Posted in Whathaveyou on May 31st, 2023 by JJ Koczan
One original and two covers seems innocuous enough until you get to the fact that one of those covers is “All Star.” Anyone see that video where the dude from Smash Mouth is hammered and goes on about going to someone in the audience’s house and murdering their family? If not, it’s both fucked and worth a watch. I don’t know what on earth might’ve possessed Mothman and The Thunderbirds spearhead Alex Parkinson to take on that particularly brutal earworm, beyond a well developed sense of irony, but I’m sorry, I’m not listening to that shit.
I listen to all kinds of music, and I’m up for checking out the original track “Gazer” and their version of “Mr. Spaceman” by The Byrds, and I’ll even dig into the bonus track, but Smash Mouth? That song is so bad it’s poisonous. I’m sure they do it and it’s either great or hilarious — or better, both — but I gotta pass. Just that track. The rest I’ll look forward to mightily.
June 23 is the release date for the Philly outfit’s Gazer EP, a stopgap en route to their next full-length, and they sent the following info down the PR wire:
Mothman and The Thunderbirds have returned once again, this time with the space-themed EP Gazer. The EP features the band’s original track “Gazer”, a space rockin’ song that is equal parts adrenaline and psychedelia. The new song is accompanied by two covers that keep with the cosmic theme: a mystifying version of Smash Mouth’s “All Star” and a totally tripped out take on The Byrds’ “Mr. Spaceman”. The EP will be released on June 23rd, and is recommended for fans of Torche, Hum, Ween, Mutoid Man, Swervedriver, and Truckfighters.
The band welcomes back Joe Sobieski, who previously sang on their 2021 track “Cloud Giant”. Joe penned the lyrics to “Gazer” and sings on the verses for that track and “All Star”. His clean yet animated vocals provide a potent contrast to project leader Alex Parkinson’s explosive choruses. Egor Lappo also returns at the helm of production duties, having previously elevated the band’s sound on their 2021 CKY cover and 2022 split EP with World Eaters. Egor’s mixing and mastering skills shine through once again, tripling down on the cosmic sound Mothman and The Thunderbirds peddle throughout this EP.
When asked for comment on the Gazer EP, Alex had this to say: “this EP is very trippy, and very, very fun!” Pressed for something more insightful to say, he added: “we’ve been hard at work on the next album, so this EP was a nice break. “Gazer” was a song Joe and I wrote in 2018 that we unearthed and recorded earlier this year – I’m super proud of how it turned out! We had a great time putting our own strange spin on those covers too. This EP is a fun pitstop for the band as we prepare to embark on our next big sonic adventure!”
Tracklist: 1) Gazer 2) All Star 3) Mr. Spaceman 4) Liminal Spacetime Continuum (Bonus – Instrumental Demo)
Credits: Alex Parkinson – lead & backing vocals, guitars, bass, mandolin, synths Joe Sobieski – lead vocals, whistle solo Egor Lappo – mixing, mastering, production, drum programming Lyrics for “Gazer” written by Joe Sobieski, music by Alex Parkinson. Music for the bonus track “Liminal Spacetime Continuum” was written by Alex Parkinson.
Posted in Reviews on January 6th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
There was some pretty good stuff this week, I gotta say. Feels self-congratulatory to be like, ‘hey good job slating reviews, me!’ but there it is. I don’t regret hearing anything I have thus far into the Winter 2023 Quarterly Review, and sometimes that’s not the case by the time we get to Friday.
Of course, there’s another week to go here as well. We’ll pick it back up on Monday with another 10 records and proceed from there. If you’ve been following along, I hope you’ve found something you dig as well.
Winter 2023 Quarterly Review #41-50:
Astrosaur, Portals
This is what happens when you have virtuoso players writing songs rather than paeans to their own virtuosity. Led by founding guitarist Eirik Kråkenes, with drummer Jonathan Eikum (also Taiga Woods) and bassist Steinar Glas (also Einar Stray Orchestra), Astrosaur are blindingly progressive on their third full-length, Portals (on Pelagic), operating with post-metallic atmospheres as a backdrop for stunning instrumental turns, builds and crashes, willful repetition and the defiant denial of same. There’s more scope in the intro “Opening” than on some entire albums, and what “Black Hole Earth” begins from there is a dizzying array of sometimes cosmic sometimes earthborn riffing, twisting bass and mindfully restless drums. “The Deluge” hitting into that chase after four minutes in, that seemingly chaotic swirling noise suddenly stopping “Reptile Empire” and the false start to the 23-minute epic “Eternal Return” — these details and many besides give the overarching weight of Portals at its heaviest a corresponding depth, and when coupled with the guitar’s ability to coast overhead, they are genuinely three-dimension in their sound. You’d be right to want to hear Portals for “Eternal Return” alone, but there’s so much more to it than that.
Kvasir‘s Sagittarius A* Star is named for the black hole at the center of the galaxy, and the 21-minute single-song EP is the follow-up to their 2021 debut album, 4 (review here), a dug-in proto-metallic exploration composed in movements that flow together as a whole organic work. The Portland-based four-piece of guitarists Christopher Lee (also vocals) and Gabriel Langston, bassist Greg Traw and Jay Erbe work on either side between traditional metal and heavy rock riffing, inhabiting both here as “Sagittarius A* Star” launches into its initial verses over the first four minutes, a solo emerging after 5:30 to set the pattern that will hold for the remaining three-fourths of the song. A slowdown takes hold about a minute later and grooves until at about nine minutes in when the bass comes forward and things get funkier. The vocals return at about 11:30 to complement a galloping riff that’s fleshed out until just after the 14-minute mark, when a jazzier instrumental movement begins and the band makes it known they’re going out and not coming back, the swaying finish with more insistent guitar, first interjecting then satisfyingly joining that sway, capping with a (still plotted) jammier feel. If that’s the Milky Way succumbing to ultragravity and being torn apart molecule by molecule en route to physics-defying oblivion, then fair enough. Worse ways to go, certainly.
Though the leadoff Sins of the Father gets reminds of circa-’90s noise metal like Nailbomb, Marylander four-piece Bloodshot lean more into a hardcore-informed take on heavy rock with their aggressively-purposed debut album. Comprised of vocalist Jared Winegardner, guitarist Tom Stacey, bassist Joe Ruthvin (ex-Earthride) and drummer JB Matson (ex-War Injun, organizer of Maryland Doom Fest, etc.), the band push to one side or the other throughout, as on the more rocking “Zero Humility” and the subsequent metallic barker “Uncivil War,” the mid-period Megadeth-style riffer “Beaten Into Rebellion,” the brooding-into-chugging closing title-track and “Fyre,” which I’m pretty sure just wants to kick my ass. The 10-track entirety of the album, in fact, seems to hold to that same mentality, and there’s a sense of trying to recapture something that’s been lost that feels inherently conservative in its theme — “Faded Natives,” “Visions of Yesterday,” the speedier “Worn and Torn,” and so on — but gruff though it is, Sins of the Father offers a pissed-off-for-reasons take on heavy that’s likewise intense and methodical. That is to say, they know what they’re doing as they punch you in the throat.
A second release through Heavy Psych Sounds and Tons‘ third full-length overall, Hashension wears its love of all things cannabian on its crusty stoner sludge sleeve throughout its six-track/39-minute run, begun with the riffnotic “Dope Dealer Scum” before “A Hash Day’s Night” introduces the throatripper vocals and backing growls and a more heads-down, speedier tempo that hits into a mosh of a slowdown. “Slowly We Pot” — a play on Obituary‘s Slowly We Rot — to go along with the Beatles, Rolling Stones and Pink Floyd (and Gummo) titular references — follows in a spirit as angry as one imagines Bongzilla might be if someone un-freed their weed. Yes, “Hempathy for the Devil” and “Ummagummo” precede the sample-topped slamming march of “Hashended,” and lo, the well-baked extreme sludge they’ve wrought rumbles and thuds its way out, not so much gnashing in the way of “A Hash Day’s Night” or the roll after the midpoint in “Ummagummo” — though the lyrics there seem to be pure weed-worship — but lumbering in such a way as to ensure the point gets across anyhow. I’m not going to tell you you should be stoned listening to it, because I don’t know, maybe you’re driving or something, but I doubt Tons would argue if you brought some edibles to the gig. Enough to share, perhaps.
Mothman & the Thunderbirds vs. World Eaters, Split
In the battle of Philly solo-project Mothman and the Thunderbirds vs. Ontario-based duo World Eaters, the numbers may be on the side of the latter, but each act offers something of its own on their shared 18-minute EP. Presenting two tracks from each band, the outing puts Mothman and the Thunderbirds‘ “Rusty Shackleton” and “Nephilim” up front, the latter particularly reinforcing the Devin Townsend influence on the part of multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Alex Parkinson, while “Flash of Green” and “The Siege” from World Eaters — drummer Winter Stomp and guitarist/bassist/vocalist/synthesist David Gupta — present an atmospheric death metal, more than raw bludgeoning, but definitely that as well. As a sampler platter for both bands, there’s more time to get to know World Eaters since their songs are markedly longer, but the contrast from one to the other and the progression into the mire of “The Siege” gives the split an overlaid personality, almost a narrative, and the melodies in Parkinson‘s two cuts have a lingering presence over the masterful decay that follows in World Eater‘s material. One way or the other, these are both relatively upstart projects and their will toward progression is clear, as pummeling as its form may be. Right on.
Preceded by the two-song single Witches Brew/Psychedelic Roadkill, the six-song/24-minute Dark Matter Pt. 1 is short but feels nonetheless like a debut album from Sonoma County, California (try the cabernet), three-piece Deer Lord, who present adventures like getting stoned with witches on a mountaintop, riding free with an out-on-bail “Hippie Girl” in the backseat of presumably some kind of roadster, going down the proverbial highway and, at last, welcoming you to “Planet Earth” after calling out and casting off any and all “Ego” along the way. It is a modern take on stonerized heavy, starting off with “Witches Brew” as the opener/longest track (immediate points) with a languid flow and psychedelic underpinnings that flesh out even amid the apex soloing of “Planet Earth” or the fervent push of the earlier “Ride Away,” that tempo hitting a wall with the intro of “Ego” (don’t worry, it takes off) so as to support the argument in favor of Dark Matter Pt. 1 as an admittedly brief full-length, the component tracks working off each other to enhance the entirety. The elements beneath are familiar enough, but Deer Lord put an encouraging spin of their own on it, and especially as their debut, it’s hard to imagine some label or other won’t get on board, if not for pressing this, then maybe Pt. 2 to come. Perhaps both?
IO Audio Recordings, Awaiting the Elliptical Drift & VVK
Compiling two 2022 EPs into a single LP and releasing through a microcosm of underground imprints in various terrestrial locales, IO Audio Recordings‘ Awaiting the Elliptical Drift & VVK is my first exposure to the Orange, CA, out-there-in-space unit, and from the blower kosmiche rocking “Awaiting the Elliptical Drift” to the sitar meditation “Luminous Suspension,” and the hazy wash of “Sunrise and Overdrive” (that’s side A) to the experimentalist consumption of “VVK” and “Gramanita” rounding out with its heartbeat rhythm giving over to a hardly-flatlined drone after shuffling cool and bassy and fuzzy with jangly jam strum overtop, I tell you in all sincerity it won’t be my last. There’s a broad cross-section stylistically, which suits a compilation mindset, but I get the feeling that if you called it an album instead, the situation would be much the same thanks to an underlying conceptualism and the adventuring purpose beneath the open-structured fluidity. That’s just fine, as IO Audio Recordings‘ sundry transformations only enhance the anything-that-works-goes and shelf-your-expectations listening experience. Not that there’s no tension in their groovy approach, but the abiding sensibility advises an open mind and maybe a couple deep breaths in and out before you take it on. But then definitely take it on. If you need me, I’ll be spending money I don’t have on Bandcamp.
While “bong” in a band name usually connotes dense sludge in my head, Oslo four-piece Bong Voyage defy that stereotype with their Dec. 2022-released second single, “Feverlung” — the first single was October’s “Buzzed Aldrin” — and no, the song isn’t about the pandemic, it’s about getting high. The six-minute rocker hoists jammy flourish mostly in its second half, in a break that, in turn, shifts into uptempo semi-space rock post-Slift pulsations atop a progression that, while I’ll readily admit it sounds little like the song on the whole still puts me in mind of Kyuss‘ “Odyssey” in its vocal patterning and melody. That ending is a step outward from the solidified early verses, which are more straight ahead heavy rock in the vein of Freedom Hawk or a less-directly-Ozzy take on Sheavy, and while one listening for them to bring it back around to the initial riff will find that they don’t, the band’s time isn’t necessarily misspent in terms of serving the song by letting it push beyond exospheric traps. They won’t catch me by surprise next time aesthetically, and it wouldn’t be a shock to find Bong Voyage in among the subset of up and coming heavy rockers that’s put Norway on the underground radar so much these last couple years. Either way, I’ll look forward to more here.
In its early going, Sun Years‘ “Codex” stagger-sludges like Eyehategod with guitarist Dalton Huskin‘s shouty echoing vocals on top, but as it moves into its second half, there’s a pickup in tempo and a bit of swirling lead guitar emerges in the 4:37 song’s closing stretch as Asechiah Bogdan (ex-Windhand, ex-Alabama Thunderpussy) makes his presence felt. Alongside bassist Buddy Bryant and drummer Erik Larson (once-and-again guitarist for Alabama Thunderpussy, drummer of Avail, Omen Stones, ex-Backwoods Payback, the list goes on), Bogdan and Huskin explore mellower and more melodic reaches the subsequent “Teeth Like Stars,” still holding some of their demo’s lead track’s urgency as a weighted riff takes hold in trade with the relatively subdued verse. That’s a back and forth they’ll do again, moving the second time from the more weighted progression into a solo and build into a return of the harsher vocals, some double-kick drumming and a last shove that lasts until everything drops out except one guitar and that riffs for a few seconds before being cut off mid-measure. Well, that’s a band with more dynamic in their first two tracks than some have in their entire careers, so I guess it’s safe to say it’ll be worth following the Richmond, Virginia, foursome to see where they end up next time out.
Recorded by Jan Oberg (Grin, Slowshine, EarthShip) at Hidden Planet Studio in Berlin, Daevar‘s five-track/32-minute 2023 debut album, Delirious Rites, arrives likewise through Oberg‘s imprint The Lasting Dose Records and finds the man himself sitting in for guest vocals on the 10-minute “Leviathan” alongside the band’s own bassist/vocalist Pardis Latif, who leads the band from the depths of the rhythm section’s lurch on the gradually unfolding Windhand-vibing leadoff “Slowshine,” the particularly Monolordian “Bloody Fingers” with Caspar Orfgen‘s guitar howling over a marching riff, and “Leila” where Moritz Ermen Bausch‘s drums offer a welcoming grounding to Electric Wizardly nod and swirl. Thus, by the time his spot in the aforementioned “Leviathan” rolls (and I do mean rolls) around, just ahead of closer “Yellow Queen,” the layers of growling and screaming he adds to the procession are a standout shift well placed to play off the atmosphere established by the previous tracks. Shortest at 5:10, “Yellow Queen” lumbers through more ethereal doom and hints at a psychedelic current that might continue to develop in a midsection drifting break that builds back into the catchy plod from whence it came. Not necessarily innovative at this point — they’re a new band — but they seem to know what they want in terms of sound and style, and that only ever bodes well.
Posted in audiObelisk on March 15th, 2021 by JJ Koczan
Philadelphia-based one-man progressive heavy rock outfit Mothman and the Thunderbirds will make its self-released debut with Into the Hollow on May 21. Running just over half an hour in a span of 11 tracks, the record careens across its material, translating prog-metal à la Devin Townsend, Opeth and others into a heavy rock and sludge context with an overarching experimental feel — each track seeming to take an idea and using it to flesh out its own sonic intent while feeding into the flow of the whole. The guttural vocals on “Nomad,” for example, will remind of Crowbar, but they’re surrounded by winding leads, tambourine urgency, and what may or may not be an oud. The line between metal and rock is blurred throughout largely to the point of irrelevance, and as vocalist, guitarist, bassist, programmer, general-mastermind Alex Parkinson taps his inner Remission-era Mastodon on “Indrid Cold,” having already intro’d the record with the rush of “Mothman Takes Flight” and vocoder-izing chug “Hollow Earth,” the referential vibes feel no less multifaceted than the songs themselves.
‘Mothman’ and ‘Thunderbirds,’ as well as numerous other titles and lyrics, refer to American folklore and cryptozoology, and Into the Hollow itself is decidedly American in its melding of styles, but it’s also remarkably purposeful. “Infinite Ocean” dares a hook over its programmed drums, more Devin Townsend-esque runs, and clever layering, while “The Simpsons = Real Footage” — one of several cuts that brings in a guest on vocals — full-on engages a conspiracy theory mindset in its lyrics, with references to psyops and cover-ups. I don’t know Parkinson‘s actual views on any of the subjects the album is covering — if you were forcing me to guess I’d say “fascinated by” — but he seems remarkably well versed, and as the second half the tracklist unfolds with “Agarthan Riders” settling into the surrounding context in a way that feels like it’s evening out somewhat, the material doesn’t dull in the slightest. “Cloud Giant” brings in programmed flute sounds, more guest vocals (indeed, harmonies) and compositional surety, while the birdsong-laced acoustic “Squonk” is a quick harmonized lead-in for the outright pummel of “Roko’s Basilisk.”
If you don’t know — and I didn’t — the reference in that song’s title, you could Google it and lose the rest of your afternoon to furrowed-brow reading and confusion while simultaneously opening a wormhole of targeted ads for who knows what (I guess I’ll find out), but the shove in “Roko’s Basilisk” feels like it’s being given due ceremony as the penultimate and most aggressive cut ahead of the melodic roundout in “Hollow Sun,” an obvious complement to “Hollow Earth” earlier on. It is a strange world inhabited by strange creatures and ideas that Parkinson is creating, but the fact is, he is creating a world. In 31 minutes. Across 11 widely varied songs. On a debut release. The achievement of such isn’t to be understated, and while there are moments where for the breadth he’s shooting for he’s a bit undercut by the home-recorded feel, especially for a first outing, Into the Hollow is impressive in scope and execution alike, as well as brimming with forward potential for where Mothman and the Thunderbirds — why should Britain get all the silly band names? — might go next. I take the fact that I’m not willing to hazard a guess beyond “further” as a good sign.
Understand as you listen to the premiere below that “Infinite Ocean” isn’t so much a summary of Into the Hollow as a whole as a teaser of just some of the ideas Parkinson is working with across it. He offers some comment under the player that follows, and there’s some more background as well, dutifully hoisted from Bandcamp, where preorders are up.
Please enjoy:
Alex Parkinson on “Infinite Ocean”:
“Infinite Ocean” is one of the few songs that was completely written before I started this project, and thus is one of the few without any obvious references to conspiracy theories or cryptids in its lyrics. I had originally written the song about my experience with anxiety, which is made pretty obvious by the chorus. When I was doing my “research” for this album, I came across a theory about the ocean being bottomless. I thought this idea fit well with the song’s themes, so I tweaked a lyric and then boom – the song was complete!
When I went to record vocals for the album, I wasn’t super comfortable with the idea of doing all the clean vocals myself, so I brought in a few ringers to shake things up. I’m really thrilled with how all the guests’ – or rather Guest Thunderbirds’ – performances turned out, and “Infinite Ocean” is just one shining example of that. Jason Roberts of the bands Breaths and CHNNLR sings on the song’s third and fourth verses, and I think his voice is such a perfect fit!
Into the Hollow, the debut album from Mothman and The Thunderbirds, will be released on May 21st. The first single “Infinite Ocean” will be released on March 16th.
Mothman and The Thunderbirds is the ambitious and conceptual solo project of Alex Parkinson. Will the Mothman be able to prevent disaster this time? Who knows, there’s bigger things going on to worry about like hollow earths and oceans without end. It’s going to take a whole cast of characters and guest musicians to save us from this one. Do you believe in reality?
Into the Hollow is a stoner metal album for people who are bored of stoner metal. The album is eclectic in scope; no two songs sound alike. Many of the song titles reference cryptids and conspiracy theories, but the lyrics intertwine these subjects with themes of anxiety, isolation, global warming, war, and manufactured consent. The insanity of it all is woven into an emotional, often aggressive, experience that just barely exceeds a 30-minute runtime.
Alex Parkinson – guitars, bass, vocals, vocoder, programming, mixing, mastering
Guest Thunderbirds: Jason Roberts (of Breaths/CHNNLR) – Lead vocals on verses 3 & 4 of “Infinite Ocean” Kirby – lead vocals on “The Simpsons = Real Footage” Sam Parkinson – guitar solo on “Agarthan Riders” Joe Sobieski – lead vocals on “Cloud Giant”
