Quarterly Review: Muto Tapes, Turkey Vulture, Polymerase, Troy the Band & Cower, Jaspe, Yung Druid, The Crystal Teardrop, Doom Lab, Liquid Pennies, Mordbear

Posted in Reviews on July 3rd, 2025 by JJ Koczan

quarterly-review-winter 2023

This is day four of the Summer 2025 Quarterly Review, and though I might pay for it later, say right around late-September when I’m doing the Fall one, I think I’m going to keep it to five days. Mostly that’s about not pressing my luck. This has been an exceedingly easy QR to get through, a breeze compared to some — one downer day is all it takes and I feel like I never have my groove again, but that hasn’t happened here — and I’m content to take the win and move on, as opposed to pushing for an extra day or two next week.

So this is the penultimate day, and we’ll finish tomorrow. I hope you’ve enjoyed the Quarterly Review nearly as much as I have. Not one day has passed without me adding at least one release to my year-end list(s), which is a pretty killer thing to realize as I type it. Let’s see how today goes.

Quarterly Review #31-40:

Muto Tapes, Side Effects

muto tapes side effects

One of apparently five singles that Mexico City’s Muto Tapes will release over the course of 2025 — year’s half-over, they’d better hurry up — “Side Effects” runs four riffy minutes of thickened, aggressive chug-metal, calling to mind Sepultura in its spit-out guttural vocals, but creating a denser mass of distortion and leaving in trade the thrashy, sometimes bloody, roots. Past the halfway point in the song, circa 2:30 into the total 4:05, the tempo drops and the guitar/drum duo bask in some of the minimal spaces their configuration lets them occupy, saving a fair round of shove for the finish after setting it up with due foreboding guitar creep. Not sure if Muto Tapes are building toward an EP or LP or what, or just releasing singles because not everything needs to be a package to sell, but they bring a blend of heft and intensity that immediately distinguishes them in the heavy underground, and they look to be developing their sound on their own terms. Guitarist/vocalist/bassist Jorge S. and drummer Roy B. have been meting out punishment in this manner since 2023, so we’re just beginning to see where it’s all headed.

Muto Tapes website

Muto Tapes on Bandcamp

Turkey Vulture, Dead to Me

Turkey Vulture Dead to Me

It hasn’t been that long since Turkey Vulture released their Oct. 2024 EP, On the List, or maybe I just blinked out for a few months. The Connecticut duo of Jessie May (guitar, bass, vocals) and Jim Clegg (drums, backing vocals) have long-enough since carved their niche in doom and punk rock, and “Dead to Me” and “Jill the Ripper (Heavy Take)” — the two of them running about four and a half minutes, combined — continues the thread. They don’t list the recording info, so I don’t know if these two songs were done at the same time as the EP or not, but “Jill the Ripper (Heavy Take),” as the title describes, is a louder and punkier take on the closing “Jill the Ripper” from that also-short release. “Dead to Me,” meanwhile, seems to be about not going to shows anymore, presumably because you have a kid, and the changing nature of friendships as a result of that. Turkey Vulture have a whole series of songs about these life-stages; just six years on from their debut, they’ve done a lot of growing.

Turkey Vulture on Bandcamp

Turkey Vulture on Instagram

Polymerase, Mindspace

Polymerase Mindspace

Philippines heavy psych wanderers Polymerase are back two years after their two-part Dreams and Realities I & II full-length cycle with the mood-altering 78 minutes of Mindspace, seemingly named for the two things on which the material has the greatest effect. Pairing extended, jammier pieces with, well, shorter, jammier pieces, songs like “Divine Reefer” (12:08) can touch on Sleep while “Space Child” (7:10) is anything but grounded in its repetitions and evident outbound plotted trajectory. There’s more to Mindspace than mellow-out stoner idolatry, though, as the bassy rumble underwriting the harsher shouts of “Interplanetary Echoes” (13:08) demonstrates, taking some of the sludgier moments paired with heavygaze in “Crows and Doves” (11:57) and using them to call out to the expanse of the band’s own making. Closer “Downward Spiral” (12:22) functions similarly at the conclusion, calling to mind modern practitioners like Rezn while feeling empowered through their individual processes. I don’t know how much is actually improv, but Mindspace is way open, and that’s how it should be.

Polymerase on Bandcamp

Polymerase on Instagram

Troy the Band & Cower, Fade Into You

Troy the Band and Cower Fade Into You

Something of a specialty item, perhaps. Fade Into You is a two-tracker split 12″ with London outfits Troy the Band and Cower taking its name from the Mazzy Star song, which both bands cover. Like, they do the same song. And much to their credit, they do it differently. Troy the Band, who early last year released their debut album, Cataclysm (review here), on Bonebag Records, take a heavygaze viewpoint on the 1993 single, fleshing out the moody atmosphere with echoing effects and hard-landing, immersive roll. Cower, whose second full-length, Celestial Devastation (review here), also came out last year, reimagine it as Nick Cave or latter-day Wovenhand, holding to the emotional crux of the original with ethereal drones and new age-y keyboard. A stopgap? Probably, but an interesting project just the same, and the song, of course, stands up to the manipulation.

Troy the Band on Bandcamp

Cower on Bandcamp

Troy the Band & Cower at ElasticStage

Jaspe, Grietas

jaspe grietas

What would seem to be the debut offering from Tijuana-based post-metal four-piece Jaspe, Grietas runs just 23 minutes at three songs, but carries a full-length’s sense of breadth in doing so. Shades of Amenra persist in the quiet/spoken stretch of “Rios de Polvo II” (11:52), where the lumber that begins opener “Litorales” (9:46) crushes as might a modern Isis before departing into the inevitable stretch of pretty guitar, Russian Circles-esque, but with more plunge in the low frequencies, and the arriving guttural growl of vocals is genre-transgressive in a way that satisfies wholly. Separating the larger pieces is the two-minute droner “Rios de Polvo I,” obviously aligned to the second part that follows, which adds to both the tension and atmosphere of this resoundingly impressive post-doom showcase and highlights the potential that’s so prevalent in Jaspe‘s sound. I’ll take an album of this for sure. Just say when.

Jaspe on Bandcamp

Jaspe on Instagram

Yung Druid, Wooden Lungs

Yung Druid Wooden Lungs

Two songs, 20 minutes. Yung Druid, in continued collaboration with Totem Cat Records, offer Wooden Lungs, comprised of the 11-minute “Wooden Lung” and the nine-minute “Space Cowboy.” Both songs owe some debt in swagger to Led Zeppelin, but “Wooden Lung,” in the vocal arrangement and steady nod, reminds more of Iota‘s 2024 return, Pentasomnia, in its fluid progression and grunge-style harmonies. Not a complaint. Also not complaining about the uptick in fuzz for “Space Cowboy,” which still manages to move despite the primordial pool of tone in which it seems to soak. A riff for riffers, that one. Originally based in London around the time of their 2019 self-titled debut (discussed here), the band have moved between the Spain, Australia and New Zealand. It can be difficult for a band who were all together in the rehearsal space to transition to working remotely, but if Wooden Lungs is their proof of concept, they can make a go of it.

Yung Druid on Bandcamp

Totem Cat Records store

The Crystal Teardrop, …Is Forming

The Crystal Teardrop Is Forming

Issued through Rise Above Records imprint Popclaw (see also Bobbie Dazzle and Scott Hepple and the Sun Band), The Crystal Teardrop‘s debut long-player, …Is Forming, sounds remarkably ‘formed,’ if you want to think of it in those terms, as regards aesthetic. Taking a heaping dose of influence from ’60s garage and daring toward Beatlesism on the sweetly bouncing “Borrowed Time” or the Help-toned “Two Hearts,” the band present a retroist face but hold back from IYKYK-style gatekeeping via pop songwriting and the sweep of the later “Turn You Down,” which is a ruffled-hair rush ahead of the similarly shoving “Stealing Suggestions” and the perhaps inevitable psychedelic delve of the closing pair “Nine Times Nine.” and “…Is Forming,” the latter of which has enough backward guitar to meet whatever your quota might be before it unfurls darker instrumental heavy proto-prog like it’s something the band just invented. Rise Above is ready for the garage rock revolution, ready to foster a new generation of artists, but as ever, the question is whether or not the world at large can keep up. …Is Forming argues fervently in favor of trying.

The Crystal Teardrop links

Rise Above Records website

Doom Lab, Desert Caravan Doom

Doom Lab Desert Caravan Doom

The adventures of Alaska’s Leo Scheben and his Doom Lab continue, declaring a genre in Desert Caravan Doom and then immediately setting about defying its parameters with an encompassing, continually on-its-own-wavelength craft, increasingly clear production, and varied intent across the 12-song/43-minute long-player, with creeps like raw East Coast hardcore in “What’s Your Angle?” before the jazzy puns take further hold in “Feeling Minor and Diminished,” pieces like “Fives” and “Desert Hailstorm” tapping into some Stinking Lizaveta-type intensity while the sweetly alt-rocking “At Dusk” and the “Gimmie One Drop (Dub)” and “Desert Caravan Improvisation” — with a new live drummer, reportedly — add to the fabric of Doom Lab‘s ongoing explorations in style and expression. Desert Caravan Doom isn’t as dark, on average, as some of Doom Lab‘s output, and that comparative lightness of mood lets it swing all the more, but Scheben‘s never just been/done one thing, and Desert Caravan Doom holds to this dynamic as well.

Doom Lab on Bandcamp

Doom Lab on YouTube

Liquid Pennies, Fore

liquid pennies fore

The synth and keyboard elements play a significant role throughout Liquid PenniesFore, as “Tapered Scape” and “Ready Tide” demonstrate early on, never mind the 11-minute “Echolalia,” which also has plenty of time for its heavy breakout in the middle third and doomier-until-it-thrashes ending. “Sight Skewer” finds the adventurous Floridian unit evoking nostalgia with fuzz and melody, the drum machine patterning working in contrast to the heavier tones, but feeling by that point very much part of the thing. Presumed side B starter “Elliptic Triptych” brings a bit more functional aggression to the mix, while the three-minute droner “Further Ennui” gives transition to the terrestrial acoustic strum in the pastiche of “The Bone,” which grows broader while remaining melodically intricate, and the closing title-track runs the atmospherics backwards for, well, backwards atmospherics. There’s some influence from All Them Witches at work, but four albums in, Liquid Pennies are onto something special in sound, and one hopes the pursuit continues.

Liquid Pennies links

Threat Collection Records website

Mordbear, Mordbear

mordbear mordbear

A fascinating debut three-song EP from Portland, Oregon’s Mordbear, released by Dipterid Records as a single-sided 12″ vinyl, comic book included. If that seems elaborate for what’s basically a demo, there’s the rub. “Like the Dead,” “A Mirror with a Sea of Flames” and “The Alchemist” are resoundingly cohesive and sure of their construction. The style is modern stoner with nascent hints of prog leaking through — again, modern — and in the seven minutes of “The Alchemist,” the scope feels broader as they methodically unfurl their riffing. Meanwhile, “Like the Dead” leads off with atmospheric semi-desert heavy, catchy and nodding and slow, and “A Mirror with a Sea of Flames” has more of a rhythmic tumble. When Mordbear lock into a bigger groove in the middle cut, there’s some hint of Monolord to their sound, but ‘their sound’ is hardly a settled issue, so the exploration is welcome even as they seem to have so much nailed down in terms of style.

Mordbear on Bandcamp

Dipterid Records on Bandcamp

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Quarterly Review: Elder, Kandodo, High Reeper, Kanaan & Ævestaden, MC MYASNOI, Turkey Vulture, Ghost:Whale, Sheepfucker and Kraut, LungBurner, Bog Wizard

Posted in Reviews on October 18th, 2024 by JJ Koczan

THE-OBELISK-FALL-2020-QUARTERLY-REVIEW

So this is it for the second of two Quarterly Review weeks around here, bringing the total to 100 releases covered since last Monday, with 10 more still to come next Monday.

110 releases, mostly (not all) from about April through November.

That’s insane. More, I’m not in any way prepared to call it or any other Quarterly Review comprehensive. It’s nowhere near everything that’s come out or is coming out. It’s a fraction at best. There’s just so much.

I’m not going to attach a value judgment to that. It’s not good, it’s not bad; it simply is. My processes remain largely unchanged, and whether it’s a net positive that the underground is either sparse and fractured or flooded with bands to such a point that Gen-X reunions underwhelm in the face of so much good, new music being made, I’ll be here regardless. And even if there were a fifth as many bands out there as there are right now, no doubt I still couldn’t keep up.

See you Monday.

Quarterly Review #91-100:

Elder, Live at BBC Maida Vale Studios

Elder Live at BBC Maida Vale Studios

While it’s by no means Elder‘s first captured-live release, as they’ve put out festival sets from Roadburn and Sonic Whip in years past, Live at BBC Maida Vale Studios answers any what’s-all-this-about questions with the sound of the performances themselves. It’s a single LP, somewhere about 40 minutes long, and in Elder terms that translates to three songs — “Merged in Dreams/Ne Plus Ultra” (15:33), “Lore” (13:54) and “Thousand Hands” (9:21) — so by no means is it expansive, or comprehensive in representing this era of Elder‘s presence on stage or scope in songwriting. Why put it out instead of some recorded tour night or a compilation of songs from different shows? Same answer as before: the sound of the performances. For sure Live at BBC Maida Vale Studios is a fan-piece, but it is live, and Elder sound fantastic — and it’s probably a pretty decent memory for the band to celebrate — so you’re not at all going to hear me argue.

Elder on Facebook

Stickman Records website

Kandodo, theendisinpsych

Kandodo theendisinpsych

Simon Price, now formerly of UK heavy psych forebears The Heads, returns with the first Kandodo outing since 2019’s K3 (review here) and a reoriented focus on intimacy rather than operating in a full-band style. That is to say, the five-track/44-minute release sounds like the solo album it is. That, however, doesn’t stop “Fuzzyoceans” from casting an expanse in its just-under-11 minutes, with a central rhythmic bounce around which layers of synth and guitar conjure a wash of experimentalist flourish. Lo-fi beatmaking starts in “Chamba7,” the opener, and sounds higher budget as “Theendisinpsych Pt. 1” borders on psych techno — “Theendisinpsych Pt. 2” follows immediately and moves from sustained keyboard notes and a sampled David Bowie radio interview to an evocative, shimmering drone; it isn’t arhythmic, but it doens’t have a ‘beat’ per se — and becomes part of the avant garde soundscape (the lightning part) in closer “Freefalling,” which unfolds in stages of variable volume and hum with some howling leads snuck in near the end. It’s a deep dive and at times a challenging listen. So yes, exactly what one would hope.

Kandodo on Facebook

Kandodo on Bandcamp

High Reeper, Renewed by Death

high reeper renewed by death

When High Reeper‘s third LP, Renewed by Death, was announced back in July, it was notable how much the album’s narrative seemed to position them as a metal band rather than heavy/doom rock, which even though 2019’s Higher Reeper (review here) had its harder-hitting moments, is kind of how I’d come to think of them. The eight songs of Renewed by Death aren’t hyper-aggressive — though you wouldn’t call “Torn from Within” ‘chill’ by any means — but they feel sharper in their composition than the last record, and if High Reeper want to say that “Lamentations of the Pale” and “Jaws of Darkness” are their take on doom metal, I’d only emphasize how much that take feels like High Reeper‘s own in being cognizant of the traditional metal and doom aspects of their sound and making them groove as fervently as they do. The Eastern Seaboard is lucky to have them.

High Reeper on Facebook

Heavy Psych Sounds website

Kanaan & Ævestaden, Langt, Langt Vekk

kanaan and aevestaden Langt langt vekk

A low-key highlight of 2024, the collaboration between Norwegian neofolkers Ævestaden and heavy progressive instrumentalists Kanaan — titled Langt, Langt Vekk and comprising nine songs of varied intent, arrangement and origin — resounds with creative depth. It’s in Norwegian, and plays a lot off of traditional folk instrumentation and vocal styles — not to mention the songs themselves, which are also traditionals — but as the two sides come together even just on a three-minute instrumental piece like “Fiskaren,” there’s an organic forested space rock to be found, and whether it’s the somehow-catchy “Farvel” or “Habbor og Signe,” the cosmic-leaning “Vallåt efter C.G. Färje” or the wistful progeadelia that resolves in “Vardtjenn,” the reverence for the material is palpable, and also the reverence for the process itself, for each of these two entities contributing to something grander than either might be able or inclined to conjure on their own. That the collection worked out to be gorgeous, both worldly and otherworldly, and to cast such a breadth while remaining cohesive in mood is a credit to all involved. It could’ve been an absolute mess. It very much is not.

Kanaan on Instagram

Ævestaden on Instagram

Jansen Records website

MC MYASNOI, Slugs are Legal Now

mc myasnoi slugs are legal now

Slugs are Legal Now contains two live sets from experimental doomers MC MYASNOI, one from Harpa and one from R6013, both venues in the band’s hometown of Reykjavík, Iceland. The setlists are identical at six-per, but the performances are varied in a way that becomes part of the personality of the whole, which is immersive in its droning stretches, sometimes harsher in the noise being made particularly on the rougher R6013 songs, but still able to be heavy in a piece like “Step on Ur Neck” in a way that feels conversant with the likes of Ufomammut or Boris, and neither the moody post-darkjazz of “Nytrogen” nor the drums-and-rumble-do-a-minute-or-two-of-free-psych “lea%rdi%rdx2%rcx” a short time later (watch out for your speakers with that one), do anything to dissuade that impression. “Terror Serpentine” finishes both halves of Slugs are Legal Now with 11 minutes of grim sprawl, and in the culmination, that it’s the keyboard that’s shredding instead of one or the other of the guitars feels suitable to the weirdo nuance MC MYASNOI seem to come by so naturally and pair with a progressive will to grow by screwing with convention. Not going to be for everybody, but those ready to take a risk might find the reward waiting.

MC MYASNOI on Instagram

MC MYASNOI on Bandcamp

Turkey Vulture, On the List

turkey vulture on the list

Back after two years with further affirmation of their comfort with the EP format, Connecticut two-piece Turkey Vulture run a condensed gamut in the six songs and 12 minutes of On the List, with the duo of vocalist/guitarist/bassist Jessie May and drummer/backing vocalist Jim Clegg giving specifically Misfits-y early punk impressions on “Fiends Like Us,” which “Untitled” takes more of a garage angle on in following before they metal-up for “Dollhouse” and the 48-second grind-punker “Adults Destroy,” which leads to thrashing in “Harvest Moon” offset by doomly swing, and the closing “Jill the Ripper,” going out on a note that toys with goth Americana in the vein of The Bad Seeds and boasts banjo, guitar, percussion and, crucially, accordion from Steve Rodgers in a multifaceted guest spot. The accordion makes it. Turkey Vulture‘s output is generally pretty raw and that’s true with On the List as well, but there’s character in them coinciding with the flow from one aspect of their sound to the next between the songs, and the EP ends up conveying a lot about what works in the band for something that’s 12 minutes long.

Turkey Vulture on Facebook

Turkey Vulture on Bandcamp

Ghost:Whale, Dive:Two

Ghost Whale Dive Two

Doubly-bassed Brussels longform doom explorers Ghost:Whale certainly don’t get any less consciousness melting on the second disc of Dive:Two, which manifests its plunge across three extended pieces each given the title “Dub:Whale” and assigned a Roman numeral, but by then the five songs of the album’s first 67 minutes (as opposed to the 57 of the concluding trilogy) have already passed in the hypnotic, cosmic-doom push of “Under Pressure” and the synth-laced chug nod in the second half of “Les Danses des Sorcieres” that seems to come to a head in the speedier “Ultimas Palabras.” The shortest inclusion at nine minutes and by its finish spending some time cruising around a Truckfightersian desert, “Ultimas Palabras” gives over to “Godzilla” and “Eye of the Storm,” a kind of second LP within the first CD, led into by the synth of “Godzilla” — not a cover — and arriving at the farthest reach in the electronics-infused expanses of “Eye of the Storm,” for which the drums mostly sit out and the noise spends 21 minutes venturing into the unknown. Ghost:Whale are not fucking around. And obviously the “Dub:Whale” tracks are a divergence in intention, harnessing the power of repetition in a different way, but either it’s a logical extension or my brain has just gone numb from the low-end. Fine in any case, honestly.

Ghost:Whale on Facebook

Forbidden Place Records store

Sheepfucker and Kraut, Bring Your Sheep

Do I really need to tell you these guys are up to some shenanigans? They called the band Sheepfucker and Kraut, for crying out loud. Heavy rock chicanery ensues over eight tracks rife with willful misbehavior, culminating with “Broner” after turning the album’s progression into a kind of playground running between heavy rock, classic and psychedelic instrumentalism, metal and jams. It’s not a little, and I guess a namedrop for Mr. Bungle is somewhat obligatory, but the Bulgarian outfit make themselves welcome in the swath of ground they cover, punkish in their glee on top of everything else in “Bobanei” and the pop-adjacent “Look at Me,” which would seem to have some satire behind its chorus but is a standout hook just the same. They’re not all nonsense, or at least not at the expense of their songwriting in “Rich Man” and “Jolly Roger,” or “Did You Know” mirroring “Look at Me” in the penultimate spot on side B, but if people having fun while making music is a problem for you, I mean, really, you might want to have a good long think on what that’s all about. Yeah, it’s over-the-top. That’s the idea.

Sheepfucker and Kraut on Facebook

Threechords Records on Instagram

LungBurner, Natura Duale

lungburner natura duale

In some ways, LungBurner‘s second LP of 2024, Natura Duale, reminds of earliest Yatra in bringing together vicious sludge metal and a breadth of atmosphere, but the Atlanta outfit have more of a post-metallic bent as the solo of “Barren” nonetheless dares to soar, and opener/longest track (immediate points) “Requiem” establishes the first of the album’s nods in a build of standalone guitar in the spirit of YOB, and in combination with a churn that wouldn’t feel out of place on Neurot and a crush in centerpiece “(Prey) Job” that opens to a classic stoner metal swagger in its verse, the righteousness here takes many forms, most of them dark, grueling and heavy — this definitely applies to the Celtic Frosting put on the proceedings by the finale “Astral Projection” — but not without a corresponding reach or purpose. LungBurner are served by the complexity of character, and Natura Duale grows more vivid as it goes.

LungBurner on Facebook

Electric Desert Records on Bandcamp

Bog Wizard, Journey Through the Dying Lands

Bog Wizard Journey Through the Dying Lands

With their material steeped in fantasy and horror/sci-fi lore, a goodly portion of it being of their own making, Michigan’s Bog Wizard continue to find the thread between tabletop gaming and sometimes monolithic sludge. The bulk of Journey Through the Dying Lands, which is their second release in a row done in collaboration with a game company, is dedicated to opener “I, Mycelium,” which stretches across 19:50 and unfolds in stages that don’t bother to choose between being brutal or fluid, the band winding up coming across as dug-in as one might expect Bog Wizard to be in the endeavor. There are two more studio tracks, in “Dodz Bringare,” which is black metal until it slams into the doom wall, and “Hagfish Dinner,” on which they depart for two minutes of harmonized chant-like vocals over resonant acoustic guitar. They’re not done yet as Ben Lombard (guitar/vocals), bassist Colby Lowman and drummer/vocalist Harlen Linke offer a glimpse at some live-on-stage banter before tearing into the thrasher “Stuck in the Muck” and backing it with another live track, this one a take on “Barbaria” from 2021’s Miasmic Purple Smoke (review here) that by the time it builds to its galloping finish has already long since demanded every bit of volume you can give it.

Bog Wizard on Facebook

Bog Wizard on Bandcamp

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Turkey Vulture Announce “Little Monsters” Single Out This Friday

Posted in Whathaveyou on May 4th, 2022 by JJ Koczan

It’ll be an injustice if Turkey Vulture don’t publish the lyrics to their new single. “Little Monsters” is out this week in time for Bandcamp Friday, and it is already not the first instance wherein the duo’s domestic life has informed their creative work — see also 2021’s Tummy Time and “The Boy and the Slide,” both streaming below. Jessie May and Jim Clegg are parents of a young child, and in a refreshing bit of honesty, created this song with that in mind. Clegg says below that the kid even likes it — have I mentioned parenting as a dopamine chase; I wish I cared half as much about my own opinion of anything as much as I care about my son’s — and that’s surely satisfying. Monsters in my house usually means Sesame Street or some such. I’d take a track about Grover.

No word on if that’s where Turkey Vulture are headed, but at least the wait won’t be all that long to find out.

The PR wire brought the cover art and release info, as well as the preorder link for your perusal:

turkey vulture little monsters

TURKEY VULTURE To Release “Little Monsters” Single

Connecticut heavy music duo TURKEY VULTURE takes a walk on the softer side with humorous new single “Little Monsters,” to be released on May 6, 2022. Jim Clegg takes over vocal and bass duties on this song inspired by the arrival of their second son, with Jessie May contributing guitar tracks.

Clegg comments, “I just wanted to write a cute and catchy song about monsters.” May adds, “Compared to the werewolves and aliens of our January EP Twist the Knife, these monsters are a lot more kid-friendly! Our toddler cries when I put on Twist the Knife, but he actually likes this song.”

Preorder “Little Monsters”: https://turkeyvulture.bandcamp.com/album/little-monsters

CREDITS
written by Jim Clegg and Jessie May
recorded at The Grand Hotel in Milford, CT
Bass, Vocals, and Artwork by Jim Clegg – @jim_clegg.art
Guitars by Jessie May

https://www.facebook.com/turkeyvultureband/
https://www.instagram.com/turkeyvultureband/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuQghjwDCIA
https://turkeyvulture.bandcamp.com/

Turkey Vulture, “The Boy and the Slide” official video

Turkey Vulture, Tummy Time (2021)

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Quarterly Review: SOM, Dr. Space, Beastwars, Deathbell, Malady, Wormsand, Thunderchief, Turkey Vulture, Stargo, Ascia

Posted in Reviews on January 20th, 2022 by JJ Koczan

THE-OBELISK-FALL-2020-QUARTERLY-REVIEW

Welcome to Day Four of the Jan. 2022 Quarterly Review. Or maybe it’s the other half of the Dec. 2021 Quarterly Review. Or maybe I overthink these things. The latter feels most likely. Inanycase, welcome. If you’ve been keeping up with the records as they’ve been coming in 10-per-day batches over the course of this week, thanks. If not, well, if you’re interested, it’s not like the posts disappeared. Just keep scrolling, then I think click through. One of these days I’ll get an infinite scroll plug-in. Those are for the cool kids.

Also, ‘Infinite Scroll’ is, as of right now, the name of my ’90s-style pixel-art role playing game. Ask me about the plot when these reviews are done.

For now…

Quarterly Review #31-40:

SOM, The Shape of Everything

SOM The Shape Of Everything

Working from a foundation in heavy post-rock, Connecticut’s SOM soar and float like so many shoreline seagulls over the Long Island Sound on the eight-song/34-minute The Shape of Everything, which would call to mind the melancholy of Katatoniia were its sadness not even more shimmering. Early pieces “Moment” and “Animals” build a depth of modern progressive metal riffing beneath only the airiest of guitar leads, a wash of distortion meeting a wash of melody, and with guitarist/vocalist/producer Will Benoit helming, his voice rings through clear in melody and still somewhat ethereal, calling to mind a more organically-constructed Jesu in poppier as well as some heavier stretches. The penultimate “Heart Attack” tips into heavier fare with a steady bassline and bursts of crunching guitar, and the finale “Son of Winter” answers back with a (snow)blinding spaciousness and an entrancing last buildup. There’s enough room here to really get lost, and SOM are too mindful of their craft to let it happen.

SOM website

Pelagic Records webstore

 

Dr. Space, Muzik 2 Loze Yr Mynd Inn

Dr. Space Musik 2 Loze Yr Mynd Inn

Alright, I admit it. I went to “Icy Flatulence” first. Even before “Cyborgian Burger Hut” or “Euphoric Nostril.” Scott Heller, otherwise known as Dr. Space of Øresund Space Collective and any number of other outfits on a given day, is as-ever exploring on Muzik 2 Loze Yr Mynd Inn, and the results are hypnotic enough that they might leave you using the kind of spelling on the album’s title, but even in the relatively serene “Garden of Rainbow Unicorns” there’s a forward keyline — and actually, in that song, an undercurrent of horror soundtracking that makes me think the unicorn is about to eat me; could happen — and the extended pair of “T-E-T” and “Ribbons in Time” are marked by ’80s sci-fi beeps and boops and a kind of electronic shuffle, respectively, though the latter is probably as close as the 54-minute six-songer comes to soundscaping. Which is like landscaping only, in this case, happening in another galaxy somewhere. And there they call it jazz as they should and all is well. In all seriousness, I keep a running list in my brain of bands who should ask Dr. Space to guest on their records. Your band is probably on it. It’s pretty much everybody.

Dr. Space on Bandcamp

Space Rock Productions website

 

Beastwars, Cold Wind / When I’m King

beastwars cold wind when im king

Here’s some context you probably don’t need: “Cold Wind” and “When I’m King” were written around the time of Wellington, New Zealand’s Beastwars‘ 2011 self-titled debut (review here). They may even have been recorded — I could’ve sworn “When I’m King” popped up somewhere at some point — but they’ve now been redone from the ground up and they’re pressed to a limited 7″ as part of the 10th anniversary celebration that also saw the self-titled get a new vinyl issue. Now, is it helpful knowing that? Yeah, sure. If I came at you instead and said, “Hey, new Beastwars!” though, it’d probably be more of a draw, and whatever gets Beastwars in as many ears as possible is what should invariably be done. “When I’m King” is a banger (bonus points for gang shouts), “Cold Wind” a little more seething, but both tracks harness that peculiarly sludged tonality that the band has owned for more than a decade now, and the guttural delivery of Matthew Hyde is only more resonant for the years between the writing and the execution of these songs. That execution is beheading by riffs, by the way.

Beastwars on Facebook

Beastwars on Bandcamp

 

Deathbell, A Nocturnal Crossing

deathbell a nocturnal crossing

A Nocturnal Crossing, the second album from Toulouse, France’s Deathbell and their first for Svart Records, can come at you from any number of angles seemingly at any point. Which thread are you following? Is it the soaring, classic-feeling occult rock melodies of Lauren Gaynor, or her organ work that, at the same time, adds gothic drama to so much of the material on the six-songer? Is it the lumbering groove of “Shifting Sands” and the doomed fuzz of “Devoured on the Peak” earlier, speaking to entirely different traditions? Or maybe the atmosphere in “Silent She Comes,” which is almost post-metallic in its shining lead guitar? Or perhaps, and hopefully I think, it’s all of these things as skillfully woven together as they are in these tracks. Opener “The Stronghold and the Archer” and the closing title-track mirror each other in their underlying metallic influence, but that too becomes one more texture at Deathbell‘s disposal, brought forward in such a way as to emphasize the unity of the whole work as much as the individual progressions.

Deathbell on Facebook

Svart Records website

 

Malady, Ainavihantaa

Malady Ainavihantaa

After debuting on Svart with 2018’s Toinen Toista (review here), sax-laced Helskini classic prog pastoralists Malady offer Ainavihantaa (‘all the time’) across a lush and welcoming six tracks and 37 minutes. The flow is immediate and paramount on opener “Alava Vaara” and through the flute/sax tradeoff in “Vapaa Ja Autio,” which follows, and though it’s heady fare, somehow the “Foxy-Lady”-if-KingCrimson-wrote-it strut-into-meander of “Sisävesien Rannat” skirts a line of indulgence without fully toppling over. Side B is jazzy and winding across “Dyadi” and “Haavan Väri” ahead of the title-track, but the human presence of vocals, even in a language I don’t speak, does wonders in keeping the proceedings grounded, right up to the Beatlesian finish of “Ainavihantaa” itself. This was on a lot of best-of-2021 lists and it’s not a challenge to see why.

Malady on Facebook

Svart Records website

 

Wormsand, Shapeless Mass

Wormsand Shapeless Mass

The Earth, ecologically devastated by industrialization and the wastefulness of humans — capitalism, in other words — becomes a wasteland. A few billionaires, who’ve been playing around with laughably-phallic rockets anyway, decide they’re going to escape out into space and leave the rest of the species, which they’ve destroyed, to suffer. It would be — and used to be — the stuff of decent science fiction were it not basically what homo sapiens are living through right now. A mass extinction owing to climate change the roots of which are in anthropocene action and inaction alike. French outfit Wormsand tell this utterly-plausible story in cascading doom riffs that reminds at once of Pallbearer and Forming the Void, keeping an edge of modern heavy prog to their plodding and accompanying with clean vocals and some more gutty shouts. As one might expect, things get pretty grim by the time they’re down to “Carrions,” “Collapsing” and “Shapeless Mass” near the album’s end, but the trio get big, big points for not trying to offer some placating “you can avoid this future” message of hope at the end, instead highlighting the final message, “The oracles warned us long ago/That a huge mass would swallow us all.” Ambitious in narrative concept, expertly conveyed.

Wormsand on Facebook

Stellar Frequencies on Bandcamp

Saka Čost on Bandcamp

 

Thunderchief, Synanthrope

Thunderchief Synanthrope

I hate to call out a falsehood, but Virginia duo Thunderchief‘s claim that, “No fucks were used, or given, on this recording,” just isn’t the case. I’m sorry. You don’t rip the fuck out of your throat like Rik Surly does on “Aiboh/Phobia” without a clear intent. That intent might be — and would seem to be — fuckall, but fuckall’s way different from ‘no fucks.’ If they didn’t give a fuck, Synanthrope could hardly come across as furious as it does in these seven tracks, totaling a consuming, gruff, sludged 39 minutes, marked out by centerpiece “King of the Pleistocene” fucking with your conception of desert rock, the second part of “Aiboh/Phobia” — the part named after a grind band, oddly enough — and “Toss Me a Crumb” fucking around with some grind, and closer “Paw” trodding out its feedback-laden course with Erik Larson‘s drums marching in crash with Surly‘s riffs. Hell, you got Mike Dean to record the thing. That’s giving a fuck all by itself. This kind of heavy and righteous, purposeful aural cruelty doesn’t happen by mistake. It’s too good to be fuckless. Sorry.

Thunderchief on Facebook

Thunderchief on Bandcamp

 

Turkey Vulture, Twist the Knife

turkey vulture twist the knife

No lyric sheet necessary to get that the longest song on Turkey Vulture‘s Twist the Knife EP, the three-minute “Livestock on Our Way to Slaughter,” is based lyrically on the ever-relevant film They Live. The married Connecticut duo of guitarist/bassist/vocalist Jessie May and drummer Jim Clegg (also in charge of visuals), find thrashy release on the four-song release, which totals about eight minutes and in opener “Fiji,” “Where the Truth Dwells,” as well as “Livestock on Our Way to Slaughter,” they rip with surprising metallic thrust. The closing “She’s Married (But Not to Me)” is something of a further shift, and had me searching for an original version out there somewhere thinking it was a cover either of Buddy Holly or some wistful punk band, but no, seems to be an original. So be it. Clearly, at this point, May and Clegg are finding new modes of sonic catharsis that even a couple years ago they likely wouldn’t have dared. They’re a stronger band for their readiness to follow such whims.

Turkey Vulture on Facebook

Turkey Vultre on Bandcamp

 

Stargo, Dammbruch

Stargo Dammbruch

In Stargo‘s Dammbruch, I hear a signal back to European heavy rock’s prior instrumentalist generation, the Dortmunder three-piece not completely divorced from the riffy progressions that drove the warmth creating heavy psychedelia in the first place, even as the four-part, 14-minute title-track of the EP shifts between those impulses and more progressive, weighted, extreme or airy movements before its eerily peaceful conclusion. “Copter,” which could be titled after its wub-wub-wub effect early and the guitar chug that takes hold of it, and the closer “Bathysphere,” with its outward reach of guitar telegraphed in the first half but still resonant at the end, bring likeminded breadth in shorter bursts, but the abiding story of the EP is what the band — who made their full-length debut with 2020’s Parasight — might continue to offer as their style continues to develop. 35007, My Sleeping Karma, The Ocean, Pelican and Russian CirclesStargo‘s sound is a melting pot of ideas. They only need to keep exploring.

Stargo on Facebook

Stargo on Bandcamp

 

Ascia, Volume II

Ascia Volume II

Fabrizio Monni, also of Black Capricorn, issues a second EP from the solo-project Ascia following up on Sept. 2021’s Volume I (review here) with the marauding lumber of Dec. 2021’s Volume II, bringing his axe down across five tracks in a sub-20-minute run that’s been compiled onto a limited CD with the first release. Makes sense. The two outings share an affinity for the running megafuzz of earliest High on Fire and showcase the emerging personality of the new outfit in the melodies of “The Will of Gods” and the untempered doom of the later slowdown in “Thousands of Ghosts.” The instrumental “A Night with Shahrazad” closes, and feels a bit like a piece of a song — it crashes out just when you think the vocals might kick in — but if Monni‘s leaving his audience wanting more, well, he also seems quick enough to provide. “Eternal Glory” and “Ruins of War” will remind you what you liked about the first EP, and the rest will remind you why you’re looking forward to the next one. Mark it a win.

Ascia on Bandcamp

Black Capricorn on Facebook

 

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Turkey Vulture Announce Twist the Knife EP

Posted in Whathaveyou on August 30th, 2021 by JJ Koczan

Give it up for Turkey Vulture having the capacity to both reproduce and rock and roll. The idea, of course that the two are mutually exclusive is and has always been a fallacy as every successive generation of artists and musicians has shown, but as anyone who’s ever encountered one can tell you, babies can be time consuming. Following up on a topical single “Tummy Time” earlier this year, the married Connecticut duo announce now they’ll answer back this Fall with a new short release called Twist the Knife. I only look forward to finding out the lyrical origins of their use of the phrase, should there be any.

Jessie May and Jim Clegg both also have outside projects, from her running Alternative Control and overseeing money management for headbangers to his design and video work. They are, in short, a one-stop DIY shop. Busyness, it would seem, suits them.

The EP announcement, sans finer details, came down the PR wire:

turkey vulture

TURKEY VULTURE TO RELEASE NEW EP

Connecticut heavy music duo TURKEY VULTURE is on their way to putting out their third EP, Twist the Knife.  Once again recorded by “Black Metal” Dave Kaminsky, the release is expected in late 2021 or early 2022.

Frontwoman Jessie May and drummer Jim Clegg met in 2008, playing together in a local rock band called PINK MISSLE.  In the decade and a half since then, they’ve played in several different bands together with their collaboration as musicians becoming stronger each passing year.

But more recently, their relationship has taken on a new identity: husband, wife, and parents.  Twist the Knife plays on those roles, as well as weaving TURKEY VULTURE’s gritty Americana with a creeping horror punk influence.

Follow TURKEY VULTUREs YouTube channel for an upcoming “making-of” documentary produced by Jim Clegg.

Lineup:
Jessie May — guitar, bass, vocals
Jim Clegg — drums, artwork/design/photography

https://www.facebook.com/turkeyvultureband/
https://www.instagram.com/turkeyvultureband/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuQghjwDCIA
https://turkeyvulture.bandcamp.com/

Turkey Vulture, Tummy Time (2021)

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The Obelisk Questionnaire: Jessie May of Turkey Vulture, Owl Maker, MetalheadMoney, Alternative Control, and More

Posted in Questionnaire on February 23rd, 2021 by JJ Koczan

jessie-may

The Obelisk Questionnaire is a series of open questions intended to give the answerer an opportunity to explore these ideas and stories from their life as deeply as they choose. Answers can be short or long, and that reveals something in itself, but the most important factor is honesty.

Based on the Proust Questionnaire, the goal over time is to show a diverse range of perspectives as those who take part bring their own points of view to answering the same questions. To see all The Obelisk Questionnaire posts, click here.

Thank you for reading and thanks to all who participate.

The Obelisk Questionnaire: Jessie May of Turkey Vulture, Owl Maker, AltCtrlCT, and More

How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?

Defining what I do is the hard part. I enjoy writing and music, and do bit of both. My illustrious writing career began in middle school with an “underground newsletter” of dirty jokes called The Funky Chicken. (Apparently my bird obsession goes back a long way too.) Right now I edit the blogs Alternative Control and Metalhead Money, and do some freelance copywriting on the side. I also self-published a book about personal finance last year, called Money Hacks for Metalheads and Old Millennials. I came to do that through a lot of research, personal screw-ups, and some extra time on my hands due to the pandemic.

Re: music… My most active band right now is Turkey Vulture, where I play guitar and sing. My husband Jim plays drums. I like to think of us as a really loud Americana band, but there are influences from doom, punk, and 80s metal as well. Turkey Vulture’s journey started about twelve years ago when I joined Jim’s band Pink Missile. Several bands, a marriage, and one baby boy later, here we are!

Bass is my main instrument, or at least the one I’m decent at playing. I’m on “maternity leave” from a folk band called The Shoutbacks and I’m also the bassist of Owl Maker, who I hope will come out of hibernation once all this pandemic stuff is over.

Describe your first musical memory.

Probably hearing that song “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad,” as a nursery rhyme or something.

I also remember singing along to the Allman Brothers and Vanilla Ice cassettes in my dad’s truck!

Describe your best musical memory to date.

My best musical memory is a recent one: Jim and I made a playlist for the hospital to listen to during our son’s arrival. The playlist ended up being longer than the entire labor and delivery process lol… One highlight was hearing “Faithless” by Social Distortion in the delivery room shortly after our son was born, which was our wedding song.

When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?

I can’t think of a specific time, but I remember thinking during my first marriage (which ended in divorce), “Gee, this is a lot harder than it looks!”

Where do you feel artistic progression leads?

Speaking for myself, I’ve gotten more comfortable advocating for my own musical ideas. I no longer need other band members to confirm for me that a riff or something is “cool” — not that I want to run a band dictatorship lol, but it feels good to have more confidence.

On the other hand, my “artistic progression” of playing in basement metal bands also means I’m rusty at things like reading sheet music.

How do you define success?

Music-wise, I think success is creating something that connects with your audience and communicates a story or feeling to them. And if people like it enough to buy it, even better!

In broader terms, success is spending your time in a meaningful way and making your corner of the world a better place — whether that’s through your relationships, job, art, or all of the above.

What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?

I wish I could erase thousands of crime show episodes from my memory; I think they have made me distrustful and even paranoid about certain things. But on the other hand, there are a lot of disturbed people out there — and my aim is to avoid running into them.

Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.

Welp, Turkey Vulture has another five or six songs we could possibly record. Jim and I have talked about giving it a try this summer if we can wrangle the cost and scheduling. Until then, it’s gonna be all home-recorded GarageBand demos!

What do you believe is the most essential function of art?

To communicate ideas and feelings.

Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?

Watching our baby grow! And hopefully adding a little brother or sister to the lineup. ;)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08GBCGVXS?ref_=pe_3052080_276849420
https://www.facebook.com/turkeyvultureband/
https://turkeyvulture.bandcamp.com/
https://www.alternativecontrolct.com/
https://www.metalheadmoney.com/
https://www.facebook.com/owlmakermetal/
https://www.instagram.com/owlmakermetal/
https://owlmaker.bandcamp.com

Turkey Vulture, Tummy Time (2021)

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