This Friday, Dec. 15, Italian trio Warcoe will release their second full-length, A Place for Demons, through Regain Records imprint Helter Skelter Productions, with tapes on Morbid and Miserable Records. As with their likewise willfully barebones 2022 debut, The Giant’s Dream (review here), the new eight-songer brings a grim and metallic spirit, but it’s more metal-of-eld than anything modern, and they grow more doomed as they progress through the album’s second half, but there’s punk, classic heavy rock, and even some more extreme elements at play, though admittedly that’s mostly in the atmosphere.

But even a hooky post-grunge rocker like “Ishkur,” which opens side B, the heft of their tonality comes through, as well as the space for lead guitar near the halfway point there, and a production that’s clear but not clean across the span bolsters the underground feel. Obscurity becomes a character in the material.

The album opens with its tone-setting title-track, a clarion of guitar going out soon joined by drums, then bass as Warcoe rise toward the snare snap into the first verse. Vocalist Stefano Fiorelli makes his presence felt in double-tracked layers with instrumental stomp to complement, and they shift into and through a nodding change before a quick guitar lead signals the return to the verse.

As with many of the lyrics on A Place for Demons, the title-track tells a story, and by the time its four minutes are done, Warcoe have pushed the thickened procession to a point of genuine momentum, and feedback leads into the Sabbath galloper “Pyramid of Despair” (premiered here), which follows and unfolds quicker into its riff-fueled counterpoint, Fiorelli, bassist Carlo and drummer Francesco seeming to enjoy the bounce as they course through the second chorus around the three-minute mark ahead of a raucous finish and a stretch of silence before the start of “Rune Dweller.”

At just over three minutes long, the acoustic guitar instrumental piece “Rune Dweller” is more than an interlude while still departed from the band’s ‘regular’ methodology as demonstrated across the first two tracks, but its finger-plucked movement is easy to follow and rhythmically, it holds onto the tension the band amassed through “A Place for Demons” and “Pyramid of Despair.” One is reminded of something that might’ve been found on one of earlier Metallica‘s outings, pulling back from the pummel — or in this case, the riffery — to give listeners a breather and demonstrate a more classical influence.

When side A closer “Leaves” crashes in directly after, it seems to hit that much harder, but nestles into a verse made anxious by the tremolo lead guitar running alongside the central swing, which holds for the duration and is a rocker’s rocker, where side B’s first impression is doomier with “Ishkur,” which takes a darker tonal turn while staying comfortably uptempo. But the march has begun and the trajectory is set. If you believe in fatalism, then we’re all doomed.

Shades of Saint Vitus show up in “Boys Become Kings” but more at the outset of the penultimate “Wounds Too Deep to Heal,” and while each is thicker than it is slow — call it “doom rock” while emphasizing both words — the mood dims in “Ishkur” and “Boys Become Kings” as the trio set up the second half of A Place for Demons as a movement growing more and more doomed with each plod. “Wounds Too Deep to Heal” is so deep into the Vitus aspect that it’s punk rock — that’s fandom — and it also boasts perhaps the hookiest impression of the record with Fiorelli‘s delivery of the title lyric in the chorus. But at 3:44, “Wounds Too Deep to Heal” is the shortest song on A Place for Demons–, and it leaves a spot for the only natural place it could go to end and keep its acceleration into doom: Black Sabbath.

It’s not a cover, but it doesn’t feel out of line to cite Black Sabbath‘s “Black Sabbath” as a primary influence on Warcoe‘s “Buio,” which brings the slowdown that seems to have been held in reserve all along as the band has played back and forth in pacing. It doesn’t drop out in the verse, and if you’re waiting for an Ozzy-ish “What is this…,” well, I have no doubt that Fiorelli would nail it, but the nine-minute closer is instrumental, so really, they’re plunging to the heart of the thing in the riff itself. Considering the ethic they’ve proffered throughout of sticking to their roots, “Buio” makes an organic landing spot for A Place for Demons, and says a lot about who Warcoe are and where they’re coming from in a way that another cut — even one with vocals — might not have been able to do.

There is something intangible about this band. I can’t quite put my finger on it, and I like that. I don’t know if it’s a dirtied-up NWOBHM influence, or black metal, or crust punk, but they’ve got this blend of styles that is its own cohesive thing — see “doom rock,” above — but that is malleable in speed and its mix, and able to shift moods fluidly. I feel a strong compulsion to repeat the word “obscure” that I’m not going to ignore. Maybe they play “obscure doom rock.” And on the off chance someone in the band likes Emperor, I’ll add “exclusively” to that.

But, although when taken as a whole, A Place for Demons isn’t overly aggressive, it sounds like it thinks of itself as metal, and maybe that’s the difference. Whatever tag you might apply — I’ve been through a few — they have become more themselves in this material, and that only makes Warcoe a stronger band, now and moving forward.

You’ll find A Place for Demons streaming in its entirety on the player below, followed by more info from the PR wire.

Listen actively, and please enjoy:

HELTER SKELTER PRODUCTIONS (distributed & marketed by REGAIN RECORDS) is proud to present WARCOE’s highly anticipated second album, A Place for Demons, on CD and vinyl LP formats.

WARCO are a power-trio hailing from Italy, that land rich in doomed materials. Naturally, WARCOE honor their national identity with a ’70s-entrenched vision of pure DOOM METAL as first laid out by Ozzy-era Black Sabbath. In fact, in vocalist/guitarist Stefano Fiorelli, you will not find a more uncanny Ozzy doppelganger.

WARCOE began their journey in 2021, first with a couple digital singles and then an EP, all of which coalesced into their debut album, The Giant’s Dream. Likewise released digitally, The Giant’s Dream was also self-released on CDR and tape in true DIY fashion. So smitten with these authentically vintage vibes, HELTER SKELTER released The Giant’s Dream on CD and vinyl right before the summer, with hopes of spreading the WARCOE name far and wide.

Wasting no time – and, indeed, sure to spread that name further and wider – WARCOE return with their second full-length, A Place for Demons. Aptly titled, A Place for Demons is prime olde-world DOOM, steeped in Sabbathian tones and proto-metal vibes. Much like they did on its full-length predecessor, the power-trio manage to massage new sensations from that eternal archetype whilst staying reverent; if anything, there’s a pronounced swagger to A Place for Demons that suggests star-power in the making.

So, take WARCOE’s hand and enter A Place for Demons: your “new” old-doom trip continues here!

Music and lyrics by Stefano
Warcoe logo by Federico Pazzi Andreoli
Cover art by Shane Horror
Recorded at Avangarage Recording Studio in 2023
Mastered by Craig Thomas (Preyer, UK)

Lineup:
Stefano Fiorelli – guitars and vocals
Carlo – bass
Francesco – drums

Warcoe on Facebook

Warcoe on Instagram

Warcoe on Bandcamp

Helter Skelter Productions on Facebook

Helter Skelter Productions on Instagram

Helter Skelter Productions website

Regain Records on Bandcamp

Morbid and Miserable Records on Facebook

Morbid and Miserable Records on Instagram

Morbid and Miserable Records on Bandcamp

See you back here Monday, huh? Yeah. If onslaughts of new music are your thing and you’ve been following along throughout this week — first, thank you — and second, we’ll pick up after the weekend with another 50 albums in this double-wide Fall 2022 Quarterly Review. This was a good week though. Yesterday had some genuine killers, and I’ve added a few to my best-of lists for the end-of-year stuff to come. There’ll be another Quarterly Review then too. Never any trouble filling slots with new releases. I’ve already started, in fact.

Madness. Didn’t I say something yesterday about one thing at a time? Ha.

Quarterly Review #41-50:

Crippled Black Phoenix, Banefyre

There are times where I wonder if Crippled Black Phoenix aren’t just making fun of other bands, their audience, themselves, and everything, and then there are times when I’m pretty sure they are. To wit, their latest outing for Season of Mist, Banefyre, is nearly an hour into its 90-plus-minute runtime before they offer up the 10-minute “Down the Rabbit Hole,” and, well, if we’re not down it by then, where the hell are we? See also “Wyches and Basterdz” near the outset. Whatever else they may be, the long-running, dynamic, progressive, dark heavy rock troupe surrounding founding songwriter and guitarist Justin Greaves are like nothing else. They offer shades of influences, discernable elements from this or that style, this or that band — “The Reckoning” has a bit of The Cure, “Blackout77” filters that through Katatonia, etc. — but are never working to be anyone but themselves. Accordingly, the thoroughly British depressive triumphs throughout Banefyre — looking at you, “I’m OK, Just Not Alright” — are part of an ongoing narrative of creative development that will hit its 20th year in 2024 and has offered listeners an arc of emotive and stylistic depth that, in whatever genre you want to try to confine it, is only ever going to escape. The only real tragedy of Banefyre is that they’ll probably have another record out before this one can be properly digested. That’ll take a few years at least.

Crippled Black Phoenix on Facebook

Season of Mist website

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Chat Pile, God’s Country

An Oklahoma hardcore-born circus of sludge-toned tragedies personal, cultural and socioeconomic played out across nine songs/42 minutes held together at times seemingly most of all by their disenchantment, Chat Pile‘s debut album, God’s Country is arthouse angularity, raw aggression and omnidirectional intensity. As the UK’s post-industrial waste once birth’d Godflesh, so now come vocalist Raygun Busch, guitarist Luther Manhole, bassist Stin and electronic-drummer Cap’n Ron with brilliantly constructed tales of drugs, murder, suicide, loss, violence, misery, and general wretchedness of spirit, presented instrumentally with quick turns that draw from hardcore as noted, but also death metal, sludge, industrial doom, and so on. The lyrics are masterful drug poetry and delivered as such, semi-spoken, shouted, some singing, some acting out, such that you never know from what direction the next punch is coming. “Why” tackles homelessness, “Pamela” demonstrates the impossibility of coping with loss, “Slaughterhouse” is what it says, and closer “Grimace_Smoking_Weed.jpeg” resolves its nine minutes in long-held feedback and crashes as Busch frantically screams with decreasing intelligibility until it’s even words anymore. A perfect finish to a stunning, terrifying, moving first album. Don’t go into it expecting listenability. Even as “I Don’t Care if I Burn” offers some respite, it does so while describing a murder fantasy. It’s not the only one.

Chat Pile on Instagram

The Flenser store

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Early Moods, Early Moods

Fuck yes Gen-Z doom. Yes. Yes. Yes. Show the old men how it’s done. Please. Not a gray hair in the bunch, or a bullshit riff, or a lazy groove. Early Moods got their influences in line with their 2020 debut EP, Spellbound (review here), and you can still hear some Candlemass in “Broken,” but their self-titled debut LP stamps its foot to mark their arrival as something new and a fresh take on classic ideas. Vocalist Alberto Alcaraz is a distinct presence atop the hard-distorted guitars of Eddie Andrade and Oscar Hernandez, while Elix Feliciano‘s bass fuzz-rumbles through the interlude “Memento Mori” and Chris Flores‘ big-room-ready kick counts in the Trouble‘d early highlight “Live to Suffer.” Later on, “Curse of the Light” leans into the metal end of classic doom metal ahead of the chugging roll of “Damnation” and the finisher “Funeral Macabre,” but Early Moods have already put these things in play by then, as demonstrated with the eponymous title-track. Songs are tight, crisply produced, and executed to style with a promise of more growth to come. It’s an easy record to get excited about, and one of 2022’s best albums. I might just buy the tape and the CD.

Early Moods on Facebook

RidingEasy Records store

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Larman Clamor, With a Deadly Hiss

Less than a year after a return born of celebrating the project’s 10th anniversary with the Ink fo’ Blood (review here) full-length, prolific visual artist, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and singer Alexander von Wieding returns with Larman Clamor‘s latest, With a Deadly Hiss. As ever, formalities are dispensed with in favor of deceptively intricate arrangements of slide acoustic and electric guitar, whatever’s-around-style percussion and von Wieding‘s telltale throaty vocals, which on “Swamp Jive” and even a bit of the six-minute finale “Eleventh Spell to Cast” draw back the throaty grit in favor of a more melodic, somewhat less performative delivery that suits the material well. Songs are mostly short — there are 11 of them and the aforementioned closer is the longest by about three minutes — but each is a blinking glimpse into the humid, climbing-vine world of von Wieding‘s creation, and in instrumentals like the manic percussion of “Monkey and the Trash Goblins” and the distortion-backed algae-delica of “Iguana at the Fountain,” the brashness of “Tortuga” and the playful falsetto of the leadoff title-track are expanded in such a way as to hint of future paths to be explored. One way or the other, Larman Clamor remains an entity unto itself in concept, craft and delivery, and if With a Deadly Hiss is just another forward step en route to the next stop on down the road, even better.

Larman Clamor on Facebook

Larman Clamor on Bandcamp

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The Necromancers, When the Void Rose

Recorded in 2021, The Necromancers‘ third album would seem to have a mind toward picking up where the Poitiers, France-based four-piece left off pre-pandemic with 2018’s Of Blood and Wine (review here). Can hardly blame them, frankly. Now self-releasing (their first two albums were on Ripple), the semi-cult heavy rockers bring an air of classic metal to the proceedings but are remarkably cohesive in their craft, with guitarist/vocalist Basile Chevalier-Coudrain fronting the band even in the studio as demonstrated on the ’80s metal roller “The Needle,” which follows the eight-minute doom-adjacent unfolding of “Crimson Hour” — and that “adjacent” is a compliment, by the way; The Necromancers are less concerned with playing to genre than with it — wherein guitarist Robin Genais adds a short but classy solo to underscore the willful grandiosity. Bassist Simon Evariste and drummer Benjamin Rousseau underscore the grooves, prominent in the verse of the title-track, and while it’s guitars up front in traditionalist fashion, the truth is all four players are critical here, and it’s the overarching affect of the whole that makes When the Void Rose such an engaging listen, rather than the individual parts. That is to say, listen front to back for best results.

The Necromancers on Facebook

The Necromancers on Bandcamp

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Les Lekin, Limbus

Though instrumental across its vast stretches, Les Lekin‘s Limbus — their first full-length since 2017’s Died with Fear, also on Tonzonen, and third overall — begins with a verbal message of hope, lyrics in German, in the beginning intro “Licht.” That gives a specifically covid-era context to the proceedings, but as the subsequent three massive sans-vocal pieces “Ascent” (14:14), “Unknown” (8:18) and closer “Return” (22:00), unfold, they do so with a decidedly otherworldly, deeply-weighted psychedelic verve. The narrative writes itself in the titles, so I’ll spare you the pretense of insight (on my part there), but note that if it was escapism through music being sought on the part of the meditative Salzburg three-piece, the richness of what’s on offer throughout Limbus is generous enough to share that experience with the audience as well. “Ascent” swells and builds as it moves duly upward, and in “Unknown,” the trio explores post-metallic atmospherics in a crunching midsection without ever losing sight of the ambience so central to what they’re doing, while it would be hard for “Return” not to be the highlight, drums and initial bass rumble giving way to a huge sounding, engrossing procession of atmospheric density. Les Lekin have been a critical favorite for a while now, and it’s easy to hear why, but their work here holds far more than academic appeal or to-genre conformity. They embody the release they would seem to have sought and still carry an exploratory spirit despite the clearly charted course of their songs.

Les Lekin on Facebook

Tonzonen Records store

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Highbay, LightShower

LightShower is the fourth session from Hungarian jammers Highbay to see release in the last year-plus, and it arrives with the immediately noteworthy backing of Psychedelic Source Records. In the vein of many of that collective’s offerings, it is live recorded, probably improvised, and wholly instrumental, the trio vibing their way into a groove early on “Walking on Bubbles” and holding gently to that locked-in, entranced feel across the following five jams. The shimmering guitar tone, particuly as “Miracle Under Water” moves into the more extended “Spaceship” and the pleasantly funky “FunKing Dragons Above Fissure Mountains,” is a highlight, but the intention here is a full set, and I won’t take away from the fuzzier, riffier emergence later on in “FunKing Dragons” either, or, for that matter, the ready-to-wander post-rock float of closer “3D(ays) Trippin’.” It’s a big universe, and Highbay have their work cut out for them if they want to feel their way through all of it, but “Spaceship” mellows its way off into a greater beyond, and even “Hungover Sadness (’90s Romance)” manages to not be a drag as filtered through the trio’s chemistry. Maybe it will, maybe it won’t be the last time Highbay are heard from this year, but they’re yet another name to add to the list of Psychedelic Source-associated acts whose jammy sensibilities are helping manifest a new generation of Eastern European lysergic rock and roll.

Psychedelic Source Records on Facebook

Psychedelic Source Records on Bandcamp

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Sound Animal, Yes, Yes, You

Think of this as less of a review and more of a general reminder to throw a follow in the direction of Berkeley, California’s dug-in-as-hell Sound Animal, or at very least let your ears pay a visit every now and again to soak up some of the weirdo drone, dance, psych electronics and whatever else might be had on any given afternoon from the prolific solo-project. “Yes, Yes, You” is the latest single, but likely not for long, and it plays out across 3:33 of keyboardian ambience and recitations of the titular reassurance that would be soul-pop were they not so definitively experimental and part of such an ongoing creative splurge. Tucked away in a corner of the Bandcamp dimension, Sound Animal comes across as an outlet for ideas as much as sonics, and with the persistent thud of a beat beneath, one, two, three, four, the melodic serenity of the wash feels like direct conversation, with the listener, the self, or, more likely, both. It is beautiful and brief, as I’m told life also is, and it may just be the thing that came after one thing and before the next, but if you stop for a minute or three and let it sink in, you just might find a more substantial place to reside. Not gonna be for everyone, but the fact that “Yes, Yes, You” is so vague and yet so clearly encouraging rather than accusatory speaks to the artistic purpose writ large throughout Sound Animal‘s e’er expanding catalog. Wouldn’t be surprised or sad to find a subsequent single going somewhere else entirely, but again, just a reminder that it’s worth finding that out.

Sound Animal on Facebook

Sound Animal website

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Warcoe, The Giant’s Dream

Somewhere between classic metal and doom, heavy rock’s riff-led impulses and cultish atmospheres there resides the Pesaro, Italy, trio Warcoe and their debut album, The Giant’s Dream. Led by guitarist/vocalist Stefano — who also plays bass on some of the later tracks — with bassist Carlo and drummer Francesco proffering thickened roll and punctuating rhythm all the while save for the early acoustic interlude “Omega Sunrise,” the band nestle smoothly into a modern-via-not-at-all-modern sphere, yet neither are they retro or aping ’70s methodologies. Maybe that moment has passed and it’s the ascent of the ’80s metal and doom we’re seeing here — or maybe I just slated Warcoe and Early Moods the same day and both bands dig Trouble and Death Row/Pentagram, I won’t pretend to know — but the bass in “Fire and Snow” is more of a presence than bass was pretty much ever 40 years ago, so to call The Giant’s Dream anything but ‘now’ is inaccurate. They lean into rock on “Thieves, Heretics and Whores” and manifest grim but stately lurch before the fade of the penultimate “Scars Will Remain,” but wherever each piece might end up, the impression is abidingly dark and offers a reminder that Italy’s history of cult doom goes farther back than most. Paul Chain, Steve Sylvester, your legacy is in good hands.

Warcoe on Facebook

Forbidden Place Records on Bandcamp

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DONE, Aged and Untreated

Hard to find info on the Boston or Boston-adjacent extreme-metal-inflected, sludge-toned dark hardcore outfit DONE — and that may just as well be anti-social-media mystique creation as the fact that their name is ungooglable — but the tape slays. Aged and Untreated hammers 15 scathing tracks into its 28 minutes, and dies on a hill of wintry black metal and barking hardcore mostly but not completely summarized in the turns of “Soulsplitter.” The fun part is when they bounce back and forth, throw in some grind on “To Curt on Waverly,” scratch your eyes out with “Dance for Them” — the second cut behind says-it-all-in-a-minute opener “Nah” — and willfully crash into a wall on the comparatively sprawling 2:35 “I Fucking Hate Thinking About You.” Haven’t seen a lyric sheet and probably won’t if my success rate in tracking down relevant factoids is anything to go by, but shit, I lived on the South Shore for seven years, including the record-breaking winter of 2014, and it sure felt a lot like this. Maybe they’re from Arizona, and if they are, I’m sure some hack would say the same thing, but hell’s bells Aged and Untreated is an intense listen, and its wreck-your-shit violence is meted out such that even the slightly-slower punch in the first half of “Hope Trickle” makes the song feel sarcastic. I wouldn’t put it on every day, but yeah. Righteously pissed.

Tor Johnson Records on Bandcamp

Tor Johnson Records store

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This week, Italian heavy rockers Warcoe release their new single ‘Pyramid of Despair’ ahead of their second full-length, to be issued next year. In March, the Pesaro-based three-piece issued their debut album, The Giant’s Dream, and “Pyramid of Despair” also serves as a quick follow-up to that, building on the tonal grit and loosely cultish melodymaking fostered there, their fuzz light in the high end, the first-name-only three-piece of guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Stefano (also bass on some tracks), bassist Carlo and drummer Francesco finding a space where proto-heavy meets doom but the two aren’t necessarily the same. The single builds on this methodology and demonstrates ready growth in its four-and-a-half-minute push, a Sabbathian central riff brought to a charge like The Sword with an edge of Uncle Acid‘s recording technique and penchant for layering. From a completely different angle, if you told me Green Lung were an influence here, I’d believe it.

What does that mean? It means Warcoe are deceptively multifaceted. Stefano takes an impressive solo late, but even before that, “Pyramid of Despair” digs itself into a niche that opens itself to audience interpretation. It’s not about dogwhistling influences, like, ‘hey man we like Sleep too pretty rad huh?,’ so much as pulling pieces from different sides and mixing them together like taking purple and green and orange and whatever other colors the fuzzy stuff on weed comes in, melting it altogether using technology I won’t pretend to understand, and turning it an ultra-potent brown. I guess maybe they make hash rock? Whatever you want to call it, that stylistic specificity — their thing being their own thing — is set against a straightforward structure of verses and choruses, such that “Pyramid of Despair,” like “Cats Will Follow” or “Thieves, Heretics & Whores” and “Scars Will Remain” from The Giant’s Dream, is catchy while both familiar and not.

The difference, in part, between what Warcoe recorded this year (the single) and last year (the album), is one of confidence. Francesco‘s leads are plenty swaggering throughout The Giant’s Dream, but the vocals on “Pyramid of Despair” feel more confident in their willingness to not directly follow the pattern of the riff during verses, allowing both melody and rhythm to breathe more and giving the sheer heft of “Pyramid of Despair” — something else that would seem to have been upgraded since the record, at least for this song if not whatever else might follow — an appropriate amount of room to make its impact. Which, I’m glad to say, it does. In other words, they’re showing quickly that lessons have been learned coming off their first full-length, and as they head into a sophomore LP sometime in 2023, the portents for that are only encouraging if this is where they’re headed.

Maybe you heard the album, maybe you didn’t. Either way, “Pyramid of Despair” is 4:31 out of your busy day and I don’t think you’ll regret checking it out or I wouldn’t be hosting it. As always, I hope you dig.

Enjoy:

Warcoe, “Pyramid of Despair” track premiere

Warcoe release a new single “Pyramid of Despair” on September 15th. A new album will follow in spring 2023.

Warcoe has released a Ep with Evil noise recordings and a full length “The Giant’s Dream” on Cd with Forbidden Place Records and on tape with Morbid and Miserable Records, and it will be released in Japan on October 19th by Unforgiven Blood Records.

The golden pyramid is standing still
The banished land has a violent past
I’ve travelled so far across the land
I’ve travelled so far across the land

“Pyramid of Despair” was recorded in May 2022 at Avangarage recording studio (Italy) and mastered by sir Craig Thomas (from Preyer, Uk)

Warcoe is:
Stefano: guitars, vocals and songwriting
Carlo: bass
Francesco: drums

Warcoe, The Giant’s Dream (2022)

Warcoe on Bandcamp

Warcoe on Instagram

Warcoe on Facebook

Morbid and Miserable Records on Bandcamp

Forbidden Place Records on Bandcamp

Unforgiven Blood Records on Instagram

Italian trio The Elephant released their self-titled debut album on Oct. 25 through Karma Conspiracy Records, and hey, you like bass? Me too. That’s good because The Elephant have two of ’em, and what’s more, they do away with pesky guitars getting in the way of all those low end good times. The three-piece of bassist/vocalists Giovanni Murolo and Marco Catacchio and drummer/percussionist Marco Sanchioni aren’t necessarily doing anything so crazy stylistically as they bring together shades of Queens of the Stone Age (“Black White Alice,” “Walk with the Sun”), The Midnight Ghost Train (“Quicksand Morning,” “Catfish”), Truckfighters (“River,” “Deep Down Tale”) and so on, but what they bring to the deceptively efficient 10-track/36-minute procession is an indelible mark of personality that comes through not just the punchy basslines, but through the dual-vocals as well, which seem that much higher in the mix — vocals high in the mix is like a hallmark of an entire branch of Italian heavy rock; you could write a thesis about it and believe me I’ve thought about doing so — for the lack of guitar under which to be buried.

Though somehow, given the croons and growls shared between Murolo and Catacchio, I don’t think even a six-string or two riffing out would be enough to repress the personae on display. Because there’s a lot of it throughout The Elephant‘s The Elephant, and even with the lead-in twanging introduction “Mud Song” ahead of “River,” and not just those two, but also “Quicksand Morning,” “Black White Alice” and “Monkey Demon” placed as the first half of the album in order of shortest-to-longest, as though the three-piece are leading the listener deeper with each subsequent cut — indeed they are —  it can take a bit of getting used to. As “Deep Down Tale” answers back the energetic outset of “The River” before its own (temporary) mellowing, it also sets up the plunge through “Catfish,” “Summer Blood” and “The Stoker” en route to the more spacious and atmospheric “Walk with the Sun,” which is something of a surprising turn for the record to take, even at its conclusion, but by no means beyond the band’s reach as they clearly demonstrate, though it’s in moments like “Summer Blood” when they careen between loud/quiet volume changes and off-the-rails-but-actually-still-on-them mania that they seem most in their element.

But then, it’s important to remember The Elephant, as much as a self-titled can be interpreted as a declaration of intent — and a debut likewise — is indeed a first album, and by no means needs to be an endgame of any band’s progression. That is, The Elephant may yet have exploring to do and growth as songwriters, etc., it’s just hard to say at this point. But what they make clear in this collection is their intent toward vital delivery, weighted tone — though with two basses and no guitar, they might get to “weighted tone” whether they wanted to or not — and cleverly structured craft, and that’s certainly enough to pique interest.

If you haven’t checked out the record yet — hey, it’s been a busy couple months and it’s hard to keep up with all the rock coming out of Italy these days; I get it — it’s at the bottom of this post, and if you’d like a quicker sampling, you’ll find the video for “Monkey Demon” premiering below, with kids wearing masks Point Break-style and raising a bit of hell in slow motion. There’s some fire at the end, and it’s well shot, so yeah, bonus.

Hope you dig it:

The Elephant, “Monkey Demon” official video premiere

The Elephant self-titled debut album is out via Karma Conspiracy Records. Order it in physical or digital format here: https://theelephantband.bandcamp.com/

Feeding on a sound that is characterized by the combination of two (!) distorted basses, stubborn and obsessive rhythms with their roots in the blues, alternated with alienating and psychedelic atmospheres; it’s especially also this unique voice of singer and bassist Giovanni Murolo, who gives the trio its very special vibes, soul and grooves. The Elephant’s self-titled album is the result of a year’s work, with themes heavily inspired by the poetry of William Blake, Dylan Thomas and Henry Michaux.

The Elephant is:
Giovanni Murolo – Bass & Vocals
Marco Catacchio – Bass & Vocals
Marco Sanchioni – Drums & Percussion

The Elephant, The Elephant (2019)

The Elephant on Bandcamp

The Elephant on Bandcamp

Karma Conspiracy Records on Thee Facebooks

Karma Conspiracy Records website

Preorders are up now through Bandcamp for the debut album from Italian heavy rock newcomers The Elephant. It’s been given an Oct. 25 release, which since you can buy it now is I guess fair enough, and the band make a compelling argument for themselves with the efficient two-minute asskicker “River,” which is led by a noise-rock-style bassline and vocals that seem to pull from the QOTSA oeuvre in a way that doesn’t let the hook sound too redundant. I’ve never heard the three-piece before — they formed last year — and in addition to liking writing about new bands, I like writing about new bands with debut albums, so here we are. New band with new album and new music streaming? All the better.

Obviously I haven’t heard the full album yet, but just going by the quick sample of “River,” it’s interesting to read below Karma Conspiracy — who’ll helm the release — talking about how it doesn’t feel like a debut. I think that comes through in the short track in the level of swagger behind what The Elephant are doing. Just something to listen for, but a definite appeal that piques interest heading into the record.

From the PR wire:

Stoner Rock ‘n Rollers THE ELEPHANT sign with Karma Conspiracy Records & Reveal Full Album Details!

Many bands ( and label promo sheets ) may tell us they are different, unique, and are evolving their sound to a new level you have never heard before. This Italian trio in contrast, The Elephant, truly is. The blues and stoner rock ‘n rollers, formed just last year, have even signed a worldwide record deal with Karma Conspiracy, who will release the band’s first full length on October 25th.

“When we listened to the master of this debut by The Elephant, it didn’t really seem to have a band to debut. This year is a fundamental turning point for our label and this album will be another confirmation.“ Says label owner Phil.

Feeding on a sound that is characterized by the combination of two (!) distorted basses, stubborn and obsessive rhythms with their roots in the blues, alternated with alienating and psychedelic atmospheres; it’s especially also this unique voice of singer and bassist Giovanni Murolo, who gives the trio its very special vibes, soul and grooves. The Elephant’s self-titled album is the result of a year’s work, with themes heavily inspired by the poetry of William Blake, Dylan Thomas and Henry Michaux. Today we get to hear a first track of The Elephant’s upcoming debut, titled River.

“This is the song that started The Elephant project, and made us meet again after years. More than a song, it represents for us our musical bond and friendship.”

The album tracklisting will read as follows:
1. Mud Song
2. River
3. Quicksand Morning
4. Black White Alice
5. Monkey Demon
6. Catfish
7. Summer Blood
8. The Stoker
9. Walk With The Sun

Set for release on October 25th with Karma Conspiracy Records, you can already pre-oder your album copy HERE!
Watch out for many more news and tunes to follow in the days ahead, as one is sure: The Elephant came to stay and revive your blues spirit!

The Elephant is:
Giovanni Murolo – Bass & Vocals
Marco Catacchio – Bass & Vocals
Marco Sanchioni – Drums & Percussion

www.theelephantband.bandcamp.com
www.facebook.com/karmaconspiracyrecords
www.karmaconspiracy.it

The Elephant, “River”