southern rock / blues / rock

Uno is the debut album by American Southern Rock trio Pinto Graham, from New Haven, Connecticut, released on May 5. Forty two minutes long, the album has ten tracks: Hell Train, Counting Coup, Ghost Town, Gambler, The Creeper, Fire, Bootlegger Blues, Wind n Heel, Low Road and High Flyer. One of the best albums that I have heard on the genre, the melodies are dynamic and intelligent, explicitly creative, and effusively energetic, in the best tradition of southern blues rock. Certainly, a magnificent and intriguing pearl that aggregates a definitive principle of colorful motion into the harmonies, with an innovative approach that profoundly conserves the traditional elements of the genre, Uno is an album as soft as it is abrasive, and dilapidates in the constraints of its splendid rhythmical dissonance greatly shaped sonorous dilacerations, pervasively amplified in the exhilaration of magnificent guitar lines, a furious musical technique and an astounding convergence of musical components. 

With a creative magnetism that pullulates at the confluence of a creative zone amazingly proficient, the harmonies on Uno concentrates their energy in the pragmatic axiom of expansive melodies, that never interfere with the logical audacity of its basic intonations. And bringing with them the major and most significant influences we could ever think of, Pinto Graham has formatted their sound to be the best their abilities can provide. And what a tremendous result! You can listen to this album two, or three times in a row, and still feel energized and enthusiastic about it!

Sincerely, I don’t see any flaws or disappointments here. Their music is tremendously magnificent: major melodies, perfectly aligned with astoundingly beautiful and captivating harmonies, all meticulously framed in a picture of technical excellence, to deliver one of the best albums ever conceived in the modern history of the genre. 

Uno is a great album, and Pinto Graham is a formidable band, with a promising future in the underground music scene. Fantastic and tremendously exciting, there is an energy, a vitality and a pure vivacious sense of originality that certainly has the potential to consolidate them as a leading act in their musical genre of choice.                      


Wagner

southern rock / blues

II is an album by Norwegian blues rock band The Devil And The Almighty Blues, released on March 17. With six tracks – These are old hands, North road, When the light dies, Low, How strange the silence and Neptune brothers – this album is a true revivalist thunderstorm! Marvelous and exceptional, with wild guitars, slow distorted passages, voracious tunes, mordacious elements from stoner rock, and a genuinely great sonorous sagacity, II reveals itself to be an acerbic record, from the beginning until the end. 

Corrosive guitar lines, loosely vague harmonies and an exceptionally arcane combination of melodies, thrown in a conjuncture of marvelously ordained chaotic rhythms that distils and revives the best influences from old southern rock: this is basically what defines the wonderful sound of The Devil And The Almighty Blues. They have it all: power, flavor, identity, the precise absorption of the correct musical references, sonorous cohesion and the true reworking of their influences into a distinct sound. Even reminding Jethro Tull a little – but I strongly reiterate, only a little [at very specific times] –, II is an album to be delightfully tasted with carefulness and pleasure. It’s a beautiful record, close to be considered magnificent, and honors extremely well the true nature of its musical roots.   

There is in The Devil And The Almighty Blues an element of serene veracity in their music. A true aspiring energy, and a vitality that seems to be the impulsive force behind their music. And their technical skills certainly deserve to be mentioned. These are no ordinary musicians, but true artists with a real perception of their art. 

If you appreciate a wild, enthusiastic, incredibly lucid, coherently wise and precisely envisioned old style rock’n’roll record, II, the recently released album by The Devil And The Almighty Blues, certainly will satisfy your expectations. You will deeply celebrate the greatness of this album. It's a marvelous work, that not only helps to shape the genre in a more elegant and sophisticated category, but becomes a new form of comprehension of the style by its own merits. An impressive and very significant milestone, II is a genuine preciously styled southern rock album. It’s impossible to contest this fact!     
 

​Wagner

stoner / hard rock / southern rock

Behind the Shadows is an album released on December 24, 2016, by Greek Stoner/ Southern/ Hard rock band Hidden in the Basement. With seven tracks – Dry Well, Perfect Man, One Way Road, Crown of Shame, Till I Close My Eyes, A Shelter and Hope Remains – Behind the Shadow reveals itself to be a tremendous and unexpected masterpiece, with fiercely furious guitars, aggressive melodies and a sensible layer of delicacy, that makes their music a very striking, compelling and magnificent surprise, that really came to add valuable and majestic elements to the scene, with a record that has everything to be considered a masterpiece.

With a dramatic sound, a surprising degree of energy, as heavy as it is sensible, and powerfully creative melodies, that strikes out the listener in a sphere of undertaking harmonies, Behind the Shadows easily overcomes all expectations. Upon the celebratory rhythms of the record relies a redemptive collapse that has on perfect guitar lines one of the strongest components of the group, making this work a majestic, unique, original and perfect album, so exceedingly excellent that labeling it as a masterpiece seems not enough.

With one tracks way better than the other, Behind the Shadow has all the qualities necessary to be considered one of the best albums ever created on the genre, and I have no doubt they are one of the most expressive, strong, authentic and compelling acts on the genre to emerge recently from Greece. Although the album is a little short – having only thirty eight minutes – the sonorous excellence displayed in each and every track on this work is a musical statement of stylistic proficiency, melodic solidity and perfect harmony alignment, upon which all instruments converge together, in a highly energetic and precise synchronicity, reaffirming their extraordinary musical capacities, in a monumental record, shaped with so much glorious talent, that you really don’t believe your own ears.  

On Behind the Shadow, everything converges so perfectly, and all the correct elements complete and complement each other with so much groundbreaking coherence, that you feel astounded while listening to this magnificent piece. Unraveling an evolutionary scale upon the genre, Hidden in the Basement delivers a furious state of the art record, developed in a lucid and very well designed style, that has all the absolute components reunited and worked exactly in the right way. As such, the group deserves to be recognized as one of the greatest acts of the genre to emerge on the contemporary underground scene.


Wagner

hard rock / southern rock / blues

Time to meet up in a smudgy saloon, put your ass on a wobbly barstool, order a few whiskeys and mentally prepare for the inevitable bar fight that will soon follow. Perhaps take a moment to grab the waitress' butt and be slapped in the face because fuck it, that's why. It's late at night. It's bloody hot in the fucking saloon and those bloody Fins on stage somehow manage to turn up the bloody heat a bit more with their filthy blues and southern fucking rock. Fuck.

Their band name is Muddy Moonshine and they are here to present their debut full-length 'Muddy & Wild'. About two years ago, they started out as an acoustic blues band, playing covers and some self written songs. However, as time passed by, the band went through some line-up changes and apparently loads of booze. The style changed too, seemingly influenced by acts like Lynyrd Skynyrd, Creedence Clearwater Revival and The Black Crowes.

Now a full-blown southern rock band, Muddy Moonshine is ready to play their seering hot songs allover the world. They will make people dance with uplifting tunes like 'Back In Jail' and 'Funkytown'. They will make heads nod with filthy blues tunes like 'Moonshineman' or 'Stomp'. They will rock your sock off with 'Bottle Of Love' and 'Russian Pussycat Blues', all with a flair as if the band members were born in the hot Arizona desert.

So if you like southern rock and blues music, this one should definitely become a part of your collection. There is little else to say about that. 'Muddy & Wild' contains plenty of variation, plenty of decent songwriting and plenty of fun, more than enough to keep you shaking your ass for an hour or two. So go ahead, check it out and heat up these cold December days with some hot rock music...


​Serge

Intro: Not long ago, we published a massive amount of brieviews without giving a damn about genre restrictions. As you may already know, everything is welcome on Merchants Of Air and we do our very best to recommend some awesome stuff. That set of brieviews gained us a lot of positive reactions, more than enough to continue that tradition. So today I'd like to present another heap of brieview, ranging from all kinds of metal to classical music but also some dance floor fillers and straight in-your-face rock 'n roll. Enjoy...

rock / hard rock

Named after a street gang in the movie 'The Warriors (1979)', Spanish four-piece Lizzies come up with some good old fashioned rock 'n roll. These women have borrowed to in-your-face attitude of acts like The Ramones and combine it with vintage hard rock and heavy metal. The result is a heavy rocking album with strong songs, at times reminding me of early Iron Maiden or Judas Priest. The whole thing seems to go back to the early eighties, when metal was still in its childhood. My favorite track is the fierce 'Speed On The Road' but pretty much every song on this debut can easily get a party started. I hope we'll be hearing a lot from these ladies in the near future.

atmospheric black metal

Well, the album cover and the title pretty much say all you need to know about this two-track ep by German act Skognatt. This is a cold and harsh but highly atmospheric piece of depressive black metal, loaded with keyboard arrangements and folk elements. Both songs are slow and come with a decent amount of variation. Here and there I'm reminded of acts like Dimmu Borgir, Vinterriket, Summoning and Nortt, and even Samael comes to mind once in awhile. The lack of blast beats doesn't make these tracks any less intense. On the contrary, this is utter despair, bleakness and suicidal depression at its best. I know, that doesn't sound very positive, but then again, a black metal album is never supposed to sound positive.

hard rock / southern rock / stoner rock / grunge

Hailing from the deepest ranches of southern Finland, the rockers of Rattleplague come up with a pretty nasty ep. They blend southern rock with grunge and heavy party rock 'n roll, resulting in a drunken orgy of riffs, drums and harsh, mean vocals. The songs remind me of something between Alice In Chains, Motorhead and White Zombie, which obviously means "party time". Besides, for some reason I think Slayer has been on of Rattleplagues influences, but I could be wrong about that. Anyway, 'Drain' is a brilliant song,  'Parasite Brothel' drags Kuyss into the world of metal and 'Hollywood Diabolical' is what happens when Max Cavalera would join Motley Crue. You WILL party!!!

death metal

Whoever claims that Canadians are too nice, should listen to this murderous gem by technical specialists The Apex. With brutal yet technical death metal, incorporating elements from mathcore, this three track is a massive assault on your mental health. Bits of Meshuggah, flashes of Dillinger Escape Plan and hints of Fear Factory drag you down into a dark hole where they beat you senseless with unexpected hooks, skullgrinding riffs and whatnot. According to the biography, the vocalist suffers from a form of Neurogenic Stammering, which effects his speech so he's unable to carry on a normal conversation, but he can growl and scream like the best metal vocalist out there.

black metal

From one of the most dissonant and eerie quarters of the black metal scene, comes the new ep by Polish avant-garde act Misanthropic Rage. One massive, seventeen minutes lasting epos and two deranged and brutal piece of extreme metal, that's what you get on this little gem. The immense title track is a stunning and highly varied piece of music, one you easily lose yourself in if you're into the weird extremes. The other two aren't any less impressive by the way, and -obviously- they are excellent headbanging material. I hope this ep will be followed by a full-length and a tour in the near future because this act definitely is something today's black metal scene needs.

sludge / doom 

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the heaviest thing to ever be weighed as of 2015 was the Revolving Service Structure of launch pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Well, it's 2016 now and New Haven, CT residents Sea Of Bones are up for the challenge to create something heavier. Their contribution to this split is intensely dark, atmospheric, monolithic, fuzz-out and pitch black. Their colleagues from Ramlord smash another piece of thick sonic filth in our faces, which is equally impressive. Both tracks last about ten minutes, plenty of time to roll over their listener with a repetitive steamroller. If you like heavy, you must pre-order this split now!

sludge / doom / black metal

UK residents Kalloused call their music "noise-metal" and quite frankly, I think that's right on the spot. The stuff on this ep somewhat sounds like the metal version of harsh, repetitive noise, driving on a torpid tempo and thick, skull bashing riffs. Above all of that, the vocalist screams his lungs out in perfect blackened noise tradition. There are hints of hardcore but the majority of this album is intense, heavy and immersive sludge doom which is perfectly capable of driving a select audience into a pitch black state of trance. Perhaps one day I can be one of those audience members, but for now, I'll just use this ep as the ultimate soundtrack for all my aggressive activities...

black metal

Altere Records

The more things change, the more they stay the same. That certainly counts for this haunting compilation from Belgian blackened horde Ordo Omegae Absolutae. Although quite varied and including some dark ambient elements, the music on this album is fierce and often depressive old school black metal, driven by the collected negativity of the band members. The overall atmosphere is darker than you can possibly imagine. At times the somewhat musical black metal is overruled by uncontrollable noise. On other occasions, folky passages have been interlaced with the sheer brutality of the rest of the music. This is impressive stuff which every black metal fan needs to check out.

death metal / grindcore

Greek duo Hostage Of Fate doesn't seem to care about genres. In fact, their main influences are the extreme bands from the eighties and nineties, regardless whether they're death metal, thrash metal, speed metal or hardcore. All they want to do, is make aggressive and pissed-off music and in that they certainly succeeded. This album is loaded with metallic chaos, brutal vocals, spine shattering blast beats and brainfucking riffs. Yet, the whole thing feels extremely experimental, which is quite impressive if you think about how minimalistic the music really is. It's definitely something different, different from pretty much every death metal album I've heard...

electronic / industrial

Speaking about different albums, this ep certainly is something else. No guitars, just synths, drum machines and at times the guiding voice of Sasha Andrès (from the band Heliogabale). However, that does not mean that this is a soft piece of music, on the contrary. The songs on this album come very close to eighties electronic new wave acts like Suicide, The Klinik, Neon Judgement, Scorn.... Yet, it also has a very modern edge. 'Monster5', for example, is a brilliant approach to dubstep, brilliant enough to not be actual dubstep. There's also a bit of trip-hop, some ambient and some otherworldly melodies with church organs. What else could you need? This is an awesome ep.

ambient / classical

Sometimes we all need a little break, and I have the perfect ep for that. Tambour is Simon P. Castonguay, a pianist and composer from Montreal. On this ep, he treats us to some gentle tunes of sweet and brisk modern classical music. Aided by a string quartet, his piano melodies sound melancholic yet playful, like a safe haven in a violent world. If you are into the music of people like Olafur Arnalds, Sebastian Plano or Bersarin Quartett, you should definitely check out this little gem. The somewhat jazzy 'Sleepers' is my favorite track on this ep, probably because of the beautiful sound of the clarinet. 'Valse N.1' also brings a nostalgic smile to my face. Beautiful stuff...

electro / industrial

Time to get your dancing shoes and join me on the dark dance floor where French act Haxis invites us to shake our butts to his highly enjoyable fusion of synthpop and industrial. The songs on this ep drive on solid beats, electronic soundscapes and grinding distorted guitars. At times the whole thing sounds like Pet Shop Boys meets Die Krupps meets Daft Punk meets VNV Nation meets Project Pitchfork. The amount of energy coming off tracks like 'City Lights' ,'Glide' or 'Just Mad' is astounding and it's almost impossible to sit still on this stuff. I think I'm going to keep an eye on this act because I feel like this unique blend has a lot of potential to grow into something massive...

techno

Techno isn't something we usually write about on Merchants Of Air, but this ep is a smasher. Ok, I admit, I was already interested when I read that it will be released on Speedy J's label, someone who's musical evolution saved the face of dance music for me. But I must say, opening track 'Reign Of Terror' is a brilliant blend of atmospheric techno , psytrance and eerie acid while other tracks remind me of acts like Self-transforming Machine Elves, Xingu Hill and Unit Moebius. Yeah, I might not know that much about techno, but I do know what I like and this, this I do like, even though things can get a bit too repetitive for me at times. The ep closes with the great break-beat track 'Breaking Visions', my favorite I think

post rock / ambient

This American one-man act has a name that describes the songs on this album quite well. Mostly driving on programmed, electronic drums, these cinematic (mostly) instrumental songs gently fill the room. I can hear influences from ambient, from post-rock and from classical music. If you use your imagination, you can indeed see the programmed angels dancing in slow motion while you're drifting through the clouds on a warm night. I know, that  might sound a bit too poetic but this simply is a beautiful album, blending Boards Of Canada with Explosions In The Sky and Plaid with Godspeed You Black Emperor. As often, I'd like to see this live one day, but for now, I'll just enjoy these delightful tunes a few times more...

electronic / alternative dance

Of course this is Belgian, the land of Vive La Fête, Nid & Sancy, Praga Khan, Lords Of Acid, Front 242...Rumours are a band from Ghent, armed with a bunch of electronics and a massive knowledge about electronic dance music. The majority of this album is dance floor filling techno with a gritty, raunchy edge, perfectly suited for fans of The Knife or Liars. However, this acts throws in some cinematic elements as well as some blasts of chaotic industrial. You know, Atari Teenage Riot meets Björk or Zola Jesus meets Ambassador21, something like that. Oh well, just close your eyes and let the beats pummel you into a coma. I know I will...

dirty Southern rock 'n thrash

When an album opens with the sound of a banjo, you're either up for some redneck country music from Texas or listening to some weird experiment from some crazy noise musician, right? Well, probably, but there are other possibilities. I do remember that banjo solo in Taake's 'Tyr', which is simply brilliant. In fact, since that song, I quite like the instrument. But we're not dealing with a deranged noise musician, neither with a Texan country singer and not even with black metal.

Nope, we're dealing with Austria's searing hot export product Proll Guns and their heavy rocking full-length 'Horseflesh BBQ'. Yes, it makes me hungry too. Last July, I reviewed their 'Fucking Troublemaker' ep (read). The song 'Fucking Troublemaker' still is one of my favorites, present on both releases and guaranteed to start parties, but there's way more to this album. For started, the banjo is pretty much an constant here, appearing in several songs.

The album opens with an intro ('Texas Banjo Massacre'), soon followed by the thrash metal induced rock 'n roll songs 'Horseflesh BBQ' and 'From Texas To Hell'. I can hear influences from blues, hard rock and whatever it is that Rob Zombie does. I can also see the hot saloon girls dancing and shouting 'jeehaaa' once in awhile. 'Bloodgun Blues' is exactly that, a blues song that sounds like the genre is invented by Pantera.

'Reno Gang' takes on a bit of a punk rock meets traditional heavy metal approach. The raw voice of Evid Ed fits perfectly and might even charm some death metal fans, not only on this song but on most of them. It's followed by the brilliant Creedence Clearwater Revival cover 'Looking Out My Backdoor', sounding sicker than even ànd including a banjo solo. Hurray for banjos, certainly with a thick BBQ-sauce poured over them.

That banjo returns in closer 'Southern Slavery', which is a ballad for those hot nights around a campfire and, of course, a BBQ. It's a great ending for an awesome album, sounding evil, grinding and somewhat brutal for a ballad. Nonetheless, I do recommend this piece of work to all you Southern rockers out there. This is fun, pure, simply, uncomplicated and hard rocking fun. Now if you'll excuses me, this made me hungry. I'm out hunting...


​Serge

southern rock / stoner rock

Well, they aren't from Texas and there are no chainsaws at all on this album. Furthermore, I'm not really sure how anyone can love dust, so that sounds as but odd as well. It seems like everything here is just a lie. But once you've listened the album throughout, you just might believe everything that this French band promises. They sound as American as apple-pie and hiding nipples. Oh, and sometimes also a bit Mexican.

Let's just get ready for a wild and wicked ride with the System Of A Down of the stoner rock world. There, I said it, weird reference maybe but with good reason. This album is just as unpredictable and strange but it rocks just as hard as many SOAD releases. With great pleasure I'd like to present The Texas Chainsaw Dust Lovers, a quartet from Paris that blends Ennio Morricone with Queens Of The Stone age.

The album opens with the title track 'Me And The Devil', which immediately takes you on a hike through vast and seering hot deserts. Typical American western sounds, alternated with groovy and fuzzed-out blues rock seem to be the main elements and they're being poured together perfectly. Or how about 'Dark Stuff', a nineties grunge songs that could have been written by the Foo Fighters and Rocket From The Crypt if their would work together

Yes, there is a lot of energy on this album, a lot of uptempo rock music with influences from punk, grunge and surf rock. In that aspect, 'Summer Spleen' is brilliant song and one of the major highlights here. Imagine Reel Big Fish going stoner rock, wouldn't that be awesome? Or how about the grungy 'Doin No Harm', another grinding track which somehow even brings Misfits to mind, perhaps because of the vocals. 

Oh, that's true. There's also a touch of vintage doom metal in here. Can you imagine what Black Sabbath have would have sound like if Elvis took Ozzy's place (and added some harmonica)? Well, listen to 'The Sleepwalker' and you might now. Yeah, this album is that weird and bizarre but also highly immersive and absolutely recommended to any stoner rocker out there. Damn, what a bundle of joy this album is...


​Serge

hard rock / southern rock / psychedelic rock 

See that list of genres up there? That's a mouthful of words, just to say that 'this bloody rocks'. After all, in a way this is about as vintage as rock music can possibly get, at least the heavier kind.  Perhaps you can compare this with everything that happened after Black Sabbath appeared and before rock and metal became separated genres.  Do you remember that era? Only if you're an old fuck like me you will but it was awesome.

Duel is a band from Austin, Texas, USA.  Influenced by the gloomier cultural outlets of the sixties and seventies, this quartet comes up with vintage blues and hard rock which seems to come directly from that awesome era.  Now, I have to admit that the 'blues' tag only appeared on 'Fell To Earth'.  The three songs before, highlighting in opener 'Fears Of The Dead', are immersive hard rock anthems, a bit like Uncle Acid and Kadavar makes them.

'On The Edge' is another highly immersive rocker, one that certainly has the power to set an audience on fire.  This is catchy rock with almost heroic vocals and flashing guitar solos, often reminding me of bands like  Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple.  Hell, even ZZ Top comes to mind, maybe because of the nicely grinding guitar sound.  Yet, my favorite remains the title track, with psychedelic closer 'Locked Outside' in second place.

In all, this album perfectly fits in with today's retro-rock craze and certainly deserving of your attention if you're into this stuff. I know I am and I really dig this album.  I hope that Duel will come over to Europe and play a few festivals here, namely the Up In Smoke and Desertfest events. They would be a solid addition to the line-up and possibly one of the most convincing acts on stage.  So, my fellow ancient rockers, get this album now.  You know you want it...

Serge

metal

I know, judging from the album cover, I too was expecting some Korn or maybe Slipknot like metal, but that didn't seem to be correct.  It does however take me back to the awesome and diverse sound of nineties metal, when bands like Pantera, Channel Zero, High On Fire and White Zombie were headlining the metal business.  That is a good thing because I've been hoping for this sound for quite some time now.

French power rock act Overcharger has been around since 2010.  Since then, they have been working on their unique blend of dirty rock 'n' roll and powerful riff-loaded groove metal.  In 2013, they released a first ep, now followed by this debut full-length.  If you are a nineties kid, nostalgic for the groovy but rough sound of Pantera, Corrosion Of Conformity or Crowbar, this certainly is something you need.

Opening with the brilliant rocker 'Chainsaw Kiss', this album immediately takes a stand.  I can hear flashes from Southern rock (especially in 'Hidden By The Moon'), , country music combined with thrash metal ('I Was A Soldier'), stoner rock ('Outlaw') sludge and good old heavy metal.  In a way, songs like 'Don't Let Go Lazy Bitch' or 'Down South' feel like the lovechild of Motorhead and White Zombie, not pretty to look at but a very welcome addition to your headbanging needs.

Unlike many French bands, Overcharger clearly shows an international sound, obviously inspired by many American Southern rock bands.  The whole feels like the soundtrack to a sick desert horror movie where people are being tormented in the blistering heat of the sun.  Again, not a pleasant sight, but I guess that's why I like soundtracks more than their respective movies. Perhaps they leave a bit more to the imagination, who knows, but 'Streets Of Terror' is kinda inspiring in that aspect.

Anyway, I wouldn't be surprised to see these guys on rock festivals, metal festivals and stoner rock gatherings such as Desertfest or Roadburn.  Their sound would fit in nearly everywhere, which obviously is a good thing.  I'm also sure that many audience members will go completely nuts on this.  This is perfect drinking music with plenty of groove and plenty of power.  If you're a fan of any of the bands I mentioned here, you really don't want to miss out of this one...


​Serge