Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol Announce European Tour

Posted in Whathaveyou on February 14th, 2025 by JJ Koczan

Currently in the Midwest as they finish up shows this weekend on a tour that brought them back toward the Eastern Seaboard supporting their 2024 album, Big Dumb Riffs (review here), Austin trio Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol will embark on their first-ever stint in Europe and the UK this June. By then, they’ll already have their March tour of the West Coast — their umpteenth, I believe — under their collective belt, and they were out this past Fall with King Buffalo, so the voyage abroad could hardly come at a better time, momentum-wise. You’d almost think these things were planned out in advance.

The PR wire brought dates and ticket/album order links. I don’t know if the video for “Whip it Around” has been posted here yet, but that’s definitely a worthy way to spend a literal minute of your day. Among the slew of Eurofests they’re playing, I was hoping they’d get added to Desertfest Oslo, which I’ll hopefully be attending in May, but apparently no dice as yet. Will keep my fingers accordingly crossed, as this is a band I feel like I need to see.

The dates:

rickshaw billie's burger patrol europe 2025

Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol announce full EU & UK tour dates in May, Western US tour in March

Austin trio Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol announce the complete dates of their upcoming first ever EU and UK tour today, kicking off on May 15th. Please see all dates below. Tickets for all shows are available now HERE: https://taplink.cc/rickshawbillie

The band is currently on the road for the last week of their East Coast tour with Lip Critic supporting. Following shortly after SXSW, the band embarks on Western US headlining dates.

BIG DUMB RIFFS is available on digital, LP and cassette, released May 10th, 2024. Order/stream the album on all formats HERE: https://taplink.cc/rickshawbillie

RICKSHAW BILLIE’S BURGER PATROL – LIVE 2025:
02/13 Hamtramck, MI – Small’s (w/ Lip Critic)
02/14 Chicago, IL – Empty Bottle (w/ Lip Critic)
02/15 Milwaukee, WI – Cactus Club (w/ Lip Critic)
02/16 Minneapolis, MN – Zhora Darling (w/ Lip Critic)

03/19 Phoenix, AZ – Linger Longer Lounge
03/20 San Diego, CA – Whistle Stop
03/21 Los Angeles, CA – Zebulon
03/22 Oakland, CA – Thee Stork Club
03/24 Portland, OR – Show Bar
03/25 Seattle, WA – Barboza
03/27 Salt Lake City, UT – Urban Lounge
03/28 Fort Collins, CO – The Coast
03/29 Denver, CO – Bluebird Theatre
03/30 Colorado Springs, CO – Vultures
04/10 Dallas, TX – Granada Theater (w/ The Sword)
04/11 San Antonio, TX – Paper Tiger (w/ The Sword)

RICKSHAW BILLIE’S BURGER PATROL EU/UK 2025:
15/05 Brussels, BE – Obsidian Dust Festival
16/05 Nijmegen, NL – Sonic Whip Festival
17/05 Wolverhampton, UK – Dive
18/05 London, UK – DesertFest London
20/05 Paris, FR – Mécanique Ondulatoire
21/05 Lille, FR – Le Bulle Café
22/05 Bochum, DE – Die Trompete
23/05 Berlin, DE – DesertFest Berlin
24/05 Lübeck, DE – Treibsand
25/05 Stockholm, SE – Bar Brooklyn
27/05 Malmö, SE – Plan B
28/05 Dresden, DE – Chemiefabrik
29/05 Traunstein, DE – Cafe Festung
31/05 Ljubljana, SI – Menza Pri Koritu
01/06 Zagreb, HR – Vintage Industrial Bar
02/06 Vienna, AT – Arena
03/06 Budapest, HU – Szimpla
05/06 Gdansk, PL – Mystic Festival
06/06 Brno, CZ – Kabinet MUZ
07/06 Prague, CZ – Bike Jesus

Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol:
Leo Lydon: eight-string guitar/vocals
Aaron Metzdorf: bass
Sean St.Germain: drums

https://www.facebook.com/rickshawbilliesburgerpatrol
https://www.instagram.com/rickshawbillieandtheboys
https://rickshawbilliesburgerpatrol.bandcamp.com/
http://www.rickshawbilliesburgerpatrol.com/
https://taplink.cc/rickshawbillie

Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol, “Whip it Around” official video

Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol, Big Dumb Riffs (2024)

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Sonic Whip 2025: Slomosa, Khan, The Janitors, Help & Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol Added

Posted in Whathaveyou on December 27th, 2024 by JJ Koczan

If this week has felt like little more than catching up with fest announcements and doing-myself-a-favor heavy psych reviews, yeah, I think you’ve basically got the picture of what’s been going on. Of course the holidays are a factor, but even in the quietest of weeks — and this and next are the quietest weeks, traditionally, though the music industry used to shut down from December through February when it ruled the world and anyone could afford an off-season — there’s stuff happening for me to be behind on, and so here we are with Sonic Whip 2025 in Nijmegen bringing on SlomosaRickshaw Billie’s Burger PatrolHelp and The Janitors.

Going by the results so far to the Year-End Poll, people are ready for Slomosa to have as busy a year as they apparently will in 2025, and Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol‘s European Not-Vacation has been teased for a few months. That they’d be anchoring club shows at fests makes sense; it’s how things are done these days and I honestly don’t know how much time they’ve spent in Europe at this point. And Khan coming from Australia is incredible, no less because the Melbourne, Australia, psychcrushers are also slated to appear at Hoflärm 2025 in August, which means they could be in Europe for much of the summer. That would be a hell of a trip.

All that’s very exciting, but The Janitors are my real lesson here, as I hadn’t heard them before and they’ve been around for a long time and the record they put out this year, An Error Has Occurred, streaming below, rules. Enjoy it along with this from social media:

sonic whip 2025 new poster sq

NEW NAMES SONIC WHIP 2025

All ready and set for the holidays? We for sure are, but not before adding some truly fine gems to the Sonic Whip 2025 line-up; Slomosa, The Janitors, Help, Khan and Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol!

Slomosa can’t wait to make their appearance again with their hard hitting Norwegian tundra rock. As are The Janitors who will conjure their heavy fuzzed out drones, a truly Swedish psychedelic aural wormhole, cool and mega-trippy. Which is nothing like Help, these guys from Portland bring throat-shredding, veins-bulging, shirt-soaking hardcore noise punk. The Aussies from Khan on the other hand deliver evocative, hazy psychedelica with intricate stoner riffs. And last but not least Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol. This trio from Texas create the most brilliant doom sludge pop psych combination you propably will hear this year… It’s big, it’s dumb, it’s fucking rifftastic!

That’s not all, daytickets are available now as well at a reduced price, available until January 12th. Snag these while they are still hot. The new year will also bring more cool names including the second headliner!

Tickets & info: https://bit.ly/Sonic-Whip-2025

https://www.facebook.com/Sonicwhipfestival
https://www.instagram.com/sonic_whip/
https://www.doornroosje.nl/festival/sonic-whip/

The Janitors, An Error Has Occurred (2024)

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The Obelisk Presents: THE BEST OF 2024 — Year in Review

Posted in Features on December 19th, 2024 by JJ Koczan

the obelisk 2024 year in review

[PLEASE NOTE: These are not the results of the year-end poll, which ends in January. If you haven’t contributed your picks yet, please do so here.]

Hi, and welcome to The Obelisk’s year in review for 2024. This is a thing that’s kind of developed over the 15-plus years the site’s been in operation, and it’s something that people sometimes tell me has been a help when it comes to finding new music. I know for myself as well, I’ve referred back to these lists a lot in subsequent years, to see where bands were and where my head was, and so on. Are best-of lists meaningful, at all, in any way? Probably to the person making them, and that’s me, so I’ll proceed.

I thought the format last year worked pretty well, so I’ve hijacked it for use here. Not something I expect anyone to notice, but I did want to mention it on the off-chance. I don’t have a best live album of the year, but there are a few worth talking about, surely.

It’s been a busy, fast year. The barrage of music is overwhelming — and as problems go, that’s among the best ones to have — but I do think we’re seeing some tapering off. Generational turnover is, in fact, a constant, but the 2020s are taking shape now with bands who started making their name around the mid-2010s shifting into headliner status, new bands coming up beneath, more diverse in sound and construction, and with new ideas. This isn’t universal, but it is the ideal vision of the thing. Circle of life and such.

But it’s a lot. Including the 50-releases-strong Quarterly Review last week, I’m well north of having reviewed 400 total different mostly-full-lengths since January. That’s insane. The math is obvious, but I’ll point out anyhow that you could buy an album for every day of the year and have enough for an extra month-plus afterward. An astonishing amount of music, and I’m by no means reviewing everything.

Which brings me to the inevitable last point. I haven’t reviewed everything. If you’re here wondering where Opeth and Blood Incantation are landing on my list, they aren’t. Nothing against either of them, I just haven’t dug into the records since I knew I wouldn’t be reviewing them. The regular standard of doing as much as I can, when I can, about as much as I can, applies.

Please if you disagree with some pick below or other — and if you do, that’s healthy — I kindly ask you to keep things civil in the comments. I’m not here to call people out on enjoying things I don’t — fascism aside — and I know it makes me sad when I break my ass for days to put this together and the first comment is, “NO [WHOEVER]. LIST SUCKS. NEVER READING THIS FILTH AGAIN,” etc. Before you comment, please take a second to read what you put back to yourself for kindness. That’s good for spelling too, not that I’d know.

That’s all the stalling I can do. Time to dive in. Happy holidays.

The Top 60 Albums of 2024

**NOTE**: If you’re looking for something specific, try a text search.

60-31

60. Psychlona, Warped Vision
59. Trillion Ton Beryllium Ships, The Mind Like Fire Unbound
58. Massive Hassle, Unreal Damage
57. Temple of the Fuzz Witch, Apotheosis
56. Space Shepherds, Cycler
55. Abrams, Blue City
54. Castle Rat, Into the Realm
53. Heath, Isaak’s Marble
52. Weite, Oase
51. Cosmic Fall, Back Where the Fire Flows

50. Troy the Band, Cataclysm
49. Sunnata, Chasing Shadows
48. Skraeckoedlan, Vermillion Sky
47. Acid Mammoth, Supersonic Megafauna Collision
46. Deer Creek, The Hiraeth Pit
45. Big Scenic Nowhere, The Waydown
44. Grin, Hush
43. The Swell Fellas, Residuum Unknown
42. The Gates of Slumber, The Gates of Slumber
41. Coltaine, Forgotten Ways

40. Mountain of Misery, The Land
39. Mammoth Volume, Raised Up by Witches
38. Delving, All Paths Diverge
37. High on Fire, Cometh the Storm
36. Thou, Umbilical
35. The Giraffes, Cigarette
34. Fu Manchu, The Return of Tomorrow
33. Full Earth, Cloud Sculptors
32. Daevar, Amber Eyes
31. Causa Sui, From the Source

Notes:

Just in case you’re the type of person who’d say, “Oh how could you have a top 60? after a certain number it’s all the same,” I’ll admit that’s true, but 60 is apparently nowhere near the ‘certain number’ in question for me this year. I agonized over this part of the list. More than the top 30, and more than picking a best short release, best debut, or anything else. I wanted basically a second top 30, and I feel like if I saw this as that, as 30-1, I’d congratulate whoever submitted it on their taste. But maybe that’s just me agreeing with myself.

I like the mix of up and comers and established acts here. Sunnata and Skraeckoedlan, The Giraffes, of course High on Fire, Deer Creek and so on, mixing with up and comers like Full Earth, Daevar, Acid Mammoth, Trillion Ton Beryllium Ships, Heath, Troy the Band and Weite. I feel somewhat compelled to justify my High on Fire placement, especially looking at the results so far of the year-end poll. They’re amazing, they’re devastating, they’re a singular live act, but I just didn’t listen to the record that much. There. A big part of me feels like it should be top 10 just by virtue of who the band are, but if I did that for everybody who deserved it, I wouldn’t have room for anything new. All I can do is be honest to my own listening habits and opinions. I know High on Fire are really, really good. I know this album is really, really good. That’s why it’s on this list. Should it be higher? Probably. I’m doing my best.

Thank you for your kind attention in this matter. Also, listen to The Giraffes.

30. Sundrifter, An Earlier Time

Sundrifter an earlier time

Released by Small Stone Records. Reviewed Jan. 29.

You won’t hear me say a downer word about An Earlier Time‘s quieter stretches, but it’s the sweeping moments like “Limitless” that find Boston’s Sundrifter making the most resonant impression. Their third full-length and the follow-up to 2018’s Visitations (review here), it was a strong declaration of who Sundrifter want to be as they continue to grow, and deserved more love than I saw that it got.

29. Tranquonauts, 2

Tranquonauts 2 album cover 1

Released by Lay Bare Recordings and Blown Music. Reviewed Sept. 10.

Oh, look out for Mr. Blogosphere. He’s out here taking a real risk putting Tranquonauts on the year-end list, like the combining of forces between Melbourne, Australia, heavy psych blues rockers Seedy Jeezus and guitarist Isaiah Mitchell wasn’t gonna work the second time around? Wow, Mitchell‘s and Lex Waterreus‘ guitars sure do sound awesome together. Oh — it’s a hot-take! Better get your react videos ready. The internet is terrible. This album offers escape from it.

28. Chat Pile, Cool World

chat pile cool world

Released by The Flenser. Reviewed Oct. 21.

At the risk of having to give back my Music-Journalism-Level membership to the Sycophant Society, I’ll dare to point out that Chat Pile are way, way hyped. That happens sometimes. It’s not like they’re out there being like, “Hey we’re the noise rock white dudes shifting paradigms for noise rock white dudes, best in a generation.” It’s people like me with all the hyperbole and comma splicing. I get that too. It’s a sound geared toward inciting a strong reaction, from the sneering sarcasm of the title down. By the way, am I the only one who looks at the title Cool World and thinks of the 1992 semi-animated film of the same name? I kind of hope so. See? Big feelings all around.

27. Gnome, Vestiges of Verumex Visidrome

Gnome vestiges of Verumex Visidrome

Released by Polderrecords. Reviewed Dec. 9.

Rest assured, I don’t, but if I had any friends, I’d be like, “Hey, you should check out this band Gnome from Belgium. They’ve got fun riffs and they beat you over the head with them until you remember them by heart.” And these ‘friends’ would be all, “Wow man, that sounds definitely like something I would ever want to introduce to the scope of my life experiences! Thank you! I’m so glad to be your friend and the world is definitely a better place with you in it.” And then everybody’s day is better, all because of sharing and the shenanigans-laced riff metal proffered by these three behatted miscreants from Antwerpen.

26. Brant Bjork Trio, Once Upon a Time in the Desert

brant bjork trio once upon a time in the desert

Released by Duna Records. Reviewed Sept. 18.

Brant Bjork‘s solo band begat Stöner, and Stöner begat Brant Bjork Trio as Bjork, drummer Ryan Güt and bassist Mario Lalli (Fatso Jetson, Mario Lalli and the Rubber Snake Charmers, Yawning Man, etc.). I’ll cop to being a nerd for Brant Bjork‘s output generally — it’s a kind of cool so definitively Californian, my NJ-ass self can’t help but admire it — but the chemistry in Once Upon a Time in the Desert is on point to an undeniable degree, and the songs are a reminder of how the back catalog got so strong in the first place. What else could you want?

25. Sergeant Thunderhoof, The Ghost of Badon Hill

sergeant thunderhoof the ghost of badon hill 1

Released by Pale Wizard Records. Reviewed Dec. 12.

Five albums in, a post-arrival Sergeant Thunderhoof stand ready. They know who they are, what they want their songs to do, why and how to make it happen. The Ghost of Badon Hill gives a conceptual focus to unite material intentionally sprawling, and lets listeners immerse in a narrative all the more easily for the quality of its songcraft. Self-recorded, it is masterful in performance and assured of its execution, pored over but not overworked; the happy accidents might have been left in on purpose, but they still sound like accidents. And Sergeant Thunderhoof still sound like a band driving themselves toward the unknown.

24. Early Moods, A Sinner’s Past

early moods a sinner's past

Released by RidingEasy Records. Reviewed March 29.

Doom metal is lucky to have Early Moods laying out a template for the next generation to hopefully follow. The Los Angeles five-piece’s second full-length, A Sinner’s Past, refined the lurch of their 2022 self-titled (review here), and the combination of hard touring and progressive craft continues to bode well as they look toward their next offering. They’ve put in their work, however swift their ascent to this point might feel, and they’re about one great record away from standing among the best doom of the 21st century. You could easily argue they’re already there. Every reason is accounted for on A Sinner’s Past.

23. Morpholith, Dystopian Distributions of Mass Produced Narcotics

morpholith dystopian distributions of mass produced narcotics

Released by Interstellar Smoke Records. Reviewed Oct. 22.

Iceland’s Morpholith enter the conversation with Dystopian Distributions of Mass Produced Narcotics, which has cosmic-doom breadth and bong-metal crush to spare in the first four minutes of “Psychophere” alone, never mind anything that surrounds. The band’s debut is a bombastic plodder, beating out the march to a futuristic — and cold — vision of the riff-filled land that may or may not be Reykjavik in the wintertime while simultaneously being both very much of weed and not outwardly about it, seeming to have much more than addled, Mid Atlantic Ridge-heavy riff worship because — look out! — they do. If cosmic doom is ever going to be more than a loose thread connecting YOB and Ufomammut, bands like Morpholith need to keep pushing it forward like this. “Dismalium.” I dare you.

22. Lamp of the Universe Meets Dr. Space, Enters Your Somas

Lamp of the universe meets dr space Enter Your Somas

Released by Sound Effect Records. Reviewed May 24.

Lamp of the Universe is multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, producer and vocalist Craig Williamson, based in New Zealand. Dr. Space is synthesist, keyboardist, producer, bootlegger and bandleader Scott Heller. The ‘meeting’ of these two expanded minds takes place over two extended tracks, one vinyl side per, of lush psychedelic and multi-tiered drones, absolutely perfect for the zone-out hypnosis you’ve been trying to put yourself in all day but for that pesky consciousness. I wish I could come up with some kind of ritual awesome enough for the keyboard textures in “Enters Your Somas” or the propulsive space rock thuddenchug of “Infiltrates Your Mind,” but some sounds are just too cool for the planet. Come see how the freaks get down.

21. Dool, The Shape of Fluidity

dool the shape of fluidity

Released by Prophecy Productions. Reviewed May 15.

I spent some significant time with Dool‘s The Shape of Fluidity this Spring, before and after seeing them at Roadburn (review here), which was another highlight of the year. The album’s triumph, in songwriting, in transcending genre bounds and in conveying its theme of breaking loose from the gender binary, gave my parent-of-a-trans-kid self a hopeful vision of a future beyond dark, hateful rhetoric or implied/real violence. It showed me a possible path to victory on what will be and already is a hard road. It was there when I needed it, which is a specific ideal of art providing care. I’ll never forget that.

20. Buzzard, Doom Folk

buzzard doom folk

Self-released. Reviewed May 13.

Granted the Western soundscaping at the outset of the eponymous “Buzzard” lays it on thick, but it’s supposed to! We’re talking fire-and-brimstone earthbound Americana folk with a doomly rhythmic cast, given the self-aware title of Doom Folk by the solo artist Buzzard, aka Christopher Thomas Elliott, laying it on thick is the point. Elliott has a follow-up out soon already. Thinking of Doom Folk as the beginning of a creative progression makes its nuance and individualist drive even more exciting, but the rawness of this debut, the straightforwardness of its structures and the resulting memorability are part of the appeal for sure.

19. High Desert Queen, Palm Reader

high desert queen palm reader

Released by Ripple Music. Reviewed April 30.

Seven bangers. Not a dud in the bunch. Two nine-minute songs and you still couldn’t say a moment of High Desert Queen‘s rightly anticipated sophomore LP is wasted. Not when you’re building up to the roll of “Head Honcho,” certainly. The Texas outfit built on the good-time largesse and party-but-not-a-party-so-cool-you-don’t-feel-welcome vibing of 2021’s Secrets of the Black Moon (review here) and set themselves vociferously to the task of being the change in heavy rock that they wanted to hear. Palm Reader‘s infectiousness is a strength, both in terms of a catchy piece like “Ancient Aliens” or “Time Waster,” and also in the overarching positive-framed mood and heart so clearly put into the material.

18. Ufomammut, Hidden

ufomammut hidden

Released by Supernatural Cat and Neurot Recordings. Reviewed May 21.

Now a quarter-century on from their start, Italian trio Ufomammut have yet to put out a record that didn’t sound like a forward step from the one before it. And Hidden is their 10th album. The band are progenitors and refiners of a cosmic doom sound that is unto itself, and cuts like “Kismet” and “Leeched” manage to be both lumbering in their massive-tone grooves and sprawling with a synthy ambience that, though certainly influential, is immediately recognizable as Ufomammut. Hidden is part of a creative trajectory, to be sure, and the arc is ongoing, but there’s more than enough substance here to leave a crater behind in the listener’s brain.

17. Iota, Pentasomnia

Iota Pentasomnia

Released by Small Stone. Reviewed March 20.

In its arrangement as five separate dreams taking place over its component tracks, the only thing Pentasomnia doesn’t take into account is that another Iota LP was a dream all on its own even before music actually happened. A full 16 years after shaking the galaxy’s core with their 2008 debut, Tales (discussed hereand here), the three-piece of guitarist/vocalist Joey Toscano (Dwellers, Hibernaut), drummer/producer Andy Patterson (The Otolith, ex-SubRosa, etc.) and bassist Oz Yasri (ex-Bird Eater) making a comeback — let alone it actually being good — was nigh on unthinkable. Then you heard “The Intruder” and reality shifted just a bit. Pretty sweet.

16. Kanaan & Ævestaden, Langt, Langt Vekk

kanaan and aevestaden Langt langt vekk

Released by Jansen Records. Reviewed Oct. 18.

Few albums in 2024 were as entrancing as Langt, Langt Vekk, the hopefully-not-a-one-off collaboration between Norwegian progressive heavy instrumentalists Kanaan and neofolk contemporaries Ævestaden. Both adventurous outfits in their own right, the combination of elements, from live drums and synth to traditional plucked strings and Norwegian-language vocal choruses, works stunningly well. That little bit of fuzz in “Habbor og Signe,” or the cymbal wash behind “Dalebu Jonsson” — the songs are full of these little nuances or flourishes waiting to be found, but even with the most superficial of listens, the achievement resounds, whether one approaches from a viewpoint of heavy rock, prog, folk or psychedelia.

15. DVNE, Voidkind

DVNE VOIDKIND

Released by Metal Blade. Reviewed May 6.

You know, I’ve kind of dug DVNE records all along, and I can’t really call Voidkind a surprise after 2021’s Etemen Ænka (review here), but these songs — “Eleonora,” “Sarmatae,” “Abode of the Perfect Soul,” among others — hit me much harder than I had expected, and the more I listened to try to twist my head around “Reliquary,” the more the album as a whole revealed of its character and detail. I review a lot of stuff, and I hear more than I review, so I don’t always get pulled back by every record, but Voidkind kept calling for return visits.

14. Orange Goblin, Science, Not Fiction

orange goblin science not fiction

Released by Peaceville Records. Reviewed July 22.

Look. If you’re reading this, I know I don’t have to tell you about Orange Goblin. Even if you don’t already have a soft spot for the long-running UK doom rockers, they’re perfectly happy to pummel one into you with Science, Not Fiction, their first album since 2018 and a realignment toward a harder-edged heavy rock sound, where the last, say, two records had leaned more metal. I heard some griping about the production not helping, but I heard absolutely nothing to complain about here. The band are on fire and the recording shows it, the songs aren’t necessarily any great progressive leap but for sure they’re Orange Goblin songs, and for a band who owes nobody proof of anything, they set a high standard and deliver accordingly, like god damned professionals should.

13. Spaceslug, Out of Water

spaceslug out of water

Released by Electric Witch Mountain Recordings. Reviewed May 14.

What I didn’t get about Spaceslug until I finally saw them live at Desertfest New York (review here) was just how metal the impact of their songs can get. It’s not necessarily that they’ve grown more aggressive, unless you want to incorporate harsh vocals or shouting — “Tears of Antimatter” also has gently-delivered barely-there spoken word, so it depends on the story you want to tell — but the blend of melancholic doom, heavy psychedelia and melodic fluidity that has become Spaceslug‘s stylistic wheelhouse is not to be missed. Out of Water finds them at their broadest and least concerned with genre, and brings into relief how special a band they’ve become. Also it rocks.

12. Craneium, Point of No Return

Craneium Point of No Return

Released by The Sign Records. Reviewed April 1.

No secret how Craneium are doing it on Point of No Return; it’s right there in the songs. All of them. “One Thousand Sighs,” “The Sun,” “A Distant Shore,” “…Of Laughter and Cries,” “Things Have Changed” and “Search Eternal.” Texture and hooks, heft and scope and melody and crash and shove, classy progressive execution and swaggering conjurations. Most of all, songs that stay with you. Chances are, if you heard this record and gave it its due attention at some point in your time with it, you didn’t have to do much more than read the titles to have the tracks playing in your head. That’s not a coincidence. It’s craft. It’s a willful outreach on the part of the band and material. It’s what makes you want to sing along. And why would you not?

11. Guhts, Regeneration

guhts regeneration

Released by Seeing Red Records and New Heavy Sounds. Reviewed Feb. 5.

More on it below, but for the moment, suffice it to say that the bludgeoning and/or scathe of Regeneration at its most intense and the depths its mix seemed to find, the debut full-length from New York post-metallers Guhts dared visceral emotionality in a way few records so heavy could or would hope to. The willing-to-break-her-voice-if-necessary performance of Amber Gardner and the weighted undulations surrounding from guitarist Scott Prater, bassist Daniel Martinez and drummer Brian Clemens, the open sway, unfettered crush, and quiet spaces offsetting all that bombast result in both a chaotic feel and an applicable world. Therefore it must be modern. Fine. It sounds like the future.

10. Heavy Temple, Garden of Heathens

Heavy Temple Garden of Heathens

Released by Magnetic Eye. Reviewed April 11.

As to how Philadelphia’s Heavy Temple managed to fit so much swagger onto a single platter, you’d have to ask them, but their second album, Garden of Heathens, landed hard in tone and attitude alike. Songs like “Extreme Indifference to Life,” “House of Warship” and the galloping payoff of “Jesus Wept” ahead of the thrashy finale “Psychomanteum” affirmed what was set out in 2021’s Lupi Amoris (review here) and their earlier short releases while marking out and conquering decisively new territory in their sound. I know it was recorded two years ago or something like that, but it’s still a band beginning to realize their potential in craft and performance, and if a third LP happens sooner than later, so much the better.

9. 1000mods, Cheat Death

1000mods cheat death

Released by Ouga Booga and the Mighty Oug and Ripple Music. Reviewed Nov. 11.

Whether one embraces Cheat Death because the songs kick ass or because 1000mods are so vivid and uncompromising in pushing themselves forward from release to release, I don’t think you’re wrong. The forerunners of their generation in Greek heavy rock remain among the finest Europe’s heavy underground have to offer, and the atmosphere they’re able to conjure alongside the straight-ahead Matt Bayles-produced punk-metal hooks of these songs is emblematic of why. Without ever giving up their foundation in heavy rock, 1000mods have consistently refined their processes and grown as songwriters. The joke of Cheat Death is how alive the material feels.

8. Ruff Majik, Moth Eater

ruff majik moth eater (the lorekeeper's bible)

Released by Sound of Liberation Records. Reviewed Oct. 3.

Faced with the considerable task of following up the to-date album of their career, Elektrik Ram (review here), just one year later, South African heavy rockers Ruff Majik did not flinch. Instead, Moth Eater takes the outright charge and sharpness-minded efficiency of its predecessor in a stated trilogy that began with 2020’s The Devil’s Cattle (review here) and sets it as the foundation for a confident, creative growth and sustainable expansion of sound. They’re a little more willing to dwell in parts, and they’re well aware of how catchy they can be, but also, they know the power of momentum and they’re fully in control of the narratives they’re telling. As Moth Eater readily demonstrates, it’s hard to know which of that it is that makes them most dangerous.

7. Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats, Nell’ Ora Blu

uncle acid and the deadbeats nell ora blu

Released by Rise Above. Reviewed May 16.

It’s hard to overstate the accomplishment of Nell’ Ora Blu, and I’m well aware that the critical sphere is full of plenty who’ve spent the better part of 2024 trying. Reasonable. The completeness of the world Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats built in the work based around the concept of soundtracking a giallo film that didn’t exist was singularly evocative. With original dialogue recorded (in Italian) specifically for ‘movie’ ambience, Uncle Acid took what had always been an influence on the band’s sound within genre-cinema and its methods of storytelling, and flipped the process on its head by creating its own story. Their influence is already well spread throughout the heavy underground, for sure, but in bringing a vision to life, this might be the album Uncle Acid have been working toward all along.

6. Vokonis, Transitions

vokonis transitions

Released by Majestic Mountain Records. Reviewed Oct. 29.

A forward-thinking masterwork from even before “Deadname” sneaks a layer of acoustic guitar under the mountain of distortion in the verse lines and “Arrival” and “Transitions” give evocative chronicle to the album’s trans-experiential theme — it is the band’s first since guitarist/vocalist Simona Ohlsson transitioned, and admirable for both its projected triumph and vulnerability around that — the fifth full-length from Vokonis continues the progressive path they have walked for the last decade-plus. A lineup change has brought some shift in dynamic, but a new strength of voice behind the material that makes “Phantom Carriage,” “Chrysalis,” and, suitably enough, “Arrival,” feel like a declarative pinnacle, and having something to say makes the raw impact of its heaviest moments all the more powerful.

5. Greenleaf, The Head and the Habit

Greenleaf the head and the Habit

Released by Magnetic Eye Records. Reviewed July 3.

There’s little funnier to me about heavy rock as it exists in 2024 than the idea that Greenleaf would be a band people take for granted. “Oh, Tommi Holappa and Company putting out another collection of classic-heavy and blues-rocking bangers? Business as usual, I guess.” Until you listen to the album, maybe. Then you get the tumble of “Avalanche,” the hooks in “Breathe, Breathe Out,” and “A Wolf in My Mind,” the subdued-bluesy pair “That Obsidian Grin” and “An Alabastrine Smile” to remind how you much this band has been able to grow since Arvid Hällagård made his first appearance with them a decade ago, the way they’re able to move through a jam and land in a groove as solid as “Oh Dandelion,” reminiscent of Clutch in its start-stop funk but defined by its own persona. Every Greenleaf record is a gift. If feeling that way means I’m not impartial, good. We understand each other.

4. Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol, Big Dumb Riffs

rickshaw billie's burger patrol big dumb riffs 2

Released by Permanent Teeth Records. Reviewed March 19.

Promises made, promises kept. Austin-based crunch purveyors Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol stripped any and all excess out of their approach on Big Dumb Riffs, resulting in a quick-feeling collection of memorable, heavy tracks that, whether fast like “1800EATSHIT” or slow like “In a Jar,” are united in the album’s central stated purpose. Already an established brand of heavy revelry, the three-piece didn’t change anything radically in aesthetic terms, but the songs found their target one after the other, front to back, and were clever and well composed, however willfully lunkheaded the central riffery might have been. They’re headed to Europe in Spring, and I’m already hearing rumors of a next record, so keep an eye out in 2025.

3. Slomosa, Tundra Rock

slomosa tundra rock

Released by Stickman Records and MNRK Heavy. Reviewed Sept. 9.

Slomosa‘s released-in-2020 self-titled debut (review here) was a salve to many in troubled times, representing a next-generation hope for underground heavy in energetically-delivered, classic-feeling songs. Tundra Rock, which gives a name to the band’s style seemingly in direct answer to anyone who might class them as ‘desert,’ confirms the Norwegian four-piece at the forefront of an up and coming cohort of younger acts beginning to find their expressive modus and step beyond their root influences. Tundra Rock finds Slomosa doing this while giving their dual-vocal live dynamic vibrant studio representation and growing their material in character and melody alike. Heavy rock and roll is Slomosa‘s for the taking.

2. Brume, Marten

brume marten

Released by Magnetic Eye. Reviewed April 29.

A record that didn’t need to be loud to be heavy, Brume‘s Marten is without question my most-listened-to album of 2024. That needs no qualifying. I had high expectations going into it after seeing the San Francisco band at Desertfest New York 2022 (review here), and Marten surpassed every hope I might’ve been able to harness for it and then some. The collective voice of the band incorporating multiple viewpoints from bassist/vocalist/keyboardist Susie McMullan, guitarist/vocalist Jamie McCathie, drummer Jordan Perkins Lewis, and in her first appearance as a full-on member of the band, cellist/vocalist Jackie Perez Gratz (Grayceon, Amber Asylum, etc.), resulted in a fluid but deeply divergent collection, comprised of songs that went where they wanted to go — or didn’t, thank you very much — according to their own whims and purposes. It is a landmark for Brume and, if any number of subgenres are lucky, a blueprint from which others will hopefully learn.

2024 Album of the Year

1. Elephant Tree & Lowrider, The Long Forever

Elephant Tree Lowrider The Long Forever

Released by Blues Funeral Recordings. Reviewed Oct. 25.

I acknowledge breaking my own rules here — splits are always, until and including this year, categorized as short releases in these lists — but when it came to it, the thought of putting Elephant Tree and Lowrider‘s The Long Forever anywhere else, considering it as anything else, seemed ridiculous. Especially if you count writing the liner notes for it, I’ve gone on at length about the release as an intersection of crucial moments for the respective bands, with Lowrider following their first album in 20 years, Refractions (review here), and Elephant Tree answering the progressive statement of their own second LP, Habits (review here), both released in 2020. The storyline gets deeper as Elephant Tree also look to reestablish themselves following a near-fatal accident suffered by guitarist/vocalist Jack Townley, melding rawness of tone with lush vocal harmonies, and Lowrider drag fuzz-rock traditionalism kicking and screaming into a reality of being both fun and intelligent. There ultimately was nothing else to call The Long Forever than the album of the year. If that comes with an asterisk because it’s a split, it doesn’t lessen the effect of hearing it at all. So yeah, I’m breaking the rules of the game. I’m inconsistent. Unprofessional. Biased. I don’t know what to tell you except love makes you do crazy things. In these songs themselves — do I even need to talk about the collaboration — and in the drive behind them, that’s what most resonates here.

The Top 60 Albums of 2024: Honorable Mention

If the 60 above wasn’t enough, here are more leads to chase down, alphabetical but in kind of a hyper-specific, ass-backwards-seeming way:

Acid Rooster, Alber Jupiter, Altareth, Alunah, Astrometer, Bismarck, Black Capricorn, Blasting Rod, BleakHeart, Blue Heron, Bongripper, Boozewa, Caffeine, Carpet, Castle, Cleen, Clouds Taste Satanic, Codex Serafini, Cold in Berlin, Cortez, The Cosmic Dead, Crypt Sermon, Daily Thompson, Deadpeach, Deaf Wolf, Demon Head, Destroyer of Light, Dopethrone, Duel, Earth Ship, Elephant Tree, Emu, Familiars, Bill Fisher, 40 Watt Sun, Ghost Frog, Goat Major, Guenna, Heath, High Reeper, Hijss, Horseburner, Ian Blurton’s Future Now, Insect Ark, Inter Arma, Kelley Juett, Juke Cove, Kalgon, Kandodo, Kant, Kariti, Kungens Män (x2), Kurokuma, Leather Lung, Legions of Doom, Lord Buffalo, Magic Fig, Magick Brother & Mystic Sister, Magick Potion, Magmakammer, Mammoth Caravan, Massive Hassle, MC MYASNOI, Merlin, Methadone Skies, Monkey3, Morag Tong, The Mountain King, Mount Hush, MR.BISON, My Dying Bride, Myriad’s Veil, No Man’s Valley, Norna, The Obsessed, Oryx, Pallbearer, Patriarchs in Black, Pia Isa, Planet of Zeus, Red Mesa, Rezn, Rifflord, Sacri Monti, Sandveiss, Satan’s Satyrs, Saturnalia Temple, Scorched Oak, Sheepfucker & Kraut, Slift, Slower, Slow Green Thing, SoftSun, The Sonic Dawn, SONS OF ZÖKU, Spacedrifter, Spiral Grave, Spirit Mother, Stonebride, Sun Blood Stories, Sunface, Sun Moon Holy Cult, Swallow the Sun, The Swell Fellas, Swell O, Temple Fang, 10,000 Years, Thomas Greenwood and the Talismans, Thunderbird Divine, Tigers on Opium, Traum, 24/7 Diva Heaven, Valley of the Sun, Vlimmer, Void Commander, Weather Systems, The Whims of the Great Magnet, Whispering Void, White Hills, Per Wiberg, Esben Willems, Worshipper, WyndRider…

Notes:

With the eternal caveat that I’ll be adding to the honorable mentions for the next few days as people drop names they remembered and I forgot, I’ll say I can live with the list as it is now. I wouldn’t go so far as to say I’m happy with it, but I’ll live. I felt like there was just too much good stuff in the 60-30, stuff that deserved a better look, and god damn, look at the honorable mentions. You’re gonna tell me Rezn wasn’t top 30 material? Or Inter Arma, or 10,000 Years (who I still need to review), or Kandodo or Cortez, or Bongripper, Blue Heron, Merlin, Slower? Mount Hush, Vlimmer, Destroyer of Light — I could do this all day. That Carpet record. That MR.BISON record. Valley of the Sun. I see these names and want to punch myself. Then I see the names in the top 30 and I go, “Well…” and kind of have to hold off. I guess that means it turned out to be a pretty fantastic year.

I know for a fact I didn’t hear everything that came out, and I’m willing to bet that any number of people who see this will have their own opinions on the best albums of 2024 from top to bottom. I celebrate this difference and look forward to being exposed to new sounds because of it. Let comments fly, please. Once again, my only ask is that you keep it kind as relates to my own list(s) and any other picks someone might offer. If I’ve got facts wrong, something was a Dec. 2023 release instead of Jan. 2024, whatever, by all means, let me know. But we’re all friends here and being a jerk about it solves nothing.

And yes, I’ll admit to projecting some self-criticism in the Elephant Tree/Lowrider selection for album of the year. All I can tell you is I stand by that pick. It’s that because when I was putting together the list, it couldn’t have been anywhere else. I don’t love breaking my own arbitrary rules nearly as much as I love imposing those arbitrary rules in the first place, but sometimes apparently one is forced from one’s comfort zone to their own general betterment. Who knew?

Of course we’re not done yet.

Debut Album of the Year 2024

Guhts, Regeneration

guhts regeneration

Other notable debuts (alphabetical):

Azutmaga, Offering
Buzzard, Doom Folk
Castle Rat, Into the Realm
Cleen, Excursion
Coltaine, Forgotten Ways
Full Earth, Cloud Sculptors
Goat Generator, Goat Generator
Goat Major, Ritual
Grave Speaker, Grave Speaker
Guenna, Peak of Jin’Arrah
Hashtronaut, No Return
Heath, Isaak’s Marble
Hijss, Stuck on Common Ground
Kalgon, Kalgon
Kant, Paranoia Pilgrimage
Kitsa, Dead by Dawn
Leather Lung, Graveside Grin
Legions of Doom, The Skull 3
Magic Fig, Magic Fig
Magick Potion, Magick Potion
Morpholith, Dystopian Distributions of Mass Produced Narcotics
Myriad’s Veil, Pendant
Neon Nightmare, Faded Dream
Plant, Cosmic Phytophthora
Rabid Children, Does the Heartbeat
Saltpig, Saltpig
Semuta, Glacial Erratic
SoftSun, Daylight in the Dark
Spacedrifter, When the Colors Fade
Sun Moon Holy Cult, Sun Moon Holy Cult
Ten Ton Slug, Colossal Oppressor
Tet, Tet
Tigers on Opium, Psychodrama
Tommy and the Teleboys, Gods Used in Great Condition
Troy the Band, Cataclysm
Weather Systems, Ocean Without a Shore
Esben Willems, Glowing Darkness
Young Acid, Murder at Maple Mountain

Notes:

First about Guhts: From the Andy Patterson recording and parts of the songs themselves, Guhts weren’t hiding influence from the likes of SubRosa or Julie Christmas, Made Out of Babies, etc., but what Regeneration did so well — and what I was trying to convey above — was take those recognizable elements and redirect them toward an expressive individuality. That album could be punishingly heavy or sweet and soothing and the fact that you never quite knew which was coming next was a major asset working in the band’s favor. There are a lot of killer debuts on this list, and plenty I’m sure that I’ve left off because, well, I’m inept, but Regeneration was so sure of what it was about and so crisp in making that real through sound that it’s still stunning.

A lot to celebrate on this list. Full Earth at the outset of a hopefully long-term progression. Tigers on Opium with attitude and craft. Castle Rat giving stage drama studio life. Weather Systems picking up where Anathema left off. Promising starts for Pontiac, Hashtronaut, Neon Nightmare, Cleen, Coltaine, Troy the Band, Buzzard, Magic Fig, Legions of Doom, and Heath, among others. If you’re worried about the state of underground heavy music, you don’t need to be. Granted the future of anything is unknowable even before you apply “uncertain times” caveats and all the rest, but bands are stepping up to carry the torch of established sounds and pushing themselves to realize new ideas — whether that’s Guhts and Magic Fig or Tigers on Opium, or Legions of Doom, Ten Ton Slug, Weather Systems and Monolord’s Esben Willems, new players or ones who’ve been around for decades.

If you want a top ten — and who doesn’t? — in addition to Guhts, make your way through Full Earth, Sun Moon Holy Cult, Morpholith, Guenna, Coltaine, Troy the Band, Young Acid, Emu, Buzzard and Kant to start, and you can dig deeper from there. That’s actually 11, but I don’t care. More new music won’t hurt you.

We press on.

Short Release of the Year 2024

Moura, Fume Santo de Loureiro

moura fume santo de loureiro

Other notable EPs, Splits, Demos, Singles, etc.

Aktopasa, Ultrawest
Alreckque, 6PM
Bog Wizard, Journey Through the Dying Lands
Conan, DIY Series Issue 1
Cortége, Under the Endless Sky
Cult of Dom Keller, Extinction EP
Michael Rudolph Cummings, Money EP
Deer Lord, Dark Matter Pt. 2
Eagle Twin & The Otolith, Legends of the Desert Vol. 4
Fuzznaut, Wind Doula
Fuzzter, Pandemonium EP
Geezer & Isaak, Interstellar Cosmic Blues and the Riffalicious Stoner Dudes
Harvestman, Triptych EP(s)
Hermano, When the Moon Was High
Hollow Leg, Dust & Echoes
Holy Fingers, Endless Light Infinite Presence
King Buffalo, Balrog
Lurcher, Breathe EP
Okkoto, All is Light
Ord Cannon, Foreshots EP
Orme, No Serpents No Saviours
Pelican, Adrift/Tending the Embers
Pontiac, Hard Knox EP
Rope Trick, Red Tide EP
Sacred Buzz, Radio Radiation
Smoke & Doomsday Profit, Split
Spiral Guru, Silenced Voices EP
Toad Venom, Jag har inga problen osv​.​.​.
Trigona & IO Audio Recordings, Split
Various Artists, International Space Station Vol. 2

Notes:

This category includes so much and can range so vastly between an EP that’s about 30 seconds short of being a full album to a standalone single released just for the hell of it to a band’s first rehearsal room demo. “Short releases” encompasses a lot, and as noted above, I’ve already broken my rules about where splits go. What about The Otolith and Eagle Twin? Geezer and Isaak? Smoke and Doomsday Profit? Trigona and IO Audio Recordings? The International Space Station four-wayer? If I’m crossing lines, don’t these also need to be considered as full-lengths?

You know what really sucks about it? This is an argument I’m going to have with myself for probably the next year. An existential crisis playing out in the back of my mind. More important? The Moura EP. The soundtracky textures the Spanish folk-informed progressive psychedelic rockers brought to the follow-up for their second album were both otherworldly and ground-born, and the material put emphasis on how much care and craft goes into their work while retaining the organic core against the threat of pretense. It was my most listened to short release of 2024, followed by Pelican, Holy Fingers, Pontiac, Toad Venom, Hollow Leg (x2), and Sacred Buzz. A new King Buffalo single was a late-year boon, that Hermano was worth it for the previously-unreleased studio track alone, and strong showings from Michael Rudolph Cummings, Deer Lord, Conan and Cortége, along with the aforementioned splits, assured that through the entire year, attention spans would receive consistent challenge in the movement from one thing to the next.

By way of a familiar confession, my list of short releases is nowhere near complete. It never is, and it never really could be. I’m sure there will be some I left out that I’ll add in for honorable mentions, etc., but I stand by the Moura pick for best short outing. They brought a soul to it that put the lie to the notion of EPs as between-album gap-fillers, and in a year that didn’t lack substance among its brevity-focused options, Fume Santo de Loureiro stood out in character, aesthetic and songwriting. Nobody else is making music quite like Moura.

If you have more to add here, by all means, please and thank you. Comments are below.

Live Albums

Live Album of the Year 2024

Temple Fang, Live at Krach Am Bach

temple fang live at krach am bach

Castle, One Knight Stands: Live in NY
Danava, Live
Elder, Live at Maida Vale
Snail, Thou Art There
Stöner, Hittin’ the Bitchin’ Switch
Sula Bassana & Skyjoggers, Split
The Whims of the Great Magnet, Live at Bankastudios Maastricht 22​-​12​-​2023

Notes:

Fewer releases listed here than last year, but some killer ones for that. I put Temple Fang out there as live album of the year, and since we’re late in the post I’ll tell you honestly that it probably could be any of these on a given day. Danava’s live record crossed decades in badassery, the Sula/Skyjoggers split captured the vibe of a club night in Germany, the Whims of the Great Magnet’s live release made an excellent predecessor to their out-this-month studio album, Snail recorded theirs at a show I put on, Stöner capture the end of their two-album cycle with an awesome set, and Elder are Elder. The Maida Vale recording is short, and their songs are long, or you probably would’ve heard a lot more about that this year. If/when they do a proper live album, it will be a no-brainer.

But the Temple Fang has it all in molten progressivism, heavy tones, immersive psychedelia and outright soul, and of the bands I’ve managed to list here — if you want to add to the list, please do — there’s nobody who so much defines what they do by its live incarnation. Temple Fang’s music changes every night. They follow where it leads in a different way, and the ritualization of their performance comes through in Live at Krach Am Bach resoundingly. I’m not saying a bad word about their studio work to this point, but their heart manifests in a different way and at a different level onstage. They’re a great band and this shows a big part of why.

Looking Ahead to 2025

Names, right? This one’s all about the names? Get to the names, jack? Okay, calm down.

With eternal appreciation to the folks of fine, upstanding moral character in the ‘The Obelisk Collective’ group on Facebook for the assistance, here’s a smattering of what one might look forward to in 2025:

Aawks, After Nations, All Them Witches, Amber Asylum, Author & Punisher, Bandshee, Black Spirit Crown, Bog Wizard, Bone Church, Borracho, Bronco, Buzzard, Dee Calhoun, Causa Sui, The Cimmerian, Clutch, Conan, Corrosion of Conformity, Daevar, Dead Meadow, Dead Shrine, Demons My Friends, Dream Unending, DUNDDW, Dunes, Flummox, Fuzz Sagrado, FVZZ POPVLI, Gaytheist, Gin Lady, Gnarled, Gnod & White Hills, Gods and Punks, Godzillionaire, Haze Mage, Kaiser, Kal-El, King Buffalo, Lamassu, Lo-Pan, Madmess, Mantar, Masters of Reality, Messa, Seán Mulrooney, Mouth., New Dawn Fades, Nightstalker, Øresund Space Collective, Pentagram, Pesta, Pothamus, Dax Riggs, Seedy Jeezus, Slomatics, Slow Wake, Stoned Jesus, Stone Machine Electric, Temple Fang, 3rd Ear Experience, Triptykon, Trouble, Turtle Skull, Warlung, Weedpecker, Yawning Balch, Year of the Cobra, YOB… and because it still hasn’t happened and someone invariably calls me out if they’re not listed: Om.

If you have names to add, “smash that comment button,” in the parlance of our times. Only don’t really smash it because you might hurt your hand or break your phone with your awesome strength.

THANK YOU

It was among my primary goals for this post that it should be shorter than last year’s, and it looks like I’ll achieve that with room to spare, so I’m glad. Sometimes I get carried away, I think I probably don’t need to tell you.

Before I let go of 2024 — actually I still want to review that The Whims of the Great Magnet studio release and I’ve got a Darsombra video premiere set before the end of the year, news to catch up on from like the last two weeks and a whole lot more to cover — I’d like to take a moment to thank you one more time for reading and for being part of this project this year and each year it’s been ongoing. Your support is absolutely what keeps this site going and it means more to me than I can ever hope to comprehend.

Thank you to The Patient Mrs., who in the course of a given week let alone year puts up with more of my bullshit than any human being should ever have to. “Yes, love, the world’s ending and we have no money and the house is falling down around us and the dog needs to pee, but I just need two or three hours to go sit and write about riffs — is that cool?” Or better, when I’m pissy about it. The “my wife is a saint” routine is pretty played out as far as dudely excuses for being selfish, lazy and/or dumb go, but well, I am all of those things on the extreme regular and she hasn’t booted my ass to the curb yet. I find this to be a reason to celebrate and a thing to appreciate. I am loved and cared for in ways I could never hope to earn.

Thank you to my family for their support, year in and year out. They’ve all got Obelisk shirts and they all wear them, and while I’m not sure they understand the true depths of egoistic depravity involved in this project, they’ve been on board with it since the start, and this includes my wife’s side of the family as well. I am incredibly lucky to have the life I have.

I’m going to keep listening to music, keep writing about it as much as I can. I’m not quite as generally panicked about it as I used to be — older, busier in different ways, over the FOMO, maybe a little more discerning in terms of taste? — and I’m significantly less likely to break my brain answering email, but I’m doing my best.

The Obelisk presses on into what will be a busy 2025. I’ve got trips slated to Planet Desert Rock Weekend in Las Vegas this January, Desertfest Oslo in May, Freak Valley in Germany in June, Bear Stone in Croatia in July, and Desertfest New York in September, with more hopefully to come. I look forward to these adventures and to doing the writing that will happen as part of them, and one more time, I thank you for your time and attention in reading, in the past, now, and in the future. I’m taking tomorrow off. All the way off. Back on Monday for more.

Much appreciated,
JJ Koczan

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Desertfest Berlin 2025: The Hellacopters, Slomosa, Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol and More Added

Posted in Whathaveyou on November 18th, 2024 by JJ Koczan

Business as usual here with Desertfest Berlin 2025 continuing to build a markedly badass lineup for this coming May. Obviously, a band like The Hellacopters need no excuse but have one anyway with an album due at the end of January (new video below), and Slomosa joining the fray isn’t such a shocker since they’re everywhere as they support their second album. Daufødt are new to me and they have at least one member of adventurous Norwegian proggers Kanaan in the lineup, so that’s bound to be interesting, Bismut rule, Green Milk From Planet Orange have a track record of weirding up past Desertfests, and this is the second European show I’ve seen locked in for Austin, Texas’ Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol (the first was Desertfest London; there may be more by now), whose 2024 album, Big Dumb Riffs (review here), remains a stomping, unrepentantly fun manifestation of the intent behind it.

The poster is nothing if not enticing, from Elder and Lowrider and Elephant Tree down to KantKhan and Skyjoggers. You don’t need me to tell you to make travel plans, I know, but if you’re looking for daydream fodder, imagine this particular Spring weekend:

Desertfest Berlin 2025 hellacopters etc

DESERTFEST BERLIN announces THE HELLACOPTERS, SLOMOSA, BISMUT & more new names for 2025!

Kicking off into your weekend with a true big bang, Desertfest Berlin has unleashed a batch of new names for their eclectic 2025-edition, confirming Swedens rock icons THE HELLACOPTERS, Norwegian tundra rockers SLOMOSA, BISMUT, GREEN MILK FROM PLANET ORANGE, STORY, DAUFØDT and RICKSHAW BILLIE’S BURGER PATROL!

They will be joining previously-announced bands such as prog-and psych-rock overlords ELDER (playing their groundbreaking “Lore” album in its entirety!), New Orleans sludge legends EYEHATEGOD, Swedish stoner rockers LOWRIDER, blues rock favs THE DEVIL AND THE ALMIGHTY BLUES, Berlins riot grrrls 24/7 DIVA HEAVEN and many more high-class live acts.

Desertfest Berlin will take place between May 23 – 25, 2025 at Columbiahalle and Columbia Theater. While the Early-Bird tickets sold out in within hours, regular passes are available at: www.desertfest-tickets.de


DESERTFEST BERLIN 2025
23. – 25. May 2025 – Columbia Venues
🎟 www.desertfest-tickets.de

Event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/1840149496511466/

www.desertfest.de
www.facebook.com/DesertfestBerlin
www.instagram.com/desertfest_berlin

The Hellacopters, “Leave a Mark” official video

Slomosa, “Monomann” live at Bergen Kjøtt, Duper Studios

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Desertfest London 2025: First Announcement Includes Elder, Stoned Jesus, Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol, Josiah and More

Posted in Whathaveyou on September 25th, 2024 by JJ Koczan

A strong first impression from Desertfest London 2025 is no big surprise. The UK’s premier heavy festival will feature Elder, as previously noted, as well as Zeal & Ardor, Amenra, Stoned Jesus, The Devil and the Almighty Blues, Planet of Zeus, Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol, Josiah, and others. Note 10,000 Years supporting their new record and first for Ripple. Note Volcanova because they’re a new-ish band on the way up. Note Bobbie Dazzle as Sian Greenaway moves forward from her time with Alunah. Note Sons of Alpha Centauri because they don’t tour a ton. Note Black Willows because they rule, on and on. There’s a lot to be unpacked here even before you get to Barbarian Hermit, Erronaut or Scott Hepple and the Sun Band, but the bottom line is the news is good.

Some of these acts will be shared with Desertfest Berlin and Desertfest Oslo, and I haven’t seen a lineup announcement for either of those yet, but it seems fair to think of it as imminent. In the meantime, Desertfest London 2025 has tickets on sale, should you either want to purchase one or spend the rest of your week until payday fantasizing about doing so and then make the buy. I haven’t been there since 2013 — would go, happily — and still feel comfortable heartily recommending the experience as life-changing for the better.

From the PR wire:

desertfest london 2025 first-announcement-square

DESERTFEST LONDON ANNOUNCES FIRST WAVE OF BANDS FOR 2025 INCLUDING ZEAL & ARDOR, ELDER, AMENRA AND MORE

Friday 16th May – Sunday 18th May 2025

Weekend Tickets on sale here: www.desertfest.co.uk

Desertfest London have announced the first wave of bands for their 13th edition, which will take place across multiple venues in Camden on Friday 16th – Sunday 28th May 2025. Weekend tickets are available HERE: www.desertfest.co.uk

Swiss avant-garde metallers Zeal & Ardor are confirmed to headline the Roundhouse on Saturday night. Led by Manuel Gagneux, the group will undoubtedly deliver a masterclass in genre-pushing riffery following the release of their highly acclaimed fourth album Grief in August.

Desertfest favourites and psych-rock masters Elder will be headlining Friday night with a special performance celebrating 10 years of their album Lore, which was the band’s third full-length release and a watershed moment in their history cementing the hallmark Elder sound.

Frontman and lead guitarist Nick DiSalvo adds, “Lore is turning 10 years old. This album marked a point of departure for Elder upon a path which the band is still walking now. For us, this is the record where the band came into its own as a unique voice in the heavy rock underground. As we approach our second decade as a band, we feel it’s appropriate to look back on this landmark for us and acknowledge it properly, which is why we’re doing a tour performing the entire album along with some other tracks from our earlier catalogue; we’ll give this era of the band a proper celebration before turning our attention once again toward the future and the next album, currently being written.”

After their crushing performance at Desertfest London in 2019, the boundary defying postmetal titans Amenra will be returning to deliver shared catharsis and indoctrinate more to the Church of Ra with their undeniably powerful and haunting atmospherics.

Currently celebrating their 15th anniversary, the Ukranian trio Stoned Jesus will be bringing their mix of doom, prog and grunge whilst The Devil & The Almighty Blues will be hardhitting heavy- slung blues rock.

With new music on the horizon and known for their thunderous live reputation, Planet Of Zeus will be stirring things up, as will Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol with their selfprofessed brand of Doom-Wop.

Also announced are Josiah, Sons Of Alpha Centauri, Volcanova, Black Willows, 10,000 Years, Scott Hepple & The Sun Band, Barbarian Hermit, Erronaut and Bobbie Dazzle.

Weekend Tickets for the event are on sale now via www.desertfest.co.uk with more bands to still be announced!

FULL LINE-UP SO FAR
ZEAL & ARDOR | AMENRA | ELDER |STONED JESUS | THE DEVIL & THE ALMIGHTY BLUES |
PLANET OF ZEUS | RICKSHAW BILLIE’S BURGER PATROL | JOSIAH |
SONS OF ALPHA CENTAURI | VOLCANOVA | SCOTT HEPPLE & THE SUN BAND |
BLACK WILLOWS | 10,000 YEARS | BARBARIAN HERMIT | ERRONAUT | BOBBIE DAZZLE

TICKETS ON SALE NOW – www.desertfest.co.uk

http://www.desertscene.co.uk/support
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https://www.instagram.com/desertfest_london/
https://www.desertfest.co.uk/

Black Willows, Shemurah (2021)

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Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol Announce Fall Tour Dates

Posted in Whathaveyou on August 2nd, 2024 by JJ Koczan

It looks like they’ll be Texas-bound at the time, but I gotta say, I wouldn’t mind if Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol showed up on the bill for Desertfest New York either. They’ve been through NYC, which is where I’d be likeliest to catch them, so having not done so is more on me than the band at this point, but yeah. Probably something I should correct, and with their 2024 album, Big Dumb Riffs (review here), as the cause they’re heralding, so much the better.

This round of touring will bring them neither so far north nor so far east in the US, but wherever you are, the arguments for keeping an eye out are manifold, and it’s all the more worth doing so since they tour enough they’re bound to show up on your block sooner or later. Or I guess you could go to Austin City Limits or Levitation in their hometown if you’re feeling fancy/have cash to spend. Point I guess is it’s time I saw this band. If you already have, I’d love to know how that went.

Tour dates and such from the PR wire, and the album stream so you can get a dose:

rickshaw billie's burger patrol

Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol add Fall US dates to Austin City Limits ACL Fest & Levitation

Austin trio Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol announce additional Fall 2024 US tour dates ahead of their performances at Austin City Limits’ prestigious ACL Fest and Levitation 2024 with The Sword and Pentagram. The band continues domestic dates supporting their new album BIG DUMB RIFFS through the end of the year. See current shows below. Tickets are available HERE: https://taplink.cc/rickshawbillie

The band has also recently joined the roster of Doomstar Bookings for EU & UK touring beginning in Spring 2025.

Hot on the heels of their breakout 5th studio release Doom Wop (2023), Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol returns with Big Dumb Riffs: A whole new variant of the fuzzed out, overdriven, melodic, groovy music they have been making since 2016. While Big Dumb Riffs is decidedly more aggressive and rhythmic, it still retains the overtly melodic feel of Doom Wop. But Leo Lydon’s vocals are considerably more angry and negative (song titles like “1-800-EAT-SHIT” and “Body Bag” should be a clue.)

RICKSHAW BILLIE’S BURGER PATROL LIVE 2024:
08/02 Austin, TX – Sagebrush
09/14 Martindale, TX – Duett’s
09/21 Denton, TX – Dan’s Silver Leaf – Burnouts Custom Motorcycle Show
09/26 New Orleans, LA – Siberia
09/27 Birmingham, AL – WorkPlay Canteen
09/28 Asheville, NC – Static Age
09/29 Raleigh, NC – Kings Barcade
10/01 Columbus, OH – The Summit
10/02 Cincinnati, OH – MOTR Pub
10/03 Indianapolis, IN – Black Circle
10/04 Davenport, IA – Raccoon Motel
10/05 Whitewater, WI – Strange LaGrange
10/06 Louisville, KY – Portal
10/07 Chattanooga, TN – JJ’s Bohemia
10/09 Little Rock, AR – Whitewater Tavern
10/13 Austin, TX – Austin City Limits’ ACL Fest
11/03 Austin, TX – Stubb’s – w/ The Sword, Pentagram

Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol:
Leo Lydon: eight-string guitar/vocals
Aaron Metzdorf: bass
Sean St.Germain: drums

https://www.facebook.com/rickshawbilliesburgerpatrol
https://www.instagram.com/rickshawbillieandtheboys
https://rickshawbilliesburgerpatrol.bandcamp.com/
http://www.rickshawbilliesburgerpatrol.com/
https://taplink.cc/rickshawbillie

Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol, Big Dumb Riffs (2024)

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Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol to Tour Europe in Spring 2025; Playing Austin City Limits & Levitation This Fall

Posted in Whathaveyou on July 11th, 2024 by JJ Koczan

What you can glean from Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol signing with Doomstar Bookings and heralding tour plans for the first half of next year is (1:) that will probably include a slew of festival slots and (2:) their earlier-2024 fifth album, Big Dumb Riffs (review here) and the past couple years of hard touring have helped spread the word of their particular take on heavy, combining taut songcraft, a willful drive toward directness, and a heaping dose of shenanigans for a take that feels like it’s been in development for about eight years because, well, it has.

I look forward to seeing where 2025 takes them, and in the meantime they’ll apparently have another US tour for the last quarter of this year — I guess around their hometown appearances at Levitation and Austin City Limits so whatever angle you’re looking from, there’s more to come.

The PR wire dives in on where they’re at and headed:

rickshaw billie's burger patrol

Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol join Doomstar roster for EU & UK touring

More US dates September-December 2024

Austin trio Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol today announce they have joined the roster of Doomstar Bookings for EU & UK touring beginning in Spring 2025. Meanwhile, the band continues domestic dates this Fall supporting their new album BIG DUMB RIFFS from September through December. All tour dates will be announced soon. See current shows, including Austin City Limits’ prestigious ACL Fest and Levitation 2024 with The Sword and Pentagram.

BIG DUMB RIFFS is available on digital, LP and cassette, released May 10th, 2024. Order/stream the album on all formats HERE: https://taplink.cc/rickshawbillie

The band-curated second annual Rickshaw Billie’s BIG DUMB FEST in Austin, TX on June 1st SOLD OUT at Mohawk Austin. This follows a string of sold out dates throughout Texas, Denver, Los Angeles, Brooklyn and more.

“Our catalog has never been short on big dumb riffs, but the idea on this record was to really turn the screw,” says RBBP bassist Aaron Metzdorf. On Big Dumb Riffs, that screw is cranked incredibly tight.

“We just wanted ‘the part’: The opening of Pantera’s ‘Primal Concrete Sledge’, the breakdown in Primus’ ‘Pudding Time’ — the shit that makes you move and lose your mind. Just that part the whole time.”

Across 11 concise, taut songs — most clocking in around 2 minutes or less — Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol demonstrates their skillful ability to blend the merciless low end of Leo Lydon’s 8-string guitar, Aaron Metzdorf’s masterful chordwork on the bass, and Sean St.Germain’s driving drumming.

Hot on the heels of their breakout 5th studio release Doom Wop (2023), Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol returns with Big Dumb Riffs: A whole new variant of the fuzzed out, overdriven, melodic, groovy music they have been making since 2016. While Big Dumb Riffs is decidedly more aggressive and rhythmic, it still retains the overtly melodic feel of Doom Wop. But Leo Lydon’s vocals are considerably more angry and negative (song titles like “1-800-EAT-SHIT” and “Body Bag” should be a clue.)

“The whole writing process was, ‘what if we just played two notes the whole song’,” Metzdorf says. “‘What if we tuned down to almost unusable string tension?’, ‘what if we write a record that will make everyone say ‘wow that is dumb’? Leo and I really move around on stage a lot. Being a dingus is crucial to the groove. All these riffs were designed to allow us to act bigger and dumber on stage.”

Big Dumb Riffs is available on Limited Edition transparent orange vinyl LP, cassette, download and streaming, released on March 22, 2024. Orders are available HERE: https://rickshawbilliesburgerpatrol.bigcartel.com/

RICKSHAW BILLIE’S BURGER PATROL LIVE 2024:
10/13 Austin, TX – Austin City Limits’ ACL Fest
11/03 Austin, TX – Stubb’s – w/ The Sword, Pentagram

https://www.facebook.com/rickshawbilliesburgerpatrol
https://www.instagram.com/rickshawbillieandtheboys
https://rickshawbilliesburgerpatrol.bandcamp.com/
http://www.rickshawbilliesburgerpatrol.com/
https://taplink.cc/rickshawbillie

Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol, Big Dumb Riffs (2024)

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Album Review: Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol, Big Dumb Riffs

Posted in Reviews on March 19th, 2024 by JJ Koczan

rickshaw billie's burger patrol big dumb riffs 2

It’s hard to argue with a song called ‘1800EATSHIT.’ Even harder when it’s so damn catchy. Yeah, it’s a little counterintuitive to think of a record called Big Dumb Riffs as refined, but with their third LP, Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol are so clear in their intention and they deliver on it thoroughly enough to make it undeniable. Issued through their own Permanent Teeth Records, the album strips down the Austin, Texas, three-piece’s approach, honing in on tonal character, structure, attitude and, as “1-800-EAT-SHIT” assures, a solid amount of fuckery. Yes, they already their own beer.

The record takes place across 11 songs that span just 23 minutes, and could just as easily position itself as an exploration of the intersectionality between the masculine and the dumbassed writ through lunkheaded hardcore chug, nü-metallic palm-mute dissonance and the Primusian bounce that inspired it — looking at “Papa Pop It” for the latter and “Brat” for the former — stoner riff idolatry and hooks strong enough to hold them up despite the weight of tone emanating from Leo Lydon‘s eight-string guitar and Aaron Metzdorf‘s bass. Both of these dwell in a monolithic low-end space, but with such short songs and make-it-a-party tempos made all the more propulsive through Sean St. Germain‘s drumming, the momentum that opener “Clowntown” sets forth in its initial cycles of tense, head-down chug and subsequent sprint-out is unrelenting through the duration despite slamming into a wall of Even Heavier® brand mega-chug in the metalcore-style breakdown of “Peanut Butter Snack Sticks” on side A.

One thing to understand: Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol know what they’re doing here, and they’re doing it consciously. The short runtime, which is less than many EPs in a heavy underground that often prides itself on longform construction, becomes an advantage. On Big Dumb Riffs, the longest inclusion is closer “In a Jar” at 3:39 and seven of the 11 songs are under two minutes long. They get in, hit hard, make their point, get out. They are not lazy, as the sneering ’90s-style circle-mosher “Whip it Around” clearly demonstrates across its devastatingly efficient 55 seconds, leant a sense of freedom by dropping the pretense of being about anything other than the physicality being conveyed, which is all the more effective since it’s about headbanging, itself a physical act.

Light on flourish by nature and aesthetic choice, they offer a sneering, sometimes-aggressive stance through Lydon‘s vocals and lyrics like, “Stop being a bitch, like your mother,” in “Papa Pop It” or just the screamier backing lines shouting the title later in the penultimate “Blue Collar Man,” which answers both the meaner-sounding distortion of “Peanut Butter Snack Sticks” and the Claypoolish underpinnings noted above following the gets-up-and-runs “Bastard Initiated,” where they foster a similar clenched-teeth tension to that of “Clowntown,” working quickly in a no-bullshit-and-playing-at-being-all-bullshit manner that those who picked up what Rob Crow put down with Goblin Cock should find refreshing. Three dudes in the band means a total of six middle fingers. They all seem to be up here, however busy their hands might otherwise be at any given moment.

As much as Big Dumb Riffs is what it tells you it’s about — i.e., riffs, big, dumb — and as much as Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol have put into making it a fun listen, which is absolutely is, there are also some fairly dark themes. I haven’t actually seen a lyric sheet, so pardon if the quotes aren’t exact (I’m happy to correct whatever needs it), but “Body Bag” is the rolling centerpiece that kicks in after “Whip it Around,” and it and “Papa Pop It” both seem to be about suicide on some level. The verse in “Body Bag” tells the story of a protagonist who takes their own life after “Trying to be mama’s little twinkle in her eye,” and, “His father didn’t want him in the first place but he came in first place,” opening to its catharsis in the stuttered, “Ma-ma-ma-ma-mama, I’m about to have a heart attack” and concluding with, “I loved you but you didn’t say it back,” as the backing vocals join in for “You’d better put him in a body bag,” and they ride the chug through a last chorus around that line for another minute or so.

Outwardly poppier (go figure) and likewise grim in substance, “Papa Pop It” is framed as an imperative: “Papa pop it/Papa pull it/Do it,” and what’s happening there is someone telling, almost daring, their father to kill himself. Between these, the ultra-catchy fuck-you of “1-800-Eat-Shit” — which will no doubt be a sing-along on however many tours the band does for the record — as well as the pointedly-mom-voiced “You love it!” that oozes mockery next to a line about nostalgia being a sack of shit, the taunt in the repeated “Whatchu gonna do about that?”s of “Brat,” and the fact that “In a Jar” despite its turn toward patience and more peaceful, semi-doomgaze-comedown feel, is about murder, the vocals delivering the lines “Keep my hands…/Wrapped around your throat,” like wistful post-punk before rolling into the chorus that makes it plain with, “I’m gonna fucking kill you,” without departing the subdued-in-context last-minute drawl. “Blue Collar Man” encapsulates working class disillusion in the single lyric, “But it wasn’t the plan for the blue collar man” — daring to have a point and make it — and both “Clowntown” and “Bastard Initiated” execute their willful arrogance with a decidedly negative bent.

And I’m not sure who or what “El Sapo” (“the toad”) is about, but its 49 seconds of mute-chug and concluding gang shout come across like homage after the fact. What one might take from all of this is that while Big Dumb Riffs directs itself toward truth in advertising, there’s complexity in how it goes about that, and while its songs are short, they want nothing for persona or narrative. That St. GermainMetzdorf and Lydon accomplish this side-by-side with their stated goal of simplifying their sound even from where they were on 2022’s Doom Wop (review here) isn’t to be understated — it makes that act of breaking a thing down to its most essential parts a creative progression — and whether you take it on with that in mind or you put it on just to blow your speakers and pummel your brain with its chunky-style depth of frequency, fair enough. It feels like Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol have arrived at the point they’ve been working toward for the last seven years, harnessing primal rhythm and uniting around a single sonic purpose with a deceptively multifaceted confrontationalism. Fuck around and find… yourself?

Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol, Big Dumb Riffs (2024)

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Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol links

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