It’s all over now, I’ve got momentum on my side. This is day four of the Quarterly Review. The first three days have been nothing but a pleasure on my end, putting them together, and with just today and tomorrow left, I’m feeling pretty good about the entire endeavor. I’m not sure yet if this will be the end of the year as regards QRs, but if it is, it’s a good one to go out on.

And basically to make that determination, I need to look at next month’s schedule and see what’s coming when, when I’ll do things like the year-end poll and my own big end-of-year post. No idea on any of that yet, but I’ll get there. Getting this done in relatively smooth fashion is a help. Thanks for reading and I hope it’s been a good one for you as well.

Quarterly Review #31-40:

Psychedelic Source Records, The Initiation Outlaws

Set to release through Echodelick in the US and Weird Beard Records in the UK, in addition to Psychedelic Source Records‘ own distribution, The Initiation Outlaws brings eight pieces and a full 98-minute double-LP’s worth of cosmic improvised jamming, with a cast of regulars from the Hungarian collective — Bence Ambrus, Máté Varga, Róbert Kránitz, Krisztina Benus, Gergely Szabó — taking part in collaborative exploration with Go Kurosawa of Kikagaku Moyo, who goes from drums to bass to guitar as the release progresses, sliding right into the amorphous methodology of Psychedelic Source Records while distinguishing the heavier push in “Three Golds Reward II” or the snare work on “The King of Magic Colts and Wands I” earlier. Trance-inducing as ever, these captured moments are gorgeously fluid and immersive, active enough in parts like “The King of Magic Colts and Wands II” to defy mellowpsych-improv expectation, but abiding just the same. If you’re not there yet, it’s time to start thinking of Psychedelic Source among Europe’s finest purveyors of heavy psychedelia.

Psychedelic Source Records on Bandcamp

Echodelick Records store

Weird Beard Records store

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Bell Witch & Aerial Ruin, Stygian Bough Vol. II

The forlorn folkishness in the midsection of “Waves Become the Sky” bring to mind an extrapolation of emotive doom from the likes of Warning, but that’s understandable with Aerial Ruin and Bell Witch renewing their collaboration for Stygian Bough Vol. II, following on from a first volume (review here) in 2020. The album takes place over four extended tracks from the rolling density of the aforementioned opener through the minimalist-till-it-isn’t “King of the Wood” and the longform folk-death-doom of “From Dominion Let Them Bleed” and the melancholy triumph of heft wrought in 19-minute finale “The Told and the Leadened,” which dwells in spaces empty and full and remains conscious enough to end with tense noise and drumming. This is artistry on its own wavelength, working in its own time, and patient to a point of extremity. But they do it to offer comfort, make no mistake. There’s consolation in these songs, in addition to all the mourning.

Bell Witch website

Aerial Ruin website

Profound Lore Records website

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Giöbia, X-ÆON

Unrepentantly cosmic Italian outfit Giöbia are like a fresh coat of antimatter for space rock. The four-piece obviously hunkered down in their secret lab after 2023’s Acid Disorder (review here) and worked hard to refine their chemical compositions, such that “Voodoo Experience” nods grounded even as its synth and guitars surge beyond the thermosphere. The results show everywhere throughout X-ÆON in their outsider cohesion of classic and neo-space rocks, heavy psychedelia and oddball synthscaping, whether you’re doing the sensory thing with the dream-jam “1976” or embroiled in the four-part side B concept piece, “La Mort de la Terre,” which draws a cinematic curtain for life as we know it in “Dans la Nuit Éternelle,” a wordless epilogue that feels half a world removed from the stomp-and-verse of “The Death of the Crows,” but of course, that’s the whole idea.

Giöbia website

Heavy Psych Sounds website

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Bone Church, Deliverance

The included acoustic guitar, organ and FM-radio classic rock vibes in the eight-and-a-half-minute closing title-track aren’t a coincidence. They’re part of a stated intention the band had in taking on more of a traditional sound, coming down from some of the harder-hitting doom of 2020’s Acid Communion and working in more of a ’70s-inspired style. That manifests to varying degrees throughout, as leadoff “Electric Execution” feels like it’s working in the vein of “Neon Knights” or “Turn Up the Night” in Dio Sabbathian raucousness (I know that was 1980-81, don’t @ me), and while “Lucifer Rising” has a weighted march, it’s more Scorpions than Sleep, and “Goin’ to Texas” brings in the organ to emphasize the Southern geography of the album’s centerpiece. It’s a striking turn but they pull it off for sure. “Muchachos Muchachin'” has mid-’70s charm to spare, and “Bone Boys Ride Out” seems to bridge the more modern attack of Bone Church-prior with who they are today. Not every progression plays out like you think it will, and if this is the band Bone Church have wanted to be all along, they sound accordingly right to have made the redirect.

Bone Church on Bandcamp

Ripple Music website

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Js Donny, Death Folk

The ‘soft scream’ vocals give Js Donny‘s Death Folk an immediate sense of extremity, but it’s a quiet extremity. The French solo artist — who also plays bass in adventurous Marseilles sludgers Donna Candy — released an EP with a full lineup in 2023, but this six-song/33-minute offering is more intimate. Js Donny dwells in the quiet, creepy spaces the songs create, the vocal gurgle giving shades of otherworldliness and malevolence alike. It’s called Death Folk, but especially with the electrified/distorted wash that takes hold in “Not Like That” and again at the outset of closer “Black Heart” — a biting tone, like harsher blackgaze — I can’t help but wonder if Js Donny isn’t working in a kind of post-death-metallic framing. There are no drums, which is a fair trade for what’s gained in grim ambience, but even without, the album is clear in manifesting both sides of its title, and while Js Donny isn’t the only one laying claim to death-folk as a style, how it happens here sure feels like an act of genre creation.

Js Donny on Bandcamp

Bamboo Shoes on Bandcamp

29Speedway on Bandcamp

Chrüsimüsi Records on Bandcamp

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Nuclear Dudes, Skeletal Blasphemy

In some distant future, when the history is written of our idiotic, persistently awful time, no one will ever say, “and the right-thinking people of the day had no choice but to seek refuge in avant garde cybergrind,” and that’s why history is bullshit. Skeletal Blasphemy is the third album from Nuclear Dudes and second of 2025 behind September’s Truth Paste (review here) — keep ’em coming — and is the solo-project’s most vicious and realized offering to-date. Spearhead Jon Weisnewski (Sandrider, ex-Akimbo) brings powerviolent catharsis on “Victory Pants,” the title-track and assorted others, working in collaboration with guest drummer Coady Willis (High on Fire, Big Business, Melvins), and whether it’s the punker push in “Bad Body” or the slow, undulations of the closing “The Octopus” and the burgeoning thread of progressive melody throughout these songs, it’s exactly the sort of self-bludgeoning that being alive right now requires. Album of the year? Fuck you, fuck the year, and fuck capitalism.

Nuclear Dudes on Bandcamp

The Ghost is Clear Records website

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Kronstad 23, Sommermørket

With an instrumentalist foot in progressive, horn-inclusive jazz, heavy psychedelic fluidity and a resonant warmth of tone alongside a will to meander, Kronstad 23 feel tailor-made for El Paraiso Records, run by members of Denmark’s Causa Sui. Sommermørket is the Norwegian outfit’s debut album and without sounding consumed by its own ambition to do so, it organically nestles the band in a stylistic niche that allows for the explorations in “Caesar” and “Astralreiser,” the latter of which will seem barely there in its early going at low volumes, to exist along the daring-toward-dancey opener “Dølgsmål” and building a kind of dreamy tension between the guitar and drums on “Trosten,” with none of it feeling out of place. They’ll invariably get comparisons to Kanaan, but the foundation is different and the delivery gentler, with “Helgen” finding its way on drum rolls and key/guitar drift into a classic-prog horn section in a payoff that’s somewhat understated until you look back across the five and a half minutes and see how far you’ve come. I can’t wait to hear how they grow.

Kronstad 23 on Instagram

El Paraiso Records website

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Rolls the River, Love of Driving

“Love of Driving” is the debut single from newcomer New Jersey-based krautrock-minded two-piece Rolls the River. The band brings together Dan Kirwan of Pyre Fyre on bass, guitar and vocals, and Victor Marinelli on guitar, synth, drums and vocals for a sub-five-minute cosmic reachout, obviously schooled in where it’s coming from — that is to say, one doesn’t krautrock by accident; it is a form to adopt and refine — but still feeling like an initial exploration of both style and composition. Fading in on an initial keyboardy drone, the guitar and drums come in together and the neospace shuffle is mellow as layers are added, guitar, keys, but the sense of movement brought to “Love of Driving” is enough to explain the title, whatever you might think of the Garden State’s highway system. Rather than get caught up in jughandles, though, Rolls the River harness tonal presence and linear development and still find room to include voice as part of the atmosphere. Formative, and an encouraging start.

Rolls the River on Bandcamp

Rolls the River on Instagram

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Psychonaut, World Maker

Belgium’s Psychonaut may yet teach progressive metal a lesson or two. The post-metal three-piece reach what sure feels in “Endless Currents” like a new level of expression and craft, and while at 11 songs and 60 minutes, World Maker isn’t a minor undertaking — one could easily argue making a world takes time — the utter consumption achieved in “All in Time,” which I won’t spoil any further, the blissful wash of “…Everything Else is Just the Weather” are not to be missed, and worth whatever minor investment of attention span might be required. Exciting as the intermittent metallic surges are, “Endless Erosion” caps in a quiet place, and the atmospherics across the first two and a half minutes of “Origins,” just as one example, help to bring a feeling of place (of ‘world’) to the procession. It is a vivid place Psychonaut have made, and there are listeners for whom the melodies of World Maker will be transcendental.

Psychonaut on Bandcamp

Pelagic Records website

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Cabfighter, The Sea Between Stars

Following an apparent 2024 EP called Anachronist that is below because this debut album isn’t streaming yet that I can find, The Sea Between Stars — a suitably romantic framing of what you might otherwise call ‘the void’ — brings a progressive take to classic-style doom rock. The Oregonian five-piece roll out a genuine feeling of dynamic across the album’s 10 tracks, from the proto-metal shove of “Knightrider” at the outset to the later rush and wail of “Sky Sized Heart,” to the doom-epic ballad reach of “Bridge of Irreconcilable Sorrow” to the acoustic turn in the last movement of “The Words We Don’t Speak” and variable but unifyingly soulful vocal arrangements throughout, up to the minimal voice-and-piano closer “Ghost Notes” or the duet in the crescendo of “Still Breathing.” Ambition set in balance with organic production and songwriting. I don’t know when The Sea Between Stars is coming out, if it’s now-ish, early 2026 or what, but if you want to take this as an early heads up, do.

Cabfighter on Bandcamp

Cabfighter on Instagram

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Connecticut-based heavy rock and rollers Bone Church will issue their second long-player, Deliverance, through Ripple Music on Oct. 24. The dudely five-piece are streaming lead single “Bone Boys Ride Out” now, which emphasizes punch and push as one might hope for its three and a half minutes, conveying energy as well as craft. The band are veterans of Ripplefest Texas (twice over, I think?) and have already been confirmed to appear at Planet Desert Rock Weekend VI next January in Las Vegas, so it seems fair to expect more live announcements to come, if not before the Southwest trip in the New Year, then likely around that.

The PR wire brought info and the song that heavy enough I needed to restart my laptop to hear it. It’s not every riff goes around busting technology. Have at it:

BONE CHURCH: new album and single announced on Ripple Music

New Haven, Connecticut’s hard blues rockers BONE CHURCH share a raucous first single taken from their sophomore album “Deliverance”, to be released on October 24th through Californian label Ripple Music.

Feel the grit and fire of new single Bone Boys Ride Out

Their forthcoming sophomore album “Deliverance” is Bone Church’s boldest step yet into the heart of classic and hard rock: an album built on big hooks, anthemic songcraft, and the kind of radio-ready swagger that would’ve ruled the airwaves in 1977. Written primarily in 2019 and 2020, this record trades their debut’s doom-laden expectations for soaring, blues-soaked riffs and sing-along choruses. “You’ll still hear the Sabbath influence, but you’ll also hear ZZ Top, the Allman Brothers, Santana, and Lynyrd Skynyrd, to name a few. These songs are meant to be sung along to,” says lead guitarist Dan Sefcik.

Lyrically, Bone Church remains steeped in their signature themes—apocalyptic visions, Luciferian power struggles, and the eternal battle between light and dark—but this time, they balance the weight with raucous tales of life on the road and the pure, uncomplicated joy of rock ‘n’ roll. “We’ve juxtaposed those heavy themes with lighthearted fun as well. We didn’t want this record to be all doom and gloom. Overall, we think it’s our best work yet,” he adds.

“Deliverance” is a thunderous exorcism, a Molotov cocktail hurled at the gates of genre. Bone Church never bowed to the rules, and now? They’re torching the rulebook entirely. Crank it. Howl along. This is their reckoning and it’s coming this fall on Ripple Music!

BONE CHURCH “Deliverance
Out October 24th via Ripple Music (LP/CD/digital): https://ripplemusic.bandcamp.com/album/deliverance

BONE CHURCH is
Jack Rune – Vocals
Dan Sefcik – Lead Guitar
Pat Good – Bass
Nick Firine – Guitar
Rob Sickinger – Drums

https://bonechurch1.bandcamp.com/
https://www.instagram.com/bone_church/
https://www.facebook.com/bonexchurch/

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

Bone Church, Deliverance (2025)

Entierro release their new EP, El Camazotz, on June 18. At this point, I’ve covered the Connecticut-based metallers for the better part of seven years, going back to the cassette (or k7, if you prefer) of their self-titled EP in 2014, and to be perfectly honest with you, I’ve never really felt like they were a “fit” with the site. Even on El Camazotz, you can hear in the title-track, the riffs are sharp-edged, turning at angles with purpose between the verse and chorus, aggressive. Linear. Adversarial. They back that up with a Judas Priest cover, by the way. So yeah, it’s heavy metal. Heavy metal enough that both Christopher Begnal and Victor Arduini (the latter also of Arduini/Balich) are listed as lead guitarists, and even heavy metal enough that it’s true.

But while “heavy metal” has never really been what this site’s been about, I guess I’m just a sucker for it sometimes, and Entierro fit that bill. El Camazotz, before it gets to that take on “Call for the Priest,” brings four originals in “The Penance,” “The Tower” and “The Past,” the latter of which you can hear premiering in a lyric video below. It’s the centerpiece, the shortest cut at just under five minutes — everything else is a bit over that line, totaling six tracks/26 minutes for the EP — and the catchiest of the bunch, and though there’s a certain letting-loose happening in the cover tune, “The Past” brings into emphasis the band’s own songwriting prowess, with guitar solos used in classic dramatic fashion atop choice riffs, vocalist/bassist Christopher Beaudette (who’s apparently also in Jasta? oh, Connecticut underground, you’re so weird) smoothing out some of the gruffer style in his voice as compares to “The Penance,” which jabs its central riff in an opening aggro showcase. It’s classic hook-’em-and-hold-’em fare either way, and Entierro do it well, propelled by the gallop of Dave Parmelee‘s drums all the while.

The title-track follows the three “The…” cuts, and I suppose is another one if you put it through translation. The title refers to the human/bat creature out of Mesoamerican mythology that has been the subject of many, many clickbait pieces claiming to have unearthed the secret origins of Batman. Yes, we know. And Superman is a Golem. No shit. In Entierro‘s hands, the subject is granted more substance, as well as a mid-tempo chug that’s nothing if not a suitable lead-in for the cover that rounds out as well as a reinforcement of the EP’s intentions in renewing the aggression of the “The Penance” and “The Tower” behind it. It is a short release, but Entierro clearly put thought into its construction, and in following 2018’s self-titled full-length (discussed here), the band’s wholehearted embrace of their roots filters smoothly through their own craft methodology and only suits them. If you’ve ever raised horns in earnest, they’d like to have a word.

Video follows here. Please enjoy:

Entierro, “The Past” lyric video premiere

Pre-order
https://entierro.bandcamp.com/album/el-camazotz

Lyric Video from their 2021 ep “El Camazotz.”

Connecticut’s Entierro release their long awaited follow-up to their 2018 Self-titled full length on June 18th. Entitled El Camazotz, after the Mayan bat god associated with night, death and sacrifice, the five song EP represents a new chapter in the story of the band. Recorded just prior to the pandemic at Studio Wormwood in Northeastern Connecticut under the engineering mastery of Dave Kaminsky, the songs harken back to the NWOBHM and traditional heavy metal bands that they grew up listening to. This also marks the first truly collaborative effort with former Fates Warning guitarist Victor Arduini, who had joined the band just prior to the recording of their 2018 full length.

On this release, he was an integral part of the writing process working alongside vocalist/bassist Christopher Beaudette (Jasta, NightBitch,) drummer Dave Parmelee (One Master) and second guitarist Christopher Begnal making it a much more definitive presentation of their creative vision. Together, Entierro is solidifying their ability to create songs that manifest the crushing sound that they hope metalheads can continually find inspiration in.

Track Listing
1. The Penance
2. The Tower
3. The Past
4. El Camazotz
5. Call for the Priest [Judas Priest cover]

Album Credits: Mixed and Engineered by Dave Kaminsky at Wormwood Studios, Mansfield, CT. Album Artwork by Maxwell Aston Art. Mastered by Nick Zampiello of New Alliance East Mastering.

Entierro are:
Christopher Beaudette – Vocals/Bass
Christopher Begnal – Lead Guitar
Victor Arduini – Lead Guitar
Dave Parmelee – Drums

Entierro on Thee Facebooks

Entierro on Instagram

Entierro on Bandcamp

[Click play above to stream Lord Fowl’s Glorious Babylon in full. Album is out this Friday, April 24, on Small Stone Records.]

Connecticut-based four-piece Lord Fowl were already well underrated in 2012 when they released their second album, Moon Queen (review here), as their debut on Small Stone Records. They played regionally throughout the Northeast to support it and did label showcases and heavy fests hither and yon, but it’s been eight years since that record came out and their third offering, Glorious Babylon, inevitably finds them in different circumstances as a unit. Recorded as ever by bassist/some-guitar-ist Jon Conine at BirdsEye Studios in West Haven, CT, with Steve Hill assisting, the 10-track/37-minute full-length almost can’t help but reflect the times in which it has been made. There is an undercurrent of cynicism or perhaps just warning in the early-arriving title-track that is very much in Lord Fowl‘s wheelhouse, and even as side A moves beyond its opening salvo of “Fire Discipline,” “Glorious Babylon” and “Get Lost” into the slower and moodier “Deep Empty” and “The Wraith,” their sense of having a party like it’s 1977 comes tinged with this aspect. We all know how it worked out for Babylon, right? It fell. Hard.

Driven by the dual guitars and lead-vocal tradeoffs between Vechel Jaynes and Mike Pellegrino and with Michael Petrucci on drums — since out of the band to, as legend has it, wander the earth as a journeyman percussive wizard, spreading rhythmic joy wherever he goes; Van Hartley has taken up the position — Lord Fowl traffic between classic heavy rock and nascent NWOBHM-ism, but their sound is never overly aggressive, even in the sharper turns of a cut like “The Gramercy Riffs,” and their craft lends itself to standout hooks and a ’70s vibe, but Conine‘s production is never anything but modern. This was a turn Lord Fowl were ahead of the curve in making circa Moon Queen, predicting that the retroism that was so prevalent throughout the early part of the last decade (and of which there’s still plenty around today) would soon enough have to go somewhere and the only place to go was the forward in time. It continues to suit them on Glorious Babylon, the studio presentation of the band working toward capturing the energy they bring to the stage and the clarity of their songwriting generally. Glorious Babylon is a record rife with fascinating contradictions, but just as its take-then-and-make-it-now ethic finds them spanning decades with ease, so too do their songs come together with a full LP flow despite their seeming contrasts.

To wit, Glorious Babylon brings some of the rawest and most immediate moments of heavy rock that Lord Fowl have honed since their 2008 debut, Endless Dynamite, and in songs like “Fire Discipline” — I’m not sure what it means to “walk a hot wire,” but the instruction to do so is delivered with authority — “Glorious Babylon” itself, side B’s fuzzy leadoff “In Search Of” and the bounce-via-Thin–Lizzy penultimate track “Epitaph,” they give a look not only at the prevalence of their own dynamic in what they do in terms of the fluidity of rhythm between Conine‘s bass, the two guitars and Petrucci‘s drumming, but also the sheer effectiveness of verses and choruses when so well composed. Of course the chemistry between Jaynes and Pellegrino — who seem to come together throughout as much as they pull apart at times, broadening the scope of the band’s material overall — plays a central role in defining the personality of Glorious Babylon to the extent that it’s willing to be defined, and while that plays out over the more barebones structures, it’s also to be found in the more expansive songs as well, the scope of cuts like “The Wraith” and even the mini-freakout in “Red Cloud” or the if-Bowie-went-psych finale “Space Jockey” push to places Lord Fowl haven’t been before.

All the while, this blend of immediacy and patience plays out across songs that, in themselves, play up and down in mood and atmosphere across the record’s still-relatively-brief span. This is something perhaps best given emphasis in the title-track itself. “Glorious Babylon” is a fun song about impending tragedy. Lord Fowl wouldn’t be the first to compare present-America to the ancient Babylonian empire, and likewise, it’s not the first time they’ve injected a subtle political edge into their material. Frankly, it’s something one wishes they did more of — though one also wishes for more from them generally, so take that as you will — but as much “Fire Discipline” and “Epitaph” swagger, so too does “Deep Empty” roll through its chorus following the spoken intro en route to the culminating solo, and “Red Cloud” makes its way to its noisy finish with the most insistent shove the band has on offer throughout, furthering the spread between basic stage-style energy and more meditative themes and tempos.

What the hell does it all mean?

It means Lord Fowl are a more complex band than they were eight years ago. They’re a band who do more than one thing with their songs, a band who sound like they’re bringing together the work of multiple songwriters, and a band who nonetheless emerge with a cohesive album flow despite — and in some ways because — of that. While Glorious Babylon is bound to win nods among the heavy rock converted with its forward hooks and more upbeat material, the record also invites further digging as each of its two intended sides develops its own progression, with side B returning to ground in “Epitaph” before “Space Jockey” further transcends genre boundaries. As a result of its multifaceted nature and the fact that it has more than just those forward hooks to take on, it may be a few listens before Glorious Babylon completely unfolds itself to a given listener, but again, that invitation is there, and Lord Fowl provide sure guidance for their audience making its way through. They were underrated eight years ago. Well, they’re still underrated. Whatever the future might hold for the band, in style and substance, they are a well kept secret of the Northeastern heavy rock underground, and whether you’re taking them on for the boogie and fuzz or the broader territories their songs can reach, Babylon’s glories are there for the getting while the getting’s good.

Lord Fowl on Thee Facebooks

Small Stone Records on Thee Facebooks

Small Stone Records on Instagram

Small Stone Records website

It hasn’t been easy waiting for Connecticut four-piece Lord Fowl to put out a new full-length. At this point, it’s been eight years since Small Stone released Moon Queen (review here), and at least five since they started talking about writing and recording what’s been given the title Glorious Babylon. So yes, facing the hard reality that a set April 24 release date and the advent of preorders represent is something of a relief. And not that I’ve heard the record or anything — though to that end I’ll say that I did do a heavy edit on the bio below ahead of this news coming out — but whatever the hell is going on with the album art is earned in the tracks. It’s all that stuff and the logo to boot. I know it’s been a while and momentum or social media push isn’t really in their pocket out of the gate, but don’t sleep it.

Glorious Babylon. April 24. Small Stone. Preorders up. You can hear “Fire Discipline” now, so do that below.

Fresh from the PR wire:

LORD FOWL: Connecticut Riff Rock/Retro Metallers To Release Glorious Babylon Full-Length April 24th Via Small Stone; New Track Streaming + Preorders Available

Connecticut riff rock/retro metal unit LORD FOWL will release their Glorious Babylon full-length April 24th via Small Stone.

LORD FOWL took shape in New Haven in the summer of 2007 with one goal: to write songs like those they grew up hearing. Songs that drive you. Songs that come alive. Songs that rock. With Glorious Babylon, their third LP and second to see release via Small Stone Records, LORD FOWL refuses to compromise this high standard, bringing forth the energy of their dynamic stage presence and dual lead vocals, as the song-craft of singer/guitarists Vechel Jaynes and Mike Pellegrino reaches its next level of progression.

Recorded at BirdsEye Studios in West Haven, producer and bassist Jon Conine (with the assistance of by Steve Hill) captures LORD FOWL’s vitality as only one part of the fray could hope to do, and though drummer Michael Petrucci has since left the band with Van Hartley stepping in to fill his significant percussive shoes, the drums provide the foundation of Glorious Babylon.

Across the record’s ten-track/thirty-seven-minute span, LORD FOWL raises their own bar. Following 2008’s Endless Dynamite and 2012’s Moon Queen, Glorious Babylon arrives as an awaited third chapter in LORD FOWL’s peculiar mythology, harnessing the spirit they’ve brought to stages up and down the East Coast, at SXSW, and beyond, breathing life once more into classic, soulful, and psychedelic heavy rock and roll.

With a sound just as likely to nod to Thin Lizzy and a heavy Funkadelic as to early Queen or Paul Di’Anno-era Iron Maiden, it is still the vision and classic purpose of their songwriting that brings the band together. Songs that rock. Old heads, new heads, riff-worshippers, and freaks: LORD FOWL have built a city just for you. Fans of Queen, Dirty Honey, Rival Sons, Freedom Hawk, Crobot, Rival Sons, Greenleaf, Fu Manchu, La Chinga, and the like pay heed.

Glorious Babylon will see release via Small Stone Recordings on CD, digital, and deluxe gatefold vinyl formats on April 24th. The vinyl edition — a German import pressing via Kozmik Artifactz — is limited to 500 and will be available in two color variants: transparent pink or clear with purple and white splatter.

For preorders and to stream opening track “Fire Discipline,” visit the Small Stone Bandcamp page at THIS LOCATION.

Glorious Babylon Track Listing:
1. Fire Discipline
2. Glorious Babylon
3. Get Lost
4. Deep Empty
5. The Wraith
6. In Search Of
7. The Gramercy Riffs
8. Red Cloud
9. Epitaph
10. Space Jockey

LORD FOWL:
Jon Conine – bass, guitar
Vechel Jaynes – guitar, vocals
Mike Pellegrino – guitar, vocals
Michael Petrucci – drums, percussion

https://www.facebook.com/LORD-FOWL
http://www.facebook.com/smallstonerecords
http://www.instagram.com/smallstonerecords
http://www.smallstone.com

Lord Fowl, “Fire Discipline”

Connecticut power trio Pinto Graham release their Dos EP on July 12. Formed in 2016 in New Haven, the three-piece issued their first full-length, Uno, the next year, and the six tracks/24 minutes of the follow-up feel more like half an album than an EP for the flow they conjure and the obvious care put into their arrangements of and within the material itself, blending Southern heavy rock, bluesy vibes and a touch of the ethereal around largely straightforward songwriting in order to create a sound that’s at once familiar and still malleable enough for them to toy with pace and the balance of their influences. A bit of this, a bit of that, in other words, but it suits them as guitarist/vocalist Andre Roman, bassist/vocalist Ant Reckart and drummer Brian Harris roll through the changes in tempo of “Dreamcatcher,” Roman and Reckart and guest singer Kelly L’Heureux — who would seem as well to appear on the prior “Southern Superstitions” — in a blend of forward lines and far-off-mic backing voices almost in harmony. It’s semi-traditionalist heavy rock that benefits from the diversity of experience from its creators, but perhaps most of all so in being clear-headed in its intent and knowing what it wants to do in terms of sound and how.

Dudes wastes no time getting down in the opening track “Further,” and that sets the course with about four and a half winding minutes of go-go-go thrust that manages not to sacrifice melody even in its crunchiest pivots. The guitar solo hints at some of the more Southern vibing that will make itself known after the crashing roller “Sleeping Giant” when “Southern Superstitions” takes hold, the flow of the EP seeming to take it from more uptempo movements to slower ones, but even when the harmonica hits in “Southern Superstitions,” it does so over a riff that’s as much Seattle grunge as Texas ramble. “Further,” though, is clearly tasked with providing the momentum for the rest of what follows — another reason I’d consider Dos a short album rather than an EP; the way the songs interact with each other — and it succeeds in that and then some, having an effect even as the mid-tempo hook of “Southern Superstitions” feeds, vocals only, into the noisy beginning of “Dreamcatcher,” Echoes give the vocals a howling feel that suits the piece, but it’s clearly meant to be a standout and it is, letting “Old Man of the Mountain” straighten out and fly right with some classic-feeling boogie that’s still well in context for what surrounds.

That leaves only “The Weight” to close out, and it does so with, yes, a slower tempo, and the immediate roll of a southbound highway (and no, I don’t mean I-95 at the intersection with I-91 where all the food trucks are), melded with a bluesy solo and some righteously dirty bass beneath. The track runs 4:51, the solo comes in at about 2:42, and I’d be content if Pinto Graham wanted to just ride out that jam for the next three minutes or so — by then, there’s nothing reasonably asked of Dos that’s not been delivered, and as far as I’m concerned, they’ve demonstrated both progress since Uno and their songwriting acumen more generally — but they do turn back to the chorus to finish out, holding to the idea of structure that is an underpinning for the EP as a whole. It’s a clean break and a fitting end for the short set done up in a style that would seem poised to grab the ears and eyes of Ripple Music, fitting in along the likes of Wo Fat, Foghound, Freedom Hawk, etc., as well perhaps as Valley of the Sun and some other modern practitioners of noteworthy craft. For those seeking a bottom line, it’s that’s Pinto Graham are more than a clever name, and for anyone who perhaps missed the first album, Dos offers a brief opportunity to get caught up before they pass by on the way to the next one. I’d advise taking advantage.

Dig into the premiere of “Further” below, followed by more info from the PR wire.

Enjoy:

Hailing from New Haven, Connecticut, southern rock trio Pinto Graham serves up psychedelic riffage that pulls audiences to their feet. The diverse musical experiences of bassist/vocalist Ant Reckart, guitarist/vocalist Andre Roman, and drummer Brian Harris make for a perfect meeting of groove, grit, and melody. With influences ranging from Lynyrd Skynrd to Pentagram — both of whom they pay homage to with their band name — Pinto Graham will shake, rattle, and roll any stage they set foot on.

Formed in 2013 by Reckart and Harris, the band kicked into high gear with the addition of Roman in 2016. The three creative spirits came together from different paths, with Florida transplant Reckart drumming for industrial shock rockers Genitorturers for many years, Roman touring across the country on bass with punk outfit Murdervan, and Harris playing with Araca París and S26 in his native Argentina.

But this unusual combination of history and influences has become something greater than the sum of its parts. Pinto’s 2017 debut album Uno solidified their place in the underground music scene, with songs featured on many podcasts, blogs, and compilations including Alternative Control’s Volume Doom. The band has played live all over New England, and was especially proud to perform at a Florida benefit for St. Michael’s Soldiers alongside southern rock giants Molly Hatchet and Johnnie and Donnie Van Zant.

2019 promises to bring these “High Flyers” to new heights with the release of their second album, Dos. Recorded at Studio Wormwood in rural Connecticut with engineer Dave Kaminsky, Dos will be released on July 12, 2019 in CD and digital formats. Pinto will also return to Florida to perform at St. Michael’s Soldiers’ third annual benefit later this year, set to share the stage with .38 Special.

Photo by Rick Casados Photo.

Brian Harris – drums
Andre Roman – guitar and vocals
Ant Reckart – bass and vocals

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Pinto Graham on Bandcamp

You’ve got two minutes, right? For the sake of feedback-drenched fuckall sludge? Of course you do. It’s easy to imagine the trio Stone Titan destroying any number of punk rock basements and/or houses in their native New Haven, the shocked faces of Yale freshmen looking on as they tear into a cut like “Whale Bones” from their forthcoming self-titled EP, which unloads a barrage of screams, riffs, noise and crash, and then is gone as quickly as it arrived. Dudes would be sure to blow a fuse, at very least, blinking out the inevitable Xmas lights strung up around the place to give it that you’re-definitely-at-a-house-show feel. I’ve had the privilege of running into Stone Titan a couple times over the years — once in Connecticut in 2011 (review here) and again in Massachusetts in 2014 (review here) and they were remarkably brash then. “Whale Bone” would seem to indicate that not much has changed in that regard. So be it.

Their new EP was tracked in MA by Will Killingsworth at Dead Air Studios, and the punishment “Whale Bone” exudes is in every punkish bark and bite the brief track has on offer. I would imagine it’s not the only assault on the upcoming short release, but I haven’t heard the full thing to comment on it. In any case, Stone Titan‘s debut long-player, 2013’s Scratch ‘n’ Sniff, had its share of sans-frills barrages as well, but they were only a part of the overall scope of the outing, which also realized its mesmerizing tones and maddening sludge push in songs like “A Brief History of Overweight Men” and the pretty-much-says-it-all opener “I Wish I was Fucking Dead,” and 2015’s Moonshine followed suit. Stone Titan have been around for a while at this point — a decade as of this year — but their attack has only become more vicious for that, and “Whale Bone” poaches hard-hitting aural beatings with a purpose that underscores their collective experience.

The EP will be out… at some point. Whenever they get to it, I guess. The artwork is being finalized now, so extrapolate from there. In the meantime, you can stream the premiere of “Whale Bone” below and dig into its harsh and all-too-real aspects.

Please enjoy:

Stone Titan, “Whale Bone” official track premiere

This is “Whale Bone” from the new Stone Titan EP out Fall 2018

Limited to 50 pro pressed cassettes with digital downloads.

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Stone Titan on Bandcamp

A little heavy metal now and then never killed anybody, unless we’re talking about a pipe falling on your head or something. Fortunately, we’re not, and instead we’re talking about thrash-inspired Connecticut four-piece Entierro, who will issue their self-titled debut full-length this coming September. They’ve given a first look and listen to the long-player’s wares in a new lyric video for “Cyclonic Winds,” and its darkened, thrashy gallop feels indicative of the band’s style overall. That’s not to say the album won’t have anything else going on, just that when it does, it’ll probably still bear the razor-sharp tones and tight delivery that “Cyclonic Winds” foretells. I’ve had the pleasure of hearing two other tracks from the record in the more straightforward rocker “Dybbuk” and the slower, forward-building momentum bringer “Turn out the Lights,” and while both of those have something distinct from “Cyclonic Winds” to offer, both also hold true to the metallic tonality and aggressive execution of this lead single.

As for “Cyclonic Winds,” it tells a tale of an apocalyptic weather event ravaging a shoreline, and somehow in my head I can’t seem to divorce that from the fact that the band hails mostly from New Haven, which sure enough is on the shoreline of Connecticut. Whether they were thinking specifically of the destruction of their hometown owing to climate change or not, they present the hook of “Cyclonic Winds” in more general terms, with clean and shouted vocals and a mounting sense of urgency that leads them into a slowdown in the song’s second half and a redux of the chorus to suit the new tempo. No less catchy, it bridges a gap between “Cyclonic Winds” and the earlier going of “Turn out the Lights,” and no doubt ties in with other material on Entierro‘s Entierro as well.

And by the way, if you’re saying to yourself, “but dude, didn’t you already review a self-titled Entierro tape in 2014?,” first of all, that’s eerily specific of you to remember, and second, yes, I did. It was an EP. This one is a full-length. Different beast. Also, in addition to being the band’s first album, it’s also the lineup debut with guitarist Victor Arduini (also of Arduini/Balich and Fates Warning) alongside Christopher Beaudette, Dave Parmelee and Christopher Begnal, whose progressive style fits well with the heads-down grooves proffered by the others.

A sampling is provided in “Cyclonic Winds,” which you can stream and view on the player below, with more info from the PR wire beneath that. Please enjoy:

Entierro, “Cyclonic Winds” lyric video

Entierro adds former Fates Warning guitarist to line-up

Releases lyric video for Cyclonic Winds.

New album to be released September 2018

Connecticut Heavy Metal titans Entierro are proud to finally announce the addition of Victor Arduini (Fates Warning, Arduini/Balich, Freedom’s Reign) to its ranks. Arduini will be joining Christopher Beaudette (Jasta, Kingdom of Sorrow, Nightbitch), Christopher Begnal and Dave Parmelee (One Master, Nightbitch) to round out the group. While the newly cemented unit has been performing sporadically around Connecticut, the quartet have spent most of their time over the last year together hard at work on their first full length record to be released in September of 2018. The release illustrates a new chapter in the evolution of the band who, while pushing further into new sonic territory, still maintain a sound steeped in traditional heavy metal.

When asked what led to his joining up with the band in early 2017 Arduini stated “They were the one band from my area I was really digging. Their sound was true old school metal that just had some really cool heavy riffs and songwriting. Chris is a great frontman and after going to see them play a few shows I learned one of their guitarists was leaving and I was asked if I’d be interested in joining them. The timing was perfect. After finishing the Arduini/Balich album I pretty much needed a break from all that writing/producing I did and this allows me to just be a part of a band again without it all falling on my shoulders. With the great writing skills of the others I can focus on putting my style over what they come up with and occasionally add a riff or two when needed. It helped keep me actively playing and I’ve just been having a blast playing these songs with such awesome musicians.

The band has been working steadily over the last year at Dexter’s Lab Studios in Milford, CT with Nick Bellmore once again at the helm. The first single, “Cyclonic Winds,” shows some of the many facets of Entierro from the pummeling opening riff to the slow and low groove that closes the number. The lyric video was created by video production company YOD Multimedia.

Their first single Cyclonic Winds and album pre-order is currently available at entierro.bandcamp.com.

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Entierro on Bandcamp