Posted in Whathaveyou on December 14th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
This past January, when posting a round of late-Winter/early-Spring touring to be undertaken by Sweden’s Truckfighters, I noted they’re due for a new album. The last 11 months haven’t made them any less so, to be sure. But if Truckfighters, who spent the earlier portion of their career establishing themselves as a barnburning live act, want to keep their focus on that part of what they do now, who the hell can blame them? That’s where the fun is, where the audience is, and where the merch sales happen most. The studio will still be there (hopefully anyhow) when they get back to it.
There are fests here and club shows around them. You’ll note Into the Void in the Netherlands, Desert Hel in Finland and Belgium’s Alcatraz Fest as one of probably more to come this summer, in addition to Interstellar Solar Festival and These Go to Eleven as part of this run. It’s probably not the only run they’ll do in 2024, and they’ve announced the dates for their next Fuzz Festival in Stockholm as well, which will be held Nov. 22-23. No bands confirmed yet, but there’s a pretty gosh darn solid chance Truckfighters will play as they do every year, in addition to hosting the event at Debaser Strand and Bar Brooklyn.
They say there’s more to come and I take them at their word. For now, this was the latest from the newsletter of the band-helmed label, Fuzzorama Records:
TRUCKFIGHTERS announce Euro shows
Germany, Netherlands, UK, Finland, Belgium and more to come.
TRUCKFIGHTERS 21.2 BIELEFELD, D – Forum 22.2 DRESDEN, D – Chemiefabrik 23.2 ERFURT, D – Bandhaus 24.2 EINDHOVEN, NL- Into the void festival 25.2 FRANKFURT, D – Zoom 10.3 LONDON, UK – Garage 30.3 LEIDEN, NL – Interstellar solar festival 31.3 ZWOLLE, NL – These go to eleven festival 18.4 TURKU, F – Utopia 19.4 TAMPERE, F – Tullikamari Klubi 20.4 HELSINKI, F – Desert Hel festival Aug 9-11 Alcatraz Festival, Belgium
Posted in Reviews on October 2nd, 2023 by JJ Koczan
It’s been quite a morning. Got up at five, went back to sleep until six, took the dog out, lazily poured myself a coffee — the smell is like wood bark and bitter mud, so yes, the dark roast — and got down to set up this Quarterly Review. Not rushed, not at all overwhelmed by press releases about new albums or the fact that I’ve got 50 records I’m writing about this week, or any of it. Didn’t last, that stress-free sit-down — one of the hazards of being perfectly willing to be distracted at a moment’s notice is that that might happen — but it was nice while it did. And hey, the Quarterly Review is set up and ready to roll with 50 records between now and Friday. Let’s do that.
Quarterly Review #1-10:
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Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats, Slaughter on First Avenue
Recorded over two nights at First Avenue in Minneapolis sandwiching the pandemic in 2019 and 2022, Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats‘ 14-song/85-minute live album, Slaughter on First Avenue, is about as clean as you’re ever likely to hear the band sound. And the Rise Above-issued 2LP spans the garage doom innovators’ career, from “Dead Eyes of London” from 2010’s Vol. 1 (reissue review here) to “I See Through You” from 2018’s Wasteland (review here), with all the “Death’s Door” and “Thirteen Candles” and “Desert Ceremony” and “I’ll Cut You Down” you can handle, the addled and murderous bringers of melody and fuzz clear-eyed and methodical, professional, in their delivery. It sounds worked on, like, in the studio, the way oldschool live albums might’ve been. I don’t know that it was, don’t have a problem with that if it was, just noting that the sheer sound here is fantastic, whether it’s the separation between the two guitars and keys and each other, the distinction of the vocals, or the way even the snare drum seems to hit in kind with the vintage aspects of Uncle Acid‘s general production style. They clearly enjoy the crowd response to the older tunes like “I’ll Cut You Down” and “Death’s Door,” and well they should. Slaughter on First Avenue isn’t a new full-length, though they say one will eventually happen, but it’s a representation of their material in a new way for listeners, cleaner than their last two studio records, and a ceremony (or two) worth preserving.
Swedish retro soul rock forerunners Graveyard are on their way to being legends if they aren’t legends yet. Headliners at the absolute least, and the influence they had in the heavy ’10s on classic heavy as a style and boogie rock in particular can’t be discounted. Comprised of nine cuts, 6 is Graveyard‘s first offering of this decade, following behind 2018’s Peace (review here), and it continues their dual-trajectory in pairing together the slow, troubled-love woes emotionality of “Breathe In, Breathe Out,” “Sad Song” on which guitarist Joakim Nilsson relinquishes lead vocals, the early going of “Bright Lights,” and opener “Godnatt” — Swedish for “good night,” which the band tried to say in 2016 but it didn’t stick — setting up turns to shove in “Twice” and “Just a Drop” while “I Follow You,” closer “Rampant Fields” or the highlight “Just a Drop” finding some territory between the two ends. The bottom line here is it’s not the record I was hoping Graveyard would make, leaning slow and morose whereas when you could break out a groove like “Just a Drop” seemingly at will, why wouldn’t you? But that I even had those hopes tells you the caliber band they are, and whatever the tracks actually do, there’s no questioning them as songwriters. But the world could use some good times swagger, if only a half-hour of escapism, and Graveyard are perhaps too sincere to deliver. Fair enough.
The thing about Hexvessel that has been revealed over time is that each record is its own context. Grown out from the black metal history of UK-born/Helsinki-residing songwriter Mat “Kvohst” McNerney, the band returns to that fertile ground somewhat on the eight-song Polar Veil, applying veteran confidence to post-blackened genre transgressions. Songs like “A Cabin in Montana” and “Older Than the Gods” have some less-warlike Primordial vibes between the epic melodies and tremolo echoes, but in both the speedy intensity of “Eternal Meadow” and the later ethereally-doomed gruel of “Ring,” Hexvessel are distinctly themselves doing this thing. That is, they’re not changing who they are to suit the style they want to play — even the per-song stylistic shifts of 2016’s When We Are Death (review here) were their own, so that’s not necessarily new — but a departure from the dark progressive folk of 2020’s Kindred as McNerney, bassist Ville Hakonen, drummer Jukka Rämänen and pianist/keyboardist Kimmo Helén (also strings) welcome a curated-seeming selection of a few guest appearances spread across the release, always keeping mindful of ambience and mood however raging the tempest around them might be.
Bookended by its two longest songs in “Drink Some More” (8:44) and closer “Letter Full of Wine” (9:17), Munich-based troupe Godsground offer seven songs with their 47-minute third long-player, working quickly to bask in post-Alice in Chains melodies surrounded by a warmth of tone that could just as easily be derived from hometown heroes in Colour Haze as the likes of Sungrazer or anyone else, but there’s more happening in the sound than just that. The melodies reach out and the songs develop on paths so that “Balance” is a straight-up desert rocker where seven-minute centerpiece “Into the Butter” sounds readier to get weird. They are well at home in longer forms, flashing a bit of metal in teh later solo of the penultimate “Non Reflecting Mirror,” but the overarching focus on vocal melody grounds the material in its lyrics, and that helps stabilize some of the more out-there aspects. With the roller fuzz of “A Game of Light” and side B’s flow-into-push “Flood” finding space between all-out go and the longer songs’ willingness to dwell in parts, Godsground emerge from the collection with a varied style around a genre center that’s maybe delighted not to pick a side when it comes to playing toward this or that niche. There’s some undercurrent of doom — though I’ll admit the artwork had me looking for it — but Godsground are more coherent than bewildered, and their material unfolds with intent to immerse rather than commiserate.
Ambition abounds on Sleep Maps‘ Reclaim Chaos, as the once-NYC-based duo of multi-instrumentalist Ben Kaplan and vocalist David Kegg — finds somebody that writes you riffs like “Second Generation” and scream your ass off for them — bring textures of progressive metal, death metal, metal metal to the proceedings with their established post-whathaveyou modus. Would it be a surprise if I said it made them a less predictable band? I hope not. With attention to detail bolstered my a mix from Matt Bayles (Isis, Sandrider, etc.), the open spaces of “The Good Engineer” resonate in their layered vocals and drone, while “You Want What I Cannot Give” pummels, “In the Sun, In the Moon” brings the wash forward and capper “Kill the World” is duly still in conveying an apparent aftermath rather than the actual slaughter of the planet, which of course happened over a longer timeframe. All of this, and a good deal more, make Reclaim Chaos a heady feast — and that’s before you get to the ’00-era electronica of “Double Blind” — but in their reclamation, Sleep Maps execute with care and make a point about the malleability of style as much as about their own progression, though it seems to be the latter fueling them. Self-motivated, willful artistic progression is not often so starkly recognizable.
A reminder of the glories amid the horrors of our age: Dread Spire‘s Endless Empire — am I the only one who finds it a little awkward when band and release names rhyme? — probably wouldn’t exist without the democratization of recording processes that’s happened over the last 15-20 years. It’s a demo, essentially, from the bass/drum — that’s Richie Rehal and Erol Kavvas — Cali-set instrumentalist two-piece, and with about 13 minutes of sans BS riffing, they make a case via a linear procession of crunch riffing and uptempo, semi-metal precision. The narrative — blessings and peace upon it — holds that they got together during the pandemic, and the raw form and clearly-manifest catharsis in the material is all the backing they need. More barebones than complex, this first offering wants nothing for audio fidelity and gives Rehal and Kavvas a beginning from which to build in any and all directions they might choose. The joy of collaboration and the need to find an expressive outlet are the best motivations one could ask, and that’s very obviously what’s at work here.
A roiling post-metallic churn abides the slow tempos of “Torch Bearer” at the outset of Mairu‘s debut full-length, Sol Cultus, and it is but one ingredient of the Liverpool-based outfit’s atmospheric plunge. Across eight tracks and 49 minutes, the double-guitar four-piece of Alan Caulton and Ant Hurlock (both guitar/vocals), Dan Hunt (bass/vocals) and Ben Davis (drums/synth) — working apparently pretty closely over a period of apparently four years with Tom Dring, who produced, engineered, mixed, mastered and contributed saxophone, ebow, piano and additional synth — remind in their spaciousness of that time Red Sparowes taught the world, instrumentally, to sing. But with harsh and melodic vocals mixed, bouts of thrashier riffing dealt with prejudice, and the barely-there ambience of “Inter Alia” and “Per Alia” to persuade the listener toward headphones, the very-sludged finish of “Wild Darkened Eyes” and the 10-minute sprawl of “Rite of Embers” lumbering to its distorted gut-clench of a crescendo chug ahead of the album’s comedown finish, there’s depth and personality to the material even as Mairu look outside of verse/chorus confines to make their statement. Their second outing behind a 2019 EP, and again, apparently in the works on some level since then, it’s explorational, but less in the sense of the band figuring out who they want to be than as a stylistic tenet they’ve internalized as their own.
At first in “Hope Shines in the Autumn Light,” Brazilian instrumentalist heavy post-rockers Throe remind of nothing so much as the robots-with-feelings mechanized-but-resonant plod of Justin K. Broadrick‘s Jesu, but as the 14-minute leadoff from the apparently-mostly-solo-project’s three-song EP, O Enterro das Marés (one assumes the title is some derivation of being ‘buried at sea’), plays through, it shifts into a more massive galaxial nod and then shortly before the nine-minute mark to a stretch of hypnotic beat-less melody before resolving itself somewhere in the middle. This three-part structure gives over to the Godfleshier “Bleed Alike” (6:33), which nods accordingly until unveiling its caustic end about 30 seconds before the song is done, and “Renascente” (7:59), in which keys/synth and wistful guitar lead a single linear build together as the band gradually and with admirable patience move from their initial drone to the introduction of the ‘drums’ and through the layers of melody that emerge and are more the point of the thing itself than the actual swell of volume taking place at the same time. When it opens at about five minutes in, “Renascente” is legitimately beautiful, an echoing waterfall of tonality that seems to dance to the gravity pulling it down. The guitar is last to go, which tells you something about how the songs are written, but with three songs and three different intentions, Throe make a varied statement uniform most of all in how complete each piece of it feels.
Well guess what? They called the first track “Punkstarter,” and so it is. Starts off the album with a bit of punk. Blind River‘s third LP, Bones for the Skeleton Thief corrals 10 tracks from the UK traditionalist heavy rock outfit, who even on the likewise insistent “Primal Urges” maintain some sense of control. Vocalist Harry Armstrong (ex-Hangnail, now also bassist of Orange Goblin) belts out “Second Hand Soul” like he’s giving John Garcia a run for his pounds sterling, and is still able to rein it in enough to not seem out of place on the more subdued verses of “Skeleton Thief,” while the boogie of “Unwind” is its own party. Wherever they go, be it the barroom punkabilly of “Snake Oil” or the Southern-tinged twang of closer “Bad God,” the five-piece — Armstrong, guitarist Chris Charles and Dan Edwards, bassist William Hughes and drummer Mark Sharpless — hold to a central ethic of straight-ahead drive, and where clearly the intended message is that Blind River know what the fuck they’re doing and that if you end up at a show you might get your ass handed to you, turns out that’s exactly the message received. Showed up, kicked ass, done in under 40 minutes. If that’s not a high enough standard for you in a band recording live, that’s not Blind River‘s fault.
Rifftree of life. Rifftree‘s fuzz is so righteously dense, I want to get seeds from it — because let’s face it, riffs are deciduous and hibernate in winter — and plant a forest in my backyard. The band formed half a decade ago and Noise Worship is the bass-and-drums duo’s second EP, but whatever. In six songs and 26 minutes, they work hard on living up to the title they gave the release, and their schooling in the genre is obvious in Sleepery of “Amplifier Pyramid” or the low-rumbling sludge of “Brown Flower,” the subsequent “Farewell” growing like fungus out of its quieter start and “Brakeless” not needing them because it was slow enough anyhow. “Fuzzed” — another standard met — ups the pace and complements with spacey grunge mumbles and harshes out later, and that gives the three-minute titular closer “Noise Worship” all the lead-in it needs for its showcase of feedback and amplifier noise. Look. If you’re thinking it’s gonna be some stylistic revolution in the making, look at the friggin’ cover. Listen to the songs. This isn’t innovation, it’s celebration, and Rifftree‘s complete lack of pretense is what makes Noise Worship the utter fucking joy that it is. Stoner. Rock. Stick that in your microgenre rolodex.
Posted in Bootleg Theater on September 5th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
So at this point two tracks have been made public from the forthcoming Graveyard full-length, 6. The first one, “Twice,” arrived in a video with the album announcement, and was a burner. Released just today, “Breathe In, Breathe Out” — a handy reminder if e’er there was one — is the second, and its melancholy will be recognizable to those who’ve followed the progression of the Swedish band through their more recent output. Granted, their still-latest-as-of-today album is 2018’s Peace (review here), so perhaps ‘recent’ with some context, but “Breathe In, Breathe Out” still tracks with the duality that has emerged in their approach.
Two ends of their style, hmm? One is the uptempo boogie, all-go shove topped with high-register howls from guitarist Joakim Nilsson, and the other is the downer soulful blues represented by “Breathe In, Breathe Out” as the four-piece begin to reveal some of the scope of 6. Much of the record works to find a middle-ground, or at least a fluid balance between these two poles, and while Graveyard are a popular enough act that there are people who prefer one side or the other — the “old stuff” vs. the “new stuff,” as opposed I guess to bands who aren’t so big and can do whatever they want without catching shit for it on the internet?; the world is weird — but as they have done since 2011’s landmark Hisingen Blues (review here), they remain true to all aspects of their expression, and on an apparently pretty windy day so covered with clouds that it turned the picture black and white, they took to the shoreline to make their new video.
No, Liv Ullmann and Bibi Andersson don’t show up, but there are some hints of Bergman just the same. And I assume the bearded, pipe-smoking fisherman was just hanging out by the docks when they got there. Check out the video below, you can’t miss him.
From the PR wire:
Graveyard, “Breathe In Breathe Out” official video
Swedish blues rock institution GRAVEYARD have released a new single titled ‘Breathe In, Breathe Out’, the second single from their upcoming album 6, that’s set to be released on September 29th via Nuclear Blast Records.
The band comments “Our 2nd single from the upcoming album 6 is rolling in like a fresh breeze from the west coast for all of you to enjoy. We are happy and thrilled about it, hope you will feel the same”
Directed by Emil Klinta Director of photography – Johan Forsberg Colorist – Oskar Larsson / Tint Site Manager Göteborg – Adam Gårdsmed Make-Up – Rebecca Nilsson Sea captain – Stig Karlsson Chief engineer – Jesper Strandberg Master gunner – Martin Mörck Location Grötö – Familjen Kleiner-Sedin Location Vinga – Bea Bengtsson Thank you’s – Vinga vänner & Amir Chamdin Produced by Our Man Klint Productions
Posted in Whathaveyou on August 2nd, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Swedish classic heavy rockers Graveyard will release their new album, called simply 6, on Sept. 29 in continued cooperation with Nuclear Blast. The staple outfit are half a decade removed from 2018’s Peace (review here), and hopefully found a bit of that in the interim, elusive though it may have been for the rest of the planet. They herald 6 with a video for the first single “Twice,” which is the catchiest thing I’ve heard from them since probably their third record and would have its feet firmly planted in boogie if boogieing didn’t require moving your feet. In any case, if you’ve been wondering when Graveyard were going to hit it with their particular past-into-present interpretation of classic heavy blues, well, you’re going to want to check out that song. Now.
I was fortunate enough to see Graveyard at last year’s Høstsabbat (review here), and after touring with Kadavar earlier this year, the band played Kristonfest in Spain and are confirmed for Up in Smoke in Switzerland in October. It would be not in the least a surprise if this word of the album that just came in like right now is followed shortly by a tour announcement. Nice to see them getting back into it, all the more since the song rules. Can’t wait to hear the record it comes from.
Newly off the PR wire:
GRAVEYARD Announce New Album “6”
Release Video For First single “Twice”
Swedish hard rock band GRAVEYARD have revealed details of their new album “6,” that’s set to be released on September 29th via Nuclear Blast Records. Alongside the announcement, the band have also released the video for first single “Twice,” their first new music in five years. “6” is easily identifiable as the most striking, original album of GRAVEYARD’s story so far. A gently lysergic blend of desolate guitars, simmering Hammond and lithe, nimble bass and drums, the Swedes demonstrate a lightness of touch that they have only hinted at in the past.
The band comments, “Finally it’s here, ready to be harvested and enjoyed like the forbidden fruit in your backyard. We are very, very happy being able to share album number 6 with you all very soon. Peace out.”
GRAVEYARD – “6” Tracklist 1. Godnatt 2. Twice 3. I Follow You 4. Breathe In Breathe Out 5. Sad Song 6. Just A Drop 7. Bright Lights 8. No Way Out 9. Rampant Fields
The album was recorded at Silence Studios and Don Pierre Studios and was produced byDon Ahlsterberg, who previously worked with the band on “Graveyard” (2007), “Hisingen Blues” (2011) and “Lights Out” (2012).
Posted in Whathaveyou on January 17th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Sweden’s Truckfighters earn extra points for charm with the self-deprecating name they’ve given their upcoming ‘Who’s Drumming on This’ Tour. One recalls wondering the same thing about tours past, and it seems to be the perennial question for the long-running fuzz mavens, as bassist/vocalist Oskar Cedermalm (also Firestone) and guitarist Niklas Källgren (also Enigma Experience) have employed a swath of skin-bashers over the better part of the last two decades. Presumably, that mystery will be solved at least internally before these shows actually start, though if Truckfighters hit the road with a drum machine at this point, would anyone even blink? I guess maybe it’s not the same for the kind of rock they’re playing. Might be interesting to try, if only once.
I was fortunate enough to see them last month at their own festival in Stockholm, and as headliners, they shared drums with Firestone, who opened the main stage. It was quite a day and Truckfighters were nothing if not a fitting cap for it, their energy inimitable — despite 15 years’ worth of bands who’ve tried — and their songs ingrained in their audience like the classics that only a little more time will allow them to become.
They’re due for a new record, though.
From socials:
(#128293#) Hey ho, we will go on tour in Germany, Austria, Netherlands as soon as mid March! Block your calendars, call your friends, then listen to the entire Truckfighters catalogue on repeat! Then come see us for fuzz sake! Support band(s) will be announced shortly.
Ticket links will be added very soon and you will find them on https://www.truckfighters.com/dates-2 and in the FB events linked next to respective tourdates below.
17.3.23 (DE) Regensburg, Alte Mälzerei https://fb.me/e/5wwnXKYbS 18.3.23 (AT) Wien, Arena https://fb.me/e/4bjJL8KdV 19.3.23 (DE) München, Backstage https://fb.me/e/541vbJw2J 20.3.23 (DE) Berlin, Lido https://fb.me/e/5zWTAsayK 21.3.23 (DE) Hamburg, Bahnhof Pauli https://fb.me/e/3inf8Z1OI 22.3.23 (DE) Leipzig, WERK 2 23.3.23 (DE) Köln, Club Volta https://fb.me/e/1T1Ey3HQW 24.3.23 TBA 25.3.23 (NL) Groningen, Vera https://fb.me/e/44tIbBs2E 26.3.23 (NL) Amsterdam, Melkweg https://fb.me/e/3bRthqJwb
Posted in Whathaveyou on October 28th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
Take two headlining bands — both arguably at the forefront of their generation of heavy rock and rollers in Europe, now veterans both but by no means out of date or ‘old,’ however they might feel after a given gig — and slap ’em out on tour together. It’s a long-proven winning formula and next April Örebro, Sweden’s Graveyard and Berlin, Germany’s Kadavar will head out together to demonstrate its functionality again. Legit.
Both groups were recently announced as part of Desertfest London 2023’s lineup (info here), but I hardly put together from that that they’d be on tour together — oh me of small mind, narrow view — but I happened to catch Graveyard earlier this month at the second night of Høstsabbat 2022 (review here) in Norway, and it’s been a minute since I saw Kadavar that one time, but I’ve got no doubt they’re similarly up to the task of heading out on a co-headlining bill like this. This kind of tour makes everyone play better.
I guess some tickets are on sale now and more will open up next week? That’s how I read the below, anyhow, which is what Graveyard posted on the ol’ socials:
Glad to announce that we’re hitting the european spring roads together with Kadavar. Get your tickets and hope to see you out there.
Tickets go on sale today, Friday 28th and Monday 31st of October – check your local dealer for more info.
19.04 Hamburg DE Grosse Freiheit 36 21.04 Stuttgart DE LKA Longhorn 22.04 Frankfurt DE Zoom 24.04 Munich DE Backstage Werk 25.04 Vienna AT Arena 28.04 Nijmegen NL Doornrosje 29.04 Amsterdam NL Melkweg 30.04 Paris FR Trabendo 01.05 Lessines FR Roots & Roses 03.05 Bristol UK SWX 04.05 Manchester UK Academy 3 05.05 London UK Desertfest 06.05 Luxembourg LUX Den A
Posted in Whathaveyou on April 8th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
This tour with Truckfighters and Greenleaf was first announced last November — the original poster had Asteroid where you can now see ‘Special Guest’ — and I immediately reached out to Sound of Liberation to tag along. It was postponed, of course, due to Omicron in Europe, but the rescheduled run has just been announced and I’m happy to say that I’ve got my flights booked to go along once again. My intention is to compile notes and posts and stuff while on the road and turn it into a book project. Something to look forward to, for me, in terms of things I’m working on, and hopefully someone else will be able to enjoy reading as well.
But if not, I’m still going.
The only snag here is this ends on Oct. 1, earlier the same week as Høstsabbat in Norway, which Greenleaf played last year as it happens. I’ve pitched The Patient Mrs. on bringing The Pecan over and meeting me in Oslo for the week before the show — it’s been I think since 2009 that we last did a not-study-abroad-related travel-vacation together, so that would be something. So far she’s on board. We’ll see as we get closer. Either way, it would be glorious, after going all of nowhere since 2019, to spend three weeks on the road in Europe. Sounds unrealistic, really, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed.
Sound of Liberation just announced the dates. As for who might ‘Special Guest’, the other Swedish bands on the company’s roster are Lowrider (no way they’re touring) and MaidaVale, which is possible if they’ve got a new record. They could also add Slomosa or The Devil and the Almighty Blues (the latter less likely) from Norway and keep the tour theme. Or Sâver, though that’d be a pretty wacky fit. Could always make Tommi pull double-duty and break Dozer out for a run. Ha.
From social media:
TOUR ANNOUNCEMENT: Truckfighters + Greenleaf + special guest
Friends, we’re happy to present you some postponed tourdates for the NORDIC FUZZCRUSADERS tour!
Unfortunately Asteroid can not be part of the tour anymore but be sure we’ll surprise you with another killer band to join this wild ride!
Get ready for: “THE NORDIC FUZZCRUSADERS TOUR 2022” with TRUCKFIGHTERS + GREENLEAF + SPECIAL GUEST
18.09.22 (DE) Würzburg / Posthalle Würzburg 19.09.22 (DE) Wiesbaden / Schlachthof Wiesbaden 20.09.22 tbc 21.09.22 (DE) Leipzig / WERK2-Kulturfabrik 22.09.22 (DE) Saarbrücken / Garage Saarbrücken 23.09.22 (DE) Erfurt / Zughafen 24.09.22 (DE) Ludwigsburg / Scala Ludwigsburg 25.09.22 (DE) Hamburg / Gruenspan 26.09.22 (DE) Berlin / Festsaal Kreuzberg 27.09.22 (DE) München / Backstage München 28.09.22 (AT) Salzburg / Rockhouse Salzburg 29.09.22 (AT) Wien / ARENA WIEN 30.09.22 (CH) Pratteln / UP in SMOKE festival at Z7 01.10.22 (AT) Linz / Posthof – Zeitkultur am Hafen
Tickets on sale now, grab ’em fast!
Hey friends, we’re also working on all the dates that are not yet on the poster! There will be replacement shows for France, Belgium & the other missing concerts. We simply couldn’t find a fitting date yet but will try to fix it as soon as possible & inform you.
Posted in Reviews on December 16th, 2021 by JJ Koczan
Day four. Fancy pants. Yesterday was the most effective writing day I’ve had in recent memory, which makes today kind of a harrowing prospect since the only real way to go after that is down. I’ve done the try-to-get-a-jump-on-it stuff, but you never really know how things are going to turn out until your head’s in it and you’re dug into two or three records. We’ll see how it goes. There’s a lot to dig into today though, in a pretty wide range of sounds, so that helps. I’ll admit there are times when it’s like, “What’s another way to say ‘dudes like to riff?'”
As if I’d need another way.
Anyhoozle, hope you find something you dig, as always. If not, still one more day tomorrow. We’ll get there. Thanks for reading.
Quarterly Review #31-40:
Dang!!!, Sociopathfinder
It would take all the space I’ve allotted for this review to recount the full lineup involved in making DANG!!!‘s debut album, Sociopathfinder, but the powerhouse Norwegian seven-piece has former members of The Cosmic Dropouts, Gluecifer, Nashville Pussy, and Motorpsycho, among others, and Kvelertak drummer Håvard Takle Ohr, so maybe it shouldn’t be a surprise they get down to serious business on the record. With influences spanning decades from the ’60s-gone’90s organ-laced electro-rock of “Long Gone Misery” and the Halloween-y “Degenerate,” to the rampaging heavy rock hooks of “Manic Possessive” and “Good Intentions” and the “In the Hall of the Mountain King”-referencing closer “Eight Minutes Till Doomsday,” the 12-song/46-minute outing is a lockdown-defiant explosion of creative songwriting and collaboration, and though it features no fewer than six guitarists throughout (that includes guests), it all flows together thanks to the strength of craft, urgency of rhythm, and Geir Nilsen‘s stellar work on organ. It’s a lot to take on, but pays off any effort put in. Unless you’re a sociopath, I guess. Then you probably don’t feel it at all.
Following up their 2019 debut, People (review here), Swedish classic-heavy trio Stew offer an efficient nine-song/38-minute excursion into ’70s/’10s-inspired boogie rock and heavy blues with Taste, balancing modern production and its own yore-born aesthetic in sharp but not overly-clean fashion. The vocal layering in the back half of opener “Heavy Wings” is a clue to the clarity underlying the band’s organic sound, and while Taste sounds fuller than did People, the bounce of “All That I Need,” the blues hooks in “Keep on Praying” and “Still Got the Time,” subtle proto-metallurgy of “New Moon” (one almost hears barking at it) and the wistful closing duo of “When the Lights Go Out” and “You Don’t Need Me” aren’t so far removed from the preceding outing as to be unrecognizable. This was a band who knew what they wanted to sound like on their first album who’ve set about refining their processes. Taste checks in nicely on that progress and shows it well underway.
Are the crows I hear cawing on “Tyrant of the Unreal” actually in the song or outside my window? Does it matter? I don’t know anymore. Los Angeles-based psychological terror rock unit Nothing is Real reportedly conjured the root tracks for the 87-minute 2CD Transmissions of the Unearthly with guest drummer Jeremy Lauria over the course of two days and the subsequent Halloween release has been broken into two parts: ‘Chaos’ and ‘Order.’ Screaming blackened psychedelia haunts the former, while the latter creeps in dark, raw sludge realization, but one way or the other, the prevailing sensory onslaught is intentionally overwhelming. The slow march of “King of the Wastelands” might actually be enough to serve as proclamation, and where in another context “Sickened Samsara” would be hailed as arthouse black-metal-meets-filthy–psych-jazz, the delivery from Nothing is Real is so sincere and untamed that the horrors being explored do in fact feel real and are duly disconcerting and wickedly affecting. Bleak in a way almost entirely its own.
After immersing the listener with the keyboard-laced opening instrumental “Alektorophobia” (fear of chickens), the third album from UK outfit Jerky Dirt, Orse, unfolds the starts and stops of “Ygor’s Lament” with a sensibility like earlier Queens of the Stone Age gone prog before moving into the melodic highlight “Orse, Part 1” and the acoustic “Eh-Iss.” By the time the centerpiece shuffler “Ozma of Oz” begins, you’re either on board or you’re not, and I am. Despite a relatively spare production, Jerky Dirt convey tonal depth effectively between the fuzz of “Ygor’s Lament” and the more spacious parts of “In Mind” that give way to larger-sounding roll, and some vocal harmonies in “The Beast” add variety in the record’s second half before the aptly-named “Smoogie Boogie” — what else to call it, really? — and progressive melody of “Orse, Part 2” close out. A minimal online presence means info on the band is sparse, it may just be one person, but the work holds up across Orse on multiple listens, complex in craft but accessible in execution.
A scouring effort of weirdo horror heavy, the five-track Lunacy from South Carolina’s Space Coke isn’t short on accuracy, seemingly on any level. The swirl of nine-minute opener “Bride of Satan” is cosmic but laced with organ, underlying rumble, far-back vocals and sundry other elements that are somehow menacing. The subsequent “Alice Lilitu” is thicker-toned for at least stretches of its 13 minutes, and its organ feels goth-born as it moves past the midpoint, but the madness of a solo that ensues from there feels well cast off (or perhaps on, given the band’s moniker) the rails. Shit gets strange, people. “Frozen World” is positively reachable by comparison, though it too has its organ drama, and the ensuing “Lightmare” starts with an extended horror sample before fuzzing and humming out six minutes of obscure incantation and jamming itself into oblivion. Oh, and there’s a cover of Danzig‘s “Twist of Cain” at the end. Because obviously. Doom filtered through goth kitsch-horror VHS tape and somewhere behind you something is lurking and you don’t see it coming until it’s too late.
Broken into two halves each given its own intro in “Intervention” and “Celestial Convoy,” respectively, the debut full-length from Stockholm’s Black Solstice brings back some familiar faces in guitarist Anders Martinsgård and drummer Peter Eklund, both formerly of Ponamero Sundown. Ember, with flourish of percussion in “Signs of Wisdom,” grunge-style harmonies in “Burned by the Sun” and just a hint of winding thrashy threat in “Firespawn,” is deeply rooted in doom metal. They count Sabbath as primary, but the 10-track/42-minute offering is more metal than stonerized riff worship, and with vocalist “Mad Magnus” Lindmark and bassist Lelle B. Falheim completing the lineup, the four-piece boast an aggressive edge and hit harder than one might initially think going in. That is no complaint, mind you. Perhaps they’re not giving themselves enough credit for the depth of their sound, but as their first long-player (following a few demos), Ember finds a niche that hints toward the familiar without going overboard in tropes. I don’t know who, but someone in this band likes Megadeth.
Begun as Paleskin before a probably-for-the-best name change, Tampere, Finland’s Dome Runner offer a hard-industrial bridge between Godflesh at their angriest and earliest Fear Factory‘s mechanized chugging assault. Conflict State Design is the trio’s first full-length, and along with the stated influences, there’s some pull from sludge and noise as well, shades of Fudge Tunnel in “Unfollow” met with harsh screaming or the churning riff underscoring the explosions of synth in “The Undemonizing Process,” like roughed-up Souls at Zero-era Neurosis. With the seven-minute extreme wash of “Impure Utility of Authoritarian Power Structure” at its center, Conflict State Design harkens back to the dreary industrialism of two decades ago — it very pointedly doesn’t sound like Nine Inch Nails — but is given a forward-thinking heft and brutality to match. Amid something of an industrial revival in the heavy underground, Dome Runner‘s debut stands out. More to the point, it’s fucking awesome.
Varese, Italy, instrumentalist heavy post-rockers Moonlit almost can’t help but bring to mind Red Sparowes with their debut album, So Bless Us Now…, though the marching cymbals early in the 17-minute finale “And We Stood Still Until We Became, Invisible” seem to be in conversation with Om‘s meditative practice as well, and the violin on the earlier “Empty Sky/Cold Lights…” (11:25) is a distinguishing element. Still, it is a melding of heft and float across “For We Have Seen” (12:29) at the beginning of the record, more straight-ahead riffing met with a focus on atmospherics beyond conventional sense of aural weight. Each piece has its own persona, some linear, the penultimate “Shine in the Darkest Night” more experimentalist in structure and its use of samples, but the whole 55-minute listening experience is consuming, minimal in its droning finish only after creating a full wash of mindful, resonant psychedelic reach. With titles drawn from Nietzsche quotes from Thus Spake Zarathustra, there are suitably lonely stretches throughout, but even at its maddest, So Bless Us Now… holds to its stylistic purpose.
Not to be confused with New York outfit Spacelord, the now-decade-plus-runnin German instrumental kosmiche-harvesters The Spacelords present Unknown Species across three — and I’m just being honest here — wonderful extended works, arranged from shortest to longest as “F.K.B.D.F.” (8:10), “Unknown Species” (14:53) and the initially-unplugged “Time Tunnel” (20:26) unfurl a thoughtful outbound progression that finds beauty in dark times and jams with intent that’s progressive without pretense — and, when it wants to be, substantially heavy. That’s true more of the end in “Time Tunnel” than the initial synth-laced drift of “F.K.B.D.F.,” but the solo-topped punch of the title-track/centerpiece isn’t to be understated either. In 2020, the trio released their Spaceflowers (review here) LP, as well as a documentary about their recording/writing processes, and Unknown Species pushes even further into defining just how special a band they are, gorgeously constructed and impeccably mixed as it is. Can’t and wouldn’t ask for more.
A debut outing from Michigan-based newcomers Scrying Stone, the 29-minute Scrublands flows like an album so I’m going to consider it one until I hear otherwise. And as a first album, it sets melody and tonal density not so much against each other, but toward like purposes, and even in the instrumental “Ballad of the Hyena,” it finds cohesive ground for the two sides to exist together without contradiction and without sounding overly derivative of its modern influences. “At Our Heels” makes an engaging hello for first-time listeners, and the faster “The Marauder” later on adds a sense of dynamic at just the right moment before the fuzzy overload of “Desert Thirst” dives into deeper weedian idolatry. There’s some boogie underneath the title-track too, and as a companion to the willing-to-soar closer “Dromedary,” that unrushed rush feels purposeful, making Scrublands come across as formative in its reach — one can definitely hear where they might branch out — but righteously complete in its production and songwriting; a strong opening statement of potential for the band to make en route to what might come next.
