Posted in Whathaveyou on January 3rd, 2024 by JJ Koczan
After celebrating the fifth anniversary edition in 2023, German festival Hoflärm has made known the first round of acts confirmed for its three-day stretch from Aug. 8-10. If you’re paying attention — and I know you are — that’s the same weekend that SonicBlast Fest is happening in Portugal, and Brant Bjork Trio, Wine Lips, Sacri Monti, Home Front and Poison Ruin are confirmed for that as well, so there’s going to be some driving happening that weekend across Western Europe, to be sure. Nonetheless, the initial lineup reveal for Hoflärm finds the German fest welcoming Slomatics and Siena Root in addition to the above, and from this we can glean that Brooklyn’s Castle Rat will be taking their theatrical show abroad supporting their to-be-released debut LP, and Bikini Beach, Thronehammer and Tornet round out. If this was it — and as the poster tells you, it isn’t — you’d call it three days well spent. Or I would, anyhow.
From social media:
HOFLÄRM – First Band Announcement – THE RIDE IS ALWAYS LOW
Join us 2024 for the 6th stony ride to Hoflärm! We are very happy to announce the first bands of the line-up today! We also announce the start of the presale by 01.01.2024 at 6 pm (link in bio)!
Get ready for our first Headliner @winelipsband !
Coming all the way from Canada, Wine Lips will tear down the stage with a big Mushroom Death Sex Bummer Party of their current album! If you know, you know!
Needles to say, @brant_bjork is a legend. Therefore we felt very honoured to welcome Brant, @mariolalli and Ryan Gut for the second time to the unholy woods of mary valley! Back at Hoflärm 2022 these guys visited with Stöner, in 2024 they will hit Hoflärm with a special Brant Björk set!
You wanted something new, you get something new! @poisonruin and @arewenothomefront will test you apart with their fresh sound! Poison ruin will deliver you some Infest the Rats‘Nest Vibes, while Home Front brings you the energy with their influences by Joy Division, High Vis and late 80s Post Punk.
We welcome @siena root, @slomatics and @sacri_monti_band ! These three bands are the holy trio of stoner, psych and doom!
What would be a Hoflärm Fest without our dearest Friends Sabine, Jan and Andre ? This year they will come to perform with @earthship_official
Castle Rat will be for the first time in Europe! They just played Desertfest New York with their Electric Wizard inspired Doom!
To complete this announcement we welcome @thronehammer.official , @bikini_beach_fuzz & @tornet_xvi !
Posted in Whathaveyou on November 15th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
Usually for a fest lineup, I post one band’s player at the bottom of the post. Usually it’s a headliner, sometimes it’s a newer band on purpose, sometimes it’s just someone I check out who I haven’t heard before, etc. There are three players at the bottom of this post, and that’s probably too few. Take it as a sign of the uncommonly packed bill of Majestic Mountain Fest Oslo and the quality both of the work the imprint has been doing and its taste in general. Over the last two years, Majestic Mountain has emerged as a significant contributor to the underground sphere in Europe, especially Northern Europe, with a roster of talent varied in much but united in their ability to connect with their audience. One imagines it will be no different when so many of the label’s acts take the stage at the upcoming three-day festival next month.
This was originally supposed to happen in June, which, hey, sometimes a thing gets pushed back. Cool it’s coming together at all, given the scope of the lineup and the sheer logistics of getting so many schedules to align for three days (plus a pre-show) without the infrastructure of having already done so in the past. That is to say, I expect that if they do another fest like this, it’ll be easier the second time around.
Oh, and if you haven’t actually heard any of those records at the bottom of this post, you’re gonna want to do that.
The time has come, Majestic Crew- After what seems like an eternity of delays and silence, we are finally able to announce the rescheduled details and final lineup for Majestic Mountain Fest // Oslo 2022.
The festival will take place on December 1-3rd at the (in)famous Blitz Hus.
We will have a killer kick-off party on Wednesday 30th of November at our favourite chill spot Brewgata with a live gig and a rad tap takeover from the mighty Nøgne Ø
We will also have a beautiful appearance from a very special guest, Mika Häkki. More details on that to come!
Visit the event page for ticket links! There has been a bit of shifting to the lineup due to the new logistics so any previously scheduled bands you do not see on this year’s roster will appear in the next edition.
Thank you so much, from the bottom of our hearts for your continued support and excitement for this event.
Despite the challenges presented to us, we keep charging forward. This festival is truly a labour of love and will be one for the books.
We are absolutely psyched to see you all in Oslo next month and can’t wait to celebrate our incredible roster and you, our fantastic fans!
Majestic Mountain Records is psyched to invite you to the first edition of Majestic Fest Oslo 2022!
When & Where:
Pre-Party Gig & Nøgne-Ø Tap Takeover at Brewgata Oslo 30 November
Festival at Blitz, Oslo 1-3 Decmber
After a challenging year of what seemed like endless delays, we are finally able to let loose and run full steam ahead on a three-day riff fest of gargantuan proportions to commence the 1-3 December at Blitz.
PLUS a killer pre-party gig and tap takeover with the mighty Nøgne-Ø on Wednesday the 30th of November at Brewgata!
This is going to be a very special event with the best community vibes and killer performances by Majestic Mountain Records Roster bands.
We’re also proud to welcome a very special guest, Mika Häkki.
Join us in on the last day of November and the first weekend of December for heavy riffs, mega fuzz and all of the good times!
The MMR crew cannot wait to bang our heads and hang with you in Oslo!
Posted in Bootleg Theater on September 9th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
Preorders launch this evening (Central European time) for the debut album from Swedish rockers Tornet, whose debut album, Domedagar, will see release on Sept. 23 through Majestic Mountain Records. The band features a few recognizable names in drummer Kalle Lilja (Wolves in Haze, Långfinger) and bassist Mikael Backendal (JIRM), who collaborated earlier this year on the debut album from Toad Venom, Eat! (review here), but while likewise retro, Tornet is a decidedly less pop-minded outfit, with the powerful vocals of Martina Svärd (also harmonium) atop the semi-cultish atmospheres of keyboardist/organist Daniel Hägglund and the riffs and intertwining solos of guitarists Thomas Höglund (also principle songwriter) and Tomas Svärd.
As recorded by Lilja with mixing by him and Per Stålberg at Gothenburg’s Welfare Sounds, mastering by Esben Willems at Berserk Audio, the album collects nine pristine tracks of classic heavy rocking purpose, bordering on the proto-metallic with flourish of NWOBHM, and is able to fluidly shift between definitely-Swedish moments of Witchcraft‘s early-doom and the later modernizations of Graveyard — looking at you, “Gamlas Hamn” — without tipping over into cultist cliché or the male-gaze-centering witch rock of which there seems to be a glut at the moment. One does not expect abatement there, but that’s not quite where Tornet are coming from on the nine-tracker in either the chugging fuzz of “Blodsband,” the careening “Ain” or the more patiently unfurled “Dödens Pilar” before it and the two-minute drumless comedown finale “Lupus” after.
The video premiering below for “Nemesis” — which is still in Swedish, it’s just the same word — is mostly Svärd looking head on at the camera with some older movie clips spliced in, but I’ll go right ahead and give the band credit for (1:) not going out to the woods to film a woman being chased by demons and (2:) the song itself, which picks up after the epic eponymous opener/longest track (immediate points) and the hooky cavernous echoing chorus of “Blodsband” to find a mellow middle-ground, creeping but not a creep and with plenty of space for the vocals to shine, even with the push of the main riff behind, an immediately familiar but smoothly executed amalgam of schooled doom rock with enough reach so that the piano buildup into “Glömska” isn’t anymore out of place than the weepy, birdsong-topped solo at the end.
And whether it’s the stately intro of “Förlorad” or the twisting riffs that follow, the smooth build of “Dödens Pilar” or the apexmaking in “Ain,” Domedagar brims with purpose and poise that belies it being the band’s debut. United by an organic but not overly vintage production, Tornet bring range of mood and atmosphere to their material without losing their central aesthetic spirit. If, as the PR wire asserts, it’s the ascension of a new matriarchy, perhaps working in response to outfits claiming to exalt femininity while nonetheless brazenly, clearly exploiting it as an ‘other,’ we should be so lucky. That’s a lot to ask of a band on their first record, but no argument either in concept or the delivery here. Let it be the trajectory for band and genre alike.
The signing announcement from Majestic Mountain and more background follows the premiere of “Nemesis” below, shaded PR wire blue for your convenience and edification. Have at it and see where you land.
And please enjoy:
Tornet, “Nemesis” video premiere
Majestic Mountain Records is thrilled to present Gothenburg based Tornet and their upcoming, full-length release ‘Domedagar’ to the world.
An astounding album completely in Swedish, full of powerful, heavy riffing, retro toned rock wrapped in deeply divine and infernally feral matriarchal magic. This is the real deal.
‘Domedagar’ weaves an impassioned and entrancing spell with its gripping, tenebrous presence.
Today we give you the first taste of the album with the single ‘Nemesis’ and it’s accompanying, darkly unhinged video. A song about taking the power back. The time of revenge is here, and the time of the matriarchy is near.
If you know, you know. If not, get ready..
Not just another occult or retro rock band, Tornet are a force of nature and have been bringing impressive live performances to Swedish audiences since 2014. A powerhouse of collective talent making heady, proto-psychedelic retro rock steamrolling through your psyche.
With ‘Domedagar,’ their first physical release, comes raging fires of destruction and the tide of churning, unavoidable change in vast, lush swathes of seething, heavy rock and searingly beautiful, melodic, proto-metallic prog.
The sheer power of this release is driven at its core by singer Martina Svärd’s vocal command. Deeply mysterious with each note resonating from the centre of the earth, magnificently crepuscular and soulfully somber with an intense energy virtually bleeding primordially ancient essence.
The band’s individual elements mesh in an effortlessly sublime and cohesive manner through exceptionally accomplished compositional flow and the pristine production of Kalle Lilja from Welfare Sounds and Esben Willems of Studio Berserk. A tight, hard rocking delivery is bolstered by thick riffing which oscillates wildly from sixties and 70’s heavy rock to rich, bluesy doom metal and the recurrent appearance of metallic, double guitars. Bounding basslines and a plethora of percussive elements provide ample groove and atmospheric embellishment which is seamlessly integrated through the use of varied keys, harmonium and unexpected trips into subdued yet intensely captivating instrumental passages through galloping heaviness.
It would be all too easy to throw around comparisons to artists such as Jex Thoth, Graveyard, Horizont, even the nostalgia of Jethro Tull, Skynrd or Allman Brothers, but Tornet’s music is so much more.
From the band: “We met Marco a few years ago and began to discuss an album before Majestic Mountaineven existed. However, the recording was a long process and years passed. Finally, the time has come and we are happy that our album gets to see the light. Tornet represents change in the most radical and momentous sense. There is no choice but to surrender to destruction and chaos, no matter how unwanted or painful. The tower must be destroyed.”
And without further ado, we announce that pre-sale for the album will open tonight at 19:00(CET). All information on the wax will be shared then.
You can secure your copy from the Majestic Shop or by visiting the band directly on their Bandcamp.
Official release will be on 23.09.
Lyrics Martina Svärd, Thomas Höglund (De Gamlas Hamn) Music by Thomas Höglund // Tornet
The album was produced and recorded at Welfare Sounds in Gothenburg by Kalle Lilja. Mixed by Kalle Lilja & Per Stålberg Assisting sound works: Daniel “Dollars” Deurell Mastered by Esben Willams at Studio Beserk
Gatefold artwork by Mattias “Halle” Halldin Photo: Jens Eliasson
Tornet is: Martina Svärd: Vocals/harmonium Thomas Höglund: Guitar Tomas Svärd: Guitar Kalle Lilja: Drums Mikael Backendal: Bass Daniel Hägglund: Piano/organ
