Stoner HiVe: september 2018

Komatsu – New Horizon

Argonauta – 2018

Metal, Sludge, Stoner

Rated: ****

We’ve been spinning this cracker for a while now and we’ve been digging the Komatsu sound ever since they came out swinging back in 2010. Oh yes, ladies and gentlemen, the Komatsu crazies have already been building their own stoner and sludge metal legacy for eight years now. Albums like Manu Armata from 2013 and Recipe For Murder One from 2016 were well received and with those notches on their belt they toured Europe alongside John Garcia and Nick Oliveri. And they also played pre-shows for Brant Bjork, Alfredo Hernandez’s Avon, and Josh Homme’s Queens Of The Stone Age. So, they’ve managed to play for most of the Kyuss members. Lucky bastards! Currently returning from touring South America for a second time, they’ve steamrolled through every one of the venues they played at and I’m pretty sure the Brasilian crowd has been digging the hell out of it! Cause the New Horizon record adds even more depth to the supermassive sludge machine that is Komatsu. With the ever-present gargantuan groove, intense riffs and fierce tones their stoner and sludge gets a hefty dose of atmospheric elements. Adding not just depth but a lot of width to their compositions. Ominous on some moments and almost spacey at others. The ten songs drag you along towards an endless Komatsu horizon. There’s simply no way around the fact that Komatsu has produced a record that will leave every metal lover breathless…

(Written by JK)

donderdag 27 september 2018

Shogun – Infinitet

Self released – 2018

Rock, Stoner, Metal

Rated: ****

“Riffs upon riffs, upon riffs, upon more riffs straight from the cosmic cloud.” That’s how Shogun introduces itself on their Bandcamp page. And rightfully so. Their new four track release Infinitet sees the Milwaukee fourpiece delivering a righteous barrage of grungy stoner riffs, completed by a rhythm section that knows exactly how to build a majestic foundation for the rest to shine on. It has the ability to give a more doom like feel just as much as something that comes straight out of the psychedelic universe. But above all, Shogun sounds atavistic, savage and proto. It has all the qualities of a lost diamond of the golden era. And that’s exactly what us heavy treasure hunters are looking for, lost gold and mythical jewels. This is truly the stuff of legends…

(Written by JK)

Deafheaven – Ordinary Corrupt Human Love

Anti – 2018

Metal, Black, Post

Rated: ***

I’m still a bit on the fence about this one. Deafheaven’s 2013 album Sunbather was absolutely majestic, but follow-up New Bermuda did not seem to work for me. Ordinary Corrupt Human Love works in waves. Especially whenever they go atmospheric and grandiose, it’s on those moments I go wandering around with them and get lost in the song. And it’s not that their combination of screech vocals and blast beats, their black metal and post rock, their ambient shoegaze and full on assault contorts the soul or wrings the skin. It’s just that I seem to miss something and I do not know what. But then comes Chelsea Wolfe’s guest vocals along on the much too short ballad Night People and I immediately want to hear more of this. Once again whisking George Clarke’s hellish scorching throat to the side like it’s not what we came here for. Weird. I guess my love for the band has been corrupted. But I’m sure every other metal aficionado looking for something complex, melodic, atmospheric and debilitating piece of metal will love it and appreciate it for what it is. A wild thorny flower among the concrete ruins…

(Written by JK)

dinsdag 25 september 2018

Back from Portugal

Back from Portugal

And there we are again... Back from surfing along the coast of Portugal. Stopping off at Amado Beach, Bodeira, Cordoama and most of the other ones in between. We return almost intact this time. No shark bites on ma leg or jellyfish testicles behind my ear. Perhaps because we weren’t insane enough to visit Nazaré! (see video below) We did well and will surely return there again and hope it will be soon! Back just in time for an interview tomorrow and to cast our vote for the new Doom Charts, which will be out again soon. We will have to work through an amazing amount of emails and messages; but hope to do some HiVing real soon… It’s always intensely bittersweet, leaving all that sun, heat and water behind…

Let’s get on with it…

vrijdag 7 september 2018

Off to catch some waves…

It’s a new keyboard we’re hammering away on now. The other one went out the window listening to T-Tops’s new release Disease. And we won’t get much accustomed to this one very quick, since we are about to leave for Portugal to catch a few waves… Surf’s up! Soundtrack to this holiday will be The Chats and ofcourse the Mad Doctors with their majestic No Waves, Just Sharks album! Will be back in a week or two… Unless we’re eaten by a shark ofcourse… Those things happen…

See y’all in a couple of weeks!

(Do you see the great white shark?)

T-Tops – Disease

Magnetic Eye Records – 2018

Rock, Punk, Noise, Grunge

Rated: ****

I love Faith No More. Not that the T-Tops, the Pittsburgh three sound like that. But there is some sort of weird feeling lingering there, which I attribute to me immediately reminiscing about the first time I heard Faith No More when those first minutes are going. And there are a few other bands that immediately pop up when you listen to their three song, seven-minute noisy EP called Disease. The weirdness of the Melvins for instance or the wild and dangerous grunge antics Nirvana brought to the table. Salt and vinegar! The three incredibly loud tracks feel like a blitzkrieg to the senses and your sensibility. It drowns out the static noise that life is. Soon enough, you turn into a spastic Gilles de la Tourette character angrily shouting along with the vocalist; even though you do not hear (on the first listening session) what the hell is screaming about. All you know is that you need to scream along! And those posters need to come off the wall. And the door needs to come off its hinges. And the wall needs an extra hole! And the keyboard needs to go through the window ! . . .

(Written by JK)

Satta Caveira – MMI

Self released – 2018

Rock, Instrumental, Space, Psych, Stoner, Sludge

Rated: ***

From the land of Argentina comes a three piece that loves to do everything lo-fi, grimy, analog and in one take. They are Gonzalo Void on drums, Jonatan Emilio on bass and Cristian Villagra on guitar and are called Satta Caveira. It’s their third release and it’s named MMI. It’s a very trippy record that feels like a majestic jamsession. They steered away from the Blue Weber agave and went straight for the peyote cactus. Jamming on mescaline apparently leads to grimy layers on fuzz on top of jazzy experimentations in groove; that seem to aim for the void between the stars as much as the twinkling nuclear dimension between every spark of light you ever witness. This goes inwards as much as out. Did I mention it was trippy? But did I mention it also feels dark and sludgy at times? Not necessarily like a bad trip, but that moment you realize it has been too much for too long and the weight of sky starts to push you down. And before you burrow to deep into a hole, a small glimmer of light pulls you to your feet again. Ready for another round of Satta Caveira!

(Written by JK)

YURT – IV - The Obstacle Is Everything

YURT / Little Plastic Tapes – 2018

Metal, Prog, Psych, Kraut

Rated: ***

Another three-piece. They’re called YURT and hail from lovely Ireland. And their fourth album is called IV – The Obstacle Is Everything. It’s heavy, it’s progressive and it has a lot of punch. Punch spiked with something that should have gone into the kool-aid. Oh, yes cause through it all they weave some classic elements of seventies psychedelics and krautish explorations; but rest assured, it never shies away from their metal side for long. And these elements combined lend themselves perfectly for whipping arrangements and the crescendo loving songs which turn bombastic with every turn they take. It’s complex, melodic and produces a wonderful tension on the eardrum. Definitely not an easy listening session, but a definite recommendation for every open minded metal lover, prog rock freak and to be completely honest; everyone that can appreciate a crackling musical adventure!

(Written by JK)

Slug Salt Lava – Siaynoq

Self released – 2018

Metal, Sludge, Doom, Post

Rated: ***

We don’t get treated to the good stuff that resides in the heavy underground from Turkey enough. Or for that matter every other country further into the middle-east. Perhaps because it is truly underground in those area’s? Henceforth, I was extremely pleased to see Slug Salt Lava’s new release Siaynoq appear among the immense amount of releases in the HiVe inbox. The three-piece hails from Istanbul, Turkey and have produced five intense sludge metal tracks that meander into realms associated with post-metal, all the while never giving the listener a lot of breathing space. They continue their onslaught from track to track and pound away at your sensibility. The harsh rasping vocals adding to the grating of your soul. This is definitely not meant for the faint hearted! But who cares when they hear a hurricane coming from their speakers. This is a record that will make your blood boil and adrenaline rush. And that is exactly what metal is for!

(Written by JK)

donderdag 6 september 2018

The Chats – Get This In Ya

Self released / Hot Wax Records / Burger Records – 2017

Rock, Punk, Garage

Rated: ***

Whenever a certain drummer starts championing you and a certain ginger Elvis as well... Things can get ugly in a hurry! The Chats and their Smoko video is suddenly whirling round the globe and these punks were already blowing up big time over in Australia... It's definitely doing something to me! And touring with Queens Of The Stone Age will definitely do something to them. So, before things get out of hand completely we figured we visit their Get This In Ya EP from 2017. Punky, grimy, choppy rock that speaks to your atavistic side in every which way. It’s definitely about living down under, it’s definitely about having no money and it’s definitely about nothing. Nothing at all! Which seems to be the only great reason to make damn good music. Frantic, anxious and delirious. The Chats bring the right amount of energy to translate their languid punk and lazy Australian drawl into something highly energetic! The Grohl was right…

(Written by JK)

The Chats - Smoko

The Chats - Smoko

Whenever a certain drummer starts championing you and a certain ginger elvis as well... Things can get ugly in a hurry! The Chats and their Smoko video is suddenly whirling round the globe and these punks are blowing up big time over in Australia... It's definitely doing something to me! So we headed over to their bandcamp immediately to get a heavy load of the rest of these punks!