Anthaupt, the third full-length from Swiss post-metallers Soldat Hans, will see release vinyl May 20 through Wolves and Vibrancy Records with a digital edition preceding on April 22, and if you’re unfamiliar with the band, be ready for a multi-tiered heft of atmosphere and tone, a resonant feeling of exploration, and a due portion of skin-peeling harshness and pummel. Last heard from with 2018’s Es Taut (review here) and having made their debut with 2014’s Dress Rehearsal (review here), the band bring a simmer of tension beneath their ambience, and in those moments when the destructive impulse hits, as is the case as the gorgeous instrumental opener “Eighty-Two Percent Chance of Rain” gives way to Anthaupt‘s title-track (premiering below), the impact is no less palpable than the increase in distortion or volume. In six songs and 66 minutes — the runtime of the beast — the five-piece of vocalist/guitarist Omar Hetata, guitarist Omar Fra and Tobias Pfenninger, bassist Jonathan Chaclan, drummer Justin Harrison and various other collaborators — some evidently related, some not — bring to life an engrossing and expansive sound, coming across like the culmination of the band’s willful growth to this point.

To wit, “Anthaupt” finds an early apex as Carol Schuler joins Hetata on vocals, melodic and screaming voices uniting over dense-toned riffing. An organ-laced stretch follows, the melancholy ambience bolstered by trombone from Sebastian Koelman, and as the ensuing procession marches slowly to its finish, it’s the scathe that returns. Schuler proves to be a major presence as Anthaupt plays out, adding to extended pieces like “Speechwriter,” “Cineaste, Cineaste” and closer “The Jubilant Howl” such that the prevailing vibe of Soldat Hans reaching beyond themselves mirrors their forward-thinking creative mindset. The organ/synth contributions of Daniel Gisler — turns out Soldat Hans might just need to become a six-piece — Koelman, the cello by Julia Pfenninger and the backing vocals of Philip Harrison aren’t to be ignored either. Anthaupt is all the more consuming for what each player brings, marking out depths as it moves further through its course, minimal in the early going of “Horse Funeral” but vibrant in the slow, echoing-feedback-led dirge that results. Comprising the entirety of side B, “Speechwriter” conveys immediacy through a shouted vocal part in its second half set against its lumbering tempo, fiinally giving way to screams that feel brutal in their urgency as well as what they might be doing to the vocal cords responsible for them.

All the while, Soldat Hans as a whole are patient, almost calm in how they bring it all about. Each move is constructed fluidly, and the scope of arrangement adds a cinematic quality, certainly to the ensuing instrumental wash of “Speechwriter” as well as to the build that seems to sweep up the early, wholesome verses of “Cineaste, Cineaste,” an echo of the subtle twang with which the guitar announces “Horse Funeral” prior, before receding once again to a ’70s singer-songwriter duet and, finally, righteously, combining the two ideas before finding even ground at the end. As an album, Anthaupt is plotted and ultra-modern in its evocative breadth, drawing from Earth and Europe’s post-metallic sphere and crafting something individual from them that’s likewise willing to be harsh and beautiful. Soldat Hans have grown bolder since their Dress Rehearsal those eight years ago, and it does not seem that the four since Es Taut have been wasted either if the final, agonizingly mournful march of “The Jubilant Howl” plays out across Anthaupt‘s final minutes, daring to inject a sense of hope — or jubilance, if you like — via guitar amid the harsh screams and lumbering, slow rhythm, readily grandiose and masterfully executed. A beauty of grief that ends where they began, if in a different realization.

Like Es Taut before it, Anthaupt challenges its listener to listen deeper, to appreciate the detail and the level of care put into the execution of these songs, the mixes through which they’re presented, and the complete effect of the textured oil brushstrokes with which the album is ultimately painted. In thinking of how “Anthaupt” represents the 2LP that shares its name, one will not find the picture complete in the 10-minute title-cut, but it does answer for the entirety of the the offering being made in terms of its melody and heft, and its willingness to depart from the early riff-led force of its delivery into and through its peaceful moment before growing even more oppressive. That is, it shows what Soldat Hans are capable of in terms of arrangement and of making their music a physical presence within itself, and the result of hearing it is correspondingly like being physically moved.

Track premiere follows here, along with the preorder link, vinyl breakdown, etc., courtesy of the PR wire.

Please enjoy:

3rd album by Soldat Hans.

Preorder: https://wolvesandvibrancyrex.bigcartel.com/product/soldat-hans-anthaupt-2×12

ANTHAUPT (WVR 055)
SIDE A:
Eighty-two Percent Chance of Rain (06:48)
Anthaupt (10:44)

SIDE B:
Speechwriter (15:04)

SIDE C:

Horse Funeral (09:37)
Cinéaste, Cinéaste (12:05)

SIDE D:
The Jubilant Howl (11:49)

Mastered by Magnus Lindberg Productions
– limited to 300 copies (200 x black purple egg / 100 x light blue transparent)
– gatefold sleeve inside / out
– 2 x inlays / lyrics sheets
– incl. DL code

Physical Release: May 20, 2022.

Band:
Justin Harrison – Drums
Omar Hetata – Guitar / Vocals
Omar Fra – Guitar
Tobias Pfennninger- Guitar
Jonathan Chaclan – Bass

Collaborators:

Carol Schuler – Vocals
Daniel Gisler – Rhodes, Organs, Synthesizer
Sebastian Koelman – Trombone
Julia Pfenninger – Cello
Philip Harrison – Backing Vocals

Soldat Hans on Facebook

Soldat Hans on Instagram

Soldat Hans on Bandcamp

Soldat Hans website

Wolves and Vibrancy Records store

Wolves and Vibrancy Records website

Wolves and Vibrancy Records on Facebook

Wolves and Vibrancy Records on Bandcamp

Sound of Liberation will host its first-ever A Day in Smoke mini-festival on April 30 in Pratteln, Switzerland. The venue, Z7, should be familiar if you’ve heard of the Up in Smoke fest that takes place there annually each Fall. A Day in Smoke, then, is an all-dayer that’s got names that will be likewise familiar if you’ve heard of either that fest or others in the Sound of Liberation booking sphere. Let me put it this way. If you’ve made it this far into the post without putting down your phone, I’m going to trust that you know what I’m talking about here.

A Day in Smoke was originally set for this past December but then blah blah. It’s April 30, and that seems like a right-now-likely-to-happen kind of thing. The first lineup announcement has a couple heavy-hitters in 1000mods, Colour Haze and Villagers of Ionnina City and with more to come, I know No Mute but I’m curious to check out Velvet Two Stripes and Meloi. Maybe you’ll be too.

Announcement was made this morning on social media:

A Day In Smoke – 30. April 2022

Venue: Z7
City: Pratteln, Switzerland

Friends, it looks like there’s finally some light at the end of the tunnel. We’re stoked to re-announce our „A Day In Smoke“ event and are beyond happy to reconfirm so many great bands already!

Line-Up:
1000mods
Colour Haze
Villagers of Ioannina City
Velvet Two Stripes
No Mute
MELOI

+ two more bands to be announced

Date:
Saturday, 30. April 2022
Konzertfabrik Z7 – Pratteln
Pratteln, Switzerland

Tickets:
Tickets from 2021 stay valid automatically or can be returned if you can not attend the new date.
Still need to get yours? Be fast! Here you go: http://www.sol-tickets.com

We can’t wait to celebrate a full day of heavy rock’n’roll with all of you. See you soon!

https://www.facebook.com/Soundofliberation/
https://www.instagram.com/soundofliberation/
https://www.soundofliberation.com/

Colour Haze, Live at Salzburg Rockhouse, Sept. 19, 2021

Dramatic. Atmospheric. Kinda fucked-sounding. One would expect new Sum of R to meet these criteria, and the band’s third single from the impending Lahbryce full-length on Consouling Sounds does so with aplomb. This is the first Sum of R outing to feature Marko Neuman, a party plenty familiar to Sum of R‘s Reto Mäder and Jukka Rämänen since he and Rämänen both run in the Waste of Space Orchestra-collective sphere.

You can read below about how the collaboration came about for a Roadburn 2020 doodad that, obviously, never happened, but like many others in this warped timeline, Sum of R have made the most of it. “Crown of Diseased” is bleak, spacious, experimentalist. Heavy, death ambient. Like Finnish/Swiss prodigal sons of Khanate come home to roost. I can imagine it in the Green Room at the 013, easy. Maybe a bonus set up at the skate park in the dark without telling anybody ahead of time.

The PR wire has the single and the preorder links:

SUM OF R RELEASE NEW SINGLE “CROWN OF DISEASED”

NEW ALBUM, “LAHBRYCE,” COMING MARCH 2022; PRE-ORDER NOW!

“Lahbryce” will be released March 25, 2022 on Consouling Sounds on 2xLP and CD.

Pre-Order CD: https://store.consouling.be/collections/new/products/album-sum-of-r-lahbryce-cd

Pre-Order 2xLP: https://store.consouling.be/collections/new/products/album-sum-of-r-lahbryce-lp

Every story has a beginning, no matter how unlikely. And the story of the new incarnation of Sum Of R, the project that Reto Mäder formed in 2007 and has led as the only fixed member ever since, began with some really good news, and then some really bad news, because you never know where magic is going to come from.

2020, remember that? Before the world went weird, Sum Of R were supposed to tour, a trek which included a much distinguished Roadburn appearance. The line-up for the tour was already set to be a duo, with Reto joining forces with drummer Jukka Rämänen, known for his presence in such luminaries of the groundbreaking Finnish psych scene as Dark Buddha Rising, Atomikylä or the supergroup Waste Of Space Orchestra (Oranssi Pazuzu & Dark Buddha Rising), not to mention Hexvessel and Dust Mountain. A power duo, in the true sense of the word. Because Roadburn is special, Reto thought about having a guest singer for that particular performance, and once you already have a connection established with the mighty Dark Buddha Rising – a connection first established on the joint Dark Buddha Rising / Sum Of R tour of 2018, by the way –, why look further? Enter vocalist Marko Neuman (also of Convocation and, naturally, the all-consuming Waste Of Space Orchestra), who would make them a remarkable and unlikely trio just for that evening.

Then, as we know, the world changed, and both the tour and Roadburn itself didn’t happen. In one of the best examples of there being a silver lining to almost every bad situation, Reto tried to make something positive of the situation and booked the first possible flight after the first lockdown in his native Switzerland to travel to Finland for three weeks of studio recording with the line-up that never was, Jukka and Marko. And boom: magic happened. As Reto puts it, “we had such a good and intense as well as grateful and creative time together that it could not be more natural that Marko also became a part of Sum Of R through these common experiences. For Jukka and me, Marko’s voice is like a transmitter to another dimension.”

1. Sink As I 08:34
2. Crown Of Diseased 04:46
3. Borderline
4. The Problem
5. Hymn For The Formless 07:18
6. Shimmering Sand
7. 144th
8. Lust

Line-up:
Reto Mäder: Bassguitar, drones, synth, effects
Jukka Rämänen: Drums, percussion, sounds
Marko Neuman: Vocals, synth, noise

https://www.facebook.com/sumofr
https://sumofr.bandcamp.com/
https://www.sumofrofficial.com/

https://www.facebook.com/ConsoulingSounds
https://www.instagram.com/consouling/
https://twitter.com/consouling
https://store.consouling.be/

Sum of R, Lahbryce (2022)

Sum of R, “Crown of Diseased” official video

Okay. Day Three. The halfway point. Or the quarter point if you count the week to come in January. Which I don’t. Feeling dug in. Ready to roll. Today’s a busy day, stylistically speaking, and there’s two wolf bands in there too. Better get moving.

Quarterly Review #21-30:

Duel, In Carne Persona

Duel seem to be on a mission with In Carne Persona to remind all in their path that rock and roll is supposed to be dangerous. Their fourth album and the follow-up to 2019’s Valley of Shadows (review here) finds the Austin four-piece in a between place on songs like “Children of the Fire” (premiered here) and “Anchor” and the especially charged gang-shout-chorus “Bite Back,” proffering memorable songwriting while edging from boogie to shove, rock to metal. They’ve never sounded more dynamic than on the organ-inclusive “Behind the Sound” or the tense finale “Blood on the Claw,” and cuts like “The Veil” and the particularly gritty “Dead Eyes” affirm their in-a-dark-place songwriting prowess. They’re not uneven in their approach. They’re sure of it. They turn songs on either side of four minutes long into anthems, and they seem to be completely at home in their sound. They’re not as ‘big’ as they should be by rights of their work, but Duel serve their reminder well and pack nine killer tunes into 38 minutes. Only a fool would ask more.

Duel on Facebook

Heavy Psych Sounds website

—

 

Mastiff, Leave Me the Ashes of the Earth

Fading in like the advent of something wicked this way coming until “The Hiss” explodes into “Fail,” Hull exports Mastiff tap chug from early ’00s metalcore en route to various forms of extreme bludgeonry, whether that’s blackened push in “Beige Sabbath,” grind in “Midnight Creeper” or the slow skin-crawling riffage that follows in “Futile.” This blender runs at multiple speeds, slices, dices, pummels and purees, reminding here of Blood Has Been Shed, there of Napalm Death, on “Endless” of Aborted. Any way you go, it is a bleak cacophony to be discovered, purposefully tectonic in its weight and intense in its conveyed violence. Barely topping half an hour, Leave Me the Ashes of the Earth knows precisely the fury it manifests, and the scariest thing about it is the thought that the band are in even the vaguest amount of control of all this chaos, as even the devolution-to-blowout in “Lung Rust” seems to have intent behind it. They should play this in art galleries.

Mastiff on Facebook

MNRK Heavy website

—

 

Wolftooth, Blood & Iron

Melody and a flair for the grandeur of classic NWOBHM-style metal take prominence on Wolftooth‘s Blood & Iron, the follow-up to the Indiana-based four-piece’s 2020 outing, Valhalla (review here), third album overall and first for Napalm Records. As regards trajectory, one is reminded of the manner in which Sweden’s Grand Magus donned the mantle of epic metal, but Wolftooth aren’t completely to that point yet. Riffs still very much lead the battle’s charge — pointedly so, as regards the album’s far-back-drums mix — with consuming solos as complement to the vocals’ tales of fantastical journeys, kings, swords and so on. The test of this kind of metal should ALWAYS be whether or not you’d scribble their logo on the front of your notebook after listening to the record on your shitty Walkman headphones, and yes, Wolftooth earn that honor among their other spoils of the fight, and Blood & Iron winds up the kind of tape you’d feel cool telling your friends about in that certain bygone age.

Wolftooth on Facebook

Napalm Records on Bandcamp

—

 

Illudium, Ash of the Womb

Another argument to chase down every release Prophecy Productions puts out arrives in the form of Illudium‘s second long-player, Ash of the Womb, the NorCal project spearheaded by Shantel Amundson vibing with emotional and tonal heft in kind on an immersive mourning-for-everything six tracks/47 minutes. Gorgeous, sad and heavy in kind “Aster” opens and unfolds into the fingers-sliding-on-strings of “Sempervirens,” which gallops furiously for a moment in its second half like a fever dream before passing to wistfully strummed minimalism, which is a pattern that holds in “Soma Sema” and “Atopa” as well, as Amundson brings volatility without notice, songs exploding and receding, madness and fury and then gone again in a sort of purposeful bipolar onslaught. Following “Madrigal,” the closing “Where Death and Dreams Do Manifest” finds an evenness of tempo and approach, not quite veering into heavygaze, but gloriously pulling together the various strands laid out across the songs prior, providing a fitting end to the story told in sound and lyric.

Illudium on Facebook

Prophecy Productions store

—

 

Ascia, Volume 1

Ascia takes its name from the Italian word for ‘axe,’ and as a solo-project from Fabrizio Monni, also of Black Capricorn, the 20-minute demo Volume 1 lives up to its implied threat. Launched with the instrumental riff-workout “At the Gates of Ishtar,” the five-tracker introduces Monni‘s vocals on the subsequent “Blood Axes,” and is all the more reminiscent of earliest High on Fire for the approach he takes, drums marauding behind a galloping verse that nonetheless finds an overarching groove. “Duhl Qarnayn” follows in straight-ahead fashion while “The Great Iskandar” settles some in tempo and opens up melodically in its second half, the vocals taking on an almost chanting quality, before switching back to finish with more thud and plunder ahead of the finale “Up the Irons,” which brings two-plus minutes of cathartic speed and demo-blast that I’d like to think was the first song Monni put together for the band if only for its metal-loving-metal charm. I don’t know that it is or isn’t, but it’s a welcome cap to this deceptively varied initial public offering.

Ascia on Bandcamp

Black Capricorn on Facebook

—

 

Stone From the Sky, Songs From the Deepwater

France’s Stone From the Sky, as a band named after a Neurosis singularized song might, dig into heavy post-rock aplenty on Songs From the Deepwater, their fourth full-length, and they meet floating tones with stretches of more densely-hefted groove like the Pelican-style nod of “Karoshi.” Still, however satisfying the ensuing back and forth is, some of their most effective moments are in the ambient stretches, as on “The Annapurna Healer” or even the patient opening of “Godspeed” at the record’s outset, which draws the listener in across its first three minutes before unveiling its full breadth. Likewise, “City/Angst” surges and recedes and surges again, but it’s in the contemplative moments that it’s most immersive, though I won’t take away from the appeal of the impact either. The winding “49.3 Nuances de Fuzz” precedes the subdued/vocalized closer “Talweg,” which departs in form while staying consistent in atmosphere, which proves paramount to the proceedings as a whole.

Stone From the Sky on Facebook

More Fuzz Records on Bandcamp

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The Brackish, Atlas Day

Whenever you’re ready to get weird, The Brackish will meet you there. The Bristol troupe’s fourth album, Atlas Day brings six songs and 38 minutes of ungrandiose artsy exploration, veering into dreamtone noodling on “Dust Off Reaper” only after hinting in that direction on the jazzier “Pretty Ugly” previous. Sure, there’s moments of crunch, like the garage-grunge in the second half of “Pam’s Chalice” or the almost-motorik thrust that tops opener “Deliverance,” but The Brackish aren’t looking to pay homage to genre or post-thisorthat so much as to seemingly shut down their brains and see where the songs lead them. That’s a quiet but not still pastoralia on “Leftbank” and a more skronky shuffle-jazz on “Mr. Universe,” and one suspects that, if there were more songs on Atlas Day, they too would go just about wherever the hell they wanted. Not without its self-indulgent aspects by its very nature, Atlas Day succeeds by inviting the audience along its intentionally meandering course. Something something “not all who wander” something something.

The Brackish on Facebook

Halfmeltedbrain Records on Bandcamp

—

 

Wolfnaut, III

Formerly known as Wolfgang, Elverum, Norway’s Wolfnaut offer sharp, crisp modern heavy rock with the Karl Daniel Lidén mixed/mastered III, the three-piece of guitarist/vocalist Kjetil Sæter (also percussion), bassist Tor Erik Hagen and drummer Ronny “Ronster” Kristiansen readily tapping Motörhead swagger in “Raise the Dead” after establishing a clarity of structure and a penchant for chorus largesse that reminds of Norse countrymen Spidergawd on “Swing Ride” and the Scorpions-tinged “Feed Your Dragon.” They are weighted in tone but emerge clean through the slower “Race to the Bottom” and “Gesell Kid.” I’m going to presume that “Taste My Brew” is about making one’s own beer — please don’t tell me otherwise — and with the push of “Catching Thunder” ahead of the eight-minute, willfully spacious “Wolfnaut” at the end, the trio’s heavy rock traditionalism is given an edge of reach to coincide with its vitality and electrified delivery of the songs.

Wolfnaut on Facebook

Wolfnaut on Bandcamp

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Trillion Ton Beryllium Ships, Rosalee EP

Having released their debut full-length, TTBS, earlier in 2021 as their first outing, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Lincoln, Nebraska’s Trillion Ton Beryllium Ships still seem to be getting their feet under them in terms of sound and who they are as a band, but as the 34-minute-long Rosalee EP demonstrates, in terms of tone and general approach, they know what they’re looking for. After the thud and “whoa-oh” of “Core Fragment,” “Destroyer Heart” pushes a little more into aggression in its back end riffs and drumming, and the chugging, lurching motion of “URTH Anachoic” brings a fullness of distortion that the two prior songs seemed just to be hinting toward. It’s worth noting that the 16-minute title-track, which closes, is instrumental, and it may be that the band are more comfortable operating in that manner for the time being, but if there’s a confidence issue, no doubt it can be worked out on stage (circumstances permitting) or in further studio work. That is, it’s not actually a problem, even at this formative stage of the project. Quick turnaround for this second collection, but definitely welcome.

Trillion Ton Beryllium Ships on Facebook

Trillion Ton Beryllium Ships on Bandcamp

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Closet Disco Queen, Stadium Rock for Punk Bums

Their persistently irreverent spirit notwithstanding, Closet Disco Queen — at some point in the process, ever — take their work pretty seriously. That is to say, they’re not nearly as much of a goof as they’d have you believe, and on the quickie 16-minute Stadium Rock for Punk Bums, the Swiss two-piece-plus, their open creative sensibility results in surprisingly filled-out tracks that aren’t quite stadium, aren’t quite punk, definitely rock, and would probably alienate the bum crowd not willing to put the effort into actively engaging them. So the title (which, I know, is a reference to another release; calm down) may or may not fit, but from “Michel-Jacques Sonne” onward, bring switched-on heavy that’s not so much experimentalist in the fuck-around-and-find-out definition as ready to follow its own ideas to fruition, whether that’s the rush of “Pascal à la Plage” or the barely-there drone of “Lalalalala Reverb,” which immediately follows and gives way to the building-despite-itself finisher “Le Soucieux Toucan.” If these guys aren’t careful they’re gonna have to start taking themselves seriously. …Nah.

Closet Disco Queen on Facebook

Hummus Records website

—

 

I’m glad this is happening for two reasons. Interesting band, highlighting their work the kind of limited release that’s bound to catch a few new ears. For example, I hadn’t heard Shrooms Circle‘s “S.L.E.” before and it’s a fascinating blend of styles, bringing together classic cultism and ’90s-style goth — that skippy guitar gets me every time — with a well-crafted melody. The song featured on DHU Records‘ DHU Sampler MMXXI Vol. 6 earlier this year, and that leads me to the second reason I’m glad this exists, which is it means the vinyl-centric label is still keeping active despite the delays in pressing times one hears about so often these days.

So it’s a heads up on a record I’ll want to keep an ear out for in 2022, and it’s a label persevering through hardship to do what it does best in offer a cool product to its select market. That’s a win as far as I’m concerned.

To wit:

Promo 7″ Single By Shrooms Circle Released Halloween

Since it’s taking forever these days to press regular vinyl with production times running anywhere between 8-12 months now, it’s a real hassle to maintain an underground record label which mostly has a small run of pressings, which results in bigger pressings getting cut first. Not to mention the cost of materials rising due to scarcity.

BUT! That doesn’t mean we can’t do other fun stuff in the meantime!

Up next on DHU Records we present the Promo Single S.L.E. by Shrooms Circle on Limited Edition Single Sided Crystal Clear Lathe Cut 7″ w/ a screen print on the Bside!

S.L.E. was presented on the DHU SAMPLER MMXXI last August 2021 and is a promo single for the upcoming second full length which will see the light of day in 2022 (date to be confirmed).

S.L.E. will NOT be on the second full length vinyl release! S.L.E. will be released October 31st Halloween 2021 and will be ready to pre order Friday October 22nd @ 7PM CEST.

Available as follows:

Lathe Cut Edition
Strictly Limited to 66 copies
Single Jacket
Exclusive DHU Halloween Sticker
Bside Screen Print
Artwork & Layout by Shane Horror
Pressed by Royal Mint Records
Comes on Crystal Clear Lathe Cut 7″ vinyl

(PLEASE NOTE: Lathe cut records are cut manually, meaning the drop of the cutting needle is done by hand. They are time consuming to make, which limits the size of the run.)

Shrooms Circle ~ S.L.E.
(Sadistic And Lovely Execution)
(DHU053)

Side A:
A1. S.L.E.
Side B:
Screen Print

Produced and Recorded by Kelen Ob At Flying Beast Studio
Mastered by DC Mastering
Artwork & Layout by Shane Horror

Listen to S.L.E. here:
https://darkhedonisticunionrecords.bandcamp.com/track/shrooms-circle-s-l-e

Shrooms Circle are:
Lord Chevrotine – Drums
Johann – Bass
Kelen Ob – Guitar, Vocals
Teckel – Organ, Mellotron
Odile – Vocals

https://www.facebook.com/shrooms.circle/
http://shroomscircle.bandcamp.com
https://www.facebook.com/DHURecords/
https://www.instagram.com/dhu_records/
https://darkhedonisticunionrecords.bandcamp.com/
darkhedonisticunionrecords.bigcartel.com/

Shrooms Circle, “S.L.E.”

Swiss atmospheric post-doomers Black Willows release their third full-length, Shemurah, on Oct. 21. It is an arrival that has been some time in the making even when one discounts the fact of the three years since the Lausanne trio’s second album, Bliss (review here), and concurrent split with Finland’s Craneium (review here). In May 2020, the band posted the second of Shemurah‘s kind-of-an-injustice-to-call-them interludes, “Interlude II,” and so at least some portion of the record will have been done and ready to roll out for 17 months.

Given the incredible, worth-whatever-volume-you-can-give-it scope of Shemurah, that is an impressive feat, both in it maybe taking a year and a half since Bliss to put such a consuming 79-minute 2LP together, and to subsequently sit on it for that long afterward without getting more excited and releasing any more of it than they have to this point. At this point, the most honest thing I can do is spare you a longwinded diatribe and just tell you to click play on “Communion” premiering below. Then come back and read or do whatever else you’re doing today while listening. It will summarize a lot of what I’m talking about. I hope you enjoy.

“Communion” at 19:33, is the opener and longest track (immediate points) on Shemurah, and its heft of tone and atmosphere is nothing less than a thing of crumbling-tectonics beauty. Throughout Shemurah, guitarist/vocalist Aleister Crowley, bassist Sacha Ruffieux and drummer/pianist Erik Dettori embrace a cosmic weight worthy of sitting alongside Eve-era Ufomammut or anyone else you’d like to namedrop, and “Communion” sets this pattern very much in motion. Cosmic. Fucking. Doom. There is, however, another side entirely to “Communion” and the journey-waiting-to-be-undertaken album that follows, broken into four sides across two platters. It is the ambient aspect of what Black Willows here accomplish, and with a break 7:30 into “Communion,” a different kind of procession begins no less ritualistic than the lumbering prior, but meets Om-style chant with YOBian guitar exploration. In this, as in their release cycle, Black Willows remain patient, methodical in their delivery. Even as the track builds back to its eventual resurgent crush at 14:08, it does so with such fluidity as to be organic and inevitable in kind. You know it’s coming, but the path to get there is no less satisfying than the arrival.

A landmark unto itself, “Communion” is joined on side A by “Interlude I” a 2:24 complement that miniaturizes the progression of the lead cut and, in linear format, transitions directly into side B’s “Ascent,” which, at 18:06, follows the pattern set out by LP1’s first half, in its own crux as well as in being followed by the aforementioned “Interlude II” (3:39). After a droning beginning with the drums subtly foretelling the kick to come, what takes hold at 3:21 is a nodding chug the largesse of which is oxygen-reducing. Met soon with vocals that pull together the two sides playing out in “Communion,” “Ascent” lives up to its title as it willfully drags along the trail of its own making, forward, growing to an echo and roll that transitions toward a shorter quiet stretch before a (relative) uptick in tempo leads to the wash of the apex lead and final, stomping crashes and feedback, cutting to silence just before “Interlude II” starts with drums and efficiently finds its own rollout. These short pieces are songs, could easily have titles, but serve well to offset the album-unto-themselves longer tracks they accompany.

Shemurah — the Hebrew word translating to “eyelid” — to an extent holds the LP1 pattern across the second 12″, but “Blindness” and “Anathem” are shorter at a little under 11 minutes apiece, and “Annhiliated” (8:07) and the closer “Aphorism” (6:13) are longer than the “Interlude” pair. More importantly, the construction of the songs themselves changes, with “Blindness” playing off back and forth quiet/loud trades in post-metallic fashion while remaining delightfully, stubbornly committed to the melody and rich psychedelia underpinning. It is arguably the most YOB that Black Willows get, but that should only be taken as a compliment for the emotionalism on display in the midsection and the engrossing payoff that ensues. As one might expect, “Annihilated” is simpler, but rather than revise the righteously grueling pummel of “Ascent” or “Communion,” it builds a tension in Dettori‘s drums across its first five and half minutes before unveiling its faster lurch — and the letting go of that tension is temporary, carrying into the quiet spaciousness of “Anathem.”

The penultimate track on Shemurah, though on the LP it comes on the next side (D), works cleverly after “Annihilated,” essentially trading out the rumble-punctuated crashes of the piece before with subdued, meandering guitar for most of its stretch. Vocals come quietly and yes, it’s got its own build, but for seven-plus minutes, the flow is as languid and unhurried as “Annihilated” seemed to be teeth-grinding, and the resultant louder push likewise departs before Black Willows are done. A fading hum gives way to “Aphorism,” and the albeit-slow-motion dizzying aspect of Shemurah at this point shouldn’t be understated. Before they round out the last quarter of the eight-cut movement of the whole record, the band have well proven they can go where they want and remain in complete control while sounding likewise as though, with eyes rolled back in their head, they’re touching on the intangibility of sonic spiritualism that those of dogmatic breeding call god and find speaking in tongues. That is, they sound like they’re letting themselves go into their own sound while leading the listener with a steady hand.

“Aphorism,” which rounds out with piano, is something of an epilogue to the outing as a whole, but it’s not so much serene in its mood as it is continuing to speak to the either-outward-or-inward searching the rest of Shemurah undertakes. A melancholy, plotted lead layers over the central notes of the rhythm in melodic complement, and though instrumental, there’s really nothing else that needs to be said when the first keys strike and the last resonant fade goes, no less intentional in their execution than the 17 seconds of rising drone that precede the initial viscosity of “Communion.”

Everything in its place; none of it forced there.

A quote from Crowley and more album info follows the player below.

Once again, enjoy:

Black Willows, “Communion” track premiere

Aleister Crowley on “Communion”:

“Communion” is about trying to make peace with yourself and then finding serenity.

When you reach this state of consciousness you are finally free and in entire communion with yourself and all the things surrounding you.

I thought a lot about this record, how long it last and the general tuning/mood of it… and I already know that Shemurah is particular, it’s not like another records you can listen, it’s more like a very long mantra, the record should be listened like something going through to your subconscious, your soul and get into vibrations with them. Like a yoga/meditation cession or something like that…

I know that is a very special record and people will need/have to be in the right mood and state of consciousness for this one.

I took a risk with this one but I really wanted and needed to push the boundaries of what I had in mind…

Black Willows | Shemurah

Tracklisting:
1. Communion (19:33)
2. Interlude I (2:24)
3. Ascent (18:06)
4. Interlude II (3:39)
5. Blindness (10:51)
6. Annihilated (8:07)
7. Anathem (10:57)
8. Aphorism (6:13)

Written by Aleister Crowley

All songs performed live and recorded by Sacha Ruffieux at studio de la Fonderie, Fribourg, Switzerland. Additional recordings engineered by Raphaël Bovey at Blend studio, Lutry, Switzerland. Vocals recorded by Brian Bendahan at Shiverland productions, Switzerland. Mixed and mastered by Raphaël Bovey at MyRoom Studio, Switzerland.

Black Willows are:
Guitar and vocals: Aleister Crowley
bass: Sacha Ruffieux
drums and piano: Erik Dettori

Black Willows, “Interlude II”

Black Willows on Facebook

Black Willows on Bandcamp

Black Willows on YouTube

Black Willows webstore

Black Willows website

Born in Lausanne, Switzerland, 2021 marks the 15th anniversary of instrumentalist progressive/heavy psych rockers Monkey3, who released their second album, 39 Laps, on Buzzville Records in 2006 after making a self-titled debut in 2003. If the number in the band name strikes as weird, it was more common around the turn of the century with European acts; consider Hypnos 69 from Belgium or 7Zuma7 and 35007 from the Netherlands. The latter are perhaps most relevant when it comes to the work Monkey3 were doing in the mid-aughts — the self-titled included a song named for them, for example. 35007‘s final offering, Phase V (discussed here) came out on Stickman Records — with whom Monkey3 would sign for 2011’s third LP, Beyond the Black Sky (review here) — in 2005, and found that band working in a sphere of immersion to which 39 Laps is at least complementary if probably not working in direct answer. That is, bassist Christophe Picasso, drummer Walter Albrecht, guitarist Boris de Piante and keyboardist Guilaume Desboeufs — who may or may not also be dB and Mister Mapropre; the band have always been cagey about names — probably didn’t sit down and say they should directly build on what the Dutch band had done the year before, but the two records certainly work well alongside each other.

And while we’re setting an afternoon’s playlist of (at least mostly) instrumental meditative heavy psychedelic progressivism, it’s worth considering that as Monkey3 were finding their way forward with the six songs and 51 minutes of 39 Laps, Germany’s My Sleeping Karma released their own self-titled debut (discussed here) the same year, and despite a more direct thematic in the exploration of various Buddhist and other philosophies, they’re still a sonic fit as well. So Monkey3 have been and continue to be in good company.

They’ve also — here comes the inevitable pivot — done well to distinguish themselves among that very company, and 39 Laps is a prime example of how. The album doesn’t quite work shortest-to-longest in its procession of tracks, but among the five original inclusions, it separates into two halves with three six-minute cuts, “Xub,” “Last Moulinao” and “Driver,” comprising a theoretical side A and the longer “Jack” (9:09) and “Je et Bikkje” (13:24) on the again-theoretical side B. In reality, the original CD release also contains the nine-minute take on Ennio Morricone‘s “Once Upon a Time in the West” theme, starting with wind and sparse guitar and gradually building to a fully-weighted roll and topping it with a willfully grandiose guitar lead over the slowed-down progression as an apex before the ringing of the bell signals, I guess, the start of the movie. I’ll admit, it’s been a while.

Also in reality, by the time 39 Laps came out on vinyl, it was through the short-lived Napalm Records-offshoot Spinning Goblin Productions, and the album was released as a 2LP, with a cover of Black Sabbath‘s “Electric Funeral” also included on side D alongside the Morricone piece. So there.

These 15 years after the fact, there are arguments to be made as to whether 39 Laps works better with or without that final cover. “Je et Bikkje” caps at a fury, with a solo soaring out over an ocean of swirling synth and rhythmic churn — an encapsulation that’s an exciting moment on its own, a payoff for the earlier heft and percussive motion of the song’s midsection and the ongoing proggy tension of the guitar after its own volume surge. It’s a moot debate — the album is what it is — if perhaps a fun one, but if there’s a winning case, it’s probably “the more the merrier,” and that certainly applies to “Once Upon a Time in the West.”

To that point, Monkey3 have already wildly immersed the audience in their atmospherics. This band could and still can be crazy heavy, and “Driver” demonstrates that as plainly as possible, but they’re no less dedicated to trance than impact. The basslines are essential to this. Beneath the smooth, almost Tool-style bounce of the guitar as it makes its way into “Xub,” the bassline holds steady and not only adds to the movement of the build, but is the ground on which that movement takes place. That’s not to detract from the drums at all — steady snare pops are welcome punctuation throughout “Xub” and the rest of the album that follows — but just as often in the most ambient stretches of 39 Laps, the low end bears the significant task of grounding the procession, helping give structure to what especially without vocals could easily have become more ethereal than the band intended.

And perhaps it’s unsurprising that their intention and the realization of it is so much of why 39 Laps succeeds at that listener-immersion. Even unto “Once Upon a Time in the West,” this is an easy, easy, easy record in which to lose one’s self and be brought back by whatever given element — the vague effects-laden speech of “Je et Bikkje,” the acoustic guitar of “Last Moulinao,” the bursts of extra heft in the culmination of “Jack,” etc. — and the recording and mix of Mario Krag deserves special mention for the depths and spaces created in which one might explore. They remain resonant and broad in kind.

Long a staple of the Sound of Liberation booking roster, Monkey3 were recently announced as taking part in Desertfest Belgium 2021 in Antwerp and the newcomer Noise Fest in their native Switzerland, as well as Orange Factory‘s 25th anniversary bash next year, also in Belgium. I’ll admit — if it’s a thing that warrants confession — their appearance at Desertfest is what put them in my mind. They were there as well for their latest studio release, 2019’s Sphere (review here), and at the Orange Factory show, Monkey3 will play alongside a reunion for the aforementioned Hypnos 69, with whom they also put out a split in 2006, concurrent to 39 Laps.

They have other appearances booked and recently completed as well, and it could well be that 2022 will mark a fuller return to the road. They did tour in Fall 2019 to support Sphere, but if they needed an excuse to go, certainly even a delayed 20th anniversary celebration would more than suffice.

In any case, as always, I hope you enjoy. Thank you for reading.

—

I need to shower. Maybe before I write this. Hang on…

…I do not even a little bit regret that decision. Yes, that puts it closer to 10AM than not — started the post before The Pecan woke up, finishing after he’s off to school — but a good, languid scalding was precise what I needed. As The Patient Mrs. tells me often, “You never regret showering.” She is correct in that, as in so much else.

Earlier this week, Tuesday in fact, was our 24th anniversary of when we first got together. I was 15 at the time. I turn 40 later this month. The lazy math on that says that’s over 60 percent of my life. There is nothing I regret less than spending that time in that way.

I wish I could say we did a lot to celebrate, but not really. We were pretty light on cash this week — getting caught up after her starting during-semester paychecks; we live mostly one to the next, like fucking everybody because the American social safety net is a scam and our government, when not actively trying to cause your death, doesn’t care if you live or die and if they did, even remotely, we’d have universal healthcare and basic income and we all know it and still do nothing about it — but my mother bought us takeout from our favorite diner and that was kind and made the kid happy since he got a cookie with his grilled cheese. Otherwise she worked and I was doing the Quarterly Review all week, so that was pretty much that. She’s got work this weekend too, and I’ve got more Quarterly review coming Monday and Tuesday and a liner notes project (Slomatics) and a bio project (Stompbox) besides, so yeah.

Plus the kid, whom I’ve taken to school the last two days because of a no-show bus. It came this morning. Just trying to keep us on our toes, I guess. We rearranged rocks in the yard while waiting. That’s real life.

Clutch, Stöner and King Buffalo are playing tomorrow night in New Haven, Connecticut. I’d love to go. I’m dying to go. To go, take pictures, see the KB guys play new songs, do the thing. I just can’t bring myself to do it. It feels too big. My kid can’t get vaccinated. My wife already is back working on a college campus. I’m vaccinated and so is she. And I don’t care if I get sick. Hell, there were at least three times during the Quarterly Review this week that I would’ve happily traded writing for lungfire. But I can’t be responsible for getting either of them sick. I just can’t.

Kind, Geezer and Curse the Son play Hamden (also CT) on Oct. 21. It’s a Thursday night. I’m thinking that might be a good, lower-key “first show back.” I doubt The Patient Mrs. will complain about spending time with her family up there.

My consolation in this is that I’ll get another chance with the full Clutch, Stöner and King Buffalo lineup in December in New Jersey. I have no idea what the world will look like then, let alone my own Covid-anxiety, but it’s less urgent in my brain than tomorrow, so it’s enough to hang my hat on. King Buffalo are also at Mercury Lounge on Nov. 7. I won’t go to that unless I’m feeling entirely on board after the Curse the Son show, but knowing it exists is a comfort.

That’s where I’m at. High on Fire at Le Poisson Rouge in Manhattan? No way. Pallbearer, Somnuri and Heavy Temple at Saint Vitus Bar in Brooklyn? Doubtful. I’m just not there.

I’m doing my best.

Next week — two more days of Quarterly Review (could definitely be more, but yeah…), plus Slowshine full stream, a Wail video premiere, and so on. Gonna try to review something in there as a favor to myself, but I haven’t decided what yet. And I’m gonna try to get a video interview done in there too, but we’ll see.

I hope you have a great and safe weekend. Have as much fun as you can. Hydrate. Watch your head. Listen to the Gimme Metal show today at 5PM Eastern. All that fun stuff.

New t-shirts coming soon.

FRM

The Obelisk Forum

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Details about the forthcoming debut album from Swedish/Swiss post-sludge trio Norna are much like their promo picture below: dark grey and vague. For example, I know that Vinter Records will release the album, but I’ve heard both that it’s coming this Fall and that it’ll be out sometime early in 2022 — you can see the latter in the PR wire headline below, so that’s what I’m rolling with — but as to what it’s called, where/how/when it was made, all that stuff, I haven’t the foggiest.

This is obviously a purposeful choice, and it’s consistent from when it was announced that Norna had signed to Vinter and basically all that went with that was a teaser. It, was, however, a very heavy teaser. “The Truther,” an initial single from the yet-untitled long-player, follows suit in that “very heavy” regard, and one will find some commonality with the Euro school of more extreme post-metal, but the atmosphere rings especially harsh here and is all the more satisfying for that.

Again, info is establish-some-mystique sparse, but I actually just got the title. The album will be called Star is Way Way is Eye.

Here’s the rest of what I’ve got:

NORNA: First Single From Swedish/Swiss Post-Metal Collabo With Members Of BREACH, ØLTEN and THE OLD WIND Streaming; Debut Full-Length To Drop Early Next Year via VINTER RECORDS

Norna, the new and devastatingly punishing outfit with members from Breach, Ølten and The Old Wind, will release their debut album via Vinter Records.

Hailing from the cold north of Sweden and the epic vastness of the Swizz alps, the band consists of Swedish hardcore pioneer Tomas Liljedahl (Breach, The Old Wind) and Swiss underground troopers Christophe Macquat and Marc Theurillat (Ølten). Formed merely a year ago, the three piece is now ready with their debut recording – a thunderous onslaught of bleak, cold and desperate heaviness.

Band:
Guitar/Vox. Tomas Liljedahl (ex Breach ,The old wind)
Guitar/Moog. Chris Macquat (Ølten)
Drums/Moog. Marc Theurillat (Ølten)

https://www.facebook.com/Nornaband
https://www.instagram.com/norna_band/
https://www.facebook.com/vinterrecords
https://www.instagram.com/vinter_records/
http://vinterrecords.com/

Norna, “The Truther”