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Quarterly Review: Primordial, Patriarchs in Black, Blood Lightning, Haurun, Wicked Trip, Splinter, Terra Black, Musing, Spiral Shades, Bandshee

Posted in Reviews on November 28th, 2023 by JJ Koczan

The-Obelisk-Quarterly-Review

Day two and no looking back. Yesterday was Monday and it was pretty tripped out. There’s some psych stuff here too, but we start out by digging deep into metal-rooted doom and it doesn’t get any less dudely through the first three records, let’s put it that way. But there’s more here than one style, microgengre, or gender expression can contain, and I invite you as you make your way through to approach not from a place of redundant chestbeating, but of celebrating a moment captured. In the cases of some of these releases, it’s a pretty special moment we’re talking about.

Places to go, things to hear. We march.

Quarterly Review #11-20:

Primordial, How it Ends

primordial how it ends

Excuse me, ma’am. Do you have 66 minutes to talk about the end of the world? No? Nobody does? Well that’s kind of sad.

At 28 years’ remove from their first record, 1995’s Imrama, and now on their 10th full-length, Dublin’s Primordial are duly mournful across the 10 songs of How it Ends, which boasts the staring-at-a-bloodied-hillside-full-of-bodies after-battle mourning and oppression-defying lyricism and a style rooted in black metal and grown beyond it informed by Irish folk progressions but open enough to make a highlight of the build in “Death Holy Death” here. A more aggressive lean shows itself in “All Against All” just prior while “Pilgrimage to the World’s End” is brought to a wash of an apex with a high reach from vocalist Alan “A.A. Nemtheanga” Averill, who should be counted among metal’s all-time frontmen, ahead of the tension chugging in the beginning of “Nothing New Under the Sun.” And you know, for the most part, there isn’t. Most of what Primordial do on How it Ends, they’ve done before, and their central innovation in bridging extreme metal with folk traditionalism, is long behind them. How it Ends seems to dwell in some parts and be roiling in its immediacy elsewhere, and its grandiosities inherently will put some off just as they will bring some on, but Primordial continue to find clever ways to develop around their core approach, and How it Ends — if it is the end or it isn’t, for them or the world — harnesses that while also serving as a reminder of how much they own their sound.

Primordial on Facebook

Metal Blade Records website

Patriarchs in Black, My Veneration

Patriarchs in Black My Veneration

With a partner in drummer Johnny Kelly (Type O Negative, Danzig, etc.), guitarist/songwriter Dan Lorenzo (Hades, Vessel of Light, Cassius King, etc.) has found an outlet open to various ideas within the sphere of doom metal/rock in Patriarchs in Black, whose second LP, My Veneration, brings a cohort of guests on vocals and bass alongside the band’s core duo. Some, like Karl Agell (C.O.C. Blind) and bassist Dave Neabore (Dog Eat Dog), are returning parties from the project’s 2022 debut, Reach for the Scars, while Unida vocalist Mark Sunshine makes a highlight of “Show Them Your Power” early on. Sunshine appears on “Veneration” as well alongside DMC from Run DMC, which, if you’re going to do a rap-rock crossover, it probably makes sense to get a guy who was there the first time it happened. Elsewhere, “Non Defectum” toys with layering with Kelly Abe of Sicks Deep adding screams, and Paul Stanley impersonator Bob Jensen steps in for the KISS cover “I Stole Your Love” and the originals “Dead and Gone” and “Hallowed Be Her Name” so indeed, no shortage of variety. Tying it together? The riffs, of course. Lorenzo has shown an as-yet inexhaustible supply thereof. Here, they seem to power multiple bands all on one album.

Patriarchs in Black on Instagram

MDD Records website

Blood Lightning, Blood Lightning

Blood Lightning self titled

Just because it wasn’t a surprise doesn’t mean it’s not one of the best debut albums of 2023. Bringing together known parties from Boston’s heavy underground Jim Healey (We’re All Gonna Die, etc.), Doug Sherman (Gozu), Bob Maloney (Worshipper) and J.R. Roach (Sam Black Church), Blood Lightning want nothing for pedigree, and their Ripple-issued self-titled debut meets high expectations with vigor and thrash-born purpose. Sherman‘s style of riffing and Healey‘s soulful, belted-out vocals are both identifiable factors in cuts like “The Dying Starts” and the charging “Face Eater,” which works to find a bridge between heavy rock and classic, soaring metal. Their cover of Black Sabbath‘s “Disturbing the Priest,” included here as the last of the six songs on the 27-minute album, I seem to recall being at least part of the impetus for the band, but frankly, however they got there, I’m glad the project has been preserved. I don’t know if they will or won’t do anything else, but there’s potential in their metal/rock blend, which positions itself as oldschool but is more forward thinking than either genre can be on its own.

Blood Lightning on Facebook

Ripple Music website

Haurun, Wilting Within

haurun wilting within

Based in Oakland and making their debut with the significant endorsement of Small Stone Records and Kozmik Artifactz behind them, atmospheric post-heavy rock five-piece Haurun tap into ethereal ambience and weighted fuzz in such a way as to raise memories of the time Black Math Horseman got picked up by Tee Pee. I don’t think that’s a coincidence. With notions of Acid King in the nodding, undulating riffs of “Abyss” and the later reaches of “Lost and Found,” but two guitars are a distinguishing factor, and Haurun come across as primarily concerned with mood, although the post-grunge ’90s alt hooks of “Flying Low” and “Lunar” ahead of 11-minute closer “Soil,” which uses its longform breadth to cast as vivid a soundscape as possible. Fast, slow, minimalist or at a full wash of noise, Haurun‘s Wilting Within has its foundation in heavy rock groove and riffy repetition, but does something with that that goes beyond microniche confines. Very much looking forward to more from this band.

Haurun on Facebook

Small Stone Records website

Kozmik Artifactz website

Wicked Trip, Cabin Fever

wicked trip cabin fever

Its point of view long established by the time they get around to the filthy lurch of “Hesher” — track three of seven — Cabin Fever is the first full-length from cultish doomers Wicked Trip. The Tennessee outfit revel in Electric Wizard-style fuckall on “Cabin Fever” after the warning in the spoken “Intro,” and the 11-minute sample-topped “Night of Pan” is a psych-doom jam that’s hypnotic right unto its keyboard-drone finish giving over to the sampled smooth sounds of the ’70s at the start of “Black Valentine,” which feels all the more dirt-coated when it actually kicks in, though “Evils of the Night” is no less threatening of purpose in its garage-doom swing, crash-out and cacophonous payoff, and I’m pretty sure if you played “No Longer Human” at double the speed, well, it might be human again. All of these grim, bleak, scorching, nodding, gnashing pieces come together to craft Cabin Fever as one consuming, lo-fi entirety, raw both because the recording sounds harsh and because the band itself eschew any frills not in service to their disillusioned atmosphere.

Wicked Trip on Instagram

Wicked Trip on Bandcamp

Splinter, Role Models

Splinter Role Models

There’s an awful lot of sex going on in Splinter‘s Role Models, as the Amsterdam glam-minded heavy rockers follow their 2021 debut, Filthy Pleasures (review here), with cuts like “Soviet Schoolgirl,” “Bottom,” “Opposite Sex” and the poppy post-punk “Velvet Scam” early on. It’s not all sleaze — though even “The Carpet Makes Me Sad” is trying to get you in bed — and the piano and boozy harmonies of “Computer Screen” are a fun departure ahead of the also-acoustic finish in closer “It Should Have Been Over,” while “Every Circus Needs a Clown” feels hell-bent on remaking Queen‘s “Stone Cold Crazy” and “Medicine Man” and “Forbidden Kicks” find a place where garage rock meets heavier riffing, while “Children” gets its complaints registered efficiently in just over two boogie-push minutes. A touch of Sabbath here, some Queens of the Stone Age chic disco there, and Splinter are happy to find a place for themselves adjacent to both without aping either. One would not accuse them of subtlety as regards theme, but there’s something to be said for saying what you want up front.

Splinter on Facebook

Noisolution website

Terra Black, All Descend

Terra Black All Descend

Beginning with its longest component track (immediate points) in “Asteroid,” Terra Black‘s All Descend is a downward-directed slab of doomed nod, so doubled-down on its own slog that “Black Flames of Funeral Fire” doesn’t even start its first verse until the song is more than half over. Languid tempos play up the largesse of “Ashes and Dust,” and “Divinest Sin” borders on Eurometal, but if you need to know what’s in Terra Black‘s heart, look no further than the guitar, bass, drum and vocal lumber — all-lumber — of “Spawn of Lyssa” and find that it’s doom pumping blood around the band’s collective body. While avoiding sounding like Electric Wizard, the Gothenburg, Sweden, unit crawl through that penultimate duet track with all ready despondency, and resolve “Slumber Grove” with agonized final lub-dub heartbeats of kick drum and guitar drawl after a vivid and especially doomed wash drops out to vocals before rearing back and plodding forward once more, doomed, gorgeous, immersive, and so, so heavy. They’re not finished growing yet — nor should they be on this first album — but they’re on the path.

Terra Black on Facebook

Terra Black on Bandcamp

Musing, Somewhen

musing somewhen

Sometimes the name of a thing can tell you about the thing. So enters Musing, a contemplative solo outfit from Devin “Darty” Purdy, also known for his work in Calgary-based bands Gone Cosmic and Chron Goblin, with the eight-song/42-minute Somewhen and a flowing instrumental narrative that borders on heavy post-rock and psychedelia, but is clearheaded ultimately in its course and not slapdash enough to be purely experimental. That is, though intended to be instrumental works outside the norm of his songcraft, tracks like “Flight to Forever” and the delightfully bassy “Frontal Robotomy” are songs, have been carved out of inspired and improvised parts to be what they are. “Hurry Wait” revamps post-metal standalone guitar to be the basis of a fuzzy exploration, while “Reality Merchants” hones a sense of space that will be welcome in ears that embrace the likes of Yawning Sons or Big Scenic Nowhere. Somewhen has a story behind it — there’s narrative; blessings and peace upon it — but the actual music is open enough to translate to any number of personal interpretations. A ‘see where it takes you’ attitude is called for, then. Maybe on Purdy‘s part as well.

Musing on Facebook

Musing on Bandcamp

Spiral Shades, Revival

Spiral Shades Revival

A heavy and Sabbathian rock forms the underlying foundation of Spiral Shades‘ sound, and the returning two-piece of vocalist Khushal R. Bhadra and guitarist/bassist/drummer Filip Petersen have obviously spent the nine years since 2014’s debut, Hypnosis Sessions (review here), enrolled in post-doctoral Iommic studies. Revival, after so long, is not unwelcome in the least. Doom happens in its own time, and with seven songs and 38 minutes of new material, plus bonus tracks, they make up for lost time with classic groove and tone loyal to the blueprint once put forth while reserving a place for itself in itself. That is, there’s more to Spiral Shades and to Revival than Sabbath worship, even if that’s a lot of the point. I won’t take away from the metal-leaning chug of “Witchy Eyes” near the end of the album, but “Foggy Mist” reminds of The Obsessed‘s particular crunch and “Chapter Zero” rolls like Spirit Caravan, find a foothold between rock and doom, and it turns out riffs are welcome on both sides.

Spiral Shades on Facebook

Spiral Shades on Bandcamp

Bandshee, Bandshee III

Bandshee III

The closing “Sex on a Grave” reminds of the slurring bluesy lasciviousness of Nick Cave‘s Grinderman, and that should in part be taken as a compliment to the setup through “Black Cat” — which toys with 12-bar structure and is somewhere between urbane cool and cabaret nerdery — and the centerpiece “Bad Day,” which follows a classic downer chord progression through its apex with the rawness of Backwoods Payback at their most emotive and a greater melodic reach only after swaying through its willful bummer of an intro. Last-minute psych flourish in the guitar threatens to make “Bad Day” a party, but the Louisville outfit find their way around to their own kind of fun, which since the release is only three songs long just happens to be “Sex on a Grave.” Fair enough. Rife with attitude and an emergent dynamic that’s complementary to the persona of the vocals rather than trying to keep up with them, the counterintuitively-titled second short release (yes, I know the cover is a Zeppelin reference; settle down) from Bandshee lays out an individual approach to heavy songwriting and a swing that goes back further in time than most.

Bandshee on Facebook

Bandshee on Bandcamp

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Spiral Shades Finish Work on New Album

Posted in Whathaveyou on May 26th, 2022 by JJ Koczan

Okay, it’s been a minute since the cross-continental two-piece Spiral Shades last checked in. The India-and-Norway-based duo released their digital-only EP, Children of Doom (discussed here), and that was a short tribute release consisting of just three covers. Their debut album, Hypnosis Sessions (review here), was issued in 2014 on RidingEasy Records. But here’s the thing. Even when the tribute EP came out, Spiral Shades — who are not to be confused with Spiral GraveSpiral Skies or any of the other spirals careening out there — were talking about getting to work on their next record. It’s just been seven years in the making.

The band reportedly finished the recording in 2020 and I guess have been mixing back and forth since then? They signed with Majestic Mountain Records in 2021 — I’d usually catch that kind of news, can only wonder why I didn’t, but I’m sorry to not have an immediate excuse handy; I just suck at this — and I guess now the yet-untitled release to come is done, mastered, finished. Any way you want to slice it, this has been a pretty significant undertaking on the part of the band. I doubt they were working 40 hours a week to put it together, but consider having lived with these songs for over a half-decade minimum and just now getting to the point of having an end-product to show for it. They must be on fire to get this shit out.

And that’s a record I’m looking forward to hearing. From socials etc.:

Spiral shades album done

We are done mixing and mastering our sophomore album. Special thanks to Maxim Losch from Redville Studio for doing such a fabulous job on the record. Redville Studio Majestic. Mountain Records.


Spiral Shades is a doom metal project formed in 2012 that is inspired by two individuals from different countries with a common goal of making an album together. Khushal Bhadra a Guitarist, Songwriter from India, Mumbai city and Filip Petersen (Guitarist, Bassist) from Norway, Vennesla got to know each other through Youtube because of their common interest in 70’s heavy doom/progressive rock music.

https://www.facebook.com/SpiralShades
https://soundcloud.com/spiralshades
http://spiralshades.bandcamp.com/

http://majesticmountainrecords.bigcartel.com
http://facebook.com/majesticmountainrecords
http://instagram.com/majesticmountainrecords

Spiral Shades, Children of Doom (2015)

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RidingEasy Records Sampler Features New Music from Electric Citizen and Mondo Drag

Posted in Whathaveyou on December 3rd, 2015 by JJ Koczan

Well, this one’s a no-brainer. A free download from RidingEasy Records that previews two of the label’s upcoming releases while at the same time wrapping up some of the best 2015 had to offer. The label is calling it the Winter 2016 Mixtape, and what it rounds out to is 14 tracks that demonstrate how huge a role RidingEasy has played in setting the tone for heavy rock in the last year. The West Coast label has established one of the strongest rosters of acts in the US, persistently released quality offerings in quality formats, and developed an aesthetic that’s individualized and expanding in kind.

All the tracks listed below are mixed into one molten 74-minute file that you can stream and download below. And if you’re only rolling into it interested in the new stuff — hey, maybe you heard the rest — that’s right up front for immediate access:

ridingeasy winter 2016 mixtape

Here is a smattering of tunes that came out in 2015 and will come out in the first part of 2016. Hand selected and mixed by DJ Bonghits.

1. Electric Citizen – “Evil” from the forthcoming album “Higher Time” out April 2016
2. Mondo Drag “Out of Sight” from the forthcoming album “The Occultation of Light” out Feb 2016
3. Slow Season “Day Glo Sunrise” from the album “Slow Season”
4. Salem’s Pot “The Vampire Strikes Back” (Full Version)
5, Zekes “Box” from Brown Acid “The First Trip”
6. Old Man’s Will “Got It” from the album “Hard Times Troubled Man”
7. Sons of Huns “Philosopher’s Stone” from the album “While Sleeping Stay Awake”
8. Spiral Shades “Frozen Fear” (Originally performed and written by Bedemon)
9. Holy Serpent “Shroom Doom” From the album Holy Serpent
10. Spelljammer “The Pathfinder” From the album “Ancient of Days”
11. Monolord “Cursing The One” From the Album Vænir
12. Blackout “Tannered” from the album “Blackout”
13. The Well “Crawling Mist” (McPullish Dub Mix)
14. The Picturebooks “Hail These Words” from the album “Imaginary Horse”

BUY DIGITAL MUSIC- www.ridingeasyrecords.bandcamp.com
BUY PHYSICAL MUSIC – www.ridingeasyrecords.com
Follow us On Instagram – @easyriderrecord

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Spiral Shades Announce Children of Doom Digital Tribute EP

Posted in Whathaveyou on October 20th, 2015 by JJ Koczan

Normally one might take the phrase “tribute EP” to mean “we recorded a couple covers and didn’t know what to do with them,” but in the case of Spiral Shades, it seems like a genuine opportunity to get a feel for some of the band’s influences, as shown on their 2014 RidingEasy Records debut LP, Hypnosis Sessions (review here). That album was deceptively hard to pin down. Definitely within the sphere of classically-influenced heavy rock, it held firm to a doomly psychedelic edge, refusing to wholly embrace one side at the expense of the other. That worked greatly to its benefit, but it left one wondering just what they were listening to at the time.

And that would seem to be the core of what brought India-based vocalist/guitarist Khushal R. Bhadra and Norwegian guitarist/bassist/drum programmer Filip Petersen together in the first place — a shared love of heavy — so to find them exploring that in the rawest form possible on what’s been titled Children of Doom is only fair. I’ve yet to see a tracklisting for the free, digital-only offering — doesn’t seem out of line to think there might be some Vitus on there — but we won’t have to wait too long to find out, since the thing will be released on Friday. Yup, this Friday. Yup, free. I guess that really says it all.

The duo put up a quick announcement of the EP’s release with the cover art, which you can find below, and answered some quick comment about their second long-player as well:

spiral shades children of doom ep

Announcing the release of our new Tribute EP titled Children Of Doom, this Friday, 23rd October 2015. It would be a free digital release. Till then spread the word and enjoy this amazing artwork done by Reza Noer Fajar.

Bands and artists that have inspired us in our musical journey.

The new album is in the works but its going slow. Hopefully it would be worth the wait.

https://www.facebook.com/SpiralShades
http://spiralshades.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/ridingeasyrecords
ridingeasyrecords.com

Spiral Shades, EP Teaser

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Spiral Shades Premiere “Wizardry” from Debut LP Hypnosis Sessions

Posted in audiObelisk on July 10th, 2014 by JJ Koczan

Listening to it front to back, it becomes clear quickly that Spiral Shades‘ forthcoming debut, Hypnosis Sessions, is a special kind of album. But even hearing it only tells half the tale. The 55-minute 2LP — which is due Aug. 5 on RidingEasy Records on grey vinyl or CD (pre-orders are available here) — captures a naturalist proto-metal kind of sound from the start, in places reminiscent of a harder-edged version of the kind of analog worship and rolling grooves Witch proffered on their own debut, but it was made by players living a continent apart from each other.

Comprised of Indian vocalist/guitarist Khushal R. Bhadra and Norwegian guitarist/bassist/drum programmer Filip PetersenSpiral Shades have never actually played in the same room, yet the Sabbathian idolatry they bring about on cuts like “Illuminati” and “Wizardry” from Hypnosis Sessions is as fluid as if it was recorded live. It’s a credit to the tones Bhadra and Petersen were able to capture on their own, working back and forth via email, sending files to each other and piecing together the album in a manner befitting its collage cover art, but more importantly, it’s a wide open, badass sound, and the album jams out vibrant grooves with a steady flow and pays homage to classic ’70s influences in a way that’s modern both in process and in sonics.

Though shorter than, say, 13-minute freakout “Grim Rituals,” the catchy stomp of “Wizardry” nonetheless provides an engaging sample of what Spiral Shades have to offer those who’d join them in their continent-crossing riffy congress. Hopefully this isn’t a one-time collaboration on the part of Bhadra and Petersen. When one considers the kind of chemistry they’re able to capture on Hypnosis Sessions and the organic, full-band feel they bring about on songs like “Wizardry,” taken in context with the distance between them, it seems like all the more reason to keep going forward and developing the ideas they’ve laid down here.

Enjoy “Wizardry” on the player below, courtesy of RidingEasy:

Spiral Shades release Hypnosis Sessions Aug. 5 on RidingEasy Records. The album will be available on CD and vinyl. The orange LP edition of 75 sold out on pre-order, but dark grey marble is still available, though limited to 100. More info and pre-orders via the links below.

Spiral Shades on Thee Facebooks

Spiral Shades on Bandcamp

Hypnosis Sessions at RidingEasy Records’ webstore

RidingEasy Records on Thee Facebooks

 

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