I’ve got a fresh cup of coffee and 50 records that need to be reviewed, so it must be time for… constant distractions! Oh, no, wait, sorry. It must be time for the Quarterly Review. Yeah, there it is. I know there’s a global-pandemic-sized elephant in the room as a backdrop for the Spring 2020 Quarterly Review, but it seems to me that’s all the more reason to proceed as much as possible. Not to feign normality like people aren’t suffering physically, emotionally, and/or financially, but to give those for whom music is a comfort an opportunity to find more of that comfort and, frankly, to do the same for myself. I’ve said many times I need this more than you do, and I do.

So, you know the drill. 10 records a day, Monday to Friday through this week, 50 when we’re done. As Christopher Pike says, let’s hit it.

Quarterly Review #1-10:

Total Fucking Destruction, …To Be Alive at the End of the World

The long-running experimentalist grind trio Total Fucking Destruction remain a sonic presence unto themselves. Their strikingly apropos fifth LP, …To Be Alive at the End of the World, begins with the five-minute psychedelic wash of its unrepentantly pretty, somewhat mournful title-track and ends with a performance-art take on “The Star Spangled Banner” that shifts into eight or so minutes of drone and minimalist noise before reemerging in manipulated form, vocalist/drummer Richard Hoak (also the odd bit of flute and ocarina), bassist/vocalist Ryan Moll and guitarist Pingdum filling the between space with the blasts and jangles of “A Demonstration of Power,” the maddening twists of “Attack of the Supervirus 1138” and other mini-bursts of unbridled aggression like “Stone Bomb,” “Doctor Butcher” and the outright conceptual genius of “Yelling at Velcro,” which, indeed, is just 20 or so seconds of yelling ahead of the arrival of the closer. In an alternate future, Total Fucking Destruction‘s work will be added to the Library of Congress. In this future, we’re boned.

Total Fucking Destruction on Facebook

Translation Loss Records store

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Humulus, The Deep

For the six-song/51-minute The Deep, Italian three-piece Humulus somewhat depart the beer-rocking ways of 2017’s second LP, Reverently Heading into Nowhere (review here). Sure, the riff of “Gone Again” is pure Kyuss idolatry (not a complaint), and “Devil’s Peak (We Eventually Eluded Death)” brims with drunkard’s swagger, but factor in the wonderfully executed linear build that takes place across the eight-minute “Hajra,” the mellow emotionalism of the penultimate acoustic track “Lunar Queen,” and the two extended psychedelic bookends in opener “Into the Heart of the Volcano Sun” (14:48) and closer “Sanctuary III – The Deep” (14:59), and the narrative becomes decidedly more complex than just “they drink and play riffs.” These elements have been in Humulus‘ sound all along, but it’s plain to hear the band have actively worked to push themselves forward in scope, and the range suits them, the closer particularly filled with a theatricality that would seem to speak to further storytelling to come on subsequent releases. So be it. They called the album The Deep and have dived in accordingly.

Humulus on Facebook

Kozmik Artifactz website

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The River, Vessels into White Tides

An atmosphere of melancholy is quickly established on The River‘s third LP, Vessels into White Tides (on Nine Records), and for being the London four-piece’s first album 10 years, it takes place in a sense of unrushed melody, the band rolling out a morose feel born of but not directly aping the likes of My Dying Bride and Paradise Lost as the vocals of guitarist Jenny Newton (also strings, percussion) — joined in the band by guitarist Christian Leitch, bassist Stephen Morrissey and drummer Jason Ludwig — make their presence felt soon in opener “Vessels,” which unfolds gracefully with a crash and rumble fading into the beginning of the subsequent “Into White” (15:01) with the four-minute string-laced “Open” and the 9:44 shifting-into-intensity “Passing” preceding closer “Tides,” which is duly rolling in its progression and offers a sweet bit of release, if wistful, from some of the more grueling moments before it, capping not with a distorted blowout, but with layers of strings reinforcing the folkish underpinning that’s been there all along, in even the most tonally or emotionally weighted stretches.

The River on Facebook

Nine Records store

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Phantom Hound, Mountain Pass

Mountain Pass, which begins with “The Northern Face,” ends with “The Southern Face” and along the way treks through its on-theme title-track and the speedier “You Don’t Know Death,” catchy “Thunder I Am” and fairly-enough bluesy “Devil Blues,” has its foundations in oldschool metal and punk, but is a decidedly rock-based offering. It’s the debut from Oakland’s Phantom Hound, and its eight component tracks make no attempt to mask their origins or coat their material in unnecessary pretense — they are what they are; the album is what it is. The three-piece dip into acoustics on the instrumental “Grace of an Angel,” which shifts with a cymbal wash into the lead guitar at the outset of the eight-minute title-track — the stomp of which is perhaps more evocative of the mountain than the passing, but still works — but even this isn’t so far removed from the straightforward purposes of “Irons in the Fire,” which stakes its claim to dead-ahead metal and rock, barely stopping along the way to ask what else you could possibly need.

Phantom Hound on Facebook

Phantom Hound on Bandcamp

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Chang, Superlocomotodrive

Munich-based trio Chang, with clear, modern production behind them, present their debut EP release with the 29-minute Superlocomotodrive, and though it’s short, one is left wondering what else they might need to consider it an album. What’s missing? You’ve got the let’s-jam-outta-here in the six-minute opener and longest track (immediate points) “Mescalin,” and plenty of gruff riffing to back that up in “Old Rusty Car” and the later title-track, with a bit of Oliveri-era Queens of the Stone Age edge in the latter to boot, plus some psychedelic lead work in “Sterne,” some particularly German quirk in “Bottle Beach” and a massive buildup in tension in the finale “Bombs Whisper” that seems to arrive at its moment of payoff only to instead cut to silence and purposefully leave the listener hanging — an especially bold move for a first release. Yeah, it’s under half an hour long, but so what? The heavy rock terrain Chang are working in is familiar enough — right down to the less-than-P.C. lyrics of “Old Rusty Car” — but there’s no sense that Superlocomotodrive wants to be something it isn’t. It’s heavy rock celebrating heavy rock.

Chang on Facebook

Chang on Bandcamp

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The Dhaze, Deaf Dumb Blind

Though the grunge influence in the vocals of guitarist Simone Pennucci speak to more of a hard-rocking kind of sound, the basis of The Dhaze‘s sprawl across their ambitious 53-minute Sound Effect Records debut album, Deaf Dumb Blind, is more in line with progressive metal and heavy psychedelia. Bassist Vincenzo La Tegola backs Pennucci on vocals and locks in fluid mid-tempo grooves with drummer Lorenzo Manna, and makes a highlight of the low end in “Death Walks with Me” ahead of the titular trilogy, presented in the order of “Deaf,” “Blind” and “Dumb,” which flow together as one piece thanks in no small part to the synth work added by La Tegola and Pennucci together. Obviously comfortable in longer-form stretches like “Death Walks with Me” or the earlier “Neurosis,” both of which top nine minutes, the Napoli trio bring a fervent sense of variety to their work while leaving themselves open to future growth in terms of sound and playing with the balance between elements they establish here.

The Dhaze on Facebook

Sound Effect Records store

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Lost Psychonaut, Lost Psychonaut

Hailing — because metal bands hail, to be sure — from the Pittsburgh area, newcomers Lost Psychonaut boast in their ranks two former members of sludgers Vulture in guitarist/vocalist Justin Erb and bassist
Garrett Twardesky, who, together with drummer Tristan Triggs, run through a debut LP made up of five tracks that skirt the line between groove metal and heavy rock, tapping-like-flowing-kegs influences from the likes of ’90s-era C.O.C. and others such burl-laced groovers. Tales of day-to-day struggles make a fitting enough backdrop to the riff-led proceedings, which commence with the prior-issued single “My Time” and roll-groove their way into a duo of longer cuts at the end in “Restitution Day” (8:46) and “On a Down” (7:44). Frankly, any mention of the word “Down” at all in a song that feels so outwardly “buried in smoke” can hardly be coincidental, but that nod is well earned. With a couple years behind them, they know what they’re going for in this initial batch of songs, and the clearheaded nature of their approach only gives their songwriting more of a sense of command. There’s growth to be undertaken, but nothing to say they can’t get there.

Lost Psychonaut on Facebook

Lost Psychonaut on Bandcamp

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Liquido di Morte, IIII

I suppose you could, if so inclined, live up to Liquido di Morte‘s slogan, “We play music to take drugs to,” but you’d be shorting yourself on the experience of a lucid listen to their third long-player IIII. Issued in limited handmade packaging by the band, the Milan instrumentalists offer a stylistic take across the late-2019 five-tracker that stands somewhere between heavy post-rock and post-metal, but in that incorporates no shortage of thoughtful psychedelic meditations and even some kraut and space rock vibes. The primary impact is atmospheric, but there’s diversity in their approach such that the centerpiece “Tramonto Nucleare” begins cosmic, or maybe cataclysmic, and ends with an almost serene roll into the floating guitar at the outset of the subsequent “Rebus (6,5),” which is the longest inclusion at 13:40 and an encompassing, hypnotic srpawl that, whether you take drugs or not, seems destined to commune with expanded or expanding minds. The front-to-back journey ends with “The Fattening,” a cinematic run of synth after which a slaughter feels almost inevitable, even if it arrives as silence.

Liquido di Morte on Facebook

Liquido di Morte on Bandcamp

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Black Burned Blimp, Crash Overdrive

Bonus points to Netherlands four-piece Black Burned Blimp for including song titles like “What Doesn’t Kill You, Makes You Weirder” and “The Good, the Bad and the Fucking Horrific” and, at the start of “Desert Wizard,” the sample from Trailer Park Boys wherein Mr. Lahey declares, “I am the liquor” on their debut LP, Crash Overdrive. Native to a heavy rock legacy that includes acts like 13eaver, 35007, Astrosoniq and Celestial Season, among many others, the band hint toward melodic complexity while remaining focused on raw energy in their songwriting, such that even the drumless, harmonized and minute-long “Flock” seems to seethe with unstated tension for “Robo Erectus,” which follows, to pay off. It does, though perhaps with less of a tempo kick than one might expect — certainly less than the careening “The Good, the Bad and the Fucking Horrific” a few tracks later — but somehow, no matter what speed they’re actually playing, Black Burned Blimp seem to make it sound fast. Vitality will do that.

Black Burned Blimp on Facebook

Black Burned Blimp on Bandcamp

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Crimson Oak, Crimson Oak

Though their arrival comes amid a German heavy rock underground that’s nothing if not well populated, Fulda-based five-piece Crimson Oak present with their self-titled debut long-player a stylistic take that’s both modern and genuine sounding, finding solid ground in well-crafted songs drawing more from ’90s-era heavy and punk in “Danger Time,” which follows the contemplative “Of My Youth,” the bulk of what surrounds expressing a similar level of self-awareness, up to and including the nine-minute side B opener “Brother of Sleep,” which sets psychedelic guitar against some of the album’s biggest riffs (and melodies). There’s middle ground to be had in cuts like “Displace” and “Sunset Embrace” still to come and “Fulda Gap” earlier, but Crimson Oak seem to touch that middle ground mostly en route to whichever end of the spectrum next piques their interest. At seven songs and 42 minutes, it’s not an insubstantial LP, but they hold their own with confidence and a poise that speaks to the fact that some of this material showed up on prior EPs. That experience with it shows but does not hold the band or songs back.

Crimson Oak on Facebook

Crimson Oak on Bandcamp

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Finland’s Caskets Open release their new album, Concrete Realms of Pain, on March 20 through Nine Records. It is the depressive Helsinki three-piece’s fourth full-length in a tenure that dates back to 2007, and it brings together nine songs for 46 minutes that alternate between willful slog and outright thrashing punk. With little more notice than a grunt from bassist/vocalist Timo Ketola, the drums of Pyry Ojala and the riffs of Antti Ronkainen might take off at any moment and speedily complement the downer movement of a cut like the opener “Four Shrines” or the later and especially grueling “Tadens Tolthe” — which goes from minimalist crawl to Misfits-style brashness — with a rush of raw adrenaline.

The more-melodic-but-also-screamy “Homecoming” and decidedly midtempo “Tunnel Guard,” which follows, find some measure of balance between the two extremes as laid out in “Four Shrines” and all-go second cut “Riding on a Rotten Horse,” but Concrete Realms of Pain continues to bring in a variety of sonic elements, be it the Type O Negative-style bass fuzz on “White Animal,” the chug and starts and stops of “Blossom,” and the melo-punk-into-noise-wash procession of “Soul Stained Glass” ahead of the building finale “Pale Hunter,” which moves from the ground up in increasingly aggro fashion.

There are shades of the rich history of Finnish doom to be heard here and there among the other aspects of the band’s persona, but Caskets Open have clearly established parameters for their sound and work effectively in pushing forward one side, the other, or in some cases, both at the same time. It works well for them throughout Concrete Realms of Pain in creating an atmosphere that’s never quite lush, but neither afraid to incorporate or cast off melody as the song requires, whichever song it might be. In the three tracks that top six minutes — “Four Shrines,” “Tadens Tolthe” and “Pale Hunter” — they’re able to find room to flesh out the journey from beginning to end more than, say, “Tunnel Guard,” which though it gets more aggressive vocally in its second half and Ketola tosses in one of the record’s several effective “ough” grunts, largely holds to its central pace and style around that.

Nothing against either approach — if anything, the diversity of the material is one of Concrete Realms of Pain‘s greatest strengths; it is a less predictable album because of it — but though the album itself is longer than was its 2017 predecessor, Follow Nothing, its songs seem shorter on average than anything Caskets Open have done before, which speaks to an interesting cohesion taking hold in their execution, perhaps even a shifting of focus to more traditionalist songcraft. No matter. In the center of the centerpiece, at the midpoint of “White Animal,” it’s still that bass fuzz getting the band’s point across.

Doom is engaged, internalized, reformed and deployed, and 13 years on from their formation, Caskets Open righteously hold onto a volatile sensibility that makes Concrete Realms of Pain as exciting as it sometimes seems barebones. It is a doom record, to be sure, but it nonetheless forces one to ask themselves exactly what that means and how that is judged. Righteous.

The video for “Tunnel Guard” is premiering below. Please have at it. PR wire info for Concrete Realms of Pain follows.

Enjoy:

Caskets Open, “Tunnel Guard” official video

“Tunnel Guard” from Caskets Open’s fourth full-length album “Concrete Realms of Pain”. Recorded and mixed at Tonehaven Recording Studio by Tom Brooke. Mastered by James Plotkin. Shot and edited by Sakari Rinta-Valkama.

Finnish Doom Lords Caskets Open will release Concrete Realms of Pain, the trio’s fourth album, March 20 on Nine Records.
Suicide plans in a nocturnal ski-jump tower, existential anxiety in a bleak sports bar, long walks in the shadows of the Central Park, Concrete Realms of Pain is a journey into experiences of loss and human suffering. Icicle sharp guitar leads guide the listener through sorrowful doom metal to gnarly hardcore punk parts. And of course the songs are enveloped by the band’s trademark buzzing bass sound. Caskets Open have outdone themselves on Concrete Realms of Pain.

Concrete Realms of Pain was recorded and mixed at Tonehaven Recording Studio by Tom Brooke. It was mastered by James Plotkin.

Track Listing:
1. Four Shrines
2. Riding on a Rotting Horse
3. Homecoming
4. Tunnel Guard
5. White Animal
6. Tadens Tolthe
7. Blossom
8. Soul Stained Glass
9. Pale Hunter

Line-up
Timo Ketola – bass, vocals
Antti Ronkainen – guitars
Pyry Ojala – drums

Caskets Open on Thee Facebooks

Caskets Open on Instagram

Caskets Open on Bandcamp

Nine Records on Thee Facebooks

Nine Records on Bandcamp

Nine Records website

So, I’ll admit that for a band whose roots stretch back some 20 years, London’s The River are new to me. But dig into the video at the bottom here for “Vessels.” It’s awesome. The song is atmospheric, patience, sprawling, string-laden and melodic in a way that reminds me of a rawer take on SubRosa, but at the same time, it’s more thoroughly doomed as well. It’s 11 minutes long and absolutely gripping for the duration. I downloaded the rest of the promo immediately to check out and can’t wait to dive into it. It’s moved to the top of the queue.

And by some coincidence, I think I might’ve been in the bar/restaurant where the promo shot above was taken the last time I was in Camden Town. It was an upstairs room at a place on Camden High St. a little bit down the way from the Whole Foods. I can’t remember what it was called. I don’t think it’s the Oxford Arms, but I could be wrong. Anyway, if that’s the spot, just something odd to notice. I remembered that sign about party reservations when I saw it.

Here’s some more useful info, courtesy of the PR wire:

British Doom Dealers THE RIVER Releasing New Album ‘Vessels Into White Tides’ December 11 on Nine Records

After a decade since last their last full-length album (In Situ) British Doom Dealers The River return with long-anticipated third full-length album, Vessels Into White Tides, December 11 on Nine Records. If you like melancholic doom metal, then this one is essential! Check out the official video for “Vessels” below.

Fusing texture and light with a heavy set foundation, The River have been honing their craft over the past two decades with two well-received albums and EPs. Incorporating space and subtlety with a strong emphasis on melody, the band mixes fragile vocals over down tempo rhythms, and dense ebb and flow of guitar to create a bittersweet, wistful sound.

The band’s third album, Vessels Into White Tides, brings new colours to their musical palette, taking the music through greater peaks and valleys that heard on previous releases. The multi-instrumental nature of the songs helps to explore and push the sound into a richer, more varied, and ultimately more mature form without ever sacrificing their heavier roots.

Track Listing

1. Vessels
2. Into White
3. Open
4. Passing
5. Tides

It started in 1999. The dust in the room began to dance and bask in the amber glow of the valves as the amps began to rumble into life. Adding the battery controlled the monolith whilst the soothing tones of the voice healed the wounds from the bludgeon. Light from the cracks in the boarded windows cast shadows across the walls, the haze only adding to the core of the sound as the aural mantra continued. The constant tapping of the rain outside only added to the rhythm and flow, not a downpour but a constant nonetheless, mixing with the evening sun to cast a kaleidoscope of colours sprawling through the air. The clouds that burned in the fading violet sky fell perfectly in step…

Line-up
Jenny Newton – Guitars, Vocals, Strings, Percussion
Christian Leitch – Guitars, Percussion
Stephen Morrissey – Bass
Jason Ludwig – Drums

facebook.com/riverbanduk
riverbanduk.bandcamp.com/
instagram.com/_riverbanduk/
shop.nine-records.com/
ninerecords.bandcamp.com/
facebook.com/NineRecords/

The River, “Vessels” official video

I’ve been doing this for a while, the whole Quarterly Review thing. Not just talking about the last two weeks — though that also feels like a while to be doing it — but over the last few years. And in so doing I have a couple running gags kind of with myself. One obvious one is the “(immediate points)” for bands who put their longest song first on their album. There is no point system. There will be no tally at the end. I don’t grade records. It’s just a way of noting a decision I almost always find to be particularly bold.

Another is the use of “penultimate.” I don’t even know how this happened, but I use that word all the time in these reviews, way, way more than I might in day-to-day life. Somehow I’m always talking about the second-to-last song. Keep an eye out today, I’m sure it’ll be in there.

Indeed, I bring it up because today is the penultimate day of this extended Quarterly Review. We’ll finish out with the last 10 records tomorrow, and no doubt by the end of it I’ll be doling out more “(immediate points)” and talking about the “apex of the penultimate cut” or whatever else it is I do. Hard not to repeat yourself when you’re writing about 100 records. Or, you know, one.

Quarterly Review #81-90:

Rotor, Sechs

Long-running Berlin instrumentalists Rotor issue Sechs, their aptly-titled sixth album, as their second for Noisolution after 2015’s Fünf (review here), and in so doing blend the best impulses from where they started with where they’ve ended up. Fünf, not without its moments of heavy psych drift, was a deeply progressive album, and Sechs is likewise, but it also brings in a more natural, warmer production sound like some of their earlier material, so that songs like “Vor der Hern” or “Allmacht” come across as nuanced but welcoming all the same. “Allmacht” is a highlight for its classic prog elements, but that’s not to discount the centerpiece “Abfahrt!,” with its raucous second half or the nine-minute penultimate cut “Druckverband,” which finds Rotor pushing themselves to new heights some 20 years on from their beginnings. Or anything else, for that matter, because it’s all brilliant. And that, basically, is how you know you’re listening to Rotor.

Rotor on Facebook

Noisolution website

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Electric Octopus, Line Standing

Next-level naturalism from Belfast trio Electric Octopus means that not only does the digital-only-otherwise-it’d-be-a-box-set Line Standing top four and a half hours, but those four and a half hours bring the listener into the studio with the band — guitarist Tyrell Black, bassist/keyboardist Dale Hughes and drummer Guy Hetherington — as they talk between jams, goof around and discuss what they just played in quick interludes. Complementing cuts like 35-minute opener “Iliudi,” the 38-minute “Line Standing 23336,” the 24-minute “Room Move” and the three-minute funk-reggae vibe of “Inspired by a Chicken,” the chatter gives Line Standing an even more organic vibe not by trying to capture a live feel, like what they’d do on stage — they have plenty of live albums for that — but by bringing the listener into the studio while they pick up their instruments and improvise their way through whatever it is that’s coming next, which is something that everyone seems to find out together. It’s not always smooth, but neither should it be. This is pure sonic exploration — and not a little of it.

Electric Octopus on Facebook

Electric Octopus on Bandcamp

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Randall Dunn, Beloved

Randall Dunn, through his production work, collaborations with Sunn O))), founding Master Musicians of Bukkake, etc., is no stranger to experimentalism, and his first solo album, Beloved (on Figureight), finds him evoking cinematic landscapes one at a time in ambient tracks that range from minimalist to consuming by sheer will. His range as a composer means that “Mexico City” shimmers with a near-overwhelming post-Vangelis splendor while “Lava Rock and Amber” is barren enough to make each strike of the piano keys feel like a lifeline before the synth horror takes hold near the end. Dunn brings in several guest vocalists for spots on “Something About that Night” and closer “A True Home,” but there’s hardly a lack of human presence throughout the material anyway, as the nine-minute centerpiece “Theoria : Aleph” resonates with the creative drive that made it. Not by any means a record that’s going to be for everyone, Beloved casts a sound that’s impeccably broad.

Randall Dunn on Facebook

Figureight on Bandcamp

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Graven, Heirs of Discord

Heirs of Discord, indeed. With guitarist/vocalist Peter Maturi and drummer Chris Csar from the much-missed Swarm of the Lotus and bassist Teddy Patterson of Burnt by the Sun and Human Remains in the up-and-down-the-Eastern-Seaboard lineup with vocalist Jason Borowy, there’s no shortage of discord to go around. Deathly extremity and a pervasive grinding sensibility is conveyed with tones that absolutely crush and a groove that, while not shy with the blastbeats on “I Dreamt You Were Dead” — or the bonus track Human Remains cover “Human,” for that matter — is no less comfortable locked in the nod of the nine-minute “Thieves of Rotted Ilk.” It reportedly took Graven over a year to make the six-song/28-minute LP at various studios (including one two towns over from where I grew up in my beloved Garden State), and one only hopes the no-doubt daunting nature of that task doesn’t dissuade Graven from a follow-up, because whether it’s the angular starts and stops of “Backwards to Oblivion” or the initial assault of “A Failed Mask,” they bring a stylistic nuance to extreme metal that goes beyond the often dry showcase of technical prowess the style can sometimes be. However long it might take to put together, a sophomore outing feels well justified.

Graven on Facebook

Graven on Bandcamp

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Near Dusk, Near Dusk

The cleverly-titled “Humboldt Pie” finds them dipping into bluesier fare with some psychedelic effect on guitarist Matthew Orloff‘s vocals, and “We are the Buffalo” has a distinct spaciousness, but the core of Denver trio Near Dusk‘s self-released, self-titled debut is in straightforward heavy rock, and Orloff, bassist Kellen McInerney and drummer Jon Orloff sound well schooled in the ways of following the riff. “That Bastard” chugs out behind a vocal echo and the six-minute opener and longest track (immediate points) “No More” introduces the steady factor that is McInerney‘s bass behind some initial guitar noodling that leads to the first of many rolling grooves to come on the seven-track/34-minute outing. The bass again gets to shine in the subsequent “Sweet Home,” setting up the final push for a moment before being joined by the drums and guitar, and the low-end tone is right on, though by the time they close out with “Furnace Creek,” all three of them seem to tease some jammier sensibilities. Near Dusk allow themselves room to develop their approach and perspective, but establish a strong root of songwriting to serve as their foundation as they move forward.

Near Dusk on Facebook

Near Dusk on Bandcamp

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Svuco, El Gran Mito de SanSaru

At least some of the material on Svuco‘s debut long-player, El Gran Mito de SanSaru, dates back a few years. The release includes what was the title-track of their 2015 Mizaru EP as well as the title-track of 2016’s Kikazaru, as well as a number of tracks that also featured on the Iwazaru EP shortly before the album actually arrived. Still, taken in this form and with these recordings, the Granada-based four-piece unfurl a varied 13-song full-length that’s crisp in its production and smoothly constructed to hit hard but with a sense of tonal presence that speaks to a heavy rock influence. That is, there might be a current of noise rock to the ’90s-style chug of “Llorarás,” but “Fuzzia” still has room for organ and acoustic guitar along with its central riff. Later cuts like “Nobogo,” the layered-vocals of “El Color del Sol,” and the almost-industrial pulsations (conveyed through organic instrumentation) of “El Dios del Nuevo Mundo” branch out, but there’s an underlying identity taking shape all the while.

Svuco on Facebook

Svuco on Bandcamp

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Stonus, Lunar Eclipse

Welcoming in its tone and bordering on cosmic in its atmosphere, Lunar Eclipse is the second EP from Cyprus-based troupe Stonus, and for the sprawl of its eight-minute title-track alone, it showcases distinct potential on the part of the band. Intro and outro tracks help set up a flow, but as “Aspirin” and “Spiritual Realities” fuzz their way toward “Lunar Eclipse” itself, it’s hardly like Stonus need the help. The tempo of “Aspirin” tells the tale, taking desert rock to three-quarters speed for an extra laid back vibe, still pushed along by the drums, but chill, chill, chill as it goes. “Spiritual Realities” is a little more tripped out in its lumber, and its vocals are more forward in the mix, but once again, “Lunar Eclipse” is nothing but a joy to behold from front to back, and in large part it defines the short release that shares its name. They close out with the minute of experimentalism on “Euphoric Misery” and only make one hope they don’t lost those impulses by the time they get around to a full-length, because they’ll only help them further distinguish themselves.

Stonus on Thee Faceboks

Stonus on Bandcamp

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Acolytes of Moros, The Wellspring

Seven years on from playing their first show, Swedish doomers Acolytes of Moros present their first full-length, The Wellspring (CD on Nine Records), and if that might stand as an indication of their pacing overall, it would certainly apply to the album itself. Presented as four extended tracks with an interlude/instrumental near seven minutes dividing the two halves, it’s a rawly-produced take on doom-death traditionalism with an emphasis on the first part of that equation. Calling it “morose” feels too easy given the band’s moniker, but they’re nothing if not self-aware, and the miseries they portray in “Quotidian” and the 14-minute “A Yen to Relinquish and Evanesce” border on the dramatic without ever really tipping too far in that direction, coming through as much in the grueling riffs as in the vocal declarations and willfully repetitive rhythms. It’s a slog and it’s supposed to be, but Acolytes of Moros eschew the sometimes lush presentation of their genre in favor of a barebones take that loses none of its emotional impact for that.

Acolytes of Moros on Facebook

Nine Records website

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Lime Eyelid, Week of Wonders

As regards recording narratives, it’s hard to beat the image of Traveling Circle drummer Josh Schultz recording Lime Eyelid‘s debut album, Week of Wonders (as in, The Wonder Weeks?), alone in his kitchen. The resulting limited LP is comprised mostly of numbered instrumental experiments in drone and languid groove, save for “I Saw Waves,” which brings to mind some of Six Organs of Admittance‘s far-out earlier fare, but psychedelia holds a prominent sway and if you ever want a lesson in doing something new with familiar elements, look no further than the watery guitar line of “1” or “3,” with its Earth groove gone processional. The 12-minute soundscape of “4” follows as Schultz moves deeper into the realms of cosmic minimalism — that big, mostly empty, galaxy — but “5” somehow sounds even more piped in from outer space, and closer “6” rounds out with swells of high-pitched volume that seem to be speaking their own language in tone. Pretty vast reaches for a record to hit, having been recorded in the kitchen. One awaits further adventures in the follow-up.

Lime Eyelid on Soundcloud

Lime Eyelid on YouTube

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Tombtoker, Coffin Texts

I don’t know if the band’s moniker refers to one who actually tokes tombs or who tokes in tombs, but neither would surprise me. The Baltimorean five-piece Tombtoker unveil their 20-minute debut EP, Coffin Texts (on Seeing Red, tapes through Metal Swarm), with a melding of doom, sludge and metallic extremity that is righteous in its riffs and malevolent in its purposes. That is to say, they mean harm. “Warfare Revolution” and “Robo Cujo” demonstrate that plainly ahead of the centerpiece “Stenchsquatch” with its oh-you’re-gonna-have-to-play-that-at-all-the-shows lurching midsection of death, while the subsequent “Blood Freak” taps Eyehategoddy swing and closer/shortest track “Globster” (3:21) bludgeons its own riffs before a bit of Slayer-style ping ride late adds even more of that metal-for-metal feel. I’d call it promising, but maybe “foreboding” is a better word. Whether they’re smoking your corpse or just smoking near your corpse, Tombtoker bring a welcome sense of chaos to extreme sludge that hearkens to the genre’s original, unhinged appeal.

Tombtoker on Facebook

Seeing Red Records on Bandcamp

Metal Swarm website

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Filth-laden Finnish doomers Cardinals Folly will release their fourth album, Deranged Pagan Sons, this September or thereabouts. With all the grit of Saint Vitus, the brash epic fuckall of Reverend Bizarre and a healthy dose of medieval skullcrushery to boot, the Helsinki three-piece have unveiled the track “Worship Her Fire” for streaming and as you can hear below, they’re more than well-schooled in the tenets of the doom they’re conveying. That said, I think my favorite moment might be when they slink into harsher vocals and give the song an even more malevolent, misanthropic vibe while still keeping their fist in the air, middle finger up at the universe in general.

You can check out the track below, at the bottom of this post — do it. Deranged Pagan Sons is out this fall via Nine Records and Topillo Records, as the PR wire explains:

Cardinals Folly – Deranged Pagan Sons

CARDINALS FOLLY to unleash 4th album “Deranged Pagan Sons” through Nine and Topillo Records this fall!

Finland´s dark princes of the riff, doom metal cult CARDINALS FOLLY will unleash their 4th album “Deranged Pagan Sons” through Polish Nine Records on CD and via Spanish Topillo on LP around September 2017.

Dabbling in the world of occultism, weird tales, pagan rites and luciferian depravity, the band has recorded an album consisting 8 powerful, even wild anthems of heavy doom and metal mastery, that never let their savage grip go, despite of going on a varied 48-minute fiery ´n´ groovy metal adventure, where the only rule is to doom in, drop out, rock hard & stay true.

Previous album “Holocaust of Ecstasy & Freedom” (Shadow Kingdom Records, 2016) paved the way to this fulfillment of their doomed art, where every song rolls by like a megafauna of a bygone age.The doom metal underground sometimes seems packed with toothless sheep, so it is great to spend some time with wolves. Laughing off the shackles of the latest trends or retro gimmicks, Helsinki trio Cardinals Folly bring an energy and inventiveness to the genre that is authentic and unique. Drink from this chalice and give your body and mind to the old gods.

https://www.facebook.com/cardinalsfolly/
http://cardinalsfolly.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/Topillo-Records-1764622050423677/
http://www.topillo.es/
https://ninerecords.bandcamp.com/
http://www.facebook.com/NineRecords

Cardinals Folly, “Worship Her Fire”

From harsh doom to urban pastoralism to heavy blues rock to rolling doom nonetheless metallic in its defiance, Day Four of the Quarterly Review spins around a swath of styles and hopefully, hopefully, finds something you dig in the doing. It’s been a long week already. You know it. I know it. But it’s also been really good to dig into this stuff and I know I’ve found a few records that have made their way onto the already-ongoing 2017 lists — best short releases, debuts, albums, etc. — so to say it’s been worth it is, as ever, an understatement. Today likewise has gems to offer, so I won’t delay.

Quarterly Review #31-40:

Unearthly Trance, Stalking the Ghost

Brooklyn’s Unearthly Trance make a somewhat unexpected reentry with Stalking the Ghost (on Relapse), their sixth album. In the years since 2010’s V (review here), guitarist/vocalist Ryan Lipynsky has delved into a wide variety of extreme genres, from the blackened fare of The Howling Wind to the deathly-doom of Serpentine Path, in which Unearthly Trance bassist Jay Newman and drummer Darren Verni also shared tenure, but reuniting as Unearthly Trance feels like a significant step for the three-piece, and on tracks like “Dream State Arsenal” and the darkly post-metallic “Lion Strength,” they remind of what it was that made them such a standout in the first place while demonstrating that their years away have done nothing to dull the surehandedness of their approach. At eight tracks/52 minutes, Stalking the Ghost is a significant dirge to undertake, but Unearthly Trance bring pent-up anguish to bear across this varied swath of punishing tracks, and reassert their dominance over an aesthetic sphere that, even after all this time, is thoroughly their own.

Unearthly Trance on Thee Facebooks

Relapse Records website

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Heavy Traffic, Plastic Surgery

Probably a smart move on the part of Heavy Traffic spearhead guitarist Ian Caddick and drummer/vocalist Tav Palumbo to swap coasts from Santa Cruz to Brooklyn ahead of putting together their sixth (!) full-length in three years and Twin Earth Records debut, Plastic Surgery. Cali is awash in heavy psych anyway and Brooklyn’s been at a deficit (as much as it’s at a deficit of anything) since space forerunners Naam became one with the cosmos, so even apart from the acquisition of bassist David Grzedzinki and drummer Dan Bradica, it’s a solid call, and one finds the fruits yielded on Plastic Surgery’s dream-fuzzed blend of heft and roll, heady jams like “See Right Through,” the oh-you-like-feedback-well-here’s-all-the-feedback “Broth Drain” and winding “Medicated Bed” finding a place where shoegaze and psychedelia meet ahead of the low-end-weighted closing title-cut and the bonus track “White and Green,” which finishes with suitable push and swirl to mark a welcome and vibe-soaked arrival for the band. Hope you enjoy the Eastern Seabord. It could use you.

Heavy Traffic on Thee Facebooks

Twin Earth Records on Bandcamp

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Saturn, Beyond Spectra

In the second Saturn album, Beyond Spectra, one can hear one of retro rock’s crucial next movements taking place. The Swedish four-piece, who debuted on Rise Above with 2014’s Ascending and return with a periodically explosive 10-track/45-minute outing here, find a niche for themselves in adding dual-guitar NWOBHM elements to ‘70s-style (also ‘10s-style) boogie, as on the scorching “Still Young” or opener “Orbital Command.” They’re not the only ones doing it – Rise Above alums Horisont come to mind readily – but they’re doing it well, and the last three years have clearly found them refining their approach to arrive at the tightness in the shuffle of “Wolfsson” and the creeping Priestism of “Helmet Man” later on. I’ll give bonus points for their embracing the idea of going completely over the top in naming a song “Electrosaurus Sex,” but by the time they get down to closing duo “Silfvertape” and “Sensor Data,” I’m left thinking of the subdued intro to “Orbital Command” and the interlude “Linkans Delight” and wondering if there isn’t a way to bring more of that dynamic volume and tempo breadth into the songwriting as a whole. That would really be far out. Maybe they’ll get there, maybe they won’t. Either way, Beyond Spectra, like its predecessor, makes a largely inarguable case for Saturn’s potential.

Saturn on Thee Facebooks

Rise Above Records website

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Lucifer’s Fall, II: Cursed and Damned

Measuring its impact between doomly traditionalism and attitudinal fuckall, Lucifer’s Fall’s II: Cursed and Damned (on Nine Records) is a doom-for-doomers affair that tops 55 minutes with its nine tracks, recalling Dio-era Sabbathian gallop on opener “Mother Superior” and landing a significant blow with the slow-rolling nine-minute push of “The Necromancer.” Shades of Candlemass, Reverend Bizarre, and the most loyal of the loyalists show themselves throughout, but whether it’s the crawl in the first half of “Cursed Priestess” or the blistering rush of the clarion centerpiece “(Fuck  You) We’re Lucifer’s Fall,” there’s an undercurrent of punk in the five-piece’s take that lends an abiding rawness to even the album’s most grueling moments. One looks to find a middle ground in songs like “The Mountains of Madness” and closer “Homunculus,” but Lucifer’s Fall instead offer NWOBHM-style guitar harmonics and soaring vocals, respectively, only pushing their stylistic breadth wider, playing by and breaking rules they’re clearly setting for themselves rather than working toward outside expectation. As a result, II: Cursed and Damned keeps its fist in the air for the duration, middle finger up.

Lucifer’s Fall on Bandcamp

Nine Records website

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Trevor Shelley de Brauw, Uptown

Over the course of six-minute opener “A New Architecture,” guitarist Trevor Shelley de Brauw gradually moves the listener from abrasive noise to sweet, folkish acoustic guitar backed by amplified wavelengths. It’s a slowly unfolding change, patiently done, and it works in part to define Uptown (on The Flenser), the Pelican guitarist’s six-song solo debut long-player. Noise and drone make themselves regulars, and there’s a steady experimentalism at root in pieces like “Distinct Frequency,” the low-end hum and strum of “You Were Sure,” and the should’ve-been-on-the-soundtrack-to-Arrival “Turn up for What,” which unfurls a linear progression from minimalism to consuming swell in eight minutes ahead of the more actively droning 11-minute sendoff “From the Black Soil Poetry and Song Sprang,” but de Brauw manages to keep a human core beneath via both the occasional acoustic layer and through moments where a piece is being palpably manipulated, à la the spacious distorted churn of “They Keep Bowing.” I’m not sure how Uptown didn’t wind up on Neurot, but either way, it’s an engaging exploration of textures, and one hopes it won’t be de Brauw’s last work in this form.

Trevor Shelley de Brauw on Thee Facebooks

The Flenser website

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Scuzzy Yeti, Scuzzy Yeti

Someone in Scuzzy Yeti has roots in metal, and the good money’s on it being vocalist Chris Wells. Joined in the Troy, New Hampshire, five-piece by guitarists Brad Decatur and Jason Lawrence (ex-Skrogg), bassist Wayne Munson and drummer Josh Turnbull, Wells casts a sizable frontman presence across the five-tracks of Scuzzy Yeti’s self-titled debut EP, belting out “Westward” and “BTK” as the band behind him hones a blend of classic heavy rock and doom. The sound is more reminiscent of Janne Christoffersson-era Spiritual Beggars than what one might expect out of New England, and the band amass some considerable momentum as centerpiece “Conqueror” and the shorter shuffle “Knees in the Breeze” push toward slower, lead-soaked closer “Flare,” which finds the lead guitar stepping up to meet Wells head-on. They might have some work to do in finding a balance between the stylistic elements at play, but for a first outing, Scuzzy Yeti shows all the pieces are there and are being put into their rightful place, and the result is significant, marked potential.

Scuzzy Yeti on Thee Facebooks

Scuzzy Yeti on Bandcamp

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Urn., Urn.

The insistent push from punctuated Denver trio Urn.’s self-titled debut demo/EP is enough to remind one of the days when the primary impression of Mastodon wasn’t their complexity, but the raw savagery with which that complexity was delivered. Urn. – the three-piece of Scott Schulman, Graham Wesselhoff and Jacob Archuleta – work in some elements of more extreme metal to “Rat King” after opener “Breeder,” both songs under three minutes and successfully conveying an intense thrust. The subsequent “Stomach” ranges further and is the longest cut at 4:45, but loses none of its focus as it winds its way toward closer “To the Grave,” which in addition to maintaining the nigh-on-constant kick drum that has pervaded the three tracks prior, offers some hints of lumbering stomp to come. As a first sampling, Urn.’s Urn. is a cohesive aesthetic blast setting in motion a progression that will be worth following as it develops. Call it rager metal and try not to spill your beverage while you windmill, you wild headbanger.

Urn. on Thee Facebooks

Urn. on Bandcamp

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Nebula Drag, Always Dying

2016 found San Diego aggressors Nebula Drag making their self-titled, self-released debut (review here) with a record that seemed to work in willful defiance of their hometown’s psychedelic underground while at the same time occasionally nodding to it. The forebodingly-titled Always Dying three-song EP does likewise, launching with a vengeance on “Crosses” before burying the vocals and spacing out behind the crashes of the more languid-rolling title-track and giving a bit of both sides with the four-minute closer “Flying Fuckers.” It’s almost as if the three-piece of Corey Quintana, bassist Mike Finneran and drummer Stephen Varns, having thus completed their first album, decided to boil it down to its essential stylistic components and the result of that was this 14-minute outing. An intriguing prospect, but it could also be these were leftovers from the prior session with Jordan Andreen at Audio Design Recording and putting them up for a free download was an easy way to give them some purpose. In any case, if you haven’t yet been introduced to the band, Always Dying is an efficient telling of their story thus far.

Nebula Drag on Thee Facebooks

Nebula Drag on Bandcamp

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Contra, Deny Everything

If their moniker doesn’t have you immediately running through the most legendary of cheat codes, congratulations on being born after 1990. Cleveland burl-sludge metallers Contra make their full-length debut on respected purveyor Robustfellow with the 10-track/41-minute Deny Everything, and if it sounds like they have their shit together – at least sound-wise – it should make sense given the pedigree of drummer Aaron Brittain (ex-Rue), bassist/guitarist Adam Horwatt (So Long Albatross), guitarist Chris Chiera (ex-Sofa King Killer) and vocalist Larry Bent (ex-Don Austin). Be it established that songs like “Snake Goat” and “Son of Beast” are nobody’s first time at the sludge rodeo. Fair enough. Doesn’t mean Contra don’t establish their own personality in the overarching fuckall and total lack of pretense throughout Deny Everything – hell, seven-minute closer “Shrimp Cocktail” proves that on its own – just that that personality has roots. What Contra wants to do with them still kind of seems up in the air, but something about these tracks makes me think the band likes it that way. See the aforementioned “fuckall.”

Contra on Bandcamp

Robustfellow Productions on Bandcamp

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IAH, IAH

Comprised of four songs tracked live in the trio’s native Córdoba at 440 Estudio, the self-titled debut EP from Argentine trio IAH – guitarist Mauricio Condon, bassist Juan Pablo Lucco and drummer José Landín – would seem destined to catch the attention of South American Sludge Records if it already hasn’t. In the interim, the three-piece have made the instrumental EP available as a free download and its unpretentious heavy psychedelics and edge of rock-minded thrust on opener “Cabalgan los Cielos” and the early going of closer “Eclipsum” more than justify their intention to spread the word as much as possible. Set to a balance of post-rock guitar, the bassline of “Stolas” carries a progressive inflection, and the fuzz that emerges halfway into second track “Ouroboros” shows a desert rock influence that blends well into its surroundings as a part of a richer sonic entity. A nascent but palpable chemistry at work across its 26 minutes, IAH’s IAH could portend expansive ideas to come, and one hopes it does precisely that.

IAH on Thee Facebooks

IAH on Bandcamp

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As far as band taglines go, ‘Fuck you, we’re Lucifer’s Fall!’ is pretty solid. Belonging to the Australian traditional doom outfit of the same name, it rather neatly sums up the drunk and misanthropic perspective from which their grit seems to emanate on a song like “Mother Superior,” which you can hear below and which opens their second album, II: Cursed and Damned, which is being released Dec. 12 — that’s next Monday in case you, like me, are working a month behind in your own I-think-it’s-this-date-not-this-date mental calendar — by Nine Records. Like Reagers-fronted Vitus with some of Orange Goblin‘s burning-alcohol-for-fuel momentum building. Makes for a pretty raw combination, but hey, you can hear it for yourself, so no need for me to prattle on.

The PR wire brings the attitude to the people:

LUCIFER’S FALL – II: Cursed & Damned – new album from Australian doom metallers!

NINE005, CD, Release Date: December 12th, 2016

Straight from South Australia, Lucifer’s Fall recorded Their second full-length album called “II: Cursed & Damned”.

Lucifer’s Fall was created in 2013 by Deceiver and Unknown Unnamed (members of Rote Mare). In 2014 they recorded their debut album, which was re-released in 2015
by Hammerheart Records. Lucifer’s Fall, worshiping a raw traditional doom metal, classic doom metal bands like Saint Vitus, Pentagram and Reverend Bizarre.

“II: Cursed & Damned” contains nine tracks with heavy catchy riffs, crushing sounds and brilliant vocals. No tricks, no bullshit, this is sense of DOOM!

“Bringing doom and death to you all — Fuck You We’re Lucifer’s Fall”

1. Mother Superior
2. Damnation
3. The Mountain of Madness
4. Cursed Priestess
5. (Fuck You) We’re Lucifer’s Fall
6. The Necromancer
7. Sacrifice
8. The Invocator / Cursed Be Thy Name
9. Homunculus

Total Running Time: 50 minutes

Lucifer’s Fall is:
Deceiver – Apocalyptic Howls
Unknown Unnamed – Hammer Of Doom
Heretic – Abrasive Blasphemy
Cursed Priestess – Cryptic Storms & Incantations
The Invocator – Axe Of Satan & Demonic Summonings
FUCK YOU! WE’RE LUCIFER’S FALL……

https://www.facebook.com/LucifersFallDoom
http://ninerecords.bandcamp.com/
http://nine-records.com/
http://www.facebook.com/NineRecords

Lucifer’s Fall, “Mother Superior”

While I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to see an owl on the cover of a heavy album and not think of Rush‘s Fly by Night immediately, I’m also not sure that’s not the intent of San Diego three-piece Leather Nun America, whose new full-length, Buddha Knievel, is due out March 9 on Nine Records. Take that owl from the Adam Burke cover art, add in the Viking ship and the doomly-looking hilltop castle and you’ve got a decent sense of where the trio are coming from musically. It would hardly fit the aesthetic, but somehow if a bottle of wine could’ve been incorporated or maybe a Maryland flag from one of the castle ramparts, it might go even further toward conveying Leather Nun America‘s particular affinity for Maryland doom and the work of The Obsessed, which continues to be a pervasive influence on their sound, as the new song “Into Abyss,” audible below, demonstrates.

I’m only kidding about changing the art, just in case there’s any lingering doubt. One look at it and it’s pretty easy to tell there isn’t a damn thing missing. Also, kudos to Leather Nun America on the title Buddha Knievel. Not that I’m keeping a list of the year’s best album names or anything, but if I was, that would definitely make the cut.

To the PR wire:

LEATHER NUN america – Buddha Knievel

NINE004, CD, Release Date: March 9th, 2015

LEATHER NUN america releases new album called “Buddha Knievel” on cd and digital download through Nine Records. This record is packed full with eleven magic, but old heavy tracks! Taking a doom fueled journey through sounds rich with MD/DC standards, then branching into cold harder Northern sound. 45 minutes of traditional doom metal in the vein of Wino’s bands like The Obsessed, The Hidden Hand and Spirit Caravan. Fans of Maryland doom metal sound and style will be satisfied!

Leather Nun america from San Diego/California is active since 2003. They released three albums before for PsycheDOOMelic Records (“All Your Kin” 2006, “Absence of Light” 2008, “Kult Occult” 2011), all of which at high levels. Listen to the “Buddha Knievel”, and you will see that they have reached a higher level.

1. Prologue
2. Into Abyss
3. Warwolf
4. Bourgeois Pig
5. Interlude
6. Burning Village
7. Barghest
8. Priestess
9. Gloom
10. Winter Kill
11. Irish Steel

Total Running Time: 45 minutes

https://www.facebook.com/leatherNunamerica
http://ninerecords.bandcamp.com/
http://nine-records.com/
http://www.facebook.com/NineRecords

Leather Nun America, “Into Abyss”