Pesta- Craft of Pain (Glory or Death Records)

I had never heard of this 10 year old Brasilian four piece band before and I think this might be their first release in Europe. Anyway, after a short intro the band blast into Masters of the Craft of Pain. This is really classic late 80s inspired doom metal like Candlemass, Soliditude Aeternus at style but then also Spirit Caravan at times…  marked by Hate slows things down to a more doomy vibe.  A good groove kicks in and off you go.  Mirror Maze, has a bit more of a biker rock feeling (like Wino). Great guitar solo on this one as well. In the Drives End is a mid paced track but it slowly gets more doomy and groovy.  Thumbscrew is instrumental and one of the more heavy tracks and a bit psychedelic with some wild cool sounds going on and a strange vocal ending. The Inquisitor Pt 1 is a slow doomy one.  Pt 2 starts with an acoustic intro that ends this record.. Nothing very original here as it is nearly impossible to do in DOOM but well played, well crafted songs and nice powerful clean vocals.  Good job guys.. I dug the album!!

https://pestadoom.bandcamp.com/track/shadows-of-a-desire-2 

THE RE-STONED - Dreams From The Outside: Stories Of The Astral Lizard Vol. 3 (Bilocation Records)

I have really enjoyed the music of Ilya Lipkin and his different band projects.  Glad to see they have made another album.  The album features 12 tracks, only 8 on the vinyl and 4 appear as bonus tracks on the CD (which comes with the LP!), so you get the entire session if you buy the LP… I have heard the digital tracks twice now and it is a really great record. The opening track is "core" Re-Stoned with some great guitar solos and I love the delay guitar part at the end! Overall, the album is more laid back but the songs and moods are great. Even some acoustic songs. Bad Stone was one of my faves and glad that is on the vinyl. Check it out….

1 Sleeping on the Emerald Throne    
2 Lotos  
3 Spiral Jam
4 Saikhshya Sakhyash
5 Elliptic Flowers *
6 The Loom  
7 Ostara
8 Stellar Kaleidoskope *
9 Bad Stone
10 Myth *
11 Prizmatic Snowflake
12 Lizard Footprint #2 *

https://re-stoned.bandcamp.com/album/the-loom-maxi-single 

Stonegazer- Threshold (Bilocation Records)

Been a while since I have heard from these Finnish stoner rockers from Tampere.  This is a pretty intense record with mid and fast tempo songs and great riffs.  My main problem with all the stoner rock today is that the best riffs have been played and written and it is hard to come up with anything really new..  The band hammer away at you for the first 4 songs and then Kairos slows things down and is a bit more doom for sure. Great guitar sound and powerful vocals. Dissolve is a more laid back affair to start but then the intensity build, especially with the vocals. The groove really kicks ass at the end of this one. The Age of Unreason, starts with a strange bass (?) intro before the groove kicks in. Like middle part on this track.. The album ends with The Weight of the World, the 2nd longest track on the record and one of the coolest guitar sounds on the record. I like that effect…. Powerful band… wonder if they will ever make it to Portugal???

https://stonegazer.bandcamp.com/album/threshold 

Carlton Melton- Live Hebden Bridge & Enschede 2023 (Was Ist Das, WAS74)

The SF based psych rock band, Carlton Melton are back with a live album from their October 2023 European tour, the first as a four piece band!!  This is the bands 5th live album, 2nd one from Hebden bridge, where they also played Smoke Drip, which starts off with a synth drone and a great spaced out feeling and nice solo by Rich…  March of the Cicadas has a shorter synth drone intro before it gets really heavy with the two guitars and one is quite dirty and distorted and love that slide guitar, just makes it feels strange..  Intense.. Vanquished is from the bands last studio album, Turn to Earth and features some really nice guitar playing and good energy. The band is for sure heavier on the tracks with two guitars!! Prescribed Skies is from the Resemble Ensemble record, a record they also released in 2023.  Starts very drony. Not sure if that is Rich or Anthony?? Anyway, once the band kicks in they rock with some nice solos.. 

If you like the mood and feeling of the band, then you will for sure dig this. They never play anything exactly like the records, it is about going out into space and exploring the other side with these guys…  Great band..

http://carltonmelton.bandcamp.com 

http://wasistdas.co.uk/label/

Grusom- III (Bilocation Records)

This caught me by surprise as I had no idea this band was still playing.  Saw them a few times when I lived in Denmark but they have not had any new music for some years now.  Their last album was in 2018. They live for the 70s sound and feel for sure and have an interesting vocalist.  

Shadow Crawler starts things off and has that sort of Deep Purple like feel.  Good melodic track wtih nice harmony guitar parts.  Hell Maker has a much darker feel to it but is also very melodic. Le Voyage, has a very mellow start with some nice piano and guitar lines. Emotional vocals and a lovely guitar solo.  Euphoria is quite a short mellow track. Night Hunters starts with this 80s synths sounds that I am not a fan of and then the energy picks up and some nice harmonies are played the synths are dropped for the organ. Felt like they could have really jammed this one out but they did not. Fatal Romance starts off with a bit of a guitar jam before settling down into what seems to be the standard sound and vibe of the album. Memories features a very nice hammond sound to start the track as the drums build up the tension before the harmony guitars take the lead. Lovely sound production. Mortal Desire ends the album with a nice organ intro and turns into one of the longest tracks on the record. 

Overall, this album is a more laid back affair then their previous records and I feel has less variety.  Solid effort. The band is: Vocal: Nicolaj Jul, Keys: Peter Pørtner, Guitar: Thomas Ulrik, Guitar: Dennis Warburg Bass: Søren Olesen, Drums: Peter Østergaard

https://grusom.bandcamp.com/album/iii

Nepal Death- Pilgrims and Psychonauts (Sound Effect Records)

This is a great band from Sweden and it was an honour to play on three songs on the record..  The band has really grown over the years from making some very strange psychedelic drone music to good time rocking music. The videos of their live shows so the band is really fantastic and I think they have caputured that live energy well on this excellent record. Seems a bit unfair to review it when I am sort of part of it but it please check it out. Very proud of this one..

“Imagine Charles Manson and a group of fake Hare Krishna hippies in an old VW bus speeding down the Hippie Trail toward Kathmandu in ’ 72. That’s the starting point for Pilgrims and Psychonauts – a hypnotic concept album of neo-psychedelic rock, kraut grooves, and ritual mantras from Swedish musical collective Nepal Death. This record fuses spiritual longing with heavy grooves, raw guitars, pounding drums, and layers of analog space synths, flutes, and sitars – all wrapped in a strangely melodic and ceremonial atmosphere.”

peace…nameste. 

www.nepaldeath.com 

Øresund Space Collective- Sept 5-7th, 2025 Mini Tour

Sept 4th

What a fucking time this has been to sort all this out and now it is finally going to happen… I am on the train to Porto and early flight to Berlin tomorrow.  They are having strikes at the airports so who knows if all will go smooth or not… We will see.  

Jiri has been having trouble with the van and he got it back today and it broke down immediately. FUCK.. They will work on it first thing in the morning and they hope to get the ferry at 13.. If not, they will have to take Gregers car and we will have to find some backline gear for Berlin. Call some bands….  Also, Gregers said he was taking his girlfriend and sister along on the tour.. I told him we could not guarantee them any food, drinks, sleeping places, etc……  Lets see what happens.. I can not stress about it.. It will be what it will be.. 

Sept 5th- Neue Zukunft, Berlin

I had a relaxing night in Porto with Pepe and his family and flew out at 9:10 and arrived in Berlin at 1330 in time.  I wrote to see about the van but no word yet…..  Just hope it all goes well.

This is a sort of strange de ja vu.  I am sitting outside the club, a lot like another club we played where it was the same situation. NO one but me… Things are all fucked up…  Van got fixed but they were 3hrs later leaving than expected so now they will not arrive to the venue until 1930 or 20.. We were supposed to be here at 1630, soundcheck 17-18, dinner 19, doors open at 19 and play at 20. So now, we will not get to play before 21 earliest and not sure what about food… It will be chaos and stress. Sabine made it to Lubeck and then they rejected her ticket and kicked her off the train so she went back to Hamburg. I was really looking forward to see her and she was bring records and cds, etc.. bummer…  We will just have to manage with some old shirts and cds that I brought.. 

Mattias flew into Berlin yesterday and showed up here at the club at 1600…. bad news though was that the band did not get the ferry until 14 so they will not arrive before 2030.  We are supposed to start at 2000!  Oh Well.... The entire night is going to be delayed. Anyway, it was what it was and they arrived at 2030, we set up, had some food and started playing at 22 and played straight to midnight (the curfew). 

Brad (Pothead) was there and some of our older fans and folks that come to the spaceboat. It was a great crowd of about 100 people. Band played very well. Long jams, 4 in 2hrs..  Lights were bright and a bit annoying but sound lady who was awesome, had to do both..  Great sound on the stage, everyone was a great. Jiri said he thought I was good.  tak Jiri.  Fun gig. Still annoying that when Nick solos, no one hears him as his sound disappears. Fun gig.. Look forward to hear the show. Will not be great though as the camera vibrated due to the bass and was facing the wall by the end of the gig. Bummer..  Check it out below.

http://archive.org/details/OSC2025-09-05.FLAC 

It was 230 by the time we got to bed. Was up at 08. Had a shower and we were out of the hostel at 08. 

Sept 6th- Moor Happening IX, Germany 

It was a nightmare getting out of Berlin and Nick left his guitar in his girlfriend's car so we had to stop and wait for her to bring it to us. We got some food and gas (119€) and they smoked lots of cigs and now it 10 and we still hardly gotten anywhere. So much traffic..   GPS says we will get there at 1419 but am sure we stop a few more times and will be late… We always are late…  I am tired..

We had a few more stops so they could smoke and we got there about 1540.  Everyone was super cool and a really cool festival space on a bar with the stage and bar in an old barn, nice building.. I guess about 150-200 people. A lot of people I know from the Spaceboat and other festivals. They only announce who is playing each day on the day of the show so it is a surprise and they were blown away we were playing. Gemma and Simone have wanted us to play for years.  Anyway, they took great care of us and we played on all our own gear and started on time. We played for nearly 2hrs and it was a fantastic concert.  People loved it, I had fun as well.  People dancing and smiling. Cool light projections. Fun..   http://archive.org/details/OSC2025-09-06.FLAC 

Octopizz, a stoner band was before us and a decent crowd. A lot of people sat on the benches outside the barn as you could hear the band well and from many of the places also see the band thru the doorway. They had a cassette they were selling. 

Next a very intense band called Modder was after us.  This was very dark and intense music. It sounded really massive and was LOUD.. They had some interesting textures though, not just pure doom. 

There was one more band called Highest Primzahl on Mars after that played like Neu-Circle like stuff but less variety.  Did not see them but we could hear them.  Sleeping accommodations were not great for Jonathan, Jiri and Mattias. A freezing cold shipping container, some army cots and a thin sleeping bag. No heat. They did not sleep well or much. Nick and I had a proper camper with a matress, pillow and it was not warm but it was ok.. Did not sleep at all until the music stopped at 1 or so….

Sept 7th- Nijmegen, NL

1040 and we are on the way to Nijmegen. We get a free lunch if we arrive at 1230-13. If we are at 14, the food will be gone.  GPS says 1238 if we do not stop but I am sure we will and get there at 1330 or later.. That is just what these guys prioritize, smoking over being on time.  Crazy eh???

Matinee show today with a new band with Peter from Bismut/DundW and one of the guys from RRRaggs called VIIM.  Should be a cool band. I will film and record them as well. They asked me to play on one song as well. Joe from Rock Times is coming from Germany, a few people from this festival are also coming. 

We are running behind as usual…and Jiri nearly missed the exit and smashed the van. It hit a deep bump and the van went down hard but seems ok at the moment…  Supposed to arrive between 12-13 and we arrive at 1330 earliest.  Doors open at 1430… 

Bad news back in Portugal, so of our fans, their farms have burned down but there house is ok. nick, Tif, Gary and Marla.. Tom…. so sad… So glad it did not get as far as Mike and Pat and us.. The fire was set on purpose by the neighbour of Gary and Marla… Pity. all that loss… 

Lets see how the rest of the day goes…

It was a bit of a rush but it all went smooth in the end. Stage was quite small so there was no way we were going to be able to set up soundcheck, tear down the gear for VIIM and do it again so we just let them set up the gear in front of ours except the synths and then, they played and we just set up and started to play….

VIIM was great. Three piece band with Peter on Drums (Bismut, DundW), bass player from RRRaggs and a cool guitar player. They played 4 songs about 30 mins. I joined in on the last song.  Really good music. Place was pretty full with their friends and awesome lights. 

We just set up and started to play, no real soundcheck, just go.. We played about 80mins I think til 1730… Very zappa inspired stuff and very melodic and spacey to start and then we rocked.  very different show again. Jonathan was super tired and frustrated but played brilliantly as always.. Nick also did some amazing solos as did Gregers. 

http://archive.org/details/OSC2025-09-07.FLAC 

Venue people were great and food was really good, best on the tour…..  Fun but not going to do this kind of touring again..  The band drove back to Denmark, while Mattias and I stayed in Amsterdam for 2 more days. Jonathan flew direct to the USA to tour with Camper Van Beethoven! 

It was great to meet our fans and friends and thanks to all the promoters..