Posted in Whathaveyou on May 2nd, 2025 by JJ Koczan
Okay, you got me. It’s two shows — one in NYC at Gramercy Theatre, one in Montreal at Beanfield Theatre — so when I say “select” in the headline above, yeah, I mean very select. The reason the Norwegian progressive cosmic black metal progenitors are coming to the US at all is a slot (their first; how many ‘firsts’ can be left in a 35-year career?) at Milwaukee Metal Fest on May 16. Whatever gets them over is cool by me. I’m sure they’ll kill it. They’ve been over for Fire in the Mountains in the last I don’t know how many years, and are ostensibly still supporting 2023’s Heimdal (review here), but really if you see them it’s about the whole arc of their latter era and the place to which it’s brought them in terms of sound.
As to that, I’m not sure how Grammys exist and Enslaved don’t have one for metal, but I don’t think they’ve ever been chasing that kind of mainstream validation. They’ve earned it regardless, and if you make heavy metal, the Grammys don’t want to know you until you’ve been doing it for 30 years minimum. Right on that cutting edge.
From the PR wire:
ENSLAVED Embarks On US/Canada Shows In May
Cosmic metal pioneers ENSLAVED will make their anticipated return to North America in May for a trio of extraordinary shows featuring hand picked support acts and distinct set lists.
Commenting on the dates, founding guitarist Ivar Bjørnson says:
“Greetings from the western mountains of Norway, as one does. We’re getting close to May, and that means Enslaved is coming back to North America. Not a moment too soon, if you ask us. We’re going to start off in Montreal on May 12th with special guest Spectral Wound. The day after, May 13th, we’re hitting New York with the Infinity Ring as our special guest. Then on May 16, the day before the Norwegian National Day of all things, we’ll be at the legendary Milwaukee Metal Fest for the first time. We have special guests. We have special set lists. Yes, we have it all now. We want to see you there.”
ENSLAVED North American Dates: May 12 – Montreal, QC – Beanfield Theatre (w/ Spectral Wound) May 13 – New York, NY – Gramercy Theatre (w/ The Infinity Ring) May 16 – Milwaukee, WI – Milwaukee Metal Fest
Heimdal (Deluxe) includes the studio album in full, as well as alternative versions of two album tracks ‘Forest Dweller’ and ‘Congelia’, both with sublime performances from renowned cellist Jo Quail, bonus track ‘Gangandi’, plus the entirety of ‘The Otherworldly Big Band Experience’ – Enslaved’s stunning 2022 streaming event featuring fellow psychedelic Norwegian prog band Shaman Elephant.
Enslaved’s latest studio album Heimdal (released March 2023) is both a departure and a communion with roots forged over three decades ago in the turbulent birth throes of Norway’s black metal scene. It’s a record that points towards new beginnings, and a dawn that’s on the other side of the apex of the land. A psychedelic journey through arcane Norse folklore, connecting with one’s ancient ancestors and our future selves.
Posted in Whathaveyou on April 23rd, 2025 by JJ Koczan
Not that I would expect news about record labels collaborating to ‘break the internet,’ as they used to say in the 2010s, but I’m a little surprised not to have seen more hullabaloo about this one as Nuclear Blast and Magnetic Eye Records are partnering up to release a new ‘mini-album’ — I assume like an EP-plus? — from Swedish ethereal heavy psych rockers Gaupa.
Of course, it’s to the band’s credit that imprints are lining up to work with them, but the real kicker here is that Gaupa are already a Nuclear Blast band. So it’s not that the bigger metal label is reaching down to the smaller underground heavy label and plucking a band to add to its roster. That happens sometimes, but not here. The alignment with Nuclear Blast and Magnetic Eye puts the two entities on a similar level. I don’t know if Magnetic Eye (which is part of the Spkr Media family of labels) is handling US distribution while Nuclear Blast does Europe or what the details are, but if this is going to be a thing, it will be interesting to see how it plays out over the next few years.
Or it could be a one-off and that’s it. Hell if I know. In any case, new Gaupa is nothing to sneeze at even amid springtime pollen, so by whatever angle, the news is good. Here it is from socials, sans hashtags:
Tremendous news: MER will be collaborating with Nuclear Blast Records to release a new mini-album from the singular GAUPA this summer 😳🎸🧚
We’re massively stoked to be involved in bringing forth a new record from this heavy and ethereal Swedish band whose music has been described as “Björk meets Soundgarden,” and we’re confident that many of our longtime listeners and supporters are already huge fans of what they do 🤘💚
Posted in Whathaveyou on April 2nd, 2025 by JJ Koczan
If you’ve never had the pleasure of seeing Earthless live, certainly a hot Europe in August is as good a time as any. The Cali instrumentalist kingpins are set to appear at Italy’s Magnolia Stone Festival, PALP Fest in the Swiss Alps, SonicBlast Fest in Portugal and Alcatraz Festival in Belgium on an efficient two-week stint presented by Ben Ward of Orange Goblin‘s agency, Route One Booking, as well as Napalm Events. They’ll be joined for the run by Canadian upstarts Heavy Trip, who also this month undertook their first tour of the US East Coast.
Earthless touring, well, yeah, it’s not exactly a surprise when they get out at any point. It’s probably pretty convenient if you’re in a band to be able to basically look anywhere in the world and say, “okay, let’s go here at this time,” and then make it happen, and Earthless aren’t playing stadiums, but among underground heavy of any sort, they’re one of the farthest reaching bands the genre and its infinity of offshoots has to offer. Kicking ass is the least of what they do, and their influence continues to spread as a new generation of heavy psych and heavy anything takes shape in their wake.
Looks like a good time to me:
EARTHLESS – EUROPE SUMMER 2025
HEADS UP! 🌍✈️🔥🤯 We’re returning to Europe this summer! Tickets are on sale now for all dates! Hope to cross paths with many of you on the road…
2 August – Milan IT – MAGNOLIA STONE FESTIVAL 3 August – Bagnes CH – PALP festival 5 August – Barcelona ES – Sala Upload Barcelona * 6 August – Portugalete ES – Groove * 7 August – Ancora PT – SonicBlast Fest 8 August – Madrid ES – Nazca Madrid * 10 August – Kortrijk BE – ALCATRAZ MUSIC 11 August – Breda NL – MEZZ 12 August – Dortmund DE – Musiktheater Piano 13 August – Berlin DE – Neue Zukunft 14 August – Hamburg DE – Knust Hamburg 15 August – København DK – Spillestedet Stengade
*: Heavy Trip (Canada) supporting
Flyer illustration by Mike Eginton Flyer design by Ake Arndt EARTHLESS Lineup: Isaiah Mitchell – Guitar & Vocals Mike Eginton – Bass Mario Rubalcaba – Drums
Posted in Whathaveyou on December 3rd, 2024 by JJ Koczan
Granted it wasn’t the first time in Corrosion of Conformity‘s more than four decades that they did so, but it was a surprise nonetheless in September when the band bid farewell to founding bassist/vocalist Mike Dean, announcing they’d be continuing on with someone new. The someone has turned out to be Bobby Landgraf, who solidifies the lineup around guitarist/vocalist Pepper Keenan, guitarist/backing vocalist Woodroe Weatherman, and onstage drummer (I think it’s still) John Green.
The band didn’t make an announcement as such — it was the holidays, you know how it is — but Landgraf posted the photo-collage and brief confirmation on his socials. If you’re not familiar, his pedigree includes shenanigans-laced heavy rockers Honky, playing guitar alongside Keenan, fronting Snakes of Central Texas, teching for Pantera and a bunch of others, and so on. And of course, there’s video of him doing the thing filmed at Headbangers Boat a few weeks back (the photos below would seem to have originated there as well). It’s bootleg sound, but it’s also “Albatross,” so even if they weren’t showing off a revamped dynamic, really it’s its own excuse for being.
Last I heard, C.O.C. were still in-progress on the follow-up to their 2018 album, No Cross No Crown (review here), working with drummer Stanton Moore (who last appeared on the band’s 2005 outing, In the Arms of God) in the studio with Warren Riker producing. Videos go up periodically of this or that being recorded, but you wouldn’t accuse them of rushing it, and fair enough. No doubt the proceedings will be different without Dean there, but change is the order of the universe, so there you go.
2025 release? Surprise album and tour drop sometime in Spring? That’d rule. I, of course, know nothing. Ever. About anything. You get used to it after a while. A stupid kind of zen.
From socials:
Absolutely Thrilled to be in Corrosion of Conformity. Onwards and Upwards
Posted in Bootleg Theater on November 15th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
Destroy, Erase, Improvepretty much did what it set out to do. It took heavy metal, specifically the burly metallithrash that Umeå, Sweden’s Meshuggah offered on their first LP, Contradictions Collapse, broke it down, wiped it away, and made it better. The band’s second album, issued through Nuclear Blast in 1995 — a 30th anniversary that will almost certainly be celebrated in some way next year — is among the most landmark releases in metal, regardless of subgenre. Hell, it’s its own subgenre. They only called it “djent” because to say “that thing Meshuggah does where the time signatures bend reality” would both be too on the nose and take too long to say. Certainly it’s implied, and for good reason.
At 46 minutes, Destroy, Erase, Improve is shorter than a lot of what was happening at the time deep in the peak of the CD era, and that relative brevity continues to serve how intense it feels when it hits the ear. The band comprised of vocalist Jens Kidman, guitarists Fredrik Thordendal (lead, also synth) and Mårten Hagström (rhythm), bassist Peter Nordin and drummer Tomas Haake (also responsible for most of the lyrics) found a niche in an intricacy of rhythm and timing that simply hadn’t been done before in an aggressive-music context.
They didn’t invent playing in ‘odd’ time signatures by any means, but they did something genuinely new with it. That it would go on to basically be the cornerstone of a subgenre unto itself — I’d add 1998’s Chaosphere (discussed here) to that list, and some of the band’s later work — but as much as Neurosis‘ style became the basis for post-metal, Meshuggah informed metalcore in the aughts, as every breakdown was really just trying to be ‘the Meshuggah part’ and everyone knew it, and their influence still resonates in modern metal more broadly. Not only did they create their own style for others to emulate as invariably would happen, but they affected multiple microgenres under the ‘heavy music’ umbrella.
The album’s no secret, of course. It’s one of the most celebrated releases of its generation, and I seriously doubt that anything I say about it will either never have been said before or provide some new insight as to how Meshuggah took on the direction they did, but from where I sit, comfortably on the couch that used to belong to my wife’s grandmother, the heat on for a chilly November morning, in socks, the lesson of Destroy, Erase, Improve feels an awful lot like it’s teaching the value of finding your place.
In this case, it’s an angry place. Destroy, Erase, Improve is immediate in its violent intention — ‘destroy’ comes first — and “Future Breed Machine” readily displays the characteristic temporal twists that would come to define the band’s impact, along with a kind of jangly gallop that offsets those undulations. Like any decent literature, Destroy, Erase, Improve teaches you how to read it as it unfolds. I don’t necessarily mean that the average person hearing it is going to start counting measures. Maybe you latch onto those parts as a life raft amid the tumult surrounding of tones that would only grow more tectonic with passing years finding their preface in the mighty chug of “Soul Burn.” Or maybe you follow Kidman‘s vocals, or Haake‘s drums — the hi-hat or the snare can assist if you’re looking to nod, see “Beneath” or the penultimate highlight “Suffer in Truth” — or maybe you just let go and it unfolds in a wash over you. Maybe that’s your zen. I’m jealous if so.
But whatever route they take to get there, Meshuggah‘s vision of progressivism — because that’s kind of what any search for sonic/stylistic individualism is going to lead to, isn’t it?; a chase toward an ideal centered around deeper consideration of one’s work? — remains singular in its impact. There’s very little in the world that sounds both as intelligent and devastating. Destroy, Erase, Improve is this at its rawest, and “Future Breed Machine,” “Inside What’s Within Behind,” “Suffer in Truth” and others here are heralds for the path the band were putting themselves on through the material. Even in the three-minute ambient interlude “Acrid Placidity” — prescient of some of what Thordendal would do in his solo work — the album never lets its audience get fully away from the sense of things being off-kilter, weird in untraceable ways, and undeniably distinctive.
That Meshuggah went on to become one of metal’s most singularly crushing bands — their latest album, Immutable, came out in 2022; they’ve slowed down a little and that’s just fine by me because I like slow heavy metal music thank you very much — is immaterial to Destroy, Erase, Improve in the face of the risk the band were taking at the time. And to be sure, it was a few years before what was being heard was processed into an influence and Meshuggah really got ‘their due’ — recall there was no mobile social media at the time; fandom didn’t happen instantaneously as it can now — but not only are these 10 songs executed with precision, they’re poised even as they hit their hardest or explore the far reaches of where metal had previously been.
Those reaches turned out to be the place for themselves that the band were finding. They’ve dwelled there since, to largely undeniable results — they have enough fans that individual records are debated, but speaking broadly there’s no getting past their impact — and continued to refine and reshape what they do while retaining the inhuman superposition Destroy, Erase, Improve lays out. I know this kind of thing isn’t what’s always covered around here, and I know not everybody gets into harder and more extreme sounds, but you should know that I’m not trying to gatekeep. If you’ve never heard this record at all, I’d say put it on just for the experience of being able to say you heard it. If you know it, it’s its own excuse. For me, it’s unto itself, which 29 years later still very much feels like what they were going for at the time.
As always, I hope you enjoy. Thanks for reading.
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6:49AM now. I woke up at 5:30 with the alarm. Actually, I woke up at 1, then at 3, then at 5:30 with the alarm. I guess. It was a stupid kind of sleep. I’d been setting the alarm for a luxurious 6:30AM, because since The Pecan is in school, I have more time during the day to write, but since the time change a couple weeks ago — the ‘fall back’ in the US’ ridiculous ‘spring ahead, fall back’ like we can’t just fucking leave it alone? really? — she’s been getting up at around 6:20 where that had been an hour later. The time differential wasn’t a ton, but 40 minutes to an hour of conscious, focused, low-distraction writing time isn’t nothing to me.
So the experiment this morning was to see what my effect on her waking up was. As I’m banging around half-conscious through my morning routine, making coffee and tea and taking the dog out, etc., if it’s 6:30, is she at a point close enough to awake anyway that I’m tipping her over? She’s always been up with daylight, which can be brutal. That she’s already slept until nearly seven, and that it’s nearly fully light out, tells me that maybe I am part of what’s been getting her up. It’s kind of academic, I guess, but I’m home a lot these days and I guess that’s where you end up.
If you clicked that Chaosphere link above and read any of that post, or maybe you remember which I’m willing to believe two people do one of whom is my wife, the US political situation is a factor in my choice this week. It was in 2020 as well. I’ve been thinking about some of the differences between now and then, and mostly it works out to it’s sadder this time. In 2016, it was easy to be angry. There were protests in the streets, a million women getting out in the cold to proclaim themselves against an acknowledged sex offender being made president. This time everything just feels numb.
The absurd cabinet picks, the impossible-to-ignore parade of hateful bullshit. Yeah, I get sad thinking people actually voted for this, because it’s not like nobody knew what was coming. The country has been through this before, and people collectively decided that yeah, we need more of that as a nation. I wasn’t a huge fan of Harris either, or Biden, or Obama once he started drone-bombing civilians in foreign lands, but at least they held the country together. And even if you’re for anarchy, for letting it all go off the rails running up Don Jr.’s nose, how on earth can this be the vision of anarchy that speaks to people?
So yeah, sad. People voting away the rights of others, environmental protections and functional institutions (no, I’m not talking about Congress, but the lower-level bureaucracies of American government function just fine and employ tens of thousands) just to be mean. That is fucking sad. I should be moving on from that, to righteous anger or whatever impotent-ass stage of grief is next, but no.
Needless to say, the news yesterday that The Onion bought InfoWars was a bright light in all that encompassing dark. It’s been a lot of weed and Zelda in my downtime. Escapism. Fine. Give me a few more weeks to get my feet back under me in this already-was-awful–and-is-about-to-get-worse reality. And if you voted Republican and your still reading this because it thinks it makes you civil or some self-affirming garbage, when they take away my daughter’s right to exist and persecute your LBGT friends, neighbors and family — because everyone’s got ’em — remember it was all worth it to own the libs like a spiteful 12-year-old shithead.
A little anger peeking through, maybe. See? It’s a process. But should you require any extra leftist tears to sate whatever self-indulgent nazi — vote for a fascist you’re a fascist; disagree and be wrong — dopamine chase you’re on, I’ve got plenty.
To the rest, a great and safe weekend. May your blinders hold up as it all continues to unravel, and may you get through the day without having to hang your head at the realization of the moment in history you occupy. Don’t forget to hydrate!
Posted in Whathaveyou on September 5th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
As Green Lung make ready to embark on their first round of US touring ever — I always worry touring the States is going to break up UK or Euro acts who’ve never been here before because, well, traveling bands get treated like garbage here compared to other places; good luck to them on living in that stereotype for a week-plus; see you at Desertfest — in about a week’s time, they’re already announcing plans for early next year. What will reportedly be the end of the touring cycle for 2023’s Nuclear Blast label-debut and their third LP overall, This Heathen Land (review here) will also be the most extensive continental jaunt they’ve undertaken to-date. As they have all along, then, Green Lung continue to grow and expand their listenership/fanbase.
And of course, what does the end of a touring cycle mean except the start of an album cycle? I have no info on new Green Lung material, where they’re at in writing or recording, if they’re playing new songs live or digging into the back catalog or what, but as a band who’ve only moved forward since their outset, it seems reasonable/fair to expect that to continue in good order. Unless America ruins it, which, again, one hopes doesn’t happen.
From a Bandcamp update:
GREEN LUNG – THE HEATHEN NEVERLAND TOUR 💚 🗡️ 🌙
We are thrilled that in addition to the previously announced London and Manchester shows, we will be embarking on our biggest tour of Europe yet with Unto Others in February next year, which will include club shows in Sweden, Norway, Finland and Portugal for the first time, and feature support from Satan’s Satyrs. We’re so excited to be bringing the THIS HEATHEN LAND cycle to an end with this grand finale. Tickets for all new shows are available now from greenlung.co.uk. Come, join our rites!
06.02.2025 – SE, Gothenburg – Pustervik 07.02.2025 – NO, Oslo – John Dee 08.02.2025 – SE, Stockholm – Debaser Strand 10.02.2025 – FI, Tampere – Olympia-Kortteli 11.02.2025 – FI, Helsinki – Korjaamo 13.02.2025 – DK, Copenhagen – Amager Bio 14.02.2025 – DE, Hamburg – Gruenspan 15.02.2025 – BE, Antwerp – Zappa 17.02.2025 – UK, Bristol – Marble Factory 18.02.2025 – IE, Dublin – The Academy 20.02.2025 – UK, Glasgow – The Garage 21.02.2025 – UK, Manchester – O2 Ritz 22.02.2025 – UK, London – O2 Forum Kentish Town 23.02.2025 – NL, Utrecht – Tivoli Vredenburg-Pandora 24.02.2025 – LU, Esch-Sur-Alzette – Rockhal 25.02.2025 – FR, Paris – Trabendo 26.02.2025 – FR, Toulouse – Rex 28.02.2025 – PT, Lisboa – LAV – Lisboa ao Vivo 01.03.2025 – ES, Madrid – Sala Copernico 02.03.2025 – ES, Barcelona – Razzmatazz 2 04.03.2025 – IT, Milan – Legend Club Milano 05.03.2025 – AT, Vienna – Flex 06.03.2025 – DE, Munich – Backstage 07.03.2025 – DE, Berlin – LIDO 08.03.2025 – DE, Bochum – Matrix
Green Lung US dates: 09/13/24 BALTIMORE, MD Metro Gallery 09/14/24 BROOKLYN, NY @desertfest_nyc 09/15/24 BOSTON, MA Sonia 09/16/24 MONTREAL, QC Fairmount 09/17/24 TORONTO, ON Velvet Underground 09/18/24 DETROIT, MI Small’s 09/19/24 COLUMBUS, OH Ace of Cups 09/20/24 PHILADELPHIA, PA Milkboy 09/21/24 RICHMOND, VA Music Hall
Green Lung: Tom Templar: Vox Scott Black: Guitars Joseph Ghast: Bass John Wright: Keys Matt Wiseman: Drums
Posted in Whathaveyou on July 15th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
It’s the first, but you can place a solid bet it won’t be the last time London-based folkloric heavy rockers Green Lung travel to the US to tour. The widely celebrated purveyors of all-in, grandiose cult melodic classicism were previously announced for Desertfest New York, so the greater likelihood was a round of shows beyond that was coming, but the whens and wheres and particulars make it real, and if those don’t, the fact that tickets are on sale certainly should.
It’s been six years since Green Lung made a clarion debut with the Free the Witch EP (review here), and their momentum has hardly let up since, which is all the more impressive considering that particular six-year span. Their arrival on US (and Canadian) shores — it can only happen first once — comes after their 2023 third album and Nuclear Blast debut, This Heathen Land (review here), saw them flirt with classic heavy rock and pop sounds, the material tied together with tight craft and a flair for the epic that’s been with them all along, if not before to such a sweeping degree. With a pointed sonic vision brought to life in memorable style, the occasion could hardly be more fitting.
It’s East Coast, and Brooklyn ultra-theatrical dark rockers Castle Rat will support. Tickets are on sale now. As per socials:
GREEN LUNG 🇺🇸 HEATHEN REALM MMXXIV 🇨🇦
It’s finally happening! Our first ever North American tour is booked for September, taking in eight cities around our Desertfest NYC appearance, with support from very special guests in the mighty and fantastical Castle Rat. We can’t wait to hail the Old Gods in the New World! Artwork by Kris Putter 🇺🇸 👹🇨🇦
USA and Canada, come join our rites! Tickets for our first ever North American tour are on sale now at greenlung.co.uk. We’ll be supported by the mythical and magical Castle Rat. We look forward to spreading the folklore, riffs and legends of Britain stateside in a couple of months! 🇺🇸 👹 🇨🇦 🏰 🐀
09/13/24 BALTIMORE, MD Metro Gallery 09/14/24 BROOKLYN, NY @desertfest_nyc 09/15/24 BOSTON, MA Sonia 09/16/24 MONTREAL, QC Fairmount 09/17/24 TORONTO, ON Velvet Underground 09/18/24 DETROIT, MI Small’s 09/19/24 COLUMBUS, OH Ace of Cups 09/20/24 PHILADELPHIA, PA Milkboy 09/21/24 RICHMOND, VA Music Hall
Green Lung is: Tom Templar – Vocals Scott Black – Guitar Joseph Ghast – Bass John Wright – Organ Matt Wiseman – Drums
Welcome back to the Quarterly Review. Good weekend? Restful? Did you get out and see some stuff? Did you loaf and hang out on the couch? There are advantages to either, to be sure. Friday night I watched my daughter (and a literal 40 other performers, no fewer than four of whom sang and/or danced to the same Taylor Swift song) do stand-up comedy telling math jokes at her elementary school variety show. She’s in kindergarten, she likes math, and she killed. Nice little moment for her, if one that came as part of a long evening generally.
The idea this week is the same as last week: 50 releases covered across five days. Put the two weeks together and the Spring 2024 Quarterly Review — which I’m pretty sure is what I called the one in March as well; who cares? — runs 100 strong. I’ll be traveling, some with family, some on my own, for a bit in the coming months, so this is a little bit my way of clearing my slate before that all happens, but it’s always satisfying to dig into so much and get a feel for what different acts are doing, try and convey some of that as directly as I can. If you’re reading, thanks. If this is the first you’re seeing of it and you want to see more, you can either scroll down or click here.
Either way, off we go.
Quarterly Review #51-60:
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Pelican, Adrift/Tending the Embers
Chicago (mostly-)instrumentalist stalwarts Pelican haven’t necessarily been silent since 2019’s Nighttime Stories (review here), with a digital live release in Spring 2020, catalog reissues on Thrill Jockey, a couple in-the-know covers posted and shows hither and yon, but the stated reason for the two-songer EP Adrift/Tending the Embers is to raise funds ahead of recording what will be their seventh album in a career now spanning more than 20 years. In addition to that being a cause worth supporting — they’re on the second pressing; 200 blue tapes — the two new original tracks “Adrift” (5:48) and “Tending the Embers” (4:26) reintroduce guitarist Laurent Schroeder-Lebec as a studio presence alongside guitarist Trevor Shelley de Brauw, bassist Bryan Herweg and drummer Larry Herweg. Recorded by the esteemed Sanford Parker, neither cut ranges too far conceptually from the band’s central modus bringing together heavy groove with lighter/brighter reach of guitar, but come across like a tight, more concise encapsulation of earlier accomplishments. There’s a certain amount of comfort in that as they surf the crunching, somehow-noise-rock-inspired riff of “Adrift,” sounding refreshed in their purpose in a way that one hopes they can carry into making the intended LP.
Something of a harsher take on A Mortal Binding, which is the 15th full-length from UK death-doom forebears My Dying Bride, as well as their second for Nuclear Blast behind 2020’s lush The Ghost of Orion (review here. The seven-song/55-minute offering from the masters of misery derives its character in no small part from the front-mixed vocals of Aaron Stainthorpe, who from opener “Her Dominion” onward, switches between his morose semi-spoken approach, woeful as ever, and dry-throated harsher barks. And that the leadoff is all-screams feels like a purposeful choice as that rasp returns in the second half of “The 2nd of Three Bells,” the 11-minute “The Apocalyptist,” “A Starving Heart” and the ending section of closer “Crushed Embers.” I don’t know when the last time a My Dying Bride LP sounded so roiling, but it’s been a minute. The duly morose riffing of founding guitarist Andrew Craighan unites this outwardly nastier aspect with the more melodic “Thornwyck Hymn,” “Unthroned Creed” and the rest that isn’t throatripper-topped, but with returning producer Mark Mynett, the band has clearly honed in on a more stripped-down, still-room-for-violin approach, and it works in just about everything but the drums, which sound triggered/programmed in the way of modern metal. It remains easy to get caught in the band’s wretched sweep, and I’ll note that it’s a rare act who can surprise you 15 records later.
Masonic Wave‘s self-titled debut is the first public offering from the Chicago-based five-piece with Bruce Lamont (Yakuza, Corrections House, Led Zeppelin II, etc.) on vocals, and though “Justify the Cling” has a kind of darker intensity in its brooding first-half ambience, what that build and much besides throughout the eight-song offering leads to is a weighted take on post-hardcore that earlier pieces “Bully” and “Tent City” present in duly confrontational style before “Idle Hands” (the longest inclusion at just under eight minutes) digs into a similar explore-till-we-find-the-payoff ideology and “Julia” gnashes through noise-rock teethkicking. Some of the edge-of-the-next-outburst restlessness cast by Lamont, guitarists Scott Spidale and Sean Hulet, bassist Fritz Doreza and drummer Clayton DeMuth reminds of Chat Pile‘s arthouse disillusion, but “Nuzzle Up” has a cyclical crunch given breadth through the vocal melody and the sax amid the multiple angles and sharp corners of the penultimate “Mountains of Labor” are a clue to further weirdness to come before “Bamboozler” closes with heads-down urgency before subtly branching into a more spacious if still pointedly unrelaxed culmination. No clue where it might all be headed, but that’s part of the appeal as Masonic Wave‘s Sanford Parker-produced 39 minutes play out, the songs engaging almost in spite of themselves.
There are shades of latter-day Conan (whose producer/former bassist Chris Fielding mixed here) in the vocal trades and mega-toned gallop of opening track “Sky Father,” which Bismarck expand upon with the more pointedly post-metallic “Echoes,” shifting from the lurching ultracrush into a mellower midsection before the blastbeaten crescendo gives over to rumble and the hand-percussion-backed whispers of the intro to “Kigal.” Their first for Dark Essence, the six-song/35-minute Vourukasha follows 2020’s Oneiromancer (review here) and feels poised in its various transitions between consuming aural heft and leaving that same space in the mix open for comparatively minimal exploration. “Kigal” takes on a Middle Eastern lean and stays unshouted/growled for its five-plus minutes — a choice that both works and feels purposeful — but the foreboding drone of interlude “The Tree of All Seeds” comes to a noisy head as if to warn of the drop about to take place in the title-track, which flows through its initial movement with an emergent float of guitar that leads into its own ambient middle ahead of an engrossing, duly massive slowdown/payoff worthy of as much volume as it can be given. Wrapping with the nine-minute “Ocean Dweller,” they summarize what precedes on Vourukasha while shifting the structure as an extended, vocal-inclusive-at-the-front soundscape bookends around one more huge, slow-marching, consciousness-flattening procession. Extremity refined.
That fact that Sun Moon Holy Cult exist on paper as a band based in Tokyo playing a Sabbath-boogie-worshiping, riff-led take on heavy rock with a song like “I Cut Your Throat” leading off their self-titled debut makes a Church of Misery comparison somewhat inevitable, but the psych jamming around the wah-bass shuffle of “Out of the Dark,” longer-form structures, the vocal melodies and the Sleep-style march of “Savoordoom” that grows trippier as it delves further into its 13 minutes distinguish the newcomer four-piece of vocalist Hakuka, guitarist Ryu, bassist Ame and drummer Bato across the four-song LP’s 40 minutes. Issued through Captured Records and SloomWeep Productions, Sun Moon Holy Cult brings due bombast amid the roll of “Mystic River” as well, hitting its marks stylistically while showcasing the promise of a band with a clear idea of what they want their songs to do and perhaps how they want to grow over time. If this is to be the foundation of that growth, watch out.
Dortmund, Germany’s Daily Thompson made their way to Port Orchard, Washington, to record Chuparosa with Mos Generator‘s Tony Reed at the helm, and the three-piece of guitarist/vocalist Danny Zaremba, bassist/vocalist Mercedes Lalakakis and drummer/vocalist Thorsten Stratmann bring a duly West Coast spirit to “I’m Free Tonight” and the grunge-informed roll of “Diamond Waves” and the verses of “Raindancer.” The former launches the 36-minute outing with a pointedly Fu Manchuian vibe, but the start-stops, fluid roll and interplay of vocals from Zaremba and Lalakakis lets “Pizza Boy” move in its own direction, and the brooding acoustic start of “Diamond Waves” and more languid wash of riff in the chorus look elsewhere in ’90s alternativism for their basis. The penultimate “Ghost Bird” brings in cigar-box guitar and dares some twang amid all the fuzz, but as “Raindancer” has already branched out with its quieter bassy midsection build and final desert-hued thrust, the album can accommodate such a shift without any trouble. The title-track trades between wistful grunge verses and a fuller-nodding hook, from which the three-piece take off for the bridge, thankfully returning to the chorus in Chuparosa‘s big finish. The manner in which the whole thing brims with purpose makes it seem like Daily Thompson knew exactly what they were going for in terms of sound, so I guess you could say it was probably worth the trip.
Kicking off with the markedly Graveyardian “Hangtime,” Mooch ultimately aren’t content to dwell solely in a heavy-blues-boogie sphere on Visions, their third LP and quick follow-up to 2023’s Hounds. Bluesy as the vibe is from which the Montreal trio set out, the subsequent “Morning Prayer” meanders through wah-strum open spaces early onto to delve into jangly classic-prog strum later, while “Intention” backs its drawling vocal melody with nylon-stringed acoustic guitar and hand percussion. Divergence continues to be the order of the day throughout the 41-minute eight-songer, with “New Door” shifting from its sleepy initial movement into an even quieter stretch of Doors-meets-Stones-y melody before the bass leads into its livelier solo section with just a tinge of Latin rhythm and “Together” giving more push behind a feel harkening back to the opener but that grows quiet and melodically expansive in its second half. This sets up the moodier vibe of “Vision” and gives the roll of “You Wouldn’t Know” an effective backdrop for its acoustic/electric blend and harmonized vocals, delivered patiently enough to let the lap steel slide into the arrangement easily before the brighter-toned “Reflections” caps with a tinge of modern heavy post-rock. What’s tying it together? Something intangible. Momentum. Flow. Maybe just the confidence to do it? I don’t know, but as subdued as they get, they never lose their momentum, and as much movement as there is, they never seem to lose their balance. Visions might not reveal its full scope the first time through, but subsequent listens bring due reward.
The narrative — blessings and peace upon it — has it that guitarist/vocalist Bobby Spender recruited bassist Loz Fancourt and drummer Harry Flowers after The Pleasure Dome‘s prior rhythm section left, ahead of putting together the varied 16 minutes of the Liminal Space EP. For what it’s worth, the revamped Bristol, UK, trio don’t sound any more haphazard than they want to in the loose-swinging sections of “Shoulder to Cry On” that offset the fuller shove of the chorus, or the punk-rooted alt-rock brashness of “The Duke Part II (Friends & Enemies),” and the blastbeat-inclusive tension of “Your Fucking Smile” that precedes the folk-blues finger-plucking of “Sugar.” Disjointed? Kind of, but that also feels like the point. Closer “Suicide” works around acoustic guitar and feels sincere in the lines, “Suicide, suicide/I’ve been there before/I’ve been there before/On your own/So hold on,” and the profession of love that resolves it, and while that’s at some remove from the bitter spirit of the first two post-intro tracks, Liminal Space makes its own kind of sense with the sans-effects voice of Spender at its core.
A solid four-songer from Birmingham’s Slump, who are fronted by guitarist Matt Noble (also Alunah), with drummer David Kabbouri Lara and bassist Ben Myles backing the riff-led material with punch in “Buried” after the careening hook of “Dust” opens with classic scorch in its solo and before the slower and more sludged “Kneel” gets down to its own screamier business and “Vultures” rounds out with a midtempo stomp early but nods to what seems like it’s going to be a more morose finish until the drum solo takes off toward the big-crash finish. As was the case on Slump‘s 2023 split with At War With the Sun, the feel across Dust is that of a nascent band — Slump got together in 2018, but this is their most substantial standalone release to-date — figuring out what they want to do. The ideas are there, and the volatility at which “Kneel” hints will hopefully continue to serve them well as they explore spaces between metal and heavy rock, classic and modern styles. A progression underway toward any number of potential avenues.
What dwells in Green Hog Band‘s Fuzz Realm? If you said “fuzz,” go ahead and get yourself a cookie (the judges also would’ve accepted “riffs” and “heavy vibes, dude”), but for those unfamiliar with the New Yorker trio’s methodology, there’s more to it than tone as guitarist/producer Mike Vivisector, bassist/vocalist Ivan Antipov and drummer Ronan Berry continue to carve out their niche of lo-fi stoner buzz marked by harsh, gurgly vocals in the vein of Attila Csihar, various samples, organ sounds and dug-in fuckall. “Escape on the Wheels” swings and chugs instrumentally, and “In the Mist of the Bong” has lyrics in English, so there’s no lack of variety despite the overarching pervasiveness of misanthropy. That mood is further cast in the closing salvo of the low-slung “Morning Dew” and left-open “Phantom,” both of which are instrumental save for some spoken lines in the latter, as the prevailing sense is that they were going to maybe put some verses on there but decided screw it and went back to their cave (presumably somewhere in Queens) instead, because up yours anyhow. 46 minutes of crust-stoned “up yours anyhow,” then.
