Those familiar with the work of Jessica Ball from her time in MWWB, or Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard as they were more fully known before their last album, 2022’s The Harvest (review here), shouldn’t be too thrown off by the stylistic shift being made with EYE, taking that band’s synth and melodic foundation and extrapolating it to new ends in an exploration less tonally dense but able to reach that much further as a result. “In Your Night” is the first single from EYE‘s upcoming debut LP, Dark Light, and as you’ll hear on the player below, Ball leads her new outfit with patience through heavy post-rock ambience and lays out the melody on vocals before the band dig into more aural crush in the second half.

I haven’t heard the full record yet — it’s out April 26 on New Heavy Sounds, preorders, etc. — so I can’t speak to how much “In Your Night” represents the entirety. But if the intention was maybe to give listeners who know Ball from her prior outfit something to latch onto to ease the transit of fandom from one project to the next, I don’t hear anything in it that pulls me out of the experience, and I think probably those who caught on to what MWWB were doing at any point in their tenure should well be able to get on board here. Which probably makes the single a win for more than just actually being cool.

It was kind of a heavy chat, but Ball spoke in an interview here in 2022 about EYE and her intentions with the band coming out of MWWB. I look forward to hearing how Dark Light unfolds.

From the PR wire:

EYE – THE NEW BAND FROM MWWB SINGER-SONGWRITER/MUSICIAN JESSICA BALL – UNVEILS HER EAGERLY ANTICIPATED DEBUT ALBUM ‘DARK LIGHT’ & FIRST SINGLE

Pre-order now:
Bandcamp: https://eye-uk.bandcamp.com/album/dark-light
Cargo: https://cargorecordsdirect.co.uk/products/eye-dark-light
Digital: https://lnk.to/iw6VA6

EYE – the new band from Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard (MWWB) singer-songwriter/musician Jessica Ball – has announced the arrival of their eagerly awaited debut album, ‘Dark Light’ set for release on 26th April via New Heavy Sounds (Shooting Daggers, MWWB, Blacklab)

“These songs have been many years in the making… Some of these ideas were crafted before MWWB, this is something I’ve always wanted to do. Over the last couple of years, I’ve spent some time on finishing and crafting these ideas and pieces of music into songs. Some were snippets of lyrics from my early twenties which reflect on what seems like a different person. I think it’s quite poetic how it’s all come together now.

I was also encouraged after finding musicians who understood the vision and style I was trying to achieve, and of course my experience of being in MWWB. I’m a guitarist above all, and I loved reconnecting with guitar again. It feels like all my influences and favourite styles have come together in this album. Shoegaze, doom, folk, dream pop… It’s a real mix bag but as a whole, it represents many different stages of my life and tells a story.

The album ultimately is quite introspective yet lyrically loose enough to be open to interpretation – I’ve always been a fan of songs that seem to perfectly slot into the situation I’m experiencing and not too specific to one person’s experience… I think that comes across in this album.”

Jessica relocated from Wrexham to join her new partner, veteran Welsh musician Gid Goundrey (Gulp, Ghostlawns, Martin Carr), in Cardiff just as the pandemic era dawned. Confined to their small Grangetown flat, they quite naturally began making music together.

Having earned acclaim and a fervent fan following for her role in MWWB, Ball took the opportunity to compose songs that were all her own – nuanced, lyrical, and hypnotically distinctive.

Triggered in part by the existential dread looming outside as well as the sudden ill health of her dear friend, MWWB guitarist Paul “Dave” Davies, then fighting for life after a Covid-related stroke.

With Goundrey on drums (for the first time in his musical career) and joined by keyboardist Johnny TK, Eye experimented with sounds to match Ball’s melodic songs, traversing a diverse spectrum of dark folk, dreampop, IDM and psychedelic doom, to create sometimes heavy and foreboding drones, alongside spare but still richly textured sonics.

The result is their debut album ‘Dark Light’. An intensely atmospheric fusion of emotionally charged songcraft and inspired sonic energy. The clue is in the album’s paradoxical title. Chilling and even bleak melodies with arrangements daringly and deliberately stripped down and minimal. Revealing a kinship with sonic bed-fellows Mazzy Star, Chelsea Wolfe or even Portishead, which can be heard on first single ‘In Your Night’.

Jessica comments, “Our first release ‘In Your Night’ represents Eye musically, conceptually and lyrically and I’m proud for this to be the first song that everyone hears from us… Light and dark, night and day, quiet and loud is the running theme throughout this song and album as a whole. Whether you’re up close to a song, or listening to the album as a whole, these themes will be ever present throughout. We’re playing around with these two extremes sonically and what these represent emotionally and mentally. I feel that nothing takes you on a journey more effectively than a good build up, or something happening unexpectedly, much like real life. We are just the eye that witnesses it all.”

Listen to ‘In Your Night’ – https://eye-uk.bandcamp.com/album/dark-light / https://lnk.to/hGgZYhyO

Songs like “The Other Sees”, “Respair”, “See Yourself” are chameleonic and commanding, wielding snaky, chiming guitar back to back with fuzzed out riffs. Vocal melodies may be sweet but melancholic, amidst tightly contrasted spatial dimensions, and Ball’s signature vocals are at the forefront, sometimes soaring but also with a heart of darkness. Of the two ‘heavier’ numbers “In Your Night,” slowly builds to a brooding fuzz-groove like a down-tuned Yo La Tengo until a huge space-doom riffs carries you home while with “See Yourself” the contrast from folk delicacy to tripped out sub-bass fuzz riffage is astounding.

So, whilst not strictly speaking ‘Doom’ or ‘Metal’ fans of Jessica’s previous work with MWWB will not be disappointed. Along with producer Chris Fielding (MWWB, Conan) EYE have produced something otherworldly, which is at times heavy and epic, yet still deeply intimate and dark. A striking debut.

‘Dark Light’ is due to drop on 26th April 2024, and as with all New Heavy Sounds releases, will come in a deluxe limited vinyl edition. Green/Purple half and half effect vinyl, with full download included as well as limited edition CD and at all digital platforms.

https://www.facebook.com/eyeeyeeyemusic
https://www.instagram.com/_e_y_e_b_a_n_d/
https://eye-uk.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/newheavysounds
https://www.instagram.com/newheavysounds
https://newheavysounds.bandcamp.com/
https://www.newheavysounds.com/
https://linktr.ee/NewHeavySounds

EYE, Dark Light (2024)

Welsh trippy doom metallers Goat Major will release their debut full-length, Ritual, on March 8 through Ripple Music. Comprised of eight songs — “Snakes (Goddess of the Serpent)” wastes no time diving in as the opener; its video premieres below — and running 41 minutes, it is outwardly doom in its cultish downtrodden point of view, but to listen to the guitar at the end of the title-track, a melodic reference to ’60s psychedelia takes hold, and in “Light of the End,” that vibe extends to a druggy ’90s alternativism, growing declarative and sneering as it nods through its six-plus minutes, catchy with backing vocals behind bassist Tom Shortt, who’s joined in the group by guitarist Jammie Arnold and drummer Simon Bonwick, so the proceedings are not as straightforward as they might seem when “Snakes (Goddess of the Serpent)” unfurls the first of Ritual‘s several genuinely righteous rolls, an air of metallic dankness around a Candlemassian creeper of a riff serving double-duty as an intro to the album and a preface to the verse, which calls Electric Wizard to mind without losing itself in an aural fog.

At least not much. Indeed, there’s more going on throughout Ritual influence-wise than it might at first seem. “Power That Be” opens side B (I think) with an acoustic strum but soon moves into the push of a classic stoner rock riff, fuzz and all, distinguished by the change in context that sets it to such doomly purpose. The subsequent “Mountains of Madness” gives some manner of echo to this in a verse the vocal pattern of which is reminiscent of Acid King‘s ur-landmark “Electric Machine,” even if Goat Major take the song elsewhere for the chorus, touching again on the psychedelic in a way that feel far removed from the insistent hook of the title-track back on side A but that is no less crucial in its intention. And “Ritual” has its jammy part too, so these things are all relative, however one might end up blocking them into categories or hearing something here that’s also there, etc. From that, one can take the assurance that Goat Major‘s debut boasts nascent perspective on genre and is unafraid to take inspiration from blatant Sabbath worship early in “Turn to Dust” to the Slomatics-ish drama brought to the same song a short time later by Mellotron.

“Mountains of Madness” is more than half over by the time it gets to the chorus — rules — and has a semi-lysergic break that brings back the hook for a big slowdown ending with laughter over top. Hypnotic as that movement is, “Evil Eye” feels like a regrounding in doom and is a sleeper highlight, encapsulating the doom/fuzz meld and the impulses toward structure and fuckall that seem to be competing in Goat Major‘s sound right now. A side B complement to “Ritual,” maybe, and it’s not the last track — they cap atmospheric with the drumless open-space distortion wash of “Lay Me Down,” vocals far back in that churning ambient melodic hum — and it’s not the longest track, which is “Mountains of Madness” just before, but it says something about who Goat Major are circa their first album, and it is encouragingly their own in its willingness to cross stylistic lines that are awfully sacrosanct for being entirely made up and despite cult themes that will ring as familiar to experienced heads taking it on. I’m not sure they need those, and I find myself wondering what other stories their material might tell, but I’m not about to tell a band making their debut that they should drop the lyrical foundation they’re working from. Seems neither helpful nor useful. Plus I think if I was from Wales I’d probably be into the occult too. It’s like made for it.

That said, part of what makes Ritual engaging in its niche-crossover execution is that the band are exploring and at the beginning stages of their longer-term growth, and that development over time could take them down any number of thematic avenues, including the one they’re currently on, which suits this material fine and offers intricacy without pretense, heavy doom for and by those for whom it serves as a lifesblood. I’ve highlighted the individuality of what they do on Ritual here, and that’s because I believe that even more than the malevolent fuzz on the guitar or the sneer in Shortt‘s delivery, it’s the drive to present themselves as themselves that will serve them best over the course of their tenure, and whatever they’ll ultimately do with their sound, you can hear the roots of it in “Light of the End,” or “Evil Eye” or maybe even “Lay Me Down,” which lays claim to an entire seminar’s worth of mind expansion. Maybe this is the new generation’s statement and innovation — it doesn’t have to just be one or two things, it can be an encompassing whole built from parts that, to players in generations past, were disparate. That sounds like progress to me, and may or may not be the story of Goat Major as told by their next few records, but it certainly feels relevant to mention in light of what they achieve on Ritual.

The aforementioned video for “Snakes (Goddess of the Serpent)” premieres below, followed by more from the PR wire.

Please enjoy:

Goat Major, “Snakes (Goddess of the Serpent)” video premiere

The second single from the upcoming Goat Major album on Ripple Music is HERE! This is “Snakes (Goddess of the Serpent)” – enjoy the music video and then hit the links below to pre-order your copy of “Ritual” now – available March 8th on Vinyl/CD/Digital formats!

Hailing from Wales, the land of ancient monuments and Celtic traditions, GOAT MAJOR is a formidably earth-shattering newcomer in the British stoner and doom metal scene. The band was formed during the harsh lockdown of a global pandemic by longtime friends Jammie Arnold (guitar), Simon Bonwick (drums) and Tom Shortt (bass/vocals), who all grew up within half a mile of each other in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, in the shadow of the town’s medieval castle.

The power trio worked hard crafting songs of catchy sinister occult doom metal, all while escaping the brutality that was cast upon the world. As restrictions started to lift, GOAT MAJOR began playing shows as an instrumental band before Shortt decided to take up the vocal duties. The band continued fine-tuning their songs with regular shows around the south/west of Wales and further afield in England and consequently started playing higher profile shows around the UK, sharing the stage with the likes of Thunder Horse, Wytch Hazel, Sigiriya, Parish, OHHMS, Made Of Teeth, Inhuman Nature. They also performed at Swansea Fringe festival and headlined Rock the Gwasbah festival in West Wales.

Following the recent release of their “Evil Eye” EP, GOAT MAJOR recently signed to US reference stoner, doom and heavy rock label Ripple Music for the release of their debut album “Ritual” in March 2024.

GOAT MAJOR – Debut album “Ritual”
Out March 8th on Ripple Music (vinyl, CD, digital)
International preorder – https://ripplemusic.bandcamp.com/album/ritual
US preorder – https://ripplemusic.bigcartel.com/product/goat-major-ritual

TRACKLIST:
1. Snakes (Goddess of the Serpent)
2. Ritual
3. Turn to Dust
4. Light of The End
5. Power That Be
6. Mountains of Madness
7. Evil Eye
8. Lay Me Down

GOAT MAJOR is
Jammie Arnold – guitar
Simon Bonwick – drums
Tom Shortt – bass & vocals

Goat Major, Ritual (2024)

Goat Major on Facebook

Goat Major on Instagram

Goat Major on YouTube

Ripple Music on Facebook

Ripple Music on Instagram

Ripple Music on Bandcamp

Ripple Music website

About as dug into the traditions of denim doom as they are modern in their cavernous atmosphere and creeper vibe, Goat Major have the distinction of releasing their debut full-length, titled simply Ritual, as labelmates to The Obsessed, and while I’m not a newcomer trio from the UK trying to carve a place in genre as well as raise awareness of their existence, I’d imagine putting your record out a month after Wino on the same label might feel pretty good. Or you know, it’s doom, so nothing really feels good except when the volume hits.

But while the new single “Evil Eye” stretches north of six minutes, it’s an easy-to-dig push made all the more fluid by the melody that accompanies the dark-hued fuzz. The logo in the album art might have you thinking Electric Wizard, and that’s certainly part of the scope here, but not all of it. The video for “Evil Eye,” accompanied by the prior single “Ritual” at the bottom of this post, is delightfully oldschool in its green-screen presentation of the three-piece, and that’s of course suited to the track as well.

You can read more about the band below — the PR wire diligent as ever — and I’ll note that I looked for the Evil Eye EP on Bandcamp and couldn’t find it otherwise that would be here as well. “Evil Eye,” “Turn to Dust” and “Mountains of Madness” appeared there and will be on the LP as well, as you can see in the blue text:

UK occult doom metallers GOAT MAJOR to release debut album “Ritual” on Ripple Music this March 8th, 2024; watch new “Evil Eye” video now!

Welsh occult doom metal newcomers GOAT MAJOR announce the release of their crushing debut full-length “Ritual” on Ripple Music this March, and unveil their new single “Evil Eye”!

Captivating audiences with their fuzzed-out steamroller sound, devastating riffs, creepy and haunting melodies driven on by aggressive grooves and sophisticated fills, GOAT MAJOR established as a formidably earth-shattering newcomer in the British stoner and doom metal scene.

Following the 2022 release of their debut EP “Evil Eye” alongside numerous club and festival performances in the UK, the trio recently signed to Californian label Ripple Music for the release of their debut album “Ritual” in the late winter of 2024. Soaked in the trio’s infectious brand of sinister occult doom metal, their debut album “Ritual” is inspired by the band’s roots and Celtic traditions, making for and aural experience that is haunting and bone-crushing all at once and will leave you humming the melodies while you pray for forgiveness. Don’t miss their recent video for “Ritual” at this location.

GOAT MAJOR – Debut album “Ritual”
Out March 8th on Ripple Music (vinyl, CD, digital)
International preorder – https://ripplemusic.bandcamp.com/album/ritual
US preorder – https://ripplemusic.bigcartel.com/product/goat-major-ritual

TRACKLIST:
1. Snakes (Goddess of the Serpent)
2. Ritual
3. Turn to Dust
4. Light of The End
5. Power That Be
6. Mountains of Madness
7. Evil Eye
8. Lay Me Down

Hailing from Wales, the land of ancient monuments and Celtic traditions, GOAT MAJOR is an occult doom band formed during the harsh lockdown of a global pandemic by longtime friends Jammie Arnold (guitar), Simon Bonwick (drums) and Tom Shortt (bass/vocals). All three members grew up within half a mile of each other in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, in the shadow of the town’s medieval castle.

The power trio worked hard crafting songs of catchy sinister occult doom metal, all while escaping the brutality that was cast upon the world. As restrictions started to lift, GOAT MAJOR began playing shows as an instrumental band before Shortt decided to take up the vocal duties. The band continued fine-tuning their songs with regular shows around the south/west of Wales and further afield in England. The band consequently started playing higher profile shows around the UK, sharing the stage with the likes of Thunder Horse, Wytch Hazel, Sigiriya, Parish, OHHMS, Made Of Teeth, Inhuman Nature. They also performed at Swansea Fringe festival and headlined Rock the Gwasbah festival in West Wales. GOAT MAJOR recently signed to US reference stoner, doom and heavy rock label Ripple Music for the release of their debut album “Ritual” in March 2024.

GOAT MAJOR is
Jammie Arnold – guitar
Simon Bonwick – drums
Tom Shortt – bass & vocals

https://www.facebook.com/goatmajorband
https://www.instagram.com/goatmajorband/
https://www.youtube.com/@goatmajor

Goat Major, “Evil Eye” official video

Goat Major, “Ritual” official video

I do sincerely wish that more signing announcements were inclusive of the purple heart emoji. It is the most doomed emoji. Jessica Ball, known for her work fronting Welsh cosmic megadoomers MWWB — né Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard — announced her then-solo-project Eye a while ago. Might have been during lockdown, even? I don’t think I’m the only one who’s been waiting for word of a release, though I won’t take away from MWWB having issued The Harvest (review here) in 2022 — also through New Heavy Sounds — as their maybe-final album and there being so much to dig into there.

So far as I can find, Eye — you might recall the classic-style prog band from Ohio; they were really cool, but this isn’t that and I’m pretty sure they’re broken up — don’t seem to have anything out yet, though I say that while admitting I haven’t scrolled back through Facebook because, well, doing that is fucking depressing (on any page) and there are only so many hours in a day, month, life. I thought mine might be better spent actually putting this post together. But in light of that, I thought about including the MWWB Bandcamp player for The Harvest, but somehow it didn’t seem appropriate in full knowledge that Eye are a different kind of band. And also, apparently, a band now.

But if you didn’t hear it when it came out, you should, and this too when the opportunity presents itself. For now, the signing announcement:

I’m so happy to announce that we’ve signed a record deal with London-based New Heavy Sounds ! (#128156#)(#128065#)️(#128156#)

Some of you may know, I have worked with them for years under Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard, and I’m beyond excited that they want to continue working with me on my next musical venture.

We will be announcing more exciting news soon. In the meantime if you’re in Cardiff, you can catch us this Saturday at Clwb Ifor Bach with Half Happy (#128156#)

Big love from Jess, Jonny and Gid x

https://www.facebook.com/eyeeyeeyemusic
https://www.instagram.com/_e_y_e_b_a_n_d/

https://www.facebook.com/newheavysounds
https://www.instagram.com/newheavysounds

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: Adam Wrench of HAAST

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

I make records. Simple as. I guess the easiest way to explain how I came to do that was by falling in love with records and music as a youngster. I have my sister to thank mainly for that. She was 16 in 1993 so it was fertile ground for a 10 year old to fall down the rabbit hole of alternative music of the time.

Describe your first musical memory.

Another sister thanks. She had an old, hydraulically powered organ that I think was meant as a toy but its diminutive size belied the ominous tones within, especially when you fired the thing up. I remember being fascinated with that Wurlitzer-esque sound that wheezed out of the power fan as it gasped for air with each press of a key. I’ve searched for years for that instrument. I doubt I’ll ever see one again.

Describe your best musical memory to date.

Hearing our latest record in full for the first time. It was a moment I didn’t think would come so to hear it as intended really was a joy.

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

I’m pretty headstrong so I don’t really let anything test my belief systems, no matter the peril. I think part of growing up is finding resilience in the face of adversity, staying true to your beliefs and ignoring or avoiding anything that maybe detrimental to you in that regard.

Where do you feel artistic progression leads?

To better things I would like to think. I’m think it’s important to push boundaries and knowledge, even if the results aren’t great at first. I have become more interested in tonalities and soundscapes recently and I’m really keen to explore thresholds with that approach and trying new things and then succeeding is a great thrill.

How do you define success?

Finding contentment in what I do. Being able to just finish a piece of music and ‘take it for a walk’ as they say. It’s taken me years to just be able to stand the sound of my own singing voice so getting to the end of a track without wanting to stab myself in the ears, that’s a great success to me.

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

I wish I hadn’t seen how some people operate in the music industry. Best friends to the people that can help them and vile to people who they have no use for. I always try to think the best in people but in the creative industry especially, people are capable of turning into absolute dicks for no reason other than stroking their own ego and it’s sad. They probably don’t even know they do it. Gross.

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

I’d love to soundtrack a film. I sometimes put on films on mute and play my guitar along with the scenes. Westerns are especially great for that. Getting the interplay of sound and picture, it’s a hard brief but so rewarding.

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

It has to emote and encourage discourse of itself. I hear a lot of modern music being produced to form over and over again and that’s not artistic. I guess you can refine your techniques but that’s a limited exploration.

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

Some time off! I feel like I’ve been working nonstop for three years. I’m looking forward to the Christmas holidays, having a lie in and spending time with families and friends with a reduced spectre of the pandemic over Christmas 2020. That was tough on everyone so this year will be celebrated in style.

https://www.facebook.com/HaastBandUK
https://www.instagram.com/haast_band/
https://haast.bandcamp.com/
https://linktr.ee/haast

HAAST, Made of Light (2021)

If you, like me, drink coffee, then I hope that you, like me, have it ready to go. We enter day two of the Jan. 2022 Quarterly Review today in a continued effort to at least not start the year at an immediate deficit when it comes to keeping up with stuff. Will it work? I don’t know, to be honest. It seems like I could do one of these for a week every month and that might be enough? Probably not, honestly. The relative democratization of media and method has its ups and downs — social media is a cesspool, privacy is a relic of an erased age, and don’t get me started on self-as-brand fiefdoms (including my own) that permeate the digital sphere in sad, cloying cries for validation — but I’m sure glad recording equipment is cheap and easier to use than it once was. Creativity abounds. Which is good.

Lots to do today and it’s early so I might even have time to get some of it done before my morning goes completely off the rails. Only one way to find out, hmm?

Quarterly Review #11-20:

Emma Ruth Rundle, Engine of Hell

It’s not inconceivable that Emma Ruth Rundle captured a few new ears via her previous LP and EP collaborations with New Orleans art-sludgers Thou, and she answers the tonal wash of those offerings with bedroom folk, can-hear-fingers-moving-on-strings intimacy, some subtle layering of vocals and post-grunge hard-strumming of acoustic guitar, but ultimately a minimal-feeling procession through Engine of Hell, an eight-track collection that, at times, feels like it’s barely there, and in other stretches seems overwhelming in its emotional heft. Rundle‘s songwriting is a long-since-proven commodity among her fans, and the piano-led “In My Afterlife” closes out the record as if to obliterate any lingering doubt of her sincerity. Actually, Engine of Hell makes its challenge in the opposite: it comes across as so genuine that listening to it, the listener almost feels like they’re ogling Rundle‘s trauma, and whatever it’s-sad-so-it-must-be-meaningful cynicism one might want to saddle on Engine of Hell is quickly enough dispatched. Rundle was rude to me once at Roadburn, so screw her, but I won’t take away from the accomplishment here. Not everybody’s brave enough to make a record like this.

Emma Ruth Rundle website

Sargent House website

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T.G. Olson, Lost Horse Returns of its Own Accord

Released in November, Lost Horse Returns of its Own Accord isn’t even the latest full-length anymore from the creative ecosystem that is T.G. Olson, but it’s noteworthy just the same for its clarity of songwriting — “Like You Never Left” makes an early standout for its purposeful-feeling hook and the repeated verse of “Flowers of the End in Bloom” does likewise — and a breadth of production that captures the happening-now sense of trad-twang-folk performance one has come to expect and leaves room for layered in harmonica or backing vocals where they might apply. A completely solo endeavor, the 10-track outing finds the Across Tundras founder taking a relatively straightforward approach as opposed to some of his more experimentalist offerings, which makes touches like the layering in closer “Same Ol’ Blue” and the mourning of the redwoods in the prior “The Way it Used to Be” feel all the more vital to the proceedings. More contemplative than rambling, the way “Li’l Sandy” sets the record in motion is laden with melancholy and nostalgia, but somehow unforgiving of self as well, recognizing the rose tint through which one might see the past, unafraid to call it out. If you’ve never heard a T.G. Olson record before, this would be a good place to start.

Electric Relics Records on Bandcamp

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Haast, Made of Light

Formerly known as Haast’s Eagled, Welsh four-piece Haast make a strikingly progressive turn with Made of Light, what’s ostensibly a kind of second debut. And while they’ve carried over the chemistry and some of the tonal weight of their work under the prior moniker, the mission across the seven-track offering is more than divergent enough to justify that new beginning. Cuts like “A Myth to End All Myths” and the from-the-bottom-up-building “The Agulhas Current” might remind some of Forming the Void‘s take on prog-heavy or heavy-prog, but Haast willfully change up their songwriting and the execution of the album, bringing in vocalist Leanne Brookes on the title-track and Jams Thomas on nine-minute closer “Diweddglo,” which crushes as much as it soars. The central question that Made of Light needs to answer is whether Haast are better off having made the change. Hearing them rework the verse melody of Alice in Chains‘ “We Die Young” on “Psychophant,” the answer is yes. They’ve allowed themselves more reach and room to grow and gained far more than whatever they’ve lost.

Haast on Facebook

Haast on Bandcamp

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Dark Ocean Circle, Bottom of the Ocean

Have riffs, will groove. So it goes with the debut EP from Stockholm-based unit Dark Ocean Circle, who present four formative but cohesive tracks on Bottom of the Ocean, following the guitar in more of a Sabbathian tradition then one might expect from the current stoner-is-as-stoner-does hesher scene. To wit, the title-track’s starts-stops, bluesy soloing and percussive edge tap a distinctly ’70s vibe, if somewhat updated in the still-raw production value after the straight-ahead fuzz of “Battlesnake” hints toward lumber to come in its thickened tone. “Setting Sun” feels more spacious by the time it’s done, but makes solid use of the just over three minutes to get to that point — a short, but satisfying journey — and the closing “Oceans of Blood” speaks to a NWOBHM influence while pairing that with the underlying boogie-blues that seemed to surface in “Bottom of the Ocean” as well. A pandemic-born project, their sound is nascent here but for sure aware of its inspirations and what it wants to take from them. Sans nonsense heavy rock and roll is of perennial welcome.

Dark Ocean Circle on Facebook

Dark Ocean Circle on Bandcamp

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El Castillo, Derecho

Floridian three-piece El Castillo self-tag as “surf Western,” and yeah, that’s about right. Instrumental in its 19-minute entirety, Derecho is the first EP from the trio of guitarist Ben McLeod (also All Them Witches, Westing), bassist Jon Ward and drummer Michael Monahan, and with the participation of McLeod as a draw, the feeling of two sounds united by singularity of tone is palpable. Morricone-meets-slow-motion-Dick–Dale perhaps, though that doesn’t quite account for the subtle current of reggae in “Diddle Datil” or the somehow-fiesta-ready “Summer in Bavaria,” though “Double Tap” is just about ready for you to hang 10, even if closer “Hang 5” keeps to half that, likely in honor of its languid pace, which turns surf into psych as easily as “Wolf Moon” turns it toward the Spaghetti West. An unpretentious exploration, and more intricate than it lets on with “El Norte” bringing various sides together fluidly at the outset and the rest unfolding with similarly apparent ease.

El Castillo on Facebook

El Castillo on Bandcamp

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Tekarra, Kicking Horse

Listening to “Hunted,” the 22:53 leadoff from Tekarra‘s two-song long-player, Kicking Horse, it’s hard not to feel nostalgic for standing in a small room with speaker cabinets stacked to the ceiling and having your bones vibrate from the level of volume assaulting you. I’ve never seen the Edmonton, Alberta, three-piece live, but their rumble and the tension in their pacing is so. fucking. doomed. You just want to throw your head back and shout. Not even words, just primal noises, since that seems to be what’s coming through on their end, so laced with feedback as it is. Coupled with the likewise grueling “Crusade / Kicking Horse” (23:11), there’s some guttural vocals, some samples, but the overarching intention is so clearly in the tune-low-play-slow ethic that that’s what comes across most of all, regardless of what else is happening. I’d be tempted to call it misanthropic if it didn’t have me so much pining for the live experience, and whatever you want to call it there’s no way these dudes give a crap anyway. They’re on another wavelength entirely, sounding dropped out of life and encrusted with cruelty. Fuck you and fuck yes.

Tekarra on Facebook

LSDR Records on Bandcamp

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1782, From the Graveyard

It’s been the better part of a year since 1782 released From the Graveyard, and I could detail for you the mundane reason I didn’t review it before now, but there’s only so much room and I’d rather talk about the bass tone on “Bloodline” and the grimly fuzzed lumber of “Priestess of Death.” An uptick in production value from their 2019 self-titled debut (review here), the 43-minute/eight-song LP nonetheless maintains enough rawness to still be in the post-Electric Wizard vein of cultistry, but its blowout distortion is all the more satisfying for the fullness with which it’s presented. “Seven Priests” sounds like Cathedral played at half-speed (not a complaint) and with its stretch of church organ picking up after a drop to nothing but barely-there low end, “Black Void” lives up to its name while feeling experimental in structure. Familiar in scope, for sure, but a filthy and dark delight just the same. Give me the slow nod of “Inferno” anytime. Even months after the fact its righteousness holds true.

1782 on Facebook

Heavy Psych Sounds website

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Fever Dog, Alpha Waves

Alpha Waves is a sonic twist a few years in the making, as Fever Dog transcend the expectation of their prior classic desert boogie in favor of a glam-informed 10-track double-LP, impeccably arranged and unrepentantly pop-minded. A cut like the title-track or “Star Power” is still unafraid to veer into psychedelics, as Danny Graham and Joshua Adams, but the opener “Freewheelin'” and “Solid Ground” and the later “The Demon” are glam-shuffle ragers, high energy, thoughtfully executed, and clear in their purpose, with “King of the Street” tapping vibes from ELO and Bowie ahead of the shimmering funk-informed jam that is “Mystics of Zanadu” before it fades into a full-on synthesizer deep-dive. Does it come back? You know what, I’m not gonna tell you. Maybe it does and maybe it doesn’t. Definitely you should find out for yourself. Sharp in its craft and wholly realized, Alpha Waves is brought to bear with an individualized vision, and the payoff is right there in its blend of poise and push.

Fever Dog on Facebook

Fever Dog on Bandcamp

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Black Holes are Cannibals, Surfacer

Led by Chris Jude Watson, the dronadelic outfit Black Holes are Cannibals may just be one person, it may be 20, but it doesn’t matter when you’re dealing with a sense of space being manipulated and torn apart molecule by molecule, atom by atom. So it goes throughout the 19-minute “Surfacer,” the 19:07 title-track of the two-songer LP accompanied by “No Title” (20:01). At about eight minutes in, Watson‘s everything-is-throat-singing approach seems to find the event horizon and twists into an elongated freakout with swirls of echoing tones, what seem to be screams, crashing cymbals and a resonant chaotic feel taking hold and then building down instead of up, seeming to disappear into the comparatively minimal beginning of “No Title,” which holds its own payoff back for a broader but more linear progression, ending up in the same with-different-marketing-this-would-be-black-metal aural morass, willfully thrown into the chasm it has made. You ever have an out of body experience? Watson has. Even managed to get it on tape.

Black Holes are Cannibals on Facebook

Cardinal Fuzz store

Little Cloud Records store

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Sonic Wolves, It’s All a Game to Me

What is one supposed to say to paying tribute to Lemmy Kilmister and Cliff Burton? Careers have been made on far less original fare than the two homage tracks that comprise Sonic Wolves‘ It’s All a Game to Me EP, with “CCKL” setting the tempo for a Motörheaded sprint and “Thee Ace of Spades” digging into early-Metallica bombast in its first couple minutes, drifting out for a while after the halfway point, then thrashing its way back to the end. Obviously it’s not the same kind of stuff they were doing with their 2018 self-titled (review here), but neither is it worlds apart. The basic fact of the matter is bands pay tribute to Motörhead and Metallica, to Lemmy and Cliff Burton, all the time. They just don’t tell you they’re doing it. In that way, It’s All a Game to Me almost feels courteous as it elbows you in the gut.

Sonic Wolves on Facebook

Argonauta Records website

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Behold, the last day of the Quarterly Review. For a couple weeks, anyhow. I gotta admit, even with the prospect of doing it all again next month looming over my head, this QR has been strikingly easy to put together. Yeah, some of that is because of back-end conveniences in compiling links, images and embeds, prep work done ahead of time, and so on, but more than that it’s because the music is good. And if you know anything about a QR, you know I like to treat myself on the last day. Today is not at all an exception in that regard. Accordingly, I won’t delay, except to say thanks again for reading and following along if you have been. I know my own year-end list won’t be the same for having done this, and I hope the same for you.

Quarterly Review #41-50:

Kanaan, Earthbound

F-U-Z-Z! Putting the jazzy drive they showcased on 2020’s Odense Sessions on hold, Oslo trio Kanaan — guitarist/percussionist Ask Vatn Strøm (guitar, percussion, noise), Ingvald André Vassbø (drums, percussion, Farfisa) and Eskild Myrvoll (bass, synth, Mellotron, some guitar) — get down to the business of riffs and shred on the clearly-purposefully-titled Earthbound, still touching on heavy psychedelic impulses — “Bourdon” is a positive freakout, man — but underscoring that with a thickness of groove and distorted tonality that more than lives up to the name. See also the cruncher “Mudbound,” which, yeah, gets a little airy in its back half but still holds that thud steady all the while. Simultaneously calling back to European instrumental heavy of two decades ago while maintaining their progressive edge, Kanaan strike a rare — which is to stop just shy of saying “unique” — balance that’s so much richer than the common Earthless idol-worship, and yet somehow miraculously free of pretense at the same time. 46 minutes of heavy joy.

Kanaan on Facebook

Jansen Records website

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Spacelord, False Dawn

Not to be confused with Germany’s The Spacelords, Buffalo, New York’s heavy blues purveyors offer a melody-minded eight songs across the 44 minutes of their third self-released long-player, with the vocals of Ed Grabianowski (also guitar) a distinct focal point backed by Rich Root‘s guitar, bass, drums and production. The two-piece deftly weave between acoustic and electric guitar foundations on songs like “How the Devil Got Into You” and “Breakers,” with a distinctly Led Zeppelin-style flair throughout, the Page/Plant dynamic echoed in the guitar strum as well as the vocals. “Broken Teeth Ritual” pushes through heavier riffing early on, and “All Night Drive” nears eight minutes with a right-on swinging solo jam to follow on the largely unplugged “Crypt Ghost,” and “M-60” nears prog metal in its chug, but the layering of “Starswan” brings a sweet conclusion to the proceedings, which despite the band’s duo configuration sound vibrant in a live sense and organic in their making.

Spacelord on Facebook

Spacelord on Bandcamp

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Altareth, Blood

The opening title-track of Altareth‘s debut album, Blood, seems to be positioned as a direct clarion call to fellow Sabbathians — to my East Coast US ears, it reminds of Curse the Son, which should be taken as a compliment to tone and melody — but the Gothenburg five-piece aren’t through “Satan Hole” before offering some samples and weirdo garage-sounding ’60s keyboard/horn surges, and the swirling lead that consumes the finish of “Downward Mobile,” which follows, continues to hint at their developing complexity of approach. Still, their core sound is slow, thick, dark and lumbering, and whether that’s coming through in centerpiece “Eternal Sleep” or the willful drudgery that surrounds the quiet, melodic break in “Moon,” they’re not shy about making the point. Neither should they be. The penultimate “High Priest” offers mournful soloing and the nine-minute closer “Empty” veers into post-Cathedral prog-doom in its volume trades before a solo crescendo finishes out, and the swallowed-by-sentient-molasses vibe is sealed. They’ll continue to grow into themselves, and Blood would seem to indicate that will be fun to hear.

Altareth on Facebook

Magnetic Eye Records store

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Negură Bunget, Zău

The closing piece of a trilogy and reportedly the final offering from Romanian folk-laced progressive black metallers Negură Bunget following the 2017 death of founding drummer Gabriel “Negru” Mafa, Zău begins with the patient unfolding and resultant sweep of its longest track (immediate points) in “Brad” before the foresty gorgeousness of “Iarba Fiarelor” finds a place between agonized doom and charred bark. Constructed parabolically with its longer songs bookending around the seven-minute centerpiece “Obrazar,” Zău is perhaps best understood in the full context in which it arrives, as the band’s swansong after tragic loss, etc., but it’s also complex and engrossing enough to stand on its own separate from that, and in paying homage to their fallen comrade by completing his last work, Negură Bunget have underscored what made them such a standout in the first place. After the wash of “Tinerețe Fără Bătrânețe,” closer “Toacă Din Cer” rounds out by moving from its shimmering guitar into a muted ceremony of horn and tree-creaking percussion that can only be called an appropriate finish, if in fact it is that for the band.

Negură Bunget on Facebook

Prophecy Productions store

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High Fighter, Live at WDR Rockpalast

High Fighter — with guitars howling, screams wailing and growls guttural, drums pounding, bass thick and guitars leading the charge — recorded their Live at WDR Rockpalast set during lockdown, sans audience, at the industrial complex Landschaftspark Duisburg- Nord depicted on the cover of the LP/DL release. It’s a fittingly brutal-looking setting for the Hamburg-based melodic sludge metal aggressors, and in their rawest moments, tracks like “When We Suffer” and “Before I Disappear” throw down with a nastiness that should raise eyebrows for any who’d worship the crustiest of wares. Of course, that’s not the limit of what High Fighter do, and a big part of the band’s aesthetic draws on the offset of melody and extremity, but to listen to the 34-minute set wrap with the outright, dug-in, At the Gates-comparison-worthy rendition of “Shine Equal Dark,” it’s hard not to appreciate just how vicious they can be as a group. This was their last show with founding guitarist Christian “Shi” Pappas, and whatever the future holds, they gave him a fitting sendoff.

High Fighter on Facebook

Argonauta Records website

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Spier Kitten, Major Label Debut

This is fucking rad. Long-running Welsh trio Spider Kitten probably don’t give a shit if you check it out or not, but I do. Major Label Debut runs less than half an hour and in that time they remind that there’s more expressive potential to heavy rock than playing to genre, and as cuts like “Maladjusted” reinvent grunge impact and the brooding “Hearts and Mindworms” blend Melvins-born weirdo impulses and naturalize Nine Inch Nailsian lyrical threat, there’s a good sense of doing-whatever-the-hell-they-want that comes through alongside deceptively thoughtful arrangements and melodies. The weight and post-Dirt sneer of “Sandbagged (Whoa, Yeah)” may or may not be parody, but hell if it doesn’t work, and the same applies to the earlier blast-punk of “Self-Care (Makes Me Wanna Die),” both songs in and out in under three minutes. Give it up for a band dwelling on their own wavelength, who’ve been hither and yon and are clearly comfortable following where their impulses lead. This kind of creativity is its own endgame. You either appreciate that or it’s your loss.

Spider Kitten on Facebook

Spider Kitten on Bandcamp

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Snowy Dunes, Sastrugi

Even discounting the global pandemic, it feels like an exceptionally long four years since Stockholm’s Snowy Dunes issued their sophomore album, 2017’s Atlantis (review here). “Let’s Save Dreams,” which is the second cut on Sastrugi, was released as a single in 2019 (posted here), so there’s no question the record’s been in the works for a while, but its purposefully split two sides showcase a sound that’s been worth the wait, from the straightforward classic craft of the leadoff title-track to the dug-in semi-psychedelic swing of 11-minute capper “Helios,” the four-piece jamming on modernized retro impulses after dropping hints of prog and space-psych in “Medicinmannen” (9:14) and pushing melancholy heavy blues into shuffle-shove insistence on side A’s organ-laced closer “Great Divide” with duly Sverige soul. Pushes further out as it goes, takes you with it, reminds you why you liked this band so much in the first place, and sounds completely casual in doing all of it.

Snowy Dunes on Facebook

Snowy Dunes on Bandcamp

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Maragda, Maragda

A threat of tonal weight and a certain rhythmic intensity coincide with dreamy prog melodies in “The Core as a Whole” and “The Calling,” which together lead the way into the self-titled debut from Barcelona, Spain’s Maragda, and an edge of the technical persists despite the wash of “Hermit,” a current perhaps of grunge and metal that’s given something of a rest in the brightness of “Crystal Passage” still to come — more than an interlude at three minutes, but instrumental just the same — after the sharply solo’ed “Orb of Delusion.” Payoff for the burgeoning intensity of the early going arrives in “Beyond the Ruins,” though closer “The Blue Ceiling” enacts some shred to back its Mellotron-y midsection. There’s a balance that will be found or otherwise resisted as Maragda explore the varied nature of their influences — growth to be undertaken, then — but their progressive structures, storytelling mindset and attention to detail here are more than enough to pique interest and make Maragda a welcome addition to the crowded Spanish underground.

Maragda on Facebook

Spinda Records on Bandcamp

Nafra Records on Bandcamp

Necio Records on Bandcamp

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Killer Hill, Frozen Head

Extra super bonus points for Los Angeles heavy noise rockers Killer Hill on naming a song “Bullshit Mountain,” and more extra for leaving the incidental-sounding feedback in too. Frozen Head follows behind 2019’s About a Goat two-songer with six tracks and 22 minutes that pummels on opener “Trash” and its title-track in a niche thick-toned, hardcore-punk born — the band is members of Helmet and Guzzard, so tick your ‘pedigree’ box — and raw, churning metal raised, “Frozen Head” veering into Slayery thrash and deathly churn before evening out in its chorus, such as it does. Sadly, “Laser Head Removal” is instrumental, but the longer trio that follow in “Bent,” the aforementioned “Bullshit Mountain” and the all-go-until-it-isn’t-then-is-again-then-isn’t-again “Re Entry” bask in further intentional cross-genre fuckery with due irreverence and deceptive precision. It sounds like a show you’d go to thinking you were gonna get your ass beat, but nah, everyone’s cool as it turns out.

Killer Hill on Facebook

Killer Hill on Bandcamp

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Ikitan, Darvaza y Brincle

Distinguished through the gotta-hear-it bass tone of Frik Et that provides grounding presence alongside Luca “Nash” Nasciuti float-ready guitar and the cymbal wash of Enrico Meloni‘s drums, the Genoa, Italy, instrumental three-piece Ikitan make their first offering through Taxi Driver Records with the two-track cassingle Darvaza y Brincle. The outing’s component inclusions run on either side of seven minutes, and the resultant entirety is under 14, but that’s enough to give an impression of where they’re headed after their initial single-song EP, Twenty-Twenty (review here), showed up late last year, with crunch and heavier post-rock drift meeting in particularly cohesive fashion on “Brincle” even as that B-side feels more exploratory than “Darvaza” prior. With some nascent prog stretch in the soloing, the complete narrative of the band’s style has yet to be told, but the quick, encouraging check-in is appreciated. Until next time.

Ikitan on Facebook

Taxi Driver Records store

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This Friday marks the release of the debut EP Coma (review here) from Welsh newcomers Lurcher through Trepanation Recordings. And thinking of a band’s first short release as showcasing their initial forward potential, the release of Coma is an occasion worth marking. Produced and mixed by guitarist/vocalist Joe Harvatt with engineering by Owain Fleetwood Jenkins and mastering by the esteemed Jaime Gomez Arellano, with Harvatt joined by bassist Tom Shortt and drummer Simon Bonwick, the four-song outing runs 26 minutes — one more track would make it an album, really — and works outward from the immediacy of its opening title-track into more spacious proceedings, its successively longer pieces each giving a more complex picture of the whole.

Harvatt leads the way, and not just on the shred-fest that emerges in the second half of the penultimate “All Now is Here” before the song gives way to about a minute and a half of quiet, sustained tone (though I suppose he’s leading the way there too, since it’s just guitar), but Shortt‘s bass and Bonwick‘s all-in drumming are crucial from the outset. “Coma” itself is a relatively straight-ahead riffer of the Sasquatchian tradition — in the prior review I likened the opener to Cave In for some of its punk-born melodic aspects and I stand by that as well — but it’s the quite-insistent snare of the verse that both tips it over into a more progressive mindset and provides the tension to be contrasted and paid off in the chorus, making the whole track work.

Likewise, the density of low end in “Remove the Myth From the Mountain” is where it gets its crunch, and while the Hendrixy vibe that launches and eventually comes back around in “All Now is Here” is obviously a focal point, it’s Shortt, especially in the hook, that adds the corresponding grunge feel and holds the song together as the guitar goes on its merry, impressive this-fret-and-this-one-and-this-one bluesy jaunt. That’s the stuff of classic power trios, but it’s a formula that isn’t close to being broken as used by Lurcher, and forms just part of what they present on Coma, which transitions smoothly into “All Now is Here” with the aforementioned coda drone, and at nearly nine minutes long, has plenty of room to give each element a chance to shine — multi-channel guitar solo included as keyboard wash adds drama — while emphasizing the songwriting that unites them.

As part of that summary, the heft of “Remove the Myth From the Mountain” returns as part of “Cross to Bear”‘s crescendo as well, but they end with a brief reprise of the softer guitar figure from earlier in the song, offering a more complete picture of the whole. I’ll be frank: I like spending money. And I like spending your money too. But even if you don’t take the jump and preorder one of the woefully limited CDs (50 of them) or tapes (20, with three left as of this writing), take a listen to the stream below, because where one can hear Lurcher have room to grow in terms of chemistry as bands hopefully do with time, the fact that they not only establish an aesthetic here — quickly — but begin to toy with the balance of the characteristics that comprise it is remarkably encouraging. Band to watch in the future? Maybe. Definitely a band to listen to now though.

So go ahead and do that, if you please.

And if you do, enjoy:

Preorder link: https://trepanationrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/coma

LURCHER emerge in 2021 from deepest West Wales with their astonishing debut EP ‘Coma’.

As well as digital download this release will be available on limited edition CD (limited to 50 copies) and cassette (limited to 20 copies).

Lurcher are:
Joe Harvatt – Guitar / Vocals
Tom Shortt – Bass Guitar
Simon Bonwick – Drums

Lurcher, “Coma” official video

Lurcher on Instagram

Lurcher on Twitter

Trepanation Recordings on Facebook

Trepanation Recordings on Instagram

Trepanation Recordings on Bandcamp