Posted in Whathaveyou on May 28th, 2026 by JJ Koczan
It’s beautiful, innit? A perfect mesh of nostalgia for what was and laying claim to what may yet be. Emissions From the Monolith isn’t just returning to remind people it was there 20-plus years ago when the notion of a festival celebrating underground heavy from sludge to psych — that kind of genrefest — wasn’t entirely unheard of but was nowhere near as widespread or taken for granted as it is now. It’s looking ahead. You get Torche (!) and Rebreather, but you also get Howling Giant and High Desert Queen. Fistula and Winds of Neptune. That’s gonna be a wild few days.
I ran into Ben from The Brought Low this past weekend in Brooklyn, and nearly the first words out of his mouth were asking if I would be in Ohio this October. Four-day fest plus a day of travel on either side makes it less feasible, especially coming off In the Key of Doom, also in NYC, the weekend before. It would be a challenge and would require a lot of indulgence on my wife’s part. I’m not sure I can make that ask, actually. And I’m not sure I have a car that I would trust to make it to and from Ohio. I guess that’s a factor too.
But you never know what the next few months will bring, and the lineup is gorgeous either way, so here it is as posted by the fest on socials:
EMISSIONS FROM THE MONOLITH 10 — FINAL POSTER + FULL LINEUP REVEAL
After nearly two decades away, Emissions From The Monolith returns October 8–11, 2026 at Westside Bowl in Youngstown, Ohio.
Four days of underground heavy music presented on a single stage with full sets and absolutely no overlaps.
Built around immersion, discovery, flow, and community rather than festival sprawl, Emissions has always focused on the experience of being there from start to finish.
We’re intentionally choosing not to sell the room to maximum capacity. Comfort matters more.
Final poster artwork by Mercerrock (Brian Mercer Design)
FULL LINEUP Axioma BAT Bongzilla Cavity A.D. Deadbird Disengage edhochuli Fistula Generation of Vipers Great Falls High Desert Queen Horseburner Howling Giant Kowloon Walled City Lake Lake Lo-Pan Minsk O.I.L. rebreather Rwake Shun Solace Stinking Lizaveta Sunrot Telekinetic Yeti The Brought Low THUNDERCHIEF TODAY IS THE DAY Torche Voivod Weedeater Winds Of Neptune
October 8–11, 2026 Westside Bowl — Youngstown, Ohio
Posted in Whathaveyou on May 4th, 2026 by JJ Koczan
Some of the finest the US Midwest has to offer will make its way to Emissions From the Monolith 10 this October in Ohio, with Fistula, Bongzilla, Lo-Pan, Axioma and Minsk, and O.I.L. too if you count Pittsburgh as the Midwest. Alongside those, Voidvod and Torche! Like, oh, no big deal. I knew Emissions was taking some big swings in its return year, with noisier bands like Cavity and Today is the Day, but Voivod are another level of weirdo-unplaceable, and alongside Minsk, who haven’t had a full-length out in 11 years and somehow that just makes the thought of seeing them cooler, and Ryan Waste of Municipal Waste‘s Bat, this lineup feels like it’s moving quickly into the realm of unfuckwithability.
Is the lineup complete? I’m not entirely sure. It doesn’t say either way on the poster, so maybe there are more adds or maybe not. Either way, I don’t see how you could look at the single-stage/four-day sprawl of bands — theoretically I could go to Emissions in October and see all of it; I like that idea — and feel like something’s missing, especially now that the word Torche appears in it.
Some oldschool, some newschool, and not a single not-on-purpose bummer in the bunch:
EMISSIONS FROM THE MONOLITH 10 – TRANSMISSION 3
A third wave of artists joins Emissions from the Monolith 10.
October 8–11, 2026 at Westside Bowl in Youngstown, Ohio.
Previously announced: Cavity Deadbird Disengage Edhochuli Generation of Vipers Great Falls High Desert Queen Horseburner Howling Giant Kowloon Walled City Lake Lake Rebreather Rwake Shun Solace Stinking Lizaveta Sunrot Telekinetic Yeti The Brought Low Thunderchief Today Is The Day Weedeater Winds of Neptune
One stage.
No overlaps.
Four days of total immersion in the heavy underground
Posted in Bootleg Theater on September 20th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
I’m not saying the heavy underground took Torche for granted, but yes, in fact that’s very much what I’m saying. The Miami-based innovators of what for a time was called sludge-pop called it quits in 2022, when founding frontman Steve Brooks announced he was leaving the band just a few nights before they featured at Desertfest New York (review here) and began a Fall tour alongside Meshuggah. No one would accuse the band, founded in 2004 and with five full-lengths to their credit — the last of them being 2019’s Admission (review here) — of owing anybody anything, but it was still a bummer to see them disband. Their 2005 self-titled debut (discussed here) had taken the bomb-toned emo-punk leanings of Brooks‘ prior band, Floor, and crafted a worthy successor to that band’s landmark 2002 self-titled LP (discussed here), pushing into a new kind of heavy rock that was as dense as any colossally-riffed nodding doom, but uptempo, major key, and with a shove that would become a signature.
Comprised then of Brooks, guitarist Juan Montoya, drummer Rick Smith and bassist Jon Nuñez — the band’s final lineup would see Nuñez on guitar in place of Montoya and Eric Hernandez on bass — Torche issued the In Return EP as a combined 10″ and CD with a rare non-booby-lady cover by John Dyer Baizley of Baroness, pressed through Robotic Empire in 2007, between the self-titled and their 2008 Hydra Head-backed breakout, Meanderthal. It’s a blip in their career arc, but at just 19 minutes and seven songs, it serves the immediacy of what Torche did in a way that a full album never could. That’s not to say their records were too long — the self-titled was 29 minutes, Meanderthal still just 36; they never went over 40 — but that the EP format was suited to the rush of a piece like In Return‘s title-track, a two-and-a-half-minute burst of solar-matter-made-riff that feels like it should fall apart before its first verse but that holds itself together right into its midsection stops and shifts into a stoner-metal nod with Brooks‘ always clean vocals over top. Torche songs never wanted for having a lot going on. On In Return, that could be true without their being more overwhelming than they wanted.
In Return highlights what works in Torche‘s sound in a way that their albums couldn’t, and it wasn’t the only EP they put out during their time that did so — 2010’s Songs for Singles (review here) had enough substance to carry the band from Meanderthal to 2012’s Harmonicraft (review here) with little dip in momentum; certainly a full touring schedule helped in that regard as well — but is a special moment just the same, and not only because it features at its penultimate moment one of the heaviest and most righteously dug-in tracks Torche would ever produce in the outright-monstrous “Tarpit Carnivore.” Amid a riff in the imitable low tone that few but Brooks could hope to conjure, simple lyrics like “Sabretooth mastodon/Dire wolf/Native American” feel duly primal in a way that presages the coming of a next generation of heavy purveyors; these are lessons bands like Conan would pick up and use as a foundation to embark in new, sometimes much more outwardly ferocious directions.
But In Return is no more only about “Tarpit Carnivore” than it is any of its other six component cuts — well, maybe a little; they do revel in it and build up to the track’s arrival with the angular procession in the two-minute instrumental “Olympus Mons,” named for the Martian volcano that, to-date, is the largest discovered in the solar system. Even so, that movement from one to the other is just part of an overarching flow that begins with the suitably cannon-esque shots of distortion and crash fired at the outset of “Warship” and continues in the declarative stomp that emerges from the title-track. As tightly packed as the songs seem to be in themselves, they in conversation with each other as well, whether it’s “In Return” fading into the explosion of light at the start of “Bring Me Home” — ahead of the curve on heavygaze by more than half a decade, with its resonant vocal melody and airy guitar — and the flurried intensity of “Rule the Beast,” which follows with a gallop that rivals what High on Fire might’ve produced at the time while remaining very much its own thing, and fun as part of that in a way many of their peers couldn’t be. As much ‘worship’ pervades the heavy underground, whether it’s volume, tone, riff, weed, or whatever as the object of it, Torche were one of few bands who could actually cast a song as a celebration.
To wit, the EP follows the great flattening of “Tarpit Carnivore,” Torche further the onslaught in “Hellion,” the closer and longest track at a whopping 3:37. Smith‘s toms take a beating as thrown-down-the-stairs fills pepper the chorus, and that hook is anchored by heft inherited from the song prior while the melodic vocals, still part-shout, sneer out the title line. It’s an exciting sound at its root, and Torche never gave the impression of not knowing what they were going for as a band, even as an LP like 2015’s Restarter (review here) expanded the sonic palette, and so when they end “Hellion” by scorching the ground with feedback, there’s little chance it’s a coincidence. Torche have laid waste. It took them less than 20 minutes to do so.
That’s the underlying message of In Return, really. If you heard Torche at the time it came out and were curious who this band were going to become, In Return provided a vital, crushing answer, with maximum efficiency. Torche couldn’t very well have spent their career putting out half-albums and attained the kind of profile they did, but they were unquestionably suited to the format, and In Return demonstrates their ability to tell a story in sound, mirroring the relative brevity of their songs themselves with the presentation thereof. I don’t have a bad word to say about their work more broadly unless you count “fuck yeah,” but that In Return was anything more than a tossoff to begin with epitomizes the singular nature of it and the band, who for all the acclaim they received during their run still seem to be somewhat underappreciated in what they accomplished.
As always, I hope you enjoy. Thank you for reading.
—
This weekend is kind of a marathon. Tonight we’re going to Connecticut, then tomorrow back down to NJ to see Slomosa at Starland Ballroom, and Sunday we’re having family friends over, so yeah, I expect by the start of next week I’ll be duly shitkicked. Big change.
Thanks to everybody who checked out the Desertfest NYC coverage last week. I got some nice comments particularly about the photos, which was great since I’m well aware taking pictures isn’t always my strong suit. I did get some decent ones though. Maybe hanging out with the likes of Tim Bugbee had an effect, though it feels like flattering myself to even think so. Maybe I was just the right amount of stoned. Who knows.
Look out for a Terry Gross review next week, that Slomosa live review, and premieres for Starmonger, Northern Heretic and Caixao. We’re coming up on the next Quarterly Review. I had wanted to do it at the start of September — you can see how that went by the lack of Quarterly Review happening — and as a result of not getting it done, it’s currently slated for two weeks starting Oct. 7. There’s a ton coming out right around then, and I’m already doubled-up on some of those days, which isn’t what I want to be when I’m already writing about 10 different releases in one post, but I’ve done it before and I’ll survive again. It will be good to have another 100 albums off my back in terms of things I want to have covered in some way — whether that’s Alunah (out today), Massive Hassle, Steve Von Till, Castle and Elder or Sandveiss, Endless Floods, Land Mammal and Satan’s Satyrs. One way or the other, it is packed. I’ve got like two slots left and then I need to start putting in alternatives and filling the next one.
Some of that stuff I’m behind on, but one thing about that is I think I care less about timeliness than I ever have. Part of that is reactionary. I see things on social media, bands of the minute, whatever it is, and while I know lists can be fun however often they’re derided for ranking things that shouldn’t be ranked — a fair argument — to me it just seems emblematic of the current disposability of creative work. It says that this stuff matters when it comes out and then it goes away to make room for the next thing. I’ll do a year-end list this year because I feel like I have to, like it’s expected of the site and good for me to have to refer to later, but I can’t help but feel like new music is given an expiration date when it neither needs nor deserves one. If an album came out in June, what, that means October is too late? By what standard could that possibly be true in anything other than the setting of panicked internet FOMO capitalism in which the heavy underground permeates?
As far as that does, I’m a do what I want, and by my own standard. That’s why I started this site in the first place. That doesn’t make me cool, just old and ornery. The cool kids share memes.
I hope you have a great and safe weekend. Have fun out there while the weather’s still good (if it is where you are) and don’t forget to hydrate. See you back here Mubblesday for that Slomosa review and whatever news I’m probably trying to catch up on. Ha.
Posted in Radio on September 2nd, 2022 by JJ Koczan
Two weeks ago I was at Psycho Las Vegas, and so didn’t get to post the playlist for episode 91. For posterity’s sake and because I plainly love looking at lists of band names, it’s below along with the playlist for the episode airing today, which is #92. The march to 100 continues.
The esteemed Dean Rispler (who also plays in Mighty High and a bunch of other bands) is in charge of putting the shows together on a practical level from the lists I send, and to him I extend my deepest appreciation. I’m constantly late. I suck at this in general, and worse, I know it. So yeah. Dean does a bit of hand-holding and I am thankful. He emailed me this week and asked if I was thinking yet about episode 100 and would I be doing anything special?
Well… yes. I have been. And I’d like to make it a blowout or some such, but you know what the truth is? I’m more about the work. When it comes to something like that, the most honest thing I feel like I can do is keep my head down, do another episode and then do one after that two weeks later. I’d rather feel good about a thing in myself and move on. I’m not sure I can get away with that. So maybe I’ll hit up Tommi Dozer and see if he wants to chat sometime in the next few weeks.
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 – 09.02.22 (VT = voice track)
Elephant Tree
Aphotic Blues
Elephant Tree
Might
Abysses
Abyss
Author & Punisher
Misery
Kruller
VT
Lord Elephant
Hunters of the Moon
Cosmic Awakening
Swarm of the Lotus
Snowbeast
The Sirens of Silence
Big Business
Heal the Weak
The Beast You Are
The Otolith
Sing No Coda
Folium Limina
VT
Elder
Halcyon
Omens
Gaerea
Mantle
Mirage
London Odense Ensemble
Sojourner
Jaiyede Sesssions Vol. 1
Northless
What Must Be Done
A Path Beyond Grief
Conan
A Cleaved Head No Longer Plots
Evidence of Immortality
VT
Forlesen
Strega
Black Terrain
And #91, which was a pretty damn good show:
Dozer
The Flood
Beyond Colossal
Orange Goblin
Blue Snow
Time Travelling Blues
Monster Magnet
King of Mars
Dopes to Infinity
Red Fang
Fonzi Scheme
Arrows
VT
Slift
Citadel on a Satellite
Ummon
Russian Circles
Gnosis
Gnosis
Faetooth
Echolalia
Remnants of the Vessel
Caustic Casanova
Lodestar
Glass Enclosed Nerve Center
Brant Bjork
Trip on the Wine
Bougainvillea Suite
Josiah
Saltwater
We Lay on Cold Stone
Blue Tree Monitor
Sasquatch
Cryptids
VT
Torche
Tarpit Carnivore
In Return
Telekinetic Yeti
Rogue Planet
Primordial
Mezzoa
Dunes of Mars
Dunes of Mars
Thunderbird Divine
Boote’s Void
The Hand of Man
Omen Stones
Burn Alive
Omen Stones
1000mods
Vidage
Super Van Vacation
VT
Truckfighters
Con of Man
Mania
The Obelisk Show on Gimme Metal airs every Friday 5PM Eastern, with replays Sunday at 7PM Eastern. Next new episode is Sept. 16 (subject to change). Thanks for listening if you do.
When it comes to festival survival, the value of being able to take a shower in your own shower is not to be understated. I wanted to scrub myself with dish detergent just to cut through all that rock and roll greasiness. Alas, resisted the impulse. Still, your own water, soap, toothpaste, towel? These are luxuries not everyone gets to enjoy at an event like this, and which, most of the time, I don’t either.
The tradeoff is commuting to NYC four days in a row, but whatever. The ride today was easy enough, and the ride home last night was bearable even with traffic because the lower level of the GW was closed. There need to be at least three more Hudson River crossings from the Jersey side, though I think you’d have to level Weehawken to make that happen. Eminent domain.
Second day of the fest proper. I’m hanging in. Ground myself macadamia nut butter for the car ride, had a protein bar this morning. Saw a wonderful bunch of people yesterday and expect the same tonight; such are the comings and goings. A boost of energy from that. I was beat to crap by the time C.O.C. went on though, and managed about five decent hours of sleep once I got home, a little after 1AM. You get what you can get when you can get it. Showing up early today, I got to watch WarHorse soundcheck, and that was a win, as I expect much of the day will be. Doors are in an hour.
Green Druid
A fresh take on atmospheric sludge that, when they decide it’s time to slow it down, is god damned brutal. It’s easier to get a handle on where they’re coming from live than on record, big crash, big lurch, plenty of creeper vibes, but delivered with an element of rawest-style post-metal. Low end is ferocious with bass and two guitars and the vocals swapping between cleaner singing and harsher screams is arranged more creatively to suit the mood. Quick set, but they made a positive impression on an already-warm room and for a day that’s more about weight and extremity at least in parts than was yesterday, they seemed to be just right in terms of bridging worlds. If you need me I’ll be at the merch stand. So long as there’s no cartoon boobs, I’m all over it. [Actually, turned out I barely looked at the shirt before I bought it. It’s got a big ol’ bong on it. Probably won’t wear it much, but screw it, gave the band some money. Gas ain’t cheap.]
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WarHorse
I like to think of WarHorse playing 20 years ago and clearing out rooms of people who just don’t get it. As they are now, they manage to be both devastatingly heavy and a good time. You can tell watching them that they’re having fun playing the songs, and while their sound remains utterly miserable and Jerry Orne’s gurgle is as guttural as ever, he and Terry Savastano are into it immediately while Mike Hubbard lays suitable waste behind them. For a reunion that started kind of casually, not a ton of hype around it, WarHorse have become a force. They were one before, obviously, but the appetite for such things has clearly changed in the last two-plus decades. I don’t know what label I’d put them on — Profound Lore? Season of Mist? — but they sound like a band too dead on in their game not to put out new material. I love watching wretched sounding metal played with a smile. Also with a grimace.
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Somnuri
Nothing follows slow-brutal-fun like periodically-thrashz-fast-brutal-fun, and I’ll tell you, that thrash with a ‘z’ was a typo but I’m leaving it because fuck it, it works. Like Green Druid, they change it up arrangement-wise, but their take is more directly lethal, and they manage the balance between heavy tones and rip-face thrust well on stage. Justin Sherrell is stupid talented. They got a new bassist since the last time I saw them, but so it goes. Last summer’s Nefarious Wave full-length has held up, and frankly it deserves every airing it gets. I seem to recall they did a tour for it earlier this year, and they opened one of the YOB shows at the Saint Vitus Bar — not the one I saw, but still — their stuff is a rager unto itself and the latest incarnation of the regional penchant for creative confrontationalism that once birthed Hull. That’s good company to keep as far as I’m concerned. The fog machine was rolling and the riffs were bludgeoning breakdown-style and offset by ambient stretches like a seething just waiting to explode. Like me on the George Washington Bridge last night at 12:30. Their version of that feeling is better.
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Cloakroom
Not a band I knew a ton about prior to their taking the stage, but they were a big swap-out in mood from Somnuri and the fact that they carried their shoegaze-informed take on heavy across so well and so immediately transformed the spirit of the big room after WarHorse is much to their credit. I’ll admit that I didn’t stay probably as long as I should have because I knew I wanted to be up front for Brume, but their roll was like a deep, fresh, cool breath and watching them I got shades of early Jesu and newer Elephant Tree both — neither of whom I imagine they sound like on record, but that’s where my brain went; I heard tell later that the guitarist is a big Weezer fan, which makes as much sense as anything — and there’s nothing but to dig about that. True to their style, they were pretty subdued on stage for the most part, but their combination of depth of tone, volume and melody made them immersive in a way that no one else up to this point has been. Five years from now, when I’m probably sweating everything they do like the Johnny Comelately poseur I am, I’ll probably brag about having seen them at Desertfest.
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Brume
There have been and still are a lot of bands I want to see this weekend, but Brume were my most eagerly anticipated. They offer something that nobody else on this bill does in the same way, and the spaces they create with their material are incredible. I was right to look forward to it. I ended up taking pictures blah blah and then just stayed up front for all but about the last two minutes of the set, and goodness gracious I’m glad I did. The addition of Jackie Perez-Gratz on cello and a couple backing vocal spots puts them in another echelon. Put out another record already. [Edit: I talked to them later in the night and told them I wanted to hear it finished by Tuesday; they said they needed a deadline.] The stage energy was surreal and I did, I just planted myself up front and that was it. Every bit what I hoped their set would be and when I went over to the main room for the start of Inter Arma, I was annoyed with myself for not seeing the last 30 seconds or whatever it was of Brume. Yeah, I know how the song ends, but still. At least I can take comfort in knowing what’s in store for next time. Back to Rabbits I go until then.
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Inter Arma
Like, six dudes? Yeah, I think six. Could’ve been 40, they were so intense. Fucking death metal. Inter Arma’s Sulphur English was so widely hailed it actually got annoying, but they brought that chug and death stomp to the stage with all due brutality and then just a little extra on top. First theremin of the weekend, which is always a good sighting, but the core of the band is the fact that they’re punishingly extreme and still manage to evoke some presence beyond that in their sound. I was more into it than I expected to be, especially coming off Brume, but there was no real question about their intention from the start, and it was a reminder that I actually enjoy death metal even if it’s not what I always write about. But even in that sphere they’re a legit creative band with less genre-strictness than many, and that’s a thing to be respected. I don’t reach for their stuff all the time, and I don’t think I’ve seen them since their first record, but they were killer.
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Yatra
Yatra are a death metal band. They started out as kind of a deathly sludge act and have leaned decidedly into the more teeth-gnashing side of their approach. Their new album is their first for Prosthetic, which is a good fit for them label-wise since that’s where metal bands go who do more than one thing, and they played the title-track “Born Into Chaos.” I’ll confess I haven’t really dug into the record yet — I think the promo came in my email on Thursday? — but their last one wasn’t exactly subtle about the course they were setting and that’s just fine. They can play here, they can play Maryland Deathfest, they can play a kid’s backyard birthday party and get arrested, whatever. Let them be the death metal band who heavy rockers are into, or at least one of a very select few. It’s gotta be somebody, and the more direct route to aural decapitation suits them. Only surprised there was no mosh, even when the blastbeats started.
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King Buffalo
What catharsis. I feel like I’ve been waiting the whole pandemic to see King Buffalo again. Admittedly, there have been opportunities in the last year as they’ve gotten back out, so it’s me, but to finally be in the same space as these songs. They opened with “Silverfish.” That’s the whole story. What more do you need than that? This trilogy of albums, The Burden of Restlessness, Acheron, and the third to come, are a fucking document of this era and if you don’t realize how fortunate you are that this band is doing this work right now, you’re missing it. You’re fucking up. It’s not too late. I was all set to go watch Silvertomb, who I hear do Type O Negative songs too and that’s great, but King Buffalo started to play “Orion” and I knew that if I moved I’d regret it no matter what. Then they break out “Loam?” Come on. Where in earth could you possibly need to be more than you need to be here? Huh? King Buffalo stand among the best and most forward thinking heavy psych bands of their generation and there’s nothing to make me think their best work isn’t ahead of them. Bands like this don’t happen all the time. This. Is. A. Special. Band. Tell your friends. Shit, tell your mom. She’ll be into it. You know how good it was? It was so good that I just stood there and enjoyed it.
—
Silvertomb
Somebody’s going home with covid tonight. Kenny Hickey. He called it a rite of passage. Maybe it is. He also called the crowd a bunch of potheads, which is fair considering the smell in the room right now. I was late to the start of the set, but managed to finagle my way around the side to catch what remained. Of course the relation to Type O Negative gives a nostalgic feel. Hearing Kenny Hickey sing brings back fond memories, but also in reminded of a time when no less than 80 percent of the metal bands in Brooklyn sounded like this, about 20 years ago. Getting to see a guy who was in no small part responsible for that — especially on the last two Type O records, both of which I continue to love — is probably enough of an appeal to earn Silvertomb the spot on the bill, honestly, but they also rocked. I whiffed completely on their last album, but had checked out the one before. Kenny teased an “Oh Darling” cover on acoustic guitar, which might’ve been fun, but no dice.
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Torche
Impossible to watch them play and remove it from the context of Steve Brooks announcing on Thursday that he’s done in the band after their Fall tour with Meshuggah. Still don’t know if that means the band are done, but they played as trio, owing to Jon Nunez getting covid. So it goes. They did “Mentor,” and they did Floor’s “Iron Girl,” and they closed with “Tarpit Carnivore,” is if this is the last time I ever see them play, I can’t possibly feel like Torche owe me anything. For them, there was a pit. And yeah, that makes sense. I put myself in the crowd to watch, and there were some laughs, some fuckups, and so on. It was not the tightest Torche set I’ve ever witnessed — have I ever told you about the time I saw Torche and Black Cobra circa ’06 in a shoe museum in Los Angeles? yes? well anyway they rocked the shit out of that footwear and the lucky several individuals who happened to be in attendance — but it’s hard not to be in a good mood when they play regardless of the circumstance. Bomb string, man. Maybe they’ll get back together at some point in some incarnation. Isn’t that what bands do at this point? A six-week hiatus? That’d be fine. Not that they owe it or anything.
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Baroness
I’ve never successfully managed to get on board with Baroness. I’ve tried — I promise, I have — but it just hasn’t happened. Even knowing this, and knowing there’s a good lot of modern heavy that has operated and continues to operate under their direct influence, I did my best to keep an open mind and try to catch the vibe. And I think I succeeded in that at least to some extent. They’re like Rush. You listen to Rush, and a whole lot of other bands across a bunch of different styles start to make sense. Baroness engage with a lot of different forms of rock and heavy music, metal, punk, prog and so on, and they’ve turned it into their own thing. I might not dig it, but I’m not going to rag on them either because what they’ve accomplished is significant even before you get to what they sound like, their massive, won-the-hard-way chemistry as players, their attention to presentation (a setlist with lighting instructions being just one example), or their stage presence. In many respects, they are the quintessential headliner. So, they headlined.
—
Other Random Observations:
– I don’t think I’d be a very good bartender, and for someone who’s spent so much of his life daydreaming about opening a venue, I’ve considered it a fair amount.
– On the other hand, someone drove through with a forklift before doors and that looked like good fun.
– Tried not to be starstruck when Jackie Perez-Gratz walked past me wheeling her cello in its case. Did it work? Maybe. Still gonna put on Grayceon’s All We Destroy on the way home.
– Can hear the Morbid Angel influence both in Yatra and Inter Arma. Ties them together in a way I wouldn’t have expected.
– Wow.
– Slower start to the day in terms of crowd, but it filled up. The party must’ve gone late last night.
– Again, folks be inebriated. Guess it’s Saturday. Get home safe.
– That macadamia nut butter may have saved my life.
Gadzooks! You’d almost think I planned these things out in advance. Please rest assured that this 84th episode of The Obelisk Show on Gimme Metal is as conceptually haphazard as usual — I’d say it’s as haphazard in execution as well, but Dean Rispler does a banger job putting it all together, editing, etc. — so it’s really just my end that’s a wreck. In any case, today begins Desertfest New York 2022 proper at the Knockdown Center in Brooklyn, and I’m thrilled to have this playlist as a selection from among the bands playing it.
Some are New York or area natives — Geezer, King Buffalo from Upstate, Somnuri from Brooklyn itself — but whether it’s WarHorse coming down from Boston to play or High on Fire, Brume, Red Fang, Dead Meadow, Sasquatch and others coming from the other side of the country to Orange Goblin making the trip from the UK, it’s a rager. The playlist is killer because the fest is killer. Simple as that.
I won’t be in the chat this time because, well, I’ll be at the fest, but I’ll check in if I can. 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 – 05.13.22
Corrosion of Conformity
Deliverance
Deliverance
Torche
Mentor
Torche
High on Fire
Hung, Drawn & Quartered
Surrounded by Thieves
VT1
John Garcia
Chicken Delight
John Garcia & The Band of Gold
Sasquatch
It Lies Beyond the Bay
Fever Fantasy
Dead Meadow
Sleepy Silver Door
Live at Roadburn 2011
Brume
Despondence
Rabbits
Red Fang
Number Thirteen
Murder the Mountains
Somnuri
Watch the Lights Go Out
Nefarious Wave
King Buffalo
The Knocks
The Burden of Restlessness
Orange Goblin
They Come Back (Harvest of Skulls)
Healing Through Fire
VT2
Inter Arma
A Waxen Sea
Sulphur English
WarHorse
Lysergic Communion
As Heaven Turns to Ash
Yatra
Terminate by the Sword
Born Into Chaos
Valley of the Sun
The Chariot
The Chariot
Druids
Path to R
Shadow Work
High Reeper
Plague Hag
Higher Reeper
Greenbeard
Diamond in the Devil’s Grinder
Variant
VT3
Geezer
Atomic Moronic
Stoned Blues Machine
Howling Giant
Nomad
The Space Between Worlds
The Obelisk Show on Gimme Metal airs every Friday 5PM Eastern, with replays Sunday at 7PM Eastern. Next new episode is May 27 (subject to change). Thanks for listening if you do.
Posted in Whathaveyou on May 12th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
I guess this could be the end of the band, and it feels more likely to me that it is than it isn’t, but I don’t know that so I’m not going to say it. All I know is that Torche‘s founding guitarist/vocalist Steve Brooks, known previously as well for his work in the somehow-still-underrated Floor, has said he’ll leave the band following their Fall tour alongside Meshuggah, for which In Flames and Converge will switch out playing support slots as you can see in the poster below.
Torche‘s most recent album is 2019’s Admission (review here), which if you gotta go out is a good note to do it on. Long since in command of their style, Torche — who’ll also play Desertfest in New York this weekend; you might say I’m waiting for the pre-show to start while I type this — nonetheless continued to foster a sound equal parts exciting and their own. No word on what future projects if any Brooks might have in the offing, but for nearly 20 years, Torche have been a staple of the heavy underground, touring hard and bridging pop and heavy rock in a way that still feels pioneering.
If this is the end of the band — it’d be a ballsy move to keep it going without him, but stranger things have happened — there was never a point at which they didn’t kick ass. And if this weekend is the last time I see them, or if this tour is, I’m going to enjoy it all the more for posterity’s sake.
Brooks‘ post follows, backed by the Meshuggah dates from the PR wire:
We’re a few months away from the last tour I’m doing with Torche. We’ve been so very lucky and went far beyond what I imagined. I just don’t have it in me to keep this going living on opposite sides of the country. Much love to my band members and everyone that supported us these 18 years! See y’all this Sept/Oct
MESHUGGAH w/ Torche & Converge/In Flames 9/16/2022 Palladium – Worcester, MA 9/17/2022 Franklin Music Hall – Philadelphia, PA 9/18/2022 Hammerstein Ballroom – New York, NY 9/20/2022 The Fillmore – Silver Springs, MD 9/24/2022 Agora Theatre – Cleveland, OH 9/25/2022 Express Live – Columbus, OH 9/27/2022 Stage AE – Pittsburgh, PA 9/28/2022 Royal Oak Theatre – Detroit, MI 9/29/2022 Radius – Chicago, IL 9/30/2022 Myth Live – Minneapolis, MI 10/02/2022 Fillmore Auditorium – Denver, CO 10/04/2022 The Warfield Theatre – San Francisco, CA 10/08/2022 Riverside Municipal Auditorium – Riverside, CA 10/09/2022 Hollywood Palladium – Los Angeles, CA 10/10/2022 Marquee Theatre – Tempe, AZ 10/12/2022 The Factory In Deep Ellum – Dallas, TX 10/13/2022 Warehouse Live – Houston, TX 10/15/2022 Hard Rock Live – Orlando, FL 10/16/2022 Buckhead Theatre – Atlanta, GA
Posted in Radio on November 26th, 2021 by JJ Koczan
I had two ideas in my head for this episode. The first was to do a stuff-to-look-forward-to-next-year playlist, which I did, and the second was to do a me-spending-your-money-on-Black-Friday-Bandcamp-recommendations edition, which I did not do.
Was it the right choice? I don’t know, but it kind of feels like a victory for the good guys every time I get to play All Souls, or King Buffalo, or Sasquatch — or Gozu, or Conan, Stöner, Colour Haze, etc. — and there’s some small chance anybody will hear it, so I won’t exactly say I regret going the way I did. There will be other Bandcamp Fridays, I think.
And to be perfectly honest, I like thinking about this stuff, about new records coming out. I like to wonder what bands will come up with, song-wise, sound-wise, how things will have changed since their last record, how the identity of a group can shift over time. Think of High on Fire. Think of Dozer! A new Dozer album after 14 years. Who the hell knows what that’s going to sound like?
So yeah, that’s what I went with. And since preorder is up for some of this stuff — 40 Watt Sun, the PostWax series of which Dozer are a part, Naxatras, Messa, Earthless — I guess maybe you could spend some money anyway here. Plus there’s always older records to buy. It’s a big planet. There are a lot of albums on it.
Thanks for listening if you do and/or reading. 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 – 11.26.21
Dozer
The Flood
Beyond Colossal (2008)
Some Pills for Ayala
Space Octopus
Space Octopus (2021)
Gozu
They Probably Know Karate
Equilibrium (2018)
Wo Fat
There’s Something Sinister in the Wind
Midnight Cometh (2016)
VT
Sasquatch
Destroyer
Maneuvers (2017)
Earthless
Electric Flame
Black Heaven (2018)
Stöner
The Older Kids
Stoners Rule (2021)
Långfinger
Silver Blaze
Crossyears (2016)
King Buffalo
The Knocks
The Burden of Restlessness (2021)
Torche
Times Missing
Admission (2019)
All Souls
Winds
Songs for the End of the World (2020)
Conan
Volt Thrower
Existential Void Guardian (2018)
High on Fire
Freebooter
Electric Messiah (2018)
Messa
Leah
Feast for Water (2018)
40 Watt Sun
The Spaces in Between
Perfect Light (2022)
VT
Colour Haze
Life
We Are (2020)
Naxatras
Land of Infinite Time
III (2018)
The Obelisk Show on Gimme Metal airs every Friday 5PM Eastern, with replays Sunday at 7PM Eastern. Next new episode is Dec. 10 (subject to change). Thanks for listening if you do.
