Before show

I will tell you in all sincerity that prior to making the drive into the city — I’m still not sure which borough TV Eye is in; it’s Queens or Brooklyn; either way it’s far enough from where I live that it might as well be Connecticut — I spent months feeling anxious about it. How many, you ask? Well, the tour got announced in June, so a little over four I guess.

That’s probably not something everyone will understand. Or anybody who wasn’t raised by my mother. I couldn’t even tell you what it was about, the worry. The traffic will suck, I’ll get home too late and then still have to get up in the morning like I was home and in bed by 10, I don’t want to have to talk to people and be like, “oh yeah I’m really enjoying holding a basic human conversation, because that is for sure something I ever have been able to do for pleasure,” meantime all I can think of is the traffic home and I’m itching to go before the first band is even on. I damn near got off at Fort Lee, before the George Washington Bridge, to turn around and stay in Jersey. Tomorrow is my birthday. I’ll be 44. Apparently writing in back of the car before the show was how I decided to celebrate. What the hell is wrong with me.

The music will be good. Those magic words, spoken by The Patient Mrs. because she knows. The music will be good. I’m glad. Because for sure my photos won’t be. And getting here already wasn’t. And getting home won’t be. And waking up tomorrow won’t be. And because I’m in my 40s, like the next three days won’t be. So what the fuckhell am I doing here?

I’m here because I need to be. I came from Jersey, but Kal-El came from Norway (god I wish I was in Norway; would also have gladly trekked to Belgium this weekend), and Insomniac are up from Atlanta, and I’ve known a couple of the dudes in For Fuck’s Sake for the better part of 20 years, so maybe even though I spent four months with this trip to TV Eye — which I acknowledge is not at the ass-end of the universe for everybody but is about as far as I want to drive to any show, ever, ever, as I learned last December my first time here (a pleasurable experience, ultimately) — hanging over my head, I’m here. I don’t know how much sense it makes. Any of it.

It’s a while till the show starts, because somehow getting here hours in advance is practical. I brought homework to do and Zelda to play, so I’ll keep busy until it’s time to go in.

Here’s how the night will go, is going, will have gone:

For Fuck’s Sake

As alluded above, I know a couple of these guys. The bassist I’ve known the better part of two decades, and the singer was a couple years behind me at WSOU. Both nice guys, and I was glad to see them onstage when I walked in. By that time I’d already spilled the contents of my camera bag, save the camera, which I was holding, and asked if they took a card at the door only to be directed to the ATM right behind me, lit up and thoroughly visible. I fucked up getting cash too, so needless to say as I stood in front of the stage I was ready for the skin peel For Fuck’s Sake were providing. The foursome are definitely hardcore-rooted, and they sort of skirt the line with sludge, so what you get is an aggressive misery thrown at you. Expressive, to say the least. I was up front for it and in addition to the ‘derp, I know humans’ factor, they probably weren’t what I’d put on in the car on the way to gradeschool morning dropoff, but I’d call them relatable even if I wasn’t actually three humiliating children in a bigboy-sized hoodie, and being in the mindset I was at the time, they did just right by the simmer in my blood. I liked their recent single too.

Insomniac

Touring behind their debut album, Om Moksha Ritam (review here), Atlanta’s Insomniac were a curiosity on my part, as to how the material on the record would come across live. Their sound, meditative and psychedelic but delivered with a post-metallic force, is so rich that I was concerned it would be too easy to get lost, but volume and a ready succession of grounding builds helped. They are learning how to be a touring band while at the same time learning to be a band as a four-piece with the passing of guitarist Mike Morris earlier this year, and I’d imagine this tour is how they’ll figure a lot of those things out. Accordingly, it’s a special time to see them, not only since whatever they do going forward it will have a different dynamic, but because whatever the future brings, it’s now they’ll have learned from. They played before projections and were plenty immersive as they dug into parts or let out a bit of gallop, but it’s the transient sense of their sound, the taking-shape that felt palpable from in front of the stage, that was most resonant. I mean, that and the reverb. That was pretty resonant too.

Kal-El

However you prefer your riffs — big, small, hard-hitting, nodding, rolling, angular or fluid — Kal-El have you covered with groove to spare. Often cosmic in theme, their Norwegian double-guitar five-piece’s sound would work just as well emanating from some imaginary desert (perhaps that too could be in space?) and it was the whole package that carried it. All five of then. They didn’t play “Juggernaut,” which premiered here the other day, but they did “Moon People,” and that was a hoot and while the room wasn’t as capped as when I saw them for the first time about three years ago (review here), I felt lucky to be able to watch them in what seemed very much to be their element, headlining a club night with a succession of rad as hell heavy tunes. Their recent confirmation for Ripplefest Texas 2026 says to me they’ll be back touring in the States around that, so if you’re somewhere they’re not hitting on this run, start your social media nagging campaign promptly, I would say. They finished out with “B.T.D.S.C.” and “Astral Voyager” from this year’s Astral Voyager Vol. 1 (review here), and once again I felt lucky to have caught them while I could. Dear America, I know our house is all out of order and things generally are a shitshow right now. Try to treat these five dudes from Norway alright, huh? Nobody gets robbed, maybe? Fingers crossed the rest of the run goes as well as the first couple nights seemed to have.

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Well now it’s after the show, isn’t it? Ride home was fine once I was in Manhattan. My fastest through the Holland in years. I know you don’t care about my traffic stories, but if I don’t put them here, how will I ever remember to complain about them later?

This was a good show, and I’m glad I went. Considering where my head was at on the way in — clearly up my ass; you get to a show like three hours early and when you walk in the first band’s already on; clearly you play too much Nintendo, old man — for me to say I don’t regret having gone can perhaps carry a little more weight than usual. I was healed by riffs. Not the first time.

More pics after the jump.

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Today is Thursday, but it’s day five of the Fall 2025 Quarterly Review because I snuck in that first day last Friday. I cannot convey to you how much that has screwed me up. Turns out when you do one thing precisely one way for like 13 years and then all of a sudden flip it around another way it can be confusing. Stay tuned for more deep-impact life hacks and insights like this.

Or maybe riffs instead. It’s okay. That’s most of what keeps me coming back too.

Quarterly Review #41-50:

Paradise Lost, Ascension

More than 35 years on from their outset, Paradise Lost are an institution. I know they’ve had their stylistic divergences, but since recommitting themselves to their morose take on doom metal more than 15 years ago, they’ve hit a rare echelon of reliability one can only call Kreator-esque. That’s not a sonic comparison, but like the German thrash stalwarts, Paradise Lost have their sound — dark and more malleable in tempo than the thickened tones make it feel across these 10 songs — and within that sphere are able to do basically what they want musically and make it work. Side A’s “Salvation,” the longest inclusion at seven minutes, is a tour de force of the appeal of modern Paradise Lost, and a fitting summary of how encompassing they’ve become while still remaining recognizable as themselves. They even get hooky on “Deceivers,” so yes, still growing, still pushing, still Paradise Lost. A once-a-generation band, even as part of a cohort as they were, and not to be taken for granted.

Paradise Lost website

Nuclear Blast Records store

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The Vintage Caravan, Portals

The sixth full-length from still-younger-than-some-bands-who-haven’t-been-around-as-long Icelandic heavy rockers The Vintage Caravan plays out across 17 tracks and 59 minutes, with groups of songs presumably corresponding to double-vinyl side splits separated by interludes each of which is named “Portal.” So, Portals. The first of them follows “Philosopher,” the lead single which features Mikael Åkerfeldt, who turns out to be one of several guests across the record, but the real headliner is the songwriting. In the big choruses of “Here You Come Again,” “Give and Take,” and others, the band recall a heyday when rock could be heavy and accessible outside its own sphere, while “Electrified” later on builds into a tense boogie hook before “Portal V” transitions to the acoustic-based “My Aurora” and the closer “This Road,” one more uptempo, shred-inclusive, exceptionally well-crafted piece of The Vintage Caravan‘s classic-heavy-informed style, efficient in getting its point across despite allowing itself time to dwell as it does throughout.

The Vintage Caravan website

Napalm Records website

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Spirit Mother, Songs From the Basin

It’s not really a huge surprise that Los Angeles dark heavy psych rockers Spirit Mother would ‘go acoustic’ at some point, given the dynamic they’ve showcased to-date on their definitely-plugged studio albums. The most recent of those, 2024’s righteous, Heavy Psych Sounds-issued Trails (review here), is the source for “Wolves” and “Below,” which feature on this short, stripped-down offering. “Wolves,” which capped the record in memorable fashion, leads off here with its foreboding feeling all the more realized given the state of the world, while “Below” finds violinist SJ pushing into a soft crescendo taking off from Armand Lance‘s guitar and vocals. Recorded live, Songs From the Basin sounds duly organic, and whenever Spirit Mother in any form — that is, the full band or just the duo as they are here — wants to drop a full acoustic set, I’m here for it. Once again, the lesson is once you have well-written songs, you can make them do and be just about whatever you want.

Spirit Mother website

Spirit Mother on Bandcamp

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Nadja, Cut

I’m pretty sure the now-Berlin-based experimentalist duo of Aidan Baker and Leah Buckareff are north of 30 full-lengths released since their first one in 2002, and that doesn’t count blurring the lines between one project and another with collaborations or Baker‘s solo work. Prolific as they are, they remain expressive in the hard-drum-machined “It’s Cold When You Cut Me” (15:09), one of the four extended inclusions of Cut, where the sinister undercurrent comes to fruition in the song’s second half of manipulated, noisy drone. “Dark, No Knowledge” (13:26) lays out a distorted landscape and rolls through it, Godflesh in a hand-cranked meat grinder, becoming a swell of apocalyptic noise, while “She Ate His Dreams From the Inside and Spat Out the Frozen Fucking Bones” (15:14) dares to be pretty as it leaves spaces open and fills out later with psychedelic processionmaking, leaving the immediate ritual of “Omenformation” to resonate high before piling on low end frequencies while also freakjazzing and riffing out. The noise swallows all but it turns out there’s salvation in that monster’s stomach, so I’ll take it. One Nadja album may be an inevitable precursor to the next one, but that doesn’t mean they don’t make it a world of its own.

Nadja website

Cruel Nature Recordings on Bandcamp

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Vibravoid, Remove the Ties

Düsseldorf-bred psych rockers Vibravoid belong in a class of undervalued all their own. As they mark their 35th anniversary, they begin their new studio album Remove the Ties with a mischievous redirect of krautrock-style electronics before the garage-wavey “Neustart” and pop-shimmerier “Power of Dreams” dig further into the heart of the record, letting side A round out with the longer, deeper-reverbed “Follow Me Follow You” and its effects barrage play out atop the steady kick drum tasked with holding it together. But nobody who’s been in a band for 35 years is about to actually be sloppy, and there’s no actual danger of off-the-rails on Remove the TiesBaby Woodrose roamed the earth. Vibravoid were there then too. It’s easy to get around when you’re from a different dimension.

Vibravoid on Bandcamp

Tonzonen website

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For Fuck’s Sake, 7-Minute Abs/Lobotomy

Do you have six minutes for a good pummeling? Of course you do. Brooklynite four-piece For Fuck’s Sake offer two tracks like a digital punker 7″ with 7-Minute Abs/Lobotomy, and they make no attempt to hide the fact of their sights being set on destruction. Their sound, rooted in hardcore and sludge in like measure, counting in with the snare on “7-Minute Abs” and daring to cross the three-minutes-long threshold with the fervent chug and bone-on-bone impact of “Lobotomy,” reminds of nothing so much as earlier 16, but with an unmistakable edge of Northeastern confrontationalism. That is, they’ll fuck you up and they know it, so that’s what they’re setting out to do. Barking, gnashing intensity set a harsh backdrop for what’s an engaging groove so long as you’re pissed off enough to process it (which you should be; look around), and the rawness of their delivery, the unabashed assault of it, comes through as genuine. Also punishing.

For Fuck’s Sake on Bandcamp

For Fuck’s Sake on Instagram

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Paralyzed, Rumble & Roar

Classic heavy rock and roll forms the core of Paralyzed‘s approach, with guitarist Michael Binder‘s low, gravelly vocals reminiscent of Jim Morrison at his least hinged, suited to the blues behind second cut “Railroad” and the subsequent march of “Rosie’s Town” on the band’s third LP, Rumble & Roar. To say they — that is, Binder, organist/rhythm guitarist Caterina Böhner, bassist Philipp Engelbrecht and drummer Florian Thiele — make it a party across the nine-song/41-minute outing is perhaps understating the case, but if you’d accuse “Heavy Blues” of being too on the nose, you’re missing the fact that on the nose is the point. There’s no irony here, no sneer to the boogie of “White Paper” or the slow organ-laced fluidity of “The Witch,” just heavy vibes and reaffirmation of the band’s growth as songwriters. I’m not even sure where one would start complaining about such a thing.

Paralyzed on Bandcamp

Ripple Music website

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Friendship Commanders, Bear

Delivered as their label-debut for Magnetic Eye Records, the 10-song/40-minute Bear is the fourth full-length from Nashville two-piece Friendship Commanders, with guitarist/vocalist Buick Audra and drummer/bassist/synthesist Jerry Roe having recorded with Kurt Ballou in addition to doing some at home for an affect accordingly tight in craft and heavy in impact. “Melt” pushes toward a ’90s-style reimagining of heavy rock as both commercially viable and empowering, while “X” pairs its tonal crunch with the keyboardy reach of its midsection, poppish but still heavy even unto the snare hits. Pop becomes another tool in their arsenal, whether it’s the layered ascent and push of “New” or the weighted culmination presented with closer “Dead and Discarded Girls,” and the band don’t seem to shy away from being able to compose at the level they are. At the same time, “Dripping Silver” feels fully cognizant of the radness in the riff it’s riding, so there’s a balance to it as well. They sound like professionals.

Friendship Commanders website

Magnetic Eye Records store

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Dee Calhoun, Angry Old Man

Former Iron Man and, as of recently, former Spiral Grave vocalist “Screaming Mad” Dee Calhoun is pissed. The Maryland-based acoustic metal troubadour sounds resolute on Angry Old Man, and while his past solo work could hardly be said to pull punches, he hits a different level of laying it all out there on “Kill a Motherfucker” late in the procession here. As ever, hollow-bodied-resonance is the foundation throughout, but other elements like the harmonica in “Voodoo Queen” and the tolling bell at the outset of “VVitch (A Chant)” (not really a chant) fill out the reaches when Calhoun‘s powerhouse voice — still his primary instrument, though the guitar work has gotten more complex with time as well — recedes to a softer delivery. But when he belts it out — looking at you, “Rise Up to March” — he can shake the ground, and if you have any prior familiarity with his work, you already know he’s unmistakable in that regard. That remains the case here, even as he positions himself the titular Angry Old Man. Ain’t none of us getting any younger, dude.

Dee Calhoun Linktr.ee

Black Doomba Records Linktr.ee

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Automatism, Sörmland

The narrative of the band getting together after a few years, enjoying each other’s company as they wrote and recorded Sörmland — named for where in Sweden they were — becomes real with the mellowprog delve of “Honey Trap” more than the shorter leadoff “Video,” as pastoralia takes centerstage with organic melodies and a casual groove. Unsurprisingly if you know Twin Peaks, “Laura Palmer’s Theme” is darker, but the real reference it’s making seems to be to “Moonlight Sonata” as regards the keys, but “Neon Lights” answers back by being in no hurry whatsoever with sweet intertwining guitar lines and a subtle build to later movement. At 11 minutes, the title-track that caps is the longest inclusion, but fair enough since they have to make room for that tenor sax and all. I wouldn’t know from experience, but Sörmland is what I imagine it would sound like to be emotionally regulated, ever, and anytime Automatism want to get together out in the woods or by some fields or a lake or whathaveyou, I hope someone has the presence of mind to hit record.

Automatism on Bandcamp

Tonzonen website

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If you’ve been keeping up, you already know this Quarterly Review goes through next Monday (because screw weekends anyhow) and will top out at 70 releases covered. Today, then, is when we hit the halfway mark en route to that number. Does it matter? Probably not unless you’re the guy on the other side of the laptop writing it, but maybe you just enjoy having the division done for you.

More of a range of styles today than yesterday, which I need to keep this going, so you’ll pardon me while I dig in in the hope that you do the same. Thanks for reading.

Quarterly Review #31-40:

Mountain of Misery, Shades of the Ashes

Somewhat impressively, Mountain of Misery remains the solo-project of Kamil Ziółkowski, who perhaps if he wasn’t also the drummer/vocalist in Spaceslug might’ve put together a full band by now, but seems committed to keeping the band in-house. But it is a band, to be sure. Shades of the Ashes is Ziółkowski‘s third LP under the moniker, and it pushes deeper into a progression distinct from Spaceslug however familiar some of the vocals are, and offers depth of its own, whether that’s tonally in the thickened fuzz of “Follow the Sun” or the way he makes it boogie in “Speed King” (not a cover) while at the same time setting up the lush nod of “From Fall to Rise.” Between “Thornado” at the outset and the eight-minute finale “Blow,” Ziółkowski refines Mountain of Misery‘s sound with a freshness that is metal, grunge, heavy rock and psychedelic all at once, and stronger for that cohesion with his signature mellow vocals over top. It’s kind of surprising at this point he hasn’t been tempted to do it live, but clearly this is working, so I wouldn’t necessarily encourage messing with the process either.

Mountain of Misery on Bandcamp

Mountain of Misery on Facebook

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Dërro, Halcyon

A fresh take on the notion of Southern heavy from Asheville, North Carolina’s Dërro, who put a bit of twang into the post-Alice in Chains harmonies of “Brain Worm” (surely a song for our times) and a bit of emotive soar into “Echo Mountain” in complement to a guitar tone that feels kin to earlier Tool, all while retaining a ‘doing its own thing’ vibe. That is to say, the six-song Halcyon — which is the band’s first outing so far as I know — feels like the credited-as-composers duo of Neal Brewer and Corey Tossas, working with Pat Gerasia on drums, would seem to have come into this debut offering with a firm idea of what they wanted the band to be sound-wise, and unless they’ve secretly been working on it for a decade, the results of that shimmer with intention and feeling alike in the chuggy “Alone” and the drawl-into-power-nod opening title-track. One to watch? Maybe, but way more of a thing to hear now.

Dërro on Bandcamp

Dërro on Instagram

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Soporose, Soporose

The guitar/drum duo of Marco Bianciardi (The Somnambulist, ex-Arte, etc.) and Sara Neidorf (Mellowdeath, Sarattma, ex-Aptera, etc.) apparently recorded their six-track/36-minutes self-titled debut in a day. That implies much of it was done live, though it doesn’t account for the keyboards that show up in “Spectral Swell” and “Countershading,” or the lead layering in “Talking Moonshine,” but it’s not unlikely that after showing up and banging it out they had a little time for overdubs. Fair enough. The pieces are varied and prone to getting weirder toward their respective ends, rooted in doomjazz but groove-conscious just the same, and the garage-y strum in “Gruttling From Outer Space” bends and twists as it goes in a way that surely defines what ‘gruttling’ might be, while “Edge of Forthcoming Rain” hints at more peaceful ideas without giving up its restlessness and “The Cosmonaut’s Secret” turns out to be the shove into its own finish. They close with a saunter in “Talking Moonshine” and that feels as right as anything for a collection that’s so casually eclectic while minimizing the actual elements involved in its making.

Soporose Linktr.ee

Soporose on Bandcamp

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VVarp, Power Held in Stone

Melbourne three-piece VVarp — also stylized all-caps: VVARP — seem to imagine a universe wherein the thickened tones and keyboard flourish of Slomatics meets with more traditionalist doom riffing, but that’s still just half the story as bassist Claudia Sullivan and guitarist/keyboardist John Bollen share lead vocals in harmonized style over the voluminous roll of “Druid Warfare,” the cavernous and lumbering “A Path Through the Veil,” assuring there’s beauty to coincide with all the crush that surrounds. Running 34 minutes and five tracks, Power Held in Stone follows 2020’s First Levitations and is accordingly their second full-length, given ethereal, almost-chanting presence through the vocals on centerpiece “Equinox Portal” where “Iron Cloak” is more resolved to its own heads-down-all-go bombast fueled by drummer Scott McLatchie as the song shoves into the residual keys that carry to the rumble at the outset of 10-minute capper “Stone Silhouette,” likewise gorgeous, immersive and encompassing.

VVarp on Bandcamp

VVarp on Instagram

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Atom Juice, Atom Juice

Easily among the best debut albums I’ve heard in 2025 comes this modernized-classic psychedelia outreach from Poland’s Atom Juice, who would seem to have some relation to meloproggers Weedpecker through guitarist/vocalist Bartek Dobry, but who take a different path to get to bright and melodic fruition. The five-piece outfit’s self-titled debut (on Heavy Psych Sounds) runs shortest to longest on each of its component sides, with copious Beatles influence in “Gooboo” (circa ’70) and delves elsewhere into modern space rock (“Dead Hookers”), the most engaging funk-psych I’ve heard since Wight on “Sexi Frogs,” and an identity in the doing conjured through a blend of influences older and new. As closer “Honey” gives a bit of push in its first half, there’s nowhere Atom Juice wind up on the record that they don’t make themselves welcome, and with rare warmth, they give hopeful hints at the shape of heavy psychedelia to come. I haven’t seen a lot of hype for this one. If you’re reading this, don’t skip it.

Atom Juice on Bandcamp

Heavy Psych Sounds website

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Hooveriii, Manhunter

The 15 tracks of Hooveriii‘s Manhunter have a foundation in garage rock and an according off-the-cuff feel, but at the same time, interludes and exploratory instrumentals like “In the Rain,” “Night Walks in Montreaux,” the spacey title-track and the penultimate organ soundscaper “Awful Planet” assure that nothing actually comes across as haphazard in a way that undercuts the dynamic. “Melody” and “Tin Lips” open in rocking style, while the fuzz grows more fervent in “Westside Pavilion of Dreams” and “Heaven at the Gates” before “Cul-de-Sac” marks the transition to the next phase with the forceful shuffle of “The Fly,” answered a short while later by the heft of “Question.” It goes like this, flowing except where it doesn’t want to, and with the jazzy “Me King” and the aforementioned mellow-vocalized “Awful Planet” for setup, “Stage” reroutes into pastoralism and feels pointedly kind in so doing. Clearly a band for whom genre takes a secondary role to their own craft, and one whose appeal is broader for that.

Hooveriii on Bandcamp

The Reverb Appreciation Society store

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Gaupa, Fyr

Fluidity is part of the nature of what Sweden’s Gaupa do, as the Falun-based troupe have established over their two-to-date LPs and other sundry outings. The five-song/35-minute Fyr finds them working with producer Karl Daniel Lidén — which was a very good idea that somebody had — and is billed as a mini-album, which I think is to account for its being only one minute shorter than their most recent LP, 2022’s Myriad (review here). Vocalist Emma Näslund remains a focal point in the songs, but the balance of the mix is malleable as “Heavy Lord” demonstrates, and “Elastic Sheep” finds the entire band aligned around a fullness that one only hopes is emblematic of their third to come. Plus a big ol’ slowdown, and while we’re talking bonuses, the 11-minute live take on “Febersvan” from their first EP is a welcome glimpse at how far they’ve progressed to this point to complement the potential still so obvious in their sound. They’re the kind of band you hope never stop growing.

Gaupa Linktr.ee

Nuclear Blast Records store

Magnetic Eye Records store

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Foot, The Hammer

With multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Paul Holden still at the center of the project — Mathias Dowle is also credited with playing on and co-engineering the album with Holden and Ryan Fallis — Melbourne psych-grunge rockers Foot seem to pick up where they left off with 2022’s You Are Weightless, tapping into a style that’s grounded in terms of structure and committedly straightforward but that still lends a feeling of scope and space to the nine cuts on the 45-minute Copper Feast-issued LP. The fuzz is prevalent, perhaps nowhere more so than “Walking Into Walls All Week,” where “Intensify” is more of a vocal showcase until its later heavy sweep. Holden does a cover of Marcy Playground‘s “Sex and Candy”… for… some reason… and but for that, as one would both expect and hope for the band at this point, they remain a songwriting-based unit, able to present a diversity of ideas and moods without ever making it feel like a departure at all.

Foot on Bandcamp

Copper Feast Records website

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Diagram, Short Circuit Control

Enter Diagram with a ready definition for ‘dug in’ on their second album, Short Circuit Control. The Berlin duo of founder Hákon Aðalsteinsson and Fred Sunesen offer heady listeners a heady listen with nine inclusions that commune with the history of electronics in krautrock while still keeping both a modern and a psychedelic affect. Is that neo-kraut? I honestly don’t know, but cuts like “This is How We Lead Our Lives” transcend their outward poppiness through repetition and exploration, and the abiding lesson seems to be that just because something is dancey doesn’t also mean it can’t be purposefully building an atmosphere — “Close Your Eyes” walks by and waves (not that you can see it with your eyes closed). The single “Dub Boy” answers the New Wave aspects of opener “Breath in Your Fire,” and a ’90s electro finale awaits in “Through the Wall of Sound” for anybody adventurous enough to take it on.

Diagram on Bandcamp

P.U.G. Records on Bandcamp

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The Phantom Eye, Cymatic Waves

Brookynite heavy progressive rockers The Phantom Eye offer blend across Cymatic Waves‘ four tracks that feels metallic at its root but has grown and redirected to more complex fare. Between the volume trades of “Circuit Rider,” the noise baked into the finish of “Palindrome,” the synth adding drama to “Black Hotel” and the intricate balancing of guitar layers in “Silent Symphony,” the focus is never purely on just being heavy, but ‘heavy,’ as a musical ideal, is a piece of the puzzle here, framing a broad melodic reach and giving shape to the structures underlying. I wouldn’t hazard a guess as to what they might sound like in five years, but as they’re following 2021’s Chromesthesia EP (review here) with this second short release, it’s even more difficult to pin them down as any one thing. This could hardly feel more intentional than it does in the songs. There’s a plan at work here. It’s just starting to pan out.

The Phantom Eye Linktr.ee

The Phantom Eye on Bandcamp

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It hasn’t exactly been graceful so far, this Quarterly Review, but it’s gotten to where it’s needed to go across a tumultuous first two days, and I’ll take that as a positive sign of things to come. We’re in the thick of it now, with day three, and it’s a good day to dig in, so I won’t delay further except to say I hope you find something in here that you enjoy.

Quarterly Review #21-30:

Vinnum Sabbathi, Intersatelital

Mexico City instrumentalists Vinnum Sabbathi have been plenty busy in the five years since their 2020 split with Comacozer (review here), whether it was collaborating with Rezn, touring multiple times in Europe, putting out a live record, etc., but the three-song Intersatelital EP is a welcome standalone studio return for the band just the same. Issued to coincide with their Summer ’25 Euro run, the 19-minute outing basks in 20th Century-era space exploration, with Spanish-language samples recounting the launch of early communications satellites for a kind of positive-future manifestation as the intro “Centro de Control Especial” flows into “Sistema de Satelites Morelos” and the 11-minute finale “Rodolfo Neri Vela,” which is both heavy enough to pay off the entire procession of the release and intense enough to convey escape velocity. The short version: Vinnum Sabbathi deliver again.

Vinnum Sabbathi on Bandcamp

Vinnum Sabbathi on Instagram

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Crop, S.S.R.I.

Past the medically-noisy intro “Flatline,” Crop‘s S.S.R.I. — the Lexington, Kentucky, sludgers’ second LP, named for the class of antidepressants — builds a massive wall of harsh-shout-topped sludge metal with “Formaldehyde,” big tones and big riffs resulting in big impact. Nothing to complain about, and I’m not complaining, but neither is that all they have to offer. A midsection break with vocals that if you come back in a decade will probably be clean hints at complexity in the composition, and sure enough, even the lumbering largesse of “Godamn” or the closer “Break” give hints of melody somewhere (the latter also some double-kick), and by the time they get to “10-56,” they’ve established their context enough that the dynamic will be apparent for those willing to hear it. That makes “Alone” less of a surprise with a more progressive reachout in its second half, followed by the echoing guitar interlude “Breath,” after which “Break” buries itself and everything else in lurching distortion and takes just a quick breather before the last and most vicious onslaught. They sound like they’re on a path of growth, but to be sure they’re also flattening everything on that same path.

Crop Linktr.ee

Third House Communications on Bandcamp

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Bloodsports, Anything Can Be a Hammer

Bloodsports are no more beholden to the post-grunge melancholy of “Rosary” than the outright crush of “Rot” just before or the willfully choppy succession of “Trio 1” and “Trio 2” that open its respective sides or the penultimate strum and cello of “A River Runs Through,” and their first album, Anything Can Be a Hammer envisions an intimate volatility. “Come, Dog” and the daringly straight-ahead “Calvin” find the Brooklynite four-piece (maybe sometimes a trio?) casting their lot with individual perspective almost as a side-effect of the personal expression the nine component tracks seem to convey, but also rock, and while at full-bore, the six-minute closing title-track is a forceful push revealing a prog-hardcore metal (Converge, Oathbreaker) influence somewhere in the band that provides a roiling payoff. It gets chaotic and they let it, so bonus points for all that noise. A lot will depend on whether or not they tour, but there’s a take developing in Bloodsports‘ sound that isn’t like much else out there. If they can hit it hard and tour, the potential is there to be realized.

Bloodsports Linktr.ee

Good English Records on Bandcamp

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Eyes of the Oak, Tripping Through Neon Skies

Swedish heavy progressive psychedelic rockers Eyes of the Oak follow 2024’s sophomore LP, Neolithic Flint Dagger (review here), with the three-tracker Tripping Through Neon Skies, which pairs two originals in “Temple of Hallucinations” (5:08) and “Hitchhiking From the Mescaline Moon” (11:49), the latter drifting into a cosmically declarative crescendo that calls to mind Samsara Blues Experiment in its sweep, with a duly spaced-out take on AC/DC‘s “Hell’s Bells” that admirably balances loyalty to the original (why else would you cover it?) with the band’s will to make it their own in melody and reach. “Hitchhiking From the Mescaline Moon” is more of a voyage, of course, but “Temple of Hallucinations” casts itself out in vivid colors with a proggy hook and swells of vocal melody that add a light, not-unwelcome touch of the grandiose. It’s a big sound, and a big universe, and with these songs, Eyes of the Oak continue to carve out their place in it.

Eyes of the Oak website

Eyes of the Oak on Bandcamp

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Pygmy Lush, Totem

So here’s my story. Not knowing much about Virginia’s Pygmy Lush beyond their being well recommended and sharing members with Pageninetynine, I showed up to their set at this year’s Roadburn Festival, and found their punk-rooted, sometimes-loud Americana engaging enough that I knew I wanted to check out their first album in 14 years, Totem. Year goes on, blah blah, summer, blah blah everything is terrible, and I finally get around to the album and Totem blindsides with a post-hardcore swing and angularity, somewhat thinky-thinky-smart-dude in pieces like “Algorithmic Mercy (Prayers Printed Directly Into a Shredder),” and unhinged in the general impression in that way that sounds like it’s about to trip over itself the whole time but never actually does. Kind of a surprise, but it’s done well and I ain’t mad about it. I’m sure there’s a narrative to the whole thing that’s been rephrased however many times over by critics more erudite than I could or would ever be, or maybe the band is just dynamic (gasp!). They quiet down for “Nonsensical Whisper” at the end, too, so it’s not all shove, even if that does define the record in large part.

Pygmy Lush store

Persistent Vision Records website

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Sheev, Ate’s Alchemist

The second album from Berlin’s Sheev, Ate’s Alchemist, purports a theme of dark emotions and their ethereal origins, and I’m not entirely sure how that translates into the odd-timed chuggery that bookends “Elephant Trunk,” but the progressive metal/rockers make a showcase of scope across the eight cuts/49 minutes of the album, veering into and out of various microgenres, whether it’s the doomly overtone of “Cul de Sac” or the imagine-thrash-but-soaring of “Martef” after the intro “The Alchemist.” Clearly a band who’ve worked on their sound, who believe in what they do, and who have paid attention in class when it comes to fostering a unified feel across disparate sounds. There’s nowhere the album goes that finds Sheev out of place, and while the level of engagement for a given listener will depend on their ability to meet the band where they’re at, the arguments for doing so are myriad. There are about eight of them, actually. Funny how that’s the same number of songs included, right? Stick around for the mathy wash at the end of “Sabress.”

Sheev on Bandcamp

Ripple Music website

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Lähdön Aika, Mustalle Maalle

I mean, you might think you’re ready for what’s coming on Lähdön Aika‘s fourth full-length, Mustalle Maalle, but you’re probably wrong about that. Just because they’ve been a band for over 20 years doesn’t mean the atmospheric post-sludge extremists can’t still bash your skull with the throatripper-topped jabs of “Et enää mitään” or the speedy crusher “Paina pääsi alas” later on, the rawness of the vocals only one example of the levels on which the Finnish outfit make their sound an assault. As they make their way toward the 10-minute capper “Ihmishaketta,” “Teuraaksi Kastettu” delves into a post-metal that makes Amenra sound like Oasis and the lumber of “Viilto” becomes a downward march only after it’s already lowered the whole quarry onto your person. Physical oppression through music, is what I’m talking about. A grim world awaits you if you think you can handle it, but again, these guys are experienced. They know what they’re doing as they bask in the wanton slaughter of “Ikeestä.” It’s not an accident. There’s method to it. That makes the album feel even more dangerous.

Lähdön Aika website

Lähdön Aika on Bandcamp

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Fuzz Thrower, Fuzz Thrower

Some of the early vibes on “Beam” or “Stonewall Angel” on Fuzz Thrower‘s self-titled debut — on CD thanks to Off the Record Label imprint, PowerWax Records — remind of Sungrazer‘s mellow heavy psych circa 15 years ago, and certainly the drifty interlude “Waves” backs that up, but Netherlands-based multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Tjeerd de Jong (also of Phantom Druid) grunges out in the march of “Nowhere,” gets more Sabbath-doomed for “Drooler” and the penultimate “Pictures of the Moon,” hints toward goth metal in “Ocean in the Sky,” and rounds out the nodder riffing of “Soon We Roam” with a sampled poetry reading, so no, things are not so easily accounted for in a single comparison point. So much the better. Across the album’s 29 minutes, de Jong presents a strong sense of trying out ideas — the way the vocals rest on top of “The End is Open,” for example — that might bring progression to subsequent releases, but there’s already depth to spare in the songwriting of this first outing. If/when he buys a keyboard, watch out.

Fuzz Thrower on Bandcamp

Off the Record Label store

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Moths, Septem

It’s a secondary element, but don’t discount the synth work of drummer Daniel Figueroa on Moths‘ Septem EP, and if you’d like an example of why, check out “Pride.” The seven-track/26-minute offering takes each of its titles from the alleged seven deadly sins, with a full prog-metal brunt behind vocalist Mariel Viruet‘s noteworthy, growl-inclusive range as a singer. Guitarists Omar González (rhythm) and Jonathan Miranda (lead), bassist Weslie Negrón and Figueroa vary tempo and aggression to suit a given mood, and the keys are a bigger part of that than they might at first seem. Don’t tell the guitarists. The affect is definitely metal in pieces like “Gluttony” and “Greed,” while “Lust” lets the bass lead the groove, and “Wrath” — as good a place to end as any — pushes deeper into poised extremity with a blasting finish, the overarching density calling for nothing so much as repeat listens.

Moths on Bandcamp

Moths on Instagram

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Greenhead, Subherbia

Pairing aggro, low-throat growl sludge with jammier takes, psychedelia, proggy riffing and a resolution in Iommic swing, the 28-minute “Subherbia” from Greenhead‘s debut album of the same name encapsulates on its own the kind of range one might expect (hope) for from a newcomer band, but the Washington D.C. trio don’t end there. Side B brings “Indigo,” “All Seeing Eye,” “Nature’s Pyramid” and “Purple God,” riding the blurred line between modern stoner largesse and classic doom riffing cohesively, letting “Nature’s Pyramid” punk up its chorus a bit as a precursor to the gang shouts of “Purple God.” I don’t know what genre you call it and I don’t care. I’m just happy to hear a new band mashing styles together to see what sticks and coming out it with a first LP that practically smacks you in the face with its ambition. What comes of it or doesn’t, whatever. I’ll take Subherbia as-is, thanks, and hope I’m lucky enough to see them do it live at some point.

Greenhead Linktr.ee

Greenhead on Bandcamp

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Brooklyn classic heavy rockers The Golden Grass have a new live album, Eye for an Eye: The Troy Concert (I guess they’ve only been there once; that’s more than me so far as I can recall), due imminently. I’m assuming from the below that the trio are issuing it themselves, mostly based on the below and the fact that, if it was Heavy Psych Sounds behind it — the label that released their most recent studio LP, Life is Much Stranger (review here) — the promo cycle would’ve already started.

The band released Heavy Colour: Jena 2019 in 2020, so this will be their second live record, as well as their first with bassist Don Berger in the lineup alongside guitarist/vocalist Michael Rafalowich and drummer/vocalist Adam Kriney. I’m not sure if that or the touring they’ll do starting Oct. 9 on the Eastern Seaboard is bigger news, but if your takeaway here is “The Golden Grass have stuff goin’ on,” I don’t think anybody’s gonna fight you on that. They’ll be supported for part of the run by Philly’s Spit Shine.

So here’s that stuff. They get big bonus points in my head for the somehow-accuracy of “rollersnakin’.”:

THE GOLDEN GRASS – October Tour & Live Record

New York City’s very own hard rockin’ proto-metal boogie machine THE GOLDEN GRASS will embark on a 9-date East Coast/Mid-Atlantic tour run this Oct 2025. The boys have been at it since way back in 2013, and obviously have no signs of letting up anytime soon. Having released 4 full length albums across legendary labels Svart Records, Listenable Records and Heavy Psych Sounds, the group have tirelessly reimagined a sonic world of heavy psychedelic and progressive sounds, overflowing with vocal harmonies and ecstatic jams all the while eschewing only the most respectful and tasty homage to the endlessly inspiring musical movements of the 60’s/70’s.

The group will have physical copies of their new album “Eye For An Eye: The Troy Concert” on this tour. The master recordings come from an incredible live recording from Oct 2023 at No Fun in Troy, NY and have been further produced and elevated to reveal a stunning snapshot of the group onstage. They had just started working with current bassist Don Berger, and were performing updated versions/arrangements of their stellar repertoire from their lengthy back catalog and the (at the time) new album “Life Is Much Stranger”. Never ones to settle, THE GOLDEN GRASS are always seeking the sound, molding their music, revamping, recreating, revisioning their creative ideas, and what you’ll get here are distinct versions of all the songs, exploding with colour, and delightfully unique from all previously released iterations!

The first leg of the tour will include dates with new Philadelphia band SPIT SHINE, featuring Davis M. Shubs (of GRAVE BATHERS).

THE GOLDEN GRASS “Eye For An Eye” East Coast Tour Oct 2025

Thur Oct 9 Brooklyn/NY @ Main Drag Music W/ Spit Shine + Illumintated Sidewalks + Freaky Wilderness

Fri Oct 10 Easton/PA @ the Lafayette Bar W/ Spit Shine + Double Fun + Dj Big Sir + Dj Warlock

Sat Oct 11 Lambertville/NJ @ Soupcon Salon W/ Spit Shine + Psychic Bison

Sun Oct 12 Philadelphia/PA @ Lucky Cat Cycles “loose & Fast Festival” W/ Grave Bathers + Spit Shine + More

Wed Oct 15 Baltimore/MD @ Peabody Heights Brewery W/ Magick Potion + Strawberry Sleepover

Thur Oct 16 Savage/MD @ the Blind Pig Tavern W/ Moonsinger + Thunderpaw

Fri Oct 17 Frederick/MD @ Cafe Nola W/ Bailjack + Sunny Daze & the Weathermen + Tony from Bowling

Sat Oct 18 Asheville/NC @ Fleetwood’s “vandemonium Festival” W/ Shake It Like a Caveman + Glue Sniffin Squish Heads

Sun Oct 19 Richmond/VA @ the Cobra Cabana W/ Sinister Haze + Hagstone

THE GOLDEN GRASS is:
Adam Kriney – drums/lead vocals
Michael Rafalowich – electric guitar/lead vocals
Don Berger – electric bass guitar

http://www.thegoldengrass.bandcamp.com
https://instagram.com/thegoldengrassgroop
http://www.facebook.com/thegoldengrass

The Golden Grass, Life is Much Stranger (2023)

Dwelling in the nastier end of post-metallic sludge, Brooklyn’s For Fuck’s Sake released their two-songer 7-Minute Abs/Lobotomy last month, and next month they’ll take to the road to herald its coming. The tour runs eight shows mostly in the Southeast, and if you haven’t had the chance to hear the band yet, they’ll be carrying a fair amount of pummel with them for the trip. That’s why you get the bigger trailer.

The dates were just kind of put out there on socials, which is how it happens these days, and I paired those with the info for the single, which is duly morose and body-horror-y. You know me, man. I’m all about the value-added content to feed the algorithm and keep my professional tag or some shit.

Whether or not you can hit the shows, hit the song stream and see if it resonates. Times are tough. You need to get right however you can:

For Fuck’s Sake Sept. tour:

09.15 Columbus OH Donatos Basement
09.16 Chicago IL Liars Club
09.17 Lawrence KS Replay Lounge
09.18 Tulsa OK The Whittier Bar
09.20 New Orleans LA Santos Bar
09.22 Columbia SC New Brookland Tavern
09.23 Charlotte NC The Milestone
09.24 Richmond VA Banditos Burrito Lounge

“7-minute abs” / “lobotomy”

We documented these songs in their final form in the freezing fucking cold back in December. Now in the absolute death of summer we bring you the vile afterbirth that sounds as nice as boiled rat hair might smell: absolutely abominable.

Can’t thank @zachmillerdrums enough (and Len!!) at @landminestudios for capturing the energy of this band and being so cool doing it. We had a blast and couldn’t be more pleased with the professionalism and approach.

I think the art speaks for itself: how we all might feel at times. Interpret that how you will. The world is fucked up forever and always. Goodness is there if you look for it. Thanks for listening. FFS.

For Fuck’s Sake:
Rich Bukowski – Vocals
Jonny Cohn – Bass
Matthew Kazimir – Guitar
Ed White-Hunt – Drums

https://forfuckssakeband.bandcamp.com/
https://www.instagram.com/forfuckssakeband
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61563023494806

For Fuck’s Sake, 7-Minute Abs/Lobotomy (2025)

Especially considering it’s their first full-length, New York’s Bloodsports — also stylized all-lowercase: bloodsports — demonstrate some pretty significant range across the nine tracks on offer with Anything Can Be a Hammer, which is to say that while the heavy-adjacent bombastic post-rockers for sure have volatility working for them as songs explode in volume, they’re not afraid to dwell in quieter spaces, drones and/or minimalism, less to provide willful contrast than as a matter of course in their songwriting. I’ve been through the record once at this point, but the wash is consuming when they hit into it, and the fact that there’s more to them than that is more than encouraging for a young(er than my old ass) outfit.

Note they recorded at the esteemed Studio G in Brooklyn, and note that the first single “Rosary” is streaming now at the bottom of the post. One to look for if you want something that doesn’t sound like everything. Album preorders are up through Good English Records, which may or may not be the band’s own label, and like the headline says, the release date is Oct. 17.

Particulars follow as snagged from the PR wire:

Taking over the sweaty New York venues and curbside congregations that came to be synonymous with the name, bloodsports is set to release their long awaited debut LP Anything Can Be A Hammer via brand new New York/Nashville label Good English Records on October 17th. bloodsports has become an undeniable force amidst their latest line up, where members Sam Murphy (guitar/vocals), Jeremy Mock (Guitar), Liv Eriksen (bass/vocals) and Scott Hale (drums) find solace in the capitulation of sonic strain; where angular sedition blends with economical melodies that lighten the load of the self-destruction that these songs embrace.

But as bold as their landscapes have been prior, Anything Can Be A Hammer finds the band embracing a more dynamic approach, maturing in their techniques as these songs brim over with subtle fixations – balancing a steady pace of experimentation and curiosity that linger amongst the rhythmic blows and befuddling depths that the band confidently explores. Fragile, yet abundant, bloodsports leans into that patience that plays to our own interior designs, where Murphy’s lyricism is a notion of both what we know and what we think we know, as it all comes to the fore when our obsessions are at large. It’s an album that’s got blood in its veins and a finger on the pulse.

All songs are written and performed by bloodsports.

Recorded at Studio G Brooklyn in November 2024
Produced and Engineered by Hayden Ticehurst
Assisted by Meredith Okamoto
Mixed by Hayden Ticehurst
Mastered by Dan Millice
Album artwork by Hannah Murphy

bloodsports is:
Sam Murphy – vocals, guitar
Jeremy Mock – guitar, synth, mellotron, organ (track 6), dulcimer (track 9)
Liv Eriksen – bass, vocals
Scott Hale – drums

https://linktr.ee/bloodsportsco
https://bloodsportsbk.bandcamp.com/
https://www.instagram.com/bloodsportsonline/

https://goodenglishrecords.bandcamp.com/
https://www.instagram.com/goodenglishrecords/

Bloodsports, “Rosary”

The second full-length from NYC-based mostly-solo-project In This House of Mourning, Enlèvement, has been given an Aug. 8. Looking ahead at the next two months to come, the haze of a northeastern summer settling over record-breaking heat like a blanket of boiling water in the air, war and destruction and hate, yeah, August will be just right, I’m sure. In the words of Khan standing in a hellish wasteland bereft of hope or reason to keep going, “this is Ceti Alpha V.”

Certainly at this point in life, one is no stranger to a decent variety of misanthropic sounds across a variety of niche styles. In This House of Mourning is insular from the point of view underpinning the material to the extreme-stoner bounce that band-engine B.I. lets pervade for a time before crushing it back down with a chugging march topped with a harsh rasp and a running line of organ. He even dares a bit of clean vocals there in the centerpiece, “Altar,” which is also longer than “Scent” before it, which hits more like Godflesh at their lowest spirits pushed into death-doom through nefarious means. Led into by the tense drone and cinematic ambience of the three-minute, set-the-mood-for-murder intro “Visitation,” Enlèvement only tops 34 minutes long, but in that time casts a vivid and encompassing darkness. By the time the ’90s chug and semi-clean vocals in “Altar” start in the midsection, the songs start to feel like water when you can’t see the bottom.

“Visitation” finds complement in “Alt(e)r” at what feels like a vinyl’s side split. The second ambient piece is a drone with guitar noise looping on a rhythm and various other sounds, keyboard and so on. An exploratory piece, continuing in part the atmosphere of “Altar” — the link made clear in the two titles — while giving a bridge between that extended piece and the 11-minute closer, “Reckoning,” intense in its expression and accordingly grueling of presentation, but not so beaten down that it doesn’t exist. Following on from 2022’s Penance (review here), there’s progression across the sophomore outing’s 34-minute/five-song span, even if it feels like a downward emotional spiral.

But, for all of its despondency and bleak cast, “Scent” still moves in a way that is its own. It is not just noise, or sludge riffing, or really any other single thing beyond “grim,” and it serves as a reminder that, even here, life persists. The grass growing through the concrete, and so on. Ben Ianuzzi, who is B.I. here, was formerly in ’10’s NYC underground extreme-sludgers Mountain God, and some of that bite exists in Enlèvement for sure, but it’s a more somber take and more inward looking in its violence.

Good luck. To us all.

PR wire info follows the player below:

Music, arrangements, and lyrics by B.I.

Recorded by Aady Pandit
The Underground Lair
Queeny, NY, 2022-2024

Special thank you to Arvist W. Notal for lyric and content inspiration

Tracklist:
1. Visitation (3:27)
2. Scent (5:37)
3. Altar (9:35)
4. Alt(e)r (3:33)
5. Reckoning (11:51)

Musicians:
B.I. – vocals, guitars, bass, synths/organs
R.R. – drums
A.A. – vocals
A.P. – lead guitar, synths, production

In This House of Mourning on Bandcamp

In This House of Mourning on Instagram

In This House of Mourning on Facebook