Line Up:
Jan Babiński – vocals
Konrad Ciesielski – drums
Piotr Danielewicz – guitars
Michał Banasik – guitars
Marcin Bąkowski – bass guitar
Michał Koziorowski – keys
Review:
Ring ring… Ring ring…
(Man on receiver) – Hi! You’ve reached Octopussy. How can we help you?
(Caller) Hi this is the late 60’s and early 70’s! Who am I speaking with? We want our sound back.
(Octopussy) – Well you certainly called the right people. Where should we start?
(60’s/70’s) – How about some funky, bass driven rock?
(Octopussy) – Can do
(60’s/70’s) – Hendrix inspired guitar work?
(Octopussy) – Check
(60’s/70’s) – Disco vocals?!?
(Octopussy) – uhhhh… let’s keep that to one track…
(60’s/70’s) – I was only kidding on that one.
(Octopussy) – Well too late. You’re getting it. It fits with the funk track anyway. We’ll stick to a more bluesy, psychedelic groove for the rest of the album. Maybe a splash of southern rock but not too much. Sound okay for ya?
(60’s/70’s) – So how about the vocals on the remaining tracks?
(Octopussy) – We’re going with a mix of smooth melodic, and raspy blues… plus some heavily distorted screams and speech.
(60’s/70’s) – Uhh.. screams?
(Octopussy) – Don’t worry about it. We’ll make sure it works within the context of the album.
(60’s/70’s) – In that case, we demand a ballad.
(Octopussy) – Sure. But it’s going to be trippy as fuck and really short.
(60’s/70’s) – I feel you don’t much like compromise.
Tracklist: Follow The Holy Riff 06:44
Hobo Magic 06:48
The Poet 04:32
The World Today 06:28
Frostbite 07:40
Lady Of The Groove 09:27
Review:
Hobo Magic are Stoner Rock band from Noosa, Australia.
But classifying them as just stoner wouldn’t give you a true description of what you are going to hear. The band use their influences of Black Sabbath, Blues, some Jazz rhythms and at some points even Metal.
Track-By-Track Breakdown:
This whole album is very similar and in the sonic universe of Sabbath’s Paranoid and Master of Reality era. As you listen along you will hear it too. They stay very much in the time period and sounds that can be produced in that time.
Follow The Holy Riff Which should be subtitled “Children of the Groove”, is a groovy tune. Most of the song is spent on keeping an almost sludgy repeating riff (which might be the holy riff) with breaks in between of a melodic reverbed guitar and great slow solo. The time scale shifts continually but they never sound like they are interrupting the flow of the jam.
Hobo Magic This song is less “intense” than the last. It starts of sludgy but slowly picks up pace and becomes faster. It isn’t a heavy but still has a repeating riff and it revs up and up until the ending much like the guitar began at the start of the song. After 1:50 the jamming starts now that the almost warm up sounding beginning.
The Poet The Poet starts off very strangely in contrast to the previous two songs; there is no distortion. This song is more of a melancholy tune, there is just a slow revered riff with slow and vocals that are a little distorted making the song feel cold.
The World Today The title track is a shift from the previous and is back to the norm that the first two tracks set us up for. It is also the most Sabbath sounding sound, the shouted high(er) pitched vocals, more of a jam song with little bits of vocals. Ask a simple question… About the world today. This track straight rips!!
Frostbite This song is more like the first one; the tempo/timescale change quite a bit, and is a repeated bit with subtle changes. It even has moments that sound close to The Poet. The vocals are processed in a similar way. The song is almost eight minutes and feels like it. Kind of slow, like frostbite.
Lady Of The Groove (Favorite) This song is a LOT like “Children of the Grave” (I’m pretty sure they meant it to as well.) The song also works as a way to remind and wrap up all the previous motifs that were in the past few songs. This is a great way to wrap up the album for just that reason.
In a way they are like a band named Magma. Hobo Magic are sticking to the mythos that they have created; all about the groove, the story of the lady finding and jamming to the groove, even their Facebook is curated in a way to complement the mythos just look at their About Us page.
Like I mentioned before, Hobo Magic are descendants from that 1970-1 period of Black Sabbath and they work really well in changing it into their own thing, different riffs, story, and singing. If you are a fan of Sabbath‘s 2nd and 3rd albums then you will definitely DIG this album.
Begin to Float (Intro) (4:44) 2. Sannraijz (9:58) 3. Sometimes Going Too Far is the Only Way To Go (7:13) 4. Sannraijz 2 (4:43) 5. We’re Only In it for the Spacerock (20:28) 6. Make Yourself Heard for the Sake of the World (10:47)
Review:
The Band:
First Band From Outer Space are a Aleatoric/Psychedelic/Space Rock band from Gotenborg, Sweden. Their label describes them as being “Swedish intergalactical starfighters on their eternal quest for infiltrating the human race with their alien psychic powers of enslaving the neanderthals by brainwashing [them] with the finest space rock ever done in Sweden!”
Album Art:
There are two variations of this cover. The one for the original release give you a better idea of what you are getting into once you get into the music. (Meaning it is more atmospheric) There is a person in a spacesuit on the right and there is a light coming from over their shoulder. The second cover is the one for the digital release it is black with a starfield and two light spots similar to CD, but instead of a astronaut there is a small module with the band’s name filling up most of the screen with the album title smaller on the bottom. (Both in the NASA font)
Original Artwork of “We Are Only In It For The Spacerock in 2005
Track-by-track Breakdown:
Begin to Float (Intro) – This track whirls in with a slow strumming of the guitar leading us into the First Band From Outer Space version of space. It is similar to “Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun” (Pink Floyd) in the way it builds and builds on itself. More bloops and bleeps are added and the music starts to pick up in the 2 minute area. Here we get our first clip; “All of my most sensitive areas were inflamed. My extremities pulsing and tingling sensation. …Floating higher and higher. A wonderful feeling! I began to float. Up, away from my body… My brain seemed to be held in a giant vice. Swaying back and forth. A beautiful thing taking me away. My head is spinning. It was a bell… a bell…” now we get fast beat of the drum. Building the tension. The guitar strumming along calmly.. and then
Sannraijz – Now we are in a slightly different area. We are speeding through their space. The track slows at four minutes and then speeds back to it’s normal pace. At five minutes we get vocals. At the end of a comparatively quick singing passage we are told, by Johan that; “The end is always the start of something new” as we continue on our way through the rest of the track. Until it starts to slow in the last 20 or so seconds and our next clip; “No one had a bad trip. It was all very good.” as the next track cuts it off. I could not find a translation of what the title means.
Sometimes Going Too Far is the Only Way To Go – Here is where (more of) the 70’s rock comes in. A cowbell is counting in our next jam. Six minutes in we get our 90’s influence. A layered vocal not quite shouting at us. This is another short bit of lyrics. We are counted out by the cowbell as well.
4. Sannraijz II – Here is an almost Mike Oldfield type of track, there are birds chirping. We have now landed on a strange desert planet. This is the most radio friendly song; it is acoustic and has lyrics throughout. It serves as an intro to the next track.
5. We’re Only In It for the Spacerock – This track is an experience. It is a slow jam calling back to the first track. It is similar to a song by Acid Mothers Temple and the Cosmic Inferno called “Anthem of the Space.” Just a very spacey sounding with heavier guitar. There is another sound clip at the end but I cannot quite make it out. The title is likely in reference to the Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention album We’re Only In It for the Money.
6. Make Yourself Heard for the Sake of the World – This track has a Jethro Tull flute part in it. We get our space or eastern sounding intro then we get a rocking riff and MoonBeamJosue is bringing us home with his flute. Two minutes in we get our 80’s/90’s sounding vocal style again. The track ends how it begins. The tracks are all faded into another so it is a continuous piece.
The synth parts of the music are like a 50’s or 60’s look at what music from aliens, (meaning the bloops and bleeps) that was depicted in the old sci-fi movies/shows with guitar and rhythms from 70’s (and at some points the late 90’s) Rock. This album is a mix of Budgie and Acid Mothers Temple and the Cosmic Inferno that I didn’t know that I needed until now. The band show their influences well while making their own brand of Spacerock.
If you like 70’s style Rock with some space synths added in you should definitely pick this release up.
Stream and download the album here. “No one had a bad trip. It was all very good.”
Lineup: Bill Wyant – Guitar, Vocals
Jed Guthrie – Bass
Dennis Flynn – Drums
Tracklist:
Perversions of the Anti-Ego 03:59
On Pilot Wave 05:07
Ostrich 06:38
Nothing Is, But What is Not? 10:27
The Anatomy of Thera Macula 11:04
Absinthe Makes the Heart Grow Fonder 06:31
Neon Spiral Hydra 10:57
Glory Whole 05:46
Review: Bat Chain Puller are fuzzy Stoner Rock group from Bloomington, Illinois. I use the adjective fuzzy because; as they explain it themselves, [We are] “Specializing in fine handcrafted metal that is fuzzy […] even before you bake…” (From their Facebook page). Their name is likely in reference to the album(s) by Captain Beefheart. The band have two previous releases; the first being a studio album from 2012, “One Million Tomorrows” and the second being a single (that is the first track off of this album with an altered time from 2016,) “Perversions of the Anti-Ego”
I could not find any direct pictures that the cover is made of. I am guessing that it takes place in either World War II or after some nuclear fallout. I say WWII because of the gas mask the model is wearing and because the background looks European. (Which leads into…)
Track-by-track Breakdown:
Track 1. “Perversions of the Anti-Ego” – This is the single that was released a year before the album came out. It is Black Label Society-ish sounding; slow, it keeps the same tempo for most of the song until the last few seconds where they pick it up barely and once they hit the last note it fades out.
Track 2. “On Pilot Wave” (Favorite track) – I will elaborate more below but I feel that this should have been the single they chose from the album. It is Bush-ish sounding; abstract sounding lyrics, changing tempos, pseudo-Grunge aggression and a good rhythm.
Track 3. “Ostrich” – This is the song where you hear the bass guitar the most and it is what makes me enjoy it. This track is more of a Black Sabbath/Bush hybrid; strange lyrics, the bass keeps the track moving (along with the drums of course)
Track 4. “Nothing Is, But What is Not?”/Track 5. “The Anatomy of Thera Macula”(Best tracks) – These tracks go back and forth between all of their influences. There are brief points of Metal throughout both with points of Progressive Rock and Stoner Rock. Thera Macula most likely refers to one of the dark spots on Jupiter’s moon Europa. Which just happens to relate back to the cover, because; “Thera Macula is a region of likely active chaos” and that is what the cover and even points of these songs include.
Track 6. “Absinthe Makes the Heart Grow Fonder” (Heaviest song) – This is a close second favorite song. It goes between Bush style lyrics and modern (1990’s-2000’s) radio metal music. The repeating riff and how the guitar is the fade out at the end.
Track 7. “Neon Spiral Hydra” – This is a close relative of tracks 4 and 5 but different enough to where it doesn’t fit into the one song scheme. The song is very close to newer Alice in Chains.
Track 8. “Glory Whole” – Very Alice in Chains with hints of Layne Staley vocals. The way the vocals are layered is reminiscent of how AIC do theirs.
Bill Wyant’s vocals remind me of a strange mix between Zakk Wylde (Black Label Society and Ozzy Osbourne) and Gavin Rossdale (Bush). The music itself is a strange mix of newer Black Sabbath, the William DuVall lead Alice in Chains, Black Label Society and Bush and often the music styles come together and move apart song to song.
The drumming is the highlight of the album to me. Strangely enough; this album reminds me of Bless the Martyr Kiss the Child by Norma Jean, but a softer Rock version. Even though I feel the album has more of a Metal feel than a Rock feel. Tracks 4 and 5 serve best as one track. In these two the band creates a world that showcases their influences and shows the talent that they have as composers. Other than the 10 minute plus tracks this is a good biker album. Tracks 4, 5, 6, and 8 are the highlights.
If there is anything to complain about it is that it’s not heavy enough! At some points when they are building the soundscapes, I kept expecting some rapid fire drums or a speedy guitar solo, they teased it a little bit. Also “On a Pilot Wave” should have been the single, even if it would have to be shortened for radio play. (But these are personal gripes, not a musical one.)
Overall, Bat Chain Puller puts on a stellar performance with “The Anatomy of Thera Macula.” Definitely get a copy of it! Take a listen here and buy the DD or CD
The Judge:
Kevin Jones – Bass
Dylan Jarrett – Guitar,
Evan Anderson – Drums,
Tyler Swope – Vocals
Gather round everyone Terry “The Ancient One” has a tale to tell about 4 young rock ‘n rollers from a place called Granite City, Illinois named: Kevin Jones, Dylan Jarrett, Evan Anderson, and Tyler Swope. Known as The Judge. Founded in 2006 by Dylan Jarrett, and Evan Anderson with mutual friend Zack Revelle the bands first incarnation was known as Unfallen which lasted less than a month. But that did not stop Dylan and Evan who had dreams of one day taking the stage and rocking the house down. Determined to make things happen . Dylan started The Jude as a side project with his friend Evan while playing for Ripper(named after the Judas Priest song) started by Andrew Pashea, cousin of Zack Revelle, and drummer Darren Williams.
With some material written and promo videos recorded using home studio software when Ripper split Dylan and Evans dream began taking shape when Evan found the drums they needed to begin rehearsing in Dylan’s home. With Bassist Kevin Jones complimenting Evan Anderson’s hard hitting drum style. The Judge found the heavy sound they were seeking to mix with Dylan Jarrett’s progressive guitar style and soon after Tyler Swope adding his vocal versatility that allowed him to hit the highs of musicians like Robert Plant and lows of Jim Morrison to complete the mix.
After recording their Demo which would later be called The Judge EP released on October 30th 2014 as a free download on Bandcamp The Judge began working in earnest to get its name out by doing more gigs. Compared by fans to Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, and Black Sabbath at some point The Judge gained the attention of Ripple Record. They signed with the label and put out a “Self Titled” debut album that combined 4 tracks from their EP and 5 new tracks. Which is about the time I became aware of The Judge.
Like their first EP and debut LP, The Judge puts their all into their latest album “Tell it to the Judge.” Some compare them to the above aforementioned because The Judge has a hard rockin’ blue collar feel but I could hear other influences in their music. Though it took me several sessions of listening to Tell it to The Judge and the bands other albums to pin it down before I realized I was hearing elements of The Doors,Cream, and The Guess Who in the bands music.
Some of the best songs on this album are ‘Changing World,’ ‘Islands’, ‘High Flyin’and ‘Parade of Sin.’ If you like hard rockin blues music with a psychedelic feel give Tell it to the Judge a listen. If you like what you hear, don’t forget to share this with your friends also be sure to give us a like on Facebook and subscribe to our YouTube channel.
The Sign Records // Caligari Records – released April 7, 2017
Reviewed by Santiago “Chags” Gutierrez
Demon Head was formed in Copenhagen, Denmark in 2012. After releasing a couple of demos and a single, they released a rather impressive debut album, Ride the Wilderness, in 2015. They quickly followed that album up with a split single, sharing the release with their equally impressive country-mates Alucarda. The common factor here is vocalist Ferreira Larsen who provides his drumming talent to Alucarda as well. Upon listening to “Menneskeӕderen”, the first track off Demon Head’s Thunder on the Fields, it was clearly obvious that this release was going to be just as equally impressive, if not more so, than the already absorbing Ride the Wilderness. Their Facebook page says their rhythm section, which consists of Fuglsang (bass) and Jeppe Wittus (drums), swing much like “Bill Ward and Geezer Butler had a loose, jazzy rhythm style that made Sabbath’s songs swing no matter how hard and heavy they got.”
Listening to Thunder on theFields, and all their previous work for that matter, it’s hard not to agree with that statement. The expressively captivating vocals of Larsen adding to the overall ambiance of their sound. Add to that the seamless guitar work of duo Gjerlufsen and Gjerluff Nielsen, and the record just flows from one track to the other.
“We are Burning”, “Thunder on the Fields”, and “Older Now” resound with a deliberate prominence found in early proto-doom/diabolic rock, yet with a sensibility all their own. “Hic Svnt Dracones” and “Gallows Omen” are longer, more drawn out tracks with sheer musical sections that transfix the aural senses. “Hic Svnt Dracones” featuring a fantastic, soulful solo. Final track, “Untune the Sky”, showcasing their theatrical, impressive flair.
Demon Head’s version of nefarious proto-doom, is a welcome throwback for the modern age. They have a way of admirably channeling that vibe much like early Witchcraft did. There is a certain charisma to this band, a somewhat soulful swing to their sound, whether it be on harder and heavier tracks like “Menneskeӕderen”, or on slightly more subdued tracks such as the masterful closer that is “Untune the Sky”. There is an underlying mood to this record that you hardly find anywhere else.
Worth another listen? I’ll let Demon Head answer that question: “Lose your way, we are burning, we watch the sun rise, still with stars in our eyes, lose your way, we are burning, we watch the sun fall with the fire inside. And I’d do it all again with you.”
Band Members – Gaston Lainé · Guitar & Vocals / Pol Ventura · Bass & Vocals / Alejandro Carmona · Drums
This three man-band is steeped DEEP in the 70’s acid-head/stoner fuzzed out and wah’d up rock-n-roll sounds of guitar driven spaced out soloing and insane twists and turns in tempo as any progressive maniac lives for. They list their influences from “the hard blues bands, fuzz sounds and wah wah of the 70s, with some space rock spirit” and wave that flag proudly as these five songs show.
Don’t let the name fool ya, translating as Cashmere, there is nothing soft about CACHEMIRA. Songs like ‘Sail Away’, tell a tale full of multi layered guitars and keyboard overtones with that driving shuffle tempo of “When the sirens….”, instrumental ‘Oeverture’ with the stoned out bliss-filled meanderings of a good mushroom-flashback.
‘Goddess’ rips from the gate in fuzzed out full force for the first minute, slowly fade out to guitar warbling and wash cymbals galore and a jazz runs fill the air as we are given the tale of one as “She has been since the beginnings of time…” over the course of 8-minutes plus for this opus. The advanced single (released in January 2017) ‘Overpopulation’ has that almost MOXY 70’s feel with the frenetic opening that has that roll that players like JOE WALSH loves to use still that seemed to have been perfected “back when” before the story unfolds about how we, i.e. mankind, is “Out of control…”
The “stand-out” track on this one for me is the title track ‘Jungla’ with it’s glorious fast-paced beginning that jumps right into gear with all the virtuosity from each member cranked beyond maximum to give one of those songs that just consumes you from the inside and you want more and more. If any of them get a video treatment, I would vote for this one to be the single for. Get it NOW, share it with every body and see ’em live if they come to your shores as I have a feeling they are one of ‘those bands’ that make each show a party to be remembered… and as always, keep it LOUD!!
Kingnomad is a band out of northern Sweden, and they don’t really mention their actual hometown on any of their biographical information, only that they’re from a small village. I like that, a little mystery right off the bat, especially for a band with supposed occult leanings. I use the word “supposed” because it’s clear from this foursome’s bio that they’re a bunch of down-to-earth dudes in it for the ha-ha’s, not hardcore Satanists intent on destroying the universe by hurling curses from Ancient Grimoire of black magic. That’s fine and dandy, though I’m not sure how many of you caught the recent blog post from the fabulous Invisible Oranges author Joseph Shafer, entitled “Ten Metal Clichés We Can Do Without.” I’m going to doing something that I’ve never done, and link it here for posterity, because it really spoke to me: http://www.invisibleoranges.com/ten-metal-cliches-we-can-do-without/
Give it a read. Go ahead. You might hate the article, and you might hate me for agreeing with the vast majority of what the author has to say. Why do I bring this up within the context of this review? Well, that’s kind of my thing, isn’t it? No album or band exists within a bubble or a vacuum, and I firmly believe that context and relevancy are extremely important. I’m also a firm believer in the Zeitgeist, the “spirit of the age”, and if an album doesn’t in some way, shape or form speak to that spirit, then it’s simply not for me.
I may constantly chastise myself for my tangential reviews, though there’s a method to my madness. I have two diatribes to launch into for this review, and luckily, they flow pretty well from one to the other.
Firstly, did you read the Invisible Oranges article? If you’ve read some of my reviews, you’ll probably know by now that I’m highly critical of quite a number of these things listed. I remember seeing the title of this article and thinking “Man, they had better have Satan as the number one cliché or I’m going to be extremely disappointed in humanity.” Thank you, Invisible Oranges, for delivering the goods – I’ve had enough disappointments with the whole of humanity as of late.
Kingnomad manage to encapsulate and incorporate three of the items on the cliché list: Black Sabbath worship, Satan, and Cthulhu. I’d like to emphasize that the aforementioned article calls for moderation and thoughtfulness, a “less is more” approach rather than an outright abolition of some of metal’s most traditionally treasured golden calves and sacred cows. I could use plenty of examples from occultism and esoteric traditions to illustrate the validity of this argument, though I’ll instead drudge up one from contemporary popular culture. In the Star Wars mythos, one of the main ideological differences between the Jedi and the Sith is their interpretation of the Force, beyond the light and dark sides of it. The Jedi believe that the Force is like a candle, and that a bright burning flame can be used to light many more candles, while the Sith believe that the Force is more like venom, and to spread it out too thinly is to dilute its potency. When it comes to metal, I’d have to agree with the Sith on this one. The reason that lyrical subject matters that are traditionally held as taboo carry so much weight and power is their relative scarcity. It’s the fact that they’re not the norm that makes them so alluring. The ritualistic and artistic deconstruction of societal barriers releases a wave of liberating cultural energy that can be harnessed into transformative effects. That’s the basis for a whole system of esoteric practice that’s intrinsically linked to metal, The Left Hand Path (let’s save that particular can of worms for another review, though it is worth mentioning here). However, as these themes become overused and ubiquitous, they lose their ability to shock and awe; their potency is diluted. They cease to be the language of counterculture, heterodoxy and ultimately liberation, and instead become the manifestation of a mindless adherence to a tired and cliched orthodox blueprint. Anything that holds the potential for liberation also carries with it the threat of oppression when it transitions from the realms of the fantastic and abnormal into just another lame-and-tame inevitability of the mundane world.
In that regard, Kingnomad are not one of the more egregious offenders, as their references to Lovecraft and Lucifer His Dark Majesty are used sparingly and light-heartedly. The band openly admits that they’re in it for the fun, and that’s just fine with me. Ghost set the stage for the whole “Scooby Doom” school of metal, and it looks like the good times are here to roll. As far as the Black Sabbath worship, well…. if you’re playing metal and feel like you’re not indebted and influenced by The Sabs, then you’re doing it wrong. I’ve attempted to defy the unquestioned supremacy of Sabbath for many years now, to cast doubt on their reign in hopes of finding other worthy usurpers to the crown who’ve lurked in their shadows, and I’ve come to the conclusion that Black Sabbath are kings, lords and masters wherever The Heavy is concerned. This you can trust. Plenty of their contemporary proto-metal protégées from the late 60’s and early 70’s left their marks and signposts, though none blazed a trail the way that Ozzy and crew did from the moment that the iconic tri-tone of their title track was committed to tape.
On Mapping The Inner Void, Kingnomad mine the Sabbath treasure troves for what that they’re worth, though their incorporation of the more psychedelic elements of bands like Witch and Mammatus sets them in a place firmly above a mere Sabbath clone. They’ve got more of that indie rock vibe that started creeping in from the neo-psych movement that Dead Meadow brought to the forefront of the stoner scene. They’re able to use some of those fuzzy, major key riffs that Dead Meadow pulled off with such poise on their debut and also dive into some of the more nuanced, layered sounds that made Feathers such a breakthrough album. They’re also going for some of the pop hooks and harmonized vocals that turned Ghost and Uncle Acid And The Deadbeats songs into such mesmerizing ear candy.
Herein lies my second tangent, which is the continued resistance to the melding of the metal and indie worlds. I bring this up because Kingnomad wisely call themselves “doom rock”, rather than doom metal. This may seem like a small distinction, though it’s a very important detail to some. Metal carries with it a sense of tradition that lends itself to puritanism, while rock is more open ended. I’m a pragmatist who also doesn’t like to falsely advertise; if you’re a traditionalist or purist who is turned off by the bands that I’ve name dropped above, then this album very well may not be for you. I personally have never been turned off by indie rock getting its proverbial peanut butter mixed in with metal’s chocolate. I’m a steadfast believer in one of the central themes of the Russian dramatist Anton Chehkov’s continual literary themes: that art needs new forms.
With two tangents down, it’s time to get this review back on track and talk about the music itself. Kingnomad write slow to mid-paced fuzz-fests characterized by an overall ethereal vibe. All the songs have a delightful other-worldliness, from the juxtaposition of super saturated and squeaky clean guitar tones, to the wispy vocal delivery and the smidgens of choice samples from horror movies that the band laces into their songs. There’s some cool synth sounds too, which I’m always a sucker for. There are seven songs total; the entire album clocks in at just under 40 minutes, so it’s the perfect length for vinyl, and it won’t test either your attention span or your patience. All the songs are good, distinctive and memorable, making for a inclusive and cohesive listening experience that deepens with repeat listens. I don’t really have a favorite song, though ‘Nameless Cult’ certainly burrowed its way through the canals of my inner ear and lodged itself unwittingly into my memory with its haunting chords and major key dalliances. Similarly, the closing track, and the longest of the album, ‘The Waiting Game’ is also a highlight in its epic take on heavy psych rock freak-outs. Even the shortest track, the instrumental interlude ‘Whispers From R’Lyeth’ confidently stands on its own strengths. This is fine album in my eyes, especially for a debut.
In case you haven’t noticed, I also have a penchant for offering constructive criticism when I think that it’s pertinent. With that being said….guys, keep it fun and keep it fresh as you move forward with your musical career. This is an extremely imaginative release, and you’re going to have to up the ante on your next one to avoid the dreaded sophomore slump. Look into all the weird fiction that’s out there beyond the wall of sleep. There are lots of great anti-heroes that you can draw upon for inspiration besides The Adverse One. Keep drinking your beer and writing your riffs, because you’re obviously onto something, and no one can take that away from you, not even me with my feeble pen and polished words.
Suicide Records – Release January 13th, 2017 – Vinyl / CD / DD
Doom/Sludge/70’s Metal
Demonic Death Judge had seemingly found their sound on 2012’s “Skygods”, but obviously, five years can change much for a band. I’ll be damned if “Seaweed” isn’t rockin’, forward-thinking proof of that.
For this particular raucous slab or heaviness, the doom and polished sludge (complete with gruff, but fitting vocals) of the past is still very much present, but this time out, the band has added a southern swagger and groove, with a pinch more atmosphere as well. Hell, you even get some banjo for that special Appalachian vibe! Yes indeed, the band is refusing to tread water, but they have found that sweet spot where growth does not mean forsaking the past. No previous fan of the band’s past efforts should feel abandoned; if they do- Shame on them! This is the kind of boundary expansion you want for musicians and DDJ delivers it in a big way!
Admittedly, a more approachable effort than the Judge’s have ever released, “Seaweed” still manages to pack a jaw-swelling punch. You need this one in your collection- Trust me! What a nice way to start the reviewing year….
”SEAWEED” tracklist:
1. Taxbear
2. Heavy Chase
3. Seaweed
4. Cavity
5. Backwoods
6. Pure Cold
7. Saturnday
8. Peninkulma
