Posted in Whathaveyou on March 13th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Hey Bongzilla, come play in New Jersey. I know you guys probably get a stash re-up in every town you hit, but I feel like legal weed alone should be putting my beloved Garden State on more touring circuits. And as the venerated trio look to follow-up their 2021 return long-player, Weedsconsin (review here), with the forthcoming Dab City, well, it seems like if legal THC was ever going to be a draw, this would be the time. Hit Factory Records in Dover. Stöner did last Fall and it was killer. Morris County has not much scene to speak of, but there are assorted sludge and riffy types to support.
Granted, I was never much of a salesman. Bongzilla have a European tour set for May and June (check their socials for a more recent list as I’m sure some of not all of the TBAs below are filled in; if someone has a new list, I’m glad to switch out the old one) and they’ll be back on the road starting this week in the US as well to herald the new album, more information on which is coming next week, along with the first audio — bet it sounds like Bongzilla — and preorders, etc. Looking forward to seeing the cover art as well as hearing the track.
Here’s what the PR wire has to say:
Heavy Psych Sounds Records & Booking is really proud to present a new band signing *** BONGZILLA ***
– the weedsconsin riffers are coming back with a brand new album –
HEAVY PSYCH SOUNDS RECORDS is stoked to announce that the weedsconsin riffers BONGZILLA are coming back with a brand new album !!!
NEW ALBUM PRESALE + FIRST TRACK PREMIERE MARCH 20th
In early 2020, Bongzilla started their own label called Gungeon Records and released a re-issue of their classic album Apogee. However, in March of 2020 it would be announced that Cooter Brown would retire from the band due to health and family reasons, with Bongzilla choosing to continue as a thunderous three-piece.
A few months into the pandemic, Bongzilla began rehearsing and recording for several different record projects – A limited Wake Brewing 7 inch, a full length album titled Weedsconsin, an LP split with the band Tons, and a 7 Inch Split with Boris, the first of a 7 inch Split Series released on Gungeon Records.
All projects were recorded at Future Apple Tree Studios in Rock Island, Illinois in October of 2020 by the legendary John Hopkins before his sudden and unexpected passing in the late fall of 2020.
Bongzilla signed to the Italian label – Heavy Psych Sounds in 2021 and released his new album in several years Wedsconsin, as well as a limited 7 Inch from Wake Brewing, followed by the Bongzilla / Tons Split for the HPS series – Doom Sessions. All releases were released in 2021.
The band is now coming back with a brand new album that will see the light in summer 2023 via Heavy Psych Sounds.
SAYS THE BAND:
“All Dabbed up Bongzilla are super excited to be putting out Dab City on HPS records!!
Since the legalization of marijuana, and introduction of concentrated in many states of America. Bongzilla has reached new Altitudes. Dab City is the result of many hours of nectar collecting and dabbing! Obtaining a level of highness to chanel riffs and jam them into the Stone sphere!”
BONGZILLA is: Mike “Muleboy” Makela – bass/vocals Jeff “Spanky” Schultz – guitars Mike “Magma” Henry – drums
Posted in Whathaveyou on January 31st, 2023 by JJ Koczan
It’s a big one. Weedian crust-sludge legends Bongzilla will head out on a European tour that will take them from Spring to Summer, May to July, as they hit the UK and the continent-proper for festivals and headlining club shows. They go ostensibly in support of 2021’s Weedsconsin (review here), but really they go in celebration of themselves, pot, and riffs in general. That is to say, you might be extra stoked when Bongzilla hit into “Free the Weed” or “Sundae Driver” from the new record, but you were already stoked to begin with. They’re calling it the ‘Dabbing Across Europe & UK Tour,’ and, well, I don’t doubt it. Art imitates life imitating art, and so on.
Note Tube Cult Fest in Italy, Desertfest Berlin and lineup-still-TBA (unless I missed it; possible) Heavy Psych Sounds Fests in Switzerland early in the tour and wide open spots for the UK portion. I don’t know what that portends, but no doubt Bongzilla can find ways to handle a couple days off at that point in the tour if it comes to it. Worst case is, what, they get high anyway? It’ll be fine. If you can put them up for a show, though, you might want to hit up Heavy Psych Sounds and say the word.
Dates follow:
Heavy Psych Sounds Records & Booking to announce BONGZILLA European & UK tour 2023 !!!
*** BONGZILLA *** – Dabbing Across Europe & UK Tour 2023 –
We are stoked to announce that our Weedsconsin riffers BONGZILLA will smash Europe and UK in May and June 2023 !!!
*** BONGZILLA *** DABBING ACROSS EUROPE & UK TOUR 2023
FR 19/05/2023 IT PESCARA – TUBE CULT FEST SA 20/05/2023 IT MARGHERA – RIVOLTA SU 21/05/2023 DE BERLIN – DESERTFEST MO 22/05/2023 PL WARSZAWA – HYDROZAGADKA TU 23/05/2023 PL POZNAN – MINOGA WE 24/05/2023 PL KRAKOW – ZAśCIANEK TH 25/05/2023 AT WIEN – ARENA FR 26/05/2023 CH WINTERTHUR – HPS FEST SA 27/05/2023 CH MARTIGNY – HPS FEST SU 28/05/2023 CH GENEVE – L’USINE MO 29/05/2023 CH CHAMBERY – BRIN DE ZINC TU 30/05/2023 FIN HELSINKI – Kuudes Linja WE 31/05/2023 DK COPENHAGEN – LOPPEN TH 01/06/2023 DK AALBORG – 1000FRYD FR 02/06/2023 DE BREMEN – NIGHT OF THE BONG SA 03/06/2023 IT LUGANO – OHM CLUB SU 04/06/2023 DE OPEN SLOT** MO 05/06/2023 DE COLOGNE – MTC TU 06/06/2023 DE OPEN SLOT** WE 07/06/2023 DE OPEN SLOT** TH 08/06/2023 NL EINDHOVEN – EFFENAAR FR 09/06/2023 NL LEEUWARDEN – NEUSHOORN SA 10/06/2023 NL VENIO – GRENSWERK SU 11/06/2023 NL UTRECHT – DB’S MO 12/06/2023 UK BOURNEMOUTH – DORSET TU 13/06/2023 UK TBA WE 14/06/2023 UK TBA TH 15/06/2023 UK TBA FR 16/06/2023 UK TBA SA 17/06/2023 UK TBA SU 18/06/2023 FR OPEN SLOT** MO 19/06/2023 ES SAN SEBASTIAN – DADABA TU 20/06/2023 PT PORTO – HARD CLUB WE 21/06/2023 PT LISBONA – RCA TH 22/06/2023 ES MADRID – WURLITZER FR 23/06/2023 ES BARCELONA – UPLOAD SA 24/06/2023 FR MARSEILLE – LE MOLOTOV SU 25/06/2023 IT TORINO – BLAH BLAH MO 26/06/2023 IT BOLOGNA – FREAKOUT FR 30/06/2023 IT CAGLIARI – TBA SA 01/07/2023 IT OPEN SLOT**
BONGZILLA is: Mike “Muleboy” Makela – bass/vocals Jeff “Spanky” Schultz – guitars Mike “Magma” Henry – drums
Posted in Questionnaire on January 23rd, 2023 by JJ Koczan
The Obelisk Questionnaire is a series of open questions intended to give the answerer an opportunity to explore these ideas and stories from their life as deeply as they choose. Answers can be short or long, and that reveals something in itself, but the most important factor is honesty.
Based on the Proust Questionnaire, the goal over time is to show a diverse range of perspectives as those who take part bring their own points of view to answering the same questions. To see all The Obelisk Questionnaire posts, click here.
Thank you for reading and thanks to all who participate.
The Obelisk Questionnaire: Brad Van of Droids Attack
—
How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?
I somehow feel compelled to do what I do. It is a pursuit of happiness, I suppose. I was naturally drawn to the rhythmic elements of music when I was pretty young and was inspired to play the drums. Perhaps because I could just watch people play and learn how it was done visually. I could play along to recordings after a few listens. It was fun for me. I really enjoyed playing and wanted to form an original band to write and record albums with. It was difficult finding people with that same drive, so after drumming in a few bands I decided I wanted to learn how to play guitar to try and write some songs myself. I incorporated those rhythmic elements I was initially inspired by into my guitar playing, and my music got heavier as I got more comfortable with the feel of the instrument.
Describe your first musical memory.
I remember hearing “Ace of Spades” on the radio when I was very young. I thought it was awesome, and that’s the first song I can remember that got stuck in my head. I also remember having a Fisher Price record player, and my brother had The Greatest American Hero theme song on 45. I loved hearing that one too.
Describe your best musical memory to date.
Playing the Metro in Chicago opening up for High On Fire, Torche, and Kylesa back when no one had ever heard of us. It felt like a turning point for us at the time, like we somehow broke through to the big leagues! I suppose I would call that one of my best memories. I remember playing that show, and some folks involved with the event were angry because we were put in that slot by the event organizer who wanted us on because he liked us. He wanted to give us a chance, which is rare in my experience, so he fought for us and he refused to cut us. After we played everyone was pretty nice though, so it felt cool like we won them over. I remember being a little sad after that show because I thought it was all downhill from there because there was no way any other show would be as awesome, but I was wrong. We continue to get such great shows, work with great bands, and meet such awesome people. Maybe my best memory is the moment I realized I was wrong.
When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?
Man, so many times. That’s a hard question to answer. How about the belief that all people are inherently good? I’ve been taken advantage of by plenty of people who would have had no problem with stepping on me and my mother’s face if it meant they could get ahead somehow. It’s hard not to let situations like that get the best of you, and change you into a negative person. I do have a firm belief that you should never allow that to happen, and that gets tested quite often.
Where do you feel artistic progression leads?
In my experience I’ve found that all people are in pursuit of different things as artists. Some want to be the best at their craft, some want to get attention, some just want to party… so I suppose the pursuit determines the progression. For me, I just want to feel happy, and fulfilled in life, and I am. I want to write songs that I can enjoy playing night after night and work with people who enjoy playing out as much as I do and as often as possible and have a good time. I also want to challenge myself to be the best player I can be, and put out albums that I can feel proud of and are worth a spin.
How do you define success?
When you are able to earn enough money to make a decent living seems to be the easiest answer to that one, but it’s really hard to achieve that without being able to completely dedicate your life to it for a good period of time. I think there are other levels of success that are worth the personal sacrifice it takes to grind just enough to earn steady gigs and opportunities to collaborate with artists, venues, and promoters that you have great respect and affection for. It’s rewarding to be a part of this community.
What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?
Most recently I guess would be how awful people have gotten comfortable with treating each other. This pandemic was very difficult on a lot of people, and I hate seeing all of the abuse and suffering on social media, and with some of the people around me in my daily life. I’ve reached out to plenty of people these last couple of years just to check in on them and try and help them get through some dark times if I can.
Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.
I’d like to create a Droids Attack pinball game.
What do you believe is the most essential function of art?
To me good art makes you think. You experience it in whatever variety of ways, see it, hear it, taste it, whatever, and if it’s good then it has some potency on you. If it’s quality work it will draw you in. Maybe inspire you to dance, question your perception, maybe sway your emotions. Lift your mood, or maybe drag you down further until you hit bottom. Good art stays with you, and becomes a part of your life. Hopefully one that’s positive.
Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?
I look forward to retiring with my wife, and going on adventures together.
Posted in Reviews on September 27th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
Here we go again as we get closer to 100 records covered in this expanded Fall 2022 Quarterly Review. It’s been a pretty interesting ride so far, and as I’ve dug in I know for sure I’ve added a few names (and titles) to my year-end lists for albums, debuts, and so on. Today keeps the thread going with a good spread of styles and some very, very heavy stuff. If you haven’t found anything in the bunch yet — first I’d tell you to go back and check again, because, really? nothing in 60 records? — but after that, hey, maybe today’s your day.
Here’s hoping.
Quarterly Review #61-70:
Spirit Adrift, 20 Centuries Gone
The second short release in two years from trad metal forerunners Spirit Adrift, 20 Centuries Gone pairs two new originals in “Sorcerer’s Fate” and “Mass Formation Psychosis” — songs for our times written as fantasy narrative — with six covers, of Type O Negative‘s “Everything Dies,” Pantera‘s “Hollow,” Metallica‘s “Escape,” Thin Lizzy‘s “Waiting for an Alibi,” ZZ Top‘s “Nasty Dogs and Funky Kings” and Lynyrd Skynyrd‘s “Poison Whiskey.” The covers find them demonstrating a bit of malleability — founding guitarist/vocalist does well with Phil Lynott‘s and Peter Steele‘s inflections while still sounding like himself — and it’s always a novelty to hear a band purposefully showcase their influences like this, but “Sorcerer’s Fate” and “Mass Formation Psychosis” are the real draw. The former nods atop a Candlemassian chug and sweeping chorus before spending much of its second half instrumental, and “Mass Formation Psychosis” resolves in burly riffing, but only after a poised rollout of classic doom, slower, sleeker in its groove, with acoustic strum layered in amid the distortion and keyboard. Two quick reaffirmations of the band’s metallic flourishing and, indeed, a greater movement happening partially in their wake. And then the covers, which are admirably more than filler in terms of arrangement. Something of a holdover, maybe, but by no means lacking substance.
Just because it’s so bludgeoning doesn’t necessarily mean that’s all it is. The melodic stretch of “Forbidden World of Light” and delve into progressive black metal after the nakedly Crowbarian sludge of “A Path Beyond Grief,” the clean vocal-topped atmospheric heft of “What Must Be Done” and the choral feel of centerpiece “Carried,” even the way “Of Shadow and Sanguine” seems to purposefully thrash (also some more black metal there) amid its bouts of deathcore and sludge lumbering — all of these come together to make Northless‘ fourth long-player, A Path Beyond Grief, an experience that’s still perhaps defined by its intensity and concrete tonality, its aggression, but that is not necessarily beholden to those. Even the quiet intro “Nihil Sanctum Vitae” — a seeming complement to the nine-minute bring-it-all-together closer “Nothing That Lives Will Last” — seems intended to tell the listener there’s more happening here than it might at first seem. As someone who still misses Swarm of the Lotus, some of the culmination in that finale is enough to move the blood in my wretched body, but while born in part of hardcore, Northless are deep into their own style throughout these seven songs, and the resultant smashy smashy is able to adjust its own elemental balance while remaining ferociously executed. Except, you know, when it’s not. Because it’s not just one thing.
Comprised of five songs running a tidy 20 minutes, each brought together through ambience as well as the fact that their titles are all three letters long — “Aer,” “Hyd,” “Orb,” “Wiz,” “Rue” — AER is the debut EP from German instrumentalists Lightrain, who would seek entry into the contemplative and evocative sphere of acts like Toundra or We Lost the Sea as they offer headed-out post-rock float and heavy psychedelic vibe. “Hyd” is a focal point, both for its eight-minute runtime (nothing else is half that long) and the general spaciousness, plus a bit of riffy shove in the middle, with which it fills that, but the ultra-mellow “Aer” and drumless wash of “Wiz” feed into an overarching flow that speaks to greater intentions on the part of the band vis a vis a first album. “Rue” is progressive without being overthought, and “Orb” feels born of a jam without necessarily being that jam, finding sure footing on ground that for many would be uncertain. If this is the beginning point of a longer-term evolution on the part of the band, so much the better, but even taken as a standalone, without consideration for the potential of what it might lead to, the LP-style fluidity that takes hold across AER puts the lie to its 20 minutes being somehow minor.
Cleanly produced and leaning toward sleaze at times in a way that feels purposefully drawn from ’80s glam metal, the second offering from Poland’s 1965 — they might as well have called themselves 1542 for as much as they have to do sound-wise with what was going on that year — is the 12-song/52-minute Panther, which wants your nuclear love on “Nuclear Love,” wants to rock on “Let’s Rock,” and would be more than happy to do whatever it wants on “Anything We Want.” Okay, so maybe guitarist, vocalist and principal songwriter Michał Rogalski isn’t going to take home gold at the Subtlety Olympics, but the Warsaw-based outfit — him plus Marco Caponi on bass/backing vocals and Tomasz Rudnicki on drums/backing vocals, as well as an array of lead guitarists guesting — know the rock they want to make, and they make it. Songs are tight and well performed, heavy enough in tone to have a presence but fleet-footed in their turns from verse to chorus and the many trad-metal-derived leads. Given the lyrics of the title-track, I’m not sure positioning oneself as an actual predatory creature as a metaphor for seduction has been fully thought through, but you don’t see me out here writing lyrics in Polish either, so take it with that grain of salt if you feel the need or it helps. For my money I’ll take the still-over-the-top “So Many Times” and the sharp start-stops of “All My Heroes Are Dead,” but there’s certainly no lack of others to choose from.
Blacklab — also stylized BlackLab — are the Osaka, Japan-based duo of guitarist/vocalist Yuko Morino and drummer Chia Shiraishi, but if you’d enter into their second full-length, In a Bizarre Dream, expecting some rawness or lacking heft on account of their sans-bass configuration, you’re more likely to be bowled over by the sludgy tonality on display. “Cold Rain” — opener and longest track (immediate points) at 6:13 — and “Abyss Woods” are largely screamers, righteously harsh with riffs no less biting, and “Dark Clouds” does the job in half the time with a punkier onslaught leading to “Evil 1,” but “Evil 2” mellows out a bit, adjusts the balance toward clean singing and brooding in a way that the oh-hi-there guest vocal contribution from Laetitia Sadier of Stereolab (after whom Blacklab are partially named) on “Crows, Sparrows and Cats” shifts into a grungier modus. “Lost” and “In a Bizarre Dream,” the latter more of an interlude, keep the momentum going on the rock side, but somehow you just know they’re going to turn it around again, and they absolutely do, easing their way in with the largesse of “Monochrome Rainbow” before “Collapse” caps with a full-on onslaught that brings into full emphasis how much reach they have as a two-piece and just how successfully they make it all heavy.
I guess the only problem that might arise from recording your first two-songer with Steve Albini is that you’ve set an awfully high standard for, well, every subsequent offering your band ever makes in terms of production. There are traces of Karma to Burn-style chug on “Ectotherm,” the A-side accompanied by “Writhing Mass” on the two-songer that shares the same name, but Chicago imstrumental trio Sun King Ba are digging into more progressively-minded, less-stripped-down fare on both of these initial tracks. Still, impact and the vitality of the end result are loosely reminiscent, but the life on that guitar, bass and drums speaks volumes, and not just in favor of the recording itself. “Writhing Mass” crashes into tempo changes and resolves itself in being both big and loud, and the space in the cymbals alone as it comes to its noisy finish hints at future incursions to be made. Lest we forget that Chicago birthed Pelican and Bongripper, among others, for the benefit of instrumental heavy worldwide. Sun King Ba have a ways to go before they’re added to that list, but there is intention being signaled here for those with ears to hear it.
Despite the somewhat grim imagery on the cover art for Kenodromia‘s self-titled debut EP — a three-cut outing that marks a return to the band of vocalist Hilde Chruicshank after some stretch of absence during which they were known as Hideout — the Oslo, Norway, four-piece play heavy rock through and through on “Slandered,” “Corrupted” and “Bound,” with the bluesy fuzzer riffs and subtle psych flourishes of Eigil Nicolaisen‘s guitar backing Chruicshank‘s lyrics as bassist Michael Sindhu and drummer Trond Buvik underscore the “break free” moment in “Corrupted,” which feels well within its rights in terms of sociopolitical commentary ahead of the airier start of “Bound” after the relatively straightforward beginning that was “Slandered.” With the songs arranged shortest to longest, “Bound” is also the darkest in terms of atmosphere and features a more open verse, but the nod that defines the second half is huge, welcome and consuming even as it veers into a swaggering kind of guitar solo before coming back to finish. These players have been together one way or another for over 10 years, and knowing that, Kenodromia‘s overarching cohesion makes sense. Hopefully it’s not long before they turn attentions toward a first LP. They’re clearly ready.
Mezzoa are the San Diego three-piece of guitarist/vocalist Ignacio “El Falcone” Maldonado, bassist Q “Dust Devil” Pena (who according to their bio was created in the ‘Cholo Goth Universe,’ so yes, charm is a factor), and drummer Roy “Bam Bam” Belarmino, and the 13-track/45-minute Dunes of Mars is their second album behind 2017’s Astral Travel. They sound like a band who’ve been around for a bit, and indeed they have, playing in other bands and so on, but they’ve got their approach on lockdown and I don’t mean for the plague. The material here, whether it’s the Helmet-plus-melody riffing of “Tattoos and Halos” or the more languid roll of the seven-minute “Dunes of Mars” earlier on, is crisp and mature without sounding flat or staid creatively, and though they’re likened most to desert rock and one can hear that in the penultimate “Seized Up” a bit, there’s more density in the guitar and bass, and the immediacy of “Hyde” speaks of more urgent influences at work. That said, the nodding chill-and-chug of “Moya” is heavy whatever landscape you want to say birthed it, and with the movement into and out of psychedelic vibes, the land is something you’re just as likely to leave behind anyway. Hit me as a surprise. Don’t be shocked if you end up going back to check out the first record after.
Released through emergent Texas-based imprint Gravitoyd Heavy Music, Stone Nomads‘ Fields of Doom comprises six songs, five originals, and is accordingly somewhere between a debut full-length and an EP at half an hour long. The cover is a take on Saint Vitus‘ “Dragon Time,” and it rests well here as the closer behind the prior-released single “Soul Stealer,” as bassist Jude Sisk and guitarist Jon Cosky trade lead vocal duties while Dwayne Crosby furthers the underlying metallic impression on drums, pushing some double-kick gallop under the solo of “Fiery Sabbath” early on after the leadoff title-track lumbers and chugs and bell-tolls to its ending, heavy enough for heavy heads, aggro enough to suit your sneer, with maybe a bit of Type O Negative influence in the vocal. Huffing oldschool gasoline, Fields of Doom might prove too burled-out for some listeners, but the interlude “Winds of Barren Lands” and the vocal swaps mean that you’re never quite sure where they’re going to hit you next, even if you know the hit is coming, and even as “Soul Stealer” goes grandiose before giving way to the already-noted Vitus cover. And if you’re wondering, they nail the noise of the solo in that song, leaving no doubt that they know what they’re doing, with their own material or otherwise.
Drawing from various corners of punk, noise rock and heavy rock’s accessibility, Munich trio Blind Mess offer their third full-length in After the Storm, which is aptly-enough titled, considering. “Fight Fire with Fire” isn’t a cover, but the closing “What’s the Matter Man?” is, of Rollins Band, no less, and they arrive there after careening though a swath of tunes like “Twilight Zone,” “At the Gates” and “Save a Bullet,” which are as likely to be hardcore-born shove or desert-riffed melody, and in the last of those listed there, a little bit of both. To make matters more complicated, “Killing My Idols” leans into classic metal in its underlying riff as the vocals bark and its swing is heavy ’70s through and through. This aesthetic amalgam holds together in the toughguy march of “Sirens” as much as the garage-QOTSA rush of “Left to Do” and the dares-to-thrash finish of “Fight Fire with Fire” since the songs themselves are well composed and at 38 minutes they’re in no danger of overstaying their welcome. And when they get there, “What’s the Matter Man?” makes a friendly-ish-but-still-confrontational complemement to “Left to Do” back at the outset, as though to remind us that wherever they’ve gone over the course of the album between, it’s all been about rock and roll the whole time. So be it.
Posted in Whathaveyou on October 21st, 2021 by JJ Koczan
Wisconsin’s Bongzilla make ready to head abroad next year in support of their 2021 album, Weedsconsin (review here). Does the tour start on 4/20? No, but close enough, and you’ll note that they have May 1 listed as an open date in London. Well, that’s the final day of Desertfest London 2022, so don’t be surprised when or if they show up as a late addition to that considerably-packed bill too. Hard to imagine them finding anything other than a welcome reception, frankly.
It’s worth taking a second to appreciate looking at a list of tour dates and thinking it’s more likely they’ll happen than not. Obviously I won’t claim to know what the conditions of anything will be by the time next Spring rolls around, but it doesn’t seem outside the realm of possibility that these dates, including the couple TBAs, could go off without a hitch. Hope everybody got their shots. Boosters for all and safe travels.
From the PR wire:
BONGZILLA – EU/UK TOUR 2022
We are so stoked to announce the comeback of the Weedsconsin riffers BONGZILLA.
The band will smash Europe and UK in April/May 2022 bringing their brand new album Weedsconsin.
*** BONGZILLA EU/UK TOUR 2022 *** FR 08.04.2022 IT BOLOGNA Freakout SA 09.04.2022 IT VERONA Kroen SU 10.04.2022 AT SALZBURG Rockhouse MO 11.04.2022 AT VIENNA Arena TU 12.04.2022 AT INNSBRUCK p.m.k WE 13.04.2022 IT TORINO Bunker TH 14.04.2022 CH MARTIGNY Les Caves Du Manoir FR 15.04.2022 FR MARSEILLE Jas’ Rod SA 16.04.2022 ES BARCELONA Upload SU 17.04.2022 ES MADRID Caracol MO 18.04.2022 ES SAN SEBASTIAN Dadadaba WE 20.04.2022 FR TOULOUSE Le Connexion TH 21.04.2022 FR NANTES La Scene Michelet FR 22.04.2022 FR LILLE Black LAb SA 23.04.2022 NL LEIDEN Gebr. De Nobel SU 24.04.2022 NL SNEEK Bolwerk MO 25.04.2022 BEL AALST Cinema Aalst TU 26.04.2022 UK MANCHESTER Deaf Institute WE 27.04.2022 UK BRISTOL Thekla TH 28.04.2022 UK SHEFFIELD Record Junkee FR 29.04.2022 UK GLASGOW Ivory Blacks SA 30.04.2022 UK LEEDS Boom SU 01.05.2022 UK LONDON TBA MO 02.05.2022 FR PARIS TBA TU 03.05.2022 DE COLOGNE MTC WE 04.05.2022 DE BERLIN Bi Nuu TH 05.05.2022 PO WROCLAW Akademia FR 06.05.2022 DE DRESDEN Chemiefabrik SA 07.05.2022 DE KARLSRUHE Dudefest SU 08.05.2022 DE LEIPZIG Conne Island TU 10.05.2022 FIN HELSINKI Kuudes Linja WE 11.05.2022 CH ZURIGO Dynamo 250 TH 12.05.2022 CH BASEL Hirscheneck FR 13.05.2022 SE MALMO Plan B SA 14.05.2022 DK ESBJERG Fuzztival
BONGZILLA is: Mike “Muleboy” Makela – bass/vocals Jeff “Spanky” Schultz – guitars Mike “Magma” Henry – drums
We proceed onward, into this ever-growing swath of typos, lineup corrections made after posting, and riffs — more riffs! — that is the Quarterly Review. Today is Day Four and I’m feeling good. Not to say there isn’t some manner of exhaustion, but the music has been killer — today is particularly awesome — and that makes life much, much, much better as I’ve already said. I hope you’ve found one or two or 10 records so far that you’ve really dug. I know I’ve added a few to my best of 2021 list, including stuff right here. So yeah, we roll on.
Quarterly Review #31-40:
Spelljammer, Abyssal Trip
To envision an expanse, and to crush it. Stockholm three-piece Spelljammer return five years after Ancient of Days (review here), with an all-the-more-massive second long-player through RidingEasy, turning their front-cover astronaut around to face the audience head on and offering 43 minutes/six tracks of encompassing largesse, topping 10 minutes in the title-track and “Silent Rift,” both on side B with the interlude “Peregrine” between them, after the three side A rollers, “Bellwether,” “Lake” and “Among the Holy” have tripped out outward and downward into an atmospheric plunge that is a joy to take feeling specifically geared as an invite to the converted. We are here, come worship with us. Also get crushed. Spelljammer records may not happen all the time, but you won’t be through “Bellwether” before you’re saying it was worth the wait.
A deceptively graceful second LP from Melbourne’s The Black Heart Death Cult, Sonic Mantras pulls together an eight-song/45-minute run that unfolds bookended by “Goodbye Gatwick Blues” (8:59) and “Sonic Dhoom” (9:47) and in between ebbs and flows across shorter pieces that maximize their flow in whether shoegazing, heavygazing, blissing out, or whatever we’re calling it this week on “The Sun Inside” and “One Way Through,” or finding their way to a particularly deadened meadow on “Trees,” or tripping the light hypnotic on “Dark Waves” just ahead of the closer. “Cold Fields” churns urgently in its 2:28 but remains spacious, and everywhere The Black Heart Death Cult go, they remain liquefied in their sound, like a seemingly amorphous thing that nonetheless manages to hold its shape despite outside conditions. Whatever form they take, then, they are themselves, and Sonic Mantras emphasizes how yet-underappreciated they are in emerging from the ever-busy Aussie underground.
Tetra is the third long-player from Milwaukee’s Shogun, and in addition to the 10-minute “Delta,” which marries blues gargle with YOB slow-gallop before jamming out across its 10-minute span, it brings straight-shooter fuzz rockers like “Gravitas,” the someone-in-this-band-listened-to-Megadeth-in-the-’90s-and-that’s-okay beginnings of “Buddha’s Palm/Aviary” and likewise crunch of “Axiom” later, but also the quiet classic progressive rock of “Gone Forever,” and the more patient coming together of psychedelia and harder-hitting movement on closer “Maximum Ray.” Somewhat undercut by a not-raw-but-not-bursting-with-life production, pieces like “Buddha’s Palm/Aviary,” which gives over to a sweeter stretch of guitar in its second movement, and “Vertex/Universal Pain Center,” which in its back end brings around that YOB influence again and puts it to good use, are outwardly complex enough to put the lie to the evenhandedness of the recording. There’s more going on in Tetra than it first seems, and the more you listen, the more you find.
Keeping up with Nadja has proven nigh on impossible over the better part of the last two decades, as the Berlin-by-way-of-Toronto duo have issued over 25 albums in 19 years, plus splits and live offerings and digital singles and oh my goodness I do believe I have the vapors that’s a lot of Nadja. For those of us who flit in and out like the dilletantes we ultimately are, Luminous Rot‘s aligning Aidan Baker and Leah Buckareff with Southern Lord makes it an easy landmark, but really most of what the six-cut/48-minute long-player does is offer a reminder of the vital experimentalism the lazy are missing in the first place. The consuming, swelling drone of “Cuts on Your Hands,” blown-out sub-industrialism of “Starres,” hook of the title-track and careful-what-you-wish-for anchor riff of “Fruiting Bodies” — these and the noisily churning closer “Dark Inclusions” are a fervent argument in Nadja‘s favor as being more than a sometimes-check-in kind of band, and for immediately digging into the 43-minute single-song album Seemannsgarn, which they released earlier this year. So much space and nothing to lose.
Welcome to punishment as a primary consideration. Indianapolis death-doom four-piece hold back the truly crawling fare until “Perverted Reflection,” which is track three of the total seven on their debut full-length, Upon a Throne of Jackals, but by then the extremity has already shown its unrepentant face across the buried-alive “Final Spasms of the Drowned” and the oldschool death metal of “The Altar.” Centerpiece “Invert Every Throne” calls to mind Conan in its nod, but Shroud of Vulture are more about rawness than sheer largesse in tone, and their prone-to-blasting style gives them an edge there and in “Halo of Tarnished Light,” which follows. The closing pair of “Concealing Rabid Laughter” and “Stone Coffin of Existence” both top seven minutes and offset grueling tension with grueling release, but it’s the stench of decay that so much defines Upon a Throne of Jackals, as though somebody rebuilt Sunlight Studio brick for brick in Hoosier Country. Compelling and filthy in kind.
Towards Atlantis Lights, When the Ashes Devoured the Sun
Ultra-grueling, dramatic death-doom tragedies permeate the second full-length, When the Ashes Devoured the Sun, from UK-based four-piece Towards Atlantis Lights, with vocalist/keyboardist Kostas Panagiotou and guitarist Ivan Zara at the heart of the compositions while bassist Riccardo Veronese and drummer Ivano Olivieri assure the impact that coincides with the cavernous procession matches in scope. The follow-up to 2018’s Dust of Aeons (review here), this six-track collection fosters classicism and modern apocalyptic vibes alike, and whether raging or morose, its dirge atmosphere remains firm and uncompromised. Heavy lumber for heavy hearts. The kind of doom that doesn’t look up. That doesn’t mean it’s not massive in scope — it is, even more than the first record — just that nearly everything it sees is downward. If there’s hope, it is a vague thing, lost to periphery. So be it.
It has been said on multiple occasions that “space is the place.” The curiously-capitalized Colorado outfit ASTRAL CONstruct would seem to live by this ethic on their debut album, Tales of Cosmic Journeys, unfurling as they do eight flowing progressions of instrumental slow-CGI-of-the-planets pieces that are more plotted in their course than jams, but feel built from jams just the same. Raw in its production and mix, and mastered by Kent Stump of Wo Fat, there’s enough atmosphere to let the lead guitar breathe, certainly, and to sustain life in general even on “Jettisoned Adrift in the Space Debris,” and the image evoked by “Hand Against the Solar Winds” feels particularly inspired given that song’s languid roll. The record starts and ends in cryogenic sleep, and if upon waking we’re transported to another place and another time, who knows what wonders we might see along the way. ASTRAL CONstruct‘s exploration would seem to be just beginning here, but their “Cosmos Perspective” is engaging just the same.
Vienna-based sludgedrivers TarLung were last heard from with 2017’s Beyond the Black Pyramid (discussed here), and Architect continues the progression laid out there in melding vocal extremity and heavy-but-not-too-heavy-to-move riffing. It might seem like a fine line to draw, and it is, and that only makes songs like “Widow’s Bane” and “Horses of Plague” all the more nuanced as their deathly growls and severe atmospheres mesh with what in another context might just be stoner rock groove. Carcass circa the criminally undervalued Swansong, Six Feet Under. TarLung manage to find a place in stoner sludge that isn’t just Bongzilla worship, or Bongripper worship, or Bong worship. I’m not sure it’s worship at all, frankly, and I like that about it as the closing title-track slow-moshes my brain into goo.
Somewhere in the great mystical expanse between Kalispell, Montana, and Kansas City, Missouri, two practicioners of the riffly dark arts meet on a field of battle. Wizzerd come packing the 19-minute acoustic-into-heavy-prog-into-sitar-laced-jam-out “We Are,” as if to encompass that declaration in all its scope, while Merlin answer back with the organ-led “Merlin’s Bizarre Adventure” (21:51), all chug and lumber until it’s time for weirdo progressive fusion reggae and an ensuing Purple-tinged psych expansion. Who wins? I don’t know. Ripple Music in releasing it in the first place, I guess. Continuing the label’s influential split series(es), Turned to Stone Chapter III pushes well over the top in the purposes of both acts involved, and in that, it’s maybe less of a battle than two purveyors joining forces to weave some kind of Meteo down on the heads of all who might take them on. If you’ve think you’ve got the gift, they seem only too ready to test that out.
“Life Grinder” begins with a sample: “I don’t know if you need all that bass,” and the answer, “Oh, you need all that bass.” That’s already after “Sea Sick Six” has revealed the Montreal-based trio’s sans-guitar extremist sludge roll, and the three-piece seem only too happy to keep up the theme. Vocals are harsh, biting, grating, purposeful in their fuckall, and the whole 28-minute affair of Winterized is cathartic aural violence, except perhaps the interlude “666,” which is a quiet moment between “Broken Bones” and “Black Snail Volcano,” which finally seems to just explode in its outright aggression, nod notwithstanding. A slowed down Ramones cover — reinventing “Pet Sematary” as “Red Sematary” — has a layer of spoken chanting vocals layered in and closes out, but the skin has been peeled so far back by then and Seum have doused so much salt onto the wounds that even Bongzilla might cringe. The low-end-only approach only makes it more punishing and more punk rock at the same time. Fucking mean.
Posted in Reviews on April 28th, 2021 by JJ Koczan
None crustier. None more stoned. That’s the reputation that precedes Bongzilla headed into Weedsconsin, their first album in 16 years. That’s the standard. And while the Madison, Wisconsin, trio of Michael “Muleboy” Makela (bass/vocals, formerly guitar/vocals), guitarist Jeff “Spanky” Schultz and drummer Michael John “Magma” Henry have no doubt been busy in the intervening years working as high-power lobbyists toward the ultimate goal of marijuana legalization on the federal level in the US — an argument they state efficiently if not clearly in Muleboy‘s rasp on “Free the Weed” — their return to more riff-led weedian proselytizing is notable on its own merits in addition to the influence the band has had largely in their absence on a generation of underground listeners and players who’ve come to prominence in the years since 2005’s Amerijuanican was issued through Relapse Records.
Weedsconsin finds the band aligned with Heavy Psych Sounds, and with production by the late John Hopkins, who passed away in Nov. 2020 following a heart attack, Bongzilla sound utterly unmistakable. Their closest sonic kin have always been Weedeater — they would seem to pay homage with a short interlude that opens side B called simply “The Weedeater” — but the six-song/43-minute run of this collection makes that North Carolinian outfit seem accessible by comparison. Of course, the album arrives some six years after Bongzilla returned to touring, so they’ve had plenty of time work work out material, but the truth is that in 95 percent of cases, the prospect of a new full-length from this band was going to be a no-doubter. What, Bongzilla were going to become math metal? Embrace their inner djent? They’re fucking Bongzilla. The biggest favor they might do their attendant listenership, new and old, is to sound like it, and that’s exactly what they do on Weedsconsin.
The album opens sharp and purposeful with “Sundae Driver.” It’s the shortest inclusion at about four and a half minutes, and it builds a massive wall of lumbering fuzz to set a high tonal standard for the rest of what follows. If the message is to reassure their audience that Bongzilla know what’s expected of them and are ready to deliver, the harsh-lung gutturalism of “Sundae Driver”‘s verse dispenses immediately with all doubt. Atop a chugging riff that opens into a rolling hook, Muleboy earns copious nodules in nothing-too-fancy lines that are made impressive through the excruciating-sounding execution. The great balance of Bongzilla has always been between the stoned and the brutal. “Sundae Driver” calls out both in deceptively clear fashion, and “Free the Weed” follows with a bigger central riff that holds its line out and lets Magma‘s hi-hat hold the procession together until the next round of lurch kicks in. It is pummeling and arguably the highlight of Weedsconsin for how its second half flows into its solo section with the bass and guitar taking their respective whims for a walk, but really, pick your poison. If it’s jams you’re looking for, the best is surely yet to come.
To wit, side A wraps with “Space Rock,” the first of two inclusions on Weedsconsin to top 10 minutes long. Time well spent. A first few minutes lull the listener into hypnotic nod before the full low end weight kicks in circa 2:30 and continues to cycle through until the big slowdown into the stoner softshoe riff about a minute later, all classic swagger as the bed for the verse, echoing and largely indecipherable. They pick up speed, subtly, but ultimately make their way back to the mellower movement and use that as the launch point for a jam that consumes the rest of the song leads the way out of side A, with the 35-second “The Weedeater” following its rumbling end with a slow drum beat, sample and maybe a keyboard of some sort or guitar playing some sparse notes. There’s a hard stop before the subsequent, 15-minute “Earth Bong/Smoked/Mags Bags” arrives, but the two pieces connect just the same, and the three stages of Weedsconsin‘s sprawling exercise in instrumentalist fuckall likewise flow into each other as they inevitably would.
There are tempo shifts throughout — and maybe the coughing 10 minutes in signals a turn to “Mags Bags,” which puts the bass more forward before oozing out its central riff, more stoner than sludge if it even matters by then — but Bongzilla were right to put all this stuff into a single track and just roll it out, because by the time the drums and whatever percussion is included finishes out, they’ve well established they can do whatever the hell they want anyway and still come out on the other end red-eyed but otherwise unscathed. Slow stick-clicks later and the six-minute “Gummies” wraps with more mostly-instrumental plodding — there’s voice there, but it’s buried deep — as the band cap their first album in more than a decade and a half by getting willfully lost in the fog of their own making and inviting their listenership to do largely the same. That’s not to say they’re not following a plan throughout Weedsconsin, but the plan sounds like it was to get high and wander off, letting one heavy riff after the next lead where they will.
If you can think of a more fitting showing for Bongzilla to make than to return with a six-track album and jam out for more than half its runtime, I’d love to hear about it. The fact of the matter is Bongzilla after a quarter-century since their inception know what they’re about, and Weedsconsin is Bongzilla being Bongzilla. I don’t know what various hyperbole has been tossed the album’s way, but its central achievement is that it is Bongzilla. If you know the band, you know what they do, and this is what they do. If you’re new to the band, then consider Weedsconsin your representative start as you head deeper into their catalog. It’s not that they’re not trying anything new here, but the overarching context is so much the band’s own that it is simply inescapable. And that’s the point. You would ask no less of Bongzilla. That’s their standard, and they meet it dead-on, without flinching.
Posted in Whathaveyou on February 3rd, 2021 by JJ Koczan
Well, the cover art certainly gets the point across, and I don’t think Bongzilla were likely to be accused of subtlety anyhow. April 20 — of course — is the release date for Weedsconsin, and preorders are up not through Heavy Psych Sounds. The opening track, “Sundae Driver,” was previously available as a live-room jam, and can now be streamed in its studio version, which somehow feels even crustier. Stoned stays stoned.
You’re not going to listen to “Sundae Driver” and think it’s some other band, let’s put it that way. I’m kind of curious to hear “The Weedeater,” since there’s a decent chance it’s about the band Weedeater, but even if not, whatever. I’ll take it either way. New Bongzilla. Riffs and such.
From the PR wire:
BONGZILLA release new single “Sundae Driver”; ‘Weedsconsin’ out 4/20 and available to preorder on Heavy Psych Sounds!
Midwest’s sludge behemoths and all-time weed metal pioneers BONGZILLA unleash their brand new single “Sundae Driver” exclusively on Decibel Magazine today! The song is taken from their forthcoming fifth album ‘Weedsconsin’, due out April 20th and available to preorder now through Heavy Psych Sounds.
Featuring a three-piece lineup of all original members—bassist/vocalist Muleboy, guitarist Spanky and drummer Magma— “Sundae Driver” delivers the kind of hazy, heavy-as-hell doom that BONGZILLA earned their reputation peddling. The riffs on “Sundae Driver” are low and slow, sounding like they originate in a smoke-filled room; paired with a flattening rhythm section, the instruments create the ideal backdrop for Muleboy’s throat-shredding, smoke-destroyed vocals.
On the fringe of chaos, in the Year of the Pandemic, the Cannabeast has awoken. World pioneers of Weed Metal BONGZILLA return with their new full-length album, sixteen years after their last record ‘Amerijuanican’. Over the span of ‘Weedsconsin’ six tracks, Bongzilla delivers heavy doses of crushing stoner doom and psychedelic space rock that sets it apart from earlier material.
This record travels down a path of heavy riffs, mind-expanding jams, sonic tones, and stomping beats in the band’s first release as a thunderous three piece, with Muleboy moving from guitar to bass. Approaching these songs as a three-piece has created more space musically and allowed the band to showcase their musicianship in a different way, resulting in a sound that is very heavy, along the lines of ‘Gateway’ tone-wise, but sonically clearer.
‘Weedsconsin’ was written by Muleboy (bass, vocals), Spanky (guitar), and Magma (drums) and recorded and mixed by the late John Hopkins at Future Apple Tree Studios in Rock Island, Illinois in October 2020. It was mastered by Carl Saff at Saff Mastering in Chicago, Illinois, with an artwork design by Eli Quinn. It will be released on April 20th, 2021 on various limited edition vinyls, black vinyl, CD and digital.
