VIDEO PREMIERE: Demonic Death Judge, "Elevation"

Hailing from Kotka - Finland, fuzzy-riff monsters Demonic Death Judge have been stirring the sludge/stoner-rock waters for a while now. Having already released three full-length albums as well as a bunch of smaller releases and touring around Europe, the Finns have been quite active over the last eleven years, securing a strong reputation as one of the most promising European sludge-rock groups around.

Now in 2020, Demonic Death Judge returns with their fourth full length album titled “The Trail”. Mixed by Andrew Schneider (Cave In, Mutoid Man etc.), this new album takes you on a spiritual whirlwind within a troubled soul. Showcasing a fully matured orchestra not afraid of evolving, “The Trail” merges infectious, powerful riffs and low-end heaviness with distorted, tortured howls and psychedelic textures. All the trademark elements of Demonic Death Judge's sound have been refined to reach new levels of heaviness and groove, but judge for yourself by checking out a brand-new video for the track “Elevation” below. 

Preorders for “The Trail” are being taken HERE

Band info: facebook || bandcamp 

VIDEO PREMIERE: Swedish rockers Iron Lamb unleash "Into the Night"

Swedish rockers Iron Lamb are set to release their third album, “Blue Haze”, on October 26th, 2018 via The Sign Records. Marking a new chapter for the band, where dire soundscapes meet a grim sense of humour and raising the bar for production, this album shows off Iron Lamb's multilayered songwriting and craftsmanship. Today Iron Lamb is excited to unleash “Into The Light” on the world which you can check out below.

Band info: facebook

ALBUM REVIEW: R.I.P. - "Street Reaper"

By: Richard Maw

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 13/10/2017

Label: Riding Easy Records

I don't expect it to usurp the likes of “Born Too Late” or Pentagram “Relentless” in my list of best all time doom albums, but if you want a modern doom rock album with lots of attitude and overdrive, then this is one you should check out.

“Street Reaper “CD//DD//LP track listing:

1). Unmarked Grave

2). Street Reaper

3). Mother Road

4). The Dark

5). The Other Side

6). Shadows Fool

7). Brimstone

8). The Cross

9). The Casket

10). Die in Vain

The Review:

Portland's R.I.P. unleashed their debut on an unsuspecting public back in 2016. Since then, the press seem to have latched on to the quartet's “street doom” label as something new in the doom sphere. Truthfully, it is not. Street doom is as old as Saint Vitus and The Obsessed... maybe even as old as Sabbath! Any doom head knows the difference- fantasy vs reality, heroes vs heroin and so on.  Regardless of what genre tag has been ascribed, “In The Wind” was an enjoyable slice of Saint Vitus meeting Fu Manchu. With “Street Reaper”, the band have progressed their sound on by focussing it and tightening up the arrangements.

The one minor criticism I levelled at their debut was that it was a little on the long side. Well, the ten tracks here have solved that problem and the band have really delivered a muscular set of songs. Once again, the influences are there: Pentagram, The Stooges, Saint Vitus, Sabbath... and the aforementioned Fu Manchu. The spectre of the Californian state looms large in the sound and vibe, and gives the band a little something extra, a little uniqueness. A little of the desert and a little of the imagery shown on the album cover- four hirsute dudes rolling in a low-rider. It is clear that these guys are not from Barnsley, that's for sure!

The music is direct and punchy, featuring over-driven bass and fuzzed up guitars again. The riffs are simple and groovy and this really does have the feel of street level music. From the opening chug of “Unmarked Grave”, through the title track and beyond; this will get your head nodding. As noted first time around, it is great to hear a band with a singer and actual riffs. This isn't about playing really slow or being massively heavy but is instead more about the vibe and the flow of the record. There are nods to the gods via instrumental interludes like “The Cross”, grooving slabs of riffage such as “Shadows Folds” and even some more melodic playing here and there (the intro of “The Dark”, for instance, and the closing “Die in Vain”).

The wheel is not being reinvented here, but that isn't the point. R.I.P. bring a slightly more youthful swagger to the game- it's welcome as most of the really big players are knocking on a  bit now, to say the least. By the time of the seventh track “The Casket”, you will have made up your mind about the album. Personally, I like it. I don't expect it to usurp the likes of “Born Too Late” or Pentagram “Relentless” in my list of best all time doom albums, but if you want a modern doom rock album with lots of attitude and overdrive, then this is one you should check out.

With the last three tracks clocking in at around four and a half minutes apiece, the band close the show consistently, albeit using different tempos and approaches as they go- relatively up tempo, slower dinosaur riffing and melodic- respectively. The yowling vocals are more Reagers than Wino, the sound is never less or more than over-driven and fuzzy and the whole thing works well. It is an improvement on their debut and sets the band up very well for album number three and a possible rise through the ranks of doom. When are they coming to the UK?!

“Street Reaper” is available here

Band info:  Facebook ||Instagram || Bandcamp

ALBUM REVIEW: Cloakroom - "Time Well"

By: Ernesto Aguilar

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 18/08/2017

Label:  Relapse Records

The songwriting and arrangements are as distinctive and original as they come, especially for the subgenres Cloakroom claims. You will get treated to plenty that fits a stoner/sludge aesthetic that you are used to hearing. Yet, by the time you reach "The Sun Won't Let Us Go" midway through, chances are you will embrace where the band is heading with all this. But it is nevertheless magnificent.

"Time Well" CD//DD//LP track listing

1. Gone But Not Entirely

2. Big World

3. Concrete Gallery

4. Seedless Star

5. Sickle Moon Blues

6. Hymnal

7. The Sun Won't Let Us Go

8. Time Well

9. 52Hz Whale

10. The Passenger

The Review:

Some of the best music defies description and can be defiant in a manner that can be both sublime and utterly enraging. You think you can put a band in a convenient mental category, as we are wont to do, until its members aptly demonstrate you just cannot do so. This fluidity is loved by many music fans. It can also make others completely panic.

Enter Cloakroom. This outfit presents fleeting instances of doom and stoner rock. However, it offers the strongest pop sensibility of any group on which you would otherwise bestow those categories. On its sophomore release, "Time Well," the Northwest Indiana-based band creates an impressive though hard to describe recording.

"Further Out," Cloakroom's debut, received accolades for its quality as a heavier side of indie rock package. It was moody and sorrowful at moments, reflective and tense elsewhere. Truly a promising first outing by most standards, and loved by many critics and fans. You almost have to think so many eyes generates more than a little pressure on this young band to follow through on an equally rich offering.

Fortunately, "Time Well" is an admirable progression from what we heard in "Further Out." "Gone But Not Entirely," the new disc's first track, treats you to a sound you will grow to love across all ten cuts – that kickoff indie swag that summons the Replacements among others making way for thick guitars and a plodding bass. It is real ride at first, because you might expect this is all going one way – and who can blame you, considering metal label Relapse put this out – until your ears get a delightful sonic curveball. But it is nevertheless magnificent.

Other tracks abide by this indie/heavy model, which is nevertheless a great experience. Catch "Concrete Gallery" and "Sickle Moon Blues" among the best of such songs. The songwriting and arrangements are distinctive and original as they come, especially for the subgenres Cloakroom claims. You will get treated to plenty that fits a stoner/sludge aesthetic that you are used to hearing. Yet, by the time you reach "The Sun Won't Let Us Go" midway through, chances are you will embrace where the band is heading with all this. Those mental categories we all seek will disappear for a bit in favor of such a superlative story arc.

Cloakroom succeeds as a one-of-a-kind sort of group. You have to admire its members' courage at stepping out of bounds, and for breaking the sophomore slump with a release you will not soon forget.

"Time Well" is available here

Band info: bandcamp || facebook

ALBUM REVIEW: Spotlights - "Seismic"

By: Victor Van Ommen

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 06/10/2017

Label: Ipecac Recordings

Be it the album’s title, the heft of the cascading guitar riffs, or the thick atmosphere the band creates, this is a serious release that’s here to make a statement.  “Seismic” is an album that’s easy to get lost in, which judging by the depth of sound, is exactly what Spotlights set out to do.

“Seismic” CD//DD//LP track listing:

1. Seismic

2. Learn to Breathe

3. The Size of the Planet

4. Ghost of a Glowing Forest

5. Under the Earth

6. A Southern Death

7. The Opening

8. What is This? Where Are We?

9. Hollow Bones

10. Hang Us All

11. The Hope of a Storm

The Review:

New York- based, husband and wife duo Spotlights wants nothing less than to be taken seriously on their Ipecac Recordings debut album, “Seismic.” Be it the album’s title, the heft of the cascading guitar riffs, or the thick atmosphere the band creates, this is a serious release that’s here to make a statement. Everything is mapped out; there are no false steps, no room for improvisation, just a hefty slab of post-metal-whatever rock music. And you know what, it’s damn good!

Musically, Spotlights has a few obvious influences – I’m looking at you Deftones and ISIS – but that shouldn’t be a surprise considering the label the band is on. Luckily, Spotlights uses these two bands as just that, influences, and prevents the band coming across as a watered down band confined to a particular time and genre.

It’s the layers that make Spotlights what they are. They hit loud and hard at face value and that’s great. The guitar riffs are crunchy and slow and the drums are in your face. Everything is turned up real loud, which is exactly how the album should be listened to. Once the volume is turned up and the listener sits back, that’s when Spotlights really starts to unfold.

Spotlights is able to put all the tools at their disposal to good use. Be it in the way the synthesizers accentuate the tenderness in the fat riffing or how the sound of strummed guitar strings deep in the mix help round things out, “Seismic” becomes a release that’s as tall as it is wide. The hour plus run time might be a touch on the long side of things, but when there’s so much mood and atmosphere, an album’s run time becomes insignificant pretty quickly.

Understanding “Seismic” means understanding the layers. The songs are there and the sound is big. Spotlights make their presence known with these elements. Then the accents are found; the synthesizers are well placed and the vocals provide just that bit of necessary breathing room. “Seismic” is an album that’s easy to get lost in, which judging by the depth of sound, is exactly what Spotlights set out to do.

“Seismic” is available here

Band info: Facebook || Bandcamp

ALBUM REVIEW & TRACK PREMIERE: Stonebirds - "Time"

By: Ernesto Aguilar

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 20/10/2017

Label: Independent

The group merges many influences into a package that still sounds true to the subgenre. Stonebirds is adept at exploring concepts in their music that make it even more intriguing. To put it simply, the trio is one of the Europe's more intriguing stoner/doom performers today. "Time," far exceeds expectations and situates Stonebirds as a band to keep an eye on.

“Time” CD//DD track listing

1. I

2. Sacrifice

3. Blackened Sky

4. Only time

5. Shutter part I

6. Shutter part II

7. Animals

8. II

The Review:

Rostrenen, France's Stonebirds received much acclaim for its 2015 release "Into the Fog… And the Flithy Air." The stoner/doom crew was noted in particular for its originality. If you scan that record again, you will hear why it was so appreciated. The group merges many influences into a package that still sounds true to the subgenre. Stonebirds is adept at exploring concepts in their music that make it even more intriguing. To put it simply, the trio is one of the Europe's more intriguing stoner/doom performers today.

It was easy then to catch elements of inspirations like the Melvins or a style like Cult of Luna before. Its previous works seemed more sprawling, in part due to a five-piece lineup. The group returns smaller and with an edgier vibe. On the band's 2017 return, "Time," Stonebirds feels intent on forging its own road, to some of its best results yet.

"Time" opens with "I" – and yes, it is bookended with closer "II" – which harkens to the impeccably ethereal rhythm you know of Stonebirds. When it rolls into "Sacrifice," however, the comparisons halt. The ten-minute track is still atmospheric and multi-layered, but in the end the overtures are devastating. Rough guitars, rattling bass and jarring vocals make this a nice profile of a band that has renewed focus. Later, the cut, "Animals," offers a similar kind of heft. The rumbling end of "Sacrifice" segues well into "Blackened Sky," which takes its fallow beginnings into sinister territory as the music arcs, then shambles into the darkness.

Contemporary social commentary is a perennial part of extreme music, and "Time" does not disappoint. The centerpiece of "Time" is undoubtedly "Shutter Part I & II," a narrative on climate change. Given the catastrophism that accompanies what was formerly called global warming – skyrocketing hunger, mass extinction and an upsurge in natural disasters are among the issues scientists cite the world will see more of – it remains a marvel as to why more acts have not examined climate issues further. In this instance, Stonebirds does it in a non-preachy, understated way. What is ostensibly “…Part I” mostly set the mood. It is “…Part II” with the lyrical attack. Again, it is no 350.org manifesto. Rather, the sound comes across as the crest of a storm, with lyrics that inject fear ("time has come/for you to die" comes at you again and again) into this story. By song's crashing end, you are struck by how good it is, maybe the best track of "Time."

If there are any quibbles with the latest Stonebirds release, it may be that the mood changes can be a little abrupt. Songs bounce from sludge to much heavier and perhaps the composition could be a little different. However, overall, "Time," with a smaller group and focused sound, far exceeds expectations and situates Stonebirds as a band to keep an eye on.

"Time" is available to preorder/buy here and you can check out an exclusive stream of the track “Shutter Part II” below

Band info: bandcamp || Facebook

ALBUM REVIEW: Earthling Society - "Ascent To Godhead"

By: Charlie Butler

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 04/08/2017

Label: Riot Season

“Ascent To Godhead” is a wild ride that demonstrates Earthling Society are the real deal when it comes to modern psychedelic rock.

“Ascent To Godhead” DD//LP track listing:

1). Can You Levitate?

2). Ascent To Godhead Part 1 (Godhead/Going For Refuge/The Celestial Mind)

3). Electric Bou Saada

4). Ascent To Godhead Part 2

The Review:

Riot Season Records continue to unearth the gems in the oversaturated world of psychedelic rock with Earthling Society’s new LP “Ascent To Godhead”. The latest offering from the Fleetwood trio is a truly epic voyage that begins with sun-drenched optimism and slowly descends into a dark well of noise.

The jangly garage rock of “Can You Levitate?” opens proceedings in hopeful fashion. This is as close as the band get to a proper pop song but it is coated in enough scuzzy fuzz and unhinged wah to remain reassuringly dirty. Once you have emphatically responded in the affirmative to Earthling Society’s request to levitate, the journey to the outer limits truly begins with “Ascent To Godhead (Part 1)”. A multi-stage mantra built around minimal repetitive guitar lines, minimal percussion and droning sitars, the track begins in classic Spacemen 3 territory. As the track shifts between movements, the atmosphere becomes hazier as the ascension turns darker.

While the first half of “Ascent To Godhead” achieves mind-expanding results with a relatively restrained sonic pallet, the second half sees Earthling Society unleash distortion overload. “Electric Bou Saada” is a monstrous jam built around huge riffs and searing solos that comes on like a more ragged Earthless tussling with Acid Mothers Temple. Just as the track reaches a furious peak of free rock intensity the band take a left turn into a more subdued Can-style groove. This maintains an air of menace even though the volume and dirt has been stripped away. This leads into the hellish finale of “Ascent To Godhead (Part 2)” where the journey has reached its destination to discover a nightmarish world in place of the expected utopia. An unrelenting fuzz-heavy riff etches itself into your brain as saxophones screech all around. The cacophony eventually subsides to a soothing keyboard based coda that attempts to bring the listener back to earth as gently as possible.

“Ascent To Godhead” is a wild ride that demonstrates Earthling Society are the real deal when it comes to modern psychedelic rock.

“Ascent To Godhead” is available here

Band info: bandcamp || facebook

ALBUM REVIEW: Low Flying Hawks - "Genkaku"

By: Ernesto Aguilar

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 25/08/2017

Label: Magnetic Eye Records

Low Flying Hawks come at you with a chugging, thick mélange of sound you will not soon forget, there's an aesthetic through this release that makes their  second foray sound quite breathtaking.

"Genkaku" CD//DD//LP track listing:

1.) Smile

2.) Uncool

3.) Virgin Witch

4.) Space Wizard

5.) Hallucination

6.) Twilight

7.) Sinister Waves

The Review:

Sporting a bond to sludge metal icons the Melvins is never a bad thing. And such a relationship is all the more noteworthy when your bag is self described as ambient metal, known otherwise depending on who you ask as drone metal. In the case of Low Flying Hawks, they're even closer to the Washington State legends than throwaway words in a press kit. As Low Flying Hawks features Crover's peerless stylings as well as Melvins' producer Toshi Kasai and guest vocals from King Buzzo himself.

Do not come to the recording expecting the Melvins' crunch, though. On its successor to the 2016 debut “Kōfuku”, Low Flying Hawks instead come at you with a chugging, thick mélange of sound you will not soon forget.

"Genkaku" (Japanese for “hallucination” or illusion”) is a mind-bending journey. The swirling guitars and indecipherable words in "Uncool" are indicative of that trip – dreamlike, or nightmarish, paths lain bare with Crover's pensive drum duties. A song such as "Hallucination" has almost a shoegaze feel to it, even though it is most decidedly doom in nature. The discerning listener will find a bit of a psychedelic rock influence in several tracks. Although you may hear such especially in our sludge metal friends, prototypical notions of 'Melvins side project' this is not. Rather, there's an aesthetic through this release that makes Low Flying Hawks' second foray sound quite breathtaking.

At the same time, the release is punishing when it needs to be. As in “Kōfuku”, the sophomore recording takes plenty of toilsome turns. The big sound is present and accounted for, complete with multilayered instrumentation and riffs that build to impressive arcs throughout. You have to appreciate the King Buzzo-fronted track "Space Wizard" for its pacing in this regard, as well as that of "Virgin Witch," which is one of the most Melvins sounding songs, in all of the best ways, on this recording. All in all, Low Flying Hawks exceeds the anticipation one might have about its members' histories. The band also gets you thinking about how they can expand past that.

"Genkaku" is available to preorder/buy here

Band info: bandcamp || facebook

ALBUM REVIEW: Wild Rocket - "Dissociation Mechanics"

By: Ernesto Aguilar

Album Type: EP

Date Released: 07/07/2017

Label: Art for Blind

Their debut "Geomagnetic Hallucinations," earned a reputation for its immersive music and brainy, intriguing lyrical themes. With their follow up they give you that again, and more. Make no mistake this group is a high-quality original that stands on its own. The stupendous "Into The Black Hole" is a true testament to that.

“Dissociation Mechanics” CD//DD//LP track listing

1. Caught In Triangle Again

2. Infinite Reconnaissance Imager

3. Into The Black Hole

4. The Future Echoes

5. The Edges Of Reality

The Review:

Defunct noise rock visionary band Sonic Youth experienced much popularity over its near 30-year career, including the commercially successful albums "Goo", "Dirty" and "Daydream Nation." Hardcore fans point to a recording like 1985's "Bad Moon Rising" to be the birth of what would be the definitive Sonic Youth sound: sheets of avant garde influences, rambunctious guitars and off-the-wall effects that were a fertile bed for Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon's irascible songsmithing.

In listening to psychedelic punk crew Wild Rocket. One cannot escape an ambience that feels very much like the most animated version of Sonic Youth circa "Bad Moon Rising" and possibly "Daydream Nation." In the case of the Dublin, Ireland outfit's sophomore recording, the emphasis on noise punk, like Sonic Youth, belies a uniquely crafty selection of music.

On the opener "Caught In Triangle Again" the tenor of the past is evident. You can almost lean back and picture what Moore would do with this, it is such a faithful interpretation. Make no mistake though, because the group is a high-quality original that stands on its own. The stupendous "Into The Black Hole" is a true testament to that.

When Wild Rocket released their debut, "Geomagnetic Hallucinations," in 2014, it earned a reputation for its immersive music and brainy, intriguing lyrical themes. In their return, the quartet of punk, doom, noise and rock tested performers give you that again, and more. With "Dissociation Mechanics" – an SY-style christening if ever there was one, by the way – that blend is all out on beautiful, chaotic display.

Wild Rocket's return is centered musically around several concepts, including the sea and deep space, as metaphors for cultural and global destruction. Effects laden vocals convey the depressive mood and the churning rhythm section, not to mention Jon Kelly's synthesizer work, make those stories feel like they're closing in on you. The listener has such a tempo on tracks like "The Future Holds" – steady, thick and swirling it is, among others.

"Dissociation Mechanics" is available here:

Band info: bandcamp || facebook

ALBUM REVIEW: Royal Thunder - "Wick"

By: Mark Ambrose

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 07/04/2017

Label: Spinefarm Records

 

“Wick” is often an exercise in balancing the spare and the expansive; the pop rock chops with the proggy bona fides.  In a world where modern rock radio wasn’t total garbage, “We Slipped” would be a bona fide hit, providing one of the strongest refrains Royal Thunder has written to date.

“Wick” CD//DD//LP track listing

1. Burning Tree

2. April Showers

3. Tied

4. We Slipped

5. The Sinking Chair

6. Plans

7. Anchor

8. Wick

9. Push

10. Turnaround

11. The Well

12. We Never Fell Asleep

The Review

Royal Thunder has the best and most repeated story in rock since the heyday of Fleetwood Mac: marriage, addiction, cult, recovery, divorce, escaping said cult.  With lesser bands, the hype would outshine the music; thankfully, Royal Thunder may finally be outrunning their strange back story with their first album for Spinefarm Records and their third full-length overall: “Wick”.  From the first note, “Burning Tree” evokes the psychedelic hard rock of mid-career Led Zeppelin or, more recently, alternative metal godfathers like Jane’s Addiction and Soundgarden.  The open-tuned, chiming riffs provide grounding for Mlny’s multitracked, spook and exhilarating vocals.  “April Showers”, with its sinister, pounding builds and cathartic choruses highlights the Fleetwood Mac comparisons, though Parsonz usually has a bit more heft to her vocals than Stevie Nicks.  “Tied” starts in a similar Eastern groove before breaking into a proto-metal swing that Royal Thunder could stand to lean into a bit more.  I imagine with the space of a live setting these Bill Ward indebted moments blossom into full on heavy psych freakouts.  But “Wick” is often an exercise in balancing the spare and the expansive; the pop rock chops with the proggy bona fides.  In a world where modern rock radio wasn’t total garbage, “We Slipped” would be a bona fide hit, providing one of the strongest refrains Royal Thunder has written to date.

Like their previous output for Relapse Records, Mlny’s vocals are the main attraction throughout, and the spare balladry of “Plans” highlights her undeniable talents: she can be unbearably anguished and tuneful at once.  The Janis Joplin comparisons are merited, especially when the soulful roots shine through the grungier elements.  And while Royal Thunder may insist that they’ve excised their cult nightmares on their previous albums, lyrics like “There goes my mind and all my time / you pushed me away” feel as distinctly apt when referring to either spiritual or romantic ruptures.  Which isn’t to say its all rootsy Americana: the title track is distinctly menacing, “Push” begins as a gently swinging rocker that gains steam and shifts enough to border on psychedelic prog rock, and “Turnaround” is another radio-ready cut with Latin guitar flourishes.

The final two tracks feel like mission statements for this newest phase of Royal Thunder.  “The Well” shifts between spacey verses and balladic refrains, plus some of the most impressive feats of Parsonz’s multi-octave range.  The layering effect creates a sort of virtual church chorus that lingers on a repeated phrase: “Too bad/ It breaks my heart Maybe we should say it’s over”.  Album closer, “We Never Fell Asleep” acts as a perfect distillation of the album as a whole, opening with those familiar, sitar-like chords before settling into grooving, tribal drum patterns.  When it all feels a little predictable, the synths kick in for a shift into a massive outro.  Finally, all the instruments drop out for an cappella gospel closing.  These explorations into the unknown, grounded by devotional placidity, suggest that Parsonz (and Weaver, for that matter) are managing some kind of musical solution to their metaphysical crises.  Uprooted from their community, their religion, and their romantic partnership, they create their own ritualized music that doesn’t rely on charismatic chicanery but painful honesty.  While some critics have derided the “vocal processing” of the newer Royal Thunder output, the expansiveness is kind of the point here: if Parsonz can’t be part of an actual choir, she’ll create her own virtual ensemble line by line.  This blurring of the personal and the profound is without a doubt what elevates Royal Thunder, while the soul meets Soundgarden style of their frontwoman is the perfect aural metaphor for their lyrical obsessions.  One can hope that with each burst of rock catharsis, Royal Thunder continues to experiment while remaining grounded in ethereal introspection.

“Wick” is available now

Band info: facebook