I don’t know how many Quarterly Reviews I’ve done at this point, but aside making my wife avoid me for a week, they’re always their own, probably-doesn’t-make-sense-to-anyone-else kind of fun, and it’s an engagement with music that I don’t get in any other way, even doing this site. Some of it feels like the old days in print, with the pile of CDs on my desk waiting to be reviewed for that week’s column, maybe 100 words per (I try to keep it to 150-200 here), with half the challenge going from one thing to the next and not repeating myself. But I don’t really expect anyone to get that. It’s work, but I enjoy it.

Yesterday was killer like Phyllis Diller. If nothing hit you, I hope today’s more your speed. If not, check back tomorrow. I’ll still be here, doing the thing.

Quarterly Review #11-20:

Edena Gardens, Quintessence

The fifth album from the instrumentalist amalgam of Causa Sui and Papir, Edena Gardens‘ Quintessence not only references the ordinal relevance but embodies the title’s implication of getting to the very root purpose of the project. Spread across four sides of a 2LP, the 80-minute six-songer is the band’s most open and rawest-feeling outing to-date, and for a project that was ‘supposed’ to produce a trilogy and then everybody goes home, they continue to bring a sense of vibrancy and exploration to their jams. The difference is that here, the songs are longer, there’s less editing involved, and the production, while clear enough to convey the spirit of what they’re doing, feels pointedly straightforward in doing so. And from the willfully, surprisingly Sabbathian “Nigredo” onward, the titles give hints toward their evocations of ground and color, be it “Earth Blemish” or the 22-minute finale “The Vermillion Quintessence.” Maybe not the best place to start with the band, but on the other hand, maybe it absolutely is.

Edena Gardens on Instagram

El Paraiso Records website

—

Stone Clones, You Already Know

“You Already Know” is the fourth studio single from New Zealand four-piece Stone Clones, founded in 2021 by the brotherly pair of guitarists Seager and Calum Ray, the former of whom also serves as lead vocalist in harmony with bassist Juan Los B while Dylan Byrne holds the alt-rock-informed-desert push through the chorus toward the particularly post-Homme solo that follows. The lyrics are something of an assessment of modernity and the “you” in question becomes a stand-in for the greed that exploits and ruins the polis of our day. The song runs 6:20 and captures a mood without giving entirely over to it even in that final verse where some of the purported Radiohead influence comes out, and as they continue to grow and work toward a somewhat inevitable debut album, the place they’re making for themselves between styles will continue to hone its own identity through the songcraft they demonstrate here, making heavy sounds and ideas feel light and able to sway the balance in whatever direction they want.

Stone Clones Linktr.ee

Stone Clones on Bandcamp

—

Os Solair, Lever/Capra

Comprised of just the two songs “Lever” (7:49) and “Capra” (5:42), this second EP offering from psychedelic depthmakers Os Solair doesn’t shy away from heft just because it’s also creating a sense of space or wash of effects. “Lever” grows more fervent as it goes and “Capra” picks up where it left off, but the Darmstadt, Germany, four-piece are mindful of dynamic and melodicism as well, and apparently recording live in their rehearsal space with vocal overdubs after, they come across as atmospheric and bit noisy but not really chaotic in the sense of not knowing where they’re headed. That is to say there’s a plan at work on Lever/Capra, and that can be heard as the latter cut moves into its more subdued, psych-adventuring midsection, tense enough in the drums to convey the explosion that’s coming but nonetheless a turn from the lower-end weight of the song’s beginning. Molten in its use of effects on guitar and vocals, it’s almost subversively grounded in the rhythm section, but the two sides work together with a fluidity that’s where the band’s real potential lies. I will look forward to what they do next.

Os Solair on Bandcamp

Os Solair on Instagram

—

Darren Ironside, The Nothing

The Nothing is the first solo album from former Midnight Whiskey Massacre guitarist Darren Ironside, and perhaps unsurprisingly the guitar leads the way for most of the nine-song offering. Based in the UK, Ironside blends throaty vocals that at times cross over to the metallic over a succession of riffs informed by doom rock, thrash, classic heavy, etc., over what I’m fairly sure are programmed drum progression, and though the mix is raw and pushes the vocals forward, songs like “To the Gallows” carry across a sense of brooding as the shred pervades, complementing the lyrical disaffection of “Forgotten Dream” — a familiar Charlie Chaplin sample there as well — and, on the other side of the noisy interlude “Nebula Rising,” “Overwatch and Control.” The bottom line is Ironside, who also self-produced, is figuring out where he wants his songs to go — or where they want to go, if you’d rather personify — and beginning to shape his own sound separate from his prior outfit and has something to say about the world around him. It’s raw and will come off abrasive at first to the unacclimated, but there’s groove to be had.

Darren Ironside on Bandcamp

Darren Ironside on Instagram

—

Sun Voyager, Coming Down

The ad astra per aspera narrative of New York’s Sun Voyager continues with their latest standalone single, “Coming Down,” which arrives scorching as if they knew the summer would be too damn hot and required something duly humid to coincide. No surprise though it’s a burner, and in the ascendance of guitarist Christian “Shaman Smoke” Lopez as a lead vocalist joined by bassist Stefan Mersch — the band is completed by drummer Kyle Beach, reliable and not to be discounted in holding their songs together — here manifests a sense of breakout that is wrought in the reptitions of the title line, sneering with attitude and righteously cosmic. It’s been nearly four years since Lopez joined Sun Voyager after they lost their prior guitarist/vocalist, and the time the band spent woodshedding and nailing down their chemistry is audible on “Coming Down” as well as the prior serve-notice single “Running Hot” (premiered here). I don’t know what it’s leading toward beyond probably an LP sooner or later, but Sun Voyager sound increasingly ready for whatever’s coming. East Coast psych gnarl. Get it.

Sun Voyager website

Sun Voyager Linktr.ee

—

Oath, Unteach

Cultish and telegraphing their Iommi worship in their presentation — they’re certainly not hiding it in the music either — Athenian trio Oath reportedly recorded their first full-length Unteach live, and while I don’t know how that accounts for the doubled solos, with one foot in the Hammer Horror of “Alucarda ’77,” and the other in the pastoral “Orchid”ness of “Through the Evergreen Fields,” the band carve a place for themselves in “My Second Life” with a sound that’s as much proto-doom as it is punk as it is metal, and the place it winds up is crushingly heavy in “Soviet Invasion” and the penultimate “Dies Capri” and still plenty heavy but more playful in “Fur, Claws and Leather,” taking influence maybe from earliest Electric Wizard, is satisfyingly individual. That is to say, while you can pinpoint the roots of where they’re coming from, the actual material of the album, raw as it is, is not at all without stylistic nuance. They let the slower tempos manifest foreboding rather than occult theatrics, and that suits the buzz-tone riffs as well. It’s a weird one, but full of purpose in that, and so appreciable.

Oath on Bandcamp

Oath on Instagram

—

Automaton, Labyrinth

Somewhere in the gray ether that exists between post- and black metals, Greek unit Automaton harness a grim spaciousness as their Sound Effect Records-delivered third album Labyrinth, retelling the titular mythology in impressionist lyrics throughout as the six-song/46-minute sprawl varies from ripping to crushing and back again. “Ariadne” and the prior “Minotaur” hone a thickened viciousness, while the 12-minute “Black Sails” is a more ambient delve, building in its second half to a march ahead of the cavernous interlude “Your Bull Nature Clouds Your Human Self” — perhaps a thesis for the record — before the blastbeats resume in closer “Battle in the Labyrinth.” The story is allegorical (duh) and the telling is relevant in theme as well as aesthetic, but the gnash stands on its own as well in its fury and satisfies in terms of the plot as well as in execution. Much to its credit, even as it follows a linear narrative, at no point does Labyrinth feel like it’s subsumed songwriting to that, and each piece fleshes out with a patience correspondant to mastery.

Automaton website

Sound Effect Records website

—

Witch Ripper, Through the Hourglass

Ultimately, it’s the poise here that makes Witch Ripper‘s third album so lethal, and if you’ve seen the band likened to Mastodon somewhere along the way, the Matt Bayles production probably has something to do with that, but the Seattle progressive riff metallers conjure their own feeling of space across the seven included songs. I’ve said on multiple occasions that part of what’s kept me from being a fan of this band is the kind of unthinking misogynist implication of their moniker, but there’s no denying either the growth they’ve undertake between albums or the sense of accomplishment overarching Through the Hourglass as a manifestation of their approach that they’ve been working toward all the while. Alternating between shorter and longer songs highlights the structural variety on display, and the shifts between clean-sung and harsher vocal styles gives purpose and drama to the procession from one piece to the next, with closer “The Spiral Eye” seeming to take cues from the likes of Blood Incantation in its leads while providing due culmination to the encompassing entirety prior. They’ve always meant business and they still do.

Witch Ripper on Bandcamp

Magnetic Eye Records store

—

Hostile Tides, Dead Man Talking

Self-releasing UK apparent-newcomers Hostile Tides offer their first EP in the five-song/17-minute Dead Man Talking, taking a double-guitar approach to heavy instrumentalism that’s pretty clearly in the process of shaking out where they’re headed in terms of style but that just the same conveys their setting forth on that progression. Chunky-style riffing in the centerpiece “Adrift” feels like it’s got some ’90s crunch, but it’s kind of hard to tell if that’s the rougher edges of the recording showing through an initial outing or something purposeful on the part of the band, or both, considering the way the song turns to a dreamier midsection with the bass holding to ground while the guitars branch out into atmospherics. Tonally more Karma to Burn than Russian Circles, they make the divergences a strength and a distinguishing factor, and the five-minute capper (the EP works shortest to longest) “Peaks” hints toward a burgeoning patience of craft. They could go just about anywhere from here.

Hostile Tides on Bandcamp

Hostile Tides on Instagram

—

Johnny Tirade and The Circle of Futures Past, What is at the Beginning of Eternity, the End of Time, the Beginning of Every End, and the End of Every Place

When Dublin’s Johnny Tirade and The Circle of Futures Past labels themselves as “stoner industrial-tinged,” I think they’re talking about the Ministry-esque push of opener “Hey Man” and the overarching tonal crunch (maybe also the drum machine) more than the acoustic guitar in near-17-minute centerpiece “Memory Hole” (also sax) and the concluding “Improv,” but one way or the other, that self-applied tag hardly encapsulates the weirdo gamut of the band’s cumbersomely-named 31-minute debut album, What is at the Beginning of Eternity, the End of Time, the Beginning of Every End, and the End of Every Place. But it’s part of it. There’s an earnest experimentalism at play in the songs as each of the five tracks wants to and does head to its own destination, but the more you hear “Lizard Johnny” or the samples and spoken verses of “American Dream” (prececed by “Fuck the…” in the chorus; fair enough), the more they make their own kind of linear sense, and as a showcase for what the band/project might become, the plunge undertaken in these tracks is an encouragingly odd fit for any number of square-hole genres in which one might try to shove them.

Johnny Tirade and the Circle of Futures Past on Bandcamp

Johnny Tirade and the Circle of Futures Past on Instagram

—

I pieced together the below from a Bandcamp update, from the Bandcamp page for the song and from the YouTube page where the video is posted, so if it’s a bit of a mash, yes, it is. The point is there’s a new Sun Voyager single out today, and the fullthrottleness and willful repetition of the three-minute “Coming Down” feel like a suitably rousing follow-up to their last one, “Running Hot” (posted here), which came out this past February. The New York three-piece took footage from multiple regional shows — including that one in my hometown that I missed last year because I was away that I still regret not seeing — and the video is colorblasted accordingly, but if that’s too much on your senses, the audio is below as well and you’ll find it’s a burner all the way.

I won’t call it “no-nonsense,” because chincanery is part of what Sun Voyager do — it’s fun and it’s supposed to be — but it does feel direct-to-the-brain in a way that they’ve grown into being over the last couple years since they added guitarist/sometimes-vocalist Christian “Shaman Smoke” Lopez (also Heavy Temple) to the lineup with bassist/vocalist Stefan Mersch and drummer Kyle Beach. The fadeout feels like it’s hitting early, but the song still has plenty of time to establish its hook and pummel you with it. So yes, enjoy that.

If you’re reading that Sun Voyager have two singles this year so far and thinking new album, slow down. They basically had to go back to ground zero before they brought in Lopez, so while they might or might not have a bunch of new songs in the tank, I think it’s still going to be some time before it all surfaces as an LP. In the meantime, the rush of this one feels just right, and they’re correct when they tell you to turn it up:

Our new song “Coming Down” is out now.

It captures the vision we’ve been building over the last couple years. It’s heavy, psychedelic, loud, and the riff is pummeling.

Built around a massive riff, soaring guitar leads, and a relentless groove, Coming Down captures the band at full volume. This official music video was assembled from live footage shot across multiple performances, documenting the energy and chaos of the band and bringing the song to life the way it was meant to be experienced.

Visuals by Hydrosonic Light Show (‪@hydrosoniclightshow‬ )

We’d love to know what you think after you’ve had a chance to listen.

sun-voyager.bandcamp.com

Turn it up.

Performed by Sun Voyager
Recorded at Artfarm Recording, Accord, NY
Mixed and engineered by Dave Andersen
Mastered by Alan Douches, West West Side Music
Logo design by John Scarperia
Original photo by Pictureman Bob
Artwork by Kim Zangrando

Sun Voyager is:
Christian “Shaman Smoke” Lopez – Guitar, Vocals
Stefan Mersch – Bass, Vocals
Kyle Beach – Drums

http://www.sunvoyagerband.com/
https://sun-voyager.bandcamp.com/
http://www.instagram.com/sunvoyager
www.facebook.com/sunvoyagerband

Sun Voyager, “Coming Down” official video

Sun Voyager, “Coming Down”

You know how it gets. The whole morning and early afternoon, the voice in my head telling me not to do the thing, to stay home, the weather sucks, driving in NY is expensive, depressing and tedious, the couch and the dog and Twilight Princess are here, so who ever wanted to do a weekend of commuter-fest? There was no logical case to be made against this. I just had to tell that frankly much more reasonable portion of my brain to can it and get myself out of the house. I wouldn’t say it was easy. Shut up, it’s fine, shut up. It’ll be fine.

This was the schedule of the night:

COSMIC STAGE – The Meadows
11:15 Dead Meadow 60min
10:05 Al-Qasar 45min
8:40 The Atomic Bitchwax 60min
7:30 Electric Citizen 50min
6:30 Mirror Queen 45min
5:30 Worshipper 45min
4:30 Alreckque 45min

SONIC STAGE – The Woodshop
45min sets except where noted, 15-20min changeovers
11:30 Sphaèros Possession
10:30 Satan’s Satyrs
9:20 Sun Voyager
8:10 Casket Rats
7:05 The Golden Grass
6:15 Dead Hits (30min set)
5:10 River Cult

No way I was going to see all of it, right? Unreasonable expectations. But with some back and forth, it would be mostly doable. The drive was every bit as pleasant as pre-departure anxiety made it out to be, but I still had some time to sit in the car with the window open (raining) and vape like a douchebag to try and calm my nerves. I was about two blocks from the venues and walked over in the rain, good and stoned and wet walking into The Meadows for Alreckque.

Familiar faces, the three of them being veterans of the Boston underground, Jim Healey on vocals and guitar, Aaron Gray on bass and backing and some lead vocals, and Rob Davol on drums. Melody and crunch were kind of what you’d expect from them, but the configuration was new to me live and it was cool to see those guys doing the thing. Obviously they’ve written more songs since they did that demo in 2024 (review here).

I popped down to the Wood Shop for River Cult, who for sure are a band I need to see again, and I say that having seen not all that much since they hit it a couple minutes late and Worshipper were about to go on at The Meadows. This was kind of going to be the story of the night, and fair enough. The back and forth probably wouldn’t kill me, but I wanted to see a lot of the bands playing the show, so that’s what I did. River Cult were still on when I got back to The Wood Shop, so I got to see at least the start and finish. Take what I can get.

It was back to Wood Shop ahead of Dead Hits, with exes from Naam and La Otracina, among others. My first time seeing them too, and though there was some nasty feedback of the unintentional kind at the start, once the set actually began, it was all kind of a haze, and that very much was intentional. Boogie, howl and scorch, none of which was a surprise given their makeup, but the psychblast element was most certainly appreciated. I couldn’t stay, since Mirror Queen were about to hit it next door, but I’d never seen them before, so I decided I’d be back. Again, that’s the night. I’m not saying stop reading now, but please know you’re never obligated at any point to continue.

The bummer of it, honestly, is that I’m not a very good photographer. I’ve been doing it for 15 years, and I’ve had some good ones along the way, but I’ve frankly never had the commitment to it as a creative endeavor to make it anything more than something I do to go along with the writing. I wish I had a great passion for it but I don’t. I just didn’t have a better solution than doing it myself.

But even going back and forth to shoot this or band, the proximity shouldn’t be left out of the conversation. It’s The Meadows, and then the next door down is The Wood Shop. So easy enough, for which I was grateful. Night two at The Meadows and The Monarch would be the same. I think The Monarch is the door after that. Maybe that’s where the hardcore fest was.

No, not even close to my first time seeing Mirror Queen, but their mellowrockpsychprog always goes down smooth and they did a new song called “City Skies” that Kenny — whose shindig this whole thing is — said had never before been played by humans. Duh, it was mellowrockpsychproggy. Then they hit into the thrashy “Rider on the Rain” and I knew Dead Hits were done anyway so I had a couple minutes before I needed to be over there for The Golden Grass.

It had been a while. New bassist. Don Berger. You’ll never guess where I looked that up. By a while I meant years and years, and I already knew it would be a sampling, but again, you go with it. It was a fomo kind of night, and of course as it went on it would be harder to get up front. I needed to rethink the strategy.

Hard choices. The Golden Grass are always great, but they had technical trouble before getting started, so it was a delay. I decided I’d settle in at The Meadows for Electric Citizen and most of The Atomic Bitchwax until Sun Voyager went on. I knew Al-Qasar and Satan’s Satyrs would be more back and forth later, but some things can’t be helped.

Electric Citizen played my town last summer, so aside from the forever-points thereby earned as regards general appreciation, they were relatively fresh in mind, but even so, they had a different keyboardist out with them, so that was a change. Also there was a disco ball and a dude dancing in the back. They killed, in other words. And golly, that last record smoked. They were the only full set I saw all night, and no, not just because they came to Parsippany frickin’ New Jersey. But like I said, forever-points anyhow.

Those points could be yours. Come to Jersey. (Please note points hold no cash or other value.)

In all seriousness, I was glad to see them pull the crowd they did, and extra glad I was part of it. They make a mean five-piece. Laura Dolan made an impassioned testimony between songs about having played an early gig with Dead Meadow and how it opened doors for them and it meant something to be playing with them again, kind of celebrating the scene as it were, where the bands know each other and the fans know the bands and a lot of the time the bands know the fans too. It’s a weird era in heavy rock as it is in everything else, but you can’t really look around underground heavy music at this point and say it’s lacking either quality or quantity. 10 years ago this show might’ve happened — Tee Pee did a Cosmic Sonic Rendezvous in 2015; I lived in Massachusetts at that point or I might’ve gone — but not 20. It was SHoD and Emissions and a few in Europe. That growth is a thing worth honoring, all the more because I think the genre has grown and changed as well, even in its most willfully traditional niches.

Electric Citizen occupy one of those, as there’s always been plenty of ’70s in their sound, but they’re a perfect example of a band who’ve progressed over their decade-plus, who have pushed themselves to try new things. And you could certainly say The Atomic Bitchwax have changed over their 27 years, though they’re arguably faster and fiercer in recent years than they’ve ever been, so I guess that tells you something. Plus every now and then they break out something midtempo that seems slow by comparison. It’d be the regular set and I would see most not all of it, but that is the order of things, as the Jem’Hadar are wont to say.

Forever on a tear, The Bitchwax smoked the room nicely as they will, and a slew of classics and recent burners were aired, same set they’ve been doing the last few years, but shit, it ain’t broke. Homeboy in the back was dancing again, which is the kind of thing you can see when you stay in a room for more than 10 minutes of a set. Tomorrow I’ll do differently. But the TAB, with Bob Pantella bashing away in back like he’s actually annoyed at the drums, Chris Kosnik and Garrett Sweeny all smiles up front, it’s a good show to see and a tough one to walk out of to catch the start of Sun Voyager, over at The Wood Shop. They premiered their latest single “Running Hot” here and I wanted to catch it in-person. They line checked with it, so I didn’t wait long.

Bassist Stefan Mersch caught some flack for the poncho, good-natured, of course, and not from me. I’m bad enough at regular human conversation that I feel like throwing around playful gibes isn’t what I need to be spending my time doing. I’d just end up talking shit and not meaning to. But they are not a band I take for granted seeing, and they’ve come through a lot the last few years to sound so righteous as they did. I had time before Al-Qasar went on to check out a goodly portion of the set. More because Sun Voyager basically went on on time.

The guitar of Christian Lopez (also Heavy Temple) was loud enough that up front your earplugs were little more than a cute accessory. When I lay down to go to bed tonight and I’m still hearing those solo notes from “Running in Circles” repeating themselves via tinnitus, I won’t be surprised. “God is Dead” had that same dude dancing. David and Danielle there, their buddy Craig who’s super-nice, Bill Kerls, a bunch of other people you meet and know in this thing. Sacri Monti rolled in amd were hanging out; I got to say hi to Anthony Meier, which is always nice, and even slow-burning Sun Voyager is still on fire, so the room was in. I don’t think the lights changed at all from the start of the set. Doesn’t matter. The band were hypnotic in that cool light and they remain a blast to see. I’m glad they’ve stuck it out and come so far the last couple years. Lopez, Mersch, drummer Kyle Beach. I can’t think of another band on the Eastern Seaboard who revels in the psych-gnarly like they do or with nearly as much joy.

Al-Qasar were soon on at The Meadow, so it was back out into the (now lighter) rain for all of 10 seconds to go from one venue to the other. I think they were kind of a mystery for most people but the Middle Eastern-vibing psych outfit feature Thomas Bellier, formerly of Blaak Heat Shujaa, so there’s the Tee Pee connection. I remember that band fondly and got to see them live despite their being from France, and thought they were way more interesting than they got ever credit for. That same drive toward the individual is in Al-Qasar, even if most of the rest has changed.

They would probably be the only band of the weekend to lead the crowd in a chant of “from the river to the sea Palestine will be free,” admirable as that is. And that’s hardly all stood out about them, what with Bellier on the oud and their vocalist running two mics through a processor, slap bass and Arab-influenced rhythms. You could dance to it, say, if you’d been dancing all night, but for sure too, Satan’s Satyrs were about to rip shit at The Wood Shop, so I did my last bit of back and forth ahead of closing the night with Dead Meadow, and I’ll just say that Clayton Burgess’ band certainly wasn’t any less charged for having Erik Larson (so many bands) on drums. I hope to see Thunderchief, in which he also plays, later this summer, as I did last summer on CT, whereas the last time I saw Satan’s Satyrs was next door at a Desertfest NY pre-show and they had Sean Saley of Pentagram, etc. drumming. Funny how these things go sometimes.

I decided while they were playing that the next morning, in addition to sorting photos and all the rest, I’d pick up some Doan’s for my back — which come to think of it, I started taking after a recommendation from Larson however many years ago — and maybe one of those gross sticky things that are always so cold but also work. My back hurt, is the underlying message. Satan’s Satyrs’ power boogie would surely have had me up for a two-step otherwise; they are an absolute shove, and even when they’re not going full-speed, you know it’s only a matter of time before the next round starts. They had glee at the racket they made in common with Sun Voyager.

My night capped back at The Meadows for Dead Meadow. By then, I guess the hardcore fest was done because people were lining up like for a dance club, which is to say better dressed than either the hardcore crowd or this one. Nobody’s wearing camo shorts on line for the cluuub.

I had told myself I wouldn’t sit on the stage, but I did anyhow. Come on, I made it to the last band, and I was dragging. But where Satan’s Satyrs were running laps around the universe, Dead Meadow’s signature roll is of a calmer spirit, and that warmth and nod felt like a good way to end it for me. A fuzz to give comfort. There was still the commute home and back for night two to consider, whether I wanted to be considering them or not. Hazards of commuter-fest. Glad I was there at all, even long past the point of being able to hang with it as I was.

Ride in was Genghis Tron, Nine Inch Noize, Elder and Floor. Ride home was the Genghis Tron again. I had that shirt on too.

More to come.

Barring some disaster or marital ultimatum, I’ll be at Tee Pee Records‘ Cosmic Sonic Rendezvous in a couple weeks, and to be honest, part of posting the day splits here is so I have them, but one way or the other, dang that’s a good lineup. And Tee Pee, as both a label and the organizing principal behind the two-dayer (plus pre-show), didn’t even have to stray too far from its own roster to make it happen.

Each of the two days offers something different, and thinking about it as commuterfest, which is how I’d be doing it, is daunting, but I’ve done more for way less, so yeah. I’m curious to see how the schedule plays out and how brutal some of these overlaps are — that Saturday could very easily become a day filled with tears — but it looks like a lot of fun and I can’t wait to see how it all plays out. That’s the insight on this one. Go to a show.

From the PR wire:

COSMIC SONIC RENDEZVOUS from Legendary Label TEE PEE RECORDS Announce Day Splits and New Additions

Tee Pee Records and United Sounds NYC bring a two-day celebration of heavy rock and psychedelia to Brooklyn this May featuring a stacked lineup of underground icons and rising stars…

Get tickets here: https://kydlabs.com/e/EV82ea84e2-bf13-4440-8e36-6c724e58e041

More info at cosmicsonicfest.com

Brooklyn, New York – May 23rd–24th, 2026 – Tee Pee Records and United Sounds NYC proudly present Cosmic Sonic Rendezvous, a thunderous new festival set to ignite an industrial block in Brooklyn for one unforgettable weekend this May.

Celebrating the raw power and transcendence of guitar-driven music, Cosmic Sonic Rendezvous brings together a stacked lineup spanning heavy rock, doom, and psychedelia, uniting underground legends and rising acts for an immersive sonic experience.

Presented by Tee Pee Records – a label renowned for its one-of-a-kind boutique vinyl – the festival reflects decades of dedication to heavy and psychedelic music culture. From the dark, menacing riffs of Pentagram, Eyehategod, and Legions of Doom to the expansive, sky-gazing grooves of Dead Meadow, Electric Citizen, and Al-Qasar, the festival promises two days of rock and roll in its purest, loudest forms.

The festival is also thrilled to welcome Sphaèros Possession (Paris) and Spit Shine (Philadelphia) to the lineup. Recent additions include Electric Citizen (Cincinnati), Freedom Hawk (Richmond, VA), and Sabbath Warlock (NYC).

A pre-festival show will take place on Friday, May 22nd (7:00–10:00 PM) at Sleepwalk. Entry is $10, or free with a weekend pass. Space is extremely limited, and Sphaèros Possession will perform an intimate set, with an opener to be announced.

Be sure to check out the striking poster design by acclaimed artist Michael Fulcher.

SATURDAY

COSMIC STAGE:

Dead Meadow
Al-Qasar
The Atomic Bitchwax
Electric Citizen
Mirror Queen
Worshipper
Alreckque

SONIC STAGE:

Freedom Hawk
Satan’s Satyrs
Sun Voyager
Casket Rats
The Golden Grass
Dead Hits
River Cult

SUNDAY

COSMIC STAGE:

Pentagram
Eyehategod
Legions of Doom
The Obsessed
Sacri Monti

SONIC STAGE:

Sphaéros Possession
Carousel
Black Moon Cult
Magick Potion
Ike’s Wasted World
Sabbath Warlock
Spit Shine

BEER GARDEN:

Mick’s Jaguar
Cat’s Eye
Dave Hill

Shows will take place across three Brooklyn venues – The Brooklyn Monarch, The Meadows, and The Woodshop – transforming the neighbourhood into a hub of fuzz-drenched riffs, hypnotic rhythms, and communal energy.

Early-bird weekend passes and day passes are available now. Grab your tickets here: https://kydlabs.com/e/EV82ea84e2-bf13-4440-8e36-6c724e58e041

teepeerecords.com
https://teepeerecords.bandcamp.com/
https://www.instagram.com/teepeerecords
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Sphaèros, Possession (2020/2023)

Tee Pee Records, which is the organizing entity behind Cosmic Sonic Rendezvous, caught a heaping ration of shit on social media when they shared the AI poster below. Probably not a good look, or what they wanted from the rollout. I kind of wondered if stirring the pot and pissing people off wasn’t the intention in the first place — working on the ‘no such thing as bad press’ model — and get people talking to manipulate the algorithm. I don’t know.

The arguments against using AI span from the tepid ‘you should pay artists’ — sorry, someone is not entitled to my money if I can get a thing for free; I didn’t invent capitalism I’m just smothered by it — to more crucial concerns about environmental damage being done, water usage, warehouse-sized data centers disrupting when not outright destroying ecosystems, and the psychopathic corporate culture behind the companies that make it. Fuck OpenAI every single day from now until eternity. I believe there can be value to artificial intelligence. I also believe human beings are incapable of creating any kind of intelligence to be more than a slave and that will be a thing that needs to be reconciled. If the robots Terminator‘d us, we’d for sure have it coming.

The distraction was unfortunate, mostly because the lineup for Cosmic Sonic Rendezvous — it’s not the first; there was one in 2015 and Carousel, Worshipper and Mirror Queen played then as well — is right on. Set to take place May 23-24 at The Woodshop, Monarch and The Meadows, which are apparently on the same block, the event boasts the likes of Eyehategod, Dead Meadow, The Skull-offshoot Legions of Doom, Sacri Monti, Sun Voyager, Black Moon Cult, Al-Qasar (ex-Blaak Heat Shujaa), an apparently reuniting Carousel and others. I don’t know if what’s on the website so far is the complete bill or not, but with 13 acts over two days, you’d probably be able to see all of it, and that’s an appeal in itself.

I’ve included the poster here because it’s relevant to the story. If you want to come at me for proliferating, tell it to your AI therapist instead.

From the PR wire:

COSMIC SONIC RENDEZVOUS! – MAY 23-24, 2026

Prepare for an electrifying weekend of Rock & Roll in its purest, loudest forms! From the dark and menacing riffs of Pentagram to the sky-gazing grooves of Dead Meadow, guitar driven explorations of the best psych and heavy rock will take over an industrial Brooklyn block for one lovely weekend in May.

It’s a Cosmic Sonic Rendezvous.

Early-bird weekend passes info coming soon!

Lineup:
Pentagram
Eyehategod
Dead Meadow
Legions of Doom
Sacri Monti
The Obsessed
Al-Qasar
Satan’s Satyrs
Sun Voyager
Carousel
Worshipper
Black Moon Cult
Mirror Queen

Venues: The Meadows; The Brooklyn Monarch; The Woodshop
Website: cosmicsonicfest.com

Presented by Tee Pee Records

cosmicsonicfest.com

teepeerecords.com
https://teepeerecords.bandcamp.com/
https://www.instagram.com/teepeerecords
https://www.facebook.com/teepeerecords/

Dead Meadow, Voyager to Voyager (2025)

Tomorrow night, Feb. 21, New York heavy psychdelic rockers Sun Voyager take the stage at Lucky 13 in Brooklyn, topping a bill that includes post-metallers Guhts, D.C.-based rollers Borracho and newcomer riffers The Crooked Skulls. That’s a good gig. You know what makes it better? New music.

They call it the second part of a trilogy, and fair enough, but to my knowledge, “Running Hot” — the suitably burner three-and-a-half-minute single premiering below — is the first studio offering from the three-piece since their rad-has-heck 2022 self-titled LP (review here), the release of which through Ripple Music felt like a suitable moment of arrival for the band, who’d been tearing away at psych and punk vibing at that point for nearly a decade already.

Concurrent to that album release, Sun Voyager took a hit when they lost their frontman, but bringing in Christian “Shaman Smoke” Lopez (also Heavy Temple) on guitar and letting bassist/keyboardist Stefan Mersch (who’d been backing vocalist until that point) taking on more a more vocal role set them on a path of recovery. Lopez sings lead on the new track, and holds his own admirably. Meantime, life happens. Ultimately, as somebody who digs the band, I’m glad to hear how much “Running Hot” sounds like Sun Voyager, with a punker sneer pushed forward by Kyle Beach‘s drums and a motor riff that opens to a catchy hook.

There’s a break, but the charge in “Running Hot” has little actual letup, and thinking of it as the middle section of a forthcoming three-part work named by the band as ‘Vandromeda’ — whether that’ll eventually be an EP or something else, I don’t know, but it’s a great title so I hope they do something with it — explains the immediacy of the start and the quick finish. Whatever is to come, it’s reassuring to know the momentum built in “Running Hot” is leading to something, even if the shape of what is as yet elusive. We’ll find out when we get there.

In the meantime, with that Brooklyn show this weekend and more live activity on the horizon, Sun Voyager emerge from their reconfiguration precisely as one would hope; clawing at the fabric of the universe like a cat hanging on curtains. Whenever there’s more, and whatever shape it takes, I can’t wait to hear it.

As always, I hope you enjoy:

Sun Voyager on “Running Hot”:

It’s been a while since our last record. Two of us have kids now, the pace shifted, and Shaman Smoke entered the fold. We dropped our tuning and leaned into something heavier. The grooves got chunkier. We did too.

Running Hot is the second movement of a three-part saga we’re calling Vandromeda. It builds tension, hits full burn, and lands with purpose – we are dropping you in at top speed.

This is the first taste. No streaming date to announce.

Recorded at Artfarm Recording, Accord, NY
Mixed and engineered by Dave Andersen
Mastered by Alan Douches, West West Side Music
Logo design by John Scarperia
Original photo by Shaman Smoke
Artwork by Kim Zangrando

Sun Voyager:
Shaman Smoke – Guitar, Vocals
Stefan Mersch – Bass, Vocals
Kyle Beach – Drums

Sun Voyager’s Linktr.ee

Sun Voyager on Bandcamp

Sun Voyager on Instagram

Sun Voyager on Facebook

It was like two weeks ago that The Knights of Doom 2026 — the inaugural edition of a two-dayer put on by JB Matson and the crew from Maryland Doom Fest, which ended its decade-plus run in 2025 — announced the first names for its lineup. The full bill has been revealed since, and if you’re getting mini-MDDF vibes off the list of names, many of whom are veterans of past years, I don’t think that’s unfair, but there are some newcomers as well. And if you do some quick division on 35 bands over two days, you know that’s 17.5 per day — actually it’s 16 on June 20 and 19 on June 21; yes I had to count — so those days are probably going to start early, go late, and be jam-packed in a spirit that should be familiar to anyone who hit MDDF during its time.

You can see how this might go, right? Folks show up for the family reunion — and MDDF was very, very much that; a more loyal crew would be hard to find on the Eastern Seaboard if you even deigned to look — and bands get added. This year is two days. It’s got room to grow, and I don’t know if it will — on some level, these folks have been-there-done-that in terms of building a festival culture and vibe, let alone managing four days’ worth of logistics with 50-plus bands shuffling about — but this will be the starting point one way or the other. It can only happen first once, and with love and respect for many in that family from a little ways north, I hope it goes off without a hitch.

The announcements were made on social media:

💀KNIGHTS OF DOOM ‘26 final band dump / rosters / complete lineup!!!

Early bird discounted ticket link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/mddf-knights-of-doom-early-bird-discounted-tickets-tickets-1980654877055

Lets go!!!!!!

June 20:

Wolftooth, Vanishing Kids, Foghound, Crop, Moonsinger, Uga Buga, Clamfight, Sun Voyager, Locust Pointe, End of Age, Thunderbird Divine, Black Manta, Bog Wizard, Faith in Jane, Black Night, Tommy Stewart’s Dyerwulf

June 21:

Lie Heavy, Borracho, Stone Nomads, Curse the Son, Bloodshot, Stormtoker, Hovel, Mourn the Light, Thunder Horse, Kulvera, Born of Plagues, Dreadstar, Professor Emeritus, Strange Highways, Gravedigger’s Biscuits, Grave Next Door, Double Planet, Bleak Shore, Burn the Martyr

2 Days of Nonstop Music
More Than 20 Bands

www.marylanddoomfest.com
https://www.instagram.com/marylanddoomfest
https://www.facebook.com/MdDoomFest/

Wolftooth, Wizard’s Light (2025)

First night of the tour, and the first of two nights in NYC for King Buffalo, who pick up more or less where they left off show-wise in December. They played Asbury Park in my beloved Garden State last month and a scheduling conflict had me elsewhere, so I knew I didn’t want to miss them this time. Also in December, the trio of guitarist/vocalist/synthesist Sean McVay, bassist/keyboardist Dan Reynolds and drummer Scott Donaldson posted “Balrog,” a new standalone single, which I took as a sign they’re beginning to move forward from the three-album cycle that has defined their last few years —  2022’s Regenerator (review here) and 2021’s Acheron (review here) and The Burden of Restlessness (review here) — and in addition to wanting to hear a new song live, wanting to hear songs from what fans have dubbed the ‘Pandemic Trilogy’ was a big factor in the decision to drive to TV Eye, which is buried so deep in Ridgewood that it almost feels like gatekeeping.

It took me less time to get there than when last I made the journey, which was a relief. I was enticed to leave the house early by the prospect of a couple hours’ writing time in the car — it’s time I’d have spent in traffic otherwise and just been stressed out to get here later — and no regrets. I get pretty anxious for going to shows these days anyhow. Most of the time, my solution to that is to not, which, though invariably cheaper, is probably not the correct answer, even if this venue just happens to be so deep in Ridgewood you’d have an easier time getting to the city by train from Connecticut.

May a two-band-max bill forever be the law of the land on weeknights. This being the first night of the tour — with Sun Voyager opening, no less; it’s been since Grim Reefer Fest in 2023 — it was something of an occasion, and though if all goes according to my evil plans for summer festivals, this wouldn’t be the only time I’d see the band in 2025, well, I’d been looking forward to seeing them in New York since I missed them in Asbury Park last month, and a month is even longer than it took me to drive to the venue, which is so deep in Ridgewood that dicks like me from Jersey call it “upstate.”

I have a million of ’em. Hang tight.

Doors were at 7:00, which to me spoke of an 8PM start. But I know I’m not the only person who likes these bands, so I went in at doors instead of hanging back, was the first one other than the sound guy and the bands setting up in the room. Fine. I said hi to Sun Voyager and some of King Buffalo’s expanding and loyal following, Bill Kerls and Amanda Jayne Vee, and others whose names I didn’t know but who knew each other. Found a spot on the floor to write, read, wait. The curtain was drawn, so not much to look at anyway. Sun Voyager went on at eight.

But not really. I don’t know what the deal was, but shit happens and sometimes it happens half an hour after you think it’s going to. I was up front for the duration, hanging out with a swath of good people local and otherwise. The two who had the horse masks on at the Slomosa show in Jersey were there, once again showcasing good taste. When Sun Voyager went on, it was with some new material, an extended take on “God is Dead” drawing from their 2022 self-titled (review here) and 2018’s Seismic Vibes (review here), “Caves of Steel” from the self-titled and some new material that showed how they’ve grown with bassist Stefan Mersch and guitarist Christian Lopez (also of Heavy Temple) both contributing vocals.

The band were set up on stage in a line with Lopez at stage right, Mersch in the middle and Kyle Beach pounding and swinging away stage left, providing outbound propulsion. Careening through the divide between hard driving psych and space rock, their groove was both well known to the crowd, subdued but appreciative on a Thursday, and welcomed, and Lopez was a blast on stage. No surprise there, I suppose, if you’ve watched him play a set on a given night, but a needed reminder that when you’re tearing holes in the galaxy with your 13th solo, you’re probably also having a really good time. I was having a good time watching it, I know, and now I have new Sun Voyager to look forward to, which I didn’t when I left the house to drive to TV EYE, which is so deep in Ridgewood something something blah blah okay I admit it I got nothing. But it sneakily got to be too long since I saw Sun Voyager and I was glad to rectify that in such face-liquefying style.

People were stoked for King Buffalo. This is a band with fans. They have inspired loyalty. A community is building right now, as we speak.. That’s not an inconsiderable achievement. I mean, yeah, people show up to shows for bands all the time, but I was up front before the band went on, and it was a deep passion on display as folks were swapping stories of past gigs — apparently Asbury was the best ever; so it goes — as they waited. The curtain parted eventually and the band came out and went into “Hours” and “Mercury,” both from Regenerator, for a mellower start ahead of “Grifter” from The Burden of Restlessness and “Shadows” from Acheron. Set-wise, I showed up for the Pandemic Trilogy, and I got it, plus the new song “Balrog” heralding an album in who-kn0ws-what state of completion, “Goliath Part 2” and a jammy stretched out “Kerosene” from 2016’s Orion (review here), “Eye of the Beholder” from 2018’s Longing to Be the Mountain (review here).

“Centurion” from the same record led into the closing pair of “The Knocks” and “Firmament.” It would have been hard to find two songs to better summarize the emotional catharsis between The Burden of Restlessness and Regenerator than those. “The Knocks” is intense and dug in, sharp in its stops and I hit my head on the monitor headbanging which I hadn’t done since seeing Lo-Pan at Roadburn 2014. It is the hardest, arguably the darkest place emotionally on any of those three records. “Firmament,” on the other hand, is the release, and the two are complementary in their builds and rhythm.

And what to say about King Buffalo at this point except they’re among the best the US has to offer in heavy psych and among the best heavy psych has to offer, period. McVay is a somewhat reluctant frontman, but a frontman nonetheless. He can shred, he can sing, he can play guitar and keyboard at the same time if the song calls for it. I don’t know what time Donaldson was playing in for “Grifter,” but I know I can still hear those three-in-a-row snare pops in my head. And Reynolds? Shit. King Buffalo have a lot going for them as a band, but the character and fluidity Dan Reynolds brings to their songs on bass is second to none. I mean it. Anytime you want to lock yourself into the vibe? Key in on Reynolds. He’s over there taking “Shadows” for a walk, dropping the bottom out from the floor in “Centurion,” and giving “Balrog” a little bit of funk, which you didn’t even know it needed but hell yes it absolutely did.

You know, the thing of it is, you can kind of imagine King Buffalo in it for the long haul. I mean, it’s already going on 12 years since their demo (review here) came out, and they’re established headliners. Among the best of the bands to have emerged in the heavy ’10s. But they don’t feel like they’re done growing, and they’re dedicated to what they do, both on stage and in the studio. Am I still going to be going to King Buffalo shows in 15 years? You can kind of imagine it. I look forward to what their future brings, in both the short and long term. That’s been the case all along.

I got home from Queens like 12:15, which wasn’t bad. Thanks to Scott and King Buffalo for having me out, to TV Eye for existing and hosting shows, to you for reading and to everyone I was talking to at the venue for being kind and welcoming. King Buffalo’s fanbase, as you likely know if you’re part of it, is full of sweethearts. May it continue to flourish. If you’re headed to night two, enjoy. As you may be aware, the venue’s pretty deep in Ridgewood.