Posted in Whathaveyou on July 12th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
This weekend, Tennessee merchants WyndRider head to London, Kentucky, to appear at Holler of Doom III, and with a few shows later in the month, more in August and newly announced dates there and in September, they’ll apparently continue the streak of steady live appearances they’ve had going since they offered their self-titled debut (review here) at the end of March. The four-piece have traded drummers since then — as will happen when a new band starts playing out more; some personnel shuffle is not uncommon — but haven’t missed a step as word of their riffly tidings has begun to spread.
The dates below, some new, some previously known, include a couple long weekenders and local-ish odds and ends rather than a full two-week string or whatever, but as far as I’m concerned it’s cool they’re getting out at all. Note that the Ohio date is the Doomed and Stoned in Ohio fest, and I have no trouble believing there’s more to come, but for now here’s this from the PR wire:
WYNDRIDER has added many shows to their already packed summer
At the beginning of May, the band announced Richard Bucher was stepping down and introduced their new drummer, Josh Brock, as well as many appearances they would make with this new lineup. Now, they are announcing August and September dates and will make several more appearances this year in Charlotte, Savannah, Tampa, Jacksonville, Columbus, Lexington, Jacksonville, and more.
Upcoming Dates: July 15-London, KY-Holler of Doom III Festival at Mountain View Farm
July 21-Knoxville, TN-The Pilot Light with Realm, Dead Vibes Ensemble and NinjaWitch
July 29-Youngstown, OH-Ohio Doomed & Stoned Fest at Westside Bowl
July 30-Cincinnati, OH-The Comet with Grey Host, Before the Eyewall, and Opium Doom Cult
August 12- Whitesburg, KY at Summit City on Main with ENT, Portrait of Betrayal, LIPS, Hank 69, and Ponddigger
August 17- Johnson City, TN at The Hideaway with Crop and ENT
August 24- Columbus, OH at Spacebar with Wolftooth, Weed Demon, and Wurm Sun
August 25- Lexington, KY at The Green Lantern with Blind Scryer and Suncage
August 26- Lynchburg, VA at Riverview Vinyl with Smoke and Black Wind
September 15- Knoxville, TN at BrickYard Bar & Grill with The Slow Attack, Stoneman, Neanderthal, and Lucky Perm
September 21- Charlotte, NC at Snug Harbor with King Cackle and StormWatchers
September 22- Savannah, GA at El Rocko Lounge with Damned to Earth and Doof
September 23- Tampa, FL at The Born Free Pub with Worldeater, Snake Healer, Tension Electric, and Othalan
September 24- Jacksonville, FL at Rain Dogs with Stoned Morose and TBA
September 30- Asheville, NC at Fleetwood’s with Mean Green and TBA
Posted in Whathaveyou on May 8th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
With the recent release of their self-titled debut (review here) behind them, Tennessee heavy rockers WyndRider have lined up a string of shows this summer to support the album. Highlighted by fest appearances at Badseed and Holler of Doom in Kentucky and Doomed & Stoned in Ohio, where they’ll join a slew of badass acts, as well as a support slot on June 27 for the upcoming Red Mesa tour, the stint throughout June and July will also be the introduction of new drummer Josh Brock, who steps into the role in place of Richard Bucher. I don’t know what’s behind the percussive swap, but it’s worth noting that as of now, the four-piece are in possession of an all-Josh rhythm section, featuring as they do bassist Joshuwah Herald alongside guitarist Robbie Willis and vocalist Chloe Gould. And as the ancient saying goes, ‘an all-Josh rhythm section ain’t nuthin’ to fuck with.’ That or Wu-Tang. I get those two mixed up all the time.
Either way, if you didn’t catch the album yet — and if not, you’re by no means late; trying always to build bridges not keep gates; all are welcome here unless you’re a fascist — you’ll find the stream below, along with the dates and copious info sent along the PR wire. If you’re up for a bit of exploring, WyndRider will share the stage with a pretty wide assortment of cool bands, keeping good company as they continue to develop their sound and move forward with the partially-reconstructed lineup.
Dig in:
WyndRider Announces Summer Dates
WyndRider is a four piece, female-fronted Stoner Doom band from the mountains of East Tennessee. Joshuwah Herald (bass), Robbie Willis (guitar), Chloe Gould (vocals), and Richard Bucher (drums) made up the original members, playing their first show on March 31, 2022 at the Hideaway in Johnson City, TN. Their first single, Electrophilia, was recorded at the beginning of April (recorded, mixed, and mastered by Greg Glessing and Milby Shaffer) and published on May 26 of the same year. With only one single available online since the beginning, WyndRider moved leaps and bounds, booking in Kentucky, North and South Carolina, Ohio, Georgia, West Virginia, and around Tennessee. They have shared the stage with names such as Caustic Casanova and Book of Wyrms at Holler of Doom II Festival in London, KY, and Dizygote, Lung, and Gaffer Project in their hometown of Johnson City, TN. They returned to London, KY in the fall of 2022 to play a second festival- Mountains of Metal 7, and Lexington, KY for Revenge of the Toker Day Fest.
The band’s debut album, WyndRider, was recorded in late September by Danielle Fehr from The Wizard Productions. The recordings are the most raw, natural sounding form of the songs that they were able to capture in a studio setting, while still emulating the energy of a live performance. Bands such as Black Sabbath, Steppenwolf, Mountain, and Budgie inspired their take on a continuation of heavy and psychedelic music. The themes of this album are a culmination of subjects such as apocalypse, alien life, the Satanic Panic, and sarcastic dissection of the Christian Church. It portrays a new version of the physical, biting addictiveness that Rock and Roll inspired for another generation.
‘WyndRider’ was released in full on March 31, 2023, exactly one year after the date of the band’s first show.
At the beginning of May, the band announced Richard Bucher was stepping down and introduced their new drummer, Josh Brock. Beginning in June, they will continue performing with this new lineup and plan to make appearances in many cities this year, including Charlotte, Athens, Atlanta, Columbia, Cincinnati, Savannah and Tampa. They can once again be seen at Holler of Doom Festival in London, KY, as well as Badseed Fest (Whitesburg, KY), and Ohio Doomed and Stoned Festival in Youngstown.
“We are over the moon about how far we have come as a band in just a short time. We look forward to hitting the road this summer with Josh Brock and reaching all kinds of new territory! To everyone who has supported us this far and jammed our album, we cannot thank you enough.” – WyndRider
Upcoming Dates: June 1- Charlotte, NC- Skylark Social Club with Occult Fracture and Witch Motel June 2- Athens, GA- Flicker Bar with Ghoul Hand and Rosie & the Ratdogs June 3- Atlanta, GA- Star Community Bar with Stoneman and Hot Ram June 9- Johnson City, TN- The Hideaway with Nerve Endings and Dope Skum June 17- Whitesburg, KY- Badseed Fest at Summit City on Main June 24- Johnson City, TN- Capone’s with Season of the Witch and Appalachian Death Cult June 27- Knoxville, TN- BrickYard Bar & Grill with Red Mesa, Shockwolf, and Sun Mantra July 1- Columbia, SC- Art Bar with Cosmic Reaper and Ort July 15- London, KY- Holler of Doom III Festival at Mountain View Farm July 21- Knoxville, TN- The Pilot Light with Realm, Dead Vibes Ensemble and Ninja Witch July 29- Youngstown, OH- Ohio Doomed & Stoned Fest at Westside Bowl July 30- Cincinnati, OH- The Comet with Grey Host, Before the Eyewall, and Opium Doom Cult
More August and September dates to be announced soon.
Posted in Whathaveyou on April 18th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
So, a couple learnings here. First, at some point between then and now, Nashville’s Howling Giant pivoted from Blues Funeral to Magnetic Eye Records. I’m not sure when, but their new single “Sunken City” is hosted by the latter, and it’s all under the umbrella of Spkr Media and the cruel tutelage of Pai MeiJadd Shickler anyhow, so it’s good to know, but maybe more of a bookkeeping thing less important than what the song itself tells us.
To that: Big riff, big melody, big hook, big prog — Howling Giant are going for it. This is a band who’ve been positioning themselves to engage an audience for years now and it seems their upcoming album will find them looking at least in part to reap what they’ve sown and raise their profile in the heavy underground. Yes, I’m talking about touring Europe. Nifty and more that they’ll spend a month on the road with Elder and Ruby the Hatchet — Howling Giant are no strangers to touring, and I’m sure these dates will be killer; I hope to attend the Connecticut show — but as they’ve already been confirmed for Into the Void in Leeuwarden, the Netherlands, and Desertfest Belgium 2023, I have to think there are more tour dates coming. Both of those fests are in October. Does that mean a September album release?
That would make releasing a first single four-to-five months ahead of time very, very early. And if they’re releasing it to promote the US tour, it’s still a month early. So maybe the record shows up in July, but the PR wire knows more than I do and says “autumn,” so I’m just going by what I read. All the same, “Sunken City” fucking shimmers and is every bit the righteous groove that might just aid Howling Giant in manifesting their long-laid plans for global domination — or Twitch streams; whatever that is — so if it’s half a year early, it’s still right on time as far as I’m concerned. The rest will fall into place with the hard work, extensive planning and unpredicted pains in the ass that always make new albums seem like magic.
Song is at the bottom of the post. The PR wire has the tour dates and more:
HOWLING GIANT release new single ‘Sunken City’ and announce US live dates with ELDER & RUBY THE HATCHET!
In advance of their upcoming US tour with ELDER and labelmates RUBY THE HATCHET, Nashville psych-metal power trio HOWLING GIANT release the soaring digital single ‘Sunken City’ as a first taste of their sophomore full-length, which is scheduled for autumn this year.
Please see below for all confirmed HOWLING GIANT live dates.
HOWLING GIANT comment: “‘Sunken City’ was one of the first songs we wrote for our new record and we’re excited to play it live on tour with Elder and Ruby The Hatchet”, drummer Zach Wheeler writes. “The track showcases some of our favorite riffs, licks, and songwriting to date, and we’re very much looking forward to everyone coming out to hang with us on the road and hear ‘Sunken City’ live!”
HOWLING GIANT Live * +ELDER +RUBY THE HATCHET 03 May 2023 Buffalo, NY (US) Mohawk* 04 May 2023 Cleveland, OH (US) Grog Shop* 05 May 2023 Indianapolis, IN (US) Black Circle* 06 May 2023 Rock Island, IL (US) Wake Brewing* 07 May 2023 Kansas City, MO (US) The Record Bar* 09 May 2023 Denver, CO (US) The Bluebird Theater* 10 May 2023 Salt Lake City, UT (US) Urban Lounge* 11 May 2023 Las Vegas, NV (US) The Usual Place* 12 May 2023 Los Angeles, CA (US) Lodge Room* 13 May 2023 Santa Ana, CA (US) The Constellation Room* 14 May 2023 San Diego, CA (US) Brick By Brick* 16 May 2023 San Francisco, CA (US) Great American Music Hall* 17 May 2023 Fresno, CA (US) Strummer’s* 18 May 2023 Sacramento, CA (US) Harlow’s* 20 May 2023 Seattle, WA (US) Substation* 21 May 2023 Vancouver, BC (CA) Modified Ghost Festival* 23 May 2023 Calgary, AB (CA) Palomino* 24 MAY 2023 Edmonton, AB (CA) Starlite Room* 26 MAY 2023 Winnipeg, MB (CA) The Park Theatre 27 MAY 2023 Fargo, ND (US) The Aquarium* 28 MAY 2023 Minneapolis, MN (US) Fine Line* 29 MAY 2023 Milwaukee, WI (US) X-Ray Arcade* 30 MAY 2023 Grand Rapids, MI (US) Pyramid Scheme* 31 MAY 2023 Toronto, ON(CA) Lee’s Palace* 01 JUN 2023 Montréal, QC (CA) Les Foufounes Électriques* 02 JUN 2023 Providence, RI (US) Alchemy* 03 JUN 2023 Hamden, CT (US) Space Ballroom*
Despite Nashville’s reputation for assembly-line pop country, the town called Music City is a place of deep history, where brilliant songwriters and virtuoso session players keep dozens of musical legacies burning bright. Nashville’s preeminent fuzz-psych power trio HOWLING GIANT live in the pocket of that lineage.
HOWLING GIANT formed nearly ten years ago with the union of guitarist and singer Tom Polzine, drummer and vocalist Zach Wheeler, and bassist and vocalist Roger Marks. From day one, the trio locked into a musical groove of thunderous metal, proggy acrobatics, psychedelic flourishes and soaring melodic vocals, telling stories of fantasy and adventure with such sheer force of will that they seemed capable of opening a window to other dimensions.
Their early years saw a flurry of recorded activity, with an acclaimed self-titled EP in 2015 and an audacious concept piece split across two EPs, “Black Hole Space Wizard Part 1”, released in 2016 and a year later “Black Hole Space Wizard Part 2”.
Soon, HOWLING GIANT set out to bring their arena-sized energy to the people with the hunger of true road dogs. Throughout 2017 and 2018, they crisscrossed the United States, pouring out heart and soul (and sweat) while flying the flag of emotive, intricate heavy rock and roll. This tireless energy eventually brought them to such prominent festival stages as Psycho Las Vegas in 2018 and both SXSW and Psycho Smokeout in 2019. Around this time, Marks left the band and Howling Giant achieved its current form with the addition of bass player and vocalist Sebastian Baltes.
In early 2019, HOWLING GIANT released their debut full-length “The Space Between Worlds”, an album which saw the band channel the bristling electricity of their live sound and push further into both cosmic drift and punishing heaviness.
With activities locked down globally, HOWLING GIANT focused on recording their sophomore full-length, which is scheduled for release in autumn 2023. Ahead of this, though, the band embraced the opportunity to road-test the new tunes and share them with heavy rock fans everywhere as direct support on a far-reaching North American tour with ELDER and labelmates RUBY THE HATCHET, along with confirming a slot on the illustrious Desertfest in Belgium later in the year. As an enticing taste of things to come, HOWLING GIANT release the digital single ‘Sunken City’ from the upcoming album before hitting the road.
Line-up Tom Polzine – guitar, vocals Zach Wheeler – drums, vocals Sebastian Baltes – bass, vocals
Posted in Reviews on April 12th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Welcome to day three of the Spring 2023 Quarterly Review. Traditionally, this is where the halfway point is hit, like that spot on the wall in the Lincoln Tunnel where it says New York on the one side and New Jersey on the other. That’s not the case today — though it still applies as far as this week goes — since this particular QR runs seven days, but one way or the other, I’m glad you’re here. There’s been an absolutely overwhelming amount of stuff so far and I don’t expect that to change anytime soon, so don’t let me keep you, except maybe to say that if you’re actually reading as well as browsing Bandcamp (or whoever) players, it is appreciated. Thanks for reading, to put it another way.
Quarterly Review #21-30:
Signo Rojo, There Was a Hole Here
As lead/longest track — yes, immediate points — “Enough Rope” shifts between modern semi-melodic heavy burl post-Baroness to acoustic-tinged flourish to rolling shout-topped post-hardcore on the way back to its soaring chorus, yes, it’s fair to say Sweden’s Signo Rojo establish a broad swath of sounds on their third full-length, There Was a Hole Here. Later they grow more massive and twisting on “What Love is There,” while “Also-Ran” finds the bass managing to punch through the wall of guitar around it (not complaining) and the concluding “BotFly” lets its lead guitar soar over a crescendo that’s almost post-metal, so they want nothing for variety, but whether it’s “The World Inside” with its progressive chug or the more swaying title-track, the songs are united by tone in the guitars of Elias Mellberg and Ola Bäckström, the shouty vocals of bassist Jonas Nilsson adding aggressive edge, and the drums of Pontus Svensson reinforcing the underlying structures and movements. Self-recorded, mixed by Johan Blomström and mastered by Jack Endino for name-brand recognition, There Was a Hole Here is angles and thrown-elbows, but not disjointed. Tumultuous, they power through and find themselves unbruised while having left a few behind them.
Stunning first album. Vancouver’s Tribunal — the core duo of cellist/bassist/vocalist Soren Mourne and guitarist/vocalist Etienne Flinn, working on their first record, The Weight of Remembrance, with Julia Geaman on drums on the seven-song/47-minute sprawl of bleak, goth-informed death-doom — resound with purpose between the atmosphere and the dramaturge of their material. “Apathy’s Keep” (Magdalena Wienski on additional drums) alone would tell you they’re a band with a keen sense of what they want to accomplish stylistically, but the patience in execution necessary from the My Dying Bride-esque back and forth shifts between harsh and clean vocals on opener “Initiation” to the grim, full-toned breadth of the 12-minute finale “The Path,” on which Mourne‘s severity reminds of Finland’s Mansion, and yes that’s a compliment, while Flinn finds new depths from which to gurgle out his harsh screaming. The semi-titular piano interlude “Remembrance” is well-placed at the end of side A to make one nostalgic for some lost romance that never happened, and the stop-chug of “A World Beyond Shadow” seem to speak to SubRosa‘s declarative majesty as well as the more extreme spirit of Paradise Lost circa ’91-’92, Tribunal crossing eras and intentions with an organic meld that hints there and in “Without Answer” or the airy cello of “Of Creeping Moss and Crumbled Stone” earlier at even grander and perhaps more orchestral things to come while serving as one of 2023’s best debuts in the interim. Like finding your great grandmother’s wedding dress, picking it up out of the box and having the dried-out fabric and lace crumble in your hands. Sad and necessary.
From whence came Finland’s Bong Corleone? Well, from Finland, I guess, but that hardly answers the question on planetary terms. Information is sparse and social media presence is nil from the psychedelic-stoner-doom explorers, who string synth lines through four mostly-extended pieces on this self-titled, self-released, seemingly self-actualized argument for dropping out of life and you know the rest. Second cut “Gathering” (8:34) sees lead guitar step in for where vocals might otherwise be, but there and in the prior leadoff “Chemical Messenger” (9:15), synthesizer plays a prominent role that’s been compared rightly to Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard, though “Gathering” departs in for a midsection meander-jam that lets itself have and be more fun before crashing back around to the roll. As it invariably would, “Astrovan” (6:18) shoves faster, but the synth stays overtop along with some floating guitar, and the sense of control remains strong even in the second half’s splurge and slowdown, shifting with ambient drone and residual amp hum into 11-minute closer “Offering,” which rounds out with a sample, what might be a bong rip, and a density of fuzz that apparently Bong Corleone have been keeping in their collective pocket all the while, crushing and stomping before turning to more progressive exploration later. It’s a substantial enough release at 35 minutes that the band might — like MWWB before them — regret the silly name, but even if they never follow it with anything, the immersion factor in these four songs shouldn’t be discounted. May they (if in fact it’s more than one person) never reveal a lineup.
This second full-length from Wisconsin-based solo-project Old Spirit — formed and executed at the behest of Jason Hartman (Vanishing Kids, sometimes Jex Thoth) — Burning in Heaven feels at home in contradictions, whether it’s the image provoked by the title or in the songs themselves, be it the Celtic–Frost-on-Monster–Magnet‘s-pills “Dim Aura” or the electro Queens of the Stone Age shuffle in “Ash,” or the Candlemass-meets-Chrome succession of “Fallacy,” or the keyboard and guitar interlude “When the Spirit Slips Away.” The title-track opens and has an oldschool ripper solo late, but there’s so much going on at any given moment that it’s one more element thrown in the mix as much as a precursor to the later reaches of “Angel Blood” — a Slayer nod, or two, perhaps? — which precedes the emergent wash of “Bleak Chapel” and the devolution undertaken from song to drone that gives over to closer “In Dismay,” which seems all set in its garage-goth doom rollout until the tempo kick brings it and the record to a place of duly dug-in progressive psych-metal oddness. Fitting end to a record clearly meant to go wherever the hell it wants and on which the rawness of the production becomes a uniting factor across otherwise willfully disparate material, skirting the danger that it all might collapse on itself while proselytizing individualist fuckall; Luciferian without being outright Satanic.
Argentina’s Los Acidos return after reissuing 2016’s self-titled debut (review here) in 2020 through Necio Records with Stereolalo, putting emphasis on welcoming listeners from the outset with the opening title-track and “Ascensor,” which are the two longest cuts on the record (double points) and function as world-builders in terms of establishing the acoustic/electric blend and melodic flourish with which much of the 50-minute outing functions. Like everything, the blend is molten and malleable, as shorter pieces like “Atardecer” or side B’s build-to-boogie “Madre” and the keyboard-backed psych-funk verses of “Atenas” show, and they resist the temptation to really blow it out as they otherwise might even in those first two tracks; the church organ seeming to keep the penultimate “Interior” in line before “Buscando el Mar” calls out ’60s psych on guitar with a slow-careening progression from whatever kind of keyboard that is, ending almost folkish, having said what they want to say in the way they want to say it. Light in atmosphere, there nonetheless are deceptive depths from which the songs seem to swim upward.
Rites for the Damned offers the kind of aesthetic sprawl that can only be summarized in vague catchall tags like ‘progressive,’ with the adventurous and ambitious Norwegian outfit JAGGU threatening extremity on “Carnage” at the beginning of the eight-song/40-minute LP while instead taking the angularity and thrust and through “Earth Murder” fostering an element of noise rock that feeds its aggression into “Mindgap” before the six-minutes-each pair of “Electric Blood” and “Lenina Ave.” further reveal the breadth, hooks permeating the amalgam of heavy styles being bent and reshaped to suit the band’s expressive will, the latter building from acoustic-inclusive post-metallic balladry into a solo that seems to spread far and wide as it draws the listener deeper into side B’s reaches, the dizzying start of “Enthralled,” post-black-metal-but-still-metal “Marching Stride” — more of a run, actually — and the prog-thrash finale “God to be Through” that caps not to bring it all together, but to celebrate the variations encountered along the course and highlight the skill with which JAGGU have been guiding the proceedings all along, unsettled in their approach on this second record in such a way as to speak to perpetual growth rather than their being the kind of band who’ll find a niche and stagnate.
Escapist and jam-based-but-not-just-jamming psychedelia pervades the self-titled debut from UK trio Falling Floors, who add variety amid the already-varied krautrock in the later reaches of opener “Infinite Switch,” the lockdown slog of “Flawed Theme,” the tambourine-infused hard strums of “Ridiculous Man” and the 18-minute side-B-consuming “Elusive and Unstable Nature of Truth,” which is organ-inclusive bombast early and drone later, with three numbered interludes, furthering the notion of these works being carved out of experiments. A malleable songwriting process and a raw, seemingly live recording make Falling Floors‘ seven-song run come across as formative, but the rougher edges are part of the aesthetic, and ultimately bolster the overarching impression that the band — guitarist/vocalist Rob Herian, bassist/organist Harry Wheeler and drummer/percussionist Colin Greenwood — can and just might go wherever the hell they want. And they do, in that extended finisher and elsewhere throughout, capturing an exploratory moment of creation in willfully unrefined fashion, loose but not unhinged and seemingly as curious in the making as in the result. I don’t know that a band can do this kind of adventuring twice — invariably any second album is informed by the experience of making the first — but Falling Floors make a resounding argument for wanting to find out in these shared discoveries.
Spacing out from a fuzzy foundation like Earthless taking on The Sword — with a bit of Tool in the second-half leads of eight-minute second track “The Hunger” — Israeli trio Warp make their Nasoni Records label debut with their sophomore full-length, Bound by Gravity, putting due languid slog into “Your Fascist Pigs are Back” while finding stonerized salvation in “Dirigibles” ahead of the more melodic and more doomed title-track, which Sabbath-blues-boogies right into its shout-topped sludge slowdown before the bounce and swing of “Impeachment Abdication” readily counteracts. “The Present” unfolds with hints of Melvins while “Head of the Eye” rides a linear groove into a winding midsection that resolves in a standout chorus and capper “I Don’t Want to Be Remembered” is a vocal highlight — guitarist Itai Alzaradel, bassist Sefi Akrish and drummer Mor Harpazi all contribute in that regard at some juncture or another — and a reaffirmation of the gonna-roll-until-we-don’t mindset on the part of the band, ending cold after shifting into a faster chug like the song’s about to take off again. That’d be a hell of a way to start their next record and we’ll see if they get there. Pointedly of-genre, Warp bring exploratory craft to a foundation of tonal heft and ask few indulgences on the listener’s part. Big fuzz gonna make some friends among the converted.
Leading off with its spacebound title-track, Halo Noose‘s debut album, Magical Flight, finds the Scottish solo-outfit plumbing the outer reaches of fuzz-drenched acid rock, coming through like an actually-produced version of Monster Magnet‘s demo era in its roughed-up Hawkwind-via-Stooges pastiche, “Cinnamon Garden” edging toward Eastern idolatry without going full-sitar while “Fire” engages with a stretched-out feel over its slow, maybe-programmed drums and centerpiece “When You Feel it Babe” tops near-motorik push with watery vocals like a less punk Nebula or some of what Black Rainbows might conjure. “Kaliedoscopica” is based largely around a single riff and it’s a masterclass in wah at its 4:20 runtime, leading into the last outward leaps of “Rollercoasting Your Mind” and the forward-and-backwards “Slow Motion” which isn’t actually much slower than anything else here and thus reminds that time is a construct easily subverted by lysergics, fading out with surprising gentleness to return the listener to a crueler reality after a consuming half-hour’s escape. Right on.
If you’d look at the name and the fact that the trio hail from Tennessee and think you’re probably in for some caustic Southern sludge, you’re part right. Dope Skum on their second EP, the 17-minute Gutter South, embrace the tonal heft and chugging approach of the harder end of sludge riffing, but rather than weedian throatrippers, a cleaner vocal style pervades from guitarist Cody Landress-Gibson across opener “Folk Magic,” the banjo-laced “Interlude,” “Feast of Snakes,” “Belly Lint” and the punkier-until-its-slowdown finish of “The Cycle,” and the difference between a shout and a scream is considerable in the impressions made throughout. Bassist Todd Garrett and drummer Scott Keil complete the three-piece and together they harness a feel that’s true to that nasty aural history while branching into something different therefrom, genuinely sounding like a new generation’s interpretation of what Southern heavy was 15-20 years ago. More over, they would seem to be conscious of doing it. Their first EP, 2021’s Tanasi, was more barebones in its production, and there’s still development to be done, but it will be interesting to hear how they manifest across a first long-player when the time comes, as Gutter South underscores potential in its songwriting and persona as well as defiance of aesthetic expectation.
Posted in Whathaveyou on March 17th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
In these times of heavy music market saturation, a band looking to stand out from the crowd has to employ any and all methods for doing so possible. It ain’t easy. But even something small, like putting emojis around the song titles of your record on Bandcamp, can catch the eye. I hadn’t seen that before I encountered Sign of the Sorcerer‘s 2021 debut full-length, Obsessions of the Vile — and to be honest, I’m a little surprised in hindsight — and granted it does nothing to enhance the listening experience of the Tennessee band’s ultra-dug-in malevolent wizard doom/sludge, but it grabbed my attention just the same, and for bands that can be half the battle. Not advocating everyone do the same or anything, but creative presentation can help if you’re looking to engage an audience.
Said the guy who’s had the same blog theme since 2009.
Alas, Obsessions of the Vile is being re-released today through Saturn Eye Records, and such is the occasion for my admittedly delayed encounter with it. I’m sure you’ve heard it since you’re all up on your doom and I’m lagging behind as ever, but there you go. Thanks for indulging my lag.
From the PR wire:
Saturn Eye Records is thrilled to ruin your trips with their latest…
Sign Of The Sorcerer’s first full length album has finally received a long overdue physical edition. ‘Obsessions Of The Vile’ is a drugged out and downright sleazy set of recordings just oozing with fuzz and filth. The album was recorded in Johnson City, Tennessee and was originally digitally released in late 2021. Well the band and label devised a wickedly foul deal, had it notarized by Satan, and now here we are with SE-007. Saturn Eye has a limited amount of these tapes available in their shop right this second. The rest will be available from the band at upcoming shows, the next of which is April 1st in Knoxville, TN. Grab a ‘Vile’ dose while you can and let it eat you alive…
Nashville-based heavy rockers Karma Vulture release their debut album, Something Better, on April 28 through Bent Knee Records. Born in Joshua Tree, California, the three-piece delivered their well-received Death by Comfort EP in March 2022, following 2020’s debut three-songer, Loud as Fuck, its complementary Live as Fuck live outing, and a host of singles going back to 2019. The album — crisp in its production by drummer/backing vocalist Ben Foerg, with Conor Spellane on bass/vocals and Will Hammond on guitar — runs 10 songs and 44 minutes and is a melting pot of influences.
As one might anticipate from the ‘vulture’ part of their moniker or the Joshua Tree namedrop, desert rock is a root influence, but almost immediately upon switching out the orchestral-noisy intro “Something Good” for the straight-up heavy rock groove of “Something Better” — maybe theremin ringing behind, maybe feedback — the band bring in other elements, whether it’s a bit of mid-period Monster Magnet in the strut of the riff of the title-track, the hints of Soundgarden in Spellane‘s vocals notwithstanding the Josh Homme-style falsetto flourish in the first of the record’s several memory-implant hooks.
Indeed, Queens of the Stone Age are an underlying, almost subconscious factor in Karma Vulture‘s style in various ways throughout: the vocals in “Something Better,” the shove of the later, dirtier-toned “No One’s There” (premiering below), the clearheaded-semi-psych atmosphere in the production of “Rabbit Hole,” and even the Alain Johannes-style arrangement flourish as part of the production in the big solo finish of “Pictures of the Past,” which turns from being a rock-ballad vocal showcase for Spellane — who, to his credit, carries it with a trained-sounding, almost Jack Blackian melodic ease — to a purposefully grandiose instrumental emotive evocation.
But Homme et. al. can’t necessarily account for the upstrummed Clutch boogie blues in “Do the Twitch,” which foreshadows the rougher edge in the guitar on “No One’s There” while doing something else stylistically, or any of side B’s per-song excursions, be it that first part of “Pictures of the Past,” the lean into what would be commercial alt rock if not for the punch of fuzzy bass beneath it on “Not Sure” (an Idiocracy reference?), “La Mirada” delivering on its desert acoustic promise with echoing vocals and loosely Middle Eastern scales, or the 10-minute finale “Cold Feet” pondering a meeting between The Claypool Lennon Delirium circa “Blood And Rockets: Movement I, Saga of Jack Parsons” and beloved Toronto head rockers Quest for Fire, with a little more of that Monster Magnet swagger-stomp bookending for good measure.
Songwriting, in addition to the basic ‘is-heavy’ factor of most of the material, is what’s tying Something Better together, but perhaps unsurprisingly for a band who’ve released a bunch of standalone single-tracks, each inclusion feels like it was written with its own intent — the business-up-front rockers in the title-track, “Do the Twitch,” “Rabbit Hole” and “No One’s There,” and the contextual expansion that takes place over “Pictures of the Past,” “Not Sure,” “La Mirada” and “Cold Feet” — and arranged together for a full-album flow. This is a classic method and Karma Vulture, while modern in their sound, employ it well, recalling defunct Texas rockers Heavy Glow in their considered approach while retaining a persona of their own.
Particularly as a first long-player, Something Better is all the more appreciable for the band’s aesthetic reach, and the sense of craft behind it — as well as being self-produced — speaks to the potential of the group to carry their accomplishments here forward to whatever might come next, if that’s more short releases or a second album down the line, or, more likely, both. I won’t say there aren’t any debut-record stumbles — “La Mirada” feels like fertile ground for editing at five minutes, and I can’t get Matchbox 20 out of my head when I hear “Not Sure,” which stings a bit in the ol’ frontal lobe — but those are well outweighed by what Karma Vulture are able to manifest in terms of both concept and performance.
Catchy straight up heavy rock and roll, looking to directly engage an audience as it sets out on a path of songwriting and creative growth sound like something up your alley? If not, I might ask what masochistic impulse has you still reading this. In any case, Karma Vulture‘s set forth with poise and surety on Something Better, and give the impression of knowing what and who they want to be as a group. To want more from it or them, given the quality of the end-result produced in what might eventually come to be seen as a formative stage of their progression, feels unreasonable, unwarranted. In short, dudes are on their way.
“No One’s There” premieres on the player below, and PR wire info follows. Please enjoy:
Karma Vulture is a Desert Rock power trio, originally from Joshua Tree, now based in Nashville. Consisting of singer/bassist Conor Spellane, guitarist Will Hammond, and drummer Ben Foerg, the band has a familiar yet idiosyncratic sound, blending elements of stoner rock & 90s grunge, with hints classic rock, psych, and modern alternative rock for good measure. The band executes their earworm hooks and hammer dropping riffs with equal aplomb. Or in other words: It’s super heavy, super catchy, and super dope.
Founded in late 2018, the band hit its stride with the addition of Foerg on drums, and released its first EP with their current lineup in early 2022. Death By Comfort was recorded by Norm Block (Mark Lanegan, Brian Jonestown Massacre) in Spring 2020 just as the world was shutting down due to the Covid-19 pandemic. They finished it remotely thru the pandemic, with mixing engineer Joshua Martinez, and then used the remaining months of the lockdown to record their first full-length LP, Something Better, which drops on April 28th, 2023.
Karma Vulture: Conor Spellane: Bass, Vocals Will Hammond: Guitar Ben Foerg: Drums, Backup Vocals
Posted in audiObelisk on January 25th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
One year to the day from playing their first show, on March 31, 2023, Tennessee rollers WyndRider will make their self-titled debut. They’ll play a show to celebrate the release too, and they’ve given themselves an occasion worth marking. WyndRider runs eight songs and 43 minutes of heavy, fuzzed-out blues heft, leaning at times into doom as on “Strangled by Smoke,” and is Sabbathian in the winter without directly coping anyone’s riffs. Guitarist Robbie Willis leads the way with warm and weighted guitar tones, while vocalist Chloe Gould croons with command and purpose over the fluidity of could-be-higher-in-the-mix bassist Joshuwah Herald (to be fair, I almost always think bass could be mixed higher) and drummer Richard Bucher, the album’s tracklisting split into two sides, each bookended by longer pieces with two shorter ones between; a method that gives each half of an intended vinyl record its own flow and adds depth to the persona of the album on the whole.
And while there’s a definite sense of nascence in WyndRider‘s WyndRider — they’re a new band and they sound like one; no, I don’t think that’s a bad thing — what comes through more as opener and prior single “Pit Witch” kicks its tempo late is a solid sense that they know of what they riff. I get Acid King vibes off the nodding second cut “Snake Children,” and especially done as well as it is here, that’s never something to complain about.
The production is raw, but clear enough certainly to give an idea of their volume if not the full breadth of their sound as it might feel from a stage. Willis builds walls of fuzz throughout, and with some of the effects on Gould‘s vocals on “Snake Children” and “Creator” (premiering below) and others, the impression is just short of a psychedelic wash, and with the bluesy underpinnings of her delivery, the band’s roots in Iommic methods and their willingness to toy with classic heavy rock and metal in a malleable balance of elements, they’re never quite only-one-thing sonically, and that suits them.
“Creator” broods and lumbers in its verse almost like Candlemass until all seems to take a step back for the guitar solo, and Gould builds a hook in that (purposeful) mire that adds to the momentum of the two songs prior and makes the arrival of “Strangled by Smoke” feel like the righteous moment of mini-culmination that it is, the side A capper layering solos on a long fade to end after a vital and welcome, languid procession that feels all the more tapped into aural largesse for the spaciousness it’s granted. Sabbath in winter, slow, bluesy, loosely ethereal but more concerned ultimately with terrestrial groove than otherworldly presentation. That is, stoner as they may be, there’s little play toward cultistry here, and Gould as a fronting presence is powerful enough that any such witchy trappings would be superfluous. The songs do the work on their own without needing to be oversold.
That straightforwardness of execution and lack of pretense are both assets working in the band’s favor here and signs of forward potential as they grow beyond this first year. The slide into the solo in “Mother in Horns,” for example, nails it. The bass is there under the guitar, fuzzed to the nines, and a slow start-stop resumes for the next verse with a marked smoothness, though admittedly, in the longer track there’s room for more setup. In any case, WyndRider pick up where side A left off, and in a linear format (i.e., digital or CD), the movement from “Strangled by Smoke” into “Mother in Horns” gives the album’s middle a density that suits it well, as though the band were issuing the invitation, “everybody dig in.”
This rolling continues into “Electrophilia,” which may or may not actually be named in honor of Electric Wizard but definitely hints that way in terms of its verse riff, complemented and fleshed out as it is by a more angular high-to-low in the chorus. Set to a structure similar to “Snake Children” earlier, “Electrophilia” is nonetheless different enough to get by, and honestly, if you’re not on board with WyndRider by then and duly hypnotized, you’ve probably already stopped listening. Herald leads through the penultimate interlude “Sleeping Wizard” with ambient guitar noise surrounding — there’s some sense of competition there for ground; something that will ease over time on subsequent outings — and the seven-minute “Space Paper Acid Saloon” arrives suitably molten before its full volume kicks in, the central riff working at a pace deceptively quick with upstrummed-sounding jabs behind Gould‘s verse, sounding very much like they knew it was going to be the closer while they were still writing it.
At the three-minute mark, “Space Paper Acid Saloon” moves into more of a chugging shuffle, carrying through to a twisting solo then back to another verse and evening out again before a solo section holds onto its resonant psychedelic effects while the song works through its final measures, the band having gone as far out as they were going to go and returned no worse for the wear. There are lessons to be learned from WyndRider in terms of dynamic and the band settling into and exploring their sound, but the four-piece give hints at where they’re headed sound-wise, perhaps into broader-reaching heavy psych blues with more of a readiness to loosen structural reins, and offer plenty of arguments in favor of present engagement as well as potential future output. That is, don’t worry, the record rocks. And with it, WyndRider set themselves on a course of craft that will be familiar to genre heads in some of its riffs, but distinct in its take and a more than encouraging starting point. There’s a lot to like.
You’ll find “Creator” premiering on the player below, followed by some more preliminaries about the album, courtesy of the band.
Enjoy:
WyndRider, “Creator” track premiere
WyndRider on “Creator”:
“This was one of the first songs that we wrote. The end of the world as we know it is something that everyone fears. Creator bestows the fear that we are doomed and nothing can save us.”
Album release March 31, 2023 10pm EST. Live show for album release March 31 at The Hideaway in Johnson City, TN and April 1 at the Brickyard in Knoxville, TN. Full album and physical copies will be available exclusively on Bandcamp with select songs on other streaming platforms.
Recorded, Mixed and Mastered by The Wizard Productions. Album Cover Art By Novendrika Pratama. Stoner Doom from the Mountains of East Tennessee. First show played on March 31, 2022. Singles “Electrophilia” (demo) and “Pit Witch” (from the album) currently on YouTube, Bandcamp, and all streaming sites.
Posted in Whathaveyou on January 18th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Between March and June, Nashville’s All Them Witches will play special full-album sets in various ‘major market’ cities across the US, on what’s not quite a tour and not quite not. The records in question are inarguable. From 2013’s Lightning at the Door (review here) to 2015’s Dying Surfer Meets His Maker (review here), which was their first LP for New West Records, to 2017’s pointedly lush Sleeping Through the War (review here), the hardest part is choosing which one you’d want to see them play most. And if you can only make one night, well, they’re doing two sets per show, so maybe you’ll still get “Open Passageways” with Allan Van Cleave on violin at the Sleeping Through the War date. That’s what I’m gonna hope for, anyhow.
Any single night or all three, there’s no wrong answer. You’ll recall All Them Witches spent 2022 touring and unfurling their ‘Baker’s Dozen’ singles project (posted here), which was completed last month. One awaits word of a follow-up to 2020’s Nothing as the Ideal (review here), but, you know, if they maybe wanted to take a month to catch their collective breath first, it’d be hard to hold that against them.
Join us for an evening (or three) with All Them Witches. Each night, for three nights, we will play a different record front to back – “Lightning At The Door,” “Dying Surfer Meets His Maker,” or “Sleeping Through The War” – and an additional standard set. A very limited amount of three night tickets will be available. See you there.
All Them Witches is: Charles Michael Parks, Jr – bass, vocals Ben McLeod – guitar, vocals Robby Staebler – drums, vocals Allan Van Cleave – Rhodes piano, keys, violin
