EYE Post New Single “Open Sea”

Posted in Whathaveyou on August 4th, 2026 by JJ Koczan

“Open Sea” was recorded by Chris Fielding (ex-Conan, etc.) at Foel Studios at the same time Jessica Ball‘s post-MWWB solo-project set its debut album, Dark Light to tape — or, you know, to hard drive — but didn’t make the cut. Sometimes a thing needs to cook. The track would seem to have been the beneficiary of the time since that album came out in 2024, as Ball went back and reworked the vocals and now the song is public ahead of a London show this coming weekend at Camden’s famed Black Heart.

Those who followed Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard/MWWB on their journey will recognize the heft in “Open Sea,” and the focus on melody corresponding to that. According to the press release below, Ball is in-progress on a sophomore full-length for the project and rediscovering some of the joy in making a riff sound heavy on a planetary level. This is only good news, and with EYE‘s penchant for texture, it seems like there is plenty of room for prevailing philosophies to align.

If you didn’t hear the first EYE record, “Open Sea” — just six minutes long — feels like a good way to get introduced:

eye open sea

EYE release new single “Open Sea”

Listen to “Open Sea” – https://cargo-independent.ffm.to/v8f0rnmxhk

EYE, the band formed by Jessica Ball (Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard) return with a reworked heavy-psych bliss-out of a unreleased track and taster of new things to come from the Welsh heavy dark-wavers who gave us “Dark Light’, an acclaimed debut album in 2024 on New Heavy Sounds (Cwfen, Shooting Daggers, Death Pill).

An ethereal dark-folk intro of clean finger-picking and Carpenter synth lulls us into a sense of false calm before Ball unleashes one of her most crushing MWWB-esque fuzz riffs. By revisiting the track Ball has now delivered one of her most memorable melodies with a huge chorus recalling Mammoth Weed in full flow – Blackwater Holylight, Faetooth eat-your-heart-out.

A stand-alone track for the time being but Jessica explains where things are going…

“The release of ‘Open Sea’ was quite unexpected in a way! We had initially recorded it in Foel Studios with the intention of it being on our first album ‘Dark Light’. For whatever reason, it didn’t make it on the album. It’s a song I had written a very long time ago, and it’s funny how you can favour your new material over the old stuff. I also wasn’t keen on the vocal melody anymore.

Well we recently came across it again, and I decided to have a go at some new vocals with fresh ears as enough time had passed. I liked what I did, so we sent it to Chris Fielding to work his magic… What came back was a fierce track that we absolutely loved. So I’m glad it is seeing the light of day.

Since the release of Dark Light, we’ve been playing a few select shows and working on our live sound a lot more. I’ve also been writing and working towards our second album. This single (Open Sea) has inspired me to make next album a lot heavier, and bring back the riffs!”

EYE are also set to support label mates Crumbling Ghost, who launch their album with a show at London’s Black Heart on 7th August.

Tickets are on sale now – https://dice.fm/partner/tickets/event/bb2b9x-crumbling-ghost-four-album-release-show-7th-aug-the-black-heart-london-tickets

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

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

EYE, “Open Sea”

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Goat Major to Release Death Comes Twice Oct. 23

Posted in Whathaveyou on July 27th, 2026 by JJ Koczan

goat major

UK riffriders Goat Major are back with the follow-up to their 2024 Ripple Music debut, Ritual (review here). Dubbed Death Comes Twice, the trio’s second album begins its promo cycle with a new video for “Wheels of Gold” that you can see at the bottom of this post, giving hints of the melodic growth they’ve undertaken — you even get a bit of harmony in the chorus — as their doomly foundations meld with a heavy rocker’s shove. The clip has some strobe-y parts, so approach with caution if you’re sensitive to that kind of thing, but it’s a shove all the way to its fadeout, and that’s a welcome way to introduce listeners to the record.

The PR wire brought word, art and video, so, you know, it’s a multimedia kind of wire. Okay, generally speaking, it’s just my email, but it’s more fun to pretend it’s like the early 1900s and I’m using a telegraph or somesuch. “This just in from Wales,” and so forth.

Have at you:

goat major death comes twice

UK occult doom trio GOAT MAJOR to release new album “Death Comes Twice” on Ripple Music this fall; stream new video “Wheels of Gold”

Welsh doom metal trio GOAT MAJOR is set to return with their sophomore full-length “Death Comes Twice” this October 23rd on Ripple Music and unleash their new single “Wheels of Gold” today!

💀 Watch new Goat Major video Wheels of Gold 💀 + listen to the song on all streaming services: https://lnkfi.re/majorwheels

Welsh heavy trio Goat Major are set to return with their crushing sophomore album, Death Comes Twice, the follow-up to their 2024 debut Ritual. The songwriting process ignited immediately after the last record, with guitarist Jammie Arnold channeling a relentless flow of riff demos that provided the foundation for Simon Bonwick (drums) and Tom Shortt (vocals/bass) to build upon. They comment, “When the three of us gathered in the jam room, that’s where the true magic happened. We threw ourselves into every riff, every groove, with no detail too small or too grand. This new record reveals a deeper, more melodic side of us, all the while remaining heavy and intense. We hope you enjoy it as much as we enjoyed creating it!”

Recording once again with engineer Tom Chaloner in rural Pembrokeshire, the band captured the raw energy of their live chemistry by tracking together in a room without click tracks. The result is a record that delves deeper into melody while maintaining their signature heaviness, augmented by experimental layers of percussion, harmonies, and progressive synthesis soundscapes.

Lyrically, Death Comes Twice navigates the dark narrow passageways of belief, tradition, and existential crisis. Continuing the occult and cosmic themes of their debut, the album shifts between dark fantasy and internal turmoil, exploring themes of persecution under dogmatic rule, the spiritual toll of ancient rituals, and the clash between divine creation and modern technology.

About the new single “Wheels of Gold”, the band says: “Wheels of Gold brings imagery of the biblical depictions of angels. Imagining them into our new technological age and asking if they would still serve their elemental ancient god, or revolt and destroy that god in order to serve new artificial machines of creation.”

New album “Death Comes Twice” Out October 23rd on Ripple Music (LP/CD/digital)

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

https://linktr.ee/goatmajorband
https://goatmajorband.bandcamp.com/
https://www.instagram.com/goatmajorband
https://www.facebook.com/goatmajorband

http://www.ripple-music.com/
https://ripplemusic.bandcamp.com/
https://www.instagram.com/ripplemusic/
https://www.facebook.com/theripplemusic/

Goat Major, “Wheels of Gold” official video

Tags: , , , , ,

Quarterly Review: Beastwars, Lacertilia, Dune Aurora, Khayrava, River Cult, Beast Eagle, The Munsens, Rattlesnake Venom Trip, Pesta, Atom Lux

Posted in Reviews on November 17th, 2025 by JJ Koczan

the obelisk quarterly review

Happy Monday, and welcome to the Quarterly Review. Or welcome back, anyhow. I said last month that I might try to sneak another one of these weeks in before the end of November, and I’m honestly not prepared to say this’ll be it for the year. There’s a lot out there to keep up with, and this is the most efficient means I have for ‘keeping up,’ as best as I can do that anyhow. I don’t know, man. I’m just trying to get through the day.

This QR is 50 releases — I was slating them right up to yesterday, so some of it’s pretty fresh — and will go from today through Friday. It will be most, if not all, of what is posted this week. I hope you find something you enjoy. Let’s go.

Quarterly Review #1-10:

Beastwars, The Ship // The Sea

beastwars the ship the sea

At nearly 15 years’ remove from their self-titled debut (review here), New Zealand’s Beastwars have been through ringers in life and music alike, but their sound on their sixth full-length, they’ve never sounded quite so refined. Understand, it’s Beastwars, so I still mean immersive and crushing riff-heavy rock, which the band have honed to a point of bordering on noise rock in pieces like “The Storm” or the later “You Know They’re Burning the Land.” “Rust” and “The Howling” maintain a sense of the epic with Matt Hyde‘s shouts alternately into and out from the abyss, but the band have grown in the six years since their last album of originals, 2019’s IV (review here), and for the blowout in “The Devil” and the weight of chug in “Guardian of Fire,” their impact feels all the more craterous for it.

Beastwars store

Beastwars on Bandcamp

Lacertilia, Transcend

lacertilia transcend

I won’t take away from the shorter bangers here, whether it’s the wah-on immediacy of “Listen Close” or “Weird Scenes” with its stick-click immediacy, but each half(-ish) of Lacertilia‘s third LP (first for Majestic Mountain), Transcend, ends with a more extended cut, with “Nothing Sacred” (10:34) and “The Sun is the Key” (7:13) rounding out their respective sides, and the band are right to take the time when they take it. Of course, it’s symptomatic of the broader variety brought to the Cardiff five-piece’s craft, and they make Transcend a showcase of their reach, be it into acoustic strum and emergent bluesier scorch on “Over and Out,” the twisting lead guitar progressivism of “Deviate From the Plan,” which meets the grandeur halfway, or the percussion-laced instrumentalist build of the semi-title-track “Transcending.” They end up offering something different with each of the 10 songs, and balance raucousness and expressive purpose as they go in malleable and distinctive style.

Lacertilia on Bandcamp

Majestic Mountain Records store

Dune Aurora, Ice Age Desert

Dune Aurora Ice Age Desert

With their debut album, Turin three-piece Dune Aurora draw together disparate ideas from across the modern riffy pastiche such that garage-style sway and more traditonalist stoner chug combine with at-times-ethereal melody, desert push, psychedelia and, in the case of “Trapdoor,” a poppier take entirely. There’s cohesion in the songwriting to match the aesthetic ambition, though, and Dune Aurora don’t come off as haphazard so much as multifaceted. The reworked prior single “Fire” demonstrates a fuzzy drive waiting in the wings as part of their approach, but the nod in “Burning Waters” is more dug in, and “Sunless Queen” reveals a patience underlying their builds that might come out more on subsequent outings, but the shove of “Crocodile” and that Nirvana riff in “Dune Chameleon” are vital to Ice Age Desert too, and it’s still just a sampling of the elements Dune Aurora use to ensnare the listener. As much as they have going on, that they don’t come across as confused seems to give them all the more potential.

Dune Aurora on Bandcamp

Argonauta Records website

Khayrava, Ghost Pain

Khayrava Ghost Pain

Ghost Pain is the debut two-songer from Almeria, Spain, post-metallic four-piece Khayrava, who present “Red Hot Sun” (7:04) and “Ghost Pain” (10:32) with a marked sense of texture as part of their intention. Both tracks crush, but both also offer a moment of departure from that, and the latter plays off the impact of the former with a keyboardier air and its later divergence into floating melody and crash before, just past the eight-minute mark, they torch the whole thing with a worthy and minutes-long crescendo. “Red Hot Sun” is huge, but its midsection gives over to a break of Tool-y groove met with heavy post-rock flourish from the guitar. That also, of course, comes back around to the pummel, but it’s in the getting there that Khayrava begin to reveal the character of the band, and with the depth of mix they bring to Ghost Pain and the clear intent toward nuance of style, I’ll be on the lookout for where they go from here.

Khayrava on Bandcamp

Khayrava on Instagram

River Cult, High Anxiety

River Cult High Anxiety

“Who invented 9-5,” River Cult ask on “Fast Crash.” “They should be shot dead,” is the answer the lyrics give. Fair. The third long-player from the heretofore undervalued New York-based disgruntled fuzzbringers manages to make a mental health crisis swing like desert rock on “Smoke Break,” the sixth of the seven inclusions on the 38-minute offering, seeming to answer the crash-in, warm tone and lyrical fuckall of the opening title-track in the process. They’re not wrong, and if you’re gonna say the world sucks, at least “Feels Good to Scream” has a density of distortion to hold up to the message, vocals biting through like early-metal’s cultist inheritor, cavernous and obscure ahead of centerpiece “Mind the Teeth” start-stop chugging as the lore of ‘The Wolf’ is cast. The trio of guitarist/vocalist Sean Forlenza, bassist Anthony Mendolia and drummer Eli Pizzuto (ex-Naam) find a niche for themselves in downtrodden fuzz, ending with “New Song,” which even having been tracked at Brooklyn’s Studio G sounds fresh off the stage.

River Cult on Bandcamp

River Cult on Instagram

Beast Eagle, Sorceress

Beast Eagle Sorceress

In the soaring vocals of Kate Prokop and the riffs behind them chugging away at the verses of “The Dead Follow” and the moodier surge into the layered hook of “Witch Hunt,” Omaha, Nebraska’s Beast Eagle answer their 2024 self-titled debut EP with five more songs of metal-rooted heavy groove, clear and fluid in “Sharp Tongue” but not without aggression underlying. The bass in “The Dead Follow” is mixed the way I feel bass should always be — forward — and that gives even the mellower stretch as they move into the ending a different sense of presence than it might otherwise have, but in the galloping verse and sprawling chorus of “The Demonstration” and the rush of “Send Me Down,” the latter of which, admittedly, is more of a rocker, speaking to a burgeoning dynamic in their sound, they retain a feeling of charge, and that defines Sorceress‘ 19-minute run as much as the taut chug in “Sharp Tongue.”

Beast Eagle on Bandcamp

Beast Eagle on Instagram

The Munsens, Degradation in the Hyperreal

The Munsens Degradation in the Hyperreal

Having relocated from Denver to Asbury Park, New Jersey, The Munsens are no less vicious or crushing on their second album, Degradation in the Hyperreal. “Eternal Grasp” starts the procession as much death metal as it is sludge, which is an ethic that “Supreme Death” will bring to gorgeously extreme fruition a short time later, while pieces like the melancholic, minimalist instrumental “Vesper” and the blistering megasludger “Sacred Ivory” and the outro “I Avow” offset the onslaught of “The Knife,” “Scaling Ceausescu’s Balcony” and the lumber-into-double-kick of “Drauga,” vocals offering precious little comfort for the downward journey of the record’s 46 minutes. That “The Knife” finishes, specifically, ahead of “I Avow,” stands as testament to just how far The Munsens have pushed into extremity over the course of their decade-plus, but they are not entirely unforgiving either, despite having grown only more gnashing over the course of their decade-plus tenure.

The Munsens on Bandcamp

The Munsens on Instagram

Rattlesnake Venom Trip, Eclipse the Sun

rattlesnake venom trip eclipse the sun

They’re not thrash, but thrash is part of what Dayton, Ohio’s Rattlesnake Venom Trip get up to on their new four-song EP, Eclipse the Sun, with a sharp edge to the riffing on lead cut “Hollowed Eyes” that tells the tale. The second half of that track subsides some in terms of forward thrust, setting up the still-chugging-but-slower “Ablaze Set I,” with a more resonant hook, and “Brushstrokes/Eclipse the Sun,” which in its first half is as far as Rattlesnake Venom Trip go in divergence from the burl and push, but in its second answers for the metal and the nod both that it seems to have inherited from the opener. Punchy bass’ed reinforcement takes place over the five minutes of “Cold Winds Blow,” and the four-piece maintain a clear-eyed sense of identity through whatever turns the material makes, somewhere between heavy rock, Southern metal, thrash and stoner idolatry. You could sit and parse it, but the band make it pretty easy to trust where they’re headed as they go.

Rattlesnake Venom Trip website

Rattlesnake Venom Trip on Bandcamp

Pesta, The Craft of Pain

Pesta The Craft of Pain

For their third long-player, The Craft of Pain (on Glory or Death), Brazil’s Pesta offer a take on doom born of traditional metal. They’re not aggro, or outwardly depressive, but “Masters of the Craft of Pain” and the swinging “Marked by Hate” find a route from Sabbath and the NWOBHM to doom just the same. A guest appearance from Scott “Wino” Weinrich (The Obsessed, etc.) on vocals for “Mirror Maze” is a departure, but not so radical as to be out of place, especially backed by the depth of groove in the subsequent rocker “In the Drive’s End.” On side B, the pair of “The Inquisitor Pt. I” and the initially-acoustic-based “The Inquisitor Pt. II” provide a more theatrical reach, but the acoustic-and-key-strings “Canto XXI” brings in Rodrigo Garcia (Diffuse Reality) for another curve before “Shadows of a Desire” returns to ground to finish out not so far from where “Marked by Hate” left off. At no point do Pesta feel like they’ve diverged from where they want to be.

Pesta on Bandcamp

Glory or Death Records website

Atom Lux, Voidgaze Dopamine Salad

atom lux voidgaze dopamine salad

The lyrics posted with the cumbersomely-titled “J.I.B.B.E.R.I.S.H. (John Inflates Balloons Because Every Remote Island Starts Hallucinating)” are wrong, and the level of psychedelic tricksterism and playfulness across Atom Lux‘s debut, Voidgaze Dopamine Salad is such that I’m not sure if that’s on purpose or not. Rest assured, different references to “I Am the Walrus” are being made. The self-recording solo-project of Roman multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Lucio Filizola is a garden of weirdo delights, with the keyboardy bounce of “Death by Small Talk” giving away none of the subversively easy garage swing of “Spaghettification Apocalypse” and “Stoned Monkey Heritage” bashing away like it’s an alternate-reality 1964, which by the way I’m no longer convinced it isn’t. It’s from gleeful oddities like “Dance Plague Delirium” that progressive rock first emerged in the comedown era. The same trajectory may or may not be in store for Atom Lux long term, but right now any kind of ‘comedown’ still feels a good ways off.

Atom Lux on Bandcamp

Atom Lux on Instagram

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Lacertilia to Release New LP Transcend Oct. 24; “The Sun is the Key” Video Posted

Posted in Whathaveyou on September 12th, 2025 by JJ Koczan

lacertilia

One thing leads to the next, I suppose, as the same week Majestic Mountain Records offers up the latest from Northern Irish crushers Slomatics, so too do they announce the next British-Isles-based release they’ll stand behind in the form of Lacertilia‘s Transcend. Anytime we’re talking just about anything Welsh and heavy, my mind goes to ’90s riffkings Acrimony, from Swansea, but Cardiff’s Lacertilia have a modern sense of atmosphere to the album’s first single and closing track, “The Sun is the Key,” calling to mind latter-day Steak with the bit of vocal burl atop instrumental outreach. It’s always a bold move for a band to give away how it all ends, but the seven-and-a-half-minute track has atmosphere and push alike, a grabber of a hook and a heavy groove underscoring the whole thing. I’m curious to find out how they get there.

Oct. 24 is the release date, as the PR wire informs. You can check out the semi-kaleidoscopic video for “The Sun is the Key” at the bottom of this post, with all its sun-baked yellow light and flowing riffery. Apparently that’s how they spent the solstice. Could do far, far worse, from the look of it:

lacertilia transcend

UK heavy psychedelic rockers LACERTILIA to release new album “Transcend” on Majestic Mountain Records this fall; first single “The Sun Is The Key” streaming!

Cardiff-based heavy psych torchbearers LACERTILIA return after five years with their anticipated third studio album “Transcend”, due out on October 24th through Swedish powerhouse Majestic Mountain Records. Stream their brand new single and video for “The Sun Is The Key” now!

Lacertilia stand out as a fearless blend of psychedelic soul and heavy riff warfare, rooted in their Welsh stoner rock identity but unafraid to draw from cosmic textures, primal energy, and punk-inspired vigour. A powerhouse live act, they have leveled stages from Desertfest London to Hellfest in France, converting audiences at every stop.

Their sonic evolution culminates in their forthcoming third album and Majestic Mountain Records debut “Transcend”, which sees the five-piece refining their explosive sound, merging the massive riffs and spacey explorations they are revered for with darker, more intricate textures of folk, prog and post-rock. The result is a heavier, more dynamic listen that charts a course through themes of profound personal growth and transformation, grappling with the nature of reality, existential dread, the breakdown of relationships, and the future of mankind.

Their new single “The Sun Is The Key” is a pagan space rock epic that soars with cosmic energy, connecting themes of higher consciousness, mysticism and ancient spiritual practices. Lacertilia worked with filmmaker Ren Faulkner to capture a ritual sunrise performance in the Welsh Mountains during Summer Solstice ’25.

New album “Transcend” Out October 24th on Majestic Mountain Records (LP/CD/digital)

TRACKLIST:
1. Archaic Oscillations
2. We Go Here
3. Listen Close
4. Over & Out
5. Nothing’s Sacred
6. Transcending
7. Deviate From The Plan
8. Weird Scenes
9. Cerulean Sky
10. The Sun Is The Key

Lacertilia is
Matt Fry – Acoustic Guitar, Vocals
Lucas Zalunski – Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar
Michael Young-Temple – Electric Guitar, Djembe
Ed Hughes – Bass
Carl Richards – Drums

https://lacertilia-uk.bandcamp.com/
https://www.instagram.com/lacertiliaband/
http://facebook.com/LacertiliaUKBand

http://majesticmountainrecords.bigcartel.com
https://majesticmountainrecords.bandcamp.com/
http://instagram.com/majesticmountainrecords
http://facebook.com/majesticmountainrecords

Lacertilia, “The Sun is the Key” official video

Tags: , , , , , ,

Quarterly Review: Blackwater Holylight, Spider Kitten, Mooch, Snakes & Pyramids, Unbelievable Lake, Krautfuzz, Sleeping Mountain, Goblinsmoker, Onioroshi, L’Ira del Baccano & Yama

Posted in Reviews on July 1st, 2025 by JJ Koczan

quarterly-review-winter 2023

Alright, day two. Here we go. I never really know how a given day of the Quarterly Review is going to flow until I get there. The hope is that in slating releases for a given day — which I mostly do randomly over time, though I generally like to lead with something ‘bigger’ — I’ve considered things like not putting too much that sounds the same together, geographic variability, and so on. Sometimes that plan works, and I get a day like yesterday, which was pretty close to ideal. If that was the pattern for this entire QR, I’d be just fine with that, but I know better. One day at a time, as all the inspirational tchotchkes say.

Feeling good though headed into day two, so I’ll take it.

Quarterly Review #11-20:

Blackwater Holylight, If You Only Knew

blackwater holylight if you only knew

The narrative around L.A.-by-way-of-Portland’s Blackwater Holylight at this point is one of growth, and well it should be. At seven years’ remove from their self-titled debut (review here), the four-piece offer the four-song If You Only Knew — three originals and a take on Radiohead‘s “All I Need” — as something of a stopgap four years after their third LP, Silence/Motion (review here). And like that 2021 album, “Wandering Lost,” “Torn Reckless” and “Fate is Forward” see the band working to expand their sound. They’re not upstarts anymore, and the marriage of dream-pop and crush on “Wandering Lost” alone is worth the price of admission, never mind the downward swirl of “Torn Reckless” the melodic burst-through and quiet space of “Fate is Forward” or the explosion in the back half of the Radiohead tune. Pro shop, all the way.

Blackwater Holylight website

Suicide Squeeze Records website

Spider Kitten, The Truth is Caustic to Love

Spider Kitten The Truth is Caustic to Love

There’s a deep current of Melvinsian quirk in Spider Kitten‘s thickly-riffed slog, and it’s in the creeper-into-noiseburst of “Revelation #1” with its later rawest-Alice in Chains harmonies as much as the false start on “Febrile and Taciturn” and a chugblaster like “Wretched Evergreen” which is just one of the six songs in the 14-song tracklisting under two minutes long. Throughout the 37 minutes, shit gets weird. Then it gets weirder. Then they do folk balladeering in “Sueño” for a minimal-Western divergence prefacing the later soundtrackery of “Woe Betide Me.” Then they’re back to bashing away — but at what? Themselves? Their instruments certainly. Maybe a bit of shaking genre convention if not outright, all-the-time defiance. The key blend is ultimately of the crunch in their guitar and bass tones and the melodies that come to top it — not that all the vocals are melodic, mind you — with a kind of creative restlessness that makes each cut find its own way through, some at a decent clip, to leave a dent right in the middle of your forehead.

Spider Kitten links

APF Records website

Mooch, Kin

mooch kin

Montreal three-piece Mooch align with Black Throne Productions for their fourth album release. The band, comprised of guitarist/bassist/vocalist Ben Cornel, guitarist/vocalist/bassist/keyboardist Julian Iac and drummer/vocalist Alex Segreti, have run a thread of quick, purposeful growth through the last several years, with 2024’s Visions (review here)  following 2023’s Wherever it Goes following their 2020 debut, Hounds, and other singles and such besides. At their hookiest, in a piece like “Hang Me Out (False Sun),” they remind some of At Devil Dirt‘s heavy-fuzz poppy plays, but one knows better than to expect Mooch to be singleminded on an LP, and Kin plays out with according complexity, finding a particularly satisfying resolution in “Prominence” before hitting successive, different crescendos in “Lightning Rod,” “Gemini” and the eight-minute “Zenith” to end the record. A band who genuinely seem to follow where the material takes them while refusing to get lost on the way.

Mooch links

Black Throne Productions website

Snakes & Pyramids, Disappearer

Snakes and Pyramids Disappearer

I’m not a punker. I was never cool enough to listen to punk rock. Generally when I hear something that’s rooted in punk and it lands with me, I assume that means the band are doing punk wrong. If so, I like the way Snakes & Pyramids do punk wrong on Disappearer. The tonal presence, their willingness to make not-everything be exactly on-the-beat, the liberal doses of wah treatment on the lead guitar to give a psychedelic edge, the effects on the vocals helping that as well, plus the flexibility to roll out a heavy riff. There’s not a whole lot to not like as they push genre limits across 38 minutes and eight songs, finding space for post-punk in “Disappearer” or “All the Same” before they really dig in on the near-eight-minute closer “Seven Gods.” For future reference, the band is the doubly-Brian’ed three-piece of Brian Hammond (ex-The Curses), Brian Connor (ex-Motherboar) and Cavan Bligh. Psychedelic punk, even more than punk-metal or any other way you might want to try to blend it, is incredibly difficult to pull off well. That seems much less the case here.

Snakes & Pyramids on Bandcamp

Snakes & Pyramids on Instagram

Unbelievable Lake, I Have No Mouth and Yet I Must Scream

Unbelievable Lake I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream

There is only one song on I Have No Mouth and Yet I Must Scream, and it’s the title-track. At 41 minutes long, that’s all you need, and Northern Irish psych-drone experimentalists Unbelievable Lake — think Queen Elephantine, but longer-form, more effects on the guitar, and dramatic in the ebbs and flows — the first 10 minutes are a movement unto themselves, with a linear build into a consuming payoff; due comedown provided. Those comparatively still stretches can be some of the most difficult for a band who’ve just blown it out to dwell in, but Unbelievable Lake use negative-space as much as crush to make their way toward the next culmination, which sort of gradually devolves instrumentally but makes its way along the path of residual noise toward one last round of pummel. You bet your ass they make it count. This is a significant accomplishment, and enough on its own wavelength that most ears will glaze over to hear it. But there’s just the right kind of brain out there for it, as well. Maybe that’s you.

Unbelievable Lake on Bandcamp

Cursed Monk Records website

Krautfuzz, Live at the Church

krautfuzz live at the church feat j mascis

Krautfuzz scorch the ground on the 23-minute “Live at the Church A” to such a degree that I’m surprised there was anything left to plug in for when they bring out J. Mascis of Dinosaur Jr. and Witch to take part in “Live at the Church B,” let alone a full album-unto-itself 39 minutes’ worth of go. Rest assured, there’s plenty of noiseshove in “Live at the Church B” as well, and it arrives quicker than in the preceding slab, guitar running forward and back in loops even before the swirl cuts through the fuller distortion surrounding at about seven minutes in, howls and wails and wormholes and spacetime bend inward, flex outward, breathe like the cosmic microwave background, and the exploration continues after the rumble (mostly) subsides, getting ready to sneak in one more mini-freakout before they’re done. Damn, Krautfuzz. Save some lysergic push for the rest of the class. Or better, don’t. Clearly they were rolling out the ‘red carpet’ for Mr. Mascis. It just happened to be red from all the plasma churning thereupon.

Krautfuzz on Instagram

Sulatron Records website

Mirror World Music website

Sleeping Mountain, Sleeping Mountain

sleeping mountain self titled

Even before they get to the six-and-a-half-minute “The Door” or the dreamy midsection of closer “Medusa,” London’s Sleeping Mountain demonstrate patience in their delivery early on with the instrumental-save-for-the-sample leadoff “Humans” and “Walls of Shadows,” which leads with guest vocals before the full tonal crux of the riff is unveiled, and continues in methodical, doom-leaning fashion. That’s a vibe that doesn’t necessarily persist as the later “Akelarre” puts the cymbals out front and pushes a more uptempo finish ahead of the closer “Medusa,” but the dude-twang “Alibi” and the all-in nod of “Tennessee Walking Horse” underscore the message of dynamic, and while this self-titled may be the first album from Sleeping Mountain, it portrays the three-piece as confident in their approach and sure of their direction, even if they’re not 100 percent on where that direction is going. Nor should they be. They should be writing the songs and letting the rest work itself out over time, which is what you get here. They sound like a band I’ll still be writing about in a decade, so I guess we’ll see how it goes.

Sleeping Mountain website

Sleeping Mountain on Bandcamp

Goblinsmoker, The King’s Eternal Throne

Goblinsmoker The Kings Eternal Throne

Behold the awaited first album from Durham, UK, sludge-doom, put-a-pillow-over-your-face-and-it’s-made-of-riffs betrayers Goblinsmoker. Dubbed The King’s Eternal Throne and indeed capping with the three-minute minimalist homage “Toad King (Forest Synth Offering),” the preceding title-track works its way from its more poised opening into an engrossing meganod of hairy-ass distortion, with the later-arriving throatripper screams ready for whatever Dopethrone comparison you want to make, and no less sharp in the biting. Of course, by the time they get to that third-of-four inclusions, this has already been well proven on side A’s “Shamanic Rites” and “Burn Him,” the leadoff holding to a steady and malevolent lumber while the follow-up takes a faster swing to upending witchy convention as the vocals offer the most vicious devourment I’ve heard from an English band since Dopefight roamed the earth. Down with humans. Up with toads. Familiar enough in its sludgy roots, The King’s Eternal Throne makes its own trouble like dog food makes gravy (with added liquid, in other words), and basks in heaps of shenanigans besides. The songs are like slow-motion razor juggling.

Goblinsmoker on Bandcamp

APF Records website

Onioroshi, Shrine

Onioroshi Shrine

The three-song sophomore full-length, Shrine, from Italian heavy progressives Onioroshi is the band’s first outing since 2019’s debut, Beyond These Mountains (review here), and is duly adventurous for that. Set up across “Pyramid” (18:18), “Laborintus” (15:35) and “Egg” (20:31), the album feels cohesive in refusing to be anything other than one it is. Its psychedelia is met with fervent terrestrial groove, and “Laborintus” spends most of its 15 minutes sounding like it’s about to fall apart, but never does. Duh, should I call it expansive? The truth is at 54 minutes, it’s a significant undertaking, but “Laborintus” ends up thrilling for the element of danger, and though raw in the production, “Egg” builds its own world in atmospherics, pushing further in the ebbs and flows of “Pyramid,” which itself takes loud/quiet trades to a less-predictable place. Some of Shrine feels insular, but that seems to be the point. A creative call to worship, and maybe worshiping the creativity itself.

Onioroshi on Bandcamp

Bitume Productions website

L’Ira del Baccano & Yama, Tempus Deorum

l'ira del baccano yama tempvs deorvm

Whoa. First of all, with Tempus Deorum, you’ve got L’Ira del Baccano. The Roman psychedelic explorers follow 2023’s Cosmic Evoked Potentials (review here) with the 19-minute piece “Tempus 25,” an ether-bound reach that hypnotizes well ahead of unveiling its full tonal breadth and even crushes a bit before receding ahead of the next go. With synth cascading through the midsection and a duly expansive build that hits two more climaxes before it’s through, “Tempus 25” sets itself up in contrast to Tilburg, the Netherlands’ Yama, whose 2014 debut, Ananta (review here), is well remembered as they offer three songs “Wish to Go Under,” “The Absolute” and “Naraka,” that feel more solidified in their structure but that offer complement to “Tempus 25” for that. Not short on scope themselves, Yama let the chug patterning and vocal soar of “The Absolute” stand in evidence of their progressivism, and after 11 years, they sound like they have more to say. One only hopes that’s the case all around on this somehow-tidy, 35-minute split LP.

L’Ira del Baccano website

Yama on Bandcamp

Subsound Records store

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Quarterly Review: Conan, Patriarchs in Black, Lurcher, Alreckque, Black Capricorn, Dios Serpiente, Norna, Dead Fellows, Rabid Children, Ord Cannon

Posted in Reviews on October 10th, 2024 by JJ Koczan

THE-OBELISK-FALL-2020-QUARTERLY-REVIEW

Some of this stuff is newer, some of it has been out for a while. You know how it goes with these things. If I had a staff of 30, I’d still always be behind and trying to keep up. It rarely works, but when a given Quarterly Review is done and I’m on the other side of 50, 70, 100 records, whatever it might be, I can fool myself for a few minutes into thinking this site is remotely comprehensive. At least until I next check my email.

Ups and downs to that, I suppose. I wouldn’t swear to it all not being AI, but I wouldn’t swear to reality being ‘real’ by any human definition either, and I’m not sure a machine making you feel something invalidates the artistic statement. Seems to me all the more an achievement. I guess what I’m trying to say in my best Kent Brockman is, “I for one, welcome our new robotic overlords.” I hope the machines take into account that I liked their paintings when they’re crushing skulls like in Terminator 2 or handing out especially cushy seats in the Matrix.

What were we talking about? Oh yeah, albums and such. Back to it:

Quarterly Review #31-40:

Conan, DIY 10″ Series, Issue 1

CONAN DIY 10 INCH Series Issue 1

In some ways, DIY 10″ Series, Issue 1 is the release Conan have been building toward. A DIY recording for Conan at this point meant recording with bassist Chris Fielding (who’s since left the band as a player but will continue to produce) and releasing through Jon DavisBlack Bow Records. That’s a DIY deal a lot of bands would take, and sure enough, the three songs on DIY 10″ Series, Issue 1 — the characteristically crush-galloping “Invinciblade,” “Time Becomes Master” and a cover of “Hate Song” by Fudge Tunnel — don’t sound like some half-assed thing made in the band’s rehearsal space or the living room when everyone else is out. They sound like Conan. So yes, they destroy. “Time Becomes Master” does so more slowly than “Invinciblade” and not before its intro turns feedback into cinematic artistry over the course of its first two-plus minutes, distortion eating the howl twice before Johnny King‘s drums kick in to answer what were those footprints that knocked over all the trees. Vocals don’t even kick in until four of the five minutes are gone; truly mastering time. And that drone is there the whole time. I’ll take more experimental Conan anytime.

Conan on Facebook

Black Bow Records website

Patriarchs in Black, Visioning

patriarchs in black visioning

Guitarist Dan Lorenzo (Hades) and drummer Johnny Kelly (Type O Negative) return with 12 new cuts across 43 minutes on Visioning. As with last year’s My Veneration (review here), the album features an assortment of guest singers, from Mark Sunshine (Unida) and Karl Agell (Legions of Doom, Lie Heavy), to Jason McMaster (Dangerous Toys, Watchtower) and Kyle Thomas (Exhorder, Trouble, Alabama Thunderpussy), and more besides. Bassists Dave Neabore (Dog Eat Dog) and Eric Morgan (A Pale Horse Named Death) hold down the low end as Lorenzo demonstrates the principles of applying quality riffing to an assortment of situations. It veers into nü metal more than once, but at least it’s taking a risk, and it’s just as likely to be a classic Sabbathian delve like “Empty Cup,” so you wouldn’t accuse the band of lacking scope, and Sunshine — who’s on the West Coast and plenty busy besides — might be the frontman Patriarchs in Black have been looking for all along.

Patriarchs in Black on Facebook

Metalville Records website

Lurcher, Breathe

lurcher breathe

Welsh melody heavy post-rockers Lurcher will have to find a new label home as Trepanation Recordings, which released Breathe, earlier this year and stood behind the band’s 2021 debut EP, Coma (review here), has ceased operations, but it’s hard to imagine Lurcher having much trouble finding a home for a sound as defined as it seems to be on “Breathe Out” and the more driving “Blister” here, which take the lush melodies one might hear from a band like Elephant Tree from an angle rooted more in post-hardcore, and a little more about shove than nod, but still able to get hazy and dreamy on opener “Never Over” or likewise mammoth and poppy on “Blink of an Eye,” though I’ll note that by “poppy” I mean accessible, melodic and professional. It wants neither for bombast nor impact, and the Mellotron before they turn “Blink of an Eye” back to the verse is just one among the many examples of why Lurcher are ready for a full-length. Or why I’m ready for one from them, at the very least.

Lurcher on Instagram

Trepanation Recordings on Bandcamp

Alreckque, 6PM

Alreckque 6PM

A new configuration for some familiar players, as Alreckque‘s debut EP, 6PM, presents an initial four songs from guitarist/vocalist Jim Healey (We’re All Gonna Die, Blood Lightning, Set Fire, etc.), bassist/vocalist Aaron Gray (Hepatagua) and drummer Rob Davol (Cocked ‘n’ Loaded, Set Fire, etc.), each of whom would carry their union card for the Boston heavy underground if the city hadn’t busted the union to build condos. Healey‘s voice will be immediately recognizable to, well, anyone who’s ever heard it — it’s a pretty recognizable voice — and though “Sunsets” touches on some more metallic riffing in the vein of Blood Lightning, Alreckque is distinguished by what Gray brings to it in vocals, not only keeping up with Healey melodically (which is no small feat), but serving as an essential part of some of the EP’s most affecting moments. Yeah, the moniker is kind of a gag, but “Achilles’ Last Taco Stand (End of Man)” sets high stakes and has the reach to hit the mark in its apex. Projects like this come and go as everybody involved is usually doing more than one thing, but Alreckque sounds like the start of something worth pursuing.

Alreckque on Facebook

Alreckque on Bandcamp

Black Capricorn, Sacrifice Darkness… and Fire

Black Capricorn sacrifice darkness and fire

Black Capricorn‘s second LP for Majestic Mountain behind 2022’s Cult of Blood (review here), the nine-song/43-minute Sacrifice Darkness… and Fire lets you know it means business immediately because not one, not two, but three songs have the word “night” in the title. To wit, “The Night They Came to Take You Away,” “Another Night Another Bite” two songs later, and “Electric Night” two songs after that. That doesn’t even count “The Moon Rises as the Immortals Gather” or “A New Day Rising,” both of which would presumably take place at least in part at night. Clearly the Sardinian cult doomers have upped their game. Your move, entire genre of heavy metal! Perhaps the highest compliment I could pay the record would be to say it earns its instances of “night,” which it does, but don’t let that keep you from “Blood of Evil” or the opener “Sacrifice,” which pairs drifting vocal incantations with an earthy groove and lays out the atmosphere for what follows. As expected and as one would hope, they dig into the songs like grainy VHS zombies into foam-rubber skulls.

Black Capricorn on Facebook

Majestic Mountain Records store

Dios Serpiente, Duelo de Gigantes

Dios Serpiente Duelo de Gigantes

The sophomore full-length from Argentina’s Dios Serpiente, founded by bassist, programmer and vocalist Leandro Buceta, brings a collaboration with Sergio Chotsourian (Los Natas, Ararat, Soldati, etc.), who contributes guitar and keyboard, Duelo de Gigantes might be an appropriate title for such a thing, as surely the swell at the finish of “Ruinas Ancestrales” is of duly mammoth proportion, but there’s more happening than largesse as “La Espera” explores textures that feel born of ambient Reznorism en route to the slamming industrial doom of “Dinastia del Morir,” an aggressive centerpiece before “El Oraculo” shows brighter flashes and “El Ultimo Ritual” turns caustic, low sludge into inhuman megaplod before “Monolitos de Lava” drops the drums and thereby transcends that much more completely into atmospheric avant garde-ness. Those used to hearing Chotsourian‘s voice alongside his guitar will be surprised at Buceta‘s growls, but the harsher vocals suit the range of dark and aggressive moods being conveyed in the electronic/organic blend of the arrangements.

Dios Serpiente on Instagram

South American Sludge Records on Bandcamp

Norna, Norna

norna norna

If you, like me, remember a time when a band called Swarm of the Lotus stalked the earth with an especially vicious blend of sludge metal, harsh hardcore bite, and doomly proselytizing, Swiss/Swedish trio Norna wield a lurch no less punishing on “Samsara” at the outset of their self-titled sophomore LP. Huge and encompassing, it and “For Fear of Coming,” which follows, feel methodical in the European post-metallic tradition (see Amenra), but Norna are rawer than most and more direct in their assault, so that “Ghost” comes across as punk rooted in its intensity more than metal, which is also what stops “Shine by its Own Light” from being Conan, despite the similar penchant for crush. The effect of the backing atmospherics in “Shadow Works” shouldn’t be understated, even if what tops is so all-out furious, and “The Sleep” slows down a bit for one last tonal offloading, harsh shouts cutting through every punishing stage. Norna don’t mess around. Call it sludge if you want. The truth is it’s more in style and dimension.

Norna on Facebook

Pelagic Records on Bandcamp

Dead Fellows, Luto Sessions

Dead Fellows Luto Sessions

Having a couple seconds on either side of the start and finish of a song emphasizes the live-in-studio feel of Luto Sessions, but as it’s the first offering from Argentine psychedelic doom rockers Dead Fellows, it’s not like there’s a ton to compare it to. “Pile of Flesh” or its side-B-opening counterpart “Imminent” have some Uncle Acid to their swing, but even in the boogie of “The Ritual” and the last twists of “Hell Awaits,” Dead Fellows are chasing no sonic ideal so much as their own. Echoing vocals top riffs made more sinister by the lyrics applied to them, and as “Pile of Flesh” is both opener and the longest song (immediate points), everything after seems to build momentum despite mostly languid tempos, and the movement keeps hold right through the dark swirl of “Satan is Waiting for Us” and into the finale, which at last highlights the heavy blues that’s been underscoring the material all along. You already knew if you were listening to the basslines. I don’t know if it’s actually their debut album, but it’s engaging and quickly finds its niche.

Dead Fellows on Instagram

Dead Fellows on Bandcamp

Rabid Children, Does the Heartbeat

rabid children does the heartbeat

You might call Troy, New York, four-piece experimental for all the noise and keys and drones and weirdo vibes they throw at you on their debut, Does the Heartbeat, but go deeper and it’s even weirder. Because it’s pop. Like 1960s Beatles-type pop. Check out “Real Life.” The organ line of “Does the Heart Beat.” The vocal pattern in “I’ve Been Hypnotized” is more Thin Lizzy, so a couple years later, but a lot of what Rabid Children are playing off of is notions of safe, suburban interpretations of rock, and some of it is about turning that on its head, like the Ramones did, but by putting their own spin on these ideas — and songs that are mostly one to two minutes long suits that frenetic approach — Rabid Children both undercut the notions of pop as something that can’t be ‘deep’ or ‘intelligent’ (that’s called “doing Devo‘s work”) and that “Messin Round” can’t coincide with a sprawler jam like “Other Dreams” or that the over-the-top wistfulness of “Teenage Summertime Dream” and the quirkier “FCOJ” (is that a Trading Places reference?) aren’t working toward similar ends.

Lorchestral Recording Company website

Lorchestral Recording Company on Facebook

Ord Cannon, Foreshots

Ord Cannon Foreshots

Just two songs on this initial offering from German noise-doomers Ord Cannon, but that’s enough for the band — which traces its pedigree back through Bellrope into Black Shape of Nexus, thereby ticking any box you might have for off-kilter heavy-as-hell cred — to leave a crater behind. The Foreshots EP brings “Letting My Insides Out Into the Air” (10:35) and “I Need a Hammer” (9:41), and with them, Ord Cannon mark out what one suspects won’t at all be the limits of their ultimate breadth. A harsh experimentlism seems to put the studio on a similar plane to the instruments, and the mix, whether that’s pushing the vocals further back toward the end of “I Need a Hammer” or making “Letting My Insides Out Into the Air” sound like the end of the world more generally, further bolsters the true-horrors-in-three-dee vibe. I don’t know what the advent of Ord Cannon signals for Bellrope, who put out their debut EP in 2019, but this kind of malevolent worldmaking is welcome in any form.

Ord Cannon on Instagram

Ord Cannon on Bandcamp

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

EYE to Release Dark Light April 26; “In Your Night” Streaming Now

Posted in Whathaveyou on March 7th, 2024 by JJ Koczan

EYE (Photo by Ren Faulkner)

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 dark light

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)

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Goat Major Premiere “Snakes (Goddess of the Serpent)” Video; Ritual Out March 8

Posted in Bootleg Theater, Reviews on February 2nd, 2024 by JJ Koczan

goat major

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.

goat major ritual“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

Tags: , , , , , ,