Release Date: July 18th 2025. Record Label: Argonauta Records / Octopus Rising. Formats: CD/DD/Vinyl
Toil & Trouble - Tracklisting
1.Ghost Egg 09:24
2.Toil & Trouble 07:35
3.To Whatever End 07:48
4.Maailmankaikkeus On Pikimusta Ja Täynnä Suuria Vaarallisia Tähtiä 04:27
5.I Can't Sleep At Night 08:40
6.Mothmaker 05:07
Members
Teemu Pellonpää - guitar
Tommi Rintala - guitar
Arttu Nieminen - bass/vocals
Juho Saarikoski - drums
Review
Toil & Trouble is the sophomore album from Psych/Sludge/Stoner Rockers Warchief who bring a cold hearted Grunge attitude to the album but also massive amounts of warmth Psychedelic and Sonic trippy endeavours along the way. The sound is always progressive and deeply engaging with Warchief always striving to find the right balance between Grunge, Shoegaze and Alt Metal melodies which they capture superbly well very early on in the album on tracks such as Ghost Egg and Toil & Trouble.
The record moves between King Buffalo and ELDER based Post-Stoner heaviness and the Grunge vibes of Soundgarden and Alice In Chains. The end result is a heavy explosion of distorted Post-Whatever instrumental passages with Warchief creating long drawn out progressive sounds which becomes quite experimental at times but never at the cost of the listener enjoying the whole album.
There’s a highly emotional side to Warchief’s music which comes across mostly within Toil & Trouble with Warchief playing a subdued Post-Rock and Doomgaze based sound. The sound is quite remote and held back at times with Warchief playing intricate strands of Prog Rock and Sludge Rock. There’s an undercurrent of Blues Rock melodies starting to appear with the music becoming superbly heavier with each passing moment. Add levels of ambient music in the background and Warchief are building up for an absolutely barnstorming finish on the second half of the track which taps right into the modern day Stoner Rock/Metal mindset.
Third track opts for an Alt Rock score with small amounts of Post-Rock and Post-Stoner attitude shining through. The mood is kind, engaging and warm-hearted with Warchief building up a steady rhythm of sludgy environments to build the heavier and aggressive sounds that appear later on with the record. Warchief are perhaps channelling the likes of PELICAN and YAWNING MAN on this track but it works superbly well. Though, wait for the second half of the song which transforms into a Progressive Rock/Metal number with a heavy backdrop of sludgier movements. The vocals are abrasive and quite pissed off at times which shows another different side to Warchief.
The fourth track Maailmankaikkeus On Pikimusta Ja Täynnä Suuria Vaarallisia Tähtiä (which Google translates as The Universe Is Pitch Black and Full of Large Dangerous Stars - apologies to the band or any Finnish folks reading. Google Translate is shit at the best of times) - is a subdued Post-Doom / Post-Rock instrumental journey with harsh levels of Sludge Rock terrain spliced throughout the deft and ice-cold Psych Rock passages. This is quite a haunting and surprisingly uplifting sound that sees Warchief put their “Post-Rock” creative identity to great use.
The final two tracks of I Can’t Sleep At Night and Mothmaker sees Warchief explore their hybrid sound of Sludge, Stoner, Grunge, Psych and Doom held together by top-notch Prog Rock trickery. The creative themes that Warchief uses here are superbly played throughout with the band playing some epic musical solos along the way. They demonstrate some intense levels of Psych, Ambient and Cosmic interplay here which allows the record to end in spectacular and dramatic fashion.
Toil & Trouble is quite a soulful and beautifully heavy release which Warchief should ultimately be proud of. Within time, this record could allow Warchief to become more well known and established within the Sludge/Stoner Rock community. As it’s a must have album in every sense of the definition.
Words by Steve Howe
Thanks to Grand Sounds Promotion for the promo.
Toil & Trouble is available to buy on DD/Vinyl now via Octopus Rising / Argonauta Records.
Links
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