SON OF A WITCH - Thrones in the Sky

Illustrations by Ars Moriendee and Design by Gustavo Rocha.

Alright, it's Sunday night, I'm drunk, feelin' good. This was my one day off this week and now it's time to settle down with a little previously unheard tuneage. What do we got here ... ah, Son of a Witch! South American band. First full-length album. Lotsa long songs, 4 of 5 over 10 minutes. Looks good, perfect for where my head is at. I remember them from a 2012 EP they released. Without going back and replaying it, I remember them as a band with a jammy kind of sound. Not really psychedelic, but expansive. We'll call it breathing room doom. I'm just about ready to roll, let's do this. Press play and awaaaaay we go ...

THRONES IN THE SKY - Nice opening. Good riff, nice pounding crash. This is enormous ... Alright, I'm feelin' good but let's not pass judgment too quickly. Good break down and tight rebuild. Echoey vocals. I'm flyin'. Fuck this is a good track. 7 more minutes to go and we've got a slow jam part. Shades of Iron Man. My mind wanders ... Since Halloween I've been on a #nowanks movement and it's changed my life. I feel better than I have in years, maybe ever. I'm more assertive, more direct. I feel like a man again and more than that, I feel like a human being again. I make direct eye contact and hold it without discomfort. What I'm saying is, I feel strong and I owe it all to quitting wanking. Oh, I think I can put my finger on this tune. With the huge riff and echoey vocals it reminds me of Sons of Otis at their expansive best. Two minutes left. This thing is ending on an anthemic note with the repeated refrain. Excellent opening move. Let's see what we've got next.

ALPHA OMEGA ASTRA - Almost a Radar Love feel to the start of this track. I'm expecting double time on the snare up next. But it spills like oil into a main riff. You don't really see a move like that coming when something's that pausey. Ah, a break down ... and onto the main drag. Nice primary riff. Fuck, I think I'm fully sold on this album. Ho-lee fuck, this is some kick ass shit. Not to downplay Son of a Witch themselves but this one's got a Sons of Otis meets Church of Misery swagger to it. Nicely done. Any fan of the riff would be proud to blast this out their windows. And a sudden tempo shift. I'm in love. Lots of changes in this one. 6 minutes into a 12 minute monster and I'm still engaged. I think we're into a jammy part. Yeah, this week I've been thinking about the two different types of musicians. There's the cool beardo / hipster musician, who I'm worried I don't really get along with all too well and the nerdy, ponytail sporting musician who is more my natural ally. I was thinking about who I'd rather sit down and have a cup of tea with: Robert Plant in his prime or Geddy Lee at the height of Rush's fame ... I got to go with Geddy Lee. No question. You just feel like he wouldn't feel like he has some better place he needs to be and he'd be more into talking about whatever weird shit pops into your head. "Martians: green skinned or red skinned, what makes more sense?" I don't know. I don't know what the fuck I'd talk to either of those two guys about but I can't help but feel talking to Geddy Lee would be more interesting. We've been around the world here with this song and now we're chunking back into the main riff. Two songs in and I'm into it, man.

FAR AWAY FROM DREAMING (Giant Spheres & Humanoids) - Shortest track on the album and it's still almost 9 minutes long. Good start though. Bit of a laidback vibe in a heavy way. Transitioning into a Church of Misery meets classic-era Down mode. Another solid riff. Drifting off into space now ... floating ... and crashing back down. Finally checked out that bar across the street that's been there about two solid years now. I don't know, it's too busy and wild on the weekends. By the way, the bar is used as a regular set or exterior on the show Lucifer, I don't know which cause I've never watched it and probably never will. The bar is called the Union Jack if that rings a bell to anyone who's ever seen it. Whatever. Pretty cool place. I remember when it was a full-on raging dive bar so it's weird it looks the same inside with maybe a slightly improved atmosphere and far fewer winos and junkies. Holy shit, yeah about 6 minutes in and we've definitely hit on some Down vibes with the vocals, if not the music. Not my favorite on the album so far, but another solid tune. At this point I think I'm just spoiled to be honest because this might be the standout tune on any number of albums. Drummer does a good job of keeping things live and moving, but maybe gets out of a good situation a little too early if you know what I mean. He brings the excitement up to a peak but only for a bar, he doesn't let it breathe and flow.

NEW MONSTER - Okay, I'm definitely spoiled. We're a half hour in, just listened to three great tunes, let our minds wander and on pops another cool track and I've got next to nothing to say about it. Another cool riff. Not bad at all. But now I'm wondering if this had been the second track and Alpha Omega Astra had been in fourth spot would I be unimpressed with that one? It's a valid question. You can sometimes have too much of a good thing. At this point I'm thinking about the empties in my apartment and how I should either cash 'em out this week or leave 'em for the bums in the alley, one or the other. And you know something, it's not the band's fault, it's mine. I'm a big spoiled baby of a music fan at this point. This song has got some good rock n roll moves in it. Two and a half minutes in and we come to a nice bridge. This album is stuffed with riffs. Not Master of Reality level perhaps, but these guys don't quit. It's impressive really and it's just hit me how well this album is recorded and mixed. Clean but organic might be the best way to describe it. And that sudden change again. Yeah, this tune is at least on par with the first two. I'm thinking about the next couple film things my buddies and I have to shoot on weekends. I'm excited about what we're doing but nervous that I won't be able to hit my self-imposed deadlines. You'll see what we've been up to soon enough ... I hope! Fucking great tune this is! My buddy Chris Smith and I were talking about the Metallica song Shortest Straw at work this past week and I still haven't listened to it. Got to keep a mental note of that for after Thrones in the Sky. Haven't listened to that tune in a long time. I've had Apetite for Destruction in my head all week thinking about doing Sweet Child O Mine for Karaoke. That one and Bohemian Rhapsody. Those are good karaoke jams. Pretty excited about that. Nice finish to this one.

JUPITER COSMONAUT - Bass only intro right here. Guitar wahs in with slow drums and rattling crash. Drifting off into space again here ... then a gigantic Sabbathian riff, maybe the heaviest one on the record. This is nice. And the main riff takes shape. I think I may have hit on why I got so spoiled by this album: it's consistent. I don't think it's same-y, but just consistent in tone and structure. Instead of letting that huge pendulous doom riff play out, they whipped it into rock n roll shape. It's good stuff though. I'm not bitchin'. Speaking of consistent, the touchstones here are Sons of Otis, Church of Misery, Down and Black Sabbath. And you know what? Even a little Tombstones somehow, their early stuff, not their last two albums which we're a bit more sludgy. 6 minutes in and some brief swampy vibes here. It doesn't last, yet again. I'm a little disappointed, I gotta admit. They kind of slide in and out of swampy and flowing. Oooh, now a little jumpy thing here. This is what I was talking about with the drummer hitting on a good move and playing it out a little bit. Nice to hear, but again, like the glimpse of a ghost out of the corner of an eye, it's gone too soon. Yeah, this tunes all over the map, like it isn't sure what it wants to be. Haven't been to karaoke in over ten years. Looking forward to it. Now just have to make the night happen. I asked the waitress at the Union Jack if they did karaoke cause I thought I could hear it from my building, she said, "the house band's that bad, huh?" I nodded and said, "yup." Though if I wagered a guess, I'd imagine they were more the nerdy musician types. Funny how these things go sometimes. You can't win 'em all. The #nowanks thing is a work in progress. I'm still ironing out the kinks and finding what works for me. I've gone longer without ejaculating than I have since I was 11 years old if that doesn't creep you out too much. It's supposed to not be healthy for you to "hold it in" for too long. At this point I've got it to, you can jerk off once every two weeks. Like I said, it's about finding a balance, but so far, I like the results.

And what's more is I like this album, Thrones in the Sky. Not to sound like any more of a dick than I already have with my wild ravings, but I'm surprised how good this is. I expected a lot more loose jamming and lack of structure. This is a very well put together album. Although, as I eluded to earlier I wonder if the band didn't out-smart themselves in a few places. Don't worry about doing too much all at once, let it breathe. I mean, I understand it's been four years since their humble EP debut on bandcamp and it's true that if anything these songs sound overcooked not undercooked.

Son of a Witch on facebook

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Mammatus - Heady Mental (album review)

I walk slowly from the room, stiff-legged and saucer-eyed.  I don't know what the hell that was, but somehow I like it and am darkly fascinated by it.  I've been to other dimensions, and they're about as convincing a reality as Tron and yet I can get lost in there.  This is my reaction to Mammatus, the "spacier-than-thou" power trio from Santa Cruz, California.  I'm confused and a little scared, but I'm also slightly aroused.  This is far out.

The three song, 32-minute 'Heady Mental' is a raw and naked showcase of the band's space rock extremity, where sounds explode in a kaleidoscope of colors and structures breathe, tones pulsate and album covers taste like vinegar. Sensory overload is the name of the game here and that's no average feat considering this medium is supposed to be limited to the aural.  Mammatus scoffs at such a notion.  It just so happens that when they scoff, their faces and the spaces around them explode into paisley flowers of tasty colors.  Don't look now but a locomotive is about to chug through the interdimensional membrane that is your living room wall.  Welcome to another interpretation of reality.

The album title itself provides a clue to the mysterious world you will find within, 'Heady Mental' is a brisk exercise for mind and body.  This is brain food.  The stunning sounds of Mammatus swell from the majestic to the galactic, the majestic coming in the form of polyrhythmic syncopation which coalesces in earth-shattering grooves while the Hawkwindian synth space swells provide the soundtrack to the galactic.

On stage, Mammatus at one time combined costumed theatrics with their musically acrobatic space / prog rock attack and although that sensibility is now downplayed (the band now sports a look they call Post Wizard New Mage Far Out Casual), somehow that old sensibility is broadcast on record.  With similarly themed song titles being connected by tones and moods it gives the album the feel of a lost Peter Gabriel-era Genesis record, by way of the Canterbury scene or Hawkwind interpreted by the soundtrack composers for the original NES gaming system, which comes to a head on "Brainbow".

The theme of the four song titles is the brain, the physical medium between body and mind, thought and action.  Listen closely and you may blow a gasket trying to figure out the time signatures involved or you may drift off into some mental movie which takes you from the helms of space ships to the palaces of a witch planet to a cave of luminescence.  'Heady Mental' is some serious imagination fodder.  But listen again at a distance and you may find your head nodding and your toes tapping in implicit agreement with Mammatus's controlled zaniness.  In other words, this isn't complex music for intellectual snobs, but there is complexity which is at its best when serving to wrap itself around a labyrinthine groove.

'Heady Mental' is a groove for both mind and body, eliciting adventures on a stiff shot of prog, once more an intellectual and visceral workout.  So by the end of it all, if you feel your brain is bust, don't sweat it, don't freak out, because it's all part of the trip.  This trip is available on LP through Spiritual Pajamas and as mp3 or FLAC downloads $6 and $7 respectively at the link provided below.  Warning: this is a breakthrough dose.

Highlights include: "Brain Drain" and "Brainbow"

Rating: 4/5


Tracklist:
1). Brain Drain (7:31)
2). Main Brain (8:09)
3). Brainbow / Brain Train (16:39)
Total Run Time: 32:18

Nicholas Emmert - guitar / vocals
Aaron Emmert - drums
Chris Freels - bass

From: Santa Cruz, California

Genre: Space Rock, Prog

Reminds me of: Anta, Lord Summerisle, NES Metroid, Space Mushroom Fuzz

Release Date: November 26, 2013

Mammatus on facebook

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You can also find 'Heady Mental' on itunes.

Space Mushroom Fuzz - Stealing Some Time (album review)

Space Mushroom Fuzz releases albums at a nearly comical rate.  They're the kind of duo (Adam Abrams [guitar, bass, synth & vocals] & John Belcastro [drums]) who releases an album one day and posts on facebook how the "new" one is almost finished a week later, they're always one step ahead, or more accurately, one album ahead of the game.  It's the reason that when I posted my review of the band's last and then current record 'A Possible Paradox' [link], I could have given you the name of their next album, 'Stealing Some Time' which is the album at hand and how I can even now give you the name of their next album, 'Burning the Almanac' which the band has almost finished tracking for already (if not done by now).  'Stealing Some Time' is Space Mushroom Fuzz's fifth album, each of them contains six songs (there's also a single and an EP and something else that we'll touch on in a minute).

Because the band releases albums at such a whirlwind pace (in chronological order starting in 2012: June, October, April, August, November) the band shows little development from release to release, but it's there.  It seems subtle, but when you listen to 'Stealing Some Time', then go back to the group's first release 'When Time Trippers Collide', it's fairly obvious how far the band has come.  For one thing, the performances are more energetic, more exuberant and it makes a big difference.  Abrams retains his distinctive harmonized monotone vocal delivery, yet it's more lively than ever before.  Matter of fact, he tries a few different shifts on the first pair of tracks ("Invisible to See" & "Time Gets Carried Away") which add a whole other layer to the band's usual brand of '70's sounding space rock.  I doubt there's a band out there who does this style better.  I remember listening to their song "Under Control" on a mixed playlist and wondering what '70's band it was, because I didn't recognize it, no one else has ever fooled me like that.  But if Abrams is going to shift his vocals into a higher range on this album, then it's only fitting that the band shifts up an octave in time as well to the very 1980's neo-psych, paisley underground sounding "The Sun is Electric".  It's at this point that 'Stealing Some Time' is beginning to feel like Space Mushroom Fuzz's best offering since album # 2, 'Something Weird's Going On'.

The band has also largely purged it's initial experimental nature as they now sound like a band which knows what it wants to achieve, then goes about its business.  I mentioned earlier that all SMF albums contain six tracks, well there's a 20 minute difference in running time between album number one and album number five and though they no longer sound like Hawkwind circa 'Space Ritual', they have forged their own identity and what excitement is lost in the free flowing space jams of an early song like "Watching the Watcher" is made up for by the growing sophistication of the band's musical ideas.  Still, there's at least one jammy instrumental freak out on each of the group's releases and this one is no exception with "Time Tunnel / Time Space" closing out the affair.

Since their first appearance on the summer solstice of 2012, Space Mushroom Fuzz has eight releases under its collective belt, with Adam Abrams also releasing music with Blue Aside and Palace in Thunderland during that span, that makes 10 releases in under a year and a half ... and it still doesn't come close to touching the output of cross-town neighbor Ron Rochondo (Ice Dragon, Tentacle, The Mangled Dead, Velvet Robe, and  a couple others).  Still, it's impressive for the level of dedication shown to this project if for nothing else.  And just to get a sense of the pace at which SMF releases material, they've already got a two track live in studio album up in bandcamp ('Live at Reverse Feed Studio - 11​/​16​/​13' - link) with a full line-up (adding Scott Levine of Semi Good Looking on bass) and it trumps 'Stealing Some Time' in terms of length.

As with everything they do (with the one exception of 'Marty's Original Escape'), 'Stealing Some Time' is available on bandcamp in CDR format for $3 or if that doesn't tickle your fancy it's also available as a FREE (or pay-what-you-want) digital download.  Grab it in your preferred format at the links on the player below.

Highlights include: "Invisible To See" and "Time Gets Carried Away"

Rating: 4/5

Total Run Time: 30:21

From: Brighton, Massachusetts

Genre: Space Rock, Psychedelic

Reminds me of: Hawkwind, Paisley Underground bands

Release Date: November 1, 2013

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Space Mushroom Fuzz - A Possible Paradox (album review)

Space.

Mushroom.

Fuzz.

The name says it all, no false advertising here.  The New England duo embodies the spirit of all three things in equal abundance.  They play Space Rock with classic rock overtones, but their songs don't drift endlessly in the drone of the void, it's an earthy brand of space rock.  They fall from the beyond and land squarely in the dirt, tilling the soil weirdly.  The band isn't beholden to Lovecraftian themed lyrics, but the music they produced is so much more faithful to the mood and feel of some of the revered author's most hallowed tales than other Lovecraftian-themed bands that it becomes a near perfect launchpad from which to describe them in terms of sound.  It's as though the wandering muse of H.P. Lovecraft has taken up residence in the amps, cables and drumheads of Space Mushroom Fuzz, evoking the spitting image of the author's famous fungi, fungi which comes down to earth from Yuggoth and takes root in the ground.  We spend a lot of time down there, us listeners, beneath the surface of things, moling around, branching and spreading out.

'A Possible Paradox' is the band's fourth album since their debut in June 2012.

The album kicks off with a blast of fuzzy ascending riffs, driving drums and backwards recording, SMF main man Adam Abrams creates counterpoint with his distinctively robotic vocals.  The title track's kitchen-sink attack pummels before you even know what hit you.  The next track, "For a Lifetime" is classic Space Mushroom Fuzz, if such a label as classic can be applied to a project a year and a quarter old.  Of course, in those 15 or so months the band has released over three hours of music.  Many bands go full decades without offering so much.  A huge part of SMF's sound and appeal comes from the cold blue tones of the synthesizer and its juxtaposition to the warm red churning fury of the fuzz guitar.  Rarely has this modus operandi been more successful than on "For a Lifetime".  Each instrument vies for our attention over the course of the 'main part' of the song, but the synth never touches the boundaries of the extended guitar solos near the end of the track because the battle has been won.  The outcome is satisfying because SMF knows how to lead and direct the listener's attention with expert grace.  The ideas flow, chaotically on the surface but with their own inner logic that can only be felt but never understood, not by us.  It takes Abrams and John Belcastro (drums) to understand these inner workings.

Of course, the synthetic beast is never truly defeated.  It keeps rising over and over again like a polymorphous nightmare creature from the frozen wastes of the antarctic tundra.  This deathless horror rising imagery is particularly vivid on instrumental track "Forever Lifetime" as it doesn't take a terrific imagination to see the thing without a name screaming back to life in rising towers of malleable matter to do battle once more with the flame-throwing guitar, which is probably at its most pyrotechnic, pendulous, pungent and potent towards the end of this song.

"Sunshine of Your Dove" is more than just a punny title.  The bands shapes and molds time on this track like a wad of clay, creating tremendous drive and heaviness.  They take time and slow it down before finally launching back into outer space with closing track "Falling Upside Down", the fuzzy mushroom's work here seemingly done.  The planet has been infected.  I hear it on good authority that the tireless duo is already hard at work on album number five, tentatively titled 'Stealing Some Time'.  I think it might have been taken here from "Sunshine ...".  One simply marvels at the prolific outpouring of ideas.

While you're digging into this one, seek out 'When Time Trippers Collide', 'Something Weird's Going On', the "Trapped in the Past" single and the magnificent 'Man in the Shadow' (and its companion EP 'Marty's Original Escape').  All of these releases and 'A Possible Paradox' are available for free (or pay what you want) on bandcamp and available as inexpensive CDR's.  I highly recommend this band, the three hours you will spend investigating the mushroom field will be spent in the presence of catchy riffs, hauntingly robotic melodies and mind-bending soundscapes.  At the very least it may make for the most weird musical weekend of your brief life (before the fungus takes over body and soul completely).

Highlights include: "A Possible Paradox" and "For a Lifetime"

Rating: 4/5


Total Run Time: 35:36

Adam Abrams - Guitar, Bass, Vocals, Synth
John Belcastro - Drums

From: Boston, Massachusetts

Genre: Space Rock, Psychedelic

Reminds me of: Hawkwind, H.P. Lovecraft, John Carpenter's The Thing, The Fungi From Yuggoth

Release Date: August 27, 2013

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Deep Space Destructors - II (album review)

Deep Space Desctructors is a prog / space rock trio from Oulu, Finland.  They call their music "Progressive doomsday space rock" and that's about as self-aware and accurate a tag as you're likely to find from a band.  Doomy riffs, crash heavy drumming and wispy noises lay the foundation for the threatening and ghostly harmonies that propel the album forward.

Briefly, their music starts off calmly and serenely, inviting the listener into their tranquil and melodic world.  Once comfortably inside, however, the listener is attacked by heavy pummeling gyroscopic space rock.  This is how Deep Space Destructors operate.  They drone subtly, then veer off like a Jonestown escapee who just found a rocket with the keys in the ignition.

"Beneath the Black Star" begins this way.  A droney riff with only hints of menace becomes a bridge to carry the listener over a yawning chasm of windswept noise.  Nearly halfway across, the safety of the bridge is rocked by a second, doomy riff and the verse.  It's a tug of war between melodic safety and downtuned riff-laden doom.  Before the listener knows it the bridge collapses, "rotting away" and the doom wins.  A brief reprise of the melodic riff becomes the soundtrack to the listener's descent into the misty chasm below.

Again, "Deserted Planet 2078" begins much the same way.  There's that classic tug of war between light and dark.  Of course, the dark side wins.  Toward the end of the song DSD opens things up with an ascending slide riff that hauls ass and burns dark matter rubber in space.  This is the song the band choose to introduce new listeners to themselves with and one can't argue against the choice.  It's got a little of everything the band does and some of the best moments from the album.  In a way, it's their most accessible tune.

The opening of "Space Phantasy" brings to mind the best of late 60s progressive rock, specifically the Canterbury Scene and The Soft Machine.  There are other moments on the disc which might bring to mind such other period luminaries as Caravan, The Egg or their heavier precursors Arzachel.  Before long however, goggles and crash helmets are adorned and "Space Phantasy" gets aerodynamic.  The band take their time building songs in non-euclidean levels and layers of riffs, noises and structural detours before finding ways to make their improbable flying machines take off, like Launchpad McQuack piloting the Winchester Mystery House.

Though it's not on their Bandcamp, Soundcloud or ReverbNation pages, the actual disc has a fourth track, called "Sykli", sung in Finnish.  It's a different sounding tune with a different kind of vibe.  The band maintain their distinctive flavor but even a cursory or background listen will reveal the difference between this song and its predecessors.  Suddenly, the listener is no longer adrift in space but staring whimsically out across a choppy sea from a rocky outcrop.  It's not all wistful longing however, as halfway through the band breaks back into the heavy stuff with some interesting breakdowns and build-ups.

There's a warmth to the instruments and a coolness or a distance in the song structures that I can't quite put my finger on which creates a greenery in a space ship feel.  All in all, 'II' is a very worthy addition to the space rock oeuvre and one that I will enjoy listening to for many months to come.

Highlights include: "Beneath The Black Star" and "Deserted Planet 2078"

Rating: 4/5

Total Run Time: 38:13

From: Oulu, Finland

Genre: Space Rock, Psychedelic, Prog, Doom

Reminds me of: Caravan, Dryasdust, Hawkwind, Soft Machine, The Wandering Midget

Release Date: November 28, 2012



Suggested listening activity for fellow non-stoners: Immersed in a pond, clinging to a mossy log, staring out the porthole of the space ship "Gardenia"

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Excellent artwork by Markus Räisänen from http://kudoskollektiv.com/

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Palace In Thunderland - Stars, Dreams, Seas (album review)

Palace in Thunderland started out life as Skyball, the main band of four young musicians.  Skyball was a garage rock band that morphed into Palace in Thunderland in 1998.  The band recorded a couple of EPs and an album that was never released and in 2007 the guys in the band decided to call it quits.

Each of the four musicians went on to form other, more successful, bands.  They are Monte Newman (Hydro-Electric, guitar); Andy Beresky (Black Pyramid, guitar); Adam Abrams and Matt Netto (Blue Aside, bass and drums respectively, (Abrams is also in Space Mushroom Fuzz)).  Now, they have returned from travels that must have included stops in spaceports unknown and re-formed a high school garage band as a stoner rock supergroup.  Four youngsters who split, return as conquering heroes.  There's seemingly no shortage of musical talent in the New England area and so, it was destined to be.

The three songs on this demo EP are the first new sounds from this collective band of musicians together in over five years.

"Beyond the Stars" shakes off the rust with a Sabbath-like riff and crash combo that launches the goodship Thunderland out of orbit.  The slabs of Sabbath-ized riffage and chunks of crunching rhythms perfectly frame the super catchy chorus, "Come ... with ... us ... Beyond the Stars!".  "Awakened Dream" carries on the Sabbath feel and doesn't have as memorable a chorus, but makes up for it with more of a melodic flavor..  "The Distant Shore" is a different beast altogether and if I had to guess I would hazard that this is more of a Monte Newman song, which then breaks down towards the end into an Andy Beresky flavored melancholic riff to close out the short, 16 minute demo EP.

It's interesting to be able to hear each individual's unique contribution to the band, it truly is an amalgamation of sounds.  You can hear a Beresky lead, you can hear the power of Monte Newman, you can hear Blue Aside's unique rhythm section at work on the groove.  The vocals are in the Ozzy sound-alike vein which really comes across in "Awakened Dream".  The Sabbath feel is very present overall in the first two tracks, not just in the vocals and guitars but also in the Bill Wardian drumming of Matt Netto.  It seems as though Beresky provides the bulk of the vocals on this disc, though not in the way that most listeners familiar with his work in Black Pyramid would recognize, as they are sung melodically rather than shouted, though it can be hard to tell who is singing as all four are credited with vocals, and it could just as easily be Abrams or Newman singing for all I know.

Though this teaser of what's to come consists of a mere three songs and 16 minutes, it's a satisfying listening experience in and of itself, and it carries within it the seeds of a very substantial release when a full length album eventually emerges.

Highlights include: "Beyond the Stars" and "Awakened Dream"

Rating: 4.5/5

Total Run Time: 16:48

From: Springfield, Massachusetts

Genre: Space Rock, Stoner, Psychedelic

Reminds me of: Black Pyramid, Black Sabbath, Blue Aside, Hydro-Electric, Lord Vicar, Space Mushroom Fuzz

Release Date: December 22, 2012

Suggested listening activity for fellow non-stoners: Solidify these sounds into a cosmic surfboard to hold court with shimmering luminescent being of pure dream-state given substance.

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From Beyond - The Color Out of Space EP (album review)

If I had to put my money on just one band from the dozens of great new acts to come out with first releases in 2012 that had a chance of breaking out of the underground and on to bigger things, it would be From Beyond.  Their first EP showed all the right ingredients of 'crossover' potential: clean production, tight songwriting, pounding rhythms, great riffs, a clean vocal style and melodies that are catchy as hell.  They just seemed to have 'It'.  So my expectations were incredibly high for whatever it was that they were going to do next.  What they did was to draft a second 4 song EP and release it almost exactly half a year later.  It turns out From Beyond is absolutely filled with ideas and is the kind of band never content to sit in a corner musically, they want to stretch their legs and move about, meet new sounds.  The four songs on 'The Color Out of Space' EP are as different from each other as the disc itself is from their earlier effort the 'One Year' EP.

Sometime in late August the band pre-released the opening track "Hexagram" with a brief interview on the old Stonerobixxx website.  At that time the 'One Year' EP was still warm on the table, a mere three months old and it was immediately apparent after a quick listen that the band had already moved on from the sonic template of their first release.  But this wasn't a 'quick listen' kind of song this isn't a 'quick listen' kind of EP.  According to the band, the song (and I'm supposing this entire EP?) was recorded in a large empty warehouse (on a stormy night to boot) creating an incredible resonance, especially from the drums.  The song builds slowly and isn't as immediately catchy as what was found on 'One Year', with the exception of the song's coda, "You better run 'cause, God is not here!"  But a song doesn't have to be immediately catchy to be good or accessible.  This song is like a warning shot to the listener's expectations.  The musical ideas presented on this (glow in the dark vinyl!) disc are more complex and challenging than what came before.  Gone are the streamlined song structures and clean straight-forward production, but what remains is the high quality songwriting and the soulful performances.

A couple weeks before the EP was made available for pre-sale on Halloween, the band released a second track, "The Dead Still Ride".  Pre-releasing half an album is a bold move, but no bolder than the sounds of the first two tracks listeners heard.  "The Dead Still Ride" is the ballsy biker rock anthem that the song's title suggests and was still nothing like the (relatively) older material.  The guitar revs up at the beginning of the track and launches down Highway 666, punctuated by a drivin' beat, the song is hard, heavy and melodic with harmonized vocals during the chorus.  Like "Hexagram" it cruised into my top 5 and was a mainstay on the Doom Charts for weeks.

Then the big day finally came when the EP was officially released in its entirety, three full months after the song "Hexagram" was debuted.  Fans of the band finally got to hear the other two songs from the EP and they would not be disappointed.  The first of the two is called "At Midnight (I'll Steal Your Soul)" and at a teaspoon under five minutes long is about a third shorter than its companion.  It shows much of the hallmarks of the first track, heavy dowtuned riff and big resonant drums, adding some new elements into the mix, such as lifeless and mournful harmonized vocals that sound like they were sung by dead themselves and a great nod to classic doom in the Death SS / Paul Chain mold, as the organ gets the dust wiped off it for this one.  A long instrumental section in the middle shines a dark spotlight on the terrific horrorific riff.  This may be the heaviest thing these guys have recorded yet and will become a new Halloween standard.  Of course, the song is good anytime, not just Halloween, especially stormy nights.

The title track, a more subdued number than what those familiar with the band's previous output might expect, is From Beyond weaving a space rock tapestry.  The song starts off slowly much like "Iron Man" before launching into the main riff.  Like all the riffs on this EP, it's not necessarily going to burn into your mind and stay there immediately, but it grows like a fungoid demon in the brain with each successive listen.  The riffs here are titanic and heavy.  Just past the halfway point of this near 15 minute colossus the music breaks down and the band paints a sonic picture of space itself, complete with eldritch and smoky creatures which writhe and undulate through the endless ethereal void, only to be passed on their unknowable journeys at light speed by Lovecraft's color itself on its way down to unsuspecting earth.  The role of the color is played by the band which kicks back in after about a minute or so of ambient soundscape described above.  Towards the end of the track, the band takes one more pass at the main riff of the song.  This must be that very color out of space entering the earth's atmosphere only to land at a lurching halt on poor Nahum Gardner's farm.  Or it could be as the band describe on their website (see link below) as The Color Out of Space landing and ravaging all in its vicinity until all hope seems lost (first 7 minutes), then come three electric warriors who destroy the thing with a wall of sound (return), that final pass at the main riff being the creature's death throes as hope returns to the earth.  I don't know.  Let's just say my interpretation is the correct one.  Musically, one might say it's an expansion and a reversal of the kinds of ideas found in the title track to their previous EP 'One Year', which was about the coming singularity and man's impending machine induced apocalypse.  It's a grim song that left little hope for the future.  "The Color Out of Space" does just the opposite.  Last I heard we have 30 years or so before the singularity actually hits so let's just all put our collective feet up and listen to some excellent tunes in the mean time.

After releasing two terrific EPs in a span of six months I'm very curious to see what this band does next.  It might come sooner or it might come later than we expect but when it comes I'm sure it will knock both expectations and socks off.  Until then there's 'The Color Out of Space', a dark and heavy tour de force by an up and coming band.

Highlights include: "The Dead Still Ride" and "Hexagram"

Rating: 5/5


Total Run Time: 28:38

From: Houston, Texas

Genre: Doom Metal, Psychedelic, Hard Rock, Biker Rock, Space Rock

Reminds me of: One Year EP; Black Sabbath; Death SS; Hawkwind; and is it just me or is there something faintly Black Keys-ish about this band?

Release Date: December 2, 2012

Suggested listening activity for fellow non-stoners: do yourself a favor and don't investigate any fallen meteorites, let the 'authorities' handle them things

The Story of The Color Out of Space

Spectral Haze - ST demo (album review)

Spectral Void are a Heavy Psych band from Oslo, Norway that play "Psyched Out Doom Rock Rituals", according to their own Facebook page.  One might call the style they play "Mood Music for Sorcerers."

"Forging an Astral Void" kicks off with a riff drenched in reverb that recalls "Ego the Living Planet" by Monster Magnet.  Wild calls and howls rain from the smoky astral void as the band moves through a series of improvised sections.

Second number "Kali Magick" is a tremolo heavy slow mover that builds a house of doom from an early electric Muddy Waters / John Lee Hooker delta blues foundation.  The rhythm shambles and thumps through the foetid depths of cyclopean gambrels layered with gibbous effect-laden guitar.  While many bands pay lyrical homage to H.P. Lovecraft, few actually capture the eldritch mood of his stories.

The opening of the next track "Kashf (Gaining Familiarity with Things Unseen Behind the Veils)" takes the mood of "Kali Magic" and does away with the effects, becoming more of a straight ahead slow jam until about five and a half minutes in when the band decides to hook the listener after gaining his trust by turning the eldritch meter up to 11, taking the listener on a journey through unknown Kadath.

"Tribe of the Cosmic Crow Giant" is a blow your hair back cruise through the endless reaches of space in the best Hawkwindian tradition.  It's the most structured song on the 4 track demo for sure, and the go to number for those looking to rock out.

All in all, the demo is successful in capturing a specific mood or theme in sound, that which can be described as 'cosmic sorcery'.  And like fellow Scandinavian psychedelic magicians Saturnalia Temple, they do it earnestly and they do it well.

Highlights include: "Forging an Astral Void" and "Tribe of the Cosmic Crow Giant"

Rating: 4.5/5

Total Run Time: 33:38

From: Oslo, Norway

Genre: Psychedelic, Doom, Sludge, Space Rock, Stoner

Reminds me of: Dr. Strange comics, Hawkwind, Monster Magnet, Saturnalia Temple

Release Date: September 21, 2012

Suggested listening activity for fellow non-stoners: The new (un)official soundtrack for cosmic battles with Baron Mordo, Shuma Gorath or the dread Dormammu!