SLEEPING MOUNTAIN ~ SLEEPING MOUNTAIN .... review

Sleeping Mountain may be a name that'll ring bells with regular visitors to Desert Psychlist and the reason those bells will be ringing is due to the fact that we reviewed the bands 2023 self titled debut EP "Sleeping Mountain" on these very pages, a review in which we described the bands sound has having the "complexities and intricacies of 70's prog" mixed with "some of the more melodic and heavier aspects of todays heavy rock, metal and psych scene". Sleeping Mountain were operating as a five piece at the time we wrote those words but have since slimmed down to a trio, consisting of  Aitor Mendez (guitar, keyboards and vocals), David Saunders (bass) and Alexis Humanes (drums and vocals), a move that doesn't seem to have effected the intensity and power of their musical attack one iota, if anything the band sound tighter and even more focused, something which will be come even more apparent when giving their, again self-titled but this time full length, album "Sleeping Mountain" a spin.

Drummer Humanes counts in opening track "Humans" and is quickly joined by Saunders bass in a rolling stoner-like groove over which Mendez, when not filling any gaps with crunching power chords, applies swirly guitar motifs and swooping lead work. The song is basically an instrumental but thanks to some cleverly placed sampled  narrative in its final quarter, and the fact it segues straight into its following track, it does not feel like one. That following track, "Walls of Shadows" begins quite quaint and otherworldly with waif-like wordless harmonies intoned over a musical backdrop that bears lysergic post-metal qualities, however things soon take a doomic turn when Mendez's vocals come in, his powerful slightly accented vocals the catalyst for a long passage off heavy guitar and bass riffing supported by thunderous pounding percussion, a passage that in turn makes way for a period of hazy swirling lysergic bluesiness. "Wildfire" sees Sleeping Mountain still wading in the bluesy waters that informed the final stages of the previous song but this time with dynamics that veer a little less to lysergic and more to heavy and Zeppelin-esque. Next up is "In The Land of Burning Witches" an absolute bangin' tune that wraps a mix of stoner-ish and proto metallic groove around a superbly delivered wending and winding vocal melody, the songs only fault being that at only three minutes plus it finishes far too quickly. "Alibi" initially sits somewhere between a lament and torch song with wearied soulful vocals referencing "reapers" and "souls" but then takes off into harder and heavier territories, all chugging riffage, insistent rhythms and screaming lead work. "The Door" boasts grooves that sway between strident and circular and bluesy and psychedelic over which an impassioned vocal pleads for the portal in the songs title to be opened or at least left ajar while "Tennessee Walking Horse" blends elements of Americana  and southern metal with stoner rock and heavy psych to create a groove that  musically incorporates not only the grace and elegance associated with the breed of horse its title refers to but also elements of that particular breeds renowned four-beat running gait. Penultimate song "Akelarre" has an occult/doom feel about it which given that "akelarre", in the Basque language, translates to "witches sabbath" makes sense. Musically the song has a dank and doomic feel but cleverly brings into play subtle elements of a more post metallic flavour to add texture and colour, vocally the song boasts a Sabbath-esque melody, albeit with a bit more power in the upper registers and minus Ozzy's distinctive nasal whine. Final track "Medusa" kicks off with thrumming stoner-ish bass and guitar riffage supported by hard and thunderous drumming over which a gritty but clean melodic vocal holds sway however just before the halfway mark, and after a brief passage of post-metal ambience, things take on a darker and heavier dynamic which sees the band swimming in waters probably more used to hosting bands like Poland's Dopelord and Greece's Acid Mammoth. Having plummeted into the depths the song then resurfaces in a wave of blistering crunchy hard edged rock over which searing guitar solos blaze and burn.

Sleeping Mountain's transformation from a five piece to a trio is one that suits them, granted they have lost a little of that old school vocal power their previous front man gave them but Mendez more than makes up for that with his soulful weariness. The real difference though is the tightness of sound they achieve as a three piece, which one would guess comes from having to fill spaces that would previously be filled by a second guitarist, their sound is a much more focused on this full length release as well as much bigger and a hell of a lot more forceful.

Check it out .....               

© 2025 Frazer Jones

FUSSKALT ~ FACELESS MAN ..... review

When Kyuss first connected up their amps to a generator in the middle of a Californian desert back in the early 90's little did they know they would be kick starting a scene that would still be thriving thirty plus years later. It may also have come as a surprise to them how much their blend of punk and heavy rock would be embraced by audiences and budding musicians living many miles away in Europe, so much so that even today there are more stoner/desert rock related festivals and events in Europe than there are in the music's North American birthplace. One European band to have taken that desert rock sound and put their own spin on it are Denmark's Fusskalt who hail from the Danish town Skanderborg. Fusskalt first came onto Desert Psychlist's radar via their 2015 release "Overdrive" a collection of hard rocking tunes drenched in fuzzy crunchiness that immediately had us going back to check out the bands previous releases "Songs For Speedin' and Chasin (volume 1)" and its follow up "(volume 2)". Fusskalt really came into their own though with their 2018 release "Intercooler" an album that found the bands sound taking on a more mature and refined dynamic, a sound that still retained its raw edginess but felt slightly less abrasive. Not long after "Intercooler" original vocalist Lars Frederiksen left and so the band had to cast the net wide to search for a new vocalist and in came Nikolaj "Niko" Sune Krogh-Poulsen a vocalist in possession of his own distinctive tone but a tone not so radically different that it would change the bands overall musical attack. It is Niko along with stalwarts Nick Jensen (guitars); Thomas Brandt (guitar); Janus Kinke Pedersen (bass) and Jonas Emil Nielsen (drums) who are responsible for new release "Faceless Man" an EP that sees the band taking that maturity and refinement displayed on "Intercooler" to a whole new level.  

Desert Psychlist is not 100% sure why opening number "Fuzz Cult" is so named as its lyrics make no mention of cults or cabals but let us tell you that if the band did decide to start up some fuzz based religion and used this slice of southern tinted desert rock, boasting gritty clean vocals and backing "woo-woo's" reminiscent of the Rolling Stones "Sympathy For The Devil". as its anthem then we at The Psychlist would be signing up to join faster than you can say "banging"! "River of Gold" follows and is a song that lyrically tackles insecurity and depression head on against a backdrop of thrumming stonerized groove over which Niko tells us he's "fucked up" and "terrified" in wearied but powerful tones, a big shout should go out to Thomas Brandt here, his lead work on this tune is sublime. Nielsen's solid rolling drums combine with Pedersen's low rumbling bass and Jensen's fuzzy riffs and chunky power chords to give Niko a platform to wax lyrical about  his feelings of loneliness and invisibility on the strident "Sirens", Brandt again pulling out all the stops here with his lead work. Title track "Faceless Man" is part a lament, part a torch song and part a slow burning hard rock behemoth that is fronted with a powerful vocal that is soulful and reflective in the songs verses and angry and pleading in the chorus with the songs musical dynamic following a similar path to its vocals with passages of bluesy languidity rising up to huge crescendo's only to then slowly drift down again. Last number "Hippielort (The sacrifice I make)" is a song that sits somewhere between 90's stoner and 70's hard rock but with present day versions of both dynamics mingled in, as is the case with every song on this superb release each member is on their "A" game.  Those non-Danish speakers among us who might be wondering about the word "hippielort" in the songs title will be pleased to know that "lort" translates to "shit" in English.... so basically this is a song about "hippy shit"! 

With not much news coming out of their camp and no new releases since 2018's "Intercooler" many might have wondered if Fusskalt had hauled up the white flag and called it a day, thankfully that was not the case and this year sees the band return with not only a brand  new EP, "Faceless Man," but also a brand new vocalist, if you thought they were great before wait until you hear them NOW! 

Check 'em out ..... 

    

© 2025 Frazer Jones

MIND FUNERAL ~ THE SPIRAL .... review

 

We at Desert Psychlist have never visited Texas and, given our meagre finances, are never likely to but we are nevertheless head over heels in love with the place, the reason we have such a fondness for the state is solely down to Texas supplying us with so many of the albums we regularly listen to here at Stonerking Towers, albums not only from giants like ZZ Top and Stevie Ray Vaughan but also from lesser known outfits like Arc Angels and Stray Dog as well as music from more recent combos like Crypt Trip, Wo Fat and Thunder Horse. Just recently our radar picked up on a new (to us) band from the Lone Star State, a band going by the name Mind Funeral who have a sound almost as big as the state they hail from, a sound that is a raunchy mix of proto-doom, heavy stoner rock and psych that they like to call "doom'n'roll". The band have just released their debut album "The Spiral" and if you like your grooves big, bold and brash... this your jam! 

After all our talk of boldness and brashness Mind Funeral kick things off quite laid back and minimal with opening track "Lament In Automation", the song opens with gentle acoustic guitar noodling and at first seems in no real hurry to get to where its going but then in comes some thunderous bass and drums backed by swirling guitar, backed up with what sounds like a synth, and all of a sudden we are afloat on the good ship instrumental doom. The song does return to its initial acoustic gentleness in its final moments but by then your eardrums will have already run up the white flag. There is probably a much deeper message to be found in the lyrics of next song "Closer To God" however there will be a few wives/girlfriends out there dealing with males in the throws of "man-flu" who may recognise the "oh lord please take me" sentiments of its lyrical content, that aside this is a barnburner of a tune with a rolling proto-doom groove and vocals that are a mix of wearied cleanliness and throaty harshness. We all love songs about witches in this scene and Mind Funeral serve us up a beauty with the ripping and raucous "Cyberwitch", the song boasting an ear-catching vocal melody sang over a backdrop of infectious rolling stoner-like groove. "Hivemind" finds Mind Funeral flexing their psych doom muscles with the band jamming a groove that initially sits just a few bpm's above low'n'slow but then shifts up the gears into something slightly more proto-metallic leaning. Next song "Clockwise" comes straight out of the gate snarling with the band hitting into a thunderous groove decorated with a Sabbathian flavoured vocal melody, a song made to feel even more thunderous thanks to the furiosity of its drumming and the sludgy tones of its guitar and bass refrains while final number "System Failure", an instrumental, follows a similar blueprint to opening song "Lament In Automation" in that it moves from gentle acoustic picking to a full on doomic riff fest.

Two instrumentals, that shift from tranquil to blustering, bookending four hard driven rockers decorated in strong powerful vocals is what Texas' Mind Funeral serve up with their new release "The Spiral", a collection of songs rooted in Sabbathian soil but nurtured on cayenne peppers and tabasco sauce.

Check it out ....  

© 2025 Frazer Jones

WASTE CULT ~ BLAME .... review

 

"Sophisticated" is not a word bandied around too much in this underground rock scene, probably because the last thing many of the scenes fans want to hear infiltrating their crunchy and raw down tuned riffs and thundering rhythms is an air of sophistication, however a bit of sophistication and grandeur when used right can elevate some forms of underground rock to a whole other degree and that is the case with Italian foursome Waste Cult's debut album "Blame" (Aesthetic Death Records), Waste Cult, Frank (guitar/vocals); Pilvia (guitar); Noise (bass) and Claudio (drums/backing vocals), caused a few ears to turn their way with their self-financed, self-released and self titled EP (tape)"Waste Cult" back in 2022, a release that saw them jamming a sound that was rooted in the genre of doom but approached that doom from a more post-metallic and groove/hardcore direction. With their new album "Blame" they have refined that approach by also adding a prog(ish) element to the mix, a move that sees them bringing in to play that air of sophistication we spoke of earlier.

Opening number "Ad Astra" is lyrically an observational piece that sees the songs protagonist looking at a world going to hell in a handcart and deciding their best option is to get as far away as is possible, vocalist Frank telling us he is "ready to go to the land of consciousness" in clean clipped and airy tones over a backdrop of pounding, but unbelievably busy, drumming, low thrumming bass and weaving/interlocking guitar duality. For its most part the song feels quite cosmic and spacious but there are occasions here where things get a little gnarly and a few teeth get bared, most notably in the songs mid -section where the vocals take on a slightly more visceral tone. Next up we have "Delirium of Manners" a song that finds Waste Cult railing lyrically against anything and everything in tones remote clean and slightly echoed over an off-kilter, slightly Sabbathian feeling, wall of doomic groove decorated with some fittingly Iommi-esque guitar work. Title track "Blame" sees Waste Cult bringing those prog-like textures we spoke of, in our intro piece, into play, not in an obvious way but with a modicum of subtlety, the songs groove still sitting very much within the doom canon but enhanced with essences of a more intricate and complex nature, those essences combining with the songs sombre almost longing vocal dynamics and deep heartfelt lyrical content to bring an emotional element to the table not usually explored in this genre of music. Following number "Blended As One" boasts ambiguous lyrics that depending on where your head is currently residing could point to a suicide pact, an unfortunate drug death, a mix of both or something totally unrelated, either way the song trundles neatly along on a groove made up of post-metallic flavoured motifs and reverberating power chords supported by low growling bass and busy punchy drumming over which a wending vocal melody holds sway. Prog and post-metal textures are thrown out with the bathwater for the droning and heavy instrumental "Kerberos" then collected up and brought back in for the equally droning but just a touch more complex "Pictures" this song boasting a delicious soaring vocal accompanied by some nice backing harmonies and some truly scorching dual guitar interplay. Next song "The Warmest Shelter" resides somewhere between heavy desert rock and and proto-doom and frames a vocal melody that if it were underscored by female vocal harmonies would be sailing pretty close to territories inhabited by Chicago's Huntsmen. Final number "Maze" boasts what could be Desert Psychlist's favourite lyric on the album, "lies take several forms, monsters disguised as right play with my sanity, hiding a forest behind the trees", these words sang in soaring clean tones over a musical backdrop that at its root is dank and doomic but when listened to carefully is infused with elements of prog-like complexity and post-metallic intensity, its shivers down the spine stuff!  

 Waste Cult's first EP was an impressive tome but one from a band who had not yet quite found where they wanted to be musically, new full album "Blame" on the other hand finds the band exactly where they want to be musically while also showing us glimpses of where they might want to take their music in the future.

Check 'em out ....

         

© 2025 Frazer Jones

AGANOOR ~ DOOMERISM ..... review

We at Desert Psychlist will readily hold our hands up and admit to inventing words to describe sounds and dynamics in our reviews, we have used words like "doomic", "doominosity", "fuzzilicious" and "protoic" with regularity yet have, to date, never had the grammar police screaming for our heads or demanding we attend English language classes and that is because those spliced together words actually work in the contexts in which they are set and the people who read those words understand exactly what we mean and are trying to convey. Now when we saw that Italian outfit Aganoor, Dan Ghostrider (vocals); Anth Maelstrom (guitars); Stephen Drive (bass) and Alex Leonov (drums), were releasing an album going by the title "Doomerism"  (My Kingdom Music / BloodRock Records) we immediately thought they were playing us at our own game but it turns out that "doomerism" is a bona-fide word that refers to "a belief or mindset characterized by a negative outlook on the future" which given that the bands music is pitched at the, notoriously bleak, grungier end of the doom spectrum seems quite apt.

We at The Psychlist do love a tune that hits hard right from the get go and that is the case with opening number "Bury My Soul", there is no rambling intro to contend with here the band just explode straight into the main riff and away they go with guitars dialled to thrumming and crunchy and drums set to solid and thunderous, the vocals accompanying this dark cacophony of grungy doom groove delivered in gravelled throaty tones that, to these ears, carry just the merest hint of a southern metal drawl in their make up. "Icarus", just like its predecessor, also starts right out of the gate and like so many bands before them, and the many that will no doubt follow after them, Aganoor use that old Sabbath trick of never using one riff or tempo when you can use two or three, the band applying a similar formula to the songs vocals which are a mix of throaty growliness and clean melodic grittiness. Third song on the album "Nadir" sees Aganoor dipping their toes in stoner-doomic waters, the band keeping things low slow'n'heavy for the most part with only occasional climbs into more strident dynamics, the vocals here are delivered melancholic and wearied and are given added weight thanks to some well arranged lilting backing harmonies. "Emerald Lake" is a hard song to describe, it has the feel of both a ballad and a lament but is not really either, we suppose some might call it a torch song but torch songs usually build to a crescendo and this doesn't. If the push came to the shove, and taking into account its low crooned vocals and mournful droning guitar textures, we guess "grungy doomic Americana" would be the best way to describe this dark little gem. Next up Aganoor deliver "Morbid Skin", a song that musically sits in that hinterland between traditional doom and proto-doom, the song boasts a deliciously devilish vocal melody that is both swinging and sinister, if Desert Psychlist were to be asked to recommend an Aganoor song to be played on a rock radio station or a podcast then this would be the one we would choose . Aganoor close things out with "Mind Shadowing" a song that sees the band putting all their musical apples in one basket, sludgy grunginess and doomic dankness all wrapped up with elements borrowed from the genres of stoner rock and heavy psych and neatly tied off with a strong and soulful vocal, a fittingly outstanding curtain closer to what we think is a pretty damn outstanding album.

Despite containing the word "doom" in its title Aganoor's "Doomerism" is not what you would call a dyed in the wool doom album, there are shades and textures to be found in this albums songs that are drawn from the full spectrum of rock's rich tapestry, some of those shades and textures are glaringly obvious some subtle and it is this blending of the subtle with the obvious that makes "Doomerism" such a rewarding listen. 

Check it out ....    

© 2025 Frazer Jones

BLACK SASQUATCH ~ SIGHTING EP.... review

Black Sasquatch, Bub (vocals/guitar); Patrick "Priors” Pryor (drums); Theodore Charles Hall (guitar) and Ted Wilson (bass), hail from Nashport, Ohio and up to this point in their existence have released albums and EP's that musically sat somewhere between the stoner punk/desert rock of bands like Fu Manchu and Nebula and the raw garage rock of the likes of The Stooges and MC5, however the bands latest EP "Sighting" sees an element of doominosity creeping into their sound, granted it is an element edged in rawness and raucousness but we think it an element that works for them.

That doominosity we spoke of in this reviews opening piece is never more evident than on opening track "Temple", Bub's vocals still remain slightly sneery and Jagger-ish, as he tells of "lights in the sky" and being "on the edge of time" but whereas on previous releases the bands sound erred on the abrasive side here they go all out low swampy and atmospheric. If the Rolling Stones ever chose to throw their collective hats into the proto-doom arena then next song "Wizard" is how we at The Psychlist would imagine them sounding like, deliciously sneery vocals backed by rolling drum patterns and thrumming dark blues flecked riffage, the song boasting an upbeat voodoo(ish) feel. "Giants of Enoch" comes over sonically like a marriage between little known, late to the party British punksters 999 and  stoner/garage groovers The Freeks, with maybe a touch of  The Hives bounciness thrown in for good measure. Last but one track "Ohio Bomb Train" is a song that sits squarely in the stoner punk canon and boasts pacey thrumming riffage and rhythmic furiosity wrapped around a vocal that boasts a snotty flamboyance. It's back to the swampy pseudo-doom for final number "We Are Not Alone" a song that feels quite bluesy at times but is not strictly a blues, though someone might want to mention that to the guitarist taking lead duties here as his soaring solos in the songs first half bear all the hallmarks of the genre. Vocals here are delivered in a sleazy drawl which ramps up the songs initial swampy feel, notice we said "initial" there and that is because the second half of the song goes off in a radically different direction that sees random samples from a number of different sources deployed over a backdrop of dissonance and unhinged noisiness barely anchored to earth by a thunderous drum tattoo.

 "Sighting" finds Black Sasquatch edging their sonic mixture of punk, garage and stoner rock with textures of a slightly darker hue, the band sprinkling smatterings of doom and proto-metal over their normally punkish in your face grooves to create a sound that has a little more depth and intensity than that which we have come to expect from them in the past, it is a sound they wear really well and one they will hopefully explore further on future releases.

Check 'em out ....            

© 2025 Frazer Jones