I swear to you that as I stood in front of the main stage at this past summer’s Bear Stone Festival, I had the actual thought-in-my-brain, “King Buffalo would be incredible here.” And so they will. The Rochester forerunners of US heavy psych join Graveyard, Motorpsycho, The Vintage Caravan, El Perro and a cast of others in the first lineup for Bear Stone 2025, which will be held July 3-6. I don’t have a flight yet or anything, but it’s very much on my calendar in fingers-crossed-golly-I-hope-this-happens fashion, and if you want to take that as a recommendation for a place to try to put yourself if you can, do. This was an unhindered highlight of my 2024, and the 2025 edition already looks like it’s going to be even bigger.

I had the same thought about Ufomammut, by the way…

As with last year’s bill, the 2025 Bear Stone Festival pays particular attention to the regional underground. Representing Croatia are Killed a Fox, Peglica i Komandos, Portman, Bizon and Dark Tree Bark, while Lazarvs come from neighboring Hungary, Marcel Gidote’s Holy Crab are from the Czech Republic, and Savanah are from Austria. There’s also French psych rockers Karkara, and Atomic Mold and Oreyeon from Italy, and US garage rockers The Darts. Don’t worry Germany, I’m sure you’ll get a band in there soon.

It’s an impressive assemblage already and this is probably… a third? of the acts who’ll comprise the final lineup. Here’s official word from the PR wire:

Bear Stone Festival 2025: First Lineup Announced + Early Bear Tickets Now on Sale!

Bear Stone Festival 2025 marks a bold step forward in expanding the diverse range of genres we celebrate. While we remain rooted in the classics—Stoner Rock, Psychedelic Rock, and Doom Metal, along with everything in between—our 2024 edition teased an exciting exploration of modern subgenres that are oriented towards a modern fusion of Neo-Psychedelia dipped in Acid Rock that we’ll continue to explore in the future. Join us in our ever-lasting quest of musical exploration.

Even though we’re not big on statistics, we are particularly proud that 12 out of 17 bands that are forming the first part of our lineup were formed after 2012 and 8 out of 12 foreign bands will be coming to Croatia for the very first time!

Without further ado, we’re introducing the first 17 bands that will grace our stages in the upcoming edition.

Tickets available at bearstonefestival.com or through our ticketing shop: https://eventix.shop/wqjuaykt

GRAVEYARD (SWE)

Since forming in 2006 in Gothenburg, Sweden, Graveyard has carved out a distinct niche in the rock world with their gritty blend of Hard Rock, Psychedelia, and Blues, led by the powerful vocals and guitar of Joakim Nilsson. Rising to prominence after their self-titled debut in 2007, they quickly earned a reputation for raw, authentic rock with a dark, soulful edge.

After five acclaimed records and years of relentless touring, Graveyard’s latest album, “6”, continues their journey, adding introspective depth to their already renowned, riff-heavy sound.

KING BUFFALO (USA)

King Buffalo is a Rochester, New York-based Heavy Psych trio consisting of Sean McVay (vocals/guitar), Dan Reynolds (bass), and Scott Donaldson (drums). Since forming in 2013, they have earned recognition through numerous releases and extensive touring with bands like Clutch, Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats, and Elder.

Their latest album, “Regenerator” (September 2nd, 2022), is the third in their pandemic trilogy and further solidifies their sonic identity, establishing them as one of the brightest lights in underground Rock today.

MOTORPSYCHO (NOR)

Motorpsycho is a Norwegian band that fuses elements of Grunge, Heavy Metal, and Indie Rock with experimental, progressive soundscapes. Known for their genre-defying approach, they continuously push the boundaries of modern Rock with complex arrangements and sonic exploration.

THE VINTAGE CARAVAN (ISL)

The Vintage Caravan is an Icelandic trio that blends modern Prog Rock with Classic Rock influences, known for their energetic performances and skilled musicianship. Their latest album “Monuments” (2021) showcases their unique fusion of ’70s-inspired guitar work with fresh, Psychedelic, and Progressive Rock elements, solidifying their place as one of Europe’s standout rock acts.

LAZARVS (HU)

Budapest-based Lazarvs is a three-piece heavy rock band fronted by guitarist and songwriter Aron Andras, known for their raw energy and aggressive live performances. With a strong presence in Hungary and beyond, they have shared the stage with legends like Saint Vitus and Crowbar, and in 2023, they released their 5th studio album Blackest, showcasing their darkest and most refined sound yet, which they will continue to promote on their upcoming 2024 European and UK tour.

KARKARA (FR)

Karkara, a Psychedelic Rock trio from Toulouse, France, was formed in 2019 by Karim Rihani (guitar/vocals), Hugo Olive (bass/synth), and Maxime Marouani (drums/vocals). Drawing influence from bands like The Oh Sees, King Gizzard, and Black Sabbath, their sound is a hypnotic blend of Psych Rock, Stoner, and Krautrock, infused with Mediterranean elements. Known for their explosive live shows, they returned in 2024 with their third album, “All Is Dust”, a post-apocalyptic concept record.

THE DARTS (USA)

The Darts, an all-female Garage Rock band formed in 2016, blend Vintage Punk energy with modern Garage Rock grit. Known for their high-energy performances and bold sound, they’ve toured extensively across the US and Europe, earning praise from fans and media alike, with their latest album “Snake Oil” (2023) receiving rave reviews and sold-out shows.

KILLED A FOX (CRO)

Formed in 2006 in Zagreb, Croatia, Killed a Fox is a band known for blending heavy, rhythmic grooves with Psychedelic Rock influences and an electrifying live presence. With three albums under their belt, including the acclaimed “Crown Shyness” from 2019, they’ve become a fixture in the Croatian underground scene, sharing stages with bands like Alice in Chains and Orange Goblin. Currently, the band is working on their highly anticipated fourth album, slated for release in 2025.

EL PERRO (USA)

El Perro, led by Parker Griggs (Radio Moscow) and former Blues Pills guitarist Dorian Sorriaux, is a Heavy Psych supergroup blending Psychedelic Funk Rock with elements of Latin Rock, Soul, and Psych. Their fresh sound showcases blistering guitar work and high-energy Rock, while retaining the signature cranked guitar energy fans know from Griggs’ previous work.

PEGLICA I KOMANDOS (CRO)

Peglica i Komandos is a rock band from Zagreb, Croatia, that emerged from the Jeboton collective in 2014. Known for their psychedelic, progressive, and humour-laced Blues Rock, they’ve released two studio albums and one live album, captivating audiences with introspective yet often humorous lyrics and extended instrumental solos that make their live shows particularly engaging.

PORTMAN (CRO)

Portman is an instrumental band formed in 2004, known for blending Post-Rock with elements of Math Rock and ambient passages to create airy, atmospheric soundscapes. After releasing their debut “Pereskesije” in 2009 and “The Man Who Carries a Light” in 2013, the band has toured extensively and released their latest album, “Stamina” in July 2024.

OREYEON (ITA)

Formed in 2014 by members of bands like Woodwall and Mexican Mud, Oreyeon quickly made a mark on the Heavy Rock scene with their debut album “Builders of Cosmos” (2016). Drawing inspiration from the heavy music genre, especially Black Sabbath and Stoner Rock icons like The Sword, they deliver monolithic guitars, powerful bass, and intricate vocals that captivate fans of Classic and Stoner Rock alike.

SAVANAH (AT)

Hailing from Graz, Austria, Savanah is a Heavy Rock band that burst onto the scene in 2015 with their acclaimed debut “Deep Shades”. Known for their intricate improvisation and progressive sound, they deliver powerful riffs and mesmerising melodies, as showcased in their latest album “Olympus Mons” (2021), which reflects their evolution as musicians and has earned widespread acclaim.

BIZON (CRO)

Bizon is an instrumental rock duo from Split, Croatia, formed in 2012 by guitarist Luka Krstulović and drummer Dragan Ðokić. Known for their complex rhythms, distorted guitar riffs, and powerful soundscapes, Bizon released their latest album “Garnizon” on vinyl in 2023, drawing listeners into intense, looping sonic journeys filled with dissonant climaxes and expertly crafted effects.

MARCEL GIDOTE’S HOLY CRAB (CZ)

Established in 2019, Marcel Gidote’s Holy Crab is a Czech Psychedelic band known for their unique blend of Rock, Kraut, and Jazz influences, characterised by a modern sound. They gained recognition with their debut EP “Bay Of Roots” in 2020 and their self-produced album “Humidity Breaking Limits” in 2021, showcasing a more complex musical expression. Their latest album, “Farm Alarm”, highlights vocal harmonies and acoustic instrumentation while addressing the climate crisis, solidifying their status as one of the most progressive Psychedelic acts in the Czech Republic.

DARK TREE BARK (CRO)

Dark Tree Bark is a five-piece band from Zagreb, founded by guitarist and vocalist Josip Šustić, who gathered the current lineup in 2023. Blending Progressive Rock with elements of Post-Rock, Math Rock, Krautrock, and Jazz Rock, their debut album “Kameni spavač”, released in 2024, on Geenger Records, uses analog equipment to craft a rich, conceptual narrative that invites listener interpretation.

ATOMIC MOLD (ITA)

Atomic Mold, formed in 2014 in Italy, is a powerful instrumental band blending Psychedelic Stoner and Doom elements. Known for their visceral soundscapes and intense live performances, they’ve released several albums, including “Hybrid Slow Flood” and a split with Chilean band Arteaga, all while evolving through lineup changes and expanding their musical horizons.

https://www.instagram.com/bearstonefestival
https://www.facebook.com/bearstonefestival
http://www.bearstonefestival.com

Bear Stone Festival 2024 aftermovie

I’m never going to claim to be an expert on the visual arts, whether it’s a question of aesthetic or technique. But I know when I see something awesome, and the three-eyed ribbitdragon adorning the poster below for Trieste, Italy’s StonerKras Fest 2024 this July for sure qualifies. The art is by Mirkow Gastow, who’s done other posters and graphics in and around the operating sphere of Heavy Psych Sounds, whose flagship outfit Black Rainbows feature in the third edition of StonerKras‘ lineup, assuring the all-dayer’s cosmic-party quotient will be met before German heavy psychedelic forebears Colour Haze headline as part of their ongoing 30th anniversary celebration in 2024.

Last July’s StonerKras had seven bands on the bill — among them 1000mods and Nick Oliveri‘s Mondo Generator — and Black Mamba Rock Explosion, Savanah and Britof round out the stated-as-full lineup of five for this year, but I wouldn’t be surprised if maybe part of that is to allow for longer set times or changeovers, or just to let the crowd take in some of the merch stands or, you know, get a massage. I can’t remember ever seeing a massage therapist on-grounds at a festival before, but speaking as a human living in a body that’s not getting any younger, I get it. Not all considerations are as timeless or ethereally rad as a three-eyed ribbitdragon. Sometimes your back hurts.

Cool to see this one growing and finding its niche over the last few years. Here’s the announcement:

STONERKRAS FEST 2024 – III edition

– 13.07.2024 – Prosek-Prosecco (Trieste, ITA) –

FULL LINEUP + TICKETS PRESALE ANNOUNCEMENT

StonerKras is a psychedelic music gathering based on stoner, doom and heavy psych music. The festival has an international footprint but with the aim of enhancing the local heavy scene (both Slovenian and Italian) while attracting spectators from the region but also from neighboring countries. Youth aggregation and cultural exchange accompanied by good music.

The festival will be taking place on Saturday, July 13th in the gorgeous village Prosek-Prosecco near Trieste (Italy).

Today Rocket Panda Management in collaboration with Never In has announced the FULL LINEUP and TICKETS PRESALE for the StonerKras Fest III edition !!!

*** STONERKRAS FEST ***
13.07.2024 – Prosek-Trieste (ITA)

COLOUR HAZE (psychedelic heavy rock, DE)
BLACK RAINBOWS (heavy psych/fuzz rock, ITA – exclusive show for north Italy/Slovenia/Croatia in 2024)
BLACK MAMBA ROCK EXPLOSION (hard rock’n’roll, ITA)
SAVANAH (progressive stoner, AT)
BRITOF (doom/sludge, SLO)
+
AFTERPARTY DJ SET

** FOOD & DRINKS **
** MARKET STANDS **
** RELAX/MASSAGE AREA **
** PSYCHEDELIC LIGHT SHOW **
** FREE AFTERPARTY DJ-SET ***
*** CHILDREN FRIENDLY ***

TICKETS PRESALE: https://biglietteria.ticketpoint-trieste.it/dettaglio-spettacolo.php?negozio_spettacolo_id=841

FB EVENT: https://www.facebook.com/events/810302051013124/

ARTWORK by the one and only Mirkow Gastow: https://linktr.ee/mirkowgastow

https://www.instagram.com/stonerkrasfest/
https://www.facebook.com/StonerKrasFest/

Colour Haze, “Tempel” live in Karlsruhe, DE, Feb. 16, 2024

You may or may not already know this, but I daydream about these kinds of things all the time. Traveling to a festival someplace I’ve never been, meeting people and seeing music I’d probably never be able to see otherwise, at least not in that kind of setting or situation. Seems strange to think this as I’m about to travel to Europe for another festival, but between Savanah and Wedge and Swan Valley Heights, bands like Cone and Les Lekin and The Strange Seeds, there’s stuff here that I’m not likely to run into anywhere else and even though I can’t go, that’s one of my favorite things to write and think about. Someone will have good hangs and check out cool tunes. Even when it’s not me, the world doesn’t get much better than that.

June 18 is the pre-show, and none other than The Atomic Bitchwax will headline that, which if you’re looking to have your ass handed to you with rock and roll, that’s who you call. I don’t know how open the pre-show is, but with just 400 tickets available for the fest proper, this strikes me as the kings of weekend that everybody is going to come out of with a few new friends.

From the PR wire:

Blackdoor Outdoor Festival 2022

With the Blackdoor music festival we would like to provide live-music-lovers a new opportunity to enjoy some handpicked stoner, blues and psychedelic rock bands in lower Bavaria and our surroundings. The focus of our new in- and outdoor event series lies on providing a comfortable atmosphere to enjoy hand-made music while having some great times together as organizers and audience.

Blackdoor = Vacation, tickets are available here: www.blackdoor-festival.de. We are looking forward to seeing you!

Lineup:
Tides From Nebula
Greenleaf
Valley of the Sun
Wedge
Savanah
Enigma Experience
Swan Valley Heights
Cone
Les Lekin
Scorched Oak
Ozymandias
The Strange Seeds
Bazodee

01.07 – 02.07.2022
Warm-Up Party: 30.6.2022
Wingersdorf 15, 94136 Thyrnau (Bei Passau)

Outdoor Festival Tickets 2022
(Limited 400 Tickets)

Tickets via Eventim: https://www.eventim-light.com/de/a/624addfcee829b03c58a1a47/e/624ae129ee829b03c58a1a7b

Here we go
Pre-Blackdoor-Festival-Concert June 18 at Tabakfabrik Passau with

The Atomic Bitchwax
Mindcrawler
Subridge

Stop by! We’re looking forward! https://www.facebook.com/events/1192844754822177

https://www.facebook.com/blackdoorfestival
https://blackdoor-festival.de/

Greenleaf, “Tides” live at Desertfest London 2022

Just now, putting this post together, I read that Stonebirds are back in the studio working on their next album for a presumed 2022 release through Ripple Music. That they’ll be at the upcoming Ripplefest Cologne 2021 alongside Plainride — who as I recall have a hand in organizing the festival — Savanah, Fire Down Below, (that) Vug (under the rug), Aptera and Astral Kompakt is all the more appropriate, then, as they’ll have new material to showcase. Somehow I doubt they’ll be the only ones. As the pandemic-era dust begins to settle across the European touring circuit, governments ease lockdowns with a seemingly permanent “for now” attitude, it’s worth emphasizing how special something like this really is for the bands playing it and the people fortunate enough to be there.

That is, there’s a part of me for which an event like this — little more than a poster and a list of cool bands as far as I’m concerned; it’s not how I’m spending my Thanksgiving weekend — feels mundane. Then there’s the part of me that’s lived through the last 20 months or however long kicking myself in the brain with the reminder that, no, this is something to be treasured.

So take a breath, I guess is where I’m at. If it doesn’t hurt to do so, be glad.

From the PR wire:

German stoner and doom festival RIPPLEFEST COLOGNE reveals final names for 2021 edition, to take place on November 27th at Club Volta!

Ripple Music announce the final batch of names for the 2021 edition of RippleFest Cologne, taking place at Club Volta on November 27th. Tickets are on sale now!

RIPPLEFEST returns! After almost two years of pandemic break and three postponements, the Ripple Music-curated event finally returns to the city of Cologne. On November 27th, Club Volta will get suddenly filled with the finest retro rock, heavy rock, psych metal, and doom riffage, provided live by European up-and-coming acts Savanah, Aptera, Fire Down Below, Astral Kompakt, Stonebirds, and Vug.

During the day, festival-goers will be able to enjoy the fine delicacies of the Ripplefest food truck, some great art with local and international poster artists showcases, and the expertise of Diana Matthess and her Guitar Tech Truck — a special workshop offering guitar setups and repairs to musicians. Tickets are on sale now, so don’t wait any longer to treat yourselves to this one-off rock event in the beautiful city of Cologne!

RIPPLEFEST COLOGNE 2021
November 27th, 2021 at Club Volta (Cologne, Germany)
Info & Tickets (14,90€/19,90€) at ripplefest.de

❱ PLAINRIDE
Beer-fueled heavy rock (Germany – Ripple Music)
❱ ASTRAL KOMPAKT
Light-bending instrumental doom (Germany)
❱ FIRE DOWN BELOW
Interstellar psych metal (Belgium – Ripple Music)
❱ STONEBIRDS
Soul-crushing existential doom (France – Ripple Music)
❱ APTERA
Titan-slaying doom metal (Germany)
❱ VUG
Time-traveling 70’s hard rock (Germany)
❱ SAVANAH
Planet-devouring Psychedelic Stoner Doom (Austria)

Join the Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/234338981846289/

https://www.facebook.com/events/234338981846289/
https://www.facebook.com/theripplemusic/
https://www.instagram.com/ripplemusic/
https://twitter.com/RippleMusic
https://ripplemusic.bandcamp.com/

Plainride, Life on Ares (2018)

Structure reveals itself over time to be of significant importance to Graz, Austria’s Savanah, even if that doesn’t always show itself in the most obvious of ways. Those, I suppose, would be predictable verse/chorus turns, A/B rhyme patterns and other such accessible and no-less-valid modes of expression, and that’s not what Savanah have ever really been about from their first EP, 2015’s Deep Shades, through 2017’s The Healer (review here) and now their second album, Olympus Mons. Issuing through reliable Austrian imprint StoneFree Records, the trio of bassist/vocalist Benjamin Schwarz, guitarist Jakob Gauster and drummer Felix Thalhammer clearly prefer a melding of aesthetics and ideas. And yet, to look back at The Healer, it was an album that purposefully saved its most forward-thinking material for its final two tracks, longer and of greater reach as they were. They were the destination toward which the album was building.

Olympus Mons seems to pick up that journey where it left off. True, it also ends with its two longest cuts in “1872” (9:11) and “Olympus Mons” (13:04), but the distinction is less immediate between those songs and the opening pair of “Kaleidoscopia” and “Velvet Scarf,” both of which run eight minutes long. Of further interest, the three-minute instrumental “Tharsis” divides these two sections. Doubtless it’s included on side A of the vinyl version of Olympus Mons with the opening duo before it, but its positioning can only be intentional and it speaks to the level of consideration Savanah are putting into their work and and their engagement of the listener overall. I would argue that this purposefulness no less represents their status as a progressive unit than the total five tracks/42 minutes of Olympus Mons itself, which sees them port such a level of intention to their songwriting, continuing the trail that The Healer and Deep Shades — which, though shorter, mirrors the structure of Olympus Mons more directly than the LP that followed — set out, while moving decidedly further along the same path of meeting cohesive songcraft with riffs that blur the line between rock and metal and find a place between sounds and styles that is their own.

All well and good, but what does it sound like? Well, if you’re going to name your record after the tallest mountain in the solar system, you should probably pack in some sense of largesse, and Savanah most certainly do that. Guitar, bass and drums are all geared toward being heard with whatever volume can be spared for the cause, and Schwarz‘s echoing vocals add to the cavernous feel throughout. Much of what one needs to know on the most basic level about Olympus Mons can be heard in “Kaleidoscopia.” A righteous and no doubt purposefully-placed opener, it brings a defining hook for what follows and starts with a near-immediate groove, the drums quickly giving way to the central riff, delivered with metallic surety and a crisp separation between the guitar and bass. The production style — the album was recorded by Hannes Mottl Audioproductions — might link Olympus Mons to the post-Mastodon school of big-bigger-biggest groovers, but like the rest of what they do, they seem to pull from varying influences what works for them and translate it toward their own purposes.

In that way, “Kaleidoscopia” represents well what follows, since one might think of a kaleidoscope itself using different angles and colors to give a similar impression. Olympus Mons, then, is telling the listener about itself. As the song moves through its quiet and semi-psych midsection, there’s shades of later, proggier Truckfighters — partially in the vocals — but once the riff kicks back in, Savanah are again steering their own course. “Velvet Scarf” changes methods, opening quiet and hypnotic before hitting into its main progression, which then moves into a chugging semi-chorus, mellowing and building once more toward a bigger, solo-topped apex. The two songs are just different enough despite their similar runtime and the obvious consistency of production to keep the listener aware of the possibility of change, and that’s fortunate as “Tharsis” takes hold with its condensed run through multiple parts, here led by guitar, there bass, always with the drums keeping it steady. It’s too brash and lumbering to be graceful, but neither do Savanah make a misstep along the way.

As noted, The Healer also capped with its two longest songs. The difference is one that only a few years could bring in terms of the band’s growth. The vocal melody in “1872” is offered with a confidence that could only be born of having the experience of the first album and EP behind the band, and the smoothness which which the song moves through its nine minutes only adds to the demonstration, including trades back and forth of volume late and the rumbling noise that leads directly into “Olympus Mons” itself. At 13 minutes, the title-track consumes a not insignificant portion of the album’s runtime, but fair enough again for the subject matter. And to their credit, Savanah make it a journey, touching on modern heavy psychedelia, rolling doom and classic metallic force that summarizes the case they began to make with “Kaleidoscopia” even as it evidences potential still to flourish in their sound.

Whatever Savanah may or may not do from here, the still-somehow-jammy ending of Olympus Mons — with bass so rich you can practically see the strings vibrating in your mind’s eye beneath a triumphant final riff, wide-open drums and a vocal taking flight overtop — makes it clear that if the band are interested in climbing mountains, they’re still looking for higher ones to take on. That is to say, as much as Olympus Mons distinguishes them in style and purpose, as well as songwriting, it does not sound like the work of a group who have no interest in pushing further. A third album is a crucial moment for a band, and as their second, Olympus Mons not only satisfies in its own right, but holds promise for the next steps of their creative pilgrimage still to come. Immersive and progressive, engaging genre but not beholden to it, and clear in its mission, Savanah‘s Olympus Mons is an adventure in the listening guided by the steady presence of its makers.

Savanah on Thee Facebooks

Savanah on Instagram

Savanah on Bandcamp

Savanah website

StoneFree Records on Thee Facebooks

StoneFree Records on Instagram

StoneFree Records website

Please note: This post is not culled in any way from the Year-End Poll, which is ongoing. If you haven’t yet contributed your favorites of 2017 to that, please do.

—

Every successive year brings an absolute inundation of underground productivity. Every year, someone new is inspired to pick up a guitar, bass, drums, mic, keyboard, theremin, cello — whatever it might be — and set themselves to the task of manifesting the sounds they hear in their head.

This is unspeakably beautiful in my mind, and as we’ve done in years past, it seems only fair to celebrate the special moment of realization that comes with a band’s first album. The debut full-length. Sometimes it’s a tossed-off thing, constructed from prior EPs or thrown together haphazardly from demo tracks, and sometimes it’s a meticulously picked-over expression of aesthetic — a band coming out of the gate brimming with purpose and desperate to communicate it, whatever it might actually happen to be.

We are deeply fortunate to live in an age (for now) of somewhat democratized access to information. That is, if you want to hear a thing — or if someone wants you to hear a thing — it’s as simple as sharing and/or clicking a link. The strong word of mouth via ubiquitous social media, intuitive recording software, and an ever-burgeoning swath of indie labels and other promotional vehicles means bands can engage an audience immediately if they’re willing to do so, and where once the music industry’s power resided in the hands of a few major record companies, the divide between “listener” and “active participant” has never been more blurred.

Therefore, it is a good — if crowded — time for an act to be making their debut, even if it’s something that happens basically every day, and all the more worth celebrating the accomplishments of these first-albums both on their current merits and on the potential they may represent going forward. Some percent of a best-debuts list is always speculation. That’s part of what makes it so much fun.

As always, I invite you to let me know your favorite picks in the comments (please keep it civil). Here are mine:

The Obelisk Presents: The Top 20 Debut Albums of 2017

1. Telekinetic Yeti, Abominable
2. Rozamov, This Mortal Road
3. Mindkult, Lucifer’s Dream
4. Dool, Here Now There Then
5. Eternal Black, Bleed the Days
6. Arduini/Balich, Dawn of Ages
7. Vinnum Sabbathi, Gravity Works
8. Tuna de Tierra, Tuna de Tierra
9. Brume, Rooster
10. Moon Rats, Highway Lord
11. Thera Roya, Stone and Skin
12. OutsideInside, Sniff a Hot Rock
13. Hymn, Perish
14. Riff Fist, King Tide
15. Bees Made Honey in the Vein Tree, Medicine
16. Abronia, Obsidian Visions/Shadowed Lands
17. Book of Wyrms, Sci-Fi Fantasy
18. Firebreather, Firebreather
19. REZN, Let it Burn
20. Ealdor Bealu, Dark Water at the Foot of the Mountain

Honorable Mention

Alastor, Black Magic
Devil’s Witches, Velvet Magic
Elbrus, Elbrus
Green Meteor, Consumed by a Dying Sun
Grigax, Life Eater
High Plains, Cinderland
Kingnomad, Mapping the Inner Void
Lord Loud, Passé Paranoia
Masterhand, Mind Drifter
The Necromancers, Servants of the Salem Girl
Owlcrusher, Owlcrusher
Petyr, Petyr
The Raynbow, The Cosmic Adventure
Savanah, The Healer
War Cloud, War Cloud
WhiteNails, First Trip

I could keep going with honorable mentions, and no doubt will add a few as people remind me of other things on which I brainfarted or whathaveyou, preferably without calling me an idiot, though I recognize that sometimes that’s a lot to ask. Either way, the point remains that the heavy underground remains flush with fresh infusions of creativity and that as another generation comes to maturity, still another is behind it, pushing boundaries forward or looking back and reinventing what came before them.

Notes

Will try and likely fail to keep this brief, but the thing I find most striking about this list is the variety of it. That was not at all something I planned, but even if you just look at the top five, you’ve got Telekinetic Yeti at the forefront. Abominable is something of a speculative pick on my part for the potential it shows on the part of the Midwestern duo in their songcraft and tonality, but then you follow them with four other wildly different groups in Rozamov, Mindkult, Dool and Eternal Black. There you’ve got extreme sludge from Boston, a Virginian one-man cult garage project, Netherlands-based dark heavy rock with neo-goth flourishes, and crunching traditionalist doom from New York in the vein of The Obsessed.

What I’m trying to say here is that it’s not just about one thing, one scene, one sound, or one idea. It’s a spectrum, and at least from where I sit, the quality of work being done across that spectrum is undeniable. Think of the prog-doom majesty Arduini/Balich brought to their collaborative debut, or the long-awaited groove rollout from Vinnum Sabbathi, or how Italy’s Tuna de Tierra snuck out what I thought was the year’s best desert rock debut seemingly under everybody’s radar. Stylistically and geographically these bands come from different places, and as with Brume and Moon Rats, even when a base of influence is similar, the interpretation thereof can vary widely and often does.

That Moon Rats album wasn’t covered nearly enough. I’m going to put it in the Quarterly Review coming up just to give another look at the songwriting on display, which was maddening in its catchiness. Maddening in its cacophony of noise was Stone and Skin from Brooklyn’s Thera Roya, which found itself right on the cusp of the top 10 with backing from the ’70s heavy rock vibes of the post-Carousel Pittsburgh outfit OutsideInside. Norway’s Hymn thrilled with their bleak atmospheres, while Australia’s Riff Fist showed off a scope they’d barely hinted at previously, and Bees Made Honey in the Vein Tree offered surprises of their own in their warm heavy psych tonality and mostly-instrumental immersion. That record caught me almost completely off-guard. I was not at all prepared to dig it as much as I did.

Thrills continue to abound and resound as the Young Hunter-related outfit Abronia made their first offering of progressive, Americana-infused naturalist heavy, while Book of Wyrms dug themselves into an oozing riffy largesse on the other side of the country and Sweden’s Firebreather emerged from the defunct Galvano to gallop forth and claim victory a la early High on Fire. REZN’s Let it Burn got extra points in my book for the unabashed stonerism of it, while it was the ambience of Ealdor Bealu’s Dark Water at the Foot of the Mountain that kept me going back to it. An album that was genuinely able to project a sense of mood without being theatrical about it was all the more impressive for it being their first. But that’s how it goes, especially on this list.

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There you have it. Those are my picks. I recognize I’m only one person and a decent portion of my year was taken up by personal matters — having, losing a job; pregnancy, childbirth and parenting, etc. — but I did my best to hear as much music as I could in 2017 and I did my best to make as much of it as new as I could.

Still, if there’s something egregious I left out or just an album you’d like to champion, hell yes, count me in. What were some of your favorites? Comments are right down there. Let’s get a discussion going and maybe we can all find even more music to dig into.

Thanks for reading and here’s to 2018 to come and the constant renewal of inspiration and the creative spirit.

I don’t know about you, but I could do this all day. Listening to records, writing reviews, getting things done that I’ve been trying to get done in some cases for actual months of my life — suffice it to say I’m way into this process. Wednesday is always a special day for the Quarterly Review because we pass the halfway point, and as much as I wish this edition went to 60 or even 70 releases, because rest assured even with 50 total there’s way more I could be covering if I had space/time, the good news is there’s still much more awesomeness to come. Today gets into some different vibes once again, so let’s get started.

Quarterly Review #21-30:

Enslaved, Roadburn Live

In their storied and groundbreaking career, Norwegian progressive black metallers Enslaved have never put out a live record, and it kind of makes sense as to why. The nuance of what they’ve come to do in their studio material doesn’t really lend itself to the rawness of a live album. Accordingly, Roadburn Live (on ByNorse and Burning World Records) feels almost as much of an homage to the event itself as to the performance. Captured in 2015 as Enslaved guitarist Ivar Bjørnson co-curated and the band headlined playing a special set of their more prog-focused songs – here more recent material like “In Times,” “Building with Fire,” “Daylight” from 2015’s In Times (review here) and “Death in the Eyes of Dawn” from 2012’s RIITIIR (review here) shines along with “Convoys to Nothingness” from 2001’s Monumension, “As Fire Swept Clean the Earth” from 2003’s Below the Lights and the requisite “Isa” from the 2004 landmark of the same name, and a special highlight comes at the finale when they cover Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song” and bring guitarist Menno Gootjes of Dutch proggers Focus out for a guest spot. Roadburn Live might be a step away from the band’s usual modus, but Enslaved have made their career on pushing themselves beyond their comfort zone, so why stop now?

Enslaved on Thee Facebooks

Burning World Records website

ByNorse Music website

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Hour of 13, Salt the Dead: The Rare and Unreleased

An overdue compilation from a band making an overdue return, Hour of 13’s Salt the Earth: The Rare and Unreleased reunites the doomers led by multi-instrumentalist Chad Davis with Shadow Kingdom Records and brings together early demos from 2007 – on which the collaboration between Davis and vocalist Phil Swanson was arguably at its most vibrant as they headed into their self-titled debut full-length later that year – with other previously unissued cuts like three songs with Davis on vocals including the Jason McCash tribute piece “Upon Black Wings We Die” (premiered here) and the original rehearsal demos that introduced Beaten Back to Pure singer Ben Hogg as Swanson’s replacement in the band in 2011 (premiered here). If you want a direct feel for the breadth of the band, look no further than the three versions of “Call to Satan” that appear on Salt the Earth. Widely varied between them in sound and overall feel, they underscore the tumult that has existed since the outset at the core of Hour of 13 even as they provide hope that the band previously laid to rest can revitalize enough to put out a fourth studio offering.

Hour of 13 on Thee Facebooks

Shadow Kingdom Records website

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Operators, Revelers

Nearly four years in the making, Revelers is the third full-length from Berlin’s Operators behind 2013’s Contact High (review here) and 2012’s Operators (review here), and it starts off by smashing Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats swing headfirst into Goatsnake riffing on “Leveled Reveler,” the first of its six component tracks. Their arrangements, as ever, are marked by the featured position of organ along with guitar, bass and drums, and whether it’s a more extended jam like that opener, “Messina” or the closing “Rolling Hitch” – which boasts a guest vocal/guitar spot from Wight’s René Hofmann, who also recorded and mixed (Tony Reed of Mos Generator mastered) – or the shorter momentum-building winding course through “Pusher,” “Walkin’ on Air” (I’m not sure what’s happening at the end there, but I’m not about to spoil it) and the winning-at-song-titles “Fuzz Muncher,” Operators function with a maturity of approach that seems to have been earned during the longer stretch between releases. To wit, all the turns and pivots even out in the last movement of “Rolling Hitch” and Revelers caps with a classic heavy rock groove that’s neither in a hurry nor staid – Operators finding crucial balance amidst all their revelry, and much to their credit.

Operators on Thee Facebooks

Fuzzmatazz Records on Bandcamp

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MaidaVale, Tales of the Wicked West

Blues Pills. There. I said it. Now that the blues-rocking elephant in the room has been acknowledged, perhaps we can get on with Swedish four-piece MaidaVale’s debut full-length, Tales of the Wicked West (on The Sign Records). Yes, the Fårösund-based band owe a bit of their soulfulness to the aforementioned, but the nine-track/44-minute long-player thrives most of all as Linn Johannesson, Sofia Ström, Matilda Roth and Johanna Hansson purposefully meander into psychedelic flashes, as in opener “(If You Want the Smoke) Be the Fire,” the midsection of “The Greatest Story Ever Told,” the penultimate Zep-vibing/Bukowski-referencing “Find What You Love and Let it Kill You” and the 11-minute post-“Maggot Brain” closer “Heaven and Earth.” It’s in these moments and the manner in which they blend with the driving rock of “Dirty War,” the bluesy swagger of “Restless Wanderer” and the deft turns of “Colour Blind” early on that MaidaVale’s individualism is beginning to take shape, and if that’s the story that Tales of the Wicked West is telling, then it’s one well worth following through subsequent chapters.

MaidaVale on Thee Facebooks

The Sign Records on Thee Facebooks

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Audion, La Historia de Abraham

Audion’s debut, La Historia de Abraham, is immediately noteworthy in no small part because it brings the rhythm section of Los Natas back together for the first time since that band’s breakup following 2009’s excellent Nuevo Orden de la Libertad (review here). Drummer Walter Broide and bassist Gonzalo Villagra join forces in the new outfit with guitarist Dizzy Espeche, and all three contribute vocals throughout at least in backup capacity, adding variety to go with the instrumental breadth that runs from the serene end of “Llegaron Sordos” right into the rush of “La Maquina del Tiempo” and well beyond later as the interlude “Para Rosita” introduces an earthy acoustidelic feel and “El Carancho” explores ‘70s anthemic rock before the fuzz- and horn-laden finisher “Queruzalem” closes out with a surprising progressive wash. Cuts like opener “Clarence,” the title-track and “Colmillo Blanco” can call to mind Villagra and Broide’s previous work, but Audion make a fresh impression on La Historia de Abraham in the variety throughout, and as they make their way through “Lesbotrans” and “Diablo vs. Dios” and into the second half of the album, it becomes increasingly clear how distinct this first offering actually is.

Audion on Thee Facebooks

Audion on Bandcamp

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Bone Man, III

To go along with the propulsive rhythm of “False Ambition” and the wash in the payoff of the earlier “These Days are Gone,” there’s a sense of gothic drama to vocalist Marian’s delivery that adds further atmosphere to Bone Man’s III (on Pink Tank Records), and in kind with the cohesive foundation of Arne’s bass, Ötzi’s drumming and his own scorch-prone guitar, that gives cuts like “Cold Echo” and the alternately brooding and explosive centerpiece – layered acoustic and electric guitar filling out the sound further – even more stylistic depth. That moodiness comes perhaps most into focus on the more subdued “Incognito,” but it’s there from the boogie-laced opener “Pollyanna” onward, and in the jagged push of “Years of Sorrow” and the more spacious finale “Amnesia” (still a tightly structured four minutes in length), it lends III a persona stretching beyond what one might think of as the standard genre fare and gives the Kiel, Germany, outfit a presence decidedly their own. It’s their third record, so maybe that’s not a surprise for a band who made their first offering eight years ago, but it serves as a major source of resonance in the material nonetheless.

Bone Man on Thee Facebooks

Pink Tank Records website

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Riff Fist, King Tide

Going back to 2013, Melbourne, Australia, trio Riff Fist have basically summed up their approach in the eight letters of their name: a tight-knit approach to guitar-led heavy rock, as straightforward as a fist in your face. King Tide is their debut album after three EPs named for the Clint Eastwood Dollars trilogy of westerns – 2015’s The Good, the Loud and the Riff, 2014’s For a Few Riffs More and 2013’s Fistful of Riffs (review here) – and it significantly expands their breadth. Opening with its longest track (immediate points) in the 11-minute title cut (video premiered here), King Tide covers new, more patient and encompassing ground from bassist/vocalist Cozza, guitarist Casey and drummer Joel than anything they’ve touched on before, and while the subsequent “D.T.U.B.,” fuzz-laden “Fist Bier (Noch Eins)” and even the first half of eight-minute centerpiece “Chugg” bring that all-ahead sensibility back into focus, King Tide remains effectively and engagingly informed by its leadoff impression through its total 33-minute run, which is rounded out as “Beer and a Cigarette” melds the more spacious and atmospheric take with a still-swinging post-Clutch groove. There’s more work to do in tying the various sides together, but King Tide is a rousing introduction to the process through which the band can make that happen.

Riff Fist on Thee Facebooks

Riff Fist on Bandcamp

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Helén, Helén

Hexvessel multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Kimmo Helén makes a willfully peculiar and experimentalist self-titled debut with the solo-project Helén via Svart Records, setting a course through melodic indie wash in “Uusi Olento” even as “Jumalan Hullu” threatens in its bounce and the later “Lystia” moves into yet-darker expanses. Keys, electric and acoustic guitar, sax, and of course Helén’s own Finnish-language vocals, there’s very little that feels like it might be outside his comfort zone in terms of craft, and Helén, the album, is just as effective in the plus-cello-acoustic-minimalism of the penultimate “Lopussa” as in the earlier atmospheric breadth of “Puolen Metrin Syvyydessä.” Closing out with the alternately melancholy and dreamy “Kaikki Isä,” the record brings out a full-band feel despite Helén having handled the vast majority of the instrumentation on his own and impresses in that as well as in its range of moods and overarching sense of purpose. May it be a first exploration in a series of many.

Helén on Thee Facebooks

Helén at Svart Records webstore

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Savanah, The Healer

I won’t take away from a wah-drenched rocker like “The Healer,” which still jams out plenty before digging into doomier lumbering, but where Austrian trio Savanah’s Stone Free Records debut album, The Healer, really gets its point across is in the fluidity of its longer-form material, whether that’s post-“Intro” opener “Mind,” the ebbing and flowing heavy psych instrumental “Pillars of Creation” or the over-10-minutes-apiece closing pair of the doom rocking “Black Widow” and “Panoramic View of Stormy Weather,” which effectively draws together the multiple aesthetic faces the three-piece demonstrate throughout the record preceding, culling rock, psych and doom into a single riff-driven entity and, most importantly, making it theirs. Guitar leads the way with big, natural fuzz, but the rhythm section is crucial here, and as Benny, Felix and Jakob follow-up their 2015 EP, Deep Shades, they seem to establish a path along which they can flourish and hopefully continue to capture the listener’s attention as they do here.

Savanah on Thee Facebooks

StoneFree Records website

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Puta Volcano, Harmony of Spheres

The kind of release where by the end of the first song you want to own everything the band has ever put out. Don’t let Athens’ Puta Volcano get lost in the wash of bands coming out of Greece these days, because there are many, but if you miss out on the blend of desert-style tones and graceful melodies of “Bird,” it’s to your general detriment. I’m serious. In craft and performance, Puta Volcano’s third album, Harmony of Spheres, takes on unpretentious progressivism in songwriting and blends it with a post-Slo Burn/Hermano sense of freedom from genre. Witness the funky “Zeroth Law” or the later, more subtle post-grunge linearity of “Moebius,” the odd chanting repetitions in closer “Infinity” or the nigh-on-maddening hook of “Jovian Winds.” Really, do it. With the lineup of vocalist Luna Stoner, guitarist Alex Pi, bassist Bookies and drummer Steven Stefanidis, Puta Volcano are onto something special in aesthetic and delivery, and if Harmony of Spheres might be your first experience with the band as it’s mine, it’s one that will no doubt warrant multiple revisits. Consider it sleeper fodder for your year-end list – I know I will.

Puta Volcano on Thee Facebooks

Puta Volcano on Bandcamp

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Click Here to Download

 

Yes! A new podcast! Are you stoked? I’m stoked. If you’re not, you will be when you look at the list of bands included. In any case, let’s be stoked together, because rock and roll, and heavy psych and good music and, well, yeah. That’s pretty much stuff to be stoked about. It’s been absurdly long since the last time we did one of these. Too long. I don’t really have an excuse other than… gainful employment? Don’t worry, though. That’ll be over soon enough. Then it’ll be podcasts out the ass.

There’s some killer goods here though. Yeah, I decided to do a “Yeti” double-shot with Green Yeti into Telekinetic Yeti. That’s my version of me being clever. But both bands are righteous, and if you haven’t heard the Savanah record, or that new Tia Carrera jam, or the Cachemira or Big Kizz or Yagow or Vokonis or the Elder — oh hell, frickin’ all of it — it’s worth your time. That Emil Amos track just premiered the other day and I think will surprise a lot of people, and I liked the way it paired with the dark neofolk of Hermitess. And of course we get trippy in the second hour, as is the custom around here. But first a moment of prog clarity from the aforementioned Elder. That’s a good time as well.

As always, I hope you enjoy.

Track details follow:

First Hour:

0:00:00 Vokonis, “The Sunken Djinn” from The Sunken Djinn
0:06:47 Tia Carrera, “Laid Back (Frontside Rock ‘n’ Roll)” from Laid Back (Frontside Rock ‘n’ Roll)
0:16:33 Supersonic Blues, “Supersonic Blues Theme” from Supersonic Blues Theme / Curses on My Soul
0:19:28 Emil Amos, “Elements Cycling” from Filmmusik
0:22:28 Hermitess, “Blood Moon” from Hermitess
0:26:24 Savanah, “Mind” from The Healer
0:34:22 Yagow, “Non-Contractual” from Yagow
0:42:35 Big Kizz, “Eye on You” from Eye on You
0:45:53 Cachemira, “Jungla” from Jungla
0:52:05 Green Yeti, “Black Planets (Part 2)” from Desert Show
0:58:02 Telekinetic Yeti, “Stoned and Feathered” from Abominable

Second Hour:

1:02:10 Elder, “The Falling Veil” from Reflections of a Floating World
1:13:20 Riff Fist, “King Tide” from King Tide
1:24:15 Cavra, “Montaña” from Cavra
1:39:18 Causa Sui, “A Love Supreme” from Live in Copenhagen

Total running time: 1:55:53

 

Thank you for listening.

Download audiObelisk Transmission 061