Quarterly Review: Sumac, Dunsmuir, Monkey3, Oak, Lightsabres, Helen Money, Dali’s Llama, Suns of Thyme, Fungal Abyss, Wicked Gypsy

Posted in Reviews on October 3rd, 2016 by JJ Koczan

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This is always a kind of nervewracking moment, sitting here in my chair as I do every couple months and introducing the next Quarterly Review. Between now and Friday, somehow, some way, I’ll post 50 reviews in batches of 10 per day. It will cover more ground than, frankly, I yet know, and by the time it’s done it’s going to feel (at least to me) like way more than a week has passed, but hell, at this point I’ve done this enough times to be reasonably confident I can get through it without suffering a major collapse either of heart or brain. I’ve taken steps beforehand to make it easier on myself and listened to a lot, a lot, a lot of music in preparation, so there’s nothing left to do but dive in and actually kick this this thing off. So let’s do that.

Quarterly Review #1-10:

Sumac, What One Becomes

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With their second album, What One Becomes (on Thrill Jockey), post-metal trio Sumac move forward from what their 2015 debut, The Deal (review here), established as their crushing and atmospheric modus. Starting with a wash of blown-out noise in “Image of Control,” the collective of guitarist/vocalist Aaron Turner (ex-Isis), bassist Brian Cook (Russian Circles) and Nick Yacyshyn (Baptists) eventually settle into a barrage of chug and inhuman lumber over the course of the five-track/58-minute progression, testing tolerance on the 17-minute march “Blackout” and tapping into a satisfying moment of melody in centerpiece “Clutch of Oblivion” that, by the time it arrives, feels a bit like a life raft. There are stretches that come across as part collections, but the whole seems to be geared toward overwhelming, consuming and devastating, and ultimately What One Becomes accomplishes all of those things and more besides, finishing closer “Will to Reach” with the sense they could easily keep going. I believe it.

Sumac on Thee Facebooks

Thrill Jockey Records

 

Dunsmuir, Dunsmuir

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Prior to making their full-length debut, Dunsmuir issued a series of 7” singles, so if you picked up any of that, the straightforward pulse running through the 10-track self-titled will probably be familiar. Likewise if you’d previously caught wind of The Company Band, the supergroup in which vocalist Neil Fallon (also Clutch), guitarist Dave Bone and bassist Brad Davis (also Fu Manchu) previously joined forces. Here they’re joined by drummer Vinny Appice (Black Sabbath, etc.), and the material is suitably metallic in its aftertaste, but while Fallon’s presence is irrepressible and it’s the songwriting itself that shines through in cuts like “Our Only Master” and “…And Madness,” both barnburner riffs in classic metal fashion, where the later “Church of the Tooth” draws back the pace to add sway leading into the mid-paced closing duo “The Gate” and “Crawling Chaos.” Not many surprises, but with the ingredients given, knowing what you’re getting isn’t anything to complain about.

Dunsmuir on Thee Facebooks

Dunsmuir webstore

 

Monkey3, Astra Symmetry

monkey3-astra-symmetry

Across a span of 12 tracks and 72 minutes, Swiss heavy progressives Monkey3 unfurl the massive scope of Astra Symmetry, their fifth album and the follow-up to 2013’s The 5th Sun. It is an immediately immersive listening experience and does not become any less so as it plays out, the generally-instrumental four-piece frontloading early songs like “Abyss,” “Moon” and the nodding, synthed-out “The Water Bearer” with vocals and backing that with “Dead Planet’s Eyes” on the second LP for good measure. Delving into Eastern-style melodicism gives Astra Symmetry a contemplative air, but Monkey3’s heavy psychedelia has always provided a free-flowing vibe, and as “Astrea,” “Arch,” “The Guardian” and “Realms of Lights” roll through ambient drones toward the album’s smoothly delivered apex, that remains very much the case. Taken as a whole, Astra Symmetry is a significant journey, but satisfying in that traveling atmosphere and in the hypnosis it elicits along the way.

Monkey3 on Thee Facebooks

Napalm Records

 

Oak, Oak II

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Big progressive step from London four-piece Oak on their second self-released EP, Oak II. They follow last year’s self-titled (review here) with four more tracks that build on the burl established last time out but immediately show more stylistic command, vocalist Andy “Valiant” Wisbey emerging as a significant frontman presence and the band behind him – guitarist/engineer Kevin Germain, bassist Scott Masson and drummer Clinton Ritchie – finding more breadth, be it in a nod to djent riffing in “Mirage” or more melodic post-Steak desert rock in “Against the Rain.” In addition, “A Bridge too Far” showcases a patience of approach that the first EP simply didn’t have, and that makes its build even more satisfying as it hits its peak and goes quiet into the stonerly swing of “Smoke,” which ends Oak II with due fuzz and some social commentary to go with. Sounds like more than a year’s growth at work, but I’ll take it.

Oak on Thee Facebooks

Oak on Bandcamp

 

Lightsabres, Hibernation

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One word for Swedish one-man outfit Lightsabres? How about “underrated?” Since the 2013 Demons EP (review here), it has been nearly impossible to keep a handle on where John Strömshed (also Tunga Moln) might go on any given song, and his latest offering, the full-length Hibernation (on HeviSike with a tape out on Medusa Crush) works much the same, rolling out a melodic mellowness on the opening title-track before topping off-time chug with garage vocals on the subsequent “Endless Summer.” Elsewhere, “Throw it all Away” marries swallow-you-in-tone riffing with a surprisingly emotionally resonant lead, and “Blood on the Snow” offers a downtrodden vision of grunge-blues like what might’ve happened if Danzig had never gone commercial. It’s all over the place, as was 2014’s Spitting Blood (review here) and 2015’s Beheaded, but tied together through a wintry theme, and anyway, variety is the norm for Lightsabres, whose reach seems only to grow broader with each passing year.

Lightsabres on Thee Facebooks

HeviSike Records website

 

Helen Money, Become Zero

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Knowing the context of Helen Money’s Become Zero having been written by cellist Alison Chesley following losing both her parents, and knowing that songs like the 10-minute “Radiate” and the effects-less “Blood and Bone” (which features pianist Rachel Grimes) deal directly with that loss, only makes it more powerful, but even without that information, the sense of melancholy and loneliness is right there to be heard. Chesley, who released the last Helen Money album, Arriving Angels (review here), in 2013, once again brings in drummer Jason Roeder (Sleep, Neurosis) to contribute, and his work on the title-track and the later churn of “Leviathan” make both standouts, but whether it’s the empty spaces of “Vanished Star” or the ambient wash of “Radiate” – I don’t even know how a cello makes that sound – the emotional force driving the music is ultimately what ties it together as a single work of poignant, deeply resonant beauty.

Helen Money on Thee Facebooks

Helen Money at Thrill Jockey Records

 

Dali’s Llama, Dying in the Sun

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It has been nearly three years since desert-dwelling rockers Dali’s Llama celebrated their two-decade run with the Twenty Years Underground vinyl (review here) and almost four since their last proper full-length, Autumn Woods (review here), was issued. For them, that’s an exceedingly long time. One can’t help but wonder if the band – now a five-piece, led as ever by guitarist/vocalist Zach Huskey and recorded as ever by Scott Reeder – went through a period of introspection in that span. After some stylistic experimentation with darker and more doomed influences, the seven tracks of Dying in the Sun would seem to reaffirm who Dali’s Llama are as they approach the quarter-century mark, bringing some of the gloom of Autumn Woods to extended centerpiece “Samurai Eyes” as easily as “Bruja-ha” seems to play off the goth-punk whimsy of 2010’s Howl do You Do? (review here). The fact is Dali’s Llama are all these things, not just one or the other, and so in bringing that together, Dying in the Sun is perhaps the truest to themselves they’ve yet been on record.

Dali’s Llama on Thee Facebooks

Dali’s Llama Records website

 

Suns of Thyme, Cascades

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Making their debut on Napalm Records, Berlin five-piece Suns of Thyme exhibit immediate sonic adventurousness on their second album, Cascades, melding krautrock and heavy psych keys and effects with a distinctly human presence in the rhythm section, engaging in songcraft in the new wave-ish “Intuition Unbound” while topping shoegaze wash with organ on “Aphelion.” It’s a vast reach, and with 14 tracks and a 55-minute runtime, Suns of Thyme have plenty of chance to get where they’re going, but the dynamic between the psych-folk of “Val Verde” and the drift of closing duo “Kirwani” and “Kirwani II” and the push of the earlier “Deep Purple Rain” impresses both in theory and practice alike. The task ahead of them would seem to be to meld these influences together further as they move forward, but there’s something satisfying about having no idea what’s coming next after the proggy sway of “Schweben,” and that’s worth appreciating as it is.

Suns of Thyme on Thee Facebooks

Suns of Thyme at Napalm Records

 

Fungal Abyss, Karma Suture

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Two huge, side-consuming slabs of primordial improvised heavy psychedelia making up a 45-minute LP with a pun title and enough wash throughout that I don’t even feel dirty looking at it? Yeah, there really isn’t a time when I don’t feel ready to sign on for weirdo exploratory stuff like that which Seattle’s Fungal Abyss elicit on Karma Suture. Available as a 12” on Adansonia Records, the album brings together “Perfumed Garden” (22:12) and “Virile Member” (23:22), both sprawling, massive jams that launch almost immediately and are gone for the duration. Way gone. I won’t discount the consumption that takes place on side A, but I think my absolute favorite part of Karma Suture might be the guitar lead on “Virile Member,” which about eight minutes in starts to lose its way and you can actually hear the band come around and pick it back up to an exciting swing. It’s moments like that one that make a group like Fungal Abyss exciting. Not only are they able to right their direction when they need to, but they’re brave enough to put the whole thing on record: as raw and genuine as it gets.

Fungal Abyss on Thee Facebooks

Adansonia Records website

 

Wicked Gypsy, Wicked Gypsy

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It’s an encouraging and unpretentious start that Malaysian four-piece Wicked Gypsy make on their self-titled, self-released three-song EP. In the 22-minute span of “Wicked Gypsy,” “Heavy Eyes” and “Gypsy Woman,” the band – vocalist/guitarist Mahmood Ahmad, bassist Mohd Azam, keyboardist Azyan Idayu and drummer Ahmad Afiq – bring together influences from modern doom and classic heavy rock, Idayu’s keys providing a distinct ‘70s flair to the opener while Azam’s wah bass and of course a liberal dose of rifffing from Ahmad lead a proto-metallic charge in “Heavy Eyes,” topped with gritty vocals reciting lyrics about smoking weed, black magic, the devil, etc. What one really hears in these tracks is Wicked Gypsy’s initial exploration of dark-themed doom rock, and while the going is rough in its sound, that adds to the appeal, and the drum solo/progressive flourish worked into “Gypsy Woman” speaks well of where they’re headed as they walk the Sabbathian path.

Wicked Gypsy on Thee Facebooks

Wicked Gypsy on Soundcloud

 

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Suns of Thyme Premiere Video for “Deep Purple Rain”

Posted in Bootleg Theater on August 30th, 2016 by JJ Koczan

suns of thyme

First of all, before we even get started, kudos to German heavy psychedelic rockers Suns of Thyme on the title. “Deep Purple Rain” comes from the band’s second album and Napalm Records debut, Cascades, which arrived earlier this year, and like a lot of the record it calls home, it runs a line somewhere between progressive krautrock impulses and psychedelic texturing. The band seem perfectly comfortable in that space — and why not — and even go so far as to add some bluesy inflection to “Deep Purple Rain,” like a less Doors-driven, more modernly influenced The Flying Eyes.

I’ll admit I was somewhat surprised when Napalm picked these cats up. Don’t get me wrong, they’re young, they’ll probably tour, they’re good — all that fun, signable stuff — but Europe’s heavy psych scene is loaded with bands, and Suns of Thyme seemed kind of drawn out of a hat. “Deep Purple Rain” — the song, not just the title — goes a long way toward explaining the appeal. It’s in the nuance of the songwriting and the still-organic vibe of the performance, the mixture of earthy undertones and otherworldly spaces that they make work in natural concert with each other. Took me a while, but I think I get it.

If you’ve been on the fence, it might do you some good to check out “Deep Purple Rain” as well. I’m kind of taking the Native American visual theme stuff with a grain of they’re-from-Germany salt — in any case, it’s not going to be the most offensive video posted this week — and would suggest you do the same should you decide to dig in, which you can do below.

PR wire info follows. Enjoy:

Suns of Thyme, “Deep Purple Rain” official video

The brand new album Cascades by German Krautgaze sensation Suns of Thyme has already hit the stores. Suns of Thyme blends space rock, shoegaze, and psychedelia reminiscent of Velvet Underground on its sophomore album. Cascades is now available HERE.

Cascades Track list:
1. Do Or Die
2. Intuition Unbound
3. Ich Träum Von Dir
4. To Vanish
5. Rush
6. Schweben
7. Deep Purple Rain
8. Val Verde
9. The Field
10. Aphelion
11. Prelude
12. In Dreams Awake
13. Kirwani
14. Kirwani II

Suns of Thyme is:
Tammo Dehn / Synths, Percussions, Sampler
Tobias Feltes / Vocals, Guitars, Sitar
Tim Hoppe / Guitars
Jascha Kreft / Drums, Vocals
Jens Rosenkranz / Bass

Suns of Thyme on Thee Facebooks

Suns of Thyme on Instagram

Suns of Thyme website

Napalm Records webstore

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Suns of Thyme Sign to Napalm Records; Cascades Due May 27

Posted in Whathaveyou on March 16th, 2016 by JJ Koczan

suns-of-thyme

German heavy psych rockers Suns of Thyme released their debut album, Fortune, Shelter, Love and Cure, late in 2013, and in May, they’ll answer back with a sophomore outing titled Cascades through Napalm Records. They previously worked with H42 Records on a split release with fellow Berliners Odd Couple, taking a more classic blues rocking approach perhaps than some of the preceding LP’s more adventurous, spacier moments, but retaining the personality they established on the debut all the same. As to what Cascades might hold upon its arrival, your guess is as good as mine, but even for European heavy psych, a scene that’s only gotten more crowded over the years, their signing to a label of the reach and stature of Napalm is a pretty big deal. I’ll look forward to hearing the record.

The PR wire brings details:

suns of thyme cascades

SUNS OF THYME Signs To Napalm Records & Unveils Details Of Upcoming Album!

It is hard to imagine that something called Krautgaze could grow up in any other place than Berlin. In its glittering darkness, the city is a perfect breeding ground for a band like Suns of Thyme!

It is definitely no coincidence that Napalm Records, home of bands like Monster Magnet, God Is An Astronaut, My Sleeping Karma and Desert Rock legend John Garcia, has already been keeping an eye on this band & is now extremely pleased to announce the worldwide signing of Suns of Thyme.

Suns of Thyme on signing to Napalm Records:
” From the day we finished our first record until the now upcoming release of the second one we have been on a journey of individual and collective progress: Becoming a five-piece band and with everybody involved in the song writing process, we had to find new ways to communicate and make music together. In all the excitement and struggle that comes with this we have grown a lot, each one personally as well as a band in whole. While this journey is far from over yet, Cascades is gonna reflect our current state in every aspect: in the lyrics as well as in arrangement and sound. With Napalm Records and especially our A&R Billie Klein we are glad to have found people who understand us, our progress and our way of making music and who gave us the opportunity to put out this record the way we wanted it to come out. “

Suns of Thyme melts together space rock, shoegaze, psych and Velvet Underground on this their sophomore album. This ode to freethought is brimming with melancholy and a nonchalant greatness that will comfortably settle into your psyche – Suns of Thyme casts off genre clichés with a grin and an artful nostalgic twist

Cascades was mastered by Brian Lucey, Magic Garden Mastering in Los Angeles (The Black Keys, Marilyn Manson, Arctic Monkeys, Ray LaMontagne, Ghost). The track listing reads as follows:

Cascades track listing:

1. Do Or Die
2. Intuition Unbound
3. Ich Traeum’ von Dir
4. To Vanish
5. Rush
6. Schweben
7. Deep Purple Rain
8. Val Verde
9. The Field
10. Aphelion
11. Prelude
12. In Dreams Awake
13. Kirwani
14. Kirwani II

Cascades is set to be released on May 27th 2016 via Napalm Records.

Pre-orders for Cascades are available here:
www.napalmrecordsamerica.com/store/sunsofthyme

Suns of Thyme is:
Tammo Dehn / Synths, Percussions, Sampler
Tobias Feltes / Vocals, Guitars, Sitar
Tim Hoppe / Guitars
Jascha Kreft / Drums, Vocals
Jens Rosenkranz / Bass

www.napalmrecordsamerica.com/store/sunsofthyme
http://www.sunsofthyme.de/
https://twitter.com/sunsofthyme
https://www.facebook.com/SunsofThyme
https://sunsofthyme.bandcamp.com/

Suns of Thyme, “Former Friend”

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