Posted in Whathaveyou on December 8th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
This is a ‘make it official’ kind of announcement from Philadelphia’s Heavy Temple, who’ve already appeared at Desertfest New York 2023 (review here) and subsequently banged out a European tour with Christian Lopez on guitar, as well as, you know, probably hung out a whole bunch at rehearsal and stuff. Lopez takes the place of Lord Paisley, who joined Heavy Temple in time to play on 2021’s debut full-length, Lupi Amoris (review here), be a part of their continuing emergence as a touring act, and take part in tributes, splits, the whole thing.
It’s only been a few years, but Heavy Temple have been through a couple of guitarists and drummers around founding bassist/vocalist High Priestess Nighthawk, so it’s not the craziest thing in the world to think they’d be trading out personnel again. Lopez, meanwhile, had been playing with Sun Voyager — I got to see him with them this Spring (review here) and they were awesome — and they’re in NY and Heavy Temple are in Philly and that seems like a heck of a commute, so I’m not sure what the status with Sun Voyager is, but I’ll tell you from personal experience that Lopez tore it up as the new guy in both bands, has shred and apparently will travel.
And while I’m a little sad to know there’s new Heavy Temple somewhere on the planet and I haven’t heard it — at least I think so if I read the implication below correctly — I’m glad to learn the three-piece’s second album will be out in 2024. I have no doubt it will be a highlight.
From socials:
You may have noticed some changes in the HT camp. @calivibescustom started as a fill in for Lord Paisley on our Euro tour but has quickly cemented himself as in invaluable member of the Temple consort. While we are sad that our paisley prince will no longer be shredding with us, he leaves behind his contributions to arguably the best record we’ve ever made, due in no small part to his talent and ability. We wish him all the best in his new endeavors and look forward to whatever this new iteration may be.
This is the tl;dr part. When I started the band 11 years ago, I always wanted a permanent line up, but wanted to be realistic when it came to commitments and time. So I modeled the band after Queens of the Stone Age, meaning I viewed it as sort of an open collective. Having now had more than a handful of line up changes, it truly shows me what I’ve always known, which is that there is no growth without change.
I’m once again eternally grateful for all the creativity and inspiration I’ve found with everyone I’ve been fortunate enough to call a bandmate. Never stop not stopping.
Posted in Reviews on November 27th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Don’t ask me if the ‘quarter’ in question is Fall or Winter, and I’m still planning another QR probably in early January or even December if I can sneak it, but I was able to sneak this week in while no one was looking at the calendar — mostly, that is, while I wasn’t filling said calendar with other stuff — and I decided to make it happen. I even used the ol’ Bing AI to make a header image for it. I was tired of all the no-color etchings. It’s been a decade of that at this point. I’ll try this for a bit and see how I feel about it. The kind of thing that matters pretty much only to me.
This might go to 70, but for right now it’s 50 releases Monday to Friday starting today, 10 per day. I know the drill. You know the drill. Let’s get it going.
Quarterly Review #1-10:
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Negative Reaction, Zero Minus Infinity
Holy fucking shit this rips. You want sludge? Call the masters. There are two generations of bands out there right now trying to tap into the kind of slow and ultra-heavy disaffection — not to mention the guitar tone — of Negative Reaction, and yet, no hype whatsoever. This record didn’t come to me from some high-level public relations concern. It came from Kenny Bones, who founded Negative Reaction over 30 years ago in Long Island (he and thus the band are based in West Virginia now) and whose perpetual themes between crushing depression and the odd bit of Star Wars-franchised space opera have rarely sounded more intentionally grueling. Across six songs and a mood-altering 46 minutes, Bones, bassist KJ and drummer Brian Alien bludgeon with rawness and volume-worship weight that, frankly, is the kind of thing riff-dudes on social media should be tripping over themselves to be first to sing its praises, the lurch in “Back From the Sands” feeling sincere in its unconscious rifference (that’s a reference you make with a riff) to Saint Vitus‘ “Born Too Late,” and maybe Negative Reaction were, or maybe they were born too early, or whatever, but it’s not like they’ve been a fit at any point in the last 30-plus years — cheeky horror riff chugging in “Space Hunter,” all-out fuckall-punker blast in “I’ll Have Another” before the 13-minute flute-laced (yes, Bones is on it) cosmic doom finish of “Welcome to Infinity,” etc., reaffirming square-peg status — because while there’s an awful lot of sludge out there, there’s only ever been one Negative Reaction. Bones‘ and company’s angry adventures, righteous and dense in sound, continue unabated.
Arizona brothers Wayne and Joey Rudell return with New Blood, the first Fuzz Evil full-length since High on You (review here) in 2018, and make up for lost time with 53 minutes of new material across 13 songs from the post-Queens of the Stone Age rock at the outset in “Suit Coffin” to the slow, almost Peter Gabriel-style progressivism of “Littlest Nemo,” the nighttime balladry of “Gullible’s Travel” or the disco groove of “Keep on Living.” Those three are tucked at the end, but Fuzz Evil telegraph new ideas and departures early in “My Own Blood” and even the speedier “Run Away,” with its hints of metal, pulls to the side from “Souveneers,” the hooky “G.U.M.O.C.O.,” a cut like “Heavy Glow” (premiered here) finding some middle ground between attitude-laced desert rock and the expansions thereupon of some New Blood‘s tracks. Shout to “We’ve Seen it All” as the hidden gem. All Fuzz Evil have ever wanted is to write songs and maybe make someone — perhaps even you — dance at a show. With the obvious sweat and soul put into New Blood, a little boogieing doesn’t seem like too much to ask.
A second full-length from Serbia’s Cardinal Point, Man or Island asks its central question — are you a man or an island — in the leadoff title-track. I’m not sure what being one or the other delineates, but masculinity would seem to be preferred judging by the Down-style riffing of “Stray Dog” or the heavy-like-1991 “Right ‘n’ Ready,” which feels like it was written for the stage, whether or not it actually was. “Sunrise” borders on hard country with its uber-dudeliness, but closer “This Chest” offers tighter-twisting, Lo-Pan-style riffing to cap. The tracks are pointedly straightforward, making no pretense about where the band is coming from or what they want to be doing as players. The grooves swing big and the choruses are delivered with force. You wouldn’t call it groundbreaking, but the Vranje-based four-piece aren’t trying to revolutionize heavy so much as to speak to various among those traditions that birthed it. They succeed in that here, and in making the results their own.
Voices far more expert than mine have given pinpointed analyses of Vlimmer‘s goth-as-emotive-vehicle, semi-electronic, sometimes-heavy post-punk, New Dark Wave, etc., stylistic reach as relates to the Berlin-based solo artist’s latest full-length, Zerschöpfung, but hearing The Cure in “Makks” and “Fatalideal” taken to a place of progressive extrapolation on “Platzwort” and to hear the Author & Punisher-informed slow industrial churn of the penultimate “Todesangst” become the backdrop for a dreamy vocal like Tears for Fears if they stayed up all night scribbling in their notebook because they had so much to say. Vlimmer (né Alexander Leonard Donat) has had a productive run since the first numbered EPs started showing up circa 2015, and Zerschöpfung feels like a summation of the style he’s established as his own, able to speak to various sides of underground and outsider musics without either losing itself in the emotionalism of the songs or sublimating identity to genre.
Dutch sludge metallers No Gods No Masters may seem monolithic at first on their second full-length, the self-released Torment, but the post-metallic dynamics in the atmospheric guitar on lead cut “Into Exile” puts the lie to the supposition. Not that there isn’t plenty of extreme crush to go around in “Into Exile” and the four songs that follow — second track “Towering Waves” and closer “End” on either side of the 10-minute mark, “Such Vim and Vigor” and “A God Among the Waste” shorter like “Into Exile” in a five-to-six-minute range — as the band move from crawling ambience to consuming, scream-topped ultra-doom, leave bruises with elbows thrown before the big slowdown in “Such Vim and Vigor” and tear ass regardless of tempo through the finale, and while they never quite let go of the extremity of their purpose, neither do they forget that their purpose is more than extremity. Torment sounds punishing superficially — certainly the title gives a hint that all is not sunshine and puppies — but a deeper listen is met by the richness of No Gods No Masters‘ approach.
Italian psych rockers Ananda Mida are joined by a host of guests throughout their third full-length, Reconciler, including a return appearance from German singer-songwriter Conny Ochs on the extended heavy psych blueser “Swamp Thing” (14:52) and the four-part finale “Doom and the Medicine Man (Pt. V-VIII)” (22:09), which draws a thread through the history of prog and acid rocks, kraut and space applying no less to the 12-minute “Lucifer’s Wind” as to the surf-riffing “Reconciling” after — the latter gets a reprise on platter two of the 83-minute 2LP — as Ananda Mida dig deep into the shining thrust in the early verses of “Never Surrender” that give over to thoughtful jamming in the song’s second half, finding proto-metallic resolve in “Following the Light” before reconciling “Reconciling (Reprise)” and unfurling “Doom and the Medicine Man” like the lost ’70s coke-rock epic it may well be in some other universe, complete with the acoustic postscript. It’s two records’ worth of ambitious, and it’s two records’ worth of record. This is exploratory on a stylistic level. Searching.
Lumbering out of El Paso, Texas (where folks know what salsa should taste like), with seven tracks across a 23-minute debut EP, Ojo Malo follow a Sabbathian course of harder-edged doom, thick in its groove through “Crow Man” after the “Intro” and speedier with an almost nu-metal crunch in “Charon the Ferryman.” There’s Clutch and C.O.C. influences in the riffing, but there are tougher elements too, a tension that wouldn’t have been out of place 28 years ago on a Prong record, and the swing in “Black Trip Lord” has an undercurrent of aggression that comes forward in its chugging second half. The penultimate “Grim Greefo Rising” offers more in terms of melody after its riffy buildup, and “Executioner” reveals the Judas Priest that’s been in the band’s collective heart all the while. Bookended with manipulated sounds from the recordings in “Intro” and “Outro,” Black Light Fever Tripping sounds exactly like it doesn’t have time for your bullshit so get your gear off stage now and don’t break down your cymbals up there or it’s fucking on.
Druid Fluids — aka Adelaide, Australia’s Jamie Andrew, plus a few friends on drums, piano, and so on — inhabits a few different personae out of psychedelic historalia throughout Then, Now, Again & Again, finding favorites in The Beatles in “Flutter By,” “Into Me I See” (both with sitar), and “Layers” while peopling other songs specifically with elements drawn from David Bowie and the solo work of Lennon and McCartney, all of which feels like fair game for the meticulously-arranged 11-song collection. “Sour’s Happy Fantasy” offers sci-fi fuzz grandeur, while “Timeline” is otherworldly in all but the central strum holding it to the ground — a singularly satisfying melody — and “Out of Phase” swaggers in like Andrew knows he was born in the wrong time. He might’ve been, but he seems to have past, present and future covered either way in this material, some of which was reportedly written when he was a teenager but which has no doubt grown more expansive in the intervening years.
The years between their 2017 self-titled three-songer EP and the forthcoming 11-track debut full-length, Saturn V, would seem to have found Philly heavy rockers Gibbous Moon refining their approach in terms of craft and process. “Blue Shelby” has a turn on guitar like Dire Straits as vocalist Noelle Felipe (also bass) drops references to Scarface in “Blue Shelby” and brings due classicism to Mauro Felipe‘s guitar on “Ayadda.” That song, as well as “Everything” and closer “Peacemaker,” tie the EP to the LP, but Noelle, Mauro and drummer Michael Mosley are unquestionably more confident in their delivery, whether it’s the bass in the open reaches of “Sine Wave” or the of-course-it’s-speed-rock “Follow that Car” and its punker counterpart “Armadillo.” Space rock is a factor in “Indivisible,” and “Inflamed” is almost rockabilly in its tense verse, but wherever Gibbous Moon go, their steps are as sure as the material itself is solid. I’m not sure when this is actually out, if it’s 2023 or 2024, but heads up on it.
Arranged shortest to longest between the ah-oo-oo-ah-ah hookiness of “Sucker’s Disease” (3:03), the nodder rollout of “Daughters of the Sun” (5:47) and the reach into psych-blues jamming in “Goddess Land” (7:03), Mother Magnetic‘s self-titled three-song EP is the first public offering from the Brisbane four-piece of vocalist Rox, guitarist James, bassist Tim and drummer Danny, and right into the later reaches of the last of those tracks, the band’s intentions feel strongly declarative in establishing their melodic reach, an Iommi-circa-’81 take on riffmaking, and a classic boozy swagger to the vocals to match. There was a time, 15-20 years ago, when demos like this ruled the land and were handed to you, burned onto archaic CD-Rs, in the vain hope you might play them in your car on the way home from the show. To not do so in this case would be inadvisable. There’s potential in the songwriting, yes, but also on a performance level, for growth as individuals and as a group, and considering where Mother Magnetic are starting in terms of chemistry, that’s all the more an exciting prospect.
Posted in Whathaveyou on November 20th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Ripple Music will continue its ongoing split series ‘Turned to Stone’ in January by bringing together Philadelphia’s Ritual Earth and Italy’s Kazak for a shared platter. The first single, from Ritual Earth, is streaming at the bottom of this post. The series has heretofore established a high standard for itself, and last time around with Blue Heron and High Desert Queen (review here) emphasized so much of what works about the format, the bands’ respective works complementary but individualized in their take.
I’ll cop to being less familiar with Kazak than Ritual Earth — Philly’s a lot closer to NJ where I live — but it’s easy enough to get on board with the open-feel of the guitar in “Through the Interstellar Medium,” the accompanying lumber, sharp and decisive punctuation of the drums, and echoing, grainy melody gives over fluidly to a bit of pastoralism before sweeping back to its heavier proceeding. The PR wire drops hints of Om-style meditations from Kazak, and in their latest track “Dimming Lights” one can hear it, but again, I’ve got to dig further.
More to come. For now:
Doom and psych metallers RITUAL EARTH and KAZAK unite for “Turned To Stone Chapter 9” split album on Ripple Music; first track streaming!
Ripple Music announce the next chapter of their “Turned To Stone” split series featuring US and Italian doom and psych metal purveyors Ritual Earth and Kazak, to be released on January 12th. Stream the first track “Through The Interstellar Medium” now!
Launched in 2020, Ripple Music’s “Turned To Stone” split series focus on unique pairings from across the stoner, doom and heavy psych underground and explore the farthest reaches of riffdom. This ninth chapter builds an towering wall of sound, bringing Philadelphia-based monolithic heavy merchants RITUAL EARTH and Italian psych-laden doom duo KAZAK to the forefront for a dark and enthralling sonic experience.
Stream the first single off “Turned To Stone Chapter 9” with Ritual Earth’s “Through Interstellar Medium”
RITUAL EARTH’s progressive sound lends itself to complex lyrical themes and heavy use of emotions and symbolism. Says the band: “We explored introspection and dove much deeper into personal and darker issues with our unconscious minds to practice spotting our inner shadows. The death of a rival, relapsing and overcoming addiction, navigating the complexities, experiences, and challenges in our lives and the changing world around us are all topics you will find intertwined throughout these three songs.”
“Turned To Stone Chapter 9” will be available on January 12th, 2024 in various vinyl formats as well as digitally, with preorders available now on Ripple Music.
Posted in Whathaveyou on November 16th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
I like this album immediately because it boasts a track called ‘Brain Cells… But Who’s Buying,’ and I enjoy cleverness generally, but if you need to be further disposed toward the work of Philadelphia trio The Company Corvette, how about the fact that guitarist Alexei Korolev and bassist/vocalist Ross Pritchett have been at it for more than a decade and a half. The upcoming Little Blue Guy invites immediate curiosity as to the reference being made — what little blue guy? — and will serve as their fourth full-length following 2016’s Never Enough (review here) with another collection, this time marking the first appearance of drummer Zach Price, recorded with Matt Weber at NJ’s The Gradwell House.
And a side note, condolences to all at Gradwell House for the loss of engineer Steve Poponi (also Up Up Down Down), who passed away on Halloween. I only met Steve once, doing some recording last year with Clamfight, but found him to be personable, knowledgeable, and given to the kind of sarcastic expression common in my opinion to the best producers. Sorry for the loss to his friends, family, colleagues and others who knew or may have worked with him before.
That’s off-topic, I guess, but I don’t get to write about Gradwell House every day, so I take my opportunities when they come. Back to the story at hand, The Company Corvette have posted the raw-rocking “Drag” as a lead single from the record, and while the PR wire makes it seem likely the song is just a small sample of directions the album takes, it’s good to know I’m not the only one who’s apparently spent the last seven years becoming more and more pissed off at the world around me. Also, end cash bail now. End prison while you’re at it.
Behold:
THE COMPANY CORVETTE TO RELEASE ‘LITTLE BLUE GUY’ LP IN DECEMBER
The newest release of a stoner rock band is coming out via Strange Mono Records December 1. Available for pre-orders now.
Strange Mono is announcing the release of the fourth full length record from Philly’s stoned 3 piece The Company Corvette. Alexei Korolev and Ross Pritchett have been at it as The Company Corvette for over 15 years. After 3 albums they welcomed in drummer Zach Price, who proved to be a perfect fit. Their new record ‘Little Blue Guy’ was recorded across the river in NJ, once again with Matt Weber at The Gradwell House. The addition of Zach to the line up, and sticking to what they dig most, their “vision”, if you will, however blurry it may have been, set this album up as their best work to date. As with the last album, the cover features artwork by legendary Drew Elliott (Midnight, Amorphis, Blood Feast, Necrophagia, etc) almost makes it look better than it sounds – and it sounds pretty awesome!
Formed in 2005 The Company Corvette has shared the stage with countless legendary acts – Weedeater, Pentagram, The Obsessed, The Mentors and Truckfighters to name a few– blasting fans with their heavy stoner rock. This new album showcases the band’s pursuit of their singular vision. Covering the spectrum from misery laden doom, sludgy weirdness, heavy metal, dumb’n’fun rock’n’roll. This is stoner rock gone metal-and-back. There are riffs, there’s hooks, there are shreds and roars and psychedelic freakouts and they mean every bit of it.
The titular track ‘Little Blue Guy’ is pure Corvette; a massive dirge of swirling fuzzed out guitars, subdued vocals, and drumming so heavy and precise it’s sure to rattle your chest. “Doom as f*ck. Slow and heavy as we can stand it, with a slab of minimalist psychedelia in the middle – a vacuum of sorts to suck out your brain and then slowly regurgitate it back in. Lyrics stem from that time we ate mushrooms in my(Alexei) old tiny apartment and Ross saw something, or someone.”
As the album progresses tracks like ‘Out Of Control’ and ‘Brain Cells…But Who’s Buying’ ramp up the sludgy rock sound akin to early Melvins with solos. ‘Drag’ stands out with its fast pace, driving riffs, and snarling vocals. “Loosely played thrash metal with a super fun to play guitar solo and lyrics about getting dosed.”
Release: December 1 Genres: stoner rock Format: 12′ LP, CS, DR FFO: Label: Strange Mono Records
Track List: 1. Little Blue Guy 2. Marshmallow 3. Out Of Control 4. Brain Cells…But Who’s Buying 5. Stupid 6. Drag 7. Ted Tedder 8. Lit The Wrong End
The album rounds out with the stoned out “Ted Tedder” and “Lit The Wrong End” basking in psychedelic freakouts and deep sludgy grooves. “What’s your secret to releasing your best work nearly 20 years into existence?”, the band often gets asked. “Why, it’s no secret”, they say. “Everyone knows the trick – you set the bar low and keep ambitions lower. Make up a super awesome logo, play shows with your friends and cool bands, and release albums whenever you got em!”
Proceeds from sales of this album are being donated to the Philly Bail Fund. As the band comments: “Ending the injustice of money bail requires shifting Philadelphia’s bail system from one that is based on wealth to a fairer and more effective system based on a presumption of release before trial, except in the most exceptional circumstances.”
The Company Corvette: Alexei Korolev – guitars Ross Pritchett – bass, vocals Zach Price – drums
Posted in Reviews on October 4th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Wednesday, huh? I took the dog for a walk this morning. We do that. I’ve been setting the alarm for five but getting up before — it’s still better than waking up at 4AM, which is a hard way to live unless you can go to bed at like 8 on the dot, which I can’t really anymore because kid’s bedtime, school, and so on — and taking Tilly for a walk around the block and up the big hill to start the day. Weather permitting, we do that walk three times a day and she does pretty well. This morning she didn’t want to leave the Greenie she’d been working on and so resisted at first, but got on board eventually.
In addition to physical movement being tied to emotional wellbeing — not something I’m always willing to admit applies to myself, but almost always true; I also get hangry or at least more easily overwhelmed when I’m hungry, which I always am because I have like seven eating disorders and am generally a wreck of a person — the dog doesn’t say much and it’s pretty early and dark out when we go, so I get a quiet moment out under the moon going around the block looking up at Venus, Jupiter, a few stars we can see through the suburban light pollution of the nearby thoroughfares. We go up part of the big hill, have done the full thing a couple times, but she’s only just three-plus months, so not yet really. But we’re working on it, and despite Silly Tilly’s fears otherwise, her treat was right where we left it on the rug when we got back. And she got to eat leaves, so, bonus.
There are minutes in your day. You can find them. You can do it. I’m not trying to be saccharine or to bullshit you. Life is short and most of it is really, really difficult, so take whatever solace you can get however you can get it. Let’s talk about records.
Quarterly Review #21-30:
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Maggot Heart, Hunger
This is Maggot Heart‘s third record and they’re still a surprise. It can be jarring sometimes to encounter something that edges so close to unique within the underground sphere, but the Berlin outfit founded/fronted by Linnéa Olsson (ex-The Oath, ex-Grave Pleasures, ex-Sonic Ritual) offer bleak and subversively feminine post-punk informed by black metal on Hunger, and as she, bassist Olivia Airey and drummer Uno Bruniusson (ex-In Solitude, etc.), unfurl eight tracks of arthouse aggro and aesthetic burn, one can draw lines just as easily with “Nil by Mouth” or the later “Looking Back at You” to mid-’70s coke-strung New York poetic no wave and the modern European dark progressive set to which Maggot Heart have diligently contributed over the last half decade. The horn sounds on “LBD” are a nice touch, and “Archer” puts that to work in some folk-doom context, but in the tension of “Concrete Soup” or the avant garde setting out across the three minutes of the leadoff semi-title-track “Scandinavian Hunger,” Maggot Heart demonstrate their ability to knock the listener off balance as a first step toward reorienting them to the atmosphere the band have honed in these songs, slightly goth on “This Shadow,” bombastic in the middle and end of “Parasite,” each piece set to its own purpose adding some aspect to the whole. You wouldn’t call it easy listening, but the challenge is part of the fun.
Adjacent to New Psych Philly with their homebase in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and with a self-titled collection that runs between the shoegazing shine of “Deadzone,” the full-fuzz brunt of “Slack” or “Inside Out,” the three-minute linear build of “Fell Off” made epic by its melody, and the hooky indie sway of advance single “Be as One,” the trio Catatonic Suns make a quick turnaround from their 2022 sophomore LP, Saudade, for the lysergic realization and apparent declaration of this eight tracks/31 minutes. With most cuts punkishly short and able to saunter into the noise-coated jangle of “Failsafe” or the wash of “Sublunary” — speaking of post-punk — Catatonic Suns eventually land at closer “No Stranger,” which tops eight minutes and comprises a not-insignificant percentage of the total runtime. And no, they aren’t the first heavy psych band to have shorter songs up front and a big finale, but the swirling layered triumph of “No Stranger” carries a breadth in its immersive early verses, mellow, sitar-laced midsection jam and noise-caked finish and comes across very much as what Catatonic Suns has been building toward all the while. The same might be true of the band, for all I know — it seems to be the longest piece they’ve written to-date — but either way, put them on the ‘Catatonic Voyage’ tour with Sun Voyager for two months crisscrossing the US and never look back. Big sound, and after three full-lengths, significant potential.
Densely weighted in tone, brash in its impact and heavy, heavy, heavy in atmosphere, Sacri Suoni‘s second album together and first under their new moniker (they used to be called Stoned Monkey; kudos on the change), Sacred is Not Divine positions itself as a cosmic doom thesis and an exploration of the reaches and impacts to be found through collaborative jamming. Four songs make it — “Doom Perspection of the Astral Frequency 0-1” (8:15), “Six Scalps for Six Sounds” (10:28), “Cult of Abysmus” (13:15) and “Plutomb, Engraved in Reality” (8:02) — and as heavy has they are (have I mentioned that yet?) there is dynamic at play as well in the YOB-ish noodles and strums at the start of “Six Scalps for Six Sounds” or in “Cult of Abysmus” around the 10-minute mark, or in the opener’s long fade, but make no mistake, the mission here is heft and space and the Milano outfit have both in ready supply. I think “Plutomb, Engraved in Reality” has maybe three riffs? Might be two, but either way, it’s enough. The character in this material is defined by its weight, but there are three dimensions to their style and all are represented. If you listen on headphones, try really hard not to pulverize your brain in the process.
Earthy enough in tone and their slower rolling moments to earn an earliest-Acid King comparison, Barrie, Ontario’s Nova Doll are nonetheless prone to shifting into bits of aggro punk, as in “Waydown” or “Dead Before I Knew It,” the latter of which closes their debut album, Denaturing, the very title of the thing loaded with context beyond its biochemical interpretations. That is, if Nova Doll are pissed, fair enough. “California Sunshine” arrives in the first half of the seven-song/29-minute long-player, with rhythm kept on the toms, open drones and a vastness that speaks at least to some tertiary affect of desert rock on their sound. Psychedelia comes through in different forms amid the crunch of a song like “Mabon,” or “California Sunshine,” and the bassy centerpiece near-title-track feels willfully earthbound — not complaining; they’re that much stronger for changing it up — but the three-piece of guitarist/vocalist Casey Cuff, bassist Sean Alten and drummer Daniel Allen ride that groove in “Denaturation” like they already know the big spaceout in “Light Her Up” is coming. And they probably did, given the apparent care put into what is sometimes a harsh presentation and the variety they bring around the central buzz that seems to underscore the songs. Grown-up punk, still growing, but their sound is defined and malleable in its noisy approach on their first full-length, and that’s only encouraging.
With their self-released debut album, In Line for the End Times, hard-driving single-guitar four-piece Howl at the Sky enter the field with 12 songs and a CD-era-esque 55-minute run that filters through a summary of decades of heavy rock and roll influences. From their native state of Ohio alone, bands like Valley of the Sun and Lo-Pan, or Tummler and Red Giant a generation ago — these and others purveying straight-ahead heavy rock light on tricks and big on drive. More metal in their riffy underpinnings than some, certainly less than others, they foster hooks whether it’s a three-minute groover like “Stink Eye” and opener “Our Lady of the Knives” or the more spacious “Dry as a Bone” and the penultimate “Black Lung,” which has a bit more patience in its sway than the C.O.C.-circa-’91 “The Beast With No Eyes” and modernize ’70s vibes in the traditions of acts one might find on labels like Ripple or Small Stone. That is, rock dudes, rockin’. Vocalist Scott Wherle bears some likeness to We’re All Gonna Die‘s Jim Healey early on, but both are working from a classic heavy rock and metal foundation, and Wherle has a distinguishing, fervent push behind him in guitarist Mike Shope, bassist Scot “With One ‘T'” Fithen and drummer John Sims. For as long as these guys are together, I wouldn’t expect too many radical departures from what they do here. Once a band has its songwriting down like this, it’s really more just about letting grow on its own over time rather than forcing something, and the sense they give in listening is they know that too.
The first two four-song EPs by Buenos Aires psych/post-rock four-piece Fin del Mundo — guitarist/vocalist Lucia Masnatta, guitarist Julieta Heredia, bassist Julieta Limia, drummer/backing vocalist Yanina Silva — wander peacefully through a dreamy apocalypse compiled together chronologically as Todo Va Hacia el Mar, the band’s Spinda Records first long-player. From “La Noche” through “El Fin del Mundo,” what had been a 2020 self-titled, the tones are serene and the melodies drift without getting lost or meandering too far from the songs’ central structure, though that last of them reaches broader and heavier ground, resonance intact. The second EP, 2022’s La Ciudad Que Dejamos, the LP’s side B, has more force behind its rhythms and creates a wash in “El Próximo Verano” to preface its gang-vocal moment, while closer “El Incendio” takes the Sonic Youth-style indie of the earlier material and fosters more complex melodicism around it and builds tension into a decisive but not overblown resolution. It’s 34 minutes long and even between its two halves there’s obvious growth on the part of the band being showcased. Their next long-player will be like a second debut, and I’ll be curious how they take on a full-length format having that intention in the first place for the material.
A pandemic-born project (and in some ways, aren’t we all?), the two-piece instrumentalist unit Bloody Butterflies — that’s guitarist/bassist Jon Howard (Hordes) and drummer August Elliott (No Skull) — released their first album, Polymorphic, in 2020 and emerge with a follow-up in the seven tracks/27 minutes of the on-theme Mutations and Transformations, letting the riffs do their storytelling on cuts like “Toilet Spider” and “Frandor Rat,” the latter of which may or may not be in homage to a rat living near the Kroger on the east side of Lansing. The sound is punker raw and as well it should be. That aforementioned ratsong has some lumber to its procession, but in the bassy “Fritzi” that follows, the bright flashes of cymbal in opener “BB Theme” (also the longest inclusion; immediate points) and the noisy declaration of post-doom stomp before the feedback at the end of “Wormhole” consumes all and the record ends, they find plenty of ways to stage off monochromatism. Actually, what I suspect is they’re having fun. At least that’s what it sounds like, in a very particular way. Fair enough. It would be cool to have some clever lesson learned from the pandemic or something like that, but no, sometimes terrible shit just happens. Cool for these two getting a band out of it. Take the wins you can get.
Whilst prone to NWOBHM tapping twists of guitar in the leads of “Alien Hunter,” “Quicksilver Trail,” etc. and burling up strains of ’90s metal and a modern heavy sub-burl that adds nuance to its melodies, Solar Sons‘ fifth album, Another Dimension, arrives at its ambitions organically. The Dundee, Scotland, everybody-sings three-piece of bassist/lead vocalist Rory Lee, guitarist/vocalist Danny Lee and drummer/vocalist Pete Garrow embark with purpose on a narrative structure spread across the nine songs/62 minutes of the release that unveils more of its progressive doom character as it unfolds its storyline about a satellite sent to learn everything it can about the universe and return to save a dying Earth — science-fiction with a likeness to the Voyager probes; “The Voyage” here makes a triumph of its keyboard-backed second-half solo — presumably with alien knowledge. It’s not a minor undertaking in either theme or the actual listening time, but hell’s bells if Another Dimension doesn’t draw you in. Something in the character has me feeling like I can’t tell if it’s metal or rock or prog and yes I very much like that about it. Plenty of room for them to be all three, I guess, in these songs. They finish with the swing and shred and stomp of “Deep Inside the Mountain,” so I’ll just assume everything works out cool for homo sapiens in the long run, conveniently ignoring the fact that doing so is what got us into such a mess in the first place.
A 5:50 single to answer back to last year’s second long-player, Only the Dead Know Our Secrets (review here), the latest from Mosara — which is actually an older track given some reworking, vocals and ambience, reportedly — is “Amena,” which immediately inflicts the cruelty of its thud only as a seeming preface for the Conan-like grueling-ultradoom-battery-with-shouts-cutting-through about to take place. A slow, noise-coated roll unfolds ahead of the largely indecipherable verse, and when that’s done, a cymbal seems to get hit extra hard as though to let everyone know it’s time to really dig in. It is both rawer in its harshness and thicker in tone than the last album, so it puts forth the interesting question of what a third Mosara full-length might bring atmospherically to the mix with their deepening, distorted roil. As it stands, “Amena” is both a steamroller of riff and a meditation, holding back only for as long as it takes to slam into the next measure, with its sludge growing more and more hypnotic as it slogs through the song’s midsection toward the inevitable seeming end of feedback and drone. Noisy band getting noisier. I’m on board.
Jupiter‘s Uinumas is a complex half-hour-plus that comprises their fourth full-length, running seven songs — that’s six plus the penultimate title-track, which is a psych-jazzy interlude — as cuts like “Lumerians” and “Relentless” at the outset see the Finnish trio reestablish their their-own-wavelength take on heavy and progressive sounds classic and new. It’s not so much about crazy structures or 75-minute-long songs or indulgent noodling — though there’s a bit of that owing to the nature of the work, if nothing else — but just how much Jupiter make the aural space they inhabit their own, the way “After You” pushes into its early wash, or the later “On Mirror Plane” (so that’s it!) spaces out and then seems to align itself around the bassline for a forward shuffle sprint, or the way that closer “Slumberjack’s Wrath” chugs through until it’s time for the blowout, which is built up past three minutes in and caps with shimmer that borders on the overwhelming. An intricate but recognizable approach, Jupiter‘s more oddball aspects and general cerebrality might put off some listeners, but as dug in as Jupiter are on Uinumas, on significantly doubts they were shooting for mass appeal anyhow. Who the hell would want that anyway? Bunch of money and people sweating everything you do. Yuck.
Posted in Whathaveyou on September 29th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
This is somewhere between me trying to give you a heads up on a record that I think sounds pretty cool and a band with some potential, and a note to myself about the same. The release of Catatonic Suns‘ upcoming album — it’s not their self-titled debut, but the vibe I get from the below is they kind of wish it was and listening to it, I get that — snuck up on me, and now here we are and it’s not next week through Agitated Records, same day as the Carlton Melton album that’s streaming today. The good news is I’ve got a Quarterly Review slated for next week and will get to write a bit about Catatonic Suns then, but in case you didn’t feel like waiting the extra week, the singles “Failsafe” and “Be As One” are streaming at the bottom of this post and there’s a bunch of info off the PR wire to go by, so dig in.
Young band, East Coast psych, heavy in parts but not beholden to it, a bit of indie they might shake off as they get older and more into garage and boogie, etc. Just thought it was something that might make your day better since it did mine. I’ll review next week. For now, this:
New album from noisy/shoegazey psych trio CATATONIC SUNS
Creating a blend of 90s indie DIY sensibilities with blankets of psychedelia
Listen to new single ‘Be As One’
Catatonic Suns new album sees them blend the underground psychedelia of the late 80s / early 90s Pacific Northwest with the shimmering shoegazery of Britain from the same time. Heavy and soft guitars, songs that soar, these new recordings verge on the epic.
For fans of The Verve (early), Screaming Trees, Truly, Ride, Slowdive, Alice In Chains.
Pennsylvanian three-piece Catatonic Suns release their brand new album via Agitated Records this autumn (Fall if you reside in the US), Patrick Shields and Jakob Christman have known each other since birth, obsessing on punk rock, but the band actually formed in 2019.
Vocalist / guitarist Patrick and fellow guitarist Llambro Llaguri began creating homemade psychedelic 4 track cassette demos during the Winter of 2015, taking heavy inspiration from an eclectic mix of acts ranging from Ween to R.E.M. As these early songs were created, the duo sought other like minded individuals in their hometown of Allentown, PA to take these primitive demos to the next level. It was then that Patrick recruited another childhood friend, Jakob Christman, to fill the role of bass along with another mutual friend Caleb Strobl completing the rhythm section of Catatonic Suns.
In 2019, the group put out their first release, the Catatonic Suns demo, a collection of lo-fi recordings made by Patrick over the years. During this period, the band began to make a name for itself by playing shows across eastern Pennsylvania including the Lehigh Valley where local garage rock heroes Original Sins hailed from. During the months of August and September of the same year, Catatonic Sun’s reputation for wall of sound psych-grunge was really brought to life when the group teamed up with local record producer guru Matt Molchany of Shards Recording Studio to track their debut studio venture “Aphelion” (more of an extended EP). Self-released in the December, the album found an audience beyond the local music circuit of Pennsylvania, even reaching countries such as the U.K., Germany and Japan.
CATATONIC SUNS CATATONIC SUNS AGITATED RECORDS RELEASE DATE: 6TH OCTOBER 2023 (LP/CD/DL)
Tracklist 1. Deadzone 2. Slack 3. Failsafe 4. Inside Out (Original Sins cover) 5. Sublunary 6. Fell Off 7. Be As One 8. No Stranger
Recorded early 2023 at Shards Recording Studio, Bethelem, PA with tracking and mixing once again by Matt Molchany. Mastered by Mikey Young.
Catatonic Suns is Patrick Shields (guitar, vocals), Jakob Christman (bass) and Caleb Strobl (drums).
Agitated/Catatonic Suns intend to remaster/reissue Saudade on LP/CD formats in 2024, to coincide with debut UK shows.
Posted in Whathaveyou on September 12th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Geez, guys. If you wanted to go look at leaves, it’s fine. You didn’t have to book a whole long-weekender in New England to make it happen. But I guess while you’re there…
Both from the Philadelphia-ish area — Oktas in the city proper, Oldest Sea somewhere on the other side of the river in my beloved Garden State — and both supporting ridiculously strong 2022 releases, it would seem that Oldest Sea and Oktas fit well as tour partners despite not having a whole lot in common sonically. Actually, maybe in part it’s because of that disparity in their respective approaches that the match feels like it makes so much sense. Yeah, they’re both under the general umbrella-categories of ‘heavy’ and ‘dark,’ but Oktas dove headfirst into extremity on their 2022 debut, The Finite and the Infinite (review here) while Oldest Sea‘s Strange and Eternal (review here) leaned into folk-tinged doom.
You know, it’s funny. I say those things like they’re two completely different worlds, but people outside of this thing? Outside of the sphere of underground influence? They’d neither know nor care about any aesthetic distance between one and the other here, or about the bands themselves, or the styles more generally. When I drop my kid off at school, I see all these normal people getting ready to go lead normal lives. I don’t think I’m better than anyone for being involved in what might be kindly regarded as a deviant subculture (definitely a compliment given dominant culture), but it sure does feel weird to have a bunch of specified knowledge about something that’s invisible to more than 99 percent of the general population.
Life is weird, is what I’m saying.
I’d do with new releases from both of these bands — gluttony forever — but for now I’m just glad they’re getting out, since the more they can spread the word about what they’ve done so far and what might come next, the better off they and anyone fortunate enough to attend one of these shows will be. I was talking about the many joys of Ralph’s Rock Diner the other day, and not sarcastically. Easily was my favorite venue in Massachusetts when we lived there, and this is exactly the kind of show that’s best to see in that spot.
Wherever you are though, give consideration to something new even if you’re not familiar with the bands. Think about it. Take a listen. Enjoy a bit of adventure. Maybe you want to go see the leaves too:
OLDEST SEA & OKTAS – New England Fall 2023
TOUR ANNOUNCEMENT
This November we’ll be heading up to New England with our buds in @oktasband
11.09 – Ralph’s Diner – Worcester MA 11.10 – The Mayday – Providence RI 11.11 – Urban Farm Fermentory – Portland ME 11.12 – The Monkey House – Burlington VT 11.13 – Desperate Annie’s – Saratoga Springs NY
Thanks to @stephasketch for the beautiful flyer artwork (#128420#)
Says Oktas: “We put together a fun New England tour with our friends Oldest Sea this November! Big thanks to Steph Stevenson for lending us one of her paintings for the poster!”
Posted in Bootleg Theater on September 8th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Almost Honest signed to Argonauta Recordsin July and at the time announced their first album for the label and third overall would be released this Fall. No exact date on it yet, but the title is The Hex of Penn’s Woods and the first single/video “Amish Hex” finds the New Cumberland, Pennsylvania-based outfit digging into their regional lore.
Southern Central PA — for those who didn’t grow up on the Eastern Seaboard of the US — and particularly Lancaster County, has been home to the religious community of the Amish for 300 years. The technology-averse sect — which has spread through Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and more than 25 other states, even if Lancaster County retains the highest population: about 30,000 — has long been a subject for television and films, novels, that one Weird Al video and so on depicting life inside and around the Amish way of being, but generally one’s experience with them will be limited to a hello passing by or giving wide berth to a slower-moving horse-drawn carriage traveling on the side of the road. They are something of a local feature, and if you ever end up someplace that promises the likes of ‘Penn Dutch’ cooking, that’s a thing you want to eat.
Driving out through farm land, one will likewise see plenty of hex signs as a local feature. Usually circular, intricate patterns; you can buy them at tourist shops and take them home. Almost Honest‘s take in the clip for “Amish Hex” is somewhat different, as the band explains below. The Amish kid who gets bullied gets his in the end, which I suppose is the advantage of being able to turn into a badass wizard who can control lightning. Handy, to say the least. As the song plays out through its nodder riff and layered, melodic chorus — the abiding attitude shooting for and hitting “nothing too fancy” without sounding staid or like anything’s missing — the video sympathizes with the young boy being pushed around, and fairly enough so. Granted, the Amish aren’t known for being a forward-thinking bunch, but it’s not the kid’s fault he was born. Again, good thing he’s a wizard.
Amish Gandalf’s revenge plays out cathartically as the song retains a likewise humble vibe, and in that, Almost Honest feel true to their origins. They’re not from some big hotspot city or scene. They’re probably not touring for six weeks at a clip. But they’re a rock and roll band with a point of view and the songs to express it, and as the first audio leak from the follow-up to 2019’s Seiches and Sirens (review here), “Amish Hex” is encouraging in both its actual sound and in the storytelling. In the spirit of the thing, I’ll leave you to check it out on your own and see where you end up. For me, it’s very much about place in a way I’ll be curious to hear if the album develops.
A quote from the band and more from the PR wire follows.
Please enjoy:
Almost Honest, “Amish Hex” video premiere
Almost Honest on “Amish Hex”:
We have lived in and around Lancaster County all of our lives and have always been around the Amish. It is not uncommon to get stuck behind a horse and buggy on your way to work or see parking spaces specifically for them. This song is a story we wrote about an Amish child who gets picked on by people from the outside world. Then one day he finds a book called The Hex of Penn’s Woods. He uses this book to summon an Amish Wizard who will have his revenge on those who mocked him. The lyrics push forth powerful south central Pennsylvania imagery. It even includes a nod to one of my favorite desserts, the Shoofly Pie. It’s nice to be able to take people to our little corner of the world without having to book a plane ticket.
ALMOST HONEST The Hex of Penn’s Woods release date Fall 2023 Argonauta Records
Almost Honest lineup: Shayne Reed – Guitar/Vocals Quinten Spangler – Percussion/Vocals David Kopp – Guitar/Vocals Garrett Spangler – Bass
