BLACK MOUNTAIN - IV

I haven't listened to Black Mountain in over 10 years, not since their debut, the one with the memorable tune, Druganaut on it. I only listened to the whole album once or twice and I remember being pleasantly surprised by Black Mountain because I didn't like Stephen McBean's other, earlier project Pink Mountaintops. Anyway, here we are years later, I've grown from a young outsider to an angry loner and Black Mountain has gone from a surprisingly cool local band to an internationally known and respected heavy psych / stoner band. I think I got the better end of that deal ...

MOTHERS OF THE SUN - In the meantime however, I've seen the movie Beyond the Black Rainbow which has a brilliant synth soundtrack from Black Mountaineer Jeremy Schmidt, in fact I've got the DVD right here. This album kicks off with a staccato synth over which glides a soulful duet. Three and a half minutes in we get our first riff and it's a good one. The synth and guitars here match the album sleeve art perfectly. The cover reminds of mid-career Pink Floyd, Technical Ecstasy and perhaps some Supertramp or even some Badfinger covers. It's the coup de grace of throwback moods.

FLORIAN SAUCER ATTACK - I'm always biased against Vancouver bands because this is such a hipster town and I don't know about your hipsters, but ours are incredibly snobby and arrogant. I mean, basically they're a bunch of beta-types that manufacture status by being extremely cliquish. Unfortunately most people can't resist the allure of being accepted into an exclusive group. I just say, fuck it, who needs ya? Songs like this just seem so "staged", if you know what I mean. It's hard to believe that a bunch of musicians in today's day and age got together and just jammed out a song like this. It's more 80's than 80's. Would have fit right in to the essential hipster playlist from 10-12 years ago when bands like Le Tigre dominated the underground dance clubs.

DEFECTOR - This one's got somewhat of a True Detective vibe to it. A little gospel-ish in places with a sexy night blues undertone. Not my cup of tea, but sounds a little more natural than the last one. At this point, I can see some of you out there thinking something along the lines of "uh oh, the angry loner's out of control here!" There may be some truth to that.

YOU CAN DREAM - But to be fair, I know this culture, I know where these people come from. They're more concerned with their daily costumes than the inside of their own heads. People who are so pre-occupied don't necessarily have anything to say. Fuck this. It's table flipping time. Angry loner has become raging creep!

... alright, no more ranting about hipsters. I only meant about 80% of that anyway, some of it was just said for effect. You decide which is which! Honestly though, I'm bored by this song. I can't really tell the difference between this and the last. The synthy parts are the real saving grace here. But again, that's me showing bias because I was such an enthusiastic fan of Schmidt's Beyond the Black Rainbow soundtrack. This album is starting to sound closer to the way I remember the first Pink Mountaintops album being. What happened to this band in the last 10 or 11 years?

CONSTELLATIONS - Also, I don't remember this band having a female vocalist. I mean, they might have, I just didn't remember them that way. This is a better song. Just crunchy guitar, drum, bass and cowbell. Unpretentious. This is what the whole album should be. Then the synth comes in, no problem there. Doesn't seem like they're trying to do anything in particular here, just get their groove on, which is what it's supposed to be about. End of, you're supposed to feel what you're creating. Creation isn't a totally intellectual enterprise, some of it is sextremely libidinous. And that's a good thing. Definitely courting a Heart, Loverboy, Streetheart or later-Chilliwack affair on this one. I'm into it.

LINE THEM ALL UP - Here comes the folk rock section of the album. Some cool feels here, the synth gliding in and out always provides an ominous overtone to even the most pastoral tune. Like if the bad guys in The Sound of Music were Terminator robots. If you know me at all, you know I hate slow songs ... but I don't hate this at all. Wait, is that an accordion I hear? Maybe? Not sure. I sat-in once or twice on the local radio show Accordion Noir back when. That was fun and the guy who hosted it was cool as shit. He looks like an uptight guy but isn't at all. Forgot all about that til just now actually.

CEMETERY BREEDING - At this point it's becoming clear to me that I prefer the female vocals. I didn't mention they have a boy/girl singing duo in this band. Very jangly guitar on this one. Some kind of out-of-body XTC vibe here. Not the worst tune on the album, but not really my cup of tea. Schmidt's contributions are definitely the most interesting part of this band ...

(OVER AND OVER) THE CHAIN - ... There's no doubt about it. Even this three minute long mostly droning and monotonous atmospheric ramp up is interesting. Some heavy guitars coming in with a bombastic riff. I want to say the riff is Barbarian Pomp and I mean that in a very good way. Sounds like a lost track from the Conan the Barbarian soundtrack. Kind of a slow song, but this one has won me over. Picking thing up a little bit here slowly ... and a long, slow decay.

CRUCIFY ME - I don't know, call me crazy, call me stupid but I was expecting riffs. That's what happens when you've got ignorance. I've got to admit, I was hoping for 10 Druganauts. I'm this band's worst nightmare. They would roll their eyes at me in an overly theatrical way. But I'm more surprised that the Canadian indie rock scene is still stuck in the days of Broken Social Scene and Arcade Fire. I figured that Canadian hipsters united would have moved on by now. I really did. Finally, three minutes in and only a minute and change to go and the song finally starts. Oh there the drums drop out again. Who likes this stuff?

SPACE TO BAKERSFIELD - More slow jamz. Long ways to go yet on this song. Could you imagine seeing this live? Everybody standing around with their arms crossed, some swaying back and forth, some nodding along with their eyes closed, all feeling at one with the universe for brief shining moments of peace. Shudder ...

***

Overall this album is like what if Pink Floyd had recorded Obscured By Clouds later on, like between Wish You Were Here and Animals? But instead of Pink Floyd it's Broken Social Scene or Arcade Fire as the band doing it. I'm sure there's a better way to say that, but I don't care. This album wasn't a complete waste of time, but I know now that I'll never listen to this band again. It's not for me. I think this album might be for people with low-testosterone.

HIGH PRIEST OF SATURN - Son of Earth and Sky

This review was originally published on the magnificent Outlaws of the Sun webzine on January 9, 2016:

An intriguing and somehow ominous 2011 demo led to high expectations for this Norwegian quartet's first album. When it was eventually released, I remember one main criticism was that it was too one-dimensional and slow. So how did High Priest of Saturn respond on their follow-up?

By maintaining their carefully crafted identity, that's how. But don't be too hasty to judge, haters. You just don't know the band that well yet. Hopefully they aren't going anywhere anytime soon, so you might as well get used to them.

A careful listen suggests the band's familiar range of tempo is more dream-like than plodding, HPOS wrings every last drop of psychedelic essence from their creative cloth. While some doom bands

'Son of Earth and Sky' is an introspective album, the listener is carried along on a magic carpet through long instrumental passages made majestic through the use of Ole Kristian Malmedal's trademark organ. One lazy comparison you tend to see thrown at this band is to the likes of Blood Ceremony. Now, that's some pretty good company to keep but the comparison is totally inept here. Ole Kristian never treats the organ as a lead instrument, rather it's the smooth-running engine that powers the proverbial magic carpet on its psychedelic flight. While the instrument was right up front on the demo, it's now relatively subdued in the mix conjuring subliminal thoughts and moods.

If you're new to the band and you're looking for a place to dive in, look no further than the deep end grooves of "The Warming Moon" as the standout track here. I can't help but feel the band has hit it's stride here with their second full-length. High Priest of Saturn will never be known as a savage band, they have found a particular niche all their own of contemplative moonlight nights in ghostly congress. 'Son of Earth and Sky' is a succubal massage but don't expect to find any happy endings here.


'Son of Earth and Sky' will be released on February 26, 2016 by Svart Records.


Post-Script: A commentor on the Outlaws of the Sun webzine wanted to know if the vocals on this record were distorted like on the band's last LP. I replied: "I thought the demo vocals were smothered in echo, then I heard the LP and they were absolutely drenched. The production has kind of hit on a mid-point, where they're still echo-y but it isn't as pronounced as on their self-titled LP. Fairly thick echo but not necessarily distorted this time around."

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Moosataur - ST (album review)

Cover artwork by Adam Burke.

What happens when you cross psych and doom with Advanced Dungeons & Dragons?  Long story short, you get Moosataur.

From the back woods of North Maine and parts of Canada stalks a fabled and unholy creature.  Spoken of only in whispers by lumberjacks between sips of moonshine, the Moosataur has given many a burly man the night terrors.  It is said, he makes the forest his labyrinth.  It should come as no surprise then that the journey to find this ungodly beast should reflect that labyrinthine character, not in terms of winding, complicated routes but in variety of approach.  No two trips into the Moosataur's forest will ever turn out quite the same, but the documenting of these adventures are consistently spellbinding.  This is the story of three intrepid explorers on the hunt for this magnificent, misunderstood, and some say, deadly beast.

The expedition begins.  The sun goes down, the northern lights ripple.  Wistful, melancholic strains of accordion greet the ears to set the mood in a Hollies's "Dear Eloise" kind of way.  Wait ... accordion?  Yeah, it's going to be one of those journeys.  Before things break out in a ferocious polka, a guitar with a raunch-factor of 12 wipes the board clean.  It's all the heavier and raunchier for coming on the heels of the bucolic intro.  The effect is then doubled halfway through when the accordion re-appears and is quickly followed-up with a punkish blast.  This is "Fuzzy Belly", welcoming you into the madcap world of Moosataur, where songs flow into one another, linked by feedback, but no two sound alike.  You listen to "Fuzzy Belly" and think you've found yourself a nice little shoegaze album, then "Blood of the Hunted" blasts into being with shredding guitars and hardcore drums and vocals.  Two songs in and it's a lot to digest already.  We're now in the woods, sifting through droppings, examining tracks.

"We Bare the Mark" is a grungy song, a sound you'd never expect to hear from New England.  At this point it's safe to say a single unifying theme or identity for the band is elusive, much like the creature from which the band takes it's name.  Elusive, but not mythical.  There is a certain something that binds it all together, and there's more to it than simply weirdness for weirdness's sake.  It's the Moosataur.  It's the hunt for the elusive mythical beast that may or may not actually exist.  You have no proof that it does exist, but you have no proof that it doesn't, so what's to stop you from getting out there and looking for it?  Nothing but the limits of your own imagination.  Moosataur the band has no such limits or if they do it hardly matters because they're always pushing and expanding them outwardly, creating their own reality.  Tracking the elusive Moosataur (the creature), the band finds footprints and droppings directly in the path they've been travelling.  It's almost as if ... as if ... no, but that's crazy.  But it could be, that perhaps the creature wants to be found.  And that it only shows itself to those who bare the mark, those who are ready.

And so we reach the end of the expedition, the center of the labyrinth to find ... "Moosataur", a Dio-inspired epic of psychedelic metal.  And it's such a beautiful sight, it almost brings a tear to the eye.  He's the last of his kind, seeking revenge against the loggers of the north.  The Moosataur.  He appeals to the misfit in all of us, as does the band which bears his name and bares the mark.  It all makes so little sense that in the end, it begins to.  The labyrinth, the strangeness, the misfitting all stand for the music itself.  A hearty spirit of exploration and experimentation prevails throughout, the willingness to try different things to see which shoe fits.  Fortunately they all do, and the shoe closet of Moosataur is well stocked, leaving tracks across a vast territory of different fashions.  I look forward to watching for Moosataur tracks in the future, I imagine they will leave hoof prints in a highly irregular pattern.  For now, there's this first outing, which shows more than just promise, it stands on its own.

Highlights include: "Moosataur" and "Fuzzy Belly"

Rating: 4/5

Total Run Time: 25:45

From: Ayer, Massachusetts

Genre: Psychedelic, Doom, Stoner, Metal

Reminds me of: Advanced D&D, Ice Dragon

Release Date: December 12, 2013

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Bardo Pond - Peace on Venus (album review)

Before early last year (2012) I wasn't listening to anything that had come out after about 1975, well almost.  During my psychedelic daze I discovered the next generation of acid tripping fuzz rockers who made their homes in garages across the western world and beyond.  And because all things are possible and all reality an illusion in the softly echoing brains of the psychedelically-inclined, the statement that I wasn't listening to anything "new" may have been untrue in a chronological sense, but was entirely true in a more "real" sense.  Neo-psych ain't nothing new, and yet there's very little outside the metal and heavy rock n roll underground that excites me.

After hearing about The Warlocks releasing a new album I wanted to catch up with all my old favorite neo-psych bands.  How were they?  What were they up to?  And did they have anything new on the go?  My favorite of all time is The Blacklight Chameleons who are long since moldering in the dirt, but there were others:  Ozric Tentacles (on hiatus), Bevis Frond, Purple Overdose (done) and Bardo Pond at or near the top of the list.  It turned out the Bardo Pond are very much alive and well.

It's not really until you hear an album like 'Peace on Venus' that you understand how the very term "psychedelic" is much-abused in music.  There are very few bands out there whose music can be appropriately labelled as "psychedelic", not as a style or genre, but in terms of the effect it has on the listener.  On hearing this album, time collapses like spires built of dry sand and all things possible converge at the point at which truth begins to break down dynamically.  There's so much flute and echoey reverb on this album that the music itself starts to become like a psychedelic drug.  I won't bullshit you with a cliche about how addictive the album is because, much like a psychedelic drug, it isn't.  The hard and heavy stuff is addictive.  Like a psychedelic drug, 'Peace on Venus' is not only not addictive, it can only be pulled out, dusted off and enjoyed at just the right moment.  You have to be in the right frame of mind, in a comfortable place both internally and externally, press play and watch reality swim down around you for the next 39 minutes.

'Peace on Venus' is a softly echoing album that rises and falls from conscious thought while playing.  Excellent riffs worthy of any stoner or doom band but played less heavy in tone and feel capture the ear, the haunting vocals of Isobel Sollenberger envelop and enrapture the listener and the mind shifts into the essential unanswerable.  "Why am I alive right now, at this time in history and not in some other time?  Why hasn't the time of my existence passed yet and when it does what will happen to my consciousness?"  These are questions worth thinking about from time to time and Bardo Pond help facilitate this.  Not that they are an intellectual band full of pretense and in-your-face philosomophizing!  The key point here is that they are all about feel and that feel is fluid and at times ethereal with the texture and density of conjured ectoplasm.

Highlights include: "Kali Yuga Blues" and "Before The Moon"

Rating: 4/5


Tracklist:
1). Kali Yuga Blues (7:35)
2). Taste (4:52)
3). Fir (5:07)
4). Chance (10:37)
5). Before The Moon (10:45)
Total Run Time: 38:55

From: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Genre: Psychedelic

Release Date: October 28, 2013

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You can also find 'Heady Mental' on itunes.

Manthra Dei - ST (album review)

Acid Cosmonaut Records is still a relatively new label, not the most prolific of labels, but of an incredibly high standard of output.  'Manthra Dei', the self-titled full-length debut from Brescia, Italy's quartet of psycho stoners, is just the third Acid Cosmonaut release (ACD-003) and continues to help cement the label's slowly growing reputation as a psychedelic stoner label that won't let you down.

The album opens roomily enough with the 11 minute "Stone Face", a song that showcases what the band has to offer: riffs and atmosphere in equal measure.  The song is a slow building, paranoia inducer.  Half way through the song things get intense.  It sounds like the soundtrack to the scene in a Swinging London exploitation film where the formerly good girl lead finds out that the drink that was offered to her by the cute boy with the long-ish hair in the sharp suit has been spiked with acid as the heated oil dances on the projector screen behind her.  It's an instrumental, a mode of operation which takes up the bulk of the album's run time.  It's not until we reach "Legendary Lamb" that we first hear the vocals of drummer Michele Crepaldi, a set-up which probably explains why there is so little of them.  But first, we have "Xolotl".

"Xolotl" is an Aztec deity associated with death, electrical storms and deformity.  I love this stuff.  You've got to love the Aztecs, only they would have a god of deformity.  And only Manthra Dei would boldly attempt to depict a god of death, lightning and deformity in a psychedelic instrumental drenched in sixties regalia.  For the curious, Xolotl is also associated with Lucifer, the morning star or Venus as it is in the heavens and in that form guided the sun into Mictlan, the Aztec underworld.  I apologize, I'm just a huge nerd for all things Mesoamerican.  The song itself was released as a digital single around two years ago and has been re-recorded and largely re-imagined for the album.  While the song may be less heavy than it was two years ago, it's also much brisker and moves at a better pace.  There's an almost jazz-fusion prog element that creeps into the playing of keyboardist Paolo Tognazzi by way of Camel or even Dave Sinclair of Caravan of Dave Stewart of Egg.  This song is all about storm-swept atmospherics with, once again, an emphasis on the ominous.

"Legendary Lamb" comes in and blast aside what has come before with the most straight-forward composition to be found on the album yet.  While on the surface the song wears the veil of a riff-centric hard rock tune with a traditional structure, it doesn't take long for the band to cast the veil aside and use the song as another showcase for their expert playing, with a particularly strong performance from guitarist Paolo Vacchelli.  It's clear when listening to "Legendary Lamb" that Manthra Dei loves playing music.  They seem less interested in writing catchy songs than they are finding a groove and sprinting over top of it.  Manthra Dei declare themselves here to be musician's musicians.

Well, for those that know me, it's no secret I'm a horror nut, so for me, the true standout highlight on this album comes in the form of the shortest, most understated track.  One gets the feeling, it's almost a thowaway kind of number, an interlude at best, but for my money, it's the climactic payoff to an enjoyable build-up.  "Urjammer" is a slow organ solo that is played by spiders descending on stringy webs to hit the keys.  That's how it sounds, anyway.  It's a creepy little 5 minute instrumental that revels in the ominous once again.  It becomes clear by this point, if it wasn't already, that Manthra Dei deals in the music of suspense, psychedelic thrillers in sound (anybody out there seen the psychedelic thriller Blow Up?  It's a great film.).  They would make good film composers, that's for sure, following in the colossal footsteps of proggy countrymen Goblin.

But, as I said earlier, in the grand scheme of things, "Urjammer" is little more than prelude to the album's big centerpiece "Blue Phantom".  At 17 minutes it dominates the second half of the album.  The song builds smartly with an ethereal soundtrack of lingering tones, pierced by blotches of sound, not entirely unlike the build-up of Pink Floyd's "Echoes" (their true post-Syd Barrett magnum opus).  The difference here is that Manthra Dei cuts the build-up short and unexpectedly punches into an uptempo workout that wouldn't have found them out of place in the Canterbury Scene of the late sixties.  It's not until after the bandhas had a satisfying workout that the building process begins anew.  Or maybe it's a demolition process as the musical declarations become more and more understated, the accents more and more muted we come to a place which sounds almost ancient Egyptian in it's rolling percussion and melodic ascending / descending string plucking.  The true hero on this number however is bassist Branislav Ruzicic who drives the entire 17 minute beast of a song forward like a slave master standing atop a 17 ton slab of stone with the thickest whip in the whole world.

The album is capped off by an acoustic reprise of the opener, "Stone Face", giving the album a sense of cyclical cohesion, but also advancement as attested by the change in instrumental approach.  'Manthra Dei' is a highlight of the year in the psychedelic instrumental world, a refreshing and satisfying 51 minutes that plays out like a love letter to the art of musicianship, the paisley world of the late 1960's and all things creepy and ominous.

Highlights include: "Urjammer" and "Xolotl"

Rating: 4/5


Total Run Time: 51:16

From: Brescia, Italy

Genre: Prog, Psychedelic, Hard Rock, Canterbury, Instrumental

Reminds me of: Caravan, Egg, Pink Floyd, Soft Machine, Swinging London, Tangerine Stoned

Release Date: October 20, 2013

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Monster Magnet - Last Patrol (album review)

Awesome cover artwork by John Sumrow.

It would seem that "Negasonic Teenage Warhead" changed everything.  It was their big breakthrough song.  No, not as big as "Space Lord", but it was the one which gained them wider attention.  I loved the song when it came out, but was at that awkward early-teen age where I was cagey with what I liked because it might not meet with peer approval.  But if anyone ever asked: yeah, I liked that song.  It wasn't until a couple years later though that I finally bought the album.  By that time, peer pressure was a fading, shameful and ugly memory and the band had a new one out called 'Powertrip'.  That's my side of the story anyway.  For Monster Magnet those pressures were felt during the creation of 'Powertrip', if not explicitly acknowledged.  A month's sequestered writing session in a hotel in Las Vegas spawned an album that largely did away with the band's psychedelic roots in favor of a more mainstream rock sound.  This trend continued for over a decade, all the way up until the band's 2010 album, 'Mastermind'.  But after embarking on a pair of tours in which the band played the 'Dopes To Infinity' and 'Spine of God' albums in their entirety during the interim, it seems Dave Wyndorf was reminded of what Monster Magnet fans really crave.  So here we have the follow-up to 'Mastermind' and a return to roots.

The album kicks off with a blast of understatement on "I Live Behind the Clouds", a song which cannot help but be compared to some of the band's quieter, subtler early material such as "Dead Christmas" or "Blow Em Off".  This opener is more of a languidly drifting signal flare than an explosive firework, but the report of its firing bellows loud and clear through the ears of the longtime fan.  The nine minute title track certainly sounds familiar, and yet, it's a sound not heard from the band over the past 15 years or so.  Just the very fact of its length seems to signal how much of a pleasure it was for Dave Wyndorf just to be free and get all spacey once again.  It's a style he wears like skin or black leather, what could be more natural?

And just in case there were any lingering doubt or unconfidence in the band's focus on psychedelia, they follow up with "Three Kingfishers", the song that has been most caught in my head during the past week.  I'm quite familiar with the Donovan original from 'Sunshine Superman', being a big fan of all of the Scottish singer/songwriter's first decade's worth of albums from his humble origins as the British answer to Bob Dylan to the expansive 'Cosmic Wheels' album, so it's surprising to hear the song here, and just how naturally it wears the cloak of heaviness.  It's not the first cover song Monster Magnet has ever done, they've also done justice to Sabbath's "Into the Void" and MC5's "Kick Out the Jams" just off the top of my head.

Perhaps the most refreshing thing about 'Last Patrol' however has less to do specifically with the history of Monster Magnet and more to do with the recent history of popular music in general.  While melody and tune have lost their predominant place in the world of popular music, rhythm and beat have taken their place at the ends of the stately table.  The bulk of this album takes 'beat' and keeps it in the background where it ought to be, as a platform for the melodic instruments upon which to strut their collective stuff.  The beats are by and large reduced to a time keeping stomp, any relative complexity broken down into the essential and played repetitively.  And as I say these things, you should understand, I'm a drummer, I just think it's time to re-emphasize the musical in music, apparently Monster Magnet feels the same way and is willing to pitch in for their part in the greater good.  The CD comes with a pair of bonus tracks, one of which emphasizes this point.  "Strobe Light Beatdown" sounds like a 'Mastermind' sessions outtake.  There's nothing wrong with the drums on this track, they are fairly typical rock drums, they are quite busy and manage to build up a froth of excitement and yet are unremarkable all the same.  It becomes clear at this point that Wyndorf knows how to get more with less, and generate excitement on the strength of the musical ideas on the album, rather than simply relying on the drums to carry the bulk of the excitement duties with a lot of busy-ness.

'Last Patrol' and it's return to psychedelia is not a cynical case of an aging musician grasping desperately at what he thinks his old fans might like and trying to cash in or re-live past glories.  The heart is there, the soul is there on record and, notably, there's a freewheeling ease to 'Last Patrol' that comes from a band slipping comfortably back into a natural sound.  Dave Wyndorf remembers what made Monster Magnet great in the first place.  'Last Patrol' doesn't turn the clocks back.  After remembering the realities of personal development during bygone days, who the hell would want to?  What it does is display a band that remembers what they are.  Monster Magnet is back.  I mean, really back.  Back to making the kind of 'stoner' rock that tries substances with a little more visual punch.  Substances that folks like Hoffman, Huxley, Hicks and Hunter Thompson would approve of, Kirby powered acid.

Highlights include: "Last Patrol" and "Mindless Ones"

Rating: 4.5/5


Tracklist:
1). I Live Behind the Clouds (4:26)
2). Last Patrol (9:24)
3). Three Kingfishers (4:34)
4). Paradise (4:31)
5). Hallelujah (4:13)
6). Mindless Ones (5:31)
7). The Duke [of Supernature] (5:00)
8). End of Time (7:45)
9). Stay Tuned (5:54)
10). Strobe Light Beatdown (4:26) [bonus track]
11). One Dead Moon (5:20) [bonus track]
Total Run Time: 1:01:00

Dave Wyndorf (Vocals, Guitar, Keyboards)
Phil Caivano (Guitar, Bass)
Bob Pantella (Drums)

Garrett Sweeney (Guitar, Sitar)

From: Red Bank, New Jersey

Genre: Psychedelic, Stoner, Hard Rock

Reminds me of: Dopes to Infinity, Spine of God, Superjudge, Spacemen 3

Release Date: October 17, 2013

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Causa Sui - Euporie Tide (album review)

One of the true pleasures of maintaining this blog is stumbling upon terrific music.  I made one of these "trips to discovery" with the release of a music video called "The Juice".  I watched it and enjoyed the lazy technicolor river flow of the psychedelic sounds combining with the phantasmagoria of distorted visions on screen, so I put it on my Hour of Power.  I hope some of you out there discovered this band for the first time the same way I did, which is because of this blog.  What's more, I hope a few more will discover this band for the first time, right now, because of this post.  If that happens, I'll have done my job.  My job here, as it happens, is presenting the best music that the world has to offer.  It's only incidental that most of it is found in the seedy digs of the nebulous "underground" and that most of it is extremely heavy.  The band who produced the "The Juice" video is called Causa Sui and they're ... not so heavy as readers here may be used to.  They were put together by Jonas Munk of Odense, Denmark in anno 2004 and seem to have a decent following, that is if facebook followers is any indication, and it usually is.  Munk also trades under the monicker of the ambient electropop project Manual, which he is better known for.  Causa Sui (a Latin phrase coined by Baruch Spinoza [my favorite philosopher] meaning, "cause of itself" as in, brought itself into being) released their first album way back in December of 2005.  Whichever way you want to slice it this is either their third record "proper" or their eighth with variously volumed "sessions" albums of free jam material.  Of course with collected editions of 'Summer Sessions Vol. 1-3' and 'Pewt'r Sessions Vol. 1-2' discs on the market, I wouldn't hold it against you to call 'Euporite Tide' the band's fifth album.

Oh, and before I get too much farther ahead of myself I should point out that Causa Sui traffics in instrumental music.  Instrumental psychedelic ambient / desert rock if you want to be fussy about it.

The riff that opens the album on the ten minute colossus "Homage" is as good as anything found in Josh Homme's bag of tricks and is the perfect indication of the band's fuzzy foundation.  The song, and indeed the album, glides outward from there in an organ-blessed and wah-blissed tangle of noise building layer upon layer of psychedelic imagery, increasing the dosage until all thoughts, visions and words of the material world have been swept ashore like so many bottle-messages cast from the sea by gently pummeling waves.  Textures and tempos give way to other textures and tempos in a kaleidoscope of inside-out implosions.

The barnacle of smooth ambient elements find anchor on the album via the aforementioned "The Juice".  This dream pop sensibility is a no-brainer considering Munk's pedigree, but that's not to say the band around him (nor Munk himself) forgets to rock hard on this one.  No sir, just as you drift off to another world, heaviness beats the daze out of the listener's head as a Godzilla of wah-fuzz roars into being, stomping down on the Bambie of sleepy feelings.  This battlefield is a place Causa Sui likes to visit often.  "Echo Springs" is even dreamier using synthesized sounds to shape crystalline caverns in lieu of heavy guitars which would destroy them.  "Mireille" is a nice blend of dreamy psych in a sixties, softer-side-of-The-Rolling-Stones idiom and the heavier desert rock side of the band.  Ostensible title track 'Euporie' delivers those Isaac Hayes "Look of Love" shivers and at 11 minutes in length is worthy of the comparison. Mmm-mm, shades of progressive soul.  Album closer "Eternal Flow" begins laconically and ends laconically, building in layers of soothing sounds in the middle, this is the eternal flow of Causa Sui.

'Euporie Tide' ultimately launches into outer space via carefully concealed launch pads sprinkled throughout a desert of git-yer-rocks-off heavy psych fuzz.  "Boozehound" transmits the heavy bug to listeners in a pure and undiluted fashion, but it must be said that metal heads and strict fans of the heavy stuff (and the heavy stuff only) will not dig Causa Sui's approach.  However, if you don't mind a softer touch with your fuzz and psychedelic organ then try 'Euporie Tide' on for size.  Hell, try it on even if you don't think you like the sound of my sell job, because you never know until you hear it for yourself.  If nothing else, it's worth a shot.  I like it, and if you ever need a break from the freakishly heavy stuff, it's there waiting for you, and your wife will probably like it too.

Highlights include: "The Juice" and "Homage"

Rating: 3.5/5


Tracklist:
1). Homage (10:08)
2). The Juice (6:06)
3). Echo Springs (5:06)
4). Boozehound (5:20)
5). Mireille (7:13)
6). Fichelscher Sun (2:15)
7). Ju-Ju Blues (6:35)
8). Sota El Cel (1:40)
9). Euporie (10:54)
10). Eternal Flow (9:26)
Total Run Time: 1:04:38

From: Odense, Denmark

Genre: Psychedelic, Ambient, Desert Rock, Stoner

Reminds me of: Air, Kyuss, The Machine

Release Date: August 5, 2013

Causa Sui on facebook
Causa Sui official website

GET IT HERE

OR HERE (digital)

Naam - Vow (album review)

Naam is one of those bands that you hear about all the time as a new guy in the rock & roll underworld.  What I knew about them before sampling this album was that they are from New York, they play psychedelic rock and their most recent album 'Vow' features a nearly invisible album cover.  I also know that they had polished up their heavy black boots for this album to made a sizable dent in last month's Doom Chart jumping from 34th place to 17th and officially landing themselves on the paranoid radar screen.  I took a quick listen, nearly shat myself and grabbed a copy.

As with most treasure finders I stashed the loot at a secret place where it could be just myself, the album and the walls.  I puzzled over the contents of this strangely adorned disc with hand on chin.  I was doing some heavy contemplation.  Then it hit me.  I was doing it all wrong.  I needed to take the hand from the chin and perhaps replace it with a drool cup because what this treasure called for was a turning off of the mind.  It was all so simple, and brilliant.  To turn on the album was to turn off the mind!  Energy neither created nor destroyed, the contents of a vessel emptying into another vessel, for every action a reaction.  It seemed in my humanly physical limitation I had been given enough "on-ness" to either keep the mind fired up, or blast 'Vow' on the ol' Victrola.

So I sat back in my secret place, and I entered a world.  There was deep tone there, and vertigo.  Deep toned Fuzz and vertiginous Organ.  Album intro "Silent Call" gave me the spins and it's a long way down from there to the bottom of the rabbit hole.  Things go on in this tunnel world, strange, unaccountable things.  Interludes braid between songs and do something fascinating: they actually enhance the songs around them.  They work in a similar way to behind-the-scenes commentaries or deleted scenes on a dvd, clarifying meaning and further exploring themes.  You can't account for something like that.

Other things go on in this world, acoustic things, swirly things and even droney things.  Things that suggest still further worlds to explore beyond the pocket dimension of Naam.  Things that suggest a third level of reality from which the raw materials of composition are mined by Naam and carried to higher places to be worked on and polished off.  Naam shows you the whole process and makes it coherent, in a sort of dream-like way.  But make no mistake, 'Vow' isn't an experimentation-first, collection of illogical navel-gazing.  Naam may show you glimpses of the process, but it's the finished results that they are most interested in showing, not the laboratory work.  It's the finished songs that are the star of the show, not improvisation.  The short interludes become an ectoplasmic glue, allowing the album to hang together, creating a fluid environment of ethereal void, through which the listener plummets.

Naam provides a fresh take on the psychedelic genre.  That they build new sounds from traditional origins is the best part.  "Beyond" may be the fullest expression of this: ghostly choirs, synthetic smoke-filled environments with a stringy skeleton of jangly sitar, the raw ingredients could easily result in everything you've ever heard before ... again and again, but what you get is something new and fresh, infused with vitality.  It's easily the most far out full song on 'Vow' but is somehow representative of the whole, incorporating bits and pieces of the rest of the album into its mass, becoming the concluding paragraph of a psychedelic essay.

The songs are focused and the emphasis is on familiarity (verses, choruses, traditional instrumentation), but there's always that hint of otherwordliness about.  Instead of staring deeply into the void Naam keeps it in the peripheral, but it's always there, a hungry threat.  This allows the band to focus on writing complete songs, while they allow the listener to be sucked into the portal that shimmers and swirls around them.  Minds switch off, expressionless faces twitch and dinner is served, full of nutrients with no empty calories.  Now if only I could remember where I parked my mind ...

Highlights include: "Vow" and "On the Hour"

Rating: 4.5/5


Tracklist:
1). Silent Call (1:42)
2). Vow (4:50)
3). In & Through (1:01)
4). Pardoned Pleasure (5:03)
5). Laid to Rest (1:49)
6). Brightest Sight (0:46)
7). On the Hour (3:44)
8). Skyscraper (2:59)
9). Midnight Glow (5:11)
10). Beyond (8:12)
11). Adagio (2:23)
Total Run Time: 37:54

Ryan Lee Lugar - Guitars, vocals
John Preston Bundy- Bass, vocals
Eli Pizzuto - Percussion
Johnny "Fingers" Weingarten - Electronics, organs, synthesizers

From: Brooklyn, New York

Genre: Psychedelic, Stoner, Space Rock

Reminds me of: Black Angels, Hawkwind, Holy Mount, Ufomammut

Release Date: June 4, 2013

Goatess on facebook

GET IT HERE

OR HERE (digital)

Ice Dragon - Born a Heavy Morning (album review)

Cover artwork by Samantha Allen.

I've mentioned, showcased, posted about or discussed Ice Dragon more than any other band on this blog, hell, more than any two bands, for several reasons.  For one thing, the prolific nature of the band's output has offered more than enough grist for this mill, another thing is how the band continues to pump out consistently high quality music while remaining equally consistent in challenging the listener with the ever widening twists and turns of their musical choices and also, I have this overblown and fairly pretentious notion that this quartet is the most "important" underground band of the internet age.  They are the standard bearers for "how it's done", they are the blue collar, no bullshit band that you and your buddies would be if you could be.  There is no hype, no pretension and no desperation in this band.  They just get together on Friday night, grab a pizza and a couple cases of beer, jam, argue, create heavy music, then release the results to the public when we least expect it.  By my count, 'Born a Heavy Morning' is the band's sixth full-length album since 2010 (and seventh overall including their first effort, recorded in 2007 and released in 2012).

First of all, in spite of the title of the album, 'Born a Heavy Morning' is not the band's heaviest effort, so do not expect a Tentaclesque return to 'Tome of the Future Ancients'.  Vocalist Ron Rochondo says about this new album, "It's called "Born a Heavy Morning", though it's not very "heavy".  It's sort of Dream Dragon meets Sorrowful Sun.  Heavy as in ... bummer.  Or weighing you down".  I asked him if it felt like the rainy morning after 'Dream Dragon'.  "Sort of," he said, "this one is a bit like that one in the overall sound, but the lyrics and feel of everything are more like 'The Sorrowful Sun'.  It's kind of a "concept" album.  Kind of".  This writer's take on the "concept" in question is that in which a man feels the burden of life, like Atlas bearing the weight of the world, 'Born a Heavy Morning'.

The album opens up on a bright note with a sixties feel, as the morning sun streams in through the bedroom curtains of "Wakin' Up".  Once more, the vibe is somewhat reminiscent of the kind of material found on Ice Dragon's 'Dream Dragon' album, the song is infused with the hopeful enthusiasm of youth and that feeling carries over into "We'll Go on a Trip You & I" all the way until the middle of the record with "The Deeper You Go".  Before long however, the drudgery of everyday life takes hold and grips the listener in heavy grimness on "We Are the Hopeless" and "Square Triangle" before the day ultimately ends with some heavy reflection on "(I'll Watch) My Hair Grow".  Basically this album feels like the ultimate "kick-in-the-nuts" kind of day.

'Born a Heavy Morning' is indeed a heavy listen, fearless and unrelenting as it boots listeners in the nuts.  As I briefly described before, it starts out strong and with a good head nodding feel, reminding me a lot of those rare psychedelic / folk LPs from the 1970's by groups and musicians with names like Ferris Wheel, Father Yod & Ya Ho Wa, The Yays & Nays, Bobb Trimble and others from the Acid Archives.  Somehow, the front half of the album captures a specific mood for me of sun streaming into a dusty old barn in a failing hippie commune.  Perhaps it taps into that rural "going to the country" mindset of the Woodstock generation.  Of course, these divisions are not truly so precise as I make them out to be here because I think I often see symmetry where there is none, but the change into darker territory is stark at this point in the album as the sunsoaked, lazing by the riverside mood of "The Deeper You Go" gives way to the cold urban mood of "We Are the Hopeless".  "Square Triangle" is a strong musical equivalent of sunset.  Ice Dragon has never shied away from depression as subject matter and the mood really sinks in here on this track.  This is why 'Born a Heavy Morning' is a "heavy listen" after all.  If you're not expecting it on first listen, the change in mood will punch you in the gut and your reaction to the overall album may not be favorable because of this.  But, if you stick with the album it is rewarding.  "I'm Lost" brings us a slice of classic Ice Dragon will howling vocals, loud crash and a spiral bound wah infected riff.

The album also uses four short interludes in the form of vignettes all with long titles beginning with the phrase "In Which a Man ...", the concept behind which is reminiscent of "The Man" section from Pink Floyd's "The Man & The Journey" suites from their 1969 tour (find out a bit more about that here) and the execution of which slightly resembles "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast" from 'Atom Heart Mother', only I'd say these selections are a lot more musical here.  If a comparison has to be made to Ice Dragon's own back catalog, then it's true that this album can be seen as a combination of the laconic soundscapes of  'Dream Dragon' and the morose tidings of 'Greyblackfalconhawk' or some of the darker moments on 'The Sorrowful Sun'.  But if ever there were a band whose each and every project deserved to be judged solely on its own merits it's Ice Dragon and 'Born a Heavy Morning' is (no surprise here) its own beast.  This is what I love about this band.  Every time they step up to the plate you can forget everything you know about them as they refuse to repeat themselves, constantly expanding their horizons while maintaining an identifiable sound that is all their own.  Based on the sounds found on this particular album, 'Born a Heavy Morning' takes its place in the upper tier of the band's collected works (keep in mind that the band also comprises some five (maybe more?) other incarnations / associated acts).

Highlights include: "I'm Lost" and "The Past Plus The Future Is Present"

Rating: 4.5/5


Total Run Time: 48:16

Ron (Vocals, Synths, Drums)
Joe (Bass, Acoustic Guitar)
Carter (Guitars)
Brad (Drums)

From: Boston, Massachusetts

Genre: Psychedelic, Stoner, Drone, Doom, Experimental

Reminds me of: rare 1970's home-recorded psychedelic / folk LPs, Pink Floyd, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Season of Decay / The Humble Titan single

Release Date: August 13, 2013

Interview with Ron (featuring a dozen or so other links)

Ice Dragon on facebook

Fair Warning! Don't Miss ... Brain Pyramid (Magic Carpet Ride)

Rambling down the dusty old trail by way of France, Brain Pyramid just want to blow some heads open with their acid blues jams.  Bands like Savoy Brown, Killing Floor, Love Scultpure, Free, Bakerloo, The Groundhogs and Ten Years After finally have a suitable successor in this trio.  Liberal helpings of wah and other guitar effects mix with a lazy vocal delivery to create a crazed atmosphere where ... 'things' ... are all happening man ... and 'stuff' ... but none of it seems to bother the Brain Pyramid.  They simply let the world buzz on by in its self-importance while they weave intoxicating spells in the blues idiom for all who will listen.  Heads take note, this is brain-melting psychedelic blues for the 21st century.  Fans of Ape Skull and Tangerine Stoned, won't want to miss Brain Pyramid.

BIO:
"It’s in the non-psychedelic town of Rennes that the Trio formed, Brain Pyramid was born by the meeting of Baptiste (drum) and Gaston (guitar/vocals) in october 2012, they were quickly joined by maxime (bass), but after shows with him he had to leave for his studies. He was replaced right after by Ronan (already playing in the Doom Stoner band Huata), met during a show.

"The band started with couples of jams, and then constructed itself little by little to become what they are now, a sound full of the guitar-player’s 60’s and 70’s influences : Heavy Psych and Heavy Rock stuff like Blue Cheer, Toad, Jimi Hendrix, Leaf Hound... But also a very tied rythm section that remind us the desert rock sound with bands such as Kyuss, Sleep, without forget classic : Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin....

"The Trio recorded his first EP at the end of march 2013 : that first try has to aim giving the public a whole idea of the sound and the set of the band.

"Brain Pyramid is now searchin for live experiences, to play a lot and give a strong, acid and cosmic music to your Brain !

"Brain Pyramid did mainly shows in their hometown of Rennes, in bars and little scene.

"We shared the stage with Psych bands like Prisma Circus or Cheap Wine, this summer we’ll be playing the Celebration Days Festival with bands such as Aqua Nebula Oscillator, Blues Pills, Dean Allen Foyd, Mud Walk...

"In december we’ll receive in Rennes Russian Band The Grand Astoria."

Brain Pyramid on facebook

'Magic Carpet Ride' is currently available as a Pay What You Want download on bandcamp (click links on the player below) and an extremely limited edition of 50 CD copies for a measly 3 Euros.  Collectors: that's a solid investment.

One more thing, look at that album cover.  It's a carpet, a 'magic' carpet, but the format doesn't quite work because it's square.  If you ask me, this thing is begging, BEGGING for a cassette tape release as the rectangular shape would bring that cover to a whole new dimension.  Enjoy the music responsibly ...

Hua†a / Bitcho split (album review)

Artwork by Benjamin Moreau

This vinyl only split LP was one of the bigger surprises of the first Super Doom Charts.  Coming in at #32 on a critics list of 200 albums is no mean feat, especially for something that was not (at the time) readily available for quick and easy download.  It was totally off my radar until the votes started rolling in actually and it, on its surface, didn't seem like the kind of thing that would appeal to me.  It's okay to be wrong every now and then.  This split is made up off two lengthy tracks, one per band and clocks in at a robust 33 minutes.

French stoner/psych quartet Hua†a kick things off in massive style.  You better strap yourselves in and sit tight because for the next 21 minutes, Hua†a will be dumping their megaton booster rockets down around your head as they take off for the sludgier back roads of outer space only to be pounded by asteroids, frozen by the void and crushed by gravity all before burning up on re-entry.

Hua†a's single track, is actually made up of two parts:  "The Retaliator" and "Hercolobus".  Almost halfway through the track, the band breaks the listener's concentration / meditation with a quick pitch shift and a gee pushing sharp veer off into another direction.  Now the band has sent the listener into another section of space, from the light strangulating darkness of the void to the multihued swirling miasma of a gas giant.  However, the band travels too close, being grabbed in a nearly irresistible gravity pull, the beauty of the surface of the planet / nascent sun now lost among the horror of frantic survival.  Images of clunky spacesuit coffins not designed for gravity, tossing in freefall.

Dutch drone sextet Bitcho closes the affair with "10050 Cello Drive".  For some seven or eight minutes the band drones mechanically, building up a cloud of synthesized atmosphere like a roadie with a fog machine before a show. It has to be just right before the band can come out to pounce.  Finally, the band do rush in and it's like hitting them mid-song: the vocal melody sounds like the "wrap-up" part of the song, rather than the "lead-up", if that's not too stupid a way to put it.

Because we only get one track per side on this split, and because each band does an excellent job of sticking with the musical theme of droning atmospheres and melody, it feels like a complete work.  When you think about, 33 minutes isn't actually that long for a record, it only seems longer due to the two individual tracks being what they are.  For that reason, it plays out a bit like 2001: A Space Odyssey in reverse.  We're introduced to a small cast of characters who travel to Jupiter and Beyond, then we abruptly change our cast for a slightly more down to earth approach (but we still get a comfortable and catered trip to the moon) on Side B, which isn't even mentioning the drone which is equivalent to the molasses pace of Kubrick and his penchant for making the audience stare at a single image for seemingly minutes at a time. All the while the two tracks retain the flavor of a cohesive whole.  A single work, a single vision produced by two different bands.

Artwork by Benjamin Moreau

This split definitely takes you to another place and time, giving credence to the theory that time is relative.  Otherworldly atmospheres interact with strong melodic passages to account for the feeling that a full and ultimately satisfying listening experience has taken place even though just barely over a half an hour has elapsed during but two songs.  Both bands showcase a sound that is best heard while surfing the cosmic spaceways.  Each side of the split has melody and droning buzz in abundance.  This split is some of the heaviest space rock one is likely to hear.  Each band stares into the abyss, not with fear in their hears or trembling hands and voices but with a steady gaze, running, screaming into the maw.

Rating: 4/5

Total Run Time: 36:29

From: Renne, France / Roermond, Netherlands

Genre: Psychedelic, Drone, Stoner, Space Rock

Reminds me of: Acid King, Demon Lung, Hour of 13, Shroud Eater

Release Date: March 22, 2013

Hua†a on facebook
Albino Python on facebook

Hua†a website
Bitcho website

GET IT HERE

Fair Warning! Don't Miss ... Tangerine Stoned!

Take it from one who spent five years of his life listening to virtually nothing but 60s / early 70s psychedelic / prog music, Tangerine Stoned is the genuine article.  You could swear this is some long-lost album from the decade of flowers in gun-barrels and turtle vans.  Check it out on the player below after reading this short ...

BIO:

"Tangerine Stoned formed in Summer 2011 by guitar player Alex Key and vocalist Chris Jei.  Their intention was to re-create the sounds of 60s psychedelic bands like Pink Floyd, Doors, Cream, Seeds, Jimi Hendrix Experience.  They recruited Daniel on bass guitar, Verner on keys and Checcho on the drums.

"They immediately started to write original material inspired by the acid sound of the aforementioned bands.  In late 2012 they signed a deal with Moonlight Records and started to record their debut album the self-titled 'Tangerine Stoned'.  The album was released in May 2013.  The band is currently gigging throughout Italy, and it's getting ready for a European tour in the Fall."

And if all that isn't enough to convince you, catch the band's full 40 minute live performance on the clip below:

 

Tangerine Stoned on facebook

Nibiru - Caosgon (album review)

Artwork and graphics by Siatris (drums)

Every now and then a band comes along and blows your head apart.  It's an even rarer breed of band that takes a multi-media approach to the task, using captivating imagery (boobs) to craft such memorable, haunting and mesmerizing videos that the two (audio and visual) are forever linked in the mind and can no longer be separated.  What was once seen cannot be unseen, and what is later heard without the visuals cannot be sampled without glimpsing the visuals in the mind's eye (in the case of "Invokation I": good [boobs!], for "Smashanam": not so good [take my word for it but go ahead and look if you're really that curious, and don't say I didn't warn you!!]).  Most importantly, for the purposes of our study, is how the head blowing apart effect of this band is achieved.  Just follow me down this here rabbit hole and away we go ...

First off, Nibiru utilizes vocals of the Enochian chant variety, the language of the angels.  That's pretty trippy right off the bat, innit?  The title of this album, 'Caosgon', translates from Enochian to English as "to the earth", with the suffix -n being the case ending of the root word "caosgo" or "of earth".  The fact that the word sounds like a totally accurate description of Earth, "chaos gun" is pretty trippy in and of itself, too.  But none of these little factoids are what blow the head apart.

Nibiru is also a jam band, writing their songs around live unstructured improvisations, then recording them live with minimal overdubs, a choice and style that almost by definition breeds interesting structures and song elements.  Here we are coming closer to what makes Nibiru such a mind-blowing act, but we're not quite there yet.  To get there, we're going to have to take a much closer look at the music itself.

Songs rise and bloom like flowers from a simple drone with various elements added one by one, piece by piece, layer by layer.  Does this album have cowbell?  It sure does though not as a rhythmic element, but cowbell used as originally intended, dangling away in a stereoscopic circle to begin the album (and close it) as the first sounds you hear on opening track "Invokation I: The Acid Skull" (see video below) and the last sounds you hear on closing track "Umbra Venefica".  What this band is capable of achieving is an alpha state in the listener, then throwing said victim into a churning pit of hell.  It doesn't matter that it's not a real place and that it's all in the mind or is a state of being or whatever.  They throw you in that pit of torture and despair regardless.  You don't see it coming, and it happens suddenly, like a quick death followed by an eternal moment of agony.  Of course, the effect is subtle, like the feeling of presence beside the bed at night.  This is where the acid skull takes the listener, and a better, more descriptive name to pin on a bad trip I've not heard.

By the time "Smashanam, The Crematorium Ground Of Kaly" whirly dervishes its way across the speakers, you're almost glad that the subtle pressure of nocturnal visitation is over and the actual beating begins.  From there on the album becomes a cycle of ritual abuse followed by a moment of respite and so on.  This is not the feelgood soundtrack to a stolen summer night, unless that night involves tripping on bad acid while locked inside a mausoleum stuffed with hungry and curiously probing animated corpses.

The overall effect 'Caosgon' has on the listener is impressive, an experience that must become totally overwhelming at a live show.  This became one of those albums that literally changed the way I heard everything else for days afterwards.  Not that everything else paled in comparison, it wasn't really a comparative thing, it's just that the band leaves its mark, the way they used to warn that acid changed a person forever after taking it.  Not to make too big a deal about it, but this album blew my head open.  I hope I've explained a little bit about how they achieved this effect and that the reader can keep this in mind, now the only thing left is for the reader to dabble in Nibiru's sonic drug and perform the ritual experiment the ancient Enochian speaking angels used to call, "listening" on his or her own.  That means you!  But be patient, because this isn't the kind of thing that will reveal itself on a quick preview, it's got to be listened to without distraction from cowbell to cowbell.  You've got to buy this album dinner and get to know it first.

Highlights include: "Invokation IV: Heru-Khentan-Maati" and "Smashanam, The Crematorium Ground Of Kaly"

Rating: 4.5/5

Total Run Time: 51:28

RI - bass and liturgic organ
Ardath - guitar & voice
Siatris - drums, percussions & Virus

From: Turin, Italy

Genre: Drone, Psychedelic, Sludge

Reminds me of: Saturnalia Temple, Spectral Haze

Release Date: February 27, 2013

Suggested listening activity for fellow non-stoners: You're falling into a deep trance ... your eyes are getting heavier ... and heavier ... good, he's asleep now, let's torch the fucker! ...

Better Review:
Sludgelord
Temple of Perdition
Too Late To Pray
Welcome to the Void in Greek

Sludgelord interview

Nibiru facebook

Warning: BOOBS!

The Alchemical Mixture - Bite The Bullet & Pet The Preacher (album reviews)

From: Copenhagen, Denmark.  Highlights include: "Hit the Ground"
and "I Will Not Die".  Rating: 4/5.  Release Date: late April 2013.
Total Run Time: 20:07

Bite the Bullet is a two-man operation out of Copenhagen, Denmark.  But don't let their number fool you, it's a full sound the band puts out, utilizing different instruments such as piano and trombone on closing track "My Soul".  There's no shortage of musical ideas here, nor is the band short on the skill to pull those ideas off.

Fuzz, staccato piano and fluttering high-toned vocals illuminate opening track "I Feel Love".  The song is somewhat reminiscent of Roxy Music but toughened up by degrees.  Classic alternative rock with manically blowing clouds of guitar smoke distortion to throw up walls of sound until all melody is enclosed and hidden away in a rubber room of its own devising.  "Hit the Ground" is classic American psychedelic rock in the Byrds idiom, utilizing the never dull, always great sounding E, A, D, G chord progression (correct me if I'm wrong) during the verse with high/low harmonies.  The harmonies really sell this thing and it doesn't hurt that the two guys in the band kind of resemble Jerry Cantrell and Layne Staley.  It's a great song, classic psych (see the video below).

This is the psychedelic world inhabited by Bite the Bullet.  There's something about the high harmonies, slightly cowboy western sounding fuzz riff and persistent drums that lends a song the element of danger.  That's just what happens on "I Will Not Die", evoking classic images.  Cowboy booted tough guy, a free spirit who don't take no shit off no man, rolls back in the small and quiet town where he grew up, in a black Cadillac of course with shag carpet interior , looking to escape the mistakes he's made in the big city ... until they catch up with him putting everyone in the town at risk.  It's a great vibe on this song, even if the story it evokes in this reviewer isn't terribly original, it still makes for a cool picture show in my mind's eye.  In other words, I dig it, it's got like a Nick Cave or Tom Waits dusty air about it while still being dreamy and psychedelic.  Kind of like The Big Lebowski, if you can boil that movie down into an overall impression encapsulated into one song.

This is the band's debut EP, being born of the ashes of their former band Highway Child.  A full-length album will see vinyl release via Bilocation Records this summer.  For now you can stream this EP on the band's official website.

Cover artwork by Lucas Ruggieri

From: Copenhagen, Denmark.  Highlights include: "A Part of Me"

and "Bright Land - Black Death".  Rating: 3.5/5.  Run Time: 35:35

Also out of Copenhagen are Pet the Preacher, the oddly named band who set the (under)world alight with last year's 'The Banjo' concept album.  It was a rollicking revue of big bluesy riffs and lyrics that shouldn't have worked but did framed around a scenario of a man's journey through his own private hell and the way to get out.  Less than a year later, here we are again.  The band is back with a new/old double EP containing the band's debut release from 2011, 'Meet the Creature' on side A, while the band's latest release, the 'Papa Zen' EP, comprises the whole of side B.

For those already familiar with the band's first EP, this will be a rehash but it appears here for the first time on vinyl.  Ditto 'Papa Zen'.  It's a great way of getting older material out to new listeners, like myself, who hadn't heard it.  As a first recording, the excitement and enthusiasm is clearly evident on these three cuts and just maybe a trace of self-consciousness.  It can be hard to tell with these guys though, they come from out of left field and do their own thing at all times.  The penchant for experimentation that the band is becoming known for can be found here in some oddball rhythms on "I Won't Let You Go" which shouldn't work but do and an otherwise mad scientist approach to a melding of stoner metal and traditional blues, something you would never have expected to sound so original but grows like barbed wire vines from the seed of the blues..

"Into a Darker Night" kicks the swinging saloon doors off the hinges of side B and swaggers in powerfully with some quietly urgent intensity.  "Papa Zen" is an instrumental that pops the cork off the tension built up in "Darker Night".  "A Part of Me" refocuses the intensity and tension through a heavier lens.

While band leader Christian Hede Madsen is busy with his more blues focused side project Hound, I doubt fans of Pet the Preacher will have to wait long for the band to make their next move as they're an inspired band who emphasize artistry and integrity over trends.  One thing this band won't run out of any time soon is ideas for new short stories.



Bite the Bullet official website
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The Alchemical Mixture - Orange Blossom Jam & Ziz (album reviews)

The Italian psychedelic, stoner and doom scene is one of the richest, most prolific and consistent in the world today.  I thought I'd lift the skirt on the Italian underworld once more and expose two of the newer, not so widely known heavy psychedelic bands that call the country of Italy home.

ORANGE BLOSSOM JAM - MYSTIC JAR OF DOOM

Cover artwork by Valiu Voodoo

From: Osimo, Ancona.  Highlights include: "Forever High" and "Bees 

Dance".  Rating: 4.5/5

Orange Blossom Jam have got to be the most metal psychedelic band I've ever heard ... or is that the most psychedelic metal band I've ever heard?  Heavy psych taken to extremes, space rock and doom combine to form one of the most unabashedly heavy metal psychedelic combos around Italy or anywhere else for that matter.  This is heavy fuel for doomy fires.

About halfway into ten minute instrumental opening track 'I', the guitar crunches out one of the most ... "fuck yeah" moments you will ever hear in heavy music.  The kind of simplistic riff and syncopated rhythm that makes you wonder why you've never heard it before, or why you don't hear this kind of thing more often.  It sounds so easy.  It's the way you imagine heavy music as an overall concept in your head.  Dun-dun-dun, Dun-dun-dun, etc.  OBJ don't bother trying to overcomplicate the heavy, they've got loads of time to complicate things while toying around with their endless psychedelic ideas, so when it's time to kick ass, they simply roll up their sleeves and take care of business without being shy about it.  The heavy grooves only continue to roll off the band's collective tongues and fingers from there.

"Bees Dance" builds slowly, taking time to construct perfect moments from the most basic of foundations.  It's a confident band that takes this approach.  By not trying to do too much, they accomplish so much more.  The album is bookended by ten minute jams.  "T.H.C." is the second of these and, again, strikes the perfect Black Sabbath chord in the introductory riff.  Once again the vocals are heavy, gruff and forced through a smoke blackened throat.

This is some of the most powerful music I've heard in a while, managing to capture the best of the material and ideal worlds by combining the worldly strength of heavy muscle with the mystic understanding of the psychedelic mind.  A mind that is blown wide apart by the likes of Ziz.  Where OBJ found a mind-body balance, Ziz lets the mind take over.

ZIZ - EVER

From: Voghera, Lombardy, Pavia.  Highlights include: "Ziz"
and "... And To Protect".  Rating: 3.5/5

In many ways, these two bands couldn't be more opposite.  Ziz bill themselves as supernatural occult rock, toning down the heavy by degrees and increasing the use of texture.  Ziz adds waves of synth heavy or melodic embellishments to their compositions depending on need.  The outcome of the synth effect is always the same though: otherworldly textures.  While the heaviness is comparatively downplayed or understated, the band finds time to reference Paul Chain / Steve Sylvester style horror doom in places, never afraid of peering into that dark abyss,  but never staring so long of deeply into it that it becomes their obsession.

Instead, Ziz floats like a giant head in the sky broadcasting messages down as from a mind-controlling UFO.  They like to beam down late seventies / late eighties film soundtracks and simply allow the listener to create the images in their heads.  Synth gets a good workout throughout the disc and becomes their distinguishing characteristic.  "Welcome To The Machine" elements combine with A Clockwork Orange sounds to animate the spirit of Ziz, especially on "Tardigrad".  I can't imagine this kind of thing being everyone cup of tea, but those who dig it will probably love it a lot.  Robotic voices speak across the entirety of the disc's 31 or so minutes, sparking a conversation that, ironically, never becomes metallic.  The closest the band gets is to the neighboring skies of Hawkwind on the uproarious closing track, "Space is the Place".

In selecting these two albums to showcase side-by-side I have attempted to display the sheer creative breadth that is flooding out of the country of Italy.  Be it heavy metal or alternative rock, each band puts a little bit more thought into their product to place it on a psychedelic pedestal.  You can listen to both albums on the players below

Orange Blossom Jam is:                                  Ziz is:

Matteo Stronati – Guitar / vocals                    Alessio Bertucci – Guitar / vocals
Nick Soltani – Guitar                                      Lorenzo Trecate – Synth / vocals
Satia Dalia – Drums                                        Daniele Curone - Drums
Andrea Simonetti – Bass                                Nicola Cosella – Bass / vocals

Genre: Heavy Psych, Space Rock, Doom, Metal

Release Date: September 19, 2012 (Orange Blossom Jam); February 18, 2013 (Ziz)

Orange Blossom Jam on facebook
Ziz on facebook