Friday 27 September 2024
OBJET ~ OBJET ...review
Thursday 26 September 2024
CATAPULT THE SMOKE ~ A WHOLE NEW WORLD ....review
Tuesday 24 September 2024
TRIPPING HAZE CEREMONY ~ INDICAT ... review
Title track "Indicat" kicks things off, its intro of droning guitar noise is overlaid with sampled narration that documents controlled tests made on army veterans in regard to the effects of marijuana on the human body. The guitars starts to take on a more doomic dynamic as the veteran in the narrative gets "higher" with the drums laying down a battery of sedate and thunderous rhythms for the bass and guitar to decorate with thrumming low slung riffage. The reverberating final note of "Indicat" serves as the opening note for its follow up "Sabbath's Bell", do not however go thinking the word "sabbath" in the songs title is a signal for a period of Iommi-like refrains and swinging Ward like rhythms, this is not doom of the chugging proto variety this is achingly low and slow doom dressed up to the nines in dark swirling guitar solos and is vocally decorated in tones that are clean, one-dimensionally melodic and slightly ethereal. "Red Eyes Downer", a huge sounding opus, is next and boasts a groove that in its initial stages is so low slow and grainy that it almost obliterates the low key monotonic vocals that accompany it, things speed up a little as we reach the songs second half and although bassist Sara and drummer Lem's thunderous groove remains just as low and grainy they are no match for Epulyard's screaming lead work which cuts through their dense rhythmic backdrops like a hot knife through butter. Epulyard gets to grab the spotlight all to himself for next song "Curse of the Witches' Grave" by parping out an atmospheric keyboard piece that would be the perfect fit for for an Italian cult horror movie. There is an off-centred feel to penultimate number "Bed Tundy" maybe its the bands use of loud/quiet/loud dynamics or maybe its the stark contrast between its hazy clean and low in the mix vocals and its instrumental heaviness that gives the song its delicious unsettling feel, we don't know, what we do know though is that this is one hell of a tune! Tripping Haze Ceremony go big for the albums final number "Religious Rider", the band throwing in all the doomic tropes and cliches they have in their formidable arsenal, plus some unexpected moves, into a ten minute plus slice of deliriously dynamic doom that some of the world's more noted stoner doom would be envious of.
Thursday 19 September 2024
GNOME ~ VESTIGES OF VERUMEX VISIDROME ... review
Despite having a well received debut already under their belts with their 2018 release "Father Of Time", we at Desert Psychlist think it would not be wrong to say that no one, including the band themselves, saw the outpouring of love heading Gnome's way with the landing of their second album "King". Helped by the release of two excellent and gloriously silly videos for the songs "Ambrosius" and "Wenceslas" the red pointed hat wearing trio were suddenly everyone's favourite band and "King" was soon finding its way into the record collections of everyone from the serious minded musos to the casual weekend rock dabblers. Now success of this kind will of course create its own problems, how in gods name are a band expected to follow up an album that everyone and his dog thinks is the best thing since sliced bread while still trying to evolve and while also trying to avoid falling into the trap of making a 2.0 version of your biggest success to date. Well you do what Gnome have done with their third album "Vestiges Of Verumex Visidome" (Polderrecords) and that is give your fans a little of what they want while still managing to take your music forward into territories previously unexplored and managing to do so with tongues still pressed firmly into cheeks.
Chugging palm muted riffage introduces first track "Old Soul" interrupted by a series of heavy rhythmic pulses before a deeply hooky guitar motif signals an explosion of caustic and raucous headbanging groove that then falls away to make room for a vaudevillian flavoured vocal backed by choppy guitar textures and staccato like rhythms. Many bands would think that would be enough for any listener to take in and leave it at that but not Gnome, they still have some lysergic psych and sludge like harshness to fit in and so they go about delivering that into the mix too. For their next song "The Ogre" Gnome play things fairly straight with a song that starts its journey buoyed by fuzzy Thin Lizzy-like guitar motifs wrapped around a vocal that bears an element of Viking metal like swing in its delivery but then around the mid-way mark the band take a left turn and treat us to a smorgasbord of groove that touches on everything from QOTSA like quirkiness to throbbing fractured doom while also muddying the waters by including some modular jazz flavoured parping saxophone in the songs final moments. Make sure you have your arse in the saddle and your feet in the stirrups for "The Gods Are Evil" as you are about to go on a gallop, not an Iron Maiden-ish type gallop that takes you quickly from one point to another point but one that takes its listener on a whole host of weird and wonderful diversions before finally reaching its destination. "Duke Of Disgrace" is everything we love about Gnome taken to another level, jerky guitar riffs, unexpected shifts in rhythm and slightly sneery and playful verses leading up to a catchy sing-along chorus, a joyous romp from start to finish.. A moment is allowed for listeners to catch their breaths with the quaint and delightful "Old Soul Reprise" then its full on riff fuelled fun and frolics through the fractured and furious "Golden Fool", the gloriously schizophrenic "Rotten Tongue", the stoner meets hard rock meets post-punk "Back To The Mud" to the delightfully spiralling "John Frume" a song that's not sure if it wants to be atmospheric prog metal or funky heavy rock so decides to be both.
Monday 16 September 2024
LUNGBURNER ~ NATURA DUALE .... review
Tie down any loose objects in your home and stick a note under the neighbours door explaining things could get a little loud over the next half hour or so. The reason you will be taking these measures is because we at Desert Psychlist are inviting you to lend an ear to "Nature Duale" (Electric Desert Records) the enormous sounding new album from Atlanta, Georgia trio LungBurner. Some of you out there maybe still be replacing ornaments and building bridges with neighbours after spinning the bands previous release "Embers", a four song assault on the senses that gave no quarter but received plenty from those who bought into its mix of sludge, doom and blackened metal bluster. The bands new album is no less forgiving or for that matter no less praiseworthy, expect brutality, expect heaviness, expect your neighbours to move house but most of all expect your face to be melted.
Things start off fairly tranquil and calm with "Requiem" however its intro of drones and circular guitar motifs, supporting well chosen sampled narrative, is soon wiped from the memory when with a few well placed hits of his drum skins Dylan Mincey signals a dive into a full on metallic onslaught, an onslaught buoyed by Joe Mills low thrumming bass and Jens Anderberg's dank toned guitar riffage and lead work, Anderberg also doubling up on vocals to tell us of "a bringer of knowledge" and that we should "relinquish all lies" in tones that are pitched low gravelled and frankly quite scary. Next up is "The Hidden Hand", the song starts with an unsettling sample narrated in semi whispered tones and is followed by drummer Mincey beating out an impressive tattoo that is slowly joined by Mills bass and Anderberg's guitar in a groove that sits somewhere between galloping and throbbing, Anderberg adding extra impact to the songs powerhouse dynamic with a series of superbly placed samples and a vocal that is more a tuneful roar than an actual melody. "(Prey) Job" boasts a somewhat proto-doomic groove in places but do not go looking for comparisons with some of the giants of that sub-genre here because you will not find any, this is sludgier more blackened, more extreme than anything you will find on anything released by the Sabbath's and Wizard's of this world. Next song "Barren" is one for all of you out there who love a groove that "chugs" however there is much more going on here than repetitive riffs and steady thunderous rhythms, beneath the caustic refrains and raw throated vocalisations exotic elements routinely surface and then drift away, there is brutality here for sure but there are also elements of subtlety. "Astral Projection" is the perfect song for LungBurner to close their current account with, it is a song that utilizes everything explored previously and crams it all into one huge mind blowing curtain closer, a sludgy doomic metallic slice of irresistible heaviness.
Friday 13 September 2024
BLACK CITRUS - GLASS MOUNTAIN .... review
Black Citrus are a trio from Vilnius, Lithuania, the band play a raw darkened form of stoner rock edged with elements of sludginess that along the way also touches base with doom and heavy psych. The band have gone through a few line-up changes since their inception but seem to have found some some sort of stability with their current line up of Andrius Katinas (guitar/vocals); Augustinas Bėkšta (bass/vocals) and Vaidotas Segenis (drums). The band have just released their debut full length album "Glass Mountain" via Bandcamp an album we at Desert Psychlist believe is worthy of your attention.
Although chiming guitar tones introduce opening track "Crowded Sky" do not start thinking that you are in for a pastoral tip-toe through the tulips as you will soon discover when the hammer goes down and the trio explode into a maelstrom of crunching riffage and thundering rhythms accompanied by a vocal that borders on the edges of throat destroying. Surprisingly though there is a melodic element to be found amidst all this crunching heaviness, the vocalist may sound like he has smoked far too many cigarettes and maybe hit the bong a little more often than is good for him but he can hold a note and deliver a decent melody, the band as a whole are also not adverse to laying out languid and lysergic either as you will discover when they dial things way back at the songs three quarter mark. The band mix up stoner-like rhythmic drive with post-punk/indie guitar textures for the superb "Shadow of Your Light" then get feral and ferocious for the full on "Amor Fati". The albums fourth song goes by the confusing title of "7th Song" a rolling and thunderous stoner metal romp that then makes way for the slightly more than a bit twisted "Dionysus' Eyes" a weirdly off-centred sludge fest that sees the vocals take on a harsher more guttural dynamic but that also boasts searing clean bluesy lead guitar work... and just when you thought things could not get anymore gnarly the band then hit you with the ballsy and blackened "One of Us". Things return to a more stoner-ish and metallic footing with the rocking "Spit on a Shore" but then go off piste again with the hardcore tinted closer/title track "Glass Mountain", the band signing off their debut in glorious anarchic and chaotic style.
© 2024 Frazer Jones