HAUNT - Mind Freeze (Album Review)

Release date: January 5th 2019. Label: Shadow Kingdom Records. Format: CD/DD/Vinyl

Mind Freeze – Tracklisting

1.Light The Beacon

2.Hearts On Fire

3.Mind Freeze

4.Divide And Conquer

5.Saviors Of Man

6.Fight Or Flight

7.Have No Fear

8.On The Stage

9.Voyager

Members

Trevor William Church : Vocals, Guitar

John Tucker : Lead Guitar

Taylor Hollman : Bass

Daniel Wilson : Drums

Review

Southern California’s Beastmaker was one of my absolute favorite bands over the last couple of years. So, I was supremely disappointed when main man Trevor Church dissolved the occult loving, Sabbath worshipping monsters around a year ago to focus his attention on his newest project, Haunt. For those unfamiliar, Haunt delves more into the NWOBHM feel and 80’s metal sound. Definitely more of a Dio era Sabbath vs. Ozzy era, which typically isn’t my cup of tea, but I have to be completely honest, Haunt kills it, like nobody’s business!

Mind Freeze is the band’s 3rd full length (2nd in almost a year) along with a couple of EP's and split singles as well. To say Church and his cohorts are prolific, may be the understatement of the year. Hot on the heels of 2018’s If Icarus Could Fly, Mind Freeze shows the band really flexing their musical chops and diving head-first into the 80’s metal feel. The most obvious addition to this record from the previous is the inclusion and consistent use of the synthesizer, which Haunt uses flawlessly. While I mentioned previously the more similarity to Dio era Sabbath, Mind Freeze may actually owe more to solo era Ozzy than the former, perhaps due to Church’s vocal similarity to the Ozzman.

The album opens with the big synth intro and amazingly catchy and harmonic, Light the Beacon, an homage to all of those that are gone and keeping their spirits alive. Hearts on Fire explodes out of the gate with breakneck drums and a superfast tempo that carries more killer harmonies and mind melting solos. 

The title track follows, Mind Freeze, a rhythmic mid tempo rocker that, maybe because of the synth line, reminds me of Ozzy’s Shot in the Dark. The title track is a killer classic. Synths, double kick drums, and big riffs bring on Divide & Conquer. A pummelling track that also offers a big synth lead breakdown and one of the biggest solos around. An apocalyptic feel permeates the very 80’s metal sound of Saviours of Man, with a double lead guitar and bouncy synth line, this one delivers. 

The band brings the breakneck tempo back with some amazing guitar work and whiplash drumming on the stellar Fight or Flight. Yet another killer track. The tempo slows, but only momentarily, as the synths and a mighty riff open Have No Fear. With a thumping drive and shouted chorus, there is a welcome bit of Maiden showing on this one. On the Stage follows with a big, guitar heavy intro and more driving rhythm. Voyager closes the record as a cosmic fuelled journey with a big drum and synth intro that turns to a high octane trip to somewhere beyond the stars

While I will miss my beloved Beastmaker, Haunt brings the perfect amount of heavy riffage to ease the pain and fill the void. Mind Freeze is a tremendous record and a big step for Church and Haunt. The band seems poised to take their place in the front and lead the charge for Heavy Metal in the new decade! Dig on this!

Todd S - Instagram @alltheghoststhathauntyou

Words by Todd Stealey

Mind Freeze will be available to buy on CD/DD/Vinyl via Shadow Kingdom Records from Jan 5^th 2020

Links:

Facebook | BandCamp

DOMO - Domonautas Vol. 1 (Album Review)

Release date: December 15th 2019. Label: Clostridium Records. Format: CD/DD/Vinyl

Domonautas Vol. 1 – Tracklisting

1.Oxímoron 05:15

2.Astródomo 12:28

3.Ritual del Sol 12:04

4.Planisferio 07:56

Members

Pablo Criado: electric and acoustic guitars, tambur, trumpet and fx.

Samuel Riviere: electric guitar, sitar and fx.

Óscar Soler: bass, acoustic guitar, synth and vocals.

Paco García: drums and percussion.

Review

Domonautas Vol. 1 is the new album by Spanish Psychedelic/Space/Stoner Rockers Domo and it’s quite a hard album to listen to when listening to for the first time. That’s down to the many different sounding ideas the band have included on this album. There are quite a lot of different instruments that the band play on the album. As the album has quite an eclectic Jazz and Experimental feel compared to other Psychedelic Stoner Rock albums.

There’s definitely some fun to be had on this album but Domo sure do make hard work of this at times. It took myself a few listens to fully understand and appreciate the instrumental work on the entire album. The one thing you cannot say about Domo is that they play things safe on this album. As they do not. The trippy and eastern vibes allows Domo to create a slightly creepy sound in places.

The 4 songs on offer are quite varied with Domo never settling for one standard sound. The psychedelic overtones is what drives Domo’s music forward and to intense levels of creativity that blend Psych, Hard Rock, Doom and Stoner Rock for a powerful and dynamic sound that’s quite refreshing to hear in places.

The two standout songs have to be Astródomo and Ritual del Sol. As they have the most exciting parts contained on the whole album.

Within time I will appreciate Domonautas Vol. 1 a lot more than I do now. As I need more time with this album and to fully understand the many different elements of music that Domo have created for this album. Though it’s an immense and daring slice of Psychedelic Stoner Rock that you should give a listen until Domonautas Vol. 2 is released.

Words by Steve Howe

Links:

Facebook | BandCamp

END BOSS Announce Their Arrival With Awesome New Song - FERAL

Feral is the debut recording of Wellington, New Zealand heavy, sludgy, bluesy rock band End Boss. Featuring the vocal talents of E.J Thorpe, the down-tuned twin guitars of Greg Broadmore and Christian Pearce of Wellington via Hamilton punk band Ghidoragh and Nato from Beastwars on drums.

E.J says about the track "The lyrics are loosely based on an experience someone close to me had after they turned down the advances of a rather dark, witchy woman. She threatened them with a curse, which became a particularly terrifying experience as the ride home from her place in the middle of nowhere became a very close call with death. Because the music reminded me of the sound of a motorbike speeding away from something, the lyrics ended up being based on the story."

With a huge amount of material already written expect an album later next year.

End Boss play Obey the Riff festival at Panhead Brewery in Upper Hutt alongside Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats, Beastwars, Earth Tongue, Witchskull and Potion on March 7 2020 and support Nebula (USA) at Valhalla on 19th March 2020

Links

Facebook | BandCamp

Marijannah - Istanah (Album Review)

Release date: December 06^th 2019 (Digital) / January 31^st 2020 (Vinyl). Label: Cursed Tongue Records. Format: CD/DD/Vinyl

Istanah – Tracklisting

1. Bloodsucker

2. 1966

3. Full Moon

4. Shapeless

5. Spider Walk With Me

6. Pluto

Members

Muhd Azri – bass guitar

Nicholas Wong – drums and vocals

Rasyid Juraimi – guitar and vocals

Nicholas Ng – guitar and vocals

Review

My favourite Singaporean hoodlums, Marijannah, are back with the follow-up to their excellent debut, ‘Till Marijannah’. The new wax, entitled ‘Istanah’, is equally great in all aspects as its predecessor, any way you look at it. Even better, Marijannah are not playing it safe. It still sounds like them but a really nice strong twist, akin to Mars Red Sky, has been added and this turned out perfect. They have also gotten heavier and trippier on top of this, so naturally, ‘Istanah’ is absolutely brilliant!

Opener ‘Bloodsucker’, also the first single off of ‘Istanah’, epitomises the entire album and the change Marijannah has gone through. It explodes out of the gates being almost Death Metal…for about 75 seconds. Then the band settle in with the Mars Red Sky vibes which flows so eloquently through the songs from then on, you know what I’m talking about. Stoner rock and trippiness. Although ‘Bloodsucker’ retain more of the new-found heaviness, just listen to those riffs and the solos, man. And that earth-shattering middle section. Fantastic! ‘1966’, the second single of the album follows keeping the pace a touch slower with elegant hints towards the old Palm Springs scene. All while hypnotising and mesmerising the listener. The music envelops you immediately and doesn’t let go until you are cleansed and reinvigorated. Beautiful, indeed. ‘Full Moon’ is by and far the shortest song Marijannah has ever released. At 1.38 with only a minimalistic yet disturbing music background, this brief composition hits all the emotions there is.

‘Shapeless’ really brings the stoner metal mixed with doom. Slow, menacing, heavy and trippy it simply crushes anything in its way. It is one of those amazing songs where you can lose yourself, as long as you want to and you should, trust me! ‘Spider Walk With Me’ opens up in full punk mode before switching to something akin to Voivod playing stoner. This weaves back and forth until they drop in tempo and goes into a spaced out trippy mode. Kind of claustrophobic and disturbing but in the best possible way because music shouldn’t always be easy. It should be challenging at times and keep you, the listener, on your toes. And that’s what ‘Spider Walk With Me’ does. ‘Pluto’ is the last song out and it starts out kind of like its predecessor. Full of slow, lurking doom and stoner rock which turns into a space journey through exploding super novas during the solos. Marijannah definitely takes you somewhere new and uncharted and I am absorbing and loving every little bit of it!

Marijannah blew me away with their debut especially because the music was great but also since I knew nothing of them back in 2018. And I love it when unknown bands through me of my foundations. Again, they kind of surprised me because I didn’t know the sophomore record was in the making. As with the debut, the new wax, ‘Istanah’ simply clears the playing field letting Marijannah dominate and take control. And that’s how it should be. These guys are fantastic and deserve so much recognition, so don’t miss out people. Watch out for the Singaporean juggernaut!

Words by Håkan Nyman

Thanks to Niels at Cursed Tongue Records for the promo.

Istanah is available to buy digitally now. The vinyl will be available to buy from January 31st 2019 via Cursed Tongue Records.

Links:

Facebook | BandCamp

Problem With Dragons Announce US Tour

Problem With Dragons announces US Tour in February in support of new full length album Ascendant.

https://problemwithdragons.bandcamp.com/album/ascendant

“maintains a ton of riffage” - Outlawreview.com

“ an extremely wide range of influences including hardcore punk, grunge, and classic hard rock, this band is a true melting pot of sounds and styles” - Metalheadworld.com 

“alienish riffs, and warish vocals” - Valley Show Girl, Valley Advocate 

“Built on the foundation of relentless kit-smashing drums, the riffs are thick and caked in dirty tone” - Stoner HiVe 

“is a deeply engaging and adventurous album with a richly creative narrative” - Outlaws of the Sun 

“Heavy, quirky and most importantly, very listenable” - Downthefrontmedia.com

feb 1 ohm easthampton ma

feb 3 highland louisville ky

feb 4 growlers cafe memphis

feb 5 lola’s fort worth tx

feb 6 moonlight albuquerque

feb 7 doubledown vegas nv

feb 8 til-two club san diego ca

feb 9 redwood los angeles ca

feb 10 rainbow los angeles ca

feb 11 golden bull oakland ca

feb 12 johnny b’s medford or

feb 13 funhouse seattle wa

feb 14 high water mark or

feb 15 luckeys club eugene or

feb 16 colonial sacramento 

feb 17 game room sonora ca

feb 18 yucca tap tempe az

feb 19 the quarry bisbee az

feb 20 tba el paso tx

feb 21 hole in the wall tx

feb 22 babylon new orleans la

feb 23 springwater nashville

Links:

Facebook | BandCamp

GRIN - Translucent Blades (Album Review)

Release date: January 17th 2020. Label: Crazy Sane Records. Format: CD/DD/Vinyl

Translucent Blades – Tracklisting

1.Helix

2.Orbital Grace

3.Translucent Blades

4.Husk

5.Electric Eye

6.Holy Grief

7.Antares

8.Reviver

Members

Sabine Oberg – Bass

Jan Oberg - Drums, Vocals

Additional Guitars, Tin Whistle, Soundscapes

Review

Sludge/Doom/Stoner Metal Duo – Grin – are back with their new album Translucent Blades – and it continues their heavy down-tempo sound the band created with their excellent debut album from a couple years back. This album is perhaps way more psychedelic and sees the band more comfortable with their heavy surroundings. Grin feel inspired by bands such as Conan, Sleep and Ufomammut on this album but playing by their own heavy rules for an uncompromising sound.

Opening song – Helix – is the song with the heaviest vocals on the entire album with it’s mix of harsh and despairing growls. Though it’s the Psychedelic Post-Doom atmosphere the band weave into the mix that instantly grabs your attention. It’s a heavy mix of Ufomammut based Post-Rock, Doom, Sludge and Stoner based grooves that has a distorted feel to it. This is quite an interesting song to open the album with. As the vocals become cleaner and softer from this moment on. So expect a softer vocal delivery for the rest of the album.

Second song – Orbital Grace – has a more “way-out” there sound with a trippy groove being the main focus of the entire song. The vocals are excellent with an earthly style of their own. The music elevates from Doom, Sludge and Stoner Metal with deft precision and allows Grin to weave a magical and heavy sound of their own. The ambient atmosphere can be quite intense in places but the music never feels forced and the band play a highly interesting blend of Cosmic Spaced Out Rock.

Third song – Translucent Blades – carries on the trippy Psychedelic and Spaced Out sounds with influences ranging from Conan, Sleep and Black Sabbath being heard and felt within every fibre of this song. Though it’s still Grin’s show and they prove they’re quite capable of playing addictive space rock grooves of their own. The ambient based atmosphere can be quite distorted in places but this allows the music and vocals to blend effortlessly together. Though the vocals are the best part of this song.

Fourth song – Husk – is a more Post-Rock driven style of music with distant vocal echoes slowly working their way to the front of the action. The heavy grooves take time to appear and this is a refreshing change of pace from Grin. As the music is more focused and calmer. The vocals are excellent yet again but the highly atmospheric music is what held my attention the most. The Post-Doom/Post-Metal style delivery has a classic vintage feel to it whilst retaining a modern sensibility.

Fifth song – Electric Eye – allows Grin to experiment with their sound yet again. The heavy bass is handled superbly well and one that brings a more menacing style of music for Grin to play with. The gloomy atmospherics is beautifully underplayed from start to finish. The vocals are quite gloomy and can be distracting at times especially when they move into more Drone based territory. The final moments are taken up by a hybrid Drone/Doom based sound and perhaps the most exciting part of the song.

The final three songs of the album – Holy Grief, Antares and Reviver – sees Grin perhaps play the heaviest and most exciting riffs on the album with Holy Grief and Reviver being the best parts of the album.

Translucent Blades can be quite a complex sounding album when you first listen to this. As Grin have included a high volume of different ideas within the albums short thirty-six-minute running time. Maybe the album could have been on a little bit longer for the band to explore and develop their sound even further.

However, this is still an epic and even more thrilling record compared to their debut album and one that allows Grin to enhance and grow their reputation even further within the Doom/Sludge/Stoner Metal community.

Words by Steve Howe

Thanks to Chris at Crazy Sane Records for the promo. Translucent Blades will be available to buy on CD/DD/Vinyl from Jan 17^th 2020 via Crazy Sane Records.

Links:

Facebook | BandCamp

VESSEL SIGNS TO MAJESTIC MOUNTAIN RECORDS FOR WORLDWIDE VINYL RELEASE OF THEIR THIRD ALBUM AND HEAR NEW SONG - TWENTY TWENTY

VESSEL SIGNS TO MAJESTIC MOUNTAIN RECORDS FOR WORLD WIDE VINYL RELEASE OF THEIR THIRD ALBUM IN FEBRUARY 2020 

Majestic Mountain Records is very proud to welcome Australian based Vessel to the label and we're so excited to bring the new album 'Vagabond Blues' to all of you in February!   

'Vagabond blues' is a 7-songs genre-defying tour-de-force album covering metal, doom and of course fuzz!  As can be heard with the first single 'Twenty Twenty' the current enviroment situation is one of the HOT topics on the album and something that Majestic Mountain Records supports to 100%. Albums like 'Vagabond Blues' is what keeps the Majestic Mountain machine rolling and we can't wait to share the album with you! 

'Vagabond Blues' drops the 7th of February 2020 and the vinyl pre-order will open in the end of January! Stay tuned for more information about the content of the vinyl release! 

To get you in the mood for the album you can hear this Exclusive Premiere of the new song TWENTY TWENTY from the upcoming new album from the link below:

https://soundcloud.com/thevesselproject/vessel-twenty-twenty/s-mhqXf
Vessel Links:

Facebook | BandCamp

Links: Majestic Mountain Records Shop 

https://majesticmountainrecords.bigcartel.com/ 

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