The best music you're not listening to.™ Reviews of lost classics and obscure titles. Unheralded bands and songwriters. New bands deserving of greater attention. The site for the music omnivore. It's all here, on the Ripple Effect
Every once in a while, I think most people would agree, you
hear an album that just absolutely grabs you from the first moment you put
needle to groove, insert disc into player, or click play.I think it is equally true that sometimes an
album just presses your “fun album” button.This is just such an album.
Truth be told, I’d never heard of Cybernetic Witch Cult
before a couple of months ago.But when
I first clicked “play” on the ol’ compy 4000 (actually it’s a Dell desktop pc
but that’s no fun) I was instantly grabbed by their offering Spaceous
Cretaceous.It’s not every album
that begins with what I can only assume is an audio clip from a classic B-movie
that I’m unfamiliar with that says “…sir, we’re an anti-terrorist unit…we
weren’t trained to hunt these mega-dinosaurs…” then get instantly launched by a
wave of blistering riffs into a heavy metal tale of humans being hunted by
velociraptors brought back by a crash landed ship containing animals from Earth’s
past causing the ending of mankind and ushering in a new age of dinosaurs.That’s just what happens though in the
opening track “Velocirapture.”Then,
just as you’re realizing that you can’t stop grinning like a Cheshire cat, your
Alice-in-Wonderland tale continues further down the rabbit hole as Harrison
Ford spouts off one of Han Solo’s classic one-liners “…I thought they smelled
bad on the outside…” whisking the listener away to the frozen wastelands of
Hoth, retelling the tale of Luke Skywalker’s near-death experience at the hands
of the vicious Wampa in “Hunted on Hoth.”Indeed, many of the songs contained herein have some connection to sci-fi
and pop culture with audio bites employed before and during songs to hilarious
and magnificent effect.“Dark Star” is a
peek into the 1974 John Carpenter sci-fi comedy of the same name, while “Hail
to the King” retells the saga of Ash as he battles the “Evil Dead” through
time.Groovy.“Cloven Hooves, Horns and Wings” tells the
story of a lonely Lucifer coming to Earth once every thousand years seeking his
Princess of Darkness to share damnation with, and “Enchantress” is the classic
tale of a succubus consuming her prey.There
are more fun and awesome pop culture references that I will not spoil here. The reason I won’t divulge those is because
apart from all the well-placed tongue-in-cheek humor, at its’ heart Spaceous
Cretaceous is a brilliant metal masterpiece blending heavy as hell riffs
straddling the line between traditional metal, doom, and stoner rock with
creative songwriting and storytelling, and it truly deserves to be listened to
from purely musical standpoint…seriously…without cracking up while throwing the
horns…Hey!Cut that out!I said seriously!
This album is groovy, plainly and simply groovy in every
aspect.The humor will grab you but the
musical hooks will keep you coming back for listen after listen.
Around these parts, I'm pretty
much known as the guy who writes about the most vile and foul music from the
deepest, darkest recesses of the music world. It may come as a big surprise then
when I tell you that I have a very deep love of the blues. It's not often that
we get something like this to review so I was more than happy to pop in this
DVD and see what was in store.
I have a personal Joe
Bonamassa story. I saw him probably 15 years or more ago on what had to be
one of his very first national tours. He was opening for Buddy Guy and I was
blown away with Joe's performance, so after his set I went to his little merch
table to pick up a copy of his first album. No one else was there and Joe
himself was selling merch, so I got to get my CD signed and spend a good five
minutes just chatting with him. I remember him to be a really nice guy, very
personable, and I decided I would kind of watch his career and see where he
went.
Fast forward to this release and
to this bluesman, who is probably the top dog of the blues world, at least
among the younger performers. This DVD is a performance from his 2015 tour for
the “Three Kings”, who, if you aren't familiar, would be Freddie, Albert and BB.
He does several numbers from each guy, and there are some really cool song
choices. There are the obvious ones and some deeper cuts, which tells me Mr.
Bonamassa put some thought and effort into the set list.
Each blues guitar player has
their signature sound, and just like other genres, you can tell who the player
is just by listening. It's fun to hear Joe pay homage to each man by throwing
in some signature licks here and there, and then of course hear him throw his
own touches on each song. I was especially blown away by a couple of the Albert
King numbers. I've always thought of Albert as a particularly fierce performer,
and “Angel of Mercy” and “Cadillac Assembly Line” are both very intense songs
about just how hard it can be on a working family. Joe does these songs proud
and his playing is every bit as fierce as Albert's. Those two songs were played
back to back and really stood out to me as highlights of the show.
This is a really great set and
the performances are almost flawless. Mr. Bonamassa has assembled a great band
to back him. I love a blues band with a horn section and the guys playing on
this show are fantastic. As a huge fan of SRV it was also cool to see Reece
Wynans on the keys. And of course it wouldn't be complete without seeing Joe playing
several vintage guitars from his collection and trying to replicate the
instruments that the Three Kings played.
All in all this is a great
release and I think anyone who even has a slight interest in the blues would
enjoy this. The stage production is fantastic and the concert was shot and
captured very well. This is a first rate release and really, we shouldn't
expect anything less from Joe Bonamassa. Check this one out for some great
music and entertainment.
"The breadth of influences makes this a varied listen,
with the band twisting those influences to sculpt something of their very own
and creating a sound that is unified rather than disparate." -- Powerplay
"One can hear a pronounced influence from Pentagram's
First Daze Here as well as Blue Cheer as though the last 45-years melted away
and the Psychedelic Era begun anew." -- The Obelisk
"It is such a trip that three Swedish dudes can create
tunes that sound like they are opening for the MC5. There is no way around it
-- this f**king band can rock, straight up!" -- CvltNation
Swedish trio Svvamp are streaming their forthcoming debut
album on RidingEasy Records in full starting today on the debut day for the new
music site Clrvynt.com. Hear and share Svvamp album HERE. (Direct Soundcloud).
Svvamp is the real deal. Countless bands today strive to
sound genuine -- whether faking their way through a ProTools pastiche of
carefully assembled takes, painstakingly tarnishing tracks to give them a
"live feel" or simply copying the style of their favorite band. And,
usually, their posturing is entirely transparent.
Every once in a while though, you find a band without
self-conscious pretense that truly echoes the mood and vibe of an era when the
rulebooks were burned with the draft cards and the act of playing rock'n'roll
was simultaneously defiant and inherently casual. Svvamp is just that type of
primordial beauty captured on a perfect 11-song debut.
Svvamp was created by three friends - Adam Johansson, Henrik
Bjorklund and Erik Stahlgren - drawn together for the sake of jamming and a
love of rock, folk and blues. Their resulting heavy psych sound is immediately
gripping in its homespun feel and hints of Cream, Eric Bell-era Thin Lizzy, CCR
and Crazy Horse.
"Our first recordings were made on a 4-channel cassette
PortaPro (with microphones that we found lying around) and were really crude,
recorded live to cassette," the band explains. "We grew fond of that
live feel and demo takes started to sound like finished songs. Over time, with
almost everything made live in our rehearsal room, it became a full
album."
"Serpent in the Sky" kicks things off with a
syncopated bluesy riff romp, while "Burning Down" echoes the stomping
freeform feel of the New Yardbirds' "How Many More Times." Once
things settle in to the laid back shuffle of "Free At Last", Svvamp
really finds its groove and lets loose like Axis: Bold As Love Jimi Hendrix.
"Time" sounds almost like Ziggy Stardust era Bowie with a boogie swagger and cheeky
vocals. "Set My Foot and Leave" sounds as earnest and unpretentious
as The Faces (and at times like Rod Stewart's "Maggie May", without
all that shaggy, smug Rodness). Elsewhere, "Blue In the Face" slips
into a heavy groove while "Oh, Girl" bashes out stop 'n' go riffs
with the Marshall
stack dramatics of Blue Cheer. Chiming mandolin and acoustic guitars lead the
charming closing anthem, "Down By The River" (not the Neil Young
song).
Svvamp will be available everywhere on LP, CD and download
on September 2nd, 2016 via RidingEasy Records.
"Groundbreaking metal album gets a mesmerically
expansive reissue. A-" -- Consequence of Sound
"Pink was prescient in how metal would rethink what it
meant to be heavy, with metallic shoegaze butting up against feedback-sick
drone and glittery punk." -- NPR
Japanese trio Boris today announce that they will bring
their just completed North American tour Boris Performing Pink to Europe and
the UK
this Fall. The band is touring in support of the 10th anniversary Pink (Deluxe
Edition) reissue, released in July on Sargent House. Please see current dates
below.
NPR previously premiered "SOFUN" HERE. Pitchfork
announced the release with "Are You Ready?" HERE. The complete Pink
(Deluxe Edition) is available to hear and share via Bandcamp.
Pink, the landmark 2006 album by Boris, which earned
widespread critical praise -- including Pitchfork's Top 10 Albums of 2006 --
was reissued in an expanded edition for the album's 10th anniversary.
The deluxe 3xLP box set and 2xCD features an entire album of
previously unreleased tracks recorded during the Pink album sessions in
2004-2005. The bonus Forbidden Songs collects 9 tracks of the same hyperactive,
accessible and aggressive caliber of the original album, available here for the
first time, mixed (with additional editing and arrangement) in 2015 and
mastered in January 2016.
In 2006, Pink was Boris' 10th album and a major breakthrough
that earned new fans outside of the underground metal community -- the track
"Farewell" was even featured in Jim Jarmusch's classic film The
Limits of Control. The album landed on countless "best of the year"
lists from underground metal sites to mainstream rock magazines. And the praise
was certainly well deserved for its more accessible sound and explorations into
shoegaze and ambient structures alongside brutal noise, searing psychedelia and
apocalyptic doom.
Boris is now in their 24th year as a band -- 20 years in the
classic trio lineup -- and showing no signs of slowing down. They have always
demolished expectations of what a band can do musically and aesthetically. And
in looking back with Pink (Deluxe Edition), the band's trajectory as
experimenters and innovators over subsequent releases becomes even clearer.
Pink (Deluxe Edition) was released everywhere (excluding Japan) on July
8th on 3xLP box set, 2xCD and download via Sargent House. iTunes orders HERE,
3xLP box set and 2xCD editions are available via Hello Merch.
Italian psychedelic power trio UFOMAMMUT is currently in the
process of forging their eighth LP, following their heady/heavy 2015 epic for
Neurot Recordings, Ecate. The band is knuckling down at Crono Sound Factory in
Vimodrone, just north of Milan,
the first time recording with their soundlord Ciccio and his comrades of Femore
Production. Having spent much of the past year refining their exploratory jam
sessions to make them fit for purpose - expect more of their inimitable dense,
organic riffing to emerge in 2017, with teasers on the way sooner.
Having just wrapped up a European tour which included dates
with their friends in Neurosis and fellow countrymen Grime, UFOMAMMUT has their
sights set on Australia and New Zealand, and will be traveling there in early
October with the masters of doom tone, Monolord. Those dates are followed by
further European shows, which include a performance at this year's Damnation Festival
in Leeds on November 5th, alongside Electric Wizard, Enslaved, Cult of Luna,
Akercocke, and many more.
UFOMAMMUT Tour Dates:
10/03/2016 San Fran - Wellington,
NZ w/ Monolord
10/04/2016 Kings Arms - Auckland, NZ w/ Monolord
10/06/2016 Crowbar - Brisbane, AU w/ Monolord
10/07/2016 Bald Faced Stag - Sydney, AU w/ Monolord
Montréal's sludge blues trio DOPETHRONE hit hard once again,
with the 100% free release of their new EP "1312" on Riff Dealer
Records. This 3-track joint also comes with the intoxicating video for
"Shot Down".
DOPETHRONE's new EP "1312" was written and
recorded in the winter of 2015, and serves as a transition between the band's
largely acclaimed fourth album "Hochelaga" and their next
full-length. The video for "Shot Down" features live footage and
behind the scenes from the many festivals and clubs they have played in Europe and the U.S this year.
DOPETHRONE "1312" out now on Riff Dealer Records
Available on free download // Vinyl & CD coming soon...
TRACKLISTING:
1. Shot Down
2. Drifter
3. Skag Reek
- Artwork by Alexandre Goulet -
The riff comes in many forms. Sometimes it’s clean, catchy
and elegant. Sometimes it’s filthy, grimy and about as elegant as a
sledgehammer to the sternum. DOPETHRONE is the latter. This D.I.Y trio from
Hochelaga, Montreal’s
trashiest ghetto, wallows in smoke, demons, death, the occult and enough
psychotropic drugs to send both Hunter S. Thomspson and William Burroughs on
one hell of a trip. Delivering some of the filthiest, most skull-crushing riffs
drenched in distortion and fuzz, they encompass the bleakness of black metal,
the steadfastness of New Orleans-style sludge with a heavier-than-thou doom
mentality. Riffage is thick, punishing, suffocating and destructive and demonic
vocals are harsh, visceral and animal-like for tunes dripping with pervasive
THC. DOPETHRONE take over doom and view it through a crusty lens, and that
perspective rise the genre to new heights of sonic filth.
After three records that have knocked out all sludge and
doom fans across the globe, Canada's
insane weed-laden trio DOPETHRONE returned in 2015 with their fourth album
"Hochelaga" - named after the band's dodgy neighbourhood in Montréal.
"Hochelaga" is simply their most infectious effort to date, which has
been widely acclaimed by the international critic. Despite a severe leg injury
for guitarist/vocalist Vince that led the band to cancel many shows, 2016 has
been a very productive year for the band, who released a split record with US
doom merchants Fister and the "1312" EP, as well as bringing their
dirty grooves to many European and North America cities through an extensive
summer and fall tour.
Palm
Desert's stoner rock
initiators FATSO JETSON are returning this fall with their seventh full-length
"Idle Hands" on Heavy Psych Sounds, which will be followed by a full
European tour.
Following on from 2010’s "Archaic Volumes",
"Idle Hands" is FATSO JETSON's first studio album in six years. The
Californian outfit features Mario Lalli alongside fellow guitarist and son Dino
Von Lalli, drummer Tony Tornay, and bassist Larry Lalli. The album was recorded
and mastered by the band's live bassist Mathias Schneeberger (Masters Of
Reality, Gutter Twins, Earthlings) at Rancho de la Luna.
Discover two songs off "Idle Hands" on The Obelisk
FATSO JETSON's frontman Mario Lalli recently confessed to
The Obelisk:
"This record represents one of the toughest years in my
life. To be honest, I barely got it done. It’s a very important record because
I’m in a way coming out of a long troubled period, and with lots of love and
help from my friends and family I got to a place where I could get back to
music and express some of this stuff. The band spent three days at Rancho de la
Luna with Mathias Schneeberger recording and co-producing and writing on some
pretty rough ideas. Dino, my son, wrote a lot of the heavier, more angular,
intense music, and I was coming from a more melodic, dark vibe… seemed to all
come together. (...) The title of the album is straightforward and the record,
the contrary action, to faith without works is dead. We are stoked to do the
record with Gabriele from Heavy Psych Sounds. He’s been so supportive of us for
years now, a good friend. That’s how this should be."
FATSO JETSON - New album "Idle Hands"
Out October 7th on Heavy Psych Sounds // Pre-order
Artwork by Kelly Keith
CD/MP3 TRACKLISTING:
1. Wire Wheels and Robots
2. Portuguese Dream Black N Red
3. Royal Family
4. Nervous Eater
5. Seroquel
6. Idle Hands
7. Last Of The Good Times
8. Then and Now
9. The Vincent Letter
10. 48 Hours
11. Dream Homes
VINYL TRACKLISTING:
A1. Wire Wheels and Robots
A2. Portuguese Dream Black N Red
A3. Royal Family
A4. The Vincent Letter
A5. Then and Now
B1. Last Of The Good Times
B2. Nervous Eater
B3. 48 Hours
B4. Idle Hands
FATSO JETSON formed in California's
Palm Desert
in 1994 and are often credited as one of the fathers of the desert strain of
stoner rock, made most famous by their slightly younger neighbors Kyuss and Queens of the Stone Age. While musically similar to some
of their stoner brethren, they incorporate a broader variety of musical
influences that includes punk, blues, jazz and surf music. That is not to say
that the band isn't capable of dishing out supremely heavy riffs... Certainly
grounded in dense hard rock, FATSO JETSON experiment with many musical
textures, angular instrumental epics, and bizarre lyrics to create a punk,
blues art rock of their own.
In 1995, the group recorded their debut "Stinky Little
Gods" and followed that up in 1997 with "Power of Three". Brant
Bjork briefly joined up as second guitarist and appeared on two 7"
releases. The band then teamed up with Bongload Records, who released their
third full-length "Toasted" in 1998. Guitarist and old friend Gary
Arce joined the band to record thier fourth LP "Flames for All" in
2000 for Frank Kozik's Man's Ruin Label. FATSO JETSON also contributed to
"The Desert Sessions" releases that Josh Homme organized, bringing desert
musicians and other like-minded rock creatives together to collaborate. Homme's
record label Rekords Rekords released their next album "Cruel and
Delicious", on which the band was joined by Vince Meghrouni on sax and
harp, adding a new dimention to their hard to pin sound.
Following on from their 2010 LP "Archaic Volumes",
FATSO JETSON ran a handful of successful European tours, including sold out
performances at Roadburn Festival, Desertfest London and Berlin or Stoned From the Underground. Mario
Lalli's son Dino joined the band for a split 12" with fellow desert
dwellers Yawning Man, quickly followed by a split record with space lords
Farflung on Heavy Psych Sounds. This marked the beginning of a collaboration
with the Italian label, who will issue their newest album "Idle
Hands" in the fall of 2016.
FATSO JETSON IS
Mario Lalli - Guitar & Vocals
Dino Von Lalli - Guitar
Larry Lalli - Bass (on tour: Mathias Schneeberger)
Italian doomsters THE OSSUARY sign with Supreme Chaos
Records. Consisting of members that have been active in the underground scene
for long this new ensemble mortale introduces with heavy doom rock breathing
the spirit of Black Sabbath, Saint Vitus, Pentagram and the thrust of early
heavy rock bands like Cactus, Captain Beyond, Wishbone Ash.
The debut album entitled “Post Mortem Blues” will hit the
street by January 2017. The title could not be more fitting. Unpolished, pure
sounding 8 titles that send you straight back to the 70s where THE OSSUARY
would have been easily one of the heaviest bands on the planet.
The band states:
“We are really happy as we didn’t imagine this could happen
when we first put this new band together just one year and a half ago. Things
went fast but we know we worked hard and signing with Supreme Chaos Records is
one hell of achievement - the first one in our case – and it’s great to know we
have a home for our future record “mournings.”
The song “Graves Underwater” taken from the album can be
listened in its entirety here:
Mammoth Storm sounds
like their name. It’s big, it’s powerful and full of doom. Having released Rite
of Ascension and Fornjot and touring the European continent the last few years
this storm is growing into a tornado although it spins very slow, heavy and
doomy. Drummer Emil Ahlman took the time answering the ultimate test for a
band: The Ripple Interview.
What have been your musical epiphany moments?
Well thinking about
some of the special moments when music has turned my world upside down one
thing that comes to mind is of course when I was just a kid, but already a
die-hard metal-fan for a couple of years, and heard some really down-tuned and
guttural death-metal while visiting a record shop in Stockholm. At that moment
I thought someone actually had been visiting hell with a tape recorder, ha ha.
There are too many of those moments connected to music to mention here, but
that one is still a cherished memory as it led me into a new world and a
realization of what you can accomplish with just the regular tools for creating
rock music.
Talk to us about the song-writing process
for you. What comes first, the idea? A riff? The lyrics? How does it all fall
into place?
The most common way
for us to go is to start with a riff, and then put it together with some other
ideas of how to make a song out of it. Then there has to be some kind of
narrative put in words as well and that part is often made when the structure
of the song is almost complete.
Who has influenced you the most?
I guess it´s pretty
obvious that our sound is inspired by early doom and death-metal bands combined
with the later heavy stoner thing. When it comes down to personalities I have
to mention Gylve aka: Fenriz of Darkthrone, though I think he is responsible
for having one of the healthiest minds in the scene as he don´t give a flying
fuck about what you think about what is cool or not. In that sense he´s a role
model for sure. Funny and smart.
Where do you look for continuing
inspiration? New ideas, new motivation?
That´s a tricky one.
Inspiration comes and goes just like the cat and you never know when it will
appear the next time. I get a lot of inspiration by walking, so that is the
short answer.
We're all a product of our environment. Tell us
about the band's hometown and how that reflects in the music?
Nowadays we do live in
different cities, but the little town called Säffle where we started is a bit
boring so that explains a lot, doesn´t it? No, if I´ll try to make a serious
answer here I think that we started to play together just to copy with everyday
life in a small and somewhat limited place and that the gloom and doom fits our
mindset at wintertime when it´s dark and cold and you just want to be reborn as
a butterfly.
Where'd the band name come from?
The weather news.
You have one chance, what movie are you
going to write the soundtrack for?
I think that some kind
of sci-fi about a primitive future, a la Mad Max or something, would be fitting
for us to write for.
You now write for a music publication (The
Ripple Effect?). You're going to write a 1,000 word essay on one song.
Which would it be and why?
That would be the
title track of our debut album since you easily could make that one into a
longer story without watering it down.
What is you musical intention? What are
you trying to express or get your audience to feel?
Thunder and might! We
want our audience to feel fearless, strong and sweaty.
Come on, share with us a couple of your
great, Spinal Tap, rock and roll moments?
We actually had some
of that on our latest tour with Earth Ship and High Fighter, but I´ll only tell
something that happened to me as I don´t want my friends to be angry with me.
Ok, the tour went really well and at our fourth or something gig, that occurred
in Nantes, France, I felt that the nerves from the first gigs were gone and
that I was really comfortable with my playing and the very good sound that we
got there. This great feeling made me a bit unfocused though, and in our second
song I lost it completely at one part and played like shit the rest of the gig.
After we finished I was very angry with myself and couldn’t find a way to let
off steam so when we got to the motel in the middle of the night I remembered
that I had brought with me a pair of really disgusting speedos that I got from
my parents for some reason. With nothing but these on I spent the rest of the
night and it actually made me forgive and forget my lousy performance. I´m not
sure if the speedos are forgiven though.
Tell us about playing live and the live
experience for you and for your fans?
I think that we
definitely are a live act first and foremost. We enjoy playing live and the
response while we´re out there has been fantastic!
What makes a great song?
When a song makes you
move and when you remember it afterwards, there you have what makes it in my
opinion.
Tell us about the first song you ever
wrote?
The first song we
wrote together as a band is called “Volcanic Winter” and if you haven’t heard
it I think you should visit our Bandcamp site and have listen as it is really
catchy. It´s nice to think back on when it got put together.
What piece of your music are particularly proud
of?
I personally are very
proud of all of the things we´ve accomplished so far, but the end of our demo
song “Yersinia Pestis” is very melancholic in a way that I like a lot.
Who today, writes great songs? Who just
kicks your ass? Why?
I´ve had my ass kicked
by Blood Incantations “Star spawn” just before I started this interview.
Otherwise I still think that the Finnish magicians of Oranssi Pazuzu are
insanely good at what they do.
Vinyl, CD, or digital? What's your format of
choice?
Vinyl is what I
started with and I´ve never left so…never thought that cd´s were that fun even
though I have a lot of them as well.
Whiskey or beer? And defend your choice.
Both are fine, and
definitely better than milk. Have to go easy with Whiskey though.
We, at the Ripple Effect, are constantly
looking for new music. What's your home town, and when we get there, what's the
best record store to lose ourselves in?
I live in a town
called Karlstad and when you are here you only have one place to go, so it´s
good luck that it´s a good one, and it´s a second-hand store/waterhole for all
kinds of music lovers called “Knastret”. (Knaster is that sound you get when
the needle spins on the record and there is dust and stuff on it.)
What's next for the band?
We´ll play in Oslo,
Gothenburg and Budapest in the nearest future and we´ll also rehears and put
some new songs together. Looking forward to it all!
Any final comments or thoughts you'd like
to share with our readers, the waveriders?
Well, support good
music by go to concerts and buy the records. Share a pint with us if we cross
roads sometime.
"The Slithering Bog moves slowly but heavily, accented
by echoing growls and slow, oftentimes psychedelic, guitars. It's an album that
just feels creepy, in the best way." -- Decibel
The Slithering Bog is the oppressive, six-track offering
from West Coast death doom collective SWAMP WITCH. Captured during July 2014 at
Earhammer Studios in Oakland, California by Greg Wilkinson (Brainoil,
Annihilation Time, Noothgrush, et al) and mastered at Trakworx in San Francisco
by Justin Weiss (Ludicra, Slough Feg, Cormorant, et al), the record was
initially released on cassette via Transylvanian Tapes and is now available on
vinyl via Tribunal Of The Axe.
In celebration of its release, Decibel is currently
streaming the record in full issuing, "What happens when you mix
suffocating death/doom with hallucinogenic elements and lyrics about
derealization then remaster it for vinyl? You get SWAMP WITCH's haunting The
Slithering Bog.... The Slithering Bog moves slowly but heavily, accented by
echoing growls and slow, oftentimes psychedelic, guitars. It's an album that
just feels creepy, in the best way."
Succumb to the sounds of The Slithering Bog at THIS LOCATION.
The Slithering Bog comes available in three color variants
(black, purple haze, and swamp green). For orders visit THIS LOCATION.
SWAMP WITCH is the culmination of psychedelic substances,
occult practices, and a collective interest in dark, strange, and ultimately
hallucinogenic music originally devised with the sole intent to commit and
record ritualistic extremities through heavy music only for the night of
9/9/09. In the aftermath, members found themselves pressed to continue the
slow-burning drudgery sparked on that September ninth into the months that
followed, leading to shows, recordings, band members towing themselves out of
the smog from Central Valley, California and into Oakland (and Arcata,
respectively) and finally, the vinyl release that recollects the original
material of that evening: Gnosis.
The punishing, murky layers protruding from 2011's Gnosis
recordings drip with the trance-laden, drug-induced efforts of '70s psychedelia
compressed into the claustrophobic toil and painful repetition of '90s sludge.
This concept of Gnosis actually seems more akin to H. P. Lovecraft's ideas of
psychosis and derealization as the only thing the feeble human mind can
experience when confronting truth (cosmicism), as opposed to gnosis in the
classic, transcendental sense of the term. In other words, it's fucked up.
The Slithering Bog continues where Gnosis left off: massive
riffs and drug induced occult imagery dripping with psychedelia emphasized on tracks
like opener "Strange Cults" and the grim pursuit that is "The
Marsh of Delusion." The psychedelia evoked here by SWAMP WITCH is offset
by a painful and toiling death/doom; nasty, alienating, tempos filled with
otherworldly visions. Although description of this style range may seem
conflicting, the lyrical themes involving psychosis and derealization create an
obvious connection and intention between any supposed opposition of sound. The
sound SWAMP WITCH presents here is involved with channeling a period of doom,
before it broke big, that wasn't needlessly defined by sub genres: it's all
dark and heavy. Indeed, the end result of almost two years of writing proved
worthy, as warped landscapes and fungal textures resting somewhere between
dream-like and sleep paralysis culminated into The Slithering Bog.
"Managing a fine
balance between lumbering, sludgy doom metal and drug-fractured psychedelia,
the band brings to mind the likes of Yob, Electric Wizard, and Weedeater, but
there's something altogether deeper running through the proceedings than mere
sonic affiliations." - Rue Morgue
"This record literally creeps up on you, and traps you
slowly and imperceptibly, and when you realize that its slimy and vile
tentacles are already around your neck, it is too late, you're fucked." -
Cvlt Nation
"...swampy, witchy, stinking psychotropic
sludge..." - Echoes And Dust
"Slow, nasty, compelling, and repugnant; The Slithering
Bog is the soundtrack to lost nightmares. You may not realize it yet, but this
means it's utterly essential." - Wonderbox Metal
Following the Small Stone Records release of their Sonic
Debris LP in May, Portugal's
MISS LAVA has just issued a new video from the record, created for the song
"Another Beast Is Born." The clip is an adaptation of 1971 French
film Don't Deliver Us From Evil (Mais Ne Nous Délivrez Pas Du Mal) by Joël
Séria.
Offers vocalist Johnny Lee of the song, "In times like
these is unbelievable how often we see people losing their lives by the hands
of cold-hearted creatures who have no regard for human life. 'Another Beast Is
Born' is our trip to hell to meet those creatures. It's a song with a touch of
doom and black metal, a dark place we haven't explored before in MISS LAVA, a
song with a big riff that still blows my mind, and is one of my favorites in
the album."
See MISS LAVA's "Another Beast Is Born" video
RIGHT HERE.
MISS LAVA also begins a steady burst of Portuguese tour
dates this week in support of the album, with shows booked throughout their
home country from now through November, with many additional live shows to be
continually announced in the weeks ahead.
MISS LAVA Tour Dates:
10/01/2016 Festival Bardoada e AJCOI - Pinhal Novo, PT
10/08/2016 Festival Faro Alternativo - Faro, PT
10/28/2016 DRAC - Figueira da Foz, PT
10/29/2016 Club de Vila Real - Vila Real, PT
11/19/2016 Bafo de Baco - Loulé, PT
See MISS LAVA's previously-released videos for"The
Silent Ghost Of Doom" RIGHT HEREand "In The Arms Of Freaks"
HERE, and stream Sonic Debris in its entirety HERE.
Sonic Debris is available on CD and 180-gram light blue
vinyl limited to 500 units at THIS LOCATION.
A true sonic voyage with a diversity beyond anything yet
evidenced by the band, Sonic Debris traverses unexplored auditory landscapes.
Throughout the record's ten consuming movements, MISS LAVA manifests explosive
sound textures, kaleidoscopic asteroids, and obscure beasts making for an
all-consuming listen that's difficult to overlook. Outlaws Of The Sun notes,
"Sonic Debris sounds like the stoned out offspring of Queens Of The Stone
Age, Kyuss, Monster Magnet and Truckfighters all vying for musical supremacy.
And for that you will be crazy to miss this superb album. Excellent and highly
recommended." Rock And Roll Fables hails the band's fusion of,
"Kyuss' wall of sound with Monster Magnet's psychedelia and a little of
Corrosion Of Conformity's Southern-fried jam sensibility," further
gushing, "Saying MISS LAVA could be the next Kyuss is a bold statement. I
know this. That band was the one that set me on the path to my musical
awakening when I was just a wee lad. If Kyuss followed up Blues For The Red Sun
with another album (and not the Sky
Valley concept), then
they'd be lucky to have it sound as good as Sonic Debris. Yep, I said it."
Sonic Debris was captured at Pentagon Audio Manufacturers,
JDB Showroom, and Estúdio Crossover in Lisbon at various times throughout 2014
and 2015, produced by Fernando Matias and MISS LAVA, engineered by Matias, José
Pedro Ataíde, and Ricardo Bravo, mixed by Benny Grotto at Mad Oak Studios in
Boston, Massachusetts, and mastered by Chris Goosman at Baseline Audio Labs in
Ann Arbor, Michigan. Sonic Debris follows 2013's Red Supergiant and 2009's
Blues For The Dangerous Miles, which was listed among Loud Magazine's Top Five
Portuguese albums of that year, and 2008's limited edition, self-titled EP.
