Posted in Whathaveyou on May 21st, 2025 by JJ Koczan
You can see the growth happening in real-time. Or at least on a per-announcement basis. Croatia’s Bear Stone Festival last time around added a slew of electronic artists to expand the horizons of campers hanging out late each night, and now the fest has brought in Festival Buke, which is a thing I’d probably have heard of if I was Croatian and into noise rock, to curate a day at the Mill Stage to specifically highlight up and coming Croatian bands. The styles range as you can see below, but each of the four acts listed represents the local underground in a way that Bear Stone is intent on having as part of what it offers to those attending.
The fest is July 3-6 just outside of Slunj, Croatia. And if you’re like, ‘Well I’ve never been to Croatia,’ I hadn’t until last year either and I promise you’re a more competent traveler than I am. You’ll be fine. Sick lineup gets sicker:
Bear Stone Festival & Festival Buke – Amplifying the Future of the Regional Heavy Scene
Bear Stone Festival is proud to announce a collaboration with Festival Buke (Festival of Noise), a program dedicated to supporting the next generation of artists within the alternative and heavy music scenes.
On Saturday, July 05 the Mill Stage will be fully taken over by Festival Buke, bringing a dynamic mix of young, uncompromising bands and seasoned underground veterans all ready to deliver raw, high-energy performances that echo the spirit of the scene.
The aim is simple: to use the opportunity to shine a spotlight on emerging artists, strengthen connections within the regional music community, and offer our festivalgoers a powerful sonic experience.
Join us as we turn up the volume and celebrate the bold voices shaping the future of Heavy music.
LORD DRUNKALOT (CRO)
Lord Drunkalot came out of Zagreb’s “Thrashnjevka” district swinging like a wrecking ball made of molten fuzz and heavy groove. Doom, Thrash and Psychedelia all locked in, dialed up, and aimed straight at your solar plexus. Massive riffs? Check. Epic hooks? Absolutely. A rhythm section that doesn’t let up and vocals that bite. These guys don’t play, they strike.
After leveling stages alongside titans like Ufomammut and 1000mods and dropping their acclaimed LP “Heads & Spirits” in 2021, they’re now locking in the crosshairs for their next release and you’ll hear it live. Don’t say you weren’t warned.
SHELL (CRO)
Shell are a three-piece band from Zagreb, Croatia and they ain’t here to play nice. They mix Post-Hardcore and Sludge like it’s a secret family recipe, then sprinkle in some Noise, Post-Metal, and Math Rock just to keep your ears guessing.
Their sound? Heavy. Dynamic. Unpredictable. Like a sermon that starts soft, then lights the whole room on fire. They released their debut EP “Throes” in 2023. And now? They’re cookin’ up a full-length album that’s gonna shake the ground you walk on.
10KRE (CRO)
10KRE are a Stoner-Sludge trio from Zagreb. They formed in the summer of 2023, just a bunch of guys getting together and jamming, nothing fancy. But what came out of it was something solid, heavy, and raw.
Their sound? Think Heavy Blues with grit and aggression. Riffs that hit you like a ton of bricks, vocals that demand your attention. They get up on stage, and it’s not just a show. It’s an experience. You feel the energy, you remember it.
EXTROFT (CRO)
Extroft are a young Alt-Metal band from Valpovo, Croatia. They don’t play games, they bring the energy. Their sound? It’s a mix of Groove, Psychedelia, Grunge, and Classic Heavy Metal. You put those together, you get something that punches through the noise.
Since they formed in 2020, they’ve been taking over big stages and festivals across the region. Places like InMusic, Tvornica Kulture, and Vintage Industrial Bar. They dropped their debut EP, and now they’re working on something even bigger, building their name, one track at a time.
LINEUP UPDATE
Unfortunately for reasons beyond our control, El Perro is forced to cancel their performance at Bear Stone Festival. Introducing legendary Italian Doom giants TONS as their replacement.
TONS, the Italian Doom Metal band, are on a mission to crush everything in their path with riffs that hit like a sledgehammer. From their debut album to their upcoming work, these guys have a signature sound that is heavy, thick, and oozes atmosphere like a cloud of smoke. When they take the stage, they bring the heat, and their raw energy leaves a mark you won’t forget.
Tons and Viscera/// release their split LP Feb. 28 through Subsound Records. As the dually-referential cover art above indicates, the split is number 10 in a label series, and for being 31 minutes and seven songs, it’s a pretty wild ride. Both bands are Italian — Tons are from Turin and Viscera/// are from Cremona — and there is some commonality there in a willingness to screw around with notions of genre, but the divergence between them is broad and feels like a purposeful act of curation. The label rather than the bands putting it together, I mean, though I don’t know if that’s how it actually happened. In any case, by the time the rasp in Tons‘ “Rime of the Modern Grower,” the dirty stonersludge groove has long since been set and so when it gets harsh, you’re about as ready for it as you’re going to be.
Monolithic as the seven-plus-minute “Rime of the Mordern Grower” might seem, Tons aren’t locked into a sound here. Second cut “Milk It” is a Nirvana cover from In Utero, and the last of their three, “Boards of the Unlighter,” goes down a semi-psych rabbit hole of dark surf-rock weirdness and handclap-inclusive shuffle to cap. To call that a stark turn is an understatement, but the ‘fuck it’ comes through clear and they’re right. It’s fun and it grooves, so it works. “Boards of the Unlighter” has a rough, garage-y, kind of campy darkness, and as Viscera/// take over for side B starting out with the four-minute noise intro “House of Soul Surgery” to lead into “Celebrate Death” (also premiering below), the thickening plot feels like no coincidence.
While they’ve been around since the turn of the century and have over the course of that time expanded their sound from its beginnings in more extreme metal, Viscera/// remain caustic-capable, and “House of Soul Surgery” brings that to light in two interweaving drones. If a hum could be urgent, this one might be, or at least mixed loud, and it moves into harsher synth noise en route to the sweeping guitar that kicks off “Celebrate Death,” the riff standout out triumphant having made its way forward through the aural mire, and within the first minute the band have aligned around the central riff and are on their way to the clean-sung verse and catchy chorus. I’ll admit this is my first time hearing Viscera///, but knowing their roots in grind, the harshness makes sense, and with their progressive elements, there’s an almost latter-day Enslaved feel to parts, but ultimately the band are on their own trip.
And it’s a weird one. Tons putting sludge to the side for a bit of garage rock was a curveball, sure, and Viscera/// might not have any such radical stylistic shifts playing out across their four inclusions, but the wash in “Mystical Cherry Bomb” before the vocals enter in the second half is immersive enough to make it seem like “Celebrate Death” rose up from a river of noise and receded again beneath the surface when it was done. All the while, the river runs. The transition to closer “Turmoil” is no less direct, and with a harsh buzz and a sample of a recorded voice on a phone that feels like a remnant from a time far less apocalyptic, the finisher of the split turns its modus more fully to evocation and ambience.
Like a lot of what is happening across the relatively brief runtime for this split, the ending makes sense when you hear it. A couple of bands getting together, pushing hard against the imaginary walls of genre, exploring — and yeah, getting up to a bit of charming fuckery as well — is a good time. The two tracks premiering below don’t represent the entirety of the split. Don’t expect them to. But whatever elements they do or don’t share in sound, they are the base around which both bands seem to be building during their portion of the LP.
PR wire info follows. As always, I hope you enjoy:
Tons, “Rime Of The Modern Grower”
Viscera/// “Celebrate Death”
Heavy Psych Experimental Post-Metal New EP ‘Subsound Split Series #10’ Out February 28th 2025 via Subsound Records
Italian powerhouses TONS (sludge/doom) and VISCERA/// (post-metal) join forces on Subsound Records’ Split Series #10. A beautiful opportunity to get wild with the genres and to experiment! If TONS maintain their signature sound on the first track “Rime of the Modern Grower”, they totally revisit their classic track “Boards of the Unlighter” in a garage/surf flavour. The third song is a cover version of Nirvana’s “Milk it” taken from the recording sessions of their previous album Hashenshion.
“This latest opus marks the band’s studio comeback since 2018’s ‘City Of Dope And Violence’, plus the opportunity to work with underground scene juggernauts like Tons and Subsound Records and the consolidation of Alexander Lizzori as active producer (“Cyclops” / “2” era drummer and long time collaborator)” say VISCERA/// about their record side.
The I Subsound Split Series’ is a collectors series of 12″ limited edition vinyls. Each release features two bands of the Italian and international underground scene, spanning multiple genres. Artworks and illustrations are curated by Stonino and play on the interaction between two movie characters chosen by the musicians of the split in an imaginative way. This one features James Wood/Max Renn in David Cronenberg l s ‘Videodrome’ (Viscera///’s choice) and Ghostbusters’ Rick Moranis (by TONS).
TRACK LISTING ‘Subsound split Series 10’ A SIDE 1. Tons – Rime Of The Modern Grower 2. Tons – Milk It 8. Tons – Boards Of The Unlighter B SIDE 4. Viscera/// – House of Soul Surgery 5. Viscera/// – Celebrate Death 6. Viscera/// – Mystical Cherry Bomb 7. Viscera/// – Turmoil
TONS are: Phatty B.: voice, bass Duncan McLoud: lead guitar Little Stevie: rhythm guitar Oreste Pennarelli: drums
VISCERA are: Michele Basso: vocals/guitars/electronics Marcello Bellina: guitars/electronics Gian Lorenzo Cantb: bass Federico de Bernardi di Valserra: drums
Posted in Whathaveyou on February 19th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
Last year, at what was my first time attending SonicBlast Fest in Âncora, Portugal, where it’s been held the last several years since moving from Moledo, I had a great, great time. Really. When I think every single day in multiple contexts about how I never seem to let myself enjoy anything — a perspective to which this blog stands as ready testament against, what with all the salivating and hyperbole — my time at SonicBlast is among the first counterpoints that comes to mind. I met new friends, I met old friends, I hung out with Dr. Space for like three days, and that dude’s the best. I stood on stage and watched Dozer, singing along and rocking out alongside friendly, welcoming faces. A rare moment overcoming insecurity. The place, the weather, the beach, the people are beautiful. And the music is very loud. For the rest of my life, I get to say I saw Ruff Majik supporting Elektrik Ram. For this I am deeply lucky.
The shape of my 2024 is such that when SonicBlast happens this year –Aug. 8-10, with the pre-show Aug. 7 set to feature Saint Karloff from Norway among others still TBA — I’ll be traveling with family elsewhere. That’s kind of a result of there only being so much summer between school years and my wife’s teaching semesters, so I’m rolling with it. I wouldn’t be so arrogant as to assume I’d be invited back to SonicBlast anyhow, but if the weekend comes and you don’t see me covering the likes of High on Fire, Margarita Witch Cult (who I think I might need to see), The Obsessed, Tons, Slift, and so on, it’s not because I didn’t have a good time there last year or wouldn’t be interested in watching Brant Bjork, Graveyard, Colour Haze and/or 1000mods (who ruled at Desertfest NYC and are maybe recording?), Truckfighters and probably four or five surprisingly hardcore-influenced acts on that huge stage, when in fact I very much would. Last year’s edition was unrealistically good. The photo pit was big enough to dance in. They even had chairs. I’d be back there in a second if I could. Maybe 2025 if I’m lucky and the world doesn’t end (again).
Poster by Branca — to whom I wasn’t brave enough to say hi last year, sorry — and the announcement from the festival’s socials follow in blue, as well as links and the High on Fire single in case you don’t want to just scroll down the site to find it in its own post:
We’re so proud to announce 13 more bands that’ll burn down SonicBlast Fest’s 12th edition!
Welcome the great @highonfireband, who will release the first single from their upcoming album today, @gayesuakyol @sliftrock @thenightbeats @theobsessedofficial @coffin_aus @jjuujjuu @margaritawitchcult @skemer_official @tonsofweed666 @cobrafuma and @silvershark_boogie 🔥🔥🔥
We’re also so glad to announce the first name to our warm-up party, at the 7th august, @saintkarloff ⚡️
Unfortunately Sunami won’t be able to make it to SonicBlast Fest 2024.
Posted in Reviews on January 6th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
There was some pretty good stuff this week, I gotta say. Feels self-congratulatory to be like, ‘hey good job slating reviews, me!’ but there it is. I don’t regret hearing anything I have thus far into the Winter 2023 Quarterly Review, and sometimes that’s not the case by the time we get to Friday.
Of course, there’s another week to go here as well. We’ll pick it back up on Monday with another 10 records and proceed from there. If you’ve been following along, I hope you’ve found something you dig as well.
Winter 2023 Quarterly Review #41-50:
Astrosaur, Portals
This is what happens when you have virtuoso players writing songs rather than paeans to their own virtuosity. Led by founding guitarist Eirik Kråkenes, with drummer Jonathan Eikum (also Taiga Woods) and bassist Steinar Glas (also Einar Stray Orchestra), Astrosaur are blindingly progressive on their third full-length, Portals (on Pelagic), operating with post-metallic atmospheres as a backdrop for stunning instrumental turns, builds and crashes, willful repetition and the defiant denial of same. There’s more scope in the intro “Opening” than on some entire albums, and what “Black Hole Earth” begins from there is a dizzying array of sometimes cosmic sometimes earthborn riffing, twisting bass and mindfully restless drums. “The Deluge” hitting into that chase after four minutes in, that seemingly chaotic swirling noise suddenly stopping “Reptile Empire” and the false start to the 23-minute epic “Eternal Return” — these details and many besides give the overarching weight of Portals at its heaviest a corresponding depth, and when coupled with the guitar’s ability to coast overhead, they are genuinely three-dimension in their sound. You’d be right to want to hear Portals for “Eternal Return” alone, but there’s so much more to it than that.
Kvasir‘s Sagittarius A* Star is named for the black hole at the center of the galaxy, and the 21-minute single-song EP is the follow-up to their 2021 debut album, 4 (review here), a dug-in proto-metallic exploration composed in movements that flow together as a whole organic work. The Portland-based four-piece of guitarists Christopher Lee (also vocals) and Gabriel Langston, bassist Greg Traw and Jay Erbe work on either side between traditional metal and heavy rock riffing, inhabiting both here as “Sagittarius A* Star” launches into its initial verses over the first four minutes, a solo emerging after 5:30 to set the pattern that will hold for the remaining three-fourths of the song. A slowdown takes hold about a minute later and grooves until at about nine minutes in when the bass comes forward and things get funkier. The vocals return at about 11:30 to complement a galloping riff that’s fleshed out until just after the 14-minute mark, when a jazzier instrumental movement begins and the band makes it known they’re going out and not coming back, the swaying finish with more insistent guitar, first interjecting then satisfyingly joining that sway, capping with a (still plotted) jammier feel. If that’s the Milky Way succumbing to ultragravity and being torn apart molecule by molecule en route to physics-defying oblivion, then fair enough. Worse ways to go, certainly.
Though the leadoff Sins of the Father gets reminds of circa-’90s noise metal like Nailbomb, Marylander four-piece Bloodshot lean more into a hardcore-informed take on heavy rock with their aggressively-purposed debut album. Comprised of vocalist Jared Winegardner, guitarist Tom Stacey, bassist Joe Ruthvin (ex-Earthride) and drummer JB Matson (ex-War Injun, organizer of Maryland Doom Fest, etc.), the band push to one side or the other throughout, as on the more rocking “Zero Humility” and the subsequent metallic barker “Uncivil War,” the mid-period Megadeth-style riffer “Beaten Into Rebellion,” the brooding-into-chugging closing title-track and “Fyre,” which I’m pretty sure just wants to kick my ass. The 10-track entirety of the album, in fact, seems to hold to that same mentality, and there’s a sense of trying to recapture something that’s been lost that feels inherently conservative in its theme — “Faded Natives,” “Visions of Yesterday,” the speedier “Worn and Torn,” and so on — but gruff though it is, Sins of the Father offers a pissed-off-for-reasons take on heavy that’s likewise intense and methodical. That is to say, they know what they’re doing as they punch you in the throat.
A second release through Heavy Psych Sounds and Tons‘ third full-length overall, Hashension wears its love of all things cannabian on its crusty stoner sludge sleeve throughout its six-track/39-minute run, begun with the riffnotic “Dope Dealer Scum” before “A Hash Day’s Night” introduces the throatripper vocals and backing growls and a more heads-down, speedier tempo that hits into a mosh of a slowdown. “Slowly We Pot” — a play on Obituary‘s Slowly We Rot — to go along with the Beatles, Rolling Stones and Pink Floyd (and Gummo) titular references — follows in a spirit as angry as one imagines Bongzilla might be if someone un-freed their weed. Yes, “Hempathy for the Devil” and “Ummagummo” precede the sample-topped slamming march of “Hashended,” and lo, the well-baked extreme sludge they’ve wrought rumbles and thuds its way out, not so much gnashing in the way of “A Hash Day’s Night” or the roll after the midpoint in “Ummagummo” — though the lyrics there seem to be pure weed-worship — but lumbering in such a way as to ensure the point gets across anyhow. I’m not going to tell you you should be stoned listening to it, because I don’t know, maybe you’re driving or something, but I doubt Tons would argue if you brought some edibles to the gig. Enough to share, perhaps.
Mothman & the Thunderbirds vs. World Eaters, Split
In the battle of Philly solo-project Mothman and the Thunderbirds vs. Ontario-based duo World Eaters, the numbers may be on the side of the latter, but each act offers something of its own on their shared 18-minute EP. Presenting two tracks from each band, the outing puts Mothman and the Thunderbirds‘ “Rusty Shackleton” and “Nephilim” up front, the latter particularly reinforcing the Devin Townsend influence on the part of multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Alex Parkinson, while “Flash of Green” and “The Siege” from World Eaters — drummer Winter Stomp and guitarist/bassist/vocalist/synthesist David Gupta — present an atmospheric death metal, more than raw bludgeoning, but definitely that as well. As a sampler platter for both bands, there’s more time to get to know World Eaters since their songs are markedly longer, but the contrast from one to the other and the progression into the mire of “The Siege” gives the split an overlaid personality, almost a narrative, and the melodies in Parkinson‘s two cuts have a lingering presence over the masterful decay that follows in World Eater‘s material. One way or the other, these are both relatively upstart projects and their will toward progression is clear, as pummeling as its form may be. Right on.
Preceded by the two-song single Witches Brew/Psychedelic Roadkill, the six-song/24-minute Dark Matter Pt. 1 is short but feels nonetheless like a debut album from Sonoma County, California (try the cabernet), three-piece Deer Lord, who present adventures like getting stoned with witches on a mountaintop, riding free with an out-on-bail “Hippie Girl” in the backseat of presumably some kind of roadster, going down the proverbial highway and, at last, welcoming you to “Planet Earth” after calling out and casting off any and all “Ego” along the way. It is a modern take on stonerized heavy, starting off with “Witches Brew” as the opener/longest track (immediate points) with a languid flow and psychedelic underpinnings that flesh out even amid the apex soloing of “Planet Earth” or the fervent push of the earlier “Ride Away,” that tempo hitting a wall with the intro of “Ego” (don’t worry, it takes off) so as to support the argument in favor of Dark Matter Pt. 1 as an admittedly brief full-length, the component tracks working off each other to enhance the entirety. The elements beneath are familiar enough, but Deer Lord put an encouraging spin of their own on it, and especially as their debut, it’s hard to imagine some label or other won’t get on board, if not for pressing this, then maybe Pt. 2 to come. Perhaps both?
IO Audio Recordings, Awaiting the Elliptical Drift & VVK
Compiling two 2022 EPs into a single LP and releasing through a microcosm of underground imprints in various terrestrial locales, IO Audio Recordings‘ Awaiting the Elliptical Drift & VVK is my first exposure to the Orange, CA, out-there-in-space unit, and from the blower kosmiche rocking “Awaiting the Elliptical Drift” to the sitar meditation “Luminous Suspension,” and the hazy wash of “Sunrise and Overdrive” (that’s side A) to the experimentalist consumption of “VVK” and “Gramanita” rounding out with its heartbeat rhythm giving over to a hardly-flatlined drone after shuffling cool and bassy and fuzzy with jangly jam strum overtop, I tell you in all sincerity it won’t be my last. There’s a broad cross-section stylistically, which suits a compilation mindset, but I get the feeling that if you called it an album instead, the situation would be much the same thanks to an underlying conceptualism and the adventuring purpose beneath the open-structured fluidity. That’s just fine, as IO Audio Recordings‘ sundry transformations only enhance the anything-that-works-goes and shelf-your-expectations listening experience. Not that there’s no tension in their groovy approach, but the abiding sensibility advises an open mind and maybe a couple deep breaths in and out before you take it on. But then definitely take it on. If you need me, I’ll be spending money I don’t have on Bandcamp.
While “bong” in a band name usually connotes dense sludge in my head, Oslo four-piece Bong Voyage defy that stereotype with their Dec. 2022-released second single, “Feverlung” — the first single was October’s “Buzzed Aldrin” — and no, the song isn’t about the pandemic, it’s about getting high. The six-minute rocker hoists jammy flourish mostly in its second half, in a break that, in turn, shifts into uptempo semi-space rock post-Slift pulsations atop a progression that, while I’ll readily admit it sounds little like the song on the whole still puts me in mind of Kyuss‘ “Odyssey” in its vocal patterning and melody. That ending is a step outward from the solidified early verses, which are more straight ahead heavy rock in the vein of Freedom Hawk or a less-directly-Ozzy take on Sheavy, and while one listening for them to bring it back around to the initial riff will find that they don’t, the band’s time isn’t necessarily misspent in terms of serving the song by letting it push beyond exospheric traps. They won’t catch me by surprise next time aesthetically, and it wouldn’t be a shock to find Bong Voyage in among the subset of up and coming heavy rockers that’s put Norway on the underground radar so much these last couple years. Either way, I’ll look forward to more here.
In its early going, Sun Years‘ “Codex” stagger-sludges like Eyehategod with guitarist Dalton Huskin‘s shouty echoing vocals on top, but as it moves into its second half, there’s a pickup in tempo and a bit of swirling lead guitar emerges in the 4:37 song’s closing stretch as Asechiah Bogdan (ex-Windhand, ex-Alabama Thunderpussy) makes his presence felt. Alongside bassist Buddy Bryant and drummer Erik Larson (once-and-again guitarist for Alabama Thunderpussy, drummer of Avail, Omen Stones, ex-Backwoods Payback, the list goes on), Bogdan and Huskin explore mellower and more melodic reaches the subsequent “Teeth Like Stars,” still holding some of their demo’s lead track’s urgency as a weighted riff takes hold in trade with the relatively subdued verse. That’s a back and forth they’ll do again, moving the second time from the more weighted progression into a solo and build into a return of the harsher vocals, some double-kick drumming and a last shove that lasts until everything drops out except one guitar and that riffs for a few seconds before being cut off mid-measure. Well, that’s a band with more dynamic in their first two tracks than some have in their entire careers, so I guess it’s safe to say it’ll be worth following the Richmond, Virginia, foursome to see where they end up next time out.
Recorded by Jan Oberg (Grin, Slowshine, EarthShip) at Hidden Planet Studio in Berlin, Daevar‘s five-track/32-minute 2023 debut album, Delirious Rites, arrives likewise through Oberg‘s imprint The Lasting Dose Records and finds the man himself sitting in for guest vocals on the 10-minute “Leviathan” alongside the band’s own bassist/vocalist Pardis Latif, who leads the band from the depths of the rhythm section’s lurch on the gradually unfolding Windhand-vibing leadoff “Slowshine,” the particularly Monolordian “Bloody Fingers” with Caspar Orfgen‘s guitar howling over a marching riff, and “Leila” where Moritz Ermen Bausch‘s drums offer a welcoming grounding to Electric Wizardly nod and swirl. Thus, by the time his spot in the aforementioned “Leviathan” rolls (and I do mean rolls) around, just ahead of closer “Yellow Queen,” the layers of growling and screaming he adds to the procession are a standout shift well placed to play off the atmosphere established by the previous tracks. Shortest at 5:10, “Yellow Queen” lumbers through more ethereal doom and hints at a psychedelic current that might continue to develop in a midsection drifting break that builds back into the catchy plod from whence it came. Not necessarily innovative at this point — they’re a new band — but they seem to know what they want in terms of sound and style, and that only ever bodes well.
Posted in Whathaveyou on December 14th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
Do not expect this to be the last Heavy Psych Sounds Fest announcement. The Italian label/booking empire gas over the last several years turned its various festivals into celebrations that each even beyond its own significant associated roster, and in this first reveal for Bologna and Torino fests, we see that happening exactly. Look for tours to emerge around this and other HPS fests to come in Europe (maybe US too), as end-of-April/beginning-of-May is kind of the culmination of the Spring festival season over there.
As someone born, raised and living in the US, I can only marvel at such a thing. I came up in the days of Lollapalooza roaming around bringing bands from town to town in a big traveling festival, but imagine multiple separate tours converging and separating across state lines in one spot, then roving around for club shows until the next one. What an amazing course of live performance and art and craft that is. I know we’re talking about rock shows and that’s generally considered lowbrow fare, but god damn, isn’t that how culture happens? These two dates encapsulate some of that same idea, and Heavy Psych Sounds did similar in California earlier in 2022, so maybe someday they’ll get there. I don’t know, but they make it easy to dig in the meantime.
Lineups follow:
HEAVY PSYCH SOUNDS FEST ITALY 2023
BOLOGNA & TORINO
Heavy Psych Sounds Records & Booking is proud to announce *** HEAVY PSYCH SOUNDS FEST ITALY 2023 – BOLOGNA & TORINO ***
first bands announcement
Heavy Psych Sounds Records & Booking will smash Bologna and Torino with their highly acclaimed mini festival-series, the HEAVY PSYCH SOUNDS FEST!
In cooperation with Freakout Club, Mkno, Blah Blah and Last One To Die, today Heavy Psych Sounds has revealed the first bands for the upcoming HEAVY PSYCH SOUNDS FEST ITALY !!!
The HPS Fest Italy will be taking place 29th and 30th of April 2023 at the TPO Club in Bologna and Last One To Die in Caramagna Piemonte (Torino) !!!
Posted in Whathaveyou on December 2nd, 2022 by JJ Koczan
I mean, what can you say to this other than ‘can I come?’ I’ve known this festival was capable of some real-deal shit over the last decade, but this is absolutely epic, which is a word I do my best to avoid. And they end it by saying there’s more to come. God damn. Really. God damn.
Wow.
Here:
Desertfest London announce over 40 bands for 2023
Friday 5th May – Sunday 7th May 2023 | Weekend Tickets on sale now
Desertfest London is rounding off the year with an ear-shattering bang, announcing a mammoth 43 artists to their 2023 line-up. Joining the likes of Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats, Graveyard, Kadavar and Church of Misery, the Camden-based festival also welcomes back Corrosion of Conformity as headliners.
Pioneers of a groove-laden sound that is undeniably their own, Corrosion of Conformity have not been back on UK soil since 2018 so expect big, loud and memorable things from their appearance at Desertfest next year. Corrosion of Conformity have been due to play the event since 2020 – making their return one of the most widely requested in the event’s history.
Japan’s own avant-garde maestros of down-tuned psychedelia Boris leap over to London alongside the crushingly loud tones of NOLA’s own Crowbar. One of the most exciting bands in recent memory King Buffalo, make their long-awaited debut plus Desertfest favourites, Weedeater are back after five long years of chugging whiskey lord-knows-where.
The pace moves up a notch with New York City’s noise-rock guru’s Unsane and British punk-legends Discharge, all of whom bring a detour from the slow’n’low sounds the festival is best recognised for. Montreal’s Big | Brave will play the festival for the first time showcasing their experimental and minimalist take on the notion of ‘heavy’, whilst the doors to the Church of The Cosmic Skull are open, as they ask Desertfest revellers to join them in a union unlike any other.
Desertfest also warmly welcomes noise from STAKE, British anti-fascist black metallers Dawn Ray’d and London’s loudest duo Tuskar as well as some of the best recent stoner acts in the form of Telekinetic Yeti, Weedpecker & Great Electric Quest. Elsewhere the weekend will also see Wren, The Necromancers, Dommengang, Samavayo, Morass of Molasses, Sum of R & GNOB offer up unique live performances.
Rounding off this beast of an announcement are Acid Mammoth, Deatchant, Zetra, Trevor’s Head, Our Man in The Bronze Age, Wyatt E., Iron Jinn, Mr Bison, Troy The Band, Oreyeon, Warren Schoenbright, Early Moods, Longheads, Terror Cosmico, Thunder Horse, TONS, Vinnum Sabbathi, Bloodswamp, The Age of Truth, Earl of Hell and Black Groove.
Weekend Tickets for Desertfest London 2023 are on-sale now via www.desertfest.co.uk with more acts still to be announced.
Day splits and day tickets will be on sale from January.
Full Line-Up for Desertfest London 2023: UNCLE ACID & THE DEADBEATS | GRAVEYARD | CORROSION OF CONFORMITY | KADAVAR | BORIS | CROWBAR | CHURCH OF MISERY | WEEDEATER | KING BUFFALO | BLOOD CEREMONY | DISCHARGE | SOMALI YACHT CLUB | UNSANE | BIG|BRAVE | INTER ARMA | CHURCH OF THE COSMIC SKULL | VALLEY OF THE SUN | STAKE | MARS RED SKY | SPACESLUG | GRAVE LINES | GAUPA | TUSKAR | TELEKINETIC YETI | WEEDPECKER | DAWN RAY’D | WREN | GREAT ELECTRIC QUEST | THE NECROMANCERS | DOMMENGANG | ECSTATIC VISION | SAMAVAYO | MORASS OF MOLASSES | SUM OF R | HIGH DESERT QUEEN | GNOB | EVEREST QUEEN | ACID MAMMOTH | DEATHCHANT | ZETRA | CELESTIAL SANCTUARY | TREVOR’S HEAD | OUR MAN IN THE BRONZE AGE | WYATT E. | MR BISON | TROY THE BAND | PLAINRIDE | IRON JINN | OREYEON | WARREN SCHOENBRIGHT | EARLY MOODS | LONGHEADS | TERROR COSMICO | THUNDER HORSE | TONS | VINNUM SABBATHI | BLOODSWAMP | VENOMWOLF | THE AGE OF TRUTH | EARL OF HELL | BLACK GROOVE | MARGARITA WITCH CULT
Posted in Radio on October 14th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
This is me feeling like I can’t keep up, I suppose. Even in like the week, two weeks?, since the Quarterly Review ended, I’ve basically got another one full, and I’ve been feeling suitably overwhelmed as we move into Fall. The releases keep coming, keep being announced, and it’s just so much. I’m doing my best, and a lot of this stuff will be covered hopefully before December comes around, but I can’t promise that at this point. It would matter way less if records like Sky Pig, Smokes of Krakatau, Teverts, Deadly Vipers, Tons and Witchfinder, Grin, Grandier, Giant Mammoth weren’t as cool as they are.
I should’ve called the show ‘Punk Rock Guilt,’ but no one would get it anyway. I’m not sure anyone gets it now. I’m not sure why Gimme Metal continues to let me do this, but I’m happy they do. Anyway, for me personally this one’s all about the moment when it hits into Caustic Casanova’s “Bull Moose Against the Sky” from their just-released Glass Enclosed Nerve Center (review here) album, but I’m also reminding myself how much I dug that Ufomammut album and how just because Scott Kelly turned out to be a phony and a shit it doesn’t mean everything Neurot Recordings ever put out should be shunned like a mouthy Amish person. Also threw in some Kyuss, to remind myself I like them. Like, oh yeah, Kyuss. That’s a thing the internet and I agree on.
Bottom line is it’s a show with music I think will help your day, from All Souls and Sasquatch to Faith in Jane and the new Papir/Causa Sui collaboration Edena Gardens. If I’m going to take up two hours of Gimme Metal’s precious airtime — space on the internet may be unlimited and ever expanding, but time is still time — the least I can do is play good shit. So that’s what I’m doing.
Thanks if you listen and thanks for reading.
The Obelisk Show airs 5PM Eastern today on the Gimme app or at: http://gimmemetal.com.
Full playlist:
The Obelisk Show – 10.14.22 (VT = voice track)
Deadly Vipers
Welli Welloo
Low City Drone
Smokes of Krakatau
Septic
Smokes of Krakatau
Sky Pig
Motionless
It Thrives in Darkness
VT
Sasquatch
Live Snakes
Fever Fantasy
Ufomammut
Psychostasia
Fenice
Giant Mammoth
Circle
Holy Sounds
Teverts
Road to Awareness
The Lifeblood
Kyuss
100 Degrees
Welcome to Sky Valley
Grin
Transcendence
Phantom Knocks
Tons
A Hash Day’s Night
Hashension
Grandier
Viper Soul
The Scorn and Grace of Crows
All Souls
Roam
Ghosts Among Us
Witchfinder
Ghosts Happen to Fade
Forgotten Mansion
Edena Gardens
Hidebound
Edena Gardens
Faith in Jane
The Seeker
Axe to Oak
VT
Caustic Casanova
Bull Moose Against the Sky
Glass Enclosed Nerve Center
The Obelisk Show on Gimme Metal airs every Friday 5PM Eastern, with replays Sunday at 7PM Eastern. Next new episode is Oct. 28 (subject to change). Thanks for listening if you do.
Posted in Whathaveyou on August 9th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
In a manner not dissimilar from how its California fests took largely the same expansive lineup from San Francisco to Los Angeles and Los Angeles to San Francisco, Heavy Psych Sounds is bringing a circus to Berlin and Dresden on Oct. 21 and 22. In association with Greyzone and ElbSludgeBooking, the label has assembled a lineup that includes HPS bands and others like 1000mods and Gozu, and that sense of community outreach isn’t to be understated. The synergy between booking and releasing is a big part of what has allowed Heavy Psych Sounds to become the underground nexus it is, able to do more for bands than many other outlets. The festivals in cities across Europe and now in the US as well are another extension of that.
That’s not really an insight as to the lineup here or the label’s ethic or taste — also choice — but the fact is this is Heavy Psych Sounds doing what it does. More power to them, and so on.
From the PR wire:
HEAVY PSYCH SOUNDS FEST BERLIN & DRESDEN full lineup announcement
Heavy Psych Sounds Records & Booking will smash Berlin and Dresden with their highly acclaimed mini festival-series, the HEAVY PSYCH SOUNDS FEST!
In cooperation with Greyzone Concerts and ElbSludgeBooking, Heavy Psych Sounds has revealed the full lineup for the upcoming HEAVY PSYCH SOUNDS FEST BERLIN & DRESDEN !!!
The HPS Fest Berlin & Dresden will be taking place 21st and 22nd of October, 2022 at the Festsaal Kreuzberg and Urban Spree in Berlin and Chemiefabrik in Dresden !!!
HEAVY PSYCH SOUNDS FEST – BERLIN & DRESDEN @ Festsaal Kreuzberg / Urban Spree, Berlin @ Chemiefabrik, Dresden October 21st and 22nd 2022
feat. 1000 MODS NICK OLIVERI BELZEBONG BLACK RAINBOWS ACID MAMMOTH THE LORDS OF ALTAMONT HIGH REEPER SLEEPWULF TONS HIPPIE DEATH CULT GOZU OREYEON WEDGE MOTHER ENGINE
BERLIN TICKETS PRESALE: https://www.greyzone-tickets.de/produkte/602
BERLIN FB OFFICIAL EVENT: https://www.facebook.com/events/1358860387859773/
