Posted in Whathaveyou on April 16th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
With five bands, Bergen Doom Collective‘s Enter the Void Vol. 1 is starting out manageable with their inagural edition. Set for May 31 in Bergen, Norway, the lineup is mostly crushing, with Morpholith making the trip from Iceland to join forces with Old Horn Tooth (UK) and native Norwegian destroyers Dwaal and Bismarck. Holy smokes. That is four outfits who make a point of their heaviness. You want to be obliterated by volume? Bismarck into Dwaal into Old Horn Tooth into Morpholith. By the time they’re done, you’ll be little more than thankful goo on the floor.
But don’t forget Gjenferd! It’s a different sound and intention, but the up and coming rockers released their self-titled debut (review here) and are also set to appear at Desertfest Oslo a few weeks prior. They bring a sense of movement to the bill for Enter the Void that’s like your departure point as you make your way into the consuming darkness of the following four acts. They’re a counterintuitive fit on paper, but it’ll work on stage to set up a flow from one into the next until Morpholith finally capture the heat death of the universe and everyone goes home to sleep it off. Glorious.
Info from the PR wire and social media:
Enter the Void vol.1: A Sonic Journey into Darkness
Bergen Doom Collective, in collaboration with Kulturhuset in Bergen, Worship Bookings from Iceland, London Doom Collective, and Helvetes Indre Kretser, presents Enter the Void vol.1 – the first edition of an intense mini-festival that takes you deeper into the sonic abyss. A festival dedicated to promoting heavy underground music across multiple genres!
On May 31st, Kulturhuset in Bergen will be the epicenter of a sonic storm, where some of the most uncompromising bands from the underground scene will perform their mesmerizing rituals. Expect crushing riffs, psychedelic atmospheres, and a total experience that challenges both senses and mind.
The lineup consists of handpicked artists representing some of the finest within heavy underground music. This is not just a mini festival – it is a journey through the void, an echo from the abyss.
• Morpholith (IS) – Crushingly heavy, riff-driven, and atmospheric doom!
• Old Horn Tooth (UK) – Slow, melodic, and psychedelic doom!
• Dwaal (NO) – A raw fusion of doom and post-metal, resulting in a sonic storm!
• Bismarck (NO) – Bone-crushing doom, sludge, and post-metal with esoteric soundscapes!
• Gjenferd (NO) – Hard-hitting riffs, highly catchy vocal harmonies, and a sonic explosion of delicious ’70s rock.
Tickets are limited, so secure your spot before darkness falls!
Sponsored by @orangeamplifiers Poster by @hypnotistdesign
Posted in Features on December 19th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
[PLEASE NOTE: These are not the results of the year-end poll, which ends in January. If you haven’t contributed your picks yet, please do so here.]
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Hi, and welcome to The Obelisk’s year in review for 2024. This is a thing that’s kind of developed over the 15-plus years the site’s been in operation, and it’s something that people sometimes tell me has been a help when it comes to finding new music. I know for myself as well, I’ve referred back to these lists a lot in subsequent years, to see where bands were and where my head was, and so on. Are best-of lists meaningful, at all, in any way? Probably to the person making them, and that’s me, so I’ll proceed.
I thought the format last year worked pretty well, so I’ve hijacked it for use here. Not something I expect anyone to notice, but I did want to mention it on the off-chance. I don’t have a best live album of the year, but there are a few worth talking about, surely.
It’s been a busy, fast year. The barrage of music is overwhelming — and as problems go, that’s among the best ones to have — but I do think we’re seeing some tapering off. Generational turnover is, in fact, a constant, but the 2020s are taking shape now with bands who started making their name around the mid-2010s shifting into headliner status, new bands coming up beneath, more diverse in sound and construction, and with new ideas. This isn’t universal, but it is the ideal vision of the thing. Circle of life and such.
But it’s a lot. Including the 50-releases-strong Quarterly Review last week, I’m well north of having reviewed 400 total different mostly-full-lengths since January. That’s insane. The math is obvious, but I’ll point out anyhow that you could buy an album for every day of the year and have enough for an extra month-plus afterward. An astonishing amount of music, and I’m by no means reviewing everything.
Which brings me to the inevitable last point. I haven’t reviewed everything. If you’re here wondering where Opeth and Blood Incantation are landing on my list, they aren’t. Nothing against either of them, I just haven’t dug into the records since I knew I wouldn’t be reviewing them. The regular standard of doing as much as I can, when I can, about as much as I can, applies.
Please if you disagree with some pick below or other — and if you do, that’s healthy — I kindly ask you to keep things civil in the comments. I’m not here to call people out on enjoying things I don’t — fascism aside — and I know it makes me sad when I break my ass for days to put this together and the first comment is, “NO [WHOEVER]. LIST SUCKS. NEVER READING THIS FILTH AGAIN,” etc. Before you comment, please take a second to read what you put back to yourself for kindness. That’s good for spelling too, not that I’d know.
That’s all the stalling I can do. Time to dive in. Happy holidays.
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The Top 60 Albums of 2024
**NOTE**: If you’re looking for something specific, try a text search.
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60-31
60. Psychlona, Warped Vision
59. Trillion Ton Beryllium Ships, The Mind Like Fire Unbound
58. Massive Hassle, Unreal Damage
57. Temple of the Fuzz Witch, Apotheosis
56. Space Shepherds, Cycler
55. Abrams, Blue City
54. Castle Rat, Into the Realm
53. Heath, Isaak’s Marble
52. Weite, Oase
51. Cosmic Fall, Back Where the Fire Flows
50. Troy the Band, Cataclysm
49. Sunnata, Chasing Shadows
48. Skraeckoedlan, Vermillion Sky
47. Acid Mammoth, Supersonic Megafauna Collision
46. Deer Creek, The Hiraeth Pit
45. Big Scenic Nowhere, The Waydown
44. Grin, Hush
43. The Swell Fellas, Residuum Unknown
42. The Gates of Slumber, The Gates of Slumber
41. Coltaine, Forgotten Ways
40. Mountain of Misery, The Land
39. Mammoth Volume, Raised Up by Witches
38. Delving, All Paths Diverge
37. High on Fire, Cometh the Storm
36. Thou, Umbilical
35. The Giraffes, Cigarette
34. Fu Manchu, The Return of Tomorrow
33. Full Earth, Cloud Sculptors
32. Daevar, Amber Eyes
31. Causa Sui, From the Source
Notes:
Just in case you’re the type of person who’d say, “Oh how could you have a top 60? after a certain number it’s all the same,” I’ll admit that’s true, but 60 is apparently nowhere near the ‘certain number’ in question for me this year. I agonized over this part of the list. More than the top 30, and more than picking a best short release, best debut, or anything else. I wanted basically a second top 30, and I feel like if I saw this as that, as 30-1, I’d congratulate whoever submitted it on their taste. But maybe that’s just me agreeing with myself.
I like the mix of up and comers and established acts here. Sunnata and Skraeckoedlan, The Giraffes, of course High on Fire, Deer Creek and so on, mixing with up and comers like Full Earth, Daevar, Acid Mammoth, Trillion Ton Beryllium Ships, Heath, Troy the Band and Weite. I feel somewhat compelled to justify my High on Fire placement, especially looking at the results so far of the year-end poll. They’re amazing, they’re devastating, they’re a singular live act, but I just didn’t listen to the record that much. There. A big part of me feels like it should be top 10 just by virtue of who the band are, but if I did that for everybody who deserved it, I wouldn’t have room for anything new. All I can do is be honest to my own listening habits and opinions. I know High on Fire are really, really good. I know this album is really, really good. That’s why it’s on this list. Should it be higher? Probably. I’m doing my best.
Thank you for your kind attention in this matter. Also, listen to The Giraffes.
You won’t hear me say a downer word about An Earlier Time‘s quieter stretches, but it’s the sweeping moments like “Limitless” that find Boston’s Sundrifter making the most resonant impression. Their third full-length and the follow-up to 2018’s Visitations (review here), it was a strong declaration of who Sundrifter want to be as they continue to grow, and deserved more love than I saw that it got.
Oh, look out for Mr. Blogosphere. He’s out here taking a real risk putting Tranquonauts on the year-end list, like the combining of forces between Melbourne, Australia, heavy psych blues rockers Seedy Jeezus and guitarist Isaiah Mitchell wasn’t gonna work the second time around? Wow, Mitchell‘s and Lex Waterreus‘ guitars sure do sound awesome together. Oh — it’s a hot-take! Better get your react videos ready. The internet is terrible. This album offers escape from it.
At the risk of having to give back my Music-Journalism-Level membership to the Sycophant Society, I’ll dare to point out that Chat Pile are way, way hyped. That happens sometimes. It’s not like they’re out there being like, “Hey we’re the noise rock white dudes shifting paradigms for noise rock white dudes, best in a generation.” It’s people like me with all the hyperbole and comma splicing. I get that too. It’s a sound geared toward inciting a strong reaction, from the sneering sarcasm of the title down. By the way, am I the only one who looks at the title Cool World and thinks of the 1992 semi-animated film of the same name? I kind of hope so. See? Big feelings all around.
Rest assured, I don’t, but if I had any friends, I’d be like, “Hey, you should check out this band Gnome from Belgium. They’ve got fun riffs and they beat you over the head with them until you remember them by heart.” And these ‘friends’ would be all, “Wow man, that sounds definitely like something I would ever want to introduce to the scope of my life experiences! Thank you! I’m so glad to be your friend and the world is definitely a better place with you in it.” And then everybody’s day is better, all because of sharing and the shenanigans-laced riff metal proffered by these three behatted miscreants from Antwerpen.
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26. Brant Bjork Trio, Once Upon a Time in the Desert
Brant Bjork‘s solo band begat Stöner, and Stöner begat Brant Bjork Trio as Bjork, drummer Ryan Güt and bassist Mario Lalli (Fatso Jetson, Mario Lalli and the Rubber Snake Charmers, Yawning Man, etc.). I’ll cop to being a nerd for Brant Bjork‘s output generally — it’s a kind of cool so definitively Californian, my NJ-ass self can’t help but admire it — but the chemistry in Once Upon a Time in the Desert is on point to an undeniable degree, and the songs are a reminder of how the back catalog got so strong in the first place. What else could you want?
Five albums in, a post-arrival Sergeant Thunderhoof stand ready. They know who they are, what they want their songs to do, why and how to make it happen. The Ghost of Badon Hill gives a conceptual focus to unite material intentionally sprawling, and lets listeners immerse in a narrative all the more easily for the quality of its songcraft. Self-recorded, it is masterful in performance and assured of its execution, pored over but not overworked; the happy accidents might have been left in on purpose, but they still sound like accidents. And Sergeant Thunderhoof still sound like a band driving themselves toward the unknown.
Doom metal is lucky to have Early Moods laying out a template for the next generation to hopefully follow. The Los Angeles five-piece’s second full-length, A Sinner’s Past, refined the lurch of their 2022 self-titled (review here), and the combination of hard touring and progressive craft continues to bode well as they look toward their next offering. They’ve put in their work, however swift their ascent to this point might feel, and they’re about one great record away from standing among the best doom of the 21st century. You could easily argue they’re already there. Every reason is accounted for on A Sinner’s Past.
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23. Morpholith, Dystopian Distributions of Mass Produced Narcotics
Iceland’s Morpholith enter the conversation with Dystopian Distributions of Mass Produced Narcotics, which has cosmic-doom breadth and bong-metal crush to spare in the first four minutes of “Psychophere” alone, never mind anything that surrounds. The band’s debut is a bombastic plodder, beating out the march to a futuristic — and cold — vision of the riff-filled land that may or may not be Reykjavik in the wintertime while simultaneously being both very much of weed and not outwardly about it, seeming to have much more than addled, Mid Atlantic Ridge-heavy riff worship because — look out! — they do. If cosmic doom is ever going to be more than a loose thread connecting YOB and Ufomammut, bands like Morpholith need to keep pushing it forward like this. “Dismalium.” I dare you.
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22. Lamp of the Universe Meets Dr. Space, Enters Your Somas
Lamp of the Universe is multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, producer and vocalist Craig Williamson, based in New Zealand. Dr. Space is synthesist, keyboardist, producer, bootlegger and bandleader Scott Heller. The ‘meeting’ of these two expanded minds takes place over two extended tracks, one vinyl side per, of lush psychedelic and multi-tiered drones, absolutely perfect for the zone-out hypnosis you’ve been trying to put yourself in all day but for that pesky consciousness. I wish I could come up with some kind of ritual awesome enough for the keyboard textures in “Enters Your Somas” or the propulsive space rock thuddenchug of “Infiltrates Your Mind,” but some sounds are just too cool for the planet. Come see how the freaks get down.
I spent some significant time with Dool‘s The Shape of Fluidity this Spring, before and after seeing them at Roadburn (review here), which was another highlight of the year. The album’s triumph, in songwriting, in transcending genre bounds and in conveying its theme of breaking loose from the gender binary, gave my parent-of-a-trans-kid self a hopeful vision of a future beyond dark, hateful rhetoric or implied/real violence. It showed me a possible path to victory on what will be and already is a hard road. It was there when I needed it, which is a specific ideal of art providing care. I’ll never forget that.
Granted the Western soundscaping at the outset of the eponymous “Buzzard” lays it on thick, but it’s supposed to! We’re talking fire-and-brimstone earthbound Americana folk with a doomly rhythmic cast, given the self-aware title of Doom Folk by the solo artist Buzzard, aka Christopher Thomas Elliott, laying it on thick is the point. Elliott has a follow-up out soon already. Thinking of Doom Folk as the beginning of a creative progression makes its nuance and individualist drive even more exciting, but the rawness of this debut, the straightforwardness of its structures and the resulting memorability are part of the appeal for sure.
Seven bangers. Not a dud in the bunch. Two nine-minute songs and you still couldn’t say a moment of High Desert Queen‘s rightly anticipated sophomore LP is wasted. Not when you’re building up to the roll of “Head Honcho,” certainly. The Texas outfit built on the good-time largesse and party-but-not-a-party-so-cool-you-don’t-feel-welcome vibing of 2021’s Secrets of the Black Moon (review here) and set themselves vociferously to the task of being the change in heavy rock that they wanted to hear. Palm Reader‘s infectiousness is a strength, both in terms of a catchy piece like “Ancient Aliens” or “Time Waster,” and also in the overarching positive-framed mood and heart so clearly put into the material.
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18. Ufomammut, Hidden
Released by Supernatural Cat and Neurot Recordings. Reviewed May 21.
Now a quarter-century on from their start, Italian trio Ufomammut have yet to put out a record that didn’t sound like a forward step from the one before it. And Hidden is their 10th album. The band are progenitors and refiners of a cosmic doom sound that is unto itself, and cuts like “Kismet” and “Leeched” manage to be both lumbering in their massive-tone grooves and sprawling with a synthy ambience that, though certainly influential, is immediately recognizable as Ufomammut. Hidden is part of a creative trajectory, to be sure, and the arc is ongoing, but there’s more than enough substance here to leave a crater behind in the listener’s brain.
In its arrangement as five separate dreams taking place over its component tracks, the only thing Pentasomnia doesn’t take into account is that another Iota LP was a dream all on its own even before music actually happened. A full 16 years after shaking the galaxy’s core with their 2008 debut, Tales (discussed here, and here), the three-piece of guitarist/vocalist Joey Toscano (Dwellers, Hibernaut), drummer/producer Andy Patterson (The Otolith, ex-SubRosa, etc.) and bassist Oz Yasri (ex-Bird Eater) making a comeback — let alone it actually being good — was nigh on unthinkable. Then you heard “The Intruder” and reality shifted just a bit. Pretty sweet.
Few albums in 2024 were as entrancing as Langt, Langt Vekk, the hopefully-not-a-one-off collaboration between Norwegian progressive heavy instrumentalists Kanaan and neofolk contemporaries Ævestaden. Both adventurous outfits in their own right, the combination of elements, from live drums and synth to traditional plucked strings and Norwegian-language vocal choruses, works stunningly well. That little bit of fuzz in “Habbor og Signe,” or the cymbal wash behind “Dalebu Jonsson” — the songs are full of these little nuances or flourishes waiting to be found, but even with the most superficial of listens, the achievement resounds, whether one approaches from a viewpoint of heavy rock, prog, folk or psychedelia.
You know, I’ve kind of dug DVNE records all along, and I can’t really call Voidkind a surprise after 2021’s Etemen Ænka (review here), but these songs — “Eleonora,” “Sarmatae,” “Abode of the Perfect Soul,” among others — hit me much harder than I had expected, and the more I listened to try to twist my head around “Reliquary,” the more the album as a whole revealed of its character and detail. I review a lot of stuff, and I hear more than I review, so I don’t always get pulled back by every record, but Voidkind kept calling for return visits.
Look. If you’re reading this, I know I don’t have to tell you about Orange Goblin. Even if you don’t already have a soft spot for the long-running UK doom rockers, they’re perfectly happy to pummel one into you with Science, Not Fiction, their first album since 2018 and a realignment toward a harder-edged heavy rock sound, where the last, say, two records had leaned more metal. I heard some griping about the production not helping, but I heard absolutely nothing to complain about here. The band are on fire and the recording shows it, the songs aren’t necessarily any great progressive leap but for sure they’re Orange Goblin songs, and for a band who owes nobody proof of anything, they set a high standard and deliver accordingly, like god damned professionals should.
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13. Spaceslug, Out of Water
Released by Electric Witch Mountain Recordings. Reviewed May 14.
What I didn’t get about Spaceslug until I finally saw them live at Desertfest New York (review here) was just how metal the impact of their songs can get. It’s not necessarily that they’ve grown more aggressive, unless you want to incorporate harsh vocals or shouting — “Tears of Antimatter” also has gently-delivered barely-there spoken word, so it depends on the story you want to tell — but the blend of melancholic doom, heavy psychedelia and melodic fluidity that has become Spaceslug‘s stylistic wheelhouse is not to be missed. Out of Water finds them at their broadest and least concerned with genre, and brings into relief how special a band they’ve become. Also it rocks.
No secret how Craneium are doing it on Point of No Return; it’s right there in the songs. All of them. “One Thousand Sighs,” “The Sun,” “A Distant Shore,” “…Of Laughter and Cries,” “Things Have Changed” and “Search Eternal.” Texture and hooks, heft and scope and melody and crash and shove, classy progressive execution and swaggering conjurations. Most of all, songs that stay with you. Chances are, if you heard this record and gave it its due attention at some point in your time with it, you didn’t have to do much more than read the titles to have the tracks playing in your head. That’s not a coincidence. It’s craft. It’s a willful outreach on the part of the band and material. It’s what makes you want to sing along. And why would you not?
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11. Guhts, Regeneration
Released by Seeing Red Records and New Heavy Sounds. Reviewed Feb. 5.
More on it below, but for the moment, suffice it to say that the bludgeoning and/or scathe of Regeneration at its most intense and the depths its mix seemed to find, the debut full-length from New York post-metallers Guhts dared visceral emotionality in a way few records so heavy could or would hope to. The willing-to-break-her-voice-if-necessary performance of Amber Gardner and the weighted undulations surrounding from guitarist Scott Prater, bassist Daniel Martinez and drummer Brian Clemens, the open sway, unfettered crush, and quiet spaces offsetting all that bombast result in both a chaotic feel and an applicable world. Therefore it must be modern. Fine. It sounds like the future.
As to how Philadelphia’s Heavy Temple managed to fit so much swagger onto a single platter, you’d have to ask them, but their second album, Garden of Heathens, landed hard in tone and attitude alike. Songs like “Extreme Indifference to Life,” “House of Warship” and the galloping payoff of “Jesus Wept” ahead of the thrashy finale “Psychomanteum” affirmed what was set out in 2021’s Lupi Amoris (review here) and their earlier short releases while marking out and conquering decisively new territory in their sound. I know it was recorded two years ago or something like that, but it’s still a band beginning to realize their potential in craft and performance, and if a third LP happens sooner than later, so much the better.
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9. 1000mods, Cheat Death
Released by Ouga Booga and the Mighty Oug and Ripple Music. Reviewed Nov. 11.
Whether one embraces Cheat Death because the songs kick ass or because 1000mods are so vivid and uncompromising in pushing themselves forward from release to release, I don’t think you’re wrong. The forerunners of their generation in Greek heavy rock remain among the finest Europe’s heavy underground have to offer, and the atmosphere they’re able to conjure alongside the straight-ahead Matt Bayles-produced punk-metal hooks of these songs is emblematic of why. Without ever giving up their foundation in heavy rock, 1000mods have consistently refined their processes and grown as songwriters. The joke of Cheat Death is how alive the material feels.
Faced with the considerable task of following up the to-date album of their career, Elektrik Ram (review here), just one year later, South African heavy rockers Ruff Majik did not flinch. Instead, Moth Eater takes the outright charge and sharpness-minded efficiency of its predecessor in a stated trilogy that began with 2020’s The Devil’s Cattle (review here) and sets it as the foundation for a confident, creative growth and sustainable expansion of sound. They’re a little more willing to dwell in parts, and they’re well aware of how catchy they can be, but also, they know the power of momentum and they’re fully in control of the narratives they’re telling. As Moth Eater readily demonstrates, it’s hard to know which of that it is that makes them most dangerous.
It’s hard to overstate the accomplishment of Nell’ Ora Blu, and I’m well aware that the critical sphere is full of plenty who’ve spent the better part of 2024 trying. Reasonable. The completeness of the world Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats built in the work based around the concept of soundtracking a giallo film that didn’t exist was singularly evocative. With original dialogue recorded (in Italian) specifically for ‘movie’ ambience, Uncle Acid took what had always been an influence on the band’s sound within genre-cinema and its methods of storytelling, and flipped the process on its head by creating its own story. Their influence is already well spread throughout the heavy underground, for sure, but in bringing a vision to life, this might be the album Uncle Acid have been working toward all along.
A forward-thinking masterwork from even before “Deadname” sneaks a layer of acoustic guitar under the mountain of distortion in the verse lines and “Arrival” and “Transitions” give evocative chronicle to the album’s trans-experiential theme — it is the band’s first since guitarist/vocalist Simona Ohlsson transitioned, and admirable for both its projected triumph and vulnerability around that — the fifth full-length from Vokonis continues the progressive path they have walked for the last decade-plus. A lineup change has brought some shift in dynamic, but a new strength of voice behind the material that makes “Phantom Carriage,” “Chrysalis,” and, suitably enough, “Arrival,” feel like a declarative pinnacle, and having something to say makes the raw impact of its heaviest moments all the more powerful.
There’s little funnier to me about heavy rock as it exists in 2024 than the idea that Greenleaf would be a band people take for granted. “Oh, Tommi Holappa and Company putting out another collection of classic-heavy and blues-rocking bangers? Business as usual, I guess.” Until you listen to the album, maybe. Then you get the tumble of “Avalanche,” the hooks in “Breathe, Breathe Out,” and “A Wolf in My Mind,” the subdued-bluesy pair “That Obsidian Grin” and “An Alabastrine Smile” to remind how you much this band has been able to grow since Arvid Hällagård made his first appearance with them a decade ago, the way they’re able to move through a jam and land in a groove as solid as “Oh Dandelion,” reminiscent of Clutch in its start-stop funk but defined by its own persona. Every Greenleaf record is a gift. If feeling that way means I’m not impartial, good. We understand each other.
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4. Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol, Big Dumb Riffs
Promises made, promises kept. Austin-based crunch purveyors Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol stripped any and all excess out of their approach on Big Dumb Riffs, resulting in a quick-feeling collection of memorable, heavy tracks that, whether fast like “1800EATSHIT” or slow like “In a Jar,” are united in the album’s central stated purpose. Already an established brand of heavy revelry, the three-piece didn’t change anything radically in aesthetic terms, but the songs found their target one after the other, front to back, and were clever and well composed, however willfully lunkheaded the central riffery might have been. They’re headed to Europe in Spring, and I’m already hearing rumors of a next record, so keep an eye out in 2025.
Slomosa‘s released-in-2020 self-titled debut (review here) was a salve to many in troubled times, representing a next-generation hope for underground heavy in energetically-delivered, classic-feeling songs. Tundra Rock, which gives a name to the band’s style seemingly in direct answer to anyone who might class them as ‘desert,’ confirms the Norwegian four-piece at the forefront of an up and coming cohort of younger acts beginning to find their expressive modus and step beyond their root influences. Tundra Rock finds Slomosa doing this while giving their dual-vocal live dynamic vibrant studio representation and growing their material in character and melody alike. Heavy rock and roll is Slomosa‘s for the taking.
A record that didn’t need to be loud to be heavy, Brume‘s Marten is without question my most-listened-to album of 2024. That needs no qualifying. I had high expectations going into it after seeing the San Francisco band at Desertfest New York 2022 (review here), and Marten surpassed every hope I might’ve been able to harness for it and then some. The collective voice of the band incorporating multiple viewpoints from bassist/vocalist/keyboardist Susie McMullan, guitarist/vocalist Jamie McCathie, drummer Jordan Perkins Lewis, and in her first appearance as a full-on member of the band, cellist/vocalist Jackie Perez Gratz (Grayceon, Amber Asylum, etc.), resulted in a fluid but deeply divergent collection, comprised of songs that went where they wanted to go — or didn’t, thank you very much — according to their own whims and purposes. It is a landmark for Brume and, if any number of subgenres are lucky, a blueprint from which others will hopefully learn.
I acknowledge breaking my own rules here — splits are always, until and including this year, categorized as short releases in these lists — but when it came to it, the thought of putting Elephant Tree and Lowrider‘s The Long Forever anywhere else, considering it as anything else, seemed ridiculous. Especially if you count writing the liner notes for it, I’ve gone on at length about the release as an intersection of crucial moments for the respective bands, with Lowrider following their first album in 20 years, Refractions (review here), and Elephant Tree answering the progressive statement of their own second LP, Habits (review here), both released in 2020. The storyline gets deeper as Elephant Tree also look to reestablish themselves following a near-fatal accident suffered by guitarist/vocalist Jack Townley, melding rawness of tone with lush vocal harmonies, and Lowrider drag fuzz-rock traditionalism kicking and screaming into a reality of being both fun and intelligent. There ultimately was nothing else to call The Long Forever than the album of the year. If that comes with an asterisk because it’s a split, it doesn’t lessen the effect of hearing it at all. So yeah, I’m breaking the rules of the game. I’m inconsistent. Unprofessional. Biased. I don’t know what to tell you except love makes you do crazy things. In these songs themselves — do I even need to talk about the collaboration — and in the drive behind them, that’s what most resonates here.
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The Top 60 Albums of 2024: Honorable Mention
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If the 60 above wasn’t enough, here are more leads to chase down, alphabetical but in kind of a hyper-specific, ass-backwards-seeming way:
Acid Rooster, Alber Jupiter, Altareth, Alunah, Astrometer, Bismarck, Black Capricorn, Blasting Rod, BleakHeart, Blue Heron, Bongripper, Boozewa, Caffeine, Carpet, Castle, Cleen, Clouds Taste Satanic, Codex Serafini, Cold in Berlin, Cortez, The Cosmic Dead, Crypt Sermon, Daily Thompson, Deadpeach, Deaf Wolf, Demon Head, Destroyer of Light, Dopethrone, Duel, Earth Ship, Elephant Tree, Emu, Familiars, Bill Fisher, 40 Watt Sun, Ghost Frog, Goat Major, Guenna, Heath, High Reeper, Hijss, Horseburner, Ian Blurton’s Future Now, Insect Ark, Inter Arma, Kelley Juett, Juke Cove, Kalgon, Kandodo, Kant, Kariti, Kungens Män (x2), Kurokuma, Leather Lung, Legions of Doom, Lord Buffalo, Magic Fig, Magick Brother & Mystic Sister, Magick Potion, Magmakammer, Mammoth Caravan, Massive Hassle, MC MYASNOI, Merlin, Methadone Skies, Monkey3, Morag Tong, The Mountain King, Mount Hush, MR.BISON, My Dying Bride, Myriad’s Veil, No Man’s Valley, Norna, The Obsessed, Oryx, Pallbearer, Patriarchs in Black, Pia Isa, Planet of Zeus, Red Mesa, Rezn, Rifflord, Sacri Monti, Sandveiss, Satan’s Satyrs, Saturnalia Temple, Scorched Oak, Sheepfucker & Kraut, Slift, Slower, Slow Green Thing, SoftSun, The Sonic Dawn, SONS OF ZÖKU, Spacedrifter, Spiral Grave, Spirit Mother, Stonebride, Sun Blood Stories, Sunface, Sun Moon Holy Cult, Swallow the Sun, The Swell Fellas, Swell O, Temple Fang, 10,000 Years, Thomas Greenwood and the Talismans, Thunderbird Divine, Tigers on Opium, Traum, 24/7 Diva Heaven, Valley of the Sun, Vlimmer, Void Commander, Weather Systems, The Whims of the Great Magnet, Whispering Void, White Hills, Per Wiberg, Esben Willems, Worshipper, WyndRider…
Notes:
With the eternal caveat that I’ll be adding to the honorable mentions for the next few days as people drop names they remembered and I forgot, I’ll say I can live with the list as it is now. I wouldn’t go so far as to say I’m happy with it, but I’ll live. I felt like there was just too much good stuff in the 60-30, stuff that deserved a better look, and god damn, look at the honorable mentions. You’re gonna tell me Rezn wasn’t top 30 material? Or Inter Arma, or 10,000 Years (who I still need to review), or Kandodo or Cortez, or Bongripper, Blue Heron, Merlin, Slower? Mount Hush, Vlimmer, Destroyer of Light — I could do this all day. That Carpet record. That MR.BISON record. Valley of the Sun. I see these names and want to punch myself. Then I see the names in the top 30 and I go, “Well…” and kind of have to hold off. I guess that means it turned out to be a pretty fantastic year.
I know for a fact I didn’t hear everything that came out, and I’m willing to bet that any number of people who see this will have their own opinions on the best albums of 2024 from top to bottom. I celebrate this difference and look forward to being exposed to new sounds because of it. Let comments fly, please. Once again, my only ask is that you keep it kind as relates to my own list(s) and any other picks someone might offer. If I’ve got facts wrong, something was a Dec. 2023 release instead of Jan. 2024, whatever, by all means, let me know. But we’re all friends here and being a jerk about it solves nothing.
And yes, I’ll admit to projecting some self-criticism in the Elephant Tree/Lowrider selection for album of the year. All I can tell you is I stand by that pick. It’s that because when I was putting together the list, it couldn’t have been anywhere else. I don’t love breaking my own arbitrary rules nearly as much as I love imposing those arbitrary rules in the first place, but sometimes apparently one is forced from one’s comfort zone to their own general betterment. Who knew?
Of course we’re not done yet.
—
Debut Album of the Year 2024
Guhts, Regeneration
Other notable debuts (alphabetical):
Azutmaga, Offering
Buzzard, Doom Folk
Castle Rat, Into the Realm
Cleen, Excursion
Coltaine, Forgotten Ways
Full Earth, Cloud Sculptors
Goat Generator, Goat Generator
Goat Major, Ritual
Grave Speaker, Grave Speaker
Guenna, Peak of Jin’Arrah
Hashtronaut, No Return
Heath, Isaak’s Marble
Hijss, Stuck on Common Ground
Kalgon, Kalgon
Kant, Paranoia Pilgrimage
Kitsa, Dead by Dawn
Leather Lung, Graveside Grin
Legions of Doom, The Skull 3
Magic Fig, Magic Fig
Magick Potion, Magick Potion
Morpholith, Dystopian Distributions of Mass Produced Narcotics
Myriad’s Veil, Pendant
Neon Nightmare, Faded Dream
Plant, Cosmic Phytophthora
Rabid Children, Does the Heartbeat
Saltpig, Saltpig
Semuta, Glacial Erratic
SoftSun, Daylight in the Dark
Spacedrifter, When the Colors Fade
Sun Moon Holy Cult, Sun Moon Holy Cult
Ten Ton Slug, Colossal Oppressor
Tet, Tet
Tigers on Opium, Psychodrama
Tommy and the Teleboys, Gods Used in Great Condition
Troy the Band, Cataclysm
Weather Systems, Ocean Without a Shore
Esben Willems, Glowing Darkness
Young Acid, Murder at Maple Mountain
Notes:
First about Guhts: From the Andy Patterson recording and parts of the songs themselves, Guhts weren’t hiding influence from the likes of SubRosa or Julie Christmas, Made Out of Babies, etc., but what Regeneration did so well — and what I was trying to convey above — was take those recognizable elements and redirect them toward an expressive individuality. That album could be punishingly heavy or sweet and soothing and the fact that you never quite knew which was coming next was a major asset working in the band’s favor. There are a lot of killer debuts on this list, and plenty I’m sure that I’ve left off because, well, I’m inept, but Regeneration was so sure of what it was about and so crisp in making that real through sound that it’s still stunning.
A lot to celebrate on this list. Full Earth at the outset of a hopefully long-term progression. Tigers on Opium with attitude and craft. Castle Rat giving stage drama studio life. Weather Systems picking up where Anathema left off. Promising starts for Pontiac, Hashtronaut, Neon Nightmare, Cleen, Coltaine, Troy the Band, Buzzard, Magic Fig, Legions of Doom, and Heath, among others. If you’re worried about the state of underground heavy music, you don’t need to be. Granted the future of anything is unknowable even before you apply “uncertain times” caveats and all the rest, but bands are stepping up to carry the torch of established sounds and pushing themselves to realize new ideas — whether that’s Guhts and Magic Fig or Tigers on Opium, or Legions of Doom, Ten Ton Slug, Weather Systems and Monolord’s Esben Willems, new players or ones who’ve been around for decades.
If you want a top ten — and who doesn’t? — in addition to Guhts, make your way through Full Earth, Sun Moon Holy Cult, Morpholith, Guenna, Coltaine, Troy the Band, Young Acid, Emu, Buzzard and Kant to start, and you can dig deeper from there. That’s actually 11, but I don’t care. More new music won’t hurt you.
We press on.
—
Short Release of the Year 2024
Moura, Fume Santo de Loureiro
Other notable EPs, Splits, Demos, Singles, etc.
Aktopasa, Ultrawest
Alreckque, 6PM
Bog Wizard, Journey Through the Dying Lands
Conan, DIY Series Issue 1
Cortége, Under the Endless Sky
Cult of Dom Keller, Extinction EP
Michael Rudolph Cummings, Money EP
Deer Lord, Dark Matter Pt. 2
Eagle Twin & The Otolith, Legends of the Desert Vol. 4
Fuzznaut, Wind Doula
Fuzzter, Pandemonium EP
Geezer & Isaak, Interstellar Cosmic Blues and the Riffalicious Stoner Dudes
Harvestman, Triptych EP(s)
Hermano, When the Moon Was High
Hollow Leg, Dust & Echoes
Holy Fingers, Endless Light Infinite Presence
King Buffalo, Balrog
Lurcher, Breathe EP
Okkoto, All is Light
Ord Cannon, Foreshots EP
Orme, No Serpents No Saviours
Pelican, Adrift/Tending the Embers
Pontiac, Hard Knox EP
Rope Trick, Red Tide EP
Sacred Buzz, Radio Radiation
Smoke & Doomsday Profit, Split
Spiral Guru, Silenced Voices EP
Toad Venom, Jag har inga problen osv...
Trigona & IO Audio Recordings, Split
Various Artists, International Space Station Vol. 2
Notes:
This category includes so much and can range so vastly between an EP that’s about 30 seconds short of being a full album to a standalone single released just for the hell of it to a band’s first rehearsal room demo. “Short releases” encompasses a lot, and as noted above, I’ve already broken my rules about where splits go. What about The Otolith and Eagle Twin? Geezer and Isaak? Smoke and Doomsday Profit? Trigona and IO Audio Recordings? The International Space Station four-wayer? If I’m crossing lines, don’t these also need to be considered as full-lengths?
You know what really sucks about it? This is an argument I’m going to have with myself for probably the next year. An existential crisis playing out in the back of my mind. More important? The Moura EP. The soundtracky textures the Spanish folk-informed progressive psychedelic rockers brought to the follow-up for their second album were both otherworldly and ground-born, and the material put emphasis on how much care and craft goes into their work while retaining the organic core against the threat of pretense. It was my most listened to short release of 2024, followed by Pelican, Holy Fingers, Pontiac, Toad Venom, Hollow Leg (x2), and Sacred Buzz. A new King Buffalo single was a late-year boon, that Hermano was worth it for the previously-unreleased studio track alone, and strong showings from Michael Rudolph Cummings, Deer Lord, Conan and Cortége, along with the aforementioned splits, assured that through the entire year, attention spans would receive consistent challenge in the movement from one thing to the next.
By way of a familiar confession, my list of short releases is nowhere near complete. It never is, and it never really could be. I’m sure there will be some I left out that I’ll add in for honorable mentions, etc., but I stand by the Moura pick for best short outing. They brought a soul to it that put the lie to the notion of EPs as between-album gap-fillers, and in a year that didn’t lack substance among its brevity-focused options, Fume Santo de Loureiro stood out in character, aesthetic and songwriting. Nobody else is making music quite like Moura.
If you have more to add here, by all means, please and thank you. Comments are below.
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Live Albums
Live Album of the Year 2024
Temple Fang, Live at Krach Am Bach
Castle, One Knight Stands: Live in NY
Danava, Live
Elder, Live at Maida Vale
Snail, Thou Art There
Stöner, Hittin’ the Bitchin’ Switch
Sula Bassana & Skyjoggers, Split
The Whims of the Great Magnet, Live at Bankastudios Maastricht 22-12-2023
Notes:
Fewer releases listed here than last year, but some killer ones for that. I put Temple Fang out there as live album of the year, and since we’re late in the post I’ll tell you honestly that it probably could be any of these on a given day. Danava’s live record crossed decades in badassery, the Sula/Skyjoggers split captured the vibe of a club night in Germany, the Whims of the Great Magnet’s live release made an excellent predecessor to their out-this-month studio album, Snail recorded theirs at a show I put on, Stöner capture the end of their two-album cycle with an awesome set, and Elder are Elder. The Maida Vale recording is short, and their songs are long, or you probably would’ve heard a lot more about that this year. If/when they do a proper live album, it will be a no-brainer.
But the Temple Fang has it all in molten progressivism, heavy tones, immersive psychedelia and outright soul, and of the bands I’ve managed to list here — if you want to add to the list, please do — there’s nobody who so much defines what they do by its live incarnation. Temple Fang’s music changes every night. They follow where it leads in a different way, and the ritualization of their performance comes through in Live at Krach Am Bach resoundingly. I’m not saying a bad word about their studio work to this point, but their heart manifests in a different way and at a different level onstage. They’re a great band and this shows a big part of why.
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Looking Ahead to 2025
Names, right? This one’s all about the names? Get to the names, jack? Okay, calm down.
With eternal appreciation to the folks of fine, upstanding moral character in the ‘The Obelisk Collective’ group on Facebook for the assistance, here’s a smattering of what one might look forward to in 2025:
Aawks, After Nations, All Them Witches, Amber Asylum, Author & Punisher, Bandshee, Black Spirit Crown, Bog Wizard, Bone Church, Borracho, Bronco, Buzzard, Dee Calhoun, Causa Sui, The Cimmerian, Clutch, Conan, Corrosion of Conformity, Daevar, Dead Meadow, Dead Shrine, Demons My Friends, Dream Unending, DUNDDW, Dunes, Flummox, Fuzz Sagrado, FVZZ POPVLI, Gaytheist, Gin Lady, Gnarled, Gnod & White Hills, Gods and Punks, Godzillionaire, Haze Mage, Kaiser, Kal-El, King Buffalo, Lamassu, Lo-Pan, Madmess, Mantar, Masters of Reality, Messa, Seán Mulrooney, Mouth., New Dawn Fades, Nightstalker, Øresund Space Collective, Pentagram, Pesta, Pothamus, Dax Riggs, Seedy Jeezus, Slomatics, Slow Wake, Stoned Jesus, Stone Machine Electric, Temple Fang, 3rd Ear Experience, Triptykon, Trouble, Turtle Skull, Warlung, Weedpecker, Yawning Balch, Year of the Cobra, YOB… and because it still hasn’t happened and someone invariably calls me out if they’re not listed: Om.
If you have names to add, “smash that comment button,” in the parlance of our times. Only don’t really smash it because you might hurt your hand or break your phone with your awesome strength.
—
THANK YOU
It was among my primary goals for this post that it should be shorter than last year’s, and it looks like I’ll achieve that with room to spare, so I’m glad. Sometimes I get carried away, I think I probably don’t need to tell you.
Before I let go of 2024 — actually I still want to review that The Whims of the Great Magnet studio release and I’ve got a Darsombra video premiere set before the end of the year, news to catch up on from like the last two weeks and a whole lot more to cover — I’d like to take a moment to thank you one more time for reading and for being part of this project this year and each year it’s been ongoing. Your support is absolutely what keeps this site going and it means more to me than I can ever hope to comprehend.
Thank you to The Patient Mrs., who in the course of a given week let alone year puts up with more of my bullshit than any human being should ever have to. “Yes, love, the world’s ending and we have no money and the house is falling down around us and the dog needs to pee, but I just need two or three hours to go sit and write about riffs — is that cool?” Or better, when I’m pissy about it. The “my wife is a saint” routine is pretty played out as far as dudely excuses for being selfish, lazy and/or dumb go, but well, I am all of those things on the extreme regular and she hasn’t booted my ass to the curb yet. I find this to be a reason to celebrate and a thing to appreciate. I am loved and cared for in ways I could never hope to earn.
Thank you to my family for their support, year in and year out. They’ve all got Obelisk shirts and they all wear them, and while I’m not sure they understand the true depths of egoistic depravity involved in this project, they’ve been on board with it since the start, and this includes my wife’s side of the family as well. I am incredibly lucky to have the life I have.
I’m going to keep listening to music, keep writing about it as much as I can. I’m not quite as generally panicked about it as I used to be — older, busier in different ways, over the FOMO, maybe a little more discerning in terms of taste? — and I’m significantly less likely to break my brain answering email, but I’m doing my best.
The Obelisk presses on into what will be a busy 2025. I’ve got trips slated to Planet Desert Rock Weekend in Las Vegas this January, Desertfest Oslo in May, Freak Valley in Germany in June, Bear Stone in Croatia in July, and Desertfest New York in September, with more hopefully to come. I look forward to these adventures and to doing the writing that will happen as part of them, and one more time, I thank you for your time and attention in reading, in the past, now, and in the future. I’m taking tomorrow off. All the way off. Back on Monday for more.
This week marks the release date of Morpholith‘s Dystopian Distributions of Mass Produced Narcotics, the Icelandic cosmic doomers’ awaited debut album on Interstellar Smoke Records after the successful heraldry of two prior EPs. And while it’s true it’s been four years since the arrival of the second of those, the Null Dimensions EP (review here), they say that when you hang out so close to the singularity of a black hole time dilates in unpredictable ways, so those close to Morpholith may have experienced that wait as thousands of years, a few days, who the hell knows. Time is fun pretend to start with and gradually the whole universe will be eaten by the lug of “Dismalium” anyway, so I promise you it doesn’t matter. Long-term, nothing will. The arc of history bends toward oblivion.
Morpholith‘s first album — and it’s worth unpacking the title a little as they do below: we’re talking about a scenario in which some public actor, presumably a governmental body of some post-apocalyptic kind, has begun manufacturing and handing out drugs to a populace, one assumes as a salve for despair or escapism?; hard to know, but it’s not impossible they got the name of the record from the tv; people say all kinds of silly shit on there — isn’t an event in terms of advance-hype, but it stands as a cosmic doom testament to the physical presence of aural heft. The Ufomammut-circa-Eve-worthy combination of heavy and space in the payoff of 10-minute opener “Mountainous,” the plunge into wash that song takes before, gloriously, reemerging from an ether that would indeed consume so many other, many longer-tenured, bands, and the well justified bellow that accompanies tell you early on that the five-piece are onto something special, and yes, they are. The shorter “Narcofactory” becomes a kind of echo-laced gothic doomy volcano-produced obsidian rock and “Metabaron” resolves in lumber with a scorching solo for the transition, but starts out at a galloping pace that’s about as close as Morpholith come to rush, and “Psychosphere” makes it plain that runtime here is about more than just pace; as bombastic as it gets, it’s the slowdown that finishes it off.
But by the end of “Psychosphere,” and really by the start of it, Morpholith have masterfully subsumed the listener in their tonality, breadth and atmosphere. They’ve shifted through tempo — somewhat; remember that sounding monolithic is part of the point here — and showed the reach in the guitars of Hörður and Víðir‘s guitars, the density and roll of bassist Gestur and drummer Jónas and the ability of vocalist Snæbjörn to shift between morose crooning, lower shouts and full-on sludge metal growls to coincide with a given part. Like YOB, Morpholith are as much about the far-out as a sonic smother, and the scope of longer pieces continues to expand from where the opener leaves off, with “Hellscaper,” which is just as nasty as you please until it shows a sliver of mercy in the second-half payoff, or the closing pair of the aforementioned “Dismalium,” which has room in its cavernous mix to drop slow-rhythm bomb tones in its engrossing final nod and the 16-minute clearly-marked-exit “Exoportal,” which answers back to the noted reemergence-from-chaos in “Mountainous” and moves into the fade on its own, organ-topped — both songs feature guest keys from Arnaldur Ingi Jónsson, also of prog shufflers Lady in Blue and the only performer here to list a surname — finish backed by residual hum from the guitars and bass.
It’s not a minor undertaking at about an hour long, but Morpholith give the listener places to dwell in that time and have a dynamic that goes beyond me-likey-loud-band-play-slow. A lot of what makes Dystopian Distribution of Mass Produced Narcotics — and really, we should be so lucky; in the US they’d charge for them — so effective as a front-to-back listen is that its roil and churn define it while not actually being all the double-guitar five-piece does in terms of mood, ambience, whatever you want to call it. To be sure, we’re talking about Very, Very Heavy™-level heavy, the kind of heavy that becomes a calling card for an act as it has for some of those mentioned above, but I’ll tell you the truth of where I’m at with it: this is one of the best albums I’ve heard in 2024, in addition to being one of the best debut albums — it’s in my notes twice over, which doesn’t always happen — and it heralds what could become a significant presence in cosmic doom. And because I’d feel remiss if I didn’t pay this particular hyper-specific compliment: hearing it reminds me of how excited I was in 2013 when Mühr (from whence sprang Temple Fang) released their own debut, Messiah (discussed here). If you have any idea how I feel about that record even now, you’ll know that’s not something I say lightly or without reason.
A couple years in the making, you’ll find Dystopian Distribution of Mass Produced Narcotics streaming in full on the player below, followed by more background from the PR wire on the concept, recording credits, etc.
Please enjoy:
Album recording process started in Reykjavík in 2022 with most of the record being recorded in Studio Paradís with Ásmundur Jóhannsson (Sleeping Giant) with some alterations and overdubs done in Stúdíó Helvíti with Helgi Durhuus (Ottoman, Celestine) in 2023. It was mixed by Chris van der Valk (CXVIII and Grave Superior) and Mastered by Chris Fielding (Conan) at Foel Studios in the UK.
The album’s artwork was done by Ryan T Hancock and layout by Skaðvaldur.
The album’s theme explores the implications of a dystopian galactic empire and how psychoactive stimulants are manufactured on a planetary scale in such a society. Among other things.
The album is a continuation and a more evolved version of what we set out with our two previous EP’s, who both round up to half an hour each, the full length debut is a full hour in length and is the culmination of what we have learned as a band since we first started.
The album will be released on the 24th of October 2024 on Interstellar Smoke Records as a double LP gatefold record with two variants of pressing methods.
Posted in Whathaveyou on August 26th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
This post is the first I’ve heard of Law of All, and I note that because it’s the kind of thing I may end up wanting to remember later. The Norwegian up-and-coming fuzz troupe — and who knew Norway would be home to a heavy boom in the 2020s? probably Norway — are among the latest adds from Oslo’s Høstsabbat, and the first impression was striking enough that I’ve included the embed of their EP below along with the festival’s Spotify playlist. There’s a lot to dig about it, and they’re still just part of the announcement.
Morpholith have a new record on the way, which is great news for anybody in need of a good crushing, and Ole Rokseth of SÂVER, Hymn, etc., joins on with the all-lowercase experimental project under aapen himmel, which is sure to be a trip. Rounded out by the doom-worshipping doom of Dread Witch, the latest batch of names for this October’s Høstsabbat emphasizes the character of the fest, the diversification of sound that’s been happening since it’s inception, and this year’s particular drive toward exploring new ideas and sounds while keeping a firm foundation in volume and impact. That church is gonna rumble.
From the old socials:
Time for another batch of artists!
Todays announcement is heavily focused on fresh and exciting acts, set to set the bar for the future afar.
Verkstedet will of course see crazy talent tearing the place apart this year as well. As every year. While some of you were sobbing when Queens of the Stone Age cancelled their Oslo appearance some weeks ago, you can get your grin back.
Law of All is coming.
This band do their rock so vital and fresh, with the perfect dosage of sassy coolness, it´s weird to acknowledge they´re local.
We are stoked to finally have them on the lineup, and show you what the fuzz is all about.
Next up is our first ever band to come visit from Iceland.
The land where everything looks doom, wether you like it or not.
Morpholith has been leading the way in the growing doom scene in Reykjavik for years, and we are dead stoked to se their mammoth wall of sound rattle the Crypt. The first single from their upcoming album «Dystopian Distributions of Mass Produced Narcotics» dropped yesterday.
I guess the title speak for itself.
This will be massive!
UNDER AAPEN HIMMEL is probably unknown to most of you.
This is the brand new project of Oslo-based musician Ole Ulvik Rokseth.
His fingers has been involved in countless projects over the years and he sure has made an impact on the Oslo underground.
under aapen himmel blends his love for electronics, raw heaviness and experimental gloom to a crisp mixture with a strong signature.
Its all about cherry picking the very best of all elements. making them shine like glowsticks.
Dread Witch – There´s band name you can take notice of right away.
These Danish maniacs will riff the church apart with their exploding chugs, guttural screams, apocalyptic darkness and an otherwordly sense for the delicate extreme.
The Danish way.
We are psyched to bring these guys to Norway for the first time.
Watch out for the next announcement soon – and be sure to secure your ticket.
PS! Festival ticket prices will slightly increase as soon as all our bands for 2024 are unveiled.
Posted in Whathaveyou on November 3rd, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Here’s how I wound up with four records embedded at the bottom of this post: First, I got an email from ReykjaDoom with a much more polite take on, “Hey goober we finished our lineup this week don’t miss it.” Then I wrote back and was like, “Thanks, sorry, cool,” and searched out the finished lineup and poster that, owing to the age of wonders in which we live, is both above (horizontally) and below (vertically) this text. One likes to be thorough.
Next, I scrolled through ReykjaDoom‘s social media posts to see if I could find which bands were announced, and here’s where it happened. Reading backwards from last to first, I was like, “Oh sweet, Moonstone rule. I should include Growth (review here) with the post” — and yes, my inner monologue does include review links at this point. Then I saw MC NYASNOI, and I’d never heard them before, so I checked that out.
Five bucks later, I had a download from Bandcamp and at that point, grabbing an embed code is practically instinct for me. Record is wild. Super-weird. Will be in my next Quarterly Review. Next was Nornahetta and though I’m not a huge black metal guy, I was curious to hear a maybe-improv version thereof, so I hit their Bandcamp too, found an older release that represented some of the harshness of Iceland’s dried-lava-char take on the style. Easy choice to put that in too, and though I already knew at that point I’d have to have everybody, seeing that the last band was resonant cavernous doomers Morpholith would have made the choice easy anyhow.
That’s one, two, three, four, in order as I encountered them and presented that way below. I’m posting about a lot of Spring fests in the next few weeks, probably. Because this is the last announcement from ReykjaDoom 2024 — which used to be Doomcember, but switched months — and because it’s happening earlier than much of the Spring fest season in Europe (and separated geographically from the mainland), I don’t want it to get lost in the shuffle, not the least because of the blend of different styles on the bill and the fact that, only knowing half the bands in a given lineup reveal, each one turned out to be consuming in its own way.
Glad I got that email. Here’s word from the fest:
The last bands of ReykjaDoom Fest 2024 are coming.
First we welcome Morpholith.
Their debut LP is expected to come next year, utilising many sub-genres of doom metal to create variant kinds of absolute wall of sound.
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The second announcement of the day are the improvisational black metal band Nornahetta.
Known for sporadic live performances with no pre-written material, the mysterious force will do a uniquely slow and gloomy performance at ReykjaDoom Fest 2024.
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The third band announcement of the day, is the electronic doom metal band MC MYASNOI.
The band released an EP “falling lower than you expected” earlier in October. Their sound still has their signature synth elements from previous releases but combines it with spooky, experimental doom metal.
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The final band of ReykjaDoom Fest 2024 is the Polish band Moonstone.
Atmospheric stoner doom with powerful riffs, gloomy vocals and sensational moments.
Their recent performance at our comrade’s fest, Høstsabbat, only reassured us that they are the perfect fit for our next festival.
Unmissable addition to an already tight line-up.
Doom lives!
ReykjaDoom Fest 2024
8-9. March Gaukurinn – Reykjavík
Konvent (DK) Kælan Mikla Dread Sovereign (IE) Moonstone (PL) Altari CXVIII Kvelja MC MYASNOI Morpholith Múr Nornahetta Sleeping Giant Slor Volcanova
Posted in Reviews on November 8th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
Somewhere between and EP, an LP, and who-cares-lighten-up is the 29-minute self-titled debut from Icelandic fuzz riffers Black Desert Sun, as the Reykjavik four-piece offer clues to their sound right in the name. The intention of the seven-songer, which was originally released by the band in 2016 and sees its first vinyl issue in 2022 through Sweden’s Ozium Records, can be derived from ‘black desert sun’ itself, the first two words possibly a reference to Iceland’s abundance of igneous, volcanic rock, much of it dried lava that has turned black. And yes, there are black sand dunes and beaches, and yes, the sun shines on them, so a ‘black desert sun’ — if it wasn’t actually their intention, it at least is easy to read that way — is the band’s way of conveying their goal of bringing California-style desert rock into their own place, time and songwriting.
The use of ‘sun’ in particular brings to mind Blues for the Red Sun by Kyuss, which is a strong reference point for Black Desert Sun‘s Black Desert Sun from second track “Spliff Sucker” (as opposed, one assumes, to bong ripper or hookah huffer, etc.) onward through “Pharoas Serpents” (sic) and the lumbering centerpiece “Psycho Wizard.” Comprised of vocalist Björg Amalía Hraunfjörð Ívarsdóttir, currently of Chernobyl Jazz Club, drummer Brynjar Ólafsson, and guitarist Víðir Örn Gunnarsson and bassist Stefán Gestur Stefánsson, both of whom were already getting their next band, the more crush-minded Morpholith, going by the time this record first came out, Black Desert Sun would only release this one collection during their tenure, and six years after the fact — which isn’t that long in the context of the expanding universe — it sounds more like a stoner relic from Europe circa 1995 than something that came along more than 20 years later. That, of course, is no accident.
It’s been a few years now, and these things are cyclical as new listeners come, go, stay or don’t in a given microgenre’s aesthetic terrain, but the whole Kyuss-worship thing has kind of receded. Black Desert Sun having come out in 2016 tracks with the four-piece’s origins circa 2013, which is just about in line with a generational shift (see also right now) happening in heavy music listenership as the heavy underground community took to social networks, found each other, and flourished for a time in its revelry for, among other things, the aforementioned Californian desert rock progenitors. I don’t know how Black Desert Sun came together, but the willing-to-be-silly careening groove of “Sparkle Juice” and the instrumental opener “Echobrain” (anyone remember that band Jason Newsted was in when he left Metallica?), the sense of revival they bring, speak to that particular moment in time, younger players adopting the influence and tenets of a particular style and invariably bringing something of themselves to it.
Ívarsdóttir, who seems to nod more directly at Unida in “Pharoas Serpents” and sits out the closer “Psychedelic Soundscape Part III” — is malleable as a singer and she brings a throatier edge to “Spliff Sucker” as a first impression following on from the intended hypnosis of “Echobrain” at the outset, which is the second longest track at 4:57 and obviously something with more depth than just an intro riff or some such. “Pharoas Serpents” opens up a bit in the hook, is more swinging and less tense, but still ultimately in the same vein as the song before it, and the penultimate “Sparkle Juice” operates similarly in its sub-four-minute hook-based thrust, the band relying on tone and groove to bring out the atmosphere of the pieces and succeeding in making them do precisely that. Slower in its unfolding, “Psycho Wizard” is a highlight in no small part because of the layering Ívarsdóttir does with her lines, but if one is looking for a point on Black Desert Sun at which a nascent hint of Morpholith‘s cosmic-doom largesse can be found, there’s no question that’s it as Gunnarsson and Stefánsson unfurl a nod topped with a spacious echoing solo in the back half of the track, leaving room for a sample to answer back to the beginning of the song as well.
“Psycho Wizard” is the longest inclusion, and might be the broadest reaching, but the album’s starting with “Echobrain” and finishing with “Psychedelic Soundscape Part III” — which at 3:35 is more of a rocker than one might expect given the title — gives a firm sense of structure at the same time it opens the audience’s mind from outset for whatever’s coming. Mostly that’s riffs, and that’s just fine. Sometimes straight-up, go-to-ground, desert-style heavy roll is just the thing, and whatever else “Echobrain” tells you at the beginning, it tells you you’re certainly in for some of that. And while the core of the album is what the band themselves bring to it, guest vocals from Jens Ólafsson of Icelandic heavy rock royalty Brain Police on “Monster in Haze” and guest guitar from Gunnar Örn Sigurðsson of Orn Custom Guitars on “Monster in Haze” and “Psychedelic Soundscape Part III” speak immediately to the band’s desire to position themselves among their country’s vibrant heavy underground.
In 2016, supporting this album, Black Desert Sun played the renowned Eisnaflug Festival — they covered Kyuss‘ “Molten Universe” live regularly at the time, had a new song called “White Widow” in that set — and while it’s been Morpholith who have become the priority on something of a different stylistic track in the years since, there’s no real question that Black Desert Sun had potential of their own. As to what happened to end the band, or if they might not show up tomorrow with a new album announcement, I don’t know, but Ozium‘s reissue is a chance for a listener like me who missed it the first time to get on board while also giving some context to where Morpholith — who have two EPs out and whose debut full-length is eagerly anticipated — come from beyond their own influences. If that makes it a footnote, fine, but it’s one that rocks. Not changing the world or reinventing heavy rock, but a celebration of genre, by genre, for genre. If you can’t dig that, pick a different genre.
Posted in Bootleg Theater on December 22nd, 2020 by JJ Koczan
Icelandic cosmic crushers Morpholith recently issued their debut full-length, Null Dimensions, through Ozium Records and Sludgelord Records. Guess what? The “We Hate You” cover isn’t on it. It happens. The album is made up of two gargantuan psych-doom rituals, with “Orb” (20:20) and “Monocarp” (13:31) unfolding like hidden messages waiting for those whose ears are tuned to the right frequency to hear them. A dogwhistle calling the doomed to prayer before some massive idol or maybe one of those shiny monoliths that keeps showing up hither and yon. I don’t know if there have been any in Iceland yet, but only a place with black volcanic sand could possibly hope to produce minor-key meditations like those swirling in the fog of “Orb,” which transcends circa 13:20 into a sludge that’s harsher and meaner and betrays Morpholith‘s connections to more extreme metallurgies, though I’m reasonably certain Iceland’s heavy underground is the same 20 or so dudes and they’re just all in five different bands, most of them awesome.
Either way, “Orb” and “Monocarp,” the latter of which picks up directly from the first track and slams its point home with no less impact for the spaciousness that accompanies, shifting eventually into a kind of pummeling post-sludge odd-time chaos before becoming engulfed in its own finish, are a rare fix to the problem ‘nothing sounds heavy enough.’ As for their take on “We Hate You,” it’s as suitable an homage to 2020 as anything I could come up with unless there were actually some way to set the year’s lungs on fire, and that it coincides with Dopethrone‘s 20th anniversary is a fitting touch as well. You get a sense of the tonal density Morpholith have on offer throughout Null Dimensions in “We Hate You” as well, though vocalist Snæbjörn Þór Árnasson adjusts his delivery to play more directly off of Jus Oborn, and of course it’s a shorter sampling of their wares than either of the two cuts on the album-proper, but if you’re looking for a way to proceed here, I’ve got you covered. Do both.
The album stream is down near the bottom of this post, the video is premiering below, and any suggestion that you have to pick one or the other to dig into is pure fiction. Watch the video and then dive into the record. Dive into the record and then check out the video. It doesn’t matter. The point is Morpholith kick ass on both. I can’t say it any plainer than that.
And if I can add my own spin on it, I fucking hate the holidays, so misanthropic bludgeoning sludge suits me just fine right now. If that’s where you land too, so be it.
Enjoy the clip (and album):
Morpholith, “We Hate You” official video premiere
The video we have made is our tribute to Electric Wizard’s Dopethrone, which was released 20 years ago now and the year of 2020. The song is one we know well and we planned to play it live at some point this year, but that of course did not work out. So to celebrate one of the greatest doom metal records of all time and this exceptionally gloomy year, we decided to record the song and make a video for it instead. Our tribute to Electric Wizard and their masterpiece, Dopethrone on the 20th anniversary of the album.
Dedicated, with all our hate, to the year of 2020.
Our new EP Null Dimensions is out on Ozium and Sludgelord Records!
We got help from two legends of our black metal scene to help us with making the track. D.G from Misþyrming (also Drottinn, Naðra and Núll to name a few) recorded, mixed and mastered the audio for us and Andri Björn Birgisson from Auðn shot, directed and edited the video.
Posted in Radio on November 27th, 2020 by JJ Koczan
It’s Thanksgiving here in the US as I write this post. The early morning thereof, to be more specific. There’s one voice break in this episode of The Obelisk Show on Gimme Metal, and I cut it yesterday afternoon. I had just put The Pecan down for his afternoon nap and was in the process of getting dinner started (slow cooking) ahead of crashing out myself for about an hour.
The point of my telling you this? Maybe I wasn’t at my best.
Maybe I was a little harried, a little distracted, a little uh-oh-um. I did my best. I didn’t talk at all last time, so it seemed like a good idea at least to jump on and say thanks for listening and offer some setup for the second half of the show, which plays out in a succession of long, increasingly far-out cuts. But it’s not my best vocal work. Not gonna put it on my audition tape for KROQ.
Does KROQ still exist?
Anyway, I know it doesn’t matter, but still. Thank you for checking the show out if you do. For what it’s worth — plenty, to me — the playlist kicks ass.
If you tune in, I hope you enjoy. Thanks again.
The Obelisk Show airs 5PM Eastern today on the Gimme app or at http://gimmemetal.com
Full playlist:
The Obelisk Show – 11.27.20
Samsara Blues Experiment
End of Forever
End of Forever*
Onségen Ensemble
Stellar
Fear*
Sun Crow
Quest for Oblivion
Black it Out*
VT1
Lykantropi
Kom ta mig ut
Tales to Be Told*
Urtidsdjur
Vandringssång
Urtidsdjur*
Murcielago
Blues for the Red Lobster
Casualties*
Switchblade Jesus
Red Plains
Death Hymns*
DVNE
Omega Severer
Omega Severer*
Dark Buddha Rising
Sunyaga
Mathreyata*
Morpholith
Monocarp
Null Dimensions*
Tomorr
The 1001 Windows Village
Tomorr*
Phog
Hillside
Whole Horse Both Barrels*
The Obelisk Show on Gimme Metal airs every Friday 5PM Eastern, with replays Sunday at 7PM Eastern. Next new episode is Dec. 11 (subject to change). Thanks for listening if you do.
