REVIEW: Smock, "Interstellar Nobdy" [EP]

By: Mark Ambrose

Album Type: EP

Date Released: June 15, 2018

Label: Independent

Smock harnesses the darkest corners of retro rock, riding on surf guitar lines, fuzzed out bass, tight as fuck drum fills, and the often sweet but occasionally sinister vocals of Jenne Benicaso.

“Interstellar Nobody” DD track listing

1. Interstellar Nobody

2. Weird One

3. High Life

4. Bleach

The Review:

Maybe it’s the heat.  Maybe it’s the relentless humidity.  Maybe it’s that godawful haze that hangs over the industrial skyline.  But for me, this summer has been punctuated by tripped out psychedelic, punky, metallic garage rock weirdness.  In the same way that black metal treks through frozen tundra feels most effective after the truly bitter January chill has set in, the slick, sweaty, kind of nauseating midsummer swelter makes me feel like around every corner there could be a freakish Robert Crumb caricature or a roving pack of S. Clay Wilson pirate-bikers primed to bash my face with a bottle.  And there are few records as appropriate for these paranoid delusions as “Interstellar Nobody”, the debut EP by NJ’s own Smock.

A lot of neo-psych lays the flower power bullshit on thick, missing the speed-addled discomfort inherent in a lot of the best shit that influenced a generation of Pebbles and Nuggets listeners.  I mean, sure, the blissful Eastern mystic stuff has its place, but does it rock?  Not hardly.  Thankfully, Smock harnesses the darkest corners of retro rock, riding on surf guitar lines, fuzzed out bass, tight as fuck drum fills, and the often sweet but occasionally sinister vocals of Jenne Benicaso.  When, on closer “Bleach”, he croons “You know it. / I’ll wait, I’ll wait / I’m still waiting for you…” there’s something a bit unsavory, especially layered with reverb and over a krautrock progression their forebears from Neu! would be proud of.

The title track on is a sweet slice of doomy stoner rock that reminded me of the most promising tracks by Uncle Acid, but unlike the steadily midtempo jams of the English post-Wizard class, Smock launches into faster garage punk on “Weird One”.  The warbling, trebly high end guitar work of Benicaso and Zach Inkley is deftly balanced by Cameron Smith’s hefty bass tones, and the steady rhythms (courtesy of Dee Morris) makes “Weird One” the type of banger someone could (gasp!) maybe bop along to.  “High Life”, the fastest song on the EP, is also the most neurotic.  Benicaso’s hallucinatory narrations – “Sun becomes the sky / The Mud turns into the clay / The kingdom crumbles down / Are you listening” – are eerie but strangely beautiful.

“Bleach”, the aforementioned krautrock-indebted closer, is really a marvel and a testament to how promising this quartet is.  The opening buildup feels like the classic live-in-studio cuts of the garage greats Smock draws from, but organic, in this case, doesn’t mean low quality.  Both guitars are balanced in the mix, the bass has a solid presence, and Benicaso’s vocals maintain that distance in the mix that more rock bands need to aspire to.  The guitar harmonies are really lovely too, and manage to sound heavy without sounding like atonal noise.  It’s the rare record that drew me in more the further I went, and left me aching for the next (hopefully full length) release.  And while it’s the perfect jam for my summer, I’d be happy to spin these tracks any time of year.

“Interstellar Nobody” is available at here

Band info: bandcamp || facebook

EXCLUSIVE TRAILER: Genre and Where Earthless Fits

San Diego-based trio Earthless return with their new full-length album “Black Heaven” on March 16 via Nuclear Blast Entertainment.  As commented on this here blog, the synchronicity displayed and the deep understanding of each other’s playing styles sets them apart from most instrumental jam bands right now, the trio, consisting of Isaiah Mitchell (Guitar), Mike Eginton (Bass) and Mario Rubalcaba (Drums) have an untouchable ability to jam flawlessly, fusing heavy psychedelic rock with krautrock and blues.  Today THE SLUDGELORD are thrilled to be able to share an exclusive trailer of the band sharing their thoughts on genre and where Earthless fits.  “Black Heaven” is available here 

Band info: facebook

SATAN'S DOZEN: 13 Unearthly Hymns Unearthed #6 (January 2018)

Compiled by: Andrei Moose

Artwork by: Josh Mashesh

SATAN’S DOZEN is THE SLUDGELORD’s attempt to present the very best music the underground scene has to offer and whilst we’d love to review every band submission we receive, not to mention the countless recommendations you send our way, in practical terms that is just not possible.  Therefore because we don’t want killer music to pass you by, each and every month our member of the Russian chapeter Andrei Moose  painstakingly sifts through the music labelled  killer  riffs” and chooses 13 of the best new albums released via bandcamp and bundles them together into the mightiest riff sandwich.

Whilst all the albums we have included below are top tier stuff, we have compiled them into a chart on a sliding scale of 13-1. So we hope you dig our selections for January 2018 and enjoy 13 Unearthly Hymns Unearthed.  

These bands need more exposure, so go “like” “share” and “follow” their pages, but most of all enjoy some of the best music the underground has to offer.  THE SLUDGELORD most sincerely approves.   Now, go heavy or go home.

13) Sons Of Nibiru – “Hellspirit” (Rzeszow, Poland), Released December 16, 2017

Psychedelic / Stoner-Doom

   
12) Borgonaut – “Borgonaut” EP (Trieste, Italy), Released January 31, 2018

Stoner-doom / Sludge

   
11) FILTHxCOLLINS / SKINLOVER – “Split 7” (Cardiff, UK), Released January 21, 2018

Sludge / Grindcore / Powerviolence

   
10) Taser – “Social Exclusion Blues” (Lahti, Finland), Released January 19, 2018

Sludge

   
9) Dowager – “Hymns for the Dead” (Los Angeles, California), Released January 1, 2018

Stoner-Doom

     

8) Nerveshatter – “Madhouse” (New York(, Released January 9, 2018

Noise / Hardcore / Sludge

   
7) Troll Teeth – “Boiled Alive” (New Jersey), Released January 1, 2018

Psychedelic / Stoner-Rock / Stoner-Metal

   
6) Psychic Lemon – “Frequency Rhythm Distortion Delay”(London, UK), Released January 12, 2018

Instrumental / Psychedelic / Kraut / Prog / Rock

   
5) Floaters – “WAITING FOR AMNESTY” (Tokyo, Japan), Released December 29, 2017

Stoner-Doom / Sludge

4) Smoke – “Stoned To Death” (Houma, Louisiana), Released January 12, 2018

Stoner-Doom / Sludge

   
3) The Mothercraft – “Pillars” (Edmonton, Alberta), Released January 5, 2018

Stoner-Rock

 
2) Legalize Crime – “Beat The Law” (Wroclaw, Poland), Released March 30, 2017

Sludge / Hardcore / Stoner-Metal

    

1) Orphans Of Doom – “Strange Worlds/Fierce Gods” (Kansas City, Missouri), Released January 26, 2018

Progressive/ Sludge / Doom / Metal

Band info: Orphans of Doom || Legalize Crime || The Mothercraft || Smoke || Floaters || Psychic Lemon || Troll Teeth || Nerveshatter || Dowager || Taser || Skin Lover || FilthXCollins || Borgonaut || Sons of Nibiru

INTERVIEW: "A Body of Work" - An Interview with Stefan Koglek of Colour Haze

By: Victor Van Ommen

Ah, Colour Haze. For 25 years, this German band has been gently making big waves in the heavy psych genre. Their grainy, organic sound and melodies are unique to Colour Haze and have set a blueprint to which other European psych bands are trying to play to.

This month, Colour Haze – Stefan Koglek on vocals and guitar, Philipp Rasthofer on bass, and Manfred Merwald on drums – released on CD yet another masterpiece of an album, “In Her Garden,” on their own Elektrohasch Records. The review for this album is pending until I receive the vinyl release, because that’s the best way to take this band in. The vinyl won’t be out until May so you'll just have to whet your appetite for more Colour Haze with the interview below.

Band info: official || facebook

Pinkish Black - "Bottom of the Morning" (Album Review)

By: James Harris

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 30/10/2015

Label: Relapse Records

Cinematic without sinking to schlock or gimmick, this is music that does more than carry a tune - it builds a scene, and that scene is enveloped in fog, where steel-wielding Rippers and ephemeral neon futurists stalk and hunt each other all night, every night.

“Bottom of the Morning” CD//DD//LP rack listing:

1. Brown Rainbow

2. Special Dark

3. I’m All Gone

4. Burn My Body

5. Everything Must Go

6. Bottom of the Morning

7. The Master Is Away

Pinkish Black is:

Daron Beck | vocals, keyboards, synthesizers, mellotron

Jon Teague | drums, synthesizers

The Review:

A blood-spattered Ennio Morricone begins writing suicidal soundtracks - multiple-camera-angled Argento-esque odes to the end presided over by a several-years-dead Ian Curtis, and we have started the process of understanding the immensity of what Ft. Worth duo Pinkish Black bring to the altar.  The highly anticipated follow-up to 2013's “Razed to the Ground” takes their Lynchian noir-sludge and puts a funeral-home suit on it, expanding from horror soundtrack to the soundtrack of future horror. The record stalks and sulks, pulses with ghoulish swagger in the vein of Nick Cave's “Murder Ballads” or Goblin's most nightmarish soundtrack work. This band makes heavy with seemingly every ingredient but metal, and “Bottom of the Morning” is as abrasive and ironclad as it is slick, melodic, strange and unusual, it’s horror-villain-sexy.

Vocalist Daron Beck by turn, chants, wails, whines, and howls over tightly organized patterns of barely-secure warbling almost-chaos, nearly-noise courtesy of his and drummer Jon Teague's synthesized contributions. His apocalyptic crooning amplifies the strangeness; the eerie comfort with which PB blur genre boundaries while Teague wonderfully blends the machinic propulsion of industrial metal with a lo-fi jazzy organic vibe, a combination that underscores their whole sound. The band's ability to keep humour amid darkness (attested to in various interviews, not to mention the morbid and unfortunate tale of their origin) seems to be a key component of their ability to transgress so many sonic boundaries and write stunningly beautiful songs even as they "describe how gross and mediocre things are" in the words of Teague. 

The pinnacle of the album, the space-opera gone dirge “Burn my Body” is an intense, nearly soaring, psychedelic view on incredibly harsh and harrowing last-moments, swirling visceral unease seamlessly in with a devastatingly pop sense of melody. At times rendering such elements as krautrock or no-wave through a nearly black metal lense, whilst referencing composers like Badalamenti and John Carpenter or M. Gira. There is something on this record for everyone that likes to be chilled to the bone, from the blackened baroque groove of opener “Brown Rainbow” to the title track's almost sensual creeping from jangly romance to dissonant doom-inflected pomp/stomp. The aura at the end of that tune bleeds over into the album's last track, instrumental “The Master is Away”, with a slowed down lysergic trance-rhythm opening up into a positively uplifting final march. Even when the melody shows depressive teeth, PB continues to defy doom's expectations, pushing further and further into territory as dangerously close to 'majestic' as it is to 'metallic.'

Recorded at the Echo Lab and mastered by legend James Plotkin, the quality of the production and the material bleeds out of this album at every turn, pinkish-black blood that has already twisted several knives into the so-called "identity crisis" of the current metal scene, crossing genres at will, dragging many unwary hesher puritans down dark corridors and blind alleys to be slaughtered by the dulcet tones of this group that openly cop to being more influenced by Popul Vuh or Klaus Schulze than modern extreme metal. Cinematic without sinking to schlock or gimmick, this is music that does more than carry a tune - it builds a scene, and that scene is enveloped in fog, where steel-wielding Rippers and ephemeral neon futurists stalk and hunt each other all night every night. You can catch them in their hometown for a few shows in December, and you can find their old band The Great Old Tyrant's excellent material (that saw a fresh release recently) on their bandcamp now as well.

“Bottom of the Morning” is available here

Band info: bandcamp | facebook

Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs - Psychopomp (EP Review)

Album Type: EP

Date Released: 22^nd Sept 2014

Label: Box Records

Psychopomp – Track Listing

1.Psychopomp 21:18

2.Joseph Curwen - Psychopomp (Joseph Curwen Remix) 21:53

Members

Sam Grant

Matthew James Baty

Johnny Hedley

Adam Ian Sykes

Ewan Mackenzie

Review:

“Psychopomp” is the second release from Newcastle sonic attack unit Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs (henceforth referred to as Pigs x 7 for the sake of my fingers and sanity) taking the form of a single 21 minute cosmic journey into the heart of infinity. Featuring members of excellent Glaswegian doom droners Ommadon and the absolutely terrifying Khünnt amongst others, Pigs x 7 opt for a far less punishing approach but still deliver a satisfyingly heavy racket.

The voyage begins in calm instrumental territory. Wah and reverb-heavy clean guitars create a hazy evocative atmosphere reminiscent of the widescreen prog meditations of Grails and the minimal twang of Earth. The rhythm section settles into a simple yet shifting beat adorned with a one note bass pulse. The overall effect is hypnotic and reminiscent of the quieter moments of renowned explorers of the outer limits Bardo Pond. Pigs x 7 could have explored this rich musical landscape for the full epic duration of this track without boredom ever setting in. However, after 5 minutes all backing fades to leave the bass in full focus, introducing a rolling stoner riff which the rest of the band take as an invitation to launch “Psychopomp” into the depths of space and beyond.

Layers of glorious distortion descend transforming the song into a triumphant hybrid of the desert Sabbath fuzz of Kyuss and the retro overloaded psych noise of Comets on Fire. The echo chamber vocals are particularly reminiscent of the latter band but opt for an aggressive, metallic howl as opposed to bluesy grit. The initial riff twists and turns through different forms before slowing to a more soporific pace and delivering a groove Sleep would be proud of. The final stretch of the track sees the guitars strive for higher and higher planes as the rhythm becomes ever more frantic until all elements fall into chaos, eventually boiling away to nothing. After catching your breath for a few quiet moments you will then feel an urge to take this exhilarating ride again.

Also featured here is a remix of “Psychopomp” by Joseph Curwen. He is a new name to me but anyone billed as a “Lovecraft inspired droner” can’t be bad as far as I’m concerned. The remix doesn’t disappoint on this promise either. Curwen creates a 21 minute cloud of shifting, minimal drone from what seems to be shards of guitars and noise from the main track. Snatches of vocals are taken to create disembodied wordless moans to complete the eerie vibe.

This is a thoroughly satisfying release from Pigs x 7, although only consisting of one track and a remix more ground is covered here than most bands can hope to tread throughout an entire back catalogue. My only complaint is that the initial run of 50 tapes of “Psychopomp” is already sold out, gahhhhh! It is available as a digital release though via Box Records bandcamp and a second run is promised to materialise sometime in the near future. A release of this magnitude is worthy of a fine vinyl release though, here’s hoping that happens soon.

Words by Charlie Butler

Thanks to Matt at Box Records for sending us a promo to review. Unfortunately the limited edition cassette is long gone. But you can still buy this fine heavy slab of weirdness on Digital Download.

For more information

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Monomyth - Further (Album Review)

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: September 22^nd 2014

Label: Suburban Records

'Further' CD/LP track listing:

1). Ark M

2). Spheres

3). Collision

4). 6EQUJ5

Bio

MONOMYTH, unleashed from The Netherlands, is the journey . . . the five who explore and expand the boundaries of their own musical universe. Firmly rooted in Space, Trance and Krautrock, the band leans heavily on a solid foundation of drums and bass guitar, while adding guitar, keyboards and textures layer upon layer. MONOMYTH will drag you inside their cosmic playground. Enter an arena where there is no more time or space, simply the vacuum in which communication is operated on a higher level. You can enter in two ways . . . simply by closing your eyes and letting the instrumental music transport you, or with eyes wide open as you descend into the mind staggering light show.

Members

Bass Guitar: Selwyn Slop (Incense, The Polar Exploration Ship, Lucid)

Drums: Sander Evers (35007, Gomer Pyle)

Keyboards: Peter van der Meer (The Incredible Stacks, The Polar Exploration Ship)

Guitars: Thomas van den Reydt (Alkaloid)

Synthesizers: Tjerk Stoop

Review:

Monomyth return with their new album 'Further'. Almost 12 months since they released their acclaimed debut S/T album. Monomyth style of music combines Stoner Rock, Post-Rock, Kraut-Rock, Space Rock and hints of Drone Music for one captivating trippy spaced out ride.

'Further' is more of a continuation of the journey told on their celebrated debut album. As it features more of the same spaced out trippy goodness that will appeal to all Space/Kraut Rock fans. Further is a more chilled out affair to it's predecessor but it still has huge volumes of Stoner Rock vibes to unleash on an unsuspecting audience.

First track 'Ark M' sees Monomyth in Post-Rock territory for the earlier part of the song before adding vast layers of different noises and riffs to unsettle you with. The album makes you feel apart of the entire Monomyth experience as it instantly draws you in with dreamlike trance based noises that owes a slight nod to 60's/70's heavy psychedelic rock. It's a track that grows with each passing second. When Monomyth finally decide to unleash the heavy riffs it becomes a more emotional and thrilling ride.

Elements of Drone and Ambient noises appear from time to time to give you an out of body experience that can only be described as – EUPHORIC!!!

'Further' contains 4 tracks with 3 of them running from 11 minutes to a mind-expanding 18 minutes. If you don't like the epic psychedelic jams of 'Ark M' then you better turn away as Monomyth don't change course for the duration of the album. They actually add more elements of different noises as time goes by. Monomyth is made up of musicians who bring their own style and authority to the spaced out party.

Second Track 'Spheres' is a 13 minute thrill ride that starts with an ambient chill out post-rock mood before dangerous Stoner riffs gatecrashes the party and turns into an epic battle of moods and sounds. This is one of the albums standout tracks as it shows how creative Monomyth actually are. It takes 'Further' into a nightmarish territory as the mood goes very bleak indeed. If you're a fan of Monster Magnet classic 'TAB' then this track will blow your mind over and over again. It's a powerful hypnotic journey into space and beyond.

Third Track 'Collision' is a more straight-forward psychedelic rock tune from Monomyth as it's only on a short 6 minutes or so. Though the guys manage to include some of the albums weirdest sounding noises to delight and confuse. It's feels more of a jamming session between friends than an album track. It's more evidence to prove what great musicians the guys are.

Monomyth leave the best to last with '6EQUJ5'. An epic 18 minute track where Monomyth throw caution to the wind and unleash some of their strangest and strongest riffs to date. It may start off very slowly but that's always part of Monomyth's game plan. Start off with a soothing slow-paced riff before adding different layers of noises and space-rock energy.

'Further' is another outstanding album from one of Holland's premier Instrumental Space/Stoner Rock Bands. Maybe it's time for Monomyth to start touring the globe as the world is ready for their spaced out riffs. This is a must-have album.

Thanks to Monomyth and Bart at Suburban Records for sending me a promo to review. 'Further' will be available to buy from Suburban Records from 22^nd Sept 2014.

Check the Band from Links Below

Official

Facebook

BandCamp

Written by Steve Howe