[Click play above to stream the premiere of Moon Coven’s Sun King. It’s out Friday, Aug. 25, on Ripple Music.]

Swedish four-piece Moon Coven return with their fourth full-length, Sun King, collecting nine songs and 46 minutes of material that continues the band’s progression into the niche between niches. Their third album, 2021’s Slumber Wood (review here), brought them to Ripple Music after their 2016 self-titled (review here) came out on Transubstans, and found them solidifying their approach between classic heavy grooves and psychedelic or jammy impulses. Sun King isn’t a complete departure from this method, but in the fuzzy tone of “Wicked Words in Gold They Wrote” and “Behold the Serpent,” or the centerpiece “Below the Black Grow” with its plotted guitar leads later on, “Guilded Apple” coming across with a rock that seems just to want to skate and is way more San Diego than Malmö, and the closer “The Lost Color” feedbacking into its heavy garage thrust, Moon Coven — David Regn Leban (guitar/vocals, also cover art, production, mix), Axel Ganhammar (guitar), Pontus Ekberg (bass) and Fredrik Dahlqvist (drums), plus Joona Hassinen, who mastered — put their focus on songwriting and let the rest shake out as it will.

In the case of the sunny cultism of “Seeing Stone,” that shake is palpable, Moon Coven coming off the Fu Manchu-style riffery and blown-out Fuzz-in-the-woods vocals of “Wicked Words in Gold They Wrote” with a more straight-ahead shove in one of Sun King‘s standout hooks and a cut that, along with side B’s “The Yawning Wild” at 4:24, is one of the shorter inclusions at 4:32, sounding like potential Euro tour partners for their labelmates in Sun Voyager as they careen and crash and ion-drive their way through good-time cosmism and heavy vibes for heavy times. And I don’t know if Leban is looking for production clients, but with as full and dense and professional (for what it is) as Sun King sounds, he’s going to have them lining up soon enough if he doesn’t already.

Yeah, the bridge from Black Sabbath‘s “Children of the Grave” is recognizable after the midpoint in “Wicked Words in Gold They Wrote” and something about the swing and holding-on-by-a-thread looseness of the penultimate interlude “Death Shine Light on Life,” maybe the lead guitar tone, brings to mind All Them Witches, but beyond these and other superficial comparison points — a riff here reminding of another riff there, and so on — Moon Coven‘s purposes are more intricate than they’ve ever been. The quiet opening of “Behold the Serpent” and the doomly unfolding of its crash-laced nod riff sprawling out give over to a march of a verse with a deceptively complex melody in its low-end fuzz complementing the vocals, a second voice layer kicking in for the chorus/title-line before they shift back to the verse.

These structures are traditional, and stylistically at least, one might call Moon Coven traditional as well, but while they’re obviously schooled on the aesthetic foundations from which they’re operating, at this point they’re also coming on a decade’s remove from their first LP, 2014’s Amanita Kingdom, and that they’d be mature in terms of craft as they are shouldn’t be a surprise. Part of why it is one is because they still sound like a young band.

To listen to “Sun King,” the song itself, its fuzzy cosmic biker boogie is executed with suitable, palpable live energy — which it needs; credit again to Leban as producer as well as player — and it moves into and through its bass-and-drums-hold-the-rhythm-while-the-guitars-line-up-for-slow-Thin-Lizzy-style-soloing, the magic of the two guitars working together highlighted briefly before a sudden and righteous return of the chorus. It is not impatient, nor wanting urgency, and its last lyric, “The turning of the tide if coming/Let’s behead the king,” feels like it’s speaking to real-world concerns through metaphor — though actually Louis XIV of France, aka the Sun King, died of gangrene — in a way that is neither overbearing in stating the obvious message that economic disparity is a bad thing, nor shying away from making the comment at all.

Like a lot of what Moon Coven do, it is a question of finding the place on the balance from which one might manipulate multiple sides. A bassy highlight in its early going, “Below the Black Grow” has a languid fuzzy rollout in its verses and a solo section answering back to the title-track in how it winds into the chorus and makes its way through to finish with a return of that easygoing-feeling fuzz, almost Brant Bjorkian for its just-right tempo and abidingly cool vibe. “Guilded Apple” tucks a dream-shimmer solo away in its second half as its ending, but its six minutes are more defined by thrust and the smoothness of the shuffle happening amid the momentum carrying Moon Coven into “The Yawning Wild,” which is all about the fuzz and the winding lead that cuts through it. They have the riff, they know they have the riff, you know they have the riff, so here it is. And when you have that kind of riff, you don’t need anything else. That they realized it is further evidence to support their maturity, but it’s not really in argument.

Feedback caps “The Yawning Wild,” as one would hope, and the instrumental “Death Shine Light on Life” picks up with a subtle push thanks largely to the drums, which assure that the spacey guitar that might just otherwise lie down and relax a while keeps moving toward “The Lost Color.” The finale echoes some of the Californian twist of “Wicked Words in Gold They Wrote” or “Seeing Stone,” but has its own gritted-out intention before its solo closes like “Guilded Apple” earlier on; an ending that one might call understated if not for the song in question. “The Lost Color” certainly has a crescendo, but its payoff is for itself rather than the whole of Sun King, and maybe that’s a fitting representation of the record too, since it’s the songs that have led the way all along.

An accomplished creative process wrought with discernible care, attention and a mind toward continued growth, Moon Coven‘s Sun King signals that the four-piece have no interest in settling into easy categorization or resting on past laurels. It is an immersive but not numbing listening experience, and moves with sneaky grace derived from the band’s collective persona. Perhaps most of all, it rocks, and maybe that’s enough to ask of it.

Moon Coven on Facebook

Moon Coven on Instagram

Moon Coven on Bandcamp

Ripple Music on Facebook

Ripple Music on Instagram

Ripple Music on Bandcamp

Ripple Music website

Looking for some good tonal dirt? Hit up the video at the bottom of this post for Moon Coven‘s new single “Wicked Words in Gold They Wrote.” It’s the opening track of the Malmö, Sweden, four-piece’s new album, Sun King, which is out Aug. 25 through Ripple Music. The clip was recorded live in the studio, so it might be a bit rawer than the final version on the LP, but considering Moon Coven‘s work to-date, probably not that much rawer. The band were last heard from in 2021 with their third full-length, Slumber Wood (review here), and some of the intention they note below to shake up their style can be heard in the trippy echo of screaming slide guitar over the groove they ride to the song’s finish. I guess if you’ve got ‘moon’ in the name of your band, putting ‘sun’ in the album title is a decent way to let people know you’re trying something different.

This will be the band’s second offering as a four-piece, and they’ve always had an out-there edge to their sound, so if that’s where they’re headed this time around I’ll look forward to hearing it. The below came down the PR wire:

Swedish heavy psychedelic rockers MOON COVEN return with new album “Sun King” on Ripple Music this summer; debut single and preorder available!

Malmö-based heavy psychedelic merchants MOON COVEN return this August 25th with their fourth studio album “Sun King” on Ripple Music, and unveil a powerful live video for their new single “Wicked Words in Gold They Wrote”!

Two years after unleashing their juggernaut third record and Ripple Music debut “Slumber Wood” upon the world, MOON COVEN are now ready to shift the Earth’s axis and mesmerize the masses once again with a fresh set of tunes in the sheerest tradition of modern heavy psychedelia: “Sun King”. Entirely recorded and produced by the band, their fourth studio album is a generous and compelling 9-track propelled by a renewed synergy: fueled up with fuzz for days, the band keeps their myth-laden doom ethos strong while enhancing their garage-psych facet for a spirited saga full of riffic plot twists.

About new album “Sun King”, the band comments: “In some ways, Sun King was a fresh start for us. After one member had to leave the band and after three stoner/doom albums, we wanted to try other styles as well. To keep producing interesting music, we had to expand our horizons a bit. In our opinion, Sun King is our most diverse album. It’s fun and playful sometimes and dark and powerful other times. The only aims we had was to keep the songwriting fun and creative while not feeling too limited. Also we recorded everything ourselves, which meant the recording process became more creative. We had unlimited time to explore without thinking about loss of money.”

“Sun King” was recorded and mixed by David Regn Leban, and mastered by Joona Hassinen. The artwork was created by David Regn Leban. It will be released on August 25th in various vinyl editions, as well as on CD and digital through Ripple Music.

MOON COVEN “Sun King”
Out August 25th on Ripple Music
US preorder – https://ripplemusic.bigcartel.com/product/moon-coven-sun-king-vinyl-and-cd-editions
European preorder – https://en.ripple.spkr.media/
Bandcamp – https://ripplemusic.bandcamp.com/

TRACKLIST:
1. Wicked Words In Gold They Wrote
2. Seeing Stone
3. Sun King
4. Behold The Serpent
5. Below The Black Grow
6. The Yawning Wild
7. Death Shine Light On Life
8. The Lost Color
9. Guilded Apple

MOON COVEN is
David Regn Leban – guitar and vocals
Axel Ganhammar – guitar
Fredrik Dahlqvist – drums
Pontus Ekberg – bass

https://www.facebook.com/mooncoven
https://www.instagram.com/mooncovenband/
https://mooncoven.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/theripplemusic/
https://www.instagram.com/ripplemusic/
https://ripplemusic.bandcamp.com/
http://www.ripple-music.com/

Moon Coven, “Wicked Words in Gold They Wrote” official video

Stuff that’s been on my mind lately or came in recently and caught my fancy. Nothing really too tricky to how this one came together. Heavy Temple and All Souls are the two most recent interviews I’ve done, and the King Buffalo and Moon Coven and Vokonis and Whims of the Great Magnet are also things I’ve covered lately. Ditto Cavern Deep. Electric Moon I bought a shirt from the other day — they’re putting together a new comp of their studio work — and the Somnuri record continues to demolish.

Déhà and Seputus and Gateway are killer and more extreme, Slomatics are recording, the Wooden Veins record is out on The Vinyl Division and was a record I wanted to give more attention to, and yeah, as far as motivation goes, this is basically what’s been circling around in my head for the last two weeks. More than that in some cases.

Without waxing poetic, I guess that’s kind of the point of the show. Hear new music, share new music. It’s not the most ambitious goal I’ve undertaken, but not to put too fine a point on it, it is essentially the rule by which I govern everything I do here. Next episode has more of a united theme (I already turned the playlist in; look at me being ahead of the game for once), but I think this flows well just the same.

Thanks for listening and/or reading. I hope you enjoy.

The Obelisk Show airs 5PM Eastern today on the Gimme app or at http://gimmemetal.com

Full playlist:

The Obelisk Show – 06.11.21

Moon Coven	Bahgsu Nag	Slumber Wood
The Whims of the Great Magnet	Share My Sun	Share My Sun
Vokonis	Through the Depths	Odyssey
VT
King Buffalo	The Knocks	The Burden of Restlessness
Slomatics	Proto Hag	Split with Ungraven
Seputus	The Learned Response	Phantom Indigo
Déhà	Blackness in May	Cruel Words
Gateway	Slumbering Crevasses	Flesh Reborn
VT
Acid Magus	Wyrd Syster	Wyrd Syster
Heavy Temple	A Desert Through the Trees	Lupi Amoris
All Souls	You Just Can’t Win	Songs for the End of the World
Somnuri	In the Grey	Nefarious Wave
Wooden Veins	Thin Shades	In Finitude
Cavern Deep	Waterways	Cavern Deep
VT
Electric Moon	The Doomsday Machine	The Doomsday Machine

The Obelisk Show on Gimme Metal airs every Friday 5PM Eastern, with replays Sunday at 7PM Eastern. Next new episode is June 25 (subject to change). Thanks for listening if you do.

Gimme Metal website

The Obelisk on Facebook

Swedish haze rockers Moon Coven released their third album, Slumber Wood, last month through Ripple Music. The band’s first offering in some five years, it’s a 42-minute nodder of righteous proportion and density, led off by “Further” (premiered here) as an entry point into the broadened melody and shoring-up of aesthetic that’s taken place since Moon Coven offered the well-received-and-would-seem-to-be-reissue-fodder self-titled sophomore LP (review here) in 2016. In eight tracks here, they elicit riffage both familiar and nuanced, finding bounce in “Ceremony” no less worthy of its title than was “Further” in its demonstration of their progress, but neither cut completely summarizes what Moon Coven are up to across the whole span, be it the more atmospheric unfurling of “Gibeki Tape/Potbelly Hill” or the humming-organ interlude “A Tower of Silence” that follows the garage-doomed “Eye of the Night” and leads into the longest track “Bahgsu Nag,” the band seeing their way into a dead-on psychedelic dreamspace of interspliced guitar and intermittent push.

This is the first installment of a resounding closing trilogy given due ceremony by “A Tower of Silence” situated at the start of side B, with each cut functioning not only to bring something of its own to the proceedings — while emphasizing as well how much side A did the same — be it the tipping-balance-toward-ethereality of “Bahgsu Nag” or the manner in which echoing howls of the penultimate “Seagull” give way to mournful, downerist lumber at the finish, or how “My Melting Mind” doesn’t so much return to ground as plunder deeper (“further?”) into it initially while still leaving room in the second half to ring out a more drifting solo, never quite leaving the heft behind, but spreading outward from it ahead of the last chorus, which likewise highlights the subtlety of vocal layering that’s both been a melodic foundation and is surely to be a point of continued development for the band. Taken in its entirety, Slumber Wood offers breadth and depth of mix and a cohesive sound that’s unafraid to put its own stamp on what would otherwise be the hallmarks of genre. You can take it as hypnotic if you want, but it only justifies conscious attention when it’s given.

That said, the video below for “Further” is trippy as hell, so there you have it. If you want to think of it as a sampling of tone and general craft before you dive deeper into the record itself, go ahead. Whatever gets you there is only doing you a favor.

Have at it:

Moon Coven, “Further” official video

Up and coming Swedish psychedelic doom band MOON COVEN take you deeper into their dream realm, with their brand new “Further” video. Their third full-length ‘Slumber Wood’ is available right now on Ripple Music.

Bathed in a sublime pink aura, “Further” unfurls this dark, forlorn number with soaring vocals and deadly downtuned leads, as acid bubbles blossom around dreams of solitary walks through the cold, lonely woods. This new video is a perfect example of the occult energies MOON COVEN are able to deploy to mesmerize their audiences.

Moon Coven, Slumber Wood (2021)

Moon Coven on Facebook

Moon Coven on Bandcamp

Ripple Music on Facebook

Ripple Music on Instagram

Ripple Music on Bandcamp

Ripple Music website

Swedish psych-doom riffers Moon Coven have signed to Ripple Music and will release their third album and label debut, Slumber Wood, on May 7. You may recall the culty obscure radness that ensued on their 2016 self-titled (review here), and honestly, whether you do or not it’s up on Bandcamp and if you want a way to get stoked for the new record to come, listening to the band is probably the way to go.

Not much of an insight, I know, but to make up for that I’m pleased to be able to host the premiere of the first single post likely several slated from Slumber Wood. The track in question is called “Further,” and I can scarcely think of a better word to describe the way it builds on what Moon Coven were doing half a decade ago. In the underlying sharpness of the songwriting and the maintained atmospheric murk it’s inherited, “Further” indeed stands as ready evidence of sonic progression, and whether you’re familiar with the band or not, there’s nothing quite like having your interest piqued by new tunes. You know that or you likely wouldn’t be here.

I would love to go on about the album, but honestly, my plan was to listen today (Wednesday) and write about it in advance of this post as you see it now (on Thursday), but I’m in the hospital with my kid and his cracked skull. I beg your indulgence. I’ll have a review up sometime before the release — with a little under two months to go, that should just about be enough time — and until then, I put you in the capable hands of the PR wire.

Thank you:

Moon Coven are a Swedish stoner rock band whose deep understanding of the classics and their passion for fuzz make for a distinct and potent sound. Having formed out of the desire to get back to their musical roots, Moon Coven documents the musicians journeys both as individuals and as friends. The bands sound is a fusion of genre staples like Black Sabbath and Acid King with the progressive magic of Pink Floyd and the psychedelic influences of The Black Angels. They are currently gearing up to release their brand new album, “Slumber Wood” on Ripple Music in 2021.

Having opened for bands like Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats, Monolord, Blues Pills and Jex Thoth – Moon Coven knows what it means to share the stage with the best of the best. It was this same attitude that they brought on their three European tours as well as to festivals like Krokbacken, Children of the Sun fest or the legendary Red Smoke Festival in Poland! As work wraps up on their third album, it seems like at long last the early promise of these Swedish riff masters is becoming fulfilled and pointing towards bold new futures.

The band have already looked beyond 2021’s “Slumber Wood” though. They are deep in the process of writing a fourth album. This period of intense creativity for Moon Coven belies their goal of continuing to create heavy music together for years to come. As for now though – fans have a veritable storm of fuzzy riffs descending upon their eardrums in just a few months time. “Slumber Wood” will be Moon Coven’s first new album in five years and they promise that it will have been worth the wait. The journey back to their roots is nearly complete!

https://www.facebook.com/mooncoven
https://mooncoven.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/theripplemusic/
https://www.instagram.com/ripplemusic/
https://ripplemusic.bandcamp.com/
http://www.ripple-music.com/

2016 ends and 2017 starts off on the right foot with a brand new Quarterly Review roundup. The first time I ever did one of these was at the end of 2014 and I called the feature ‘Last Licks.’ Fortunately, I’ve moved on from that name, but that is kind of how I’m thinking about this particular Quarterly Review. You’ll find stuff that came out spread all across 2016, early, middle, late, but basically what I’m trying to do here is get to a point where it’s not March and I’m still reviewing albums from November. Will it work? Probably not, but in order to try my damnedest to make it do so anyway, I’m making this Quarterly Review six full days. Monday to Monday instead of Monday to Friday. 60 reviews in six posts. Sounds like madness because it is madness. Let’s get started.

Quarterly Review #1-10:

Hornss, Telepath

San Francisco trio Hornss debuted on RidingEasy Records with 2014’s No Blood No Sympathy (review here) and further their raw genre blend on Telepath, their half-hour follow-up LP delivered via STB, melding heavy punk and metallic impulses to a noisy, thick-toned thrust on songs like “Atrophic” and the bouncing “Sargasso Heart” while opener “St. Genevieve” and the penultimate “Old Ghosts” dig into more stonerly nod. The latter track is the longest inclusion on the record at 3:26, and with 11 cuts there’s plenty of jumping between impulses to be done, but the trio of guitarist/vocalist Mike Moracha, bassist/vocalist Nick Nava – both formerly of desert punkers Solarfeast – and drummer Bil Bowman (ex-Zodiac Killers) work effectively and efficiently to cast an identity for themselves within the tumult. It’s one that finds them reveling in the absence of pretense and the sometimes-caustic vibes of songs like “Leaving Thermal,” which nonetheless boast an underlying catchiness, speaking to a progression from the first album.

Hornss on Thee Facebooks

STB Records store

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Khemmis, Hunted

Easily justifiable decision on the part of Denver’s Khemmis to return to Flatline Audio and producer Dave Otero (Cephalic Carnage, etc.) for their second album, Hunted. No reason to fix what clearly wasn’t broken about their 2015 debut, Absolution (review here), and on the 20 Buck Spin Records release, they don’t. A year later, the four-piece instead build on the doomly grandeur of the first outing and push forward in aesthetic, confidence and purpose, whether that’s shown in mournful opener “Above the Water,” the darker “Candlelight” that follows, or the centerpiece “Three Gates,” which opens as muddied death metal before shifting into a cleaner chorus, creating a rare bridge between doom and modern metal. Khemmis save the most resonant crush for side B, however, with the nine-minute “Beyond the Door” capping with vicious stomp before the 13-minute title-track, which closes the album with an urgency that bleeds even into spacious and melodic break that sets up the final apex to come, as emotionally charged as it is pummeling.

Khemmis on Thee Facebooks

20 Buck Spin on Bandcamp

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Fox 45, Ashes of Man

In addition to the outright charm of titles like “Doominati,” “Coup d’étwat,” “Murdercycle” and “Urinal Acid” (the latter a bonus track), Rochester, New York’s Fox 45 offer fuzzy roll on their Twin Earth Records debut full-length, Ashes of Man, the three-piece of Amanda Rampe, Vicky Tee and Casey Learch finding space for themselves between the post-Acid King nod of “Necromancing the Stone” and more swing-prone movements like the relatively brief “Soul Gourmandizer.” Playing back and forth between longer and shorter tracks gives Ashes of Man a depth of character – particularly encouraging since it’s Fox 45’s first record – and the low-end push that leads “Phoenix Tongue” alone is worth the price of admission, let alone the familiar-in-the-right-ways straightforward heavy riffing of “Narcissister” a short while later. Very much a debut, but one that sets up a grunge-style songwriting foundation on which to build as they move forward, and Fox 45 seem to have an eye toward doing precisely that.

Fox 45 on Thee Facebooks

Twin Earth Records on Bandcamp

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Monolith Wielder, Monolith Wielder

Double-guitar Pittsburgh four-piece Monolith Wielder make their self-titled debut through Italian imprint Argonauta Records, bringing together Molasses Barge guitarist Justin Gizzi and Zom guitarist/vocalist Gero von Dehn with bassist Ray Ward (since replaced by Amy Bianco) and drummer Ben Zerbe (also Mandrake Project) for 10 straightforward tracks that draw together classic Sabbathian doom with post-grunge heavy rock roll. There’s a workingman’s sensibility to the riffing of “No Hope No Fear” and the earlier, more ‘90s moodiness of “Angels Hide” – von Dehn’s vocals over the thick tones almost brings to mind Sevendust on that particularly catchy chorus – but Monolith Wielder’s Monolith Wielder isn’t shy about bringing atmospherics to the Iommic thrust of its eponymous cut or the penultimate “King Under Fire,” which recalls the self-titled Alice in Chains in its unfolding bleakness before closer “Electric Hessian” finishes with a slight uptick in pace and a fade out and back in (and a last sample) that hints at more to come.

Monolith Wielder on Thee Facebooks

Argonauta Records website

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No Man’s Valley, Time Travel

The stomp and clap intro “The Man Who Would be King” casts an immediately bluesy hue on No Man’s Valley’s debut album, Time Travel (LP release on Nasoni), and the Netherlands-based five-piece seem only too happy to build on that from there. It’s a blend outfits like The Flying Eyes and Suns of Thyme have proffered for several years now between heavy psychedelia and blues, but No Man’s Valley find a niche for themselves in the dreamy and patient execution of “Sinking the Lifeboat,” a highlight of the eight-track/33-minute LP, and bring due personality to the classic-style jangle-and-swing of “The Wolves are Coming” as well, so that Time Travel winds up more textured than redundant as it makes its way toward six-minute piano-laden finale “Goon.” Once there, they follow a linear course with a post-All Them Witches looseness that solidifies into a resonant and deeply engaging apex, underscoring the impressive reach No Man’s Valley have brought to bear across this first LP of hopefully many to come.

No Man’s Valley on Thee Facebooks

Nasoni Records website

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Saturna, III/Lost in Time

Barcelona classic rocking four-piece Saturna seem to avoid the boogie trap when they want to, as on the more rolling, modern heavy groove of “Five Fools,” and that keeps their World in Sound/PRC Music third album, III/Lost in Time, from being too predictable after the opening “Tired to Fight” seems to set up Thin Lizzy idolatry. They dip into more complex fare on “Leave it All,” somewhere between Skynyrd leads, Deep Purple organ-isms topped with a rousing hook, but keep some shuffle on songs like “Disease” and the earlier “All Has Been Great.” Highlight/closer “Place for Our Soul” seems to be literal in its title, with a more subdued approach and harmonized vocal delivery, and listening to its more patient delivery one can’t help but wonder why that soul should be relegated to the end of the album instead of featured throughout, but the songwriting is solid and the delivery confident, so while familiar, there’s ultimately little to complain about with what III/Lost in Time offers.

Saturna on Thee Facebooks

World in Sound website

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MØLK, Hate from the Bong

Especially with the title of their second EP set as Hate from the Bong, one might be tempted to put Belgian outfit MØLK immediately in the same category of malevolent stoner/sludge metal as the likes of Bongripper, but frankly they sound like they’re having too much fun for that on the five-tracker, reveling in lyrical shenanigans on the politically suspect “Stonefish” and opener “Methamphetamine.” Make no mistake, they’re suitably druggy, but even Hate from the Bong’s title-track seems to keep its tongue in cheek as it unfolds its post-Electric Wizard echoes and tonal morass. That gives the five-piece an honest vibe – they’re a relatively new band, having released their first EP in 2016 as well; why shouldn’t they be having a good time? – to coincide with all that thickened low end and vocal reverb, and though they’re obviously growing, there isn’t much more I’d ask of them from a debut full-length, which is a task they sound ready to take on in these songs.

MØLK on Thee Facebooks

MØLK on Bandcamp

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Psychedelic Witchcraft, The Vision

Italian cult rock outfit Psychedelic Witchcraft have proven somewhat difficult to keep up with over the last year-plus. As they’ve hooked up with Soulseller Records and reissued their Black Magic Man EP (review here), their full-length debut, The Vision, and already announced a follow-up compilation in 2017’s Magick Rites and Spells, the band consistently work to feature the vocals of Virginia Monti (also Dead Witches) amid semi-retro ‘70s-style boogie, as heard on the debut in cuts like “Witches Arise” and “Wicked Ways.” At nine tracks/34 minutes, however, The Vision is deceptively efficient, and though they’re unquestionably playing to style, Psychedelic Witchcraft find room to vary moods on “The Night” and the subdued strum of “The Only One Who Knows,” keeping some sonic diversity while staying largely on-theme lyrically. To call the album cohesive is underselling its purposefulness, but the question is how the band will build on the bluesy soulfulness of “Magic Hour Blues” now that they’ve set this progression in motion. Doesn’t seem like it will be all that long before we find out.

Psychedelic Witchcraft on Thee Facebooks

Soulseller Records website

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Spotlights, Spiders EP

Following the heavy post-rock wash of their 2016 debut album, Tidals, Brooklynite two-piece Spotlights – bassist/guitarist/vocalist Sarah Quintero and guitarist/synthesis/vocalist Mario Quintero – return on the quick with a three-track EP, Spiders, and set themselves toward further sonic expansion. The centerpiece “She Spider” is a Mew cover, electronic beats back opener “A Box of Talking Heads V2” and the spacious closer “Joseph” is a track from Tidals remixed by former Isis drummer Aaron Harris. So, perhaps needless to say, they hit that “expansion” mark pretty head-on. The finale turns out to be the high point, more cinematic in its ambience, but still moving through with an underlying rhythm to the wash of what one might otherwise call drones before becoming more deeply post-Nine Inch Nails in its back half. How many of these elements might show up on Spotlights’ next record, I wouldn’t guess, but the band takes an important step by letting listeners know the potential is there, adding three wings onto their wheelhouse in three tracks, which is as efficient conceptually as it is sonically immersive.

Spotlights on Thee Facebooks

Spotlights on Bandcamp

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Moon Coven, Moon Coven

This self-titled second full-length from Malmö, Sweden-based Moon Coven begins with its longest track (immediate points) in “Storm” and works quickly to nail down a far-reaching meld between heavy psych and riffy density. Issued through the much-respected Transubstans Records, it’s a nine-track/50-minute push that can feel unipolar on an initial listen, but largely avoids that trap through tonal hypnosis and fluid shifts into and out of jams on cuts like “The Third Eye,” while centerpiece “Haramukh High” provides a solidified moment before the organ interlude “The Ice Temple” leads into the mega-roll of finisher “White Sun.” What seems to be a brooding sensibility from the artwork – a striking departure from their 2014 debut, Amanita Kingdom – is actually a far more colorful affair than it might at first appear, and well justifies the investment of repeat visits in the far-out nod of “Conspiracy” and the swirling “Winter,” which goes so far as to add melodic texture in the vocals and notably fuzzed guitar, doing much to bolster the proceedings and overarching groove.

Moon Coven on Thee Facebooks

Transubstans Records

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Consider this your usual disclaimer that, like any of this site’s coverage of year-end whatnottery, this podcast is by no means attempting to capture all of 2016’s best tracks. It is, however, over four hours long, and frankly that seems like enough to ask. If you decide to take it on and sample what I found to be some of the best material to come down the line over the last 12 months, please know you have my thanks in advance. For what it’s worth, it was a lot of fun to put together, and that’s not always the case with these.

But about the length. I’ve done double-sized year-end specials for a while now. It’s always just seemed a fair way to go. And the last few at least have been posted the week of the Xmas holiday as well, which for me is of dual significance since it just so happens four hours is right about what it takes to drive from where I live to where my family lives, so when I look at this massive slew of 34 acts, from the riff-led righteousness of Wo Fat and Curse the Son to the crush of Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard and SubRosa to the psychedelic reaches of Zun and Øresund Space Collective (who probably show up in podcasts more than anyone, oddly enough), I also think of going to see my family, which has become my favorite part of the holidays.

Whatever associations you might draw with it, I very much hope you enjoy listening. Thanks for taking the time.

Track details follow:

First Hour:

0:00:00 Wo Fat, “There’s Something Sinister in the Wind” from Midnight Cometh
0:09:35 Greenleaf, “Howl” from Rise Above the Meadow
0:14:57 Elephant Tree, “Aphotic Blues” from Elephant Tree
0:20:49 Brant Bjork, “The Gree Heen” from Tao of the Devil
0:26:27 Sergio Ch., “El Herrero” from Aurora
0:29:44 Child, “Blue Side of the Collar” from Blueside
0:35:31 Geezer, “Bi-Polar Vortex” from Geezer
0:43:59 Zun, “Come Through the Water” from Burial Sunrise
0:49:27 Baby Woodrose, “Mind Control Machine” from Freedom
0:54:11 Curse the Son, “Hull Crush Depth” from Isolator
0:59:31 Borracho, “Shot down, Banged up, Fade Away” from Atacama

Second Hour:

1:05:50 Scissorfight, “Nature’s Cruelest Mistake” from Chaos County
1:09:19 Truckfighters, “The Contract” from V
1:16:30 Spidergawd, “El Corazon del Sol” from III
1:21:24 Fatso Jetson, “Royal Family” from Idle Hands
1:26:13 Worshipper, “Step Behind” from Shadow Hymns
1:30:57 Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard, “Y Proffwyd Dwyll” from Y Proffwyd Dwyll
1:39:42 Druglord, “Regret to Dismember” from Deepest Regrets
1:46:34 Moon Coven, “New Season” from Moon Coven
1:52:03 Gozu, “Tin Chicken” from Revival
1:59:49 Year of the Cobra, “Vision of Three” from …In the Shadows Below

Third Hour:

2:06:53 The Munsens, “Abbey Rose” from Abbey Rose
2:14:56 Lamp of the Universe, “Mu” from Hidden Knowledge
2:21:26 1000mods, “On a Stone” from Repeated Exposure To…
2:26:45 Church of the Cosmic Skull, “Watch it Grow” from Is Satan Real?
2:30:43 Vokonis, “Acid Pilgrim” from Olde One Ascending
2:37:35 Slomatics, “Electric Breath” from Future Echo Returns
2:43:02 Droids Attack, “Sci-Fi or Die” from Sci-Fi or Die
2:47:20 King Buffalo, “Drinking from the River Rising” from Orion
2:56:51 Comet Control, “Artificial Light” from Center of the Maze

Fourth Hour:

3:06:37 Øresund Space Collective, “Above the Corner” from Visions Of…
3:22:51 Naxatras, “Garden of the Senses” from II
3:33:14 SubRosa, “Black Majesty” from For this We Fought the Battle of Ages
3:48:23 Seedy Jeezus with Isaiah Mitchell, “Escape Through the Rift” from Tranquonauts

Total running time: 4:07:32

 

Thank you for listening.

Download audiObelisk Transmission 060

 

So although the PR wire info below lists it as coming soon, it seems like Moon Coven‘s self-titled sophomore outing is actually available to order now — as in right now, today — through Transubstans Records. The Swedish psych outfit offered up their debut, Amanita Kingdom, in 2014, and seem to have posted the self-titled earlier this fall, at the start of November, for at least partial streaming. It’s streaming in full now, as well as available via name-your-price download on Bandcamp, but after checking out the roll of album-centerpiece “Haramukh High,” you may indeed find yourself craving the full experience. You won’t hear me argue against that impulse, at very least.

You can dig into the vibes of the full stream below and see where you’re at with it, but in my experience there are few around whose tastes are as reliable as Transubstans. When they get behind something, it’s almost never happenstance.

Goes like this:

Transubstans Records: OUT SOON: MOON COVEN – S/T

Almost three years after the critically acclaimed debut album, “Amanita Kingdom”, MOON COVEN returns! Stronger and heavier than ever. Expect a psychedelic journey to the unknown grounds of your brain while experiencing a healthy dose of the deadliest sludge out there. The band comes back with their self titled effort and it’s clear they’ve taken their ambient ambitions to a whole new level. Prepare to become dazed, prepare to be strung out. Prepare for MOON COVEN!!

Tracklist:
01 Storm (listen)
02 Old Ground
03 Conspiracy
04 New Season
05 Haramukh High
06 Winter
07 The Third Eye
08 Ice Temple
09 White Sun

MOON COVEN is a five piece Heavy/Psychedelic/Rock band from Malmö/Stockholm, Sweden, with roots in Jönköping. Heavy distorted riffs meets harmoniously floating vocals that results in dreamy music with a hypnotic effect. MOON COVEN offers a paradoxical but satisfying musical landscape, it is massive and delicate at the same time.

Moon Coven is:
David
Axel
Justin
Oscar
Fredrik

https://www.facebook.com/mooncoven/
https://mooncoven.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/transubstans
http://www.transubstans.com/
http://www.recordheaven.net/

Moon Coven, Moon Coven (2016)