Quezon City, Philippines-based stoner rockers Polymerase will release their complete Dreams & Realities I & II collection on June 20 through Sliptrick Records. There’s a fair amount of parsing to be done in order to understand the construction of the 88-minute release, which combines the two eight-song outings, Dreams & Realities I, which was released earlier this year as a standalone EP, and the not-yet-unveiled Dreams & Realities II, a follow-up working under the same modus. If you’re doing the match and figuring out that for each half of the total Dreams & Realities to be circa-44 minutes and an EP doesn’t make sense, that’s where said modus comes into play, since the last four of the eight songs on each part are instrumental versions of the four songs preceding. So, Dreams & Realities I brings opener/longest track (immediate points) “Space Carousel” (7:09), “The Sage” (5:57), “Blade of the Demon God” (3:51) and “Evil Hand” (6:40), and then loops back to a sans-vocal/sans-Apollo-11-launch-sample “Space Carousel” (6:40), and so on. The same goes for Dreams & Realities II, with “Children of Terra” (5:43), “Dreams and Realities” (5:34), “Zodiac Queen” (5:35) and “Riding the Crystals of Heaven” (4:09) coupled with the same songs minus the vocal tracks.

It’s a fascinating experiment on the part of the band — guitarist/vocalist Vincent Jose, bassist Bobby Legaspi and drummer Ziggy Cerda (Fabio Allessandrini plays on “Evil Hand”) — and it is striking to realize just how much the listener is inclined to fill in when the vocals aren’t there to lead through verses and choruses. “Blade of the Demon God” loses its hook, though you can still almost hear it even when it’s not there, but a deep-mixed layer of lead guitar is revealed beneath the main riff, and “Dreams and Realities” seems to answer back by letting that same lead layer float overtop instead of being buried. The personalities of the songs are changed as “The Sage,” which seems to be communing with earlier Devin Townsend in its distorted clarity, gives up the harsher barks from Jose that highlight its metallic underpinnings to become an exploration of soloing later on. And while the opening of “Zodiac Queen” wobbles like Nirvana‘s “Come as You Are,” the harder crashes more prominent in the instrumental version of the chorus, the runs of double-kick drumming, and steady, sharp execution speak also to roots in harder metals on the part of the band.

Because each piece cycles through twice, one in listening will pick up and recognize parts in the instrumentals from their vocalized counterparts, whether it’s the snare runs behind the mellow guitar on “Evil Hand” before it reopens to the double-kick chorus or the weirdo blowout of “Riding the Crystals of Heaven,” which is trad metal and garage stoner in kind and feels somehow also inspired by New Wave in its vocal melody, but that instrumentally centers the relatively earthbound groove on which that melody would otherwise rest. The songs invariably end up in conversation with themselves, each one asking what the vocals add here, what guitar, bass and drums are doing there, and how one derives mood and perceives intention from that. Floating between Dreams & Realities II and I, one finds “Children of Terra” an almost mournful, perhaps suitably apocalyptic procession that takes the distortion of “The Sage” and sets it to a riff that could just as easily be declarative black metal, but holds to rock in its rhythm and stretches out in the concluding solo, echoing a bit the mood of “Evil Hand” as it closes the first part’s A and B sides.

I’ll confess I don’t know the recording circumstance for the full collection. Dreams & Realities I was self-produced at Glasstone Studio and Prince of the Arrow Records, both in Quezon City, and Normand Yu at Glasstone handled mixing and mastering, but whether Dreams & Realities II was done at the same time, I can’t say. The two parts are fairly consistent in sound — you could easily put the four with-voice songs from each together and have a straightforward single-LP — but longer songs surround the relatively brief charge of “Blade of the Demon God,” where on Dreams & Realities II there’s some less disparity in track length as the songs are between four and five-plus minutes. But that also just be how they chose to organize the outcome of a single session as well, and considering how much thought obviously went into the presentation of the entirety of Dreams & Realities I & II, it wouldn’t be out of character for the ordering to be likewise purposeful. But one way or the other, from the warm fuzz of “Space Carousel” and classic-in-the-’90s-sense-feeling solo there to the last howling, galloping wash that’s the culmination as Polymerase indeed ride out the groove of “Riding the Crystals of Heaven,” the broader sense is one of exploring different ideas in heavy songwriting and figuring out how to manifest their influences through their own (figurative) voice. They’re getting there.

In 2021, Polymerase offered the four-song EP Unostentatious (review here) and set themselves on the path that’s thus far brought them here. Their style is still in development and one can hear they’re searching to find that balance between heavy metal and heavy rock, but that’s part of what makes Dreams & Realities I & II exciting, since while they’re doing that they’re also showing a willingness to mess with the form of the material itself, which not every band is ready or brave enough to do. Imagine being a singer and saying, “Okay, now one without the vocals.” Easier when you’re also playing guitar, but still. That evident lack of ego will only serve them well as they continue their progression from here, whether that’s toward a proper full-length or another four-songer or something else, and the desire to put the songs first while also changing the intention behind individual pieces, being able to harness an atmospheric impression in a raw recording, conveying melody and craft with DIY spirit and the fervency of the converted. There are moments where the audio is rough, but it’s a deep passion driving the material and it comes through as duly unabashed. They advise getting stoned and listening. Addled or lucid, Dreams & Realities I & II is a righteous compiling of Polymerase‘s themes, aural and other, and a significant forward step on their hopefully ongoing journey.

The complete Dreams & Realities I & II can be streamed on the player below, followed by more PR wire background on the narrative taking place across the two EPs and more.

Enjoy:

Polymerase, Dreams & Realities I & II album premiere

Dreams And Realities is a two part album project by Philippine stoner rock group Polymerase. The band started recording in 2021 and the idea was to create a story of a traveler in space that was able to experience time differently thus the track Space Carousel. Other tracks such as Blade Of The Demon God, The Sage and Evil Hand are part of the journey where the traveler in space was able to reflect within himself and then becoming a sage using the negative and positive force of the universe through the blade of the demon god. Evil Hand is the representation of the dark emotions of the human nature, even though humanity will strive to be good there will be an ego that will pull him down into himself which will either be for his survival or for selfish reasons.

Part II is about the psychiatric aspect of the project. The beginning is the continuing journey reflecting the society thus the creation of Children Of Terra. It is the process of questioning what has become of humanity itself. It is like asking what have we been doing for the past years that would make our lives significant in all existence. Dreams And Realities is a track where a certain individual gets lost in his own dreams that opens up a new reality for him. The person gets lost in his own reality and he cannot perceive what is real in his waking life, thus becoming schizophrenic. The track, Zodiac Queen is the devotion of a person to someone in his darkest situation. It is where at the point of addiction for a certain person, even the relationship becomes too toxic that he still stays until eventually getting eaten by the darkness that he himself has given. The last track is about experimental drugs that enhances your psychic potential. It is all about traveling within yourself and finding a peace resembling heaven.

All tracks have instrumental counterpart so if one person smokes while listening he/she would be able to reflect more through the vibrations of the music.

Dreams And Realities I Tracklist:
01. Space Carousel
02. The Sage
03. Blade Of The Demon God
04. Evil Hand
05. Space Carousel (Instrumental)
06. The Sage (Instrumental)
07. Blade Of The Demon God (Instrumental)
08. Evil Hand (Instrumental)

Dreams And Realities II Tracklist:
01. Children Of Terra
02. Dreams And Realities
03. Zodiac Queen
04. Riding The Crystals Of Heaven
05. Children Of Terra (Instrumental)
06. Dreams And Realities (Instrumental)
07. Zodiac Queen (Instrumental)
08. Riding The Crystals Of Heaven (Instrumental)

Dreams And Realities [I & II] Released June 20th, 2023 via Sliptrick Records

Polymerase are:
Vincent Jose – Guitars/Vocals
Bobby Legaspi – Bass/Guitars
Eugene Castro – Drums
Allan Paul Galiga – Session Bassist

Fabio Allesandrini – Drums on “Evil Hand”

Polymerase, “Blade of the Demon God” official video

Polymerase on Facebook

Polymerase on YouTube

Polymerase on Bandcamp

Sliptrick Records on Facebook

Sliptrick Records on Instagram

Sliptrick Records website

Considering that Polymerase were seven years between getting together in 2014 and putting out their first EP, Unostentatious (review here), a two-part debut album featuring (at least) three different drummers, while not necessarily ostentatious, certainly smacks of ambition. The Philippines-based outfit were largely instrumental at the time, save for the sludgy barks in the rawer fourth-of-four “Green is the Color of Evil,” and the will toward spaciousness shown in a cut like “Lightbringer//Lightgiver,” with its echoing lead guitar singing out in its midsection surrounded by cliffsides of tonal plod, was already expanded upon as the band collaborated with Misstiq to expand “A Night with a Succubus” with synth and piano as a standalone single.

All of that is to say I have no idea where Polymerase might be headed with Dreams and Realities I & II, the impending two-part long-player to be released through Sliptrick Records sometime in 2023, but the quick turnaround from the EP is encouraging, and if they’re continuing to feel their way through vaporous heavy psych and stonerly methods, so be it. Given what they’ve already put out, some variety seems only reasonable to expect as Polymerase solidify their lineup and approach.

From the PR wire:

Sliptrick Records Welcome Philippine Stoner Rock Group POLYMERASE

Joining the ranks at Sliptrick Records: Polymerase (PH) Stoner Rock | Heavy Psych | Space Rock | Experimental Rock

Polymerase started in 2014 with brothers, Vincent and VN in Quezon City but unfortunately because of a hard drive malfunction their original recorded songs were lost in the abyss. It wasn’t until 2021 that they were able to record their debut EP, Unostentatious, which was released via bandcamp. The EP received a good recognition in the international stoner community. The line at this time was Vincent on Guitars, VN on Vox and Francis on Drums.

The group then started work on tracks for their new 2-part album Dreams and Realities I and II with part 2 recorded earlier this year. All the guitar parts and vocals were done by Vincent with bass parts by Bobby. Drum tracks were recorded separately by different drummers. They were: Fabio Allesandrini of the trash metal act Annihilator, Krzystof Klingbein who does sessions for Vader, and James Koerl, a graduate from Berklee College of Music.

Later in 2022, Polymerase signed a deal to release Dreams and Realities I and II via Sliptrick Records later this year.

Polymerase are:
Vincent Jose – Guitars/Vocals
Bobby Legaspi – Bass/Guitars
Eugene Castro – Drums
Allan Paul Galiga – Session Bassist

https://www.facebook.com/polymerasepilipinas
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6Gtyy32USE5ITrpUhT16ng
https://polymerase.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/sliptrickrecords/
https://www.instagram.com/sliptrickrecords/
https://sliptrickrecords.com/

Polymerase, Unostentatious (2021)

In many ways, this is my favorite kind of Quarterly Review day. I always place things more or less as I get them, and let the days fill up randomly, but there are different types that come out of that. Some are heavier on riffs, some (looking at you, Monday) are more about atmosphere, and some are all over the place. That’s this. There’s no getting in a word rut — “what’s another way to say ‘loud and fuzzy?'” — when the releases in question don’t sound like each other.

As we move past the halfway point of the first week of this double-wide Quarterly Review, 100 total acts/offerings to be covered, that kind of thing is much appreciated on my end. Keeps the mind limber, as it were. Let’s roll.

Winter 2023 Quarterly Review #21-30:

White Hills, The Revenge of Heads on Fire

The narrative — blessings and peace upon it — goes that White Hills stumbled on an old hard drive with 2007’s Heads on Fire‘s recording files on it, recovered them, and decided it was time to flesh out the original album some 15 years after the fact, releasing The Revenge of Heads on Fire through their own Heads on Fire Records imprint in fashion truer to the record’s original concept. Who would argue? Long-established freaks as they are, can’t White Hills basically do whatever the hell they want and it’ll be at the very least interesting? Sure enough, the 11-song starburster they’ve summoned out of the ether of memory is lysergic and druggy and sprawling through Dave W. and Ego Sensation‘s particular corner of heavy psychedelia and space rocks, “Visions of the Past, Present and Future” sounding no less vital for the passing of years as they’re still on a high temporal shift, riding a cosmic ribbon that puts “Speed Toilet” where “Revenge of Speed Toilet” once was in reverse sequeling and is satisfyingly head-spinning whether or not you ever heard the original. That is to say, context is nifty, but having your brain melted is better, and White Hills might screw around an awful lot, but they’re definitely not screwing around. You heard me.

White Hills on Facebook

White Hills on Bandcamp

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Dystopian Future Movies, War of the Ether

Weaving into and out of spoken word storytelling and lumbering riffy largesse, nine-minute opener and longest track (immediate points) “She Up From the Drombán Hill” has a richly atmospheric impact on what follows throughout Dystopian Future Movies‘ self-issued third album, War of the Ether, the residual feedback cutting to silence ahead of a soft beginning for “Critical Mass” as guitarist/vocalist Caroline Cawley pairs foreboding ambience with noise rocking payoffs, joined by her Church of the Cosmic Skull bandmate Bill Fisher on bass/drums and Rafe Dunn on guitar for eight songs that owe some of their root to ’90s-era alt heavy but have grown into something of their own, as demonstrated in the willfully overwhelming apex of “The Walls of Filth and Toil” or the dare-a-hook ending of the probably-about-social-media “The Veneer” just prior. The LP runs deeper as it unfurls, each song setting forth on its own quiet start save for the more direct “License of Their Lies” and offering grim but thoughtful craft for a vision of dark heavy rock true both to the band’s mission and the album’s troubled spirit. Closer “A Decent Class of Girl” rolls through volume swells in what feels like a complement to “She Up From the Drombán Hill,” but its bookending wash only highlights the distance the audience has traveled alongside Cawley and company. Engrossing.

Dystopian Future Movies on Facebook

Dystopian Future Movies store

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Basalt Shrine, From Fiery Tongues

Though in part defined by the tectonic megasludge of “In the Dirt’s Embrace,” Filipino four-piece Basalt Shrine are no more beholden to that on From Fiery Tongues than they are the prior opening drone “Thawed Slag Blood,” the post-metallic soundscaping of the title-track, the open-spaced minimalism of closer “The Barren Aftermath” or the angular chug at the finish of centerpiece “Adorned for Loathing Pigs.” Through these five songs, the Manila-based outfit plunge into the darker, denser and more extreme regions of sludgy stylizations, and as they’ve apparently drawn the notice of US-based Electric Talon Records and sundry Euro imprints, safe to say the secret is out. Fair enough. The band guide “From Fiery Tongues,” song and album, with an entrancing churn that is as much about expression as impact, and the care they take in doing so — even at their heaviest and nastiest — isn’t to be understated, and especially as their debut, their ambition manifests itself in varied ways nearly all of which bode well for coming together as the crux of an innovative style. Not predicting anything, but while From Fiery Tongues doesn’t necessarily ring out with a hopeful viewpoint for the world at large, one can only listen to it and be optimistic about the prospects for the band themselves.

Basalt Shrine on Facebook

Electric Talon Records store

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Psychonaut, Violate Consensus Reality

Post-metallic in its atmosphere, there’s no discounting the intensity Belgium trio Psychonaut radiate on their second album, Violate Consensus Reality (on Pelagic). The prog-metal noodling of “All Your Gods Have Gone” and the singing-turns-to-screaming methodology on the prior opener “A Storm Approaching” begin the 52-minute eight-tracker with a fervency that affects everything that comes after, and as “Age of Separation” builds into its full push ahead of the title-track, which holds tension in its first half and shows why in its second, a halfway-there culmination before the ambient and melodic “Hope” turns momentarily from some of the harsher insistence before it, a summary/epilogue for the first platter of the 2LP release. The subsequent “Interbeing” is black metal reimagined as modern prog — flashes of Enslaved or Amorphis more than The Ocean or Mastodon, and no complaints — and the procession from “Hope” through “Interbeing” means that the onslaught of “A Pacifist’s Guide to Violence,” all slam and controlled plunder, is an apex of its own before the more sprawling, 12-minute capper “Towards the Edge,” which brings guest appearances from Brutus‘ Stefanie Mannaerts and the most esteemed frontman in European post-metal, Colin H. van Eeckhout of Amenra, whose band Psychonaut admirably avoid sounding just like. That’s not often the case these days.

Psychonaut on Facebook

Pelagic Records on Bandcamp

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Robot God, Worlds Collide

If you’re making your way through this post, skimming for something that looks interesting, don’t discount Sydney, Australia’s Robot God on account of their kinda-generic moniker. After solidifying — moltenifying? — their approach to longform-fuzz on their 2020 debut, Silver Buddha Dreaming, the three-piece of guitarist/vocalist Raff Iacurto, bassist/vocalist Matt Allen and drummer Tim Pritchard offer the four tracks of their sophomore LP, Worlds Collide, through Kozmik Artifactz in an apparent spirit of resonance, drawing familiar aspects of desert-style heavy rock out over songs that feel exploratory even as they’re born of recognizable elements. “Sleepwalking” (11:25) sets a broad landscape and the melody over the chugger riff in the second half of “Ready to Launch” (the shortest inclusion at 7:03) floats above it smoothly, while “Boogie Man” (11:24) pushes over the edge of the world and proceeds to (purposefully) tumble loosely downward in tempo from there, and the closing title-track (11:00) departs from its early verses along a jammier course, still plotted, but clearly open to the odd bit of happy-accidentalism. It’s a niche that seems difficult to occupy, and a difficult balance to strike between hooking the listener with a riff and spacing out, but Robot God mostly avoid the one-or-the-other trap and create something of their own from both sides; reminiscent of… wait for it… worlds colliding. Don’t skip it.

Robot God on Facebook

Kozmik Artifactz store

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AAWKS, Heavy on the Cosmic

Released in June 2022 and given a late-in-the-year vinyl issue seemingly on the strength of popular demand alone, AAWKS‘ debut full-length, Heavy on the Cosmic sets itself forth with the immersive, densely-fuzzed nodder riff and stoned vocal of longest track (immediate points) “Beyond the Sun,” which finds start-with-longest-song complement on side B’s “Electric Traveller” (rare double points). Indeed there’s plenty to dig about the eight-song outing, from the boogie in “Sunshine Apparitions,” the abiding vibe of languid grunge and effects-laced chicanery that pervade the crashouts of “The Woods” to the memorable, slow hook-craft of “All is Fine.” Over on side B, the momentum early in “Electric Traveller” rams headfirst into its own slowdown, while “Space City” reinforces the no-joke tonality and Elephant Tree-style heavy/melodic blend before the penultimate mostly-instrumental “Star Collider” resolves itself like Floor at half-speed and closer “Peeling Away” lives up to its title with a departure of psychedelic soloing and final off-we-go loops. The word-of-mouth hype around AAWKS was and is significant, and the Ontario-based four-piece tender three-dimensional sound to justify it, the record too brief at 39 minutes to actually let the listener get lost while providing multiple opportunities for headphone escapism. A significant first LP.

AAWKS on Facebook

AAWKS on Bandcamp

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Smokes of Krakatau, Smokes of Krakatau

The core methodology of Polish trio Smokes of Krakatau across their self-titled debut seems to be to entrance their audience and then blindside them with a riffy punch upside the head. Can’t argue if it works, which it does, right from the gradual unfurling of 10-minute instrumental opener “Absence of Light” before the chunky-style riff of “GrassHopper” lumbers into the album’s first vocals, delivered with a burl that reminds of earlier Clutch. There are two more extended tracks tucked away at the end — “Septic” (10:07) and “Kombajn Bizon” (11:37) — but before they get there, “GrassHopper” begins a movement across four songs that brings the band to arguably their most straightforward piece of all, the four-minute “Carousel,” as though the ambient side of their persona was being drained out only to return amid the monolithic lumber that pays off the build in “Septic.” It’s a fascinating whole-album progression, but it works and it flows right unto the bluesy reach of “Kombajn Bizon,” which coalesces around a duly massive lurch in its last minutes. It’s a simplification to call them ‘stoner doom,’ but that’s what they are nonetheless, though the manner in which they present their material is as distinguishing a factor as that material itself in the listening experience. The band are not done growing, but if you let their songs carry you, you won’t regret going where they lead.

Smokes of Krakatau on Facebook

Smokes of Krakatau on Bandcamp

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Carrier Wave, Carrier Wave

Is it the riff-filled land that awaits, or the outer arms of the galaxy itself? Maybe a bit of both on Bellingham, Washington-based trio Carrier Wave‘s four-song self-titled debut, which operates with a reverence for the heft of its own making that reminds of early YOB without trying to ape either Mike Scheidt‘s vocal or riffing style. That works greatly to the benefit of three-piece — guitarist/vocalist James Myers, bassist/vocalist Taber Wilmot, drummer Joe Rude — who allow some raucousness to transfuse in “Skyhammer” (shortest song at 6:53) while surrounding that still-consuming breadth with opener “Cosmic Man” (14:01), “Monolithic Memories” (11:19) and the subsequent finale “Evening Star” (10:38), a quiet guitar start to the lead-and-longest track (immediate points) barely hinting at the deep tonal dive about to take place. Tempo? Mostly slow. Space? Mostly dark and vast. Ritual? Vital, loud and awaiting your attendance. There’s crush and presence and open space, surges, ebbs, flows and ties between earth and ether that not every band can or would be willing to make, and much to Carrier Wave‘s credit, at 42 minutes, they engage a kind of worldmaking through sound that’s psychedelic even as it builds solid walls of repetitive riffing. Not nasty. Welcoming, and welcome in itself accordingly.

Carrier Wave on Facebook

Carrier Wave on Bandcamp

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Stash, Through Rose Coloured Glasses

With mixing/mastering by Chris Fielding (Conan, etc.), the self-released first full-length from Tel Aviv’s Stash wants nothing for a hard-landing thud of a sound across its nine songs/45 minutes. Through Rose Coloured Glasses has a kind of inherent cynicism about it, thanks to the title and corresponding David Paul Seymour cover art, and its burl — which goes over the top in centerpiece “No Real” — is palpable to a defining degree. There’s a sense of what might’ve happened if C.O.C. had come from metal instead of punk rock, but one way or the other, Stash‘s grooves remain mostly throttled save for the early going of the penultimate “Rebirth.” The shove is marked and physical, and the tonal purpose isn’t so much to engulf the listener with weight as to act as the force pushing through from one song to the next, each one — “Suits and Ties,” “Lie” and certainly the opener “Invite the Devil for a Drink” — inciting a sense of movement, speaking to American Southern heavy without becoming entirely adherent to it, finding its own expression through roiling, chugging brashness. But there’s little happenstance in it — another byproduct of a metallic foundation — and Stash stay almost wholly clearheaded while they crash through your wall and proceed to break all the shit in your house, sonically speaking.

Stash on Facebook

Stash on Bandcamp

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Lightsucker, Stonemoon

Though it opens serene enough with birdsong and acoustic guitar on “Intro(vert,” the bulk of Lightsucker‘s second LP, Stonemoon is more given to a tumult of heavy motion, drawing together elements of atmospheric sludge and doom with shifts between heavy rock groove and harder-landing heft. And in “Pick Your God,” a little bit of death metal. An amalgam, then. So be it. The current that unites the Finnish four-piece’s material across Stonemoon is unhinged sludge rock that, in “Lie,” “Land of the Dead” and the swinging “Mob Psychosis” reminds of some of Church of Misery‘s shotgun-blues chaos, but as the careening “Guayota” and the deceptively steady push of “Justify” behind the madman vocals demonstrate, Lightsucker‘s ambitions aren’t so simply encapsulated. So much the better for the listening experience of the 35-minute/eight-song entirety, as from “Intro(vert)” through the suitably pointy snare hits of instrumental closer “Stalagmites,” Lightsucker remain notably unpredictable as they throw elbows and wreak havoc from one song to the next, the ruined debris of genre strewn about behind as if to leave a trail for you to follow after, which, if you can actually keep up with their changes, you might just do.

Lightsucker on Facebook

Lightsucker on Bandcamp

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There are a LOT of links below, you’re right. Not my fault everybody wants to put out Basalt Shrine. And it raises questions about how regional distribution is to be handled in a world of increased shipping costs for independent businesses (labels, etc.) and the rest of us out here trying to pick up cool records. Will bands have to go country-by-country in a world that, economically speaking, was declared flat however many decades ago?

Maybe. Hell if I know. Basalt Shrine released From Fiery Tongues on Bandcamp only on June 13 and have quickly reaped a heap o’ praise for their work on it, with which you won’t find me arguing. You can stream the release below and you’ll see that the vinyl edition preorders are coming through Electric Spark Records, while other formats are out through other outlets around Europe and the rest of the world.

Here you go:

BASALT SHRINE ‘From Fiery Tongues’ 12″ Vinyl now up for pre-order via Electric Spark Records

Pre-order the vinyl edition via the following link: https://www.electricsparkrecords.com/products/basalt-shrine-from-fiery-tongues

Buy/Stream the digital album here: https://basaltshrine.bandcamp.com/

The vinyl edition of Filipino Doom/Post-Metal quartet Basalt Shrine is now up on Dutch Record Label – Electric Spark Records. Coming out on High-quality 180 grams Black Vinyl. Comes with a black polylined inner sleeve and polybag protective sleeve, double-sided insert with lyrics and specially mastered for Vinyl with an alternate track sequencing.

Tracklisting (digital):
1. Thawed Slag Blood 05:08
2. In The Dirt’s Embrace 10:51
3. Adorned For Loathing Pigs 07:56
4. From Fiery Tongues 08:16
5. The Barren Aftermath 08:38

Physical copies (Vinyl, CD, CS) available via the following labels:

EUROPE

Electric Spark (Netherlands) / Vinyl
http://www.electricsparkrecords.com

Surrogate Rec. (Ukraine) / Jewel Case CD
http://www.surrogaterec.com

Cruel Nature Records (UK) / Special Edition Cassette Tape
http://cruelnaturerecordings.bandcamp.com

Three Moons Records (Poland) / Limited Edition Cassette Tape
http://www.threemoonsrecords.com

Aim Down Sight Records (Germany) / Limited Edition Cassette Tape
http://aimdownsightrecords.bandcamp.com

USA

Electric Talon Records (Philadelphia) / Digipak CD / Cassette
http://www.electrictalonrecords.com

ASIA

PAWN (Ph) / Cassette Tape
http://pawnrecords.com

Harrowing Industries (Indonesia) / Digipak CD
http://harrowingindustries.bandcamp.com

Basalt Shrine:
Bobby Legaspi (Surrogate Prey, Malicious Birth)
Rallye Ibanez (Ex-Religious Nightmare, Surrogate Prey)
Ronaldo Vivo (Dagtum, The Insektlife Cycle, Abanglupa, Imperial Airwaves, Ex-Hateure)
Ronnel Vivo (Dagtum, The Insektlife Cycle, Abanglupa, Imperial Airwaves, Ex-Hateure)

https://www.facebook.com/basaltshrine
https://basaltshrine.bandcamp.com/releases

Basalt Shrine, From Fiery Tongues (2022)

This will be a two-week Quarterly Review. That means this Monday to Friday and next Monday to Friday, 10 releases per day, totaling 100 by the time it’s done.

Me? I’m taking it one week, one day, one album at a time. It’s the only way to go and not have it seem completely insurmountable. But we’ll get through it all. I started out with the usual five days, and then I went to seven, then eight, and at that point I felt like I had a pretty good idea where things were headed. The last two days I filled up just at the end of last week. Some of it is I think a result of quarantine productivity, but there’s a glut of relevant stuff out now and some of it I’m catching up on, true, but some of it isn’t out yet either, so it’s a balance as ever. I keep telling myself I’m done with 2020 releases, but there’s one in here today. You know how it goes.

And since you do, I won’t delay further. Thanks in advance for reading if you do.

Quarterly Review #1-10:

Carlton Melton, Night Pillers

Rangey mellow psych collected together with the natural shimmer of a Phil Manley (Trans Am) recording and a John McBain master, the new mini-LP from Mendocino medicine makers Carlton Melton is a 31-minute, five-song meditative joy. To wit, “Safe Place?” Is. “Morning Warmth?” Is, even with the foreboding march of drums behind it. And “Striatum,” which closes with interplay of keys and fuzzy leads and effects, giving a culminating seven-minute wash that doesn’t feel like it’s pushing far out so much as already gone upon arrival, indeed seems like a reward for any head or brain that’s managed to make it so far. Opener “Resemblance” brings four minutes of gentle drone to set the mood ahead of “Morning Warmth” — it might be sunrise, if we’re thinking of it that way — and centerpiece “High Noon Thirty” bridges krauty electronic beats and organic ceremony that feels both familiar and like the band’s own. They may pill at night, but Carlton Melton have a hell of a day here.

Carlton Melton on Facebook

Agitated Records website

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Crown, The End of All Things

Weaving in and around genres with fluidity that’s tied together through dark industrial foundations, Crown are as much black metal as they are post-heavy, cinematic or danceable. “Gallow” or the earlier “Neverland” call to mind mid-period, electronica-fascinated Katatonia, but “Extinction” pairs this with a more experimental feel, opening in its midsection to more unsettling spaces ahead of the dance-ready finish. There’s nothing cartoonish or vamp about The End of All Things, which is the French outfit’s fourth album in 10 years, and it’s as likely to embrace pop (closer “Utopia”) as extremity (“Firebearer” just before), grim atmospherics (“Nails”) or textured acoustics (“Fleuve”), feeling remarkably unconcerned with genre across its 45 entrancing minutes, and remarkably even in its approach for a sound that’s still so varied. It’s not an easy listen front to back, but the challenge feels intentional and is emotional as much as cerebral in the craft and performance.

Crown on Facebook

Pelagic Records on Bandcamp

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Noêta, Elm

Swedish duo Noêta offer their second record for Prophecy Productions in Elm, comprising a deceptively efficient eight songs and 38 minutes that work in atmospheres of darker but not grim or cultish folk. Vocalist Êlea is very much a focal point in terms of performance, with Andris‘ instrumentals forming a backdrop that’s mournful on “Above and Below” while shimmering enough to bring affirmation to “As We Are Gone” a short while later ahead of the electrified layering in “Elm” and the particularly haunted-feeling closer “Elm II.” “As I Fall Silent” is a singularly spacious moment, but not the only one, as “Fade” complements with strings and outward-sounding guitar, and some of Elm‘s most affecting moments are its quietest stretches, as “Dawn Falls” proves at the outset and the whispers of “Elm” reaffirm on side B. Subdued but not lacking complexity, Noêta‘s songs make an instrument of mood itself and are pointedly graceful in doing so.

Noêta on Facebook

Prophecy Productions website

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Polymerase, Unostentatious

Unostentatious, which is presumably not to say “humble,” may or may not be Polymerase‘s debut release, but it follows on from several years of inactivity on the part of the Philippines-based mostly-instrumentalist heavy psych trio. The band present four duly engaging and somewhat raw feeling jams, with a jump in volume as “Lightbringer//Lightgiver” picks up from “A Night with a Succubus” and opener “The Traveler” and a final touch of thickened, fuzzy sludge in the rolling “Green is the Color of Evil,” which closes at a lurch that comes across at significant remove from the title-hinted brightness of the song just before it. Uneven? Maybe, but not egregiously so, and if Polymerase are looking to give listeners an impression of their having a multifaceted sound, they most assuredly do. My question is over what span of time these tracks were recorded and what the group will do in moving forward from them, but I take the fact that I’m curious to find out at all as a positive sign of having interest piqued. Will hope for more.

Polymerase on Facebook

Polymerase on Bandcamp

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Lucid Sins, Cursed!

Lucid indeed. The band’s self-applied genre tag of “adult AOR” is more efficient a descriptor of their sound than anything I might come up with. Glasgow’s Lucid Sins released their acclaimed debut, Occultation, in 2014, and Cursed! is the exclamatory seven-years-later follow-up, bringing together classic progressive rock and modern cult heavy sensibilities with a focus on songwriting that’s the undercurrent from “Joker’s Dance” onward and which, as deep as “The Serpentine Path” or the title-track or “The Forest” might go, is never forgotten. To wit, the penultimate “By Your Hand” is a proto-everything highlight, stomping compared to the organ-prog “Sun and the Moon” earlier, but ultimately just as melodic and of enviable tonal warmth. Seven years is a long time between records, and maybe this material just took that long to put together, I don’t know, but I had no idea “cult xylophone” was a possibility until “The Devil’s Sign” came along, and now I’m not sure how I ever lived without it.

Lucid Sins on Facebook

Totem Cat Records store

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Hekate, Sermons to the Black Owl

Australia’s history in heavy rock and roll is as long as that of heavy rock and roll itself and need not be recounted here, except to say that Hekate, from Canberra and Sydney, draw from multiple eras of it with their debut long-player, Sermons to the Black Owl, pushing ’70s boogie over the top with solos on “Carpathian Eagle” only after “Winter Void” and “Child of Black Magick” have seen the double-guitar-and-let’s-use-both four-piece update nascent doom vibes and “Burning Mask” has brought a more severe chug to the increasingly intense procession. A full production sound refuses to let the quick eight-tracker be anything other than modern, and though it’s only 28 minutes long, the aptly-titled “Acoustic Outro” feels earned atmospherically, even down to the early-feeling cold finish of “Cassowary Dreaming.” The balance may be then, then, then, and now, but the sense of shove that Hekate foster in their songs gives fresh urgency to the tenets of genre they seem to have adopted at will.

Hekate on Facebook

Black Farm Records store

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Abel Blood, Keeping Pace with the Elephants

One does not evoke elephantine images on a heavy record, even on a debut release, if aural largesse isn’t a factor. New Hampshire trio Abel Blood — guitarist/vocalist Adam Joslyn, bassist Ben Cook, drummer Jim DeLuca — are raw in sound on their first EP, Keeping Pace with the Elephants, but the impact with which they land “The Day that Moby Died” at the outset is only encouraging, and to be sure, it’s not the thickest of their wares either. “Enemies” already pushes further, and as centerpiece “UnKnown Variant” would seem to date the effort in advance, it also serves the vital function of moving the EP in a different, more jangly, grungier direction, which is a valuable move with the title cut following behind, its massive cymbals and distorted wash building to a head in time for the nine-minute finale “Fire on the Hillside” to draw together both sides of the approach shown throughout into a parabolically structured jam the middle-placed surge of which passes quickly enough to leave the listener unsure whether it ever happened. They’re messing with you. Dig that.

Abel Blood on Facebook

Abel Blood on Bandcamp

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Suffer Yourself, Rip Tide

Begun in 2011 by guitarist/vocalist Stanislav Govorukha and based in Sweden by way of Poland and the Ukraine, death-doom lurchbringers Suffer Yourself are not strangers to longer-form material, but to my knowledge, “Spit in the Chasm” — the opening and longest track (immediate points) on their third record, Rip Tide — is the first time they’ve crossed the 20-minute mark. Time well spent, and by that I mean “brutally spent,” whether its the speedier chug that emerges from the willful slog of the extended piece’s first half or the viciously progressive lead work that tops the precise, cold end of the song that brings final ambience. Side B offers two shorter pieces in “Désir de Trépas Maritime (Au Bord de la Mer Je Veux Mourir),” laced with suitably mournful strings and a fair enough maritime sense of gothic drama emphasized by later spoken word and piano, and the brief, mostly-drone “Submerging,” which one assumes is the end of that plotline playing out. The main consumption though is in “Spit in the Chasm,” and the dimensions of that fissure are significant, figuratively and literally.

Suffer Yourself on Facebook

Aesthetic Death website

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Green Dragon, Dead of the Night

High order Sabbathian doom rock from my own beloved Garden State, there’s very little chance I’m not going to dig Green Dragon‘s Dead of the Night, and true to type, I do. Presented by the band on limited vinyl after digital release late in 2020, the four-song, 24-minute outing brings guitarist/vocalists Zach Kurland and Ryan Lipynsky (the latter also adding keys and known for his work in Unearthly Trance, etc.), bassist Jennifer Klein and drummer Herbert Wiley to a place so dug into its groove it almost feels inappropriate to think of it as a peak in terms of their work to-date. They go high by going low, then. Fair enough. “Altered States” opens with a rollout of fuzz that miraculously avoids the trap sounding like Electric Wizard, while “Burning Bridges” murks out, “The Sad King” pushes speed a bit will still holding firm to nod and echo alike, and “Book of Shadows” plunges into effects-drenched noise like it was one of the two waterslides at the Maplewood community pool in summertime.

Green Dragon on Facebook

Green Dragon on Bandcamp

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ÂGE TOTAL, ÂGE TOTAL

The kind of record that probably won’t be heard by enough people but will inspire visceral loyalty in many of those who encounter it, the self-titled debut from French collaborative outfit Age Total — bringing together members from Endless Floods out of Bordeaux and Rouen’s Greyfell — is a grand and engrossing work that pushes the outer limits of doom and post-metal. Bookending opener “Amure” (14:28) and closer “The Songbird” (16:45) around the experimentalist “Carré” (4:06) and rumbling melodic death-doom of “Metal,” the album harnesses grandiosity and nuance to spare, with each piece feeling independently conceived and enlightening to musician and audience alike. It sounds like the kind of material they didn’t know they were going to come up with until they actually got together — whatever the circumstances of “together” might’ve looked like at the time — and the bridges they build between progressive metal and sheer weight of intention are staggering. However much hype it does or doesn’t have behind it, Age Total‘s Age Total is one of 2021’s best debut albums.

Endless Floods on Facebook

Greyfell on Facebook

Soza Label on Bandcamp

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Raw sludge and rawer doom abounds on the new four-song split from Philippines four-piece Surrogate Prey and Washington D.C.’s Et Mors, who seem to be in a contest not so much to out-heavy as to out-filth each other. I’m not sure who the winner is in that regard — Et Mors are more atmospheric, Surrogate Prey more outright scathing — but either way, it’s 37 minutes of feeling buried alive while the bands taunt you and unleash varying tonal assaults on your person.

Friendly it ain’t, but Surrogate Prey and Et Mors do make a fitting pair as the split progresses from one to the next, giving the feeling of driving deeper into your skull as it goes. To everything, churn churn churn, there is… death.

Here’s mud in yer eye from the PR wire:

Surrogate Prey & Et Mors split due to release on 12/28/20

Surrogate Prey is a Sludge Metal band from the Philippines, formed circa 2004. They’ve been putting out demos and splits since then, with their first full length album “Wisdom to Scramble Your Brains Lysergik” coming out in 2019. They just released their “Aberration” EP in December 2020 as well. They’ve played a key part in the Filipino Metal scene, being the first Sludge band there, & opening for bands such as EyeHateGod. the band features:

Rallye Ibanez – Bass, Vocals
Gani Simpliciano – Drums
Allan Diaz – Guitar, Vocals
Bobby Legaspi – Guitar, Vocals

Et Mors is a Doom Metal band from Washington, DC, formed circa 2017 as a 4 piece with guitar, drums, bass, and keys. Since then, the band has been condensed to a 2 piece, with guitar and drums as the main instruments. After 2 demos and a single, their first full length “Lux in Morte” was released, followed by “Tombswayer” EP in late 2019. Et Mors completed the Tombswayer tour in October 2019, playing with bands such as Tel, DOUR, False Gods, Fistula, Come to Grief, & more. The band features:

Zak Suleri – Guitar, Vocals
Albert Alisuag – Drums, Vocals

This split contains two tracks from each band:
1. Surrogate Prey – Banquet of the Beast (6:37)
2. Surrogate Prey – Shroud (8:03)
3. Et Mors – Damaged Pathways (13:50)
4. Et Mors – Erotic Neuroticism (8:56)

The result is 37 minutes of Doom & Sludge from two vastly different time zones.

https://surrogateprey.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/SurrogatePrey

https://etmors.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/EtMors

Surrogate Prey, “Shroud”

One can get a sense of some of the atmospheres in which Philippines-based ambient solo-project Statua is working just by looking at the song titles on the debut album, Celestial Bleakness. Whether it’s “Overcast,” or “Howling Wind,” “Dark Sun” or “Crawl” and “Ghost Town” — certainly “Guitar Improv” is telling as well — the record works quickly to develop an affinity for the corner spaces in atmospheric music, away from light to an extent that winds up someplace between contemplative and brooding. Switching between drums (or programming), guitar, electronics and so on, Statua — aka Samuel Fianza — offers patient and progressive, drama-filled but still relatively subdued pieces that feel born of experiments but definitely fleshed out, for the most part, in the studio. Firenza, as it happens, also recorded the album himself.

Ditto that for the prior 2014 EP, Petrichor, which you can stream and name-your-price download below. No word on a physical pressing at this time, but Celestial Bleakness is set to hit Statua‘s Bandcamp on June 20.

The following came down the PR wire for your perusal:

Statua to release debut album “Celestial Bleakness” this June

Independent experimental musician Samuel Fianza under the name Statua from Baguio City, Philippines is about to release his debut full length album entitled “Celestial Bleakness”. The album will be available on Bandcamp on June 20, 2016.

The music of Statua is hard to categorize in a specific genre but it is recommended for fans of Ulver, Sunn O))), Sigur Ros and also fans of 70’s era bands like Popol Vuh and Tangerine Dream. As the title suggests, “Celestial Bleakness” is a perfect soundtrack for the rainy season.

The album is produced independently by Samuel Fianza.

Artist: Statua
Album: Celestial Bleakness

Tracklist:
1. Overcast
2. Howling Wind
3. Crawl
4. Swarm
5. Dark Sun
6. Guitar Improv
7. Stone Sculpture
8. Ghost Town

http://statuaph.bandcamp.com
http://soundcloud.com/statuaph
http://facebook.com/statuaph

Statua, Petrichor (2014)