SPIRIT DIVISION ~ FORGOTTEN PLANET ..... review

Spirit Division bassist/vocalist Chris Latta is not only a musician but also a seasoned and well respected writer/reviewer of all things metal shaped at Indy Metal Vault, something that makes reviewing his bands latest offering a daunting yet enjoyable task for Desert Psychlist.
Latta, along with guitarist/vocalist Andy Bowerman and drummer Jace Epple, have been pounding the stages of their native Indianapolis, and further afield, since their formation in 2013 and in that time have released two well received  albums in the shape of 2015's "Spirit Division" and 2016's "No Rapture". The band have been busy having lives and following their own projects of late but have reconvened this year to present us with their latest collection of psych laced doomic tomes "Forgotten Planet".(Releases 31st August 2018)

Spirit Division pride themselves as being more from the school of "classic doom" than the gnarly, demonic version of the genre that has become the norm over recent years, the band jamming a groove that has more in common with Candlemass and Solitude Aeturnus than it does with say Thou or Conan. This is not to say that Spirit Division do not infuse into their dark, dank grooves elements of a more extreme nature just that they tend to lean towards a more traditional doomic sound ,albeit laced with a healthy sprinkling of lysergic flavouring. This lysergic element becomes evident right from the get go with the albums title track hitting a Floydian groove that in places nods its head towards Waters & co's much lauded instrumental (from "Meddle"), "One Of These Days" and it is this psychedelic colouring and textured layering, blended with the bands penchant for old school doomic bluster, that informs most of "Forgotten Planet's" nine songs. Bowerman's swirling, swooping guitar solo's and crunching riffs weave themselves around Latta's deep throbbing basslines and Epples busy mix of thunderous and intricate percussion and combine with the distinctive mix of lead and harmonised vocals to take songs like "Seeking The Crow Witch" and "King of Scars" into the darkest depths of doomic splendour. Spirit Division however are not just all about "the doom" and they prove this by occasionally veering off into unexpected  territories most notable of which are the off-kilter alt-rocker "Behemoth", and the lounge like jazzy doom of "Half Hearted". The band also pay tribute to their heroes by throwing in a nicely executed version of Black Sabbath's "Solitude" giving it a spacy folkish spin that sits nicely on the ears.

If you come to Spirit Division's "Forgotten Planet" expecting another "No Rapture" there is a good chance you may come away a little shell shocked and confused, however you will not be disappointed. Latta, Bowerman and Epple are taking classic doom into places it has never been before, places that might seem a little uncomfortable for the blinkered doom purist but being stoic, determined  and brave these guys are taking it there anyway, and more power to them for doing that.
Check it out ….

© 2018 Frazer Jones

            Big thanks to Leanne Ridgeway at Mettle Media PR for providing the promo.

AMPLIFIED HEAT ~ MADERA ...... review

The Ortiz brothers, Jim (guitar/vocals),Chris (drums) and Gian (bass/vocals), like their heroes Motorhead, play rock'n'roll and like Lemmy's legendary combo they play it raw and they play it LOUD!
Amplified Heat are a band who have often been the bridesmaids and never the bride, the Texan trio have shared stages with such iconic names as Clutch, Atomic Bitchwax, Blue Cheer and Kadavar yet have never quite made that next step up despite releasing a steady stream of dynamic sounding albums, however this could all change with the release of the band's latest  album "Madera"

It could be argued that one reason Amplified Heat have not yet ascended to the upper echelons of the underground rock scene is their refusal to polish or water down their grooves for mass consumption, the Otiz brothers preferring, in their words, to "never pull their punches" and to "deliver the real deal". This "real deal", the brothers refer to, is a raw, uncompromising version of the blues delivered through a backline of Marshall and Fender amps and driven by the beats applied to the stretched skins of  a 1966 Ludwig drum kit, the band jamming a groove that harks back to the heavier blues rock of bands like Cream, Jimi Hendrix's Experience and Led Zeppelin but executed with the feral power of Motorhead. Crunching, heavily distorted guitar riffs, growling grizzled bass lines and unrelenting percussion overlaid with big, gritty powerful vocals decorate each and every one of "Madera's" songs yet the band manage to avoid just creating monotone walls of  brutal noise by adding into songs with titles like, "Madamoiselle", "Evil Eye" and "Without Love", vibrant swirling bluesy psych colouring and classic/hard rock texturing as well as a modicum of  jerky, twitching, off kilter quirkiness, the band rolling out their rock and allowing that rock to roll in a myriad of differing directions.

 Amplified Heat's unwavering stance and determined attitude comes over strong and loud throughout "Madera's" eight songs and speaks volumes about the integrity and passion with which the band approach their music, the band telling their listeners in no uncertain terms that this is what we do and if you don't dig it then get off the bus.
Check 'em out …..

© 2018 Frazer Jones

CRYSTAL WARLOCK ~ GAMMA TRIP ...... review

Who are Crystal Warlock? Well that is a question we, at Desert Psychlist, have been struggling to find out as the band have no social media presence anywhere other than on the Bandcamp page promoting their EP "Gamma Trip", and believe us we have checked. But what does things like personnel or instrumentation really matter, at the end of the day all that we are really interested in is the grooves and Crystal Warlock have those in abundance

Crystal Warlock's grooves, although having a proto-doomic bent, come from a far more sedate and considered place than the usual Sabbathesque attack we tend to associate with this style of music. It's all there, the crunching chords, swirling solo's, growling bass and thunderous rhythms but like their Virginian contemporaries, Brimstone Coven, Crystal Warlock temper their raucousness and growl with vocals of a more melodic nature that, combined with their tendency to ease off the throttle and take off on lysergic tangents, takes their sound into the realms of "classic rock". First track "Vacant Moon" is a prime example of this blend of grunt and gravitas and sees the band jamming a groove that utilises everything from Thin Lizzy(ish) Celtic tinted guitar harmonies to choppy stoner rock power chords all coated in vocals that although not especially strong are easy on the ear and totally in keeping with the bands overall sonic impact. "Sun Collapse" follows in much the same vein as the previous track with a delicious recurring guitar motif the hook that pulls you in but it is "Gamma Trip's" last two tracks that really show what this band are capable of. "Starbright" was the first track of Crystal Warlock's that Desert Psychlist was introduced to and it is still the one that resonates with us most, having a vibe that sounds not unlike that of a mid period Blue Oyster Cult applying their infamous "stun guitar" to a song by American melodic rock pioneers Ashbury. "Sleepwalker's Tomb" however finds Crystal Warlock upping their doom quotient well into the higher percentages with a song that. in its initial stages, has its languid melodic vocals underpinned by punchy, solid percussion, crunching fuzz drenched guitars and grizzled bass but then takes things to a climatic noisy finish on a scintillating wave of guitar duelling, insistent and rhythmic heavy psych.

Crystal Warlock might not have the social profile of say a Clutch, a Graveyard or even a Brimstone Coven but with "Gamma Trip" they certainly show they've got the grooves and that they 'aint afraid to use 'em.
Check 'em out ….

© 2018 Frazer Jones

КОМВУИАТ ЯОВОТЯОИ ~ Moduls 12 & 13 ..... review

Those who are familiar with Desert Psychlist's musical preferences will know that we are quite partial to those grooves that have the ability to take the listener outside of themselves, able to lose themselves in moments of contemplation and reflection while still getting all the required heaviness we, in this scene, always look for in our grooves.. Sadly these types of grooves come our way very rarely so it was very pleasing to get a message from Claas Oparek, the bass player in a jam project working under the name Kombynat Robotron that also includes Richard Schröder (guitar), Jannes Ihnen (synthesizer/guitar and occasional vocals) and Thomas Handschick (drums and percussion), pointing us in the direction of the bands two releases "Modul 12" and "Modul 13".

 Kombynat Robotron split their jams over the two releases with two songs gracing "Modul 12" and two filling "Module 13", each release spanning just over the half hour mark. Now for some listening to an hours worth of swirling, sometimes intense and complicated instrumental based music could be seen as somewhat of a gruelling undertaking but fear not as Kombynat Robotron fill their lengthy jams with so much diversity and dynamics that an hour seems to pass in almost nanoseconds. Songs with such unassuming titles as "I","II", "III" and "IV" are executed with an unbelievable array of skilled musicianship, the band utilising aspects of textured post rock, robotic krautrock and spacy psychedelic experimentation to flesh out their grooves and bring them to life, the music on each of the four song having an effect not unlike waves arriving at a sandy shoreline, sometimes gentle and lapping , sometimes ferocious and crashing but always strong and powerful.

If your a fan of bands unafraid to step off the stoner/desert path into more lysergic territories like Causa Sui and Sungrazer, or are a devotee of the more experimental stoner/krautrock machinations of Seven That Spells,  then Kombynat Robotrn's "Moduls 12 & 13" are two releases that's will blow your mind to smithereens.
Check 'em out ….

© 2018 Frazer Jones

CIRCLE OF THE SUN ~ JAMS OF INNER PERCEPTION .... review

All hail the electric guitar! Who back in the day would of thought that a piece of wood with various sized metal cables strung over a minimum of electrical components could make a sound that runs the spectrum of emotive and beautiful through to ugly and brutal. In the right hands an electric guitar can pull at the heartstrings or fuel passions like anger and frustration and Cosmic Fall's drummer Daniel Sax has those hands and shows on his first solo album "Jams of Inner Perception" that not only can he beat a mean skin he can also shred like an axe god.

Daniel Sax is a talented man, not only does he deliver all of the technicolour six-string colouring throughout "Jams of Inner Perception" he also plays all the bass and drum parts and does this under the nom de plume of Circle of the Sun. One man projects can sometimes be hit and miss affairs with the protagonists often overcompensating on one instrument for the skills they lack on others, thankfully that is not the case here with Sax as adept on both four strings and six strings as he is at playing the drums he is known for with his main band . I guess it would be fair to say that the six instrumental pieces that make up "Jams...." could be described as falling into the realms of heavy psych but that doesn't mean to say that there isn't a whole lot more going on here, Sax incorporates into his jams elements from a wide range of influences, genres and styles with jazzy chord progressions, exotic eastern motifs and scorching bluesy forays into the stratosphere all finding a home to call their own in Sax's diverse and delightful compositions. The fact that he does this without falling into the trap of over indulgent technical noodling and manages to keep a firm grip on that all important feel factor says not only a lot about Sax as a musician but also the strengths of his skills as both a composer and arranger.

If the guitar heavy instrumental experiments of bands like the USA's Earthless, Australia's Comacozer and of course Sax's other band Cosmic Fall are what rocks your particular instrumental boat then you are going to adore Circle of the Sun's "Jams of Inner Perception"
Check it out ….

© 2018 Frazer Jones

SUPERSEED ~ SUPERSEED ....review

Today Desert Psychlist takes a slight detour from those well trodden paths of stoner/desert, doom and psych we have slowly been building our reputation on and wander into territories that are not so familiar, territories that are sometimes known as post punk or melodic pop rock. Ove the years a lot of damage has been done in these two areas of music,bands like Blink 182, Green Day and The Offspring may have begun their careers with all the best intentions but with their success in building bridges between raucous punk and melodic pop they also unwittingly paved the way for whole slew of bandwagon jumpers hoping to get their zany videos on MTV. However there is still hope left for those that like their mayhem married to melody and that hope comes in the shape of a quintet from Bristol, UK going by the name of Superseed, a band who aim to restore the status quo with the release of their self titled debut "Superseed",

If you want sing along pop orientated punk Superseed can supply it but there is so much more to this band than just that, there is a stonerish desert undercurrent running through each and every song on this album, it is not a glaringly obvious one but one that is there nonetheless. The band are also not averse to harking back to earlier times either utilising aspects of 60's psych and garage rock to flesh out their fuzz fuelled forays and they coat those forays in a mixture of Beatle-esque harmonies and Monkee-ish pop melodies, the band coming over at times  like a modern day Spirit (Late 60's, early 70's cult psych pop/rock band led by the late Randy California).

Before you, the regular perusers of Desert Psychlist's pages, start angrily throwing your battle jackets and band badges in our direction for deigning to a review an album with pop punk connotations, take a moment to listen through the seventeen short sharp jabs of punchy fuzz driven pop and rock on offer and if you fail to find something to hang your hat on well then, and only then, let the throwing commence.

Check it out ….. 

© 2018 Frazer Jones

DEMONAUTA ~ TEMAUKEL, THE SPIRIT BEFORE TIME .... review

As discussed on these pages many times before Chile is a country cranking out some of the finest doom, stoner and psych in the Southern Hemisphere with bands like Kayros, Sotano and Pies de Plomo making a splash not only in their own backyard but also internationally. However there is one Chilean band that, for Desert Psychlist, stands head and shoulders above the rest and that band is Santiago's Demonauta. Demonauta, David Véliz (guitar/vox,) Miguel Quezada (bass) and Ale Sanhueza (drums/percussion), have that something extra, that little bit special and magical within their sound that just seems to hit that all important sweet spot and in doing so renders it almost impossible to listen to them without feeling a shudder of delight run through your body. The band return, this year, to once again bring tremors to your spinal columns with their latest offering "Temaukel, The Spirit Before Time" (Kozmic Artifactz)

It is hard to explain in words the sonic impact of of Demonauta's grooves on "Temaukel, The Spirit Before Time" except to say that this is an album that will live in the memory long after the last note has faded into the ether, Desert Psychlist could just tell you to skip this review and just go straight to the link and revel in the albums majestic blend of heavy psych, doomic darkness and stoner fuzz but that would be too much of a cop out and so we will try to impart, in words, why you should invite this stunning collection into your lives and why Demonauta are about to become your favourite band.

Balance is the key to Demonauta's unique and highly addictive sound, the band cleverly utilising aspects from a wide range of metal genres and rock styles but without ever leaning too heavily on any one ,weaving elements of the blues, hard rock and good old heavy metal into a tapestry sown together with fuzz and distortion that shifts through dynamics like a racing driver shifts through gears. Moments of lysergic tranquillity and space like ambience, offset by monolithic riffage and pummelling rhythms, are the order of the day throughout "Temaukel's" seven songs with no one song ever standing still long enough to ever become staid or stale, the band taking off into stratospheric cosmic heights one minute diving into deep doomic depths the next.

It would be pointless writing a rundown of each and every one of "Temaukel's" seven tracks here as there is not a song or instrumental on the album that, in Desert Psychlist's opinion ,falls beneath stunning. To say we love this release would be an understatement but see what you think.
Check it out ….

© 2018 Frazer Jones