AROUND THE FIRE ~ ADVENT OF THE FIREWALKERS ...... review

If you have been a regular visitor to the pages of Desert Psychlist then it might have come to your notice that we have a bit of a predilection for music that is a little off the beaten track, music with jagged edges that doesn't quite conform to what many consider the norm. Today we feature a band who fall into that category, a combo from Thessaloniki, Greece whose grooves blend Asian and Middle Eastern influences in with those from their home country while also managing to rock out western style.. The band in question go by the name of Around The Fire and their debut album flies under the banner of "Advent of the Firewalkers"

After bigging up Around The Fire's Middle Eastern/Asian influences it comes as a bit of a surprise when the needle drops on first track "Helie Eleison" and we are treated to a vocal chant that sounds not unlike something that might be heard at some Native American rain dance, the band redeem themselves somewhat though by surrounding the songs tribal drumbeats and crunching guitars with swirling eastern tinted motifs superbly delivered on a kemenje (a type of fiddle with three strings used predominantly in Eastern Mediterranean folk music). Vocals, both here and throughout the album, are delivered in clear tones but mostly sit at the low throatier end of the spectrum, this vocal approach far from being at odds with the albums underlying eastern themes and motifs actually adds a certain gravitas to proceedings and gives the album an almost ritualistic, spiritual vibe. Only four songs are contained on "Advent of the Firewalkers", all of them are a mix of westernized heavy doom, stoner rock and traditional flavoured Middle Eastern/Grecian grooviness and each, in Desert Psychlist's humble opinion, is worth its weight in gold, frankincense and mer.

Quirky, left of center and off the wall "Advent of the Firewalkers" is all of those things and more, an album from a band not just content to take their influences from the vast library of western rock but also from their own geographical location and history.
Check it out …..

© 2019 Frazer Jones

HERÁLDICA DE MANDRAKE ~ ESTO TAMBIÉN PASARÁ ....... review

There is something going on in the international underground scene that has never really happened before, bands from the countries like Brazil, Argentina and Peru, situated at the southern end of the America's, are not only creating music to be enjoyed by audiences of their own respective countries they are also making music that is reaching out to a much wider international market and Chile, that strip of land running like a spine down the South American west coast, is no exception. 

Heráldica de Mandrake, a trio from Santiago, Chile, consisting of Francisco Visceral Rivera (guitar/vocals)and vocals; Max Salazar (bass/backing vocals) and Cristian Rivera (percussion), jam grooves that although owe a huge debt to the doomic grooves of Northern Hemisphere bands like Reverend Bizarre and Count Raven contains enough "rice and beans" to give them their own unique identity, as can be heard on their epic one track EP "Esto Tambien Pasará". 

"Esto Tambien Pasará" begins with drummer Cristian Rivera beating out a huge military-like percussive tattoo that is then joined by the harmonised voices of Francisco Visceral Rivera and Max Salazar in tones that can only be described as Gregorian, monastic chants that give the proceedings an almost spiritual yet at the same time satanic feel. The Ep's lyrics are all sang in Spanish and far from limiting their appeal to a potential wider international audience they add an element of mysticism to events giving the listener the feeling they are witnesses to some sort of ancient religious ritual. Musically "Esto Tambien Pasará" sits somewhere between epic doom and its stonerized equivalent with a variety of big thundering guitar riffs driven hard by equally thundering percussion and bass around which the band intersperse elements of swirling heavy psych and  experimental space rock, the trio regularly taking their grooves off on weird and wonderful tangents  but just as regularly returning to the rustic core elements of their doomic origins.

In a scene that regularly looks backwards for its inspiration it is refreshing to find a band trying to do something a little different with those inspirations, and what Heráldica de Mandrake bring to the table with "Esto Tambien Pasará" is certainly different and maybe even a little brilliant!

Check it out .... 

© 2019 Frazer Jones

URBAN GRAVEYARD ~ WELCOME TO THE URBAN GRAVEYARD .... review

We at Desert Psychlist have come to the realisation that our coverage of grooves coming out of the Dutch underground scene has been a little sparse to say the least, in fact the only bands we've covered from the Netherlands in the five years we have been running have been Desert Colossus and Blood Diamond This  needs to be remedied and how better than pointing you in the direction of Urban Graveyard a quintet from the Dutch Low Countries with a penchant for caustic fuzz drenched riffage and punchy thundering rhythms as can be heard on the bands debut "Welcome To The Urban Graveyard".

 Title track "Welcome To The Urban Graveyard", is not so much a track as an introduction piece, its narrative, accompanied by the sound of  crowing cockerels, tolling bells and the sound of people getting on with their general lives, tells of how death for people living in medieval towns and cities was such a common occurrence that the dying and dead outnumbered the birds that sat atop the rooftops. Just as the listener begins to think they may have stumbled across some conceptual themed opus set in the Dark Ages the listener is suddenly propelled into the present with a gritty little ditty entitled "21st Century Prostitute"  a song that begins life with rolling, heavily fuzzed, bass line that is then joined by the rest of the band in a groove that sits somewhere between the generator party desert rock of Kyuss and the weed inspired riffology of Wales' Dopesmoker, incessant circular grooves decorated in big, slightly untamed, vocal colouring. A brief experimental piece going by the name "Danjon-L0" follows before we are once again battered by an onslaught of fuzz drenched refrains via "Bloodmoon Rising", a chugging thunder riffed groove monster interspersed with Hawkwind flavoured swells and swirls. "A Subtle Guide" is up next and does not differ much from its predecessor except for the fact that there is a touch of bluesy swagger thrown into the mix this time around. "A58" closes "Welcome To The Urban Graveyard", an inner city cruising song that conjures up visions of on coming headlight glare and seemingly endless tarmac,

Experimental pieces aside Urban Graveyard's sound is a relentless assault that hits into a groove and does not deviate too far from that groove once that groove has been hit. Now some might read that statement as a criticism, it is not, like the aforementioned Dopesmoker Urban Graveyard use their relentlessness and repetition as a tool to create a mesmeric almost hypnotic feel with their music, the band creating grooves that once they have grabbbed you just simply refuse to relinquish their grip.
Check them out …..

© 2019 Frazer Jones

HIDDEN SUN ~PARALYZED ..... review

Sometimes musicians come together and something just clicks straight away, whether its because all the musicians involved have a similar musical vision or it's just an alignment of certain planets remains a mystery but when it does happen the results can be outstanding. Bamberg's Paralyzed only got together in March of this year (2019) and after only a few gigs the German quartet of Michael Binder (vocals & solo guitar); Caterina Böhner (rhythm guitar); Philipp Engelbrecht (bass guitar) and Florian Thiele (drums) decided that despite the brevity of their time as a working unit they needed to dive into the studio and document the magic they were creating together so as to share it with the wider world. The results of that studio visit can be heard on the bands debut EP " Hidden Sun" and we think you will agree IT IS outstanding!

Regular perusers of Desert Psychlist's pages will know that we have a real soft spot for that genus of raucous raw groove, birthed between the heavy blues of the late 60's and the hard rock/heavy metal of the late 70's, that we now known as "proto metal".  Paralyzed may not have even been born during this period but the music they create has a distinctive "proto" vibe, albeit sitting at the more bluesier end of the spectrum. Fear not though that Paralyzed's grooves are backward looking as "Hidden Sun" has as much of the gritty modern stoner attack of Earthless and Wo Fat in its execution as it does that of, "proto" cult legends, Buffalo and JPT Scare Band. Why are we specifically mentioning these bands rather than say the Monster Magnet's and Kyuss' from the modern era and the Sir Lord Batimore's  and Dust's from those "proto" heydays, the reason why is, with the exception of Buffalo, those are and were bands who put a huge emphasis on the use of guitar solo's as a main musical weapon as opposed to just an accompaniment or a way to fill in the spaces between verses. So why Buffalo then we hear you ask? Well that's because Binder's vocals have a not too dissimilar tone and delivery to those of the Australian bands frontman Dave Tice, gritty, bluesy and strong.  "Hidden Sun" is primarily a guitar album and it is Binder's guitar work, combined with his powerful vocals, that is the dominant force throughout the EP's seven tracks, whether rocking back and forth on his wah pedal or laying down soaring clean tones and textures he is the axis around which the rest of the musicians contributions revolve. And what contributions they are, Böhner's rhythm guitar does not just fill in the spaces Binder leaves for her it lays down the foundations on which those guitar forays are built, her crunching power chords and single note riffs dripping and drooling in warm fuzz are the cornerstones around which the lead guitarist constructs his swooping solo's. Engelbrecht's bass plays a similar role, his booming, growling bass lines sit just beneath the guitars and combine with Thiele's solid, tight and punchy percussion to inject "the groove" into the EP's blues flecked lysergic sonic onslaught. Song wise Paralyzed do not put a foot wrong from the fuzzy bass intro of brief but groovy "Idols" to the final snare shot that closes the heavily fuzzed final track "Polarity" not a guitar note or drum beat is used without it earning its place in the whole, everyone bringing their "A" game to the table to create something that doesn't need a few listens to "get in to" but hits that sweet spot in your inner ear immediately.

Desert Psychlist was one of the first to chance upon Paralyzed's "Hidden Sun" and we immediately posted our discovery on social media to alert others to its awesome content, the post was then picked up by such underground press luminaries as Doomed & Stoned's Papa Paul Rote and Doom Charts contributor Steve Rodger both of whom have gone on to not only rave about its sonic impact but also to put their money where their mouths are and make a purchase.... and that can probably tell you more about how good this is than a few hundred of Desert Psychlist's words.

Check it out ..... 

© 2019 Frazer Jones

DOPE DEFAULT ~ IMPRISONED ..... review

When reviewing Greek riffmeisters 2017 EP "Tales from the Wasteland" Desert Psychlist stated that "Dope Default may not be in the same league as Planet of Zeus and 1000mods quite yet but if they continue releasing EP's of the quality of "Tales From The Wasteland" then that day might not be too far away" Well it seems that Desert Psychlist maybe somewhat of a seer as since that time Dope Default's star has been on the ascendancy. The band soon followed up "Tales from the Wasteland" with their first full length album "Ofrenda" an album that fully cemented the bands transformation from the wannabee grungsters of their debut EP "Nuclear Honeymoon" into the hard riffing stonerized desert rockers they are today and to further document that transition from groan to growl the Thessaloniki quintet of  John Campbell (vocals); Dimitris Kolimvanos (guitars); Giorgos Kontouris (guitars);  Makis Georgiou (bass) and  Thodoris Anastasiadis (drums), have just released their second album "Imprisoned".

Things get off to a very promising start with "No Tomorrow" a chord crunching riff fest driven by throbbing bass and powerful percussion over which big throaty vocals tell of missed opportunities and chased dreams. Following tracks "Cold-Blooded Queen" and "The Fallen Saviour" follow in much the same vein as their predecessor with big chopped out powerchords complimented by swirling lead guitar motifs pushed hard by a pulsating bass and drum pairing, both tunes finding Dope Default putting a bigger emphasis on melody and vocal trade offs. Next song "Sinless Invader" finds the band heading into southern rock waters, the band jamming a groove that sits somewhere between Blackfoot and Mississippi Bones, and is quickly followed by "Relentless", a chugging riff monster with a clever mix of loud, quiet , loud dynamics. "Silent Scream", a song that tackles the subject of our own inner demons, is next and is buoyed by a stuttering heavily fuzzed guitar riff decorated in a mix of gritty lead and harmonised vocal colouring while "Years Of Glory" , an instrumental, uses a recurring twin guitar motif to grab you attention before going off on a series of groove laden tangents. And so we arrive at last track and the one that bears the albums title "Imprisoned", big beefy and with a groove that is part Sabbath, part Orange Goblin and part Iron Maiden, it closes the album with all guns blazing its powerful bellowed vocals, scorching lead and crunching rhythm guitars underpinned by growling bass and punishing percussion, all combining to create a raucous finale to what is a delightfully raucous album.

Greece maybe a country struggling with its economic climate but one currency the bands that reside there do not lack in is groove and Dope Default's "Imprisoned"  is rolling in the stuff!
Check it out ….

© 2019 Frazer Jones

GEVAUDAN ~ ITER ..... review

It starts at the base of the spine and runs like an electric shock up through the vertebrae finally arriving in that sweet spot in the brain where there it explodes like a bomb sending your senses reeling and filling your whole being with an unexplainable delight. We are of course talking about that reaction we feel when we hear music that is so damn good it actually has a physical effect on the body, a reaction Desert Psychlist felt earlier today when we dropped the needle for the first time on UK doomsters Gevaudan's debut "Iter"

Grief, misery and woe are staple and oft overused themes of many bands working in the field of doom however Adam Pirmohamed (vocals), Bruce Hamilton (guitar), Andy Salt (bass) and David Himbury (drums), under the flag of Gevaudan, manage to give those themes a whole new lease of life with their debut album "Iter". "Iter" is in essence what you would call a "traditional" doom album but to just call it that would be a disservice as there is so much more going on here. Yes there are those themes of despair and sorrow we spoke of earlier and yes Pirmohamed's vocals do have those classic gothic tinted tones that border on rock operatic but when you put these together with the dark, dank and frankly quite prog-like doom that Hamilton, Salt and Himbury lay beneath those vocals and lyrics then you end up with something very, very special. Desert Psychlist's first thoughts, while listening to Gevaudan's debut opus, was to try and compare it with albums from those greats of the traditional doom genre Candlemass and Solitude Aeturnus but the more we listened the more we started to hear something else and the truth dawned on us that what we were hearing had more in common with early Opeth and Ireland's Primordial than it did with Leif Edlings Swedish combo as there are elements of both Opeth's proggish leanings and Primordial's blackened metal intensity in what Gevaudan bring to the table, albeit a little more doomic and vocally a little more traditional. Desert Psychlist could go into one of our usual song by song breakdown's, examining every little vocal inflection and instrumental passage of the five songs that make up "Iter", however we will leave that for you to discover as music this good, this emotionally involving and powerful should be experienced first hand without any preconceived notions, what we will tell you is what Gevaudan bring,to the altar, with songs entitled "Dawntreader", "Maelstrom", "The Great Heathen Army", "Saints of Blood" and "Duskwalker", are dynamics that range from a whisper to a roar, grooves that can seduce with a gentle caress then leave you reeling with the ferocity of their attack.

"Iter" is an album that will appeal to both the traditional doom crowd and those that like their doom a little on the blacker side, an album that leans towards prog in places yet at the same time stays true to the basics of its doomic roots, an album that's not quite a masterpiece but comes damn close.
Check it out …..
  © 2019 Frazer Jones

GOLDEN GOD ~ SILENCE, DEATH, OVATION, GOLD .... review

"The Blues" can be found in almost everything from the most extreme forms of metal to the tenderest, gentlest folk song be it a single melancholy note or just a feel or vibe. Over the last decade "The Blues" has seen a huge resurgence not just in the guitar hero blues of Joe Bonamassa and Gary Clarke Jr. but also with those bands plying their trade in the depths of the rock underground. Some of these bands, like Clutch and Graveyard readily acknowledge the bluesy influence and inflections in their grooves while some bands don't even realise they are even there. The subject of today's review are of the former camp, Ohio's Golden God, Sebastian (vocals); Greg (guitar); David (drums) and Marshall (bass), know full well that the grooves they play may first come across as raucous, crunching and in your face stoner/hard rock but they also understand that at the root of their fuzz drenched riffs and punchy, powerful rhythms is a music older than they are. If you still need confirmation of Golden God's blues credentials then look no further than their jaw dropping debut "Silence, Death, Ovation, Gold"

Ok let's clear up one thing, those reading this reviews intro might be expecting something Zeppelinesque or even Cream(ish) with some sort of late 60's early 70's heavy blues flavour, this is not the case. Golden God's groove is very much of today, a raucous raw edged groove drenched in caustic fuzz drenched guitar and distortion heavy bass that is driven by solid, thunderous percussion and coated in strong clean clear but gritty vocal tones. So where does the blues come in to all this we hear you ask, well the answer to that is just about everywhere, What Golden God does on "Silence, Death, Ovation, Gold" is to take the blues strip it of its black suit and shades image then dress it up in leathers and a band tee and stick a joint in its mouth, this is not the blues your mum and dad might have danced to in their day this is blues that'll try to seduce your mother while its friends beat your dad up in an alley.

"Silence, Death, Ovation, Gold" is stonerized blues rock at its very best, an album that despite a couple strategically placed, breath catching , respites is a full on assault on the senses from start to finish.
Check it out …..

© 2019 Frazer Jones