As they make ready for an apparent threepeat appearance at Ripplefest Texas next month, having also played in 2021 and 2022, San Antonio’s Thunder Horse are at about six weeks’ remove from the release of their third album, After the Fall (review here). My understanding is the weeks after release are something of a comedown for bands. You’ve put everything into making this work the best you can, from writing and arranging to recording, artwork, singles, videos, social media labor, on and on and on. Then it’s out, and release week is a big ‘hooray!’ leading to Friday’s release — in Thunder Horse‘s case, it was July 21 — and then the next week the fickle internet is on to that Friday’s thing and you’re suddenly in the position of trying to chase down distracted ears. Kind of sounds like a bummer, even with a fest to look forward to.
But as After the Fall demonstrated, Thunder Horse have no trouble translating downerism into heavy, semi-aggro vibes, and the band present a lyric video for side B opener “Apocalypse,” in which they do that very thing. Some of the lyrics lean toward right wing conspiracy theories — there’s a line about eating children, which it seems absurd to say but is a Republican talking point about Democrats being cannibalistic devil worshipers, and the lyrical perspective is christian — but I don’t know the political positions either of the band or anyone in it, so I won’t speculate whether it’s professing an ideology or critiquing a particularly ridiculous example of why America should pay teachers more.
I wouldn’t bring up the politics, if only because it’s so fucking exhausting and exhausted a subject, but, well, it’s a lyric video, and so one might consider the lyrics relevant to it. In any case, it’s kind of funny how the left and right in the US both think the world is ending, blame each other for it, and then change nothing. You’d almost swear the entire thing was rigged to make sure the same five people stay rich and the rest of humanity hates each other for no reason until we die and our kids learn in school that capitalism is the natural order like no animals ever teamed up. A pack of wolves awaits with counterpoint.
Whatever the band’s individual and collective politics may be, I’ll risk actual honesty and tell you it doesn’t matt, and talking about it either way will do nothing to upset the trajectory that both sides and those in between seem to think the country is on. But what caught me about After the Fall was the organic interpretation of rhythms born out of guitarist/vocalist StephenBishop‘s time in Pitbull Daycare, riffs that otherwise might be electronica turned to densely distorted guitar. It’s an interesting blend, and after you check out the video below, the other two they’ve done from the record are down near the bottom of the post, along with the album stream. Plenty to dig into if your interest is piqued.
PR wire info follows “Apocalypse” right here. Please enjoy:
Thunder Horse, “Apocalypse” lyric video
Texas-based doom metal foursome THUNDER HORSE release their brand new “Apocalypse” video today. The song is taken from their third studio album “After The Fall”, out now on Ripple Music.
Texas-based THUNDER HORSE has a genre that is hard to pin down, but there are definitely influences of doom, psych, occult, and a smattering of classic rock and NWOBHM. Their third studio album and second Ripple Music release “After The Fall” cements the band’s reputation of delivering titan-sized songs in the form of a refined formula: doomier, sharper, but also stronger. Finding the perfect balance between their timeless and masterful southern-baked heavy metal and a strongly emotion-driven purpose, “After The Fall” unwaveringly stands as THUNDER HORSE’s turning point and should drag more and more heavy music lovers in their path in their fierce conquest of the underground doom scene. Watch their latest videos “New Normal” and “After The Fall”!
Based in Austin, Texas, and Mexico City, heavy rocking three-piece Demons My Friends make their full-length debut on Sept. 8 through Gravitoyd Heavy Music with Demons Seem to Gather. The band have been trickling out singles leading up to the release for nearly a year, and as a singe “Inner Slay” (premiering below) follows behind “Ghosts of You,” “Bring the Night,” the closer “We Are the Resistance” and the hooky side B leadoff “Make Them Pay,” so it’s probably safe to say they’re looking to grab attention of an underground listenership, otherwise maybe five singles (so far) from your first record probably isn’t the way you’re going to go.
Taking some cues in atmosphere on “We Are the Resistance,” the crunch of “Fire Mountain” and in the ’90s creep of guitar in verse of “Your Bones” prior from Alice in Chains, the trio bring ideas together from modern emotive doom à la Pallbearer on “Inner Slay,” a broad vocal hook assuring that the vocal stands up to the riffing on display throughout, opener “The Tower Falls” having started out on solid ground rhythm-wise but found room in the mix for an Elephant Tree-style harmony in opener “The Tower Falls” before the start-stop angularity of “Bring the Night” — the chorus delivering the album’s title line — hinting at the metallic underpinning of the project while also sounding more derived from ’00s era punk and post-hardcore. Thus it is that Demons My Friends — guitarist/vocalist Pablo Anton, bassist/vocalist Lu Salinas, drummer Tarro Martinez — stave off the threat of doing just one thing, and instead lay out a creative reach that one expects they’ll continue to refine as they move forward.
While the eight-song/36-minute offering is varied in its approach, the band are consistent in tone and their willingness to veer toward more doomed ends, “Inner Slay” serving as a ready example leading into “Ghosts of You,” which caps side A and pushes further along similar lines, with a central progression to its back half that touches almost on commercial hard rock without losing its foundation in heavy riffing. The production of Duel‘s Jeff Henson assures that fullness of sound and gives the melodic complexity of some of the arrangements — looking at you, chorus-over-solo in “Fire Mountain” — a dimensionality it would otherwise run the risk of lacking, but while Demons My Friends is a new exploration and Demons Seem to Gather is a debut album from a band who as the narrative tells us (blessings and peace upon it) jammed before they were really together, the experience of the players involved assures they’re not flailing in the end product.
Instead, songwriting is at the core of Demons My Friends‘ approach, and whatever original riff-blocks these pieces were carved from, they have been shaped with care and thought, which is something that even the lines topping the apex of “We Are the Resistance” bear out, the band purposefully meeting the largesse of that moment head-on, even as they’re still unfolding it. The proverbial encouraging beginning? Yeah, pretty much. The kind of record you might see five singles released from. It’ll be interesting to hear as Demons My Friends plunge further into the places between rock and doom, the classic and modern and in-between. But one of Demons Seem to Gather‘s strengths is that it knows the field is wide open and it stakes a number of stylistic claims. Maybe they’re settling in for a longer-term evolution, thinking ahead an album, two albums, three. Some bands do that, and if Demons My Friends go that route and build on this backdrop, they’re starting out working from a high standard of craft.
PR wire info follows the player below, on which “Inner Slay” premieres. Please enjoy:
Demons My Friends is an unlikely collaboration between members of Mexican alt-metal band QBO and Washington, DC desert rockers Fellowcraft. The stoner/doom metal trio — Lu Salinas (bass/vocals), Tarro Martinez (drums), Pablo Anton (guitar/vocals)—embarked on their creative endeavor via an impromptu recording session at the SXSW music festival in Austin, TX in 2022 and have consummated the relationship with an upcoming full-length titled Demons Seem to Gather.
Demons Seem to Gather was recorded, mixed and produced by Jeff Henson at Red Nova Ranch, Austin, TX. It was mastered by Alberto de Icaza. It’s set for release on September 8 on vinyl, CD and digitally via Gravitoyd Heavy Music. In the meantime you can stream the band’s singles on all digital platforms
Tracklisting: 01. The Tower Falls 02. Bring The Night 03. Inner Slay 04. Ghosts of You 05. Make Them Pay 06. Fire Mountain 07. Your Bones 08. We Are The Resistance
Shows coming up for Demons My Friends: October 20th at Valhalla (Austin TX) October 21st at Black Magic Social Club (Houston TX)
Demons My Friends is: Pablo Anton – guitar/vox Lu Salinas – Bass/vox Tarro – Drums
The sixth annual Heavy Mash Fest is set for Oct. 7 at its traditional home, Division Brewing in Arlington. The festival is back to one day this year after extending to two in 2022, and in addition to veteran weirdo jammers Stone Machine Electric who’ll close out, Maryland doom’s Spiral Grave will journey west to headline.
You’ll recall The Obelisk is a long-time presenter of Heavy Mash. I dig what Mark Kitchens, who’s also got a new record coming from his experimentalist solo-project Slow Draw and who plays in Stone Machine Electric, has built over the last several years, not to mention the poster art, by Joshua Mathus, reprising the froggy theme of past editions with a righteous sci-fi bent.
The likes of drum-machine riffers Lotus Sutra and doom rockers Buzzürd — whose 2021 album, The Offering, I’d not heard and can be streamed at the bottom of this post — will round out the total-seven-band bill, and if you’re like me and not entirely familiar with all of them, I at this point trust Kitchens‘ curation will at least result in something interesting to hear, even if it doesn’t grab you and become your new favorite album forever. I guess what I’m saying is if you want to chase down any of the names below, it might be a fun endeavor. I’ll do likewise and see what’s to be found.
Continued best wishes to Heavy Mash and to Kitchens. Looks like a cool party, and tickets are dirt cheap:
Heavy Mash 2023 (6th year) will occur on October 7th at Division Brewing in Arlington, Texas. Doors open at 4pm, with music commencing shortly thereafter:
$15 Cover
5pm- Sons of Gulliver 6pm- Lotus Sutra 7pm- The Infamists 8pm- Buzzürd 9pm- FTW 10pm- Spiral Grave 11pm- Stone Machine Electric
Posted in Questionnaire on August 3rd, 2023 by JJ Koczan
The Obelisk Questionnaire is a series of open questions intended to give the answerer an opportunity to explore these ideas and stories from their life as deeply as they choose. Answers can be short or long, and that reveals something in itself, but the most important factor is honesty.
Based on the Proust Questionnaire, the goal over time is to show a diverse range of perspectives as those who take part bring their own points of view to answering the same questions. To see all The Obelisk Questionnaire posts, click here.
Thank you for reading and thanks to all who participate.
The Obelisk Questionnaire: Pablo Anton from Demons My Friends
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How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?
I play guitar and sing for Demons My Friends, a Stoner/Doom project based in Austin TX that I founded with two close friends from Mexico City who are seasoned musicians. I’ve been playing in bands since I was 12, and I’ve been an avid extreme music collector since around the same age. I’ve always been enamored with strange sounds and obscure bands from all over the globe.
Describe your first musical memory.
My dad spinning records for me on Saturday afternoons when I was a kid. He was into progressive rock, and I distinctly remember the time he played “No Earthly Connection” for me, by Rick Wakeman. The vinyl had a distorted image in the cover that became clear if you held a mirror towards it at the right angle. For some reason that stuck with me.
Describe your best musical memory to date.
In 2018 I got a chance to perform with my former band at a metal festival near the pyramids in Teotihuacan Mexico at night, under heavy rain, right before Alice In Chains and System of a Down. That was a great night. The crowd had an energy that was unlike anything I’ve ever experience before or since.
When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?
When I became a father. Everything I thought I wanted in life was forever changed. I always thought this was a cliché, but it turned out to be true (for me, at least).
Where do you feel artistic progression leads?
For me, artistic progression has led me to the darkest corners of my mind. It has enabled me to release and let go of traumatic memories and feelings that I had been unable to process before by other means. The more time I spend creating music, the more I get to know myself, forgive myself and heal myself.
How do you define success?
I personally define success as an artist as being able to materialize all the dreams and hopes I had for myself when I was a teenager. That’s all I’m trying to do, really. Chase the excitement and deep emotions I felt when I was 15, sitting alone in my room listening to deeply complex and emotional music from the likes of bands like Opeth, Katatonia, Borknagar and many others, and dreaming of being able to one day be at their level. All the “successful” moments that I can think of as a musician relate to moments where I’ve been able to connect with those raw emotions from my past and feel them with equal intensity again.
What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?
“Two Girls, One Cup”. Eww.
Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.
A concept album, but every time I’ve tried, I’ve struggled with stretching a plot long enough to last me for multiple songs.
What do you believe is the most essential function of art?
Art has the ability of connecting people and bounding us together, while at the same time meaning something completely different and unique to each of us. I don’t think there’s anything else that exists in this life that can achieve that.
Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?
I always look forward to spending time with my family, whenever I am away from them.
Posted in Whathaveyou on July 24th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
With both their paperwork and riffs in order, Austin, Texas, brash heavy rockers Duel will return to Europe this Fall, hitting Antwerp’s Desertfest Belgium and the two German Heavy Psych Sounds Fests in Berlin and Dresden, as well as sundry club dates and so on. I feel like I’ve gone on at some length at the force this band brings to the stage, and if you are in a position to see them, I urge you to do so.
Their studio work has plenty of attitude — their most recent full-length, 2021’s In Carne Persona (review here), certainly didn’t skimp on threat with its human-as-meat implications — and the live show pushes with even more and obviously much louder aggression. I’m just trying to make your day better. Go see a band.
Heavy Psych Sounds shipped the following down the PR wire, including a couple open slots between Western and Eastern Europe. Help if you can, as always:
DUEL – European Tour 2023
We are stoked to announce DUEL Euro Tour 2023!!
Our Texas based rocknrollerz DUEL will smash Europe in October including the mighties Desert Fest Antwerp and HPS Fests Dresden and Berlin + many other shows!!
*** DUEL *** EUROPEAN TOUR 2023 WE 11/10/2023 FR MARSEILLE – LE MOLOTOV TH 12/10/2023 FR LYON – LE FARMER FR 13/10/2023 IT TORINO – BLAH BLAH SA 14/10/2023 IT BOLOGNA – FREAKOUT SU 15/10/2023 IT TRIESTE – KULTURNI DOM PROSEK MO 16/10/2023 IT TREVISO – ALTROQUANDO TU 17/10/2023 AT KUFSTEIN – VIBES WE 18/10/2023 DE MANNHEIM – 7ER CLUB TH 19/10/2023 NL TILBURG – LITTLE DEVIL FR 20/10/2023 NL ROTTERDAM – BAROEG SA 21/10/2023 ***OPEN SLOT*** SU 22/10/2023 BE ANTWERP – DESERT FEST MO 23/10/2023 ***OPEN SLOT*** TU 24/10/2023 ***OPEN SLOT*** WE 25/10/2023 CZ PRAGUE – CLUB KASARNA KARLIN TH 26/10/2023 CZ BILINA – ROCK PUB MOSKVA FR 27/10/2023 DE DRESDEN – HPS FEST SA 28/10/2023 DE BERLIN – HPS FEST SU 29/10/2023 DE TUBINGEN – NULL08-15
DUEL is: TOM FRANK – GUITARS/VOCALS JEFF HENSON – GUITARS/VOCALS ALEX WEIN – BASS PATRICK PASCUCCI – DRUMS
That’s it. End of the Summer 2023 Quarterly Review and the last round of this kind of thing until, I don’t know, sometime here or there in late September or early October. I feel like I say this every time out — and I readily acknowledge the possibility that I do; I’ve been doing this for a while, and there’s only so much shit to say — but it is my sincere hope you found something in this round of 70 records that hits with you. I did, a couple times over at least. One of the reasons I look forward to the Quarterly Review, apart from clearing off album-promo folders from my desktop, is that my end-of-year lists always look different coming out of one than they did going in. This time is no different.
But, you know, if you didn’t get there this time, that’s okay too. There’s always the next one and one of the fortunate things about living in a time with such an onslaught of recorded music is that there’s always something new to check out. The Quarterly Review is over for a couple months, yeah, but new music happens every day. Every day is another chance to find your new favorite album, band, video, whatever. Enjoy that.
Quarterly Review #61-70:
Monolord, It’s All the Same
After nearly a decade of hard, album-cycle-driven international touring and standing at the forefront in helping to steer a generational wave of lumbering riffage, it doesn’t seem unreasonable to think Gothenburg, Sweden’s Monolord might feel stuck, and “Glaive (It’s All the Same)” seems to acknowledge that. Stylistically, though the lead and partial title-track on the roller trio’s new EP, It’s All the Same, is itself a way forward. It is more spacious than crushing, and they fill the single out with guitarist Thomas V. Jäger‘s sorrowful vocal delivery and memorable early lead lines, a steady, organic rhythm from drummer/engineer Esben Willems and bassist Mika Häkki — worth noting that all three have either released solo albums or otherwise explored solo work in the last two years — and Mellotron that adds a classically progressive flair and lets the guitar focus on mood rather than stomp, though there’s still plenty of that in “Glaive (It’s All the Same)” and is more the focus of “The Only Road,” so Monolord aren’t necessarily making radical changes from where they were on 2021’s Your Time to Shine (review here), but as there has been all along, there’s steady growth in balance with the physicality of tone one has come to anticipate from them. After scaling back on road time, It’s All the Same feels reassuring even as it pushes successfully the boundaries of their signature sound.
Raging not at all unthoughtfully for most of its concise-feeling but satisfying 38 minutes, Somnuri‘s third album and MNRK Heavy label debut, the nine-song Desiderium, is a tour de force through metallic strengths. Informed by the likes of Death, (their now-labelmates) High on Fire, Killswitch Engage, Gojira (at whose studio they recorded), thick-toned and swapping between harsh shouts, screams and clean-sung choruses — and yes, that’s just in the first three minutes of opener “Death is the Beginning” — the Brooklynite trio of guitarist/vocalist Justin Sherrell, bassist Mike G. and drummer Phil SanGiacomo brazenly careen and crash through styles, be it the lumbering and impatiently angular doom “Paramnesia,” the rousing sprint “What a Way to Go,” the raw, vocals-rightly-forward and relatively free of effects “Remnants” near the end, or the pairing of the fervent, thrashy shove in “Flesh and Blood” with the release-your-inner-Cave–In “Desiderium,” the overwhelming extremity of “Pale Eyes” or the post-hardcore balladeering that turns to djent sludge largesse in closer “The Way Out” — note the album begins at “…the Beginning” and ends at an exit; happy accident or purposeful choice; it works either way — Somnuri are in the hurricane rather than commanding from the calm center, and that shows in the emotionalism of prior single “Hollow Visions,” but at no point does Desiderium collapse under the weight of its ambitions. After years of touring and the triumph that was 2021’s Nefarious Wave (review here) hinting at what seems in full bloom here, Somnuri sound ready for the next level they’ve reached. Time to spend like the next five years straight on tour, guys. Sorry, but that’s what happens when you’re the kick in the ass heavy metal doesn’t yet know it needs.
Densely distorted Indianapolis heavybringers Void King have stated that their third full-length, the burly but not unatmospheric 36-minute The Hidden Hymnal, is the first of a two-part outing, though it’s unclear whether both parts are a concept record or these six tracks are meant to start a storyline, with opener “Egg of the Sun” (that would happen if it spun really fast) and closer “Drink in the Light” feeling complementary in their increased runtime relative to the four songs between. Maybe it’s an unfinished narrative at this point, or no narrative at all. Fine. Approaching it as a standalone outing, the four-piece follow 2019’s Barren Dominion (review here) with more choice riffing and metal-threatening, weighted doom, “The Grackle” breaking out some rawer-throat gutturalism over its big, big, big tone. The bassline of “Engulfed in Absence” (tell people you love them) caps side A with a highlight, and “When the Pinecones Close Up” (that means it’s going to rain) echoes the volatility of “The Grackle” before “Brother Tried” languidly swings until it’s time for a 100 meter dash at the end, and the aforementioned “Drink in the Light” rounds out mournful and determined. If there’s more to come, so be it, but Void King give their listeners plenty to chew on in the interim.
At the core of ostensibly Switzerland-based Inezona is multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Ines Brodbeck, and on Heartbeat — the fourth LP from her band and the follow-up to 2019’s Now, released as INEZ, and last year’s sans-vocals A Self Portrait — the sound is malleable around its folkish melodicism, with Brodbeck, guitarist/vocalist Gabriel Sullivan, bassist/synthesist Fabian Gisler and drummer Eric Gut comfortably fleshing out atmospheric heavy psychedelia more about mood than effects but too active and almost too expressive to be post-rock, though it kind of is anyhow. Mellow throughout, “Sea Soul” caps side A and meanders into/through a jam building on the smoky vibe in “Stardust” before the title-track strolls across a field of more ’60s-derived folk rock. “Veil” charms with fuzz, while “In My Heart” seems intent on finding the place where Scandinavian folk meets kosmiche synthesizer, and “Midnight Circle” brings Zatokrev‘s Fredryk Rotter for a guest duet and guitar spot that is a whole-album crescendo, with the acoustic-based “Leave Me Alone” and the brief “Sunday Mornings” at the end to manage the comedown. The sound spans decades and styles and functions with purpose as its own presence, and the soothing delivery of Brodbeck throughout much of the proceedings draws Heartbeat together as an interpretation of classic pop ideals with deep roots underground. Proof again that ‘heavy’ is about more than which pedals you have on your board.
It’s odd that it’s odd that Hauch‘s songs are in German. The pandemic-born Waltrop, Germany, four-piece present their first release in the recorded-in-2021, five-song Lehmasche, and I guess so much of the material coming out of the German heavy underground — and there’s a lot of it, always — is in English. A distinguishing factor for the 31-minute outing, then, which is further marked by an attitudinal edge in hard-fuzz riffers like “Es Ist” and the closer “Tür,” the aesthetic of the band at this (or that, depending on how present-tense we want to be) moment drawing strongly from ’90s rock — and no, that doesn’t necessarily mean stoner — in structure and affect, but presenting the almost-eight-minute leadoff “Wind” with due fullness of sound and ending up not too far in terms of style from Switzerland’s Carson, who last year likewise proffered a style that was straightforward on its face but, like Hauch, stood out for its level of songwriting and the just-right nature of its grooves. Lehmasche, the title translating to ‘clay ash,’ evokes something that can change shape, and the thrust in “Komm Nach Hause” and the hard-landing kick thud of centerpiece “Quelle” bear that out well enough. Keeping in mind it’s their debut, it seems likely Hauch will continue to grow, but they already sound ready to be picked up by some label or other.
Setting its nod in a manner that seems to have little time to waste on opener “The Mountain and the Feather” before breaking out with the dense, chugging swing of “The Corenne and the Prophecy Fulfilled,” Kentucky heavybringers El Astronauta bring a nuanced sound to what might be familiar progressions, but the mix is set up in three dimensions and the band dwells in all of them, bringing character to the languid reach of the mini-album Snakes and Foxes, bolstered by the everybody-might-sing approach from guitarist/keyboardist Seth Wilson, bassist Dean Collier and pushed-back drummer Cory Link, who debuted in 2021 with High Strangeness and who dude-march through “The Gambler and the General” as if the tempo was impeded by the thickness of the song itself. Through a mere 17 Earth minutes, El Astronauta carve out this indent for themselves in the side of a very large, very heavy style of rock and roll, but “The Axe or the Hammer,” which bookends topping five minutes in answer to “The Mountain and the Feather,” has a more subdued verse to go along with the damn near martial shouts of its impact-minded chorus, and fades out with surprising fluidity to leave off. The one-thing-and-another-thing titles give Snakes and Foxes a thematic feel, but the real theme here is the barebones greed-for-volume El Astronauta display, their material feeling built for beery singalongs.
With their third full-length behind 2021’s Chosen One (review here) and their 2018 self-titled debut (review here), Texan riff rollers Thunder Horse grow accordingly more atmospheric in their presentation and are that much more sure of themselves in leaning into founding guitarist/vocalist Stephen Bishop‘s industrial metal past in Pitbull Daycare. The keys give “Requiem” an epic feel at the finish, and even if the opening title-track is like what Filter might’ve been if they’d been awesome and “New Normal” and “Monolith” push further with semi-aggro metallurgical force, the wall-of-tone remains thusly informed until the two-minute acoustic “The Other Side” tells listeners where to go when it’s over (you flip the record, duh). “Monolith” hinted at a severity that manifests in the doomed “Apocalypse,” a preface in its noise and breadth for the finale “Requiem,” finding a momentum that the layered-vocal hook of “Inner Demon” capitalizes upon with its tense toms and that the howls of the penultimate “Aberdeen” expand on with Thunder Horse‘s version of classic boogie rock. They don’t come across like they’re done exploring the balances of influence in what they do — and I hope they’re not — but Thunder Horse have never sounded more certain as regards the rightness of their path.
The title “Vīrya” is Sanskrit and based on the Hindu concept of vitality or energy, often in a specifically male context. Fair enough ground for Kansas instrumentalists After Nations to explore on their single following last year’s impressive, Buddhism-based concept LP, The Endless Mountain (review here). In the four-minute standalone check-in, the four-piece remind just how granite-slab heavy that offering was as they find a linear path from the warning-siren-esque guitar at the start through the slower groove and into the space where a post-metallic verse could reside but doesn’t and that’s just fine, turning back to the big-bigger-biggest riff before shifting toward controlled-cacophony progressive metal, hints of djent soon to flower as they build tension through the higher guitar frequencies and the intensity of the whole. After three minutes in, they’re charging forward, but it’s a flash and they’re dug into the whatever-time-signature finishing movement, a quick departure to guitar soon consumed by that feeling you get when you listen to Meshuggah that there’s a very large thing rising up very slowly in front of you and surely you’ll never get out alive. Precise in their attack, After Nations reinforce the point The Endless Mountain made that technique is only one part of their overarching brutality.
There’s some incongruity between the intro “Introspection” (I see what you did there) leading into “Weightless Again” as it takes the mood from a quiet buildup to full-bore tonality and only then gives over to the eight-minute second track, but Ockra‘s Argonauta-delivered debut long-player thrives in that contradiction. Melodic vocals float over energetic riffing in “Weightless Again,” but even that is just a hint of the seven-songer’s scope. To wit, the initially acoustic-based “Tree I Planted” is recognizably parental in its point of view with a guest vocal from Stefanie Spielhaupter, and while centerpiece “Acceptance” is more doomed in its introductory lead guitar, the open strum of its early verses and the harmonies in its second half assure an impression is made. The Gothenburg-based trio grow yet more adventurous in the drone-and-voice outset of “We Who Didn’t Know,” which unfolds its own notions of what ‘heavy prog’ means, with guitarist Erik Björnlinger howling at the finish ahead of the start of the more folk-minded strum of “Imorgon Här,” on which drummer Jonas Nyström (who also played that acoustic on “We Who Didn’t Know” and adds Mellotron where applicable) takes over lead vocal duties from bassist Alex Spielhaupter (also more Mellotron). The German-language closer “Tage Wie Dieser” (‘days like these’) boasts a return from Stefanie Spielhaupter and is both quiet grunge and ambient post-rock before the proggy intensity of its final wash takes hold, needing neither a barrage of effects or long stretches of jamming to conjure a sense of the far out.
What’s another 20 minutes of music to Erik Larson, I wonder. The Richmond-based songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and vocalist has a career and a discography that goes back to the first Avail record three decades ago, and at no point in those decades has he ever really stopped, moving through outfits like (the now-reunited) Alabama Thunderpussy, Axehandle, The Mighty Nimbus, Hail!Hornet, Birds of Prey, Kilara, Backwoods Payback, Thunderchief, on and on, while building his solo catalog as well. Fortsett, the 20-minute EP in question, follows 2022’s Red Lines and Everything Breaks (both reviewed here), and features Druglord‘s Tommy Hamilton (also Larson‘s bandmate in Omen Stones) on drums and engineer Mark Miley on a variety of instruments and backing vocals. And you know what? It’s a pretty crucial-sounding 20 minutes. Larson leads the charge through his take that helped define Southern heavy in “Cry in the Wind,” the nodder “My Own,” and the sub-two-minute “Electric Burning,” pulls back on the throttle for “Hounder Sistra” and closes backed by drum machine and keys on “Life Shedding,” just in case you dared to think you know what you were getting. So what’s that 20 minutes of music to Erik Larson? Going by the sound of Fortsett, it’s the most important part of the day.
Posted in Whathaveyou on July 11th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
The thing you’re gonna want to note here is ‘Part 1,’ as in, more touring is coming. Also, seems like a pretty safe bet that ‘we love beer and we’re going to make a documentary about drinking beer on tour’ is going to result in some watch-worthy shenanigans. What isn’t mentioned below, however, is that Austin-based go-go-go heavy rockers High Desert Queen have also been in the studio since they got back from their massive UK/Euro jaunt alongside Fatso Jetson and/or The Rubber Snake Charmers, recording new material, one assumes for the follow-up to their 2021 debut, Secrets of the Black Moon (review here).
Since that record came out, High Desert Queen have done precious little other than work their collective ass off touring, and that’s before you get to the fact that frontman Ryan Garney runs the completely-overwhelming-but-in-the-best-way-possible-looking RippleFest Texas. And already this year, the band paired with New Mexico’s Blue Heron for Turned to Stone Ch. 8 (review here), another installment in Ripple‘s ongoing series. Their tracks on there were held over from the sessions for the debut, however, so I’m looking all the more forward to hearing what’s coming next from High Desert Queen. A band doesn’t play live that much, tour that much, drink that much beer, and come out of it without some sort of creative growth. I bugged Garney for some comment on the recording process, and he was kind enough to oblige.
Probably won’t be 2024 before the album is out — just timing that guess based on seeing release announcements for October now and High Desert Queen aren’t there yet — but I bet that by whenever it shows up, the band have another tour or two under their collective belt, even after this one.
With the caveat of more to come, this from socials:
HIGH DESERT QUEEN – “BREWERY AND DIVE TOUR: PART 1”
We are getting back on the road! In case you didn’t know we love beer, and we will be filming a documentary where we be tasting beer at breweries all along our tour, including the ones we are playing! We can’t wait to get back on the road, meet new people and of course taste all that delicious beer! What city will you be having a beer with is?
Says Ryan Garney: “We are in love with getting on the road and after our 6 week European tour we are excited for our Brewery and Dive tour in the US. This will be the first part in a series of Brewery tours where we film a documentary of us trying beers and playing live. These brewery tours are essentially our dream tours as we love beer as much as we love playing live.
After our latest European tour we went straight into the studio. We recorded everything live, with no click track, and no punch-ins at an amazing studio in Texas called Yellow Dog. We created several new songs from scratch and can’t wait to share it so people can see what direction we’ve taken. This will be a heavy rock and roll record with plenty of Texas dirt mixed in!”
Date/City/Venue 7/26 Houston, TX Equal Parts Brewing 7/27 College Station, TX 101 Bar 7/28 Arlington, TX Division Brewing 7/29 San Angelo, TX The Deadhorse 7/30 Lubbock, TX Jake’s Sports Cafe & Backroom 8/1 Fort Collins, CO The Coast* 8/2 Colorado Springs, CO Vultures* 8/3 Denver, CO Skylark Lounge* 8/4 Albuquerque, NM The Historic El Rey Theater 8/5 Phoenix, AZ The Blooze Bar *w/ Blue Heron
Posted in Whathaveyou on July 10th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Once upon a time on the internet — I don’t know when, but it was years ago — I was talking about Solitude Aeturnus as a band who I thought had more to say. Another album in them, maybe more shows. A reunion. Something to follow-up their 2006 record, Alone, which it’s only unfair to call a joy because it was so pointedly downhearted. Founding guitarist John Perez has been jamming with his psych band Liquid Sound Company, and they released a record in 2021 (review here), but other than reissues, the classic Texas doom metal outfit haven’t had a new full-length in 17 years. And whenever this on-social-media conversation took place and I was answering some question or whatever it was, I said I thought Solitude Aeturnus were underrated and had more to offer.
Well, some dude on the internet — I don’t know who — decided he was gonna be a dude on the internet and put me in my place. A reunion could never happen. No chance. The members would never get back together in any form and the band was done once and for all.
Again, I don’t know who that was, or when it was, or even why — fairly certain I didn’t respond to the comment — but as I look at Solitude Aeturnus coming back with the lineup that made 1991’s pioneering Into the Depths of Sorrow, there sure is one more person out there in the world, somewhere, somewhen, who can kiss my ass.
Solitude Aeturnus play Hell’s Heroes VI in March 2024. And yeah, that’s a long time from now and a lot can happen between now and then, but that they’d even book it — the band also have a podcast, so there’s been activity around them if not from them in the sense of their putting out or playing music — indicates that at least on some level they also think they have more in them. So yeah. Pucker up, whoever it was.
From Solitude Aeturnus‘ website and social media:
Attention metal music enthusiasts! We have some special news for you all! Get ready to rock as Solitude Aeturnus takes the stage at the legendary Hell’s Heroes VI Festival! Join us at Houston’s White Oak Music Hall for a mind-blowing night of pure doom metal madness!
Experience the power of Solitude Aeturnus as they unleash a setlist filled with classic hits. This unique lineup features all the original band members from their very first release, “Into The Depths of Sorrow.” This show promises an unforgettable evening where gloom reigns supreme, and the essence of solitude takes you on an Aethereal journey.
Says John Perez: “This is one of the, if not THE premier metal festival in the Unites States and I can tell you that its going to be HEAVY! This show will feature the classic line up of Robert Lowe , John Covington, Lyle Blackburn and Edgar Rivera. We also have Steve Moseley still with us making this unique show a triple doom axe attack! Looking forward to dusting off the catalog and bringing the HEAVY to Houston! Get your tickets soon as this will sell out no doubt!”
Secure your spot now for the 3-day Hell’s Heroes VI metal festival in March 2024. Witness Solitude Aeturnus in their element and let their music engulf you in a dark symphony you won’t soon forget!
