Posted in Whathaveyou on April 16th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
Yeah, I’m late on this news from last week. I talked about it on Friday; only so many hours in the day and a lot a lot a lot of music coming down the line in the next few months. Horseburner‘s Voice of Storms will be their fourth full-length upon its arrival as June makes ready to give over to July’s swelter, and I’d say their urgency, melody, and progressive angularity will make a fitting accompaniment to that time of year’s sweating-while-doing-nothing sunscorch, even if it’s not themed around the climate crisis.
Actually, as regards theme, I’m curious how much the narrative described below — girl slays oppressors, in shorty-short — frames the songs, and how the album came together around the central story. With a ‘concept record’ of any sort, I always tend to want to know whether the idea was first or the music, but I guess there’s time for digging in between now and June. The single/video, “The Gift,” can be found at the bottom of this post, and for anyone who dug on 2019’s Ripple-issued The Thief (review here), it well lives up to its title. If you watch the clip, it looks like they had a good time in the studio.
The Brian Mercer cover art — dude nails it, as he will — album details and live dates follow, courtesy of the PR wire:
US progressive sludge unit HORSEBURNER to release new album “Voice of Storms” on Blues Funeral Recordings; stream new single “The Gift”!
West Virginia progressive sludge stalwarts HORSEBURNER have signed to Blues Funeral Recordings for the release of their new album “Voice of Storms” this June 21st, with the roaring first single “The Gift” streaming on all platforms now. The band also announced a string of US live shows in support of the release.
Blasting out loud and surgical riffs, driving grooves and fire-driven vocal harmonies, HORSEBURNER’s new single “The Gift” is a massive-sounding heavy rock rager that perfectly encapsulates the West Virginia foursome’s knack for uncompromisingly technical yet strikingly melodic anthems.
Watch Horseburner’s brand new video “The Gift” + listen to the official single at this location:https://lnkfi.re/thegift
HORSEBURNER blasted onto the scene in 2009 amid comparisons to Mastodon and Baroness, with an iteration of high-energy sludge metal informed by their Appalachian industrial background and elevated conceptual themes. And, from the impact of galloping full-length “Dead Seeds, Barren Soil” to their growth into a tremendous live force to the watershed leap of 2019’s acclaimed “The Thief”, Horseburner have not only endured, they have progressed.
HORSEBURNER distinguish themselves from their stoner-psych contemporaries with staggering musicianship. Gear-shifting from hard-charging to restrained to urgent and angular, these musical flexes find Horseburner invoking a broader range of tools to craft their driving, soaring, obliterating mini-epics than a lot of bands have in their bags. Never concerned with proving what they can do, they sweep us up in the ease of their brilliance and go places a lot of heavy rock doesn’t.
Their new album “Voice of Storms” is an allegorical commentary on the mistreatment of women across history. It’s the story of a girl being sold into child marriage who is imbued with the spirit of ancient Greek hunt goddess Diana, unleashed and wreaking havoc on a society that regards females as objects or currency. Sonically, the record is a sludge-prog triumph, ready to grab listeners by the throat and immerse them in a fluid amalgam of blistering tempos, fearless hooks and burly crush, like a more brutal Torche or a more adept High on Fire. This is HORSEBURNER blazing into sonic territory that few bands ever reach, pushing forward, challenging their abilities and always progressing as far as their ambition can take them.
The album was recorded and engineered by Neil Tuuri at Amish Electric Chair Studio, and mastered by Billy Joe Bowers. Artwork by Brian Mercer with a layout by Jacob Dunn.
New album “Voice of Storms” Out June 21 on Blues Funeral Recordings (LP/CD/digital)
Posted in Reviews on November 27th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Don’t ask me if the ‘quarter’ in question is Fall or Winter, and I’m still planning another QR probably in early January or even December if I can sneak it, but I was able to sneak this week in while no one was looking at the calendar — mostly, that is, while I wasn’t filling said calendar with other stuff — and I decided to make it happen. I even used the ol’ Bing AI to make a header image for it. I was tired of all the no-color etchings. It’s been a decade of that at this point. I’ll try this for a bit and see how I feel about it. The kind of thing that matters pretty much only to me.
This might go to 70, but for right now it’s 50 releases Monday to Friday starting today, 10 per day. I know the drill. You know the drill. Let’s get it going.
Quarterly Review #1-10:
—
Negative Reaction, Zero Minus Infinity
Holy fucking shit this rips. You want sludge? Call the masters. There are two generations of bands out there right now trying to tap into the kind of slow and ultra-heavy disaffection — not to mention the guitar tone — of Negative Reaction, and yet, no hype whatsoever. This record didn’t come to me from some high-level public relations concern. It came from Kenny Bones, who founded Negative Reaction over 30 years ago in Long Island (he and thus the band are based in West Virginia now) and whose perpetual themes between crushing depression and the odd bit of Star Wars-franchised space opera have rarely sounded more intentionally grueling. Across six songs and a mood-altering 46 minutes, Bones, bassist KJ and drummer Brian Alien bludgeon with rawness and volume-worship weight that, frankly, is the kind of thing riff-dudes on social media should be tripping over themselves to be first to sing its praises, the lurch in “Back From the Sands” feeling sincere in its unconscious rifference (that’s a reference you make with a riff) to Saint Vitus‘ “Born Too Late,” and maybe Negative Reaction were, or maybe they were born too early, or whatever, but it’s not like they’ve been a fit at any point in the last 30-plus years — cheeky horror riff chugging in “Space Hunter,” all-out fuckall-punker blast in “I’ll Have Another” before the 13-minute flute-laced (yes, Bones is on it) cosmic doom finish of “Welcome to Infinity,” etc., reaffirming square-peg status — because while there’s an awful lot of sludge out there, there’s only ever been one Negative Reaction. Bones‘ and company’s angry adventures, righteous and dense in sound, continue unabated.
Arizona brothers Wayne and Joey Rudell return with New Blood, the first Fuzz Evil full-length since High on You (review here) in 2018, and make up for lost time with 53 minutes of new material across 13 songs from the post-Queens of the Stone Age rock at the outset in “Suit Coffin” to the slow, almost Peter Gabriel-style progressivism of “Littlest Nemo,” the nighttime balladry of “Gullible’s Travel” or the disco groove of “Keep on Living.” Those three are tucked at the end, but Fuzz Evil telegraph new ideas and departures early in “My Own Blood” and even the speedier “Run Away,” with its hints of metal, pulls to the side from “Souveneers,” the hooky “G.U.M.O.C.O.,” a cut like “Heavy Glow” (premiered here) finding some middle ground between attitude-laced desert rock and the expansions thereupon of some New Blood‘s tracks. Shout to “We’ve Seen it All” as the hidden gem. All Fuzz Evil have ever wanted is to write songs and maybe make someone — perhaps even you — dance at a show. With the obvious sweat and soul put into New Blood, a little boogieing doesn’t seem like too much to ask.
A second full-length from Serbia’s Cardinal Point, Man or Island asks its central question — are you a man or an island — in the leadoff title-track. I’m not sure what being one or the other delineates, but masculinity would seem to be preferred judging by the Down-style riffing of “Stray Dog” or the heavy-like-1991 “Right ‘n’ Ready,” which feels like it was written for the stage, whether or not it actually was. “Sunrise” borders on hard country with its uber-dudeliness, but closer “This Chest” offers tighter-twisting, Lo-Pan-style riffing to cap. The tracks are pointedly straightforward, making no pretense about where the band is coming from or what they want to be doing as players. The grooves swing big and the choruses are delivered with force. You wouldn’t call it groundbreaking, but the Vranje-based four-piece aren’t trying to revolutionize heavy so much as to speak to various among those traditions that birthed it. They succeed in that here, and in making the results their own.
Voices far more expert than mine have given pinpointed analyses of Vlimmer‘s goth-as-emotive-vehicle, semi-electronic, sometimes-heavy post-punk, New Dark Wave, etc., stylistic reach as relates to the Berlin-based solo artist’s latest full-length, Zerschöpfung, but hearing The Cure in “Makks” and “Fatalideal” taken to a place of progressive extrapolation on “Platzwort” and to hear the Author & Punisher-informed slow industrial churn of the penultimate “Todesangst” become the backdrop for a dreamy vocal like Tears for Fears if they stayed up all night scribbling in their notebook because they had so much to say. Vlimmer (né Alexander Leonard Donat) has had a productive run since the first numbered EPs started showing up circa 2015, and Zerschöpfung feels like a summation of the style he’s established as his own, able to speak to various sides of underground and outsider musics without either losing itself in the emotionalism of the songs or sublimating identity to genre.
Dutch sludge metallers No Gods No Masters may seem monolithic at first on their second full-length, the self-released Torment, but the post-metallic dynamics in the atmospheric guitar on lead cut “Into Exile” puts the lie to the supposition. Not that there isn’t plenty of extreme crush to go around in “Into Exile” and the four songs that follow — second track “Towering Waves” and closer “End” on either side of the 10-minute mark, “Such Vim and Vigor” and “A God Among the Waste” shorter like “Into Exile” in a five-to-six-minute range — as the band move from crawling ambience to consuming, scream-topped ultra-doom, leave bruises with elbows thrown before the big slowdown in “Such Vim and Vigor” and tear ass regardless of tempo through the finale, and while they never quite let go of the extremity of their purpose, neither do they forget that their purpose is more than extremity. Torment sounds punishing superficially — certainly the title gives a hint that all is not sunshine and puppies — but a deeper listen is met by the richness of No Gods No Masters‘ approach.
Italian psych rockers Ananda Mida are joined by a host of guests throughout their third full-length, Reconciler, including a return appearance from German singer-songwriter Conny Ochs on the extended heavy psych blueser “Swamp Thing” (14:52) and the four-part finale “Doom and the Medicine Man (Pt. V-VIII)” (22:09), which draws a thread through the history of prog and acid rocks, kraut and space applying no less to the 12-minute “Lucifer’s Wind” as to the surf-riffing “Reconciling” after — the latter gets a reprise on platter two of the 83-minute 2LP — as Ananda Mida dig deep into the shining thrust in the early verses of “Never Surrender” that give over to thoughtful jamming in the song’s second half, finding proto-metallic resolve in “Following the Light” before reconciling “Reconciling (Reprise)” and unfurling “Doom and the Medicine Man” like the lost ’70s coke-rock epic it may well be in some other universe, complete with the acoustic postscript. It’s two records’ worth of ambitious, and it’s two records’ worth of record. This is exploratory on a stylistic level. Searching.
Lumbering out of El Paso, Texas (where folks know what salsa should taste like), with seven tracks across a 23-minute debut EP, Ojo Malo follow a Sabbathian course of harder-edged doom, thick in its groove through “Crow Man” after the “Intro” and speedier with an almost nu-metal crunch in “Charon the Ferryman.” There’s Clutch and C.O.C. influences in the riffing, but there are tougher elements too, a tension that wouldn’t have been out of place 28 years ago on a Prong record, and the swing in “Black Trip Lord” has an undercurrent of aggression that comes forward in its chugging second half. The penultimate “Grim Greefo Rising” offers more in terms of melody after its riffy buildup, and “Executioner” reveals the Judas Priest that’s been in the band’s collective heart all the while. Bookended with manipulated sounds from the recordings in “Intro” and “Outro,” Black Light Fever Tripping sounds exactly like it doesn’t have time for your bullshit so get your gear off stage now and don’t break down your cymbals up there or it’s fucking on.
Druid Fluids — aka Adelaide, Australia’s Jamie Andrew, plus a few friends on drums, piano, and so on — inhabits a few different personae out of psychedelic historalia throughout Then, Now, Again & Again, finding favorites in The Beatles in “Flutter By,” “Into Me I See” (both with sitar), and “Layers” while peopling other songs specifically with elements drawn from David Bowie and the solo work of Lennon and McCartney, all of which feels like fair game for the meticulously-arranged 11-song collection. “Sour’s Happy Fantasy” offers sci-fi fuzz grandeur, while “Timeline” is otherworldly in all but the central strum holding it to the ground — a singularly satisfying melody — and “Out of Phase” swaggers in like Andrew knows he was born in the wrong time. He might’ve been, but he seems to have past, present and future covered either way in this material, some of which was reportedly written when he was a teenager but which has no doubt grown more expansive in the intervening years.
The years between their 2017 self-titled three-songer EP and the forthcoming 11-track debut full-length, Saturn V, would seem to have found Philly heavy rockers Gibbous Moon refining their approach in terms of craft and process. “Blue Shelby” has a turn on guitar like Dire Straits as vocalist Noelle Felipe (also bass) drops references to Scarface in “Blue Shelby” and brings due classicism to Mauro Felipe‘s guitar on “Ayadda.” That song, as well as “Everything” and closer “Peacemaker,” tie the EP to the LP, but Noelle, Mauro and drummer Michael Mosley are unquestionably more confident in their delivery, whether it’s the bass in the open reaches of “Sine Wave” or the of-course-it’s-speed-rock “Follow that Car” and its punker counterpart “Armadillo.” Space rock is a factor in “Indivisible,” and “Inflamed” is almost rockabilly in its tense verse, but wherever Gibbous Moon go, their steps are as sure as the material itself is solid. I’m not sure when this is actually out, if it’s 2023 or 2024, but heads up on it.
Arranged shortest to longest between the ah-oo-oo-ah-ah hookiness of “Sucker’s Disease” (3:03), the nodder rollout of “Daughters of the Sun” (5:47) and the reach into psych-blues jamming in “Goddess Land” (7:03), Mother Magnetic‘s self-titled three-song EP is the first public offering from the Brisbane four-piece of vocalist Rox, guitarist James, bassist Tim and drummer Danny, and right into the later reaches of the last of those tracks, the band’s intentions feel strongly declarative in establishing their melodic reach, an Iommi-circa-’81 take on riffmaking, and a classic boozy swagger to the vocals to match. There was a time, 15-20 years ago, when demos like this ruled the land and were handed to you, burned onto archaic CD-Rs, in the vain hope you might play them in your car on the way home from the show. To not do so in this case would be inadvisable. There’s potential in the songwriting, yes, but also on a performance level, for growth as individuals and as a group, and considering where Mother Magnetic are starting in terms of chemistry, that’s all the more an exciting prospect.
Posted in Whathaveyou on December 9th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
New Negative Reaction is nothing to sneeze at. It’s only been two years since the long-running sludge purveyors unleashed Astrophilia, their most recent album, but that record happened to follow nine years after 2011’s Frequencies From Montauk (review here) and followed a move from Long Island to West Virginia on the part of founding guitarist/vocalist Ken-E Bones, resulting in a complete restructuring of the lineup, so if they’ve got a little momentum at their backs now — Bones joined in the band by bassist KJ and drummer Brian Alien — that comes after what seems to have been a significant effort to make it happen. So yeah, no sneezing, you.
The next Negative Reaction full-length — it might be their seventh, depending on what you count; the band traces roots back over 30 years in one incarnation or another — is titled Zero Minus Infinity, and the lead single, “Back From the Sands,” can be streamed below. Astrophilia was themed as a sequel to the 38-minute-long “Moon Song” from 2000’s The Orion Chronicles — it was the opener, by the way, with one five-minute original and a Hawkwind cover rounding out — and I have no idea whether or not Zero Minus Infinity follows suit in that regard, expanding the story of what happens to humanity after Earth is destroyed, but I do know it’s sludgy as hell, mean in its lurch and jabbing in its riff, disaffection oozing from every measure even before you get to Bones‘ vocal fuckall, and that suits the moment just fine. As I haven’t seen a release date for the impending record as yet — sometime in 2023 presumed — it seems prudent to take what comes when it comes, and not sneeze in the process.
Art for the single, a note from the band, the song stream, and the Astrophilia stream follow:
New Single from Negative Reaction soon to be released album ‘Zero Minus Infinity’
A message from the captain of the space ship Negative Reaction….
“Hello everyone, I hope this message finds you all in good spirits. Negative Reaction has just released a new single, “Back From The Sands”, from the upcoming album “Zero Minus Infinity”. The coordinates for the single are in the attached link on bandcamp.
It features, back again, Brian Alien on drums!
We are still working on the rest of the album and hope to have a release date for you soon.
Posted in Reviews on September 6th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
Morgantown, West Virginia’s Karma to Burn passed into legend with the 2021 death of Will Mecum, founding guitarist and spearhead of the band for their 20-plus years. And as regards holy trinities, one could ask little more than what the mostly-defiantly-instrumental trio conjured across their first three albums: 1997’s self-titled debut (discussed here), 1999’s Wild Wonderful Purgatory (discussed here) and 2001’s Almost Heathen (discussed here). Comprised then of Mecum, bassist Rich Mullins and an earlier succession of drummers that led to Rob Oswald taking over for the second and third LPs, Karma to Burn became one of the most essential riff-rock outfits of the turn of the century, and their influence extended to the compositional in that for most of their career after their first record, they were about as stripped down as you can get and still be playing heavy rock and roll.
I’ve said on multiple occasions that Karma to Burn‘s music is the straightest line from silence to bullshit-free heavy, and with their discography taken as a whole, I stand by that. After 2002, the band broke up until a 2009 reunion tour and split with ASG, which was followed by a few more splits and short/live outings en route to 2010’s return full-length, Appalachian Incantation(review here) and 2011’s V(review here), issued respectively through Napalm Records and its short-lived heavy rock imprint Spinning Goblin Productions. This comeback era also produced 2012’s Slight Reprise, a wholly sans-vocal redux 15 years later of their debut, numerous other live albums, a 2013 self-titled EP on Heavy Psych Sounds and their final long-player, 2014’s Arch Stanton (review here) through FABA/Deepdive Records.
The Heavy Psych Sounds EP is notable because it was the first collaboration between the band and the then-nascent label, and at the time, Karma to Burn were a significant get for the Italian imprint. Nine years later, Heavy Psych Sounds has not only reissued the prior-noted first three albums, but steps up for Appalachian Incantation, V and that same 2013 EP as well, adding Karma to Burn to a list of quintessential bands revisited like Nebula, Dozer, Kylesa, Josiah, Sgt. Sunshine, Brant Bjork, Yawning Man, and so on, solidifying its position as the world’s foremost purveyor of heavy rock in its various forms. The EP repress feels a bit like an indulgence when one thinks that it was either that or Arch Stanton, but two factors to consider: what was/is catalog number HPS008 highlighted Karma to Burn‘s commitment specifically to the European underground that always seemed to love them best, and there’s nothing to say a Heavy Psych Sounds edition of Arch Stanton isn’t coming later. You never really know until the announcement shows up.
Comeback Karma to Burn, who would bid farewell to Oswald after V, sound especially vital on Appalachian Incantation. The trio of Mecum, Mullins and Oswald were air tight and solidified after their return to touring, and the Scott Reeder production of the eight-song/38-minute collection gives life and dynamic to songs like “Forty One” and the slower “Forty Five,” the band’s penchant for numerical titles resulting in setlists that look like lottery pulls and an interchangeable-at-times feeling of immersion. That is to say, when you’re listening to a record like Appalachian Incantation, even if you don’t know where you are numerically — because tracks don’t appear in the order they were apparently written, mind you — the experience is that much easier to take as a whole when considering the interplay of songs presumably written around the same time.
And Mecum as the band’s driving creative force was not averse to throwing his listenership a bone. Collaboration with singer Dan Davies of Year Long Disaster resulted in Appalachian Incantation‘s side B leadoff and landmark “Waiting on the Western World,” and V — which picks up numerically at “Forty Seven” where the prior album left off at “Forty Six” — reminds that at one point it was difficult to tell where Karma to Burn ended and Year Long Disaster began, the two groups touring together and offering three vocalized songs on V in “The Cynics,” “Jimmy D” and a closing take on Black Sabbath‘s “Never Say Die.” Produced by John Lousteau (Alice in Chains‘ Black Gives Way to Blue, Corrosion of Conformity‘s 2012 self-titled, many more) , V streamlined some of the range of the album prior into an especially-tight-even-for-Karma–to–Burn presentation that these years later still captures the band who’d soon shift lineup in their ultimate element, riffs leading the charge one nod to the next like a succession of so many Appalachian foothills.
Taken back to back with Appalachian Incantation, V doesn’t have quite the same force of low end — “Scott Reeder” and “bass” are words that go very well together — but it’s about as to-the-bone as Karma to Burn would ever get. The Karma to Burn EP that followed two years later brought aboard drummer Evan Devine, who would remain in the band for the duration, and marked Mullins‘ final studio appearance with them. Comprised half of new tracks — “Fifty Three,” “Fifty Four,” “Space Tune” — and half of songs redone from the prior two LPs in “Forty One” and “Forty Two” from Appalachian Incantation and “Forty Seven” from V, the 29-minute outing straddles the line between a short release and a full-length, and demonstrates particularly well the swing that Devine brought to the trio and the direction they’d continue to take on their next outing in 2014.
All of which is to say that while this period of Karma to Burn‘s work will likely never be that upon which their already-noted legend is based — that’s really Wild Wonderful Purgatory and Almost Heathen, and if you’re a new listener to the band, that’s where you want to start — it was a succession of crucial moments for them and for Mecum as they returned to the stage, continued to declare who they were, and set about influencing a new generation of heavy instrumentalists. They have never been and they will never be a band for everybody, but these reissues readily demonstrate how even as purposefully, willfully simplified as their sound was — as though they took Mecum‘s t-shirt, jeans, and ball cap pulled down over eyes and turned it into music — the statement they made was as much one of persona as of heft and groove. Despite the efforts of many, there was and will only ever be one Karma to Burn. Here they are.
Posted in Whathaveyou on June 10th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
I’ll tell you the truth: I was put off from listening to Horseburner at first because of their name. Call me crazy, but setting a horse on fire sounds particularly reprehensible. I conquered this by concocting a scenario in which the horse is already dead but the band or the character their moniker is embodying has so much respect for the honor of the creature they’ve built a funeral pyre. Is it true? Probably not, but between that and the fact that they kick ass it was enough for me to come around.
The West Virginian four-piece are at work writing for their next album, and they’ve just done some top secret can’t-talk-about-it-type recording, so while one awaits news of that, that they’re headed out on tour surrounding their appearances at Ripplefest Texas and Ohio Doomed and Stoned should suffice, and if it doesn’t, the added pull of shows with Howling Giant and Restless Spirit is sure to do the trick.
Or maybe you’re just dead. Or disinterested? Why would you even read this if that’s the case?
From them socials:
Awww heck, we’re hitting the open road again next month!
We’re trekkin’ down to Austin for RippleFest Texas and we’re playing with two of our favorite bands Howling Giant and Restless Spirit along the way!
Appearances with Weedeater and at Doomed and Stoned Ohio on the journey. Won’t you join us?
Flyer by Jimbo Valentine
07.15 The Union Athens OH w/ Weedeater 07.16 Nightshop Bloomington IL ^# 07.17 Reggies Chicago IL ^ 07.19 Portal at FifteenTwelve Louisville KY ^# 07.20 The 5 Spot Nashville TN ^ 07.21 Hi Tone Memphis TN ^# 07.22 Freetown Boom Boom Room Lafayette LA ^# 07.23 Ripplefest Texas Far Out Lounge Austin TX # 07.24 Division Brewing Arlington TX 07.25 Whittier Bar Tulsa OK 07.26 Replay Lounge Lawrence KS 07.28 Raccoon Motel Davenport IA 07.29 Black Circle Brewing Indianapolis IN 07.30 Ohio Doomed and Stoned Buzzbin Canton OH ^ dates with Restless Spirit # dates with Howling Giant
Horseburner: Adam Nohe – Drums/Vocals Jack Thomas – Guitar/Vocals Matt Strobel – Guitar Ryan Aliff – Bass
This Friday, April 29, sees the release of Dual Fates, the new EP from Morgantown, West Virginia’s Torrents. It is the second short release for the prog-leaning group behind April 2019’s Totem, and to go with its narrative thematic structure, the five-song/26-minute offering balances melodic flourish with purposefully rougher rhythmic edges, giving a sound that’s both lush and raw, sometimes at the same time — looking at you, “Dream Eternal.” While the vocals of guitarist Mike Lorenzen bring sharply to mind Jeff Martin of Lo-Pan on “Echoes” or “Redeemer,” he and fellow guitarist Seth Randolph, bassist Ryan Aliff and drummer Brandon Davis might be twisting around a groove that feels born of the Baroness school of new-prog on “Betrayer” or bringing Elderian shimmer to an airier stretch of post-rock guitar. The songs are plotted right unto the harmonies of closer “Beacon” — anyone remember Black Skies? Caltrop? — and for a thread of plot and sound that’s got no shortage of tumult, Dual Fates is striking in its underlying poise and the feeling of control Torrents have over their sound.
If they were calling Dual Fates a debut full-length, I don’t think I’d be able to disagree. It’s certainly coherent enough. They’ve thought through the material, patterned out movements like the bridge-to-surge at the halfway point of “Beacon” or the frenetic snare in the early going of “Betrayer,” channeling maximum energy at the outset in order to carry through what follows. And it works. With what sound like expansive pedal boards, Lorenzen and Randolph are at the forefront, pairing leads, coursing riffs or topping crunch with float, and their flexibility in hopping from one progression to the next, the angular turns and moments of stretch-out are a defining feature, though as ever for anything heavy it’s the bass and drums that give the songs their force of movement — Aliff and Davis seek no exception to the rule — resulting in a whole that is fleet and adaptable. And I don’t know if that’s keys or effects on “Echoes,” but if Torrents are signaling they might end up with an organist at some point, that’ll be just fine, thanks. The more’s the merrier to fill the spaces the four-piece so ably craft in the rest of the arrangements.
“Dream Eternal,” the centerpiece, and “Beacon,” the finale, are somewhat longer than the other three inclusions, bordering on seven minutes rather than about four and a half. The former uses that time for an excursion into lucid psychedelia, its midsection building tension under synthy laser fire and a mounting urgency that’s dropped nearly to silence before they come back without a spot on them — totally clean — and finish the remainder of the track, while the latter touches on similar terrain but is more about its forward drive and tonal crunch; however winding the motion might seem on the surface, take a step back and you’ll see its movement is inexorably ahead toward that last payoff hook, unrelenting until, of course, it relents for a final minute of residual comedown noise. There’s a fair amount of bounce and bop in getting from here to there, but like weaving their way through a crowded room, Torrents — whose moniker I’m going to guess has more to do with rainfall than digital piracy, though one never knows — have a plan for the path they’re taking as well as for what they’ll do when they arrive at their destination. Whatever the thing sounds like, Dual Fates is prog for precisely that reason.
The band will take the stage on Saturday in Morgantown to celebrate the EP’s arrival, and you’ll find more info about that, the recording, etc., and some words from the band, under the player below, where Dual Fates is streaming in full.
Please enjoy:
Torrents on Dual Fates:
‘Dual Fates’ is a record about life and death. We wanted to tell a story with this release, and it’s a bit of a hero’s journey. Our hero is betrayed in the beginning and nearly killed.
They wake up with amnesia and are confused and stunned, reaching up from within the shallow grave they were left.
Now in a defeated state, they come to terms with the past and are then given a choice of which path to follow. After making the right decision, they are redeemed and given back lost memories leaving our hero free to follow the beacon back home.”
Torrents are a four-piece rock band from Morgantown, West Virginia. Created in 2018 by close friends from several established regional groups, including Iron Jawed Guru and Hoof, with a common desire to create heavy, dynamic, progressively melodic music.
Fine-tuning their first original songs during their live performances, Torrents set out to record their debut tracks at Zone 8 Studios in their hometown of Morgantown. The following Spring, in April 2019, the band independently released its first EP, entitled ‘Totem.’
We now introduce the upcoming Torrents offering ‘Dual Fates.’ Both heavy and weightless, delicate and rough, dense yet airy, the new EP displays a thoughtfully brazen contrast in Torrents’ interpretation of modern rock music. The band once again put their trust in Mark Poole at Zone 8 Studios to work his recording and mixing magic on their new five-song EP. ‘Dual Fates’ is set for independent release on April 29th, 2022.
To celebrate the release, Torrents will gather on stage for a Dual Fates EP Release Show on April 30th at 123 Pleasant St in Morgantown, WV, along with Horseburner, Cavern, and Pants Queen for a night of thunderous melody.
TORRENTS Live Events: – Apr. 30 – Morgantown, WV @ 123PleasantSt – Torrents EP Release Show (w/ Horseburner, Cavern, Pants Queen) – May 27 – Pittsburgh, PA @ 222 Ormsby – Hope For The Day Benefit (w/ Gator Shakes, Fortune Teller, Cutting Ties)
TORRENTS is: Mike Lorenzen: Guitar, Vocals Seth Randolph: Guitar Ryan Aliff: Bass Brandon Davis: Drums
Posted in Whathaveyou on February 7th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
West Virginian heavy progressive rockers Horseburner will tour the Midwest alongside Maryland’s Yatra starting March 4. That’s less than a month away, if you’re keeping count — and if you are, please tell me how. The pairing of bands here is particularly nifty, as each comes at heavy from their own angle — Yatra the more extreme, deathly side, Horseburner a more winding and modern-prog approach — but neither leaves any question as to their intent toward kicking your ass. With appearances slated at the Gravitoyd Heavy Music Fest, Heavy Spring Fest and familiar stops like Black Circle Brewing in Indy, Freetown Boom Boom Room in Lafayette, LA, and Space Bar in Columbus, Ohio, it’s a solid trek through the Midwest with some dates still TBA as the two tours intertwine and eventually go their separate ways.
If you can help with a date, do that. If you can’t help with a date but know someone who can, it seems only reasonable to put the bands in touch with that person. Looks like Kansas to Oklahoma is the biggest stretch with nothing on. Two nights can make a big difference to a band, both in terms of their experience of the tour and getting paid or fed. You can change someone’s life here, and see a good show. Seems worth going for it to me.
From the PR wire:
HORSEBURNER March 2022 Tour
3-4: Indianapolis, IN – Black Circle Brewing* 3-5: Bloomington, IL – Nightshop* 3-6: Lawrence, KS – Replay Lounge* 3-7: TBA* 3-8: TBA* 3-9: Tulsa, OK – Whittier Bar* 3-10: Dallas, TX – Double Wide Bar* 3-11: Austin, TX – Far Out Lounge – Heavy Spring Fest 3-12: Austin, TX – Independence Brewing Co – Gravitoyd Heavy Music Festival* 3-13: Houston, TX – Eighteen Ten Ojeman* 3-14: Lafayette, LA – Freetown Boom Boom Room 3-15: New Orleans, LA – Santos Bar 3-16: TBA 3-17: Nashville, TN – Springwater Supper Club 3-18: Huntington, WV – The Loud 3-19: Columbus, OH – Space Bar *with Yatra
Horseburner are: Guitar/Vocals – Jack Thomas Drums/Vocals – Adam Nohe Guitar – Matt Strobel Bass – Seth Bostick
Posted in Whathaveyou on December 9th, 2021 by JJ Koczan
Though it’s unquestionably the most comprehensive, this actually isn’t the first time Karma to Burn and Heavy Psych Sounds have worked together — the label released an EP from the Morgantown, West Virginia, instrumentalist heavy rockers in 2013. Of course, these impending reissues for Karma to Burn‘s first three albums are distinguished by following the untimely passing earlier this year of band-founder and guitarist Will Mecum. I can’t imagine it was an easy process chasing down the rights to these records, between the self-titled having come out on Roadrunner — now owned by Warner Bros. — and Wild Wonderful Purgatory and Almost Heathen having seen release through Spitfire Records — now defunct — but one can hardly argue the cause isn’t just. Whatever gets those albums into as many hands and ears as possible is only going to make heavy rock as a whole better.
There’s a lot of info below. You probably don’t need more than the preorder link, but one likes to be comprehensive. None of the three records has an official stream up at this point, so I included the 2013 EP just for kicks. If you take that as an excuse to chase down Wild Wonderful Purgatory on YouTube or something, you’re welcome.
From the PR wire:
Heavy Psych Sounds to repress the KARMA TO BURN entire discography – Self-titled + Wild Wonderful Purgatory + Almost Heathen – PRESALE STARTS TODAY !!
We are stoked to announce that we are going to REPRESS the KARMA TO BURN entire discography !!!
Today we start with the presale of the first 3 albums:
Karma to Burn Wild Wonderful Purgatory Almost Heathen
In 1997 Karma To Burn released their self-titled debut album on Roadrunner Records.
Now in 2022 Heavy Psych Sounds is repressing this legendary release in brand new coloured vinyls!
RELEASED IN double gatefold vinyl 15 ULTRA LTD TEST PRESS VINYL 100 ULTRA LTD RED TRANSPARENT SPLATTER BLACK VINYL 400 GOLD VINYL BLACK VINYL DIGIPAK
RELEASE DATE: MARCH 11th
TRACKLIST SIDE A Ma Petite Mort – 4:09 Bobbi, Bobbi, Bobbi – I’m Not God – 2:57 Patty Hearst’s Closet Mantra – 5:10 SIDE B Mt. Penetrator – 4:26 Eight – 4:37 Appalachian Woman – 3:49 SIDE C Twenty Four Hours – 5:01 Six-Gun Sucker Punch – 4:08 Thirteen – 3:47 SIDE D (Waltz Of The) Playboy Pallbearers – 3:36 Twin Sisters And Half A Bottle Of Bourbon – 3:55 Six – 3:52
HPS198 *** KARMA TO BURN – Wild Wonderful Purgatory ***
– REPRESS of the sophomore album –
Wild Wonderful Purgatory is Karma To Burn second album. Is their first fully instrumental album after the departure of former vocalist Jay Jarosz and it was released in 1999 by Roadrunner Records.
After more then 20 years this piece of stoner rock history will have a new repress in coloured vinyls via Heavy Psych Sounds.
RELEASED IN 15 ULTRA LTD TEST PRESS VINYL 100 ULTRA LTD CORNETTO TRANSPARENT BACKGROUND BLUE VINYL 400 LTD RED VINYL BLACK VINYL DIGIPAK DIGITAL
RELEASE DATE: MARCH 18th
TRACKLIST SIDE A Twenty – 3:31 Twenty Eight – 4:22 Thirty – 3:26 Thirty One – 5:23 Twenty Nine – 3:03 Thirty Two – 5:00 Twenty Five – 4:40 Twenty Six – 4:13 SIDE B One – 4:05 Three – 3:57 Seven – 4:40 Eight – 4:46
HPS199 *** KARMA TO BURN – Almost Heathen ***
– REPRESS of the band’s third album –
Almost Heathen is Karma To Burn third album, released in 2001 via Spitfire Records.
Heavy Psych Sounds is giving new life to this stoner rock gem with 6 live bonus tracks and brand new coloured vinyls!
RELEASED IN 15 ULTRA LTD TEST PRESS VINYL 100 ULTRA LTD SIDE A/SIDE B YELLOW-RED-BLUE VINYL 400 LTD YELLOW TRANSPARENT VINYL BLACK VINYL DIGIPAK DIGITAL
RELEASE DATE: MARCH 18th
TRACKLIST Nineteen Thirty Eight Thirty Four Thirty Seven Thirty Nine Thirty Six Thirty Three Thirty Five Five Forty One (CD live bonus track) Three (CD live bonus track) Twenty Two (CD live bonus track) Seven (CD live bonus track) Eight (CD live bonus track) Six (CD live bonus track)
BIOGRAPHY:
Karma to Burn, sometimes known as K2B, was a desert rock/stoner rock band from Morgantown, West Virginia comprising guitarist William Mecum, bassist Eric Clutter, and drummer Evan Devine. The band was noted for their uncompromising, mostly instrumental sound.
Their name comes from a sleevenote on Bob Dylan’s 1976 album Desire which reads “I have a brother or two and a whole lot of karma to burn…”
KARMA TO BURN final lineup: William Mecum – guitar Eric Von Clutter – bass Evan Devine – drums
