Lightning Swells Forever - Delirium (Album Review)

Release Date: February 24th 2025. Record Label: Self Released. Formats: DD

Delirium  - Track Listing:

1.The Hanged Man 05:18

2.Daze 04:36

3.Caldron 04:44

4.Green Tide 07:33

5.Raven Tree 06:14

6.Six 04:59

7.Queen 04:18

8.Dream Of The Lead Sun 06:55

9.WR Blues 04:05

Members

ZOE - ELECTRIC GUITAR/VOCAL

KEITA KAWABATA - BASS

TAKUMA MAEDA - DRUMS

Review

Delirium is the debut album from Japanese Psych/Doom/Stoner Rockers Lightning Swells Forever where the grooves are packed with electrifying sounds of DOOMED OUT FUZZ and a vintage Proto-Metal drive throughout. The music is powered by the classic energy of 1970’s Doom Metal and 1990’s Stoner Metal for a record that’s quite seedy and resonated by a powerful HEAVY METAL force. Inspired by the likes of Black Sabbath, Blue Cheer, Saint Vitus and KYUSS with Lightning Swells Forever perhaps closely aligned to fellow Doomsters Hebi Katana and at times Electric Eel Shock.

The record works best when Lightning Swells Forever play their straightforward style of Fuzz Rock and allow their trippy Heavy Psychedelic grooves generate a ton of fearless Classic Hard Rock energy throughout the whole album. There’s epic use of classic guitar shredding along the way that’s straight from the old-school of 1980’s Hard Rock and Heavy Metal. So there’s a wide variety of different sounds being used to great effect here whilst keeping in with the boundaries of Doom/Stoner Metal.

Expect to hear some cool sounding moments of Desert Rock on this record which allows the band to be more closely aligned to the global Stoner Rock scene especially within the excellent standout tracks of Caldron and Green Tide. Zoe’s vocals have shades of OZZY OSBOURNE on this record but perhaps with a Proto-Doom and Garage Rock influence helping his vocals being more grounded.

Delirium is ultimately a collection of superbly written individual tracks with each having their own particular sound that allows Lightning Swells Forever to demonstrate what a great band they really are. The music is always aggressive, melodic and quite trippy with the non-stop levels of delicious FUZZ being played from all angles with the later stages of the album offering even more standout tracks such as Queen, Dream Of The Lead Sun and WR Blues.

Lightning Swells Forever debut album is a “must-have” album to own which showcases another great band to check out from the Japanese Doom/Stoner Rock scene. If you like your music HEAVY with a heavy sideline of PSYCHEDELIC FUZZ and AMPLIFIER DISTORTION then Delirium is the album for you.

Excellent and Highly Recommended.

Words by Steve Howe

Links

Facebook | BandCamp | Instagram

DESERTFEST LONDON ANNOUNCES STAGE SPLITS AND 14 FINAL ARTISTS FOR 2025

DESERTFEST LONDON ANNOUNCES STAGE SPLITS AND 14 FINAL ARTISTS FOR 2025

Friday 16th May - Sunday 18th May 2025 

Weekend and Day Tickets on sale now via www.desertfest.co.uk

Desertfest London have released stage splits and announced a final round of artists, completing its diverse line up for the festival's 2025 edition.

(Artwork by Branca Studio)

As Desertfest continues to celebrate all killer no filler independent heavy music, the festival has completed its 2025 line up with some formidable final additions that honour the current landscape of this subterranean scene.

Melbourne, Aus based distortion artist Divide & Dissolve will bring their ceiling-shaking soundscapes to Sunday’s Electric Ballroom, while Danish deathdoom quintet Konvent will open up affairs at Saturday’s Roundhouse.

Friday at The Underworld will see genre expansive Italian duo OvO bring their sinister sounds to London, before blackened sludge heroes Hexis celebrate their 15th anniversary alongside co-headliners, Norwegian noise-rock outlanders Årabrot.

Brighton doom beasts Sea Bastard make their long-overdue return to the Desertfest stage after 10 years. Elsewhere, The Black Heart will be buzzing with punk rock rebellion courtesy of Brazilian duo Yur Mum, while Canterbury doom devotees Famyne will close it out with their crushing riffs.

Desertfest London welcomes:

↠ DIVIDE AND DISSOLVE
↠ KONVENT
↠ HEXIS
↠ ARABROT
↠ FAMYNE
↠ CALLIGRAM
↠ OvO
↠ SEA BASTARD
↠ WALLOWING
↠ YUR MUM
↠ BILE CASTER
↠ OUTBACK
↠ OLD BLOOD
↠ INDICA BLUES

Weekend and Day Tickets can be found at: www.desertfest.co.uk

Desertfest London ↠ 16th -18th May 2025
Camden Town, London

Facebook: @DesertfestLondon
Instagram: @desertfest_london
Website: www.desertfest.co.uk

Thanks to Chris at Gardenia Publicity for all of the details.

Old World Astronaut - Old World Astronaut (Album Review)

Release Date: June 17th 2023. Record Label: Self Released. Formats: DD

Old World Astronaut  - Track Listing:

1.Frozen Stones 07:56

2.Adrift 01:09

3.Poseidon's Wrath 06:04

4.God Tea of the One Thousand Eyed Wizard 06:51

5.Magnum Dopus 11:37

Members

Mike Mason (guitar/vocals)

Tom White (drums)

Graham Johnson (bass/vocals).

Review

Old Word Astronaut originally released their self-titled debut album back in June 2023 which completely passed me by and I only discovered them when they sent an “Introduce Yourselves” submission which you can read here. The band plays a mixture of Psych Rock, Space Rock, Stoner Rock and Grunge. If you’re a fan of bands such as King Buffalo, HUM, Cloakroom and KYUSS then Old World Astronaut are a band you need to discover now.

The record is full of long drawn out FUZZED UP and COSMIC based melodies with a highly fashionable Progressive creative energy which allows Old World Astronaut to delve into heavier areas of the Space Rock sound with deep similarities to King Buffalo on tracks such as Frozen Stones, Poseidon’s Wrath and Magnum Opus. The record is quite short running around thirty four minutes in length but the album feels longer especially when Old World Astronaut plays longer instrumental sonic passages. 

The sound can be quite overbearing (I mean that as a HUGE compliment) with the FUZZ ROCK aspect being very LOUD and AGGRESSIVE on the later stages but Old World Astronaut excel on all levels delivering intense grooves throughout the whole album. Old World Astronaut manage to find their “real” sound when they combine Desert Rock melodies against a scorched earth style blast of Doom, Sludge, Fuzz and Post-Rock harmonies on the standout tracks of Poseidon’s Wrath and God Tea Of One Thousand Eye Wizard.

Old World Astronaut writes intense and deeply fantastical lyrics which sell the whole album and leave you wanting more when the album closes naturally. This record may have came to attention quite late in the day but this has a certain “CULT” quality written all over it which may help the band gain a loyal and dedicated following within the Stoner Rock underground scene.

Check this out when you can. As this is an excellent and highly adventurous record from start to finish.

Words by Steve Howe

Links

Instagram: @old.world.astronaut
YouTube: @OldWorldAstronauBand
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/7gdiTobnxEloU9dHcxINiT?si=SIS1hnkuTce4i3jUMsRz6A
Bandcamp: https://oldworldastronaut.bandcamp.com/album/old-world-astronaut
Official: www.OldWorldAstronaut.com

Cloakroom - Last Leg Of The Human Table (Album Review)

Release Date: February 27th 2025. Record Label: Closed Casket Activities. Formats: CD/DD/Vinyl

Last Leg Of The Human Table  - Track Listing:

1.The Pilot 04:28

2.Ester Wind 03:19

3.On Joy and Unbelieving 01:01

4.Unbelonging 03:30

5.The Lights are On 05:39

6.Bad Larry 04:28

7.Story of the Egg 04:25

8.On Joy and Undeserving 01:13

9.Cloverlooper 03:33

10.Turbine Song 05:12

Members

Timo Dinter - Vocals

Manuel Ciofalo - Guitar

Janek Huschke - Guitar

Tobias Rickli - Bass

Alexander Streit - Drums

Review

Last Leg Of The Human Table is the new album from Shoegaze/Stoner Rock specialists Cloakroom and this quite a different record compared to their acclaimed 2022 record Dissolution Wave. This record sees Cloakroom deconstruct their sound into something more minimal and experimental whilst retaining their trademark Psychedelic blend of Noise, Shoegaze, Indie, Stoner and Alternative sounds.

This record did take some time for me to find and form an emotional connection with. Cloakroom uses different musical techniques that we haven’t heard from them to deliver a richly observed and quite surreal record which perhaps leaves many questions unanswered on certain tracks on the album. That’s a bold strategy to use but the music is also superbly powerful with epic amounts of distorted grooves and quirky “outsider” poppier themes with a manic sludgy outlook which appear within the excellent opening tracks of The Pilot, Ester Wind and On Joy And Unbelieving. 

With the band entering their second decade of existence, they’ve more than earned the right to release their “experimental” album and Last Leg Of The Human Table is that record. The record has a kinetic and fucked up energy which still manages to be quite sweet natured at times which has echoes of bands such as HUM, TORCHE and FLOOR with a sense of despairing darkness when the DISTORTED and DRONED instrumental passages appear with a sense of glitchy electronics being thrown in just for the hell of it.

I love how Cloakroom have used sounds and influences very dear to their heart from the Classic Rock scene from over the last sixty years or so and give them a modern day Space Rock/Doom-Pop makeover. The sound is perhaps inspired mostly by the sounds of the 1960’s and 1980’s with the lyrics and melodies being quite poetic with a certain “retro” quality to them.

Last Leg Of The Human Table is Cloakroom’s shortest record yet but it’s action-packed with different types of music from the Noise, Alt, Space Rock and Stoner Rock spectrum with a layer of distorted heaviness which becomes more present on tracks such as: Unbelonging, The Lights Are On, Bad Larry, Cloverlooper and Turbine Song.

Cloakroom even try their hand at areas such as Folk, Americana and Country though you won’t notice with the Doomgaze and Shoegaze attitude of the psychedelic sounds that heavily populate the whole album. The lyrics can be quite whimsical and earnest at times but it works to Cloakroom’s favour that allows them to become master storytellers in their own right.

Last Leg Of The Human Table is a brilliant, richly observed and post-modern take on all things HEAVY which Cloakroom delivers with passion from start to finish. 

Words by Steve Howe

Links

Facebook | BandCamp | Instagram