Before Show

Did some driving around in the afternoon. Adam took me up and out of town into the mountains where the views were insane. I’m an idiot for that kind of stuff. It was jawdropping. Back east, all of our mountains are water-weathered. Here it’s wind erosion, and younger plate-tectonics, and it’s a totally different thing. All of a sudden there’s just a billion-year-old layer of rock jutting up out of the ground, and it’s a novelty for me, so yeah, I dug the ride.

Side note: listened to most of the last Queens of the Stone Age record on the way back, and didn’t hate it.

Tonight’s show is the Ripple Music showcase. Five bands — Kaiser, Wolftooth, Freedom Hawk, The Devil and the Almighty Blues headlining, and Paralyzed closing the night — all of whom, of course, are signed to the label. Like last night, it’s majority haven’t-seen-before for me, as I’ve yet to catch Kaiser, Wolftooth or Paralyzed, but I’ll tell you that knowing what’s coming from both Freedom Hawk and The Devil and the Almighty Blues does not lessen my anticipation for their sets. It’s gonna be a good night.

I was pretty done by the time The Quill were yesterday, and part of that I think was because I played it dumb on food. Today will be better, and by that I mean I brought a protein bar to the venue so I’ll have something to consume beyond calm-the-fuck-down-why-are-you-terrified-of-everything weed gummies, gum, and the free water that is so graciously available with little paper cones and everything at either side of the bar at The Usual Place. Will it make all the difference? I guess we’ll see when Paralyzed are finished how I feel about the prospect of sorting photos before bed. I am less tired than I was yesterday. O, that fresh mountain air.

I was in time for The Devil and the Almighty Blues’ soundcheck — I love a soundcheck lately — and thusly was gifted prescience of groove to come, which naturally I appreciated. A quiet tension in the room, then loud volume. More water in paper cones. Heck yes, thank you.

Follows here the night, as it happened from wherever I was standing, be it figuratively or literally. Or sitting, if we want to be honest. The caveats on typos (I’ll fix them sometime in the next however-many years; I fixed one from 2011 today) and flexible tenses apply. Time is weird when you’re thinking of a thing after it’s happened while it’s still happening. That processing in the moment. Anyway, onward:

Kaiser

One of my most anticipated bands of the fest, and I don’t think I was alone. They pulled an early crowd that knew what it was coming for, and delivered with vigor and tone, launching a groove that may indeed roll through the rest of the evening. Their soundcheck had also been killer, but they hit it harder in the set, as one would, and they put them over the top in my mind. Fest auteur John Gist had them out here in the Beforetimes, but I’m not that cool so wasn’t here for that, though it felt pretty cool to be here for this anyway. “Is Vegas awake?” We are now, man. They came all the way from Finland just to put boot to ass. Volume and force, and I guess I haven’t seen live video of them yet because they had more energy than I was knew was coming, which I’m not complaining about, but the nod was also elephantine, so the fact that they were making it move and moving with it made them all the more infectious, before you get to the good time they seemed to be having and the songs being right on. Not hard to see why John would bring them back, or how they would end up on Ripple. It’s by being really good, in case that wasn’t clear.

Wolftooth

Signed to Ripple for last Fall’s Wizard’s Light, Indiana’s Wolftooth brought together heavy tones with metallic precision and spot on vocal melody; that thread from last night for sure continues this evening, and it was all the more enjoyable to watch Wolftooth unite decades of rock and metal for it. “Valhalla” was a highlight, and some of the newer songs had me kicking myself for having not yet reviewed the album, but more than my punk rock guilt, what Wolftooth’s set underscored was the band’s utter mastery of their approach. And part of why I persist in thinking of them as a metal band is because their execution is so precise and their sound so crafted and hammered out feeling. Also the gallop. Also Iron Maiden. The guitar and bass tones were warmer live, but they don’t strike as a band who are leaving things to chance onstage or off. They hit it like pros, with chemistry and dynamic, soaring vocals and thrust to match. It’s debatable whether they’ll be the fastest band of the weekend — you’d have to sit down and take bpm averages against The Atomic Bitchwax, amd I have neither the technology nor time — but they’ve got the songs to change it up, as “Wizard’s Light” did, and the room was accordingly swept into it.

Freedom Hawk

The Virginian contingent never disappoint. I don’t know how many times I’ve seen Freedom Hawk over the years, but let’s have fun and call it “several-plus,” and they’ve never not satisfied. Consistent, and they made sense coming off of Wolftooth, since they also have a penchant for classic metal, though the balance is different. But that’s part of what Planet Desert Rock Weekend does so well, is bring together a lineup that is more than an assemblage of cool names or whoever has a new record out (nothing against that, mind you) but that has a narrative to the flow created from band to band, elements that tie together and/or distinguish, like Freedom Hawk. How’re you gonna come up against “Blood Red Sky?” “Solid Gold?” “Indian Summer?” Why would you? I didn’t know this but it’s their 20th anniversary this year and I think month, which is wild to conceive, but fair enough. Like Wolftooth, they knew what the fuckles they were doing, and while they sounded bigger than I’ve ever heard them coming through The Usual Place’s P.A., and it suited them well. I have probably said this before, but Freedom Hawk is a band you could watch any night of the week and they’ll make your day better. They tore it up for Friday night at Planet Desert Rock Weekend VI, and I was right during Kaiser; groove is the thread for the night. Somebody farted just as they were starting “Indian Summer.” Real life, folks. Stay tuned for more gritty reportage.

The Devil and the Almighty Blues

What to do when the band’s soundcheck was already a high point of the night? Well, you stick around for the set, dumbass. Pretty easy answer, actually. And The Devil and the Almighty Blues were very much the answer. Truth be told, I was already looking forward to this when I saw them last summer at Freak Valley in Germany (review here). That was a considerably larger space than this one, with the Rockpalast cameras going and such, and this is the most intimate setting for me yet. That they would take ownership of the stage wasn’t in question, as the Norwegian five-piece have done that every time I’ve seen them (this is my fourth; no, that doesn’t make me cool, but it has made me a fan), but I was curious how some of the moodier moments would go over with a crowd that’s been partying for the four hours prior. Turns out a party where sometimes you feel feelings is still a party. I’m pleased to report they did just fine, but which I mean the set was incredible, thanks. Like Freedom Hawk, they had volume on their side, and their tones, so classy and warm, lost none of their heart for it. Vocalist Arnt O. Andersen managed to find — or maybe he brought one from an extensive wardrobe thereof — a robe in which to cloak himself, and with rare charisma, he held down center stage while the band recast the history of heavy blues in their image. It felt like they were doing the genre favors. Very much a headliner set. I expected no less, got more than I expected.

Paralyzed

German rockers Paralyzed were supposed to open the show according to the original plan for the evening, but they wound up closing owing to a canceled flight or somesuch. The point is they made it, and people were glad to see them setting up gear. Classic rock carried over from The Devil and the Almighty Blues like Freedom Hawk carried over metal from Wolftooth, like Kaiser setting a high bar early and everyone holding up their end of the bargain while each doing something of their own. My first time seeing Paralyzed, but I had high hopes nonetheless. Their records have always had such an aspect of performance to them, but of course persona comes through bigger live. They had the classic rock, but they also had blues, and they were still their own thing. That’s what I’m talking about. The whole night has a flow from one to the next, and sometimes it’s blatant and sometimes you have to squint a little but it’s always there. I think about Paralyzed if they had started the night as intended — Kaiser would’ve inherited ‘brash’ — and it would’ve flowed differently, but the way it’s ended up, with Paralyzed using travel frustration as fuel, capping the show with a current of energy that would’ve certainly worked at the start of the night, makes a whole lot of sense too. So I suppose what I’m trying to tell you is I’m lucky to be in this room, to spend my time the way I do — here and at home — and it feels really good to know that while my head is being blasted out by Paralyzed’s next hard boogie strut. Thanks John Gist.

After Show

Man, night two went down smooth. From Kaiser on, not a dud set in the bunch. Paralyzed making it at the end was the perfect finish. A welcome reminder that sometimes things work out. God damn I needed this trip.

Can I tell you I thought I’d hate that Queens record? It was hyper-produced, as it would have to be, but I wasn’t mad about it. The one before was so forgettable. I’ll have to give it a real shot, which I guess means close a week with it at some point.

I stayed till the end tonight too. The crowd thins out — reasonable; it’s late and I don’t know the average age in the room, but would guess conservatively it’s north of 30 — but the bands still bring it. If these were full-day events, no way would I be able to hang out until 1AM. As it is here, it’s doable. It works.

Night two, just about everybody who’s gonna know each other does, and folks are way friendly. I’m pretty sure I’m the biggest asshole in the photo pit.

And speaking of, I could probably do it tonight, but I’m still leaving photo sorting for the morning. Good night. Thanks for reading.

More pics after the jump.

Read more »

It was like two weeks ago that The Knights of Doom 2026 — the inaugural edition of a two-dayer put on by JB Matson and the crew from Maryland Doom Fest, which ended its decade-plus run in 2025 — announced the first names for its lineup. The full bill has been revealed since, and if you’re getting mini-MDDF vibes off the list of names, many of whom are veterans of past years, I don’t think that’s unfair, but there are some newcomers as well. And if you do some quick division on 35 bands over two days, you know that’s 17.5 per day — actually it’s 16 on June 20 and 19 on June 21; yes I had to count — so those days are probably going to start early, go late, and be jam-packed in a spirit that should be familiar to anyone who hit MDDF during its time.

You can see how this might go, right? Folks show up for the family reunion — and MDDF was very, very much that; a more loyal crew would be hard to find on the Eastern Seaboard if you even deigned to look — and bands get added. This year is two days. It’s got room to grow, and I don’t know if it will — on some level, these folks have been-there-done-that in terms of building a festival culture and vibe, let alone managing four days’ worth of logistics with 50-plus bands shuffling about — but this will be the starting point one way or the other. It can only happen first once, and with love and respect for many in that family from a little ways north, I hope it goes off without a hitch.

The announcements were made on social media:

💀KNIGHTS OF DOOM ‘26 final band dump / rosters / complete lineup!!!

Early bird discounted ticket link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/mddf-knights-of-doom-early-bird-discounted-tickets-tickets-1980654877055

Lets go!!!!!!

June 20:

Wolftooth, Vanishing Kids, Foghound, Crop, Moonsinger, Uga Buga, Clamfight, Sun Voyager, Locust Pointe, End of Age, Thunderbird Divine, Black Manta, Bog Wizard, Faith in Jane, Black Night, Tommy Stewart’s Dyerwulf

June 21:

Lie Heavy, Borracho, Stone Nomads, Curse the Son, Bloodshot, Stormtoker, Hovel, Mourn the Light, Thunder Horse, Kulvera, Born of Plagues, Dreadstar, Professor Emeritus, Strange Highways, Gravedigger’s Biscuits, Grave Next Door, Double Planet, Bleak Shore, Burn the Martyr

2 Days of Nonstop Music
More Than 20 Bands

www.marylanddoomfest.com
https://www.instagram.com/marylanddoomfest
https://www.facebook.com/MdDoomFest/

Wolftooth, Wizard’s Light (2025)

Last time around, when Bask and Kind were added to the bill, word was that was the final update from Planet Desert Rock Weekend VI set for the end of next month, but you know how these things go. Change is the order of the universe and all that. Bone Church are out and Wolftooth are in. So it goes. Wolftooth‘s new album, Wizard’s Light, streams at the bottom of this post.

The Indiana riff-metallers will take part in the Friday lineup at PDRW, playing alongside imports like The Devil and the Almighty Blues, Kaiser and Paralyzed, as well as Virginia stalwarts Freedom Hawk, as the centerpiece slot in a five-band Ripple Music showcase. You can see the full lineup as it stands in the poster below. It both totally speaks for itself and begs much nerding out about who’s making the trip, from Spaceslug and The Quill to Throttlerod and Kind. I’m stoked Familiars will be there, and Isaak and Saturna along with others I’ve never seen and surefire hits like The Atomic Bitchwax, Dirty Streets and High Desert Queen. It’s a hell of a bill, hand-picked and assembled for four killer nights in Las Vegas.

I’ve been looking forward to this since before it was announced, and I know I’m not alone. Here’s the latest from the PR wire:

Planet Desert Rock Weekend VI – Wolftooth

Well, we thought all the dust had settled, but we have a shift in the lineup for Planet Desert Rock Weekend VI. We are excited to announce that Wolftooth out of Indiana will be joining us in Vegas! This killer stoner metal band recently released their 4th album “Wizard’s Light” and landed #3 on the November Doom Charts. Ripple band Wolftooth will be playing on Night 2 (Friday) as part of the Ripple Music Showcase.

In a lineup that is very rock centric this year, Wolftooth brings some metal to the party. With influences coming from early Sword and more melodic side of metal, they deliver a hard two guitar punch every show. Had the good fortune to catch them years ago at The Spider Ballroom down in Austin and they crushed. This will be their 1st trip out west and will be just playing Planet Desert Rock Weekend while out here. Sadly, Bone Church had to cancel due to some internal band challenges. We were really looking forward to having them.

Planet Desert Rock Weekend VI in Vegas is shaping to be the most anticipated one yet as presales show we have fans coming from 6 countries (not including USA) and 31 states. The lineup features bands from 9 countries and really shows the strength in the heavy underground scene worldwide. Rock is NOT DEAD. We hope to play a small part in helping get the word out about all the amazing bands that create music that many more will love once discovered!

All sets are in the evening so fans can enjoy lots of the cool stuff in Las Vegas like museums (Punk Rock, Mob Museum, Haunted Museum, Atomic Museum + more), hiking in parks, sightseeing, gaming, cannabis lounges, shows and much more during the day. Our temps have usually been in the 50s – 60s. Each night is specially curated and will have premium sound in a comfortable indoor venue that is located at the lower end of Fremont Street. We can’t wait to see so many familiar faces back….. they have been part of the inspiration behind why Planet Desert Rock Weekend has continued to grow. We will have 4- 5 shirt designs and 5 posters all done by the amazing Joey Rudell (Fuzz Evil)! We can’t thank him enough! See you soon everyone!

Cheers,
John Gist

The lineup for the Friday January 30th- Ripple Showcase is:
The Devil & the Almighty Blues (Norway)
Freedom Hawk (Va Beach)
Wolftooth (Indiana)
Kaiser (Finland)
Paralyzed (Germany)

Ticket Link for that evening –>> https://www.eventbrite.com/e/planet-desert-rock-weekend-vi-night-2-january-30-2026-tickets-1975920885559

Ticket Link for PDRW VI –>> https://www.eventbrite.com/e/planet-desert-rock-weekend-vi-in-las-vegas-jan-29-feb1-2026-tickets-1254021715709

https://www.facebook.com/VRRProductions/
https://www.facebook.com/vegasrockrevolution/

Wolftooth, Wizard’s Light (2025)

Planet Desert Rock Weekend VI Preview Playlist

It was during the time of plague that Indiana-based epic heavy rockers Wolftooth were picked up by Napalm — I went back and looked it up. The band had already by then put out their second album, Valhalla (review here), through a consortium that included Ripple Music, Ice Fall Records and Cursed Tongue Records, and it was a feelgood story. Band made a killer album and got snagged by an imprint that’s a significant player in the European metal underground. The potential for crossover appeal was plain to hear in Wolftooth‘s sound.

But, you know, sometimes with a bigger label, it’s hard for a band to break through. Napalm doesn’t generally prioritize US acts, and their interest in underground heavy rock has been intermittent at best. They had an imprint for it once but that evaporated quickly. Alunah, Glowsun, The Graviators, Wolftooth, even Orange Goblin. So far as I know, Napalm is still home to My Sleeping Karma, Monkey3, Ahab, Candlemass and Frayle, so they’re not without their underground representation, but they’ve shed a few key acts in recent years, among them Conan, that would seem to indicate they’re looking in different directions.

So be it. Ripple Music stands among the foremost US labels for heavy rock and roll, and given their past experience with Wolftooth, it seems like the kind of place where the band can have a home and work on their own terms toward a follow-up to 2021’s Blood & Iron (review here), which according to Ripple, they’ll release this coming Fall. How about that.

The signing announcement on social media was short and sweet in the vein of such things. It looked like this, only the text was less blue:

Been holding onto this news for awhile. After a few years with Napalm Records. Wolftooth is back with the Ripple family!! New album, their best yet, coming this fall.

Please, welcome them back home!!

https://wolftooth.bandcamp.com/
https://www.instagram.com/wolftooth_metal/
https://www.facebook.com/wolftoothmetal/

Wolftooth, “100,000 Years” (KISS Cover)

Whatever you might ultimately think of KISS — whether you remember the first time you heard “Detroit Rock City” and it changed your life forever or you’ve been put off by the unbridled moneygrabs of their decades spent merchandising instead of creating and/or turned off by periodic clueless statements about how rock is dead rooted in their own declining ticket sales; or, you know, maybe a bit of both — there’s no denying they’re an institution in heavy rock and roll and hot damn, could they write a hook. Many hooks, in fact. Enough that they’re still celebrating them half a century after the fact and one can’t really argue.

Maybe the 50th anniversary of KISS is something you’re celebrating in your household and maybe not — for what it’s worth, I think their impact has been both positive and negative, like most things — it certainly seems fair enough that Indiana’s Wolftooth are marking the occasion. The song of course comes from KISS‘ self-titled debut, released on Feb. 18, 1974, and while staying true to the original structure and don’t-need-nothing-fancy-when-you-have-songs sensibility of the band who first made it, Wolftooth‘s treatment recalls the heavy they brought to 2021’s unafraid-to-go-big Blood & Iron (review here), which was released through Napalm Records, and if the cover tune is a stopgap on the way to the four-piece’s next LP, you’re not about to hear me argue the point. Dudes are rockin’ it.

Their announcement was quick, to the point, and unlike this post, right in time for Bandcamp Friday. Here it is:

Today we celebrate 50 yrs of one of the most iconic bands in rock history. This song was so much fun to do and we are truly honored to have had the chance to pay tribute the only way we know how! ⚔️(#128058#)⚔️

If you would like to purchase the song available for download at our bandcamp and streaming on all services.

https://www.facebook.com/wolftoothmetal/
https://www.instagram.com/wolftooth_metal/
https://wolftooth.bandcamp.com/

Wolftooth, “100,000 Years” (KISS Cover)

Okay. Day Three. The halfway point. Or the quarter point if you count the week to come in January. Which I don’t. Feeling dug in. Ready to roll. Today’s a busy day, stylistically speaking, and there’s two wolf bands in there too. Better get moving.

Quarterly Review #21-30:

Duel, In Carne Persona

Duel seem to be on a mission with In Carne Persona to remind all in their path that rock and roll is supposed to be dangerous. Their fourth album and the follow-up to 2019’s Valley of Shadows (review here) finds the Austin four-piece in a between place on songs like “Children of the Fire” (premiered here) and “Anchor” and the especially charged gang-shout-chorus “Bite Back,” proffering memorable songwriting while edging from boogie to shove, rock to metal. They’ve never sounded more dynamic than on the organ-inclusive “Behind the Sound” or the tense finale “Blood on the Claw,” and cuts like “The Veil” and the particularly gritty “Dead Eyes” affirm their in-a-dark-place songwriting prowess. They’re not uneven in their approach. They’re sure of it. They turn songs on either side of four minutes long into anthems, and they seem to be completely at home in their sound. They’re not as ‘big’ as they should be by rights of their work, but Duel serve their reminder well and pack nine killer tunes into 38 minutes. Only a fool would ask more.

Duel on Facebook

Heavy Psych Sounds website

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Mastiff, Leave Me the Ashes of the Earth

Fading in like the advent of something wicked this way coming until “The Hiss” explodes into “Fail,” Hull exports Mastiff tap chug from early ’00s metalcore en route to various forms of extreme bludgeonry, whether that’s blackened push in “Beige Sabbath,” grind in “Midnight Creeper” or the slow skin-crawling riffage that follows in “Futile.” This blender runs at multiple speeds, slices, dices, pummels and purees, reminding here of Blood Has Been Shed, there of Napalm Death, on “Endless” of Aborted. Any way you go, it is a bleak cacophony to be discovered, purposefully tectonic in its weight and intense in its conveyed violence. Barely topping half an hour, Leave Me the Ashes of the Earth knows precisely the fury it manifests, and the scariest thing about it is the thought that the band are in even the vaguest amount of control of all this chaos, as even the devolution-to-blowout in “Lung Rust” seems to have intent behind it. They should play this in art galleries.

Mastiff on Facebook

MNRK Heavy website

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Wolftooth, Blood & Iron

Melody and a flair for the grandeur of classic NWOBHM-style metal take prominence on Wolftooth‘s Blood & Iron, the follow-up to the Indiana-based four-piece’s 2020 outing, Valhalla (review here), third album overall and first for Napalm Records. As regards trajectory, one is reminded of the manner in which Sweden’s Grand Magus donned the mantle of epic metal, but Wolftooth aren’t completely to that point yet. Riffs still very much lead the battle’s charge — pointedly so, as regards the album’s far-back-drums mix — with consuming solos as complement to the vocals’ tales of fantastical journeys, kings, swords and so on. The test of this kind of metal should ALWAYS be whether or not you’d scribble their logo on the front of your notebook after listening to the record on your shitty Walkman headphones, and yes, Wolftooth earn that honor among their other spoils of the fight, and Blood & Iron winds up the kind of tape you’d feel cool telling your friends about in that certain bygone age.

Wolftooth on Facebook

Napalm Records on Bandcamp

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Illudium, Ash of the Womb

Another argument to chase down every release Prophecy Productions puts out arrives in the form of Illudium‘s second long-player, Ash of the Womb, the NorCal project spearheaded by Shantel Amundson vibing with emotional and tonal heft in kind on an immersive mourning-for-everything six tracks/47 minutes. Gorgeous, sad and heavy in kind “Aster” opens and unfolds into the fingers-sliding-on-strings of “Sempervirens,” which gallops furiously for a moment in its second half like a fever dream before passing to wistfully strummed minimalism, which is a pattern that holds in “Soma Sema” and “Atopa” as well, as Amundson brings volatility without notice, songs exploding and receding, madness and fury and then gone again in a sort of purposeful bipolar onslaught. Following “Madrigal,” the closing “Where Death and Dreams Do Manifest” finds an evenness of tempo and approach, not quite veering into heavygaze, but gloriously pulling together the various strands laid out across the songs prior, providing a fitting end to the story told in sound and lyric.

Illudium on Facebook

Prophecy Productions store

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Ascia, Volume 1

Ascia takes its name from the Italian word for ‘axe,’ and as a solo-project from Fabrizio Monni, also of Black Capricorn, the 20-minute demo Volume 1 lives up to its implied threat. Launched with the instrumental riff-workout “At the Gates of Ishtar,” the five-tracker introduces Monni‘s vocals on the subsequent “Blood Axes,” and is all the more reminiscent of earliest High on Fire for the approach he takes, drums marauding behind a galloping verse that nonetheless finds an overarching groove. “Duhl Qarnayn” follows in straight-ahead fashion while “The Great Iskandar” settles some in tempo and opens up melodically in its second half, the vocals taking on an almost chanting quality, before switching back to finish with more thud and plunder ahead of the finale “Up the Irons,” which brings two-plus minutes of cathartic speed and demo-blast that I’d like to think was the first song Monni put together for the band if only for its metal-loving-metal charm. I don’t know that it is or isn’t, but it’s a welcome cap to this deceptively varied initial public offering.

Ascia on Bandcamp

Black Capricorn on Facebook

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Stone From the Sky, Songs From the Deepwater

France’s Stone From the Sky, as a band named after a Neurosis singularized song might, dig into heavy post-rock aplenty on Songs From the Deepwater, their fourth full-length, and they meet floating tones with stretches of more densely-hefted groove like the Pelican-style nod of “Karoshi.” Still, however satisfying the ensuing back and forth is, some of their most effective moments are in the ambient stretches, as on “The Annapurna Healer” or even the patient opening of “Godspeed” at the record’s outset, which draws the listener in across its first three minutes before unveiling its full breadth. Likewise, “City/Angst” surges and recedes and surges again, but it’s in the contemplative moments that it’s most immersive, though I won’t take away from the appeal of the impact either. The winding “49.3 Nuances de Fuzz” precedes the subdued/vocalized closer “Talweg,” which departs in form while staying consistent in atmosphere, which proves paramount to the proceedings as a whole.

Stone From the Sky on Facebook

More Fuzz Records on Bandcamp

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The Brackish, Atlas Day

Whenever you’re ready to get weird, The Brackish will meet you there. The Bristol troupe’s fourth album, Atlas Day brings six songs and 38 minutes of ungrandiose artsy exploration, veering into dreamtone noodling on “Dust Off Reaper” only after hinting in that direction on the jazzier “Pretty Ugly” previous. Sure, there’s moments of crunch, like the garage-grunge in the second half of “Pam’s Chalice” or the almost-motorik thrust that tops opener “Deliverance,” but The Brackish aren’t looking to pay homage to genre or post-thisorthat so much as to seemingly shut down their brains and see where the songs lead them. That’s a quiet but not still pastoralia on “Leftbank” and a more skronky shuffle-jazz on “Mr. Universe,” and one suspects that, if there were more songs on Atlas Day, they too would go just about wherever the hell they wanted. Not without its self-indulgent aspects by its very nature, Atlas Day succeeds by inviting the audience along its intentionally meandering course. Something something “not all who wander” something something.

The Brackish on Facebook

Halfmeltedbrain Records on Bandcamp

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Wolfnaut, III

Formerly known as Wolfgang, Elverum, Norway’s Wolfnaut offer sharp, crisp modern heavy rock with the Karl Daniel Lidén mixed/mastered III, the three-piece of guitarist/vocalist Kjetil Sæter (also percussion), bassist Tor Erik Hagen and drummer Ronny “Ronster” Kristiansen readily tapping Motörhead swagger in “Raise the Dead” after establishing a clarity of structure and a penchant for chorus largesse that reminds of Norse countrymen Spidergawd on “Swing Ride” and the Scorpions-tinged “Feed Your Dragon.” They are weighted in tone but emerge clean through the slower “Race to the Bottom” and “Gesell Kid.” I’m going to presume that “Taste My Brew” is about making one’s own beer — please don’t tell me otherwise — and with the push of “Catching Thunder” ahead of the eight-minute, willfully spacious “Wolfnaut” at the end, the trio’s heavy rock traditionalism is given an edge of reach to coincide with its vitality and electrified delivery of the songs.

Wolfnaut on Facebook

Wolfnaut on Bandcamp

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Trillion Ton Beryllium Ships, Rosalee EP

Having released their debut full-length, TTBS, earlier in 2021 as their first outing, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Lincoln, Nebraska’s Trillion Ton Beryllium Ships still seem to be getting their feet under them in terms of sound and who they are as a band, but as the 34-minute-long Rosalee EP demonstrates, in terms of tone and general approach, they know what they’re looking for. After the thud and “whoa-oh” of “Core Fragment,” “Destroyer Heart” pushes a little more into aggression in its back end riffs and drumming, and the chugging, lurching motion of “URTH Anachoic” brings a fullness of distortion that the two prior songs seemed just to be hinting toward. It’s worth noting that the 16-minute title-track, which closes, is instrumental, and it may be that the band are more comfortable operating in that manner for the time being, but if there’s a confidence issue, no doubt it can be worked out on stage (circumstances permitting) or in further studio work. That is, it’s not actually a problem, even at this formative stage of the project. Quick turnaround for this second collection, but definitely welcome.

Trillion Ton Beryllium Ships on Facebook

Trillion Ton Beryllium Ships on Bandcamp

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Closet Disco Queen, Stadium Rock for Punk Bums

Their persistently irreverent spirit notwithstanding, Closet Disco Queen — at some point in the process, ever — take their work pretty seriously. That is to say, they’re not nearly as much of a goof as they’d have you believe, and on the quickie 16-minute Stadium Rock for Punk Bums, the Swiss two-piece-plus, their open creative sensibility results in surprisingly filled-out tracks that aren’t quite stadium, aren’t quite punk, definitely rock, and would probably alienate the bum crowd not willing to put the effort into actively engaging them. So the title (which, I know, is a reference to another release; calm down) may or may not fit, but from “Michel-Jacques Sonne” onward, bring switched-on heavy that’s not so much experimentalist in the fuck-around-and-find-out definition as ready to follow its own ideas to fruition, whether that’s the rush of “Pascal à la Plage” or the barely-there drone of “Lalalalala Reverb,” which immediately follows and gives way to the building-despite-itself finisher “Le Soucieux Toucan.” If these guys aren’t careful they’re gonna have to start taking themselves seriously. …Nah.

Closet Disco Queen on Facebook

Hummus Records website

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It’s good to see you again, Desertfest London. The 2022 lineup of the esteemed British edition of Desertfest brings some returning presences who were to have been at the 2020 edition, then the 2021 — both of course gone the way of corona. But we see Electric Wizard, Shellac and Witchcraft in headlining spots, while Corrosion of Conformity will bring their delayed 25th anniversary of Deliverance to Camden Town, and returning kingpins Orange Goblin will play, along with YOB, Truckfighters, Earthless, My Sleeping Karma, Mos Generator, Conan, The Obsessed, the reunited Josiah, Lowrider come for a Refractions victory lap well earned, along with Elephant Tree, Elder, Steak, Deathrite and a ton from the UK’s own ever-blossoming underground scene — Blind Monarch, The Brothers Keg, King Witch, the more established Alunah and Trippy Wicked, and so on and so many.

Note Slomosa. Note Wolftooth. I would expect both to be touring Europe around this time. Green Lung too, for that matter.

There’s no way this isn’t going to be one to remember and it is my sincere hope to be there for it. Maybe I’ll see you there. Maybe we can hug.

Kudos and thanks to the Desertscene crew — Sarika, Jake and Reece — on and for a job well done.

Here’s looking forward:

DESERTFEST LONDON ANNOUNCE FULL LINE-UP FOR 2022 ·

A DECADE IN THE DESERT
CELEBRATING TEN YEARS WITH THE BIGGEST & MOST DIVERSE LINEUP YET

EXCLUSIVE UK PERFORMANCES FROM
WITCHCRAFT
(FIRST UK SHOW IN OVER A DECADE)
and
SHELLAC

As the home for all the things truly heavy, leading independent UK festival Desertfest have announced their full line up for 2022, which will take place in Camden, London from Friday 29th April – Sunday 1st May.

Celebrating their tenth year, next year’s festival promises to be their biggest and most diverse yet. Covering six venues across the heart of Camden and now including a full line up at The Roundhouse on both Saturday 30thApril and Sunday 1st May.

Founding owner of Desertfest Reece Tee comments, “Desertfest is 10 years old! I’m so proud that our independent festival has stood the test of time. What we have created is special, a decade of great bands, great friends and amazing memories. This year’s line up is a true reflection of how diverse Desertfest has become and with such a loyal audience, Desertfest can champion the underground for decades more to come.”

Headlining the Friday will be Swedish heavy rock masters Witchcraft, with a UK exclusive performance and their first UK show in over a decade.
Saturday’s headliners are none other than Chicago’s Shellac, who in another UK exclusive will be bringing their experimental post-hardcore sound to the Roundhouse. Fronted by the iconic Steve Albini, Shellac are one of those bands we all need to experience live, at least once. Whilst closing the festival on Sunday will be UK doom legends Electric Wizard, whose heavy sound encompasses the spirit of Desertfest.

Other acts confirmed include the likes of Corrosion Of Conformity, Orange Goblin and Truckfighters who all played the festival in its debut year in 2012 and there are further UK exclusive performances from hardcore-punks Integrity and the Ukrainian psych space rock trio Somali Yacht Club.

The festival will also see desert legends Brant Bjork and Nick Oliveri’s new band Stoner, who will be playing the Electric Ballroom and doomed heavy metallers Khemmis making their UK debut at The Underworld.

Please see below for the full Desertfest 2022 line up / stage splits.
Tickets are on sale now and are available at www.desertfest.co.uk

NEW TICKETS FOR 2022
Weekend Ticket (all venues) – £132 +fees
Friday Day Ticket (all venues) – £45 +fees
Saturday Day Ticket (all venues) – £50 +fees
Sunday Day Ticket (all venues) – £50 +fees
Saturday Roundhouse only – £35 +fees
Existing ticket holders from 2020’s postponed event have a number of options as the festival is now larger, with an added Roundhouse line-up on Saturday 30th April & Sunday 1st May.

EXISTING WEEKEND + DAY TICKET HOLDERS OPTIONS
Full refund
Weekend roll-over to 2022 without Roundhouse upgrade (access only to Electric Ballroom, Underworld, Black Heart & The Dev)
Weekend roll-over to 2022 with Roundhouse upgrade – £15 +fees
Day ticket holders can upgrade to a full weekend ticket – £92 + fees – or will be issued a refund. Upgrade options only available until May 7th ’21.
For any ticketing enquiries please contact sarika@desertscene.co.uk

Desertfest 2022’s artwork is hand drawn by legendary artist Arik Roper who has created illustrations for the likes of Sleep, Earth, Sunn O))), High on Fire, Kvelertak, Windhand and many more. As always, posters and other merch will be available to buy at the festival.

https://www.facebook.com/events/464163361105416/
http://www.desertscene.co.uk/support
https://www.facebook.com/DesertfestLondon
https://www.instagram.com/desertfest_london/
https://twitter.com/DesertFest
https://www.desertfest.co.uk/

Electric Wizard, Live at Desertfest London 2016

Day III of the Inexplicably Roman Numeralized Winter 2020 Quarterly Review, commence! I may never go back to actual numbers, you should know. There’s something very validating about doing Day I, Day II, Day III — and tomorrow I get to add a V for Day IV! Stoked on that, let me tell you.

You have to make your own entertainment these days, lest your brain melt like wax and drip from your nostrils.

Plurp.

Quarterly Review #21-30:

Fuzz, III

Plenty of heavy rockers can come across sounding fresh. Most of the time all it takes is being young. In the case of III, the third long-player from Fuzz — Charles Moothart, Ty Segall and Chad Ubovich — they sound like they just invented it. Dig the hard-Bowie of “Time Collapse” or the made-for-the-stage opener “Returning,” or the surf-cacophony of “Mirror.” Or hell, any of it. The combination of this band and producer Steve Albini — aka the guy you go to when you want your album to sound like your live show — is correct. That’s all you can say about it. From the ’70s snarl in “Nothing People” to the triumphant melody in the second half of “Blind to Vines” and the back and forth between gritty roll and fragile prog of “End Returning,” it’s an energy that simply won’t be denied. If Fuzz wanted to go ahead and do three or four more albums with Albini at the helm in the next five years, that’d be just fine.

In the Red Records on Facebook

In the Red Records on Bandcamp

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Crippled Black Phoenix, Ellengæst

The narrative (blessings and peace upon it) goes that when after lineup shifts left Crippled Black Phoenix without any singers, founder Justin Greaves (ex-Iron Monkey, Earthtone9, Electric Wizard, etc.) decided to call old mates. Look. I don’t care how it happened, but Ellengæst, which is the likewise-brilliant follow-up to the band’s widely-lauded 2018 outing, Great Escape, leads off with Anathema‘s Vincent Cavanagh singing lead on “House of Fools,” and, well, there’s your new lead singer. Anathema‘s on hiatus and a more natural fit would be hard to come by. Ryan Patterson (The National Acrobat, a dozen others), Gaahl (Gaahls Wyrd, ex-Gorgoroth), solo artist Suzie Stapleton and Jonathan Hultén (Tribulation) would also seem to audition — Patterson and Stapleton pair well on the heavy-Cure-style “Cry of Love” — and there are songs without any guests at all, but there’s a reason “House of Fools” starts the record. Make it happen, Crippled Black Phoenix. For the good of us all.

Crippled Black Phoenix on Facebook

Season of Mist website

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Bethmoora, Thresholds

Copenhagen’s Bethmoora served notice in a 2016 split with Dorre (review here) and their debut full-length, Thresholds hone destructive lumber across four low-toned tracks that begin with “And for Eternity They Will Devour His Flesh” and only get nastier from there. One imagines being in a room with this kind of rumbling, maddeningly repetitive, slow-motion-violence noise wash and being put into a flight-or-fight panic by it, deer in doomed headlights, and all that, but even on record, Bethmoora manage to cull, and when their songs explode in tempo, as the opener does late in its run, or “Painted Man” does, that spirit is maintained. Each side of the LP is two tracks, and all four are beastly, pile-driver-to-the-core-of-the-earth heavy. “Keeper”‘s wash of noise has willful-turnoff appeal all its own, but the empty space in the middle of “Lamentation” is where they go in for ultimate consumption. And yeah. Yeah.

Bethmoora on Facebook

Sludgelord Records on Bandcamp

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Khan, Monsoons

Khan‘s second album, Monsoons is a departure in form from 2018’s Vale, if not necessarily in substance. Heavy, psychedelic-infused post-rock is the order of business for the Melbourne trio either way, but as guitarist Josh Bills gives up playing synth and doing vocals to embark on an instrumental approach with bassist Mitchell Kerr (also KVLL) and drummer Beau Heffernan on this four-track/31-minute offering, the spirit is inescapably different. Probably easier to play live, if that’s a thing that might happen. Monsoons still has the benefit, however, of learning from the debut in terms of the dynamic among the three players, and Bills‘ guitar reaches for atmospheric float in “Orb” and attains it easily, as the midsection rhythm of the closing title-track nods at My Sleeping Karma and the back end of the prior “Harbinger” manages to shine and not sound like Earthless in the process, and quite simply, Khan make it work. The vocals/synth might be worth missing — and they may or may not be back — but to ignore the breadth Khan harness in little over half an hour would be a mistake.

Khan on Facebook

Khan on Bandcamp

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The Acid Guide Service, Denim Vipers

Jammy, psychedelic in parts, Sabbathian in “Peavey Marshall (and the Legendary Acoustic Sunn Band)” and good fun from the doomly rollout of 11-minute opener and longest cut (immediate points) “In the Cemetery” onward, the second full-length from Idaho’s The Acid Guide Service, Denim Vipers, brings considerable rumble and nod, but these guys don’t want to hurt nobody. They’ve come here to chew bubblegum and follow the riff, and they’re all out of bubblegum. Comprised on average of longer songs than 2017’s debut, Vol. 11 (review here), the four-tracker gives the trio room to branch out their sound a bit, highlighting the bass in the long middle stretch of the title-track while the subsequent “Electro-Galactic Discharge” puts its guitar solo front and center before sludge-rocking into oblivion, letting “Peavey Marshall (and the Legendary Acoustic Sunn Band)” pick up from there, which is as fine a place as any to begin a gallop to the end. Genre-based shenanigans ensue. One would hope for no less.

The Acid Guide Service on Facebook

The Acid Guide Service on Bandcamp

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Vexing Hex, Haunt

Based in Illinois, Vexing Hex make their debut on Wise Blood Records with Haunt, and yes, playing catchy, semi-doomed, organ-laced cult rock with creative and melodic vocal arrangements, you’re going to inevitably run into some Ghost comparisons. The newcomer three-piece are distinguished by a harder edge to their impact, a theremin on “Planet Horror” and a rawer production sensibility, and that serves them well in “Build Your Wall” and the buildup of “Living Room,” both of which play off the fun-with-dogma mood cast by “Revenant” following the intro “Hymn” at the outset of Haunt. Not quite as progressive as, say, Old Man Wizard, there’s nonetheless some melodic similarity happening as bell sounds ensue on “Rise From Your Grave,” the title of which which may or may not be purposefully cribbed from the Sega Genesis classic Altered Beast. There’s a big part of me that hopes it is, and if Vexing Hex are writing songs about retro videogames, they sound ready to embark on a Castlevania concept album.

Vexing Hex on Facebook

Wise Blood Records on Bandcamp

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KVLL, Death//Sacrifice

Proffering grueling deathsludge as though it were going out of style — it isn’t — the Melbourne duo KVLL is comprised of bassist/vocalist/guitarist Mitchell Kerr (also Khan) and drummer Braydon Becher. It’s not without ambient stretches, as the centerpiece “Sacrifice” shows, but the primary impression KVLL‘s debut album, Death//Sacrifice makes is in the extremity of crash and heavy landing of “The Death of All That is Crushing” and “Slow Death,” such that by the time “Sacrifice” ‘mellows out,’ as it were, the listener is punchdrunk from what’s taken place on the prior two and a half songs. There’s little doubt that’s precisely KVLL‘s intention here, as the cavernous screams, mega-lurch and tense undercurrent are more than ably wielded. If “Sacrifice” is the moment at which Death//Sacrifice swaps out one theme for another, the subsequent “Blood to the Altar” and nine-minute closer “Beneath the Throne” hammer the point home, the latter with an abrasive noise-caked finale worthy of standard-bearers Primitive Man.

KVLL on Facebook

KVLL on Bandcamp

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Mugstar, GRAFT

Not that the initial droning wash of “Deep is the Air” or the off-blasted “Zeta Potential” and warp-drive freneticism in “Cato” don’t have their appeal — oh, they do — but when it comes to UK lords-o’-space Mugstar‘s latest holodeck-worthy full-length, GRAFT, it’s the mellow drift-jazz of the 12-minute “Ghost of a Ghost” that feels most like matter dematerialization to me. Side B’s “Low, Slow Horizon” answers back later on ahead of the motorik linear build in the finale “Star Cage,” but the 12-minute vibe-fest that is “Ghost of a Ghost” gives GRAFT a vastness to match its thrust, which becomes essential to the space-borne feel. It’s 41 minutes, still ripe for an LP, but the kind of album that has a genuine affect on mood and mindset, breaking down on a molecular level both and remolding them into something hopefully more evolved on some level through cosmic meditation. Fast or slow, up or down, in or out, it doesn’t ultimately matter. Nothing does. But there’s a moment in GRAFT where the one-skin-on-another thing becomes apparent and all the masks drop away. What’s left after that?

Mugstar on Facebook

Centripetal Force Records website

Cardinal Fuzz Records BigCartel store

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Wolftooth, Valhalla

Hooks abound in power-stoner fashion throughout Indiana four-piece Wolftooth‘s second album, Valhalla, which roughs up NWOBHM clarity in early-Ozzy fashion without going overboard to one side or the other, riffs winding and rhythms charging in a way not entirely unlike some of Freedom Hawk‘s more recent fare, but with a melodic reach of its own and a dynamism of purpose that comes through in the songwriting. Grand Magus‘ metallic traditionalism might be an influence on a song like “Fear for Eternity,” but “Crying of the Wolfs” has a more rocking swagger, and likewise post-intro opener “Possession.” With tightly constructed songs in the four-to-five-minute range, Valhalla never feels stretched out more than it wants to, but “Molon Labe” pushes the vocals deeper into the mix for a bigger, more atmospheric sound, and subtle shifts like that become effective in distinguishing the songs and making them all the more memorable. Recently signed to Napalm after working with Ripple, Ice Fall, Cursed Tongue and Blackseed, they seem to be poised to pay off the potential here and in their 2018 self-titled debut (review here). So be it.

Wolftooth on Facebook

Ripple Music on Bandcamp

Cursed Tongue Records BigCartel store

Ice Fall Records BigCartel store

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Starmonger, Revelations

Parisian riff-blaster trio Starmonger have been piecemealing tracks out for the last five years as a series of EPs titled Revelation, and the full-length debut, Revelations, brings these nine songs together for a 49-minute long-player that even in re-recorded versions of the earliest cuts like “Tell Me” and “Wanderer” show how far the band has come. It’s telling that those two close the record out while “Rise of the Fishlords” and “Léthé” from 2019’s Revelation IV open sides A and B, respectively, but older or newer, the band end up with a swath of stylistic ground covered from the more straightforward and uptempo kick of the elder tracks to the more progressive take of the newer, with plenty of ground in between. Uniting the various sides are strong performances and strong choruses, the latter of which would seem to be the thread that draws everything together. Whether or not it takes Starmonger half a decade to put out their next LP, one can hardly call their time misspent while listening to Revelations.

Starmonger on Facebook

Starmonger on Bandcamp

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