Sandveiss - Scream Queen (album review)

Cover artwork by Alexandre Goulet.

Review by Love Among Ruins

Newcomers Sandveiss just might have something real special with their full length debut release 'Scream Queen'.  Just released on December 11, the album consists of 8 tracks at just under 40 mins.  Sandveiss is a four piece group that formed just 2 years ago in Quebec City, Canada.  Current members are vocalist & guitarist Luc Bourgeois, with Shawn Rice who is also on guitar and Daniel Girard on bass & the drums are played by Dzemal Trtak.  They released a 4 track EP/Demo CD back in 2012 with the band’s original vocalist François Couture who left the band in May 2013 leaving their only guitarist Bourgeois taking over vocal duties.  At that point the decision was made to bring in a second guitar player and they asked Shawn Rice to join, now completing Sandveiss’ current line-up. Inspired by everything from classic rock to heavy metal bands from the 60’s/70’s/80’s to the stoner rock and doom bands of today.  They say they get their musical influences from bands such as, Black Sabbath, Mountain, Pentagram, The Melvins, Kyuss and Nirvana.

This debut album from Sandveiss is a rather impressive release, and a big surprise as they come flying in under the music radar.  This is the kind of album that gets me excited, and as I heard one person describe it as 'exhilarating'.  It's just a constant throw down of in your face, straight up hard rock. With nice catchy melodies, clean vocals and lots of guitar riffs with a strong rhythm section holding it together very nicely. 

I don't think there is one track I don't like, but there were some real standout moments.  Opening up with a catchy number called "Blindsided" that immediately caught my attention with meaty bass lines and great guitar melodies.  Seriously good vocal delivery by Luc Bourgeois, this guy has the goods! He has clean yet passionate vocals and I would go as far to say I found him to be one of the best vocalists from a debut album that I have heard this year.  I also really enjoyed the track titled "Scar" at about the halfway point is an intense riff-fest showing off their excellent guitar skills.  "Bottomless Lies" my favorite track, with strong grunge influences and what sounds like a Jerry Cantrell lick on the guitar. There is a definite Alice in Chains sound that makes this song a big standout for me and I may just put it in my 'Best Songs of 2013'.

Then closing out this great album is "Green For Good" at 6:23 it is full of all the goods.  Long guitar solos, nice riffs & hooks showing a strong ending to this very impressive album.   Overall, this album sounds like it was produced by a band that has been playing together for years by maintaining that quality of sound and creativeness that is not often found with such a young band. This debut album looks very promising for Sandveiss.  

Highlights include: "Bottomless Lies" and "Blindsided"

Rating: 4.5/5

Tracklist 

1). Blindsided (6:24)
2). Do You Really Know  (4:30)
3). Untie Me  (2:53)
4). Scar  (5:57)
5). The Bomb  (4:16)
6). Bottomless Lies  (4:23)
7). Dead Man Stare  (5:04)
8). Green For Gold  (6:23)

Total Run Time: 39:52

Members:

Luc Bourgeois - Vocals & Guitar

Shawn Rice - Guitar

Daniel Girard - Bass

Dzemal Trtak - Drums

From: Quebec City, QC

Genre: Stoner, Grunge, Hard Rock

Reminds me of: Alice in Chains, Buffalo Theory MTL, Death Ape Disco, Tsar Bomba

Release Date: December 8, 2013

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SautruS - Kuelmaggah Mysticism: The Prologue (album review)

One of the many lessons I learned in 2012 was to pay close and particular attention to the Polish underground stoner/doom scene.  With bands like Snake Thursday, O.D.R.A, Dopelord and Satellite Beaver destroying ear drums the country's underground scene is very healthy.  SautruS follow in the wake of these great bands and set their own path.  Their four song EP showcases the band's heavy brand of progressive stoner rock that is far reaching and monumental.

"Seed" is a grunge rock by way of the desert slow cooker in which vocalist Weno Winter's Maynard-esque vocals provide the song and much of the four song EP with a Tool-like feel.  The musicians in the band (Michal Nowak - guitar, Adrian Formela - bass and Arek Bogulski - drums) do their fair share of lending the songs that epic feeling as well with psychedelic explorations and swirling sandstorm desert rock atmospherics.  Descending riffs, softly marching drums, bludgeoning syncopation and casually sung yet highly talented double tracked vocals create a strong identity for the quartet, showing great promise.  The second track is made up of two sections, "The Blackest Hole / Black Hole".  "The Blackest Hole" sets things in motion with percussive atmospherics, droney vibes and slithering whispers spilled out from beyond the veil of reality.  Halfway through the band gives the listener a glimpse of what's on the other side of the black hole, emerging into a slowly rotating tubular red world as they launch into the menacing riff of "Black Hole".  The restraint shown by the band's propensity to slow things down lends the song a slow-driving and doomy gravitas that the band wears well.  Slicing throbby riffs and an evil drone lead the listener through the other end of the tunnel onto the deck of a bobbing sailboat in coldest space as the mood spills over onto what is ostensibly the title cut "Kuelmaggah Part 1" which is even slower and doomier.

Buzzsaw doom and stuttering syncopation combine with a grunge feel and desert rock moments to create a mini-opera of the evil Captain Robin Goodfellow's Adventures in Outer Space as steampunk space opera feelings pervade this track.  Voices drone and drift across the void.  Once again, Weno takes center stage, the band serving to frame him perfectly, never overshadowing his performance, letting the riffs rings out during his verses, building up during the short breaks between lines.  It's a wise decision to make and I think they know what kind of a talent they have in him.  Weno continues that Maynard feel on closing track "Motheria", without being a clonish copy.  It's a mournful tune sung with a deep yearning or regret.  It's the most somber and reflective song of the bunch.  Though I'd wager the doomier songs have a lower BPM rate, the overall mood makes this song feel like the slowest on the album.  SautruS is a rare band, not unlike Tool or even Pink Floyd that can gain strength, power and momentum by slowing down.  It's contrary to science but somehow they get it done.

There's no doubt that the major draw here is Weno Winter.  His voice is the star of the show and dominates the four songs and with a subtle assist from his bandmates provides much of what makes this EP memorable.  This band is less about catchy riffs and more about creating damp gas-lit atmospheres and they are blessed with a vocalist to match their sobering moods.

The EP's title 'Kuelmaggah Mysticism: The Prologue' is hopefully a sign of things to come, if this is truly a prologue then a full-length album of this kind of material could be something truly special.  I think a lot about time and though 24 minutes is a healthy length for a four song EP and the songs certainly feel like complete statements that take the listener, here and there, without having to go absolutely everywhere all at once to get the point across, overall it goes by in a flash, as time is wont to do when one is enjoying oneself.

Highlights include: "Seed" and "Motheria"

Rating: 4/5
Total Run Time: 24:09

From: Starogard Gdański, Poland

Genre: Stoner Rock, Metal, Blues, Prog, Grunge

Reminds me of: Cube, DSW, From Beyond, Tool, Year of the Goat

Release Date: October 3, 2012

Suggested listening activity for fellow non-stoners: The great wooden ship bobbed up and down on the stellar wind, cleaving radiation and deflecting meteorites.  The captain folded his telescope and stuffed it into his inner coat pocket and said "Three sheets up, men.  Been seven hundred years with no word of communication but by Poseidon's beard we're almost home now."  As the crew busied themselves with their various tasks, longing eyes glancing over drooped shoulders, they felt the desolation in their captain's voice.  Ahead of the ship, the red and grey orb expanded before their eyes like the approaching probe of some cold and unsympathetic alien race.  Earth was in flames.

Cube - ST (album review)

Listen, I do it, you do it, we all do it.  I think I had the same reaction as a lot of other people did upon seeing this album cover.  I judged it.  I judged this album by its cover.  I admit it.  It looks like it would be post-Radiohead, electronica influenced ... stuff that I'm not into.  What you get, however, is a damn funky collection of grunge inflected stoner rock.

Opening track "Drive" sets a high standard for the rest of the album to follow with its 70s inspired rolling riff that gives way to a heavy funk rhythm and stonerisms.  The chorus treats listeners to a glimpse of Tool inspired syncopation and aggression.  As a middle 8 section the band goes off on an impressive space / desert rock tangent.  One song in and the band has displayed an impressive array of styles and skill.  This song is what the band is all about and is the perfect preview for what the rest of the album is like.  But you won't want to stop there.  "Charge" feedbacks into a Kim Thayil style riff, grooving through the verse into a tough funk workout in the chorus and keeps building up, the band moving from strength to strength, bitter lyrics and a tasteful use of double kick ups the excitement factor continuously.  "Perfect Monkey" takes the stonerisms and heavy accent on funk and kicks it into warp drive.

"Mass Confusion" finds the band expanding on the album's sonic foundations, carefully laid in the first three tracks.  Breaking down and building back up when the time is right, then veering off into unexplored territory.  It's an adventurous song that begins to show more signs of progressive leanings via Undertow / Aenima era Tool.  A riff rings off serenely while tortured multi-tracked vocals cry out hopelessly in the distance.  The bass sound of Cube's Gaz Thre is particularly akin to that of Justin Chancellor and Flea when the time comes, it's a woody, oaken sound.  "Mass Confusion" is a darker side of the band that also shows expression in the aptly titled follow-up track "Noir".  Though not as experimental as the previous track, the band finds the darker side with lower tones and slower rhythms.

"Oblique" takes references of early era Tool hinted at in "Mass Confusion" and expands upon them.  Syncopated rhythms, bass as lead, wispy guitar wailing away in the ether, tom heavy pounding beats paint a very progressive picture.  With their pedigree in funk Cube does the progressive thing naturally, they do it succinctly and they do it well.  By the time the song finishes you wish they had done more like this one.

If there were any lingering doubt whatsoever about a Red Hot Chili Peppers influence, those doubts are squashed by the unexpectedly epic "Grooves From Outer Space", with the band's use of funky wah guitars and slap bass the RHCP point of reference seems blatant, but this may just be due to this writer's ignorance.  I've heard Led Zeppelin do the same kind of thing, too, you know.  Cube describe themselves as a funk band and the label comes across no clearer than in this one.  There is a surprise though, as the last half of the six minute track is more suited musically to the song's title.  It's a complete turn around in sound and atmosphere and it could almost be two different tracks.  The transition into the next and final song, "Sleep Away", however, is necessary to maintain a strong flow to the album and to not have "Grooves..." isolated stylistically, which would make the song a veritable sore thumb.  The transition then is perfectly executed.  "Sleep" is a musical companion to "Noir" in the darker state of the band, something they do very well.

Cube's self-titled album makes a loud and often angry and politically charged statement, a reflection of the current state of their home as they see it.  Greece is going through hard times which seem to have no end in sight, but they say hard times breed good music and in this case, that adage certainly holds true.

Highlights include: "Charge" and "Perfect Monkey"

Rating: 4/5


Total Run Time: 43:52

From: Athens, Greece

Genre: Stoner, Funk, Grunge

Reminds me of: Black Rainbows, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Soundcrawler, Soundgarden, early Tool

Release Date: June 30, 2012

Suggested listening activity for fellow non-stoners: the soundtrack to the life and times of Captain James T. Kirk, at various times funky, aggressive and spaced out.

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Soundgarden - King Animal (album review)

Indulge me for a moment in a trip down memory lane.  I think any of us interested in this album will be in that neighborhood anyway.  Soundgarden was the first band that I liked.  Not my uncles, not my brother, not my parents or friends.  They were my band.  I saw the music video for "Rusty Cage" and I took a chance and decided to like them without peer approval.  It was a pivotal moment that set the tone for my future.  I thought they had a tough, edgy sound and they were heavy, which was a pre-requisite.  I was too embarrassed to talk the band up though, because I thought the name sounded kind of weak and girly with that 'garden' in there.  Then 'Superunknown' came out and that (along with Stone Temple Pilots 'Purple') was my Grade 7.  Point is, I'll always have that special affinity for Soundgarden, after all, they are my band.

Needless to say, I had some expectations going in.  I was expecting maybe two or three ragers like the lead single "Been Away Too Long", but nowhere near as exciting, and a couple ballads with a lot of middle of the road pop fare.  Not because that's what Soundgarden is known for, but because I was sorely disappointed with 'Down on the Upside' and with Chris Cornell's solo stuff (probably just because it wasn't Soundgarden-y, rather than judging it on its own merit) ... and well, life is just usually disappointing isn't it?

I was struck how genuinely Soundgarden this album is, how they managed to pick things up after some 16 years without missing a beat is remarkable.  Actually, my first impression was that they picked up right where 'Badmotorfinger' left off, much as I loved 'Superunknown' when it came out, I realized with hindsight how much of a departure the album really was.  I initially thought that this is probably the album 'Superunknown' should have been.  As I kept listening however, I realized just how post-'Down on the Upside' this really was.

One can see how I got the wrong impression as the first three tracks are deceptively heavy.  "By Crooked Steps" in particular has that 'Badmotofinger' feel to it, with an ethereally wailing guitar floating like smoke aside a chugging, churning bass line atop a solid and funky beat with plenty of splash.  "Black Saturday" is the most 'Superunknown-ish' song, starting out as a nice acoustic piece that ramps up to a heavy down tempo showcase of the band's darker side.  The song even nearly directly quotes from that album on guitar during the later verses and there are other touches of 'Badmotorfinger' as well, particularly with the horns in the chorus.  This could have been the defining moment of the album, right there when the horns kick in, blending various elements of the 91-94 era together seamlessly, but it isn't.

But as the album plays on and the momentum gained on the first three tracks is relentlessly tripped up by slower songs like "Bones of Birds" (which is a song I know other people like) and light weight fare such as "Halfway There", I began to realize this was not the return to the golden age I was hoping for.  To be fair though, there's not a lot of these kind of songs and most of the slower ones are more dark than slow, as are the slower moments on 'Superunknown'.  "Rowing" is one that reminds me of the good parts of 'Down on the Upside' album with its more experimental composition, it's a good song with a catchy vocal melody that 'Down on the Upside' would have been well served to feature.

I may be giving the wrong impression here.  I don't dislike this album.  There are some great moments spread throughout the album, particularly on the first half of the record.  Why?  Because these are the heavier, more uptempo moments that I was looking forward to hearing.  John Garcia said it all about slow songs in "Thong Song".

Long story short, the album largely met my somewhat low expectations but it rocks just a bit more than I was expecting in places and I'm happy about that.  Not everybody is going to dig every moment on this album, but there are plenty of memorable moments here, particularly some hooks that will get caught in your head such as in "Eyelids Mouth" and "Rowing".  The more rocking moments on the album come courtesy of the lead single "Been Away Too Long", "Attrition", "By Crooked Steps" and "Blood on the Valley Floor" among arguably a few others.  Guitarist Kim Thayil and bassist Ben Sheppard are in fine vintage form.  Drummer Matt Cameron holds this thing together and toughens up the band's ethereal sound with his solid backbeat, which won't come as news to longtime fans.  He always gives a song a little more than what it needs to get by, stepping it up from being good to being memorable.  And Chris Cornell often gets back to that hard to emulate strained-voice / raspy style of singing that fans know and love.  It's those moments where they stray from those aspects that I find disappointing.

I guess Chris Cornell said it best when he sings, tellingly, the very first lines on the album "You can't go home, no I swear you never can."

In total, there are more "Been Away Too Long"s (rager) than "Halfway There"s (middle-of-the-road pop).  But perhaps a few too many of the latter for comfort.

It's hard to accept an album on its own merits rather than comparing it to what's come before from a band you've known and loved a long time.  An album should be judged on its own merits, this one has its fair share, but after a few spins I'm starting to feel like this is the kind of album where I'll pick out a few songs here and there rather than play the album straight through over and over.  King Animal is a good album but I wonder if I'm judging this thing on its own merits or if I was just too excited that there was new Soundgarden and instead of 'allowing' the band to age gracefully, I hammered them down under the weight of my own expectations.  I guess I expect a little too much from Soundgarden.

After all, they are my band.

Highlights include: "Been Away Too Long" and "Blood on the Valley Floor"

Rating: 3.5/5

From: Seattle, Washington

Genre: Hard Rock, Grunge, Psychedelic, Metal, Punk

Reminds me of: Down on the Upside, Superunknown, hints of Badmotorfinger and Audioslave.


Tracklist
1). Been Away Too Long (3:36)
2). Non-State Actor (3:57)
3). By Crooked Steps (4:00)
4). A Thousand Days Before (4:23)
5). Blood On The Valley Floor (3:48)
6). Bones of Birds (4:22)
7). Taree (3:38)
8). Attrition (2:52)
9). Black Saturday (3:29)
10). Halfway There (3:16)
11). Worse Dreams (4:53)
12). Eyelids Mouth (4:39)
13). Rowing (5:06)
Total Run Time: 51:59

Release Date: November 13, 2012

Suggested listening activity for fellow non-stoners: Trying to forget all the embarrassing shit you said and did in high school while maintaining the myth that you were one of the cool ones.

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