SEA OF SNAKES ~ BOW TO NO ONE ...review

Desert Psychlist was mightily impressed with Sea of Snakes first EP "World On Fire" when it landed in 2021 and our admiration for the band doubled with the release of "The Serpent and the Lamb" their 2022 debut full length album. However we have to admit to being totally unprepared for the sheer dark majesty of their latest release "Bow To No One" (Glory or Death Records), we knew these guys were good but we never, up until this landed, knew just how good they could be.

Sea of Snakes new album opens with "1313" the song a weighty tome in full possession of all the dark crunching refrains and busy thunderous percussion a seasoned doom aficionado could ever hope for. However this is not entirely a doom song, there is an underlying element grunginess going on beneath all that crunching dankness, a slurry element to those refrains that is reminiscent of Alice In Chains at their very darkest. That grunginess also makes its presence felt in the vocals, there is a worldly weariness present in Jason Busiek's delivery that you would be hard pushed to find gracing a good percentage of todays doom albums. Next song "Crack The Whip" ramps up the slurred guitar attack and twins it with Layne Staley/Jerry Cantrell-like vocal dynamics, an impressive mix of lead and harmonised vocals. "Slo-Failiure" finds guitarist Jim McCloskey and bassist Greg Noriega laying down some deeply riveting doomic riffage ably supported by Chris Lowbridge's punchy tight drumming, Busiek switching here to a slightly more grittier vocal approach to compliment the dankness of the grooves surrounding him. There is an element of Faith No More about next song "Kill Hate Love" in both its musical and vocal attack while for "Black Hymn" Sea of Snakes show no shame in getting down dirty and Sabbathian. We are halfway through the album now and not a duff track has raised its head above the parapet, and do not go expecting any either "Below the Water", "Martyr of the Son", "Passenger" ,"Tempest" and final song "Devil Inside You" are all superb examples of how well the genres of grunge/alt-metal and doom/stoner rock can be made to compliment each other if handled with the right care and understanding.

It seems strange that there are some people who will sing the praises of Black Sabbath yet will throw a hissy fit if asked to listen to Alice In Chains despite the fact that both bands share musical similarities. Sea of Snakes however do not care that their version of doom may have an air of grunginess in its make-up in fact they celebrate those elements and want their listeners to notice them, "Bow To No One" is the perfect title for a collection of songs that refuses to apologise for drawing from sources outside of the doom canon, in fact all things against the middle its just a pretty perfect album.

Check it out .... 

© 2024 Frazer Jones

COMA HOLE ~ HAND OF SEVERANCE ... review

In April of 2022 Coma Hole, Eryka Fir (bass/guitar/keyboards/vocals) and Steve Anderson (drums), released their self-titled debut "Coma Hole" a four song opus that melded together elements of Seattle flavoured grunginess with stonerized metal and bottom heavy hard rock over which strong distinctive vocals, a blistering mix of  melodic bluesy hollers and soulful croons, held sway. In Desert Psychlist's review we described the release as "essential listening worthy of gracing any discerning rock fans music collection", a statement we still stand by. This month (November 2024) sees Coma Hole release "Hand of Severance" the long awaited follow up to their debut, expect to blown away.

The sound of a radio skipping back and forth across stations introduces opening track "Alphaholics" and is followed by the muffled sound of a band jamming on a groove, suddenly a soulful yell is heard and BANG Coma Hole explode into a fuzzy bass heavy refrain driven hard by Anderson's busy tight and solid drumming over which Fir delivers an impassioned angsty but melodic vocal, as impactful barn burning opening numbers go this ranks up there with some of the best. "Nevermind" follows and boasts a full on and furious dynamic that only briefly lets up to allow Fir's vocals to drop from a holler to a croon in preparation for the soulful wail she closes the song with. "Rivermouth" jams a groove that is circular and heavy yet Fir's vocals here lean towards the more bluesy end of the vocal spectrum, a touch richer and  slightly more melancholic."Luster" is up next and here we find Coma Hole pushing the bluesy elements of their sound to the fore, Anderson's drumming here is unfussy but right on the money while Fir keeps things anchored and fuzzy with low grizzled refrains, what makes this track though is its far too brief centre piece which finds Fir wailing wordless and exotic over a simple but effective drum pattern before the song suddenly re-ignites in waves of  screaming lead, low end fuzziness and thunderous percussion. The eastern exotica that got a brief shoe-in at the centre of "Luster" gets lead billing on the excellent "King Bee", an atmospheric torch-style tome, Fir not only getting to amaze us with the strength and power of her vocals and the bone shaking qualities of her bass playing here but also her prowess on six-strings and keyboards. Coma Hole came in heavy with first track "Alphaholics" and they go out even heavier with "Nooses", an absolute peach of a closer that although once again toys with eastern flavours still manages to feel crushing and intense, well that is until its final seconds when all the bluster is swept away and we are left with Fir serenely serenading us alone, and with her own double tracked harmonies, to gentle and emotive piano accompaniment.

Some albums need to have paragraphs of words written about them to convince the record buying/streaming/downloading public to go check them out but for Coma Hole's "Hand of Severance" there is no need for a glut of wordy praise, just one word should suffice and that word is ..WOW! 

Check it out...

© 2024 Frazer Jones

TRILLION TON BERYLLIUM SHIPS ~ THE MIND LIKE FIRE UNBOUND .. review

Lincoln, Nebraska combo Trillion Ton Beryllium Ships, Jeremy Warner (guitar, clean vocals); Justin Kamal (drums, harsh vocals) and Karlin Warner (bass), have interrupted their travels through time and space to bring us yet another doom laden collection of tunes packed with insights and tales of life travelling the cosmos. The album in question goes by the name "The Mind Like Fire Unbound" and is the bands third full length album, unless of course you count the very lengthy two song "Destination Ceres Station: Reefersleep" (in which case it would be their fourth). Either third or fourth "The Mind Like Fire Unbound" is, in Desert Psychlist's opinion, their best release to date.

Trillion Ton Beryllium Ships (TTBS) are a band who like to go big and they go truly epic right from the off with opening track "BUGS", a fourteen minute plus monster of a song chronicling the invasion of a distant world with the lyrics giving the listener viewpoints from both sides of the conflict, both viewpoints played out against a  musical backdrop of crushing low'n'slow stoner doomic groove. Cleverly the first part of the song finds our invaders  questioning their motivation for their invasion in clean melodic vocal tones while harsh guttural tones are used to represent those who are the subject of said invasion, a trick that creates a sort of rock operatic scenario. Things get even more intense further on down the line when, possibly as a reflection on AI's growing influence on just about everything, all humanity is taken out of the equation and a computerised voice becomes the dominant voice of the invading force. Next up is "Black Forest"  a dark thrumming tome anchored in the doomic mire by subterranean bass lines and busy brutal percussion that is then decorated in low grizzled vocal harshness around which swirling guitar motifs and crunching power chords make their presence felt. Things begin a little post-metallic and ambient for next song "Infinite Inertia" with a lone ringing guitar the only instrumentation present until the bass and drums slowly join in on an achingly low slow and heavy groove decorated in a clean see-sawing vocal melody, those post metallic textures returning briefly around the songs three quarter mark to herald in an unsettling passage of fizzy drone which is then supplanted by a return to the songs initial stoner doom dynamic only this time tinted with an element of proggish complexity. The tongue in cheek  "I Hate Space" follows and finds TTBS looking at life through the eyes of  a boots on the ground space cadet, the reluctant traveller bemoaning endless missions and a lack of recognition for the job he is asked to do, there is a air of playfulness going on here that is reminiscent of early Hawkwind which is never a bad thing. TTBS bring things to a close with title song "The Mind Like Fire Unbound" a sprawling doomic tome that starts out dark dank and atmospheric but then morphs into a chugging almost stoner metallic riff fest before then suddenly changing tack again and taking on almost prog like hues in its final third, a fittingly epic finale to what is a quietly epic album. 

If lyrical themes of time and space are your thing and you like those themes to be supported by grooves that are mixture of mid-tempo and achingly slow stonerized doom and metal then "The Mind Like Fire Unbound" is most definitely going to be your jam. So fire up the dilithium crystals. set the controls for the heart of the sun and let Trillion Ton Beryllium Ships carry you away on a journey to the outer limits of the cosmos. 

Check 'em out ....  

© 2024 Frazer Jones

BURN RITUAL ~ HOUSE OF THE WICKED .... review

The recent rise of AI generated music has unfortunately thrown an element of shade over the work of the humble one-man project, with some people becoming a little suspicious of anything being released that does not bear band photos, bio's or concert footage. Desert Psychlist can however allay your fears by telling you that Burn Ritual, the brainchild of muti-instrumentalist Jake W Lewis, is not the offspring of an AI computer programme but a well put together one-man project with the man himself playing all the instrumentation, the only programmes used being those to needed splice all the different parts together in a recognisable musical form. That out of the way let's now inform you that Burn Ritual (Jake) has a new release out, a collection of Sabbathian influence grooviosity going by the title "House Of The Wicked", four songs of horror/occult inspired grooviness, spliced with occasional sampled narrative, the perfect soundtrack for the shorter days and longer nights of the winter season.

When Desert Psychlist reviewed Burn Ritual's previous release "Grave Watcher" we remarked that there was an early Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats vibe to a couple of the albums songs and if anything that vibe is even more pronounced on "House Of The Wicked". Opening song "Night Demon" has, when you get past the songs narrated intro sample, that same lilting melody over crunching heaviness thing going on that Uncle Acid made their own before going down the avant-garde/experimental rabbit hole, the only difference being that Jake approaches the songs groove here from a much more proto-metallic/doom angle. Follow up "Look What We've Done", sees Jake crunching out circular guitar and bass riffs over  steady solid rhythm patterns and embellishing those riffs with short sharp but tasteful solos, layering over the results a double tracked clean vocal melody that is pure candy for the ears. Things get a little traditionally doomic and bluesy for next song "Your Wicked Mind" Jake opting for a less is more policy by allowing his guitar tones to reverberate and sustain just that little longer to add extra atmosphere to the proceedings, Jake twinning those tones with low level flying bass motifs, swirling solos and keyboard effects to ramp up the songs impact, and let us not forget those vocals which are a blend of sneery malevolence and menace-lite haziness. It's all aboard the hazy crazy train for last song "Of Beast And Man" a delicious slice of psychedelic doominosity  that initially has Jake's heavily filtered vocals coming at you from all angles over a low slow stoner doom groove but then goes up a gear to finish on a wave of dank, and totally unexpected, boogie-woogie.

Let us take a moment to remember that their are still talented musicians out there making real music; not just with fellow musicians but also on their own in studios, in bedrooms, and in one extreme case a car. The contributions these lone musicians, hunched over their PC's, laptops etc. trying to put all the pieces together, make to our scene should not be underestimated. While their are people out like Jake W Lewis releasing music as good as that which can be found on "House Of The Wicked" then their is still hope for real music.

Check it out ....   

© 2024 Frazer Jones

GRAND MAGUS ~ SUNRAVEN ... review

Sweden's Grand Magus have been dubbed both doom and stoner metal in the past and while their music does touch on aspects of both those genres at their root Grand Magus are essentially a heavy metal band with a sound that is at times probably closer to Di'Anno (RIP) era Iron Maiden or Saxon than it is to say Black Sabbath or Orange Goblin. Throughout their tenure as a band Grand Magus have stuck rigidly to lyrical themes that revolve around Scandinavian folklore, Viking mythology and the human condition, the band backing those themes with music that although possesses an "old school" vibe does not sound dated or a reflection of another time. The band have been around, as Grand Magus, since 1999 and in that time have accrued an impressive discography that is a mix of full length albums and splits, the most notable being the bands self titled debut release "Grand Magus" and the internationally acclaimed "Hammer of the North", though in truth you would be hard pushed to find a release from the band that is not notable. The bands current line up of Matts "Fox" Skinner (bass/backing vocals); Ludwig Witt (drums) and JB Christoffersson (guitar/vocals) have just released "Sunraven" (Nuclear Blast), the bands tenth studio album and one worthy of its place in their hugely impressive catalogue.

Opening track "Skybound" starts with Christofferson quickly sliding up the guitar fretboard then crunching down on a chugging metal refrain pushed by Skinner's low growly bass and Witt's punchy drumming, basically everything we have come to expect from a Grand Magus song, heavy yet at the same time catchy and boasting clear powerful, yet not overly so, vocals. Next song "The Wheel Of Pain" begins life stuttering and jerky then evolves into a groove that is a blend of torch-like dynamics and throbbing anthemic metal with Christofferson's vocal taking on equally anthemic tones. Title track "Sunraven" does carry an air of proto-doominosity in its gait but it is a doominosity twinned with the sort of galloping dynamics that were more a feature of  the early days of NWOBHM. "Winter Song" on the other hand is Grand Magus at probably their most doomic, dankness and darkness features heavily here especially in Christofferson's vocals which are pitched mostly in the singers middle register but then move to a more gravelled grittiness in the songs more intense moments. "Black Lake" begins with fractured chord textures over which Christofferson croons in deep gravid tones before the hammer goes down and he is joined by Skinner and Witt in an atmospheric metal groove enhanced with a series of recurring hooks and  motifs as well as some highly tasteful lead guitar work, the song only returning to its fractured beginnings in its final moments. The following "Hour of the Wolf" is a chugging riff monster that has all the hallmarks needed to become a staple in the bands live shows while "Grendel" finds the band blending their heavy metal with an element of stoner metal swagger to create a sound that would not have sounded out of place on one of those Spiritual Beggars albums Christoffersson once featured on. Grand Magus really get their heavy metal groove on with "To Heorot", with Celtic flavoured guitar motifs and neo-classical shredding driven hard by Skinner and Witt's thunderous bass and drum groove. Lastly we come to final track "The End Belongs To You" a song that apart from containing a great vocal, superbly emotive lead work and deliciously low growly bass lines also features some highly impressive drumming from Witt.

With nine well loved albums already to their name to their name and a reputation for being a superb live act you might expect Grand Magus to maybe stop pushing themselves so hard and put out an album that ticks all the right boxes for their fans but does not really push any new boundaries. Fortunately Grand Magus are not the type of  band who like to sit on their laurels, something they have proved with their tenth album "Sunraven", yes they do work within a formula but it is a formula open to including new ideas and new approaches.

Check it out ...  

© 2024 Frazer Jones

BIG GAME HUNTER ~ TALES ....review

 

Danish quartet Big Game Hunter, current line up: Kalle E. Huusom (guitars/lead vocals); Mads Yde (guitars/vocals); Bastian Reinholdt Madsen (bass/vocals) and Jonas Virring (drums/vocals), have to date been teasing their audiences with a series of one off single and double track releases, this month however the band have gone one better by releasing "Tales" a THREE song EP so good we thought it deserved getting the full Desert Psychlist treatment.

# bassist at the time of this this recording was Hjalte Buch, who also contributed to the song writing

If you, like us, have a soft spot for stoner, doom and heavy psych that draws on 70's hard rock and blues while still retaining its grip on the here and now sounds of today's underground rock scene then the following three tracks are going to be so far up your street they'll be knocking on your door asking to come in. Opening number "Beast On Show" for example draws not only from the proto-doomic pool that birthed the likes of Black Sabbath, Pentagram and Saint Vitus but also from the more blues and psych orientated proto-metal that for a time ran beside it and that gave us bands as May Blitz, Atomic Rooster and Sir Lord Baltimore. We are of course talking big riffs, chunky rhythms, soaring bluesy solos and strong cleanly sung vocal melodies here but at the same time we are also getting the fuzziness and distortion that places this song firmly in the canon of modern day stoner and metal.  Second song "Psychedelic Sorcerer" is a devil horns throwing, nod inducing proto-metallic/heavy rock chug fest in possession of ear-pleasingly sing along vocal melodies and catchy guitar motifs that once they have  their hooks into you are hard to shake off, not that you would ever want to. For the EP's last song "The Night", Big Game Hunter play their atmospheric card with a song boasting fractured chord voicing and shimmering arpeggios ringing out majestically over subtle and restrained percussion and a grizzled deep bass motif the songs groove slowly building up in intensity until finally exploding into a doom and blues tinted stoner/heavy psych romp accompanied by powerful, soulfully angsty vocals, it's impressive stuff!

The great American entrepreneur/politician/showman P.T.Barnum lived his life by the mantra "always leave them wanting more" and that could well be the thinking behind Big Game Hunter's penchant for releasing their music in small bite -size portions. Whatever the bands reasoning there can be no doubting that after listening to the three songs that make up "Tales" there WILL be many hankering to hear more, and who knows maybe next time Big Game Hunter may even give us FOUR songs! 

Check 'em out.....

© 2024 Frazer Jones

INCHE KAI CHE ~ TRANSMUTACIÓN ....review

If you are a regular reader of these pages then you will already know that we at Desert Psychlist have a high regard for the underground rock music emanating from the continents of South and Central America, however if we had to pick one country from those two continents that has consistently delivered the music our riff battered ears demands and has excited us the most then it has got to be Chile. For a country whose government once prohibited all forms of rock music (1973-1990) the growth of the Chilean underground scene over the last ten to fifteen years has been nothing short of phenomenal. One of those band who have taken full advantage of this, still relatively new, artistic freedom and has impressed us the most are Curico combo Inche Kai Che, the bands self-titled debut, "Inche Kai Che", not only blowing Desert Psychlist's mind but also the minds of some of the scenes top reviewers, podcasters and influencers, the album going on to grab a very respectable and well deserved  #8 spot on April 2022's monthly Doom Charts. This year the band, Vito (guitar/vocals); Jony (drums/backing vocals) and Diego (bass), return with a new album, "Transmutaci​ó​n", get ready for to have your minds blown once again!

Title track "Transmutaci​ó​n" kicks things off by opening its account with a low bouncy, bass motif accompanied by steady tight drumming and some effect laden weirdness before the guitar comes in and the band fall into a fuzzy circular stoner groove with echo tinted vocals (Spanish) wailing over the top. So far so good but then we reach the songs middle section and  things get really interesting with the band launching into a passage of lysergic ambience and hazy serenity that would give some of the bigger hitters in this field a run for their money, liquid guitar textures and shimmering arpeggios underscored by an undulating and spacious bass and drum groove, the band only returning to a heavy dynamic in the songs dying stages. Next comes the uber stonerish "Caer es Volar" a deliciously dynamic full on hard rocker decorated in strong vocals and boasting chunky crunchy guitar textures driven by four to the floor rhythms. Now if this was how the song progressed to its conclusion you would not be unhappy, in fact you would probably be applauding but that is not how Inche Kai Che do things and so we are treated to another of those trippy. dippy and utterly gorgeous lysergic middle sections, this one even better than the last. There is a hint of doominosity to next song "Ancestral" that is neither proto or traditional flavoured, if  you were forced to  describe it as anything then you would probably opt for hazy otherworldly blues doom, whatever you decide to call it there is no getting away from how damn good a tune this is! Its back to chunky guitar riffage for the instrumental "El Retumbar" only this time that riffage is by joined by rolling bass refrains and punchy on point percussion, probably the best thing about this song is the chances it gives each member to take their moment in the spotlight, chances they do not squander, probably the worst part of this song is that it has to come to an end. Penultimate track "Destino" boasts a catchy easy on the ear melody set against a jerky hard driven bluesy hard rock groove, a groove  that serves as the perfect vehicle for the soaring and equally bluesy guitar solos' that decorate it. All good things must come to an end eventually and Inch Kai Che close their good thing with "Sagan" a sprawling and atmospheric opus that just seems to get better and better the longer it is playing, the song trading moments of liquid like serenity with moments of spiralling intensity to create a sound embodying much the same feelings of vastness and spaciousness that the great Pink Floyd once achieved with their song "Echoes", and if you think that last statement is a bit over the top then go back and listen again, this song is really that good.

If Inche Kai Che's "Transmutaci​ó​n" was a jewel it would be a radiant cut diamond, bright and shining with many facets, if it were a food it would be Ambrosia, divine and spiritually uplifting. It is however merely a collection of songs on an album....but what a magnificent collection of songs and what a stunning album it is.

Check it out ....

© 2024 Frazer Jones