HEXJAKT ~ HEXJAKT ...... review

Desert Psychlist has for a long time had an unhealthy obsession with Sweden's sludge/doom behemoths Ordos, so much so that not a week seems to go by without the bands self-titled debut, their mind-blowing follow up "House of the Dead" or their excellent third album "The End" are not heard blaring out through the halls of Stonerking Towers. The trouble with this obsession is that Ordos are not the most prolific of bands, they've been promising new material for what seems like an age, and there are not that many bands out there whose blend of atmospheric doom and sludge hits our sweet spot in quite the same way, well that was until today when we pushed play on a self-titled album from another Swedish outfit going by the name of Hexjakt. The band, Hampus Henningsson (guitar/vocals); Toni Åkerman (bass/vocals) and Dan Nordin (drums), jam grooves that possesses many of those same qualities that first drew our ear to the mighty Ordos, big riffs and rhythms aligned with slightly theatrical and manic vocals, but where Ordos threw away most their Sabbathian influences to embrace a more "blackened" sound Hexjakt's are there for all to hear, along with a few nods to High On Fire, Sleep and Egypt.

Things kick off with "Rites of Fire" its opening salvo of droning dissonant guitar noise slowly shapes itself into thick toned dank riffage that is driven by solid thunderous drumming, vocals here are delivered dually by both Henningsson and Åkerman  and possess an almost vaudevillian quality, so much so that you could almost imagine this being played out on stage by actors in Victorian clothing twirling long thin moustaches. Musically on point throughout and also including a brief but intriguing off -kilter middle section, this is a great way to open a debut. "Thunderous Skies" follows its proto-doomic refrains, dialled down to waltz time, are as thunderous as the skies it mentions in its title while its vocals border on depraved, yelled with a passionate anger for the most part only briefly dropping down from that dynamic to deliver malevolent narration in the songs sinister middle section breakdown. Next up is "Valley of the Dead" and here we find Hexjakt smashing together elements of Egypt's "Valley of the Kings" with aspects of Ordos' "House of the Dead" and coming up with something just as iconic and mind-mincing, super cool storytelling lyrics, full on grizzled lead vocals, inharmonious harmonies and guitar solos that send shivers down the spine, the only criticism that could possibly be thrown this songs way is that at 4:49 it is too damn short. Finally we arrive at "The Flood" its slowed down Sabbathian groove, enhanced by swirling guitar motifs, is deliciously dark and dank and serves as the perfect platform for the gnarled and grizzled vocal tones that decorate it, the song closes its account with an atmospheric and hazy passage of languid psych that leaves you in no doubt that there is a lot more to this band than just riffs, rhythms, and growls.

Sweden's reputation for cranking out top notch underground rock bands is something we in this scene are all well aware of but Hexjakt are not a great band because they are Swedish they are a great band because they have great arrangements, have an understanding of what makes a song work and can play the shit out of their instruments all of which will become abundantly clear when giving their self-titled debut a spin.

© 2025 Frazer Jones

BLACK SADHU ~ ASHES OF AETHER ..... review

Those of us of a certain age will remember those days when space rock pioneers Hawkwind would bookcase their jamming on a chord musical endeavours with passages of prose and poetry, something that would prove especially effective on albums like "Warriors On The Edge Of Time" and the iconic live album "Space Ritual". Now you may be asking why Desert Psychlist are opening a review, analysing the merits of a present day album, with mention of the UK's mighty Hawkwind, well the reason is that said album utilizes many of those same spoken word/music/spoken word properties that were Hawkwind's forte. The album we are talking about here is German outfit Black Sadhu's latest release "Ashes Of Aether" a stunningly dark conceptual opus that forewarns of a world brought to its knees by advancements in technology.

The brief but wholly effective opening piece "Roots of Steel" sets the mood for the rest of the album with interwoven droning effects framing spoken narration that tells of a world where "the sky bends in electric arcs" and "only static speaks in our heads", a brief but nonetheless haunting tome. "Phobus" follows, this a song with a more "traditional" doomic dynamic, thick grainy guitar refrains supported by low gravelled bass and solid thunderous and powerful percussion, however traditional does not equate to generic and with its mix of  wearied clean and harsh vocals, its whirling spaciousness and its soaring guitar textures there is not a lot you could call generic about this song. "Tumors of Light" is another poetry piece, this one differing from the opening track courtesy of  its backdrop of space-like whoops and whistles and constant crackling effects. Next up is "Descent" a song that begins life quite stoner(ish) and up beat but then plummets into a low, slow and heavy stoner-doom groove over which barely audible harsh and gruff vocals are delivered, the songs final section using that stoner-doomic groove as a platform for some impressive interwoven guitar pyrotechnics. It is back to the prose and drones for the tranquil "Silicone Bones" but that tranquillity is soon shattered with the arrival of "Dias Irae", an amalgamation of doom, space rock and heavy psych that blusters and swaggers just as much as it swoops and soars, the true epitome of the term "psychedelic doom", it also boasts a great vocal. "Hearts turned cold" is another poetic piece, its line "our souls entangled in data streams" indicative of where our obsession with technology will/may eventually lead us. "Electric Death" begins with a whispered prayer followed by a few bars of atmospheric ambience but then in comes a throbbing yet crunchy guitar riff accompanied by a clean but gritty vocal melody, then just when you think you are about to ride this groove to the songs conclusion back comes the prayer and ambience only to then be supplanted by a phase drenched sludge refrain over which a nursery rhyme type melody holds sway, think its all over ..well not yet it isn't as there is still a manic blackened metal finale to deal with. Final track "In the ruins of the Divine" uses rolling synthesized effects as the backdrop for prose detailing humanities demise "a flood will come, not of water but light, a blinding wave of our own design", prophetic stuff!

Many of us following Black Sadhu's progress over the years have always suspected that this was a band moving towards doing something epic and special with their music but even with that knowledge none of us could have predicted the levels of magnitude they have brought to the table with "Ashes of Aether", this is other level! 

Check it out .... 

© 2025 Frazer Jones

RUST BUCKET ~ RUST BUCKET .... review

 

If music that is raw, raging, raucous and rocking is your jam then Minnesota's Rust Bucket, Tom K. (vocals); Adam (bass); Gene (guitar); Pete (guitar) and Luke (drums), deliver everything you could possibly ask for with their self-titled debut album "Rust Bucket" (Glory or Death Records), a collection of songs that are mix of distorted swampy bluesiness, stonerized mid-west metallurgy and dirty dank doominosity. 

If you want fuzz then these boys have a shitload of it and they trowel it on thick and meaty all over each and every one of the ten tracks they present us with on "Rust Bucket". From opening number "Four On The Floor" through to final number "Transmission" these guys give no quarter, the band pummelling their listeners into submission with waves upon waves of buzzsaw guitar riffage, growling grizzled low end and huge tumultuous rhythms. Subtleties here are few and far between but they do exist and present themselves in the form of  tasteful lead work and occasional slightly lysergic textures, however there are no subtleties to be found in vocals that accompany this onslaught of groove, gritty throaty tones are what we get throughout the albums duration but its a grittiness aligned with melody, albeit a raw and uncompromising take on melody. Now you might be thinking with all this mention of riffage, rawness and raucousness that Rust Bucket are one of those bands who are all riffs and rhythms and no real substance but you would be wrong, yes the riffs and rhythms play a big part in Rust Bucket's musical attack but under all that swagger and bluster there is a ton of substance. These guys have chops and can play up a storm but they also know a thing or two about song structure and dynamics with songs like "Hypertension" (featuring Fu Manchu's Bob Balch), "Apparition" and "The Darkness" sounding on the surface like an avalanche of rocks rolling down a mountain but underneath having a lot more going on.

You will find no heartfelt ballads or towering torch songs among the ten songs gracing "Rust Bucket" what you get instead is ten full on and in your face grooves fronted by larynx wrecking vocal grittiness, a must hear album for fans of who loved the force of nature that was the late Dave Sherman's Earthride but also for those that have a penchant for the feral raw bluesiness of Left Lane Cruiser. 

Check it out .....

© 2025 Frazer Jones

DUNES ~ LAND OF THE BLIND .... review

Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK outfit Dunes, John Davies (guitar/vocals); Ade Huggins (bass/vocals) and Nikky Watson (drums) have been around for a while now but for reasons unknown to us, and probably to them, the band have not quite achieved the attention internationally that they and their music deserve, which is strange because the grooves they create together are tailor-made for fans of the present days global underground scene. Hopefully this state of affairs will be resolved with the release of the bands third full length album  "Land of the Blind" a release that sees the mighty Ripple Music helping them fight their corner. 

 It has to be said there is a marked difference in the quality and substance of the music contained on "Land of the Blind"  compared to the bands previous output, the desert rock aspects of their sound on this release are grittier, the proggier passages, though few, are a little more intricate and thought out and the grunge/alt,rock elements, that have always been a part of their sound, are here quirkier and a touch more off-centred. Opening number "Cactus" is the perfect example of how much Dunes music has evolved in a relatively short space of time, the songs dark droning heavily pedal effected opening bars have an almost Colour Haze-ish vibe about them while the parts of the song that serve as the backdrop for the songs smoothly delivered verses boast an almost tribalistic feel. There are a ton of songs out there that evoke images of desert landscapes in the minds eye but none in quite the same way this one does, which is quite a feat for a band from the un-desert like North -East of England. Next track "Tides" is a much more "traditional" desert rock type tome with chunky fuzzy riffage and punchy rhythms framing moments of less abrasive grooviness over which easy on the ear, hook laden vocal melodies are layered. "One Eyed Dog" follows and is another up-tempo and fuzzy desert/stoner like romp but this time a little more jagged and strident. "Northern Scar" finds Dunes back in Colour Haze territory, its laid back and languid riffs and restrained rhythms, over which hazy clean vocals hold sway, are routinely interrupted by swells of a heavier dynamic that in the songs latter stages underscore narration delivered in a distinctive North-East of England brogue. There is a touch of Franz Ferdinand like post-punk swagger about next song "Riding the Low" albeit drenched in considerable amounts of desert/stoner fuzziness while "How Real is Real" is what a coming together of Queens of the Stone Age and  Truckfighters might have sounded like had they had a night out on Newcastle Brown Ale. "Voodoo", featuring Ryan Garney of High Desert Queen on guest vocals, kicks off with a riff Deep Purple's Ritchie Blackmore would have been proud of but then settles down into a grungy loud/quiet /loud  pattern when the vocals enter, the song continuing in this vein until its close. "Fields of Grey" utilizes quirky circular riffage and thunderous percussion to bookcase passages where the only thing heard are a voice and a drum pattern before the band sign off  with "Riding the Slow" an aptly named slow burning and atmospheric ride into the sunset.

Colour Haze like psychedelics and crunchy desert rock riffage combined with brief passages of prog-like complexity and  post-punk(ish) textures and colours are the parts of the whole that is Dunes "Land of the Blind", an album that finds the band maybe not so much at the peak of their powers but certainly getting damn close to reaching that peak.

Check it out .... 

© 2025 Frazer Jones

RIGOR SAMSA ~ SEVERANCE .... review

Music termed "progressive" be it rock or metal, is often approached with a certain amount of trepidation, many still connect the word with the overblown, overcomplex and over-polished music of 70's giants like ELP, Yes and early Genesis despite the fact that bands like Opeth, Anciients , Tool and Mastodon have shown us that you can still be progressive and be gritty. One band who fall into the latter category are Poland's Rigor Samsa, Jacek Berentowicz (vocals); Dawid Molenda (guitar); Jakub Ściślak (bass) and Krzysztof Zając (drums), a quartet whose music is a perfectly balanced blend of complexity and growl, music that can go from a whisper to a scream at any given moment, dynamics which run rife throughout the band newly released second album "Severance".

"We would like to invite you for a journey into dark and melancholic melodies and lyrics to discover remedy for your own deamons" is the legend gracing the bands Bandcamp page and the words "dark" and "melancholic" are the perfect summarisation of what Rigor Samsa bring to the table with their second album "Severance". Rigor Samsa's music does not so much undulate as spasmodically jerk and twist across its various changes in tempo, dynamics and volume, guitar passages will routinely flit back and forth between ringing arpeggios and crunching chord progressions, bass lines will one minute be low deep an intricate and the next be grizzled and growly while the drumming can range from gentle and featherlight to to aggressive and thunderous in a heartbeat, all of these various dynamics topped off by strong clean vocals that although are very close in tone and delivery to those of Tool's Maynard James Keenan have enough about them to sit at the right side of being different. Desert Psychlist could go down the in depth route of diving deep into each of the nine tracks that make up "Severance"but for the sake of not turning this simple review into a full blown novel we will just say that there is not one track to be found on this marvellous album that would compel a listener to lift the needle or hit the skip button, it is an utterly engrossing opus from its opening note to its final drumbeat.

Many listening to "Severance" will no doubt notice that Rigor Samsa utilize a lot of, what could be called, Tool-isms in their overall musical attack, using those same elements of light, shade, fury and ambience that Maynard James Keenan and his Tool cohorts have, over the years, made their signature. Having said that don't go expecting Rigor Samsa to be some sort of Tool 0.2, Rigor Samsa are not some copyists they are their own animal who bring their own style and feel to the genre of progressive metal/rock.

Check 'em out ....

© 2025 Frazer Jones

BLOOD LEMON ~ PETITE DEATHS ... review

Blood Lemon's 2021 debut, the self-titled "Blood Lemon", garnered many plaudits on its release so its a little surprising that the buzz around the trio, Lisa Simpson (guitar, vocals, acoustic guitar, synth, piano); Melanie Radford (bass, vocals, upright bass, synth, piano) and Lindsey Lloyd (drums, percussion, vocals), has frankly not been deafening. Some might suggest that the bands music being tagged with the far too easy Indie/Riot Grrrl label (in some quarters) has hindered them somewhat and has seen comparisons being made with the likes of Sleater-Kinney, L7 and Hole while in truth their music has a more shoegaze(ish) alt.metal vibe albeit one coated in Warpaint meets Grandma's Ashes-like lilting vocal melodies. 2025 sees Blood Lemon kicking off the new year with with a new release, "Petite Deaths",  a five song opus that will hopefully see the bands profile soar to the heights it deserves to reach.

"Petite Death" begins its tenure with "High Tide" the songs chugging/stuttering guitar refrain supported by solid tight punchy drumming and low and deliciously bouncy bass. All good so far but the clincher comes when the vocals kick in, warm smooth and tender lead and lilting backing harmonies spiralling and circling around each other to bring a feeling of otherworldliness and fragility to the proceedings. With all their talk of  "a love of heavy riffs" Blood Lemon are actually not that particularly heavy yes they can groove around a crunching down tuned riff with the best of them but their heaviness comes more from the atmospherics and moods they create with their music rather than the dankness of their riffs as is exemplified on next track "Her Shadow", a song that shimmers rather than shakes and sees fractured chord voicings, backed by liquid bass and tribalistic flavoured drumming, supporting a smooth heartfelt yet powerful vocal before morphing into a swirling acid/heavy psych workout in its final quarter. Next up is "Mountain'r Lower" here we do find Blood Lemon getting their sludge/stoner groove on but only briefly, the songs fuzzed out guitar refrains routinely making way for a more mellow and languid musical attack enhanced once again by those wonderfully smooth lead vocals and swooning backing harmonies. A deliciously deep bass line introduces "Perfect Too" accompanied by a guitar refrain that could be considered Sabbath-esque if it were not for its sedate and laid back nature, the vocals and harmonies here are sublime and especially effective when that riff falls away and we are left with just a lone voice and that deliciously seductive bass motif, however this is a song made up of two parts with that second part suggesting that this trio may well have been taking a deep listen to another songs second half, that other second half being Fleetwood Mac's "The Chain". Things finally come to a close with "Mudlark" a rueful, emotive and frankly quite beautiful lament/ballad bolstered by unbusy but effective rhythms and featuring a vocal in possession of a soulful breathiness.

  There is a smouldering element to the grooves found on "Petite Deaths" that leaves the listener on the edge of  his/her/their seats anticipating explosions that intentionally never materialise, the band cleverly pulling back from the brink of those expected explosions to build up tension and anticipation over and over again. We are often presented with bands who blend doom with prog, stoner with grunge, sludge with southern rock but not many who mix elements of the heavy underground with elements of indie rock and shoegaze, we've got one now! 

Check 'em out ....

© 2025 Frazer Jones

MIND WOLF ~ CHALET ... review

Grunge, or alternative rock, emerged in the mid-eighties and proceeded to blow away everything in its path but like so many of the musical movements before it grunge soon became diluted thanks mainly to record labels signing up every band or solo-artist with a hooped pullover and a drug habit, regardless of their talent. Some of the scenes bigger bands did survive, and still continue to make important music, but many fell by the wayside or altered their sound to accommodate shifting tastes. Grunge/alt.rock's core sound never fully went away though and it can still be found raising its unkempt head in todays underground rock most notably in the present days stoner, doom and psych scenes with bands like Desert Suns, Sea of Snakes, Erronaut and Bird of Vale all incorporating elements of that "Seattle sound" into their music Another to add to that list are Belgium's Mind Wolf, Jan (guitar/vocals), Sam (drums) and Arne (bass), a Ghent based trio who take their influences as much from Alice In Chains and Stone Temple Pilots as they do bands like Kyuss, Hermano and Greenleaf  and who have just released their second EP "Chalet". 

Opening number "Love Without a Home" begins its life jamming an Alice In Chains like slurred guitar refrain, using that refrain as a marker to return to between bouts of blues tinted hard rock that is driven by solid on point drumming and anchored by growling fuzz drenched bass. Vocals here are not especially powerful but are delivered with a breathy gusto that is both distinctive and effective as is the guitar work which is served up deeply fuzzed and crunchy. Next song "Like a Song" is a swaggering mix of punkish aggression and  blustering stoner/hard rock over which a ridiculously catchy dual vocal melody holds sway, one can imagine this becoming a firm fan favourite in a live environment. "Hanne Desmet"  is up next and here we find Mind Wolf blending their grunge and stoner with elements of heavy psych beneath another excellent ear-worm of a vocal melody while "Just Don't" is a wonderfully jagged and sleazy sounding tome with a vocal that is a mix of gritty melody, tuneful narration and snotty asides and utilises a delightfully manic and off-kilter guitar solo as its exit strategy. Last song "Seduction" jettisons the grunge element of the bands sound and opts for a more heavy rock attack, busy tight drumming, low growling bass and heavily distorted guitar supporting vocals that swing between hushed huskiness and angsty grittiness, the song then taken to its close on a wave of soaring, if somewhat dirty, lead guitar work.

The songs inhabiting Mind Wolf's "Chalet" are short sharp jabs that hit hard and are then gone, there is no overplaying to be found on this little dark gem of a release, no endless noodling just for the sake of it, what we get instead is a band delivering maximum impact in minimum time frames.

Check 'em out ... 

 

© 2025 Frazer Jones

ZOAHR ~ MOSAIC ... review

The beautiful thing about this thing we call the "underground rock scene" is that it these days it is so international, before the internet our music collections would, with a few exceptions, be dominated by albums by British and North American bands and artists. The coming of "the web" has changed all that and the collections of those of us worshipping at the altar of the riff are as likely to contain albums from Santiago, Chile as they are Portland, USA. It is also somewhat weird that countries across the world seem to each have their moments in the spotlight, a while ago it was Sweden that was churning out one great band after another then all of a sudden their was a surge of great music from Poland which was then followed by an explosion of creativity from Greece. As we write it is recommendations for music from the German underground that is filling Desert Psychlist's inbox and the one that has grabbed our attention the most is "Mosaic" the third album from Pirmasens based outfit ZOAHR, Thorsten (bass); Philipp (drums) and Jessie (guitar/vocals), a trio with a penchant for playing their blues heavy and their psych heavier.

Things kick off really nicely with "Endurance Race" and let us tell you right from the off that this song is not an endurance it is an utter pleasure, its Chris Squire (YES) like bass motifs, punchy insistent drumming and soaring psychedelic guitar textures, accompanied by clean airy vocals, combine to create a noise so uplifting it could be sold as a tonic for depression. ZOAHR get down furious and funky for next song "Zephyr", an up-tempo romp built upon a bedrock of truly impressive drumming and that also boasts both seriously good guitar work and a great Spirit/Randy California-like vocal melody. Things take an easy on the ear turn with the slowly evolving and bluesy lament "Garden of Grief" the songs use of ascending/descending guitar motifs aligned to wearied lead and lilting harmonies proving especially effective. For "Prism" ZOAHR blend accessible classic rock melodies and grooves with touches of stoner like fuzziness while for "Cornered" and the following "Erosive" the band retain that radio friendly element but this time swap out the stoner fuzziness for some distorted heavy blues swagger. There is an old school heavy metal feel to parts of  both "Idiots and Statues" and its follow up "Red Tide" but its old school metal given a funky, heavy psych makeover. Final track "Wayward Blues" delivers exactly what its title promises it will, this a blues lament/torch song drenched in psychedelic textures and colours and like all that has gone before it boasts powerful performances from all involved.

"Accessible" seems to be a dirty word in underground rock circles but accessible in musical terms only really means music that will appeal to a broad spectrum of listeners and ZOAHR's "Mosaic" does just that, the fact that it does so without compromising on things like heaviness, groove and musicality is something that should be applauded. There are only two types of music.. good music and bad music and this album is the good stuff!

Check it out ... 

© 2025 Frazer Jones

ULTRA DEATH CULT ~ END TIMES ARE GOOD TIMES ... review

 

What can we tell you about Ultra Death Cult? Well the truth is not really a lot as their social media presence is at best sketchy, the bands Bandcamp page is not much better with their page header photo showing three members but their liner notes only mentioning two, Chris Taylor (vocals/guitar/bass) and Chad Huntington (drums). What we can tell you though is that whether consisting of two or three members Ultra Death Cult make a seriously impressive noise, as you will no doubt find out for yourselves when giving their debut EP "End Times Are Good Times " a spin

The bad news is that "End Times Are Good Times" consists of just three songs, the good news is that those three tracks are better than some bands full albums. Opening track "All Eyes On Our Blight" is a prime example of why in some cases less can actually equate to more, this is a song that evolves from drone like origins then shifts up a gear into a thrumming proto-doom groove replete with all the thundering rhythms and dark refrains necessary to turn the heads of even the most discerning of underground rock fans. Vocals here are delivered clean and powerful and are edged with a world weary gravitas that, despite the doomic nature of the music supporting them, borders on grungy at times, which is never a bad thing in our book. "Long Time" follows its coming of age like lyrical content supported by a deliciously dank but not quite doomic groove that at its centre briefly dips its toes into ambient and psychedelic waters. Last song "Not For Nothing" finds Ultra Death Cult getting a sludge/hardcore groove on with stuttering, slurring Down- like riffage and tumultuous percussion framing an angry ranting vocal that at times almost wanders into rap-like territories. 

Down tuned dank, dark and delicious is the best way to describe the music Ultra Death Cult bring to the party with their debut EP "End Times Are Good Times", the EP may contain just three songs but oh man you are not going to forget these three songs in a hurry. 

Check it out ....

© 2025 Frazer Jones