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..
There is not a lot of information about this band but they are a four piece (drums, bass, two guitars, and keyboards) psychedelic rock band from Ravenna, Italy. This appears to be their debut record and features 9 tracks in 52 mins. The 8 min track Apocalypse Begins starts things off. The sound production is quite strange (quite a terrible drum sound) but this gives it a bit more of a psychedelic sound. The vocals are pretty special and the female keyboard player she adds a lot of more melodic backing vocals to this uptempo hard rocking track. Burn with Me is a slower more spacey psychedelic track with some pretty cool guitar work by Gito. Funeral Smoke is another long track at 7 mins and features the organ a bit more prominent but a heavy guitar riff as well. There are not a lot of lyrics in this mostly instrumental song with a really dynamic and psychedelic ending: a quite heavy guitar riff and some organs to balance it out. The Lisergic Show takes a very strange twist and starts off very strange and then becomes a bit bluesy and spacey and then back to the way it started. Serial Killer begins with acoustic guitar and sounds a bit like it could be part of an Italian horror film soundtrack. Fantastic emotional track. Pulsar picks up the pace and starts with some wah guitar and then a sample of some sort as the band plays some more melodic stuff and the track picks up again at the end. Woman in White is something a bit bluesy and almost stoner rock with a cool smooth laid back groove and some back and forth with the guitar and organ. Last call to Saturn is a spacey and sometimes heavy 5 mins instrumental track that ends this CD. I look forward to hearing the next record by this band. It is not a bad debut and I enjoyed many of the tracks a lot but I could use some more solos and freaking out a bit and then returning to the good ideas of the tracks they create. Some will probably really like the sound on this album but I was not so fond of it. Good work folks. Ciao…
Gudars Skymning is a fairly new Swedish group playing 70’s rock. Some times they sound like November but not quite as intense. All the songs are sung in Swedish and this band rocks! This is the bands 2nd release and they are going into the studio in September to record their third! The opening track, Jag är en Trollkarl starts off with some slide guitar but then the harder riff kicks in and the track has a nice groove. It is funny how the Swedish bands that play this style of music, the singers always sound a bit similar, maybe it is the language? Kenny is an ok singer but not that amazing or standing out that much. Södersläntsblues sounds just like November to me and is a bit slower bluesy track as the title suggests but it also has a hard power riff and some nice soloing at the end. Källar-Tony has Kenny really pressing his voice to try to sing in a way he can’t really handle. This song does not really do much for me until the end section where the band has some nice melody guitars and build up. Pengar is a harder hitting track with some nice harmony guitars. The mid section is a bit Trower inspired. Aldrig har jag vetat is a Swedish cover of the Mountain song, Never in my Life with a strange twisted ending where they play part of Starship Trooper by YES. Pretty cool. Hyfs och fason features some double tracked vocals and again some nice guitar interactions and a similar hard rock guitar riff. I älvens svarta djup is the longest track on the record, just over 6 mins and they revisit a lot of the things they have displayed on the record already. There is a nice wah solo towards the end but too short. The last track is called Fri and is quite short and does not have a lot of lyrics and starts with a nice guitar solo and is a bit more southern rock inspired. The CD ends with a straight up version of Never in my Life sung in English. If you are a fan of the Swedish bands Magnolia, Svarte Pan, Abramis Brama, Lotus, and of course November, you will also dig these guys. I think a lot of their songs sound a bit too much the same but I did enjoy the record and it comes in a very nice triple sleeve digipack with a booklet with all the Swedish lyrics.
The Swedish band, Hills have released their 2nd record. The first vinyl one as well as the CD edition on Sulatron is sold out now. Transubstans has released the new CD and the vinyl was put out by Intergalactic Tactics (the bands label?). The record sleeve is very minimal as far as information goes. No label information, no band information, nothing about where or when it was recorded. If you have never heard of this band they play totally instrumental psychedelic rock with guitar, bass, drums and organ (often with a drone). Anyway, the album starts with Rise Again sounds a lot like Wooden Shjips with the echoey voice, repetitive groove and spacey sound. I like the very cool spaced out phase guitar on this track. Bring me Sand is next and starts with a droning organ and then the very cool guitar comes in and this track really builds up with a sort of eastern spirit and a very psychedelic track with a sort of tortured guitar at the end. Claras vaggvisa is a slower track lead by the organ player. Side B starts with The Vessel and picks up the tempo again and features a vocal sample and a great guitar solo. The title track is the longest on the record and the band are really spacing out on this one and this could be a Wooden Shjips outtake the way the guitar, vocal and drums are played (less the bass line). This is a very cool record and I like it more than the first one, which was fantastic.
This was an official live bootleg that I was given by someone who works for the band who was walking around in the audience at Sweden Rock Festival 2011 when we were watching the band rockout. IT features two concerts, one from Indianapolis 2007 and the other from Philadelphia 1990. Only a three of the songs are the same on the two concerts (Blood on the Crosss, Ride the Rhino and One Night Stand). The first show from 2007 is a pretty decent audience recording and very representative of what the band was like in 2011 at the Sweden Rock festival. The 2nd show from 1990 has a bit more raw energy some how. I have no idea if you can buy this from the band or how you get it. It says “not for sale, Only for Fans”… Not sure how you get one if you are fan of the band or collector.
Ripple music have released a cool double 7” package with four bands all presenting exclusive tracks for this gatefold 7” release with a great inside. All the tracks play on 33rpm. Stone Axe starts things off with Nightwolf (an old Mos Generator track), a bit of AC/DC or is it Ted Nugent inspired track? Maybe Bon Scott like vocals fronting Ted Nugent? Cool stuff. Sungod in Exile (who did a split 7” with Stone Axe) play Over my Broken Bones which is a real rock and roll number conceived under the influence of a lot of Budweiser! Lots of nice guitar solos and some cool organ thrown in as well. Side C is Grifter and they manage to squeeze in two tracks and this is more punky and rocking stuff. The D side is a great song by Mighty High (who also did a split 7” with Stone Axe) killing it with Hempaphobic. All the songs on this are pretty damn cool. It is a really nice package and pressed in 500 copies.
United is a thrash metal band from Japan who is still going strong. This is the bands 11th release. The band has just released a 12CD box set to celebrate 30 years together. This album is around 1 hr long and features 12 songs of hard hitting 80s style thrash music. The 10 min track Devil with Halo is very special. I have some of the bands earliest material and followed them in the 80’s when I had my fanzine Metal Madness and honestly, had not heard them in some years and I was really surprised at how solid this record is. The band still really thrashes and rock. Of course there is nothing totally new in this but if you like the old school 80s thrash style stuff, you will also dig this.
This was my 12th year going to the legendary Rosklide Festival. There are quite a lot of cool sounding bands on the bill this year so it will be some busy days. This year I am going alone and my nephew (Scott) is not here.
11:37 I am on the train to Roskilde now and there are a lot of people going to the festival and I just ran into Caroline (singer from Pickled Platypus) and she is going to have a baby in September!
12:30 Check in went very smooth. I took a taxi to the check in from the main station and then headed off for the camp. It must be 1½ km to p105 where Jesper, Dorte and the others are camping have left space for me.
13:18 I had a bit of trouble finding the camp but am relaxing with a beer now with Thomas. Everyone is in a good mood and the weather is nice now but it looks to be changing. Not too hot. At 14 I am suppose to meet up with Tom and Sally at the Van Dame Camp near the E tower for some punk rock!
15:00 That was some crazy stuff with this band Hjortne playing punk stoner rock stuff and people drunk (already), some naked and people really in a festival mood. That was fun. Met up with Anders and Freddy who had a case of beer as well that we need to drink before the gates open at 17.
15:15 The weather is pure shit now… windy, blowing rain but not cold. I am just in shorts and sandals. We are going to get some food near by and try to stay dry. This is going to pass and it will clear up again.
17:30 I am checking out this band from the SalomonIslands (near New Zealand) called Narasirato. It is only drums, flutes and voice but very rhythmic. They have these huge wooden pan flutes. It is pretty cool but gets a little tiring after a bit and strangely they seem to like to play reggae like stuff. It was ok but I was not that drawn in.
18:00 Tame Impala is next at the Odeon and this is some new young band from Australia. No idea what to expect.
19:40 Tame Impala was pretty cool. The songs are a bit too mainstream for my taste at times but they had a lot of delay on the vocals and certainly try to create a cool psychedelic sound and they had a few cool freakout like jams as well. This was pretty good. Next up is a singer song write guy from Borås, Sweden (where my friend Anders is from) called Daniel Norgren. This is on the new stage called Gloria and this is a cool new place but hot and stuffy in here.
21:00 Daniel plays real authentic Americana style blues-folk stuff and gave a really interesting and passionate performance. The crowd was into it for sure. Also a nice surprise.
23:00 I managed to get up in the front right section one person from the rail in the 2nd part of this area. A great spot right in front of stunt guitarist, Janick Gers! The stage set up was cool looking but nothing really special going on. The band were really having fun and into it and the crowd was into every song, whether it was new or old. IT was a solid set of mostly stuff from the last few albums and then they thrown in an old song after 3 new ones (like Trooper, 2 mins to Midnight). You can hear the clear difference between the new and the old material, especially on the energy level. The end of the concert was just great with Iron Maiden, Number of the Best, Hallowed be thy Name, Running Free
Set List: Satellite 15... The Final Frontier, El Dorado, 2 Minutes to Midnight, The Talisman, Coming Home, Dance of Death, The Trooper, The Wicker Man, Blood Brothers, When the Wild Wind Blows, The Evil That Men Do, Iron Maiden, Number of the Best, Hallowed be thy Name, Running Free
24:00 PJ Harvey was on at the same time as Iron Maiden and I would have liked to hear this as well and I was told it was excellent. I could have tried to catch the last 30 mins of this Norwegian band called Next Life but I was not feeling that well and headed back to the camp. Huge party going on in the area as it is every night. Hope I can get some sleep.
Day 2
10:40 Wow.. it is late. That sleeping pill did knock me out. It is cloudy and very windy. I will probably not have time for a shower if I want to catch Electric Wizard at 12. I will just have my juice, granola bar and some water and head out soon.
13:00 Electric Wizard was damn cool again. Psychedelic Doom! The drums were too loud and the guitars too low for the first part of the concert but they were great. I am pretty sure it was the exact same set as Sweden Rock a few weeks ago. Crowd up front was really into it. They could use some slower and faster songs to mix up their set as these songs are all nearly the exact same pace.
16:00 Wow.. Eyehategod, that was a fun concert. The band was in a very good mood and surprised some many people came out to see a bunch of drunk drug addicts from New Orleans! They had great sound and I saw a lot of friends at this Sabbathy sludge doom gig.
17:15 I had planned to try to catch Zun Zun Egui at 16 after Eyehategod but was hanging out with friends and now getting some Thai food with Gustaf and Nina. Next up is sure to be one of the highlights of the festival, Seun and Femi Kuti! I will take some photos of the graffiti, while I wait and rest my feet as well.
20:45 Wow.. that was totally fantastic! Seun was amazing! They opened up with a instrumental jam piece and then he came out and they started with the Fela song Zombie. Next he played a totally amazing song with a killer guitar groove called Slave Masters. Two more songs from his latest record produced by Brian Eno, Let it Grow (and he gave a long pro-marijuana speech) and Rise. That was it 5 songs in 65 mins. Too short. They had a break of about 10 mins or so to change the entire band for Femi and Positive Force.
Femi was also very good but his songs are much shorter and slicker, not as groovy and organic like Seun. Still I liked the concert very much. He played quite a few songs from his latest and most political record. The end was the best when he played a long Fela like track with a chorus Bang Bang. Then Seun came out and this was the first time they had ever played together in Europe together. They performed Gentleman but a much shorter version that the 14 min one on the original record. They followed this by the track covered by a lot of Afrobeat bands, Water gets no Enemy from the Expensive Shit record. Again, probably 6 mins long. I was a little disappointed with the encores. You could tell there is not a lot of love between the two brothers. Pity.. Still a fucking great 2½hrs.
On the left is a link to a video of Femi and Seun!
22:00 Kurt Vile and the Violators, a new US band that I have never heard of but was told I should check out and man, I am glad that I did! They have drums and three guitars, no bass player and play some pretty cool psych rock. The 3rd song was really great and psychedelic. Despite having three guitar players they were virtually no solos at all. It was only the 2nd encore song where they had a long guitar solo. A very good concert. I will have to check out their records.
22:55 I saw about 20 mins of Portishead while I am waiting for the Swans. Strange to have this kind of music on the mainstage. Spacey melenchaoly stuff. The 2nd track was really cool and he played some nice guitar. The lead singer, she is scary emotional when they have her on the big screen. She comes across as an old lady who is dying of cancer and showing all the emotions of it. They had a very nice visual show.
24:00 Wow…. The Swans totally blew me away. Man, I would have like to have seen this at Roadburn but I am glad I did not. These guys are very heavy and also psychedelic! Reminds me of a more psychedelic version of Ministry at times with that same heavy dark emotional freightrain. They put me into a far out trance at time. Great concert. I am just hanging out with Nik (On Trial/Black Pussy) and having a beer while we wait for Ghost at 1:00.
14:00 Ghost that was damn cool and the sound was more massive the lights cooler than at Sweden Rock. They used a lot of fog. I was pretty surprised to hear so many people singing the choruses of the songs for this underground band. I still don’t really connect with their music that much but I like seeing them live, with the costumes, stage set up, etc… Same set at Sweden Rock. I think they play the same set every night.
I caught a little bit of MIA as I was walking past the main stage on the way back to the camp site. That is strange stuff and a huge audience. I am not sure I get it at all. Very psyched out rap stuff. A lot of delays and effects on her voice and this strange break beat, off tempo electronic stuff. Far out. Crazy light show as well. People seem to be in to it a lot.
Day 3
10:00 It is really shit weather now. Very windy and it pours down rains now and then. It is not that cold but it is just nasty out. I will go try to get a shower anyway. First band is not until 13:00.
11:50 I just got a warm shower but it was really crap weather on the way to the shower, super windy and rainy. Yuck….I feel much better now and will soon head over and get some food before Be-Being at the Gloria stage.
12:55 I am hanging out with my Swedish friend Anders at Gloria. We are in the 2nd row. Not a huge crowd here yet.
14:35 Be-Being was damn cool. A 5 piece band from Korea with a harp like instruments, different flutes, this Chinese string instrument that is strummed like a violin but is vertical, drums and a lady who sang and also played some hand drums. They were also accompanied by some Kabuki like theatre which was nice. The music was pretty cool, especially the last piece was really amazing and intense playing. Quite psychedelic.
The Ex are curators for a whole afternoon of music so I went over there and caught a few songs by jackdaw with Crowbar and this was terrible. Pre-recorded stuff with two guys and a guitar player yelling about stuff. I did not get it at all.
15:45 I saw 3 songs by Tallest man on earth, a new young Swedish talent, so they say. This was the hugest crowd I have seen at the Odeon theatre and he was pretty boring and ordinary. I did not hear anything special in this guy playing acoustic songs. Oh well. Then I was off to see some of John Grant at the Gloria before Killing Joke at 16. He was playing the piano and was accompanied by a guy on stand up bass????..He was ok but I did not think he had an exceptional voice or presence. Good but nothing that really grabbed me. It was really hot and humid in this tent. John Grant (to the right above)
17:30 Killing Joke started off playing a bit more of their mainstream stuff but really improved as the show went along. The singer is quite a character and totally give 100% to his performance. The band was clearly having a good time as well and the drummer was really good. When they played their hard edged stuff they were excellent, when they played the more catchy mainstream stuff I lost interest quickly. They were really politically conscious and he spoke out about a lot of different subjects.
I am hearing the last part of Kaisers Orchestra while having some food and the crowd on the Orange stage is massive! Their last song was really good and not at all what I expected from this band. The Ex is next.
19:15 The Ex were really damn good with the guest trumpet player named Roy Paci. They did some much more experimental and jamming stuff. The female drummer she is as good as ever and they had a lot of energy and intensity. Excellent concert but a pretty small crowd, surprisingly.
21:00 Oudaden from Morocco just played the best show of today. I can’t see how anyone will be cooler than this. Very cool tranced out stuff with a great vocalist and a guitar player who liked to play a lot of solos. They only played 5-6 songs in an hour and I was totally sucked in. Sadly the song I shot the video of was the least cool of all the tracks they played but the ending is good. Great stuff.
The weather has changed radically in the last hr and there has been thunder, lightning and pouring down, heavy heavy rain. It is going to be a muddy mess later. I am glad that I decided to wear my boots and had all my rain gear with me. It takes at least 30mins to walk back to the camp so I bring everything with me so I don’t have to go back the whole day.
22:50 I have been trapped in the Pavilion tent with the rain and I heard some of this American hardcore band called Underøath and it was not that interesting. Yes.. they are intense and scream and yell and they have a guy who makes some electronic white noise and sound to give the band a tiny little extra dimension but not that interesting.
Next was a huge choice: Congotronics, Awesome tapes from Africa or Kemiasset Ystävät from Finland. I made the wrong choice and went for Congotronics and this was interesting in that they had 19 people on stage playing but in the end I did not like it much. Members from two different bands from Congo mixed with some people who sing like mainstream pop music. It just did not work for me and I am not really a fan of the east African music much. So then I went down to the Awesome tapes at the Cosmopol and this was a guy with a box of cassette tapes (yes.. he had real tapes) and he mixed this up with some techno beats and rhythms. Some of it was really really cool and sometimes the cool African music was just drowned out by his thumps. Not bad but I heard the Finnish band was super cool and like Tangerine Dream. Damn…
13:45 I have been watching Deadmus on the mainstage while I wait for Spids Nøgenhat. What a super cool show this DJ has. He must feel like he is the king of the world with 50,000 people in front of his techno throne! It was a super cool stage set up and amazing lights and visuals for sure. Some of the coolest stuff I have ever seen for electronic music but sadly, his music is not very interesting at all. Eat Static would be so much cooler. He is pretty far out sometimes though as he really teases the audience with slowly ramping up the frequency and building up and then slamming the people with techno beat and thump and the crowd erupts. Very intense to see and watch.
15:15 Wow.. Spids Nøgenhat totally blew me away. The best concert of the festival! They played most of the songs from their one record as well as covers by Røde Mor and another. The visuals were great, the band sound excellent and psychedelic despite the drums being too loud. The ended the show with a very emotional song by Aron. I think all those in the tent were blow away. Fuck.. I am tired now and it is getting light out and it is very muddy out there now. 30min walk in the mud back to the tent. I pray my tent is not full of water and our camp area is ok.
Day 4
8:55… I am totally blasted. The people were up late making a lot of noise and drinking until the sun came up. I got like 3 hrs sleep after a 14hr day and feeling pretty wrecked. It is very hot and sunny out now and you can’t even be in the tent. It is roasting. At least there is a little wind. I will lie down outside my tent in the shade of the others for a bit. I need to figure out if I will go home today or not.
10:20 We have heard that they got 15 cm of rain in Copenhagen and huge parts of the city is flooded including the main train station! The festival site recorded 3cm but it seems to be drying up quick. It is not bad around our camp site at all. I am not sure what to do, as I am so tired but there is some cool stuff today with Tarrus Reily, Afrocubism, Bad Religion, Graveyard, and Yemen Blues.
12:25 I just had the excellent morning brunch at the Thailanna place for 80kr. Spoke to Tom and Sally and I will drive their car back later today. We will decide if we stay for Graveyard or not.
14:00 Tarrus Riley and the Black Soil band were the only reggae band at the festival this year so I had high hopes but sadly left disappointed. There must be some cool roots reggae bands out there that are not so influenced by mainstream music???? The band started off with an excellent instrumental track with some cool guitar and sax soloing. Then a guy, who I thought was Tarrus came out and sang three tracks that were pretty good but still slick reggae. He had an amazing voice. A great singer, then they announced Tarrus and I was thinking, well, who the hell was that guy then?? Tarrus was a real let down and not nearly as good a singer as the other guy and the music turned into some sort of soul music, not even reggae so I left quite disappointed.
15:00 Bad Religion did not have that massive a crowd and I could get in the front section without a problem. There music is not really going to come across that well on this huge stage. It was fucking hot and I was melting out here and very tired now. It was pretty sad to see the state of decline that this band had taken since the last time I saw them back in San Francisco in 1993 when Green Day opened for them at the Warfield. They really have totally lost their edge and the singer just does not have it anymore. The old songs still sounded good but the new ones were all nearly the same with this pop punk catchiness that I get bored with after one or two songs. People were having a good time though.
16:00 Afrocubism, this would be my last concert this year at Roskilde and I really quite enjoyed this fusion of a group of musicians from Mali and Cuba! The music was really good especially when they were more on the Mali side of things. The tent was very full with people. I heard the entire concert from outside the tent in the shade. Cool band. I had hoped to catch Yemen Blues at 18:30 and Graveyard but was just too tired and Tom and Sally were ready to go as well.
GBS are back with their third release. The band has released the vinyl edition themselves (300 hand numbered copies) and the CD is out in the American label, Cuniform. The record was recorded in 2010 at Studio Pelikaan and produced by Mattias Olssen from Roth Händle. Some of these tracks are five years old as the band has many many recorded ideas and songs that just need to be worked up in a studio. Here we get to hear about 40mins worth of cool music. The side A starts off with a 6min track called 354. It is an uptemop track with a cool spacey thread running through it with a major focus on the keyboards and mellotron. A short 3min piece leads into the Island piece which features some really cool guitar and the sound has this cool distorted edge at times. There is great interaction between the keys and guitar on this super cool track. Side B starts with Gliese 581g, which is quite mellow with mainly bass and fender Rhodes to start and with additional keyboards as well and a voice slowly filters into the music. The guitar and drums only come in the last two minutes and totally change the track and mood. Two shorter pieces are next. Waves is a cool 3 min track with a great bass line and horns and spacey vibe. Geosignal is only 2 mins long and a sort of intro to Sorterargatan 1, which I swear I have heard before. I wonder if they have played this live when I have seen them. This is a super cool track with a heavy cool sounding bass and very interesting and sometime Crimson like guitar lines that cross the keyboards in interesting and sometimes distracting ways. A bit symphonic almost at times but also something that could be in a horror film with the way they use the bells against the heavy bass line. This is a stunning track with a bit of a surprise how it ends completely different than it started with cello and almost like the orchestral stuff the Beatles did. The band also has five musical guest adding cello, French horn, tuba, trumpet, saw, and harmonica to add to the mystery and sound. I really like all this bands records and this is no exception. High quality instrumental music from Sweden and never predictable.
Fruits de Mer is a really cool vinyl only label that releases quite a few limited edition singles and LPs. This is a pretty cool compilation of all bands doing cover songs of space or krautrock bands on blue vinyl. It also comes with a bonus 7” with some of the best music in this package. The vinyl artwork is quite cool and it comes with an insert with the information about the bands on this release. All the tracks on this compilation are unreleased and related to space. Vibravoid starts things off with a quite psychedelic track called No Silver Bird by a band called Hooterville Trolley. Great version though I have never heard the original. A band I am not that familiar with called Vert:x play I come from another planet Baby by Julian Cope. I never liked the original. This is probably my least favorite track on the record as it is a bit too pop psych. Others will probably really like it though. You have to decide.Helicon due a supercool and long version of Hallogallo by Neu! Side B starts off with Cranium Pie’s Baking research Station. What a great name! They play Blacksand by Brainticket and this is the most psychedelic track on the record. Fucking far out but cool. The luck of Eden Hall perform the classis Pink Floyd track, Lucifer Sam. Not as cool as the Dark Sun version but good. Frobisher Neck perform another Neu track called Isi. This is a very melodic floating version. The Grand Astoria playing CAN’s Oh Yeah and with harmonica, acoustic guitar and a very spacey atmposhere. Diarmuid MacDiarmada perform Telestar by a band called the Tornados. I did not find this track very interesting at all. The 7” record features the return of Alpha Omega (they released a cool CD I reviewed some years back). They due a very cool track where they somehow manage to meld Transdimensional Man and Paradox from Hawkwind. The UK outfit, Sendelica perform a good version of the Hawkwind classic Urban Guerilla with Nik Turner on board, who played on the original. A very cool compilation record.
Dasputnik is a really cool psychedelic space rock band from Turku, Finland. We met up with these guys when my band, Øresund Space Collective played in Finland in March 2011. Really cool people and I got to hear their first record, which I really liked. The band has been around about 5 years and this is their 2nd album. The band is five members with Tuomas on guitars, Ville on Bass, Marko on drums, Teppo on keyboards and Sini on saxophone, percussion and tubular bells. This is out on CD and I think also vinyl soon. The artwork is really cool and reminds me of Bland Bladen a bit. There are four tracks in 38mins. Orbitary Volcano starts things off and is a quite uptempo track with some nice guitar by Tuomas, which drives the tracks. The keys and Sax come in later and add a almost Spanish feel to it and are mixed in a special way. The next track, …Phantom Wakes, is the longest track at 12½ minutes and really influenced by GONG in the end section and totally blew me away this one. Cosmic Train to Anticreation starts with a dominant sax as it slowly builds up along melodic keyboard lines. Tuomas’s guitar is slowly mixed up as the track builds. Trinity Quadrilogy is another long track, nearly 11 mins and strong features the Sini on saxs and Antti on trombone as well. This a melodic and pretty high evergy track with some great interaction between the players and really builds up well and has some nice spacey synth stuff at the end. I quite like record a lot but the sound production could be much better. It sounds like the sound is very compressed and the guitar and drums are not very dynamic sounding but the songs are super cool!
This is one of those real records for collectors and little more. 750 hand numbered copies. 3 short songs playing at 45rpm on one side of the vinyl, with the other side just totally wasted and no music. I really never have seen the point of such a waste of space, especially when going to all the trouble to make a vinyl. All these bands had more music that could have gone on this record. Earthless has not released any new studio material in like 3 years and Danava as well. Anyway, Danava starts things off with the Illusion Crawls a pretty uptempo piece and a more raw less produced sound than their other records but equally complex stuff. Ok track. Earthless is next with Woman with the Devil Eye. It is a more bluesy track but sadly the guitar is mixed too low when Isaiah takes solos, he is way too low. What is up with that very bass heavy mix? The mix could have been much better. I had never heard of Lecherous Gaze but their track is called Get you some. This might be the best track on the LP! A very cool rock track with a raw vocal. An LP for collectors pity there is not more music as this was expensive!
Circle has returned with their 3rd release in about 6 months in 2011. This has been getting quite mixed reviews but I was pretty impressed. This is pressed in 3 different colors of vinyl, each in 500 copies, I believe. This material was recorded in Tampere and Pori, Finland in 2010. The opening 15min track features a 4th guitar player to this three guitar player line up (Ash Bowie). Salvos is a slowly evolving track and pretty spacey, floating and psychedelic. The track has lots of strange sounds, added percussion, small guitar parts floating in and out and more synthesizers and keyboards than usual. Very cool. Maatunut has that more hypnotic Jussi bass driving the track and some really far out vocals by Mika and more piano. Did they play this one when I saw them last year? Side B stars wither Peruuttamaton for 8 mins and this is a strange track that seems to be starting a lot of different ideas but the band never follows any of the leads. Interesting. Pisara again features Ash and has some really cool guitar parts as the band is creating cool layers. Saarnaaja is a fast paced piece with some cool keyboards and different guitars phasing in and out of the sound but it ends quickly after 3½ mins. Kalpea is another short 3 min piece and spaced out. I don’t think these short pieces work very well but they are pretty cool. Very interesting more experimental record.
The Chemistry Set is an old UK psychedelic rock band from the 80s. I have not heard these folks in years. The title track is a very catchy track but it has a brilliant psychedelic side to it and features very melodic male and female vocals and a lot of psychedelic layers of stuff in the sound. It is quite funky and spacey at the same time at the end. A brilliant number. A very old Rolling Stones track called We luv You is the b-side and this is played with a bit of Syd Barrett thrown in with like electronic driven beat, which I am not sure I like so much but the rest of the track is cool and very different than the original. Great records and limited to 300 copies on a cool blue vinyl.
This is the Canadian quartet’s 2nd record and it was quite delayed in coming out. The gatefold double vinyl LP turned out quite nice. I was a bit bummed I did not get to see the band at Roadburn due to choosing to see another band. There were three great bands all playing at the same time, so what can you do? You must choose one. The record starts off with a short instrumental track with some nice acoustic guitar and flute, very folk oriented. This leads into Coven Tree which starts quite dramatic with a heavy organ sound and then some samples from a movie (I think) come in and the track takes off. This is a cool melodic doom track with a nice guitar solo and some great vocals. The Hermit brings the flute back and the vocal is quite spacey on this one. Musically it is a bit like Witchcraft meets old Tull. Fantastic song. Side B starts with an uptempo track called My Demon Brother and it has a long organ solo followed by a great guitar solo as well. Excellent track. Morning of the Magicians has a hard edge guitar riff that is nicely balanced out by the flute playing and melodic vocals. Wow. The flute playing is so much better on this LP than the first one. She has really improved a lot. Side C starts with the track, Oliver Haddo. It sadly fades out with a really cool riff and groove going. Night of Augury is one of the really melodic epic style tracks and reminds me one from the debut LP. Side D starts with a short intro piece with flute called the Witches Dance and this leads into a long track called Daughter of the Sun, a track with many sections. A great track to end this excellent record that tops the bands debut.
This is the new band formed in Göteborg, Sweden with the guitar player from Witchcraft and drummer from Graveyard, who is no longer in the band due to commitments with Graveyard. The 7” is pressed in only 300 copies and they are had numbered as well. I thought this was going to be new songs but sadly, this is two of the four songs (the A Side) on the bands debut 10” on Crusher records. High Society starts things off and is quite a catchy tracky, which makes sense for a single. It has a nice guitar break this track. Gracious Man is the track on the flip side. It is a bit more guitar driven with some nice wah and soloing throughout. Catchy stuff and a great track.
