Comet Control - "Center of the Maze" (Album Review)

By: Victor Van Ommen

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 24/06/2016

Label: Teepee Records

Using the word understated might be the best way to sum up “Center of the Maze.” It’s this characteristic that makes Comet Control so inviting. Whether it’s the warm distortion used, the acoustic guitars deep in the mix, or how the light vocal delivery lays comfortably on a soft bed of blissful psych, there’s enough to get lost in. Comet Control struts a laissez-faire attitude with layered simplicity, which absolutely works in the band’s favor.

“Center of the Maze” CD//DD//LP track listing:

1.) Dig Out Your Head
2.) Darkness Moves
3.) Silver Spade
4.) The Hive
5.) Criminal Mystic
6.) Golden Rule
7.) Sick in Space
8.) Artificial Light

The Review:

Comet Control makes their intent clear pretty early on their sophomore album “Center of the Maze.” Coming at you with a heady sitar-like twang on the main riff, album opener “Dig Out Your Head” makes for a solid send off into space. The second cut sends the listener even further into the deep unknown, tumbling along with an urgent space rock drum roll accented by expansive shoegaze riffing. Comet Control hangs this spacey backdrop throughout these eight songs, providing a lush wash of headphone-ready psychonauts as a result.

Using the word understated might be the best way to sum up “Center of the Maze.” It’s this characteristic that makes Comet Control so inviting. Whether it’s the warm distortion used, the acoustic guitars deep in the mix, or how the light vocal delivery lays comfortably on a soft bed of blissful psych, there’s enough to get lost in. Comet Control struts a laissez-faire attitude with layered simplicity, which absolutely works in the band’s favor. Their tunes are laid back and far out. It’s how Comet Control combines these two qualities in their songs that make their songs worth checking out.

The potential downside to “Center of the Maze” is that the album sounds as though Comet Control hasn’t brought everything they have to the table. What “Center of the Maze” offers is an album that’s not as far removed from the band’s 2014 debut as it could have been. That Comet Control’s two albums are sonically pretty close doesn’t detract from the level of quality delivered with “Center of the Maze,” it’s just that the short creative step between the two albums leaves this new one feeling like there's more to be desired.

“Center of the Maze” is available here

Band info: facebook

Joy - "Ride Along" (Album Review)

By: Victor Van Ommen

 

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 29/04/2016

Label: Tee Pee Records

 

 

 

Joy is an honest to goodness, blown-out blues band. They’re like a ZZ Top tribute band sucked through a time warp vacuum and then played at warp speed.

 

“Ride Along” CD//DD//LP track listing:

 

1.) I’ve Been Down (Set Me Free)

2.) Misunderstood

3.) Evil Woman

4.) Going Down Slow

5.) Certified Blues (ZZ Top)

6.) Help Me

7.) Red, White and Blues

8.) Peyote Blues

9.) Ride Along!

10.) Gypsy Mother’s Son

 

The Review:

 

When I saw the announcement that Death Alley was going to tear through Europe in a van and they were going to share with a band named Joy, I was confused. I had heard of Joy, but I had never heard their tunes. My assumption was that Joy was just some SoCal band that made sunny psych music and some booker somewhere made a mistake pairing them with the Boogieland Bandits. Then, one day, Joy’s new album “Ride Along” got shoved through my mailbox. Attached to it was a note. It read, “these guys are on TeePee. You’ll like it.” With cautious hesitation, I pressed play.

Right out of the gate, all but one of my assumptions were torn to shreds. Joy is from SoCal, I was right about that, but they don’t take after sunny psych bands at all! Joy is an honest to goodness, blown-out blues band. They’re like a ZZ Top tribute band sucked through a time warp vacuum and then played at warp speed. And what do you know; the album’s centrepiece is a cover of “Certified Blues,” which Joy nail’s like Steven Tyler did his groupies.

The solos run wild and literally scream to be set free. Aside from this, Joy’s sound leans heavily on the fact that they constantly feel as if they’ll fishtail off the road, but always manage to regain control of the vehicle right before it happens. Indeed, whether it is their singer Zachary Oakely and his apparent mission from God to blow out his voice, or how the guitars flirt with the idea of diving headfirst into self-absorbed freak outs, or how the band is trying really, really hard to damage every speaker they get played through, drummer Thomas DiBenedetto underpins things, by pounding out a temperamental shuffle in an attempt to hold this whole shebang together.

So yeah, take Death Alley, mash it up with ZZ Top, and drop Joy like an atomic bomb in our modern age of upbeat, fuzzy blues rock and you’ve got an idea of what’s going on. No wonder Joy was coupled with Death Alley on that European tour, one that I’m now kicking myself in the ass for missing.

 

“Ride Along” is available here

 

Band info: facebook

The Skull - "The Skull" EP (Review)

By: Richard Maw

Album Type: EP

Date Released: 22/01/2016

Label:  Teepee Records

“The Skull” CD//DD track listing:

1). The Longing

2). A New Generation

3). The Skull

4). Assassin (Live)

5). Til the Sun Turns Black

The Review:

The Skull are back with this storming little EP to follow up 2014's fantastic full length “For Those Which Are Asleep”. This opens up with “The Longing” a great track, with superb production (bright and clear, uncommon in doom) and nifty lead work. For all those fans of vintage Trouble out there, this carries on in the same vein. Unsurprising, considering the pedigree. I very much like this kind of trad doom: slow when necessary, faster when needed and with a heart of heavy metal beating at its centre. “A New Generation” has a similar pulsing rhythm, with a somewhat lesser snare drum sound (being picky).

The rest of the EP showcases the band's past, being split between Trouble re-recordings and live takes on material from the bands debut. Whether or not things are improved upon or just different... or even a faithful re-tread, I will leave you to decide. Personally, I enjoyed hearing the old material with a modern production “The Skull” and with the urgency of live performance “Assassin”, even if live Eric Wagner's plaintive wail is a little lost in the mix.

The quality of the material on this EP was never in doubt, The Skull are a fine, fine band and their roots shine through here. If you enjoyed the debut, ever listened to and enjoyed a Trouble album and like your doom with actual riffs and solos, getting hold of this EP is a no-brainer. Doom on, gentlemen, doom on.

“The Skull” is available here

FFO: Trouble, Blackfinger, Black Sabbath

Band info: Facebook.

Ruby The Hatchet - Valley of the Snake (Album Review)

Album Type: Full-Length

Date Released: 24/2/2015

Label: Teepee Records

‘Valley of the Snake’ CD//LP//DD track listing:

1.) Heavy Blanket
2.) Vast Acid
3.) Tomorrow Never Comes
4.) Unholy Behemoth
5.) Demons
6.) Valley of the Snake

Ruby The Hatchet is:

Jillian Taylor | Vocals

Johnny Scarp | Guitar

Mike Parise | Bass

Owen Stewart | Drums

Sean Hur | Organ

Review:

First off, let’s take a second to familiarize with the band. I believe it was back in 2012 that I purchased the first outing by Ruby the hatchet called ‘Ouroboros’, due in no small part to the buzz surrounding the band on the internet. My thoughts on that record were this; a really strong first outing and the band had some genuinely good ideas and hooks that mesh well with everything they are trying to do.  They just needed to find something to separate themselves from the rest of the retro doom/psych pack.

Fast forward to the ‘Eliminator’ 7inch last year, Ah ha! A nice blend of early Danzig-esque darkened blues rock mixed with the ever present Sabbath vibe.  A bit of a different vocal tonality and delivery than we don’t hear every day(I actually described this to a friend as “imagine first run Danzig band mixed with Iommi mixed with Fleetwood Mac and a Hammond organ.“ And I stand by that comparison!). I like it, they are growing and maturing, I like it a lot.  With only 2 new songs I wondered what will come of them next? 1.5 albums in and it could really go any way…..

Fast forward to the present and the upcoming ‘Valley of the Snake’ is the offering I have before me. I am anxious as to what the band now holds; will they have grown or changed? Will they have fallen into the ever growing abyss of heavy rock doom influenced bands populating the world these days? Short answer to these questions, yes, they have grown. No they have not fallen into the rest of the pack. With ‘Valley of the Snakes’ we get six tracks and we see a much more mature, darker, and very well structured Ruby the hatchet with tracks all over the 5 minute mark.

The record starts out strong with ‘Heavy Blanket’, a nice sort of psycho organ note, blending to a guitar and organ intro before the vocals come in strong. The absolute first thing I noticed on this is how much Jillian has grown in both vocal approach and the tonality to her voice, a very Stevie Nicks vibe to it naturally and it fits perfectly with not only this song but the band as a whole.  The whole band is on point for the entire opening track (and the entire album for that matter), fuzzy bass, thumping beats, clean when they need to be and greasy when they want guitars and that organ moved to the front instead of melting into the back, it’s perfect!!

The next track is ‘Vast Acid’ and it builds on what was laid before, until terminating into track 3, ‘Tomorrow Never Comes’.  This is doom!!! Pure crushing almost funeral doom and one of the best examples I’ve heard in recent times. It’s almost funny that there is a line in the song that goes “don’t worry bout tomorrow, because tomorrow never comes” and ill be damned if you don’t think, “well ok I guess that’s it” and smile about it. Another highpoint in the song is the spacey guitar solo about halfway through. This track is worth the entrance fee alone, slow and plodding with soaring vocals and wonderful use of the organ. ‘Unholy Behemoth’ is another chunk of stoner doom that plays as a great sequel to the previous track. (I do appreciate and like the guitar work in this one a bit more than in the previous three tracks.)

Track 5, ‘Demons’, starts with an 80’s horror movie synth and that theme continues throughout the track, but with a faster pace that we have heard on the tracks before it, it is a  super fun track with more of an exploration on all parts, almost funky for all intents and purposes.  About halfway through there is a shift to a groove laden romp, imagine the song like this, (first part your trying to catch a buzz and about three minutes later… there it is, spacey mellow and groovy and then back into mania). It’s a really cool and adventurous track.

Finishing off with ‘Valley of the Snake’, there is a big change of pace with acoustic and clean guitars and big clean organ sounds, very reminiscent of a folk song. I would consider this almost an occult folk song, with the vocal talent and overall melodic prowess of the band on full display here. Not often can a band completely shift gears sound wise, close out a superb record and have it work flawlessly and that is exactly what Ruby the hatchet has done.

Overall this is an excellent record that I suspect will end up on many year end lists, a whole 11 months from its release date. That is a big statement, because obviously this year has just began, but it is a statement I am standing by. If you’re in the market for a heavy psych/stoner rock record with huge doom tendencies that stand out from the majority of the pack, look no further than ‘Valley of the Snake’.

Words by: David Heaton

You can pick up a CD/LP copy here.

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