DESERT WITCH ~ LA OTRA RAZÓN .... review

Chile is fast becoming Desert Psychlist's go-to when searching for new music sitting in the canon of underground rock music and like it has done in the past (and hopefully will do in the future) the scene has thrown up another shining gem. Desert Witch, Valeria Pérez (vocals); Emilio Nova (guitar); Eduardo Fuentes (bass) and Alejandro Sanhueza (drums), hail from the Chilean capital Santiago and jam grooves that are located at the more occult rock end of the doom spectrum, their sound is dark and atmospheric and possesses an insidious edginess but is offset with vocal melodies (sang in Spanish) that have a rich swooning quality. The band have just released their first album "La Otra Razón" and we think its a keeper!

Proceedings kick off with "Oxidado", which if Google's translation tool is to believed is a lyrical homage to an old rusty automobile, here we find Desert Witch jamming a groove that sits somewhere between proto-doom and heavy desert rock with thrumming power chords crunching out over tight busy percussion and heavily fuzzed bass, as good as this groove is (and its is VERY good) it is Pérez's vocals that grab the attention, her vocal here delivered smooth and clean with just a hint of throaty grittiness. Desert Witch wander into lysergic bluesy doom territory for their next song "Cruza el Puente" with Pérez again delivering a faultless vocal performance, her tones lilting and powerful, it is however Nova's guitar work that catches the ear here his feel drenched sweeping solos are sublime as are the thick heavily distorted tones he chooses to employ when the song shifts into the Sabbathian gallop that takes it to its close. "Embrujo" follows, a song about bewitchment and infatuation that is anchored around a superbly executed doom groove, courtesy of the highly impressive Fuentes and Sanhueza, into which Nova injects Iommi-esque guitar textures and which Pérez decorates with a slightly more low key, but no less impressive, vocal. "Sin Cadenas" sees Desert Witch showing us that as well as having dark and atmospheric in their locker they also have upbeat and rocking. The band return to their atmospheric default settings for the thrummingly proto-doomic "Acido" and its two following tracks the the dark and dank "Sin Control", and the swirling "Bótalo" all three songs seeing Pérez blending into her vocals elements of edgy gravitas. A quick Google translation of the lyrics for title track "La Otra Razón" shows them to be quite deep and slightly disturbing, the lyrics referencing a slow freezing death which goes a long way in explaining the songs initial stoner doom pacing and the emotional quality of Pérez's vocal, having said that the song does shift up a few gears into stoner/proto-doom territory in its middle section but only to then return to its atmospheric beginnings as it approaches its close. It back to upbeat and rocking for penultimate number "Silueta de Humo" Nova, Fuentes and Sanhueza furnishing Pérez with a hard driven musical backdrop of heavy rocking groove to decorate with her stunning vocal prowess. For final number "Medusa" Pérez steps aside to allow the rest of the band their moment in the spotlight and they run with it in spectacular style with Fuentes and Sanhueza laying down a barrage of dark insidious groove for Nova to hang his riffs, arpeggios and solos on, this instrumental piece serving as a fitting outro to what has been overall a highly engaging listening experience.

In a scene inundated with bands bearing variations on the words "witch" and "desert" do we really need another one, well in this case we do. Desert Witch might have lacked a little imagination when picking the banner under which they chose to make their music but there is no lack of imagination in the music they make. "La Otra Razón" is a stunning release from its start to its finish, an album that in places is dark dank and atmospheric and in others is upbeat and rocking, an outstanding debut from what is quite frankly an outstanding band.

Check it out ..... 

© 2025 Frazer Jones

MEN OF MUNGA ~ THE NANTUCKET SLEIGHRIDE ..... review

Suffolk, UK combo Men of Munga, Eddie (guitars/vocals); Gish (guitars); Stevie (bass) and Cooper (drums) make the music they want to make, they are not a band interested in jumping on bandwagon's or pandering to new trends, "fusing the punk scratch, the stoner groove and the doom rumble into a fuzzed-out, post-everything fuck you to the easy choices" is the mission statement gracing their Bandcamp page, it is an attitude reflected in their music which at times has a raw and uncompromising edge, something you will find out for yourselves when giving their latest release "The Nantucket Sleighride" a spin.

  "Coil" is the first stop on "The Nantucket Sleighride" its lone guitar intro soon joined by the rest of the instrumentation in a throbbing groove rooted at the proto end of doomic over which a gravelled voice tells its tales of woe backed by sympathetically gritty backing vocals. By this point you will probably thinking this is pretty damn good stuff but nothing really that out of the ordinary but then out of nowhere comes some otherworldly guitar noodling, backed by low key rolling drum patterns, followed by an equally low key passage of lysergic doom supporting throaty narration, and all of a sudden it starts to dawn on you that these guys have something different going on. Following track "Reaper" begins fairly doomic and heavy but with that heaviness offset by some lithe and lysergic guitar work, that guitar work becoming the songs main focus during the songs first verse when it is used, along with some nicely  underplayed drumming, to support a breathy and quite hazy vocal before the song returns to its initial heavy beginnings. The band use the same trick for the songs second verse but then things start to get a little gnarly with the band hitting into a pulsating sludge like groove over which angsty vocals are delivered in tones that are a mix of growly harshness and snarly cleanliness, things are not over yet though because the band then fade out with some psychedelic laced low'n'slow stoner doom. Third track "Ballads of Munga and Men" on first impressions seems to be straight down the line doom laced stoner metal but Men of Munga don't work in straight lines and its not long before what was a riff fuelled romp has become a walk on the psych side with fractured chord voicings reverberating over subtle rhythms and basement level low bass. When the song does finally return to its initial heaviness it is with the gritty vocals, employed in the songs post psychedelic passage, replaced with some highly impressive searing lead guitar. And so it goes on, through the fractious and constantly shifting "War of the Factions", the psychotic and slightly blackened "Blood Eagle", the punk meets stoner "Control" all the way to the doom/psych/sludge/post-metallic hybrid that is final number "The Walk", Men of Munga constantly fooling you into thinking a song is going in a given direction only to then suddenly change course, its an unpredictable ride granted but damn if its not an exciting one! 

Recording an album over one weekend in one room with instruments bleeding all over each other is not an ideal way to record an album but Men of Munga have made it work for them. The songs gracing "The Nantucket Sleighride" may come across as uncompromising and may not always follow the paths you expect them to but that's part of their appeal, if you want music that is polished, goes down straight lines and follows rules then look elsewhere, if on the other hand you want something that will challenge your expectations then "The Nantucket Sleighride" is a ride you'll want to take.    . 

Check 'em out ...

© 2025 Frazer Jones

TELLEMAHOOKAH ~ TELLEMAHOOKAH ... review

We at Desert Psychlist get sent/recommended tons of music from bands and artists from all over the globe but there is something especially pleasing when we are steered towards something of quality by a band hailing from our very own British shores. The steering in this case of this review came from Adam Walsh, a fellow Doom Charts contributor, who, via the Charts covert networking, recommended that we bend an ear in the direction of "Tellemahookah". a recorded live in the studio release from a band bearing the same name, a recommendation we will be eternally grateful for. 

Tellemahookah, Rob Parker (drums); Daniel Murtagh (guitar) and Mark Pickard (bass/vocals), are a band hailing from England's West Midlands who jam a unique blend of stonerized heavy rock and proto-metal/doom dressed up with vocals that bear a distinctive goth like flavour, it is a sound we at Desert Psychlist immediately gelled with and one we think you will too.

Opening track "25 Roam To The Peak Of Unknown" begins with an atmospheric and drone like bass effect that is then accompanied by subtle percussion and eastern tinted guitar motifs over which mantra-like vocals, bearing a striking similarity to those of Bauhaus' Pete Murphy, are intoned. The songs musical dynamic up to this point has sat very much in the canon of British goth rock/metal but a quarter of the way in that dynamic shifts and the groove takes on a much more proto-doomic/stoner like vibe, the songs vocal delivery still bearing a goth-like remoteness  but with the surrounding grooves becoming heavier, harder and more insistent that sees searing solos weaving back and forth over thunderous drumming and thrumming bass lines. The doomic elements featured in the latter parts of the previous track are pushed further to the fore on next track "The Rise Of The Night Witch", Pickard's vocals here are again delivered clipped and goth(ic) but the overall musical dynamic here leans more towards the stoner end of the doom spectrum, albeit with some nice essences of psych and heavy rock thrown in for good measure. Parker and Murtagh lay down an excellent array of dank groove for Pickard to wrap his shamanic vocal tones and swirling guitar textures around on the dark and ominous sounding "Call The Witch Doctor", in their liner notes the band make mention of their intention to bring "a raw thick wall of fuzz to your ears" and they certainly achieve that aim with this song. For their final number, "(Sister Lust) Pure Evil" Tellemahookah go into full on doom mode with Parker and Murtagh locking in tight on a sedate and sinister groove that Pickard enhances with a stunning mix of searing and equally sinister guitar textures, his distinctive vocals, here delivered in a haunting monastic cadence, giving the song an almost spiritual/ritualistic feel.

Stunning atmospheric doom of a stoner persuasion laced with essences and flavours of heavy psych and 80's British goth is what Tellemehookah serve up with their self titled debut, a release packed to its rafters with everything any discerning underground rock fan could possibly ask for in their music.. and then some. 

Check it out .....

© 2025 Frazer Jones

EL SAGUARO ~ ENTHUSIECSTASY ...... review

Desert Psychlist is not sure when the term "power trio" was first coined but our guess would be that it was probably sometime around the late sixties and was probably first ascribed to bands like Cream, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Grand Funk Railroad, Blue Cheer and early Mountain, trios who jammed loud heavy grooves without any assistance from a stand alone vocalist, the vocals in these bands being handled either by the guitarist or the bassist or in some rare instances by the drummer. The term certainly gained traction in the seventies with the emergence of bands like Budgie, Trapeze, The Robin Trower Band and Taste and "power trio" is still being used today as a "catch-all" term for any three piece outfit with a modicum of drive and swagger in their musical attack, which segues nicely into today's review. Portugal's El Saguaro, Lucas Hugues (guitar/vocals) ; André Horta (bass) and João Ferreira (drums), are a trio who make powerful rock music and so meet all the criteria needed to be regarded as a true power trio it also helps that the form of rock music they make together harks back to the time when the term first came into existence, an authentic sounding blend of heavy psych and hard rock with a strong 70's bias all of which can be found populating the trio's powerful debut EP "Enthusiecstasy"

"Enthusiecstasy" opens its account with the superb "Ticket To Fly" a song that pays fitting homage to many of the power trio's mentioned in this reviews opening piece as well as a couple who were not. Flavours of Hendrix, Trapeze and Grand Funk Railroad can all be found gracing this hard driven and upbeat little number as well as flavours and essences of The James Gang and the lesser well known Stray Dog, an extremely well delivered mix of heavy bluesiness and psych drenched funkiness decorated with gritty soulful lead and harmonized vocals. The band dial things down a notch or three for the delicious "Viaje", Hugues here delivering the songs Portuguese lyrics in tones smooth and creamy over a backdrop of lilting Latin flavoured groove that sees Horta's low slung bass lines and Ferreira's swinging jazzy drumming really coming into there own. The real meat and potatoes though comes when just under the halfway mark Hugues finds himself free of his vocal duties and just lets rip on his guitar, taking off on a series of soaring swooping solos that in places are reminiscent of  "Caravanserai" era Carlos Santana and in others Earthless' Isaiah Mitchell. El Saguaro serve up "Nazaré" next, an instrumental piece that starts life lithe and languid then just takes off into the stratosphere with Horta's bass and Ferreira's drums laying down a sublime platform of constantly shifting groove for Hugues to build spiralling searing solos on, budding guitarists with penchant for feel over technique will lose their minds over this tune as will bassists and drummers who believe a good groove is a groove that swings. Final track "Slow'n'Easy", sees El Saguaro borrowing, either intentionally or unintentionally, the opening bars of The Beatles "Come Together" to use as a platform to launch into another 70's inspired heavy blues rock/psych romp. Much like opening number "Ticket To Fly" Hugues pitches his vocals at the grittier end of soulful and his guitar work at the funkier end of the rock spectrum but what for Desert Psychlist is the deal breaker on this tune is Horta and Ferreira's rhythmic chemistry, these two guys are the underground rock equivalent of legendary reggae rhythm masters Sly and Robbie, tight and solid when the groove calls for it, loose and languid when it doesn't. 

 El Saguaro's "Enthusiecstasy" is a pretty near perfect debut EP that delivers some of the best 70's inspired heavy rock and psych offered up by a trio so far this year (2025). Power trio? These guys are superpowered! 

Check 'em out ....  

© 2025 Frazer Jones

WITCHROT ~ SOUL CELLAR .... review

When Desert Psychlist first stumbled across Witchrot, via their debut full length album "Hollow", what we discovered was a band who played doom unlike any other bands in the genre, a band whose music could get caustic and heavy when the mood took them but a band who could also deliver moments of serene tranquillity and haunting beauty. That mixing of causticity, heaviness, tranquillity and beauty resonated strongly with us at Desert Psychlist resulting in the bands music becoming a regular go-to when looking to sate our need for dark wafting grooves with a  considerable amount of weight behind them. Given this information you can imagine our delight when news reached us that the band were about to release a new album, that album, "Soul Cellar" (Buzzed and Fuzzed Records/Majestic Mountain Records), has now dropped and if you thought their previous output was impressive then this album is going to blow your minds! 

  Opening number "Possession Deepens" bears a title that is not only in keeping with Witchrot's penchant for penning songs with satanic/occult themes but also goes a long way in describing Desert Psychlist's growing obsession with the bands music. The song begins with a low rumbling Nick Dolphin bass motif accompanied by some otherworldly keyboard textures from Patrick Sherrard and is soon joined by the respective drums and guitar of Myles Deck and Peter Turik in a groove that feels hazy and somewhat jazzy and sees vocalist Lea Reto adding to that feeling of jazziness with a vocal that is hard not to describe as sultry. This is of course Witchrot so of course things are going to get a little loud sooner or later and when they do it is not so much a hammer going down kind of shift in dynamics as more a subtle swelling in intensity and volume, the guitars getting a little crunchier, the drums heavier but with the vocals, apart from a few soaring flights into the upper register, surprisingly still maintaining their initial sultriness, something that has the added effect of making the songs closing transition back to its jazzier beginnings seem seamless and smooth. Next song "Tombstone" begins life with a stoner(ish) guitar riff  but then a plaintive vocal wail accompanied by thundering drums and growling bass see things take on a more proto-metallic vibe, albeit a proto-metallic vibe that is not quite reflected in the vocals which despite their frequent flights into the upper registry have a swaying bluesiness about them. Third track "Throat Cutter" is neither jazzy or bluesy in fact it  may even border on some sort of "core" but what type we at Desert Psychlist have yet to fully work out, either way its is an absolutely exhilarating, if at times manic, ride from its start to its finish. "Die Alone" is a thrumming ensemble workout, graced with a superb Reto vocal, that shifts gears faster than a F1 driver but leaves ample spaces for Turik and Sherrard to fill with all manner of weird and wonderful guitar and keyboard wizardry. The beauty we spoke of in this reviews opening piece truly comes to fruition on "Green River" with Reto showing us that along with soaring intensity and husky jazziness she can also do emotional fragility, a trait she demonstrates to wonderous effect against the songs languid and low key musical backdrop. Last but one comes "Spineless" a song that sees Turik, Deck, Dolphin and Sherrard laying down a humongous barrage of dank and diverse doomic groove for Reto to decorate with her distinctive vocal stylings, her scream of "spineless" at the songs close is guaranteed to raise the hairs on the necks of even the most jaded of dooms "heard it all, seen it all before" brigade. Witchrot close things out with title track "Soul Cellar" a song which incorporates all the many facets of their sound in one epic piece, lilting atmospherics, thundering sludgy heaviness and spacious off-kilter psychedelics all topped off with a jaw dropping vocal, its spine-chilling!   

#note: Nick Dolphin plays bass on "Soul Cellar" but at the time of writing Witchrot's current bassist is Jon Ferraria.

When reviewing Witchrot's 2023 live in the studio offering "Live In The Hammer" we described their sound as being gnarled twisted and insidious and the bands latest release "Soul Cellar" has not changed our opinion one iota. Witchrot describe what they do as "hex drugs and rock'n'roll" a description that, for those not familiar with their music, might suggest they jam grooves of an occult(ish) nature along the same lines as those pioneered by the likes of Blood Ceremony, The Devil's Blood and Jex Thoth but that assumption would be way wide of the mark. Yes there are elements of ethereality and feyness to be found in Witchrot's sound but you will also find anger, pain and brutality and with "Soul Cellar" Witchrot have taken that combination to a whole new level of impressive. 

Check it out ....

© 2025 Frazer Jones

BLOOD SPECTER ~ FAREWELL .... review

A few days ago while perusing Bandcamp's pages for new music we chanced upon an album called "Farewell" (Fucking Kill Records) by a German outfit going by the name Blood Specter and we might well have scrolled past this gem had it not been for two things, the first of those things being its solemn yet intriguing artwork depicting what looked like a Elizabethan era woman overlooking a cemetery, the second being the bands use of  the word "specter" over the more common usage of "spectre" in their name. Now we are not saying that every album graced by striking artwork is going to turn out to be a diamond or that every band utilizing unusual spelling in their name are going to deliver quality music, we are just saying that in this case those things combined to compel us to investigate further. What we found was a band with a sound that drew from the wells of  traditional and epic doom but at the same time had a feel and sound that was markedly different. Desert Psychlist is not sure if that "difference" stemmed from Blood Specter's members having had musical backgrounds in the fields of black metal, punk and progressive metal but we are guessing that it may have a bearing. 

#Blood Scepter's line up at the time of recording "Farewell" consisted of  Marvin Diekmännken (lead guitar); Tobias Laufkötter (drums); Timm Mädler (rhythm guitar): Manuel Peiler (bass) and Rebecca Möller (vocals) however after the recording of "Farewell" Diekmännken decided to leave the band (hence the albums title) a move that has seen Laufkötter now move up to guitar duties and in turn has seen Andreas Fiedler joining the band as their new drummer

"Farewell" begins with the bands namesake tune "Blood Specter" a song that begins dank dark and atmospheric and more or less remains in that mode for its duration with deliciously thick varieties of crunching guitar and bass riffage combining with an equal variety of thundering rhythms to create an ever shifting platform of blackened doomic groove for Möller to decorate with a jaw-dropping array of vocal tones, tones that range from soaring banshee like wails to throat tearing harshness and all stops in-between, it's damn impressive stuff!  Following number "Rage Fatigue" for its most part sits musically in the canon of epic doom but having said that it is not hard to hear the bands black metal and prog influences rising to the surface here and there, something that is mostly evident in its drumming, having said that it is also not hard to hear influences of old school heavy metal and NWOBHM creeping in either especially when Diekmännken and Mädler pair up for a spot of Judas Priest/Iron Maiden like guitar harmonizing anchored by Peiler's galloping bass lines. Needless to say this also features another faultless vocal display from Möller. "The Love That Once Was" sees Blood Scepter dipping their toes into torch song territories and doing so with some style, Möller tailoring her vocal to match the songs initial folk/occult rock dynamics then shifting gears up into the realms of soaring ethereality as the song increases in both volume and musical intensity. Things get a little gnarlier on next track "Griefbearer", but not overly so, much like "Rage Fatigue" the song mixes its doom with essences and elements of old school metal and hard rock along with aspects that some might consider lean towards alternative, the song also boasts a killer vocal melody. Blood Scepter brings things to a close with "Silent Calendar" a song that sees the band mixing into their enticing pot·pourri of heavy, black, doom and prog metals healthy pinches of goth-rock atmospherics and post metal texturing, again its not a particularly heavy song but then Blood Specter are a band far more concerned with content than they are weight.  

Dank atmospheric doom shot threw with essences and elements of black, prog, post and goth metal is what Blood Specter bring to the table with "Farewell", a sound the band like to call "funeral rock". Now that description might fool some into expecting music of a dirge-like droning quality, akin to what you might find gracing an album by say Bell Witch or Esoteric, but Blood Specter's music is a much brighter and enlightened affair that although does possess its fair share of bleakness is on the whole a highly rewarding and uplifting listen. 

Check 'em out......    

© 2025 Frazer Jones

POLYMERASE ~ MINDSPACE ... review

Some of you out there may recall Desert Psychlist waxing lyrical about the merits of Polymerase's 2021 debut release "Unostentatious" a mix of, mostly instrumental, spacious heavy psych and stoner rock fuzziness that garnered glowing reviews not only from us at The Psychlist but also from Stoner Hive and Fuzzy Cracklins (The Swamp Records). The band's next move was to put out "Dreams and Realities I" a release that saw the band delivering four songs with similar musical dynamics to those found on "Unostentatious", but this time with more vocals, those vocals tending to sway between clean and hazy and throaty and harsh. The release also contained, for those that like their grooves without vocals, instrumental versions of the same four songs. Polymerase's next release was "Dreams and Realities II" and saw the band repeating the vocalised songs followed by instrumental versions trick they pulled off on "I", but also toying with elements of krautrock and experimental avant-garde. This month (May 2025) sees the band release "Mindspace" an album still rooted in the psych and stoner rock that has become Polymerase's default setting but with more emphasis on the more spatial post-metal aspects of their sound.

 "Mindspace" opens its account with "93 Billion Light Years" a song that begins with sampled narrative from a NASA moon mission and finishes in a wave of heavily effect laden guitar noodling, it's a short number but an effective one. "Divine Reefer" follows, this is a hazy "weedian" flavoured opus that has a low-key Sleep - like vibe, heavy but not overly thunderous or crushing, the vocals here are delivered hazy and monotonic at first but take on a gruff harshness later on down the line, these vocals are accompanied by a strange but totally mesmerising high pitched whirling effect that adds an air of otherworldliness to proceedings, at first this effect is hardly noticeable but once heard soon becomes hard to unhear. Third song "Incense for the Beast" blends eastern tinted jazz fusion and funky lysergic liquidity with vocals of a more sludge like bearing to create a hybrid sound that on paper might read like a recipe for disaster but as a musical piece works perfectly. Next up is "Space Child" a deliciously bouncy instrumental featuring licks and motifs of an unmistakably Oriental origin, guitarist Vincent Jose's soloing here is sublime, not quite what you might call Floydian but certainly leaning in that direction while "Crows and Doves" shows that harsh vocals CAN co-exist in the same musical spaces as lilting hazy clean melodies especially if they are sharing those spaces with elements of sludge, shoegaze and heavy psych. Vocals for next number "Cosmic Wanderlust" are delivered monastic and monotonic resulting in the song feeling quite spiritual, its a trick many bands working in the field of stoner-doom employ to give their grooves a more ritualistic and satanic vibe however the grooves supporting these tones, to our ears, tend to lean less toward doom and more towards early British goth and post-punk. Penultimate number "Interplanetary Echoes" is a deliciously throbbing but not overly heavy tome, graced with mostly clean hazy vocals, that along its musical journey shares common ground with the bands like Elder, Astronomie, King Buffalo and others of that ilk while still managing to retain its own unique identity. Final track "Downward Spiral" finds Polymerase wrapping things up with  a song that needs to be heard to be truly appreciated, an atmospheric slow growing opus, graced with a mixture of diverse vocal tones, that builds layer by layer towards a caustic crescendo and then fades into deafening silence.  

We have been referring to Polymerase here as a band but reading between the lines it would probably be closer to the truth to call them a project, a project that our research leads us to believe is the brain-child of guitarist/vocalist Vincent Jose. It is Jose who seems to decide the direction of each release, it is Jose who seemingly writes the majority of the music and lyrics and it is also Jose who seems to choose who plays on a Polymerase release.  For "Mindspace" Jose is joined by Allen Paul Galiga on bass and Francis Ilagan on drums a combination that has resulted in what, in our opinion, is Polymerase's best release to date.

Check it out ....

© 2025 Frazer Jones

PARALYZED ~ RUMBLE&ROAR .... review

 

Paralyzed, Michael Binder (vocals/lead-guitar); Caterina Böhner (organ/rhythm guitar); Philipp Engelbrecht (bass) and Florian Thiele (drums), caused somewhat of a stir with their first album "Hidden Sun" and suddenly it seemed that everyone, in this scene we call "the underground", was singing the praises of this wonderful new heavy blues/heavy psych outfit from Germany , and quite rightly too because this was no pale imitation of something that had gone before, the sound these guys made together had depth and authenticity. Their next album, the self-titled "Paralyzed", was just as good, if not better, and saw the band slightly ramping up the psych side of their sound but doing so without compromising on any of their heavy blues swagger. Third album "Heavy Road" found Paralyzed getting a little more old school, still incorporating all those elements of heavy psych and stoner rock that they had by now become known for but with an overall dynamic that was a touch more retro and rootsy. With three sonically superb, critically acclaimed albums under their belts one might think that Paralyzed might have hit their creative peak and could not possibly better what they had already delivered, not so, in fact the bands new album "Rumble&Roar" (Ripple Music) is, in our humble opinion, one of the best blues based albums to come out in the last ten years.

 "Machine With A Soul" opens proceedings, the song begins life hazy and psychedelic with surf -like guitar textures reverberating over a backdrop of solid tight drumming and low bouncy bass but then shifts up into a more stoner(ish) blues rock groove when the vocals come in, those vocals delivered  in husky slightly gravelled tones. Now many have accused Binder of having a voice that sits somewhere between that of Glenn Danzig and Jim Morrison but he is totally his own man here, his vocal a sublime mix of wearied growliness and soulful grittiness. There is a touch of Creedence Clearwater Revival's swampy stridency about next track "Railroad", albeit with far huskier vocals, to the point that Desert Psychlist keeps expecting to hear the line "rollin' on the river" despite the fact that this song references a completely different mode of transport. "Rosie's Town" is unashamedly Doors-ish in feel, thanks in part to Böhner's parping keyboard motifs but also due to Binder channelling some Robby Krieger like textures in his guitar work, bassist Engelbrecht and  drummer Thiele meanwhile do a fine job of keeping everything tight solid and groovy. Chugging rhythm guitar, booming bass and swinging drums create a platform for Binder to decorate with gritty vocal tones and searing six-string fills and solos on the explosive and well named "Heavy Blues" while its follow up, the achingly beautiful "The Myth of Love", goes in a completely different direction with ringing acoustic guitars framing a lilting low key Binder vocal. "White Paper" fools you into thinking its going to be following in the footsteps of its predecessor but then morphs into strident blues number boasting a vocal that falls somewhere between a sermon and a rant. It's an unwritten law that any blues based outfit worth their weight in mojo HAS to grace an album with a song boasting torch like dynamics and Paralyzed give us two here, first the excellent "Leave You" an old school type blues that slowly evolves to take on a slightly southern rock flavour and secondly "The Witch" a song that slowly transitions from tranquil and moody to soaring and emotive. Last number, "Truth and Lie" sees Paralyzed merging their blues with their usual essences of stoner rock and heavy psych but also adding a little proto-doom flavouring into the mix, granted it is very low key and understated doomic flavouring but one that's still there nevertheless.      

If you love the blues but are not someone who is fully versed in its history, who may have heard names like Robert Johnson, Big Joe Turner, Bessie Smith and Willie Dixon but are not overly familiar with their work, then its highly likely that your love of the genre has come directly from listening to albums from the likes of The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, John Mayall's Bluesbreaker's and Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac. If that sounds like you then Paralyzed's "Rumble&Roar" is an album you will want gracing your music collection, a superb heavy blues based opus with a truly authentic feel that will reignite your love of the genre and hopefully inspire a whole new generation to explore its merits.

 

© 2025 Frazer Jones

CAVERN DEEP ~ PART III-THE BODILESS ...... review

"Part III - The Bodiless" (Bonebag Records/Majestic Mountain Records) is Cavern Deep's third album and also the final instalment of the conceptual story that began with the release of their self-titled debut album. Those already invested in this story will know that what began as a somewhat Lovecraftian tale with "Cavern Deep" took a turn for the metaphysical on second  album "Part II - Breach" and "Part III - The Bodiless" continues along much the same path. As we did with our review for "Breach" Desert Psychlist will concentrate mostly on the music gracing "Part III- The Bodiless" rather than trying too dive too deep into its concept, this is partly because concepts are subjective beasts and partly because what is basically a humble music review would be in danger of turning into a full blown novel.

The final chapter of Cavern Deep's sprawling doomic trilogy begins with "Bodiless" a low tuned and lurchingly atmospheric opus that sees bassist/vocalist Max Malmer; guitarist/vocalist Kenny Oswald Dufvenberg, drummer/vocalist Dennis Sjödin and synth maestro Johannes Behndig being joined by Slomatics Marty Harvey, Harvey's powerful, distinctive vocal tones combining with those of his fellow contributors to add an air of majesty to what is in essence a thrumming doomic dirge. "Queen Womb" follows, here we have the entity that first came into being at the end of first album "Cavern Deep" facing down the first of a series of foes, this one described as a "beacon of pleasure and pain" who wears a gown "spun of endless night", the ensuing conflict played out to a backdrop of dank dark groove that is constantly swelling and dissipating and is decorated in a mix of vocals that alternate between low throaty croons and choral-like harmonies. With the Queen dealt with the Bodiless then confronts another adversary this one going by the name "Putrid Sentry", musically this song sits in the canon of stoner doom but on its journey touches base with both epic and traditional dooms as well as some elements that might be considered spacious and post metallic, vocals here are a powerful mix of lead and joint harmonies with those harmonies having a choral-like quality, something that is particularly effective in ramping up the songs foreboding atmospherics. Next up is "Moskstraumen", a song featuring the skills of saxophonist extraordinaire Martin Ludl, here we find the now slightly worse for wear Bodiless using the last of its reserves to take on its final foe and as befitting for a final boss fight the songs musical dynamic is a little more strident and forceful. The vocals here are sublimely powerful and the musicianship top notch with Malmer's bass and Sjödin's drums laying down a near perfect platform of dank thrumming groove for Behndig to enhance with luscious synth textures and Dufvenberg to decorate with crunching chord work and swirling lead. Penultimate number "Galaxies Collide" finds the Bodiless having achieved its aims now dissolving into nothingness, low key yet at the same time huge and majestic the song musically has the feel of a lament yet there are no regrets or sadness in its lyrical content just feelings of resignation and acceptance. All the best stories have a twist in their tail and Cavern Deep close their trilogy with a doozy of a twist in "Full Circle" a  soaring and atmospheric semi instrumental piece that sees our not so friendly neighbourhood entity finding itself returning to flesh and bone back on the very mountain its journey started out from.

Waiting for "Part III - The Bodiless" to drop has been somewhat like waiting on your favourite writer to publish the next instalment of an ongoing saga or looking forward to the release of a new season of a much loved tv franchise, you know its coming but the wait seems unbearable. There are times however  when those books or tv shows do not quite live up to the expectations we have placed upon them but thankfully that is not the case here. Cavern Deep have delivered with part three of their trilogy everything we hoped they would, an album of well thought out, well structured and superbly played songs wrapped around a complex story that has at times been confusing but at all times has been totally engrossing. "Part III - The Bodiless" is the final stop on what has been a fantastic musical journey, let's just hope it is not the last journey these guys decide take us on.

Check it out.

© 2025 Frazer Jones

THAMMUZ ~ III ....review

 

Some albums come into our lives and, although we enjoy them, rarely get played more than a handful of times whereas their are some albums that become staples, albums that we return to over and over again, albums that we know we will still be playing years down the line. On Desert Psychlist's list of albums that fit into that latter category sit two from Netherlands outfit Thammuz, their 2020 debut release "Into The Great Unknown" and its 2022 follow up "Sons of the Occult", two albums that delivered all the requisite heaviness we in this scene love but also delivered on things like melody, swing and groove. The band have just released their third album "III" via Argonauta Records, will it join its predecessors on our list of staple listening material? Let's find out. 

Thammuz's "III" sees somewhat of a sea-change in the bands musical attack, it is not a major change but it is a change all the same. Thammuz's previous releases sat very much in desert rock territory, albeit territory that often shared borders with genres like heavy psych and hard and classic rock,  "III" however see the band exploring the more darker edges of their sound, even getting a little doomic and sludgy in the process. This slightly edgier/darker attack bares it teeth as early as track one on "III" with the excellent "When The Darkness Comes" (featuring Jelle Aron Scholtes of Baardvader) and flows all the way through to final track the dark and folkish "Devil's Gallows" (featuring guest vocalist Merle Pelle) however do not go thinking that the diversity that we at Desert Psychlist have praised the band for in previous reviews has been abandoned for all out doominosity as elements of the blues, hard'n'heavy classic rock and psych all feature heavily throughout "III" its just that  here they are they are applied with slightly heavier brush strokes. Vocals on "III" sit mostly on the melodic side and vary between strong clean and gritty and strong and growly depending on the musical setting, those settings also coming in a variety of guises like lysergic and prog-metallic for the superb "Ishtar", doomic and sludge-like for the gnarly and intense "Bloodlust" and forceful and frenetic for the schizophrenic "Azazel". In truth though you will not find a track NOT to like on "III" with "Old Man", "Risen" and "Dissolution"(also featuring Merle Pelle) all in possession of  their own unique quirks and charms. 

Some might call "III" Thammuz's a "coming of age" album due to its raised levels of maturity in both its arrangements and song writing while others might to refer to it as more of a "coming of rage" release due to its darker, edgier and angrier dynamics but whether you are in the "age" or "rage" camp there is no denying that "III" is one hell of a great album. 

Check it out ..... 

© 2025 frazer Jones

WHITEHOVSE ~ THE MIGHTY ONE ... review

 

Five guys from Tasikmalaya, Indonesia going by the name Whitehovse, Chandra (vocals); Gilang (lead guitar); Fahmi (rhythm guitar); Nizar (bass), and Ropik (drums), have just released, what is in our opinion, is one of the best stoner, sludge, doom, heavy psych albums to ever come out of the Indonesian underground scene. Now you maybe thinking that is a bold statement, especially given that not a whole lot of Indonesian releases make their way to western ears, but Desert Psychlist is in the privileged position of being sent albums from all over the world so we have been lucky enough to hear A LOT of albums from bands residing in this particular corner of the world and Whitehovse's debut "The Mighty One" is by far one of the finest.  

"Endless Sorrow" opens this debut's account, an atmospheric yet heavy tome that totally justifies the various genre tags we ascribed to Whitehovse's sound in this reviews opening piece. The song begins in tranquil lysergic/psychedelic waters, all spacious and moody, but then proceeds to get heavier and more metallic as it progresses with those elements of doominosity and metal sludge-iness becoming more and more pronounced. "Endless Sorrow" is followed almost immediately by "Falling Crown" and here we get our first taste of Chandra's vocals. Now one of the biggest complaints we hear regarding vocals placed at the forefront of albums coming from the eastern regions of Asia is that they tend to be heavily accented, this has never been a problem for us at Desert Psychlist but we can understand why some do struggle with them. That is not a problem here though, there is hardly a hint of Chandra's accent to be heard throughout this number, or for that matter anywhere else on the album, this may be partly down to his clean strong vocals sitting low in the mix, it could be because our ears are drawn to the strength  of the excellent  riffs, rhythms and solos Gilang, Fahmi, Nizar and Ropik lay around his vocals or it could simply be that Chandra has great diction, either way they serve the song perfectly. The blurb that accompanies this debut album on the bands Bandcamp page states that the bands influences stem from, among others, a shared love of bands like Clutch, Alice In Chains, Orange Goblin and The Sword and it is the last on that list that Desert Psychlist hears a large majority of  in Whitehovse's sonic attack with songs like "Dead Rolling", Human Extinction" and especially "Against The Wall" all possessing similar rolling hard driven dynamics. These guys also know how to mix things up too. the band incorporating a touch of old school metallic chug'n'roll into the strident "Silence Of The Soul" and some nice heavy bluesiness into title track "The Mighty One". and as if to prove that they did not forget to mention the combined might of  Ozzy, Tony, Geezer and Bill in their list of influences Whitehovse bring things to a close with "Vile Triumphant" an instrumental that sees the band capping off what has been a thoroughly enjoyable listen with some Sabbathesque proto-doom.  

If you are one of those who has not yet explored the musical delights the Asian underground scene has to offer but are thinking of taking the plunge then making Whithovse's "The Mighty One" your first point of call on your journey would be highly advisable, its not just a superb Indonesian album it is a superb album FULL STOP! 

Check it out ..... 

© 2025 Frazer Jones