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

GET IT HERE

You can also find 'Heady Mental' on itunes.

Old Man Wizard - Unfavorable (album review)

Cover artwork by Valin Mattheis.

When I get up on that old pale horse and ride to my final showdown with the grim reaper at high noon, Old Man Wizard's debut album, 'Unfavorable' would make an appropriate soundtrack to play 'on screen'.  Why?  Because the prog meets cowboy sounds in this here six gun LP blast just the right feel to sum up a life that has been both on the range (read: on the fringes of society) and frazzled in endlessly, overly-complex thought to chew through sleep with a voracious appetite (ie: progginess).  That, and there's a renaissance fair feel that creeps in to add a dash of whimsy which would make for as good a soundtrack to the final showdown as is possible.

That also seems like a good starting point to summarize the sounds on 'Unfavorable'.  Imagine the Man-With-No-Name riding through a heat shimmered desert ... and emerging out the other side of it to come upon a misty-shrouded castle in a lake.  Old Man Wizard strikes a balance between six shooters and sorcery, cacti and moats, saloons and dungeons.  Now imagine that 'film' set to a seventies prog rock score and you ought to get the picture.  Only, let's remove Clint Eastwood from the role of hero, and go with Sean Connery a la Zardoz and we're right where we want to be.  Yeah, that's the ticket.

The album starts out with a pair of cowboy tunes.  "The Highwayman" kicks things off with a spaghetti western march before spilling into a mess of punk tempos.  The remarkable thing here is the way main man Francis Roberts and co. can bring things back around to a cowboy feel for the chorus.  Next up, later that night, the campfire still aglow, the imaginary cowboy sits against a flat rock eating his can of beans as the slow ballad "If Only" plays.  This is also the place where the 'Wizard' part of the band name begins to take form with it's Old English ballad melody.

"Nightmare Rider" takes the peaceful feelings of "If Only" and trots all over them like so many dead leaves.  It actually reminds me of that scene in the animated version of Lord of the Rings where they have to hide in the roots of the old tree from the Black Rider.  Anyone remember that one?  Classic.  "Nightmare Rider" captures that feel with thick, heavy and dark tones punctuated by exuberant melody.  It's a study in storytelling, the music evoking the strong imagery told in the lyrics like ectoplasmic vapor arising from a tombstone.

"The Bearded Fool" has long been a favorite at Paranoid Hitsophrenic as it was released some months ago on bandcamp backed with "Traveler's Lament".  The explosive riffs of "Bearded Fool" are embellished with eerie synth-work.  The whole thing's got a Yes feel, only with deeper vocals and about a tenth of the song length.  It's a great song that rewards endlessly on repeat plays.  It's b-side companion is the folkiest number among the bunch.  It also has a classic Brit pop psych otherwordliness to the performances and lyrics.  This is the moment when our wizard-hat cowboy rides into the misty moor and finds the damsel fair captive in the castle tower.  Or maybe a cave near the entrance of mist-shrouded Olympus.  Either way, this is mythological music.

I had the great pleasure of premiering the last track on this album, "Forevermore" at the beginning of the month (find it right here), so I was able to discuss it briefly then.  As an album closer, it leaves the listener bruised and hungry for more.  Groovy as hell.  I love it.  And this is right when the Grim Reaper and I are standing back to back, about to take our ten paces.  And as you're watching the scene play out, you just know that your wizard-hatted hero (okay not Sean Connery after all, but me with a mustache and no beard and in the Zardozian bandolier [now try not to imagine it, haha!]) will not survive this duel.  No one does.  And yet, it's hard to imagine a more heroic stance to take, a more fitting final scene or a better, more suitable soundtrack playing.

This is 'desert rock' in the truest sense of the term (well, except for an actual stone from the desert), spaghetti western sounds braided with the mirage-induced imagery of fantasy by way of classic ballad like melodies and proggy punctuations.  The horseback riders in this story substitute crescent moon-speckled wizard hats in place of stetsons, the wizards substitute pistols for wands but there is no substitute for a great tune.  'Unfavorable' has six of them.

The full six track album will be released on vinyl and as a digital download on November 1 on bandcamp, but you can pre-order the album right now and walk away with "The Bearded Fool" and "Traveler's Lament".  There's also other goodies on the bandcamp page as well, like t-shirts and things.  Just click the links on the player below to have a look.

Highlights include: "The Bearded Fool" and "The Highwayman"

Rating: 4/5


Total Run Time: 31:27

From: San Diego, California

Genre: Prog, Stoner, Folk, Hard Rock

Reminds me of: Corsair, Ennio Morricone, Excalibur, The Gunslinger, The Holy Grail, Montenegro, Tumbleweed Dealer, Yes, Zardoz

Release Date: November 1, 2013

Old Man Wizard on facebook

Spirits of the Dead - Rumours of a Presence (album review)

Norway's been on fire in the doom / stoner underground this year.  From Devil to High Priest of Saturn to Dunbarrow to Magister Templi to Brutus and now Spirits of the Dead, the quality of the Norse underground is as high as it is diverse (just look at this sampling!).  This should come as no surprise though.  The Western tradition of a Hellish underworld derives largely from Greek myths set in a place called Hades and Norse tradition of Hel, land of the dead.  It's from this world that we travel, along with four certain spirits, to the balmier climes of the land of Miðgarðr and this Norwegian quartet's latest album 'Rumours of a Presence'.  According to my intel, this is the band's third album, which 'sounds' about right due to the comfort level and commanding presence the band appears to wield on record (and it's not just a rumour).  Then again, this is my first exposure to the band which came about after a rather vociferous campaign of recommendations from a certain Fast n Bulbous reviewer, it finally came time to say "alright, alright already!  I'll check it out!"  So here we are.

First off, this is Rock with a classic feel but an updated sound, similar perhaps to everything else but unlike anything you've heard.  Spirits of the Dead are breaking molds, seeming to have hit upon a winning formula that separates them from the pack of Scandanavian Retro Rockers.  It's amazing, the more of these throw-back kind of bands I discover from Northern Europe, the more I'm amazed that they not only don't all sound alike, but they are all actually extremely unique and bring their own little something to the party.

For Spirits of the Dead, that little something is the ghost of the early Prog groups from the late sixties.  Bands like Barclay James Harvest, Motherlight, Vandergraaf Generator and Caravan are referenced here not so much in sound but in tone and mood.  It should be noted here that Spirits of the Dead's music wallows in darkness.  Moody nearly to a fault, the band is never afraid to drop the hammer down on moonlit instrumental segments while the drummer phases in and out of the listener's consciousness lightly tapping his drums and sinking into the shadows of the background.  In and around the dark moodiness are heavy passages that seem almost chaotic in comparison, despite their highly ordered (syncopated) composition.  It's like watching a pack of prey animals trying to sneak away from a pack of big cats under the moonlit grass of the Savannah.  They never quite make it off the plain alive, but all we see in the chaos are the grass blades whipping by this way and that, while a lot of furious activity takes place, obscured and out of focus.  This band has the ability to devastate a listener, leave them agape, let them think about it for awhile, then when they're about to recover to shake the shit out of them all over again.

"Rumours of New Presence" brings home that early album proggy feeling with a lighter or, should we say a more wistful touch.  Nearly Pink Floydian in feel, but never quite going down that route in terms of sound, it's a mood that largely takes over the second side of the album, lending an altogether folkier edge to the affair.  In fact, with the exception of "Red Death" there's hardly a heavy moment on Side B, although that song's undeniable crunchiness more than makes up for it.

It's an interesting and unexpected running order.  The opening trio of songs leads one to believe that this is an album with a one track mind, and that mind is set on rocking.  But when the record is flipped over, you realize that 'Rumours of a Presence' is actually two albums with one track minds, the second side set on folking around in a psychedelic manner.  On the balance, it's a good record and both sides deliver the high quality goods.  It's this touch of bipolar madness which makes it the perfect addition to the Paranoid library.

Highlights include: "Wheels of the World" and "Rumours of New Presence"

Rating: 4/5


Tracklist:
1). Wheels of the World (4:53)
2). Song of Many Reefs (6:55)
3). Golden Sun (4:30)
4). Dance of the Dead (1:35)
5). Rumours of New Presence (4:48)
6). Red Death (6:29)
7). Seaweed (4:07)
8). Oceanus (7:36)
Total Run Time: 40:46

Geir Thorstensen - Drums

Ole Øvstedal - Guitar

Ragnar Vikse - Vocal

Kristian Hultgren - Bass

From: Oslo, Norway

Genre: Hard Rock, Prog, Folk

Reminds me of: Barclay James Harvest, Brutus, Led Zeppelin, Vidunder, Year of the Goat

Release Date: June 25, 2013

Better Reviews:
Fast n Bulbous
Sludgelord
Sea of Tranquility

Official website
Spirits of the Dead on facebook

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Werewolves in Siberia - The Rising (album review)

When I'm not reviewing albums or interviewing bands and musicians, I write fiction, specifically horror fiction.  Writing fiction without music is like building with bricks and no mortar.  To me, Doom is the music of horror and that's one of the reasons I got hooked on the stuff in the first place.  Now, most bands within the Doom genre don't often directly borrow elements from Goblin, John Carpenter or Mike Oldfield (although some do), the horror in Doom is a manifestation of fear and morbid musings.  The bands within it often push the music of horror into new places and dimensions.  Werewolves in Siberia does not fall within the genre of doom, nor does it fall under any of its various subgenre, but, from a purely retrospective point of view, it represents the purest strain of horror music one can encounter.  Werewolves in Siberia is a one-man horror synth project out of Idaho.  Chris Cavoretto, the man-wolf from Siberia (by way of Idaho) behind the music, comes from the worlds of metal and hardcore and slathers his compositions in those sensibilities.  Fans of late seventies / early eighties horror films and their soundtracks will find a lot to love in his latest offering, 'The Rising'.

There are other electro horror synth artists out there that one can find on bandcamp: Umberto and Giallo Disco stir from the same pool of inspiration, but Werewolves in Siberia separate themselves from the pack.  Even within this weird subgenre they are different.  Where those other artists can be labelled as IDM with a dark twist, Werewolves is pure darkness with an electronic twist.  The visions of Dario Argento, Lucio Fulci, Don Coscarelli and George Romero are the very substance of 'The Rising'.  What makes Werewolves worthy of your attention as a Paranoid Hitsophrenic reader are the metallic touches Cavoretto brings to the table, most notably on "Destruction".  Heavy bass synth that at times recalls the most violent tones and textures of Nine Inch Nails' "Pretty Hate Machine" while attaining an iconic hook.

"The Hunt for Humans" is a fine example of how the music will grow and mutate from a basic idea or framework into something more complex and ultimately more horrible.  Use of solid drumming, of which Cavoretto statesis the one element of this project he considers to be directly influenced by his metal roots, increases tension, gives it a high 'danger factor' and grounds this mostly digital creation in a solid reality.  In this way, the music itself illuminates the name of the band, where slow building music becomes a living metaphor for lycanthropic transformation.

"Night of the Flesheaters" and "Blood Moon" keep things moving along this same track.  Ever-expanding darkness and ever-increasing tension.   As each song starts, one often gets the mental impression of a small group of survivors huddled together in a stairwell exit or tomb or forest etc., the song structure itself then becomes a study in the imaginary characters not quite making their collective escapes.  That's what kind of album this is.  There is no happy ending here.

Of course, it's this image-making, however bleak, which is the real appeal of this album.  The truth is, had such horror luminaries as those directors listed above not enlisted the aid of such composers as Goblin for example, this kind of album would hold no charms for rock and metal people.  As it is I can't recommend Umberto and Giallo Disco here because their sounds, though inspired by the very same horror films and soundtracks of the seventies as WIS, are simply too bright and dance oriented.  Thankfully, Werewolves in Siberia's vision is as pure and unrelenting as it is dark.  'The Rising' will not inspire you to dance, 'The Rising' will inspire you to turn all the lights on and lock all the doors and windows.

I don't need to tell you, this kind of thing is not to everyone's taste, but it is to mine.  I love the horror films and their soundtracks that were coming out around the time I was born and just before.  This was the genre's peak.  'The Rising' represents a return to the summit for frightening instrumental synth music.  This album is a flame thrower to the kerosene of imagination.  'The Rising' is pure horror music.

Highlights include: "Destruction" and "Blood Moon"

Rating: 4/5


Total Run Time: 28:20

From: Siberia, Idaho

Genre: Horror, Synth, Electronic

Reminds me of: Blizaro, John Carpenter, Giallo Disco, Goblin, Northwinds, Qosmic Qey, Umberto

Release Date: March 12, 2013

Better Reviews:
UK Horror Scene

Zombie Hamster interview*

Werewolves in Siberia official website

Werewolves in Siberia on facebook

*special thanks to Zombie Hamster website for introducing a rich world of synth driven horror music to me through this interview!

Northwinds - Winter (album reviews)

Northwinds most recent album 'Winter' came out over a year ago but it's new to me and most likely it will be new to some of you out there.  However, the band is anything but new.  They've been kicking around for some 25 years or so now in one form or another, existing in large part in a virtual ghetto of doom in their home and native land of France.  But four full-length albums into their career and they remain undeterred in their aims, 'Winter' is all the better for it as I contend that it's this apparent Sisyphusian battle which has helped shape, inspire and spark the overall tone and themes of the album.

Themes of aging, slowing down and deterioration are clear and present without being overstated.  The album title 'Winter' alone gives one an idea of the thematic content found inside.  Cold happens when molecules slow down in their vital vibrations begind to shudder to a halt until atrophy sets in, when this happens, living organisms slow down and ultimately stiffen, collapse and die.  The intro "Turned To Stone" and later Angel Witch cover track "Gorgon" seem to symbolize the ultimate expression of these ideas and the logical conclusion of the state of 'cold' or 'winter'.  How much of this is "thematic statement" and how much is simply the band wanting to do an Angel Witch cover inspired by the 1964 Hammer film of the same name is debatable but the intro gives a clue that the band was clearly thinking about these themes rather carefully.

Other wintry feelings are provided by cold and distant atmospheres laid down by the keyboards.  This may be the most interesting and memorable element of the band.  Horror film soundtrack elements from the late eighties / early nineties lay a dark foundation for a decidedly intimate setting when the music opens up into seventies prog soundscapes for the verse.  This technique is used to amazing effect on "Land of the Dead" and "Black Tower" and it never ceases to heighten the mood of any of the songs on 'Winter'.  The prog elements are neither mathy nor overly layered with disparate elements and skyscraper song structures but contain a sensibility.  Moods materialize out of an ultimately laidback feeling from the guitars and vocals meeting with a powerful and energetic rhythm section.  Of course, 'Winter' is not a one note kind of album.

Northwinds are veterans and understand the energy that ought to go into each section of music and provide it accordingly with a deft hand.  As for the songs themselves, you'd be hard pressed to pick out one or two that standout above the others, but again, this isn't because all the songs sound alike.  Each song is incredibly different from the others.  The constants of style and 'voice' the band utilizes are durable, but also elastic and malleable.  No two songs sound alike, but I suspect if you like any one of them you'll like all the others due to the strong identity of the band.  "Last Chance" and the 22 minute epic title track "Winter" have Sabbath-like riffs and vibes while "Gorgon" and "Clear Windowpane" have more rocky elements and are just otherwise unlike anything else you'll hear within the genre of doom.  The latter Saint Vitus cover in particular is incredible.  Northwinds Infuses the song not only with funk elements but also with their own trademark keyboard laden atmospheres, this is the way cover versions are meant to be.  Take a song and make it your own.  As always, especially with "Gorgon", the emphasis is on instituting a cold and otherworldly atmosphere setting up the band for their knock out punch of energy, storytelling and melody.  "Winter" is a masterclass of combining the hell hot riffs of Sabbath with the moon cold soundscapes of Pink Floyd, throughout it all however Northwinds maintains that strong individual identity.

From the brief itunes clips I've heard up to this point of the rest of the band's recorded legacy, 'Winter' sounds like a punctuation of the various elements the band has incorporated into their sound over the years.  Much like the Maryland Doom masters Revelation, Northwinds started off as a fairly traditional metal band and has slowly over the years added layers of doomy progression and instrumental experimentation.  But, near as I can tell, there isn't much either within Northwinds' back catalogue nor within the entire oeuvre of doom that prepares the listener for this.

It's been said, the band have another album in the hopper called 'Eternal Winter' which will act as a companion to this one.  I for one am excited to hear it and to see how it compliments this album musically, if at all.  'Winter' is an excellent album, if you're a new fan, like me, or haven't yet had the privilege to listen to the band, this is a fine statement of atmosphere, tone, mood, riffs and individualistic identity.

Highlights include: "Black Tower" and "Land of the Dead"

Rating: 4/5



Tracklist:
1). Turned to Stone (2:05)
2). Land of the Dead (7:02)
3). Last Chance (9:22)
4). Gorgon (6:23)
5). Black Tower (5:30)
6). Winter (22:03)
7). Clear Windowpane (3:24)
Total Run Time: 55:44

From: Paris, France

Genre: Prog, Doom

Reminds me of: Blizaro, Revelation

Release Date: May 4, 2012

Better Reviews:
Doommantia

Northwinds on facebook

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Album cover artwork inspired by 'Abbey in an Oak Forest' (1809) by Caspar David Friedrich

Fair Warning! Don't Miss ... Liblikas - Wooden Spaceship

Album cover artwork by Erik Illaste.

I'll be reviewing this album for Stoner Hive and it should be posted shortly on that fine website, so make sure you check it repeatedly and with an almost ravenous appetite at least once every five minutes from now until you see the post over there.  SPOILER ALERT: This is one fine, mind-bending record!  Just look at that artwork.  It gave you an acid flashback didn't it?  As for how this band ranks I can honestly say that they'd be my favorite Estonian band even if I knew of any other Estonian band because their music is so crazy.    I'll let the band tell the rest of their story for now (but remember to check out the Stoner Hive for my review and for kicks):

BIO:
"A Psychedelic-Progressive metal band called "Liblikas" from Estonia, that can be described as having influences from Stoner rock, Sludge metal, Thrash metal and occasionally Jazz. Of our many influences, it would probably be most appropriate to bring out Mastodon, Baroness, The Sword and probably Frank Zappa and King Crimson. We have been active and doing gigs for about a year now, although the songs have been in the making for almost three years. The band convened in 2010 and the first 18 months were a period of experimenting and finding that own special niche. The original idea was to make all-out old-school thrash metal, but as our minds broadened, we realized it did not make an awful lot of sense to remain stuck in one genre if we could mix all the wonderful styles we love together. The band name "Liblikas" is the Estonian word for "butterfly". A creature with a hideous and revolting body who only becomes beautiful with the addition of a set of colorful wings. We have been doing gigs together with some local bands for the past year or so. Since the particular scene in Estonia is rather small-scale, we are trying to widen the scene in Estonia and share our music with the rest of the world. This Saturday we are going to have our album presentation event in Tartu, Estonia supported by bands such as Smõuk, Crystal Cloisters and Luna Vulgaris.

"Just recently we released our first full-length album "Wooden Spaceship" on bandcamp.com. „Wooden Spaceship“ could be defined as a concept-album. It tells the story of a man who awakes to find himself in our bewildered world, with no recollection of his past, trying desperately to get his innocent and unwitting head around the everyday proceedings of a world hell-bent on needless hustle and haste, a world he now finds himself stranded in. Over the course of his journey, he lives through a wide spectrum of emotions never felt before: amazement, insanity,love, panic. Eventually finding it all a little too much to bear, he flies away into the peaceful space."

This is a "pay-what-you-want" deal on bandcamp, which you can get to by clicking the links on the player below!  Once again, this is some fine, crazy ass stuff: crazy progressive and crazy heavy!

 

Liblikas on facebook

Artaius - The Fifth Season (album review)

My attitude going into this one was that I never understood the genre classification 'folk metal'.  It seems no two musical ideas could be more diametrically opposed.  Folk is folk and metal is metal and the twain shall never meet.  Folk has nothing to do with blast beats and everything to do with the traditional, regional music that the local folk (of whatever region) have played long before there were such things as recording studios, pro tools and pitch correction software.  If the term folk metal is applied to music exhibiting the traditional qualities of metal then it should simply be called Heavy Metal or Traditional Metal.  If it's metal in a naturalistic setting, that is, the kind of music people play socially when just getting together to jam and play, the sounds produced would be nothing like the music that gets the 'folk metal' tag slapped on it.  If the term has arisen out of an apparent wedding of folk music with metal well, I simply don't hear the 'folk' part of it.  Folk music is not simply what springs up from the archaic instruments associated with it.

So maybe I was getting off on the wrong foot here.  Looking at Artaius, an Italian band, who consider themselves to be a part of this genre, have released their debut full-length via Moonlight Records.  I would say a more accurate description of the band would be Progressive rather than folk.  There are flutes and stringed instruments you play with bows and yes, there's even the odd chord progression one would associate with traditional music.  Flutes always evoke an image of the very forests that are the physical origin of the instrument's creation.  It's an almost supernaturally spiritual connection that is unavoidable and somehow beautifully life (or creation) affirming.  But these forest feelings are swept aside by the choking exhaust of space-age keyboards that make their striking first appearance early on opening track "Make The Iguana".

Fiddles and wood-chopping guitars get a rhythmic assist from some snakily zipping keyboards, spilling out into seventies smooth jazz with funk flourishes on "Over The Edge".  Got all that?  The entire album is draped  in this sort of crazy quilt of styles.  It would be so easy for Artaius to get hamfisted and crash right through the delicate lattice work they've set up by trying too hard to be different.  However, there's an undeniable genuineness to the overall sound, something natural in the coming together of the various influences found within.  Still, while the beautiful female vocals and male death metal grunts sing in "harmony" on this track, bringing to mind perhaps early Paradise Lost circa 'Gothic', one can't help but smile wryly at the effort nonetheless.  But despite the progressive overtones and challenging clash of styles this album isn't all about busting out the calculator and bursting brain vessels, there are moments of true neck breaking headbangery on display spread throughout the length of the album.  Amazingly, these moments are often underscored by flute or fiddle accompaniment, who the hell would have ever expected to headbang or mosh to that?  Folk Metal people I suppose.

It's not until about the time that "Prophecy" rolls across the speakers (about halfway through the album) that this thing comes together for the listener.  You've heard the pitch, you've sampled the introduction, now you have the proof of concept.  Here the band serve up their thickest cuts of riffs, dark as the acid trippin' pupil of Robin Goodfellow (sticking with the 'folk' theme), undeniably ear-watering (haha ... gross) and unrepentantly heavy, yes even the flute (yummy).  This is the point at which the album makes the most sense on first listen and paves the way for your ears to feast during the final stretch, the four winds suite and it's precursor "La Vergine E Il Lupo", which has a 2001: A Space Odyssey set in a Celtic forest vibe to it.

As I alluded to the last four tracks make up a 16 minute 'Wind' suite.  The styles of the band fall into place once again on "Wind of Revenge", revisiting that dark edge that gives this band such potential to become something truly special.

So has Artaius made me re-think my position on the supposed subgenre of folk metal?  No, not at all.  I still contend that this is prog music, complete with polyrhythms and formulae defying song structures.  But that's besides the point, because at the end of the day this is just metal, any further splintering of classification could only serve to dilute its impact on the listener.

Highlights include: "Prophecy" and "Wind of Revenge"

Rating: 3.5/5

Total Run Time: 50:29

Sara Cucci (Voice)
Andrea La Torre (Guitar/Growl)
Giovanni Grandi (Keyboard/Synth/Scream)
Enrico Bertoni (Bass Guitar)
Mia Spattini (Violin/Whistle)
Alessandro Ludwig Agati (Drums/Percussions)

From: Sassuolo, Italy

Genre: Metal, Progressive

Reminds me of: Lord of the Rings, Paradise Lost

Release Date: April 10, 2013

Suggested listening activity for fellow non-stoners: Finding the Mordor in your own backyard.

Better Review:
Sea of Tranquility
Prog Metal Zone
Skullbanger
Folk-Metal.nl

Artaius facebook

The Alchemical Mixture - llord & Lord Summerisle (album reviews)

Lord Summerisle - Demo

From: Barcelona, Spain.  Highlights include: "Pare Huarg" and

"Ocellót".  Rating: 4.5/5.  Release Date: January 7, 2013.

A couple months ago I wrote a review for an amazing multi-media project by the band Midnight Zombie Alligator called 'Nova Sico' (go ahead and check it out).  It's an incredible mix of stoner doom and sludge with film soundtrack elements about a zombie apocalypse and one man's journey to find a cure.  The band combined audio with visual and written elements to create an overwhelmingly successful project.  A short while later I wrote a review of a three song demo by progressive trio Lord Summerisle for Stoner Hive (read it here).  It turns David Trillo who provides guitar and vocals for MZA does the same for Lord Summerisle as well.  I had no idea!  But that's not even the end of it, not content to freak the world out in those two bands alone, he and Mike Kelly, drummer for Lord Summerisle, form a third, decidedly more brutal combo with Aris on bass called llord!  These three bands couldn't possibly be more different from each other and I'm proud to feature the two lords here on Paranoid Hitsophrenic!

Lord Summerisle (named after a Christopher "Sabbath fan extraordinaire" Lee character from one of my personal favorite movies of all time, the original Wicker Man [1973]), thy middle name is Prog (an awkward and perhaps pretentious middle name, I know, but the musical genre itself is known for nothing if not pushing the boundaries of good taste).  Kudos to this band for not only delivering an authentic slice of pure seventies progressive rock, both in terms of structure and rhythmic sensibilities, but also crafting one of the catchiest songs of the year while doing so.  "Pare Huarg" is certainly the catchiest instrumental of the year to date.  As a matter of fact, 'pure seventies' doesn't even cut it as this thing can go twelve rounds with anything by King Crimson, Gabriel-led Genesis and oh, let's say E.L.P. et al. in terms of rhythmic complexity.  Lord Summerisle hops right over the top and stalks confidently into the rhythmic minefield of Zappa territory, joined perhaps on the front lines by burly Captain Beefheart.  Got it!?!  This thing is crazy!

We don't hear vocals until a few minutes into track two "1864" which throws a wet blanket on the prog fire the band started in the instrumental opener.  But such a wet blanket of normalcy can only serve to dampen relatively little of the fire damaged areas, this being a raging inferno of prog after all.  Guitar effects, continued rhythmic explorations / experimentations and a damn hell ass crazy structure keep this hard driving number strictly in the wheelhouse of latter day prog.  However, concessions to a more typical song must be made when dealing with vocals.  "Ocellót" gets this spaceship off the ground and zipping across the universe with its warp drive space rock tempo and octave shifts during the verse.  All together, Lord Summerisle's three song demo is sure to please anybody with a hankering for classic hard rock, specifically of the prog / space rock strains.

I mean that, really.

It is sure to.

Hopefully, this is no flash in the pan, but a project which will deliver on the promise of this rather musically accomplished demo.  A full-length album of this kind of material may draw the attention of Ming the Merciless and have these three musicians hunted down and killed for threatening the tyrant's galactic empire.  That's the kind of high powered Space Rockin' Prog I'm talking about.  And of course, if that were to happen, the world would be without two thirds of our next group, llord ...

After a long, hard day doing math at the prog factory, it must be kind of nice for David and Mike to open up their switchblades and just start cutting up swathes of heavy grooves.  That's not to say that llord doesn't feature some of the same progressive sentiments that define MZA and Lord Summerisle, it's just not nearly at such a titanic scale.  Where the rhythms rarely pause for a breath while herking and jerking throughout whole compositions on Lord Summerisle's debut, never giving poor Mike Kelly a moment to relax, llord play things relatively straight.  Trillo's hacksaw riffs are utilitarian and industrious.  In comparison to Summerisle, llord is sloping brow music that tosses the switchblade over the shoulder in confused frustration and simply cuts into a groove with a dull homemade shiv of mouth-breathing and ill-tempered riffs.  Trillo's throaty death metal screaming tells the listener that there is no bargaining here with this madman.

llord - Demo

From: Barcelona, Spain.  Highlights include: "Verro" and

"Iron Pescatore".  Rating: 4/5.  Release Date: January 31, 2013.

Interestingly (typically?), each of the three songs on llord's demo increases in compositional complexity, one after the other.  From the 4 minute opener "Iron Pescatore" which features a fairly orthodox metal song structure, even while the musical style borrows bits and pieces from various sources all at once, to the six minute follow up "Ordell" which begins to rely a bit more heavily on some syncopation to the 10 minute closer which opens like a spilled box near the middle of the track, unleashing a horde of tritone horrors, the complexity is increased before taking over the end of "Verro" entirely with a madcap finish.

David Trillo has a real knack for penning riffs that get caught in my head.  "Pare Huarg" and "Corpus Earthling" from MZA have been known to be on non-stop rotation in my noggin all night long, he's got riffs and bands for every mood.  Check them all out.  All three are up for "pay what you want" download on bandcamp!  Click the links on the players below to be swept along to the bandcamp pages.

Revelation - Inner Harbor (album review)

Revelation are veterans of the genre.  Forming in the mid eighties as a traditional doom metal band and naming themselves after the Trouble song, the band has gradually become more progressive with the passing of time.  For twenty years or more they have been a bright light in the vibrant Maryland doom scene, Inner Harbor is their seventh full-length album and first since 2009's 'For the Sake of No One'.

'Inner Harbor' opens with some groove, a nice funky riff that puts a glide in the stride and a dip in the hip, before spilling out onto the slow and fat doomy riff that closes the title track.  This is how Revelation operates, they let the funk flow like maple syrup, never straying too far from their doomed roots.

John Brenner's keyboards take songs such as "Terribilita" and "Rebecca at the Well" to a time and place when bands were trying to update their sound and take rock music in a more progressive direction.  Ironically, these effects more often than not dated those old albums severely but it gives Revelation's music a distinctly retro flavor.  This isn't a bad thing.  The two tracks mentioned above in particular stand next to Black Sabbath's 'Sabotage' in terms of quality and at other times reminding of Pink Floyd's 'Wish You Were Here' album in terms of texture and tone.  The keyboards on "Jones Falls" tends to remind me of the keyboards on Sabbath's 'Never Say Die' album, having that same surprising, striking counterpoint feel.  That's just the thing with the keys on this album, they are used as counterpoint and never drive the song, they get their time in the sun but never end up overshadowing, however because of their striking nature and vibrant tone the keys leave a long-lasting impression.

"Rebecca at the Well" is one of the heaviest songs ever, made more so by the fact that it's surrounded by five songs that rely less on heaviness and more on competent and intelligent playing, dynamics and quality to get their point across.  This song's got those factors in spades as well and is a true standout.  Overdosing on low end rumble, the listener is taken to chambers of melodic tritone leads and tension building prog dungeons that have more than a touch of Dawn of the Dead (1978) feel, all in one song that never loses sight of its starting point.

I first heard "Rebecca At the Well" on the Soggy Bog of Doom podcast way back in September.  It's hard to believe it was over a half a year ago.  Heavy, proggy and adventurous, it's not off the mark to say that all six songs on 'Inner Harbor' deliver 70s worship in a satisfying way, framed in doomy riffs and lazy melody.  This album originally came out as a digital download in early October on Bland Hand Records, but has finally been released on CD by the good people at Shadow Kingdom Records.  This album is loaded with 70s groove and proggy soundscapes.  For doom heads who are also lovers of the most hirsute decade of all time and its soundtrack, this album can't be missed, there's no two ways about it.

Highlights include: "Rebecca At The Well" and "Terribilita"

Rating: 4/5

Total Run Time: 35:01

Steve Branagan - Drums
John Brenner - Vocals, Guitar, Keyboards
Bert Hall Jr. - Bass

From: Baltimore, Maryland

Genre: Prog, Doom

Reminds me of: Black Sabbath, Blizaro, Pink Floyd

Release Date: April 30, 2013

Suggested listening activity for fellow non-stoners: Shadow shamblin' and groove struttin'.

Better Review:
The Obelisk
Temple of Perdition
The Sleeping Shaman
Last Rites

Revelation on Encyclopedia Metallum
Revelation on facebook

Rogue Transmissions - Chains & Jess and The Ancient Ones (album review)

SVART RECORDS TWO FOR ONE

Cover Artwork by Coven Illustration

CHAINS - DANCING WITH MY DEMONS

Not too terribly long ago, I reviewed Chains' self-released 'Of Death' demo album.  It was a dark masterpiece of horror drone which I found to be quite inspiring (read it here).  Now they have returned with a brand new 7" single, "Dancing With My Demons" backed with "Join The Sabbath".  This is their first release on the terrific Svart Records.  Where 'Of Death' was a solo effort by E. Chains, the size of the band has subsequently doubled to include Lord Samhain (Chad Davis) on drums.  For the first time, Chains has expanded their sonic territory into, well ... I'll let the band speak for themselves ...

Chains was born in 2010 as a Hypnotic Drone Doom project in the vein of Sunn O))), Moss, Urfaust with a 70s horror vibe influenced by bands like Death SS and Paul Chain. In 2012 after the release of the first opus ˝OF DEATH˝, Lord Samhain joined the project and became the fulltime Chains drummer. At this point, the music took a retro-evolution and became a hybrid between 80s Italian Dark Doom, Death Rock and 80s Dark Metal. Chains in 2013 Chains will revive the golden 70s-80s Dark Doom style with a spice of alchemic elements with simple and hypnotic riffs.

Excellent stuff.  It seems like everything Chad Davis is involved with is awesome, Chains now joining the ranks and sounding like the spiritual cousin of one of his other recent projects, Witchcoven.  Remember, this is the first time Chains has ventured into structured song territory.

The a-side, "Dancing With My Demons" starts off with some droney atmospherics and a plaintive, almost whiney riff.  No big build-up, the lyrics float in straight-off.  This is the first intelligible vocal performance for this band.  The vocals are unaffected, classic sounding but not necessarily clean, because they are smothered in production ketchup.  Altogether it's a great song, mist-shrouded graveyard vibes with cobwebs and dancing skeletons.

"Join The Sabbath" appears on the b-side but it's my favorite of the two tracks.  A great doom riff with horror embellishments.  The vocals are once more obscured by echo, but again the lyrics are still clear.  The chorus is catchy and driving and the song is perhaps a bit more adventurous in terms of structure.

I have no idea right now whether this single is a precursor to a lengthier work but I look forward to more of it all the same.  My guess is a full-length from these two demented geniuses will be epic in scope and vision with great riffs and haunted soundscapes.  Whether it be drone or this kind of graveyard dwelling doom, Chains always hits that crypt-keeping mood.  A gruesome twosome to keep an eyeball out for.

Rating: 4.5/5




Tracklist:
1). Dancing With My Demons (5:02)
2). Join The Sabbath (5:14)
Total Run Time: 10:15

E. Chains - Vocals, Guitar, Bass, Fx
Lord Samhain - Drums

From: Slovenia & United States

Genre: Doom, Sludge, Drone, Horror

Release Date: March 15, 2013

Suggested listening activity for fellow non-stoners: Be careful of what you wish for, and be wary of what you conjure.

GET IT HERE


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Cover Artwork by Adam Burke

JESS & THE ANCIENT ONES - ASTRAL SABBAT

It's hard for me to say this because I don't like being critical, but I didn't really like Jess & The Ancient Ones self-titled debut from last year. I liked a couple songs but it just wasn't something that I found myself returning to.  If you, like me, were luke-warm on their album, then do yourself a favor and give this one a listen because JATAO turn up the heat on the follow-up.

Title track "Astral Sabbat" has a winding labrynthine sixties swinging London riff that sounds lifted from some mythical Satanic occultsploitation flick of the era.  Naked ladies lie placidly on altars while black or crimson robed men in goat masks clutch daggers in both hands high overhead.  A pentagram on a high stone wall, gnarly tree or rocky outcrop behind.  This is the best song I've heard from the band.  It's immediately catchy and memorable.

When I got the CD in the mail, I opened her up and checked the inside booklet.  The lyrics for the front and back songs were listed which led me to believe that the middle track "Long And Lonesome Road" was an instrumental.  Nope.  It's a cover of what is probably the best song Shocking Blue ever did.  For those who are only familiar with their disco smash hit "Venus" (I'm your venus, I'm your fire ...), if you like the JATAO version here, do yourself another favor and dig into their back catalogue.  They were so much more than that one song.  I've long been a fan of this song and it's a delight to hear it covered by a modern band.  You ask me it's one of the best songs recorded in the early seventies which proves Jess and her gang have great taste.  The song is given heavy and respectful treatment here.  Well done!

"More Than Living" showcases a more subdued mood with a slight country vibe, more in line with the material from their self-titled album of last year.  A slow and constant builder, the song gets a lift from punctuated organ and lap steel guitar (played by Jani Karhunen).  The song is a nail bomb of dynamics, scattershot ideas fly in all directions, the band never losing the listener's attention for its full 14 minute span.  There's always something going on, something changing, something happening.  The long build up leads to a heavy final third and it's well worth the wait.

Though only 3 songs and some 24 minutes long, 'Astral Sabbat' is an impressive record.  It showcases what the band can accomplish in a limited space, strong and interesting song dynamics, great and interesting riffs that are just a touch different from anything contemporary, great taste and a bevy of musical ideas.  This is a good direction for the band to go in and I for one will be looking forward to their next offering with great interest.

Highlights include: "Astral Sabbat" and "Long And Lonesome Road"

Rating: 4.5/5



Tracklist:
1). Astral Sabbath (6:27)
2). Long And Lonesome Road (3:10)
3). More Than Living (14:48)
Total Run Time: 24:23

Jess - Vocals
Thomas Corpse - Lead guitar
Thomas Fiend - Lead guitar & backing vocals
Von Stroh - Rhythm guitar
Fast Jake - Bass guitar
Abraham - Keyboard
Yussuf - Drums & percussion

From: Kuopio, Finland

Genre: Prog, Hard Rock, Doom, Stoner

Release Date: February 22, 2013

Suggested listening activity for fellow non-stoners: Back woods occultic hoe down.

Better Reviews:
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Metal Temple

Jess & The Ancient Ones official website

GET IT HERE

Torso - Inside (album review)

Colonnades of odd meter timing and syncopated rhythms line the halls of Torso's Inside EP, creating an aura of strength and a powerful sense that one is lost in a funhouse.  Other passages are relaxed and laidback giving off the aroma of quiet confidence.  Klaus Gulyas' floor tom blasts shake the walls, the dual guitar haze unleashed by Michael Jandrisevits and Bernhard Gager clouds the senses and waters the eyes while Thomas Pint's effortless bass grooves hold it all together.

The band step up confidently on opening blitz, "One", swaggering and strutting through a four and a half minute blast of stoner rock built with proggy-pausey building blocks around a catchy slide guitar riff.  From there, the band continue to evolve and expand upon this foundation, getting a fair bit of mileage from the potent stop-go dynamics which infuse their power-packed compositions with a high level of energy.  "Black Man" further expands the band's dynamic approach, slowing things down then building back up again.  This track starts out as a Led Sabbath or Black Zeppelin type workout but the band quickly asserts their own identity and puts their own stamp on some long-revered styles.

The mere fact that the guys in the band have decided to call this 40 minute release an 'EP' tells you all you need to know about this band, their vision, where they're coming from and where they're going.  If the epic territory covered in the seven tracks and forty minutes of 'Inside' is an EP, duck and cover when it's time for them to release a full-length album, because chances are it's going to be mad.  The territory they tread upon is massive and expansive indeed, at times mind-twistingly proggy, at others ass-scorchingly hard rocking, and at still other times they are like "red chinese eye(d)" (a line from "Room") calm and emotionally detached gurus on a psychedelic headtrip to parts unknown, all the while carrying their stoner rock passport, never leaving home without it, as it were.

This predilection for expansive sonic landscapes comes through in the coda of the eight minute "Voices", in the eldritch open spaces between riffs on album closer "Haunting Witches" and in the lengthy corridors of title track "Inside".  As signature as these moments are the band know when to simply put their heads down and rock  out, always incorporating pausey rhythms and dynamics, always infusing their creations with an extra little spark.  "Haunting Witches" is a great example of this as well.  The song starts out as a riff-heavy, straight-ahead rocker, but soon becomes intellectually detached from the physical word and goes off on a final tangent.

Torso share a lot in common, sonically with German groups Heat and Kadavar but are not so much a retro act as the spiritual descendants of the original progenitors of prog.  Always looking to do things a little different, a little more interestingly, putting more in than they have to.  Odd time signatures, syncopated rhythms, experimental structural elements and furthermore a 'feel' that can't necessarily be quantified put this band into the top flight of neo-prog acts on the market today.  It probably helps that they wouldn't necessarily see themselves that way.

Highlights include: "One" and "Black Man"

Rating: 4/5

Total Run Time: 40:33

From: Vienna, Austria

Genre: Stoner, Prog, Hard Rock, Psychedelic

Reminds me of: Heat, Kadavar, Three Seasons

Release Date: May 1, 2012

Suggested listening activity for fellow non-stoners: In an infinite realm outside of time walk down the colonnaded corridors to arrive at the chessboard to play the Grandmaster of the universe, the heavens themselves the only shelter above your head.

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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.

Blue Aside - The Moles of a Dying Race (album review)

Blue Aside is a progressive / psychedelic metal band from Boston, Mass that cobbles together various other metal influences to produce a very unique sound.  This is their second full-length album, both have been released by Hydro-Phonic Records.

The band paints panoramic vistas with the expansive elements they incorporate into their sound, such as extended jams and solos coupled with odd time signatures, not to mention the very breadth of their various influences.  Melodic vocals are confronted by death metal growls on a battlefield of the eardrum.  Serene bottom-three string chords are ambushed by woolly low end riffs.  Languid, ride happy drums are attacked by the angry bully of double kick on speed, etc.

The album opens with part 1 of a three part suite that the album takes it's name from.  "The Moles of a Dying Race - Part 1" is very classic prog with changing rhythms, a signature riff during the chorus that pops out in relief against the background of the slow, heavy, churning riff that frames it.  It's a good haunting moment to start off the album with and at seven minutes never feels that long.  "The Electrode Man" follows up "Moles - Part 1" in very much the same mood: coolly slithering and crashing rhythm with a nervously paranoid riff and structure which spills into the next track, "Will We Remain Tomorrow?".

On "Will We Remain Tomorrow?" a seemingly stream of conscious ambient soundscape is challenged midstream by turn-on-a-dime stops and starts.  During the opening landscape portraiture the band floats a highly melodic and tranquil guitar line over a cold rhythm, only to pound the drums and launch the heavy during the verse, creating an atmosphere of Antarctic dread.  But at the end of the track, a 'hope theme' is introduced and the listener will escape to brave another day of the album's polymorphic sonic territory.

"The Moles of a Dying Race - Part 2" is one of two tracks over ten minutes and shuffles back and forth between the tranquil and the stressed during long instrumental sections that are broken by a couple vocal parts, the first of which re-introduces the death metal growl on this album which was much more prevalent on the band's debut full-length "The Orange Tree" [2010].  A tense and paranoid second vocal part comes later repeating a single phrase "No way out of here" sung in melodic fashion.

"The Ice Mammoth" is the most immediately accessible number to the casual listener.  It's a great straight ahead stoner rock song in the vein of a Wo Fat with some feeling of Red Fang in the chorus.  Still the band finds ways to paint pictures at the end of this one, from relaxed to jumpy, yet again, which is the running theme of this record: sudden danger.  The mole is safe, warm and content burrowing underground and knows only fear and danger on the cold surface.

Though "The Ice Mammoth" is a nice change of pace, "We Move To Sleep" gets things back in the more regular flow of the album in a way that isn't jarring.  The song picks up near to where the previous one leaves off but re-introduces more familiar progressive elements, such as stop-start rhythms and David Gilmour-esque guitar wailing.  Those heavier elements are subsequently challenged by a more pastoral and dreamlike middle section.  The reversed structure (tense to relaxed) can perhaps be read as 'the moles' confronting their surface tormentors.  At 10:51 it's the longest cut on the album.

From the longest to the shortest track on the album, "The Moles of a Dying Race - part 3" plays a 'triumphant theme', tempered with tones of warning.  The album closes with a respectfully liberal cover of Pink Floyd's mostly improvised classic "Interstellar Overdrive".

Like so many progressive albums past and present 'The Moles of a Dying Race' gets better and more rewarding with each successive listen.  My initial impression of this album was that it had some good moments and a couple standout tracks but after several plays it has become a real favorite of mine.  It's not the kind of thing you put on for background music but a close, focused listen is vastly rewarding.

Highlights include: "The Ice Mammoth" and "The Moles of a Dying Race - Part 1"

Rating: 4.5/5

Total Run Time: 1:02:56

From: Boston, Massachusetts

Genre: Psychededlic, Progressive, Metal, Stoner, Doom

Reminds me of: Pink Floyd, Rush, Snail

Release Date: September 23, 2012

Suggested listening activity for fellow non-stoners: Treading icy plains in search of peace and shelter but always expecting danger.

Better Reviews
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GET IT HERE

Three Seasons - Understand the World (album review)

Three Seasons is a three piece progressive rock band from Sweden who play it old school.  Understand the World is their second full-length album, released on Transubstans Records.

Opening track "Set In Stone" firmly establishes the band as modern day prog peddlars with plenty of odd time signatures, effect-laden vocals and organ freakouts.  The band plays the freshest and best brand of uncompromisingly heavy prog this side of 1971.  In truth, Three Seasons plays some of the most authentically early 70s sounding rock out there.

"Searching" is simply one of the best discoveries of the past month or so and one of the better songs of the year.  The band lays out a hard rock riff along the lines of classic Leaf Hound or Captain Beyond, heavy with stop-start funk, before slowing their step a touch for a slow groove that builds subtly back to the main riff to close the song out.  This song is destined for great things in the Doom Charts.  "I Would Be Glad" is another heavy highlight.

Not content however to just stick to one style, the band shows plenty of versatility and variation throughout the disc, as evidenced by "Far As Far Can Be" which brings out the band's more intimate and softer side, a side of the band that will come to dominate most of the middle of the record.  Three Seasons do understand dynamics by slowly building back up to a hard rock finish.  Though they show a great flare for the proggy dramatic, the band is more than a cobbled together collection of odd timings and organ swells, there is a genuine catchiness to many of the songs.  "Ain't Got Time" is proof of that as I guarantee the line "Deep Down in the Hole" will get caught in your head after a couple of plays.  Be forewarned.

They don't waste time either, never losing control over their compositions.  At just a pinch under 8 minutes, the title track is the longest song on the album and this is due more to it being played at a slower tempo than it having gone pear shaped and unwieldy from being over written.  They do have a penchant for writing longer songs, and they are all highly structured and they have left room for themselves for soloing and improvisation, but overall, they are highly structured songs.

The album closes in fine fashion with "Can't Let Go", the band getting back to the hard rock groove that had been established early on in the album.  The song also features a great Chuck Berry-like guitar solo in the middle, that is a true solo by the strictest definition, meaning unaccompanied.  The other instruments jam back in for a big finish.

It's safe to say the band knows what they're doing and they do it in a controlled, directed manner.  That said, there's still a lot of 'feel' to the playing and a sense of fun.  In other words it's not one of those stuffy prog albums that takes itself too seriously, but it is something that a lot of hard work went into.

Highlights include: "Searching" and "Set In Stone"

Rating: 4/5

Tracklist
1). Set In Stone (6:23)
2). Searching (5:09)
3). Far As Far Can Be (6:40)
4). Ain`t Got Time (7:12)
5). Understand The World (7:59)
6). I Would Be Glad (5:04)
7). Maria (7:23)
8). Can't Let Go (7:15)
Total Run Time: 52:58

From: Sweden

Genre: Progressive Rock, Hard Rock, Blues

Reminds me of: Deep Purple, Heat, King Crimson, Leaf Hound, Motherlight, Owl, Vinum Sabbatum

Release Date: November 14, 2012

Suggested listening activity for fellow non-stoners: hiding in the rushes, waiting for the world to hatch

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