Posted in Whathaveyou on March 10th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
There aren’t many places Weedeater haven’t been and much they haven’t done, but they keep breaking out the riffs and rolling them from town to town, now more than 20 years on from their debut album. They’ve got shows lined up in the Southeast for April, and that run will take them into the Midwest before they turn back toward home in North Carolina, from where they’ll pick up again in May and head west to make it to the Heavy Psych Sounds festivals in San Francisco and Los Angeles. After that, it’s back east again on the quick to make it to Arkansas for Mutants of the Monster on June 3. That’s gonna be a long bit of driving for whoever’s behind the wheel, but at least there’s a day off between Phoenix and Oklahoma City. Woof.
Weedeater‘s most recent album was 2015’s Goliathan (review here), and they’ve basically been on tour ever since, plague notwithstanding. Seems to me that if there’s a band on the planet who should probably put out a live record or 10, it’s these guys, but I’ve heard no such murmurings in that regard. Alas, you gotta show up if you want the experience, and Weedeater live is most certainly that.
Hope gas gets cheaper:
WEEDEATER Announces Headlining Spring U.S. Tour
Cape Fear metal legends WEEDEATER have announced an extensive headlining U.S. tour! The trek will kick off on April 7 in Charleston, SC and will conclude on June 3 in Little Rock, AR. The band will be supported by REBELMATIC and ADAM FAUCETT from April 7- April 24 and then will be supported by HTSOB & JD PINKUS from May 17 until June 3. The full run of dates can be found below while tickets are now available at THIS LOCATION: https://tourlink.to/weedeater2022tour
WEEDEATER U.S. Tour Dates: 04/07: Charleston, SC @ Trolley Bar 04/08: Gainesville, FL @ Loosey’s 04/09: Melbourne, FL @ Iron Oak 04/10: Cape Coral, FL @ Nice Guys 04/12: New Orleans, LA @ Poor Boys 04/13: Nashville, TN @ Springwater 04/14: Indianapolis, IN @ Black Circle Brewing 04/15: Chicago, IL @ Chop Shop 04/16: Columbus, OH @ Ace of Cups 04/17: Pittsburgh, PA @ Mr. Smalls Funhouse 04/18: Youngstown, OH @ Westside Bowl 04/19: Detroit, MI @ Sanctuary 04/20: Morgantown, WV @ 123 Pleasant St 04/21: Charlottesville, VA @ Champion Brewing 04/24: Raleigh, NC @ Pour House 05/17: Charlotte, NC @ Snug Harbor 05/18: Knoxville, TN @ Brickyard 05/19: Newport, KY @ Southgate House 05/20: Green Bay, WI @ Lyric Room 05/21: Davenport, IA @ Racoon Motel 05/23: Denver, CO @ Hi Dive 05/25: Portland, OR @ Bossanova Ballroom 05/26: Seattle, WA @ El Corazon 05/28: San Francisco, CA @ Heavy Psych Sounds Fest 05/29: Los Angeles, CA @ Heavy Psych Sounds Fest 05/30: San Diego, CA @ Soda Bar 05/31: Phoenix, AZ @ Nile Theatre 06/02: Oklahoma City, OK @ 89th Street 06/03: Little Rock, AR @ Mutants of the Monster Fest
All of WEEDEATER’s albums are now available at fine record stores nationwide and online at the WEEDEATER Bandcamp page: https://weedeater.bandcamp.com/
Posted in Reviews on January 17th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
Somehow it feels longer than it’s actually been. Yeah, a year’s changed over, but it’s really only been about a month since the last Quarterly Review installment, which I said at the time was only half of the full proceedings. I’ve started the count over at 1-50, but in my head, this is really a continuation of that five-day stretch more than something separate. It’s been booked out I think since before the last round of 50 was done, if that tells you anything. Should tell you 2021 was a busy year and 2022 looks like it’ll be more of the same in that regard. Also a few other regards, but let’s keep it optimistic, hmm?
We start today fresh with a wide swath of stuff for digging and, well, I hope you dig it. Let’s go.
Quarterly Review #1-10:
Zack Oakley, Badlands
Apparently I’ve been spelling Zack Oakley‘s name wrong for the better part of a decade. Zack with a ‘k’ instead of an ‘h’ at the end. I feel like a jerk. By any spelling, dude both shreds and can write a song. Known for his work in Joy, Pharlee, Volcano, etc., he brings vibrant classic heavy to the fore on his solo debut, Badlands, sounding like a one-man San Diego scene on “I’m the One” only after declaring his own genre in opener “Freedom Rock.” “Mexico” vibes on harmonica-laced heavy blues and the acoustic-led “Looking High Searching Low” follows suit with slide, but there’s tinge of psych on the catchy “Desert Shack,” and “Fever” stomps out in pure Hendrix style without sounding ridiculous, which is not an achievement to be understated. Closing duo “Acid Rain” and “Badlands” meet at the place where the ’60s ended and the ’70s started, swaggering through time with more hooks and a sound that might be garage if your garage had a really nice studio in it. I’ll take more of this anytime Mr. Oakley wants to belt it out.
Issued by Shawn Pelata — also known as Pælãtä Shåvvn, with an apparent thing for accent marks — the self-titled debut from Vøuhl mixes industrial-style experimentalism, dark ambience and a strong cinematic current across a still-relatively-unassuming five-songs and 23 minutes, hitting a resonant minimalism at the ending of “Evvûl” while building to a fuller-sounding progression on the subsequent “Välle.” Drones, echoing, looped beats and thoughtfully executed synth let Pelata construct each atmosphere as an individual piece, but with the attention obviously paid to the presentation of the whole, there’s nothing that keeps one piece from tying into the next either, so whether one approaches Vøuhl‘s Vøuhl as an EP or a short album, the impression of a deep-running soundscape is made one way or the other. What seems to be speech samples in “Aurô” and noise-laced closer “ßlasste” — thoroughly manipulated — may hint at things to come, but I hope not entirely at the expense of the percussive urgency of opener “Dùste” here.
At first you’re all like, “yeah this is right on I can handle it” and then all of a sudden White Manna are about four minutes into the freakery of “Light Cones” opening up their latest opus First Welcome and you’re starting to panic because you took too much and you’re couchlocked. The heretofore undervalued Calipsych weirdos are out-out-out on their new eight-songer, done in an LP-ready 39 minutes but drippy droppy through an interdimensional swap-meet of renegade noises and melted-down aesthetics. Maybe you heard 2020’s ARC (review here) and thereby got on board, or maybe you don’t know them at all. Doesn’t matter. The thing is they’re already in your brain and by the time you’re done with the triumph-boogie of “Lions of Fire” you realize you’re one with the vibrating universe and only then are you ready to meet the “Monogamous Cassanova” in krautrock purgatory before the swirling “Milk Symposium” spreads itself out like a blanket over the sun. Too trippy for everything, and so just. fucking. right. If you can hang with this, I wanna be friends.
In 2022, German heavy rockers Daily Thompson mark a decade since their founding. God of Spinoza is their fifth full-length, and in songs like “Cantaloupe Melon,” “Golden Desert Child,” and “Muaratic Acid,” the reliability one has come to expect from them is only reinforced. Their sound hinges on psychedelia, but complements that with an abiding sense of grunge and a patience in songwriting. They’ve done heavy blues and straight-up rock in the past, so neither is out of the trio’s wheelhouse — the penultimate “Midnight Soldier” is a breakout here — but the title-track’s drawn-out “yeah”s and slacker-nod rhythm seem to draw more directly from the Alice in Chains school of making material sound slow without actually having it crawl or sacrifice accessibility. I’d give them points regardless for calling a song “I Saw Jesus in a Taco Bell,” but the closer is a genuine highlight on God of Spinoza turning a long stretch of disaffection to immersive fuzz with a deftness befitting a band on their fifth record who know precisely who they are. Like I said, reliable.
Founded by guitarist/bassist Collin Green, Headless Monarch released their first demo in 2013 and their most recent EP, Nothing on the Horizon, in 2016. Five years later, Green and drummer Brandon Zackey offer the late-2021 debut full-length, Titan Slug, working in collaboration for the first time with vocalist and producer Otu Suurmunne of Moonic Productions — who mostly goes by Otu — across a richly executed collection of six tracks, three new, three from prior outings. Not sure if Otu is a hired gun as a singer working alongside the other two, but there’s little arguing with the results they glean as a trio across a song like “Fever Dream” or “Sleeper Now Rise,” the latter taken from Headless Monarch‘s 2015 two-songer and positioned in a more aggressive stance overall. The newer songs come across as more fleshed out, but even “Eight Minutes of Light” from the first demo has atmospheric reach to go with its clarity of focus and noteworthy heft. One only hopes the collaboration continues and inspires further work along these lines.
Technically speaking, you had me at Space Octopus. After releasing a self-titled EP under the somewhat-troubling moniker (one hopes it’s not too many) Some Pills for Ayala, multi-instrumentalist, vocalist and producer Néstor Ayala Cortés of At Devil Dirt returns with this two-songer, comprised of its 11-minute title-cut and the shorter “It’s Been a Long Trip.” The lead track is duly dream-drifty in its procession, a subtle build underway across its span but pushing more for hypnosis than impact and getting there to be sure, even as the second half grows thicker in tone. At 3:48, “It’s Been a Long Trip” comes across more as an experiment in technique captured and used as the foundation for Cortés‘ soft, wide echoing vocals. Lysergic and adventurous in kind, the 15-minute EP is nonetheless serene in its presence and soothing overall. Could be that Cortés might push deeper into folk as he goes forward, but the acidy foundation he’s working from will only add to that.
It’s a quick in-out from Boston heavy punkers Il Mostro on the Occult Practices EP. Four songs, the last of which is a cover of T.S.O.L.‘s “Black Magic,” nothing over three minutes long, all fits neatly on a 7″. For what they’re doing, that makes sense, taking the high-velocity ethic of Motörhead or Peter Pan Speedrock (if you need a second plays-fast-punk-derived-and-rocks band) and delivering with an appropriately straightforward thrust. Opener “Firewitch” ends with giggling, and that’s fair enough to convey the overarching lack of pretense throughout, but they do well with the cover and have a righteous balance between control and chaos in the relatively-mid-paced “Trial” and the sprinter “Faith in Ghosts,” which follows. Is cult punk a thing? I guess you could ask the Misfits that question, but Il Mostro mostly avoid sounding like that Jersey band, and it’s easy enough to imagine them bashing walls at any number of Beantown havens or bathed under the telltale red lights of O’Brien’s as they tear into a set. So be it, punkers.
Should it come as a surprise that an EP of violin-laced/led instrumentalist progressive post-rock, willfully working against genre convention in order to cross between metal, rock and more atmospheric fare includes an element of self-indulgence? Nope. How could it be otherwise? The five-track Hiss from Parisian four-piece Carmen Sea is a heady outing indeed, but at just 29 minutes, the band doesn’t actually lose themselves in what they’re doing, and the surprises they offer along the way like the electronic turns in “Black Echoes” or the quiet drone stretch in the first half of 11-minute closer “Glow in Space” — which gets plenty tense soon enough — provide welcome defiance of expectation. That is to say, whatever else they are, Carmen Sea are not predictable, and that serves them well here and will continue to. “Frames” begins jarring and strutting, but finds its strength in its more floating movement, though the later bridge of classical and weighted musics feels like the realization that might’ve led to creating the band in the first place. There’s potential in toying with that balance.
Florence’s Fabrizio Cecchi has vibe to spare with his solo-project Trip Hill, and Denmark’s Bad Afro Records has stepped forward to issue the 2020 offering, Ain’t Trip Ceremony, toward broader consciousness. The eight-song/39-minute long-player is duly dug-in, and its psychedelic reach comes with a humility of craft that makes the songs likewise peaceful and exploratory and entrancing. Repetition is key for the latter, but Cecchi also manages to keep things moving across the album, with a fuzzy cut like “Spam Mind” seeming to build on top of loops and shifting into a not-overblown space rock, hardly mellow, but more acknowledging the vastness of the cosmos than one might expect. The more densely-fuzzed “Ralph’s Heart Attack” leads into the guitar-focused “Pan” ahead of the finale “What Happened to Will,” but that’s after “Tame Ùkhan” has gone a-wandering and decided to stay that way and the seven-minute “Trái tim Thán Yêu” has singlehandedly justified the vinyl release in its blend of percussive urgency and psychedelic shimmer. Go in with an open mind and you won’t go wrong.
Yanomamo begin their Iommium Records two-song split 7″ with Slomatics by harshly delivering a deceptively positive message: “If you’re going to seek revenge/Might as well dig two graves/He who holds resentment is already digging his own.” Fair enough. The Sydney, Australia, and Belfast, Northern Ireland, outfits offer about 10 and a half minutes of material between them, but complement each other well, with the thickness of the latter building off the raw presentation of the former, Yanomamo‘s guttural portrayal of bitterness offered in scream-topped sludge crash on “Dig Two Graves” that builds in momentum toward the end while Slomatics‘ “Griefhound” offers the futurist tonal density and expanse of vocal echo typifying their latter-day work and turns a quiet, chugging bridge into a consciousness-slamming payoff. Neither act is really out of their comfort zone, but established listeners will revel in the chance to hear them alongside each other, and if you hear complaints about either of these cuts, they won’t be from me.
Posted in Questionnaire on January 4th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
The Obelisk Questionnaire is a series of open questions intended to give the answerer an opportunity to explore these ideas and stories from their life as deeply as they choose. Answers can be short or long, and that reveals something in itself, but the most important factor is honesty.
Based on the Proust Questionnaire, the goal over time is to show a diverse range of perspectives as those who take part bring their own points of view to answering the same questions. To see all The Obelisk Questionnaire posts, click here.
Thank you for reading and thanks to all who participate.
The Obelisk Questionnaire: Brenna Leath of Crystal Spiders & Lightning Born
—
How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?
These days, I sing and play the bass. I try to make music that some people want to listen to. But mostly I just make it because it’s like a pressure valve; if I wasn’t making something, I’d explode. I don’t think I really came to do it as much as it was just instinct. I have been singing and writing as long as I can remember. Most of my desire to play instruments comes from a need to force out the noise my brain is always generating. It’s how I imagine children must feel about adopting a language – it’s less about being interested in language, and more being desperate to figure out how to express all your thoughts so that you can just… get them out. And ideally, someone listens and responds. The quote “ideas are like slippery fish” has always stuck with me, because that’s how I feel about the way songs present themselves – like they emerge from some murky depth, thrash around near the surface for a few minutes, and I just desperately try to catch them before they escape and I never see them again. I assume it’s the whole id, ego, super-ego, iceberg kind of thing at work. Maybe it’s a creative urge that comes from an inner self entity coming out. Or maybe not. Anyway…
Describe your first musical memory.
My mom was always listening to “oldies” in the car (the irony being that “oldies” when I was little in the 1990s were not what are defined as “oldies” now). Stuff like Otis Redding, Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, The Supremes, Smokey Robinson. We spent a ton of time in the car; my parents were divorced and usually lived a couple of hours away from each other, so road trips were like an every weekend thing. I remember singing in the car and my mom being surprised that I had a knack for remembering the lyrics to a lot of the songs and being able to pitch match them. I also specifically remember I used to think those were the only songs that existed (besides Christmas songs and Happy Birthday) because the station she set the radio to would just play the same songs over and over in the same rotation. Not that the current radio situation is much different, sadly. At least there’s the internet!
Describe your best musical memory to date.
I have a handful of highlights; when The Hell No got to open for Ace Frehley and when Lightning Born was invited by Dennis McNett to play House of Vans Chicago for his HalloWolfBat show are two of the most notable ones. While I love to play festivals, I also have a fantastic time just going as a spectator – I’ve made some of my very best friends and memories watching bands and goofing off at music festivals. Motörhead’s Motörboat was one of my all-time favorite musical experiences, but I’ve also had some amazing times at Muddy Roots, Maryland Doom Fest, 70,000 Tons of Metal, Roadburn, Psycho Las Vegas, and Maryland Death Fest. I have a lot of other fests on my bucket list that I hope to attend (and play!)
When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?
At first read, I thought this was a difficult question and couldn’t think of an answer, but actually, I feel like my beliefs get tested all the time. I used to think that just because you had musical chemistry with someone, that meant you’d make good bandmates – or vice versa; if you had good interpersonal chemistry with someone and were both good musicians, that you could make good music together. But sometimes, the music is right and the relationship is wrong, or the relationship is right but the music is wrong, or maybe both things are right, but the timing is what kills it. Turns out, it’s pretty tough to find bandmates that you click with on a creative level and can also click on everything else (scheduling, priorities, goals, and the methods to achieve those goals). Making good music with other people takes team building, communication, dedication, commitment, practice, and more. I have heard a lot of analogies over the years – a band is like a gang, a band is like a marriage, a band is like a tribe. I think it boils down to while sometimes you catch lightning in a bottle, sometimes you gotta spend a lot of time together and agree on a lot of different elements to truly hone the kind of music and the kind of performance you want to evoke.
Where do you feel artistic progression leads?
I think my goal has always been “make the thing that comes out sound like the thing I heard in my head.” I get insanely frustrated when I can’t translate my vision into what I can actually emit… that’s when art is not fun, since usually, I feel like it’s because I’m just not good enough and I suck at art. Realistically, I know that it just takes a ton of time and practice to get synergy between the idea and the reality of the art… which gets back to what I was saying in my previous answer – art has to take enough priority (which means, hours and hours of time) to get there, which are hours and hours you’re taking away from something else… usually sleep, family, or friends, since I still gotta work to pay the bills. Someday I’d like to put out an album where I write and play everything myself, and when I listen at the end, I think to myself “yes – that sounds like exactly what I wanted to say.” It’d be cool to make that magnum opus artists chase. Sometimes I think I am getting closer; over the pandemic, I spent more time learning how to self record and self mix demos in Ableton at the house. But, I need to put a lot of time in (Hours!! Weeks!! Months!! Years!!) if I want to make something like that.
How do you define success?
That’s been a moving goalpost over the years. That said, I think if you’re setting goals and achieving them, you’re successful. Or if you just eschew goals altogether and find perfect peace and contentment… that’s pretty successful. If you can do that, teach me how. Or maybe that’s what Office Space was about. Clearly, I learned nothing.
What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?
People being ugly to other people based on stupid bullshit. I see way too much of that and really wish I didn’t. I could dwell on some negative memories and spell out some sad stories… but don’t we see too much of that? I’d rather answer something like “what is the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen” but that’d probably get too many American Beauty plastic bag jokes.
Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.
I want to make a darkwave record one of these days. Or maybe an extremely depressing country record. Whatever I make will probably end up in the “sad girl folk doom” category but I’m gonna try to keep it edgy and un-cliché. Keyword… try.
What do you believe is the most essential function of art?
Gosh, that’s a tough one. My first instinctual answer was “escapism” but I think some of the best art forces the audience to confront some difficult truths about themselves, human nature, and society, and that’s probably more essential. I guess I’d probably try an umbrella answer like “taking the audience one step closer to levity or enlightenment, whichever the artist intends.” Is that a cop-out?
Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?
The end of the pandemic? Ha, but really. My grandmother (who is 92 in January – Happy Birthday, Queen Josephine!!!) has this awesome habit of saying “This is the best ___ I’ve ever had!” – and, insert whatever she’s having – lunch, dinner, etc. She has a very cute British accent, which really makes it pop (think Mary Poppins). Just this week she came over, had a glass of Prosecco, and said “What brand is this? This is the best Prosecco I’ve ever had!” She paused, thought for a second, and followed that up with, “Then again, every drink is the best drink I’ve ever had.” And you know what… I said, “If every drink and every meal is the best one you’ve ever had, then life is pretty (insert expletive I wouldn’t have said in front of my grandma) awesome.” So I’m trying to take a lesson from that. I’m looking forward to literally everything being the best thing I’ve ever had or the best thing I’ve ever done. I’m gonna live like it’s just getting better all the time.
Posted in Questionnaire on November 1st, 2021 by JJ Koczan
The Obelisk Questionnaire is a series of open questions intended to give the answerer an opportunity to explore these ideas and stories from their life as deeply as they choose. Answers can be short or long, and that reveals something in itself, but the most important factor is honesty.
Based on the Proust Questionnaire, the goal over time is to show a diverse range of perspectives as those who take part bring their own points of view to answering the same questions. To see all The Obelisk Questionnaire posts, click here.
Thank you for reading and thanks to all who participate.
The Obelisk Questionnaire: Shawn Pelata of Vøuhl
—
How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?
For now, I’ll only speak of the Vouhl project since it’s the only one that’s both public and active. Vouhl is my own, personal dark music project.
I’ve been singing in bands and on project albums for over 30 years at this point, but nearly all of them have been me singing over music other people gave me. Sometimes I would contribute lyrics and write the melody lines and vocal arrangements, other times I would simply sing what I was given.
With Vouhl, I wanted to do something that was 100% my own. The irony is that I do everything BUT sing on it. There are no actual vocals. Musically, I’d ascribe words like cinematic, post-metal, dark, droning. There’s bass, keyboards, drums, loops, samples. I recorded it and mixed it myself. I built everything around percussion/rhythm ideas and just tried my best to create a vibe. It was mastered by Martin Bowes of UK darkwave lords Attrition.
Describe your first musical memory.
When I was about four, I had a step-uncle who was a teenager. He was also a huge Kiss fan. He had loads of giant (to a four-year old) Kiss posters, black light posters, etc. He always called me his favorite nephew, which is odd considering he loved to scare the shit out of me. He would close his bedroom door, turn on his black lights, blast “God Of Thunder” on his turntable and I would literally scream like I was in a horror movie. I think I loved it.
Describe your best musical memory to date.
I did not grow up going to a ton of live shows. It’s something I have tried to make up for in my adult years. In 1999, I went to Ozzfest for the sole purpose of seeing the reunited, original Black Sabbath lineup. Slayer was a bonus, but I was there for Sabbath. The entire show was great, in my opinion. However, there’s a moment I will never forget for as long as I live.
When Sabbath began to play its eponymous, signature song I became completely mesmerized. When the heavy part kicked in before the verses, and when Master Iommi struck that third chord on the tri-tone riff, it was SO loud and SO heavy my clothing vibrated! No joke! I could feel it in my toes! It was absolutely glorious!
When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?
I have had beliefs that, at one time, were firmly held. However, over time and continuous tests, many of them have fallen to the sword of logic and reality. Some would say that letting go of a once firmly-held belief is the same as failing. I don’t see it that way at all. When one has a strong belief that is tested, it should be treated the way science treats a theory. When it’s tested, weigh those tests. Compare the new evidence or new viewpoint with your current viewpoint. Be open to the possibility of being wrong. That’s where growth comes from. Learning that, not only can you BE wrong about things, but that many times you ARE wrong about things and have to adjust is what stimulates growth, wisdom, and well-being.
Clinging to any belief in the face of obvious logic, fact and experience is tantamount to superstition at a certain point; Belief no matter what. It serves no purpose other than to hold one back from growing into a better self.
Where do you feel artistic progression leads?
I think it leads, or it should lead, to more honest art. I think most, if not all artists begin by emulating. Trying to create the thing that pleases and inspires them. Some stay there, some feel that satisfaction plateau and have to move forward in order to continue to be happy creating. That pursuit, in my opinion, is honesty.
How do you define success?
Being happy with whatever you’re doing.
What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?
This is the most difficult question. After much thought, I honestly cannot think of a single thing. I wanted to reply with something funny like “Jason Mamoa’s Aquaman movie” or “Half an episode of The Masked Singer”, but I’m not that funny. There are, however, things that exist that I wish I was completely unaware of… like The Masked Singer and the Aquaman movie.
Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.
A musical project that is 100% by me but has vocals/singing. I’ve never done that.
What do you believe is the most essential function of art?
To inspire. Whether it’s inspiring further art and future artists, inspiring some level of personal growth in the one experiencing the art, or inspiring enjoyment within the creator of that art, I think that’s the function of art.
Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?
Retirement. Ha! Not from creating music, but from the daily grind. I’m about 10-12 years out at this point, but I can see it on the horizon. Bring it on, because the less time I have to give to a job, the more time I’ll have to travel with my wife, take naps, and create music.
North Carolina sludge metallers Doomsday Profit release In Idle Orbit on Nov. 12. Somewhere along the line, the idea got into my head that the six-song/35-minute offering was an EP. Listening to it, I don’t think it is. Just because it spends its last 10 minutes embroiled in dark ambience with “Bring Out Your Dead,” that’s no less a part of the entirety than the rub-dirt-in-your-eyes sludge-as-half-speed-grindcore that is “Crown of Flies” and “Scryers of the Smoke” earlier on. It breaks down into two 12″ sides, three tracks per, with choice leads interwoven amid the death-stench filth of the riffs and the Carcass-style slit-throat-snarl vocals.
Stoner? Yeah, there’s some of that, and one might accordingly be tempted to put Doomsday Profit in the Bongzilla/Dopethrone school of nihilist weedian sludge. And of course North Carolina hasn’t hurt for sludge since the days of Buzzov*en, Weedeater, Sourvein, etc. If that helps them sell records — CDs, tapes, DLs, whatever — then fine I guess, but to my ears the four-piece seem up to something grimmer in its purpose.
The lurch of “Cestoda” — named for a kind of tapeworm (thanks, internet) — and the echo accompanying the vocals, speaks to the more extreme-metal-born style that marks Doomsday Profit out from the bunch. More Yatra than Toke. That song, as well as “Scryers of the Smoke” before it, appeared on the band’s 2020 Abandon Hope demo, and even compared to just a year ago, In Idle Orbit establishes a cross-release flow that finds an encouraging middle ground in the tempo of “Consume the Remains” to coincide with its largesse — a big, oozing, body-odor-smelling thing, that nonetheless nears psychedelia in its lead guitar sound — and sets “Destroy the Myths” to a march that seems militaristic at first but turns out to be bombed, not bombing.
They space out again toward the finish of “Destroy the Myths,” some slower Iommic solo idolatry serving as an endpoint as the song comes apart like a rotten limb falling off, and maybe it’s that touch of atmosphere throughout that makes the rumble and drone and far-back lead of “Bring Out Your Dead” feel so in-place. If so, all the more kudos to Doomsday Profit for working multiple angles, killing low, building high. Maybe killing high? I don’t know. Definitely those two things. High, and murderous.
Current mood: On a fucking slab. Fluorescent light overhead shines on methodically separated viscera, open eyes staring upward while Doomsday Profit — either in scrubs or not, because does it really matter? — give precious little concern for the mess they’ve made. No big deal, there’ll be plenty of bleach left over to wash it all out after my body’s been bubbled away and the bones turned white ahead of some inevitably ritualized powdering. Play in blood in the meantime.
Nothing means anything. Everything is permitted. Drink plague and piss riffs.
Enjoy:
Doomsday Profit, “Consume the Remains” video premiere
Doomsday Profit unveil their music video for “Consume the Remains,” from the forthcoming album, “In Idle Orbit,” out November 12, 2021.
With “Consume the Remains,” Doomsday Profit merges desert-rock groove with death ‘n’ roll bile. Piling onto the song’s foundational riff and deep groove, the band cakes on with tar-thick sludge before launching it into a dark, psychedelic abyss.
Tracklisting: 1. Crown of Flies 2. Scryers of the Smoke 3. Cestoda 4. Consume the Remains 5. Destroy the Myths 6. Bring Out Your Dead
Doomsday Profit live: Friday, Nov. 12 – Duluth, GA at Sweetwater Bar & Grill (with Cosmic Reaper, Dopegoat, Big Oaf) Saturday, Nov. 13 – Asheville, NC at Static Age Records (with Cosmic Reaper, TBD) Sunday, Nov. 14 – Raleigh, NC at The Pour House (with Cosmic Reaper, WitchTit, Kult Ikon, Nora Rogers, Makhnovist)
Doomsday Profit is: Pestilence: guitar / vocals War: lead guitar Famine: bass / synth / samples Death: drums / production
Posted in Questionnaire on September 20th, 2021 by JJ Koczan
The Obelisk Questionnaire is a series of open questions intended to give the answerer an opportunity to explore these ideas and stories from their life as deeply as they choose. Answers can be short or long, and that reveals something in itself, but the most important factor is honesty.
Based on the Proust Questionnaire, the goal over time is to show a diverse range of perspectives as those who take part bring their own points of view to answering the same questions. To see all The Obelisk Questionnaire posts, click here.
Thank you for reading and thanks to all who participate.
The Obelisk Questionnaire: Gideon Smith of Galvanic Gypsies, Dixie Damned & Gods of Atlantis
—
How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?
I define what I do in music and life by the good it brings. If I’m pure in my flow of the music everything is in harmony to become what it needs to for my life and for others who are affected by it. I came into music by natural attraction and excitement then as I grew, I wanted to make music too and give it.
Describe your first musical memory.
It would be difficult to name just one memory or the very first so I’ll name a few that stand out in early years. Listening to my folks play old records like the Allman Brothers, Doors, Beatles, Hendrix, stuff like that. I loved all those, hearing them ride into the air off vinyl was so magical for me. I was a forest running hippie child, climbing trees and swimming in rivers, magical times. My brother had an eight-track player in his car. We used to ride around and listen to Queen, Blue Öyster Cult, Led Zeppelin. I still get excited when I see vintage eight track tapes. The first records I bought were a Bowie and a Jethro Tull album.
My first concert was KISS and Nantucket which I think was in 1978. It was exciting and larger than life to see them rise up through the floor of the stage. Maybe the first real one that got to me was the Cult Love album when it came out in 1985. My friend had the record and we laid on the floor in his house listening to it. I was totally captivated with the sound. By the time it got to the song “The Phoenix” on the second side I was amazed. We listened to it like we had some secret thing, this band and the record. If I hear the opening riff and Billy Duffy’s wah-wah power I’m always in awe of the music. I saw The Cult and Billy Idol live in 1987, both were fantastic. Seeing early Guns ‘n’ Roses and Motley in ’87. As I look at my life now, I think Zeppelin is my favorite band. The Doors, The Cult, Sabbath and maybe Sisters of Mercy.
Describe your best musical memory to date.
Again I’ll name many because I wouldn’t say exactly one. Over the years, recording the first EP for my GS&TDD band and the three Small Stone Records albums, especially. Such magical days. Especially playing with Phil Dürr, Mike Kelleher and Eric Hoegemyer. Shows I did with fun crowds, meeting people who enjoyed the music always means so much. It’s really rewarding and satisfying to see that music go from demo cassette decades ago to the albums to being all over the world.
In recent days my favorite and best is recording our new Galvanic Gypsies band with Crystal, I’m playing guitar and she’s ruling on vocals. It’s such a thrilling and exciting process, watching her sing and writing together. Being in the eye of the hurricane, hearing her vocals soaring on the holy Marshall doom riffage. Catching the lightning crackle of the chemistry and the pure excitement of our music. We call it our gypsy groove coven.
It has so many awesome influences from Duran Duran to Zeppelin. We recorded our first song for the album on Summer Solstice, on the way to the studio two ravens flew over us. In about 10 minutes it sounded unreal. It’s a new era of awesomeness that has dawned upon my life and I’m so grateful.
When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?
Honestly no there aren’t any, if I truly believe and hold onto something it’s never shaken. It shakes the problems around it and I hold on to it and keep onward. Through Paganism the Gods shine upon my path. Life is just a dream and the song belongs to the dancer. Beauty and magic show us all the way.
Where do you feel artistic progression leads?
Progression always means to grow, learn and evolve so artistic progression would lead to higher understanding, abilities and perception of art. Art is elemental so it swirls around us and brings a brighter, wonderful journey. I think the progression of your writing, playing would lead to a soul expression of greater purity and a clear song writing flow. Your heart and spirit give with clarity as you grow to a higher level. The bigger the heart the more you are capable of generating.
How do you define success?
If you mean in a personal sense its being in the zone of what makes you happy. You’re successful of moving yourself into a place of happiness or joy. Success is best defined by the individual based on what gives their life meaning. It’s good to determine what’s successful within the boundaries of certain thing, then achieve that. Perception determines reality, you’re the captain and choose where to guide your ship. Success is achieving a good state within whatever holds meaning. The greatest success is to find peace of mind, joy and serenity in your life.
What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?
Too many examples over the years but all of them are teachers so the knowledge gives you power and wisdom. Disregard the bad after you learn from it and seize upon the good, bright things you see only. Don’t give the bad things that pass you by any lasting meaning to hang over the good things you see and take in. Walk on, the greatest adventure lies ahead.
Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.
Many more records, books, shows, artistic creations. I never run out of ideas. I could easily make records, write books, paint pictures all year long. Creativity is a gift and it needs to run wild in freedom.
What do you believe is the most essential function of art?
To give inspiration, healing, form a gift to others for soul expression. To bring emotional comfort and provide thrills, fun entertainment.
Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?
I have been keeping home like most people during the pandemic and haven’t been doing much. I really look forward to walking on the beach again one day and jumping in the ocean. Maybe I’ll see you there. Carry on friend, catch up with you again soon.
Posted in Whathaveyou on September 15th, 2021 by JJ Koczan
If I was to tell you that Doomsday Profit are getting ready to ‘do the nasty,’ there’s no way you’d possibly misinterpret that as meaning something other than that they’ve announced the release of their sludged-out, ratty-as-hell debut EP? Of course not. The Raleigh, North Carolina, four-piece will issue In Idle Orbit — which, indeed, is ‘the nasty’ — on Nov. 12 as a follow-up to their 2020 demo, Abandon Hope, which was comprised of live and rehearsal tracks.
They’ve got tapes and CDs in the works, and downloads to boot, and they’ll have preorders up on next Bandcamp Friday, which I guess is a thing that’s happening again. Nobody tells me anything, except I suppose that something like this is happening. And probably I have another email about Bandcamp Friday somewhere. Let’s get down to it. I suck at email. I keep waiting for email to go away and it doesn’t. Ever. It just sits there. Festering. So yeah. I probably knew Bandcamp Friday was happening again. You got me.
Feel good? Great. If you want to cure that, Doomsday Profit are here to wipe the slate clean as only flesh-peeling sludge can hope to do. Dig the stage names, too.
Have at you:
Doomsday Profit release ‘In Idle Orbit’ Nov. 12
On Nov. 12, the Raleigh, N.C. psych-sludge quartet, Doomsday Profit will release their debut, In Idle Orbit. A meditation in anger, the debut EP floods its dystopian visions with snarling psychedelic grit and deep-dredged sludge riffs that calls to mind the relentless pummeling of Conan, as well as the cosmic excursions of Earthless; the bad-trip acid-rock of Church of Misery, as well as the scuzzy blues of Dopethrone.
In Idle Orbit will be independently released on CD, cassette, and digital formats. Digital pre-orders will go live on Oct. 1, coinciding with Bandcamp Friday.
Slowly, but surely, conditions are improving. Bars in North Carolina are open, with restrictions. Some venues are even starting to legally host live music with strict safety protocols in place. And people in NC have started getting vaccinated. More than a year since we played our last show, we’re getting back to work.
Doomsday Profit is: Pestilence: guitar / vocals War: lead guitar Famine: bass / synth / samples Death: drums / production
Raleigh, North Carolina, duo Crystal Spiders release their second album, Morieris, Oct. 1 on Ripple Music. That date puts it about a year and six days from their Sept. 2020 debut, Molt (review here), and yet the sense of growth is palpable from one to the next and the lineup has somewhat shifted around founding members bassist/vocalist Brenna Leath (also The Hell No, Lightning Born) and drummer/backing vocalist Tradd Yancey, bringing in Mike Dean — best known as bassist for Corrosion of Conformity, but also a bandmate of Leath‘s in Lightning Born — as the third of a sometimes-trio on guitar. His guitar, in fact, is the first thing you hear on the record.
That’s no minor change and Dean‘s contributions throughout the eight-song/45-minute outing are significant, from the hypnotically rolling riff of “Morieris” itself to the fuzzy lead line in the second half of “Septix” (premiering below) that’s like a successful gritty reboot of Kyuss‘ “Demon Cleaner” and onward hooky closer “Golden Paw,” which starts as another nodder until at 2:19 into its 5:14 it suddenly shifts into a solo jam — don’t worry, the nod strikes back; which, if you wanted to think of as an alternate title for the entire proceedings here, I wouldn’t be able to argue. Nonetheless, as much as Dean — who also produced this and the first album — brings to the songs, there’s just about no way in listening that Leath‘s vocals aren’t a focal point. Often in layers, the verse melodies and smoothly executed choruses carry through with a room-reverb that sounds like it’s ready to break down walls pressing in.
The separation of the instruments in the recording, likewise, gives each a place of its own in the mix. The speedier, sample-laced “Offering” is that much clearer in its Misfitsian purpose for its bass and drum showcase. It goes someplace markedly less Misfitsian, mind you, but that core rhythm is never entirely absent. And whoever’s doing what at a given point, whether the guitar is moving in and out of the arrangement, or the bass is about to take a forward spot, or that and the drums are about to disappear and it’s the vocals taking over, Morieris never quite becomes predictable, and it never loses that sense of choose-your-adventure in finding how you want to listen, by which I mean that if you want to put it on and follow the drums, they’re ready to go, and likewise each individual track/instrument. Everything is so clear and yet raw in sound that the recording is a character among everything else.
One might accuse Morieris of being slower than Crystal Spiders‘ debut generally, but then how to explain “Offering,” or the side B leadoff “Pandora” or even the galloping outset of penultimate cut “Maelstrom?” The truth is, the slow is slower and the fast is faster, and the shifts between the two can be stark, as when “Harness” leaves behind its Dio Sabbath-era sprint for a break into a languid, at-least-dual-layered solo, then hits back in to re-gather the wind with that main riff just before the four-minute mark. And if a more plodding overarching impression might win the day, there’s no question the eight-minute “En Medias Res” is a part of why. The longest track included, it willfully consumes the momentum coming out of “Pandora” — an ample meal — and unfurls Morieris‘ melodic highlight atop its most atmospheric instrumentation, daringly slow and dirty-psychedelic.
It’s also the most immersive, and the most effective in creating a sense of space in its echo, and it would make a fitting closer if “Maelstrom” and “Golden Paw” didn’t so much to earn their final-duo placement. The former is a wakeup slap from the far-gone finish to “En Medias Res” at the beginning and end with that callback nod between, and the latter marries that laid-back-feeling, rolling groove with a memorable chorus, as on the title-track or “Harness” earlier, and gives final undulations of fuzz worthy of riding out as they do. Perhaps with a sophomore outing it’s not saying as much, but Morieris is Crystal Spiders‘ most complex material to-date. Their songs play out in various structures that feel intentional in their construction as well as where they show up on the album itself. At the same time, it’s a hard record to write about because I keep losing my head while listening. There it goes again, following another pied-piper bassline off a cliff into the guitar solo.
Still, if that is to be the order of the day from Crystal Spiders, it’s only a win and forward progression for the band. Morieris builds on Molt, is more confident in its approach and works to explore new ideas of how to form their particular place in heavy rock. Are they a blues band? Are they sludge or stoner rock? Doesn’t matter even a little, since by the time they’re underway in song one, they’re carrying the listener with them in the manner of a band who know who they want to be. Less than a year later, Crystal Spiders come through with a more refined sense of vision and the work they want to do in heavy. They are pushing themselves in the moment while maintaining a sense of forward potential for things to come. Would they do an entire album like “En Medias Res?” Or like “Pandora?” Would that be Crystal Spiders? Somehow, one gets the feeling they revel in the changes.
You can hear one of them in the accompanying video for “Septix,” premiering here, followed by more from the PR wire.
