SCARECROW ~ III.... review

 

Desert Psychlist sang loud in our praise of Scarecrow's debut album, the self-titled "Scarecrow", and our admiration for the band grew even stronger with the release of the excellent "Scarecrow II". Those albums saw the band mixing doom, proto-metal, prog and orchestral music together in ways other bands were just not attempting. Having not heard anything from the band for quite a while Desert Psychlist wondered if Scarecrow were still a going concern and had not disappeared into that ether that has swallowed up so many good bands over the years but then out of the blue we got a message from Artemis (vocals/flute/keys/oud/clarinet) that a new album was imminent and that it would be preceded by a brand new EP. "Golum" Unfortunately Desert Psychlist were unable to write up a review for "Golum" but we still desperately wanted to write something up for the bands new album when it dropped  That album, "Scarecrow III".(Scarecrow Records & Ritual Sound) has now landed and Artemis, along with Max (guitar); Elijah (bass) and Vadim (drums/percussion), will need to strap themselves in as we predict a lot of love coming their way for this absolute gem of a release.

"III" begins with "The Saffron Skies Overture" an eastern flavoured orchestral piece featuring the oud. a lute type stringed instrument. The piece starts very dramatic and almost doom-like but then morphs into this sweeping desert like soundscape that evokes images in the minds eye of endless dunes, imagery very much in keeping with the artwork that adorns this album. Its all change for next song "The Hymn", this is a stuttering proto-metal rocker over which Artemis' wails his vocals like the offspring of an unholy coupling between Rush's Geddy Lee and Zeppelin's Robert Plant and Max lays down seriously impressive lead, Vadim and Elijah anchoring the groove with  thunderous drumming and gritty bass, the song further enhanced by Artemis' swooning keyboard flourishes. There are quite a few songs gracing "III" that could be considered masterpieces in their field and the first of those is "Eastern Nightmare", this is a song no other band but Scarecrow could pull off , at times it has the feel of a Broadway musical at others it feels almost highbrow and operatic, there are passages that are blustering and heavy and other passages where the vibe is almost playful, its just mesmerising from start to finish. Following track "The Foe" is modern prog-metal but played with old school prog-rock panache while "Rising Sands" is part a heavy metal gallop and part an Arabic whirl, crunching power chords finding themselves sharing space with exotic eastern motifs and orchestral flourishes, mark this one down as masterpiece #2. The mood is melancholy and reflective for the languid and beautiful " Eternal Ones" but then shifts to soaring and torch-like for the excellent "The Turtle". Things get nicely bluesy and emotive for penultimate track "Saffron Skies" but bluesy and emotive with a dusky desert undercurrent. Final song "Scarecrow III The Suite" could easily pass for a movie soundtrack due to its expansive nature, the word journey is often bandied about far too much in music reviews but this instrumental DOES take you on a journey, a journey through sun bleached landscapes where traditional and modern instrumentation flits in and out of orchestral type arrangements over backdrops of exotic rhythms, this is most definitely masterpiece #3. 

  If blustering heavy rock, swaggering proto-metal and luscious prog light s afire beneath you and you are not afraid to occasionally dip your toes into more highbrow waters then you cannot go far wrong by giving Scarecrow's "III" a whirl, it will be a decision will not regret.

Check it out .... 

© 2024 Frazer Jones

WORMSAND ~ YOU, THE KING ....review

There is a high probability that many of you out there may not be familiar with French sludge/stoner/psych trio Wormsand and that would be understandable as before the release of the album we are reviewing today Wormsand had only released two previous recordings, the 2019 self-titled EP "Wormsand" and the 2021 debut full length album "Shapeless Mess". Hopefully the release of new album "You, The King" (Mr. Red Sound Records) will see the band, Julien Coppo (guitars/vocals); Clément Mozzone (bass/synths/vocals) and Tom Valstar (drums/percussions/vocals), garner the sort of international acceptance we at Desert Psychlist believe their music richly deserves.

Opening song "Daydream" begins with a circular feeling guitar motif routinely interrupted by bursts of caustic drums and bass with those bursts soon transitioning from being an interruption to becoming a constant. The vocals that accompany what has now become a throbbing stoner-doom(ish) groove are clean melodic and easy on the ear but, thanks to them being bolstered by occasional edgy and harsh backing harmonies, they retain a darkness well in keeping with the weighty dynamics of the music that surrounds them. "Digging Deep" follows and sees Wormsand's vocalists trading clean and harsh tones over a backdrop of grainy gritty sludge metal that is taken to another level by some surprisingly clear and concise lead guitar work. Title track "You, The King" finds Wormsand swapping back and forth between passages of textured and ambient post/prog-metal and crushingly heavy sludge with a mix of vocals that match both disciplines while "Black Heaven" concentrates mainly on the sludge side of things despite being fronted by a vocal melody that would not sound too out of place on mainstream rock radio. "Drown" follows a similar path to its predecessor only this time with the addition of some Alice In Chains like slurriness in its guitar attack. "The Crown" serves as a brief instrumental eye in storm and nicely sets the scene for the atmospheric "The Final Dive" that follows, a stunning torch-like tome that musically mixes aspects of the blues with elements that, to this listener, are reminiscent of "Pornography" era The Cure and also boasts superb croon-like vocal interplay. Final number "To Die Alone" sees Wormsand bowing out in style, the band combining prog, psych and post metal dynamics with elements of sludge and grunge to give what has been a truly magnificent album a truly magnificent finale.   

The songs that inhabit Wormsand's new album "You, The King" possess a complexity of structure and arrangement that we usually only associate with progressive rock and metal yet strangely you will find no tags or descriptions referring to them as being such. Sludge and grunge are the two genres that are most often bandied about when discussing Wormsand's music and although there are strong elements of both to be found in what Wormsand bring to the table it is, for us, those progressive aspects of their sound that take "You, The King" from being just another collection of swaggering riffs and blustering rhythms to being something very special indeed. 

Check it out ..

© 2024 Frazer Jones

WITCHPIT - FOREVER SPOKEN ... review

There are times in any music addicts life where the only music that will satisfy is something full on and furious, for such times the universe has gifted us Witchpit a four piece outfit from South Carolina consisting of Jesse Lane (bass); Jeremy Grobsmith (drums); Thomas White (guitars) and Denny Stone (vocals). The band have described their sound as High On Fire flavoured heavy stoner rock mixed with the more moody and thoughtful work of Neurosis, a description that many fortunate enough to have heard the bands debut "The Weight Of Death" will no doubt agree with. This year Witchpit release the follow up to their debut with "Forever Spoken" (Heavy Psych Sounds Records) and if you thought these guys could not get anymore gnarlier and in your face then you are in for a big surprise. 

Title track "Forever Spoken" kicks off proceedings and from note one it is evident that Witchpit are not going to take you gently by the hand and whisper sweet nothings into your ear,  no this is more akin to being serenaded by a denizen of the underworld backed by Satan's favourite house band. We are talking gnarly, gritty, grimy doomic flavoured sludge metal here fronted by a vocalist who sounds like his larynx has been torn to shreds by too much smoke, too much whiskey and just about too much of everything. "Through Eyes of Apathy" follows and if you thought that the intensity was about to let up one iota you were wrong, in fact the intensity of Witchpit's attack increases tenfold, Stone's vocals get nastier and the grooves supplied by Lane, White and Grobsmith get grimier, the only flicker of light to be found here being White's brief but tasteful guitar solo which is delivered clean and piercing. Third track "Mouth Piece of Hate" when examined closely is not actually as heavy as it first seems, the song possesses a groove that is less blackened doom and more sludgy circular stoner rock, however it is a groove made to feel heavier simply due to the intensity of Stone's no quarter given vocals, which never drop below full on and caustic. "Panacea" finds Stone's vocals routinely switching between demonic and guttural beneath which Lane and Grobsmith lay down a deliciously fractious sludgy doom meets alt-metal groove White layering the results with equally fractious chord progressions and searing solos. The following two tracks "New Age Fallacy" and "Becoming I" are both full on metallic barn burners with the former just shading it over the latter courtesy of its mid-section breakdown. Which brings us to final track "Silver Turns To Rust" a riff heavy doomic tome fronted by slightly more drawn out and drawled vocal tones beneath which dark edgy guitar textures , expertly supported by grizzled bass and industrious drumming, thrum and fizz like an overloaded power cable.

Witchpit tell us that "Forever Spoken" is an album that lyrically explores "the trials, adversities, and struggles that shape our journey and challenge our ability to fulfil our destiny" whether that concept translates to the listener quite the way the band intended is obviously down to the individual listener but even if you do or don't buy into their concept you are still left with an album of music that kicks harder than a mule on steroids, it's a win-win whichever way you look at it. 

Check it out .... 

© 2024 Frazer Jones

MOMOVUDU ~ MOMOVUDU .....review

 

One of the many perks of writing for Desert Psychlist, and also being involved with The Doom Charts, is that there is not a day goes by when we don't find someone throwing recommendations our way, some of those recommendations may not always float our boat but there are just as many that do. Fellow Doom Charts contributor Adam Walsh is a regular finder of musical gems and he recently threw into Desert Psychlist's bunker a sonic grenade that blew our collective socks off, a self-titled release from a Kansas City trio going by the name Momovudu, Matt Watkins (vocals/guitar); Brent Richards (drums) and Nate Kiersey (bass).Some may know Watkins from his association with underground legends Wo Fat and that association continues here with Wo Fat's Kent Stump stepping up as both engineer and co-producer for this release.

Rolling drums introduce first track "Raising The Falcon" and are soon joined by guitar and bass in an equally rolling stoner/hard rock like groove over which clean vocals are delivered in smooth hazy tones. Now this alone would be enough to float the boats of most underground rock devotees but its the guitar tones here that are the deal breaker. Watkins guitar sounds as though he is playing it through the same razor slashed speaker that the Kinks Dave Davis used to get his fuzz tone for "You Really Got Me", Watkins retaining this crackling overdriven tone even when the song shifts into the Floydian flavoured heavy psych waters that eventually take the song to its close. The following "The Haul" is at its root a blues song but a filthy fuzz drenched blues with a swampy circular feeling groove, Watkins vocal here is delivered slightly clipped and sermon-like but it is again his crackling fizzy guitar tones that, when combined with Kiersey's grizzled sounding bass lines and Richards punchy industrious drumming, take this to the next level of impressive. "Peak Seeker" twins a semi-spoken, semi sung vocal with a throbbing blues tinted stoner groove to create a deliciously distorted feeling of haziness while "Legions of Bast" starts life otherworldly and drone-like then morphs into a bluesy proto-doom riff fest boasting lysergic laced guitar pyrotechnics and angsty vocals. It is Kiersey's heavily distorted bass that is the dominant force behind next song "Teeth Full of Lies", but the bassist does not get it all his own way Watkins routinely challenges him with piercing lead work and crunching chord progressions, Richards meanwhile keeping things in check with a solid tight and busy display of rhythmic punchiness. Next up we have "Forest of Plenty" and here we find Momovudu getting their desert rock groove on, the trio sounding both musically and vocally not unlike a heavier version of Fu Manchu, albeit Fu Manchu with dirtier grittier sounding effects pedals. "Crossing the Valley" finds Momovudu mixing the Fu Manchu/Nebula like vocal approach of the previous song with a more doomic blues musical dynamic, grizzled bass and thunderous drums supporting scorching bluesy guitar solos that are far more feel based than they are technical. Finally we arrive at "Hoya" the albums closing track and probably its most impressive, the song boasting a droning eastern feel and a wholly different vocal approach from that which has gone before, Watkins vocal here is almost shamanic in its delivery and his guitar work jaw-dropping add to that Kielsey's low liquid bass motifs and Richards mix of shimmering and thunderous percussion and what you have, in our humble opinion, is an absolute masterpiece. 

Devastating levels of filthy fuzz and distortion, passages of heady heavy psych, desert rock grittiness and occasional doomic dankness can all be found inhabiting the eight songs that make up Momovudu's debut. Even those naysayers constantly berating the underground scene for becoming too stagnant and sterile and accusing it of spinning in self-perpetuating Sabbathian circles would be hard pressed to find fault with this raucous gem. 

Check it out ....

© 2024 Frazer Jones

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