ESTUARY BLACKS ~ ESTUARY BLACKS ..... review

Swansea three piece Estuary Blacks, Dan Williams (bass), Alex Bodinger (guitars/vocals) and Tom Young (drums), describe their sonic output as "post marsh rock" a unique blend of post and progressive rock  mixed with elements of heavy stoner metal, a blend that permeates every pore of the bands debut album "Estuary Blacks".(releasing digitally 17 February 2018 and a yet to be announced vinyl release later in the year on Kozmik Artifactz Records)

If Desert Psychlist was forced to compare what Estuary Blacks bring to the table with another band then it would have to be Boston soundscapers Elder, both bands deal in huge multi-layered grooves, both have a tendency for long instrumental passages and both lean towards the progressive end of the stoner spectrum. Where Estuary Blacks differ from their American counterparts however is in the fact that the Swansea trio's progressive leanings, in places, drift towards the much more traditional end of progressive rock. This becomes immediately evident on the albums opening track "Moorings" a delightfully complex instrumental underpinned by lush liquid bass lines and intricate rhythms overlaid with a mixture of clean classical tinted arpeggios and post-rock textured guitar solos. Next track "Trawlers" follows where "Moorings" departed opening with folk flavoured clean guitar motifs played over a chiming backdrop of laid back groove that then suddenly explode into a gloriously crushing doomic refrain around which superbly pitched mellow clean vocal melodies are delivered. "Fat Jason" follows and raises the bar high with a song that oozes atmosphere and intensity, the songs epic, anthemic feel is enhanced by Bodinger's stunningly powerful vocals and  swirling guitar textures and  is compounded by Williams and Young's complex and elaborate rhythms. "Hank Carmarvin" allows the listener to take a breather and wallow in a sea of acoustic bliss before being dragged back into the real word by "Caswell Brat" an undulating instrumental groove fest that ambles through tranquil post-rock territory before slowly building to a heavy blues tinted, prog flavoured crescendo. "Puris Prass" closes proceedings by tying all the various threads and elements visited elsewhere on "Estuary Blacks" together in one song, prog-like complexity, post-rock intensity and stoner-like fuzz all weaved together in a tapestry of moving, atmospheric and at times breathtaking intelligent groove.

If while reading this review you felt a little put off by the references to "post-rock" and "progressive" then take a few seconds of your time and just click the "play" icon on the link for "Estuary Blacks" below and you might just find a piece of music that will allay your fears and open your ears to a whole new world of music
Check it out ....


© 2018 Frazer Jones

THE BLACK SWAMP ~ WITCHES ... review

Let's start this review with a word from the band whose EP is its subject ...
"The Black Swamp have re-hashed a sludge sound reminiscent of 70's and 90's before heavy metal got all dicky about the genre divide". A bold statement but what does it actually mean? Well  give the bands new EP "Witches" a spin and all will be revealed

A brief screech of howling feedback and a feral scream introduces first song "Headless" and we are immediately plummeted into The Black Swamp's world of crunching heavy guitar riffage and powerful pulverising rhythms, a world where old school hard rock and southern swagger live harmoniously together with swampy sludge brutality and new age metal aggression, these diverse elements mingling together to create a tsunami of mind-blowingly powerful groove. A tsunami is always driven by a force and the "force" that drives The Black Swamp's wave comes from the relentless pummelling drums of Brendan Woodley and the grizzled growling bass of Rohan Downs the pair combining to lay down a bedrock of gnarly thunderous rhythm for the rest of the band to decorate with their own contributions. Those contributions come in the shape of the grainy fuzz drenched distorted riffs, crunching powerchords and swirling solo's provided by guitarists Grant Scott and Jesse Kenny and the bear-like vocal growls of Luke Hosking, Scott and Kenny trading off licks and refrains around Hosking's strong throaty roars framing the frontman's big beefy tones with an array of dank gnarly riffage. "Witches" is not just a vehicle for a series of blustering riffs and rhythms however, songs like the aforementioned "Headless", the superbly atmospheric "Event Horizon" and title track "Witches" also bring an element of swing and melody to the table giving the somgs an added level of gravitas and intensity as well as enhancing their overall sonic impact.

The Black Swamp's prospects were already looking pretty good with the releases of their first EP "Foulness" and the  excellent 2016 debut full length "I Am" but with "Witches" the band have refined their sound, raised the bar and stepped up to the next level, it's just a shame it wasn't a full album,
Check it out ....

© 2018 Frazer Jones

SLEEPING VILLAGE ~ AMONG THE GODS .... review

If you name your band after a fairly well known Black Sabbath song then comparisons are bound to be made with that band and your own grooves, thankfully New Jersey's Sleeping Village, although obviously influenced by Sabbath, do not fall into the trap of trying to imitate their every move and note instead finding and creating their own sound and groove within the frameworks provided by their heroes.
The band, Rick Dal Cortivo (vocals/guitar), Tim Gray (bass) and Scott Borchert (drums), have just recently released their debut EP "Among The Gods"

There is no denying that the spirit of Tony Iommi looms large among the riffs and grooves that go to make up the four songs of "Among The Gods" but that spirit manifests itself as more of a feel than an out and out lifting of licks, riffs and solos, guitarist/vocalist Cortivo injecting his own identity and ideas onto and into each and every song. Ably supported by Gray's big sounding bass lines and Borchert's busy, solid percussion the guitarist layers thick swathes of overdriven riffage and swirling bluesy lead over a tumultuous barrage of gnarly proto-doom groove while at the same time delivering cool clean vocals that although not particularly strong are totally effective. It is these vocals, delivered in slightly weary-ish, almost indie fashion that sets Sleeping Village apart from other Sabbath inspired bands currently doing the rounds, Cortivo's un-Ozzy like tones giving songs like "The Puppet Masters", "Lucky 7's" and title track "Among The Gods" a feel more akin to the early days of Austin, Texas' The Sword rather than those of the famous Birmingham Four. Final song "The End" moves the goalposts slightly and finds the band mixing their proto-doom grooves with those of a more traditional doom flavour the song shifting through a series of differing tempos and time signatures before fading out on a wave of grainy fuzz drenched riffage.

Sleeping Village have no problem admitting to their Sabbathian leanings, guitarist Rick Dal Corvito candidly telling Desert Psychlist "We are a classic heavy metal/doom band from New Jersey trying to capture that old Sabbath groove", and Desert Psychlist as no problem in admitting to loving what they do with that groove on "Among The Gods" ... lets see if you agree with us
Check it out.....

© 2018 Frazer Jones

REALM ~ RED CLAY DEAD RIVER.... review

"Beer battered and deep fried" is a description probably more associated with the UK's, fast food of choice, fish and chips than that of a bands sonic attack but that is how Knoxville trio Realm describe the gritty riffs and incessant rhythms they bring to the table with their latest offering "Red Clay Dead River". The three Tennesseans, Jake Lonas (guitar/vox) Kurt Bell (bass/keys) and Nick Leichtweis (drums) also go on to cite their southern heritage and a love of sci-fi as major influences in shaping their sound, well let's see...

The glorious cacophony of fuzz drenched guitar, heavily distorted bass and pummelling percussion that greets the ears as first track "Infernal Machine" rears its head tells you in just a few seconds what to expect from the rest of the album. Realm deal in doom tinted grooves of sludgy stoner rock that remove the word "slow" from the usual low.slow and heavy approach, that seems to be the norm these days, and replace it with the word "pacey", retaining those low and heavy dynamics but adding to them a little mid to up tempo southern swagger. Add into this equation the inclusion of strong clean(ish) gritty vocals and you arrive at a sound that will appeal to both doomers and stoners alike as well as all those roaming the hinterlands between. Realm also add a glorious raw element to their grooves with songs like "Leh Hesh" and "Smoke and Stone" so drenched in distortion and fogged in fuzz they are almost in danger of breaking up into white noise, even on the relatively sedate and utterly superb "Gypsy Trail" the band cannot but help themselves from trowling on a thick layer of grainy fuzz only easing off the pedals when the song shifts into a campfire sing-a-long in it's final stages.

Raw and uncompromising, in both its musical execution and its production, "Red Clay Dead River" is a joy to listen to for anyone with even a passing interest in no holds barred gritty underground rock and is an album that should be played very loud and very often.
Check it out .....


© 2018 Frazer Jones

ELECTRIC HULDRA ~ ROADBURNER .... review

Michigan's Electric Huldra describe what they do as simply rock'n'roll and although the Ann Arbor trio of Bobby Marks (guitar/vox), Troy Hufford (guitar/vox) and Dominic Elder (drums) cite among their influences such stonerized doom luminaries as Sleep and Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats it is at the more raucous end of the stoner/desert/ hard rock spectrum that Electric Huldra's sound resides, as can be witnessed on the band's debut release "Roadburner"

First track "Stand Here" nails Electric Huldra's rawk'n'roll credentials to the mast with what we would describe here, in Desert Psychlist's UK home, as "a little belter". If the songs raucous swathes of grainy riffage, underpinned by a tsunami of crashing percussion, fragmented with deliciously addictive guitar motifs is not enough to get the juices flowing then when the strong clean and distinctive vocal melodies kick in they soon will be. Some of you eagle eyed readers out there may have noticed that there has been no mention of a bass player as of yet and you would be right and the reason is there isn't one! Hufford and Marks, through a combination of tunings and dynamics, handle the bottom end between them and unless you were born with a perfect ear you would hardly notice.
"Never Forgave", a song with a heavy doomic feel, gets around being bass-less by underpinning its groove with a low thrumming, heavily reverberated guitar refrain enhanced upon and embellished with the other guitarists slightly less abrasive, but just as effective, tone and by the sheer force of Elder's heavy pounding drums and the songs superbly executed swinging vocal melody. "Doubt In Me" and "You Own Me" both find Electric Huldra roadtripping through more desert flavoured climates, the former infectious and gritty, the latter throbbing and a little bluesy. Final track "Roadburner" sees the band adding a touch of dankness and darkness into their sound, a low circular refrain the foundation around which elements of lysergic colourings and textures are applied, the guitarists injecting touches of eastern flavouring into a groove that builds layer by glorious layer and is coated in strong powerful vocals.

Two six stringers, one drummer and no bassist might have you thinking these guys might come across a little light on "oomph" but you'd be wrong "Roadburner" is an album overflowing with "oomph" and one you should definitely check out ....


© 2018 Frazer Jones

MERLIN ~ THE WIZARD ... review

If you are of a certain age you may remember those days, before the internet, when waiting for an album from a band/artist you admired could be almost agonising, news reports would be minimal and you just had to wait until a press announcement in the weekly music papers alerted you to a new release. Things have changed a lot since then with every little detail of a band/artists activity both outside and inside the studio being reported on social media sites but that anticipation of hearing new sounds from your favourites never goes away. That anticipation nearly reached fever pitch when a while back Jordan Knorr vocalist with Kansas City groovsters Merlin got in touch with Desert Psychlist to ask our opinion on snippets of tracks his band were working on for their forthcoming album, these snippets showed a band remaining true to their core sound yet experimenting with new instrumentation and a wider field of exciting and dynamic textures and colouring. Our appetites were whetted and after a long and agonising wait we can now finally announce the release of Merlin's new opus "The Wizard"(The Company)

"The Wizard" is a concept album but don't let that scare you as each and every track works both thematically and individually, having said that for full listening enjoyment and to fully embrace the conceptual flow of the album it is best listened to as a whole and in recorded order. Merlin are a band that confuse and delight in equal measure but are also a band capable of moments of spine chilling brilliance and there are many of those moments to be found among the seven songs that make up  "The Wizard" . The bands line up has gone through a few changes since the bands  previous album "Electric Children" with Chase Thayer replacing Joey Hamm on bass and Stu Kersting joining on saxophone and guitar, the two new recruits combining with original members Knorr (vocals/omnichord)), Carter Lewis (guitar/synth) and Caleb Wyels (drums) to create a fuller more expansive sound. The introduction of Kersting and specifically his sax contributions is a game changer and brings a whole new perspective to Merlin's overall sound , not as you might expect in a jazz orientated context but in a more groove orientated way as on opener "Abyss" where the sax combines with Lewis' guitar to both carry and accentuate the songs main refrain and on "Sage's Crystal Staff" where he brings an extra level of lysergic texturing to the proceedings. Vocalist Knorr is on fine form throughout mixing up his vocals between strong clean melodies and sneered half sang, half spoken narrative, telling his stories of sorcery and dark dealings like some crazed shaman at a tribal gathering, his stories superbly backed up  by Thayer and Wyels, the bassist and drummer effortlessly shifting between grooves to accommodate every little nuance of each songs dynamic. The album finishes its diverse and lysergic journey with "The Wizard Suite" an epic tome spanning eleven plus minutes that sees Lewis and Kersting trading off ambient guitar licks and arpeggios over a backdrop of tinkling percussion and liquid bass that slowly grows in intensity until erupting into a fuzz drenched stoner-ish groove with Lewis laying down crunching chords supported by Kersting's sax around which Knorr chants mantra-ish vocals. The song slowly builds in tempo with Lewis' guitar and Kersting's sax going head to head  over Thayer and Wyels insistent ever increasing rhythmic grooves before then coming to an abrupt and quite unexpected full stop.

Some things are worth waiting for and although Desert Psychlist was privy to snatches of "The Wizard" before its release those snatches in no way prepared us for the full picture that Merlin have unveiled to us now with this the finished article. Brilliantly written and arranged with a sound and groove unlike anything they have done before Merlin's "The Wizard" is a genuine mini-masterpiece.
Check it out .....


© 2018 Frazer Jones

DIRTY PAGANS ~ VOLUME 1 ... review

Musical tags can often be misleading especially when browsing the pages of sites such as Bandcamp, Spotify,and  Deezer . You can spend ages looking for something in a certain genre only to find a band, tagged as being in that genre, are something completely different to what they are tagged as. However this is not the case with Australian groovsters Dirty Pagans new album "Volume1". The legend tucked beneath the new albums page tags the band as occult. doom metal, hard rock, heavy metal, psych and stoner rock... and they are all of them!!

"Volume 1" begins with the sound of a stylus being laid on to vinyl and that brief crackling noise we all remember hearing before our favourite tunes erupted from our speakers, and like those favourite tunes of yesteryear first song "Armour of Satan" does indeed erupt, blowing out your eardrums with gnarled proto-doom riffage that begins with a brief nod to Sabbath's "War Pigs" then moves into its own grizzled stoner doom groove before easing off the accelerator and getting down, low and slow when the vocals finally make an appearance. Here is where we come to what sets Dirty Pagans apart from others ploughing similar musical furrows, Dirty Pagans don't take the road trodden by many of their contemporaries by just coating their grooves in gritty, half growled, half roared vocal dynamics, though they do utilise this style (among many others), they also go to the other extreme with rock god like vocal pyrotechnics soaring over swathes of  crunching riffage and constantly shifting pulverising rhythms, in other words old school metal vocals applied to new school grooves. Each  of the five songs on "Volume 1", "Armour of Satan","The Man Who Killed The Gods", "Visions","Down Below" and "Love In Your Eyes", feels like a mini rock opera with the band seamlessly criss-crossing across a variety of metal genres and sub-genres, cleverly blending elements of late 70's early 80's heavy metal thunder with a myriad of modern metal and hard rock styles to create an album that in Desert Psychlist's humble opinion is utterly mindblowing.
Check it out ...


© 2018 Frazer Jones