ALASTOR ~ SLAVE TO THE GRAVE ....review

When Desert Psychlist reviewed Swedish doomanauts Alastor's debut EP "Black Magic" we described the band as "cherry pickers" a band "taking what they can use" from various sources and "discarding what they can't". Although their are still elements of this "cherry picking" to be found on the bands latest release, "Slave To The Grave"(RidingEasy Records) there is strong sense of a band striving to find their own groove and create their very own signature sound.

"Slave To The Grave" starts life with "I döden är vi alla lika" (English Translation: In Death We Are all Equal) a short introduction piece with a strangely stilted narrative, spoken in Swedish, over a background of tolling bells and rolling thunder that cleverly segues into "Your Lives Are Worthless". The roiling thunder of the intro here is replaced by equally thunderous percussion overlaid with deep growling bass and a low slung grinding guitar riff around which the vocals are sang. It is in the vocal department that Alastor play their ace card and deviate from the usual doomic path of guttural growling and demonic screeching, the band instead pitching their vocals at the cleaner more melodic end of the spectrum. "Drawn To The Abyss" follows and boasts a wonderfully addictive vocal melody offset with hugely effective backing harmonies over a strident but no less grinding groove that finishes in a scorching bluesy jam with searing guitar solos facing off with swirling, textured keyboards. Next up is "N.W. 588" a song that in the pre-digital days would have had "single" written large all over it, its WAH drenched guitar motifs and driving groove resonating in the mind long after the song has reached its gloriously psychedelic conclusion. "Gone" allows the listener to catch his breath with a gently strummed acoustic number that incorporates crooned vocal harmonies and, believe it or not, whistling. Things return to some semblance of doomic normality with title track "Slave To The Grave" its shifting time signatures and searing guitar solos only just kept in check by a monstrous bass and drum groove. "Spider Of My Love" closes proceedings, its slightly hazy, reverberating vocals are underpinned by deep dark keyboard textures and wall shaking rhythms and is taken to another level by eventually exploding into a doomic heavy psych groove with screaming, swirling lysergic laced guitar gradually making way for the same rolling thunder that introduced the albums opening track.

"Slave To The Grave" sees Alastor evolving as a band, finding their place in the world and laying down a marker that says this is us, this is what we do and this our sound. A mighty fine sound it is too!

Check it out …

© 2018 Frazer Jones

A STORM OF LIGHT ~ ANTHROSCENE ... review

Desert Psychlist was reminded of these lyrics while listening to the subject of this review, "News had just come over, we had five years left to cry in, News guy wept and told us, earth was really dying, Cried so much his face was wet, then I knew he was not lying". These lyrics may have been lifted from David Bowie's song "Five Years" but in the context of New York's A Storm of Light's new album "Anthroscene" they do have a tenuous poignancy, not only is the bands latest release a conceptual collection of songs dealing in the same scenario of Earth's population slowly falling towards an inevitable mass extinction but it is also five years since A Storm of Light released their last album. 

"Anthroscene" begins its journey with "Prime Time" a song that begins life seemingly serene and tranquil with gentle keyboard colouring and effects intermittently fractured by crunching, fuzz drenched, palm muted guitars. Slowly the song builds in momentum with the drums and bass laying down a solid foundation of groove decorated with lyrics telling of "suits counting their money" and a country with "no stars to wave" Powerful, angry, truthful and atmospheric "Prime Time" is the perfect opener for an album that never once pulls its punches. Throughout "Anthroscene" A Storm of Light never allow the intensity of their message or their music to waver as they hurtle through songs with titles like "Blackout", "Life Will Be Violent" and "Slow Motion Apocalypse", the furiosity and frustration conveyed in each songs subject matter coming across as an almost tangible commodity that you can hear, feel and even touch. This is exactly what A Storm of Light set out with "Anthroscene" to do, to show you the truth and open your eyes to what is happening in your own backyards no matter whether those backyards are in the urban streets of the USA, the temperate pastures of Europe, the war/poverty ravaged regions of the Middle East or the politically unstable countries of South America and Africa. A Storm of Light tell us of an end coming, not one led by a horned fallen angel but one led by those wearing Armani and Prada, those in shopping mall fashions and those in charity shop hand me downs, in other words all of us, blind to the fact we leading our very own parade to oblivion and extinction.

"Anthroscene" documents a planet falling into chaos and disrepair, a planet tearing itself apart with greed, social and political unrest and the life choices of the very people populating its surface. A Storm Of Light's dystopian vision is not pretty, it does not have a happy ending but by god it is powerful!

Check it out …. 

© 2018 Frazer Jones

SONIC WOLVES ~ SONIC WOLVES ..... review

Sonic Wolves, an Italian/American collective with a pedigree that includes members and past members of such noted bands as Pentagram, Rogue State, Ufomammut and The Hounds Of Hasselvander, are about to follow up their well received debut "Before The End Comes"(2016) with their second album "Sonic Wolves" (DHU Records-vinyl, due for release 31st of October, Future Noise Recordings - CD available now, Bandcamp -digital available now).

"Sonic Wolves" is an album that takes no prisoners, an album that comes out of the traps like a greyhound on amphetamines, an album focused on the finishing line and determined to get there regardless of what gets in its way, Sonic Wolves hit the listener with wave upon glorious wave of relentless bass heavy riffage driven by insistent, titanic percussion, the band hitting a groove that is doomic yet has a distinctive proto-metal, 70's hard rock undercurrent running through its gnarly veins. Bassist/vocalist Kayt Vigil decorates these dark yet strident grooves with vocals that are as distinctive as the music surrounding them , her vocals could neither be  described as ethereal or haunting but possess a charm and  elegance all of their own, on the albums more aggressive songs like "Grim Reaper" and "You'll Climb The Walls"she comes across menacing and almost crone-like while on the superbly atmospheric " Heavy Light" she opts for warm, husky and seductive, her voice combining with her deft bass lines here to take the song to an altogether different level. Vigil's dulcet tones are pushed and prodded throughout "Sonic Wolves" by some incredible drumming from Vita and are further enhanced by  Mr Diniz's crunching chords and screaming guitar solos, the three musicians coming together to create a sound that is as delicious as it is dynamic.

 It is very rare to come across an album that does not have at least one weak track propping up its stronger material but "Sonic Wolves" is an exception, there is not a single song on the bands second album that should be skipped or just sampled, each song earns its place and makes for a highly enjoyable and satisfactory whole.
Check it out …..

© 2018 Frazer Jones

Note# "Sonic Wolves" was recorded with a slightly different line up to the one that is currently treading the boards, guitar duties at the time of recording being held down by Mr Diniz (also of  Temple of Dust). The band have since recruited Jason Nealy (Bleeding Eyes/Inverted Matter) and Enrico "Ico" Aniasi as guitarists but neither play on the album.

THE HAZYTONES ~ THE HAZYTONES II: MONARCHS OF OBLIVION ..... review

Oh what a difference a little time can make, Montreal's The Hazytones entered our lives with their debut album "The Hazytones" just over a year ago and in that time they have snagged a deal with Ripple Music, toured both North America and Europe, had a line up change and found a whole new darker, danker sound, on top of which they have just released their second album "The Hazytones II: Monarchs of Oblivion" (Ripple Music).

With only guitarist/vocalist Mick Martel remaining from the line up that recorded the highly acclaimed "The Hazytones" it is not too surprising that there is a slight shift in attack and dynamics to be found on the bands latest release "II", however that shift is very subtle and the eight songs that make up "II" still retain that recognisable "Hazytones" sound and groove. Darker would be the best way to describe the songs on "II", there is a danker more doomic feel to many (not all) of the new songs that grace this new opus and although the first album was one of Desert Psychlist's favourite releases of 2016 we have to admit this new darker dynamic seems to suit them much better. The bluesy stoner rock sound that had many referring to the band as the Canadian Graveyard still remains intact, something especially evident on songs like "The Great Illusion" and "Spit You Out", but there is a heavier, denser feel to songs like "Empty Space", the two part "Monarchs of Oblivion" and final track "The Hands That Feed" that reflects what they did previously but at the same time takes things to a whole new dynamic level.

The current line up of Mick Martel (vocals/guitar), Victor Tremblay-Desrosiers (drums/percussion) and Adam Gilbert (bass) have not deviated too far from The Hazytones blueprint with their new album "The Hazytones II: Monarchs of Oblivion" just tweaked it slightly and made it a little more grimier.
Check it out ….

© 2018 Frazer Jones

SHAYK ~ 313 ...... review

Anyone who has tuned into music podcast "Shaykcast" will probably already be familiar with Shayk, the band formed by the guys who host the show,(if you have not visited the show then Desert Psychlist suggests you remedy that by checking out the link hidden in the name and go savour one of the most relaxed, funny and informative music podcasts currently being broadcast). Shayk, Scotty Cox (guitar/vocals), Vid Arney (drums/percussion) and Larry Limon Patrick (bass), hail from the South Side of Detroit and channel through their music their cities deep and varied musical heritage of pop, soul, rock and metal,combining all these elements together with a little hot saucy pizzazz to create a sound that has strong urban, inner city vibe, a vibe you can check out for yourselves on their latest release "313"

"The Chase" opens "313's" account, a song that is as immediate as it is attention grabbing, a song that sets the tone for the rest of the album and ensures that anyone stumbling on to this album by accident will stick around until the albums last note fades into silence. Soulful, sexy with a funky inner city undercurrent "The Chase" boasts ear catching guitar motifs, chunky funky rhythms and a vocal that's part Barry White, part Clutch's Neil Fallon and part Hughie from Fun Loving Criminals. Title track "313" follows and it would be hard to find a tune more seductive and sexy, its slow to mid tempo groove crawls all over you whispering its message in your ear in sultry gravel edged tones buoyed by searing hot bluesy guitar solo's  And so it goes on with Shayk delivering song after song of soulful stonerized groove delivered with a swaggering street savvy strut and a knowing twinkle in the eye, a band playing sweet funky rock'n'soul for jam kicking mutherfuckers.

Sexy is not a word we get to use much within the realms of underground rock music so Desert Psychlist apologises if we have tended to overstate the warm seductive elements to be found within Shayk's "313" but damn if there ever was an album to light up a smoke to after then this is it!
Check it out ….

© 2018 Frazer Jones

MOAB ~ TROUGH........ review

The sudden death of a band member can go one of three ways, the band can go the AC/DC route and carry on almost seamlessly, they can dissolve into some sort of semi retirement like Queen and Led Zeppelin or they can take some time out to lick their wounds, contemplate their loss and consider their future. The third option was the one of choice for LA's Moab when faced with the death of their drummer and founding member Erik Herzog midway through the recording of their third album. Such was their shock and sadness that the band did consider calling it a day but were talked out of it by family and friends who didn't want the late drummers hard work to disappear into the ether, preferring instead for the album to be finished, not only as a tribute to his memory but also as celebration of his life. Remaining members Andrew Giacumakis (guitar/vocals) and Joe Fuentes (bass) agreed and that third  album " Trough" will now finally see the light of day (Falling Dome Records, October 19, 2018).

Given the circumstances leading up to its release listeners may be fooled in to thinking an air of sadness and melancholy might be lingering over and around the grooves that make up "Trough" but that is far from the case as although possessing a darkness and dankness, the meat and potatoes of any music pitched at the heavier end of rock music, there is a brightness and upbeat feel to much of the music explored on these ten cuts. From the Beatle-esque intro of "Skeptics Lament" through to the furiously strident " Fend For Dawn" that closes the album there is a vibe of freshness and vitality running through each and every song, an addictive joyousness of three musicians doing exactly what they love to do and enjoying every second of it. Musically "Trough" is tight with every riff and solo nailed on, every bass line booming, every drum beat and cymbal crash hitting its mark, this and the superbly pitched, slightly nasal and Ozzy-ish vocal tones, that coat every song on the album, all combines to make "Trough" one of the surprise highpoints of this year already quite impressive roster of 2018 underground albums.

Herzog's passing is a bitter pill to swallow but let's not dwell on what might or might not have been let's just concentrate on the incredible legacy left behind by a talented musician who musically was right on top of his game, in that context Moab's "Trough" is a fine and fitting epitaph.
Check it out ….

© 2018 Frazer Jones

# Remaining band members Andrew Giacumakis and Joe Fuentes, joined by Brad Davis (Fu Manchu) filling the void on drums, are set to play select shows in support of the album's release.

UNDER ~ STOP BEING NAIVE ....... review

Under describe themselves as an "acid nightmare from Stockport" and there is no getting away from the fact that the UK bands music does have both lysergic and nightmarish qualities, however it is those qualities combined with a heavy dissonant, off-kilter groove that make Under's sonic attack such a joy to immerse oneself in. The band are about to release their second full length album "Stop Being Naïve" (APF Records 26/10 2018) so let's dive in.

If your expecting an easy listen then Desert Psychlist suggests you look elsewhere, what Under bring to the table is a sound and groove that borders on the edge of, and sometimes spills into, the extremist end of heavy rock music. Earlier, in this reviews intro, we mentioned the word lysergic and that might suggest some sort of trippy, flowery Floydian scenario, the lysergic of "Stop Being Naïve" however is a whole different kettle of fish, here you will find a more angular, dissonant lysergic with jagged edges and rough textures, the sound of a trip getting out of control and turning bad very quickly. It has to be said at this point that the harsher end of rock and metal is not a place where Desert Psychlist spends much of our time, it is no secret that our preference is for melody over mutilation but there is strange disarming beauty to "Stop Being Naïve", its harsh atonality and jarring discordance , in both its grooves and vocal attack, is very hard to ignore and has opened our eyes to a whole new musical territory we have not really explored before and one we are very much impressed by. From the juddering and jagged "Malcontents" through the schizophrenic "Big Joke" to the off-kilter closer "Circadian Driftwood" Under take you on a journey through a series of nightmarish scenarios that will leave you shaken and stirred, never to be the same again.

At times cacophonous and chaotic Under's "Stop Being Naïve" is nonetheless well worth putting in a little effort with, sometimes you need the nightmares to appreciate the dreams.
Check it out ….

© 2018 Frazer Jones