Turtle Skull “Self Titled” Album Review + Stream…

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Turtle Skull

Turtle Skull – Digital Download // Band Shirt Bundles

Self Released – releases May 17, 2018

Terry “The Ancient One” Cuyler

Surfing the Psychedelic Sound Waves

 

 

Tracklist:
No News is Bad News – 6:56
Take it or Leave It – 8:27
Eden – 6:08
Empty Ships – 8:23

 

Ah…Spring has sprung. The trees are leafing and flowers blooming and I feel the urge to leave my cave behind and go bike riding. But to do that I need some good riding music and in my collection I have quite a bit to choose that covers a wide spectrum of styles.

Most recently I added a “Self Titled” EP by the self described Flower Doom  rockers from Sydney Australia called Turtle Skull who will be debuting the download of their EP on Bandcamp this May 17th 2018. Available for Pre – order now for $1 US I’d feel like I was ripping them off if I didn’t pay $5. Offering up what sounds to me like surf music infused with psychedelic feel good fuzz I find it easy to not care about trivial things when I listen to it. While I am not going to claim Turtle Skull is the next Earthless I feel pretty safe saying they have a lot of potential and I’d buy a full length album if they produce one.

Live Band Shot

Opening the EP is No News is Bad News a trippy fuzzadelic song about tuning out the talking heads on TV that encourage us to buy into their vision of a plastic paradise that we all to often buy into. What I like most about this are the droning vocals and guitars that feel like they are coming from the deep.

With a steady mid tempo rhythm that keeps things simple Take It Or Leave It has the rolling feel of a classic surf song. Overall, what I enjoyed was its catchy feel.

Nothing like having drums and guitars create a rhythm which Turtle Skull does masterfully.

Moving into a more visceral sound is Eden the 3rd track is my favorite on the EP. What I like most is that naughty guitar played by vocalist guitarist Dean.

Closing “Turtle Skull” is the psychedelic blues song Empty Ships that feels like a midnight swim under the stars. Deans smooth vocals and guitar along with Dan on synth set the mood for the song and proved to me they can do more than just sound more fuzzed. This debut album is an excellent start for this promising band.  I look forward to what they have in store for us in the near future.  Highly Recommend!!

Pro Band Pic

The Ugly Kings “Darkness Is My Home” Review + Stream…

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The Ugly Kings

Darkness Is My Home – CD // DD // Vinyl

Kozmik Artifactz – released April 13, 2018

Reviewed by Zachary “+Norway+” Turner

 

Lineup:
Russel Clark (Vocals)
Christos Athanasias (Guitar)
Nicolas Dumont (Bass)
Andy Alkemade (Drums)

 

Tracklist:
Promised Land     04:53
Black Widow        03:53
Raging Bull           03:21
Killing Time         04:31
Love Enemy         03:56
You & Me             03:58
Lazarus                 05:43
Little Birdy Told Me 04:10
The Fire                06:24

 

 

Review:

The Ugly Kings are a Rock band from Melbourne, Australia. I’ll let the band explain themselves further; “[we] offer a stripped down but powerful injection of energy and emotion to the modern rock scene [by] formulating what can only be described as ‘Power Blues’ [with] memorable beats, thunderous bass lines and an electrifying barrage of bluesy ‘grit’ riffs tied with raw and emotive vocals.”

Darkness Is My Home is the first full length album by the band. (The previous releases being a E.P. of sorts, Of Sins, and a single, Promised Land, which is the same as the version on this release but has a b-side that is not on this album.)

Overall the band’s sound is a mix of early Classic Rock and are heavily inspired by Blues Rock. The perfect descriptor tag for the album is Doom Blues with Rock flair. In a way this album sounds like you can chop up and mix it up and make different songs each time. At the same time I like that it sounds that it was recorded in one take in a converted garage to studio.

Track-by-track: (Briefly)

Promised Land: I found a quote from the band on the song; “‘Promised Land is about the false promises that are preached to us by the charlatans of our society (politicians, big business, etc…). It’s about the pipe dream they sell us to keep us in servitude to the 1%, to keep us slaves to the dollar and material things. There is nothing at the top of the ladder, except another ladder. The Promised Land isn’t the destination we get sold, it’s inside of us.”

The band also have a beautifully shot video for the track too.

 

 

Black Widow: This is the 2nd hardest rocking track on the album. There is a bunch of back and forth in the tempo. It is also what I imagine the cover art comes from. (That and for Love Enemy)

Raging Bull: This is the hardest rocking track on the album. The riffs on this song sounds so familiar and I can’t think of what it is from.

Killing Time: Watch the music video for this track HERE

Love Enemy: This is a slower and more blues filled track. They sit on the riff while Russell is delivering the vocals. This track also feels like it could be a 2nd part to Black Widow.

You & Me: This is where the title of the album comes from. This is another slow track.

Lazarus: This track is a cover of David Bowie’s Lazarus from his swan song album “Blackstar” and the band manage to make it their own while keeping the original close at hand.

Little Birdy Told Me: Kind of feels like Love Enemy.

The Fire: Is my favourite track from the album.

Pro Band Pic