Posted in Whathaveyou on February 27th, 2026 by JJ Koczan
Pro-shop band. It wasn’t a surprise finding that out in-person at Planet Desert Rock Weekend VI (review here), of course. I’ve heard The Quill records. I know the story. They were there when the thing was just becoming a thing. Of course they’re professional. I have to imagine in their 35-plus years they’ve been on every size stage you can imagine.
I was into 2024’s Wheel of Illusion (review here), which leaned hard into classic rock influences, and interviewed Christian Carlsson (feature here) for the prior release, 2021’s Earthrise, and at least on this site it goes back a decade before that but I’ll spare you the link dump. The new record is called Master of the Skies, and if they’re saying it’s a bit darker, well so is the world, so that makes sense. Doesn’t mean it won’t have hooks.
Album art and info follow, courtesy of the PR wire:
THE QUILL’s set release date for new METALVILLE album
Some bands chase trends. Others outlive them.
Swedish hard rock veterans The Quill return with their new studio album Master of the Skies on May 8th via Metalville.
Master of the Skies marks another chapter in a long-running conversation between groove, weight, melody, and muscle — this time with a darker tint.
The songs move through light and shade, tightening the screws one moment and opening the throttle the next. It’s heavier without being blunt, moodier without losing swing — heavy rock with depth lines and character, earned the hard way.
The Quill is a band comfortable in its own skin, writing music because they still mean it, not because anyone asked. Think Sabbath’s sense of gravity, the groove-heavy swagger of classic heavy rock, and the lived-in confidence of musicians who’ve been there, done that — and kept the amps on anyway.
The band once again teamed up with Erik Nilsson at 491 Studios, a place that by now knows their sound almost as well as the band does.
No reinvention. No nostalgia trip. Just The Quill doing what they’ve always done best: writing heavy rock songs that stand on their own feet.
The sky is still the limit — and The Quill remains its master.
Quotes about Master of the Skies:
Magnus Ekwall: “We focused a lot on atmosphere. Some songs needed space and restraint, others wanted to explode — I liked letting the light and darkness decide how far to push it.”
Christian Carlsson: “This time, we didn’t force a ‘Quill sound’ onto the songs. We let each track build its own identity, even if that meant going down unfamiliar paths.”
Roger Nilsson: “The big difference on this album is how much it came together as a band. Everyone shaped the songs, and the contrasts grew naturally from that.”
Jolle Atlagic: “We experimented more in the studio than usual. Some ideas stuck, some didn’t — but that trial-and-error is what gave the album its movement.”
Tracklisting for The Quill’s Master of the Skies 1. Master of the Skies 2. Dark City 3. You Can Not Kill My Soul 4. It’s Over 5. Son of Light 6. If Tomorrow Never Comes 7. Now You Are Gone 8. Light Turns Low 9. Mastodon 10. Master of the Skies (Reprise)
LINEUP Magnus Ekwall – vocals (Ayreon, Mountain of Power) Christian Carlsson – guitar (Cirkus Prütz) Roger Nilsson – bass (Spiritual Beggars, Arch Enemy, Firebird) Jolle Atlagic – drums (Hanoi Rocks, Electric Boys, Firebird)
Posted in Reviews on January 30th, 2026 by JJ Koczan
Earlier – Before Show
My flight got in last night, and even waking up already in the town where I’m seeing a show tonight feels like a relief, as opposed to getting here and needing to rush to the venue, which is how it might otherwise generally go. I made this trip to Las Vegas last year for Planet Desert Rock Weekend, and it was a highlight of the whole year, and set a positive tone that I’ll just say helped and leave it at that.
A lot this year is the same. I’m staying with Adam from Sonolith and his wife Jocelynn (and the power trio of weimaraners) again, which is great, and I feel ready for it. I woke up at about six this morning — which means I slept late with the three-hour time difference, but I was also up late thanks to the same temporal shenanigans — and had a Hungarian lesson on WhatsApp that, surprise, I forgot to cancel, before I even had time to brush my teeth. My teacher was very forgiving.
But Count’s Vamp’d, which was where three of the four nights last year were held, has closed, so The Usual Place, which was the bigger spot last year, will be home to the whole festival. And if you’re not familiar with the concept, Planet Desert Rock Weekend is put together by John Gist of Vegas Rock Revolution promotions. It’s five or six bands a night, tops, and it’s impeccably curated to such a degree as to make each one of them count.
Tonight, as an example, will feature five bands, three of whom — Saturna (Spain), Isaak (Italy) and The Quill (Sweden) — are European imports. I think The Quill might’ve come over at some point in their career, but the other two I’m pretty sure are making the trip for the first time. That would make it special enough. They’re to be joined by Oakland’s Phantom Hound, and Austin’s The Well, who play first and third, respectively. For me, it’s firsts for all save The Well, and I’m not Joey Goestoeveryshow, but nights of such proportion and anticipation are not of regular occurrence. So yes, special. That’s what you come for.
Here’s the night as it happened. I was there early enough to see The Quill soundcheck, which was well before doors. I’ll do my best on tenses, but no promises for consistency will be made. Reread this paragraph if you don’t know what I’m talking about. Typos too, while we’re doing disclaimers. I’m on my phone and doing my best to give some sense of what it’s like to be here while I am. Thanks for reading on if you do.
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The Show
Phantom Hound
It’s gonna be a (Planet Desert) rocker weekend, and Phantom Hound rocked the start of it. Big Alice in Chains circa Facelift/Soundgarden vibes vocally on their 2024 album, From Boom Town to Ghost Town, but the delivery was more direct from the stage, and there was room in the sound for the grunge later anyhow. That wasn’t the whole story, is what I’m saying. The room had been filling up, and the Oakland trio brought folks to the front, as one would hope for the night’s opener. That goes back to Gist’s curation, which was the thread last year for sure, and which gives every band a purpose in each slot. The ability to put people where you want them is not a thing to be taken lightly, and Phantom Hound were moody, but in a style able to crossover generations in its appeal, familiar in its roots but heavy and modern in tonality. If you like point of view, and I do, they had it. They nestled into a steady groove in material I didn’t know, and as a first impression of the night, weekend, and for me, the band, since I’d never seen them before, they came across like they know their strengths but are in it for the love of what they do. That gave the songs their soul, which was everything. Dude also shouted out his mom, who was in the crowd, and that was awesome.
Saturna
They said from the stage this was their second time in the US, and for them, this was the culmination of two weeks on the road, so yes, Saturna were basically on fire from the outset. I guess it’s fair to call them veterans since they’ve been around more than a decade, but even after 2024’s The Reset (review here), it’s fair to call them underrated, but they’re right up PDRW’s alley, with a take that blends ’70s and ’90s dual-guitar heavy with strong vocal melodies, enough instrumental flexibility to boogie when called to do so and songwriting that reaches into the progressive without feeling overly self-indulgent. As ends to tours go, they set themselves up (or whoever booked it set them up, anyhow) for a banger finish, which I guess one might do their second time over, but of course they had a hand in that too, with a performance that gave a sense of air, of letting it breathe, while still hitting tight. Hail heavy Spain. I’d never seen Saturna before, but I’m glad I did tonight, and not just because they covered “Never Say Die,” but yes, also that. They also set a high bar for a big rock finish.
The Well
I could tell you the last time I saw The Well, but I’m stoned enough at just this moment to skip the link-dump, and that feels better. It’s been a while. Their soundcheck found them right in the balance vocally, with guitarist Ian Graham and bassist Lisa Alley sharing the role, and after Saturna and Phantom Hound, killer vocals was fast becoming a theme fitting for an evening that would end with The Quill. But The Well. Different approach than either of the first two bands, but carrying elements of both forward from their own standpoint. Their West Coast tour is just starting — they were in Albuquerque last night, are on from here to CA — but their bounce was on point, and that feeling of movement is important to what they do. They had what was diagnosed from the stage as “technical bullshit,” but it was momentary and the sampler was going again soon after, and all was riffs and merriment of a dark but warm variety that the square universe neither could nor will ever realize but sure feels like gnarly mana for weirdos. They’re a pro shop. Maybe the theme for the night is ‘bands who make you happy to be in the room.’ No arguments. Time for a new record from The Well, but I wouldn’t rush them. They’re doing just fine as is. “Here’s a song everyone can relate to. It’s about the end of the world.” Of course it was “This is How the World Ends.” There was no chance they were lying. They had new stuff too, so bonus.
Isaak
I’ve been writing about this band since they were called Gandhi’s Gunn, over 15 years ago now, so to see them for the first time now is a trip. Understand, that doesn’t make me cool any more than it makes me an aardvark (though I also think being an aardvark would be kind of cool), but it gives seeing them some context for me. Their 2024 split with Geezer (review here) was both a hoot and a holler, and again, I was glad again to be here for it. If The Well were bounce and nod, Isaak were a shove, and that was more than called for. I’ll admit I was lagging before they went on (in part the jet- variety, in part just the old man variety), and that was a piece of why I went and sat in the photo pit more than 10 minutes before they went on — penance is I’m pretty sure I sat in spilled beer — but their energy left no room for it. They hit it hard and fast and if I didn’t know them before this I’d be concerned they were blowing themselves out before the tour, but I’m perfectly willing to believe this was how Isaak roll every night. Classic desert riffing, and they made it go. Sixteen years later, it feels nice to have been right in thinking something kicks ass. They might’ve enjoyed “The Way” most, or that might be me projecting. But as much as the immediacy suited them, I was still up front when they turned it hypnotic at the end and absolutely zero regrets on that. I did regret not introducing myself before to go up to the merch table after they were done, which is not always a thing I’m brave enough to do, being social interaction and all.
The Quill
Entering their maybe-40th year as a band, the heavy rocking monsters of Mönsterås were classic to start with, so I’m not sure how you would define them now other than how I just did. And unlike most of the other bands tonight, The Quill didn’t make a tour of it. Frontman Magnus Ekwall even said from the stage they were here just for this occasion. And they made it one. There’s metal in their sound as well as no shortage of rock, but when they hit into the hook of “Queen of Illusion,” it was all of it out together. Ekwall indeed tipped off the night for singers, with backing from guitarist Christian Carlsson and bassist Roger Nilsson, and in addition to respecting The Quill for having been at it as long as they have and, particularly, for making the trip to Vegas, they also killed. Midnight came and went and they made it worth sticking around. With drummer Jolle Atlagic adding to the roll, Carlsson had his Sabbath cross well placed, shredding with precision and soul alike; someone born to do a thing and who’s worked on it for probably well over four decades anyway. Craft was part of the appeal, the memorability of their material, recent or old (they did “Voodoo Caravan,” which they might every show, I don’t care, it was still cool), but it was the heart that sold me on it. If they didn’t love it they wouldn’t be here telling people to buy shirts so they don’t have to take them back to Sweden, belting it out. And once again, it was a shift away from what Isaak were doing, who were a shift from The Well and in through Saturna and Phantom Hound, but there was consistency too, in the songs and the way they handed them to the crowd along with the room’s collective ass. An arena set.
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After Show
Yo it’s like two in the morning, no way am I sorting photos tonight. I entertained the notion for actual earth seconds, but it’ll be there in the morning and presumably so will I. So we’ll have no more talk of that. I’m even more tired than when I did that Hungarian lesson at 6:30 this morning.
It was a good night, and in its sans-bullshit spirit, I’ll dispense with wax poetry about it. PDRW VI picks up tomorrow bright and early (not really) and I’m gonna sleep the crap out of the rest of the night so I can be ready for it.
By the time this is posted, there will be more pics after the jump. Thanks again for reading.
Posted in Whathaveyou on August 11th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
Bit of shuffle to the lineup for Planet Desert Rock Weekend VI next January in Las Vegas, as Swedish and Canadian bands are traded out on a one-per-one basis — The Quill and Familiars added, Huanastone and Mooch dropping off — and Memphis heavy blues rockers The Dirty Streets are added.
I don’t know when the last time The Quill came to the US was, presumably some metal festival somewhere along the way, but I have no idea. That’s a band with 30-plus years of history behind them. Familiars are rad and I’ve never seen them, and it’s been a long time since I caught Dirty Streets, whose addition here is exactly the kind of “ooh, nice pick” that emphasizes the quality of curation for Planet Desert Rock Weekend. I don’t know that Dirty Streets, or The Quill, or Familiars will or won’t be promoting a new album at the start of 2026, but they’re being brought to Vegas anyway at the festival’s behest, and it’s not an accident. Ever.
The announcement follows, as per the PR wire:
Planet Desert Rock Weekend VI lineup has 3 new additions to it and each with a very distinctive different kind of sound.
We are super excited to announce the addition of a band that has been rocking the stage for 30 years! The Quill will be coming over from Sweden to play Planet Desert Rock Weekend VI in Vegas! The Quill has consistently put out super strong albums with all of their last 3 albums landing very high on Vegas Rock Revolution’s end of the year lists and their 2024 album landing #24 on the March Doom Charts. This band is the essence of pure heavy rock and roll with a high accent on stupendously strong vocals, driving riffs and songwriting that captures what rock music from its early roots is all about. We know the addition of The Quill continues to show broaden the scope of bands we want to represent Planet Desert Rock Weekend.
Bluesy rocker Dirty Streets out of Memphis has long been a band that Vegas Rock Revolution has championed and we are pumped to have the trio come out! Their bluesy based sound really captures part of the roots of what rock music was founded from. Heavy accent on great vocals from singer/ songwriter Justin Toland and an unmistakable groove by his bandmates get the feet moving live. If you are a fan of bands like Rival Sons, The Cold Stares, Heavy Eyes, Slow Season, El Perro, 20 Watt Tombstone and others then you just might have found your new favorite band. Their version of Stayin Alive is epic!
PDRW has a running tradition of having cool Canadian bands as part of our weekend with Sandveiss and Sons of Arrakis playing back to back years. Well in 2026 the Canuck tradition continues with the band Familiars. They have been steadily putting out stuff since 2014 with a sound that has some good range to it. No doubt some heavy psych leanings in there but also some stoner rock make up as well. In addition, some folk-rock aspects enter the picture as heard on their 2024 release “Easy Does It”. As they call it they have a Canadiana vibe to them that derives stories from days gone by and a soundtrack of summer drives with the windows down. Their music is patient, well thought out and this power trio is known for being excellent live.
Also, we have to announce two bands that will not be joining PDRW VI in 2026. Mooch and Huanastone unfortunately won’t be part of the event as they say “timing is everything”. Although disappointing, we have hopes they can come out for a future year. So, we already are finalizing a number of bands from “our list” to slide in with no drop-off in the quality of bands.
We currently have a 4 night pass special going on now but the price will be going up after the next big band announcement….
Posted in Reviews on February 29th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
Day four of five puts the end of this Quarterly Review in sight, as will inevitably happen. We passed the halfway point yesterday and by the time today’s done it’s the home stretch. I hope you’ve had a good week. It’s been a lot — and in terms of the general work level of the day, today’s my busiest day; I’ve got Hungarian class later and homework to do for that, and two announcements to write in addition to this, one for today one for tomorrow, and I need to set up the back end of another announcement for Friday if I can. The good news is that my daughter seems to be over the explosive-vomit-time stomach bug that had her out of school on Monday. The better news is I’ve yet to get that.
But if I’m scatterbrained generally and sort of flailing, well, as I was recently told after I did a video interview and followed up with the artist to apologize for my terribleness at it, at least it’s honest. I am who I am, and I think that there are places where people go and things people do that sometimes I have a hard time with. Like leaving the house. And parenting. And interviewing bands, I guess. Needing to plow through 10 reviews today and tomorrow should be a good exercise in focusing energy, even if that isn’t necessarily getting the homework done faster. And yeah, it’s weird to be in your 40s and think about homework. Everything’s weird in your 40s.
Quarterly Review #31-40:
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Monkey3, Welcome to the Machine
What are Monkey3 circa 2024 if not a name you can trust? The Swiss instrumental four-piece are now more than 20 years removed from their 2003 self-titled debut, and Welcome to the Machine — their seventh album and fourth release on Napalm Records (three studio, one live) — brings five new songs across 46 minutes of stately progressive heavy craft, with the lead cut “Ignition” working into an early gallop before cutting to ambience presumably as a manifestation of hitting escape velocity and leaving the planetary atmosphere, and trading from there between longer (10-plus-minute) and shorter (six- and seven-minute) pieces that are able to hit with a surprising impact when they so choose. Second track “Collision” comes to crush in a way that even 2019’s Sphere (review here) didn’t, and to go with its methodical groove, heavy post-rock airiness and layered-in acoustic guitar, “Kali Yuga” (10:01) is tethered by a thud of drums that feels no less the point of the thing than the mood-aura in the largesse that surrounds. Putting “Rackman” (7:13, with hints of voice or keyboard that sounds like it), which ends furiously, and notably cinematic closer “Collapse” (12:51) together on side B is a distinct immersion, and the latter places Monkey3 in a prog-metal context that defies stylistic expectation even as it lives up to the promise of the band’s oeuvre. Seven records and more than two decades on, and Monkey3 are still evolving. This is a special band, and in a Europe currently awash in heavy instrumentalism of varying degrees of psychedelia, it’s hard to think of Monkey3 as anything other than aesthetic pioneers.
With its Sabbath-born chug and bluesy initial groove opening to NWOBHM grandeur at the solo, the opening title-track is quick to reassure that Sweden’s The Quill are themselves on Wheel of Illusion, even if the corresponding classic metal elements there a standout from the more traditional rock of “Elephant Head” with its tambourine, or the doomier roll in “Sweet Mass Confusion,” also pointedly Sabbathian and thus well within the wheelhouse of guitarist Christian Carlsson, vocalist Magnus Ekwall, bassist Roger Nilsson and drummer Jolle Atlagic. While most of Wheel of Illusion is charged in its delivery, the still-upbeat “Rainmaker” feels like a shift in atmosphere after the leadoff and “We Burn,” and atmospherics come more into focus as the drums thud and the strings echo out in layers as “Hawks and Hounds” builds to its ending. While “The Last Thing” works keyboard into its all-go transition into nodding capper “Wild Mustang,” it’s the way the closer seems to encapsulate the album as a whole and the perspective brought to heavy rock’s founding tenets that make The Quill such reliable purveyors, and Wheel of Illusion comes across like special attention was given to the arrangements and the tightness of the songwriting. If you can’t appreciate kickass rock and roll, keep moving. Otherwise, whether it’s your first time hearing The Quill or you go back through all 10 of their albums, they make it a pleasure to get on board.
Equal parts brash and disillusioned, Nebula Drag‘s Dec. 2023 LP, Western Death, is a ripper whether you’re dug into side ‘Western’ or side ‘Death.’ The first half of the psych-leaning-but-more-about-chemistry-than-effects San Diego trio’s third album offers the kind of declarative statement one might hope, with particular scorch in the guitar of Corey Quintana, sway and ride in Stephen Varns‘ drums and Garrett Gallagher‘s Sabbathian penchant for working around the riffs. The choruses of “Sleazy Tapestry,” “Kneecap,” “Side by Side,” “Tell No One” and the closing title-track speak directly to the listener, with the last of them resolved, “Look inside/See the signs/Take what you can,” and “Side by Side” a call to group action, “We don’t care how it gets done/Helpless is the one,” but there’s storytelling here too as “Tell No One” turns the sold-your-soul-to-play-music trope and turns it on its head by (in the narrative, anyhow) keeping the secret. Pairing these ideas with Nebula Drag‘s raw-but-not-sloppy heavy grunge, able to grunge-crunch on “Tell No One” even as the vocals take on more melodic breadth, and willing to let it burn as “Western Death” departs its deceptively angular riffing to cap the 34-minute LP with the noisy finish it has by then well earned.
LLNN & Sugar Horse, The Horror bw Sleep Paralysis Demon
Brought together for a round of tour dates that took place earlier this month, Pelagic Records labelmates LLNN (from Copenhagen) and Sugar Horse (from Bristol, UK) each get one track on a 7″ side for a showcase. Both use it toward obliterating ends. LLNN, who are one of the heaviest bands I’ve ever seen live and I’m incredibly grateful for having seen them live, dig into neo-industrial churn on “The Horror,” with stabbing synth later in the procession that underscores the point and less reliance on tonal onslaught than the foreboding violence of the atmosphere they create. In response, Sugar Horse manage to hold back their screams and lurching full-bore bludgeonry for nearly the first minute of “Sleep Paralysis Demon” and even after digging into it dare a return to cleaner singing, admirable in their restraint and more effectively tense for it when they push into caustic sludge churn and extremity, space in the guitar keeping it firmly in the post-metal sphere even as they aim their intent at rawer flesh. All told, the platter is nine of probably and hopefully-for-your-sake the most brutal minutes you might experience today, and thus can only be said to accomplish what it set out to do as the end product sounds like two studios would’ve needed rebuilding afterward.
Fuzzter aren’t necessarily noisy in terms of playing noise rock on Pandemonium, but from the first cymbal crashes after the Oppenheimer sample at the start of “Extinción,” the Peruvian outfit engage an uptempo heavy psych thrust that, though directed, retains a chaotic aspect through the band’s willingness to be sound if not actually be reckless, to gang shout before the guitars drift off in “Thanatos,” to be unafraid of being eaten by their own swirl in “Caja de Pandora” or to chug with a thrashy intensity at the start of closer “Tercer Ojo,” doom out massive in the song’s middle, and float through jazzy minimalism at the finish. But even in that, there are flashes, bursts that emphasize the unpredictability of the songs, which is an asset throughout what’s listed as the Lima trio’s third EP but clocks in at 36 minutes with the instrumental “Purgatorio,” which starts off like it might be an interlude but grows more furious as its five minutes play out, tucked into its center. If it’s a short release, it is substantial. If it’s an album, it’s substantial despite a not unreasonable runtime. Ultimately, whatever they call it is secondary to the space-metal reach and the momentum fostered across its span, which just might carry you with it whether or not you thought you were ready to go.
The listed representation of dreams in “Dream One” adds to the concrete severity of Cold in Berlin‘s dark, keyboard-laced post-metallic sound, but London-based four-piece temper that impact with the post-punk ambience around the shove of the later “Found Out” on their The Body is the Wound 19-minute four-songer, and build on the goth-ish sway even as “Spotlight” fosters a heavier, more doomed mindset behind vocalist Maya, whose verses in “When Did You See Her Last” are complemented by dramatic lines of keyboard and who can’t help but soar even as the overarching direction is down, down, down into either the subconscious referenced in “Dream One” or some other abyss probably of the listener’s own making. Five years and one actual-plague after their fourth full-length, 2019’s Rituals of Surrender, bordering on 15 since the band got their start, they cast resonance in mood as well as impact (the latter bolstered by Wayne Adams‘ production), and are dynamic in style as well as volume, with each piece on The Body is the Wound working toward its own ends while the EP’s entirety flows with the strength of its performances. They’re in multiple worlds, and it works.
With the expansive songwriting of multi-instrumentalist/sometimes-vocalist Eric McQueen at its core, The Mountain King issue Apostasyn as possibly their 10th full-length in 10 years and harness a majestic, progressive doom metal that doesn’t skimp either on the doom or the metal, whether that takes the form of the Type O Negative-style keys in “The White Noise From God’s Radio” or the tremolo guitar in the apex of closer “Axolotl Messiah.” The title-track is a standout for more than just being 15 minutes long, with its death-doom crux and shifts between minimal and maximal volumes, and the opening “Dødo” just before fosters immersion after its maybe-banging-on-stuff-maybe-it’s-programmed intro, with a hard chug answered in melody by guest singer Julia Gusso, who joins McQueen and the returning Frank Grimbarth (also guitar) on vocals, while Robert Bished adds synth to McQueen‘s own. Through the personnel changes and in each piece’s individual procession, The Mountain King are patient, waiting in the dark for you to join them. They’ll probably just keep basking in all that misery until you get there, no worries. Oh, and I’ll note that the download version of Apostasyn comes with instrumental versions of the four tracks, in case you’d really like to lose yourself in ruminating.
The self-titled debut from Parisian doomers Witchorious is distinguished by its moments of sludgier aggression — the burly barks in “Monster” at the outset, and so on — but the chorus of “Catharsis” that rises from the march of the verse offers a more melodic vision, and the three-piece of guitarist/vocalist Antoine Auclair, bassist/vocalist Lucie Gaget and drummer Paul Gaget, continue to play to multiple sides of a modern metal and doom blend, while “The Witch” adds vastness and roll to its creeper-riff foundation. The guitar-piece “Amnesia” serves as an interlude ahead of “Watch Me Die” as Witchorious dig into the second half of the album, and as hard has that song comes to hit — plenty — the character of the band is correspondingly deepened by the breadth of “To the Grave,” which follows before the bonus track “Why” nod-dirges the album’s last hook. There’s clarity in the craft throughout, and Witchorious seem aware of themselves in stylistic terms if not necessarily writing to style, and noteworthy as it is for being their first record, I look forward to hearing how they refine and sharpen the methods laid out in these songs. The already-apparent command with which they direct the course here isn’t to be ignored.
Though their penchant for cult positioning and exploitation-horror imagery might lead expectations elsewhere, North Carolinian trio Skull Servant present a raw, sludge-rocking take on their second LP, Traditional Black Magicks II, with bassist Noah Terrell and guitarist Calvin Bauer reportedly swapping vocal duties per song across the five tracks while drummer Ryland Dreibelbis gives fluidity to the current of distortion threaded into “Absinthe Dreams,” which is instrumental on the album but newly released as a standalone single with vocals. I don’t know if the wrong version got uploaded or what — Bauer ends up credited with vocals that aren’t there — but fair enough. A meaner, punkier stonerism shows itself as “Poison the Unwell” hints at facets of post-hardcore and “Pergamos,” the two shortest pieces placed in front of the strutting “Lucifer’s Reefer” and between that cut and the Goatsnake-via-Sabbath riffing of “Satan’s Broomstick.” So it could be that Skull Servant, who released the six-song outing on Halloween 2023, are still sorting through where they want to be sound-wise, or it could be they don’t give a fuck about genre convention and are gonna do whatever they please going forward. I won’t predict and I’m not sure either answer is wrong.
Notice of arrival is served as Lord Velvet dig into classic vibes and modern heft on their late 2023 debut EP, Astral Lady, to such a degree that I actually just checked their social media to see if they’d been signed yet before I started writing about them. Could happen, and probably will if they want it to, considering the weight of low end and the flowing, it’s-a-vibe-man vibe, plus shred, in “Lament of Io” and the way they make that lumber boogie through (most of) “Snakebite Fever.” Appearing in succession, “Night Terrors” and “From the Deep” channel stoned Iommic revelry amid their dynamic-in-tempo doomed intent, and while “Black Beam of Gemini” rounds out with a shove, Lord Velvet retain the tonal presence on the other end of that quick, quiet break, ready to go when needed for the crescendo. They’re not reinventing stoner rock and probably shouldn’t be trying to on this first EP, but they feel like they’re engaging with some of the newer styles being proffered by Magnetic Eye or sometimes Ripple Music, and if they end up there or elsewhere before they get around to making a full-length, don’t be surprised. If they plan to tour, so much the better for everybody.
Well then, here we are. Day two of the Spring 2022 Quarterly Review brings a few records that I really, really like, personally, and I hope that you listen and feel similar. What you’ll find throughout is a pretty wide swath of styles, but these are the days of expanded-definition heavy, so let’s not squabble about this or that. Still a lot of week to go, folks. Gotta keep it friendly.
Deep breath in, and…
Quarterly Review #11-20:
Arð, Take Up My Bones
Hard to know at what point Winterfylleth‘s Mark Deeks decided to send his historically-minded solo-project Arð to Prophecy Productions for release consideration, but damned if the six-song Take Up My Bones doesn’t feel quintessential. Graceful lines of piano and strings give way to massively-constructed lumbering funeralia, vocals adding to the atmosphere overall as the story of St. Cuthbert’s bones is recounted through song, in mood perhaps more than folk balladeering. Whatever your familiarity with that narrative or willingness to engage it, Deeks‘ arrangements are lush and wondrously patient, the sound of “Boughs of Trees” at the outset of side B building smoothly toward its deathly sprawl but unrelentingly melodic. The longer “Raise Then the Incorrupt Body” and “Only Three Shall Know” come across as more directly dramatic with their chants and so on, but Arð‘s beauty-through-darkness melancholy is the center around which the album is built and the end result is suitably consuming. While not incomplete by any means, I find myself wondering when it’s over what other stories Deeks may have to tell.
Oh, Seremonia. How I missed you. These long six years after Pahuuden Äänet (review here), the Finnish troupe return to rescue their cult listenership from any and all mundane realities, psych and garage-fuzz potent enough to come with a warning label (which so far as I know it doesn’t) on “Neonlusifer” and the prior opener “Väärä valinta” with the all-the-way-out flute-laced swirl of “Raskatta vettä,” and if you don’t know what to make of all those vowel sounds, good luck with the cosmic rock of “Kaivon pohjalla” and “Unohduksen kidassa,” on which vocalist Noora Federley relinquishes the lead spot to new recruit Teemu Markkula (also Death Hawks), who also adds guitar, synth, organ and flute alongside the guitar/synth/vocals of Ville Pirinen, the drums/guitar/flute/vocals of Erno Taipale and bass/synth/vocals of Ilkka Vekka. This is a band who reside — permanently, it seems — on a wavelength of their own, and Neonlusifer is more than welcome after their time out of time. May it herald more glorious oddness to come from the noisy mist that ends “Maailmanlopun aamuna” and the album as a whole.
Swedish heavy rockers The Quill mark 30 years of existence in 2022 (actually they go back further), and while Live, New, Borrowed, Blue isn’t quite an anniversary release, it does collect material from a pretty broad span of years. Live? “Keep it Together” and an especially engaging take on “Hole in My Head” that closes. New? The extended version of “Keep on Moving” from 2021’s Earthrise (review here), “Burning Tree” and “Children of the Sun.” Borrowed? Iron Maiden‘s “Where Eagles Dare,” November‘s “Mount Everest,” Aerosmith‘s “S.O.S.” and Captain Beyond‘s “Frozen Over.” Blue? Certainly “Burning Tree,” and all of it, if you’re talking about bluesy riffs, which, if you’re talking about The Quill, you are. In the narrative of Sverige heavy rock, they remain undersung, and this compilation, in addition to being a handy-dandy fan-piece coming off their last record en route to the inevitable next one, is further evidence to support that claim. Either you know or you don’t. Three decades on, The Quill are gonna be The Quill either way.
Though it’s just 20 minutes long, the six-song debut from Ohio’s Dark Worship offers dark industrial heft and a grim psychedelic otherworldliness in more than enough measure to constitute a full-length. At the center of the storm — though not the eye of it, because it’s quiet there — is J. Meyers, also of Axioma, who conjures the spaces of “Culling Song” and “We’ve Always Been Here” as a bed for a selection of guest vocalists, including Nathan Opposition of Ancient VVisdom/Vessel of Light, Axioma‘s Aaron Dallison, and Joe Reed (To Dust, Exorcisme). No matter who’s fronting a given track — Reed gets the lion’s share, Dallison the title-track and Opposition the penultimate “Destroy Forever (Death of Ra)” — the vibe is biting and dark in kind, with Meyers providing backing vocals, guitar, and of course the software-born electronic beats and melodies that are the core of the project. Maybe hindsight will make this nascent-feeling, but in terms of world construction, Flesh of a Saint is punishing in its immersion, right up to the howling feedback and ambience of “Well of Light” at the finish. Conceptually destructive.
More Experience, Electric Laboratory of High Space Experience
Nature sounds feature throughout More Experience‘s 2021 third album, Electric Laboratory of High Space Experience, with birdsong and other naturalist atmospheres in opener “The Twilight,” “Beezlebufo,” closer “At the Gates of Dawn,” and so on. Interspersed between them is the Polish troupe’s ’60s-worship psych. Drawing on sonic references from the earliest space rock and post-garage psychedelics — think Hendrix, Jefferson Airplane, King Crimson’s “Epitaph” is almost remade here as the penultimate title-track — band founder Piotr Dudzikowski (credited with guitars, organs, synthesizers, backing vocals, harmonium, tambura, and cobuz) gets by with a little help from his friends, which means in part that the vocals of extended early highlight “The Dream” are pulled back for a grain-of-salt spoken word on “The Trip” and the later “Fairy Tale.” The synthy “The Mind” runs over nine minutes and between that, “The Dream” and the title-track (9:56), I feel like I’m digging the longer-form, more dug-in songs, but I’m not going to take away from the ambient and more experimental stuff either, since that’s how this music was invented in the first place.
Young Indonesian riffers Jawless get right to the heart of heavy on their debut album, Warrizer, with a raw take on doom rock that’s dead-on heavy and classic in its mindset. There’s nothing fancy happening here other than some flourish of semi-psych guitar, but the self-produced four-piece from Bandung kill it with a reverence of course indebted to but not beholden to Sabbathian blues licks, and their swing on “Deceptive Events” alone is enough proof-of-concept for me. I’m on board. It’s not about progressive this or that. It’s not about trying to find a genre niche no one’s thought of yet. This is players in a room rocking the fuck out. And they might have a bleak point of view in cuts like “War is Come,” and one does not have to look too far to get the reference in “The Throne of Tramp,” but that sense of judgment is part and parcel to originalist doom. At 50 minutes, it’s long for an LP, but as “Restrained” pays off the earlier psychedelic hints, “Metaphorical Speech” boogie-jams and “G.O.D.” rears back with each measure to spit its next line, I wouldn’t lose any of it.
Adding a guest guitar solo from Earthless‘ Isaiah Mitchell wasn’t going to hurt the cause of Indianapolis duo The Heavy Co., and sure enough it doesn’t. Issued digitally in 2020 and premiered here, “Shelter” runs a quick three minutes of psych-blues rock perfectly suited to the 7″ treatment Rock Freaks Records gives it and the earlier digi-single “Phoenix” (posted here), which had been the group’s first offering after a six-year break. “Phoenix,” which is mellower and more molten in its tempo throughout its six minutes, might be the better song of the two, but the twang in “Shelter” pairs well with that bluesy riff from guitarist/vocalist Ian Daniel, and Jeff Kaleth holds it down on drums. More to come? Maybe. There’s interesting ground here to explore in this next phase of The Heavy Co.‘s tenure.
All that “Witch Boogie” is missing is John Lee Hooker going “boom boom boom” over that riff, and even when opener “Strange Fruit” or “Dreamin'” is indebted to the Rolling Stones, it’s the bluesier side of their sound. No problem there, but Freiburg, Germany, four-piece Sound of Smoke bring a swagger and atmosphere to “Soft Soaper” that almost ’70s-style Scorpions in its beginning before the shuffling verse starts, tambourine and all, and there’s plenty of pastoral psych in “Indian Summer” and 10-minute “Human Salvation,” the more weighted surges of which feel almost metallic in their root — like someone between vocalist/keyboardist Isabelle Bapté, guitarist Jens Stöver, bassist Florian Kiefer and drummer Johannes Braunstein once played in a harder-focused project. Still, as their debut LP after just a 2017 EP, the seven-song/43-minute Tales shows a looser rumble in “Devil’s Voice” behind Bapté, and there’s a persona and perspective taking shape in the songs. It’ll be hard work for them to stand out, but given what I hear in these tracks, both their psych edge and that sharper underpinning will be assets in their favor along with the sense of performance they bring.
Coming off their 2020 full-length, The Path to the Deathless (review here), Albuquerque-based trio Red Mesa — guitarist/vocalist Brad Frye, bassist/vocalist Alex Cantwell, who alternates here with Frye, and drummer/backing vocalist Roman Barham, who may or may not also join in on the song’s willfully lumbering midsection — take a stated turn toward doom with the 5:50 Forest Cathedral single. The grittier groove suits them, and the increasing sharing of vocals (which includes backing), makes them a more complex act overall, but there’s not necessarily anything in “Forest Cathedral” to make one think it’s some radical shift in another direction, which there was enough of on The Path to the Deathless to warrant a guest appearance from Dave Sherman of Earthride. Still, they continue to do it well, and honing in on this particular sound, whether something they do periodically to change it up, never touch again after this, or see as a new way to go all-in, I’m content to follow along and see where it goes.
In keeping with the tradition of over-the-top weed-doom band names, Margarita Witch Cult crawl forth from the birthplace of sonic weight, Birmingham, UK, with their debut two-songer cassingle-looking CD/DL Witchfinder. That’s not the only tradition they’re keeping. See also the classic riffer doom they capture in their practice space on the not-tape and the resulting rawness of “The Witchfinder Comes” and “Aradia,” bot nodders preaching Iommic truths. There’s a bit more scorch in the solo on “Aradia,” but that could honestly mean the microphone moved, and either way, they also keep the tradition of many such UK acts with goofball monikers in actually being pretty right on. Of course, they’re in one of the most crowded heavy undergrounds anywhere in the world, but there’s a lot to be said for taking doom rock and stripping it bare as they do on these tracks, the very least of which is that it would probably work really well on tape. If I was at the gig and I saw it on the merch table, I’d snag and look forward to more. I’ll do the same with the Bandcamp.
Posted in Whathaveyou on November 9th, 2021 by JJ Koczan
Earlier this year, guitarist Christian Carlsson of Swedish heavy rockers The Quilldiscussed being in the band for 30 years and how those relationships have shaped his life over that time. The Quill‘s latest studio album, Earthrise, is a modern wonder for lovers of classic heavy; the band, who’ve never seemed short on swagger thanks in no small part to the soaring vocals of frontman Magnus Ekwall nonetheless holding to the structural traditions of rock and roll craftsmanship. One might call them straightforward, but that says little of the quality of their work or the manner in which their approach has developed over the last three decades.
Good band? Yes, thanks for asking. New rare-and-unreleased collection coming out in January? Works for me. With as much history as they have to cover, who’s gonna complain? Jerks. Jerks and goons will complain. For the rest of us, Jan. 28 is the release date.
From the PR wire:
The Quill – Live, New, Borrowed, Blue
Metalville Records announces January 28th, 2022 as the international release date for The Quill’s Live, New, Borrowed, Blue, a personal selection of unreleased song treasures from their long career.
Digging through old boxes, you find stuff you’ve totally forgotten about – and every once in a while, you find old nuggets well worth rediscovering again. And when you’ve been active as a band for a long time, you always find songs that didn’t fit into the usual album format.
For the reasons we know, The Quill had a lot of free time last year to look through the remaining tracks to shorten the waiting time for the next studio album for the fans. Live, New, Borrowed, Blue contains tracks from the sessions for the last album Earthrise as well as some cover songs that The Quill recorded in the late ’90s for various tribute albums that are now long out of print. As a kind of icing on the cake, there are also two live tracks from the Sweden Rock Festival 2019, as a reminder of this fantastic performance.
First track premiere to be revealed shortly.
Tracklisting for The Quill’s Live, New, Borrowed, Blue 1. Keep On Moving (Extended Version) 2. S.O.S. (Too Bad) 3. Children Of The Sun 4. Where Eagles Dare 5. Keep It Together (Live) 6. Mount Everest 7. Burning Tree 8. Frozen Over 9. Hole In My Head (Live)
THE QUILL lineup Magnus Ekwall: vocals (Ayreon, Mountain of Power) Christian Carlsson: guitar (Cirkus Prütz) Roger Nilsson: bass (Spiritual Beggars, Arch Enemy, Firebird) Jolle Atlagic: drums (Hanoi Rocks, Electric Boys, Firebird)
Here’s the deal — last week or somewhere thereabouts, someone on Twitter was bitching about rock music being dead and blah blah the usual good music doesn’t come to me in the ways it did when I was 12 and therefore I think it’s irrelevant. The usual. Gimme Metal was mentioned as an outlet delivering good heavy to those who care enough to invest the minimal effort of clicking ‘listen.’ Dude was all “well if they played Trouble I’d listen” and Gimme rightly responded with a list of DJs who might be on board for such a thing. I was one of them.
Brought into the conversation I said hell yes I’d play Trouble. And as it happens I’ve gone ahead to play them twice, at the start of the show, and then follow it up with a bunch of other killer doom, old, newer and newer still, before circling back on the mother of them all, Black Fucking Sabbath, because when my name is brought into a random Twitter conversation and a challenge is issued, you bet your ass I’m going overboard. So pretty much the first hour of the show is doomed as all get-out. Trouble even through The Quill, who I thought were a good match for Dehumanizer-era Sabbath with that track from their new record.
Sometimes you gotta step up. Or something. I don’t know. I was just happen to have something to talk about in the voice breaks other than my kid or “thanks for listening.”
By the way, thanks for listening and/or reading. As always, I hope you enjoy.
The Obelisk Show airs 5PM Eastern today on the Gimme app or at http://gimmemetal.com
Full playlist:
The Obelisk Show – 04.16.21
Trouble
The Tempter
Psalm 9
Trouble
R.I.P.
Trouble
Saint Vitus
Burial at Sea
Saint Vitus
Place of Skulls
Last Hit
With Vision
VT
The Gates of Slumber
The Awakening (Interpolating the Wrath of the Undead)
…The Awakening
Apostle of Solitude
Grey Farewell
From Gold to Ash
The Obsessed
Neatz Brigade
The Church Within
Black Sabbath
After All (The Dead)
Dehumanizer
The Quill
Evil Omen
Earthrise
VT
Boss Keloid
Gentle Clovis
Family the Smiling Thrush
Hippie Death Cult
Hornet Party
Circle of Days
NOÊTA
Elm
Elm
Kosmodemonic
Morai
Liminal Light
Hellish Form
Shadows with Teeth
Remains
VT
Darsombra
Call the Doctor (Sun Side)
Call the Doctor / Nightgarden
The Obelisk Show on Gimme Metal airs every Friday 5PM Eastern, with replays Sunday at 7PM Eastern. Next new episode is April 30 (subject to change). Thanks for listening if you do.
On March 26, Sweden’s The Quill released Earthrise, their ninth studio album, through Metalville Records. If one counts their history as starting between 1991 and ’92, their history goes back at least 30 years, and it’s been 26 since their self-titled debut showed up in 1995. All four current members of the band — vocalist Magnus Ekwall, guitarist Christian Carlsson, bassist Roger Nilsson and drummer Jolle Atlagic (as well as organist Anders Haglund) — were in the group for that album, and while Ekwall and Nilsson both left for a time, the former returning on 2017’s Born From Fire (discussed here) and the latter on the prior record, 2013’s Tiger Blood, the band pressed on and awaited their respective homecomings.
And talking to Carlsson, that’s the impression one gets The Quill means to him. Of course I wanted to talk about Earthrise — its powerhouse heavy rock sensibilities from the outset of “Hallucinate,” the classic metal grandeur it weaves in and out of songs like “Evil Omen,” the sheer boogie of “21st Century Sky,” and so on through the 47-minute LP’s varied but engaging course — and how The Quill have always sought to foster a classic dynamic with a modern outward sound, but let’s be honest. 30 years is a lot of history, and it’s bound to come up. Most bands are lucky if they put out three records, many just one, but The Quill have persisted through shifts in trend, the advent of the internet as a tool for media consumption, and — as Carlsson himself notes — Ekwall going from not having children to becoming a grandfather.
Yeah, family comes up, as it should, because one of the things I most wanted to know was how The Quill has been integrated into Carlsson‘s life. The band has toured, sure, and they’ve put out killer records and played festivals and done the whole thing, but he says it straight up when he talks about dayjobs and things of that sort. The answer, of course, is that the band becomes a family in itself, as The Quill seem to have done. And hearing Carlsson describe not only the instrumental dynamic between himself and Nilsson or Atlagic (who also did a stint in Hanoi Rocks, it’s worth noting), but the idea of writing songs with each other in mind, knowing what won’t piss someone else off, it becomes clear just how important these relationships are to The Quill as a group and as individuals.
I’ve interviewed Carlsson before — a decade ago, for the release of 2011’s Full Circle (review here) — but this was the first time face-to-face, such as videoconferencing allows. He was thoughtful and kind enough to indulge the fact that a little bit into the interview, my oven timer in the kitchen went off and I had to go take a pie out. I paused the recording, but you’ll see it in the video when I come back. Chicken pot pie, man. My wife’s dinner. Can’t burn that. So yeah, we talk about family a bit.
Please enjoy:
The Quill Interview with Christian Carlsson
Earthrise is available now on Metalville. More info at the links below.
