Posted in Whathaveyou on January 21st, 2020 by JJ Koczan
As they head abroad this week to begin a European tour centered around their Powertrip album that was announced last Fall, it seems only fair that Monster Magnet should announce their next run doing much the same in the US. Being someone who also hopes never to work another day in his life, that album’s central message rings pretty damn true to my ears and it kind of always has, but how could such dropping-out-of-life be anything less than relevant to the times in which we live? Of all Dave Wyndorf‘s many aggrandizing lyrical proclamations, Powertrip — the record that brought forth the mega-single “Space Lord” in addition to its title-track, “See You in Hell,” and so on — was the album that set the pattern for what the band would do over their next four, arguably five, albums, and it cast their influence wide in a way that has endured the 22 years since its release.
Why now to bring it into this kind of focus? Who cares? Because it’s a party? Because it’ll bring people out? Maybe if we’re lucky they’ll make a live album.
Here are all the dates:
MONSTER MAGNET Announces “A Celebration of Powertrip” North American Tour
Nebula and Silvertomb to Support
Kicks off March 20th in Brooklyn, NY
Psych Rock Legends Monster Magnet will return to the road in North America this Spring to celebrate their historic release Powertrip. Their live set will feature select cuts from this seminal album as well as your Monster Magnet favorites. Support on the tour will come from Nebula and Silvertomb. The tour begins March 20th in Brooklyn, NY and runs through April 18th in Sayreville, NJ. A complete list of dates can be found below.
MONSTER MAGNET W/ Nebula and Silvertomb: 3/20: Brooklyn, NY @ Elsewhere 3/21: Boston, MA @ Sinclair 3/22: Philadelphia, PA @ Underground Arts 3/24: Pittsburgh, PA @ Rex Theater 3/25: Toronto, ON @ The Opera House 3/27: Flint, MI @ The Machine Shop 3/28: Chicago, IL @ The Metro 3/29: Minneapolis, MN @ Fine Line 3/31: Denver, CO @ The Oriental Theater 4/1: Salt Lake City, UT @ Metro Bar 4/3: Vancouver, BC @ The Rickshaw 4/4: Seattle, WA @ El Corazon 4/5: Portland, OR @ Hawthorne Theater 4/7: San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall 4/8: Los Angeles, CA @ The Fonda 4/9: Las Vegas, NV @ The House of Blues 4/10: San Diego, CA @ Observatory North Park 4/13: Dallas, TX @ Gas Monkey Bar N’ Grill 4/15: Atlanta, GA @ The Masquerade 4/16: Charleston, SC @ The Music Farm 4/17: Baltimore, MD @ Baltimore Sound Stage 4/18: Sayreville, NJ @ Starland Ballroom
Monster Magnet European Tour: Jan 22 Glasgow UK The Garage Jan 23 Leeds UK O2 Academy Leeds Jan 24 London UK The Forum Jan 25 Utrecht NL Tivoliredenburg Jan 27 Oslo NO John Dee Jan 28 Gothenburg SWE Pustervikbaren Jan 29 Malmo SWE Kulturbolaget (KB) Jan 31 Leuven BE Het Depot V2W Feb 01 Berlin DE Metropol Feb 03 Cologne DE Essigfabrik & Sensor Club Feb 04 Munich DE Muffathalle Feb 05 Hamburg DE Markthalle Feb 07 Bremen DE Schlachthof Feb 08 Dresden DE Reithalle Feb 09 Stuttgart DE LKA Longhorn Feb 10 Dortmund DE FZW Feb 12 Antwerp BE Trix Feb 13 Wiesbaden DE Schlacthof Feb 15 Zagreb CR Mochvara Feb 16 Vienna AT Simm City Feb 17 Zurich CH Dynamo Feb 18 Trezzo Sull’Adda IT Live Club Feb 20 Pamplona Navarra ES Sala Zentral Feb 21 Santiago de Compostela ES Sala Capitol Feb 22 Madrid ES Sala Mon Feb 23 Barcelona ES Razzmatazz
Powertrip was the band’s commercial breakthrough, achieving mainstream success due largely to the hit single, “Space Lord”. Other hit songs on the album include “Powertrip”, “Temple of Your Dreams”, and “See You in Hell”. The album itself, reached #1 on the Heatseekers Charts, #21 in the German Charts, #65 in the UK Charts, and #97 on the Billboard 200. The album was certified gold by the RIAA on January 25, 1999.
MONSTER MAGNET line up: Dave Wyndorf (vocals, guitar) Garrett Sweeny (guitar) Phil Caivano (guitar) Chris Kosnik (bass) Bob Pantella (drums)
Posted in Features on December 24th, 2019 by JJ Koczan
[PLEASE NOTE: These are not the results of the year-end poll, which is ongoing. If you haven’t contributed your list to the cause yet, please do so here.]
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Make no mistake, my friends. 2019 was the year it went off the rails.
Every 12-month period brings a lot of records, and they all seem overwhelming, but this was the first year I’ve ever felt quite so helpless when it came time to sit down and actually make my list. Of course, I keep running notes all year long, but even so, ordering everything, bringing it all together? What a mess.
I almost thought of breaking it down into smaller lists in addition to the big one, subgrouped by style. But then, where does doom end and sludge begin? What about psych and heavy rock? Should prog get its own list? And what the hell counts as prog?
In the end, that didn’t seem like it would be doing me any favors, so we’ll stick with the one big list and then others for debut releases and another for EPs, splits, demos and so on. You know, the usual.
Pretty sure I say this every year too, but it bears repeating: if you read any of the below — and thanks if you do — and have a response, be nice. If I’ve forgotten something — and yes, I have; I’m sure of it — that you think needs to be included, and you want to leave a comment that says so, please, by all means. But keep it civil. I know people are passionate about this stuff and so am I, but consider there are probably over 200 offerings covered here by the time you get through all the lists and honorable mentions, and I’m one person. I’m doing my best, and though I try not to, I tend to take being called a dumbass personally. So yeah, chill out and please be constructive in calling me a dumbass. Words matter.
A few hard choices here, most especially for album of the year. I was back and forth with each of the top three in the top spot for a good long while, and it might change again between now and when this post goes up. But it’s been that kind of year. In 2018, there was no question. It was Sleep all the way. The question was what came after that. This year has been different without that kind of duh, punch-in-the-face obvious pick. Relative parity isn’t a bad thing though.
Enough delay. The usual parameters apply. These are a combo of my personal listening habits and what I think are the most important records/achievements of the year, critical importance, etc.
Here we go:
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The Top 50 Albums of 2019
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#50-31
50. Hazemaze, Hymns of the Damned
49. Lightning Born, Lightning Born
48. Bees Made Honey in the Vein Tree, Grandmother
47. PH, Osiris Hayden
46. Thunderbird Divine, Magnasonic
45. Abrahma, In Time for the Last Rays ofLight
44. Uffe Lorenzen, Triprapport
43. Swallow the Sun, When a Shadow is Forced into the Light
42. Caustic Casanova, God How I Envy the Deaf
41. The Devil and the Almighty Blues, Tre
40. SÂVER, They Came With Sunlight
39. Ogre, Thrice as Strong
38. Lamp of the Universe, Align in the Fourth Dimension
37. Vokonis, Grasping Time
36. Sacri Monti, Waiting Room for the Magic Hour
35. Across Tundras, The Rugged Ranges of Curbs and Broken Minds
34. Duel, Valley of Shadows
33. Orodruin, Ruins of Eternity
32. Zaum, Divination
31. Inter Arma, Sulphur English
Notes: Honestly, if this had been the top 20 of the year, I’d still call 2019 a win. Aside from the fact that I somehow thought Caustic Casanova would enjoy coming in a number 42, the sheer quality of this stuff should tell you what kind of year 2019 was. Inter Arma’s Sulphur English was a significant achievement in genre melding, and Orodruin’s return after more than a decade since their last LP was a masterclass in doom worship. Debut albums from SÂVER and Thunderbird Divine and Lightning Born showed marked promise of things to come — and there’s more on them below as well — while Zaum’s, Bees Made Honey in the Vein Tree’s and Lamp of the Universe’s meditations, Vokonis’ noise, Abrahma’s emotive progressivisim, Swallow the Sun’s melodic melancholy, Sacri Monti’s boogie, and whatever the hell PH were doing on Osiris Hayden remind just how much the word “heavy” can encompass. The Devil and the Almighty Blues, Duel and Uffe Lorenzen and Hazemaze were musts here, and Ogre are perennial favorites whose work always brings a doomly grin. Don’t sleep on any of it.
Until they put out a complementary follow-up record of such fare, one might’ve accused Idaho three-piece Sun Blood Stories of becoming less experimentalist/droned-out/noisy on Haunt Yourself, but they seem to have met their quota one way or the other with the Oct. 2019 advent of Static Sessions Vol. 1. Still, it’s melody, heavy post-rock/psychedelic drift and emotive soul that rule the day on the crushing and enriching Haunt Yourself, and no complaints from me on that.
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29. Church of the Cosmic Skull, Everybody’s Going to Die
I don’t have to do anything more than read the name of the album to have the chorus of the title-track stuck in my head, and it’s a reminder that although the Nottingham troupe put so much into their progressive style and vocal harmonies and arrangements, and a more conceptual theme in the case of Everybody’s Going to Die — their answer to 2018’s excellent Science Fiction (review here) — their roots are in songcraft, and it’s the foundation of songcraft that lets them soar. Would be higher on the list if it weren’t so new.
With their sixth album, Indianapolis’ Devil to Pay collect 10 tracks of unpretentious-almost-to-a-fault of straightforward heavy rock songwriting that continues to be woefully underappreciated. They have become utterly reliable in that regard — you know, to a certain extent, what’s coming — but the vocals of guitarist Steve Janiak (also Apostle of Solitude) and some more metallic turns to the riffing give Forever, Never or Whenever a subtlety that holds up all the more on repeat visits. I don’t know if Devil to Pay will ever get their due, but suffice it to say, they’re due.
If you’re of a certain age, you remember when the first Playstation came out and everyone looked around at their Nintendos and Segas like, “What the hell am I messing around with Mario Golf for? I could be playing Resident Evil!” That’s kind of what Howling Giant are as compared to “regular” rock bands. They’re the Playstation of heavy: that next progressive step forward carrying an inhuman amount of swagger and personality while still delivering a stepped-up product from their would-be peers. The scariest thing about The Space Between Worlds is it’s their first LP. One looks forward to the next generation.
I know for a fact that bassist Pat Bruders and drummer Henry Vasquez had a hand in writing some of the material on Saint Vitus’ second self-titled LP, and yet the album so much bears the indelible mark of guitarist Dave Chandler that it’s hard not to think of it all as his. The album marked their first release with original singer Scott Reagers since 1995’s Die Healing (discussed here) and featured among their trademark low-tuned slog, an actual punk song, which showed the grinning glee that underlies all they do. Four decades on, Saint Vitus sound like they’re having fun. How is that not a win?
Woodsy Rocky Mountain psychedelia abounded on Boise foursome Ealdor Bealu’s second full-length, and their blend of landscape meditations and grounded heavy progressive melodicism made Spirit of the Lonely Places as much about impact as about space, though of course the real joy was the experience of the entirety. Very much a sophomore album, it learned lessons from 2017’s Dark Water at the Foot of the Mountain (review here) that one only hopes the band will continue to push forward in scope as they so gracefully did here.
Though hard- and to-date quick-working Maryland trio Yatra have already moved on and are looking ahead to releasing their second album, Blood of the Night (review here), their Grimoire-delivered debut, Death Ritual, is impossible to ignore for the impact it had on reminding listeners of the impact that primeval extreme sludge can have. Another couple tours and some bigger label — Relapse, Prosthetic, eOne, Season of Mist, whoever — will decide they’re “ready,” whatever that means, and then sign them and I won’t be cool enough to do track premieres for them anymore, but as far as accolades go, Yatra earn whatever they get and Death Ritual stands among 2019’s most landmark debuts. They’ve already outdone it, but it’s a stunner just the same.
Ecstatic Vision frontman Doug Sabolik has cast himself in the mold of Arthur Brown or Dave Wyndorf or probably seven or eight dudes who were in Hawkwind at some point as a manic-but-stoned space rock preacher with as he and his band behind him plunge headfirst-or-feetfirst-it-doesn’t-matter-because-your-body-is-an-illusion-man into the molten multicolor void. For the Masses. The ‘masses,’ such as they are, should be so lucky, but the double-meaning is the real tell for where the Philly unit are coming from. Their shows are the masses — gatherings of spirit and song to give praise to the willful expansion of mind. If you can’t get behind that, you might as well go get a job or something. This ain’t no lightweight party for squares and dabblers. This is a high-potency happening for werewolves on motorcycles and freaks of all stripes. Get weird stay weird. Ecstatic Vision are one mostly-mellow 15-minute “Spine of God”-style psych-epic away from perfection.
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22. Beastwars, IV
Released by Destroy Records. Reviewed June 27.
But for the circumstances that brought it about — i.e. Beastwars vocalist Matt Hyde’s cancer — the unexpected fourth installment in the Beastwars trilogy was nothing if not welcome. An grand-feeling sense of largesse was nothing new to the New Zealand four-piece, but after breaking up and getting back together to make the album, the grim sincerity with which they presented this exploration of mortality and betrayal by one’s own body was no less palpable than the undulating riffs that threatened, as ever, to consume all in their path. I don’t know their future plans in terms of continuing to write and/or record, but there are reports of touring beyond Aus/NZ for 2020, so one way or another, stay tuned for more from them. Whether or not they do anything else, IV was a triumph in spirit and execution.
With the nine songs of Slow Burn Suicide, Brooklyn’s Eternal Black began to unveil the true depth of their project. Their 2017 debut, Bleed the Days (review here), was well received, and rightly so, but operated more in a straight-ahead doom sphere. The second outing, by contrast, delved into a particular vision of the style informed by the crunch of peak-era New York noise and crossover hardcore, and it succeeded not just because it did this, but because it did so around a conjuration of memorable riffs and tracks building on accomplishments carried over from its predecessor. Is this an awaited arrival of next-generation ‘New York doom’? Will theirs be a blueprint others will follow? It’s impossible to know now, and their next album will be telling either way, but the course they’ve set is significant.
It may have been the Tony Iommi guest appearance that got Swedish doom legends Candlemass — the world’s earliest and foremost purveyors of doom both classic and epic — their recent Grammy nomination, but it was the long-overdue reunion with original vocalist Johan Längquist that made the album as a whole as powerful as it was. Pairing Längquist’s theatrical and vital approach with founding bassist Leif Edling’s second-to-none doomcraft, The Door to Doom was a catapult not to the bygone days of the band’s landmark debut, 1986’s Epicus Doomicus Metallicus, but an inspired look at not just what might’ve been had Längquist remained with the band longer, but what might still be if he does this time around. Candlemass have been through their share of singers, but as fresh as The Door to Doom sounded, it’s hard not to hope for something more than a one-off with he who got there first. The songs, the spirit, the sheer heart poured into Candlemass’ doom some 35 years past the band’s start only emphasizes how special they have always been.
Anyone who might’ve predicted Nebula getting into the studio and making a new album was either in the room when it happened or talking out their ass. And speaking of, was Nebula’s Holy Shit named for the shock one might’ve felt at its existence, or the surprise at how good it actually sounded when you put it on? I don’t know. I probably won’t ever know. It was the best title I saw all year, but more than that, it was a Nebula record, fueled by the classic riffing and unmitigated desert punk soul of founding/guitarist Eddie Glass, whose absence from the heavy underground for the last decade left a void only too many others whiffed on filling. Holy Shit showed just how singular a player Glass was and is, and how much character there is in his style, particularly in solos, but also in rhythmic changes, and so on. I won’t discount the work of bassist Tom Davies and drummer Mike Amster in making Nebula what they are in this incarnation — they’re essential, obviously — but there’s simply no denying that presence at the band’s core.
This was a heavy rock record that had everything. Everything. It had songs, style, ups, down, purples, greens, ins, outs, all kinds of whathaveyou. Riffs forever. Valley of the Sun should keep their eyes on Sasquatch, because if they want it, that path is theirs. I know the Cincinnati outfit have had trouble keeping lineups together, but if they can hold onto one, and maybe after their next record start touring more, domestically and abroad — not at all a minor ask, I know — then people will catch on. Old Gods is evidence of the fact that they genuinely have something to offer, and frankly, it’s not at all the first such effective case they’ve made in their career. But they’ve never put anything out that wasn’t a step forward, and yet they’ve never lost sight of the roots of their initial inspiration. And they’ve never sacrificed the song for the riff, which so many do. They’ve only ever gotten better. Let Old Gods be a step toward them getting attention they’ve long since deserved.
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17. Kadavar, For the Dead Travel Fast
Released by Nuclear Blast. Reviewed Oct. 28.
In style and production, For the Dead Travel Fast is the most vintage-sounding offering Berlin trio Kadavar have made in over a half decade, yet neither is it looking backward wistfully toward 2013’s Abra Kadavar (review here) or giving up the modern clarity of 2017’s Rough Times (review here) or 2015’s Berlin (review here). Instead, it strikes a balance with a more sinister edge à la Uncle Acid in songs like “Children of the Night” and “Demons in My Mind” — both singles — and makes a home for itself between proto-metal and garage doom. Whatever genre tag you want to give it — and that might vary from track to track, mind you — it’s unmistakably Kadavar, with the signature hooks and memorable craftsmanship that have made them one of the decade’s most pivotal heavy bands. The real challenge at this point in their career is not to take for granted that Kadavar will produce material of such quality, because, frankly, that’s all they’ve ever done.
Welsh sci-fi cosmic doomers Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard billed Yn Ol I Annwn as the final installment of a trilogy that includes their two prior LPs, 2015’s Noeth Ac Anoeth (review here) and 2016’s Y Proffwyd Dwyll (review here), and while that may be true thematically, there’s also no question the third is a marked step forward from anything they’ve done before. They’re one foot out of the airlock and into space as their synth-laden longform riffing and melodies take them to places they’ve not yet gone, explorations of sight as much as sound, aural translation of colors humans aren’t gifted to see. Their songs across the 65-minute span unfold with the grace of a gravity spiral, pulling the listener deeper into the proceedings with each new phase that emerges until, what, obliteration? Stellar genesis? I’m not sure. They’ve reportedly got one more record to make and then they’re done. If that’s true, they’ll be missed then they’re gone.
They’ve found their way to die, and it’s upon an altar of classic metal and doom. And honestly, they make a pretty good case for it. Departed Souls is the third full-length from the Boston unit and their most stylistically realized work yet, with vocalist Brendan Radigan giving a standout performance alongside the guitars of Chris Corry and Renato Montenegro, the bass of Justin DeTore and Michael “Q” Quartulli’s drums, as the entire band taps into vibes from mid-’70s Black Sabbath and brings them to bear with an energy that is unlike anything in Magic Circle’s history. 2015’s Journey Blind (review here) brought in NWOBHM flash in the guitar work, sure enough, but Departed Souls doesn’t so much carry the torch of classic metal as it does use it to burn down the whole village and rebuild it in the five-piece’s image. From their doomed beginnings on their 2013 self-titled debut (review here) to now, they’re an act who’ve genuinely earned cult status. If you can find a backpatch, buy it.
Controversy! Drama! Well, probably not, but at very least some respectful disagreement on my part. You see, Poland’s Spaceslug have stated publicly that their latest release, the late-2019 surprise Reign of the Orion is an EP. Their albums regularly top 50 minutes, and at 36 minutes, I guess relative to that, you can see where they’re coming from. However, with the flow of these five songs and the ease with which they carry the listener from front-to-back through the listening experience, I’m sticking to my guns and calling Reign of the Orion an album. Sorry guys. True, it’s shorter than the other full-lengths, but it’s got everything you could ask an album to have in terms of how tracks like “Spacerunner” and the shouty “Half-Moon Burns” play into each other, and the fluidity of the outing on the whole is inarguable. An LP by any other name? Whatever you or they want to call it, there’s no question in my mind Reign of the Orion is one of 2019’s best records. If they insist on it being an EP, then it’s the best one of the year, but I still say it belongs in another category altogether, so here it is.
As hyper-crowded as London is with bands at this moment in history, there continue to be acts who sneak through with an individualized and intriguing perspective on doom and heavy rock, and Green Lung are a perfect example, learning from fellow Brits like Alunah and Elephant Tree and incorporating folk and forest goth vibes to their debut album, Woodland Rites. Laced with organ and stuck-in-the-head choruses like “Let the Devil In” and the creeper “Templar Dawn,” the record also pushed into drifting verses on “Into the Wild,” setting up future experimentation with atmospheric variety and genre manipulation. If part of any first album’s appeal is the potential it represents, Green Lung’s offers plenty, but wherever their subsequent course may or may not take them, their accomplishments here shouldn’t be overlooked. Woodland Rites is nothing less than the heavy rock debut album of the year, and though they emerge from a packed field, the work they do to stand themselves out already carries their mark and an apparent will toward progression. They’re on their way.
My head immediately goes to the hooks of “Ten Days” and “Ascension Day” and “Savage Heart,” but the up-down surges of guitar in “Old News/New Fire” and the midtempo soulfulness in “A Thousand Miles” are no less resonant when it comes to the actual listening experience of the fifth Lo-Pan LP. Subtle, when it came to living up to its name, as much wasn’t as it was. Flourishes of harmony in the vocals of Jeff Martin, the pops in Jesse Bartz’s snare punctuating and propelling in kind, turns in Scott Thompson’s bass work twisting around the guitar of Chris Thompson, a relative newcomer to the fold making his debut with the band and showing no apparent trouble fitting in. I don’t imagine Lo-Pan is an easy band to join, especially at this point. They thrive on personality clash and, through years of touring, have a chemistry they’ve built between them that comes through even on their recordings. Nonetheless, Subtle is their clearest, sharpest-edged work yet, and as tight as their songwriting has become, they still groove and groove mightily. They are a treasure of American heavy rock and roll. Believe it.
While members of Roadsaw have spent the intervening years in projects like Kind, White Dynomite, Sasquatch and Murcielago, the Boston heavy rock kingpins have indeed been missed, and Tinnitus the Night works quickly to show why. It’s been well over 20 years since their first LP — hell, it’s been eight since they put out their 2011 self-titled (review here) — but their craft is at its own level, and Tinnitus the Night comes barreling through with “Shake” and “Along for the Ride” and “Final Phase” before opening up to broader fare on side B with “Find What You Need,” “Under the Devil’s Thumb” and “Midazolam” ahead of the subdued finale “Silence,” and the result is nothing less than a classic heavy rock LP structure as befitting what is itself a classic heavy rock LP. What’s Roadsaw’s future? I don’t know. It took them the better part of a decade to make this one happen, so take from that what you will, but to me, all it says is there’s even more reason to be grateful they got it done and out. To say the songs deserve that is putting it mildly.
I’m not doing a ‘song of the year’ post, but if I was, Worshipper’s “Coming Through” might be it. The opening track from the Boston four-piece’s second album, Light in the Wire, marries classic pop drama in its melody with careening progressive riffing, and sets the tone for a record that is of both future and past, twistingly complex and yet immediately accessible, immersive as an entirety and still comprised of standout moments. These aren’t contradictions in Worshipper’s skillful hands, but the stuff of what’s already becoming their own take on rock. Tied together through melody, skillful rhythmic intricacy and solid structural foundations, “Light in the Wires,” “Visions from Beyond,” “Wither on the Vine” and others throughout post their own triumphs en route to enhancing the album as a whole, while “Nobody Else” and closer “Arise” underscore the emotive basis from which the perspective of the whole LP emanates. There are a lot of “next-gen” heavy rock bands out there weaving prog elements and traditional riffing together to some degree or other. Few, if any, can write a song like Worshipper can. I mean it. This band is something special.
What is there to say about Solace? A band who, nine years after revealing the expectation-slaughtering masterpiece A.D. (review here), return with three-fifths of a swapped-out lineup and simply do it again? This band is explosive. Really. Like, they might explode at any minute. It’s a miracle The Brink ever happened. I’ll be honest, I had my doubts. But Solace are a force like nothing else I’ve ever encountered in music. They take metallic aggression, hardcore’s sense of self-righteousness and heavy rock’s groove, set it all to a doomly swing and they play it in such a way as to leave you utterly dumbfounded by what you just experienced. Here’s a challenge though, for the band personally. From me to them. Do another one. Go ahead. Put out another album. You don’t even have to do it in 2020. Do it 2021. Write the songs and give me a no-holds-barred 45-minute LP of the tightest, meanest shit you’ve ever written. Because massive as the accomplishments are on The Brink, it’s the potential to build from them that resonates most here. So do it, guys. Step up and take advantage of the moment. Call me greedy if you want, I don’t care. Give me another Solace record. I dare you.
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8. Brume, Rabbits
Released by Doom Stew Records & DHU Records. Reviewed Nov. 6.
Simply a case of a band wildly outdoing themselves. Easy story, yeah? In some ways, maybe, but the truth of what Brume achieve on Rabbits. Their second long-player behind 2017’s Rooster (review here), the five-track offering sees the San Francisco three-piece of vocalist/bassist Susie McMullan, guitarist/vocalist Jamie McCathie and drummer Jordan Perkins-Lewis working with producer Billy Anderson to bring theatricality and emotionalism together in a flowing post-heavy context that’s neither derivative nor working at cross purposes. Instead, it is a gorgeous and blooming undertaking across its 43-minute span, working in its own light/dark spectrum and bringing not just the sense of trapped fragility evoked by the cover art, but a corresponding sureness of intent to its ascendant heavy surges. Like Rooster before it, it is loaded with potential, but in “Scurry” and “Lament” and “Despondence” and “Blue Jay and “Autocrat’s Fool,” there’s a patience and command that absolutely does not waver. So yes, a band outdoing themselves. But so much more too.
This may forever be known as the Mars Red Sky album they wrote in a cave, but the Bordeaux three-piece of guitarist/vocalist Julien Pras and bassist/vocalist Jimmy Kinast and drummer Matieu “Matgaz” Gazeau nonetheless plunged forward along the progressive course they charted back on 2014’s sophomore outing, Stranded in Arcadia (review here), and continued to manifest in 2016’s Apex III (Praise for the Burning Soul) (review here). Their blend of melody and tonal heft has become a hallmark of their work to this stage in their career, but The Task Eternal continues to add a sense of breadth to the proceedings, giving their sound a full three-dimensional pull that feels tailor-made for headphones and is consuming in its entirety. With experiments in structure like the pairing of “Recast” and “Reacts,” and the rushing sweep of melody in “Hollow King,” Mars Red Sky’s latest is, as ever, their finest. Outdoing themselves would seem to be the task from which the record derives its title. Fine. Just keep going. Please.
Every time I think I understand where Kings Destroy want to go as a band, they pull the rug out. That’s what Fantasma Nera is. After their 2015 self-titled (review here) third LP seemed to declare them once and for all in a space between doom and noise rooted in their respective hardcore pasts, the Brooklynite five-piece hooked up with producer David Bottrill (Tool, etc.) and composed a rock album. A real live rock album! With progressive undertones in the guitar work and the most accomplished melodicism of their career, Kings Destroy put everything they had into making Fantasma Nera and one need look no further than the title-track to hear the result of that monumental effort. It is the realization of a band challenging themselves to go so far out of their comfort zone as to be only recognizable in the most rudimentary of ways, and to say it as plainly as I can, “Dead Before” on its own is enough of an accomplishment — and enough of a full-length, at all of 4:25 — to make this list on its own, whatever surrounds it. Song of the year. I’ll say every time I’m a Kings Destroy fan, but I’ve never been gladder to say it than I am in talking about Fantasma Nera.
If you’re saying to yourself, “Ah come on, Colour Haze are always on the list when they put out records,” I have two answers. One, you’re right, and two, if you have a problem with that, blow it out your ass. The Munich forefathers of the European heavy psychedelic underground — yup — marked their 25th anniversary this year, and did so not just by putting out an album, but by putting out We Are, which introduces a full-fledged fourth member to what’s been a three-piece since 1998. Granted, it’s not the first time guitarist/vocalist Stefan Koglek, bassist Philipp Rasthofer and drummer Manfred Merwald have worked with organist/keyboardist/synthesist Jan Faszbender, but never has the presence of keys been so integral to their work, and never has the dynamic between players shifted in the way it does on tracks like “The Real” and “Life” and “I’m With You,” with keys fleshing out melodies and enriching the bass and guitar. Add to that the Spanish-style guitar on centerpiece “Material Drive” or the operatic flash in the penultimate “Be With Me,” and it’s one more example of one of the best bands on earth refusing to rest on their laurels. Which, as it happens, is why they’re one of the best bands on earth. So hell yes, they’re on all my lists. Fact is my lists are lucky to have them.
Like nothing else I heard in 2019, Veils of Winter had repeat listenability. It was the album that, most often, when I was choosing something I actually wanted to hear, I went back to time and again. Its dark, moody psychedelic and heavy vibe stands alone among the year’s releases, and is a stylistic milestone that one only hopes other artists will pick up on. Toying with pop melodies on tracks like “Death Realms” and bringing hypnosis and clarity in kind to the subtly traditionalist winding riff of “Moonlit” — would it have been out of place on the first Witchcraft LP? — the Portland, Oregon, five-piece worked on a speedy turnaround and squashed even the significant expectations I had after their self-titled debut (review here) last year. They’ve begun to tour, so I don’t know if another full-length is in the works for 2020, but their craft is enviable in its flow and their songs are shimmering in tone and cohesion alike. Given how bold a step forward Veils of Winter is, I hear nothing in their material to this point to make me think their momentum won’t continue to carry them forward. But, you know, if not, I’d also take about six or seven records just like this one. That’d be fine too. Whatever they want, really.
Belfast, Northern Ireland, three-piece Slomatics — guitarists David Marjury and Chris Couzens and drummer/vocalist/synthesist Marty Harvey — finished a narrative trilogy with 2016’s Future Echo Returns (review here), and though the storyline was always vague throughout that and the preceding two offerings, the question of how they would proceed nonetheless hung over Canyons prior to its release. The answer is in the songs themselves. From the sci-fi majesty of lumbering, rolling groove in opener and longest track “Gears of Despair” — oh, they grind — through the mega-stomp of “Telemachus, My Son” and the righteously synth-laden wash that consumes “Mind Fortresses on Theia,” Slomatics bring together concept and execution with a readiness that highlights the fact of their 15th anniversary. They are mature in their approach, yes, but the fact is their approach is so much their own and so given to their particular mode of progression that it almost can’t help but feel fresh. How could something so utterly crushing also feel rejuvenating? As they plod through finale “Organic Caverns II” ending with more waves of synth and tectonic guitar — no bass, remember — they are as restorative as they are punishing, and they stand astride that duality with neither mercy nor pretense. Canyons, whether it’s setting up a new story, building from the old, or doing something completely different, stands on its own.
My anticipation for and expectations of Year of the Cobra’s second long-player were high most especially after 2017’s Burn Your Dead EP (review here), which along with the dead, set alight the notion that the Seattle duo of bassist/vocalist Amy Tung Barrysmith and drummer Jon Barrysmith were simply a heavy/doom band. With elements of post-punk, psych wash, minimalist stretches and propulsive gallop, Ash and Dust cast itself out over an aesthetic range that set a new standard not just for Year of the Cobra, but for anyone who’d dare match them at their own game — and that list will grow with time, absolutely. As their first outing through Prophecy Productions, Ash and Dust threw itself into the very melting pot of its own ambition and emerged with songs that didn’t just bring together disparate ideas, but made them flourish and engage and challenge the listener while still proving consistent in tone and underlying groove. For a two-person, two-instrument outfit (not counting voice, though I should), they proved more malleable than many with more than twice the number of hands on deck, and pushed the notion of what heavy rock is and does forward without stopping to look back or ask for permission. They just did it, and maybe Ash and Dust is the aftermath of all that burning.
Look back over the course of this list, and you will find no shortage of bands and releases that surpassed the group in question’s past work. With Gothenburg, Sweden’s Monolord, it wasn’t just about No Comfort — their debut on Relapse, fourth full-length overall — being better than 2017’s Rust (review here), because that was pretty jolly gosh darn enjoyable, but about the band reaching a moment of transcendence to which Rust and all their prior work across 2015’s Vænir (review here) and 2014’s Empress Rising has been leading. With the six tracks of No Comfort, guitarist/vocalist Thomas Jäger, bassist Mika Häkki and drummer Esben Willems not only overcome the influences that launched them — taking full ownership of their sound and defending that claim with the sheer quality of their songwriting — and they not only become as identifiable as those influences themselves, but they overcome themselves. No Comfort means no comfort. Monolord take the simplicity that once fueled their riffing, the willful primitivism of their earliest work, and with songs like “Larvae” and “The Bastard Son” and the closing title-track use it as the foundation it was apparently always intended to be. Monolord have toured plenty and certainly their studio output has shown an increasing complexity from one LP to the next, so progression isn’t unexpected, but the manner in which Monolord have executed that progression has been. Even on “The Last Leaf,” which is arguably the most straightforward fare on the album, one hears it as them rather than the manifestation of the acts that inspired them. The same holds for “Skywards” later on, and for the immersion that takes hold as the mournful “Alone Together” plays into “No Comfort” itself. Monolord take their place among the best bands on the planet, and deliver an Album of the Year for 2019 that, like the absolute best, will have an impact lasting much longer than any period of 12 months might convey.
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The Top 50 Albums of 2019: Honorable Mention
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You didn’t think we’d stop at 50, did you? Come on. You know me better than that. The fact is that the list itself, humongous as it is, is just the start of the tip of an iceberg attached to a glacier that’s somewhere on an entire planet constructed of ice.
Honorable mentions, you say? Yeah, a few. Here they are in no order whatsoever:
Lord Vicar, Goatess, The Lord Weird Slough Feg, Zone Six, Lykantropi, Earth, White Manna, Atala, Tia Carrera, Merlin, WEEED, Híbrido, Cities of Mars, Stone Machine Electric, Bretus, Blackwolfgoat, The Black Wizards, Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell, Alunah, V, Pale Grey Lore, Leeds Point, Sons of Alpha Centauri, Spidergawd, Bus, Death Hawks, BBF, Vessel of Light, Crypt Trip, The Pilgrim, Uffe Lorenzen, Brant Bjork, Doomstress, Black Lung, Kandodo3, Monkey3, Bask, Horseburner, Zed, Bright Curse, Spillage, Sigils, Papir, Dune Sea, Destroyer of Light, Mastiff, Warp, Centrum, Varego, Lord Dying, Volcano, Saint Karloff, Firebreather, High Reeper, Bible of the Devil, Obsidian Sea, Torche, Motorpsycho, Sunn O))), Deadbird, Russian Circles, El Supremo, Pyramidal, Holy Serpent, Elizabeth Colour Wheel, Demon Head, Red Beard Wall, Onhou, Kamchatka, Iguana, Arrowhead, The Whims of the Great Magnet, Serial Hawk, Scissorfight, Monte Luna, Lingua Ignota, Valborg, Sageness, Ruff Majik, The Giraffes, High Fighter, Comacozer, Burning Gloom, Swan Valley Heights, Mark Deutrom, Cable, AVER, Superlynx, The Munsens, No Man’s Valley, Old Mexico, Skraeckoedlan, Godsleep, Øresund Space Collective Meets Black Moon Circle.
Seems cruel to leave it to you to sort through those, but I’m tempted to do just that. You might notice some bigger names there in bands like Earth, Russian Circles, Torche and Sunn O))). Nothing against those bands, but I think we’re seeing a moment where a different group of artists are taking point in terms of innovating heavy styles across an entire swath of microgenres. Either way it’s not a slight that something is here instead of above. And of course, there are plenty of up and coming groups here as well, with Ruff Majik, Elizabeth Colour Wheel — who I’m sure would be a top 30 if I knew the record better than I do — Pale Grey Lore, Monte Luna, Papir, Destroyer of Light, The Munsens, No Man’s Valley, Skraeckoedlan, and so on, but hell’s bells, there’s already a list of 50 and I’m only one man. How high is the list supposed to go and still be a list?
Bottom line: Music is as endless as space and has as much beauty in it for those willing to hear. Do more digging.
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The Top 20 Debut Albums of 2019
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1. Green Lung, Woodland Rites
2. Yatra, Death Ritual
3. Howling Giant, The Space Between Worlds
4. Thunderbird Divine, Magnasonic
5. SÂVER, They Came with Sunlight
6. Lightning Born, Lightning Born
7. Elizabeth Colour Wheel, Nocebo
8. The Pilgrim, Walking into the Forest
9. Sigils, You Build the Altar You Lit the Leaves
10. E-L-R, Maenad
11. Hey Zeus, X
12. Bellrope, You Must Relax
13. Asthma Castle, Mount Crushmore
14. Thronehammer, Usurper of Oaken Throne
15. Inner Altar, Vol. III
16. Infinity Forms of Yellow Remember, Infinity Forms of Yellow Remember
17. Hippie Death Cult, 111
18. Faerie Ring, The Clearing
19. Gone Cosmic, Sideways in Time
20. Haze Mage, Chronicles
Honorable Mention: Warp, Pelegrin, Lucy in Blue, Volcano, The Sabbathian, Red Eye Tales, Dune Sea, Dury Dava, Pharlee, Giant Dwarf, Ghost:Hello, Surya, Workshed, Children of the Sün, Burning Gloom, Temple of the Fuzz Witch.
Notes: As ever, I consider a band’s debut album something unique and separate from everything else they’ll ever do, and so worthy of highlighting in its own category. It’s a different standard in my mind, one that takes into account what a group might accomplish going forward as well as what they do on the record itself. Plus, putting out an album is hard. Getting two, three, four, five or more people to agree on anything is an accomplishment. Making a cohesive album? Come on. So yes. We see some crossover from the main list above, but I want to draw attention to Howling Giant, Thunderbird Divine and SÂVER particularly here. There’s a swath of genres represented and I feel like a couple of these releases — Sigils, Bellrope, Thronehammer, Inner Altar, Faerie Ring, Infinity Forms of Yellow Remember — didn’t get their due attention. It’s a busy year, I get it. But if you’re skimming through looking for stuff to check out, DON’T IGNORE THIS LIST. Aside from whatever line about the best of tomorrow you want to trot out, there’s important work being done by these acts today. As somebody who’s constantly behind the times, I urge you not to
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The Top 20 Short Releases of 2019
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1. Geezer, Spiral Fires
2. Ufomammut, XX
3. All Them Witches, 1×1
4. Mount Saturn, Mount Saturn
5. Dopelord, Weedpecker, Major Kong & Spaceslug, 4-Way Split
6. Horehound, Weight
7. Molasses, Mourning Haze
8. Saint Karloff & Devil’s Witches, Split
9. Here Lies Man, No Ground to Walk Upon
10. The Golden Grass, 100 Arrows
11. Mount Atlas, Mistress
12. Midas, Solid Gold Heavy Metal
13. Glory in the Shadows, Glory in the Shadows
14. Hot Breath, Hot Breath
15. Crystal Spiders, Demo
16. Red Wizard, Ogami
17. Thermic Boogie, Fracture
18. Pinto Graham, Dos
19. High Priest, Sanctum
20. Set Fire, Traya
21. Seedium, Awake
Honorable Mention: Love Gang & Smokey Mirror Split, Forebode, Land Mammal, Very Paranoia, Plague of Carcosa, Daal Dazed, Komodor, Mourn the Light & Oxblood Forge Split, High on Fire, Mount Soma.
Notes: This is probably the least complete of the lists, because it’s the hardest category for me to keep up with. EPs, singles, demos, splits and basically anything else that isn’t an album, all lumped together. Still, I stand by the picks here, and I don’t think anyone who takes on any of them will regret doing so, whether it’s All Them Witches’ surprisingly weighted first single as a trio, Mount Saturn’s debut release, or Geezer’s cosmic jams. Felt a little like cheating putting Ufomammut on there, since technically XX wasn’t new material so much as reworked stuff captured live, but if you want to call me out on it, my own listening habits also factor in, and I’ve spent plenty of time with those reimagined tracks. But anyway, I’m sure there’s a ton of stuff that hasn’t been included here, so please feel free to let me know in the comments and I’ll work accordingly.
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Postwax
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I haven’t felt comfortable with the idea of writing about it editorially, since I’ve been involved in discussions about it since before it came together and since I did the liner notes for each of the six releases (plus one to come), but I wanted to take a moment to acknowledge the incredible work done on the Postwax vinyl subscription series by Blues Funeral Recordings. Label head Jadd Shickler and design specialist Peder Bergstrand (also of Lowrider) put together six offerings that came out in the span of this year and when you hold the LPs in your hand, you can feel the passion that went into making them, from the artists in question to those curating the series in the first place. I hear tell there’s going to be a Postwax Year Two, and I don’t know if I’ll be involved or not, but I’m proud of my miniscule part in the work that went into making these and wanted to bring them to your particular attention. They are something special for those who got to partake:
Elder, The Gold and Silver Sessions
Daxma, Ruins Upon Ruins
Besvärjelsen, Frost
Big Scenic Nowhere, Dying on the Mountain
Domkraft, Slow Fidelity
Lowrider, Refractions
And while we’re talking about projects I was proud to be involved with, I also did liner notes for Acrimony’s The Chronicles of Wode box set from Burning World Records and was honored to do so. Thanks to any and everyone in question for having me involved and dealing with me blowing past deadlines one after the next. It is humbling.
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Looking Ahead to 2020
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A few names and nothing more about what definitely is and/or might be in the works for next year. Woefully incomplete, so feel free to add to it:
1000mods, Wolves in the Throne Room, Deathwhite, Mondo Drag, Drug Cult, Ocean Chief, Soldati, Sergio Ch., Mitochondrial Sun, Geezer, Mirror Queen, Mondo Generator, The Otolith, Asteroid, Yatra, Vestal Claret, Farer, Ryte, Shadow Witch, Six Organs of Admittance, Naxatras, Wolftooth, Snail, Elder, Pale Divine, Grey Skies Fallen, Ruby the Hatchet, Yuri Gagarin, Sasquatch, Godthrymm, Wo Fat, Red Mesa, CB3, Onsegen Ensemble, Insect Ark, Acid Mammoth, Ritual King, Ulls, Om.
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Thank You
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Thank you for reading, and please, if you have a thought or something you want to share in the comments, please remember to be kind to each other. We are all human beings behind our phones and keyboards, and while we’ll disagree, often in some ways and some cases, a basic level of respect is always appreciated. At least by me.
I am not so deluded as to think anyone might still be reading, but I want it on record how much I appreciate you being a part of this site and a part of my experience in making it. I’ve been ruminating all year since marking the 10th anniversary back in January about how much The Obelisk has become a part of who I am, and it’s utterly essential to my every day. The way I continue to think about it — and myself, as it happens — is a work in progress, and that would not be possible without you. One more time. Thank you. Always. Always thank you. Thank you.
Posted in Whathaveyou on December 20th, 2019 by JJ Koczan
If you needed further evidence of the legitimacy the Greek heavy underground has long since deserved but finally actually begun to receive from the wider European sphere — and I’m not sure you were standing around waiting for said evidence, and really, what is truth anyway but a series of convenient constructed narratives intended to serve a momentary purpose? — I humbly submit Villagers of Ionnina City, who’ve inked a deal with Napalm Records after releasing their lush and conceptual masterwork Age of Aquarius, on Mantra Records this past Fall. Napalm will issue the album on vinyl April 3 — preorders are up, because why the hell not — and I suspect that for those who’ve already heard it, it’s a pretty easy sell.
I was already looking for Villagers of Ionnina City to make something of a splash in 2020 after they recently signed with Sound of Liberation for European booking, and the fact that they’ve now joined the ranks of Stoned Jesus, Greenleaf, Monkey3 and recent Grammy nominees Candlemass certainly isn’t going to hurt their cred as they venture forth into the New Year. Best of luck to them, and congrats all around.
More to come, I’m sure. The PR wire has the official word:
VILLAGERS OF IOANNINA CITY Signs Worldwide Contract With Napalm Records
Physical Re-Release Of Latest Album, Age Of Aquarius, Out April 3, 2020
A psychedelic mantra for the new age!
Experimental psychedelic rock standouts VILLAGERS OF IOANNINA CITY have officially signed a worldwide contract with Napalm Records.
Since their formation in 2007, VILLAGERS OF IOANNINA CITY have drawn listeners into the heat – their sound slowly flowing melancholically yet booming with irrepressible energy and wildness. With a sonic synthesis of post and stoner rock influences and waving yet vibrant soundscapes topped by a large dose of Greek-folk elements, the quintet precisely hits the mark.
VILLAGERS OF IOANNINA CITY released their atmospheric debut, Riza, in 2014 followed by the sophomore digital album, Age of Aquarius (2019), which was enthusiastically received by critics and audiences.
Napalm Records is thrilled to announce the physical re-release of Age of Aquarius on April 3, 2020.
VILLAGERS OF IOANNINA CITY on the signing:
“We are very happy and thrilled to announce the beginning of our collaboration with Napalm Records! One of the leading rock/metal labels in the world. You can only be honored to be a part of such a great roster of artists and we are looking forward to our collaboration, which came at the right place and the right time to spread the message and the music of our new album “Age of Aquarius” all around the world.” Age of Aquarius available on CD and Vinyl soon!
About Age of Aquarius:
The region of Epirus is famous for its landscape of mammoth mountains and holy rivers – and now experimental heavy rock. VILLAGERS OF IOANNINA CITY are deeply influenced by Greek nature and cosmic phenomena and infuse their unique brand of heavy psychedelic rock with folk instruments such as bagpipes, flutes and didgeridoos. Their second album, Age of Aquarius – originally released in September 2019 – will now be reissued by Napalm Records. Epirus may become the unlikely epicenter of the heavy rock universe: A mantra for the new age!
The first physical edition of Age of Aquarius will be exclusively available on the band’s upcoming tour!
Providing more proof of the budding Greek rock scene is this year’s music documentary, “Greek Rock Revolution”. VILLAGERS OF IOANNINA CITY and six other bands discuss their music and the eternal inspiration for the Greek musical movement – an unstable social situation boosting artistic expression.
More to be announced …
VILLAGERS OF IOANNINA CITY are: Alex (guitar/vox) Akis (bass) Aris (drums) Kostantis (clarinet, winds) Kostas (bagpipe)
Posted in Whathaveyou on November 25th, 2019 by JJ Koczan
Uh… whatever it takes, I guess?
Some thoughts on this: Heavy music has a long and kinda-shitty relationship with the Grammy Awards and with mainstream notoriety. Even when glam was at its commercial peak in the 1980s, it was treated as a joke by “true” metalheads, and these notions of purity — always politically problematic, even today — are by no means gone. Being part of a subculture inherently involves thinking you know something others don’t, when really what you know is something appeals to you, even if you don’t choose to examine why.
So, it’s especially hilarious when someone like High on Fire gets nominated — and wins! — a Grammy, as happened last year, and the attitude of the underground that’s celebrated the band for the better part of the last 20 years stuck up its nose and said, “Well, they finally got one right.” This year, that nod to the fact that heavy music outside even metal’s own mainstream exists would seem to be Candlemass, whose excellent 2019 offering, The Door to Doom (review here), not only brought a long-due reunion with original vocalist Johan Langquist, but brought in one Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath for a guest solo guitar on “Astorolus – The Great Octopus.” Indeed, that’s the song that got the nod.
Fine. I kind of felt at the time that Iommi‘s mere presence on the record overshadowed the true narrative of the album, which was the return of Langquist, but if it gets more people to listen to Candlemass and maybe dig back into some of the landmark doom they’ve made since 1986, then all the better. If you know anything about the band, you know founder/songwriter Leif Edling (bass) was way into making that appearance happen, so yeah, it’s a win on that front anyway, and if the Grammy nomination turns more heads in their direction, then yeah, super. Maybe they can ask for more money to play a show (I think I said the same thing about High on Fire). Maybe they’ll tour the US again. I’d take that.
I guess they’re a long-shot to win — there would seem to be a big four-letter word hanging over the rest of the nominees — but whatever. I didn’t care about the Grammys yesterday and I don’t care today, but frankly, Candlemass already won by being nominated, so good for them. Go get ’em, and so on.
From the PR wire:
CANDLEMASS Nominated for “Best Metal Performance” Grammy Award!
Candlemass are truly the manifestation of pure doom metal! Early 2019 saw the release of their latest album, The Door To Doom, via Napalm Records – an offering that features an unforgettable pairing with legendary Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi on the track “Astorolus – The Great Octopus.” The song has now been nominated for a 2020 Grammy Award in the “Best Metal Performance” category. This is the first nomination for the band and the first nomination for Napalm Records!
The Grammy Awards ceremony will be held on January 26th and broadcast on CBS.
Leif Edling of Candlemass says: “We are very proud and honored to be nominated for a Grammy! Actually, a couple years ago, we said that the previous album would be the last one, yet here we are with a new record out plus Grammy talk. Wow! Proves that you should never give up. I must also take my hat off to Tony Iommi, who was kind enough to perform an amazing guitar solo on “Astorolus – The Great Octopus”. Thank you, thank you, thank you! We’re happy, thrilled, excited… and a bit shocked!”
Sebastian Münch, A&R Napalm Records, comments: “We are thrilled that Candlemass has been nominated for a Grammy Award for their track “Astorolus – The Great Octopus”, featuring the iconic Tony Iommi. This is the first nomination for them and for Napalm Records, so we couldn’t be more excited. Congratulations, Candlemass!”
The Door To Doom unsurprisingly follows the plot line mastermind, songwriter and bass player Leif Edling established in the past years: epic world class doom metal that relies on slow mammoth riffing. With Johan Langquist`s highly dramatic vocal style and the love for details, the band made this an epic album. The Door To Doom was produced by Marcus Jidell.
Posted in Whathaveyou on October 10th, 2019 by JJ Koczan
The year was 1998 and the band stomping all over hearts and minds in the most righteous fashion possible was Monster Magnet. The great heavy rock hope. A band who, over the next year-plus, would find commercial viability in a way that just about no one had before and just about no one has since. Powertrip may have been the NJ outfit’s fourth record, but it’s an unquestionable landmark. It put their home state and mine on the map for heavy rock and roll in a way that still ripples out, and it brought them not only fame, but to a new place stylistically where they turned pop culture back on its own head and delighted as it ate both itself and what they were feeding it. That record was something else.
They’ll tour Europe for a month-plus this coming winter playing it in full. Yeah, you’re gonna hear “Space Lord,” which you probably were anyhow at a Monster Magnet gig, but you’re also gonna hear “Goliath and the Vampires,” and that’s some shit that doesn’t happen every day. I don’t know if they’re doing it in order or what, but whatever, it’s a celebration worth celebrating.
Dates follow, as dutifully transcribed from the Chris Smith poster by yours truly and probably all screwed up:
Monster Magnet is back!! We are stoked to announce Monster Magnet Europe 2020! A Celebration of the Record “Powertrip” plus much more! Stay tuned for ticket links!
Monster Magnet live: Jan 22 Glasgow UK The Garage Jan 23 Leeds UK O2 Academy Leeds Jan 24 London UK The Forum Jan 25 Utrecht NL Tivoliredenburg Jan 27 Oslo NO John Dee Jan 28 Gothenburg SWE Pustervikbaren Jan 29 Malmo SWE Kulturbolaget (KB) Jan 31 Leuven BE Het Depot V2W Feb 01 Berlin DE Metropol Feb 03 Cologne DE Essigfabrik & Sensor Club Feb 04 Munich DE Muffathalle Feb 05 Hamburg DE Markthalle Feb 07 Bremen DE Schlachthof Feb 08 Dresden DE Reithalle Feb 09 Stuttgart DE LKA Longhorn Feb 10 Dortmund DE FZW Feb 12 Antwerp BE Trix Feb 13 Wiesbaden DE Schlacthof Feb 15 Zagreb CR Mochvara Feb 16 Vienna AT Simm City Feb 17 Zurich CH Dynamo Feb 18 Trezzo Sull’Adda IT Live Club Feb 20 Pamplona Navarra ES Sala Zentral Feb 21 Santiago de Compostela ES Sala Capitol Feb 22 Madrid ES Sala Mon Feb 23 Barcelona ES Razzmatazz
MONSTER MAGNET line up: Dave Wyndorf (vocals, guitar) Garrett Sweeny (guitar) Phil Caivano (guitar) Chris Kosnik (bass) Bob Pantella (drums)
Posted in Reviews on September 30th, 2019 by JJ Koczan
Call two friends and tell them to tell two friends to tell two friends, because the Quarterly Review has returned. This time around, it’s 50 records front to back for Fall 2019 and there are some big names and some smaller names and a whole lot of in between which is just how I like it. Between today and Friday, each day 10 album reviews will be posted in a single batch like this one, and although by Wednesday this always means I’m totally out of my mind, it’s always, always, always worth it to be able to write about so much cool stuff. So sit tight, because there’s a lot to get through and, as ever, time’s at a premium.
Thanks in advance for keeping up, and I hope you find something you dig.
Quarterly Review #1-10:
Monkey3, Sphere
It’s a full-on Keanu Reeves “whoa” when opening track “Spirals” kicks in on Monkey3‘s sixth album, Sphere (released by Napalm), and that’s by no means the last one on the cinematic six-tracker. The long-running Swiss mostly-instrumentalists have been consistently, persistently underappreciated throughout their career, but whether it’s the aural scope of guitar and keys in “Axis” or the swaps between intensity and sprawl in 14-minute closer “Ellipsis,” their latest work is consuming in its sense of triumph. Even the four-minute “Ida,” which seems at first like it’s barely going to be more than an interlude, finds a thread of majestic cosmic groove and rides it for the duration, while the proggy immersion of “Prism” and the harder drive of “Mass” — not to mention that shredding solo — make the middle of the record anything but a post-hypnosis dip. I won’t pretend to know if Sphere is the record that finally gets the Lausanne four-piece the respect they’ve already well deserved, but if it was, one could only say it was for good reason. Blends of heft, progressive craft, and breadth are rarely so resonant.
When you call your record Mount Crushmore, you need to bring it, and much to their credit, Baltimorean sludge-rocking five-piece Asthma Castle do precisely that on their debut full-length. Issued through Hellmistress Records, the 37-minute/six-track outing is a wordplay-laced pummeler that shows as much persona in its riffing and massive groove as it does in titles like “The Incline of Western Civilization” and “The Book of Duderonomy.” Trades between early-Mastodonic twists and lumbering sludge crash add a frenetic and unpredictable feel to pieces like the title-track, while “Methlehem” trades its plod for dual-guitar antics punctuated by metallic double-kick, all the while the vocals trade back and forth between growls, shouts, cleaner shouts, the odd scream, etc., because basically if you can keep up with it, Asthma Castle wouldn’t be doing their job. One shudders to think of the amount of Natty Bo consumed during its making, but Mount Crushmore is a wild and cacophonous enough time to live up to the outright righteousness of its title. If I graded reviews, it would get a “Fuckin’ A+,” with emphasis on “fuckin’ a.”
Some day the world will wake up and realize the rock and roll powerhouse it had in Brooklyn’s The Giraffes, but by then it’ll be too late. The apocalypse will have happened long ago, and it’ll be Burgess Meredith putting on a vinyl of Flower of the Cosmos in the New York Library as “FAKS” echoes out through the stacks of now-meaningless tomes and the dust of nuclear winter falls like snow outside the windows. The band’s tumultuous history is mirrored in the energy of their output, and yet to hear the melody and gentle fuzz at the outset of “Golden Door,” there’s something soothing about their work as well that, admittedly, “Raising Kids in the End Times” is gleeful in undercutting. Cute as well they pair that one with “Dorito Dreams” on this, their seventh record in a 20-plus-year run, which has now seen them find their footing, lose it, find it again, and in this record and songs like the masterfully frenetic “Fill up Glass” and the air-tight-tense “Like Hate” and “Romance,” weave a document every bit worthy of Mr. Meredith’s attention as he mourns for the potential of this godforsaken wasteland. Oh, what we’ll leave behind. Such pretty ruins.
In the fine tradition of heavy rock as grown-up punk, North Carolina’s Bask bring progressive edge and rolling-Appalachian atmospherics to the underlying energy of III, their aptly-titled and Season of Mist-issued third album. Their foot is in any number of styles, from Baroness-style noodling to a hard twang that shows up throughout and features prominently on the penultimate “Noble Daughters II – The Bow,” but the great triumph of III, and really the reason it works at all, is because the band find cohesion in this swath of influences. They’re a band who obviously put thought into what they do, making it all the more appropriate to think of them as prog, but as “Three White Feet” and “New Dominion” show at the outset, they don’t serve any aesthetic master so much as the song itself. Closing with banjo and harmonies and a build of crash cymbal on “Maiden Mother Crone” nails the point home in a not-understated way, but at no point does III come across as hyper-theatrical so as to undercut the value of what Bask are doing. It’s a more patient album than it at first seems, but given time to breathe, III indeed comes to life.
Listening to the weighty rollout of opening cut “Bite the Ash” on Faerie Ring‘s debut album, The Clearing (on King Volume Records), one is reminded of the energy that once-upon-a-time came out of Houston’s Venomous Maximus. There’s a similar feeling of dark energy surging through the riffs and echoing vocals, but the Evansville, Indiana, four-piece wind up on a different trip. Their take is more distinctly Sabbathian on “Lost Wind” and even the swinging “Heavy Trip” lives up to its stated purpose ahead of the chugging largesse of finisher “Heaven’s End.” They find brash ground on “The Ring” and the slower march of “Somnium,” but there’s metal beneath the lumbering and it comes out on “Miracle” in a way that the drums late in “Lost Wind” seem to hint toward on subsequent listens. It’s a mix of riff-led elements that should be readily familiar to many listeners, but the sheer size and clarity of presentation Faerie Ring make throughout The Clearing makes me think they’ll look to distinguish themselves going forward, and so their first record holds all the more potential for that.
Begun as the solo-project of London-based multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Mark Walker and presently a trio including Louis Kinder and Jonathan Walker as well, Desert Sands make their recorded debut through A Records with the three-song/half-hour The Ascent EP, a work of psychedelic existentialism that conveys its cosmic questioning even before the lyrics start, with an opening riff and rhythmic lurch to “Are You There” that seems to throw its central query into a void that either will or won’t answer. Does it? The hell should I know, but The Ascent proves duly transcendent in its pulsations as “Head Towards the Light” and 11:45 closer “Yahweh” — yeah, I guess we get there — bring drifting, languid enlightenment to these spiritual musings. The finale is, of course, a jam in excelsis and if drop-acid-find-god is the narrative we’re working with, then Desert Sands are off to a hell of a start as a project. Regardless of how one might ultimately come down (and it is, by my estimation at least, a comedown) on the question of human spirituality, there’s no denying the power and ethereal force of the kind of creativity on display in The Ascent. One will wait impatiently to see what comes next.
Say what you want about New Orleans or North Carolina or wherever the hell else, Midwestern sludge is another level of filth. To wit, the Carcass-style vocals that slice through the raw, dense riffing on “Aspirate on Aspirations” feel like the very embodiment of modern disillusion, and there’s some flourish of melodic guitar pluck there, but that only seems to give the ensuing crunch more impact, and likewise the far-back char of “Freezing in Fire” as it relates to the subsequent “Dead Idles,” as Cavalcade refute the trappings of genre in tempo while still seeming to burrow a hole for themselves in the skull of the converted. “Noose Tie” and “We Dig Our Own Graves” tell the story, but while the recording itself is barebones, Cavalcade aren’t now and never really have been so simple as to be a one-trick band. For more than a decade, they’ve provided a multifaceted and trickily complex downer extremity, and Sonic Euthanasia does this as well, bringing their sound to new places and new levels of abrasion along its punishing way. Easy listening? Shit. You see that eye on the cover? That’s the lizard people staring back at you. Have fun with that.
Long Island chug-rockers Restless Spirit would seem to have been developing the material for their self-released debut album, Lord of the New Depression, over the last couple years on a series of short releases, but the songs still sound fresh and electrified in their vitality. If this was 1992 or ’93, they’d be signed already to RoadRacer Records and put on tour with Life of Agony, whose River Runs Red would seem to be a key influence in the vocals of the nine-track/39-minute offering, but even on their own, the metal-tinged five-piece seem to do just fine. Their tracks are atmospheric and aggressive and kind, and sincere in their roll, capturing the spirit of a band like Down with somewhat drawn-back chestbeating, “Dominion” aside. They seem to be challenging themselves to push outside those confines though in “Deep Fathom Hours,” the longest track at 7:35 with more complexity in the melody of the vocals and guitar, and that suits them remarkably well as they dig into this doomly take on LOA and Type O Negative and others from the early ’90s NYC underground — they seem to pass on Biohazard, which is fine — made legendary with the passage of time. As a gentleman of a certain age, I find it exceptionally easy to get on board.
An eight-piece outfit based in Arvika, Sweden, which is far enough west to be closer to Oslo than Stockholm, Children of the Sün blend the classic heavy rock stylizations of MaidaVale, first-LP Blues Pills and others with a decidedly folkish bent. Including an intro, their The Sign Records debut album, Flowers, is eight track and 34 minutes interweaving organ and guitar, upbeat vibes and bluesier melodies, taking cues from choral-style vocals on “Emmy” in such a way as to remind of Church of the Cosmic Skull, though the aesthetic here is more hippie than cult. The singing on “Sunschild” soars in that fashion as well, epitomizing the lush melody found across Flowers as the keys, guitar, bass and drums work to match in energy and presence. For a highlight, I’d pick the more subdued title-track, which still has its sense of movement thanks to percussion deep in the mix but comes arguably closest to the flower-child folk Children of the Sün seem to be claiming for their own, though the subsequent closing duo of “Like a Sound” and “Beyond the Sun” aren’t far off either. They’re onto something. One hopes they continue to explore in such sünshiny fashion.
Having made their debut with 2016’s There is Nothing (discussed here), Indianapolis downtrodden heavy rock four-piece Void King come back for a second go with Barren Dominion (on Off the Record Label), a title of similar theme that finds them doom riffing through massive tonality on “Burnt at Both Ends,” asking what if Soundgarden played atmospheric doom rock on “Crippled Chameleon” — uh, it would be awesome? yup — and opening each side with its longest track (double immediate points) in a clearly intended vinyl structure hell bent on immersing the listener as much as possible in the lumber and weight the band emit. Frontman Jason Kindred adds extra burl to his already-plenty-dudely approach on “Crippled Chameleon” and closer “The Longest Winter,” the latter with some harmonies to mirror those of opener “A Lucid Omega,” and the band around him — bassist Chris Carroll, drummer Derek Felix and guitarist Tommy Miller — seem to have no trouble whatsoever in keeping up, there or anywhere else on the eight-song/46-minute outing. Topped with striking cover art from Diogo Soares, Barren Dominion is deceptively nuanced and full-sounding. Not at all empty.
Posted in Whathaveyou on September 25th, 2019 by JJ Koczan
You know why I like Stoned Jesus? Because they rock. But also because of stuff like this: You’re about to dig into the PR wire info for an early demo collection Napalm is putting out from the Ukrainian heavy rockers on Nov. 8 called From the Outer Space. It brings together the band’s original first two demos as a limited LP and hey, that’s fun. It’s the band’s 10th anniversary, so great. Preorders are up now, etc., etc.
But in “unveiling” the first track from the release — such as it is an unveiling when something was already put out like a decade ago — the first thing guitarist/vocalist Igor Sidorenko notes in an evaluation of the song itself is that it’s, “hardly a masterpiece.” Way to sell it, dude. But what that tells you is just how important progression is for this band. Yeah, “I’m the Mountain” may have all those YouTube hits, but this is a band whose collective heart is always on the next thing, on pushing themselves forward to the next tour, the next batch of new songs. A release like this is cool for fans and those (like me) who didn’t hear the demos when they came out, and actually the gnarly-as-fuck tone on “The Sweet Whore of Babylon” is pretty rad, even if not nearly as developed as the band has obviously become on subsequent offerings. Has its appeal, is all I’m saying.
Anyway, here’s that PR wire info with the choice quote and much more:
STONED JESUS To Release Early Demos ‘From The Outer Space’ + Premiere Music Video!
Limited Vinyl Edition Due Out November 8th via Napalm Records!
2019 marks the 10th anniversary of Ukrainian stoner rock masters, Stoned Jesus. Tracks such as I’m The Mountain, with millions of hits on YouTube, are ultimate fuzz rock anthems. While Stoned Jesus started as a one-man project back in 2009, formed by frontman and band mastermind Igor Sydorenko, it would later become one of the most distinctive heavy stoner and doom rock bands the current scene has to offer. To celebrate 10 great years of Stoned Jesus, the band has a very special surprise and gift for their fans, as they release the first two demos in a compilation – From The Outer Space – available on November 8th via Napalm Records, and for the first time, as a limited Vinyl edition!
“We’ve been around for a whole decade now, so I figured it would be great to give something really cool to all our fans,” comments Igor, Stoned Jesus vocalist and guitarist. “But “From the Outer Space” is not a sign of things to come obviously, more like a snapshot of a memory. This is a page of our history for you to own”.
Remastered from the original demo recordings by Igor, these five long tracks retain the uncompromising rawness of material while adding some new, previously unheard nuances to the overall mix. Celebrate with Stoned Jesus in style, and watch this cool behind-the-scenes music video for the track The Sweet Whore of Babylon HERE!
“Being the first Stoned Jesus track ever written, “The Sweet Whore of Babylon” is hardly a masterpiece.“ Igor says. “Yet its relentless nature and raw sound perfectly show the beginnings of one-man-project-then/full-band-later. The video, carefully compiled and edited by me and Nastya Homenko from hours of archival footage, shows you the first ten years of Stoned Jesus in (almost) chronological order. Here’s to many more years to come!”
The tracklist From The Outer Space reads as follows:
1. The Sweet Whore of Babylon 2. Insatiable King 3. Eastern Magic 4. Occult 5. Black Woods
Better be quick, since this rare demo compilation by Stoned Jesus is limited to only 300 Vinyl copies! The pre-sale has just started at THIS LOCATION!
Stoned Jesus on Xth Anniversary Tour: 26.09.19 RO – Cluj- Napoca / Flying Circus 27.09.19 BG – Sofia / Mixtape 5 28.09.19 RO – Bucharest / Quantic Club 29.09.19 SRB – Belgrade / Bozidarac 01.10.19 BIH – Sarajevo / Club AG 02.10.19 CR – Zagreb / Vintage Industrial Bar 03.10.19 IT – Treviso / Altroquando Zerobranco 04.10.19 IT – Mezzago / Bloom 05.10.19 CH – Pratteln / Up In Smoke 07.10.19 DE – Passau / Zauberberg 08.10.19 PL – Sosnowiec / KOMin
15.11.19 DE – Cologne / Live Music Hall 16.11.19 DE – Neunkirchen / Gloomaar Festival 17.11.19 BE – Brussels / Botanique 18.11.19 FR – Paris / Alhambra 19.11.19 FR – Rennes / Antipode MJC 20.11.19 FR Toulouse / Rex 21.11.19 CH Geneva / L’Usine 22.11.19 IT Bologna / Freakout Club 23.11.19 AT – Salzburg / Rockhouse 24.1119 HU – Budapest / A38 25.11.19 DE – Munich / Feierwerk 26.11.19 AT – Vienna / Arena 27.11.19 DE Leipzig / Werk2 28.11.19 DE Hamburg / Markthalle 29.11.19 DE – Berlin / Festsaal Kreuzberg 30.11.19 DE – Stuttgart / JH Hallschlag
Stoned Jesus is: Igor Sydorenko – Vocals & Guitars Serhij Sljussar – Bass Dmytro Zinchenko – Drums
Posted in Whathaveyou on September 23rd, 2019 by JJ Koczan
So Mammoth Mammoth toured Europe I think twice for their last record, they recorded their new album in Germany, it has a German title, is being put out by an Austrian label, and I’m pretty sure half their lineup at this point is European. Safe to say they’ve maybe been adopted from their native Australia? As they go into their fifth LP, the ever-ready-for-festival-season four-piece seem to know where their heart lies more than ever as they look down the barrel of another string of tour dates booked for Germany. That’s right. It’s 11 shows, and they’re all in Germany. They’re even playing Rockpalast, where I have no doubt their high-energy drive will be captured on a video soon to feature in my YouTube recommends. You keep an eye out for it and I’ll do the same.
Kreuzung is the new album, and it was recorded by former Samsara Blues Experiment member Richard Behrens — also known for Heat and his work with Kadavar — and there’s a video streaming now for the title-track that you can check out at the bottom of this post if you’re up for it.
From the PR wire:
Australian High Voltage Rockers MAMMOTH MAMMOTH Reveal Album Details + Release Brand New Music Video!
Kreuzung coming November 8th on Napalm Records!
Australia’s high voltage outfit, MAMMOTH MAMMOTH, are proud to announce their, highly anticipated 5th studio album titled, Kreuzung, which is set for a release on November 8th with leading rock and metal label Napalm Records.
Recorded and produced by Richard Behrens in the winter of 2018/19 at Big Snuff Studio, Berlin, it is the first album with the new line-up consisting of original members, Mikey Tucker (vocalist) and Frank Trobbiani (drums) and introducing new members, Marco Gennaro (guitarist) and Kris Fiore (bass). The Rock`n`Roll juggernaut seized the opportunity to refine their hard-rock formula since the release of Mount The Mountain two years ago. The result is an electrifying sledgehammer that cements their name MAMMOTH MAMMOTH. Kreuzung’s (German for crossroads) hypnotic title track could crush a beer can with it’s sheer soundwave force, try it out and watch their brand new video for the album title track HERE!
In January 2017, the band found themselves at a crossroads. Already committed to two European tours, including their first visit to Spain and Portugal plus a large number of shows on the summer festival circuit, original guitarist Ben Couzens and bassist Pete Bell were unable to perform those ongoing commitments. In order for MAMMOTH MAMMOTH to honour those shows, Tucker and Trobbiani needed to find replacement musicians to continue to bring the high-energy, beer- soaked, dirty-rock shows to their loyal fan base.
Inspired by new surroundings, Tucker, Trobbiani, Gennaro and Fiore holed themselves up in Rock Haus, Berlin in 2018 and crafted the new album together whilst searching for a new producer. Someone who would both challenge and nurture their new line-up. Tucker says on working with Richard, “I wanted to introduce a new sound, something a little more vintage sounding. I was tired of listening to rock albums that were so overly produced they’d lost all their soul. I stumbled upon Big Snuff Studio and really liked the work they were doing with Kadavar.” Trobbiani adds, “Writing and recording ‘Kreuzung’ in Berlin has been a refreshing change, the collaborative process made the whole experience killer and we can’t wait to play it live to everyone.” Kreuzung, signifies where the band had found themselves in 2017, somewhere between the past, the present and the future. This album proves that the gritty Rock`n`Roll manifesto of MAMMOTH MAMMOTH has truly evolved and they know exactly where they’re heading next.
Kreuzung Tracklisting: 1. I’m Ready 2. Wanted Man 3. Motherf@cker 4. Screamin´ 5. Kreuzung 6. Tear it Down 7. Tonight 8. Mad World 9. Let Go 10. Lead Boots 11. God´s Gonna Hate Me
Kreuzung will be available on LP, CD and in Digital formats, the pre-sale has just started at THIS LOCATION!
Known for their intense high-energy and beer-soaked Rock`n`Roll live shows, MAMMOTH MAMMOTH will be hitting the road again this Fall, with a heavy touring schedule to follow: 14.11.2019 DE Köln – MTC 15.11.2019 DE Frankfurt – Das Bett 17.11.2019 DE Weinheim- Café Central 18.11.2019 DE Nürnberg – Hirsch 19.11.2019 DE Bochum – Rockpalast 20.11.2019 DE Hamburg – HeadCrash 21.11.2019 DE Berlin – Musik & Frieden 22.11.2019 DE Erfurt – Museumskeller 23.11.2019 DE Leipzig – Bandhaus 26.11.2019 DE München – Backstage Club 27.11.2019 DE Stuttgart – Goldmarks
MAMMOTH MAMMOTH is: Mikey Tucker – Vocals Frank Trobbiani – Drums Marco Gennaro – Guitar Kris Sinister – Bass
