Posted in Whathaveyou on May 18th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
I don’t feel the need to even really say anything here. The lineup speaks for itself. And those who go to this year’s RippleFest Texas will also speak of it, for years, probably in a similar way people now talk about having been at this or that Emissions From the Monolith when that was going on in Ohio. The stuff of legend, in other words. Yeah, you can put on a fest and try to make it cool and fun, or you can do something like this and make it the highlight of everybody who attends’ year.
Kudos to Lick of My Spoon Productions and Ripple Music on a job well done. This will be something special. Bands have been leaked out one at a time at intermittent daily intervals, but the final lineup is out as of today, and it’s stunning. A blend of generations, a reach from on end of the country to the other, and a swath of the heavy underground all rallied in one place for a few days, pre- and after-parties included. Fucking a. If you’re attending, count yourself lucky.
As seen on socials:
Here it is! The full lineup for RippleFest Texas #3! This will be one for the ages with a stacked lineup and lots of special treats in between. Get your tickets now!
Amazing art by @1horsetown
* playing the Pre-Party + playing the Afterparty
King Buffalo, Acid King, Brant Bjork Trio, Sasquatch, Wo-Fat, Fatso Jetson, Mondo Generator, Unida, The Well+, The Atomic Bitchwax, Telekinetic Yeti*, Duel, Forming the Void, Hippie Death Cult, High Desert Queen*, Avon, War Cloud, Rubber Snake Charmers, Spirit Mother+, Kind, Nick Oliveri, Thunder Horse, Royal Sons+, Restless Spirit*, (Big) Pig, Fostermother, Dead Feathers+, Rainbows Are Free, Warlung*, Sun Voyager, Red Mesa, Dunes, Tia Carrera+, Mr. Plow, The Heroine*, Michael Rudolph Cummings, The Absurd+, GoodEye*, Red Beard Wall, God Damn Good Time Band+
Plus a “Legends of the Desert and Friends” jam session to close out Saturday night!
And as always, the visuals by The Mad Alchemist Liquid Light Show
All-Access passes are SOLD OUT! All we have left are 2 Day Passes and Pre/Afterparty tickets available. Many more bands to be announced! Get your tickets now before the full lineup is revealed and the ticket price goes up!
Posted in Whathaveyou on July 11th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
One assumes that the impetus behind War Cloud hitting the road on the Eastern Seaboard with Grave Bathers for what they’re calling the ‘East Coast Crusher’ tour — to be fair, I think maybe anytime War Cloud goes anywhere it’s a ‘crusher,’ but certainly this would qualify — is the appearance at the RPM Fest in Massachusetts on Sept. 3, but the maybe-formerly-Oakland-California-based outfit are by no means taking the most direct route there and back, starting off in their maybe-now-native Austin and zipping around hither and yon on their way, even going so far as to make a stop in Asbury Park, which not everybody does. They turned an East Coast show into a more than respectable stretch of dates, and that’s basically how it’s done.
The band have had live stuff out and singles since their last studio LP, some of which you’ll find below. The latest single “No Good to Me” is a gosh darn shred fest that reminds me both of a rawer Bible of the Devil — high praise, as far as I’m concerned — and of the timeless power of catchy heavy metal to imbue a moment with its vitality.
Dates follow, at some delay from when they were posted. Sorry about that. Sometimes you get caught up. Oh and about their locale. The PR says Oakland, their Bandcamp says Austin and I’m just a caveman so I don’t understand what that means.
Dig:
Oakland heavy metal revelers WAR CLOUD announce their extensive East Coast Crusher summer tour!
Oakland heavy metal warlords WAR CLOUD announce their East Coast Crusher summer tour, to kick off at the end of August in Austin, Texas.
Says frontman Alex Wein: “We are extremely stoked to announce our East Coast Crusher Tour happening this August/September. Coming in hot off the heels of our performance at Hell’s Heroes, and then our second European Tour, we are stoking our heavy metal fire with more tour dates and a stop at RPM festival. We’re planning to hit the studio afterward, so this tour we’ll be road testing new songs that will be on our next album. Burn some rubber and get on down to a show or get left in the dust!”
East Coast Crusher Tour 8/26 Austin, TX. Lost Well 8/27 Lafayette, LA. Freetown Boom Boom Room 8/28 Athens, GA. World Famous 8/29 Asheville, NC. Odditorium 8/31 Bel Air, MD. Alecraft 9/1 Philadelphia, PA. Johnny Brenda’s 9/2 New York, NY. Broadway 9/3 Montague, MA. RPM Fest 9/4 Long Island, NY. Shakers 9/5 Ashbury Park, NJ. Bond Street 9/6 Pittsburgh, PA. Spirit 9/7 Youngstown, OH. Westside Bowl 9/8 Detroit, MI. Sanctuary 9/9 Chicago, IL. Liar’s Club 9/10 Fort Wayne, IN. Brass Rail
WAR CLOUD issued their latest single “No Good to Me” in 2021 and self-released a 2-track EP entitled “The Chain Gang EP” on streaming platforms. Their acclaimed live album ‘Earhammer Sessions’ is still available through Ripple Music.
WAR CLOUD: Alex Wein – Vocals/Guitar Nick Burks – Guitar Joaquin Ridgell – Drums Sam Harman – Bass
Posted in Whathaveyou on August 28th, 2020 by JJ Koczan
Lest they be accused of taking the rest of the year off after putting out May’s Earhammer Sessions (review here) live-in-studio affair, Oakland heavy metal rockers War Cloud have a new two-song EP out next month called Chain Gang. The release, once again through Ripple Music, brings together a track written immediately following their European tour — which would seem to have been a transformative experience for them as a band, considering they recorded Earhammer Sessions as a means of building off the energy of that tour as well — and a track tracked by Steve “Thee Slayer Hippy” Hanford, whose posthumous tribute to Blue Öyster Cult is also seeing release soon through Ripple and in which War Cloud are also talking part. Presumably the two were recorded at the same time, but I guess one never knows.
The PR wire brought art and details about Chain Gang thusly:
Prolific Rapid-Fire Metallers WAR CLOUD Drop Energized “Chain Gang” EP
Searing 2-song blast channels the band’s furious power ahead of expected new album in 2021
Quickly becoming one of Ripple Music’s most prolific bands, War Cloud returns just a few months behind their high-octane Earhammer Sessions with the two-song Chain Gang EP.
The title track was written in Vigone, Italy during a few days off after their last European tour while staying at a recording/rehearsal space called Positive Music. Says singer/guitarist Alex Wein:
“Positive Music is a secluded spot. No distractions. This was the first time we actually got to write as an entire band, with the current lineup, so there’s a lot of energy between all the members. We kept sharing riffs, lyrics, and bands we were vibe’n on the entire tour. You could feel a song shaping through all our conversations. After playing a show one night in Vigone, we went to the town’s local hangout bar and started coming up with a melody for the tune. We wanted this song to express how we’ve grown as a band: Dirty, raw, and heavy. Bad boys who don’t care. The opening line is a tribute to one of the bands favorite songwriters, Lemmy Kilmister. “Judge says I’m guilty of being born / the only thing I did was what I want” That’s our way of way of saying fuck it.”
The second song is a cover of a Rock Goddess song. Recorded in the summer of 2019 in an old empty house in the woods outside of Portland, Oregon by Thee Slayer Hippy, Steve Hanford, and mixed/mastered by Nocturnal Media in Louisville, Kentucky, this burst of metal godliness features guest vocals by Janiece Gonzalez of San Francisco’s Wild Eyes.
Chain Gang will be released on digital formats from Ripple Music on September 25th.
WAR CLOUD: Alex Wein – Vocals/Guitar Nick Burks – Guitar Joaquin Ridgell – Drums Sam Harman – Bass
Posted in Whathaveyou on August 24th, 2020 by JJ Koczan
Initially a project of Steve Hanford — known for his work in Poison Idea and a slew of others, including most recently Portland, Oregon’s Ape Machine — the various artists project Dominance and Submission: A Tribute to Blue Öyster Cult will see release in the coming months via Ripple Music. What began as a loving homage from Hanford to his favorite band has become a meta-tribute, as it fell to others to complete the project following Hanford‘s death earlier this year. It is, then, honoring as much to him and his work as much as Blue Öyster Cult, since Hanford sits in on many the tracks, including those featuring the likes of Billy Anderson, Rob Wrong (Witch Mountain) and Andrea Vidal (Holy Grove), Jeff Matz of Zeke and High on Fire, Year of the Cobra, Mos Generator and others.
No audio yet, and I expect a solid release date is forthcoming, but the heart with which this has been put together, on both ends, comes through clearly in the announcement below — also the cover art rules — so dig into that in the meantime and when I hear about the rest, I’ll let you know.
Here goes:
Dominance and Submission: A Tribute To Blue Öyster Cult
Californian powerhouse RIPPLE MUSIC is proud to announce the upcoming release of their all-star tribute album to Blue Öyster Cult: ‘Dominance and Submission: A Tribute to Blue Öyster Cult’. The album will feature covers by Steve Hanford, Mark Lanegan, Billy Anderson, Jeff Matz, Zeke, Mondo Generator and other major names of the heavy rock world.
This special tribute album was initiated by Poison Idea’s departed drummer Steve Hanford, in conjunction with Ian Watts of Ape Machine. Founded in 1967, Blue Öyster Cult are considered pioneers of occult rock’n’roll, marking generations with timeless anthems such as “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper”, “Burnin’ for You”, “Cities on Flame with Rock and Roll” or “Godzilla”. The New-York outfit has since then remained a reference act of the 70s rock scene alongside Black Sabbath, MC5, The Stooges or Steppenwolf.
The “Dominance and Submission: A Tribute To Blue Öyster Cult” record will highlight some of the finest work from the legendary American band, with unique contributions from JEFF MATZ of ZEKE and HIGH ON FIRE, MONDO GENERATOR, MOS GENERATOR, GREAT ELECTRIC QUEST, QUASI, HOLY GROVE, WAR CLOUD, APE MACHINE, ZEKE, YEAR OF THE COBRA, FETISH, SPINDRIFT as well as MARK LANEGAN and BILLY ANDERSON. The artwork was designed by Dave Snider.
The concept:
Steven Hanford AKA Thee Slayer Hippy lived the rocky road of the rock and roll veteran. As drummer and producer in Poison Idea he played on two of the most influential records of hardcore – War All The Time and Feel The Darkness. As producer he worked on indie rock projects such as Heatmiser (with frontman Elliot Smith) and punk albums for notable names like The Hard Ons. Due to some struggles with addiction which he later attributed to repressed sexual abuse as a child, Steve found himself in prison on multiple occasions, most recently in 2008 for a seven-year sentence after robbing a Walgreens. While in prison, Steve turned his life around and started recording albums for prisoners with a fellow inmate named Sam Redding (Sam appears on this record). After being released in 2015, Steve jumped on a tour playing drums in The Skull and was soon after introduced to Ape Machine by mutual friend Tony Lash (Heatmiser). Steve quickly joined Ape Machine on drums and also as producer for Darker Seas. While on the road with Ape Machine, Steve decided he wanted to produce a tribute record to one of his favorite bands, Blue Öyster Cult.
Steve had a vision of building a studio and originally wanted to use funds from the sale of the tribute record to get some gear. The goal was to be able to work in his own studio, producing records for other bands. The idea was to have bands come and record BÖC tribute songs in his fledgling studio (temporarily using borrowed gear from Ian Watts) which he would produce, simultaneously making a name for the studio, his production techniques, and his drumming skills. Much of the gear and engineering would be provided by Ian Watts.
Unfortunately, Steve didn’t make it to see the project through to release due to his suffering a heart attack on May 21st 2020. Fortunately for music fans though, he had completed most of the recording for the project, leaving Ian Watts to gather the final pieces and mix the record.
Steve was an accomplished and respected musician and was able to round up a star studded cast of bands for the tribute, including members of Mondo Generator, Quasi, Holy Grove, War Cloud, Mos Generator, Great Electric Quest, Ape Machine, Zeke, Year of the Cobra, High on Fire, Fetish, Spindrift as well as notable names such as Mark Lanegan and Billy Anderson.
With Steve no longer being with us, the proceeds of the record will go to benefit his widowed partner, Kitty Diggins who was left with some financial hardships, including much needed house repairs.
TRACK LISTING & LINEUP 1) ME262 (Steve Hanford, Nick Oliveri, Ian Watts, Mike Pygmie) 2) Dominance and Submission (Steve Hanford, Mark Lanegan, Sam Coomes, Sam Redding) 3) Wings Wetted Down (Steve Hanford, Billy Anderson, Rob Wrong, Andrea Vidal) 4) Tattoo Vampire (Mondo Generator) 5) Stairway to the Stars (War Cloud) 6) Veteran of the Psychic Wars (Ape Machine) 7) Flaming Telepaths (Great Electric Quest) 8) Transmaniacon MC (Mos Generator w/ Steve Hanford) 9) 7 Screaming Dizbusters (Fetish) 10) Cities on Flame with Rock and Roll (Zeke w/ Jeff Matz and Steve Hanford) 11) Fireworks (Year of the Cobra w/ Steve Hanford) 12) Don’t Fear the Reaper (Spindrift and Steve Hanford)
Posted in Features on April 7th, 2020 by JJ Koczan
The statistics of COVID-19 change with every news cycle, and with growing numbers, stay-at-home isolation and a near-universal disruption to society on a global scale, it is ever more important to consider the human aspect of this coronavirus. Amid the sad surrealism of living through social distancing, quarantines and bans on gatherings of groups of any size, creative professionals — artists, musicians, promoters, club owners, techs, producers, and more — are seeing an effect like nothing witnessed in the last century, and as humanity as a whole deals with this calamity, some perspective on who, what, where, when and how we’re all getting through is a needed reminder of why we’re doing so in the first place.
Thus, Days of Rona, in some attempt to help document the state of things as they are now, both so help can be asked for and given where needed, and so that when this is over it can be remembered.
Thanks to all who participate. To read all the Days of Rona coverage, click here. — JJ Koczan
Days of Rona: Nick Burks of War Cloud, Stonecutters & Cryptic Hymn (Ft. Wayne, Indiana)
—
How are you dealing with this crisis as a band?
Honestly, War Cloud has been staying really busy despite the pandemic. We have a new album coming out on May 22nd through Ripple Music. It’s been tricky to promote when the world has shut down. Plus, you see more and more bigger bands pushing back their releases indefinitely. Our logic is that we want to give everyone new music during this time. Who knows? It would make my day to hear someone get inspired by this new release, so why wait?
All the members of War Cloud live in different parts of the US so we have been checking in on each other. The quarantine has gotten us writing and recording songs. It’s a weird time to be creative but I guess there’s no “on/off” switch for inspiration. NO, we are not writing a song about the pandemic. I’ve been listening to a ton of Judas Priest. Their music always gets me stoked to kick some ass and I want War Cloud’s new music to honor the metal gods.
Have you had to rework plans at all?
It’s hard to say. War Cloud was supposed to tour this April and play the Hell’s Heroes pre-party, but that has been canceled unfortunately. We would love to play Hell’s Heroes pre-party 2021!
I was so stoked to play with Helstar at Hell’s Heroes. Their album, Nosferatu, is a guitar bible. Our appearance at Legions of Metal is currently being rescheduled. A lot of things are up in the air. We have a European tour in May through June but once again, it’s tough to predict when this will all be over. The entire world is suffering.
How is everyone’s health so far?
So far, everyone is in good health. Taking a ton of vitamins and drinking a lot of water. It’s kind of funny. Stonecutters ended their tour with Lich King and Toxic Ruin due to COVID-19. Our last show was Thursday, March 12th in Worcester, Massachusetts. Then we live streamed our show the next night from Sonic Titan Studios. Stonecutters are from Kentucky; Lich King is from Massachusetts; Toxic Ruin is from Wisconsin; so you had three bands from different states traveling the US together, and I think a lot of us were trying not to cough so no one would get nervous.
What are the quarantine/isolation rules where you are?
Currently, I live in Ft. Wayne, Indiana. The state of Indiana has all music venues, bars/restaurants, churches, and every other non-essential business closed. Gas is $1.57 per gallon. Grocery stores are insane. All the frozen pizzas, toilet paper, and canned goods are always out of stock.
How have you seen the virus affecting the community around you and in music?
It’s a weird vibe. If you go on a walk, the residents that normally wouldn’t talk to you, now will give you a wave and a smile, and maybe even start some small talk. I think it helps. The grocery store is a war zone. It seems like everyone is on edge and has a short temper. The pandemic has flipped the music community on its head. My death metal band, Cryptic Hymn, has had to cancel shows. War Cloud has had to cancel shows. Stonecutters has had to cancel shows. EVERY band has lost something in this. It can be a real downer when you spend January and February booking the entire year with your bands and then everything in the music world has been postponed or rescheduled.
What is the one thing you want people to know about your situation, either as a band, or personally, or anything?
I want to thank the people that work in grocery stores and hospitals the most. They are putting themselves out there everyday and a lot times it is thankless job. The music community is suffering. Everyone is suffering. Be excellent to each other, and when this is all over, let’s get back to the rock ‘n’ roll.
Posted in Reviews on March 24th, 2020 by JJ Koczan
Alarm went off this morning at 3:45. Got up, flicked on the coffee pot, turned the heat on in the house, hit the bathroom and was back in bed in four minutes with an alarm set for 4:15. Didn’t really get back to sleep, but the half-hour of being still was a kind of pre-waking meditation that I appreciated just the same. Was dozing when the alarm went off the second time, but it’s day two of the Quarterly Review, so no time to doze. No time for anything, as is the nature of these blocks of writeups. They tend to be all-consuming while they’re going on. Could be worse. Let’s roll.
Quarterly Review #11-20:
Khemmis, Doomed Heavy Metal
Denver four-piece Khemmis have made themselves one of the most distinctive acts in metal, to say nothing of doom. With strong vocal harmonies out front backed by similarly-minded guitars, the band bring a sense of poise to doom that’s rare in the modern sphere, somewhat European in influence, but less outwardly adherent to the genre tenets of melancholy. They refuse to be Paradise Lost, in other words, and are all the more themselves for that. Their Doomed Heavy Metal EP (on 20 Buck Spin and Nuclear Blast) is a stopgap after 2018’s Desolation (review here) full-length, but at 38 minutes and six songs, it’s substantial nonetheless, headlined by the Dio cover “Rainbow in the Dark” — capably done with just a flair of Slough Feg — with a take on Lloyd Chandler‘s “A Conversation with Death” and “Empty Throne,” both rare-enough studio cuts, for backing, as well as three live cuts that cover their three-to-date albums. The growls on “Three Gates” are fun, but I’ll still take the Dio cover as the highlight. For a cobbled-together release, it feels at least like a bit of thoughtful fan-service, and really, a band could do worse than to serve their fans thoughtfully.
There are shades of doom metal’s origins underlying Mutant Flesh‘s first release, the eight-song/33-minute Evil Eye, but the Philly troupe are too gleeful in their weirdness ultimately to be paying full homage to the likes of Witchfinder General, and especially in a faster song like second cut “Meteoric” and the subsequent lead-guitar-flipout-and-vocal-soar title-track, they tap into the defiantly doomed vibe of earliest Saint Vitus. That’s true of the crawling “Euthanasia” as well, which crashes and nods as it approaches the six-minute mark as the longest inclusion here, but even the penultimate “Blight” brings that twisted-Black–Flag-noise-slowed-down spirit that lets you know there’s consciousness behind the chaos, and that while Mutant Flesh might seem to be all-the-way-gone, they’re really just getting started. Maybe their sound will even out over time, maybe it won’t, but for what it’s worth, they do ragged doom well from the opening “Leviathan (Lord of the Labyrinth)” onward, and feel right at home in the unhinged.
Having just shredded their way across Europe, War Cloud took their set into the Earhammer Studio with Greg Wilkinson at the helm in an attempt to capture the band in top form on their home turf. Did it work? The results on Earhammer Sessions (Ripple Music) don’t wait around for you to decide. They’re too busy kicking ass to take names, and if the resulting 29-minute burst is even half of what they brought to the stage on that tour, those must’ve been some goddamn shows. Songs like “White Lightning” and the snare-counted-in “Speed Demon” and “Striker” feel like they’re being given their due in the max-speed-NWOBHM-but-still-too-classy-to-be-thrash presentation, and honestly, this feels like War Cloud have found their method. If they don’t tour their next album and then hit the studio after and lay it down live, or at least as live as Earhammer Sessions is — one never knows as regards overdubs and isolation booths and all that — they’re doing themselves a disservice. War Cloud play metal. So what? So this.
Void of Sleep return after half a decade with the prog-doom stylings of their third album, Metaphora (Aural Music), which stretches dramatically through songs like “Iron Mouth” (11:00), preceded by the intro “The Famine Years” and the shorter “Unfair Judgements,” preceded by the intro “Waves of Discomfort,” and still somehow manage not to sound out of place tapping into their inner Soilwork in the growled verses/clean choruses of “Master Abuser.” They get harsh a bit as well on “Tides of the Mourning,” which uses its 10:30 to summarize the bulk of the proceedings and close out the record after “Modern Man,” but that song has more of a scope and feels looser structurally for that. Still, that shift is only one of several throughout Metaphora, which follows the Italian five-piece’s 2015 LP, New World Order (discussed here), and wherever Void of Sleep are headed at any given moment, they head there with a duly controlled presence. Clearly their last five years have not been wasted.
As yet, Germany’s Pretty Lightning remain a well kept secret of fuzz-psych-blues nuance, digging out their own niche-in-a-niche-in-a-niche microgenre with a natural and inadvertent-feeling sense of just writing the songs they want to write. Jangle Bowls, which puts its catchy, semi-garage title-track early in the proceedings, is the duo’s second offering through Fuzz Club Records behind 2017’s The Rhythm of Ooze (review here), and seem to present a mission statement in opener “Swamp Ritual” before bringing a due sense of excursion to “Boogie at the Shrine” — damn that’s a smooth groove — and reviving the movement in “RaRaRa,” which follows. Closer “Shovel Blues” is a highlight for how it drifts into oblivion, but the underlying tightness of craft in “123 Eternity” and “Hum” is an appeal as well, so it’s a tradeoff. But it’s one I’ll be glad to make across multiple repeat visits to Jangle Bowls while wondering how long this particular secret can actually be kept.
The painted-blood-red cover of Rosy Finch‘s second album, Scarlet (on Lay Bare Recordings), and horror-cinema-esque design isn’t a coincidence in terms of atmosphere, but the Spanish trio bring a more aggressive feel to the nine-track outing overall than they did to their 2016 debut, Witchboro (review here), with additional crunch in the guitar of Mireia Porto (also vocals and bass) and bassist Elena Garcia, and a forward kick drum from Lluís Mas that hammers home the impact of a pressure-on-head squeezer like “Ruby” and even seems to ground the more melodic “Alizarina,” which follows, let alone the crushing opener/longest track (immediate points) “Oxblood” or its headspinning closing companion “Dark Cherry,” after which follows the particularly intense hidden cut “Lady Bug,” also not to be missed. Anger suits Rosy Finch, it seems, and the band bring a physicality to the songs on Scarlet that only reinforces the sonic push.
Brutal, gurgling doom-of-death pervades The Haunting Continuum from Denver one-man-unit Ghost Spawn, and while the guitar late in “Escaping the Mortal Flesh” seems momentarily to offer some hope of salvation, rest assured, it doesn’t last, and the squibbly central riff returns with its extremity to prove once more that only death is real. Multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Kevin Berstler is the lone culprit behind the project’s first full-length and second release overall (also second this year, so he would seem to work quickly), and across 43 minutes that only grow more grueling as they proceed through the centerpiece title-track and into “The Terrors that Plague Nightly” and the desolate incantations of “Exiled to the Realm of Eternal Rot,” there are some hints of cleaner grunts that have made their way through — a kind of repeated “hup” vocalization — but this too is swallowed in the miasma of cave-echo guitar, drums-from-out-of-the-abyss, and raw-as-peeled-flesh production. Can’t get behind that? Probably you and 99.9 percent of the rest of humanity. For us slugs, though, it’s just about right.
It’s kosmiche thrust and watery vibes when Agrabatti go Beyond the Sun. What’s there upon arrival? Nothing less than a boogie down with Hawkwind at the helm of a spacey spaced-out space rocking chopper that you shouldn’t even be able to hear the revving engine of in space and yet somehow you can. Also synth, pulsating riffs and psych-as-all-golly-gosh awakenings. Formed in 2009 by Chad Davis — then just out of U.S. Christmas, already at that point known for his work in Hour of 13 and a swath of other projects across multiple genres — and with songs begun to come together at that time only to be shelved ahead of recording this year, Beyond the Sun sat seemingly in some unreachable strata of anomalous subspace, for 11 years before being rediscovered from its time-loop like Kelsey Grammer in that one episode of TNG, and gorgeously spread across the quadrant in its five-cut run, with its cover of the aforementioned Hawkwind‘s “Born to Go” so much at home among its companions it feels like, baby, it’s already gone. Do you need sunglasses in the void? Shit yeah you do.
Four sprawling doom epics comprise the 2019 debut album — and apparently debut release — from Illinois four-piece Dead Sacraments, who themselves are comprised from three former members of atmospheric sludgers Angel Eyes, who finished their run in 2011 but released the posthumous Things Have Learnt to Walk That Ought to Crawl (review here). Those are guitarist Brendan Burchell, bassist Nader Cheboub and drummer Ryan Croson, and together with apparently-self-harmonizing vocalist/guitarist Mark Mazurek, they cast a doom built on largesse in tone and scope alike, given an air of classic-metal grandiosity but filtered through a psych-doom modernity that feels aware of what the likes of Pallbearer and Khemmis have done for the genre. Nonetheless, as a first record, Celestial Throne shines its darkness brightly across its no-song-under-nine-minutes-long lumber, and affirms the righteousness of doom with a genuine sense of reach at its disposal.
The languid and trippy spirit in opener “Solar Flares” is something of a misdirect on the part of organ-laced, Cologne-based heavy rockers Smokemaster, who go on to boogie down through songs like “Trippin’ Blues” before jamming out classic heavy blues-style on “Ear of the Universe.” I’m not saying they don’t have their psychedelic aspects, but there’s plenty of movement behind what they do as well, and the setup they give with the first two cuts is effective in throwing off the first-time listener’s expectation. A pastoral instrumental “Sunrise in the Canyon” leads off side B after, and comes backed by “Astronaut of Love” (yup, a lovestronaut) and “Astral Traveller,” which find an engaging midpoint between the ground and the great beyond, synth and keys pushing outward in the finale even as the bass and drums keep it tethered to a central groove. It’s a formula that’s worked many times over the last half-century, but it works here too, and Smokemaster‘s Smokemaster makes a right-on introduction to the German newcomers.
Guess what — War Cloud have a new anything coming out and it’s gonna be a banger. Well of course it is. It’s War Cloud. They don’t do otherwise. War Cloud ain’t about to get all prog on you now, no worries. War Cloud bring classic metal and birth-era heavy rock together with enough energy to make you question whatever science it is that said in the first place that alcohol was a depressant. They seem to still be coming down both from 2019’s State of Shock (review here) and from the stretch of European touring they did to support it, even as they look forward to heading abroad once more.
Ah-ha! That brings us to Earhammer Sessions. Sure, the Oakland four-piece have a busy couple months ahead, doing a Texas run and a bit of Midwestern this-and-that around their slot at the Legions of Metal Festival in Chicago, but even as they land in Germany to begin a tour there — they dip into Denmark, but otherwise it’s all-Deutschland — they’ll be celebrating the release of Earhammer Sessions, which was recorded in Cali, but features the band playing the same set they did last time they were in Europe, bringing it to life in the studio as they did on stage, with Greg Wilkinson recording and mixing. Because hell’s bells, if you’re doing a thing, do it right.
May 22 is the release date for Earhammer Sessions, and like State of Shock before it, it’ll be out through Ripple Music. If you find “Vulture City,” the new incarnation of which is premiering below, to be familiar, it originally appeared on War Cloud‘s 2017 self-titled debut (review here), and its origins go back even further than that to when it was issued as a single in 2016. Four years later, they sound accordingly comfortable in using it to kick ass.
Enjoy:
WAR CLOUD ‘Earhammer Sessions’ Out May 22nd on Ripple Music
Oakland hard rock revelers WAR CLOUD announce the release of their thunderous live album ‘Earhammer Sessions’ this May on Ripple Music. The band unveil all details, as well as the dates of their upcoming world tour.
Says frontman Alex Wein: “We wanted to capture the live energy of our set and it was a no brainer to record with Oakland’s Earhammer Studios. The recordings capture the evolution of the band and how we have progressed as a group. What you hear is the setlist we performed every night of our most recent European tour. It’s a raw, honest, take no prisoners vibe that the band exudes. We chose Earhammer Studios because it has recorded bands that we are fans of (Saviours, Lecherous Gaze, Necrot) and it’s the epitome of the Oakland metal sound. Greg Wilkinson (engineer/mixer) understood our vision and helped recreate the live set. The Earhammer Sessions were mastered by Alan Douches (Motörhead, High On Fire, Gwar)”.
WAR CLOUD also recently unveiled a hectic video for the song “Give’r”, which you can watch at this location. The song is taken from the ‘Earhammer Sessions’ live album, and was first released on 2017’s self-titled debut ‘War Cloud’.
TRACK LISTING: 1. Vulture City 2. Give’r 3. Chopper Wired 4. White Lightning 5. Divide and Conquer 6. Tomahawk 7. Speed Demon 8. Striker
WAR CLOUD will be touring extensively this spring in support of their last album ‘State Of Shock’, released on September 2019 through Ripple Music:
A Fast Ride Through Texas 17/04/20 Houston. Secret Group (Hell’s Heroes Pre-Party) 18/04/20 San Antonio. Faust Tavern 19/04/20 Dallas. Wits End 20/04/20 Austin. Lost Well (Dankfest)
Wings of Steel Tour United States 13/05/20 Oklahoma City, OK. Blue Note 14/05/20 Lawrence, KS. Replay Lounge 15/05/20 Chicago, IL. Reggie’s (Legions of Metal Festival) 16/05/20 Milwaukee, WS. Cactus Club 17/05/20 Ft. Wayne, IN. Brass Rail 18/05/20 Louisville, KY. Highland Taproom Europe 22/05/20 Herten, DE. Kustom Kulture Forever 23/05/20 Roskilde, DK. Gimle 26/05/20 Cologne, DE. Museum 27/05/20 Dresden, DE. Ostpol 28/05/20 Berlin, DE. Toast Hawaii 29/05/20 Erfurt, DE. Cafe Tikolor 30/05/20 Munster, DE. Rare Guitar 31/05/20 Leipzig, DE. Black Label 4/06/20 Copenhagen, DK. Byhaven Pumpehuset 5/06/20 Hagen, DE. Kultopia 6/06/20 Kaiserslautern, DE. Irish House
WAR CLOUD: Alex Wein – Vocals/Guitar Nick Burks – Guitar Joaquin Ridgell – Drums Taylor Roach – Bass
Posted in Bootleg Theater on November 22nd, 2019 by JJ Koczan
Oakland’s War Cloud released their second album, State of Shock (review here), earlier this year on Ripple Music, and as you might guess from the photo above, it was a ripper. The Bay Area four-piece tapped into harder-edged NWOBHM dual-axe chicanery and brought their sound to a new, tighter place than it was at even on their 2017 self-titled debut (review here), upping the irons and still holding enough underlying boogie-readiness so that the overall vibe was fun rather than overly stately. Nothing wrong with that if it’s your thing, but a bit of Oakland grit in their sound certainly feels genuine enough and is true to the history of where they’re coming from as well. It was, simply put, an easy record to dig. If you heard it, you already know this.
If you didn’t hear it — go ahead and slap the back your hand for me (not really; “we don’t hit,” as I constantly remind The Pecan) — it’s streaming in full at the bottom of this post. The band’s new video, however, is for the track “Giver,” and “Giver” isn’t on State of Shock. It’s on War Cloud. Might seem odd that they’d go back and make a clip for a song from the prior album, but consider it’s a new recording, and a live recording done on their European tour, and that the footage in the video also comes from that same tour — the recording was done in Germany, the video shot in Italy, so it’s a bit of multinational conglomerate — and it all starts to make a little more sense. By the time you actually get to watch the thing and witness the sheer righteousness on display, it seems downright logical.
Now then, I won’t keep you from it, except to say that when the band comments below about hearing the progression and shift in sound from the original version on the first record and this one, I tend to agree. They’re a meaner, sharper group on the whole, and clearly that suits their songs new and old. Makes a pretty good argument for showing up to catch them live. Go figure.
Enjoy:
War Cloud, “Giver” official video premiere:
War Cloud on “Giver” video:
It was recorded in a 300 year old barn about an hour outside Cologne, Germany. The recording is live so it only took time to set up, we ran through the song about three or four times. The stage footage was shot at Moto Guzzi Motoraduno in Lecco, Italy and Officine Sonore, in Vercelli, Italy.
We decided to revisit this song because it’s fun to play it faster than it was on the first album, my vocals are more developed and in line with the second album’s sound, the solos are different because we have a different guitarist and it’s a total crowd pleaser!
The new album was received with hails and horns! We only had 2 singles out while we were over there because the record didn’t drop until the last day of tour, but folks were still calling them out by name! We were playing lots of songs no one has ever heard before like “Tomahawk,” “White Lightning,” and “Means of Your Defeat,” and could instantly tell it would be a hit by the crowd’s response. Pits formed, beer was spilled, horns were raised. It was a blast and we can’t wait to get back to Europe!
WAR CLOUD: Alex Wein – Vocals/Guitar Nick Burks – Guitar Joaquin Ridgell – Drums Taylor Roach – Bass
