Welcome to the Spring 2025 Quarterly Review. If you’re unfamiliar with the format or how this goes, the quick version is each day brings 10 new releases — albums, EPs, even a single every now and again — that are reviewed at at the end of it everybody has a ton of new music to listen to and I’m a little closer to being caught up to what’s coming out after spending about a season falling behind on coverage. Everybody wins, mostly.

It’s a seven-day QR. As always, some of what will be covered is older and some is new. There are a couple 2024 releases. The 10,000 Years record, for example, I should’ve reviewed five times over by now, but life happens. There’s also stuff that isn’t released yet, so it all averages out to some approximation of relevance. Hopefully.

In any case, we proceed. Thanks if you keep up this week and into next.

Quarterly Review #1-10:

Pagan Altar, Never Quite Dead

Classic metal par excellence pervades the first Pagan Altar album since 2017 and the first to feature vocalist Brendan Radigan (Magic Circle) in place of founding singer Terry Jones, who passed away in 2015 and whose son, guitarist Alan Jones, is the sole remaining founding member of the band, which started in 1978. Never Quite Dead collects eight varied tracks, some further evidence for the line of NWOBHM extending out of the dual-guitar pioneering of Thin Lizzy, plenty of overarching melancholy, and it honors the idea of the band having a classic sound without sacrificing modern impact in the recording. The subdued “Liston Church,” the later doomly sprawl of “The Dead’s Last March” and the willful grandiosity of the nine-minute finale “Kismet” assure that Never Quite Dead indeed resonates vibrant with a heart made of denim.

Pagan Altar on Facebook

Dying Victims Productions website

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Designer, Weekend at Brian’s

Somewhere between proto-punk and 1990s alt-rock come Designer with the three-song demo Weekend at Brian’s. Based in Asheville, the band have an edge of danger to their tones, but the outward face is catchy and quirky, a little Blondie but with deceptively heavy riffing in “Magic Memory” and extra-satisfyingly farty bass in “Midnight Waltz” as the band engage Blue Öyster Cult in a conversation of fears, the band wind up somewhere between heavy modern indie and retro-minded fare. “Ugly in the Streets” moves like a Ramones song and I’ve got no problem with that. However they go, the songs are pointedly straightforward, and they kind of need to be for the stripped-down style to work. Nothing’s over three minutes long, the songs are tight, and it’s got style without overloading on the pretense, which especially for a new outfit is an excellent place to start.

Designer on Instagram

Designer on Bandcamp

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10,000 Years, All Quiet on the Final Frontier

The hopeful keyboard of album intro “Orbital Decay” gradually devolves into noise, and from there, Swedish crash-and-bash specialists 10,000 Years show you what it’s all about — gutted-out heavy riffing, ace swing in “The Experiment” and a whole lot of head-down forward shove. The Västerås-based trio have yet to put out a record that wasn’t a step forward from the one before it, and this late-2024 third full-length feels duly realized in how it incorporates the psychedelic aspects of “Ablaze in the Now” with the physical intensity of “The Weight of a Feather” or closer “Down the Heavy Path.” But they’re more dynamic on the whole, as “Death Valley Ritual” dares a bit of spoken drama, and “High Noon in Sword City” reminds that there’s a good dose of noise rock underpinning what 10,000 Years do, and that cacophony still suits them even as they’ve expanded around that foundation over the last five years.

10,000 Years on Facebook

Ripple Music website

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Amber Asylum, Ruby Red

Amber Asylum are a San Francisco arthouse institution, and from its outset with the five-minute instrumental “Secrets,” the band’s 10th album, Ruby Red, counsels patience in mournful, often softspoken chamber doom. The use of space as the title-track unfolds with founding violinist/vocalist Kris Force‘s voice over minimalist bass, encompassing and sad as the song plays out with an emergent dirge of strings and percussion, where the subsequent “Demagogue” is more actively drummed, the band having already drawn the listener deeper into the record’s seven-song cycle. The cello of Jackie Perez-Gratz (also Grayceon, Brume) gives centerpiece “The Morrigan” extra character later on, and it’s there in “Azure” as well, though the context shifts with foreboding drones of various wavelengths behind the vocals. Ambience plus bite. “Weaver” rolls through its first half instrumentally, realigning around the strings and steady movement; its back half is reverently sung without lyrics. And when they get to closer “A Call on the Wind,” the sense of unease in the violin is met with banging-on-a-spring-style experimentalist noise, just to underscore the sense of things being wrong as far as realities go. It’s not a minor undertaking as regards atmospheric or emotional weight, but empathy resounds.

Amber Asylum on Instagram

Prophecy Productions website

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Weevil, Easy Way

With Fu Manchu as a defining influence, Greek heavy rockers Weevil set forth with Easy Way, their 10-song/42-minute self-released debut album. They pay homage to Lemmy with the cleverly-titled “Rickenbästard” — you know I’m a sucker for charm — and diverge from the straight-ahead heavy thrust on the mellower, longer “The Old Man Lied” and “Insomnia,” but by and large, the five-piece are here to throw down riffy groove and have a good time, and they do just that. The title-track, “Wake the Dead” and “Headache” provide a charged beginning, and even by the time the crunch of “Gonna Fall” slides casually into the nodder hook of closer “Last Night a Zombie” (“…ate my brain” is the rest of the line), they’ve still got enough energy to make it feel like the party could easily continue. It just might. There’s perspective in this material that feels like it might take shape over time, and in my mind, Weevil get immediate credit for being upfront in their homage and wearing their own heavy fandom on their sleeves. You can hear their love for it.

Weevil on Facebook

Weevil on Bandcamp

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Kazea, I, Ancestral

Adventurous and forward-thinking post-metal pervades Swedish trio Kazea‘s debut album, and the sound is flexible enough in their craft to let “Whispering Hand” careen like neo-psych after the screams and lurch of “Trenches” provide one of the record’s most extreme moments, bolstered by guest vocals. Indeed, “Whispering Hand” is a rocker and something of an outlier for that, as Pale City Skin draws a downerist line between Crippled Black Phoenix and circa-’04 Neurosis, “Wailing Blood” finds a way to meld driving rhythm and atmospheric heft, and the seven-minute “Seamlessly Woven” caps with suitable depth of wash, following the lushness of the penultimate “The North Passage” in its howling, growl-topped chorus with another expression of the ethereal. I haven’t heard a ton of hype about I, Ancestral, but regardless, this is one of the best debut albums I’ve heard so far this year for sure. Post-metal needs bands willing to push its limits.

Kazea on Instagram

Suicide Records website

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Electric Eye, Dyp Tid

Hard not to think of the 14-minute weirdo-psych jam “Mycelium” as the highlight of Dyp Tid, but one shouldn’t discount the lead-you-in warmth and serenity of opener “Pendelen Svinger,” or the bit of dub in the drumming of “Clock of the Long Now,” and so on as Norway’s Electric Eye — which is a pretty straightforward name, considering the sound — vibe blissful for the duration. The drone “Den Første Lysstråle” is hypnotic, and though the vocals in “Mycelium” are a sample, the human presence periodically sprinkled throughout the album feels like it’s adding comfort amid what might be an anxious plunge into the cosmos. They finish with “Hvit Lotus,” which marries together various kinds of synth over a deceptively casual beat, capping light with vocals or synth-vocals in a bright chorus over chime sounds and drifting guitar. You made it to the island. You’re safe. Gentle fade out.

Electric Eye website

Fuzz Club Records website

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Void Sinker, Oxygen

Multi-instrumentalist and producer Guglielmo Allegro is the sole denizen behind Void Sinker, and while I know full well we live in an age of technological wonders/horrors, that one person could conjure up such encompassing heavy sounds — the way 14-minute opener “Satellite” just swallows you whole — is impressive. Oxygen is the Salerno, Italy, DIY project’s fourth full-length in two years, and its intent to crush is plain from the outset. “Satellite” has its own summary progression of what the rest of the album does, and then “Oxygen” (9:45), “Collision” (15:23) and “Abyss” (13:32) play through increasingly noisy slab-riff distribution. This is done methodically, at mostly slow tempos, with tonal depth and an obvious awareness of where it’s coming from. Presumably that, and a lack of argument from anyone else when he wants to ride a groove for 15 minutes, is why Void Sinker is a solo outfit. One of distinctive bludgeon, it turns out. Like big riffs pushing the air out of your lungs? Here you go.

Void Sinker on Instagram

Void Sinker on Bandcamp

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André Drage Group, Wolves

Draken drummer André Drage leads the group that shares his name from behind the kit, it would seem, but even if only one name gets to be in the moniker, make no mistake, the entire band is present and accounted for. Challenging each other in jazz-prog fashion, Wolves is the second album from the Group in as many months. It leads off with its longest track (immediate points) “Brainsoup,” and by the time they’re through with it, it is. We’re talking ace prog boogie, funky like El Perro might do it, but looser and more improv feeling in the solo of “Potent Elixirs,” giving a spontaneous impression even in the studio, ebbing and flowing in the runs of “Tigerboy” while “Wind in Their Sails” is both more King Crimson and more shuffling-Rhodes-jam, which is the kind of party you want to be at whether you know it or not. The penultimate “Fire” gets lit by the guitar, and they round out with “Nesodden,” a sweet comedown from some of Wolves‘ more frenetic movements. Like a supernova, but not uncontained. This is a band ready to drop jaws.

André Drage Group on Bandcamp

Drage Records website

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The Mystery Lights, Purgatory

The Sept. 2024 third album from NYC-based vintage rockers The Mystery Lights skillfully weaves together garage rock and ’60s pop theatrics, giving the bounce and sway of the title-track an immediately nostalgic impression that the jangly “In the Streets” is probably about a ahead from in terms of influence, but the blend is the thing. Regardless of how developed the punk is or isn’t in a given track — I dig the shaker in “Trouble” and it manages a sense of ‘island’ without being racist, so bonus points for that — or how “Cerebral Crack” brings flute in with its extra-fuzzed guitar later on or “Memories” and “Automatic Response” feel more soul than rock in both intent and manifestation, The Mystery Lights benefit from pairing stylistic complexity with structural simplicity, and the 12 songs of Purgatory find a niche outside genre norms and time all the more for the fact that the band don’t seem concerned with anything so much as writing songs that sound like home the first time you hear them.

The Mystery Lights’ Linktr.ee

The Mystery Lights on Bandcamp

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They make the point themselves. Year of the Cobra. It says it right there on the punkishly distressed-looking front cover, with a picture of the band in digitized black and white, like a picture off someone’s phone. Year of the Cobra. The photo itself is notable, as neither bassist/vocalist Amy Tung Barrysmith (now also of Slower) nor drummer Johanes Barrysmith are looking at the camera, but both seem to be looking out from under some industrial-looking covering. The Prophecy label is there, subtle and almost punk rock, just the logo with the catalog number under the band’s name to tell you it’s self-titled.

As for the photo, maybe a train station, a bus stop? The implication of touring life, of movement, of quick-get-this-picture-done-so-we-can-catch-this-ride, is prevalent, which is suitable to who Year of the Cobra are as a band, and indeed, the eight songs and 41 minutes of the Seattle duo’s third full-length build on the accomplishments of 2019’s Ash and Dust (review here), marking a crucial moment in the life of the group that they meet with some of their finest, heaviest songcraft.

For it, the two-piece teamed with producer Matt Bayles at Studio Litho (Bayles also mixed at The Red Room, while Brad Boatright mastered at Audiosiege). Known for his work with Isis, Sandrider, Mastodon, 1000mods and a slew of others, Bayles brings clarity enough to highlight the nuanced shifts in Amy‘s bass tone throughout, going from the rumble and infectious nod at the outset of opener “Full Sails” to the punchier fuzz that accompanies the uptempo push of “Daemonium,” while still giving the impression that Year of the Cobra are a band who hit hard, which if you’ve ever seen them on stage you already know is true to life. The entire message of the album, from the fact that it’s self-titled to the grainy pic to the stonervana riff in “War Drop,” the lyrics of which cast present real-world warmaking as catchy and maybe therefore inevitable, a chorus reference to the Wailing Wall putting the song in the time and place of the ongoing wreck of slaughter in Israel and Palestine.

The use of “drop” in the title — modern slang! one would pretend to clutch pearls were one not too broke for even imaginary jewelry — is emblematic of a continuing dialogue with pop influences that surfaced in 2017’s Burn Your Dead EP (review here) after the band’s debut album, 2016’s …In the Shadows Below (review here), laid out the foundation in heavy low end groove and breathy melody. Ash and Dust refined this aspect of their sound, and it’s part of how they’ve grown here as well. Amy‘s performance in “Alone,” which caps side A, not only justifies that song’s would-be-centerpiece positioning in the tracklisting, but reaffirms her power and reach as a singer. In a band that gets so much out of just two instruments sound-wise, Amy‘s voice has become the sneaky third instrument.

The depth of emotion conveyed in “Alone” is a decent example of that (prefaced by the crescendo of “Full Sails”), as much Cranberries (there’s even a mention of lingering) as a keyboard-laced Pallbearer, but also how much work the vocals and lyrics are doing in “Daemonium,” which comes across as a story of confronting someone who’s committed sexual assult — the rush of an interrogation in the chorus: “Did she make it alright?/Did she make it that night?/Did she put up a fight/You know…/Was she quiet?/Or Did she moan inside?/Did she look at you with her hollow eyes?/Did she say a word?/Did she scream in pain?/Did she close her eyes?/Did she plead and beg for her life?” — while framing it in the second-person, “…Did she look at you,” and that somehow conspiratorial, locker-room-talk-ish “you know,” taking the conversations some men have with each other and turning them into an accusation. It is striking, effective, efficient, and purposeful. There are examples of Year of the Cobra mastering their sound, knowing themselves as players and as a band together, as songwriters, all over these tracks.

The flourish in the vocals to help carry “7 Years” back to its hook, or the keyboard-laced post-doom daring-of-hope that takes place in the seven-and-a-half-minute “Prayer” at the end, the hey-let’s-go-on-tour-for-a-month sweep of “Full Sails” — these and others here are nothing less than Year of the Cobra owning their sound and demonstrating full command of their approach to manifesting it. In other words, whether dug into the sprawl of “Alone” or the shove of “Daemonium,” reaching to new ground at the end of the record or reinforcing their proclivity for planting their songs in your brain across the span, Year of the Cobra are doing their best work to-date right now.

Year of the Cobra feels like an album the band have been building toward for nearly a decade as they’ve explored, traveled, and developed across each of their releases, and it may be that two, three, six (?) years from now, they’ll put out another record that’ll be a step forward from this. Great. That doesn’t change the palpable feeling of intention that comes from so much of what’s happening across these eight songs, or the creative triumph of their making.

These, taken with the way in which confrontation of “Daemonium” is likewise one tool in their arsenal, alongside the longing of “Alone,” the brooding sensibility of “The Darkness,” or “Sleep” in which the breadth of bass tone in the verse reminds of Type O Negative circa World Coming Down — not a compliment I give lightly, though with the toxic nature of a lot of that band’s lyrics, they’d be a somewhat ironic influence if they actually were one — the lurch and hint of threat in the melody of “Sleep,” and so on, give Year of the Cobra range beyond that which can come from changing a tempo or clicking a pedal on or off. There’s aural scope to the material, but emotional and expressive scope as well.

From a band in a format that often derives an essential part of its character from configuration — i.e., one hears ‘duo’ and expects a certain kind of rawness — Year of the Cobra are more complete as two than many are as four or five. This self-titled confirms the potential of their work to this point and opens new avenues for them to continue to progress. Given the level of execution across the board, there’s no way Year of the Cobra doesn’t shine as one of 2025’s best releases in underground heavy.

Year of the Cobra, “War Drop” official video

Year of the Cobra, “Full Sails” lyric video

Year of the Cobra, Year of the Cobra (2025)

Year of the Cobra on Facebook

Year of the Cobra on Instagram

Year of the Cobra on Bandcamp

Prophecy Productions on Facebook

Prophecy Productions on Bandcamp

Prophecy Productoins website

I was fortunate enough last Spring to be on hand for Dool‘s set on the Main Stage at Roadburn 2024 (review here), and it was among the more powerful moments of that weekend, which should tell you something. The Netherlands-based dark-proggers are set to continue to support their Prophecy-delivered 2024 LP, The Shape of Fluidity (review here), which showed up duly armed to the ongoing culture wars, likewise righteous in craft and message.

That wasn’t my first time seeing Dool, and I don’t note that as a brag — though I’m glad it’s the case — but instead to emphasize where the band are in their growth. Whatever their ultimate trajectory might be, The Shape of Fluidity was a crucial record for this band, and if you’ve seen them, you don’t need me to tell you how that translates to the intensity of their on-stage performance, but just in case, I’ll note the heart and drive and purpose behind Dool more than a decade on from the band’s founding has resulted in a special sound, in keeping with Dutch darkrock and open-minded songwriting, but distinct among the heavy underground for just how much it’s their own.

In other words, if you can make it to a show, consider it advisable. They’ll be out with Taraban in Europe this April. No Roadburn this year — can’t be every year, though there’s something to be said for a house band and Dool would make a decent candidate —  but there are plenty of other festivals besides here. The band posted the dates on socials. Shows are presented by Doomstar Bookings:

DOOL – TOUR UPDATE!

Polish rock outfit Taraban will join us on our European rampage this April, so best buckle up and go secure your tickets for your local event!

A show in Marseille’s Le Molotov has been added to the tour on May 2nd, as well as Logo Hamburg and A Colossal Weekend Copenhagen on May 7th and 8th respectively.

Furthermore, the dates for the Barcelona and Madrid shows have been swapped, so make sure you have the right date marked in your agenda!

Tickets available right here:
https://linktr.ee/allthosewhowanderaredool

See below for the updated list:

18/04/2025 NL Schijndel Paaspop*
20/04/2025 DE Munich Dark Easter Metal Meeting *
21/04/2025 CZ Prague Eternia
22/04/2025 PL Warsaw Hydrozagadka
23/04/2025 PL Wroclaw Klub Liverpool
24/04/2025 HU Budapest A38
25/04/2025 AT Graz PPC
26/04/2025 IT Prosecco Kulturni Dom
27/04/2025 IT Milano Legend Club
29/04/2025 ES Madrid Nazca
30/04/2025 ES Barcelona Razzmatazz 3
2/5/2025 FR Marseille Le Molotov
3/5/2025 CH Bulle Ebullition
4/5/2025 DE Lünen Lükaz
05/05/2025 NL Rotterdam Bevrijdingsfestival *
7/5/2025 DE Hamburg Logo *
8/5/2025 DK Copenhagen A Colossal Weekend *

(* = DOOL ONLY)

Line-up:
Raven van Dorst – vocals, guitar
Nick Polak – guitar
Omar Iskandr – guitar
Vincent Kreyder – drums
JB van der Wal – bass guitar

https://www.facebook.com/allthosewhowanderaredool/
https://www.instagram.com/allthosewhowanderaredool/
https://dool-nl.bandcamp.com/
http://allthosewhowanderaredool.com/
http://www.allthosewhowanderaredool.bigcartel.com/

https://www.facebook.com/prophecyproductions
https://www.instagram.com/prophecypro/
https://prophecy-de.bandcamp.com/

DOOL, The Shape of Fluidity (2024)

I did some bio writing earlier this Fall for the upcoming third Year of the Cobra LP, which is self-titled, so I’m not going to pretend not to have heard it. Instead, I’ll tell you outright that it feels from opening track “Full Sails” onward like an absolute arrival point for the duo of bassist/vocalist Amy Tung Barrysmith (also Slower) and drummer Johanes Barrysmith — a fully realized take on what their last album, 2019’s Ash and Dust (review here), laid out in terms of bringing melodic influence from outside the bounds of doom/heavy-whathaveyou and daring toward pop songcraft, while remaining darker in their purposes in a way that knows goth exists but is and wants to be something else too. The songs are correspondingly complex and purposeful, and the band have never sounded better. The only bummer news is it’s not out until the end of February.

The good news, though, is there’s a video up now for second track “War Drop” that emphasizes a lot of what I’m actually talking about above. You’ll find it down at the bottom of this post and I’ll just hope to have more to come on the record between now and what feels like but surely isn’t the far future in which it will arrive. If you read this site with any regularity (sorry for the typos), you’ll know I keep notes throughout the year. Year of the Cobra is the first entry in my notes for the best albums of 2025.

The PR wire takes it from there:

YEAR OF THE COBRA reveal first video single ‘War Drop’ and details of self-titled new album “Year of the Cobra”

YEAR OF THE COBRA premiere the video ‘War Drop’ as the first single taken from their forthcoming new full-length. “Year of the Cobra”, the third album of Seattle’s doom sludge duo has been slated for release on February 28, 2025.

YEAR OF THE COBRA comment: “​​The track ‘War Drop’ was the last song that we recorded with Matt Bayles”, vocalist and bass player Amy Barrysmith explains. “I honestly did not think that it was going to make the album when we were listening to it as a demo. After Matt had worked his genius, we ended up choosing it to be our first single. It’s funny how things work out sometimes. I like this song because it has a little unexpected time change and I love nerding out on things like that.”

Tracklist
1. Full Sails
2. War Drop
3. Daemonium
4. Alone
5. 7 Years
6. The Darkness
7. The Sleep
8. Prayer

Produced & engineered by Matt Bayles at Studio Litho, Seattle, WA (US)
Mixing by Matt Bayles at The Red Room, Seattle, WA (US)
Mastering by Brad Boatright at Audiosiege, Portland, OR (US)

Line-up
Amy Tung Barrysmith – vocals, bass
Johanes Barrysmith – drums

https://www.facebook.com/yearofthecobraband/
https://www.instagram.com/yearofthecobra/
https://yearofthecobra.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/prophecyproductions/
https://prophecy-de.bandcamp.com/
https://en.prophecy.de/

Year of the Cobra, “War Drop” official video

Ambient, avant garde San Francisco chamber worldcasters Amber Asylum have posted the title-track of their upcoming 10th full-length, Ruby Red, and it could hardly do more to represent the aural singularity of the long-running project led by founding vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Kris Force. It is spacious, unsurprisingly, but leaves a lot of open space around Force‘s operatic voice, the cello of Jackie Perez-Gratz (also Grayceon, Brume, etc.) and the march between Fern Lee Alberts‘ bass and Becky Hawk‘s percussive thud. It’s six minutes long, it’s cinematic in its atmosphere — assuming you like sad movies — and it works in its own damn time, thank you very much. I don’t know how goths don’t fall at their knees for this band, but golly they’re immersive.

The PR wire confirms a Feb. 14 release date thusly:

AMBER ASYLUM reveal details & title track of new album “Ruby Red”

AMBER ASYLUM reveal the title track taken from their forthcoming new album “Ruby Red”. The tenth regular full-length of San Francisco’s neoclassical dark ambient quartet has been slated for release on February 14, 2025.

AMBER ASYLUM comment: “The title track of our new album, ‘Ruby Red’, is a poignant dirge that directly addresses the pain and loss inflicted by the pandemic, riots, war, and the looming specter of death”, frontwoman Kris Force writes. “Its haunting melody resonates with the collective sorrow and anguish felt in the aftermath of recent upheavals. Through mournful vocals and evocative instrumentation, the song serves as a solemn elegy, amplifying the echoes of grief caused by these tumultuous events. Each note carries the weight of collective sorrow, inviting listeners to confront the harsh realities of our world and to find solace in shared experience.”

Tracklist
1. Secrets
2. Ruby Red
3. Demagogue
4. The Morrigan
5. Azure
6. Weaver
7. A Call on the Wind

In times of trouble, women have often had to bear an even heavier burden throughout history. On their tenth full-length “Ruby Red”, San Francisco based all-female quartet AMBER ASYLUM offers a haunting reflection on turbulent eras, and blends instrumental passages with evocative lyrics. “Ruby Red” combines dirges, introspective laments, and powerful songwriting that evoke both despair and hope. The album transitions between themes of pain, loss, empowerment, and mortality, while creating a sonic landscape that is both raw and introspective. “Ruby Red” features bass, classical strings, percussion and kit, modular synthesis and female voices.

“Ruby Red” differs from its predecessor in the expansion of focus and depth. While earlier albums centered more on personal emotions, relationships, and journeys, “Ruby Red” broadens its scope to address global issues such as societal upheaval, war, and human rights. This album navigates both the personal and the global, and aims to illuminate the seen and unseen forces that influence our shared reality.

Musically, AMBER ASYLUM balance driving neoclassical elements with the raw power of pounding bass and drums, adding a potent, rhythmic force that contrasts beautifully with the quieter, brooding strings on “Ruby Red”. The bass and percussion create a compelling pulse that underpins the tracks, adding both intensity and depth to the album’s darker moments.

AMBER ASYLUM have taken inspiration for the lyrical concepts of “Ruby Red” from significant global issues such as the pandemic, riots, war, political turmoil, the threat to women’s rights, and empowerment, all while maintaining a deep connection to the extramundane. It reflects on mortality and the inevitability of death as part of a greater cosmic order, intertwining these global crises with metaphysical reflections on the resilience of the human spirit.

AMBER ASYLUM were conceived by composer, singer, and multi-instrumentalist Kris Force in the Californian city of San Francisco in 1990. Throughout their ever-changing musical evolution, the band has shifted throughout a variety of styles and collaborated with a host of musicians such as Steve van Till (NEUROSIS), Sarah Schaffer (WEAKLING), John Cobbet (HAMMERS OF MISFORTUNE), Leila Abdul-Rauf (VASTUM), among many others.

With “Ruby Red”, AMBER ASYLUM perfectly capture the growing dread and horror of many of a new dark age falling in our time. Yet the Californians balance the eerie and unhinged with a fragile beauty and blossoming of hope. “Ruby Red” is a most fascinating soundtrack of all that is to come. Listen carefully.

Recording by Greg Wilkinson at Earhammer Studio, Oakland, CA (US)
Recording by Kris Force at Knobsnob Studio, Oakland, CA. (US)
Drum mix by Greg Wilkinson at Earhammer Studio, Oakland CA (US)
Album mix & mastering by Kris Force at Knobsnob Studio, Oakland, CA (US)

Cover artwork by Kris Force
Layout by Smog Design, LA

Line-up
Kris Force – viola, violin, synth, vocals
Jackie Perez–Gratz – cello, vocals
Fern Lee Alberts – bass
Becky Hawk – percussion, vocals

https://www.facebook.com/AmberAsylum.official
https://www.instagram.com/amberasylum_official
https://amber-asylum.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/prophecyproductions
https://www.instagram.com/prophecypro/
https://prophecy-de.bandcamp.com/

Amber Asylum, Ruby Red (2025)

Amber Asylum, “Ruby Red” visualizer

I got a note from the contact form a bit ago in my email, which happens enough that it’s not really news, except that it wasn’t addressed to me. That happens sometimes too. A band has a form letter they send out with info — it’s not the most personal touch, but has a purpose and doesn’t preclude following-up individually — or just wants to say the same thing to however many outlets. Fair game. This was specifically addressed to somebody else. And it kind of ends with the band saying to send a donation link, like, “Wink wink we donate and you post our stuff.”

Well shit. You mean I coulda been making fat stacks off these stoner bands all the while? Living in my dream house with C.O.C. on the outdoor speakers just by exploiting a couple acts trying to get their riffs heard? Well I’ll be damned. Yeah man, here’s my donation link. Daddy needs a new pair of orthopedic flip-flops. I’ma never pay taxes again.

Life, sometimes.

Quarterly Review #41-50:

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Alunah, Fever Dream

The seventh full-length from UK outfit Alunah, Fever Dream, will be immediately noteworthy for being the band’s last (though one never knows) with vocalist Siân Greenaway fronting the band, presiding over an era of transition when they had to find a new identity for themselves. Fever Dream is the third Alunah LP with Greenaway, and its nine songs show plainly how far the band has come in the six-plus years of her tenure. “Never Too Late” kicks off with both feet at the intersection of heavy rock and classic metal, with a hook besides, and “Trickster of Time” follows up with boogie and flute, because you’re special and deserve nice things. The four-piece as they are here — Greenaway on vocals (and flute), guitarist Matt Noble, bassist Dan Burchmore and founding drummer Jake Mason — are able to bring some drama in “Fever Dream,” to imagine lone-guitar metal Thin Lizzy in the solo of the swaggering “Hazy Jane,” go from pastoral to crushing in “Celestial” and touch on prog in “The Odyssey.” The finale “I’ve Paid the Price” tips into piano grandiosity, but by the time they get there, it feels earned. A worthy culmination for this version of this band.

Alunah on Facebook

Heavy Psych Sounds website

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Coilguns, Odd Love

Swiss heavy post-hardcore unit Coilguns‘ fourth LP and the first in five years, though they’ve had EPs and splits in that time, Odd Love offers 11 songs across an adventurous 48 minutes, alternately raw or lush, hitting hard with a slamming impact or careening or twisting around, mathy and angular. In “Generic Skincare,” it’s both and a jet-engine riff to boot. Atmosphere comes to the fore on “Caravel,” the early going of “Featherweight” and the later “The Wind to Wash the Pain,” but even the most straight-ahead moments of charge have some richer context around them, whether that’s the monstrous tension and release of capper “Bunker Vaults” or, well, the monstrous tension and release of “Black Chyme” earlier on. It’s not the kind of thing I always reach for, but Coilguns make post-hardcore disaffection sound like a good time, with intensity and spaciousness interwoven in their style and a vicious streak that comes out on the regular. Four records deep, the band know what they’re about but are still exploring.

Coilguns on Facebook

Hummus Records website

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Robot God, Subconscious Awakening

Subconscious Awakening is Robot God‘s second album of 2024 and works in a similar two-sides/four-songs structure as the preceding Portal Within, released this past Spring, where each half of the record is subdivided into one longer and shorter song. It feels even more purposeful on Subconscious Awakening since both “Mandatory Remedy” and “Sonic Crucifixion” both hover around eight and a half minutes while side A opens with the 13-minute “Blind Serpent” and side B with the 11-minute title-track. Rife with textured effects, some samples, and thoughtful melodic vocals, Subconscious Awakening of course shares some similarity of purpose with Portal Within, which was also recorded at the same time, but a song like “Sonic Crucifixion” creates its own sprawl, and the outward movement between that closer and the title-track before it underscores the progressivism at work in the band’s sound amid tonal heft and complex, sometimes linear structures. Takes some concentration to wield that kind of groove.

Robot God on Facebook

Kozmik Artifactz website

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Fuzznaut, Wind Doula

Especially for an experimentalist, drone-based act who relies on audience theater-of-the-mind as a necessary component of appreciating its output, Pittsburgh solo outfit Fuzznaut — aka guitarist Emilio Rizzo — makes narrative a part of what the band does. Earlier this year, Fuzznaut‘s “Space Rock” single reaped wide praise for its cosmic aspects. “Wind Doula” specifically cites Neil Young‘s soundtrack for the film Dead Man as an influence, and thus brings four minutes more closely tied to empty spread of prairie, perhaps with some filtering being done through Earth‘s own take on the style as heard in 2005’s seminal Hex: Or Printing in the Infernal Method. One has to wonder if, had Rizzo issued “Wind Doula” with a picture of an astronaut floating free on its cover, it would be the cosmic microwave background present in the track instead of stark wind across the Great Plains, but there’s much more to Fuzznaut than self-awareness and the power of suggestion. Chalk up another aesthetic tryout that works.

Fuzznaut on Facebook

Fuzznaut on Bandcamp

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Void Moon, Dreams Inside the Sun

Trad metal enthusiasts will delight at the specificity of the moment in the history of the style Void Moon interpret on their fourth album, Dreams Inside the Sun. It’s not that they’re pretending outright that it’s 1986, like the Swedish two-piece of guitarist/bassist Peter Svensson and drummer/vocalist Marcus Rosenqvist are wearing hightops and trying to convince you they’re Candlemass, but that era is present in the songwriting and production throughout Dreams Inside the Sun, even if the sound of the record is less directly anachronistic and their metallurgical underpinnings aren’t limited to doom between slowed down thrash riffs, power-metal-style vocalizing and the consuming Iommic nod of “East of the Sun” meeting with a Solitude Aeturnus-style chug, all the more righteous for being brought in to serve the song rather than to simply demonstrate craft. That is to say, the relative barn-burner “Broken Skies” and the all-in eight-minute closer “The Wolf (At the End of the World,” which has some folk in its verse as well, use a purposefully familiar foundation as a starting point for the band to carve their own niche, and it very much works.

Void Moon on Facebook

Personal Records website

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Kelley Juett, Wandering West

Best known for slinging his six-string alongside brother Kyle Juett in Texas rockers Mothership, Kelley Juett‘s debut solo offering, Wandering West pulls far away from that classic power trio in intention while still keeping Juett‘s primary instrument as the focus. Some loops and layering don’t quite bring Wandering West the same kind of experimental feel as, say, Blackwolfgoat or a similar guitarist-gonna-guitar exploratory project, but they sit well nonetheless alongside the fluid noodling of Juett‘s drumless self-jams. He backs his own solo in centerpiece “Breezin’,” and the subsequent “Electric Dreamland” seems to use the empty space as much as the notes being cast out into it to create its sense of ambience, so if part of what Juett is doing on Wandering West is beginning the process of figuring out who he is as a solo artist, he’s someone who can turn a seven-minute meander like “Lonely One” (playing off Mos Generator?) into a bluesy contemplation of evolving reach, the guitar perfectly content to talk to itself if there’s nobody else around. Time may show it to be formative, but let the future worry about the future. There’s a lot to dig into, here and now.

Mothership on Facebook

Glory or Death Records website

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Whispering Void, At the Sound of the Heart

With vocalists Kristian Eivind Espedal (Gaahls Wyrd, Trelldom, ex-Gorgoroth, etc.) and Lindy-Fay Hella (Wardruna, solo, etc.), guitarist Ronny “Valgard” Stavestrand (Trelldom) and drummer/bassist/keyboardist/producer Iver Sandøy (Enslaved, Relentless Agression, etc.), who also helmed (most of) the recording and mixed and mastered, Whispering Void easily could have fallen into the trap of being no more than the sum of its pedigree. Instead, the seven songs on debut album At the Sound of the Heart harness aspects of Norwegian folk for a rock sound that’s dark enough for the lower semi-growls in the eponymous “Whispering Void” to feel like they’re playing toward a gothic sentiment that’s not out of character when there’s so much melancholy around generally. Mid-period Anathema feel like a reference point for “Lauvvind” and the surging “We Are Here” later on, and by that I mean the album is intricately textured and absolutely gorgeous and you’ll be lucky if you take this as your cue to hear it.

Whispering Void on Facebook

Prophecy Productions on Bandcamp

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Orme, No Serpents, No Saviours

You know how sometimes in a workplace where there’s a Boss With Personality™, there might be a novelty sign or a desk tchotchke that says, “The beatings will continue until morale improves?” Like, haha, in addition to wage theft you might get smacked if you get uppity about, say, wage theft? Fine. Orme sound like what happens when morale doesn’t improve. The 24-minute single-song No Serpents, No Saviours EP comes a little more than a year after the band’s two-song/double-vinyl self-titled debut (review here) and finds them likewise at home in longform songwriting. There are elements of death-doom, but Orme are sludgier in their presentation, and so wind up able to be morose and filthy in kind, moving from the opening crush through a quiet stretch after six minutes in that builds into persistent thuds before dropping out again, a sample helping mark the transitions between movements, and a succession of massive lumbering parts trading off leading into a final march that feels as tall as it is wide. I like that, in a time where the trend is so geared toward lush melody, Orme are unrepentantly nasty.

Orme on Facebook

Orme on Bandcamp

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Azutmaga, Offering

Budapest instrumentalist duo Azutmaga make their full-length debut with the aptly-titled Offering, compiling nine single-word-title pieces that reside stylistically somewhere between sludge metal and doom. Self-recorded by guitarist Patrik Veréb (who also mixed and mastered at Terem Studio) and self-released by Veréb and drummer Martin Várszegi, it’s a relatively stripped-down procession, but not lacking breadth as the longer “Aura” builds up to its full roll or the minute-long “Orca” provides an acoustic break ahead of the languid big-swing semi-psychedelia of “Mirror,” informed by Eastern European folk melodies but ready to depart into less terrestrial spheres. It should come as no surprise that “Portal” follows. Offering might at first give something of a monolithic impression as “Purge” calls to mind Earth‘s steady drone rock, but Azutmaga have a whole other level of volume to unfurl. Just so happens their dynamic goes from loud to louder.

Azutmaga on Facebook

Azutmaga on Bandcamp

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Poste 942, #chaleurhumaine

After trickling out singles for over a year, including the title-track of the album and, in 2022, an early version of the instrumental “The Freaks Come Out at Night” that may or may not have been from before vocalist Virginie D. joined the band, the hashtag-named #chaleurhumaine delights in shirking heavy rock conventions, whether it’s the French-language lyrics or divergences into punk and harder fare, but nothing here — regardless of one’s linguistic background — is so challenging as to be inaccessible. Catchy songs are catchy, whether that’s “Fada Fighters” or “La Diable au Corps,” which dares a bit of harmonica along with its full-toned blues rock riffing. Likewise, nowhere the album goes feels beyond the band’s reach, and while “La Ligne” doesn’t sound especially daring as it plays up the brighter pop in its verse and shove of a chorus, well made songs never have any trouble finding welcome. I’m not sure why it’s a hashtag, but #chaleurhumaine feels complete and engaging, at once familiar and nothing so much as itself.

Poste 942 on Facebook

Poste 942 on Bandcamp

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Okay, so if you’re going to put me in a corner and force me to admit it, I will say that perhaps Norwegian folk-influenced atmospheric post-rock isn’t going to be universally relatable. Not everyone who hears it is going to be like, “Oh shit that rules!” and set their preorder with an eye toward securing a good time while they can. The vibe here is more melancholic, more introverted despite the expansive melodies of Lindy-Fay Hella‘s vocals — accompanied by spoken parts from Kristian Espedal (ex-Gorgoroth, Gaahls Wyrd, Trelldom, etc.), guest fiddle, and so on — and fluid in a different way. It’s not a party. Don’t expect a party. But if you’re in just the right kind of contemplative, looking-for-something-obscure-in-style-but-emotionally-resonant spirit, there’s resonance in the video for “Vi finnes” to be had. It’s there waiting for you if and when you feel like you’re ready to find it.

If the involvement of Espedal piqued your interest coming from a more extreme metal side, I’ll note as well Hella‘s work in Wardruna, Ronny “Valgard” Stavestrand also having been in Trelldom and Iver Sandøy‘s status as drummer/vocalist in Enslaved in addition to drumming for Relentless Aggression, Trinacria and recording and playing with scores of others. It’d be a contradiction in mood to call them a supergroup, but nobody here is lacking in pedigree.

And if this turns out to be a note to myself later to check out the album when the time comes, I’m satisfied with that too. Certainly the reason I’m posting “Vi finnes” here is because it made me want to hear more.

From the PR wire:

WHISPERING VOID reveal first video single ‘Vi finnes’ and details of forthcoming debut album “At the Sound of the Heart”

Preorder: http://lnk.spkr.media/whispering-void-sound

The collective of renowned musicians from Norway’s west coast henceforth known as WHISPERING VOID is releasing their first ever video single ‘Vi finnes’ (‘We Exist’) taken from their forthcoming debut full-length “At the Sound of the Heart”. The album has been slated for release on October 18, 2024.

WHISPERING VOID comment: “The main lyrics in this song are in Norwegian, more specifically in an Eastern dialect of Norwegian, and this creates a slippery and almost untrustworthy character”, vocalist Kristian Espedal writes. “The title, ‘Vi finnes’ means ‘we exist’, but the lyrics are about us never existing. The words are about the morning, which is an opportunity, and about the hours, which are the repetition of everything that happens all the time but is never the same. There is much hopefulness in this song, and at the end even a bit of suffering. When the lyrics move into English, they steer into a different direction. Ferrucio came up with the idea for the video. The lady in this film is observing life from the past. I like the very subtle connection to the lyrics.”

Lindy-Fay Hella adds: “I love the vibe of the video”, the vocalist enthuses. “I like that there is a connection with the song’s lyrics, but it also adds a new dimension to it. The haunted house in this video is situated in my neighbourhood and the lady in the video is one of my best friends. She really fits this song. I feel somewhat reminded of the fairy tale ‘Goldielocks and the Three Bears’.”

Tracklist
1. Vinden vier
2. Vi finnes
3. Whispering Void
4. At the Sound of the Heart
5. Lauvvind
6. We Are Here
7. Flower

Recording by Iver Sandøy at Solslottet Studio, Bergen (NO)
Additional recording by Ronny Stavestrand at Home Studio, Bergen (NO)
Mix by Iver Sandøy at Solslottet Studio, Bergen (NO)
Mastering by Iver Sandøy at Solslottet Studio, Bergen (NO)
Artwork by Tor Ola Svennevig
Layout by Øivind Myksvoll

Line-up:
Ronny Stavestrand – guitars
Lindy-Fay Hella – vocals
Kristian Eivind Espedal – vocals
Iver Sandøy – drums & percussion, bass, guitar, keyboards

Guest musicians:
Ole André Farstad – guzheng, Indian slide guitar on ‘Vinden Vier’,’Lauvvind’
Matias Monsen – cello on ‘Whispering Void’, ‘At the Sound of the Heart’, ‘We Are Here’
Silje Solberg – Hardanger fiddle on ‘Vi finnes’, ‘The Vines’

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

https://www.facebook.com/prophecyproductions
https://www.instagram.com/prophecypro/
https://prophecy-de.bandcamp.com/

Whispering Void, At the Sound of the Heart (2024)

Whispering Void, “Vi Finnes” official video

Underrated Oregonian progressive extreme metallers Eight Bells have announced a new lineup around founding guitarist/vocalist Melynda Jackson, expanded from the trio that released Legacy of Ruin (review here) in 2022 through Prophecy Productions to a four-piece with a Joy Von Spain on keyboard and vocals in addition to Evelyn Holland and Andrew Eguchi, who step in on bass and drums, respectively. The previous lineup, pictured above, obviously didn’t have the full-time keys/vocals, so if there’s new material in the works — and maybe there is — it should be interesting to hear how the arrangements of their already markedly complex material shift, if they do.

There are dates booked for this month and next, and I’ll note that there’s probably not a ton of crossover between Cascadian Midsummer Fest and NW Postrock Fest, but that’s the kind of band Eight Bells are.  The PR wire brought the info below:

EIGHT BELLS announce North American summer dates 2024

EIGHT BELLS have announced four shows for the US this summer. Mastermind Melynda Jackson will bring a new live line-up on the road that features EYE OF NIX frontwoman Joy Von Spain among others.

Please see below for all currently confirmed dates.

EIGHT BELLS comment: “These shows will be the first for Eight Bells since last summer”, singer and guitarist Melynda Jackson writes. “I will be joined by Joy Von Spain on keys and vocals, Andrew Eguchi on Drums, and Evelyn Holland on bass. I am thrilled to re-acquaint myself with our latest album ‘Legacy of Ruin’, and to have a chance to enjoy these songs again. We will include a few tracks from 2016’s ‘Landless’, which have only ever been performed by the recording line-up so far. These songs are deeply meaningful to me and they span the band’s progress from 2016 to the present. In these times, we should hold our dearest close and find new hope in music.”

EIGHT BELLS will be touring in support of their latest album “Legacy of Ruin”, which hit the stores on February 25, 2022.

EIGHT BELLS live US 2024
21-23 JUN 2024 Pe Ell, WA (US) Red Hawk Avalon, Cascadian Midsummer Fest
29 JUN 2024 Eugene, OR (US) John Henry’s
06 JUL 2024 Seattle, WA (US) Belltown Yacht Club
12/13 JUL 2024 Portland, OR (US) Polaris Hall, NW Postrock Fest

Eight Bells:
Melynda Jackson – guitar/vocals
Joy Von Spain – keys/vocals,
Andrew Eguchi – drums
Evelyn Holland – bass

https://www.facebook.com/eightbellsband
https://www.instagram.com/eightbellsband/
https://eightbells.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/prophecyproductions
https://www.instagram.com/prophecypro/
https://prophecy-de.bandcamp.com/

Eight Bells, Legacy of Ruin (2022)