While we usually try to stick to
reviewing recent releases, when Demonauta sent us this album for some
attention, we were pretty quickly convinced it would be worth sharing
with our audience. For one thing, the Chilean trio cranks out just
the sort of fuzzy and dirty desert grooves that we love here at RWTD;
for another, the album just got issued on CD by Tuneless Records,
with a vinyl release from Kozmik Artifactz slated for the
near-future. While the band's DIY original release might have
slipped under your radar, it's worth pricking up your ears for these
reissues, what with their panache for heavy, bluesy rock doom.
The band works well together,
delivering the punchy drum & guitar riffs with power while the
bassist lays down a steady foundation of tasty crunch. A lot of the
usual stoner rock sound is there, with some adept effects thrown on
the bass to give it a buzz-saw edge, but the guitarist balances out
the shreddier moments (which do rock hard) by kicking back every now
and then into a more stripped-down and bluesy mode. They've got a
nice range of vocals, with smoother approaches shifted into rougher
fare, and right back out again, without any of it coming across as
forced or beyond the singers' abilities.
What the band has put together is a
very solid album of heavy rock, tightly executed but with enough wild
spirit to bring the energy out in earnest. If you've got any
fondness for heavy/stoner/desert/doom/whatever rock (that should be
most everyone reading this site), give these guys your ears.
~ Gabriel
For Fans Of; Church
Of Misery, Powered Wig Machine, Megasus, The Heavy Co., Manthrass
From the UK, The Wicked Whispers brings that classic 60's Pop and Psychedelic Folk Rock sound to the modern day. Seeing as how they share a hometown with The Beatles, that was the first band that sprang to mind when their debut album started up, and not just for that little bit of trivia. The band's whole vibe screams "flower power". Gentle, melodic vocals being poured over that Psychedelic Folk Rock meets classic British Pop sound, and it sounds as good as it ever did back in the day. I dare say, these guys may of given everyone a run for their money if they had came out at the same time. After a few complete listens a couple of the songs really jumped out at me, the first was the album's single "Chronological Astronaut", which you can hear at the bottom of the page. The next to really grab my attention on that first complete listen was "I'd Follow You Anywhere". Opening up slowly and with the laughter of children (not kidding), after thirty seconds or so those golden, melodic vocals start on top of a soft guitar part, and some gentle drumming. After another minute or so the song picks up a little speed and the horns make their first appearance. As you move into the second half of the track you're greeted to a really understated Psychedelic guitar solo, it blends in with the mellow nature of the song perfectly, and pops up throughout the second half of the song. Luckily, Electone Records had the good taste to put this 1960's throwback album out on vinyl, along with issuing it on CD and as a download so everyone has an option, because if you're into the retro, poppy Psychedelic Rock, you're going to enjoy this one.
~Skip
For Fans Of; The Beatles, The Galileo 7, Baby Woodrose
Uno Dose
is the first release (classified as a “double EP”) from The Heavy
Co. since their LP Midwest Electric
last year; here, they offer up a mix of live performances and new
studio tracks. It's all done in their down-and-dirty acid rock
style, with blaring bass swirling against some sick fuzz and
distortion on the guitar. On top of the big noisy presence conjured
up by their pedals and production, they've got some blues roots
showing through in their slow and steady grooves, which are kept
trotting along by some firepower from the drummer's corner, even when
they dive into a deep well of feedback.
Among
all the other influences coming to life in their output, the band
even throws some subtle doom into the edges of their riffs and
chords, shaking it slow and low before ripping out into a mean and
lean bridge. Imagine golden-era Black Sabbath doing loose covers of
Led Zeppelin with a time-tumbled Gibby Haynes taking over vocals
while Ozzy recovers from his latest intake, and you're somewhere in
the vicinity of what this band delivers.
If
you're a fan of lush and loud stoner blues rock, be sure to give
these guys a listen. Cassette copies of the double EP are available
on the group's BandCamp page, though shipping is currently on hold
until they can get some stuff worked out; once that's cleared up,
they'll make it known through their Facebook page, so you'll have
plenty of time by then to scrounge up the $8 (or more, if you wanna
be nice to the band) to get a copy in your hands. Or, if you can do
digital, you've got less of an excuse for holding off. Personally,
I'm hoping some sharp label will work out an arrangement with THC to
get all of their releases out on vinyl, but until then, this tape will be doing regular duty in my car.
Qualeaceans' new album has been four
years in the making, and the end result is a thoroughly impressive,
complex, and ambitious arrangement of metal overdrive with a prog
approach to crafting the rhythms, counter-point, and hundreds of
intricate micro-shifts which make up the hour-plus single track, “In
The Cavern Of The Flightless”. Let's go ahead and acknowledge from
the start that going for a track which fills a CD to capacity is a
risky move at best; it asks some real devotion from the listener, for
one thing, and too many bad or boring passages can sink the whole
ship.
On the latter issue, at least, the band
has nothing to worry about with Capture Of Ziz.
Prog metal fans are generally pretty patient and willing to see
where a band's going with something not immediately obvious in its
intentions, and Qualeaceans return a strong pay-off on that
investment. They have an amazingly fluid quality to their music,
evident in the rippling echo of the drummer's cymbals, the sinuous
guitar-work, their ability to jump from one time signature cleanly
into another (or a few simultaneously), and the song's structure,
which moves about like a snake that can't stop shedding its skin. The bass is frequently the only 'concrete' part of the melody,
keeping a powerful riff going on the mix's low end (sometimes slowly
mutating as it goes along) as everything else around it flies into
controlled chaos.
Settling
on a vocal style to accompany this sort of wild song-writing couldn't
have been an easy task, and fittingly, the singer switches through a
number of styles to fit the music, though they're usually centered
somewhere around a traditional metal growl. They're also not a
constant feature, which seems like a smart choice to keep from
tearing his throat apart trying to match some of the more blistering
passages. Also worth noting is the strong production work, which
adjusts acoustics and polish to fit the changing flavors of the album
to good effect.
Altogether,
I have to say I'm thoroughly impressed by the band's work. The time
they put into making their epic track really comes through in the
final product, as the whole thing has a sense of immensity to
it. Trying to imagine the cavern of the title based on the music
brings to mind images of something like a termite hive the size of
the Grand Canyon, with inhabitants of a size to match. It's
dizzyingly big, almost overwhelmingly dense with activity, and just
plain powerful. The band has expressed interest in a physical
release, so kick some money their way for a digital copy to make that
happen... if you can handle it.
~
Gabriel
For
Fans Of; Abstracter,
Asilo, Gnaw Their Tongues, White Darkness, Behold... The Arctopus
Even though this Belgian four piece have already offered up a few releases, including an EP and some split albums including the one our buddy Gabe reviewed with Vertigo last year. OMSQ have come roaring back to grace our blog with their first full length, entitled "Thrust/Parry", and it's a solid Atmospheric Sludge album from start to finish. The music seems to wander around in the soundscape that they create, sometimes treading the line between music and harmonic noise in the process. More often than not though, it's the tried and true formula of Sludge and Doom Metal with crushing, tar-like riffs and monstrous, hammering drums that pulverize the senses, or the slightly trippy and always groovy sounds of Space Rock that seeps into the album's pores like large doses of LSD. During the moments in between, and the haunting atmospheric passages, the noise and Post-Metal influences show through, mostly towards the end of the album, with the band creating a sound that could of materialized from the depths of the universe, the death rattle of some interstellar deity. The album undoubtedly has a little something for everyone in the crowd. Of the twelve tracks that make up "Thrust/Parry", my favorite would have to be "North Sea", with a seven and a half minute run time it takes one many shapes and forms over the duration, but it's all perfectly executed and feels completely seamless when you listen to it. Opening up with a soft and melodic guitar part, it continues on that path for a while, with the other instruments eventually falling into place as the track picks up steam. Even with being an instrumental band, some of the tracks have spoken word samples, including this one. And after one of those samples, around the three minute mark, the whole thing falls apart and a bruising Doom Metal inspired section comes marching along, only to be out done when the intensity kicks up yet again just before the six minute mark, leaving the song on a definite high point. With the album being a free download at bandcamp you can't lose by picking it up, but the band also has some limited run vinyl and CDs for you fine people to check out.
~Skip
If you've heard Wayne Rudell's name before, it's most likely been in connection with the heavy fuzz tones of Powered Wig Machine. But that's not all he has to offer your ears, as he recentlyformed a new group to handle all the surplus fuzz rock ideas buzzing around in his brain. Fuzz Evil just released a split 7" with CHIEFS, and we were able to ask Wayne a few questions about the band's past, present,and future.
Ride With The Devil: How did
Fuzz Evil come together?
Wayne Rudell: Fuzz Evil came
together in the summer of 2013. We'd just come off a short mini-tour
with Powered Wig Machine and were taking a break for a few months. I
started writing all this material that didn't really fit with PWM, and I
was jamming a lot of The Stooges' Raw Power, a bunch of fuzz
rock, and tons of psych. Musically, the songs were a nice 'reset'
for me.
The name came from my brother Joey.
When I have time, I love collecting and building fuzz pedals. I'd
just finished making my first commercial pedal, the Doom Treader.
Haha, I guess our Dewey Cox moment came after we fired it up when
Joey said,"Man, that Fuzz is Evil," and Fuzz Evil was born.
(RWTD note: You can find a video for
the Doom Treader at the end of the interview.)
RWTD: Who all's in the band, and
what are their musical backgrounds like?
Wayne: The band consists of my
brother Joey on bass and backing vocals, our long-time friend Marlin
Tuttle on drums, and myself on lead guitar/lead vocals.
With Fuzz Evil we have an interesting
mix of bands contributing to our sound. We love the 'dirtiness' of
The Stooges and MC5. Fuzz! Fuzz! Fuzz!
Fu Manchu and Electric Wizard have
always been some of my favorites for guitar tone. We all love our
psych. A lot of the great current stoner/psych like Black Pussy,
Mothership, Dead Meadow, The Truckfighters, and of course Uncle Acid
and The Deadbeats have all had influence on us as musicians.
RWTD: Since you've mentioned
fuzz and dirtiness being the essential parts of Fuzz Evil (which the
name does a great job of communicating), how does the band work
towards achieving that sound? Are there some specific pedals or amps
which you feel help in making that happen?
Wayne: We get our sound by
mixing and matching various vintage gear. Being a three-piece, one
of the biggest challenges is to sound 'full.' We hand-picked
specific gear to give a very full live sound. I use the Boss FZ-2
and a Big Muff Tone Wicker slammed through a 1973 Sunn 190l going
into a full Marshall Stack.
Joey actually runs two separate bass
rigs. One for clean, one for fuzz. The Clean Rig is a Galleon
Gruger 1001rb running through a 8x10 Ampeg SVT. The Dirty Rig runs a
1970 Big Muff, Sans Amp, and a custom fuzz I built simultaneously
through a Sunn Concert bass into a 2x15 Cab.
We decided to go with acrylic drums for
how loud they are. Gear-wise Marlin uses a 1970 blue Ludwig
Vistalite kit Downtuned to get that warm low-end punch.
RWTD: And how do you usually
approach putting a Fuzz Evil song together?
Wayne: Song-writing is a very organic
process with us. It has to feel natural. We try and create a lot of
movement in the music. We love big hooks and it has to groove. Vocally, I tend to come up with melody first then place lyrics
against the melody once the song is finished.
RWTD: Has Fuzz Evil been doing
any live shows yet? If so, how does it compare to working in the
studio?
Wayne: We have done quite a few
shows this year, and we have really lucked out on the shows we've
played. Our first seven shows we played with the Truckfighters,
Crobot, Fu Manchu, Mothership, Black Pussy, Nik Turner's Hawkwind,
Witch Mountain, and Lord Dying.
We are definitely a live band, since we
tend to open things up a bit, playing extended parts and playing to
our crowd. The studio work is very clean and polished. We record
our music live so we can still get that organic feel. The studio
stuff is really Brian Gold, our sound engineer at Primose Studio in
Sierra Vista, AZ. He has a real love and ear for the genre, he's
meticulous, and his attention to detail is the best I have ever seen
or heard. I have no doubt that you will be hearing a lot of great
things coming out of his studio in the next few years.
RWTD: What are Fuzz Evil's
plans for the next few months?
Wayne: Our immediate plans are
to finish the New EP and try to get it out early 2015. I imagine we
will do a few mini- regional tours, work on a video, and possibly try
to play a few festivals.
RWTD: Anything else you'd like
to say to our readers?
Wayne: One thing is that if your
readers haven't already, they should check out Battleground Records. They are a
great new label and imprint based in the southwest US.
Fuzz Evil / CHIEFS - Glitterbones / Stone Bull (2014)
On the first side of this split, you
get the debut track from the trouble-making trio of Fuzz Evil, as
they make good on their name in the fuzzy morass of “Glitterbones”.
Sounding raw but rocking, they put a riff-centric spin on desert
rock, serving up something heavier than the usual fare tagged under
that genre. With some fat and warm tube sound to the guitar and
bass, solid head-pounding from the drums, and a vocalist who knows
the best times to go big and when to let the instruments take over,
“Glitterbones” is a strong entrance for the band from Arizona.
On the B-side (or, to be accurate to
the label on the record, the G-side), CHIEFS provide “Stone Bull”,
a slower and less cheerful track that's no less steeped in the sounds
of canyons and desert landscapes. The bass takes front and center
position here, with the guitar adding sharp jabs and strong
lead-lines over the deep-toned pulsations, while the vocalist's part
is faded really well into the deeper end of the mix.
Copies of the 7” are still available
from the bands' websites, so if you have a sweet tooth for desert
rock candy, you might want to move fast and grab one of these
grey-marbled slabs before they're all gone. While you're at it, keep
an ear out for any new stuff from these two; Fuzz Evil will soon be releasing an EP, while CHIEFS are in the
studios developing their debut LP. This is the place to introduce
yourself to both of them, so get to it!
~ Gabriel
For Fans Of; Dead Hand,
Powered Wig Machine, Sons Of Tonatiuh, Acid Elephant, Orchid
Hijo de la Tormenta's self-titled debut
album (following up on their 2012 EP) is my first exposure to the
group, and I have to say, I'm impressed with what I've heard. The
band has an unusual blend of sounds, bringing together fuzzy guitar
with a prog-like patience and approach to song construction, so while
they're fully capable of grinding out some dirty rock sounds for your
ears, they do so while keeping things unpredictable.
In the midst of their amazingly tuneful
heaviness, the drums do a lot to keep things from getting
over-saturated, with counter-point rhythms, inventive fills, and a
crisp sound to the drum-hits generating some defiant liveliness
beneath the down-tuned doom rock. Unpredictable twists on the band's
established sound come with each new track, whether it's cranking up
the speed for a wild ride of feedback, throwing in some new effects
to alter an instrument, or some other aspect altogether getting
turned on its head.
The album is well-served by the band's
willingness to twist their musical approach however they can to make
something interesting, and as a result, it's a great album as a
whole. Instead of just being a collection of songs, there's a real
sense of unity tying them all together, and leading from one into the
next. While not all of the songs make use of vocals, the changing
character of the songs still comes across as a natural development,
built around Hijo de la Tormenta's use of melody and mood. Top-notch
stuff, and well worth checking into, whatever your musical tastes may
be.
~ Gabriel
For Fans Of; Asilo, Rhino,
Necronomicon (Brazil), Salem's Pot, From Deep Space
The Phuss is a power trio from Texas that kick out raucous, feel good Garage Rock jams that are sure to keep you moving while they're on. Their latest release "On the Prowl" was released on Magnetic Eye Records earlier this month, and it is easily one of the best party albums I've heard all year, you know, if your party consists of a couple kegs, lots of smoke, and possibly a fight and/or structure fire. Which, by my standards, would be a damn good party. The catchy hooks makes sure each track gets stuck in your head, and the aggressive riffs and pounding drums make sure they stay there. There's really nothing fancy, no decoration or posturing, what you see is what you get with this album, and what you get is a flawless and melodic conglomeration of Garage, Stoner, and Punk Rock. It wasn't all that easy picking a favorite from the album's eight tracks, while the single "I Don't Feel Good" was my favorite initially, after a few more complete listens I started l leaning towards "Hammer and Nail". With it's rowdy atmosphere and supreme catchiness, it's a track that's hard to ignore. Aligning its self more towards the Garage and Stoner side of things than the other tracks, it cranks up with a torrent of sound that could easily be from Detroit circa. 1975, adding in some Punk influenced shouted vocals that kick in after just a few moments, and doesn't take long for the catchy vocals and grooving rhythms to infect you like a disease. After the halfway point, an extended little jam sequence, and some pretty gnarly vocal parts the tracks comes full circle, and gives you a double dose of infectious groove. You can get all of your fixes over on the Magnetic Eye Bancamp, with options for digital, CD, and vinyl.
~Skip
For Fans Of; Fu Manchu, MC5, Iggy Pop and the Stooges
Warehouse
seems to be the first release from le bomje (yes, all lower-case), a
crew from Kazakhstan who are fully capable of churning out some nasty
sludge, as they demonstrate here. The album consists of half an
hour's worth of low-tone madness packed into three long tracks, and
from the opening squeal of the notes in “Welder”, they establish
their style with clear and grimy intent.
The
music is free from vocals, allowing the reverb on the strings
and the big sound of the drums fill your speakers. It also lets the
songs flow easily from one track into the next, so that if you're not
being attentive, the change-over from “Welder” into “El
Tetragon” (or from there into “Submarine”) can slip right by
you, right up to the point at which they slam in their new main riff.
The
band deserves credit for taking the slow tempos, the near-drone
insistence of the bass, the absence of vocals, and the down-right
repellent sound of sludge at its most potent, and stitching it all
together into something compelling. If you're looking for something
with a tune that will end up stuck in your head so that you can hum
along, look elsewhere. What le bomje have poured into this album is
stuff that calls for its listeners to surrender to the heavy waves. If you can handle the weight, though, you'll find an impressively
confident and capable debut. While it's bad form to predict a band's
future, I can't really imagine this group turning out anything done by
half-measures, and with this big of a start, they're already well on
their way.
~
Gabriel
For
Fans Of; Major Kong, Sunn O))), Bongripper, Skullflower, Ladybird
On Set Fire To The Mountain,
Nightosaur bring the title of their album to life, producing songs
that would seem right at home played by a band of men with craggy
faces by the light of a mountain-top bonfire. They've got grit, a
good ear for riffs with the endurance to stick around for a while,
and enough of a rough edge to their sound to keep it earthy without
descending into lo-fi. In keeping with the days of early heavy
metal, there's something of a Lovecraft or rugged sci-fi vibe to the
songs, with titles such as “The Shocking Tale Of Wilson Pinnafore”
side-by-side with “Old Gods” and “Bow Down To Thy Destroyer”,
even as they stay rooted in slow bass grooves and interludes for
sparser mourning.
Really,
these guys just have a solid grip on what made early heavy metal so
enticing, before it started getting into the theatrical aspect. They
take some bluesy riffs, make it heavy, add some appropriately
powerful drumming, and see where it takes the music. They strike a
great balance between relaxed freedom and a definite plan with each
of their songs, and I have to imagine that leaving themselves such
room to improvise leads to some amazing live shows.
If
you're still carrying a torch for the early days of Black Sabbath and
Iron Butterfly's heavier moments, you'd be doing yourself a favor to
pick up Nightosaur's new album. The name may be silly, but you won't
be getting anything that's looking to capitalize on cheesier moments
of metal, just an earnest tribute to the genre in its original form.
~
Gabriel
For
Fans Of; Magic Circle, Saint Vitus, Bitchcraft, Valkyrie, English
Dogs
Our next group is a four piece Doom Metal act from Denmark. The Hyle, which from their description is pretty much "infinite non-existence" in layman's terms, and they definitely have a surreal "floating in the nothingness" vibe present in their music. In appropriate Doom Metal fashion everything is played low and slow right from the outset of the opener "Lucifero", with each track having an expansive sound to encompass all of the heaviness. While the demo is only two tracks and thirty minutes long, it is actually four songs, of which the third "Spiritual Sacrifice" is probably my favorite. Opening up with a long, ambient passage, it takes a moment for the song to build up to a pounding drum into, that once it gets rolling there's no stopping it. The bass falls in line right after, really lending to the low end rumble with a nice, rounded tone, and the guitar drops in just after that, with a slow and howling riff. About a minute in, the haunting vocals make their grand appearance on the song, offering a bewitching contrast to the low tuned heaviness that makes up the rest of it. At around the five and a half minute mark the guitar kicks into overdrive and lays down a screaming guitar solo that closes out the seven minute song on a high note. Once again, this is another very promising band with one hell of a initial offering for all of us Doom fanatics, and while the market has become very saturated here lately, real talent and potential will always stand out comparatively. You can pick up their demo as a "name your price" deal over at their bandcamp page, but is definitely worth throwing them a couple bucks.
~Skip
For Fans Of; Electric Wizard, Disenchanter, Pallbearer
La Fin Absolute Du Monde - Black Sheep: Remixed (2014)
Black Sheep: Remixed
is the lengthiest release yet from the duo of La Fin Absolute Du
Monde, who are in the process of an exhaustive tour in support of its
release. Making use of dark tonalities, guitar which just as capably
handles grimy or clean output, and sweet notes coaxed from
piano/keyboard to create a characteristically complex and
understatedly neurotic melding of each performer's personality, the
duo's first full-length lets you hear the sweat and pains they've
endured and invested in the creation of their music.
The
first half of the album features remixes done by outside allies, most
notably Justin K. Broadrick (of Godflesh and Jesu, and a dozen other
groups) and the band's recently-acquired production team of Social
Security, while the second half features songs from the band's back
catalog, updated and released on vinyl for the first time. Both
sides maintain the neo-noir flavoring for which the group named their
personal label, making use of sultry rhythms and slinky synth-lines
to establish a haunted sound which shies away from easy satisfaction. The vocals, provided by the keyboardist, insinuate themselves around
the feedback and percussion, shading them in with a sense of someone
waiting and meditating within the growing shadows just before trouble
breaks out.
Having
been lucky enough to catch one of their live performances in an
intimate venue, I feel obliged to call upon our readers to recognize
the efforts of La Fin Absolute Du Monde. It may fall a little
outside our usual circle of coverage, but the low tones and heavy
vibes you usually expect to hear in our recommendations can just as
easily be drawn from the grooves of this new record. Some genuine
passion went into the crafting of this music, and while they're not
in it for the money, having some makes it a lot easier to continue
making music. So head over to their BandCamp, pick yourself up a
digital or vinyl copy (the latter version is limited to 250 copies),
maybe one of their fine T-shirts (suitable for scaring the squares), and then dig into the depths of La Fin Absolute Du
Monde's distinctive sound. And if they come through your region, be sure to catch their show for a one-of-a-kind experience.
~
Gabriel
For
Fans Of; Sunwølf, Factrix, Jesu, Diamanda Galás, Ulver
On their debut EP, Lightsucker offer up
four songs in the style of hot-boiling sludge. Kicking off with the
bash-heavy “Vermin”, the Finnish quartet rides hard and fast on a
blazing assault of drums and gritty bass. After making their initial
attack, they slow down a bit, going for a long-haul riff and a more
traditional doom sound on the following track, “Claustrophobia”,
which draws to a close with a nice howl on the strings. “Misfit”
follows, as both the EP's longest track and its most desert rock
styled, blending some nimble riffs with a big amp sound and some
expansive bass cooking underneath the rest, though the vocalist keeps
his rough sludge style intact. Lastly, “Age Of Decadence” brings
the aggression of the first track back into play, letting the drummer
pound out some fast thrash to break things open and hold them
together while the others jump into turbo mode.
It's a strong first release, with the
band showing how they can capably handle a range of styles and bring
them together in interesting ways. They've certainly got the energy
to make some high-speed and high-quality sludge happen, though
personally, I was happiest when they'd slow it down to a tarry doom
slog. Whichever way they develop, this crew will do Finland's heavy
music scene proud.
~ Gabriel
For Fans Of; Funeral
Horse, Halo Of Flies, EyeHateGod, Open Tomb, Fister
The debut EP from Seattle's Rat King is
a quick but effective 3-song affair, one in which the trio neatly
establishes their personal approach to instrumental metal. They have
an interesting style, one which is difficult to pin down; there's
plenty of heavy crunch, but also an unabashed technical proficiency,
and the two are brought together smoothly even as the band keeps
stretching to incorporate new things. While they do keep their
release lean and mean, the trio also finds the time to dip into some
quick atmospheric touches, along with some inspired and tricky
break-downs.
For a first release, the band deserves
to feel proud of what they've accomplished. Everything hits just the
right level of cleanliness for tone and grit, the drums are punchy
without being over-blown, and the guitar and bass come together in
some remarkably creative ways without losing their hard groove
connection. Even so, the band sounds like it still has plenty of
room to grow, and it will be worth keeping an ear on this crew to
find out how they develop from here. But until their next release
arrives, you'd do well to nab yourself a copy of 1564 from the
group's BandCamp page
~ Gabriel
For Fans Of; Indukti,
Ulver, Kalamata, Domadora, Celophys
This latest five piece from California goes by the moniker Buzzmutt, and while some band names are outrageous or just leave you scratching your head a little bit, this one seems strangely appropriate, not that I could tell you why, exactly. It could have something to do with the mellow junkyard dog demeanor of some tracks, or maybe the fact that some songs are kind of buzzy in spots, some may see this as a result of shoddy equipment or bad production, but maybe it just lends to the overall atmosphere, a little perfect imperfection in a world of over-polished sounds. It's hard to pin down there sound in all honesty, the best description I could come up is if you water boarded a Noise Rock band with buckets of LSD until they try to become a Psychedelic Rock group, you'd be getting close to the sound that Buzzmutt makes. My immediate favorite of the six tracks is "Machine Death Squad", opening up with a Psych riff for the ages, and a punchy drum tone that resounds throughout pretty much the whole three and a half minutes of music. Once it gets rolling the mellow, reverb saturated vocals drop in after only about thirty seconds, and leave their mark on the track, with a trippy noise interlude just after halfway, this is probably one of the more "by the books" Psychedelic Rock songs, but every song on the release has that very same influence written all over it. You can pick up this album, along with their earlier release "Static in the Mind's Eye: Chapter One" for a "name your price" deal over at their bandcamp. ~Skip
For Fans Of; The Electric Mess, The Janitors, The Flaming Lips
It's a pretty good rule of thumb that it's hard to accurately gauge a bands true caliber by just a short EP alone... but fuck it, I'm gonna go out on a limb and do it anyway.
Dr. Colossus may just ruffle the feathers of a fair few stoner, doom and metal acts doing the rounds out there at the moment. Why? Well to begin with they're a two piece. Sure, not exactly a new concept by any stretch of the imagination. But when you consider the doom genre as a whole, you'll be hard pressed to recall all that many duos. So to sack off the additional guitarist and bass player and retain a truly immense and resonant sound is a feat in itself. Their other potentially painfully irritative features lie in their sheer talent. Not only are both in a number of other bands of assorted ilk, and guitarist/vocalist Jon currently half way through a world tour playing bass for Vance Joy but these guys seriously know how to craft one hell of a riff! With ease, they can join the ranks alongside the likes of AC/DC (yeah, I know they're mostly Brits, but we'll let em' have that), Wolfmother, The Vines and of course Men At Work, when it comes to harnessing that all-encompassing lick. But when all's said and done, the duo's real key is their ability when it comes to lyrical content. Many bands have slaved away for weeks, months even years trying to nail their lyrics and hone their subject matter. So there's no easy way to say this, but Dr. Colossus base all their tracks on Simpsons episodes. Yup. I shit you not. Now right now I'd bet my bollocks to a barn dance theres a number of you reading this that have just turned your nose up solely because of that announcement. But please, PLEASE think twice. You honestly will not be disappointed with what this pair can do with this EP's mere 15 minute runtime. Besides, the real kicker here is that it took me a good few listens before the penny dropped. Going into them somewhat blind, having not checked out their Facebook page, it wasn't until I caught the lyric "I choo choo choose you" in the final track Son Of A Pig. Casually overlooking the blatant obviousness of the opening line of track two; "So I went to Shelbyville"... Doh! But lyrical content aside and taking into consideration the chap's unlikely sound within their other projects, Dr. Colossus genuinely produce some of the best stoner rock and doom I've ever heard. Opening track Mono could not be a better opening to any recording, and the fact that it's already racked up a total of 35 plays on my iTunes serves as testament to that. Slow, heavy and packed to the gunnels with groove, fuzz and reverb. What more do you need? But it doesn't live and die at that. As the EP progresses the pace varies. From your textbook down tuned doom chugging to whats pretty damn close to desert rock territory on track two, Because Of The War. The high octane changes of pace do absolutely nothing to throw these guys off their game though. Everything sounds effortless and tight. With the end product big, sporadic, dirty and relentlessly both fun and brutal all at the same time. For all intense and purpose Dr. Colossus are the Mark 'Chopper' Read's of stoner doom world, and fair dinkum, they should be bloody proud of that!
So there you have it in a nut shell - an Australian duo playing top notch stoner doom about individual Simpsons episodes. It's really this kind shit that makes it pretty much impossible to dislike the Aussies. Yeah, they're predominantly descended from thieves, murderers and rapists, and sure, many of them have a penchant for casual racism. But goddamn, when they hit the mark, they really hit the mark. So if you're in the market for something essentially lighthearted but under the guise of ferociously monolithic doom, look no further. I urge you to hit up their Bandcamp page and pick up this beauty of an EP. It's a scant $5, which is made even more appealing when you realise that thats Australian dollars! I'm not sure what that is in real money, but I'm pretty sure when converted that's like minus figures in every other currency. I have no idea what the current exchange rate is.
~ Jay
For Fans Of; Electric Wizard, Planet Of Zeus, Mountain Witch, Elder, Heavy Blanket
With roots firmly planted in the
psychedelic rock of the '60s, Denmark's dynamic Syreregn power things
up on their latest album, Skabt Vaerk Består. They play things big, with nearly all of the six songs breaking the
5-minute mark, with one, the stunningly-beautiful “Marana Tha”,
clocking in at more than 12 minutes of psychoactive sweetness. Groovy melodies are complemented by vocals that assert the swagger of
yesteryear's rock giants without letting themselves fall into the
dangerous waters of falsetto, and they know when to step it back so
that their skills on the instruments can shine on through without any
barriers.
While
the guitar and keyboard are the most prominently-featured parts of
the songs, kicking out jams with some slick style keeping them fluid,
the bassist and drummer keep right up with the higher-pitched parts,
providing a solid foundation for the group's full-bodied sound to
tune in and blow up. The band has a great handle on the blues which
so overtly influenced the early psychedelic groups, though they're
unafraid to let loose with some wonderfully wild solos and
seat-of-their-pants tempo escalation. If you have a taste for those
early days of the genre, before it got into contests over who could
fill the biggest venue, then Syreregn will gladly provide you with a
big helping of psychedelic rock that's simply energized by getting to
play their music and experiment with it as they please. The album
received a limited vinyl release from the excellent folks over at
Kozmik Artifactz and Bilocation Records at the start of this month,
so if you haven't already acquired a copy for your listening
pleasure, do yourself a favor and hustle on over before they're all
sold out. And if you're lucky enough to reside in Denmark, for
heaven's sake, keep your eyes peeled for chances to let this group
melt your mind with a live performance!
~
Gabriel
For
Fans Of; Cream, Blue Cheer, 13th
Floor Elevators, Ten Years After, Santana
With a name like “Grindhouse”, this band was everything I was hoping it to be.
Straightforward, cheaply indulgent, yet still well-crafted and catchy, Sleeping At The Peeps digests much like a slice of greasy, decadent rock-n-roll gluttony. I couldn’t wait to tear through this teeth-rotting treat when I saw the obnoxious Christmas-colored album art. Chock-full of beer bellies, Pabst, and cowboy hats, and raunchy in all the right ways, I found every song to entertaining as the cover.
I am especially a fan of albums that move seamlessly from song to song, and much like a good book, Sleeping At The Peeps subjugates the senses in such a way that you almost forget you are listening to eight separate tunes. Don’t mistake this for a boring, singular sound, however. Although this band labels themselves as garage rock, their music subtly glides in and out of various styles; but remains even-keeled. “Dapto Dazzler” kicks off the album with energetic guitar riffs, and raucous, tube-y vocals. “Wild Sex And Machine Guns” has more of a rockabilly vibe, while “If You Say So” errs on the side of straight-forward punk, and “High On The Side Of The Road” slows it down a bit, alluding to a classic blues rock kind of feel. The album wraps on a high note with “Mutha Fuckin Punk Rock Power,” ensuring that you will hit 'replay' to keep the stamina of the album going just a bit more.
~ Allie
For Fans Of; The Vines, Turbo Negro, The Hives, Ramones, The Strokes
These four Canadians had me pretty much sold on their release the moment it opened up, sampling Rob Zombie's "Devil's Rejects", and more over the scene they chose that includes Otis Driftwood and his famous line, a favorite of mine. It does perfectly set the tone for the remainder of the songs, with visceral energy and brutalizing Metal starting up as soon as the clip is finished. Mostly of the Sludge variety, but it's clear that they pull influences from Black Metal and Doom Metal all the way down to Hardcore. As much as I enjoyed all four tracks on "Devil's Work", the second song "Midnight Creatures" really caught my attention, opening with a soft riff amidst a storm of feedback that hastily gets louder until the unadulterated groove drops in hard, and you've witnessed the beginnings of a Sludge Metal track that savagely attacks the listener's brain like a hot dose, between the snarled, guttural vocal performance, getting beat down by the drum rhythms, and hammering guitar and bass riffs, it's not hard to see how it could leave even a strong minded person drooling and slightly catatonic. With around a minute left the song takes a sudden left turn, and it's almost like a whole new song starts, with a pummeling groove, like the stride of some gargantuan beast as he walks across the landscape. This is an outstanding effort for a first release from a relatively young group, who I think have plenty of cool stuff up their collective sleeves. They're practically giving this away on their bandcamp with a "name your price" deal, so go give them a listen and decide for yourself.
~Skip
For Fans Of; Crowbar, Bongzilla, In the Company of Serpents
T.K. Bollinger & That Sinking Feeling - A Catalogue Of Woe (2014)
A Catalogue Of Woe
comes to us courtesy of Australia's doom blues underground, featuring
a stripped-down but effective arrangement of guitar, drums, bass, and
the guitarist's vocals. Sounding weary but willing to endure more
troubles, the trio does right by the blues, while at the same time
sounding as baked by the sun as non-Australians usually imagine the
country to be.
Unlike
the small-room acoustics of typical delta blues, That Sinking Feeling
gives their instruments a little touch of echo, giving the album a
sense of bigger things going on in the background while keeping the
songs' stories focused on the person going through them. It works
well, allowing them to keep the melodies grounded in simple,
slow-moving musical pleasures without losing energy or momentum, and
they flow smoothly from one song into the next while relishing each
for what it is.
There's
not much in the way of bloat on the album, so things move along at a
steady clip, taking just as much time as called for by the songs and
their moods. The music targets an itch not many bands try to
scratch, so if you've been looking for more doom-soaked blues to add
to your collection, turn your ears to Australia and let That Sinking
Feeling fill them.
~
Gabriel
For
Fans Of; Danzig, Deadboy & The Elephantmen, Jak Locke, Blue In
The Face, Occultation
On their first EP, the band called
Canopy storms through four tracks of instrumental metal. For some of
it, they're aggressively fast and sludgy, while other moments find
them slowing down to funeral doom tempos and atmospherics. In
between, the band fluidly mixes a number of other styles, turning in
a very respectable job of experimentation grounded in heaviness.
In addition to shifting musical styles,
the band gets a good amount of mileage out of adjusting the tone of
the stringed instruments, and from making use of some interesting
production work to really give things an expansive sound. The drums
rumble clearly, the guitar sounds like it would have the power to
knock crowds back from the amps at a live show, and to tell it
simply, things just sound big. All of the pieces come together for a very
strong debut release, so keep your ears out for more as this crew
gets things rolling.
~ Gabriel
For Fans Of; Weedeater,
Celophys, Brimstone Coven, Wolf Blood, Albino Rhino
This dynamic duo of Germans that signed to the always cool Riding Easy Records just last year are ready unleash their latest album, "Imaginary Horses", on the world and it is some of the finest straight up Blues Rock I've came across in quite some time. From the very opening minute long track of the album you get the feeling it's something unique in its own right. Maybe it's just the acoustics in that old garage/studio that they rebuild and customize motorcycles in, it could always be some of the improvised instruments they use, whatever it is, I'm a fan. The second track is what could be considered the single I suppose, "Your Kisses Burn Like Fire", opening with a slow and bellowing drum part, it doesn't take long for the powerful and weathered vocal performance to start, along with the drums picking up steam, and before long you have a howling riff dropping in to really gets things rolling. While the singing starts off pretty low and mellow, after a while they really get put out there, with the chorus being bellowed at the top of his lungs in between bits of harmonizing, but always keeping the balance between mellow and shouted vocals in the track. And with all of the tracks being fairly short, nothing being over five minutes, they're all as straightforward as possible, no artsy soundscape passages or long bouts of random noise, it's all head on Blues Rock from start to finish. Then with other tracks like "The Rabbit and The Wolf", and "These Bridges I Must Burn", you're not in short supply of Blues Rock jams that really swing, but with all of your traditional Blues trappings. These two guys always seem handy with a catchy riff and drum beat, with a hook, vocal performance, and creative harmonizing to match, it will be a challenge for each song not to get stuck in your head for days on end. Since today is the street date for the album, you should be able to get all of your physical format needs met over at the Riding Easy Records Store, and if all you need is a digital tracks, you can pick up all thirteen tracks for just eight bucks from the iTunes store.
~Skip
For Fans Of; Dax Riggs, Jackson Firebird, Kamchatka
With a name like Heathen Bastard, the listener would expect some heavy, gnarly metal, regardless of what sort it is, and anything less would be false advertising. Luckily for all of us, this is some heavy, gnarly, bludgeoning Sludge Metal, the kind that makes you want to drink copious amounts of hard liquor and possibly start a fight for absolutely no reason. Sharing a drummer with the Stoner Metal band Thieving Coyote, both bands like the groove, but that's where most of the similarities end. Laying down a monster drum part, the sort that pierces ear drums with each hit and pulverizes minds into fine powder with the overbearing bass riffs, put that with the crunchy, thick guitar riffs and snarled vocals emanating from each track, and you have the official recipe for Sludge. While it is hard to pick a favorite from the five tracks that grace their self-titled release, if I had to give one song the crown, it'd probably be "Buzzard in the Tree". Opening with some feedback and a couple of cymbal crashes it takes almost no time for a plodding bass riff to come hurling down from above and lay waste to the landscape on impact, like some asteroid. With the guitar riff marching along the same path, the vocal performance starts out snarled and guttural, then proceeds to stay that way while the ground shaking music gives way to short interludes of feedback and noise in true EyeHateGod fashion. The track never stays down for long though, and comes right back to continue its slow, brutal death march, all the way to the end. With the price tag of only a few bucks on Bandcamp, that's your only way to their music really, but streaming is always free, and these guys are definitely worth a spin, out of morbid curiosity if nothing else.
~Skip
For Fans Of; Bongzilla, EyeHateGod, Electric Wizard
Close The Hatch - To Collapse In Absentia :Green (2014)
Following up on 2013's To Collapse
In Absentia:RED, Close The
Hatch have shifted on to another shade for their recent release in
the key of green. Making use of both growling and melodic death
metal vocals over some technical guitar crunch and intricate
drum-work, the music on this five-song EP almost seems to experience
bouts of manic-depressive mood swings, flying from high-energy
riffing into slow melancholia with little advance warning. The
melodic parts stand a bit stronger than the more aggressive sections,
with the stripped-down sound forcing attention and calling on the
band to squeeze as much emotion out of sparsely-strummed strings as
they can manage.
The
band does seem to push itself throughout the EP, and while it doesn't
always land firmly, their willingness to step outside the usual
conventions does them credit. If you're partial to harsh and melodic
metal coming together, give this band a shot and see how it treats
you.
~
Gabriel
For
Fans Of; Black Freighter, Integrity, Light Bearer, Woods Of Ypres,
Telepathy
