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Heavy Psych Sounds Announces Reissues for Solarius, B.U.S. the Unknown Secretary and Stonewall Noise Orchestra

Posted in Whathaveyou on July 21st, 2021 by JJ Koczan

A never-released 2006 EP from Solarius, who featured Graveyard’s Jonatan Ramm on guitar and vocals, a reissue of B.U.S. The Unknown Secretary‘s 2016 debut (review here), and another reissue, of Stonewall Noise Orchestra‘s 2005 debut album, Vol. 1. Heavy Psych Sounds is sending multiple signals here. First, that its reissue program, which has already fostered revisits to outings from Dozer, Nebula, Kylesa, Josiah, Sgt. Sunshine, and others, will continue to dig into the pre-social-media era of underground heavy and find treasure waiting to be unearthed. Stonewall Noise Orchestra alone proves that, and Solarius feels like a flex there too.

It may be that B.U.S. have been picked up by Heavy Psych Sounds for their next outing — they released an album in 2019 (review here) on RidingEasy that was killer and showed them as underrated — but either way, five years later, their first one is worth another look, and it demonstrates the ever-increasing reach of HPS to do what it wants and when. The Italian label is the go-to for heavy rock and roll and psych in Europe. Their reissues are a victory lap in that regard.

Do Norrsken‘s complete works next.

Info and preorder links follow, courtesy the PR wire:

HPS183 *** SOLARIUS – Universal Trial ***
– first press of the 2006’s unreleased EP feat. members of Graveyard –

We are extremly proud to start the presale of the SOLARIUS 2006’s unreleased EP UNIVERSAL TRIAL !!

ALBUM PRESALE: https://www.heavypsychsounds.com/shop.htm#HPS183

USA PRESALE: https://www.heavypsychsounds.com/shop-usa.htm#HPS183

Recorded back in 2006 and hidden up until now. Swedish retro rockers Solarius masterpiece “Universal Trial” is now brought to daylight with this release. 70’s groovy hard blues rock with a psychedelic twist and featuring Jonatan Ramm of Graveyard fame (before joining that band). Hard, groovy, soft and fuzzy sound that brings you back to the early 70’s.

The songs were recorded in Don Pierre Studios in Gothenburg produced by the legendary Don Alsterberg (Graveyard etc). The master tapes were forgotten but are now found and released on Heavy Psych Sounds Records. The recording is 100% analogue and recorded and mixed on tape. The songs gets its magic from a beautiful mix of groove, melodies, fuzzy hard rock and dreamful psych prog rock influences.

RELEASED IN
15 TEST PRESS VINYL
100 ULTRA LTD 3 COLOR STRIPED GOLD/TRANSPARENT/BLUE VINYL
300 LTD NEON YELLOW VINYL
BLACK VINYL
DIGIPAK
RELEASE DATE: SEPTEMBER 24th

TRACKLIST
SIDE A
Universal Trial – 4.58
Sky Of Mine – 4.14
SIDE B
Into The Sun – 6.26
Mother Nature Mind – 5.25

SOLARIUS is:
Jonatan Ramm – Guitar and vocals
Mattias Ohde – Bass and vocals
Fredrik Aghem – Drums
Johan Grettve – Keys

B.U.S. The Unknown Secretary

HPS184 *** B.U.S. – The Unknown Secretary ***
– repress of the 2016’s debut album –

We are extremly proud to start the presale of the B.U.S. 2016’s debut album THE UNKNOWN SECRETARY repress !!

ALBUM PRESALE: https://www.heavypsychsounds.com/shop.htm#HPS184

USA PRESALE: https://www.heavypsychsounds.com/shop-usa.htm#HPS184

In the beginning, there was chaos…

A while later in the Heavens, where angels reigned, there was once held a great symposium, a glorious feast. Everyone was happy and having a great time, until Lucifer, fairest and mightiest of all the angels, brought in suspicious and strange substances, offering them freely with both hands for everyone to take. All were fooled by the Ancient Serpent, starting to misbehave and act in contradiction to the Heavenly Laws. The Almighty God, enraged upon learning about the mutiny, threw everyone down on earth to suffer eternally in hunger, ugliness and desperation. Vulnerable now to each and every temptation, they are ready to perpetuate Good and Evil, while building their new earthly Kingdom in any way they can.

Angelic chants, Demon’s screams, witches dancing and woeful mortal suffering are recounted in this album’s songs, embellished with mesmerising hymns and sharp riffs. Chaos is always close and all that remains is the human revolution against the forces of evil.

“The Unknown Secretary” comes to further unsettle the turbulent waves of music and burn its own mark in history.

Today, five years after its original release, Heavy Psych Sounds reissues this retro gem, serving it once again straight into your record case.

RELEASED IN
15 TEST PRESS VINYL
100 ULTRA LTD QUAD BLACK/RED VINYL
300 LTD BLUE VINYL
BLACK VINYL
DIGIPAK

RELEASE DATE: OCTOBER 8th

TRACKLIST
A1 Fallen – 3:33
A2 Masteroid – 4:45
A3 New Black Volume – 4:53
A4 Forever Grey – 3:28
A5 Don’t Fear Your Demon – 5:04
SIDE B
B1 Rockerbus – 7:38
B2 Withered Thorn – 4:49
B3 Over The Hills – 4:56
B4 Jimi – 5:20

B.U.S. is:
Bill Politis – Vocals & Guitars
Dimitris Papavasileiou – Bass Guitar
Aris Fasoulis – Drums
Fotis Kolokithas – Guitars

stonewall noise orchestra vol. 1

HPS190 *** STONEWALL NOISE ORCHESTRA – Vol. 1 ***
– repress of the legendary album in new coloured versions –

We are also stoked to start the presale of the STONEWALL NOISE ORCHESTRA legendary debut album VOL. 1 repress !!

ALBUM PRESALE: https://www.heavypsychsounds.com/shop.htm#HPS190

USA PRESALE: https://www.heavypsychsounds.com/shop-usa.htm#HPS190

VOL. 1 is the legendary debut album of the swedish stonerockers Stonewall Noise Orchestra, released via Daredevil Records in 2005 featuring ex members from Demon Cleaner and Greenleaf!! This is a Stoner Rock masterpiece picked with some Black Sabbath and Hawkwind fragments! If you like it slow, heavy and straight in your face you can’t miss this one.

After more then 15 years Heavy Psych Sounds decided to give a new life to this masterpiece and repress it in completely new coloured vinyl versions.

RELEASED IN
15 TEST PRESS VINYL
100 ULTRA LTD 3 COLOR STRIPED RED/TRANSPARENT/BLACK VINYL
300 LTD LIGHT BLUE VINYL
BLACK VINYL
DIGIPAK
DIGITAL

RELEASE DATE: NOVEMBER 5th

TRACKLIST
Superfortress – 5:05
An Epic Curse – 7:41 (CD BONUS TRACK)
Two Sides Of A Sin – 4:51
As My Sun Turns Black – 3_51
Freedoms Prize (Demon Cleaner cover) – 5:21
Going To Clarksdale – 4:33
Evolution? – 5:28
High Octane Fever – 5:14
Hill Street Madman – 3:49
Sweet Queen – 4:49

STONEWALL NOISE ORCHESTRA (2005 lineup):
Lars-Inge – vocals
Snicken – guitar
Jansson – guitar
Jonas – bass
Mr. Pillow – drums

heavypsychsoundsrecords.bandcamp.com
www.heavypsychsounds.com
https://www.facebook.com/HEAVYPSYCHSOUNDS/
www.youtube.com/user/MonoStereo79

Solarius, “Universal Trial”

Stonewall Noise Orchestra, “Sweet Queen”

B.U.S., The Unknown Secretary (2016)

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Quarterly Review: Bus, Them Bulls, Stinkeye, Buzzard Canyon, Motherbrain, Elder Druid, The Crazy Left Experience, The Watchers, Of the Horizon, Raj

Posted in Reviews on December 28th, 2016 by JJ Koczan

the obelisk winter quarterly review

Today is the day the Quarterly Review passes the halfway point. This will be 21-30 of the total 60 for the six days, so there’s still a ways to go — you might say 50 percent — but it’s a milestone nonetheless. Once again it’s another roundup of cool stuff, kind of all over the place a little more than the last two days were, but as we go further along with these things, it’s good to mix it up after a while. There’s only so many times you can throw the word “lysergic” around and talk about jamming. That said, you’re getting some of that today as well from Portugal, so when it pops up, don’t be surprised. Much to do, so no need to delay.

Quarterly Review #21-30:

Bus, The Unknown Secretary

bus-the-unknown-secretary

Athenian double-guitar four-piece Bus execute a stylistically cohesive, crisp debut with The Unknown Secretary (on Twin Earth Records), presenting classic heavy rock elements without going full-retro in their sound itself and marking songs like “Masteroid” as immediately distinct through the harmonized vocals of guitarist Bill City, joined in the band by guitarist Johnnie Chez, bassist Chob D’oh and drummer Aris. Together they run through a clean two sides that play back and forth between proto-metallic and doom shading – “Don’t Fear Your Demon” touches on slower Pentagram – while sounding perhaps most comfortable in rockers like “Withered Thorn” or the earlier stomper “New Black Volume,” which puts its two guitars to excellent use ahead of and between unabashedly poppy (not sure a full Ghost comparison is warranted) verse, and craft a highlight in the 7:38 arena-ready thrust of “Rockerbus” prior to the surprisingly nodding finale of “Jimi.” A strikingly efficient and clear-headed first full-length that would seem to hold much promise of things to come from yet another player in Greece’s emergent heavy scene.

Bus on Thee Facebooks

Twin Earth Records on Bandcamp

 

Them Bulls, Them Bulls

them-bulls-them-bulls.jpg

With the start-stop riff of opener “As Fangs in Stone,” a mastering job by Mathias Schneeberger and the breadth of pop melodicism in cuts that one, the swinging “Made of Ghosts,” and the more percussive “Through the Sun,” Italian four-piece Them Bulls make a pretty strong beeline for early-Queens of the Stone Age-style heavy desert rock. Their self-titled Small Stone debut isn’t without individualized flourish, but the 10-track/41-minute offering makes it clear from the start what its intentions are and then sets about living up to them, whether on the careening Songs for the Deaf-ery of “Pot Gun” or the penultimate “We Must Live Up” itself. Vocal interplay from guitarists Daniele Pollio and Franscesco Pasi – joined by the rhythm section of bassist Paolo Baldini and drummer Giampaolo Farnedi – provides an opportunity for future growth, but it’s worth noting that for a band to take on such a specific stylization, their songwriting needs to be in check, and Them Bulls’ is.

Them Bulls on Thee Facebooks

Them Bulls at Small Stone Records

 

Stinkeye, Llantera Demos

stinkeye-llantera-demos

What seems to be Stinkeye’s debut recording, Llantera Demos, arrives as a free download of four tracks and 16 minutes rife with thickened boogie and dense mecha-stoner fuzz, reminding of Dead Meadow immediately in the echoing vocals and rhythmic bounce of “Orange Man” but moving into some shuffle on the subsequent “Fink Ployd” and “Llantera,” the latter a well-earned showcase of bass tone. While out on the coast, ‘70s vibes reign supreme, the Phoenix, Arizona, trio are on a different tip, looser in their swing and apparently more prone to drift. For what it’s worth, they call it “hash rock,” and fair enough as “Pink Clam,” which closes Llantera Demos, rides more of a grunge-laden nod to an immersive but still relatively quick five-minute finish, building after three minutes in to a satisfying final instrumental push. Loaded with potential in tone, execution, vibe and dynamic between the three-piece, Llantera Demos immediately marks Stinkeye out as a band to watch and is just begging for the right person to come along and press it to tape.

Stinkeye on Thee Facebooks

Stinkeye on Bandcamp

 

Buzzard Canyon, Hellfire and Whiskey

buzzard-canyon-hellfire-and-whiskey.jpg

Want to grab attention with your debut long-player? Calling a song “Louder than God” might be a good way to go. That track, at seven minutes, is the longest on Connecticut five-piece Buzzard Canyon’s Hellfire and Whiskey (on Salt of the Earth), and following a quiet initial stretch, it launches into Down-style Southern chug, the dual vocals of Amber Leigh and guitarist Aaron Lewis (the latter also of When the Deadbolt Breaks) veering into and out of more metallic impulses to build on the initial momentum established on the earlier “Highway Run” and “SomaBitch.” The two-minute “For the End” basks in some nightmarish vision of rockabilly, while “Red Beards Massacre” and “Wyoming” dig into more straightforward stylistic patterning, but if Buzzard Canyon want to get a little weird either here or going forward, that’s clearly not about to hurt them. Closer “Not My Cross” hints at some darker visions to come in how it moves into and out of a droning interlude, adding yet more intrigue to their deceptively multifaceted foundation.

Buzzard Canyon on Thee Facebooks

Salt of the Earth Records website

 

Motherbrain, Voodoo Nasty

motherbrain voodoo nasty

Though “Atomic Rodeo” dips into some Queens of the Stone Age-style groove, Motherbrain’s third album, Voodoo Nasty (on Setalight Records), comes across as more defined by its nasty than its voodoo as the Berlin four-piece demonstrate a penchant for incorporating harsher sludge tendencies, especially in vocal shouts peppered in amid the otherwise not-unfriendly proceedings. That gives the nine-song/48-minute offering a meaner edge but does little ultimately to take away from the groove on offer in the opening title-track or “Ghoul of Kolkata,” and though it retains its raw spirit, Voodoo Nasty digs into some more complex fare later in longer cuts like “Baptism of Fire” and “Half Past Human,” having found a place in centerpiece “Dismantling God” where blown-out noise aggression and semi-psychedelic swirl can coexist, if not peacefully then at least for a while until Motherbrain decide it’s time to give Kyuss-style desert rock another kick in its ass, as on “Sons of Kong,” which, yes, does proclaim a lineage.

Motherbrain on Thee Facebooks

Setalight Records website

 

Elder Druid, Magicka

elder druid magicka

Sludge-rolling five-piece Elder Druid riff forth with their debut studio offering, the five-song/33-minute Magicka EP, which one might be tempted to tag as a demo were it not for a few prior live-tracked short releases that appear to have served that purpose, the latest of which, The Attic Sessions (discussed here), came out in Jan. 2016. The experience of putting that together as well as their prior singles clearly benefited the Northern Irish outfit on Magicka, and while they retain a shouty spirit on opener “Rogue Mystic,” middle cut “The Warlock” offers nod that reminds of The Kings of Frog Island’s “Welcome to the Void,” and that’s about all I ever need. Ever. Served up with bloated tones and geared toward establishing a blend of gruff vocals and consuming fuzz, Elder Druid’s first studio recording has a solid footing in what it wants to accomplish sound-wise and plainly showcases that, and while they have some growing to do and patience to learn in their songcraft, nothing I hear on Magicka argues against their getting there in time.

Elder Druid on Thee Facebooks

Elder Druid on Bandcamp

 

The Crazy Left Experience, Bill’s 108th Space Odyssey

the-crazy-left-experience-bills-108th-space-odyssey

The Crazy Left Experience – the moniker seeming to refer to the side of the brain at work in their processes – present Bill’s 108th Space Odyssey almost as an album within an album. The framework from the at-least-party-improvised Portuguese cosmic jammers on the seven-track/56-minute outing centers around William Millarc, who in 1955 was documented while taking part in LSD experiments. Samples of Millarc are peppered into opener “Subject Bill,” the later “Funky Meteor Drop” and the closing duo “Bill Sided Flashback” and “God of the Outer Rings,” but between the opener and the latter trio of cuts comes “Unarius,” a three-part excursion listed as “Part V” through “Part VII” that presumably is the representation of when our friend Bill has left his body behind. So be it. One can hardly call that departure incongruous either sonically or in terms of The Crazy Left Experience’s chosen theme – though there are some unrelated samples spliced into “Unarius – Part VII (Space Brothers)” that are somewhat jarring – and the entire flow of the record is so hypnotic that the band can basically go wherever they want, which of course they do.

The Crazy Left Experience on Thee Facebooks

The Crazy Left Experience on Bandcamp

 

The Watchers, Sabbath Highway

the watchers sabbath highway

Were it not for the context of knowing that vocalist Tim Narducci and bassist Cornbread hail from SpiralArms and White Witch Canyon, drummer Carter Kennedy from Orchid and guitarist Jeremy Von Eppic from Black Gates, the Sabbath Highway debut EP (on Ripple Music) from California’s The Watchers would be almost impossibly coherent for a first outing. Classic in form but modern in its presentation, the five-tracker – four plus the church-organ interlude “Requiem” between the opening title-cut (video here) and “Call the Priest” – makes the most of Narducci’s ‘70s-style vocal push, reminding of one-time Ripple troupe Stone Axe in his oldschool feel, but as “Today” (premiered here) makes plain, The Watchers are much more focused on learning from the past than repeating it. The straightforward songwriting and all-we’re-here-to-do-is-kick-ass sentiment behind Sabbath Highway might well prove formative compared to what The Watchers do next – presumably that’s a full-length, but one never knows; they sound ready to get down to business  – but it makes its ambitions plain in its hooks and swiftly delivers on its promises.

The Watchers on Thee Facebooks

Ripple Music website

 

Of the Horizon, Of the Horizon

of the horizon self-titled

I can’t speak to the present status of California’s Of the Horizon, since last I heard bassist Kayt Vigil was in Italy working with Sonic Wolves, but their self-titled five-track debut full-length arrives via Kozmik Artifactz no less switched on for the half-decade that has passed since it was recorded. Guitarist Mike Hanne howls out throaty incantations to suit the post-Sleep riffing of opener “3 Feet” and drummer Shig pushes the roll of “Caravan” forward into its final crashing slowdown effectively as Vigil ensures the subsequent centerpiece “Unknown” is duly thick beneath its spacious, jammy strum. The two longest slabs hit at the end in “Gladhander” (8:55) and the righteously lumbering “Hall of the Drunken King” (10:31) and feel somewhat like an album unto themselves, but when/if Of the Horizon make a return, they’ve established a working modus on this first full-length that should well satisfy the nod-converted and that demonstrates the timelessness of well-executed tonal onslaught.

Of the Horizon on Thee Facebooks

Of the Horizon at Kozmik Artifactz

 

Raj, Raj

raj self titled

Though it’s fair enough in terms of runtime, it almost seems like Milano sludge-rollers Raj (also written stylized in all-caps: RAJ) do the six tracks of their 20-minute self-titled debut EP a disservice by cramming them onto a single LP side. Not that one gets lost or the band fails to make an impression – far from it – but just that sounds so geared toward largesse and spaciousness beg for more room to flesh out. That, perhaps, is the interesting duality in Raj’s Raj, since even the massive plod of closer “Iron Matrix” lumbers through its course in a relatively short 4:45, never mind the speedier “Magic Wand” (2:47) or drone interlude “Black Mumbai” (1:51) – gone in a flash. The release moves through these, the earlier “Omegagame” and “Eurasia” and the penultimate “Kaluza” with marked fluidity and efficiency, giving Raj a mini-album feel, and with the atmosphere in “Black Mumbai” and in the surrounding material, their rumble sets up a dynamic that seems primed for further exploration.

Raj on Thee Facebooks

Raj on Bandcamp

 

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