It hasn’t exactly been graceful so far, this Quarterly Review, but it’s gotten to where it’s needed to go across a tumultuous first two days, and I’ll take that as a positive sign of things to come. We’re in the thick of it now, with day three, and it’s a good day to dig in, so I won’t delay further except to say I hope you find something in here that you enjoy.

Quarterly Review #21-30:

Vinnum Sabbathi, Intersatelital

Mexico City instrumentalists Vinnum Sabbathi have been plenty busy in the five years since their 2020 split with Comacozer (review here), whether it was collaborating with Rezn, touring multiple times in Europe, putting out a live record, etc., but the three-song Intersatelital EP is a welcome standalone studio return for the band just the same. Issued to coincide with their Summer ’25 Euro run, the 19-minute outing basks in 20th Century-era space exploration, with Spanish-language samples recounting the launch of early communications satellites for a kind of positive-future manifestation as the intro “Centro de Control Especial” flows into “Sistema de Satelites Morelos” and the 11-minute finale “Rodolfo Neri Vela,” which is both heavy enough to pay off the entire procession of the release and intense enough to convey escape velocity. The short version: Vinnum Sabbathi deliver again.

Vinnum Sabbathi on Bandcamp

Vinnum Sabbathi on Instagram

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Crop, S.S.R.I.

Past the medically-noisy intro “Flatline,” Crop‘s S.S.R.I. — the Lexington, Kentucky, sludgers’ second LP, named for the class of antidepressants — builds a massive wall of harsh-shout-topped sludge metal with “Formaldehyde,” big tones and big riffs resulting in big impact. Nothing to complain about, and I’m not complaining, but neither is that all they have to offer. A midsection break with vocals that if you come back in a decade will probably be clean hints at complexity in the composition, and sure enough, even the lumbering largesse of “Godamn” or the closer “Break” give hints of melody somewhere (the latter also some double-kick), and by the time they get to “10-56,” they’ve established their context enough that the dynamic will be apparent for those willing to hear it. That makes “Alone” less of a surprise with a more progressive reachout in its second half, followed by the echoing guitar interlude “Breath,” after which “Break” buries itself and everything else in lurching distortion and takes just a quick breather before the last and most vicious onslaught. They sound like they’re on a path of growth, but to be sure they’re also flattening everything on that same path.

Crop Linktr.ee

Third House Communications on Bandcamp

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Bloodsports, Anything Can Be a Hammer

Bloodsports are no more beholden to the post-grunge melancholy of “Rosary” than the outright crush of “Rot” just before or the willfully choppy succession of “Trio 1” and “Trio 2” that open its respective sides or the penultimate strum and cello of “A River Runs Through,” and their first album, Anything Can Be a Hammer envisions an intimate volatility. “Come, Dog” and the daringly straight-ahead “Calvin” find the Brooklynite four-piece (maybe sometimes a trio?) casting their lot with individual perspective almost as a side-effect of the personal expression the nine component tracks seem to convey, but also rock, and while at full-bore, the six-minute closing title-track is a forceful push revealing a prog-hardcore metal (Converge, Oathbreaker) influence somewhere in the band that provides a roiling payoff. It gets chaotic and they let it, so bonus points for all that noise. A lot will depend on whether or not they tour, but there’s a take developing in Bloodsports‘ sound that isn’t like much else out there. If they can hit it hard and tour, the potential is there to be realized.

Bloodsports Linktr.ee

Good English Records on Bandcamp

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Eyes of the Oak, Tripping Through Neon Skies

Swedish heavy progressive psychedelic rockers Eyes of the Oak follow 2024’s sophomore LP, Neolithic Flint Dagger (review here), with the three-tracker Tripping Through Neon Skies, which pairs two originals in “Temple of Hallucinations” (5:08) and “Hitchhiking From the Mescaline Moon” (11:49), the latter drifting into a cosmically declarative crescendo that calls to mind Samsara Blues Experiment in its sweep, with a duly spaced-out take on AC/DC‘s “Hell’s Bells” that admirably balances loyalty to the original (why else would you cover it?) with the band’s will to make it their own in melody and reach. “Hitchhiking From the Mescaline Moon” is more of a voyage, of course, but “Temple of Hallucinations” casts itself out in vivid colors with a proggy hook and swells of vocal melody that add a light, not-unwelcome touch of the grandiose. It’s a big sound, and a big universe, and with these songs, Eyes of the Oak continue to carve out their place in it.

Eyes of the Oak website

Eyes of the Oak on Bandcamp

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Pygmy Lush, Totem

So here’s my story. Not knowing much about Virginia’s Pygmy Lush beyond their being well recommended and sharing members with Pageninetynine, I showed up to their set at this year’s Roadburn Festival, and found their punk-rooted, sometimes-loud Americana engaging enough that I knew I wanted to check out their first album in 14 years, Totem. Year goes on, blah blah, summer, blah blah everything is terrible, and I finally get around to the album and Totem blindsides with a post-hardcore swing and angularity, somewhat thinky-thinky-smart-dude in pieces like “Algorithmic Mercy (Prayers Printed Directly Into a Shredder),” and unhinged in the general impression in that way that sounds like it’s about to trip over itself the whole time but never actually does. Kind of a surprise, but it’s done well and I ain’t mad about it. I’m sure there’s a narrative to the whole thing that’s been rephrased however many times over by critics more erudite than I could or would ever be, or maybe the band is just dynamic (gasp!). They quiet down for “Nonsensical Whisper” at the end, too, so it’s not all shove, even if that does define the record in large part.

Pygmy Lush store

Persistent Vision Records website

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Sheev, Ate’s Alchemist

The second album from Berlin’s Sheev, Ate’s Alchemist, purports a theme of dark emotions and their ethereal origins, and I’m not entirely sure how that translates into the odd-timed chuggery that bookends “Elephant Trunk,” but the progressive metal/rockers make a showcase of scope across the eight cuts/49 minutes of the album, veering into and out of various microgenres, whether it’s the doomly overtone of “Cul de Sac” or the imagine-thrash-but-soaring of “Martef” after the intro “The Alchemist.” Clearly a band who’ve worked on their sound, who believe in what they do, and who have paid attention in class when it comes to fostering a unified feel across disparate sounds. There’s nowhere the album goes that finds Sheev out of place, and while the level of engagement for a given listener will depend on their ability to meet the band where they’re at, the arguments for doing so are myriad. There are about eight of them, actually. Funny how that’s the same number of songs included, right? Stick around for the mathy wash at the end of “Sabress.”

Sheev on Bandcamp

Ripple Music website

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Lähdön Aika, Mustalle Maalle

I mean, you might think you’re ready for what’s coming on Lähdön Aika‘s fourth full-length, Mustalle Maalle, but you’re probably wrong about that. Just because they’ve been a band for over 20 years doesn’t mean the atmospheric post-sludge extremists can’t still bash your skull with the throatripper-topped jabs of “Et enää mitään” or the speedy crusher “Paina pääsi alas” later on, the rawness of the vocals only one example of the levels on which the Finnish outfit make their sound an assault. As they make their way toward the 10-minute capper “Ihmishaketta,” “Teuraaksi Kastettu” delves into a post-metal that makes Amenra sound like Oasis and the lumber of “Viilto” becomes a downward march only after it’s already lowered the whole quarry onto your person. Physical oppression through music, is what I’m talking about. A grim world awaits you if you think you can handle it, but again, these guys are experienced. They know what they’re doing as they bask in the wanton slaughter of “Ikeestä.” It’s not an accident. There’s method to it. That makes the album feel even more dangerous.

Lähdön Aika website

Lähdön Aika on Bandcamp

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Fuzz Thrower, Fuzz Thrower

Some of the early vibes on “Beam” or “Stonewall Angel” on Fuzz Thrower‘s self-titled debut — on CD thanks to Off the Record Label imprint, PowerWax Records — remind of Sungrazer‘s mellow heavy psych circa 15 years ago, and certainly the drifty interlude “Waves” backs that up, but Netherlands-based multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Tjeerd de Jong (also of Phantom Druid) grunges out in the march of “Nowhere,” gets more Sabbath-doomed for “Drooler” and the penultimate “Pictures of the Moon,” hints toward goth metal in “Ocean in the Sky,” and rounds out the nodder riffing of “Soon We Roam” with a sampled poetry reading, so no, things are not so easily accounted for in a single comparison point. So much the better. Across the album’s 29 minutes, de Jong presents a strong sense of trying out ideas — the way the vocals rest on top of “The End is Open,” for example — that might bring progression to subsequent releases, but there’s already depth to spare in the songwriting of this first outing. If/when he buys a keyboard, watch out.

Fuzz Thrower on Bandcamp

Off the Record Label store

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Moths, Septem

It’s a secondary element, but don’t discount the synth work of drummer Daniel Figueroa on Moths‘ Septem EP, and if you’d like an example of why, check out “Pride.” The seven-track/26-minute offering takes each of its titles from the alleged seven deadly sins, with a full prog-metal brunt behind vocalist Mariel Viruet‘s noteworthy, growl-inclusive range as a singer. Guitarists Omar González (rhythm) and Jonathan Miranda (lead), bassist Weslie Negrón and Figueroa vary tempo and aggression to suit a given mood, and the keys are a bigger part of that than they might at first seem. Don’t tell the guitarists. The affect is definitely metal in pieces like “Gluttony” and “Greed,” while “Lust” lets the bass lead the groove, and “Wrath” — as good a place to end as any — pushes deeper into poised extremity with a blasting finish, the overarching density calling for nothing so much as repeat listens.

Moths on Bandcamp

Moths on Instagram

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Greenhead, Subherbia

Pairing aggro, low-throat growl sludge with jammier takes, psychedelia, proggy riffing and a resolution in Iommic swing, the 28-minute “Subherbia” from Greenhead‘s debut album of the same name encapsulates on its own the kind of range one might expect (hope) for from a newcomer band, but the Washington D.C. trio don’t end there. Side B brings “Indigo,” “All Seeing Eye,” “Nature’s Pyramid” and “Purple God,” riding the blurred line between modern stoner largesse and classic doom riffing cohesively, letting “Nature’s Pyramid” punk up its chorus a bit as a precursor to the gang shouts of “Purple God.” I don’t know what genre you call it and I don’t care. I’m just happy to hear a new band mashing styles together to see what sticks and coming out it with a first LP that practically smacks you in the face with its ambition. What comes of it or doesn’t, whatever. I’ll take Subherbia as-is, thanks, and hope I’m lucky enough to see them do it live at some point.

Greenhead Linktr.ee

Greenhead on Bandcamp

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This is day four of the Summer 2025 Quarterly Review, and though I might pay for it later, say right around late-September when I’m doing the Fall one, I think I’m going to keep it to five days. Mostly that’s about not pressing my luck. This has been an exceedingly easy QR to get through, a breeze compared to some — one downer day is all it takes and I feel like I never have my groove again, but that hasn’t happened here — and I’m content to take the win and move on, as opposed to pushing for an extra day or two next week.

So this is the penultimate day, and we’ll finish tomorrow. I hope you’ve enjoyed the Quarterly Review nearly as much as I have. Not one day has passed without me adding at least one release to my year-end list(s), which is a pretty killer thing to realize as I type it. Let’s see how today goes.

Quarterly Review #31-40:

Muto Tapes, Side Effects

One of apparently five singles that Mexico City’s Muto Tapes will release over the course of 2025 — year’s half-over, they’d better hurry up — “Side Effects” runs four riffy minutes of thickened, aggressive chug-metal, calling to mind Sepultura in its spit-out guttural vocals, but creating a denser mass of distortion and leaving in trade the thrashy, sometimes bloody, roots. Past the halfway point in the song, circa 2:30 into the total 4:05, the tempo drops and the guitar/drum duo bask in some of the minimal spaces their configuration lets them occupy, saving a fair round of shove for the finish after setting it up with due foreboding guitar creep. Not sure if Muto Tapes are building toward an EP or LP or what, or just releasing singles because not everything needs to be a package to sell, but they bring a blend of heft and intensity that immediately distinguishes them in the heavy underground, and they look to be developing their sound on their own terms. Guitarist/vocalist/bassist Jorge S. and drummer Roy B. have been meting out punishment in this manner since 2023, so we’re just beginning to see where it’s all headed.

Muto Tapes website

Muto Tapes on Bandcamp

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Turkey Vulture, Dead to Me

It hasn’t been that long since Turkey Vulture released their Oct. 2024 EP, On the List, or maybe I just blinked out for a few months. The Connecticut duo of Jessie May (guitar, bass, vocals) and Jim Clegg (drums, backing vocals) have long-enough since carved their niche in doom and punk rock, and “Dead to Me” and “Jill the Ripper (Heavy Take)” — the two of them running about four and a half minutes, combined — continues the thread. They don’t list the recording info, so I don’t know if these two songs were done at the same time as the EP or not, but “Jill the Ripper (Heavy Take),” as the title describes, is a louder and punkier take on the closing “Jill the Ripper” from that also-short release. “Dead to Me,” meanwhile, seems to be about not going to shows anymore, presumably because you have a kid, and the changing nature of friendships as a result of that. Turkey Vulture have a whole series of songs about these life-stages; just six years on from their debut, they’ve done a lot of growing.

Turkey Vulture on Bandcamp

Turkey Vulture on Instagram

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Polymerase, Mindspace

Philippines heavy psych wanderers Polymerase are back two years after their two-part Dreams and Realities I & II full-length cycle with the mood-altering 78 minutes of Mindspace, seemingly named for the two things on which the material has the greatest effect. Pairing extended, jammier pieces with, well, shorter, jammier pieces, songs like “Divine Reefer” (12:08) can touch on Sleep while “Space Child” (7:10) is anything but grounded in its repetitions and evident outbound plotted trajectory. There’s more to Mindspace than mellow-out stoner idolatry, though, as the bassy rumble underwriting the harsher shouts of “Interplanetary Echoes” (13:08) demonstrates, taking some of the sludgier moments paired with heavygaze in “Crows and Doves” (11:57) and using them to call out to the expanse of the band’s own making. Closer “Downward Spiral” (12:22) functions similarly at the conclusion, calling to mind modern practitioners like Rezn while feeling empowered through their individual processes. I don’t know how much is actually improv, but Mindspace is way open, and that’s how it should be.

Polymerase on Bandcamp

Polymerase on Instagram

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Troy the Band & Cower, Fade Into You

Something of a specialty item, perhaps. Fade Into You is a two-tracker split 12″ with London outfits Troy the Band and Cower taking its name from the Mazzy Star song, which both bands cover. Like, they do the same song. And much to their credit, they do it differently. Troy the Band, who early last year released their debut album, Cataclysm (review here), on Bonebag Records, take a heavygaze viewpoint on the 1993 single, fleshing out the moody atmosphere with echoing effects and hard-landing, immersive roll. Cower, whose second full-length, Celestial Devastation (review here), also came out last year, reimagine it as Nick Cave or latter-day Wovenhand, holding to the emotional crux of the original with ethereal drones and new age-y keyboard. A stopgap? Probably, but an interesting project just the same, and the song, of course, stands up to the manipulation.

Troy the Band on Bandcamp

Cower on Bandcamp

Troy the Band & Cower at ElasticStage

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Jaspe, Grietas

What would seem to be the debut offering from Tijuana-based post-metal four-piece Jaspe, Grietas runs just 23 minutes at three songs, but carries a full-length’s sense of breadth in doing so. Shades of Amenra persist in the quiet/spoken stretch of “Rios de Polvo II” (11:52), where the lumber that begins opener “Litorales” (9:46) crushes as might a modern Isis before departing into the inevitable stretch of pretty guitar, Russian Circles-esque, but with more plunge in the low frequencies, and the arriving guttural growl of vocals is genre-transgressive in a way that satisfies wholly. Separating the larger pieces is the two-minute droner “Rios de Polvo I,” obviously aligned to the second part that follows, which adds to both the tension and atmosphere of this resoundingly impressive post-doom showcase and highlights the potential that’s so prevalent in Jaspe‘s sound. I’ll take an album of this for sure. Just say when.

Jaspe on Bandcamp

Jaspe on Instagram

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Yung Druid, Wooden Lungs

Two songs, 20 minutes. Yung Druid, in continued collaboration with Totem Cat Records, offer Wooden Lungs, comprised of the 11-minute “Wooden Lung” and the nine-minute “Space Cowboy.” Both songs owe some debt in swagger to Led Zeppelin, but “Wooden Lung,” in the vocal arrangement and steady nod, reminds more of Iota‘s 2024 return, Pentasomnia, in its fluid progression and grunge-style harmonies. Not a complaint. Also not complaining about the uptick in fuzz for “Space Cowboy,” which still manages to move despite the primordial pool of tone in which it seems to soak. A riff for riffers, that one. Originally based in London around the time of their 2019 self-titled debut (discussed here), the band have moved between the Spain, Australia and New Zealand. It can be difficult for a band who were all together in the rehearsal space to transition to working remotely, but if Wooden Lungs is their proof of concept, they can make a go of it.

Yung Druid on Bandcamp

Totem Cat Records store

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The Crystal Teardrop, …Is Forming

Issued through Rise Above Records imprint Popclaw (see also Bobbie Dazzle and Scott Hepple and the Sun Band), The Crystal Teardrop‘s debut long-player, …Is Forming, sounds remarkably ‘formed,’ if you want to think of it in those terms, as regards aesthetic. Taking a heaping dose of influence from ’60s garage and daring toward Beatlesism on the sweetly bouncing “Borrowed Time” or the Help-toned “Two Hearts,” the band present a retroist face but hold back from IYKYK-style gatekeeping via pop songwriting and the sweep of the later “Turn You Down,” which is a ruffled-hair rush ahead of the similarly shoving “Stealing Suggestions” and the perhaps inevitable psychedelic delve of the closing pair “Nine Times Nine.” and “…Is Forming,” the latter of which has enough backward guitar to meet whatever your quota might be before it unfurls darker instrumental heavy proto-prog like it’s something the band just invented. Rise Above is ready for the garage rock revolution, ready to foster a new generation of artists, but as ever, the question is whether or not the world at large can keep up. …Is Forming argues fervently in favor of trying.

The Crystal Teardrop links

Rise Above Records website

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Doom Lab, Desert Caravan Doom

The adventures of Alaska’s Leo Scheben and his Doom Lab continue, declaring a genre in Desert Caravan Doom and then immediately setting about defying its parameters with an encompassing, continually on-its-own-wavelength craft, increasingly clear production, and varied intent across the 12-song/43-minute long-player, with creeps like raw East Coast hardcore in “What’s Your Angle?” before the jazzy puns take further hold in “Feeling Minor and Diminished,” pieces like “Fives” and “Desert Hailstorm” tapping into some Stinking Lizaveta-type intensity while the sweetly alt-rocking “At Dusk” and the “Gimmie One Drop (Dub)” and “Desert Caravan Improvisation” — with a new live drummer, reportedly — add to the fabric of Doom Lab‘s ongoing explorations in style and expression. Desert Caravan Doom isn’t as dark, on average, as some of Doom Lab‘s output, and that comparative lightness of mood lets it swing all the more, but Scheben‘s never just been/done one thing, and Desert Caravan Doom holds to this dynamic as well.

Doom Lab on Bandcamp

Doom Lab on YouTube

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Liquid Pennies, Fore

The synth and keyboard elements play a significant role throughout Liquid Pennies‘ Fore, as “Tapered Scape” and “Ready Tide” demonstrate early on, never mind the 11-minute “Echolalia,” which also has plenty of time for its heavy breakout in the middle third and doomier-until-it-thrashes ending. “Sight Skewer” finds the adventurous Floridian unit evoking nostalgia with fuzz and melody, the drum machine patterning working in contrast to the heavier tones, but feeling by that point very much part of the thing. Presumed side B starter “Elliptic Triptych” brings a bit more functional aggression to the mix, while the three-minute droner “Further Ennui” gives transition to the terrestrial acoustic strum in the pastiche of “The Bone,” which grows broader while remaining melodically intricate, and the closing title-track runs the atmospherics backwards for, well, backwards atmospherics. There’s some influence from All Them Witches at work, but four albums in, Liquid Pennies are onto something special in sound, and one hopes the pursuit continues.

Liquid Pennies links

Threat Collection Records website

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Mordbear, Mordbear

A fascinating debut three-song EP from Portland, Oregon’s Mordbear, released by Dipterid Records as a single-sided 12″ vinyl, comic book included. If that seems elaborate for what’s basically a demo, there’s the rub. “Like the Dead,” “A Mirror with a Sea of Flames” and “The Alchemist” are resoundingly cohesive and sure of their construction. The style is modern stoner with nascent hints of prog leaking through — again, modern — and in the seven minutes of “The Alchemist,” the scope feels broader as they methodically unfurl their riffing. Meanwhile, “Like the Dead” leads off with atmospheric semi-desert heavy, catchy and nodding and slow, and “A Mirror with a Sea of Flames” has more of a rhythmic tumble. When Mordbear lock into a bigger groove in the middle cut, there’s some hint of Monolord to their sound, but ‘their sound’ is hardly a settled issue, so the exploration is welcome even as they seem to have so much nailed down in terms of style.

Mordbear on Bandcamp

Dipterid Records on Bandcamp

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Ripplefest Mexico coming in hot with an inaugural lineup or this Dec. 6 and a bitchin’ three-eyed axolotl on the poster that puts me in mind of classic Simpsons with the triocular fish, but, you know, is a little more this-century. The Well will make their way south to Mexico City to headline the first Ripplefest Mexico, and they’ll be joined by long-running Chilean groovers Demonauta, who I got to see last year (review here) and could only recommend as an experience, as well as Vinnum Sabbathi, Demons My Friends, Saturno Grooves, Black Overdrive and King in Yellow, plus Lord Velvet from Colorado and Transit Method, also from Austin. Solid bill. Get there early. King in Yellow sound pretty cool.

I don’t know much about the Fuck Off Room, but I do enjoy a good bit of fucking off, so right on. You might recall the Doom City Fest that took place in Mexico City the last few years as well. It will be cool to see how both continue to grow.

From social media:

RIPPLEFEST MEXICO – First Edition

Tickets: https://www.superboletos.com/landing-evento/vYcGgq_FoYsgcic8ANxMAw

FB event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1850838642362025/

Heavy rock festival Ripplefest México announce the full lineup for their first-ever edition taking place on December 6th, 2025 at Fuck Off Room in Mexico City. Tickets are on sale now!

Born from the success of Ripplefest Texas — the largest stoner and doom festival in the U.S., backed by legendary label Ripple Music — Ripplefest has expanded globally with celebrated editions in France (Nantes) and Germany. Now, México joins the movement, uniting local and international stoner rock and doom communities under one roof: Mexico City’s renowned FuckOff Room, located inside the popular Condesa neighborhood.

With a total of nine bands gracing the bill, Ripplefest México will showcase a powerful mix of established and emerging acts from the global heavy rock scene, delivering the raw energy and immersive experience that defines the Ripplefest brand.

About launching Ripplefest México, the promoters say: “We’re excited to embark on this new adventure to continue strengthening the Mexican stoner scene and bridge a connection with the US stoner community as well, by establishing a Mexican chapter to the largest stoner and doom festival in the United States, Ripplefest Texas. Ripplefest México will emulate the spirit and replicate the experience of all previous Ripplefests by presenting a lineup that is attractive and interesting to heavy music lovers in our city, and by being curated and organized by music lovers and musicians from our scene itself. We hope you can join us, and thank you in advance for your support. Everyone is invited.”

Lineup:

The Well (Austin, TX)
Demonauta (Santiago, Chile)
Demons My Friends (Austin, TX / Mexico City, Mexico)
Lord Velvet (Denver, CO)
Transit Method (Austin, TX)
Vinnum Sabbathi (Mexico City)
Saturno Grooves (Durango, MX)
Black Overdrive (Mexico City, MX)
King In Yellow (Tamaulipas, MX)

https://www.instagram.com/ripplefestmexico
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61570411075752

We — you and I; if ever homies was homies — already knew that Mexico City instrumentalist space-themed riffcrunchers Vinnum Sabbathi were headed back to Europe this coming summer. Not at all their first time doing the dance, and they’ll hit SonicBlast in Portugal and Hoflärm in Germany on their way, along with a week-plus of club shows. When the tour was announced, I’m pretty sure they said a new release was coming though, and Intersatelital is that.

A new EP following up on their 2023 collab LP with Rezn, Silent Future (discussed here), Intersatelital will be Vinnum Sabbathi‘s first standalone studio work since Of Dimensions and Theories (review here), which was released roughly concurrent to a split with Comacozer (review here) in 2020. Five years, but of course they’ve been plenty busy in the interim.

To wit, this past weekend was the Doom City Fest in Mexico City, which Vinnum Sabbathi played and in which members of the band are involved. They shared the stage with Conan, Dopethrone and Bongzilla, among others.

From social media (plus the tour dates from last time again):

“Intersatelital” is the new EP from Vinnum Sabbathi, a sonic testament of the intricate human-machine comradeship from the last century, featuring an incredible cover artwork by Indonesian artist Yasinviolet.

A collaboration between Stolen Body Records 🇬🇧 and Teschio Dischi 🇮🇹 for vinyl and cassette physical formats.

Official release date on June 17th 2025, to commemorate 40 years of missions STS-51-G as well as STS-61-B, launching the Morelos communications satellites in orbit and the first Mexican astronaut, Rodolfo Neri Vela 🇲🇽.

Pre orders coming soon.

EUROPA 2025
09 AUG SonicBlast Fest (ANCORA, PT)
11 AUG Wurlitzer Ballroom (MADRID, ES)
12 AUG De Tanker In Noord (AMST, NL)
13 AUG TBA (HAMBURG, DE)
14 AUG Neue Zukunft (BERLIN, DE)
15 AUG Chemiefabrik Dresden (Chemo) (DE)
16 AUG Heinzelmännchen Hofcafe & Hoflärm (DE)
17 AUG TBA (GHENT, BE)

www.facebook.com/VinnumSabbathi/
https://www.instagram.com/vinnumsabbathiband/
https://vinnumsabbathi.bandcamp.com/

http://www.facebook.com/teschiodischi
https://www.instagram.com/teschiodischi/
www.teschiodischi.bandcamp.com

https://stolenbodyrecords.co.uk/
https://www.facebook.com/stolenbodyrecords/
https://www.instagram.com/stolenbodyrecords/

REZN & Vinnum Sabbathi, Silent Future (2023)

Vinnum Sabbathi, Live at Channel 666 (2022)

Nothing here but good news as instrumentalist Mexico City scene spearheads Vinnum Sabbathi will head back to Europe this August for slated appearances at SonicBlast Fest in Portugal and Hoflärm in Germany. As will happen, those two appearances on successive weekends will be drawn together by club shows throughout Spain, the Netherlands, Germany and in Belgium, where the tour is slated to end in Ghent for a show that’s waiting for confirmation. Not that Hoflärm would be a bad way to go as regards ending the tour, but if you can help out either there or Aug. 13, do.

Studio-wise, the band collaborated with Chicago headpsych forerunners Rezn in 2023 on the PostWax release Silent Future (discussed here). I haven’t heard word of a new full-length, but in announcing the tour below, the band cite an upcoming EP that they’ll have with them on the road. Something to look forward to whether you’ll see them on this tour or not.

And while we’re here, let’s not forget the Doom City Fest in Mexico City this May (info here) that the band will play a role in hosting as well as performing. Looks like they’re set up for a pretty good year.

From social media:

VINNUM SABBATHI – EUROPA 2025 🌍

We’re very excited to share the poster for our 3rd visit to the old continent, this time is going to be short but packed, as it includes our return to Portugal for SonicBlast Fest , our first time playing Heinzelmännchen Hofcafe & Hoflärm and it’ll be also our first time playing in Spain.

And for this we’ll bring a brand new EP with us (more info very soon!), we have new merch on pre-order so if you can/want to support us on this mission please grab anything on our BC:
https://vinnumsabbathi.bandcamp.com/merch

We hope to see you in a show nearby, so save the dates!

(We’ll update the pending info as soon as we can).

09 AUG – Ancora SonicBlast Fest
11 AUG – Madrid @ Wurlitzer Ballroom
12 AUG – Amsterdam De Tanker In Noord
13 AUG – TBC
14 AUG – Berlin Neue Zukunft
15 AUG – Dresden Chemiefabrik Dresden (Chemo)
16 AUG – Marienthal Heinzelmännchen Hofcafe & Hoflärm
17 AUG – Ghent TBC

Beautiful artwork by our friend Ratta Rodriguez.

www.facebook.com/VinnumSabbathi/
https://www.instagram.com/vinnumsabbathiband/
https://vinnumsabbathi.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/lsdrrecords/
https://lsdr.bandcamp.com/
https://www.storenvy.com/stores/823500-lsdr-records-distro

REZN & Vinnum Sabbathi, Silent Future (2023)

Vinnum Sabbathi, Live at Channel 666 (2022)

Just in case you don’t have the energy to read insta-handles, the lineup for Doom City Fest 2024 this September in Mexico City is as follows: Weedeater, Eyehategod, Belzebong, Weedsnake, Mizmor, Reverence to Paroxysm, Deep Sea, Age of the Wolf and Desollado. And 1,200 pesos is about $68 USD, so don’t be put off by the price. This is the second edition of the festival behind one that took place in Feb. 2020 with Amenra, 16 and others, and well, if you had to live through the entire world shutting down a month later, that probably would’ve been a better precursor to that experience than most around the world had.

Weedeater are of course regulars on the US circuit, and ditto that Eyehategod, but I don’t know how often they hit Mexico City, let alone Belzebong coming over from Poland or Mizmor from Portland, Oregon, or Age of the Wolf from Costa Rica. With four of the total nine acts being Mexican, there’s respectable representation of the country’s native underground, and you can hear Weedsnake‘s 2023 album, Grimorium Cannabinarum, below. I missed it when it came out in the Fall — but as I like to remind others, it’s never actually too late — but they fit right in with the crusty weedianism at the top of that bill. Gonna make friends with Belzebong for sure.

I know September is packed in various parts of the world between the US and Europe, and here’s one more to add to that list:

Doom City Fest 2024 – Sept. 21

4 years had to pass, but we came back stronger. We hope you can join us on this new adventure.

Our lineup:
· @weedeaterband (NC,USA)
· @eyehategodnola (NO,USA)
· @belzebong420 (POL)
· @weedsnakeband (MX)
· @whollydoomedblackmetal (PDX,USA)
· @reverence_to_paroxysm (MX)
· @deepseadoom (MX)
· @ageofthewolf (CR)
· @desolladoband (MX)

Presale Tickets $1,200
http://blt.mx/o0x

· Saturday, September 21, 2024
· Bloody (CDMX) @sangrientomx

Art: Diego Bureau @anti_art666

Thank you @alonsopanke @k_popper @fuerza_booking

https://www.facebook.com/DoomCityFest/
https://www.instagram.com/doomcityfest
https://boletopolis.com/es/evento/31137

Weedsnake, Grimorium Cannabinarum (2023)

Demons My Friends filmed the video premiering below earlier this Spring as they played two support gigs for Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson in Guadalajara. There’s some joke there to be made about stoner rock and Dickinson famously yelling at people in the crowd for smoking weed, but that’s a good spot to play regardless of whether or not you’re a Maiden fan, and why poke fun anyhow. To mark the occasion, the song “Inner Slay” becomes the backdrop for a clip that captures the TX/MX-based three-piece onstage and off, and while it’s not the most party-ready cut from their 2023 debut long-player, Demons Seem to Gather (review here), with some edge of Pallbearer-style emotionalism resonating in its echoing melody, but that adds rather than takes away from the experience, and clearly it was a special moment for the band. At five minutes, “Inner Slay” is one of the longer songs on the record. Maybe they had more they wanted to remember than the 3:13 “Make Them Pay” could hold. I ain’t arguing.

The band were on tour in May and will be out again in September in Austin — where at least some percentage of the trio is based, I think, split between there and Mexico City — as part of the sprawling gathering that will be this year’s Ripplefest Texas, and in October they’re set to appear at Monterrey Metal Fest, where the likes of Satyricon and Enslaved will also play. Demons My Friends aren’t that aggro, but their tones are likewise fuzzed and expansive, and as alluded above, there are darker tinges of doom beneath the exterior of some of their material, whether it’s the Monolordy roll of album opener “The Tower Falls” or the thickened shuffle in the verses of “Fire Mountain” later on. Either way, the spirit in which the the “Inner Slay” clip arrives is pretty straightforward — commemoration — and indeed it looks like a couple nights worth remembering.

If you didn’t catch the album, no sweat, it’s not like they’ve put out three more since (yet). The full Bandcamp stream is at the bottom of this post, and you might find that after you see them celebrating what will surely be a highlight of the time around their first album, it’s cool to see clips spliced into the “Inner Slay” video of them laughing and having a good time backstage and soundchecking and whatnot. Cool band does cool thing — again, pretty straightforward. But if they’re new to you and you find yourself thinking of forward potential in their sound, the various avenues that Demons Seem to Gather sets up for them to explore while offering solid structures underneath their more soaring elements for a strong foundation in craft, that’s pretty much where I’m at too. Very interested to see where the next few years take them, and that they’re thus far playing into being the outsider act on more metal lineups — not that Bruce Dickinson and Satyricon play the same kind of stuff, but you know what I mean — is fascinating and bold. I expect to hear good things after Ripplefest.

For now, here’s the video. Please enjoy:

Demons My Friends, “Inner Slay” video premiere

Recorded on April 18 2024 at Teatro Diana in Guadalajara, Mexico during the first of the two shows that DMF opened for Bruce Dickinson on his Mandrake Project World Tour.

“Inner Slay” appears on Demons My Friends’ full-length album, “Demons Seem To Gather”, available everywhere via Gravitoyd Heavy Music (in partnership with Wiseband France).

Video shot, edited and directed by Alexander Bizzarro.
“Inner Slay” produced and mixed by Jeff Henson at Red Nova Ranch (Austin, TX) and mastered by Alberto De Icaza.

Festival Appearances
Sept 21st – Ripplefest Texas – Austin TX
Oct 12th – Mexico Metal Fest – Monterrey, Mexico

Demons My Friends is:
Pablo Anton – guitar/vox
Lu Salinas – Bass/vox
Tarro Martinez – Drums

Demons My Friends, Demons Seem to Gather (2023)

Demons My Friends on Facebook

Demons My Friends on Instagram

Demons My Friends on Bandcamp

Demons My Friends Linktr.ee

Gravitoyd Heavy Music on Facebook

Gravitoyd Heavy Music on Instagram

Gravitoyd Heavy Music on Bandcamp

A word about the image above. ‘AI art’ has become a thing people argue about on the internet. Like everything. Fine. I made the above image with a prompt through whatever Microsoft is calling its bot this week and got what I wanted. I didn’t have to talk to anyone or pay anyone in anything more than the personal data you compromise every time you use the internet for anything, and it was done. I could never draw, but when I finished, I felt like I’d at least taken part in some way in making this thing. And telling a computer what to make and seeing what it gets right and wrong is fascinating. You might feel a bit like you’re painting with words, which as someone who could never draw but could construct a sentence, I can appreciate.

I’m a big supporter of human creativity, and yes, corporations who already hold creative professionals — writers, editors, graphic designers, etc. — in such outward contempt will be only too happy to replace them with robots. I was there when magazines died; I know how that goes. But instead of being reactionaries and calling for never-gonna-happen-anyway bans, isn’t it maybe worth acknowledging that there’s no going back in time, that AI art isn’t going anywhere, and that it might just have valid creative uses? I don’t feel like I need to defend myself for making or using the image above, but I did try to get a human artist first and it didn’t work out. In the hard reality of limited minutes, how much should I really chase when there’s an easier way to get what I want? And how much can people be expected to live up to that shifting moral obligation in the long term?

The future will laugh at us, inevitably, either way. And fair enough with the world we’re leaving them.

Quarterly Review #11-20:

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Lord Dying, Clandestine Transcendence

While bearing the tonal force of their roots in doom, Portland’s Lord Dying have nonetheless willfully become a crucial purveyor of forward-thinking death metal, driven by extremity but refusing to subdue its own impulses to fit with genre. At 12 songs and an hour’s runtime, Clandestine Transcendence neither is nor is supposed to be a minor undertaking, but with a melodic declaration in “Unto Becoming” that’ll elicit knowing nods from Virus fans and a mentality of creative reach that’s worthy of comparison to Enslaved, Lord Dying showcase mastery of the style the four-piece of guitarist/vocalist Erik Olson, guitarist Chris Evans, bassist/vocalist Alyssa Maucere and drummer Kevin Swartz explored with vigilance on 2019’s Mysterium Tremendum (review here), and an ability to depart from aggression without losing their intensity or impact on “Dancing on the Emptiness” or in the payoff of “Break in the Clouds (In the Darkness of Our Minds).” They may be headed toward too-weird-for-everybody megaprogmetal ultimately, but the challenges-to-stylistic-homogeny of their material are only part of what gives Clandestine Transcendence its crux, and in fostering the call-and-response onslaught of “Facing the Incomprehensible” alongside the epic reach of “A Bond Broken by Death,” they cast their own mold as unique within or without of the heavy underground sphere.

Lord Dying on Facebook

MNRK Heavy website

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Black Glow, Black Glow

The late-2023 self-titled debut from Black Glow marks a new beginning for Monterrey, Mexico, guitarist, vocalist and songwriter Gina Rios, formerly of Spacegoat, and something of a creative redirect, taking on a sound that is less indebted to boogie and classic doom but that has clearly learned the lessons of its influences. Also credited with producing (Victor “KB” Velazquez recorded, mixed and mastered, which doesn’t invalidate the credit), Rios is a strong enough performer to carry the five-song EP/short-LP on her own, but thankfully bassist Oscar Saucedo and drummer Octavio Diliegros bring tonal fullness to the breadth of atmosphere in the rolling closer “Obscured Jail,” reaching past seven minutes with fluidity that adds to Black Glow‘s aspects of purpose and craft, which are significant despite being the band’s first outing. As a vehicle for Rios‘ songwriting, Black Glow sound immediately like they can evolve in ways Spacegoat likely couldn’t or wouldn’t have, and that prospect is all the more enticing with the accomplishments displayed here.

Black Glow on Facebook

Black Glow on Bandcamp

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Cracked Machine, Wormwood

Between the leadoff of “Into the Chronosphere” and “The Glowing Sea,” “Return to Antares,” “Burning Mountain” and “Desert Haze,” UK instrumentalists Cracked Machine aren’t short on destinations for the journey that is their fourth full-length, Wormwood, but with more angular texturing on “Eigenstate” and the blend of tonal float — yes, even the bass — and terrestrial groove wrought in the closing title-track, the band manage to emphasize plot as well as a sense of freedom endemic to jam-born heavy psychedelia. That is to say, as second cut “Song of Artemis” gives brooding reply to the energetic “Into the Chronosphere,” which is loosely krautrocky in its dug-in feel and exploratory as part of that, they are not trying to pretend this material just happened. Layers of effects and a purposeful reach between its low and high ends in the solo of “The Glowing Sea” — with the drums holding the two together, as one would hope — and subsequent section of standalone guitar as the start of a linear build that spreads wide sonically rather than overpowering with volume speaks to a dynamic that’s about more than just loud or quiet, and the keyboard holding notes in the culmination of “Burning Mountain” is nothing if not purposeful in its shimmering resonance. They may be headed all over the place, but I think that’s just a sign Cracked Machine know how to get there.

Cracked Machine on Facebook

Cracked Machine on Bandcamp

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Per Wiberg, The Serpent’s Here

Currently also of Kamchatka and Spiritual Beggars and maybe Switchblade, the career arc of Per Wiberg (also ex-Opeth, live work and/or studio contributions for Candlemass, Grand Magus, Arch Enemy, mostly on keys or organ) varies widely in style within a heavy sphere, and it should be no surprise that his solo work is likewise multifaceted. Following on from 2021’s EP, All Is Well In the Land of the Living But for the Rest of Us… Lights Out (review here), the six-song and 41-minute (seven/47 with the bonus track Warrior Soul cover “The Losers”) finds cohesion in a thread of progressive styles that allows Wiberg to explore what might be a Gary Numan influence in the verses of “The Serpent’s Here” itself while emerging with a heavy, catchy and melodic chorus marked by a driving riff. The eight-minute “Blackguards Stand Silent” works in movements across a structural departure as the rhythm section of Mikael Tuominen (Kungens Män) and drummer Tor Sjödén (Viagra Boys) get a subtle workout, and “He Just Disappeared” pushes into the cinematic on a patient line of drone, a contemplative departure after the melancholic piano of “This House is Someone Else’s Now” that allows “Follow the Unknown” to cap the album-proper with a return to the full-band feel and a pointed grace of keys and synth, clearly working to its creator’s own high standard.

Per Wiberg on Facebook

Despotz Records website

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Swell O, Morning Haze

Bremen, Germany’s Swell O released their apparently-recorded-in-a-day debut album, Morning Haze, in Feb. 2023 and followed with a vinyl release this past Fall on Clostridium Records, and if there’s anything clouding their vision as regards songwriting, it didn’t make it onto the record. Proffering solid, engaging, festival-ready desert-style heavy rock, “Hitchhiker” sweeps down the open highway of its own riff while “Black Cat” tips hat to Fu Manchu, the title-track veers into pop-punkish uptempoism in a way “Shine Through” contrasts with less shove and more ambience. The seven-minute “Summit” extrapolates a lean toward the psychedelic from Kyussian foundations, but the crux on Morning Haze is straightforward and aware of where it wants its songs to be aesthetically. It’s not a revolution in that regard, but it’s not supposed to be, and for all its in-genre loyalism, Morning Haze demonstrates an emergent persona in the modernized ’90s fuzz-crunch semi-blowout of “Venom” at the end, which wraps a salvo that started with “Hitchhiker” and lets Swell O make the most of their over-quickly 31-minute first LP.

Swell O on Facebook

Clostridium Records store

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Cower, Celestial Devastation

Accounting for everything from goth to post-hardcore to the churn of Godflesh in an encompassing interpretation of post-punk, London outfit Cower could fill this space with pedigree alone and manage to nonetheless make a distinct impression across the nine songs of Celestial Devastation. Organic and sad on “We Need to Have the Talk,” inorganic and sad on “Hard-Coded in the Souls of Men,” electronic anti-chic before the guitar surge in “Buffeted by Solar Winds,” and bringing fresh perspective to Kataonia-style depressive metal in “Aging Stallions,” it’s a album that willfully shirks genre — a few of them, actually — in service to its songs, as between the software-driven title-track and the downer-New-Wave-as-doom centerpiece “Deathless and Free,” Cower embark on an apparent critique of tech as integrated into current life (though I can’t find a lyric sheet) and approach from seemingly divergent angles without losing track of the larger picture of the LP’s atmosphere. Celestial Devastation is the second album from the trio, comprised of Tom Lacey, Wayne Adams (who also produced, as he will) and Gareth Thomas. Expect them to continue to define and refine this style as they move forward, and expect it to become even more their own than it is here. A band like this, if they last, almost can’t help but grow.

Cower’s Linktr.ee

Human Worth on Bandcamp

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HORSEN3CK, Heavy Spells

Boston’s HORSEN3CK, who’ve gone all-caps and traded their second ‘e’ for a ‘3’ since unveiling the included-here “Something’s Broken” as a debut standalone single this January, make a rousing four-song statement of intent even as the lineup shifts from piece to piece around the core duo of Tim Catz and Jeremy Hemond, best known together for their work as the rhythm section of Roadsaw. With their maybe-not-right-now bandmate Ian Ross adding guitar to “Something’s Broken” and a different lead vocalist on each song, Heavy Spells has inherent variety even before “Haunted Heart” exalts its darker mood with pulls reminiscent of Alice in Chains‘ “Frogs.” With Catz taking a turn on vocals, “Golden Ghost” is punk under its surface class, and though “Haunted Heart” grows in its crescendo, its greater impact is in the vibe, which is richer for the shift in approach. “Thirst” rounds out with a particular brashness, but nowhere HORSEN3CK go feels even vaguely out of their reach. Alright guys. Concept proved, now go do a full-length. When they do, I’ll be intrigued to see if the lineup solidifies.

HORSEN3CK on Facebook

HORSEN3CK on Bandcamp

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Troll Teeth, Sluagh Vol. 1

New Jersey doom rockers Troll Teeth‘s stated goal with Sluagh Vol. 1 was to find a sound the character of which would be defined in part by its rawer, retro-styled recording. The resultant four-song outing, which was their second EP of 2023 behind Underground Vol. 1, doesn’t actually veer into vintage-style ’70s worship, but lives up to the premise just the same in its abiding rawness. “3 Shots for a 6 Shooter” brings a Queens of the Stone Age-style vocal melody over an instrumental that’s meaner than anything that band ever put to tape, while nine-minute opener “1,000 Ton Brick” feels very clearly titled in honor of its own roll. It might be the heaviest stretch on the EP but for the rumbling low distortion spliced in among the psychedelic unfolding of 16-minute closer “Purgatory,” which submerges the listener in its course after “Here Lies” seems to build and build and build through the entirety of its still-hooky execution. With its title referencing the original name of the band and a focus on older material, the rougher presentation suits the songs, though it’s not like there’s a pristine “1,000 Ton Brick” out there to compare it to. Whether there will be at Sluagh Vol. 2 at any point, I don’t know, but even the intentionality of realizing his material in the recording process argues in favor of future revisits.

Troll Teeth on Facebook

Electric Talon Records store

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Black Ocean’s Edge, Call of the Sirens

Celebrating their own dark side in the opener “Wicked Voice,” German heavy rockers Black Ocean’s Edge keep the proceedings relatively friendly on Call of the Sirens, their debut long-player behind 2022’s Dive Deep EP, at least as regards accessibility and the catchiness of their craft. Vibrant and consistent in tone, the Ulm four-piece find room for the classic rock of “Leather ‘n’ Velvet” and the that-might-be-actual-flute-laced prog-psych payoff of “Lion in a Cage” between the second two of the three parts that comprise the title-track, which departs from the heavy blues rock of “Drift” or “Cold Black Water,” which is the centerpiece and longest inclusion at 7:43 and sets its classic-heavy influences to work with a forward-looking perspective. At 42 minutes and nine tracks, Call of the Sirens feels professional in how it reaches out to its audience, and it leaves little to doubt from Black Ocean’s Edge as regards songwriting, production or style. They may refine and sharpen their approach over time, and with these songs as where they’re coming from, they’ll be in that much better position to hit the ears of the converted.

Note: this album is out in April and I couldn’t find cover art. Band photo above is by Matija Kasalo.

Black Ocean’s Edge on Facebook

Black Ocean’s Edge on Bandcamp

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SONS OF ZÖKU, ËNDL​Ë​SS

If an album could ask you, musically, why you’re in such a hurry — and not like hurrying to work, really in a hurry, like in how you live — the mellow psych and acid folk proffered by Adelaide, Australia’s SONS OF ZÖKU on their second full-length, ËNDL​Ë​SS, might just be doing that. Don’t take that to mean the album is still or staid though, because they’re not through “Moonlight” after the intro before the bass gets funky behind all that serene melody, and when you’re worshiping the sun that’s all the more reason to dance by the moon. Harmonies resonate in “Earth Chant” (and all around) atop initially quiet guitar noodling, and the adventures in arrangement continue in the various chimes and percussion instruments, the touch of Easternism in “Kuhnoo” and the keyboard-fueled melodic payoff to the pastoralism of “Hunters.” With flute and a rhythmic delivery to its group vocal, “O Saber” borders on the tribal, while “Yumi” digs on cosmic prog insistence in a way that calls to mind the underappreciated Death Hawks and finds its way in a concluding instrumental stretch that doesn’t lose its spontaneous feel despite being more cogent than improv generally comes across. “Lonesome Tale” is a melancholy-vibe-reprise centered around acoustic guitar and “Nu Poeme” gives a sense of grandeur that is unto itself without going much past four minutes in the doing. Such triumphs are rare more broadly but become almost commonplace as SONS OF ZÖKU set their own context with a sound harnessing the inspiration of decades directing itself toward an optimistic future.

SONS OF ZÖKU on Facebook

Copper Feast Records store

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