stoner / Psychedelic / alternative rock 

Resonate is an album released by Croatian alternative rock band Cojones, on December 2, 2016. Only thirty four minutes long, with eight tracks – Providence, Wait a While, Origin of Fire, Opium, Rocker, Build a Home, Pilgrimage and the eponymous Resonate – this record is a major and strikingly lucid achievement. An excellent album, with very beautiful and uplifting songs, that masterly combines a heavier and adventurous approach with protuberantly melodic and abrasively sonorous songs, Resonate certainly can be classified as one of the best albums of the genre to be released in the end of 2016.

Singing in English, despite being a band of the Balkans – which is no problem at all, of course! – Cojones really deciphers to the listener a coherent formula for a cohesive and coherent expressive alternative rock, sometimes filled by an unorthodox groove, that marvelously completes the harmonies, and integrates into the spirit of their songs a brilliant apex of highlighting excellence, that subtlety showcases soft nuances of stoner rock elements. Wonderfully presented in a very original context, that impersonates a glorious and objective style, pronouncedly genuine, with a solid texture that reiterates the creativity of each and every note of their peculiar musical universe, Resonate is a record that magnificently resonates all over your mind for its entire run. Their ability to introduce and work in a contemporary conjuncture the obviously classic influences they bring to the table is an astounding quality, that inherently evaluates their music as a golden star of sonorous artistic proficiency, elevating its pattern of restless audacity into a scale of permanent ascension. 

With captivating and well-designed songs, Resonate is a fantastic album, that will capture the hearts and the minds of all the enthusiasts of the genre. Vibrating, unique, sensible and heavy, positively inserted into a frame of undisputable musical highness, this is a record that deserves to make history! Able to define itself as a major underground record, Resonate is an album that is filled with the most undertaking qualities ever witnessed, and you decidedly have to listen for yourself, to believe. 

With the complete absence of negative aspects to be pointed out, this album is a superb work! With solid guitar lines, a coherent strategy of sound and an embracing atmosphere of crude delight – if you’re into a very insurgent and abrasive style of alternative rock – then this is the right record for you!        



Wagner
   
 

dream pop

jazz / krautrock / post rock

electronic / idm

techno

rock / experimental

stoner / doom

psychedelic doom

black metal / doom / thrash

thrash metal

metalcore

drone / ambient / psychedelic

folk / rock

thrash metal

punk / hardcore

post rock / psychedelic / progressive

blues / doom / psychedelic

Elbrus is the eponymous debut album of the blues rock Australian band of the same name, released on December 12. With six tracks – Tall Shadow, Break The Machine, Eyes Of The Mammal, Far Away And Into Space pt.1, Far Away And into Space pt.2 and Three Walls – this is a highly concentrated and energetic album, with an appealing set of rhythms aiming to encapsulate a mind frame, in an elusive sonorous ritual, highlighted to respond to the anxious dreams of your soul.

With easy, but mindfully slow rhythms, the tracks presented to the listener on this album are a collective case of technical precision and exhilarating anticipation of feelings. With a great guitar and harmonica work, here blues rock is at the height of a very concentrated and enthralled breath, inserted in a universe of sound where everything keeps rolling towards the soul of the music, where melodies are created in a very lucid sonorous embrace, giving shape to a style that feels already fully dilapidated and mature.  

With beautiful vocals that maintain the distinctive reason of its tones at the bottom line of the rhythm, the instruments converge to consecrate a fully intuitive lecture on sound form, giving shape to harmonies that beautifully evoke the stream of the genre, in all of its multiple qualities.

Nonetheless, the excessive slowness of the songs in general means that this album is made for real enthusiasts of the genre. If you do not like blues rock, especially on a more traditional baseline, this work is not for you. This is for real fans of the genre, that really like precise, cohesive and very slow harmonies, that dilacerate the wall structure of the songs, corroding the pattern of the rhythms in an intense eagerness of note detail, throwing the intricate sonorous devices of literally all unbearable restless cadences to the mind cubicles of a severe derisive distress, generated by a surface of musical evaluation, masterly elaborated on this work. 

Not that very fast musical passages are absent on this album, on the contrary. Nonetheless, these passages are exceptions, that beautifully contrast with the general calmer pace uniformly presented by these tracks. Elbrus debut is definitely a decent and interesting work, that certainly will captivate enthusiasts of blues rock. Although I haven’t found this record to be amazing, it does have its strong merits and qualities, and remains exceedingly true to the genre. Despite the lack of innovation and new elements, this album keeps its presence and relevance. It deserves to be heard, and to be found by its audience.               


​Wagner

stoner / psychedelic / rock

Semaphora is an album released on December 1, by German psychedelic stoner rock instrumental group Buddha Sentenza. With six marvelous tracks – Jet, Greek Ancestry, Kréèn,
Laika, Blood Rust and The End is coming, we'll take it from here – Buddha Sentenza gives birth to a true and genuine masterpiece, delivering a very wonderful instrumental sound, that really recues all the essence and all the integrity concentrated within the genre. With amazing rhythms, reinstated melodies, poetic harmonies and a lucid measurement of sound vibrations converging into spectacular passages of sensibility, reliability, lust and dust, Semaphora is a free-flowing styled album, that manages to gives lessons to our spirit, without losing the embrace of its refined predisposition to technique.

With each track consolidating an atmosphere of its own, being all of them very different to one another, Semaphora is a complete album, filled with concrete places allured at the cornerstone of rhythmic dissonances, envisioned by the strength of colorful passages, adorned by vibrant melodies, and a desire to go beyond. An excellent reference to the stoner rock and psychedelic genres, especially in the modern context, Semaphora is filled with outstanding qualities, and a presence that redefines the vastness upon which the melodies play all along within the songs. Undoubtedly, Semaphora certainly can be regarded as one of the best albums of the genre to be released in 2016.  

Submerging the listener into a vast range of almost surrealist pieces of sound, this album will play with your feelings, and will drag away your emotions, towards a more dysfunctional subjective line of thought. Nonetheless, you will feel constantly mesmerized by the true expansion of sound within the space that relies beyond your own perceptions, limitless in the way it captivates your soul towards a more insinuative understanding of the style in progress, dragged into the inner collisions of the sound by the contrast of groundbreaking imperative nuances. 

Motivated by a precision that never expects the sound to be preordained, although it manages to be as free as the wind, these six tracks on Semaphora aligns the soul of the rhythm with the intensity of the melody. While this is an album that will relax you as much as leave you enthusiastic, the completeness that propels the record to function in an axis of true sagacity reconciles the harmonies of an old tradition with the powerful creativity of a genuinely conceived work of art. And a marvelous result like this one, heard on Semaphora, is something rare to achieve. 


​Wagner

blues / rock / psychedelic

Album review by Wagner Hertzog

Blueside is an album released on December 2 by Australian Blues Rock group Child. With five tracks, being them Nailed to the Ceiling, It's Cruel to be Kind, Blue Side of the Collar, Dirty Woman and The Man, Blueside manages to be quite an interesting album, filled with unexpected grooves and amazingly beautiful harmonies, intertwined by influences of Americana, sixties and seventies traditional rock’n’roll and small fragments of stoner rock, amongst other musical genres and elements. Nonetheless, they manage to create a style of their own, filled with graceful nuances and grotesquely rude heaviness, in between crude twists, hallucinatory guitars, soft burnt passages and hard drive machinery sound. 

A powerful album, that deserves high scores, with virtually all the musical elements aligned precisely, Blueside rescues all the strength, audacity, originality, freedom and authenticity that rock’n’roll had in the sixties and seventies. With craving distorted guitars, allured by a pungent heaviness fully immersed into the soul of the music, the unbelievable sound that this album delivers is something from another world. With a bass guitar that headlines the rhythms in more constrained and well developed, but also independent colorful cadences, all the instruments are perfectly synchronized with one another, talking the same wonderful language, in an astonishing symphony of savage freedom, that you will feel mesmerized by Child’s competent style and technique.

With free melodies and explosive guitar lines, this album is really a wrathful accomplishment. With an overwhelming respect to tradition, and a great sense of originality, the marvelous atmosphere of sixties rock’n’roll is rescued with such a veracity that you almost feel you are in the period, and will be there at least until the end of the record, way too perfectly aligned with the soul of the past. 

With a great rock’n’roll induced sound and a genuine stoner spirit, Child, on Blueside, really has created a masterpiece of the genre. Although you may find the album too traditional at times, no matter the perspective, this album is simply a formidable piece. With tempestuous distorted guitars, and the very detailed vibe of a retro sound, your mind will travel wonderfully into the lines of Child’s sound. An outstanding album able to conquer the hearts of any audience whatsoever – even the ones particularly not intimate with the genre – Blueside easily proves why it’s a great album. Genuine, furious and free, propelled by the spirit of a marvelous adventure, like a lonely desert, it will be there, waiting for you.                    


​Wagner

psychedelic rock / blues

Today, the plan was to start another edition of Brieviews for Merchants Of Air. You know, working my way through the pile. After I'd written a few, I came across this strange little thing, sent to me by J. Kill & Mr. Mule, who apparently is a member of this band. It was presented as psychedelic blues rock with a focus on hazy improvisations. Since I had been listening to a lot of heavy stuff already, I needed something different, something calm and soothing. So I pressed play, opened my review template and just started writing.

The album opens with a long track which holds the middle between blues and post rock. One long immersive piece of psychedelic rock follows, one which somewhat feels like a massive jamsession between Jimi Hendrix, Jefferson Airplane and possibly some of their colleagues. When the vocals appear, I'm immediately imagining how awesome Woodstock must have been. With that, I mean that this whole thing sounds like a live recording from back in the days, which isn't perfect but certainly has its charm.

'Valkoinen Vuori' drags the whole thing deeper into the regions of blues and jazz, leaving the psychedelic approach behind for a while. This is a strange, somewhat eerie ballad but nonetheless an interesting one, showing the versatility of these improvisations. On other occasions, as in 'Toteemi', the band shows a bit more of their experimental style. In this one, I even recognize a touch of vintage doom metal. Earth comes to mind, so does Om and several other acts.

Yet, even though there are plenty of bands to be compared with, I feel like this is mostly a joyous and successful result of an intense series of jam sessions by a bunch of likeminded musicians. As far as I'm concerned, these guys can come to Belgium and play this kind of stuff in a local venue here anytime. It'd be awesome to listen to them jamming while enjoying a beer. My advice; check it out, you just might rediscover the sheer joy of making music.


​Serge

psychedelic rock / krautrock

I can't tell you how much I love the recent psychedelic rock revival. It feels as if the seventies never ended. I was born in those days, 1974 to be exact, but it feels like today I'm finally appreciating the music people created back then. A friend of mine often comes up with classics I've never heard of before and on my turn  I blast his "they-don't-make-music-like-that-anymore" prejudice with amazing musical journeys.

This album by Ohio, USA residents Eye is one of those albums. The band is rooted deeply in the psychedelic rock scene. This full-length, their third, came to be after a few line-up changes, writing sessions and jam sessions.  It contains five tracks, most of them lasting for four to six minutes, except for the epic anthem 'As Sure As The Sun' which is a twenty-seven minutes lasting space rock opera which will take you to dimensions unseen.

The album opens with something between a track and an intro, named 'Book Of The Dead'.  This instrumental perfectly sets the tone for this album. It's dreamy, somewhat gloomy too but most of all it prepares the listener for an amazing trip through the universe of Eye. 'Kill the Slavemaster' follows in perfect Hawkwind meets Hendrix tradition. This song sounds so vintage that you couldn't pick it out on a 'best of psychedelic rock' compilation from the seventies.

From then on, Eye guides us through beautiful guitar solos, organ and mellotron passages, almost shamanic singing and immersive rock music. There are even several synth sequences that remind me of acts like Tangerine Dream or Klaus Schulze. Other bands that come to mind include Ash Ra Tempel, Gong and Grobschnitt. That being said, yes, you can easily give this album a place in your free-floating record cabinet.

My favorite track remains the massive closer 'As Sure As The Sun', which also reminds me a little of Pink Floyd. However, I think it's safe to say that this whole album is a masterpiece of psychedelic rock, regardless of what era it comes from. I know that we'll be hearing this thing a lot more in the Merchants Of Air headquarters from now on. So yes, I suggest you pre-order this thing right now, you won't regret it.


​Serge

psychedelic / stoner rock

Time for some heavy psychedelic rocking again, something I haven't really been doing since I visited Desertfest Belgium and fell sick the flu and laryngitis as a result. During those weeks, I have been listening to this album a few times but I never got to write about it. To be honest, I wasn't really wild about it either but now that I'm feeling better, I can finally give it the attention it deserves. 

The Freeks are a bunch of psychedelic rock veterans from California with some former Nebula and Fu Manchu members. Knowing that, you might as well go over to Heavy Psych Sounds and order a copy of this album. I mean, with experienced people like that, this should be an absolute smasher, no? Well, maybe not necessarily. In my opinion, a band is only as good as it is right now, regardless of what the members have been doing in the past. (Metallica and Lou Reed anyone?)

Anyway, rest assured, you can't go wrong with The Freeks. Their punk induced psychedelic rock and fuzzed out grooviness is a delight to listen to. It contains enough energy to blast a small city off the face of the earth. Opener 'Tiny Pieces' rages on, setting the tone for the "heavy" part of the album. At this point, I'm reminded of Nick Oliveri's Mondo Generator but something tells me that there will be a lot more going on.

And it does, 'Where Did You Go' showcases some gritty stoner blues rock, while 'Strange Mind' drags the listener into an immersive amount of fuzz and hypnotic drums. And if that's not varied enough, gradually the psychedelic jams appear. The lingering 'Sylvia' is my favorite track here, shortly followed by 'Space Bar', another masterpiece of heavy psychedelic music. Come to think of it, there are plenty of psychedelic masterpieces being written these days. The seventies are clearly not over yet.

So, to conclude, I recommend checking out this album. There might be a possibility that you need to give it some time and a few listens to grow on you, but once it is in your system you'll love it. At least, that is what happened to me. The album closes with the brilliant 'Blow Me Away', a title that beautifully explains what The Freeks have been doing in the past fourty-six minutes. Rock on, my friends.


​Serge

krautrock / psychedelic

I guess I have to start this review with a little "mea culpa". In the past few years, I haven't been paying a lot of attention to Der Blutharsch. I knew this project from the so-called "early days" when it was a martial industrial side project for The Moon Lay Hidden Beneath A Cloud. Later, I attended a few gigs, seeing how it evolved into a neo folk rock act. Since then, I somewhat lost track as I grew out of the martial and folk genres and into new musical territories. Of course, their cooperation with Aluk Todolo should have rang a bell. I was somewhat surprised to see that album appear in 2011 but never took the time to listen. So I had no idea about the further evolution of this band.

I do now.

'Sucht & Ordnung' contains three tracks, traditionally untitled. The first track is an immersive piece of krautrock which will even please some post rock fans among us. It drives on a steady tempo and contains some awesome guitars. Track two takes on a darker approach. It still contains these guitars but a whole lot of other influences seem to be added as well. Flashes of doom and black metal appear, and suddenly those haunting The Moon Lay Hidden Beneath A Cloud vocals appear as well. Both aspect drag this thing deep into the world of avant garde rock music, where it will please fans of Diamanda Galas and Aluk Todolo alike.

The final track is a long one, starting out with some eerie dark ambient and evolving into a vintage krautrock tune. Here, acts like Gong and even Hawkwind come to mind. It's hard to chose my favorite of the three songs, but if I have to, it'll probably be this last one. I just love being immersed in uptempo rock music with psychedelic solos. That being said, yes, I was tremendously surprised when I heard this album for the first time. Now, after a few listens, I'm over that surprise and the album starts growing on me, getting better and better. So, yeah, Der Blutharsch and the Infinite Church of the Leading Hand are back in my day-to-day playlist and I got a feeling they'll be here for a long, long time.


​Serge

progressive / psychedelic / grunge / alternative

Sometimes I wonder how kids these days are introduced to music. I remember discovering this brilliant alternative to both silence and people talking when I was six years old. I listened to my parents' old records for hours and hours. I was mesmerized by those guitars, those drums, that atmosphere. Over the years rock music became an obsession, making me dig deep into every subgenre there was. Listening to this album right now, I feel I'm not the only one.

Wheel Of Smoke is a band from Belgium, formed in 2005. Judging from the songs here, these guys must have had the same influences as I had in my younger years: an introduction through blues and psychedelic rock and years of dwelling through alternative rock, grunge, stoner rock and doom metal. That would obviously place this band right into today's so-called "Desert-scene" and yep, they fit right in.

What you get on Mindless Mass' are several (mainly) downtempo rock songs with influences ranging from King Crimson and Hawkwind to Radiohead and Alice In Chains. Opener 'Degeneration' is a searing hot blues track while 'Ruins' showcases the power of the grungy nineties. My favorite track, 'Bad Shepard' raises the tempo for a while, but mostly grabs back to the psychedelic blues of bands like Black Crowes.

My favorite track is the gloomy and mysterious 'Unnamed' which seems to draw influences from bands like Om. I also really dig the vocals on this song. There are a few more song, but I promised myself not to go into a song-by-song description. I think it'll be sufficient to say that this simply is a strong album with plenty of energy and excellent songwriting skills. If you're a fan of anything between blues rock, psychedelic rock, grunge and (in 'No More TV') a dash of punk, you'll be thrilled to blast this album through your speakers.


​Serge

hard rock / progressive

Desertfest Belgium 2016 has been about a week ago and I'm already knee deep in suggestions and recommendations for next year's festival. Of course, receiving a bunch of albums by Heavy Psych Sounds always helps to get me in the mood for some serious old school rocking. However, this time, the album seemed confusing at first and it needed several journeys through my cd-player before I decided to get this review done.

Glitter Wizard is an American band, influenced by Hawkwind, Deep Purple, Motorhead and the Young Ones episode with an appearance by The Damned. So it shouldn't be a real surprise that this band gently flows along the currently highly acclaimed wave of vintage rock and old school psychedelics. With fingerlicking riffs, often epic synths and a nag for experimentation, Glitter Wizard certainly delivered something interesting.

So why did it need several listens before I was finally ready to write this thing? Well, mostly because it's not an easy digestible piece of work. True, from the very first riffs of 'The Smokey God', they drag the listener back to the seventies. However, they do it with an experimental touch, which results in some strange sounds and jam-passages. The drums in 'Mycelia' certainly are something you need to get used to but it's worth it.

My favorite tracks are the 'Stoned Odyssey Part 1, 2, 3', a brilliant rocker that combines Hawkwind with 'Driver's Seat' by The Carrs and the party rocker 'UFOLSD'. Well, pretty much all the songs here are party rockers, sometimes even reminding me of the whole glam rock scene with bands like Motley Crue and even Iron Maiden in their early days. Hey, now I know why this collective is called Glitter Wizard, because they're a glammed up version of vintage hard rock.

In the end, this album is an interesting journey through the childhood days of the hard rock industry. It seems to contain a number of songs the big names from back in the day forgot to write, and that is exactly why I welcome these heavy psychedelic bands nowadays. So while the album closes in a folky way with 'Sightseeing with Admiral Byrd', followed by the brilliant 'Death Of Atlantis', I'd like to close my review by recommending this to all you stoner rockers out there. This definitely is something up your alley.


​Serge

psychedelic / electronic / ambient

Dreaming Awakening Part Two is a compilation album released by Greek label Cosmicleaf Records, on the 1st of September. Like the first volume, this album holds strong the fierce objective and the traditional goal of compiling and releasing in one piece the best psychedelic chillout tracks ever produced worldwide. Exactly as it was expected, the record presents us some of the best tracks on the genre. In Dreaming Awakening Part Two, you will find: Myriads Of Pathways, by AstroPilot, Free Falling (Freedom Mix), by Chronos, Underwater Chess, by Oxya, Yage (Himmelkompass Remix), by Entheogenic, Labyrinths Of Consciousness, by Abiogenesis, No Ordinary Tranceport, by Unusual Cosmic Process and The Valley of Ancient Children, by Atati. And the journey only gets better, and easier, and softer, and wonderful, and personal, as the album progresses.

Already in the first track – Myriads of Pathways, by AstroPilot – you can feel and sense the perfection of the soft, colorful, balanced and surreal atmosphere that disseminates the beauty and the energy of the genre throughout the entire album. This track in particular, living by the general force of its title, not only translates itself perfectly in the magnificent transient hemisphere of its monochromatic gray scale melodies, that builds and shapes walls of cosmic unbound sonorous recognition vividly, but captures the vigorous essence of the genre per se, while reinserting its meaning in the whole album, as the sound continually evolves to a path of existential resurgence and graphic expansion. 

With a very straightforward devotion that reinvents the perceptions of the genre into a whole new ground that creates a different category of thought while also receiving its sonorous proposal from within, psychedelic chillout, with all of its nuances, constructions, delimitations, scales and rhythms, reinserts a new level of sonorous contingency into its nucleus, as an anthology like this one also reworks the basic principles upon which the music claims itself to be. Nevertheless, despite all the excellent technical devices that converged altogether to compose all these great tracks, this is a perfect anthology for several reasons other than that. Probably, the strongest one is the basic artistic principle that reunited seven marvelous chillout ambient tracks, and inserted them perfectly in one great record, truly representative of the genre.

This is a record perfect for listening with your eyes closed, eager to compel you to undergo an incredible sonorous journey of sound, sensibility and serenity, with all the creativity set to fully charge your perceptions. With everything to please the most avid enthusiasts of the genre, this is a record that has it all: sound, energy, synergy, sensibility, devotion, greatness, fervor, passion and musicality. Personally, I liked Dreaming Awakening Part Two way more than Part One, although Part One is also a finely masterful record. So, if you are a fan, a supporter or an avid enthusiast of chillout, this is the right album for you. One of the best compilations ever made, you should listen to it, immediately. 


​Wagner

death metal

We kick off this edition of Brieviews with two brutal old school death metal songs, courtesy of Icelandic horde Narthraal. This digital single is the forerunner for the upcoming full-length, which is scheduled to be released somewhere in 2017. An important aspect of their sound, is the use of the Boss HM-2 pedal which creates a filthy, raunchy sound. Furthermore, the main influences for this act are the old school bands we all love so much, including Grave, Dismember, Unleashed and Carcass. I don't think you need any more convincing. Go ahead, download the album, and prepare to fiercely bang your head. You know you want to...

death metal / metalcore

facebook

Somewhere between the realms of death metal and metalcore roams the Belgian quintet Dead End Path. They handed out this three-track ep at the latest edition of Rocktoberfest, where the played an all-consuming set in front of a handful of people. Well, my friends, you can see this little review as a nudge to get your attention on these guys because they're damn good. Melodic yet brutal death metal which quite often reminds me of something between At The Gates, All Shall Perish and Unearth. In three tracks, these guys show a tremendous technical ability, along with the skills to write and perform decent songs, all of course as brutal and crushing as it can get. Harsh stuff!!!

noise rock / hardcore

Something a little different, but in no way less in-your-face, is this ep from Spanish noisemakers Balcanes. What starts out with an impending piece of drone and noise, quickly turns into a hardcore punk infused frenzy in 'Combustible'. 'Masada' drags the ep deeper down into the world of sludge, driving on inelaborate but damn infectious riffs and monotonous drumming. That being said, no, there is not a lot of variation to be found but Balcanes definitely makes up for that by creating an intense wall-of-sound and beating you into a pulp with it. If you're a fan of sludgy noise rock, like Melvins or Harvey Milk, you should check out this little gem. Oh, and Balcanes need to tour Europe, like now!

alternative rock / hard rock / grunge

Back in Belgium, a country that still teems with people who hold rock music close to their heart. That certainly counts for hard rocking squad Daddy Was Wrong. In five songs, and about fourteen minutes, they showcase some of the first songs they have written together. Although they have a firm hard rock sound, I do sense some influences from grunge and alternative rock, but of course, they mainly add to the level of variation. My favorite track is the groovy 'Immortal', probably the most headbanging-worthy track on this ep. Anyway, if you're ready for a decent portion of good old fashioned hard rock, you should give these guys a shot. Rock on!!!!

heavy metal

Once upon a time, this Canadian act start out as a Venom cover band. Yet, gradually they grew into what they are today, a headstrong heavy metal act with lyrical inspiration from Tolkien and musical inspiration by bands like Venom, Amebix, Manowar and several others. What you can expect on this album is pure, uncut heavy metal in the veins of their predecessors but with a raunchy, somewhat experimental edge. To me, is sounds like some of the very old school black metal albums, when the genre hadn't discovered blast beats and corpse paint yet. For you, this might be a good way to start checking out today's heavy metal scene. There is some great stuff to be found, including this one.

industrial / dark psy

When band photos show the man behind this projects with respectively a KMFDM  and a Godflesh t-shirt, you know you might be in for something interesting. That certainly is the case with this ep. Dwelling in the realms of industrial metal and dark dubstep, these four songs pretty much sound like modern day electronic remixes of songs by Fear Factor or Ministry, created by Infected Mushroom in a darkstep mood. For an electronic album, it's damn heavy, coming close to the stuff Amduscia, Xotox, Ambassador21 or Noisuf-X have been blasting out over the years. My favorite track here is 'Dragged By The Shadows' which or more suited for headbanging than dancing. Check it out, this is pretty awesome

drone / ambient / post-rock

The album from Argentinian band Bhutan was submitted by a fan. According to his email, Bhutan was the support act for Nadja in Argentina and are considered a household name in the drone-scene of their country. Well, dear fan and band members,  as far as I'm concerned, this trio should find an international record deal and a world tour to show of their beautiful blend of drone, ambient and post-rock. I mean, when an album reminds me of acts like Klaus Schulze, Pink Floyd, Aidan Baker ànd Godspeed, You Black Emperor, something fascinating is going on. This is a damn varied piece of sonic art, one that will undoubtedly be a stunning experience live.

drone / doom / psychedelic

What does a psychedelic doom act with an ever-changing line-up of no less than fourteen musicians sound like? Well, apparently like a jamsession between Master Musicians Of Bukkake, Earth and Jimi Hendrix.  The word "jamsession" is important here because that's pretty much how this whole album feels. There is a number of drones and soundscapes, some strange vocals, minimal drums and a load of psychedelic guitar solos to be found on this album, all seemingly improvised on the spot. The result is an set of immersive vintage seventies psychedelics, which are at best when played at a loud volume.

trip-hop

Now this is something nice. Luxembourg resident trip-hop act Monophona come up with a little pleaser to soften the wait between their brilliant 'Back To Black' album and the new one. On this 7", the band covers respectively Johnny Cash and Morrissey, both in Monophona's beautiful blend of gentle electronics and Claudine's fragile vocals. My favorite here is 'Folsom Prison Blues', which is an excellent cover version, bringing the song into this era. 'Every Day Is Like Sunday' takes on a different approach, a heavier, one showing some dark drum & bass electronics and a funky breakbeat rhythm. But, you know, like I said, this is a pleaser, and I'm here waiting for the next full-length.

dark metal / death metal

Back to the heavier side of the musical spectrum, this time with Swiss combo Xaon and their debut ep 'Face Of Balaam'. At first glimpse, it might be easy to place these guys into the melodic death metal scene of the nineties, reminding of bands like Soilwork, In Flames to Children Of Bodom. However, listen deeper  and you'll find some more influences. From Type O Negative to My Dying Bride. Deeper still, and there is a flash of metalcore hidden beneath the violent, crushing guitars, which drags the entire melodic death metal scene into the current era. It certainly is a varied piece of work, this ep, and it shows a band that can easily pull through to the top of today's extreme scene.

hard rock / alternative

facebook

Greek rockers Fliptop Box are masters in balancing on the edge between rock and metal. In that aspect, they remind me a lot of bands like The Foo Fighters. Their heavy rock is influenced by acts like Therapy?, Danzig, Volbeat and Alice In Chains and that's exactly where you could place this album. With awesome songs like 'Blast', 'Class Of Underdogs' and the highly immersive and quite Deftones-inspired 'Desert', these people are paving their way to today's alternative rock scene. As a rock fan, I think you should definitely check this one out, and as a metal fan I suggest you do the same. This thing rocks and, from the sound of it, it pretty much guarantees a party when played live. 

black metal

And we're back into the realm of all consuming darkness and dark misery. The album by Danish horde Gespenst is a tensive, harsh and fiercely immersive piece of work. It draws elements from black metal, funeral doom and dark ambient and blends them together into a massive whirlpool of sonic violence. The four lengthy tracks will undoubtely maintain their grasp on fans of today's post-black metal scene. In other words, this album is an epic piece of atmospheric extremes, one that you should definitely own if you like to be hypnotized by eerie guitars and haunting screams. I hope these guys come over to Belgium soon because I definitely want to see this live.

stoner / doom

Hailing from Jaén, Spain, this trio comes with an excellent blend of stoner rock and doom, a delightful must-have for the fuzz-freaks out there. Firm drums accompany vintage stoner doom riffs, while here and there an immersive post-rock passage appears. That's all good and fine and nice and stuff but what I really like on this album are the vocals. They remind me a lot more of acts like Jesus and the Mary Chain or Slowdive. You know, the shoegaze way. Sometimes, there are some Conan or Yob chants, which also fit quite well. The combination of those epic riffs and these distant vocals make this ep a stand-out for me. I hope these dudes will tour Europe soon. Recommended? Definitely!

crust / hardcore / black metal

Why the hell is this band named 'Rest'? I can easily imagine people seeing this in the window of a record store and buying it because they expect something calm and relaxing. Then they come home and play the record, only to be completely wrecked by the intense blend of black metal, crust and hardcore. 'Rest', as if they want to say, "you can, you need and you will have some rest after this spiked steamroller grinds your eardrums and leaves you behind traumatized".  Italians have a weird sense of humor I guess. Now, I have to say that this is one fierce motherfucker with four brutal tracks and one epic piece of music, the closing track 'V'. If you like crust, hardcore and black metal to be relentless, intense and harsh, you need this.

dark ambient

Welcome to the Organ House. You may enter after you have become silent. Feel free to have a look in each room, but try not to make any noise. You don't want to interrupt what you're about to witness. Oh, and beware of the god... 
Kammarheit and Cities Last Broadcast's Pär Boström joined forces with his sister Åsa, not only to create Hypnagoga Press (their publishing house and record label) but also to share Orgelhuset with the world. This is a dark ambient album of extreme quality, like we're used to from Pär (read). The right soundtrack to your inner travels. 
One can hear the cathedral of aerophones, the organ, blow in every room of Orgelhuset. In some rooms there are people hypnotically chanting, in other places the flute or the piano is present - never obtrusive but always in harmony with the rest of the sounds. Wherever you go, there's subtle sound effects intertwined with the drones, creating ever varying soundscapes. For fans of Raison d'Être, Subheim, In Slaughter Natives.

stoner rock / psychedelic

Well, it's about time I start preparing for the upcoming edition of Desertfest, and what better way to do that than with a decent blast of stoner rock. Greek stoner rockers 1000Mods will be playing this year's edition in support of their third album 'Repeated Exposure To...' and, judging from the songs on this full-length, their gig will be a party you shouldn't miss. In short: this is 1000Mods most mature and attuned album, showing a band that has been growing and evolving in the past eleven years.

The album opens with 'Above 179' which shows the general direction: straight-in-you-face stoner rock with a psychedelic touch. Bands like Kyuss, Clutch and Fu Manchu pop-up in my head for a short while, but mainly, my head wants to absorb these songs more than comparing them to others. 'Loose' is one of my favorites here, a solid rocker which has plenty of power to get your ass shaking and your head banging.

Speaking about headbanging. 'Electric Carve' is what would happen when Deep Purple and Foo Fighters had a lovechild. Heavy rock, driving on immersive riffing and coming out with more energy than your bowel movements after eating Mexican food. This one might evoke a little mosh-pit at Desertfest. By the way, I also really, really, really like the vocals on this album. They might be one of the best vocal performances I've heard in this genre, but of course that's just a personal opinion.

I'll tell you a little secret: I've never been really high on 1000Mods before. Before I listened to this album, I placed them in the 'somewhat generic' section of my stoner rock playlist. It's a massive playlist, mostly shuffling the entire time so 1000Mods often appeared but without the "wow" effect that some of my favorite bands in the genre do provide. However, like I already mentioned, this is their most mature, most complete, most varied and most satisfying album to date. Just listen to 'The Son', a testament of vintage songwriting.

Well, that's the first half of the album covered and you can rest assured that the second half is going to be just as good. 'A.W.' is a stunning track, somewhat punky, somewhat grungy and somewhat psychedelic. The rest of the songs are up to you to check out. I'll just leave you with the knowledge that this is a damn impressive piece of work, loaded with energy and fuzz. You know what, I'm going to give these guys a hug at Desertfest...


​Serge

electronic / downtempo / psychedelic

Hinkstep is an electronic ambient musical project from Gothenburg, Sweden. A Generation Lost in Space is the project’s fifth and most recent album to date, having being released in June 28. With eight tracks, being them Like A Mirror, Within Your Echoes, A Little Tree, Blend In With The Crowd, A Generation, Lost I Ft. Saimiri, N Space and Easily Distracted, a little more than one hour long, what we have here certainly is a fantastic and superbly well produced masterpiece. Eager to be considered one of the great representatives of the genre, certainly it is one of the more exciting and thoroughly groundbreaking albums the genre has ever produced in this century. 

With a central poignant device perfectly aligned in the sphere of circular rhythms rearranged in homogeneous cyclic patterns, overdeveloped under mesmerizingly cadenced gears of protuberating calmness, the music streams a beat of rising tones, under a dissident flow of sonorous dissonance, relying in the confluence of harmonies – masterminded by a vigorous sense of completeness – to assure the central axis of its rhythms to navigate under a precise sense of cohesion. With a calm and detailed resonance that converges to a path of exhilarating harmonies, that can stay on the verge of rapture while being overtly serene at the same time, A Generation Lost in Space manages excitingly to arrange the traditional old school elements of the genre, while at the same time aggregates new ones, with a soft sense of deliberate originality, that composes altogether an over the top masterpiece, absolute in its own peculiar sphere of devotional artistry.

Even the more calm tracks are filled with an elemental purpose of harmonic sensibility, delineating a sense of poetic dissolution that works within the music, ostensibly sculpting a colony of rhythms not just beautiful, but exceedingly lucid and pure, as vivid as a colorful rainbow in the eyes of a supernova. Listening to this album can really be a different experience, as you can travel a journey one hour long throughout the whole universe, reimagining your soul through solar landscapes, in a vast configuration of conspicuous nothingness, immerging your heart in an everlasting sense of wonderful sensibility and visible introspection.

With its more progressive layout, and a multidimensional shape of marvelous sonorous digression, A Generation Lost in Space is a majestic album, able to fill all the gaps usually left aside by the more ordinary works done in the genre. With electronica elements that persists, and also build slowly a curiously sentimental taste of consistency within the harmonies, this album is way above the usual ground normally found in this kind of music. With several different elements that dilute and create contrasting nuances to an already monumental style, Hinkstep has a progressive and experimental approach that sets his work aside, in a whole new, different level, with a very unique categorization. So, if you like creative ambient music, with chillout harmonies and experimental elements added to it, you have to listen to this amazing work. You will be astounded, that is for sure!               


Wagner

doom / sludge / psychedelic

Do you ever start listening to an album and think "yeah, this is great, now please don't ruin it" and they actually don't? With each new track, you think "please don't disappoint me" and the album just gets better and better? Well, that's exactly what I have been experiencing since I first allowed this gem to penetrate my brain through my eardrums. I remember it quite well. I was doing the dishes, again, when this thing started playing and was immediately awed. Yet, a little voice inside of me said "watch out, they might do something horrible and smash your enthusiasm". That little voice is dead now...

​Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard is a band from Wales, and although the band name might sound a bit odd and weird, they're all business. Their debut was released only nine months ago but they already return with this masterpiece. The album is produced by Chris Fielding of Conan, which should not be a surprise. Led-heavy riffs and punishing drums clearly blasts this band into the world of doom and sludge metal. However, there is something unique in their approach, something they call 'Shamanendoom'. Their secret? Two surprising and brilliant elements.

The first one comes early in the album, in the form of the beautiful and dreamy vocals of Jessica Ball. Through her participation this act sounds like the lovechild of Conan and Cocteau Twins. Yes, doom meets dream pop, "dream doom" so to speak. She turns excellent and pretty catchy doom songs like 'Valmasque' & 'Testudo' into epic pieces of music. That's also what I meant when I said "now, don't ruin it". I would have hated this stunning beauty to be ruined by sludge screams of death growls.

The second surprising element is the fact that every single member in the band seems to play synths, next to their original instrument. Now, you might think, "yeah, synths, we heard that before" but they come in different forms. 'Testodu' feels like the doom version of Tangerine Dream while 'Osirian' is an immersive piece of industrialized drone doom. Something like that. These synths add a lot of psychedelic energy to the music, something I found rather irresistible.

In all, this album is a gem, one that every fan of slow, dreamy music should have in his possession.  I can't wait for these Welshmen and -woman to crossover to the ancient mainland and conquer our venues. It shouldn't surprise you that this album comes extremely recommended.


​Serge

alternative rock / post-punk

A little bit of Ramones, some Sonic Youth, a flash of Teenage Jesus And The Jerks and a touch of Slowdive, that might get you an idea of what Turkish garage rock act Reptilians From Andromeda have released upon the world. The ep opens with some rough, mid-tempo tracks but suddenly dives into noise-rock insanity with the eerie 'We Are Who We Are', which sounds like Hole on some weird drug. Right after, they pour a synth-poppy shoegaze thing in our ears. Weird, very weird, but damn immersive and definitely ready to make their entree into the world of noise-rock and garage rock, and entree through the grand gate if you ask me. Interesting stuff...

noise rock / experimental / post punk

Epileptic Media

An experimental rock act that reminds me of bands like Cabaret Voltaire and Crash Course In Science, that is odd. I think the last one that managed to do that, was Black Dice. Anyway, Postman seems to draw influences from everything between Ween, Joy Division, Sonic Youth and the aforementioned bands to come up with some surprising songs. The set-up seems to be minimal, synth, drums, guitars but what they do with those instruments, is far from limited and often results in decent gloomy pop songs. 'Escape Velocity' is one of my favorite tracks but I strongly suggest to check out the album if you're a fan of strange, out-of-the-box releases. Hell, there's even a hint of dub and reggae here, or even Iggy Pop, or post-rock... Great stuff!

electronic / electro-rock

Somewhere in California, this duo is barking out a strange blend of glitchy electronics and rock music which kinda reminds of something between Lydia Lunch, Archive and Autechre. The songs on this ep are quite danceable pieces of music, but come with a gloomy new wave atmosphere. Their main influences seem to be Glitch Mob, Sleigh Bells and Purity Ring but, to be quite honest, I like this little ep a lot more than those acts, especially the somewhat industrial 'Edge Of Infinity'. There is a certain gritty feeling about this one, an impending atmosphere. It reminds me a bit of some Tricky songs but, again, way better. 'Parish' is a brilliant piece of joyful glitch electronics, something you definitely should check out...

metal / metalcore

facebook

French extremists Aanod move somewhere between metalcore and the melodic death metal of the Götheborg scene. Yet, somehow they combine it with a modern sound, plenty of variation, electronics and epic ambient textures. The result is a massive and pounding ep, loaded with energy and sheer violence. The music feels suited for the tiniest of venues and the biggest of metal festivals alike, which isn't easy to accomplish I think. For the record, metalcore isn't really my thing, but I can surely respect the level of songwriting and the technical skills of these guys. So, all you metalcore kids, check this one out, it might as well become one of your favorite bands.

post metal / doom

Hailing from Poland, Moanaa have released a debut in 2014, now followed by a blast. With elements from post-rock, doom, sludge metal and psychedelic rock, they create a highly immersive sonic adventure. In some strange way, these songs remind me of a heavy and more intense version of some Cure songs, played by a mishmash of bands, including A Place To Bury Strangers and Cult Of Luna. The overall atmosphere is intense, dark and downright crushing at times. The vocals usually are clean, except from a few growling outbursts, something I can truly appreciate. In all 'Passage' is a tremendous album, perfectly suited for any post-metal fan out there. Check it out, you need this.

shoegaze / alternative 

Alternative rock and post-punk, interlaced with joyous dreampop, that's what you get on this ep by Finnish quartet Mumrunner. The four tracks on this album remind me a lot of acts like Cocteau Twins, Slowdive and even The Cure. 'Shawshank' is my favorite song on this ep, an uptempo earworm that gets stuck in your head, an ability most of the songs actually have, even the punky shoegazer 'Cascais'.  This truly is stuff for the dark and murky dance floors all over the world, which obviously comes highly recommended. I hope I get the chance to see this quartet soon. I'm sure they will guarantee an immersive live performance, causing entire venues to dance the night away...

psychedelic / blues / folk

facebook

Oh man, I absolutely love this newfound interest in seventies music. Take this French trio Dätcha Mandala and their latest ep for example, a brilliant piece of psychedelic blues rock which could have come directly from the studios where people like Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix and the Beatles recorded their stuff. 'Misery' is a gloomy blues ballad (with a beautiful guitar solo) while 'Mojoy' is a pretty heavy rocker, somehow reminding me of Black Crowes. Both songs are excellent examples of how this newfound interest should sound: vintage, convincing and perfectly executed. I hope this single will be followed by a full-length and a tour soon. 

death metal

Portuguese horde Colosso have released a behemoth, a pungent blend of death metal and industrial, loaded with soundscapes and sheer ferocity. The result might indeed be one of the most impressive death metal albums in 2016. Somehow it reminds me of a mix between Carcass and Limbonic Art, crushing the boundaries of one genre and smashing right into another one. This album is a ranging assault of blast beats, haunting screams and vicious, often droning riffs and pure noise created with the sole intention of demolishing anything in its path. I admit, you have to be used to some level of crushing death metal before you can handle this, but once inside, the beast never lets go.

electronic / techno

Dance music right after death metal, because why the fork not? Besides, this isn't ordinary, stale and unimagined techno. In fact, there's only one true techno tune on this ep (and its remix), 'Obsession'. True, it's not my favorite but it might get some people dancing. Opener 'Vanished Breath' is more like an eerie ambient tune while a great track 'The Ritual' is a breakbeat inspired vintage electro act. Speaking of vintage electro, 'M.U.M.' seems to come directly from the seventies when people like Klaus Schulze and Kraftwerk were pioneering in experimenting with electronic music. So yeah, this fits perfectly on this edition of brieviews. 

electronic / ambient / experimental

Speaking of acts like Kraftwerk, Schulze and Tangerine Dream, here are two pieces of circular synth and tape-loop music, courtesy of Italian artist Marta De Pascalis. Both are long tracks, seemingly based around a central theme but constantly moving and changing. Title track 'Anzar' really takes me back to those early electronics pioneers, often coming up with some folkish melodies along with the cold synth sequences. 'Emerso' sounds a bit darker, somewhat nudging towards the ambient scene. In all, I like this one a tad better than the opener, probably because of its lingering soundscapes. In all, this certainly is an interesting release, which comes highly recommended to anyone who loves those old, almost psychedelic electronics. But be quick, there are only 100 copies of this tape...

experimental / ambient / noise

Silken Tofu

Another strange two-track album comes from Belgian label Silken Tofu, who released this one-session recording of Jonas Van den Bossche & Benne Dousselaere. These two tracks are elaborate audio-adventures with drones,  noise, soundscapes, synths, guitar and minimal percussion. On hand hand, the music reminds me of acts like De Fabriek, Machinefabriek; Maurizio Bianchi and Tim Hecker, while there's also a hint toward ancient electronics and gloomy eighties electro. It constantly changes, mostly driving on one or a few drones. In fact, the only thing that remains a constant on this album, is the quality. This thing definitely comes highly recommended.

black metal

From "meh", over "hm, interesting" to "fuck yeah" in mere thirty seconds, that's not an easy task to accomplish but this German trio somehow managed to do exactly that. I wasn't fond if the opening of this ep, but gradually it grew on me and halfway through 'Eyes of the Scythe Wielder', I was heabanging along with their chaotic and primitive approach to black metal. Nothing fancy, no over produced feel good shit, just sheer violence and intense blasphemy. This ep sounds like it comes directly from an underground bunker in the early nineties when the blackened scene was just beginning to make headlines everywhere. If you like your black metal true, bleak and vulgar, this is your album of the week.

I don't know, experimental jazz techno noise?

Since I experienced Dead Neanderthals at Incubate a few years ago, I've been trying to follow whatever these guys are doing. I admit, I can't keep up with everything but I do my very best. So when I saw that name on the sticker attached to the album, I didn't hesitate. I ripped the plastic off the digipac, fed the cd to my cd player and turned up the volume. Before I realized, I was dancing my ass off and the patients from the plastic surgery hospital across the street were looking and laughing at me. Needless to say, I cannot dance but I will repeat these spastic movements every time I hear this music again.

This album is a collaboration between heavy jazz combo Dead Neanderthals and Dutch psychic house act Drvg Cvltvre. It contains one track, which is a thirty-five minutes lasting dance track, driving on a solid beat and containing loads of soundscapes and tiny variations. It's an immersive jamsession with techno beats, drones, saxophone and guitars, guaranteed to get your butt moving. Unfortunately, there is little else to say about this release, apart from the fact that it's a massive psychedelic and hypnotic trip that you definitely should try out. I hope that this release is followed by a few live performances real soon. I'm absolutely positive that it will get entire audiences in a deep state of trance.


​Serge

psychedelic rock / electronic / krautrock

Time to start writing a few reviews again after taking several days off. And why not start with the most difficult one, an amalgamation of musical styles and influences. I mean, usually things are quite easy to describe but when the first three minutes of an album already remind me of The Beatles, Ween, Radiohead, Pink Floyd and Massive Attack and the second song throws in some funk and soul, you know you're in for an adventure.

The Good Library formed back in 1996 in Vienna, Austria. since then, they have been paving their own path in the world of psychedelic rock and krautrock. Their songs evolve from elaborate jam sessions, and you can clearly hear that. From opener 'Ice Throat' to the hypnotic closer 'Tantum', this album feels like a massive journey on many different levels. I'll try to guide you through with a song-by-song description.

The album opens with 'Ice Throat', which seems to combine post-rock with either The Beatles or The Jesus And Mary Chain. There's also something trip-hoppy in here, caused by the electronics and the soundscapes. In all, it's a perfect opening track. 'Goldfish' opens with electronic beats, a bit similar to the stuff Tricky does. Yet, shortly after, a funky bassline kicks in and we're shaking our asses off. My mind just made up the term "doom disco". Don't ask me why...

'The Floating Afterwards' is a classic krautrock tune that not only brings acts like Can or  Grobschnitt to mind but also Ween. 'Mutant' is one of my favorites here, a mid-tempo but highly danceable blend of soundscapes and Herbaliser drums, including a psychedelic guitar solo. 'Flight 19' is another favorite, slow, gloomy, alienating and hypnotic as hell. That being said, there is something ritual, something shamanic about the vocals on this one.

'Beekeeper' takes us back to that psychedelic Beatles sound and seems to borrow a few guitar licks from the country scene while 'Man On Fire' delves deep into the world of new wave and, again, krautrock. Closer 'Tantrum' finishes the whole thing in style, perhaps a bit more electronic and danceable sounding than the other tracks. But rest assured, dear reader, you can dance and groove on this whole album and I suggest you start doing in right now...


​Serge

psychedelic folk / blues

About a year ago, I reviewed an album by Finnish one-man act J. Kill & Mr. Mule. I was extremely charmed by his stubborn do-it-yourself approach and the music was a nice variation from all the stuff I had been listening to. So when this new album came in, I was quite curious.After all, experimental music doesn't always have to be something like ambient or jazz, sometimes experimental music can be minimal but expressive and insightful pop songs.

Armed with his guitar, the kantele (a traditional Finnish instrument), salt shakers, empty paint cans and pretty much everything he can get his hands on, this act treats us to some creepy apocalyptic folk and blues songs like opener 'Jumala On Kone', 'Ilta Hämärtyy' and the immersive jamsession like 'Erämaa'. I can hear flashes from Tom Waits, a bit of Nick Cave and elements from faraway times, when life seemed to be tougher but simpler.

Some of the songs on this tape have lyrics, deeply personal and philosophical themes and one story about a religious cult which commits suicide. No, this isn't an extremely positive and joyful album, but it is a highly interesting one. 'Harhakuvat' is one of these songs, and somehow I hear some stoner rock influences here, acoustic ones and still deeply rooted in traditional or ethnic music. 'Saatana Saapuu Sieluun' even goes further by presenting itself in a desert-rock kinda way. Brilliant.

My love for instrumental music probably makes 'Peyote' my favorite track on this album. This track has a searing hot Americana feel to it, making it great road trip material. It's follow by the eerie, almost shamanic 'Minä Olen Outo Piiri' which drives on minimal guitar and features spoken word passages. So does 'Lopun Ajan Kansan Laulu', which has some Sol Invictus or Blood In June references.

In all, this is an excellent album, well-varied, often surprising but mostly gentle. Things can get quite dark at times but there's always room for decent musical craftsmanship and dreamy passages. If you are into psychedelic folk, this is something you should not ignore. If you like acts like Der Blutharsch, Bain Wolfkind or Current 93, it will not be a big step to embrace this project too. Try it out, you might be pleasantly surprised...


​Serge