Rochester, New York, heavy psychedelic rock King Buffalo are hitting the point where you’re going to start hearing bands coming up working under their influence. You already can somewhat, but that’s not going to stop in the next few years. They’ll release the third-of-three in their pandemic trilogy, titled Regenerator, on Sept. 2 through themselves in the US and the venerable Stickman Records in Europe. It arrives as the follow-up to two of 2021’s best albums in Acheron (review here) and the prior The Burden of Restlessness (review here), and though I wrote the press release below, let me reiterate that I sincerely believe King Buffalo are one of the most crucial bands right now in the American heavy underground. I would put them on tour, US and Europe, with Elephant Tree from London and tell them both to keep going until they’re 50.

Alas, nobody puts me in charge of that kind of thing and probably for good reason. Regenerator is, however, a fitting summation of King Buffalo‘s prog-edged psychedelia, and you can see below that they’re ready to get out and tell everyone about it one head at a time.

Album announcement follows here, from my keyboard to the PR wire and back again:

KING BUFFALO ANNOUNCE ‘REGENERATOR’ TO BE RELEASED SEPTEMBER 2ND & TOUR DATES

Rochester, New York-based trio King Buffalo will issue their fifth full-length, Regenerator, on Sept. 2, 2022, as a self-release in North America and through Stickman Records in Europe. Preorders will be available on June 10 via http://kingbuffalo.bigcartel.com.

Written and recorded by the band with mixing and engineering by guitarist/vocalist Sean McVay and mastering by Bernie Matthews, the seven-song outing is the third in King Buffalo’s stated ‘pandemic trilogy,’ following Two of 2021’s Best Albums in The Burden of Restlessness and Acheron.

Both of those albums – like 2018’s Longing to Be the Mountain, 2016’s debut, Orion, and the various EPs and other offerings they’ve made over the last eight years – made bold declarations about who King Buffalo are as a band, and Regenerator is no different. As McVay, bassist/synthesist Dan Reynolds and drummer Scott Donaldson continue to explore the outer reaches of modern psychedelic songcraft, melding progressive rhythms, drifting atmospheres and accompanying surges of electricity, the new collection only further establishes them as one of the brightest lights shining in underground rock today.

As the third of three, Regenerator seems inherently to tie together the two LPs most immediately before it, and as King Buffalo unfold the leadoff title-track across nine and half minutes, it becomes clear just how truly they have marked out their own sonic presence. The later melodic highlight “Mammoth” – with McVay’s most confident vocal yet – shimmers with hope that somehow doesn’t come across as desperate, and as “Hours” engages classic space rock and the closing “Firmament” summarizes the first, second and third series installments, the final chapter of this trilogy becomes the essential cornerstone of King Buffalo’s work to-date.

The band returned to live activity late last year, touring alongside Clutch and more recently a full North American spring tour with Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats. By the time Regenerator arrives, they will have completed a UK and European headlining tour with festival appearances in Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland, Portugal, Belgium and Denmark.

Regenerator was written by King Buffalo in Rochester, NY, at the Main Street Armory in 2021. Produced, engineered and mixed by Sean McVay, and mastered by Bernie Matthews. The artwork was created by Mike Del Rosario and the album layout by Scott Donaldson.

2022 European & North American Tour Dates

Tickets for all dates at kingbuffalo.com

7/14 Wiesbaden, DE @ Schlachthof
7/15 Riegsee, DE @ Raut Oak Festival
7/16 Erfurt, DE @ Stoned from the Underground
7/17 Deventer, NL @ Burgerweeshuis
7/19 Manchester, UK @ Rebellion
7/20 Bristol, UK @ The Exchange
7/21 London, UK @ Oslo
7/22 Nijmegen, NL @ Valkhof Festival
7/23 Lille, FR @ THE BLACK LAB
7/24 Selestat, FR @ Rock Your Brain fest
7/25 Munich, DE @ Free & Easy Festival
7/27 Dresden, DE @Chemiefabrik
7/28 Herzberg, DE @ Burg Herzberg Festival
7/29 Hamburg, DE @ Lazy Bones Festival
7/30 Michelau, DE @ Rock Im Wald
7/31 Berlin, DE @ Lido
8/2 Warschau, POL @ Hydrozagadka
8/3 Krakau, POL @ Klub Alchemia
8/4 Vienna, AT @ Arena
8/5 Waldhausen, AT @ Lake On Fire
8/6 Beelen, DE @ Krach Am Bach
8/9 Zurich, CH @ Mascotte
8/10 Bruson, CH @ PALP Festival
8/11 Moledo, POR @ Sonic Blast Festival
8/12 Kortrijk, BE @ Alcatraz Festival
8/13 Copenhagen, DK @ Jailbreak Festival

9/8 Burlington, VT @ Higher Ground
9/9 Hamden, CT @ Space Ballroom
9/10 ?

9/16 Columbus, OH @ A&R Music Bar
9/17 Cincinnati, OH @ Madison Live
9/18 Louisville, KY @ Zanzabar
9/20 Nashville, TN @ Exit/In
9/22 Dallas, TX @ Club Dada
9/23 Austin, TX @ Antones
9/24 Houston, TX @ White Oak
9/25 New Orleans, LA @ Gasa Gasa
9/27 Atlanta, GA @ Masquerade
9/28 Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle
9/29 Baltimore, MD @ Ottobar
9/30 Philadelphia, PA @ First Unitarian Church
10/1 Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg

10/13 Toronto, ON @ Velvet Underground
10/14 Ottawa, ON @ Club SAW
10/15 Montreal, QC @ Bar Le Ritz

10/26 Kansas City, MO @ Record Bar
10/28 Albuquerque, NM @ Launchpad
10/29 Phoenix, AZ @ Rebel Lounge
10/31 San Diego, CA @ Soda Bar
11/1 Los Angeles, CA @ Teragram
11/2 San Francisco, CA @ The Chapel
11/4 Seattle, WA @ Neumos
11/5 Vancouver, BC @ Rickshaw
11/7 Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom
11/8 Boise, ID @ Neurolux
11/9 Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge
11/11 Denver, CO @ Gothic Theatre
11/12 Fort Collins, CO @ Aggie Theatre
11/15 Minneapolis, MN @ Fine Line
11/16 Madison, WI @ High Noon
11/17 Chicago, IL @ Sleeping Village
11/18 Chicago, IL @ Sleeping Village
11/19 Detroit, MI @ Magic Stick

Regenerator Tracklist:
1. Regenerator
2. Mercury
3. Hours
4. Interlude
5. Mammoth
6. Avalon
7. Firmament

King Buffalo is:
Sean McVay – Guitar, Vocals, & Synth
Dan Reynolds – Bass & Synth
Scott Donaldson – Drums

kingbuffalo.com
facebook.com/kingbuffaloband
instagram.com/kingbuffaloband
kingbuffalo.bandcamp.com

stickman-records.com
facebook.com/Stickman-Records-1522369868033940

King Buffalo, “Shadows” official video

King Buffalo, Acheron (2021)

King Buffalo, The Burden of Restlessness (2021)

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

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

Thank you for reading and thanks to all who participate.

The Obelisk Questionnaire: Scott Donaldson of King Buffalo

—

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

I define myself as a musician and small business owner. It started from a desire to play music with friends and organically grew into a full-time job.

Describe your first musical memory.

Watching music VHS tapes at my dad’s. The three that come to mind to mind are Styx and Van Halen Live concerts. I remember Alex Van Halen making his drumset sound like a helicopter which blew my mind at the time and Tommy Shaw having a shiny metallic guitar that changed colors (it was just the stage lights). My tiny brain thought a color changing guitar was the ultimate. It’s kinda hilarious that I now have a drumset that can “change color” haha. The 3rd was all the Def Leppard music videos through Hysteria. I loved and completely wore through that tape.

Describe your best musical memory to date.

That’s tough. I’ve been extremely fortunate to meet a lot of super talented musicians and even luckier to be able to call many of them friends. I honestly can’t pick just one but it’d involve touring with them.

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

Probably when Sean said I should start playing certain songs to a click. A lot of his delays are mapped out and for some of the synth work, I have to be exactly on. I didn’t like the idea at first and now I love it. It’s comforting to know I’m in the right place and kinda liberating. Thanks Sean!

Where do you feel artistic progression leads?

Does anyone know? I think everyone’s journey is different. Each person has their own views and ways of moving forward. I think it depends on the person and the environment they develop in.

How do you define success?

I think definitions of success change as you grow musically and as a person. Success to me when I first started was to make four records with my name on it and to do a West Coast tour. Now we’re approaching 10 records with KB so, I think we’ve achieved some success, but I also think there’s a lot more to go.

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

A dog at a live show without ear protection. Please protect your animals!

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

It’d be cool to have some KB tunes in a video game haha.

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

For me it’s trying to have fun. Music has become my full time job and I’m lucky to be able to say that. I think it can become easy to get jaded and forget how far you’ve come. I don’t want to take anything for granted and enjoy things for as long as they last. Having fun while creating is essential, because if it stops being fun I think it can stifle your creativity.

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

Dune Part 2. I read all the books over the pandemic and always had a campy appreciation of the David Lynch film. Part 1 was close to perfect for me and I’m excited to see what the next one brings. Fingers crossed they make a 3rd as well.

kingbuffalo.com
facebook.com/kingbuffaloband
instagram.com/kingbuffaloband
kingbuffalo.bandcamp.com

stickman-records.com
facebook.com/Stickman-Records-1522369868033940

King Buffalo, Acheron (2021)

King Buffalo, The Burden of Restlessness (2021)

Orodruin and UK doomers Iron Void teaming up for a split where they both cover Pagan Altar? That is a story I believe. Cool they’ve got originals as well, even if it’s just one per band. Based in Rochester, New York, Orodruin in 2019 released Ruins of Eternity (review here) and have since gone on to play shows with Kevin Latchaw of Argus on drums filling in for a permanent member. Newly announced in that regard is the addition of Randy Rowe to the four-piece alongside guitarist John Gallo, vocalist/bassist Michael Puleo and guitarist Nick Tydelski, and that’s the lineup that will take the stage at Pittsburgh’s Descendants of Crom and the Maryland Doom Fest this June.

They also note below they’ve started to write for their next full-length, but as it was some 16 years between Ruins of Eternity and the prior Epicurean Mass (discussed here), I’m willing to speculate that the wait might be a little longer on that one.

Still, doings:

We are happy to announce our new drummer Randy Rowe (of Haishen) from Rochester, NY. Please give him a warm welcome as we gear up to rehearse for upcoming shows at Descendants of Crom in Pittsburgh, PA on June 3rd & 4th as well as the Maryland Doom Fest June 23rd – 26th in Baltimore, MD. You will also hear him on our next split release with Iron Void (UK) in tribute to Terry Jones & Pagan Altar on Rafchild Records. Thanks to Raphael Päbst for making this happen as well as the blessings of Alan Jones and Annick Giroux.

Orodruin have finished recording our material for the split. Our cover will be “In The Wake of Armadeus” and Iron Void’s is “Highway Cavalier”. This will also feature an original song by both bands, “The Tolling Bell” by Iron Void and “In This Place” from us.

We’d also like to extend thanks to our doom brother Kevin Latchaw (Argus) who graciously leant his drumming services to us at Hammer of Doom in Germany, and our last two gigs in Rochester. NY. We are forever grateful and hope our paths meet again!

With a new year ahead of us we look forward to conjuring new material for our next full length on Cruz Del Sur and booking shows around the local area and beyond!

Thanks to Julia Rabkin for the incredible photo shoot as witnessed by the photo [above].

We’re also working on a new website to link all our pages together and get merchandise available to the masses.

Cheers again for all the support since Ruins of Eternity has been released and we will see you soon!

Orodruin is:
Nick Tydelski : Guitar
Michael Puleo : Bass, Vocals, Drums
John Gallo : Other Guitar
Randy Rowe : Drums

https://www.facebook.com/orodruinofficialband
cruzdelsurmusic.com
facebook.com/cruzdelsurmusic
cruzdelsurmusic.bandcamp.com

Orodruin, Ruins of Eternity (2019)

Rochester, New York, heavy psych forerunners King Buffalo are gearing up to announce the third in their trilogy of albums composed under COVID-19 lockdown circa 2020. Pretty much as soon as I can write it, I think. Before that, however, the band and Sound of Liberation have unveiled a slew of European tour dates, including stops at festivals like Lake on Fire, Stoned From the Underground, SonicBlast, Krach am Bach, on and on and on through what seems like a vigorously-returned summer festival season. With gusto, you might say. Regenerated.

Obviously, given the above, there’s more to come from the band shortly — next week — but as they recently wrapped a US tour alongside Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats and were out with Clutch before that, their own return to live performance seems to be all the more in swing. Reasonable, since they just put out two of the best records in 2021 with Acheron (review here) and the prior The Burden of Restlessness (review here), the first two chapters of the aforementioned trilogy. Hard to imagine they don’t have another album’s worth of material done at this point as well, but let’s not get greedy.

From Sound of Liberation on socials:

KING BUFFALO EUROPE 2022

Friends, we’re beyond happy to finally present you a King Buffalo tour – something we’ve been working on since 2019 but that wasn’t allowed to happen until now.

Get ready for finest heavy driving riffs and familiar grooves from the Rochester, NY trio, King Buffalo will tour their latest record „Acheron“, their second release within a year and inevitably known as „the cave record“ as it was recorded in one.
Sound of Liberation proudly presents:

KING BUFFALO
EUROPEAN TOUR 2022
14.07.22 (DE) Wiesbaden, Schlachthof Wiesbaden
15.07.22 (DE) Oberzenn, Raut Oak Fest
16.07.22 (DE) Erfurt, Stoned from the Underground – Festival
17.07.22 (NL) Deventer, Burgerweeshuis
19.07.22 (UK) Manchester, Rebellion Manchester
20.07.22 (UK) Bristol, Exchange
21.07.22 (UK) London, Oslo Hackney
22.07.22 (NL) Nijmegen, Valkhof Festival
23.07.22 (FR) Lille, The BLACK LAB
24.07.22 (FR) Sélestat, Rock Your Brain Fest
25.07.22 (DE) Munich, Free&Easy Festival
27.07.22 (DE) Dresden, Chemiefabrik Dresden (Chemo)
28.07.22 (DE) Herzberg, Herzberg Festival
29.07.22 (DE) Hamburg, Lazy Bonez Festival @Gruenspan
30.07.22 (DE) Michelau, Rock im Wald Festival
31.07.22 (DE) Berlin, Lido Berlin
02.08.22 (PL) Warsaw, Klub Hydrozagadka
03.08.22 (PL) Krakow, Klub Alchemia
04.08.22 (AT) Vienna, ARENA WIEN
05.08.22 (AT) Waldhausen, Lake on Fire
06.08.22 (DE) Beelen, Krach am Bach
09.08.22 (CH) Zürich, Mascotte Club Zürich
10.08.22 (CH) Bruson, PALP festival
11.08.22 (POR) Moledo, SonicBlast Fest
12.08.22 (BE) Kortrijk, ALCATRAZ MUSIC
13.08.22 TBA

We really can’t wait to see this tour rolling. Hope to see you all there!

If you want to get back into the live rock’n’roll mood already, check out our King Buffalo merch & vinyl at SOL Records

Cheers
Your SOL Crew

King Buffalo is:
Sean McVay – Guitar, Vocals, & Synth
Dan Reynolds – Bass & Synth
Scott Donaldson – Drums & Percussion

kingbuffalo.com
facebook.com/kingbuffaloband
instagram.com/kingbuffaloband
kingbuffalo.bandcamp.com

stickman-records.com
facebook.com/Stickman-Records-1522369868033940

King Buffalo, “Shadows” official video

King Buffalo, The Burden of Restlessness (2021)

If you’re going to put out two of the year’s best releases — talking this month’s Acheron (review here) and June’s The Burden of Restlessness (review here) specifically — with the promise of more to come, I guess the thing to do is hit the road on a bigger tour then you’ve ever done before. Cheers and best wishes to King Buffalo as they announce they’ll head out next March in the esteemed company of Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats. No word on whether Uncle Acid will also have a new record out by the time they go, but if you believe in due, they’re due as well.

Tickets go on sale Friday and I’ve marked my calendar for the first show of the run, which is at Brooklyn Steel. They’ll be out for a month, hitting both coasts and into Canada on a final loop back east. Even as King Buffalo toured with Clutch earlier this Fall on an abbreviated stint, the scope here is the largest I’ve seen the band do in a supporting role. Pretty badass.

Dates follow as per the social media:

TOUR ANNOUNCEMENT… Dates w/ Uncle Acid and the deadbeats! Tickets go on sale THIS FRIDAY at kingbuffalo.com.

3/2 Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel
3/3 Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer
3/4 Pittsburgh, PA @ The Roxian
3/5 Baltimore, MD @ Baltimore Sound Stage
3/7 Asheville, NC @ The Orange Peel
3/8 Atlanta, GA @ The Masquerade
3/9 Tampa, FL @ The Ritz
3/11 New Orleans, LA @ House of Blues
3/12 Houston, TX @ Warehouse Live
3/13 Dallas, TX @ House of Blues
3/15 Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom
3/16 San Diego, CA @ Observatory Northpark
3/17 Los Angeles, CA @ The Belasco
3/18 Berkeley, CA @ UC Theater
3/21 Portland, OR @ Roseland Theater
3/22 Vancouver, BC @ The Commodore
3/23 Seattle, WA @ Showbox Market
3/25 Salt Lake City, UT @ The Depot
3/26 Denver, CO @ Ogden Theatre
3/27 Kansas City, MO @ The Truman
3/29 Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
3/30 Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall
4/1 Toronto, ON @ The Danforth
4/2 Montreal, QC @ Club Soda
4/3 Boston, MA @ Big Nite Live

King Buffalo is:
Sean McVay – Guitar, Vocals, & Synth
Dan Reynolds – Bass & Synth
Scott Donaldson – Drums & Percussion

kingbuffalo.com
facebook.com/kingbuffaloband
instagram.com/kingbuffaloband
kingbuffalo.bandcamp.com
stickman-records.com
facebook.com/Stickman-Records-1522369868033940

King Buffalo, “Shadows” official video

King Buffalo, The Burden of Restlessness (2021)

Say hello — and Happy Thanksgiving, if you celebrate it — to the first full-song audio and video to be unveiled from King Buffalo‘s upcoming LP and album-film, Acheron (review here), which is out Dec. 3. There was the teaser before, but with “Shadows,” you get far more of a sense both of what the four-song record has on offer and what the vibe was like when they started playing songs in that cave, deep beneath the surface of the earth. Granted, there hasn’t been a ton to compare it to on my end in terms of going-places-and-doing-stuff, but hitting up Howes Cavern to watch King Buffalo record was the coolest thing I’ve been to this year so far. And I only add the “so far” because I’ve got another, not-KB-related studio visit planned for December and you never know what might happen on a given day or two. But the standard is high, even considering the context of 2021.

If you couldn’t tell, I’m writing this while listening to “Shadows,” and the song just hit its circa-midpoint swell. Acheron has a couple linear builds, as did The Burden of Restlessness (review here) in June, and I guess if you’re only counting the first seven minutes or so, “Shadows” is one of them, but the song runs 11 minutes total, and I think the quiet exploration in the back end is pretty essential for more than just the return-kick to which it leads. Enough so that the band put it out as the first whole track unveiled — I would’ve expected the opening title-track, but it’s nice to be surprised — and would seem to have done so with the clear intent to convey just how different Acheron is from the preceding album in their plague-era trilogy, the third part of which will be released in 2022.

Don’t let me keep you. It’s a holiday, and while I could probably go on about the record, suffice it to say that King Buffalo have two of 2021’s best albums to their credit. With the next impending, they’re a bright spot in a perpetually weird reality.

Dive in:

King Buffalo, “Shadows” official video

From the new album and film, ‘Acheron’ available everywhere on 12/3/21.

For more info or to support the band directly visit: https://kingbuffalo.com/links

Directed by Adam Antalek.

King Buffalo, The Burden of Restlessness (2021)

King Buffalo BigCartel store

King Buffalo website

King Buffalo on Facebook

King Buffalo on Instagram

Stickman Records website

Stickman Records on Facebook

With Acheron, Rochester, New York’s King Buffalo continue their emergence among the most essential acts of current American heavy psychedelic rock. The first thing you hear is running water. It is the sound of the place the four-song/40-minute full-length was recorded; Howe Caverns in Schoharie County, NY. An underground stream runs alongside a path both natural and cut into the rock 150 feet under the ground, and it’s where the band — guitarist/vocalist/synthesist Sean McVay, bassist/keyboardist Dan Reynolds and drummer Scott Donaldson — tracked the album, playing the songs live with audio and video recordings running simultaneously. The trio’s original ambition to release three albums in 2021 of material composed during the tour-less lockdown of 2020 may have met with vinyl-pressing-delay circumstances beyond their control — the third in this trilogy will be out in 2022 instead — but their will to create in different locales as a part of that project has thus far been maintained.

June 2021’s The Burden of Restlessness (review here) — which shared the face-forward artwork theme with Acheron, albeit in a grimmer manifestation — was self-recorded. Acheron arrives produced by Grant Husselman, who had previously worked on their early 2020 EP, Dead Star (review here), and the prior sophomore LP, 2018’s Longing to Be the Mountain (review here), and who here was tasked with nothing less than building a mobile studio unit in a day and capturing the band’s energy in a remote setting, deep beneath the surface of the earth. As McVay‘s guitar enters over that initial water flow — which will return as an aural theme throughout the songs — his lines seem to give some shape to the movement of water over stone, Acheron is not quite 30 seconds into its opening title-track before its first victory is declared.

What unfolds gracefully from that point across “Acheron” (10:21), “Zephyr” (9:26), “Shadows” (10:35) and “Cerberus” (9:47) is an acknowledgement of who King Buffalo are as a unit that brings some of the sharper-edged progressive aspects of The Burden of Restlessness — these songs were written at the same time, after all — together with the duly fluid heavy psychedelia the band offered on Longing to Be the Mountain, their Jan. 2018 lead-into EP, Repeater (review here), or 2016’s debut album, Orion (review here).

The album feels brilliantly curated to this purpose and to its setting. The angry melancholy of “The Knocks” or “Locusts” from the prior record — looking inward and out — isn’t absent from Acheron, but the context has shifted, and even the angular chug toward the apex of “Cerberus” that feels like it’s speaking directly back to the last outing arrives with a different energy, complemented by a layered, harmonized crescendo of guitar solos over grand crashing drums and Reynolds‘ ever-steady presence in the low end.

No doubt earlier vibes like the drifting synth and guitar of “Zephyr” or the echoing breadth of “Shadows” play into that impression as well — Acheron is best taken as a whole work — but the tension that King Buffalo crafted into their material on The Burden of Restlessness can still be heard, whether it’s Donaldson‘s drumming pushing through beneath the final cascades of guitar and melodic float in “Zephyr” or the foreboding jabs of guitar from McVay as “Cerberus” makes ready to do its final battle with that mythological creature, who perhaps is acting as a stand-in for some of the same feelings The Burden of Restlessness took on. “Acheron” itself seems to build outward from that foundation — the title referring to the River of Woe in Greek folklore — and its own repetitions and builds of chugging guitar, particularly as filled out by an overarching keyboard line in the second half of the song, become crucial for understanding what Acheron, the album, is looking to accomplish.

It is not just about doing something different from the last record, or about answering the last record, or about recording in a cave. The truth of Acheron is that it is its own work. I’m not sure if “Shadows” is about Erebus or not, but “Zephyr” is the Greek God of the West Wind, and the song’s atmosphere, even solidified in the midsection and freaked-out-shred later as it is, is duly gorgeous. As much as Acheron is the second of an intended three-part collection, it’s also a fourth King Buffalo full-length, and it works no less to demonstrate the band’s live energy, yes, as well as their broadening instrumental and melodic reach, their patience in executing ambient as well as more intense stretches, and more over, their skill at creating a sonic narrative by setting the two against or alongside each other.

After its surge shortly before the four-minute mark, “Cerberus” pulls away from its final lyrics and from 4:20 on dedicates itself to an entirely instrumental movement, turning back and forth from its tense chug — which at one point stands alone in willful make-you-grind-your-teeth fashion — to lead guitar in setting up the payoff solo(s) and final epilogue riffing, which itself cuts short and echoes out at the end of the record. The motion from one part to the next is neither stark nor overly molten. Instead, it is precisely what King Buffalo want it to be. A given push from one part to the next can be a dramatic return, or it can be a setting off into unknown spaces, or it can be as simple as a shift from a verse to a chorus.

The band’s songwriting accounts for all of these, just as that first guitar line of the title-track seems to carry the rhythm of the running water, so too does the rest of Acheron play out in a series of carefully shaped moments. They may have shown up to Howe Caverns to record in a day, but that didn’t happen without having their parts refined beforehand, and the work King Buffalo put into sculpting Acheron as it is pays dividends in a front-to-back immersive listen. It is your own freight elevator down to that river, the stalactites and stalagmites and the cool moisture surrounding.

I do not know what the third installment of King Buffalo‘s plague-era trilogy might hold in terms either of atmosphere or the circumstances of its being put to tape, but as much as Acheron feels tied to The Burden of Restlessness in some ways, it no less breaks away from that album to find its own place as one of 2021’s best releases. Expectations and anticipation for their next work should be high, but Acheron underscores just how justified their audience is in trusting King Buffalo to meet and surpass their own standards, setting new ones along the way. They certainly do that here.

King Buffalo, Acheron trailer

King Buffalo, The Burden of Restlessness (2021)

King Buffalo BigCartel store

King Buffalo website

King Buffalo on Facebook

King Buffalo on Instagram

Stickman Records website

Stickman Records on Facebook

I’ve been sitting in this for months. I set off north on I-87 on April 26 to Howe Caverns in New York to be there when Rochester three-piece King Buffalo — guitarist/vocalist/keyboardist Sean McVay, bassist/keyboardist Dan Reynolds, drummer Scott Donaldson — recorded their fourth album and second in a series of three written during pandemic lockdown. In a cave. They were recording in a cave. And I got there, and I took an elevator down, and yes, it was a cave. Load-in took a while, as one might expect.

As I will, I took notes and pictures while I was there. And as you read — and if you do, thanks — and see that I was not there the whole day front to back and indeed missed three out of the four songs on Acheron (due out Dec. 3) being tracked, you need to understand the monumental task that was before the band, before producer Grant Husselman and before videographer Adam Antalek and their respective crew. King Buffalo brought all their own gear, oversaw the assembly not only of that, but a mobile recording studio, as well as a professional video shoot. In a day. Really, in a morning and afternoon. Regardless of anything they actually recorded, it was a massive achievement in logistics, even with some snags along the way.

Keep that in mind. Their original plan was to be done by 4PM and that was my gotta-go time, but of course it ran late. How could it not? They finished as I understand it around 9PM and then loaded out thereafter, lugging everything back up the long path set out through Howe Caverns, which, indeed, seemed like a fun place to take your family if you happen to be nearby. One of the people running it — Bill, I think — let me have a magnet that now adorns my fridge and brings pleasant memories of the day.

And I’ve heard the album. I’ll review it in the next week or two, but suffice it to say, it’s cave-tastic.

Here are the notes:

10:45AM – It’s moist living in the cave.

Howe Caverns probably isn’t much different from a lot of roadside-style attractions. Or maybe it is. I don’t really know. Lots of highway signage leading to a thing that’s probably been owned by the same family for however many generations. You wonder about the insurance, but I’m sure there’s a policy for caves. The stalactite plan.

King Buffalo are recording the second of their three upcoming albums today, mostly live, in this cave, 150 feet underground. Drums are in open air, such as it is with a rock ceiling, guitars, bass, synth mostly DI to the computer. They’re filming as well — pro-shop, same crew that did their Quarantine Sessions last year — because if you’re going to do a thing, do it right. And I’m here, presumably just to make it awkward.

The first of the band’s three intended LPs isn’t out until June, but they’ve had this plan for a while and Howe Caverns opens to the public next month, so I guess now was when it worked all around. I know nothing about the songs other than Sean, Dan and Scott pared down a lockdown’s stockpile of jams into a third, fourth and fifth record’s worth of material. Fair enough.

I got suitably turned around coming in — it’s not like the gift shop was open — but Scott managed to retrieve me from my meanderings on the (above-) grounds. Load in was a load in, but down in the dank on a brick path with running water alongside. Lots of little bridges but only one tighter spot. I imagine when it comes to what’s captured on the mics today, the cave will be a presence in the recording.

11:11AM – First plugged in guitar sounds. Drums soon after. Voice warm-ups. Everything still being set up with a ways to go, I’d think. Though I expect someone will say “alright” at some point and they’ll just hit it.

12:37PM – More guitar noodling. Sabbath, Pearl Jam maybe, Hendrix, Metallica, some KB stuff. Scott was playing drums a while ago. Mostly lighting and mic setup it seems. I’m just trying to stay out of the way to the degree I can. It’s always weird going to a recording. You want to do something, everyone around you is doing stuff, all the more here with a video crew and a full A/V thing happening, but the best place for me to be is out of the way. I still haven’t heard bass and I’m not sure I will but cameras are coming out and various lights are strewn about the cave, so I feel like we’re getting closer.

Cameras are shooting B-roll of the water and such. The owners of the cave are in and out. I can’t tell if it’s gotten colder or what, but I’ve got my hood up, so yeah. Facemasks doubling as face-warmers. Somewhere in the back of my head this morning was my mother’s voice saying to me, “You’re going to a cave, dress warm.” I’m thankful for that. I also brought a book to read. Not my first time at the dance, even if it’s the first time said dance happened in a cave.

More checking mics, drum sounds, etc. The recording gear is a good ways down the corridor or whatever you’d call it here from where the band is. The cave lights are on. Red, green, set up to show detail on different formations and whatnot. There’s communication back and forth between band and console. The waiting. It is like this all the time in recording with bands. Especially a mobile setup since you basically have to build a studio, on the fly, adjusted to the specifications and acoustics where you are. Remote recording done right is serious shit and not a production task I envy. But progress is being made. It’s well after 1PM now.

1:36PM – The issue is with the in-ear monitors Sean and I think Dan are using. Too far from the console setup or some such. I have always been a skeptic of in-ear monitors. One more thing to break. But I assume that if you actually want or need to hear yourself they could make that happen. When functional.

To put this situation in Treknobabble, which I’m honestly more comfortable with, the natural radiation of the cave formations are causing isometric interference that’s scrambled comm circuits. An engineering team has been dispatched but I’ve yet to hear a time estimate on compensating.

Film crew shooting more of the cave to stay busy, I think. Things are being moved from here to there.

2:13PM – Passed Scott on the path on my way back from the topside restroom. He was going to order pizza. He says he hopes noise by three, then move for different filming spot, then two more songs in second location, then done. Better be some quick pizza I guess. Apparently Bill, who owns Howe Caverns, is a major dude and is being generous with the time. That kind of thing is good to know. My own time schedule is somewhat less forgiving — hard 4PM out — but so it goes. Even if I don’t actually see or hear any of the recording, at least I was here. The running water is peaceful.

2:53PM – Two keyboards. One for Sean, one for Dan. The entire recording console ended up moving for the monitor issue, then drum mics weren’t doing what they should’ve been.

For anyone who’s never been in a recording situation and imagines it’s mountains of cocaine and everybody’s stoned and getting laid and whatever other bullshit, nope. More often than not, this is what it is. You want to make something happen and the universe and all manner of physics known and unknown do their best to crap on your plans. This time it’s happened in a cave. But that’s what you do, you sort it all out in the hope of chasing some creative dragon, same way a band might spend 23 hours of the day waiting to play for an hour on tour. Don’t get me wrong, it beats working, but way, way, way more often than not, it also includes working. You gotta really love this shit to do it for more than five minutes without saying “screw it I’m going home.”

3PM now. I guess there’s pizza somewhere.

3:13PM – One song played and recorded — “Acheron,” it’s called — I think just to test what’s working and what isn’t. Only drums and guitar audible to naked ear, but Sean’s guitar tone sounds good and I can hear some bass now on the playback. Not a lot of vocals, and it’s a different vibe than the Burden of Restlessness stuff, though it’s got a clear build. Synth is more forward, which is cool. They’re breaking for lunch, which I think means my time here will be done by when they get going again. I guess maybe it’s time to split.

3:50PM – So much for the hard out.

I went up and pizza seemed to rejuvenate the entire populace as only pizza, or, for some people, Jesus, can. Back down now and getting ready to film the two songs, “Acheron” and one I haven’t heard even part of yet, and then I’m Jersey bound.

This time I have headphones. They’re getting the video ready to roll out, I’m in back with Grant Husselman at the board, Adam Antalek doing video. It’s four so there goes me, but yeah, you drive up what’re you gonna do.

“Acheron” starts at 4PM on the dot. Cave snare dominates all, but so it goes. Vocals are soft but there, guitar dreamy and riding that groove. I’m glad to hear Dan this time, especially as the heavier riff kicks in. This song is 10 minutes long, reportedly. So is the next one. You’ll not find me complaining about that. The synth comes in late, second half accoutrement, but it sounds good.

4:12PM – They’re going to do another take and get more video. Time for me to roll. Bill was kind enough to let me have a fridge magnet from the gift shop when I asked if I could buy one, and with that as my memento I’ll head back to NJ glad I got to hear what I did, sorry I couldn’t hear more, and most likely distracted by the gorgeous scenery of the Catskills. I’ve never been here that I didn’t want to build a house and never leave it again. Doing so, at the very least, would shorten the drive. Ha.

King Buffalo, Acheron trailer

King Buffalo, The Burden of Restlessness (2021)

King Buffalo BigCartel store

King Buffalo website

King Buffalo on Facebook

King Buffalo on Instagram

Stickman Records website

Stickman Records on Facebook