HIGH LEAF ~ VISION QUEST ...... review

"All Hail the Leaf " might be a statement that will get the attention of those who like their smokes herbal and exotic but Desert Psychlist's real intention is to point you in the direction of a four piece stoner/desert doom combo, consisting of Corey Presner (vocals/guitar); Patrick Fiore (lead guitar); Brian Schmidt (bass) and Dean Welsh (drums), who go by the collective name High Leaf. The band hail from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and jam a groove that sees them blending riff centric weedian stoner heaviness with classic/hard rock sheen and alt-rock/grunge dynamics to create a sound that should appeal to regular listeners of each. The band have just released their debut album "Vision Quest" on Riffslayer Records and to just say it kicks serious ass would be a gross understatement.

High Leaf's debut kicks off with "Green Rider" its appropriate weed related soundbite intro making way for an equally appropriate "weedian" flavoured stoner groove that leans more to Sleep than it does Sabbath and boasts, in its initial stages, a low key vocal which gradually shifts towards a more powerful throaty delivery as the song progresses. Lyrically the song is an ode to smoking the leaf and finds Presner referencing the "goddess Mary Jane" over a backdrop of gnarly proto-doomic riffage and pummelling percussion around which Fiore weaves blues tinted doomic lead. Given the song is built around a formula that has been done to death by many bands over the years you might expect things to get a little generic but they don't because there is a freshness of ideas brought to bear here that takes what can be achieved within that formula to whole other level. Title track "Vision Quest" opens with the band jamming a little ambient psych then suddenly erupts into a raucous heavy rock groove helped along with some searing guitar pyrotechnics before dropping down once again into lysergic ambience, it isn't until the songs reaches its final third that another eruption ensues and Presner pitches in with a full on throaty vocal to take things to the close. "Subversive" follows and the vocal attack on this may come as somewhat of a surprise, Presner opting to alternate his impassioned throaty howls with an almost grungy croon despite the songs musical groove remaining very much at the metal end of the stoner spectrum. Next track "Dead Eye" has one of those fuzzy circular desert style grooves that will have fans of Kyuss and Dozer reminiscing, while "Hard to Find" follows a similar path but throws in some Alice In Chains guitar tones and a little punkish aggression to sweeten the deal, a deal made even sweeter by Schmidt and Welsh locking in tight on the songs hard driven punchy groove. Talking of deserts next up is "Painted Desert" a deliciously seductive mix that takes all that was good about the scenes in Washington's Seattle and California's Palm Desert and rolls them conveniently up in one song, a vibe that is also mirrored in its follow up "March to The Grave". Finally we arrive at "The Rot" a song that switches back and forth between heavy and funky with Presner adjusting his vocal attack in accordance, well that is up until Fiore graces the song with a blistering wah drenched solo and the song goes all out hard and heavy in its final quarter.

High Leaf's "Vision Quest" is the perfect album for those looking to tie in their love of bands like Kyuss, Sleep and Black Sabbath with their love of bands like Alice In Chains, Soundgarden and Tad and the fact that High Leaf can do this while still  maintaining their own musical identity and their own signature sound is something to be applauded. If they stick together through all the shit this industry and life throws at them and can keep making albums of this quality then the future might not always be rosy but it will definitely be Leaf shaped.

Check 'em out ....

© 2023 Frazer Jones

TREVOR'S HEAD ~ A VIEW FROM BELOW .... review

They describe themselves as "the most exciting thing to come out of Redhill (Surrey, UK)" in the last three centuries, their music crosses genres like chickens cross roads and they approach their music with a typical British mix of seriousness and humour. Who are they we hear you ask, well they are Roger Atkins (guitar & vocals); Aaron Strachan (bass, synth, kalimba, vocals) and Matt Ainsworth (drums, synth, mellotron, flute and vocals) a trio otherwise known as Trevor's Head. Trevor's Head are a combo who have been doing their thing in and around the British underground rock scene for what seems like forever and have been releasing albums and EP's since 2012, with 2016's "Tricolossus" and 2018's "Soma Holiday" being the most noteable. The band have just released their latest album "A View From Below" (APF Records), an album the band describe as "a lean and cohesive expression of the power trio's precision, which marks the next stage in the genre-bending and ever-evolving sound that is Trevor’s Head" and we at Desert Psychlist just call "their best album TO DATE!".

Trevor's Head's previous releases have been an eclectic blend of stoner rock, prog, punk, folk and alt-rock and that doesn't change for "A View From Below", what has changed though is the flow the band achieve with this album, those previous albums, although great, tended to leap back and forth dynamically almost as if the songs were thrown together with no real though process being applied, raucous punk rock sitting next to lilting prog/folk complexity followed by stoner metal bluster. At times it seemed that it was a case of we wrote these tunes in this order so that's how they'll appear on the album but this is not so with the new album, the track listing on "A View From Below" has a flow whereby each song is placed perfectly in line so as to best compliment its near neighbours. First song "Call Of The Deep", an enthralling blend of stoner rock fuzziness and prog-like intricacy coated in a Wolf People like folkish vocal melody, is followed by "Under My Skin", a superbly put together tome that mixes chainsaw guitar textures with off-kilter rhythms and playful vocal trade offs, but because these songs share certain sonic elements the transition in styles appears less abrupt and sudden than on previous albums.. And so it continues throughout the remainder of the album with songs like "Grape Fang", "Rumspringa", "A True Gentleman" and "Don't Make Me Ask" all boasting radically different musical attacks but each bonded to it s neighbour by its shared elements, the jarring sudden dynamic shifts of previous outings replaced by a more subtle progression that is much more easier on the ear and is in turn far more satisfying and enjoyable..

It has been stated elsewhere that no one sounds quite like Trevor's Head and it has to be said that no one quite does, they are a band who bring to the table a level of diversity not common in this scene we call "the underground". Strangely it is this diversity that has held them back a little in the past, not because of the music they play but in how they have presented that music to the public on their albums. Spin any track off of  their 2018 album "Soma Holiday" in isolation and its love at first listen but play all of the albums songs back to back and it all becomes a bit overwhelming simply because there is no sense of flow or progression, the listener is faced with an overload of styles and genres coming at them from every conceivable angle all at once with no real sense of cohesive structure. Recent interviews and notes on their social media pages seem to point to the band being aware of this and so with "A View From Below" they have strived to address this problem and have as a result recorded what is the best album of their career so far, an album that flows like a river and yet still retains all the charm, originality and uniqueness we have come to love from this talented and quirky threesome. 

Check it out ....

© 2023 Frazer Jones

HIBERNAUT ~ INGRESS ....review

 

Salt Lake City, Utah quartet Hibernaut are not some new kids on the block attempting to find their way around the music business for the first time, these guys are seasoned musicians who have earned their spurs playing in bands with real pedigree such as Oldtimer, Dwellers, Oxcross and Subrosa. The band, consisting of Josh Dupree (bass); Dave Jones (vocals/rhythm guitar); Zach Hatsis (drums) and Joey Toscano (lead guitar), jam a groove that blends heavy sludge and stonerized metal with elements of heavy psych and doom and while that may not seem an unusual mixture, in a scene choc a block full of bands jamming similar dynamics, it is this bands execution of those dynamics that elevates them above the herd, something you will find out for yourselves when giving their debut "Ingress" a spin.

You could not ask for a more impactful opener than "Stygian Nectar" and considering the word "stygian" is often used in Greek to describe something murky and gloomy seems quite apt choice to start off an album mired in those atmospherics. The song boasts some seriously impressive lyrical imagery with Jones giving gritty voice to a grim travelogue, describing "Stone seracs, sentinels on the barren plain" and asking us to bear witness to "Stone conduits eating electric light", against a backdrop of gnarled doom tinted metal that although devastatingly heavy is thankfully shy of being brutal. For next track "Summoner" Jones, Hatsis and Dupree lay down a circular slightly left of centre groove that not so much crunches as whirls, we were reminded of an old washing machine on its last legs attempting to complete its final spin cycle here, Jones delivers over this groove an impassioned lay-preacher like vocal drenched in rage and anger, strangely it is against this backdrop of whirling off-kilter groove and vocal furiosity that lead guitarist Toscano decides to lay down his most melodic and bluesy solo of the album and just as strangely makes it work. By reading thus far you have probably got a handle on what Hibernaut are all about and being that "Ingress" is an album made up of eleven tracks we are not going to do a full break down of each and every track, what we will do however is point you in the direction of a few of what, we believe, are some of its remaining highlights. The first of those highlights is, for us, the excellent "Nor'easter" a stunning tome that finds the band toying with elements of experimental heavy psych on a song that tells, in big bold throaty tones, of the aftermath of an extreme weather event, big horns should go to Dupree here his bass intro and his anchoring of the songs groove to Hatsis' busy tight rhythms is on another level but then so is the six string interplay that Toscano and Jones bring to the table. The second highlight is "Kaleidoscope" a heavy full on assault on the senses driven by some incredible drumming from Hatsis, this has a groove that picks you up and slams you around like a rag doll to the point that you will be checking yourself for bruises the minute its last beat subsides. The last of our picks has to go to the furious final track "Spherical", imagine Hawkwind dumping their synths and electronics and upping their tempos to a thrash like meter and you might just get your heads around this one. Those tracks we mentioned in this review are Desert Psychlist's favourites but you might find your own and in truth there is not a single duff track to be found among the eleven on this album and how many albums can you honestly say that about?

Big bold and brash riffage, twinned with thick grumbling bass and pummelling percussion are the tools Hibernaut bring to bear on "Ingress" along with piercing guitar solos and powerful gruff vocals, it is a sound not entirely original or genre-defining but it is nevertheless a great sound and one that you will find yourself returning to over and over again.

Check 'em out ...

© 2023 Frazer Jones

SPOTLIGHTS ~ ALCHEMY FOR THE DEAD .... review

Sometimes you hear an album and you just know that said album is going to be one of your go to albums for the remainder of your life on this planet, admittedly this is a rare occurrence but when it does happen, as with Elder's "Lore", Kyuss' "Welcome To Sky Valley" and Black Sabbath's "Master of Reality", well it feels like an almost religious experience. It was this feeling we, at Desert Psychlist, experienced when pushing play on Pittsburgh combo Spotlights latest opus "Alchemy For The Dead" (Ipecac Recordings) a release that tears up the rock rule book by incorporating into its grooves elements of alt-rock, doom-gaze, synth-wave, prog and aspects of metal and stoner rock to create a sound that is devoid of boundaries and owes as much to The Cure, Portishead and Porcupine Tree as it does to those purveyors of heaviness we mentioned earlier.

Death, how we deal with it and its effect on everything we are connected with, is the main theme explored by Spotlights on "Alchemy For The Dead", but don't go expecting a journey down a rabbit hole of dark despair and depression because that is just not the case, yes the subject matter is weighty and the music can get dark and intense but there is also a beautiful dreaminess to be found here also. The band, Sarah Quintero (bass/guitar/vocals); Mario Quintero (guitar/synths/vocals) and Chris Enriquez (drums), may infuse their music with moments of heavy sludge-like ugliness but those moments are, more often than not, countered by episodes of shimmering ambience and synthesised lysergic liquidity and combine with the mostly hazy clean and melodic mix of lead and harmonised vocals to create a dynamic that although not exactly undulating is nonetheless multi-dimensional. The song writing  throughout this superbly put together opus is nothing short of mind-blowing, the lyrical structures and musical arrangements, on songs like "Beyond The Broken Sky", "Sunset Burial", "False Gods" (featuring Ben Ople on tenor sax), "Ballad In The Mirror", and the blustering and beautiful title track "Alchemy For The Dead", are nothing short of masterful and see swirling synths, shimmering percussion and gently picked acoustics routinely trading places with reverberating power chords, low growling bass motifs and heavy rhythmic drum patterns in a mix of styles and dynamics you would be hard pushed to find any other band being able to replicate.

Heavy music can often find itself travelling down the same old paths it has always travelled down, relying on the same old riffs and the same old lyrical cliches that we all still love and admire but do not really break new ground. Spotlights, with "Alchemy For The Dead" are bucking that trend, the songs that populate this album challenge the listener to explore outside of the musical boxes that have become their comfort blankets and change their perception of what equates to heavy.

Check it out ....  

© 2023 Frazer Jones

RED EYED CULT ~ UNIT 61 ..... review

Gather ye Weedians, Hashishians and Lungsmen and climb aboard the caravan to the riff filled land of Norwich, UK where a new breed of Creedsmen are erecting a bong shaped temple in honour of the holy leaf, these new priests go by the name Red Eyed Cult and impart their wisdom via the medium of music, teachings that can be found residing within the grooves of their latest missive "Unit 61".

Red Eyed Cult, Lewis Doran (bass/vocals); Max Lungley (guitar) and John Franks (drums), site their influences as Sleep, High On Fire and Weedeater as well as such 70's giants as Mountain, Blue Oyster Cult and Black Sabbath and although it is the first three of those influences that informs the greater part of the music offered up on "Unit 61" it is also not hard to pick out the elements Red Eyed Cult have cherrypicked from the last three. Don't however expect to hear an Ozzy- like clean nasal whine or a Leslie West bluesy holler gracing the grooves Red Eyed Cult lay before us, the vocals served up on songs like "Mithrandir","Up In Smoke","Grogg", "Hammerhands" and "Snowcone" are of the type a throat surgeon would be at pains NOT to recommend, larynx wrecking and raspy, not quite demonic but sailing pretty close to that level of harshness. It is however beneath those tonsil tearing vocal tones that the real surprises happen, it is here where you will find those 70's influences really making their presence felt with the drums and bass combining to create a swing not often found in modern metal these days and the guitar tones dialled to a vintage crunch rather than a heavy modern thrum. Of course given that the bands music resides in the canon of weedian flavoured stoner metal, sludge and doom the albums lyrical themes reference all the usual weed and wizards cliches but they also posses a little tongue in cheek grizzled stoner humour, you can't help but smile at a line like "Ahhh you fucked with a wizard, You better grab all your shit and leave before your dead" ("Mithrandir") or "place your heads on fucking pikes and throw them at his castle wall".("Grogg"), all of which proves that it is possible to be heavy and still have a little fun with it.

Red Eyed Cult decided to call their debut EP "Unit 61" due to the fact that it was recorded at Bomb Store Studios, a studio located on the site where Britain's first nuclear bomb was built and now bears that address, which when you think about is a very apt title given the explosive nature of the grooves it contains 

Check it out .... 

© 2023 Frazer Jones

MARGARITA WITCH CULT - MARGARITA WITCH CULT ..... review

 

Along with a love of a meaty riff  Desert Psychlist also loves a good melody, something we can easily hum or sing along to. Now we know that probably may seem a bit strange, seeing as we spend all our free time writing about and listening to music that isn't exactly massive on hummable melodies, but it is actually a fact, so you can imagine our delight when a band comes along that jams a marriage of the two. Margarita Witch Cult hail from Birmingham, UK the same city that gave us Black Sabbath, but that is where any comparisons with Ozzy and co. end, in fact Margarita Witch Cult are probably closer in sound to the raw edged desert rock of Kyuss than they are the dank pre-doom of Sabbath, their grooves are raw, raucous and raunchy and are at times even punky and Motorhead-ish, all of which makes their self-tiled debut "Margarita Witch Cult" (Heavy Psych Sounds Records) such a welcome breath of fresh air.

  After making mentions of Motorhead and punk rock in this reviews intro Margarita Witch Cult go and screw us over by opening their debut with "Diabolical Influence" a song that boasts a groove straight out of the Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats for dummies handbook, the song is catchy heavy and possess a superbly delivered vocal melody that is nigh-on impossible not to sing-along with. Next track "Death Lurks at Every Turn" comes out of the traps at breakneck tempo with its guitar tones raunchy and crunching, its drumming  furious and fiery, its bottom end lower than a snakes belly and its vocals ear-catching and gritty. Following number "The Witchfinder Comes" utilizes horror movie flavoured lyrical imagery around a heavy chugging proto-doom groove yet does not fall into the trap of trying to be overly dank and dark thanks in part to the songs endearing vocal playfulness "Be My Witch" follows and this is song guaranteed to prove a live favourite, close your eyes and you can just imagine a crowd fist pumping and slam dancing while singing along to its ear worm of a chorus. We did mention earlier that MWC have a little Motorhead in their locker and "Annihilation" is the song where they open that locker and allow it to run free, to call this fast and furious would be an understatement. MWC go instrumental for next track "Theme From Cyclops" a heavily rhythmic workout built around a circular groove that is then followed up by "Lord of the Flies" another hook laden tome, this one blending elements of  proto-doom with old school heavy metal and 70's heavy rock. "Aradia" is another instrumental but where the previous one threw the spotlight on the rhythmic duo of drummer George Casual and bassist Jim Thing this one allows guitarist/vocalist Scott Vincent the chance to shine and show off his six-string prowess. Last song "Sacrifice" opens the door for the band to stretch out and experiment with a little heavy psych texturing and colour, nothing over the top just a hint of lysergic ambience sandwiched either side by slabs of raucous raw gnarly retro flavoured doom.

If you like your grooves raucous, raw edged and nasty but are also partial to songs with old fashioned values like melody and swing then you can't go far wrong than by giving Margarita Witch Cult's self-titled debut a spin, its not perfect by any means but then when has perfection ever ranked high on a rock fans list of priorities.

Check it out ...

© 2023 Frazer Jones

1782 ~ CLAMOR LUCIFERI .... review

We all enjoy up-tempo and strident music from time to time but there are also times when the only thing that will satisfy is something down tuned heavy and relentless and you could not find a better band to supply that type of dynamic than Italian trio 1782. These guys, Gabriele Fancellu (drums/backing vocals); Francesco Pintore (vocals/bass) and Marco Nieddu (vocals/guitar/bass), are virtual black belts in the art of sedateness, so much so that you could easily imagine them spontaneously combusting if asked to raise their BPM's anywhere too far north of a pummelling plod. Relentless however does not equate to monotonous, 1782 may like to walk on the dark side but there are plenty of shards of light regularly shining through the bands miasma of gloominess that will cause any feelings of ennui to rapidly dissipate and no more so than on the bands latest release "Clamor Luciferi" (Heavy Psych Sounds Records)

Things begin reverent and solemn with organ heavy intro "A Merciful Suffering" (featuring Nico Sechi) but then take on a more satanic feel with its follow up "Succubus", the band settling nicely into a sedate doom groove replete with thrumming riffs and pounding percussion over which vocals are roared in bear like monotonic tones. "Demons" follows and boasts a slightly more strident tempo, not a gallop by any means but more a step up from a crawl to a heavy lumber. "Black Rites" is up next its dark reverberating riffs twinned with a mix of grizzled lead and hellish harmonized vocal interplay, it is on this track that one of those rare shards of light makes an appearance, Nieddu stepping up to the plate with a brief, but very welcome, guitar motif that is tonally at odds with the thick swampy tones surrounding it. If you thought things couldn't get any lower slower and heavier then that thought gets shattered by the almost subterranean groove of "Tummultus XIII" an instrumental that sounds like the soundtrack to an oncoming apocalypse. "River of Sins" raises the tempo once again but only by a notch and contains the albums most melodic vocal, that is if sounding like someone manically roaring from the bowels of the earth can be called melodic. The band bring a touch of psych to the altar for "Devil's Blood", only a hint but it does count as one of those shards of light we spoke of earlier. It is customary to close an album on a high but 1782 do not really do high and so with "Death Ceremony"  they go as low as it is possible to go without being crushed under the weight of their own riffs, a crushingly heavy doomic tome that gnaws at the ears like an emaciated zombie with the munchies.

There is a claustrophobic element to 1782's "Clamor Lucuferi", a heaviness in its grooves and its dank cloying atmospherics that at times feels almost physical and evokes a feeling of being crushed or smothered, strangely it is this same element that also make it such an enjoyable listening experience. Check it out .... 

© 2023 Frazer Jones