GOZU - Equilibrium (Album Review)

Release date: April 13th 2018. Label: Blacklight Media/Metal Blade Records. Format: CD/DD/Vinyl

Equilibrium – Tracklisting

1.Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat 06:24

2.The People vs. Mr. T 07:13

3.King Cobra 05:03

4.Manimal 05:22

5.They Probably Know Karate 04:16

6.Prison Elbows 05:14

7.Stacy Keach 04:32

8.Ballad of ODB 10:59

Members

marc gaffney- vox/guitar

mike hubbard-drums

doug sherman- guitar

joe grotto- Bass

Review

Well….after two years listening and writing of music for Outlaws Of The Sun, I find myself reviewing the new album of my first ever band I reviewed for Steve, GOZU!

Their previous album, REVIVAL (Ripple Music), caught my attention thanks to their powerful style in the riffage and the wonderful voice of Marc, which always remind me the late Chris Cornell. Today, GOZU came back with EQUILIBRIUM (Metal Blade Records), an album able to masterfully handle fat-heavy-stoner riffs mixed with '70s psychedelic melodies. In EQUILIBRIUM, the band find a perfect mix between bands like MASTODON, BARONESS, HANG THE BASTARD and SOUNDGARDEN while keeping their own style in the songwriting. EQUILIBRIUM flows smoothly, never boring despite the length of the tracks, always above four minutes.

Songs like MANIMAL, PRISON ELBOWS and KING COBRA are example of how GOZU were able to manage all their influences, mixing grunge (listen the singing in KING COBRA), psychedelia (BALLAD OF ODB) and stoner in an absolutely exceptional product, always original and able to catch the listener, even those who still does not know the band.

The climax of EQUILIBRIUM is reached in BALLAD OF ODB, ten minutes of pure progressive expression (in the most literal sense of the term). In my opinion, this song contains all the essence of GOZU. There are rhythmic outbursts, there are solos in which to get lost is a moment, there is a perfect rhythm section, and there is the voice of Marc, the background to the worthy conclusion of a spectacular album.

Of course, it is true that I have a basic passion for GOZU, but it must be admitted that this album is, in my opinion, the greatest compositional and productive point of their career.

If you do not know GOZU, I’m sorry for you. Anyway, don’t worry, you still have time to redeem yourself. Buy this album and you never come back again!

Words by Bruno Bellisario

Thanks to Andy at Metal Blade Records for the promo. Equilibrium is available to buy now on CD/DD/Vinyl from Metal Blade Records now.

Links:

Facebook | BandCamp

Astrodome - II (Album Review)

Release date: March 04^th 2018. Label: Self Released. Format: Cassette/CD/DD

II – Tracklisting

1.Mirage 10:07

2.Secular Fields 06:12

3.Dawn Gardens 05:41

4.Sunrite 12:06

5.Atlas 06:27

Review

Going back to late 2014, a newly spaced-out band coming from the beautiful city of Porto (Portugal), Astrodome, come on the scene with their charge of psychedelia, fuzz and that seventies aftertaste that never hurts.

Their fist appearance on the scene, Live Demo, although raw in its production and execution (it is still a direct hit during a live) let us guess the potentialities of the Portuguese quartet. With their first self-produced debut album (Astrodome), things immediately became clear. Instrumental psychedelia of high levels with a chilling rhythm section. Listen to the drums on Coronation and I will tell you.

But now, after a line-up change, with Kevin (Big Red Panda, another band to absolutely check out) replacing Pedro at the guitar, they return with II, an album that marks a remarkable dose of maturity compared to previous ones.

While remaining firm to their original sound, the band in this album managed to create something really interesting. The bass/drum rhythm section is something monstrous, able to create that hypnotic background where the guitars and the masterful use of keyboards complete the work for a product that is pure psychedelic, seasoned with the right dose of fuzz and more ' doom ' moments, able to elevate the product towards something wonderful.

In this album the influence of bands like Causa Sui, Weedpecker and also My Sleeping Karma becomes even more evident, while maintaining a certain originality, adding layers of spaciness to their music.

What I really appreciate in this album is the maturity of the band, which should be taken as an example of constant improvement. Probably the charm of a city, beautiful and decadent at the same time, allowed Astrodome to evolve in an excellent way over the years. From a wonderful city a wonderful band.

Words by Bruno Bellisario

Links:

Facebook | BandCamp

Album Premiere Of AVON New Album - DAVE'S DUNGEON (Heavy Psych Sounds)

Release date: 23rd February 2018. Label: Heavy Psych Records. Format: CD/DD/Vinyl

Dave's Dungeon – Tracklisting

Yello
Terraformations
Red barn
Hero With A Gun
Mace Face
P51
Space Native
On Fire
Dungeon Dave
Was Ist Los?

Members

Alfredo Hernández
James Childs
Charles Pasare

The Lowdown

This Friday sees the release of AVON's stunning second new album - Dave's Dungeon. If you don't know who AVON are by now. You should make amends now. Look at the all-star line-up of Alfredo Hernández (KYUSS, QOTSA, Brant Bjork), James Childs (AIRBUS) and Charles Pasarell (WAXY).

That's a seriously kick-ass band. I reviewed their debut album Mad Marco back in 2016. Bruno B reviewed their upcoming new album Dave's Dungeon just recently.

Newly signed to Heavy Psych Sounds. We are excited to premiere the full album below for your musical enjoyment.

Thanks to Claire at Purple Sage PR for the promo. Dave's Dungeon will be released on CD/DD/Vinyl via Heavy Psych Sounds from February 23rd 2018.

Links:

Official | Facebook

AVON - Dave's Dungeon

Release date: 23^rd February 2018. Label: Heavy Psych Records. Format: CD/DD/Vinyl

Dave's Dungeon – Tracklisting

Yello

Terraformations

Red barn

Hero With A Gun

Mace Face

P51

Space Native

On Fire

Dungeon Dave

Was Ist Los?

Members

Alfredo Hernández

James Childs

Charles Pasarell

Review

Hands up those of you who have never heard of AVON!

I knew it…Impossible not to have heard this name, if only because of the presence of a real piece of history on drums, Alfredo Hernández (KYUSS, QOTSA, Brant Bjork). Together with James Childs (Guitar) and Charles Pasarell (Bass), Alfredo has managed to set up a project having its roots in the old school desert rock.

AVON do not play ‘modern stoner rock’. They do not go to the spasmodic search for the ‘riff winking the eyes of the founding fathers’ (and they could do it, being one of them!). No. AVON is a ‘naked and raw’ band that don’t give a fuck to align with the current trends. Dave's Dungeon (Heavy Psych Sounds) is an album that is outside the conventional schemes, in some ways hard to assimilate for current stoner/desert rock listeners, accustomed today to the usual ‘4 riffs in drop C’ that all sound the same without attitude.

Although certainly not a milestone, in this work AVON have been able to reread their own influences in their own way. Which is not trivial, considering that they, themselves, were for years the forerunners of a genre very inflated nowadays. There are many influences in Dave's Dungeon. There are the Jethro Tull (Hero With A Gun), there are the psychedelic version of the QOTSA of ‘Feel Good Hit of the Summer’ (Yello), there are Yawning Man, and there is all the atmosphere of that time where a van, two generators and the sunset show in the Coachella Valley were enough.

This last work by AVON is a very well-played album, where bass, guitar and drums are wonderfully intertwined with vocal melodies. The only flaw is, to my opinion, the lack of a production a little rougher than the current one.

I really enjoyed this. It took me more listening, I admit it. It is an album based on a sound little aside by the average listener, who confuses stoner with doom and believes that 'Female Fronted' is a musical genre, but that, paradoxically, brings a breath of fresh air. Stealing the words of my good pale Steve (on the review of their previous work) "Well if you're a fan of old school" Desert / Stoner "Rock with a hint of vintage" Psychedelia then you're going to have a huge amount of fun with this album ".

Again, I sign word for word.

Words by Bruno Bellisario

Thanks to Claire at Purple Sage PR for the promo. Dave's Dungeon will be released on CD/DD/Vinyl via Heavy Psych Sounds from February 23rd 2018.

Links:

Official | Facebook

Weedpecker - III (Album Review)

Release date: January 05th 2018. Label: Stickman Records/Soulfood. Format: CD/DD/Vinyl

III – Tracklisting

1.Molecule 07:05

2.Embrace 08:59

3.Liquid Sky 06:33

4.From Mars To Mercury 10:36

5.Lazy Boy And The Temple Of Wonders 08:50

Members

Wyro-guitar & vocal

Bartek-guitar & vocal

Mroku-bass

Falon-drums

Review

Happy new year folks! This 2018 cannot start better than reviewing the new stunning album of one of my favorite bands, Weedpecker!

After their self-released masterpiece album, II, my favorite of 2015, these extraordinary musicians from Warsaw (Poland) come back with III (Stickman/Soulfood), their last colossal effort. 

After 3 years of waiting, Wyro (guitar & vocal), Bartek (guitar & vocal), Mroku (bass) and Falon (drums) give us 40 minutes of pure ecstasy that literally leaves unarmed.

The care with which Weedpecker have packed this little gem is something that many bands (including mine) that today call themselves seventies, hard-rock, psychedelic, stoner, etc. should take into account, and keep it as a rare thing.

There is nothing wrong with this album. The structure of the songs, the sounds that travel halfway between the 70s psychedelia and old-fashioned stoner, the production, the voice, the masterful use of synths and effects.

Clearly, the 70s psychedelic imprint remains the strong point of Weedpecker, who managed to mature so much their sound over the years to obtain their own compositional and musical identity.

III is, perhaps, slightly less 'stoner' than his predecessor, whatever wants to represent, today, the term itself. During the 40 minutes of III, the listener is literally kidnapped and, in the end, you only want to start over and over and over.

I rarely get so excited about a record. Of course, I'm one that does not remain indifferent to beautiful music, but here, guys, we are faced with an album that, if it came out in 2017, would be in the top- of anyone with a minimum of musical taste.

I do not want to dwell on the tracklist or which track is cooler than the other. I rarely judge albums piece by piece. It is not in my ropes. I normally led to an overall listening of things, because a record, in my opinion, should be evaluated as the sum of all the parts.

And here, ladies and gentlemen, we are facing a band so mature that, I'm ready to bet, III will be a point of reference for years to come. For now, it is the soundtrack of my soul.

Words by Bruno Bellisario

Thanks to Weedpecker for the promo. III is available to buy on CD/DD/Vinyl via StickmanRecords and Soulfood now.

Links:

Facebook | BandCamp

Outlaws Of The Sun Top Albums Of 2017

Here is the "official" Outlaws Of The Sun Top 25 Albums of 2017. Same process that we used for last year. Mainly using the similar process that The Doom Charts use on a monthly basis.

So thanks to Simon, Håkan, Gavin, Bruno, Simon Ohlsson and Todd for their great lists and for the hard work the whole team have put in over the last twelve months.

1.Elder - Reflections Of A Floating World
2.Mastodon - Emperor Of Sand
3.Ufomammut - 8
4.Monolord - Rust
5.The Obsessed -Sacred
6.Vokonis - The Sunken Djinn
7.Telekinetic Yeti - Abominable
8.Lowflyinghawks - Genkaku
9.OHHMS - The Fool
10.Vinnum Sabbathi - Gravity Works
11.Spaceslug - Time Travel Dilemma
12.Forming The Void - Relic
13.Summoner - Beyond The Realm Of Light
14.Samsara Blues Experiment - One With The Universe
15.Spirit Adrift - Curse Of Conception
16.Converge - The Dusk In Us
17.Iron Monkey - 9-13
18.Howling Giant - Black Hole Space Wizard, Part 2
19.HARK - Machinations
20.In The Company Of Serpents - Ain-Soph Aur
21.Spidergawd - IV
22.With The Dead - Love From With The Dead
23.Pallbearer - Heartless
24.Amen-Ra - Mass VI
25.Beastmaker - Inside The Skull

Bruno Bellisario - Best Albums Of 2017

1.Samsara Blues Experiment – One With the Universe 

2.I.AH – IAH
3.Elder - Reflections of a Floating World
4.Monolord – Rust
5.Vinnum Sabbathi - Gravity Works
6.L’Ira Del Baccano – Paradox Hourglass
7.Clouds Taste Satanic – The Glitter Of Infinite Hell
8.Telekinetic Yeti – Abominable
9.Mantar – The Spell
10.Spaceslug – Time Travel Dilemma
11.Ufomammut – 8
12.Comacozer - Kalos eidos skopeo
13.Ecstatic Vision - Raw Rock Fury
14.Three Eyes Left – The Cult Of Astaroth
15.Colour Haze - In Her Garden
16.Bees Made Honey in the Vein Tree – Medicine
17.Pallbearer - Heartless
18.The Flying Eyes – Burning Of The Season
19.Bell Witch - Mirror Reaper
20.Motorpsycho - The Tower

Chosen by Bruno Bellisario

Les Lekin - Dead With Fear (Album Review)

Release date: November 20th 2017. Label: Tonzonen Records. Format: CD/DD/Vinyl

Died With Fear - Tracklisting

1.Orca 10:38

2.Inert 10:19

3.Vast 08:57

4.Morph 13:34

Members

Peter G. (GIT)

Beat B. (BASS)

Kerstin W. (DRUMS)

Review

After three years from All Black Rainbow Moon (released by Tonzonen Records), the amazing trippy-trio Les Lekin from Salzburg (AT) comes back with another amazing album, Died With Fear (Tonzonen Records).

Since from the beginning, the band have managed their own vision of music by developing long psychedelic suites surrounded by a great stoner sound and a huge rhythm section.

In Died With Fear, the band stays fixed to the compositional canons of their debut album, although this latter sounds heavier and less psychedelic.

The album is composed by four long suites of about 8 to over 10 minutes each, where extreme lysergic moments are interrupted by outburst stoner riffs sustained by great and hypnotic guitar solos.

All the songs in the album travel smoothly and without style falls, almost as composing as a single immense track. Orca, Inert, Vast and Morph (the 4 tracks composing the album) sounds like something in between Weedpecker, Earthless and Colour Haze.

The thing that, I feel, is to be most appreciated in this album is that it sounds like a jam session, where the band seems to be almost abducted by playing the songs, sending this feeling to the listener (at least for me!).

Instrumental music is very often a gamble for musicians. Many bands fall in the mistake of diversifying too much their songwriting or, on the other hand, staying fixed around a common compositional skeleton for the entire duration of an album. In any cases, to be fully appreciated for an instrumental band, today, it is a very difficult task, with the risk to not be understood, or to be understood too late.

Anyway, this last effort of Les Lekin poses as an excellent listening to the whole array of fans of instrumental music, where often the first listening does not make justice. It's definitely not a ‘one-hit-moment album’, and I guess it was probably not the intention of the band to propose something like that.

This album has to be heard over and over again, with no background prejudices and with the awareness that many artists prefer to express their emotions by expanding their notes in space and time.

Words by Bruno Bellisario

Links:

Official | Facebook | BandCamp

Clouds Taste Satanic - The Glitter Of Infinite Hell (Album Review)

Release date: October 31st 2017. Label: Self Released. Format: CD/DD/Vinyl

The Glitter Of Infinite Hell - Tracklisting

1.Greed 18:40

2.Treachery 18:10

3.Violence 17:48

4.Wrath 18:56

Members

Steve Scavuzzo, Sean Bay, Greg Acampora, Brian Bauhs

Review

What period of the year could be better to release the new colossal fatigue of Clouds Taste Satanic if not Halloween?

The Brooklyn-based quartet came back with a new stunning album, The Glitter Of Infinite Hell, which is probably their best release so far, recorded and mixed by Ben Rice of Degraw Sound in Brooklyn NY and mastered by Alan Douches of West West Side Music. Giving a listen to this album (and also to the past productions) I'm really trying to figure out how it is possible that the band formed by Steve Scavuzzo, Sean Bay, Greg Acampora, and Brian Bauhs is one of the most underrated doom secrets in recent years.

The Glitter Of Infinite Hell offers to the listener a personal vision of doom, where dark and Lovecraftian atmospheres open to more psychedelic ones and then fall back into monolithic riffs and guitar solos, in a hypnotic cycle that hardly leaves indifferent. With their new release, Clouds Taste Satanic managed to compose the perfect soundtrack for a psychedelic journey into hell. 4 tracks for a total of over 70 minutes of music with no compromises and no drop in songwriting.

The album starts with the opener Greed, a 18 minutes song full of slow/drone atmosphere that closely remind me the very last Earth, where guitars slide into psychedelic realms, until fading into the distance. In Treachery, another 18 minutes track, the slow rise of the bass is suddenly achieved by the guitar riffing, in a crescendo that opens to more acid sounds, then close to atmospheric, almost ethereal moments. Violence (the third track, only 17:48 minutes!) seems the perfect continuation of the previous songs, as Wrath, the last song, is the perfect closure of this majestic sound track. More than in the past releases, the landmarks of reference, the various Sleep, Black Sabbath, Flaming Lips and Earth are more rarefied, offering a more mature and personal sound.

With The Glitter Of Infinite Hell, Clouds Taste Satanic return to the dawn of their productions, with a even more devastating sound, but clean and massive at the same time, and with songs characterized by an important timing, almost prog, maybe difficult to assimilate for first listening to those who are not familiar wit long, instrumental suites. This album must be tasted over time, listened to and played back. Probably, few will succeed in appreciating the many shades at first listening, but once you get in, I assure that you will be swallowed up in a journey that you will hardly forget and that, every time you listen, it will always look new.

There is no trick or treat here, gentlemen. Clouds Taste Satanic have created the perfect soundtrack for our best nightmares.

Words by Bruno Bellisario

Thanks to the band for the promo. The Glitter Of Infinite Hell is now available to buy now on CD/DD/Vinyl.

Links:

Facebook | BandCamp

Comacozer - KALOS EIDOS SKOPEO (Album Review)

Release date: August 20^th 2017. Label: HeadSpin Records. Format: CD/DD/Vinyl

KALOS EIDOS SKOPEO – Tracklisting

1.AXIS MUNDI 13:40

2.NYSTAGMUS 12:26

3.HYLONOMUS 13:43

4.ENUMA ELISH 12:58

Members

RICK BURKE - GUITARS

RICH ELLIOTT - BASS

ANDREW PANAGOPOULOS - DRUMS / PERCUSSION

FRANK ATTARD - SYNTH / EFFECTS

Review

For those who did not know, Comacozer is a three piece instrumental/stoner/sludge psychonauts that, since their first Session Demo back to 2014 have been able to create their own style and personal vision of music.

With their last album, Kalos Eidos Skopeo (Headspin Records), the band composed by Rick Burke (Guitar), Richard Elliot (Bass), Andrew Panagopoulos (Drums), plus Frank Attard (Synth/Effects), continues its explorative journey to increasingly lysergic sounds. Kalos Eidos Skopeo is more than an album, is a real journey through the soul meanders. My Sleeping Karma fused with Ufomammut and Earthless to give birth to a rainbow of colours, sounds and feelings that will hardly leave the listener indifferent.

All the songs in Kalos Eidos Skopeo are characterized by a length largely over 10 minutes and by passages that bring the listener from (etno)trance to slurry sludge/doom moments. The album opens with Axis Mundi, a fuzzy/doomy song that closely remind me the slow elephantine cadence of the best Bongripper, which in the mid-song leaves room for mystical and psychedelic digressions. The album goes on with three inspired songs that could safely be part of a single ensemble. Psychedelia, mysticism and tons of fuzz are the ingredients that distinguish Enuma Elish, Hylonomous and Nystagmus.

While listening the album, the listener can feel the inspirational vein of Comacozer. Long and inspired songs that, although set along a common axis, do not go indifferent and make Kalos Eidos Skopeo a real concept album where it's easy to get lost. I really believe that with this new release the band has managed to centre a non common goal, that is, combining the inspiration of the moment with the right amount of composition, without exceeding in either of two ways. Nothing to say except that Kalos Eidos Skopeo is, in my opinion, an exceptional record in which Comacozer have succeeded in merging all the different souls that make up their musical background.

Awesome.

Words by Bruno Bellisario

Links:

Facebook | BandCamp

MONOLORD - Rust (Album Review)

Release date: September 29th 2017. Label: RidingEasy Records. Format: CD/DD/Vinyl

Rust – Tracklisting

1.Where Death Meets The Sea

2.Dear Lucifer

3.Rust 05:39

4.Wormland

5.Forgotten Lands

6.At Niceae

Band Members

Thomas V Jäger - Guitars & vocals

Esben Willems - Drums

Mika Häkki - Bass

Review

Writing a review it’s always a difficult task. In most cases it is because the album you are listening to does not take you too much though, perhaps, played majestically. Sometimes, however, you may be in trouble because what you are reviewing is one of the best album played by one of your favorite bands.

Today I’ll talk about the last venture of the trio composed by Mika Häkki, Esben Willems and Thomas Jäger, the bass, drum and guitars/vocals of one of the heaviest doom bands of the world, Monolord, from Gothenburg, Sweden. In the last few years, the band have released some of the best sludge/doom albums, while still maintaining a melodic vein that clearly defines their style. With Vaenir (Riding Easy Records) Monolord showed the world a new perspective of the genre, cleverly mixing a bunch of influences behind the definition of doom.

Me and my bandmate in Dustrider, Francesco, were lucky enough to see them in Berlin at the Desertfest, and we were totally fascinated by their show, which was by no means the best show of that edition. A wall of brutal sound with no compromise. I think also the horse-head-guy in the photo enjoyed as well.

Now, Monolord come back with a new stunning album, Rust (Riding Easy Records) that certainly did not disappoint the expectation of old fans. Starting from the cover art, which is simply amazing and with a strong visual impact, the album travels through a path that cleverly mixes doom with sludge and stoner, using even harmonic solutions hardly audible in other, similar, releases. The single track Rust, although a pure sludge song, is a breath of fresh air with its barren atmosphere and droning sounds, thanks also to the presence of special guests as John Gamino from Mondo Drag on keyboards and Trevor Church of Beastmaster.

What seems to be much from this album is the ongoing search for a trial that has led to more articulate constructions and to a composite verve of high bill. This approach seems evident in songs like Forgotten Lands, where the brutal assault of the initial riffage, masterfully supported by the monolithic rhythm section, is interrupted by a psychedelic mantra driven by the voice of Thomas.

At Niceae is, by no means, my favorite song of the album. I love the way with which Monolord manage to give the listener different perspectives, especially in the final part of the song, where droning meets Pink Floyd. Throughout the album I have the feel of a band which has grown in the shortest time and, most likely, has a world of fun in their work.

What else? My personal opinion is that Rust can be considered the best album of Monolord, until the next one. I love when a band manages to be faithful to their own sound and attitude while being able to reinvent each and every album more and more.

See you in Italy, guys!

Words by Bruno Bellisario

Thanks to Dave at US/THEM PR Group for the promo. Rust will be avaiable to buy on CD/DD/Vinyl via RidingEasy Records from September 29^th 2017.

Links:

Official | Facebook | BandCamp

Sasquatch - Maneuvers (Album Review)

Release date: June 20^th 2017. Label: Mad Oak Records. Format: CD/DD/Vinyl

Maneuvers – Tracklisting

1.Rational Woman 04:04

2.More Than You'll Ever Be 03:44

3.Destroyer 03:42

4.Bringing Me Down 04:02

5.Just Couldn't Stand The Weather 06:27

6.Drown All The Evidence 06:26

7.Anyway 04:13

8.Lude 00:17

9.Window Pain 05:22

Band Members

Keith Gibbs - Guitar, Vox, Spaghetti Sauce;

Craig Riggs - Drums, Harmonies, Coffee Beans;

Jason Casanova - Bass, Paperwork

Review

Ladies and gentlemen, from Los Angeles, California.....

The SASQUATCH!

After 4 years from their last killer album IV, released by Small Stone Records, this fucking heavy trio come back with a new stunning album that, certainly, does not disappoint the expectations of previous releases. Maneuvers (Mad Oak Records) confirms the attitude of the trio with tons of heavy fuzzy riffs seasoned by a monolithic rhythm section.

As in their style, the band took care of the composition of the songs in the smallest detail. The opener Rational Woman soon reveals is groovy beast character, where the bass enters overpowering on tons of riffs that almost cover the voice (simply amazing) of Keith Gibbs. Songs like More Than You’ll Ever Be and Destroyer are perfect moments where blues meets psychedelia, which is a constant throughout all the album, where the trio from Los Angeles carefully handle all the influences that have distinguished their previous work in a wise and never trivial way.

Tracks like Anyway, the short Lude and Window Pain, with their slow rhythm and the wise use of Hammond, make these songs a wonderful pieces of the seventies, highlighting once again and more than other songs the amazing voice of Keith, which remembers impressively our lovely Chris Cornell.

Compared to previous releases, Maneuvers is, in some way, the less stoner album of the band. The sounds get dryer, sometimes hard, but always seasoned with tons of fuzz and a pachydermic rhythmic section, with the bass to be a carrier. What impresses in this band is that, after thirteen years of honoured career, they remain constantly on the crest of the wave with productions always of very high quality.

In Maneuvers emerges a scratching soul that rocks its roots in the blues and hard rock, in an opera where, while softening the most striking characters of the previous productions, one and only thing emerges: the Sasquatch never miss a shot.

I strongly recommend the listener to recover not only this, but also all the previous productions of the band, to understand the true meaning of a band able to evolve while remaining loyal to itself.

Words by Bruno Bellisario

Thanks to Mona at Platinum PR for the promo. Maneuvers is available to buy now on CD/DD/VInyl.

Links:

Official | Facebook | BandCamp

Shooting Guns - Flavour Country (Album Review)

Release date: August 11th 2017. Label: RidingEasy Records. Format: CD/DD/Vinyl

Flavour Country – Tracklisting

1.Ride Free

2.French Safe

3.Beltwhip Snakecharmer

4.Vampires of Industry

5.Flavour Country

6.Black Leather Jacket

Band Members

Keef

Laramee

Jay Loos

Jim Ginther

Toby Bond

Zach Low

Brennan Barclay

Review

After long long time, I return to talk about music. And I could do it in the best way!

Today I’m talking about the new superb album from Shooting Guns, Flavour Country (Riding Easy Records). This powerful sextet from Saskatoon, SK, in the heart of the Canadian prairies come back with a stunning new album, mastered by John McBain (ex-Monster Magnet, Carlton Melton).

As in their previous releases, Shooting Guns have the ability to manage very different styles, in a perfectly mix between stoner, hard and kraut-rock. In their sophomore LP, Brotherhood Of The Ram (Riding Easy Records), the band gave us a very slow collection of songs with a huge stoner influence, full of edgy and fuzzy riffs. In Flavour Country, the atmospheres are sometimes more dull, melancholic and dilated, representing the perfect soundtrack for a journey into the immense open spaces.

The opener, Ride Free, starts with an heavy riff halfway between Steppenwolf and Hawkwind, followed by the psychedelic ride of French Safe, where the speed of the song is contrasted with the wise use of synths, colouring the song of a cinematic vein.

Beltwhip Snakecharmer is a song where the Sabbath-oriented riff at the beginning leaves the step to more ethereal atmospheres closely remind me to Harvestman, which anticipate the next song, Vampire Industry. The title track, Flavour Country and, mostly, Black Leather Jacket are the heaviest part of the album, representing the perfect closure, with their Sabbath-styled doom riffery, seasoned by heavy pulse-riding psychedelia.

The kraut-rock and film-character of the band feels very much in this release and permeates almost the entire duration of the album. It’s a very surprising album that leaves nothing for granted and never bores, a feature this is not a discount for those who make instrumental music their own style.

There is no more to say, with Flavour Country, Shooting Guns take us on a beautiful journey through a wide spectrum of sound, where any of us will love to lose ourselves. Highly recommended.

Words by Bruno Bellisario

Thanks to Dave at US/THEM PR for the promo. Flavour Country will be available to buy on CD/DD/VInyl from August 11^th 2017 via RidingEasy Records

Links:

Official | Facebook | BandCamp