Posted in Whathaveyou on April 3rd, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Next month, Kingston, New York, trio Geezer and Richmond, Virginia, four-piece Book of Wyrms will head north together for a three-date weekender in Ontario and Quebec. As both bands note below, it’s their first time playing in Canada, and for the dates in Toronto, Ottawa and Québec City, they’ll be keeping good company with a sampling of the righteous Canadian heavy underground. You can see the names on the poster and in the announcement, so I’ll spare you my just listing them again, but it’s a curated assemblage.
Geezer go in continued support of 2022’s Stoned Blues Machine (review here) on Heavy Psych Sounds, having most recently played Heavy Psych Sounds Fest in San Francisco and Joshua Tree, California. For Book of Wyrms, they’ll herald new projects in the works, including plans to record their next full-length at summer’s end, which will follow their 2022 single “Sodapop Glacier” (premiered here) as well as 2021’s Occult New Age (review here), released by Desert Records.
Of the locals, I’ll cop to being less familiar with Hempress and Acid Moth, though Hempress released their Masters of the Trade LP last year and that’s pretty cool and Acid Moth just last Friday offered their self-titled debut EP, complete with a Trailer Park Boys reference and riffs a-plenty. Aawks, Low Orbit and Witchrot are known quantities and killer enough to make the Toronto show practically a festival. And you’ll note The Death Wheelers, who play the last date in Québec City, released their Topon Das-mastered Mondo Trasho 7″ last Fall as the follow-up to their 2020 debut on RidingEasy Records. Sounds like fun, but I know one way to find out for sure.
To that end, I hit up Geezer last week and invited myself along for the trip. Looks like it might even happen, so one way or the other, here’s looking forward:
GEEZER & BOOK OF WYRMS – Canadian Road Trip
Geezer and Book of Wyrms are teaming up for a May road trip to Canada, joined by noted northern lights Aawks, Low Orbit, and Witchrot (Toronto May 11), Hempress and Acid Moth (Ottawa May 12), and the Death Wheelers (Quebec City May 13). These ragers are generously brought to you by Pale Horse Promotions, Fuzzed n Buzzed Records, and Sewer Pool Productions.
Says Pat Harrington of Geezer: “This will be our first time in Canada and we are totally stoked about it. I reached out to Jake from BoW about the idea of doing some shows together and they were already working on the Canadian idea, so we put our heads together and it all worked out real quick. We’re excited about the bands we’re playing with and the promoters have already been working hard on spreading the word, so we expect this short run to be a banger!”
Says Book of Wyrms’ Jake Linsley: “This will be our first time playing outside the US, and getting to go with our buddies in Geezer just makes it extra badass. I’ve been listening to Aawks a lot so it’s gonna be cool to play with them while we’re up there. Other than that, we have a few summer runs coming up that haven’t been announced yet, a new song on a compilation that hasn’t been announced yet, and we’ll be back in the studio at the end of the summer to record our fourth LP.”
GEEZER & BOOK OF WYRMS live: May 11 Hard Luck Toronto ON w/ AAWKS, Low Orbit & Witchrot May 12 Dominion Ottawa ON w/ Hempress & Acid Moth May 13 Scanner Québec City QC w/ The Death Wheelers
Geezer are: Pat Harrington – vocals/guitar Richie Touseull – bass Steve Markota – drums
Book of Wyrms are: Sarah Moore-Lindsey: Vocals and synthesizers Kyle Lewis: Guitar Chris DeHaven: Drums Jay “Jake” Lindsey: Bass
Posted in Questionnaire on March 20th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
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: Dalton Huskin of Smoke & Sun Years
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How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?
In its simplest form, I create. Anything I can build, make, paint, or design, I’m in. Building a fantasy world within the confines of the physical reality around us, that’s my whole goal; to play an exaggerated character of myself. I spent a lot of time in my own worlds as a kid, and I don’t think I ever stopped doing that. I think I just have a better ability now to make the world around me seem like my childhood dreams through creating, building, painting, and music. I still haven’t figured out making dragons yet, though.
Describe your first musical memory.
Listening to “These Eyes” by The Guess Who in my mom’s car. Every time I hear it I play air keyboard and push a fake button when that little guitar clank hits at the end of each phrase.
Describe your best musical memory to date.
I was playing in a metalcore band when I was 18-ish at this little coffee shop venue. It’s the middle of the afternoon, so people are just walking around the stores of the strip mall. This kid sticks his face through the gate of where we were playing and he just goes totally wide eyed, and we kind of see each other looking at each other. I like to think that was his first musical memory and he grew up to be Uli Jon Roth or something. He might have just thought we sucked and he knew he never wanted to do that, either way it’s great.
When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?
Recording the latest Smoke single, I realized that I didn’t have to fight myself if something was just coming easily. I always had this concept that to make something worthwhile, it took hours of over thinking and work, but I had to take a step back and tell myself that simplicity is equally valid.
Where do you feel artistic progression leads?
For me it’s just being able to laugh at yourself and never taking what you did, or do, too seriously. I have developed what I’ll call “Bagger Vance Syndrome”. If you’ve seen the movie The Legend of Bagger Vance you know it’s an absurd plot but still a tear jerker… great actors doing a transcendental film about golf, set in the great depression era south, where this guy teaches life lessons to a World War I vet through the beauty of the game. At first watch, it’s a great underdog story, but when you take a step back it’s just gobbledigook. I always had that fear when it came to my own art… that someone would see it as shallow attempts at saying something profound, or worse, it’s seen as the gobbledigook it truly is. My own personal artistic progression is being able to say that yes, The Legend of Bagger Vance is a truly great heartfelt film, but also a shallow attempt at saying something profound, and gobbledigook. Being able to take a step back from something and laugh at how serious it is has been my great revelation. Make the profound, pompous claims of your art being great and important, and then laugh at how ridiculous it is to attempt to make those claims. You gotta be able to be so far up your own ass that you giggle at all the shit in there.
How do you define success?
My father and I have a running joke about how I would say, “I just want to sit in a field and be, man.” through the clouds of teenage dirt weed smoke. I didn’t realize then that I’m too manic to just sit in a field and be, but I think having the option to turn the ol’ brain off for a day and just be present without worry is my form of success. That, and a Harley pan head chopper, those are rad.
What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?
The Legend of Bagger Vance. I can’t sleep at night. Is he a ghost? An angel? Some sort of astral projection of Peter J. Carrol, come to ramble the hidden knowledge behind Liber Null? Who knows.
Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.
I’ve been working on songs with a new project called Sun Years, and I’m really excited about the direction that’s going. Smoke has another concept album I’m working on, so the nights of yelling nonsense in my basement and writing are always something I look forward to, too. I plan on making a lot of music this year. The feeling of staring at the rabbit hole and knowing I’m about to jump makes me happier than a pig in shit.
What do you believe is the most essential function of art?
I’m not sure that there is one. I mean no offense to the question when I say this, but when I’m asked a question like this I want to give some lofty answer, or at least something meaningful, but I’m not sure I’m the person that could do that. This question made me think a lot about what function art serves me. Creating art is just a way for me to escape the fact that I’m going to die, and there is eternal nothingness at the end. You fight to make something meaningful, something that will live on past your death, something that says, “I was here and I mattered! It wasn’t meaningless!”. I put on my music hat and do my little dance, playing a character of myself. I get wrapped up in this fantasy world of being a great artist, and jump down the rabbit hole. Do the bit so long you forget it’s a bit, lose yourself to it entirely and then laugh at the end of it.
Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?
I’m getting married in October and I’m really looking forward to being at that place, at that time with everyone that I love in my life.
Posted in Whathaveyou on March 8th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Look. I’ve made my feelings known about Windhand on multiple occasions. I think they’re massively undercredited as an influential act, and I think they’re one of the best American doom bands of their generation. That generation, by the way, is really only coming to prominence in the last three or four years, while Windhand, meanwhile, celebrate their 15th anniversary in 2023. Their 2012 self-titled debut (review here; discussed here) isn’t their best album or their most developed in terms of sound, but it was crucial moment, and I don’t think riff-worshiping, massive-low-end-consuming doom exists as it does today — and god damn does it ever exist today — without it.
We could sit here all day and talk about why Windhand are underrated while other acts reap hyperbolic praise for essentially sounding like Windhand — certainly gender-base discrimination is part of it; also their records are over an hour long in a time when attention spans assuredly aren’t — but I’d rather pop on the Jack Endino remaster of Windhand‘s Windhand, maybe check out the included rehearsal demos, and go back to what was the start of the band at least so far as I knew of them.
If you’re keeping up, you might note that this 2LP reissue arrives on April 21, which is the same day Windhand vocalist Dorthia Cottrell will release her new solo album, Death Folk Country (info here). Preorders, Arik Roper‘s cover art, and other details for everybody, courtesy of the PR wire:
WINDHAND SHARE DELUXE REISSUE OF SELF-TITLED DEBUT ALBUM
Richmond’s WINDHAND announce the deluxe reissue of their Self-Titled, debut album! Featuring 5 previously unreleased bonus tracks, including rare practice space demos and alternate mixes, the 2023 reissue of Windhand is remastered by Jack Endino, and features new artwork by Arik Roper.
Windhand (Deluxe Edition) is out April 21 on 2xLP/CD on Relapse Records. Pre-Order athttps://bit.ly/windhand-st
Posted in Whathaveyou on March 3rd, 2023 by JJ Koczan
So it starts out super nasty on guitar like some weirdo Butthole Surfers fuckall rock that still swings, and the bassline hits and it’s like Helmet but heavy and then the vocals are harsh while the guitar pulls Kyuss leads in the background and then they slow down like the stoner rock meme brought to life and remind what everybody liked about sludge rock in the first place: that it could be both. Virginia’s Smoke continue to intrigue as they follow-up their 2022 debut album, Groupthink (review here) with the new single “Scavenger,” the roughly five-point-five minutes of which are not to be fucked with. The Bandcamp page says it’s been there since Feb. 10 but I just got the email that the song had been released, so whatever, if it’s brand new or not, it’s new to me and it’s killer and that’s good enough.
Today is Bandcamp Friday and no fees and blah blah, so the timing is good, but I’m more drawn in by the shift in style from where they were on the album less than a year ago and curious as to what “Scavenger” implies as regards the progression of the band. At best, its turn toward aggressive vocals and harder-edged riffs — coinciding as they do with the bone-picking theme of the lyrics you can read below — means Smoke are even more multifaceted than they showed before and that much stronger as a band for being that much less predictable. At worst it’s a one-off and still a cool heavy tune. In other words, you don’t lose either way by checking it out.
The stream is at the bottom of this post, and all the text below comes from their Bandcamp as well, so, you know, feel free to head that way when you’re done here, if you haven’t already done so:
SMOKE – Scavenger
Scavenger starts as a high-velocity death rattle as vultures pick bones clean, screeching vocals and guitars carry the song, finishing with a slow grave-digging riff. An ode to consumers of carrion everywhere.
lyrics
Hyena walk with a vulture taste Always the aggressor but only agitates A fungus mind preys on the weak Always the victim but inherits the meek
How much should we give? Everything we have How much should we give? A little more than that
Scavenger
A psychic drain while the vampires feed Our bones are gnashing against hyena teeth Appearance over passion, dagger over sword None of the work, but all of the reward
How much should we give? Everything we have How much should we give? A little more than that
Scavenger
Written by: Smoke (2023) Lyrics: Dalton Huskin Art: Dalton Huskin Mix: Ben McLeod Master: Mikey Allred Recorded at Fainting Goat Studios in Bedford, VA
Smoke: Dalton Huskin – Guitar/Vocals Ben Gold – Lead Guitar Alex Thurson – Drums Stephen Tyree – Bass
Posted in Whathaveyou on March 2nd, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Couple TBAs here, in Richmond, Columbus, Cincinnati. That should be easy enough to fill, considering it’s Foehammer. [EDIT MARCH 2: And yeah, it was easy enough to fill. The poster and dates have been updated.] The Virginian crushers will head out on April 28 to support late 2022’s Monumentum (review here), which came out through Silent Pendulum Records as the atmospherically punishing follow-up to 2018’s debut, Second Sight (review here). It’s a Midwestern tour, hitting Louisville, St. Louis, Chicago and Indianapolis before circling back through Ohio and Pittsburgh, the latter a third show in Pennsylvania after the two tour openers in Harrisburg and Harrisonburg, which yes I do find harrilarious thank you for asking.
Joining guitarist/vocalist Jay Cardinell for the run on drums will be Zak Suleri, also of Et Mors, Cerulean Room and a bunch of others. I’m not sure what’s up with Ben Price, who played on Monumentum — that is, if he’s still in the band — but the “for this tour” in the announcement below makes me think he is, since Suleri‘s filling in.
In any case, here’s the tour as it stands now, as posted by the band on the ol’ sociables:
FOEHAMMER – Monumentum Spring Tour 2023
Very excited to announce this today as it’s been a long time coming! In just over 8 weeks Foehammer will embark on our first tour in six years! It would be an understatement to say we’re stoked for these shows and the amazing acts we get to play with.
Sick poster art by the GOAT (#128016#) Matt Scott aka @vinumsabbati
On drums for this tour will be Zakir Suleri @cerulean_room singer / guitarist of the amazing @et_mors
Still looking for help on these TBA’s so if you know of anything good going on in Richmond, Columbus, Cincinnati, or the surrounding areas please let us know!
More specific show announcements and flyers to come so keep your (#128065#)️(#128065#)️ peeled!
Foehammer live: 04.28 Harrisburg PA JB Lovedraft’s* 04.29 Harrisonburg VA Crayola House 04.30 Raleigh NC School Kids* 05.01 Louisville KY Highlands Tap Room 05.03 Columbus OH Spacebar 05.04 Chicago IL Reggie’s 05.05 St Louis MO Platypus 05.06 Indianapolis IN State Street Pub 05.07 Akron OH Buzzbin** 05.08 Pittsburgh PA Blackforge Coffee**
* with False Gods
** with Altar and the Bull
Posted in Whathaveyou on March 1st, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Hey, if Dorthia Cottrell is going to be a brooding part-goth next-generation take on heavy Americana folk, I am — in the parlance of 2019 — here for it. The Windhand vocalist released her eponymous debut solo album in 2015 and will follow it with Death Folk Country via Relapse Records on April 21. A video for the immersive, organ-and-cymbal-wash=backed, many-layered “Family Annihilator” is streaming now at the bottom of this post, and yeah, the PR wire’s a little late since the song’s been out a couple days now and I’m a little late since the PR wire sent the stuff yesterday, but like you and everybody else, I’m doing my best here to keep up. Maybe I wanted to wait until I actually had a few minutes to actually listen to some music before I wrote about it. Crazy I know in this go-go-go universe of infinite consumption and immediate gratification. If nothing else, “Family Annihilator” is a good occasion to slow your ass down for about seven of those otherwise vaporized minutes.
And special kudos for the line “Glory is no pedestal I’ll put my foot upon.” That’s not the kind of thing people talk about when they say “real America,” but it should be.
From the PR wire:
DORTHIA COTTRELL (WINDHAND) ANNOUNCES NEW SOLO ALBUM DEATH FOLK COUNTRY OUT APRIL 21
Dorthia Cottrell envisions her music as both a document of love and a reconciliation with death. On her new album, Death Folk Country, Cottrell wards off death through creation – the most distilled form of love. The spirit of love passed on through her words will be the ultimate reward for earthly suffering. Cottrell’s enigmatic presence guides listeners down a path of introspection – Death Folk Country’s massive scope touches upon tales of love, loss, and so much more.
Cottrell was raised in rural King George, Virginia, a town with less than 5,000 inhabitants. Forests and tall-grass fields stretched before her. Beauty and boredom soared. That vague melancholy and memory of the American South is smudged all over Cottrell’s music. Cottrell grew up a goth, an outcast in a small town – a time and place she revisits throughout Death Folk Country.
“This album to me is about painting a picture of a place where my heart lives,” Cottrell explains. The title Death Folk Country is partly me describing a genre that fits the sound – but it’s also meant to be taken as a Naming, a coronation of the world inside me. Death Folk Country is the music and also the land where the music takes place, and the two have always been inextricable from each other.”
The album’s lead single “Family Annihilator” directly speaks to the unease and tension of Cottrell’s surroundings. “Porch lights keep the demons at bay,” she sings over crashing cymbals and a field recording of birds. “I had never played it before, I kind of brought it out of the attic,” Cottrell says of the song. Despite being over a decade old, “Family Annihilator” spoke to the moment she was in. With the threat of another four years of conservative offices in power, Cottrell thought of family back in the South who would be voting, and remembered something her grandfather, a farmer, had told her years ago: “If a crop is diseased, you have to burn the whole crop.” “‘Family Annihilator’ is a result of me wondering if the whole field must burn today, to save the flowers of tomorrow,” Cottrell says.
Death Folk Country Track Listing:
01 – Death Is The Punishment For Love 02 – Harvester 03 – Black Canyon 04 – Family Annihilator 05 – Effigy At The Gate Of Ur 06 – Midnight Boy 07 – Hell In My Water 08 – Take Up Serpents 09 – For Alicia 10 – Eat What I Kill 11 – Death Is Reward For Love
Posted in Questionnaire on January 16th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
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: Ryan Kent (ex-Gritter, ex-Rube)
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How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?
I guess it’s easier to say that I am a writer. I write mostly poetry and perform poetry sometimes in a live setting, but I don’t stand on the corner telling people I am a poet. Poetry is just what I do, mostly. If someone asks, I tell them I am a writer. When it comes to Dying Comes With Age, it’s not really an album I can categorize. It’s not simply a spoken word record and it’s not a typical record by an independent solo artist. It’s got elements of different styles in the orbit of rock and blues but it’s not really so cut and dry. It’s certainly nothing like LuLu and it’s nothing like An American Prayer which seems to be a knee-jerk reaction for some, which is fair. I think those are just easy records to gravitate towards because people don’t have a real point of reference which, again, makes it hard to categorize.
Describe your first musical memory.
Playing Thriller on my parents’ record player. CDs were the newest technology so their record player made it into my room. I would play the title track over and over again because I really enjoyed Vincent price’s voice, or it was jumping up and down on my bed listening to Sports by Huey Lewis & the News. That’s absolutely still one of my favorite records.
Describe your best musical memory to date.
There certainly have been a lot. I played the microphone in a heavy metal band in Richmond, VA, for 10 years. Played some big local shows and toured the US some with Gritter, but I guess, my favorite musical memory is how this entire record came together. I worked with folks I’ve admired for years. It’s ludicrous really.
When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?
Probably when I first took a philosophy course in high school. I grew up in small town Virginia and Christianity was the drink of choice for most people around there. I went to a Catholic church and pretty much believed what I was told. I never questioned anything. God is real. America is good. So on. However, when I first learned to start questioning the unquestionable, well, I fell down that rabbit hole and have continued falling down it and that’s been at times to my own detriment, but whatever.
Where do you feel artistic progression leads?
Sometimes it leads to bad records. People tend to overintellectualize things which should be simple. On the other hand, you can’t make the same record a bunch of times unless you have a formula like Slayer or another band or artist parallel to that trajectory. In a perfect world, I guess, artistic progression would lead to better and more diversity and depth in art – but this isn’t a perfect world, and we have what we have.
How do you define success?
Being a person of their own means who is content with who they are and the place they’ve carved out for themselves in the world. Not being worried about falling out of last place is always key.
What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?
I guess, Donald Trump being elected to the Presidency. The walking back of Roe vs. Wade. The rise of fascism. The Pandora’s box which social media obviously became.
Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.
I do not have children and maybe if I was a different person or was living a different life that maybe would be a goal.
What do you believe is the most essential function of art?
I read this once somewhere: An artist’s intent is to invoke an emotion in another individual. That’s, I think, the best answer.
Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?
I failed out of college during my senior year in 2008. That was 14 years ago. I decided to go back to VCU this last fall to finish my BA in English. Potentially, I’ll complete this by the end of Summer 2023. After that I’m going to enroll in their MFA program so that I can work towards getting an MFA in Creative Writing. The goal is to teach creative writing in a college setting. Dave Smalley from Dag Nasty and ALL and Down By Law was randomly my editor at a newspaper in Fredericksburg, VA. He was an incredible mentor and I’d like to hopefully help guide college students in their quest. Plus, I think it would be fucking amazing to be a professor at the college I failed out of TWICE. I’m really looking forward to the completion of that.
Posted in Reviews on January 10th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Oh, hello. I didn’t see you come in. What’s going on? Not much. You? Well, you see, it’s just another 10 records for the Quarterly Review, you know how it goes. Yup, day seven. That’s up to 70 records, and it’ll keep going for the rest of this week. Have I mentioned yet I was thinking about adding an 11th day? What can I say, some cool stuff has come along this last week and a half since I’ve been doing this. Better now than in a couple months, maybe. Anyway, make yourself comfortable. Hope you enjoy, and thanks for reading.
Winter 2023 Quarterly Review #61-70:
Jason Simon, Hindsight 2020
What this sweetly melodic and delicately arranged 2022 collection lacks in marketing — the title Hindsight 2020 is accurate in that that’s when it was mostly recorded, but ‘let’s remember an awful time’ is hardly a way to pitch an audience on a vinyl — but as Jason Simon (also Dead Meadow) languidly meanders through covers of Tom Petty (“Crawling Back to You” becomes ethereal post-rock), Jody Reynolds & Bobbie Gentry, The Gun Club, Jackson C. Frank, Bert Jansch and John Prine, the latter of whom passed away after contracting covid-19, without the lockdown from which this record probably wouldn’t exist as it does. Probably not a coincidence. On banjo for three peppered-in originals starting with a relaxed mood-setting intro, as well as guitar, vocals, Moog, bass, Juno-60, and mandolin throughout, Simon and a few companions dig into these folk roots, making them his own and creating a whole-album flow for what might in less capable hands be a hodgepodge of competing influences. As it stands, by the time the melancholy strum of “October” takes hold, Simon has long since succeeded in creating a vibe that rightly has “Ghosts Gather Now” as its centerpiece, pulling as it does from these spirits to make something of its own. 2020 sucked; nobody’s arguing. But at least in hindsight something beautiful can come out of it.
Virginian trio Smoke cast an eye toward the trailblazing heavy psych of Sungrazer on “Temple” from their early 2022 debut album, guitarist Dalton handling the melodic vocals that will soon enough grow throatier in their passionate delivery, but even more than this, Groupthink sees the band — Dalton, guitarist Ben and drummer Alex; first names only — digging full-on into turn-of-the-century-style nodding heavy, shades of Man’s Ruin-era classics from the likes of Acid King, maybe even some of Sons of Otis‘ bombed-out largesse, showing themselves filtered through a next-generational execution, varied enough so as not to be single-minded in idolatry as “Davidian” picks up energy in its late solo, the 18-minute “One Eyed King” earns its lumbering payoff and lines of floating guitar, “The Supplication of Flame” arrives based around acoustic guitar forward in the mix ahead of the electrics (at least at first) and closer “Telah” basks in a righteous stomp that underscores the point. At 58 minutes, Groupthink isn’t a minor undertaking, but it is one of 2022’s most impressive debut albums and laced with potential for what may develop in their sound. It is stronger in craft than one might initially think, and has to be to hold up all that heft in its fuzz.
Not so much ’70s-style retroism as tapping into a kind of raw, ’90s heavy rock vision — Nebula, Monster Magnet, as well as Peru and greater South America’s own storied history of fuzzmaking — Rifle‘s Repossessed is relatively rough in its production, but as in the best of cases, that becomes a part of its appeal as the Lima-based three-piece of guitarist/bassist/vocalist Alejandro Suni, guitarist Magno Mendoza and drummer Cesar Araujo ride their riffs down the highway and into a fog of tonal buzz, fervent, butt-sized low end and druggy, outsider vibes. “The Thrill is Back” struts coated in road dirt as it is, and that thrill is found likewise in the scorch-psych of “Demon Djinn” and the earlier blowout “Fiend” that follows opener “Seven Thousand Demons” and sets a bluesy lyrical foundation so that six-minute finale “Spirit Rise” seems to offer some sense of realization or, if not that, then at least acceptance of this well-baked way of life. As the band’s first release, this late-2022 seven-song/32-minute offering feels ready to be pressed up on vinyl by some discerning purveyor, if not for the underlying desert rock drive of “Madness” then surely for the swing in “Sonic Rage,” and it’s one of those records that isn’t going to speak to everyone, but is going to hit just right for some others, dug as it is into a niche between what’s come before and its own encapsulation of a red-eyed stoner future.
If there should be any doubt that Indianapolis’ Mother of Graves are schooled in the sound they’re shooting for, let the fact that Dan Swanö (Katatonia, Opeth, on into infinity) mastered the recording/mix by the band’s own Ben Sandman make it clear where their particular angle on melancholic death-doom is coming from in its grim, wintry soul-dance. Where the Shadows Adorn follows 2020’s likewise-dead-on debut, In Somber Dreams (discussed here), but the stately, poised rollout of a song like “Rain” and the subdued sections before “Of Solitude and Stone” enters its last push, has all the hallmarks of forward growth in songwriting as well as in confidence on the part of the band. Front to back, Where the Shadows Adorn is deathly in its consumption, a fresh interpretation of a moment in history when the likes of Katatonia especially but also acts like My Dying Bride and others of the Peaceville ilk were considered on the extreme end of metal despite their sometimes-grueling tempos. The question remains whether this is where Mother of Graves will reside for the duration or if, like their influences, their depressive streak will grow more melodic with age. As it stands, adorned in shadow, their emotional and atmospheric weight is darkly majestic.
This self-titled four-songer is the first release from Helsinki, Finland’s Swarm, and though it’s billed as an EP, its 28 minutes are wrought with a substantial flow and unifying melodic complexity due both to the depth of vocal complementary arrangements between singer Hilja Vedenpää and guitarist Panu Willman, as well as the intertwining of Willman and Einari Toiviainen‘s guitars atop the rolling grooves of Leo Lehtonen‘s bass and Dani Paajanen‘s drumming; the whole band operating together with a sense of purpose that goes beyond the standard ‘riff out and see what happens’ beginning of so many bands. A line of rhythmic notes atop the riff in “Nevermore” around five minutes is emblematic of the flourish the band brings to the release, and one would note the grungier float in “There Again,” and the moodier acoustics of “Frail” and the more full-on duet in the verses of closer “We Should Know” — never mind the pre-fade chug that caps or the consuming heft offsetting those verses — as further distinguishing factors. Self-released in June 2022, Swarm‘s Swarm carries the air of a precursor, and though it’s not known yet to precisely what, the note to keep eyes and ears open is well received. To put it another way, they sound very much like they know what they want to be and to accomplish as a group. If they’re heading into a debut album next, they’re ready to take on the task.
The self-titled-era Alice in Chains-style vocals on Baardvader‘s second LP, Foolish Fires, make them a ready standout from the slew of up and coming European heavy rollers, but the Den Haag trio have a distinct blend of crunch in their tone and atmosphere surrounding that make a song such as “Understand” memorable for more than just the pleading repetitions of its title in the hook. Opener “Pray” sets a hard-hitting fluidity in motion and “Illuminate” answers back as it caps side A with (dat) bass and airy guitar in an open soundscape soon to be filled with a wall o’ fuzz and more dug-in grunge spirit. As they make their way toward the louder, vocally-layered, highlight-solo finish that the 10-minutes “Echoes” provides, there’s some trace of The Machine‘s noisier affinity in their tones on “Blinded Out,” including the solo, and “Prolong Eternity” culminates with intensity leading into the already-noted closer, but “Echoes” has the throatier shouts — like “Illuminate” before it — to back its case as the destination for where they’ve been headed all along, and works to send Foolish Fires out as a triumphant demonstration of Baardvader‘s appeal, which is relatively straightforward considering how much they nod along the way, their sound sharing grunge’s ability to be aggressive without being metal, heavy without being aggressive, and something of their own that still rings familiar. They’re just beginning to realize their potential, and this record is an important step in that process.
Rest easy, you’re in capable hands. And even if you didn’t hear Love Gang‘s 2020 debut, Dead Man’s Game (review here), the fact that the Denver four-piece went down to Austin, Texas, to record with Gian Ortiz of Amplified Heat producing tells you what you need to know about their boogie on Meanstreak. And what you need to know is largely that you want to hear it. As one might expect, ’70s vibes pervade the eight-tracker, which puts the guitars forward and de-emphasizes some of the organ and flute one might’ve encountered on their first LP, saving it for side B’s “Shake This Feelin’,” the six-minute stretchout “Headed Down to Mexico,” and the closing “Fade Away,” where it ties together with the thrust of earlier cuts like the circuitous “Blinded by Fear” (not an At the Gates cover, though that would be fun), or “Deathride” and the title-track, which shove shove shove as the opening pair so “Bad News” can complete the barnburning salvo. Tucked away before the finale is “Same Ol’ Blues,” a harmonica-laced acoustic cut dug out of your cool uncle’s record collection so that some day, if you’re lucky, some shitbird younger relation of yours may come along and find it here in your own record collection, thus perpetuating the cycle of boogie into perpetuity. Humanity should be so lucky.
The first and probably not last Astral Magic release of 2023, We Are Stardust, finds project-spearhead Santtu Laakso — songwriting, synth, bass, vocals, mixing, cover art, etc. — working mostly in solo fashion. Jonathan Segel of Camper Van Beethoven/Øresund Space Collective adds guitar and violin (he also mastered the recording), and Samuli Sailo plays guitar on “Drop It,” but the 11-song/60-minute space rocker bears the hallmarks of Laakso‘s Hawkwindian craft, the songs rife with layers of synth and effects behind the forward vocals, programmed drums behind bolstering the krautrock feel. There’s a mellower jam like “Bottled Up Inside,” which puts the guitar solo where voice(s) might otherwise be, and “Out in the Cold” touches loosely on Pink Floyd without giving over entirely to that impulse or meandering too far from its central progression, letting the swirling “Lost Planet” and “Violet Sky” finish with a return to the kosmiche of the opening title-track and “The Simulacra,” which feels almost like a return to ground after the proto-New Wave-y “They Walk Among Us,” though “ground” should be considered on relative terms there because by most standards, Astral Magic start, end, and remain sonically in the farther far out.
Thank You Lord for Satan, Thank You Lord for Satan
Self-recorded exploratory songcraft is writ large across the Buh Records self-titled debut from Thank You Lord for Satan — the Lima, Peru, two-piece of Paloma La Hoz (ex-Mitad Humana) and Henry Gates (Resplandor) — and the effect throughout the born-during-pandemic-lockdown eight-song offering is a kind of poised intimacy, artsy and performative as La Hoz handles most of but not all the lead vocals with Gates joining in, as on the moody shoegazer “Wet Morning” ahead of the pointedly Badalamenti-esque “Before EQ1.” Opener “A Million Songs Ago” is a rocker, and “Wet Morning” too in at least its including drums, but that’s only a piece of what Thank You Lord for Satan are digging into, as “Isolation” feels duly empty and religious and “Conversations al Amanecer” and “When We Dance” has a kind of electronic-inflected pop-psych at its core, willfully contrasting the folkish “Sad Song” (with Gates‘ lead vocal) and “Devine Destiny,” a side B counterpart to “Isolation” that reveals the hidden structure beneath all this go-wherever-ism, or at very least ends the album on a suitably contemplative note, some electronic snare-ish sound there rising in the mix before being cast off into the ether with the rest of everything.
Consider this less a review of The Corpse Vanishes, which is but a single Dec. 2022 three-songer among a glut of releases — including at least one more recent — from Herndon, Virginia’s Druid Stone available through their Bandcamp. The ethic of the band, as led by guitarist Demeter Capsalis, would seem to be as bootleg as possible. Shows are recorded and presented barebones. Rehearsal room demos like “The Corpse Vanishes” and “Night of the Living Dead” — which jams its way into “What Child is This” — here are as raw as raw gets, and in the 20-minute included jam on Electric Wizard‘s “Mother of Serpents,” which was recorded live on Dec. 2 and issued four days later, the power goes out for about three of the first five minutes and Capsalis, who has already explained that most of the band had other stuff to do and that’s why he’s jamming with two friends for the full set, has to keep it going on stage banter alone. Most bands would never release that kind of thing. I respect the shit out of it. Not just because I dig bootlegs — though I do — but because in this age of infinite everything, why not release everything? Don’t you know the fucking planet’s dying? Why the hell would you keep secrets? Who has time for that? Fuck it. Put it all out there. Absolutely. Whether you dig into The Corpse Vanishes or any other of the slew, you might just find that whatever you listen to afterward seems unnecessarily polished. And maybe it is.
