Posted in Bootleg Theater on October 18th, 2019 by JJ Koczan
Next time you want to piss off your autocorrect, try sending a text about the new Via Vengeance record, which has been dubbed Diestractions from the Truth and is due out Nov. 15 through Salt of the Earth Records. Preorders are open as of noon Eastern today from the label, and to mark the occasion, Shane Ocell, who comprises the entirety of the lineup, has a new video premiering for “Haunt,” which is also the first audio to be made public from the album. The title, carrying that implication likening distractions and death, isn’t the first instance of Ocell (who also drums for Sorxe) using that particular wordplay; Via Vengeance‘s 2007 debut, Dieography, was the project’s only release until 2016’s also-aptly-named Harsh Conditions, which, rest assured, had its own body count going by the time it got to closer “In the End Nothing Goes to Waste.” Fair enough. I don’t think you start a one-man sludge band unless you have a few things to get off your chest.
And Via Vengeance is a solo outfit in the truest sense. I’ve never seen him live, but by all accounts, Ocell handles it all on stage, drums, vocals, guitar, and the ethic would seem to extend to the studio as well. Can you hear the difference on a recording? I don’t know. What would “Haunt” sound like with a full band instead of one person doing it all? Maybe it’d be a huge difference. Maybe it’d be no different at all. Point is he’s doing it, so that’s what you get live and on the LP.
You can see a bit of it in the video — or at least the second half of it. For the first minute-plus, Ocell toys with the notion of there being multiple members of the band, wearing a couple different disguises as he separately plays drums and guitar and sings. The swap happens at 1:23 and for the rest of the 3:14 clip you can see Ocell holding a drum stick in between his ring finger and pinky while strumming his guitar to the rhythm of his own making and yelling out verse lines to top the march. As compared to Harsh Conditions, there’s a general uptick in production value and his shouts seem more noise rock than the gutturalism of the last album, but I wouldn’t necessarily expect “Haunt” to speak for the entirety of Diestractions from the Truth either, though I won’t argue with the first impression it makes.
Premiere is below, followed by the preorder link.
Enjoy:
Via Vengeance, “Haunt” official video premiere
VIA VENGEANCE “Diestractions From The Truth” (VINYL / CD / Digital Download) Release Date: 11/15/19
From the deepest recesses and abstract corners of Shane Ocell’s (Sorxe) mind comes A one man juggernaut of unbridled heaviness…prepare to have your senses altered as the bar of creativity is raised to new heights. This is audio warfare.
The unrelenting Phoenix AZ based Sludge band known as VIA VENGEANCE was formed in 2006 by Shane Ocell with exploring the concept of being a one-man Sludge band being the ultimate mission… And he has been crushing solo ever since.
VIA VENGEANCE use no loops and Shane records all his tracks while playing both guitar and drums simultaneously. Combining both a finesse and a reckless audio abandon that must be heard, and felt to truly appreciate.
Posted in Whathaveyou on December 12th, 2018 by JJ Koczan
Easy to imagine that Shane Ocell makes a striking impression live with his one-man outfit Via Vengeance. Also the drummer/backing vocalist for Sorxe, Ocell positions himself behind a drum kit with a guitar and a microphone and is essentially a whole band. The slogan is: “All live. No loops.” So be it.
It is striking to watch. There’s a video at the bottom of this post you can check out. It’s not exactly recent, but I think it gets the point across. Ocell as Via Vengeance has signed to Salt of the Earth Records and will have a new album out reportedly next summer. At least he doesn’t have to wait for anyone else to show up at the studio.
There’s a secondary announcement being made here in that at least for this signing, Kyle Stratton, also of Atala, has joined onto the Salt of the Earth label team with head honcho Scott Harrington. Atala being based in Twentynine Palms, CA, it seems reasonable to assume Stratton is the connection to Ocell, who is in Phoenix, so maybe Stratton is working some West Coast A&R with Harrington, who is based in Connecticut where he also hosts the New England Stoner & Doom Fest. Interesting development either way and something to keep an eye on.
From the PR wire:
Via Vengeance – Salt of the Earth Records
SALT OF THE EARTH RECORDS is proud as all hell to welcome VIA VENGEANCE to the family.
The unrelenting Phoenix AZ based Sludge band known as VIA VENGEANCE was formed in 2006 by Shane Ocell with exploring the concept of being a one-man Sludge band being the ultimate mission… And he has been crushing solo ever since.
VIA VENGEANCE use no loops and Shane records all his tracks while playing both guitar and drums simultaneously. Combining both a finesse and a reckless audio abandon that must be heard, and felt to truly appreciate.
“We are excited to have him on the roster. Via Vengeance is completely honest. An original. A living breathing piece of art,” says Kyle Stratton (SALT OF THE EARTH RECORDS) “He is a one-man band, creating an amazing industrial sludge sound, something I have never heard before. I am beyond excited to welcome Shane.”
VIA VENGEANCE has toured the U.S. multiple times and is heading overseas to to tour in Holland and France this December. VIA VENGEANCE have destroyed stages with heavy hitters like Mastodon,Jesu, Big Business, The Bad Brains, Atala and countless others.
2019 will see VIA VENGEANCE back in the studio recording their SALT OF THE EARTH RECORDS debut with an eye towards Spring/Summer release.
Asked about VIA VENGEANCE, Scott Harrington (Salt Of The Earth Records) yelled this at me from a roof top…
“We are constantly looking for new artists that push their boundaries musically and creatively. Knowing how Via Vengeance pummel live crowds with Shane’s uniquely powerful sound and delivery…I can’t wait till sludge fans far and wide get to experience what this is all about. THIS is HEAVY.”
Bottom line, VIA VENGEANCE is coming for you. You have been warned. But you still won’t be ready.
You know the deal by now, I’m sure: 50 reviews this week between now and Friday, in batches of 10 per day. It’s an unholy amount of music, but those who really dig in always seem to find something cool within a Quarterly Review. Frankly, with this much to choose from, I’d certainly hope so. I’m not going to delay at all, except to say thanks in advance for coming along on this one. It’s got some core-heavy and some-not-really-core-heavy stuff all bundled next to each other, so yeah, your patience is appreciated. Okay. No time like the present. Let’s do it.
Quarterly Review #1-10:
CHRCH, Light Will Consume Us All
Yeah, yeah, yeah, the songs are long. Blah blah blah it’s heavy as whatever kind of construction equipment you could want to name. What’s even more striking about Los Angeles doomers CHRCH’s Neurot Recordings debut, Light Will Consume Us All, is the sense of atmosphere. The follow-up to 2015’s massively well-received Unanswered Hymns (review here) is comprised of three songs presented in descending time order from opener/longest track (immediate points) “Infinite” (20:41) to centerpiece “Portals” (14:50) and closer “Aether” (9:29) and it finds CHRCH refining the unremitting patience of their rollout, so that even when “Aether” explodes in its second half to charred blastbeating and abrasive screams, the ambience is still dense enough to feel it in one’s lungs. CHRCH keep up this level of progression and soon enough someone’s going to call them post-something or other. As it stands, their second album builds righteously on the achievements of their debut, and is a revelation in its bleakness.
Pressed up as ever in DIY fashion, Bongripper’s Terminal presents two gargantuan slabs – one per vinyl side – that only seem to highlight the strengths in the Chicago instrumentalists’ approach. The tones are huge, the grooves nodding, the impact of each kick drum forceful. Repetition is central, that feeling of aural mass and destructiveness, but neither is Terminal – comprised of “Slow” (25:11) and “Death” (18:15) – lacking a sense of atmosphere. After 21 minutes of grueling pummel, “Slow” devolves into droning layers of noise wash and quiet guitar to finish out, and “Death” seems to hold onto an echoing lead in its closing minutes that accomplishes much the same thing in broadening the atmosphere overall. I don’t know if the two songs were composed to fit together –the titles would hint yes – but they invariably do, and as “Death” unleashes a more insistent punch before turning to a post-YOB gallop, it reconfirms Bongripper’s worship-worthy place in the stoner doom milieu, how their sound can be so familiar in its threat and yet so much their own.
Born as Chiefs ahead of their 2015 debut album, Tomorrow’s Over (review here), Arizona-based four-piece King Chiefs make their own first outing in the form of the easily-digestible desert rocker Blue Sonnet (on Roosevelt Row and Cursed Tongue Records), comprised of 10 tracks running just under 40 minutes of older-school laid back heavy, swinging easy on cuts like “Surely Never” and “Drifter” while still finding some Helmeted aggressive edge in the riffs of “Slug” and “Walk the Plank.” The overarching focus is on songwriting, however, and King Chiefs hone in cleverly on ‘90s-era desert rock’s post-grunge sensibility, so that their material seems ready for an alternative radio that no longer exists. Such as it is, they do just fine without, and hooks pervade the two-guitar outfit’s material in natural and memorable fashion all the way to five-and-a-half-minute closer “Shrine of the Beholder,” which embraces some broader textures without losing the structural focus that serves so well on the songs before it.
Heavy psychedelic experimentalism pervades the Rocket Recordings-issued self-titled debut album from Liverpool collective Bonnacons of Doom, rife with tripout ritualism and exploration of sound as it is, all chasing light and getting freaky in any sense you want to read it. Five tracks, each a voyage unto itself – even the bass-fuzzy push of shortest cut “Rhizome” (5:55) is cosmos-bound – feed into the larger weirdness at play that culminates in the undulating grooves of “Plantae” (8:39), which is perhaps the most solidified cut in terms of choruses, verses, etc., but still a molten, headphone-worthy freakout that pushes the limits of psychedelia and still holds itself together. If the album was a to-do list, it would read as follows: “Eat mushrooms. Get naked. Dance around. Repeat.” Whether you do or don’t is ultimately up to you, but Bonnacons of Doom make a pretty convincing argument in favor, and I don’t generally consider myself much of a dancer. Among the most individualized psych debuts I’ve heard in a long time.
Poseidon, at six songs and 39 minutes, is the second long-player from Finnish four-piece Boar. Released on vinyl with no shortage of backing — Lost Pilgrims Records, Dissonant Society, Impure Muzik, S.K.O.D., Rämekuukkeli-levyt – it hurls forth a High on Fire-informed vision of noise rock on its opening title-track only to take on a slower roll in the subsequent “Shahar’s Son” and dig into massive crashing on “12.” Using echo to add a sense of depth all the while, they scream in tradeoffs à la Akimbo and boogie in “Featherless” and seem to find a post-metallic moment on “Dark Skies” before closing with the alternately brooding and scathing “Totally out of This World,” the song sort of falling apart into the feedback and noise that ends the album. There’s a persistent sense of violence happening, but it’s as much inward as outward, and though some of Boar’s most effective moments are in that rawness, there’s something to be said for the contemplation at the outset of “Shahar’s Son” and “12” as well.
Seemingly unrestrained by genre, the Lille, France-based duo June Bug – June on vocals and multiple instruments and Beryl on backing vocals and multiple instruments – dig into some post-punk nudge on early cut “Reasons” from their debut album, A Thousand Days (Atypeek Music) after the folkish melodies of opener “Now,” but whether it’s the fuzzy indie vibes of “Freaks” or the harmonies, electronics and acoustic guitar of “Let it Rest,” or the keyboard-handclaps, lower tones and poppish instrumental hook of centerpiece “Mama,” there’s plenty of variety throughout. What ties the differing vibes and richly nuanced approach together is the vocals, which are mostly subdued and at times hyper-stylized, but never seem to fail to keep melodicism as their central operating method. That remains true on the subdued “Does it Matter” and the beat-laden “Silenced” at the album’s finish and brings everything together with an overarching sense of joy that holds firm despite shifts in mood and approach, making the complete front-to-back listen as satisfying as it might seem all over the place.
Released by the band last year, the four-song Demo by San Francisco outfit Tired Lord has been picked up for an official cassette issue through From Corners Unknown Records and will reportedly be the only release from the black metal/sludge genre-benders. Presumably that means they broke up, rather than just refuse to ever record again, though the latter possibility intrigues as well and would be meta-black metal. Spearheaded by guitarist Bryce Olson, Tired Lord effectively bring a thickness of tone to charred riffing, and a balance between screams and growls brings a cast of general extremity to the material. So I guess this is the part where I’m supposed to regret their dissolution and wish they’d do a proper release. Fair enough for the brutal chug in “Serpent’s Ascent” and the 7:51 closer “Astaroth,” which one wouldn’t mind hearing fleshed out from their current form. Failing that, one of the 30 tape copies pressed of Demo seems like decent consolation. At least while they’re there for the getting and before Tired Lord go gleefully into that black metal demo tape ether where so many seem to dwell.
Lansing, Michigan, trio BerT – bassist Phil Clark and brothers Ryan (guitar) and Rael (drums) Andrews – broke up. They even put out a posthumous rare tracks release in 2017’s The Lost Toes (review here), so what’s left? Well, another album, of course. Intended as a sequel to the sci-fi narrative of the never-released long-player Return to the Electric Church, the five-track/35-minute Relics from Time Zero is unfinished, sans vocals where they might otherwise be, and basically a look at what might’ve been had the band not dissolved. For those prior-exposed to the once-prolific heavy rock bizarros, some of the proceedings will seem familiar: riffs are plentiful and fluid in their tempo changes from driving rock to droned-out stomp, and there seems to be about 1.5 of them in the four-minute “In the Cave of the Batqueen,” so but for the fact that it’s not done, I’d just about call it business as usual for BerT. I know they’re done and all, but I still wouldn’t mind hearing these songs with some lyrics, let alone the record this one was intended to follow-up. Either way, even defunct, BerT remain on their own wavelength.
Classic-style heavy rock riffing pervades opener “Blow My Mind” (5:47) and the subsequent “Backseat Lovers” (5:15) – somewhere between Stubb and Radio Moscow — on Zen Bison’s debut LP, Krautrocker, but as the five-track/42-minute self-release moves into the 11-minute title-track, guitarist/vocalist Philipp Ott, bassist Steffen Fischer and drummer Martin Konopka – joined by organist Hans Kirschner and percussionist Bobby Müller –move into deeper-grooving and more psychedelic fare. That turn suits the mostly-live-recorded outfit well on the longer instrumental piece, and that leads to a side B with the likewise-sans-vocals “La Madrugada” (9:56) and the closing cover of Don Nix’s blues rocker “Going Down” (10:24), jammed out at the end in its middle and end with quick return to the chorus between. There isn’t much on Krautrocker one might actually consider krautrock in the traditional sense, but there’s certainly plenty of rock to go around on the impressive and varied first offering from the Rostock trio.
From opener “Rivers of Dust” onward, Wheel in the Sky’s second album, Beyond the Pale (on The Sign Records), proffers classy and classic digs, informed by a heavy ‘70s uptempo spirit on its title-track and moving into more complex volume and arrangement shifts in “Burn Babylon Burn” (video premiere here) and a poppy, goth-informed hook on “The Only Dead Girl in the City,” all the while held together through a quality of songwriting that even the band’s 2015 debut, Heading for the Night (review here), seemed to hint toward. It’s a mover, to be sure, but Wheel in the Sky execute their material with poise and a sense of clear intention, and no matter where they seem to go, their tonality and natural production assures the listener has an easy time tagging along. Might be a sleeper for some, but there are going to be people who really, really dig this album, and I’ve got no argument with them.
Posted in Whathaveyou on June 22nd, 2018 by JJ Koczan
After making their full-length debut under their original moniker of Chiefs with Tomorrow’s Over (review here) in 2015, the redubbed King Chiefs (a promotion!) issued their second album, Blue Sonnet, in February of this year. With it, the now-four-piece reaffirmed their Southwest-born commitment to the tenets of classic desert rock as well as to their own songwriting. A collection of memorable tracks resulted and today word has come down from Cursed Tongue Records that it will press Blue Sonnet to vinyl with the usual deluxe-style treatment headed toward a release this coming October. While the cover art should certainly make for a gorgeous 12″ sleeve, it’s of course the songs themselves that will be the highlight of the LP edition, as King Chiefs plainly show their desert affiliations in 10 tracks and 39 minutes of high-grade vibe and hooks a-plenty.
The album, since it’s already released, is streaming in full at the bottom of this post, and also available on CD through Roosevelt Row Records. Info follows courtesy of the PR wire:
KING CHIEFS SIGNS TO CURSED TONGUE RECORDS FOR WORLD WIDE RELEASE OF THEIR SECOND ALBUM ‘BLUE SONNET’ IN OCTOBER 2018.
Cursed Tongue Records is thrilled to announce the signing of Phoenix, AZ based King Chiefs for a release of their sophomore full length album entitled ‘Blue Sonnet’ in October 2018.
Any journey begins with a single, small step and as such, the newly renamed King Chiefs’ journey began as a compact but powerful two-piece band in the Phoenix, Arizona area in 2012. Originally known as simply Chiefs, they play that type of blazing desert rock that can only be forged under the harsh gaze of the Sonoran sun. After releasing a couple early demos and playing numerous show around the Phoenix valley, the band expended it’s reach with a series of small regional tours that eventually led to the band relocating to California. Shortly after settling down in San Diego, the band self-released a four song demo titled Buffalo Roam, which found them embarking on numerous tours around the Southwest and West Coast.
Over time the band grew, first to a three-piece, then finally adding a permanent bass player and lead guitar player to morph into the four-piece form they are in today. These additions to the band raised the impact of the music, elevating it to the powerful live animal they are now. It was this iteration of the band that released it’s first full length album “Tomorrow’s Over” on west coast underground record label Battleground Records in February of 2015. The album garnered many favorable reviews and positive responses from fans and writers alike, further cementing King Chiefs as a band that simply must be caught live.
The band turned this momentum into a series of US tours, where they dazzled audiences across the country with their incendiary live set. People have compared their live act to such notable bands form the past as Helmet, Kyuss, Fu Manchu, Dozer and more. This was enough hype for Ripple Music to step in and ask them to be part of their Second Coming Of Heavy series, which saw them releasing a split LP with Desert Suns as Vol. V of the long running LP series.
Fast forward to February 2018 and King Chiefs release their sophomore album Blue Sonnet digitally on their bandcamp page and on CD via Roosevelt Row Records. It didn’t take Cursed Tongue Records much time to realize that this album demands our full attention and as being the most coherrent, accomplished and mature sounding release from King Chiefs to date it was really a no-brainer.
Blue Sonnet sees King Chiefs further deepening their signature sound of fuzzy riffs, catchy hooks and tightly knit interplay overlayed with Valle’s über melodic vocals. This is King Chiefs at their prime and Cursed Tongue Records is extremely happy to be able to roll out the red carpet for the Blue Sonnet this October. Expect the usual trademark setup of high quality heavy wight vinyl tasty packaging and sweet extras sure to please the distinguished vinyl collector.
Looking to the future, King Chiefs is dedicated and devoted to the almighty riff and will continue making music and who knows what the future brings…
CTR-012 KING CHIEFS – ‘BLUE SONNET’, official release date: October 19th, 2018
King Chiefs is: Paul Valle – Vocals, Guitar, Bass, Drums Jeff Podeszwik – Vocals, Guitar Anthony Alley – Drums Anthony Mattos – Bass
Recorded, Mixed & Mastered by Ryan Butler at Arcane Digital Recording Studios in Chandler, Arizona. All music written by King Chiefs (Paul Valle/Jeff Podeszwik) Lyrics by Paul Valle (City That You Sleep, Surely Never, Drifter, Soul Sleeve, Slug, Walk The Plank, Blue Sonnet) Lyrics by Jeff Podeszwik (Fossils, Yellow Jacket, Shrine Of Your Beholder) Photography/Artwork by Michael Ruggiero Layout & Design: Matt Martinez & Michael Andresakis
Track listing:
Side A 1. City That You Sleep 2. Surely Never 3. Drifter 4. Fossils 5. Soul Sleeve
Side B 6. Slug 7. Walk The Plank 8. Yellow Jacket 9. Blue Sonnet 10. Shrine Of Your Beholder
Posted in Whathaveyou on May 8th, 2018 by JJ Koczan
First tours? Most bands might start with a weekender, a long weekender, five days, a week, etc. Phoenix, Arizona’s Hudu Akil, who aggro-up a bit a self-aware take on the West Coast fuzz/desert rock model with some screams amid lyrics about getting high, partying, shout outs to 1965 and so on on their 2017 self-titled EP, which itself followed a three-songer released in 2016.
Seems that they’ve finished writing for their debut full-length and they’ll hit the studio upon returning from the tour, so perhaps it’s all for the better that they’ve blown most first-tour expectations out of the water and booked a full three weeks’ worth of shows throughout the end of this month and June and into July. At least they can be sure they’ll have the new material set to go before they actually get to putting it down on tape.
The band send the following down the PR wire:
In just 4 weeks, we embark on our first tour as a band, covering much of the southern United States throughout a 21-day run. We are all very excited about this tour because it is a culmination of our collective dream thus far!
We have just recently finished writing our follow-up LP which we will begin recording after our tour.
Tour Dates: 5/29 Los Angeles, CA – Five Star Bar 5/30 Slab City, CA – The Range 5/31 Carlsbad, CA – Boar Cross’n 6/1 Yuma, AZ – The Maverick 6/2 Tuscon, AZ – The Loudhouse 6/3 Scottsdale, AZ – Rogue Bar 6/6 El Paso, TX – Rockhouse Bar 6/7 San Antonio, TX – The Mix 6/8 San Marcos, TX – KIVA 6/9 Austin, TX – The Lost Well 6/14 Houston, TX – Satellite Bar 6/15 Florence, TX Camp Festival 6/16 Corpus Christi, TX – Black Monk Tavern 6/21 Lafayette, LA – Freetown 6/22 New Orleans, LA – Twist of Lime 6/24 Jacksonville, AR – Elixir 6/28 Fort Worth, TX – The Rail Club 6/29 Oklahoma City, OK – The Blue Note 6/30 Denver, CO – Bar Bar 7/5 Yuma, AZ – Littlewood Co-op 7/6 Tijuana, MX – Mous Tache
Twingiant issue their new album, Blood Feud, this coming Friday, Oct. 13. It is the band’s third outing since getting together in 2010 and their debut for Argonauta Records, following behind the spirited riff-and-tumble of 2014’s Devil Down, 2013’s Sin Nombre EP (review here), and their self-released 2012 debut, Mass Driver, as well as an earlier-2017 split with Into the Storm that featured the tracks “Poison Control Party Line” and “Formerly Known As…,” both of which are also represented on the record proper. Through all these releases, the consistent thread from the Phoenix, Arizona-based outfit has been one of burl-driven dudecraft, and Blood Feud follows across its eight tracks, beginning a fervent opening salvo with the crisp four-minute get-off-your-ass shove of “Throttled” and pushing into the aforementioned “Poison Control Party Line” with quick-built momentum that holds firm as backing screams join bassist Jarrod LeBlanc‘s largely unipolar but effective growls on “Ride the Gun” and the subsequent “Re-Fossilized” presents a marked change in structure.
Today I have the pleasure of hosting Blood Feud‘s closing track, “Kaishakunin” as a premiere ahead of the release, and as guitarist/backing vocalist Nikos Mixas — joined in the band by LeBlanc on vocals/bass, fellow guitarist/backing vocalist Tony Gallegos and drummer Jeff Ramon — hints in the quote included after the song stream below, one might be tempted to cast Twingiant as a doom band. The truth of that is somewhat more complicated. Mixas, Gallegos and LeBlanc definitely have heft to their tonality and that’s a likely source of much of their “file under” woes (if they’re woes), but as part of their delivery across Blood Feud — even in a song like “Re-Fossilized,” which holds back its verses compared to the three songs before it and side B leadoff “Shadow of South Mountain” after — there’s an aggressive core and an intensity of purpose that could only come from a root influence in heavy metal.
As “Shadow of South Mountain” plays out its runs of guitar and fierce growls, one can’t help but be reminded of The Mighty Nimbus or or a less distinctly Southern take on Beaten Back to Pure or Alabama Thunderpussy at their meanest. Twingiant have heavy rock elements working in their favor as regards tone, but just as their Floridian labelmates in Hollow Leg put their emphasis on the ‘metal’ in ‘sludge metal,’ so too do Twingiant bring that pissed-off mood to the chug and swing of “Formerly Known As,” which, like “Re-Fossilized,” finds them in a more instrumental modus, even going so far as to indulge a bit of swirl in the guitar solo past the halfway point before giving ground to the 6:25 longest and penultimate cut, “Last Man Standing,” which starts airy and quiet before moving into clean-sung early verse lines and hitting its full impact around two and a half minutes in before receding again. That back and forth plays out once more and stays louder the second time, coming to an apex that feeds directly into “Kaishakunin,” which unfolds atop feedback with faded in drums, vague whispers, rumbling low end and an overarching sense of violence to come.
Fitting enough. The title of the song is derived from the individual who, in the ritual suicide of seppuku, stands behind the person who has just gutted themselves and acts quickly to behead them — also presumably what’s being given devilish representation on the cover art. So be it. The song “Kaishakunin” unfolds with the most crawling pace of anything on Blood Feud, which gives its growls an especially massive feel, but picks up somewhat after its halfway mark and makes its way into an instrumental finish topped first by a drifting lead and then by another, more earthbound solo to make the trail through the crescendo. It’s not overdone by any stretch — indeed, given some of the bull-in-china-shop drive preceding, it might be understated — but it gets the job done, and the feeling that things aren’t quite done after the 41-minute record has concluded I take as a sign of the band leaving their audience wanting more. Hard to argue.
After seven years and three long-players spent honing their craft, Twingiant cast a genuine sense of arrival and give a duly sure-headed performance throughout Blood Feud; both mature in the sense of knowing who they are as a band and still vital in their execution.
Speaking of executions, you can hear the premiere of “Kaishakunin” on the player below, followed by more info from the PR wire.
Please enjoy:
Twingiant, “Kaishakunin” track premiere
Nikos Mixas on “Kaishakunin”:
“We’re so excited to be on the verge of releasing our 3rd full-length album via Argonauta Records. We’ve put a lot of work and thought into the material, the production in addition to the artwork concept and we couldn’t be happier with the results! Sometimes Twingiant gets labeled as being a doom band, and we’ve never gone out of our way to create a doom song until now with ‘Kaishakunin.'”
Critically acclaimed loud and heavy metal band TWINGIANT are pleased to announce that they will release their new album Blood Feud via Argonauta Records on October 13th 2017.
Posted in Reviews on August 17th, 2017 by JJ Koczan
If Stinkeye have anything in common with the current West Coast heavy psych boom, it’s the possibility that at any moment — any moment at all — it just might be time to boogie. But at the same time, true to their geography, the Phoenix, Arizona, trio are a little more inland in their sound, a little more suburban-skatepark-disaffection and garage-rehearsals than they might be were they otherwise basking in the coastal sunshine of San Diego. Issued by Milwaukee Junction Records and Blade Records, Llantera is the debut full-length from the young three-piece of guitarist/vocalist Andrew Hosley, bassist Harris Smull and drummer Anthony DeMuro, and though it takes some tonal and tempo cues from the unabashed I-got-this-legally new-school stonerism of Fuzz across its span, whether it’s the Dead Meadow march of post-intro opener “Orange Man,” the Sungrazer-style vocal harmonies of the subsequent “Pink Clam,” the weirdo-born bounce of “No Spoon” or the grunged-out, semi-punk fuckall thrust of closer “Feed,” Stinkeye careen from one influence to another with fluidity more deceptive than the forwardness of their hairy tones and cymbal washes might at first convey.
Including the digital bonus/maybe-hidden track “Fink Ployd,” Llantera checks in at a thoroughly manageable 37 minutes — ready and seemingly waiting for whoever might want to pick it up for a vinyl release to do so — and is the follow-up to the band’s first outing, last year’s Llantera Demos (review here), a four-track demonstration released in October that also featured “Orange Man,” “Pink Clam,” “Llantera” and “Fink Ployd.” If that seems like a quick turnaround between a first demo and a first long-player, it is, and Llantera has its rough edges to be sure, but that ultimately becomes a part of the album’s appeal, as shown in the harsher bite of “Feed” or the manner in which “Bringer of Grief” shifts from its instrumentally jamming first half to the languidly bouncing verses of its second. Youth is very much on Stinkeye‘s side. The energy of their delivery and the sense of exploration at root in the construction of their material both benefit from the freshness of the experience on the part of the band. They’re new to their potential listenership? Well, they’re new to themselves too.
Accordingly, in addition to actually being partially comprised of the same tracks, Llantera carries forward the overarching rawness of the Llantera Demos. Produced and engineered by Dylan Thomas, “Pink Clam,” “No Spoon” and the rest of the cuts bask in a natural vibe and a variable mix that sees Hosley‘s vocals brought to the fore in volume on “Orange Man” and “Pink Clam” and the latter portion of “Bringer of Grief,” highlighting a burgeoning melodic approach that one can only hope the guitarist and the band as a whole will develop as they move forward, and pushed back into echoing trippery to allow the added percussion in “No Spoon” to flourish amid the fuzzy and desert-hued guitar leads while Smull‘s bass — with a ’90s-style funk at its core — provides the grounding force necessary to tie it all together before DeMuro‘s drums lead the way into the slowdown at the end that explodes and the tongue-in-cheek keyboard wash rounds out as the transition into “Feed.”
The smoothness of that transition, as well as that earlier between the 28-second intro “The Calm” — which functions in direct defiance of its title with an immediately abrasive push of guitar noise — and the ultra-welcoming initial roll of “Orange Man,” isn’t to be understated, but this too feels like an element in progress on the part of Stinkeye, something they’ll build on from here for their next release. Still, as righteously paced as their material is throughout Llantera, and as much as they shift from one vibe to the next — the title-track becoming a party of gang shouts and the record’s most shuffling rhythm, much thickened by Smull‘s low end and clearly having a great time getting alternative-universe surf-rock in Hosley‘s guitar over DeMuro‘s steady, handclap-worthy snare before “Bringer of Grief” more fully introduces the edgier single-word shouts foreshadowed in “Pink Clam” that will jab throughout “No Spoon” to follow — the front-to-back impression is hardly lacking flow either way. Repeat listens to the entirety, which are well earned, only make this linearity more resonant.
Add to that little hints of bizarro nuance like a possible lyrical mention of Barbara Bush in “Pink Clam” and the structural departure in “Bringer of Grief,” and Llantera becomes a decisively engaging piece of crafted fuzzy, heavy rock, infused with the sneer of garage and some noisier impulses for good measure. That, as the debut full-length from a relatively new band, it says as much as it does about their potential makes it all the more welcome, but there’s value in the breadth Stinkeye present in the here and now as well, and as much as one looks forward to hearing how they might bridge the sonic/stylistic gaps between “Llantera” and “Feed” as their methods evolve over time, the fact that they can put both of those songs together in relatively close proximity on a short-ish album isn’t to be ignored. And while one suspects that pieces like “Feed” and”Bringer of Grief” and “No Spoon” were already in the works, the quick turnaround between the demo and the long-player bodes well for future productivity too.
Llantera might be a sleeper in terms of the response it gets, but it puts Stinkeye in league with next-generation upstarts like Fogg, Bison Machine, Salem’s Bend, Cloud Catcher and perhaps even Slow Season (among others) in fostering a new breed of American heavy that learns from the past even as it places itself at the cutting edge of what’s to come. Of course, what Stinkeye become as they pass through the next few years is up to them — they could call it quits tomorrow and completely pull the plug on the potential shown here; it’s certainly happened before — but Llantera fills one with hope for what they might be able to contribute to this pastiche and kicks more than enough ass besides to be counted as one of the best debuts of 2017. May they continue to work quickly, may they continue to boogie at will, and may they continue to get weirder as they go.
Phoenix, Arizona, bringers-of-fuzzy-shenanigans Stinkeye released their debut full-length, Llantera, last month, just prior to hitting the road on a tour along the Pacific Coast to support it. They’ve been selling CDs at shows, tapes can be preordered ahead of an Aug. 5 issue through Blade Records and one can purchase the album via iTunes — it’s not currently on their Bandcamp — but if it’s mainly at shows for now or the three-piece is working out something else for a vinyl release, then fair enough. I dug the hell out of their 2016 four-tracker, Llantera Demos (review here), and Llantera proper is a more than worthy follow-up — not just because it happens to work in all four of those songs, either.
I think you can both hear and see my reasoning in the video below for “No Spoon,” directed by Andrew Hosley. A young band comprised of Hosley on guitar/vocals, Harris Smull on bass and Anthony DeMuro on drums, Stinkeye effectively bring together elements of grunge, fuzz rock and heavy psych, and with a laid back garage-style roll, their vibe is languid and tripped out. The clip follows suit with a weirdo edge that feels like it was born in the ’90s much as the band themselves probably were. Maybe. In either case, whatever’s up with Llantera, officially it’s been put out once and I wouldn’t be surprised if it got nabbed somewhere along the line for vinyl issue by this or that label, since the trio groove so fluidly across its span and even in the sphere of West Coast heavy psych, what they’re doing stands out as being less ’70s derived and more about depth than the shuffle. It’s an easy one to dig.
And of course, I hope you do precisely that as regards the “No Spoon” clip, which you’ll find immediately following here:
Stinkeye, “No Spoon” official video
“time slips away, down the gutter, and into space”
Artist: Stinkeye Song: No Spoon Album: LLANTERA Label: Milwaukee Junction Records
Song Produced and Engineered by Dylan Thomas.
Video produced and edited by Andrew Hosley / Filmed by Bailey Price and Morgan Richmeier.
it all on stage, drums, vocals, guitar, and the ethic would seem to extend to the studio as well. Can you hear the difference on a recording? I don’t know. What would “Haunt” sound like with a full band instead of one person doing it all? Maybe it’d be a huge difference. Maybe it’d be no different at all. Point is he’s doing it, so that’s what you get live and on the LP.
