Skyjoggers - 12021: Post-Electric Apocalypse (Album Review)

Release Date: May 02nd 2025. Record Label: Supernatural Cat. Formats: CD/DD/Vinyl

12021: Post-Electric Apocalypse - Tracklisting

1.Huevos Rancheros / Rapid Round

2.Newtonin Kanuuna

3.Døpehølm

4.Tessæil 

Members:

Alexi Belle - guitars & effects

Juan Rico - bass, synth & vocals

Gabo Sabor - drums & vocals

Review

12021: Post-Electric Apocalypse is the next musical adventure from Psych/Space/Stoner Rockers Skyjoggers who have aligned themselves to cult record label Supernatural Cat which is owned by the legendary Doom Metal collect UFOMAMMAUT. There’s a similar method to both bands on how they create super heavy and super freaky Space Rock sounds within their own individual style of music. This is a great partnership that works on all levels especially after you’ve heard 12021: Post-Electric Apocalypse in full.

Skyjoggers are a band I’ve always admired but have never featured on the blog but I’m to correct that huge mistake today with this review of this sublime album. Skyjoggers play an experimental style of Cosmic Rock which has large amounts of Space Rock, Psych, Stoner and Prog Rock dynamics. The music can be quite fractured and experimental with a certain eclectic sound developing within the harsh fuzzy jazz based melodies. The music is always fast-paced with subtle vocal harmonies, mid-tempo changes and a non-stop collection of glitchy noises, electronic beats and a small dose of FREAKISH gloomy distorted guitars.

The album contains four tracks with everything said and done in under thirty six minutes but Skyjoggers create a wild assortment of hallucinogenic and kaleidoscopic extended Instrumental Psych Rock jams that would make EARTHLESS and HAWKWIND blush with envy. The opening song Huevos Rancheros / Rapid Round is about as close to Space Rock perfection as you could ever encounter with Skyjoggers chopping, changing and forming that style into their own unique image. The sound is brilliantly adventurous and quite daring with the multitude of different sonic passages that lean into Seventies Prog Rock and Space Rock but with a modern dynamic core at the centre.

Second track Newtonin Kanuuna is a more straight-forward style of Space Rock surroundings with a solid Jazz/Psych Rock backdrop. There’s some wicked classic Hard Rock guitar shredding being played with Skyjoggers perhaps being less theatrical but way more technical with the short running time the track contains. Skyjoggers switch to a stripped back Punk Rock sound for the later stages of the track where the mood is once again full of eclectic paranoia.

The final two tracks of Døpehølm and Tessæil perhaps delves into Post-Rock territory in places but with Skyjoggers playing the heaviest and intense sounds on the record. Sometimes way too flashy but the sludgy rebellious grooves from Døpehølm gives this album a pure HEAVY METAL sound which is solidified by the great vocals that accompanies the track. The atmosphere can be quite aggressive with Skyjoggers slowing things right down and putting their AMPS all the way up PAST ELEVEN. 

Tessæil is the standout track on the album with Skyjoggers playing a song that feels like it’s been constructed by individual chapters with different areas of Psych, Space and Stoner music combining for another surreal and freakish encounter of HEAVY MUSIC.

12021: Post-Electric Apocalypse delivers the goods on all levels and once again allows Skyjoggers to impress with their creative vision and technical ability from start to finish. This is without doubt Skyjoggers finest and heaviest record to date with plenty of jaw-dropping moments that will have you reaching for the repeat button in no time at all.

Words by Steve Howe

Thanks to All Noir PR for the promo.

12021: Post-Electric Apocalypse is available to buy now on CD/DD/Vinyl via Supernatural Cat.

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Icarus Burns - Icarus Burns (Album Review)

Release Date: February 12th 2025. Record Label: Self Released. Formats: CD/DD

Icarus Burns - Track Listing:

1.Minotaur 07:12

2.Die Werft

3.Melancholia

4.A Distant Light / In The Darkness

5.Tränen Der Sonne

6.100 Days

Members

Tim Corden – Guitar

Jens Gehrke  – Guitar

Axel Kalteiß  – Bass

Cristobal Cuadra Bravo  – Drums

Review

Icarus Burns self-titled debut album is a stirring mix of Post-Rock, Sludge Metal, Stoner Metal, Doom Metal, Psych and Ambient Metal held with a cold hearted Progressive Metal energy which allows the band to play a multitude of different styles of Instrumental Rock/Metal. With influences ranging from REZN, King Buffalo, ROTOR, Elder, Mastodon and Pelican, the band stand on their own creative merits from the very start of the pulsating beats of the excellent opening track of Minotaur.

The band may play a simplistic style of Heavy Psych at the start but the band start moving into heavier areas of Sludge/Stoner Metal with a precise delivery of melodic Post-Rock and Ambient passages which can be quite sinister when the OCCULT soundclip comes out of nowhere. Icarus Burns add an ever more Post-Metallic flavour to their music with the sound being quite diverse and with a slight apocalyptic melody appearing in the mellow parts of the track. That’s a clever way for Icarus Burns to deliver a gloomier and doomed out sound which pulls no punches with its more adult oriented groove that starts to dominate musical proceedings.

Second track Die Werft offers a calmer style of music with sonic passages reminiscent of ELDER, KING BUFFALO and early-era PELICAN. The music does have a loose creative structure with Icarus Burns playing with a progressive “STOP/START” focus that allows the thunderous rhythm section to play a heavier sludgier and psychedelic swagger. The band never rests on their creative laurels and are always trying new exciting things to keep the album wonderfully fresh and downright aggressive at times and DIe Werft is the perfect example of this.

Third track Melancholia opens with a calm Post-Rock narrative which feels very “AQUATIC” at times before the heavier soundscapes and landscapes transforms into a heavier destructive musical force with that cool Heavy Psychedelic energy being the main key for Icarus Burns to manifest into a different band altogether. The sound is always forward thinking and the thuggish Atmospheric Sludge grooves feels like it’s being delivered by a different band at times. This is one of the standout tracks on the record with Icarus Burns playing different styles of Doom, Sludge and Stoner Metal with varying levels of heaviness along the way. Though, there’s a beautiful Ambient Rock section in the middle that is one of the most beautifully played pieces of music I’ve heard in quite some time. 

The second half of the album sees Icarus Burns go even further down the Progressive Metal rabbit hole with first rate instrumental passages becoming more Doom obsessive especially on tracks such as A Distant Light / In The Darkness, Tränen Der Sonne and 100 Days being my other favourite tracks on the album. I could have easily done a track-by-track analysis of these tracks but I want the listener to be surprised by what they hear by the whole record and I don’t want to spoil the surprise with Icarus Burns delivering even more intense and absolutely thrilling moments of Heavy Psychedelic grooves that offer an adventurous and cinematic feeling you’ll find very hard to beat.

Icarus Burns are possibly going to cause a major stir within the underground scene and I expect these guys to perhaps become one of the breakout stars for folks to go absolutely crazy for. We’ve seen this happen before and you get this feeling when listening to the album that the band are destined for bigger and better things sooner rather than later. 

This maybe their debut album but Icarus Burns have delivered a future classic in the making and perhaps the instrumental rock/metal album I’ll be comparing all future instrumental albums against for the rest of this year. Bring it on….

Words by Steve Howe

Thanks to Icarus Burns for the promo.

Icarus Burns self-titled debut album will be available to buy on CD/DD from Wednesday 12th February 2025.

www.instagram.com/icarusburnsmusic/

www.facebook.com/icarusburnsbooking/
www.icarusburns.bandcamp.com/

www.https://www.youtube.com/@icarusburns1211

Caprahed - Empire (EP Review)

Release Date: January 20th 2025. Record Label: Self Released. Formats: CD/DD

Empire  - Track Listing:

1. Empire (30:26)

Four Song Version (Parts I-IV):

I. Phase IV (6:28)

II. Masters And Slaves (10:12)

III. The Rebellion (8:50)

IV. Until The End (5:11)

Members

Phil Howlett (Lucifer’s Fall, Solemn Ceremony, Zlórtcht, Rote Mare & Devils Victim) - Everything

Review

Empire is the new album from Doom Metal/Punk Rock/Alt Metal collective Caprahead which is the work of Aussie Doom Rock overlord Phil Howlett who has been involved with the likes of Lucifer’s Fell, Solemn Ceremony and Rote Mare. Phil is now back working under his Caprahead persona which is a striking mix of Punk Rock, Alt Metal and Gloomy Doom Metal sounds with a sudden shift to Occult Metal and Proto-Metal when the need arises.

Empire is available as either a singular thirty minute track or as four individual tracks. The result is both the same with Caprahead drawing influences such as Cathedral, Saint Vitus and Black Sabbath from the Doom Metal world. However, Phil is not averse from splicing moments from areas of Alt Rock with nods to bands such as Talking Heads and Sonic Youth. Empire is quite a hard release to fully break down with subtle flashes of Psych Rock and Thrash Metal appearing out of nowhere.

The whole atmosphere is mostly dominated by that Doom Metal perspective but the Alt Metal/Indie Rock delivery of Phil’s vocals can easily manipulate the whole flow to an area of music you don’t expect. This allows the record to be quite unique with its creative perspective. The production values are fused by a sublime DIY Punk Rock aspect which adds a sense of Seventies DOOM ROCK based seediness to the mix. 

The lyrics are quite bleak with Phil expertly tapping into the apocalyptic side of DOOM METAL but with a no-frills Punk Rock sound transforming the sound into different eras of music altogether. There’s a lot to get through this album even with the short running time as Caprahead adds a certain Progressive element within the middle part of the record or the actual individual tracks of Masters And Slaves and The Rebellion.

Empire seems to have all bases covered for fans of the Punk Rock, Doom Metal, Alt Metal and Prog Metal underground scenes to fully admire. This is the type of album where the journey and destination are as important as each other with Phil Howlett providing a virtuoso instrumental masterclass in places. The vocals and lyrics are bang on point that adds another layer of heaviness to the whole record. 

Caprahed has delivered the goods with Empire and if you like your music with a unique style of freakish heaviness then wait until you hear this superb offering.

Words by Steve Howe

Thanks to Good Boy PR for the promo.

Empire will be available to buy on CD/DD from Monday 20th January 2025.

Links

Facebook | BandCamp