I don’t know what day it is. The holiday here in the States has me all screwed up. I know it’s not the weekend anymore because I’m posting today, but really, if this is for Tuesday or Wednesday, I’m kind of at a loss. What I do know is that it’s 10 more records, and some quick math at the “71-80” below — which, yes, I put there ahead of time when I set up the back end of these posts so hopefully I don’t screw it up; it’s a whole fucking process; never ask me about it unless you want to be so bored at by the telling that your eyeballs explode — tells me today Wednesday, so I guess I figured it out. Hoo-ray.

Three quarters of the way through, which feels reasonably fancy. And today’s a good one, too. I hope as always that you find something you dig. Now that I know what day it is, I’m ready to start.

Quarterly Review #71-80:

MWWB, The Harvest

It’s difficult to separate MWWB‘s The Harvest from the fact that it might be the Welsh act’s final release, as frontwoman Jessica Ball explained here. Their synth-laced cosmic doom certainly deserves to keep going if it can, but on the chance not, The Harvest suitably reaps the fruit of the progression the band began to undertake with 2015’s Nachthexen (review here), their songs spacious despite the weight of their tones and atmospheric even at their most dense. Proggy instrumental explorations like “Let’s Send These Bastards Whence They Came” and “Interstellar Wrecking” and the semi-industrial, vocals-also-part-of-the-ambience “Betrayal” surround the largesse of the title-track, “Logic Bomb,” the especially lumbering “Strontium,” and so on, and “Moon Rise” caps with four and a half minutes of voice-over-guitar-and-keys atmospherics, managing to be heavy even without any of the usual trappings thereof. If this is it, what a run they had, both when they were Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard and with this as their potential swansong.

MWWB on Facebook

New Heavy Sounds website

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Righteous Fool, Righteous Fool

Look. Maybe it’s a fan-piece, but screw it, I’m a fan. And as someone who liked the second run of Corrosion of Conformity‘s Animosity-era lineup, this previously-unreleased LP from the three-piece that included C.O.C. bassist/vocalist Mike Dean and drummer/vocalist Reed Mullin (R.I.P.), as well as guitarist/vocalist Jason Browning, is only welcome. I remember when they put out the single on Southern Lord in 2010, you couldn’t really get a sense of what the band was about, but there’s so much groove in these songs — I’m looking right at you, “Hard Time Killing Floor” — that it’s that much more of a bummer the three-piece didn’t do anything else. Of course, Mullin rejoining Dean in C.O.C. wasn’t a hardship either, but especially in the aftermath of his death last year, it’s bittersweet to hear his performances on these songs and a collection of tracks that have lost none of their edge for the decade-plus they’ve sat on a shelf or hard drive somewhere. Call it a footnote if you want, but the songs stand on their own merits, and if you’re going to tell me you’ve never wanted to hear Dean sing “The Green Manalishi (With the Two-Pronged Crown),” then I think you and I are just done speaking for right now.

Righteous Fool on Facebook

Ripple Music website

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Seven Nines and Tens, Over Opiated in a Forest of Whispering Speakers

I agree, it’s a very long album title. And the band name is kind of opaque in a kind of opaque way. Double-O-paque. And the art by Ahmed Emad Eldin (Pink Floyd, etc.) is weird. All of this is true. But I’m going to step outside the usual review language here, and instead of talking about how Vancouver post-noise rock trio Seven Nines and Tens explore new melodic and atmospheric reaches while still crushing your rib cage on their first record for the e’er tastemaking Willowtip label, I’m just going to tell you listen. Really. That’s it. If you consider yourself someone with an open mind for music that is progressive in its artistic substance without conforming necessarily to genre, or if you’re somebody who feels like heavy music is tired and can’t connect to the figurative soul, just press play on the Bandcamp embed and see where you end up on the other side of Over Opiated in a Forest of Whispering Speakers‘ 37 minutes. Even if it doesn’t change your life, shaking you to your very core and giving you a new appreciation for what can be done on a level of craft in music that’s still somehow extreme, just let it run and then take a breath afterward, maybe get a drink of water, and take a minute to process. I wrote some more about the album here if you want the flowery whathaveyou, but really, don’t bother clicking that link. Just listen to the music. That’s all you need.

Seven Nines & Tens on Facebook

Willowtip Records website

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T.G. Olson, II

In March 2021, T.G. Olson, best known as the founding guitarist/vocalist for Across Tundras, released a self-titled solo album (review here). He’s had a slew of offerings out since — as he will; Olson is impossible to keep up with but one does one’s best — but II would seem to be a direct follow-up to that full-length’s declarative purpose, continuing and refining the sometimes-experimentalist, sometimes purposefully traditional folk songwriting and self-recording exploration Olson began (publicly, at least) a decade ago. Several of II‘s cuts feature contributions from Caleb R.K. Williams, but Olson‘s ability to build a depth of mix — consider the far-back harmonica in “Twice Gone” and any number of other flourishes throughout — is there regardless, and his voice is as definitively human as ever, wrought with a spirit of Americana and a wistfulness for a West that was wild not for its guns but the buffalo herds you could see from space and an emotionalism that makes the lyrics of “Saddled” seem all the more personal, whether or not they are, or the lines in “Enough Rope” that go, “Always been a bit of a misanthrope/Never had a healthy way to cope,” and don’t seem to realize that the song itself is the coping.

Electric Relics Records on Bandcamp

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Freebase Hyperspace, Planet High

Issued on limited blue vinyl through StoneFly Records, Freebase Hyperspace‘s first full-length, Planet High, is much more clearheaded in its delivery than the band would seem to want you to think. Sure, it’s got its cosmic echo in the guitar and the vocals and so on, but beneath that are solidified grooves shuffling, boogieing and underscoring even the solo-fueled jam-outs on “Golden Path” and “Introversion” with a thick, don’t-worry-we-got-this vibe. The band is comprised of vocalist Ayrian Quick, guitarist Justin Acevedo, bassist Stephen Moore and drummer Peter Hurd, and they answer 2018’s Activation Immediate not quite immediately but with fervent hooks and a resonant sense of motion. It’s from Portland, and it’s a party, but Planet High upends expectation in its bluesy vocals, in its moments of drift and in the fact that “Cat Dabs” — whatever that means, I don’t even want to look it up — is an actual song rather than a mess of cult stoner idolatries, emphasizing the niche being explored. And just because it bears mentioning, heavy rock is really, really white. More BIPOC and diversity across the board only makes the genre richer. But even those more general concerns aside, this one’s a stomper.

Freebase Hyperspace on Facebook

StoneFly Records store

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Melt Motif, A White Horse Will Take You Home

Not calling out other reviews (they exist; I haven’t read any), but any writeup about Melt Motif‘s debut album, A White Horse Will Take You Home, that doesn’t include the word “sultry” is missing something. Deeply moody on “Sleep” and the experimental-sounding “Black Hole” and occasionally delving into that highly-processed ’90s guitar sound that’s still got people working off inspiration from Nine Inch Nails‘ The Downward Spiral even if they don’t know it — see the chugs of “Mine” and “Andalusian Dog” for clear examples — the nine-track/37-minute LP nonetheless oozes sex across its span, such that even the sci-fi finale “Random Access Memory” holds to the theme. The band span’s from São Paulo, Brazil, to Bergen, Norway, and is driven by Rakel‘s vocals, Kenneth Rasmus Greve‘s guitar, synth and programming, and Joe Irente‘s bass, guitar, more synth and more programming. Together, they are modern industrial/electrionica in scope, the record almost goth in its theatrical pruning, and there’s some of the focus on tonal heft that one finds in others of the trio’s ilk, but Melt Motif use slower pacing and harder impacts as just more toys to be played with, and thus the album is deeply, repeatedly listenable, the clever pop structures and the clarity of the production working as the bed on which the entirety lays in waiting repose for those who’d take it on.

Melt Motif on Facebook

Apollon Records on Bandcamp

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Tenebra, Moongazer

Moongazer is the second full-length from Bologna, Italy-based heavy psychedelic blues rockers Tenebra, and a strong current of vintage heavy rock runs through it that’s met head-on by the fullness of the production, by which I mean that “Cracked Path” both reminds of Rainbow — yeah that’s right — and doesn’t sound like it’s pretending it’s 1973. Or 1993, for that matter. Brash and raucous on its face, the nine-song outing proves schooled in both current and classic heavy, and though “Winds of Change” isn’t a Scorpions cover, its quieter take still offers a chance for the band to showcase the voice of Silvia, whose throaty, push-it-out delivery becomes a central focus of the songs, be it the Iommic roll of “Black Lace” or the shuffling closer “Moon Maiden,” which boasts a guest appearance from Screaming Trees‘ Gary Lee Conner, or the prior “Dark and Distant Sky,” which indeed brings the dark up front and the distance in its second, more psych-leaning second half. All of this rounds out to a sound more geared toward groove than innovation, but which satisfies in that regard from the opening guitar figure of “Heavy Crusher” onward, a quick nod to desert rock there en route to broader landscapes.

Tenebra on Facebook

New Heavy Sounds website

Seeing Red Records website

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Doom Lab, IV: Ever Think You’re Smart​.​.​. And Then Find Out That You Aren’t?

With a drum machine backing, Doom Lab strums out riffs over the 16 mostly instrumental tracks of the project’s fourth demo since February of this year, Doom Lab IV: Ever Think You’re Smart​.​.​. And Then Find Out That You Aren’t?, a raw, sometimes-overmodulated crunch of tone lending a garage vibe to the entire procession. On some planet this might be punk rock, and maybe tucked away up in Anchorage, Alaska, it’s not surprising that Doom Lab would have a strange edge to their craft. Which they definitely do. “Clockwork Home II (Double-Thick Big Bottom End Dub)” layers in bass beneath a droning guitar, and “Diabolical Strike (w/ False Start)” is a bonus track (with vocals) that’s got the line, “You’ll think that everything is cool but then I’ll crush your motherfucking soul,” so, you know, it’s like that. Some pieces are more developed than others, as “Deity Skin II” has some nuanced layering of instrumentation, but in the harsh high end of “Spiral Strum to Heaven II” and the mostly-soloing “Infernal Intellect II,” Doom Lab pair weirdo-individualism with an obvious creative will. Approach with caution, because some of Doom Lab‘s work is really strange, but that’s clearly the intention from the start.

Doom Lab on Bandcamp

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White Fuzzy Bloodbath, Medicine

What you see is what you get in the sometimes manic, sometimes blissed-out, sometimes punk, sometimes fluid, always rocking Medicine by White Fuzzy Bloodbath, which hearkens to a day when the universe wasn’t defined by internet-ready subgenre designations and a band like this San Jose three-piece had a chance to be signed to Atlantic, tour the universe, and eventually influence other outcasts in their wake. Alas, props to White Fuzzy Bloodbath‘s Elise Tarens — joined in the band by Alex Bruno and Jeff Hurley — for the “Interlude” shout, “We’re White Fuzzy Bloodbath and the world has no fucking idea!” before the band launch into the duly raw “Chaos Creator.” Songs like “Monster,” “Beep-Bop Lives” and “Still” play fast and loose with deceptively technical angular heavy rock, and even the eight-minute title-track that rounds out before the cover of Beastie Boys‘ “Sabotage” refuses to give in and be just one thing. And about that cover? Well, not every experiment is going to lead to gold, but it’s representative on the whole of the band’s bravery to take on an iconic track like that and make their own. Not nearly everybody would be so bold.

White Fuzzy Bloodbath on Facebook

White Fuzzy Bloodbath on Bandcamp

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Secret Iris, What Are You Waiting For

With the vocal melody in its resonant hook, the lead guitar line that runs alongside and the thickened verse progression that complements, Secret Iris almost touch on Euro-style melancholic doom with the title-track of their debut 7″, What Are You Waiting For, but the Phoenix, Arizona, three-piece are up to different shenanigans entirely on the subsequent “Extrasensory Rejection (Winter Sanctuary),” which is faster, more punk, and decisively places them in a sphere of heavy grunge. Both guitarist Jeffrey Owens (ex-Goya) and bassist Tanner Grace (Sorxe) contribute vocals, while drummer Matt Arrebollo (Gatecreeper) is additionally credited with “counseling,” and the nine-minutes of the mini-platter first digitally issued in 2021 beef up a hodgepodge of ’90s and ’00s rock and punk, from Nirvana grunge to Foo Fighters accessibility, Bad Religion‘s punk and rock and a slowdown march after the break in the midsection that, if these guys were from the Northeast, I’d shout as a Life of Agony influence. Either way, it moves, it’s heavy, it’s catchy, and just the same, it manages not to make a caricature of its downer lyrics. The word I’m looking for is “intriguing,” and the potential for further intrigue is high.

Secret Iris on Facebook

Crisis Tree Records store

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Phoenix, Arizona, sludge-doomers Mosara have announced a July 22 arrival for their second album, Only the Dead Know Our Secrets. No audio from it up yet, but if you didn’t catch Mosara‘s self-titled debut when it was released — the PR wire says 2020, which is probably right; the band’s Bandcamp says 2021, which may have been for one of the physical releases; I honestly don’t even know why I try to keep up with these things anymore — it’s name-your-price on Bandcamp, so safe to say the barriers to entry are minimal. You’ll find a riffy but spacious take on doomer nod at the core, nothing too fancy either called for or implemented. An easy-to-dig first record.

That doesn’t tell you much about the second, of course, but July is surely at least four months away from now and so there’s plenty of time to dole out singles one by one until… wait. It’s June now. So I guess July is next month. I’m going to take some time and process that emotionally while you peruse the PR wire info below.

Really? June?

Dig:

MOSARA To Release New Album Only The Dead Know Our Secrets

Releasing on July 22nd, 2022, the latest offering from the doom quartet delivers fuzz laden groove rhythms, dynamic riffs, and a progressive twist. Shrouded in an all encompassing gloomy atmosphere, Only The Dead Know Our Secrets is a smorgasbord of delicious distortion and heavy genre fusion.

MOSARA is a Phoenix, Arizona based doom band that was originally formed and active during the early 2000’s. In late 2018, founding vocalist/guitarist, Tony Gallegos (ENIRVA/TWINGIANT) reformed the band. The new members included guitarist Nikos Mixas (TWINGIANT), bassist Kristoffer Reynolds (BEIRA) and drummer John Quin (AUTHORITY ZERO/SECRETS OF LOST EMPIRES). MOSARA’s sound is a doom foundation that melds several different genres of heavy music to include stoner metal, classic/prog metal and atmospheric sludge.

In the fall of 2020, MOSARA started recording their first full-length, self-titled album. Mosara was recorded and mixed sans any recording software. The release was raw, authentic, and heartfelt. Mosara was released in May of 2021 via Transylvanian Recordings and was well received among several heavy music blogs and websites. The band’s brand of “atavistic doom” was what set MOSARA apart from all the other bands in its subgenre.

In 2021, bassist Kristoffer Reynolds left MOSARA and was replaced by Christopher Burns (HEX VOLT/BRIGHT SUNSHINE). The band immediately began writing material for their sophomore effort. Tracking commenced in March of 2022 and the new album, Only The Dead Know Our Secrets, is expected to be self-released in the summer. The album will be released on both vinyl and digital formats, with the vinyl having an additional secret track.

Only The Dead Know Our Secrets Track List:
1. Magissa
2. Zion’s Eyes
3. The Permanence of Isolation
4. Only The Dead Know Our Secrets

Mosara:
Tony Gallegos – Vocals/Guitars
Nikos Mixas – Guitars/Vocals
Christopher Burns – Bass
Daniel Garcia – Drums/Vocals/Percussion

https://mosaradoom.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/mosaradoom
https://www.instagram.com/mosaraband
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCu7iPy2moj2uGafCQ7dnHDg

Mosara, Mosara (2021)

Just a couple upstart heavy rock bands hitting the road together on the way to a festival in the summertime. Would be business as usual in the Before Times, but these are the After Times, and being down with the plague — which is not to say “the sickness” — at the moment, I can tell you the After Times kind of suck. But the shows will be good and that’s what we’re here to talk about.

Aiwass‘ 2021 debut, Wayward Gods (review here), was released before the Ohio-based outfit had solidified a live lineup, so inevitably there will be some shift in dynamic there as they move forward, and Illinois duo Twin Wizard issued Glacial Gods (review here) in 2020, revamped their own lineup, and went back and remade the record, so it’s fair to say there’s a bit of the mercurial around both acts at this point, but there’s little arguing with the output of either. They’ll hit spots up and down the Middle Western portion of the country as they make their way to Doomed and Stoned Ohio on July 30, and I wish them safe, healthy and happy travels.

The tour poster — which I haven’t seen yet as I write this and is hopefully cartoon-boob free — and the dates follow here, courtesy of the PR wire:

The sun has emerged from winter clouds and with it comes the emergence of two bands from the heavy underground, Aiwass and Twin Wizard! In a co-headlining tour, these bands will storm their way across the midwest on the Glacial Titans Tour, bringing the heaviest of riffs to a town near you! Don’t miss these bands as they tour across Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Ohio, culminating with performances at the Ohio Doomed and Stoned Fest at the Buzzbin in Canton, Ohio! Follow both Aiwass and Twin Wizard on social media for more information as dates approach!

Dates:
July 26: Gabe’s – Iowa City, IA
July 27: 7th St. Space – Dekalb, IL
July 28: Cactus Club – Milwaukee, WI
July 29: Liars Club – Chicago, IL
July 30: Ohio Doomed and Stoned Fest – Canton, OH

https://www.facebook.com/aiwassbandaz
https://www.instagram.com/aiwassband/
https://aiwassband.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/twinwizardband
https://www.instagram.com/twinwizard/
https://twinwizard.bandcamp.com/

Aiwass, Wayward Gods (2021)

Twin Wizard, “Smoke Wizard”

Secret Iris self-identify as ‘depression rock’ and if you’re familiar with guitarist/vocalist Jeffrey Owens from his work in Goya, Tanner Grace from Sorxe or Matt Arrebollo from Gatecreeper, you’ll find their downer grunge a distinct shift in approach. Fair enough. Their first two-songer EP, What Are You Waiting For is seeing a vinyl release later this month through Crisis Tree Records, which if you need to know how new an imprint it is, you can look on the BigCartel store and find Secret Iris‘ impending platter is the only thing there. Cool by me. Support new shit. Ground floor, man. One chance to make a first impression, etc.

They got a mid-paced track and a fast track with a slow part, and you know what? For an offering of two songs from a new project that’s taken shape over the last few years that brings together different players from different styles and runs all of nine and a half minutes, that’s enough to make the time count.

I don’t know what will come next, but I missed this when it was released last year digitally because I suck at nearly everything, and I’m glad to have the opportunity to hear the songs. Maybe you’ll be too. That’s how this thing works.

From the PR wire:

SECRET IRIS (GOYA/GATECREEPER/Ex-SPIRIT ADRIFT) To Release What Are You Waiting For on Vinyl

SECRET IRIS will release their debut EP What Are You Waiting For on vinyl via Crisis Tree Records on May 27 2022. The EP was previously released digitally.

Listen: https://secretiris.bandcamp.com/releases

SECRET IRIS was born out of chance with Jeffrey Owens (GOYA, SPIRIT ADRIFT) writing in 2017 material initially intended for a new GOYA record. With the new tracks taking on a different character they were separated off to become SECRET IRIS. The new release delivers a powerful throwback to the early 00s with “What Are You Waiting For” packing a melancholic minimalist verse, reminiscent to NIRVANA, contrasted with an anthemic chorus. Heavy guitars and bass morph into a wall of sound, grounding the track with behemothic rhythms. “Extrasensory Rejection (Winter Sanctuary)” delivers a fast pace with energetic guitars and percussion. Progressing into a slow, doom-esque bridge, the track explores multiple layers both musically and conceptually.

The What Are You Waiting For 7” is the first release on new label Crisis Tree Records. CTR specializes in pressing limited-run 7” vinyl. This release (and all following) will be limited to 100 black vinyl, and 25 hand-made Wax Mage copies.

Vinyl pre-order: https://crisistree.bigcartel.com/

Album Credits:
Engineered by Zachary Rippy at Sound Signal Audio
Mastered by Dennis Pleckham at Comatose Studio
Cover Art by Velvastein
Photo by Hayley Rippy

SECRET IRIS is:
Jeffrey Owens (GOYA, SPIRIT ADRIFT) – vocals, guitar
Tanner Crace (SORXE) – bass, vocals
Matt Arrebollo (GATECREEPER) – drums

https://www.instagram.com/secret.iris/
https://Facebook.com/secretirisband
https://secretiris.bandcamp.com/releases
https://music.apple.com/us/artist/secret-iris/1574839183

https://instagram.com/crisistree
https://crisistree.bigcartel.com/

Secret Iris, What Are You Waiting For (2021)

Last day. I guess we made it. There was never any doubt it would happen, but I wouldn’t call this the smoothest Quarterly Review ever by any stretch. Weather, canceled school, missed bus, The Patient Mrs. about to start a new semester at work, plus that day that had three noise rock records right in a row — who slots these things? (me) — it hasn’t all been easy. But, if you’ve ever read the QR you might know I’ve developed a tendency to load a bunch of killer stuff into the last day to kind of give myself a break, and here we are. No regrets.

Thanks for reading this week (and any other week if you’ve ever been on this site before). Here’s how we finish.

Quarterly Review #41-50:

Dream Unending, Tide Turns Eternal

Beautiful and sad, this first collaboration between drummer/vocalist Justin DeTore (Solemn Lament, ex-Magic Circle, many more) and guitarist/bassist Derrick Vella (Tomb Mold, Outer Heaven) under the moniker of Dream Unending harnesses a classic early ’90s death-doom melancholy, but it’s not as raw as the image of My Dying Bride circa ’92 that might bring to mind. If you want to do mashups, think Novembers Doom meets Alternative 4-era Anathema. Tide Turns Eternal brings together seven songs in 46 minutes and is memorable in stretches like the guitar progression of “In Cipher I Weep” and the crushing chug of the title-track as the Massachusetts/Toronto duo harness the a true sense of classic death metal just ahead of the two-minute weepy guitar interlude “Forgotten Farewell” and the 10-minute closing title-track. Perhaps there’s some inspiration from Bell Witch in the making, but Dream Unending‘s atmosphere and patience are their own.

Dream Unending on Instagram

20 Buck Spin website

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Mud Spencer, Fuzz Soup

The title don’t lie. French expat Sergio Garcia, living in Indonesia, concocts 11 instrumental tracks of fuzzy flood, and if he wants to call that soup, then yeah, that’s as good as anything I’ve got. “Razana” opens with two minutes of garage-style strut, while “Back to Origin” crunches and “Fuzz Soup” feels a bit more of a psych freakout with its lead guitar and drums that remind of Witch, all performed by Garcia, who adds organ to boot. “Quest for Fire” is probably more in homage to the movie than band, which is a little sad, but the song brings in some minor scales and droning atmospherics, and “Ride the Mammoth” pushes more straightforward into the languid wah whatnottery of “Argapura” at the presumed start of side B, which feels rawer in “The Shelter” and more chaotic in the buzz of “Surfin’ the Dune” before “The Cheating Mole” turns to nighttime darkjazz, “Tumulous” turns its acoustic start into a hairy march punctuated and grounded by the pop of snare, and closer “Narcolepsy” finishes with a duly zombified, organ-laced take on tape-trader doom. These experiments work well together throughout Fuzz Soup, united by weird and unpredictable as they are.

Mud Spencer on Facebook

Argonauta Records website

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Farfisa, Gänger

Gänger is third in a purported series of four EPs by Manchester, UK, four-piece Farfisa, and its four songs solidify some of the more let-go aspects of 2020’s Bravado, taking the folkish shine of a cut like “My Oh My” and turning it into the dug-in garage prog rock of “Honey Badger” and riffing out dirty and fuzzed on “River Rash.” Frankly, I don’t know why, having once conjured tones like those of the penultimate “Clinton” here, which sound like something that would make Ty Segall start a new band, one would ever not do that again, but I won’t claim to know what the fourth EP in the series might bring. One can only hope that, when the series is wrapped, they compile it into some sort of offering — a double-tape or some such — and release the whole thing together. As it stands though, Gänger is my first exposure to the band, and they smash through “Limitator” with due prejudice. I can think of five record labels off the top of my head who’d be lucky to have these guys, but nobody asks me these things.

Farfisa on Facebook

Farfisa on Bandcamp

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Volcanova, Cosmic Bullshit

Fucking a, rock and roll. Reykjavik’s Volcanova aren’t through “Salem,” the lead cut from their righteously titled Cosmic Bullshit EP, before they’ve cadenced Uncle Acid in the verse and broken out the cowbell, so yes, it’s that kind of party. That cowbell comes back almost immediately for “Gold Coast,” which tramps out big riffs like Def Leppard used to make, and “Desolation” brings the bass forward effectively in its hook, the band having already built fervent momentum that will carry through the rest of the 26-minute mini-album. Not to pick favorites, but “End of Time” feels purposefully placed near the middle, and “No Wheels” — yup, more cowbell — splits that and closer “Lost Spot” well, giving a grounded stretch of pure shove before the finale hard-boogies and big-drifts its way to a surprising wash of an ending, organ included. You don’t call your release Cosmic Bullshit if you’re not looking to get attention, and Volcanova certainly earn that with these tracks.

Volcanova on Facebook

The Sign Records website

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Aiwass & Astral Contruct, Solis in Stellis

The premier collaboration between Arizona’s Aiwass and Colorado’s Astral Construct — the latter also stylized as ASTRAL COnstruct — is a seven-minute single called “Solis in Stellis” that bridges terrestrial and ethereal heavy psychedelias. At a bit under eight minutes, its melodic flourish and weighted underpinning of low end, drifting guitar and fluid rhythmic progression sound like nothing so much as the beginning of an album that should be made if it’s not currently in the works between Drew Patricks (Astral Construct) and Blake Carrera (Aiwass), who both function as solo artists in their respective projects but come together here to show the complementary potential of each for the other. Lush in atmosphere, patient in its delivery and spacious without being overwrought, “Solis in Stellis” is hopefully the beginning of more to come from these two, who might just end up having to call themselves the Aiwass Construct if they keep going the way they are.

Aiwass on Facebook

Astral Construct on Instagram

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Doctor Smoke, Dreamers and the Dead

Seven years after 2014’s The Witching Hour, Ohio’s Doctor Smoke return with Dreamers and the Dead, a solid 10-song/42-minute run that makes up for lost time by reimagining ’90s-era Megadeth sneer as dark and catchy heavy rock and roll. The four-piece led by founding guitarist/vocalist Matt Tluchowski may have let a few years get by them — that’ll happen — but if the intervening time was spent hammering out these songs, the effort shows itself in the efficiency with which each cut makes its point and gets out, a song like “These Horrid Things” casting its mood in the verses before opening to the chorus, winding fretwork building tension into and subsequently through the solo. This is a revamp of the idea of a classic metal influence, the first instance of a generational shift I can think of that’s bringing this particular vibe to a heavy rock context — the pounding and sprinting of the title-track might’ve been thrash in the ’80s, but a decade later it was thicker and so it is here as well — and Doctor Smoke make it theirs, no question. One wonders what the next seven years will bring.

Doctor Smoke on Facebook

Ripple Music website

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Willowater, Loyal

Rebranded from their moniker of Sierra, Ontario progressive heavy rockers Willowater bring the four-track/14-minute EP as a quick hello to listeners new and old. Guitarist/vocalist Jason Taylor and bassist/drummer/vocalist Robbie Carvalho (also synth) chug out in early-Tool fashion on the opener “Ultimatum,” and the subsequent title-track answers back in kind with shared vocals and a bit of twisting, pulled squeals of guitar, and so on, while “Fly High” calls to mind Dio-style riffing with a bassline to bolster the classic metal vibe, and “Winter Now” builds a tension in its keyboard-laced 3:26 that, somewhat maddeningly, never pays itself off. Perhaps the message there is of more to come. Hope so, anyhow. Sierra were a quality band, and undervalued. Willowater seem to be taking another shot at catching as many ears as possible. A fresh start. Not so crazy different from what they were doing before, but sometimes a name can make all the difference.

Willowater on Facebook

Willowater on Bandcamp

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All Are to Return, II

This second EP from the anonymous Dutch outfit All Are to Return reignites the brutality of their 2020 self-titled debut short release (review here), while expanding the stylistic reach. Opener “Carceri” tips into industrial black metal before resolving itself in harsh screams and drones, while “Surveiller et Punir” feels even more experimental/art rock with tortured screams far back under noisy guitar. “Classified” is shorter and more beat-oriented, but the distorted wash of “Postscript on the Societies of Control” (bit of positive thinking there, almost in spite of itself) is abrasive as fuck, such that the quiet, minimal synth that starts “De Profundis” accompanied by more obscured screams seems almost like a relief before it builds to its own post-Godflesh industrialized crush. They finish atmospheric on “Desiring Machines,” blowing out conceptions of extreme music in about the time it takes for you to put on your shoes and jacket so you can go out, wander into the wilderness, and never be heard from again.

All Are to Return on Bandcamp

Tartarus Records website

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Mountain Sides, Mountain Sides

Members of Mirror Queen, the just-signed-to-Tee–Pee-proper Limousine Beach (really, I haven’t even had the chance to post the news yet), Zombi, Ruby the Hatchet and Osees coming together for three Mountain covers. Mountain Sides do “You Better Believe It,” “Dreams of Milk and Honey” and “Travelin’ in the Dark,” and they knock it out of the park accordingly. I don’t know that this would ever get to become a real band between the commitments of Morgan McDaniel, David Wheeler and Steve Moore, let alone Owen Stewart (Ruby the Hatchet‘s drummer) or Paul Quattrone from Osees and a geographic spread between New York, Philly, Pittsburgh and Los Angeles, but as a quick outing to test the waters, these three songs want nothing for vibe. Of course, being Mountain songs helps, but it almost inevitably would. Still, I’d take a record of tunes they wrote themselves, even if it doesn’t happen for another decade because everyone’s busy.

Mountain Sides on Bandcamp

Tee Pee Records Digital Annex

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Duncan Park, Invoking the Flood

Serenity in experimentalist drone and psychedelia, marked by the interplay of organic folk and otherworldly elements of fluid aural adventures. The backward, swelling repetitions of “The Alluring Pool” answer the watery worldmaking of leadoff “Rivers are a Place of Power,” the backing chimes reminding of water moving the air, the acoustic guitar on centerpiece “Riverbank” furthering the theme in sweetly plucked notes while Duncan Park (who also collaborates with Seven Rivers of Fire) picks up the journey again on “The Winding Stream” with a current of melody playing beneath the main acoustic lines of the song, instrumental in its entirety. Invoking the Flood, apart perhaps from some warning that might be read into the opener, grows more peaceful as it goes, though Park‘s inclusion of vocals on closer “Over the River” speaks perhaps of other tributaries waiting to be explored. Still, it is a sweet and encompassing, if short, trip downstream with Park here, and if the flood comes, at least we had a good time.

Duncan Park on Facebook

Ramble Records on Bandcamp

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Two underground acts reaching across state lines to come together around an idea. Not the first time it’s happened, but I did immediately upon hearing “Solis in Stellis” for the first time tell Blake Carrera from Aiwass that I thought there was a full record to be made between him and ASTRAL CONstruct‘s Drew Patricks, and I stand by that. I already have the song slated in next month’s addendum to the Quarterly Review, so I’ll spare you reviewing it now, but if you get to check it out, it’s worth your time, and the proceeds from the digital sales will be donated to the Scleroderma Foundation, and who the hell is going to argue with that?

You can hear the song at the bottom of this post (as per usual; I feel like I don’t need to say that anymore and yet I keep doing so), and here’s more info on it courtesy of Carrera via the PR wire:

Aiwass & ASTRAL CONstruct – Solis in Stellis

Solis in Stellis. The Sun in the Stars. The newest track from Aiwass and Astral Construct is a collaboration meant to tantalize the ears, dancing between prog, psychedelia, doom, and stoner rock. The song, while following pop musical structures, is meant to challenge the listener, taking them on a journey of self-discovery, doubt, and exploration. Guitar solos dance between the left and right speakers, drums move from minimalism to bombastic explosions, and the bass carries the melody of the song. Haunting vocals only further hint at the darkness that inspired certain elements of the song.

Beyond just a collaboration between two emerging acts in the stoner/psych/doom underground, Solis in Stellis is also a song meant to raise money for the Scleroderma Foundation. Blake Carrera, the founder of Aiwass, lost his mother due to complications from scleroderma. With that in mind, Carrera and Drew Patricks (the guiding force behind Astral Construct) decided to donate all Bandcamp sales of the song directly to the Scleroderma Foundation in her honor in hopes that further research can be conducted into a cure for this autoimmune disease.

For more information about scleroderma and to donate directly to the foundation, please visit www.scleroderma.org.

https://www.facebook.com/aiwassbandaz
https://aiwassband.bandcamp.com/

https://www.instagram.com/astralconstructproject/
https://astralconstruct.bandcamp.com/

Aiwass & ASTRAL CONstruct, “Solis in Stellis”

The Obelisk Questionnaire is a series of open questions intended to give the answerer an opportunity to explore these ideas and stories from their life as deeply as they choose. Answers can be short or long, and that reveals something in itself, but the most important factor is honesty.

Based on the Proust Questionnaire, the goal over time is to show a diverse range of perspectives as those who take part bring their own points of view to answering the same questions. To see all The Obelisk Questionnaire posts, click here.

Thank you for reading and thanks to all who participate.

The Obelisk Questionnaire: Blake Carrera of Aiwass

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How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?

I’d describe my music as psychedelic doom. I didn’t make a conscious decision to start playing psychedelic doom or anything. It wasn’t like I sat down and said “yep, this is what I’ll be playing today.” Instead, it came from years of listening to music and playing downtuned guitars and one day it just started coming out of me. This was all during the pandemic when no one had anything better to do. Some people started baking; I started writing and recording an album that had been in my head in one form or another since I was fourteen or fifteen years old.

Describe your first musical memory.

My first musical memories are all about being in the car. This was back in the day when cassettes were contemporaneous and not collector’s items. We had so many of them. I remember the Beatles, the Stones, and Black Sabbath always being on. Before that, it was all lullabies I guess. I still remember those somewhat. I lucked out in that my mom always said she couldn’t remember the entirety of traditional lullabies so she sang what she knew – Elvis, The Doors, The Beatles, stuff like that. I guess if you really, really go back that’s my earliest musical recollection – being rocked to sleep while my mom sang me those songs.

Describe your best musical memory to date.

Maybe it’s not the best per se, but the most important musical memory is the first time I picked up a guitar. Originally, I wanted to play drums. I just wanted to make as much sound as possible. But that wasn’t going to jive with my mom. Instead, I was told I could have an acoustic guitar – little did she know I’d save up to buy an electric guitar and a loud amp down the line. But that first music shop experience where I held a bunch of cheap starter acoustic guitars was so important to my development as an artist and a human being. I felt an immediate connection to the instrument even though I had no clue how to play it. Something about it was calling to me. Then came the frustration and the blisters that turned into calluses, but I sure hated the thing for a while. Nonetheless, it was that pure memory of first holding a guitar that kept me going and still does. I can’t say that I really have any memories that compare in terms of the longevity of their impact – not good ones to say the least.

When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?

This is a hard one. I like to think that people are, at heart, good, but that belief has really been tested in the last few years. Whether it’s the political environment we live in or this BS about not getting the COVID vaccine, it seems like the worst in people is really coming to the forefront. I find it harder and harder to believe in the good in people, which is really sad. I’m starting to wonder whether we’re all just selfish and narcissistic at heart. There’s still plenty of good out there – I’ve met some incredible people since I started this project – but I see so much negativity and hatred out there that it’s getting harder to see that goodness.

Where do you feel artistic progression leads?

Artistic progression can only be a good thing. Not everyone may agree because some artists think they’re progressing when they’re really stumbling, but I think that as long as the artist feels that they are progressing, really good things are going to happen. The reason for that is that progression is a byproduct of growth, something that we should all be aspiring towards. An artist doesn’t just grow as an artist – they grow as a person. Some people might not like the results. A lot of people hated Bob Dylan for going electric, but he changed rock and roll forever (I would say for the better). The important thing is to cling to that sense of personal growth and to follow the wave of progression to see where it leads you. I know that the songs I’m working on now, for example, are the best ones I’ve done. I think they’re the most mature that I’ve produced. Some people might prefer what I’ve done and want me to stick to “what I’m good at” but that isn’t why I’m doing any of this. I’m doing this to grow as a human being and express myself. So, long story short, fuck ’em if they don’t like it. Artistic progression is everything, even if your audience doesn’t necessarily appreciate it. You have to progress in order to avoid stagnation which is, let’s face it, certain death for an artist.

How do you define success?

Ultimately, success is pretty ephemeral and hard to define, I believe. Part of that is because success is so subjective. It’s not something that I think you can quantify through commodities – money, possessions, things like that – because I don’t think that’s what success is about. Success is about happiness I think. Success is about feeling fulfilled. When it comes to music, success is about finding an audience that connects with your music. It doesn’t have to make you a lot of money or make you rich – it just has to find an audience who thinks your music matters and is worth listening to.

What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?

After I finished my first album, my mom got very sick very suddenly and passed away. It was incredibly hard to watch her waste away and ultimately fade away. She was in the ICU for about a month and I had to watch, day by day, while she drifted away from me. Being mostly raised only by her, we were pretty close. On top of that, the ICU ward was full of people on ventilators from COVID. I saw some really nightmarish things in there. I never doubted the danger of COVID, but I’m much more aware of just how bad it is now that I’ve seen it. It really makes me more comfortable in my atheism because if there was a god, that being is either very vengeful or doesn’t care about us. That’s in my music a lot – talking about how people are gods and there isn’t some entity up there in the clouds. It just so happened that the moment that I was most secure in my lack of belief in a god came after I was finished writing the first EP and album.

Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.

For my second album, I’d love to create a concept album. On the first album, the concept was really the occult, Jungian psychology, my own mental turmoil and struggles. But for the second album, I’d like to craft more of a story. I think part of that will come from forming a band and writing with other people. Overall, though, creating a story and telling that story through music is one of the things I’m most eager to do. I think concept albums are pretty much the apex of what you can do and I think I have the songwriting chops to actually get it done.

What do you believe is the most essential function of art?

Not to get too philosophical here, but art is about uplifting the mind and the soul – whatever the soul is. I think that art is the highest form of expression, communication, and interpersonal relationship-building. Without it, what are we but blind and dumb? We’re just organisms, animals. In my opinion, what distinguishes us from the rest of the natural world is our ability to create art. There’s so much out there, whether it’s visual, musical, literary, etc. and all of it is worth consuming in as much quantity as possible. The more that we imbibe art, the more that we become whole and fully actualized.

Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?

This is a hard one since most of my life revolves around music and work. But the thing that keeps me going when I’m not playing music is reading. I have a lot of great books on the docket. Some Crowley as always, a few other occult thinkers, but I’m also really diving into older classics and philosophy again. Right now I’m reading Paradise Lost and I hope to follow that up with Dante’s Inferno. On the side, I’m reading some Nietzsche, some Schoppenhauer. I’m really interested in keeping my mental blade sharp and I think reading is the best way to do that. Aside from reading, I’m a huge sports fan. Really enjoying the current NFL season.

https://www.facebook.com/aiwassbandaz
https://aiwassband.bandcamp.com/

Aiwass, Wayward Gods (2021)

The Obelisk Questionnaire is a series of open questions intended to give the answerer an opportunity to explore these ideas and stories from their life as deeply as they choose. Answers can be short or long, and that reveals something in itself, but the most important factor is honesty.

Based on the Proust Questionnaire, the goal over time is to show a diverse range of perspectives as those who take part bring their own points of view to answering the same questions. To see all The Obelisk Questionnaire posts, click here.

Thank you for reading and thanks to all who participate.

The Obelisk Questionnaire: Zac Crye

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How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?

I just like to rock and roll. Most of the decisions I’ve made throughout my life have been weighed against how I can further this artistic endeavor that I’ve undertaken. I try to express myself in the world the way I express myself in my music – I’ve had to really design my life a certain way in order to do the things that I do.

Describe your first musical memory.

There are old photos of me at about age two, and my dad was holding me while he rehearsed with his band. I’m not sure if I can remember that or not, but I definitely have always had this seed in me to be a musician for as far as I can remember. The first thing that really caught my full attention was probably Prince or Michael Jackson, because of the visual aspects.

Describe your best musical memory to date.

I was a stagehand at Concrete Street Amphitheater in Corpus Christi, TX, probably around 2011. I was setting up the stage for Judas Priest and Black Label Society. It was right around my son’s second birthday and Zakk Wylde had just released a mini Les Paul Signature guitar. I bought the guitar a month in advance because I knew I would be working this show. I brought in with me to work and I caught Zakk Wylde on the side of the stage. Me and Zakk were standing there watching Judas Priest, and he was signing my son’s guitar. He kept pausing and pointing at the band going “fucking killer!!” and then finished signing the guitar. My son still has the guitar and is a huge fan of Zakk Wylde to this day!

When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?

I used to have this “If you build it, they will come,” mindset. So I would book tours without having the band in order which, on one hand can be very motivating, but on the other hand if you don’t do it correctly it can work against you. In this case, I had put a lot of work into booking the tour but we were traveling around half-assing our performances because we hadn’t had the proper time to prepare. On the flipside – we still had a great time and made a ton of new fans, so I’m not sure what to make of it…

Where do you feel artistic progression leads?

A fulfilling life.

How do you define success?

I think each individual has to set the parameters for the type of life they want and then do their best to execute that. That’s what I’m doing, and most of the time, I feel like I am succeeding in life. I don’t really have a firm vision for what success in the music industry would look like because it feels so farfetched to me. I think, if I’m executing the music the way I hear it in my head then that is a success, and the result of that is all secondary to me – my job is to write the next song.

What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?

I sat through a Papa Roach set once…

Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.

A homestead compound with a recording studio complex, and a succulent plant nursery.

What do you believe is the most essential function of art?

It’s the soul’s expression. It’s what compels the painting on the cave walls, or the Mona Lisa, or the Eiffel Tower, and all the other cliché references you could think of.

Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?

My wife and I have just purchased our first home, and I’m already planning out my recording studio which is very exciting!

https://www.facebook.com/zac.crye
http://www.instagram.com/zaccrye
https://jamspacerecords.bandcamp.com/
https://www.jamspacepodcast.com/

Zac Crye, All the Same (2021)