Posted in Whathaveyou on February 27th, 2017 by JJ Koczan
I only have one hesitation — and let me stress, only one — when it comes to the notion of a new album from Icelandic progressive melancholia specialists Sólstafir. Simply put, it’s that I’m not sure I’m done with 2014’s Ótta (review here). That fifth outing was my first exposure to the four-piece’s emotionally resonant moodiness — universal enough to overcome a rather significant language barrier — and the prospect of a sixth full-length makes me a little nervous. Still, time marches forward, and Berdreyminn is due out May 26. Hopefully that’s enough time for me to begin to wrap my head around the concept of its existence.
Among my most vivid memories of live performances over the last couple years as well was being able to catch Sólstafir at Roadburn in 2015 (review here). They performed as part of the day curated by Enslaved guitarist Ivar Bjørnson and Wardruna multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Einar “Kvitrafn” Selvik, and stunned in both presence and execution. They’d go on to tour the US and Europe multiple times over, and I expect Berdreyminn will bring them back again. That set played significantly in growing my affection for Ótta, so hopefully at some point we’ll cross paths as they support the new one.
Really, I’m nervous about it.
The PR wire brings album preliminaries and gorgeous cover art from Adam Burke:
Sólstafir announce new album, reveal cover art and track list
Acclaimed Icelandic rock band SÓLSTAFIR have revealed new details their highly anticipated forthcoming sixth album. The new album is titled ‘Berdreyminn’, (which translates to a “dreamer of forthcoming events”) and will be released worldwide on May 26th. The new full-length was produced by Birgir Birgirsson (SIGUR RÓS, ALCEST) and Jaime Gomez-Arellano (GHOST, PARADISE LOST, ULVER).
The album cover, painted by Adam Burke (UNCLE ACID AND THE DEADBEATS, DANAVA) and track list for ‘Berdreyminn’ can be found below.
Posted in Whathaveyou on December 1st, 2016 by JJ Koczan
With their new video, Reykjavic’s Sólstafir end what’s been a pivotal chapter of the band. The Icelandic melancholy specialists gleaned a substantial following behind 2014’s Ótta (review here), and rightly so, touring in North America for the first time as well as of course Europe, Japan, and so on behind material as emotionally vibrant as it was sonically and atmospherically heavy. They’re currently in the process of making the follow-up to Ótta — as of Nov. 29, guitars are done — but their new clip for “Dagmál” is as fitting a goodbye to the prior album as I can think of, capturing the band on stage throughout the year and a half they basically spent on the road.
Like Ótta, Sólstafir‘s next album will be released by Season of Mist, as the PR wire confirms:
SÓLSTAFIR release new video, re-sign with Season of Mist, and record new album
Acclaimed Icelandic rock band SÓLSTAFIR have released a new video for the track “Dagmál”. The video, shot during the band’s extensive touring across Europe is streaming now, here. “Dagmál” appears on the band’s most recent full-length album, ‘Ótta’.
Regarding the video, the band comments: “‘Ótta’ is coming to a close with a third and final video for the song, ‘Dagmál’. The footage for this clip was shot over the course of 18 months of heavy touring. It also features our newest band member Hallgrímur ‘Grimsi’ Hallgrímsson, who started filling in for us behind the drum kit in April 2015.”
The quartet have also signed a new deal with Season of Mist, and begun work on their forthcoming new album.
Regarding the signing, the band comments: “With our previous contract coming to an end, we have had plenty of great offers on the table for which we are grateful. Yet, why should we end a good thing? The entire team works brilliantly together and everyone involved decided that continuing is the logical step moving forward.”
SÓLSTAFIR are now three weeks into the recording their new album. The new full-length will be produced by Birgir Birgirsson (SIGUR RÓS, ALCEST). Jaime Gomez-Arellano (GHOST, PARADISE LOST, ULVER) is also assisting on the new record.
Vocalist and guitarist Adalbjörn “Addi” Tryggvason comments: “We are back here at Sundlaugin for the third time to record our seventh album. We feel right at home and after being locked up in songwriting mode for two months, it is a one of a kind feeling hearing the demos gaining life. We have fourteen songs recorded but at the moment it is too early to tell what will end up on the album. The new album will definitely sound like SÓLSTAFIR and as always, there will be surprises too.”
Gomez-Arellano also comments: “I feel humbled to have the opportunity of working with SÓLSTAFIR. As a fan of the band for many years, I have been trying to work with them before and now it is finally happening. So far it has been a great, creative and positive experience. Working alongside Birgir in his beautiful Studio Sundlaugin has been very productive and fun. I am very excited about the new material.”
The new album is yet to be titled and will be mixed at Arellano’s Orgone Studios in the UK.
Posted in Features on April 18th, 2016 by JJ Koczan
04.18.16 – 13:05 – In air, en route to Reykjavik
Same thing as last year, minor tweak in the execution. I rolled over at 08:50 for an 08:00 alarm, immediate mental brutality. It was six when I went to sleep – same as the night before, and while the alarm was set, it just didn’t happen. I was showered, packed and out the door by 09:10 and that felt pretty good, considering. Like I said, same as last year.
At this point, it feels almost like a part of the Roadburn tradition that I have some snag getting to the airport. After hightailing it to the train station as fast as my sore feet could carry me, I bought my ticket and waited 20 minutes – the Zwolle had just left, the Utrech Centraal would take me to den Bosch, where I’d change to the airport – for it to show up. It did, and though I was stressing the whole time about missing the flight and sent The Patient Mrs. her annual “I’m not gonna make it this time” text message, I got to the airport, through check-in and security with about three minutes to spare before they closed the gate. Made it. A splash of water on the face and neck, a relatively smooth flight, and I’ll connect in Reykjavik before going on to Boston. Back to work tomorrow.
Which seems cruel in hindsight.
A few things to wrap up the Roadburn 2016 coverage. First, the names of these posts come from various song titles worth recognizing. Some were obvious picks, some less so. If you’re unfamiliar, they are:
1. “Hover,” by Spotlights
2. “Dawn” by Elephant Tree
3. No song title
4. “Eternal Waltz” by Beelzefuzz
5. “Cosmic Truth” by Hexvessel
6. “Living with the Dead” by With the Dead
7. “Times of Grace” by Neurosis
8. “Black Magick Boogieland” by Death Alley
9. “Homegoings and Transitions” by Floor
I was falling asleep all night last night at the laptop screen and though it’s the early afternoon, I find right now is no different. Still, before I land and have to find my gate and all that flying-deathtrap nonsense that is, to the shame of our entire species, still allegedly the best way of traveling around the planet, I have a few thank yous to get out. Including but not at all limited to:
Walter Roadburn, whose ceaseless passion and efforts are an inspiration both this weekend and all around the year. The work he’s done and the community he’s built felt more than ever like coming home, even with the changes to the venue, and it was through Walter’s grace and the grace of the 013 staff that it was able to happen.
Thank you to my family for their unending support. If you follow me on Thee Facebooks at all, you probably saw my mother commenting on photos from Instagram. I love that.
Lee Edwards for sleeping (shaman-esque, you might say) through my nighttime typing and for the most excellent work he put into the Weirdo Canyon Dispatch, writing and layout. As well as for the friendship and good chats in the 013 office on those tired mornings for the folding ritual. Seeing Lee was one of the aspects of Roadburn 2016 to which I was most looking forward.
Thanks as well to the Weirdo Canyon Dispatch staff this year – Alex Mysteerie, Andreas Kohl, Ben Handelman, Becky Laverty, Dom Lawson, Guido Segers, Jamie Ludwig, José Carlos Santos, Kim Kelly, Paul Robertson, Sander van den Driesche, photographer Paul Verhagen, the guys from Drawn too Late, Wendy Wright, Gijs Garenfeld, and Cavum, without whose art, the thing simply would not have been the same. All of the above did tremendous work, whether it was writing or other, and the ‘zine wouldn’t have happened were it not for them.
I met Tad Doyle this weekend. That was awesome. Some people I wasn’t brave enough to introduce myself to: photographer Ester Segarra, anyone from Neurosis, Sanford Parker.
Thanks as well to Tim Bugbee, Jon Freeman, Jurgen van den Brand, Rolf from Stickman and Torgeir from Crispin Glover, Ole from Tombstones, Frank Huang, Esther de Rooij, Sanne Reiniers, Miranda, Falk-Hagen Bernshausen, Stefan Raduta, and many more I will add to the list over the next couple days.
To read all of The Obelisk’s Roadburn 2016 coverage, click here.
Posted in Bootleg Theater on February 9th, 2016 by JJ Koczan
Icelandic trio The Vintage Caravan kicked off their first European headlining tour this past weekend, and to mark the occasion, they’ve unveiled the second, even-weirder video to come from their sophomore album, Arrival (review here). “Babylon” was the first audio to come from Arrival early last year in a lyric video (posted here) and its hook is resonant enough that if you checked out that track even once, it’ll probably come back to you here. Plus, it’s significantly longer than was “Crazy Horses,” which was the first video from the record, so the three-piece have more time to really get strange as they go on.
And they do. What starts with an awkward YouTube-style interview that takes Polish ‘zines down a peg quickly takes a turn as the band gets chased by volcano zombies and captured by merpeople, gives birth to an all-white demon, winds up at some weird tea party and then, finally, gets on stage to finish the song. The last video was weird. This one’s weirder. Call it artistic progression.
The Vintage Caravan stay on the road throughout much of March in Europe, and since they rounded out 2015 on tour, I wouldn’t be surprised if they had plans upcoming either for summer or fall as well. And hey, as cinematic as the clips for “Crazy Horses” and “Babylon” have been, it’s always possible the band will make it a trilogy of videos from Arrival before moving forward with their next album. We’ll see if they manage to survive next time.
Enjoy:
The Vintage Caravan, “Babylon” official video
THE VINTAGE CARAVAN RELEASE OFFICIAL VIDEO FOR “BABYLON”!
Icelandic classic rock trio THE VINTAGE CARAVAN have released the music video for the song “Babylon” off their successful latest album, Arrival.
The band commented about the song,”From the beginning we always wanted to do a video to “Babylon”. It’s definitely one of the heavier, more primal songs off the last album Arrival.”
The Vintage Caravan on Tour: 04.02.2016 Kolding (Denmark) – Godset 05.02.2016 Aalborg (Denmark) – 1000Fryd 06.02.2016 Copenhagen (Denmark) – BETA 07.02.2016 Kiel (Germany) – Die Pumpe 09.02.2016 Leeuwarden (The Netherlands) – Neushoorn 10.02.2016 Den Bosch (The Netherlands) – W2 11.02.2016 Antwerp (Belgium) – Het Bos 12.02.2016 Sittard (The Netherlands) – Volt 13.02.2016 Dresden (Germany) – Chemiefabrik 14.02.2016 Lille (France) – La Péniche 15.02.2016 Paris (France) – La Mécanique Ondulatoire 17.02.2016 Nantes (France) – Scène Michelet 18.02.2016 Bordeaux (France) – Void 19.02.2016 Bilbao (Spain) – Santana 27 20.02.2016 Almada (Portugal) – Cine Incrivél 21.02.2016 Madrid (Spain) – Sala Caracol 22.02.2016 Barcelona (Spain) – La 2 25.02.2016 Aarau (Switzerland) – Kiff 26.02.2016 Milan (Italy) – Lo Fi Club 27.02.2016 Mödling (Austria) – Red Box 28.02.2016 Graz (Austria) – Explosiv 29.02.2016 Salzburg (Austria) – Rockhouse 02.03.2016 Innsbruck (Austria) – Weekender 03.03.2016 Budapest (Hungary) – Dürer Kert 04.03.2016 Prague (Czech Republic) – Nova Chmelnice 05.03.2016 Cracow (Poland) – Zascianek 06.03.2016 Warsaw (Poland) – Hydrozagadka 08.03.2016 Lichtenfels (Germany) – Paunchy Cats 09.03.2016 Erfurt (Germany) – Museumskeller 10.03.2016 Bonn (Germany) – WDR Crossroads (only The Vintage Caravan) 11.03.2016 Nürnberg (Germany) – Der Cult 12.03.2016 Munich (Germany) – Under The Black Moon (Backstage) (Only The Vintage Caravan) 13.03.2016 Münster (Germany) – Sputnik Cafe 18.03.2016 Düsseldorf (Germany – Pitcher (Only The Vintage Caravan) 19.03.2016 Düsseldorf (Germany – Pitcher (Only The Vintage Caravan) – SOLD OUT
Posted in Bootleg Theater on December 21st, 2015 by JJ Koczan
Must be getting on winter as thoughts return to Iceland’s Sólstafir and their 2014 Ótta (review here). I expect that will be the case for years to come and regardless of whatever the band does next, since some albums just stand in for a certain time, place, etc., and Ótta was such a winter record. Its black and white progressive feel finds new manifestation in a video for the subdued piano piece “Miðaftann,” and perhaps unsurprisingly, the desolate atmospherics of the clip suit the song perfectly.
I wouldn’t exactly call it subtle in terms of visual metaphor, a stranded sailor carrying a white flag across an empty volcanic landscape in hope of finding his salvation somewhere, presumably anywhere that might hold life, screaming and grinding his hands into the black dirt along the way, but as a set-piece, its nod to The Seventh Seal feels appropriate, and while the band don’t appear, the cinematic value of the work holds the viewer in place to find out where and how the narrative will end. Spoiler alert: the ending is in color.
To go with the new video, Sólstafir just announced a string of UK/European dates for May 2016 in which they’ll play Ótta in its entirety, with full string and piano arrangements. You can find the info for that tour, as well as some comment from the band on the song and the director on the video, as well of course as the video itself, all below.
Enjoy:
Sólstafir, “Miðaftann” official video
Enigmatic Icelandic rock band SOLSTAFIR have seen the release of a new video for the track “Miðaftann”. The video, directed by Harri Haataja and Vesa Ranta, is streaming now.
Regarding the video, SOLSTAFIR guitarist/frontman Aðalbjörn Tryggvason comments, “The track is about wandering in darkness. Playing chess with Death, getting burned by salt, drowning in the ultimate wave of sin and returning back home by using moonlight as navigation.”
Video directors Harri Haataja and Vesa Ranta comment, “They told us a real-life story about a sailor who lost his crew at sea and was stranded to shore as the only survivor,” the directors write. “He proceeded to find his way to town and [along the way] he found a barrel filled with water. But the water was frozen, so he had to punch through the ice with his bare hands to fight the dehydration. Eventually, after a long journey, he found his way to town and survived.”
May 2016: Ótta in its entirety – complete with strings and piano – followed by a selection of fan favourites from Solstafir’s history.
14 May 16 London (UK) Islington Assembly Hall 15 May 16 Paris (FR) Divan du Monde 16 May 16 Haarlem (NL) Patronaat 17 May 16 Hamburg (DE) Gruenspan 18 May 16 Leipzig (DE) Taubchental 19 May 16 Aarau (CH) KiFF 20 May 16 Wörgl (AT) Komma 21 May 16 Wien (AT) Arena 22 May 16 Praha (CZ) Palac Akropolis
Posted in Whathaveyou on October 13th, 2015 by JJ Koczan
Icelandic outfit Sólstafir have begun a new European tour alongside The Ocean and Mono that follows a stint in Japan with Anathema last month in support of 2014’s Ótta (review here), released on Season of Mist and which even now sounds like winter beckoning. The melancholic, emotionally-driven heavy post-rockers have been around the world to herald the album, including North America, and they’re showing no signs of slowing down. The current run will take them into the beginning of next month, running all the way up to Damnation Festival in Leeds, UK.
They’ve also got a brand new drummer in Hallgrímur Jón Hallgrímsson. The PR wire has it like this:
SOLSTAFIR kick off European tour
SÓLSTAFIR are kicking off their European autumn tour with MONO and THE OCEAN at the Voxhall in Aarhus, Denmark tonight. SÓLSTAFIR are furthermore announcing Hallgrímur Jón Hallgrímsson as the new man on the drum stool for this road-trip (photo-credit: Mikio Ariga). All confirmed dates can be viewed below.
“Please welcome our current touring drummer, Hallgrímur Jón Hallgrímsson!”, states Aðalbjörn Tryggvason. “He already played some shows with us, and we are looking very much forward to have him aboard on this journey. His previous bands include TENDERFOOT, BEE SPIDERS, and JEFF WHO.”
12 Oct 15 Aarhus (DK) Voxhall 13 Oct 15 Oslo (NO) Vulkan Arena 14 Oct 15 Stockholm (SE) Debaser Medis 16 Oct 15 Turku (FI) Vimma 17 Oct 15 Helsinki (FI) Cirkus 18 Oct 15 St. Petersburg (RU) Zhal Ozhidaniya 19 Oct 15 Moscow (RU) Volta 21 Oct 15 Vilnius (LI) New York 22 Oct 15 Warszawa (PL) Proxima 23 Oct 15 Berlin (DE) Heimathafen SOLD OUT! 24 Oct 15 Leeuwarden (NL) Into the Void Fest 26 Oct 15 Köln (DE) Live Music Hall 27 Oct 15 Wiesbaden (DE) Schlachthof 28 Oct 15 München (DE) Backstage 29 Oct 15 Bologna (IT) Locomotiv 30 Oct 15 Mezzago (IT) Bloom 31 Oct 15 Lyon (FR) CCO Villeurbanne 01 Nov 15 Barcelona (ES) Apolo 02 Nov 15 Toulouse (FR) Metronum 03 Nov 15 Lausanne (CH) Les Docks 04 Nov 15 Zürich (CH) Harterei 05 Nov 15 Paris (FR) Trabendo 06 Nov 15 London (UK) Electric Ballroom 07 Nov 15 Leeds (UK) Damnation Fest
Posted in Whathaveyou on September 1st, 2015 by JJ Koczan
Globetrotting Icelanders Sólstafir are playing Japan this week in support of their 2014 Season of Mist release, Ótta (review here), which as we come to the end of summer 2015 has been on my mind with the lingering threat of colder weather. The band have been touring their collective arse off for Ótta, playing in Europe and North America, where they’re basically introducing people to who they are and what they do — I’ll make no attempts to claim I’m Johnny Groundfloor; this spring was my first time seeing them too — but as processes go, that one seems to be going well. I would not be surprised to have them come back to the States before they do another record, but after Japan it’s Europe next on deck, so we’ll just have to see what winter brings.
Other than a massive amount of repeat listens for Ótta, that is. Sorry, but some records are just made for low temperatures.
This, from the PR wire:
SOLSTAFIR kick off tour dates in Japan
Enigmatic Icelandic rock band SOLSTAFIR have kicked off a trek to Japan tonight, where the band are performing two exclusive dates in Tokyo alongside British progressive legends, ANATHEMA. The Japanese tour dates see the band perform ahead of their previously announced European tour alongside MONO and THE OCEAN, taking place later this October. A full list of confirmed tour dates can be found below.
SOLSTAFIR are touring in support of their critically acclaimed new album , ‘Otta’. The album is streaming here, and is available now at theSeason of Mist E-shop.
SOLSTAFIR Japanese tour dates: 8/31 Tokyo, JP @ Liquid Room w/ANATHEMA 9/1 Tokyo, JP @ Liquid Room w/ANATHEMA SOLSTAFIR European tour dates: 10/12 Aarhus, DK @ Voxhall 10/13 Oslo, NO @ Vulkan Arena 10/14 Stockholm, SE @ Debaser Medis 10/18 St. Petersburg, RU @ Zhal Ozhidaniya 10/19 Moscow, RU @ Volta 10/21 Vilnius, LI @ NEW YORK 10/22 Warsaw, PL @ Proxima 10/23 Berlin, DE @ Heimathafen 10/24 Leeuwarden, NL @ Into the Void Fest 10/26 Cologne, DE @ Live Music Hall 10/27 Wiesbaden, DE @ Schlachthof 10/28 Munich, DE @ Backstage 10/29 Bologna, IT @ Locomativ 10/30 Mezzago, IT @ Bloom 10/31 Lyon, FR @ CCO Villeurbanne 11/02 Toulouse, FR @ Metronum 11/03 Lausanne, CH @ Les Docks 11/04 Zurich, CH @ Harterei 11/05 Paris, FR @ Trabendo 11/06 London, UK @ Electric Ballroom 11/07 Leeds, UK @ Damnation Fest
And so we cruise into day three. Not sure how you’re holding up, but I feel like I’m hanging in pretty well. We pass the halfway point today, which is significant, but of course there are still plenty of records to come. I’m not sure I have a favorite day — I tried to spread stuff around as best I could when I was planning the whole thing — but there are definitely a couple highlights today as well. No doubt the standouts will stand out as we make our way through.
Quarterly Review #21-30:
Minsk, The Crash and the Draw
Six years after the release of their third album, With Echoes in the Movement of Stone (review here), the 75-minute breadth of The Crash and the Draw (on Relapse) marks a welcome resurgence for Illinois post-metallers Minsk. Only keyboardist/vocalist Timothy Mead and guitarist/vocalist Christopher Bennett (also of Lark’s Tongue) remain from what was a four-piece and is now five with Aaron Austin on guitar/vocals, Zachary Livingston on bass/vocals and Kevin Rendleman on drums, but Minsk’s cascading heft is well intact as they show immediately on 12-minute opener and longest cut (immediate points) “To the Initiate.” True enough one is bound to be initiated after it, but it hardly scratches the surface of the atmospheric sludge Minsk continue to develop over the course of the four-parter “Onward Procession,” the glorious later melodies of “The Way is Through,” or the tribal tension in the percussion-led “To You there is No End.” They cap with the 10-minute “When the Walls Fell” and find themselves standing after all else has crashed down. A sprawling and triumphant return.
Not to be confused with New York’s King Buffalo, Michigan’s Bison Machine or any number of other large mammals in the well-populated fur-covered contingent of American heavy rockers, King Bison make their self-titled debut via Snake Charmer Coalition, comprising seven riffy bruisers owing a deep debt to Clutch and, in that, reminding a bit of their Pennsylvanian countrymen in Kingsnake. Songs like “One for the Money” and “March of the Sasquatch” signal a watch for stoner-roller grooves to come in “Queen of the South” and “Pariah,” the dudeliness of the proceedings practically oozing from the speakers in the gruff vocals of guitarist/vocalist Chris Wojcik, who’s joined in the trio by bassist Dean Herber and drummer Scott Carey. The penchant for booze and blues, ladies and US auto manufacturing holds firm in “Night Ride” and the slower “I’m Gone,” and while one might expect a closer called “Space Boogie” to flesh out a bit, King Bison instead reinforce the foundation they’ve laid all along of Southern-style heft, remaining light on pretense and heavy on riffs.
Originally issued digitally late last year, Salzburg, Austria, instrumental trio Les Lekin are set to give their debut long-player, All Black Rainbow Moon, a second look with a 180g vinyl pressing in Fall 2015. Comprised of six tracks, the record is a spacious 49 minutes, and the three-piece of guitarist Peter G., bassist Stefan W. and drummer Kerstin W. enact a fluid heavy psych groove, somewhat less dense in its fuzz than the post-Colour Haze sphere and following plotted courses throughout, whether it’s in the Arenna-esque “Solum,” which unfolds after the album’s wash of an intro, the efficient exploration of “Useless,” which seems to pack a 12-minute jam into a six-minute song, or the still-open-sounding bluesy stretchout of “Loom,” the longest inclusion here at 13:16. Familiar in aesthetic perhaps, the songs are nonetheless complex enough to represent the band’s beginnings well, the closer “Release” coming to a heavier apex that could perhaps foreshadow future expansions of the chiaroscuro elements at which the title of this debut is hinting.
After releasing their 2012 debut, Voyage, on Nuclear Blast last year, young Icelandic trio The Vintage Caravan return in 2015 with their sophomore full-length, Arrival – the second record seeming by title to be an answer to the first. Maybe that’s the intention musically, but the 10 tracks/55 minutes comprising Arrival do well to stand on their own, with the impressive lead work of guitarist/vocalist Óskar Logi never too far from the fore on songs like the standout “Babylon” or “Sandwalker,” though backed capably by the rhythm section of bassist Alexander Örn (also backup vocals) and drummer Stefán Ari Stefánsson. While unquestionably a more mature outing than their debut and more accomplished in its chemistry and songwriting, Arrival still gives a sense of the progression to come, and it’s easy to worry that by the time the listener gets to the powerful closing trio of “Innerverse,” “Carousel” and “Winter Queen,” the dizzying play throughout will have dulled the senses past the point of full appreciation. Room to tighten? Perhaps, but still a strong second outing for a band loaded with potential.
Guitarist/vocalist Jim Healey is known more for the aggressive edge he’s brought over the years to bands like We’re all Gonna Die, Black Thai and most recently Shatner, but his solo material brings a different look. Joined in this “solo” endeavor by guitarist/vocalist/organist Joe McMahon, cellist/backing vocalist Dana Fisher, drummer Kyle Rasmussen and accordionist/backing vocalist Bridget Nault, Healey’s songwriting is nonetheless front and center across the nine tracks of This is What the End Looked Like, memorable cuts like “A Whole Lot of Nothing,” the more subdued “Radio” (written by Eddy Llerena) and closer “World War Eight” fleshing out arrangements that could work and/or have worked just as well on solo acoustic guitar for Healey in live performances. Worth noting that for all the vocal and instrumental embellishments on the studio incarnations, the songs lose none of the heartfelt feel at their core, Healey’s voice remaining a lonely presence despite obviously keeping good company.
Nighthymns marks a return for ANU and the band’s sole inhabitant Chad “Drathrul” Davis (Hour of 13/Night Magic, Tasha-Yar, The Sabbathian, and so many others) after a four-year absence following the release of 2011’s III EP. Offsetting blasting, ripping black metal on cuts like “Enter the Chasm” and “The Eternal Frost” with the ambient drones of “Risen within the Mist of Obscurity,” the longer “Winterfall” and the title-track, Nighthymns nonetheless gnashes its teeth in a dense blackened murk, screams far back in “Enter the Chasm” beneath programmed-sounding thud and full-on guitar squibblies. A project Davis has had going in one form or another since releasing a first demo in 1999, and likely before that, ANU’s slicing extremity and atmospherics rest well alongside each other, but neither is accessibility a remote concern. If you get it, you get it, and if you don’t, you don’t. Nighthymns is way more concerned with separating wheat from chaff than it is with making friends, and that plays much to its ultimate success.
Comprised of gruff-shouting vocalist Henning L., guitarists Christopher P. and Stephan M., bassist Matthias B. and drummer Torsten H., German riff idolizers Iron and Stone debuted in 2013 with an EP titled Maelstrom and Old Man’s Doom is a follow-up short release. Pressed to DIY cassettes, the three-tracker preaches loud and clear to the nod-ready converted in “Place in Hell” and “Into the Unknown,” big riffs lumbering out stone vibes, intertwining rhythms and leads in the latter as Henning works his shouting into a corresponding notation. “Into the Unknown” ends large and Sabbathy, but speedier closer “Bliss of Diversion” is a high point unto itself for the consistency of the tonal morass that the uptick in pace brings out of the guitar and bass, resulting in a kind of noisy, dense-in-the-low-end punk that suits Iron and Stone well despite operating in defiance of the EP’s title. New material reportedly in the works as well.
Their first album, Second Sun follows a 2012 self-titled EP from Indiana trio Gorgantherron, but is in a different league entirely. A well-set mix balance establishes itself on the opening title-track and develops throughout “Superliminial” and “Bookbinder” as they get rolling, and Gorgantherron – guitarist/vocalist Clint Logan, bassist/vocalist Toby Richardson and drummer Chris Flint – continue to foster grooving largesse over the nine tracks/47 minutes, veering skillfully between boogie and doom on “Pre-Warp Civilization” before airing out an atmospheric take on “Seventh Planet,” the rough-edged vocals prevalent in quieter surroundings. Richardson’s fuzz on “The Stone” ensures the song lives up to its name, and the soft guitar noodling that opens “Paranoia” brings a surprising touch of Colour Haze influence out of the blue before a count-in from Flint puts the band’s roll back on its appointed track. Closing duo “Entropy” and “Defy” offer some shuffle and chug, respectively, but by then the trio have already made the album’s primary impression in their heavy riffs, burl and more than capable execution.
The two cuts of Spanish trio Elephant Riders’ Challenger EP take Kyuss-style desert riffing and reset the context to something altogether less jammy. Tight and presented with a near-metallic crispness in their production, both “Challenger” – rerecorded from an earlier EP – and its more rolling B-side “Lone Wolf” push the line between heavy and hard rock, but riffs remain central to their purposes. Having released their debut full-length, Supernova, in 2014, they’re still getting settled into their sound, but a blend of heavy rock, grunge and metal impulses pervades these two songs, and when “Lone Wolf” shifts into a couple measures of start-stop fuzz riffing in its second half, they show off just a reminder nod for where they got their name. Two catchy tracks that maybe aren’t reinventing the stoner rock game, they nonetheless provide a quick sample of Elephant Rider’s songwriting development in progress and plant the seeds of future hooks to come.
When placed next to each other, the five one-word titles on Lend Me Your Underbelly’s Hover – either the project’s third or fourth full-length, depending on what you count – result in the phrase “Everything” “Was” “Deep” “Dark” “Green.” Whether or not that is of special significance to Netherlands-based multi-instrumentalist/sampler Christian Berends, I don’t know. The whole idea across these tracks seems to be experimentation and improvisation, so if the titles were grabbed from somewhere at random or carrying a rich emotional connection, either is just as likely. Not knowing turns out to be half the fun of Hover itself – not knowing that, not knowing what Berends is going to do around the next turn as each track builds, not knowing where all this noise is leading as the swirls and riffs of “Green” close out. Layers careen, appear and disappear throughout, but the wide open structures and creative sensibility remain consistent and tie Hover together as an intricate work of exploratory psychedelia.
