Posted in Whathaveyou on October 16th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
This December stint starting in Florida and working its way north follows the Midwestern July tour that Boozewa undertook, hitting Chicago and Minneapolis and so on. This time around, the Pennsylvania dirt-rocker/heavy-punk three-piece are teaming with Rhode Island riffdriver duo Coma Hole and Husband Lost at Sea, which is the solo-project of All Else Failed‘s Patrick Shannon; of course Boozewa‘s own Michael Rudolph Cummings has a connection to that band as well.
And speaking of Cummings, his own solo-project under his own name will tour in parts of Europe next month, hitting France, Switzerland and Luxembourg as a poet might. His last release, 2024’s Money EP (review here), was preceded by the Boozewa full-length, Bon Vivant, which you’ll find streaming below.
Bon Vivant puts Boozewa in kind of a curious place musically. They’ve never sounded quite so expressive, but at the same time, a lot of what carries across the dynamic of the band is the surges of tonal heft and volume that a song like “Last Splash” put to such rad use. Willfully knuckedragging on “IMO,” by then they’ve already presented the progressive heavy grunge of “Maybe I’m a Bird.” It goes like that down the line. They’re not as punk as when they started, or as raw, but they’re a better band for the growth they’ve undertaken. My two cents on a record I’ll probably feel guilty for having whiffed on reviewing until I eventually close out the week with it.
This came in a Bandcamp update. I take my news where I can get it:
We are going on tour this December and it’s all southern and it’s FLORIDA for the first time and it’s with Coma Hole and Husband Lost At Sea and we can’t waaaaaaaaaait!!!
12/4 Jacksonville FL @shantytownpub 12/5 Gainesville FL @looseyspub 12/6 Tampa FL @deviantlibation 12/7 Atlanta GA @529_eav 12/9 Wilmington NC @reggies42ndstreet 12/10 Winston Salem NC @thedenshows 12/11 Elkton MD @elktonmusichall 12/12 Lancaster PA @abag1
The new Fuzznaut album, Resistant Spirit, will be released this Friday, Oct. 17. A release show is slated for the next night at Mr. Roboto Project in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where the solo-project of Emilio Rizzo is based. Resistant Spirit is the third Fuzznaut long-player, and its eight-song/35-minute run is comprised in part of material Rizzo has issued as singles over the course of the last year-plus. “Sufferlove,” “Spacerock,” “Wind Doula” and “Earbleeder” have each seen a standalone release, in that order, since Feb. 2024, so fair enough to bring them together along with the foreboding rumble of the title-track, which opens after the sample-topped, post-heavy “Intro” with a splash of noise before settling into a riffy drone, using space in the mix for effects, but definitely moving, even without drums. Soon enough this will become a theme for the album.
Dylan Carlson and Earth are acknowledged touchstones for Fuzznaut and have been all along, but I’m not sure Earth have ever so actively leaned into stoner-doom as “Earbleeder” does, evolving from an Electric Wizard-style nodder into a broader-reaching strum, then turning back to finish with a structure that, for a drone record, feels awfully straightforward. It may be Rizzo is heading that way in writing terms, as “Defiant Prayer” answers back later to the creep of “Resistant Spirit,” with some kind of percussion or beat being kept early on that reinforces the notion of Fuzznaut perhaps slowly evolving into a fuller-band entity, even if still a one-person outfit. I know better than to speculate. The variety of tone between “Sufferlove,” with its Jesu-y resonance, and the pointedly printed-in-the-infernal-method riff of “Wind Doula” — which expands on that with an Author & Punisher-aware thud in the first half and a topping solo layer in the second — alone is enough to make guessing silly.
“Spacerock” is the longest inclusion at 6:49 and is centered around resonance, and the riff underneath all that reverb changes over time but retains its basic ether-bound direction. The closer, “BRKN,” sweeps in and has a similar feeling of breadth tonally. I’m not sure if Rizzo is looping the rhythm line live and soloing over it, or overdubbing the lead track later, but he brings a sense of depth to the mix on what’s still a pretty minimal — if loudly minimal — almost-if-not-entirely-guitar arrangement. Presumably that’s where the benefit of experience comes in, but as one would hope for a third full-length from this or really any project, Fuzznaut has been able to internalize lessons and ideas from past releases and translate them into immersive creative progress here. As ever, Rizzo is venturing into somewhat uncharted ground from where the project began, and across Resistant Spirit, it sounds like he’s having fun doing it.
The PR wire below has a line about blurring the line between songs and soundscapes. I agree with that. That’s part of what’s happening. Consistently in Fuzznaut‘s work, though, there’s a feeling of evocation from the material. The music carries the listener in a different way in Resistant Spirit, both in that there’s more motion in terms of the riffs being played and the immersive affect of the tones, but for sure that’s still in balance with the fact of this as drone music. Earth, again, have a similar intention at times (also a full band), but Fuzznaut is further distinguished by the ground being explored, and that has let Rizzo develop the project on its own path. There are parts here where he sounds as entranced as you feel, and there’s just about no way that isn’t on purpose.
Resistant Spirit streams in full below, followed by more info from the PR wire.
Please enjoy:
FUZZNAUT is the solo project of Emilio Rizzo, emerging from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Resistant Spirit, his third album, arrives on October 18th via Leafy Brain Recordings.
Resistant Spirit is the new album from Fuzznaut bringing seven songs of genre blending alchemy of guitar based doom metal, shoegaze, post-rock, and drone.
At its core, Resistant Spirit is about the struggle to maintain individuality, from the mainstream forces of conformity, spectacle, and perfectionism. Using the power of the riff as an aural expression of resilience. From the mantra like opener to the distorted melancholic reverb drenched closing song BRKN. To heavy riff laden tracks Earbleeder, and Defiant Prayer, that weave seamlessly into atmospheric drone and clang of Sufferlove and Resistant Spirit. Fuzznaut’s heavy guitar layers conjure sonic textures, building a sonic world to get immersed into. The seven tracks in Resistant Spirit blur lines between songs/soundscapes.
Grounded in a staunch DIY ethos, Rizzo handles every aspect of the Fuzznuat project himself—recording the music, designing the artwork, booking, and performing live as a one-man band.
As of 2025 Fuzznaut has existed for 7 years. Rizzo’s debut EP, Form is Emptiness (2019), gained traction on Bandcamp in 2024 as an underrated doomgaze gem that was included in their Blissful Noise, Bad Vibes: A Doomgaze Primer, solidifying Fuzznaut as a foundational artist in the genre.
Credits Resistant Spirit was Mixed by Fuzznaut and Mastered By Mario Quinetero (Spotlights/Audio MQ ) 2024-2025 Album artwork and layout by Chris Smith Grey Aria Design OUT CD and BANDCAMP/AMPWALL/ BIG CARTEL
Philadelphia heavy rockers Thunderbird Divine recorded their new three-song Live, Loud and Lucky EP in Brooklyn this past June, playing at the venerable Lucky 13 Saloon. They’ll release it tomorrow, Sept. 26, and it’s their first outing since last year’s Black Doomba Records-issued Little Wars (review here) — from whence “Times Gone Bad” and “These Eyes” come — and their first since the passing this April of keyboardist Jack Falkenbach at age 44, which as one might expect sent the band reeling.
This show with the remaining three members of the group — pictured left to right on the cover: guitarist/vocalist/thereminist Erik Caplan, drummer Michael Stuart and bassist Joshua Adam Solomon, with Falkenbach‘s sunglasses as the ‘i’ in ‘live’ — was June 20, not quite two full months after suffering that loss, and in the three songs/15 minutes they present with Live, Loud and Lucky, the primary impression is one of rawness. Thunderbird Divine‘s studio work isn’t hyper-polished or anything like that, but “Times Gone Bad” hits sludgy and then slides on its verse riff, the band able to create movement around the impact, and the slowdown for Caplan‘s lead remains righteous.
That must have felt — or at least hopefully it did — reassuring to the band onstage, knowing that, having already made the decision to continue on in part to pay homage to Falkenbach and his work in this material, they could still sound like themselves. Keyboards have not played a minor role to-date in Thunderbird Divine‘s work, whether it’s a classic organ line or something weirder, but the riffing here is indelible as “These Eyes” pick up with burner fuzz set to march by the drums. Like “Times Gone Bad,” “These Eyes” finishes with flourish in its solo section, classy in a roughed-up kind of way with some “nah, nah-nah” vocals capping, which lets “Bummer Bridge” land all the more lumbering.
Culled from 2019’s Magnasonic (review here), “Bummer Bridge” as presented on Live, Loud and Lucky is enough to remind you that when magazines were looking for a word to call what Grand Funk Railroad were doing, they called it “sludge.” Thunderbird Divine move in this space, that they can make heavy tones and heavy vibes boogie, might be the most reassuring aspect of the release. “Bummer Bridge” is gleefully filthy. There’s a bit of warts-‘n’-all to it, but that just adds to the sense of the band letting loose, and the effect is cathartic. It’s easy to imagine it was on stage as well.
I do not know what the future holds for Thunderbird Divine, whether they’ll continue forward and see if the right fit comes along on keys or eventually pursue new material as a trio. It’s probably not even the year to start answering that question, if I’m honest, but however things shake out long-term, the feeling of tribute to Falkenbach is palpable in this short release, and it’s a clear demonstration of the band finding solace and comfort in the music they’re making. Whatever follows or doesn’t, that’s a beautiful thing.
As always, I hope you enjoy:
Erik Caplan on Live, Loud and Lucky:
“Losing Jack was like losing our collective right arm — we’re alive, but it’s hard to function without him. He was a very special, wonderful, talented and unique man, and nobody can replace a person like that. We like to say we’ll get another keys player (or some other player) if Jack sends them to us. For now, “Live, Loud and Lucky” shows who we are.”
THUNDERBIRD DIVINE returns with Live, Loud and Lucky, a collection of three live tracks recorded at Lucky 13 in Brooklyn on June 20, 2025. The recording captures the band during their first extended run of shows after the passing of keyboardist and friend Jack Falkenbach. It marks a transitional period for the band, performing as a trio and confronting both emotional and technical challenges on stage.
The lineup for the recording includes Erik Caplan on guitar, vocals, and theremin, Joshua Adam Solomon on bass, and Michael Stuart on drums. The set was recorded by Kyle Hodgkin, mixed by Solomon and Caplan, and mastered by Stephen Angello. Stuart also created the album’s cover art.
THUNDERBIRD DIVINE formed in Philadelphia in 2017. Their current sound draws influence from bands like FLOWER TRAVELLIN’ BAND, HAWKWIND, MONSTER MAGNET, and BLUE CHEER. Their style combines heavy riffing with psychedelic textures, experimental instruments, and unusual structures.
Live, Loud and Lucky reflects THUNDERBIRD DIVINE in motion. The performances are raw and unpolished. They show a band adjusting to change while holding on to the core elements of their sound. The album is available digitally starting September 26, 2025.
Posted in Whathaveyou on July 28th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
Set for Sept. 26-27 in Pittsburgh, PA, Descendants of Crom VII runs a gamut from dark-arts-heavy to loyalist doom metal, scathing fuckall sludge and then some. From Ringworm and Crypt Sermon and the classic-style radness of Valkyrie to new adds Fog Giant and the horns-up Olathia, it’s a span of styles that speaks the to progression of the festival’s curation over the years. Thunderbird Café and Music Hall is hosting the two-dayer, and of course is once again helmed by Shy Kennedy of Blackseed Services, whose band Funerals (they used to be Horehound) are also on the bill.
I don’t know if anyone seeing this will get there or not, like in a just-read-this-post-then-bought-a-ticket sense, but it’s a universe of infinite possibility, and generally speaking, isn’t your day made better knowing something cool is happening whether or not you’ll get to see it? I think that’s why I might still be doing this after so long. OMG we had a breakthrough just now, you guys.
From the PR wire:
DESCENDANTS OF CROM VII – September 26 & 27 – Pittsburgh, PA
The underground rises once again. Descendants of Crom VII returns to Thunderbird Café & Music Hall on September 26–27, 2025, bringing two nights of genre-defying heavy music, collaborative creativity, and the raw energy of Pittsburgh’s thriving DIY spirit. Now in its seventh year, DOC continues to grow in scope and reputation, while staying fiercely committed to underground authenticity.
Presented by Blackseed Services in collaboration with Thunderbird Café, this year’s festival features an unmissable lineup, including sludge juggernauts BLACK TUSK, the epic intensity of VALKYRIE, doom torchbearers CRYPT SERMON, and Cleveland hardcore legends RINGWORM. Supporting acts span a range of sonic extremes: FISTULA, CHERUBS, SATHANAS, WEED DEMON, REBREATHER, EDHOCHULI, OLATHIA, FUNERALS (formerly Horehound), BROWN ANGEL, RIPARIAN, FOG GIANT, and PASSING BELL.
DOC isn’t just a lineup—it’s an experience. From custom-brewed beer and small-batch hot sauce collabs to themed vendor offerings and exclusive merch, the weekend celebrates the underground in all its forms. Blackseed Services has spent over a decade cultivating Pittsburgh’s heavy music culture by consistently showcasing unique artists — many of whom fans wouldn’t otherwise get to see locally—while lifting up the city’s own talent.
With a focus on genre inclusiveness, artist integrity, and authentic community building, DOC is where longtime followers of the riff meet new initiates. Fans come for a favorite band and leave with a deeper connection to a movement — and often, a few new obsessions.
Posted in Whathaveyou on July 9th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
West Chester, Pennsylvania’s Michael Rudolph Cummings — whom you might Troy-McClure-remember from such heavy rock acts as the ongoing Boozewa or the much-less-so Backwoods Payback, not to mention that whole double-life-in-hardcore thing he’s got in the pocket of his troubadour dungarees — will head back to Europe for solo touring this November, playing in Switzerland, France and Luxembourg on a tour that looks like it’ll be hard to go home from. It’s 12 days, 11 shows, and the lone day off is a drive from Paris to Belval, Luxembourg, which isn’t actually that bad at four hours. Being mostly in France, it seems like a decent travel adventure, as well as a stretch of gigs.
Cummings goes in support of his Sept. 2024 EP, Money (review here), which demonstrated both his maturity as a singer-songwriter and the punker spirit there underlying, and took a decidedly Gen-X view of selling out, where I’m told the Millennials care less about that, let alone Gen Z or whatever they’re called now. Maybe if integrity mattered people would still believe truth had value and was a thing preserving and the world would be a that much better place.
Maybe that’s delusional. I don’t know. But being of similar demographic, I relate to Cummings‘ point of view in addition to digging the tunes, and if you get the chance to see him, I know from past experience that it is not a chance to let slip.
Here’s where he’ll be, as posted on socials with the dates dutifully typed out by long-suffering me:
Hey Europe. Been a minute.
I told you I’d see you this year 😉
Got a couple more little jawns up my sleeve for this year still too
11.11 Urgence Disk Records Geneva CH 12.11 Gemmi Taverne Kanderstag CH 13.11 V and B Auxerre FR 14.11 O’Point Cardinal Brains-sur-les-Marches FR 15.11 Synthi Bar a Bers Rennes FR 16.11 Greedy Gus Caen FR 17.11 Culture Rapide Paris FR 19.11 MK Bar Belval LU 20.11 Bar au Petit Paris Saint-Dizier FR 21.11 Hiboux ey le Chien Blanc Hyemondans FR 22.11 Le Chanfrein Brunstatt FR
Day three marks the halfway point of this Quarterly Review, unless I decide to sneak in an extra day next Monday. We’ll see on that, but things are moving pretty well so far, so I might just be content to take the win and start slating the next one. Always a choice to be made there.
I hope you’ve found something that hits you thus far, and if not, check the below, because there’s a pretty wide variety of styles under the ‘heavy underground’ umbrella here. Hope one or a few or everything clicks.
We proceed.
Quarterly Review #21-30:
Randall Huth, Torched and Coasting
Though he’s probably best known at this point for playing bass in Pissed Jeans for the last 17 years, Pennsylvania’s Randall Huth once-upon-the-aughts played guitar and handled vocals in still-missed pastoral heavy rockers Pearls and Brass, and the new solo EP under his own name will likely be more than enough to trigger nostalgia in remembering that. Torched and Coasting is somewhere between an EP and a follow-up to Huth‘s 2007 solo album as Randall of Nazareth on Drag City, and the self-released tape is clear in its intention, conveying sketches like the finger-plucked movements of “Emptied/Rarified” and “Bursting Smile” and 15-minute closer plunge “Torched and Coasting,” which tube-screams late so stick with it, alongside the drone-meets-zither “The Blind Whale,” and more terrestrial, guitar-and-vocals pieces like opener “Lost in Your Eyes” and the penultimate “Beats Dying,” which — you guessed it — is about getting old. Huth‘s echoing and soft delivery, wit in the lyrics and humble acoustic presentation make that a highlight, but this years-in-the-making offering walks more than a single expressive path. More songs, whatever ‘songs’ means, please. Thanks.
North Carolinian four-piece HolyRoller make their label-debut on Ripple Music with the eight-song Rat King, which puts modern heavy in a blender such that an early piece like “Crunch Riff Supreme” finds its place in sludge rock and heralds screamy things to come but by the time they’ve gotten to “Buried Alone” at the presumed outset of side B, the flow has more in common with Pallbearer than Weedeater or Sleep, who are another key underlying influence. But the emphasis there should be on ‘underlying’ as HolyRoller step beyond the bands that inspired them in fostering progressive songwriting throughout these 35 minutes, with a richly flexible sound — “Heave Ho” sounds like slower Howling Giant, “Forbidden Things” like Spaceslug — and a push into the ether in “Radiating Sacred Light” before they round out with the Clutch-y bounce of “Drift Into the Sun” to highlight the individuality in where they take their approach. The organic production helps it feel like they’re really digging in, but also they are.
Worried ‘Bout Madame is the third long-player from Polish heavy post-rock/psych-gaze outfit Black Mynah, and it would seem to be the first since founding vocalist, bassist and baritone guitarist Joanna Kucharska assembled a full-band lineup around herself and drummer Paweł Rucki, who also appeared on 2020’s II. Vocalist/synthesist Aleksandra Joryn and guitarist Marcin Lawendowski join the stylistically subversive proceedings here, with the garage jangle of “Colleen” at the outset pushed into the frenetic shuffle and hard distortion of “Damaged Goods” ahead of the sweet post-punk verse of “Float,” which has its own grungey volatility. The tonal weight thrown around in closer “Looking at You, Kid,” — not to mention the vocal layering — isn’t unprecedented on the album that comes before it, but “Blue Moon” is more about catching up with the insistence of its snare drum and “The Rite” has its own thing going too with the quieter creeper swing and satisfying wash that pays it off. It won’t be for everybody, but who the hell ever wanted to be?
Last heard from with their before-times 2019 split LP with Un, English death-doom churners Coltsblood make a welcome return with the four-song Obscured Into Nebulous Dusk, their third album overall, first for Translation Loss Records and first in eight years. The years have not been wasted in the sound of bassist/vocalist John McNulty (also keys), guitarist Jemma McNulty and drummer Jay Plested, who foster a ‘beauty in darkness’ sensibility on opener/longest track (immediate points) “Until the Eidolon Falls” before the outright slaughter of “Waning of the Wolf Moon” pushes death metal tempo off a cliff of feedback and raw scathe. “Transcending the Immortal Gateway” makes its presence felt with the mournful lead line topping its later reaches, and “Obscured into Nebulous Dusk” bids farewell in a not-dissimilar fashion, but the particularly agonized vocals prior are a distinguishing feature. Time would seem to have done little to dull the band’s overarching extremity, and so much the better for that.
The two-years-later follow-up to Indianapolis doom rockers Void King‘s 2023 long-player, The Hidden Hymnal (review here), the seven-song The Hidden Hymnal: Chapter II indeed seems to dig into its own kind of storytelling. The proceedings make for a rousing flow, with the two longest tracks, “The Birth of All Things” (8:49) and “A Union of Expired Souls” (9:34) paired at the outset for a duly epic opening statement. I don’t know if they’re a vinyl side on their own or not, but their separation from the rest of the LP is underscored by the remaining three tracks being sandwiched by a “Prologue” and “Epilogue,” so that the burly progressive metal and heavy rock of “Attrition,” “Convalescence” and “Expiration” feel like their own mini-album on the second side. If this wraps up the The Hidden Hymnal cycle for Void King, then the structural nuance here is fair enough, but the real story of the record is the progression of the band itself, which is ongoing.
Harnessing stoner metal largesse, doomed thematics and an aggro posture for the delivery that adds to the gnashing feel of the material overall, Bifter‘s debut album, First Impressions of Hell, is a torrential, ferocious offering that hits you on multiple levels before you even realize what’s happened. Interludes, the album intro “Enter Hell” and “Lover’s Quarrel,” the sample in “Mercy” and the post-script “Time to Kill” after “Ball of Burning Snakes” and the seven-minute “Belly of the Beast” give an atmospheric feel, but part of what makes “Doom Shroom” and “March of the Imp” so effective is their directness, so First Impressions of Hell, among the impressions made, can count face-punch in its number. The foundation is metal, but the affect is a party, and however weighted the material gets throughout the 36 minutes of its 12 tracks, Bifter are consistently able to convey a feeling of movement and forward momentum along with all their destructive intent.
Write off Poland’s Fish Basket at your own peril. Yeah, they’ve got the cartoonish art and the silly vibe and the sense of rampant chicanery of sound and nonsense, but check out the proggy push of “Robots” on Fish Basket and His Second Album and the way they suddenly pull the plug on the whole thing and drop to deep-breathing, or the shouts worked into opener “NA-HU-HA-NE” and the birdsong in the psych-drifting “Farewells and Returns,” gorgeous as it is before it looses a bit of crush and winds up in classic heavy psych to end. These and myriad other moments throughout — the folkish strum of “Imaginarium” from some unknown tradition, maybe the band’s own, brought to the head of a linear build with a comedown to finish — work on the Frank Zappa model of progressive rock, which is to say that while shenanigans abound, the trio have the technical chops to back up everything they’re doing, and whether it’s the fuzzblaster of “Cardboard Racer” or the sub-nine-minute meander of “Stray in Chill,” Fish Basket carry the listener from one end of the album to another with deceptive ease. Warning: it might be genius.
Calgary-based trio Woodhawk — guitarist/vocalist Turner Midzain, bassist/vocalist Mike Badmington and drummer Kevin Nelson — offer a sharply-constructed, professional-grade nine songs across the 53 minutes of their third full-length, the encouragingly-titled Love Finds a Way. The organ adds a classic feel to “Strangers Ever After” early in the going, and the fullness and clarity of the surrounding production only increases the trust in the band’s songwriting, which isn’t without aesthetic ambitions despite the straightforward tack, cuts like “Truth Be Told,” “White Crosses” and the dares-to-shimmy-in-the-middle title-track have as solid an underpinning of groove as one could ever reasonably ask. The melody over top in the vocals and guitar shines through accordingly. They’re plenty dug-in, of course, and any record that’s going to push past the 50-minute mark in 2025 better have some perspective to offer, but Woodhawk do. I don’t know if it’ll be enough to save the world, but at least somebody out there is putting love out front with their riffage, duly engaging as that is.
Pathways is a single-song, just-under-14-minute EP from Milwaukee’s Liminal Spirit, the darkly progressive apparent-solo-project of Jerry Hauppa, who embodies a number of characters in the narrative throughout. Presented on a quick turnaround from the band’s late-2024 self-titled debut LP, the one-tracker nonetheless reaffirms the ambitions of the album before it, while also reinforcing the idea of Liminal Spirit as a still-growing, still-discovering-its-sound outfit. The vocals here, intended to embody multiple archetypal characters like The Patriarch, The Child, The Artisan, The Elder and The Apprentice, come through a vocoder-type treatment, and so where multiple points of view might otherwise be fleshed out and conveyed, the voice remains singular. This is the tradeoff for the intimacy of solo creativity, but one gets the sense from “Pathways” and the self-titled that Liminal Spirit is just beginning to explore the stylistic territory the band will ultimately cover.
To follow their 2023 self-titled debut EP (on Addicted Label), Moscow-based doom rocker four-piece Clarity Vision present “Deep Ocean” (or, in Cyrillic:
“Глубокий океан”), a six-minute standalone single that soon makes its way via cymbal-wash from its beginning waves and quiet guitar into a procession of stately classic doom metal, big on swing and bigger on impact. The kind of riff that would make Leif Edling smile. Galina Shpakovskaya‘s voice is suited to the movement of the riffs, floating over with melodic echo but keeping a mystique that reminds of mid-period The Wounded Kings, when all was dark and mystery. Guitarist Alexey Roslyakov, bassist Alexey Roslyakov and drummer Mikhail Markelov hold the march steady for the duration, and although I’ve never come close to knowing even the slightest bit of Russian, Clarity Vision remind that we all speak the same language when it comes to being completely and utterly doomed.
Posted in Whathaveyou on June 27th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
While the heavy metal underground continues to reel from Crypt Sermon‘s 2024 album, The Stygian Rose (review here) — the band were confirmed for Descendants of Crom in Pittsburgh the other day and are not lacking for goings-on besides — the Philadelphia-based classic/epic doom metallers are moving forward with a new four-song EP comprised of tracks from the album’s sessions.
Ah, the leftovers, right? Yeah, I expect that’s how you think about it sometimes until you’ve made a record and come up against killing your babies because you can only fit 45 minutes on a 12″ platter. The first single from the upcoming Saturnian Appendices EP is called “Only Ash and Dust,” it’s just a bit under eight minutes long and it’s shredded enough that it could probably put ‘influencer’ on its business card. Headbangers, former headbangers, prospective headbangers and others who might be headbanging but for the pinched nerves from all the headbanging they’ve already done will want to take note.
The PR wire has the relevant details, and I snuck in the stream of The Stygian Rose, in case you want to dive in there too:
On the heels of an album widely considered to be one of 2024’s best releases, Philadelphia’s Crypt Sermon return with a new EP: Saturnian Appendices. A collection of B-sides taken from The Stygian Rose album sessions, this new EP offers a deeper look into the psyche behind the story, extending the arc of its predecessor with a darker, more introspective lens.
“Conceptually, the new tracks ‘Only Ash and Dust’ and ‘A Fool to a Believe’ illuminate the shadowed thoughts of the narrator from ‘The Stygian Rose,’ expanding on the tensions that arise as one confronts the conflicts between orthodoxy and occult,” offers vocalist Brooks Wilson.
Sonically, Saturnian Appendices is firmly rooted in the band’s signature doom-laden dark heavy metal sound. Grandiose melodies wrap around a crushing volley of monolithic riffs for a commanding and epic performance.
Featuring three, brand-new, original tracks and a transcendental revisioning of Mayhem’s “De Mysteriis Doom Sathanas” (first heard as part of Decibel Magazine’s flexi-disc series), Saturnian Appendices offers fans a compelling experience steeped in grandeur and philosophical unrest.
Saturnian Appendices tracklist: 1. Only Ash and Dust 2. A Fool to Believe 3. Lachrymose 4. De Mysteriis Doom Sathanas
Crypt Sermon, live: Aug 07 Brutal Assault Festvial (CZ) Aug 08 Party San (GER) Aug 09 Alcatraz (BE) Aug 10 London, UK — The Black Heart w/ Horrendous Aug 28 Madison, WI — Blades of Steel Fest Sep 26 New York, NY — Gold Sounds Sep 27 Pittsburgh, PA — Descendants of Crom Fest Sep 28 Philadelphia, PA — Johnny Brenda’s w/ Sonja
Lineup: Brooks Wilson (Vocals) Steve Jannson (Lead Guitar) Frank Chin (Rhythm Guitar) Matt Knox (Bass Guitar) Tanner Anderson (Synths) Enrique Sagarnaga (Drums)
Posted in Whathaveyou on June 25th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
With more reportedly on the way, the Pittsburgh-based dark arts heavyfest Descendants of Crom has announced the first round of acts for its seventh — or VIIth, if you prefer — edition this September. Set to take place over two days, Sept. 26-27, at Thunderbird Music Hall, the festival continues its strong run of doom, metal and sludge with this year’s lineup from the rank pill-popped Midwestern apathy of Fistula to Crypt Sermon‘s trad-metal standard-bearing, Black Tusk‘s progressive take on Southern heavy and Valkyrie‘s pastoral, modernized classic rock, and much more besides.
It hadn’t occurred to me until I was grabbing the embed at the bottom of this post, but fest-staples Rebreather — I need to buy a new Rebreather shirt because my last one got a hole in the side and I don’t want to be without one — are four years removed from their killer comebacker The Line, its Width and the War Drone (review here), and I can’t help but be curious if the sludge-rooted Ohio outfit will have anything new in the works. Time for some social media digging? Yeah, maybe after I put that shirt in my Bandcamp cart.
Much continued respect to Descendants of Crom VII headed into its seventh year. I’ve never been — it’s traditionally right around the weekend of my wedding anniversary, Sept. 28 — but it’s always cool to see who’ll be there and to keep up as the fest has expanded its palette and grown into the warrior you see before you on the poster. Killer.
Dig:
DESCENDANTS OF CROM VII – September 26 & 27 – Pittsburgh, PA
The forge is burning hot—it’s time to reveal the first wave of bands confirmed for this year’s gathering of the underground faithful. DOC VII returns with two days of heavy music, diverse in sound and tone, never compromising on originality or quality.
…and more to come, including our co-headliners, regional support, vendors, and sponsors.
EARLY CROW “WEEKEND WARRIOR” PASSES ON SALE NOW: Very limited—only 50 available Available through July 4 or until sold out –After that: regular advance single-day & weekend passes launch
No band submissions please, but vendors and sponsors can still reach out to Blackseed Services.
Come join our celebration this year, after all… We Are All Descendants of Crom ⚔️
EARLY CROW WEEKEND WARRIOR $50, 50 tickets available
Advance single day and weekend pass tickets will be available after the Early Crow options are gone or on July 4th.
