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..
Tuliterä
is a very cool Finnish band. I have been following them for a few years and the
two main members stayed at my apartment last year and played me the rough demos
for this record and I was pretty impressed but damn, this record really blows
me away. It features 9 very intense tracks spread over an hour of instrumental metallic
space rock. Percolator starts off with a lot of cool space sounds and some
programed drums-percussion and a really beautiful melodic guitar line before
the “big bang” and the heavy stuff begins and the super intense like death metal
double bass drums just blast you and a very heavy riff kicks in. Wow.. Alpha
Blade will remind you of a more metallic version of Farflung. Some great lead
guitar on this track that melds together into some really psychedelic stuff. Jagat
speeds things up further but here the synths play a stronger role in the sound
at first and later the guitars as the space metal rockets forward.. Firedew
starts off with a minute long synth part before the heavy guitars, bass and
drums kick in. The entire track maintains this very melodic synth for the first
part and then a dramatic break takes over at 1½ mins with some really beautiful
melodic but spacey lead guitar with nice harmonies. Mindblowing sound on this
one and very psychedelic and it ends with the synths the way it began but more
dreamy. Cetus starts with a very repetitive part before the lead guitar kicks
in and drives the track but it is a short, almost incomplete track that leads
into Voidborn, which is primarily keyboard driven to start. It has beautiful
guitar harmonies on this slow building track that repeats a lot of the parts
but then layers on another synth or guitar so it just gets more psychedelic and
includes Jaire on sitar. Star Rodeo kicks up the pace to near speed metal with
some intense heavy metal but with the space synthesizers layer in such a way
they really penetrate your brain. All Seeing Delierum starts off very heavy and
intense and then there is a break at 3mins before the really intense metallic
space craft takes off and the track just gets faster and more intense. There is a short very mellow bluesy part with some beautiful guitar after 12mins and then the heavy returns before the track ends at 14mins! Menticide ends the 67min heavy psychedelic space trip. Phew…. If you can sit
down and hear this entire album, you are brave, patient and adventurous .
Awesome stuff..
I
really dig this band. Check out the record on bandcamp. The Vinyl version will
be released later this year on the Space Rock Productions label in a double gatefold
in only 300 copies with an extra track. You can buy the CD from the band now
though.
TSROS
is a band from Massachussetts in the USA. They have appeared on a number of
Fruits de Mer tribute albums with covers of the Beatles, Hollies, and others as
well as original songs. The band has made one full length record released on
Nusrat in 2007. This CD-EP is all new material (2 original songs) both songs
and instrumentals but also includes on cover song of Hurdy Gurdy (an old Danish
band) and two others. The CD comes in a very simple thick white cardboard
sleeve with two printed stamps on it. Inside is a sleeve with the CD and a
white paper with all the details. There are specific notes of how plays what
for all 8 of the tracks. The CD starts off with Burning a Hole. This is a happy
song sung by Ted (who plays bass on all track) and he also does the guitar
solo. I would say the track is inspired by the likes of the Bevis Frond and 60s
bands… Teli Teli Teli is an instrumental track with a bit of an eastern feel to
it and includes Joe and Ted on sitar guitar. Time to Fly is another good rockin’
60s inspired track with a the guitar solo mixed well up front (nice..). Karli
Daglar is another instrumental track (just bass, drums and guitar). Faces is a
more moody track with a cool bass line and nice wah guitar by Jacob Brown.
Yedikule is another instrumental again with this eastern feel but not sitar guitar
this time. Uzun Ince Bir Yoldayim is
another instrumental and features the sitar guitar briefly (does not list it
but sure sounds like it) and Jacob returns on lead guitar. The last track is a
cool cover of the track Spaceman from the Danish band Hurdy Gurdy! If you are a
fan of the band, you will like this for sure… I have put a link below to a
great interview with the main man form the band Ted.
Electric
Moon is back with a new double vinyl or CD release. The album was recorded in
Heildeberg and mixed by Sula. It features one song per album side and starts
off with the 16min Hypnotika. This starts slowly with some synthesizers and
slowly builds up into the EM wall of hypnotic sound and HEAVY spaced out
guitar…. A cool jam but a lot like many other pieces you have heard by them.
Next up is the 19min title track. It starts off more floating and noodling and
slowly the synth becomes more prominent in the sound. As the synths disappeared
into the ether, this slowly builds up with a long and melodic slow stoney wah
solo by Sula. As is pretty standard for EM, it slowly gets more and more heavy
phased out guitar as the bass and drums just keep it steady… Totally far out
guitar effects and torture at the end… The Picture starts off side 3 with a
very heavy bass line and guitar riff, some of the most doomy stuff the band has
done. Eventually Sula totally loses control of his guitar as the track spins
out of control……… but the hypnosis is still in full effect. Aerosoul is the
last track at 14½ mins long and more spacey and something a bit different, which I like a lot. The band deliver what the fans, I guess expect of them these days, heavy hypnotic music with freakout guitar.... Enjoy...
Secret
Saucer are back with their 6th release. Dave Hess and Steve Hayes
are the core of the band with various other members coming and going. This is
the first SS release without my friend Greg Kozlowski from Arc Met featured on
at least a few songs. Ted Boburka plays percussion and drums on most tracks and
Bill Spear most of the bass. Dan Schnell, John Pack and Steve Bemand handle
basically all the guitars. This album actually is very synthesizer oriented and
much less guitar than any of the bands previous records and start off with Blue
Star, which is only synths and some percussion with a vocal or sample way in
the back to give it this sort of spaced out tribal feel. Spin Drift is an
uptempo happy track that reminds me of some weird late 70’s commercial film
soundtrack. The Visible Light is more like 70s Tangerine Dream but with some
fiddle here and there. The Alderson Point is the first track with a more hard
rock guitar and heavy bass line. John Pack plays the lead guitar on this one. Three
Days of Darkness starts is made of 3 parts and starts off with a slow doomy
part with a lot of cool synths and great soloing by Steve Bemand. Great 8½ min
track. The Quencher starts with a repetitive synth loop and then the drums come
and then the bass and then the guitar and off we go for another track that has
a really happy feeling to it but still very spacey. Space Walking has these
really cool long synths space drones (make voice like sounds later) while the
other synth plays the lead line. Mr natural is the most experimental and out
there tracks to start as the synth line slowly fades up and the track takes
off. Features Greg Klucher on Flute and James Dunn on drums and has a sort of
jazzy feel to it. The final track is called Nova Star to end a really cool
album and for sure the most melodic and sort of mainstream one the band has
made. Great stuff.
I
have been waiting for years for this new record to come out. It was recorded
nearly completely live in the studio on two different dates in 2013 and then
they spent the next years doing some studio wizardry and a few overdubs. The CD
is made up of five long tracks spread over 67mins. Two of the original members
of the band (the leader Boris) and long time bassoon player, Frol but all the
rest are new players with Boris and Ness on vocals. The music has that feel of
the early albums and you slowly get totally sucked into it.. Kommuna-Ra starts
things off with a wolf like howl but the programmed drums and sounds kick in as
the hand drumming is layered on and the hypnotic vocals and then the bass line
starts to drive the track. The keyboard line that is quite common in some OL
tracks precedes the vocal of Boris. He wrote the lyrics but the female vocal singing
is mostly improvised. Very hypnotic. I love that sound when Frol kicks in with
the bassoon. Dyatly (Woodpeckers) is the longest track at 17½ mins. His tracks
starts off with most vocal improvs and percussion and drums before the bass
line joins in and then some guitar. It slowly builds and you get transported
away into the OL world as more layers of sounds come and go as do the vocals.
Bela Dama begins with a harp like instrument and some layers of synths and
sounds and then the vocal comes as the drum (kick) and then the rest of the
programmed drums as you slowly glide like on a sea of sound. Very dreamy and
trippy this track but also one of the more uptempo ones. Just Wind features a
real drum kit and has some trippy manipulated voices and sounds at the
beginning before the track heads into the same territory as the previous tracks
but is more electronic in nature. Veni, Vidi, Vici is a short 4 min track that
ends the CD as if you have been dreaming the whole time you heard the record… I
have always loved the music of this band and this is going back to more of
their early sounds but still a lot of programming on some of the songs and
maybe a bit too much of the same after a while by the time you get to track 4.
Still… a cool return.
Vidunder
is a fairly new Swedish band from Malmö. I had previously reviewed their first
7” and full length records here on my blog and I had seen them live once or
twice as well. Since their first releases the band has added Johannes on the
organ and this has made a huge change in the sound and dynamics of the band. I
was pretty disappointed with the last release, as I felt it lacked much
originality and the band was trying too hard to sound like Graveyard and
Witchcraft. This album shows a major growth from these guys from Malmö. The album starts off with Gone with Dawn (See the very cool video below) an
mid paced track that sets the sound and sound plan for most of the record;
heavy rock with a lot of organ and catchy songs and some nice lead guitar. Son of Every Lie is also an
uptempo rocker but with more focus on the guitar than the organ. You slowly get
used to Martin’s vocal style which is quite special. This track is very much
like Graveyard but with an organ. Phoenix Cluster has a happy feeling to it and
maintains a mid-pace. It reminds me a bit of a more commercial Big Elf but not
so bombastic! Martin’s guitar playing has really improved as this band has played
and toured a lot. The mid-section of this long song has some spoken word over
under the long solo and spacey organ sounds. Great song. Kalhygge is a short instrumental
track focusing on the organ playing of Johannes. The Owl has a familiar
sounding riff to start the track. The vocals is a bit like the Big Elf singer
to start but then it changes as the track gets heavier and more dynamic. In and
out of Mind is a really great rock number with some intense guitar. Twisted
Faces is a pretty straight and more mainstream radio friendly track but it does
have a short guitar solo and the chorus repeated many times over and over. Soon
Gone is a proper ballad and slows down the pace of the record. The title track
ends the record with another uptempo track. If I have a complaint about the
record it would be the organ is nearly the same on all the songs and always
plays exactly what your mind would tell you, not very exploring or pushing any
boundaries, and always playing it very safe. Fan of organ driven revival of the 70s sound
from Sweden should enjoy this record.
Zone
Six is another group currently lead by Sula Bassana, who is the only member
left from the original and older line up of the band. This is the group’s first
studio album in 11 years and Sula plays the drums (he has always played bass
and synths on all the other studio albums). Lulu, lays down the bass, Rainer
(Pancakes) the guitar and another musical buddy of Sula, Modulfix on synths. Love
Monster starts the record off and features some cool guitar playing by Rainer
who mixes heavy riffing ala Electric Moon with more lead guitar. This early
section of this track sounds a lot like EM. Martin is mixed pretty low and you
often don’t really recognize his presence unless you really listen closely. The
Insights starts with some spacey sounds as the bass and guitar slowly start a
hypnotic riff over which the synths are layered. It has a nice melody as it
slowly builds up. It gets heavier later but Martin plays a bigger role in this
track and keeps it spacey. Acidic has about the same pace and again could be an
EM song with the way the guitar freaks out and the bass line is very steady. Rainer
comes up with some nice melodic guitar at the end and some synths can also be
heard as it fades away. Cosmogyral is the longest track at 15mins. This
features some really cool tortured and freaked out lead guitar while the synths
lay this really spacey foundation. The end slows everything down and is spaced
out.. Cool instrumental improvised freak rock….
Six
years ago the band released a live CD and DVD from Burg Herzberg. Since that
time the band have released quite a few records and have a new keyboard player
and bass player. Tommy (guitar) and Christian (drums) is still the mainstay of
the band. He also has another band that has recently released an album. This CD
features new songs and nothing that was on that previous live record and starts
off with the great song Sunny Freaks.
A slow heavy burning 70s blues
rocker with nice organ and great guitar playing. The whole band have a great
feel to the way they play like the Allman Brothers in a single drummer, single
guitar version. Just great playing and
jamming from all players. Finkimountain is next at weighs in at 19mins. This
has a monster Hendrix inspired guitar riff that starts the song off. After
Tommy does a solo Winnie does a great solo and then they trade back and forth
each taking cool solos and then back to the heavy riff every now and again.
Great stuff. Woodways is the next track that last 17mins and is broken into two
pieces. It starts with a wah delay guitar and some piano as it slowly grows. When
the track comes down and Winnie is playing the organ by himself, the 1st
part comes to an end and they off on another jam with a bit of an eastern
flavour to it. Winnie later changes to a Rhodes piano like sound with a cool
effect on it. Out of the Sun ends the live concert and includes a short drum
solo. I love the riff , the tension on this track. The very last track is a
sort of bonus track called Demons and was recorded in Koblenz by Andreas in
2014. This track is very synthesizer oriented track with some intense drumming
at the end. This track is cool but feels a bit less together than the other
jams. Another great album and you can see some of the concert at the video below.
As
many bands in the past, Mugstar has also performed with legend Damo Suzuki.
This concert was recorded back in 2012 in Liverpool but only recently released
on Important Records. It features three tracks on with a collage of live
pictures from the show. Waken to the Night is a long track and starts things
off with a Damo vocal improve as the rest of the band kick into an uptempo
track with wah guitar. The middle of this track has some really cool super
effected guitar and is really psyched out Peter plays some synths. The end is
very intense. Very cool song. Subway Sound is a short 3-4min or so dreamy piece
that moves directly into Innanewah which has a far out synth line that goes
straight into your brain the way it is mixed as the band are pretty noisy while
the drums and bass maintain the groove and neil does his guitar thing.. Cool
stuff. You can actually tell that Damo
is singing mostly in English on this set of songs. While some bands allow Damo
to really push the band into a totally different direction, the band seem to do
the Mugstar thing and Damo just has to sing along the best he can to what
appear as “real” mugstar instrumental songs. I know it is not that way
actually, that is is all more or less improvised. The long B side is more of a
jam though called Zero Coda and it lasts like 25mins and has a massive freakout
and psychedelic section with no singing by Damo.. If you like Mugstar and Damo,
you can’t go wrong with this one. There is a teaser below and if you search you tube there is a short video from the actual concert but the audio is quite distorted. Enjoy.
As with many of
the H42 label 7”s, there are many different colours and options to buy this
music and one deluxe version on Silver vinyl that also comes with a cassette
with two unreleased Mos Generator tracks and two extra Daily Thompson tracks,
not unreleased. Mos Generator starts off
the A side with a track called Vol IV. I wish it was Black Sabbath Vol 4 like
but it is not. It is however a very raw nasty sound on an melodic hard rock
song by the band that starts to really groove at the end and gets better and
better. Flip the 7” over for Spit out the Crap! This is an uptempo stoner rock
track with a lot more energy than the A side. It has a cool intense wah guitar
section before going back to the main form of the track. A short blast of a
track.
The cassette comes with three bonus
tracks by each band. The Mos Generator tracks include Vol. IV, a demo of a
track called Slow/moody which is just like the title says but I quite like the
mood but then an average hard rock guitar riff comes in for the middle section
and then back to the slow dark theme.
The live version of Early Mourning from the Freak Valley Festival shows
that band really kicking ass. The Daily Thompson side has Spit out the Crap and
next is a track called Lifetime. This is quite a catchy track with a groove
like QOSTA but luckily he does not try to sing like Josh but then the track
becomes very repetitive as the same heavy riff is repeated over and over.
Moothman is the last track and slower and more stoned with a FuManchu like
vocal. A cool release.
Heavy
days in Doomtown (HDDT) has competed the cycle of four amazing events dedicated
to do it yourself (DIY) production bringing together amazing bands and artists
from all around the world. It has been a huge success but also an amazing
amount of work for the volunteer staff that pulls this together for 4 years in
a row. There are more artists than ever invited this year with nearly as much
space in the booklet for the artists as the bands. The list of the artists
includes: Cuero De Cuerno (Spain), Manuel Tinnemans (Germany), The
13th Sign (Germany- they make the cool
posters and logos for the festival), David S. Herrerias (Sweden/Mexico), Johanna Engdahl (Sweden), Marald van Haasteren (Holland), Stiv (Germany), Kati Knox (US), Mattias Frisk (Sweden), Chris Alliston (UK), Jane Lives (Ireland). Not all were displayed on the first night.
I arrived at Loppen in Christiania
about 20 and there was a lot of people outside drinking and smoking and mostly
dressed in black (I wore purple..).. After saying hello to Rune and some others
I know I went inside to see the art that was being displayed. There were about
40 people inside and I ran into the Gas Giant guys, a band that I played with
from 2001-2004. They have reunited with two of the original members and have
started to play again.
Martin..DJ
Martin
Mordor played amazing selections of 70s rock to start and then later switched
to metal. Cool to see him and hang out. I also spoke a lot with Elizabeth, the
singer from the SF band, Castle. She is really cool and a very interesting
person. Making cool drawings in her book…. Nice people..
21:30 Gas Giant hit the stage and this was their real gig in Denmark with
the new line up and also their first at Loppen since 2001… They opened for
Nebula and Unida back in 1999 here. Anyway, the band opened with a brand new
and very heavy track called Ancient Trails. The people really liked it and it
slowly got more and more crowded. The sound man was not that good. Guitar was
too low and the vocal way to dry…He did add some effect to the voice eventually
which was good but never fixed the guitar issue. Anyway, they played mostly tracks from their
Mana record and their single Mama Cool. The sound is a bit different now than
15 years ago as they have stripped away the big muff for a more focused and
less massive sound and there is no jamming anymore. Jesper is still a great
front man and these great songs still sound cool today.. They put in Back on the
Headless Track after Moonshake which was not on the set list.. They ended their
40min set with the classic song, Too Stoned. I will release their debut record
from 2000 on Space Rock
productions on vinyl next month… A great return and you can hear the show below...
Set List: Ancient Trails, There’s
One, Moonshake, Back on the Headless track, Mama Cool, Never Leave this Way,
Too Stoned.
22:45 It took a little extra time
to switch the stage around for the Swedish band, The New Keepers of the Water Towers. I had never heard them but the description
sounded pretty cool. They were quite different from Gas Giant and played only
2½ tracks in their 40min set and the band said it was all new material from the
next record called The Cosmic Child? It was all pretty spacey music with
synthesizer, two guitars, bass, drums and Taurus pedals. A cool sound the band
had and both guitar players did interesting parts when they were not playing
the more hypnotic spacey stuff. I wish they would have soloed more though as sometimes
I was waiting for more to happen. I filmed a short doomy part, maybe 7mins
long. Prog rock, doom, post rock???
24:00 Castle hit the stage and just rocked like a mother fucker and hit
us like a freight train! This was the band’s first gig on their 4th
European tour. They are a three piece
metal band fronted by a female singer who also plays a mean bass. The guitar
player on the first track really reminded me of Piggy of Voi Vod.. This guy is
also a riff master…. Not a lot of straight up guitar solos but tons of changing
riffs and small solo parts all the time. Intense… I could see they had 3 CDs and a couple of
vinyls and 7” records, which is cool.. I liked the slower numbers the best at
the end of the set when they played Black Lands and Evil Ways. They got an
encore as well. People dug it but they had the fewest people but still 200 or
so to play for.
Set List: Descent, Temple, Corpse,
Be my Ghost, Killing Pace, Powersigns, Total Betrayal, Black lands, Dying, Evil
Ways, ??
Castle (SF USA)
The metro was not running so I had
to wait for a damn metro bus to get home but it was a great first night..
Day 2
14:30 I left the house for the
metro and Ungdomshuset so I could check out the artwork in the library adgacent
to the venue and hope to catch Katie Knox
doing some solo art music performance on the main stage at 16. Weather is
clouding up with some very dark clouds and it looking quite ominous.. They said
there could be some heavy rain and hail today..
15:15 I arrived with the bus and
they have a new entrance this year which is much easier. A German guy who I met
getting out of the bus and I went straight up to the art gallery on the 3rd
floor of the library. A lot of super cool art was on display and most of the
artists were actually there at this time. I took some pictures. Kati Knox, had a video instillation and
was to perform an acoustic set at 16, so I just hung out and spoke to some
beautiful long blonde haired girl from California, who was living in Wyoming.
Rad chick, man..
Kati started a little late and
opened with a track where she stomped her foot to make a rhythm and then played
some finger picking guitar and sang. I filmed this track but it was clear she
was just getting in the mood and she would sing much better later. She did a
couple of cover songs, Sweet Dreams by Roky Erikson and Play with Fire by the
Rolling Stones, the rest were originals from what I understand. I liked the one
called tiny Flowers. I think people liked it. They were mostly sitting on the
floor..
Set List: Poem- Reveal the Truth,
I am the Chaos, Conception, Goodbye Sweet Dreams, Meditation, Men who Seek,
tiny Flowers, Play with Fire, This is a Story.
At 17 Black Cobra hit the main stage and this was pretty packed. There
was for sure more people than ever this year. Both rooms were always packed so
you needed to plan a head. This US duo are damn heavy riffing, pounding drums
and screaming angry vocals. No guitar solo but massive intense guitar riffs and
power tracks. I was pretty blown away after 5 songs and went outside. They did
a few slower numbers but it was mostly just hard and fast all the time. People
loved it. It was now cold outside. Mostly sunny though and it had only rained a
little earlier in the day.
Black Cobra
Set List: Five days, Chronosphere,
Avalanche, Red Tide, messenger, Corrosion, Bestial, Storm Shade, Abyss,
Obliteration, Swords
I managed to quickly dash out and
get some food at a close by new Pakistani place and that was great. A bit of
naan bread and a hot lamb curry and a drink for 80kr…
WEAK
18 A Danish band WEAK were up in the Dødsmaskinen room.
This was a three piece that also was super loud and intense. The room was
packed and they had a guitar player that was a bit mad and made some wild tortured
guitar at times and the music had this sludge meets a real punky edge… Phew…
very intense…
19 Acid Witch from Detroit were in the big room. This place was
totally packed. They had some really awesome looking album covers and cool
shirts at their merch stand. I found a good place close to the front for the
first 6 songs or so and then I moved further to the back. This was a really
cool band mixing a doomy sound with a bit of Italian horror music. The singer
was very theatrical and totally into it and also played a small KORG synth
sometimes. The bass player introduced a lot of the songs and made funny
introductions. The lead guitar player came across as a fan of Victor Griffin
but played more shredder style guitar solos.. Fucking excellent set…
20 Evil Spirit from Germany were next up in the small room. This place
was always insanely packed. If you don’t get there early, forget it as it is impossible
to get past the bar part. You can hear the music great from just outside the
door but can see nothing. These guys were also very intense trio with a drummer
that sang the vocals. They started off mostly pretty doomy but it slowly became
more and more heavy metal but no guitar solos, just riffing like mad. They had
a special intensity with the five string bass, not sure what it was.. Powerful
band.
21 Horisont had the main hall totally packed and I think people were
ready for something really different and they loved it. They had a great
reception from the audience and played an excellent concert for nearly one
hour. They played two brand new songs, one I think was called Bad News, which I
filmed. They play all the same old songs nearly every time I seem them with
only one song sung in Swedish and others like Nightrider that people recognize.
Tom Sutton is now a permanent member of the band and does great to drive the
other guitar to solo like a maniac. He does most of the solos and Tom most of
the rhythm guitar but they do a lot of harmonies on the newer stuff and both
get solos as well. Fantastic show and just want I wanted!
Set List: Break the Limit,
Diamonds in Orbit, Bad News, Crusaders of Death, Time Warrior, The Unseen,
Nightstalker, Writing on the Wall, She Cried Wolf, Visa Vägen, Just Ain't
Right, Nightrider Ice of the Fog
Mantar, another German band was in the small room and it was so insanely
packed I could not even get my head into the room so I could not even get a
picture.. Sorry… they sounded like a more classic doomy band..
23 Acid King were up.. I had been looking around for them but had not
seen them. Seems they just came in from Spain or something. Anyway, the place
was totally packed and the room smelled of weed as people wanted to be stoned
for this band that plays very stoned music that often take you on the same trip
for every song. They opened with something new I think that had some
pre-recorded stuff and then Lori had them turn it off. Anyway, they sounded
awesome but exactly the same as when I saw them 8 years ago… Just pure simple
stoned guitar riffs and heavy steady drums and bass and then her occasional
spaced out vocals. Not sure what new songs they played as I could not find a
set list. They played just about an hour. I dug it.. Missed my friend Nils for
this set though..
ACID KING
Set List: Intro, Red River, Silent
Pictures, Infinite Skies, Laser Headlights, 2 Wheel Nation
Sunshine and Sorrow, Electric
Machine, Coming Down from Outer Space, Outro, War of the Mind
24 Night Viper, another band that Tom Sutton plays with were up in the
small room and I managed to sneak in and get a spot up in the front right just
in time for the first song and they were really intense. They are a five piece
heavy metal band that has elements of Metallica (Kill em All era), Slayer (Show
no Mercy) and Iron Maiden… Wow.. the short powerful Asian female singer can
really belt it out as well as they just had the place headbanging and crowd
surfing. Tom is the true lead guitar player in this band and was ripping and
banging and having a great time. They killed it.
Set List: Warrrior Woman, Faces in
the …, The Hammer, Curse of a…, Night Viper, Run for Cover, Enslaved, Dagger,
Wolverine.
01 By this time, there were lot of
drunk and wasted people lying about as Dopethrone
hit the mainstage to the smell of marijuana. This was very intense, Electric
Wizard inspired dope doom with an intense vocal. Some great riffs and powerful
stoned stuff from this three piece. The singer said their 2nd song
was about your friend stealing and smoking up all your stash. Asshole… the crowd
had thinned a little but still a lot of people for an intense set. Band was
smoking onstage and people were crowdsurfing. Far out concert and very
intense.. I was pretty blasted and headed home. A great first day.. Wow…
Dopethrone
Day 3
16:30 I was running a little behind today and I
missed the Danish band Reefer who played a short 35mins set. I walked from the
bus to the club with the guys from Serpent Throne. Super cool people..
17 Guevnna are from Japan. They opened the main stage and played a
intense set of doomy Iron monkey-Bongzilla riff rock. The drummer really hit
the drums super hard and broke two sticks in their set. The singer used one of
these old 50s microphones so had a very special sound. I thought the guitar
player had a monster sound. They were pretty intense but sometimes I would have
liked a bit more groove and a guitar solo here and there please. Till People
seem to dig it but the room was not too packed at this early time and the
weather outside was glorious.. Sunny..but cold if you were in the shade.
Set List: Conspiracy, Confession, Lengthy
Therapy, This mortal Grave, Deathbed
18 Saturnine is an all female doom-death band from Italy. This was
really intense and a bit scary. They had a lot of candles on the stage a huge
amount of incense was burning that it nearly burned your throat. These were
intense, heavily tattooed lady with a lot of make up and far out hairdo (some
of them). They had the look for sure and when they started to play it was
pretty cool. The small female vocalist who was crouching down low at the front
of the stage to start you could hardly see but when she put her mouth the
microphone it was like someone from the depths of hell had just entered the
room. What a fucking voice!!!!! Holy shit! I have never heard a female voice
like that. The music was pretty cool melodic doom most of the time and the
guitar player on the left could rip some good solos. I had to get out of their
though as I was choking on the smoke from the cigs and incense..
Saturine
Set List: Escape, Moloch, Empire, Abyd, Bathory. Fangs, Bones, Orgy
19 Here there was two choices, Mirror of Deception from Germany in the
main hall or a psychedelic folk band called Ill Wicker in the library where the
gallery was. I went for Mirror but after 15mins I left. I really was quite
disappointed. The singer who also played rhythm guitar played more or less the
same guitar riff on every song and he other guitar played quite few solos so I
was already getting bored. Set List: Vanishing, The Riven Tree, Ghost, Mirthless, Magnets, The Ship of Fools, Entgleiten, Sojourner, Student I ran to the library and was blow away but Ill Wicker. This was a young band that
sounded a lot like Comus with male and female vocals, fiddle, stand up bass,
hand drums, guitar, another like 8 string guitar like instrument and some
keyboards some times. The songs were strange, the vocals different but cool and
just amazing stuff. My friend Stojs, did the amazing oil bubble and other
proijections. Very cool.. I loved this and stayed until nearly the end but left
during what must have been the last song as I really wanted to see Epitaph and
was a afraid I would not get in the small hall.
20 Epitaph, are an Italian band with some members of the now legendary
80’s doom rock band called Black Hole. They released some really cool demo
tapes in the 80s that I received when I was putting out my metal madness
magazine. They had a cool stage set up with lots of candles, a skull on a
pedestal at the front of the stage, a huge caldron in front of the kick drum
and a hooded lady who would come and bring different props out. The singer was
very funny and theatrical and gave an amazing performance for the crowd who
really liked it. The music was a bit dated sometimes but in this context was it
just cool. During the Black Hole Medley (I think), the singer from
Carpilla Adiente, joined on additional guitar. It was a great show and I saw
the whole thing. Fun..
Set List: Beyond the Mirror,
Ancient Rite, Sacred and Prophane, The Battle of Inside, Black Hole Medley,
Daughters of Lot, Necronomicon, Confuse the Light
21 Serpent Throne, is a US band from Philly and this was the first
show ever in Europe. The band has released 4 records, I think and they were so
happy to be here. I had met them on the bus coming to the venue today. Anyway,
they had a few sound issues at first as the guitar player on the right was just
way too loud and blasting everyone so you could nothing but him and the sound
guy was really struggling.. I told the sound guy to tell him to turn down
otherwise the show could have been destroyed.. He did and it sounded so much
better. They were totally awesome. Lots
of harmony guitars, heavy riffing and on Backstabbath, a huge 73 Scorpions
influence. I thought it was really funny the way he introduced the song and
said this one was about my neighbors fighting with swords in the street.. This
one is about if there was a car crash and one car was listening to Still in
love with you by Led Zeppelin and the other car was listening to Pagan Alter..
that is what this sound would sound like and it did!!!
Set List: Ride Satan Ride, Wheels
of Satan, Rock Formation, Good Night Humanity, Backstabbath, Battle of old
Crow, Introduction to Satan, White summer Black Winter, Satan will guide us,
LSD
22 I had seen a lot of music the
last hours and needed a bit of a rest so I did not see any of Head of the Demon from Sweden. I just
rested outside and talked with mostly Swedish folks and a cool guy from
Austria.
23 It was time to get our heads
totally blasted with fucking CONAN!
This band plays so fucking loud and intense it just steamrolls your body and
mid with the intensity. Tonight the band played the most uptempo show I had
ever heard. Last time they were quite slow and pummelling but the speed of the
bulldozer had been turned up quite a lot. Dave Perry, a local boy for the last
few years was back in the line-up for this show. The drummer is also a monster
in the band and just kicking ass with such intensity. It was just as loud as
last time up in the front where I was. Damn, knocked me out nearly… this is a
band I can’t listen to at home but the live experience is something to
behold… Heavy fucking shit….
CONAN with guest vocalist
24 I was totally blasted by Conan
and hearing Profetus from Finland
play ultra slow Funeral Doom was perfect.
Keyboard, three guitars and drums, slow, heavy, melodic at time. I felt
like people were in a trance in the room, with eyes closed and just a slow
slight sway in the head and body for not to fall asleep as you drift off to lay
down in your coffin and bid this world fairwell…..
0100 Bongzilla was running a bit behind but the mood was crazy and
people were getting really drunk and were totally stoned now. The place was
really filled up with a lot stoned looking and smelling people. Mike, the lead
singer and guitar player for Bongzilla was smoking his pipe all the time on the
stage as they were getting ready and passing it to the bass player who also
sings and plays bass in Weedeater! Not many bands were smoking on the stage but
these guys and Dopethrone did.. Anyway, the started the real set about 0115 and
played like one hour of very heavy stuff. The drummer was really leading the
material and kicked ass, while the guitar players seem to just play small
variations of the same super stoned heavy doomy guitar riff as mike screamed
out strange stuff about who knows what. What a crazy fucking band but people
loved it and were going totally mad in the front so I had to leave from my
great position in the middle about 15 feet away. Sounds was totally massive… I
was pretty blown away as were my ears after that and Conan…
Mike- Bongzilla
Wow… well, that was the end of my
Heavy Days in Doomtown IV.. Sadly, for health and work reasons I missed the last day but I heard it was great and featured such band as Bell Witch, The order of Israfel, Abysmal Grief, Hooded Menace, King Dude, Capilla Ardiente, Hoopsnake, Night Profound and The Hyle. I had attended all four and played at three and
this was for sure a one of a kind festival with some of the most brutal and
intense music that is being made on this planet and highlighting the talents of so many amazing artists that support the scene with killer artwork... Highly successful and Daniel (and his girlfriend Mikhaila, who also works hard) should be proud as this festival will live on in name and hopefully inspire
others to try to do the same or even better! We will miss this festival.
This
was a Roadburn 2015 sampler that the band was giving out to selected media and
fans at the festival this year. It starts off with a really long track over
25mins which is called On riff to bake the Horses which is a medley of the
tracks from their debut CD called How I learned to relax and love the Bong!
Marathon des Sables is a new song and has some really intense playing from all
the band. I like the cool effect on the guitar as it really builds up in
intensity, like a scream and then they break out into a more jazzy realm like
the track started off and then totally out there!. This is some of the bands
best quality recordings and they really are on fire with some great playing by
all the players and you can really hear how they have really come together
after 7 years. A.B.Ong is a track from 2012. The Bong remains the Same is
another new one and borrows a slight bit from the classic Led Zeppelin track.
They finish off with Inhale on Main Street, another track from 2012. A very
cool sampler with new material and a reworking of old stuff. I really like this
instrumental Italian band.
Magic
Jove is a new Swedish trio from Malmö. The drummer Tim, also plays in the band
Agusa. This is the band’s debut 10” record and features 4 songs. It is pressed
in only 300 copies on black and blue vinyl.
Black Clouds in Western Skies starts things off. Filiph has a really
cool bluesy voice for being such a young guy. He also plays the bass guitar.
The band reminds me of early 70s Robin Trower without the Hendrix guitar sound.
Don’t drag me Down is next and it has a nice groove. Track you Down starts with
a nice guitar and passionate vocal leaning on Bruno’s bass lines. The titles
track ends this excellent 10” that sounds straight out of 1974! Another bluesy
one and someone breaks out the harmonica for about 15 seconds here and there.
Nice guitar solo work also. Hope these guys develop into a band that will jam
live and explore their songs structures even further. I really look forward to
hear the full length record by this great new band.
This
is a pretty new Finnish band from Helsinki. This is their 2nd
release of psychedelic rock. On your Porch starts this record off with a copy
of the Hawkwind- Master of the Universe riff taken in a slightly new stoned hypnotic
direction with some different psychedelic layers and keyboards. The guitar riff
is basically the same though. C.S. changes things totally and at the beginning
reminds me of Syd Barrett and Octopus Syng a bit. It is also a hypnotic track
(especially the end). Midnight is a beautiful floating track with a calm vocal
but a steady drive. Lady Appear starts off with a more mysterious beginning but
soon a more happy vibe pervades the track and there is a nice guitar solo that
guides the track to the next section. Flip the record over for the track Old
Goat. This track is slow and dominated by the keyboards but then gets quite
psychedelic as it builds up. Cool song. Don’t you know is next and features
some violin by Petra is a slower ballad like track with mostly just a kick drum
and guitar. Eternal Clouds has some female vocals as well and is a more pop
psych track with a funny happy vibe. Shaman of the Sun is has a very repetitive
drum and bass line over which the other instruments create the magic. The vocal
is quite special. The track Three finishes off this album. Pretty cool record
for people who like melodic rock with a slight psychedelic edge at times. Fans
of Fruits der mer Label bands would probably dig this band. Enjoy.
Deep
Space Destructors are a really cool psychedelic space rock band from Oulu
Finland. They just did a small tour this spring of Finland, Estonia and Lativa?
And released this tape in only 30 numbered copies to go along with the tour. It
features one long track on each side. Journey to the Space Mountain starts off
heavy and spaced out and then it has some really cool dynamics and reminds me
of old First band from Outer Space stuff.
This is really cool heavy psychedelic space rock with some synths
swirling around here and there as the rest of the band blast full force onto
the Space Mountain! Flip the tape over for Where space ends time Begins. This
one starts off like a jam as the band slowly comes together for the flight.
They are really teasing as you wait for them to get more heavy but they just
stay out in space until but somehow it just feels more and more intense and
then it ends.. Cool stuff from Finland!
