HASHTRONAUT No Return (splatter vinyl edition) - (photo courtesy of Igor Lukina)
Holy moley! We try not to be too in-your-inbox with our updates, but we didn't mean to let it get to the end of April without a word. Now we have to catch you up, but we promise you're gonna want to hear all this.
When the year started, we told you 2024 would be a bit of a pivot for us, not in music quality or style, but in bringing out records from some younger bands whose names you might not always recognize.
Don't worry, this doesn't mean we're finished working with legends and heavyweights like Dozer and Acid King! It just means we found ourselves blasting the hell out of stuff from a handful of newer bands that's so good we just couldn't pass up the chance to bring it to the world.
Our goal has always been that the Blues Funeral brand would be a mark of quality, an assurance that fans of colossal riffs, soaring melodies, massive tones and irresistible hooks could rely on being able to dig pretty much any record with our logo on the back.
We're don't literally expect you to love every single thing we release, but honestly, that's always what we're striving for! And we're pretty confident that with what we've got coming in 2024, you'll have a hell of a time finding something that doesn't deliver.
ABRAMS
ABRAMS "Fire Waltz" Official Music Video
First up in the coming months is a band called ABRAMS, whose new record Blue City is a cathartic mix of catchy, driving rhythms, soaring vocals and ethereal ambiance that we think fans of everything from post-metal to classic grunge will dig. Wait, grunge? Really?
So here's the thing: our founder started his first label in 1997, right when desert/stoner rock was coalescing into a worldwide movement. He'd been listening to Kyuss, Monster Magnet and Fu Manchu since 1992, but you know what else he was listening to during that time?
Yep, grunge. And we'd be lying to ourselves if we didn't acknowledge that stoner rock shares a ton of common roots with grunge.
Both came into being around the same time.
Both drew from heavy 70s and classic rock and metal.
Both were a response to the superficiality of late 80s hair-metal and the watered-down commerciality of 90s radio rock.
And both were characterized by total authenticity. Yeah, grunge blew up and stoner rock not as much, but in terms of heavy music styles, the only one on par with stoner rock if you're talking undeniable commitment to unpretentious heaviness is grunge.
We're not afraid to say that you may hear a touch of grunge swirling around in what ABRAMS do. But that's also what's so damn cool, because these guys were barely alive when grunge was happening.
ABRAMS are young, hungry, and they've been guzzling the entirety of heavy rock history and letting it seep into their blood, and now they're unleashing their take on what modern heaviness can be.
That's why we can say without hesitation that if Torche, ASG and Cave In are up your alley, we know you'll be riveted by ABRAMS, but also if you dig Failure, Quicksand, Hum, and hell, even Soundgarden.
We can't say enough about how stoked we are to be working with this band and how bowled over we are by their perfect melodic songcraft. It's cathartic and bittersweet, nostalgic while feeling fresh, and above all, it fucking rocks.
Check out the video above for the first single "Fire Waltz" and if you dig it, head over to Bluesfuneral.com, our Bandcamp or our European Web Shop to preorder Blue City, the new album from ABRAMS that arrives next month.
HORSEBURNER
HORSEBURNER "The Gift" Official Music Video
Speaking of up-and-coming bands who you may or may not know (but should), here's a no-brainer: Blues Funeral will release the new album from HORSEBURNER this June.
Where to start? This is one of Howling Giant's favorite bands. In fact, they've been touring together regularly for years. So yeah, that's point one in their favor.
Point two is that these guys have utterly mastered galloping modern metal in a way that only the absolute topmost tier of heavy bands have; we're talking Mastodon, Baroness, that level of heavy musicianship.
This is breakneck high-energy riff-metal that'll have you swerving toward freeway dividers, you'll be banging your head so hard.
Okay, let's breathe for a second.
HORSEBURNER isn't a "new" band. They've been around a few years, and they put out a killer album in 2019 on Ripple Music. But like every band in our scene, part of making a mark is showing you'll be here for the long haul, that you're gonna keep growing and burning down stages year after year.
Again, going back to examples like Dozer and Acid King, these are bands who've been going for decades, and their greatness wasn't just accepted by any of us on day one. They persevered, and eventually, what they did was in your DNA and ours.
That's the track HORSEBURNER is on. Mastodon didn't go from Remission to Crack the Skye in a week. They built, they tore down, they rebuilt, they set it on fire, they started again.
What HORSEBURNER has made with new album Voice of Storms is them on that path. It's a massive leap, an endless array of musical flexes. It's blistering tempos, fearless hooks and burly crush. Voice of Storms is a sludge-prog triumph full of soaring, obliterating mini-epics. These guys do things a lot of other bands never try, because a lot of other bands just could never do it.
HORSEBURNER will be with us all for some time, but this is their Leviathan... so it's time to get on the boat.
Preorder Voice of Storms at Bluesfuneral.com, our Bandcamp or our European Web Shop, and stream first single "The Gift" right now at the video link above or on all digital platforms. And be looking out for more live dates this summer (yes, some of them with their pals in Howling Giant).
HASHTRONAUT
HASHTRONAUT on Tour!
In January, we introduced you to HASHTRONAUT, a band who represented this label's first foray into the grand tradition of weed-metal odysseys. And you responded by making this one of the fastest growing and exploding bands ever on this label.
Their Spotify numbers, if you pay attention to that kind of thing, went from 300 listeners a month to over 5000.
There was no magic. We haven't figured out any tricks or behind the scenes maneuvers to bump streaming numbers up.
This was all you.
Fans of quality heaviness just love HASHTRONAUT's No Return album, and are letting the world know by streaming the goddamn hell out of it.
We're down to our last few copies of the stunning splatter vinyl version of No Return, but the band will be hitting the road on tour this May and they're carrying a handful with them as well. So order your copy now, or get out and see them to snag one.
Thanks for taking a chance on something completely new. Thanks for giving us the confidence to bring you bands you might not know and showing us you're into it. And thanks for supporting these dudes! We can't say enough great things about HASHTRONAUT, so we highly (get it?) encourage you to check them out if they're coming your way, it'll be worth your while and they sure as hell deserve it.
Catch HASHTRONAUT on tour in May (with more dates coming later this year):
May 9 - Hi Dive - Denver, CO
May 10 - Ace’s High Saloon - Salt Lake City, UT
May 11 - Neurolux - Boise, ID
May 12 - Substation - Seattle, WA
May 15 - High Water Mark - Portland, OR
May 16 - The Eagle - San Francisco, CA
May 17 - Mrs. Olsons - Oxnard, CA
May 18 - Til Two - San Diego, CA
May 19 - Redwood Bar & Grill - Los Angeles, CA
May 20 - The Dive Bar - Las Vegas, NV
And stay tuned for more killer heaviness to come, 'cause we're just getting warmed up!
The Blues Funeral Team
Hashtronaut "Rip Wizard" - Official Music Video
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