vrijdag 28 februari 2014

Interview – Kamchatka




Interview – Kamchatka
“It made me realize that you always have to do things the only way possible; and that is with every bit of your heart. It has to be honest.”


DB’s is a damn fine venue in Utrecht, Netherlands. Even though the stage is small, the atmosphere is always good and the different kinds of beer taste amazing. We meet up there with the boys from the Swedish Kamchatka. Not long after arriving, bassist Per Wiberg implores us to try the Winter Draught. A black smoky beer with a long lingering aftertaste. The tour has just started but he’s already loving every minute of it, he says. For even though Mr. Wiberg has been part of the Kamchatka family from the beginning; delivering the cover art for all the albums and offering help on certain songs for the last two albums; he only joined Kamchatka for real on their new album The Search Goes On. An album that is so good we fear the boys must have met the Devil somewhere and decided to sell their soul. So we ask singer and guitarist Thomas ‘Juneor’ Andersson if that is the case and a little bit about The Search Goes On…


Thomas: “Haha! I sold my soul many years ago my friend. I had no choice. Music is my life. It is my everything. I started to play when I was six years old and sort of grew up on stage. My father was a fisherman who played shows in the weekend. His accordion sound made the Swedish folk music he played teach me about life. And that fact and my early memories of seeing and hearing a piano at my uncles house made me want to become a musician too. I did my first rock show in 1983 when I was nine years old. And now I am a father myself. My son turned seven today and my daughter is five. And I love them dearly and want to share my love for music with them as well.”
Do they already play an instrument?
Thomas: “My son plays the drums. There was no escape from it. He started to bang on everything when he was only a few years old. Haha.”
The Search Goes On… Is the fifth album. The first two were produced by Nicolas Elgstrand the guitar player from Entombed, the next two you did yourself and for this one you implored the help from Per Wiberg (Opeth, Spiritual Beggars, Candlemass, and many more). Why an outside producer and why Wiberg?
Thomas: “Well, I always wanted to have Per produce something I wrote and played on. He is a very talented musician and has a very wide spectrum and open mind. I mean he has played with so many bands. Like Opeth for instance. But we also played regular blues music in the nineties and played together in a side project together with Jean Paul Gaster from Clutch called King Hobo. When I talked to Toby (Tobias Strandvik, drums) about wanting Per as a producer, he immediately said: ‘Hell yeah!’. Cause he has known him for a very long time as well. And we both knew he would bring something special to the table and do something amazing for our sound as a producer.”


And then you asked him to play bass as well?
Thomas. “Yes, cause he is such an amazing bass player. I know that from the King Hobo project as well. You see, our former bassist, Roger Öjersson, decided to leave the band. He is an amazing guitarist and wanted to go back to his first love: the guitar. When we started out we were playing Jimi Hendrix covers and needed someone to play the bass. Roger agreed, never knowing it would turn into Kamchatka as it is today. Don’t get me wrong. He loved playing for Kamchatka. But around 2011 he said he was beginning to feel his heart wasn’t completely in it anymore. Which we could understand. So we said goodbye with no hard feelings. The search for a new bass player began. But it was messy. It’s not very fun to audition people. So after a while we decided: fuck this, we have this great music and we want to record it. Let’s do it ourselves and ask Per to play the bass as we put down the live backbone of all our songs. Because that is how we always record. We put down the music as a live trio and add vocals, solos or keyboards later on. Per agreed to do that too.”



 (The old incarnation of Kamchatka with Roger Öjersson)

After which you thought it was only logical to ask him to join the band fulltime?
Thomas: “It was indeed a logical step. And he took it as seriously as we hoped he would. For us it is our life and priority number one. Not some little side project. And when we asked Per, no hard feelings if you can’t do it or don’t feel like it. So he thought about it a couple of weeks and checked all his schedules and decided he wanted, no, he really wanted to play with us. And that’s wonderful, it makes the new album and this new Kamchatka even more special. I mean, Toby and me grew up together and went to kindergarten. And now my best friend also joins the band. Damn. This is going to be good! Haha!”
But what was the most important thing Per brought to the table as a producer?
Thomas: “I guess the most important thing is the fact that we wanted him as a producer and that we gave him the full reign. You know. We decided to take his ideas and criticism to heart. He was the boss. So if he said: ‘let’s try it this way.’ We immediately did so. And if he said: ‘no no no, I want it that way.’ We thought: ‘fuck it, if you want it that way, here it is fucker.’ You know. It makes everything more edgy, you want to do everything even better than before. We listened, cause he WAS the producer.”





The first two albums were really searching for the Kamchatka sound. The third went to the left of that and the fourth Bury Your Roots more to the right. This one it seems like it goes straight through the middle and has really found the Kamchatka sound. So why the title?
Thomas: “Wow, yes exactly. But the title called out to us. Because of our history. Because of our search for the sound we wanted. Because of the different bass players. Because of our search to feel complete. Which we are now with Per. But the search also goes on. For the band and for us personally. We want to find new music, play new venues and meet new people. We want to find more fulfillment and be better as a person. It might be our fifth album, but it feels like it is our first.”
It indeed sounds like it is your first; and it comes across as a very personal one.
Thomas: “As a band we never say we want to do this or do that, we never plan, we just play. We find our sound and our music by playing. It takes a couple of albums to find out who you truly are as a band. It is like putting a puzzle together. Thanks to Per, who has always been a sort of mentor to me, we could more easily cut to the chase. He kept us focused and made it more direct. No more bullshit. Which made it more personal. He contributed to raising our art a few steps. It also made my own writing better. It made me realize that you always have to do things the only way possible; and that is with every bit of your heart. It has to be honest. So my struggles and thoughts about life are my story and that is the only thing I can truly sing about. It might not be easy, but we are all human beings and I think it gives your music its validity. It is life.”


So what was the most euphoric moment surrounding this record?
Thomas: “When we got to listen to the first track, with vocals and everything complete. We recorded like three songs a day. During day time we did the band with the instruments. And in the night we did the vocals. And around one or two at night, we had something, we had three songs done. And that first listen, to those songs, complete, was amazing. We felt exhilarated. We know we were on to something.
And what did it smell like by then in your very own Shrimpmonkey Studio?
Thomas: “Sweat and beer!”
I reckon the moniker ‘free rock’ might label your music best, cause anything is possible and there are no boundaries.
Thomas: “That is how we think about music in general and especially about Kamchatka. We don’t look at ourselves as blues rockers or stoner rockers. There is nothing wrong with labels or that kind of music. But we have too many influences and want to play to many different things to think like that. We just want to make the best music possible. We were branded as stoner in the beginning of our career. Which was probably due to the fact that we toured with Clutch a lot. Although I do not consider them a stoner band either. But what is stoner rock? I mean, when I hear that word, I always think about Jimi Hendrix. Ooh well. I sometimes call it punk blues, when people ask me about it. Hehe.”
And damn fine punk blues it is! How difficult will it be to top this album?
Thomas: “I don’t think of it that way. I don’t look at music as good or bad. I write every day and some of my music will be better and some of it will be worse. I will just keep looking for those moments where the music captures something unique and I will keep hunting for music that makes me feel. Every kind of emotion is good. That is what music is all about. The search goes on!”

(Written by JK)

Stoner HiVe’s Quick Fire Friday


Stoner HiVe’s Quick Fire Friday

The Stoner HiVe Quick Fire Friday segment is a weekly feature of a handful of bands and only a small amount of words to help spread their musical prowess and our melodic belief… 


Motherdome – Wisdom Bearer

The Croatian Motherdome have released an incredible four track EP called Wisdom Bearer. On it their atmospheric instrumental psychedelic sludge and stoner moves and intoxicates. It inspires the mind and has your heart grow sizes until it almost bursts. Check out Motherdome and feel their holy fire!


Hymn – Hymn

The Norwegian duo Hymn provide us with an intense wall of sound even though they only use guitar and drums. Their first self-titled two-track EP hits you like a ten ton amplified sledgehammer. Massive and with an absolute wrecking precision they slay you as soon as the vocals start. No need to beat around the bush here; Hymn is an definite destroying doom mantra!



Pohl – Pohl II

The three-piece Pohl play heavy guitar music. Alternative doom, with metal and grungy overtones transport you to a psychedelic era filled with dangerous obscure objects and occult memorabilia that seem to live a life of their own and exhume a very luscious and lusting sound. These hombres from the United Kingdom have struck gold! Pohl rules!

 

Crow Town – Do It

Another guitar and drums duo but this time from the backstreets of Toronto: Crow Town. On the title-track of their fast approaching release date of their new EP they hand us a grimy mix of garage and heavy blues rock inspired stoner. Think of a hefty mix of Black Keys and Queens of The Stone Age and you are almost there. Do It. Think of it. Do it!
 

 

donderdag 27 februari 2014

Eddie Brnabic and The Cosmic Fellowship – Subtle Realms


Eddie Brnabic and The Cosmic Fellowship – Subtle Realms
Self Released – 2013
Psychedelic, Hard Rock, 70s, Hendrix 
Rated: *****
 
Multi-Task specialist Eddie Brnabic clearly displayed his deft psychedelic touch on the space-tripping Beatitude, an album he wrote and performed solo. In 2013 Brnabic hooked up with The Cosmic Fellowship to deliver an even stronger amplifier meltdown in the form of Subtle Realms. Nothing on this album is new or unique; it’s all been done before, many times in fact. Whatever, let the rock critic elitists have their fun at arguing over such silliness. Brnabic proves once again that he is a masterful musician and capable of taking age-old formulas and injecting them with such vigor and passion that even the most well-worn far-eastern guitar workout sounds fresh and inspired. Subtle Realms opens with a serene landscape of birds, creeks and flute, a proper meditation before Brnbac unleashes his shred monsoon  in the form of the following three tracks, 'Transcendental Wine', 'Throne of Saturn', and 'Still…tripping Through Time'. Face-melters! All of them. Apparently, getting hooked-up with additional bandmates certainly hasn’t placed any less emphasis on Brnbac and his weeping guitar solos. The latter half of the album digs into some heavy experimentation with some more Floydian musings a la Beatitude, some funky breakdown shindigs and dirty dirges like the closer 'Death and Resurrection'. I hope there’s some dive bars out there that elect to play this at last call because it fits the bill. Subtle Realms is better than Beatitude and a fantastic album driven by a fantastic guitar player and any fan of ANY sort of psychedelic hard rock music will easily find enjoyment out of this.
 
(Written by Matthew McGarity)
 


Sun Shepherd – Procession of Trampling Hoof


Sun Shepherd – Procession of Trampling Hoof
Self released – 2014
Rock, Doom, Metal
Rated: ***

Highly volatile and gaseous doom metal that exhumes poisonous steam and toxic vapors; with perhaps paradoxically mechanical precision they execute their jam like classic sounding take on everything proto. We are talking about the Melbourne threesome Sun Shepherd and their originally in 2012 released album Procession of Trampling Hoof. The record which has just been re-released with an extra track added. Incredible badass sluggish maneuvers have you on the edge of the seat as their true magic reveals itself slowly; it is their fuzzy sound and thin production values that add to their very own mystical outline. It is indeed one of those hidden diamond that some buddy of yours suddenly turns up with and that never leaves your side again. And the bonus called Exploding Sun 2006 definitely has this end of the world sound to it. So check them out and let them herd you in!

(Written by JK)
 



Triggerfinger - Perfect Match


 
Triggerfinger - Perfect Match
 
The Belgian trio Triggerfinger is about to return with a new album called: By Absence Of The Sun. And here is the first single Perfect Match of said album. Damn tasty once again! 

woensdag 26 februari 2014

Amberjacks – Amberjacks

 
Amberjacks – Amberjacks
Self released – 2014
Rock, Alternative, Stoner, Seventies, Blues, Psych
Rated: ****

A new group of bandits is approaching from the southern Dutch horizon. They call themselves Amberjacks and are on the move and on the prowl. Looking for loot to pillage and towns to plunder. For on their self-titled debut their seventies inspired psychedelic blues has this quaint southern or even Americana atmosphere permeating the entire album. Make no mistake; this is rock, heavy rock and even on the moments where they slow down; their heaviness shines through. For the most part their music moves towards seventies rock ‘n roll that aims to move the soul and make the body shake like crazy. But on other moments their songs, heavy laden with hooks and refrains that will speak to everyone. Their pop sensible melodies weave itself nicely through the nineties alternative and accessible stoner from the 00’s and they will have you air-guitaring like a madman and gulping for air. Amberjacks produced a highly daring and masterful piece of art. Join the gang and let’s rob a bank…

(Written by JK)

Volume IV – Long In The Tooth


Volume IV – Long In The Tooth
Ripple Music – 2014
Rock, Hard, Classic, Metal, Stoner, Sludge
Rated: ****
 
If you want to hear the perfect amalgam of classic power hard rock, metal, punk and stoner mixed with some tasty grunge, doom and sludge tidbits; you need to check out the new album Long In The Tooth by the Atlanta trio Volume IV. With a biker mentality and an equal amount of beards and fists; these tough lords guzzle their bourbon straight from the bottle and you shall never see them lit that ever burning cigar stump in the corner of their mouth. Gritty, grimy, gruff and grungy. Especially on Save Your Servant; that not only heralds some forgotten Soundgarden, but also moves and has an organ that helps the song into the perfect mid-album spotlight. But this album has so much and so much diversity it is impossible to name all the highlights. You simple have no choice but to kick start your hog and join them on the road…
 
(Written by JK)
 
 
 
 


dinsdag 25 februari 2014

Million Dollar Fix – Psychedelephant


Million Dollar Fix – Psychedelephant
Self released – 2014
Rock, Hard, Metal, Stoner
Rated: ****

They’re out there, on the road, raising hell and kickin arse! They’re out there giving everyone exactly what they need like the Million Dollar Fix that they are. Cause these Canadian freaks have delivered one king hell of a four-track EP called Psychedelephant. Yes, we are keeping it focused on the lumbering giants today after hearing the awesome psychedelic folk rock record Like Elephants 2 by The Movements. This is however an entirely different creature. This is the one that breaks off from the herd to party with the apes, hyenas and those insane pangolins. The fun one that has that devil may care attitude and just wants to live life to the fullest and preferably in the fast lane and on the road to get wasted. Diving head first into the pool of heavy hard rock and old school metal with tiny cues from stoner and splashing around a massive groove and then lumbering off again with a gigantic swagger and a thirst for adventure and that magical highly inspirational hangover. This Million Dollar Fix is highly addictive!

(Written by JK)
 

The Movements – Like Elephants 2


The Movements – Like Elephants 2
Crusher – 2014
Rock, Psych, Seventies, Garage
Rated: ****
 
Last fall they released the damn fine album entitled Like Elephants 1. And now the Göteburg five-piece psychedelic rock outfit The Movements return with the follow-up aptly named Like Elephants 2. As big, loud and colorful as the first piece; number two aims to complete the art and have the songs function as a pair of deviant bookends. They snatch the music that is flowing on the waves and through the surge of the great magnet and command, manipulate and manhandle it. It consumes the listener and provides you with a melancholy listening session that has you longing for the good ol’ days. The best thing is that they never go for the easy way or the quick kill; instead they continue on with their heavy psychedelic folk sound that excels in both grace and class. This goes way beyond the ‘retro’ moniker; this is doing it the old way, because it’s the only way to do it. Elegance personified. And let’s hope the vinyl release will be just as elegant!

(Written by JK)

maandag 24 februari 2014

Solar Halos – Solar Halos


Solar Halos – Solar Halos
Devouter Records – 2014
Rock, Stoner, Psych, Doom, Metal
Rated: ****

Horseback, Caltrop, Curtains of Night and Fin Fang Foom; those aren’t the least of bands to perfect ones art in. And the members who met each other in one or more of those bands decided to form yet another, perhaps even better, one: Solar Halos. A psychedelic stoner force power trio that released their self-titled debut effort a small month ago. With metallic and doomy touches, the six tracks on the record quickly nestle into brain and heart. With a minimal and eerie approach the songs reach the maximum effect. Soulful southern touches and absolute stunning vocals take you on a true pilgrimage across the mountainside; filled with intense guitar lines and glittering drum work. Every track sets off fireworks in the mind which seem to linger on forever. Awe-inspiring debut from a trio that is set on producing the best art they can capture…
 
(Written by JK)
 


 

Slow Mover – Move Slower


Slow Mover – Move Slower
Self released – 2014
Rock, Metal, Stoner, Punk
Rated: ****

The Slow Mover quartet from the Boston, United States area reminds us once again that there once was this genre called skater punk and the four amigos punch us in the gut claiming a more heavy, more metal and more stoner revival of said genre. On their second album Move Slower we never move slower and keep speeding up until we make big air and soar through the clouds never even for one moment thinking about the fucked up fact that we will eventually fall back down again. Raw stomping exuberance and giddy filth roll over you as the riffs and guitar lines get you high and reliving those good ol’ days. With excellent drum work and desperate howls the seven tracks have no problem claiming your heart, mind and soul. And by the end; we’re all dogs! Time, time for sum aksion is all we’re saying…

(Written by JK)


donderdag 20 februari 2014

Birth of Joy – Prisoner


Birth of Joy – Prisoner
Suburban – 2014
Rock, Psych, Seventies
Rated: ****
 
The past years the Dutch formation Birth of Joy has been doing well, especially across the border. But with their new album Prisoner we are sure to see them gathering the masses in their home country as well. Cause with the purring sounds of a maniac Hammond, ruthless drum pounding and a massive guitar sound there is no escaping their loud and confident posture. Intense heavy rock with psychedelic influences straight from the sixties and seventies and with almost radioactively glowing blues roots. Add to this an expert and instinctive navigation between a raw garage sound and soulful inspired heaviness and one can only testify to a steaming hot summer lurking just around the corner. Did you dig the amazing Shaking Godspeed? Did you love the luscious DeWolff? Check out Birth Of Joy; cause they bring their flaming weight from the golden era of music with an emotional and intense heat and a truckload of steroids. Birth of Joy is bringing the sun; and it’s as hot as molten lava!
 
(Written by JK)
 
 


dinsdag 18 februari 2014

Mammoth Storm – Rite of Ascension


Mammoth Storm – Rite of Ascension                
Self Released 2014
Doom, Sludge 
Rated: ***

Rite of Ascension, the effort laid forth by Sweden’s newcomers Mammoth Storm lay their cards out on the table quite early in the form of two tracks of menacing, plodding doom metal. This particular doom shimmy recalls the likes of Sleep and Warhorse, the former by way of a gruff, stoned vocal delivery and the latter in the form of thick, grimy doom metal riffs that may or may not leave thin resin cake on your ears. Whether or not one should smoke said resin cake is up to the listener but the high times certainly permeate the recording session. What the title track may lack in variation is made up for in mind-swerving doom riffage. Second track “Obscure Horizon”, thankfully varies up the proceedings by splicing in quieter moments and introducing some phased-out guitar soloing that lends just enough psychedelic flavor to keep the track above water. Mammoth Storm have some work to do in the songwriting department, but the sheer devotion to sludgy stoner doom is unquestionably, and welcome...
 
(Written by Matthew McGarity)


vrijdag 14 februari 2014

Stoner HiVe’s Quick Fire Friday

 
Stoner HiVe’s Quick Fire Friday

The Stoner HiVe Quick Fire Friday segment is a weekly feature of a handful of bands and only a small amount of words to help spread their musical prowess and our melodic belief… 
 
 
King Buffalo – Demo

Neil Young lives! Holy crap; give King Buffalo a listen and be mesmerized by the Neil Young qualities that are alive in the psychedelic stoner blues that is brought to you by four Rochester, NY freaks. Especially on the first track Pocket Full Of Knife you dream away and feel completely at home on the range. And then on the second Mr. Young implores some Wovenhand and gets even more mysterious. Simply awesome! So holy hell, all hail King Buffalo!
 

Happening – Birth

The French trio Happening was formed in 2012 and released their first EP Birth last year. A five-track release chuck full of chunky riffs and angular rhythms. The raw and clean vocals dual as the tiny progressive maneuvers and hardcore itches propel the songs to grand refrains. Energetic and precisely executed manufactured chaos. We might be witnessing the birth of something damn good?
 


Telepathy – Cystine Knot

Soon the world will be treated to the first album by Telepathy; but to warm our souls and blacken our hearts they already released one track called Cystine Knot. An instrumental progressive sludge and post metal adventure that uses elements of noise and ambient to lure the listener ever further towards the edge of the cliff… Will they push you over?

donderdag 13 februari 2014

Black Space Riders – D:Rei


Black Space Riders – D:Rei
Self released/Cargo – 2014
Rock, Metal, Stoner, Grunge, Doom, Sludge, Space
Rated: ****

Ominous slow rising sounds of water and seemingly lost notes that bop along the waves towards a destination unknown. But then suddenly the shore looms up and it shows a rider, moving fast along the rocky cliff, on some sort of sacred mission, and he passes thousands of folk that are standing there, in the dark, staring at the black water… Holy crap, this is one hell of a start to the new album D:Rei by the German quintet Black Space Riders. An album that holds so much beauty in its grasp it sometimes almost becomes unbearable. It not only excels in fusing all the heavy elements we all hold dear into something unique and powerful. It also shines in delivering monstrous stoner grooves and grungy aggression. But there’s more! Weird little eighties sounding moments and tricky experimental nineties metal. Open chords and crazy almost moaning vocals at times battling the absolute booming sound. Highly diverse, adventurous and absolutely surging in intensity like the pounding waves upon the coccolithic cliffs. It tests the rocky heights on how much it can take. How much can you take?
 
(Written by JK)
 


woensdag 12 februari 2014

Space Paranoids – Under The King Of Stone


Space Paranoids – Under The King Of Stone
Madhouse Music/Self released – 2012
Rock, Stoner, Psych, Space
Rated: ***

With a band name like Space Paranoids one would expect to be treated to some damn fine hallucinatory space rock. But the four Italians that have implored this moniker for their music provide us with some heavy stoner that only uses the intergalactic sounds as little tweaks and the psychedelic influences as minor ticks. For their album Under The King Of Stone already released in 2012 could come straight out of the desert and implores the heavy riffs and loud bursts just as well as the godfathers did themselves. With a lo-fi production of the recordings that were done live; there’s a certain charm to this release. It evokes some sort of magic that reminds us, even if it’s just for a second, of something seventies and something bluesy, of something so desirable and beguiling that it leaves you wandering through your memories as the album continues. An instinctive sort of magnetism that only nature exhumes. Like that love you lost long ago, a charcoal drawing of something mystical or the magnificent mountain in front of you waiting for your exploration… These astronauts are earth bound!

(Written by JK)


dinsdag 11 februari 2014

Mexicoma – Obsidian Monolith


Mexicoma – Obsidian Monolith
Bilocation Records/Kozmik-Artifactz/Self released – 2014
Rock, Stoner
Rated: *****

On their new album Obsidian Monolith we are still assaulted by three axe-slinging maniacs! We are ofcourse talking about the Swedish six-piece stoner train that is Mexicoma! Which barrels down the line full force as the first track Keep Me Alive kicks in. And during this one and the next never eases up on the throttle; cause the beating continues on Mortified with drums that leave you completely battered and bruised. But with the third and fourth it deepens, darkens and grows into something grandiose which will stand tall until the end of time. And then comes the mighty pounding groove in the dangerous sounding Room 101. And the magnificence goes on and on and on until the final unplugged version of Salvation. Which shows Mexicoma is capable of almost anything we could possible think of. After treating us to grade A seventies inspired hard rock with hefty stoner influences on their first releases Supervoid and Mexicoma they’ve morphed into something bigger, taller and shinier. Like a mystical clouded monument that only shows its real beauty to the initiated…

(Written by JK)




Fuzz Manta – The Stonewolf


Fuzz Manta – The Stonewolf
Bilocation Records/ Kozmik Artifactz – 2013
Rock, Hard, Prog, Seventies, Psych, Kraut
Rated: ***
 
Looking for a something hefty, grand and majestic to sink your teeth in? Look no further. For Fuzz Manta has delivered one gigantic piece of art that feels in touch with something mystical and earthy at the same time. It is called The Stonewolf and it features eight tracks and lasts for more than an hour and eleven minutes. And the first two parts alone which are called The Stonewolf Part 1 & 2 add up to 34 minutes of avant-garde psychedelic hard rock with overtones of progressive seventies influences and hippiesque kraut rock inspirations. The four Danes go overboard on these two tracks to make sure you feel overwhelmed and completely in shock. It takes the rest of the album to recuperate and get grounded once again. And thanks to damn fine obscure sounding psychedelic rockers like Mind Reader and My Baby In Vain you will touch down and feel whole again. In the end the record serves as a highly melodic and extremely seductive musical painting full of Day-Glo colors. The vintage sounding Stonewolf howls and will hunt you down and devour you whole!
 
(Written by JK)
 
 

maandag 10 februari 2014

Sykopath Condor – Sykopath Condor


Sykopath Condor – Sykopath Condor
Self released – 2013
Rock, Hard, Stoner, Grunge,
Rated: ****

Hailing from the United Kingdom; the Sykopath Condor quartet was formed in 2010 and have been wrecking stages across the country since 2012. They released a first EP called Run For Cover in the early months of 2013 and followed that up with their first full-sized self-titled album in November. An eleven-track effort that captures that alternative rock and grunge feel of Pearl Jam with something that lives in the desert and breathes fire. It has a hefty stoner atmosphere provided by grimy riffs and thunderous drum work. Vocalist Zafirakis has a very own and damn fine voice that moves towards Vedder but does not try to emulate him. The most amazing aspect of the album is probably the highly eclectic nature of the eleven songs which are still able to retain the quality and same color spectrum to show us that they belong together. Sykopath Condor; remember that name!

(Written by JK)


zondag 9 februari 2014

Chron Goblin – Life For The Living


Chron Goblin – Life For The Living
Self released/Southern Cross – 2013
Rock, Hard, Stoner, Metal
Rated: ***

The Canadian quartet Chron Goblin was formed in 2009 and have since been infesting grimy bars and dirty watering holes with their infectious and raucous rock. Their second album Life For The Living features ten wild tracks that are mainlining on hard rock with heavy metal influences. Add a small twinge of southern spirit and a handful of stoner groove with a twist of seventies swing. Above all though there is this biker attitude and bluesy twang that holds you captive and has you ordering bourbon by the six’s. Two you pour together leaving you with four glasses to carry. One you chuck and one goes into the lumberjack shirt pocket and the two that are filled to the rim you take in your hands; and off you go weaving and ducking through the mad and boisterous pub crowd all jumping and screaming to the sounds of Chron Goblin. Cause if there is one thing clear when listening to their new album: these guys know how to tear the roof off in any venue!

(Written by JK)

zaterdag 8 februari 2014

Buzzherd – On Sinking Ships… Rats Drown


Buzzherd – On Sinking Ships… Rats Drown
Dullest Records/Southern Cross – 2013
Sludge, Metal, Thrash
Rated: ***

The five lovely freaks from the American formation Buzzherd have definitely delivered something rough and wicked with their six-track album On Sinking Ships… Rats Drown. Combining thrash metal, with sludge, doom, punk and stoner to create something highly crusty and grimy. It definitely is one of the filthiest records to cross our path in the beginning of this foul year of our lord 2014. They indeed have some damn fine ability to punch you in the stomach with a club hammer full of paranoia, fear and loathing. Their tracks are laced with poison and the moving drums; hunkered down on some moments and full on blasting the next have you hopping around as if you were walking on fire. The same goes for the guitars who are both cruel and paradoxically benevolent. It has you weary for what comes next but lusting after it nonetheless. So turn the music up! My heart feels like an alligator!

(Written by JK)