From Kyuss-style careening to toughguy creeper chug, it’s abundantly clear throughout their debut album that Italian four-piece Supernaughty have done their homework when it comes to engaging with classic heavy rock. They pull influence from masters of the form throughout songs like “Bad Games,” “The Slicers” and “Kiss the Death,” executing crisp songcraft and a subtly varied approach along the way, the penultimate “Y.A.T.” pushing into lumbering instrumental exploration as it nears the seven-minute mark while opener “Mistress” and closer “Fuck’n Drive” opt for a more straightforward tack.

Comprised of vocalist Angelo Fagni and drummer Alessio Franceschi, both also of Cora, bassist Andrea Burroni — since replaced by Luca Raffoni — and guitarist Filippo del Bimbo, also of underrated Argonauta Records labelmates Bantoriak, despite their Sabbath-referencing name, there’s very little about Suprenaughtythat veers into doom. If one looks specifically at the interaction between “Mistress” and “Fuck’n Drive” at the beginning and the end of the record — not to mention “The Slicers” in between — there are elements not only of ’90s and ’00s-era greats like Kyuss and Dozer, but their acolyte practitioners like Truckfighters and Deville as well.

It would seem to be the latter class that Supernaughty are trying to enter with their debut release, and it’s an ambitious league to enter for a band their first time out. Still, for having their sound as tightly presented as they do, Supernaughty give a clear impression of knowing who they are and what they want to do as a band. I don’t imagine they’re finished growing together as a unit, and Vol. 1 has some bite to its mix that the band might smooth out overtime in terms of balancing the vocals and guitars and so on, but it’s a raucous, classic-minded heavy rocker that winds up looking to have a good time, and as the motor-ready “Fuck’n Drive” hits the streets to make its final statement, the band sound like they’re nothing if not ready to get on the move.

Today they take us briefly through the Vol. 1, one track at a time, and you can read what they had to say and check out a full stream of the album below. Vol. 1 is out now on Argonauta Records.

Please enjoy:

Supernaughty, Vol. 1 Track-by-Track

—

01. Mistress

The heavy riffing opening track “Mistress” wants clearly show the powerful sound of the band. It talks about different relationships between women and men and the need that the slave has towards his mistress.

02. Bad Games

Most ’90s-influenced track, mixing heavy rock style with early grunge attitude. On “Bad Games,” we wonder who ‘drives the human race’ underlining absurd choices that ‘the power’ make everyday.

03. The Slicers

Mostly influenced stoner rock song, “The Slicers” moves through powerful riff and melodic singing. The meaning of this song is about unsatisfied persons ruining other people’s lives.

04. Andy’s Abduction

This is one of our favourite tracks. Freely inspired by the ’90s movie, Robert Lieberman’ Fire in the Sky. The story of Trevis Walton’s alien abduction, here, is re-adapted for our friend Andy. It’s a monolithic riff slowly that becomes a kind of psychedelic trip.

05. Kiss the Death

The story behind this track is about a dream interpretation: It warns from any wrong choices that we could make in our life but we do it anyway. Starting with acid guitar intro, “Kiss the Death” has a heavy verse and melodic refrain.

06. YAT

Literally “Young Amoeba’s Theory,” recalling the destructive nature of parasites. Unlike predators, parasites typically do not kill their host, but live on their host for an extended period. Here the parallelism is with a young lady. Music switches between powerful and granitic choruses and verses, that guide the listener to a psychedelic final vortex to hell.

07. Fuck’n Drive

This classical rock ‘n’ roll track was chosen to close the album just because sounds different than the other tracks, while the heavy bluesy closure along with the lyrics, sum our vision to be in band and have fun.

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Argonauta Records on Thee Faceboks

I don’t remember exactly when I made the decision, but at some point, amid an unceasing insistence of YouTube recommendations, I told myself that I wasn’t going to listen to Vol. 1 by Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats until I could do so on a physical format. The likelihood of this happening? Just about nil. My understanding is that maximum 100 copies of the original Killer Candy Records self-released CDR version were pressed, and I’ve seen numbers quoted as low as 20, so barring some lightning-strike/winning-lottery-ticket-type oddsbeating or an unspeakable act of generosity, it didn’t seem like the kind of thing that would ever be found, and likewise, the London-based band didn’t seem all that interested in putting it back into the public sphere — where, to the rest of the universe who probably just streamed it, it was anyway.

Listening now to the Rise Above Records reissue of Vol. 1, pressed to CD and LP in giving-proper-due form, this was unquestionably the incorrect choice on my part. Like most paths we take that lead us to willful ignorance, just the wrong way to go. I denied myself a crucial context in which to place Uncle Acid‘s subsequent three records — 2011’s landmark Blood Lust (discussed here), 2013’s Mind Control (review here) and 2015’s The Night Creeper (review here) — but more than that, I missed out on the seething rawness of “Dead Eyes of London,” the hook of opener “Crystal Spiders,” the psycho-surf of “Vampire Circus” (not to be confused with the Earthride album of the same name) and the organ-laced madhouse shuffle of “I Don’t Know.” Granted I didn’t know what I was missing, but that doesn’t mean I wasn’t missing it.

More the fool I, then, because particularly for those who became Uncle Acid fans around the time of Blood Lust — which Rise Above picked up for release in 2012 following the explosive reception that sent the band almost immediately to the fore of the heavy underground before they even really began playing shows in 2013 — Vol. 1 should be considered essential. One can hear the roots of “I’ll Cut You Down” and “Death’s Door” in “Crystal Spiders” and the later ultra-fuzzed-out swinging highlight “Do What Your Love Tells You,” and more than that, these pieces and others like the eight-minute “Lonely and Strange” stand up on their own as examples of the rare level of craft that has typified Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats‘ work throughout their tenure: memorable songs executed with a deep-running sense of vibe that, as Vol. 1 affirms, has been theirs all along.

Parts of the album are somewhat rudimentary compared to the more careful arrangements that would follow by the time the band — led by Kevin R. Starrs, who’s more “shadowy presence” than “frontman” here — got around to Mind Control, but that’s the idea. They’re supposed to be. The nodding “Witches Garden” buzzes its guitar alongside a running line of organ in a manner that makes character of its rough edges, and seems all the murkier for that in a way that feeds into the mood of the record overall. Of course, this is hearing it with the hindsight of the ensuing seven years and all that Uncle Acid has gone on to accomplish — not to mention a remix and master by Starrs — but while Vol. 1 isn’t shy about its flaws or moments of indulgence, it not only serves as an important documentation of the beginnings of the band’s development, but brims with the creative force that still drives them. Again, it’s as much worth hearing Vol. 1 for what it has to offer on its own as what it brings to the wider Uncle Acid discography.

For example, the aforementioned “Lonely and Strange” offers deceptive nuance at the end of side A in its blend of acoustic and electric guitar, hypnotic repetition in its rhythm, a charmingly clumsy transition at the 4:30 mark, and a long stretch of classically heavy rocking instrumental wistfulness that’s unlike anything the band would again conjure. A plotted-seeming solo is met with fervent crash cymbal before dropping to organ and noise freakout to resume with even more aplomb, and it rounds out its last minute with a dive into Sabbathian acoustics and bass.

To complement this, the band brings “Wind up Toys” to close out side B and end the record with a sense of motion that echoes the ’60s surf horrors of “Vampire Circus” but has even more of a rockabilly-style motoring to its core riff early before shifting into an acoustic bridge around two minutes in and from there departing on an extended guitar lead that carries through the remaining five-ish minutes of the track. That’s something Uncle Acid would just about never do at this point. Their approach has tightened to a degree that, unless they were brazenly breaking their own rules, it seems unlikely they’d indulge such a departure from structure once they’ve established it so clearly.

Nonetheless, it’s the kind of thing a band does early in their run when they’re figuring out who they want to be as players and as a group, and to have that moment preserved on Vol. 1 only makes this reissue more justified. Add to that the consideration that The Night Creeper seemed to be endeavoring toward a harsher bite than that of Mind Control before it, and one could further argue that Uncle Acid were at least on some level looking to come full circle in bringing the lessons they’ve learned since together with the bare-flesh authenticity of this material.

There are arguments to be made on either side of that, I suppose, but what’s more important is those arguments can be had now that Vol. 1 has seen an actual release, and that those who never had the chance to take it on before — or who did have the chance but were just too much of a dope to do so — can finally do so. In their aesthetic contribution and in their sheer level of songwriting, Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats are among the most important heavy bands of their generation, and Vol. 1 provides an essential look at their origins and a killer listen besides. It is not by any means to be avoided, in whatever form.

Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats, “Crystal Spiders”

Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats website

Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats on Thee Facebooks

Rise Above Records on Thee Facebooks

Rise Above Records website

I’ve never heard Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats‘ first album. 2010’s Vol. 1 has been in my YouTube recommendations for years now, but I’ve blatantly refused to take it on — my position being that if I’m going to hear the super-limited, one-time-only release that started off one of the most landmark UK acts of this decade, I was going to do it right. The physical pressing. I didn’t even let it play when I grabbed the embed code to put it at the bottom of this post just now. And, well, as you can see in the PR wire info below, there were CD-Rs 30 made, and when I interviewed founding guitarist/vocalist Kevin R. Starrs back in 2015, I failed to ask him for one, so that was pretty much out. There you go. To this day, I’ve never heard Vol. 1, thinking maybe I’d run into it properly at some point or another.

Rise Above Records is about to make that much easier to do. The label that has stood behind the band since it stepped up in 2012 to issue their 2011 breakthrough, Blood Lust (discussed here), along with the subsequent offerings, 2013’s Mind Control (review here) and 2015’s The Night Creeper (review here), will oversee a first official pressing of Vol. 1 on Friday, Oct. 13, with a new mix and master by Starrs himself. It’s been kind of a quiet year for Uncle Acid so far, at least relative to the amount of touring they did in 2015/2016, and as such a perfect opportunity for the band to recount their beginnings to what’s now a vast and global audience. Myself included.

From the PR wire:

Rise Above Records To Release Uncle Acid The Deadbeats’ “Vol 1” Friday October 13th

First released on Friday February 13th, (40 years to the day after Black Sabbath’s debut LP), “Vol 1” was the first efforts of unknown songwriter, Kevin Starrs. Pressed in small numbers for a non existing fan base, the album took several months to shift all 30 CD-R copies and provided a small platform to fund its follow up, “Blood Lust” (2011).

Recorded on a tight budget of stashed dole money and with little knowledge or regard for conventional recording techniques, the chaotic results speak for themselves;

Distorted vocals, out of tune harmonies, ragged musicianship and everything pushed to the red. The clatter of mic stands falling over mid performance, the rustling of lyric papers, the missed key changes and flubbed lines. Everything you would want to avoid is here. Self-funded, self-recorded and self released to a fanfare of silence, “Vol 1” was a true D.I.Y. effort from start to finish. No great ambition, no target audience, no press support. Just a collection of songs for anyone who would listen. With it’s mix of budget horror lyrics, Everly Brothers obsessed harmonies, downer rock riffs, overly long guitar solos and bizarre high pitched vocals, “Vol 1” had very limited appeal outside a small group of underground fanatics.

In the years following, the album became something of a cult curiosity. Despite the shoddy work of bootleggers and impatient collectors, Starrs refused to re release the album until he could work on its remix and oversee the mastering. “It was a D.I.Y project from the beginning so I wasn’t going to give it up and let someone else mess with it. I also wasn’t going to cash in on something for the sake of it. I wanted it to sound the best that it possibly could. The record deserves my full attention, so with no new album to distract anyone in 2017, it was the perfect time to work on it and release it on CD and Vinyl. It can stand on its own… flaws included.”

So here it is, “Vol 1” in all its ragged glory… finally mastered and mixed for this release.

Enjoy.

“Vol 1” Track Listing:
1. Crystal Spiders
2. Witches Garden
3. Dead Eyes of London
4. Lonely and Strange
5. Vampire Circus
6. Do What Your Love Tells You
7. I Don’t Know
8. Wind Up Toys

https://www.uncleacidband.com
https://www.facebook.com/uncleacid/
https://www.facebook.com/riseaboverecords/
http://www.riseaboverecords.com/

Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats, Vol. 1 (2010)

[Click play above to hear “Burning Wood” from Soon’s debut, Vol. 1. Album out March 4 on Temple of Torturous.]

Chapel Hill, North Carolina-based four-piece Soon offer up their aptly-titled debut full-length, Vol. 1, on March 4 via Temple of Torturous. As 35 minutes/eight tracks, it is a substantial-enough long-player, but it covers a scope even broader than its runtime might lead one to believe, and while the group trace their lineage to more indie-minded outfits The Love Language, Bitter Resolve and Grohg, the explorations contained here, from the rolling groove of opener “We are on Your Side” to the drone ritual closer “Rise,” feel geared most of all toward establishing, developing and generally screwing around with a new sonic identity. That is to say, Vol. 1 is a varied collection of tracks that doesn’t feel hindered by genre one way or another, and a decent portion of its persona comes from that will to move beyond various sonic boundaries.

That Soon — the four-piece of guitarist/vocalists Stuart McLamb and Mark Connor, bassist/vocalist Robert Walsh and drummer/vocalist Thomas Simpson — do this while sounding natural in their songwriting and changes makes the debut all the more impressive. A couple plucked acoustic notes intro “We are on Your Side” before the full-toned electric guitar kicks in, and a shoegazing verse takes hold around a minute in to build tension before the chorus, which uses multiple singers and has a doom-pop anthem feel to it, tripping into late-’60s guitar soloing as if they hadn’t already melded enough styles together. After another verse and chorus, they end acoustic and the sub-three-minute “Burning Wood” takes chugging hold backed by keyboard and a driving riff that somehow still acts as a vocal showcase. The second cut is steadier and more stylistically settled, but “See You Soon” fleshes out a grungier side and makes it clear that Soon haven’t yet shown their full breadth. So it is that “Gold Soul” includes particularly impressive vocal harmonies and strings to add a post-Morricone vibe to its dense riffing and additional percussion behind its guitar solo in the second half, none of which sounds overly kitchen-sink or out of place.

No small feat to create a mix deep enough to accommodate, but Soon have a decidedly tossoff feel to nearly everything on Vol. 1, like they plugged in that day and that’s what happened to come out. In fact, that may be true, but as “Gold Soul” gives way to the more stripped down, snare-heavy “Glass Hours,” another side of their blend of psychedelic sludge, thick tones and melodic consciousness comes to the fore, partially reviving the likes of “Burning Wood” and “See You Soon,” but also given a different context through the subsequent “Mauveine,” which also features a string arrangement but is centered around melancholy acoustic strumming and a wistful vocal line. The underlying sense of space keeps it cohesive with its surroundings, but “Mauveine” is a conscious departure from a lot of what Vol. 1 aims toward, and that’s very clearly the idea. It also sets up the closing tracks, “Datura Stramonium” and “Rise,” which are the two longest inclusions and wildly different from each other. Harmonized vocals again tie “Datura Stramonium” to the rest, but there’s a howl and sparkle in the guitar that I can’t seem to separate in my mind from U2 from when they were (allegedly) good, though atop a flurry of tom runs they deliver both a scorching psychedelic wash of noise and a satisfyingly weighted finish, which lets “Rise” round out the album with a six-and-a-half-minute drone/chant assault, marked out by sporadic turns in the guitar and a SunnO)))-style backing for choral melody.

I won’t say the pairing doesn’t work, because it does, but it’s a challenging finish nonetheless, and this too is quite obviously intentional. In combination with its surroundings, “Rise” serves to point out the sort of dual nature of Soon‘s debut, which is that it has these complex aesthetic ideas that it portrays as though they were the simplest thing in the world. Well of course you’d go from the acoustic downer into weighted alt psych-pop into the drone metal finish! It’s almost too obvious! Meanwhile, the listener’s head is left spinning after the band has capped “Rise” with immersive low end and finished the record cold. It is an ambitious first offering preceded only by a couple digital demos, and it seems to so easily accomplish what it sets out to do that it’s deceptive the first couple times listening, you have to go back and make sure you heard what you just heard. Fortunately, they make those return trips worthwhile in the richness of the album as a whole.

Soon on Thee Facebooks

Soon on Twitter

Soon at Earsplit Compound

Soon at Temple of Torturous

Temple of Torturous on Bandcamp

You might have had to work to find them, but Soon have had a couple demos posted on YouTube since July 2014. Both of those tracks, which you can hear below, will appear on the drone-psych-heavygaze four-piece’s debut, Vol. 1, which is due out on March 4 via Temple of Torturous. Presumably the band and the album will answer the question of when then will be now, but either way, the demos provide a decent first glimpse at what probably will have reshaped some in the interim but is still a pretty significant breadth, drawing on Eastern themes and SunnO)))-style droning alike. I doubt that’s the entire scope of the record, but it’s significant for two tracks.

For more info, we turn to the PR wire, which if nothing else makes me feel as out of the loop as I am for not knowing the indie bands that the members of Soon also play in. Whoops:

SOON: Transcendental Rock Unit Featuring Members Of The Love Language, Bitter Resolve And Grohg To Release Debut Full-Length Via Temple Of Torturous March 4th; Artwork + Track Listing Revealed

It’s easy to reduce SOON to superficial contradictions. After all, who would’ve thought singer/guitarist Stuart McLamb and drummer Thomas Simpson of indie stars The Love Language would emerge with this righteously heavy offshoot?

However SOON’s Vol. 1 debut, set for release via Temple Of Torturous this March, quickly dissolves the easy narrative of acclaimed popsmith taking the left hand path toward heavy metal. What’s more obvious is the immediate chemistry between McLamb and Simpson, bassist Rob Walsh (Bitter Resolve) and guitarist Mark Connor (Grohg).

Though SOON employs the heavy, distorted riffing and contemplative pacing of doom, the band shares none of the genre’s antagonistic, abyss-gazing tropes. It’s dynamic, melodic and adventurous. The Chapel Hill, North Carolina-based quartet pulled from a deep well of influence and experience in crafting its eight-song LP. SOON spent a concentrated week of revising and tracking, plus two months of tinkering, at the Greensboro studio Legitimate Business with engineer Kris Hilbert (Torch Runner, Between The Buried And Me, The Body) at the helm.

If SOON has a signature, it’s the unlikely pairing of heavy doom and elegant melody. Simpson and Walsh conjure storms in the low-end, while McLamb and Connor balance mettle and melody, shading these songs with psych-rock textures and melodic finesse. Rather than using their low, slow riffs as dredging sinkholes, deliberate momentum turns meditative-with strong forward pushes devoid of any dead weight. Airy melody and psychedelic flourishes keep these songs nimble and even pop-oriented. The balance of power and grace evokes more triumph than decay, but never sacrifices its grand heft. Standout tracks “We Are On Your Side” and “See You Soon” are bursting affirmations that ride heavy groundswell for a powerful uplift. Eager to push their boundaries, “Mauveine” is a stately dirge that uses sparse acoustic strums and somber strings to showcase McLamb’s rich croon. While “Rise” summons a deep otherworldly drone to form a foundation for a funereal incantation.

SOON is undoubtedly a departure from any of its members’ past efforts, but the band’s casual formation and openness to exploration yields a compelling new entity. SOON’s enveloping debut is as much a product of deliberate focus as it is the offspring of laid-back jam sessions and weekend cookouts. [words by Bryan C. Reed]

Vol. 1 Track Listing:
1. We Are On Your Side
2. Burning Wood
3. See You Soon
4. Gold Soul
5. Glass Hours
6. Mauveine
7. Datura Stramonium
8. Rise

SOON’s Vol. 1 will see release on CD, LP and digitally via Temple Of Torturous on March 4th, 2016 with preorders and track premieres to be announced in the coming weeks.

http://www.soonisonyourside.bandcamp.com
http://www.facebook.com/soonisonyourside
http://www.instagram.com/soonisonyourside
http://www.twitter.com/SOON_NC
http://www.templeoftorturous.com
http://www.facebook.com/ToTRecords
http://www.templeoftorturous.bandcamp.com

Soon, “Datura Stramonium” demo

Soon, “Rise” demo

High impact heavy rockers Space Fisters released their debut full-length, Vol. 1, late in 2014, giving nodders what for with a sound setting together a blend of fuzzy riffs and more spacious psychedelics. Prone to fits of crunch and hooks, neither are they shy about fleshing out a track like “Short Daze” or “Bozz,” their jams based around movement — guitarist Robin Pruchon, bassist/vocalist Clément Baltassat and drummer Léo Mo see to it there’s plenty, regardless of tempo or the largesse of the riff they happen to be jamming around in a given stretch — but executed with a deceptive underlying patience. From a distance or a superficial listen, they might seem repetitive, but rarely are the four tracks of Vol. 1 actually standing still.

Bookended by the longer “Short Daze” (9:10) and “Bozz” (14:30), middle cuts “Yellow Hills” (7:10) and “Goddess of Love/Priestess of Pain” (6:01) play one side off the other fluidly, the latter touching on moaning Electric Wizardry before shifting into boogie shuffle and spacebound jive then making the same tradeoff again, while “Yellow Hills” lets its fuzzy tone and crash blow the roof off before mellowing out to start a build that rises in the middle, recedes, and rises again near the finish, Baltassat‘s vocals a watery echo all the way. As a sampler piece of what Vol. 1 has to offer, “Yellow Hills” makes a particularly good slice, and no doubt that’s at least part of the motivation behind selecting it as the first video to come from the album.

Directed by Jul’ Silva, the clip for “Yellow Hills” boasts footage of the band jamming out and some strange kind of checker-pattern interpretive dancing going on, but one way or another, it’s going to grab attention. I’m happy today to be able to host the premiere of the clip, which you’ll find on the player below, followed by some more about the band from the PR wire:

Space Fisters, “Yellow Hills” official video

Formed in 2012 in the heights of Savoy, French power trio SPACE FISTERS produces a highly volcanic kind of stoner rock, that could be described as a threesome between Sleep, Earthless and The Melvins.

Their debut album « Vol.1? is a 36 minute long heavy psych uppercut delivered without any hesitation or concession. The tone in there is roaring, the rhythm section is vibrantly dauntless, while riffs regularly take off to bluesier skies, all towered by an unprecedented amount of fuzz… to make the Earth’s crust shake.

SPACE FISTERS skyrocket your minds into another dimension, and the live experience literally seizes you to the guts, as the band puts on infectiously fervent performances. Within three years, the trio already shared the stage with the likes of Red Fang, Kadavar, Earthless, Mars Red Sky, and more recently Stoned Jesus on their French tour.

Clément Baltassat – Bass & Vocals
Robin Pruchon – Guitar
Léo Mo – Drums

Space Fisters on Bandcamp

Space Fisters on Thee Facebooks