Posted in Whathaveyou on February 20th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
Heads up on a sick bill, though don’t take that to mean I’m claiming to break any news here, as Into the Void posted this lineup announcement for 2025 last week. I’m just always beihnd. In any case, it’s rad. It’s awesome to see Dutch-native bands like DOOL and Temple Fang ascending to headliner positions, most especially because it’s earned by the music/performance, and The Vintage Caravan are always, always, always a good time. Killer top three. In light of Molassesss announcing their ending, to see the Farida Lemouchi-fronted Gott taking part here would seem to signal a renewed focus on that project following their 2022 EP, To Hell to Zion. Curious of course what might be in the works there to be revealed hopefully by September. Hell a new record’s out and I probably missed it, for all I know. I’m doing my best folks. I never said I was good at this.
Cheers and happy travels to Sons of Arrakis, who’ll apparently be making their debut on the Europpean circuit this Fall. I saw them a couple weeks ago and they were great and are at a stage in their progression where every moment they can spend performing will help them grow. These plus Earthship, MR.BISON, Lowen, Haunted, Ggu:ll, Motorowl, Psychonaut, Hippotraktor and An Evening With Knives makes for one hell of a 14-band all-dayer.
From socials:
On September 27, Neushoorn will once again open the gates for Into The Void, where heavy riffs and dark spheres meet. This year, fourteen bands are set to take the audience on a journey through the universe of Doom, Stoner and Sludge.
🔸 DOOL returns to Leeuwarden after a sold out club tour. With their melancholic, layered sound and immersive performances, they manage to leave a deep impression time and time again.
🔸 The Vintage Caravan brings their signature mix of classic rock and heavy psych back to Into The Void. The energy of this Icelandic band always causes a party.
🔸 Temple Fang presents new work. Known for their hypnotizing compositions, the band will take you on an intense musical trip.
🔸 Psychonaut and Hippotraktor prove that Belgium is a breeding ground for heavy, progressive music. Both bands combine powerful riffs with deep dynamics and atmospheric elements.
🔸 Gott the reincarnation of The Devil’s Blood, mixing occult rock and intense, bewitching melodies.
🔸 Lowen a name to watch out for, hails from the UK and brings a combination of doom and atmospheric sounds.
In addition, HAUNTED , An Evening With Knives , Ggu:ll, Sons of Arrakis, Earth Ship, Mr. Bison and Motorowl complete the lineup.
Posted in Reviews on January 31st, 2025 by JJ Koczan
Earlier – Before Show
Oh shit, I’m in Las Vegas. I opened the window four times on the five-and-a-half-hour flight here. Once was at Newark. Two in the air: the Rockies and the desert. And the last was at the gate after landing. My wife had recommended I watch the Sonic the Hedgehog movie. I may yet on the way home, but I played Zelda the entire time I was in the air. I slaughtered every lynel in Hyrule and they all came back to life and I did it again.
Adam Sage of the band Sonolith, who it turns out is quite a generous dude, kindly offered to put me up for the weekend — thank you, Adam and Jocelyn — and even picked me up at the airport. A stop at the grocery store and the weed store and I’ll of a sudden I’m hanging among the antiques and Weimaraner swag listening to Spaceslug, which was the right call, with a couple hours before the show. Mellow hangs. May it be a theme for the weekend.
Four bands tonight: Unida, MR.BISON, Sons of Arrakis and Samavayo. That’s California, Italy, Canada and Germany represented. Tell me the last time you saw a bill like that.
Okay? So that’s kind of the thing about this fest — it’s not big, but it’s stacked, and it’s thoughtfully curated. Of the four bands playing tonight, the only one I’ve seen is Unida, and it was a different incarnation of the band. Tomorrow is five bands, Saturday is six, Sunday is five, but each one brings something special to the mix. They’re all here for a reason. The whole weekend’s going to be a blast.
Just like you’ve heard in all those heavy metal songs about the night, here’s ‘the night’:
Samavayo
Samavayo aren’t the only reason I’m here this weekend, but they’re a big part of it. The Berlin-based three-piece have made a low-key tour of coming to the US for the first time, and the last show is tomorrow in Los Angeles. They locked into a groove and didn’t look back. The intricacy of their songwriting, and their blend of influences remains their own. Not that there was any doubt, but they did very much sound like they’d been on tour for a week, which they have been. Tight, having a good time, making the sing-along at the start of “I Keep on Rolling” extra fun, outright nailing the three-part vocal in “Vatan.” The kick drum pedal broke, which gave guitarist/vocalist Behrang Alavi a chance to thank the crowd and sound sincere in talking about how kindly they’ve been treated on their first US trip. The way they open up to a chorus, where you don’t even realize why your stomach was tight until the tension releases, how the songs seem to follow linear paths even in verses and choruses. This was my first time seeing them, and meeting then. I feel fortunate to have been able to do both. They go to L.A. tomorrow and then are out, taking their big grooves with them. It was lucky for those who got to see the band they brought them in the first place, let alone have them set a nigh-on-unreachable standard for the rest of the weekend with the big rock finish at the end of the set.
Sons of Arrakis
Another first for me were Canada’s Dune-themed melodic heavy rockers Sons of Arrakis. They were younger than I was expecting — which isn’t actually weird but kind of was anyway because I’ve seen photos of them before, but whatever. Very clearly a band working from an envisioned methodology of craft and performance. The four-piece are out supporting their second album, Volume II (review here), and they brought the songs to Vegas with due push, referencing 1970s rock but not necessarily boogie. I think maybe they’re what modern heavy rock sounds like. I’m cool with that. They spliced in on-theme samples between the songs and didn’t say much from the stage accordingly, but the riffs are there and the songs they make from them are memorable. Somehow I doubt this will be the last time I run into them at a festival setting, and at least now I know enough to look forward to the next one. I feel like their next album will tell a lot of the tale about the band they ultimately want to and will be, but go see them in the meantime so you can feel cool later.
MR.BISON
When I talk about Planet Desert Rock Weekend being impeccably and purposefully curated, from here on out I’ll cite the vibe liquefaction of Italy’s MR.BISON as an example from here on out. Neither Sons of Arrakis nor Samavayo were without some flourish in their sound, but the keys in MR.BISON, the effects on the guitars and vocals, made it something else. A shift in sound from the first two of the night, but the point is there’s a linear sense to it all. There’s a story being told in the progression from one band to the next, and MR.BISON tripped it out at just the right moment to feel like what the night has been leading toward up to this point — which happens to be true, technically — and pull off that vibe-shift, but still hold onto some sense of heavy continuity, while also daring funk and floaty solos back to back. They have grown into being this band, and that maturity suits them, but the songs were expansive even at their most thrusted, and a spacious feeling pervaded, highlighting some of the mood of last year’s Echoes From the Universe (review here) while seeing an overarching groove and hitting into a few bigger moments, double-tracking vocals live with effects. I guess the word is dynamic. At the very least, they were that. They were also a bunch of other stuff that all rounds down to awesome.
Unida
Enter the headliner. The “new” Unida — vocalist Mark Sunshine, guitarist Arthur Seay, bassist Collyn McCoy and drummer Mike Cancino — have a couple years under their belt at this point, and they absolutely owned the room from the moment they started. They seemed to find another level of volume, and it’s not like the evening had been lacking to that point, and used it to deliver a pro-shop, touring-band-type set. Old songs and new in set, which was fun. I’m eager to hear this band move forward, and writing new songs counts big as a part of that, as much as I have an affection for Unida classics. It’s been 12 years, but last time I saw them was at Desertfest London 2013 (review here), and that was a different kind of novelty, but now that I’ve seen this Unida, having seen that one, they’ve got something that could work. On stage, it already does, with Sunshine giving due homage to the band’s original era while beginning to put a stamp of his own on the newer material. I don’t know what the band’s plans for the rest of this year are — and yes, I asked — but they were just right to finish out this night, and they gave the narrative of the successive sets the blowout ending it deserved. There were some technical issues with the guitar late in the proceedings — and during a new song, which I feel like might sting more to start over when you didn’t actually screw it up. A couple minutes of jamming and on-mic shenanigans and they were back up and rolling, as was the entire room to that riff from the new one, and then it happened again and Arthur grabbed a different guitar, which was probably the way to go since they made it through the song. Mark Sunshine: “We’ve been on a journey with you people.” True enough. They finished and sent the crowd staggering into the cool of the desert midnight.
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So tired. More pics after the jump. I know it was only four bands, but I did a fair amount of socializing tonight and my brain is done. More tomorrow. Thanks for reading.
Posted in Whathaveyou on January 23rd, 2025 by JJ Koczan
Montreal heavy rockers Sons of Arrakis this week begin their 2025 round of live activity supporting their second album, Volume II (review here), heading out on the previously announced ‘The Great Scattering Part II’ tour with Salem’s Bend. The occasion there — in addition to the record and the importance of getting together and doing things with friends, duh — is a stop through Planet Desert Rock Weekend V at the end of the month in Las Vegas, and I can’t help but note that Stoomfest, which is listed below for July at the end of the band’s to-now-revealed live plans for this year, is in the UK. Seems fair to expect at very least a week of touring around that, unless it’s an exclusive one-off or some such.
To my knowledge those will be the band’s first shows not in Canada or its embarrassing southern neighbor, but there are plenty of chances to see them in the US too, including this Spring in the Northeast and at Maryland Doom Fest in June. All the dates and info are below, as posted on socials by the band:
🚀 Sons of Arrakis: Shai-Hulud Odyssey Part I – 2025 🚀
We’re thrilled to announce the Shai-Hulud Odyssey 2025 tour presented by Black Throne Productions! 🌌 This journey will take us across North America and beyond!
Posted in Whathaveyou on January 2nd, 2025 by JJ Koczan
It would seem to have worked out the first time if the somewhat exhausted but contently familiar faces of Salem’s Bend and Sons of Arrakis in the photo are anything to go by. At least those you can see. The two bands, from Los Angeles and Montreal, respectively, set out together this past February and March on a run of six joint Canadian shows, and this West Coasty stint coming up at the end of January would seem to be a fitting answer to that.
Further impetus, of course, is provided by the stopthrough in Las Vegas for Sons of Arrakis to play the opening night of Planet Desert Rock Weekend V, but it’s always nice to know that two bands enjoyed each other’s company enough to want to ever speak or play a show together again, let alone potentially share space, gear and/or van stink for upwards of a week’s time.
One difference between this year (2025) and last is that in 2024, Sons of Arrakis released Volume II (review here), which is certainly a thing to consider. Oh, and I didn’t actually see a poster for the tour, which is called ‘Great Scattering Part II,’ but there’s a credit for one to Bill Kole in the social media post below. If you read this and have it, I’m happy to add it to the post after the fact. Thanks.
Please note that all event links below are live. It took me an embarrassingly long time this morning to cut and paste hyperlinks between tabs, so yes, I’m pointing it out. I probably got them wrong, so heads up there too, I guess:
⚡️Great Scattering Tour Part II⚡️
One month to go before we hop on a plane to Los Angeles to reunite with our friends from Salem’s Bend ! Visas are sorted, gear is ready, and we’re fired up!
We had so much fun on our Great Scattering tour through Québec and Ontario earlier this year that we just had to make a Part II ⚡️
Cheers to our partners at Ripple Music, Black Throne Productions and Vegas Rock Revolution for making it happen!
Scope the dates below and we’ll see you on the road!
Posted in Whathaveyou on November 13th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
Once again, the Las Vegas-based Planet Desert Rock Weekend still feature a different poster for each day. The first to be unveiled — and after one-at-a-timing through the lineup itself, you didn’t think it was going to be all at once here, did you? — is for the first night of the fest, suitably enough, and with the art/design by Joey Rudell (also Fuzz Evil and pointedly not a robot so far as I know) comes the confirmed running order of Unida, MR.BISON, Sons of Arrakis and Samavayo for Jan. 30, the first of the festival’s now-four nights, with the final being ‘Last Call’ slated for Feb. 2.
We have at least the day-split for that too, if not a separate poster and a confirmed running order. Duel, BoneHawk, Luna Sol, Iota and Jason Walker’s Badmotorfinger will play ‘Last Call.’ That leaves the two days between for the likes of Fireball Ministry, Solace, Mos Generator, JIRM, Sergeant Thunderhoof, Valley of the Sun, Fire Down Below, Green Desert Water and Godzillionaire, which breaks down into two sets of five. I don’t know if that’s how fest-curator John Gist will lay it out, but I do know that any way you mix those names up, you still get a badass way to spend a weekend.
Glad to say my flight is booked for this one. Still need to shore up a crash spot, but one thing at a time.
From the PR wire:
PDRW V – Opening Night – Thursday January 30th
Vegas Rock Revolution is excited to announce Night 1 of Planet Desert Rock Weekend V with a bang! Desert legends Unida will be headlining opening night along with 3 international bands to get the party started at Count’s Vamp’d in Las Vegas on Thursday January 30th. Unida reemerged back onto the scene just a few years back with the blessing of John Garcia as Arthur Seay (Guitars) and Mike Cancino continue the band’s legacy of melting faces each performance.
On vocals is the very talented Mark Sunshine who of recent years has been lending his vocal prowess to Patriarchs in Black. On bass is musician madman Collyn Mccoy who brings the thunder! We felt it appropriate to have Arthur Seay’s crew kick off PDRW as he and Mike were part of the very first night of PDRW for A Night with John Garcia. VRR has had Unida multi times for shows and they bring it hard and heavy!
Mr. Bison out of Italy on the heels of their very successful 2024 release “Echoes From the Universe” (#2 on the February Doom Charts) on Heavy Psych Sounds will be playing directly before Unida and we are grateful to have them return to PDRW. Their sound has expanded since adding a multi-instrumentalist to the fold that will sure be cool to see and hear.
Montreal’s Sons of Arrakis also is having an amazing year in which they released their 2nd album “Volume 2” to great acclaim including landing #3 on the June Doom Charts right behind Greenleaf and FU Manchu. Their accessible hard rocking sound has caught fire so much so that they get over 82,000 Spotify plays a month currently!
Opening then night will be Germany’s Samavayo who will be playing the USA for the 1st time on this trip, They have been rocking since 2003 and have creatively evolved each of their albums over the years. Their last release “Payan” landed #2 on the Doom Charts for March 2022 and featured guests’ appearance by Elder’s Nick DiSalvo, Tommi Holappa of Greenleaf and more! Their high energy rocking style is perfect to light the fire for the night.
We will have Night 2 of PDRW V announced within a week along with ticket sales.
Posted in Whathaveyou on October 31st, 2024 by JJ Koczan
As per Halloween tradition, the venerable Maryland Doom Fest has posted its as-of-now-complete lineup for next year’s edition, and MDDF 2025 looks like a rager. Set to unfold its massive billing across June 19-22 in the riffy epicenter of Frederick, Maryland, the fest will highlight newcomers and established acts alike, as veteran outfits like The Skull and Apostle of Solitude, Hollow Leg, Curse the Son, and others make returning appearances and new incarnations like Legions of Doom, Ages and High Noon Kahuna feature familiar players in new contexts. Always cool to see bands like Thunderbird Divine and Spiral Grave doing the thing, and I’ll admit that my eyebrows went up when I saw Virginia’s Lord would be playing, as I’d yet to encounter word of a reunion from that most chaotic of sludge metal outfits. Sonolith and Demons My Friends and Sons of Arrakis and plenty of others will be traveling for it — Ogre! — so I would expect some tours to be forthcoming, and Sun Years, whose Nov. tour begins — wait for it — tomorrow, will feature.
It’s a family reunion you probably already have on your calendar, so don’t let me keep you from perusing the poster and getting stoked on what you find. From Crystal Spiders to B&O Railroad, there’s both a lot here and a lot here to like, and always more waiting to be discovered by those bold enough to show up to Cafe 611 early in the day. Check it out:
MARYLAND DOOM FEST 2025 – June 19-22, Frederick, MD
WE JOURNEY FROM THE HEAVY UNDERGROUND AND STAGES ACROSS THE WORLD TO ASSEMBLE IN FREDERICK, MARYLAND, FOR A JOYOUS CELEBRATION OF DOOM, GROOVE, AND THE ALMIGHTY RIFF.
JOIN US.
After such a magnificent 10th anniversary celebration of #4daysofdoom in 2024, which involved reorganizing and coordinating two stages in one venue (Cafe 611), we are beyond stoked to share The Maryland Doom Fest 2025 roster and marvelous promotional artwork.
The art design was created by one of our Maryland natives in the local music scene—Ben Proudman, the Frederick, MD-based master artist at Key City Tattoo (IG: @tattoosbyprdmn). Ben is also the drummer for the powerful bands Thonian Horde and Foehammer. Our very own Bill Kole (IG: @BillyDiablo) handled the color design and layouts again this year. He majestically brought this piece to life!
Explore the heavy musical talent of these bands and performers and be prepared for the nonstop riffage party in June! Talent beyond words!!! We can’t wait for our doom community to congregate next summer!!!
Time slots, ticket sales, stage rosters, sponsors, and vendors will be presented by year’s end. — 💀DooM💀
THE SKULL + PSYCHOTIC REACTION + APOSTLE OF SOLITUDE + LEGIONS OF DOOM + COMPRESSION + CRYSTAL SPIDERS + HIGH NOON KAHUNA + RED BEARD WALL + WITCHPIT + STRANGE HIGHWAYS + AGES + SUNYEARS + HOLLOW LEG
FUTURE PROJEKTOR + ALL YOUR SINS + SONOLITH + SPIRAL GRAVE + LORD + SABBATH WARLOCK + GALLOWGLAS + SONS OF ARRAKIS + CROP + HOVEL + OGRE + DREADSTAR + THUNDERBIRD DIVINE + WYNDRIDER + SUN MANTRA + KULVERA + STYGIAN CROWN + CURSE THE SON + BENTHIC REALM + HOLY ROLLER
BLOODSHOT + DUST PROPHET + VANISHING KIDS + BLOOD AND EARTH + FIGHT THE FOLD + DAYTRIPPER + B&O RAILROAD + BAILJACK + COKUS + NEW DAWNS FADE + COMA HOLE + FLORIST + ABEL BLOOD + SEASICK GLADIATOR + ENTIERRO + HEX ENGINE + DEMONS MY FRIENDS + ABOMINOG + VRSA + HIGH HORSE CALVARY
Posted in Reviews on October 9th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
I have to stop and think about what day it is, so we must be at least ankle-deep in the Quarterly Review. After a couple days, it all starts to bleed together. Wednesday and Thursday just become Tenrecordsperday and every day is Tenrecordsperday. I got to relax for about an hour yesterday though, and that doesn’t always happen during a Quarterly Review week. I barely knew where to put myself. I took a shower, which was the right call.
As to whether I’ll have capacity for basic grooming and/or other food/water-type needs-meeting while busting out these reviews, it’s time to find out.
Quarterly Review #21-30:
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Vibravoid, We Cannot Awake
Of course, the 20-minute title-track head rock epic “We Cannot Awake” is going to be a focal point, but even as it veers into the far-out reaches of candy-colored space rock, Vibravoid‘s extended B-side still doesn’t encompass everything offered by the album that shares its name. Early cuts “Get to You” and “On Empty Streets” and “The End of the Game” seem to regard the world with cynicism that’s well enough earned on the world’s part, but if Vibravoid are a band out of time and should’ve been going in the 1960s, they’ve made a pretty decent run of it despite their somewhat anachronistic existence. “We Cannot Awake” is for sure an epic, and the five shorter tracks on side A are a reminder of the distinguished songwriting of Vibravoid more than 30 years on from their start, and as it’s a little less explicitly garage-rooted than their turn-of-the-century work, it further demonstrates just how much the band have brought to the form over time, with ‘form’ being relative there for a style that’s so molten. Some day this band will get their due. They were there ahead of the stoners, the vintage rockers, the neopsych freaks, and they’ll probably still be there after, acid-coating dystopia as, oh wait, they already are.
Taking influence from the earlier-Mastodon style of twist-and-gallop riffing, adding in vocal harmonies and their own progressive twists, West Virginia’s Horseburner declare themselves with their third album, Voice of Storms, establishing a sound based on immediacy and impact alike, but that gives the listener respite in the series of interludes begun by the building intro “Summer’s Bride” — there’s also the initially-acoustic-based “The Fawn,” which delivers the album’s title-line before basking in Alice in Chains-circa Jar of Flies vibes, and the dream-into-crunch of the penultimate “Silver Arrow,” which is how you kill Ganon — that have the effect of spacing out some of the more dizzying fare like “Hidden Bridges” and “Heaven’s Eye” or letting “Diana” and closer “Widow” each have some breathing room to as to not overwhelm the audience in the record’s later plunge. Because once they get going, as “The Gift” picks up from “Summer’s Bride” and sets them at speed, the trio dare you to keep pace if you can.
Some pressure on Dune-themed Montreal heavy rockers Sons of Arrakis as they follow-up their well-received 20222 debut, Volume I (review here) with the 10-track/33-minute Volume II. The metal-rooted riff rockers have tightened the songwriting and expanded the progressive reach and variety of the material, a song like “High Handed Enemy” drawing from an Elder-style shimmer and setting it to a pop-minded structure. Smooth in production and rife with melody, Volume II isn’t without its edge as shown early on by “Beyond the Screen of Illusion,” and after the thoughtful melodicism of “Metamorphosis,” the burst of energy in “Blood for Blood” prefaces the blowout in “Burn Into Blaze” before the outro “Caladan” closes on an atmospheric note. No want of dynamic or purpose whatsoever. I’ve seen less hype on the interwebs about Volume II than I did its predecessor, and that’s just one of the very many things to enjoy about it.
Classic heavy metal is fortunate to have the likes of Crypt Sermon flying its flag. The Philadelphia-based outfit continue on The Stygian Rose to stake their claim somewhere between NWOBHM and doom in terms of style — there are parts of the album that feel specifically Hellhound Records, the likes of “Down in the Hollow” is more modern, at least in its ending — but five years on from their second LP, 2019’s The Ruins of Fading Light (review here), the band come across with all the more of a grasp of their sound, so that when “Heavy is the Crown of Bone” lays out its riff, everybody knows what they’re going for is Candlemass circa ’86, but that becomes the basis from which they build out, and from thrash to ’80s-style keyboard dramaturge in “Scrying Orb” ahead of the sweeping 11-minute closing title-track, which is so endearingly full-on in its later roll that it’s hard to keep from headbanging as I type. Alas.
The kind of undulating riffy largesse Eyes of the Oak proffer on their second full-length, Neolithic Flint Dagger, puts them in line with Swedish countrymen like Domkraft and Cities of Mars, but the former are more noise rock and the latter aren’t a band anymore, so actually it’s a pretty decent niche to be in. The Sörmland four-piece use the room in their mix to veer between more straight-ahead vocal command and layered chants like those in the nine-minute “Offering to the Gods,” the chorus of which is quietly reprised in the 35-second closing title-track. Not to be understated is the work the immediate chug of “Cold Alchemy” and the marching nodder “Way Home” do in setting the tone for a nuanced sound, so that the pockets of sound that will come to be filled by another layer of vocals, or a guitar lead, or an effect or whatever it is are laid out and then the band proceeds to dance around that central point and find more and more room for flourish as they go. Bonus points for the soul in “The Burning of Rome,” but they honestly don’t need bonus points.
A kind of artful post-hardcore that’s outright combustible in “Concrete,” Mast Year‘s sound still has room to grow as they offer their first long-player in the 25-minute Point of View on respected Marylander imprint Grimoire Records, but part of that impression comes from how open the songs feel generally. That’s not to say the nine-minute “Figure of Speech” doesn’t have its crushing side to account for or that “Teignmouth Electron” before it isn’t gnashing in its later moments, but it’s the band’s willingness to go where the material is leading that seems to get them to places like the foreboding drone of “Love Note” and deconstructing intensity of “Erocide,” just as they’re able to lean between math metal and sludge, which is like the opposite of math, Mast Year cover a lot of ground in their extremes. The minor in creeper noisemaking — “Love Note,” closer “Timelessness” — shouldn’t be neglected for adding to the mood. Mast Year have plenty of ways to pummel, though, and an apparent interest in pushing their own limits.
In the span of about 20 minutes, Wizard Tattoo‘s Living Just for Dying EP, which finds project-founder Bram the Bard once again working mostly solo, save for guest vocals by Djinnifer on “The Wizard Who Loved Me” and Fausto Aurelias, who complements the extreme metal surge and charred-rock verse of “Tomorrow Dies” with a suitably guttural take; think Satyricon more than Mayhem, maybe some Darkthrone. Considering the four-tracker opens with the acoustic “Living Just for Dying” and caps with similar balladeering in “Sanity’s Eclipse,” the EP pretty efficiently conveys Wizard Tattoo‘s go-anywhereism and genre-line transgression at least in terms of the ethic of playing to different sounds and seeing how they rest alongside each other. To that end, detailed transitions between “The Wizard Who Loved Me” and “Tomorrow Dies,” between “Tomorrow Dies” and “Sanity’s Ecilpse,” etc., make for a carefully guided listening process, which feels short and complete and like a form that suits Bram the Bard well.
Virginian trio Üga Büga — guitarist/vocalist Calloway Jones, bassist/backing vocalist Niko Cvetanovich and drummer/backing vocalist Jimmy Czywczynski — don’t have to go far to find despondent sludgy grooves, but they range nonetheless as their debut full-length, Year of the Hog unfolds, “Skingrafter” marrying a crooning vocal in contrast to some of the surrounding rasp and burl to a build of crunching heavy riff. The album is bombastic as a defining feature — songs like “Change My Name” and “Rape of the Poor” come to mind — but there’s a perspective being cast in the material as well, a point of view to the lyrics, that comes through as clearly as the thrashy plunder of “Supreme Truth” later on, and I’m not sure what’s being said, but I am pretty sure “Mockingbird” knows it’s doing Phantom of the Opera, and that’s not nothing. They round out Year of the Hog with its eight-minute title-track, and finish with a duly metallic push, leaning into the aggressive aspects that have been malleably balanced all along.
Ultimately, The Moon is Flat‘s methodology on their third album, A Distant Point of Light, isn’t so radically different from how their second LP, All the Pretty Colors, worked in 2021, with longer-form jamming interspliced with structured craft, songs that may or may not open up to broader reaches, but that are definitively songs rather than open-ended or whittled-down jams (nothing against that approach either, mind you). The difference between the two is that A Distant Point of Light‘s six tracks and 52 minutes feel like they’ve learned much from the prior outing, so “Sound the Alarm” starts off bringing the two sides together before “Awestruck” departs into dream-QOTSA and progadelic vibery, and “I Saw Something” and its five-minute counterpart, closer “Where All Ends Meet” sandwich the 11-minutes each “Meanwhile” and “A Distant Point of Light,” The Moon is Flat digging in dynamically through mostly languid tempos and fluid, progressive builds of volume. But when they go, they go. Watch out for that title-track.
Chronicle II: Hypergenesis continues the thread that London instrumentalists began with their debut 2020’s Chronicle I: The Truthseseker and continued on the prequel EP, 2021’s Chronicle: Prologue, exploring heavy progressive conceptualism in evocative post-heavy pieces like opener “Daybreak,” which resolves in a riotous breakdown, or “The Archivist,” which is more angular when it wants to be but feels like a next-generation’s celebration of riffy chicanery in a way that I can only think of as encouraging for how seriously it seems not to take itself. The post-rocking side of what they do is well reinforced throughout — so is the crush — whether it’s “Dead Language” or “Into the Hazel Woods,” but there’s nothing on Chronicle II: Hypergenesis more consuming than the crescendo of the closing “Hypergenesis,” and the band very clearly know it; it’s a part so good even the band with no singer has to put some voice to it. That last groove is defining, but much of Chronicle II: Hypergenesis actively works against that sort of genre rigidity, and much to the album’s greater benefit.
Posted in Whathaveyou on April 12th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
After a compelling first announcement two weeks ago that put Washington heavy rock institution Mos Generator atop a bill with six other outfits curated from among Europe and the UK’s ever-crowded underground — JIRM, Samavayo, Sergeant Thunderhoof, Omega Sun, and Fire Down Below — the Las Vegas-based festival Planet Desert Rock Weekend V offers four new names today with a similarly curated feel. California’s Fireball Ministry, Ohio’s Valley of the Sun (returning), Canadian upstarts Sons of Arrakis and Italian cosmic rockers MR.BISON (also returning) are the new additions to the lineup, and each brings something specific of their own to the mix for the three-dayer set for Jan. 30-Feb. 1, 2025.
And yeah, that’s a ways off, but if you, like me, don’t actually live in Vegas, it’s an opportunity to make your travel plans early. As the city has never been a ‘scene’ hotbed for heavy fare — of course there are good bands who’ve come from there; that’s true of most of the planet — there’s no question Planet Desert Rock Weekend is positioning itself as a destination festival, and letting you book a flight before they’re even more outlandish than they are now is part of that. Not that I was just looking at airfare prices or anything, mind you. Because I absolutely was.
There were eight bands left after the first reveal, and this, as noted, adds four, so I count four more names to come, give or take, sometime between now and next January. I’m not sure how much more one could reasonably ask beyond what’s already being served here, but golly it’s fun to daydream.
Vegas Rock Revolution and Planet Desert Rock Weekend are proud to announce the next 4 bands for PDRW V. We bring back two alumni bands in Valley of the Sun and Mr. Bison, a longtime legacy band Fireball Ministry and rising star with Sons of Arrakis coming to Vegas for a fun filled weekend of heavy rock, friends and a cool environment that is comfortable. PDRW is designed to give you your mornings and afternoons to enjoy Vegas!
Fireball Ministry/ Los Angeles
Rising from quietly smoldering for a number of years we are honored to have Fireball Ministry be a part of PDRW. This is a pure legacy band that has been rocking the scene since 1999 and have shared the stage with the likes of Alice Cooper, Blue Oyster Cult, Judas Priest, Slayer, Danzig, Anthrax, Motörhead and many others. Recently it was announced Ripple Music will be reissuing their catalog.
Valley of the Sun/ Cincinnati
Super pumped to have Valley of the Sun return to Planet Desert Rock Weekend after performing at the inaugural one. Led by frontman Ryan Ferrier they deliver straight heavy rocking desert rock tinged stuff that sticks in your head. Their recently released album on Ripple Music landed close to the top of Vegas Rock Revolution’s top albums of the year.
Mr. Bison/ Italy
Mr. Bison has been one busy band since appearing at Planet Desert Rock Weekend II. Their latest album “Echoes of the Universe” has made an amazing splash in 2024 including landing #2 on the Doom Charts for February. Mr. Bison have continued to evolve and challenge themselves including adding a new member who is a multi instrumentalist. We can’t wait to have them back and hear the new stuff live! Mr. Bison is part of the Heavy Psych Sounds label.
Sons of Arrakis/ Montreal
Early on Vegas Rock Revolution has been touting and working with Sons of Arrakis and after hoping to have them as part of PDRW IV, we are excited to have them for 2025! Their sound is an outstanding blend of heavy rock/ heavy psych/ progressive/ stoner with a backdrop of being a Dune themed band. Their debut album ended #2 for 2022 on the VRR end of the year list right behind PDRW alumni Freedom Hawk (2). Their album landed #1 on Doom Charts for July 2022 and #8 overall for the year. SOA is currently finishing up their 2nd album which will be released on Black Throne Productions.
