An Interview With Sludge/Stoner Metallers BISON (The Electric Highway Festival Interview Special)

Sludge/Stoner Metallers BISON are performing at this year's The Electric Highway Festival on Saturday April 06th 2025 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The band released their last album You Are Not The Ocean You Are The Patient back in 2017 to a wave of critical acclaim. 

I caught up with the band to discuss what folks will have in store from BISON ahead of their festival performance.

How are things with you today?

Totally fine. Excited to take a couple of days off work and hit the road with the boys.

How are the preparations currently going?

We’ve been regularly exercising our livers and sending lots of memes back and forth in the group chat in order to get ready. Lots of inside jokes saved up, haha. We all live very spread out over BC and the Yukon so most of our prep is just practicing at home. Doing our homework, as it were. Then we usually all meet in Vancouver a couple of days prior to gig time to jam all together and load gear.

What can people in attendance expect from BISON for this festival performance?

Four fellas who absolutely love crushing skulls, laughing, bursting eardrums, hugging, and leaving everything on the stage. The whole point of the band has always been to channel the energy we don’t normally get to express day to day. At times that can lead to some big feelings on stage but we also try to have as much fun as possible.

What type of set will you be performing though I expect it will be a collection of greatest hits.

Yea I think it’s a pretty good mix of older and newer. Last time we were through with Anciients (October 2024) we both had to be mindful of our set lengths and stick to a tight schedule. This time we can let it breathe a little more and maybe switch it up on the fly if we feel like it.

Will you be performing any new material to surprise listeners with.

I can neither confirm nor deny wether or not there exists any unheard Bison material nor unreleased recordings at this current time

Will you be doing any more gigs before the festival happens and if so where will you be performing at?

We have one stop on the way out in Nelson (April 04, 2024 @ the Eagles Hall w/ Cave Dweller, Pure Love Eternal Peace & Sweetbeast)

What bands are you looking forward to see performing live at The Electric Highway Festival?

I can’t wait to see GOEFF again! Fucking love those dudes! And our old pal Cliff’s band the Getmines (Cliff also plays in Chunk who are on the friday). And I can’t wait to be pleasantly surprised by something new.

Bison released their last album Your Are Not The Ocean You Are The Patient way back in 2017. The album was critically acclaimed across the board. Did it surprise you the response that it received.

No I wasn’t surprised. Delighted, maybe, and of course relieved. As far as our catalogue goes though it’s some of my personal favourite tunes of ours.

Are there any plans to release any new material the very near future.

Again, I can neither confirm nor deny any recording sessions that may or may not have taken place or will take place in the future and any subsequent plans to release said hypothetical music theretofore.

What has been the high points and low points performing with the band?

The absolute lowest point (for me personally) was July 29, 2009. We had started a tour in Canada with our dear pals Barn Burner and Lazarus AD from Kenosha. The Canadian leg was amazing but as soon as we parted ways with Barn Barn Burner and crossed over from Winnipeg into the States it all went downhill. Breakdowns, sickness, summer in the desert, more breakdowns, promoters ripping us off, our TM Sara almost getting stabbed…it was relentless. We somehow survived but that was the first time I feel like we actually had to regroup and reevaluate. I was ready to call it a day after that one but I’m sure as hell glad we didn’t.

The early days were some great, high times, I mean points. It’s always fluid but the most consistent high period has been the last few years having Evan and Eugene in the band. We pushed ourselves really hard early on and suffered for it. We had a lot of casualties and fractured a lot of relationships. James and I have been doing Bison for…shit, 19 years this August?!? So we’ve learned a lot about each other in that time. Like any relationship it’s not always easy but communication is key.

Do you have any other musical projects that folks can check out or any exciting releases coming in the future?

Eugene put out a record last year with his band Bloodrhine (with Adam & Kent from Black Wizard) which is a riff-filled, bruiser! Evan and his partner Kirsty have a crushing batch of tunes they are releasing with their band Franklin. I was also incredibly fortunate to have been asked to do some guest vocals for both of them, which was an absolute honour.

How did you get involved with music? Was it a particular album, group or artist that made you want to write and play your own music?

I loved pop music when I was a kid in the 80’s. From there onto rap, classic rock, hard rock, punk, metal, grunge, industrial. The obvious answer would be Sabbath, Zeppelin, Nirvana, Black Flag, Melvins…but we were actually really lucky to have Much Music back then. Getting exposed to so many amazing underground Canadian bands that were heavy as fuck but also just looked like us was really inspiring. And then digging deeper and deeper into the underground. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again - Shallow North Dakota, Kittens, I-Spy, Swallowing Shit…I wouldn’t be doing this if it weren’t for them.

Will you be performing any gigs later in the year?

We just announced a gig in Vancouver at Red Gate Arts Society. It’s the one year anniversary of Matterhorn Records, the shop started by our pal Johnny Matter. It’s with our pals Night Court, Big Ethel and the Disruptions. We have some other stuff in the works too but nothing we can announce yet.

Before you go, do you have any words of wisdom for your fans currently out there?

There are a lot of absolutely horrendous things going on in the world right now and we all gotta watch out for and take care of each other. Bison stands with all marginalized communities. If anyone thinks that all people don’t deserve to simply exist without fear then they’re fucked. Everything is political.

Words by Steve Howe and BISON

Links

Facebook | BandCamp

​Electric Highway Festival Info:

Website: TheElectricHighway.ca​
Facebook: Facebook.com/ElectricHighwayFestival​
Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1149647296782460/​
Instagram: Instagram.com/TheElectricHighway​
X: X.com/TheElectricHwy​

Thanks to BISON for doing the interview and for Asher Media PR for arranging the interview

Portland’s Meditative Doom Seekers BREATH Sign with Argonauta Records

Portland, Oregon’s meditative doom seekers BREATH have found a new home with Italy’s Argonauta Records! Their sound is a cultivated vehicle of stillness, riding the churning white water of doom metal flow. Beginning with a solid foundation of bass and drums, the duo is joined by keys and guitar, with collaborator Rob Wrong of Witch Mountain engineering the project, ushering in a new dawn of verdant growth.

Known for their immersive and transcendent take on doom metal, BREATH crafts a sound that merges meditative stillness with crushing sonic waves. They draw inspiration from bands like Earth, OM, Grails, as well as the timeless influence of Black Sabbath and Ravi Shankar.

Founded by childhood friends Steven O’Kelly and Ian Caton, BREATH evolved from years of collaboration as an inseparable rhythm section. This bond led them to explore their own unique voice. Their debut album, Primeval Transmissions, was originally released in 2021 via Desert Records, featuring the masterful engineering of Rob Wrong (Witch Mountain) and mastering by the legendary Tad Doyle. Wrong also contributed guitar work to key tracks, including Halls of Amenti, which was re-released in a remixed and remastered edition in 2023.

With an expansive musical vision that blends high-decibel doom, hypnotic Eastern influences, and dynamic rhythmic textures, BREATH has continued to evolve, incorporating Lauren Hatch on keys in 2023 and Justin Acevedo on guitar in 2024.

Now, as they embark on the next chapter of their journey with Argonauta Records, BREATH is ready to bring their unique sonic meditations to a global audience. Stay tuned for more details on their upcoming releases!

INFO:

https://www.facebook.com/Breathpdx
https://www.facebook.com/ArgonautaRecords

Thanks to Grand Sounds Promotion for all of the details.

Introduce Yourselves: FREE MACHINE

What is the name of your band?

Free Machine

What is the genre of music that you play?

Grunge, 90s Alt Rock

Can you give a brief history of the band of how it came together and where it is today?

Clint (guitar) and Bryan (drums) are school friends who played together in a previous hard rock band called STONECOLLAR. After their eventual end, Clint and Bryan kept jamming together and recording the odd track. They would use YouTube to source vocalists and bassists that fit the sound they were going for.

During the COVID lockdown Clint got back into his classic grunge era music and it was this that was the actual inspiration for the entire Free Machine project. He would go onto use alternate tunings used by Soundgarden and create a library of riffs that he would then jam and compose with Bryan into 6 final tracks that they felt embodied the spirit, vibe and style of the 90s alt rock scene.

When it came to finding the singer however, they wanted a single vocalist that would be able to deliver on all tracks. After posting ads online it was eventually on a Facebook music group page that Glenn Bradford would reply. His demos were exactly what they were after and so Clint would send over the lyrics and vocal suggestions for what he was imagining and Glenn would re-interpret and refine these into what would be the final vocals.

Glenn also helped recruit his former bandmate in Smugg Juggler, Brendan Haupt and a very active bassist on the Cape Town music scene. Brendan had all the necessary chops to add his own stamp on the recordings.

Throughout the entire process the band have only ever met in-person once. A ‘pre-production’ get together to discuss the songs and the recording process they would use. The chemistry between the four is unbelievable and evident on the EP.

What can people expect from your music?

It’s very much a love letter to the 90s alt rock scene. The grungy riffs and melodies are evident all over the album. For the band members, each track is all about the music. There’s no care or thought for radio edits, or what will sell to the modern listener. The 90s is actively making a comeback across many channels, and no music speaks more to the listener than that of the 90s.

What is the best release that folks should check out from your band?

The debut EP, Dead Echoes

Where can people find you on Social Media?

Instagram - @freemachine.band/
Facebook - @thefreemachineband
Youtube - @freemachineband

The debut EP, Dead Echoes, can be found on all listening platforms.

From The Ages - III (EP Review)

Release Date: March 20th 2025. Record Label: Self Released. Formats: DD

III - Tracklisting

1.Lucid 06:53
2.Bardo 25:07

Members:

Paul – Guitar
Dave – Drums
Greg – Bass

Review

Instrumental Psych/Stoner Rock unit From The Ages offer their third record imaginatively titled “III” and it’s a stunning two track EP lasting around thirty two minutes in length across two tracks called Lucid and Bardo. The EP is a sprawling and progressive mix of Psych, Stoner, Prog, Doom and other Cosmic based themes with a free-flowing and jazz-based narrative which has different time signatures that can be freakishly surreal which comes into full focus on the excellent opening track Lucid.

From The Ages seem to have gone under a creative metamorphosis for this record with “III” being quite drone based and more metallic energy compared to their previous two records. There’s a deft touch of amplified heaviness and freakish sludgy attitudes forming at the main crux of the opening track Lucid which is explored further with heavier Progressive dynamics on the final track of Bardo.

Bardo has a certain ethereal sound with distorted time loops and fractured grovoes which allows the “JAZZ” element of From The Ages music to solidify itself into heavier Doom Metal surroundings. The drumming from Dave provides the heartbeat for the band to generate their heavy sounds with tribal bass lines from Greg and Paul’s cosmic guitar holds everything together. The sound is quite FUZZ based for the majority of the track with a superb Post-Rock influence coming into play.

III is quite a powerful and highly melodic release with From The Ages allowing their music to grow at a natural pace which results into some outstanding instrumental passages that sees the overall effect of the EP moving further to the Post-Doom and Post-Stoner scene before the time is out.

From The Ages have released another superbly entertaining record which should hopefully give them further exposure within the underground Psych/Stoner Rock scene.

Excellent and Highly Recommended.

Words by Steve Howe

Links

Facebook | BandCamp

KOMATSU - A Breakfast For Champions (Album Review)

Release Date: April 11th 2025. Record Label: Heavy Psych Sounds. Formats: CD/DD/Vinyl

A Breakfast For Champions - Tracklisting

1. A Breakfast For Champions

2. Savage

3. The Devil's Cut

4. Release The Flies

5. Fatcamp Workout

6. What Lies Underneath

7. Welcome To The Underworld

8. Climb The Vines

Members:

Mo Truijens - guitars, vocals

Martijn Mansvelders - bass guitar, backing vocals

Jos Roosen - drums

Review

These Dutch giants have been around since 2010 but for some reason they have only moved in my periphery. That is until their new upcoming creation, 'A Breakfast For Champions' came to my attention and unsuspectedly knocked me to my knees. From the opening bar and until the last this album burrows deep into my senses and constantly solidifies it's greatness. 

The title track opens the proceedings and Komatsu are relentless from the get-go. No hold barred with the music played to the max, this song crushes with razor sharp riffs and a breath-taking rhythm section. Mere seconds are played and I'm completely immersed in their sonic onslaught. 'Savage'  follows and albeit dropping slightly in pace it pulls and tugs with a sinister undertone while gradually building up and pulling me in even further. Taking a beeline out into our vast universe 'The Devil's Cut' is mellow and serene only to explode in the chorus. Dropping back in the verse again Komatsu brilliantly engage their brilliant push/pull approach throughout. 'Release The Flies' reminds me of fellow masterminds Howling Giant. Slowish, crushingly heavy yet melodic and spaced out the band simply can't go wrong.

Instrumental 'Fatcamp Workout' sees the band throw down the gauntlet rocking out hard while adding early Therapy? drum and bass patterns mixed with odd time signatures, brilliant. Eerie and desolate 'What Lies Underneath' is another composition which builds up do a mind-blowing crescendo. Aaaah those riffs in 'Welcome To The Underworld' are stunning as are the drums and the bass guitar. Again I get hints of Therapy? especially in the vocals but that's me and I could be very wrong. Regardless, this is a great song! This brilliant album ends with 'Climb The Vines'. Groovy, rocky and neck-breaking at the same time it's the perfect way to close out proceedings leaving me wanting more. Excellent, you hear!

Although Komatsu has been active for quite some time 'A Braekfast For Champions' is a great introduction for me. Of course, I'm already on a mission to backtrack the band's previous output. But in the meantime this timeless creation will keep on mezmerizing me. Excellent! Excellent, indeed.

Words by Håkan Nyman

Thanks to Purple Sage PR and SOZ Concerts for the promo.

A Breakfast For Champions is available to buy on CD/DD/Vinyl via Heavy Psych Sounds from Friday 11th April 2025.

More info:

www.komatsurock.com
www.facebook.com/komatsurock
www.instagram.com/komatsurock
www.twitter.com/komatsurock
www.bandcamp.com/komatsurock

An Interview With Space/Doom/Fuzz/Stoner Rockers ZOAHR

Psych/Space/Stoner Rockers ZOAHR returned in a big way with their epic sounding new album MOSAIC which was released in January 2025. Packed full of epic Space Rock passages and Doomed Out Stoner Rock melodies which can be quite surreal and wonderfully progressive at the same time.  The record allows ZOAHR the perfect opportunity to re-invent themselves in so many different ways compared to their previous albums.

I caught up with ZOAHR to discuss the making of the album. Here's what we discussed with this great interview.

Hi guys. Thanks for doing this interview. How are things with you today?

Hi Steve, first of all thank you for taking the time to make this interview with us. Now as i'm typing the answers our new album is finally out and a lot of stressful time behind me, but as i`m doing almost everything in the band fully DIY there is always some stuff to.

For folks not in the know can you give a brief history of how the band came together and where it is today?

The idea for the band and the songwriting started early 2017 when I was injured and couldn't walk for a longer time. I made a recording setup in my bedroom and started writing music for a new musical project. My main band back then COLARIS (Instrumental Post-Rock/Psychedelic) was slowly fizzling out and I wanted to gravitate more into stoner stuff. I asked Philipp in summer 2017 if he was down to do some jams to further evolve my ideas and so we ended up jamming a lot.

We had a different bass player for a couple of rehearsals, but he didn't had the time for a second band so i asked Thorsten which i know for a long time to join the sessions. From that point we evolved pretty fast and almost 8. years and three records later we are still here in the same constellation.

How did you describe your own sound?

In the beginning we sounded way more Stoner & Heavypsych without vocals but as I couldn't find a singer i try`do it myself and I guess just stuck with it. I don't consider myself a singer though. After the first couple of songs I really wanted to gravitate more towards a Blues and 70's Psychedelic, Proggy Heavyrock kind of direction, but we are still evolving and bringing new ingredients to our sound with each album. But to get back to your question i think our sound is guitar driven, groovy & playful with energetic drums and basslines. Shure it could be more beefy but we are a three piece. ;-) We have air and ambience and a lot of mood to our songs. Nothing fancy or extravagant but with a lot of heart.

Congrats on your excellent new album Mosaic. Great album and very psychedelic experience. What can people expect to hear from this album?

Thank you it was a lot of work, so much appreciated and glad you like it. I would say it's way harder and more rocking then Apraxia which at least for me has that „dark and down in a whole COVID feel to it“. You can hear that we really wanted to play on Mosaic. Lyric Wise it`s again pretty dark, I reflect a lot on the state of the world, my small world and what's going on around me and my past life. But as i`m not an English native speaker and my first language is German it's a struggle sometimes to find the right words to convey my thoughts and feelings. So please don't be too harsh on my bad English. I wouldn't necessarily call it more psychedelic than Apraxia, for me it has more of a rocking feel than our previous records.

This is a quite different record compared to your previous albums. Was that your plan to create something different to your previous albums?

I don't want to write the same album twice and get stuck in a musical style where there is no room for evolution. I guess we have found our sound in terms of playing style and the mostly twangy guitar sounds. Vocal Wise on the first record I used to sing a lot more with rasp and grit, but it was hard on my voice and I didn't want to destroy my vocal chords. Now I try to mix it up a bit and sing with a more cleaner voice so the vocals are more melodic now and less screamed. Other than that we just tried to get tighter and be more „locked in“ to the groove.

Where did the name for the album come from and what does this mean to the band?

I feel like life is a big puzzle or mosaic and it has so many aspects to it. As you get older you get a different view on things in life and obviously you change a lot through the growing process. Most of the lyrics on the album are about different tragic individuals or characters and happenings in their life (mine included). The fortune teller on the cover and the cards resemble all the hopes and dreams of these individuals. I mean in some way everybody throws himself in and hopes for the best.

What bands and albums influenced you when recording this album?

I guess i`m always influenced by bands like The Soundtrack of our lives, Graveyard, Sacri Monti, Radio Moscow, Spidergawd or even Van Halen to name a few. I listen to a lot of different music and same goes with Thorsten and Philipp. Raised on bands like Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Tangerine Dream, Rush and so many more 70's greats i went through a lot of Grunge and Metal genres in my youth. So I get a lot of influences all the time while I'm listening to music. 

The most important thing for me is to go the full musical journey wherever it brings me. One thing I like to mention though is that we always record our songs live together in a room. Only the vocals come afterwards. That's a thing I don't wanna miss anymore. We definitely went through the rollercoaster while recording but for us it's the only proper way to record an album. So obviously there will always be bigger or smaller flaws on our records.

What formats is the album being released on?

This time only on Vinyl & digital we don't sell many CD`s nowadays so we've decided to not make a CD version this time. Maybe in the future we will do a small run of CD`s.

You`re releasing the album by yourself. Is that a hard thing to do in today's musical scene?

I released the majority of records of my prior bands with labels and had some good and some bad experiences. We just naturally thought it would be cool to just do it yourself, because I know all the structures and I know a lot of people in the scene. I mean sure it would be more beneficial to have a label pushing your name and maybe through that getting some more recognition and opening slots at bigger festivals like Freak Valley Festival or Stoned from the underground etc because I sincerely hate telling and bothering people with phrases like "We are the coolest band you have to book us on your festival or show“ 

I guess you know what I mean. For me it's just charming, fulfilling but also rewarding to do it the traditional way. That doesn't necessarily mean that we are never going to work with any label, we`ll see! We get a lot of love from the scene and some mail order distributors who are carrying our records in their catalogue and we are grateful for that.

Have you had any offers from the underground record labels to release your music, or do you prefer being fully DIY?

We recently had some indie labels getting in touch with us and I don`t wanna rule out working with labels in the future, we are just not necessarily seeking for any label. If the time is right it will happen, if not that's good too. I like the freedom of doing whatever we want and how we want. I mean we don't have Spotify, never did any proper band photos and generally we are pretty low key without any fancy band promo stuff on social media. 

I just love writing and playing music and the creativity of putting the concept for an album cycle together, that's the fun stuff. Being constantly pressured to create content for social media and over posting the whole time it's not for me! I rather use the time playing guitar and writing new music.

What is the creative process or setup within the band? Do you write the music together or do certain people within the band do that?

I write almost all the music. Usually I bring half a song into the rehearsal and we are jamming on it, recording the jam and I will rework it for the next rehearsal. Sometimes I have particular drum beats for bass parts already in mind so I show them my feel of the groove but after that Philipp and Thorsten mostly write their own drums and bass.

How did you get involved with music? Was it a particular group or artist that made you want to write and play your own music?

Funny, I recently talked to an old friend (who now lives in the UK) about when we started because I'm pretty sure I saw my first real guitar at his place. Back then we were skateboarding a lot together and obviously skateboarding always goes hand in hand with a nice soundtrack. He and his older brother got me into playing music, but I had to start on bass because they needed one for their band. 

So I got a bass to my 15th birthday, but in my heart I already knew I wanna play guitar so badly. Early influences to pick up the guitar I would say Iron Maiden, Metallica, Soundgarden, Alice in chains, Faith no more but what really pulled the trigger was Nirvana to be honest. I still love `em to this day, and they aged pretty well in my eyes with songwriting totally out of the box unusual chord structures and a high rasp voice I would sacrifice a lot for.

Who designed the excellent album cover. Really brings to light what the whole album is about.

The artwork is designed by Antoine Defarges (France) he works under the name Headbang Design, I was digging through Instagram and stumbled upon him. I showed him my ideas of the concept and he was down. He did a lot of hand drawing and I love the outcome. I mean the thematic is often used, maybe overused but I love 70`s & 80's sci-fi and fantasy stuff from books, comics, movies to all that role play games stuff.

Can you advise if you played or currently playing in other bands so folks can check your other musical projects.

Like i mentioned before prior to ZOAHR I used to play in an instrumental Post Rock/Psychedelic band called COLARIS. We`ve released 2. Full length albums a split LP with Thorsten's old band Ampersphere and 2. EP`s. We toured a lot back then until 2017. You can find everything on YouTube or colaris.bandcamp.com.

What is the current state of the German Rock/Metal scene? Do you perform gigs on a regular basis and do you have a local scene that you are actively involved with?

The scene over here in Germany is pretty in bloom. I can't keep up with all the new bands though. Here in our area it's calmed down a lot, venues closed, bands split up but that's just normal, with getting older priorities change. We used to organize shows for bands, but with all the day to day work and the band stuff I don't have the extra time to set up any shows at the moment.

Will you be performing any gigs to promote this album locally or further afield?

We already played a couple of shows in January and we have some more coming up in March and April. Mostly Germany but the Netherlands and Belgium too. The booking part though was kinda depressing. I never wrote so many emails without not even getting an answer before. I struggle to get 2-3 dates together on the proper route sometimes. I guess this goes back to not having a label, booking agency or fancy social media presence (sorry but i don't wanna fall into the rabbit hole of being a content creating social media clown, just to not get lost in meta algorithms!) But hey we are looking for shows, if you want us to play your bar, club or living room feel free to drop us a mail.

Before you go, do you have any words of wisdom for your new and potential fans out there.

Go to local shows and listen to smaller underground bands, always try to buy straight from the bands to make sure they get your money. Get involved in the music scene, set up shows, go to festivals, meet new people, it's never too late to learn an instrument, support your kids, stay off your TV and social media for some periods (Pretty absorbing and full of doom scrolling.) It's your life to do what ever makes you happy and a better human being. And last but not least thanks to everybody for reading and you Steve for doing this interview with us. Much love.

Words by Steve Howe and ZOAHR

Links

Facebook | BandCamp | Instagram

Midnight Whiskey Massacre - Satan's Grin (EP Review)

Release Date: March 18th 2025. Record Label: Self Released. Formats: DD

Satan’s Grin - Tracklisting

1.Satan's Grin 06:38 

2.The Decline 04:21

3.Rocking Chair 05:12

Members

Guitars, Vocals and Lyrics by Darren Ironside

Bass on 'The Decline' by Samuel Jurrell

Drums- Loius Osman

Review

Satan’s Grin is the new EP from Doom/Stoner Rockers Midnight Whiskey Massacre who play an intoxicating mix of Psych, Punk, Alternative, Blues, Fuzz and Southern Rock on their new EP. This feels like a classic sounding Post-Punk band finding the joys of Stoner Rock/Metal and just saying “FUCK IT” lets play whatever comes to mind. There’s a sense of experimental creative freedom on this EP with Midnight Whiskey Massacre feeling inspired by the likes of The Pogues for a start. 

Lead vocalist Darren Ironside feels like he’s channeling Shane McGowan and Mark E Smith at times. This shouldn’t really work but the blistering WEEDIAN grooves with the Post-Punk lyrics is downright original and brilliant at times especially on the excellent opening track Satan’s Grin. The song is too wonderfully surreal to fully describe and the chaotic style of Black Sabbath / Electric Wizard based grooves that are merged with a subtle Classic Hard Rock sound leave you wondering how crazy can this EP actually become. And the answer is quite simple with Midnight Whiskey Massacre continuing on the same style of Decadence and Debauchery on the final two tracks.

The final two tracks of The Decline and Rocking Chair do have more  of a reliance on Proto-Doom sounds with a subtle Thrash based attitude appearing within The Decline which reminds me of Metallica in places before the band return to the Doom/Stoner realm. Though, the Post-Punk vibe of Darren’s vocals are never fully absorbed into the Doom/Stoner Metal world which the EP wholly becomes a part of when the final moments of Rocking Chair is fully over.

Satan’s Grin is quite a deceptive and deceiving EP with Midnight Whiskey Massacre creating their own great style of music where I wanted the band to include perhaps one final track with the fantastic instrumental sounds that Darren, Samuel and Louis fully commit themselves to. Though, the real highlight is Darren’s superbly offbeat vocals and insightful lyrics which you don’t fully come across within the underground scene.

I want a full length record now and I want it now GODDAMMIT!!!

Words by Steve Howe

Links

 

Facebook | BandCamp | Instagram