This is a site where I post reviews of CDs, DVDs, LPs, and concerts. I have been writing music reviews on and off since 1984. I ran a heavy metal fanzine from 1984-1988 called Metal Madness and have been a staff writer for Aural Innovations for many years. I have also contributed to Chrohinga Well (RIP), Bad Acid (RIP), Lowcut (RIP), Roadburn and a number of other zines as well. I recently moved to Portugal so please request the new address and do not send any music to Denmark anymore. Tak..
It
has been many years since I heard a new Astralasia record but this is quite
different from the more commercial stuff the band was doing when I last heard
their material. This album features two long and two short instrumental tracks
and two shorter tracks. It also comes with an additional 7” record with two 7
min tracks. The first track is very dreamy with a repetitive synth line. There
is some guitar that comes in as well but it is almost entirely synth based.
Track 2 has a long build but then drums (computer) and some nice guitar kick in
as the tempo, which was built on a slow bass drone, is thrown to the side and a
cool track develops, but is still mainly synth based. It eventually ends after
15mins with some acoustic guitar and synth drones. The third track, features
some really cool space guitar, ala Steve Hillage style, amongst a sea of
floating synths and simple programmed beats. Beautiful… Track 4 has a pretty
psychedelic start and is very dreamy and floating with a lot of stuff happening
as it starts to grow (real flute or synthesizer?)… As this track grows, there
is some really cool slide guitar with delay played to compliment the computer
drums and synths. There is some lightly sung stuff going on under some windy
static towards the end of this track as it gets quite strange. Next are the two
tracks from the 7” record. This is the desert starts with some beautiful piano
and harmonica to set the mood. This is a super cool track with some great
guitar as well. The flip side again features some great spacey delay guitar and
is the most uptempo or close to what you could say rock track on the record
with what sounds like real bass although it is probably also done with
computers like the drums. A pretty cool release.
Dopelord
are a polish stoner doom band. I recently caught there concert at the Heavy
Days in Doomtown festival and it was one of my favourite bands this year. I
managed to pick up their debut vinyl (got one of the last copies) and this new
full length that they just released in April 2014. The band is a four piece
with two guitars, bass and drums. This album features 5 tracks starting off with
Addicted to Black Magick. “Come to the Sabbath” a bit cliché chorus but what
the hell, as the mix of doom and stoner rock, in an excellent sound production,
including some effects on the vocal here and there and a cool guitar solo. Next
up is what I would call their tribute to Electric Wizard, Preacher Eletrick,
which sounds exactly like EW, could even be a cover song and I just don’t know
it. Great guitar solo in this song. Acid Trippin’ is next a very doomy track
with some more fuzzy effected and spaced out guitar with slide. I love the
really cool groove they get going at the end of this one. Green Plaque is by
far the fastest track on the CD and it starts off with a cool bass line. This
is probably the most psychedelic track as Mroka plays some very cool guitar
parts as the rest of the band keep the very heavy vibe alive. Pass the Bong,
ends this stoner worship record in fine fashion with a long track with good
grooves. The stoners in the world will love this one.. Fire it up!
The
Finnish band, MPH is back with their newest and most ambitious release to date.
It was recorded between Feb 2012 and 2014. This is a monster double CD and
features a lot of really heavy but also atmospheric stuff with some spoken
words samples, minimal vocals, but some and just two long trips in around 2hrs.
It is very hard to describe a 60min track, but just go with the flow of the
slow building guitar drones, space sounds and eventually you are released after
about 10mins, the bass, drums and everything starts to take off into a massive
distortion field of repetitive, almost industrial dark music. By 16mins, the
sounds has dissolved into an eerie spacey zone, where little oxygen escapes..
By 25min you are in this sort musical trip that Dark Buddha Rising and BONG
create, doom drone space… by 35mins you
have reached a very peaceful place with a nice melodic guitar riff and a
keyboard solo is played for a while as it all slowly builds, very slowly and at
the 37min mark, the return of the monster space doom riff but then is all
starts to go into a really bad psychedelic trip and start to feel really
dangerous, you are getting lost, losing touch with reality.. Eventually, the
BONG like atmosphere returns with a cool flangy sound over the entire
soundscape at the mid 40 min time point. The song fades almost entirely out and
then returns with a short heavy section before a pretty psychedelic ending with
lots of spacey guitar parts and keyboards. That was a crazy 67mins of your
life.. Phew… Do you dare the 2nd CD right in a row??
CD2 is a bit shorter, 58 mins and starts in a
similar way as the first CD, but a bit more noisy and intense but with a really
cool shimmering synth sound as it all starts to grow. 8½ mins in, the BONG riff
kicks in but then a lot of other stuff starts taking you into this nightmare
realm again where demons sing, dance, prepare for feasting… the intensity dies
down around 15mins and a really cool riff starts up at 22½ mins that takes the
entire track and vibe in another more beautiful direction as it also has some
nice floating sounds complimenting it by the keys and other guitar.. It stays
without doom but deep in space well into the 40min mark, closing in on the end
of the dark psychedelic trip…
Agusa
is a new band from Malmö, featuring members of Sveriges Kommuner &
Landsting, Kama Loka and Hoofoot. The band is lead by Kommun2 record label
owner Tobias Petterson. Tobias plays the bass and is joined by
Jonas on organ and synthesizers, Mikael on guitar and Dag Strömkvist on drums (they have a great new drummer now).
The album is almost entirely instrumental except for one track and will take
you back to Sweden in about 1975! The album starts off with Uti vår Hage and
some beautiful organ and guitar. It quickly builds a really nice melodic and
dynamic theme of lush organ, dynamic drums and a cool groove. A low mixed vocal
also comes and goes. Fantastic organ and guitar solos and the sort of Swedish
folk theme comes and goes. Great track. Melodi från St. knut ends side B and
has a similar style melody as the first track but Mikael plays a fantastic wah
guitar solo on this track while the rest of the band maintains that great 70s
prog feel and groove. Cool song. Flip
the record over now and you will hear Östan om solen, västan om Måne.. It
starts slow and spacey, with some vocals in the background as it all slowly
builds up and the killer riff and groove finally kicks in and off we go! This
could be my favourite track on the record.. Stioen genom Skogen brings back the
forest organ Swedish music with another beautiful track! The vinyl version of this record
has really fantastic artwork by Peter Wallgren, who has done many covers for
artists from the label.. I really love this record and it has been fun to play
live with the band as well. Peace..
HDDT is back with its 3rd
edition and another great and very unique music program. While a few of these
bands played at Roadburn and the Desert Fest, this line up is really different
and also diverse but heavier… The organizers have done an amazing job and
remember this is do it yourself (DIY) festival, all volunteers run, organized,
etc… real amazing dedicated people pulling this together. The booklet has a lot
of great info and also explains the ethic of the festival and the organizers
motivations. One must really congratulate them on this. Great descriptions of
all the artists who create the posters, t-shirt designs, gallery displays, etc. There over 10 artists given detailed descriptions and involved this year, which included making some super cool imagery in the rooms and in the courtyard. Also, each band is given nearly a half page in the booklet with a picture and
good description of the band. On the excellent website you even get the
discography!
May 1st
21 I arrived at Loppen a bit too
late to see the artwork displays upstairs next to the restaurant. I got my
press card and wristband and started running into people from all over Europe
that I have met. Very cool to see people again. A decent amount of Roadburn
people. My friend, Jens, was spinning the cool records (The Golden Void,
Hawkwind, US Christmas, etc..) and getting people ready for the Swedish Space
rock band, Yuri Gagarin that were to
start things off at 22. I have the bands vinyl record and while I dug the songs, the sound production was not that great so I was curious to see them live..
YG
hit the stage right at 10 and blasted us with 4 nearly 10min each tracks. 3
were from the record and one was an untitled new track. It was really loud and
powerful. The synth guy has two old Soviet era synths from the 80s (I think).
Cool heavy looking… They really rocked the place with high energy space rock
and some great lead guitar by the guy on the right. He broke a string and took
5mins or more to change while everyone stood around not knowing what to do.
Usually, people are in a hurry to get the show going again but not this guy. He
was ready when he was going to be ready. The next track the other guitar player
broke a string but thankfully, he just left in the middle of the song and they
just kept on and he came back before the song was over and was playing again.
See the track below. They had to cut the
set short by one song due to the delay. This is a really great band. I loved their powerful space rock. I can't wait to see them again and they were also really nice people. Great set.
Set List: First Orbit, Untitled
new song, At the Center of all Infinity, The Big Rip
Switchblade are normally a duo but they
had the organ player, Per, who plays with Candlemass and Spiritual Beggars on
the organ and this for sure made things more interesting. The band played heavy
repetitive stuff with heavy almost but not quite doom guitar riffs. I only saw
and filmed the first track but it seemed like they just repeated the same theme
over and over again in like 3 min intervals 4x… no real organ and certainly no
guitar solo. I was really bored but this was also the description. At least the
organ or guitar player could do some solos to mix it up.. Anyway, people were
engaged and seem to be into it, so they must have an audience. It was too late
for me so I missed the heavy US duo, Evil Twin. I had to work the next day and
the Friday was a full schedule with bands starting at 17..
May 2nd
The buses were quite delayed and
I barely got there in time to see Oranssi
Pazuzu from Finland. There was already a good amount of people around and
the room got pretty packed. Damn, these guys were really LOUD… Bass was like
Conan or something to start but not the rest… I was standing with my friend
Jacob near the front. Sound was amazing. This is a very difficult band to
describe. Lots of cool spaced out synthesizers stuff, two guitars (not typical
metal sound, one was a telecaster!), bass and drums. The vocals are in the
intense black or death metal style but the music was anything but. Intense but
with lot of very interesting guitar parts and twists and turns.. I was blown
away by this. Very psychedelic.
Set List: Vino Verso, Uraanisula,
?, Thysä Temppeu, Olen Aulaissut uuden, Ympyri on viiva tomussa
Vidunder (Sweden), are a band from Malmö, who has some releases on
the Crusher label. They are very young and since they played here last in
Copenhagen, they have added an organ player with a cool old vintage Leslie
speaker. The room was totally packed and the band play well but unfortunately,
they don’t really offer up anything new for me as they just sound too much like
Graveyard, the way he sings, the guitar lines and sound. I really keep hoping
that they will develop more.. It will take them time to get out from under this
influence and now with the organ player they could really jam and develop these
songs. We will see.
Dread Sovereign (Ireland), was a three piece with a lot of
attitude. This was heavy doom metal rock and the band even did a Venom cover
(live like an Angel, Die like a Devil! The crowd really loved them. I was also totally
sucked into the vibe and enjoyed their entire set. I shot a video of one of the
songs.. Heavy Metal Lives!!!!!!!!
Leechfest was so packed in the dødsmaskinen that I could not even
get into take a picture. The music was super intense… phew…. Abysmal Grief from Italy, were a huge
surprise for everyone and I heard many thought this the best band of the
festival. They were a four piece group that played this uptempo hypnotic doom
rock with a lot of crosses on the stage, candles, the guitar player even had a
priest thing around his neck! The singer was really into it and intense and
played this organ in the style of the old Goblin soundtracks for the Argento
movies. I really liked them as well but after 4 songs they lacked variation.
Nearly every song was quite similar, in the style he sang, the way he played
the organ, etc.. Still a very cool band..
The US band Taurus had to cancel
their show due to pregnancy advancement and a Swedish band called Noctum (recently signed to Metal Blade)
filled in and man, they were excellent. They really took me back to the 80’s
with great songs that reminded me of Angelwitch or Mercyful Fate at times and
other great NWOBHM bands. The place was also packed the people were totally
banging their heads.. The band was super tight.. They ended their set with a
cover of Crystal Ball by Candlemass! It went down well. A huge surprise as
well.
Noctum
LOSS
LOSS was next but I did not see much of them as Glitter Wizard was having a crisis as
their bass player broke his ankle very seriously and was in the hospital so
they either had to play without him or cancel the gig. They had planned to
cancel but I spoke to them about Doug playing some of the bass lines on the
Andromeda and I could help out with the space sounds and so they decided to
play anyway! It was not planned at all but what the hell, I played with Glitter
Wizard and it was fucking fun. I knew a lot of their songs. As the band went to
go change into their costumes, I made some crazy synth improves for like
10mins.. People seem to dig it.. The
place was pretty packed with people and the energy up front was totally crazy
how people were going wild for these guys. I could not hear the guitar player
that well but I tried not to play the sounds over the vocalist. The singer,
actually played bass on the last song which was a long crazy jammed out track.
I think the whole concert was about 35mins or so….
Set List: Fungal, Worship the
Devil, Snow Crash, Motorider, Circle, Mirror Man and Summertime.
I was pretty blasted by the time
this was all over so I only heard one song from the Dwellers in Twilight. Room was filled and it sounded great..
Day 3
I was pretty damn tired to start
this day and had a short nap after lunch and headed out at 15:20 and I was
hoping to get there in time to see and record my friend’s band, Demon Head and we made it. It was their
7” release party and they had been playing quite a bit so were really tight and
had developed some cool stage presence since the first time I saw them, which I
think was their 2nd gig ever! They clearly have their local fans but
I hope some of the foreign people could make it this early to see them lay down
their early Pentagram influenced style of music. Thor is really coming a long
and developing a lot as a lead guitar player as this is something they really
need. Great grooves, cool songs, people were into it. I filmed the song that is
their new single.
Set List: Undertaker, Ventilate,
Revelations of April, Ride the Wilderness, Book of Changes, Demon Head, Master
of Confusion, Worthless slave to the Night, Sinister Purpose
Next up was Isole from Sweden. They were a four piece where both guitar players
and the bass player all did lead and harmony vocals, which is pretty unique.
They rhythm guitar player did most of the clean, early Candlemass style singing
while the bass player, did the more angry stuff. A really classic doom metal
style and sound but sadly the hall only had about 100 people but they were into
it and played 100% for whoever was there. There were some die hards up front
that new all their words as well…
Dopelord from Poland were next in the small hall and this was
described as stoner doom with a spacey edge and that was exactly what it was. The
room was packed and the band had their own projector with a movie and images
that they showed onto the black backdrop. There was a lot of stoners and smoke
for these guys and they totally delivered the goods. I thought they were
awesome. The sound guy could have mixed the lead guitar player, who played all
the cool parts a bit louder though. They played one song from their debut album
but all the rest of the songs were from the new one that just came out in
April. I will review it in a few weeks. Anyway, they were great and ended the
set with a really stoned some in which the entire band smoked a joint and then
kicked into their track called Pass the Bong!
Set List: UFO, Addicted to Black
Magick, Ghost, Acid trippin’, ?, Pass the Bong
The US band, The BODY was next, a duo that plays super intense stuff. I heard
they blew everyone away at Roadburn. Place was pretty packed but I needed an
ear rest so I sat outside and heard them and spoke to some different people
from Sweden and Holland.
Witchsorrow (UK), a band from the Rise Above label, were here
playing their first ever show in Denmark. I was not sure what to expect but
they were really good. Especially the main set. They are a three piece with a
female bass player and intense drummer. The guitar player was also a really
good singer for this style of music and passionate. He also occasionally played
some ripping solos but a bit too few. They had excellent dynamics. The last
song they played was a new one and it was a bit boring actually and too long. I
think people were really into it before then, but still a great show.
Set List: Aurora Atra, God curse
Us, Trial of Elizabeth Clarke, Love, Freezing Moon, Mysteries
Graves at Sea was next in the big
hall and the place was the most packed I had seen for any band at the festival
and the sound was massive. They are a really intense band with a powerful
singer, some killer guitar riffs and just pounding bass and drums and very
fucking angry! This kind of stuff I can only handle in small doses but the
people were totally into as they got blasted for an hour. Phew…
Nightslug played a super loud sludge show in the packed small hall.
I was outside chatting with TJ, the singer from Sourvein, who stayed at my
place some years ago when the toured with Church of Misery. Really nice
people..
Sourvein was next and then it would be Skepticism from Finland but I was just too damn tired to see the
rest so Steve and I headed home.
Day 4
The Copenhagen Record fair is
today so on the way to the festival I had to take some record to the dealers.
Me with the Sourvein Guys
14:30 Arrived early so I had some
time to chat with the guys in Sourvein, go see the artist displays in the
gallery they created at the local library. Lou (Halfway to Gone, Sourvein, and
5 Horse Johnson) was a super cool guy and he actually has diabetes and takes
the medicine that the company I work for makes and it has changed his life he
said! We had some great conversations as he is really tight with the guys in Monster Magnet all their music projects.
16 Whitehorse from Australia hit the stage at 4 and there was not that
many people at the festival yet but a decent crowd. This is one hell of an
intense band. The singer looks fucking mean and angry and has a powerful voice.
The bass, drums and guitar are just powerful heavy riffing stuff and one guy
making strange white noise sounds from time to time. The bass player he was
getting some real stretching exercise and he would jump-lunge forward with the
intensity of the music. Phew.. Powerful, intense, heavy as hell…
17 Purple Witch Hill was a totally new band for me from Norway. They
have a new record (June 2014) and a 7” out on the Church Within Label. Young
kids but nice. The guitar player and singer reminded me of James Hetfield, the
way he looked, not sung. The band really took me back to 1980-1982 era of the
Neat Records when I used to listen to the NWOBHM 7”s in my bedroom. He room was
pretty filled up and they played a solid set. I think their main weakness is the
vocals but he is not bad, just really learning how to find his way to project
his vocals. They had a lot of good songs and nice dynamics. They finished their
set off with a cover of Witchfinder General.
Set List: Karmansaka, Queen of the
Hill, Astral Booze, Untitled, Alchemy, Aldebaraniad Voyage, The Final
Procession, Doomsday Calling, Witchfinder General
18 OF the Wand and the Moon are a Danish band with strings, acoustic
guitar, keyboards, etc.. This was a very nice change and I think people liked it
a lot. They have played around in Copenhagen but I had never seen them. I could
see that had made several records and a DVD. The drum rhythms were very
interesting and they had a laid back vocal and they started quiet but really
grew in intensity but the songs were all quite short.
Set List: A Cancer called love,
Here’s an Ode, Tear it apart, Sunspot, A pyre of black sunflowers, Absence, lost
in Emptiness, Lucifer, My Black faith, I Crave for You, We are Dust, A Tomb of
Seasoned Dye, The Lone Descent
19 Goatess are a cool stoner rock band from Sweden featuring Christian
(Lord Vicar, Terrafirma and others) on vocals. I saw them at Roadburn and
really liked them a lot but for them that was not a very good show, while today
they felt it would be much better. They were insanely loud to start with and
the bass was just so massive you could not hear the guitar. I was recording
right behind the mixer guy and we talked about it and I ended up going up and
telling the bass player he had to turn down his amp as the sound guy could not
turn the guitar up anymore at the soundboard. Eventually, the sound balanced
out and they did a great show. They played one new song at Roadburn called
Shadowland but they played one more new one today and that was great. People
really dug it.
20 Sabbath Assembly was next and they did not have Jex Thoth of vocals
but the lady from hammer of Misfortune. She was intensely tattooed and also
played the bass. This band had a really cool and interesting vibe but sadly
their music did not evolve enough for me or a lot of people as they had a big
crowd to start but it got smaller and smaller as people did not stay engaged. It
is very nice music. I liked the tubular bells that the drummer played with
small hammers.
21 The Graviators are a Swedish band I have been following and also
corresponding with since the early days of the band but had never seen live. I
was really up for seeing these guys and they did not disappoint. This was the
last night of their 2 week tour and they were pumped! I am not sure what the
set list was but it was great. A lot of diverse songs and intense vocals, great
guitar solos and use of effects and the last song they dedicated to me and it
was long jammed out track, a bit like
Grand Funk! Awesome concert..
22 Baby Woodrose were a very cool and different choice for the
festival and great that they come out and support the event. I was wondering if
they would go for a more heavy set and sure enough they really did. In fact,
this was one of the best Baby Woodrose shows I have ever seen. Guf was totally
in the zone and played killer psychedelic guitar! He writes such cool songs and
is a great singer and frontman.. People were totally into it as they jammed out
on several songs starting with Here Today.. What a concert.. Awesome sound as
well.
Set List: Information Overload,
What a burn, Disconnected, Let yourself Go, Here Today Gone Tomorrow, Nothing
is Real, Volcano, LCD, Light up, Did you get what you want, A child of a few Hours, Born to Lose
Uzala
23 Uzala are a three piece from the Idaho in the USA. I spoke with the
guitar player on several times and he was really cool and was at the festival
for most of the days. They also have a female singer that also plays guitar and
very intense drumming. I don’t know who to describe them but some sort of acid
metal. She sings really well, one of the best female voices we had at the
festival. It was very loud and intense so I heard most of the show from
outside. People dug it for sure.
Windhand
24 Windhand, is a band that I have heard a lot about and I heard their
show here last year was great. I missed them at Roadburn and was hoping to hang
in there and see them this time and I did manage to catch a few songs before
heading home after a great festival. The room was packed for them and they had
a huge wall of sound and channel a vibe like Electric Wizard, whom, so many
bands try to emulate these days but they have a charismatic female singer. The
first two songs of the set sounded nearly identical. They next, they took it
down a bit. The lead guitar player on the right played some cool solos. I am
sure I would have dug it more if I had stayed for the whole show…..
Well,
that was it for Heavy Days in Doomtown 2014.. I think it was a great success
once again. A great vibe, excellent diversity of bands all playing really well
and the same cool community and environment that draws people. There were
certainly less people this year but still at least 500 people so if everyone
went into the main hall, it was totally packed. If there were finance issues,
they should probably just try to be stricter about people bringing in their own
beer and wine, as the prices are really cheap anyway. Congrats to Daniel and
all the organizers for putting on this killer festival… Awesome…
Go
Bananas are a band from Salszburg, Austria, who I met and became friends with
when ØSC played with Baby Woodrose in 2012 in Salszburg. They only had their
debut album out at this time. This is a super cool record. All the covers are
handmade and it is made in only 111 copies. The Banana theme is still in place
and the band has a lot of humor as well as a cool mix of serious spacey stoner
rock! The record features 7 tracks over 4 album sides. It starts off with the
track, Never buy weed from an Alien for more than 386 liters of Water! A very
nice spacey guitar line starts things off and some spacey sounds here and there
before it starts to get much heavier a stoner rock like groove kicks in. A
fantastic song.. Inna jo Inna Ging is a more uptempo stoner rock track with
some psychedelic effects and sounds thrown in and some cool guitar solos as
well as the stoned groove. The band has really grown in it’s sound and song
writing from the first record. Flip over to side B for the long Vulko, which is
instrumental and starts off with a slow building guitar line and spacey section
before it builds up with some nice bass lines mirroring the main guitar while
staying quite spacey and floating. It ends in a heavy fashion with some wah
guitar solos. SUN starts with some beautiful guitar and then really takes off
and develops into a real rocker but with a great sense of melody. BP-Black
Death starts off side C with a beautiful guitar line before the rest of the
instruments slowly enter into the mix. This track takes the entire side and
takes a dramatic and heavier turn around 3mins. The mid-section has some nice
ØSC-Hawkwind like space synth sounds as the rest of the band rides the track
through all the different changes and themes that come and repeat themselves as
it builds up to its ending. The final vinyl side has two tracks, GB and Ondas. GB
is a short intro track, while Ondas starts off with a killer guitar riff, even
though it is one I am sure I have heard before. Man the band really groove on
this one but the band brings it down and really spaces it out. I have to say I
really love this great record and cool to see the band taking a pretty
different path from their wild stoner rock beginnings. Great stuff…
The
German instrumental band Space Debris is back with another 4 track double
studio album. Sides A-C were recorded in August 2013 and side D October 2013.
The band has a new keyboard player (Winnie) from the last studio album that I
heard. Each side includes track that fills the entire song. Side A starts off
with Colossus Stranded, a piece which has some singing here and there by Magic
Petra, who did the fantastic artwork. The piece starts with a slow build and
long organ solo. Magic mixes in some singing that I am not so fond of and this
leads into a longish guitar solo and Winnie switches to the Fender Rhodes sound
and a more upbeat heavy jam begins. The band is really great at keeping things
dynamic, if they had a 2nd guitar player they could create dynamics
like the Allman Brothers. Side B is the title track and starts off with some
pretty cool and far out keyboards and then Tommy kicks in with some jazzy
guitar but the whole thing really builds up and gets quite funky and
psychedelic. What a great jam… Side 3 starts off with the Fender Rhodes solo
and then the bass and other instruments slowly enter. The piece has a quite
happy mood to it. Tommy sort of takes the lead for a while on guitar and then
Winnie switches to the organ and they do a bit of back and forth intermingling
for a while. This track is more loose and jammy and everyone plays to a really
high level, with Mitja really grooving on the bass and Christian on the drums
as the track just builds and builds. Journey back to the Moon ends side D and
is another long jamming track with a bit of an almost Spanish style theme to it
to start. The track comes to an almost complete stop where you might think it
is ending but then it slowly grows with a long guitar part complimented with
some nice drifting organ. The track does actually stop completely and start
again, which is quite strange before fading out one more time… Cool record..
Ad´Absurdum are an underground
band from Switzerland that have been around since 1991 in one form or another.
They are happy living just beneath the surface of the musical world, where
people leave them alone to make their own universe of instrumental, psychedelic
space rock.. I have reviewed quite a number of their releases over the years.
This one is coming out in May on vinyl and CD and as a digital download.
Previously, many of the bands releases have been in very small numbers,
sometimes only 50 copies. Anyway, this album has 9 tracks and a wide variety of
material. Atomonoton starts things off with a quite repetitive guitar line that
the whole track builds off and goes and comes back to. A very cool dynamic in
this track with a great mixture of cool guitar effects, synths sounds and other
oddities thrown in to make it quite psychedelic…Phosphor reminds me of Circle.
It keeps the mid-paced drive in place with the guitars playing nice melodic
lines but the pace keeps the hypnotic train on course. The train changes course
dramatically at the end with a dark strange, piano soundscape. The next track,
Deep #2 was recorded live and a bit more dissonant and challenging as far as
the guitar parts go. The organ gives the track a sort of sense of balance as it
floats and glides. There are some echoy vocals that can’t really be understood
very well but are mostly for effect. Sunshine Baby is the sort of pop psych
track on the CD with some melodic and distant vocals. Territor starts nice and
slowly with a strummed guitar and flute like keyboard. The last three songs are
a grouped together and called Suite about a Day at Home. This track has a lot
of dynamics and reminds me a bit of Hawkwind, Circle, and AdÁbsurdum. I really
like this creative band, just doing their own thing and not sounding like any
other band from Switzerland.
Acid
Elephant are a new band for me. This is apparently their third release. The CD
features 5 long songs and the band is from Pori, Finland, one of my favourite
countries ad the home of CIRCLE. The band is a four piece of guitar, bass,
drums and keyboards. They describe themselves on bandcamp as drone stoner rock.
Las noches del desierto is the first track and the music is pretty stoned, with
a cool smooth groove and vocal. Cool song but I did not hear any keyboards. Red
Carpet Lane (10mins) continues in the same vein but the guitar has a slightly
heavier tone this time but the same repetitive stoner groove with the smooth
style of singing continues. The long spacey mid-section of this track takes
things down and there is some nice hand drumming to compliment the guitar
lines, with a slight eastern feel and then they build it up at the end with
some nice psychedelic double tracked guitar for a short section (wish it was
longer). 7th Stone starts off slow, searching, exploring, finding
it’s feet, direction as the track slowly takes shape. The drums and percussion
change the feel of the song but it stays out there is experimental drone-space
land until the end (14mins). Godmason has a far out sounding intro with some
effects on the bass and guitar as it slowly drones in. Quite suddenly, you get
jolted out of your place when the drums kick into compliment the heavy bass and
the guitar line slowly develops. Finally you can actually hear some spacey
synth-keyboard sounds for a few small parts as it builds up in intensity and
into a super cool track. So far each of the tracks on this record has been
quite different from each other, something I really like about this band. BOG
is the last track to end, mostly likely your first Acid Elephant, journey.. BOG
is another trip unto it’s own, with some buried vocals at the beginning and
heavy on the distorted bass… this last track is a far out droney monster….
Sadly, there was some glue or something on the cd so this track was skipping a
lot.. Cool trip..
Ethiva
is a new Spanish band released on the German Clostridium record label. Hope of
Lamp of the Universe, Arc of Ascent, Propane Propane and other cool bands. The
LP starts off with Forest of Pigeons. This track starts with very beautiful,
melodic and building guitar parts before the vocals come in. The track just
floats in a nice way and javi plays some fantastic guitar. Jandro plays the
bass and does the lead vocals. Clouds has this airy singing that sort of floats
over the guitar lines while Ramon builds the drums up. This one gets quite
heavy as the riff repeats itself and then comes down to a more spacey feeling. When
the Great Whale Comes is the heaviest track on the side with some more heavy
slow parts. Fantastic guitar on this track. Flip the record over for the
Eleventh. This song has a beautiful guitar line and again those floating
vocals. The end of the track kicks in with a riff a lot like Monkey3. Chemical
train is a bit more uptempo at the start but then really floats with some nice
bass playing to lead the spacey section. Great track. No Birds soars too High
ends this excellent record with an uptempo track with a rocking solo.I highly
recommend this for people who like mostly instrumental music with some really
nice and dramatic guitar parts mixed with a great Pink Floyd vibe at times. I
really love this record. The artwork is really amazing and if you get the die
hard version it includes a small puzzle. I have never seen that in any record.
Lords
of Saturn are a new band from Norway. The band is led by Mathias Lodmalm who
also wrote both the songs, does the vocals and plays guitar. The band is a 5
piece with drums, bass, percussion and additional guitars. The A side (Plays on
33rpm) starts with Black Triangles. This is pretty heavy and dramatic stuff.
The singing in the heavy part reminds me a bit of Metallica. The track has good
dynamics but I missed a guitar solo, just a lot of riffing and intensity. The
title track is on side B. It is also a slow heavy riffer with some dark
feelings and moods as the track does from dark to light. I don’t listen to much
music like this so it is hard for me to compare it to anyone I know. Check them
out on the web.. You get the lyrics on the back of the 7” to both tracks, which
is nice. Cool artwork design.
This
was a pretty cool stoner doom rock band that I caught some of their set at
Roadburn. They released this nice CD single in only 25 numbered copies in a
small case with a clear top and a sticker and info card. I got number 24 of 25.
It features two tracks. Ananta start
things off with a good mid-paced stoned groove and some passionate vocals. Hollow
has a nice melodic guitar line but then the track slowly builds up and gets
pretty intense and heavy, more heavy than the opening track. The singer is
really good and there is a guitar solo in this track. I look forward to hear
more by this band. They have already made two records.
Albino
Rhino is a new three piece Finnish band from Helsinki. They had an EP out last
year and this is the new full length record. The CD is 4 tracks in about
40mins. The Forest Prevails starts things off with 9mins of heavy riffing. The
sound is very compressed and strange with the bass and guitar mixed really in
your face. It is very repetitive and then changes slightly at times to give it
a bit of a twist and turn like some wind sweeps and the riff will change a bit.
You can tell these guys like Electric Wizard! Sanctification is next and
features Kimmo, the guitarist on vocals. The vocals are in the style of OM and
Sleep as the heavy riffing continues. There is a short guitar solo section
before back to the heavy riffing. Blue Mist is sung by the bass player Ville.
While the vocals have changed, the music stays very down tuned and heavy. This
track is more uptempo and reminds me of someone but I can’t place it? Kimmo
plays some solo guitar which really changes the feeling of the track towards
the end. The CD ends with the 14½ min track, Uphold the Light part 1. This one
starts off with a really cool almost like solo guitar riff before the heavy
stuff kicks in and it for sure brings some more light to the heavy start of
this record. Each track is a bit different on this EP, making it pretty cool.
Clearly, groups like Sleep, OM and Electric Wizard are the major influences on
this group. Check them out…
Circle
has already released 4 records this year and it is only April! This is a very
short 7”, showing yet another side of the band, the PUNK side. 4mins of total
music on this 7”. The title track starts things off and is all sung in Finnish
with a snotty attitude but the music is actually pretty melodic and like pop
punk! Liian Paljon Liimaa (Too Much Glue) is a bit longer and in the same vein
as the first track but more energetic and a bit harder edge but still that
slight melodic thread. This is actually a pretty fun track, especially if you can
understand the lyrics!
The
Socks are a new French band on the awesome Small Stone label. The band is really rocking out with a 70’s vibe for sure. They
are a four piece band that have heard a lot of the current crop of Swedish
bands like Graveyard, Witchcraft, Horisont and others, but they throw in their
own twist here and there. The album starts off slow and building with Lords of
Illusion. This one starts to build up with the rhythm guitar player Nicklas
also adding some keyboards. Julien takes care of the lead guitar, lead vocals
and can sound exactly like Eric Wagner of Trouble! This track really rocks out
at the end. Some Kind of Sorcery sounds like they stole it from Graveyard. A
high energy and passionate track but almost a cover song. Next to the Light
slows things down and shows the strong side of this band, with great dynamics
of guitar and keyboards and passionate singing. New Kings is back to the
Graveyard boogie and vocal style with a hard hitting riff mixed with slower
parts. Holy Sons is a great song and one of their most original with a heavy
riff combined with the organ in a really effective way. Julien plays a very
passionate solo and this is the most jammed out track on the record. Electric
War goes back to the uptempo Graveyard style that they emulate so well. The mid
section is a bit more doomy like Trouble. Nice double tracked wah solo as well.
Gypsy Lady has a cool footstomping groove with a nice organ line that drives
the track to start and another one of their more original sounding tracks. WE
LIVE (not the Electric Wizard song!) is driven by some cool bass lines and
aggression which comes and goes. The CD ends with another very Graveyard
inspired track called The Last Dragon. Almost a cover song, it is so close to
the Graveyard sound and feel. Anyway, despite them borrowing a few too many
ideas from Graveyard, this is a solid record. This is a record, like most, that
sound best when cranked up really LOUD… I hope to catch these guys live soon..
