Spaceslug - Out Of Water (EP Review)

Release Date: May 03rd 2024. Record Label: Self Released. Formats: CD/DD/Vinyl

Out Of Water - Tracklisting

1.Tears Of Antimatter 06:20

2.Arise The Sun 08:36

3.Out Of Water 05:49

4.Delusions 05:30

5.In Serenity 05:48

Band Members

Bartosz Janik - guitars, vocals

Jan Rutka - bass, vocals

Kamil Ziółkowski - drums, vocals

Review

Out Of Water is the new EP from Psychedelic Doom/Stoner Metallers Spaceslug and it’s a record that offers thirty two minutes of trippy and pure Cosmic Doom heaviness from one of the most impressive and brilliantly creative bands from the underground scene. This time round Spaceslug continues the journey last heard on their 2021 release Memorial by blending this with the world-weary mysticism of their earlier albums.

The EP sees Spaceslug combining a wealth of different sounding vocals from all three members all vying for lead vocalist slot. The sound and journey of Out Of Water is one of despair and progressive heaviness which Spaceslug are absolute masters at. Heavy sludgy guitars have been given a slightly Post-Rock/Post-Metallic sound with the Progressive energy of Bartosz guitars allowing Jan and Kamil to conjure up a more gloomy and psychedelic sound on Bass and Drums respectively.

Spaceslug has written some spellbinding lyrics that gives Out Of Water a wholly driven narrative structure especially on the first two opening tracks of Tears Of Antimatter and Arise The Sun. There’s some similar themes and sounds on drummer Kamil's recent studio project Mountain Of Misery but with Spaceslug playing with a more bleak and destructive sound.

The EP sees Spaceslug become more thoughtful and reflective within their lyrics and even using some cinematic sounding Post-Rock movements on the later stages of the EP on tracks such as Out Of Water and Delusions. 

Out Of Water is a brilliant mix of harsh, ice-cold and progressive grooves that once again allows Spaceslug to bridge the gap between Psychedelic Stoner Metal and Cosmic Doom Metal for a refreshing style of music that only they can deliver. 

Spacrslug have once again delivered the goods and released an outstanding EP that takes their music to dramatic new heights which their dedicated fan-base will no doubt listen to time and time again. Sublime. End Of.

Words by Steve Howe

Links

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Nine Moons - Caracaras (Album Review)

Release Date: May 03rd 2024. Record Label: Self Released. Formats: CD/DD

Caracaras - Tracklisting

1.Desert Eyes 03:51

2.Sage 04:38

3.Smokehouse 09:00

4.The Crawl 04:13

5.Hunter's Moon 02:31

6.Haunted Vista 08:04

Band Members

Kenyon Albon - Drums

Stuart Masters - Baritone Guitar, Oud, Vocals

Review

Heavy Psych Rockers Nine Moons latest album Caracaras is a record that is mostly driven by 1960’s & 1970’s era of Heavy Psych, Garage Rock, Acid Rock and Blues Rock. The sound is then topped off with a thrilling 1990’s devilish blend of Desert Rock, Grunge and Stoner Rock. The whole journey is one of that is unashamedly RETRO RAWK with moments of aggressive Stoner Rock which turns up in the most unlikeliest places with Nine Moons laying down a non-stop array of trippy Psychedelic jams which can be quite off-beat and kooky but for all the right reasons.

Caracaras gets off to a flying start with tracks such as Desert Eyes and Sage have a sublime style of vintage sounding Stoner Rock grooves where NIne Moons sound like QOTSA and KYUSS in places but if those great bands played with a more stripped back approach. The instrumental sounds can be quite trippy and you can hear echoes of Middle Eastern flavours starting to appear within the first half of the album. 

The vocals are warm, friendly and quite engaging from lead vocalist Stuart but Nine Moons do play some jagged and volatile sludgy guitars along the way. Nine Moons impress the most on the two lengthier tracks on the record with Smokehouse and Haunted Vista. These are the third and last tracks on the album but they offer the most soulful, bashful and heaviest moments of the record with a classic Blues Rock and Psychedelic Rock being quite “POP” based at times. These two songs are quite melodic but with a Prog Rock finish which allows Nine Moons to experiment with their sound even further.

There’s two other cool sounding shorter tracks of The Crawl and Hunter’s Moon which retain a more classic Stoner Rock/Grunge essence but with that Middle Eastern movement appearing once again. This allows Nine Moons to be quite comfortable and superbly clever with all the different styles and lengths of music that appear within Caracaras. 

Caracaras is quite a surprising album with the different creative turns that Nine Moons take the listener upon especially within the thirty two minutes short run time. This is a delightfully hip and adventurous record which offers some classic sounding riffs along the way.

Words by Steve Howe

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Classic Rock/Hard Rock/Stoner Rockers MASHEENA Release New Song/Video For GOING DOWN Through Majestic Mountain Records

Going Down is a cover of the classic blues tune written by Don Nix, made famous by Freddie King, and covered by probably every blues band in the world.

Released as a digital single through Majestic Mountain Records.

Still, the energy of the original really resonated with us, so we decided to record a version anyway! During what we ended up calling the "GlaMasheena"- sessions with super producer Iver Sandøy at the helm at Solslottet Studios in December of '23, we tried to get a kind of glammy, 70s production on the tracks.

That sound is more apparent on the other track from those sessions, Married To Rock 'N' Roll, but still we're very happy with the result, and we had a great time recording. What more can you ask? We hope you enjoy it as much as we enjoyed recording it, and as much at love playing it live! Cover artwort for the single by the talented Martin Kvam.

For now, this concludes our little flirt with 70s glam rock, we just finished recording our second album at The Machine Shop in Dripping Springs, Texas, USA, with our new friend Machine (The Producer). Did we bring the glam and blues into those sessions? You’ll have to wait and see!

So, what’s next for Masheena? The release of Going Down marks the start of our first EU/UK tour, check the dates below:

25th of May: De Tanker in Noord, Amsterdam
26th of May: Signature Brew Haggerston, London
27th of May: Devils Dog Digbeth, Birmingham
28th of May: The Gryphon, Bristol
29th of May: Bear Cave, Bournemouth

Thanks to Majestic Mountain Records for all of the info.

Links

Official | Facebook | BandCamp | Instagram

Italian Post-Core Machine ORIGOD Unveil Full Album Details For "Impression"; New Single Out Now

Italian five-piece post-core band ORIGOD returns with a new album, entitled "Impression", to be released via Argonauta Records on May 31st, 2024.

Album tracklisting and cover art are as follows:

01 - When They Lock The Door
02 - Icarus
03 - Impression
04 - Sometimes
05 - Lapis Niger
06 - Wounds
07 - Perception Review
08 - Blessed Or Cursed

Today is also the day the band released a new single and official music video for 'When They Lock The Door.' Watch it below: 

Turin, 2007: this is the genesis of Origod. Their sound is a unique blend of Cave In and early Mastodon sounds, songs full of groove and melodies for an extraordinary Post-Metal and Hardcore assault.

In 2008 they participated in the "Nightpieces Vol. 5" compilation by the Turin-based Dracma Records, with the song: "Freedom Is In The End", produced by Carlo Ortolano. Then they participate with Braindamage, Broken Glazz, Medusa and other bands at the Dracma Metal Festival.

They released their first album "A New Dawn Fades" for One Voice Recordings in 2010, produced by Daniele Giordana, a sound engineer who boasts many important live and studio collaborations with Monster Magnet, Hatebreed, Machine Head and many others.

In the following years they performed around a hundred concerts in northern Italy, sharing the stage with: Abraham, Eric Forrest (Voivod), Titor, Sunpocrisy, Skarhead, Ultra-Violence, Strange Fear, Stigma, Jordaan, Concrete Block, Ruggine, Infall, O, An evening with knives, If I die today, Fuco, Tons, Doctor Cyclops, Nudist, Juggernaut and many others.

On March 30, 2018 they released their second album "Solitude in Time and Space" for ARGONAUTA Records, well reviewed by critics and audiences. The album was produced by Danilo Battocchio at Deepest Sea Studio in Turin.

In 2021 the band add to its original lineup: Rubens Caligiuri (Sneakers, Turin hard-core band in the 90s) as an additional guitarist and drummer Marco Di Nocco (Medusa, Tons and NoInfo) who will replace Luciano Cotta, involved in other music projects.

The five-piece band is currently working on its new album “Impression” in Redwood Recording Studio, which marks an important further evolution of their sound.

Origod:

Rubens Caligiuri – guitar

Dario Chiadini – guitar

Vincenzo Circosta – voice

Marco Di Nocco – drums

Marco Miglietti – bass guitar

For more info:

https://www.facebook.com/origodband

https://origod.bandcamp.com

https://www.argonautarecords.com/

https://www.facebook.com/ArgonautaRecords

Thanks to Grand Sounds Promotions for the details.

Shadowcloak - Shadowcloak (EP Review)

Release Date: May 03rd 2024. Record Label: Self Released. Formats: CD/Cassette/DD

Shadowcloak - Self Titled - Tracklisting

1.Dark Days 06:08

2.Night After Night 06:06

3.Leave My Name 06:16

4.Everything Is Gone 05:05

5.Discomfort/Disorder 04:30

Band Members

Dave Gayler - Vocals

Zane Oskins - Drums

Paul McBride - Bass

Bryan Wiedenhoeft - Guitar

Adrian Lee Zambrano - Guitar/Vocals/Synth

Review

Progressive Sludge Metallers Shadowcloak only formed in 2023 but they’ve already shared the stage with bands such as Howling Giant, Horseburner, Black Lung and Auralayer. Their debut self-titled EP sees the band traverse the world of Prog Metal, Sludge Metal, Psych Rock and Post-Metal with their music being easily compared to bands such as Pelican, Mastodon and Domkraft. The EP is full of epic sounding synths that have a world building mythos and quality behind them.

The progressive structure of the intricate melodies remind me of Crack The Skye and Emperor Of Sand in places but Shadowcloak venture into the more Ambient and Psychedelic wastelands that modern day Sludge/Stoner Metal bands regularly cover but the band bring a sense of creative storytelling which has echoes of Americana focused within its roots. The soaring riffs and harsh vocals are quite original in places especially on songs such as Dark Days and Night After Night.

The synths allows the music to change into a visceral style of Post-Rock within the quieter and stripped back elements of the EP with sweeping Sludge Rock guitars fastly capturing the listener’s imagination and the wonderful synths from Adrian Lee Zambrano reminding me of Bryant Clifford Meyer from the much missed ISIS  with his synth playing on this EP alone. 

Shadowcloak impress yet again on a more technical and creative level on the later stages of the EP on tracks such as Everything Is Gone and Discomfort/Disorder with the music becoming more Post-Metal/Sludge Metal obsessed and conjuring sounds that feel like they come from the classic era of Post-Metal and Progressive Sludge Metal whilst being quite grounded and original in their own right.

This is a exquisite and bleak-sounding experience with Shadowcloak allowing the underground scene know they’re well versed in creating deep meaningful and complex progressive Sludge Metal melodies and writing intense lyrics on this release alone. Shadowcloak feel like they've been around for years within the Sludge/Post-Metal/Stoner Metal scene and they’re already masters of their own doomed out domain. 

Shadowcloak have released a first rate EP backed up with superb production values throughout and hopefully they can make a bigger name for themselves in the future. As it’s least they fully deserve.

Words by Steve Howe

Thanks to Desert Bloom PR for the promo.

Links

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CALLUS - Gravis Decennium (Album Review)

Release Date: May 10th 2024. Record Label: Trepanation Recordings. Formats: CD/Cassette/DD

Gravis Decennium - Tracklisting

1.Yog-Sothoth

2.The Primordial

3.Infinite Beef Machine 

4.Cycloid 

5.The Dunwich Horror

6.Leg Slice

7.The Root of all Evil

8.Dreameater

Review

Doom/Thrash/Stoner Metallers CALLUS third album Gravis Decennium sees the band continue with their obsessive down-tuned journey that fuses a more intense Heavy Metal sound with the band becoming quite intricate with their multiple styles of different sounds. The album is quite unforgiving with it’s THRASH beats and breakdowns whilst keeping mostly in line with their Stoner Metal identity. CALLUS do generate some classic sound THRASH grooves that have echoes of Lamb Of God, Pantera and Metallica in places.

Gravis Decennium allows CALLUS to present a tenth anniversary speciality of earlier material fully re-recorded with crushing new production to celebrate a whole decade. So even though these songs have been released previously, they haven’t been heard like this before.

This feels like a different sounding CALLUS compared to their previous celebrated 2021 release A Breath Of Fresh Air. The vocals are Doom/Thrash based with a slight James Hetfield swagger to them whilst the music becomes more aggressive and fast-paced on the excellent opening batch of tracks Yog-Sabbath, The Primordial and Infinite Beef Machine. Clean vocals and harsh growls are part of the main course of destructive quality with the filth and dirge ridden lyrics that gives Gravis Decennium a menacing appeal.

However, there’s some fantastic and black pitched humour that appears within the record that showcases CALLUS are happy to have some demented fun with their music.

Other great tracks to check out are:Cycloid, The Dulwich Horror, The Root Of All Evil and Dreameater. 

Gravis Decennium does feel like a brand new studio full length recording with the new production values and techniques compared to the original versions. The tracks are way more Psychedelic compared to the originals with a buoyant SONIC attitude heard throughout the album. 

If you’re new to CALLUS and want the right introduction to the band then Gravis Decennium is the perfect way to do this. As this record is an excellent album full of brutal Doom/Stoner Metal grooves that has a vicious Thrash/Groove Metal identity to standout from the crowd with.

Excellent and HIghly Recommended.

Words by Steve Howe

This is also the last ever release from cult UK underground label Trepanation Recordings who are sadly calling it a day after five years of terrific service and sublime releases. I want to say thank you to Dan Dolby for his tireless work and dedication to the scene. You’ll be sadly missed and I wish you all the best for your future endeavours.

Thanks to Trepanation Recordings for the promo.

Gravis Decennium will be available to buy on CD/DD/Cassette from Trepanation Recordings from Friday May 10th 2024.

Links

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Exclusive Song Premiere Of Sludge/Stoner Metallers BONGFOOT New Track ACID FROM From Upcoming New Album

Rebellious Doom/Sludge/Stoner Metallers BONGFOOT will be releasing their new album HELP! THE HUMANS! on May 8th 2024. The band play a blend of Sludge Metal, Doom Metal and Stoner Metal but with a weird of Freaky Heaviness, Gonzo Attitude and Highly Experimental sounds.

Taking influence from bands such as High On Fire, The Melvins, Mr Bungle, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard and All Them Witches. With varied influences such as those great bands then you can expect their upcoming debut album HELP! THE HUMANS! to be quite surreal and it is. 

Thanks to the cool folks over at Desert Bloom PR we're premiering the new song ACID RAIN from the upcoming new album which you can hear below.

You can read the fantastic and redacted interview that I carried out with the band earlier this year.

HELP! THE HUMANS! will be available to buy on CD/DD from May 8th 2024.

Links

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