08.10.23 – Thu. – Festival grounds

Before show

Day one. Also night one. There’s about two hours until Desert’smoke kick things off on Stage 3, but I got here early I guess basically to start writing and scope out where shade could be found. It’s not egregiously hot — I suspect the fact that the ocean is just over the large sand dune behind me has something to do with that, and the breeze is pleasant. I got a water bottle that I’ll keep all weekend barring disaster and sat down under an umbrella by one of the row of food trucks off to the side of the grounds, adjacent to the third stage.

I’ve had four espressos in about the last three hours, and so count myself as awake. There is a little cafe next to where I’m staying that has been very kind, though I think the guy running the hotel suspects I’m hiding more than one person in the room and walking back in with two tiny paper cups, which he definitely noticed, probably didn’t help my case. Nobody else, dude. Just trying to pry my eyes open.

Slept about six hours and got up, showered, grabbed coffee, finished the review of last night correcting a bunch of typos resulting from writing on my phone and no doubt missing many others. For some reason every time I try to swipe the word ‘album’ it thinks I’m talking about someone named Alvin. As you might imagine, it comes up regularly. These are the crosses to bear on a long rock and roll weekend in coastal Europe with the sun shining and the breeze blowing. To be sure, I’ve had it far worse.

Checked in on The Patient Mrs. and The Pecan to see how they were getting on, and of course they were doing just fine in the early morning at home. Today is long — I’ll still be here 12 hours from now, again barring disaster — and a quick video chat felt good to touch ground before spending the rest of the day in an ether cloud of riffs and volume. I’m curious to see how I hold up, but right now I feel pretty okay, if I can dare to say so. I’m here, which is amazing in itself.

Here’s the day:

Desert’smoke

Groovy and spacious, Lisbon instrumental four-piece Desert’smoke eased the afternoon open with warm heavy psychedelic meandering offset by moments of heavier, riff-led roll and a bit of noisier slide guitar in the end. I wouldn’t call the sound groundbreaking, but I don’t think they’re trying to be. The material they played had character though in how smoothly it shifted from one stretch to the next, solos traded between the two guitars reaping applause along the way, and the crowd in front of the third stage was into it for more than just the shade under the tent where all sets to this point have taken place. An easy nod to get lost in, which means they’re doing it right, as 2019’s Karakum (discussed here) will attest, with some lighter touches of prog to complement the trippier aspects and the grounded riffs. If you’re the type to close your eyes at a show and figure out where the music takes you, they’d be a perfect candidate for that.

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Etran de L’Aïr

First band on the main stage — Stage 2, as it happens, which is on the left as you walk into the festival site — and they had the crowd dancing, mixing West African and rock musics together with an emphasis in rhythmic fluidity and extra-tasteful bass working in kind with the twisting guitar and the uptempo drums. Their home country of Niger recently saw its government overthrown, which is a hell of a thing to happen while you’re on tour in Europe. But as the soon-to-be 5,000-someodd people attending SonicBlast this weekend continued to trickle in, they were greeted by an engaging presence and a reminder of the often overlooked history of African rock, and psych rock particularly. You could find room to move up front, maybe even a bit of shade if you were lucky — I have a spot near a shaded fance and even a chair to sit in while writing this, so feel like I’m risking almost too much luxury, but it’s still early in the day. And by the time they were finishing up, the place was packed. Good. I hope they get home safe.

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Mythic Sunship

Coming from Copenhagen, instrumentalists Mythic Sunship played in the likely-coveted 4:20 slot, swapping with Death Valley Girls for some yet-unknown reason. Their 2022 LP, Light/Flux (review here), was released through Tee Pee Records, and they brought a similar purposeful-in-the-jam sensibility to the live set. Humble heavy-prog? I guess that was a thing bound to happen. After Etran de L’Aïr, they came across thicker in tone as they would, but the guitar was able to float above the sharp turns of bass and drums beneath, the two sides coming together for well-placed peaks and valleys. It was fun to watch the audience shift over to the other main stage. “Okay, everybody take 35 steps to your right!” But while they were a surprise in that timeslot, Mythic Sunship by daylight was an unabashed joy and heavy to boot — though they had me wondering if it’s weird to play in front of a giant photo of yourself projected onto a screen — with runs of less guitar woven through the songs and a sensibility able to burst into a rock riff and drive that point home, not quite shape-shifting but making transitions that not every band could while sounding sure-footed and explorational at the same time, tipping into psych here and there but with clear direction in mind. I should probably buy that CD. Maybe a couple of them. Their last song was a particular burner and you could hear cheering before they were even done.

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Sasquatch

That finish was as much a lead-in as L.A.’s Sasquatch could ever hope for, and 10-minute changeovers between bands — which you can do when you have the entire set on the stage next door to load out and in and get everything set up — assures forward momentum. I had been saying hi to the Sasquatch guys earlier, and seeing guitarist/vocalist Keith Gibbs writing out the setlist, took my phone out and snapped a picture as a goof. Bad call. He got mad, grabbed his Sharpie and pieces of paper, and was gone before I could even apologize. I felt pretty bad about it, despite the assurances of bassist Jason “Cas” Casanova and drummer Craig Riggs that it was fine, he was pissed about other stuff, etc. So yeah, stupid for even adding to whatever frustration existed prior. I was just kidding around. That photo got deleted off my phone and I’m never looking to invade privacy. One more reason I’m best sitting in front of a laptop. Lesson learned. Again.

They had some technical issues that caused them to begin upwards of two minutes late, but once they started, they were every bit the force they’ve come. I don’t know how you leave a Sasquatch set not thinking of them as one of the best currently active pure heavy rock bands from America, Gibbs paying homage to guitar gods of yore and belting out new and old material with a delivery the reach of which has only grown over the 20-ish years of the band, Cas and/or Riggs backing at various points, all three locked in solid for the duration. There were not a lot of people milling around while they played. Dinner could wait, and so it did. Crowd surfing out front as they chugged Jack Daniels. A new album next year, maybe, would be a thing to look forward to. They did have new stuff in the set, a song called “This Heart is So Lonely,” and that’s always a good sign; you might recall when they were interviewed here earlier this year, they said they were recording in May. They’re the kind of band that gets people into this music in the first place. And then they (completely unnecessarily) shouted me out before “Destroyer,” said a few very nice things, which just about obliterated me, never mind floored. Thanks guys. And sorry again. We’re all heart emojis forever as far as I’m concerned. I went to the merch tent after they played and many sweaty hugs were exchanged. It’s a high bar to set but I’m gonna see if I can go the second half-plus of this day without making an ass of myself.

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Crippled Black Phoenix

It’s been so long since the last time I saw Crippled Black Phoenix, I had to stop what I was doing and look it up. You know when it was? 2019, at Roadburn (review here). So not actually terrible unless you count the fact that the span of 2020-’21 was eight years long. Still, that’s two Crippled Black Phoenix records ago; their latest is Banefyre (review here), the bleak brilliance of which made hearing it an act of emotional labor. They’re a challenging band anyway, expansive goth metal that’s all of those things and not really any of them. For an intro to one of their songs they had the same tune the ice cream truck by my house does, and there was definitely a part of me that perked up because I knew if my kid heard it she’d be chasing it down running in the middle of the street. Nope, just Crippled Black Phoenix adding atmosphere to atmosphere, as they will. I didn’t see any sad shuffle-dancing, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen, and it continues to be incredible how much this band exist in their own world in terms of style, and how that manages to be true even though they have a different lineup every time I see them, this one with two keyboardists, two lead singers, three guitars, one bass, one drums, and to their credit, they were nowhere near too much, and the rhythm section stood up to the task of pushing all that weight. Tonal and existential. And I would say it was weird seeing them by daylight, but the truth is it didn’t matter. They bring their own clouds.

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Spy

A not-insignificant landing to stick, going from Crippled Black Phoenix’s ultra-brood to the darkly thrashy hardcore metal of Spy, who are the most outwardly aggressive act thus far into the fest, and who plied their wares with persistent intensity. They had a circle pit going, were nastier than Scatterbrainiac last night for residing on the same genre spectrum, and actually, the more I think about it, the more sense their place on the bill makes, and the more every band today has been up to something of their own. They finished 15 minutes early, as a hardcore band might do here, but figure if you slowed their songs down to the average speed around here, they might’ve hit the mark, temporal mechanics notwithstanding. For sure they got their point across. I don’t think anyone was arguing with the chance to grab a bite to eat, a beer and so forth, but they did well with a crowd that’s at least somewhat not their own. Sometimes you want that kind of catharsis. I ain’t arguing.

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Acid King

Ah, Acid King. A balm for my sunburnt skin. “Mind’s Eye” from this year’s stellar Beyond Vision (review here) followed by “Coming Down From Outer Space” from 2015’s Middle of Nowhere, Center of Everywhere (discussed here, review here) and “2 Wheel Nation” from III (discussed here) a decade prior. What a starting three to leave you on the doorstep of “Electric Machine” from the stoner rock omega that is 1999’s Busse Woods (featured here, discussed here) tone dense enough that you could feel the ground shake. Founding guitarist/vocalist Lori S. is joined by the ace-in-sleeve rhythm section of bassist/synthesist Bryce Shelton and drummer Jason Willer, who also played on the latest record, and it was my first time seeing this lineup but they sounded incredible. And as much as Acid King are considered a legendary band in underground heavy, I don’t think they get nearly enough credit for the lessons in grooves, riffs and the ability of a song to be outrageously heavy and still laid back, mellow. “Destination Psych” into “Beyond Vision” into “Color Trails.” That’s a fucking jam. Look. If you wanna pick favorites, Acid King are high on my list and as far as I’m concerned, stoner rock doesn’t exist without them. AND they’re growing as a band after three decades since starting out. There’s not a lot of bands I could listen to any time, regardless of mood or circumstance, but Acid King are always more than welcome in my ears. And with the kind of volume they had at SonicBlast, only more so. It was full across both stages, and they brought the sun down. Glorious.

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Death Valley Girls

Second band of the day from Los Angeles. Planet Earth is weird. Death Valley Girls took off running at the outset and only really stopped to say thanks and how strange it was for them since their normal singer was stuck in L.A. unless I completely misinterpreted what they were saying between songs, which is possible because I’m old and have hearing damage. I’m not sure the crowd knew the difference. I wouldn’t have if they’d said anything. Nothing seemed missing from their arrangements, with vocals handled by their bassist and another singer with a floor tom — which I wholly support; more floor toms, and I’m not being sarcastic — and they weren’t any looser than their heavy garage psych meets ’90s alt rock vibe warranted. Mostly uptempo but not rushed sounding, they seemed to dare toward fun in a made it almost too perfect they were playing the same day as Crippled Black Phoenix — one of whose six-stringers had an explicit ‘no fun’ sticker on the body of his guitar — and that went over well. I don’t know how familiar the crowd was generally, but I didn’t know them and whatever their situation was lineup-wise that perhaps was the reason why they switched slots with Mythic Sunship, they acquitted themselves well. I’d check out a record, gladly.

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OFF!

I was neither cool enough nor the right kind of uncool enough to be a punker, but even I know who the fuck Keith Morris is, and he’s my favorite of the various singers Black Flag had during their original run. The First Four Years, man. Their moniker taken from yet another brand of bug repellant, OFF! is Morris (lest we forget to mention Circle Jerks), guitarist Dimitri Coats, bassist Autry Fulbright II and drummer Justin Brown, and the crowd was packed in front of the stage 20 minutes before they went on, buzzing. I had gone to get coffee, and that turned out to be well timed ahead of their set, which made traditionalist hardcore punk sound new in a seemingly impossible way. They put out their first record in eight years (their fourth overall), Free LSD, in 2022, and they’re at the top of the bill tonight to support it, though not playing last by any stretch. They were unipolar in their manic push and gallop, and Morris was very much at the center of the circus. I don’t own an OFF! record and I’m not sure I’ve ever written about them since their inception in 2010 (I checked that and it’s true save for the announcement they were playing here), but having now seen them, I’m glad I did, which puts me in decent company I think with just about everyone here. Stripped down as it would have to be, but holy shit that’s loud.

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Hällas

This was my second time seeing Hällas in about two months, so safe to say their futurist space progressive rock was fresh in mind. They had been warmly welcomed at Freak Valley (review here) and were perhaps more so here, with the crowd at the front of the barricade singing along, fist-pumping and so on. Riffs a-blazin’, keyboard with that gorgeous proggy krautrock sound that’s 50 years old and still ‘The Sound of Tomorrow!’ (to be read in a big booming voice), they were on, though to be honest, this is the third time I’ve caught them live and I’ve never come away disappointed. Are they likely to take over the world with their theatrical heavy space whatnot? Probably no. But in another abrupt aesthetic shift, they followed OFF!’s set with textures and a presence that was no less their own. I think I might like this band. Anything but that! Not another band! Nonetheless, they’ve been at this for at least 12 years now, so while they’re a young band in my head, they’re ab established band, and it seems like maybe it’s time for me to dig into their records for really real and see where I finally stand. 2022’s Isle of Wisdom a good place to start? Guess I’ll find out. I remembered “Star Rider,” which is on their first LP, so that’s something. I’ll figure it out. Party like it’s 1975. I swear I saw meteors steak the sky when they were done. Conjure the perseids.

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Kadavar

It’s been a very long tone (really) since I saw Kadavar last. Three or four records, like. The Berlin-based classic heavy rockers — who in the interim have put themselves on the path to become a classic band as well — added second guitarist and backing vocalist Jascha Kreft to become a four-piece, and hearing them play older songs like “All Our Thoughts” or even “Die, Baby, Die” from 2017’s For the Dead Travel Fast (review here) — I guess it’s all pre-lineup change since it’s not like they’ve done a record since March when Kreft’s joining was announced — but you could hear the difference this six added strings were making in the fullness of their sound, Kreft on a long riser with drummer Tiger while guitarist/vocalist Lupus Lindemann and bassist Simon “Dragon” Bouteloup held it down on the stage, swing and strut to spare. What songwriters they are. Here’s a Kadavar track you haven’t heard in about six years. No worries, you’ll remember it. Their sound has expanded since their early days of vintage worship, but no matter where they go, they bring the songs with them. And with Kreft serving keyboard/synth and backing vocal duties as well, they’ll likely keep growing. That ethic, the memorable craft, the not-tired-of-it-yet performance from all of them; it makes it easy to see them as one of the best heavy rock bands of their generation, with a legacy carved in stone and a refusal to stagnate that exists alongside an ability to blast out “Doomsday Machine” near the end of the set like they just wrote it. Bands like this don’t happen all the time. I already knew I let it go too long without catching a show, so that wasn’t news, but I’m glad as hell not to have missed this one.

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Deathchant

Amp blew in the first song. Maybe second. Early, either way, but they kept it going, got a new head and before much real-time had passed, Deathchant (the day’s third and final L.A. band) were ripping anew with their gritted-up dual-guitar/dual-vocal NWOBHM proselytizing. I won’t lie to you and say I stayed the whole time. It was getting on 2AM and I still had work to do writing and sorting photos, but rest assured they were loud enough that as I walked up toward the beach and off the fest grounds to make my way back to the hotel, I had the urge to put my earplugs back in. I probably should have, but was distracted as I walked out of the light and realized the sky I was standing beneath. To look up and see the Milky Way bifurcating a night’s stars that I don’t know, with the resonant low frequency wub of Deathchant behind me and the illusion of privacy in that very dark little stretch of beach between one boardwalk and the next, separated from everything I might’ve screwed up today and everything I didn’t. Me, neck craned to the cosmos above, riffs echoing in the distance. The only part that was weird was that it was real and I was living it. While Deathchant were kicking plenty of ass and leaving a mark in that regard, I think I’ll probably always associate them with that minute, maybe two, of my existence. Something they were part of that they’ll probably never know about. It’s quite a galaxy.

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Back to the day’s various successes and failures. I failed at food. Had like three forks of the almond butter I brought from home (not mine; store bought; still good) before going to the fest and more when I got back to the room and that was it. On every level, the wrong choice, and it didn’t really feel like it was one. I’m doing my best.

Success? The day, really. I met more super-nice people, and apart from the misunderstanding with Gibbs from Sasquatch, I think I managed to go the entire 12-hour shift without directly alienating anybody. Maybe. And even that got worked out. I had my sunglasses on. He didn’t know it was me. Indeed, other shit going on. Sometimes you get wound tight and it doesn’t take much to set you off. I felt bad. I still do, but that’s how I roll. But it was a great day. I even saw the Ruff Majik guys again for a bit. They’re staying in the same place I am.

I also took over 1,300 pictures today, which I have to think I might not do if I was a better photographer. Ha. Anyhow, some of those will end up at the bottom here, but I’m not even going to start sorting them tonight because I’m so god damned tired. Good night, thanks for reading and, I promise before this is posted there will be more pics after the jump.

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I’m not going to pretend to have heard every band in this 16-strong announcement from Portugal’s SonicBlast Fest 2023, and honestly, that’s part of the appeal as far as I’m concerned. And if you’re looking for bigger names, certainly bringing in The Black Angels and Thuston Moore of Sonic Youth ought to qualify. But check out Mythic Sunship being confirmed, Mirror Queen heading abroad once again from their home in New York, Dozer supporting their first album in 15 years, Crippled Black Phoenix bringing their thoroughly English gloom to the otherwise sunshiny proceedings, Sasquatch pushing their forever-tour further presumably after completing the recording of their next LP, Danava and Love Gang both supporting new releases, on and on.

Is this the part where I tell you how killer the lineup looks and perhaps list off the various parts of my body I’d cut off in order to attend? Yeah, probably. But my own escapism aside, you can see for yourself what SonicBlast has put together in terms of a diverse range of sounds based around a unifying heavy ideal, and between the new names and those previously confirmed, it seems like it’s going to be a special couple days for those attending as well as the bands actually playing the thing. Maybe that could be you too.

Here’s the latest from social media:

We’re so proud and honored to announce 16 more bands that’ll blow our minds this summer, at SonicBlast Fest 2023 — The Black Angels, Thurston Moore Group, Bombino, Dozer, CRIPPLED BLACK PHOENIX (official), Imarhan, Hällas, Scowl, SPY, Sasquatch, LOVE GANG, Mythic Sunship, Etran de L’Aïr, DANAVA, Mirror Queen and scatterbrainiac!!

Join us in this crazy heavy psychedelic weekend by the ocean at Praia da Duna dos Caldeirões, Âncora, Portugal!

*** many more to be announced soon ***

Full festival tickets are already on sale at BOL (https://garboyl.bol.pt/Comprar/Bilhetes/114471-sonicblast_fest_2023-garboyl_lives/Sessoes) and at masqueticket.com

Artwork by Branca Studio

https://www.facebook.com/sonicblastmoledo/
https://www.instagram.com/sonicblast_fest
https://sonicblastfestival.com/

I’m in it. The only reason I even know what day it is is because I keep notes and I set up the back end of these posts ahead of time. They tell me what number I’m on. As for the rest, it’s blinders and music, all all all. Go. Go. Go. I honestly don’t even know why I still write these intro paragraphs. I just do. You know the deal, right? 10 records yesterday, 10 today, 10 more tomorrow. At some point it ends. At some point it begins again. Presumably before then I’ll figure out what day it is.

Quarterly Review #71-80:

James Romig & Mike Scheidt, The Complexity of Distance

James Romig is a Pulitzer-finalist composer, and Mike Scheidt is the founding guitarist/vocalist of YOB. I refuse to cut-and-paste-pretend at understanding all the theory put into the purported ’13:14:15′ ratio of beat cycles throughout The Complexity of Distance — or, say, just about any of it — but the resulting piece is about 57 minutes of Scheidt‘s guitar work, as recorded by Billy Barnett (YOB‘s regular producer). It is presented as a single track, and with the (obviously intentional) chord progressions in Romig‘s piece, “The Complexity of Distance” is a huge drone. If you ever wanted to hear Scheidt do earlier-style Earth guitar work — yes, duh — then this might satisfy that curiosity. There’s high-culture intersecting with low here in a way that takes Scheidt out of it creatively — that is to say, Romig did the composing — but I won’t take away from the work in concept or performance, or even the result. Hell, I’ll listen to Mike Scheidt riff around for 57 minutes. It’ll be the best 57 minutes of my god damned day. Perhaps that’s not universal, but I don’t think Romig‘s looking for radio hits. Whether you approach it on that theory level or as a sonic meditation, the depths welcome you. I’d take another Scheidt solo record someday too, though. Just saying.

James Romig website

Mike Scheidt on Facebook

New World Records store

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Mythic Sunship, Light/Flux

Copenhagen’s Mythic Sunship turned Light/Flux around so quick after 2021’s Wildfire (review here) they didn’t even have time to take a new promo photo. There is no question the Danish five-piece have been on a tear for a few years now, and their ascent into the psych-jazz fusion ether continues with Light/Flux, marrying its gotta-happen-right-this-second urgency to a patience in the actual unfolding of songs like the sax’ed out “Aurora” and the more guitar-led “Blood Moon” at the outset — light — with the cosmic triumphalist horn and crashes of “Decomposition” leading off side B and moving into the hey-where’d-you-come-from boogie of “Tempest,” presumably flux. Each half of the record ends with a standout, as “Equinox” follows “Blood Moon” with a more space rock-feeling takeoff pulse, right up to the synth sweep that starts at about 2:50, and “First Frost” gives high and low float gracefully over steady toms like different dreams happening at the same time and then merging in purpose as the not-overblown crescendo locks in. May their momentum carry them ever forward if they’re going to produce at this level.

Mythic Sunship on Facebook

Tee Pee Records store

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Deville, Heavy Lies the Crown

What a fascinating direction the progression of Sweden’s Deville has taken these 15 years after Come Heavy Sleep. Heavy Lies the Crown finds the Swedish journeymen aligned to Sixteentimes Music for the follow-up to 2018’s Pigs With Gods (review here), and is through its eight tracks in a dense-toned, impact-minded 33 minutes with nary a second to spare in cuts like “Killing Time” and “Unlike You” and “A Devil Around Your Neck.” Their push and aggressive edge reminds of turn-of-the-century Swedish heavy rockers like Mustasch or Mother Misery, and even in “Hands Tied” and “Serpent Days” — the two longest cuts on Heavy Lies the Crown, appearing in succession on side A — they maintain an energy level fostered by propulsive drums and a rampant drive toward immediacy rather than flourish, but neither does the material feel rushed or unconsidered right up to the final surprising bit of spaciousness in “Pray for More,” which loosens up the throttle a bit while still holding onto an underlying chug, some last progressive angularity perhaps to hint at another stage to come. One way or the other, in craft and delivery, Deville remain reliable without necessarily being predictable, which is a rare balance to strike, particularly for a band who’ve never made the same record twice.

Deville on Facebook

Sixteentimes Music store

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Superdeluxe, Superdeluxe

Guitarist/vocalist Bill Jenkins and bassist Matthew Kahn hail from Kingsnake (begat by Sugar Daddie in days of yore), drummer Michael Scarpone played in Wizard Eye, and guitarist Christopher Wojcik made a splash a few years back in King Bison, so yes, dudes have been around. Accordingly, Superdeluxe know off the bat where their grooves are headed on this five-song self-titled EP, with centerpiece “Earth” nodding toward a somewhat inevitable Clutch influence — thinking “Red Horse Rainbow” specifically — and seeming to acknowledge lyrically this as the project’s beginning point in “Popular Mechanix,” driving somewhat in the vein of Freedom Hawk but comfortably paced as “Destructo Facto” and “Severed Hand” are at the outset of the 19-minute run. “Ride” finishes out with a lead line coursing over its central figure before a stop brings the chorus, swing and swagger and a classic take on that riff — Sabbath‘s “Hole in the Sky,” Goatsnake‘s “Trower”; everybody deserves a crack at it at least once — familiar and weighted, but raw enough in the production to still essentially be a demo. Nonetheless, veteran players, new venture, fun to be had and hopefully more to come.

Superdeluxe on Instagram

Superdeluxe website

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Esel, Asinus

Based in Berlin and featuring bassist Cozza, formerly of Melbourne, Australia’s Riff Fist, alongside guitarist Moseph and drummer 666tin, Esel are an instrumentalist three-piece making their full-length debut with the live-recorded and self-produced Asinus. An eight-tracker spanning 38 minutes, it’s rough around the edges in terms of sound, but that only seems to suit the fuzz in both the guitar and bass, adding a current of noise alongside the low end being pushed through both as well as the thud of 666tin‘s toms and kick. They play fast, they play slow, they roll the wheel rather than reinvent it, but there’s charm here amid the doomier “Donkey Business” — they’ve got a lot of ‘ass’ stuff going on, including the opener “Ass” and the fact that their moniker translates from German as “donkey” — and the sprawling into maddening crashes “A Biss” later on, which precedes the minute-long finale “The Esel Way Out.” Want to guess what it is? Did you guess noise and feedback? If you did, your prize is to go back to the start and hear the crow-call letters of the band’s name and the initial slow nod of “Ass” all over again. I’m going to do my best not to make a pun about getting into it, but, well, I’ve already failed.

Esel on Facebook

Esel on Bandcamp

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Blue Tree Monitor, Cryptids

With riffs to spare and spacious vibes besides, London instrumentalists Blue Tree Monitor offer Cryptids, working in a vein that feels specifically born out of their hometown’s current sphere of heavy. Across the sprawl of “Siberian Sand” at the beginning of the five-song/38-minute debut album, one can hear shades of some of the Desertscene-style riffing for which Steak has been an ambassador, and certainly there’s no shortage of psych and noise around to draw from either, as the cacophonous finish manifests. But big is the idea as much as broad, and sample-topped centerpiece “Sasquatch” (also the longest cut at 8:41) is a fine example of how to do both, complete with fuzzy largesse and a succession of duly plodding-through-the-woods riffs. “Antlion” feels laid back in the guitar but contrasts with the drums, and the closer “Seven” is more straight-ahead heavy rock riffing until its second half gets a little more into noise rock before its final hits, so maybe the book isn’t entirely closed on where they’ll go sound-wise, but so much the better for listening to something with multifaceted potential in the present. To put it another way, they sound like a new band feeling their way forward through their songs, and that’s precisely what one would hope for as they move forward from here.

Blue Tree Monitor on Facebook

Blue Tree Monitor on Bandcamp

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Astrometer, Incubation

Vigilant in conveying the Brooklynite unit’s progressive intentions, from the synthy-sounding freakout at the end of “Wavelength Synchronizer” to the angular beginning of “Conglobulations,” Incubation is the first two-songer offering from Astrometer, who boast in their ranks members of Hull, Meek is Murder and Bangladeafy. The marriage of sometimes manically tense riffing and a more open keyboard line overhead works well on the latter track, but one would at no point accuse Astrometer of not getting their point across, and with ready-for-a-7″ efficiency, since the whole thing takes just about seven and a half minutes out of your busy day. I’m fairly sure they’ve had some lineup jumbling since this was recorded — there may be up to three former members of Hull there now, and that’s a hoot also audible in the guitars — but notice is served in any case, and the way the ascending frenetic chug of the guitar gives way to the keyboard solo in “Wavelength Synchronizer” is almost enough on its own to let you know that there’s a plan at work. See also the melodic, almost post-rock-ish floating notes above the fray at the start of “Conglobulations.” I bought the download. I’d buy a tape. You guys got tapes? Shirts?

Astrometer on Facebook

Astrometer on Bandcamp

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Oldest Sea, Strange and Eternal

Somewhere between a solo-project and an actual band is Oldest Sea. Led by songwriter, vocalist, multi-instrumentalist and recording engineer Sam Marandola — joined throughout the four tracks of debut EP Strange and Eternal by lead guitarist/drummer Andrew Marandola and on 10-minute closer “The Whales” by bassist Jay Mazzillo — the endeavor is atmospherically weighted and given a death-doom-ish severity through the echoing snare on “Consecration,” only after opener “Final Girl” swells in distortion and melody alike until receding for string-style ambience, which might be keyboard, might be guitar, might be cello, I don’t know. Marandola also performs as a solo folk artist and one can hear that in her approach to the penultimate “I’ll Take What’s Mine,” but in the focus on atmosphere here, as well as the patience of craft across differing methodologies in what’s still essentially an initial release — if nothing before it proves the argument, certainly “The Whales” does — one hears shades of the power SubRosa once wielded in bringing together mournful melody and doomed tradition to suit purposes drawing from American folk and post-metallic weight. At 25 minutes, I’m tempted to call it an album for its sheer substance. Instead I’ll hang back and just wait and get my hopes up for when that moment actually comes.

Oldest Sea on Facebook

Oldest Sea on Bandcamp

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Weddings, Book of Spells

Based in Austria with roots in Canada, Spain and Sweden, Weddings are vocalist/guitarist Jay Brown, vocalist/drummer Elena Rodriguez and bassist Phil Nordling, and whether it’s the grunge turnaround on second cut “Hunter” or the later threatening-to-be-goth-rock of “Running Away” — paired well with “Talk is Cheap” — the trio are defined in no small part by the duet-style singing of Brown and Rodriguez. The truly fortunate part of listening to their sophomore LP, Book of Spells, is that they can also write a song. Opener “Hexenhaus” signals a willful depth of atmosphere that comes through on “Sleep” and the acoustic-led gorgeousness of “Tundra,” and so on, but they’re not shy about a hook either, as in “Greek Fire,” “Hunter,” “Running Away” and closer “Into the Night” demonstrate. Mood and texture are huge throughout Book of Spells, but the effect of the whole is duly entrancing, and the prevailing sense from their individual parts is that either Brown or Rodriguez could probably front the band on their own, but Weddings are a more powerful and entrancing listen for the work they do together throughout. Take a deep breath before you jump in here.

Weddings on Facebook

StoneFree Records store

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The Heavy Crawls, Searching for the Sun

A classic rock spirit persists across the nine songs of The Heavy Crawls‘ sophomore full-length, Searching for the Sun, as the Kyiv-based trio of guitarist/vocalist/keyboardist Max Tovstyi, bassist/backing vocalist Serj Manernyi and drummer/backing vocalist Tobi Samuel offer nods to the likes of the Rolling Stones and Jimi Hendrix, among others, with a healthy dose of their own fuzz to coincide. The organ-laced title-track sounds like it was recorded on a stage, if it wasn’t, and no matter where the trio end up — looking at you, Sabbath-riffed “Stoner Song” — the material is tied together through the unflinchingly organic nature of their presentation. They’re not hiding anything here. No tricks. No BS. They’re writing their own songs, to be sure, but whether it’s the funky “I Don’t Know” or the languid psych rollout of “Take Me Higher” (it picks up in the second half) that immediately follows, they put everything they’ve got right up front for the listener to take in, make of it what they will, and rock out accordingly, be it to the mellow “Out of My Head” or the stomping “Evil Side (Of Rock ‘n’ Roll) or the sweet, sweet guitar-solo-plus-organ culmination of “1,000 Problems.” Take your pick, really. You’re in good hands no matter what.

The Heavy Crawls on Facebook

Clostridium Records store

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I don’t know how many of these posts I’ve done by now. Fewer than actual episodes, the number of which I do keep track. But it always feels a little weird. Yeah, guess what? I think it’s a cool show. Of course I fucking do. I made it. What, I’m going to try to suck?

So hey, this is a pretty good show. You should listen.

In all seriousness, I want to express my thanks to Gimme Metal for allowing me to continue to do this. Their platform has gotten huge in the last few years and they need my ass taking up two hours of precious air time like they need a reminder of traditional radio’s downfall, so it really means something to me that I get to weird out and share music for a new show every two weeks. I can’t even turn my playlists in on time. My voice tracks weren’t submitted until Tuesday! Terrible.

Bottom line though is Gimme doesn’t at all have to let me keep doing a show. In my embarrassing number of years, I’ve seen outside-the-genre interest in heavy rock, psych, doom, sludge, and so on wax and wane, and my experience is that if you’re not all the way in it, you’re eventually going to move on to something else that speaks to you. Nothing wrong with that, of course; it’s how life works. It’s why I’m not catholic. But for a company with their hands in so much other shit to allow someone like me to do my thing in my own way and my own time is pretty god damned rare and viscerally appreciated.

That’s all I’ve got to say about it, except that, again, this show is pretty good.

Thanks if you listen and thanks for reading.

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

Full playlist:

The Obelisk Show – 09.16.22 (VT = voice track)

King Buffalo	Mammoth	Regenerator
DRÖÖG	Stormhatt	DRÖÖG
Slomosa	There is Nothing New Under the Sun	Slomosa
VT
Fu Manchu	Mongoose	California Crossing
Stöner	Space Dude & The Burn	Totally…
Monolord	The Siren of Yirsinia	Your Time to Shine
Corrosion of Conformity	The Door	Wiseblood
Colour Haze	Goldmine	Sacred
Mythic Sunship	Equinox	Light/Flux
Blue Rumble	Brasas	Blue Lightning/Brasas
Solanhum	Basti (Falling into the Natural Realm)	Rostratum
Fogteeth	Delirium Man	Headspace
Electric Wizard	The Chosen Few	Witchcult Today
Alain Johannes	If Morning Comes	Hum
Red Sky Blues	Glowing	Red Sky Blues
VT
Kungens Män	Keeper of the One Key	VA – International Space Station Vol. 1

The Obelisk Show on Gimme Metal airs every Friday 5PM Eastern, with replays Sunday at 7PM Eastern. Next new episode is Sept. 30 (subject to change). Thanks for listening if you do.

Gimme Metal website

The Obelisk on Facebook

In a convenient bit of timing, in between starting the back end for this post and sitting down to actually write this part of it, the promo for Mythic Sunship‘s new album, Light/Flux, came down the PR wire. Listening to it for the first time as I set fingers to keyboard, its psych-jazz reinventions and varied purposes in heavy psychedelic exploration feel in line with and expanded outward from where the Danish outfit were on last year’s aptly-named Wildfire (review here).

Their sound is growing more unmistakable even as it becomes more encompassing, and in the brooding guitar-forward jam of “Blood Moon,” the tense, wobbly-sax-go of “Tempest” and the serenity-until-it’s-a-freakout of the 10-minute “Decomposition,” Mythic Sunship continue to execute with a sense of class that is entirely their own and balances well against the organic feel of their tones and groove. It’s a record you can get into, and I know that because I’ve just lost 20 minutes sitting here, staring at this screen while listening.

More to come? Shit, I hope so. Light/Flux releases on Sept. 30 through Tee Pee Records, and you can stream the aforementioned “Tempest” now, penultimate on the album as it is to the duly Decemberish “First Frost.” Preorders are up if you’d like to get a jump on your Fall listening. Six records in,

Info and links follow:

Worship at the Altar of the Cosmos with MYTHIC SUNSHIP | New Album LIGHT/FLUX Out in September

With five acclaimed releases in as many years, Mythic Sunship have long since established themselves amongst Europe’s finest purveyors of psychedelic music, effortlessly bridging the gap between heavy riff worship and expansive, free-jazz experimentation.

This September, the Copenhagen-based quintet (and self-proclaimed practitioners of ‘Anaconda Rock’) team up once again with New York’s legendary underground label Tee Pee Records, for the release of their sixth studio album, Light/Flux.

Simultaneously opening a new chapter on their journey, while razing the very foundations on which their previous output was built, the Scandinavian outfit are notorious for erratic, visceral, untameable musical singularities unleashed through improvisatory interplay. Showcasing that essence rare in its most primal form, unlike last year’s Wildfire, Light/Flux is the result of a more composed, melodic, and harmonious process, despite retaining the band’s signature penchant for unhinged spontaneity.

Recorded in Stockholm’s legendary RMV Studios over the course of four, chilly December days, Mythic Sunship’s unique sound and approach to creating records evokes the sound of John Coltrane joining Talk Talk. Wonderful moments of melancholy and bleakness, perched perfectly amidst the traditional fiery peaks the band is so well known for.

As exhilarating and electrifying as psychedelic records come, Light/Flux showcases Mythic Sunship’s scorched-earth approach in the search for new ideas and will be released on 30th September via Tee Pee Records.

Digitally pre-save/order the album here: https://orcd.co/lightflux

Or purchase the album physically on CD/LP via Tee Pee Records here: https://teepeerecords.com/products/mythic-sunship-light-flux-lp-cd-out-9-30-22

TRACK LISTING:
1. Aurora
2. Blood Moon
3. Equinox
4. Decomposition
5. Tempest
6. First Frost

facebook.com/mythicsunship
instagram.com/mythicfunship

facebook.com/teepeerecords
teepeerecords.com
twitter.com/teepeerecords
instagram.com/teepeerecords

Mythic Sunship, “Tempest”

Sonic Whip are making it easy for you. Sitting around your house thinking about whether to travel to Nijmegen next May? Well, they’ve got Motorpsycho and Earthless atop a two-day bill of righteous heavy that kills all the way down the poster. Rotor? Stöner? Mythic Sunship and Slomosa? Who’s going to argue with any of that? I mean, the answer was yes on going to Nijmegen anyway, but if Polymoon and Sacri Monti are showing up, that’s all the more reason.

I’ve got a yelling four year old upstairs to go tend to — it’s about six in the morning my time, he’s up and banging around as he will — but there’s some urgency here as Saturday tickets are already sold out. There’s still Friday, for now, or two-day passes, if you want to do the full Sonic Whip 2022 experience, and apparently if you had bought in for the long-long ago in 2020, you get in automatically. That’s nice.

Here’s info and links:

Sonic Whip 2022 – May 6-7

We are back! It is time to let the guitars roar again on 6 & 7 May in Doornroosje Nijmegen.

Living legends Motorpsycho will headline Sonic Whip 2022 – Official.

Line-up:
• Motorpsycho (nor)
• Earthless (usa)
• Stöner (usa)
• Rotor (ger)
• Sacri Monti (usa)
• Maidavale (swe)
• A/lpaca (ita)
• Polymoon (fin)
• Slomosa (nor)
• Mythic Sunship (den)
• Kaleidobolt (fin)
• more to follow…

Sonic Whip 2020 tickets remain valid for 2022.

The beautiful artwork created by the talented Maarten Donders.

TICKET SALES UPDATE

We are grateful so many of you held on to the Sonic Whip 2020 tickets which remain valid for the 2022 edition. As a result of this and the recent sales the day tickets for the Saturday are sold out now!

Only weekend tickets and Friday day tickets remaining. We can promise you both days will be worth it!

More info & tickets: www.doornroosje.nl/event/sonic-whip-2022

Friday tickets at €30
Saturday tickets at €47,50 – SOLD OUT
Weekendtickets at €70

https://www.facebook.com/events/427908701471605
https://www.facebook.com/Sonicwhipfestival
https://www.doornroosje.nl/

Motorpsycho, Live in Tönsberg, Norway, Aug. 14, 2021

Hey, how was your weekend? You won’t be surprised to learn mine was full of tunes, which I mark as a win. While we’re marking wins, let’s put one down for wrapping up the longest Quarterly Review to-date in a full 11 days today. 110 releases. I started on July 5 — a lifetime ago. It’s now July 19, and I’ve encountered a sick kid and wife, busted laptop, oral surgery, and more riffs than I could ever hope to count along the way. Ups, downs, all-arounds. I hope you’ve enjoyed the ride.

This day was added kind of on an impulse, and the point I’m looking to emphasize is that you can spend two full weeks reviewing 10 albums a day and still there’s more to be had. I’ve learned over time you’re never going to hear everything — not even close — and that no matter how deep you dig, there’s more to find. I’m sure if I didn’t have other stuff scheduled I could fill out the entirety of this week and then some with 10 records a day. As it stands, let’s not have this Quarterly Review run into the next one at the end of September/beginning of October. Time to get my life back a little bit, such as it is.

Quarterly Review #101-110:

King Woman, Celestial Blues

After the (earned) fanfare surrounding King Woman‘s 2017 debut, Created in the Image of Suffering, expectations for the sophomore outing, Celestial Blues, are significant. Songwriter/vocalist Kris Esfandiari meets these head-on in heavy and atmospheric fashion on tracks like the opening title-cut and “Morning Star,” the more cacophonous “Coil” and duly punishing “Psychic Wound.” Blues? Yes, in places. Celestial? In theme, in its confrontation with dogma, sure. Even more than these, though, Celestial Blues taps into an affecting weight of ambience, such that even the broad string sounds of “Golgotha” feel heavy, and whether a given stretch is loud or quiet, subdued like the first half of “Entwined” or raging like the second, right into the minimalist “Paradise Lost” that finishes, the sense of burden being purposefully conveyed is palpable in the listening experience. No doubt the plaudits will be or are already manifold and superlative, but the work stands up.

King Woman on Facebook

Relapse Records website

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Mythic Sunship, Wildfire

Mythic Sunship are a hopeful vision for the future of progressive psychedelic music. Their fifth album and first for Tee Pee Records, Wildfire offers five tracks/45 minutes that alternates between ripping holes in the fabric of spacetime via emitted subspace wavelengths of shredding guitar, sax-led freakouts, shimmer to the point of blindness, peaceful drift and who the hell knows what else is going on en route from one to the other. Because as much as the Copenhagen outfit might jump from one stretch to the next, their fluidity is huge all along the course of Wildfire, which is fortunate because that’s probably the only thing stopping the record from actually melting. Instrumental as ever, I’m not sure if there’s a narrative arc playing out — certainly one can read one between “Maelstrom,” “Olympia,” “Landfall,” “Redwood Grove” and “Going Up” — and if that’s the intention, it maybe pulls back from that “hopeful vision” idea somewhat, at least in theme, if not aesthetic. In any case, the gorgeousness, the electrified vitality in what Mythic Sunship do, continues to distinguish them from their peers, which is a list that is only growing shorter with each passing LP.

Mythic Sunship on Facebook

Tee Pee Records website

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Morningstar Delirium, Morningstar Delirium

I said I was going to preorder this tape and I’m glad I did. Morningstar Delirium‘s half-hour/four-song debut offering is somewhere between an EP and an album — immersive enough to be the latter certainly in its soothing, brooding exploration of sonic textures, not at all tethered to a sonic weight in the dark industrial “Blood on the Fixture” and even less so in the initial minutes of “Silent Travelers,” but not entirely avoiding one either, as in the second half of that latter track some more sinister beats surface for a time. Comprised of multi-instrumentalists/vocalist Kelly Schilling (Dreadnought, BleakHeart) and Clayton Cushman (The Flight of Sleipnir), the isolation-era project feeds into that lockdown atmosphere in moments droning and surging, “Where Are You Going” giving an experimentalist edge with its early loops and later stretch of ethereal slide guitar (or what sounds like it), while closer “A Plea for the Stars” fulfills the promise of its vocalists with a doomed melody in its midsection that’s answered back late, topping an instrumental progression like the isolated weepy guitar of classic goth metal over patiently built layers of dark-tinted wash. Alternating between shorter and longer tracks, the promise in Morningstar Delirium resides in the hope they’ll continue to push farther and farther along these lines of emotional and aural resonance.

Morningstar Delirium on Instagram

Morningstar Delirium on Bandcamp

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Lunar Funeral, Road to Siberia

Somewhere between spacious goth and garage doom, Russia’s Lunar Funeral find their own stylistic ground to inhabit on their second album, Road to Siberia. The two-piece offer grim lysergics to start the affair on “Introduce” before plunging into “The Thrill,” which bookends with the also-11-minute closer “Don’t Send Me to Rehab” and gracefully avoids going full-freakout enough to bring back the verse progression near the end. Right on. Between the two extended pieces, the swinging progression of “25th Hour” trades brooding for strut — or at least brooding strut — with the snare doing its damnedest by the midsection to emulate handclaps could be there if they could find a way not to be fun. “25th Hour” hits into a wash late and “Black Bones” answers with dark boogie and a genuine nod later, finishing with noise en route to the spacious eight-minute “Silence,” which finds roll eventually, but holds to its engaging sense of depth in so doing, the abiding weirdness of the proceedings enhanced by the subtle masterplan behind it. Airy guitar work winding atop the bassline makes the penultimate “Your Fear is Giving Me Fear” a highlight, but the willful trudge of “Don’t Send Me to Rehab” is an all-too-suitable finish in style and atmosphere, not quite drawing it all together, but pushing it off a cliff instead.

Lunar Funeral on Facebook

Helter Skelter Productions / Regain Records on Bandcamp

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Satánico Pandemonium, Espectrofilia

Sludge and narcosadistic doom infest the six-track Espectrofilia from Mexico City four-piece Satánico Pandemonium, who call it an EP despite its topping 40 minutes in length. I don’t know, guys. Electric Wizard are a touchstone to the rollout of “Parábola del Juez Perverso,” which lumbers out behind opener “El Que Reside Dentro” and seems to come apart about two minutes in, only to pick up and keep going. Fucking a. Horror, exploitation, nodding riffs, raw vibes — Satánico Pandemonium have it all and then some, and if there’s any doubt Espectrofilia is worthy of pressing to a 12″ platter, like 2020’s Culto Suicida before it, whether they call it a full-length or not, the downward plunge of the title-track into the grim boogie of “Panteonera” and the consuming, bass-led closer “La Muerte del Sol” should put them to rest with due prejudice. The spirit of execution here is even meaner than the sound, and that malevolence of intent comes through front-to-back.

Satánico Pandemonium on Facebook

Satánico Pandemonium on Bandcamp

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Van Groover, Honk if Parts Fall Off

Kudos to Van Groover on their know-thyself tagline: “We’re not reinventing the wheel, but we let it roll.” The German trio’s 10-track/51-minute debut, Honk if Parts Fall Off, hits its marks in the post-Truckfighters sphere of uptempo heavy fuzz/stoner rock, injecting a heaping dose of smoke-scented burl from the outset with “Not Guilty” and keeping the push going through “Bison Blues” and “Streetfood” and “Jetstream” before “Godeater” takes a darker point of view and “Roadrunner” takes a moment to catch its breath before reigniting the forward motion. Sandwiched between that and the seven-minute “Bad Monkey” is an interlude of quieter bluesy strum called “Big Sucker” that ends with a rickity-sounding vehicle — something tells me it’s a van — starts and “Bad Monkey” kicks into its verse immediately, rolling stoned all the while even in its quiet middle stretch before “HeXXXenhammer” and the lull-you-into-a-false-sense-of-security-then-the-riff-hits “Quietness” finish out. Given the stated ambitions, it’s hard not to take Honk if Parts Fall Off as it comes. Van Groover aren’t hurting anybody except apparently one or two people in the opener and maybe elsewhere in the lyrics. Stoner rock for stoner rockers.

Van Groover on Facebook

Van Groover on Bandcamp

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Sergio Ch., Koi

There is not much to which Buenos Aires-based singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Sergio Chotsourian, aka Sergio Ch., is a stranger at this point. In a career that has spanned more than a quarter-century, he’s dipped hands in experimentalist folk and drone, rock, metal, punk, goth and more in varying prolific combinations of them. Koi, his latest full-length, still finds new ground to explore, however, in bringing not only the use of programmed drum beats behind some of the material, but collaborations with his own children, Isabel Ch., who contributes vocals on the closing Nine Inch Nails cover, “Hurt,” which was also previously released as a single, and Rafael “Raffa” Ch., who provides a brief but standout moment just before with a swirling, effects-laced rap tucked away at the end of the 11-minute “El Gran Chaparral.” If these are sentimental inclusions on Chotsourian‘s part, they’re a minor indulgence to make, and along with the English-language “NY City Blues,” the partial-translation of “Hurt” into Spanish is a welcome twist among others like “Tic Tac,” which blend electronic beats and spacious guitar in a way that feels like a foreshadow of burgeoning interests and things to come.

Sergio Ch. on Facebook

South American Sludge Records on Bandcamp

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Achachak, High Mountain

Less than a year removed from their debut full-length, At the Bottom of the Sea, Croatian five-piece Achachak return with the geological-opposite follow-up, High Mountain. With cuts like “Bong Goddess,” “Maui Waui,” they leave little to doubt as to where they’re coming from, but the stoner-for-stoners’-sake attitude doesn’t necessarily account either for the drifty psych of “Biggest Wave” or the earlier nod-out in “Lonewolf,” the screams in the opening title-track or the follow-that-riff iron-manliness of “”Mr. SM,” let alone the social bent to the lyrics in the QOTSA-style “Lesson” once it takes off — interesting to find them delving into the political given the somewhat regrettable inner-sleeve art — but the overarching vibe is still of a band not taking itself too seriously, and the songwriting is structured enough to support the shifts in style and mood. The fuzz is strong with them, and closer “Cozy Night” builds on the languid turn in “Biggest Wave” with an apparently self-aware moody turn. For having reportedly been at it since 1999, two full-lengths and a few others EPs isn’t a ton as regards discography, but maybe now they’re looking to make up for lost time.

Achachak on Facebook

Achachak on Bandcamp

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Rise Up, Dead Man, Rise Up, Dead Man

It’s almost counterintuitive to think so, but what you see is what you get with mostly-instrumentalist South African western/psych folk duo Rise Up, Dead Man‘s self-titled debut. To wit, the “Bells of Awakening” at the outset, indeed, are bells. “The Summoning,” which follows, hypnotizes with guitar and various other elements, and then, yes, the eponymous “Rise Up, Dead Man,” is a call to raise the departed. I don’t know if “Stolen Song” is stolen, but it sure is familiar. Things get more ethereal as multi-instrumentalists Duncan Park (guitar, vocals, pennywhistle, obraphone, bells, singing bowl) and William Randles (guitar, vocals, melodica, harmonium, violin, bells, singing bowl) through the serenity of “The Wind in the Well” and the summertime trip to Hobbiton that the pennywhistle in “Everything that Rises Must Converge” offers, which is complemented in suitably wistful fashion on closer “Sickly Meadow.” There’s some sorting out of aesthetic to be done here, but as the follow-up just to an improv demo released earlier this year, the drive and attention to detail in the arrangements makes their potential feel all the more significant, even before you get to the expressive nature of the songs or the nuanced style in which they so organically reside.

Rise Up, Dead Man on Facebook

Rise Up, Dead Man on Bandcamp

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Atomic Vulture , Moving Through Silence

Yeah, that whole “silence” thing doesn’t last too long on Moving Through Silence. The 51-minute debut long-player from Brugge, Belgium, instrumentalists Atomic Vulture isn’t through opener “Eclipse” before owing a significant sonic debt to Kyuss‘ “Thumb,” but given the way the record proceeds into “Mashika Deathride” and “Coaxium,” one suspects Karma to Burn are even more of an influence for guitarist Pascal David, bassist Kris Hoornaert and drummer Jens Van Hollebeke, and though they move through some slower, more atmospheric stretch on “Cosmic Dance” and later more extended pieces like “Spinning the Titans” (9:02) and closer “Astral Dream,” touching on prog particularly in the second half of the latter, they’re never completely removed from that abiding feel of get-down-to-business, as demonstrated on the roll of “Intergalactic Takeoff” and the willful landing on earth that the penultimate “Space Rat” brings in between “Spinning the Titans” and “Astral Dream,” emphasizing the sense of their being a mission underway, even if the mission is Atomic Vulture‘s discovery of place within genre.

Atomic Vulture on Facebook

Polderrecords on Bandcamp

—

 

SonicBlast Fest announced its 2021 edition was being postponed at the end of the month, and already they’re turning around and making a first announcement for 2022. That’s kind of comforting. Some of these acts — looking at you, Psychlona — have been waiting to play the Portugal-based festival since being announced for 2020 — but barring disaster, there’s a reasonable expectation that 2022 might be a return year, so in addition to them, SonicBlast Fest 2022 is rolling out the formidable likes of Green Lung, Electric Wizard, Pentagram, Weedeater, 1000mods, The Machine, Samavayo, The Devil and the Almighty Blues, Tia Carrera, Slift, and a ton of others with more to come. If you’re going to do a thing, get in there and do it.

Tickets are on sale now, or if you’ve already got them either for 2020 or 2021, they’ll carry over. 2020 was supposed to be my year to hit this fest, as well as a whole bunch of others. So it goes. If you make it to Âncora for the three-dayer next August, you go with my respect and admiration, and no shortage of jealousy.

Lineup info follows here, as per socials:

Come fanatics, come to the sabbath

We’re totally psyched to announce Electric Wizard, Weedeater, Pentagram (official), 1000mods, W.I.T.C.H We Intend To Cause Havoc, Night Beats, Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs, Meatbodies, SLIFT, The Devil And The Almighty Blues, BALA, Mythic Sunship, GREEN LUNG, Frankie and the Witch Fingers, Psychlona, Toxic Shock, The Machine, Tia Carrera, The Goners, Samavayo, Rosy Finch, We Hunt Buffalo and 24/7 DIVA HEAVEN to SonicBlast Fest 2022.

*** more to be announced soon***

SonicBlast Fest 2022
11, 12 and 13th August
Praia da Duna dos Caldeirões
Âncora, Portugal

Tickets bought for the 2021 edition are automatically valid for 2022.

Tickets are now on sale at BOL (Fnac, Worten, Ctt’s…)
or at https://garboyl.bol.pt/Comprar/Bilhetes/92523-sonicblast_festival_2022_full_festival_ticket-garboyl_lives/Sessoes
and Masqueticket https://www.masqueticket.com/entrada/835-sonicblast-fest-2022

Artwork by Branca Studio
Supported by Antena 3

https://www.facebook.com/events/193315945704188/
https://www.facebook.com/sonicblastmoledo/
https://www.instagram.com/sonicblast_fest

Psychlona, “Resin” official video