DRUID ~ THE SEVEN SCROLLS ..... review

Back in 2015 Desert Psychlist wrote, during the course of reviewing a debut album by Athens, Ohio trio Druid, "We really hope this band manage to climb all the hurdles that road weariness, ego’s, music business politics etc. will inevitably throw in front of them, and that they will stick together, we would love to see how this band progresses", Words ,some might say, that had the potential to come back and bite us on the ass but thankfully Druid did stick together and did progress and that progression can be heard in every guitar chord, every bass note and every drum beat of the bands latest release "The Seven Scrolls".

The eight songs that make up "The Seven Scrolls" are broken down into chapters numbering one to seven with a brief and delightful instrumental acoustic interlude inserted between chapters six and seven entitled "Interlude (St. Patrick's Dance)". Lysergic and psychedelic are two words that come to mind while listening to "The Seven Scrolls", however that psychedelic vibe comes not from the modern school of psych, that is the current territory of bands like Earthless, Comet Control and to some extent Sergeant Thunderhoof and Merlin, but from the more pop-psych and progressive experimentations of the late 60's and early 70's, Druid hitting into a groove that sits somewhere between the folk/pop musings of pre-Steve Howe and Rick Wakeman UK proggers YES and the heady guitar fuelled lysergic outings of the USA's Quicksilver Messenger Service and Spirit. To Druid melody is just as an important factor as bite and there is plenty of both to be found among the "chapters" of this enthralling and spellbinding album, the melody coming courtesy of its wonderfully mellow vocal harmonies and transcendental grooves, the bite raising its head in the shape of its occasional, and sometimes sudden, shifts into heavier proto-metal territories.

Imagine taking some of the finest musicians from the psychedelic/prog crossover days of the sixties and seventies and placing them in a modern studio, with all its bells and whistles at their disposal, and telling them to make an album, the results, just might, arrive somewhere close to the sound Druid have achieved with their latest album "The Seven Scrolls"

Check it out …. 

© 2018 Frazer Jones

GRUSOM ~ II ...... review

Denmark's Grusom, Nicolaj Hoffmann Jul (vocals), Jakob Kaae (drums), Dennis Warburg (guitar), Thomas Ulrik (guitar), Søren Olesen (bass) and Peter Pørtner (keys), have a sound that once heard is never forgotten, the band hit a groove that is part early 70's classic rock and part progressive folk and part bluesy bluster, a groove that is undeniably retro yet is still very much contemporary and current. The band have released a steady stream of EP's and tracks as well as a well received debut album "Grusom" and have just released their second full length album  "II" (Kozmik Artifactz)

Grusom have been described as sounding like a hybrid between Swedish hard rock bluesters Graveyard and North American 60's legends The Doors and although it is easy to see why those comparisons have been made Grusom are a band who have many more strings to their collective bows. Grusom are a band with a heavy and distinctive  keyboard presence and sooner or later any band with that presence will get lumped in with either The Doors or Deep Purple, the spirits of both Jon Lord and Ray Manzarek do hover around the edges of many of the tunes on Grusom's latest release but there is a far more doomic feel to the way Portner uses his ivories. Portner's keys swell and swoon beneath Ulrick and Warberg's crunching riffs and bluesy solo's an give songs like "Skeletons" and "Embers" a truly "classic rock" feel yet one that is very much informed by the stoner/hard rock and doom of today thanks, in part, to the huge rhythmic platforms provided by Oleson and Kaae, the bassist and drummer laying down huge and diverse rhythmic foundations for Ulrick, Warberg and Portner to decorate with their respective instrumental colourings and textures. When faced with grooves that carry even a hint of "classic rock" in their arsenal you need a vocalist who can match those grooves with clarity and power and in Hoffmann Jul Grusom have a vocalist of true calibre. Hoffman Jul is a vocalist who may not possess the bluesy holler of a Robert Plant, the soulful howl of a Steve Marriott or the smooth bluesy gravitas of a Paul Rogers but what he lacks in those departments he more than makes up for with his gravelly phrasing and forceful, at times almost folkish, delivery and tone.

"II" is a stunning return from a band who had already converted many to their cause with their 2015 debut "Grusom", and if you dug that release then your going to go batshit for this one
Check it out ….. © 2018 Frazer Jones

CRUA-CHAN ~ CRUA-CHAN ... review

From the outside it may look like Desert Psychlist is entering September on some sort of South/Central American mission, this is not by design just the result of a series of stunning releases simultaneously hitting our desks from that part of the world.
The latest Latin American tome to present itself at StonerKing Towers comes from an Argentinian three piece going by the name Crua-Chan, the Buenos Aries based band, consisting of Christian Garis (drums), Jorge Patiño (bass/vocals) and David Dos (guitar/vocals), take their influences from a wide spectrum of rocks elite and the underground's cult heroes, influences that range from Alice In Chains and Los Natas to Mastodon and Megadeth, however despite those influences the band have settled on a sound that is very much their own as can be heard on the bands self-titled debut "Crua-Chan".

As a non Spanish speaking reviewer Desert Psychlist has no knowledge of what themes or subject matter Crua-Chan cover on the seven tracks presented here, but that no way detracts from their impact. Let's be honest, half the time we who frequent the musical recesses of rock's underground can't understand many of the lyrics we come across even when they are in English so the fact that Crua-Chan's lyrics are sang in their native tongue should not be a problem, at the end of the day all that matters is the tone and the vibe. Those tones are perfectly executed throughout "Crua-Chan" and are delivered with throaty gusto against a backdrop of heavy blackened stoner metal that has a huge emphasis on rhythm. Christian Garis drives Crua-Chan's grooves with an incredible display of percussive might, ably supported by Jorge Patiño's grizzled, growling bass lines, David Dos layering the combined results with a mixture of dark doomic power chords, searing psychedelic solo's and complex neo-classical shredding.

"Crua-Chan" is a dark forceful collection of songs and grooves that, whether you speak Spanish or not, have a drive and sonic impact that is hard to ignore. The bands sound, although sitting on the stoner side of the metal spectrum, has a blackened edge that could well appeal to those with harsher, more extreme tastes.
Check it out …..

© 2018 Frazer Jones

THE TRONAUTAS ~ OLOVORGO ...... review

"Music,beer and fine herbs" is the mantra Mexican doomsters The Tronautas march to and we are fairly confident in guessing that those "fine herbs" are not likely to be parsley, sage, rosemary or thyme. Hailing from Matamoros, on the southern banks of the Rio Grande, The Tronautas are a trio comprising of Raco: (guitar and vocals), Mr.SelfDestruct: (drums) and Radiobot: (bass and synths) who have just released their debut EP "Olovorgo", a four song collection dealing with subjects that include the hypocrisy and piousness of organized religion and the effects and causes of loss and depression.

With tags, gracing the bottom edges of their Bandcamp page, ranging from doom metal through to post-hardcore you would expect The Tronautas debut to be somewhat of a full on noisy affair with vocals to match, and musically/instumentally to some extent that is exactly what you get, however vocally "Olovorgo" is somewhat of a melodic outing. When we say melodic we are not talking ethereal or sweet however, Raco retains an element of gruffness in his clean tones but they are delivered perfectly pitched and with a clarity not usually associated with this genre of music. Raco tells us of "the last days of the fading sun" ("Last Days"), laments that "salvation comes but for a price" ("My God") and tells us life is "crushing my soul apart" ("Eternal Gloom") against a backdrop of diverse and powerful rhythms, expertly provided by Radiobot's thrumming bass and Mr. SelfDestruct's thunderous percussion. over which the vocalist/guitarist adds crunching dark toned riffage and scorching lead work. The Tronautas save the best for last however in the shape of "To Destroy A Beautiful Thing", a prog flecked tome with a heartfelt lyric that perfectly highlights each members instrumental contribution both individually and as a unit.

Complex and intense grooves wrapped around dark themes layered with warm melodic edges makes The Tronautas' "Olovorgo" not only a highly enjoyable listen but one that also makes you think.
Check it out...

© 2018 Frazer Jones

SATTA CAVEIRA ~ MMI ..... review

"Recorded live in the home studio with no clicks, additions or overdubs" reads the legend on Satta Caveira's Bandcamp page and given the intensity and musical impact of the bands latest release "MMI" maybe more bands should give this approach a whirl.

Gonzalo Void (drums), Jonatan Emilio (bass) and Cristian Villagra (guitar) are Satta Caveira, a trio from San Miguel, Argentina with a penchant for jamming grooves of a heavy psychedelic nature, something they have been doing to great effect from their formation back in 2014. Now lysergic flavoured instrumental heavy rock coming out of the bowels of the South American continent will come as no surprise to those who follow that continents underground scene, there seems to be a plethora of South American bands who just seem to have that knack of making non-vocalised music come alive and feel more vibrant and vital. Satta Caveira sit high on that list of Latin America's exponents of the instrumental jam, the bands mix of heavy downer rock and lysergic experimentation, blended with elements of jazz fusion and downtuned spacy funk, coming over as heady and loose as it does gnarly and tight. Over the course of the eight songs, that make up "MMI", Satta Caveira take their listeners on a rollercoaster ride through a plethora of moods and  emotions, cleverly using elements of light and shade to accentuate those feelings and in doing so give their listeners a wholly satisfying and truly rewarding experience.

Sprawling and experimental yet at the same time solid, heavy and gnarly Satta Caveira's "MMI" blends Floydian lysergic texturing with Karma To Burn like instrumental stoner oomph and arrives at a sound that sits somewhere between the two yet at the same time is wholly original and fresh.
Check it out …..

© 2018 Frazer Jones

MEN OF THE WILD AGE ~ THE ROAD ..... review

Poland has sort of got itself a reputation for turning out some of the nastiest, dankest and darkest stoner doom and metal music known to grace the underground scene with bands like Dopelord, Shine, Bitchcraft and Sunnata all garnering huge interest both inside and outside of their native home. But what of those bands working in the less abrasive fields of the Polish underground, in the genres of stoner, desert and hard rock? Well thanks to the magic of social media and the wonders of Messaging and E-mail Desert Psychlist was recently informed of one such band that fits that bill perfectly.
Men of the Wild Age are a five piece quintet inspired by the likes of Kyuss, 1000mods and Fu Manchu  hailing from Warsaw. The band, consisting of Artur Dziułko (guitar). Witold Wrótniak (guitar), Przemysław Hampelski (drums), Dominik Karwowski (bass) and Wojciech Karpowicz (vocals), released their debut EP "The Road" back in 2017 but have only just recently posted it on Bandcamp's hallowed pages which is just about reason enough to give it a somewhat belated  review today.

Men of the Wild Age very much set their stall out from the very first note of first track "Flashback", the songs dirty sounding fuzz driven guitar riff immediately drawing comparisons with the likes of Dozer, Fu Manchu and of course Kyuss, however Karpowicz's accented vocals add an interesting  and intriguing twist to the  proceedings. Karpowicz's accent, although obviously Polish, has a clipped almost Teutonic tone that adds rather than detracts from their overall appeal and gives each song an unexpected yet totally effective edge. After "Flashback" the band speed through three more desert flecked grooves with "Born Ready" the pick of the bunch, a feisty number pushed hard by Hampelski's solid percussion and Karwowski's grumbling bass and taken to another level by Dziułko and Wrótniak's guitar work, swathes of crunching fuzz and pinched harmonics popping and fizzing behind Karpowicz distinctive vocals. However it is final track "Wretched" that really takes the breath away, the band taking things down a notch or two and hitting into a slower, lower doomic groove interspersed with swirling duelling guitar solo's and hugely effective hooks and motifs over which Karpowicz executes his best vocal of the EP.

There is nothing glaringly new or ground-breaking about what Men of the Wild Age bring to the desert altar with "The Road" but what they do bring is highly effective, well executed and damn,damn enjoyable.
Check it out …

© 2018 Frazer Jones

ORBITAL JUNCTION ~ ORBITAL JUNCTION EP ...... review

It is always nice to review an album from a UK band, and even nicer when that album comes from a band based in your place of birth. Orbital Junction, Owen Armstrong (vox), Ric Fordyce (guitar), Billy Dale (bass) and Jack Revans (drums), are a London based band with a sound they say is "steeped in beer" and is a "healthy slab of fuzz filled stoner rock", So let's grab a beer and jump into the fuzz and see if the bands debut EP "Orbital Junction" is all they claim it is. (Releases 01/09/2018)

Orbital Junction's sonic attack is one that is big, meaty and drenched in fuzz but let's be honest that is a description that could be levelled at a thousand and one bands who are currently working the underground rock scene, what we really need from this London quartet is something that makes them stand out from the maddening crowd and gives them an edge. Orbital Junction have that something and it comes in the form of one Owen Armstrong, a man with a huge bear of a voice, his big beefy melodic growl giving songs with titles like "6ft2" and "Gypsy Queen" an extra sprinkling of stoner pizazz and bluesy gravitas. No man is an island however and when that voice is further enhanced with Ric Fordyce's choppy, crunching fuzz drenched powerchords and scorching lead work, Billy Dale's grizzled bass lines and Jack Revan's  punchy, punishing percussion  that edge, spoke of previously, becomes so honed and sharp you could almost shave with it.

"Orbital Junction" crosses off three of Desert Psychlist's favourite B's "Big, Beefy and British" and is a delightfully raucous collection of rompin',stompin' stonerized hard rock that will leave a smile on your face so wide it could well be considered dangerous.
Check it out ……

© 2018 Frazer Jones