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The Obelisk Questionnaire: Methadone Skies

Posted in Questionnaire on August 8th, 2023 by JJ Koczan

Methadone Skies

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: Methadone Skies

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

Long story short: a productive way to spend our free time that turned into a hobby and ultimately a passion, really. It all feels like baby steps since we’re approaching our 15th anniversary as a band, but from randomly playing at home to playing with some of our favorite bands or sending our music in dozens of countries around the world, it’s a lovely and at the same time, humbling feeling. We mainly bonded over our love for Queens of the Stone Age songs back in 2008 among other bands, then we pushed ourselves to find a sound of our own. We never took anything for granted and maybe this is why we still play together today.

Describe your first musical memory.

Playing our first show as Methadone Skies in front of about 200 people, opening for a local band, The :Egocentrics, whom we previously went to watch perform multiple times. It was scary, stressful, but awesome. We were unaware at the time, but our soon-to-be guitar player Alex was at that show too.

Describe your best musical memory to date.

There are a few that will stick forever with us, such as our Ukrainian gigs in 2012 which were great, crazy and lots of fun. Also, opening for Yawning Man, getting to spend time talking with them about the whole desert scene, how things developed from there for hours after the gig. We played a cover of “Rock Formations” at our first gig. Maybe the most encompassing was organizing the Haywire Festival in our town for three years in a row, meeting lots of bands. We grew a lot from moments like those, whether musically or how to handle various sides of booking, promo, etc. Being an independent band, handling everything ourselves, it meant a lot.

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

Maintaining focus as a band starting 2017, when our guitar player Alex moved to work in Hamburg, Germany. It wasn’t easy to adjust, since most of our songs were born at our rehearsal space by jamming. It forced us to rethink our approach and since then, we’ve been moving into a different direction, where we think more about song structures and sound from the moment an idea is born. We adapted and there was an upside to that, as we are more aware of our strengths and flaws today.

Where do you feel artistic progression leads?

The sonic journey you embark on each time you start writing a new album becomes trickier with each LP. There is the ever-looming trap of repeating yourself, due to the comfort zone you might find yourself circling while jamming. Escaping that is a progress in itself. This is why we always try to move on from one record to another. Sometimes it’s a natural progression, but other times you just want to incorporate something different to keep things exciting. Even now, we feel we’ve found a new side of ourselves in the songs we’ve been developing, so that makes us stoked to finally have them in a recorded form.

How do you define success?

For us, success is to create a sonic journey we are proud of. We never aimed for commercial success and with each new LP it seems we’re deliberately moving farther from it. Nevertheless, as long as people are into it and there’s feedback coming from fans who listen to us, watch us perform or write about our music, it means we’ve accomplished something.

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

All those interminable stretches of highways while travelling from one city to another. How long will it take before we can teleport from one gig to another?

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

A soundtrack to a movie no matter how weird or obscure it is. It should be an interesting project for us.

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

To take you on a journey, make you forget about the daily routine. Whether it’s a movie, song, concert, painting or any other form of art, if it inspires you, makes you react in any way, then that is an essential function. We’re bombarded with so much information every day, therefore we need an escape to recharge ourselves.

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

Right now, we’re all looking forward to our holidays, travelling to visit new places and countries.

https://www.facebook.com/MethadoneSkies
https://www.instagram.com/methadoneskies
https://methadoneskies.bandcamp.com
https://soundcloud.com/methadone-skies

Methadone Skies, “The Velvet Suit” (2023)

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Album Review: Name of Kings, Yurt

Posted in Reviews on June 20th, 2023 by JJ Koczan

Name of Kings Yurt

There is a striking amount of detail put into Name of Kings‘ ostensible debut, Yurt. Comprised of Bohemond Pasha (vocals, acoustic guitar, percussion) and Malid Majnun (acoustic and electric guitar, bass, keys, percussion, oud, barbat, ocarina, arrangements for strings and horns on “Rumi” and “By Design”), the band reportedly began in Prague in the 1990s and now reside in Bucharest, Romania, and their sound is informed by folk music as well as psychedelia, soul, funk, classic rock and more besides. Yurt is their first listed album, though I couldn’t say for sure they never had anything else out in all that time. In any case, as Name of KingsPasha and Majnun offer seven songs across 30 minutes of soulful rock fusion, tapping into a classic-style spirit that’s hard to pin to a year, but that derives in part from singer-songwriters of the early 1970s, and part from its own nuance.

Throughout cuts like “Revolutions” and “Bridges” at the outset, through “Rumi” and “By Design” at the finish, Yurt is careful in the presentation of the elements that comprise it, with a deceptive mix that is as likely to leave space open for an intimate feel as to fill it with organ/keys or a vocal melody, guitars generally complementing rather than in a constant forward position. That ethic can be heard on the final strummy moments of “By Design” or in the sleek boogie of “Revolutions,” where the guitar holds a buzz in the chorus as the bass and ride cymbal dig into the same rhythm.

Funky, swirling, supremely confident in its execution, the opener unfolds as a highlight of Yurt for the fullness of its sound, but as “Bridges” finds Pasha tapping into The Temptations for vocal influence over the initial soft guitar, which turns moodier and almost grunge-esque at the end of the verse measures, drums far back as flourish of keys arrives in the next verse, a stop, some string sounds, plenty of room for all in the sound and vocal harmonies besides. “Bridges” remains low key in terms of volume — that is, it never explodes — but it creates a surprisingly vast atmosphere in just under four minutes, with the space between the organ and guitar, guitar and drums, vocals in the forefront able to be the element carrying the song with the instruments in something of a supporting role.

This happens again in the early going of “By Design,” and the build-up in “Motion and Fame,” but the album is able to account for that after the psych-funk of “Revolutions” and amid the smooth bassy and organ-ic beginning of “Too Long Together,” wherein the drums work at a slow strut behind a harmonized verse, the melody of the organ filling out the space that “Night Errant,” with its Paul Simon meeting Jimmy Page “Me and Julio Going to California” acoustic figure and a call and response between the guitar and bass in the post-chorus stop, left to more experimentalist-feeling noises and low end pulsating. In this way the songs build on each other to create a portrait of the album as a single work — not a single song, but a single collection of them. One part of one song answers another, the record in conversation with itself as with folk, psych, funk, soul, rock traditions, and Yurt becomes a story as much about the band itself as any particular narrative being conveyed in the material.

name of kings

“Too Long Together” crashes in as a relatively lush centerpiece, but its flow is gentle, easygoing, and leaves space for the vocal melody. A line of organ runs through the verse and chorus, an especially distinguished guitar solo appears later, full-on mellow ’70s rock given progressive quirk in its organ-and-background-noise finish. The subsequent “Motion and Fame” is the longest piece at 7:25 and starts with sampled speech, maybe backward, and subtly-fading-in acoustic guitar that comes forward for the first verse after a minute in, organ joining to underscore the feel of revelation, almost something Lynyrd Skynyrd might’ve done. Arda Algul (who also mixed “Motion of Fame” and several other tracks; the rest were done by Majnun and Pasha) adds an organ solo after the guitar solo in the song’s second half, and Mihai Ionita guests on harmony guitar, before the song returns in a drop to the speech and ambient guitar to close out, experimental and folkish both. This brings about the distorted riff that builds up at the start of “Rumi,” which along with “By Design” after, make up the closing salvo and the album’s two shortest pieces. Horns flash and the organ takes advantage of the misdirection to be a little playful in the verse, but the second chorus is a rallying cry for every instrument that’s gone wandering and all solidifies around the hook twice, at which point the organ leads into the fade.

And “By Design” is only 2:46, but its acoustic-and-strings presentation — strings and horns are both credited to Kolin Philharmonic Orchestra — is emotionally evocative and though lucid instrumentally hints in its final minute vocally toward a psychedelic lean, the last lines of the album sweeping up from deep in the mix in a kind of doppler effect as they pass by. Considering the significant amount of stylistic ground covered, they cap Yurt with relatively little ceremony, making it a short record but a full-length nonetheless in its fluidity and seeming intention. In arrangement and in the crafting of the melodies throughout, Name of Kings are distinct in their influence from ’70s soul and rock, not necessarily vintage in their delivery or production, but evidently conscious of using the mix as an instrument in itself, and able to dwell in spaces for a short time without giving up the (soft) momentum of one song into the next.

Yurt is not beholden to heavy in the traditional sense of its tones, but it works in part from heavy inspirations, and the atmosphere the album creates is vibrant enough to have a presence of its own in the room. If this in fact is their debut, it is all the more a striking stylistic amalgam, and if it’s taken them a few decades or so to get to this point, their time would seem not to have been misspent. Not going to be for everybody, but will hit hard and stay with others to the point where they wonder why everyone else isn’t as on board.

Name of Kings, Yurt (2023)

Name of Kings on Bandcamp

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The Obelisk Questionnaire: Mishu, Byst & Panda of RoadkillSoda

Posted in Questionnaire on December 30th, 2021 by JJ Koczan

roadkillsoda

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: RoadkillSoda

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

Mishu: I guess I can define it as simply creating music or just generally being involved in any kind of music-related activity. I came to do it randomly, I didn’t think much of it even though I liked music, but I met with some friends that were doing music and they wanted someone to write a drum line and I said I’ll try. And after that I guess it just kept on evolving

Byst: I’m glad that I can achieve one of my childhood dreams: to sing and make music, and I think it was a combination of different elements acquired in time that drove me here. Making music for me is a life pressure relief valve.

Panda: I am living my childhood dream. Playing the music I love, with my friends around the world.

Describe your first musical memory.

Mishu: I have a bad memory and the first musical memory was way too many years ago, but I think it was listening to some music player of someone somewhere.

Byst: At my seventh birthday I received a cassette from my uncle with the Judas Priest, Painkiller album, and I was blown away by the album cover and the fact that you could insert the cassette the other way in the case. And when I started to listen to it, a universe opened for me.

Panda: A trip to the seaside with my parents and my brother, when they would put on mixtapes and sing along, this is the first vivid memory that comes to mind. They would harmonize beautifully.

Describe your best musical memory to date.

Mishu: I don’t know what the best would be, most of them are as good as they can be. It can be attending a live show or playing in one or being in the studio and hearing a dope track or chilling with the gang and getting turned up together while listening to music or it can be finally getting to listen to some new music being released after you have been waiting for it.

Byst: In 2010 I saw Korn in Romania and I was with two friends. I think it was my first big concert with one of my favorite bands and the world just stopped when they started playing. It was so intense; we were moshing in the middle of a crazy crowd and singing and it was unbelievable. And after the show we decided to drive back home for like 230 km passing through some narrow roads in the mountains and at one point the driver fell asleep and that could have been the end of the story.

Panda: Highlights from my career would be anytime I would meet one of my musical influences at shows, and getting a chance to talk to them. This includes Slash, Nick Oliveri, Isaiah Mitchell, Chino, the guys from Alice in Chains and so on. It is always amazing to see their way of seeing music.

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

Mishu: I don’t remember exactly but I’ve had a few times it was tested more in the sense that I reacted to certain situations in ways that I wouldn’t have to normally but the belief made me react in that only to confirm my belief.

Byst: Fortunately, I have not been put in a situation like this in recent times, after I started to develop some firmly held beliefs, and I don’t have that many. The ones I have are really hard to be put to the test. I’m a pretty flexible guy most of the time.

Panda: I think as a musician in an underground scene, you get tested pretty much on a daily basis. You believe in what you are doing, and you do it with great passion, and there is always a promoter, a booker, a music expert that maybe isn’t having his best day, and decides to tell you different. Nevertheless, I think sticking to your gut feeling is the best approach.

Where do you feel artistic progression leads?

Mishu: Progression leads to better understanding of the art and how to transpose whatever you want to say or whatever feelings you want to express into the art itself.

Byst: Where progression in everything leads… In the beginning can’t seem like much but after a while thing start to change and evolve. Can’t stop progress.

Panda: I think it’s in our nature to progress. I think once you stop evolving you kinda die inside. Then again, I am a firm believer that doing things just for the sake of not repeating yourself is bad. Change has to come naturally, in order to feel natural.

How do you define success?

Mishu: For me, success would be being able to do whatever you want without having to think about anything else and having all your needs fulfilled so you can only focus on what you really want to.

Byst: I can’t say what success is, ‘cause I don’t know it. And it’s a very loose term, I think it depends on the mentality of people and the society each individual lives in.

Panda: Success is getting people to ask for you, and not the other way around. It is not introducing yourself but being known. It’s being able to have a constant schedule in advance. I don’t think it has anything to do with money. And as my colleagues mentioned, to each his own. For me, it would be to be remembered as someone who did his part right.

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

Byst: If I saw something, I learned something from it, so I took all the things I’ve seen as part of my experience and I embraced them all, bad or good.

Panda: If you live and breathe you get constantly into weird situations. As Byst mentioned, the important thing is to react correctly and learn from everything.

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

Mishu: Electronic music like gabbar or bassline, and maybe music not related to bands or any musical projects, something like making the soundtrack for some anime would be cool.

Byst: It will be a surprise so I don’t want to spoil it.

Panda: For now, the next step for me is to build my house, that will include my studio. So, until I create that physically, it remains on paper, and remains a wish.

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

Mishu: It’s art, it can be anything but I guess it’s the way it can expand your creativity or how you can just get lost in art.

Byst: To inspire people and make them dream.

Panda: To complement your feelings, your adventures in life. I think we find answers in life to certain thoughts that we cannot explain. I think without art, we would become robots.

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

Byst: At this moment I just want to finish my DIY tiny music/house shack before the winter comes.

Panda: As mentioned, and apparently, it’s a thing with the RoadkillSoda boys, finishing my house, before next winter comes. :)

https://roadkillsoda.bandcamp.com/
https://facebook.com/RoadKillSoda/
https://www.instagram.com/roadkillsoda/
https://www.youtube.com/user/RoadkillSoda/videos
https://shorturl.at/chrtN

RoadkillSoda, “Loud and Proud”

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Quarterly Review: Kanaan, Spacelord, Altareth, Negura Bunget, High Fighter, Spider Kitten, Snowy Dunes, Maragda, Killer Hill, Ikitan

Posted in Reviews on December 17th, 2021 by JJ Koczan

THE-OBELISK-FALL-2020-QUARTERLY-REVIEW

Behold, the last day of the Quarterly Review. For a couple weeks, anyhow. I gotta admit, even with the prospect of doing it all again next month looming over my head, this QR has been strikingly easy to put together. Yeah, some of that is because of back-end conveniences in compiling links, images and embeds, prep work done ahead of time, and so on, but more than that it’s because the music is good. And if you know anything about a QR, you know I like to treat myself on the last day. Today is not at all an exception in that regard. Accordingly, I won’t delay, except to say thanks again for reading and following along if you have been. I know my own year-end list won’t be the same for having done this, and I hope the same for you.

Quarterly Review #41-50:

Kanaan, Earthbound

Kanaan Earthbound

F-U-Z-Z! Putting the jazzy drive they showcased on 2020’s Odense Sessions on hold, Oslo trio Kanaan — guitarist/percussionist Ask Vatn Strøm (guitar, percussion, noise), Ingvald André Vassbø (drums, percussion, Farfisa) and Eskild Myrvoll (bass, synth, Mellotron, some guitar) — get down to the business of riffs and shred on the clearly-purposefully-titled Earthbound, still touching on heavy psychedelic impulses — “Bourdon” is a positive freakout, man — but underscoring that with a thickness of groove and distorted tonality that more than lives up to the name. See also the cruncher “Mudbound,” which, yeah, gets a little airy in its back half but still holds that thud steady all the while. Simultaneously calling back to European instrumental heavy of two decades ago while maintaining their progressive edge, Kanaan strike a rare — which is to stop just shy of saying “unique” — balance that’s so much richer than the common Earthless idol-worship, and yet somehow miraculously free of pretense at the same time. 46 minutes of heavy joy.

Kanaan on Facebook

Jansen Records website

 

Spacelord, False Dawn

Spacelord False Dawn

Not to be confused with Germany’s The Spacelords, Buffalo, New York’s heavy blues purveyors offer a melody-minded eight songs across the 44 minutes of their third self-released long-player, with the vocals of Ed Grabianowski (also guitar) a distinct focal point backed by Rich Root‘s guitar, bass, drums and production. The two-piece deftly weave between acoustic and electric guitar foundations on songs like “How the Devil Got Into You” and “Breakers,” with a distinctly Led Zeppelin-style flair throughout, the Page/Plant dynamic echoed in the guitar strum as well as the vocals. “Broken Teeth Ritual” pushes through heavier riffing early on, and “All Night Drive” nears eight minutes with a right-on swinging solo jam to follow on the largely unplugged “Crypt Ghost,” and “M-60” nears prog metal in its chug, but the layering of “Starswan” brings a sweet conclusion to the proceedings, which despite the band’s duo configuration sound vibrant in a live sense and organic in their making.

Spacelord on Facebook

Spacelord on Bandcamp

 

Altareth, Blood

Altareth Blood

The opening title-track of Altareth‘s debut album, Blood, seems to be positioned as a direct clarion call to fellow Sabbathians — to my East Coast US ears, it reminds of Curse the Son, which should be taken as a compliment to tone and melody — but the Gothenburg five-piece aren’t through “Satan Hole” before offering some samples and weirdo garage-sounding ’60s keyboard/horn surges, and the swirling lead that consumes the finish of “Downward Mobile,” which follows, continues to hint at their developing complexity of approach. Still, their core sound is slow, thick, dark and lumbering, and whether that’s coming through in centerpiece “Eternal Sleep” or the willful drudgery that surrounds the quiet, melodic break in “Moon,” they’re not shy about making the point. Neither should they be. The penultimate “High Priest” offers mournful soloing and the nine-minute closer “Empty” veers into post-Cathedral prog-doom in its volume trades before a solo crescendo finishes out, and the swallowed-by-sentient-molasses vibe is sealed. They’ll continue to grow into themselves, and Blood would seem to indicate that will be fun to hear.

Altareth on Facebook

Magnetic Eye Records store

 

Negură Bunget, Zău

Negură Bunget Zău

The closing piece of a trilogy and reportedly the final offering from Romanian folk-laced progressive black metallers Negură Bunget following the 2017 death of founding drummer Gabriel “Negru” Mafa, Zău begins with the patient unfolding and resultant sweep of its longest track (immediate points) in “Brad” before the foresty gorgeousness of “Iarba Fiarelor” finds a place between agonized doom and charred bark. Constructed parabolically with its longer songs bookending around the seven-minute centerpiece “Obrazar,” Zău is perhaps best understood in the full context in which it arrives, as the band’s swansong after tragic loss, etc., but it’s also complex and engrossing enough to stand on its own separate from that, and in paying homage to their fallen comrade by completing his last work, Negură Bunget have underscored what made them such a standout in the first place. After the wash of “Tinerețe Fără Bătrânețe,” closer “Toacă Din Cer” rounds out by moving from its shimmering guitar into a muted ceremony of horn and tree-creaking percussion that can only be called an appropriate finish, if in fact it is that for the band.

Negură Bunget on Facebook

Prophecy Productions store

 

High Fighter, Live at WDR Rockpalast

high fighter live at wdr rockpalast

High Fighter — with guitars howling, screams wailing and growls guttural, drums pounding, bass thick and guitars leading the charge — recorded their Live at WDR Rockpalast set during lockdown, sans audience, at the industrial complex Landschaftspark Duisburg- Nord depicted on the cover of the LP/DL release. It’s a fittingly brutal-looking setting for the Hamburg-based melodic sludge metal aggressors, and in their rawest moments, tracks like “When We Suffer” and “Before I Disappear” throw down with a nastiness that should raise eyebrows for any who’d worship the crustiest of wares. Of course, that’s not the limit of what High Fighter do, and a big part of the band’s aesthetic draws on the offset of melody and extremity, but to listen to the 34-minute set wrap with the outright, dug-in, At the Gates-comparison-worthy rendition of “Shine Equal Dark,” it’s hard not to appreciate just how vicious they can be as a group. This was their last show with founding guitarist Christian “Shi” Pappas, and whatever the future holds, they gave him a fitting sendoff.

High Fighter on Facebook

Argonauta Records website

 

Spier Kitten, Major Label Debut

Major Label Debut by Spider Kitten

This is fucking rad. Long-running Welsh trio Spider Kitten probably don’t give a shit if you check it out or not, but I do. Major Label Debut runs less than half an hour and in that time they remind that there’s more expressive potential to heavy rock than playing to genre, and as cuts like “Maladjusted” reinvent grunge impact and the brooding “Hearts and Mindworms” blend Melvins-born weirdo impulses and naturalize Nine Inch Nailsian lyrical threat, there’s a good sense of doing-whatever-the-hell-they-want that comes through alongside deceptively thoughtful arrangements and melodies. The weight and post-Dirt sneer of “Sandbagged (Whoa, Yeah)” may or may not be parody, but hell if it doesn’t work, and the same applies to the earlier blast-punk of “Self-Care (Makes Me Wanna Die),” both songs in and out in under three minutes. Give it up for a band dwelling on their own wavelength, who’ve been hither and yon and are clearly comfortable following where their impulses lead. This kind of creativity is its own endgame. You either appreciate that or it’s your loss.

Spider Kitten on Facebook

Spider Kitten on Bandcamp

 

Snowy Dunes, Sastrugi

snowy dunes sastrugi

Even discounting the global pandemic, it feels like an exceptionally long four years since Stockholm’s Snowy Dunes issued their sophomore album, 2017’s Atlantis (review here). “Let’s Save Dreams,” which is the second cut on Sastrugi, was released as a single in 2019 (posted here), so there’s no question the record’s been in the works for a while, but its purposefully split two sides showcase a sound that’s been worth the wait, from the straightforward classic craft of the leadoff title-track to the dug-in semi-psychedelic swing of 11-minute capper “Helios,” the four-piece jamming on modernized retro impulses after dropping hints of prog and space-psych in “Medicinmannen” (9:14) and pushing melancholy heavy blues into shuffle-shove insistence on side A’s organ-laced closer “Great Divide” with duly Sverige soul. Pushes further out as it goes, takes you with it, reminds you why you liked this band so much in the first place, and sounds completely casual in doing all of it.

Snowy Dunes on Facebook

Snowy Dunes on Bandcamp

 

Maragda, Maragda

Maragda Maragda

A threat of tonal weight and a certain rhythmic intensity coincide with dreamy prog melodies in “The Core as a Whole” and “The Calling,” which together lead the way into the self-titled debut from Barcelona, Spain’s Maragda, and an edge of the technical persists despite the wash of “Hermit,” a current perhaps of grunge and metal that’s given something of a rest in the brightness of “Crystal Passage” still to come — more than an interlude at three minutes, but instrumental just the same — after the sharply solo’ed “Orb of Delusion.” Payoff for the burgeoning intensity of the early going arrives in “Beyond the Ruins,” though closer “The Blue Ceiling” enacts some shred to back its Mellotron-y midsection. There’s a balance that will be found or otherwise resisted as Maragda explore the varied nature of their influences — growth to be undertaken, then — but their progressive structures, storytelling mindset and attention to detail here are more than enough to pique interest and make Maragda a welcome addition to the crowded Spanish underground.

Maragda on Facebook

Spinda Records on Bandcamp

Nafra Records on Bandcamp

Necio Records on Bandcamp

 

Killer Hill, Frozen Head

Killer Hill Frozen Head

Extra super bonus points for Los Angeles heavy noise rockers Killer Hill on naming a song “Bullshit Mountain,” and more extra for leaving the incidental-sounding feedback in too. Frozen Head follows behind 2019’s About a Goat two-songer with six tracks and 22 minutes that pummels on opener “Trash” and its title-track in a niche thick-toned, hardcore-punk born — the band is members of Helmet and Guzzard, so tick your ‘pedigree’ box — and raw, churning metal raised, “Frozen Head” veering into Slayery thrash and deathly churn before evening out in its chorus, such as it does. Sadly, “Laser Head Removal” is instrumental, but the longer trio that follow in “Bent,” the aforementioned “Bullshit Mountain” and the all-go-until-it-isn’t-then-is-again-then-isn’t-again “Re Entry” bask in further intentional cross-genre fuckery with due irreverence and deceptive precision. It sounds like a show you’d go to thinking you were gonna get your ass beat, but nah, everyone’s cool as it turns out.

Killer Hill on Facebook

Killer Hill on Bandcamp

 

Ikitan, Darvaza y Brincle

ikitan darvaza y brinicle

Distinguished through the gotta-hear-it bass tone of Frik Et that provides grounding presence alongside Luca “Nash” Nasciuti float-ready guitar and the cymbal wash of Enrico Meloni‘s drums, the Genoa, Italy, instrumental three-piece Ikitan make their first offering through Taxi Driver Records with the two-track cassingle Darvaza y Brincle. The outing’s component inclusions run on either side of seven minutes, and the resultant entirety is under 14, but that’s enough to give an impression of where they’re headed after their initial single-song EP, Twenty-Twenty (review here), showed up late last year, with crunch and heavier post-rock drift meeting in particularly cohesive fashion on “Brincle” even as that B-side feels more exploratory than “Darvaza” prior. With some nascent prog stretch in the soloing, the complete narrative of the band’s style has yet to be told, but the quick, encouraging check-in is appreciated. Until next time.

Ikitan on Facebook

Taxi Driver Records store

 

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Negura Bunget Announce Final Album Zau out Nov. 26; Video Posted

Posted in Whathaveyou on September 1st, 2021 by JJ Koczan

negura bunget

I wish I could properly emphasize for you what a pain in the ass it has been to put this post together. Doesn’t look like much, I know. Another news post, another day, another one of the few black metal bands whose work I enjoy who I don’t often write about because no one else who reads this seems to care. Fine.

However, on the back end, this ties into a problem I’ve had with how this site works since its inception 12 years ago, and that is getting accents beyond the usual Western-Euro-style Latin characters — your ‘é’ and so on — to show up in the text. UTF-8 is what I need and what I can’t seem to make happen with my theme. I spent 90 minutes yesterday trying to make the words ‘Negur&#259 Bunget Z&#259u’ happen and not have the band’s name or the album title show up with a question mark where the accent should be. If you look back over years of posts, you’ll see those question marks where accent characters should be. Even right now, in switching between the visual editor and the raw HTML, right this second, I’ve undone all the work I put it already this morning putting the code, helpfully given to me my June No (credit where it’s due) on FB, which was so fucking frustrating that I actually had to get up and walk away from the computer because of the time I’ve lost on this bullshit.

Could I just write Negura Bunget? Yup. Would anyone care? Nope. Would anyone remark on it? Nope. If I started this post with the standard-issue informational sentence “Romanian progressive/folk black metallers Negura Bunget will release their final album, Zau through Prophecy/Lupus Lounge on Nov. 26 and there’s a new video up now,” would anyone even blink? Nope. Why does it matter? I don’t know. I’ve even had to do it in the header.

And here we are.

The struggle is… stupid?

All of this for a single called — wait for it — “Brad.” And I know it’s in another language, and the translation is right below –BELIEVE ME I’VE READ THE PRESS RELEASE — but still. “Brad.” But yeah, the real version of the song is 15 minutes long and it’s glorious.

I can’t even get the characters to stay when I save. I might’ve wasted this entire time for nothing. Oh god damn it.

From the PR wire:

negura bunget zau

NEGURĂ BUNGET unveil details of their final album “Zău” and release video single ‘Brad’

NEGURĂ BUNGET are now unveiling the video ‘Brad’ (“fir tree”) as the first single taken from the Romanian black metal pioneers’ final album and conclusion of their “Transylvanian trilogy”, which is entitled “Zău” (“Old God”). “Zău” has been slated for release on November 26.

“Zău” is the legacy of drummer and mastermind “Gabriel “Negru” Mafa, who tragically passed far too early at the age of 42 years on March 21, 2017. This album has been completed and respectfully created upon Negru’s original drum-track recordings by the last line-up of NEGURĂ BUNGET.

Tracklist
1. Brad
2. Iarba Fiarelor
3. Obrăzar
4. Tinerete Fără Bătrânete
5. Toacă Din Cer

Release date: November 26, 2021

Line-up
Gabriel “Negru” Mafa – drums, percussion
Tibor Kati – vocals
Adrian “OQ” Neagoe – guitars, keyboards
Petrică Ionutescu – kaval (flute), nai (pan flute), tulnic (alphorn), duduk

Guest musicians
Manuela Marchis – vocals on ‘Brad’

Visual design by Daniel Dorobantu

Mixing and mastering by Attila Lukinich
All music and lyrics by Negură Bunget

Pre-sale link
http://lnk.spkr.media/negura-bunget-zau

Available formats
“Zău” is available as a hardcover 36-page CD/DVD artbook, gatefold white vinyl LP, gatefold black vinyl LP, and on Digipak CD.

www.facebook.com/negurabunget
www.instagram.com/negurabunget

Negură Bunget, “Brad (Edit)” official video

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Quarterly Review: Per Wiberg, Body Void, Ghorot, Methadone Skies, Witchrot, Rat King, Taras Bulba, Opium Owl, Kvasir, Lurcher

Posted in Reviews on July 16th, 2021 by JJ Koczan

the-obelisk-fall-2016-quarterly-review

In my hubris of adding an 11th day to this Summer 2021 Quarterly Review — why not just do the whole month of July, bro? what’s the matter? don’t like riffs? — I’ve rendered today somewhat less of a landmark, but I guess there’s still some accomplishment to be felt in completing two full weeks of writing about 10 records a day, hitting triple digits and all that. Not that I doubted I’d get here — it’s rare but it’s happened before — and not that I doubt I’ll have the last 10 done for Monday, but yeah. It’s been a trip so far.

Quarterly Review #91-100:

Per Wiberg, All Is Well In the Land of the Living But for the Rest of Us… Lights Out

per wiberg all is well in the land of the living but for the rest of us lights out

The cumbersome-seeming title of Per Wiberg‘s new solo EP derives from its four component tracks, “All is Well,” “In the Land of the Living,” “But for the Rest of Us…” and “Lights Out.” The flow between them is largely seamless, and when Wiberg (whose pedigree as an organist/keyboardist includes Opeth, Candlemass, Big Scenic Nowhere and more others than I can count) pauses between tracks two and three, it feels likewise purposeful. It’s a dark mood inflected through the melodies of the opener and the atmospheric piano lines of “But for the Rest of Us…,” but Wiberg offers a driving take on progressive heavy rock with “In the Land of the Living” and the build in the subsequent “Lights Out” is encompassing with the lead-in it’s given. Wiberg sounds more comfortable layering his voice than even on 2019’s Head Without Eyes, and his arrangements are likewise expressive and fluid. Dude is a professional. I think maybe that’s part of the reason everybody wants to work with him.

Per Wiberg on Facebook

Despotz Records website

 

Body Void, Bury Me Beneath This Rotting Earth

Body Void Bury Me Beneath This Rotting Earth

Massive, droning lurch, harsh, biting screams and lumbering, pummeling weight, Body Void‘s third album and first for Prosthetic, Bury Me Beneath This Rotting Earth, boasts feelgood hits like “Wound” and “Laying Down in a Forest Fire,” bringing cacophonous, Khanate-style extremity of atmosphere to willfully, punishingly brutal sludge. It is not friendly. It is devastating, and it is the kind of record that sounds loud even when you play it quietly — and that’s before you get to “Pale Man”‘s added layers of caustic noise. Front to back in the four songs — all of which top 12 minutes — there’s no letup, no moment at which the duo relent in order to let the listener breathe. This is intentional. A conjuring of aural concrete in the lungs coinciding with striking lines like “Your compromises are hollow monuments to your cowardice” and other bleak, throatripping poetry of dead things and our complicity in making them. Righteous and painful.

Body Void on Facebook

Prosthetic Records website

 

Ghorot, Loss of Light

ghorot loss of light

Ghorot is the three-piece of bassist/vocalist Carson Russell (also Ealdor Bealu), drummer/vocalist Brandon Walker and guitarist Chad Remains (ex-Uzala), and Loss of Light is a debut album no less gripping for its push into darkness, whether it’s the almost-toying-with-you Sabbath-style riff of “Harbinger” or the tortured atmospherics in the back end of “Charioteer of Fire,” which follows. Competing impulses result in a sense of grueling even through the barks and faster progression of “Woven Furnace,” while “Dead Gods” offers precious little mourning in its charred deathsludge, saving more ambience for the 12-minute closer “In Endless Grief,” which not only veers into acoustics, but nods toward post-metal later on, despite holding firm to cavernous growls and wails. Obscure? Opaque? There isn’t a way in which Loss of Light isn’t heavy. Everywhere they go, Ghorot carry that weight with them. It is existential.

Ghorot on Facebook

Transylvanian Recordings on Bandcamp

Inverse Records on Bandcamp

 

Methadone Skies, Retrofuture Caveman

methadone skies retrofuture caveman

Lush from the outset and growing richer in aural substance as it plays out, the 17:56 longest/opening (immediate points) title-track of Methadone Skies‘ latest work, Retrofuture Caveman, is an obviously intended focal point, and a worthy one at that. Last heard from with 2019’s Different Layers of Fear (review here), the Romanian four-piece break down walls across the bulk of this fifth full-length, with “Retrofuture Caveman” itself setting the standard early in moving instrumentally between warm heavy psychedelia, prog, drone, doom and darker black metal. It’s prog heavy that ultimately wins the day on the subsequent linear build of “Infected by Friendship” and centerpiece “The Enabler,” but there’s room for more lumber in the 11-mminute “Western Luv ’67” and closer “When the Sleeper Awakens” offers playful shove riffing in its midsection before a final stretch of quiet guitar leads to a last-minute volume burst, no less consuming or sprawling than anything before, even if it feels like it finishes too soon.

Methadone Skies on Facebook

Methadone Skies on Bandcamp

 

Witchrot, Hollow

witchrot hollow

Stood out by the gotta-hear bass tone of Cam Alford, the ethereal-or-shouting-and-sometimes-both vocals of Lea Reto, the crash of Nick Kervin‘s drums and the encompassing wah of Peter Turik‘s guitar, Toronto’s Witchrot offer a striking debut with their awaited first full-length, Hollow, oozing out through opener/longest track (immediate points) “Million Shattered Swords” before the stomping wash of “Colder Hands” sacrifices itself on an altar of noise, leading to the more directly-riffed “Spiral of Sorrow,” which nonetheless maintains the atmosphere. Things get noisier and harsher in the second half of Hollow, which is presaged in the plod of “Fog,” but as things grow more restless and angrier after “Devil in My Eyes” and move into the pair “Burn Me Down” and “I Know My Enemy,” both faster, like blown-out Year of the Cobra toying with punk rock and grunge, Witchrot grow stronger for the shift by becoming less predictable, setting up the atmospheric plunge of the closing title-track that finishes one of 2021’s most satisfying debut albums.

Witchrot on Facebook

Fuzzed and Buzzed Records website

DHU Records store

 

Rat King, Omen

Rat King Omen

Omen is the first long-player from Evansville, Indiana, four-piece Rat King, who use rawness to their advantage throughout the nine included tracks, at least one of which — “Supernova” — dates back to being released as a single in 2017. With manipulated horror samples and interludes like the acoustic “Queen Anne’s Revenge” and “Shackleton” and the concluding “Matryoshka” spliced throughout the otherwise deep-toned and weighted fare of “Capsizer” and the chugging, pushing, scream-laced “Druid Crusher,” Omen never quite settles on a single approach and is more enticing for that, though the eight-minute “Vagrant” could well be a sign of things to come in its melodic reach, but the band revel in the grittier elements at work here as well — the thunderplod of “Glacier,” the willful drag of “Nepenta Divinorum,” and so on — and the ambience they create is dreary and obscure in a way that comes across as purposeful. Is Omen a foreshadow or just the name of a movie they dig? I don’t know, but I hope it’s not too long before we find out.

Rat King on Facebook

Rat King store

 

Taras Bulba, Sometimes the Night

Taras Bulba Sometimes the Night

What was Earthling Society continues to evolve into Taras Bulba at the behest of Fleetwood, UK’s Fred Laird. Sometimes the Night (on Riot Season) is a mostly solo affair, and truth be told, Laird doesn’t need much more than his own impulses to conjure a full-sounding record, as he quickly shows on the acid lounge opener “The Green Eyes of Dragon,” but the guest vocals from Daisy Atkinson bring echoing presence to the subsequent “Orphee” and Mike Blatchford‘s late-arriving sax on “The Sound of Waves,” “The Big Duvall” and “House in the Snow” highlight the jazzy underpinnings of the organ-laced “Night Train to Drug Town” and the avant, anti-anything guitar strum and piano strikes of “One More Lonely Angel.” No harm done, in any case, unless we’re talking about the common conception of what a song is, and hey, if it didn’t need to happen, it wouldn’t have. An experiment in vibe, perhaps, in psychedelic brooding, but evocative for that. Laird‘s no stranger to following whims. Here they lead to moodier space.

Taras Bulba on Facebook

Riot Season Records website

 

Opium Owl, Live at Hodila Records

Opium Owl Live at Hodila Records

I’ll admit, there’s a part of me that, when “Intro” hits its sudden forward surge, kind of wishes Opium Owl had kept it mellow. Nonetheless, the Riga, Latvia-based double-guitar (mostly) instrumental heavy psych four-piece offer plenty of serenity throughout the four-song live set Live at Hodila Records, and the back and forth patterning of the subsequent “Echo Slam” is all the more effective at winning conversion, so fair enough. “Stone Gaze” dips into even bigger riffage, while “Tempest Double” dares vocals over its quieter noodling, dispensing with them as it pushes louder toward the finish. For a live recording, the sound is rich enough to convey what would seem to be the full warmth of Opium Owl‘s tonality, and in its breadth and its impact, there’s no lack of studio-fullness for the session-style presentation. Live at Hodila Records may be formative in terms of establishing the methods with which the band — who formed in 2019 — will continue to work, but showcases significant promise in that.

Opium Owl on Facebook

Hodila Records on Facebook

 

Kvasir, 4

kvasir 4

Doled out with chops to spare and the swagger to show them off, Kvasir‘s eight-song debut LP, 4, puts modern heavy rock riffing in blender and sets it on high. Classic, epic heavy in “Where Gods to to Pray” and a more nodding groove in “Authenticity & the Illusion of Enough” meet with the funkier starts-stops of “Slow Death of Life” and the languid Sabbathism of “Earthly Algorithms.” “Chill for a Church” opens side B with trashier urgency and suitable rhythmic twist, and “The Brink” sets its depressive lyric to a ’70s boogie swing, not quite masking it, but working as a flowing companion piece for “The Black Mailbox,” which follows in like-minded fashion, letting closer “Alchemy of Identity” underscore the point with a rawer take on what once made The Sword so undeniable in their groove. There’s growing to do, patience to learn, etc., but Kvasir make it easy to get on board with 4 and their arguments for doing so brook little contradiction. Onto the list of 2021’s best debut albums it goes.

Kvasir on Facebook

Glory or Death Records on Bandcamp

 

Lurcher, Coma

lurcher coma

Lurcher might go full-prog before they’re done, but they’re not their yet on their four-song debut EP, Coma, and the songs only benefit from the band’s focus on impact and lack of self-indulgence. The leadoff title-track has an immediate hook that brings to mind an updated, tonally-heavier version of what Cave In innovated for melodic post-hardcore, and the subsequent “Remove the Myth From the Mountain” follows with a broader-sounding reach in its later solo that builds on the heavy rock foundation the first half of the song put forth. Vocalist/guitarist Joe Harvatt — backed by the rhythm section of bassist Tom Shortt and drummer Simon Bonwick — is prone, then, to a bit of shred. No argument as that’s answered with the Hendrix fuzz at the outset of “All Now is Here,” which both gets way-loud and drones way-out in its seven minutes, in turn setting up the lush-and-still-hard-hitting capper “Cross to Bear,” which rounds off the 26-minute release with all the more encouraging shifts in tempo, flowing melody, and mellotron sounds to add to the sweeping drama. I know the UK underground is hyper-crowded at this point, but consider notice served. These cats are onto something.

Lurcher on Instagram

Trepanation Recordings on Bandcamp

 

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Methadone Skies to Release Retrofuture Caveman May 7; Video Posted

Posted in Whathaveyou on March 16th, 2021 by JJ Koczan

Retrofuture Caveman is the best album title I’ve heard in a hot minute. It has the honor of adorning the fifth album from Romanian instrumentalists Methadone Skies, which is set to release May 7 on their own Haywire Records label as the follow-up to 2019’s Different Layers of Fear (discussed here). I haven’t heard the record yet, but I’ve managed to make my way through the startlingly cinematic video below for “Infected by Friendship,” and soothing vibe of the track even in its more surging moments is only encouraging in terms of making me look forward to more. Some heavy post-rock in there, but hell, I’ll take that. More please.

Album announcement came down the PR wire:

methadone skies retrofuture caveman

Psych ‘n’ Doom Post-Rockers METHADONE SKIES Reveal Album Details And Brand New Music Video!

Retrofuture Caveman coming on May 7th!

Romanian psychedelic doom and post-rock collective METHADONE SKIES has announced the details of their upcoming, fifth studio album, entitled Retrofuture Caveman, which is slated for a released on May 7, 2021.

Following their highly acclaimed, 2019- album Different Layers of Fear, the instrumental quartet did not waste any time and started working on their new record during the pandemic. METHADONE SKIES, who formed in 2009, has released 4 full length records so far; each LP shares its own musical direction, often leaning into stoner, post-rock and doom metal territories. Never fearing any boundaries, every album highlights the sum of the band’s various influences and constant sonic exploration.

Retrofuture Caveman dives even deeper into the post-rock and doom metal worlds. These contrasting styles are ultimately blended with progressive elements, a stoner rock touch and psychedelic spheres. While this eclectic mix flows in a perfect balance, Retrofuture Caveman will easily become the band’s most ambitious and mature work to date. But let the music speak for itself, as METHADONE SKIES has just premiered a brand new music video for their first album single, “Infected By Friendship”! The track is one of the most straight-forward and uplifting songs you will find on their new record, gradually exploding into a massive wall of sound. Its surreal music video was created by the band’s drummer, Flavius Retea, and Alexandra Dragu, watch the clip right here.

“We usually pick a heavy song as an album teaser, but this time we tried something different, ” the band comments. “We really dug the song right from the beginning of the creation process and it feels more soothing than many others in our catalog. The title obviously references the pandemic, yet we wanted to give the term a positive twist. Music became even more important for people in these complicated times, so we hope it acts as a sonic getaway from the listener’s daily routine.”

Retrofuture Caveman was recorded in Timisoara, Romania, at Consonance Studio by Edmond Karban, Cristian Popescu and Andrei Jumuga (all of them members of DorDeDuh and Sunset in the 12th House), and was mixed and mastered by James Plotkin. Additional keyboard layers were added by Marius Muntean (The Thirteenth Sun, Black Water). The album will be released on May 7th as LP Gatefold, CD, Digital formats and a limited Cassette Tape edition through METHADONE SKIES’ own imprint, Haywire Records. The artwork was created by Mihai Manescu (aka Obsidian Nibs).

Album Tracklist:
1. Retrofuture Caveman
2. Infected by Friendship
3. The Enabler
4. Western Luv ‘67
5. When the Sleeper Awakens

METHADONE SKIES is:
Alexandru Wehry – Guitar
Casian Stanciu – Guitar, E-Bow
Mihai Guta – Bass
Flavius Retea – Drums, Percussion, Keyboards

https://methadoneskies.bandcamp.com
https://www.facebook.com/MethadoneSkies
https://soundcloud.com/methadone-skies
https://www.instagram.com/methadoneskies

Methadone Skies, “Infected by Friendship” official video

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Mourners Set Feb. 5 Release for Act I: Tragedies; Streaming “The Way of Darkness”

Posted in Whathaveyou on December 10th, 2020 by JJ Koczan

Lest you thought the multinational explosion of death-doom that 2020 has wrought was over, well, maybe there were more to include in this year but they were just too slow so we’ll have to carry over to 2021. Though their style strikes as decidedly Finnish in its initial impression, Mourners hail due south, from Romania, and will make their debut Feb. 5 through Personal Records with Act I: Tragedies. They’re streaming what would seem to be the post-intro opener of the record now, and if you want to get a feel for who they are as a band, a 10-minute cut should probably tell you a lot of what you need to know, what with the gurgling growls, low-toned miseries and so on. Shades of Skepticism, Funeral, and so on, as one could only hope for a band so obviously bent toward death.

Art, PR wire info and the track follow. Immersive balm for lost souls:

mourners act i tragedies

MOURNERS set release date for PERSONAL RECORDS debut, reveal first track – features members of EYE OF SOLITUDE, CLOUDS

On February 5th, 2021, PERSONAL RECORDS is proud to present MOURNERS’ highly anticipated debut album, Act I: Tragedies. PERSONAL RECORDS is the new label imprint of MAJESTIC DOWNFALL mainman Jacobo Córdova, and will be distributed by CHAOS RECORDS.

Hailing from Romania, MOURNERS arise from the ashes of funeral doom legends Eye of Solitude. In many ways, MOURNERS is a continuation of Eye of Solitude’s legacy – incredibly heavy and slow, tense atmospheres, and utterly gut-wrenching guitars – but in other ways, the band is its own entity entirely.

Indeed, after a decade of being scene kings, Eye of Solitude give way to MOURNERS, who seek an even-more-uncompromising sound with their debut album, Act I: Tragedies. At once even heavier and more atmospheric MOURNERS’ first full-length seeks extremes of expression, dragging the listener down into a deep well of solitude (of course!) and smothering impossibly dense layers upon it so that there’s no escape…ever.

But, likewise crucial to MOURNERS’ background is the highly acclaimed Clouds: both Daniel N and Mike D, MOURNERS’ central duo, play in that ongoing atmospheric doom-death formation. Not surprisingly, the resulting sound of Act I: Tragedies is paradigmatic FUNERAL DOOM, and proudly so, but also with considerable flavor from classic doom-death, indeed giving MOURNERS an even-more-crushing aspect.

It is not hyperbole to say that the impeccably monikered MOURNERS take the wider funeral doom / doom-death genre to a whole new level whilst (proudly) staying within its boundaries. Graced with suitably somber cover art courtesy of Gogo Melone, Act I: Tragedies starts the year on the highest of highs – by taking the listener to the lowest of lows.

Tracklisting for Mourners’ Act I: Tragedies
1. Apparitions [2:11]
2. The Way Of Darkness [10:30]
3. Souls Breathing Nothingness [10:21]
4. Lost [2:32]
5. Ansu Enthroned [9:03]
6. Forms Of Delusion [8:35]
7. Journey In Fear [7:31]

mournersfuneral.bandcamp.com
www.personal-records.com
personal-records.bandcamp.com
www.facebook.com/personalrecords666
Instagram.com/personalrecords666

Mourners, “The Way of Darkness”

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