Welcome to Thursday of the Fall 202 Quarterly Review. It’s been a good run so far. three days and 30 records, about to be four and 40. I’ve got enough on my desktop and there’s enough stuff coming out this month that I could probably do a second Fall QR in November, and maybe stave off needing to do a double-one in December as I had been planning in the back of my head. Whatever, I’ll figure it out.

I hope you’ve been able to find something you dig. I definitely have, but that’s how it generally goes. These things are always a lot of work, and somehow I seem to plan them on the busiest weeks — today we’re volunteering at the grade school book fair; I think I’ll dig out my old Slayer God Hates Us All shirt from 20 years ago and see if it still fits. Sadly, I think we all know how that experiment will work out.

Anyway, busy times, good music, blah blah, let’s roll.

Quarterly Review #31-40:

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Darsombra, Dumesday Book

Forever touring and avant garde to their very marrow, ostensibly-Baltimorean duo Darsombra — Ann Everton on keys, vocals, live visuals, and who the hell knows what else, Brian Daniloski on guitar, a living-room pedal board, and engineering at the band’s home studio — unveil Dumesday Book as a 75-minute collection not only of works like “Call the Doctor” (posted here) or “Call the Doctor” (posted here), which appear as remixes, but their first proper album of this troubled decade after 2019’s Transmission (review here) saw them reach so far out into the cosmic thread to harness their bizarre stretches of bleeps and boops, manipulated vocals, drones, noise and suitably distraught collage in “Everything is Canceled” — which they answer later with “Still Canceled,” because charm — but the reassurance here is in the continuation of Daniloski and Everton‘s audio adventures, and their commitment to what should probably at this point in space-time be classified as free jazz remains unflinching. Squares need not apply, and if you’re into stuff like structure, there’s some of that, but all Darsombra ever need to get gone is a direction in which to head — literally or figuratively — so why not pick them all?

Darsombra on Instagram

Darsombra on Bandcamp

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Bottomless, The Banishing

Cavernous in its echo and with a grit of tone that is the aural equivalent of the feeling of pull in your hand when you make a doom claw, The Banishing is the second full-length from Italian doom rockers Bottomless. Working as the trio of vocalist/guitarist Giorgio Trombino (ex-Elevators to the Grateful Sky, etc.), drummer David Lucido (Assumption, among a slew of others) and bassist Sara Bianchin — the latter also of Messa and recently replaced in Bottomless by Laura Nardelli (Ponte del Diavolo, etc.) — the band follow their 2021 self-titled debut (review here) with an eight-track collection that comes across as its own vision of garage doom. It’s not about progressive flourish or elaborate production, but about digging into the raw creeper groove of “Guardians of Silence” or the righteous post-Pentagram chug-and-nod of “Let Them Burn.” It is not solely intended as worship for what’s come before. Doom-of-eld, the NWOBHM, ’70s proto splurges all abound, but in the vocal and guitar melody of “By the Sword of the Archangel” and the dramatic rolling finish of “Dark Waters” after the acoustic-led interlude “Drawn Into Yesterday,” in the gruel of “Illusion Sun,” they channel these elements through themselves and come out with an album that, for as dark and grim as it would likely sound to more than 99 percent of the general human population, is pure heart.

Bottomless on Facebook

Dying Victims Productions website

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The Death Wheelers, Chaos and the Art of Motorcycle Madness

Look. I don’t know The Death Wheelers personally at all. We don’t hang out on weekends. But the sample-laced (“We wanna be free to ride our machines without being hassled by the Man — and we wanna get loaded!” etc.), motorcycle-themed Québecois instrumental outfit sound on their second LP, the 12-track/40-minute riff-pusher Chaos and the Art of Motorcycle Madness, like they’re onto something. And again, I don’t know these cats at all. I don’t know what they do for work, what their lives are like, any of it. But if The Death Wheelers want to get out and give this record the support it deserves, the place they need to be is Europe. Yeah, I know there was The Picturebooks, but they were clean-chrome and The Death Wheelers just cracked a smile and showed you the fly that got splattered on their front tooth while they were riding — sonically speaking. The dust boogie of “Lucifer’s Bend,” the duly stoned “Interquaalude” ahead of the capper duo of “Sissy Bar Strut (Nymphony 69)” and “Cycling for Satan Part II” and the blowout roll in “Ride into the Röt (Everything Lewder Than Everything Else)” — this is a band who should bypass America completely for touring and focus entirely on Europe. Because the US will come around, to be sure, but not for another three or four month-long Euro stints get the point across. I don’t know that that’ll happen or it won’t, but they sound ready.

The Death Wheelers on Facebook

RidingEasy Records store

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Caivano, Caivano

The career arc of guitarist Phil Caivano — and of course he does other stuff as well, including vocals on his self-titled solo-project’s debut, Caivano, but some people seem to have been born to hold a guitar in their hands and he’s one of those; see also Bob Balch — is both longer and broader than his quarter-century as guitarist and songwriting contributor to Monster Magnet, but the NJ heavy rock stalwarts will nonetheless be the closest comparison point to these 10 tracks and 33 minutes, a kind of signature sleazy roll in “Talk to the Dead,” the time-to-get-off-your-ass push of “Come and Get Me” at the start or the punkier “Verge of Yesterday” — touch of Motörhead there seeming well earned — a cosmic ripper on a space backbeat in “Fun & Games,” but all of this is within a tonal and production context that’s consistent across the span, malleable in style, unshakable in structure. Closer “Face the Music” is the longest cut at 5:04 and is a drumless spacey experiment with vocals and a guitar figure wrapped around a central drone, and that adds yet more character to the proceedings. I’d wonder how long some of these songs or parts have been around or if Caivano is going to put a group together — could be interesting — and make a go of it apart from his ‘main band,’ but he’s long since established himself as an exceptional player, and listening to some of this material highlights contributions of style and substance to shaping Monster Magnet as well. Phil Caivano: songwriter.

Caivano on Instagram

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Entropía, Eclipses

Together for nearly a decade, richly informed by the progressive and space rock(s) of the 1970s, prone to headspinning feats of lead guitar like that in the back end of second cut “Dysania,” Entropía offer their second full-length in Eclipses, a five-track/40-minute excursion of organ-inclusive cosmic prog that reminds of Hypnos 69 in the warm serenity at the start of “Tarbes,” threatens the epic on seven-minute opener “Thesan” and delivers readily throughout; a work of scope that runs deep in the pairing of “Tarbes” and “Caleidoscopia” — both of which top nine minutes long — but it’s there that Entropía reveal the full spectrum of light they’re working with, whether it’s that tonal largesse that rears up in the latter or the jazzy kosmiche shove in the payoff of the former. And the drums come forward to start closer “Polaris,” which follows, as Entropía nestle into one more groovy submersion, finding heavy shuffle in the drums — hell yeah — and holding that tension until it’s time for the multi-tiered finish and only-necessary peaceful comedown. It’s inevitable that some records in a Quarterly Review get written about and I never listen to them again. I’ll be back to this one.

Entropía on Facebook

Clostridium Records store

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Ghorot, Wound

God damn, Ghorot, leave some nasty for the rest of the class. The Boise, Idaho, three-piece — vocalist/bassist Carson Russell (also Ealdor Bealu), guitarist/vocalist Chad Remains (ex-Uzala) and drummer/vocalist Brandon Walker — launch their second LP, Wound, with the gloriously screamed, righteously-coated-in-filth, choking-on-mud extreme sludge they appropriately titled “Dredge.” And fuck if it doesn’t get meaner from there as Ghorot — working with esteemed producer Andy Patterson (The Otolith, etc.) and releasing through Lay Bare Recordings and King of the Monsters Records — take the measure of your days and issue summary judgment in the negative through the mellow-harshing bite of “In Asentia,” the least brutal part of which kind of sounds like High on Fire and the death/black metal in centerpiece “Corsican Leather.” All of which is only on side A. On side B, “Canyon Lands” imagines a heavy Western meditation — shades of Ealdor Bealu in the guitar — that retains its old-wizard vocal gurgle, and capper “Neanderskull” finally pushes the entire affair off of whatever high desert cliffside from which it’s been proclaiming all this uberdeath and into a waiting abyss of willfully knuckledragging blower deconstruction. The really scary shit is these guys’ll probably do another record after this one. Yikes.

Ghorot on Facebook

Lay Bare Recordings website

King of the Monsters Records website

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Moozoonsii, Outward

With the self-release of Outward, heavy progressive psych instrumentalists Moozoonsii complete a duology of pandemic-constructed outings that began with last year’s (of course) Inward, and to do so, the trio based in Nantes, France, continue to foster a methodology somewhere between metal and rock, finding ground in precision riffing in the 10-minute “Nova” or in the bumps and crashes after eight minutes into the 13-minute “Far Waste,” but they’re just as prone to jazzy skronk-outs like in the midsection solo of “Lugubris,” and the entire release is informed by the unfolding psychedelic meditationscape of “Stryge” at the start, so by no, no, no means at all are they doing one thing for the duration. “Toxic Lunar Vibration,” which splits the two noted extended tracks, brings the sides together as if to emphasize this point, not so much fitting those pointed angles together as delighting in the ways in which they do and don’t fit at certain times as part of their creative expression. Pairing that impulse with the kind of heavy-as-your-face-if-your-face-had-a-big-boulder-on-it fuzz in “Tauredunum” is a hell of a place to wind up. The unpredictable character of the material that surrounds only makes that ending sweeter and more satisfying.

Moozoonsii on Facebook

Moozoonsii on Bandcamp

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Death Wvrm, Enter / The Endless

An initial two tracks from UK trio Death Wvrm, both instrumental, surfaced earlier this year, one in Spring around the time of their appearance at Desertfest London — quiet a coup for a seemingly nascent band; but listening to them I get it — and after. “Enter” was first, “The Endless” second, and the two of them tell a story unto themselves; narrative seeming to be part of the group’s mission from this point of outset, as each single comes with a few sentences of accompanying scene-setting. Certainly not going to complain about the story, and the band have some other surprises in store in these initial cuts, be it the bright, mid-period Beatles-y tone in the guitar for “The Endless” (it’s actually only about four and a half minutes) or the driving fuzz that takes hold after the snap of snare at 2:59, or the complementary layer of guitar in “Enter” that speaks to broader ambitions sound-wise almost immediately on the part of the band. “Enter” and “The Endless” both start quiet and get louder — the scorch in “Enter” isn’t to be discounted — but they do so in differing ways, and so while one listens to the first two cuts a band is putting out and expects growth in complexity and method, that’s actually just fine, because it’s exactly also what one is left wanting after the two songs are done: more. I’m not saying show up at their house or anything, but maybe give a follow on Bandcamp and keep an eye.

Death Wvrm on Instagram

Death Wvrm on Bandcamp

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Mudness, Mudness

Safe to assume some level of self-awareness on the part of Brazilian trio Mudness who, after unveiling their first single “R.I.P.” in 2020 make their self-titled full-length debut with seven songs of hard-burned wizard riffing, the plod of “Gone” (also an advance single, if not by three years) and guitarist Renan Casarin‘s Obornian moans underscoring the disaffected stoner idolatry. Joined by Fernando Dal Bó, whose bass work is crucial to the success of the entire release — can’t roll it if it ain’t heavy — and drummer Pedro Silvano, who adds malevolent swing to the slow march forward of “This End Body,” the centerpiece of the seven-song/35-minute long player. There’s an interlude, “Lamuria,” that could probably have shown up earlier, but one should keep in mind that the sense of onslaught between the likes of “Evil Roots” and “Yellow Imp” is part of the point, and likewise that they’re saving an extra layer of aural grime for “Final Breeze,” where they answer the more individual take of “This End Body” with a reach into melodicism and mark their appeal both in what they might bring to their sound moving forward and the planet-sucked-anyhow despondent crush of this collection. Putting it on the list for the best debuts of 2023. It’s not innovative, or trying to be, but that doesn’t stop it from accomplishing its aims in slow, mostly miserable stride.

Mudness on Facebook

Mudness on Bandcamp

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The Space Huns, Legends of the Ancient Tribes

I’m not generally one to tell you how to spend your money, but if you take a look over at The Space Huns‘ Bandcamp page (linked below), you’ll see that the Hungarian psych jammers’ entire digital discography is €3.50. Again, not trying to tell you how to live your life, but Legends of the Ancient Tribes, the Szeged-based trio’s new hour-long album, has a song on it called “Goats on a Discount Private Space Shuttle Voyage,” and from where I sit that entitles the three-piece of guitarist Csaba Szőke, bassist Tamás Tikvicki and drummer Mátyás Mozsár to that cash and perhaps more. I could just as easily note “Sgt. Taurus on Coke” at the start of the outing or “The Melancholic Stag Beetle Who Got Inspired by Corporate Motivational Coaches” — or the essential fact that in addition to the best song titles I’ve seen all year (again, and perhaps more), the jams are ace. Chemistry to spare, patience when it’s called for but malleable enough to boogie or nod and sound no less natural doing either, while keeping an exploratory if not improvisational — and it might be that too — character to the material. It’s not a minor undertaking at 59 minutes, but between the added charm of the track names and the grin-inducing nod of “Cosmic Cities of the Giant Snail Kingdom,” they make it easy.

The Space Huns on Facebook

The Space Huns on Bandcamp

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This is a band who will probably be more missed than they know. Spanish heavy psychedelic rockers Arenna formed in 2005 in Vitoria-Gasteiz, part of Basque Country in Spain, and have announced that they’re done and that their impending third full-length is called off. Whatever stage of making it they might have been in, be it writing, recording or piecing together material in some other way, the prospect of being denied a follow-up to 2015’s Given to Emptiness (review here) and their 2011 debut album, Beats of Olarizu (discussed here; review here) — both issued through the esteemed Nasoni Records — is a sincere loss for the listeners who’ve been waiting for its arrival, and I count myself among that number.

Immediately my head goes three different places upon seeing their short mic-drop of a breakup announcement — literally, “Arenna is over and the new album won’t see the light.” First, as noted, bummer. Second, never say never. If we have to used the past tense about them, Arenna were a band that still had a lot to offer their audience, in the progressive breadth of their material, the warmth of their heavy psychedelic tonality and the serene pastoralism of their atmospheres. Maybe they’ll never be convinced to get back together and finish off what could’ve been, or maybe they will. This is rock and roll and even the most shut of doors can potentially reopen. History teaches us this again and again.

But for now at the very least, Arenna are done. Their final recording was the single “Οιδίπους 70º30´S (Cuidaos del Enigma)” that was included as part of Spinda Records’ sprawling Grados. Minutos. Segundos. split 7″ compilation (featured here) encompassing some of the Spanish underground’s finest acts. Arenna certainly deserved to be featured there as they were, and if indeed their third LP never surfaces, their capstone track is both a promise unfulfilled and well placed in the company it’s keeping among acts who no doubt have taken cues from them along the way. Their Bandcamp lists a show in October, but Bandcamp has its own mind about these things. The last show Arenna played was July 7 at the local festival Korterraza in Vitoria-Gasteiz.

The yet-unmentioned third place my head goes with this announcement is to wonder what happened to make them want to stop at all. This was a vibrant, creative band, who seemed to have more in the works and more to say. Whatever their reason for cutting their tenure short — and calling it “short” is saying something for a band who were together for 17 years — they will always have left an ellipses where that record could have been.

Their brief post follows, as seen on socials:

R.I.P.

2005-2022

Arenna is over and the new album won’t see the light.

Thank you to everyone who has been a part, helped and/or supported.

https://www.facebook.com/arennarock
https://www.instagram.com/arennarock/
https://arenna.bandcamp.com/
https://arenna.bigcartel.com/

Arenna, “Cuidaos del Enigma”

Arenna, Given to Emptiness (2015)

Arenna, Beats of Olarizu (2011)

Based in Vitoria-Gasteiz, which is the capital of Northern Spain’s autonomous Basque Country — if you’re American and you know the word ‘Basque,’ there’s a decent chance it’s followed by ‘separatist’ in your consciousness, since the movement there was years in bringing autonomy to fruition — Arenna issued their first demo in 2007 and followed it with their debut album, Beats of Olarizu (review here), in 2011. The Basque distinction is important to note, since Olárizu refers to a specific place as well: a meadow area, lake and hillside on the outskirts of Vitoria-Gasteiz that was a village centuries ago and now seems to serve mostly as parkland. A pastoral setting is likewise crucial toward understanding where Arenna were coming from with this album.

In terms of sheer style, Arenna — comprised then of drummer Guille, bassist Javi, vocalist Txus, and guitarists Kiké and R. Ruiz, plus guests on the album like Jony Moreno of The Soulbreaker Company on backing vocals for four of the six tracks and co-producer José López Gil on Hammond for “Eclipse,” plus Jaime Zuasti (Electric Riders) on keys for the second half of the tracklisting — were at the vanguard of a next generation of heavy psychedelic rock in Europe. One thinks of a band like Sungrazer in the Netherlands, who made their debut the year before, or then-Nasoni Records labelmates like Electric Moon and even Stoned Jesus — acts who began to flourish at the start of the 2010s and would begin to define heavy psych as a style in the wake of progenitors like Colour Haze or Spanish spearheads Viaje a 800.

The difference between Arenna and some of the biggest names of this generation of bands is productivity more than quality. Beats of Olarizu sounds raw these nine years later, and particularly in comparison to its more lush, proggier 2015 follow-up, Given to Emptiness (review here), but the roots of what they’d become are in the first record to be sure, and from the is-it-actually-playing-oh-okay-there-it-is patient start of opener “Morning Light,” Arenna made it clear they were working on no one’s time but their own. Fluid tempos, melodic reach, a rolling crunch to their tonality that would soften on some of the extended and jammier stretches in “Eclipse” (11:42) and closer “Metamorphosis in Ic [0,9168 g/cm³]” (19:08), there was still an edge of grunge to Txus‘ vocals and verses, but as “Morning Light” gave way to “Receiving the Liquid Writings,” it was clear that Arenna were onto a vibe that went beyond straightforward stoner/desert rock idolatry.

In addition to its quiet start, “Morning Light” — though packed lyrically — doesn’t ever feel rushed in terms of its instrumental elements, and its last couple minutes take off into an airy concluding solo that sets a more open mood for everything that follows, so that even as “Receiving the Liquid Writings” starts out with an earthy shuffle its more spacious, layered-vocal midsection and jam-into-push-into-jam finish make sense. Likewise the boogie that defines “Fall of the Crosses,” which is the shortest cut on Beats of Olarizu at 5:09. It stays straightforward in its structure without even the partial departure of the song before it, but still carries that atmosphere set forth by the opener, and as Arenna shift to side B with “Eclipse,” that subtle establishing of psychedelic underpinnings comes to fruition in satisfying and decidedly switched-on ways.

Already noted, the guest Hammond from José López Gil does much to complement the acoustic guitar in the extended intro of “Eclipse,” and as the song makes its way into its full tonal launch, it does so with a readiness to shift back and forth in spirit and energy. This is essentially Arenna discovering the heavy psychedelia within their sound. It is a languid, flowing progression that is warm sounding and grooving in a way that builds toward an apex, is not still by any means, but neither gives any ground in terms of patience in its delivery. That is, Arenna are putting forth the vision that the first three tracks on Beats of Olarizu were driving toward, and it’s the impression that would come to define the album as a whole, and indeed, the band’s style as well.

“The Strangest of Lives,” beginning with wind and far-back drums, has the task of providing separation between “Eclipse” and “Metamorphosis in Ic [0,9168 g/cm³],” and as one might expect, it returns somewhat to ground in its basic composition. But note that the central riff still carries a swirl, as though residual from the song before, and that as the track moves through its second half, it ends up pushing even further into drift than “Eclipse” actually managed to go, essentially pulling itself down to rebuild along a course of hypnotic liquefaction. The big surprise is when it turns out to be a linear movement with its own payoff, but that advent is only welcome ahead of what’s to come in the side C-consuming “Metamorphosis in Ic [0,9168 g/cm³].”

Running 30:48 on the CD version of Beats of Olarizu and edited to the 19-plus of the digital/LP — still plenty — “Metamorphosis in Ic [0,9168 g/cm³]” is every bit the complex mathematical epic its title hints toward. Is this humanity becoming light? Is that the ‘c’ we’re talking about? If so, fair enough. The song never actually hits that kind of speed or space-rocking motorik-ness, but is plenty cosmic just the same, with an exploratory feel that only becomes more prevalent the longer it goes. A jam, in other words. It’s a jam. But with a resonance that extends beyond the instrumental chemistry on which it’s based, effects creating an atmosphere that continues as the longform drone at the finish takes hold, concluding at around 15 minutes.

Where you go from there depends on your format. The vinyl’s side D has the two tracks from Arenna‘s 2007 demo — “Pilgrimage” and “Yeah Man!” — and the meditative instrumental psych-piece “Pain Eraser.” The latter is included in the Bandcamp digital edition as well as a separate track, but on the CD it follows a few minutes of silence, bringing the total runtime of “Metamorphosis in Ic [0,9168 g/cm³]” to 30:48 and the whole of Beats of Olarizu to 68 minutes. Significant, particularly for a debut.

But one could say the same of Beats of Olarizu on the whole. As much of Spain’s heavy rock and psych legacy stems from the southern region of the country, in Algeciras, as well as in hotspots like Madrid, or Barcelona in the northeast, Arenna‘s take was immediately their own and distinct for its progressive flourish and prescient-in-hindsight nuance. The band hasn’t been heard from much since Given to Emptiness, but Txus released the solo album Ellis (review here) in 2019 under the moniker Doctor Sax, so there’s life out there somewhere.

As always, I hope you enjoy.

Thanks for reading.

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These days are long. After the collective exhale that was the final (depends on whom you ask, apparently) result of the presidential election last week, an uptick in COVID-19 cases — over 160,000 new cases yesterday, according to the New York Times — has ensured that anxiety remains the defining feature of general existence. We’ve been back on self-imposed mostly-lockdown for the last two weeks or so. Minimal outings even to the grocery store — I’ve started getting stuff delivered — minimal interaction outside the immediate bubble. The Patient Mrs.’ family had a birthday party last weekend for her grandmother, who turned 94. There were eight people there including the three children — The Pecan and two older cousins — and it felt like an extravagance.

The Patient Mrs. still has to go to campus a couple days a week, but she reports no one really shows up to class and she rarely sees anyone around the office. We’re trying our best.

The Pecan still goes to preschool. I have to wonder how much longer that’s going to last.

That will be a whole new list of concerns, but either way, long days. With the last few weeks of the semester playing out toward an early end circa Thanksgiving, I haven’t seen much of The Patient Mrs. in the last month or so as she’s been working constantly, even at home, and I’ve had The Pecan. Omi, the dog, has largely been staying with my family, which seems to be to the benefit of all, including them and especially the dog herself, who hangs out and snuggles and plays with the dogs there and oddly enough seems much happier there than she is being stuck in the kitchen, getting smacked by The Pecan or yelled at by me for biting or pissing on the floor as she is/was here. She’s still “our dog” in the sense of being registered at this address, and I’m fairly certain we’ll be paying to have her spayed, but she’s been lodging up with my mother and sister and that’s been just fine all around.

New Gimme Metal show today at 5PM: http://gimmemetal.com

You know the drill there. Thanks for listening if you do. I didn’t talk this episode because I’m tired of saying the same shit and listening to myself drone on about how this or that band is awesome. Blah blah blah. My voice.

Next week… starts with a Samsara Blues Experiment premiere. That’ll be good. Then some Cloud Catcher, Grayceon, Morpholith, Vessel of Light. Should be fun. Busy, like always.

Speaking of, I might need to sneak in an extra Quarterly Review before December. My desktop is getting pretty full of records needing writeups and, well, might as well make the most of it.

Also considering doing an end-of-2020 questionnaire along the lines of the Days of Rona series earlier this year. Still putting together questions for it before I send them out. If you have any suggestions, please drop a comment here.

Beyond that, I wish you a great and safe weekend. Have fun, hydrate, be safe, be safe, be safe, wear a mask, eat some leafy greens, do good work and try to be nice. If you need anything from my end, you know where to find me.

Thanks for reading.

FRM.

The Obelisk Forum

The Obelisk Radio

The Obelisk merch

So, it would seem Txus Dr. Sax, aka Doctor Sax, aka the vocalist of Arenna, is a big reader. Awesome. The world could probably use a couple more of them. Across three full-lengths under the moniker of Dr. Sax (or with “Doctor” spelled out; either seems cool), the good doctor has explored a world of literature from William S. Burroughs and Charles Baudelaire to Roberto Bolaño and, Rimbaud and Aldus Huxley. I might recommend he hit up some Toni Morrison, Margaret Atwood and Kurt Vonnegut, but beyond that, it’s hard to argue with the canon. It becomes particularly relevant to his new EP, Ellis, because up to now, all of his songs have been titled for authors’ last names: “Poe,” and “Wilde,” and “Arbulú” and so on. Ellis, which is the first Doctor Sax EP, would seem to depart from that approach.

That’s not a small change after three records, but unless “Sille” and its companion “Llise” — both anagrams of the EP’s title — are figures in literature I’ve never heard of, which is certainly possible, the EP looks to be Doctor Sax branching in a new direction. That notion further manifests in the arrangement of “Sille” itself, as Doctor Sax — who works with producers Koldo and Jabolo Sagastume as he did for 2016’s Vol. III —  explores a marked depth of arrangement involving cello and viola, percussion, harmonica and sundry effects around the foundation of acoustic guitar and vocals, taking the folk-style approach he’s brought to past material and expanding it outward in terms of atmosphere across the nearly-nine-minute song. “Llise,” at just under seven minutes, is somewhat more grounded and solo-feeling, but even that turns to looped guitar to develop a musical conversation with itself, its largely instrumental progression building as it moves forward to some vocals and tambourine late in the track.

In the video for “Sille” below, you can see Doctor Sax himself recording that part. It ends in laughter, which is fair enough. The whole clip seems to have been shot as the “Sille” and “Llise” were put together in the studio, and it captures the spirit of creativity at the heart of the material. It’s hard to gauge ultimately whether Ellis represents a new modus for Doctor Sax overall or is a kind of experimentalist one-off left-turn — the answer may indeed be at your local library — but there’s no denying the soul put into “Sille” and watching it unfold in the studio setting in the video below, the joy of its making is palpable.

Ellis is out Feb. 11 on Spinda Records, Cosmic Tentacles and Olarizu Records.

Hope you dig it:

Doctor Sax, “Sille” official video premiere

The EP is the fourth album by Arenna’s singer Doctor Sax:
‘Mantras Of The Rainy Night” (2012)
‘Vol. II’ (2014)
‘Vol. III’ (2016)
‘Ellis’ (2019)
Release date: 11th February 2019 (Spinda Records, Cosmic Tentacles and Olarizu Records)
Pre-order now available at https://drsax.bandcamp.com

Doctor Sax is:
Doctor Sax: Vocals and guitar
Guille: Percussion
Imanol Mtz. Hervias: Viola
David Sagastume: Cello and handclaps
Koldo Sagastume: Handclaps

Dr. Sax on Bandcamp

Cosmic Tentacles on Bandcamp

Spinda Records website

You know how this goes by now, right? Well, okay, except that because I skipped the Quarterly Review that I otherwise would’ve done in September (or, more likely, October), I’m doubling-up this time. 100 reviews instead of 50. Two full weeks of 10 albums per day. Will I survive? Yeah, probably. Will it be completely overwhelming? Already is. Thanks for asking.

I’ll save the summaries of the year that was for list-time, which is fast approaching, but consider the fact that there are well more than 100 albums I could include in this roundup emblematic of just how vibrant heavy rock and doom are in the US, EU, UK, Australia and elsewhere. It’s a universal thing, and accordingly, there’s a whole universe of it to explore. This is just a sampling.

But yeah, time’s a wastin’, so let’s get to it.

Quarterly Review #1-10:

Trippy Wicked and the Cosmic Children of the Knight, Stakes n Scale

An acoustic EP from Trippy Wicked and the Cosmic Children of the Knight — who, let’s face it, were way ahead of the curve when it comes to the UK scene’s thing for long and ridiculous band names — is a considerable departure from where they were two years ago on their split/collaboration with GurT (review here), but those familiar with the band might recall their past penchant for the occasional unplugged cover recorded for YouTube. Chris West (also Crawling for Carrion, Glanville, etc.), who engineered the recording and plays guitar, and vocalist Peter Holland (also Elephant Tree) revamp Trippy Wicked‘s “Up the Stakes” from 2012’s Going Home (review here), and cover “Scale the Mountain” by Stubb, of which both were members when the song was written. Together, they make for a nine-minute showcase for the character in Holland‘s voice and the melodies and craft at root in both tracks, and while its arrival feels like kind of a one-off, it’s certainly no less welcome for that.

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Trippy Wicked on Bandcamp

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Dunbarrow, II

The novelty of new bands playing through vintage gear in order to capture a heavy ’70s sound may have faded, but like all subgenres, as time goes on, the retro-ist style continues to shift and change as bands like Dunbarrow bring new character to established tenets. Their second LP for RidingEasy is aptly-titled II and sways between honoring the likes of Pentagram and acts like Witchcraft who’ve helped craft that band’s hindsight-founded legacy. Dunbarrow‘s noodly style, restrained rhythmic shove and ride-the-riff melody on “Weary Lady” and the foresty creep of “The Demon Within” capture the vibe well, the latter occurring in a second half of II populated with “The Wolf” and “Witches of the Woods Pt. II,” a sequel to the closer of their 2016 self-titled debut (review here) that here leads to the more severe roll of the finale, “On this Night,” emblematic of the changing character of the band even as it reaffirms in its tense midsection the roots from which they sprung.

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RidingEasy Records on Bandcamp

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The Vintage Caravan, Gateways

With their third record and second for Nuclear Blast, Icelandic trio The Vintage Caravan affirm not only their passion for the boogie of old on cuts like “The Way” and the strutting “Hidden Streams,” but secure a place as being worthy of the consideration they’ve been given to a degree by the wider Continental European heavy underground. They are strikingly mature in their approach for still being a relatively young band, and their albums have worked quickly to develop a character that is becoming more and more their own. They do the fests and they tour, and so on, but they seem to be engaged in building their listenership one pair of ears at a time. Having a metal-major label behind them hasn’t hurt their promotional cause, but frankly, they’re not as big as they should be for the level of work they’re doing, and even with songs like “Reset” and “Reflections” and the composed-strictly-for-vinyl-sounding closer “Tune Out” to their credit, they’re still largely a word of mouth band, especially in the US. Well, consider this your word of mouth. If you haven’t heard Gateways yet, you should get on that.

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The Vintage Caravan at Nuclear Blast

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Minsk & Zatokrev, Bigod

Post-metallic powerhouses Minsk and Zatokrev — both of whom hit their 15th anniversary last year — teamed up for a European tour this Fall. To mark the occasion, Consouling Sounds and Czar of Crickets celebrated with Bigod, a split with two tracks from each band arranged in alternating order — Minsk, then Zatokrev, etc. — intended to highlight the symmetry between them not just of circumstance and root influence in the Neurosis school of atmospheric sludge, but the fact that they share these commonalities despite their origins in Illinois and Switzerland, respectively. Each band opens with a longer track (double points) in Minsk‘s “Invoke/Revive” and Zatokrev‘s “Silent Gods,” each of which push past 13 minutes as likely at any moment to be pummeling as ambient, and follows with two shorter cuts, Minsk‘s “Salvatore” swelling theatrically from its minimalist beginnings while Zatokrev‘s “The Chalice and the Dagger” seems to explode from the foundation the prior band laid out. It must have been a hell of a tour, but whether you saw it or not, the split is a welcome conglomeration from two of post-metal’s strongest acts.

Minsk on Thee Facebooks

Zatokrev on Thee Facebooks

Consouling Sounds website

Czar of Crickets Productions website

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Owl Maker, Sky Road

Self-recording guitarist/vocalist Simon Tuozzoli (Vestal Claret, ex-Guerra, etc.) leads Connecticut-based three-piece Owl Maker through a complex thematic of Native American folklore and heavy metal classicism. The NWOBHM plays a strong role in his riffing style, but one of the two tracks included on the two-songer single Sky Road, “Owl City,” also veers into more extreme territory with a departure from clean vocals to harsher screaming. All told, it’s about eight minutes of music, but Sky Road nonetheless follows Owl Maker‘s earlier-2018 EP, Paths of the Slain (review here), with an uptick in melodic presence in the vocals of Tuozzoli and bassist Jessie May and progression in the chemistry between the two of them and drummer Chris Anderson, and with the fluidity of their transitions between various styles of heavy, their scope seems only to be growing. To wit, “Sky Road” itself is only 3:42, but still demonstrates a clear-headed compositional method based around storytelling and a subtly encompassing range. Whether it’s early warning for what they do next or a conceptual one-off, its quick run seems just to be begging for a 7″ pressing.

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Owl Maker on Bandcamp

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Orbital Junction, Orbital Junction

The Londonderground continues to produce acts ready and willing to worship at the altar of riffs. Orbital Junction‘s self-release debut EP makes an impression not only because of the markedly pro-shop production by Chris Fielding at Skyhammer Studios and the cover art by SoloMacello, but the hooks to live up to those high standards. “6 ft. 2” follows opener “Space Highway” with a bit of dudely chestbeating — note: I don’t know how tall any of them actually are — but the swing of EP centerpiece “Devil’s Double” and the bounce of “Gypsy Queen” speak for the four-piece’s roots and appreciation of straightforward heavy, void of pretense and tapping into an easy mid-paced fluidity that slows up somewhat on closer “Pagan” without really losing the central groove of the offering overall. They’ll have their work cut out for them in distinguishing themselves over the longer term amongst London’s burl-fueled hordes, but their first outing shows their instincts headed in the right direction in terms of songwriting, performance and presentation.

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Orbital Junction on Bandcamp

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Bourbon, Fuente Vieja

Crisp but warm in its tone and presentation, rife with melody and carrying a laid back spirit despite a fervent underlying groove — the bass on “El Sendero” rests well within gotta-hear-it territory — Spanish purveyors Bourbon emobody some of the best of post-Viaje a 800 Andalusian heavy rock and roll on their third LP, Fuente Vieja (on Spinda). Their fuzz makes its presence known early on “Si Véis La Luz, Corred” and continues as a running theme as tracks like “A Punto de Arder” and the side-A-capping title-cut grow increasingly progressive. There’s room for some shuffle, of course, as side B begins with “La Triste Realidad,” and the slower “Hacia el Sol” gracefully blends electrified wah and acoustic guitars beneath a well-timed standout vocal performance, but the highlight might be eight-minute closer “Destierro,” which seems to bring everything else under one roof while tapping into a poppier structure early — acoustics and electrics aligning effectively circa two minutes in — while providing the album with a graceful and fittingly organic-sounding finale.

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Spinda Records webstore

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Birnam Wood, Wicked Worlds

Birnam Wood don’t have time for bullshit, but they do have time for a bit of shenanigans. Thus the 1:44 surge of opener “Time of Purification” leads into the sample-laden roller groove of “Richard Dreyfuss” on their as-of-now-self-released Wicked Worlds, and the “Hole in the Sky”-style “Dunsinane” shifts into the more blown-out “Early Warning,” which, by the time its tectonic low end kicks in, is indeed something of a clarion. At seven-tracks/34-minutes, Wicked Worlds is somewhere between an EP and an LP, but I’d argue it as the latter with the flow from “Greenseer” into the massive “A Song for Jorklum” and the seven-minute finale “Return to Samarkand” making for a righteous side B, but either way, it’s a Boston-crafted assault of grit-tone and aggro doom that finds the band not overwhelmed by the heft of their own tones but able to move and manipulate them to serve the purposes of their songs. Those purposes, incidentally, are mostly about kicking ass. Which they do. Copiously.

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Birnam Wood on Bandcamp

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Wytch Hazel, II: Sojourn

It would not seem to be a coincidence that UK self-aware four-piece Wytch Hazel — guitarists Conlin Hendra (also vocals) and Alex Haslam, bassist Matt Gatley and drummer Jack Spencer nod to Wishbone Ash‘s Argus with the cover of their second LP, II: Sojourn (on Bad Omen). They do a lot of that kind of nodding, with a sound culled from a valiant blend of classic progressive and early NWOBHM styles that makes the point of how closely related the two have always been. “The Devil is Here” starts out at a fervent gallop with just an underpinning of Thin Lizzy, while the later “See My Demons” shifts from its steady roll and rousing hook into an acoustic/electric break that seems to pull from Jethro Tull as much as Scorpions. At 10 tracks/45 minutes, they have plenty of time to flesh out their ideas, and they do precisely that, whether it’s the careful unfolding around the keys and acoustics of closer “Angel Take Me” or the over-the-top instrumental push of “Chorale” or the moodier “Wait on the Wind,” the wah solo of which is a highlight on its own. There are some burgeoning harmonies in Hendra‘s vocals, which is an impulse he should follow as it would only enhance the material, but after making their debut with 2016’s Prelude, II: Sojourn finds Wytch Hazel sounding comfortable and well established in their niche.

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Bad Omen Records on Bandcamp

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The Soulbreaker Company, Sewed with Light

Progressive, expansive and engaging, the sixth album from Spanish sextet The Soulbreaker Company, Sewed with Light (on Underground Legends), taps into classically Floydian influences on songs like “The Word, the Blade” while still keeping a foot in heavy rock on the prior “Together,” and setting a quick course into a varied sonic persona via the seven-minute opener and longest track (immediate points) “Inner Dark.” Hypnotizing not necessarily with drift but with sheer willful exploration, The Soulbreaker Company work with a variety of key sounds and craft-minded ranging guitar in order to effect an atmosphere of thoughtful songwriting even in their most outwardly trippy moments. The sneering semi-psychedelic rock of “Avoid the Crash” and the more stripped-down roll of “Arrhythmia” (video premiere here) lead the way into closer “In the Beginning,” which marks yet another departure with its grandeur of string sounds and electronic beats leading to a chugging big finale. As with the bulk of The Soulbreaker Company‘s work, it requires an active ear, but Sewed with Light both encourages and well earns consideration as more than background noise.

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Underground Legends on Bandcamp

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Basque Country progressive heavy rockers The Soulbreaker Company release their sixth LP, Sewed with Light, Nov. 30 on Underground Legends Records. It is their first outing through the label after serving as a longtime staple act for Alone Records, but regardless of who’s putting it out, the band’s sound remains unmistakably their own. In their more than 13 years together, the band has been through a number of lineup changes and have undertaken a persistent sonic evolution, and as the latest manifestation of that, the 11-track/48-minute Sewed with Light brings an overarching pastoral feel to still-weighted grooves and tones. With vocalist Jony Moreno out front surrounded by his fellow founders in guitarists Asier Fernandez (also vocals) and Dani Triñanes, melody runs central throughout the proceedings while Javi Free makes an impression on synth in “Together” and piano in “You Guess but You Don’t Understand,” and the drums of Andoni Ortiz and bass of Illan Arribas tie together a vision of progressive heavy informed by the likes of Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin that nonetheless seeks to repeat the work of neither of them. Beginning with its longest track (immediate points) in the seven-minute “Inner Dark,” Sewed with Light offers a balance between a rich, textured sound and a graceful live execution that’s emblematic of their sonic maturity but still exciting to hear.

Acoustics, fuzzed electrics, a variety of keys and malleable vocals all come together to create the tapestry evoked in the material, which is peaceful even at its heaviest moments and has precious little time for needless aggression. Even as “The Word, the Blade” picks up into its chorus, the feel remains easy and accessible, and as they cap with the electronics-and-drone piece “In the Beginning,” the vibe remains more experimentalist than angry. Though it’s relatively short at 2:57, “Arrhythmia” represents Sewed with Light well. Preceded by the keyboard/Mellotron-laced “Avoid the Crash,” it’s more uptempo than some of what surrounds, but set as the penultimate inclusion on the tracklist, it’s obviously meant as a last-minute kick to get listeners on board for the far-out closer that follows. Like the best of the classics from which they take influence, The Soulbreaker Company are able to distill a grand or epic feel down into a song that’s tight in its structure and doesn’t need to hit the 10-minute mark to make its impression emotionally. Centerpiece “Persephone” brings together Free‘s spacey synth and the lead guitars in a one-into-the-next trade of solos and still has room in its five minutes for a memorable hook and an engaging melody. With the early prog-out of the quick “I am the Void” and the breadth of the subsequent “The End of the Day” and “Together,” there’s much for listeners to dig into, but whether one sits and parses through every move, shift in tone and groove, every part change and chorus, or if one simply goes along for the ride, The Soulbreaker Company offer an enticing invite to take its component songs on and live with them for a while. Some records you hear and that’s it. Sewed with Light feels more like a multi-sensory experience.

I’m thrilled today to host the premiere of the video for “Arrhythmia” with my thanks to Underground Legends for letting me do so. You’ll find it on the player below, followed by some info and links as always.

Please enjoy:

The Soulbreaker Company, “Arrhythmia” official video premiere

THE SOULBREAKER COMPANY’s official video for Arrhythmia from the album “Sewed With Light” available on November 30th.

Written and Directed by Elba Berganzo

The Soulbreaker Company is:
Jony Moreno: vox
Asier Fernandez: Guitars, vox
Andoni Ortiz: Drums
Illan Arribas: Bass
Dani Triñanes: Guitars
Javi Free: Synths, Piano, organ

The Soulbreaker Company on Thee Facebooks

The Soulbreaker Company on Bandcamp

The Soulbreaker Company on Instagram

The Soulbreaker Company on Twitter

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Underground Legends Records on Bandcamp

The Obelisk will sponsor the inaugural European tour of newcomer progressive psychedelic rockers Entropía, who head out supporting their debut album, Invisible. You’ll find the self-released full-length streaming in its entirety below courtesy of the band’s Bandcamp page, and with a piano-heavy style in flowing tracks like “Prisionera de la Expresión” and “Invisible,” they want nothing for class or soul or a sense of mastery for it being their first record. In instrumental sections as well as their verses and choruses, frontman/keyboardist Jon Bellido helps provide a foundation for the material on which guitarist Roberto Nieves, bassist Lasto and drummer Andoni Penela build outward. Invisible works in varied passages to evoke a diverse sense of mood and an engaging scope that’s both immersive and demanding attentive interaction. It’s not an album to get lost in so much as converse with, and that conversation only offers more reward with each return.

Entropía — who also stylize their moniker all-lowercase: entriopía — have played local shows in Spain and their native Basque Country and are looking to head out on their first round of tour dates between Sept. 20-30. They have shows booked for the first three nights but are still working to fill out the rest of the tour. If you can help out, help out. Wombat Booking is handling the reservations, and you can see what’s already confirmed below. Very happy to be involved in getting this one out there. Make sure you dig into the record as well.

Have at it:

We are happy to announce that the Psychedelic Progressive band from Vitoria – Basque Country (North Spain) – ENTROPIA will embark on this Rock adventure around Europe presenting their latest effort “Invisible”.

Entropía is a Spanish band from Vitoria-Gasteiz, Basque Country, formed at the end of summer 2014. Their music has its roots in alternative rock with clear psychedelia and space rock influences. The band is formed by four young musicians: Jon Bellido (keyboards and vocals), Roberto Nieves (lead guitar), Lasto (bass) and Andoni Penela (drums). Up until now, they’ve given more than thirty concerts, most of them in local bars, but also in Madrid, as well as in Sopelana, Portugalete, Aramaio, Bilbao, Pamplona or Logroño, and at the Mendialdea Music Festival (MMF) in Maeztu. They’re winners of Gazte Talent 2016, and they were also awarded ‘Best Demo’ by the University of La Rioja in 2017, going on to represent this university in the 2018 edition of the national competition ‘G9’.

They’ve recorded their first self-financed long-playing album (LP) named Invisible, which was released in February 22, 2018. They don’t belong to any record label, but for the edition of this album they’re working with the alternative labels Cosmic Tentacles of Vitoria-Gasteiz and Nooirax of Madrid. They’ve also shared the stage with other bands with a similar musical style, such as Astrodome, The Soulbreaker Company, Arenna, Wicked Wizzard, the Bostonians Dyr Faser and the Australians James McCann & The New Vindictives.

September is the time to enjoy the road.

September 20th to September 30th

Already confirmed:
Sept 20th Bordeaux
Sept 21st Toulouse
Sept 22nd Tarbes

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Entriopía on Instagram

Entriopía on Bandcamp

Though on the surface its core of warm-toned heavy psychedelia seems straightforward enough, I’ve yet to listen to Given to Emptiness, the second full-length through Nasoni Records from Basque five-piece Arenna, and not hear something new within its span. And it usually doesn’t take all that long, either. The album, which follows their 2011 debut, Beats of Olarizu (review here), is constructed around rich tones and varied arrangements, still jamming and exploratory in the post-Colour Haze tradition, but prone to heavier excursions like that which emerges on “Move through Figurehead Lights,” its impact made all the more forceful by a stretch of acoustic guitar proceeding. As with the first record, the fivesome of bassist Javi, drummer Guille, guitarists Kike (a regional nickname, pronounced like “Quique,” short for Enrique; also acoustics and Tibetan bowls on closer “Low Tide”) and R. Ruiz del Portal (also mellotron on “Visions of Rex”), and vocalist Txus Dr. Sax — who most often backs himself but is joined periodically by Poti (also of Atavismo, formerly Viaje a 800) and Jony Moreno (also of Soulbreaker Company) in the chorus, Poti also handling Mellotron throughout the album and theremin on “Move through Figurehead Lights” — revel in a laid back atmosphere while conjuring fluid expanses of heavy psych, but where Beats of Olarizu topped 68 minutes, Given to Emptiness pares down to an efficient single LP just over 47, its seven tracks cleanly split between two sides, each demarcated by its longest component piece, the longest of which, “Butes,” opens the outing at 10:20.

Immediate points for that, and make it double since they open both sides with the longest track, “Chroma” answering from side B with a nine-minute rollout. “Butes” makes a gorgeous wash to start off Given to Emptiness, gradually unfolding to work in direct contrast to the title of the album, its turns leading it along a building path but showcasing a patience that will come to typify a lot of what they do throughout. Setting the tone, as it were. They do so with liquefied grooves and guitar interplay, soulful vocals from Txus Dr. Sax and a steady nod that holds sway for the duration. This lushness continues into the building “Visions of Rex,” the swirl of which is always present but never overdone, and forward through “Drums for Sitting Bull” (streamed here), which recalls some of the more straightforward moments of the debut but blends them smoothly with the sprawling vibes elicited already throughout the first two cuts. “Drums for Sitting Bull” marks an appearance from both Poti and Moreno on backing vocals, and they’re put to more than solid use, though it’s ultimately Dr. Sax himself who carries the apex of the song over with a sort of wavering, watery presence in his voice. Whether that’s an effect or not, I don’t know, but it’s striking either way, and Arenna roll their way through the end of the track afterwards — Javi‘s bass is a must-hear for appreciators of low end — with the drums dropping out and kicking back in to push the final groove to its eventual crash and ring out, feedback fading to close side A. Already the atmosphere is set for languid, jam-based vibing, but the band’s penchant for deeper arrangements with the touches of Mellotron, additional vocals, acoustics and even just swapping out one effect for another showcase a sense of wanting each track to add something to the larger whole of the effort, and that proves no less true of the four tracks included on side B.

In the spirit of “Butes,” “Chroma” takes its time in shifting from its dreamy opening of guitar, cymbal washes and airy swirls to move into its Mellotron-topped breadth, but unlike the album-opener, the side B launch is instrumental save for a late-arriving sample to mark the landing of the progression’s peak. “Chroma” turns and shifts and undulates naturally, a fuzz-caked nod that many among the converted wouldn’t even try to resist let alone have the ability to do so, but gives way to “Move through Figurehead Lights” — a no less otherworldly opening, even if it’s the drums this time leading the charge — without pretense, that track’s subtle volume swells and quiet vibing met just before the two-minute mark by acoustic guitar (courtesy of a guest spot by Manix S.) and vocals that come to drive the build as much as serve as part of it. It’s the voices of Dr. Sax, Poti and Moreno, in a non-lyricized “ohh” chorus near the end that almost become a riff of their own working in conjunction with the bass and drums along with the solo, and they carry through an almost spiritual celebration, which can’t help but add gravity to “The Pursuer,” which follows. A bit of symmetry with “Drums for Sitting Bull” in terms of structure, maybe, but “The Pursuer” has its own personality to be sure, in open verses and alternating echoes of guitar that, with the vocals, shift in the second half of the song to the album’s most purposefully pretty melody, giving way near the end as Arenna come as close as they have to any sort of aggression in progressive start-stop riffing to close out. With the epilogue, 1:41 “Low Tide” at the finish with its quiet acoustics for a last moment of contemplation, Given to Emptiness ends with something of a lonely mood, but even there I’m fairly certain there are (at least) two layers of guitar working at the same time, so even in its most minimal stretch, it remains far from empty. Somewhat understated in this review up to this point is the emotional resonance of the vocals, which are a driving force in engrossing and holding the listener’s attention throughout, but they’re far from the only aspect of Arenna‘s sound working in their favor. Their sophomore album also marks a decade of their tenure, and one can hear their experience and their chemistry in each track as Given to Emptiness unfolds, its patience never meandering so far from the overarching sense of a design at work that it’s unable to return.

Arenna, Given to Emptiness (2015)

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Arenna on Bandcamp

Arenna at Nasoni Records

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