THE BROTHERS KEG DEBUT ALBUM TO BE REISSUED ON VINYL - 27th AUGUST ON APF RECORDS

London-based, psychedelic stoner doom trio The Brothers Keg who reissue their debut album, 'Folklore, Myths and Legends of The Brothers Keg’ on vinyl via APF Records on 27th August 2021, have shared the new video for the 13 minute opus ‘Brahman’. Vocalist Tom Hobson comments,

“Brahman is my absolute favourite song to play live. It came almost fully formed into my mind after a weekend of psychedelic adventure at Supernormal festival at Braziers Park in Oxfordshire, as if it was downloaded into my head by aliens, or part of a mystic vision. It’s a song about the eternal force of creation, I suspect. The opening chant is the Gayatri Mantra and we play with a drone in the root note throughout the song. There are other nods to eastern religion and music throughout. It’s a straight forward transcendent blissed-out hippy doom jam that channels the eternal creative force of life and music.”

Watch now: 

Originally released in September 2020 on tape, CD and digitally, word on the album spread like wildfire across the underground stoner doom scene with it reaching number 4 in the Doom Charts that month. Due to massive demand it will now be released on pink vinyl for the first time.

Sometimes, heavy isn't purely about brutal riffs and gut-wrenching, despair-invoking themes; often, heaviness shines through when it's filtered through jam-invoking psychedelic tightness. The Brothers Keg fall into that latter side of heavy, and in their few short years have become one of the finest examples of it in the whole of the UK.

Made up of the rhythm section of psych / stoner scene mainstays STUBB – with Tom Fyfe on drums and Tom Hobson switching out his bass for guitar / vocal duties - as well as Paul Rosser, who completes the trio on bass / vocals, The Brothers Keg have been kicking up an avalanche of the finest elements of stoner-doom as well as grunged-out psychedelia since their formation in London in 2018. Their sound is hard to pin down, because the band are unique: drawing influences from many quarters but ending up sounding like none of them. Listen to their album and you can hear elements across the entire pantheon of stoner doom: Mastodon, Kyuss, Om, Yawning Man, King Buffalo, Slomatics, Bong, and all points in-between.

The band's sole release before signing to APF Records, the Folklore, Myths And Legends demo EP, was a short, but sweet, two-track introduction to a trio who were destined for big things in the heavy psych underground.

Having already supported bands such as the legendary Colour Haze, Toundra, Kurokuma, Tuskar, Steak, Mother Engine as well as an appearance at 2019's Bloodstock Open Air Festival, 2020 saw TBK join the APF roster and in 2022 they will play the iconic Desertfest London alongside a handful of their APF brethren.

Now APF Records are finally able to unleash The Brothers Keg's debut album Folklore, Myths and Legends of The Brothers Keg upon the world on vinyl.

Recorded at Bear Bites Horse Studio in London (Green Lung, Terminal Cheesecake, Opium Lord and many others), producer Wayne Adams has expertly extracted the esoteric essence of the project, and the spirit of the KEG flows freely in full force. The album, as the title suggests, follows the origin story of ‘The Brothers Keg’ - three ancient folk characters whom the band is named after. The album has been specially mastered for vinyl.

Tom Hobson says of the album: "We imagined the record as akin to a fantasy film soundtrack, with cinematic voiceovers and a nod to sci-fi classics. Expect heavy riffing psyched-out sci-fi doomageddon. HP Lovecraft meets Queen’s Flash Gordon listening to Jeff Wayne’s War of the Worlds at the wrong speed smoking a medieval spliff dipped in poppers.”

Pre-order the vinyl now:

https://apfrecords.co.uk/shop
https://thebrotherskeg.bandcamp.com

Watch the visually striking videos for the two leads singles from 'Folklore, Myths and Legends of The Brothers Keg'

Moorsmen: https://youtu.be/mtO3m5QcaJQ
No Earthly Form: https://youtu.be/h74CxJZLoYc

The Brothers Keg online:

https://www.facebook.com/thebrotherskeg
https://www.instagram.com/thebrotherskeg
https://apfrecords.co.uk/bands/the-brothers-keg

The Brothers Keg - Folklore, Myths And Legends Of The Brothers Keg (Album Review)

 

Release Date: 11th September 2020. Record Label: APF Records. Formats: Cassette/CD/DD

Folklore, Myths And Legends Of The Brothers Keg - Tracklisting

1 Moorsmen

2 From The Records Of Arthur Shnee

3 No Earthly Form

4 The Ice Melteth

5 Introducing The Brothers Keg

6 Brahman

7 The Army Of The Thirsty Blade Approaches

8 Castle Keg

9 Epilogue

Band Members:

Tom Hobson – guitars, vocals, synth

Paul Rosser – bass guitar

Tom Fyfe – drums, percussion

Review:

This London trio of bards are unearthing their debut album, 'Folklore, Myths And Legends Of The Brothers Keg' and it is full of amazing tales about some brothers called Keg. A natural progression from the 2017 demo with the same name, the loud sonic and psychedelic approach they go for on the full-length is akin to fellow Londoners, Spirits Of The Earth, but with a heavier rifforama-filled attack amidst the wonderful trippiness. Formed by the rhythm section from the excellent Stubb, Tom Hobson and Tom Fyfe, but with Hobson switching from bass guitar to guitar, vocals and synth while Fyfe still bashes the skins. Paul Rosser fills out the ranks on bass guitar.

Opening up this expansive and highly interesting collection of tales of the brothers Keg with ‘Moorsmen’ and it couldn’t begin better. After an introductive narrative, this 9 minute-plus blockbuster starts off in mid-tempo before moving perfectly back and forth in pace. After a brief interlude, ‘From The Records Of Arthur Shnee’, the wonderfully trippy, spaced-out and lead-heavy ‘No Earthly Form’ takes over. Building from the ground up it keeps a slower pace throughout but weaves beautifully between serene parts and skull crushing segments. ‘The Ice Melteth’ holds on to the mellow trippiness while the band is aided by Wendy Brown. Her spoken parts reminds me of Julie Covington, as the parsons wife, in Jeff Wayne’s ‘War Of The Worlds’. Wonderful! ‘Introducing The Brothers Keg’ follows in the footsteps of ‘The Ice Melteth’ musically. Mellow, laidback with a fantastic solo leading the way for most of the song. With about a minute and a half left, the band kick into higher gear as they simply annihilates everything in their way.

These guys know how to use narrations in their songs to the fullest effect. At almost 13 minutes, ‘Brahman’ the initial part of this composition is ritualistic, meditative and hypnotic, all thanks to the narration on offer backed by minimalistic music. After a couple of minutes they up the ante somewhat, pace-wise, but still keep it slow and trippy, kind of like Sleep or Om. Bone-crushing and amazing! ‘The Army of The Thirsty Blade Approaches’ is a short interlude with a call to arms which leads into ‘Castle Keg’. Still at a slower pace this one is moving somewhat faster and rocks, as the band lets it all hang down. The aptly titled ‘Epilogue’ closes out this fantastic debut. An eerie, solitary acoustic guitar backs the narrator with a slight wind and some howling in the background which turns out perfectly.

So, what else can be said about The Brothers Keg? Well, ‘Folklore, Myths And Legends Of The Brothers Keg’ couldn’t be a better full-length debut for these guys. Well-crafted, well played and so unrestrained and free-flowing, which in combination with their heaviness, the music is simply brilliant!

Words by Håkan Nyman

Links:

Facebook | BandCamp | Instagram