In a few short years, Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard have made themselves one of the most essential up and coming heavy acts in the UK. The Wrexham five-piece of vocalist Jessica Ball, guitarists Paul Michael Davies and Wes Leon, bassist Stuart Sinclair and drummer James Carrington began their assault of ethereal and cosmic doom with Nachthexen (review here) in 2015, and since then, they have issued two albums — 2015’s Noeth Ac Anoeth (review here) and 2016’s Y Proffwyd Dwyll (review here) — and a split last year with Slomatics (review here), each one taking a mark stepped forward from its predecessors. The latest footprint left by their ongoing progression is the eight-track/65-minute Yn Ol I Annwn on New Heavy Sounds, which finds the five-piece not only continuing to embrace Welsh language for titles — the translation is “back to go” according to a major internet company’s matrix — but actively pushing their style to new degrees of individualism.

For those who’ve been listening, Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard have each time out managed to surpass their prior work — in cosmic doom, one thinks of the run Ufomammut had earlier in their career, say from 2004-2010, as a comparison point — while remaining prolific and building significant momentum behind them. Yn Ol I Annwn feels like a moment of arrival, and for more than just its monolithic hour-plus runtime. In the four-minute “Du Bist Jetzt Nicht in der Zukunft” — “you are not now in the future,” in German — Ball‘s echoing and ethereal melody tops a wave of keyboard that’s boldly poppish, and the penultimate “The Majestic Clockwork” brings in strings to introduce what soon enough becomes its central chugging lumber, adding breadth to an already vast atmosphere, and maybe a bit of humor as well. These are surface impressions, striking on initial listens, but the truth of the band’s evolution runs deeper.

In the wash of effects created by Davies and Leon, and particularly in the emergent use of synth alongside the guitar, Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard come into their own with more of a reach than they’ve ever had before, and demonstrate a burgeoning mastery of their approach. Introduced by the John Carpenter-style keyboard pulses of “Tralfamadore” — bonus points for the Vonnegut reference — Yn Ol I Annwn unfurls a multifaceted showcase of craft and performance. It’s not just the dip into synthpop on “Du Bist Jetzt Nicht in der Zukunft,” or the resonant echoing of the prior “Fata Morgana” that makes it so, either. A variety of structure and general approach brings a feeling of movement to the proceedings from the beginning swirls of “The Spaceships of Ezekiel” onward, and as the thickened riffs enter the fray and the first deeply-weighted march soon gets underway with Ball‘s melodic vocals floating overhead, the feeling of consumption arrives early and holds for the duration, even as Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard introduce shifts between shorter songs and longer ones.

Three cuts on Yn Ol I Annwn top 10 minutes: “Fata Morgana” (12:08), “Katyusha” (13:24) and closer “Five Days in the Abyss” (10:12). “The Spaceships of Ezekiel” is the longest of the rest at over eight minutes, and the way the songs are paired two-per-side so as to allow for a double-LP playthrough gives the listener a feeling of never quite being settled. Similar to how they bounce from language to language in their titles — here in English, there Welsh, there German, Russian, fictional, etc. — it’s not as if Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard rev themselves up through a couple shorter tracks and then lumber into extended material and flatline. Side B is only 16 minutes long with “Fata Morgana” — its early subdued guitar and later wash of crushing riffs and nod — and “Du Bist Jetzt Nicht in der Zukunft,” but that’s a pivotal moment in itself in that it reverses the structure to come on sides C and D.

Simply, it goes longer-to-shorter where sides A, C and D work shorter-to-longer. That reversal, like a brief interlude on some albums or the odd acoustic track or something like that, is enough to give all of Yn Ol I Annwn a feeling of unpredictability to which the actual sound and arrangements correspond. As the band moves through the spacious and mournful title-track and into the instrumental triumph that is “Katyusha,” they mark an outward path for the second of the two LPs that showcases not only the depth of the mix in its layers of keys and guitar, bass and drums, but just how immersive the flow of the album has been up to that point. As dense as their work is and as much as it rolls itself forward in apparent steamroller fashion, it is likewise hypnotic in its repetition — another lesson perhaps from Ufomammut — but worthy of close attention for moments like the post-midpoint chimes in “Katyusha” or the aforementioned cello in “The Majestic Clockwork.”

That later track is would seem to be the apex of Yn Ol I Annwn as it pushes faster in tempo than anywhere else on the album dares to go, Carrington building intensity on his snare hits measure by measure until finally cutting out to a concluding rumble and wave of effects, but “Five Days in the Abyss” answers back in quiet/loud trades that are as otherworldly as any sci-fi influence manifested in the circuitry of its cover art could hope to be. Soft at first, the finale swells for a verse and recedes again, and when the full brunt returns, there’s pretty clearly no coming back. The last march begins shortly before the six-minute mark and ascends to a full wash of vocal melody before a guitar solo comes sweeping to the fore to lead the way out. It is psychedelic and blissful, but still weighted by low end at its fade, though Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard go to the album’s end as gracefully as they entered with “Tralfamadore.”

For all the side-flipping involved in a 2LP, Yn Ol I Annwn is remarkably linear, and the expanse it charts is thoroughly its own. If this is what Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard have been moving toward over their prolific half-decade, then it’s easily been worth the journey, but with the glimmers of arrangement manipulation and the affecting emotional crux in the vocals, one does not at all get the sense they are done growing. That is, I’m willing to commit to Yn Ol I Annwn as being their highest achievement to-date, but there remains an open and seemingly ongoing exploration at the root of their sound. Billed as the final act in a trilogy, this may in fact just be the start.

Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard on Thee Facebooks

Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard on Bandcamp

New Heavy Sounds on Thee Facebooks

New Heavy Sounds on Bandcamp

New Heavy Sounds website

I don’t know if you heard it or not, but the split Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard put out this year with Slomatics, titled Totems (review here), was unbelievably good. Likewise the band’s last long-player, 2017’s Y Proffwyd Dwyll (review here), which followed their 2015 debut, Noeth Ac Anoeth (review here), the goofy-named UK outfit growing more progressive and broader in their reach every time out. Though I’ve heard exactly none of it, I have accordingly high expectations for their next full-length, Yn Ol I Annwn, which is out March 1 and available to preorder now from New Heavy Sounds. The cover art and tracklisting have been posted and you’ll find them below, as per the preorder page at Cargo Records‘ distro site — which, not to tell you your business or anything, you just might want to visit.

They’ve also got a quickie teaser trailer for the record that you can see below, as per the social medias.

Have at you:

MAMMOTH WEED WIZARD BASTARD ‘YN OL I ANNWN’ PRE-ORDER

Titled ‘Yn Ol I Annwn’, Welsh for Return To The Underworld’, it is the third part of the trilogy of albums that began with ‘Noeth Ac Anoeth’ in 2015 and 2017’s ‘Y Proffwyd Dwyll’.

The final phase of the band’s first intergalactic voyage if you will.

The eight songs that comprise this album see the band delve deeper into their collective influences, embracing full on space rock, atmospheric film soundtracks, melancholic acoustic interludes, psychedelia, cosmic moogs and percussion, moments of introspection and light … and of course, large helpings of doom. The fat riffs, big hooks and endless space grooves are all present and correct.

And once again Jessica Ball’s voice glides over it all, both sweet and melancholy, yet this time more assured. A myriad of stacked harmonies and layered vocals weave in and out of the tracks, adding an ‘other-worldly’ melodicism to the songs.

In fact the album as a whole, is very much a sonic journey into some cosmos on the edge of forever. Just turn off the lights, turn up the volume and be transported to dance at the end of time.

The band’s music has developed and been honed over the previous two records, but there is no doubt that they have distilled the essence of MWWB into this one. Previous comparisons to Windhand, Yob, Sleep. or whatever, are rendered completely redundant with ‘Yn Ol I Annwn’.

No one else is pushing the boundaries of heavy like MWWB.

Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard sound like Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard, full stop.

First pressing is a double vinyl in a gatefold sleeve with 2 colour variants.
Variant 1 in Green/Blue marbled vinyl.
Variant 2 in Amber and red disc vinyl.
Each variant includes is a free download of the entire album.
Main CD package is a 4 panel digipack with booklet

Vinyl Tracklisting:
Side A:
1. Tralfamadore
2. The Spaceships Of Ezekiel

Side B:
3. Fata Morgana
4. Du Bist Jetzt Nicht In Der Zukunft

Side C:
5. Yn Ol I Annwn
6. Katyusha

Side D:
7. The Majestic Clockwork
8. Five Days In The Abyss

CD Tracklisting:
1. Tralfamadore
2. The Spaceships Of Ezekiel
3. Fata Morgana
4. Du Bist Jetzt Nicht In Der Zukunft
5. Yn Ol I Annwn
6. Katyusha
7. The Majestic Clockwork
8. Five Days In The Abyss

MWWB are: Paul Michael Davies, Jessica Ball, Wes Leon, James Carrington, Stuart Sinclair.

Preorder: https://cargorecordsdirect.co.uk/products/mammoth-weed-wizard-bastard-yn-ol-i-annwyn

https://www.facebook.com/mammothweedwizardbastard/
https://mammothweedwizardbastard.bandcamp.com/
http://www.facebook.com/newheavysounds
https://newheavysounds.bandcamp.com/
http://www.newheavysounds.com/

Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard & Slomatics, Totems (2018)

Osaka, Japan, duo Blacklab make their debut July 20 on New Heavy Sounds with Under a Strawberry Moon 2.0. The album is a remix of the two-piece’s first outing — hence the “2.0” — which saw a limited self-release last year. And even before one gets around to the finale of “Big Muff,” which digs into nearly 10 minutes of distortion driven, presumably, by the effects pedal of the same name, the band’s onslaught of doomed extremity has already made itself felt in the screams of the churning “Black Moon,” the liberal amount of feedback strewn throughout the eight included tracks, and even the empty space that populates the verse of “Warm Death” before the and-you-thought-“Hidden Garden”-was-abrasive chorus takes hold. Black Sabbath are a factor on that earlier track, that is, on “Hidden Garden,” as well as on the titular nod in “Symptom of the Blacklab,” but even the most familiar of riffs are given new life and new impact through the blown-out fashion in which they’re used and further influence drawn from the likes of earlier Kylesa, way-gone Boris, Napalm Death, Burning Witch and others too numerous and/or obliterated to list.

Ultimately, you can namedrop whoever you want — the point is that Blacklab use these sounds to their own ends, not the other way around. They’re not playing to genre so much as bending genre to the shape they want it to take, even in “Symptom of the Blacklab,” which directly engages the piece it references in its name before sprinting off elsewhere for a two-minute run that’s the shortest on the record but carrying no less impact for that. Comprised of guitarist/vocalist Yuko Morino and drummer Chia Shiraishi, Blacklab arrive obviously schooled in the ways of doom, but that only seems to grant them the foundation to branch out. Whether it’s the crashing end of “Warm Death” or the blower fuzz of “His Name Is” that follows, Blacklab‘s chief interest seems to be in pushing the limits of style and finding a place where chaos meets control while still holding firm to a heavy groove.

So do they get there? Short version: yes. Particularly as their debut, and even in the New Heavy Sounds redux form, Under a Strawberry Moon 2.0 is a significant statement of aesthetic purpose. In its volume-worshiping sensibilities and its distortion-on-distortion shove, it has moments that sound like they’re genuinely about to fall apart, and yet before they finish with the aforementioned “Big Muff,” they offer the relatively straightforward, melodic-vocal-topped “Fall and Rise,” seeming to be in direct conversation in its first half with the marching rhythms of Acid King, and there’s never any doubt of the consciousness at work behind their craft as the track moves into more visceral chug and growling past its midpoint. Whether brutal or serene, Under a Strawberry Moon 2.0 approaches its influences with a pickaxe and proves capable of giving the front-to-back listening experience a feeling of extremity that ultimately serves to unite the varied material and give Blacklab all the more context for the breadth of their work overall. They seem to make the most of it here, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they push even further into their own space next time out.

I have the pleasure today of hosting opener “Black Moon” as a premiere ahead of the album’s release. Please find it below, followed by more info on the band from the PR wire, and please enjoy if you dare:

Blacklab describe themselves as ‘the Dark Witch Doom Duo from Osaka Japan’. However, when it comes to witches, they are more the spectral Sadako from ‘The Ring’ than campy ‘Countess Dracula’. Chilling cool with built in overdrive.

Yuko and Chia are undoubtedly immersed in the Japanese stoner doom scene, and it’s no surprise that with this first offering, they’ve pulled out a calling card that is as ‘in yer face’ and arresting as anything out there. A full frontal assault of distorted riffs, howls and ghostly vocals, as well as bags of riot grrl attitude and lo-fi bravado.

Being nominally a ‘Doom’ band, expect a bucket load of Sabbath worship for sure, but Blacklab have a vibe and experimental undertow akin more to their countrymen ‘Boris’ and the souped up lo-fi fuzz of Ty Segall or Comets On Fire. Tracks like ‘Black Moon’ ‘Hidden Garden’ ‘Spoon’ ‘Symptom Of The Blacklab’ (which starts like Sabbath … then thrashes somewhere else), twist, burn and boil into the red. ‘His Name Is …’ is a churning chunky throb. ‘Spoon’ and ‘Warm Death’ offer moments of relief and crushing noise. And ‘Big Muff’ is … well … 9 minutes of drum-less fuzz, that will probably do serious damage to your speakers. What’s not to love?

This first Blacklab release on NHS, is a version of their ‘Under The Strawberry Moon’ album which was released in tiny numbers on CD only in Japan, a pull together of previous tracks and new songs recorded over 2017. But the NHS variant is different. Wayne Adams (Death Pedals, Shitwife, Vodun, Casual Nun) noise guru at Bear Bites Horse Studio, has remixed the tracks to maximum effect, upping the fuzz and weight of the originals, to create Under The Strawberry Moon 2.0. exclusively for NHS. You will not be disappointed.

It’s an album full of promise, and we at New Heavy Sounds are super stoked to be working with ‘the Dark Witch Doom Duo from Osaka Japan’. Expect a new album when they have crawled back out of their televisions.

Blacklab are: Yuko Morino, guitar and vocals. Chia Shiraishi, drums.

Under The Strawberry Moon 2.0 will land on July 20th. Available as limited edition Black/Orange vinyl which includes a free CD and download of the whole album. Also available in regular CD and digital formats.

Blacklab on Thee Facebooks

Under a Strawberry Moon preorder at New Heavy Sounds

New Heavy Sounds on Thee Facebooks

Over the next couple months, ethereal Welsh doomers Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard will take part in a slew of festivals across the UK and Europe, from Desertfest London in April to Germany’s Stoned from the Underground in July to Portugal’s SonicBlast Moledo in August. All the while, the now-fivesome from Wrexham continue to rightly reap acclaim for their 2016 New Heavy Sounds full-length, Y Proffwyd Dwyll (review here). From their attention-grabbing moniker to their floatingly melodic and keyboard-infused semi-cosmic doom, the band would seem to have struck a chord amid the crowded UK underground, and as one checks out the video for Y Proffwyd Dwyll‘s title-track below, the reasons why should be that much clearer.

Where much of the UK scene at this point is given to straight-ahead heavy rock riffing and booze-laden post-Orange Goblin riffing, Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard manage to find a niche in doom that’s neither that, nor playing at Electric Wizard-style cultistry, nor Uncle Acid‘s garage psychedelia. Yet they bask in heavy riffs, a ritualized sensibility and psychedelic overtones — they’re just taking all of them and putting them to use in their own direction. Doesn’t seem like something that should be a novelty, but in the context of Y Proffwyd Dwyll, it’s an engagement made all the more striking by the memorable nature of cuts like “Valmasque” and “Y Proffwyd Dwyll” itself, and Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard set a deceptive balance between hypnosis-via-atmospherics and songwriting that even if it wasn’t so outwardly grooving would still likely earn nods.

Particularly coming from their already-impressive 2015 debut, Noeth Ac Anoeth (review here), Y Proffwyd Dwyll is a significant forward step for the band, and given that they’re beginning to expand beyond their own borders and explore wider touring, one can only hope that progression will hold strong leading to whatever comes next from them. We’ve probably got a while to go before we get there — at least another year, I’d think — but in the meantime, they keep their momentum rolling with the video for “Y Proffwyd Dwyll” and the potential for more tour and festival dates still to be announced.

I’m not exactly sure what’s happening narrative-wise in the clip, but you can see it for yourself below, courtesy of the Vevo stream, followed by the credits and copious links for further digging.

Please enjoy:

Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard, “Y Proffwyd Dwyll” official video

Last year filmaker Dimitris Kotselis decided to make a piece featuring Y Proffwyd Dwyll starring actress Penelope Tsillika and Mwwb’s own Jessica Ball. Here it is.

Artists: Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard
Directed By: Dimitris Kotselis
Composers: Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard
Producers: Maria Repousi
New Heavy Sounds

Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard on Thee Facebooks

Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard on Bandcamp

New Heavy Sounds on Thee Facebooks

New Heavy Sounds on Bandcamp

New Heavy Sounds website

I’m not sure I’d tag London’s Ex People as stoner or sludge, as the PR wire does below in announcing the four-piece have signed to New Heavy Sounds for the release of their debut album, Bird, on May 19, but they certainly are heavy. If the new streaming single “Over,” which you can hear at the bottom of this post, is anything to go by, I might even add “progressive” to that. In whatever genre, subgenre or other kind of categorization one might want to situate them, Ex People arrive with an immediately professional sounding presentation and crisp songwriting process, so if you’re seeing the words “stoner” and “London” and thinking you’re getting another batch of drunk dudes trying to sound like Orange Goblin‘s The Big Black — not that there’s anything wrong with that, because there definitely isn’t — think again.

Better quit while I’m ahead (behind?). News and track follow, courtesy of the aforementioned PR wire:

New Heavy Sounds sign sludge four piece Ex People

The band tackle dystopian themes on their debut album ‘Bird’, for release in May

New Heavy Sounds is pleased to announce our latest signings, stoner sludge four-piece Ex People.

Emerging from the London DIY scene, vocalist Laura and drummer Vicki first met playing in series of riot grrrl and noise bands, before forming Ex People in 2015 with guitarist Calum and bassist Ed. Since then, the quartet have gone on to share stages with the likes of Palehorse, Lower Slaughter, Torpor, and Church of the Cosmic Skull. The band self-released a digital single “Without/Surekill” in late 2016. Ex People also also wrote and released a video for Without, directed by DIY filmmaker Jojo Khor, about a teenage runaway joining an all-female cult led by the band’s singer, Laura.

Now for NHS, the band have delivered a bruisingly assured debut album.

‘Bird’ was recorded with Wayne Adams (Vodun, USA Nails, Death Pedals, Casual Nun) at Bear Bites Horse Studios, and he’s managed to perfectly capture the visceral weight of their sound, a startling amalgam of super filthy fuzz thick riffs, grunge, noise rock and stoner, combined with a punk attitude. Taking their cue from bands as diverse as Electric Wizard, Bardo Pond, Harvey Milk and Kylesa, along with 90s sludge such as the Melvins (yet still managing to sound cohesive) the ten tracks that make up ‘Bird’, combine stoner hooks and soaring vocals with a crushing heaviness. Add to that some thumping motorik beats (almost like a heavy ‘Neu’ at times), shot through with an ever-present melodic sensibility, and you have a band that once again shows that when it comes to heavy music, all gates are open.

Lyrically Laura draws on apocalyptic and dystopian themes, with “Over” telling the story of a planet colliding with the earth, sung over a driving, crunching circular riff. Other tracks tackle real-world horror, with “The Host” about a woman and child escaping domestic violence, and opening track “Not a Drill” calling for resistance against oppressive regimes. And album closer ‘Crested’ is as dark as it gets, 8 minutes of full on doom meets discord, combining the atmospherics of Windhand with the slowed down hardcore of My War-era Black Flag. ‘Bird’ is gloriously heavy, fuzzed up yet melodic, at times bleak and thrilling as it is infectious.

It’s a bold statement of intent, and we are stoked to add Ex People to the NHS roster.

‘Bird” will be released on May 26th on limited edition red and black vinyl, cd and digital.

Ex People is:
Laura Kirsop: Vocals
Calum Gunn: Guitar
Edward White: Bass
Vicki Dawson: Drums

https://www.facebook.com/expeopleband/
http://www.twitter.com/expeopleband
https://expeople.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/newheavysounds/
https://cargorecordsdirect.co.uk/products/ex-people-bird

Ex People, “Over”

Click Here to Download

 

Consider this your usual disclaimer that, like any of this site’s coverage of year-end whatnottery, this podcast is by no means attempting to capture all of 2016’s best tracks. It is, however, over four hours long, and frankly that seems like enough to ask. If you decide to take it on and sample what I found to be some of the best material to come down the line over the last 12 months, please know you have my thanks in advance. For what it’s worth, it was a lot of fun to put together, and that’s not always the case with these.

But about the length. I’ve done double-sized year-end specials for a while now. It’s always just seemed a fair way to go. And the last few at least have been posted the week of the Xmas holiday as well, which for me is of dual significance since it just so happens four hours is right about what it takes to drive from where I live to where my family lives, so when I look at this massive slew of 34 acts, from the riff-led righteousness of Wo Fat and Curse the Son to the crush of Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard and SubRosa to the psychedelic reaches of Zun and Øresund Space Collective (who probably show up in podcasts more than anyone, oddly enough), I also think of going to see my family, which has become my favorite part of the holidays.

Whatever associations you might draw with it, I very much hope you enjoy listening. Thanks for taking the time.

Track details follow:

First Hour:

0:00:00 Wo Fat, “There’s Something Sinister in the Wind” from Midnight Cometh
0:09:35 Greenleaf, “Howl” from Rise Above the Meadow
0:14:57 Elephant Tree, “Aphotic Blues” from Elephant Tree
0:20:49 Brant Bjork, “The Gree Heen” from Tao of the Devil
0:26:27 Sergio Ch., “El Herrero” from Aurora
0:29:44 Child, “Blue Side of the Collar” from Blueside
0:35:31 Geezer, “Bi-Polar Vortex” from Geezer
0:43:59 Zun, “Come Through the Water” from Burial Sunrise
0:49:27 Baby Woodrose, “Mind Control Machine” from Freedom
0:54:11 Curse the Son, “Hull Crush Depth” from Isolator
0:59:31 Borracho, “Shot down, Banged up, Fade Away” from Atacama

Second Hour:

1:05:50 Scissorfight, “Nature’s Cruelest Mistake” from Chaos County
1:09:19 Truckfighters, “The Contract” from V
1:16:30 Spidergawd, “El Corazon del Sol” from III
1:21:24 Fatso Jetson, “Royal Family” from Idle Hands
1:26:13 Worshipper, “Step Behind” from Shadow Hymns
1:30:57 Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard, “Y Proffwyd Dwyll” from Y Proffwyd Dwyll
1:39:42 Druglord, “Regret to Dismember” from Deepest Regrets
1:46:34 Moon Coven, “New Season” from Moon Coven
1:52:03 Gozu, “Tin Chicken” from Revival
1:59:49 Year of the Cobra, “Vision of Three” from …In the Shadows Below

Third Hour:

2:06:53 The Munsens, “Abbey Rose” from Abbey Rose
2:14:56 Lamp of the Universe, “Mu” from Hidden Knowledge
2:21:26 1000mods, “On a Stone” from Repeated Exposure To…
2:26:45 Church of the Cosmic Skull, “Watch it Grow” from Is Satan Real?
2:30:43 Vokonis, “Acid Pilgrim” from Olde One Ascending
2:37:35 Slomatics, “Electric Breath” from Future Echo Returns
2:43:02 Droids Attack, “Sci-Fi or Die” from Sci-Fi or Die
2:47:20 King Buffalo, “Drinking from the River Rising” from Orion
2:56:51 Comet Control, “Artificial Light” from Center of the Maze

Fourth Hour:

3:06:37 Øresund Space Collective, “Above the Corner” from Visions Of…
3:22:51 Naxatras, “Garden of the Senses” from II
3:33:14 SubRosa, “Black Majesty” from For this We Fought the Battle of Ages
3:48:23 Seedy Jeezus with Isaiah Mitchell, “Escape Through the Rift” from Tranquonauts

Total running time: 4:07:32

 

Thank you for listening.

Download audiObelisk Transmission 060

 

It is almost too easy to get caught up in the surface-level presentation of Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard. One sees their name — and by now, even the band were inclined, it’s probably too late to change that; a side-effect of actually being good and gaining some measure of recognition for it — and hears the dominant murk in the guitars of Paul Michael Davies and Wez Leon and the bass of Jessica Ball set to the roll of James “Carrat” Carrington‘s drums and thinks it’s easy to figure out. But even with the ultra-dense production provided by Conan‘s Chris Fielding at Skyhammer Studios, the Wrexham, UK, four-piece have more to offer on their second LP, Y Proffwyd Dwyll (“false prophets”) than tonal excess and post-Electric Wizard nod.

When New Heavy Sounds released the band’s 2015 debut, Noeth Ac Anoeth (review here), they referred to Jessica Ball as the group’s “secret weapon” because of the melodic resonance her vocals brought to their material. Not sure how one can be a secret while fronting the band, but the point is taken. I’d argue that on the follow-up LP, if there’s a weapon that shines in Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard‘s arsenal, it’s the songwriting. That’s also where one finds the greatest evidence of creative progression coming off Noeth Ac Anoeth and the 30-minute Nachthexen single (review here) before it. At six tracks/48 minutes, Y Proffwyd Dwyll is shorter on the whole and in its individual pieces than anything on its predecessor, opening with its longest cut (immediate points) “Valmasque” at 9:40 and giving an immediate sense of memorability to the flow that follows.

Second perhaps to the overarching growth in craftsmanship, the atmospheric elements at play throughout Y Proffwyd Dwyll are important to note. All four members of the band, Ball, Davies, Leon and Carrington, contribute synth at one point or another, and it has a great effect on the sound and mood, and not just on a cut like instrumental side A closer “Gallego.” One can hear space rock-style swirl in the title-track and beneath the guitar of “Testudo,” fleshing out the mix and distinguishing Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard from the likes of Windhand. Amid the chug and crash of “Valmasque” and the march that emerges in the second half of the subsequent title-track, this experimental edge serves to bolster the songs, and in combination with the layers of Ball‘s vocals and the aforementioned tonal onslaught, it makes Y Proffwyd Dwyll a richer listen entirely.

Taken in combination with the added sense of structure that, admittedly, began to show itself on Noeth Ac Anoeth but was perhaps obscured by the inclusion there of the half-hour-long “Nachthexen,” Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard come across throughout as a band who’ve found their sound and are ready to take on the task of moving forward and refining it. Already that process seems to be in motion as “Testudo,” “Osirian” and “Cithuula” comprise the album’s second half, rolling out with patience and doom-charged grandiosity — looking at you, “Osirian” — as tempo shifts, breaks, feedback and dramatic layering are all put to skilled use.

Again, one could listen to those songs or “Valmasque,” “Y Proffwyd Dwyll” and “Gallego” and simply be wowed by the bludgeoning at hand — I’m not even sure that would be a wrong way to hear it — but it would mean missing at least half the point of what Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard are doing and ignoring the development they’ve clearly undertaken.

An even more telling moment of arrival takes place with “Cithuula.” After “Testudo” and “Osirian” confirm and build on what “Valmasque” and “Y Proffwyd Dwyll” accomplished on side A, the closer is all the more a standout because of its length, its pace and the fact that unlike “Gallego,” it’s not instrumental. Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard have galloped before — that’s not necessarily new for them — but as they build into the last push of “Cithuula” are beating out a couple verses, cut short and are led into the payoff by Ball‘s vocals, they bring about their most engaging stretch to-date what feels like the most forward-thinking and hook they’ve yet realized. Almost like they’re giving a glimpse at what comes next.

Of course, that may or may not actually be the case. I don’t know when one song was written as opposed to the others and time doesn’t always matter in those instances, but as Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard make ready to return their audience to a reality not comprised of ethereal moodiness and air thrust through cabinets driven by burning tube amps, they do so with a progressive edge that only 18 months ago seemed like a remote possibility. Like the emphasis on synth across the board helping to construct an atmospheric personality, the closer broadens the context of the tracks surrounding, making Y Proffwyd Dwyll a more complete experience front to back.

Yes, they have a silly moniker, and yes, when played loud, their songs have headbang-worthy groove and a crush to rival anyone you might want to situate in their path. These things are true. But if Y Proffwyd Dwyll demonstrates anything it’s that the story of Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard isn’t necessarily defined by either of them alone as so many bands are, and that they’re working quickly on a development that’s just beginning to mark out the terms of its true potential.

Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard, Y Proffwyd Dwyll (2016)

Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard on Thee Facebooks

Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard on Bandcamp

New Heavy Sounds on Thee Facebooks

New Heavy Sounds on Bandcamp

New Heavy Sounds website

It seems like a day doesn’t go by that I don’t find something in one of these piles (metaphorical, sometimes literal) of records that keeps me coming back. Today is once again spread across a pretty wide stylistic swath, and that’s by design to keep my brain from going numb, but if there’s a unifying theme across all of it, let it be a sense of scope and bands and artists who are trying to take what’s been done before and push it forward or in some new direction. That’s not universal — nothing is — but today might be the most adventurous of the days included this quarter, so I hope you’ll keep open ears and an open mind as you make your way though.

Quarterly Review #31-40:

Beastmaker, Lusus Naturae

Expectations are high for Fresno trio Beastmaker in no small part because their first album, Lusus Naturae, arrives through Rise Above Records. Whether they’ll take their place among the venerable UK imprint’s genre-shapers of the last half-decade, Uncle Acid, Ghost, etc., remains to be seen, but there can be little question Lusus Naturae lives up to the standard of offering something individual even as it plays off familiar conceptions. Beastmaker’s doom is classic without sounding like much of anything else, and as they unfold “Arachne” and catchy pieces like “Mask of Satan” and “You Must Sin,” they arrive aesthetically cohesive and demonstrating accomplished songwriting finding a space of its own surrounding Sabbathian and Cathedral-driven ideals with semi-psych, semi-cultish tendencies, not wanting to be put in one place or the other but successfully engaging a melting pot of modern doom in “Burnt Offering” and the plodding “It.” Whatever the wider response winds up being, Lusus Naturae will without a doubt stand as one of 2016’s best debuts.

Beastmaker on Thee Facebooks

Rise Above Records

—

 

Low Flying Hawks, Kofuku

If you’re hand-picking dream rhythm sections, getting Trevor Dunn to play bass while Dale Crover drums would probably be the picks of any number of players, but initials-only core duo EHA and AAL of Los Angeles’ Low Flying Hawks actually went out and got the Mr. Bungle and Melvins personnel to play on their Toshi Kasai-produced Magnetic Eye Records debut LP, Kofuku. Aside from keeping good company, the album’s 10 tracks/53 minutes are marked by a spaciousness that not even the tonal heft of early cut “Now, Apocalypse” seems to fill as EHA and AAL balance post-rock, doomed lurch and darker psychedelics with blackened screams and fervent rhythmic push – see “White Temple” and “Wolves Within Wolves.” They round out with the lumbering 11-minute “Destruction Complete,” a heavy rock march topped by airborne, dissonant leads that keeps its head even as it plods onward into oblivion. Not as unipolar as it might first appear in terms of sound, but the mood of Kofuku points consistently downward.

Low Flying Hawks on Thee Facebooks

Magnetic Eye Records

—

 

CHVE, Rasa

The crux of CHVE’s Rasa is in resonance. Amenra frontman Colin H. van Eeckhout (his solo-project’s name derived from his initials) constructs a flowing half-hour of fluid drone, intermittent percussion – first tribal, then a straightforward kind of march, slow but not still – and atmospheric vocal on the single track that comprises the work, seeming to take influence from calls to prayer as much as atmospheric noise. At higher volumes, the piece is consuming, his voice surrounds with the almost constant wash of tone, but even at more reasonable levels, the sense of purpose and ritual remains. Of course, Amenra are noted for the use of the word “mass” in their album titles, and while Rasa departs from the direct tonal heft of much of what van Eeckhout does in his main outfit, there is a sense of mass here in terms both of presence and in terms of the worship being enacted.

CHVE on Thee Facebooks

Consouling Sounds

—

 

Brujas del Sol, Starquake

How do you fit an 11-minute track onto a 7” release? Easy, you break it in half. Such is the method of Ohio instrumentalists Brujas del Sol, who follow their Moonliner EP trilogy with the late-2015 single Starquake, presented on the limited H42 Records platter as “Starquake Pt. I” and “Starquake Pt. II” but comprising nonetheless a single piece that backs airy, post-rock-tinged guitar with a decided forward rhythmic motion, resulting in an overarching build that, while there’s a natural moment for the split, is hypnotic front to back, a swirl of effects calling it mind space rock improvisation even as the plotted momentum of drums and bass resumes. Starquake is enough to make one imagine what kind of variety and spontaneity Brujas del Sol would bring to a debut full-length, so in that it very much does its job, but it makes a good case for standing on its own as well as it hits its second apex and finishes in a residual wash of cosmic noise.

Brujas del Sol on Thee Facebooks

H42 Records

—

 

Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard, Noeth ac Anoeth

Offered through New Heavy Sounds, Noeth Ac Anoeth is the debut full-length from Welsh cosmic doom four-piece Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard. It is comprised of three songs and incorporates the half-hour-long “Nachthexen,” which was also the title-track of the band’s prior 2015 EP (review here), their rumble brought to bear through the capable knob-turning of Conan’s Chris Fielding at Skyhammer Studio. The vocals of Jessica Ball manage to cut through the ensuing tonal murk of her bass and the guitars of Paul Michael Davies and Wez Leon, and James Carrington’s drums live up to the near-impossible task of making “Les Paradis Artificiels,” “Slave Moon” and “Nachthexen” go, each developing its own plodding momentum amid the purposeful thickness overdose and atmospheric sensibility enhanced both by Davies’ work on keys and Ball’s vocals. “Slave Moon” winds up at a gallop and almost operatic, but there’s no way the highlight wasn’t going to be “Nachthexen,” which offers chug dense enough and spaces wide open enough to easily get lost in. Time well spent, all around.

Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard on Thee Facebooks

New Heavy Sounds

—

 

The Shooters, Dead Wilderness

Spanish heavy rock four-piece The Shooters present their third album, Dead Wilderness (on Red Sun Records/Nooirax Producciones), as two sides even on the CD pressing, each half of the record ending with an extended cut over the 10-minute mark. All told it’s six songs/49 minutes of solidified, mostly straightforward Euro-style riff-led heavy grooves, tapping into some Dozer influence on “War on You” but offering more spacious burl on “Lucifer’s Word,” which starts side B after the push of “Roots” rounds out side A. There’s little by way of letup, but moments like the quiet start and bridge of “Black Mountain” do a lot of work in adding complexity to The Shooters’ hook-minded approach, and 11-minute finale “Candelabrum” builds on that with a patient linear unfolding that casts off some tonal heft in favor of a more atmospheric take. That ultimately lets Dead Wilderness bring an individual edge to established stylistic parameters, from which it greatly benefits.

The Shooters on Thee Facebooks

The Shooters on Bandcamp

—

 

Boss Keloid, Herb Your Enthusiasm

Granted, a title playing off Curb Your Enthusiasm and, well, herb, might make you think the band is just goofing around, but UK riffers Boss Keloid offer more substance with their second album, Herb Your Enthusiasm, than they do wackiness. The sound – captured by Chris Fielding at Skyhammer Studio – is positively massive, bolstered by guest appearances from Fielding himself and his Conan bandmate, Jon Davis, who also owns Skyhammer and Black Bow Records, the imprint releasing the LP, and given to swells of largesse and huge rolling grooves that still remain righteously fuzzed, as on “Escapegoat” or “Lung Valley” the quieter complement to opener “Lung Mountain.” Vocalist Alex Hurst assures any quota of burl is met, but has more to his approach melodically than riff-following chestbeating, and guitarist Paul Swarbrick, bassist Adam Swarbrick and drummer Stephen Arands present instrumental flow and turns behind that give the record a sense of personality beyond its weedian play. Not a minor undertaking at an hour long, but satisfying in tone and execution.

Boss Keloid on Thee Facebooks

Black Bow Records

—

 

Hors Sujet, Nous N’y Trouvons que le Doute

I guess it’s fair to call late 2015’s Nous N’y Trouvons que le Doute the debut full-length from Toulouse-based one-man outfit Hors Sujet, though multi-instrumentalist/atmosphere-conjurer Florent Paris has done a variety of soundtrack work and released numerous other textures in EPs and a variety of other offerings, so take that for what it’s worth. More important is the rich sense of ambience Paris brings to Hors Sujet in the seven included songs, from the dystopian doom of “Au Plus Loin, la Mer / L’hiver Peureux” to the wistful drone wash of “Le Souffle, Peu à Peu (Pt. 2),” which has its companion piece earlier in the album. Of special note should be 27-minute closer “Et Maintenant, le Ombres,” acting as a summary of the proceedings as much as expansion thereupon, concluding an often quiet outing with a stark cacophony that gorgeously builds from the minimalism before it to a raucous finish worth of the breadth Paris shows in his work throughout.

Hors Sujet on Thee Facebooks

Hors Sujet on Bandcamp

—

 

Warchief, Warchief

Initially released by the band in summer 2015, the self-titled debut from Finnish progressive heavy rockers Warchief sees vinyl issue through Phonosphera Records, its two sides consumed by organic execution across four tracks moving beyond traditional structure in favor of a more varied approach, from the rumbling heft that emerges in opener “Give” through the goes-anywhere near-psychedelia of 21-minute closer “For Heavy Damage.” Warchief, the Jyväskylä-based four-piece of Teemu Pellonpää, Juho Saarikoski, Esa Pirttimäki and Tommi Rintala, feel right at home working in longer-form material, whether it’s that closer or the nine-minute “Life Went On” preceding, and given their breadth I wouldn’t be surprised if they would up with a single-song album sometime in the future. With that in mind, perhaps most encouraging about their self-titled is the fact that it seems so exploratory, very much like the beginning of creative growth rather than a finished product on display. One hopes they continue to flesh out stylistically and build on the foundation they’ve set here.

Warchief on Thee Facebooks

Warchief on Bandcamp

—

 

Seedship, Demo 2015

Riffing their way into the post-Electric Wizard league of rumble purveyors, Minneapolis newcomers Seedship avoid any cultish trappings on last fall’s Demo 2015, their first release. A marked tonal thickness is nearly immediate, but along with the slow-motion nod and overarching density, melodic vocals cut through the morass to give a human aspect to the groove. Of the three tracks, “The Edge of Expiry,” “The Condemned Adrift” and “The Desperate Odyssey,” not a one is under eight minutes long, and as they plod their way through the opener (also the longest track; immediate points), Seedship enact a sci-fi theme that carries through the release as a whole, which scuffs up the approach some in the closer, but always keeps its spacier elements intact, even as it kicks the pace in the ass at around six minutes in and lets loose a release for all the tension built up prior before a final slowdown ends out. They seem to have a lot already worked out sound-wise, so should be interesting to hear where they go with it.

Seedship on Thee Facebooks

Seedship on Bandcamp

—