New Haven, Connecticut's hard blues rockers BONE CHURCH share a raucous first single taken from their sophomore album "Deliverance", to be released on October 24th through Californian label Ripple Music.
Their forthcoming sophomore album "Deliverance" is Bone Church’s boldest step yet into the heart of classic and hard rock: an album built on big hooks, anthemic songcraft, and the kind of radio-ready swagger that would’ve ruled the airwaves in 1977. Written primarily in 2019 and 2020, this record trades their debut's doom-laden expectations for soaring, blues-soaked riffs and sing-along choruses. "You’ll still hear the Sabbath influence, but you’ll also hear ZZ Top, the Allman Brothers, Santana, and Lynyrd Skynyrd, to name a few. These songs are meant to be sung along to," says lead guitarist Dan Sefcik.
Lyrically, Bone Church remains steeped in their signature themes—apocalyptic visions, Luciferian power struggles, and the eternal battle between light and dark—but this time, they balance the weight with raucous tales of life on the road and the pure, uncomplicated joy of rock ‘n’ roll. "We’ve juxtaposed those heavy themes with lighthearted fun as well. We didn’t want this record to be all doom and gloom. Overall, we think it’s our best work yet," he adds.
"Deliverance" is a thunderous exorcism, a Molotov cocktail hurled at the gates of genre. Bone Church never bowed to the rules, and now? They’re torching the rulebook entirely. Crank it. Howl along. This is their reckoning and it's coming this fall on Ripple Music!
BONE CHURCH "Deliverance - Out October 24th via Ripple Music (LP/CD/digital)
Formed in 2016, Bone Church is primarily influenced by the era when rock was transforming into the earliest form of heavy metal, but still had its feet firmly planted in the blues. Classic bands like Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, ZZ Top, and Lynyrd Skynyrd provide the bricks upon which their sonic foundation is built.
Their love for horror, the occult, and folklore is just as apparent as their love for the blues-laced, heavy psychedelia of a bygone era. They have been referred to as Doom, Stoner, Proto-Metal, etc; but in spite of genres or labels, their primary focus above all else is writing great songs. Their first EP “Bone Church” was self-released in 2017 and received stellar reviews, including landing the #2 spot on the Sludgelord’s “Satan’s Dozen: The Best Unearthly Hymns Unearthed in 2017.”
In November 2019, they signed a deal with Ripple Music, and in March 2020, they released their first full-length LP “Acid Communion.” The album again garnered exemplary reviews and was voted #4 on the Doom Charts for March 2020. After the release, they immediately began working on their third album, which is set to be recorded in spring of 2021. Due to high demand, their debut EP was also re-released on vinyl by Ripple Music, with two additional live tracks, and quickly sold out.
Bone Church has been playing steadily throughout the Northeast since early 2018, sharing the stage with juggernauts such as Pentagram, Eyehategod, The Obsessed, and Mothership. In August of 2021, they completed their first tour down to Texas and were a highlight of the first-ever Texas Ripple Fest.
BONE CHURCH is
Jack Rune - Vocals Dan Sefcik - Lead Guitar Pat Good - Bass Nick Firine - Guitar Rob Sickinger - Drums
Release Date: 03rd July 2021. Record Label: Self Released. Format: DD
Mat For Månen - Tracklisting
1.The Narrow 05:41
2.Mat For Månen 05:24
3.Barfight 05:16
4.Ingen Morgenkvist 16:07
Members
Ole Hell - All Instruments
Nestor - Vocals
Review
With myself doing the blog for 6 years now I could have sworn that I’ve featured Shepherds Crook before on the blog but I can’t find any evidence of this. Well these guys have been going strong for quite some time now. They released their 4th Full Length Album with Mat For Månen back in July 2021 and I thought it was time to feature them. As these guys are one becoming one of the heaviest Norwegian Doom/Sludge/Stoner Metal bands with each passing release.
Mat For Månen is a 31 minute trek in the dark depths of everything that is LOW & SLOW with punishing bass guitars bringing a sublime level of FUZZY BASED DOOM. The vocals from Nestor are bleak and full-on DEVIL WORSHIPPING mode and it brings an icy demeanor to the overall flow and feel of the band. There is still a lot of movement for the guys to explore the darker depths of Doom, Sludge and Stoner Metal with some dark touches of Psychedelic Rock.
The first 3 songs are slightly over 5 mins each with Shepherds Crook laying down the groundwork for an epic 16 minute final song. However, before that the band dodge different areas of Heavy Music with progressive sounding Sludgy Sound that doesn’t mind switching between twisted Blues Metal and almost Hardcore engergy that manifests into a glorious riff-fest towards the end of opening song - The Narrow.
Second song - Mat For Månen - never runs away from the DOOM LEVELS but sees Shepherds Crook turn this track into a more distorted and punishing sound with the music and vocal levels contained on this song. The song has a warped Psychedelic energy that sees the band move from Post-Doom grooves to a more progressive Post-Stoner/Sludge drive that feels highly original in places.
Third song - Barfight - is not what you would expect from the band. As it’s a more “straight-forward” Blues Metal inspired affair with low & slow guitars matched against the pissed off vocals of Nestor. This track feels like you’re having an actual Barfight in the “PITS OF HELL''. There is a NOLA based energy waiting to be heard on this track.
The final song - Ingen Morgenkvist - starts off like a “Folk-Rock” song with the quietly subtle guitars and different psychedelic moments with fleeting whispers bringing an interesting style of Doom Rock. The song then starts to move once again through different levels of Psychedelic Heavy Music. The song then moves into the opposite direction and brings the “Distorted Fuzz” back to the party and Shepherd Crooks starts to take the listener on a “YOB” style music odyssey. The music is thrilling and equally adventurous with the band showing fine levels of creativity before breaking off into the gloomier sides of the Doom, Sludge and Stoner based musical vortex.
Mat For Månen is another well-produced and supremely entertaining record from Shepherds Crook. The vocals may be too jarring for some but that’s their loss. For the rest of us brave souls, this album is a much needed album to entice our dark souls with.
“I’m not gonna play your endless games of dark and angry words that always seem to flame” (Punching Bag - Andrew and Stephanie Hooker)
The Uneven aspires to bridge the fuzz and sludge of 70s hard rock with the guttural ferocity of 90s alternative metal, while never forgetting the primal roots of the blues. The Uneven is influenced by iconic groups like Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Soundgarden, and Nine Inch Nails. While many hard rock and metal bands focus on the doom and gloom, The Unevens’ message is to fight for truth, to self-empower, and to overcome adversity.
Guitarist and lead vocalist, Andrew Hooker, describes the debut single, Punching Bag as “A fire-raging riff and groove, that screams like a wild beast trying to escape a cage. The message of the song is about reaching a breaking point, and deciding to finally rage against opposition, while embracing your own power to set boundaries. It’s a reminder that finding beauty in imperfection is what gives us the will to take another step.”
The Uneven makes their musical debut May 15, 2020 with a self-directed and produced music video of their first single, “Punching Bag.” The video was directed by Michael Meadows and Andrew Hooker. Clay animation sculptures were created by Stephanie Hooker, and the video/animation was shot and edited by Michael Meadows. “Punching Bag” was recorded at The Cave Studios in Leipers Fork, TN. Patrick Thrasher (Rush, Metallica, Red Hot Chilli Peppers..) recorded, mixed and produced the single. The Nashville based rockers will make their official debut on all streaming platforms, June 5, 2020.
You can watch the new video for their brilliant and thrilling new song - PUNCHING BAG -below.
The Uneven is:
Andrew Hooker - guitar & Lead Vocals Michael Meadows - bass guitar & B.G Vocals Simona Bressi - drums
Fox
45 brings some cool heavy sounds from Rochester, NY. The band
released their debut album “Ashes of Man” a few days ago through
Twin Earth Records and the ladies will support this release with
their mini-tour in States. Why do Fox 45 deserve your attention?
“Ashes
of Man” demonstrates groovy doom rock with big range of classic
influences from rock’n’roll to stoner music. Catchy, attractive
and ardent Fox 45 play sincere and actual material, and look – the
album’s artwork is good too! Amanda Rampe answered some of my
questions being right on the spearhead of the Fox 45 US tour.
Hi Amanda! Thanks
for your time; I know that you're busy with the tour. How many cities
are in your list?
We’ll be hitting 8
cities total, not counting our Rochester kick off show. They’re all
listed on our bands Facebook page, facebook.com/foxfortyfive.
How does this
mini-tour go? Did you already get the emotions you were looking for?
It's going great so
far. We're lucky to have some great connections that have helped us a
ton with booking and we're looking forward to making new friends.
We're just getting started!
What
do you usually take with you on the road? What are the necessary
things you take with you?
Other than the obvious
(gear)... Water. Snacks are very important. Tunes. And our driver
Biff who is very important to the whole operation.
Do you plan another
tour in this year? What was most difficult in organizing this tour?
While we're not
planning another full tour, we are doing a couple farther away dates
in early September. We're really excited to be playing he very first
Stoned Meadow of Doom Fest in Omaha NE. We're planning on playing
some other dates on our way to and from, so stay tuned!
You're from
Rochester, NY. Is it easy to organize gigs there for the band like
Fox 45?
Rochester has a really
cool music scene. Although we are trying to play fewer local shows in
order to get out of town more often, I’d say that yes it is pretty
easy to organize Rochester shows.
What difficulties do
you face as a band? Are promotion, financial side, recognition in
this list?
Nothing specific really
comes to mind. Of course things will always happen that are
challenges, but you just need to work hard to overcome them!
Fox 45 - Gehenna
You started the band
with Casey, Pauline and Vicky three years ago, how did you gather
this lineup?
Casey actually only
joined the band a little over a year ago. Vicky, Pauline and I met
through mutual friends and started jamming together. We went through
quite a few drummers before finding our perfect match with Casey.
I saw that there was
a man amongst ladies. Who's Dusty West and where’s he now?
He was a past drummer
in the band. We’ve since parted ways. He has a couple other bands
including metal band Diluted who we saw at the last Finger Lakes
Metal Fest.
By the way, what
does band's name mean?
The name is a reference
to a Quentin Tarantino film. See if you can figure out which one!
How did you work out
the sound of your debut "Ashes of Man" album? What are your
requirements to the songs?
It all came together
pretty organically. We had some references for how we wanted the mix
to sound, but as far as writing the songs they’re really just a mix
of our different ideas.
What are your main
influences amongst doom and stoner artists?
Of course, Black
Sabbath is a given. Pentagram, Blue Cheer, others for sure. Some more
current bands that we think are really cool include Windhand, Sleep,
The Sword, Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats… I’m not sure if those
are really influences on our music, but I guess everything you listen
to comes through somewhat.
How long did you
compose these songs? And how is the recording process organized in
Fox 45?
The songs on the record
were composed over varying periods… For example Phoenix Tongue was
one of the first songs we ever wrote as a band, way before Casey
joined. It’s morphed and changed since then, but it’s been around
for a while. Other songs were written during the course of recording.
We recorded the album
at More Sound Studios in Syracuse, NY. Andrew and Jock are the two
engineers there and they really know their stuff. So we had an idea
of how we wanted the recording process to go, but we really worked a
lot with Andrew to make things go smoothly
Who produced the
general ideas for “Ashes of Man”? How do you share duties with
writing lyrics and music?
Everything with our
song writing is a collaborative effort. The division of duties just
changes depending on what will work best for that song.
Fox 45 – live in
studio
Your
debut album has laconic yet impressive artwork, what tasks did you
set before the artist?
The artist that did our
cover art is Harley and J; she’s done a lot of work for many
stoner/doom bands and we think her stuff is amazing. We were pretty
vague with the instructions that we gave her. We knew that we wanted
something dark, and some kind of landscape scene, but she really put
her own interpretation. We love how it turned out!
What is Fox 45
message? I don't see titles based on such terms as "devil",
"ritual" or "weed". But there's "Urinal
Acid" song for example. What's it all about?
I wouldn’t say that
there’s one central message. We definitely don’t try to do what a
lot of stoner bands do and make everything about smoking weed and
hailing Satan. You might be able to pick out a couple of those themes
in some of our lyrics, but they’re kind of hidden. I think most of
our songs just tell a story, and the story is in the person’s head
who wrote the lyrics (all of us take turns writing lyrics). For the
most part we just choose song titles that entertain us.
What else entertains
you in Fox 45?
Cheetos, pizza, vegan
cheesesteaks, playing pool, and singing along with songs in the van
are some of the things that have entertained us today.
You just finished
the album, but do you already have in mind an idea how would you like
to see the next one? Do you already have a plan for it?
We don't yet! A couple
new tunes are in the works, but a new album isn't yet taking shape.
We'll have more news on this later!
Amanda, you also
play in new southern / stoner outfit Saints and Winos, what is the
story behind it?
Saints and Winos is an
awesome band! They’ve actually been playing together for a few
years at this point, but I just joined about a year and a half ago.
Fox 45 played a show with them, then soon after they lost their bass
player. I offered up my services, and we’ve been playing together
ever since! So the line up is myself on bass, JB Rodgers on drums,
and Joe Dellaquila on guitar. We’ve been writing tons of new songs
and hope to get into the studio soon.
Amanda,
that’s all for tonight – thanks for your time! I wish you all the
best in promoting Fox 45 and good luck on the road!
Thank you! Peace love
and rock and roll... Til next time!
