LOTEK CRUISER ~ LOTEK CRUISER ..... review

"Sludge", stoner rock's delinquent cousin, is a genre that causes much confusion and debate among those who regularly write about underground rock and metal. Is sludge defined by its thick swampy grooves? Well not really, Desert Psychlist has come across many a band described as "stoner" or "desert" rock with grooves just as dense and swampy. So is it big meaty bear like bellowed vocals that decide what is and what is not "sludge"? Once again we hit a brick wall here as for every band described as working in the field of sludge metal there are least one or two with vocalists who sing in clean clear tones. "Sludge" it seems is in the ear of the beholder.
Canadian groove meisters Lotek Cruiser, a five piece collection of ragamuffins from Ontario, play grooves that are dense and swampy, the band also coat their grooves in meaty powerful vocal tones that they also mix with occasional cleaner tones. So are they "sludge"? Well Desert Psychlist is going to leave that to you decide by giving their self-titled debut "Lotek Cruiser" a spin.

Whether you come to the conclusion that what Lotek Cruiser bring to the table is sludge, or some form of stonerized metal, there is no denying that what these Canadians do is big. loud, heavy and, on the evidence presented here, mightily impressive. Lotek Cruiser's modus operandi is one of attack, you won't find much ambience or serenity among the ten songs on display here but what you will find, weaved into the fabrics of raucous riffage, pummelling percussion and full on gnarly vocal, power, is subtlety. Now using the word subtlety in the same sentence as raucous and pummelling might come as a surprise to some but when you delve deeper into Lotek Cruiser's grooves you come across those subtle shades everywhere. Prog-like solo's and chord progressions, little snippets of funky bass and tribalistic percussion, although not immediately obvious, raise their heads above the parapets of intensity every now and then and when combined with the powerful mix of harsh and clean vocals give songs, with titles like, "Buried Under The Morning Sun", "Surrender" and "Scars" a fresher more interesting dynamic and a wholly jaw dropping impact

Sludgey, stonerized , doomic and metallic, "Lotek Cruiser" is all these things and more, a highly enjoyable album that deserves to be at the head of any discerning heavy underground rock fans playlist for the duration of 2019 and beyond.

© 2019 Frazer Jones

ORDOS ~THE END ....... review

Back in 2013 an album called "Ordos", by a Swedish band of the same name, landed on Desert Psychlist's desk, a highly enjoyable collection of blackened doom and heavy stoner metal songs that although still a little raw and naïve in places promised much for the future. That promise came to fruition with the bands next release "House of the Dead", a truly remarkable album that took everyone by surprise and culminated in Desert Psychlist voting it our best album of 2017.
This year Ordos return with "The End" (Moving Air Music) and although the band has seen a few minor line up changes since "House of the Dead" the bands dank doomic drive and edgy blackened attack still remains intact and undiminished.

Ordos sound like no other underground band out there at the moment, ok there maybe some bands who can match their intensity and drive but when it comes to writing and arranging songs that can harness that intensity and drive into something that is not just a heavy noise then Ordos are the Grand Meisters. Ordos are without doubt "heavy" but that heaviness is tempered by something the old jazzers used to call "swing" and an almost (but not quite) operatic approach to their vocals, take for example the song "The Hunter of Hades" yes it has brutal groove, yes its vocal is full on and just light of demonic in places but then when you listen to the mix of neo-classical and bluesy guitar motifs that tear through the deep growling bass and complex but strident percussion you begin to realise that there is far more to this band than what first hits the ears. This is what makes Ordos such a great, and for that matter important band, these guys throw into their doomic grooves everything from swaggering bluesy bluster through to extreme grinding black metal but they do not do so haphazardly, the band seem to instinctively know exactly where best to throw in those elements so as to maximise their impact and enhance their overall dynamic . From first track "Exordium" to final track "Omega" expect everything from being brutally bludgeoned to being gently caressed, the band shifting through and between these extremes of dynamic with an unbelievable level of musical skill and vocal prowess that, at all times, is truly breath-taking!

The levels of sonic intensity and musical depth Ordos achieved with "House of the Dead" raised the bar for heavy doomic underground rock, with "The End" Ordos have not only maintained those levels but they may have actually pushed that bar up another notch.
Check it out ….

© 2019 Frazer Jones

WILLOW ASH ~ A BANQUET IN THE GRAVE ..... review

Desert Psychlist has always had a leaning towards grooves that don't conform to the norm and are a little off the beaten track, imagine our delight then when we pressed play on Vermont based Willow Ash's  "A Banquet In The Grave" and discovered an  EP that takes the whole stoner/doom thing and turns it completely on its head.

The pentagram and occult inspired font announcing the band's name, depicted on the EP's cover artwork, may suggest, to some, music of a blackened metallic nature, however Willow Ash's grooves, although containing blackish elements, slide more into the arena of stonerized doom. Now the whole stoner doom thing has its detractors but the angle with which  Willow Ash approach the sub-genre is quite unique and refreshing, the band eschewing the low, slow brutal dirges they have utilised on previous releases for a more intellectual, slightly more considered feel that finds them decorating their songs with guitar tones that lean towards the more indie/post-rock end of the spectrum and grooves that although heavy are just shy of crushing. Vocals, on the EP's three non-instrumental songs "Beyond Where The Trees Turn Black","Banquet In The Grave" and "god (Reason Above All Else" are also non-conformist and are cleverly pitched a little back in the mix and consist of a blend of clean lead and remote, almost dissonant, harmonies with the occasional slide into harshness adding an extra element of dank atmospherics to proceedings. Fourth track, "Back Patio", however muddies the waters by throwing listeners a curveball, the band jamming a jazzy lounge bar instrumental  that although at odds with all that has gone before comes as a nice but totally unexpected surprise.

Heavy without being leaden, doomic without being overly dank, progressive without being prog "A Banquet In The Grave" is also unsettling, disturbing and in places downright weird but then that's the beauty of this little gem of an EP, it doesn't pretend to be anything other than what it is and what it is....is different and utterly brilliant.
Check it out ….

© 2019 Frazer Jones

DR. AWKWARD & THE SCREWS ~ GETTIN' OUT OF STYLE .... review

With "Greek Rock Revolution", a documentary highlighting Greece's burgeoning underground rock scene, looming on the horizon Desert Psychlist expects to see a huge peak in interest in Greek flavoured grooves. Never wanting to be late to the party we at Desert Psychlist thought we'd get the ball rolling by pointing you in the direction of Dr. Awkward & The Screws, a heavy blues quartet from Athens who have just released their first full length album "Gettin' Out Of Style"

Dr. Awkward & The Screws may not have made the cut for "Greek Rock Revolution"( the documentary features Naxatras, Planet of Zeus, Puta Volcano, 1000 Mods, Nightstalker, Villagers of Ioannina City and Tuber)  but on the evidence of "Gettin' Out Of Style" they more than deserve to have been included.
Dr. Awkward & The Screws are primarily a blues based combo with stoner(ish) tendencies, a combo with chops to spare and one that among its talented musicians possess a vocalist of distinctive quality and tone. First track "Take Me Down" explodes from the speakers with Pylarinos (Kostas)Kwnstadinos and John Amariotakis chopping out an enticing blend of clean and crunching guitar tones underpinned by solid tight percussion courtesy of drummer Thoukydidis Karpodinis.  Vocalist Grigoris (Greg) Konstantaras delivers, over this raucous wave of stuttering bluesy hard rock, a vocal that sits somewhere between Dave Sherman (Earthride) and Don Van Vliet (aka Captain Beefheart) as well as supplying some very tasty bottom end via his earthy bass tones. This is the way it rolls for the duration of "Gettin' Out Of Style", the good Dr and his cohorts laying down thick fuzz drenched delta influenced blues grooves enhanced by an unconventional but highly enjoyable left of field approach, an approach that pays huge dividends throughout.

Instead of trying to round this review up with one of our usual why you should buy this outros we thought we'd just quote one of the blues genre's greatest songwriters/performers Mr Willie Dixon, "The blues are the roots and the other music's are the fruits. It's better keeping the roots alive, because it means better fruits from now on". Don't worry Mr Dixon Dr Awkward & The Screws are still keeping those fruits alive, a little darker and fuzzier around the edges, but still alive!
Check 'em out …..

© 2019 Frazer Jones

SILVER DEVIL ~ PARALYZED ...... review

It seems to have been quite a while since Desert Psychlist found themselves back in the Worlds capital of stonerized fuzz and distortion, Sweden and there seems to have been somewhat of a lull in Swedish underground rock of in that time( it wasn't that long ago that every underground release of any note seemed to have its roots planted in the frost hardened soil of this little Scandinavian country) however that lull has been gloriously shattered by the arrival of "Paralyzed" (Ozium Records) a new album from Gävle five piece combo Silver Devil.

Silver Devil's "Paralyzed" takes you back to a time when cargo shorts, Black Flag tees and suitably distressed footwear were the uniform of choice, a time when beards were still stubble and the most important weapons in any bands arsenal were their fuzz pedals, We are talking  authentic "stoner rock/metal" here and although there has been a recent backlash against anything remotely associated with the term "stoner" Desert Psychlist defies even the most conservative of the "Tru-Metal" brigade not to garner some level of enjoyment from the grooves Silver Devil lay before them here.
 Desert Psychlist can already hear the screams of "retro" and "old school" being readied in the throats of those who see any form of looking backwards as a sign of weakness and lack of originality, well hold those cries for a moment and lets examine what we have here. "Paralyzed" fizzes and pops with a vitality and vigour that although may have its roots planted in another era is nevertheless very much of today, in fact if it were not for the slightly faster tempo's, 90's flavoured riffs and swirling 70's style guitar solo's, on songs like "Howl", "Octopus" and "Hypersleep", you would be hard pushed not to think you were listening to some new album by a young and upcoming band hailing from Poland's burgeoning sludge/doom scene.. Thick heavily distorted riffs interspersed with scorching guitar solo's compete to be heard over backdrops of deep growling bass and thunderous, insistent percussion and are adorned with vocals that ,although slightly monotonic in nature, are the perfect fit for the sonic maelstrom of groove they decorate, the whole coming together as one big wall of unrelenting fuzziness that is totally addictive and hard to ignore.

 Silver Devil are not trying to re-invent the wheel with "Paralyzed", granted, but neither are they living in the past, if Silver Devil are doing anything its is they are refurbishing that wheel, adding some shiny new spokes and surrounding it in fresh thick black rubber so as to ensure that it will keep on rolling, if not forever then at least, for a few years to come.
Check it out ….

© 2019 Frazer Jones

WARLUNG ~ IMMORTAL PORTAL ..... review

Over the years of writing little blurbs on Bandcamp pages and since starting this very site Desert Psychlist has built some strong lasting relationships, not only with fellow writers, musicians and labels but also people who, like us, are just fans of good music. You learn to trust these people's judgement and when one of those people, in this case fellow Bandcamp junkie Steve Rodger, states he has bought an album un-listened to just on the strength of a bands previous work, well you just got to check that album out. Add to this the fact that almost immediately after reading Steve's missive Desert Psychlist gets a message from a representative of the band in question sending us a promo and stating that a mutual friend, from another Texas band, has suggested that we should check said band out, well then you've got to start believing in things like fate and planets aligning.
The band we are talking about is Warlung and the album is "Immortal Portal"

.The venerable Mr. Rodger also states that there may be just a whiff of Blue Oyster Cult about the grooves Warlung explore on "Immortal Portal" and once again I have to bow to Mr. Rodger's vast musical knowledge and nod in sage agreement. However it is just a whiff and however accomplished and talented BOC's rhythm section were back in the day they would be hard pushed to match the levels of four string growl and percussive thunder Chris and Ethan Tamez lay beneath the guitars and vocals of George Baba and Phillip Bennett. BOC, at times, teetered on a razor's blade edge between hard rock and its more radio friendly cousin AOR and there is a sense that Warlung are performing a similar function with their melodic approach to underground rock. Warlung's lighter more melodic and considered touch may prove to be a bridge too far for those with a hankering for the more abrasive extremes of rock and metal however for those of us brought up suckling on the breast of 70's classic rock Warlung's mellower take on heaviness is manna from heaven. Dual harmonies and clean lead vocals tell doomic tales and apocalyptic stories over backdrops of heavy but measured groove, and here is it is we find yet another parallel with BOC, for although there is element of lyrical darkness to songs like "Palm Reader", "Between The Dark And The Light" and "Coal Minor's" the music they are enveloped in has a contrasting brighter melodic, almost commercial rock feel, a feel that is both refreshing and somewhat warming in these times of brutal crunching riffage and growling demonic vocals

Warlung's "Immortal Portal" is an album that goes a long way in proving that dark lyrical content does not always need to be surrounded by grooves that reflect that darkness and that you can say as much with a good melody as you can with a satanic growl. After all don't they say when faced with danger you should hum a happy tune.
Go check it out ….

© 2019 Frazer Jones

THE GHOST NEXT DOOR ~ A FEAST FOR THE SIXTH SENSE .... review

It is nice to see that Todd Severin and the gang at Ripple Music, a label that has built its reputation on releasing music of a more hard rock/stoner bias, are still sending feelers out into more diverse and angular territories. Ripple Music first stepped out of their comfort zone when they released "Human Collapse" by postapocolyptic French rockers Los Disidentes del Sucio Motel and have since dipped their toes into the doomic arena with Sweden's Vokonis, sludgy stonerized prog with France's The Necromancers and Mediterranean flavoured psychedelia with Cyprus's Arcadian Child. Ripple's dalliance with rock of a more alternative nature continues with their latest signings The Ghost Next Door, Gary Wendt: (guitars/vocals), Aaron Asghari: (guitars), Sebastien Castelain: (drums) and Noah Whitfield: (bass), a quartet from Berkeley, California who describe what they do as "a desire to marry the dark melancholy of 80s and 90s alternative with the aggression and drive of Bay Area metal". Let's see if their new album "A Feast For the Sixth Sense" lives up to that statement.

It is hard to pin down, just by listening, what influences have shaped The Ghost Next Door's sonic output as there is just so much going on here, both as a whole and as individual tracks, on paper the band list among their influences everything from Rush to The Cure so we are talking a broad musical spectrum here. What is evident, when listening to the bands debut, is that TGND are not a band who are bound by the rules of genre, grunge/alt. metal aesthetics, doomic density, prog complexity and sludgy stoner fuzziness either get a walk on part or lead the cast throughout the albums eight songs (ten if you buy CD or digital) and keep the listener on tenterhooks as to where any song may go at any given moment. Making comparisons to other bands in order to gain a reference point on TGND's sound is almost next to useless as no sooner are you convinced a song  has a touch of Alice In Chains type slurry grunginess in its groove than it suddenly takes off on some prog(ish) excursion or drops down into sludgy doomic dankness. Vocally things are no less diverse with Wendt changing tones like some people change moods, crooning clear, clean and mellow one minute bellowing bearlike and bellicose the next, never giving less than 100% in either mode
Exciting, innovative music should not be defined by a label or tag and there has not been either invented yet that could even come close to describing the grooves The Ghost Next Door bring to the table with "A Feast For The Sixth Sense", the best Desert Psychlist can come up with is STUNNING!

 "A Feast For The Sixth Sense" is a fine addition to Ripple Music's increasingly varied catalogue and one by a band for whom  the word "varied" is probably the most fitting and apt.
Check it out …..

© 2019 Frazer Jones