Starting last May, Swedish jam-prone classic heavy rockers Void Commander began to trickle out singles ahead of their fourth full-length and first for Majestic Mountain Records. Marking their 10th anniversary in 2024, the three-piece will issue their yet-untitled next LP in the months to come through Majestic Mountain and Interstellar Smoke Records, and “The Night Took My Name” follows behind “Dyke Blues” and “Bloodred Knight Alright” in representing the band’s covers-all-bases sound, bringing a doomier roll to the beginning and an open-feeling swing later, broad but still rhythmically centered, and with plenty of room for a jam as it pushes toward six minutes.
The record is like that. The harmonica-laced blues of “Sweet Depression” and “Alien Queen,” the latter of which brings together Sabbath‘s “War Pigs” and “The Wizard” and complements with a massive slowdown at the finish, and the ultra-flowing “Jam in C,” which hypnotizes in such a way as to make “The Night Took My Name” feel all the more like an outward launch. They lean into grittier rock at what I’ll neither confirm nor deny is the outset with “To the Grave” — one is reminded of the bombast of a song like “Fucked Up” from 2021’s River Lord (discussed here) — but run a gamut across heavy subgenres, tipping into hugely fuzzed lumber from the Sleepy intro to “Bloodred Knight Alright” in such a way as to tie together the improv-minded with the structures of the pieces that (more often than not, at least going by the tracklisting) are evolved from the root jams, shifting as it does into a bassy boogie strut near the finish that just kind of works because it does and the context allows for it; riffs pieced together creatively enough that as “Jam in C” meanders into a lyrical pattern, it feels like it’s happening if not in realtime then close enough to it that it doesn’t matter if it isn’t.
In terms of vibe, Void Commander make striking a difficult balance sound easy, and their sound on the whole reminds of some of the older-school Northern European troupes of the turn of the century, and no, I’m not just talking about Dozer, but bands like older Mustasch or Abramis Brama, maybe even Dead Man at least in terms of range, who brought together sounds from the ’70s and ’90s and helped shape heavy rock as we know it. That work has already been done, of course, but Void Commander are playing in that sandbox of decades of heavy rock influences, and whether it’s “The Night Took My Name” with a push that would be more straightforward from a lot of bands than it is here — and that’s a compliment — to the catchy stops of “Alien Wizard” (who presumably serves at the behest of the “Alien Queen”), Void Commander present a cohesive and individualized take on heavy tenets with a punker’s lack of pretense and an underlying groove that is welcoming even at its most dug-in.
I don’t have a release date for the album, and I don’t know if this will be the last advance track released as a standalone single from it, but it exists somewhere and between “Bloodred Knight Alright,” “Dyke Blues” and now “The Night Took My Name,” you’ve got three of the seven or eight tracks that will end up on the finished product, and that’s pretty good to go on. The other two, as well as the aforementioned River Lord, stream below, because MAXIMALISM.
Have fun, because you just might:
Void Commander, “The Night Took My Name” visualizer premiere
Vinyl will be a co-release with Majestic Mountain Records & Interstellar Smoke Records.
“- Another handful of stoner metal from the southern forests of the cold north arrives in the form of “The night took my name ”. A story of endless wake and sleep, a thin line between sleeping and being dead, The night took my name.” – Lee Noose, Void Commander
Void Commander was formed in 2014 by Bobbie (Vocals, Guitar) and Jimmy (Drums). After a long search and using many bass players, Linus (Bass) joined the band in 2016.
Posted in Whathaveyou on December 29th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Preorders are up for the fourth full-length from Swedish cult metallers Saturnalia Temple, who present a glimpse at the malevolent churn and gurgle of Paradigm Call by means of the first single “Revel in Dissidence,” which you can check out in the lyric video at the bottom of this post. The album will be out March 1 and is the second release for Saturnalia Temple through Listenable Records, on whose talent roster they are a standout as they’d be on just about anyone’s. Fewer bands sound more like they recorded by candlelight.
I’m assuming “Drakon,” which you can see on the tracklisting below precedes “Revel in Dissidence” and is just over two minutes long, is an intro, which would make “Revel in Dissidence” something of an opener. So as you make your way through the lyric video’s bubbling-mud riffing, throaty grunt, gnarly cosmic vibes and seeming argument for “ugh” as a perspective on the world (not arguing with any of it, mind you), keep in mind that in many cases a band will put their most accessible fare at the beginning of records in order to hook a potential listnership and engage them to take on the rest. Not saying that’s Saturnalia Temple‘s motivation — indeed, more likely it isn’t — but if norms-departure is your launch point, the single is doing its work on its own terms. Little could represent Saturnalia Temple better in my mind.
The PR wire had this, mostly with links:
Saturnalia Temple preorder for ‘Paradigm Call’ are available
Posted in Whathaveyou on December 28th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
The following festival announcement — under the poster in the blue text; come on, you know how we do — was put through a major internet company’s translation matrix, so I will not at all vouch for the accurate swapout of English for Swedish generally, though it was kind of fun to see Domkraft called ‘Power of Domination,’ DRÖÖG come up listed as ‘DARE’ and Slôdder become ‘Slodger,’ which at least is pretty close. You might’ve seen the initial lineup reveal for the inaugural Västerås Doomfest in its native Swedish or another language entirely, depending on your preferences/geolocation tracking.
Wherever you’re coming from, those three — Domkraft headlining, and well they should — will be joined by 10,000 Years, who have a new record coming and whose Alex Risberg is among those putting the event together, as well as Mushroom Caravan Overdrive, Steel Freight and Käpprätt, rounding out a seven-band all-dayer on June 1 at O’Leary’s (a fine Swedish name if e’er my American ears heard one) as a beginning, a testing of concept and waters, and what looks like a hell of a show.
Kudos to Risberg and company (assuming he’s got some in the endeavor) on getting a thing going, and in the spirit of well wishes on a first-fest, here’s the lineup announcement and appropriate linkage:
Västerås Doomfest 2024
Death Valley Productions presents, in collaboration with O’Learys, the Contact Network and Merchprint, the first edition of Västerås Doomfest! This year’s big gathering, and definitive highlight, for all worshipers of the Riffet and all lovers of heavy, hard underground metal. A delight for both eyes (? ) and ears are promised!
Domkraft is one of Sweden’s biggest bands in the genre and one of the best and most respected worldwide. With their latest masterpiece “Sonic Moons”, and three more modern classics, in the luggage, they honor the festival’s first edition Västerås with a visit for the first time. As everyone who has seen Domkraft before can attest, it is a special experience to be crushed by Domkraft’s gravity in the live format and thus nothing you want to miss when the opportunity is given. We are therefore extremely proud to present Domkraft as the main act at Västerås Doomfest 2024! Riff hook repeat until numb.
10,000 YEARS
Västerås own stonermetal heroes! This trio has gone from clarity to clarity since the start of 2020. So far, they have gotten three shelved plates and a new one is on the way in 2024 via a new, exciting record contract. This together with intensive live performances around Sweden has made 10,000 Years a hot name in the heavy underground and now they finally make their home debut with us at Västerås Doomfest!
DRÖÖG
These Dalmas themselves call their music lumberjack jazz, and there’s something to it. Slightly retro-scented doomrock with prog vibes is also close to the truth, a bit like Witchcraft but better. But to really understand Dröög, you have to hear and see them yourself, and dive into Dröög’s dark tales.
MUSHROOM CARAVAN OVERDRIVE
Mushroom Caravan Overdrive worships daily life at Riffet’s altar and delivers heavy, draggy and psychedelic stonerdoom in Sleep school. Transcendental from start to finish and twenty-minute songs are promised. Did we mention that they are also the brains behind the legendary Krökbackenfestivalen?
SLÔDDER
Did you know that Värmland’s deep forests double as Sweden’s New Orleans? Well, that’s the truth. The Yankees have Eyehategod and we have Slôdder, that’s proof enough. With the fantastic “A Mind Designed To Destroy Beautiful Things”, Slôdder delivered one of the best albums of 2023 and their dirty sludge metal does not leave many listeners consciously after completed acquisition.
STEEL FREIGHT
Is it hardcore? Is that death metal? No, it’s steel freight! It’s a hell of a hard, angry and unique blend of said genres, perfect for those who are not afraid of the mosh pit.
KÄPPRÄTT
The raw punk swingers from Västerås open the festivities with dist, dance and a fist in solar plexus at the establishment.
See you in front of the stage, because in the beginning there was Riffet. And nothing would ever be after the Riffet.
Posted in audiObelisk on December 21st, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Tomorrow, Dec. 22, Swedish atmospheric heavy newcomers Djefvul will release their first single, “Into the Water,” through Majestic Mountain Records. At core in the project — and if the name Djefvul has you thinking ‘devil,’ you’re right; it’s old Swedish — is Patrik “Putte” Lidfors, known for his work in the crunchier-sounding Grandier, and sitting in on vocals for the track is Lea Amling, lead vocalist of Besvärjelsen. The band actually started in 2016, but has taken on new focus with the end of Lidfors‘ prior outfit.
Which is pretty fresh, mind you, at least as regards being made public. Earlier in 2023, Grandier released the single “No Name Sky” following on from 2022’s debut LP, The Scorn and Grace of Crows (review here), which was also issued by Majestic Mountain. That standalone track also featured Amling singing, and if you’re up for it, going from one to the next between Grandier‘s “No Name Sky” and Djefvul‘s “Into the Water” demonstrates clearly the aesthetic pivot being made. “Into the Water” feels more suited in its tempo to Amling‘s languid delivery, which will be readily identifiable to those familiar with her work in Besvärjelsen (if that’s not you, don’t be afraid to get on board anyway), and as the tones grow lower and more concrete in the chorus, Lidfors contributes backing vocals for a moment worthy of the dead stop that follows. A quick and well justified breath before diving into the second verse.
There’s a sense of drone behind the second chorus, but “Into the Water” is a gradual urge, not an insistence — an emphatic invitation — and at just over four minutes, it ends up balanced between its catchy hook reaching out, “Come take a trip into the water,” and the surrounding slow-burner atmosphere conjured by Lidfors on bass and guitar and captured by his production, set to the roll of Hampus Landin‘s drums and finished with a master by the esteemed Esben Willems, the track is broad but working on solid ground, giving an open impression through tempo and tone without actually departing from structure.
But to return to an earlier point, Grandier‘s hiatus, or “pause” as they put it — maybe they’re done and maybe not — came just last month as Lidfors announced he was moving forward with the new name and new intentions. “Into the Water,” then, is the moment of that transition from one unit to the next, and it’s given rare fluidity by the appearance of Amling on both Djefvul‘s first output and Grandier‘s (potentially) last. I wouldn’t be surprised if by the time Djefvul are making their full-length debut, “No Name Sky” doesn’t end up featured on it, perhaps with some reworking, but “Into the Water” represents well the sonic shift and the consistency of songwriting and melodic focus shared between the two bands, and is exciting in the direction it seems to be headed.
So, of course, we end by looking forward. I don’t know when/if a Djefvul album will show up in 2024 or some point thereafter, but in terms of serving notice of their existence and modus, “Into the Water” resonates in groove and melody and hopefully is a herald of more to come. And just in case you want to do your own side-by-side, the Grandier track is at the bottom of this post, courtesy of their Bandcamp.
Please enjoy:
Djefvul, “Into the Water” premiere
Lea Amling on “Into the Water”:
“‘Into the Water’ is a song about letting go and diving into the unknown. About finding hope in the new and unknown and gaining courage to release the things that are holding you back.”
From the ashes of Grandier, Djefvul has risen.
Music by Patrik Lidfors (ex-Grandier), Lyrics by Lea Amling (Besvärjelsen) Lead vocals Lea Amling Choirs, Bass and Guitars Patrik Lidfors Drums by Hampus Landin, recorded at Gramtone Studio, retrigged and mixed at Heathen Studio Norrköping All other instruments and Vocals recorded at Heathen Studio Norrkoping
Cover Artist Thomas Moe Elfserud, Hypnotist Design Norway Arranged, Produced and Mixed by Patrik Lidfors at Heathen Studio Norrköping Mastered by Esben Willems at Berserk Studio Gothenburg
Posted in Whathaveyou on December 14th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
This past January, when posting a round of late-Winter/early-Spring touring to be undertaken by Sweden’s Truckfighters, I noted they’re due for a new album. The last 11 months haven’t made them any less so, to be sure. But if Truckfighters, who spent the earlier portion of their career establishing themselves as a barnburning live act, want to keep their focus on that part of what they do now, who the hell can blame them? That’s where the fun is, where the audience is, and where the merch sales happen most. The studio will still be there (hopefully anyhow) when they get back to it.
There are fests here and club shows around them. You’ll note Into the Void in the Netherlands, Desert Hel in Finland and Belgium’s Alcatraz Fest as one of probably more to come this summer, in addition to Interstellar Solar Festival and These Go to Eleven as part of this run. It’s probably not the only run they’ll do in 2024, and they’ve announced the dates for their next Fuzz Festival in Stockholm as well, which will be held Nov. 22-23. No bands confirmed yet, but there’s a pretty gosh darn solid chance Truckfighters will play as they do every year, in addition to hosting the event at Debaser Strand and Bar Brooklyn.
They say there’s more to come and I take them at their word. For now, this was the latest from the newsletter of the band-helmed label, Fuzzorama Records:
TRUCKFIGHTERS announce Euro shows
Germany, Netherlands, UK, Finland, Belgium and more to come.
TRUCKFIGHTERS 21.2 BIELEFELD, D – Forum 22.2 DRESDEN, D – Chemiefabrik 23.2 ERFURT, D – Bandhaus 24.2 EINDHOVEN, NL- Into the void festival 25.2 FRANKFURT, D – Zoom 10.3 LONDON, UK – Garage 30.3 LEIDEN, NL – Interstellar solar festival 31.3 ZWOLLE, NL – These go to eleven festival 18.4 TURKU, F – Utopia 19.4 TAMPERE, F – Tullikamari Klubi 20.4 HELSINKI, F – Desert Hel festival Aug 9-11 Alcatraz Festival, Belgium
Posted in Bootleg Theater on December 13th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
On Jan. 12, 2024, Sweden’s The Awesome Machine will reissue their 2000 third album, …It’s Ugly or Nothing, through Ripple Music. It is the first installment of a OBI-inclusive vinyl series the label is beginning that’s been dubbed ‘Beneath the Desert Floor,’ and the Californian imprint could hardly have found a more suitable example. The first seven seconds of opening track “Never Said I Never Fail” tell you at least 80 percent of what you ACTUALLY need to know going in: the first introductory snare hit already seems to be running at pace to the next and the guitar and bass join in with an absolutely righteous punch of raw, hard fuzz and thick bass. Plus handclaps!
Another 10 seconds pass and vocalist Lasse Olausson arrives, immediately clenched of gut, pushing lyrics through partially restricted airways in a gruff delivery that was a defining feature of the band who first got together in 1996 and would culminate at the end of their first decade in 2006. Momentum is there. The push is there. The thing has barely started and you’re at full speed, all go, all in, no bullshit. They didn’t call themselves The Awesome Machine for nothing.
During that time, The Awesome Machine — Olausson, guitarist Christian Smedström, bassist Anders Wenander and drummer Tobbe Bøvik at the century’s turn — were one of a rising generation of Swedish heavy rockers. Based in Gothenburg, they shared a rehearsal space with Mustasch. They hung out with guys from Tiamat and In Flames, The Crown, and were a part of a national Swedish underground that, while of course led by acts like Dozer, Demon Cleaner and Siena Root, was (and is) an entire ecosystem unto itself.
Bands like Abramis Brama (still going), Firestone (who begat Truckfighters), Astroqueen (now back), the aforementioned Mustasch (still going), Norrsken (who begat Witchcraft and Graveyard) would have been contemporaries as well, perhaps joining The Awesome Machine on stage as they lay out the declarative stomp of “Son of a God” from …It’s Ugly orNothing, which is one of the album’s several standout hooks and follows “El Bajo” (video premiering below) with its chorus “hey!”s and catchy bounce, completing a salvo course started in “Never Said I Never Fail” that brought cowbell and harmonica on “How Am I to Know” — the spread of self-titled-era Clutch‘s influence isn’t to be discounted — before diving back into the shove.
Which is a big part of what they do — the shove — but not all of it. “Cruise Control” answers the nod of “Son of a God” with four quiet minutes of ambient guitar noodling. The Awesome Machine would grow increasingly atmospheric over their time, culminating in their to-date swansong, 2003’s The Soul of a Thousand Years (discussed here) — during the recording for which Olausson would develop the throat infections that caused him to leave the band — but those impulses were always there and “Cruise Control” is a respite from the physicality of the other material on …It’s Ugly or Nothing, and a preface to 10-minute organ-inclusive closer “No Share,” which let’s assume wasn’t a timely reference to Napster, and which also pulls back on tempo to breathe a bit.
That’s fortunate, because getting there is a chase scene through “Supernova” and the swinging “Looking for Sweet Opium” — that’s the part of the chase where they break through the pane of glass — before the volatile “Out of Fuel” seems to gnash its teeth with tension early and find catharsis in Bøvik‘s later bashing, and the originally-penultimate “Used to Be” drives their energy to a feverish point and lets go into the softer intro contemplation of “No Share,” which if you were a newcomer to the style circa 2000 and happened to pick up this import CD from some Swedish band — maybe on the All That is Heavy store, which is how a lot of these transactions were done at least for me in those days — might just be enough to keep you as a convert.
Its classic-heavy sensibility, poise and engrossing payoff are, and I’m just being honest here, what it’s all about, and in beginning ‘Beneath the Desert Floor’ with The Awesome Machine, Ripple clearly knows it. They’re not alone, of course. This year and last, Sweden’s Ozium Records released two rare tracks compilations, 2022’s God Damn Rare (discussed here) and 2023’s God Damn Rare Vol. II (discussed here), and in 2022, Daredevil Records hosted a digital reissue for …It’s Ugly or Nothing‘s predecessor, which was 1998’s Doom, Disco, Dope, Death and Love demo (discussed here), originally available only on CDRs and inkjet printer artwork. It’s amazing the things you can be nostalgic for, folks. I wonder if they have any copies left.
The Awesome Machine have long been an example in my mind of a band from the post-Kyuss era, the turn of the century era, who never got their due and whose work is treasure waiting to be discovered by a subsequent generation of riff heads. If you think back to about the time The Awesome Machine were kicking around and labels like Akarma were mining old crates of vinyl to unearth lost classics from the heavy ’70s, from about 2000-2005, the ‘Beneath the Desert Floor’ that launches with this LP (the album’s first vinyl issue) is no different and, I’ll gladly argue, no less crucial in its mission.
Why? Because any story of aesthetic changes over time, and the shape of history bends to the eye of the viewer. Bringing The Awesome Machine — and potentially scores of others like them, from Sweden and beyond — back for another look is a reminder that any narrative thread one puts to the decades of heavy music can only tell a piece of it. Nearly 24 years later, …It’s Ugly or Nothing still encourages its audience to dig deeper.
But whether you take it as an educational exercise or not, whether you immediately go search out The Awesome Machine‘s 1998 self-titled debut, or The Soul of a Thousand Years, or 2002’s Under the Influence after hearing these songs, …It’s Ugly or Nothing is foremost an absolute blast of a heavy rock record, and as a herald of the new oldschool, it’s been gifted with an entirely new resonance.
The video for “El Bajo” is below, followed by some comment from Tobbe Bøvik on the track, and info from the PR wire.
Please enjoy:
The Awesome Machine, “El Bajo” video
Tobbe Bøvik on “El Bajo”:
El Bajo is one of the eldest compositions by the band, written way back in early 1999. It really defines the sound of The Awesome Machine. With its distorted bass intro, heavy drums, fuzzy guitars and raunchy vocal chorus it really sets the pace of this stoner classic. Accompanied by an action packed desert-car-chase video, it will please any fan of the genre.
THE AWESOME MACHINE “…It’s Ugly Or Nothing” reissue Out January 12th, 2024 via Ripple Music (vinyl only)
Ripple Music is proud to launch the “Beneath The Desert Floor” series — unearthing long-lost treasures from the early days of stoner rock — and team up with Swedish scene veterans THE AWESOME MACHINE for the reissue of their cornerstone album “…It’s Ugly Or Nothing” this January 2024.
An indestructible mass of fuzz-drenched heft, their 2000 cornerstone album “…It’s Ugly Or Nothing” is eleven tracks of uncompromising stoner rock goodness for the ages. An authentic classic of Swedish-brewed mastery that old and new fans will welcome with open arms and ears in their record collection!
About the “Beneath The Desert Floor” series, Ripple Music founder Todd Severin says: “There were so many amazing albums released in the underground heavy stoner/doom/desert/heavy psych during the late 90’s, early 2000’s that have gotten lost in the passage of time. These albums, from incredible bands, came out in a time before social media was fully formed to help push public awareness before the vinyl resurgence happened so they were never pressed to wax before digital channels existed to spread the music far and wide. My goal is to do our part to change that. To look beneath the desert floor and see what gems and treasures lay there. And spread them with the world.”
The Awesome Machine on It’s Ugly or Nothing: Lasse Olausson – vocals Anders Wenander – bass Christian Smedström – guitar Tobbe Bøvik – drums
Posted in Reviews on November 29th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Day three of the Quarterly Review is always a good time. Passing the halfway point for the week isn’t nothing, and I take comfort in knowing there’s another 25 to come after the first 25 are down. Sometimes it’s the little things.
But let’s not waste the few moments we have. I hope you find something you dig.
Quarterly Review #21-30:
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Melody Fields, 1901
Though it starts out firmly entrenched in ’60s psychedelia in “Going Back,” Melody Fields‘ 1901 is less genre-adherent and/or retroist than one might expect. “Jesus” borrows from ’70s soul, but is languid in its rollout with horn-esque sounds for a Morricone-ish vibe, while “Rave On” makes a hook of its folkish and noodly bridge. Keyboards bring a krautrock spirit to “Mellanväsen,” which is fair as “Transatlantic” blisses out ’90s electro-rock, and “Home at Last” prog-shuffles in its own swirl — a masterclass in whatever kind of psych you want to call it — as “Indian MC” has an acoustic strum that reminds of some of Lamp of the Universe‘s recent urgings, and “Void” offers 53 seconds of drone before the stomp of the catchy “In Love” and the keyboard-dreamy “Mayday” ends side B with a departure to match “Transatlantic” capping side A. Unexpectedly, 1901, which is the Swedish outfit’s second LP behind their 2018 self-titled debut (review here), is one of two albums they have for Fall 2023, with 1991 a seeming companion piece. Here’s looking forward.
La Chinga don’t have time for bullshit. They’re going right to the source. Black Sabbath. Motörhead. Enough Judas Priest in “Electric Eliminator” for the whole class and a riffy swagger, loosely Southern in “Stars Fall From the Sky,” and elsewhere, that reminds of Dixie Witch or Halfway to Gone, and that aughts era of heavy generally. “Backs to the Wall” careens with such a love of ’80s metal it reminds of Bible of the Devil — while cuts like “Bolt of Lightning,” “Rings of Power” and smash-then-run opener “Light it Up” immediately positions the trio between ’70s heavy rock and the more aggressive fare it helped produce. Throughout, La Chinga are poised but not so much so as to take away from the energy of their songs, which are impeccably written, varied in energy, and drawn together through the vitality of their delivery. Here’s a kickass rock band, kicking ass. It might be a little too over-the-top for some listeners, but over-the-top is a target unto itself. La Chinga hit it like oldschool masters.
Best known for their work together in Mammothwing and now also both members of Church of the Cosmic Skull as well, brothers Bill Fisher and Marty Fisher make a point of stripping back as much as possible with Massive Hassle, scaling down the complex arrangements of what’s now their main outfit but leaving room for harmonies, on-sleeve Thin Lizzy love and massive fuzz in cuts like “Lane,” “Drifter,” the speedier penultimate “Drink” and the slow-nod payoff of “Fibber,” which closes. That attitude — which one might see developing in response to years spend plugging away in a group with seven people and everyone wears matching suits — assures a song like “Kneel” fits, with its restless twists feeling born organically out of teenage frustrations, but many of Number One‘s strongest moments are in its quieter, bluesy explorations. The guitar holds a note, just long enough that it feels like it might miss the beat on the turnaround, then there’s the snare. With soul in the vocals to spare and a tension you go for every time, if Massive Hassle keep this up they’re going to have to be a real band, and ugh, what a pain in the ass that is.
One of the best albums of 2023, and not near the bottom of the list. Italy’s Sherpa demonstrated their adventurous side with 2018’s Tigris & Euphrates (review here), but the six-song/39-minute Land of Corals is in a class of its own as regards their work. Breaking down genre barriers between industrial/dance, psychedelia, doom, and prog, Sherpa keep a special level of tonal heft in reserve that’s revealed near the end of opener “Silt” and is worthy — yes I mean this — of countrymen Ufomammut in its cosmic impact. “High Walls” is more of a techno throb with a languid melodic vocal, but the two-part, eight-minute “Priest of Corals” begins a thread of Ulverian atmospherics that continues not so much in the second half of the song itself, which brings back the heavy from “Silt” and rolls back and forth over the skull, but in the subsequent “Arousal,” which has an experimental edge in its later reaches and backs its beat with a resonant sprawl of drone. This is so much setup for the apex in “Coward/Pilgrimage to the Sun,” which is the kind of wash that will make you wonder if we’re all just chemicals, and closer “Path/Mud/Barn,” which feels well within its rights to take its central piano line for a walk. I haven’t seen a ton of hype for it, which tracks, but this feels like a record that’s getting to know you while you’re getting to know it.
A sludge metal of marked ferocity and brand-name largesse, Acid Throne‘s debut album, Kingdom’s Death sets out with destructive and atmospheric purpose alike, and while it’s vocals are largely grunts in “River (Bare My Bones)” and the straight-up deathly “Hallowed Ground,” if there’s primitivism at work in the 43-minute six-songer, it’s neither in the character of their tones or what they’re playing. Like a rockslide in a cavern, “Death is Not the End” is the beginning, with melodic flourish in the lead guitar as it passes the halfway point and enough crush generally to force your blood through your pores. It moves slower than “River (Bare My Bones),” but the Norwich, UK, trio are dug in regardless of tempo, with “King Slayer” unfolding like Entombed before revealing itself as more in line with a doomed take on Nile or Morbid Angel. Both it and “War Torn” grow huge by their finish, and the same is true of “Hallowed Ground,” though if you go from after the intro it also started out that way, and the 11-minute closer “Last Will & Testament” is engrossing enough that its last drones give seamlessly over to falling rain almost before you know it. There are days like this. Believe it.
The Holy Nothing, Vol. 1: A Profound and Nameless Fear
With an intensity thrust forth from decades of Midwestern post-hardcore disaffection, Indiana trio The Holy Nothing make their presence felt with Vol. 1: A Profound and Nameless Fear, a five-song/17-minute EP that’s weighted and barking in its onslaught and pivots almost frenetically from part to part, but that nonetheless has an overarching groove that’s pure Sabbath boogie in centerpiece “Unending Death,” and opener “Bathe Me” sets the pummeling course with noise rock and nu metal chicanery, while “Bliss Trench” raw-throats its punkish first half en route to a slowdown that knows it’s hot shit. Bass leads the way into “Mondegreen,” with a threatening chug and post-hardcore boogie, just an edge of grunge to its later hook to go with the last screams, and feedback as it inevitably would, leads the way into “Doom Church,” with a more melodic and spacious echoing vocal and a riff that seems to kind of eat the rest of the song surrounding. I’ll be curious how the quirk extrapolates over a full-length’s runtime, but they sound like they’re ready to get weird and they’re from Fort Wayne, which is where Charlton Heston was from in Planet of the Apes, and I’m sorry, but that’s just too on-the-nose to be a coincidence.
Runway may be making their self-titled debut with this eight-song/31-minute blowout LP delivered through Cardinal Fuzz, Echodelick and We, Here & Now as a triumvirate of lysergic righteousness, but the band is made up of five former members of Saskatoon instrumentalists Shooting Guns so it’s not exactly their first time at the dance of wavy lines and chambered echo that make even the two-minute “No Witnesses” feel broad, and the crunch-fuzz of “Attempted Mordor,” the double-time hi-hat on “Franchy Cordero” that vibes with all the casual saunter of Endless Boogie but in a shorter package as the song’s only four minutes long. “Banderas” follows a chugging tack and doesn’t seem to release its tension even in the payoff, but “Crosshairs” is all freedom-rock, baby, with a riff like they put the good version of America in can, and the seven-minute capper “Mailman” reminds that our destination was the cosmos all along. Jam on, you glorious Canadian freaks. By this moniker or any other, your repetitive excavations are always welcome on these shores.
Spanish heavy rockers Wet Cactus look to position themselves at the forefront of a regional blossoming with their third album, the 12-track Magma Tres. Issued through Electric Valley Records, the 45-minute long-player follows 2018’s Dust, Hunger and Gloom (review here) and sees the band tying together straightforward, desert-style heavy rock with a bit of grunge sway in “Profound Dream” before it twists around to heavy-footed QOTSA start-stops ahead of the fuzzy trash-boogie of “Mirage” and the duly headspinning guitar work of “My Gaze is Fixed Ahead.” The second half of the LP has interludes between sets of two tracks — the album begins with “I. The Long Escape…” as the first of them — but the careening “Self Bitten Snake” and the tense toms under the psych guitar before that big last hook in “Solar Prominence” want nothing for immediacy, and even “IV. …Of His Musical Ashes!,” which closes, becomes a charge with the band’s collective force behind it. There’s more to what they do than people know, but you could easily say the same thing about the entire Iberian Peninsula’s heavy underground.
All-caps Icelandic troupe MC MYASNOI telegraph their experimentalism early in the drone of “Liquid Lung [Nucomp]” and let some of the noise around the electronic nod in “Antenula [OEBT]” grow caustic in the first half before first bliss then horror build around a progression of drums, ending with sax and feedback and noise and where were the lines between them anyway. The delve into the unknown threads more feedback through “Slug Paradox,” which has a vocal line somewhere not terribly far off from shoegaze, but is itself nothing so pedestrian, while “Kuroki” sounds like it could’ve been recorded at rehearsal, possibly on the other side of the wall. The go-wherever-you-end-up penchant holds in “Bleach in Eye,” and when “Xcomputer must dieX” clicks on, it brings about the rumble MC MYASNOI seem to have been threatening all along without giving up the abidingly oddball stance, what with the keyboard and sax and noise, noise, noise, plus whispers at the end. I’m sure that in the vast multiverse there’s a plenet that’s ready for the kind of off-kilter-everythingism wrought by MC MYASNOI, but you can bet your ass this ain’t it. And if you’re too weird for earth, you’re alright by me.
The 2020 album from transient folk singer-songwriter Cinder Well, No Summer (review here), landed with palpable empathy in a troubled July, and Cadence has a similar minimalist place to dwell in “Overgrown” or finale “I Will Close in the Moonlight,” but by and large the arrangements are more lush throughout the nine songs of Cadence. Naturally, Amelia Baker‘s voice remains a focal point for the material, but organ, viola and fiddle, drums and bass, etc., bring variety to the gentle delivery of “Gone the Holding,” the later reaches of “Crow” and allow for the build of elements in “A Scorched Lament” that make that song’s swaying crescendo such a high point. And having high points is somewhat striking, in context, but Cinder Well‘s range as shown throughout Cadence is beholden to no single emotional or even stylistic expression. If you’d read this and gripe that the record isn’t heavy — shit. Listen again.
Posted in Reviews on November 28th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
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:
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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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
pieces that (more often than not, at least going by the tracklisting) are evolved from the root jams, shifting as it does into a bassy boogie strut near the finish that just kind of works because it does and the context allows for it; riffs pieced together creatively enough that as “Jam in C” meanders into a lyrical pattern, it feels like it’s happening if not in realtime then close enough to it that it doesn’t matter if it isn’t.
