Posted in Whathaveyou on February 13th, 2019 by JJ Koczan
Desertfest New York 2019, the first one ever, has completed its lineup for this April. Taking place at The Well and Saint Vitus Bar, the three-night event will be headlined by Black Cobra, Windhand and Elder and will boast newly-announced performances from Steak, High Tone Son of a Bitch, Heavy Temple, Tower, Green Milk from the Planet Orange, Duel, Sun Voyager, Fatso Jetson and others. It was always going to be a stacked bill, and well, it’s worked out to be a stacked bill. Obviously the Desertfest brand, with history in London, Berlin, Athens and Antwerp, are no strangers to putting on an event, and as Desertscene and Sound of Liberation partner with NY-based Tee Pee Records, there was really no way this was going to be a flop, and it looks like it won’t be.
Calendar’s marked.
Here’s the final lineup:
THE 1ST DESERTFEST NEW YORK
FULL LINE-UP + DAY SPLITS ANNOUNCED FOR DF NYC – BLACK COBRA, WEEDEATER, HERE LIES MAN, ASG + MORE
Taking place at Saint Vitus Bar on Friday 26th April and The Well on Saturday 27th & Sunday 28th April, please welcome to the bill:
• black cobra • Weedeater • Here Lies Man • ASG • Ruby the Hatchet • FATSO JETSON • Electric Citizen • HTSOB • Steak • Mick’s Jaguar • DUEL • Heavy Temple • TOWER • Green Milk From The Planet Orange • Sun Voyager
Unfortunately, we also have to announce that The Atomic Bitchwax can no longer play due to touring conflicts, along with Cali rockers Dommengang. Both band conflicts were out of our control, but we apologise for any inconvenience caused.
2-day weekend passes for ‘The Well’ shows only (Sat + Sun) are still available via www.desertfest.nyc
3-day passes which include access to Saint Vitus on Friday are SOLD OUT
Desertfest NYC will take place at Saint Vitus Bar on Fri 26th April & The Well on Sat 27th April + Sun 28th April
Brooklyn’s Kings Destroy are getting ready once again to fuck with the formula via their fourth long-player, Fantasma Nera, which branches into new levels of progressive songwriting and melody while turning their confrontational aspect inward as much as outward in theme and execution. Like everything they’ve done, it leaves the past in its dust. Set to release March 8 on Svart Records — which is a label of taste broad and reliable enough to suit them — its arrival will be preceded by a run up the Eastern Seaboard in the company of Gozu and Forming the Void, and it’s my sincere pleasure to be among the presenters of the tour.
They’ll be at Maryland Doom Fest 2019 as well this June — along with many, many others — but even for those planning to see them there, this is an early chance to get introduced to the songs and, presumably, pick up a copy of the album before it’s officially out. Preorders are great and available now, but there’s nothing quite like a merch table either.
The shows kick off Feb. 27 in Kingston, New York, with hometown heroes Geezer and head into Canada for a stop on Montreal before swinging through Rochester, Cleveland and Pittsburgh to finish up. I’ll be at the Brooklyn gig that has Clamfight as the much-welcome fourth for the bill, and there’s no doubt in my mind it’s going to be a party. A sweaty, sweaty party.
Poster is by Bill Kole, and you can stream the Fantasma Nera title-track below:
Fantasma Nera pre-orders are available now via Svartrecords.com/artist/kings-destroy with physical bundles including colored vinyl and other merchandise. Digital pre-orders include an instant download of the title track.
The band has announced an East Coast Tour prior to the week of release as well as a recently announced performance at the Maryland Doom Fest on June 20.
Kings Destroy tour dates: February 27 Kingston, NY The Anchor w/ Geezer February 28 Portland, ME Geno’s March 1 Boston, MA Middle East w/ Test Meat March 2 Brooklyn, NY Saint Vitus w/ Clamfight March 3 Montreal QC TurboHaus March 4 Rochester, NY Bug Jar March 5 Cleveland, OH Now That’s Class March 6 Pittsburgh, PA Howlers w/ Horehound
Kings Destroy is Aaron Bumpus (bass), Stephen Murphy (vocals), Carl Porcaro (guitar), Rob Sefcik (drums) and Chris Skowronski (guitar).
Posted in Whathaveyou on January 25th, 2019 by JJ Koczan
Sludgy New York noisemaking concern Nerveshatter issued their debut full-length, Madhouse, on Jan. 9. The self-released offering contains a tight and pummeling eight tracks that meld the will to bludgeon with a bit of angular exploration and, as one might expect, a bit of that particular concrete intensity that is as much a part of NYC culture as “famous” pizza and bikers getting doored. Songs like “Death of a Spaceman” bring a sense of atmosphere to go with their crunching and nodding progressions, and no matter what’s happening at any given moment, the threat that at any point the four-piece might totally lose their shit is always lingering. Until they do, anyway.
Celebrating the release, the four-piece — which includes members of Devoidov and Thera Roya — will hit the road in March and head south along the coast to make their presence felt at SXSW for at least two listed shows in Austin, Texas. You’ll note they have a couple days off after the second, so you never know when they might pick up more, but the fact that they’re getting out at all to support their digital release speaks volumes as regards their overall intent. And speaking of volume, you can hear Madhouse below.
The tour’s called “Oh, the Humanity!” which is fair enough, and the list of shows as per the social medias is as follows:
Nerveshatter – Oh, the Humanity! Tour
We beckon the call of the road THIS MARCH!! Listed towns, beware.
03/08 Baltimore, MD – The Sidebar 03/09 Washington D.C. – Atlas Brew Works 03/10 Norfolk, VA – Charlie’s 03/11 Asheville, NC – Static Age Records 03/12 Nashville, TN – Springwater 03/13 Memphis, TN – Growlers 03/14 Baton Rouge, LA – The Woodshop 03/15 Austin, TX – The Lost Well 03/16 Austin, TX – Kickbutt Cafe 03/18 Chicago, IL – Livewire Lounge 03/19 TBA – TBA (want to help?) 03/20 Detroit, MI – The Sanctuary 03/21 Toledo, OH – Ottawa Tavern
See you out there.
Nerveshatter is: Richard Bukowski – guitars Tim Haney – drums Jonathan Cohn – bass Jan Solo – vocals
Posted in Whathaveyou on January 24th, 2019 by JJ Koczan
Brooklyn trio The Golden Grass are headed back to Europe this Spring and will tour in late March and throughout April in the company of German trad-rockers Wedge. Pretty good show, and they’re covering a decent swath of ground in Poland, Austria, Germany, Switzerland and Italy. Of course, The Golden Grass go supporting their 2018 third album, Absolutely (review here), and they also went to Europe last year, touring in the company of Heat. If nothing else, they know how to find a fit for bands to hit the road with.
The narrative of Absolutely was that it pulled back on some of the more meandering impulses of its predecessor, 2016’s Coming Back Again (review here), but The Golden Grass have a new EP in the works that they’ve posted a couple social media teasers for, and it seems that the boogie remains strong with their upbeat sound. Throw in some of the choicest harmonies in heavy — as they reliably do — and you’re good to go.
To Europe, in this case. I haven’t seen a release date kicked around for the EP, but wouldn’t it make an awful lot of sense if it came out before the tour? Or at least was available for them to sell on the road? Yeah, that seems reasonable to me too. More when I hear it.
Posted in Reviews on January 21st, 2019 by JJ Koczan
It’s not the most intuitive pairing, but it worked. By the time they hit Saint Vitus Bar in Brooklyn on Jan. 17, Yawning Man had already been on the road for more than two weeks. They’d started on Jan. 2 in Arizona and made their way gradually east and north, playing Philadelphia and Boston the two nights prior and accordingly probably well familiar by then with the stretches of I-95. That’s not a fun ride. Freedom Hawk had joined the party a few nights before that, in Asheville, North Carolina, taking over the support slot from Nick Oliveri‘s Mondo Generator, and the bi-coastal complement suited both bands well — Yawning Man with their deeply atmospheric approach and Freedom Hawk more given to a straightforward classic heavy rock songwriting modus. Perhaps an odd fit on paper, but it made way more sense on stage. Kudos to Tone Deaf Touring for the vision.
Both groups released albums last year. Yawning Man had The Revolt Against Tired Noises (review here) on Heavy Psych Sounds over the summer and Freedom Hawk plowed through their fifth LP, Beast Remains (review here), before that. It had been years and years since the last time I saw the Virginia Beach outfit, as bassist Mark Cave politely reminded me — he said the last time was Small Stone‘s 2011 showcase in Philly (review here), but actually it was Small Stone‘s 2012 showcase in Boston (review here), though to be honest, that night was fuzzy in more ways than one — and it’s been a tumultuous few years for them, losing guitarist Matt Cave and deciding to continue as a three-piece, only to see Mark, guitarist/vocalist T.R. Morton and drummer Lenny Hines bring in guitarist Brendan O’Neill in 2016, moving as well from Small Stone to Ripple following 2015’s Into Your Mind (review here).
Nonetheless, what’s remained true is the following: Freedom Hawk believe in the power of heavy rock and roll, and if you’re fortunate enough to spend a little time in their company, they might make you a believer too. As one would expect and hope, much of what they played came off of Beast Remains and Into Your Mind — songs like “Blood Red Sky,” “Darkness and the Light,” “Solid Gold,” “Waterfall,” “Radar,” “Lost in Space,” and “Danger,” which Morton introduced with the choice line, “I don’t know if you guys can handle this next song. It’s a little dangerous. It’s called ‘Danger.'” Charm always goes a long way in my book, but the band wanted nothing for delivery either. That shouldn’t be surprising, as they’ve toured consistently over the course of this decade, here and there in the US as well as abroad in Europe, where just last year they played Desertfest London and Berlin and more besides. They’re veterans as well of Roadburn, Morton wore a shirt he likely picked up when they played Freak Valley in Germany, and on the most basic level, they’ve been together for 14 years, so yeah, Freedom Hawk coming across like they know what they’re doing is well enough earned.
They dipped back to 2011’s Holding On (review here) late in the set for the ultra-catchy “Indian Summer” and gave representation to their 2009 self-titled (review here) and 2008 debut, Sunlight, which Ripple reissued in 2017, but new or old, their material’s central purpose has remained true in conveying the strength of their songwriting. O’Neill, who also fronts thrashers The Pestilence Choir, is way more metal than Morton, Cave or Hines, at least in outward appearance, but that adds a bit of edge to the otherwise smooth corners of Freedom Hawk‘s stage presence, and they were a blast to watch. It had been too long, clearly.
A good general rule for life is any time you can see Yawning Man, do it. When I last caught them, headlining at Borderland Fuzz Fiesta (review here) in Arizona in early 2016, they were practically a family band, with keys and additional guitar and so on. For this tour, the traveling three-piece was what’s become the modern core of the group: guitarist Gary Arce, bassist Mario Lalli and drummer Bill Stinson. And they’re masters of what they do. One could go on and on about Yawning Man‘s legacy as one of the principal architects of Californian desert rock — and I have, on multiple occasions — but what gets discussed far less is just how much they stand out even from so many of the groups they helped inspire. With Arce‘s signature tone ever at the center of their instrumental, wide-open approach, their atmosphere is immediately identifiable, and the character with which they bring their material to life is as vibrant as that material is subtle. Over the course of more than three decades, they’ve carved a niche for themselves that is theirs alone.
And I’m not saying Mario Lalli was there when they invented cool or anything, but he’s definitely the guy they had in mind for it. Switching between picking and fingering his bass in such a way as to add nuance to Arce‘s echoing lines or emphasize a sonic weight with a strummed chord, Lalli — who also fronts Fatso Jetson — was locked in immediately and incredible to watch as he held down the low end. Looking kind of gaunt in a lined hoodie and with a cap pulled down over his face, he was all-business save for jumping on mic quickly to thank the crowd for showing up, etc., but just unreal to watch him play, and as Stinson held together the molten vibes encompassing the room, Lalli and Arce showed off the inimitable chemistry that’s served as the root cause for the spread of their influence. Yeah, it was cold out, and yeah, it was a weeknight, and yeah, real life loomed outside the door like some kind of invisible babadook, but as they peppered The Revolt Against Tired Noises material with “Perpetual Oyster,” it was hard to think of them as anything other than a classic band living up to their reputation.
It was an early show and they were done by 11PM, which I don’t know if that’s a capitulation to how the neighborhood around the Vitus has gentrified over the last three-to-four years or what — there didn’t seem to be a dance party starting, which sometimes happens after rock gigs elsewhere — but with more than an hour’s ride back to Jersey afterward, I took anyway. I don’t get out as often as I used to, and it’s mostly anxiety-based. I get worried about seeing people, meeting people, not remembering names of people I’ve met once or twice, taking pictures, on and on, but this was a good show and it felt good to be there. I didn’t seem to be the only one who thought so.
Posted in Whathaveyou on January 14th, 2019 by JJ Koczan
It was two years ago yesterday that Kings Destroy released their 2017 single-song EP, None More (review here), which I’m still proud to say was the first tape I played on my current Walkman. Nonetheless, as they move toward four years removed from their 2015’s self-titled (review here), the good news arrives that the anti-genre five-piece have signed to the anti-genre Svart Records to release what will be their fourth long-player, Fantasma Nera. Say it in your spookiest voice. A March 8 release has been set for the album, which was produced by David Bottrill, whose bona fides extend well beyond the parenthetical below, and on which the band challenge themselves in structure and sound as they’ve yet to do in the decade they’ve been together. They have never put out the same record twice, never been predictable, and if you think you have any idea what’s in store this time around, you’re wrong again. They will surprise you.
I’ve been telling people to listen to Kings Destroy for nine years. I’d do another nine easy. Ha.
Here’s the record info and ultra-badass cover art, courtesy of the PR wire:
KINGS DESTROY RELEASE FANTASMA NERA ON MARCH 8 VIA SVART RECORDS
10-TRACK RELEASE PRODUCED BY DAVID BOTTRILL (TOOL, KING CRIMSON)
King’s Destroy, Brooklyn’s atmospheric grunge doom unit release their fourth album, and first full-length in four years, Fantasma Nera on March 8 via Svart Records.
“We upended our usual approach in creating this album,” says guitarist Carl Porcaro. “We’d been playing together for so many years, and all of our previous albums were the result of us hashing out the ideas in rehearsal and learning to play the songs live prior to going into the studio. For Fantasma Nera we put the songs first and let the material dictate the means by which the album was created. Producer David Bottrill (Tool, King Crimson) helped us find new creative approaches, and this resulted in an album that doesn’t sound like anything else we’ve ever done.”
“We challenged ourselves to make the best album we could,” adds singer Stephen Murphy. “…and we left our guts on the table. When I finished the vocals on this album, I was mentally and physically broken from the effort. I did not sing again for two months after it was recorded. I owed that effort to my bandmates, and they did the same for me.”
Fantasma Nera tracklist: The Nightbird Fantasma Nera Barbarossa Unmake It Dead Before Yonkers Ceiling Collapse Seven Billion Drones You’re The Puppet Bleed Down The sun Stormy Times
Pre-orders will be announced soon, as well North American tour dates. The band recently confirmed a performance at Maryland Doom Fest on June 20.
Kings Destroy is Aaron Bumpus (bass), Stephen Murphy (vocals), Carl Porcaro (guitar), Rob Sefcik (drums) and Chris Skowronski (guitar).
Posted in Reviews on January 2nd, 2019 by JJ Koczan
New York riff-stompers Begotten began playing shows again a couple years ago, having been long defunct following the release of their lone, self-titled album in 2001. That record was remastered in 2018 with the addition of two previously unreleased tracks, “Nomad” and “Apache” (premiered here), and has held an auspicious place in heavy rock trivia for being the final release on Man’s Ruin Records before the storied label went under. The band followed suit soon enough after, spending the intervening years, as they tell it, with guitarist/vocalist Matt Anselmo being diagnosed with throat cancer, bassist/vocalist Amanda Topaz losing much of her ability to hear, and drummer Rob Sefcik joining anti-genre purveyors Kings Destroy. As to the impetus for a reunion, I couldn’t possibly say, but it’s resulted in the first new material from the band since their debut in the form of 2018 Demo EP, which brings forth six songs of nodder riffs and loose-feeling-but-nonetheless-heavy groove. The recording, helmed by Kol Marshall and Joe Kelly at Suburban Elvis Studios (also Eternal Black), was done over the course of two days, and sounds and feels live with an intent toward rawness and grit.
A demo, in other words. And it was unquestionably released in 2018, so that settles that. What I’d argue with as regards the title, however, is the “EP” portion of it. 2018 Demo EP, which slogs through a four-minute introduction with “Surrender to the Doom” before loosing the roller “WhiteOut” — which I’m just gonna guess isn’t about fixing typographical errors; think “Snowblind” in concept and sound — is 38 minutes long. That’s a full-length. While I’m sure Begotten have more material hanging around, their dirt-caked sludge has enough time in these songs to demonstrate its variety of composition and overarching flow, the dynamic in swapping vocals between Anselmo and Topaz, and the shifts between harsher, Bongzilla-style crust screaming, as on “WhiteOut” and the cleaner melodies of “Cold Earth,” “Levitator ADX” and “Apache,” which follow and each hover on either side of eight minutes long, thereby comprising the bulk of the offering, growing more immersive and more spacious as they play one into the next.
That in itself speaks to 2018 Demo EP as an album, and while I don’t want to get hung up haggling over the delineation — as, yes, I know, I do — the fact is that EPs and LPs are regarded on different levels. This is a demo, clearly marked, so that’s its own consideration as well, but especially as “WhiteOut” unfolds into “Cold Earth,” and especially with the instrumental intro “Surrender to the Doom” and its companion outro “Into the Trichome” at the end, 2018 Demo EP moves like an album. It has two sides — somewhat uneven in length with a split after “Cold Earth,” but still — and it seems to reach further as it plays through until the final deconstruction and ringout at its conclusion. Particularly with a production that’s so willfully raw and a live-seeming recording method, there’s nothing missing here to stop it from being a full-length demo. That said, the fact that Begotten call it a demo speaks to a desire on their part to refine what’s here or otherwise progress from it.
Not that it’s fair to compare something from 17 years earlier, but indeed, the self-titled had a cleaner sound, if like-minded in terms of the space captured. It’s hard to know their future intent, but if 2018 Demo EP is a precursor to a record to be made either with this material — you’ll note “Apache” already showed up on the first LP’s remaster — or other songs building off it, then this release only bodes well and shows the three-piece as ready to take on that task. What concerns me about that is the idea of this six-songer as an EP, as though a complete album would require more; either more songs or more runtime. It wouldn’t. If Begotten wanted to take the lessons from this demo and hit the studio to churn out the same songs in the same order, they’d have a tight, effective full-length. They have that now, just with a barebones, straightforward production that, by my estimate, doesn’t really hurt the songs as it is. In the post-Sleep largesse of “Levitator ADX,” one can hear hints of the psychedelic spaces the band are reaching for via the late wah of the guitar, and as a demo, that’s how it should be. That can certainly be expanded in a final version of a track, with layering, etc., but if Begotten are thinking a full-length needs to top 50 or even 40 minutes to be effective, all they need to do is listen to their own demo for proof to the contrary.
“Cold Earth,” “Levitator ADX” and “Apache” play out in order from shortest to longest, and as each one takes hold from the other, Begotten bring the listener deeper into a wide-open murk that still holds a foundation in the crunch of their tones. Sefcik is a grounding force for some of the jammier aspects, but well fluid enough in his style of play as to give Anselmo and Topaz room to explore riffs and melodies around that solid rhythm, and the upfront buzz of “Levitator ADX” and comparatively far-back riffing of “Apache” are indicative of the ability of the trio to shape their sound within the reaches of a mix. That only adds to the molten, classic stoner vibe so prevalent throughout 2018 Demo EP, and though the rest of what follows remains colored by the sludgy surge of “WhiteOut” early on, Begotten show that more than a decade and a half on from their debut, they have something to add to a New York heavy scene that’s cycled through a generation of followers in the time of their absence.
Given the length of time they were inactive, I won’t feign prescience as to what they’ll do next, but a demo says they’re evolving. You do a demo before you make a record of one sort or another. If that’s where Begotten are headed, they’ve given themselves some crucial lessons to learn with 2018 Demo EP, and in more than just nomenclature. One only hopes that if and as these songs do lead to another outing, the band holds firm to the aspects of their approach that seem to have carried over so effectively from their debut: their range, their ability to fluidly shift between tempos and aggression levels, their penchant for leaving structure behind when it suits the song, and so on. Strange to think of a band that got their start 22 years ago as holding promise, but Begotten‘s 2018 Demo EP is so much less about retread and so much more about looking forward that one could hardly do otherwise.
Posted in Reviews on December 4th, 2018 by JJ Koczan
Day Two of the Quarterly-Review-Mega-Super-Ultra-Year-End-Wrap-Up-Spectacular-Gnarly-Edition — name in progress — begins now. First day? Smooth. Wrote it over the weekend to get a jump on the week, cruised through a morning and into baby-naps, finished with time left over to still go and read the Star Trek novel I’m currently making my way through. Easy. Also peasy.
Today? Well, apparently I turned off my alarm in my sleep because I rolled over 40 minutes later and certainly didn’t remember it going off. Whoops. Not a great start, but there is a lot of cool stuff in this batch, so we’ll get through it, even if it’s awfully early in the week to be sleeping in. Ha.
Have a great day everybody. Here are 10 more records for the QRMSUYEWUSGE. Rolls right off the tongue.
Quarterly Review #11-20:
A Storm of Light, Anthroscene
“America the sick and crumbling/Liberty she’s weeping/The tired and poor are huddled and dying/As the wretched ones are touched aside.” The lines, from A Storm of Light‘s “Blackout” — the second cut from their fifth LP, Anthroscene (on Translation Loss) — lead to the inevitable question: “What the fuck is wrong with us?,” and thereby summarize the central sociopolitical framework of the record. A dystopian thematic suits the band’s aesthetic, and there’s certainly no shortage of material to work from between current events and future outlook. Guitarist/vocalist/keyboardist/graphic artist Josh Graham, bassist Domenic Seita and guitarist/keyboardist Dan Hawkins are five years removed from the band’s last outing, however, so their post-apocalyptic post-metal is welcome either way, and Anthroscene taps a Killing Joke influence and turns it to its dark and churning purposes over the course of its eight tracks/51 minutes, delving into harsh shouts on “Short Term Feedback” and capping with the resistance-filled “Rosebud,” which surges forth from ambience like the anti-facist/anti-capitalist critique that it is, ending with the lyric, “When you die, we will spit on your grave,” which could hardly be more appropriate.
Massachusetts’ Z28 — also stylized as Z/28 and Z-28; I don’t think they care so long as you get the point they’re named after the Camaro — make their full-length debut with Nobody Rides for Free on Fuzzdoom Records, and with the occasional bit of organ on songs like “Touch of Evil” and “Angst III (I Don’t Want to Die),” they nonetheless give a raw take on heavy rock laced with that particularly Northeastern aggression. Guitarist Jeff Hayward (also organ), bassist/acoustic guitarist/engineer Jason Negro and drummer Breaux Silcio all contribute vocals to the outing, and yet the minute-long instrumental intro tells much of the story of what it’s about in terms of the chemistry between them. Impressive guitar solos are rampant throughout, and the rhythm section carries over a weighted groove through cuts like “Wandering” that’s fluid in tempo but still able to create an overarching flow between the tracks. I’ll give bonus points for the Black Sabbath nods in the multi-layered lead work toward the end of “Spirit Elk (Lord of the Hunt)” as well as the title “Keep on Rockin’ (In the Invisible World),” and Z28 have something to build on here in terms of songwriting and that chemistry. It’s raw-sounding, but that doesn’t necessarily hurt it.
Granted, Forrest telegraph some measure of quirk by naming their debut EP Kickball with Russians, but the four-piece from Lexington, Kentucky, still seem to be rolling along in a straightforward-enough manner on six-minute instrumental opener and longest track (immediate points) “(I Dream of) Kickball with Russians,” until the keyboards start in. That turn gives their EP an edge of the unexpected that continues to inform “DAN,” “Deew” and the closing “My Son Looks Just Like Me,” and “DAN” continues the thread with gang shouts popping up over its chugging progression and receding again after about two words to let the track get quiet and build back up. And is that a velociraptor at the start of “Deew?” Either way, that song’s Mr. Bungle-style angularity, a return of the keys and intermittent heavy nod work to underscore the willful weirdness that’s very much at play in the four-piece’s work, and the closer adds Ween-style effects work into the mix while still keeping a heavy presence in tone and lumber. They’ll get weirder with time, but this is a good start toward that goal.
Coastal melancholy and a pervasive sense of atmosphere seem to unite the varied tracks on 1476‘s 2017 Prophecy release, Our Season Draws Near, which otherwise draw across their span from goth rock, punk, doom and extreme metal, able to blur the line especially between punk and black metal on songs like “Ettins” while acoustics pervade “Solitude (Exterior)” en route to the Anathema-gone-char rasps of “Solitude (Interior)” a short time later. I know I’m late to the party on the Salem, MA, duo, and likewise late on this record, but from opener “Our Silver Age” to closer “Our Ice Age” to the “Solitude” pairing to “Winter of Winds” — finally: David Bowie fronts Joy Division — and “Winter of Wolves,” there’s so much of Our Season Draws Near that has a bigger-picture thought process behind its construction that its impact is multi-tiered. And it’s not just that they pit genres against each other in their sound, it’s that their sound brings them together toward something new and malleable to the purposes of their songwriting. Not to be missed, so this is me, not missing it. Even though I kind of missed it.
Joined on Nights in Distortion by bassist René Marquis as well as longtime drummer Patrick Schroeder, guitarist/vocalist/synthesist Christian Kolf (also Valborg) greatly expands his former solo-ish-project Owl with their second release of 2018 behind March’s Orion Fenix EP (review here), bringing together elements of post-metal churn with deeply atmospheric sensibilities, cuts like “Transparent Moment” churning as much as they are surprising with their underlying melody. A Type O Negative influence continues to be worked into their sometimes grueling context, but it’s hard to listen to the keyboard-laced “Inanna in Isolation” and hear Owl being anything other than who they’ve become, and their third album is the most distinct statement of that yet, airy lead guitars floating over a still-fervent, industrial-style chug amid vocals veering from barking shouts to quiet, low-register semi-spoken fare and cleaner singing. Nights in Distortion is the evolving work of a mastermind, captured in progress.
Synth-laden heavy horror garage dance rock could probably use a more succinct genre name, but while those in charge of such things sit and scratch their butts, Boston’s Brass Hearse carve out a niche unto themselves with their second EP, Hollow on the Surface. The five-track offering is in and out in 14 minutes but wants nothing for either a show of craft or arrangement, tapping into psych-folk in the strummy interlude “Dwellers in the Static Valley” after the hook-led “Death by Candlelight” and before the John Carpenter-style pulsations that underscore “The Thing from Another World.” Opener “Fading” is the only song to top four minutes and has a distinctly progressive take, but while it and the organ-ic closer “Headaches & Heartbreaks” has a theatricality to it, Brass Hearse are too cohesive to charge with being weird for weirdness’ sake, and their experimentation is presented in complete, engaging songs, rather than self-indulgent collections of parts mashed together. Would love to hear what they do over the course of a full-length.
Different missions from Finland’s Craneium and Switzerland’s Black Willows on their BloodRock Records split. Craneium nod through “Your Law” and mark their second inclusion, “Try, Fail, Repeat,” with a Sabbathian swing that only kicks up in tempo as it moves through its five minutes. Black Willows, on the other hand, present a single track in the 19-minute, noise-soaked post-everything “Bliss,” which trades back and forth between minimalism and crushing riffs en route to a consuming wash and long, long, long fadeout. Released in March, the outing showcases both bands well, but one is left wondering where the connection is between the two of them that they’d come together for a joint vinyl release. Either way, I won’t detract from what they do individually, whether it’s the catchiness of “Your Law” and the jam in its second half or “Bliss” with its frost-covered expanse of tonality, it’s just a marked leap from side A to side B. Maybe that was the idea all along, and if that’s the case, then one can only say they succeeded.
Following a 2015 self-titled debut EP, Oslo trio Magmakammer align with Kozmik Artifactz for their first long-player, Mindtripper, and so effect a garage doom sound that’s quickly relatable to Uncle Acid on songs like “Fat Saturn” and the chug-shuffling “Along the Crooked Roads.” Where they distinguish themselves from this core influence, though, is in the density of their tones, as opener “Druggernaut” and the rolling “Acid Times” prove thicker in their charge. Still, there’s no mistaking that swing and the blown-out sound of the vocals. Closer “Cosmic Dancers,” which is one of two tracks over seven minutes long, shows more dynamic in its loud/quiet tradeoffs, and resolves itself in a righteous nodder of a riff. It’s essentially in the same vein, but still displaying some emerging personality of Magmakammer‘s own that one hopes they continue to develop. And in the meantime, the foundation of craft and stylistic awareness they hone is still welcome, familiar or not.
Mystique isn’t easy to come by in this Age of Access, but the anonymous London-dwelling duo Falun Gong have succeeded in piquing interest with their two-to-date singles, “Figure 1” (review here), and the eight-minute “Figure 2,” which like its predecessor is raw in the recording, sounds like it was performed live, and follows a trance-inducing course of riffing. The central groove is a slow march that makes its way through obscure voices delivered in buried fashion — the whole thing may or may not be mastered; somehow I’m thinking not, but I’ve been wrong before — through a self-aware drift that rounds out following a soulful culmination fitting the song’s lyrical theme, which would seem to be tied to the cover art about baptism in a river’s waters. There’s just something off-kilter about Falun Gong to this point, and while it’s still early going for them, they bring an eerie persona to their work that feels less performative than it so often does.
Though he’s had a slew of live outings out with the Max Tovstyi Blues Band and the Max Tovstyi Blues Association, Mesmerize (LP on Nasoni) is the Ukrainian heavy blues rocker’s first solo studio outing since 2014. He’s credited with all the instruments on the 10- or 12-track offering save for a couple arrangement-flourish guest appearances, and he pulls in a classic spirit and full-band sound without any trouble on a moody piece like “World of Sin” or the bonus track “Show Me the Way,” which isn’t a Peter Frampton cover so far as I can tell but still has plenty of guitar scorch to go around. “From the Blues to the Funk” jams its way along its stated trajectory, and “Feel Like Dying Now” brings together organ and keys in a fashion far less dramatized than one might initially think. With a clean production, Tovstyi — also known for his work in The Heavy Crawls, Lucifer Rising, and others — carries through his sentimentality for blues rock’s past and finds himself well at home leading the pack of guest vocalists on “Make Up Your Mind,” which closes the album proper with a semi-country twang and sweet melody.
