just a demo and a 2011 split with fellow New Englanders Ice Dragon, and from the opening strains of “Astaroth” across the album’s willfully cumbersome 55-minute span, it was pure doom traditionalism with the kind of refresh that only a new generation could provide. Pilgrim — then the trio of guitarist/vocalist Jon “The Wizard” Rossi, bassist Eric “Count Elric the Soothsayer” Dietrich and drummer Nick “Krolg, Slayer of Men” Nosach — were kids and they looked like kids, but with Rossi‘s skullet and mournful voice, the band’s downcast image, depressive tonality, slow-rolling tempos and spacious mix, they tapped into the spirit of earliest The Gates of Slumber in their “true doom” sensibility. Misery Wizard was both the altar of worship and the paean itself when it came to doom for doomers by doomers.

So much of what you need to know is in the slowdown at the end of “Astaroth.” At six and a half minutes, the opener is among the shortest tracks on Misery Wizard — only the brazen, galloping penultimate cut, “Adventurer,” is shorter at 4:29 — and it’s a slog already by the time they’re five minutes in, but as the procession continues toward its inevitable conclusion, the trio bring it slower, slower, and slower until finally it crashes out. It’s not that they were the first doom band ever to stick a slowdown at the finish of a given track, but Pilgrim execute that moment with rare grace from one measure to the next, so that it happens gradually, not in jumps, and lets itself go into the fading feedback ahead of Misery Wizard‘s 10-minute title-track as if it’s opening a gate to the record itself. And, of course, it is.

“Misery Wizard” leads even further down into the D&D-pit-of-despair that Pilgrim craft atmospherically — so much fog and lurk and rolling-of-ones to be had — and arrives as the first of three more extended tracks that comprise the meat of the album, along with “Quest” (9:52) and “Masters of the Sky.” By the time it’s done, “Misery Wizard” is righteously torturous, and “Quest” at first continues the thread, but picks up the tempo shortly before the halfway point, feeling like something of a lifeline thrown to the listener making their way through the dense humidity of the record as a whole, and though it doesn’t last but for a few minutes and the song ends with the album’s loudest ring of feedback, that stretch serves its purpose well. I’ll take “Masters of the Sky” as the highlight of the album, Rossi‘s voice reaching desperately upward through the mix in the early going, layered in the second half and more forward, but still morose and placed well in the raw crash that surrounds ahead of another noisy finish.

Given its speedier shift, there’s really nowhere else to stick “Adventurer” but ahead of 12-minute closer “Forsaken Man.” It never gets quite to High on Fire-level brash, but it’s not far off, and in a different context — and a much smoother production — that main riff wouldn’t have been out of place on a record by The Sword. In Pilgrim‘s hands, the groove is fervent but the tailspin is more dangerous, and the cymbal wash and noise that consumes the better part of the last 40 seconds feels earned in a ringing-out kind of fuckall topped with more feedback.

And speaking of feedback — have I mentioned feedback? — the launch of “Forsaken Man” is like slamming headfirst into a wall of it before the band enact their lurchiest of lurches. The culmination of Misery Wizard hits into another level of grueling, cracking itself open after seven minutes to obscure gurgling, chanting or whatever it is before surging back somewhat to its zombified post-Saint Vitus march, which caps of course in suitably miserable fashion and yet more feedback. Pilgrim having established the method and unfurled their aural punishment at will throughout, it’s only fair they should underscore the point in the album’s final seconds. You wouldn’t call it brutal in the death metal sense, but it’s far from friendly.

I was lucky enough to see Pilgrim three times during this era. The first time was at a show in Brooklyn with Windhand and Magic Circle (review here) and the second time was Stoner Hands of Doom XII in Connecticut (review here), where they were slotted among the headliners and indeed pulled one of the weekend’s best crowds as I recall, and the third time was again in Brooklyn (review here). For such sonically downtrodden fare, the excited vibe around their set at the latter venue was palpable. People were into it. The hype was real and justified. They seemed like a band ready to hit the road, and they were, and they did, touring with Windhand, Heavy Temple, Age of Taurus and Spirit Caravan, among others during their time.

A follow-up to Misery Wizard arrived in March 2014’s II: Void Worship (review here), which found Rossi all the more stepped into his role as frontman as the band tightened their songwriting and explored new reaches of melody that they would seem to have discovered on tour. They’d been to Roadburn 2013 (review here) by then and were no longer kids getting their feet under them as a touring band or playing to genre so much as looking to make their mark on it. One recalls their video for “The Paladin” (posted here) as being particularly emblematic of their aesthetic and putting Rossi at the fore.

His death on Oct. 26, 2017, was the end of the band. By then, Pilgrim was him, Dietrich and Brad “Bradoc the Thunderer” Richardson on drums, and though he was only 26 years old, he’d already had significant impact on the doom underground and an influence on how the up and coming generation of riffers interacted with what had come before them. In my experience with him, he was a shy but friendly enough guy. His loss was deeply felt.

And that’s a sad note to end on, but I can’t help think of the potential Pilgrim had for a longer-term progression that never got to play out. Nine years after their debut, who knows what they might’ve accomplished by this time. Maybe nothing else. Maybe they would’ve broken up — their long tour with Spirit Caravan was a big disillusion moment for them, as well as a fiscal drain — or maybe their third album would’ve been their best yet. We’ll never get to know. What’s important to keep in mind with that is that not knowing doesn’t undercut the value or achievement that was either Misery Wizard or the sophomore outing, and that just because the potential didn’t have the chance to be fulfilled doesn’t mean it wasn’t there in the first place.

This was a good band.

As always, I hope you enjoy. Thanks for reading.

—

Another week.

This week I got to live one of my true parenting nightmares: poop in the bathtub. I’ve been in charge of The Pecan’s bathtime since before he could sit up. Three and a half years and counting, bathtime has been my purview. He’s always hated the bath, even though he’s got toys galore that live in the tub, bubblebath, the whole nine. He doesn’t want water in his face and I do my best to see that he doesn’t get it.

Because he’s so miserable going in his diaper at this point and yet terrified of the toilet because he’s not already completely mastered using it — or, in fact, using it at all — he holds in his poop. For, like, two days before he can’t anymore. That moment came yesterday while he was taking a bath. He was duly horrified. I had to dig through bubbles to find poop nuggets, staying calm and saying it was okay, it was an accident, accidents happen, and all that. I’d always dreaded poop in the tub. I guess it says something about the mundane horrors of parenting that by the time it actually happened, all that shit wasn’t shit, as it were.

Our next door neighbors have a newborn. You can see the drawn look in their faces. I think the guy’s a cop? I don’t know. We’re wave-to-each-other cordial. Every now and again The Patient Mrs. has a conversation. We went out when they brought the kid home. He was squidgy as newborns are. I like that age well enough. They just need you and sleep intermittently. I’ve been thinking about that time — end of 2017 — a lot as a result. I was pretty much dying. I found a picture of myself the other day from a month before he was born. I look sick and I was. Full on bulimic. What’re you gonna do. There’s a big part of me that misses that. The feeling of control. Shrug. Xanax to shut the ol’ brain up.

The weekends are hard lately, no break. I don’t remember what’s up for Monday but I know the week is full. Hang on. Yeah. Yo No Se video premiere Monday. Tuesday Mourn the Light. Wednesday Melissa. Thursday Wytch and Bottomless. Friday I’m gonna review something. Maybe Heavy Temple or Stöner, depending on my mood. Shrug again.

Alright, I think we’re all caught up. New Gimme show today, 5PM, and I still don’t know if I’m posting this before or after the Jack Harlon thing. I think before, because technically in Australia that post will be for Saturday morning? I don’t know. I’ll think about it while I dick around at Wegmans and look at food I’m not gonna let myself eat. It goes like that sometimes.

Thanks for reading. Great and safe weekend. Hydrate. Watch your head. Do what you need to do to get through the day. Go buy some Obelisk shorts from David at MIBK. He’s a great guy.

FRM.

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